-Cantarella-
Epilogue: the later years III
Two years later
"This one, or this one?"
Emilia took a closer look at the sketches Reiichi had drawn, humming. "If you're asking which one looks better on your husband, then I'll go with the second one."
"I wasn't," Reiichi scowled, then she gave her own drawings a second squint. "But why do you say so?"
"The pants are tighter."
"Emilia!"
"What? It's a totally valid opinion," the French girl shrugged. "Why are you still nitpicking at your pictures anyway? It's past six; you're off work."
"Then shouldn't you be off too?"
Emilia smirked and leaned further back on Reiichi's table where she had planted herself for the past ten minutes. "I'm waiting."
"For?"
When Emilia didn't immediately answer, Reiichi set down her marker and looked up to meet the other's grinning face. It took two more seconds for her to understand why.
"Hey, don't roll your eyes at me," Emilia huffed, crossing her arms. "Some people, unlike you, don't live with Kanda-sama. Or Sei-chan."
Reiichi was about to retort when a chorus of loud squeals came from the row of desks further up in front, with Lavi appearing a second later carrying a young toddler in his arms. The little boy was gripping the older male's shirt tightly as they made way across, but he blinked and sat up wide when he caught sight of his mother. The older male redhead grinned widely when he reached them both.
"Time to go, your husband is waiting downstairs; extremely grumpily, may I add," he smiled, and then pouted at Emilia. "You don't have to look so disappointed that I'm not Yuu."
The French girl sighed over exaggeratedly. "I'll make do," she answered, but she leaned down and ruffled Seiichi's hair, smiling brightly. "How are you doing today, Sei-chan?"
The young boy clutched on Lavi's collar tighter and shied away. Emilia bent further down to keep them at eye level, turning her face to a side and pointed to her cheek. "Auntie Em is leaving now, give me a goodbye kiss."
Seiichi looked at his mother who smiled encouragingly, and then slowly planted a soft one on the French girl's cheek.
"Say 'bye', Sei," Reiichi absently said as she packed her things.
"Bye," the boy murmured obediently, and Emilia beamed, patting his head again before she gave the younger a return peck on the cheek.
"I'll see you next week, girl," she told Reiichi, slinging her handbag over her shoulder. "Bye, Boss-san," she winked at Lavi, patting his shoulder.
"Hey, how come I don't get a kiss?" he frowned playfully, tapping his own cheek.
"You've done nothing to deserve my affection!" Emilia replied as she strode away.
"Oh, and paying you isn't enough?" Lavi called after her, but she waved backwards without looking. "One day, Emy-chan! One day!"
Emilia's laughter could be heard even though she disappeared down the corridor. Lavi shook his head grinning.
"Rei-chan, are you ready—ow, Sei-chan! Don't pull—" Lavi winced when the little redhead grasped his looped earring and tugged, burying his face deeper into Lavi's neck. "I know I smell great but—ow!"
"Let me carry him," Reiichi snickered, holding out her hands.
Her son peeked at her from her cousin's neck, and then reached out for her, wriggling his fingers. She chuckled, taking him as Lavi let go reluctantly. Seiichi clutched her shoulder and she gave him a soft kiss on his temple.
"You're really getting heavier," she commented, adjusting his weight on her arm, but her son merely beamed and held on to her tighter.
"Ah—Reiichi-san!"
A younger girl came running up to them just as Lavi was going to take Reiichi's bag. Breathing slightly heavily, she was grasping a stack of papers in her hand, looking apologetic.
"Were you about to leave? I'm so sorry!" she bowed hurriedly. "Um, g-good evening to you too, Bookman-san!" she added after hastily.
"What's up, Tae-chan?" Lavi smiled good naturedly, which only served to make the girl slightly more flustered.
"Um, uh, I was supposed to hand Reever-san the finalised sketches for next month, but I lost track of time and I just remembered I still had it with me, I—"
"It's all right," Reiichi patted her shoulder. "Kaichou was in the basement the whole afternoon, you won't have caught him anyway. If you like, you can leave it with me, I'll pass it to him the first thing in the morning on Monday."
Tae brightened up, bowing repeatedly. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" she gushed, offering the papers up.
It's been barely a month since Sekihara Tae was hired as one of the designers to join their team for their spin off Innocence lines fresh out of design college—Reiichi had last seen her at the beginning of the Five Elements project, and she had received an email just a couple of months ago that Tae had achieved what put her mind to since all those years ago when Reiichi herself was just a new designer thrust under Kanda's judgement.
"So sorry to bother you at this time!"
"It's not a bother," Reiichi assured the younger. "You should be heading off too."
"Yes, yes I will," Tae nodded. "Have a nice weekend, Reiichi-san! And Bookman-san too!"
Lavi waved, and the girl smiled shyly before scampering off. Once she was out of sight, Lavi sighed and grabbed Reiichi's bag, herding her quickly towards the lifts.
"Come on, Yuu's gonna blame me when we get down," he muttered. "Isn't that right, Sei-chan?" he prodded the toddler's cheek. "Your daddy is so mean to Uncle Lavi, isn't he?"
Reiichi rolled her eyes as her cousin continued to babble to her son as they descended the lifts—sometimes she wondered who the child was—until he ended up messing up Seiichi's hair just for his own amusement while her son leaned on her shoulder.
"She likes you," she said, looking over to the older male.
Lavi hummed non-committedly. "Maybe."
