"Good morning, love. Hurry up, we don't need to be late."
Balthier stumbled into the kitchen, in a fevered rush to get his clothes on. This was not a day he could afford to be late, but he was so used to wearing his riches, not wearing some fancy schoolteacher uniform. Today was the first day of his new job, and he overslept.
"Where's Fran with the Strahl? If she doesn't get here soon we're going to be stuck walking, and the leading man doesn't walk."
Basch sat on the futon, drinking his weight in coffee and watching the other struggle with an unruly button on his pants. "She'll be here soon, I'm sure of it. And there's no problem with walking. You've got two legs that aren't broken."
It had been a half a year since Balthier and Basch started dating, and even better, they started working together in the same school. It was a peculiar job. Balthier would never admit it, but he was a sucker for children. As he finished up getting his shoes and jacket on, he looked over at the other, who sat calm and composed with his seventeenth cup of coffee in his hands. "Where do you possibly find time to just relax in the morning?"
"I've been a teacher for a long time, don't insult me." It was true. Basch had been a teacher for almost four years, while Balthier was only just starting.
The sound of a Strahl outside stopped the two of them from discussing it any further. Fran wasn't one to be late; she showed up exactly on time every morning, though it made people nervous. Now Balthier and Basch were in the Strahl, having spent the past week in a hotel to celebrate Balthier's newfound career and to just be alone together.
"You're late Fran." Balthier said, his knack for teasing people at its fullest.
Fran let out a huff and turned to him with the most serious face she could muster. "I am never late. I arrive precisely when I intend to."
Fran had really started coming out of her shell, and sometimes it scared Balthier because he could never tell if she was serious or joking. In this case, however, she had been joking; a small smile crept onto her lips and she bit her lip to keep from laughing at how utterly mortified the other looked. She really had started to break out of her bad habit of stone-cold silence.
Basch was relieved. She really did look like she was going to kill him at first.