Two's Company - Modern AU [Caitrin]

[lucan]

He'd received a text around lunchtime from Cait, saying that she was currently moving her stuff in. At least she'd got their safely with her things, as he'd found out when he'd got home finally that evening and managed to go tumbling over a stray box in the hallway. "Trying to kill me already?" he called half laughing as he walked into where Cait was. Most of the things were in her room, there was always that one box that didn't end up there though.

Lucan dumped his briefcase on the kitchen table and took off his jacket. "You managed to get everything in then?" he said, shrugging off his blazer and loosening his tie. After a long day he finally felt free. He was also very hungry and now turned to Cait. "Now...what would you like for dinner? Either you can sample gourmet a la Aubert or head straight to option number two which is takeaway." he smirked. He didn't rate his cooking highly, but at least he could say it was edible.

Heading over to the fridge, he pulled out some juice and poured himself some. Now that felt good, and some feel good music wouldn't go amiss right now either.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin stuck her head out of her room as she heard Lucan trip up over the spare box in the corridor. She winced slightly and looked sheepishly on at Lucan, “You alright?” She asked, coming out fully into the hallway and smoothing down her dress. “My Uncle must have left that there.” It was always easier to blame him anyway, or at least that was what Caitrin found most of the time. She hadn’t finished unpacking the boxes in her room yet, so she would get to them eventually she was sure. Eventually she would fully unpack, she would have to, or else she and Lucan would end up with a broken neck before long. She might be a nurse, but broken necks was a bit beyond her.

Caitrin nodded, “Yeah, me and my Uncle moved it all in this afternoon.” She explained as Lucan began to settle himself in from his working day, “Good day at work?” She asked stereotypically, well she had no idea what sort of things Lucan would be getting up to at work all day. It couldn’t all be numbers surely? That would be too dull to think about. She preferred caring for people, because it meant you were always busy and there was always someone to talk to at the end of the day.

Dinner was another issue wasn’t it? She felt her stomach rumble, she’d been so busy unpacking she’d totally forgotten about food. As good as Lucan’s food sounded, she felt like take-away was on the cards. After all, it was her first night here, and they should mark it in some way. “Take away sounds good to me, what type do you fancy ordering?” She had seen a few take aways on her way down here the other day, so she was sure they would find something that they would both agree on. It would be fine, she was sure.

[lucan]

Managing to save himself just in time from embarassment he nodded when Cait's head popped out of her room. "Just about" he smirked, "Did you manage to get everything here alright?" She must have followed him into the kitchen because now she was asking if he'd had a good day. "As good as it can get for me" he smirked and drunk the rest of the juice he'd poured into a glass.

Takeaway sounded good, at least there was minimal washing up. "You can choose whatever you want - after all it's your first night here." He rummaged through the kitchen drawer for the takeaway leaflets that he and Gwaine used to go through after very drunken friday nights usually ended up with neither of them cooking the next day.
"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay" he said sorting through them, "We've got chinese, indian, Dominoes Pizza, Sleek and Shine windows - no I don't think that's right..." he chucked that leaflet to the side, "or there's always the local chip shop."

Luc looked across to Caitrin. "Take your pick, im just going to take a quick shower and then we can order if that's alright?

[Caitrin de Archer]

The move had been surprisingly easy, but Caitrin was well used to moving by now. Three years of moving in-between various student flats and her Uncle’s home had meant she could get in and out of accommodation like it was second nature. “I did, thank you, with a bit of help from my Uncle that is.” Of course Rouland had been on hand for all her moves, as much as it had annoyed him every single time. She was sure he hadn’t actually wanted her to move out, after all, he had no one to complain to about her cousin on a regular basis anymore. Then again, he would eventually remember he had a phone. Caitrin had no idea what a normal day was like for Lucan, so she just nodded, she supposed she would know in time anyway so it wouldn’t matter that much.

