Arthur went to dry himself off in his own room, but Francis stayed in the bathroom to change.
He felt light headed as he wrapped the towel around himself after seeing to his little problem. ...Arthur's body pressed so tightly around his... He'd been able to feel everything. Just remembering it made his stomach tremble.
Nobody had ever made him feel like that before.
Part of him wanted to charge into Arthur's room and fuck him right there and now, but he was pretty sure that would ruin any chance he had of doing it again.
With his towel wrapped round his waist, Francis wondered back to his room to get changed into a dry pair of clothes.
When he left his room to prepare dinner in the kitchen Arthur had still not left his room. Was he embarrassed by what had just happened?
Matthew and Alfred came back reasonably dry- they must have caught the bus; and went off to change in their room before dinner.
The smell of the finished meal seemed to pull Arthur from his room; and soon the Brit was standing nervously in the doorway, unable to look Francis in the eye.
Thankfully neither Alfred or Matthew seemed to notice this odd exchange between the two of them; they were too busy eating.
"No classes tomorrow to make up for the fact we had to come in today" Alfred beamed when he'd finished eating, clapping his hands together, "let's watch some movies or something~"
"That would be great, right Francis?" Matthew smiled, looking hopefully at Francis and Arthur who hadn't spoken a word over dinner.
"Yeah, sure" Francis nodded, "you'd like it to, right Arthur?"
The Brit nodded, "...I just want to get something from my room..." He muttered, getting up quickly after thanking Francis for the meal.
"Matthew you and Alfred go ahead and pick the movies, we'll be back in a second," Francis also got to his feet and followed Arthur out of the kitchen. Leaving his brother very confused.
When Francis arrived in Arthur's room he found the Brit sitting on his bed with his face buried in his hands cursing to himself.
"Arthur... We need to talk about this..." Francis made himself known, making Arthur jump and glare at him accusingly, "we can't just not talk to one another..."
"I..." Arthur closed his mouth again looking down at his lap.
Francis sat down next to him, feeling equally as awkward.
"We can forget the whole thing if that's what you want?" He offered, getting back up again.
"No!" Arthur pulled him back down again; just as surprised at what he'd done as Francis was. "...I mean, you can't just forget something like that..."
Francis knew he was leaning closer to Arthur, and the other boy didn't seem to be pulling away.
"So, what do you want to do then?" Francis asked when they were mere inches apart. He could almost taste the Brit from here.
Slowly and carefully Arthur closed the gap between them, letting Francis dominate the kiss; he wasn't really sure what to do.
Arthur felt himself moan when Francis prised his lips open. He was so much more gentler than Ryan had been. Francis was even being careful to avoid the healing cut on his lip. He was a little shocked when Francis' tongue slipped into his mouth but he welcomed it all the same.
Francis pulled back to let them breath again.
He smiled, running his hand along Arthur's cheek, kissing the side of his mouth tenderly.
Suddenly Arthur didn't feel like he wanted to go and watch movies with Alfred and Matthew. He wrapped his arms around Francis' neck, pulling him back for another kiss.
He felt Francis' body above his on the bed, and he loved it.
"I don't think we should tell the other two about this..." Arthur suddenly mumbled, moving away from the kisses, "...Alfred will just worry... And it's embarrassing..."
Francis was a little hurt that Arthur called it embarrassing, but Alfred was something to avoid. He was very overprotective of his brother, and Francis didn't want him to be watching their every move.
"Okay" he agreed, sitting up on the bed, "that means we'd better go watch these movies then, otherwise they'll know something's amiss."
Arthur sighed with irritation, still lying on the bed.
"What if we just tell them we're tired and to go on without us?" Arthur suggested, trying to pull Francis down again.
Laughing quietly, Francis pulled him into a sitting position.
"We'll have to watch at least an hour of the movies first, or they'll never believe that."
Arthur pouted but had to agree.
They sat down to watch some action film that Alfred had pulled out. It was one of Francis' dad's, not that he'd watched it in years.
Everyone was so into the film in five minuets that Francis half expected Arthur to forget their plan; but an hour later on the dot Arthur got up and stretched, "I'm a bit tired, I think I'm off; you lot just carry on," he chuckled a little at his last words; probably making some sort of reference to a British comedy.
