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The first time Giselle sees Michel smile, really smile and not just some smug smirk, it isn’t some grand moment. At first, she thinks it’s a trick of the light. But no, as they sit and talk in the parlor and Giselle shares some story about her childhood there is the faintest image of a smile on Michel’s face.
It’s so distracting that she pauses her story and just stares. The two of them have been living together in the mansion for about two months now, since her return, and they’ve been getting along fantastically. Still, despite their peaceful cohabitation Michel remained mostly stone-faced. She just figured he wasn’t the type to smile which was fine, it may not have been the easiest thing in the world to figure out, but he showed his joy in other ways. So, seeing an actual smile from him is a surprise, but not an unwelcome one.
The smile is gone almost as quickly as it appears, soon replaced with an expression of concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Was I staring? Geez that’s embarrassing. “Just lost my train of thought is all, where was I?”
“You woke up your sister to ‘take care of the monster living in your closet’.”
“Right, yes, uh, so then my sister…” Giselle continues her story, only slightly disappointed that she doesn’t see his smile again. Maybe it was just a trick of the light after all, or her own imagination, but a part of her really hopes it isn’t. She’d really like to see it again.
---
The second time she sees him smile, she knows it’s not her imagination. It’s an honest to goodness real genuine smile. It’s not a large expressive grin, like the one usually plastered on Giselle's own face, but it’s a smile all the same.
Once again nothing particular is happening to mark it as a special occasion. They’re just eating dinner together, like they always do. It’s not even an impressive dinner. Don’t get her wrong Giselle is a great cook and is quite proud of her abilities, thank you very much, but even she knows there’s nothing all that special about tonight’s meal. At least not special enough to warrant the elusive Michel smile.
And yet as they talk and eat and make idle conversation, she catches that smile again. It’s small, and barely perceptible to the average person, but she knows Michel and his facial expressions; that is definitely a smile.
She tries not stare, if he knew she was staring he’d probably get embarrassed and then that smile would be gone until who knows when. Not that she spends a lot of time looking at him or anything. She definitely has absolutely no reason to do so whatsoever. He’s just her friend and as a friend she likes to see him happy, that’s all. It’s totally normal to want your friend to be happy!
Still, Michel is, objectively, a very pretty man and his smile well… his smile is simply…
It’s beautiful.
---
Giselle catches him smiling on a couple more occasions since. It’s a game she plays with herself. To see how often she can catch him smiling, to see how long he keeps the expression before something makes him change it. It’s fun! Especially since he’s been smiling a lot more lately. It’s probably because he’s not lonely anymore. Which is good! Michel deserves to be happy and it’s nice to think that she can play some part to achieve that.
She doesn’t spend time thinking about why such a thought brings a smile to her own face.
---
A lot has happened within the past year living in this mansion. If someone had told Giselle that not only, would she be content living in an isolated mansion, but that she’d be in love with the grumpy Master who lived in it, and he loved her back; well, she would have simply laughed in that someone’s face. She would have laughed hysterically, in fact. But here she is and all of that is true, and it’s so incredibly wonderful. Giselle had always been an optimist but not even she could have ever imagined herself as happy as she has been since the two of them confessed their feelings.
Even better, as a result of this happy phenomenon Michel has been smiling a lot more lately. So, she no longer had to be sneaky about stealing glances at such an expression. They’re a couple now and staring at your partner being cute and smiling unknowingly is perfectly within her right to do whenever she so chooses. Like right now! They’re cuddling together on the couch reading one of the many books his family had sent over the years. They had done so before, but now since they were romantically involved, they got to be extra cuddly. If Michel’s cute little smile was any indication, he’s enjoying it as much as she is.
“Giselle?” Michel raises an eyebrow and looks at her. “Are you even paying attention to the book?”
“Uh yes, I totally am.” Not.
She doesn’t have anything to hide of course but it’s still embarrassing. It’s only been a few days, what if she scares him off? What if it creeps him out or makes him hyper aware of his expression so he never smiles again? A hundred thoughts run through her mind and all of it is incredibly anxiety-inducing.
“Uh-huh,” he replies, clearly unconvinced. “So, what just happened in the book then?”
“Um… Achilles and Agamemnon had an argument and so Achilles was refusing to fight in the war, and the Greeks were losing as a result.”
“That was several pages ago.” Whoops. Busted. “If you don’t want to read, we don’t have to.”
“No!” Giselle exclaims. “No, it’s…it’s not that just.” She takes a breath in and slowly exhales. She has nothing to hide after all, not really. “Promise you won’t laugh.”
“…I promise.”
“I was distracted.”
“Distracted?”
“Yes, by uh…by you.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
“Ugh by you, okay! I was distracted by you and your cute smile.” Giselle immediately buries her head in her hands. I can’t believe I just said that. How was she ever supposed to look him in the eye after that. A few seconds pass and she hears nothing. Well, he’s not laughing, that’s a good sign, probably. She keeps her head in her hands but lifts her head up slightly, and opens her fingers to take a peak at Michel.
His eyes are as wide as dinner plates, his cheeks are as red as a tomato, and his mouth forms a perfect ‘o’. Great, she gets into a romantic relationship and manages to completely break the guy after only a few days. That has got to be some sort of record. Out of all the scenarios she imagined this wasn’t one of them. She takes her head out her hands and pokes Michel’s cheek. No reaction. She pokes again. Still nothing.
“Michel. Micheeeeel. Are you okay?” She goes in for another poke when she’s met with resistance in the form of a hand blocking his cheek.
“I-I’m fine. I was just… surprised is all. I suppose I’m not used to hearing such things. I didn’t think you’d care so much about something so…trivial.”
“Trivial?” Giselle feels herself become more confident in the face of Michel’s nervousness. “Of course, I care about your happiness, I-I love you, you know that already.”
“I suppose that’s true. In that case I believe the appropriate response here is to thank you. Both for caring and…for being my reason to smile.” He turns toward her and smiles one of his shy little smiles.
Feeling her cheeks become redder than Michel’s were and fighting the urge to hide in her hands again Giselle beams at him in response. With only one word floating through her mind at the sight of her beloved’s smile in this moment.
Perfect.