Behind the Veil

Part 10

Antonio had woken to the sound of singing. Soft, gentle singing in a language that he didn't understand. Familiar, but completely incomprehensible, at least to his exhausted mind...

The singing was also coupled with the feeling of fingers running through his hair. Movements that were incredibly soothing and calming and made him want to drop off to sleep again.

"Mm...Fran?"

Antonio was pretty sure that it was Francis who was playing with his hair, since Franny liked to play with his hair quite often. Especially when they were doing homework together.

Antonio liked doing homework with Franny. Since he'd get to do his reading while resting his head on Francis's lap and Franny would do his own work while simultaneously playing with Antonio's curls. It was relaxing; sometimes too relaxing, as Antonio had dropped off right in the middle of a paragraph many many times...

"Bonjour, Antoine."

His mind felt very foggy right now, like it often did when he first woke up. Foggy, but like there was something important hiding in the fog. Something that he needed to remember...

He now cracked his eyelids open and lifted his head slightly so he could stare up at his roommate, who just smiled back in response and continued to curl strands of his dark hair around his fingers.

"What time is it?" was what Antonio meant to say; although it came out sounding more like some sort of alien language.

Which Francis still seemed to understand somehow, as he laughed and responded with a slight tug of Antonio's hair and then a relaxed "Don't worry about that, mon ami. I emailed your professors and told them that you were sick."

Huh?

And now his eyes crossed over toward Francis's nightstand, where his alarm clock was resting next to a pair of reading glasses. The little red numbers reading 1:37.

That jerked him wide-awake. 1:37 in the afternoon? He'd missed almost all of his classes then!

This was bad. This was really really bad. He couldn't miss all of his classes! He'd get so behind and he already was having trouble keeping up in some of his classes and...and...

And that was the moment when the memories of last night crashed back in a towering wave of terror and confusion and...and...

Maybe it had been a dream? A horrible, terrifying dream? But he couldn't believe that. The memories were too vivid. Those red Diablo eyes gazing down at him and the feel of cold steel against his throat and the amber eyes swirling with emotion.

Those eyes...

They'd haunted his dreams last night. Kept flashing in front of him. Complicated, beautiful...alluring.

"Antoine?"

And Francis's voice suddenly jerked him back to the present. And forced those unwanted memories back to the front of his mind.

His best friend was in a gang. He'd been helping those other people. His best friend was a criminal and had been lying to him for who could even guess how long...

"Antoine." He'd backed away during those panicked thoughts and now watched as Francis slowly scooted closer. Francis's eyes were intent on his, his hands held out in a surrendering position, as if he were attempting to approach a particularly skittish kitten.

...Within the next few seconds, Antonio's head was being cradled against his best friend's chest. Francis's voice was soothing, sighing to him in soft, tender French. With the occasional murmur of "It's okay. You're safe. You're safe, Antoine."

Safe. How could he be safe when there were criminals who wanted to kill him? They would have killed him last night if Francis hadn't stopped them.

"What—?" He wasn't even sure what he wanted to ask. What's going on? Who are you really? Why were you with those criminals?

"Shh," Franny now kissed him on the forehead. "I'll explain, mon ami. You deserve to know the truth, now that you're involved anyway. But first~!"

And Antonio was more than slightly surprised when Francis suddenly jumped to his feet and sent him one of the smiles that he usually used on the girls or boys that he liked. "First, I will make us both coffee, oui?"

"Ah, sí?"

That was really the only answer Antonio could think to give. It was incredibly strange to watch Francis right now, since he was acting like nothing unusual had happened last night. Like this was a normal morning—or afternoon, Antonio supposed.

He disappeared into the sink room for a few minutes and then returned with a coffeepot full of barely sanitary water. He opened the machine, placed a clean filter inside, and then poured a cup of his ridiculously expensive ground coffee—Franny hated the cheap stuff and absolutely refused to drink it—into the machine.

Franny was a criminal. Antonio couldn't forget that. He'd helped those people steal the boxes from the warehouse. They'd knocked out a security guard unconscious; they'd threatened him... Antonio couldn't ignore the fact that his roommate was dangerous. Even if he was currently making him coffee, as if it was a normal morning.

"Why?"

The word probably startled Francis as much as it surprised him. But, that was really what he wanted to know right now. "Why were you—?" with a bunch of criminals. "Why did you—?" lie to me.

"It's okay, Antoine." Francis crossed the room and dropped beside him again, resting his hand on his arm... His pale fingers stood out so clearly against his darker skin—an odd thing to notice, but Antonio needed something to focus on besides the fact that he had no idea what to think or feel right now. "It is just difficult to know where to start."

"Those people were criminals, sí?" He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from Francis's own lips.

"Oui. They are." And he stated it so matter-of-factly. As if it were a perfectly normal statement, as if there was nothing wrong with this situation.

"Then why were you there? How do you know them?" Antonio had to hold himself back from attacking his friend with questions. He had to fight to keep the questions from spilling out all at once.

Particularly when Francis's lips twisted upwards into a cruel smirk, crueller than anything that Antonio had ever seen on his friend's face before. "Ah, why was I there? Because I am one of them, mon ami."

And there went any hope that maybe this had been a one-time thing. Even if everything had pointed toward the contrary, Antonio hadn't wanted to believe that his friend was a criminal. "Why?"

"Probably selfishness." He leaned back against the bed's headboard and stared up at the ceiling with a puzzled expression. Although Antonio had no idea why he looked puzzled when he actually knew what was going on. "Maybe that's why all of us are doing this. It's easier than actually dealing with our problems..."

