Arthur couldn't help but light up slightly at the mention of tea. Its been a long time since he's had the chance to sit down and properly enjoy a nice cup of tea. "I'm always up for tea. Though I get stuck with coffee way more than I would like." he told him. He noticed that he needed to move up in the line to place his order but instead stepped to the side to let other people past while he was talking.

"Oh how lovely. I admit, tea can be quite calming after working with alcohol all night." Though Francis himself preferred, even deeply loved coffee. It felt nice to simply make this kind of small talk though. He didn't know how much time Arthur might have to talk, considering his job, so he tried to get the important part of the conversation out of the way. That and he didn't think his heart could stand it if he didn't hurry up and get this date in motion. "Are you free tomorrow afternoon?" he asked, not willing to set the date farther back if he could help it.

Arthur had to think about that. Was he free? He could probably manage taking a break for an hour or so depending on how busy they were tomorrow. But there was no guarantees. "I should be available around 3 tomorrow." he told him. He figured if he got most of the work done tonight, he definitely should be available by then.

Smiling, Francis nodded his head before remembering that the gesture wouldn't be seen. He coughed to hide the embarrassment he felt at such a silly thing. "Three it is then! I look forward to it. Since I'm sure you're very busy, I'll let you go, but..." He paused as his heart began to flutter again. "Have a nice day, Arthur." With that, he hung up and let himself slide onto a couch like a total love-sick buffoon. This was all going too wonderfully to be true.

Arthur stared at his phone for a moment after Francis hung up. He hadn't told him where they were supposed to be meeting. He sighed and got back in line. Luckily it wasn't to long. He saved the other's number into his phone before sending him a message. It said, "Where are we going to be meeting?". That done, he made it to the counter and order some coffee. Once it was received he paid and headed back to the station.

Francis was just settling into pulling his hair and moaning with lovesickness when the buzz of his phone distracted him. Confused, he checked the message and immediately smacked his palm into his forehead. What was he, sixteen? This was just pathetic although his good friends did say he specialized in that. Quickly, he typed out a message in response that simply said, 'Madeline's', one of the most popular coffee shops in the area. That done, he dropped his phone on the floor and pretty much melted into the couch. "God I'm such an idiot!"

Arthur had just settled back at his desk when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and looked at the message. It took him a moment to think about where that was. It wasn't to awfully far from here. So that was a good thing. He'd be able to walk there in good time if he was at the station at the correct time. If he was out on patrol, it would be really awkward having his partner drop him off. So he hoped he would be here. With that thought in mind, he got back to work, sipping at his drink.

Through some power of the gods, Francis had the night off so he found himself bored at home, still obsessing over the date. Yep, he was definitely a pathetic teenager. He couldn't read much and the watercolors in his makeshift studio turned his lips down in a frown. He didn't have the patience to deal with such things now. In the end, he lurked in front of the tv, eating cheap food he'd normally cry over having to eat as he watched romantic comedy movies. That at least helped put him to sleep earlier than usual.

When he woke the next day, it took him hours of panic to finally pick an outfit to wear. In the end, he ended up looking not much different than usual. He wore his hair down and a pale blue button up shirt with designer stressed jeans. Fifteen minutes early, he arrived at Madeline's and took a seat outside to wait like he wasn't going crazy inside.

Arthur worked until past 2 am. He was competely exhausted when he arrived home. He stripped, set his alarm and fell into his bed, falling asleep instantly. He awoke at 6 and got up ,took a shower and pulled on his uniform. He checked the time and grabbed a scone and an apple and ate them on his way to work.

Luckily, it appeared he was going to be working at the station working on reports again today. That meant he wouldn't have to be dropped off like a child. He worked until it was time to leave. He informed his supervisor he would be taking his break now. The man was a bit surprised, since he normally didn't. But he let him go. He headed out and made it there just before 3. He saw Francis and headed over to him.

Staring off into space as he had been, Francis didn't notice Arthur until he was right in front of him. "Oh, Good day!" he exclaimed, lifting his chin from where it'd been resting against his palm. His usual smile came out, charming as ever. "Please, sit. I'll call a server over so we can order." He pulled out Arthur's chair for him, then raised his hand to get a young woman's attention. Unlike the dreaded Starbucks infection, this place worked like a proper cafe where people sat and looked at coffee and tea menus with sides of dainty pastries that didn't come frozen and prepackaged. How a person could go on a date at Starbucks baffled him to no end.

Arthur took his seat. He examined Francis for a moment while the other was getting the waitress's attention. He felt extremely overdressed in his uniform in comparison to what the other was wearing. "Sorry I didn't have time to go change..." he told him, feeling slightly embarrassed about it.

