~Author's Note~

Hello all, I did not want to keep you waiting anymore and so I am splitting this one in half. Sorry guys! Love you all! Enjoy this really short chapter! Thank for the support and hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

~Ms. AtomicBomb

Butterflies were filling her stomach with every inch they closed between themselves. They were probably an inch apart and his hands had found themselves to her waist. There was something caught in her throat as her chest swelled up, but she was not going to stop now. His grip around her tightened a little and she opened her eyes a slight crack just to see him, but as she did, Diarmuid pushed her away as quickly as he possibly could, he had a frightened look in his eyes. It was almost as if he was going to run away from the room.

Arturia furrowed her brows, her lips parted in surprise a little, "What bothers you? Was I stepping out of bounds?"

The male took a shaky breath, "It's not that, Arturia…" His voice wandered as he spoke.

"There is no one around, I simply guessed it would be fine to kiss you." Although her cheeks were burning, she somehow managed to speak calmly.

"It's just… It's disrespectful to your father, he doesn't know about our relationship and we are sneaking about in his house, Arturia. It's wrong. It's his house and therefore his rules, and I am certain he would disapprove of this behaviour." Diarmuid answered her.

Arturia took a deep breath and huffed, "I understand as much, but then what is the point of our relationship? We cannot be so much as seen together at school and now at home too? By that logic, it's as if we are not even dating."

"Arturia, we're only one day in, we have a lot of time to slowly get back on track with our relationship. We need to space things out, maybe after your graduation we can even tell you father."

"I am not going to be waiting a year to give you a kiss." She crossed her arms over her chest, upset with the man before her because it was driving her insane.

"That was not what I said. What I mean to say is… just not now."

Both of them heard clapping coming from the doorway and Diarmuid turned pale in seconds, life slipping from him so easily. Arturia shot her head towards the sound and saw her sister leaning against the door frame and smiling. Her hair was slightly messy and her dress had patches of black on it because she had hugged her father after the whole fire ordeal.

"It is very refreshing to hear you still have some values, Dia. I was afraid you'd lost them all when you began to date your student." Morgana chuckled a little, seeing as Diarmuid seemed ready to die, "Are you still going on your date tomorrow? You see, I don't exactly approve of you two, but I don't disapprove either, so maybe the double date that we were planning for tomorrow could make me like the idea of you both."

Before Diarmuid could even formulate a sentence, Arturia was already speaking, "Yes, we are still planning to attend the date, and it would be delightful for you and Merlin to join us. The single thing that I request of you is that you do not interrupt us a second time."

Morgana's burgundy lips etched wide in a smile, "I promise not to do that again, seeing as poor Diarmuid already has enough trouble already."

The young female sighed and took Diarmuid's wrist, pulling him out of the room with her, "Father is most likely wondering where we all went; Jeanne and Cú are already missing anyways."

Upon exiting the Pool room, the couple bumped into Jeanne and Cú, startling them a little. Jeanne had seemed quite frightened as she clung to the blue-haired male beside her, she too looked pale as she let out a squeal, "Don't scare me like that! You know I hate ghosts and stuff." She squeaked.

Cú on the other hand, had a bright smile on his face as Jeanne was holding onto his arm tightly. He could have been dancing—or twerking, if Diarmuid had to choose—over the fact that the female was clinging to him as if her life was depending on it, "Hey there, you really not ought to be sneaking about when dessert is still a bit late." He let a chuckle slip at the end of his sentence as he was quoting the maid that had informed them about the fire.

Morgana emerged from behind the couple and everyone fell silent, until Arturia decided to break the awkward silence, "Is dessert still on it's way?" She tilted her head towards her sister.

"I'm afraid it was cancelled." The brunette grinned, "I am also afraid that we have to join the others now."

Nothing much happened for the rest of the evening as they sat around a fireplace and told various stories of their lives. Some were funny and others were sad, it was actually a good conversation for it build on their friendship. Uther mostly talked about Igraine and how she used to be, he even showed a picture of her and it made Diarmuid curious as to why Arturia never mentioned her.

There was some talk of business, but most of it was definitely personal. The day had ended on a lighter note when they all deemed it time to retire for the night. They had bid each other farewell and Arturia had offered to walk Jeanne home but Cú ended up doing the honours.

At first, there was silence but Cú decided it best to speak up, "So, um, what did you and Gil do when he took you out?" It was not the best conversation starter, but maybe this could keep them talking.

There was a sound that came from Jeanne's mouth which demonstrated her discomfort with the question, but the Irishman could not tell if it was a grunt or a groan, "We… just ate cheesecake." Her reply was hesitated and it sort of irked the man next to her.

