Author's Notes: Third and final chapter to this little thing! Thank you all so much for reading! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the idea for this AU. Sigh.

it sure left its mark on us
part three

"Stay with me?"

Gendry barely had the chance to glance up from the book he was reading before Arya practically jumped onto him on the couch. He fell over awkwardly as she scrambled into a more comfortable position, though still on top of him. There was a lot of grunting and uncomfortable touches from her hands and him trying to separate himself from her. All in all, it was not graceful whatsoever.

It had been two years since they'd become a strange assortment of friends; and she had only gotten worse when it came to personal space. Hot Pie insisted that she was only this way with Gendry, considering all the complaints Lommy made about Gendry getting all of Arya's attention, but he didn't think about that.

"Um, stay with you?" Gendry sat his book down on the coffee table. "You are aware that this is my apartment, right? So that would mean…"

Arya rolled her eyes and leaned back against the armrest of the couch opposite of his side. "You know what I meant." She propped her feet up on his legs and stretched out, still giving him plenty of space on the couch. "I just…" Huffing at him, she turned away and bit her lip. She only made that face when she was scared; and she only made it around him. "I don't want to be alone."

He knew what she meant. Tomorrow was her eighteenth birthday. Tomorrow would be the day when she woke up with her soulmate tattoo. Tomorrow would be the day when she found out that he was her soulmate.

(Gods be good, Gendry was fucking terrified.)

"And your parents will be totally cool with you staying the night?" Gendry asked dryly.

She wrinkled her nose and threw a pillow at him in response. "Why do you always have to worry about my parents?"

"Oh, I don't know. Because I don't want them to hate me?"

"They don't hate you; they love you." Arya folded her arms across her chest. "Even Sansa loves you, probably more than she loves me. You're like…the greatest guy ever. They trust you."

Gendry eyed her for a second. He could tell that she was being defensive – but he could also tell that she was only acting that way because she thought she was speaking the truth and it may have upset her a little. He'd seen the kinds of arguments that she got into with her older sister and she'd heard about all the times she hadn't seen eye-to-eye with her more proper mother, but he'd also seen how much she loved her family and how much her family loved her. It made him feel nostalgic and guilty, like he shouldn't be there intruding.

"Alright, you can stay," Gendry finally told her.

A ghost of a smile crossed her lips and she sunk further into the couch, finally getting comfortable. He hadn't even realized how tensed up she was until that moment. This whole tattoo thing must've really been freaking her out. He felt kind of bad that he hadn't told her anything, but he just hadn't known what to do. What if telling her that she was his soulmate somehow messed things up?

After that, they picked a movie to watch, some sci-fi action movie called Pacific Rim that Arya had been dying to see since she'd found the trailer. (And hey, what person in their right mind didn't like a movie that had giant robots versus aliens? He'd seen all the Transformers movies, too, thank you, but this movie felt like a blessing.)

They never sat in silence when it came to movies. One or both of them would get too excited, start shouting things, waving their hands in the air, jumping around on the couch. Arya especially had a bad habit of smacking him on the arm or leg when she got too into the movie. He kept still for the most part, one arm draped over her ankles and the other on the armrest. It occurred to him how comfortable this was, how so very easy it was to be around her, even though she had no idea that he was her soulmate. It was like…like she didn't have to know. Or maybe he was just imagining things.

By the time the film was over, it was almost like the two of them had forgotten what was in store for them when the sun rose.

Another movie came on, this one not so exciting. Gendry couldn't even remember what it was called. All he knew was that halfway through the movie, when he glanced over at her, he found Arya asleep on the couch. She looked more peaceful than he'd seen her in weeks.

Carefully disentangling himself from her, Gendry stood up and stretched. After turning off the TV, he tiptoed over towards her and scooped her into his arms. She didn't even make a sound. Arya slept like a rock always. Sleeping was the only time when she wasn't moving around. He carried her into his bedroom and laid her down gently on his unmade bed. The bed was a twin, barely big enough for him considering how tall he was, but it was just the right size for her. Definitely not both of them, nope. He couldn't fit in there with her unless they were cuddled up, pressed against one another…

You are one hell of a gentleman, Gendry Waters, he thought, shaking his head at himself.

