Title: Skype and Real Life
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,180
Disclaimer: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this post/fanfiction/fanart (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States state of California, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from.
Summary: Allen and Lavi meet over Skype.
Notes/Warnings: un-betaed; the twenty-second in a series of 104 themes. "Online" is today's theme. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far! I'm sorry I seemed to have disappeared, but life became a little busy. Hopefully I'll be getting more out sooner rather than later!
The two met online. It wasn't a dating site, it wasn't anything like that. In fact, it had been an online conference call. Allen was the son of a head of a company and Lavi was being hired for a translation of ancient texts.
Allen's father, in lieu of his failing health, had sought to give the company to Allen in the case of his untimely death; but as Allen was still a minor, his appointed guardian Cross, was put in charge of the company. Allen was left to grow up, learning how to run a company in the mean time. Cross was good at having Allen listen in on calls, be involved in the proceedings of any venture, and this case was no different. The company was one to keep historical documents stored and up to date. Now, documents ranged from scrolls to tablets to phone calls. The one that needed translating was a tablet recently dug up in an excavation in Egypt. And who better to call onto the scene but Bookman and his apprentice? No one knew how Cross got his connections.
The conference call was over Skype: something Allen had found worked for long distance calls and was cost efficient. Cross agreed to use it, and found he enjoyed it for more than just business related calls: he used it when he played his beloved computer games while at work. Allen, however, tried to convince the man to use it only when necessary. It never worked.
In any case, the call connected and the video stream started up, Allen sitting slightly behind his guardian, notebook and pencil in hand, knees drawn up so his feet were on the chair in front of him. Allen gazed at the screen with grey eyes. Cross adjusted the webcam and cleared his throat.
"Ah, Bookman. It's always a pleasure, isn't it?"
Allen frowned at his guardian's exaggerated charm. He found it ridiculous that others bought into it. He looked to the video coming up of the man and his apprentice. He had heard of their names (only in passing), but had never actually met them. It was no wonder that he was slightly startled by the faces peering back at them on the screen. The Bookman wasn't interesting in any regard other than he was older and seemed to be related to pandas, but the apprentice looked to be almost a carbon copy of his guardian. Allen did a double take—looking between the screen and Cross.
A bastard son—it had to be. Allen blinked once more, but then chose to stare at the blank notebook instead of the screen (he knew he would tilt his head to the side and keep watching the redheaded assistant of the Bookman but only manage to get bonked on the head by Cross and reprimanded for staring). He nibbled his lower lip and waited for Cross to get through the pleasantries. It didn't take long: all of the older man's attempts at casual conversation were given the cold shoulder by the man on the other end of the line. Allen was kind of grateful to be honest.
The conversation lasted about ten minutes this way. When it came time to hang up, Cross turned to Allen and bonked him on the head.
"Alright kid, say goodbye to the new playmate I found you then we'll go out to dinner."
Allen looked up with owlish silver eyes. Huh? Playmate? It wasn't yet another attempt at getting Allen to become sexually active at a young age again… was it? He looked at the screen and saw the Bookman's assistant looking rather bored. He was the only one on the screen.
"Eh?"
Cross stood and got to the door with Allen's eyes trailing after him before he turned.
"Go on, talk to the boy. I'm sure he won't eat you."
Allen looked to the screen one more time, looked to Cross (he was shutting the door behind him) and scrambled into the big armchair in front of the screen. The redhead on the screen was resting his chin in one hand.
"Uh. Hi." Allen tried to look anywhere but the screen (where he could see without a doubt that the boy could be no one else's son but Cross's). He cleared his throat and chose the wall to his right to stare at instead.
"You know, I think I look a lot like your guardian. Mister Cross."
The voice that came from the speakers was anything but what Allen thought he would sound like. His eyes were drawn to the screen. Was that voice really from that boy?
"Now that you're looking at me—my name's Lavi."
Allen blushed, finding that he felt slightly reprimanded from the boy's tone. He answered politely, "I'm Allen."
The redhead nodded, still slouched in posture. "So when I get there you'll show me around and be my friend, right?"
Allen shifted, slightly uncomfortable by this question. "Umm. Yeah."
It wasn't that Allen didn't want to be near the boy, he just wasn't used to being friends with very many people. It seemed that most of the employees either treated him like a dumb child, or ignored him in favor for their 'real boss', Marion Cross. So Allen learned to distance himself: for the most part that was easy. He was home schooled, so he wasn't immersed in his peers six hours a day. That was a start. But now… this whole situation was throwing Allen for a loop. After the awkward moment of silence was over, Allen cleared his throat. Lavi was still looking at him. Finally, the red head on the screen sighed.
"Alright, I'll see you around then."
And that was that.
* * *
It was three days and a strange dinner out later that Allen saw Lavi in person for the first time. Allen really was quite shy, so at first they had little to no conversation. After about two hours of dragging the red head around and showing him the place, he deposited him back with his Master. Cross then abandoned him there with the Bookman and his assistant. Allen chose to stay well out of the way and tucked himself in a corner with his nose in a book.
When Bookman came to sit by him, Allen realized it had been hours, but quickly turned his attention to the old man when he spoke.
