Right guys, you can finally get all of the *hem hem* epic drama! Plus, Mr Puffin might happen.
Dododoobird thanks for reviewing! I'll put a guide to some of the names here for you, and about Seb, we'll just have to wait and see ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡).
Name guide:
Emil Steilsson- Iceland
Leon Wang- Hong Kong
Sebastian Vargas- Seborga
Lucielle Bonnefoy- Monaco
Michelle Azikiwe- Seychelles
Luca Müller- Luxembourg
Cheng Wang- Macau
Xiaomei Wang- Taiwan
The Kirklands- British Isles
Nadia- Greater Manchester
Thomas- West Midlands
Mathilda- Devon
Austin- Texas
Please tell me anything you are confused about!
"Class dismissed!" Lukas shouted across the corridor- he had already made it to the stairs, by the sounds of it. Nobody was complaining about getting an extra fifteen minutes of free time, yet it was strangely disconcerting; in fact, the class seemed quite reluctant to go. Emil made to leave quickly, but Xiaomei had pulled him back. "What?" he asked with a feeling of frustration- all he wanted was to go and wait for Leon- but she just blushed, keeping a firm grip on the boy. She spoke, for the first time to him, in a smooth, balmy voice, with much stronger traces of Chinese than Leon. "Wait. I need to tell you something." He sighed gently, as she leaned forwards. "I-" but what she wanted to say, Emil never knew. The misty-eyed boy, who was apparently called Michael, tripped over and fell into him, and they both collapsed through the door. This was the second time in a day that Emil had fallen over, and it wasn't something he was prepared to get used to. As they picked themselves up, giving each other a muttered apology, a voice carried up the stairs.
"Leon, I'm sure he's fine." "Oh come on Luci, how could it hurt to give him a little surprise? It's amazing that we both thought of the same idea-" "Leon! Luci!" Emil ran down the stairs to meet them. Leon jumped backwards, grabbed Luci for support, then ended up pulling her down. All three of them were laughing, even Luci, who was picking herself up from the stairway. "Leon! These socks were new, you know." She gave a look of disdain to the spiky part of the railing which had ripped a hole in her socks. Emil chortled and offered her a hand, pulling her up. Luci dusted off her pinafore before straightening up. Emil gave Leon a brief hug; he returned the compliment by clutching his arm. Luci turned an amused eye on the two.
ooo
"So, what idea did you guys have?" Emil asked as the three walked through the grounds, towards the dormitory, embracing their additional free time. Luci giggled, but it was Leon who answered. "Well, there I was, in Mandarin, when suddenly somebody started screaming about a fridge. Our teacher-" Leon halted, giving a look of distaste- "was Dad." Emil shrugged. "I don't know man, I had Triple Science with Lukas, that's pretty tragic." Leon continued. "So, well, Mr Dad-" he halted again at Luci's face. "Oh, come on, what do you want me to call him? Mr Person-who-brought-me-into-this-world? Anyway, quick as a flash, I asked to go to the toilet; it worked, and before he could tell me to be quick, he had to leave to sort out the situation. So, taking advantage of all this confusion," Leon smirked. "I took the 'toilet break' as an opportunity to miss out on fifteen minutes of staring at the wall, I mean, he wasn't going to return was he? And then Luci had the same idea at the same time to bunk off of her RE lesson."
Emil stared in amazement at the two. "Wait, so you guys skived off of your last lesson? On your first day? That's quite rebellious." Luci shrugged. "I mean, both of our teachers were looking to be absent for the remaining quarter of an hour anyway, and I thought that relaxing in the common room would be more productive than staring at where Mr Vargas should be." There was a hint of pride in her voice. Emil smiled gently, and nudged Leon gently. The boy was still holding his arm, and seemed to be trying, once again, to steal Emil's earmuffs. He lunged suddenly at the fluffy pieces of apparel, and overbalanced, crashing both of them into the wall. Luci gave a bright bout of laughter before leaning forwards to help the tangled mess of limbs, then stopped. Something was tapping on the window. They were in the corridor before the common room, on the top floor of the dormitories; Emil knew that there were no trees by the window that reached that high. All three of them stared in the direction of the sound.
