As far as bad choices went calling his ex in a fit of frustration for stress relief was quite high on Lavi's personal scale, yet that wasn't the worst of his choices these past 24 hours. Sipping on his coffee Lavi reflected on the events of the past week that to this. It had been a shitty week full of deadlines and that nuisance of a supply teacher had not made it easy. Already this week he'd had to deal with getting in half an hour earlier because Tyki Mikk kept taking his favourite parking spot and not too mention the endless parade of preteens who kept clogging the tiny corridor they shared to get gawp at the supply teacher.
Lavi shook himself and listened to the shower running and knew that letting said ex stay the night was the worst decision of the night. Now there was no chance he would win the parking spot or his dignity. But as much as Lavi wanted to hate himself when Cyril entered the kitchen sporting nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist he decided that there were worse ways to start a day.
Cyril smirked at Lavi and sauntered over to him, took the mug from his hand, set in on the table before placing one palm on the counter on either side of Lavi's hips and leaned in until they were close enough for Lavi to count the water droplets beading his neck. Unfazed, Lavi raised an eyebrow and stared back at him.
"Good morning," Cyril said in a low rumble before capturing Lavi's lips into a slow, languid kiss. Yes there were definitely less enjoyable ways to start a morning than with his arms draped around muscular shoulders and sharing lazy kisses with a tall, dark and handsome man. Best start since September began.
Lavi closed his eyes and allowed his lover's wondering hands to draw a contented sigh from his lungs. "Cy… you're going to make me late," Lavi complained weakly and half-heartedly pushed Cyril backwards which achieved little except to spur on the passions of the other man. "I have to go to work – Ah! Did you just bite me?"
Shoving Cyril more forcefully this time, Lavi dashed to the hallway rubbing the space between his neck and shoulder. An angry red patch stood out against his already flushed skin; it was no more than a nip albeit a sharp one. The sight of it brought him firmly back to his senses. He was going to have to do his buttons up to the collar to hide that at school today.
Behind him, Cyril laughed lightly. "Just a little souvenir of our night," he said with a wink.
"I'll be sure to treasure it," Lavi angrily as he adjusted his shirt collar to cover the lewd mark. "This isn't happening again."
"Don't be like that," Cyril nosed into the crook of Lavi's neck and shoulder and pulled him into a back hug. "I've missed you! And judging from last night, you've missed me too."
Lavi groaned; good start ruined. Why did Cyril possess the perfect knack of ruining every moment? Hardening his heart Lavi stepped out of the embrace. "Should have thought about that before hooking up with Marco from the tanning shop or that slut Tommy. Shall I go on?"
"Okay, so downgrade to booty call. I can live with that," Cyril mused in a tone that made Lavi want to punch him.
Lavi shrugged on his coat and grabbed his bag, taking his time to adjust the strap before glancing back at Cyril who was helping himself to Lavi's cupboards. "Your clothes are in the washing machine and the door will lock itself after you." Fresh autumn breeze came through the door as Lavi inched it open. He turned back, "Don't be here when I get back."
Just as he thought, Lavi lost his spot and was forced to park on the far side of the lot. From the moment he stepped into the crappy little mobile classroom, he began counting the minutes until the end of the day. He found it increasingly difficult to concentrate and was more than grateful when the fire alarm sounded halfway through first period. Walking the overexcited adolescents across the playing fields to the assembly point, the square in front of the main building, gave him time to reflect on his terrible handling of Cyril this morning. Such was his distraction that he didn't notice when the supply teacher walked up alongside him.
"Cheer up, it might never happen."
"Huh?" startled Lavi struggled to respond. The classes mingled happily behind them.
Tyki Mikk smiled pleasantly at him. Damn him and damn his perfect teeth. "You look like you're contemplating the end of the world. Everything alright?"
"Just peachy," he said tersely then turned away from the unwanted concern. "Right, straight line and wait to be counted. Daryl bring me the Contact Sheet." Lavi busied himself with the fire drill routine and once he had completed them he left the class to join Allen. The supply teacher followed him.
"Practice or for real, what do you reckon?" Lavi asked in an attempt to be civil.
Tyki shrugged, "Leverrier isn't here, neither is Marian. Could be a real one."
"Don't get your hopes up for an evacuation fellas," Allen added as the pair drew closer. "I heard it was the twins with some smoke bombs in the French corridor. Probably give it another ten minutes and it'll back to business as usual."
Lavi nodded, tonight was Bonfire Night after all. Tensions always ran high at this time of year, so it was no surprise that some bright sparks decided to get started early.
The three teachers talked companionably, from time to time giving the crowd a sweeping glance in the guise of keeping order. The weather had not quite turned yet and the air was warm so it was a pleasant break for students and staff alike. After a while, Lavi noticed that Allen's eyes kept flicking in a certain direction. He clapped the maths teacher on the back and steered him around, his significant height advantage made it an easy task.
