Surprisingly Arthur had been right, "Despicable Me" wasn't bad at all. Well OK, it was a kid's movie, but it had some funny parts. Martin found himself relaxing more and more, chuckling along with Arthur, who, despite having watched the film three or four times already, still roared with laughter at every gag. The two hours just flew by while the two of them were so engrossed in the movie, that when the screen went black and the end credits rolled, they sat in nearly complete darkness. Martin blinked and looked over to Arthur who was still smiling at the Happy End, his face only illuminated by the white names hovering over the television, making it look like they were underwater, just below the surface where the sunlight drew wavey patterns on everything. The steward turned his head to face the pilot, still smiling. Martin expected Arthur to say something, but to his surprise the taller man kept quiet. Their eyes met for a few seconds, then the captain hastily looked away. Arthur reached for the remote and turned off the TV. Now it was even darker in the vast living-room.
"So, did you like it?", the steward spoke much more quietly than he usually did. "Yes", Martin answered in an equally hushed voice "but why are you whispering?"
"I don't know", he replied "It just feels right, it being so dark in here, you know?"
A typical Arthur thing to say, but this time Martin knew exactly what he meant. One single loud noise, and the atmosphere would be gone. He nodded.
"I should probably put the light on", the taller man whispered after a while.
"Yes...", Martin said slowly, although it was the last thing he wanted.
He saw Arthur's silhouette getting up from the sofa, moving around the table in front of them. For a moment he tumbled, and the captain thought he might fall right into the mountain of food, but he caught himself and reached the small lamp on the windowsill. It bathed the room in orange light. Neither of them seemed sure of what to do, now that the reason Martin had come here was done. "Sooo...", the pilot stretched the word while he flexed his hands. Should he just leave now? It didn't seem right, but what else did you do on a movie-night besides watching a movie?
Arthur shuffled back to the sofa "Looks like I made a bit too much.", he said, now in his normal tone again, gesturing towards all the barely touched snacks. "Thought we would be hungrier."
The ginger man nodded again. "You can take some home if you like", the steward proposed "mum always tells me not to waste food."
Martin looked at the table suspiciously. Some of the bowls contained dishes he wasn't familiar with, and he strongly assumed they were examples of Arthur's enthusiastic disregard for traditional cookery. Nonetheless he thanked the taller man, who immediately grabbed a few of the plates and pots and vanished into the kitchen. The pilot followed him like an awkward dog with the rest of the feast.
It took Arthur only a quick movement of the hand to produce an arsenal of tupperware containers, already neatly labeled in his bold handwriting. Happily he began spooning a mushy substance into a blue bowl, which smelled a lot like carrot but looked nothing like it.
"I had so much fun cooking all of this.", he exclaimed "I love cooking for others!"
Martin smiled. Though he was often clumsy, Arthur always tried to care for people. It was one of his best qualities.
To avoid blatantly staring at the steward, and the way his huge brown eyes glowed under the kitchen light..., he attempted some smalltalk. "So... how is your dance class going?"
"Brilliant! We're doing some advanced stuff now."
"Oh?"
"Yeah..."
Arthur was unusually hesitant.
"Would you... like to show me?"
"Really Skip?", the tall man's expression was one of unsuppressed joy.
"Yes, really Arthur.", Martin chuckled.
The spoon landed in the sink as Arthur whizzed out of the kitchen into the living-room, sometimes sliding on his socked feet on the wooden floor. A high sideboard revealed a big CD-player. Searching through the discs, the tall man apparently found what he had been looking for. But as he pressed the power button, aggressive e-guitar strumming and screaming came out of the machine in an ear-shattering intensity. Arthur quickly turned down the volume and explained "Sorry Skip, mum likes loud music when she does stuff round the house." The captain didn't know what to do with this information so he just nodded and waited for the other man to change the CD.
After a few seconds the room was filled with soft pianos and violins, a classical piece Martin assumed. It sounded nice.
Like he had done on the plane, Arthur grabbed his hands and put them in position. "This is a waltz."
Martin had distant memories of his mother teaching him the steps when he had been about twelve. "And if you never learn any other dance, the least you need to be able to do is a waltz.", she had said. But she had only showed him how to lead, now that Arthur was in the lead he relied on the taller man to show him where to put his feet.
The first few minutes Martin looked down concentrated, counting. When he felt surer he looked up into Arthur's smiling face. There they were again, those beaming eyes.
"Ready?", the smiling man asked. "Mhhm", the ginger man answered, too sunken into the experience.
The tall man let go, did a few side-steps, a turn, and then slipped back into position. Martin was genuinely impressed. "Wow Arthur, that was...", and for lack of a better word, he said "brilliant!"
"Thanks Skip"
If Arthur's grin got any wider, his face would split in half, the smaller man thought. He had the strange feeling they stood a bit tighter together than before, their chests pressed against each other. The steward's warmth ran through Martin's body, he felt so soft that the ginger man had the sudden urge to lay his head on the taller man's shoulder. Arthur wasn't exactly chubby, just... cuddly, and warm, and there was this faint smell of jelly babies again.
The captain blushed slightly.
They danced for a few minutes, carried by the soft music, while Martin's heart pounded along in 3/4 time. When the song faded out they did an extra turn.
And then Arthur dipped him.
He held him with sure hands, like he had never done anything else in his life. For a second the captain was so shocked that he could just stare. Then his awkwardness kicked in, and he flinched at the unexpected sensation, which caused him to let go of Arthur's upper body which then resulted in the taller man not being able to support him and both of them tumbling to the ground.
Puzzled and embarrassed they looked at each other. "Arthur, I'm so sorry...", Martin began, but the steward just burst into laughter. Infected by that, the captain joined him.
They tried to untangle their legs to get up but failed because they were laughing too hard. It took them several minutes to calm down.
Outside the motor of a car could be heard."Oh", Arthur remarked, still giggling "Mum's back early" The fact didn't seem to bother the steward, but Martin let out a distressed "What?!", and frantically scrambled to a standing position. Arthur got up as well, a little confused at the captain's panic. Both of them looked a little disheveled but there was no time to fix that, as a key could already be heard in the lock of the front door.
"Arthur, I'm home.", Carolyn's distinct voice came from the hall.
"We're in the living-room", he shouted back over the music. Martin felt all colour drain from his face. It wasn't that he was afraid of Carolyn, well at least not very much, but he feared her reaction towards the... situation.
The sound of heels on wooden floor, and then she stood in the doorway, her eyes fixing first Martin, then Arthur, and then the sparsely lit room.
"Martin?", she asked, her face one big confusion "what are you doing here?"
"Mum!", Arthur cut in "I told you we were having a movie night."
"You said you were going to watch a film with someone, not that it was our supreme commander.", her sarcasm didn't sound as natural as usual.
"I didn't think it was important. Is it important?", Arthur wore his oh-no-I-probably-did-something-wrong-face. "No...no, it's not...", Carolyn looked bewildered.
Awkward silence.
"I, uh... I was leaving anyway.", Martin stammered, hastily moving into the hall. "Thanks for everything, Arthur..."
"Skip, wait, don't forget the food.", the steward vanished into the kitchen. Carolyn still looked at the pilot, an unreadable expression on her face.
Arthur came back with a leaning tower of plastic containers, which he then carefully gave to Martin. "You don't have to go, Skip...", he began, but Martin mumbled something about having to get up early (despite it being saturday) and shuffled to the door.
"Thanks again, OK, um...bye.", and with that the captain once again fled the scene.