Jumpstart
She could feel her head rising and falling slightly as her body was trying its best to wake up. She could feel her hair staying in the messy heap that either had been created before she and her love fell asleep or while she was sleeping. Either way, she was somewhat afraid to learn what kind of pain she would be feeling when brushing through. Her right arm was draped over the bare chest of the mechanic, her hand sending shivers and senses up her spine when it came into contact with his smooth skin and hard muscles.
Her eyes finally managed to allow the peaceful sight of Cu sleeping be seen. He looked as if he was in heaven, surrounded by sweet angels and only the most beautiful of noises from the most beautiful of birds. The purple irises that belonged to her traced the long, blue locks of his. This was the first time she had witnessed him sleeping from the angle she was, but it felt as if it was the one hundredth time. She loved it and looked forward to waking up like this every morning. It was just so tremendous waking up to a sight like that. It was like a drug – one time using and she was addicted.
His body twitched a bit, and she watched as his eyes opened and blinked, getting used to the morning sun that shone through the blinds. His hand that wasn't around her went to his eyes to rub them. "Mmm," he moaned, hating the feeling of waking up in the morning. His red eyes finally pointed toward her, his lips forming a loving smile. "Good morning," Cu greeted her, bringing her closer to him and granting her forehead a kiss. She giggled and replied with the same greeting.
"Were you watching me sleep, babe?" he questioned her, wrapping her body tightly and rolling her on top of him. She laughed at his actions, pressing her head against his, allowing their noses to touch. Their lips touched with passion. "That's kind of creepy, Jeanne," Cu commented jokingly.
"I'm sorry. I just really enjoyed the view."
"Did you? How flattering. Maybe, I should reward you," he grinned, flipping both of them over in one smooth motion. His teeth found their way to the beautiful woman's neck, gently gnawing at the skin. He could hear an angel's giggle, then realizing that it was his own lady's. God, what an amazing sound, he couldn't help but think. He then pulled away, hovering over her and studying her smile that he better never miss ever again. "I love you so much." With that, he bit her bottom lip before kissing her again.
Their brief moment of love would have turned into something a bit more; however, the room phone began to ring loudly, causing Cuchulainn to grunt in aggravation. He reached over her, giving her the most wonderful view of his bare chest. She thought that she had liked the vision of him sleeping, but this was something else entirely. The view she had now just gave her a reality check of the fact that she was with a man with overflowing sex appeal.
"Hello?" he greeted. She wondered if the phones were like those in a hotel, because she recalled him saying the day prior that he did not have a landline. "Ugh, Alo, you ruined the moment! God, you're so annoying sometimes!" His and Alo's relationship amused her to no extent. They almost seemed like brother and sister rather than master and servant, jesting with one another every opportunity they received. "Fine, we'll be down there in a second. By the way, can you call Emiya and tell him I won't be in today?" Emiya? Who's that? "Sweet, thanks, Alo! You're the best!" With that, the phone was hung up.
He smiled down at her with a wide grin on his face. "Breakfast is ready! Alo said to go down there before her and Laeg eat all of it, which has happened before. So, we better get some clothes on," he informed her before getting out of the bed with no care in the world, giving her a nice, clear view of everything he had to offer. She laughed with a huge blush spread across her face. Jeanne launched a pillow at him.
"Cu! Your underwear is right by the bed; you could have picked them up and put them on!" she laughed. He turned around, giving her the front view. "Cu, you are butt naked! Please put something on! You're so embarrassing!"
She could tell he did this on purpose, because he had an entertained smirk upon his face. "You saw my bare ass last night. I don't see the problem with you seeing it again. Is this a girl thing? Do girls always get that way when a man stands up nude?" he questioned. Why did he have to be so ornery? Suddenly, she watched him walk a few feet closer to the bed. Her face turned beat red when she realized what it was. Jeanne failed to hold in her laughs as he took her nightgown and underwear and threw them across the room. "How you going to get those without letting me see you naked, babe?"
"Oh my gosh, Cu, you are such a dork!" she exclaimed amusedly at him while he just continued to stand there in his birthday suit.
"Come on. You can go get them. I won't judge," he chuckled, obviously planning something.
"Cu!"
"There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just you and me in here. The door is locked," he reassured her, egging her on. The woman glanced at him before glancing at her clothes, finally uncovering herself and starting towards them. Before she could grab them, however, she was picked up with strong arms. "You're not getting away that easily!"
"I knew you would do something like this!" the Frenchwoman laughed hysterically. With that, they were silent, except for their giggles sounding throughout the room. "You are such a dork."