"Not your type?"
He shrugged.
"Do you even have a type?" Reiichi squinted at him, curious.
Lavi paused, surprised that Reiichi was asking him these kind of questions—generally, they were things he asked, not her. "Well, any woman from the age of 18 to 40 are all—"
"—a strike," she finished, rolling her eyes. "I don't believe that."
"Yeah well, you don't believe a lot of things I say," he replied, smiling. "You definitely didn't believe me about Yuu and you getting together, going out, getting married, having sex—"
"That's…that's different," she retorted.
"No different than you insisting that he wasn't your type."
"He isn't."
Lavi raised an eyebrow, holding the door open when they reached the lobby. "Yuu is everybody's type, your opinion is so invalid."
Reiichi just gave her cousin a flat look in return as they moved toward the car waiting for them outside. "He was really rude when we first met," she argued. "Actually, he still is, but well—"
"That's just Yuu's sparkling personality, yeah?" Lavi smirked. "Come on. He's a total tsundere—"
"What the hell took you two so long?" Kanda demanded the moment Lavi opened the backseat door for Reiichi and Seiichi to enter.
"Swear jar," Lavi quipped absent-mindedly, and Kanda growled.
Seiichi wriggled out of Reiichi's hold and clambered on the seat, grasping the back of the driver's chair while he attempted to climb over to the front.
"Kiddo, sit down. It's dangerous," Kanda warned as Reiichi carried the boy back and planted him down on her lap while she moved in to make space for her cousin.
"As I was saying, Yuu's a tsundere, and you love that kind of thing!"
"I'm a what?"
"Less in real life," Reiichi muttered. "Let's go, Yuu."
But Kanda did not step on the accelerator. "What did the stupid rabbit say about me?"
"It's just a term," she waved her hand. "You're hungry, right? Let's go."
"A term for what?"
"A term for how much Rei-chan lovesssss you," Lavi cooed, and Kanda scowled darker.
"You, shut up."
"See, Sei-chan?" Lavi sighed dramatically, looking over the toddler. "See how your daddy treats me? Don't grow up to be like him, all right, all grumpy and—ow, fuc—" But Reiichi pinched him hard at the last syllable and he yowled again.
"Swear jar," Kanda smirked, turning to strap in his seat belt.
Lavi huffed as he dropped a 500 yen coin into a medium sized coin box on the kitchen counter. "I paid my dues!" he announced.
"Congratulations," Reiichi replied blandly.
"I don't see Yuu paying."
A black wallet flew to the direction of his face and Lavi caught it smoothly before damage could occur. There were no coin flaps in Kanda's wallet, so Lavi shucked a 1000 yen note and stuffed it into the box.
"You asshole—"
"Ah!" Lavi grinned. "That was for just now."
Kanda scowled and stomped over once he was done taking off his shoes and snatched his possession back. Seiichi bounded after his father and bumped into Kanda's legs, clutching it tightly. When the model looked down, the boy had his arms raised.
"Carry."
Kanda sighed. "Don't be lazy; you can walk."
But Seiichi vehemently kept his arms up. "I want carry!"
Kanda sighed again and picked up his son, wincing when Seiichi immediately went to grasp his hair. "I've got to cook, kiddo," he poked the boy's forehead, earning a scrunch of the face. "And you need to go bathe."
"Ooh, ooh, Uncle Lavi can do it!" Lavi interjected excitedly, as though it was a new development (it wasn't). "Don't you want to spend more time with your super awesome uncle instead of your mean old daddy—ngh! Hey, that hurt."
"That was the point," Kanda grumbled.
"Come on, Sei," Reiichi told the boy, and he reluctantly let himself be let down, wherein he took the offered hand from Lavi and waddled with the chattering redhead into his room.
Since Seiichi was still young it was difficult to leave him anywhere while both of them were at work—they did come up with some sort of arrangement wherein Tiedoll actually took care of the child in the day and Kanda would go fetch him later in the evening if his shoot was done by then. Sometimes there was no choice but to bring Seiichi with them to the office, or sometimes, Lenalee or Allen or her friends helped whenever someone was free. It was hard to juggle having to focus work and their attention on their son but it had been a thrilling two years—Seiichi had been more than a blessing than Reiichi could ever describe. Maybe in part was due to the fact that her son was really obedient, which made a lot of things easier for them.
Once home together in the evening, Lavi or her would usually take the boy to the bath—Lavi particularly enjoyed the job for some reason, while Kanda would cook dinner. This time she took her own shower and emerged while Kanda was just waiting for soup to cook, tempura already done, waiting at the stove with crossed arms. She peeked in and set the table while he waited—no idea why he didn't want to sit but that was his choice, and she joined next to him when he stared bored at the pot.
"Do you want to go shower?" she asked. "I can serve it out when it's done."
"Later," he replied.
"You didn't eat lunch?"
He shook his head. "It would've shown."
She gave him a secret side look because honestly she didn't think it would—his physique was just unreal sometimes that maybe he needed to cut more slack for himself, but then, that wouldn't be a Kanda way to do it.
"You should've told me," she chided, elbowing him. "I could've cut some fruits for you in the morning."
He shrugged and then hovered towards the stove again, and then stepping back when he deemed that it still wasn't ready. She gave a small amused smile at his impatience, and then stifled a chuckle when his stomach made a weird gurgling sound. He glared at her daring her to laugh louder, which she did when a second noise followed shortly after.
