Exception

By: Aviantei

24. Ordinary Saturday

Lavi had slept alright. It was waking up that was the problem.

He had been too ready to go to bed the night before, so there really hadn't been time for reflection. But waking up meant having a fresh mind, and that gave one certain rabbit enough time to realize just how little he had been focusing on the success level of the date, and how much he had ultimately been focusing on other things.

Like how Allen had looked pretty damn good last night. And how much Lavi still remembered what Tyki looked like, despite the other guy being a total stranger.

Well, his insides were definitely throwing up red flags now.

Lavi had always had a taste for ladies—it was hard not to when they were so beautiful all the time. And he didn't have a problem with the idea of maybe liking guys, too, it had just never happened before. Sighing, Lavi stared at his ceiling, trying to figure out a decent rig for keeping books up there but just kept getting distracted.

He was not panicking. He was just maybe a little bit out of his comfort zone. Well, he definitely couldn't talk to Ari about this—she would figure out what had happened in no time flat. Kanda had zero patience for this stuff, Ivy probably wanted her space after last night, and Lavi couldn't talk to Allen when the Brit was part of the reason for his problem. That only left one problem.

Lavi reached for his phone (his hands were definitely not shaking, thank you very much!) and rung up the Lenalady.

There were a few extended moments of ringing, which only served to worry Lavi more. Lenalee tended to keep her phone close by, and not answering usually meant she was occupied. Lavi could wait, but he preferred not to. Thankfully, the ringing was interrupted with a click, and Lenalee's voice came through the phone.

"Hey, what's up, Lavi?" Lenalee asked. Lavi closed his eye and let out a calming breath. Thank the possible and various variations of god for Lenalee.

"Hey, you got a minute? Or several?" Lavi responded. Generally he would have kept his cheerful tone up, but Lenalee would understand. She always seemed to. Lenalee let out a small hum of agreement before the loud sound of metal hitting the floor echoed before fading out. Whatever was going on, Lenalee was walking away from it. Lavi couldn't waste his brain power on trying to play detective. "Well, um…" How to put this. "Do you think it'd be weird if I liked dudes, too?"

Lavi braced himself. Lenalee was accepting, but this was kind of—aw, screw it, this was something huge! They never really talked about this stuff in their group, but Lenalee was someone that Lavi trusted, no matter what. That wouldn't be lost on her, but Lavi wasn't sure if she would squeal or take forever to process.

"Well, do you think it would be weird?" Lenalee posed. The Chinese girl couldn't say she had seen this coming, but that didn't mean it had to be such a shock, either. People were free to like whoever they wanted after all, as long as everybody respected everyone else's feelings. Besides, she couldn't be one to judge. "I mean, sure, there are a lot of things to consider, but you don't have to rush to a conclusion or anything."

Lavi could have sworn that part of his brain audibly protested at that, like whenever a metal beam had too much strain put on it. Looking over the available information and pulling a conclusion form it was like his default response. Still, he knew Lenalee had a point. "I guess it wouldn't be too weird…" he admitted. "Just unexpected."

Lenalee nodded, even though Lavi couldn't see it. "Then it's fine," she assured, her voice in calming I'm-actually-the-little-sister-but-I-act-more-rational-so-I-might-as-well-be-the-older-one mode. "It's the weekend, so just chill out. You'll have an answer eventually, but not if you stress out about it." Finally, though, she couldn't help it. This wasn't the sort of question you asked out of nowhere, and the cause was only a few questions away. "You mind if I ask where this was coming from?"

There was an extended pause, the telltale sign of Lavi stiffening. He fumbled for his scarf but only touched the skin of his neck. Well, there was a truth that still had the answer without spilling all the details. "I went out for dinner last night and ran into this guy." Oh, red alert on words. Quick, correct yourself! "Nothing happened but we chatted for a bit and I found him kind of…attractive."

That was an incorrect word if Lenalee had ever heard one. "So he was hot, huh?" she supplied causing Lavi to splutter. "Calm down, I won't tell. Just making sure I understand the situation." Lavi tried to take a deep breath. And people said he was the master of dragging people out of their comfort zones. "You didn't happen to get his number or anything did you?"

"Come on, Lenalee!" Lavi whined, feeling himself turn about as red as his hair, if not darker. Lenalee giggled a bit. "No, I did not get his number." It was defensive, but he couldn't care. "I didn't really get the chance, and I doubt we'll see each other again, so it doesn't really matter, now does it?"

