Fingers wrapped around his hand, and instinctively his own closed around in return. His gaze softened, and the weight dropped back from the balls of his feet, his arm grazing the kneazle's back as he sank back down onto the sofa cushions.

Silently, his other hand found the healer's too, clasping it between his long fingers, offering support and solidarity. His head bowed, gaze on their hands, unsure of what to say at first.

"You can have all the time you need." He managed eventually, and nodded to himself, the voices internally agreeing, they weren't too unhappy about this arrangement, and it provided more interest than him heading out that front door with only them in tow. "I'm not leaving unless you want me to." The German clarified, and let out his breath, relieved to have confirmation that he could stay, that getting lost in the other man's lips hadn't broken the whole magic of the moment.

He gave the hand a squeeze between his own,
"Hey," he addressed Arcturus, "you have nothing to be worried about. We're just having tea, you've introduced me to your fine feline, we're already further than my imagination got this week." Despite himself, he laughed a little with his own nerves, the shakes of his shoulders making it through to his hands. "But I'm glad we have." He offered one of his genuine, boyish smiles.

"Arcturus," he continued, a little more assured in tone this time, hoping the healer would look at him, "I've no expectations between us, Merlin, this is unexplored territory for us both, so no hurry. I won't get carried away again." He cleared his throat, letting go with the hand he'd added moments before to cover his mouth modestly, and blushed, "at least, not unless you are too."
His hand fell away to reveal the grin had barely left his pale features, and there was a glint in his eyes that appeared at times of excitement and curiosity.

"Shall I make us some more tea? We can talk, anything, about Rustle, the weather, that paint...?" He asked, doing his best to make the wizard whose hand he still held feel more comfortable about him being there on the sofa.

"I bet you're fascinating," he told the kneazle between them, in two minds as to whether he would get away with scratching its head, or whether it would attach itself with all four feet and every claw to his own in retaliation.

The laughter, the hand-holding - even the awkwardness of the sensation was fast fading away in the light of Johann's words. Arcturus was glad that the other man hadn't taken it the wrong way, that his anxiety was not to be rushed. He felt so very grateful.

He turned his head to look at Johann, although it was still out of the corner of his eye rather than a direct gaze. "There's still tea left," he managed, his voice still a little shaky. "I would...have some idea to talk about something, but usually I don't. I'm...not very good at conversation or small talk, either." He shook his head; a short, curt laugh escaped from his lips at the irony of what he'd just said. "What must you think of me? I guess you know now why I avoid people outside of work."

Rustle twitched an ear in Johann's direction, but his yellow eyes were still affixed on his owner. Arcturus scratched him between the ears fondly, and the kneazle responded by rubbing his cheek against his hand and purring. "Sometimes I think I should get out more, but every time I try I get cold feet. This is the first time I've ever let someone I met a few times on a semi-professional relationship into my house, and I should have told you about this before I did." The healer turned his head to look at him directly. "I'm sorry."

He was still holding Johann's hand, but he thought of nothing of it. It felt normal. It felt...comforting.

Things righted themselves again. The delicately balanced seesaw between them. Johann didn't want to let go of Arc's hand, simply because something told him that to do so would break this moment, and allow those insecurities to rush back. So here they were, very much holding on to each other for dear life on a sofa in a quiet London living room with a kneazle as a buffer. It was nothing like he had imagined, but in honesty, he had never imagined anything.

At the healer's little self-deprecating laugh, Johann smiled and mirrored it gently, without consciously doing so.
"Heh." Johann replied with, not his most linguistically forward of responses, but he hesitated to interrupt at that moment.

"Don't apologise," Johann followed swiftly, and squeezed the hand as backup of the statement. "You're apologising for being yourself, that's insane." He shook his head, black curls bobbing.

"I'm not going to burgle you, if that's what you're worried about." He smiled, though realised internally that Arcturus knew enough about his light fingers in the apothecary of the hospital with the blue bottles of potion.

"And," he leaned over a little, despite Rustle, "I'm house trained too." He pointed down at the cat.

A bright, broad grin broke out across his features again, and everything felt a little better. The distance between them increased again.

