People had finally stopped staring after Francis's monologue, and their waitress had returned with Bouillabaisse.

Arthur, while eating, had begun to talk about literature.

Francis couldn't help but notice how Arthur's eyes lit up as he spoke about his favorite authors. He spoke articulately, with wit. Arthur had clearly given a lot of thought unto the matter.

By the time their waitress had returned (with escargots), Francis was feeling a deep admiration for Arthur's intelligence. He had always appreciated the arts, and seeing Arthur speak so passionately about literature was fascinating.

"Miss?" Arthur asked, "Might I inquire what your name is."

She smiled, apparently having put the earlier incident behind them, "It is Yang Liu using western order. You can call me Yang."

"Of course, Miss Yang. Thank you very much," Arthur said sincerely.

Yang giggled, "Oh… uh… it's no problem."

"Really," Arthur insisted, "Thank you for serving us."

Yang beamed and skipped off.

Francis felt impressed that Arthur was so polite to her. In his career as a Starbucks worker and waiter, he had seen many times how customers would treat their servers impolitely. It had been a constant thorn in his side.

"This food is delicious, non?" Francis asked.

"Yes," Arthur replied, smiling slightly, "It certainly is. You know the best part?"

"What is it?"

"That people have stopped staring at us."

Francis smiled.

"You must admit, I have a lovely voice."

"You do… in your dreams!"

Francis shook his head, laughing, "You're just in denial! My voice is that of a heavenly chorus!"

Arthur chuckled.

A timid cough sounded.

"Excuse me… your mushroom risotto has arrived," Yang said softly.

"Ah!" Arthur said, "Thank you very much, miss!"

Yang smiled, "You're welcome."

She paused.

"Forgive me," She said shyly, "But may I ask if you two are on a… er… date?"

The two were silent for a moment.

"Well," Francis said smiling, "Of course we are-"

"No!" Arthur shouted, his eyes wide with what looked like… fear?

For the second time that night, the entire restaurant turned to stare at them.

Yang looked flustered, "I apologize for intruding. I'll-"

"We are not on a date," Arthur repeated angrily, standing up, his eyes blazing with intensity.

"Sir-" Yang began nervously, backing away.

"Arthur-" Francis said, trying to place his hand on the other man's arm.

"No!" Arthur yelled, "This whole bloody thing… what was I thinking?"

Francis felt like he had been slapped.

"Mon cher-"

"Don't call me that!" Arthur screamed, tears beginning to slide down his cheeks.

"Please-"

"I'm not… not…"

"It's perfectly fine if you are," Yang said, her face pale, "Everyone's different and-"

"Shut up," Arthur hissed, as more and more tears escaped from his eyes, "I… I'm sorry!"

"Arthur," Francis's voice cracked, "Yang's right. It's okay whether you like men or-"

"Please," Arthur said weakly, his voice dropping to a whisper, "You- I- father-"

"I can help you deal with him." Francis pleaded, "It's okay-"

"No, it's not!" Arthur shouted, his green eyes full of anguish. Seeing him that way broke Francis's heart.

"I… God, my little… gone…"

"It's okay to be attracted to men-"

"I'm not!" Arthur screamed, smashing the table so hard that it flipped over, "I'm not like Al-"

Then he stopped, his face whitening.

"I'm not," Arthur repeated in a whisper, his voice was weary and sad.

Arthur's emerald green eyes met with Francis's violet blue ones.

Then he sprinted out of the restroom, leaving an overturned table and a shocked crowd in his wake.

11/27/2016

Ah… a disastrous end to a first date.

I'm planning for there to be RoChu fluff in the next chapter, though!

It was kinda hard for me to write the dining part of the story, since I have no clue about Western meal customs. I Googled it… but then, despite my perfect score in math, it was too confusing for me. Aiya. Stupid Westerners.

I just randomly Googled French and Italian dishes for the dish names. In truth, I have no clue for them.

If you can correct me about the Western meal customs, then feel free to! Just please be nice about it.

About the whole "nice to waiter" part, I've noticed that people can be jerks to waiters sometimes. My dad once called one over to complain excessively about the food, which really grated at me.

Surely one can spare a little extra effort to be kind and polite to the ones serving them food.