Hello there dear readers,
title: The Truth
author's notes: I've been poactive since it's the weekend. School saps my time though, so chapters may not be as frequent during the weekdays.
Enjoy!
Infirmary
To his relief, Charlie reached his dormitory without seeing anyone who could tell him off. Checking his watch, he found that it was almost break - so instead of trying to attend his lesson late he took a shower and got dressed, sitting down on his bed until the bell rang. His pyjamas smelt of the musky cologne Manfred wore and he hoped that this wouldn't be obvious to the other boys in his dorm. Not that smelling Charlie's pyjamas was a particular habit of any of his room-mates, luckily!
At the bell, Charlie raced down from the upper levels of the school and joined the mass of children in the hall. He kept his head down, not wanting to receive a telling off from anyone about missing the morning, and luckily he made it out onto the field without confrontation.
Once on the green grass though he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and jumped in shock, swiveling quickly to see Lysander. Tancred, beside his friend, laughed at Charlie's shocked face and Lysander couldn't help smiling too.
'Where've you been, Charlie?' Tancred wondered, and then they heard running feet. Fidelio and Olivia and Emma appeared, with Gabriel following a bit behind.
'Charlie!' Fidelio called. 'You're still here! Thought they'd sent you home or something.'
'Or locked you in the tower,' Olivia added, screwing her face up at the thought.
'No, no,' Charlie assured them. 'I was just…just…' He searched blindly for an answer, and was glad when Emma piped up;
'Were you ill, Charlie? You did look bad yesterday.'
'Yes!' Charlie grinned at Emma, then forced himself to look a bit more ill. 'Yes I was ill and I had to sleep in the infirmary. Awful place.' He pulled a face and laughed and some of the tension was broken.
'Do you think it has something to do with you falling down the stairs?' Gabriel wondered, and with a start Charlie remembered his sleepwalking and bruised face. Why hadn't Manfred said anything about it yesterday? He must have noticed!
'Uh,' Charlie replied, putting a tentative hand to his eye. It wasn't as sore as before, but without a mirror he couldn't see how bad it actually was. 'Yeah, probably. I don't know how long I was asleep there for, and you can catch a cold from sleeping on the floor.'
'But you're feeling better now?' Fidelio pressed.
Charlie shrugged. 'Better,' he agreed. 'Still not great.' That was the best thing to say, he reasoned. It meant that if Manfred whisked him away again they'd just attribute it to him still being ill. Not that Charlie was sure that the older boy would want to sleep with him again; Dr Bloor walking in on them had been a big shock and a repeat was the last thing either of them wanted.
The bell went to signify the end of break and they all filed back in, back to lessons.
...
The atmosphere in the King's room was dense and heavy to Charlie. He was finding it rather hard to breathe, although the rest of the endowed seemed to be doing fine. Perhaps this was something to do with the intense eyes that hadn't really left Charlie since Manfred had entered the room. Swallowing thickly, the young Bone tried to focus on his work, but his hand shook and his pen fell to the floor, clattering loudly in the enveloping silence. Everyone jumped.
'Bone!' Manfred barked. 'Control yourself!'
Charlie dived under the table after his pen eagerly, relieved to be escaping from those eyes. He gasped in air as quietly as possible and then re-emerged, stared intently at his work. But still the numbers wouldn't go in. Was Manfred even working? He didn't appear to be looking at any of his books, since he was watching Charlie so keenly.
Didn't anyone find this suspicious? Charlie began to worry, and kept sneaking glances at the other endowed to see if they'd noticed. Some of them gave him sympathetic glances, but there was no suspicion.
At the end of homework time Manfred told Charlie rather tersely to wait, and received a glare from Lysander. Some of the papers swirled in a sudden breeze. 'Get out,' Manfred snarled at the spirit-summoner and storm-bringer. Charlie saw Lysander clench his fist, but luckily they left without a fight. Asa loped out last, and then the door was closed and Charlie was alone with the head boy.
'Manfred,' he started before the older boy could speak. 'Stop looking at me! The others are bound to suspect something!'
Manfred looked surprised at this perceptive worry. 'They think I'm angry with you, that's all,' he soothed. 'I often pick on you. It's no different.' He glided over to sit on the desk beside where Charlie was standing.
