21. He takes 100% credit for hooking Yumi up with the cute tattoo guy (Yumi just needs to admit that they're totally dating).
"Hey," he says as soon as the phone connects, "you still working at that same place?"
Sam laughs, bright like cherries, and Odd can't help but grin. He's always liked her laugh. "Hello to you too, Odd," she greets.
"Yeah, yeah. Hi, how are you. Let's skip to the question?"
Sam hums over the phone line. "I forget how impatient you can get," she says at last. "Yeah, I'm still working at the same place."
"Perfect."
"Uh huh. You know you can't get a tattoo."
Odd snorts. "Yeah, I'm good. This is for a friend. She's looking for something super simple. Think you could pencil us in?"
"How old is this friend?"
"Don't say it like that, Sammy," Odd whines. He ignores her groan at the nickname. "It's Yumi. She'll be sixteen."
Sam hums again. "Yeah, I can probably get one of the guys to do it."
"Make sure it's the cute one from the picture you sent. Not the one with the clown-hair."
"So demanding."
"Look, if you're going to sit there and get stabbed over-and-over by a needle then there should at least be eye candy, right?"
"You are so superficial," Sam laughs.
Odd grins, flopping back on his bed. He plays tug o' war idly with Kiwi while he chats with Sam, finalizing the date and time and trying to interrogate her about the students at her new school. It's easy and comfortable and Odd misses her, he realizes.
/
They take the train into Paris three weeks later. It's mid-afternoon, between commuters, and Odd's still surprised Yumi had agreed to ditching their afternoon classes. He wonders which her parents will be more upset over: ditching class or permanent ink.
"Did you tell anyone where we were going?" Yumi asks as they walk down the street. She has her hands fisted in her sweater sleeves, nervously twisting the fabric between pale fingers.
Odd shakes his head. "No, Ulrich's busy with his sister still. Aelita's been kind of distant since…and Einstein'd probably tell on us." There's no probably about it. Odd knows Einstein would sell them out if it meant keeping Yumi from getting a permanent reminder of their failures. He looks over at Yumi. She's paused at the crosswalk, face paler than usual and Odd feels a pang of sympathy for her. Yumi's always taken the failures personally. "You sure about this?"
"Haven't you already told me to stop being an uptight pessimist?" she asks. There's a hint of teasing in her voice, but it falls flat, drowned out by mid-afternoon Paris traffic.
"I never said pessimist," he protests.
"You have," she replies. "But yes. I'm sure." She nods her head decisively, takes a deep breath, and stares at the shop.
Odd follows her gaze, looks at the shop across the street. It's small, the bottom floor of a row house, with modern windows and neon signs contrasting with the ivy crawling up the stone façade. Odd reaches over, takes her hand and squeezes it. Her fingers are cold, her palm clammy.
"Okay then," he says as the light changes and they cross the street. "Come on."
A chime rings out as he pushes the door open, gesturing for Yumi to enter first. She hesitates half a second before crossing the threshold, shoulders square and chin lifted like she's about to face down a scyphozoa or something. "How did you find this place again?" she asks.
He steps around her, eyeing a painting of two koi fish intertwined. It isn't bad work, a bit too pop-arty for his taste, but the colors are vibrant. "Friend of mine works here."
He lets his gaze travel to a picture of a dragon on someone shoulder. He likes the intricacy of the scales, the movement in the lines. He senses Yumi wander away from him toward the check-in desk. He turns as Sam steps out of a back room, dark hair streaked turquoise now. Odd can't suppress his grin. "And here she is. Hey, Sam."
Sam offers him a lazy smile as she brushes strands of hair from her face. It's been almost a year since he's seen her and she looks good. "Hey stranger," she replies. "You here to see Sean?"
Odd nods over at Yumi, ignoring the look on her face as she tries to place Sam. "She is."
"Yuna, right?" Sam questions, turning her attention to Yumi.
"Yumi." There's that nervous twist of fingers in sweater sleeves again. Only once this time, but Odd wonders if she's reconsidering after all. "Hi, Sam."
"Sean's almost done back there. So, do you know what you want to get?" Sam leans against the counter, dark corset tight enough that Odd turns to check out the tattoo pictures on the wall instead.
"Yeah," Yumi replies after a moment.
"Cool," Sam replies. "You still dating the roommate?"
Yumi splutters and Odd turns back to watch in amusement. Her face is red and Sam's smirking, brown eyes bright in the fluorescent lighting. "Ulrich and I aren't…we've never…we're just friends," she says finally.