A black-and-white bird with a brightly coloured beak was tapping on the class with its foot. Emil glanced up and down the puffin. No, it couldn't be... Yet it was unmistakably so. Few puffins had black chests, and yet fewer had bright red bows tied around their necks. Disentangling himself from Leon, the boy rushed to the window, and threw it open. Mr Puffin swooped in with an unusual level of grace- that is, unusual for a puffin with such a deep voice, as he demonstrated.
"Emil, my boy, why didn't you tell me you were going?" He pecked Emil's finger in annoyance. "Ow! Sorry, Mr Puffin, there's a 'no pets' policy," The boy stepped back, reaching out an arm. The puffin jumped on it, and continued. "Hasn't your brother told you that the 'no pets' policy is broken several times a year? I mean, even the hockey coach has a pet polar bear?" Emil patted Mr Puffin in apology. "Nope. Good to know, though." Only then did he turn around to see Luci and Leon gawping at him. "What..?" "Emil, I knew you were weird, but a talking puffin is a bit too far." Emil stared at him in confusion. "What's wrong? Is that strange?" Luci rushed out before Leon could reply. "Well, what he's trying to say is that it's unexpected for you to have a talking animal pet; they're quite rare, and, well, he's just surprised, okay?" Mr Puffin gazed around at both of them. "Emil, you've made friends? Finally, I was getting worried. Oh, you forgot your violin as well."Emil gazed at his feet. "Well, about that..." "So that's why I brought it for you!" the bird ignored him. Emil's eyes widened. "Wait- what?!" "Yeah, it's in your common room. Was mighty heavy as well." Mr Puffin said offhandedly, before perching himself on the windowsill, ignoring Leon and Luci's persistent stares.
ooo
"So, you have a talking pet puffin, not to mention one that speaks like a gangster, Luci's a rebel, you play the violin, and now it turns out you write fanfiction?" Leon asked over Emil's shoulder. They were sitting in the Acadia Common Room, the one in the Cicada Block (even though it was open to all of the school). The panels were painted in the colour of a starling's egg, with Morris-inspired wallpaper and upholstery, and a large, unlit fireplace on the far wall. Emil was lounging on the end of an unconventionally small sofa only intended to seat two people, Leon sprawled next to him lazily. Luci was curled up in a nearby armchair, reading a book in French, oblivious to the other two's conversation. Emil sighed, his laptop propped up on his knees, and he looked up before answering.
"Not really fanfiction, just stories about other people and stupid stuff that happened to me, dramatised." Leon looked up. "But isn't talking about yourself restricted?" Emil pulled the other boy up a bit, linking an arm subconsciously. "Not on LiteraSea, it isn't. You're allowed to write about anything on the site, as long as it conforms to the laws within your country. That's why it's so popular in America, and not in North Korea." Leon leaned against him, staring at the screen of writing. "Sounds cool. Are you going to write a story regarding my eyebrows?" He waggled said eyebrows, and Emil stifled a laugh. "Well, due to my lack of motivation, I'm not writing anything at the moment, not even prose about your fantastic eyebrows." He sighed, turning off his laptop. He wasn't in the mood to read much, either. He watched the room fill; school must be over, and slumped backwards, pulling Leon and a scientific diagram they had been studying towards him.
"Guys!" Sebastian, Michelle, and Lilli were running through the room, stopping in front of Leon, Emil, and Luci, who put her book down and looked at them, bemused. "Oh, hi. How was RE without me?" Michelle laughed. "Awful. We had to wait until Mr Vargas returned before we could be dismissed- that's why we're so late." Luci blinked. "But Lilli, you don't do RE, do you? So why are you late as well?" Lilli started a little at being addressed, but quickly regained her composure. "Oh, Mr Beilschmidt returned at roughly the same time as Mr Vargas did, so we were let out late." They continued to talk about some insane theory regarding the RE teacher and the German teacher, and Emil gave out a little groan. The scientific diagram was incorrectly drawn.
