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Gilgamesh's work meeting ended very late into the night – because it was a videoconference with people in America and Europe, too – and, as soon as he set foot in his house, he gave instructions to the chauffeur to go pick up his wife at the airport.
It had been a long and demanding day, and he had just finished his shower when his phone rang.
Without looking at the screen, since it was his personal phone and very few people had that number, he picked it up.
"Giiiil~"
Of course. Who else would call him at such an hour? His best friend's tone was teasing and he seemed to be in a very cheerful mood, which meant that nothing serious had happened.
"Enkidu," Gilgamesh greeted, evenly. "Aren't you supposed to be with Arturia in Kyoto at the museum's inauguration?"
He heard a chuckle.
"We're about to take the plane to fly back, but that isn't the point~! Can you imagine who showed up, Gil…? Medea Caster-Kuzuki!"
Gilgamesh slowly sat on his bed, digesting the information and feeling the weight of the long day in the back of his mind. His friend sounded happy; that was positive, and it was useless to try to merely guess what exactly had happened.
"What did she dare do, Enkidu."
Enkidu's grin had the remarkable power of being sensed even through the phone.
"Oh, you should have been here…~ she tried to ridicule Arturia by insulting her in front of everyone!"
In spite of himself, Gilgamesh felt like cracking a grin of his own. That poisonous woman had most likely been severely reminded of her place, for the very first time in her life by someone she considered inferior. It was actually too bad that he had not been there to witness it.
His tiredness was suddenly gone and he settled himself more comfortably against the pillows.
"Do continue."
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When Arturia arrived home and bid the chauffeur good night, she took a shower downstairs to make sure she did not disturb Gilgamesh, as it was very late and she expected her husband to be asleep. She hoped he had not forgotten to separate the beds.
However, when she carefully opened the bedroom's door, she found him very much awake, lying on his bed leisurely with an almost empty glass of red wine in hand.
Well, at least the beds had been pushed apart.
He gave her one of his most devilish smirks as greeting, and she eyed him warily as she carefully stepped into the room.
"Gilgamesh…? Why aren't you asleep?"
His smirk widened as he finished his wine unhurriedly, before suavely letting her know, "Enkidu informed me of Medea Kuzuki's unforgivably foolish move."
Her eyes did not betray a thing as she went to her side of the room, putting down her purse, folding her golden dress and putting it on a chair to remember to give it to the housekeepers the following day, for cleaning. She had made a quick detour to the laundry room so that she could already change into her nightwear after the shower.
He did not seem bothered by her silence, and leaned forward to put the empty wine glass on his bedside table.
"I was told you handled the unpleasant situation with firmness… and class."
His crimson eyes were intently fixed on her form, with something odd glinting in them… but wait…
Arturia blinked.
Was that… pride…?
Arturia blinked again. Indeed, he seemed strangely proud. He did not give her much time to focus on it though, because he had a few other things to say.
"While you made quite an impression, there was no need to do such an extensive research on Hokusai for this specific evening."
She stared at him. He had gone from pride to condescendence in less than ten seconds.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
He lifted an eyebrow. Surely, she could not mean…
"Are you telling me you knew that much about the artist in the first place?"
She did not intend to let him see that she was offended, but she could not deny that she did feel the slight.
"Only because you are not interested in art, Gilgamesh, it doesn't mean that everyone else isn't either. Hokusai is one of the Japanese artists I admire the most, and being at the exhibition tonight was a privilege."
He looked at her curiously.
"Yes, Enkidu mentioned that you told the curators as much. And they were delighted by your apparent interest… or not just apparent, as it seems," he amended with hidden amusement, seeing the glare she shot him.
Arturia pulled the covers off the bed before disappearing underneath them. She had a habit of covering herself even in the most suffocating of summer heats.
"I will assume your meeting went well. Make sure there is no alarm clock tomorrow morning. Good night," came her muffled voice from the place where her pillow was supposed to be buried under.
He shook his head in now open amusement before turning off the lights.
His wife had the ability to start long, entertaining even if sometimes tiring discussions with him, but he couldn't deny that there were many other times in which she was capable of being absolutely, delightfully amusing.
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Social events were just plainly tiring, Arturia decided. She had to make up for lost sleep every time she attended one, and having to sleep more meant having less time to spend with her family, which was something she disliked.
Luckily, after the social event in Kyoto and the brief clash with Medea Caster-Kuzuki – something that Enkidu assured her was just a taste of the intolerant world of high-class people – there weren't any other immediate engagements.
