Welcome back readers! A slighter longer chapter for you today. Hopefully longer does not equate to boring...
A quick thank you to all of you who reviewed, alerted and fav'ed me. It means alot. It really does!
Moonfly - Thank you for your review. You'll get more of an idea of what is going through Lavi's head next chapter I promise!
Shy PolarBear - Thank you for your lovely review. You made me blush!
Lavi sat on the bed staring at the now silent phone in his hand. It was pointless to be angry at an inanimate object, but that didn't stop Lavi from tightening his fist around the phone to point of almost crushing it. As if to channel all of his frustrations into the little box in his palm, long fingers squeezed as far as they could. He could feel the tension of muscle and sinew shoot through his arm. For a moment he relished that sensation before relaxing and allowing the dark aura that had settled about him to lift.
Lavi flung the phone aside, not really caring where it landed. Leaning back he stretched out catlike arching his back up feeling his body truly awaken from fingertips to toes. Sleep-weakened muscles tingling as blood flow returned his arms and legs. Lavi took his time getting up. He lay a little longer considering his plan of action for the day. It was Friday, a day his grandfather liked to have the store to himself on that day effectively giving Lavi the day off.
A shower might help to clear his head, and finally get him on his way to starting his day. He'd lounged around for long enough. He made his way towards the private bathroom they had installed shortly after adopting Road. Lavi smiled reflecting on the only argument he had ever won against Tyki. He had put his foot down that it would not be right for Road to share a bathroom with two men, especially as she grew older. Though that was true enough, he just really wanted an en suite!
He retrieved a fresh set of clothes, deposited his boxers in the laundry hamper and set about his morning rituals.
Free time was not something Lavi was very used to. It was usually the time it took to move from one task to another; free time was certainly not the large expanse of hours and minutes he now had at his disposal. He found that now that he had the whole day to himself he was having trouble thinking of activities to fill that time. He thought of reading but the only books in the house at the moment had all been read already or were paperback Chick Lits Tyki had bought home to give to Lenalee. The girl was nice and all but she had poor taste in reading material.
Breakfast was a lonely affair; it simply was not fun to make food only for one person. Before he moved in with Tyki, he had lived with his grandfather so he was not used to making food in such small portions. After long consideration Lavi settled for making a simple egg sandwich and eating in front of some mindless television.
He channel surfed until he found something remotely watchable. Lavi shrugged as he came upon a competition about amateur cooks hosting dinner parties. The narrator was just the right amount of insulting to the contestants to make the show hilarious.
Two mugs of tea, another sandwich and several hours later found Lavi still sitting on the sofa watching television. Somehow Lavi had been suckered into watching an hour long infomercial about the benefits of a vegetable slicer, even though he knew he had a perfectly good knife that would do the job. The rumble emanating from his stomach vocalised his need for lunch. The clock on his phone read 13:48.
"Wow! It's true… daytime television is soul killing!" Lavi shook himself out of his stupor. "I need to get out of here…" He paused. "… and I need to stop talking to myself."
Lavi tried to think of places he could go. It was too depressing to eat at home alone, and it would just be too weird to go eat out or sit in the park by himself. Undecided Lavi rifled through the papers on the coffee table. A post card appealing for help to save the panda gave Lavi the bright idea he was searching for. He could go visit his grandfather at the shop; he could eat lunch and make sure the shop was still intact, thereby killing two birds with one stone.
The young man quickly made up some sandwiches and prepared a thermos of tea. Grabbing his keys and wallet he headed for the door. The weather was crisp but there enough sunshine so it was not overly cold; he could do without a jacket today. Before leaving the house, Lavi checked himself in mirror by the door. He wore a pair of dark jeans and a white T-shirt under a dark blue checked shirt. Red hair contrasted attractively against the dark clothing. His hair fell elegantly over green eyes creating a mischievous demeanour.
Lavi absently noticed he wasn't wearing any earrings. The silver hoops were his favourite pair but they had been missing for a while now. He hadn't worn any in the week that Road had been away. Road was like a little magpie, hiding bits and pieces that took her fancy. Lavi suspected that she must have grabbed his earrings and stashed them in the little nest she made under her bed. She had a number of items of jewellery, buttons and shiny coins in her hiding place. To respect her privacy he pretended that he didn't know about it but would regularly check it to retrieve anything particularly valuable.
Fearing that after a week of being bare his piercings might close up Lavi dashed back up the stairs and into Road's room to reclaim his jewellery. Opening the door to her room, Lavi shuddered. The excessive frills, pink and purples always scared him a little. The large wardrobe with it heart shaped doors and red and black diamond pattern particularly spooked him. Little girls weren't supposed to be gothic were they?
Lavi steeled his nerves and stepped in to the room. Kneeling down he reached under the small bed to pull out a box decorated in glitter and tinsel, imaginatively labelled 'Roads Box'. He sifted through Road's trinkets until he found a small paper box that was held together sloppily with strips of sticky tape. He took a moment to admire the little girl's handiwork before opening to find his hoops.