Seb turned his attention towards him and Leon. "Hey Emil, Leon! How are you?" Leon gave a muffled reply (his face had drifted into Emil's shoulder), and at Seb's inquisitive look, he turned around a little and repeated. "Fine, don't sit on the puffin," before burying himself, once again, in Emil's shirt. The boy knew how Leon felt; he was exhausted for seemingly no reason, perhaps the mental toll of the first day at school. Seb smiled just as buoyantly as ever, and Emil envied his boundless energy. "I'm going to see Cheng and Luca, bye!" he called, and all five of them waved back at him as he left, his singular, crooked curl bobbing in the air. Emil groaned for the fourth time that day and placed his laptop on the table, wrapping an arm around Leon.
ooo
Emil couldn't remember falling asleep, but he must have, or else he wouldn't have woken up. He shook silvery hair out of his eyes before surveying his surroundings quickly, twitching a hand cramped from being leaned on for over an hour. The sky outside was darker, in a state of twilight, Luci was reading through some of the signs on the noticeboard against the wall, her book discarded on the armchair, surrounded by a gaggle of girls, including- Emil realised blearily- Xiaomei, Leon was lying next to, or rather half on top of, Emil (the sofa wasn't quite wide enough), his dark brown hair tickling the boy's chin slightly. Emil thought he was asleep, but Leon was snoring incredibly unconvincingly, so much so that the boy tweaked his ear.
"Em!" "Don't call me Em." "Emil, whatever, you could've just said something!" Leon sighed in exasperation before resting his head on Emil's collarbone, his brown hair tickling his neck. Emil pushed himself up a little and rubbed his eyes. "I couldn't be bothered; besides, you would have ignored me. Why were you pretending to sleep, anyway?" Leon curled into a half-sit with effort before answering. "Well, duh, nobody's going to disturb me when I'm asleep, and it gives me an excuse to use you as a pillow." At this, Emil rolled his eyes, and Luci turned in their direction. Her periwinkle blue eyes flashed with something, (amusement? Mischief?) before subsiding, and she seemed to stifle a grin, replacing it with an elegant smile.
"So, finally awake, huh?" She asked, walking over to them. Michelle, Lilli, and Xiaomei followed her, the last trying desperately not to make eye contact with Emil, all whilst sending irritated glances towards her brother. Emil nodded. "Leon woke up a while before me and pretended to sleep- oi!" Leon, upon seeing his sister, had resumed his snoring, his head buried in Emil's chest. The boy tweaked his ear again, and was rewarded with a look of utmost chagrin. "Ok, Em," Leon ignored Emil's annoyed look. "I'll stop." There was a slightly mischievous air in the way he spoke, and Emil smiled slightly. Luci chuckled. "Well, dinner's in roughly five minutes, so I'd get your hair combed, Emil, and you too, Leon." Just as she spoke, the bell for dinner rang, and Michelle flinched. Lilli glanced up at the clock. "Oh dear, Luci, it's already been five minutes since we started talking.."
ooo
A few minutes later, the six of them entered the dining hall where dinner was served. Quite different from the canteen, it was larger, busier, and prettier, with slightly off-white walls, pale yellow panelling, floral curtains, and long tables. Leon leaned over Emil's shoulder and pointed to the end of a counter where food was being served; the queue was short, most people already being served, and Emil picked up a plastic tray, then picked up one meal on a plate, a pot of salad, a side, and a dessert (the school cared for nutrition, and you had to pick one of each). Leon did the same, then both of them headed to sit next to Seb, Luca, and Cheng, who had already established themselves as a trio, followed shortly by Xiaomei, still avoiding Emil's gaze, and Luci.
"So where're Michelle and Lilli, then?" he asked, picking at his sardines. Cheng was humming a tune peacefully, and Leon, apparently recognising the tune, joined in. "Oh, they're sitting with Nadia, Mathilda, and Carlie." Xiaomei answered, much to Emil's surprise. Luci cocked her head. "Don't you always sit with Nadia and Mathilda though?" she asked, glancing at Emil slightly. Xiaomei shook her head. "Oh, no, I just thought it would be interesting to get to know these guys." Her eyes drifted over to where Leon and Cheng were in full hum battle mode (something that Emil never thought he would experience), and she raised her voice a bit. "Uh, xiongdi? Baichi? What are you doing?" both of their heads snapped around, as did Luca's and Seb's.