She smiled as Lucan gave her the task of choosing what they were going to have for dinner. She really fancied a Chinese take away, if Lucan wanted that as well. There was no point in ordering an incredible amount of food if they weren’t both going to enjoy it. She wasn’t a fan of pizza anyway, so Chinese felt like the way to go. “I’d love a Chinese take-away.” She said almost breathlessly, “So long as that’s alright with you as well?” She didn’t want to upset her new flatmate on their first night together of course. Caitrin just nodded aimlessly at Lucan as he informed her he was going for a shower. Instead she just made a grab for the take-away menu trying to decide if she fancied chilli beef or salt and pepper chicken. Both were equally as appealing, and she sometimes got the opinion that her eyes were bigger than her stomach. While deciding, her phone began to buzz. It was just her cousin, Dristan, complaining about their Uncle as usual via text. Caitrin sat aimlessly texting him back, mostly poking fun at him while she waited for Lucan to get back.

[lucan]

Ok, he had definatly needed that shower! Being in a suit all day really didn't do him justice whatsoever. Wrapping a towel around him, he walked out of the bathroom into the hallway. "I'll be a few minutes!" he called out to Cait, "Have you decided what you want yet?"

Finally dressing himself in something more comfortable he headed back into the kitchen where Cait was and peered over her shoulder at the menu. Chinese - good choice, because he could use a chow mein right now. Luc hadn't realised just how hungry he was until he'd actually got the menu's out. Heading over to the iPod dock, he scrolled through the selection of songs. Caitrin would most likely think that they were rubbish, but she was more than welcome to use her iPod (should she have one).

"Right, I think that your first night here calls for some celebration" he told her, pulling a bottle of wine from the fridge. "Or if you don't drink, I think I have some non alcoholic cocktail recipies somewhere."

[Caitrin de Archer]

It would be wrong to deny that Lucan didn’t have a good body because it was really clear that he did. Caitrin didn’t fancy him of course, he was nice enough but she already knew he wasn’t her type. However, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t take a few moments to indulge herself, though the moment was incredibly short. Well, that was one of the perks on sharing a flat with a male housemate. Caitrin smiled to herself and just nodded as Lucan excused himself for a few more moments. She was still texting her cousin back and forth anyway. “Yeah, Chinese if that’s alright?” Caitrin shouted towards Lucan as he went to go and get dressed.

Caitrin just threw the menu towards Lucan as he came out of the bathroom, now dressed. She text her cousin back, telling him to get on with whatever his father was having a go at him about, and then turned her attentions back to Lucan. Caitrin stood up and walked over to the kitchen, sitting herself on one of the bar stools. She couldn’t help but let out quite a hearty laugh as Lucan suggested that she might not drink. She hadn’t got through university by being sober for the majority of it. The prospect was quite amusing, “Of course I drink, what do you take me for?” She asked, still trying to stop herself laughing. She wasn’t really much of a wine person, but it would do for now until she could afford some spirits of her own. She’d already used the ones left over from her degree course which was a traumatic thought in many ways. “Do you want to order the take away or should I?” She asked in a friendly way, her phone was sat on the side anyway so she didn’t mind if she had to ring for some food.

[lucan]

"Of course!" He called back when Cait annouced what she wanted, and now felt a little embarassed at the fact he was stood there in just a towel. Quickly turning away he headed to his room before it either fell down or before she could comment about it. It was bad enough he had a hard time talking to a girl without having to flat share with one. Mind you, Cait was quite easy to talk to so he didn't mind that. One thing was that he needed to get out more.

He opened the bottle of wine from the fridge and smirked, “Of course I drink, what do you take me for?” Grabbing two wine glasses from the cupboard he filled them both and passed one to Cait, "You'd be surprised at how many people I know that don't actually drink - so I thought I'd just check with you." he told her and took a sip. "It's fine, I'll order it, and they're usually quick anyway. What do you want?" he asked.

Luc picked up his phone, once again finding a missed call from Elaine, and tapping in the number. "Feel free to change the rubbish music or even browse for a film or something" he said, "Unfortuantly im a bit of a child when it comes to movies, so most of the ones I have a quite embarassing, but there's a few in there that aren't."

