Chapter 2
Lovino stared at his feet with each step, watching for the slightest hint of a spark to alert his brother to put it out. His grandfather usually walked places with him and helped him to keep control of the flames, but, since it was orientation day, he had to get to the school early and had entrusted Feliciano to make sure his brother didn't set anything ablaze. Feli skipped alongside Lovino as they approached the school. Lovino sighed with relief as his feet his the marble steps outside the school.
"Once you get to the steps, you'll be okay, you won't be able to set the school on fire with your feet. Just be careful about your hands and you should be fine!" His grandfather had told him before he left that morning.
"Will you be okay now, fratello?" Feliciano asked, eager to meet new people, as always.
"I'll be fine, just go away and make friends and whatever." Lovino replied, waving his brother off. Feliciano skipped off, and Lovino lowered down and allowed himself to relax against the railing of the the stairs, waiting for the bell to ring.
"Romulus said his grandson has a really distinct curl on top of his head and looks a lot like him." Antonio said, standing on his tip toes and scanning the crowd of first years that stood outside of the school. He, Gilbert, and Francis had been chosen by Romulus to be tour guides for orientation day, despite their record of causing trouble.
"My, my, you really sound like you want to meet him." Francis cooed with a grin. Antonio blushed.
"I just thought... Since he is the president's grandson... Oh! I think I see him! He's sitting on the stairs!" Gilbert craned his neck trying to see.
"That kid? He doesn't look that happy..."
"He has the curl and looks like Romulus though... I'm gonna talk to him!" Antonio walked toward the boy confidently, wearing his most charming grin. Francis and Gilbert followed him, but stopped just the right distance away to watch the interaction.
Antonio approached the boy, noticing he had his eyes closed, and stood next to him, patiently waiting for him to notice him. He thought maybe he was asleep.
"You're standing in the light." Antonio was a bit taken aback by the harsh tone. Romulus said that his grandson was a total sweetie. He was blocking the light though, so he graciously stepped to the side. One of the boys eyes opened and looked at Antonio. "Do you need something?"
"I... uhm... are... are you Romulus Vargas's grandson?" The other eye opened and then the boy rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I am, but if you want to be friends with me just so you can be his favorite, then you are talking to the wrong Vargas, asshole."
"I- no, I'm a second year, Romulus told me that you and I might hit it off..." The boy looked at him doubtfully. "Did... he tell you about me? Antonio?" Antonio asked weakly. The boy regarded him another minute, before closing his eyes again.
"No."
"Ahaha. Well this is a bit awkward."
"For you maybe. Do you want to leave now? You're bugging me."
"Can I get your name first?" Silence. "Pleaase. I won't leave til you tell me!" Antonio sing-songed, stepping into the light's path again.
"Gah! Fine! Lovino."
"Awwww Lovi! What a cute name!" Lovino's face turned bright red.
"What?! It's not cute!"
"Ahaha, Lovi you look like a tomato when you blush!" Lovino's face got redder.
"I'm not- I do not! You're the tomato, bastard!"
"Okay Lovi, I'll leave you alone, but I'll see you later!" Antonio grinned as he returned to Gilbert and Francis.
"Wow dude. That looked... rough."
"Oui, good try though, mon ami."
"I think I'm in love."
"What?!"
XxXxX
Arthur looked through the window of the cab at his new school. It was... rather large. He had thought his school had been huge, that was why it was so easy for other kids to pick on him, because it was too hard for administration to keep track of all of the bullies so they kind of gave up. This school was bigger. Bigger and filled with other kids with powers. He slumped against the cool window. This was going to be hell.
The cab stopped and he went around the back to pull out his bags. He hoped the school only looked so big because most students were housed on campus. As he walked down the road toward the marble steps that led up to the main building, Arthur tried to figure out where he was actually supposed to be going. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to have a schedule yet, or if he was supposed to know where he was going. He figured he wasn't as other students looked just as nervous and lost as he did. Most people stood around in small groups, trying to make friends. As he walked past one particular group, A tall boy swung his arm out, gesturing about something, and hit Arthur square in the face. He wouldn't have expected it, but the blow sent him back a few feet. He rubbed his face, and glared to see the boy who had done it.
"Bloody hell, watch what you're doing!" He shouted, not really sure which of the boys in the group it had been. One of the boys, with sandy blonde hair and a stray curl knelt beside him.