"Oh, hi, meimei," Leon greeted her unenthusiastically, before exhaling agressively. "Oh, okay, I'm happy to see you. Why haven't you spoken to us all day?" Cheng looked confused. "Wait, has she not spoken to you? She was chatting to me just earlier." "Oh, I just.. didn't have time." Xiaomei replied airily, even though her cheeks were growing pink. Luci arched an eyebrow, and Luca did the same back to her, and both sniggering and breaking eye contact immediately. Emil was confused, and even more so when Leon buried his face in his shoulder, evidently trying to hide the fact that he was in peals of laughter. The only people not acting strangely at this comment was Seb, who was attacking his lettuce with an unusual level of barbarity, evidently dissatisfied with the limp green vegetation, and Cheng, who was looking just as puzzled as Emil felt. Xiaomei broke the silence again.
"Well, I mean, I just didn't see you, and I was trying to socialise with other girls, and it didn't cross my mind." Leon laughed even more heavily, to the point where Emil grabbed him and shook him gently. The boy was subdued, and leaned his head on Emil's shoulder, even though he was shuddering. Xiaomei threw him a scathing look. Cheng seemed content with this explanation, and continued eating, whilst Luci simply crossed her fingers, and Luca busied himself with straightening Seb's tie, which seemed to have a mind of its own. "So.. you didn't even consider talking to your triplet? Not even once?" Emil questioned, placing his head on his hand. Xiaomei stopped, staring straight at him, and opened her mouth, said nothing, then closed it again and simply nodded.
Emil's words seemed to break a dam. Leon shook with silent laughter, and clenched at his friend's arm in order to steady himself. Luca broke into an unusually well-pitched chortle, pulling Seb's tie so tight he choked. Even Cheng was giggling slightly, apparently having grasped the joke of the situation. Nobody could compete with Luci, however. She actually fell off of her chair, and Emil, sitting next to her, offered her a hand. The girl was quivering so hard that she couldn't lift up her hand, and her feminine, shrieking laughter filled the room. Luci choked a few syllables once it had subsided enough for her vocal cords to work. "Emil- you're- mon Dieu!" She took a gasp of air, and straightened up a little, her glasses slipping off her nose. "Oh my god, Emil, you are so unaware!" The entire dining hall was silent at that point, and all eyes were fixed on her. Luci simply stood up, with the help of Emil and her chair, then wiped down her dress and sat down on said chair with a small, dignified huff, straightening her glasses, whilst Leon motioned furiously for everybody to keep eating. Emil patted Luci on the back.
The rest of dinner passed without much word, except for a few teachers coming over to ask Luci if she was okay, and what they were laughing about. Seb said that it was just a joke that he told; this frustrated Emil, since he didn't know himself, and it certainly wasn't a joke. He kept quietly to eating, although he didn't have too much of an appetite and slid his yoghurt into his blazer pocket in case he felt hungry later. Emil had never eaten much, and a main, salad, side, and dessert was a great deal more than he felt he could stomach in such a short time. Leon had finished before him and was chatting animatedly to Cheng, Xiaomei joining in eventually. It took a while for Emil to realise that Mr Puffin had landed on his head- in fact, he only noticed when the bird started pecking at his soft hair. "Stop, I'll speak to you later," was all that he received, however, and Mr Puffin jumped off of Emil with a look of distaste and flew out of the window. Maybe, Emil thought, forfeiting the side wouldn't hurt either.
ooo
"So, in what way am I unaware?" Emil asked Leon. They were in their dormitory, the former on his bed, the latter sitting on the floor cross-legged, trying to keep a straight face. Seb was on his laptop, and was crying so hard that the other two boys were mildly concerned. Leon sighed, flicking a long lock of hair out of his face. "Well, let's just say that my sister has a thing for light haired boys." Emil opened his mouth to ask another question, then closed it. Things seemed slightly clearer now, although not by much, and the boy still felt a dull throb. Why must everybody imagine him to be romantically involved in others? He had known everybody here for less than a day, and had little interest in mingling. Emil slipped out of bed, exhaling gently, and sat next to Leon.
