The Tiger and the Dragon by George deValier

Chapter 4

Yao was woken by his mobile phone ringing insistently beside his ear. Groaning, he picked it up and squinted at it through bleary eyes. Incoming Call... IVAN appeared on the screen. His stomach flipped and he answered the call hesitantly.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, little Dragon!" That accent and cheery tone were unmistakable.

"Um... I don't recall adding your number to my phone."

"I took the liberty of doing this last night when you were unconscious."

"As long as that's the only liberty you took," muttered Yao as he dragged himself out of bed. He wouldn't get back to sleep now, even though his head was pounding and the room seemed to spin around him.

"Silly Yao! I will be taking you out tomorrow afternoon."

Yao nearly tripped over the blanket. "You will?" He felt something around his neck and pulled at it in confusion. He'd fallen asleep in Ivan's scarf.

"Da, I will."

"Why? I mean... I think I have to work."

"No, you do not, tell them you are ill. I will pick you up at three, da?"

"I... um... okay." Yao swore silently.

"Very good, I will see you then, Dragon."

The line went dead. Yao hung up before realising that he hadn't given Ivan his address. He was just debating whether or not to ring the Russian back when his mobile rang again.

"Hello?"

"Yao!" Alfred shouted down the phone. "You must come downstairs immediately and cook me pancakes, Arthur tried but he's a horrible cook and he burnt them and..."

Yao could hear Arthur yelling in the background. "You bastard! Just see if I ever cook for you again!"

"One can only hope!" Alfred shouted back. There was an incoherent shout and a loud bang.

Yao sighed. "I'm coming down. And please don't shout." He hung up, noticing the time on his phone read nearly midday. He groaned, annoyed. He never slept that long.

The night before seemed like a blur. He hadn't been able to explain much to his friends. Alfred seemed to think Ivan was some sort of Russian spy, Francis was fixated on Yao's future chances of sleeping with the man, and Arthur had been too drunk to really participate in the conversation. Yao barely remembered getting home, but he remembered the few hours he'd spent in Ivan's bar. He was confused, completely embarrassed, but also quietly thrilled.

Yao dragged himself into the bathroom to get ready, trying to ignore his headache. Yao lived on the second floor of a three story townhouse, while Arthur and Alfred lived on the bottom floor. They had all found the place through a tremendous stroke of luck after just leaving school. Francis was living in the apartment on the top floor and they had quickly become friends, even though Francis was usually fighting with one of them. Francis wasn't the easiest neighbour to deal with, what with him bringing home a steady stream of partners and constantly having his two very loud, very insane best friends over. But he was also fun, loyal, and had got Yao a great job at the restaurant he worked at. And besides, the noise from Francis' place wasn't much worse than the alternating screaming arguments and screaming sex sounds that were always drifting up from the apartment below.

Yao knocked on Arthur and Alfred's door before opening it and walking in hesitantly. Arthur was hurling pancakes at Alfred who was defending himself with a frying pan. Yao rolled his eyes. Just a regular day.