Exception
By: Aviantei
29. Myriad Madness: Oversight
At least this time Lavi had the sense to wear a hat, so his hair was much less noticeable in the mall. He had even rotated out his jacket and scarf for less eye-catching ones, making him blend easy into the background crowd of the mall. Ivy tended to wear darks and her hair was a less obnoxious tone, so she didn't have to worry about standing out as much, either. As such, tucking away behind racks of clothes and Allen and Lenalee shuffled through stores was pretty easy, and even had much less chance for trouble then the Millennial plan had.
Not a single wine cabinet in sight, either.
"Oooh, that's a nice dress," Lavi complimented. Ivy had been browsing through the racks to seem like a normal shopper, and had really been playing minimal attention to what was going on with the couple she was supposed to be following. Allen had managed just fine without any help last time, and Ivy was starting to wonder why they were even taking this approach to things anymore.
Right, because Lavi wouldn't take no for an answer, no matter what he had promised. Ivy released a sigh, turning to see what exactly her unfortunate partner was talking about.
Admittedly, it was a pretty dress, but Ivy's knowledge of fashion was a bit limited to understand much more than that. It almost looked like something that you would find in an older Disney movie, with the poofy skirt and long sleeves. Lenalee expertly showed off the dress at all angles, making the skirt shift with each movement. Ivy couldn't see Allen's expression from here, but it didn't matter much. Ivy let out a disinterested hum and went back to her browsing.
"She could pick a better color, though," Lavi assessed, sounding far more serious than he needed to be. He and Lenalee tended to go shopping together a lot, so he was used to giving his friend shopping advice. As expected, Lenalee headed back into the dressing room, another dress draped over her shoulder. It took a lot of Lavi's energy not to pick something out and take it to her, but he remembered what he was there for. "What about you, Ivy-chan? You wanna go dress shopping? The dance is coming up."
"Get bent and die," Ivy retorted instantly. She didn't do dresses, especially ones like that monster Lenalee had been wearing. As if walking around and dancing weren't a hassle enough, skirts didn't need to get in the way. She hadn't even been planning on going to the dance in the first place, but she probably would have to with all of this nonsense going on. Ugh, Kanda wasn't going to be happy with that, but what else could she do?
Completely unfazed by the insult—it was actually kind of cute when Ivy and Kanda acted alike in some weird "I-have-no-sense-of-self-preservation" way—Lavi started flipping through the rack of clothes next to Ivy. "Come on, you don't wanna try and impress Yu-pon?" he tried, only putting as much teasing into his voice that wouldn't carry across the room. "You looked good last week, Ivy-chan, I won't deny that. But something out of the ordinary can do wonders, you know? Bet you could knock him out of the park."
Ivy rolled her eyes, trying to take it lightly, but still ended up frowning. For the sake of appearances, she pulled a hanger out to look at, only to put it right back. How did some of this stuff even count as clothes with that amount of fabric? "I don't want out of the ordinary. I want to help Allen-san out and go back to how things normally are." Admittedly, they hadn't had any sense of "normal" since the beginning of the school year, but that didn't mean she couldn't hope.
At this point, I'm just kind of sick of this nonsense…
"Aw, come on, Ivy-chan, you can't tell me you didn't have fun with Yu-pon last night."
Ivy froze, having to resist the urge to bash Lavi's head into the clothes rack repeatedly. Not only would that drag unnecessary attention, it would just get blood everywhere, and paying for ruined clothes just wasn't something Ivy was in the mood for. She looked back to Lenalee, who was now sporting off a shorter dress with a skirt that was beyond questionable. Well, at least Lenalee looked cute in stuff like that; Ivy wouldn't be able to pull something like that off in a million years.
"Ivy-chan, you're not answering me. Oh, did Yu-pon—"
Ivy's first reaction was to panic, but she managed to hold that back, replacing it with a glare instead. Lavi took a step back, which made Ivy feel the tiniest bit better. "We did homework and slept in separate rooms," she said. "We couldn't leave because of the snow." How could she even keep her voice calm in that moment? She didn't really understand that herself.
"Whoa, you're serious?" Lavi's visible eye widened, and Ivy just realized she had made a fatal blunder. "I was just kidding, Ivy-chan, I didn't actually think… I mean, yeah, you were with Yu-pon and I just figured he offered to give you a ride; I saw you guys leave together." What was that pounding in her ears? Was it a headache or her heartbeat? Ivy couldn't bring herself to care for long enough. "I can't believe it—everyone's growing up so fast, right? Congratulations, Ivy-cha—"
There was a boiling point, and Lavi had just caused it to be reached. Ivy stomped on Lavi's foot, cutting off his words and covered his mouth to muffle any cries to distress. Lavi was unceremoniously thrown to the ground, emitting a pained groan and electing a look of concern from a passing sales attendant.
"Um, sir, ma'am, is everything, alright?"
