Life's A Drag [Open]

Sometimes he thought this place had too many flowers.

Really, it looked like a florist vomited up his life's work out here and everyone else thought the decor was sunshine and butterflies. If you asked him, it was a hypocritical set up considering what was going on inside the hospital; people dying left and right without half the bastards leaving a next of kin. What was the point of lying to yourself that the world was colorful and bright when just inside the walls it was drab and grey?

Or maybe he was just being cynical because it was a long day. That was a very real possibility too.

Taking a long drag from a fresh cigarette, Sadik gave a satisfied sigh as he settled onto a park bench that sat beneath a young willow tree. He still hadn't settled much into this hospital, especially since the busy season of summer had come and gone. He hadn't gone out on the town with friends - because they were nonexistent now- and he hadn't gotten a chance to speak except in passing with his colleagues. It was a shit existence, he knew, but he also knew it would get better after being in residency....or so he hoped.

Now he just wondered what he was going to do with himself for the upcoming holiday when he had no one but Me, Myself, and I to celebrate with...maybe going back to Turkey wasn't such a bad idea after all.

At that thought, he took a long drag and crushed fallen ashes under his shoe.

Mumbling to himself, he said, "What am I doing here again?

Arthur never ventured near the courtyard, mostly out of a fear that one day he would see some kind of faerie and he would absolutely lose his mind in that one instant. But he really needed a cigarette and Francis had now taken to haunting his office to make sure he didn't do it because apparently it made his mouth taste funny.

His search for a spot to practice this habit led him outside to the small courtyard and he inhale the heavy, blossom filled air, smiling a little. Oh well, it wasn't too bad. He glanced around and his initial search yielded no hint of a wing or twinkling floating... thing and so he found it safe to wander further outside, slipping the smoke from behind his ear followed by a rummaging for a lighter.

Which he totally forgot. He tore through his pockets but found nothing. Fuck. He ground the smoke between his teeth, looking around the garden before spotting someone with that unmistakable smoke curling near their face.Vaguely recognising the back of the man's head to be one of the other doctors, Arthur quickly walked over, mouth opening the ask for a lighter before he heard the man's question.

Standing behind him, he quirked his head. "Because you're a doctor?" he hazarded as a guess, "Got a light mate?"

That disembodied voice made his shoulders jump until recognition hit him. A quick turn around did the trick, revealing the snide Englishman Sadik had seen throughout the hospitals - mostly bitching about one thing or another with as many curses thrown in between coherent words. It was an amusing show every time, that was for sure...and the rumor about him and the frog were always good on the grape vine.

"I suppose I am," He started with a pull of a grin and a heavy, deep accent, blowing out a long stream of smoke. A lazy wave of a hand with a murmur of, "Gel, gel!" invited the man to take a seat beside him.

"You look rather wary, my friend," Sadik said without even looking him in the eye, pulling out a cheap, plastic lighter from his pocket and offering a flame, "Are there ghosts in this place I should know about?"

A hearty laugh left him as he visibly relaxed against the bench, an observant eye taking in every inch of Arthur, finally given the chance to see him up close and personal. The look on his face, Sadik thought, almost made him look more bedraggled than even himself who was always half in scrubs most of the time. The English stress themselves out too much from the looks of it.

Sitting down, Arthur laughed tiredly, reaching forward, letting the fire lite the end of his cigarette, taking in a long breath, letting the smoke curl out of his nose as he lifted a hand, rubbing an eyebrow with his thumb. "Wary is a good word," he admitted, "Keeping an eye out for faeries and Frenchman."

His eyes met Sadik's wandering ones curiously. "You're watching me rather intently." he pointed out, raising an eyebrow, "Surely I don't look that terrible." A self-conscious hand pulled through the tousled blond hair nervously. "And no... There are no ghosts here."

Usually, Arthur would try to deny the fact that he sometimes say the odd specter as it had gotten him quite a lot of heat at Oxford but here... Here this hospital had a completely different crowd and it almost seemed somewhat normal to see things.

His laughter died into a chuckle, not so sure if he should be taking the 'fairies' reference quite so literally. Still, Sadik couldn't help but wonder if the Frenchman really was all that bad. He seemed like the sort of man he could get along with, especially after a couple of drinks. Perhaps the resident hardass, Arthur, truly was the resident hardass? Sadik was too new to know for sure.

"Just getting a good idea of who you are. People talk about you a lot, you know," Not said as a question though he inclined a brow, he gave a smile that seemed to hide many secrets, "No, no, you don't look too terrible. Handsome enough."

As if that was supposed to be some sort of compliment.

Sticking the cigarette between two fingers to wave tracks in the air as he gestured with his speech, "No ghosts? This is hospital, is it not? Plenty of people leaving before Allah truly needs them, yes?" A haunting chuckle found his lips, "There are ghosts here, my friend, I assure."

