It was a noise as if a cat was dying a slow and cruel death, crying out its pain at the top of its lungs.
Martin nearly scratched a big line through the report he was writing. Everyone else had left, or at least he had thought so.
What could cause such a noise? Now that he listened more closely it sounded like someone was singing.
He got up from his seat and opened the cockpit-door. The singing got louder and he could make out some words:
"I am the one and only,
nobody I´d rather be.
I am the one and only,
you can´t take that away from me."
He knew that song, but the tunes were horribly wrong.
He walked through the galley, pulled the curtain to the side, and there was Arthur, singing and dancing along the aisle between the seats.
Swinging a cloth in his hand, with which he was probably meant to clean the headlockers. He stood with his back to him, headphones plucked in his ears.
His steps were rather graceful, Martin had to admit. He blushed immediately for thinking such a thing.
But it was true, Arthurs hip rolled naturally with the moves. He made a little turn - and stopped as he noticed Martin.
He smiled his bright Arthur-smile and popped out his headphones.
"Hey Skip, I didn't know you were still here."
"Oh... I was just finishing a report.", Martin replied, trying not to show that he had been looking at Arthurs hips."Um... and what are you doing?"
"Mum wants me to clean the lockers.", Arthur said, still smiling.
"Yeah, I see... does that require singing, too?", Martin hadn't wanted it to sound as nasty as it did when the words left his mouth, he just wasn't very good with them. Words, that was.
"Oh, I'm sorry Skip, I'll shut up now.", Arthur looked worried.
"No, no!", Martin pedaled back "It's fine... I just..."
"OK, then I can practice some more.", Arthur beamed at him.
"Practice?", the ginger man looked at the steward in surprise. "What are you practicing? Cleaning lockers?"
"No, Skip!", he laughed a bit "I'm taking a dance class, and I still don't quite get that one turn."
He did a few steps, turned on his heel, but tumbled widways. Martin had to catch him or he would've crashed into a row of seats.
Arthur just smiled up at him "See? Happens every time."
"Uh... yes.", the captain replied, feeling a bit funny at having the other man so close to him. Not that he would've been more comfortable with anyone else, socially awkward as he was.
"Sounds like fun then.", he continued.
"It's brilliant Skip!", the younger steward burst out.
"Thought so.", Martin murmured, grinning a bit at Arthurs favourite adjective that seemed to fit every occasion.
"Do you want to come with me? It would be loads of fun!", Arthur suggested enthusiastically.
"Err... I don't think that's a very good idea...", Martin stuttered "you see, you might not expect that from me, but... when it comes to athletics I'm rather... well, let's say not very gifted."
He could hear Douglas' sarcastic comment as clear in his head as if he was standing right beside him.
Arthur just grinned. "Doesn't matter, I'm not very good either, but it's really fun."
"No, Arthur, I'd rather not..."
"Oh please, Skip! Then I'll actually have someone to train with. Mops don´t make good dancing-partners you know.", he gestured towards a bucket and scrubber behind him. "Please?"
"I don't know...", Martin furiously searched his mind for an excuse.
"But I can teach you some steps, it's not that hard, see, even I can do it."
The other man couldn't say anything against the logic of that sentence.
"Come on", and with that Arthur shoved him towards the galley.
It wasn't the best place to attempt ballroom dancing, but certainly better than the aisle.
"So, then let's see if I have anything matching...", Arthur begann scrolling on his mp3-player. "Ah, this one's good!"
He gave one of the earplugs to Martin, who didn't even have time to protest.
"Foxtrot is one of the easiest, you know.", the steward continued. "So now put your left hand here.", Arthur took Martins hand in his own and placed it on his right arm.
The captain blushed from head to toe. What an odd situation. The two of them in an empty plane, standing so close together...
The other man didn't seem to notice, but then again it was Arthur.
Then the steward put his right hand on Martins left shoulder blade and grabbed his right hand with his own left.
"That's the basic position.", he stated.
The now very red-faced man only nodded.
Arthur put on the music and showed him where to put his feet.
At first their moves were a bit stiff due to Martin feeling a little insecure, but he soon got the hang of it.
Arthur had been right, it wasn't that hard. Still he was a little embarrassed at the situation, and the song didn't help either.
It was "Fly me to the moon". Martin was a bit surprised. He hadn't had Arthur down as a Sinatra-fan, since the same man had given a passionate karaoke-version of "Wannabe" from the spice-girls over the intercom last friday.
He still couldn´t get "Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want, So tell me what you want, what you really really want" in Arthurs high-pitched voice out of his head.
The steward had taken the lead and Martin was quite comfortable with that. That way he could concentrate on not showing just how nervous all of that, whatever that was, made him.
Physical contact always made him uneasy, and now his stomach also started doing funny things.
Arthur was so close to him that he could smell the soap-odour of his uniform and something else that faintly reminded him of... jelly babies?
The song faded out and they stopped. Standing in the middle of the galley, arms still in position. Neither of them said a word.
Which was unusual because Arthur normally chattered away as he liked.
A new song started. "You raise me up" sung by Josh Groban. Now Martin really started to question Arthurs taste in music.
They looked at eachother. Arthur smiled lightly "You did really well Skipper."
Martin didn't know how to respond. He could only think of how close they stood... so close.
His heart pounded way too fast.
"Oh, I hope I didn't disturb you."
Martin jumped. All of a sudden Douglas was there, leaning against the doorframe, smiling smugly.
The captain hurriedly moved away from the steward. Turning an even darker shade of red, if that was actually possible.
Arthur just said "Oh, hi Douglas.", seemingly not embarrassed at all.
"We... we were just...", Martin began stuttering "Arthur is taking a dance class. I finished my report. And... and...", again the words escaped him.
"And I'll go now!", he finally managed to say. With that he fled the scene, leaving his unfinished report behind.
The first officer and the steward looked after him, one grinning like a wolf, the other with a somewhat puzzled expression on his face.
This would be interesting, thought Douglas, very interesting indeed.
