Chapter 36
The student council members shuffled into their places and waited for Emily to begin the meeting. The room was decked out in shiny red and pink hearts, and Arthur was a little frightened of whatever plans Emily had for the saccharine sweet holiday.
"Alright, everyone! Listen up! This meeting is to discuss the Valentine's Day fundraiser and the Sweetheart Ball, which is all commencing in just one short week. Students will be able to order valentines for their friends and significant others through the student council leading up to the holiday, as most of you already know. On Friday, we'll be delivering the valentines. We also have a dance to prepare for—a dance that's special because we hold the annual Slave of Love auction. Listen up, underclassmen, because here's where you lot come in," Emily said with a devilish grin. Arthur and Ludwig exchanged uneasy glances. Emily had several bags lined up against the wall behind her and she went to them now, picking them up one by one and glancing at the labels.
"These are the costumes for the Slave of Love auction and for the Cupid deliveries. If you have both costumes, then I need you doing both events. Listen for your name," she said. The freshmen looked at each other nervously while the upperclassmen snickered.
"Cupid duty seems embarrassing, but it's way better than being auctioned off at the dance," one girl commented to Ludwig, who looked as though he was sucking on a lemon.
"No way! Those Cupid costumes are mortifying. At least at the auction you look sexy…'course, you might have to go on a date with someone you barely know."
"Excuse me, but I refuse to be auctioned off like some sort of—" Arthur was interrupted by his enthusiastic boyfriend.
"This'll be totally fun! Can I do both?" Alfred asked. Emily laughed at him and handed him his bag.
"Well, I thought of you specifically for the auction," Emily said. "Here, Arthur, this one's for you. I figured you would refuse participating in the auction—" (there was a sigh of disappointment from Arthur's fanclub at this) "But you can still help deliver valentines. All the underclassmen have to do one or the other."
"Oh, fantastic," Arthur drawled sarcastically, peering into his bag to see a lot of fluffy white material and some glittery angel wings. There was also a red bow and arrow (with a heart shaped tip), soaked in red glitter.
"Huh? Mine is just a jersey and some underwear," Alfred said. "Where are my pants?"
"Those are your pants. See? You're on Team Love now, and your new number is 69," Emily cackled a bit evilly. Alfred blushed, but he'd worn even less for the photography club. He was manly enough to wear hot shorts in front of the entire school…even if they did have glittery pink hearts on each ass cheek.
Feliciano and Kiku both had cupid costumes, but Ludwig, Elise, Meghan, Yao, and Francis had equally embarrassing auction "uniforms."
"Absolutely not! Elise is not wearing—whatever that is!" Basch said hotly. The meek girl was blushing hotly as she held up the maid uniform.
"Well, Basch, you can take her place in the auction and she can take your place as a cupid," Emily suggested casually…almost as if that had been her plan all along. Glaring sinisterly, Basch snatched the maid costume from Elise and roughly passed her his own wad of white fabric and glitter wings.
"Fine. We should have quit this stupid club for good," he grumbled under his breath to Elise. Who merely smiled at the wad of costume that had been none too gently shoved at her lap. Despite his protests, as the club's future treasurer, Basch saw the value in the money-making schemes.
"Now, upperclassmen, we still have to finish preparations for the dance and ordering the valentine materials," Emily said, transitioning to a new topic. The underclassmen stared at their costumes with a wide range of expressions. Francis looked excited (in fact, this appeared to be the first time something in student council had interested him all year), while Ludwig appeared likely to die of embarrassment any minute. Yao had a pretty blush on his cheeks as he peered into the depths of his bag.
Alfred was staring a bit confusedly at the black little spandex shorts, the hearts dancing in his vision.
"Artie...you're gonna bid on me, right? 'Cause it'll be embarrassing enough going out there in this outfit if nobody even bids," Alfred whispered. Offended by the shorts, Arthur snatched them from Alfred's grasp and threw them back into the bag.
"Of course I'll bid for you. I'll bid high so it'll be over quickly," Arthur said. From across the room, Kiku watched the exchange with a thoughtful expression. Someone would be getting a date with Alfred, but it wasn't going to be Arthur. He'd bided his time and hoped the explosive couple would fall apart on their own, but he wasn't going to watch from the sidelines anymore.
USUK
"Okay, new Hero Club Mission! Bribe Lovino!" Alfred said enthusiastically. A few people in the grocery store paused in their shopping and glanced at the over-enthusiastic boy. Feliciano, however, just smiled happily.
"Yeah!" he said brightly. Alfred glanced down the chocolate aisle, where countless little pink and red boxes waited for ardent lovers, as well as cards on the next aisle and sprays of roses in the floral department. Any of it would have made a really good Valentine's Day bribe—no wonder Feliciano had said they needed to visit this particular grocery store.
