Alfred had to think about that for a second. "Sometimes. Its how I met one of my good friends. But most people do it to be more than friends with someone. At least for a night." he eventually said. That was mostly the reason he himself did it. And because he just enjoyed dancing.

Arthur felt himself blushing lightly at Francis's words but he kept an angry expression on his face. "If you three don't leave me alone, I will make you regret it." he told them.

"What are you going to do? Fight us?"Cadan asked, not intimidated by that in the least. There were three of them and only one of him. Sure, he might stand some sort of chance if they were all drunk. But that wasn't the case now.

"No. I'll call mum." He stated. He knew that if there was anybody who could make his brothers back off, it was their mother. Elizabeth Kirkland may be a nice woman. Until you made her angry. Then she was like the devil himself.

"I see..." Ivan said with a nod. He needed to try this dancing thing so he could have friends and love, and more friends. He thought money and status would give that to him, but maybe dancing would work better. "But we are just friends right?" He thought it might be interesting if they were not because this American was as cute as the bunny dancer and just as skilled at shaking his ass. But that was strange to want of a friend right? He didn't really know.

Alistair winced before backing off. "Oh alright, you win this time. But we'll be keeping our eye on the both of you. Especially you, Frog," he added with a pointed look at Francis. Then he waved and nudged his brothers toward the door. "Let's go before he really does it!" Because he didn't doubt that Arthur would call their mother.

After they left, Francis let out a loud sigh. "Mon deiu. Did they leave for real this time?!" Please, please let it be so.

"Yep! Just friends!" Alfred exclaimed. He didn't even consider them being anything more than friends. He's tried that with other people like Ivan before and it never worked out well. But he didn't see anything wrong with them being friends. That was something he was always happy to do. You can never have to little friends! The more friends the better in his mind.

Patrick and Cadan winced as well. That was a low blow to even threaten to call her. They gave Francis a 'I'm watching you' look before following Alistair.

Once they were gone, Arthur sighed in relief. "Yes, they've gone for good this time. At least for now. But they won't be bothering us for a while." he told him. He didn't doubt that they would be back at some point. But hopefully the threat would keep them away for a good period of time.

Ivan wasn't really upset over that. More than anything, he wanted friends and now he had one. He definitely wouldn't let this friend leave either. "Well I am very happy to be your friend! You better not plan on running away from me after a week." With that comment, his eyes went a little cold and he stopped his awkward dancing as the aura settled over him. A second later, he smiled and the look passed.

"Yes!" Francis cried. "I'll never take being an only child for granted ever again!" He could still feel their stares pointing daggers at him and it made him feel like showering. As if that would make him feel flashy and wonderful again. "Ugh, we should probably get back inside. I did just run out on my job...again." It was not the first time, but he was a smoker and he needed breaks. Francis started back inside, but just before he got in the door, he yanked Arthur toward him and stole a one-second and utterly ravishing kiss. Feeling satisfied, he went back to the bar.

Alfred felt a shiver run down his spine at what Ivan said. Which confused him because he wasn't afraid of the Russian. He figured it was just a cold chill and ignored it. "Of course I'm not going to ditch you after a week! That would be lame and it isn't something the hero would do." He told him, offended that the other would even suggest such a thing.

Arthur hummed in agreement about needing to go inside. Wouldn't want Francis to get in trouble after all. He was surprised when the Frenchman suddenly pulled him into a kiss and he continued standing there in a daze for another moment. He snapped himself out of it and followed the other inside, glaring slightly at the other's back and mumbling to himself about it.

Ivan hummed in agreement. He thought Alfred's talk of heroes sounded very lame, but it would be quite villainous to ditch a friend after discovering they had less perfect personality traits. And yet, people did that all the time. It's not like Ivan tried to drive them away. "I will hold you to that. People have a tendency to...leave me." Not this time though.

Somehow, Francis could feel Arthur's glare on his back and it made him happy. He knew his surprise kiss was the cause and he reveled in the dramatic effect of it. He needed to rush back into his job for a few minutes and did his best to soothe the alcoholic appetites of his customers. When he got the chance, he found Arthur again. "Will you be drinking more tonight?"

"That's because you hadn't met me yet! I never leave my friends. Never leave a man behind and all that." Alfred told him. It was normally the other person who decides they no longer want to be friends with him, not the other way around. And sure, that makes him upset for a while, but he's the hero! He won't let anything keep him down for long!