"It's a tragedy," Odd agrees. "Everyone knows it, but them."
Yumi glowers, but there's a noise from the back room and then a man is walking through. He's younger than Odd expected, younger than the pictures Sam had sent him made him out to be. But he has laugh lines around his eyes and an awesome looking eyebrow piercing.
"This is Sean. Sean, Odd and Yumi." Sam's smirk is directed at him now and Odd rolls his eyes. "Yumi's your next victim, er, client."
"Thanks, Sam," Sean replies, voice dry. He offers Yumi a friendly smile, tilts his head to the door he'd come through. "Come on, let's get set up."
"Tell me you aren't sleeping with him," Odd says once Yumi and the tattooist have disappeared into the back.
Sam snorts, boosts herself onto the desk and swings her legs idly. Odd jumps up next to her, presses his shoulder into hers. "Please. He's old."
"He's like twenty!" Odd protests.
Sam laughs. "And here I thought you were jealous. You're just out for yourself."
"I am not," he replies. And he's serious. Mostly. He wouldn't necessarily say no, but that wasn't the purpose. "I'm not," he repeats, voice firm.
"You are such a terrible liar," she laughs.
"And you're a horrible friend," he replies, elbowing her in the ribs.
Sam's grin is brilliant when she turns to face him. "We both know that isn't true."
"Think I could pull off an eyebrow piercing?" he asks instead. Sam laughs again and Odd shakes his head, tugs at the chin-length hair falling into her face. "See?" he asks. "Horrible."
/
Sam gives them directions to a place that sells amazing kabobs and they stop there on the way back to the train station. Yumi's wrist is bandaged and she keeps idly running her fingers along the bandage. Odd had seen the black ink there before Sean had wrapped it. P. D. 3/1/04 and M. G. 30/4/06. He'd seen the look in her eyes, bleak and devastated, watched the way Sean's fingers gently pressed the covering down and taped it securely. Watched the way Yumi had tucked a strand of dark hair behind her eye and offered Sean the first real smile Odd had seen in a month.
"So, he was cute," Odd comments idly.
"Odd," Yumi sighs. She takes a bite of her kabob as they walk down the sidewalk.
"You aren't denying it." He nudges her lightly. "He seemed into you, Yumers."
"Don't call me that." She kicks at his ankle as they wait for a crosswalk light. "I'm not interested in seeing Sean." Odd doesn't point out that she remembers the guy's name.
"Too old?" he asks, hopping off the curb. "You do seem to have a thing for younger guys."
"Odd!" Yumi shoves him across the street and Odd grins.
"I bet I could get Sam to put in a good word."
"I bet I could kick your ass on Lyoko next time," she retorts.
Odd bumps their hips together. "How do you think I'd look with an eyebrow piercing?"
"Ridiculous," she mutters, but she's smiling and Odd takes it as a win.
. . … . .
Sean says he saw ur friend.
Huh?
My boss?
Sean?
Hottie w/ eyebrow piercing
2 old 4 u
Jeeze yeah I kno who Sean is
Which friend?
Which 1 do u think?
He only knows 1!
Yumi?
Bingo
He smiled the WHOLE day 😉
/
"How's Paris?" Odd asks. He stretches on his bed, chin pillowed on his folded arms, and stares at the computer monitor. It's Friday night and he's the first to login to the group video call.
"Good," Yumi replies. There's a note to her tone that isn't quite truthful, but Odd lets her have her secrets. They've all earned them. She rolls her head on her shoulders, groaning as it pops. Odd winces in sympathy because if he can hear it over a crappy internet connection than it must have felt good. "Where's everyone else?"
"Princess and Einstein are on their way back from dinner. Ulrich should be finishing practice."
Yumi nods, settles into her sofa and it's so strange, seeing her in her element. Seeing her in her own apartment. They're a year apart but suddenly Yumi feels lightyears ahead. Odd kicks his feet against the wall, enjoying the asynchronized tha-thump his socked feet make against the drywall. Yumi offers him a fond smile.
"How's class? Get detention yet?"
"Meyer has it out for me," he grumbles. "Five minutes late!"
"Should I ask why?"
Odd winks. "I don't kiss and tell."
"Since when?" she laughs.
He shrugs, smiling. "Speaking of kissing…"
"I wasn't actually serious," she interrupts. "I don't want to know!"
"Not me," he scoffs. "You." Yumi looks startled at that, head tilted in confusion. "A little birdy told me that you ran into a hot tattoo guy."
Yumi snorts at that. "A little birdy, huh?" she asks, voice dry. "I don't know what this little bird told you, but there was no kissing."
