On his way home, Mathias sent Lukas a quick text, just for good measure. 'Have a nice day at work! ;)' He had his own job to do, so he hurried on his way, not that he gave the slightest care about being late.

Arthur was sitting on his couch, drinking a cup of tea. He finally had the night off and wanted to relax. What he also wanted to do was see Francis since he hasn't had the chance to do anything with the man recently. He pulled out his phone and sent him a text. 'Hey. Are you doing anything tonight?' he asked, picking up the book beside him to read while he waited for a response.

Francis was just on his way out of the grocery store when he heard his phone ring. He checked the message and felt himself grin to see who it was from. 'Not at all. Just finished my errands and that's that,' he texted back. A bubbly feeling took over him as he put the groceries in the back of his car. It had been far too long since he saw his boyfriend. Even though they talked of making plans before, their schedules did not permit it and he found himself excited at just the thought that they might be able to meet up tonight."

Arthur looked at his phone when he heard it go off. A small smile grew on his face as he read it, glad Francis wasn't busy. "Do you want to meet somewhere? Its my night off." He sent. He stood and stretched, more than ready to go do sometimes hung. As much as he enjoyed reading, he wanted to go do something.

'We can go drinking, have some time just us,' Francis typed back. It was late enough in the day to go drink and he'd enjoy it. As a bartender, he actually didn't get to drink much except at home. And he'd love to sit on the same side of the bar as Arthur. He set his phone on the car seat next to him just in case before he drove out of the parking lot.

"Sounds good. I'm guessing you won't want to go to the place you work at, am I right?" He sent. There were plenty of bars in the city they could meet at. He thought for a moment. "We could meet at The Oasis." He suggested. If was a bar he personally liked. It's were he used to go before he had met Francis.

'That's a good one. Meet you there in an hour?' Francis typed out once he made it home. Texting and driving never worked well after all. He was humming happily by that point, already imagining how much fun it would be to see Arthur. An hour felt like forever, but it would give him much needed time to get ready.

"Sounds good." Arthur could feel himself smiling and he forcibly removed, not wanting to seem to eager about this, even to himself. He ran his hand through his hair and decided to take a quick shower. He washed and dressed quickly, putting on casual clock there that still looked nice. He checked d the clocked and headed out, catching a cab to the bar.

After Francis put his groceries away, he showered and spent ten minutes pondering between a blue shirt and pink one before he picked an entirely different shirt and headed out. He was going to be late at this rate and he barely spent any time in front of the mirror grooming. Once he reached The Oasis, he headed inside and looked around to see if Arthur had already made it there or not.

Arthur had arrived at the bar and immediately looked around for Francis. He noticed said Frenchman wasn't there yet and went up to the bar and took a seat to wait. He passed on getting a drink when the bartender asked, wanting to wait for the other man to arrive first. No matter how good a drink sounded at the moment.

Francis spotted him and sauntered over. "Mon cher, it's been so long. I'm glad to see you," he said as he leaned over to kiss Arthur briefly before sitting down next to him. "Have you ordered anything to drink yet?" As expected, it did feel nice to sit next to his boyfriend while at a bar and Francis didn't care if anyone stared at him for sitting a little to close to the other man.

Arthur perked up when he heard Francis's voice. Though he would deny it if anybody said anything about it. He turned to face him when the other kissed him, kissing back in the brief kiss. "Not yet. I was waiting for you to arrive." He told him, signalling to the bartender that he was ready to order now.

The bartender came over with the same sort of calm smile that Francis often wore himself. "What will you have sirs?" the older gentleman asked. Francis smiled back, glad they'd chosen a bar with an older clientele. As much fun as drinking could be, he didn't need rowdy youths to ruin his night with Arthur.

"I'll have a glass of your finest merlot," he said before they both turned to hear what Arthur would have.

