The silence that followed the brief crash of the door clicking into place, after the sibilant scrape of the lock was so absolute Lavi almost wished he were back in the awkward backseat of Kanda's car. At least then Allen had tried his best to fill the empty air with amiable conversation. Now only the quiet hum of an empty home stood between Lavi and isolation. It was a lot harder to convince himself now that his only worries in life were a looming deadline and a curious attraction.
Resigning himself to the solitude, Lavi dropped his bag on top of the table, kicking the table leg back into place when it wobbled under the sudden weight. He spilled the contents of his bag onto the already paper strewn tabletop. A brown envelope slid out and skated over the paper slopes. It was the list of contacts Tyki had given him earlier.
Lavi scanned the list and one name stuck out: Crowley.
Crowley… There a familiarity to the name that Lavi couldn't place. It lingered in the periphery of his mind as he perused the names of the other better-known designers. He highlighted the name in neon yellow before setting the list aside. It was late. Shower then bed, everything else could wait until the morning.
Under the warm jet of water he began to feel some of the day's fatigue lift from his body. He was not built for shifting boxes, Lavi decided as he rolled his sore shoulders. Slipping into bed twenty minutes later Lavi looked forward to the oncoming oblivion. Bit by bit, his exhaustion sank into the mattress and behind closed lids Lavi focused on the dancing lava lamp bursts of colour.
The longer he laid there, the less Lavi felt like sleeping. Restless, he tossed and turned until finally throwing the blanket aside he rose and dressed in loose jogging bottoms and an old t-shirt. Grabbing his phone, Lavi went into the living room.
Midnight wasn't too late to work on a Saturday he thought as he propped a doorstop under a wobbly table leg. Inspiration at nighttime worked for writers, why not for amateur fashion designers? Lavi thought as he pulled the first pile of likely patterns towards him. Simple… Tyki had said, and with that thought Lavi set aside some of the more flamboyant and showy designs. Nobody wants so many pleats in their skirt in autumn… too many buttons… too delicate… too subtle…
Slowly Lavi worked through what he had; sorting and resorting until at last he found it. The perfect piece. It was an idea he had played with quite early on but discarded because it was a bit too simple. Lavi wrinkled his nose thoughtfully as he looked over the old sketch. The body form was dressed in a full-length denim skirt over a crocheted cami and black high waist jeans. A grin fought its way to his lips as new configurations bombarded him all at once. Eyes on the page, Lavi pulled his pattern swatches and colour pallets closer and began scratching away at a fresh page in frenzied passion.
Lavi didn't know how long he had been bent over the desk drawing and precisely annotating when he finally looked up and realized he had managed to fill not one page of brainstorming as he had planned but nearly half a journals worth of sheets. Each one displaying a male and female form surrounded by clouds of small, rounded handwriting detailing colour, tone and material. A flush of pride spread out in comfortable tendrils that warmed Lavi's cold extremities, which was quickly followed by a truly exhausted yawn.
Lavi dropped the pencil back into the pot and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palm. The deep thrum of an engine seeped in through the window and vibrated inside Lavi's skull. Lavi leaned back on the back legs of the chair to watch the orange glow of headlights race across the ceiling.
Lavi teetered backwards, balanced precariously on the back two chair legs. The sudden ringing of his mobile phone the only thing that brought him reluctantly back up right. The caller ID proudly displayed a name in bright white letters, and for just a moment Lavi considered swiping the red icon instead.
With a sigh he dragged the little green phone across the screen and brought the handset to his face, "Hey Wes –"
"Awesome you're awake! I'm at your door let me in." came the harried voice on the other side.
Lavi didn't move an inch as he processed the situation. "Really? Why?" he puzzled.
"Long story but I need your help," the sound weaved in and out as if Wes moved his handset from one ear to the other. "I could tell you the story now or you could, you know, let me in?"
"Oh, yeah I'm coming."
As soon as the door was open his friend pushed passed him in a rush of cold air… and beetlejuice tights?
"Don't tell me I'm an accessory to something now..." he said warily as he followed Wesley into the living room again. This had better be good, Lavi thought as he watched Wesley lower a slender purple haired girl onto the sofa. She looked far too young and far too unconscious for Lavi's liking.