"Sorry about that, Alfred doesn't watch what's he doing... ever." The boy smiled at him kindly. That was new. Arthur looked up at the boy who now stood over him, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He looked like the boy who had knelt down, except with shorter hair and instead of a curl, he had a straighter bit of hair that stood up.
"Sorry man, I still haven't learned to control my muscle. But that's what I'm here for!"
Great. This guy sounded like the exact American stereotype Arthur hated. Loud, obnoxious, unaware that other people existed and had to deal with their crap. Despite his hateful thoughts, he managed a slightly unconvincing "It's no problem."
"Hey are you British?" The boy, Alfred, asked, sticking out his hand to help Arthur to his feet. Arthur took the hand and was pulled a bit too hard to his feet, causing him to run right into Alfred's chest. He felt his face go red as he stepped back hastily, dusting himself off as he did so.
"Yes, I'm from England. Why?"
"Just 'cause of you accent."
"Right. Well. I should be off."
"Oh! Do you know where we are supposed to be going?" Arthur paused remembering he had absolutely no clue.
"Uh.. no. Does anyone know?"
Alfred shrugged. "Don't think so."
"Looks like we might be finding out." The other boy, who Arthur assumed was Alfred's brother, pointed to the marble steps, where five students now stood in row, one of which, a boy with white hair and what looked like red eyes, was waving his arms and had begun to shout.
"Attention losers! Time to get this party started, the five us cool kids will be your orientation guides so pay attention and don't get lost, we will not look for you!" The boy burst out laughing at this, like it was super funny, and another boy, with dark hair and glasses spoke up.
"You were all invited into this school because you are what we call special or gifted, and I'm sure you would like to learn more about that but today is not the day for that. Today you learn where to go and when. We will show you to the dormitories where you will each be assigned rooms with other first year students and given your class schedule. Then we will show you around the school so you are not completely lost tomorrow. Understand? Good. Follow us."
The five students turned and walked into the school, the first years scrambling to grab their bags and follow. Arthur decided to stick with Alfred and his brother, hoping maybe he would get to be roommates with the quieter brother since he seemed nice and level-headed. He wondered what sort of "gift" he had.
The group walked through the main building, gawking at how expensive the place looked. They walked out of the doors on the opposite side of the building, and came to a split path, both directions leading to buildings of varying shapes and sizes. One of the five second years, a tall boy with sort of messy brown hair and a seemingly constant smile spoke up.
"That way," He said pointing to the left, "are the educational buildings. That way," pointing to the right, "are the dorms." The five turned to the right and walked toward the dormitories and talked amongst themselves as the first years followed behind. They stopped at the first two buildings they came to. Arthur looked down at the other buildings that seemed to get cooler and cooler as they went down.
"This is first year housing." The only girl with the second years with long brown hair spoke up. "You will each get at most one roommate, who will be assigned to you today. Those of you with last names letters A-M will be in this building and those with last names N-Z will be in that building. Stand in front of your respective buildings and we will call your name to get your room number and key."
Arthur saw Alfred and his brother share a look as his brother slowly headed toward the other building. Arthur looked at Alfred confused.
"Wait, are you two not brothers?"
"We are, but we have different last names. His is Williams and mine is Jones. This happens all the time." He shrugged. "Whatever."
Arthur waited patiently for his name to be called. He watched as Alfred got called and disappeared inside the building. If Jones was called then that meant he would be soon...
"Arthur Kirkland?" Arthur took a breathe then made his way to the front and took his key from the girl who had spoken about which building was which earlier. "Here you go Arthur. You're on the third floor, number five." She handed him his key. "Welcome, and good luck." He gave her his best attempt at a smile before heading into the coolness of the building. He hadn't noticed how hot it was outside until he hit the air conditioning of the building.
He was relieved to find that there was an elevator so he didn't have to drag all of his bags up to the third floor. As he made his way down the hallway on the third floor, he looked at each of the numbers of the doors pass by until he got to number five. He looked up at it, then, swallowing, unlocked and opened the door.
"You have to be kidding."
"HEY! Looks like we're roomies!" Alfred practically yelled, his hand in a bag of potato chips.
XxXxX
Matthew waited patiently outside the second building waiting for his name to be called. He was used to being called last, or nearly last, with his last name starting with W. He didn't begin to panic until they called someone whose last name started with Y. He panicked a whole lot more when there was only one kid left besides him. He watched as the five second years started talking with each other as the last other kid went inside. Weren't they wondering about him? Unless... Shit. He looked down at his hands. There were no hands. Just great.
He concentrated as hard as he could on getting himself to be visible again as he walked up to the nearest second year to him, the boy with white hair.