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin could probably count on one hand the amount of people she knew who didn’t drink, and most of them were children. Her Uncle drunk nearly every moment of every day, so it was natural that she should drink as well. However, Caitrin did have an aversion to some sorts of wine seeing as it was all her Uncle ever drunk. She would drink this wine, but next time she would defiantly be buying the vodka. “I hardly know anyone who doesn’t drink.” All of her uni friends had drunk most days, and she had taken great pleasure in joining them. Caitrin smiled at Lucan and took the glass of wine, “Thanks.” She said before taking a sip. It was sweet wine at least, that was some sort of mercy at least, she couldn’t stand bitter wine; it was her Uncle’s favourite.

“Erm, just order me a chilli beef.” Caitrin told him as she went over to his ipod to investigate the damage. Caitrin had quite a unique eclectic taste and she wasn’t sure that Lucan would agree with much of her music, as she probably wouldn’t agree with much of his. She flicked through it, finally finding some Florence and the Machine, it wasn’t her favourite band but it would do. She preferred things like punk, and indie music if she was being truthful, as well as Irish punk music. The gigs she had been to in uni with Irish punk bands had been simply amazing. The Irish certainly knew how to drink and that was half of the appeal. After she had shifted the ipod selection around for a bit she took her wine and settled herself back on the sofa waiting for Lucan to be done with his order. When he was she looked up at him, “How long will it take for it to get here?” She hadn’t realised how hungry she was until the prospect of food was presented in front of her.

[lucan]

Once he'd ordered he hung up, "about ten to fifthteen minutes" he told her, finding that she'd shoved on some Florence and the Machine. At least she hadn't found his Horrible Histories Songs playlist. He was already embarassed in his taste of music without having Cait know that he'd actually converted most of the songs to his iPod.

To pass some time, he re-arranged the magnetic letters on his fridge door (something that he and Gwaine had purchased from Toys R Us to add a bit of fun to flatsharing), so that it didn't particually spell anything. "If you need to rant at me or just leave me a message when i'm not here, then use the fridge" he smirked, "Gwaine's messages usually consisted of 'We need more milk' or 'I Love Beer' - so it wasn't all that bad."
Gwaine hadn't really been a bad flatmate, just when he'd left with no warning. Luc hadn't heard from him, so he assumed his friend was either shacked up with the new love of his life, or he was drinking himself into oblivion because the whole thing hadn't worked out.

He took another sip of his wine and almost spilt it down him as the buzzer for the flat sounded a little while later. Paying for the food he brought it back into the kitchen and dished it up. "Here you go, you look as though you need this" he grinned, taking the plate to Caitrin and passing it to her.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Well that wasn’t too long then was it? She could cope another ten minutes of near starvation. There hadn’t been much time for her to eat when she had been unpacking, and she had rushed her breakfast somewhat in-between loading her Uncle’s car up with her boxes. Caitrin just nodded at him and found herself laughing as he explained the fridge method. It sounded quite eccentric in a way but she nodded all the same. She’d have to think up some weird messages to leave him every now and again, it would bring her endless amounts of amusement. “I shall don’t worry.” She replied, then diverting her attentions as the doorbell rung. Thank God for that, she thought quickly. She was sure her stomach had been on the brink of eating itself because she honestly felt that starved.

As Lucan handed her her plate, she took it gratefully, “Thanks, but I think you need it more than me.” She had only been unpacking, but he had a full day at work behind him. Caitrin supposed she was glad she hadn’t had the stress of working and moving on the same day. It would be nice to get to know her flatmate better over dinner though, and Caitrin looked up at Lucan thoughtfully. She was never a reserved woman, so she saw no reason to start now, “Ok icebreakers.” She challenged him, polishing off her first few mouthfuls of her take away, “I’ll ask you a question then you ask me one back, got it?” It was really quite simple, and she was sure Lucan must have done this kind of thing before, who hadn’t? “Do you have a significant other?” That needed to be gotten out of the way, not because Caitrin fancied herself with Lucan, but because she wanted to know if there was going to be another woman poking her nose round the flat on a frequent basis.