Arthur took an open seat at the bar and watched Francis take care of the angry customers. He could understand their anger, yet he was happy he had gotten at least a few minutes alone with the other before his brothers interrupted. Even if it made all these people angry in the process. "After dealing with my brothers, God yes. I need something strong after that." he told him when the Frenchman got over to him.

Ivan decided not to point out how the two of them met. He was feeling tired though and decided to give up on dancing. "I'm feeling thirsty after all," he muttered and wandered back toward the bar. Strangely enough, he didn't make an effort to get more vodka and settled with some water. Dancing could be so hot, or at least when you wore a coat and scarf indoors.

Francis chuckled and reached for the whiskey. "I trust this will do well for you?" he asked as he poured Arthur a glass. He was feeling like some himself but he broke one too many rules already today. "Maybe next time we can go drinking somewhere where neither of us are working. Maybe then we could finally have some peace!" It would be a hassle to do tonight, but he'd like to enjoy a drink with the other man from the same side of the bar for once.

Alfred watching Ivan go and shrugged his shoulders. Ah well. He himself wasn't done dancing. He turned back to the crowd and examined them, before finding someone to dance with. All he had to do was give them a charming smile and they were ready to go.

"Thanks." Arthur muttered, taking the glass. He down the whole thing in one drink before indicating he wanted another. "That would be good. We'll have to work out when we would both have the night off." he told him. He himself wasn't sure when he was going to get another chance to have a night off, but he was sure he could figure something out to actually spend time with Francis while the other wasn't working.

For a minute, Ivan watched the other dance. He did find it hard to look away, but he decided that he probably needed to. Alfred didn't like the person he was when he wanted another very badly, so he needed to not be that person. When he finished his glass of water, he paid for his drink and left with one more backward glance at the blonde still dancing on the floor. He had work to day anyway.

Smiling, Francis nodded his head. "I usually have Sundays off, so whenever you get time off, that would be good. I feel like it's been forever since we had a proper date!" he exclaimed. Although being surprised at work was special in and of itself, he wanted to be lovers. There was so much he couldn't do now. And maybe next time it could be all romance without them falling into bed. He wanted to see if he could do it.

At first, Alfred didn't notice that Ivan had left. But when he looked back at the bar and the other wasn't there, he pouted slightly. How could he just leave like that?! He had been hoping to get his number at least so they could stay in contact. Looks like he'd have to find another way to contact the Russian. But he pushed that aside to deal with tomorrow and focused on the guy he was dancing with.

"That is true. I'll let you know when I have a Sunday off." Arthur told him. It really had been a while since they've gone on a date. But it wasn't his fault he had to work so much. But thinking about it now, he could probably just request to have time off occasionally. He was sure that his boss wouldn't mind to horribly much considering how hard he worked.

Not much time remained before the club closed and Francis spent it in a mix of work and pleasant conversation with Arthur. It amazed him how fast the hours could go with all the things that went on in this place. Club Le Boa must have been a magnet for it though because today didn't even factor in his top ten weirds for the place. When someone announced the five minutes until closing, Francis stopped in front of Arthur and grabbed his hand to kiss the knuckles. "Good night my love. You will call me soon?"

Arthur spent the rest of the time he was there alternating between talking to Francis to watching the man work while sipping at his drink. While he wanted to get drunk because of his brothers showing up, he knew it wouldn't be a good idea seeing as how he had to work in the morning. When Francis stopped in front of him and kissed his knuckles, he felt himself blushing again. "Yeah yeah, frog. I'll call you soon." he agreed, getting out the money to pay for his drinks.

Francis bid him farewell and finished cleaning up, thankfully in peace. His friends must have had something better to do because no one pestered him for free drinks or gossip. It left him getting home at a reasonable hour and straight into bed.

The next day, Gilbert found himself pacing on an unfamiliar sidewalk just after lunch. He really did not want to be there and his furious movement showed it. He always did not want to get beaten into a pulp. Finally, after almost twenty minutes of stalling, he walked inside the animal shelter. Dressed in a jacket with the hood up and his head down, he acted like he didn't want to be seen, but he tried so hard at it, that he made himself more obvious. If he just went inside and out though, he could pretend he at least made an effort.