"Hey, what d'you reckon Seb's watching?" He asked, putting an arm around his friend. Leon smirked. "Probably something inappropriate, or memes, or like, Justin Bieber." Emil grinned. Seb's crying had stopped, and was replaced with a look of grim determination, headphones slightly askew. "I don't know man, seems like spongebob to me, or Peep and the Big Wide World." Leon chuckled, and stretched out his arms. "We should probably get changed. It's quite late." Emil pulled out his phone for a moment, checking the time quickly. "You think eight fifty-eight is late?" Leon pouted and crossed his arms. "We need to sleep early! We're not even changed either." Emil nodded. "I'm taking a shower tonight. You?" Leon nodded as well. "I just hope Seb doesn't think the same, or we'll be up until midnight. Seb!" He called. "Are you going to take a bath tonight?" Seb pulled off his headphones and looked down at Leon. "What did you say? I didn't catch that." Leon rolled his eyes. "Are you taking a bath tonight or tomorrow morning?" Seb thought for a moment. "Tomorrow." He then pulled his headphones back on and continued watching, as Leon gave Emil with a look of disbelief.
ooo
"Honestly, what is he watching?" Leon asked Emil as he reentered the room, drops of water clinging to his ash brown hair. He was wearing a polo shirt and pyjama bottoms, and as he nodded pointedly towards Seb, some of the water splattered onto Emil's face. "Oh, sorry. The shower's free." Emil shook his head, "it's okay. And I've changed my mind, Seb's watching Justin Bieber." the Italian was watching his laptop screen with a beguiled expression, and Leon grinned. Emil pulled his pyjamas from a draw, placed his watch carefully back in the box which he had received it in (a strange shiver went through his veins at the sight of it), and entered the was a shower cubicle, a basin with a mirror over it- Emil remembered how he had slipped here only a few hours ago- a towel rack, and some shelves. He placed his pyjamas on a shelf, then undressed quietly, making sure that the door was locked beforehand. Once ready, the boy opened the shower cubicle and stepped in, closing the door behind him. The air was full of steam from having been used only a few minutes ago, and Emil carefully pressed the 'on' button on the shower.
Immediately after doing so, the boy recognised that he'd made a mistake. A jet of boiling water hit his adam's apple and he screamed, jumping backwards. He shoved the meter towards 'cold', yet that was another mistake; even though Emil had only twisted it about an inch to the right, the water suddenly turned icy and the boy felt equally uncomfortable. He pulled the shower head off of the hook and angled it away from him, gradually twisting the knob to the left. Eventually it reached a bearable temperature and he showered, washing his hair quickly. Once he had finished putting on a t-shirt and checked trousers, he stared at himself in the mirror for a while. What had happened today? Emil pressed his forehead against the smooth metal, thinking. He had made friends, and hadn't messed anything up too much... Xiaomei was acting weirdly because she had some weird thing for Emil, he had fallen over twice, half-convinced his brother that he was gay, and caused Luci to laugh so much she fell off her chair. On second thoughts, he had messed stuff up. Sighing, Emil took his head away from his reflection- violet eyes staring at him, twinkling lightly, soft hair, almost white, trickling down the nape of his neck, pale face, flushed cheeks. He exited the bathroom, averting his eyes from the mirror.
ooo
Emil lay on his bed, beneath the covers, his laptop on his knees, finally writing a story about how captivating Leon's eyebrows were. Leon lay on the other end of the bed, curled up, Mr Puffin harassing him. "Come on, boy! You could be studying, writing, singing, yet you're lying down doing nothing?" "Mr Puffin, please leave me alone." He sighed- he was caught on the part that said The boy's eyebrows seemed to be of another realm and decided to end it for the day. Shutting down his computer, he turned to the bird. "Mr Puffin, what did you want to tell me earlier?" Mr Puffin turned to him, then opened his beak. "I was going to tell you that your brother's been watching you closely since I arrived- he seems intent on something. Did anything happen?" Emil said nothing, aware of the puffin's eyes on him, even more aware of how Leon had stopped moving, fixed his amber eyes on him. Emil didn't want to lie, not to Mr Puffin, but he couldn't see a choice. Taking a deep breath, he replied: "No. I think he's just concerned because I'm getting older." The puffin puffed, and continued to harass Leon, who continued to be harassed. Emil released his breath.
