I have like 3 stories going simultaneously. That can't be good.
Disclaimer: Hoshino Katsura, but when she's not looking I'll be stealing Lavi&&Tyki fankyew very much… wait, I think my friend already has dibs on them. –bangs head into desk- always the last one… but I like Yullen too 8D
Warnings: Not much actually… just… languages… I think maybe OOC Tyki when he's trying to communicate with Lavi but other than that… not much.
Okay! ENJOY!
WAIT WAIT!! If anyone reads Kingdom Hearts, please go to youtube, type in "Memory – Sugarcult" and look at the video. Doesn't that look like the perfect song for Demyx and Zexion? 8D I mean it had Demyx's child-like drawings and Zexion's love for music and the lyrics are sweet :3
If it wasn't for the fact that the Earl had personally chosen Tyki for this mission, he would've never accepted it. Or that's what he kept telling himself; the lie.
It's more like, if it wasn't for the fact that it was Lavi, he would've never accepted the mission.
How long had it been since they last met? Or touched? Or even talked?
The gears in Tyki's head started churning as he thought back to the first time he had met the red-headed teen… he recalled when he, the Earl and Road paid a special visit to the Bookman Estate.
The wind played mischievously with his hair as he took a drag, gently letting the smoke escape his cavern. The air was heavy with the scent of the sea and he seemed to descend whenever he took a step on the clear beach sand. Gray clouds could be spotted beyond the horizon, but it didn't bother anyone; life was too joyous at the island for anyone to care about a storm. The palm trees were flourishing, the grass that lay scattered below it looked like you wanted to run your hands through it just to see if it was spiky as it looked like, or incredibly soft. Tyki turned to look out towards the sea, cigarette still placed between his index finger and middle finger; the waves looked like they were having a fun time. Overlapping each other as they crashed onto the shore making a loud yet soothing "swshh" sound, green mixed with blue mixed with white tinted with orange from the evening sun that stood out in all it's glory. Shit, he hated islands.
He turned his gaze from the sun to Road who was walking beside him, one arm hooked around Tyki's and the other balancing on a lollipop between her fingers. Following the Earl who had made his way through the sand and onto a cement road that lead up to a humongous villa. Tyki huffed. Of course it would be a villa; people who live on the islands hardly live in an apartment, that's a rare sight.
"Tyki-pon, no need to have such a gloom face~!" The Earl's voice pierced it's way into Tyki's ears with that sickening sweet voice. It scared him to be honest.
"We want to make a good impression on Bookman now~ It'd be a real shame if we didn't get this sponsor for our plan~" The Earl lowered his glasses the tiniest bit only to reveal a stern glare, or, it was more like crazy eyes. It didn't matter how sweet he sounded or how thoughtful he acted, the guy was ruthless and down-right creepy. The Earl knocked on the door and patiently waited for a response.
"I heard the Bookman's chef makes the sweetest cakes in the world. Is it true?" Road was licking her lollipop and had a dull gaze in her eyes mixed with a spoonful of curiosity.
"Don't believe everything people tell you Road. Must of the things that come out of people's mouths are lies." Tyki threw his cigarette to the ground and used his heel to expose of the tiny flame still viewable on the cancer stick. He was in a foul mood already and he couldn't bother to answer Road's questions, no matter how much he loved her. He just didn't have the energy.
"Does that mean Tyki is lying right now?" She brought her head up to stare intently at the Portuguese man, her eyes illuminated by the sun which was setting. The question hung in the air waiting to be answered by Tyki who honestly didn't want to waste any words on such an accusation. In return he just sighed and ran his hand through his gorgeous, black curls.
He was glad when he heard the door open and a skinny, yet rather tall man answered the door. He had brown hair in a usual 8-year old boy style and there was no trace of a smile at all on his facial expression; the guy looked gloomy and depressed with a stern look. His voice was raspy when he initiated the conversation.
"Are you Sir Earl, here to see the Bookman?" Oh my god, this guy was so boring!
"Yes, thank you! Is he by any chance home at the moment?"
Swiftly turning around the man muttered a dark 'follow me, please' and shut the door behind the three visitors who had just entered the room. They all attached themselves in a lead behind the should we say, butler, and were guided around the vast spaces in the villa. They passed the hallway which was extended to 50 meters with a set of doors on each side of the walls, and paintings of farmlands and portraits that looked to be from the Renaissance. The room was covered in a dark shade of white, not fully grey but dark enough to be considered 'not white'. They didn't travel very far until they eased into the kitchen and came to a sudden halt, searching the room for any sign of life Tyki noticed it was the living room; it was colourfully decorated with paintings and strips of newspaper headlines were framed. The walls were a dark maroon colour and the couches that were situated in the centre of the room were red, velvet red, blood red, crimson. Yes, wonderful. His golden eyes continued to examine the room; he noticed a table in the right side of the room, quite wide with 16 chairs surrounding it, a fireplace in the left corner with the flame burning, and a series of books on massive bookshelves all around the room. He was Bookman after all.
