"We're here. Everybody out."
Lenalee took only a second to pick some lint from her short (but not mini-) skirt and smooth it down a bit, so she isn't sure how Allen gets to her side of the truck so fast in order to open the door and take her hand as she steps out.
"Oh! Thanks," she blushes, embarrassed. "You didn't have to…"
Once she's out of the car, Kanda activates the automatic door locks… and scoffs aloud.
"What?" She expects he'll comment on her being last out of the car as usual.
Instead, Kanda cocks a thumb at Allen, smirking. "This one's kind of short, isn't he?"
"What? No I'm not!" Allen yells, outraged.
"Looks that way from here, shorty," he taunts quietly, before sauntering off ahead of them toward Lavi— Lavi who's already waving excitedly from the door.
Distracted from Kanda's behaviour, Lenalee smiles. The redhead's child-like enthusiasm is so endearing. A moment later, Allen turns sharply to face her looking vaguely concerned, and it occurs to her he's been glaring so hard at Kanda's back, he probably didn't even see Lavi. "Oh, no— I'm not— It's not you, Allen. Look!"
She points and Lavi instantly begins to wave at them with both arms up above his head, shouting: "There'll be plenty of time for making out later! Come on, let's go!"
"Oh my God. Shut up, Lavi!" Allen calls back, turning just as red as she probably should.
Lenalee only doubts very slightly that he's purely joking, but still, the doubt is there. As close as they've gotten over the past six months or so, Lenalee's known Lavi for the shortest amount of time out of everyone in this group. Still, his humour resonates with her.
She wants to laugh, but keeps quiet so her date won't get the wrong idea.
ॐ
Dinner is relatively subdued, with Allen the gentleman pulling out Lenalee's chair, and then quite pointlessly giving Kanda the 'silent treatment.' Not only did Kanda probably not care, but Allen's 'legendary' (according to Lavi) portion sizes were clearly putting him off anyway. (Lenalee was a bit taken aback herself, but Allen's 'healthy' appetite wasn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.)
Still, she thought, it was a good thing all of this was Lavi's treat. He'd wanted everyone together so badly and the cost really wasn't going to be much to him, after all.
Next up was karaoke— Japanese-style, so that meant private rooms! It was a first for her, so Lenalee was kind of excited, herself… even despite all the leering the old man at the register was doing (presumably at the idea of a girl in a short skirt going into a small room with three guys). Still playing the gent, Allen calmly stepped by her side to take her hand, and gave the man a reproachful look. A bit embarrassing, since she didn't really care what the guy thought. At the same time, she was also kind of happy that Allen would defend her honour like that.
Kind of?
Already, Lenalee can tell something's been… off. She still doesn't know what, but something's been nagging at her persistently since they first arrived here…
Apparently the place is just as popular as Lavi made it sound— a forty-five minute wait until they can get into their assigned room! After a drink together in the excessively fancy lounge, Kanda near-inaudibly mumbles something about fresh air before abruptly standing up to leave. Lavi stands up to follow with a far-off look in his eyes. After rapidly conferring with Lenalee, Allen lets him know that they'd likely join the two of them in the garden in ten minutes or so.
"Sure~ If you can find us~" Lavi perks up a bit to sing back over his shoulder, then hastens away to find Kanda.
Now, alone with Allen, that nagging feeling begins to intensify.
"So what do you do, Allen?"
"Well I'm a hairstylist actually—"
"Oh no wonder your hair's so… cool!"
"Ah thanks," he chuckles. "Been at it for a couple of years now and you know, Lavi's my most loyal regular customer. Met him when I was in school, apprenticing. He still visits me faithfully."
"Oh, so that's how you met. How nice. So… can I come to your salon?" she asks playfully, before hastily adding; "It's not that expensive, right?"
"It's a men's hair studio but we've made exceptions for friends before, so I don't see why not," he grins. "Our prices are actually pretty high, I'd say— but don't worry about that. We can always work something out. How about you? What's your occupation?"
"Restaurant server by day; model and actress by night— though technically the day and night part gets reversed a lot."
"Oh of course, it suits you." his face lights up some, before turning slightly serious; "But don't you have your own stylist?"
"I'm uhhh… between hairdressers right now," meaning her brother usually does trims for her, and she does the rest.
"Ah I see," he smiles again. "So I can expect you in our studio soon then?"
Lenalee nods an energetic 'yes.' Wait a minute— that smile of his is too… professional.
"I understand you met Lavi through that Kanda fellow?"
