~Author's Note~
Hello all! After this chapter, I am going to have to condense chapters because I hate long numbers lol. So some chapters will but mushed together! Hope you like this transitional chapter! Hopefully the next will be much more exciting than this! (Not really proud of this one :$) Welp, enjoy!
Sincerely,
Ms. AtomicBomb
"Aha…" Jeanne nervously laughed, "You see…" She was trying to find the right words so that her friend wouldn't take it the wrong way. Although, finding the words was proving to be very hard, in fact, she didn't even know if Arturia would ever take it in the right way. She bit the inside of her cheek and then gave a short smile, still trying her best to come up with an excuse that wasn't a lie.
"Oh, are you here with your family? That sounds splendid." Her best friend smiled at her, not truly knowing why the female was there.
There's nothing to hide, Jeanne, you can tell her, "I'm not here with my family…" The long haired female felt her heart and gut sink, preparing themselves for the absolute worst.
"Oh?" Arturia tilted her head, eyes sparking with intrigue, "Then who are you here with?"
"U-um, well…" Buying time wasn't exactly doing her any justice, however, it was hostility—and that was not a good thing at all.
The small white bathroom was filled with the voice of Jeanne's companion who stood on the other side of the door, "Jeanne, you've been in there for fifteen minutes now, are you ever coming out?"
The Briton frowned, hoping she was wrong, "Who's that?"
Jeanne's eyes grew wide and she felt her heart hit her rib cage at an alarming rate. She cracked an innocent smile, awaiting the backlash of her friend and hoping to solve things as soon as possible. So, this isn't going to end well.
"Jeanne, look, I'm sorry. I really did not mean to be so mean; I was just teasing. You know I meant no harm. Are you even there? Sorry!"
"Is that…" Arturia was starting to twist her face to show her utter dislike for the man outside as her friend visibly gulped, "Gilgamesh?"
Jeanne waved her hands so as to calm down the English female that was most likely about to burst like a tornado at any second, "Don't freak out," she breathed.
"What are you doing with Gil? You said there was nothing between you two over dinner…did you… Did you lie to me?" Arturia gasped the last part—this would have been the first time Jeanne had ever lied to her or in general.
There was a short silence and a grunt from the outside of the washroom as Gilgamesh was becoming very impatient. Jeanne opened her mouth, "I'll be out in a sec, Gil," she announced towards the door and turned her attention back towards Arturia, "There is nothing happening. He's a friend, Artie. I promise you that."
"That is—" Jeanne covered Arturia's mouth.
"Shh, I'm sure you don't want him to know that you are here with Dia and then he finds out everything. Do you? Trust me, there is nothing between us, I'll talk to you later." Jeanne whispered and slowly slid her hand from Arturia's mouth.
"Jeanne," Arturia whisper-yelled at her friend as the other began to make her way out of the bathroom, "Jeanne don't you dare!"
"I promise you. Don't you trust me? Your best friend?" With Jeanne's threat, Arturia had nothing else to do but grunt and give up. She kicked her shoe and frowned.
"I trust you."
Jeanne's lips were decorated with a small smile, "I'll lead Gil away from you guys, so enjoy your time."
"Alright…" Arturia sighed in defeat and then waved her friend goodbye before the French female left. She gave them a little time before collecting her watch and leaving the washroom to join Diarmuid again. It had become a little colder but she brushed it off as she shoved her hands in her pockets and soldiered on to where she had left the handsome male waiting.
She stopped as she watched him seated on a bench, looking up at the sky and letting the snowflakes fall on his face. She couldn't see his face but she knew he looked handsome as he always did. Biting her lower lip, she blinked and began her way towards him. Instead of sitting next to him—as she had initially planned—she creeped up behind the bench and cupped his face between her cold hands, red fingertips matching his cheeks.
Her face hovered over his just as his amber eyes were set ablaze with confusion. Her hair slipped down and hung around his face like a curtain and even if she wished to kiss him right on the lips, she refrained and just looked at him steadily.
"You scared me for a second there," he whispered and watched a smile pull her lips wider.
"Did I really?" She asked, lifting a light eyebrow and tilting her lips to one side.