He placed the blanket over her and then walked out of the bedroom, shutting the door. Getting a ratty blanket and flat pillow from his closet, he set himself up on couch, tried not think about his best friend lying in his bed, and shut his eyes, willing himself to sleep.

It could've been ten seconds or ten minutes or maybe even a few hours, but Gendry woke up to someone shaking his arm. For one disoriented moment, he jumped up quickly, ready to fight whoever had broken into his apartment and decided to wake him up before stealing the few things he owned, when he spotted Arya standing before him, hugging a pillow against her chest.

"M'sorry," Gendry muttered blearily, rubbing at his eyes. "What's wrong? Bed not comfy enough?"

"I don't want to be alone," Arya grumbled, her eyes darting away from him in the dark.

Gendry sighed. "Arya…"

"Please?" Her voice was so small, like a mouse, and it ran away from her. She refused to look at him; and he knew that she must have fought with herself over coming out her to wake him up and ask him this. She had no idea how much he ached to do just what she wanted, but he also knew that tomorrow morning was going to be one complicated mess for the both of them.

(But gods did he love her and did he never want to look this frightened and alone again.)

Nodding his head, Gendry pulled himself to his feet and allowed Arya to lead him into his own bedroom. She crawled into the bed first, scooting over to give him some room. It still wouldn't be enough. Almost painfully, he lowered himself onto the mattress and then scooted in next to her, pulling the blanket over them both. It took a minute of situating for him to know that there was no getting around cuddling. There just wasn't any room to put even an inch of space between them. The heat of her body kept him warmer than the blanket; and she had to be able to feel his heart hammering in his chest.

Keep it together, Waters, he told himself. You best let that be the only thing she feels, gods.

Trying not to cringe, Gendry pressed his eyes shut and rolled onto his back, folding his arms across his chest. It definitely wasn't the most comfortable position, but he'd fallen asleep in worse ways. A few minutes later though, and Arya rolled over to her other side so that she was facing him and threw an arm over his chest, nuzzling into his side.

Gendry couldn't help himself. He let out a small choking sound.

"Oh, shut up, stupid head, and go to sleep," Arya mumbled in response. "It's comfier this way."

This girl… Why couldn't he have been given a soulmate that wasn't the most stubborn and ridiculous person on the planet?

In the end, she was right though. He was able to relax and slowly drifted off to sleep. For the most part, he could never remember any of his dreams. Normally, he knew that they were wild and vivid and that was about it, but tonight, all his dreams were distant and calm. As usual, she didn't roll around in her sleep and stayed very still against him; and for the first time really, he didn't toss and turn like he always did every night.

When Gendry woke up the next morning, he turned over – only to find that he was alone in bed. He sat up quickly and looked around, but there was no Arya in sight. Panic seized his heart. What if…? Oh god, what if she'd seen her tattoo, realized that they were his words, and ran out of his apartment before he'd woken up? What if she was disgusted? What if she was upset? What if she hated him for not telling her?

He had to find his phone right now and call her and explain and–

And then Arya walked into his bedroom, wearing one of his huge t-shirts. Her dark hair was wet and dripping a little at her feet, her right hand gripping her left forearm tightly at her side. "It's cool that I took a shower, right?"

"Uh, yeah, it's…" Gendry scratched the back of his head. "So, did you…?"

Arya blushed. "I got a glimpse in the mirror, but I…I didn't look at it."

He gulped down a lump in his throat. "Did you want me to…?"

"I don't…" She shook her head. "Oh this is so stupid!" She stormed over to him and then sat down on the edge of the bed, practically shoving her arm in his face and looking away, her eyes shut tight. "Just read it for me, will you?"

