shock of golden hair and those eyebrows - for the past few weeks and he had grown to recognise him with startling ease. If not taking the

same train by chance, he would spot him in different places around the city without even the intention of seeking him out from the crowd.

Kiku pursed his lips and tightened his grasp around his mug of roasted chestnut mocha and the book he had just purchased. The cafe seats

were full. All except for one seat with that familiar stranger. After a moment of silently berating himself for falling into such an awkward

situation, he finally mustered up what courage he had to stiffly stride over to the man who was buried nose-deep in his own book. "E-Excuse

me, is...is this seat free?"

(( For Igirisusan >w< ))

Blinking as he was suddenly brought out of the captivating world of Mr Darcy and the Gardiners in Pemberley, he raised his head and stared

straight at the other young man disbelievingly for a few long seconds before remembering himself.

"O-oh, of course. You're welcome to sit."
He glanced down at the seat in question as he spoke, if only to give himself some time to become

acquainted with the fact that *'oh, it was that boy he sat opposite to on the ride home last night and the one in the grocery store the

weekend earlier and-'*. Attempting to be as discreet as possible, Arthur moved slightly over to the side to give the familiar person some

space (and a not-so-hidden once over).

allowed a small smile on his lips, one of courtesy and small gratitude, before he awkwardly settled on the vacant seat opposite the man, p

placing his drink down on the table a little forcefully than intended. He winced and an apology was automatically uttered out of habit. Ah,

this was not fitting. "Sorry," he said once more his foot accidentally nudged against the man's leg as he shifted in his seat, making him

drop his bag to the floor when he really wanted to seat it safely behind him. He avoided looking up at the stranger's face, his cheeks

flushing in embarrassment.

Feeling his own face heat slightly,Arthur cleared his throat and coughed quietly in an attempt to dispel some of his own growing awkwardness

"It's fine. No need to apologise."
He lowered his book to get a better look at his new table-mate and internally debated whether or not to

sate his curiousity by asking if they'd met before or to not appear as creepy and begin by introducing himself.Choosing the more gentlemanly

route, Arthur took a deep breath (heaven knows why he was so nervous),held out a hand and rose partway out of his seat.

"Hello. My name's Arthur Kirkland."

glanced up and he noticed the man's hand which had been outstretched not too far from his face. He stared dumbly at it for a few seconds

before he lifts his face to meet the green eyes which stared down at him. An introduction..? Standing from his seat as well, he took the

hand hesitantly before he dipped his head forward in a curt bow, out of habit. "Hon..Kiku Honda. I am pleased to make your acquaintance and

I thank you for sharing your table with me," came the mechanical reply and he grimaced a little at how much he sounded like an actor who was

well-versed in his lines.

Contributing his almost overly polite response to nerves - or a cultural difference, he wasn't sure. Arthur had always heard that the

Japanese were a rather polite people; a very redeeming trait - he let out a small amused smile and a quite huff of a laugh.
"Pleased to meet

you too," he replied, slowly letting go and settling back down into the position he'd worn into the seat for the past hour. Arthur gesturing

towards the small plate of biscuits in the centre of the table, silently inviting his new (friend?) acquaintance to share them with him.

Seeing Arthur settle back into his seat, Kiku followed suit into his own and he quickly picked up his hot drink to sip it as an effort

to regain his composure. When Arthur gesticulated towards the biscuits on his side of the table in silent offer, he turned it down politely

with a mumble of thanks and a small smile before he then picked up his book to read. He didn't want to overstay his welcome on this table

after all. Over the past few weeks, he had noticed how much of a distant person Arthur was, if he tendency to travel and sit alone was any

indication.

(( *if his tendency ))

Pushing down the small familiar sting of rejection - although this time it wasn't even his food; what a ridiculous feeling - Arthur followed

Kiku's example and sipped at his camomile tea, allowing the relaxing effect to wash over him. Taking a biscuit himself, Arthur raised his

book again and resumed Elizabeth's shocking revelations of her feelings for Mr Darcy. A quiet but companionable silence

swept over the two for the time being.

Partially glad for the silence, Kiku bowed his head over his book yet after taking a few more sips of his mocha, he came to realise that

rather than actually paying attention to the antagonist and his machinations towards staging a military coup on a particular state, his eyes

kept straying to the man who sat before him, taking in the way his his hand was tucked under his chin as he read, the biscuit slowly

disappearing into his mouth. And when those green eyes glanced up at him, Kiku fumbled with his book and flipped to the next two pages

and stared at a particular paragraph, hoping Arthur had not caught his open staring.

(( I imagine that Arthur at least would have read it multiple times haha. The classicsss ))

Arthur kept his eyes on the other for a beat longer than necessary and glanced aside before returning to the novel in his hands. Blinking

slowly at the page, he found his mind preoccupied with the young man across the table and whether or not he'd imagined if Kiku had, in fact,

been looking at him earlier. Muttering to himself that if even Mr Darcy (Mr Darcy for goodness sakes!) couldn't distract him, then nothing

could and he might as well get it over and done with quickly. Lifting his head and throwing the other man a fast quirk of the lips, Arthur

threw at him the first thing he could think of.
"May I ask what you are reading?"

"Eh?" Kiku looked up, his shoulders stiffening at the sudden imposition of a question on him and his mind went blank for a second there. He

panicked a little when choppy sentences had formed itself on his tongue and so he simply lifted it up for the other to see. "A-Anthills of

the Savannah.." he stuttered a little before he clears his throat the moment he sees the arch of Arthur's brow. He tried his best to not

stare at it. "It's..interesting but complex to read." He wondered if he should tell why he bought it in the first place, but thought it idle

and he stopped there, looking uncertain as to how he should prolong the life of their conversation.

His eyes took in the simplistic cover and he trained them to stay right there on the title despite the urge to visually explore Kiku's

appearance make absolutely sure that yes, this is the man you've been seeing everywhere. But oh, even if it was, both "who are you?" and

"do you live near me?" were far too direct to resemble any sense of propriety. Besides, what would he do, even knowing that information.

Arthur felt the awkwardness return full force and hurriedly swallowed past the lump in his throat. "Uhh... W-what's it about?" He berated

himself internally for being unable to think up a more unique topic on the spot.

"This book? Well," he dropped his gaze to book as he set it down on the table before he rested his fingers around his warm cup. "Well..it's

a narration which depicts how politically unstable Africa is, though the author uses a fictional state here..it is a book with a powerful

voice for freedom and democracy," he explains slowly, his fingers tracing the smoothness of the porcelain cup. "I have only started to read

some English novels but..this one is a little challenging to read."

"For someone just beginning to read English books, that does sound rather complicated to follow," his eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly

as a new thought occurred to him. "In fact, I must say that I'm quite surprised at your grasp of the English language. How long

have you been learning?" Suddenly realising that his questions may be taken as intrusive or, god forbid, nosy, Arthur hurriedly

added in, "You don't have to answer. I was just... curious."

(( ah bear with me. my laptop became all sucky all of the sudden ))

(( That's a-okay. c: ))

"How long..? Ah.." He furrowed his brows in thought, recalling back to the days when he had struggled with reading and writing the alphabet

and the endless drills in pronunciation classes. "Perhaps seven, no, nine years..?" He cast the man a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry I cannot

recall it very well to give you the correct answer. It has been so long since I last attended classes."