He prodded her side out of annoyance but that didn't stop the giggles. "Rei," he grounded out.
"What?"
"Stop laughing."
"I'm not laughing," she protested, grinning.
Kanda glared at her harder and cornered her against the kitchen table. "Stop laughing," he repeated, but she couldn't help it when a third growl of the stomach was admitted.
Somewhere in her laughter Kanda seized her shoulders and crushed his mouth against hers, silencing the chuckles. He pressed his tongue in demandingly to muffle whatever sort of amused noise she wanted to make, kissing her deeply. Reiichi struggled for a second before she relented, because Kanda continued to chase her mouth whenever she wanted to pull back, finally giving up to let him explore her mouth. He kissed like he was hungry—which he was, she supposed, but she was gasping for air when he didn't want to let up after more than a minute, stubbornly gripping her waist closer. He only took a split second to breathe against her lips before he claimed them again, and this time, she encircled her arms around his neck to ease their activity.
They were startled out of it when a loud sharp whistle broke too near to their ears.
"Guys, mad sorry to break up the sex," Lavi grinned, balancing Seiichi on one arm and hip. "But the pot is overflowing."
Kanda cursed ("Swear jar," Lavi quipped.) while Reiichi ignored the waggling eyebrows from her cousin. She narrowed her eyes at the wet hair that both the other redheads were sporting.
"You two, come with me," she ordered.
Both of them went obediently and she helped blow dry their hair—she wondered why everyone in the house except her didn't understand the need to dry their hair especially at night—and when they were all done, dinner was served.
"Do I look sexy? Sexy enough to eat?" Lavi twirled around once, showing off his outfit.
He had on black tight jeans with chains hooked from the side to his back pocket, and a rather nice black patterned fitted long sleeved shirt that he rolled up. He also wore a choker and studs instead of his usual looped earrings, hair tucked back with a bandanna. Reiichi raised an eyebrow while Kanda didn't bother to look up, pushing a lego block towards his son who was quietly fixing some sort of a contraception with lego pieces at the living room table.
"Are all those chains really necessary?" she asked, coming to his side.
"I like them," he shrugged, turning around again. "Does it make my ass look big?"
His cousin ignored the question and instead focused on his hair. She took off his hair piece and combed his hair to a side with her fingers. "You've got some hair wax?"
"Uh, not now, but I know you do," he answered, disappearing into her bathroom to take it.
She ran her hands through his hair with the hair product and messed it up slightly, curling the ends a little. Personally she quite liked the length of hair that her cousin kept—she had left her hair to grow and it was past her shoulder again, but perhaps she might just go for another hair cut in the near future.
"Sexy now?" Lavi pouted with her hands still in his hair and she smiled.
"Yes."
He grinned and kissed her cheek. "Thanks. I'll see you on Sunday, if the old man doesn't have stuff for me to do."
"Have fun."
"Put Sei-chan to bed early and you can have fun with Yuu too," he whispered in her ear, earning a smack to his shoulder. "I'm just stating facts here."
"Have fun, Lavi," she repeated more flatly, but she waved as he skipped out the front door after a cheery goodbye to her husband and son.
"Don't eat that," Kanda was saying when she returned to the living room to see her son attempting to put the lego structure he built into his mouth. "Kiddo, take it out of your mouth."
Her son frowned and clutched the toy to his mouth tighter.
"Sei," Kanda stated once, and the boy reluctantly did as he was told.
"It's not for eating, okay?" Reiichi explained gently when she came to sit by them. "Plastic. Not for eating."
"Not to eat," Seiichi repeated after her, and she nodded.
At the side, Kanda let out a tired sigh before absent mindedly pushing another lego block towards Seiichi who took it and attempted to find another place on his structure to add it to. Reiichi glanced at his profile—he had showered and changed into sleep wear looking comfortable and soft, and the slight dip in his posture showed how tired he was from the day. She felt the same and she had no idea how Lavi conjured the energy to go clubbing—but it was a Friday and there was a weekend to recuperate.
Reiichi picked out the heads and bodies of the lego people and attempted to make them into full persons.
"Guess who's this?" she pushed one with long white hair, white robes and a staff towards Kanda.
"….The beansprout."
Reiichi rolled her eyes. "It's Gandalf."
Kanda just gave her a blank look, but she knew they had this conversation a couple of times—he was just being Kanda, as usual.
"This one," Kanda picked one out from the mess on the table and placed it in front of her.
It was a half yellow and blue stack of lego bricks with a curved top. "A…vacuum cleaner?"
Kanda shot her an incredulous look. "What?"
"It looks like a vacuum cleaner."
"It's a snail."
"No," she squinted. "Really?"
He took a slip of paper tucked at the corner and flipped it out, pointed to a particular picture which indeed showed that the toy was supposed to be a snail—printed eyes intact.
"I want the snail," Seiichi quipped beside her, and she passed it along to his waiting hand.
Reiichi gave a second look to the little blocks spread in front of her husband. "I've never played with lego before," she said, picking what was labelled as an elephant on the sheet. "We didn't really have toys in the orphanage, so we mostly played outside."
"I didn't get to play anything," Kanda murmured, flicking one of the lego bricks. "At that place."
"But with Tiedoll-san?"
Kanda snorted, looking less expressionless. "Music," he recounted. "Art things," he shrugged. "I broke a sculpture once."
