Exception
By: Aviantei
77. You Haven't Changed, Either
Tyki counted himself lucky that he'd been able to convince Ari from jumping off the railing and instead made her walk down to the poolside like a normal person. He did feel a little less lucky that it seemed like she was humoring him, rather than respecting him in any way, but he could tuck that bit of confidence-crushing trivia away for another time.
You know, when he wasn't enduring the babysitting job from hell.
Maybe I should just tell Sheril something awful happened to Road under my watch. That way I'd be guaranteed to get put out of my misery.
Except, as they made it outside and to the pool, where Lenalee and Road were still in the water, it was pretty clear that nothing awful was happening at all. In fact, Road looked—dare Tyki say it—pretty happy chatting and tossing the occasional splash at someone. Hell, she even let Lenalee dunk her under water without any murderous intent being thrown the other girl's way, and that was pretty much an achievement in itself right there.
The sight was almost enough to make you wanna stay away and not interrupt a thing, and Tyki glanced at Ari. "Any chance I can convince you to just let them have a good time and not interrupt them?" It was rare that Road could tolerate someone new so quick, let alone someone she had once deemed her enemy, and Tyki was very much of the mind of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'
It was of Ari's sage and well considered opinion that people who thought that way were boring, uncreative, and honestly just wasting everything life had to offer them.
So no one, least of all Tyki, was surprised when she said, "You've already denied me the right to create an epic entrance. You won't deny me this." Which, yeah, he should've figured that would be the response, but it was nice to dream sometimes, dammit. "Hm, do you think if I take a running start, I can manage to splash them both to announce my arrival?"
"Should I blame your brother for you being like this, or was this just the natural result of your existence?"
"Come now, Tyki-san, you can't just ask a lady her secrets like that." Getting scolded (hands on the hips and everything) by someone at least a foot and a half shorter than you could sure give the ego a good bruising. "But, you have a point, I'm sure Ivy-san will be upset with me if I attract too much attention, so I guess I'll concede and walk over like a normal, boring person." And so Ari proceeded to do just that.
Good to know she holds the Minomasu girl's opinion in much higher standing than mine. Well, Tyki wasn't about to complain about something that made his life easier, but he could bitch and whine that said someone was still nowhere to be found. If nothing else, Ivy was a phone call away, so there was that they could rely on. There wasn't much else Tyki could do except follow behind and get ready for Road to taunt him for something or other—he wasn't quite sure what she was going to target, but he was wide open for it, seeing she could always find a target when she felt like it, and she pretty much always felt like that.
That said, while Ari could concede to not running over, she still refused to enter without some sort of bang, and thus she positioned herself over the edge of the pool just right and sent a splash in Lenalee's direction. Ari would rank it a 2.7/10 on the splash scale, but sometimes you just had to work with what you had. It was still enough to attract Lenalee's attention, though, and Ari offered a wave and a smile. "Hey-ho, Lena-san."
"Ari?!" Even Road hadn't seen that one coming, and she couldn't tell whether she should be impressed or not. Given that Lenalee had already blown away most of her expectations, Road supposed she shouldn't be surprised, but she didn't feel like giving out any more freebies, either. She did, however, wade after Lenalee who'd rushed over to the grinning Ari. "What are you doing here?"
"Did you do this?" Road asked Tyki, who pulled a face to let Road know just how offended he was by said accusation.
"Why would I do anything that would make my life so much harder?" The words weren't even all the way out of his mouth before he knew it was a stupid thing to say, and all Road had to do was raise an eyebrow to let him know she felt the same.
Ari didn't bother to give the silent exchange any recognition, instead focusing on Lenalee. "You gave me the address so I'd know where to go if something cropped up, right? Well, I figured that I wouldn't be much help on the other side of town, so I came here to be your backup. But it looks like you're having tons of fun, so I guess I didn't need to worry!"
A bit emotional, Lenalee smiled, even as Road faked gagging at the thought of having such touchy-feely reasons for doing anything. If it weren't for the fact that she would very much drag him into the pool in retribution, Tyki would've just dunked her under the water. "Thanks, Ari," Lenalee said, starting to realize just how relieved she was after seeing one of her friends again. It hadn't been a whole week yet, and here she was, missing something about her normal life. "Did you really come here alone, though? I know you can handle yourself, but…"
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," Ari said with a smile so bright it made Lenalee wonder why she was concerned in the first place. "I knew I'd need some backup, so I brought Ivy-san along so we could have a Life Changing Adventure together! She did run off to do something else, though, but she's still here, so it's no problem."
Yeah, Lenalee could see Ari's logic in inviting Ivy, and she nodded along in understanding. That feeling wasn't shared amongst the entire group, though. "Huh, Minomasu came too?" Road asked, the genuine surprise in her voice enough to make Ari curious.
"I mean, yeah, I asked her to tag along, so of course she gave in." Ari had known what kind of game she was playing right from the start. "Why do you ask?"
