『Pardon』

The quilted surface of the bed's comforter was the only horizon Arche saw as she hugged the pillow to her heated red face in embarrassment. Her lower body hung off the edge of the bed, her legs lightly kicking slightly. The tips of her feet poked at the wooden floor below.

Her blue eyes stared at the comforter, her thoughts racing through her head, but not as fast as the hammering of her heart. Jack had set her up, when she had thought he meant one thing, he made it looked as if she was some sort of pervert.

"So embarrassing..."

Letting out a slight whine in annoyance, muffled into the pillow, her eyes would move towards the door as she could hear the soles of his leather boots. He was making his way towards the room.

He was coming!?

Clenching her teeth, she would slip off of the bed, pulling the pillow off with her as she stood beside it. Her eyes narrowed on that doorknob as it clicked and turned.

Just then, as the door pushed open she raised the pillow, swinging it behind her head before throwing it forward in a somersaulting motion through the air. Her eyes widened, watching as the Angel entered the room.

As it was about to hit him in the face when his hand came up, and as casually as ever with all the suspense, he caught the pillow with a subtle 'floof' against the palm of his hand. His fingers then dug into the soft surface, grasping the item tightly.

"Oh?" Jack lowered the item from face level, a brow raised as his eyes seemed to shine excitedly. "Someone's wanting to play with pillows?"

Blinking twice, finally noticing what had just happened, nervous sweat drops formed on the side of her face. "Heh... Wait, Jack, it's not what it--"

FLOOF. The pillow came flying back at her, smashing into her face like a marsh mellow, curving around her face and onto her shoulders on impact. Her hair seemed to act negatively to this, no longer being neat and orderly.

Her arms were held out at her sides, her fingers twitching slightly before she reached up and took it from her face. Puckering her eyelids, she glared at him with a sliver of a grin across her lips.

"I'm going to get you for that..." She spoke quietly, sweetly, with a playfully ominous intent.

"Oh, I find that highly improbable." Jack beamed just as playfully as he walked into the room, closing the door carefully behind himself. Once it was clicked shut, he locked the door.

"I... I see..." Feinting a look of disappointment, that's when she would lunge forward, grabbing her staff from beside the bed. "『Fly』!" Suddenly an outline of blue energy could be seen briefly engulfing her before she became airborne. "Haaaaa!"

She was flying right at him, staff in one hand and pillow in the other. She was ready to strike!

"Oh come on! No magic!" Jack snickered as she came at him. Hardly it seemed that he would take this seriously. So she swung the pillow at his head, only for him to duck, causing her to over swing. Then just as she was recuperating, he shot right back up, standing erect in her path.

Squeaking Arche instinctively, though not on purpose, swung the staff towards him in defense. Stopping it as he grasped the shaft in his left hand, he pulled her in along his arm and pinned her back against his torso. Holding her with his arm across her chest and arms, trapping both of her arms in the process.

"Flying in confined spaces doesn't usually work," Jack whispered in her ear as she squirmed against him. Pressing the side of his face into the blonde hair of hers, he rubbed his face into her cheek. A small smirk remaining across his lips as he locked eyes with her.

Arche flushed a light red, her legs dangling as he held her the way he did, their shoulders evened out with one another. "No fair..." She uttered quietly, he had prowess in both physical and magical ability. "You're way too overpowered."

"Well," Jack snickered in her ear, "Are you going to hit me with that pillow if I let you go?"

"Nnnnnnnnn... Probably," Arche seemed to settle in his arms as the other wrapped around her waist. "Would you give me a chance?"

"Only if you drop the staff, I don't feel like getting hit with an iron rod." Jack scrunched his nose as he seemed to hold her a bit closer and tighter. Though not enough to make it necessarily too uncomfortable, just really hard to get out of.

Wiggling her toes in her boots, her peripheral vision remained on him in the corner of her eye as he kept his face against the side of her cheek. "Are.. You not letting go?" She gave a half suppressed giggle that quickly faded out.

"Hm..." Jack's throat resonated slightly as he hummed in thought. "Who knows."

Raising a brow at this, "Obviously you do," Arche huffed as she pressed the side of her head into his face. That's when she felt the warmth of his lips brushing against her cheek.

A pleasurable tingling sensation shot through the back of her head, like fireworks had gone off.

Slowly, curiously, she turned her head to look at him. His face was only centimeters from hers and she immediately turned red, quickly letting go of the iron rod, letting it fall to the ground with a loud thud of metal clashing against wood.

Jack's eyes drifted down towards the rod which was on the hardwood floor, then flickered right back to her big blue hues. Tracing the hair which framed her face with his sight, his eyes would make their way down to her lips.

Shallowly she swallowed saliva building up in her mouth, his hold wasn't letting her shrink away, and her face was only growing redder as time passed by. Relaxing her eyes, she could see his intentions.

Arche curled her toes in slightly, drawing her lips inward for a moment before releasing them after glossing them. Taking in a slow, heavy, inhale. She would part her lips softly, contracting her lips.