"Another longing stare and you'll be certified stalker material," Lavi teased him. A red blush suffused Allen's usually pale face. "Why haven't you asked her out yet?"
Since the beginning of the year, Allen had subjected Lavi to countless spiels on the many virtues of Miss Lenalee Lee. According to Allen she was the kindest, gentlest masterpiece of womanhood to have ever graced the teaching staff of Our Lady of Innocence. While she certainly was a sight for sore eyes with her cropped hair and long legs, Lavi had seen her push the athletics team and did not envy them.
"Between the two of them, is it any wonder that PE is everyone's favourite subject," Tyki noted. Lavi followed his eyes to Yu Kanda who was nodding to something Lenalee was saying to him, a permanent scowl drawn across his features.
"There're a fair few science enthusiasts coming up this year," Allen said grudgingly.
Tyki chuckled, "I don't know about that Allen, but I can tell you Kanda isn't one of them."
"You asked out Kanda?" Allen asked incredulous. Unwillingly intrigued, Lavi cocked his head for the answer. "How did that turn out for you?"
"It's not what you think Allen. We just went for a drink after work once," Tyki explained. Lavi looked away uncomfortably when they made eye contact. "Just talked about stuff and just figured Kanda would be a lost cause to pursue."
"It's makes the rest of us average guys look bad when a guy like you gets turned down," Allen said wistfully. "Wait Tyki, on a scale of 1 to 10 how attractive am I? Would you want to date me?"
The supply teacher laughed loudly, "Let's just say if you weren't so set on Miss Lee over there, I'd be into it. What do you think Lavi?"
"Me?" discomfited Lavi looked between the two expectant faces; Allen naively so but Tyki was unreadable. "I think us average guys need to be braver, just bite the bullet and ask her out. What's the worst that can happen?"
"Exactly, what's the worst that could happen from a little bit of honesty?" Tyki said although Lavi couldn't be sure who the question was directed at.
At that moment the bell for second period rang so Tyki and Lavi said goodbye to Allen and made their way back to their mobile unit in an awkward silence that only Lavi seemed to be aware of.
The morning had already been so badly disrupted that Lavi couldn't bring himself to care when half of the class forgot to bring in their character descriptions of Macbeth and in the last period before lunch, Lavi gave up all pretenses of teaching entirely and led his class out to the field for an impromptu poetry reading session. Student led of course, which gave him more time to wallow in self-loathing. Why was he finding it so hard to end his toxic relationship with Cyril Kamelot? It always played out the same. Lavi let him back in only to have him the man walk all over his heart and dignity once more. He had thought returning home alone after that shambles of a summer holiday was the end.
Why did he have to be the weak one and call Cyril last night? And what the hell was up with Tyki Mikk?
The fresh air revived him a little but only until they returned to class to find the sour smell of vinegar wafting through the mobile class unit. By that time he was more than happy to call an early end to the lesson and vacate the classroom.
"Penny for them?"
"Excuse me?" For the second time that day Lavi was shocked out of his internal torment. Allen dropped into the seat beside him with all the force of a minor tornado and pulled a huge, overstuffed burrito from his bag. A sideways inspection left Lavi with the impression that the maths teacher had rolled up slices of last night's pizza for lunch.
"What are you deep in thought about? You've hardly touched your lunch," Allen gestured at the tray of uneaten canteen lasagna. The grave disapproval on his face won a chuckle from Lavi. Wasting food was an unforgivable offence to Allen Walker.
"Six more Fridays until Christmas," he said wistfully and picked a piece of tomato out of the side salad to appease Allen's accusing glare. "How was your morning?"
"Just saying, thank god it's Friday. It might be the first week of the half term but this week has dragged," Allen lamented through a mouthful of pizza burrito. "I had Year 9 try to refuse homework because it goes against their work-life balance. Little shits."
"What did you do?" Lenalee Lee, the new PE coach asked from across the table.
Allen took another large bite and swallowed it whole before answering. His mouth turned up at the corners into a devilish grin, "I told them I completely agree. It's really unfair to ask them to take work home and do it in their evening."
"So you didn't set any homework then?" Lavi shook his head at the innocence of the PE teacher. He nudged Allen under the table; he had Lenalee's full attention. Now was a good time as any to impress her with his excellent classroom management.
"Wait for it," he advised her, cocking his head at Allen who was gleefully demolishing his lunch. At that moment Yu Kanda and Tyki Mikk entered the staffroom and joined them at the table. Kanda sat down beside Lenalee who greeted him warmly. Lavi watched Tyki walk to the sink and wash his hands vigorously. The force of stare must have alerted Tyki as he looked up and smiled guiltily at him, which made it hard for Lavi to do anything other than return the benign gesture.
"I suppose I have you to blame for the delightful vinegar scented classroom," Lavi successfully managed to turn the scorn into amusement. At least the other man had the decency to appear apologetic.