Lenalee let out a disappointed sigh but didn't argue. "Fine, fine. I was just thinking that if you saw him again, you might be able to figure some stuff out, that's all." She shrugged. "Anyway, I gotta get back to Komui or he's gonna be slacking on cleaning. But if you need to talk, I'll be around, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Lena." Lavi did feel a bit better, if not at least a bit calmer. And she had a point—he saw Allen pretty much every day, so that might help sort things out. Exchanging their farewells, the two teens hung up, and Lavi bounced out of bed, ready to get the day started. There were preparations to be made after all.

Lenalee returned her phone to her pocket and tightened her ponytail as she headed back to the kitchen. "Nii-san! You better not be building something instead of moving it to the car!"

"But look! If I finish the adjustments, it'll help us move everything. We'll hardly have to carry a thing! I couldn't stand it if my precious sister had to do so much manual labor, so—"

It really was an ordinary Saturday.

Compared to everything that had happened at Millennial the night before, cramming for a Physics test felt great—even peaceful. Numbers and formulas made sense, and Ivy could memorize them, put them into categories, and execute them as needed. Sure, there were a lot of formulas, but that was fine. Anything was easier than trying to predict what Lavi would do.

Ivy gripped onto her pencil a bit too hard. Kanda raised an eyebrow. "You feelin' okay?" he asked, not quite with a tone of concern. Still, it was the words that mattered, and Ivy could appreciate that.

Ivy put the pencil down, stretching out her fingers. For some reason, they felt stiff, and that was never a good situation to be in. "I'm okay," she said, massaging at a tense spot between her thumb and index finger. "Though I think you get five points for checking in on me, though."

Kanda blinked, which was probably the closest he ever came to confused. Ivy liked it, though—you had to be looking for the moment to see it, which made it all the more special when she did notice it. "I won't complain about it, but since when do we hand out points for stuff like that?"

Ivy blushed a little bit, not meeting Kanda's eyes. She flexed her thumb, hoping to relieve some of the tension. "I dunno," she admitted, almost murmuring, "maybe since you became my boyfriend?"

It had sounded like a good idea in—no, screw that. Even in her head it had sounded dumb, but those sorts of things were supposed to be romantic, right? She really didn't get how any of this worked; it was a goddamn wonder she had recognized her crush on Kanda in the first place. If only she had someone to ask for advice—too bad all her friends were in the middle of romantic roller coasters themselves. Well, all except for Lavi but just: no.

Fuck no.

Kanda took a moment to process the words before smiling a bit—a tiny one in comparison to the average, but a smile nonetheless. "Alright," he said, knowing he should just say the words before he could stop himself, "then you get five points for being cute."

Both of their faces were equally red at this point, and Ivy was the first to move, abruptly standing up, her chair screeching against the wood flooring. "Alright, I think it's time for a break!" she said, rapidly heading to the kitchen. They had hardly been studying for an hour, but it was still early—they did have all day. "You want anything to drink, Yu-kun?"

"Hn. I've got some tea in the fridge if you don't mind."

"You got it!"

Ivy bustled away, with every intention of taking a bit longer than necessary. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the complement—hell, she actually kind of liked it, but no one had ever really talked to her that way before. Even though she and Kanda had been dating for almost a month, it was still a lot to process.

Kanda waited in the dining room, looking back over his papers. It wasn't last minute cramming, but he still felt that he didn't recognize most of the material. If he focused he had it, but his thoughts were more than a bit preoccupied. His urge to kill Lavi was even lower than it should have been last night, but that's because other things were bothering him. The first and foremost being:

"Hey, what did you even do to that table last night?"

Ivy nearly dropped her two glasses of tea, but sanity caused her to grip her grip. Kanda at least waited until she sat them down and uttered a "thanks" before continuing. "I mean, I get that you might not have wanted to talk about it right in the middle of the restaurant, but you can tell me."

Ivy felt uncomfortable. Not greatly so, but just enough to feel like she was squirming. And Kanda would more than likely notice, being the type of guy he was. She took measured breaths through her nose, hoping to calm down the slightest amount. "I just…" Okay, that pause was more than hesitation. Ugh, she hated talking about this stuff—why had she been so stupid for her first few years of being a teenager? "I disabled the main support on the table…?"

Okay, that sounded more like a question than an answer, but Ivy seemed nervous enough. Kanda raised an eyebrow in favor of pressing the issue too hard. "With what exactly?"

Ivy let out a nervous laugh and immediately berated herself with it. Her tools were tucked inside the inner pocket of her jacket, but she couldn't just whip them out and say "I carry these on me all the time, didn't I mention that?" She at least stopped herself from reaching for them, which would have been an immediate tell. "You'd be surprised the things you can do with an ordinary set of silverware," she lied.

She didn't like it, either, but there wasn't much else she could do.

