Different Universe, Same Personality
- Chapter 2: To Venice
It was the beginning of February, and the last bits of preparations were being made.
Passports, travel insurance, tickets, information, maps; it was all in a folder in their safe. Cameras were charged and packed, as were their clothes, in fact, everything they needed for their trip apart from some essentials like toiletries and mobile-charges – things they needed until last minute – were the only things missing.
The journey would go as followed: They would start out in Venice for four days, where they would get to participate in il Carnivale the last two days, before traveling down to Florence, where they also would have four days, and then their journey would end in Rome, with four and a half days, which would leave them one and a half day of traveling, leaving enough time to still make it if something went wrong.
All students who wanted to participate in il Carnivale had been instructed to bring their own costumes, from the Renaissance of course, and they would get to buy masks there if they wanted to.
Shaun had laid quite a bit of work into it all, and he was to go as Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, Florentine author and politician (amongst other things), whereas Desmond would go as Bartolomeo d'Alviano, a mercenary who lived at the same time as Nicollò and had a statue in one of the cathedrals.
The historian had taken great care when it came to their costumes, making sure they were appropriate when it came to fabrics and style. Shaun had looked at the webpages of some of the stores that sold masks to find some that would fit their costumes. He'd found a silver Gladiatore mask for Desmond to wear, and he himself would wear found a white, silvery eye mask that would cover his face from the hairline and down to the tip of his nose. Both would be bought at a store in Venice when they got there; he'd even made sure to call to be sure they had both masks in.
They met early at the airport as their plane would leave at eight and it would take them two hours to get there; that way they'd get the most out of their first day there.
Names were called to make sure everyone was there, and as Shaun said their names, Desmond made sure they had all the papers and documentation they needed before they got in line to check in.
Once they were through security – without problem for everyone except Alyssa - everyone handed their papers back to Desmond so he could look after it for all of them.
After information on when they were to meet in front of the gate, the kids headed off to buy food and candy and whatever they needed for the trip.
The class had not been informed as to where they would be staying; only that they would find out when they arrived. Shaun knew of course and Desmond had tried to find out, but his boyfriend kept it a secret and no matter what Desmond tried to do, he could not get it out of him.
Shaun had not expected them to be living in such a place and was pleasantly surprised to say the least. And the best part was the location; not far from San Marco and Basilica di San Marco.
Shaun's class was a weird one, but even though they were so different, they got along really well, which would be hard to guess by looking at them.
Jill and her twin Jack had hazel eyes and read hair, hinting at Irish origin. They dressed similar, both in jeans, Jill with nice sweaters and ballet flats and Jack with t-shirts under sweatshirts and sneakers. So in a way, Jill dressed in the feminine way of her brother. The only big difference apart from that were her braces.
Carly was grey-eyed, blond and wore glasses, skirts, button-up blouses with sweaters or cardigans and low heels.
Mike with his black hair and blue eyes dressed in jeans, gamer shirts and Converse.
Alyssa was in a way "the black sheep"; the oddest one out of the bunch. She dressed in 70's punk clothes, her black hair with acid green stripes. She had piercings on her bottom lip - right in the middle, a nose stud and three piercings on one ear, two on her other. Her eyes were green, framed by black eyeliner and Union Jack eye shadow.
Neal's the blond haired, blue eyed jock of the class.
Then there's Molly with her brown hair and eyes, who dressed in t-shirts with funny/weird slogans, baggy jeans and bomber jackets.
Lastly there was the other pair of twins; Fred and George which REALLY took after their "twins" from Harry Potter. Their mother had started reading the first book when she was pregnant with them and named them after the redheads. When they were born, it was visible from the start that they bore an uncanny likeness to the characters, only difference being that their hair was more brown than red. Fred and George pranked all their teachers except Shaun, which bore evidence to just how much they liked their history teacher. They dressed in the same clothes but different colours; George would dress in lighter and often brighter colours while Fred dressed in the darker scale. They would end up switching clothes to confuse others and no one apart Shaun was able to see the difference.
So yes, they were indeed an odd class. And even though none of them actually looked like history geeks, they all loved it. Desmond guessed that was because of Shaun. Not that he knew any of the kids, but seeing as he knew the teacher, he was pretty sure that was the reason.
Desmond yawned and shook his head, making Shaun elbow him.
"Well you seem energetic," he said in a teasing tone.
"Sorry," Desmond replied, stifling another yawn. "Not used to being up at this time of the day, ya know? Your class however…" Desmond couldn't understand how they could be so awake. "Are they always like this?"
"Nope, they're usually more like you, sometimes ever worse." Shaun chuckled. "But I guess they'll stay this way for most of the trip."
"Well, seems I'm in for a treat then, huh?"
