Happy Together
Chapter 3

Arthur stirred awake. The first thing he was aware of was his thirst; he tried to moisten his lips but his tongue provided all the comfort of dry sandpaper. He threw the covers off himself and swung his legs to the floor, immediately regretting it as stars burst into his vision.

"Shit!" he muttered, dropping his head into his hands.

His mobile blared suddenly to life, flashing and vibrating violently, skittering across the bedside table to the first bars of 'Rule Britannia'. Arthur physically cringed, and more to shut the noise off than anything else he fumbled to answer the call, nearly knocking the table lamp clean off in the process.

"Hello?" he croaked.

"Whoa! You don't sound too hot, Kirkland."

Arthur straightened up. "Gilbert?"

"Yeah, just calling to check if you're alive," Gilbert said cheerfully.

Arthur felt his heart leap and immediately felt embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm fine," he lied feebly. He wondered how much of a fool he made of himself last night and had to suppress a groan.

"Arthur? You alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, hold on a sec."

Arthur stumbled to his feet and waded through a sea of laundry to his wash basin. He turned on the tap and filled a glass with water, emptied it in a gulp and filled it again, and said in a less raspy voice into his phone, "Hello?"

"Wanna meet for breakfast?" Gilbert asked. "Well I say breakfast, the cafeteria's rolling out the lunch menu any minute now…"

Arthur choked on his water and spluttered, "What? What time is it?"

"Huh?"

"What time is it?" Arthur repeated, spinning wildly on the spot and grabbing hold of his alarm clock. Quarter past eleven. "Shit! I'm late for work! Sorry, I've got to go, bye!"

"Wait!" Gilbert said with an urgency that halted Arthur in his step. "Let's meet for dinner then. My treat. I'll text you the time and place."

"Thank you, Gilbert, but there's no need…"

"I insist!"

There was a brief pause. Then, sounding a little embarrassed, "I'll see you then, Arthur. Bye."

Author's comment

I'm sorry it's so short! It's also very uneventful orz

I had wanted to write more before posting, but felt that the scene ended nicely here and anything I might add will feel tacked on. Which would be an immense pity because from here on things iwill/i be more eventful. Hopefully ^^;

I'm sorry again, this is a pretty pathetic length orz