Hey everyone! Thank you very much for the very sweet reviews on the past chapters. They really mean a lot to me.
Enjoy!
~o~o~
As the rest of the week would be, the description of this day was out of bed early and into the city again. The group walked after Trouillefou while the three other teachers were keeping an eye on the rest. The man knew the city of Paris like he knew the back of his head by now. He took the group to the Metro again, which wasn't very crowded at this time of day. "And remember. Be quick and stick with the group. You've only got fifteen seconds or so and I don't want to lose sight of any of you. Am I clear?" Trouillefou said once again.
"Yes, sir." They said in unison.
Abel rolled his eyes. This was only the ninth time Trouillefou warned them for that. Yes, he had been counting. Surely they were mature enough to get on a metro, right? What could possibly be that guy's reason to keep rattling that same warning over and over again? Did the record loop somewhere?
As usual, the metro arrived and the class stepped in, just as yesterday. This time, everyone did remember to hold onto something when the metro left so they didn't tumble over and land on their face because of the sudden acceleration as Gilbert had done the day before.
Only ten seconds after leaving the station, Kiku started looking around. "Where is Herakles?" He asked when he couldn't seem to spot his friend anywhere.
Trouillefou looked around over the group and so did the other students. Then his mobile phone rang. He rolled his eyes and answered. He had a feeling of who that could be. "Yes?"
"Sir, I failed." Herakles said from the other side.
Trouillefou slapped his forehead and grunted. "You failed. Yeah. Okay, stay where you are. I'll be right there to pick you up." He broke the connection and stuck his phone back into his pocket. He grunted again and then exclaimed in an irritated tone: "Sir, I failed." He sighed and shook his head.
No matter how annoyed Trouillefou was at the moment, everyone in the class sniggered, chuckled and giggled. Even Mrs. Bennett, Mr. Knox and Mr. Anderson, who were supposed to take this seriously, cracked a smile. Bennett giggled behind her hand like a young school girl. This was just a great way to start the day. Seeing Trouillefou annoyed like that certainly was hilarious, but on the other hand: they'd have to deal with him for the rest of the day.
The French teacher went back on his own while the others waited at the most nearby station. Of course no one could leave the subject and just joked around to kill time.
Only ten minutes later, Trouillefou returned to them with Herakles right behind him. The Greek teenager didn't exactly seem to mind anything, but Trouillefou was practically steaming with rage at this point.
The rest of the way to Musée d'Orsay went without further event, aside from occasional giggles when Trouillefou looked like he was about to explode in frustration.
Bennett informed everyone about the history of the museum and let them do as they liked once they were inside. The group split apart into smaller ones and started exploring the place.
Matthew didn't even have time to decide where to go before he lost Alfred out of sight already. He found him seconds later, hanging around a not very amused looking Arthur's shoulder. "He'll be fine on his own, I guess." Matthew mumbled to himself, and then went after another group of his classmates. Those being Roderich, Elizabetha, Bash and Berwald.
They went around through the museum a little, but Matthew didn't see anything particularly interesting. It appeared that everyone was just going after Roderich, who was serving as a guide for as long as they were there. He was the class' art-geek, especially when it came to history and music. Especially for the latter he appeared to have developed a rather intense obsession. He knew everything Bennett knew and more, and he had the habit of sometimes having hour-long conversations with her outside of school about all kinds of things within the subject 'art'.
Near the end of their visit, they went to the gigantic ballroom where Bennett had told them to gather around twelve. Thanks to Roderich's very strict nature, they were there at the exact second the clock turned one minute to twelve.
Elizabetha was the first one to gaze around her. This entire room was a piece of art. The white walls with golden details, the big windows, the huge mirrors, the statues, and just…the entire room. Everything was so captivating it threw you right back in time.
Roderich seemed to think so too. Somehow, he seemed perfectly at ease in this room, as though he belonged in this time and place. He looked at Elizabetha turning a pirouette. "This is the kind of place I'd love to play for an entire evening." He said dreamily.
He took his girlfriend by the hand and spun her around to catch her in a dancing-pose. "Or to dance the night away."
Elizabetha smiled dreamily. "I'd love to as well."
They gave each other a quick kiss on the lips and Roderich let her twirl away again.
Matthew looked at them from a distance with a bit of envy. Of course he thought they completely deserved each other, but he envied Elizabetha just a slight bit for having a sweet, romantic and caring boyfriend. Oh, well. He'd have his turn one day too. One day. Maybe. For now, he'd just have to stick with dreaming.
