Chapter twenty one – Do you want to know?
Tyki waited silently in the slender halls of the mansion, crouched with one arm resting on his knee and the other pressed firmly against the icy cool tiles to better help maintain his balance as he waited in the uncomfortable, submissive position.
The room in which he waited was barren of furniture, save for the deliciously comfortable looking rocking chair at the very front of the room, sitting proudly before a low slung window. Said window, however, was bricked over in a messily botched job, such a style that completely offset the rest of the room. The perfectionist in Tyki cringed at the blatant mess before him.
He'd been waiting for nearly an hour now and his patience was drawing thin. The earl had another ten minutes to show his face of Tyki was leaving. Respect be damned. He adjusted his position somewhat to keep his rapidly tiring limbs from falling asleep from the stiff posture.
As is sensing the growing impatience the sharp sound of feet hitting polished tiles resounded merrily throughout the corridor, announcing the earl approach.
Tyki glanced over his shoulder and was rewarded for his patience by the sight of the earl walking jollily down the hall in all his top-hated glory, smiling merrily at Tyki as if he had not kept him waiting long past the appointment.
"It's about time," Tyki grumbled before tacking on a semi-respectful, "earl."
"Tyki-pon," The earl greeted cheerfully as he eased himself down into the familiar seat of his rocking chair, "I'm sorry I was late. Rhode wanted to play."
He then leaned back in his chair and begun to rock, silently dismissing the subject as if his answer had explained it all. Which it had, Tyki supposed, but that didn't serve to diminish his irritation any, he felt he was still justified to fume but one look at the earl's face told Tyki this wasn't the right time.
Sighing, he pushed himself to his feet and stood quietly before the earl, awaiting the scolding he knew would come.
"I hear," the earl hummed cheerily as he reached for his knitting, "that you met our delightful Allen-chan in the park the other day, hmm?"
Tyki absently flicked a spec of dirt from his old fashioned coat before answering with a flippant, "I did."
They lulled into silence for a moment as they room was filled with only the sound of creaking wood as the earl continued to rock steadily back and forth, counting the stiches on his knitting needle with unwavering attention.
"Why then," He hummed slowly, "is he not here, with you?"
Tyki cocked an eyebrow and the undertones of anger that were not quite leaking into the earl's voice but were definitely still there. "Well, sir," Tyki said with the barest hint of a smirk, "You didn't tell me to do so before I left that day."
The earl looked up with a large smile and his already usually smiling face. "Well played Tyki-pon," he said, "well played."
"Don't call me that."
"Regardless," the earl went on, "don't act on your own from now on. If you see the boy, don't just let him be, bring him back. We are done with our observations. It is now counterproductive to let him roam free like this."
Tyki gave a sweeping bow.
"As you wish," he said before tacking on, with a fairly demonic glint in his golden eyes, "I wouldn't have it any other way. Things are starting to get interesting."
oOo_oOo_oOo
Allen was trying very hard to reign in his bad mood. Very, very hard.
He hadn't been able to find Timcanpy in the dorm room at all. Not in any of his usual favourite hidey holes and his temperament had not been improved by Kanda's snappy disposition. The raven haired youth seemed to be determined to make the evening as unpleasant as possible with his grouchy comebacks and grumpy outbursts.
By the time the pair of them escaped the dorm to meet up with Lenalee and Lavi Allen was so glad he might have cried had such an act not been an insult to his manly pride.
"Thank god," Allen breathed out softly as he latched on to Lavi's sleeve, earning himself a quirk of the eyebrow from the redhead, "How could you leave me alone with that?" Allen demanded, turning to point over at Kanda who was sulking just a few meters off.
Lavi took one look at the brooding male and let out an unexpectedly girly giggle before clapping a hand to his mouth. Allen gave, understandably so, a strange look at the … man-sized child he was latched onto as it dissolved into a fit of giggles.
"Oh god," Lavi panted between his little chuckles, "It's because of what I mentioned about Anita before. You know, about her liking you."
Allen frowned. "I don't get it."
Another giggle and Lavi gave him a pat on the head. "Oh Allen," he said as if he was speaking to a small child, "he's jealous."
"… Jealous?" Allen repeated dumbly.
"Yes! Jealous! Envious! In the grip of the green eyed monster! He is jealous about what I said about Anita liking you."
"Why?" Allen asked in alarm as a thrill shot down his spine and he clutched that much tighter to Lavi. "Does he like Anita or something?"
It was Lavi's turn to stare blankly at him.
"… What?" Allen asked, unnerved by the owlish stare.
"Allen… are you… I don't even… YOU'RE BOTH IDIOTS!"
Allen jumped back as Lavi threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, as if he were praying. Which, little did Allen know, he was.
Why god, Lavi pleaded with the sky, why did you send such moronicly oblivious idiots? Is this a punishment of some kind? Do you hate me? Is that it?
"Lavi," Lenalee said gently, stepping away from Kanda with whom she'd been conversing to approach the redhead, "it's getting late. We should get going."
"Get a fucking move on," Kanda called from where he was standing, arms crossed over his chest and expression surly.
Without warning Lavi whipped around to point accusingly at a startled Kanda. "You," he seethed, "This is all your fault."
"My fault?" Kanda asked bewildered.
"Your fault!"
"Lavi," Lenalee said concernedly, "are you feeling –."
"THIS IS HOPELESS!" Lavi shouted out as he, yet again, threw his hands in the air. "YOU," he cried pointing at Allen, "AND YOU," now back at Kanda again, "HAVE TO DO SOMETHING SOON OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL KILL YOU BOTH!"
With that said the spontaneous outburst ended and the clearly clinically insane Lavi turned on his heel and marched off in the direction of the club. His friends just stared after him, completely bewildered and at a loss.