"Was it expensive?"
"As hell," Kanda nodded, smirking slightly.
"Swear jar," Reiichi put in, and he scowled.
"You can't be fu—" he sucked in a deep breath, and let out a slow one. "Serious."
"That's another 500 yen."
"Goddamn—"
"500."
"It's just a fucking stupid—"
"500."
"'Stupid' doesn't count," Kanda retorted, but Reiichi stared back at him. "Fine," he grumbled under his breath, pushing himself up. "Fucki—fuc—fine."
"500!" Reiichi called after him as he made to walk to their room to get his wallet, but he paused in his tracks.
Kanda turned abruptly and crouched down next to his son. "Kiddo, it's time for bed."
Seiichi shook his head. "Don't want to. Building a ship," he gestured. "Big ship. Big big ship!"
"We can build a big one tomorrow," Kanda bargained, ignoring the amused expression Reiichi had on while she watched the exchange. "Bigger than the house."
"Very big ship."
"Yeah. But only if you go to bed now."
Seiichi gave it a few moments of contemplation before he set the toy in his hands down, raising them up to stare at his father. "Carry."
Kanda rolled his eyes and picked him up. "I can't carry you forever, you know," he muttered, flicking his son's forehead. "What are your legs for, dork?"
"Standing!"
"No, walking," the model corrected as he carried the younger off.
Reiichi shook her head with a smile as she swept the lego bricks back into the box, packing it to a side just as Kanda emerged out from the corridor with his wallet in hand. He sat down and blandly tossed a couple of notes to the table.
"Is that enough?"
"Maybe another 500," she grinned.
Kanda raised an eyebrow and took out his credit card, setting it on the table. "Now I can say whatever the fuck I want, right?"
Reiichi rolled her eyes. "Does it really pain you so much to not use a curse word?"
"It's inconvenient."
She frowned. "How so? The meaning of your sentences are no different with or without them—it's just bad language."
Kanda stared at her for a couple of moments before he moved closer. "What if I want to fuck you?" he asked lowly.
Immediately she coloured, edging backwards at the intensity, but he leaned forward just as much. "Then…you can say it in some other…way…"
He shifted even nearer, humming under his breath, obviously delighted at his upper hand now. "Like how?" he breathed, hands planting firm around her on the ground.
Her gaze automatically shot to his mouth and she grasped the front of his shirt. "You can show me," she murmured softly.
Kanda smirked, licking his lips before surging forward.
"When will it get warmer?" Lavi sighed, handing over his coat to the bouncers of Noel. "'Sup, Marie, how's it going, other than the fucking cold?"
It was March and by right it should be spring, but then again, the seasons of the year never followed the calendar strictly. Lavi isn't that fond of the cold unlike his best friend—summer is personally his favourite season.
Marie just smiled, leading him in.
He's been a regular at the club (more regular) ever since Kanda and Reiichi got married and he had to give them some sex time—he was the best brother-in-law ever, Kanda had to give him that—and also because he has done advertising gigs for Marie, he practically has his own table if he wants it. He comes because Marie has awesome taste in music and he brings in cool DJs and acts, and of course, he never needed to worry about someone trying to do shit like rape drug his drink to steal his money. Noel is a club that could handle Kanda's level of fame—Lavi liked an environment which he could come out to have a good time.
He sat at the bar at the back where Marie chose to bartend for the night. The night started out slow—he had nodded to a couple of people he knows by familiarity here, and a girl slid to the seat next to him to offer him a drink.
She knew who he was and Lavi generally wasn't too bothered about people coming up to him just because he was kind of famous—much less than Kanda since he was behind the camera, but nowadays he was also known for being Kanda's wife's cousin too—and accepted the offer, but he paid for her drink instead. It's common courtesy.
She was obviously interested from the way she twirled her hair and leaned forward, but when she asked him to dance, he declined good naturedly. She didn't take it to heart though, and talked with him a little while more before she bided him a pleasant night and went off to find someone else to dance with.
Sometimes Lavi didn't know what he was looking for either—he didn't really think there was a trend to which the kind of girls he accepted or declined to dance or sleep with, it just, well. It just happened.
"Another beer, thanks," he nodded at Marie when the other looked over.
"No vodka today?" Marie chuckled, putting forth the filled mug a minute later.
"I think I'm getting old—my liver needs a break at some point," he replied, but then Marie looked pointedly at the beer and he shrugged. "At some point," he repeated, grinning.
"Long day?"
"Yeah, kinda," he replied, leaning on his palm. "Just not up for mingling today. I guess I won't stay late."
"Well, stay for a little more. There's a show in about twenty minutes."
"Yeah? Who?"
"Not the first time she's performed here, but you've haven't heard her yet. You really should."
"Coming from you, that's fucking high praise," Lavi blinked. "Uh, I'm not saying you're a music snob, but you've got standards, man. So who is she?"
"You'll see."
Marie didn't offer anything more, so Lavi sipped his beer and waited for the gig to start. When the lights of the club dimmed he swivelled his chair around to get a view of the small stage on the other side, spotlight bright. The dance floor in front started to fill thicker with the other clubbers, waving their light sticks in the air. There was no introduction but the crowd suddenly went silent, like total silence, and Lavi watched, intrigued.
"Please don't stop the—please don't stop the—please don't stop the music!"