He blinked a few times seeing this, watching as she let her eyes close and leaned her head closer to him. Tilting his head accordingly, he pressed his lips against hers.

In that moment his six wings sprouted from his back, wrapping around her almost like a cradle, setting askew the sight of those which were hiding beneath the bed.

Hearing the sound of his wings, her eyes opened slightly as she slowly retracted her lips from the kiss.

"What is..." Her eyes looked over the silvery white wings which seemed to shine. They were no longer the dark turquoise she was used to.

Raising a brow as she began to admire his wings, Jack would lean his head down a bit, tucking his lips against her neck. Running them down into the turtleneck of her top. He could feel her shoulders and body stiffen in his arms.

"J-jack, what're you doing?"

"Nothing," he'd whisper against her skin, nuzzling into her neck, feelings its warmth against one side of his face. "Just enjoying you, trapped in my arms, and my wings."

Not being able to turn her head easily, she tried looking at him from the corner of her eye, watching as he closed his eyes.

"Gross," The sound of giggling could be heard from under the bed. "Oniichan and Oneesama, are gross." His eyes immediately opened at these words, both he and Arche peered out from between his wings toward the bed.

Two little blondes were peering out at them.

"Shhhh!" They said in unison, putting their forefingers to their lips. "We're playing hide and seek."

Jack's lungs deflated through his nose, Arche having the same reaction whilst dropping the pillow. While she shared the room with her little sisters, she didn't even know they were there!

Reaching back, Jack unlocked the bedroom door with his fingers, before teleporting with Arche in his arms. When they resurfaced in the Study, he'd retract his wings, only for his eyes to rest on two forms by the desk.

Arche and Jack stared at Imina and Termite who hadn't noticed they were there yet.

Slowly he would release Arche, resting her silently onto her feet. The two of them then glanced towards the door, noting that it was closed, locked. They then shifted their sights back to other duo.

Arche's face was already flushing red, so as she was watching the two of them going at it, her eyes were a bit wide. So when Jack placed a hand on her shoulder, she almost squeaked, and the moment she did they vanished from the room!

Termite and Imina looked up from the desk, blinking a few times.

"Did you hear Arche by any chance?" Termite asked as he raised a brow, his eyes scouring the room for anyone or anything that could've squeaked like their own friend.

Imina sat up from the desk, looking around and shrugged. "Nope," her legs still wrapped around his waist. "Shall we get back to it?" she'd pant, biting her lower lip as she looked up at him excitedly.

Before they could continue however, there was a knock at the door, which made both of them jump.

"Eh!?" Both of them looked to the door, but all there was, was silence.

"… Could Jack have entered with Arche?" Termite chuckled nervously, as both of them couldn't look away from the double doors of the study they currently presided within.

Imina then turned her gaze to him, sucking on her teeth slightly. "We… Should get going then, right?"

"That would probably be best," the blonde man scratched the back of his head, before combing his fingers through the red streak in his hair.

The two lovers quickly fixed their clothes and spruced themselves up. Quickly, they'd depart from the room, leaving it unlocked as they wandered down the hall towards their room.

Having reappeared on the rooftop of the manor, Jack stood there with his hand on Arche's shoulder. His face was near expressionless, almost completely blank.

On the other hand, Arche was beep red.

The two of them kept their eyes out onto the city that surrounded them. The sight was breath taking and slowly, easily, they began to calm down. Deflating their lungs, they in let out a sigh in sync.

"Why weren't they doing that in their own room?" Arche suddenly blurted as she rubbed her eyes "I'm not going to be able to unsee it."

Jack shrugged slightly, "I've seen better," his tone was more like a joke than any true seriousness.

Arche smiled up at him questioningly with a set of straight lips, she didn't know how to react to that.

"Now that we're not escorting your sisters home, and running into Fluder, would you want to go out to eat someplace?" He'd ask curiously with his head tilted to the side slightly.

Arche nipped her upper lip slightly in thought before nodding happily. "Where though?"

"We could go to E-Rantel… Though we might run into Theo." Scratching the side of his head, he looked to the sky thinking of places they could go. "If we went to Re-Estize, we'd probably run into Gazef."

"The Head Warrior of the Kingdom?" She blinked up at him rather surprised, "You know him?"

"Yeah, I saved him and his men from being killed by the Slane Theocracy when they attacked a Village he was aiming to protect." Jack informed with a cheeky smirk across his lips now. "They were trying to assassinate him, drawing him out by attacking villages along the border of the Empire."

Arche's thoughts went back towards the whole unsympathetic response he had given at dinner when he was informed of information regarding the Theocracy. Was that the reason why he didn't seem to care?

If he were still in Japan, or even Europe, he'd be able to come up with tons of places to eat or just to go out on a date. There were no cinemas here, at least not modern ones. There was definitely a theater.

Then there was the coliseum, it wasn't necessarily the best place for a date, right?

"How about a picnic?" Jack asked as he looked down at her with the tilt of his head. "At the park?"

As they were in the middle of thinking of a plan, a carriage pulled up to the property within their peripheral vision, a carriage which belonged to the Emperor.

"Today's going to be a long one..."