A crumpled piece of paper at the bottom of the box caught his eye. He pulled it out carefully. The paper had the smooth texture of a photo. What had caught his eye was the writing on the back. Uneven, spidery letters spelt out 'Unkel Tiki and the Bokman'. Road had taken to calling him 'the Bookman' because she had first met him at the bookstore, since then she refused to call him 'Lavi'. Lavi himself found the nickname to be quite affectionate.
Reading the back of the photo his first thought was that for seven years old the girl's spelling was atrocious. What were they teaching her at that school? The second thought was to slowly turn the photo over. He froze.
Looking back up at him was a scene from a Halloween party at Lenalee's older brother's house almost ten years ago. The figures in the photograph were almost unrecognisable. A much younger and top-hatted Tyki was hugging a fresh faced Lavi from the back. Lavi had been standing at the drinks table talking with Yu when he was attacked from behind. Lavi remembered that party clearly – It was actually the first time he had met the older man. It only took that one night for Tyki to begin his single-minded pursuit of the red head.
The boy in the picture was dressed like some kind of pirate, eye patch and bandana included. What surprised Lavi about the picture was the expression on his face: he looked happy. That night he had been far from happy with the older man. Before making it clear that he was interested in Lavi, Tyki had actually made a pass at Allen, much to the chagrin of Yu. Tyki of course simply looked arrogantly comfortable with his arms trapping Lavi.
The murderous look Yu was shooting at Tyki in the photo was evidence after the fact. He sighed lightly as he recalled the emotional turmoil the Japanese went through when Allen and Lenalee came out publicly as a couple. It made him happier to know that Yu was now happy with Alma. The last he heard was that the pair were somewhere in Italy now.
Lavi studied the photo, his own face so alien to him. Why did he look so happy? Especially when he remembered that the scene ended with him punching Tyki, to get the man away from him. Unlike Kanda, Lavi felt a brotherly kind of protectiveness over Allen and so rejecting the Portuguese was his way of showing solidarity; so what if he had found the obnoxious man to be somewhat attractive, so what if the man could almost be considered a 'strike'. Had some subconscious part of him already given himself to the man even then?
Lavi carefully tucked the photo into his back pocket. He could muse over it later.
"Oi! Jiji!"
Lavi walked around the store looking for his grandfather. There were few customers on the floor. Some regulars nodded at him recognising him as the usual manager. A group of young girls, college student maybe, giggled as his eyes swept over them and he offered his most charming smile.
"Good afternoon ladies –"
The greeting was cut off violently as the hard spine of a book connected with his head.
"Ow! What was that for?" A small, severe looking man with dark circles around his eyes appeared behind the counter. Lavi walked over to it, as that man was no doubt the cause of his current pain.
"You're lucky I'm not an idiot 'cause of all the books I've taken to the head." He rubbed his as if to emphasise the point. Glaring, Lavi spat, "Panda-Jiji!"
"You were born an idiot. That had nothing to do with me." Lavi's grandfather, the actual Bookman of the two busied himself with papers, completely unconcerned. He always acted this way, appearing detached and distant. The most emotion he showed was when he was annoyed, which would almost always result in Lavi dodging some tome or other. Lavi reasoned that even if his grandfather acted aloof, he must have some genuine affection for him otherwise he wouldn't have raised him single-handedly.
"I bring you lunch and you give me nothing but insults…" He clutched his heart in mock pain. "Why do I even bother… why?" Lavi theatrically threw himself down on the counter. Earning him some more giggles from the girls by the door. He rewarded them with a quick wink over his shoulder. At least one of them swooned.
He had to move fast to avoid the A-Z Road Map that came hurtling towards him. Chuckling to himself, Lavi moved around the counter and tried to usher his grandfather into the backroom.
"Listen, I've got sandwiches and tea. Please go and eat, you always forget to when I'm not around."
"If you have time to waste eating then it means you have time to work!" said the old man, severely.
"Fine… I'll even stay and cover for you while you take a break." Why not? He didn't have anything better to do. "Go! Take a break."
"Hmm alright," the old man grudgingly turned to the customer at the till. It was one of the giggling girls. Eye brows raised, he dismissed the girl with a glance, turning around he began to walk into the backroom saying, "You've already paid for that book. Leave him alone, he's already got a boyfriend. Almost as stupid as he is too…"
The girl blushed a deep red as Lavi smiled apologetically in confirmation. He felt only a little bad as she walked away dejectedly to join her friends and promptly left the store.
AN: Honestly please let me know about any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Also let me know what you liked or what you didn't like so I won't do it again!
Hopefully I should have another update for you all by Monday!
PS 6xXBladeXx9 - The small bit of implied Yullen was just for you! (Even though I'm not a fan of that pairing...)