"Yeah, but I'm your dork," he nodded at the statement.
"You're not wrong," she agreed before pecking him on the lips. "Now, let's get dressed before we can't have breakfast.
"Morning, Alo, Laeg. Sleep well?" Cu questioned his two servants, who were stuffing their faces. They both nodded, too busy with eating to actually answer. He then realized that there was yet another sound coming from the kitchen. Somebody else was there, and he had a feeling he knew who it was. "Shirou?" he called out.
Without another beat, the orange haired head of Shirou Emiya popped out from the kitchen. "Oh, good morning, Cu!" Jeanne looked at the young man in confusion. He looked no older than eighteen, yet he was there cooking the morning meal for everyone who lived in the house. She heard Cu sigh in what sounded like frustration.
"Shirou, why are you here? I'm grateful that you're making us food and everything, but you don't work for me. I always feel bad, because you always turn down the money I offer for your services. One of these days, I'm just going to have to hire you as a chef."
"Mm, please do that. His food is better than both of ours combined," Laeg commented, Alodine giving a quick nod of agreement. The comment made Cu laugh before he seemed to have realized something.
"Oh, right. Shirou, this is Jeanne. Jeanne, Shirou," he introduced the two.
Shirou came out of the kitchen to properly greet her, giving her a small "nice to meet you" and a handshake. She returned the kind gesture. "It's lovely to meet you! It's been awhile since Cu has had a new guest. I'm happy to see him socializing with others outside of his work environment."
"Hey kid, don't be a hypocrite. I know you don't exactly get out and about much either. Anyway, Jeanne and I have known each other for a long time. It's not like I invited a total stranger to my home." The blunette stated as he walked toward Shirou and messed up his hair, Shirou giving his disapproval. "God, you're just like your brother, you know? Always acting as if you don't care what other people do and say when in reality you give advice like you're one of those employees giving out free samples!"
The red head grabbed the larger male's arm, keeping it away from his now messy hair (although it was always messy). "What are you talking about?! I'm not like my brother at all! He's just a big jerk! I don't understand how anyone can get along with that guy." His face was pure red. "A-anyway, I don't mind coming here to cook. It gives me practice."
"Alright, but I will start paying you. It seems like you're here at least once a week. Now onto the important stuff, what's for breakfast?" Cu questioned with drool almost exiting his mouth.
The youngest one smiled happily, proud of his creation. "I made bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast cups, blueberry muffins, and raspberry smoothies. I also made toast of course," the high schooler informed the man. He then proceeded to get two plates, putting one breakfast cup and one muffin on them and then pouring smoothie into two glasses. "I hope you like them."
"Shirou, I'm not sure who wouldn't like your food, except for Archer. He is just the pickiest person in the whole fucking world. There are probably only three things in existence that can please him," Cu commented, taking his plate and sitting at the dining table. He pulled out a chair next to him, allowing Jeanne to take a seat before pushing her and the chair in a bit.
The Frenchwoman took a bite of her food, moaning as the delicious flavor hit her tongue. "Shirou, this is delicious!" she complimented him, earning a pleased grin and a word of thanks. "Are you going to become a professional chef after school?"
He shook his head. "No, I just learned over the years that Archer and I took care of our father. He was ill, so he couldn't move very well. We had to learn how to cook ourselves instead. I actually wanted to become a car designer like Cu. I'm his apprentice."
"I'm more of a mechanic than a car designer. It's what I was trained in, but I ended up creating my own car to see what would happen. If you want to become a car designer, I wouldn't exactly come to me," Cu laughed. "I just got lucky."
"Hmm?" a small, confused hum rang out.
"Oh, that's right. You must not have realized, Jeanne," Cu suddenly said. She tilted her head a bit, wondering what he was talking about. She had no idea that he had become a car designer. She knew he became a mechanic, but she was not aware of his other career. "I created the Chulainn brand. You know, Chulainn – the second part of my name that nobody actually says, because it's Irish and fucking weird. Yeah, it's my car brand. I know that Culann or Chulainn are names of themselves, so I understand why you never realized. That's also why I was driving an old one last night. I normally don't drive them, but the car I normally do drive was almost out of gas. I was honestly too lazy to fill my tank up," he laughed.
She couldn't help but feel bad (and a little stupid) for not realizing. How could she not? It made complete sense, but she just always called him Cu, practically forgetting that it wasn't his full name. As he said, nobody ever spoke his full name, which was most likely why he named his brand after it. It sounded foreign and definitely not like a name of a person. It also helped her connect the dots as to why they never seemed to cross paths, why he didn't answer his phone a year after she left, and why he was able to afford such and beautiful and amazing home as well as the services of a maid and a chauffeur who was also part butler.