ooo
Seb had finally turned off his laptop, much to the approval of Leon. His cheeks were dappled with the ghosts of tears, his round face flushed, curl even more crooked than it was before. Emil realised that this must be how he looked after several hours of listening to music. Leon grinned at the boy, before asking, "so what were you watching, anyway?" Seb sat on his desk, brushing his hair out of his face, a bit more like he was normally. "Oh, anime." Emil shrugged. "Seems fine by me. It's quite late though, maybe you should get changed?" Seb nodded, taking his pyjamas to the toilet to dress. Leon lay, flat on his back, on Emil's bed. The wall next to it was plastered with posters of different bands; Of Monsters and Men, Pascal Pinon, Samaris, and Múm. Leon's was covered in different KPop groups, including the joke, BGA. Emil slid next to him. "Oi, you, this is my bed." Leon rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay," before sliding off, landing on the floor with a thud, and heading over to his bed. Emil glanced over at his digital alarm clock. 22:05. He could afford to stay awake for a bit longer, until half ten perhaps. The boy slipped on his earphones, started playing 'Bloom', and pulled his earmuffs over them, closing his eyes. Bliss.
ooo
Emil opened his eyes, risen from his stupor. He pulled off his earmuffs and earphones and checked the time. 23:16. He had been listening to music for over an hour. He rolled over and closed his eyes again, waiting for sleep to come, when suddenly- were those footsteps? Emil froze, his covers tucked under his chin messily, earphone cord still hanging over the railing of his bed. The footsteps stopped outside the door, then there was a thud; somebody had dropped something outside the door. Whoever it was walked away, and when all was silent, Emil pulled off his duvet and climbed off the bed, careful not to wake anybody up. Seb was snoring, his chest rising and falling, and Leon was squeezed into a corner of the bed, silent. He walked towards the door and opened it carefully (it wasn't locked), and picked up a few pieces of paper that were outside the door, plus a book labelled 'read this'. The title was in Icelandic, so Emil assumed it must have been for him. After locking the door, he put it on his desk, then read the pieces of paper. All three were identical, and from the light of his digital clock, he could see that they were club lists. Too tired to read, Emil placed the papers on his desk with his book, and went back to bed.
ooo
Emil was clutching something, and arm- whose arm? But before he could identify it, it fell away from him. All he knew was that he needed it, he was suddenly running, flying, gliding along, but the arm was faster, floating on its own. It took a while for him to realise that he was underwater. The arm soared upwards, breaking into air, Emil following... Suddenly the arm was gone, he was swimming in lake Skorradalsvatn, icy cold water on his bare skin, Lukas was there, so was Mathias, and Berwald, and Tino, and- he let in a mouthful of bitter water- Akuluk, watching him, reaching out their hands, telling him that he would be all right, but Emil wanted to explore, go further out, the currents pulling him further out, he had changed his mind, he called for them, shouting their names, the frigid water numbing his bones, lungs filled with frost, but they couldn't hear him... They turned white like powder, pinched and taut, then became part of a wall, a box, keeping him in, he was in, what he realised, a giant refrigerator... He tried to open the door, but it was bolted shut, then laughter, high-pitched, girly, raucous laughter, Luci's laughter, penetrated his ears, he screamed but no sound came out, then something was shaking the fridge, shaking it again and again and again, banging his head against the walls, then his head landed on something soft, and his eyes opened, eyes which he didn't know were closed.
Leon held Emil to his chest. "Bad dream huh?" The boy replied, cold sweat on his face, eyelids blinking furiously against the sudden assault of light. "Perhaps. Being trapped in a fridge isn't pleasant." Leon laughed, soft, pleasant laughter, and perhaps, somewhere else, Akuluk was laughing with him, perhaps Luci was as well, at a joke Michelle told, or at something Lilli did. The world seemed clearer outside of your head.
Another chapter! Are you proud of me huh? I'm enjoying writing this so far, and I listened to the full album of Sundur by Pascal Pinon whilst writing this, so the ending might be a bit emotional. See you again, my friends! ~ Jay