"I'm honoured to be the first to be here, then. I don't quite know what I've done to deserve it, but if I carry on doing more of this, is that somewhere towards it?" He gestured between them both, insinuating the talking, the hand holding, the being together on the sofa, everything a little slower.

He bit his lip and turned away, almost wincing.
"I've got to be honest," he explained, "very hard not to try to kiss you again. Quick! Tell me what you would ordinarily be doing on a night like this?"

He was relieved that Johann wasn't insulted, offended or angry. Some of his nerves, which had run away when Johann was kissing him the second time, were slowly creeping back in cautiously. A few of them were putting up a vote for kissing again, just because his curiosity was returning - what else could be raising the hairs on the back of his neck like that? The prickle of electricity and that rising urge to know more...

"I'm honoured to be the first to be here, then. I don't quite know what I've done to deserve it, but if I carry on doing more of this, is that somewhere towards it?"

"Maybe," he replied. "I'm just...unsure. I've never had a stranger this close to me in my own house, but in a way I'm not...protesting your presence here. Perhaps it's because you're in my house, my own turf, where I feel more in control. That, and I'm interested in all this physical attraction. It's been a long time since I had my curiosity piqued so easily."

"I've got to be honest, very hard not to try to kiss you again. Quick! Tell me what you would ordinarily be doing on a night like this?"

Arcturus looked around the room, quickly. Johann was indeed trying to hold himself back, and the healer was grateful for this. "I...read. Well, I take a shower first, then I read. Or cook and eat, if I haven't already. Tonight I have, so there's none of that. But it's always reading until bedtime."

He looked back at Johann, his head not turned towards him entirely so he was looking out of the corner of his eye. "I guess that's not what you were expecting...?"

As the healer explained his usual habits, Johann found his mind's eye picturing the man sat in an armchair with a book, or back in the kitchen he'd peered into, and well… somewhere amongst that was an attempt at a bathroom fiction but it was fleeting as his quick mind rattled through.

"Well, I can't say I am an expert in habits of a healer after work, but they're a little more expected than I don't know…" he looked away to think, and gestured with a lazy hand, "Irish dancing and a wish to dress in a bumblebee costume…?"

His hand paused in gesture and the fingers curled in as he looked back to Arcturus,
"Now I've got an image of you dressed as a bee, doing Irish dancing in my head." He shook his head, black curs bouncing.

"Don't tell me I'm a seer now!" He chuckled, and let his free hand return to his lap while he gave the one linked with Arcturus a friendly squeeze. "I'd still find you as captivating if you did."

Smile diminishing, he asked a more serious question,
"So you take it easy outside of work, that's nothing to be surprised about. But you don't, you know, go out and see people, or visit your local?" He asked, curious as to how insular an off duty healer could be.

He'd flushed a bit when Johann mentioned Irish dancing, but it was probably unnoticeable in the glow of the fire in the hearth. Arcturus just smiled a little, amused that he'd think of such things of him. Only the people who knew him well would know the healer wasn't partial to being silly, but that was why there was some charm in talking to a stranger - they had opinions, thoughts, that he didn't have, and at least that interested him.

"I don't go out to see people. Much." Arcturus shrugged. "After a ten-hour shift of dealing with patients and colleagues, the last thing I want to do is keep dealing with people I don't know. I don't spend much time with my parents either, I usually go to bed earlier than they do. Enough noise, enough chatter. I just want a bit of silence where I can kick back and be immersed in ideas rather than instructions.

"And that's why I don't read newspapers apart from the Prophet. Anything on the market that makes up Britain's selection of reading material on current news can get biased and sensationalist. Even the Prophet I don't read regularly. One time it became just a mouthpiece for the government and nothing more." He was referring to the time when Voldemort had returned and the Ministry had been hotly denying everything for a year, but he wasn't sure if Johann knew that. "Only when my father mentions something will I actually go and get my own copy - or, more likely, borrow his - but otherwise I prefer my life to be that way."

The healer looked down at their linked hands. "I'm not saying all other healers are like me, but in this case you can see why I don't get around much."

At the other man's explanation of a bit of peace and quiet after work he nodded along sympathetically. After a busy day in the Ministry, Johann just wanted to unwind and think of anything else, but he tended to lift a pint and laugh with friends or fellow drinkers. Being alone and quiet meant he had internal voices to irritate him, or he felt as if he had to do work, or that he was imposing too much on Colin's space.

