A/N: This was supposed to be a one-shot but I guess I just couldn't help myself. Jon needs to give Gendry the Shovel Talk.

Chapter 2: I'm a Dead Man

I'm a dead man, Gendry thinks, not for the first time over the past two days.

Unlike the blood-soaked, blue-eyed screeching wights, however, Jon Snow promises a death that's not nearly as swift or heroic. Gendry secretly thinks he'd have taken a dagger through the heart on the battlefield if it meant avoiding what's about to happen to him.

"I've noticed that my beloved little sister, Saviour of Westeros, has taken an interest in you." Jon says as they stare out over what remains of Winterfell's battlements.

Yeah she has, he agrees in his head and feels an unstoppable tide of red begin to creep up his neck before he can stop it. When Arya Stark takes an interest in you, it's hard not to notice.

Gendry had honestly just been minding his business when the Lord of the North startled him, helping clear out the dead and the rubble, lost in a daze of grief and delight. Grief for the sea of countless corpses littering every corner of the castle and delight at the image of Arya, alive and warm in his arms, telling him to shut up you stupid bull, 'course I don't want to forget what happened before the battle. Stop being an idiot.

"Aye." He replies, hoping that shorter replies will leave less space for saying something that might just get him thrown off the wall and onto the mountain of bodies below.

Jon doesn't turn to face him but his eyes glance over sideways to catch Gendry's.

"Care to explain how that happened? I do believe Arya once told me she'd rather 'drown in a vat of cat's piss' than kiss a boy and yet I distinctly recall her doing exactly that yesterday in the Godswood. With you."

Gendry's face is deep purple.

"We've met before." He says and this time Jon does turn to face him, surprise etched into his face. "We travelled from King's Landing together. She was trying to escape Cersei and I… got sent away because I was a Baratheon bastard, though I didn't know it at the time."

"And you never thought to mention this?" Jon asks. There's an accusation in his voice.

Gendry swallows, remembering his first meeting with the Lord of Winterfell and how he'd wanted to say something, anything. But he'd assumed the worst. Hell, he'd lived the worst for all the years in-between his last moment with her and his arrival at Winterfell when he'd overheard whispers of a younger Lady of Winterfell, one that wore boys' clothes and practiced fighting in the courtyard day and night.

"I thought she was dead." He says and his voice is unsteady. "I couldn't face you knowing that I hadn't managed to protect her in the end, that I hadn't looked for her after because I'd heard about the massacre at the Twins and I couldn't—" he stops, feeling his throat close up at the memory. He could not sleep for weeks after he'd heard of the Red Wedding. She may not have been his lover but even then she'd been his closest friend, the only one he'd ever really called 'family', if only in his head.

Jon puts a hand on Gendry's arm and the blacksmith looks up, surprised by the comforting act.

"I couldn't either." The Lord of Winterfell mutters quietly.

"She was the only family I'd ever had." Gendry says after a moment. "I know I'm a bastard and a blacksmith and I understand if you want me to never see her again but…" he breathes in and steels his courage, turning to face Jon head-on. "… I don't think I can bear to leave her behind a second time. I love her and I'll not spend another day without knowing whether she's alive or dead. I don't care if you tell me that I can never touch her again, I just need to see her alive for as long as either of us draws breath. Please."

Jon doesn't reply for a while, his eyes a storm of emotions and his face serious. Gendry can feel tears prickling at the back of his eyes because even if he's ready to never touch her again at Jon's command, he knows he will feel like a man who's lost his limbs if he can never wrap her in his arms again like the night before the Battle of Winterfell.

And if they try to send him away well… to hell with what Jon wants or what society demands. He'll fight them all if that's what it comes down to.

Then Jon gives a small chuckle and Gendry almost trips over his own feet.

"Gendry Waters, my sister would not have picked a man if he'd not been worthy of her. As long as you are her choice, I don't think any of us have any say in it, regardless of your birthmother or background. She is the Saviour of the Seven Kingdoms, after all." Jon smiles even wider then and turns to look out into the field where one of the dragons (Gendry has no idea how anyone can distinguish the beasts, they're both equally terrifying to him) is being fed by the Targaryen Queen. "Besides, I understand better than you think what being a bastard in love is like."

"But I'm just a lowborn—"

"Aye, and the only remaining heir of the Baratheon bloodline." Jon interrupts him. "I'll find a way to legitimize you if that's what it comes down to. Arya, she's… she smiled yesterday. I have barely seen her smile once since she's returned to Winterfell. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't because she'd killed the Night King. From what I've seen of it so far, that's been more of a discomfort for her than a blessing."

Gendry does blush then, because she's smiled at him quite a few times since he'd reunited with her, even if it wasn't nearly as often as when she'd been a girl in a boy's old rags.

"Thank you M'Lord." He mutters and lowers his head gratefully.

"I know you're a good man, Gendry." Jon adds. "You followed me North of the Wall without question and you were the reason we made it back alive. I just wanted to make sure you knew who Arya Stark really was, what she means to me and Sansa. She called you family too, you know. When I spoke to her about you."

Gendry's head snaps up so quickly that he's surprised he doesn't break his neck. Something in his heart heats up so hot that he could forge Arya a bran new staff with it. Hell, he'd probably give the dragons a run for their money. Before he can think of what to say to that, however, a new voice interrupts them.

"Are you two done? I'm hungry."

Gendry turns to see Arya leaning against the stone behind him, her impassive expression smirking at him without actually showing any emotions.

"Aye, we're done." Jon says and gives Gendry a powerful pat on the back before walking off in the other direction.

"Let's go eat Gendry." She says and he thinks I love you. I don't think I'll ever find a way to make you understand just how much. I'll keep trying.

"Yes m'lady." He replies, just because he enjoys every reaction he gets from her every time he says it. To his surprise, she doesn't hit him or glare at him but smirks instead, properly this time.

"I'm not the lady you should worry about. Sansa wants to talk to you after lunch." She says. Then, after a moment's pause: "She fed a man to his own hounds once."

I'm a dead man, Gendry thinks.