Arthur's cheeks heated up at the word 'handsome' but he tried to brush it off. "I meant... not in the courtyard," he said quietly trying to move away from himself, "I-I see them in the rooms a lot, but nothing violent, more so distant... I hope some of them will move on... Sometimes the leave when i held someone."

He sighed shaking his head and still trying to rub the blush from his cheeks. "Who do you see?" he asked curiously.

"No, not here, no. Is hypocrisy at it's finest, evet?"

A private amusement played in his eyes over the Englishman's apparent bashfulness over a simple compliment. He'd have to keep that in mind, if only to have the satisfaction of teasing Arthur when in just the right company.

"What do I see?" A smoky breath left him as he threw the spent cancer stick to the cement, grounding it out with a heel, "I see nothing, just the evidence that they are here. If I had dollar for every time a tray was knocked over by nothing at all, I would be a rich man. I believe they are angry," He laughed, "At themselves, I'm sure. Most people who die under our hands were idiots in first place. Why else would they end up in ER?"

Turning the topic back, Sadik gave a firm pat to Arthur's shoulder, a playful grin curving his lips, "Why so embarrassed at a compliment, Kirkland? Can a man not compliment another man?"

Or was he too much of a prude?

Arthur shrugged, still nursing his own smoke slowly. "I dislike the ER." he said quietly, which was a truth as he had been avoiding this like the Black Plague after the incident with Jun. That had just been a bit much but he was still slowly recovering and sooner rather than later, he would be attending there again. For now, he would stick to the rooms.

The touch shocked him almost as much as the words and he jumped a little. "Oh no of course not!" he said quickly, "no, compliments are fine I just don't get them that often," Letting out a quiet breath, he hunched a little, "I'm not good with people."

"I hear that a lot," His thick, intrusive voice broke the stark contrast from Arthur's low, thoughtful undertone, "There's nothing but a little more blood and a lot more complaining that separates the ER from your department."

Ah, but then Sadik caught that jump in Arthur's shoulder and found himself raising a brow. That whole prude thing seemed to be coming true, unless the Englishman was having self-esteem issues right before his eyes. He dashed the thought away from the air, smiling easily to calm whatever nerves had Arthur going, "Not good with people? You're in the wrong profession,"

Then he went out on a limb, a lewd smile on, "Or are you just not good at getting compliments from people you find...attractive?"

The very thought made him laugh right in Arthur's face.

Arthur glowered, green eyes sharp as he met Sadik's gaze. "No, I'm just not used to compliments." he said, voice curt and snipped. This is what he got for even trying to open up to someone, a bloody laugh in the face ,"If you're hitting on me because it was a bet or something, tell them I fuckin' let you shag me and get your stupid quid."

He stood, cigarette crushed underfoot. "Cheers Adnan."

The drastic change in atmosphere got Sadik's attention good and quick. His smile and laugh all went away, silent as he watched the poor cigarette taking a pounding into the cement. Shaking his head, Sadik pulled another cigarette from his own pocket, offering it as some sort of smoker's apology.

"A joke, Kirkland, a joke," He assured, "I'm not a gambling man," A lie, "and unlike half the doctors in this hospital, I am not interested in men," A pause, clapping his hands on his thighs, "So, no need to become so tense, my friend. Besides, we wouldn't want rumors going around that you are easy, eh?"

A smile tried to break the tension, fading to nothing to try and save face, "...I think you need a drink. You seem so tense. I buy first round, how does this sound, hrm?"

Really, he had no bad intentions behind it, even if he looked like your run of the mill seducer. Promise.

Arthur eyed the smoke before sitting back down, snatching it and tucking it behind his ear, relaxing back into the bench. He was quite over his little tantrum now that he was being bribed to stay. especially with the promise of drinks. Though he still was a little suspicious of that smile.

"Ah well, I know plenty of people who say they aren't into men and would still shag one just to know what it feels like... Or because they can't get any girls." a not-so-subtle-stab at the man, though it was meant in a friend and calm manner. Arthur's fingers drummed along his legs carefully as he let out a small sigh.

He finally returned the smile. "Drinks would be lovely," he admitted, "There's a lovely pub just down the way."

[Sorry this took me forever to get to. I suck, haha.]

"Then those men are not what they say they are," Sadik, however, betrayed his words at that very moment (perhaps to combat the stab) and let his arm rest on the back of the bench, just inches away from wrapping that arm around Arthur's shoulder, "I am honest looking man, yes? Do I look like the type who cannot get a girl?"

Grinning wolfishly, he nodded at the idea of drinks, "That settles it then - we go for drinks after shift and I find out you're not such a stick in the mud as everyone calls you. Nothing like drinks between colleagues, eh?"

Then he stood, putting out a hand to help Arthur up.

"Meet in front of the hospital in," He checked his watch, "three hours. How's that sound?"

It was hard to tell if that smile of his was genuine or truly up to no good.