Arthur rubbed his hand over his eyes. He cursed silently, moving the papers around in front of him; that was the third time he had fallen asleep at his desk this week. He dropped the pile on the left side, drawing his eyes over the large drawing room. It was all shades of oak, the panels on the ceiling betraying the age of the building. Arthur drew himself up from the hard chair, pulling up his braces and striding over to the left-hand window, throwing open the curtains.
It was a beautiful November morning. The sun ran over the streets, coloring the entire neighborhood in a yellow tinge. Even though winter had dug its claws deep into Lawrence, the city was still beautiful. Arthur smiled at that thought, pushing his deep brown hair out of his eyes.
Henry had kept on at him about it, trying to force him to get it cut. He had said it wasn't professional. Arthur scoffed, since when had they ever been considered professional.
He pulled a file off the top of the pile that had accumulated itself on his desk the day before. Another day, another case. Another monster to fight and another ass to kick. And all before breakfast.
Arthur strode over to his chair, pulling on his suit jacket. He picked up his tie off the wardrobe handle where he had tossed it the night before and grabbed his overcoat and hat from the back of the door. He surveyed the room once over, before exiting into the long corridor.
Arthur was almost so quick out of the door, he didn't notice Henry stood right in front of him. Henry Greener had been his partner for going on five years now, ever since Arthur had joined. He had a slighter build than Arthur, with neat, cropped, fair hair compared with Arthur's unruly dark mane and was older than the Winchester by about four months. His smile lit up his hazel eyes, and it was that smile that greeted Arthur as he stepped out of his door on that Tuesday morning.
"You're late, Winchester." Henry fell in step beside Arthur, "Driver wasn't gonna wait, so he told me to come up, and I said, I ain't your butler. You're mine, so do your damn job!" Arthur laughed at the disgruntled tone in Henry's voice that had risen during his rant. It was so typically Henry, to rant about something - anything - and then just stare at Arthur. By the sound of things, the staring in silence had already begun by the time he was wrenched out of his thoughts.
He looked down to his left (as Henry was also about a foot shorter than Arthur) and his suspicions were confirmed, "What?"
Henry looked down at his feet, "Nothing."
Arthur laughed, "What, Henry?"
Henry looked nearly fit to burst when he finally exploded, "Why are you here?"
Arthur laughed again, "With the Men of Letters? Henry…"
"You know that's not what I mean. Why ain't you with Lucy, with Morgan and Charles, you should go see your family."
Arthur shook his head and Henry smiled, "What, Arthur?"
Arthur looked at his partner, "I don't want them in this. They're better off if they don't know."
"And you'd be better off if they did know. Hard secret to keep, Arthur."
"I know, Henry, I know. Let's just get to the car."