"Sir Bookman will be with you shortly. Please take a seat." The butler gestured towards the couch and Road willingly followed, throwing herself onto the crimson sheets that covered the couch.
"Is there anything you would like? Tea, water, perhaps lemonade for the young lady?"
"Yes thank you, a cup of me."
"I'm sorry sir, I don't understand what you mea—" Road cut him off before he could finish.
"He means Earl Gray. He thinks it's hilarious because he's Earl and he's always dressed in grey. Hence the term, Earl Gray." Tyki sat down on the couch next to Road and took off his hat that he then placed on his lap. He continued to pull off his black blazer and fold into over his arm only to later place it on his other side, together with the hat which he later topped on the black piece of clothing.
"I want chocolate mousse!" Road's tone was high and filled with childish glee, an alluring mixture.
"And the gentleman?"
"Nothing."
"Very well then." The butler rotated and as he walked away you could hear the vague sound of heels exiting, walking further and further away until they could no longer be heard. The Earl took this opportunity to warn Tyki of his behaviour, if he didn't act his age and respond with the manner he was raised with, the Earl would be very disappointed in him. Tyki nodded slowly and averted his eyes from the Earl's piercing glare, life was rough as it is and he didn't need more shit to make it worse. He was sexually frustrated seeing as he had been too caught up in work to actually have a night out, his work required all his attention which meant he couldn't sleep, and because he never got any time off from work he couldn't take Road out either which meant she'd use every splitting second she was awake to whine about how he never pays attention to her anymore. At least now she had to be subtle, and he… well he had to be friendly even though he was on the verge of massacre.
The sound of footsteps brought Tyki back to reality, his eyes shutting close before he opened them with hate. Bookman was standing in front of the trio with his typical Asian attire which hung down to his knees. He was bald except for a ponytail which was seriously odd and reminded him of Bill Bailey; his eyes were serious but he had black bags hanging under them which made him look like a panda bear. Bookman never spoke of his age but you could tell from his wrinkles that he was around 50, and he was short. Very short. Shorter than Road to be precise.
He held out his hand as a greeting which the Earl accepted with a sturdy handshake, and then his eyes fell upon a figure that had accompanied the Bookman. It was a small figure and it was holding its head down, with a large green poncho covering up most of his body. Tyki couldn't hear what Bookman and the Earl were talking about but he doubted he wanted to know, it was either about business or business, always business. After all, that's all that really mattered in this industrial world of theirs. Women were considered lower than men and seen as objects, the Church had all the power and business was blooming which made everyone want a piece of the cake. It was real shitty.
Finally the Earl stood up and walked over to Road's side, tapping her on the shoulder and exhibiting the figure that was hidden.
"Road, Tyki, please greet Bookman, and er—" Bookman finished the Earl's sentence.
"We don't know his name yet. I found this kid in town, he was hunched up in an alley and crying his eyes out. Boy doesn't know a word of English." Road raised her eyebrows in surprise and let her eyes roam around the teen, from his ginger hair to his black boots covered in mud.
"How old is he?"
"Probably 12 or 13, I'm not quite sure on the details yet." Bookman laid a hand on the teen's shoulder, but received a shiver and a brush as the young boy smacked away the Bookman's hand. "He's not very social as you can see." A silent laugh escaped his lips as he motioned for the Earl to come join him in conversation in another part of the room; so, 3 feet away.
The young boy remained silent and didn't budge, even as Road leaned in closer to try and get a good look at his face he didn't make a move. He had fascinating features, his bright red hair being one of them. His face was pale and he looked like he'd had all his life energy sucked out of him; his hair was rough and framed his face nicely, and a single emerald eye was staring down at his feet; the other eye was covered by an eye patch and a frown hung on his lips. Well… it was more of a sad expression, his eye held too much emotion for the kid to handle; you could see the misery and trauma reflected in his eyes. It was amazing.
"He's not very fun is he?" Road took a petite bite of her lollipop and let the taste savour in her mouth.
"He looks sad."
