~Author's Note~
Hey guys! Thank you for the reviews; I'm sorry for not updating in forever; I have three part time jobs and they're killing me. I have some time rn before I move on to my next one! So I hope you love this extra long update! I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you!
Sincerely,
~Ms. AtomicBomb
Arturia entered her home and quickly ascended the stairs. Upon reaching the comfort of her spacious bedroom, she took a deep breath and searched her closet for something suiting to wear to the formal dinner that they were having. Morgana had suggested she wear a blue dress that she had picked out for her little sister, but Arturia had protested against it very determinedly. Instead of a long blue dress and her hair in a neat bun, the blonde female wiggled into a black suit that seemed to match the deep night sky. She brushed her hair and swiftly set it at a low ponytail before looking at herself in the mirror.
"Father always wanted a boy…" She huffed under her breath before turning away from the white vanity. She was ready to race downstairs and pop a strawberry into her mouth before Morgana called her to do something else or her father caught her munching on snacks before the dinner but then she stopped right before her doorway as she thought about the dinner. Diarmuid was coming over for dinner… her boyfriend was coming over for dinner!
Arturia felt her cheeks become warm as she realized that Diarmuid was indirectly coming over to 'meet the parents'. Alright, so maybe she wasn't dressed like she should have been; a dress would be more suitable for the occasion over a plain black suit.
She pivoted on her heel and stared back at herself through the mirror for a long while, thinking if she should really change out of the suit considering she was already dressed. Her feet moved on their own and she touched her cheek. A certain thought snaked so carefully she did not even notice; what would Diarmuid prefer? Would he rather see me in a dress?
Arturia guessed that that was what it felt like to be a heroine in one of the many mangas that Jeanne loved to read. Her green gaze was still fixated on the blonde girl before her in the vanity. She really wasn't as beautiful as Grainne and definitely not as nice as Jeanne… But Diarmuid still chose her over Grainne, and there was honestly nothing to worry about, at all.
Arturia fixed her hair one last time, hoping that the lock of hair that stuck out of her head stubbornly would finally obey, but with no avail, she descended the steps hurriedly. To her knowledge, Diarmuid and his siblings would be arriving rather soon and so she thought it best to be ready to meet them.
It was the voice of a very stressed Morgana that caused Arturia to slow down her step as she descended the stairs. The commotion seemed to be coming from the living room and Arturia tried to lean towards it to hear what it was all about. After having understood that her walls were thick, she continued slowly down the stair steps and entered the living room to see her older half-sister fixing up the room and asking the maid if she could also help her.
Dressed in an empire waist dress to accentuate her belly, Morgana looked very beautiful with her hair cascading down her back like a shiny black river, but the worried expression did not fit her angel-like appearance.
"Arturia, there you are. Hurry and get dressed, they'll be here any second!" Morgana seemed very stressed as she glanced at the blonde, "Oh, Claire, would it be alright if you could move those flowers to that table instead?"
Arturia sighed, "I am dressed, and don't worry Claire, I'll do it." She added before going over to the white flowers that Morgana wanted to shift over, "The house is fine, Morgie, you don't have to clean it up."
"Arturia, everything has to be perfect! Are you really wearing that?" Pastel green orbs overlooked the dark attire, "Please put on a dress; it looks like you're attending a funeral, not a dinner. Father needs to like Diarmuid and everything must be beautiful when I tell Scáthach and Dia the big news. Oh, have you seen Merlin? It seems like I cannot find any of you today…" Her voice was still frantic as she fixed the red cushions atop the white leather couches; she was trying set the house in a pretty Christmas theme after having seen that the Christmas tree was still not up, "Tonight, after they leave, we set up the tree, understood?"
Arturia was sure that they would probably only leave until late at night but she did not say a single word, "I'll go find Merlin and Father." She spoke and disappeared up the stairs again.
Her father had met her in the hallway and gone ahead as the young girl searched the house for her sister's husband. She finally found him in the bedroom with a loose tie, "Do you know how to tie a tie?" He asked seeing she had a tie of her own.
