This really wasn't a hard chapter to write. I had some super important deadlines to meet though and then I lost power and didn't have a computer. Sigh. So here is a new chapter finally.
It would never cease. A pillow over Lucy's head did little to block out the obnoxious inhale. The deep rumbling made her feel like she was experiencing an earthquake every five seconds.
'I can't take it anymore!' Lucy snaps, sitting up and whipping her pillow at her sleeping partner. Alfendi doesn't even stir. Lucy sighs, draping her blanket over her head and shoulders like a cloak as she abandons her own bed. While attempting to sneak away, a discarded sweater decides to wrap around her feet and trip her. Lucy lands on her stomach in a muted heap of blanket.
"Ow..." Lucy mutters under her breath. She kicks the sweater furiously until it is off of her feet. Lucy dares to steal a glance wondering if she might have accidentally woken him. He is still asleep, but not a sound comes from him. Then a delayed snore escapes, louder than usual. Lucy rests her arms on the edge of the mattress and her head falls on top of them with an exhausted moan. This whole situation is hopeless.
She never realized how hard this would be, sharing her home with another person. 'How different could it be from sharing an office?' she thought. Very, very different. Everything used to be a certain way. Laundry would go in the hamper, not on the ground two feet away.
He would always forget to tell her when something was empty. When Lucy wanted some milk in her tea, she would encounter a bare carton in the fridge. Lucy wouldn't even bring up the toilet seat. Well, Placid was good about that, but Potty... needed more training.
Lucy gets up again, watching the ground for any other miscellaneous clothing that plots her downfall, when her eyes fall on the trunk.
It mocked her. It sits at the foot of the bed, taking up room in Lucy's already cramped flat, just begging to be opened. Prof had brought it with him and for some reason she wasn't allowed to look inside. That only made it beckon to her the more and it drove her crazy. What could possibly be inside that he is guarding? Why is it sitting there untouched, forbidden?
A thought occurs to her and she glances back at his sleeping form. 'Why can't I look now? He's out cold, he'd never know.' Lucy bites her lip and places a hand on the lid. Should she do it? She hurriedly sits and undoes the buckles on either side.
It was the last thing she expected. On top are some old toys: cars, robots, and a baseball glove. Underneath there are countless books covering the entire floor of the trunk. Scattered around are photos, letters, old school assignments and drawings in crayon.
This is most likely Alfendi's entire childhood. Why is it all crated up? How is this stuff some deep dark secret?
Suddenly, Lucy notices something, an eerie snore-less silence. She nearly jumps out of her skin when two arms snatch her from behind in the darkness. Her blanket has ensnared her like a net and she squirms uselessly. When that doesn't work she delivers a jut to his chin with her head, sending them both flying. Her capturer and her roll until finally Potty Prof pins her.
She still refuses to give up the struggle, but his weight on her is suffocating. It sends her heart fluttering in panic and she can only wonder what will happen to her now that she has been caught red handed.
Potty Prof leans in close, with a menacing growl, "Must you always go snooping where your nose doesn't belong?" He is seething, but so is Lucy.
"You're getting up my nose too!" She retorts lifting her head up to look him in the eye. She ends up meeting the large schnoz responsible with her own, "Yer snoring is intolerable, Prof! It sounds like yer sawing logs."
"Oh REALLY?" Potty Prof barks. His nose shoves her head into the carpet. Escape is impossible so she simply averts her face to the side while he yells, "Well, I am forced to sleep on the edge of the bed because you sprawl out so much. And if that doesn't get me out and you toss and turn. You kick your legs constantly and whack me upside the head. I swear you run marathons in your sleep!"
Lucy stops fighting for a moment, "Is that why you are always on the floor in the morning? I thought you rolled off," she giggles.
"With a little assistance," The last word is coated thick with sarcasm, "Yes that's where I end up."
She can't stop laughing now, "Hee hee. Wow I'm real sorry 'bout that."
"Oh that's not all you do. I never suspected someone as cheerful as you could be so ill-tempered in the morning. When you don't wake up, I can't even nudge you without getting a death glare. It rivals the deadly looks of villains, Lucy," Potty Prof smirks in amusement," I usually wait a good fifteen minutes before I even attempt to wake you. The whole time your alarm clock is ringing and I am forced to listen to it while my ears bleed."
Lucy scowls again as he continues to nitpick her faults, "Hey, you ain't perfect either!" She is ready to rattle off anyone of the annoying occurrences she thought up before, but he beats her to it.
"I never claimed to be. You have to be perfect though... you always need things tidy and always move my things to places I can't find them. I leave them there for a reason, if you would just leave it-"
"-At least I don't lock myself in t' bathroom for 'ours at a time! You spend more time in there than a lass!" She taunts.