[lucan]

There was no way that he needed this more than she did. "Ah but i've been sitting behind a desk, you've been moving boxes and whatnot - so I think you win for most deserving. "He gave a small chuckle and sat down with his own plate. He'd only taken a 15 minute lunch break due to beating yet another deadline to be done for after the weekend, and there was no way he was working over the weekend just to meet it, when he already spent many hours on his laptop (sometimes even working into the early hours of the morning) just to meet them.

Icebreakers, oh no - he hoped this wasn't anything too embarassing that he would have to admit to. Then again if Cait asked any questions like that, he could fire some back at her later. "Ok" he smirked, "you're on". He took another sip of wine for courage, and waited for Caitrin's first question. “Do you have a significant other?” Ok, so why hadn't he even considered that this would be her first question? He would be sure to ask her same in a few moments.
Lucan cleared his throat and shook his head, "Nope, still on the market." he said, even holding up his hand so she would find no ring on his finger. "Much to the annoyance of my father" he added, "and you?"

Time to get to know one another better, otherwise the fridge method would certainly be used.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin listened to Lucan thoughtfully, she supposed he was right to an extent. She had been moving an awful lot of things today and all week really in preparation to move. She still hadn’t unpacked the boxes yet so that would get done eventually. Probably when she could be bothered, or when she had a really boring day off work. She often got too distracted to do constructive things anyway. “But you have the stress of work as well, least I don’t have to answer to customers and bosses while I’m unpacking boxes.” She chuckled, she knew that those you worked with were sometimes the most tying part of a job, or at least that was what Caitrin found most of the time. Then again, the people she worked with were justified to be a little cranky some of the time.

She was quite shocked that Lucan didn’t have a girlfriend, she wasn’t sure why, but she just was. Surely he had women practically falling at his feet, he had to be lying, surely? She wasn’t going to accuse him of lying though on their first night together, so she just chuckled at him, “I bet you’re turning down women every week.” She teased softly and as she expected he returned her question, “Not as such, I’m between things at the moment.” Between relationships was the best place to be in Caitrin’s opinion because it gave you choice and flexibility. She was more of a try before you buy sort of person, and she had tried quite a few in her years. She shrugged softly, she didn’t care much what Lucan thought of her in this sense because she knew she wasn’t that bad, well she knew of women that were worse than she was. That wasn’t to say she didn’t want a long term relationship eventually, she just hadn’t found the right man for the job yet, “Ok, you come up with a question this time.”

[lucan]

Lucan smirked at this, "True, but you've been lifting and so on, once again you win." he could tell this was going to turn into an interesting debate. "Besides, I hardly ever get stressed unless it was about something incrediably important."

By the look on Cait's face, she certainly hadn't been expecting him to say that he was single. Her comment about him turning down girls every week did make him laugh though. "You make me sound like a serial womaniser" he shot a coy glance at her before continuing, "and im quite the opposite actually - I err...well, I guess I find it hard to talk to girls." He shrugged this off as though it wasn't a big deal, managing to hide the embarassment by taking another long sip of wine.

Inbetween relationships. He nodded at this and could see that she was thinking that he was judging her. "Im not one to judge if that's what's on your mind" he told her, "anyway, if that's your outlook on relationships then it is, im not going to think badly of you." he smiled. "Right, my question is that now you've heard my appualling selection of music, what kind of stuff do you listen to."

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin could see that neither of them were ever going to back down on this argument, she could see that Lucan was as stubborn as she was. Instead she held out her hand, “We both deserve this meal as much as each other; deal?” She asked with a smirk. It was quite refreshing to come up against someone else who had the same stubborn streak that she did. Anyway, while they were arguing about who deserved the meal more they weren’t actually eating, which wouldn’t do at all, mainly seeing as Caitrin was absolutely starving. She felt like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. By the time she was mostly finished with her meal she was convinced that she was defiantly going to like it here.