A grin was plastered on Road's face as Tyki said those words. "I want to make him sadder." Tyki turned to face his niece of age 7, and sent her a vicious glare warning her not to do anything stupid that she'll regret later.
"Tyki-pon~ I have a little job for you~" the Earl had a wicked grin on his face and was motioning for Tyki to join his and the Bookman's conversation. Unwillingly, Tyki hauled himself to his feet and made his way around the figure, still standing, untouchable, and kept on walking towards the duo. A hand was clasped around his shoulder and the two men started conversing once more, ignoring Tyki's presence even though they had asked him to come.
"Tyki-pon would be more than happy to do the job! He has a lot of experience with being the responsible person and he is fluent in two languages. I'm pretty sure he would get a kick out of helping another person into our society~"
Something he isn't aware of but knows he's participated in.
"Are you sure? It really means a lot that you're more than willing to help; I myself would if I had the time, but with business and all—"
Business.
"Gladly! I can just pull some strings and have a few other people handle Tyki's work for now."
No more work.
"I really have no idea have to thank you, this is more than enough. I promise that as soon as I'm done with my own work I'll personally take over the boy's studies."
A favour.
"Don't worry about it~ I'll have him escort the boy to the library immediately."
Don't worry about it?
"Tyki-pon," the Earl was now talking to him which meant he couldn't ponder about his own questions and thoughts that were running through his mind at the moment, he paid full attention to his superior. "I want you to take this young man here," he let his hand hover above the boy who was standing a few feet away "to the library and start teaching him English."
… what? He was pulled away from his work which he could have done and finished within the time period they had stayed here just so he could be assigned further frustration by being that slum dog's tutor?!
"Of course my Lord." Tyki bowed in response and rotated to find the boy still standing and Road bending over so she could see his face. Without a second thought of why the hell he was doing this, he mentally colourfully cursed and ushered the boy towards the door.
"This way, sir." Came the familiar voice of the butler; apparently while Tyki was chit-chatting with the Earl he had entered the room and left a tray with the drinks they had ordered on the table, where Road was helping herself to her chocolate mousse with whipped cream on top.
The silence was awkward. Tyki and the boy were at the moment located in the Bookman's private library with loads and loads of books covering every wall and taking up as much space as they possibly could, giving Tyki and the younger boy barely any space to sit. To Tyki's relief there were a few desks scattered around with a number of chairs in case people wanted to sit down and read, or possibly draw if they wanted to. No food though, and no drinks, and it had to be absolutely quiet in the library.
Tyki let his eyes examine the boy who was sitting in a chair next to him and still looking down at the ground, 'dejected' written all over his face with his red hair hanging and clutching his cheeks for dear life. God, this kid made him suicidal. With a cough Tyki tried to get the boys attention, but nothing happened. He coughed once more, a little harder this time, but still no reaction. He rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Listen kid, are you capable of speaking at all? Don't you know a single word?"
"…"
"Shit, this is going to take forever! I don't even know were you're from and what language you speak, I was hoping we could work off of that."
"…"
"Okay, listen. Here's a geography book, I know there's a map of the world in here somewhere, so just point to it okay?"
"…"
"Of course you don't know what the fuck I'm saying, you don't speak English… listen to me talking to myself, this is really the lowest…" He started flipping through the pages of the geography book in front of him, flipping on until he came to a map, but it wasn't of the world. It was North America. Apparently all the continents had been assigned their own page so you could see the map clearer. 'Arrgh, this is bullshit!'
With a smile he slid the book across so it was in view of the boy. "Do you live anywhere here?"
"…" The boy finally did something. He shook his head.'Wow, that helps a lot!' Thwarted he flipped to the next page and waited for the boy to respond. This time it was North America. The boy shook his head.
"Okay, at least we know you live on this side of the earth." He flipped it open to a map of Asia. Nope, he didn't live there. Tyki flipped it open to Europe, and thought he'd take action this time. He pointed to England, the little island at the top of the map.
"This is England. This is where I live, and this is where Skittles come from."
The sound that was emitted from the younger boy right then had Tyki's heart making leaps and volts in his chest. The boys laugh… it was incredible. Adorable. Enchanting. Other synonyms for the words he just said. He must've looked absolutely moronic the way he was staring at the boy with his mouth half-open and his non-movements. He shook of that feeling of insecurity only to have his eyes follow the finger that was now placed upon the map. The young red-head looked over at Tyki, his emerald green eye glimmering and a look of indication.
"Sverige."
"…What now?"