A clear voice broke through, and a girl with long blonde hair till her waist hopped on stage, holding a microphone in her left hand. Hoots and screams immediately went wild, but that was drowned out by the sudden loud bass that blared through the speakers, thumping rhythmically.
"Please don't stop the music," the girl grinned widely, as she sang, hips unconsciously moving to the beat. "Please don't stop the music, the music, the music, the music—"
Ba bum bum ba bum ba bum bum ba bum.
"It's getting late," she started, eyes closed, "I'm making my way over to my favourite place— I gotta get my body moving, shake the stress away—"
Lavi stared, stunned. Her voice was...was…it was well, incredible—it flowed like crystal water, pure and alive, melody flowing like honey. It wasn't a voice he had ever heard before, and he felt goosebumps arising on his arms just from the first verse.
"I wasn't looking for nobody when you looked my way, possible candidate," she smirked. "Yeah—"
The singer crouched down and hopped off the stage, the floor immediately parting to give her space as the spotlight followed her movements.
"Who knew, that you'd be up in here looking like you do," she hummed, tone vibrating beautifully. "You're making staying over here, impossible— oh, oh, baby, I must say your aura is incredible."
She moved nearer to the back where Lavi could now properly see her—she wore a tight midriff that showed off her toned stomach and black shorts with translucent stockings, coupled with high thick white heels. Her eyes were blue with glittery makeup across, which shone as she continued singing, swaying to the beat.
"If you don't have to go," Lavi mouthed the words along. "Don't."
"Do you know what you started?" she sang, and he nodded along to the music. "I just came here to party, but now we're rocking on the dance floor, actin' naughty—your hands around my waist—"
"Just let the music play—" he breathed softly in sync.
"We're hand in hand, chest to chest and now we're face to face," she breathed in deeply and closed her eyes, letting her voice reach.
"I wanna take you away—
Let's escape into the music D.J let it play—
I just can't refuse it, like the way you do this—
Keep on rocking to it, please don't stop the—
Please don't stop the music!"
The music played in the background, but Lavi was absorbed at the way he remembered her voice echoing—fuck, Marie was right—he needed to hear this. She moved further down across the dance floor smiling and dancing with a few people before she reached the bar, turning around just as she was within three steps away from him.
"Baby are you ready 'cause it's getting close," she crooned. "Don't you feel the passion ready to explode?"
"What goes on between us no one has to know," Lavi couldn't help but chorus along with the rest of the club. "This is a private show—oh—"
She gathered her hair and left it over her left shoulder, body continually grooving to the rhythm. She swivelled around and spotted Marie watching to which she smiled at, and then her gaze set upon a redhead seated just in front. Just for a second he looked familiar but she didn't know why, but well, a show was a show.
There wouldn't be anyone she knew here. Probably.
"Do you know what you started?" she continued, keeping her eyes on the redhead, who blinked and met her stare. "I just came to party, but now we're rocking on the dance floor, actin' naughty—your hands around my waist—"
She came up close enough to linger a finger on his chest.
"Just let the music play—
We're hand in hand
Chest to chest
And now," she whispered. "We're face to face."
Lavi only saw her cerulean blue eyes before the lights went out.
"Come on, dude," Lavi whined. "That's unfair."
"It's not that I don't want to tell you her name," Marie sighed, wiping the bar counter. "But she specifically requested anonymity."
"Why?"
"Personal reasons I'm sure," he answered blandly. "Didn't you say you wanted to have an early night?"
"Trying to get me to leave before she comes out?" Lavi grinned. "I'm not that easy to get rid of, you know."
Marie only smiled, turning away to busy with something behind the bar counter before attending to a group of customers lining a queue. Lavi leaned back and eyed the rest of the club that was still going on strong in the night—or early morning. He took another sip of his beer and hummed, watching the other clubbers and mentally assigning the kind of drinks that might order when they got to the bar. It was a simple game he played sometimes.
He was mostly on mark, eyeing a man with a particular tight white shirt walk away with a lime cocktail in hand—huh—but then the next person in line, which was the last one, didn't seem to flash any sort of hint, except for a strange familiarity. She was dressed decidedly not for the venue—she wore black framed glasses, with a duffle bag over her shoulder with a towel around her neck. Her black hair was long and slightly wavy towards the end, front bangs hiding a portion of her face.
Curiously Marie merely took one look at her and filled a glass of water, placing it on the counter. Wordlessly she took it and downed it, throwing her head slightly back, and that was when it clicked.
He never forgot a face.
"Hey," he began, standing up to move over to a closer seat. "You were incredible out there."
She startled.
She looked young—much younger than she did on stage just now, but perhaps it was the glasses. Her expression twisted into something like vague panic before she shot a look towards Marie who shook his head. Her eyes were dark brown.
Lavi watched the exchange curiously.
"…Thank you," she replied softly when she put down her empty cup.
"Can I get you a drink?"
"No thanks," she said quickly with a polite smile.
Lavi would insist more, except Marie cut in with an envelope in hand. "Great performance tonight. You've earned this."
"Thanks," she nodded, taking the envelope with a slight bow.
"If you happen to be open again, just call me up. I'll slot you in for any time you like."
"We'll see," she answered, smiling slightly. "Have a nice night, Marie-san."
She made to leave, but Marie stopped her. "Do you need someone to take you home? It's quite late."
"I'll manage with a cab," she shrugged. "Thanks again."
She bowed once more to Marie and slightly towards Lavi before disappearing off.