Towards the end of the month, the hospital staff informed her of the fact that the head medic was going to come back on the following Friday. Since Arturia did not have to work on Friday afternoon, Gilgamesh was for once free as well and she knew that it was going to be the chauffeur's once-a-month day off, she reluctantly asked her husband to come with her. She had a driving licence and he had given her leave to drive any of his cars, but for appearances' sake, going together was indeed better.
His expression had been neutral when they had driven to the hospital and, aside from firmly cutting off Shirou's excited attempt at jumping towards him, he did not seem too displeased.
They were walking through one of the hospital's more discreet corridors that led to Iri's room, and the little boy was pulling his aunt by the hand to have her walk more quickly, when suddenly someone spoke.
"Ria? Is that you?"
Not recognizing the voice, Arturia turned around and, to Gilgamesh's suspicious surprise, a startled smile bloomed on her face. Even though it was small, it was a real one.
"Diarmuid?"
A tall man with dark hair and a mole under his right eye had appeared in the doorway behind them, and he had a large smile on his face. "Ria!"
He took several swift steps towards her, raising his arms in an obvious move to embrace her – when someone stopped him in his tracks by firmly moving between him and Arturia. The dark-haired man was forced to take a step back as another tall, blond man stared at him coldly.
"Who are you and what do you think you are doing to my wife?" came Gilgamesh's glacial voice.
Quickly understanding how the situation must have looked in his eyes, Arturia put her hand on his shoulder calmingly.
"Gilgamesh, my apologies, I should have made the introductions first. This is my cousin, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. Diarmuid, this is my husband, Gilgamesh Uruk."
The man, whose name was apparently Diarmuid, stared wide-eyed between her and the person who was more or less shielding her from him.
"So it's true then," he murmured slowly. "I had heard it on the news, of course, but I didn't think it was actually you who got married to the famous businessman, Ria."
Seeing her eyes – and her husband's – narrow dangerously, he quickly continued, "But this is not what I meant to say. I… even if I am a bit late, congratulations, Ria, and Mr.… Uruk… on your wedding."
He had enough sense to know that the use of the first name wouldn't have been tolerated. Good. That was just enough to make sure Gilgamesh did not lose his patience with the mongrel, especially since, a few minutes later, it came out that he was actually the head medic of the clinic.
Arturia was not unaware of her husband's frosty countenance, but she chose to ignore it as she spoke with mild warmth to her cousin, whom she hadn't seen nor heard anything from in quite a while, and who turned out to be the medic in charge of her sister's wellbeing.
By listening to their talks, even if they were often interrupted by Shirou who wanted to show 'cousin Diar' all of his fallen milk teeth, Gilgamesh gathered that he was her cousin on her father's side – her father's sister's son – and therefore not actually related to Irisviel. He seemed to get along well with Arturia, not that that meant that the Golden Businessman would put up with him serenely.
He wanted to leave as soon as possible but, at the same time, he was not going to leave his wife alone with this man. He may very well be her cousin and someone she seemed to trust, but Gilgamesh still refused to entertain the notion of just leaving the matter be.
To be fair, he was not able to explain it to himself – and he didn't even want to – but he still was not going to leave his wife there alone with him.
Didn't the supposed head medic have other places where he needed to be? Didn't he have his job to do around the hospital, instead of hanging around Arturia and talking?
Eventually, the man left. Gilgamesh was satisfied to see that his wife took her leave from him in a simple way, without the effusions that others would have deemed necessary.
Diarmuid Ua Duibhne had better be very good at his job, for Gilgamesh would not tolerate having him around for long if that turned out not to be the case; the least he saw of the man, the better.
The blond man already profoundly disliked him being near Arturia, in any way, for any reason.
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Monday was the only day in which Arturia chose to have both morning and afternoon to work, and she and Gilgamesh usually had lunch together because of that. She had then one day with only work in the afternoon, and the rest of the week she could decide where to place her two mornings. On those occasions, depending on their respective engagements, they tried to share meals as often as possible.
It was not for the fact that they enjoyed their time together, of course; it was all merely for appearance's sake.
On one such day, after their lunch, she took the limousine to the hospital while he went back to the office where there was going to be a meeting.
Iskandar was there early, for once, and tried to give him a pat on the back, which Gilgamesh skilfully and elegantly dodged, as usual.