"Don't worry, she's my sister," Wesley said as he maneuvered the girl into a more comfortable position and carefully turned her head so she rested with a hand under her cheek. "Stupid thing thought she'd crash the party tonight. The one you were supposed to come to by the way. Got herself stupid, stinking drunk."
Lavi ran his hand through his hair guiltily. He had completely forgotten about Wesley's house warming party. Instead, Lavi focused on the unconscious girl. "Road?" Lavi said stunned, the last time he'd seen her she was barely a kid and she was definitely not sporting purple spikes for hair back then. Looking closer he noticed that her brow was dotted with beads of sweat and her breath came in shallow gasps.
Tightlipped he went to the bathroom, returning a few moments later with a rinsed out washcloth. He flipped the room light off, leaving only the dull orange glow of the table lamp to throw long shadows across the room. Wesley murmured thanks when Lavi knelt beside the girl and placed the cloth carefully over her forehead. "She's a kid Wes, how'd you let her drink this much? Has she taken anything?"
"No, she's not that stupid," Wesley balled his fists up at his sides and there was thunder in his voice and there was a gleam of something close to murder in his amber eyes. "Fucking Jas and fucking Devi. Caught them daring Road and her friends to drink random mixes of shit."
On the sofa Road groaned and shifted. "Hey keep it down man, you'll wake her up," jumping to his feet he grabbed Wesley by the elbow and pulled him into the kitchen. Wesley followed woodenly behind him. Lavi pushed him down into a chair and fetched him a glass of water, which Wesley just held between his palms. In only jeans and a thin button down over a black tee, Wesley was a pathetic sight to behold.
"Jas and Devi, the wannabe goths right?" Lavi asked. Wesley fell headfirst on to the tabletop and Lavi dove forward to stop the glass from falling over the edge.
"Lavi I am so dead," he mumbled into the table. "If my dad finds out I let Road drink, he's going to kill me."
"Tell me from the beginning."
Wesley sat up right again, his normally wavy brown hair was a fuzzy cloud around his face. "I had to leave my own party because of this. You should've been there, maybe would have kicked her out sooner," Lavi nodded as Wesley lamented his choices that night. "It was all going good until I got a text from dad asking if Road had arrived alright because apparently she had told him that she'll be staying over at mine this weekend. Quicker to get to school she told him. Can you believe that? I called her mobile and at least she was smart enough at that point to admit that she was at the party too with some of her teenybopper friends. I waned to send her home but then dad would know I was having a party, which I'm kind of not supposed to. And especially not with those two idiots on the guest list… Anyway she promised she wouldn't drink!"
Here he and downed the glass of water. Lavi watched his throat working and wondered briefly if he was going to end up with two knocked out Kamelots in his house.
"Must've been two-something I found her with Jas and Devi and a tipsy bunch of girls. Thought it was fucking funny to get fourteen year olds drunk. When I get my hands on them tomorrow, they're dead! If I'm not killed first…" he added with a mournful groan.
"Always knew they were shit bags," Lavi agreed matter-of-factly. He had met them a few times and had never seen any reason why Wesley kept them around. "If I had cousins like that I would have cut them out years ago. Anyway I'm guessing need a place to stay? Road can have mum's room and you can have my bed if you want."
Wesley stopped Lavi as he got to his feet, "No, no it's okay. I just need somewhere to wait for a bit. I called my uncle while ferrying all the other girls home. He said we can crash at his for the night, but he had to get rid of my dad and aunt first. They were having an old people's gathering or something."
"So you're uncle is coming here then?" Lavi looked at the clock, 2:45. There was a chance he might still get some sleep tonight. "That's cool."
"Thanks man," Wesley leaned back and rolled his shoulders. At least he no longer looked in danger of crashing headfirst into the table again. He rubbed his eyes wearily and peered at Lavi with one eye. "How come you're awake at this time anyway? No offence but you look like shit man."
"Remind me why I'm helping you again?" Lavi lifted an eyebrow at the other man.
"Because you love me."
"God help me if you're my last resort," Wesley laughed along with Lavi, though Lavi could still hear some of the tension in his voice. He must really be worried about his sister. "It's work. I have a project due next week and was up working on that. It's a new design line for the shop so quite a big one."
"Wow, sounds heavy, Sorry for bothering you…"
"Don't worry about it, I was going to give up for the night before you called."