Arturia chuckled and gave a nod, "Does Morgana tie them for you?"
The blue-eyed male laughed, "You know I'm not big on suits. Are they here already?" He watched the female tie his blue tie for him.
"Not yet," Arturia said and then, right as she had finished her sentence, the door bell rang, "Now they are."
Merlin gasped and thanked the female before he hurried out of the room with half a tied tie. Arturia didn't even bother to stop him for she was having a dilemma of her own. Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest but she tried to calm it down with a deep breath; she readied herself and quickly headed to meet the Duibhne family.
As Arturia descended the stairs, she saw her father shaking hands with Diarmuid and for a second she really wished she had worn a dress because it seemed as if he was coming to pick her up and take her to prom or something. To be quite honest, Arturia wasn't looking forward to Prom at all, but something about going on a formal date with Diarmuid made her heart skip a beat.
"Oh, this is my daughter; Arturia." Uther introduced his youngest child as the female reached the last step.
"Yes, we've met before." The dark haired male gave a soft smile, keeping his gaze fixed on the short blonde.
"Oh, really? That's splendid. Was it at the cocktail party?" Uther never noticed the look in Diarmuid's eyes because he too was paying attention to his daughter.
Diarmuid flicked his head to the older male and furrowed his brows, "Cocktail party?"
"Yes! The cocktail party!" Cú Chulainn jumped into the conversation, a bright smile on his lips, "That's where we met Arturia and Jeanne."
The Irishman looked over at his younger brother and finally understood that he was talking about the house party the blue-haired male threw two weeks prior, "Before that, actually. We met at the—"
"Pasta!" Arturia had a bright smile on her face as she possibly thought that Diarmuid would admit he was her teacher.
"Super market…" Diarmuid finished his sentence.
"Well, we met at the supermarket over some pasta." The female explained after having seen her father's confused expression, "That was during the summer." The bell rang again and Arturia walked towards it after having mumbled an 'excuse me'. She opened the door and greeted her best friend who wore a baby blue dress—the same one Gil had bought her.
The girls greeted one another and then Jeanne stepped inside of the house. She greeted Uther with a kiss to his cheek and gave a curt nod towards Diarmuid, Cú Chulainn and Scáthach. Morgana and Merlin were preparing the last bits of the dinner and so they all stayed in the foyer still.
"Should we head over to the living room?" Uther raised a blonde eyebrow and they all gave a nod.
"You look really pretty, Jeanne. Where'd you get the dress?" Arturia was walking next to the other blonde.
Jeanne managed a nervous smile, "Kotomine."
"What? Don't you need to be invited to get into that store? Isn't it really expensive? How did you even get the dress?" Arturia had her brows furrowed.
It had seemed that the girls had fallen behind quite a bit because a maid approached them, not allowing Jeanne to answer Arturia's many questions, "Forgive me for the interruption, milady, but the Lady Morgana is requesting you both in the dinning room as everyone is waiting."
"Oh," Arturia nodded, "Thank you. Sorry about that," she finished and soon dragged the other female to the dining room with her.
As she had been told, everyone was already waiting and she took note that Merlin's tie was completely tied this time—which meant that Morgana was a little bit more stressed than she had been before. Arturia's eyes skimmed over her guests and she gave a smile as they were seated according to Morgana's seating plan, which had her father at the head of the table, Morgana to his left and Merlin next to her, followed by Jeanne. To Uther's right, Arturia, Diarmuid and Cú Chulainn in order while Scáthach sat opposite of Uther; it seemed that the black-haired female had strategically set the table up.
"Thank you for coming to join us," Morgana smiled brightly at Diarmuid as they all were seated after Grace, "Father, have I told you? Diarmuid and I were friends in High School."
Uther let his blue eyes wander to the handsome male and gave him a smile, "Is that so?" He asked as their food was being served.
"Yes," Diarmuid nodded promptly.
"Oh, and he played in the school's Lacrosse team! He was one of the best players in the team, his skills were superb!" Morgana clapped her hands together, "Tell him father of how you were also in Lacrosse. My father was amazing as well."