Francis waited ten more minuets before doing the same.
Arthur was waiting for him when he arrived in the other's room. Francis almost swung the Brit into a kiss, still careful to avoid the bruising and the cut.
"I had no idea you liked me so much cher" Francis smiled, pulling back so they could talk.
The Brit looked embarrassed, slipping his hand into one of Francis', he was amazed at how big they were compared to his.
"It's hard to explain..." Arthur muttered, "I thought you didn't like me..."
"How could you even think that...?" Francis trailed off, "well... I can see why you might have thought so, but I can assure you I just wasn't sure what was going on when I started to like you..."
"Right" Arthur nodded, looking away sadly, "I know I'm not like those really fit guys, and my hair's a mess; and my eyebrows go without saying..."
"Non, non!" Francis pressed a finger to the Brit's lips; he didn't want to hear him verbally putting himself down like this, "I just meant I wasn't sure whether I just liked you as a friend or whether I really liked you. How could you even say that about yourself!" He pressed his mouth to one of Arthur's eyebrows, and ran his hands along Arthur's developing figure. "Look, I'm so worried about you now, I'm considering not even letting you out of my sight where anyone else can admire you."
Arthur blinked his deep bright moss coloured eyes looking happy. "Do you really mean that?"
Francis sighed with exasperation, forgetting about watching Arthur's lip and kissing him as hard as he could, holding the Brit's face to his so he couldn't pull away until he was finished.
When he let Arthur go, and the Brit pulled back to gasp for air, their was still a thin trail of saliva connecting them.
The Brit suddenly seemed nervous; he edged a little away from Francis.
"We don't have to... you know... do we?" He fumbled, running a hand through his hair.
"Of course not" Francis assured him, taking the hand and kissing the back of it, before moving on to the individual fingers. "We won't do anything till you're ready. I even let you initiate the first kiss remember."
Feeling more secure, Arthur edged forwards again; but Francis held him back.
"Now I want to be sure of something" Francis told him firmly, looking the smaller male directly in the eye, "you're not just doing this because of everything that's going on at the moment. Think hard about this because sometimes you can't tell at the time..."
"Of course I'm not," Arthur's irritated tone had returned, "I think I started to like you even before we knew about this..." He clapped his hands over his mouth, embarrassed by what he'd just said.
Francis smiled widely, letting Arthur kiss him again.
"Well then, we have nothing to worry about."
Francis laid down on his back on the bed, staring at up at Arthur with a smile, patting the space beside him.
"I thought you said we weren't going to..." Arthur narrowed his eyes suspiciously,
"If you care to observe Arthur we are both fully clothed and I am not attempting to undress you. Trust me, if we were going to have sex you'd be naked before you even hit the bed," Francis patted the place beside him again.
The Brit was still glaring at him, but he crawled onto the bed all the same, turning his back on Francis to let him know he was annoyed with him for that last remark.
He shivered when he felt Francis spoon against him, wrapping his arms round his middle and whispering sweet words in French into Arthur's ear.
Like a cat Francis felt Arthur arching himself up against his chest to make himself more comfortable.
Even whimpering a little at the words Francis was whispering. So Arthur spoke better French than he let on did he?
Softly and slowly; so he wouldn't surprise the Brit; Francis trailed his lips over Arthur's soft skin to the place where his shoulders and neck joined that was visible just above his shirt. First he swirled his tongue over it then began to suck the smooth skin.
Arthur gasped, twitching his legs round Francis' on the sheets.
When Francis was satisfied with the purple bruise he pulled his mouth back. "There, so now even when I'm not around people know that you're mine,"
"I don't belong to you" Arthur muttered, letting out a sharper gasp when Francis took another area of skin higher up on his mouth to repeat a similar service.
"The higher I get, the more obvious it is" he smirked, now it was impossible not to spot the bright hicky on Arthur's neck; his pale skin only made it stand out more.
"You idiot, how am I going to explain this to Alfred!" He pulled his neck away from Francis' mouth, in case he was ready to give another one.
"Tell him you met a girl in a pub and made her give it to you; he'll find that less threatening" Francis shrugged, pulling Arthur onto his back so he could admire the other just lying there, looking like he belonged to him.
"Where do you come up with these things?" Arthur laughed, a feeling Francis' warmth when he smiled up at him.