"Yup. Like I said before, he and I have known each other since we were kids. He met Lavi maybe about five years ago, when he was just getting into landscaping, and—"
"Oh, so that's what he does, huh?"
"Yeah. They met when Lavi hired him to do the greenery around his store."
"Oh?" Allen turns toward the direction where the other boys made their exit, though the garden isn't at all visible from the mood-lit alcove into which their table is tucked away. A wry smile forms on his face. "Why do I have a hard time picturing a guy like him with a spade and watering can?"
Lenalee laughs over the ridiculous image, embellishing it in her own mind with a straw hat and baggy overalls. "Ahahaha… no, no, it's not quite like that. Landscaping is some heavy duty work, you know— improving soil conditions by hand or with rock-pickers and roto-tillers, planting new seedbeds, and so on— often over wide tracts of land—"
"So you're saying he's a manly gardener?" Allen jokes, with a note of cheekiness.
"Well… yes? I guess. But I don't think it would be wise to put it that way to his face."
"No, I suppose not." He grins, and the smile he wears now is almost devious—
This look on his face now… is more… genuine?
"Anyhow, you were saying— about how you and Lavi first met?"
When he puts it that way, it almost sounds like I'm dating Lavi!
"Right, of course. Kanda brought me to the store close to a year ago, so I could get help finding a rare book. Lavi was able to help with that in a snap—"
"He's pretty good…"
"—Mmhmm," she hums in agreement. "So we ended up having coffee and tea together in the café— the three of us," she smiles big; recalling the memory fondly. "But Lavi and I ended up talking lots about Kanda, so he got pretty upset."
"Hahaha… I'll bet."
That grin again.
"It's been a bit of a while now. Feel like checking how those two are doing, Allen? The drinks are on the tab, so we can just leave whenever."
He stands hesitantly, looking conflicted and slightly flushed; "Well sure, as long as you think he's still… expecting us?"
"Oh don't worry about interrupting something. Kanda wouldn't let Lavi get all that far in public," she explains as they begin to walk away, holding back a laugh at his prudishness.
"Oh? Why not? He's not… embarrassed, is he?"
"I'm not completely sure why, but I don't think it's embarrassment. Something else…"
"Hmm?"
"I don't know what to say really," except to outline the truth as she sees it, but the other two wouldn't appreciate that. Lenalee doesn't believe Lavi's claims he wants more than what he and Kanda have right now. She doubts he even has himself convinced of that.
"Lavi, at least, seemed pretty comfortable around him… though I guess it did seem Kanda wanted to maim him, at times. Sort of makes me concerned for Lavi…"
"Oh don't worry. Kanda cares about Lavi…" even if he has issues with something as simple as calling him a friend. "One thing to keep in mind; Kanda doesn't talk or interact with just anybody."
"Oh?"
"Actually, the way he's been riding you off and on tonight, I'd say you've hit it off pretty well."
"Really?" he breathes in disbelief, continuing incredulously; "So you're saying we'll be great chums in no time?"
"Actually, yeah. You really could be."
"I hope you'll pardon me for saying so, but I find that very hard to believe."
He can't be aware how wistful he looks now…
"Oh I understand. But I've known Kanda for a really long time. I've even seen him with his family. Once you know him a little better it's a cinch to see through the façade. Even when he covers it in annoyance, disinterest, or even pretend spite—"
"Pretend spite?"
"Yes, pretend spite."
"Pretend spite."
"That's what I said."
"Maybe it's not my place to say, but after all I've heard from Lavi, it seems dreadfully one-sided, their relationship. Sorry, I know Kanda is very dear to you, but it makes me worry for Lavi a bit, to be honest. I don't want him to get hurt."
"It's okay. We've talked a lot about it too— Lavi and I, I mean."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He's umm… it's hard to explain. He talks about Kanda like he's totally smitten… but I feel like he's… not so interested in him as he tries to make it sound."
"Huh? I mean I know he likes to get overdramatic and exaggerate things, but—"
"Not like that. You know when there's something someone wants to tell you and you don't want to hear it? Sometimes you wanna plug your ears and go 'lalalalala!' to drown them out?"
"Yeah, sort of."
"Lavi's… kinda doing that I think. But… to himself."
"Come again?"
"What I mean to say is… he cares about Kanda. I don't think he fakes the physical aspect either, but I have trouble believing he's really all that attached. I guess what I mean to say is that I think Lavi acts infatuated just as much to convince himself as he does for show. His heart's not in it anymore than Kanda's is."
"What?"
Think, Lenalee!