"We're fine," Ivy answered, dusting off her hands. The attendant didn't have room to argue, and so just went back to stocking up the wall display. If the boy didn't move in a few minutes, she would call someone, but there were certain types of customers you didn't mess with if you could help it. Ivy let out a huff, resting her hand on her hip. "Now are you gonna focus on what we came here for, or are you gonna keep acting stupid?"
"I can focus, ma'am." Of course, that didn't mean he had to let this whole ordeal go, either.
"Good." Ivy turned back around just as Allen and Lenalee exited the store, both of their arms surprisingly void of any bags. Maybe Lenalee liked to shop around then? In any event, it meant this afternoon could take quite some time.
As if this whole situation wasn't frustrating enough.
Even after a few hours of looking around, Lenalee had yet to find the right dress, despite Allen's assurances that she looked great in anything she wore. And it was true, but it seemed like she was trying extra hard at this rate, so Allen just let her go at it and tried his best not to give generic feedback.
"Sorry to drag you around like this," Lenalee said around lunchtime as they headed to the food court. Allen hadn't even been doing anything exhausting, but he already felt hungry. Well, that was normal—his internal clock was unwilling to compromise when it came to food, and Allen had long since learned to just work with it.
"It's not really a problem," Allen assured, trying to figure out what all he should eat. Food courts were a great invention—they had all sorts of food types in one place and it wasn't considered rude if you ordered from more than one. Truly, an excellent decision on someone's part. He could already feel his mouth watering and they moved closer to the smells. "This is actually kind of fun. I just hope you find a dress you like soon."
"Well, it's not that I haven't found one I like…" Lenalee mused, resting a finger on her lips. "It's more like I gotta find all the right pieces. A great dress only does so much. You gotta have the accessories, shoes, and hairstyle to match." With each item Lenalee sounded off on her hand, Allen became more impressed. That sure seemed like a whole lot of items to keep track of, especially for just one night.
Well, you might be making that night very special for someone, so don't go dismissing it yet.
Allen shook those thoughts out of his head by looking around the food court. He knew all the stores and their menus by heart at this point, it was only a matter of what all he was going to get in what order. Lenalee settled into the line for the small burger place, and they met up after Allen had heaved a heaping tray to their poor table. At least it was wide enough that Allen didn't have to be hidden behind his mountain of food.
"So is there anything you wanna check out?" Lenalee asked, adding some mustard packets to her sandwich. They just never seemed to put enough of the stuff on burgers these days. "I mean, I'd still like to look for a dress, but we shouldn't just go and get stuff for me."
Allen didn't particularly mind, but Lenalee did have a point. "Maybe we could go and pick something up for Tim?" He couldn't show that bird his appreciation enough, and it had been a while since Allen had gotten Timcanpy treats or a new toy. Even though Cross was the master of running up debt, he was still able (required) to give Allen a semblance of a monthly allowance, which Allen guessed he was grateful for. Might as well spend it on something fun that wasn't for food.
Lenalee would have clapped her hands together if that wouldn't have just made a mess out of her lunch. "That sounds like fun," she agreed. "We can go and play with the animals, too. Man, I wouldn't mind having a pet, but Nii-san just leaves all of his things lying around. I wouldn't feel safe with that mess in the house." And she had worked so hard to clean things up, too. Well, the place did feel a bit sterile without Komui's messes everywhere.
"Yeah, I feel ya." Sometimes, Allen had to worry about Tim, but the flycatcher was a smart bird. And Cross wasn't home most of the time anyways, so it didn't matter. "I'm just glad I have a cage for Tim to stay in. Cross just causes trouble when he's around, and I'm glad that I can keep Tim safe."
There was a certain distaste to Allen's words, one that didn't get there often, but it wasn't the first time that Lenalee had heard it. She frowned a bit, trying to figure out what to best say that could calm down her friend. Even so, concern and curiosity won out in the end. "Have you heard from him lately?" she asked. "I know he didn't come home for holidays, but it's been a while since anything came up, right?"
"Good riddance," Allen grumbled. Sure, he was grateful to Cross for taking him in, but that was only a bare minimum effort. That one act couldn't chance the fact that the man was nothing more than a giant arsehole half the time. "I haven't heard since he bailed on me at the beginning of the school year. Of course, knowing him, he'll just show up whenever it's most convenient for him and least convenient for everyone else." Allen sighed, inhaling his side of rice from the Chinese restaurant in the breath that followed. "Sorry, I don't wanna whine about Cross all day, it won't change anything."
Lenalee shook her head. "It's okay, I'm the one that asked," she said, toying more with her french-fry than anything else. "Sorry for bringing it up, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."
Allen smiled again, and Lenalee knew that things would be alright. "I'm doing great, actually," he said. It wasn't completely true, since he still had a whole lot of stress in the background over this whole ordeal, but that was fine. A love triangle? A cakewalk when compared to having to traveled with Cross. Allen was just glad the man had caved and let Allen stay in the house instead of being dragged around to the corners of the earth. He started in on his next entrée, and it was gone in minutes. "So, you wanna hit the pet store first, or keep looking around for your dress?"
