Let Your Silence Sing
Chapter 38
"Lavi, you better wake up soon, or I swear I'm going to lose my shit." For the first two and a half hours, I had been calling him Usagi-chan, but when I realized he didn't respond to that, instead twitching at the name Lavi, I switched to that. (It may have been complete coincidence that he twitched when I called his name, though.) "Laaaviiii," I gurgled weakly, before flopping down on his chest, exhausted.
"Desiree, what in the name of all that is holy are you doing?" Neah asked, very confused. "Are you cheating on Tyki? Can I break the news to him? Oh, please let me tell him!"
I shot up from the bed. "Of course I'm not! Oh, grab him and Allen and Road if you would. Thanks~"
"All I am is the bus boy," Neah muttered as he phased though the door.
"I am never going to get used to that," I mumbled, staring blankly at the spot Neah disappeared from.
Before too long, all the previously named people were gathered in the room.
"Allen!" I loudly said. He cocked his head in confusion. "My I present to you, the one, the only, Lavi~!"
I moved so I wasn't blocking his view of the kid, and Allen's attention was instantly drawn to the future bookman lying on the bed, looking rather… dead-like. His jaw dropped, and he glanced between the rabbit and me, who had a grin of pure amusement on my face. "Um... did you do that to him?" I vaguely noticed he was waving his hand around, looking a bit nervous, but I was distracted by a gleam of gold from his left.
Suddenly it was gone, and to avoid being suspicious for pausing so long, I quickly cried out, "What? Those injuries? Of course not! I thought you knew me better than that, Allen… I thought we had something special."
"Yes, you're right, you wouldn't do that," Allen amended, looking embarrassed, as my over-dramatization blew right over his head and through the closed door behind him. "I'm sorry for doubting you. But why is he in your room?" Allen questioned.
"Oh. I was fixing his wounds and stuff, and he was just too heavy to move again." I poked him gently. "I think he's just really tired, because he won't wake up."
Allen's eyes filled with tears of happiness that his friend was here, and he started forwards, embracing both the unconscious Lavi and I. My face slightly reddened as I remembered the, ehem, last time we had been close, but I patted him on the back comfortingly.
"Waking up next to a red-head and a whitenette. Just another morning for Lavi, the future bookman," Lavi narrated, half asleep.
"Lavi!" Allen and I exclaimed joyously.
"Wait, Allen, what the heck?!" Lavi shot up and cringed as he stretched one of his wounds.
"Don't move so fast, you're still injured," I told him, pushing him back down on the bed.
Tyki put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. "How about you go get Eyepatch food. I'm sure he's hungry."
"Oh, you're right!" I exclaimed. "Is there anything you want, Lavi?"
The rabbit gave me an odd look, and opened his mouth to speak, but glanced over my head, paled, and quickly told me, "Chicken soup would be fine."
"Okay!" I smiled at him and got up to leave the room.
After feeding and watering Lavi, finally our beach expedition began.
"Yay! A large body of water!" I exclaimed. "Is this fresh water or salt water?"
"I think it's salt water," Tyki answered, shrugging.
"Salt water," I yelled happily as I ran towards the substance. Only to trip on an underwater sand bank and fall into the see-through liquid. "Whoa, guys, you gotta get in here, the water's great!"
Tyki was the first to wade in after me. "Yeah, the water is great!"
"Don't think I don't see what you're doing, you perm-haired bastard!" Lavi waved his accusing finger at Tyki. "You're not even touching the water!"
"Tyki" I exclaimed disappointedly. "Fine, then." I ran back up to where the others were setting up a beach blanket and an umbrella, and grabbed Allen. Laughing, I yanked him back to the water. Allen smiled indulgently as he allowed me to lead him back to the nicely-temperatured, tiny ocean. "What are you two waiting for? Come on and join us!" I flailed my hand at Road and Lavi who were still on land.
Road giggled, and raced into the water, with Lavi following behind much slower, not wanting to injure himself any more. I can accept that.
As I waited for them, I laid on my back in the water, so I floated on the surface.
"You're pretty good at that," Allen complimented.
"Thank you. I have rock hard flabs that help me to float~" I grinned at him. "If I could stand cold, I could totally live in the Arctic, floating around."
"The Arctic? What's that?" Lavi asked, finally arriving on the scene.
"Y'know. The North Pole." Blank look. "The place in the North," I emphasized my point by positioning my index finger so it stuck up. I still got a blank look. Sighing loudly, I asked in exasperation, "What are they teaching bookmen nowadays?"
Looking down at the water lapping on the shore I got a devilish idea.
Slapping my hands together underwater, I yelped, "I got one, I got one!"
Lavi and Allen looked curiously at my hand, and both got quickly shot sprays of water to their faces.
"Oh. My fish doesn't like you," I sighed mournfully.
"Why you…" Lavi trailed off as he sprayed water back in my face. I spat the water out, surprised he had learned the trick so quickly, as Allen was still trying to put his hands together to create the pressure needed for shooting. Then again, he was a bookman. It was what he was trained for.