Road sighed and at last pulled herself back onto the edge of the pool with a splat from her skirts. "I just figured she'd want to avoid places like this, considering she's on probation and all."
Before her time at Black Order High School, Minomasu Ivy had not been a "good kid." Sure, even now, she wasn't anything like a good person, but she'd at least cleaned up her act enough to be permissible. That had been Klaud Nine's conditions for taking on her guardianship, after all. Show up to school most of the time, get passing grades, start thinking about her future and taking steps towards it whether that be college or something more vocational, and don't get in trouble. Do well enough, and Ivy could expect some extra spending money to use on herself for non-essentials.
"You have way more potential than you give yourself credit for," Klaud Nine had said, scratching the head of her pet sifaka, Lau Shimin. "You should be capable of handling at least that much responsibility."
Which, Ivy had thought at the time, was a lot of bullshit to tell a kid who'd been part of a group of delinquents since early middle school and had fucked up enough to be on probation—but it was either follow the rules or get into worse trouble, so she'd tried. Not for her own sake and sure as hell not because she believed in what Klaud Nine was telling her, but because making a mess of things would do nothing but make trouble for Link.
Link, who'd been her best friend since elementary school.
Link, who'd been lucky enough to gain the favor of a sponsor and who was going to have a better life now.
(Link, who didn't need to have someone like her hanging around.)
In that case, it was best to disappear from his life without kicking up a fuss and starting over.
And so, Ivy had ended up at Black Order High, gotten partnered up with Kanda on a science project, and soon found herself integrated into a group of friends. Her senior year had been wild, but it had still felt like a taste of a normal life, and she'd wanted to preserve that for herself, wanted to enjoy a little bit of peace.
If nothing was going wrong with her, then Link would also be fine. She'd believed that, had started to feel comfortable with the way things were, and yet everything seemed like it wanted to upend at once.
High school was almost over.
Someone else who might be better suited for Kanda was on the stage.
And now, Link was there, in the last place she'd never expected to find him—
On other words: what a fucking disaster.
Or did it not occur to you that I left for a reason?
The question itself felt like a challenge, because that was what Ivy did. She made everything a challenge, made it difficult to so much as approach her. Link had seen that behavior firsthand, had seen Ivy keep out anyone she didn't have the slightest amount of respect for—and even those she deemed trustworthy enough to join Crow, she still never let them close to her. Link was well aware the only reason he'd avoided that treatment was because she'd known him long before she'd decided that the entire world was worth keeping out.
Just like he'd suspected, though, two years ago he'd been pushed outside the walls with everyone else, and there wasn't a convenient door for him to walk back in through.
That didn't mean that Link was giving up.
"You always do things with a reason," he said, and Ivy couldn't help the flicker of mixed feelings she had at seeing him accept those words. "I'd just hoped I could understand the reason. That's all." There was a moment where Link thought twice about what he wanted to say, then just decided to go along with it. What was the worst that could happen? She could avoid him for two more years? Longer? He'd almost gotten used to it, anyways, so it wasn't like things would change if she did. "I missed you, so I'm glad to see you again."
Ivy's face cycled from a smile to a grimace to back to the cold glare she'd had before. Man, he hadn't seen her look like that since middle school, before she'd gotten good at hiding everything she felt. It was almost enough to make Link smile, but he managed to hold it down. "If you missed me so much, why didn't you investigate it, then?" It wasn't a real question, wasn't a reflection of her true feelings, but she was still pissed off that he'd had another chance and yet he was running around at places like that. "You're a big shot now, aren't you? Or is Lvellie not important enough that you can get away at digging around wherever you want?"
In a pure example of internal contradiction, Ivy hadn't wanted Link to find her, would have been pissed if he had been investigating her in secret, and yet she couldn't help but be frustrated that he hadn't done something since they'd separated.
"If I did that, then I'd be disrespecting your choices. It wouldn't be worth it to see you again if you were upset at me the whole time." Which, yeah, he had to admit, was pretty much the situation he was dealing with now, but it wasn't like he'd done it on purpose. "Look, if you want me to go away, I'll go away. But can you at least get your friend and go home if you're done talking to me? I don't want you getting in any more trouble, and being here is—"
"Comin' through, comin' through, get outta my way!"
The volume of the shout was loud enough to be heard over the party's music, let alone a conversation at a relatively normal volume, so of course Link and Ivy found their talk interrupted. Even more so, the source of the shout was a person with glasses and pigtails, who was barreling down the hall at breakneck speed, knocking people over as she went. Recognizing that they were both very much in the way, Ivy and Link both stepped with their backs against the wall so as not to get crushed, though the latter clicked his tongue. "What the hell is that idiot doing—"
Ivy frowned at the retreating person, trying to see if they were someone she recognized—but they were already too far gone, and the blur of another blonde person—Jasdero—chasing after them made getting a good look even more impossible. Wanting answers, she turned back to Link, just to find the visage of one Devitt right behind her friend, looking smug.