Lavi pouted. "Are you sure you can't give me her name?"
Marie shook his head, bending down to fiddle with something behind the bar. "Sorry. Also, I won't encourage it."
"Encourage what?"
"Anything but musical interest," Marie elaborated.
"Wha—" the redhead frowned. "No, I just met—I mean, I just heard her sing, and like you said, it was pretty fucking amazing. If there's another show that she's doing, I'd want to know. Nothing scandalous, ya know, I'm not that much of a sleazy guy," he wrinkled his nose. "I think."
Marie chuckled. "I can give you a ring if she's performing."
"Sweet."
And that was what Marie promised, but as Lavi hummed to himself and tapped boredly on the table—his phone hadn't buzzed or rang from the club owner since that time, and it had been a month. Maybe she went to other places to do her gigs, who knew, but then Marie was in the business long enough to know if she was, and he would've told him. Marie was a cool guy, Lavi believed him.
"Oi."
"Oi. Usagi!"
"Tch."
Lavi yelped when a hand gripped his neck from behind, causing him to nearly fall off the chair. Kanda had a particularly painful hold on him, almost pushing his face to hit the table, except that he managed to keep his elbows locked in time.
"Fuck—Yuu—what the fuck?"
Kanda snorted. "What the fuck is up with you?"
"Swear jar," Lavi muttered by reflex.
"Fucking hypocrite," the model rolled his eyes. "Usagi. I'm not going to ask again."
Lavi pouted. "Why are you asking anyway? What did I do?"
"What didn't you do," the other countered, finally releasing his grip to cross his arms.
"Exactly," Lavi raised an eyebrow, gesturing around. "We're waiting for Rei-chan, aren't we? So what's supposed to happen that's not happening?"
They were just sitting around in the kitchen basement waiting for Reiichi's working hours to end, having just ended their shoot slightly earlier than intended. Between them, Seiichi was dutifully colouring in a picture book with wax crayons, apparently oblivious to the words passed around.
"You didn't say a damn word in the past ten minutes."
"Swear jar," Lavi said again before squinting. "So…you missed my beautiful voice?"
Kanda scowled and ignored his comment. "It's unnatural."
"Just because I didn't—"
"It is."
Lavi huffed. "You and Lena-chan," he muttered under his breath. "I was just thinking about something, no need to call on the apocalypse."
"All the more reason to," Kanda replied, picking up a wax crayon to examine it. "Spit it out already."
"It's nothing."
The crayon in Kanda's hold suddenly snapped, and Seiichi blinked up from his colourings to look at his father. There was a second of silence as Kanda slowly put down one of the broken pieces of the crayon in front of his son who wordlessly took it and went back to colouring the page.
Lavi blinked as Kanda glared at him like it was his fault. "What?"
"If I break another thing, it's your fault."
The redhead rolled his eye. "Such flawed logic, but fine," he grumbled, also taking one of the crayons on the table to fiddle with. "You know I told you about that singer I heard last month, right? I just want to hear her sing again."
"…That's it?"
The redhead narrowed his eye. "…What do you mean 'that's it'?"
"Idiot. Find her then," Kanda scoffed. "You're good at that."
"You don't think I've tried?" Lavi demanded. "I told you don't know her real name. I don't think she's performed anywhere else either—I don't think she even does it professionally, maybe just a hobby but it's such a waste, fuck, her voice….it's…it's incredible; fuck."
"1000 yen."
Grumbling, Lavi stuck his hands into his pocket for his wallet and slapped down a 1000 yen note.
"Rei-chan's going to kill us later," he sighed, looking over at Seiichi who thankfully, seemed to not react at the bad language tossed around. "But yeah, that's it."
His best friend gave him a judgemental stare until the model was interrupted by the youngest boy amidst them pulling at his sleeve.
"Six," the boy beamed. "Six. Six. Six!"
Lavi looked at his watch and deemed that it was six—it was time to pick Reiichi up.
"Alright, little Yuu, time to fetch your mummy," he cooed, wriggling his fingers in front of Seiichi.
The small redhead stretched his arms out and Kanda pinched the bridge of his nose. "Didn't you say you'd walk today, kiddo?"
Seiichi pouted, hands drooping. "But I want—"
"Sei."
"Okay," the boy murmured, slipping down the chair by himself.
Lavi stared—it's not the first time he's seen this sort of interaction between father and son, but honestly it was kind of creepy how well behaved Seiichi was to his parents—not so much to other adults he didn't know though. The boy trotted over to Kanda and grabbed his hand, looking up with expectantly.
Kanda scowled. "Fine," he muttered, standing up, but he let his son hold on to his hand.
The car keys were thrown at Lavi, who caught them with his exercised fast reflexes. "Oh? You're going up today?"
"Made a deal," Kanda stated reluctantly, giving his son a narrowed look.
"Huh," Lavi mused, a grin slowly morphing. "He's learning. I'm fuc—I mean, I'm proud," he corrected hastily, bending down to reach Seiichi's eye level. "Gimme a high five, Sei-chan."
Unfortunately Kanda steered his son away before any hands could meet. "Go get the damn car, usagi," he sniffed. "And 500 yen."
"You pay your 1500 first!"
It's getting late,
I'm making my way over to my favourite place—
I gotta get my body moving, shake the stress away—
I wasn't looking for nobody when you looked my way,
Possible candidate, yeah—
Who knew, (who knew),
That you'd be up in here looking like you do,
You're making staying over here, impossible—
Oh, oh, baby, I must say your aura is incredible,
If you don't have to go,
Don't—
"Lavi?"