Instead of spraying him again, I reached my hands into the water, and splashed him with the destructive power of two hands worth of tiny ocean.
"Hey, that's cheating!" Lavi complained, wiping water out of his eyes.
"All's fair in love and war," I retorted, only to get a return splash in the face. "Oh it is on!"
Soon, Allen and Road were drawn into our splashing fight, and we sent water every which way, until our arms ached.
"I give, I give!" Lavi finally groaned, falling backwards into the clear liquid. Laughing, I sat on his stomach (gently, as not to injure him further), and he gasped out bubbles of surprise from under the surface.
When I finally opened my eyes again after giggling so hard, I noticed that Tyki was standing a little distance away from the group, looking uncomfortable. I made a 'come hither' gesture, which he shook his head to.
Pouting, I stalked over and latched onto his arm. "Tyki, you're not even touching the water, you cheat!" I exclaimed my displeasure.
The man flushed ever so slightly, and mumbled back a, "I think I'm going back on the beach…"
"Tyki, you can't swim. Is that it?" The red of his cheeks became more pronounced. "Wait seriously?" He tried to pull away from my grip, unable to make eye contact. "No, no, it's okay. Don't worry, I can teach you how to swim. Salt water has better floatation than regular water."
Looking down and frowning, Tyki released his Choose ability and shivered as he felt the cold water's wrath. Abruptly, I dunked him, and he came back up sputtering.
"So it is true. You look better wet." I crouched next to his sitting form. He looked either about to make a sassy comeback or to run away. "But no. Come on, I'll teach you to swim. Do you ever sing, by chance?" Tyki mumbled something intelligible in response. "Okay… well, the most important thing in swimming is breath support. You have to be able to hold your breath when you go under."
Tyki nodded, still observing the water like it was going to jump him, yet I knew he was still listening. Maybe.
"Okay. Next we work on actually swimming." I pushed off the bottom and swam around him in the shallow water. "This is my favourite technique," I said referring to the half breast-stroke I was performing. "I think this is the one most people prefer, though," I commented thoughtfully as I did the lame old both-feet-kicking-arm-paddling-stroke. Whatever it was called. "C'mon, Tyki~" I grinned up at him, hoping he had picked up something from my half-assed teachings.
To my great delight, he was a quick study, and proceeded to swim almost perfectly in the nameless fashion I had shown his before.
"Yeah! You did it!" He gave me a weak smile, but stood up shortly after He shrugged his shoulders, and started towards shore. "Hey where are you going? I haven't taught you underwater swimming!" At his look I added, "Using your Choose power is cheating, Tyki." I smiled at him again, but he didn't even respond in any way this time. "Tyki, it's not that hard. It's like…" I trailed off as I went underwater and swam over behind him. "Boo~" I laughed, popping up, and getting a nice look at his back.
He turned around with something looking to be panic on his face, before breathing in deeply and turning around, completely ignoring me.
That was weird.
"Tyki, what's wrong?" I called after him. He continued to pretend I didn't exist and walked to the shore, sitting on the blanket/quilt/towel thing we had brought, and hiding under the shadow of our manly, pink umbrella. There, he curled up like a child, knees pulled to his chin and arms wrapped around his legs.
Despite his childlike manner, he was still getting checked out by the female population of the beach (minus Road).
Getting out of the water, I walked up to Tyki and pushed his knees down, before settling myself in his lap. I ignored the kicked puppy look he gave me, in favor of placing my chin on his shoulder and glaring at the closest woman who was giving him a lustful look. 'Bitch, he's mine,' I mouthed slowly at her. She turned red with anger, and quickly stormed off.
When I was sure that everyone lusting after him had gotten the message, I pulled away from Tyki's shoulder. He was giving the sand to my left a defeated look.
"Do I really have to ask again?" I questioned, pushing his bangs away from his face and drawing his attention back. "Tyki, really, what's wrong?"
His eyes, which had started to trail away again, snapped back up to meet mine, before shifting to the right slightly. "Promise not to laugh…"
"Tyki, if it's serious, I'm not going to laugh at you, okay?"
He pulled me closer to his chest and moved his hands to run through my hair. "Um… I'm kind of…" I pushed his hand aside to look at him encouragingly. "Imaypossiblybescaredofwater," he finally blurted out.
After a moment of translation, I gave him a delighted look that we were finally bonding, and ran my own fingers through his hair reassuringly. "Tyki, we all have something we're irrationally afraid of. Like me and tall males!"
He looked at me, and a soft smile cracked his face (which drew the attention of even the women I had scared off before). His hand moved back to my hair and the other moved up to cup my cheek, before he leaned forwards and pressed his lips against mine.
He pulled away a second to murmur, "When you went under, I was really scared. I thought you were going to drown…"
"Tyki, the water was only about six feet deep."
"Where I was standing it was. It was at least seven feet where you were," he shot back. "That would have been over a foot from your head."
"Are you calling me short?"
"I speak only the truth."
"I am not short!" I protested. Like it's my fault all the guys from this series are absurdly tall. "I'm fun sized." Tyki coughed quietly, before looking back at me. "Take that how you will."
