Chapter Three

When he got home Ludwig mechanically went through his routine of feeding the dogs and tidying up the kitchen. If Vargas turned up then this would be their work area: Gilbert always hogged the sitting room after school and Ludwig didn't want to use his own room. Not even his own father entered Ludwig's room, let alone an unwanted house-guest. On top of that he wanted to lessen the amount of teasing he was going to get from his brother about having Vargas over.

"What's with the face, Lutz?"Gilbert asked, leaning in the doorway. "You're being even grouchier than usual, gonna tell me what's up?" Ludwig glared at him reproachfully.

"Thanks to you I'm having some unwanted company later."

Gilbert smirked playfully. "So the Vargas kid talked you into letting him come over? Damn, West, you're going soft on me!" he sniggered, dodging the wet cloth Ludwig threw at his face. "Calm down, I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine."

Ludwig growled irately at the suggestive wink his brother sent his way. "The very thought makes me sick. At any rate it's your fault he's coming here in the first place! If you'd been more careful then Vargas wouldn't have been able to threaten me with outing you and Matthew!"

The older brother frowned, clearly unhappy with the direction the conversation was going. "You're over-reacting. Everything turned out fine and after this you're both even so things can go back to normal. So stop stressing and calm down before you break something. This will all be over before you know it." After clapping Ludwig on the shoulder Gilbert retreated back into the sitting room.

With a heavy sigh Ludwig finished tidying up, then grabbed his notebook and a pen from upstairs. If Vargas remembered or managed to get directions then it probably wouldn't be long before he arrived.

Sure enough, the dreaded ring of the doorbell came and Ludwig trudged through to answer it; steadfastly ignoring Gilbert's shouts to answer the door. Vargas grinned brightly at Ludwig who just kept his face set sternly as he led his unwanted guest through to the kitchen. "You brought everything you need? Good. Now before we begin I'm going to lay down some ground rules. First: this is your project so you will do the majority of the work. I'm only here to make sure you understand what you're doing. Second: we take breaks only when absolutely necessary. Third: I am not here to act as your friend, this is purely about the project. Are we clear?"

"As the water in the Trevi fountain, captain!" Feliciano didn't seem at all fazed by Ludwig's severity. If anything he found it mildly amusing. As he took the seat next to Ludwig's at the table, the jock looked up at him. "So how long will we be here for?"

"Two hours, every time you're here until the work is done." Ludwig pointedly ignored the crestfallen expression on Feliciano's face and told him to explain just what they needed to do. After sifting through his notes for a minute, Feliciano took out a sheet of paper which explained the brief of the assignment and handed it over to Ludwig.

Choose an element and research it in depth. Using examples write 1,500 words on the number of uses of this element and how useful or otherwise it is for people in every day life.

If cleared with the teacher, a student may also be permitted to make a five minute long verbal/visual presentation to the class instead.

When asked if he had chosen an element to research yet, Feliciano shook his head. "There are so many, I just can't pick one." Ludwig sighed and shook his head. They really were starting this whole thing from scratch, and from what he could see from the brief it wasn't all that difficult.

"Do you at least know the format you're doing this in?"

"I'm not very good with essays, so I'm doing a presentation." That was something at least. Ludwig could work with this. After twenty minutes of deliberating, and Feliciano wracking his brain, Ludwig finally made a decision so that they could get on with the actual work. They would research Potassium and once enough information had been gathered Feliciano could put together his presentation.

Since Ludwig didn't trust the other boy to actually remember any of this or keep his notes organized enough, Ludwig noted down everything they needed for next time.

Despite Feliciano's efforts to start up conversations, Ludwig's lips remained tightly sealed for the hour and a half they still had going. The only time he stopped scanning the textbook was to snap at his guest for messing around on his phone when he should be working. "But it's important! Tony, Anita and Emma are coming with me and Lovino for a big weekend outing. We're trying to sort out what's all happening, and I'm trying to get Ambra to come with me so I'm not just by myself..."

"I. Don't. Care. Now you will either put that phone away and keep it away or I'll take it and you won't get it back until we're done! Is that understood?!" Feliciano was really trying his patience, he'd already needed to break three times to get a drink or go to the bathroom. This was just getting ridiculous now. Feliciano visibly winced and shakily pocketed his phone with a small nod. "Good. Now there's only half an hour left so try and make some decent notes to look over before next week."

~#~#~#~#~

Grampa hs frnds 4 dinr 2nite. 2moro ok?

Ludwig scowled at his mobile as he noticed the sender. Reluctantly after the first session, Ludwig had agreed to exchange numbers so they could arrange times without having to seek each other out during school hours. Feliciano didn't really text him all that much, but his laziness in the way he typed out the messages was severely grating on Ludwig's nerves. Eventually he replied with a 'Fine.' and left it at that.

The last few times Feliciano had come over for a project session they hadn't even managed to do any work. Feliciano had insisted that to show his gratitude he would make dinner for Ludwig and Gilbert. Which meant Ludwig had to stomp down the street to the nearest store and pick up any ingredients they didn't have in the house. Even though Feliciano did pay for it all, that didn't make him any happier about the situation. It meant there were going to be more days of Feliciano coming over than was absolutely necessary.

Ludwig sighed and deposited some books into his locker, it was lunch time but he wasn't particularly hungry. After a moment he did take his home-made lunch out of the locker, deciding he could have some if he wanted. On his way to the lunch hall Ludwig heard Feliciano's voice and that of a girl. This in itself was no surprise, Ever since that weekend, Feliciano and Ambra Dubois could be seen roaming the corridors with linked arms and occasionally caught kissing when they should be on their way to class. What made Ludwig stop was the mention of his name.

"You're spending a lot of time with him outside of school. I've heard people starting to talk about it." Ambra stated firmly, waiting for her boyfriend's response.

"What's there to talk about, petal? I'm paying him to help me with my chemistry assignment, that's all!" It was true enough, but Feliciano shouldn't have added the lie about paying Ludwig. The tall blond had noticed that Feliciano's voice started to do a certain tremble when he wasn't telling the truth.

Ambra let out an exasperated sigh that Ludwig had to admit he was rather impressed with. "Most of his friends are gay Feliciano. I wouldn't be surprised if he was as well. Everyone thinks he's trying to get in your pants." There was a heavy pause in which Ludwig felt his face heat up with rage and worry. People were starting to suspect his sexuality, because of Feliciano. That was a problem. On another note, while Ludwig couldn't deny that Feliciano was physically appealing he would rather sleep with one of his dogs.

Finally Feliciano laughed off Ambra's worries. "Don't be silly. Ludwig can't wait for the assignment to be finished so he doesn't have to put up with me anymore. Come on, petal, let's go get some lunch."

As they walked away Ludwig decided he would rather eat his lunch outside. Being around so many people wasn't a good idea until he cooled down a bit.

A/N: And finally here's the next chapter. Not an awful lot to say here except that it took me ages to come up with some kind of project, as it's been a long time since I took chemistry. Then it took forever to choose an element to go with. I chose Potassium because it has associations with food and so on, which I thought would be good for Feli.

Ambra Dubois is my name for Monaco. It's been quite a while since I looked at anything regarding human names for characters so I don't know if she has any possible ones or a confirmed name yet.

Anyway please let me know what you thought: whether you like the story or have any issue about it to bring up. Any helpful criticism would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next chapter!