Uther's cheeks were dusted with a slight pink shade as he shook his head, "Igraine said I was the best and that's what she told the girls, but I was truly average."
"Don't be modest father," Arturia jumped into the conversation, "Mother told us that you caused three consecutive victories in your university."
Uther chuckled and then looked over at Diarmuid, "They're overreacting."
"I would love to hear all about your victories, Mister Pendragon," Diarmuid smiled at the middle-aged man, truly interested in what the man had to say about his adventures when he was younger.
Seeing as Uther had commenced his stories, ones that Jeanne had heard many times over, she smiled and noted that Scáthach was not so interested, in fact it seemed as if she was being left out more than anything.
"So, were you in any particular clubs during your university or high school years?" Jeanne made an effort to make the female before her feel a little more included.
Scáthach let her maroon gaze land on the blonde, "Yes, Student Council and Football." She had a sweet grin on her pink lips.
Jeanne's violet eyes grew a little more, "Really? I'm also in Student Council. I wasn't elected as President because it's a popularity thing, but I'm Vice-President, and I really enjoy it."
"That is splendid to hear." The Irishwoman gave a short nod, "I was the president back in the day," she let a chuckle slip, "It is nice to meet someone so enthusiastic. Do you have any other extra-curricular activities?"
"I have Saturday school and that's about it. I don't have much time for other activities because I work two part-times." She explained, still keeping a smile on her face, "It's hard work, but I think it's best to support my family."
"How did you come to meet Arturia?" The red-head asked, tilting her head to her right a little as curiosity was taking over her quite quickly.
Jeanne chuckled, "Actually, we met when we were children. It's a funny story, really, I was at the mall with my parents and I sort of lost them along the way. Now imagine me, this poor little seven-year-old surrounded by a bunch of tall people; I was freaking out because I didn't recognize anyone, at all. I don't remember exactly what happened," by now, the entire table was listening to Jeanne's story because it seemed Uther had finished his, "but I remember I tripped and fell face first. Not only was I crying because I lost my parents but now my entire body was hurting too. Then I hear a voice above me and it's Arturia and she's like 'It's okay, you're going to be alright,' and it turns out that she was lost too. So we walked around looking for our mothers and we got separated for a little while. My hair was much shorter back then so it was an honest mistake from Igraine's part when she took my hand and my own mother's when she took Arturia's. It wasn't until we headed over to the next store that Igraine noticed I wasn't her child and I noticed she wasn't my mother." Everyone chuckled lightly, including Jeanne herself.
"Our mother's retracted their steps and the soon met each other. They obviously laughed it out and parted ways after a small conversation. From then on, I noticed that we went to the same park, and that's basically how we became friends. Arturia went to a different school during elementary, but I managed to join her in High school."
"You both tried hard to be friends, not many would go out of their way to join the other in High School." Scáthach smiled softly, "It's nice to see you are both still friends after all this time."
"Thank you," Arturia said as she leaned onto the table a bit.
"What part-times do you work in?" The eldest female asked as she cut her steak.
The atmosphere of the room was light and Morgana was starting to calm down as she saw that everybody was getting along and no one was being rude to Jeanne for her status. Jeanne explained that she worked as a waitress at a restaurant called Michael's and at the convenience store every now and again. The table was going around about what they were working in and what they wanted to be, Arturia had stated that she was going to take the remaining part of the company as her sister owned thirty percent.
"Well," Scáthach began, "Our father divided everything equally between us," she stated, causing slight tension between the two families, "Although Diarmuid is adopted, our father really thinks it's important to show equality because he demonstrates the fact that he doesn't favour any child over the other."
Merlin had his eyes on the Irishwoman first but they immediately shot towards Uther, hoping to see his father-in-law's initial reaction. Although he missed it, he was still able to see Morgana's sudden shock.
The brunette gave a steady smile so as to ease the tension that was already very much in the air, "Oh, Diarmuid's adopted? I would have never guessed; you all resemble each other so very much."
