After an awkward end to the dinner, they left Francis' apartment to go to the pub. After getting his jacket from his own flat, Arthur pressed the button to make the elevator come up. Once up, he quickly entered the lift, activated it and got out before closing the gates, pulling Antonio and Gilbert in. "Enjoy your ride down!" he exclaimed when watching the two disappear, disappointed expressions on their face. Francis laughed. "I agree, it was a little stuffy with all of us inside, but what about us? We'll wait for it to come back?" He watched as Arthur went to the window at the end of the corridor and pulled it open. "Nope," he answered, climbing out of it and stepping onto a platform, "we're just going to take the faster way down. Now come on, although old, it's safe, I've used these stairs dozens of times." Francis followed him out the window and soon they were climbing down the rusty stairs, the cold night wind shuffling through their hair. Soon after they were waiting before the front door for Antonio and Gilbert to exit. A few moments later they came through the door, Francis laughing and asking whether they enjoyed the ride or not. "How did you get here so fast? There really are stairs somewhere in this musty old building?" asked Antonio. "No stairs, only... magic," answered Arthur, swindling his fingers in the air. "Now come on, follow me."
He walked down an alleyway, Francis rushing to get by his side, his two friends closely following. "Sure gets dark fast, huh?" Francis tried to start small-talk when walking. "I guess," Arthur only answered, "it is fall, after all, it gets darker earlier each day. Plus a storm is forming in the skies, I regret not taking an umbrella with me." After ten minutes of walking in silence (except for the lively sounds behind them coming from Antonio and Gilbert), Francis apologized for earlier. "You have to forgive my friends, well, you DON'T have to, but you know what I mean. Most of the time I'm not even sure myself if they know themselves what kind of shit they spew when talking." Arthur shook his head. "It's quite alright. Like I said before, I'm used to people talking behind my back and besides - every person has a right for prejudice." Even though he felt there was no need for an apology, he was glad Francis did it anyway. It showed that he was a somewhat caring person, at least as much for him to apologize for misunderstandings. "So, you go to this pub often?" asked Gilbert, grabbing Arthur's shoulder from behind. "Oh, umm, I visit it at least once a week or so." "Great, then you're a regular there! Which means we'll probably get a discount!" Gilbert joyed and went to the back again to tell Antonio of the good news. Arthur sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets for protection from the cold wind. "I'm telling you, you should wear gloves. Why not buy some from the store you got me that scarf from? That reminds me, I wanted to ask you where you got it from? I hope you didn't spend too much money on it, it looks and feels really expensive," Francis said, a little excited. Arthur couldn't help but to blush from self-content and he was glad it was too dark outside to notice it. Even when they did pass under a streetlight, he could had always said it was from the cold. "I... Oh, I'll tell you later, we've arrived," he answered when they stopped in front of a rundown little building. "This is the place?" Antonio asked suspiciously and tried to look through the extremely dirty windows, already regretting he had joined them. "Hmph, yes, this is the place. You'll see when we're inside," Arthur said smugly, passed under the Hellhound's sign and opened the door for them.
Francis, Antonio and Gilbert were blown away by the inside, it was nothing like the facade. "They should have named it "Don't judge a book by it's cover," Gilbert said and looked around him in awe. "They wanted to, but the name was too long," Arthur replied and hanged his jacket onto the coat-hanger in the corner. The pub was as if a mixture of old and new. It looked like the traditional English pub you'd see in the movies: a scratched big wooden counter with glasses hanging above it, a bearded barman working the beer-drain, countless different bottles of every alcoholic drink imaginable behind him. The air was filled with the sweet scent and slightly colored smoke of flavored tobacco, eccentric people (doubtfully the usual „normal" people would enter such an abandoned looking place on a whim) were happy and singing in few corners. The lighting and the atmosphere were mild and it was the perfect place, a shining gem in the middle of same-colored rocks, to unwind and warm up from the cold world waiting outside the door. "Evenin', Artie!" the bartender called, a few "good evenings" following from others as well. "They're in the back, Ada will soon bring the usual." Arthur thanked him and left for the back of the pub, the other three closely following. "Hey, leave your coats and jackets on the hanger," Arthur stopped them and continued when they had made such. After shimming through closely put wooden tables, they finally managed to get to one under the window. Against the wall was an old-styled couch and a few more chairs had been added to the scraped table. At it were sitting two men, both showing no shame in staring, interested, at the three strangers. "Alfred, Kiku," Arthur said happily and sat down on one of the chairs. "Here, we already ordered for you," Alfred said when sliding a pint to him. "We weren't too sure of what to order for you guys," Kiku said, bowing his head, before sipping more of his sake. "They even have sake here?" Antonio