Chapter12: Date Night part 2
The two sipped their wine in silence for a moment as both thought of what to say next. Then Zenigata smiled with a small chuckle, as he realized he had learned more about the woman in their last few encounters then he had that one time in the park she had promised. to answer his questions honestly. She had found a way to distract him enough to give her a chance to slip away without breaking her promise.
Carmen then looked up at him and razed a brow at him.
"And what are you giggling about over there?"
"Oh, I just remembered a joke is all." He lied, he knew if he had told her the truth, she would just clam up. And this 'date' was awkward enough without him adding to it.
"Oh? Care to share?" She leaned forward on the table looking intently at him. He blinked a bit. He had not expected Carmen to be interested in any joke that he would possibly find funny, but then maybe she was just going to mock him for his sense of humor.
"Um..." He paused to think for a moment. Not expecting her to ask, he hadn't really had a joke in mind. But went with the most true form of comedy... the pun.
"Oh you wouldn't like it." Carmen raised a brow at his answer. Her stare was oddly intimidating.
"What do you call a rug on a lease?" Paste for effect.
"A car-pet." Carmen covered his mouth, but her one visible eye made it clear she was laughing. "Y-you liked that?" Zenigata was actually surprised, he hadn't pegged Carmen as the kind to like puns She turned her head her shoulders shake a bit before calming herself.
"That was very good. I do like puns, and word play."
"I had no idea." The man's eyes sparkled with delight. He was not short on dad jokes for sure.
"What do you call a snarky criminal coming down the stares?" Carmen looked at the Inspector with a little twinkle in her eye. Zenigata then shrugged in response.
"A condescending, con descending." It took a minuet before Zenigata bust out laughing, his reaction making Carmen chuckle a bit as well. And yes this drew some stares their way, not that either of them cared.
Just then the waiter returned with something akin to an appetizer and to pour more whine into the pair's glasses.
"*Thank you.*" She said as he explained there was a mix up in the kitchen and their food would take a bit longer and she nodded.
"Looks like our food is going to be a little longer. So they brought his out."
"I didn't think a place like this would have appetizers."
"Not usually, but then I'm not your usual customer." Carmen smirked and took a bite of the snack. The man shrugged and did the same, and surprisingly enough he was actually enjoying himself. He had to live frugally with all his travailing to chase Lupin so normally a restaurant like this would be out of his price range, but not for the beautifully charming Carmen Sandiego.
Though she would never admit it Carmen was enjoying herself as well. He may have been on the opposing side, but she found Zenigata's presence a welcome one. Where she could let down her guard a little, and relax. But not completely, never completely.
After some back and forth of some cringe worthy dad jokes, their food arrived. The waiter didn't look to amused with the pair, but said nothing, as Carmen was well known in the culinary world for being someone that could break a restaurant's reputation with but a wave of her hand. She had done so more then once in Paris alone. Carmen demanded respect.
"I hope you enjoy your food Inspector." She smiled at him. He nodded. After that Carmen looked down at her plate and began to eat and silence fell over the table again. In all fairness it was a little hard to eat and talk without being rude.
As they ate the officer couldn't help but continuously look up at the ebony haired woman across from him. The food was fine, in fact it was really good, some of the best Zenigata had ever had but... He was more interested in watching Carmen.
Carmen could tell Zenigata was starring at her but decided to ignore it. She found it kinda cute in an odd way. Any normal inspector would not even think of humoring her for this long. She appreciated it, having only her henchmen as company got rather tedious. Not to mention they would tend to tred lightly around her since she is their boss. She paused for a moment and spoke.
"I appreciate your putting up with me. But you do put up with Lupin on the daily so you must be use to it." She smirked and her words were spoken softly, so softly that Zenigata almost didn't hear her in the crowded room and he looked at her a little confused. He rubbed the back of his neck his eyes darting away from her. This was a tad out of character for her to say, but she knew if she stayed too stand off-ish he may soon stop humoring her. Even though she knew she would always be second to Lupin.
"Uh, well... it's fine." He sputtered out. "So you like musicals?" Zenigata piped up, to try and get a conversation going again.
"I do..." Carmen replied stiffly. "I was surprised to find that you do. I never pegged you as the type, even if you weren't so focused on your job." She appreciated his trying to keep things light. "My favorite is Little Shop of Horrors, but it's hard for me to rank the rest."
"I like The King and I."
"Really? You surprise me once again Inspector."
"As did you. I didn't think dark comedy was your thing." He smiled and Carmen chuckled a bit.
"Well no one is an open book." And he nodded to her statement.
As the two continued to talk about their favorite songs from said musicals, a familiar group of 3 entered the restaurant. Two well dressed men one with a black fedora and the other dressed in traditional Japanese cloths.
A/N: How will Lupin react to seeing Zenigata and Carmen together, and Carmen dressed up all nice to boot.