"But you did see the hot tattoo guy?"
"Sean," she corrects. "We had coffee."
"Oh, coffee, if that's all."
"That is all, Odd."
"What's all?" Aelita asks as she and Jeremie enter the room. "Hi, Yumi!"
"Hi, Aelita."
"You know, you could just thank me."
"For what?" Yumi demands.
"Introducing you to your future boyfriend."
"Odd!"
"You're seeing someone?" Aelita asks. She grabs the laptop, ignoring Odd's protests, and sits down on Ulrich's bed. "Tell me everything."
"Maybe, uh, maybe not everything," Jeremie adds, sitting next to Aelita.
"Odd," Yumi's voice carries from the speakers, "I am going to kill you."
. . … . .
Don't they look sweet?
Odd grins as Sam's text comes in, followed by a covert photo of Yumi and Sean cozied up to each other in a booth.
10€ says she claims they're *just friends* he types back.
Its sickening.
Ill keep u posted
Ur the best
/
"Have you finally started dating Mr. Tattoo?"
Yumi rolls her eyes at him. "We're just friends, Odd."
"Sam said he just got out of a bad relationship. This could be your in."
"Odd," she warns. She's curled up on her sofa and Odd notices that she's hung the painting he gave her on the wall behind her. He feels a brief flush of warmth in his stomach and can't suppress his smile. "I mean it, Odd. We're just friends."
"C'mon, Yumi, live a little." He spins in the desk chair.
"Stop, you're making me nauseated," Yumi warns.
"So? You can't hurl on me from your apartment." He does stop because he understands motion sickness. He's not going to subject anyone else to it. He drums his fingers on the desk and stares at the computer screen. "Sam sent me the pictures from the bar."
"Geeze, Odd, what do you want from me?"
"C'mon. He's hot and you like him enough to hang out with him." He opens his drawer, pulls out a bag of candy and ignores the half-full package of dog treats he's been meaning to toss. He'll get to it. Later. "I watched you pine after a guy for two years, Yumi. I don't want to see it again."
Yumi rolls her eyes again, bites at a cuticle. "Yeah, and you see how well that turned out. For me."
Odd shrugs. He knows she doesn't mean it maliciously. He and Yumi never had an issue over it before. "Maybe because you were both disasters."
It startles a laugh out of her, open and genuine. Odd hasn't heard her laugh like that in months. He smiles back at her, pops one of the caramel au beurre salé into his mouth. "Okay, yeah," she says. Her mouth is still quirked into a smile and she rests her cheek against her drawn up knee. "We were kinda disasters."
"Catastrophic," he agrees, nodding. "Look," he says, and he looks at the screen to make sure she's paying attention. "Just. If he asks you out, go. Okay? You deserve to be happy, Yumers."
"Don't call me that," she replies. But, Odd notices, she doesn't say no.
. . … . .
Ughhhhhh
What?
Sean's in A MOOD 2day
Sucks
Yelling?
No. Quiet
Reminds me of breakup w/ Letitia
I thought he wasn't seeing any1?!
IDK
OMG hes playing blues
Im actually gonna die
Stop being dramatic
Go back 2 work
U suck
/
Yumi is the first to visit them in their new flat. She calls Friday morning to inform them she'll be arriving that night and hangs up before Ulrich can get any additional information from her. Odd shrugs at Ulrich's concerned face. "Nothing to worry about," he says. "She's probably stressing about finals."
"So bad that she flees the country?" Ulrich asks, unconvinced.
Odd shrugs again and turns back to the ingredients he's trying to arrange into some type of palatable breakfast. Ulrich exhales loudly and Odd ducks his head to hide a smile. "Yumi's always been a little weird," he says finally. "Not as weird as Einstein though."
Ulrich snorts, wanders over to steal a carrot slice. "Right," he agrees. But the concerned look is still there when he heads upstairs to shower while Odd finishes cooking. Odd sighs, listening as the water runs through the old pipes. Somehow he has a feeling this has to do with Sam's text.
/
Odd gets back from the shop around the corner with a box of curry takeout and finds Yumi and Ulrich seated on the sofa. Yumi looks fine. Her hair's a little longer, her eyes a little brighter, but she's twisting her fingers in the ends of her sweater and Odd knows that sign. He sets the box down on the table and grins brightly.
"Yumers!"
"Don't call me that," she replies. But she stands and lets him envelope her in a hug. Her chin is bonier than he remembers when it presses into his shoulder. "How've you been, Odd?"
"Starving," he replies and she laughs.