Francis turned to smile at Arthur after he'd gotten the server's attention. In reality, he thought the other man looked dashing in his uniform. It suited him very well, but Francis didn't quite know how Arthur would react to him saying that. The uniform wasn't meant to make people look fuckable after all. Oh how dishonorable Francis' thoughts were seeing it. "It's quite alright," he managed to say without showing his thoughts on his face. "I know you have a job to do. It must have been a busy day then?"

The server came up to them then, smiling with dancing blue eyes that distracted Francis for a second. "Are you two ready to order?"

Arthur opened his mouth to speak but the server interrupted him. He picked up the menu and looked at the tea options. They all sounded good and he wasn't sure what he wanted. "I'll have a cup of whatever type of tea you recommend." He told her, giving her a smile. He was willing to try any of them. And who knows. If it was good he might just have to come back here sometime in the future.

The young woman smiled back at Arthur. "How about a cup of our vanilla chamomile then? And you sir?" she asked, turning to Francis. He passed over his menu with a charming smile himself.

"Just a latte, thank you." She nodded and hurried away to get the drinks. Francis turned his attention back to Arthur. "They have excellent service here, don't you think?" he asked, glancing back at the server with the wonderful blue eyes.

"That sounds wonderful." Arthur told her about her suggestion. He turned his attention back to Francis when he heard him speak to him. "Yes. She seemed very nice." he answered. His eyes narrowed very slightly when he saw the Frenchman was focused on the waitress. This was supposed to be a date, right? Or was he just confused about what was asked about this.

Francis hummed, his attention drifting for a second. He couldn't help it with this daydream sort of date. He had to snap himself out of it and never noticed he'd said or done anything the least bit not date worthy. "So how has your day been? We got distracted when I tried to ask before."

"it's been fine." Arthur stated, still a bit annoyed from the way Francis had been watching this waitress. He knew he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up about this. He didn't want to think the worst of the Frenchman, so he was going to give him one more chance to prove that this hadn't been a waste of his time.

Francis blinked. "Just fine? Isn't that a little blunt?" he asked. He'd finally pulled all the way back to reality and paid Arthur all of his attention. The short answer made him think he'd done something wrong and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what. The things he did were done on instinct, all the way down to his wandering gaze. "Um...did I do something wrong?"

Arthur was silent for what moment. Yes, Francis had done something wrong. But he didn't want to call him out on it unless it happened again. "No.... I'm just tired. I haven't been getting much sleep." He told him. It was a true fact after all. Next time he had a day off he was sure he was just going to spend the whole day sleeping.

"I see," Francis murmured, unsure of if Arthur told him the whole truth. The previous night taught him that he might not be able to read the man as well as he thought though. The truth and lies had been hard to follow. He put on a charming smile just in case since it seemed to soothe people well in the past. "Those pesky z's are necessary. Why, my mother always told me that no one could grow up beautiful if they didn't sleep well every night!"

Arthur felt offended by that, though he knew Francis didn't say it to be offensive. At least, he hoped so. "I've never been able to sleep very well. I'd blame work but that would only affect the recent part of my life. I had the same problem when I was younger." he told him. He checked his watch and looked around for the waitress, wondering if their order was done yet.

"I see," Francis hummed. "It seems to be a common enough problem. Many of the late night guests at bars and clubs can't sleep, so they figure they'll wander the town and drink. Some of us simply aren't built for the schedule we've built our world on though. I could never work a typical nine to five job myself!" he exclaimed with a shudder. The years of being a bartender made it set, but even before that he tended toward a nocturnal lifestyle.

"I don't really mind the hours I work. It keeps me busy. I just have a hard time falling asleep unless I've been awake for most of the week. Even then I don't sleep much." Arthur said. There were times when he couldn't sleep that he would go to a bar for a drink. But that hasn't happened very much recently. His schedule was all over the place and it was making his sleep patterns even worse than they were in the first place.

"Maybe you just don't have the right person beside you to help you sleep?" Francis asked with a quirk of one eyebrow. Probably not the smartest thing to say, but it was a date right? He could flirt shamelessly and say such things. He'd certainly be willing to fill the role after all. Although he didn't expect much, he still held his breath with expectation.

Arthur couldn't stop the snort that came out or that he blushed slightly. "I really doubt that would help. My job doesn't leave much time for rest so I try to get what I can and keep going." he said. He checked his watch and looked around for the waitress again, wondering what was taking so long with their drinks.