"Morgana… I told you this before…" Diarmuid blinked keeping his gaze on his long time friend.
She shot him a momentary glare because he had not played along and then laughed, "I am getting rather old… Or it might be the baby." It was best to drop the news right then before there was anymore tension between them.
"The baby?" Diarmuid furrowed his brows, "You're pregnant?" His voice came off as surprised with a tint of worry behind it. Morgana, a woman his age already had thirty percent of her father's company, was married and already had a child on the way, while he was just a teacher (sure he had a lot under his name), but he didn't have a steady relationship—in fact, he was basically sneaking around with an under-aged girl.
"That's wonderful, congratulations! How about a toast?" Scáthach lifted her glass of wine, soon joined by the rest of the people at the table. In case you were wondering, Jeanne, Cú Chulainn, Arturia and Uther all were served non-alcoholic wine at Morgana's request.
"Thank you. It's going to be a very new experience, a stressful one as well, but I'm really looking forward to it. I love children, so I really can't wait." She smiled, glancing down at her food a couple of times.
After the toast they continued talking about the baby, hoping to end all tension but it never seemed to go away on its own.
"When did you find out you were pregnant?" Diarmuid tilted his head before taking a sip of his drink.
Morgana laughed, "About two months ago," she looked over at Merlin, "I had been feeling nauseous and all so I thought I would test it out and when I found out I was, it was just such a great moment for me. Merlin was the first to know, of course, and I called my father the following day and we made arrangements so that I could be here for Christmas."
Arturia smiled brightly, "And when are you due, Morgie?"
"Right now it's not set, but June for sure." Merlin answered as he took Morgana's hand.
Scáthach leaned forward a little, already having finished her meal, "That's exciting news. Do you plan to find out the gender before birth? Or are you keeping it a surprise?"
"A surprise," The brunette grinned, "I want it as natural as possible."
The Irishwoman was seeing that the conversation was dying so she decided to ask another question as Morgana's husband and Diarmuid had never talked about what they were currently doing, "Merlin, was it?" After he gave a nod, she continued, "What do you do? Do you work in RBC* or with Pendragon Corp*?"
"No, actually," Merlin replied, "I do not really have a position with my wife's company. We met outside of work and I'm a Pharmacist."
"Pharmacist?" She inquired, lifting a dark eyebrow. Scathatch was not in the best of moods; after having seen Arturia for the second time and finally noticing that she was the one that her brother had talked about during the summer, she was ticked off. Her brother was dating a high schooler and that wasn't acceptable, so she was trying hard to make a bad impression so that Uther would not think it a good thing to get the two an arranged marriage—she was also hoping that they would get on the topic that Diarmuid was a teacher.
The male swayed his head, "Pharmacist and Physician; I'm local so it's nothing on a wide-known level; I don't have a high position in any company or anything. I work a lot with seniors and Children in my community."
"Jeanne, your dress is lovely, where did you get it?" Seeing as Diarmuid's older sister really wanted the thick tension in the air, Morgana tried to come up with a random subject to take the many minds off of the other conversations.
"Kotomine and Co," Jeanne mumbled lowly, afraid she would have to spill the beans about Gilgamesh taking her out.
"Wow," Scáthach smiled, "That's fancy." The young French girl could hear the sass behind the red-head's voice, it was as if she was being treated like a poor child—not that she was denying that fact.
"Oh right," Arturia recalled after taking a sip of her drink, "You never told me how you got it."
Jeanne was already feeling the sweat forming on her forehead as more pressure built on her shoulders, "Well, haha, remember how I told you that Gilgamesh apologized to me," she laughed nervously, feeling her stomach churn as she had never explained the entire story to Arturia because she knew that the other was going to get a little irritated.
"Yes, I remember," Arturia already had her brows furrowed because she wasn't sure how that story was making a connection to the male as of yet.
Cú Chulainn, who sat in front of the Frenchwoman, was already itching in his seat at the mention of the blond teenager. In fact, he still couldn't remember all that happened the night of his initiation and everything to do with Jeanne had been basically wiped out—he only remembered snip-its of them walking home; not the almost kiss, or her dress, or finding her with Gil that night.