"What's this, what's this? You happen to know our snoop of an intruder?"
Ivy didn't understand everything about the situation, and there was no way she was going to get a comprehensive answer in the moment with an angry Noah looming over them. But she did understand that whatever Link was getting into was going to get him in a lot of trouble if he got caught there, so Ivy did the one thing she could do to help:
She grabbed Link's hand and ran.
(It almost felt like old times, but she pushed that feeling down before it could even surface.)
"Whoa, hold up," Lenalee said, searching Road's expression for any sign of a joke and not seeing a single one. "Ivy's on probation? Since when?"
"What, you didn't know?" Road looked to Ari, who Road could at least recognize as someone who knew things, but she just shook her head. Either Lenalee and Ari were oblivious, or Ivy wanted to keep things a secret, and it wasn't hard to guess which option was more probable. "Sheesh. Well, I found it while I was looking into her during Valentine's." Because Road had been counting her as an enemy, she didn't quite feel it was necessary to add. Bundling up the many layers of her skirt, Road began to twist the water out of it as best she could. "It's nothing too awful, but it's enough that she's gotta behave while she's still a minor, so I never figured she'd come to someplace like this, ya know?" Not after she'd managed to get through the past year and three-quarters without any major complications.
Lenalee and Ari exchanged a glance, a beat of silence in the conversation as they processed the piece of information about their friend that they hadn't known before. Considering it was a pretty big thing, Tyki wondered just how they'd handle it, and within the next moment, he had his answer:
"Whoa, Ivy-san is so heckin' cool," Ari said with pure admiration in her voice.
Lenalee, on the other hand, looked concerned. "Is it okay for her to be here, then? I know she won't go overboard, but if someone else does and she's found here, wouldn't that be bad…?"
It was such a pure display of friendship that was pretty much the antithesis to everything the Noah stood for, which wasn't a bad thing by any means, but it sure did leave Tyki with some mixed feelings that he promptly forgot about the moment there was a large scream coming from behind them in the direction of the house. The tone and timbre weren't right for someone that was about to get hurt or anything, but it still was rather unexpected, as was the person it was attached to:
Long hair in pigtails with a pair of oval glasses reflecting the party lights. What was more, Tyki nor Road knew who they were, meaning they weren't Noah, however Lenalee's gasp was enough to count as recognition.
"Elizabeth-san…?"
Said Elizabeth bolted past the pool, for all intents and purposes looking like he was going straight for the escape. Lenalee didn't hesitate, hauling herself out of the water and sprinting through the gap left in Elizabeth's wake, adrenaline making her ignore the fact that she was soaked through. Ari, left behind, did a simple mental calculation that went somewhat like someone Lenalee knows running away is interesting Lenalee's enroute to leave the party so my work here is done might as well follow them ? profit, so that she went along was easy enough. Road almost considered not exerting herself, but figured she'd been the one that invited Lenalee and should at least make sure she ended up somewhere safe, and thus turned to Tyki.
"You still owe me, you know," she said, harkening back to the pile of intel she'd dumped on Tyki concerning Wiseley, and thus it was the consequences of his own actions all over again. "Grab our shoes and stuff, would ya? Oh, and take care of that, too." She pointed at the approaching shape of Jasdero, and by the time Tyki had looked back, Road had already slipped away. That left Tyki at a crossroads, where it was either one choice to regret or the other, and between Road and Jasdevi, it was a simple call on who he wanted to piss off less.
With a sigh and a promise to smoke so many fucking cigarettes once he could, Tyki scooped up the remainder of Road and Lenalee's belongings, then positioned himself just right. It was easy to trip Jasdero into the pool without being noticed, resulting in the biggest splash yet. It was a sure guarantee that Jasdero's makeup would be a runny mess by the time he surfaced, but Tyki didn't stick around to hang out.
I hope little missy Minomasu isn't going to get caught up in anything like this, he thought, unable to know it was too late, she already was.
And then he decided Ivy was the least of his problems, soon following after the train of young women who were sure to lead to even more poor life decisions on the way.
[Author's Notes]
Hey, look, Ivy lore! Am I stretching suspension of belief for how probation would work out? Yeah, but a lot about this AU is stretching the bounds of reality. Go for it for the narrative drama. Lots of shenanigans going on, so I hope you're having fun.
Thanks to kingmims990 for the favorite and follow! This fic has a very special place in my heart, so I'm always excited to see someone willing to come along for the ride!
[Twelve Shots of Summer: Eleventh Hour] is wrapping up this week, and tomorrow will be the final part of my project for the challenge, As the Fox! If you like OC centric fics (which I'm assuming you do, given that you made it this far), give it a try!
Next Time: "78. The Chapter with More Questions Than Answers tbh." Please look forward to it!
-Avi
[17 August 2024]