"Sorry, I— I've said too much!" She trembles with the waves of emotion overtaking her. She's usually not so careless about these things, but sometimes her thoughts and feelings grow so overpowering, words spill right out anyway. "L-let's go find those boys."
ॐ ॐ ॐ
The song ends, and though the person Lavi was singing to is no longer in the room, he takes a bow for the other two, anyway.
The applause from Allen is somewhat half-hearted.
Lavi isn't stupid. Lavi isn't blind. Lavi isn't deaf.
"Ugh, Lavi… I hate to say it, but—"
Okay, maaaaayyyyybe Lavi's a little tone deaf. And drunk. Probably drunk, too. Do you really need perfect pitch to sing great classics like The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows?"
"Shhh— Allen stop, don't say it like that!" Lenalee giggles, taking the wireless mic from Lavi's extended hand and leaning back into the couch as the opening bars of her next song begin. "You're gonna break the poor guy's heart—"
"But he asked me, Lenalee! I can't lie. He'll know," Allen declared woefully, apparently slightly drunk.
"Be diplomatic about it," she prods, before bursting into song; "Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me, I think they're okay~"
"Don't like my singing, Allen?" Lavi asks, mock-serious.
"Well, erm… See, I'm not sure if that was quite the right song for you, Lavi. Maybe if you tried something else…?"
"The typical dodge," Lavi accuses.
"Errr… no, I… uhhh…"
Poor guy… he really thinks I'm offended. Allen's so good at reading people when he's sober, I never noticed before how a few drinks can make him so gullible…
Lavi teases Allen a little further before becoming bored and drawing him into a parody of a slow dance that has Allen blushing helplessly and Lenalee giggling into her microphone.
ॐ
"Why, Miss Lee! Did you just send your date to retrieve my date from the lobby?"
Lenalee looks conflicted a moment, but then Lavi turns up the exaggeration on his scandalized look and she goes back to giggling. He loves that melodious laugh.
"Yep. Sure did. They've only just met and yet Allen has a really… familiar… way of getting under his skin," she muses. "It'll work. Just watch—"
"Familiar, huh?"
"Nostalgic, even."
ॐ
Here they come as promised; grinning and triumphant Allen, and grumpy, stewing Yuu. What on earth the boy could have said, he didn't know, but Yuu seizes the karaoke remote from Lavi's hands with a vengeance, switches it to Japanese in a flash, and taps away on the touch screen while somehow looking like what he's doing is the equivalent of wringing someone's neck.
The likely owner of that neck, however, is— rather than retreating directly back to Lenalee— watching the flurry of tapping over Yuu's shoulder, perhaps in order to fully experience and appreciate the man's unexpected karaoke-ing prowess.
"Allen?" Lenalee asks, sounding just a little concerned; "I know I told you not to worry about riling him up a bit, but what exactly did you say?"
"For now, I can't tell you anymore than that it's a bet." He grins evilly; a fiery, almost savage light in his eyes; "And he's going to lose."
The song opens and Yuu's unexpectedly decent voice begins a low, soft (if somewhat disgruntled) croon. Lavi's flimsy 'inhibitions' are far enough gone for him to rope Lenalee into dancing like idiots on the couch seats together, and yet he notices something of even greater interest, before he pulls Allen up on the couches to join them.
Amidst all the distraction in their tiny, crowded room with its dimmed lights, loud wallpaper, table full of emptied glasses, and screen aglow with lyrics and cheesy karaoke video collages— and despite what Lavi would consider a date with a captivating beauty— Allen's gaze keeps returning to Yuu. More precisely, Lavi suspects, Yuu's hair.
The music swells. Even as Lavi drunkenly pirouettes, and Allen takes his turn fake-waltzing with a laughing Lenalee on the very firm couch, he finds Allen keeps making faces at Yuu. Yuu uncreatively flips him the bird back, but has also begun to wear an amused smirk, himself.
Lavi isn't stupid. Lavi isn't blind. Lavi isn't deaf.
It's almost as if, to the other two, the volume on him and Lenalee has been turned down, while the volume on the two of them has been gradually rising. Strangely, Lavi finds it doesn't bother him nearly as much as it probably should, being diminuendoed. Lenalee doesn't seem to mind either. But the other two boys…
How are they so oblivious to their shared crescendo?
**UPDATE** March 9 2013:
I've put a poll up on my profile page. I'm hoping you'll please tell me how YOU decide on what stories to read. Results will be viewable (except for any PMs I receive) once I close it. I will also make a special announcement about future plans on my profile at that time.