He startled when he felt a rather cold hands on his cheeks, pressing them together. "Yesh?" he blinked at Seiichi who was frowning at him and pushing his tiny palms on his face. "Wat arr yu doin', lil' Yuu?"
Reiichi shook her head and gently chided Seiichi to drop his hands, but she didn't stop the worried expression on her face. "You okay?"
"Huh?" he blinked, giving their surroundings a quick once over to remind himself where he was—they were in the lift going down to Kanda's car, a routine of everyday work life, nothing new there. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."
She frowned more intently. "What's up?"
"The ceiling?"
"Lavi," she peered at him. "You've been zoning out a lot the past few weeks. Something bothering you?"
The first reaction was to protest—he wasn't really zoning out as much as he was just wondering… "…Not really."
"Kanda's worried about you."
At that, Lavi nearly choked. "Really?"
"In his way," Reiichi amended. "He said something about the girl you saw at the club a month…or was it two months ago?"
"You make it sound so sleazy when you put it that way," Lavi chuckled. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, most of the girls that I've—"
"Deflecting," she put in with a pointed look, and he sighed.
"It wasn't intentional," he replied, scratching his cheek. "I dunno. Yeah, maybe I'm thinking about that. You know I can't…forget things, right?" he murmured, half shrugging. "You should've heard her, Rei-chan. She was good. I don't think you'd forget it either."
Reiichi smiled. "I'd like to."
"Hmm, come with me the next time," he grinned. "Though I'm not so sure if Yuu is willing to let you out of his sight for one night, considering what happened the other time."
She blushed slightly and made to walk off first when the lift doors opened at the ground floor, with Lavi snickering behind her. She got into the car that was waiting, grumpy driver in the front as usual. Nonsensical chatter filled the ride home—or more like a one sided conversation that Lavi was having with their son—nothing new there.
"And then your daddy said—"
"Quit telling him lies, you stupid rabbit!"
"I haven't even said anything!" Lavi protested, but the shit eating grin told of his true nature. "Besides—" he abruptly stopped, a figure a distance in front catching his attention.
They were at a red light waiting for pedestrians to cross, and a bunch of high schoolers were strolling past since it was right outside a high school, but, there was just something about one of them that…Lavi squinted, leaning forward.
"Usagi, get your face away from the front," Kanda snapped, but Lavi ignored it, eye wide.
"Yuu, uh, wait here a moment," he murmured before unlocking the door and scrambling out.
Reiichi and Kanda stared.
"Lavi!" Reiichi called, but her cousin was ducking across the other cars in the other lanes to get to the pavement. "Lavi!"
"What the hell?"
"500," she reminded Kanda, who scowled. "Wait here with Sei, I'm going after him."
"Wait—Rei—" Kanda shouted after her, but the door slammed shut and just at that moment, the lights were green again.
He watched Reiichi make quick way out of the road and was forced to move on.
"Tch."
"Hey! HEY!"
Lavi ran as fast as he could to a particular figure he had kept his eye on—a high school student walking beside another, with her hair tied up; it was long and curled at the ends, exactly like what he remembered that day.
"Hey!" he panted, reaching for the girl by the shoulder, to which she jolted and spun around in shock. Dark brown eyes. Black rimmed glasses. Definitely her. "Hey, you're that girl, right? I'd remember your face anywhere—I mean, I literally can't forget any faces, it's not that I'm being creepy or anything!"
She clutched the strap of her backpack warily. "…That girl?" she repeated, and Lavi knew it was her. Definitely.
"You're her, right? The one who sang at Noel two months ago?"
At this, the other girl beside her interjected. "You sang? And you didn't tell me?"
"It was at a club," she replied, lowering her voice, though she kept one suspicious eye on the redhead. "Strictly speaking I'm not even legal to be inside."
"But still!" her friend sighed, but her gaze was caught by the other standing in front of them. "Wait. That's…t-that's…Lavi Bookman," she squinted. "Right? I'm. I'm not seeing things, am I?"
"Well," she blinked. "I can see him too so I guess we're both delusional if that's the case."
Lavi almost laughed. Sometimes he forgot that yeah, he was kind of famous. "Yeah, I'm Lavi," he nodded. "And I talked to you at the bar—you didn't want a drink, remember?"
The girl paused, eyes widening. "No wonder you looked so familiar," she muttered under her breath.
"Lavi!"
"Is that…"
"…Kanda Reiichi?"
The two high schoolers stared in speechlessness as Reiichi trotted up, anxiously looking at other students nearby who were starting to stare in their direction.
"Lavi, what are you doing?" she hissed when she was within Lavi's earshot.
Lavi grinned. "I found her!" he pointed excitedly. "That's her—the singer I told you and Yuu about!"
Reiichi blinked rapidly. "Are…are you sure?"
"Are you doubting my memory?"
"It's just," too sudden, was what Reiichi wanted to say, but she sighed instead. Lowering her voice, she tugged at his arm. "Lavi…she doesn't know you. From anyone's point of view, this is pretty creepy."
"Yeah…but so what?" he replied, frowning. "I'm not gonna do anything, I just want to know when she's performing again."
"Not any time soon," the girl interrupted.
