An Intangible Pattern

What do I have to do?

Arthur's first day back at work was a nightmare. He had only been on his honeymoon for two weeks and it seemed to him that the place had fallen apart in his absence. A piece of machinery in the production line had broken down and because of an administrative error the wrong part had been ordered. Instead of trying to rectify the problem, his assistant panicked and decided to wait until his return. Now a shipment would be far behind schedule and they had only just started supplying a new client; it did not do to set a bad impression this early on, it would require considerable smoothing over. 

It was late when he left the office, so he decided to stay the night with Noah. It was a ten minute walk to a small cottage just on the outskirts of the Research and Development grounds. 

The cottage was dark except for one room.

He's working late. I wonder what's happened now? God! That's all we need, more mess to clean up. I should have stayed in Bali.

He rung the bell and then let himself in.  He knew better than to wait for a response. Once Noah was engrossed in a problem it was very difficult to tear him away from it. He went into the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove and grimaced as he saw the kitchen sink stacked high with dishes. By contrast the fridge was practically empty. Other than the usual bottles of condiments, there was a sad looking tomato and a pint of milk which had turned sour. 

It must be a pretty difficult problem. I wonder if it's too late to order pizza?

The kettle began to whistle and Arthur opened the cupboard to make coffee. He gave an annoyed tut as he realized that all the mugs were dirty and sighed as he picked around in the sink and found two. As he scrubbed them clean, water bounced off the mountain of dishes and splashed his shirt making him swear. 

Coffee made, he walked through the hall and kicked against the door to Noah's study.

"Yes?"

"It's me, are you decent?"

"Yeah?" 

Arthur used his elbow to open the door and peered inside.

Noah was hunched over his laptop with shirt sleeves rolled to the elbows. His head was propped up in one hand and he was frowning at a spreadsheet. The desk was strewn with papers, empty instant ramen cups and granola wrappers as well as several half empty mugs, with various stages of civilization growing in them. At the far end of the room, fortified by stacks of books and papers, was a sofa and, judging by the crumpled duvet and pillow, he had been sleeping in here.

Noah rubbed his blood shot eyes and looked up at Arthur. 

"Hi! How was your honeymoon?" He yawned. 

"Good…are you alright?" enquired Arthur taking in his disheveled appearance. He noted the dark circles under Noah's eyes, his hair that was customarily tied back looked in desperate need of a wash. He looked ill.

"Oh, fine. Just double checking something. How's Cat doing? Does she know you're here?"

"She's good. A little disappointed that we've had to part as soon as I go back to work, but she knows I'm here. I've ordered pizza." Said Arthur as he set the coffee down in front of Noah.

"Ah! You legend!" gasped Noah as he drank the coffee, then grimaced.

"Yeah… it's decaf. Why are you working so late? Looks like you haven't stopped since I left."

"I needed to check if it's possible to build up a resistance to the nasal suppressant." he answered. As he said this, he absent mindedly reached into a storage box next to the desk and drew out a zip lock bag containing a stained piece of white cloth. As Noah opened the bag, Arthur noticed it contained a T-shirt. He watched as his cousin raised it to his nose and inhaled deeply, then tapped 0 on the keyboard.