"So what are we getting? Chocolate? Flowers?" Alfred asked, "Because if it's flowers, you should really be the one to pick them out—I'm terrible at it. I once sent Arthur flowers and it made him think his grandma was dead," Alfred said sheepishly. Feliciano blinked a bit vapidly and then pointed towards the vegetables, and a big sign that read "Imported from Spain" hovering above the bin overflowing with succulent looking tomatoes.
"Big brother loves these! I found this store earlier in the year, but I won't tell Lovino where it is. This way, I can get his help with just about anything!" Feliciano said. Alfred blinked in surprise.
"That's pretty smart, dude!" he replied. He wondered if there was any food Arthur really liked. Maybe that would make a good valentine?
Speaking of Arthur, Alfred's cell phone buzzed in the pocket of his rugby jacket. Alfred frowned to see it was Arthur calling—he hadn't explained his absence for fear he would spill the secret. He bit his lip worriedly, knowing it would make Arthur upset that he was ignoring his call, but he sent it to voicemail and tucked the phone back into his pocket.
He couldn't blab and ruin all the hard work he was putting into Valentine's Day, else Arthur might really dump him for ruining the important holiday.
"Are you coming, Alfred?" Feliciano asked, as he loaded up his small basket with shiny tomatoes.
"Oh, yeah, totally! We don't have to cook these for him, do we?" Alfred asked, having trouble believing someone could be bribed with raw vegetables. 'Yucky!' he thought with a scowl.
"No, Lovi likes them just like this. I think forty should do it…" Feliciano mused. Alfred helped carry the tomatoes to the register. He passed the chocolate aisle and peered down it wistfully—he wished it could be as simple as buying Arthur a box of chocolates, but this was their first Valentine's Day together. He couldn't do something so boring. If he did, Lovino was probably right—Arthur would dump him for being lame.
As they stood in the checkout, Feliciano drooled over a cooking magazine and Alfred added an armload of candy bars to their basket. His chocolate selected, Alfred's attention returned once more to his companion for the afternoon.
"So, who are you dating, Feliciano?" he asked. Feliciano blinked in surprise, snapped out of his lust for the pasta dish on the glossy magazine cover.
"Ludwig, of course!"
"What? Seriously? Ludwig is…gay?" Alfred asked. "I mean, no offense, but it doesn't surprise me that you're gay at all…but Ludwig?"
Feliciano smiled brightly. "I think I should be insulted," he said, though his ear to ear grin and his twinkling eyes suggested Feliciano didn't know how to be upset or offended.
"Err…well…it's just that he seems pretty tough," Alfred said. Feliciano's smile turned dreamy.
"He is! But he's also really shy, too. I had to ask him out a lot before he would go out with me!" Feliciano said. Alfred blinked in surprise.
"You asked out him? Wow. You lucked out. If he didn't like gay people, he would have killed you. Ludwig is kinda a scary guy," Alfred mused. Feliciano blinked in confusion. It was almost their turn to check out.
"What? Ludwig isn't scary! Ludwig tells me stories, and he plays soccer with me, and he walks me to class so I don't get lost, and he checks under my bed for monsters every night! He's the best! That's why I want to make Valentine's Day really special for him," Feliciano said sincerely. Alfred smiled.
"No worries. We'll get Lovino's help, and we'll make this Valentine's Day so awesome that Ludwig and Arthur won't ever forget it!" Alfred said, once more speaking a little too loudly. The grocery store patrons glanced at him again, as if trying to decide if he really was who they thought he was.
Oblivious to the attention he was drawing, Alfred helped Feliciano check out and they quickly carried their bags of tomatoes out to the waiting cab.
USUK
Feliciano and Alfred finally managed to find Lovino scribbling curse words on the bathroom stalls. At first he blew them off ("Check the door, you fairies—this is the men's restroom") but his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at the sight of the bright, beautiful tomatoes. Too late, he realized his mistake and tried to look nonchalant. He went back to his rather elaborate drawing of Antonio's name and cell phone number, accompanied by the message 'I love sucking penis. Call me.'
"That's not very nice, Lovi," Feliciano said. "You should be nice to your roommate!"
"Oh yeah? Well you're a little too nice to your roommate. You probably peel him potatoes and feed them to him by hand like some sort of stupid fucking slave."
"What is up with you guys and vegetables? First tomatoes, now potatoes…I'm just really confused," Alfred grumbled. Lovi barely spared him a glance.
