"You will not leave until you have scrubbed all one hundred and fifty steps. Understood?"
"Yes, Sister Marianne," the boys droned.
As punishment for last night, not only had Antonio and the others received a lecture from Sister Marianne and Sister Bernadette for being out of bed after lights out, but they had also been given the monumental task of cleaning some old building-Apparently one which the first nuns of Astraea Hill had had to clean every day or something-So there they were, with nothing but a load of deck brushes, a bucket of soapy water, and a wet floor sign to complete their task with.
"Good," Sister Marianne said, "I do not expect to see such behaviour again. Especially not from the Etoile," and she glared at Arthur, "I just hope that you will learn to behave yourself in time for the next Etoile election!"
And with that, the crabby old lady left, her habit flapping a little in the breeze as she shut the door.
"I knew we'd get caught!" Lovino huffed, "And now we have to spend all day doing this!"
"Shut yer yap and get cleanin'! The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave!" Sadik snapped, dunking his deck brush into the water.
"So...It'll be time for me to give this back soon..." Arthur mumbled, clutching his pendant tightly.
"Ya say something, Mr Etoile?!" Lovino growled, jabbing Arthur with the end of his brush.
"Nothing, Lovino," Arthur replied.
"If we move the bucket up to the first flight of stairs, we could get two flights done at once," Antonio suggested, "Three us can do the first flight, while the other three do the second!"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Francis agreed, "So, who's doing flight one, with me?"
"Me!" Feliciano volunteered, "And Lovi, too!"
"Well, that seems fair enough," Arthur replied, "So, that means I get to spend a day cleaning with Sadik…And cute little Toni!"
Lovino turned bright red, "N-no! Antonio, come with Francis and me! I don't want you near Arthur…I mean, Mr Etoile!"
Arthur gave a wry smile. "Oh, my! Is there a problem, Lovino? Am I diseased? Dirty? Not good enough to be with your poor precious Toni?"
Be with Toni? Lovino shuddered at the words…That dirty Etoile didn't deserve to have Antonio…On his cleaning team! Yeah, his cleaning team, and not…Something else.
"I-it's fine," Antonio interjected, his cheeks red from apprehension, "I don't mind being with Arthur, really!"
Arthur gave Lovino a victorious smile. "So, it's decided. Antonio will go with Sadik and me. Is that alright, Lovino?"
The Italian's curl appeared to bend out of shape as he turned his face away from the group and spat, "Y-yeah. It's fine. It's fucking fine!"
"Now, let's begin!" Arthur said triumphantly.
The group got to work quickly, scrubbing each step until it was scrupulously clean (If they half-assed it, they'd certainly have to face the wrath of the nuns again!) Lovino ended up doing most of his team's work, as Feliciano kept playing with his brush, and moaning that he was hungry, while Francis was too worried about getting his outfit dirty to actually do much cleaning.
But after cleaning each step, Lovino just had to take a peek at what Arthur and Antonio were doing. At first, they were just chatting and cleaning…Not a problem…Then Arthur must've made some kind of joke, because Antonio happened to be giggling and blushing the next time he checked…Then Antonio and Arthur ignored each other for a bit.
Lovino wasn't even looking where he was going the next time he went for a peek at the two, and he fell, hitting Antonio and taking him with him on the way down…
"Shit!" the boys cried, landing side by side, in awkward positions.
Lovino didn't take time to assess his own condition, he just focused on seeing if Antonio was ok…
"Antonio, what happened to your leg?! Fuck, you need a doctor!"
Antonio took a look down at the leg in question, finding nothing but a small graze on his knee. Nothing to freak out about…
"I'm fine, Lovino," he assured, "Are you hurt?"
Lovino shook his head. "I'm getting you outta here. You can't clean in your condition"—
"You're right. He can't."
Arthur had come down the stairs, armed with a handkerchief. "I'll take Antonio back to your dorm. Lovino, go and join the others."
"B-but, Arthur, I'm fine!" Antonio protested.
Arthur leaned in close, and softly whispered in Antonio's ear: "I know you are. But, would you rather stay here and clean, or would you rather come have some tea with me?"
And suddenly, Antonio was not in fact, fine at all. "O-oh, God, the pain! I think I've broken it!" he wailed melodramatically, clutching his bleeding knee.
That was Arthur's cue to get into character. "Everyone, I'm sorry, but I need to take Antonio to the nurse's office. Will you be alright finishing the job on your own?"
Most of his subordinate pupils quietly agreed to pick up the slack. Most…
"I'm coming too!" Lovino insisted, "Someone needs to go with Antonio, for…Support!"
Embarrassed, Antonio clung tightly to Arthur. "I-I think Arthur will be all the support I need, but, thanks anyway, Lovino," he said quietly.
Antonio turned to look up at Arthur. Go, he mouthed, and Arthur obediently took him away from their punishment.
Lovino fumed as the Etoile left the building…How dare he set his sights on Antonio! How dare he take his Antonio…Wait, no Antonio wasn't his…But, how dare he treat Antonio as if he were his…his…Lover!
I am so so sorry for how late this is! A lot's happened to me in the past few months…Once my back healed, I got a throat infection, then I had to have eleven injections (Ow!), then I went to South Africa for two weeks, and then my teachers dumped a butt-load of assignments on me QAQ
Thanks again for your patience, and hope to see y'all next chapter,
Kitty x