He could see the look in her eyes, the one she had whenever she wanted to kiss him… and it made him quite nervous. That, however, also made him wonder what was holding her back from leaning in closer. She looked very determined, but all the same not the slightest bit confident. Their eyes locked and he noticed she leaned in closer towards him so he shut his eyes closed, but he never felt her lips on his, but on his cheekbone.
His eyes shot open and he furrowed his brows up at her.
Arturia let out a short laugh, "What's with that face? Am I not allowed to kiss you on the cheek?" She wasn't hurt by his expression, but she was thrown into small laughter because he just looked funny with her red lipstick having stamped the impression of her lips over his beauty mark.
"It's not that…" He mumbled and carefully watched as she rounded the bench and plopped down next to him.
"I do hope that you are not disappointed because you were actually expecting me to kiss you, Dia." She lifted an eyebrow as she glanced at him. She noted that his cheeks dipped a few shades darker than before and she had to hold back her giggle.
"Of course not," he shook his head—denying it to himself because he did not want to dwell on that thought any longer.
Arturia took a deep breath of the cold winter breeze and then let her gaze drift in front of her, where people passed by, speaking to each other and laughing, "I saw Jeanne," she spoke, still not wanting to spoil the mood.
"Did you?" Arturia had to take a mental note that he was a horrible liar when it came to these things.
She gave a prompt nod, "Yes, indeed I did. I also figured out that she was with Gilgamesh… Why did you not tell me?" She drifted her eyes back to him.
She saw him tense as he tried to show her otherwise, he was still as a rock—almost seeming as if he was not even breathing, "I did not want to ruin your mood."
"Well, I trust your judgement… If you did not tell me earlier, I at least hope you would have told me another time." She responded, "Jeanne said she would lead him away from us, do you want to continue our date?" The blonde stood from her seat and looked down at her boyfriend.
Diarmuid nodded slowly up at her and then pushed himself off the bench, "Is there any other place that you want to go in particular?" He asked glancing about, most likely watching out for his students.
"Not in particular," she replied, "what about you, is there any place you would want to go and see?"
The man shrugged but took a step closer, "Let's just see where we end up." He chuckled and offered his arm so that she would hold onto him. With no hesitation, she took it and they began to explore more of the village.
They had participated in some small events but it seemed that instead of Diarmuid being on edge, it was Arturia that could not settle down—she was restless and had been for a couple of hours now, "What's distracting you?" Diarmuid had finally decided to speak to her about it because it was truly bothering him.
Arturia shook her head, "Oh, it is nothing," She offered a non-convincing smile up to him. She did not want to burden him with her troubles but it really wasn't seeming as if she was really enjoying the date.
"You can always tell me what is bothering you, Arturia." He blinked at her, with a soft voice so that she would feel his encouragement.
She sighed, "I… I do not want to spoil our date," she mumbled.
"Your restlessness has me believing that you are not enjoying your time with me."
"Forgive me," she rubbed the back of her neck, "I trust Jeanne that there is nothing happening, but I do not trust Gilgamesh. I feel he might make a move on her or hurt her in some way."
Diarmuid laughed a little, "That is what is bothering you? I was worried you had realized you did not like me." Then he ruffled her hair, "You're too cute."
She pouted a little and frowned, "I was thinking to make sure that nothing happens…"
"So, you want to stalk them?" The Irishman furrowed his brows.
Arturia shook her head, "It is not stalking if I am only making sure that my best friend is going to be fine; she's too precious and innocent to be played by Gilgamesh. Plus, it will give us an advantage because they won't find us if we are paying attention to them."
He knew she was trying to convince him, but he really did not need so much convincing, "Come on, let's find them, then."
It took them a long while to find the others walking through the small snowy street. It really did seem that Jeanne was having a lot of fun, and that Gilgamesh was treating her as best as he could, being an asshole and all. They followed them around for quite a while but the crowds were becoming denser and they had lost them.
Jeanne had found an interesting stand, it was of some maple syrup lollipops, "Do you want to try one?" She turned to Gilgamesh, smiling at him brightly, "The have bacon inside of them."
Gilgamesh shook his head, "It's alright."
Her blonde head turned back to the stand and she was looking at the other treats that the had to offer. They had maple syrup everything and Jeanne was quite excited about it all. She tried to choose the one thing that looked most interesting and delicious but this was proving to be a difficult task. After minutes of staring and the vendor looking at her with impatience, she turned back to Gil, "What do you—Gil?" She had found an empty space behind her and the male had gone missing. "Where are you?"