"It's good though right? Designing your own range; its what you always wanted back in uni," genuine pride filled Wesley's tone and Lavi felt a warm blush rise as the words reached him.
"It pays the bills," he said humbly. He thought back to that afternoon when Tyki had come to offer him the job. It had been so surreal. Lavi had just about given up on hope and then he appeared offering another way out. Tyki stuck up for him in the interview, fought for him to have a place at the company and just a few hours earlier Tyki worried about him. Lavi could still feel the warmth of Tyki's hand pressed against his skin.
"It's a really good job, I have my own team and workshop. It's unbelievable, didn't even think I would get it. The interview was something else, first I was the last candidate to arrive and then half the panel hated me. The other half…" he remembered the way Tyki had smirked at him knowingly from the across the table and gulped. "One of the guys, the finance director, he's a really cool guy. Really supportive and helpful through everything. He even came here personally to offer me the job!"
"Finance directer?" Wes raised an eyebrow at Lavi from across the table. "How come I've not heard about this guy already?"
Sudden heat raced up Lavi's face as he realized he'd been gushing. Lavi coughed awkwardly. "It's not what you think. Everyone there is so nice and I didn't have a proper phone line back then, remember?"
"Oh come on Lavi! You've been sitting on a juicy bit of gossip for a month," Wesley seemed to have forgotten his own problems for the moment as he pestered Lavi. "So you're telling me this man who is so 'supportive and helpful' just comes around to your house to personally offer you a job after meeting you once? Most people do things the old fashioned way like you know, email."
"Twice," Lavi covered his face with his hands. "The interview was actually the second time I met him. We bumped into each other on the bus earlier, he caught me checking him out and then I freaked out and drank his coffee."
"You drank his coffee? Classy move." Wesley roared with laughter and started swooning over the little bit of information with all the fervor of an adolescent schoolgirl. "You checked him out, he gave you a job. Sounds like love to me. What else do you know about him?"
"Not much," Lavi leaned back, scratching the back of his neck, Lavi wondered where to begin. "He's older, maybe by five or six years and I don't know how to explain it… He's a bit of a joker but can be really serious at the same time, and he never makes you feel uncomfortable. Well except when he's being inappropriate," devilish curiosity threatened Lavi from the other side of the table. "And it's never going to happen! He's not like that." Lavi tried to ignore Wesley's disbelieving stare.
"Like what?" Wes snorted. "Not gay or not willing to bang the newbie?"
Lavi cringed. "Don't say it like that. He's just really… nice," he finished weakly.
"Nice as in hot? Sexy?" Wes offered. "I can't even remember the last time you had a boyfriend…"
Only a resigned mumble came from Lavi, who had sunk his head into his arms. Wesley wasn't the most sensitive of people but he was Lavi's best friend and there wasn't really anyone else he could have had this conversation with. It's not like he could have this talk with anyone from work. Not even genial Allen was a candidate for confidentiality. Defeated Lavi sat up and met Wes' teasing eyes directly. The glowing amber reminded him of Tyki in a way that made his mouth go dry.
"He's beautiful," it felt good to say it out loud. "The kind of beautiful that makes it hard to remember to breathe."
"My little Lavi is in love!" Wesley' eye glinted mischievously. "And does he have a name?"
The name clung to the tip of Lavi's tongue, still too fragile to survive being spoken out loud. "I'm not in love! A pretty face and a bit of help isn't much to fall in love with. He always makes inappropriate jokes too. I should probably report him for harassment actually. I can't tell when he's being serious or not."
"Are you seriously complaining? I've not met him and even I can tell he's into you. Not many straight guys would bother to hang around with you and 'support' you after they catch you giving them the eye. Me, I'm an exception." Wes was having way too much fun with this. Dramatically he stood up and folded his arms across his chest. "Name? Tell me. If you don't I swear I'll come by every lunchtime for a month until I see him myself."
Lavi imagined a month's worth of visits from Wes and shuddered. Thank god he didn't know where Lavi worked. Wesley might not know where he worked but he wouldn't put it past his friend to follow him around. A vein twitched at his temple.
"Alright, alright fine –" Lavi didn't get to finish his sentence.
A loud crash and a high-pitched squeal from the living room had both boys' heads snapping in the same direction and were on their feet.
Wide eyed, Wesley turned to Lavi, "Road!"
Hi! Thank for reading.
Sorry it's been so long.