Now it was just waiting for the moment the class would leave the museum. Trouillefou counted the students in the ballroom. It seemed as though everyone was there, until Trouillefou frowned. He counted again and concluded that two students were still missing.
Alfred and Arthur, Matthew noticed immediately. They weren't in the room. It couldn't be that they had no idea what the time was. Arthur had a watch and they both had a mobile phone.
"Hey, Matty."
Matthew turned around at the familiar nickname. "Please stop calling me that, Abel."
"Sure…Matty."
"Al and Arthur are late. I wonder where they are."
Abel shifted his weight from one leg to another and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I know where they are. Point is…I don't think it's a good idea to tell Bennett or any other teacher. And interrupting them in what they are doing right now might just not be the best idea either if you value your life." Abel looked a bit uneasy when saying this.
Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Oh, god. What are they doing?"
"Ahm, well. Erm." Abel awkwardly leaned closer and whispered something into Matthew's ear to make sure their classmates wouldn't hear it too. "They were around a corner somewhere, sort of…cuddling and…kissing." He whispered. "It was kind of scary."
"Oh, my." Matthew gasped. "That's ehm, how do I put it? Unexpected? Although not really, but…Really?"
"Yeah, I saw it. No, I didn't mean or want to, and no, I don't want to go there and tell them to cut it out. They'll take my head."
"Yeah, I think they would. But, really?"
"Yeah. One thing I hoped never to see in my life." Abel shivered.
Matthew shook his head. "I'll text Alfred. They'll be there in a minute, and no blood will be shed." He quickly texted his brother with the message: Al! We're all waiting for you and Arthur. Get over here!
After he sent it, he just went for another round around the room to have a closer look at the frescos, statues and ornaments on the ceiling.
Abel sighed, looking at Matthew from a distance with the greatest difficulty to suppress a smile. That adorable, glassed shorty looked very, very appealing and the urge to just go up to him and hug him unexpectedly was growing every second. This week would take a lot of his self-restraint, Abel realised that very well. Daytime wouldn't be a problem, but the evenings, nights and mornings…those were an entirely different story.
They had been friends for so long now, but sharing a room was a little more intimate than just hanging around with each other. In larger groups, he could distract himself by talking to other people or acting tough, but the moments they were alone in a room together with only each other to talk to and no way of distracting himself were an entirely different story. And still, despite the small physical distance, Matthew seemed too far away.
His racing thoughts were shattered by no one other than Matthew's best friend. "Ah, Abel." Francis said, already a bit mischievous. He slung an arm around his taller classmate's shoulder, which wasn't quite an easy task with a height difference of almost thirty centimetres.
After being recovered from the surprise of being yanked down and nearly losing his balance, Abel grunted in annoyance. "What's up, Beardface?"
"Oh, nothing, my rude friend. I was simply enjoying the artwork, just like you." It could clearly be read form his tone that he knew what, or rather, who Abel had just been looking at.
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Just that…" He let go and got into Abel's line of sight with crossed arms. He briefly looked over his shoulder. "He's not as far out of your league as you think. Just give it a try."
"Wait, what?"
Francis smirked widely. "Believe me, I can sense a spark from miles away, and you have definitely got it bad for Matthew."
Abel raised an eyebrow. "Anything I didn't know?"
"Ooh. Touchy, aren't we?"
"You don't say."
Francis shook his head. "Well, you can't say I didn't tell you. See ya." He left again, probably to annoy Matthew, but that wasn't important right now. It was just that either Francis and his two weirdo friends were up to something again, or Francis sincerely tried to help this time. It was never easy to find out which one it was with that guy. Everyone knew he was a sneaky bastard. When in doubt, expect the worst.
Not too long after that, Alfred and Arthur were guided into the ballroom, closely followed by Trouillefou. The teacher was, as expected, not amused. He never was when someone was late. "Really, Alfred. How can you possibly get lost in this museum? Even Bennett knows how to find her way in this place." The teacher barked.
"I don't know either, owowow! Arthur! Let go!" Alfred nearly tripped into the room, being dragged by Arthur by his ear. "Dude! This hurts! Let go!" Arthur reluctantly let go and glared at Alfred as if he wanted to kill him using his eyes.
Trouillefou shook his head and left, and Matthew immediately went to his brother. It was none of his business what they had been doing, but he really wanted to know what the idea or Alfred being dragged by his ear was. And there was something he had to tell them.
However, Alfred and Arthur seemed too busy arguing to notice him. Not surprising. Not surprising at all. They usually didn't notice him.
