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Arthur lets out a long sigh and slumps in his seat. One, airports need softer seats. Two, cabs should be faster. He has about fifteen minutes to pass until the cab arrived. But then, he should consider himself lucky he managed to get a cab, the snow is bad enough pretty much none of the planes are leaving.
"Your connection cancelled too?"
Arthur looks across him and sees a thin pale man slouching. He isn't smiling.
"They rebooked me for two days later, don't think tomorrow'll clear up." Arthur sits up a bit straighter and checks the time. Thirteen minutes. Assuming the cab would arrive on time, that is.
"Hm, we're probably on the same flight then." The man sighs and leans back, hands moving to rest on his bag. There's no other luggage that Arthur sees. "The two o'clock flight?"
"Yeah." There's not much Arthur can say to that. The man seems nice in that Mad-Eye sort of way. Arthur isn't getting the creepy stalker vibe from him, he doesn't think he'd mind if he ended up next to the man on the flight.
"Staying in the airport?"
"Oh, no, I got a hotel room."
The man groans.
"Lucky, when I called, they were all full."
Arthur nods slowly. They had told him he got the last room but he assumed that was just their attempt at jacking the price up. Arthur had been desperate enough for a room he ended up accepting the double bed suite.
"Ah, so got anybody waiting for you on the other end?" Huh, he probably should call ahead and let his family know he would be late.
"No." The man crosses his arms and glares off into the distance. "No, I don't."
"Vacation?"
"No."
"Business?"
"No."
Arthur checks his watch. Ten minutes. When he looks back up, the man's looking at him.
"You on vacation?"
"No, I'm..." Arthur sighs. "Somebody's sick so I thought I'd pay them a visit." He doesn't really know the Delacours all that well but they had been thrilled to hear he'd drop by. Arthur figured it'd be a good way to get out for a bit and get a clear head while also getting on his new daughter-in-law's good side.
"Sorry to hear that," the man says, almost sympathetically.
"Yeah, just wanted an excuse to get out of England." Arthur laughs a little. "Been a nightmare lately."
"Isn't everything a nightmare?" The man shakes his head and slumps forward. His hair falls and covers his eyes. Arthur watches him for a bit.
The man just sits there and says nothing else, doesn't even look back up at Arthur.
What do you say to that?
The man actually reminds Arthur a bit of himself when he was younger. He remembers how it felt to be twenty and completely lost in life. He just threw himself into his work but that had only put off his identity crisis until... A couple months back, Arthur supposes. Apparently bottling feelings up was not conducive to any relationship or anything really.
The man's in his thirties at most, and some would argue far too old for this sort of talk. Arthur knows better, knows there's plenty who'd agree with the man, plenty who've left far too early.
"I don't think my hotel room's a nightmare," Arthur blurts out.
The man startles and looks up, blinking confusedly at Arthur.
"Er, if you'd prefer to stay somewhere not the airport." Arthur lets out a short laugh. Does he sound nervous? God, it better not sound like he was propositioning the man or anything. "Two beds."
"We just met."
"Ah, well, two days seems like a lot, I'm not even sure you can do that."
There's a pause and the man just looks at Arthur. Arthur's wringing his hands but stops to look at his watch. Five minutes.
"I called for a cab a while ago, should arrive in five if the snow hasn't slowed them up too much."
"No pressure though, right?" the man says dryly and Arthur blinks.
"Oh, no, I wasn't-"
"Okay."
"What?"
"I'll stay with you. Better than these seats, anyhow."
The man stands up. Arthur follows suit.
"Might as well wait closer to the doors, these seats aren't worth it."
Arthur just nods and grabs his suitcase. He eyes the bag the man's carrying but doesn't think the man'd accept Arthur's offer to carry it. The man begins moving and Arthur reaches out.
"Wait," Arthur gently touches the man's wrist, "wait." The man turns to look at him, and there's a guarded look in his eyes. They're a lovely shade of brown, Arthur thinks. Wait, no, you're going to share a room with him.
Arthur steps back and holds out his hand. "I'm Arthur, Arthur Weasley."
The man stares down at Arthur's hand, face slowly shifting from guarded to relieved. He looks up at Arthur and slowly lifts his hand.
"Severus Snape," the man says and grasps Arthur's hand.
"Pleasure." Arthur grins and the man, Severus, offers a small smile back. "Right, shall we get going, then?"
They set off without any further words.