Yes, I realize this is suuuper late, but I just never got around to posting it! Sorry!
The very second Roa stepped out past the front doors of the manor, he regretted taking this job. How was he supposed to spend all of his awake time together with a man he couldn't even stand to be in the same room with for less than twenty minutes? But he had already signed a binding document. What was he to do?
It took him half an hour to find the shortest route from the manor to his own apartment. He had an excellent sense of direction, the one of his few pros he was most proud of. He had grown up in the outskirts of West Blue, a large forest acting as his backyard, and countless hours had been spent running back and forth between the identical trees.
"Oh boy," he sighed when he plopped down on the couch in his apartment. He locked his hands behind his head and looked around in the limited space. He had an extra futon he would use occasionally when Fell wanted to sleep over. She would sleep in his bed and he would take the futon.
He snorted at the mere thought of having a spoiled boy like Lance sleep on the floor. The guy would probably throw a shit-fit. "Guess I'll be taking the floor for a week," he sighed and moved over to the window. He pulled the curtains aside, squinting his eyes as the sun shone straight into his apartment, making the place bathe with light.
The dishes twinkled in the sunlight, but he dismissed the chore with a shrug of his shoulders. Instead, he crawled up onto the windowsill and opened the window, letting the fresh air and sounds of the busy streets flow inside. He leaned against the frame, closing his eyes in content as a soft breeze fanned over his face.
It's just one week, he thought and sighed. He realized he was probably enjoying his last peaceful moment for the following days, so he remained in his seat until a knock on the door interrupted his calm. Somewhat irritated, he moved over to the door and opened it, only to find the large man who had driven the limo.
"Yes, yes, yes, I brought you the young lords files," he said and handed Roa a briefcase. "As instructed by sir Kitsune."
"Right, thanks," Roa mumbled and nodded, quirking an eyebrow at the weight of the case. "What, did you bring me his entire biography?" He clicked his tongue in frustration when the driver nodded, a toothy grin on his face as he offered the student a bow and left. "Great," Roa huffed and kicked the door shut.
He placed the briefcase on the small table by the stove and snapped it open to find the thickest pile of paper he'd ever seen. "What the hell is all this shit?" he asked of no one in particular as he picked up a wad of documents and eyed through them. "Pretty boy's inheritance, all companies and corporations, everything there is to know about his family..."
After staring at the first paper of the pile for almost a full minute, Roa decided to skip the official parts. He started shuffling them aside, stopping only when he found the papers containing the personal information about Lance. After grabbing all including documents, Roa moved over to his bed and sat down, scooting over the blankets so he could lean his back against the wall.
"Okay, let's see here..." He skipped the first few pages, which consisted of Lance's birth certificate, information about the church he was baptized in, and more unnecessary things like that. He stopped when he found the picture from the funeral of the previous director of Atlas CO that had been featured in the newspaper.
Roa furrowed his brow as he took a closer look at the picture. It had been raining. Everybody around Lance were clutching to umbrellas, and from the looks of the youth's clothes, he was soaked to the skin. Roa brought the picture up close, and he had to clench his jaw to not exclaim when the fire suddenly flared up inside of him again. Lance was staring straight into the camera, the dark orbs void of any emotion. His face was angled so he could've just as well been staring at the grave, but when taking a closer look...
The complete emptiness of Lance's stare caused the spark in Roa's mind to grow volatile to the point he had to quickly put the photography down and take a few deep breaths to steady his heartbeat. "What the hell is wrong with me?" he growled and none too gently banged the back of his head against the wall. "Snap out of it."
He waited for a few moments before exhaling sharply and returning to the task at hand. Next up was every report card Lance had ever gotten, and Roa was less than surprised to see the man had perfect grades. He'd aced every class he'd ever taken, gotten several diplomas and even scholarships. A hint of inexplicable irritation gnawed at Roa as he studied the latest report card, and he found Lance had gotten straight As in everything apart from in music, which had been graded B, but what would the owner of a multi millionaire corporation need music for?
Roa had been reading for almost an hour when he finally came across what he was looking for; Lance's weekly schedule. The previous irritation was quickly replaced by confusion when he saw the blue-haired youth spent most of his free time playing instruments. Piano on monday, flute on tuesday and violin on friday. How could the guy have anything but perfect grades in music with hobbies like these?
Lance apparently had very little time to himself. His hobbies also included fencing, with lessons on wednesday and thursday. And as if these hobbies and school weren't enough, he had to be present at most meetings of Atlas CO. "What a robot," Roa mumbled when he finally flipped over the last document, and he arched an eyebrow in surprise when he found a small note stuck to the back.
