ohmytheon:

(The soulmate AU where you don’t see color until you meet your soulmate that no one asked for, and yet everyone is getting anyways. I needed to take a break from reading, so I decided to write something. It was going to be depressing, but then I decided against it. So here’s some utter fluff. Also you get to learn what it’s like to work in a kitchen and restaurant, yay.)

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“I’m going out for a smoke.” Gendry doesn’t wait for Hot Pie, the nickname of his fellow line cook, to reply before tearing his apron off and slipping out back of the restaurant. It’s not like it’s lunch or dinner rush or anything, just the middle of the day where business is slow enough to keep them bored with just enough customers to keep them from having any fun. Those are the times that drive Gendry a little bit bonkers, especially with Hot Pie jabbering nonstop about whatever crosses his mind.

It’s not much better outside, what with the sun beating down on him, letting him know just how nice it is outside and how shitty it is inside, but it’s still cooler with the wind. The kitchen gets so hot during summer that it’s no wonder no one in the back of the house suffers from heatstroke. Maybe they build up some sort of tolerance. He could probably live in a desert at this point and think it was spring.

Fishing a nearly empty pack of camel blues out of his pocket, Gendry leans against the wall. The bucket that they all sit on is gone, probably taken by one of their managers that think it’ll inspire their staff to not lounge around so much. He doesn’t care. Standing on his feet for twelve hours a day has become no problem to him at this point. With a slightly bent cigarette tucked in between his teeth, he flicks the lighter until the cigarette is lit and then inhales lightly, closing his eyes and finally relaxing.

He didn’t smoke before working in a restaurant. He’s not sure that anyone in a restaurant is a smoker until a few months in, when they realize that the only time they can get a bit of fresh air and take a breather is when they’re inhaling nicotine and chemical-lased tobacco. Non-smoking employees are a bit of an oddity, looked on by the smokers as innocent and strange.

They all talk about quitting – Gendry talks about it twice as much as anyone – but no one ever does. Eight hours into being smoke free and they’re jonesing again, hands near shaking, lips twitching into uncomfortable grins, eyes looking anywhere but at other people smoking. What a joke.

“Smoking kills, you know,” a voice suddenly says to his left.

Gendry startles, the cigarette nearly dropping out of his mouth, but catches it just in time with his fingers. When he looks over, all he sees is a girl. She’s short (then again, everyone is short compared to him), hair cut in a boy’s cut like she took scissors to it herself out of frustration, but it’s her sharp eyes that catch his attention, an eyebrow raised just so, like she’s used to people listening to her.

He takes another hit of it. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?”

“No, I’m pretty sure it just kills you, stupid.” She eyes him carefully, taking in his outfit, and then jerks a figure towards the building he’s leaning against. “This place any good?”

“Depends on who’s cooking.”

“Well, hopefully not you, seeing as how you’re outside puffing like a train,” she replies, almost primly. It’s not prim though – it’s anything but that – but it’s like she can’t seem to help herself. He tries to look at her a little better without actually staring at her. Even though she’s wearing just jeans and a t-shirt, he can tell they aren’t from any Wal-Mart or anything like that. No, those scruffy clothes are all designer.

Gendry drops the cigarette butt onto the ground and smashes it with his foot. “I’m the best cook we’ve got.” Maybe not exactly the truth, but he’s good at what he does. Chef says that he might get promoted soon. The raise would be nice.

“I guess I’ll have to see for myself,” the girl says. He gives her a lazy grin. She rolls her eyes and then walks around the building.

Shaking his head, Gendry turns around to go back inside and freezes immediately when he goes to open the red door. He blinks a few times, even closes his eyes hard for a few seconds, but when he opens them again, the door is red as can be. He doesn’t know how he knows the color is red – deep, vibrant, and violent, with a few white scratches on it – but the back door to the restaurant is red.

It’s the first time Gendry has ever seen color before and it’s then that he knows that he is utterly and completely fucked.

*

Keep reading

ozerah:

Game of Thrones Social Media AU - Arya Stark and Gendry Waters have long been rumored to be in a relationship (despite constant denial). When a new rumor pops up about Arya starting a solo career and leaving their up and coming band Flea Bottom, the whole band makes light of the situation and how ridiculous that the media can be while assuring everyone that they don’t mean to stop making music anytime soon.