"Here you are! Back from another meal shared with your sweet other half? Doesn't her company ever become too omnipresent? You seem to be with her all the time!"
In a measured tone, knowing that Iskandar did not actually mean to be as offensive as he sounded, Gilgamesh replied, "I understand the appeal of her company much better than you do."
The red-bearded man roared with laughter.
"Good for you then! You must be glad you have chosen well, Goldie!"
As the other associates slowly filled the room and prepared to discuss the matters on the agenda, the blond man remained standing next to the window for a few minutes longer, his eyes following the limousine until it disappeared around the corner.
He had asked Arturia to start participating to the business meetings; she had been perplexed, but she wouldn't have refused, if on this specific day she had not had to go discuss and sign the documents concerning the delicate treatment that was going to be administered to her sister, who was almost six months pregnant by now. Therefore, to his strange disappointment, she had told him that she was not going to be able to attend.
It occurred to Gilgamesh that Arturia had never complained about how taxing it was to balance her life with her family, the job and the threat of the continuous popping up of reporters during their meals or just casual exiting of the house. Not to mention the fact that he had more or less fed her to the sharks barely three weeks after their marriage, and she had had to confront a spiteful and cruel woman like Medea on her own – yet not once had she complained about any of it.
The large amount of things she had to endure was all because she was his wife. It was true that she was living up to her tasks admirably, and that confirmed that he had chosen well, but that was not what he should be glad about.
Looking at Iskandar as he finally left the window and went to take a seat at last, Gilgamesh could not help thinking, No, you fool. I must be glad she actually accepted everything that this life entails.
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After the meeting, he had one increasingly rare occasion of talking with Enkidu; or rather, his best friend followed him to his office without permission, not shutting up for even a second.
At first, it was to properly conclude a discussion they had started during the meeting about a new project – since Gilgamesh was supposed to be, and was, a married man, many of his usual trips had been delegated, mostly to Enkidu – but then it went on to other subjects.
The green-haired man pointed out that it was very unlikely that Medea Kuzuki had given up on her schemes; after the previous defeat, she was going to be even more brazen in her attempts at humiliating Arturia in public. She was going to use every possible occasion, Enkidu warned.
Gilgamesh wasn't however overly worried.
"Arturia is perfectly capable of handling it. As you told me yourself, she did perfectly fine last time."
"True," Enkidu recognized, standing up. "I am simply concerned about Medea going overboard in her attempts, and causing damages that can't be fixed so easily."
Gilgamesh's blood red eyes gave away his inner smirk.
"As I said – Arturia can handle herself."
Enkidu was almost at the door, but he turned around to look at Gilgamesh again. He searched his face carefully, his strange yellow-grey eyes scrutinizing him intently.
"…interesting. Tell me, Gil~… What is she for you?"
You are for me what I am for you… Arturia's words from a few months before made their unwanted way into his mind. Well, he mused, she hadn't been wrong.
Therefore, he answered his best friend by quoting her.
"She is for me what I am for her… a means to an end."
To that, Enkidu burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that he had to actually lean against the wall to avoid falling on the floor. Gilgamesh looked at him in annoyance, impatiently waiting for him to collect himself.
Once the fits of laughter finally died down, yellow-grey eyes stared at him again, suddenly with a serious expression.
"Really~, Gil?"
Ignoring the odd tone, Gilgamesh did not bother with an answer, but Enkidu surprised him by scoffing.
"I thought I knew you better than that, Gil."
Gilgamesh glared at him, but Enkidu continued, "Sure, glare all you want. But do me a favour, as a friend: never tell me any more absurdities like that."
Gilgamesh did not have an adequate reply this time, be it a verbal one or a glaring one. Enkidu clearly did not need one anyway.
"I know you – you are not a liar on matters like this one, Gil. So if you are going to lie, at least pretend you believe what you are saying. I reckon I may not be the most brilliant mind in the world, but asking me to be this stupid is a bit too much. Saying that she's just 'a means to an end' for you is as believable as me saying that I'm in love with Medea Caster-Kuzuki."
A tense silence followed. When it became clear that Gilgamesh wasn't going to speak first, his best friend elaborated, "You had better be honest at least with yourself."
Seeing that Gilgamesh's face still did not express a thing, Enkidu sighed.
"So, you refuse to admit it. Do I have to spell it out for you?"
He sighed again when Gilgamesh did not reply, and cleared his throat.