"I know it doesn't seem it, Allen, but Lavi really is a good boy. He means no harm to you, so I do hope you become friends… after all, he has none, himself." The old man held Allen's gaze for a while, then forced a smile on his droopy face and laid a hand on his arm.
It took two more days before anything different happened. During lunch, Lavi was allowed to leave, but he never had. Not until Allen gathered his things and let Bookman know where he was headed. Almost immediately the red head jumped up and stuffed his lunch back in the container. Allen didn't realize he'd been followed until he sat down with one of his new books on the library couch. Lavi's presence startled him, actually, and he almost ended up dropping the book.
"Oh. Hi." Allen's wide silver eyes took in the slightly disheveled look Lavi had.
"Uh… hi." Lavi scratched at the back of his head then sat down, tense and nervous, on the cushion next to Allen. Allen watched him for a little while, and then went back to reading.
"I thought… errr… I hoped we could be friends." When the red head spoke up again, Allen looked over with concern. Lavi was trying to play it cool, but one look into his green eye and Allen knew he was sad. Allen frowned.
"I guess we can be. If you want…"
That was the start to the friendship. It was hard at first: you agree to be friends and then what? They struggled with the two and a half weeks ahead. By the end of it, though, they were friends. Still shy, and still not quite knowing a lot about one another, they agreed to stay in contact. That part was easy. The hard part came when Allen was trying to find a date for Junior prom (and yes, he had been put into public school for high school).
Originally he had thought he might ask Lenalee, but Kanda asked her first. Then he thought of Fou, but she was bringing her College boyfriend, Bak. There really weren't a whole lot of other choices, seeing as every girl he knew was taken.
* * *
"Lavi?"
The red head seemed distant lately, but talking over Skype usually gave that effect.
"Hmm?"
"I have a dilemma."
At this, the red head on the other side seemed to perk up. "Oh?"
"Well, prom's about two weeks away and everyone's got a date already."
"Even the teachers?"
"Lavi." He tried reprimanding him, but it came out as more of a whine.
"Well, what do you want me to do about it? I'm half-way around the world and I don't know anyone from your school."
Allen sighed dramatically and leaned his head in his hand, his headset slipping slightly. He pushed it back. "Why can't you just magically make everything better?"
He sat up straight again. "Oh, I've got it. You can come back and we'll go together—as friends."
He could almost feel the boy on the other end rolling his eyes.
"Oh yes, I would arrive by magic, save the world, make you look gay, and then go home. Perfect plan."
Shut down. Allen sighed again and crossed his arms, hiding his face in them. "What do I do, oh wise one?"
Papers shuffled. Silence reigned. Finally, Lavi spoke. "You could always not go."
Allen groaned. "You're about as much help as Uncle Cross."
* * *
Allen decided to go to prom without a date. This was especially difficult for him, seeing as he had to watch all his friends get ready around him with their dates: going to dinner, arriving in limos, talking, flirting… Allen felt a little out of the loop. Kanda did his best to make him not so lonely (as he did recall 'stealing' Allen's date). So Allen went to dinner with the whole group, but kept out of the main conversation. Kanda and Lenalee both had side conversations with him, but neither lasted long. And so, slightly depressed, he was dragged to the prom. It looked… a bit disappointing, but he held on. Mostly he sat around with the guys and talked.
Across town, Lavi managed to get off the plane first, and so he didn't run into anyone going to luggage claim and out to the parking lot. Luckily, he had called ahead and ensured that Mister Cross could get him from Point A (the airport) to Point B (the prom). Already dressed, many people eyed him with some suspicion, but he ignored them in favor of time left until the end of the prom. He had been cutting it close, but the only flight he could get there had been delayed.
After a sprint to the car, Lavi sat, peering anxiously out the windows. The driver seemed to realize the hurry he was in and so got him to the prom as soon as he could. The red head ran up to the door, then paused and straightened himself out—making himself look presentable—before opening the door and walking in. He paid to enter, glad that they didn't seem to notice he wasn't from around there, and walked in.
The first thing he noticed was the dim lighting, the second was that all the couples were on the dance floor (save a few), and the third was that Allen was all alone at his table. Lavi took a deep breath and wandered over, nearly scaring the white-haired boy to death when he plunked down in the chair beside him.
"Missing me much?"
After Allen righted himself, he nearly threw himself in the red head's arms. "Lavi, oh my god, I've missed you! How'd you get in? How'd you get here? Why'd you come?"
The bombardment of questions just made Lavi smile and hug the boy back. "I thought you might need a date still. Or, I was hoping you did."
Allen studied him for a moment. "You came all this way just for that?"
Lavi shrugged and moved to stand. "I can go back if you found a date."
Allen reached out and grabbed hold of his sleeve. "No. Wait…" Allen's gaze went out to the dance floor, but returned to Lavi in an instant. The red head sighed and took a hand out of his pocket, offering it.
"Allen, would you like to dance?"
The boy blinked at him, looked out at the couples, and then back at the red head. His hand clasped Lavi's and they smiled.
While dancing, Allen thought about how it was strange how all of this could start from just a simple business meeting over the internet.
Tomorrow's Theme: "Failure"