"He, um," Jeanne avoided the red eyes that stared her down, "He bought it for me; it was to formally apologize."
"Wait, what?" Arturia basically spoke for the entire table at this point in time.
There was a short silence as Jeanne tried to find the exact words to say as the tension was growing stronger again and this time she was the center of it.
It had seemed that Scáthach had caught attention of the flame in her youngest brother's eyes because she pulled a smile on her lips, seeming a little too odd for her interest, "Well that's really nice of him. What did he do to offend you?"
"So what? Are you together then?" Cú Chulainn crossed his arms over his chest and then sat back on seat. He never really cared what he said out loud and who he interrupted or who was watching, "I thought you said there was nothing between the both of you."
Jeanne's nervous smile soon faded into a frown, "Uh—"
The red head furrowed her brows, "Oh, I'm sorry, is there something going on between you both?" She referred to her youngest brother and Jeanne. Her voice was sweet still, trying not to sound rude or intrusive because she knew that her brother did not like that.
Cú glanced at his sister and let his gaze land on Jeanne again, "No. Nothing; don't worry about it."
There was silence for a bit before Uther spoke, "Well Gilgamesh seems like a gentleman. It is nice that he treats women well," Uther looked at his daughter as if telling her that Arturia needed to focus more on the company's future.
Jeanne bit the inside of her cheek and lowered her head, I really don't matter to these rich people, she thought and then lifted her head again, "If you would excuse me, I need to freshen up." What did rich people even say when they needed to go to the bathroom?
"You are excused," Uther smiled and all the males stood as she did.
Arturia could see the sadness behind her best friend's eyes, "Would you like me to—"
"It's quite alright," Jeanne shook her head as she interrupted the other blonde, "I'll be back soon." She nodded at everyone and left, letting the males sit again. She exited the dining room and arrived at the foyer, the door looked rather tempting but she was not so rude as to just leave in the middle of the dinner.
Her stomach was churning and she felt her nose sting at the cold demeanour of the male that had been seated in front of her. She had never felt so judged before; not even when Gilgamesh had been rude to her. There was just something about the way Cú had looked at her in that second that made her feel like a bad person.
Her phone rang at that exact second and she reached into her purse to see an estranged number. Slowly lifting it up to her ear, she answered, "Hello?" She questioned, unsure if it had been safe to answer.
"Hi, Jeanne, It's Gilgamesh," the very familiar voice came through the line.
"G-Gil? How'd you, uh, get my number?" She furrowed her brows, still feeling hurt from the people at the table.
There was a pause, "Oh, don't worry about that. Hey, are you free tomorrow?" He left no time for her to answer before he spoke again, "I was thinking we'd go out somewhere. I found this thing, it's out of town, and it's a winter wonderland thing; I think I remember you said you loved Christmas so I thought you'd like it."
Jeanne brought a hand to her chest, "You remember that?" Maybe among snobby rich people, Gilgamesh cared more than he let on.
"Yeah, you looked like a little kid, it was cute. So what do you say?" He clucked at the end of his sentence.
"Umm," something warm filled her inside as she felt appreciated, but then she recalled, "tomorrow's Sunday, and I would have to attend Mass…"
"Well, you're not going to be in the church all day, right?" The boy teased her.
Jeanne giggled, "No, but, are you sure you want to go with me?"
"Uh, yeah, we're friends, of course I'd want to. So just tell me when you finish Church and I'll pick you up. Sound good?"
Nodding her head, she answered, "Uh, y-yeah okay then."
"You're not going to ask your parents or something?"
"I'm sure my mom will agree, I got a ninety-nine on my latest Chem test so I think she'll let me go. Oh, thanks by the way." Jeanne added as she shrugged.
"Okay, no problem then, bye, see you tomorrow."
"O-okay. Au revoir."
