Title: Le Hasard
Author: A Paper Moon
Pairing: Narumi Ayumu/Yuizaki Hiyono
Fandom: Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna
Theme: #1―look over here
Rating: G
Disclaimer: All characters of Spiral are the property of Kyou Shirodaira; I allege no possession of said characters. I only request to take them to over-rowdy soccer games and force hem to play at gunpoint.
Summary: What are the odds?
This is a companion to Novelties though you don't have to read that one to understand it. Thanks to syNemoYoa for the idea. (Your loyalty speaks volumes. :D)
-.-.-
The cab smells terrible but he supposes that it would. After all, it's Sunday morning and the already compact town of Montmartre has been crowed with teenage tourists looking for love, finding the end to their fairy tale, and possibly drinking a few too many alcoholic beverages than their stomachs can handle.
He looks to the cab driver and notices the white mask covering his nose and mouth and smiles. Yes, even the cabbies know that March, the time of spring break, can be a rather tough month to get through.
The taxi comes to a stop before the Eighteenth Arrondissement of Paris and the Place de Tertre, the bustling square of Montmartre. People are strolling casually along the crowded streets, their arms and legs covered with clothes appropriate for the fifty-one degrees it is. However, the streets are still full of persons pausing to give praise to various painters, musicians, and acting troupes. The sun lazily rises over the aging church, Saint Pierre de Montmartre and he can already tell that today is going to be a cold one.
"Merci," he thanks the driver and steps out into the ambling group of bodies and slips through to the Espace Dali, an art exhibit where a friend of his is showing a few pieces.
He easily spots his redheaded friend; if not for his spiky head of flaming hair, his voice carries across the entire main lobby. They meet each other in a furious hug before the redhead throws his arm around the brunette's shoulders and they're off meandering through the exhibits, nodding in approval here or grimacing at a rather atrocious piece there.
He's having a lovely day, sans the morning ride, and does suspect that something will happen to change his mood. That's when he spots a head of caramel hair and he's thrown back into memories he hasn't thought of in nearly a decade.
-.-.-
They're in AP Language, third period, Ms. Hallberg, the crazy teacher who's rumored to be sleeping with Mr. Zackula, the AP Government teacher. He's flipping nonchalantly through another Conan Doyle and can't help but feel a little drab as their nutball teacher has a near fit about fallacies. He reaches the end and closes the book with a sigh. He's about to put his head down when he hears a laugh like that of a wind chime in a hurricane.
His head turns and he sees the origin of the terrible sound.
She's five months older than him with bright honey-colored eyes and a mouth the size of Central Park and yet he can be sure he's never felt the way he does when he watches her. She's so comfortable in her own skin and it drives him mad to see that she's as confident as she is.
He's never liked to admit it, but he's offly shy about himself. He doesn't fit in with one crowd of people and can hardly call his "friendship" with a young British boy just that. If he's honest with himself, he's a bit jealous. For a week and two days, he tries to ignore her.
On the third day of the following week, he can't stop but want her to see him. He goes out of his way drop his books heavily on his desk, cough louder than necessary, even get up in the middle of class to blow is non-running nose or throw away a blank piece of paper. And yet, the greatest thing he receives in that few weeks before the end of their junior year is a glance. A glance!
So when their AP Lang final consists of a three page, short story, he finds himself unwilling to write of a happy ending like the rest of his class. Instead, he writes of a hardened detective who falls hard for a show girl only to have her stab him in the back later. The ending is bittersweet and sharp and when he lays down on his bed the night after their final, he hopes that his story never comes true. He stays up the rest of the night and writes a different ending where the show girl and the investigator kiss beneath the flickering streetlights before runing away together and hiding themselves from the public eye.
As he naps in third period the following morning, he hopes that this story does come true.
-.-.-
But he never became a detective or a writer. His parents told him that both career choices were a waste of time and money and tried to force him to pursue architecture or engineering. In the end, he chose to be an art critic. Yeah, not really what they wanted.
And now, he's not even sure if that was a good idea for only a few frames away is a young woman with pad and pen in hand as she writes of the exhibits. Though her hair isn't in its once permanent pigtails, the long locks flow down her back in soft, luscious waves.
He almost stops his train of thought to berate himself when he describes her hair with such adjectives.
Deep down he knows it's her―Madame Hurricane from AP Lang―and he's still trying to get her attention in flippant, hopefully not completely outlandish ways. He uses his patented "cough technique" and still gets nothing from her. As she walks by him, he inhales a sweet perfume though, if he thinks about it, there's definitely a seductive undertone to it.
Internally, it makes him want her all the more and he hopes that she'll reappear for the unveiling of his friend's masterpiece the next night. Until then, he'll continue to try to get her to see him.
The end. There might be one of the actually meeting but I'm debating. Well, thanks everyone for staying. I love you :) You know the drill.