"I don't even want to know," Lenalee said as the redhead stamped his away across the pavement. Allen was so startled he wasn't sure if he could move but he supposed there was only so long one could stand in the middle of a road and not chance getting hit by a car.
So, ever so slowly, he started after Lavi, Lenalee falling into step beside him while Kanda took up the rear. Without warning, Lavi whipped around to glare at him. He stood there for a moment, simply glowering at Allen before turning around and resuming his walking.
"Was it something I said?" He asked Lenalee.
The Chinese girl gave him a patient look. "I'm sure whatever you said just caused him to over react. You know how he gets…"
"Well, yeah, but it was a genuine question."
Against her better judgment Lenalee asked, "What did you say?"
Allen pondered this silently for a moment. "Well, he said Kanda was jealous of the comment he made earlier about Anita liking me," he started.
"Uh-huh," Lenalee nodded.
Allen gave a shrug, "So I asked if Kanda like Anita or something and he got… Well… he got like that," he gestured over at Lavi who was once again glaring at him.
Lenalee stared at Allen.
"… What?" Allen asked, feeling a sense of deju vu.
"Allen…" Words could not describe this idiocy, Lenalee decided, and honestly? She wasn't sure she wanted them to.
Shaking her head she increased her pace.
"What?" Allen called after her back. "What did I say?"
oOo_oOo_oOo
By the time they reached the club, everyone– baring Kanda – was in a slightly better mood. Although Allen was yet to find out what it was he said that caused Lenalee and Lavi to treat him like such an idiot.
The buildings windows were glowing softly from the golden light within and Allen found himself in appreciation of the simplicity of the outward brick design that concealed the quaint little café inside. He'd been working himself to the brittle bone trying to track down Cross recently, he so deserved this little break.
Lavi pushed open the door, sounding the tinkle of a small bell above it and the group made their way inside. Waiting for them in the foyer was Anita; as pretty as always and with a faint smile upon her delicate features.
"Welcome," she said as she gently clasped their hands one at a time, tactfully ignoring the way Lavi's grip lasted perhaps just a little too long, "I'm glad you could make it."
"Of course we could make it," Lavi said eagerly, apparently back in his good cheer now, "We would never turn down an invitation from the lovely Miss Anita!"
"I'm glad to hear that," she said softly with a faint bow that hinted at Asian origin. "Now, if you'd like, I'll take you to the table I've reserved for you?"
It was more of a question than anything – such is the way of Anita – and Lenalee hastily agreed, not wanting to seem rude.
Their table was one of the slightly larger ones and easily the best spot in the house. It was up against the wall in the perfect position so they had a clear view of the large picture window and easy access to the dance floor. The music was neither too loud nor too quiet. Yes, it was apparent Anita had reserved them her best table.
"Thank you, Anita," Lenalee smiled as she they took their seats, settling down as Anita handed out their menus and questioned whether they wanted a drink yet or not. "I was wondering," she said as she laid out some serviettes, "if you could give me a hand, Allen."
"Me?" Allen asked in surprise.
Anita gave a modestly abashed look, "It's just that it's the waitress's night off, and I could use a hand carrying the drinks over."
"Oh, well sure," Allen said as he got to his feet, not noticing as he did so the way Kanda gritted his teeth.
"So you just wanted us to bring Allen-chan along so you could use him as a slave?" Lavi called after the pair as they retreated in the direction of the kitchen. Anita gave him a soft smile and a wave, ignoring his sulking expression and the two vanished behind the wide, push doors.
Upon Anita's instruction, Allen retrieved four chilled glasses and lined them up neatly on the bench while Anita herself retrieved a jug of lemon squash from the refrigerator. She handed it to Allen and watched with an unreadable expression as he carefully poured out the liquid into the glasses.
It was unnerving, almost. It seemed to Allen that this was something more than a simple request for help. His heart skipped a beat. Was she going to ask something about Kanda? Did she like him? Lavi's comment earlier was still stuck with him and his head was going around in pointless scenarios that he knew were likely to never play out.
He just didn't like the idea of Kanda… well, liking someone else.
Someone else, Allen repeated in his mind and suddenly his pouring froze. What do I mean someone else? For Kanda to like someone else he'd have to like someone to begin with. Although he tried his hardest not to think it the words, like me, for instance echoed in the back of his mind.
Suddenly it was that much harder to breath. Did he want Kanda to like him? That was what the voices in the back of his mind were hinting at.
Did he like Kanda?
Allen's grip on the jug tightened and he shook his head slightly. No. This was not the time for such thoughts. He would ask, politely and evasively, Anita what she thought of Kanda and put his doubts to ease. It didn't mean anything, he just wanted to know.
Allen convinced himself at looked up before realizing, for the first time, that while he'd been doing battle with his inner demons Anita had been standing their silently, still watching him with her unrecognizable expression. Flushing, Allen opened his mouth but found himself at a lack of knowing what to say.
So, he simply closed it and waited for Anita to speak. Whatever she said he could handle it.
Anita met his eyes steadily and made a slight shift in her posture and Allen knew, without a doubt, whatever it was that was on her mind, now was the time he was going to find out.
"Allen…" She begun softly before trailing off, biting her lip as if she were greatly troubled.
"Do you want me to tell you where Cross is?"
oOo_oOo_oOo
A/N: I know, I know. It's on the short side and not much happened D:
You're probably all disappointed with me, but I just felt like it should end here. I'm going to get to work on the next chapter right away, so hopefully it'll be out sooner. I know I have lousy gaps between updates.
Also, Fanfiction has stopped notifying me about reviews, alerts, favourites and updates. It's not my emails fault, as I've changed it a dozen times now to try and fix the problem. If this is happening to anyone else or if you know how to fix it, can you let me know?
Thank you
Love, Yuu-chi