closed starter
@thegermanadvisor
He walked into the room with a surprising amount of familiarity considering it wasn’t his own, shucking off his stifling overcoat as he kicked the doors shut behind himself, and dropping down onto the bed with a groan. It had been a hell of night: long and overdrawn and so unbelievably tiresome that he’d almost fled the hall during the second course. "Why am I even here?” Anton asked with a huff, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I know we all laugh about it, but sometimes I really do think my only purpose is to look pretty and smile at people I can’t remember the names of.” At the lack of response, he sat up unceremoniously, a petulant scowl on his face. Fabian could be quiet sometimes, sure - he’d had learnt that the hard way, after ages of irritating the poor man. But it was his job to have an opinion, and he’d never been one to ignore Anton for no reason. “Why aren’t you - ”
A sigh escaped his lips the minute he spotted the German advisor, curled up in a chair by the fire with his nose in a book. Ah, no wonder. Walking over, Anton crouched down on his knees, reaching over to pull the volume from his friends hands. “Stop reading in the dark,” he commanded quietly, gently pressing his fingertips against Fabian’s forehead to smooth out the furrow of his brow. “You’re going to give yourself a headache. And wrinkles, old man.” A rueful smile graced his features then, eyes crinkling at the sides. “Lucky for you, there isn’t a book in the world that’s more interesting than I am.” Anton sat back on the carpet, blinking up at Fabian with curiosity. He hadn’t seen him since earlier in the morning, when he’d stuck his head in to find him working at his desk. “You seem quieter than usual. How was your day?”