[Hey I think you guys need to listen to this song from here on! It's called "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" by the Ink Spots. It really matches the next part of the story so please check it out while you read it! Thank you!]
Back at the table, there was silence as everyone finished their meals and then Uther glanced at Diarmuid, "Oh, you never said what you work in? I know that you have part of Fianna Corporation but you have yet to take it, so what is it that you are doing as of now?"
Diarmuid gave a bright smile, "Well, actually, right now I'm teaching."
Morgana furrowed her brows and tilted her head stumbling upon her words, "Teaching?"
He gulped as he had yet to mention a big secret he had been keeping, "Ah, yes, I am a teacher at Fate Academy. Chemistry. In fact," he took a deep breath—he always knew that it would come to this—"Arturia and Jeanne are my students."
Scáthach sat back on her seat, delighted that the beans had finally been spilled whilst Merlin avoided any eye contact as he drifted his gaze to the ceiling. Uther, on the other hand, was not phased for he was making arrangement in mind now that Diarmuid had to be knocked off the list of suitors.
Morgana's eyes doubled in size and she nearly gasped aloud, but there was ringing in her ears that kept silent. She was stunned, had she really been trying to get her sister with her own teacher? The alarms are already going off, she thought to herself, but the brunette soon realized that the ringing wasn't coming from her mind, OH MY GOSH; they really are!
The loud beeping of the fire alarm was resonating throughout the dining room and the kitchen. Jeanne bolted in and looked surprised, "What's going on?" She questioned, a little out of breath as it seemed she ran from the room over (Mind you, this is a mansion).
Morgana quickly rose, as did everyone else, from the table whilst a maid entered the room, "Dessert will be a bit late as there are complications in the kitchen." She sheepishly stated giving a nervous and prolonged bow.
"Complications?" Morgana was confused, "What do you mean?" Her voice came out rather harsh, stinging the servant before her.
The maid stumbled over her words as she finally settled on a sentence, "Well," she lifted her self from her bow, "the chef—"
Without giving the maid any time to respond, the Englishwoman barked back, "We're supposed to have Sorbet, what caught fire?"
The maid bit her lower lip and then spoke up, "I advise we evacuate, the firefighters have already been notified and will be here as soon as they can."
"What?" The brunette raised her voice, eyes glossy as she walked to the kitchen. This had been the last straw; her very perfect dinner was completely ruined. It was up in flames—quite literally.
"Milady, I advise that you do not enter, rather evacuate." The maid's voice held anxiety and fear over their safety.
"I will not let the kitchen burn down." After she said this, she felt a hand on her arm and she turned to see Diarmuid. She watched as he removed his blazer and entered the kitchen. She was able to catch a glimpse of the kitchen in the process; the entire stove was on fire and the flames were starting to reach up to their thirteen-foot ceiling.
She almost entered if it weren't for Merlin holding her back and pulling her towards the front door, "Merlin, mom spent half her time there; I can't just leave it to burn."
Merlin kissed his wife's forehead and reminded her with a simple word, "Baby." And with that, he was able to pull her out with a little less stubbornness from her part. He was very stern and assertive at the point in time because his family's safety was of utmost importance. Scáthach followed soon after the couple because she saw no threat in the fire and she had caused enough trouble already.
Jeanne had already tied her braid up with her shawl and was kicking off her heels so that she would bolt to the kitchen to help the male that had gone in.
"What do you plan on doing?" Arturia furrowed her brows as she took a hold of Jeanne's forearm.
The Frenchwoman looked at her friend for a second before responding, "What do you think? I don't want your mother's kitchen burning down."
"I understand, neither do I. But your life is at risk and Diarmuid's already in there; I don't want to loose you both."
Cú Chulainn decided to catch the females' attention, "We should get going; my brother's going to be fine." His red gaze never landed on Jeanne for he felt she was upset with him after their argument, but he really cared. [Author's Note: And that's exactly what happened to the big brother in Big Hero 6 … The big brother totally came out without a scratch from that fire ;P]
Arturia dragged Jeanne out and was soon followed by Cú Chulainn but Arturia had not noticed that her father joined her boyfriend in the kitchen when she turned her back on him. It wasn't until they were out of the house that she noticed her father and Diarmuid were still inside.