He sighs in exasperation, "You follow me everywhere! I can't get a minute to myself in this flat!"
"What you don't want me around? Well, it's my 'ome too!" Lucy accuses, "'ow come you want to be alone all t' time, eh?"
"Because I haven't lived with anyone in ten years!" Alfendi exclaims, "Not since I was kicked out of my father's house!" Lucy gasps. Potty Prof realizes he has said too much. The mystery of the trunk makes sense now with this additional information.
"'e kicked you out? Is that why you 'ave all that stuff locked away? 'Cause it reminds you of 'im, don't it?"
"Shut up!" Suddenly she is free. Lucy props herself up in time to watch Alfendi slam the open lid back into place.
"It really is a wonder how you have managed to keep your tongue this long. I don't know why I let you get away with it," he growls ferociously. Lucy's hand reaches for his arm as he is about to clasp shut his past again.
"No! Tell me what happened!" She says firmly. He whips his head over his shoulder to glare at her, but Lucy doesn't budge.
"You really want to know?" He turns around to lean against the trunk with his elbows resting on the corners. "I said to him I couldn't take it anymore and I was moving out. He told me to go, if that's how I felt then he expected me gone by morning."
Lucy is stunned, thinking of the Hershel she knew, "That's… awful harsh, Did 'e really yell at ya like that?"
"Oh no," he snarls in disgust, "Of course he was completely calm. A gentleman never raises his voice at his children."
Lucy ponders this curiously. If his dad was calm and he wasn't yelling like Alfendi said, "Is it possible that maybe you misunderstood?"
"Excuse me!?" He advances on her. His hand grips her by the chin and pulls her face to his. It actually is a bit painful, but she doesn't pull away, "Say that again."
"Now listen," Lucy's eyebrows furrow and she crosses her arms, not about to let him sway her with intimidation, "We can infer you were angry, but are you sure yer dad were?"
"I imagine he was thrilled when he was finally rid of me," he says as a counter-response.
"That weren't what I asked. Was he... sad that you were leaving?" His anger falters a moment because her observation is spot on. At realizing this he becomes even more fierce.
"He was as accepting as ever!" He screams, "I think he finally gave up on me like I wanted him to. When Flora left, there was no one to veer his attention away from his imperfect son. For YEARS he analyzed me like some puzzle, trying to figure out what was wrong with me, not once did he ever consider it was because of him! Nothing I ever did made him mad! Just ONCE I wanted him to drop the gentleman act and just be a normal dad." His grip loosens the instant his rant ends. Running his hand through his crazy crimson hair, Alfendi is deeply pained to admit all of this. A very brave Lucy carefully takes his head in her hands. She holds him close, unafraid of his instability. He couldn't believe how weak he felt in this moment.
"Ahh," Finally he lifts his face from her shoulder. Placid feels as if he was hit by a ton of bricks, "What did you do to him? Er... me."
"I didn't mean to," Lucy mumbles worriedly, "Are you ok?"
"Nothing an aspirin won't cure," he stands up to go retrieve it. Lucy is about to follow, but she hesitates after what he had said about wanting space, "Come on," he encourages, calmly taking her hand.
He takes the medicine and they both are ready to return to their bed. Lucy sits leaning against her pillow and headboard, while she waits for Alfendi. He opens the chest to see what he had left behind, confronting it for the first time. Wordlessly he touches the forgotten items. He actually removes a few of his favorite novels to re-read later. Then he shuts it again and crawls under the sheets with his back turned to her. Warm flannel sleeves rest on his side as she peers down at him.
"I never opened that chest once the entire time I lived alone, yet I never had the heart to just throw the thing in the Thames like I wished either."
"It's because you do love your dad, Prof," she reassures him, rubbing a hand between his shoulder blades.
"I've never told anyone about that day," he admits. Lucy just gives a quiet 'mmm-hmm' to let him know she is listening. He takes the hand resting on his torso and rolls over to pull her into a cradle close to him.
"Thank you Lucy, for always being so patient with me," he kisses her hair and she yawns sweetly like an angel.
Within a few minutes she is already trying to escape his embrace with the smack of her hand on his cheek. He sits up, letting Lucy's arm fall behind him which was a mistake. Lucy turns over onto her stomach and is already invading to his side. Alfendi knows he'll have to get used to this, but for now his solution is to simply take a pillow and blanket with him to the floor. He's about to end up there anyway.
If you have a nose that huge, I don't think you could not snore...
I've been trying to revise the other chapters and make them better before I moved on. Hopefully things flow better now, but I still got to work on it. At this point I think I have everything figured out.