Charlie wanted to protest that it was different, that Manfred's gaze had not been one of anger and that sooner or later the others would notice this, but instead he sighed and remained silent on the issue. That could wait for another time. 'You wanted to speak to me?'
'Mm.' Manfred eyed the younger boy thoughtfully, eyes raking down his body. Involuntarily Charlie blushed.
'Remember last week Olivia walked in on you interrogating me,' Charlie warned quietly.
'True.' Manfred reluctantly forced his eyes back up to Charlie's face. 'I wanted to make clear that this sleeping arrangement of ours is now permanent.'
Charlie, who had been expecting a very different ending to that statement, looked up in surprise. 'But your dad-' he started.
'I am aware,' Manfred bit, cutting him off. 'But that was because I didn't lock the door. Anyway, we slept too long this morning. I'm going to buy an alarm clock, and then we'll wake up in time for you to get back to your dorm before the others wake up.'
Charlie digested this information, then slowly nodded. 'Okay. So tonight…'
'Come to my room as soon as you can get away. Oh and you can use that note I gave you if Matron catches you. Yes?'
Charlie nodded. Yes, this could actually work. He'd just have to hope none of his room-mates woke up to find him going…or gone.
'Good boy,' Manfred smiled a little and lithely jumped off the desk. He reached out a hand to stroke Charlie's cheek, and then his fingers drifted towards the younger boy's mouth, tracing his lips. Charlie leant into the touch and, blinking, Manfred pulled back quickly, remembering that the door wasn't locked. He moved around the table to pick up his books which, as Charlie had guessed, weren't even open.
'See you tonight, Charlie,' Manfred smiled as he left the room.
...
'You sleeping here tonight then, Charlie?' Fidelio grinned as his friend slipped under the sheets of his own bed. Charlie started, looked at him in confusion, and then remembered that he'd told them he'd been in the infirmary the night before.
'Oh, of course, sorry.' Charlie looked embarrassed at having forgotten. For a moment he'd been worried that Fidelio had heard about Manfred and their sleeping agreement. 'I think so, though I might head to the infirmary if I get really ill again.'
'Surely it'd be better to stay here,' Fidelio frowned. 'The infirmary is a place that makes me feel more ill than better.'
'Yeah,' Charlie agreed. 'But if I'm puking everywhere then I don't want to wake you guys up.'
Fidelio pulled a face but conceded the point. 'Let's hope you don't feel worse then.'
'Yeah.'
The lights went out and Charlie waited, staring at the ceiling as he listened to the other boys' breathing become deeper and calmer. After another half an hour of listening to them sleeping, Charlie slipped out of bed and pulled on his slippers. He put on his night-gown this time for good measure, and padded as quietly as possible to the door.
Half way down the corridor though he became aware of someone following him. Alarmed, Charlie whipped around and saw a shadow dart closer to the wall. Whoever it was had a very small frame and Charlie didn't feel afraid of them anymore. He began to walk towards them and they retreated, but tripped and fell onto their bottom.
Charlie saw the boy's face and sighed. 'Billy. Why were you following me?'
'I wasn't following you,' Billy replied stubbornly.
'You clearly were.' Charlie frowned at him. 'Were you thinking of telling Manfred?' The idea was almost funny, considering that that was who Charlie was going to see, but then he realised that if he hadn't discovered Billy the boy might have followed him all the way to Manfred's room and told someone else. He couldn't trust Billy.
'Well where are you going anyway?' Billy asked, standing up. 'Bathroom is the other way.'
'I'm going to the infirmary,' Charlie said defiantly. 'Cause I'm feeling ill. If you don't want to catch anything you should go back to bed.'
Billy looked as if he was about to argue, but then he hesitated, wondered whether Charlie was actually telling the truth. The best thing about the bruises on his face, for Charlie, was that they really did make him look unwell. Then Billy looked over Charlie's shoulder, squeaked and scuttled back to the dorm. Turning with a sense of terrible foreboding, Charlie saw his aunt bearing down on him. He didn't have enough time to run.
