It was halfway through December and once again Francis was at Arthur's place. They were currently trying to collect all of the stickers from the Japan level and chattering about simple things when Christmas came up. "You got any plans for Christmas and New Year's?" Francis asked when Arthur had returned from the kitchen with some grapes. "Well, as always, I'm spending Christmas with my family," he replied as he sat down on the floor, "but no plans about New Year's yet. What about you?" "Same," Francis only replied, leisuring on the floor with one hand under his head and the other holding grapes which he slowly ate. "Hey... How about we spend New Year's Eve abroad? You, me, Antonio, Gilbert, Kiku, Alfred... why not go somewhere? That is, if we're not planning anything super-expensive," Arthur came up with an idea. Francis sat up, thinking and after a while he looked at Arthur, who was slightly nervous that maybe his idea was a dumb one. "We should go to the southern hemisphere then, it would be warm to party there," he suddenly said, causing Arthur to break into laughter. "Umm, I guess?" he giggled as he watched Francis get even more excited. Soon he was checking out the best destinations on Arthur's laptop and springing up different ideas what to do and where to go there. Arthur turned off the PS3, the telly, and sat beside Francis on the couch. "Hey, click on that one," he pointed at a link. Francis opened RyanAir's homepage and they both immediately noticed a large ad proclaiming huge discounts on flights to Rio de Janeiro. "It's a 12-hour flight," Francis said, looking at the timetable. "But it's cheap. And I've always wanted to visit Rio," Arthur said, looking at the tickets. "Think about it," he tried to convince, eyes on Francis, "Rio is a very colorful city. There's a lot to do, many people to meet, all those sights to see, Brazilian kitchen... All of us would have a lot of fun there." Francis knew Arthur thought he wasn't interested in going there, but on the contrary, he wanted to go there himself. He had just frozen after noticing how comfortable he felt with Arthur sitting so close to him. "And it's not even that close," he thought, feeling a little dreadful, "why am I even thinking of such things?!". "You're right, Rio does sound good," he managed to pull himself together. "Great!" Arthur joyed and his joy was contagious. Francis was also happy and excited, knowing that if the six of them would go somewhere to have fun, lots of silly adventures would probably await them.
After having spent an enjoyable Christmas with their families, they were both back in London. They were currently having lunch at Francis' place when New Year's Eve popped up again. "So, I talked to Antonio and Gilbert," Francis said, pouring himself some very aromatic coffee to which Arthur frowned at. "They're currently at their respective homelands, Spain and Germany, but they were both happy and quite eager about the idea of spending New Year's in Rio. They would meet us there, they'll go on a flight from Barcelona. Gilbert will go with Antonio separately." "Do you keep in touch with them often?" Arthur asked, nibbling on a croissant. "Yes, we talk almost every day. It's just impossible not to keep in touch with them, they are too humorous for that," Francis replied and smirked, remembering all the good times he had had with them. "You just have to tell me someday about some of the silly things you've done together. Then again, I'm not so sure I'm still ready for your 18+ or NSFL stories," Arthur laughed and shook his hand lazily in the air. Grinning, Francis said that those were stories best told with all three of them and a bottle of wine. "What about Alfred and Kiku? Have you spoken with them?" "It's practically the same thing with them, really," the Brit said, "Kiku is visiting his family in Japan and Alfred is back in America. They promised to meet us in Rio as well. Guess we're the only two loners heading off from London, Francis." "I'm glad," the Frenchman chuckled, "I was a little worried how Antonio and Gilbert would behave on the plane. They like to pick on you, if you haven't noticed yet." "Oh yes, I've noticed," Arthur sighed, "but there's nothing to it. I know it's all just harmless fun, but... some phonecalls have crossed the line a bit and I've gotten mad at them for talking such trash of you." "Really?" Francis sat up tense, not leisuring on the chair anymore and looked worried. "Well, yes. It's a little awkward, really," Arthur sighed shyly, but Francis wasn't shaken from that. "I swear, if they said something really awful, I'm going to kill them," he said seriously and Arthur couldn't help but to laugh at him. "They rarely say things like that and trust me, I don't believe a word of it-" "Just tell me what they've said, Arthùr," Francis interrupted him and tared straight into his eyes. "I'm going to give you a soft overview then. Well... sometimes they ask if you've sneaked to my bed yet." Francis was dumbfounded. "What?" Arthur laughed, almost tearing up. "Yeah, well, like they've told me and as much I've noticed, you're quite the playboy, you know? You'd probably lost count if you tried to read up all the women you've slept with whilst I can count them all on one hand," he giggled. Francis banged his head against the table, closely missing his plate. "And are you suddenly a woman now that I'd try to seduce you?" he asked, embarrassed of his friends. "No, but they said I am probably an 8.5/10 (Gilbert tried to put a smaller score) after your standards and that you fall in love with all things beautiful. Hah, I'm not beautiful," he gruffed and Francis looked at him, uncertain. Arthur grinned. "But I am handsome and at least a 10/10." He started laughing and Francis couldn't help but to join him. He was glad the Brit didn't take his stupid friends seriously and he really respected him for stepping up against them.