"Huh? Why?" Lavi demanded, immediately dropping his lowered voice. "But you sing so well! I mean, it's such a waste, your voice is amazing! If you wanted, I'm sure Marie could find a sponsor and—"
"Sorry, could you not—…talk about this here," she interjected abruptly, looking uneasy. "People don't know that I…perform, I want to keep it that way," she explained, eyes darting around. "And thanks," she turned slightly, embarrassed. "But term just started; I've got school stuff now. I won't be singing for a while."
"…Oh," Lavi said. "Well. Okay. Then when do you think you'll be free?"
"Lavi!" Reiichi elbowed him, and he hastened to correct himself.
"I mean, free as in, as in when do you think you can sing again? I want Rei-chan to hear you."
"Well…"
"It's Kanda-sama," her friend suddenly whispered, and everyone turned to see the famed model stalk towards them with Seiichi in one arm, looking dark and irritated.
"What the hell is going on?" he demanded, running his free hand through his fringe. "Do either of you know how hard it is to find a parking slot in this damn place?"
"Yuu," Reiichi frowned disapprovingly, to which Kanda just huffed.
Seiichi clutched his father's neck tighter when the two high schoolers stared at the little boy, fascinated.
"He's so cute," the girl murmured, clutching her friend's arm.
"He is so cute," the other nodded dazedly.
"Oi, quit that," Kanda snapped his fingers loudly, and both of them jumped, ducking their heads hastily. "Rei, let's go."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Lavi cried before Kanda turned heel and stormed off expecting them to follow. "Before that," he turned to the girl he had been hunting for months—"Can I have your name?"
Unfortunately, she did not answer immediately. "Um…why?"
"Why not?"
"It's not that I'm not flattered or anything," she rubbed her neck, though she was frowning slightly. "But why do you want to know? I don't upload videos or whatever, you won't find anything of…interest."
"Then it shouldn't matter if you tell me, right?"
She sighed inwardly, and looked over to her friend who was not so subtly enjoying the time looking at Kanda Yuu. "If I tell you my name, can I get something in return?" she asked cautiously.
"Sure, anything."
"Can I get an autograph from..." she flickered her gaze to the famed model, who scowled when he realised what was being requested.
"Fuck no."
"Swear jar," Lavi put in.
"Yuu!" Reiichi glared at him, horrified. "Sei's here!"
"Yuu, come on," Lavi pouted. "I'll give you something really special in return."
Kanda rolled his eyes. "I don't want anything from you."
"Please? I've never asked you for anything—"
"Bullshit."
"Swear jar."
"What the fuck—"
Reiichi grabbed Kanda's arm. "Give me Sei."
Without protest the half-Japanese relinquished the boy, mainly because Reiichi looked like she wanted to kill him, and also because Seiichi happily accepted the hold in his mother's arms.
"Yuu, please. Please just sign her book or whatever. It's not gonna cost you anything! I'll leave you and Rei-chan alone for the whole of next week," Lavi bargained.
"No."
"Two weeks."
"No."
"Two and a half."
"No."
"Two and—"
"I fucking said—"
"Two of you, stop it," Reiichi grounded out, rolling her eyes. "Everyone is staring," she reminded them, holding Seiichi protectively. "Yuu, just sign them something."
"I said no," Kanda repeated, scowling. "I don't fucking want to."
She looked at him sternly and he gritted his teeth, glaring back. Tense moments passed until Kanda breathed in deeply once, scowl darker than ever.
"I'm not paying the fucking swear jar," he muttered, holding out his hand. "Someone give me a damn pen."
"Don't repeat anything your father said, he's a very bad influence today," Reiichi told Seiichi firmly.
"You mean everyday," Lavi quipped at the side, but he had to jump to avoid the kick Kanda sent his way.
With fumbling hands a notebook and marker was produced from the two girls and Kanda scrawled his name on it—he really didn't get what was so fascinating about his signature—it was practically writing his name in everyday life, and then it was shoved back to them.
"Thank you so much," they murmured, taking the notebook with barely concealed excitement.
"So?" Lavi prodded, crossing his arms.
She smiled slightly. "My name is Inouye Adachi."
"Great," Kanda muttered. "Now let's go." This time, he turned heel and walked off, leaving Reiichi to bow slightly in farewell before she caught up with her husband.
Lavi gave a wink before he too turned to run after the duo leaving him behind.
Inouye Adachi.
Mission accomplished.
A/N: So good news (or bad, idk) I will be moving forward with a LaviOC, though I'm not confident on how this will turn out. There was a fleeting thought about Lavi/Tae (for all those who've forgotten Tae, she's Reiichi's fan introduced in Imitation Black) but that would've screwed all my thought out plans for this other OC.
Lavi is hard to write an OC for mainly because 1) I am such a die hard Lavi/Kanda writer 2) I feel like Lavi is someone who doesn't have a type, any kind of girl would work with him, and because of that, she needs to have something that catches his attention that makes him fall hook line and sinker because he even knows it 3) the age difference (!) but that was a main point. So, hopefully you guys will love Inouye Adachi—I'm not too sure on her character like I am with Reiichi, but as I write it should work out. A little bit if inspiration for Adachi comes from Sheryl Nome though Adachi is not that much like her when she's not singing.
Also: Seiichi is hard to write (I have no idea how kids are like I actually hate kids tbh) but he's a cute little bundle for now, I have cute plans for him when he grows up, if I ever reach that point. If.