She shrugged at his words, finishing off her mouthful before she spoke again, “For all I know you could be.” She knew relatively little about Lucan, save what he had already told her. She was probably a bit too trusting at times, but on this occasion it seemed like her gut instinct had been completely right. She was glad to hear that Lucan wasn’t going to judge her rather obscure relationships. Her Uncle certainly hadn’t approved of a different man being under his roof every Friday night, but he had to live with it. Caitrin had this apartment though now, and she wasn’t a child, she could do what she wanted. She was always careful though so she knew that she wouldn’t be getting any unexpected accidents anytime soon. “Well then don’t be surprised when I’m introducing you to a different guy every week.” She jested and winked at him. She wasn’t that bad, ok maybe she was, but still.

His question wasn’t a hard one, but she didn’t want to put him off her tastes too much, “I quite like Irish punk music, have you ever been to a gig like that? It’s one of the best nights out you will ever have.” She told him confidently, “Other than that I just like indie music, or soundtracks, they’re quite nice to listen to on the bus home.” She shrugged, that was her musical taste in a nutshell. Anyway moving on. “Right now my question, do you have any pets I should know about?”

[lucan]

He gave a small snort, Caitrin was certainly a stubborn one, "deal" he replied with a nod and shook her hand that was waiting for him to. "And that is probably the most random debate i've had in a long time".

Giving Caitrin a chuckle he shook his head, "well you'll be pleased to know that i'm far from it, im not really one to go out drinking every weekend and such - I pretty much keep myself to myself." Well, he'd tried to when Gwaine had been his flat mate but that hadn't exactly turned out the way he'd wanted it. “Well then don’t be surprised when I’m introducing you to a different guy every week.” He laughed at this, "It's fine, I'll make sure i'll stay out of your way for most of it." Lucan knew she couldn't have been as bad as Gwaine, a different girl every night so it had seemed. He'd forgot all their names and he was sure that Gwaine had too. Now it seemed one of them had been an exception.

Irish punk music?! Now that was new! He shook his head and finished off a mouthful of food. "I think you'll have to let me sample what Irish punk music is like," he smiled, "but it does sound like fun." Yup, compared to his music tastes that were just awful.

“Right now my question, do you have any pets I should know about?”
"Well I have a fish called Ham" he told her, "and two hamsters called Coco and Cobweb, but they're all in my room so they won't be a bother." he told her feeling like a small boy, telling his class at school how many pets he had and what his dysfuntional family was like. "My father - who is a little bonkers by the way - gave me them, saying that he'd brought them off some guy and then realised that he was allergic to them." he rolled his eyes, what a memory that had been, "so I said i'd take them." He finished, moving onto his next question, "Ok then this is not so much a question, but run me through a typical weekend of Caitrin" It had to be more interesting than his was.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin wondered how they would fare together as room-mates, as she was quite loud and when she was in the house everyone knew about it. However the fact that Lucan liked to keep himself to himself was probably a good thing as well. Perhaps Caitrin could learn to be a little quieter in return. “I’m the opposite, but I’m sure we’ll get along just fine all the same.” Caitrin had only just started working full time, and she supposed she had been a little louder when she had been living out the student lifestyle. It probably was best if Lucan stayed out of her way when she was spending her night with whatever man she had managed to charm that evening. After all, three was a crowd, and Caitrin liked her time alone.

She couldn’t help but grin at the fact Lucan was interested in her music. Most didn’t pay her much heed in terms of her musical interests, it wasn’t something they enjoyed so they just nodded and let her get on with it. “I’ll dig my Ipod out of the boxes later to show you.” Caitrin promised him with a grin. She was already enjoying her time here. She couldn’t help but laugh at the names that Lucan had given his pets, and she covered her mouth up to stifle her laughter. “Those aren’t incredibly masculine names, did you come up with them or did your father?” She asked him, still trying to stop herself from laughing. His own request was something she hadn’t been expecting, and she rolled her tongue around her answer, not that sure on what to say, “Well I’m a nurse, so I can be working all weekend.” She pointed out reasonably, “But if I’m not I’ll usually be out either Friday or Saturday night, and nursing a hangover the night after.” She smirked, “Or I’ll be seeing what the last man I’ve charmed has to offer.” She winked at Lucan, sure this was one man she wouldn’t be able to tempt, “So what’s your idea of a perfect weekend?”