"You? Confused? Impossible!" Lovino replied with thick sarcasm. Of course, neither Feliciano nor Alfred had a talent for detecting sarcasm. Alfred waved animatedly in Lovino's general direction.
"No, I mean it dude. You better have some really good advice for us, 'cause so far you just seem angry and obsessed with vegetables."
Lovino sighed, as if not quite believing someone like Alfred could exist, before snatching a tomato from his brother and capping his marker.
"Fine. The best thing to do on Valentine's Day is to sing your boyfriend a song. You know—something really fucking romantic," Lovino said, munching happily into the shiny fruit.
Feliciano seemed to be considering the idea, but Alfred frowned.
"I can't sing. Besides, I sing in the shower all the time around Arthur and lately he's started plugging up the crack under the door with a towel so he doesn't have to hear me 'wail like a cat in heat'—his words, not mine," Alfred said with a wince. Lovino glared.
"Too much information, Blondie. I really don't want to fucking know what you do in the shower and what your uptight little roommate plugs you with."
"But I didn't say—"
Alfred's protest was drowned out by Lovino's loud munching and bragging.
"I'm telling you, if you do it the right way, you can make anybody fall for you with one of those sappy, shitty love songs. It happens all the time in romantic movies—not that I watch those. They're for fucking homos like you two."
"Before you get anymore tomatoes…prove it," Feliciano said, having a rare stroke of brilliance. Lovino eyed him up, as if trying to decide whether or not it would be simpler to just tackle his younger brother and steal the rest of the tomato goodness, but in the end, his confidence in his own brilliance won out.
"Sure. Point me towards any dumb bitch and I'll make her fucking swoon," Lovino bragged. Feliciano, however, was smiling innocently…but there was a strange gleam to his eyes that even Alfred noticed. It was almost as if (though this seemed impossible) Feliciano was looking a little…intelligent.
"That won't prove anything. You said it would make anybody fall for you, and guys are harder to impress than girls, yes? So if you want the rest of these, show us that it works on him," Feliciano said, pointing over Lovino's shoulder.
Slowly, Lovino half-turned to see the swirling letters of his roommate's name scrawled across the stall in shiny black ink. Steeling his resolve, and unwilling to let the challenge go, Lovino shrugged with false bravado.
"That fucking queer Antonio? Sure. Whatever. He'd definitely fall for it."
"Then let's see it," Alfred said, smiling at the prospect of Lovino humiliating himself in song. Surely, there was no way his crazy idea could actually work.
"Fine. Let's go," Lovino growled.
Sharing curious and amused glances, Feliciano and Alfred followed the other boy out of the bathroom and towards the music hall, where Antonio could usually be found.
When they entered, Roderich was playing on the baby grand like usual, and Antonio was conversing with his band mates quietly across the room. He had clearly just finished playing a session with Gabriel and Celio. Upon noticing Alfred's entrance, Antonio's band mates quickly left through another door, shooting scowls at Alfred. The tall athlete smirked in pride at Celio's cowardly retreat.
Shaking his head as he watched them go, Antonio strolled across the room and offered them a laid-back smile.
"If you came to hear me play, you just missed it, Lovino," Antonio said casually. Lovino scowled.
"Don't say that and make it sound like I come listen to you play like one of your fucking lovesick little fangirls. I've never come listen to you play," Lovino growled. Antonio, however, just smirked.
"Maybe one day I'll get lucky, eh?"
"Antonio, my brother has something really important to do for you!" Feliciano said. Clearly intrigued, Antonio arched a slender brown eyebrow. Lovino glared at him sullenly.
"Piano kid—" Lovino barked.
"I have a name, and I am in the middle of a practice, so if you'd be so kind as to—"
"Play that sappy song from Titanic," Antonio ordered.
"What? Absolutely not. That's ridiculously below my skill level and offensive to my refined ear," Roderich retorted.
"If you don't know how to fucking play it, then you could just say as much," Lovino said with mock sweetness. Roderich glared over the top of the piano and then a second later, his talented hands banged out the overplayed love song's melody.
Antonio was grinning, the smile threatening to widen even further as Lovino cleared his throat, tugged a bit nervously at his collar, and blushed an adorable shade of dark red while Roderich finished the opening bars (which he'd embellished a ridiculous amount in a flashy show of skill).
When Lovino sang, he seemed to gain some confidence. He met Antonio's eyes directly, sincerely, and though he still looked vulnerable and uncomfortable, singing allowed him to express a softness that the other boy was typically unable to show. Alfred was a little confused as to why Lovino knew all the words to the cheesy love song from Titanic if he claimed to be such a bad ass, but he was distracted from the query by the way Antonio had begun to smile at Lovino—as if there was something truly special happening between them at that very moment.
