Free Web NovelChapter 84: Chapter 84
Louis did get some chance to rest after the tests were done but that was mostly because there was simply nothing to be done. Studies were slow and the students were too busy discussing the upcoming interschool sports to care much about their academics.
This meant that the horde of students that had rallied around Louis after their field trip asking for tutoring dissipated quickly, leaving him nothing to do.
Louis was visibly restless and unable to sit still not having anything to do, so much so that Lyon and Florent chased him out of the cooking club room right after telling him to get some rest after the tests.
Henri also had no plans of entertaining Louis and quickly booted the Alpha out of his dorm room, which meant that Louis had absolutely nothing to do.
Dio watched him restlessly pace the length of their dorm room, his mismatched eyes trailing his every move.
It was a Wednesday, the week after their first test. Their classes for the day hadn’t been that challenging, their professors wanting to give them some respite.
Louis himself didn’t even realize he was pacing as he was deep in thought and couldn’t handle being stationary. He was wondering if he should have gone for a more competitive club after all, as the Cooking club wouldn’t be participating in the interschool sports.
It was just that going from juggling so much at once to having nothing on his schedule was jarring, it made him jittery, and he needed to do something to keep himself busy.
He turned around to look at Dio who was watching him intently and he realized that he couldn’t remember the last time he helped his friend comb his hair...
Louis slowed down to a stop, realizing that while Dio had always been with him like always, Louis had neglected him without even noticing.
"Do you want me to help you comb your hair?" He offered, feeling a bit guilty.
Dio cocked a brow, not expecting that. He got off the bed and started for the dresser to get the silver comb.
Louis came over as well, his guilt increasing from the way Dio innocently got up to get the comb like he had been waiting for Louis to offer all this time. He also realized that Dio didn’t ask him for help as frequently as before.
At first, Louis had taken it as Dio wanting to do things for himself more but why did he feel like he was way off the mark with that reasoning?
"Sit." Dio said shortly, pointing at the carpeted floor. "I’ll comb Lou’s hair."
Louis was so stunned by this outcome that he mindlessly obeyed, sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees for Dio to comb his hair. He had never been the one with long hair, not to mention that his hair didn’t tangle easily so he couldn’t ever remember a time when Dio did this.
Louis sucked in a deep breath as the comb gently ran through his hair, feeling his whirling thoughts slow down gradually. When Dio finished up and got up to return the comb, Louis considered growing out his hair just so that the combing could last longer.
"Wait, let me comb your hair too." He tried stopping Dio, reaching for the comb.
Dio turned around with a serious expression, "I already combed my hair. I wanted to comb yours, you don’t have to return the favor."
Louis left his hand hanging in the air for a few seconds too long before dropping it. He was so used to Dio using minimalistic words when he wanted to speak that it was easy to forget that he could speak that way. It was also strange to not be referred to by his name.
"Ah... that’s fine, do you want me to help you..." Louis started to offer to help him change the silk ties on his wrists.
"You don’t have to." Dio said again. "Can I style your hair?"
Louis was whiplashed again, had he really neglected Dio so much that his friend changed right in front of his eyes but he never noticed? His response was an absent-minded hum, sitting up straighter when Dio came over again.
"You... You can call me Lou." Louis found himself muttering without thinking his words through.
Dio fell silent, then tilted his head to look at Louis. "Lou."
"Sorry, that was a little stupid of me to say." Louis looked away, slightly embarrassed.
"It wasn’t, I’ll call you Lou." Dio countered, his tone solemn.
Louis placed his hands on his face, silently groaning. Dio already called him Lou, why did he have to go and say something like that? It didn’t help that Dio was being very nice about it.
"That’s not it..." He said in a small strained voice.
"You don’t want me to call you Lou?" Dio asked and Louis could hear the frown in his voice.
Louis was starting to get a little frantic, it was new ground to be misunderstood by Dio because they never really had long enough conversations for that to happen.
"You know what, just forget I said anything." He scrambled to salvage the conversation.
Dio’s little smile at this went unnoticed by Louis because he was facing away from him. "Does Lou want to see his new hair?" He asked innocently, tipping Louis’ jaw upwards so that they made eye contact. "Is that how you want me to say it?" He added with a devious expression in his mismatched eyes.
Louis felt all the oxygen leaving the air around him, his heart doing a little jump as he stared wide-eyed up at Dio. He was so frozen in shock that he didn’t realize that Dio had been messing with him until after holding his gaze for a minute too long to have any sensible explanation for.
He turned his face away and got up to walk up to the dresser, his face burning with mortification. He couldn’t even be upset at Dio, he had to recover first from the rollercoaster that he had just gone through.
He stared at the mirror without really looking, a horrified sound leaving him when he finally focused to see the ’styling’ Dio had done for him.
Dio had gathered his hair into little messily made bunches, it was hideous. He turned around to glare at his roommate who was already halfway out the door.
It was easy to push aside the moment they just had in favor of chasing Dio down the hallway, so he did just that.
Dio hadn’t expected Louis to come after him, Louis was far too reserved for that, or so he thought. He looked back to find Louis hot on his tail and did the only thing anyone would do, he ran straight to Henri’s room. He also didn’t expect the door to be unlocked, freezing after bursting right in. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Henri did the same, he had been stretching in his silk pajamas, ready for an afternoon nap when some buffoon rudely barged in through his front door, catching him in a questionable position. He could have sworn that he had locked it to keep Louis out but it looked like he hadn’t.
Henri froze mid-stretch, his eyes fixed on his unwelcome visitor. He and Dio stared unblinkingly at each other for a few seconds before a third party interrupted, it was none other than Louis.
Louis joined the unspoken game of ’freeze’ as well, unsure of what he had walked into, his professionally made bunches giving him an impressionable air about him.
Henri slowly straightened up, the expression on his face that of a person that was dead inside. "Just stay right there." He broke the silence, hurrying to the corner of his room where the sword that Audie had gotten from heaven knows where was still propped up against the wall,
Dio and Louis shared a look and then sprinted out of Henri’s room, down the hallway, and back to the safety of their dorm room. Because they didn’t trust the enraged Omega to not actually try and draw blood.
"And stay away!" Henri called down to their quickly retreating backs, waving the sword around threateningly.
Jann was just coming up the hallway to his own dorm room at that point so he caught everything. He just kept a straight face, nodded to Henri, and retreated to the safety of his dorm room, long used to the oddities and quirks of the students in the academy.
Henri stomped back inside his dorm room, making sure to lock his door this time. ’Who knew that the sword could be so useful?’
-*-
The Interschool Sports competition was a mock competition held between Alpha Academy and Omega Institution each academic year, it was concluded with a Sports Ball which was the highlight of the entire event.
The mock competition and concluding ball were to facilitate socialization between the students of the two counterpart colleges.
Both events were alternated between the two colleges each year, one college hosting the Interschool Sports competition while the other college hosted the Sports Ball.
This year, Alpha Academy was to host the Interschool sports competition which only lasted a day. Although it was referred to as an inter-school competition, Alphas and Omegas didn’t actually compete together.
They both competed in different categories and as it was more of a mock competition, it was more of a sports carnival than anything else.
It was already the third month of the academic year and the Interschool competitions were scheduled to be held on the third week of the third month.
The mock competitions would be held first at the start of the week and then on the weekend, a Saturday to be exact, the ball would be held at the other college.
This was only held once a year so it was rightfully treated as a big deal, generating even more traction amongst the students than the field trip did.
Even their daunted schoolwork couldn’t stop them from talking about it nonstop. The clubs that would be participating in the mock competitions were all abuzz with anticipation.