"The pet store sounds good. I think I need to let my ideas simmer for a bit."
After all, one could never have epiphanies without doing something else first.
Ari sat in the back corner of the pet store, a rabbit in her lap. She had hoped that petting it would make her feel better, but so far no such luck. She still felt more than a bit irritated, but it wasn't like she could just take that out on anything with a cute, fluffy animal in her lap. Johnny sat across from her, watching in worry. Sure, Ari seemed to be doing pretty alright, but that didn't mean things were going as well as he hoped.
Allen and Lenalee's date seemed to be going off without a hitch. Ari had figured out the details while spying on her brother, which was easy enough, really. Of course, she had recruited Johnny to come along for the ride, mainly because he had offered to help out, and also because Ari wasn't a big fun of bus rides solo.
The date was completely different from her own, which was probably why she shouldn't be comparing it. Incompatible samples could have skewed results, and that was what Ari was leaning on at the moment. At Millennial, Allen had seemed happy enough, but there was still a nervousness that Ari had picked up on. Here, he seemed just as casual at school, more comfortable.
It's just the location, right? It's not because he's with Lenalee, right?
"Johnny, do you think I'm the problem?"
Johnny snapped to attention at the words, not quite sure what he should be saying. Did Ari was empathy? Was their usual banter okay? Ari was usually a pretty animated person, but she was completely still, her hands resting on top of the small rabbit without even trying to pet it anymore. The small animal squirmed a bit, but didn't run away—the pet store had obviously kept it peaceful.
"Come on," Johnny finally said, keeping his voice gentle, "where's this coming from? Just last night you were telling me how easy it would be to beat Lenalee-san out. Did you change your mind?"
"No…" Ari sighed, picking up the rabbit to coddle it to her chest. At this rate, Crab Cakes would have a new friend, even if they wouldn't be staying in the same tank. "I still wanna be with Allen-san. And I still think I'm gonna knock her store bought dress out of the park with her work behind me." The rabbit nuzzled against Ari's fingertips, and she went back to petting it, small strokes between its ears. "But Allen-san just seems so happy. I don't know…"
"Ari _ Bookman." Ari blinked at the sound of her full name, and Johnny made sure to smile when she looked to him. "You can't go and make that decision. Only Allen can. And if you give up, you're not gonna let him make a fair decision." Johnny stood up, offering his hand. Ari made sure the rabbit was secure against her chest before accepting the help. "Now, why don't we forget about this and go by you some books. You look like you could use a nice reading afternoon and some hot cocoa."
"Which I'll be making," Ari teased. She giggled a bit, and Johnny decided it was best not to retort. It wasn't his fault that was his first time using a Bunsen burner! And it wasn't like anything had exploded, either… "But you're right. The bookstore would make me feel better… Oh, and we can talk about my dress more. Maybe if we go to the fabric store, we'll get some ideas…"
Johnny patted his messenger bag, sketchbook inside. "I have a couple of drafts, but it's nothing concrete. I was thinking lace…" And lots of it, really
Ari nodded. "It's like you read my mind." She started to walk to the store's exit, Johnny on her heels.
"You can't take the rabbit with you."
"Aw, how do you do that?" Ari tried to pout, but her smile was coming back quicker. After dropping off the rabbit with a staff member and brushing its fur of Ari's her top, the teens went to exit the store. Ari was already running through a mental catalogue of books that she had considered buying, and Johnny was trying to flip through his designs and walk at the same time.
It was no wonder they collided into someone.
No one fell over, but Johnny did stumble back, stammering out apologies. Ari blinked before taking a few steps back of her own, at least to establish personal space. The third party was a tall male with tan skin and messy dark hair, though he was wearing glasses that made it hard to see his eyes. Maybe it was just instinct, but Ari got a certain vibe off the guy that wasn't entirely pleasant, though it was hard to find.
"Well," Tyki Mikk said, running a hand through his hair and assessing the redhead in front of him, "it looks like today is my lucky day."
Haha, do I like making awkward collisions? Yes. Yes, I do.
(clears throat) Thanks to Sophie 82000 for your favorite and follow! You rock my metaphorical socks. Glad to see you're (hopefully) enjoying the story, and I would love to hear what you think!
That being said, I hope this mess looks like it's leading somewhere. I honestly can't tell. But it is leading somewhere, I promise! In any event, we'll see where things are leading next chapter...
...which happens to be the last update of this E-Sauce season. I know, sad, but I've been dumping all my energy into I Go Around, so there you go. I'll try my best to slip in a few updates (once I clear away these Sauce challenges-they're big suckers) before next fall, but you can guarantee another large spam of updates then. I'll babble on more about what's going on next week.
Anywho, the date concludes next week, which is a fitting stopping point. Please look forward to it!
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