"Uh... Excuse me?" The boy nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Jesus kid! You really know how to sneak up on someone!" Matthew laughed nervously. He hated social situations.
"Yeah... Uhm... I didn't get a room?" The boy looked puzzled. He pulled out a cell phone.
"Hold on a sec..." He quickly dialed and put the phone to his ear, watching Matthew out of the corner of his eyes. "Heyy Papa Rome. Yeah, listen there's a kid here who apparently doesn't have a room. Can you check to see if we have an extra? Okay..." He put a hand over the mouthpiece and turned to Matthew. "He's checking kid. Just wait a minute." The boy turned away and kicked absentmindedly at the ground. His head tilted back up as whoever was on the other end of the line got back. "So? No? Not one? Well what- do I? Uh... yeah I don't think I have one this year..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I guess... Yeah I'll be nice." He hung up the phone and looked at Matthew for a moment, a slight smirk on his face. "Alright kid, you're staying with me."
Matthew stared at him in shock. "I... what?"
"Look, there are no first year rooms, and I wasn't going to have a roomie this year, so you get to stay with me until someone in your year gets kicked out or dies." Matthew's eyes grew wide, wondering if deaths were a normal occurrence at this school. The boy burst out laughing.
"You're so gullible!" He slapped Matthew on the back and gestured toward the building next to the one he was supposed to be staying in. "I'll show you where our room is, grab your stuff."
"O-okay... uhm..."
"Gilbert." He turned around as Matthew grabbed his bags and clapped his hands at him. "Come on shortie I haven't got all day." Matthew sighed. This was just his luck.
XxXxX
"Why did we have to get put together?" Lovino complained, flopping down on the bed he had claimed.
"Probably because Grandpapa doesn't want anyone getting freaked out if you accidentally set them on fire." Feli replied cheerfully as he hung pictures on his half of the room. Lovino glared at him.
"Whatever." He stood up and walked to the door. "Come on, we're supposed to go back out for the tour." Feliciano trotted out of the room happily behind Lovino. They were some of the first people to return outside, and suddenly Lovino heard a familiar voice over the others.
"Speak of the devil! Lovi!" He turned to see the tall Spanish boy from earlier, Antonio was it, waving at him from the group of second years. Lovino inwardly groaned as he slowly approached.
"Speak of the devil? Were you talking about me you stupid pervert?"
"Aw! Fratello, did you make friends already! I'm so happy for you!" Feliciano came skipping up behind Lovino. Four of the five second years began cracking up at the sight of Feliciano. Antonio looked back and forth between the two, understanding washing over his face.
"Ahah. Lovi, is this your... brother?"
"No, he's a random stranger. What the hell to do think dumbass? Of course he's my brother. This is Feliciano."
"That makes more sense. Ahaha, Anyway, you guys should have seen Lovi here, he looks like a tomato when he blushes!"
"I did not blush!" Lovino shouted frantically, feeling his face heating up again. "And anyway, y-you're a tomato you bastard! I told you that!"
"Lovi you're so cute when you're embarrassed!" Antonio cooed.
"I am not cute!" Lovino stomped his foot in frustration, forgetting they were no longer standing on marble, but a grass. He yelped as fire burst from where his foot went down and Feliciano quickly put it out. Lovino walked away from the group, now completely mad at himself and more embarrassed than ever. Feliciano followed after him quickly.
"Fratello! Stop! It was an accident! It's okay!" Lovino turned around to argue with his brother but lost all urges to fight as Feliciano wrapped his arms around him. He didn't return the hug, but just rested his head on Feli's shoulder a moment. He didn't hate his brother, even if he did yell at him a lot. He was thankful that although Feliciano was better with his powers than Lovino was, he would never rub it in or even admit it. He would simply say that Lovino just needed practice and would be there to comfort him whenever he failed.
Antonio watched the brothers from a distance. He hadn't known what sort of powers the Vargas brothers had, but now it was clear that Lovino had the power of fire while his brother had the power of water. He wondered if Lovino was afraid of his powers, based on how he just acted. He watched as Feliciano pulled Lovino into a hug. Based on how the Italian had acted earlier he expected him to shove his way out of the hug, but watched in awe as he just sort of let it happen. He wanted to get Lovino to do that. To be able to hug him and have him just... accept it. He smiled at the thought.
"Woah." Gilbert said after a moment.
"Toni, you picked one hell of a kid to fall for." Francis agreed.
"I know it."