...You know, sometimes Antonio felt like Francis was speaking a different language when they were talking. And not just because sometimes his roommate would switch into French in the middle of a sentence.

"I don't underst—"

"Feliciano..." Antonio immediately froze at the sudden name. He'd almost forgotten about the fact that somehow Feli was involved in this. The leader with the emotion-filled eyes had seemed angry and upset about the fact that he knew Feliciano. "Feli's told you that he's an only child, right?"

"Sí..." But the leader had looked so much like Feli. "Are they—?"

"Romano and Feliciano are brothers." Francis stood suddenly and then crossed the room to the coffeepot, his back facing Antonio as he continued to speak. "Feli doesn't know that his brother is still alive, though. And Romano wants to keep things that way."

Romano... Hadn't Francis called him something else while they were there, though? Maybe. It was hard to remember most of what had happened last night. It was like his brain was trying to force the memories away.

"Why?"

"That's not important." Antonio watched distractedly as Francis bent down and removed the bottle of creamer from their mini-fridge, filling Antonio's mug a quarter of the way full with creamer—Antonio really didn't like coffee all that much; he could only tolerate it if there was a lot of creamer—and then poured a little bit into his own mug. "Just know that it's very important that no one ever finds out that they're related. And if anyone does..." He poured the coffee into the mugs and then crossed the room again, sliding the warm drink into his hands. "It'll be both of our heads."

"But, why are you with them?"

"Blood is thicker than water, I suppose."

...Francis didn't like to just answer Antonio when he asked questions.

Although Franny must have noticed the slightly annoyed expression crossing his friend's face, as he laughed and then kissed him on the forehead. "It's simple, Antoine. I need to keep an eye on my baby brothers. So I decided that the best way to do so would be to attend this university with Feli while simultaneously helping Lo—Romano keep everything in order."

...

Wait, what?

Francis was now taking a sip of his coffee, eyes grinning at his roommate.

"But... Aren't you and Feli cousins?" That was right, wasn't it? Feli had always said that they were cousins...

They couldn't be cousins and brothers, right?

Antonio was starting to feel really mixed up about what was right and what was wrong right now...

"Feli has no idea that we're actually related." He took another sip of coffee and then leaned back against the headboard again. "He just calls me his cousin because I've been working in their home since I was ten. Maman told me who my father was before she died and since I didn't know where else to go, I went to him..."

He snorted, tilting the mug slightly so the coffee splashed against the sides. "A rather unpleasant shock for him, I imagine. Having your bastard show up on your doorstep. Lucky for him that I don't look anything like him."

"So...you're half brothers?"

"Oui." He sighed and rested his head against the wall, watching Antonio with a tired smile. "Of course Papa didn't want anyone to know that I was his son, but he didn't dare throw me out into the streets, so he hired me as a servant and paid me to keep my mouth shut."

...All Antonio could do for a moment was stare at him in shock. Then he cleared his throat and nervously took a sip of the coffee before murmuring a quick, "But, doesn't that mean that you should be keeping it a secret from me, Franny?"

"Non. I trust you. Even if I didn't, it's not like his reputation could get much worse. Grandfather commits apparent suicide and then the oldest son dies in a car accident. Father ends up an alcoholic who's gambled away most of the family's wealth on horse races?" He rolled his eyes again and made a dismissive motion with his hand.

O—okay... "What about the others? Who are they?"

"That's not important." He now laughed, leaning forward so their noses were almost touching. "It's sometimes dangerous to be too curious, mon ami. Just continue to be my cher Antoine and don't worry about silly things that don't concern you."

But...

Antonio was pretty sure that this did concern him. Especially since he had so many more questions. Especially about him...

Romano.

In all honesty, he didn't care about those others. They had terrified him. If he never saw them again, it would be too soon—and he imagined that the albino especially wouldn't be very happy to meet him again.

But that leader. The image was burned into his memory, even if the rest of last night was a blur. Those eyes, swirling with so many emotions... Anger and disgust and expected things like that. But also fear and concern and... Other things that he hadn't been able to identify.

They'd been beautiful eyes. Almost haunted... Why was he leading a gang of criminals? Who was he?

Antonio wanted to see him again.

That realisation came suddenly. Almost out of nowhere. He wanted to see this Romano again. He wanted to see those eyes again.

"Oui, Antoine?"

And Antonio suddenly realised that he'd started zoning out and now Franny was staring at him with a slightly worried expression.

"You won't worry about it anymore, Antoine? Just forget about what happened last night."

Antonio rather doubted that Francis would be very happy if he informed him that he wanted to go see Romano again. That wouldn't really be doing what Francis said at all...

"Sí!" Which was why he smiled and nodded, flashing Francis his brightest smile. "We'll just forget all about it!"

And Francis smiled back in response, looking rather relieved. "Oui. We'll do that. That will be best for everyone."

...Sí.

A/N: Exposition. Exposition. Exposition.

Short chapter, but it's just exposition really. Now we can start moving moving moving!

Fact: Roommates who make you coffee = awesome roommates. I didn't even like coffee until my roomie started making it for me.

And I feel like there was more that I wanted to say, but I can't think of what it was... Antonio is naughty and Francis loooooooooooves to take his own sweet time answering freakin' questions. Seriously. There was one paragraph in here that took me three days to write because I couldn't figure out what in the world Franny was doing.