"Alright, you may be fun sized, not short, but the water was still above your head."
"Nah man, don't worry. I can swim."
His lips brushed mine again. "I can't help but worry for you, Desiree."
He initiated the kiss, and this time it lasted long enough that I was able to kiss back. The hand on my cheek shifted down to my back, and held me closer to his toned chest. Oh, his very toned chest.
Suddenly I found myself on my back, staring up at Tyki as he pulled away.
"Tyki," I sighed out. He looked as if waiting for me to continue. "Nope, that's all I got." He chuckled softly.
"I could grow to love the beach," Tyki whispered, ignoring how awkward I was, once more leaning down to kiss me.
"Wait, Tyki."
He stopped almost immediately and looked down curiously. Ruining the atmosphere was the sound of a stomach grumbling. My stomach grumbling.
"... I'm hungry."
I feel like a lot of the readers of this story don't know about it, so I'll put it here: I started a companion fic to this one where it rewrites the entire story from Tyki's point of view ^^ If you're into that kind of thing, please check it out. This story doesn't do Tyki's character justice, since he hides himself so much.
Getting into his mind makes me really depressed xD But check it out if you so wish~ Tis called Sing Your Silence
NAW's Ramble Corner
NAW: KISSY SMOOCHY.
Neah: You sure know how to ruin the mood...
NAW: Eh, Desiree already did that. Sooo, I meant to update this 8 days ago (I've been writing everything but this chapter, literally I have 3 or so prewritten chapters, but I could not work through this one, since Neah fell asleep and I couldn't write.) Tyki has become my muse now... and that's terrible because now everything is more romancy and kissy-smoochy o_o But at least I have the next five or so chapters planned out! Err speaking of which, there's probably only going to be about 15 more chapters of this fanfic...
Neah: NAW, you're rambling again.
NAW: Oh, sorry. Thanks to everyone reading this rant TTuTT I love you guys *Creeps over and hugs all of you while you sleep*
Neah: NAW needs help. She's been writing non-stop, barely sleeping, and even writing in school.
NAW: I do not need help! But that is true... Maybe I do need help, then...
Aaanyway thanks to the followers: Raven of the black forest, BloodDDB, LoloLovesAnime, Rinnu500, and angeldevil728!
Neah: Thank you also to the favouriters: BloodDDB, LoloLovesAnime, ParkYuujin, and Rinnu500.
NAW: And a most special thank you to my reviewers who I do love oh so dearly~
dcdc123: I already thanked you via PM, but I will thank you here again for such a wonderful idea :3
AceyMarshmallow: *Squees and falls off chair* Senpai noticed me~! Muchas gracias, mi amiga! Aww I'm glad you like Desiree (and she's glad too ^u^). I honestly worry that Desiree is turning into a Mary Sue, so I'm really glad that people write that they do like her ;u; Honestly your review made my day, senpai! Ahhh, I was thinking there was a surplus of OC-Exorcist stories (and yours is one of the awesome ones), and the only OC-with-the-Noah stories I could find were ones where the OC turned into a Noah... And that made me very sad. So I wanted to correct that heinous crime by writing my own story, and hoping I could inspire more OC stories~ Because you can never have too many ^^/
BlackIrisX: You squeal? That is completely normal, I do the same thing, but only with stories I really enjoy... Does this mean... No, it can't possibly mean... Does this mean, that you enjoy my story that much? *Sobsob with joy* Yeah, all of the ideas were great ones -u- Now if I can get off my lazy butt and write them... I mentioned at the beginning of this section that I started a new story, and that was for 7, so if you're interested, you can start it ^^; Or something. Eheh. Oh gosh, I'm not sure if it has a face... if it did, it would be the face of Neah, though. (Neah: Heh) *Screams and flails in contentment* Thank you ever so much TTuTT You're far too kind to me~
HanasachiLullabytheFourteenth: Aww it's been forever, Hanashira! Hi there ^u^ Missed you~ Yeah, it's pretty crappy, but I'm not sure what to do to fix it -_- Ahahah randomness, huh? Everything I write seems random, but about half of it (maybe a tad more) actually has a purpose ;P You're not interested in the entire series anymore? I read your journal about that shipping... And I agree completely ohgosh I despise the shipping that shall not be named. (Neah: Then why are you writing a fanfic with it in there? NAW: Because if I wrote Poker Pair, Tyki would probably coo over the damn baby.) I was shocked to look up one day and find that I was on chapter 38. When did this happen, and why wasn't I there? O_o If you delete your account, I trust you have a reason, but I'll definitely miss you :c I hope to keep seeing you around, though on your other account. *Squeals* Thanks a ton~ I'll try to keep posting regularly :D
NAW: In other news, ugh, Desiree talks an absurd amount in this chapter. And Tyki's afraid of water, apparently. I need to get better headcannons, methinks.
Allen: NAW doesn't own D. Gray-Man.
NAW: Yup. I only own Desiree, Monica, and I suppose my screwed up versions of the characters' personalities? Maybe?
Allen: *Shrugs*
NAW: Meh, let's go with that.