Blondie,
I assume ya skipped all the borin' stuff 'bout the corporations, yeah? Thought so, ya bad boy! Now, as ya know, the young lord's schedule is packed ta the brim, which means he'll be dead tired when ya return home each evenin'. He still has ta get as much rest as possible, so yer gonna be in charge of preparin' his food and everythin' he needs.
And last but not least; NEVER do anythin' that strays from his schedule! I ain't got a care in the world if yer granny collapses or yer green-haired li'l sis at school has some sorta life-threatenin' crisis, ya don't stray.
Got it? Good.
Arite, have a nice time with the young lord!
- Kitsune
Roa read through the note three times before emitting a dark growl and crumpling the piece of paper and tossing it against the opposite wall. "How the hell do you know the people close to me, fox face?" he asked loudly, shaking his head as he could practically hear Kitsune's spiteful chuckling. "Ah shit, this is gonna be the death of me."
He put the wad of papers onto the floor and lay down on his bed, staring up at the roof. He hadn't lived together with someone for over three years, which was when he'd left his grandmother's house. Once again, he wondered how the hell he was supposed to handle the following week.
"One day at the time," he sighed and rose from the bed, his mind set on taking a long walk.
Several less than subtle glances passed over Roa the next day, when he stood leaning against the open gates to the school. It was ten minutes to 8 AM, and he was waiting for Kitsune and Lance to show up any second. He had never waited at this spot before, so all other students seemed genuinely curious as to why on earth the blonde delinquent was here.
Just as he was about to fish out his phone from his pocket and call Kitsune, a shining black car pulled up in front of him. It wasn't the limo, but it still looked expensive as hell. He mentally braced himself as the passenger door flew open and Lance stepped outside, a cold glare the only greeting he sent Roa. Before the blonde could do more than return the favor, the door on the other side of the car opened and Kitsune hopped outside.
"Mornin', blondie," he said and strolled over to him. "I gotta leave straight away, so I'm just gonna give ya a quick detail I forgot ta mention." He leaned a little closer so he could speak without the curious students hearing. "Ta not raise suspicion, ya gotta act like friends," he mumbled, seemingly barely able to contain his glee. "If anyone asks, yer childhood friends, who's had a bit of a fallout lately, but now yer real chummy again. Ya know, so no one gets suspicious when yer together all the time. The bodyguard part's a secret, ya see."
"I have to what?" Roa exclaimed and shot a sideways glance at Lance, whose unsatisfied expression informed him he wasn't fond of this plan either. The blonde released an irritated sound and roughly shook his head before waving a hand around in defeat. "Fine," he said and turned his back to Kitsune. "See you in a week."
"Play nicely together, ya two!"
The car drove off, leaving Roa and Lance standing at the sidewalk, standing a couple of yards from each other, face to face. The other students who were heading to the university all stared at them both with wide eyes, dragging their feet as slowly as possible to be able to ogle for as long as possible.
Neither of them said anything, they just stood still, thoroughly scanning each other. Lance's eyes narrowed slightly when they lingered on Roa's open collar, and the frown on the man's face clearly indicated he found the absence of the school uniform's tie a clear violation to the school's rules. That, along with the fact that the blonde had refused to tuck his shirt inside his pants.
Roa, on the other hand, was somewhat put off about how perfect Lance appeared to be. The black sweater had been ironed, the tie seemed to be as tightly tied as possible without strangling him, his shoes were without even a single speck of dust. All of his bruises had vanished, and Roa noticed only now the small golden hoop in the man's left ear.
Without saying a word, Lance suddenly turned and steered his steps towards the university. Roa stood staring after him in disbelief for a few seconds before shaking his head and trotting after the man. He slowed down and settled into the same tempo as the man he was to protect, their shoulders barely two feet apart.
"Must you walk so close?" Lance asked and shot a glance of dismay at the surrounding students, who all moved to the side to let the two pass.
"Unfortunately, yeah," Roa scoffed and stuck his hands down his pocket, offering their spectators a glare that quickly made them turn their heads. "Trust me, this is the last thing I wanna spend my time doing, but as much as I hate it, we're supposed to look like friends, so suck it up, pretty boy."
"You have quite the nerve to call me that," Lance growled. "Is there no end to your rudeness, you charlatan?"
"I don't even know what that means."
"Shocking."
They kept bickering all the way to their classroom, and they would've continued had not Atalaya been on the other side of the door. "Sorry- ah, where did you go yesterday, Roa?" she asked and flicked him in the forehead. "I barely understood when Fell said you went..." Her voice trailed off when her eyes landed on Lance, and Roa cursed when he realized Atalaya was the one who had called an ambulance to get him.
"You're..."
