The Stag and The Frog - (GendryxMeera GOT fanfic) Part 1: Alone

19: Never been in love

The sun was scorching. The air was still. Smoke was still coming from the city behind them. It was the day of the council.

Everyone was waiting for the last participants to arrive. The Starks had still not arrived from the North as they had the furthest to travel. Prince Quentyn of Dorne was also still missing. He was probably planning some kind of grand entrance.

The participants who had already arrived were all camped out on the field next to the Dragon Pit. It was now filled with tents and banners of different colors, people socializing with each other and so many horses. And one newly minted lord who didn't quite know what to do with himself.

Gendry had barely slept that night either. There were too many thoughts in this head. Thoughts of Arya, of having to face her. Thoughts of the ruined city behind him, of all the people and places he had known that now were gone forever. Thoughts of the council that was about to happen, of what he would be expected to do. He had never been a lord around other lords and ladies before.

He had also barely eaten because he felt guilty about every bite he took knowing that so many people were starving at that very moment. And he could so easily have been one of those people.

He stood outside the tent he shared with Devan, trying to get his damn jacket on properly. Marya Seaworth had made sure he had some appropriate clothes to wear for the occasion. But he just couldn't figure out how to get the hooks to close in the front. His hands were shaking too much and he just couldn't focus as he constantly was looking around to make sure Arya wasn't there.

But as Gendry stood there fiddling with the hooks of his jacket he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Let me help you with that, Lord Baratheon."

Meera Reed. That flickering thought in his head that he couldn't quite shake, but also couldn't quite bring himself to think. For a brief second when he saw her he forgot all about Arya, he forgot about the city behind him, and he forgot about the council that was about to take place. It was only a second, but during that second all his worries went away.

***

Meera had seen him standing there for a while. Looking so lost and alone. And incapable of closing his jacket. She had perched herself high up on the old ruins of the Dragon Pit to ensure that she saw when the Starks arrived. Because if Bran Stark came she wanted to be the first to know. So she could prepare to face him. But instead Meera had ended up peaking down on Lord Baratheon, and she just couldn't let him stand there looking helpless anymore.

Gendry looked up, surprised. He didn't seem to have noticed her approaching.

"Thank you, Lady Reed," he replied. "I'm not used to all these fancy clothes yet."

She took a look at the hooks of the jacket. It really wasn't very complicated. She could tell how nervous he seemed now when up close. His hands were visibly shaking and his face was very pale. She wondered what worried him so much.

"You will get used to it. The clothes, and everything else," she said trying to assure him while she closed the lower hooks.

As she got to the hooks higher up she touched his chest over the jacket. She felt the warmth of his body. She felt his heartbeat. It was beating very fast.

She finished the last hooks but didn't move her hands from his chest, instead she let them rest there for a second. She felt something. A sensation. Something moving from his body to hers and back. Like a fire that was about to start.

She looked up at him, wondering if he felt it too. She looked into his eyes. Those darn beautiful blue eyes.

"It feels like all the other lords are looking at me, Meera," he confessed." Wondering what I'm doing here. Like they can see that I don't belong here."