As the song ended, Alfred was left feeling impressed that Lovino had been hiding such a clear, strong voice and that he'd actually had the balls to go through with serenading Antonio. But it hadn't been Lovino's daring that was in question—it was the effectiveness of his Valentine's Day idea.
"So? What did you think?" Feliciano chirruped. Lovino had moodily crossed his arms over his chest, glaring off to the side as if he didn't care what criticism Antonio might offer. It struck Alfred how different they were—Lovino was aggressive and foul tempered, essentially a screw-up, while Antonio was talented and likeable.
For a moment, the sight of two very different people swept up in their awkward feelings for each other reminded Alfred of his own relationship with Arthur. While he didn't think singing was the way to go, he definitely felt like he'd learned something valuable from Lovino's show of courage.
Love was about putting yourself out there. Feeling uncharacteristically sappy, Alfred chuckled loudly and gave Lovino a slight push towards Antonio.
"Come on, dude! He just sung his little heart out! Kiss him already!"
And much to Lovino's embarrassment, Antonio did exactly that.
Feliciano cheered and gave Alfred a high five.
"The Hero Club Mission to help my big brother has been a huge success! Yay us!"
Alfred enthusiastically returned the gesture with the words, "Yay! We helped them hook up! Wait…when did we start trying to do that? I thought Lovino was supposed to help us."
"That too. I know just what I'll sing for Ludwig! This is going to be a really great Valentine's Day!" Feliciano said.
"Would you two shut the fuck up? I'm trying to be kissed here and it's a little fucking difficult with you two little bitches whining in the background!" Lovino snapped. He was still wrapped up in Antonio's arms, and the taller boy merely flashed them a warm smile over Lovino's shoulder.
"Thanks for coming with Lovino to give him confidence. I'm sure Ludwig and Arthur will love whatever it is you decide to do for them. It will be special as long as it comes from the heart…like Lovino's beautiful song."
"Shut the fuck up," Lovino growled.
"Oh, come on, it was cute!" Antonio jibed. Alfred and Feliciano left the roommates bickering in the music room—Antonio trying to make Lovino admit how long he'd had his crush while Lovino insisted the song had been just something he felt like doing, and it didn't mean anything, and kissing Antonio did not make him a fucking queer…though it apparently made Antonio one.
"Sheesh…I guess Lovino is better at romance than I gave him credit for, but I still have to think of something for Arthur. Now it's gotta be really good, because I've avoided his calls all day and he's going to be seriously pissed at me when I can't tell him what I've been up to."
"Just tell him you went to the movies with me and Kiku and Ludwig. We'll back up your story!" Feliciano offered.
"Really? Thanks man! That's a good idea, and it would explain why I didn't have my phone on. You're a genius!"
"Thanks! That's so nice! Most people say that I'm dumber than a small hamster."
"That's kind of a strange comment to hear from more than one person," Alfred replied. "Calling someone a 'hamster brain' isn't exactly your typical insult."
"Yeah I know, right? But I get it all the time. Anyways! I'll see you later. It was really fun going to the movies!"
"What movie? Oh! That movie. Riiiight. See ya later, Feliciano—thanks for you and your bro's help today!"
"Anytime! After all, that's what a hero does, yeah?"
"Totally," Alfred said with a beaming smile, waving goodbye to the shorter, brunet boy as they parted ways. When Alfred finally did confront Arthur, he was reminded once again of how terrible he was at lying—telling Arthur he'd gone to see a movie with Feliciano, Ludwig, and Kiku made his boyfriend seem strangely upset and withdrawn for the rest of the night, and nothing Alfred said or did could coax his boyfriend out of his depressed mood.
Now, cheering Arthur up with an awesome valentine felt even more important than ever. Lost in his own thoughts, Alfred spent the evening trying to think of something really bold and special. Finally, after Arthur had gone to bed alone, Alfred had an idea. He didn't realize that Arthur lay awake in bed across the room while Alfred was distracted by his scheming. Arthur was waiting for Alfred to join him like usual, but when he didn't come to bed, eventually Arthur fell asleep without the familiar weight of his boyfriend behind him.
A/N: I wanted to keep going with this, but the chapter will be massive if I do. So, more Valentine's hijinks and confusion in the next chapter! Now that I'm (mostly) done moving, I should have some more free time this coming weekend to work on the fic. I'm really excited to write the next part, and I'm sorry updates have been slow for awhile!
On a side note, the Cupid costume was as close as I could get to putting Arthur in an angel outfit. I am ridiculously in love with the idea of him going around in a short white robe and glittery wings spreading sappy love messages. ^.^