"Alright, I need to speak to you two together," Roa interrupted. He pushed Lance and Atalaya towards the corner of the class, looking over his shoulder and motioning for Fell, who was sitting in his seat, to join as well. "Okay guys, this is Lance," he said, trying to come up with a solution to the dilemma as quickly as possible.
Lance was staring at him with offense that he'd been shoved, as well as with confusion. "He's a childhood friend of mine," Roa said, ignoring the sour look he was receiving. "He's... well, you've seen him already, right? On friday."
"Yeah," Atalaya said and equipped a smile as she reached out a hand towards Lance, whose confusion only grew as he shook her hand. "I'm the one who called the ambulance."
"Ambulance..?"
"On friday," Roa said, offering Lance an almost unnoticeable nod. "When I... I mean, when you were..."
His voice trailed off, and Lance's eyes widened ever so slightly when he realized what Atalaya was talking about. "Thank you," he said and offered her a dazzling smile, one that sent cold shivers down Roa's spine. "I was truly in a tight spot back then. You just might have saved my life."
"No way," Atalaya chuckled. "Roa's the one who saved you, scaring away those thugs. But..." A slight crease appeared on her forehead and she looked from Lance to Roa. "If he's your childhood friend, why did you leave the scene so quickly?" she asked.
"Oh." Roa had never been good at lying. His mind had always seemed to work slower when a lie could save him from a sticky situation, but now, the explanation somehow seemed as clear as daylight. "We've been on bad terms for a while," he said and shrugged. "Didn't wanna stick around to talk to him. Pretty boy's actually been in our class since we started going here."
"What?" Atalaya exclaimed. "So that's why you seemed familiar... But I think I'd still remember your face, even if we'd never spoken..."
"Up until recently, I've kept my hair colored black," Lance said and ran a hand through his blue locks. "Blue is quite the eye-catcher, and I needed to be under the ra- I needed to blend in. So I had my hair colored. It only recently returned to this."
Fell followed the conversation with narrowed eyes. She was standing slightly behind Roa, clutching onto his sleeve as she stared at Lance. Roa had introduced him as a childhood friend, but for as long as she had known him, he had not once mentioned the man, nor had she ever seen him before.
"Pardon my manners," Lance said when he noticed her stare. "It is nice to- agh!" He accidentally bit his tongue as Roa had stomped down on his foot. "What do you think you are doing?" he growled and crouched down to rub his aching limb.
"You remember Fell, right, pretty boy?" Roa asked, the stress in his tone making Lance's anger die down. He looked up at the blonde, who glared back with slight panic in his eyes. "She's been like my sister since middle school, remember?"
When Lance didn't answer right away, Roa turned to Atalaya. "I need to speak to this idiot alone for a second," he said, his facade faltering a little under the suspicious glance she gave him.
"Alright, sure," she said slowly and took a few steps back. "Come find me when you're done, okay?"
"Yeah."
He waited until she was out of range before turning to Fell. "Okay, I know this is really weird," he mumbled and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. "But I need you to play along with this. This guy's gonna be hanging with me for a few days, and I can't say why, but you need to act as if you know who he is. Okay?"
"What are- you cannot blow your cover like that, bloody idiot!" Lance hissed and jumped to his feet, twisting his head to the sides to make sure no one else was listening. "What if she exposes us?!"
Roa ignored him, keeping eye contact with Fell until she nodded in confirmation. "Fell doesn't speak, pretty boy," he grumbled and straightened up. "She couldn't expose you even if she wanted to. Right?"
Fell nodded again. She sent Lance a slightly irked glance before turning on the heel and strolling over to her seat. "You are treading on thin ice, charlatan," Lance said and planted a hand on Roa's shoulder, digging his fingers into the layers of clothing. "You were strictly informed to-"
"You know what?" Roa swatted away Lance's hand and grabbed hold of his tie instead, pulling him closer. "I'm doing the best I can here," he growled, the spark in his mind coming back to life again. "Fox face's plan has a lot of holes, and I have to work those out on my own. There was no other way for you to pass Fell, and it's not like I told her the whole story."
Lance parted his lips to speak, and when nothing came out, Roa released the grip on his tie. He instantly backed away and corrected the tie, a defiant expression on his face. "Do not lay a hand on me again," he said coldly and moved past the blonde. "You are supposed to protect me, not do the opposite."
A frustrated sound escaped Roa's lips and he raised his hands to claw at his hair. "Shit," he spat out, inhaling deeply in attempt to keep the flare under control. "This is gonna be harder than I thought."
There! Chapter posted! Man, sorry for being so late with this, but, you know, stuff happened. :D Here it is now, at least! Enjoy!