"I wouldn't blame you," he assured Arcturus. "Being a healer is a tough and most admirable job, and you are most excellent at it, as I have experienced." He smiled wistfully. "Everyone has their own way to unwind, and we all need to sleep." He shrugged. "But we all need friends too." He added more softly, "in a variety of capacities."

His other hand lifted from his lap and lightly touched the other man's cheek with the back of his relaxed fingers, a sign of affection than anything else.

"Got space for one more at the weekends?" He looked down bashfully.

"Yeah, I work some more, and some more again, and go down the pub. Family's not in Britain, thank Merlin." His head snapped up, "I don't blame you either for not reading the Prophet, it is full of drivel. Professional reasons keep me reading, and half a dozen other international papers. I have to be up to speed on matters, and they're one easy to obtain method of summarising much, as long as I respect their limitations. Your Dad gets in the paper every now and then with his office though, right?"

Arcturus nodded about his father getting the Prophet. Since it was complementary, no spending was required and his mother was happy with that. It did mean only one paper for the house and tended to depend on whether he was done with it, but minor things.

"Well, I can make space for one more...or a few more, it's just about me dealing with the presence of people." He shrugged. "Most people don't understand, it's...eh. You draw energy from being around people. I draw energy from being alone. It's difficult to comprehend exactly how it works except by actually experiencing it for yourself, and I doubt you'd experience that sort of thing anytime soon in your life."

He sighed. "But as long as people give me space to let me have my time alone, I'm okay with that. I can try to manage."

His eyes looked up at Johann. "At least I know my bedside manner hasn't deteriorated with the lack of social contact, that I know from your comments."

"Mm," Johann agreed to the sentiment of not really understanding drawing energy from being alone. "The only time I'd perhaps be close to such is when I'm under the weather or have too much work. But I respect each to their own." He gave a shrug, his tone was calm and he was being as open minded as possible about it all.

"Oh, turf me out the door whenever you're ready. You wouldn't be the first." He smirked and chuckled to himself, the hand between them squeezing without consciously doing so.

"At least I know my bedside manner hasn't deteriorated with the lack of social contact, that I know from your comments."

"True, but you get lots of practice with the patients every day. I think if you had a bad manner, you'd get hexed, or punched on a regular basis. You're too mild mannered for such, even if you know how to put someone like me in their place with a few words and a look." He looked a little embarrassed for the incident…. or make that incidents, which only made him bite his lip very gently.

"But I think at times, that's necessary for some people. So thank you for that." He put his other hand over the top of Arc's a moment and leaned his way in honest thanks for the kick up the backside more than once.

There were several topics on the tip of his tongue, but none of them seemed quite right for that moment. He so desperately did not want to plough into a dodgy topic, yet his mind kept chucking them towards his mouth - his sister, getting out more, the Ministry, mutual friends,

Preferring to let a silence fall than open his mouth and let one of those tumble out, he paused, perhaps a little uncomfortably for the other man, since Johann had his hand trapped between both of his own, and had ventured into closer personal space again with the action.

"If he'll let me," Johann finally spoke, fixing Arcturus with a direct look at close quarters, "I think getting to know Arcturus Hollingbury properly, will be a very wise investment, of time and patience." His eyebrow twitched, "And if I run short of either, he can leave the beside manner at the door."

The small, frequently unloved but recently triumphant voice in his head that was guiding him through this all blathered something about the bedroom door, but thankfully Johann's mouth was more preoccupied by its wish to press itself against the healer's, or any other nearby bit of skin in affectionate appreciation.

He winced, rational mind bringing him back.
"Sorry, too much?"

Arcturus looked back at him. At Johann's apology, he smiled and looked down at their hands.

"Not too much." He looked up at Johann. "I think that's a reasonable request to make. And as much as Johann Storm has of a chance of getting to know me, he also has a chance in convincing me that investing my time in him will pay off for the better in the long run."

Quietly, he leaned forward and left a brief, but lingering, touch to Johann's lips with his. It just felt right to do so. He included a small squeeze to the hand under his, letting his gaze return to the other man's, brown facing blue.

"I don't think I'm quite ready," he said, "to turf you out the door just yet."