"What the hell is your problem Grainne?" Gilgamesh hissed as he shook the female's grasp off his arm.
Her face was twisted with anger and she rolled her eyes, "I should be asking you that. Did you fall in love with her or something?" She questioned.
"What do you want from me?" The red-eyed male crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance.
Grainne grit her teeth, "So you don't like her, right?"
"I do not, now let me go back."
"Not so fast. If you really have no feelings for her, as you do say, you would have no problem dropping her here." The brunette rested her hands on her hips as a sly smile formed on her lips.
Gilgamesh rolled his eyes, "Since when did I do what you say?"
"If you really don't have feelings for her you would ditch her, but if you do decide not to prove to me that you do not like her and you return to her I will be willing to tell her the entire truth." Her devious smirk growing wider with every word.
"I really do not have feelings for her." He sighed.
"Then dip," she shrugged, "I see no problem."
"That would be very rude of me."
Grainne scoffed and rolled her brown eyes after crossing her arms over her chest, "Are you being serious right now? Since when did you ever care about acting rude? You pride yourself in being the biggest jerk, even Jeanne slapped you for that."
He spoke between clenched teeth, "I'll leave her then. I'll go and tell her now."
"No, no explanation, just dip. Leave her there to figure it out herself, don't even give her an explanation afterwards."
Gilgamesh was prepared to brush off the female with her hallow threat but with the look on her face he did not want to take the chance if she was not bluffing, so he did as she had proposed. But not without dropping something she could use as a clue and as an excuse. Whilst she was at the bathroom, Gilgamesh was able to get something for her.
Jeanne was looking for Gilgamesh frantically. The problem was that she was not so fond of big crowds and she did not like to be alone, after a while she had gotten the message that he had ditched her and she had begun to become restless and a little afraid. It might only have been six in the afternoon but it was already pitch black, as was common in the winter months of Canada.
Her heart was starting to pound a little as she thought about calling Arturia but she did not want to bother her friend on her important date. She was starting to feel uneasy as she was being dragged deeper into the crowd and she tried to find a way out. A tap on her shoulder brought tears to her eyes and her heart to her throat. She turned around to see her best friend, holding out a lollipop to her, "Are you okay?"
Jeanne's lips were brightened by a smile and she immediately wrapped her arms around Arturia, "Yeah, I'm okay."
Arturia returned the hug, "Should we go now?" She asked, keeping her friend in the tight hug.
"I don't want my mom to see I was crying…" Jeanne slipped from the hug and there were tears n her eyes already.
The Englishwoman ruffled the other's hair and looked back to Diarmuid, "How about we go over to your place? It's getting quite cold out."
Diarmuid looked at the two females and seeing as Jeanne was upset and Arturia was right he shrugged, "I guess that could work, I'm sure Cu would love to have you two over anyway." He knew Arturia did not want to go home yet either as half their date had been following Jeanne and Gil and the other being stuck to Morgana and Merlin.
Arturia had excused herself for a while as she asked her sister for permission. Diarmuid had been waiting patiently while rubbing Jeanne's back as so to comfort her. It took a while for Arturia to return with a small smile, she hooked her arm around Jeanne's and lead her to wards the car.
The male walked a foot behind them and was mostly enjoying the winter breeze until his eyes caught something that had been dropped on the floor. He bent down to pick it up and noted it to be a small tiny white box with a ribbon on it. A little gold tag was attached to it, twisting it so that he could read it without the glare of the Christmas lights, his orange eyes grew wide. 'To Jeanne. You're welcome for the best date ever.'
Diarmuid felt somewhat upset because he was thinking about his brother's evident crush on the blonde female and her relationship with Gilgamesh, but then there was a short realization that dawned upon him… Gilgamesh would not have bought this if he had been planning on ditching her.
"Dia, are you coming?" Arturia called and waved at him, a cough escaping her lips afterwards.
Diarmuid jogged up to them whilst removing his green scarf and then placed it around his girlfriend's neck, "You cannot miss tomorrow, I'm teaching an important lesson that will be on Friday's test."
Arturia rolled her eyes and nodded, supressing her blush. Then she took the other end of the scarf and reached over to Jeanne so the could share it.