"Nothing new there," Ulrich states. He gets up and begins taking the food from the box, setting it out on the table. "Come on, while it's hot," he calls.
They fall into the mismatched chairs and Odd kicks the book he's wedged under the short leg to make sure the table stays balanced. Yumi smiles and digs in and everything's just this close to being normal. It makes Odd's skin itch and he can see the concerned look in Ulrich's eyes once more.
"So," he says when he's on his second plate and they've heard all about her job at the bakery, "not that I don't love impromptu visits or miss your mother hen scowls-" Yumi shoots him the very same scowl and he grins. "That's the one. What brings you across the pond?"
"Can't be the company," Ulrich adds, looking pointedly at Odd. Odd ignores his boyfriend, keeps his attention on Yumi instead.
"I just needed to clear my head."
"Is everything okay?" Ulrich asks.
Yumi picks at the remaining food on her plate, doesn't meet their gazes. "Everything's fine."
Odd snorts, leans back in his chair. "You had a fight with Sean."
Yumi looks up, surprised, before she sighs and her expression shifts to something closer to resigned. "Sam?"
"Sam," he agrees.
"What happened?" And now Ulrich has that concerned tone that Odd wants to roll his eyes at. He nudges Ulrich's ankle under the table and squints meaningfully at him. Ulrich's concerned look just deepens and it's almost as bad as the puppy dog eyes. Almost.
"He, uh." She brushes her hair out of her face and takes a breath. "He asked to move in. Together."
"Move in?"
"Wait, wait, wait." Odd holds up a hand and squints at Yumi. "I thought you two weren't together. As in, stop asking Odd and Odd, you're being ridiculous and Odd, I'm twenty and enjoying my freedom leave me alone."
"Well, yeah." And Yumi's flushing. Flushing the same shade she used to get when she and Ulrich would bump hands or stare at each other or whatever weird pseudo-Victorian pining thing they did at the beginning. Odd stares at her, mouth agape. "But, uh. We started dating." She offers him, them, a wry smile. "Six months ago."
"Six months? Six months?" Odd nearly shrieks.
Ulrich's smirking like he's holding back laughter and Odd kicks him again. "What did you tell him?"
"That I had to think it over."
Ulrich nods, like all of this makes sense and Odd is still gawking at Yumi. He replays their conversations, the small smile she got whenever she mentioned doing something with Sean. The way her eyes brightened a bit. He had overlooked all of it.
"So you came here?" he finally manages to ask. It sounds a bit harsh so he coughs, smiles through his surprise. "I mean, instead of calling Princess to squeal or whatever?"
Yumi shrugs. She picks at the food on her plate again. "You two are…" She trails off, nose slightly scrunched like she's looking for the right words. "You're more domestic than Jeremie and Aelita," she says finally. It's a diplomatic answer. Odd wonders what the other options were.
"I'm not sure what we can do," Ulrich says. He pushes his plate away, folds his arms on the table. "It's your choice."
Yumi exhales with enough force to lift the strands of dark hair in her face. She tucks them behind her ear and shrugs. "I know," she replies.
"Why didn't you say yes?" Odd asks. "I mean, you seem to like the guy enough to keep it a secret for six months."
"You knew about him."
"But not that you two were sleeping together!" Yumi flushes and Ulrich kicks him this time. Odd winces, rubbing at his shin. Ulrich's kicks hurt.
"Yumi." She looks up, meets Ulrich's steady gaze. He reaches over, squeezes her hand. Odd watches the way his forefinger traces the dark ink stained into her skin. "It's okay to stop running."
She snorts, pulls her hand away. "I'm not running."
"No?" he asks. His voice is still that same calm, steady tone. The one Odd likes to privately call his future-doctor voice. "Then why are you here?"
When she looks up, her eyes are dark and bleak and Odd gets it. He gets it like a punch to the gut or a sting by the scyphozoa. It's his turn to reach out to Yumi. He reaches over, presses his fingers to the initials on her wrist like Ulrich had. But he meets her eyes instead.
"C'mon, Yumers," he says. "If you like the guy, go for it. If not…say no. Ulrich's right, it's okay to be happy." He pauses, glances quickly at Ulrich. "Not everything ends in disaster."
Yumi laughs weakly, but she twists her hand until she squeezes his hand in return. Her gaze is warm when she meets his gaze. "No," she agrees. Her fingers squeeze his again. "Sometimes they don't."
/
U owe me 100
Wut?
?!
Sean's mood should b better tmw
OMG 4 REAL?!
Finallyyyyy!