#tldr: 'a nice oak tree' wasnt teasing it was flirtation

[geraltcirilla]

acorn hall flirtations;

One thing that you really need context for to understand the full gravity of the statement is, “A nice oak tree.”

Before I read the books, I saw many people quote that statement for their Gendrya edits and didn’t think much of it. All Gendry did was say Arya looked nice. How could that be explicitly romantic? It’s a cute quote, was all I thought, but proves nothing about Gendry’s feelings for her. Plus, wasn’t it teasing anyways?

And then I began read the books and finally understood Gendry’s character and what that statement meant coming from him.

(More under the cut.)

Gendry strong, loyal pragmatic, a survivor, and stubborn. A little bit arrogant when it comes to himself, which comes off more as funny than annoying. He’s a good looking guy and he knows it, he’s big and strong and he knows it, he’s smarter than most people and he knows it.

“Want to fight?” she asked the Bull. She wanted to hit something.

He blinked at her, startled. Strands of thick black hair, still wet from the bathhouse, fell across his deep blue eyes. “I’d hurt you.”

“You would not.”

“You don’t know how strong I am.”

[...]

“Arya froze in her steps. “I’m not a girl!”

“Yes you are. Do you think I’m as stupid as they are?”

[...]

“You’re the eunuch.”

“You know I’m not.” Gendry smiled. “You want me to take out my cock and prove it? I don’t have anything to hide.”

But he’s also bashful, shy, and awkward. Especially when it comes to women.

When Gendry finds out Arya is a highborn lady, he’s genuinely frazzled. In the show they played it off as more mocking, but Gendry was genuinely distraught. He was raised to be respectful of highborns and know his place.

“Arya.” She raised her eyes to his. “My name is Arya. Of House Stark.”

“Of House . . .” It took him a moment before he said, “The King’s Hand was named Stark. The one they killed for a traitor.”

“He was never a traitor. He was my father.”

Gendry’s eyes widened. “So that’s why you thought . . .”

She nodded. “Yoren was taking me home to Winterfell.”

“I . . . you’re highborn then, a . . . you’ll be a lady . . .”

Arya looked down at her ragged clothes and bare feet, all cracked and callused. She saw the dirt under her nails, the scabs on her elbows, the scratches on her hands. Septa Mordane wouldn’t even know me, I bet. Sansa might, but she’d pretend not to. “My mother’s a lady, and my sister, but I never was.”

“Yes you were. You were a lord’s daughter and you lived in a castle, didn’t you? And you . . . gods be good, I never . . .” All of a sudden Gendry seemed uncertain, almost afraid. “All that about cocks, I never should have said that. And I been pissing in front of you and everything, I . . . I beg your pardon, m’lady.”

“Stop that!” Arya hissed. Was he mocking her?

“I know my courtesies, m’lady,” Gendry said, stubborn as ever. “Whenever highborn girls came into the shop with their fathers, my master told me I was to bend the knee, and speak only when they spoke to me, and call them m’lady.”

Of course, he gets over it pretty fast because at this point he knows Arya quite well, and she’s not some stranger highborn lady, she’s Arry. They’ve survived certain death together. She’s saved his life, he’s saved her life. But even then he’s concerned:

When she glanced back over her shoulder, he was watching her with that pained look on his face that meant he was thinking. He’s probably thinking that he shouldn’t be letting m’lady go stealing food. Arya just knew he was going to be stupid now.

Gendry is also a good looking guy, and that is not lost on women. 

He’s described by Ned Stark as looking just like Robert Baratheon, who Ned himself described as being a “maiden’s fantasy” in his prime. Bella, a tavern wench, (and another one of Robert’s bastards, although Gendry at this point had no way of knowing she was his half-sister) approached Gendry in ASoS attempting to seduce him, and he rebuffed her rather rudely.

“I’m named Bella,” the girl told Gendry. “For the battle. I bet I could ring your bell, too. You want to?”

“No,” he said gruffly.

“I bet you do.” She ran a hand along his arm. “I don’t cost nothing to friends of Thoros and the lightning lord.”

“No, I said.” Gendry rose abruptly and stalked away from the table out into the night.

Bella turned to Arya. “Don’t he like girls?”

Arya shrugged. “He’s just stupid. He likes to polish helmets and beat on swords with hammers.”

So basically, although Gendry could have his pick of women if he desired, he isn’t interested. Flirtation visibly upsets him. Gendry can be awkward and weird around women, which can come off as rude. Gendry in general can be “bull-headed”, as Arya describes him. Tossing around insults (at Lommy, Hot Pie, Edric Dayne, etc). And he rarely compliments a person, if ever. Certainly not girls.

So him calling Arya a “Nice oak tree” isn’t just a toss-away statement. Gendry doesn’t freely hand out compliments. Although Gendry has been known to tease Arya, historically he doesn’t do that with fake compliments. It’s not his style. So that comment was a real, genuine thought.

“I look like an oak tree, with all these stupid acorns.”

“Nice, though. A nice oak tree.” He stepped closer, and sniffed at her. “You even smell nice for a change.”

Arya obviously picks a fight with him and wrestles him to the ground after he says this, because she assumes any nice thing said about her is a tease, and even if she did believe him she was too awkward to know how to accept a compliment. Later on Lem starts scolding Gendry for picking on someone half his size, and Arya comes to his defense saying:

“I started it,” said Arya. “Gendry was just talking.”

So it could be she did believe he was being genuine, as she took full responsibility for the fight. If she thought he was trying to be mean she wouldn’t jump to his defense.

So awkward, grumpy, sour Gendry said something nice to Arya. A huge step for this boy. And returning to the dining hall where Tom is singing Featherbed (a song about a wild, free women and her lover) is a giant blinking neon light for anyone who missed the subtly of his statement. And if you still couldn’t tell that the song Featherbed was about Gendry and Arya, Tom winks at Arya before continuing the song. And later, Lady Smallwood (their host at Acorn Hall) tells Arya:

“I have no gowns of leaves,” said Lady Smallwood with a small fond smile.

Which is a direct line from the song. (“I’ll wear a gown of golden leaves,”)

Acorn Hall is the beginning of the love story between Gendry and Arya, and Gendry’s compliment “A nice oak tree” was flirtation.