"Shh" Francis grinned mischievously, holding his finger to Arthur's mouth, "that sounds like Alfred and Matthew going to bed."
The Brit fought back a giggle at how strange the situation was.
"I should wish Francis goodnight" they heard Matthew in the hall, "it's unlike him to go to bed before me..."
Arthur and Francis both held their breath.
"Don't bother Matthew, he's probably busy or asleep,"
"Okay..." Matthew yawned; they heard him and Alfred making their way to their shared room; allowing Arthur and Francis to breath again.
"That was close" Francis grinned, "but I suppose that means I should be getting to my own bed..." He got up, almost turning back when Arthur grabbed at the back of his shirt.
"Can't you stay?" He whispered.
Francis contemplated this, "does Alfred usually come into your room in the mornings on days off?"
Arthur shook his head, "he knows that I'd kill him,"
"Well, I suppose so; just let me go and get changed, you can get into those very stylish pyjamas of yours while I'm gone."
He left the room to take off his shirt, and change into a pair of pyjama trousers. He took his mobile with him just in case.
His parent's once a month call should be coming up any day, any time now, and he didn't want to miss it.
When he got back to Arthur's room it was to find the Brit standing in the funny looking childish pyjamas. Francis actually thought it was quite sweet, though Arthur was clearly embarrassed by it.
He caught Arthur looking at his body enviously.
"You're so lucky" he mumbled, almost bolting into bed when Francis tilted his head in confusion.
"Is that why you cover yourself up so?" The Frenchman laughed, crawling into bed beside him, "haven't I already told you I love your body; you don't need to be worried by it."
In fact the very idea of Arthur wearing nothing was turning Francis on in a hard way.
"So next time we do this you can wear something a little cooler if you want," he didn't want the Brit to think he was pressuring him into anything.
Holding Arthur close to his chest he let himself drift into an easy sleep, encouraged by the fact that Arthur was snuggling against him.
When they woke up there'd been no call, and Alfred and Matthew had already gone out leaving a note for them pinned to the front door.
"I still don't understand..." Alfred was mumbling as he and Matthew walked through town together. They'd decided to give the cinema a rest and were going bowling then out for a pizza or something like that.
"It's your fault for pushing into Arthur's room like that" Matthew told him, "I think they looked really peaceful together like that; they're probably just worried you'll get all defensive,"
"Your brother seems like a pretty flaky character when it comes to relationships; Arthur's really gullible and easy to upset... I just don't want Francis leading him on..."
Matthew sighed, "Alfred, if Francis just wanted to sleep with Arthur, he would have just slept with him or given up trying after a few days. Judging by Arthur's clothes they've slept in the same bed and not had sex. Francis must think Arthur's important to control himself like that."
Alfred sniffed, but placed a kiss on Matthew's mouth, "I suppose you're right" he admitted, "I'm just upset because Arthur didn't tell me..."
Rubbing his back comfortingly, Matthew hesitated a moment stopping in the street.
"What's wrong?" Alfred rushed back to him looking around fiercely in case someone was around who meant harm to Matthew in any way.
"You'd be surprised, but Francis is actually quite secretive about liking guys as well as females... I haven't even dared open up till you... Our father's quite..." He looked around for the right word, "traditional, and I'm sure he'd be distressed if he knew the feelings I had towards you; but Francis is his actual son and I'm sure that means he'd be furious."
"That's terrible" Alfred murmured, thinking back to his own adoptive parents back in England. They were those lovely sort of knitted hats kinds of people, he was sure they wouldn't care. In fact they'd known Alfred's preference for years. He wasn't sure how his real parents would have reacted.
"So where are you and Francis' parents anyway?" He asked, changing the subject, relaxing when Matthew fell back into step beside him.
"Who knows" Matthew shrugged, "Tokyo, London, Paris, Washington. They work everywhere. Francis was brought up by nannies and the sort. I suppose at least I had the chance to have a family like mine once; Francis has never really known that sort of love..." Matthew let his voice trail off sadly.
He could still remember when he'd first come to live with Francis and the nannies (there were always several; Francis kept terrorising them into quitting). His parents finally just let them live on their own in the apartment after they were fourteen; this was following the event when Francis had lifted up one of the nanny's skirt and insulted her flowery underwear.