[lucan]

He was glad that he amused her with the names of his pets. Thankfully it wasn’t his father that had named them. When it came down to naming anything, Luc really wasn’t that imaginative and had just chosen the first few names of things that came to his head. “It was me who thought of them actually, had my father have done it then they’d be named after Naval commanders or something” he rolled his eyes.

He poured himself another drink and nodded as Cait spoke. “A perfect weekend?” he mused, very rarely getting something of the sort these days. “At the moment it doesn’t exist, im usually back and forth to my father’s house and sorting out everything for him, he can’t really do it himself at the moment and my brother is just about useful as a needle in a haystack. So it’s usually down to me at the moment. But if I did have one then certainly it would be relaxing in the park on a sunny day and just watching the world go by, perhaps going to a gig or two but that’s rare.” He said, Lucan did like his music and his relaxation.

“And yourself? I’m sure a weekend of yours is more eventful than anything I could come up with.” He asked, “do you want another drink?”

[Caitrin de Archer]

“Naval commanders?” Caitrin asked curiously, creasing her brow. It seemed like an odd topic to want to name someones pets after. Then again, she had been taught history in school by a man who named his dogs after Russian dictators. Compared to that, Naval commanders seemed completely ordinary, “Was he in the navy?” She asked, trying to get her head around why someone would call fish after naval commanders. It wasn’t the most absurd thing she had ever heard, but it was slowly creeping up the scale.

Lucan’s brother sounded something like Caitrin’s cousin, Dristan. She always had seemed to be the one running round after her Uncle, even though it should have been Dristan running round after his own father. She had always done everything anyway though, it was a case of knowing that nothing would get done unless she took the initiative to do it herself. “So you have your father, and your brother, to look after?” She asked with an amused smile. Her Uncle had already told her that she was coming to dinner later on in the week, he might act like he didn’t care, but he missed her when she was away, and she knew refusing the offer would mean he would be insulted.

Her perfect weekend? “Probably filled with as little work as possible, men, and drink. In no particular order.” She laughed, whilst sinking her lips into her drink. She suddenly felt quite tired, and gave a short yawn; catching it with the back of her hand. She hadn’t realised how tired she actually was, but she had been shifting boxes all day. “I think im going to head to bed, it’s been a long day.” She excused herself quickly and made her way into her room, then she remembered something, “Oh Lucan, is there a reason my bed is slightly...broken?”

[lucan]

Caitrin gave him a funny look when he mentioned naval commanders, now he’d done it and would have to explain about how his father Captain Corneous Aubert had come to be the man he was now. “Err….well, yeah…” he shifted uncomfortably, not wanting Caitrin to think that he was a stereotypical upper class snob, yes his family had money, but Lucan neither cared to use it for anything and everything. Hence why his father had been so mad when he’d chosen his career path instead of staying at the family estate in the country. “Well, he used to be a Captain, then he retired and I guess that’s what’s sent him a bit bonkers – he likes to think he’s a pirate or still in command of a ship” he rolled his eyes, “thankfully he doesn’t do house visits so you’re safe from him.”

“So you have your father, and your brother, to look after?” Luc snorted, “Sort of, I hardly ever see Griff these days unless he wants something or a bed for the night after he’s been in town drinking.” He told her, “Had my mother have been here then she would’ve most likely looked after my father.” He went quiet after saying this and chose to take another sip of his drink.

Lucan laughed at her description of a Caitrin filled weekend, and noticed her yawn. “Right, well if you need anything you know where I am” he smiled, “Goodnight Caitrin.” After she was gone he sat back and swirled the liquid around in his glass, his head suddenly looking up as he heard his new roommate’s quizzical tone echo down the hallway
.
He headed straight into Cait’s room and raised his brows, “Yes, and I believe there is only one word…Gwaine” he gave her a knowing look. “If you want, you can take my bed for the evening and I’ll take the sofa, then take a look at the bed tomorrow to see if I can fix it?” he suggested.