Arthur wasn't surprised to hear Francis's order. He should have know he'd want wine. If he had know, he would have ordered for him when he got here. "I'll take a pint of ale. Anything but an American made brand." He ordered. While he had nothing against that type of beer or ale, it just wasn't his favorite.

The bartender nodded and left to get their drinks while Francis leaned against the bar to stare at Arthur with dreamy eyes. "Did you miss me? It's already been more than a week since we saw each other," he asked. He knew the answer already, but he also wanted to hear Arthur say it. "I missed you very much."

Arthur blushed lightly. "Didn't miss you at all. Very busy with work, you know." he said, looking away. Sure, it was a lie. Not the being busy part; that was very much true. But he had missed Francis. Very much. Much more than he would ever admit. Never in the past has he ever really missed the person he was dating if they've been apart for a while. But Francis was different. He made him feel different than anybody else ever has.

"You're lying," Francis pointed out without any hesitation. "See, you just turned a cute shade of pink. That's your lying indicator." He smiled, feeling smug that he already knew this much about Arthur. Their relationship had already lasted longer than many of his others and he couldn't see them ending it any time soon either. "Tell me that you missed me. Please. I want to hear it," he added in a whisper.

Arthur blushed deeper at being called out on his lie. He looked at Francis for a moment, trying to gather the words. "I-I m-missed you.." He managed to stutter out, embarrassed about admitting it. He turned his eyes away again, looking for the bartender, really needing that drink now.

Francis jumped across the space between their bar stools and wrapped arms around Arthur. "I'm so glad to hear it! I thrive on external validation you know. You've got to tell me you miss me, and you love me!" he whined. While he did very much enjoy hearing those things, he said so mostly because it was cute to make Arthur say them. He was still grinning and latched onto Arthur by the time the bartender did bring their drinks. He eyed the two men, but took it all in stride as would any professional.

"Here's your drinks, sirs. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Thank you. Well do that." Arthur said, shoving at Francis to get him to let go of him. He turned his attention to the Frenchman. "I was not raised to express things like that. Thinking back now, that's probably why none of my relationships worked out." He muttered that last part to himself. He grabbed his drink and downed half of it at once.

Francis pulled back with reluctance. He would love to stay snuggled up next to the other man all day, but he also didn't think this was the right environment for it. Not the worst mind you, but not the best. "Aw, don't think like that. You're hard to get is all. But you've already given me a lot more than my past relationships have given me," he said with a reassuring smile. He sipped a little of his wine, but still had most of his attention on Arthur. "Being serious goes a long way."

Arthur felt reassured slightly by Francis's words. Though he wasn't sure what he did to give more than any of the other's past relationships. He was acting as he normally did in any of his own past ones. "I've always been serious whenever I start seeing someone. But they never seem to understand that I have a very demanding job and I don't always have the time to spend with them. No matter how much I try." he said.

"But you're out saving the world with your job!" Francis exclaimed. "That's kinda sexy, you know. Why fault you for that?" Francis hadn't been the most available either even though his job didn't demand as much. For all that he was a clingy type, he was okay with how things were with Arthur, missing him or not. Maybe because they hadn't been dating long enough for him to feel justified in clinginess. He sipped on his wine, pondering that.

"That didn't seem to matter to them. All they seemed to care about it that I wasn't spending enough time or energy on them. They wanted more from me than what I had to give." Arthur said. He really did try to put his all into his relationships. But, his job had to come first. Even if he was off duty, he still had to be available to come in on a moments notice. That made things hard and nobody seemed to understand that. He sighed quietly and sipped at his drink.

Francis smiled softly back. "I don't want more from you than you can give. You don't ask that of me." The two of them continued to drink for a while, chatting every now and then, but mostly enjoying each other's presence. Francis managed to make his way to a third glass of wine which was more than he'd had in a while and it was starting to show. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and his smile came a little easier, more flirtatious in nature. "You know, this wine is good, but I have a bottle at home that's just a few years older and très magnifique. Don't you want to try some," he continued to chat.