"Open your ears: you like her. You are attracted to her. You are smitten with her. You are romantically fond of her. You–"
"Enkidu. That's enough nonsense for today," came finally Gilgamesh's very annoyed reply.
Enkidu, however, sighed again.
"Fine, Gil, I admit that I may have exaggerated a bit – you don't have such strong feelings for her." Yet, he mentally added, but deemed it wise to keep that to himself for the time being. "However, Ria does interest you. At least a little bit."
He opened the door, ready to walk out of the office on his own this time. "Don't remain in denial and give it some thought, Gil! Good night~…"
And he was gone, leaving Gilgamesh with now slightly disconcerted thoughts.
It took several days before he truly gave some serious thought to what Enkidu had said, and it happened while he was talking with Arturia during dinner.
He brought up the fact that, according to the contract, they had to go shopping for clothes. She did not complain nor did she grumble about it, contrary to the other time when they had done such a thing before the wedding, and they settled to go on the following day.
He mentioned this to her as soon as they arrived at a large, high-class shopping mall.
"You no longer seem to disapprove of shopping excursions."
She shrugged politely as they went through several aisles of clothes.
"You are nice enough not to make me parade around nor force me into terrible clothing articles, and you don't spend your money mindlessly. I can hardly complain when you prove to be a responsible person, can I?"
And before he could reply, she added, meeting his eyes, "I do try my best to keep my end of the bargain, Gilgamesh, as you have done so far as well."
He knew it for sure then: with all he could find to criticize about his wife, and keeping in mind that she was not someone he could ever come to like, she was certainly quite… unusually interesting.
On her part, Arturia was completely unaware of his thoughts, and was focused on the shopping spree, not having much to object about it. He did have good taste in clothes, he chose things that she liked as well, and they did not spend too much time on the shopping. It was surprising, but she had discovered that it truly was no effort to respect that part of the contract.
They got along without too much trouble during those excursions. But there were other, much more frequent times, in which they had heated discussions.
There was an occasion in which, when they were outside and reporters followed them until the entrance of their house, Gilgamesh kept a firm grip on her arm the entire time. Perhaps it had been too firm, because she then rebuked him about it, massaging her sore arm.
He recognized that he could have been a little gentler, but it had been to make sure they did not get lost in the sea of journalists. Besides, they were married – she had agreed to be his wife.
"Which means, you agreed to let me hold your arm in public, not merely to avoid getting lost in the crowd, but also to show off."
He was slightly intrigued when he noticed that she did not seem fazed by his words, as she kept observing her arm and seeing with relief that there was no bruise forming.
"Aren't you delusional, Gilgamesh. I agreed to be your wife – nothing more, nothing less," she replied, echoing his words from long before.
He gave her a pointed look at that.
"That means exactly what I said, Arturia. And such gestures in public are part of the agreement – you prove to be mine in front of everyone."
There was so much disgust in her eyes that he almost felt compelled to rephrase the sentence a little differently. She snapped at him before he could decide what to do though.
"You talk in such an arrogant, medieval way, Gilgamesh, considering a wife to be a husband's possession. I have told you before that I am not your inferior nor your toy, but you have obviously not been listening or have decided to ignore me. Keep enjoying your delusions then. Let me know when you're ready to be an adult about these matters."
And she stormed away, refusing to speak another word to him for the rest of the week.
This marriage of his was definitely more complicated than he had thought. He had wanted a wife with a brain, and that was what he had; but someone with a brain demanded recognition – rightfully so, he could not deny that.
Another time, when they were at a shopping mall and she abruptly stopped next to a very costly place, Gilgamesh became annoyed, thinking that she suddenly wanted to buy something fancy. Only years of keeping his arrogant expression in place however allowed him to hide his surprise when all she did was help an elderly woman whose bag had fallen to the floor.
And since photographers seemed to always be around, that brief moment made the headlines the following morning, her small yet kind gesture receiving positive response and praise.
They knew of what the media usually published because they both read the main newspapers and magazines in the morning – both about the news and the celebrities' gossip, and Arturia absolutely despised the fact that she herself was included among the celebrities solely because of her marriage to a billionaire businessman – even if at different times and in different places.
The delivery staff brought fresh food in the morning and had the newspapers ready for Arturia, since she had breakfast at home, but Gilgamesh left before her and took his coffee at the office as he read through the news there.
Husband and wife never had breakfast together; they had already lunches and quiet dinners in each other's company.
That was enough – sometimes even too much so – since more often than not they ended up in such blunt discussions.
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