Translations of non-English words will be given at the bottom of the page.

Thank you curse of ondine and Idea-explosion for your kind reviews!

~o~o~o~

Eight hours and five minutes of talking, boredom, sore backsides and goofing around later, the bus parked in front of the hotel. The students rushed out as soon as they got the chance to do so to stretch their legs, get their stuff and get to their room. Eight hours of sitting really was too long, and there seemed to be a competition of who could whine the most between the usual attention-drawing classmates.

The lobby of the hotel filled with whiny teenagers instantly, all waiting for their keys. Only clearing his throat once, Mr. Trouillefou had everyone's attention. "Since there are only rooms for two, my colleagues and I have set up a list to assign everyone a roommate. Listen carefully, as I'll only tell you this once. When you hear your names, you can pick up your keys and room number here from Mrs Bennett. Be quick because we'll collect here again in forty-five minutes for dinner."

Of course every student had a preference for a roommate, and for some, they were to discover, their hopes came true.

"Here it goes: Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and Romano Vargas."

The Spanish teenager visibly smiled while Romano's cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. They quickly picked up their keys and disappeared upstairs. The class figured the teacher knew nothing of their relationship otherwise they would never have been allowed in the same room. Never.

"Roderich Edelstein and Gilbert Beilschmidt."

"What?!" Roderich shouted. "I will not share a room with him! I refuse!"

"Ah, come on." Gilbert said, teasingly putting an arm around Roderich's shoulder. "It'll be fun!"

"Boys! Please be quiet." The teacher interrupted. "Ivan Br-bru-buh whatever. I still can't pronounce that. And Yao Wang. Natalia and Yekaterina."

"But I want to share a room with my brother!" Natalia growled demonically.

"Nooo! Go away!" Ivan cried, clinging to his older sister's back.

"Natalia! You're scaring Ivan! Stop it, please!" Yekaterina protectively attempted to tell her off. Of course her nice and careful approach didn't work on her younger sister. It never did.

Ignoring the ruckus that was going on, Mr Trouillefou read out the rest of the list until the last students had their roommates. "Alfred and Matthew Jones. And Arthur Kirkland and Abel Diepeveen."

"What?!" Arthur shouted loudly at the mere thought of the Dutchman. "I object!"

"Heh. What's the problem, Arth?" Abel chuckled, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a cigarette loosely between his lips.

The teacher sighed. After having been in a bus for more than eight hours, breaking up a fight was about the last thing he needed. "Arthur, listen to me. I know you and Abel don't get along perfectly, but you'll be able to behave for six nights, right?"

"I certainly will, but I am rather uncertain about that bloke!" He sneered, pointing at Abel.

The elder Frenchman sighed again. "And another thing, Abel." He said severely.

"Hm?" The tall blonde looked the man in the eyes before his cigarette got snatched away from his lips and crushed under the teacher's foot. "No smoking inside."

Abel casually blew out the last cloud of smoke, right past the teacher's face. "Sure. I'll keep it in mind. I've got to share a room with a tell-tale after all, so I won't be able to break any single rule anyway."

"Good. Hurry up to unpack, you two. We're leaving for dinner in half an hour." Trouillefou handed him the key to the only room left on the top floor.

While walking all the way up to the fourth floor, Arthur kept grumbling and mumbling about how he despised having to share a room with the foul-mouthed, cynical, rude, obnoxious Dutchman. "I cannot believe they actually did this to me. How could they possibly put me in one room with a guy like that while they know we don't get along?"

The fourth floor was small and only had two rooms. At least no one would hear the fighting.

"I'm right here. I can hear everything you're saying. Thank you." Abel let out an annoyed growl, taking out the keys to the room. He quickly turned around, bringing his face centimetre-close to Arthur's. The Brit could still smell the strong scent of cigarettes from before and he didn't like it at all.
"Hey, put a sock in it, will ya? Listen up, it's not my favourite hobby either, but we only have to share a room. It's not as if we have to share a-" Upon opening the door and peeking inside, Abel suddenly fell silent, and his mouth dropped open.

"What is the matter all of a sudden?"

"-bed." Abel finished his sentence. He gritted his teeth and pinched the bridge of his nose hard. This had to be a nightmare. Just a nightmare.

It was just not that both boys realised there was, just like in every other room, only one bed for two people.

"Oh, bugger." Arthur said bitterly.

"Godverdomme." Abel cussed, even more bitter than Arthur.

The two looked at each other as if they were about to faint. "This is going to be a looong week." Both realised.

In the room next to theirs, Alfred was already bouncing up and down in excitement. Literally. He was sitting on the edge of his bed and jumped up and down while laughing loudly.

"Al! Calm down please! The teachers will come and check!"

"They won't hurry their ass all the way here for just some jumping. Come on, Matt. We're in Paris!"

"Hm. I know." Matthew sighed and unpacked his suitcase. Of course he enjoyed the idea of going on a trip with the rest of his class, but he wasn't too happy with his roommate. The only reason Romano and Feliciano, and Gilbert and Ludwig didn't share a room was because they had explicitly asked Trouillefou if they'd please not have to be locked up with their siblings. Otherwise they would have shared a room too.
Matthew regretted he hadn't. Since they were siblings, he and Alfred had to spend many vacations in one room, but the simple fact Alfred always kept him out of his sleep one way or another made Matthew more than just slightly annoyed. But because of always being in his younger twin's shadow, Matthew's complaints always fell on deaf ears.
Therefore, he'd just have to cope with yet another tiring, sleepless vacation. On the other hand: they were in Paris. This would definitely be worth a few nights of insomnia. Right?

~o~o~

*sigh* Roommates. Sharing a room or bed with a sibling isn't always fun. Especially not when they shift a lot in their sleep. *slapped*

I wonder how long they will put up with each other before Abel throws Arthur out the window…

Oh, translations:

Godverdomme means goddammit. Yeah, Abel has a bit of a (typically Dutch…) foul mouth, so be prepared.