Her father soon came through the door—giving some relief to Arturia for she still hadn't seen Diarmuid anywhere—and gave a couple of coughs. His blue-grey gaze drifted to Scáthach and he gave her a look of remorse as Arturia quickly wrapped her arms around her father.
"Where's Diarmuid?" Arturia looked up at her father, her heart doing weird flips that made her anxious and afraid.
Uther gave a cough, "Diarmuid is…"
"Dying," Diarmuid coughed as he exited the house, still covered in soot, and he looked at Uther before they both started laughing at how silly they looked.
"Dia, you almost gave me a heart attack," Scáthach huffed as she was finally able to let her breath go, while Arturia lightly punched her father to make him realize that his joke was uncalled for.
"The kitchen's fine, I put out the fire already." He replied, "It's covered in soot, but fine nonetheless."
The Firefighters had arrived a minute later afterwards the kitchen was completely alright—save for the fact that it would have to be thoroughly cleaned so that it would look the way it did before. And since everyone was fine, in the end of the night, they all seemed to have a good time because after the fire there was no more tension and everyone was getting along fine.
Morgana had realized that all she worked for had turned to rubble but somehow it had fixed itself, so she was not as upset as she initially had when the fire broke loose.
They all headed towards the recreational building that was separate from the house after the firefighters had told them that after they gave the go they could enter the house again. When they arrived at the recreational building, Cú Chulainn was silently trailing behind Jeanne to have a chance to talk to her and it seemed that the young blonde had noticed because she soon slowed her step until they were way behind the others.
Her amethyst eyes locked on his ruby ones and she spoke up first, "Yes?" She blinked, noticing the awkward silence between them.
Cú Chulainn scratched the back of his neck and sighed, "So, uh, be honest with me… do you like Gilgamesh?"
Jeanne had hoped all talk of the male would vanish but she had high hopes, "Gilgamesh is my friend, and only my friend."
The Irish boy nodded and then gave her a smile, "Cool, so if we reschedule our date it would be fine, right?"
"Cú… I really don't know what to think sometimes."
"I apologize for the way I acted at the table, I was being very rude. I usually don't see the consequences of my actions, but I promise I'll think before I speak a little more. Are you still up for that date?" The look in his eyes was sincere and she truly felt something bubble inside of her just at the sight of him.
She licked her lips and took a deep breath, "I guess there's no pain in just one date."
Cú Chulainn's lips formed a triumphant smile, "I promise I won't disappoint, dear." He winked, "Is Friday night good?"
Jeanne nodded her head slowly and smiled back, not denying the steady thumping in her chest and her dry throat as she was nervous. They stood looking at one another until Jeanne let a giggle slip, "They might be missing us…"
Meanwhile, Arturia had managed to pull Diarmuid to the side with her when everyone was not paying attention once they had reached the second floor. She was able to pull him into the nearest room with her, which was where the pool tables were set—the actual pool was at the ground floor. She sighed as she smiled at him, "You still have soot on your face."
"Arturia," he gave her a disappointed look, "What are you playing at? Your father is nearby." He also seemed a little afraid, "We might get caught and it won't end well."
"I would be able to tell him that I led you to the bathroom," she shrugged, "You are aware that you and father both scared me greatly." She reached up a hand to wipe the soot from his cheek, cleaning it off his beauty mark, "Don't hide it, I really like it." She mumbled.
Diarmuid gulped, Adam's apple bobbing slightly, before he took her hand and guided it away from his face, "Arturia…"
The blonde female wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him down as her eyes slowly began to flutter to a close. The smell of carbon dioxide filled her lungs but she didn't care much, she was finally going to kiss Diarmuid. The butterflies in her stomach were forming a marching band and she could feel her cheeks start to burn, but this was one of the only chances she had and she was going to take full advantage of it. If Diarmuid wouldn't make a move on her, she would make a move on him.