"Is that why you live here by yourself?" she could only say. Why did he want to be alone? In the past, he was never one to desire such a thing. He was sociable, outgoing, charismatic, and brilliant. He would never want to be by himself, which also explained at least one or two reasons for hiring Alo and Laeg. "Do you practically never have time to get out much?"
Cuchulainn could only give a small nod. "I'm too busy to go out and meet new people, which is why Shirou was joking about me never socializing. The truth is I do socialize with tons of people, but they are all business partners, associates, managers or owners of other locations, customers, et cetera. I'm normally always on the phone or in my office or garage all day. I simply gave myself the night off last night when I reunited with you."
"That's why you're so happy today. You gave yourself an excuse to have a few hours off. That makes sense. Honestly, this is the most rested I've seen you since my first day here," Alodine added before taking a bite of her fourth muffin. "In fact, I think this is the first time that you've ever given yourself a bit of time off since my first day here."
"Heh, that's probably so."
"I don't want to leave," Jeanne abruptly declared, earning glances from everyone in the room. "I think I should stay to make sure that you don't work yourself too hard. That's not healthy, Cu. You should know that more than anybody. You should have a day to yourself if not an entire vacation. Not only that, you shouldn't be alone. Yes, you have Alo and Laeg here as well as Shirou showing up quite a bit too, but they're at work just like you. You need somebody here who's not working hard while you are doing the same."
"Jeanne, I'm fine; trust me. Plus, these two slackers don't listen to me," her lover jested. Alo and Laeg couldn't help but give nods of agreement. All they did was clean sometimes, give Cu massages, and drink his alcohol and eat his food. They didn't actually do too much. "I'm sure you have a life of your own. I don't want to take that away from you just so you can watch over me, but if you really, really want to stay here then you're welcome. However, I do not want you making this decision on a whim. I want you to think it over rather than just telling me over breakfast the morning after our reunion."
Jeanne grunted in frustration before sighing in defeat. He was right. She couldn't just decide something that would change her life so suddenly. She also had two roommates as well who aren't even aware of where she is. They are probably worried about her, wondering if she was kidnapped and such. Sure, she left them a message saying she wouldn't be home until later that day, but she was not one just to make plans with somebody without warning. "Fine," she huffed. "But, my answer will be the same. I can assure you that. I just need to talk my roommates into letting me move here. They should also probably meet you...and be informed about you...and get to know you. This answer may take longer than expected to give you."
He chuckled, nodding. "I know," he told her before digging into his food once more.
The satisfying sound of the engine stopped, once he put his car into park and pressed the button to turn it off. The driver then unbuckled his seat belt, lifted up the door and rounded the car to get to the other side. He proceeded to open the door for his passenger, taking her hand and helping her stand. "Thank you, Cu," she thanked him, receiving a bob of his head. "I had fun," she told him with a red but happy face.
"I did too. How about I give you my personal number, so we can do this again? And soon because, I honestly do not and cannot wait very long for us to do that again." She gave him a small giggle and a nod.
"I agree," she told him. She could see something in his eyes, something nonexistent yet existent all the same. She had seen it before, years ago when they were together. It was every time she would see him he would have a little gleam or something in his eye. She wondered if she was a victim of the exact same thing. If she looked into a mirror, would she see what she saw in Cu's ruby eyes that shimmered in the sun on even a dark, rainy day?
Who knows? All she knew was that his lips suddenly landed on hers, causing her to let out a moan of relief. She loved him so much. She never wanted him to let her go. How did he cause her to feel this way within the smallest fraction of a second? She had no idea, but she could only thank God for him, for this. It was a moment so small, yet a moment that would change her life forever, for the better.
Their lips parted almost as quickly as they came together. "I love you, Jeanne," Cu told her with a meaning in his voice that would make anybody fall to their knees. He kept her steady though, and she was grateful for that. "Call me tomorrow, okay? We can make arrangements then."
She nodded silently, giving him one more peck before he went back to his car and drove back to his home. She smiled as she watched him back up, seeing him wink at her before putting his car in drive. Giggling, Jeanne walked up the steps toward her apartment complex where Arturia and Guinevere were sure to be waiting along with Diarmuid and Lancelot. Taking a sip of the water bottle that she had in the side of her purse, she readied herself to give the four the long, overdo explanation of her and Cu's relationship.