surprised and received word from the Japanese that they have many different types of liquor from all around the world. "If one would break in to the cellar here, he or she would probably get extremely drunk just from the smell," Alfred said knowingly while gulping down his Bud Light. "Ah yes, introductions," Arthur said when Francis sat next to him and Antonio and Gilbert joined the other two on the couch. "This is my new friend, my neighbor, Francis, and these two are his good friends, Antonio and Gilbert." "Nice to meet you, my name is Kiku Honda and- " "And I'm Alfred, but you can call me Al!" the American interrupted. "Do you live here?" Francis asked, because he wasn't too sure tourists would come to such a place. "I do, but Al is just visiting from the states," Kiku answered and poured himself some more sake. "Yeah, the only reason he ever comes here is to bitch about how England is so weirdly different and the other main reason is that the-" "The booze is much cheaper here than in my hometown!" Alfred interrupted Arthur. "So, what are you ordering? I don't know if you guys know, but my cousin gets drunk very easily, so be sure not to get drunk before him, or else you'll miss one hell of a show!" "I do not!" Arthur exclaimed. "You two are cousins?" Gilbert asked, not believing that these two different men could be related to each other. "Yeah, very distant cousins," the Brit answered. After a few minutes of light chatting a beautiful redhead came, carrying 6 glasses and a bottle of whiskey on her platter. Antonio immediately took out his phone. "Crap, there's something wrong with my phone," he grumbled. "Oh, really?" Ada said, interested. "Well, I'm a bit of a mechanic on my free time, what do you think is wrong?" "Well, you see," the Spaniard smiled, "it doesn't have your number in it." Ada rolled her eyes. "Guess your phone will never be fixed then." The other five laughed, tears coming from Gilbert's eyes ("Man, that was so painful to watch!") when the bartender put the glasses and the bottle on the table. "Anything else?" "Oui, a large glass of vermouth, please," Francis asked, giving her his handsome smile. "A beer for me," Gilbert ordered while winking and Antonio just asked for a bottle of tequila and some lemons and salt. "It's not all for me," he said to the men, "we all have to drink up. Toasting! For friendship! Bros before hos, that sort of thing!"
Hours later they were all in a very jolly mood. Countless bottles and glasses covering the table, they were laughing at pretty much everything. "Alright guys, fun's over, it's 2:30, we're closing! I already ordered you two cabs," Ada came to pick up the bottles. "Kiku, you sure can't hold your liquor," Arthur laughed as he watched him doze off against Alfred's shoulder. "Look, who's talking!" Gilbert giggled and hiccuped, "You were the first one to get drunk! From a glass of beer, a glass of whiskey and a shot of tequila!" Arthur tried to stand up, but tumbled on top of Francis. "So embarrassing," he muttered when Francis helped him back up. "My legs won't obey me." They managed to put on their over-clothes and went out to get some air and wait for the cab. Ada had came out for a smoke and watch that the six would make it on to the taxi. Francis, Arthur and Kiku went in one cab, whilst the other three to the other, since it turned out they had been staying in the same hotel. Kiku lived a few streets off from Arthur's and Francis' homes. After a somewhat quiet ride, they stopped in front of their apartment block and got out, paying for their ride and wishing good-night to the Japanese. Fumbling with the front door and the elevator gates, they finally managed to get inside it and start their slow ride up. Arthur sat down on the floor to stop the world from spinning and Francis joined him. After five minutes Arthur realized that he didn't press the button and laughing, he activated the lift. "You know, Francis," he said while tossing his arm around the Frenchman, "you are a really OK guy, you know. At first I thought that you'd be some kind of French pansy, but you are really great, I am so glad I have a neighbor, N-NO! A FRIEND, like you, ha-ha-ha." Francis laughed and thanked him. "Same to you, Arthùr, same to you," he said and noticed that the latter had fallen asleep. When they made it to the top floor, Francis picked him up and said to him: "You're lighter than I thought," which to Arthur only grumbled through his sleep. Francis unlocked his neighbor's door and stepped inside. Not knowing where the light-switches were, he tumbled through the dark flat. Having finally found the bed, he tossed the Brit on to it and removed his jacket and boots. "You know, you are a lousy guard-dog," he said to Bosey, who was laying on the bed, watching them. He tried to get to his apartment, but opened the wrong door and found himself inside Arthur's dark office. Having found a paper and a pen from the table, he went to the window for some light and scribbled a note on the paper. He went back the way he came from and before leaving for his own bed, he put the note on the counter in the kitchen.
The next day Arthur woke up around noon. "Ugh, my head," he gruffed and rolled off his bed. His head in his hands, he made his way to the kitchen to get a drink. Having gulped down nearly the whole 2-liter bottle of orange juice, he noticed a piece of paper on the counter. There stood a little note with a phone number:
"Bonjour, Arthùr!
You fell asleep on the elevator, so I brought you to your apartment. I had to take your key with me so I could lock the door, so if you wake up, call me and you'll get your key back!
Francis."