Taking Shaun's hand, Desmond steered them towards the nearest coffee shop, needing the black beverage to stay awake and alert for the plane ride. He guessed he would need another cup on the plane and possibly another when they arrived at the airport in Italy.
Shaun however made do with a cup of tea with milk as usual. Since he'd eaten before he left, he didn't need anything to eat, but for Desmond it was too early to get hungry, so he had a sandwich as well. Knowing Desmond, Shaun guessed he'd have another as soon as he could buy one on the plane.
Making sure Desmond didn't fall asleep while they waited for the plane to depart, Shaun moved to sit beside him on the bench and took out a travel guide in order to show Desmond the sites they were going to see, and asking if he knew of any places not on the list they could go to; either the whole class or just the two of them.
Desmond had of course – as a surprise for Shaun – found a couple of places in each town he'd take Shaun to, but he wouldn't admit to it. Instead he just shrugged and said he'd think it over, and tried to coax Shaun into letting him know of the places they'd stay at. Shaun - of course – refused, pecked Desmond on the lips and proceeded to drag him out of the coffee shop to see if there was anything they needed or wanted to buy for the plane trip.
***
Half an hour before the plane would depart, they were all gathered at the gate. Names were called to ensure they were all there – Fred and George switched names again of course; they always did.
Once they were up in the air, Desmond unbuckled his seatbelt, put up the armrest and snuggled up against Shaun.
The historian wound his arm around him and kissed his hair before straightening his glasses and continued reading the book he'd brought along for the trip.
I hope they'll serve the coffee soon, he thought to himself, knowing that no matter how hungry Desmond would get, Shaun would be unable to rouse him until they landed if he fell asleep now.
Five minutes passed with no sign of any coffee, and Shaun could feel Desmond's breathing pattern change, now almost at the point where he knew Desmond's pulse would be when he fell asleep.
After all, they'd fallen asleep together enough times for both males to recognise the other's pattern.
"Hey, Des," Shaun said in a low voice as he removed his arm from around Desmond in order for the other man to straighten up.
"Wasit?" came the mumbled reply from the American's mouth, barely audible as the sound was muffled by Shaun's shoulder.
"As much as I know you'd love to sleep," Shaun replied with a hint of laughter in his voice, "I actually need you to stay awake for this trip. Coffee's coming soon, as well as food and if you fall asleep now, you'll sleep through it all. You know how hard it is to wake you up once you fall asleep."
What Shaun didn't say however, was that he knew of ways to wake Desmond. Sadly though, common decency wouldn't let him give Desmond a blow-job in order to wake him up. So he was stuck with keeping him awake by bribing him with coffee and food instead.
Desmond yawned and stretched, and tried to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes to no avail.
Just as Shaun had predicted, coffee and food soon arrived, saving him from the troubles of waking up Desmond at a later point.
Once they landed, Shaun and Desmond waited for the students, before they all went to gather the luggage.
As soon as everyone got theirs, they headed off to find a couple taxis to take them to the hotel.
On the outside, the hotel didn't look like much. But Desmond and the students soon figured out it was a four star hotel, and were as surprised as Shaun had been when he'd figured it out.
The students were assigned to their rooms, before they were handed the keys-cards.
Jill and Carly would share one of the rooms, Alyssa and Molly another. Fred and George would of course share, and Jack, Mike and Neal would have the last room.
Shan had been in charge of deciding who would room with whom, and chose based on how well the students got along with each other.
Not that there had been much of a choice really. Fred and George are even more inseparable than Siamese twins, which left the other room to Jack, Neal and Mike.
Alyssa and Molly, though they might not look the part, are the class photographers. Both took great pleasure in developing photographs in the old-school way, and used both modern and old-fashioned cameras.
Jill and Carly are the book-geeks of the class, reading everything from Edgar Allan Poe to Jane Austen, to Harry Potter and H.P. Lovecraft.
Fred and George's room had a double-bed, and Jack, Neal and Mike's room had twin beds plus one extra bed. Both girls' rooms had twin-beds as well. Shaun and Desmond shared a double-bed of course.
Before everyone headed to their rooms to unpack and relax for a bit, they decided that they would meet in the lobby an hour later, before they would go sightseeing and then find somewhere to eat lunch.
Once Shaun and Desmond reached their room, Desmond flopped down on the bed, leaving Shaun standing by the luggage looking at him.
Shaun chuckled and began unpacking his own things, because Desmond was bloody well able to unpack his own.
Well, after Shaun was done with him that was.
Knowing they wouldn't get to be alone much of the trip, Shaun knew they would have to take advantage of every single moment they could.
Besides, knowing Desmond, he knew he would have to hurry unpacking if they were going to meet the students in time.
Desmond just tasted too good, and Shaun was about to enjoy that to the fullest.