"Sorry about that, we're doing acids and bases this half term. I thought the old vinegar and bicarb balloon trick would keep them amused. Didn't realize how bad it smelled until we were leaving the class," Tyki said as he took his lunch from the fridge and occupied the empty seat between Kanda and Lavi. "Turn your fan on, that should do the trick."
"Mine doesn't work," Lavi said flatly.
"Oh…"
Thick woolly tension filled the staffroom, faltering Allen's story. Even Kanda scowled inquisitively at Lavi. Thankfully Lenalee quickly filled in the silence. "Allen was just telling us that his Year 9s are refusing to accept homework."
All eyes shifted back to Allen. "Oh yeah, where was I… So I told the class that I completely agree, work-life balance is important. So instead of homework I'll be running a mandatory Saturday 'homework' club. Any material we are unable to cover because they haven't done their homework, we'll just cover it on Saturday."
"Seriously?" Lenalee laughed, "Why would you do that to yourself?"
There was mischievous gleam in Allen's eyes. "Because I can," he stated smugly.
"Wait," uncharacteristically Kanda joined in the conversation, "Is this the class with Brandon Howell?" Allen nodded, still looking pleased with himself. "You can't have him. The basketball team meets on Saturdays."
"Well he'll just have to miss a couple of sessions," Allen sat up straighter. "He was the smartass who insisted that homework was so unnecessary."
Standoffs between these two were so regular that even Lenalee was used to the sight of the pair staring daggers at each other. Lavi returned his attention to his lunch, he had eaten two forkfuls of lasagna when he became uncomfortably away that Tyki was eying him. He rubbed his neck self-consciously and immediately regretted it.
Tyki leaned over, concerned. "I didn't realize the vinegar would affect you that badly. Your neck's gone all red. Looks painful."
"It's fine," Lavi brushed off the concern and rubbed at his neck, irritated by Tyki's attention more than anything. Meanwhile Lenalee was acting as mediator between Allen and Kanda.
"If we move basketball practice an hour earlier then both clubs can happen. I'm sure the maths won't be running long anyway. Just until the kids realize Saturday lie-ins are worth more than homework," Lenalee smiled at Allen. "And you can bring me a coffee as thanks."
Allen beamed. "And maybe we could do lunch or something?" he threw out hopefully.
"You're on," Lenalee said, picking up her tray and looking altogether too pleased with herself. "See you guys later."
"I'm not having lunch with you," Kanda spat venomously. The sharp angle of his eyebrows told them all there was nothing he would like less.
"I don't think he was asking you Kanda," Lavi shot at Kanda, earning a guffaw from Tyki.
It must have been the euphoria of having his invitation accepted that made Allen careless. "What's up with your neck Lavi, it's all red." He dove forward to pull back Lavi's collar to examine the spot. "Who's the lucky girl?" he whispered in what he thought was an inconspicuous tone.
Lavi yanked his collar back and refastened the top button; he didn't need the whole staffroom getting an eyeful of Cyril's mark. "It's nothing," he said curtly
"Doesn't look like nothing," Allen challenged him. "Not fair, I told you about Lenalee!"
There was a collective eye roll from everyone in the staffroom, including the MFL teachers in the corner.
"Everyone knows you have a crush on her," Kanda told him. "Even she knows."
"Oh…" Slightly deflated Allen sat back in his chair. Lavi slid the dessert off his tray and in front of Allen in a peace offering.
"Right, I'm off too," he announced and left the room.
At the top of the stairs Tyki caught up with him. "Hey, just wanted to say I'm sorry. About the vinegar and bringing attention to the…you know." Tyki gestured to his neck pointlessly. Lavi wanted to turn on his heels and walk away, but there was an earnestness in the supply teacher that held him rooted to the spot, one foot on the first step.
"Look its fine. Allen is just a bit of an overgrown puppy sometimes." Lavi put one hand on the bannister and stepped backwards on to the stairs. A sure signal to any normal person that he wanted to leave. "No need to apologise."
The hallway was empty, a fact that Lavi became painfully aware of as Tyki took a step closer and also placed his hand on the bannister. At this angle Lavi was forced to look up at the other man, noticing for the first time the mole just under his left eye.
"Was there something else?" Lavi ventured uncertainly.
The distance between them decreased rapidly. "You haven't seemed like yourself today," his voice just above a whisper. A small furrow formed in the space between his eyebrows. "If you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here for you."
"Thanks," Lavi replied. "I'll keep that in mind."
With nothing else to say, they stood there a moment longer, each trying to understand the other until a student appeared at the other end of the corridor and called out to Tyki making them both jump. Tyki's hand slipped off the bannister and turned to address the boy breaking the spell. Lavi let out a slow steady breath and somehow felt lighter than he had before. Still he left as fast as he could.