The boy tapped his finger on the page and brought Tyki's attention to the map, the boys hand was hovering above Scandinavia but his finger was fixed on Sweden. It took Tyki a moment for the information to sink in until he released a low 'Ohh..' This one was from Sweden? He didn't look like it. Of course not everyone was the stereotypical image he had in his head; Swedes being blonde with blue eyes, eating meatballs, singing ABBA songs whilst walking in and out of IKEA(1).
"So you're from Sweden, huh?" he let the words hang on his tongue for a while.
"…"
"…So Swedish is like German isn't it?" He pointed to Germany a little lower on the map, But the boy swatted his hand away and tapped on Sweden with a frown on his face.
"Okay, yes, I get you're from Sweden! But Germany, I mean, like…" He took a moment to search for his words and then carefully select them. 'Ugh, what had the kid said earlier… Sweden… Sveden.. Svermany..'
"What did you call Sweden in Swedish now again? Something Sve… Svermany.. Sver—"
"Sverige."
"Yes! That!" He tapped his finger on Germany again. "Sverige aaaand…" he continued tapping hoping the boy would get the message.
"Tyskland."
"…Tyschk-land?" That was what it was in Swedish? The English name seemed so much gentler and then this kid barges in with a 'Tyschk-land'. Oh my God, he was laughing again, a small giggle. Shit, it was too cute.
"Nää, Tysk- säg det som 'Thysk'… utan 'TH'-ljudet"
"Thysk…"
"Land."
"Land."
"Tyskland."
"Tyskland."
"Bra!" A smile so sweet illuminated the very boring library that they were sitting in. His hands were now clutched on the sides of his chair and he was swaying his legs in a childish way. 'Not even Road could live up to this level of cuteness.'
"Okay, so yes… Tyskland and Sverige. Do they, er, speak alike?"
"…"
"Uhm, do they…" He used his hands this time and clenched them up so they looked like ducks, and then repeatedly opened and closed them as if they were talking.
"Aha! Aa, vi talar nästan lika."
"…And you just said…?" It was really confusing to understand the boy, especially since they didn't share the same language so they had to communicate through body actions. It was alright though, because body actions speak more than your mouth. Tyki used his hands again, one holding a thumbs up and the other a thumbs down.
"Yes or no?" The boy grasped Tyki's right thumb, which was the 'yes, thumbs up' hand. The touch sent a pleasurable shiver down his spine and a grin was slowly growing. "So that's a yes." He had started talking slowly in hope that the boy might catch some words and possibly grasp the language better.
"Yes!" He beamed with excitement as he had now officially learnt his first English word.
That had been five years ago and Tyki was laying in his bed wide-awake. They were going to pay another visit the Bookman estate, and this time they were making their stay a bit longer; more precise, 3 weeks longer. Apparently Bookman and he Earl had some business together and they needed Tyki's help with the paperwork, and Road could not be left home alone. It had been 5 years since he had last met the little kid, although now that he was going to visit he wouldn't be so little anymore… he'd be roughly… 17 or 18 years of age. It was quite unbelievable now that he thought about it, how time went so fast and how he never bothered to contact him to see how he was progressing. Bookman had probably taught him every word known to the English language; after all, he was Bookman.
Tyki turned in his bed lay on his side looking out the window, all black with a few stars twinkling in the night sky. He recalled his memories once more and hushed, listening to the silence that engulfed the bedroom.
After 3 weeks of tutoring the red-head Bookman finally got rid of his work and took over the tutoring that Tyki had started. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel a bit depressed over leaving his student, but he was glad it was over with and he could get back to his life.
It just never occurred to him that the red-head was part of his life.
(1) Um, I know this is waaaaay before ABBA and IKEA, but you know... this is all I know from the stereotypical Swedish person. Hey, I live in Sweden; I don't like this stereotype either.
You know what? Screw it! I'm attempting a Lucky fanfic!! xDD Boo-yaaaaaah!!
So what do you guys think so far? Huh? This one actually has a plot too! &&I made Lavi Swedish because that's the only fluent foreign language I can write, I can't write English cause it's universal and Persian is like, god, don't even get me started on that! And I'm not that good in Spanish as I wish I was… TT3TT damn.
But if you look at Lavi you see that he could be Scandinavian, or like Swedish yeah.. he's mixed breed so just, leave it at that.
Oh, and how does Tyki now Lavi's name is... Lavi? -sigh, fail.- well, the Earl told him after one of his conversations with the Bookman ^_^
R&&R much appreciated, and please tell me if I made any mistakes! FANKYEW!!
RAWRR.