Summer with Father

Chapter 3

Author's Note: Sorry for dropping this off so early! I don't even have an excuse tbh, I just kinda went a while without writing much. Anyway, I already had 3 more chapters planned, this one included. I'm still not sure about chapter 5, but chapter 4 is already partway done. Chances are I won't publish more afterwards since I have other fic ideas in mind, but I felt like the people who enjoyed this fic were owed the two new chapters at least.

Also: I didn't like how Astolfo was referred to in the first chapter, so I went back and made a small edit. But yeah, that's about all from me. Enjoy!

It was a warm and quiet morning in the Pendragon household. Mordred, who had only just woken up, absent-mindedly munched on his bowl of cereal. He was wearing an over-sized red t-shirt and his hair was wild and bushy.

Walking into the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand, Artoria ruffled his hair. "Good morning." She greeted chirpily. "You slept in rather late."

In response, Mordred simply grumbled.

"Not fully awake yet, I see." She took a sip from her mug. "Want some coffee?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I don't like that stuff. It's bitter and it makes me jittery."

Artoria looked out the window to see the sunny morning outside. "It's quite nice outside today." She thought. "I have been wondering when a good time to take him to the beach would be. Perhaps today would work." She took another sip of her coffee. "Hm...I will have to think about it."

After finishing his breakfast, Mordred started making his way back upstairs. He had just placed his foot on the first step when the doorbell rang. "Mordred, will you get that for me?" Artoria called out from another room.

Mordred sighed and spun back around. He scratched his head as he slowly made his way back towards the front door. Opening the door, Mordred was greeted by an unexpected sight. Fran and Astolfo were both standing in the doorway. Astolfo immediately pounced on Mordred and gave him a big hug. He almost fell over from the force of impact. If he wasn't awake before, he certainly was now.

"Ha!" Astolfo laughed. "Thought you could get rid of us, huh?"

Fran joined in the hug as well. "Guh..." She muttered, softly smiling.

Mordred broke from the embrace. "I'm glad that you're both here, but I'm kinda confused. How the hell did you two get here?"

"Your mom told us where your dad's place was!" Astolfo proudly announced. "But enough about that! Now that we're here, I wanna go to the beach! The beach!"

Fran nodded. "Uuh...beach..."

Artoria walked into the hallway. "What's all this noise?" She widened her eyes a bit when she saw who it was. "Oh, what are your little friends doing here?"

Mordred looked back at her. "Apparently mom told them where we were, so now they've paid us a surprise visit."

"Oh..." Artoria said, not quite sure how to feel about the situation "so I see."

Astolfo waved. "Hello Mordred's dad! I'm Astolfo!"

"Yes, Mordred told me about you. Also please just call me Artoria."

Fran bowed politely. "Fran" She greeted simply.

"Nice to meet you."

After the two introduced themselves, Artoria began rethinking things. "I was unsure before," she thought "but now that those two are here, I almost feel like I have to. It's a bit short notice, but I suppose it will be no trouble..."