"Right," It was very sarcastically said that it made Jeanne wince, "Did he end up taking you home or was he not that much of a gentleman?"

Jeanne sighed loudly, "I thought that we established the fact that there is nothing happening between Gilgamesh and I; there is no need to be so hostile. And I cannot believe that you do not remember that. Gilgamesh offered me the ride, in fact he insisted that he take me home as opposed to me riding the bus or walking home, but…"

"But he decided against it?" Cú blinked, not expecting much from the blond male.

"But," Jeanne frowned, "You came along and since you—"

"Me?" Cú directed a hand towards himself to emphasize his bewilderment.

The blonde female gave a nod, "Yes, you were completely drunk, so I felt obliged to take you home because I was afraid you wouldn't make it there by yourself. Mind you, Gil was also against me walking home with a dead drunk male." When she looked up at Cú, he seemed to be embarrassed.

"Well, I guess that jogged my memory…" It was all he could say because there wasn't much he could do without embarrassing himself any further.

Jeanne thought it best not to mention the near-kiss they shared because she was thinking it was something he had done because he was caught up in the moment and he truly didn't have concrete feelings for her. In fact, the French girl had noticed the way he talked to other girls and he was much flirtier with them, so she understood he wasn't exactly interested in her as much as the next pretty girl.

The conversation became lighter when Cú changed the subject to school and soon they stood at her doorstep, "Hey Jeanne," Cú smirked down at her.

Jeanne tilted her head and blinked up at him after she had retrieved the house keys from her dress pocket, "Yes, Cú?"

Unlike last time, it was not snowing, but the cold air was very strong. Her porch light was all that lit the side of their faces and when Cú began leaning down towards her, Jeanne's heart was speeding up it's pace, hammering against her rib cage. Was he trying to kiss her? Her cheeks burned and she was starting to shut her eyes tightly. She wasn't exactly ready for her first kiss but there was something deep down that made her feel at ease that it was going to be Cú.

Instead of his lips on hers, his voice came right next to her ear, causing shivers down her spine, "Your bra is pink, right? I can see it through your dress."

Jeanne's violet eyes grew intensely wide as the male pulled away—a sly smirk on his lips—and she could barely take in what he had just said to her. Most of her anger rose from the fact that he was looking and then the rest was out of realization, "Was it like this at dinner? Did everyone see my bra? Uther probably hates me even more… Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Well, sweetheart, I'll see you at school then." He winked and then he gave her no more time to respond before he ran off.

Jeanne simply stood stunned and beet red out of pure embarrassment; and she had thought the dinner had gone smoothly.

The following day, Arturia and her sister prepped for the double-date together. Morgana had even convinced her to wear red lipstick—with a lot of bickering between the two. Morgana had even managed to get her younger sister into a red skirt that hung to her knees. Black tights and a sweater topped the blonde's outfit off with red shoes while Morgana wore a black dress with a fur coat. Merlin had met them at the foyer at around ten in the morning, and soon Arturia's door bell had rang.

Morgana pushed the younger female towards the door so that she would be the one to open it and Arturia was hoping that Diarmuid was the one behind the birch doors. When she slowly began to turn the door knob, she felt a little uneasy and thus she took a deep breath to ease herself.

The birch door squeaked as it opened and lo and behold, the very handsome man that was her boyfriend stood in a black coat and a green scarf around his neck; green just seemed to be his colour. Maybe Arturia had been staring at him a little too much because he cleared his throat and shot her a smile, "Good morning," he mumbled.

"H-Hi," she mentally cursed herself for stuttering but she shook it off, "I… like your scarf."

"Thank you," he nodded his head, "Are you ready to go?" There was just something about him that made Arturia speechless, she just wasn't sure what it was.

After having given him a nod, she headed out of the house and made her way towards the grey car that was parked in front. Her eyes settled on the car for a little and she took a deep breath—this was the first time she was going to be riding in a car other than Jeanne's or her Father's and it was a little frightening for her. She looked back, expecting Diarmuid to be making his way towards her, but instead, she saw him standing at the doorstep talking to her older sister.

She brought her hands together and warmed them up as she waited for him to join her. It seemed as if the talk was serious because Morgana had sent her husband ahead and Diarmuid only kept nodding. It wasn't until a few minutes later that he headed over, a stern look on his face.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting… You could have entered, I kept it unlocked," he spoke before opening the door for her.

Arturia lifted an eyebrow, "But, I wanted to wait for you, don't worry about it." She spoke as she entered the car, "Thank you."

Diarmuid rounded the car and soon settled himself in the driver's seat before turning the car back on. He kept silent as they exited the driveway and headed for the place they were holding their date.