Arthur woke up some time later to Francis gently nudging him. "Hey, where do I go from here?" he asked, having stopped at a crossroad what seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The Brit yawned and stepped out of the car to check the surroundings. "It gets a little tricky from here, I'll drive now," he said once Francis had joined him. The Frenchman nodded and they switched seats. Once both inside, Arthur took a cheese and ham bun between his teeth and drove off. "Tell me something," Francis asked his friend after a while. "Huh, like what?" the Brit was confused and looked at him. "Don't get me wrong, I like silent moments, but... even more I like talking to you. You make me smile regardless of what we are talking about, what mood I'm in, or what we're feeling at the moment. I really like talking to you simply because you know exactly what to say to make me happy," he said. Arthur smiled and answered: "Sometimes someone says something really small and it just fits right into this empty place in your Heard, you know." Francis grinned at his reply, and again a thought, which had crossed his mind many times, came back to him: "I wonder, does he love me too?" The Brit on the other hand drummed his fingers on the wheel after realizing what he had just said to the Frenchman; he wasn't quite sure what to make of this. Earlier he had thought long and hard about his father's words and came to a conclusion on what he should do next. He was going to observe his friend and his behavior around him to prevent everything Joseph had mentioned. If he could do that and keep their friendship, everything would be well. He had given up on one thought, though, and to his surprise it saddened him; Arthur was sure there wouldn't be anything more special between the two. "Well, let's discuss... relationships then, since we both were seemingly to be in one," Arthur bitterly laughed. "Alright," Francis said, wondering why exactly this topic.
"I think, that... I think the best relationships are the ones where you fall for someone unexpectedly. When you have no intention whatsoever of getting at someone, but feelings grow after getting to know them more. The best are the ones you didn't expect to be in. The ones you never saw coming," he said. "Falling in love and having a relationship are two very different things," Arthur replied and turned between some woods. "But if the person is right, they could be the one and the same thing." "Now you're just teasing me," the Brit chuckled. Francis smiled, and muttered: "When I start to tease you, you know I'm comfortable with you." "It's been imminent to me for a while now, you know," Arthur only retorted. "What do you like about relationships? I think that... well, there are many things, but I think that getting to know each other is always the best stage," the Frenchman wondered, and rested his head against the window. Arthur hesitated before answering. It wasn't like he's been in any relationships lately, he's only had one girlfriend before for a short while, to be honest. "Well, to take from personal experience," he drawled, embarrassed, glancing at his friend smile in the dim darkness next to him, "I like silent phone calls sometimes. Where you're on the phone with someone you care about and you're both doing your own thing, knowing that the other cares enough to stay on the phone. Sometimes the conversation doesn't matter, just that they're there, you know?" "I know," Francis answered quietly, and looked at the Brit continue driving. He remembered all these times when their phone-calls had trailed off when they had ran out of things to say to each other whenever one of them was on a trip somewhere but they dared not hang up in case the other still wanted to say something. For the next few hours, they continued to drive in silence.
Once back at the familiar sight of their apartment loft, Bosey finally woke up on the backseat. Having parked the car, they went up with the small elevator, tired, waiting to get to their beds. A few minutes later when the lift had arrived at their floor, they got out their keys to unlock the doors. Arthur wished Francis a goodnight, but before he could enter his flat, Francis took hold of his shoulder. "Listen, Arthùr... If you need me, call me. I don't care if I'm sleeping, having my own problems or if I'm angry at something. If you need me and if you need to talk to me, I'll always be there for you. No matter how big or how small your problem is, I'll be there. And don't even think of telling me everything's alright, because I know it isn't," he said while string into his friend's eyes. Arthur slowly nodded, and went to his apartement, quiet. For a short while Francis stood behind his door, thinking whether to follow him or not. He decided it best to leave it for another day, and he went inside his flat.
For a while Arthur lied on his back between the covers, not being able to sleep. He felt empty and broken, not knowing what to do anymore. He felt awful about trying to taunt Francis into showing his true motives and the fact that he used his own heartfelt words to do it was devastating to him. Suddenly, he sat up and reached for his phone on the cupboard. He was ready to dial his friend's number, but changed his mind, biting his lips and furrowing his brows. He threw it to somewhere far off corner and grabbed his pillow, not knowing what to do, hating himself for being so weak. At the same time, Francis checked his cellphone every now and then.