Gendry saw the words tattooed on her arm, stark against the pale skin, but only for a second. He smiled to himself, looking down at his hand by her leg, and laughed a little to himself.

Arya peered at him with one eye. "What are you laughing about? Is it stupid? Just read it to me!"

"I don't have to read your tattoo to know what it says, Arya," was all he could say.

Looking him fully in the face with a suspicious, Arya asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Despite blushing, despite his nerves being shot, despite feeling like he wanted to jump out of his second story window, Gendry lifted up his shirt in response, showing his soulmate tattoo as an answer. Words didn't really need to be said when all the words they need had been spoken already.

Watch where you're going, you stupid head, was tattooed on his side.

I, uh, sorry, I just, was tattooed on her forearm.

When Gendry glanced up, he found Arya wide-eyed, mouth parted, and utterly in shock. He dropped his shirt and shrugged his shoulders, unsure of what he was supposed to say now. Two years he'd waited. Two years he'd known that this absurd girl was his soulmate. Two years he'd been tortured and teased and taunted by everything the universe could throw at him. And now she finally knew too and he felt like the whole world had shifted underneath them, that when he walked outside of his apartment and headed for work, he'd be someone wholly different.

"You're my…you're my soulmate?" Arya finally got out.

"Uh, yeah…"

What the hell was he supposed to do now? What were they supposed to do? People didn't just randomly fall in love with someone once they knew that they were soulmates. Sometimes, it took people years before they actually got together with their soulmate upon finding them. He'd heard stories of how some people refused to get together and believe it because they didn't like what they saw. What if that was the case with them? After all, he was poor and lowborn and had little to offer someone like her.

"I…"

Well, this was decidedly more awkward than he'd anticipated. He hadn't pictured her being so quiet.

Gendry ducked his head. "Look; I know that I'm not the greatest guy or pick or whatever for soulmate, so I feel kind of like shit for – I don't know – for you getting stuck with me–"

"Oh my god," Arya groaned, "would you just shut up?"

Before he could even respond, Arya threw herself at him again and knocked him back on his bed, just like she'd done last night when she'd asked to stay over last night. This time though, instead of pulling herself off of him, she pressed her lips against his and kissed him forcefully. Well, that was definitely one way of getting him to shut up. It also wasn't what he'd pictured happening over the last two years. As much as he'd thought about what it would be like to kiss her and imagined it happening, he had never pictured her being the one to kiss him or even want to kiss him.

But holy hell, did it feel like some sort of release.

She moved so that she was practically straddling him on the bed, kissing his lips and then his jaw and down his neck, all the way back up to his lips, which drove him absolutely mad. She kissed him with as much abandon as he felt burning in his mind. Finally, finally, he was able to pull her close to him, one hand on her hip and the other on his back. She had one hand tangled in his hair and the other on his scruffy face.

When both of them stopped for a second to breathe, Gendry couldn't help but laugh. "Gods, Arya, you don't know how long I've wanted to do that."

"Probably about as long as I've wanted you to do it," Arya told him, smiling and biting her lip.

"Oh, I doubt that," Gendry muttered against her lips. She practically giggled. Since when did Arya bloody Stark giggle of all things? "I thought you might know half the time what with the way you bloody tortured me so much."

"Nah, I'm just evil like that."

"Well now," Gendry said before flipping them over so that he was the one on top. He grinned down at her and she smirked back in response. Typical Arya. She had another thing coming though. He ran a hand along the skin of her flat stomach, just barely, just enough to make her stomach flutter and her squirm a little. "Two can play at that game, you know."

After suddenly gasping under his touch, Arya practically growled at him. "Jerk."

Gendry laughed again. "What can I say? I've got years of pent up frustration to let out."

Arya pulled him down into a kiss and then bucked up against his hips; and it took everything in him not to just melt and groan. Damn this girl. "Well then what are you waiting for?" she demanded.

She was right. He didn't have to wait any longer.