Chapter 80: Petty Pranks (1)
Adrien was in his room in the dormitory. He and Mikyle had returned from the palace two days ago. And a lot has changed ever since the festival announcement had been made.
The Fine Arts classes that were focused on painting and drawing had stopped holding classes to allow students to prepare for their pieces for the art gallery. They even opened up their rooms for students who needed a quiet place to work. And for those who weren’t preparing a piece for the gallery, they now had free time to catch up on other areas of study or work on their music piece for the concert.
Adrien’s brush slid across the canvas, gliding as if it were a swan locked in a beautiful dance. A palette filled with colors was resting in Adrien’s other hand.
He was hiding out in his room instead of going to the empty art classroom. He had originally been planning to use the classroom, but was afraid of someone coming in and damaging his painting, the one that was of Mikyle for Mikyle.
So while it wasn’t ideal for Adrien to be painting something that was meant as a surprise for Mikyle in a room that the man had easy access to, it was his only option.
A harsh knocking came from his door, pulling his attention away from his painting. Adrien glanced at the canvas before deciding to turn it in the opposite direction so that it no longer faced the door.
The knocking at his door turned louder, it’s heavy and furious thudding did not belong to Mikyle nor any of the staff who worked in the building.
"I know you’re in there!" Came the voice that belonged to one of his brothers. Adrien wasn’t sure which brother it came from, but what he did know was that they sounded furious.
Now I really don’t want to open the door. Adrien sighed as he weighed his options. He could always just not answer the door, but if this brother happened to be Brayden, then the anger would only intensify until that idiot did something stupid.
Resigning to his fate, Adrien trudged over to the door and opened it. Standing on the other side was Cedric. His blue hair had been dyed pink, as was his clothes and shoes.
Adrien tried, he really did, but a laugh escaped from him. "What happened to you?" Adrien asked, wiping the tears away from his eyes, uncaring of the dried paint on his hands.
"Your boyfriend is what happened!" Cedric growled. "When I was walking across the courtyard, I was sprayed with water! And this is what happened!"
Sprayed with water? It must have been an alchemical potion. But why did this have Mikyle written all over it? Even Cedric is absolutely certain the Mikyle is behind this.
"Why don’t you just change your clothes?" Adrien asked instead. He was surprised with how calm he was while talking to his brother, but Cedric being a giant, walking pink glowstick probably had something to do with it.
"I tried that!" Cedric stomped his foot in agitation.
This was the first time Adrien had ever seen his brother this riled up. It was actually quite pleasing to see. Oh, that might be a bad habit to develop, he thought to himself with a mental grimace.
"When I returned to my room, every single article of clothing that I owned was dyed pink!" Cedric explained. "Please call off Prince Mikyle."
Adrien leaned against the doorframe, adopting an uncaring expression. "Why should I?" Honestly, I kind of want to see what else Mikyle will do, even if these are just petty pranks.
Cedric visibly calmed down as he narrowed his eyes onto Adrien. "Look, just call him off."
Adrien shook his head, enjoying having the upper hand. "Why should I?" He repeated. "He’s only doing this because of the way you treated me." And that was something Adrien was sure of. Mikyle had been pretty pissed at Cedric when he had confronted Adrien and Mikyle the week before.
Cedric’s eyes became cold, and Adrien had to suppress a shiver from his piercing gaze. Cedric’s jaw clenched and Adrien swore he could hear his teeth grinding against each other.
"Why should I treat a bastard any differently."
Cedric’s cold words caused the breath to leave Adrien. It still hurt him deeply every time he was treated like that. It was an unfortunate side effect of the lingering memories and the emotions attached to them.
"I have already explained where I stand on the matter. I will treat you as my youngest brother out in public. Now call off your boyfriend before these petty tricks grow into something more. I have witness the backlash that comes when Prince Mikyle targets someone, and I do not wish for that outcome."
Adrien pushed himself off the doorframe. "Whatever comes your way is what you brought upon yourself." Adrien then closed the door on Cedric’s face.
He shook his head as he made his way back to the eassel. Turning it around until the painting faced him, he picked up the palette and got back to work. He wasn’t sure why, but this painting was coming along faster than normal. This was only his third day working on it, and he was already halfway done.
Fine by me. The sooner I can finish this, the sooner I can turn it in and get it away from Mikyle’s prying eyes. It also means I can start my musical research quicker.
He and Mikyle actually had plans to visit some street musicians during the weekend. He was excited to see what type of music was currently popular so he could figure out which piece to revive from his old world.
Another hour passed before Adrien realized it. He may not have many classes scheduled for the day, but the one that he did have, he would have missed if he hadn’t stopped painting when he did.
Adrien turned the eassel around and threw a canvas tarp over top of it. It did little to actually stop someone from viewing the painting if they were really determined, but it did give Adrien some piece of mind.
He grabbed his things and made his way out of the room. He stopped by the restroom first so he could get the paint off of him. It was smeared all over his hands, and there were even a few streaks on his face.
After making sure most of the paint was off, he set out.
The dormitory was surprisingly quiet. There weren’t too many people filing around, which wasn’t surprising. Students were either working on their festival projects or were forced to take extra classes to prepare for the combat and swordsmanship tournament.
And that was where Mikyle was. Ever since returning from the palace, Mikyle had been forced with the rest of the Physical Course students to take up extra training to prepare for the tournaments.
* * * * *
"Adrien," Aefre greeted him when he left the classroom. She and two other ladies that Adrien vaguely recognized were walking over to him. "Is this your last class for today?"
"Aafre," he greeted her before acknowledging the others with a nod. "It is."
"We’re on our way to the training fields," Aefree stated with a small smile. "Evelyn wishes to watch Oliver train."
Evelyn, a girl with dark blue hair blushed slightly, but other than that, did not looked bothered by Aefre’s words. "It is a lady’s honor to cheer on her beloved."
The girl beside Lady Evelyn leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. Lady Evelyn turned a brighter shade of red and her lips twitched minutely.
"Would you like to join us?" Aefre asked, the small smile remained and her blue eyes– which Adrien just now realized were similar to his own– held a natural kindness in them.
Adrien mulled over her words. He remembered that Oliver was in the same martial arts class the Mikyle was in, and that was the class that was currently having extra training right at the moment– four hours worth of it, in fact.
If that’s true, then that means I can watch Mikyle. I haven’t had the chance to see him practice much. I’ve only ever caught a couple of his swordsmanship classes and never any of his Martial Arts since my Art class is normally held at the same time.
"Sure," answered Adrien. "I would love to join you."