Matthew was in the back of the building, taking care of the puppies. Well, it wasn't really taking care of them. It was more like letting them out of the cages, laying on the ground, and let them run all over him with their tails wagging. He didn't mind though, it made them all so happy to run free. And that was the most important thing to him.

A young employee noticed the strange man come in and went over to him. "Um... Excuse me, sir? Can I help you with something?" she asked, wondering if he was here to adopt an animal or just came to look around.

Gilbert actually jumped when someone spoke to him. He jumped a little, his hood slipping down enough to reveal his red eyes. "E-er...no, that's fine," he muttered. Damn, someone noticed him. "I was just, um, window shopping?" He cursed himself in his head, knowing that sounded stupid. Before the employee could walk away, he burst out with something else. "No wait! I was told to come here you see and I don't want to talk to him, but does someone named 'Mattie' work here?!"

The employee was about to walk away when she heard the man ask the question. "Mattie? If you mean Matthew he is in the back with the dogs. Just go straight back and take the farthest left." she told him, pointing in the direction he would need to go to get to the back area. She was curious about why he would come here to talk to Matthew if he didn't want to. That didn't make any sense to her. But she couldn't dwell on it long as more people came in. She went over to help them.

"...No...I don't want to talk to him..." Gilbert sighed, knowing his half-whispered complaint didn't get heard. Cursing in his head some more, he followed the lady's instructions and found the backroom. Pushing the door open as silently as he could, he hesitated in the doorway for a minute, watching the chaos of dogs inside. "Um...I might be in need of a puppy," he said after clearly his throat almost louder than he spoke.

Matthew jumped when he heard someone suddenly speak and jumped to his feet and faced the door. "What can I help you wi-..." his voice trailed off when he saw who was standing in the doorway and cursing himself for not recognizing his voice. His eyes dropped to the ground as he crouched down to pet one of the dogs, all of them swarming around him for attention. This was the last person he wanted to see.

Gilbert rocked back on his heels a few times before a few dogs took interest in him. The wet nose pushed into his hand and he bent down to give the dog a good rub. For a second, the usual reservations fell off his face before he remembered he stood in front of someone who wanted him to leave more than he did. "My little brother you see...he won't say anything but he stares every time we pass a pet store. I know you don't want to talk to me..." God, he knew this was such a bad idea. He sounded like an ass even to him.

"Your brother wants a dog? Well, we have plenty to choose from. They all need a good home." Matthew told him, his eyes never leaving the dogs. He didn't want to even look at the man. He felt that if he did, he'd end up doing or saying something that he would regret or to make the man hate him even more. He didn't like the feeling of being hated. It made him feel empty inside whenever someone did.

"I was thinking a German Shepherd," Gilbert muttered, still more or less avoiding the blonde boy. Since he knew the guy didn't want to see him or talk to him, why would Gilbert act like it. It's not that he disliked him or anything. He enjoyed their drinking together, but that didn't mean he could let the guy in. One dog bumped him in the backside and nearly knocked him over in surprise before it started licking him all over. "Ugh...though this one seems to like me. Gah, my eyes aren't for licking!" he yelped as he pushed the dog away.

Matthew thought about what german shepherds they had here. "We have a few puppies available." He told him. One of said puppies was over near the man. He found himself letting out a small laugh at what was said before covering his mouth. He hoped the other wasn't mad at him for laughing at him. But he couldn't bring himself to look at the other to see if he was.

Gilbert sent Matthew a sulky glare before huffing with resignation. "Oh go ahead and laugh. Geez. Does this dog have a name," he asked as he fended the excited creature off again. "I'd feel bad to leave him here after we've gotten friendly like this. You must be lonely." He sat on the floor and wrapped his arms around the dog, laying his head on its back. "Everyone deserves someone to come home too..."

"No.. Not that I know of." Matthew told him. Some of the animals here had names when they came in, others didn't. He felt slightly insulted when the man said the dog must be lonely. He was surrounded by a lot of his own kind. There was no way he was lonely. In fact, he was one of the happiest dogs here. The blond felt even more insulted that the other man seemed more willing to express himself with a dog than with a person who had been trying to be his friend. Though he knew he shouldn't be. "So you want to get him?" he asked, trying not to sound upset.