It was 3 in the morning of the 28th and Arthur was shivering in front of their apartment block wearing a light jacket in -12 degrees Celsius. "Where is he? He could at least suffer alongside me," he cursed Francis and rubbed his arms to get more warm. He had given up sitting on his suitcase and started walking and skipping around for warmth, but he felt like it wasn't working. He was just about to go banging behind Francis' door when the latter stepped out the front door, yawning and dragging his red suitcase. "Bonjour," he said with a sleepy voice and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "The taxi still isn't here?" "No," Arthur shuddered and watched as Francis came to stand beside him. "Really cold, isn't it?" Francis said, lighting a cigarette; Arthur rolled his eyes. "You don't say." After a minute or two the taxi finally arrived. Hurriedly, they lifted their suitcases to the trunk and sat inside. "To Heathrow, please," Arthur said and rubbed his fingers to warm them up again. "Why does every flight have to be on such stupid times? Why couldn't it be 5PM instead of 5AM?" Francis yawned. "Because of reasons," Arthur also yawned, folded his arms and rested his head against the window. Half-awake he listened to Francis rant about airports for about a half an hour more when they arrived at the airport. Having paid for the ride and taken their luggage, the two stepped in to a busy airport. "You've departed and arrived in Heathrow so far, right?" Arthur asked when he observed Francis look around himself in confusion. "Yeah, it's usually nearly empty at a time like this," he murmured, searching for the correct terminal. After going through the whole procedure - getting their tickets, giving their luggage and passing the security check -, they sat down at a little cafe in the G-terminal. "Guess we found the good spot," Francis said when they were enjoying tea and coffee under a window. "The G-spot, get it?" he explained when Arthur gave him a questioning look. "My God, you have such stupid jokes, Francis," the Brit laughed, almost spilling his drink. Having finished their drinks, they heard a message from the speakers informing that their plane was ready to disembark in 45 minutes, which meant they could get on now. "Great timing," Francis said when they left for the terminal gates. There were a lot of people since this jumbo-jet first came from Amsterdam and the transfer was held in London. "It's been a while since I've flied with such a big plane," Arthur said to Francis when they showed their tickets to the flight attendant. They climbed to the second floor of the plane and went to the back of it where their seats were located. "Hey, no fair, I wanted a window seat," Francis exclaimed jokingly as they sat on their assigned seats. "Deal with it," Arthur laughed and told him that they can switch places every now and then. "So many people came on the plane but the tail is nearly empty," Francis murmured when the plane had set off. "I guess most of the people stayed in London," Arthur replied and took one of the plaids the flight attendants were handing out. Francis took one too, but just to fight against the chill, not for sleeping. "I can't sleep during flights," he explained to Arthur who had already snuggled into it. "Sucks to be you then, we're going to fly for 12 hours. Plus the timezone difference will get to you, too," he said compassionately. "Guess you didn't sleep at all tonight," Francis softly whispered a little later when the Brit was deep asleep and had rested his head on Francis' shoulder. He asked for a pillow from an attendant passing by and a minute later he gently lifted Arthur's head against the wall onto a pillow. Watching him calmly breathe, he took out his walkman and a book to spend some time until Arthur woke up.