Martin was still sleeping when Arthur tiptoed to the kitchen to make them tea. Which was a good thing, because Arthur loved making teas and coffees; and later they could have poached eggs for breakfast, with bacon and toasts and the orange marmalade Skip liked so much.
Mum wouldn't be back until later in the morning; she had told him she had 'a thing', which was code for 'you can invite your current boyfriend or girlfriend to stay the night', and he loved her for that. He might not be a proper grown-up, but he wasn't a child anymore, and he was grateful that Mum was one of the few people that understood this simple fact.
Dad had never understood. He used to say that Arthur was useless for girls, which he actually wasn't, never had been; as a matter of fact he was good at it, and not only with girls, but with boys too. (Though thankfully Dad never knew about the boys part, or there would have been more shouting than he liked to think about.)
Mum didn't mind about the boys. They'd had a nice little chat on the eve of his sixteenth birthday, and she told him everything he needed to know about. She never shouted at him when he brought someone home, though she was very clear about letting her know first so that she wouldn't accidentally hear or see stuff she wasn't supposed to.
Arthur definitely didn't want his Mum to be listening while he and Skip did their thing; it was bad enough when she had walked in on them kissing, and Skip had refused to talk to him for over a week. It was really nice of her to let them have the house for themselves; they'd had loads of fun last night, and now Skip was asleep in his bed and he was making him tea.
(Of course that time in Martin's little attic had been brilliant too, even if Skip kept worrying that the students downstairs might hear them, and all they'd had for breakfast was a cup of coffee without sugar because there was none left in the kitchen. This was better though, and Arthur hoped that Skip would agree to do it again in the near future.)
Snoopadoop waggled her tail as he walked past her in the living room, which was her way of saying she was happy to see him, and he grinned back at her because he was happy too.
It was one of those days when life was so brilliant it just made him want to sing. Except that he wasn't sure he was allowed to sing, for he knew he was awful at it, but perhaps Skip wouldn't mind after all.
(Because Skip had told him he loved him, and that was the most brilliant thing of all.)