'Charlie,' Lucretia Yewbeam gritted out the word in loathing, but she was quite obviously pleased that she had caught him. 'Detention for you this weekend!' She cackled, then pointed at the dormitory door when Charlie didn't move. 'Well? Get back to bed!'
'Er,' Charlie said, suddenly remembering the note Manfred had given him. He fumbled with the pocket on the left side of his pyjama shirt as his aunt glared fiercely at him. 'I've got a note,' he explained as he drew the paper out of his pocket and held it out.
Lucretia snatched it and peered at the writing, although she recognised it almost immediately as being Manfred's. She scanned the words and then handed it back with a 'hmph'.
'Better get on your way then. Doesn't do to keep him waiting.'
Taking the note back, Charlie sped away from his aunt as quickly as possible without running; she was the sort of person to actively search for a reason to punish you, and he didn't want to give her the advantage of time.
...
Manfred unlocked and opened the door as soon as Charlie tapped, and the younger boy slipped in quickly, afraid that Dr Bloor may walk by and see him. The door clicked behind him and then Charlie jumped because two hands slapped down onto his shoulders from behind.
Leaning down, Manfred muttered, 'What kept you? I was beginning to think that that musical genius had chained you to your bed or something.'
The idea of Fidelio chaining him to a bed made Charlie laugh a bit, and Manfred turned him around so they were facing each other. Since he was already leaning down, it wasn't hard for the head boy to catch Charlie's lips and he was pleased when the younger boy kissed back and wrapped his arms around Manfred's neck.
It was taking less and less time for them to start getting intimate with each other, and neither really had an excuse any more. Pulling back, Charlie looked up at Manfred shyly and then moved to sit on the bed. 'Billy was following me,' he answered Manfred's original question, 'and then Matron caught me.'
'You showed her my note?' Manfred inquired, walking over to his desk and scribbling on another sheet of paper. 'You'll need a new one. This should be re-usable.'
Charlie glanced at the florid writing, beautiful in an ancient, spidery way even when Manfred wasn't trying to be neat:
As punishment, I have asked Charlie Bone to spend an hour of silent study under my supervision every evening this week. This may mean he is late for bed.
Manfred Bloor
'Thanks,' Charlie said, slipping the note into his pocket. 'But what if matron sees me in the morning when I head back to my dorm?'
'Nah,' Manfred scoffed, blowing out the candles and undoing his dressing-gown. 'Lucretia doesn't stay up all night on the prowl. By morning she'll have retired to bed.'
Kicking off his slippers, Charlie considered this gem of information. So if he ever needed to explore he should wake up early and go, not head out at midnight like he usually did.
'This also means that you can come here before your bed-time,' Manfred added smugly.
'But what about Fidelio and Gabriel and Billy? They'll notice I'm not there.'
'That note doesn't have to be exclusively for our little Yewbeam's eyes, does it?'
Lucretia was a tall woman, but belittling her with a patronising tone was amusing. Charlie grinned. 'I s'pose so.' He wondered if Fidelio would buy the lie. After all, he was a genius.
Manfred sat down beside Charlie and tugged at the knot of his cousin's night-gown impatiently. Charlie jolted and then batted the hands away, 'I can do that!' He protested, getting off the bed and removing the gown, folding in on the floor next to his slippers. Chuckling, Manfred slipped under the sheets and moved over so Charlie would have space.
'Did you get an alarm clock?' Charlie wondered as he joined the head boy, not sure when the older boy would have had time.
'My father gave me one,' Manfred said, but at the mention of his father he seemed to clam up, so Charlie wisely said no more on the matter. 'Are you tired, Charlie?'
'A bit,' the younger boy replied, turning on his side to gaze at Manfred, who was staring at the ceiling.
'I'm not.' After having slept so well the day before, this wasn't surprising. After all Manfred didn't usually sleep much, and Monday night had countered out the lack of sleep over the weekend.
'What do you want to do then?' Charlie, who was more used to sleeping than his cousin was, nevertheless was open to suggestions. After-all, the excitement of sneaking through the school still sparked inside of him.
Manfred turned his head to the right to fix Charlie with his sharp, jet eyes. 'Well I did have something in mind…'
End of Chapter 11!
'...origami!' Haha, just kidding. ;P
Thanks for the reviews one and all!
~WfCP x