"Of course I'm irritated. We nearly got caught, you git! If your mobile hadn't gone off, he would definitely have seen us!" Arthur hissed.
"Dude, relax. He didn't actually see-"
"What if he had? That would have meant trouble, for sure."
"Uh, guys." Matthew tried but as always, he remained unnoticed.
"Can you imagine the lecture we would have gotten?"
"It's not as if it's our fault we're sharing a room."
"They'll think we've set it up with Matthew!"
"Guys!" Matthew shouted. This time, he did get their attention. "What happened?"
"Nothing!" Arthur answered a little too quickly.
"Dude, we were just-" He was cut off by Arthur's elbow in his ribs.
"As I said: nothing."
Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, I know. Francis caught you on candid camera. I just thought I'd tell you, eh."
"What?!" The couple shouted at the same time.
"He just showed me the video on his phone, and if you keep wasting your time bickering, I'm afraid he'll show the entire class."
"That frog is so dead." Arthur hissed, just at the moment Francis passed.
"Ah, what's wrong, mon copain?" He asked in his slyest tone.
"Give me your phone, Francis." Arthur doomed, already reaching for the thing. Sadly, Francis had other plans. He avoided Arthur's snatch for the phone and chuckled teasingly. "You'll have to take it from me if you want it." He ran away as fast as he could, chased by Arthur and Alfred. "Give me that bloody thing or I'll rip your hair out!" Arthur threatened.
"Ohonhonhon. I don't think so." Francis shouted back, but didn't stop running for his life.
Matthew watched with amusement. True, Francis was a good friend, but so was Arthur and this was funny. Also, at one point it occurred to Matthew that a ballroom was a really strange place to be chasing each other around. He hummed the Benny Hill-theme to himself as he watched the rather comical and clumsy chase.
At a certain moment, Alfred and Arthur had their French classmate driven into an inescapable position with his chasers in front of him and a wall behind him. All three panted after running so much, and Francis whipped out his phone. "Oh, come on. It was just a little joke."
"Gimme your cell phone, Francis." Alfred tried.
"Ah, no way. I can use it for blackmail, and I don't intend to lose it yet." He looked at the screen and started the video. "Oh, doesn't this look sweet. Arthur, I didn't know you could smile?"
Both their eyes grew wide and Arthur reached for the phone again. "Hand it over, right this instant!"
"Oh, and Alfred. You look pretty good without your glasses on."
"Oh, thanks…Hey! Gimme that!"
Another mischievous chuckle came from the French teenager and he held his phone up for the other two to see the still ongoing video of themselves in a rather intimate moment of being together. It was rather shaky, and it was rather obviously filmed from a distance with quite a zoom, but it was still very clear to see what happened.
Francis chuckled again. "I'm not-Hey!" His phone got swiftly lifted from his hand, far out of his reach. He reached back for it, but he stopped when he looked straight against Abel's sly grin and a hand was planted against his forehead. "Okay, that's about enough, Frenchie." He kept his classmate on a distance with one hand, leaning very comfortably and held the phone in the other. He took a brief look at the screen and winced before shaking his head. "Francis, you look at such dirty videos. Does your mother know that? I think it's time to delete this." He tapped the touch screen and dragged the file to the trashcan.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Francis asked. "I've got some nice blackmail about you too, my friend."
Abel smiled grimly. "Don't worry. They know."
"Ah, merde."
Abel put up a clearly fake grin and permanently deleted the video. He then threw the phone back to Francis, who darted away immediately before he could get into any more trouble.
"We know what?" Alfred asked, a little confused and not at all getting what Francis had just tried to use for blackmail.
Abel looked back at him, quite sarcastically. "Nothing."
"Seriously. What?"
"Not important." He was starting to get impatient.
"Why would you help us out anyway?" Alfred asked, not quite getting Abel's motive.
"Ugh. You're welcome. Someone asked really nicely if I could help you guys out of this one."
"Who asked?"
"You can thank me later, Al." Matthew said from right behind him and then immediately walked away again, rolling his eyes. His brother could be just a little too ungrateful at times. He wondered what would have happened if he hadn't texted Alfred. Would they have been caught if they hadn't been interrupted by Alfred's annoying text tune?
It didn't matter. The teachers were still none the wiser and the week was only just getting started. Surely something like this wouldn't happen again.
~o~o~
Translations:
Mon copain = My friend
Merde = Shit
So now you've seen some of Abel's thoughts too. Nice, eh?
Please leave me a review, dear reader. They make me happy~.