Kanda nodded, reaching for the cup she had brought him. Ivy went back to shuffling her notes around and glancing around her assignments. "Why don't we switch up topics?" he suggested, and Ivy gave a thumbs up. "There's that history reading to do and I think we could get some good notes together."

"Read and compare?" Ivy suggested, finally smiling again. Bonus points: it didn't feel forced, either. She reached to her bag for her own history book, sitting her physics work aside for the moment. Kanda did the same, and Ivy watched him for a few moments, glad that she could have this quiet moment with him. "Let's stay like this forever," she muttered.

Kanda looked up and tilted his head. "Huh?" Damn, his ears were sharp.

"Nothing to worry about, just talking to myself," Ivy said, hoping that would be enough for a save. Kanda's attention returned to his text soon after, and Ivy figured she might as well get focused, too.

But she really hoped that this would never change.

Johnny intensely stared down the chessboard as Ari played on her phone. The girl was a master multi-tasker, so her looking away from the board was normal. What was less normal was the amount of giggles she was putting out on a regular basis, and they were pretty distracting. It made it feel as if she was taunting his thoughts over every move he was considering making, even though he was fairly certain the one thing Ari Bookman couldn't do was read minds.

That and solve science problems, but that was beside the point.

Finally, Ari let out a particularly loud giggle, and Johnny gave up on focusing on the chessboard. "Alright," he said, sounding more annoyed than curious. Ari finally looked up, giving a confused look to the board.

"You didn't move," she said. Of course she could memorize the board, why wouldn't she be able to? Ari pouted, placing her phone aside. "You can't be giving up yet; we haven't even been playing for ten minutes!" That was one of the things Ari liked about Johnny—no matter how screwed his position on the board was, he wouldn't give up until a checkmate was confirmed.

"No, but I'm not making another move until you tell me what's go you so giddy," Johnny declared. Well, Ari guessed she had been a bit obvious with that one. "I take it your date last night went well?"

Ari's hands immediately clasped together with enough force that Johnny feared ever getting hit by her. Thankfully Ari was a pretty docile person—it was her tongue you had to look out for, really, unless you were her brother. "It was perfect!" the girl gushed, immediately spewing out rainbows in the form of her voice. "Allen-san's such a gentleman, but you know that already, Johnny. He was nice enough to go out with me even though he's not sure if he likes me or not, and he's so cute when he talks about Timcanpy, and—" The sentence was broken off as Ari let out a squeal.

Johnny was suddenly glad his chess set was made of wood instead of glass.

"So are you going out again?" It was the question for the high school ages, and really everyone involved wanted to know, even Kanda, though the boy wouldn't admit it. (If they got together, that would make the rabbit stop all his bullshit, you got it?!) Johnny mostly wanted to know since both parties were his close friends, and he wanted to see them happy.

"I dunno yet…" Ari said. Her tone had dampened, but she sounded pretty chipper with all things considered. "I mean, we've actually been texting most of the morning." It was mostly mundane conversational stuff, but that was enough for Ari. That explained all the giggling at least. "But my brother's definitely up to something."

Johnny blinked. "Lavi?" he asked. Sure, he knew Lavi a bit from association, but they had never really talked too much. All Johnny knew what that Lavi was definitely Ari's older brother, and "being up to something" couldn't lead to anything good. "What's he got to do with it?"

Ari looked back and forth, even though they were the only ones in Johnny's living room at the moment. That didn't stop her from leaning across the chessboard, urging Johnny to come close. They nearly knocked over the formation of pieces, but Ari could easily reset them in a minute. "The truth is that Lenalee likes Allen, too," she whispered, even though that wasn't exactly a secret, "and I think Nii-chan's got it in his head that he needs to solve the love triangle, okay?" Ari sat back, crossing her arms. Her phone buzzed in her hand, but Allen could wait for a moment. "So I'm in for a lot more trouble than I've bargained for. And if Lenalee somehow manages to win over Allen…"

Now, Johnny had nothing against Lenalee; they actually got alone quite well. The thing was that, ultimately, Ari was his closer friend, and she actually looked worried about the idea. And a worried Ari was no good, especially when you were her best friend.

"Well, I'm gonna be busy soon," Johnny said. The Robot Fight Club was set for march, and it would definitely be pretty time consuming. Two weeks was probably nowhere near enough time, but for Ari, he would do it. "But why don't we set you up for Valentine's Day? I'll make your dress, and you can blow Lenalee out of the park!"

Ari's eyes widened before she broke out into a grin and lunged herself across the table. The chessboard was decimated, but who cared at this point? "Ah, really?! Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, you're the best! The absolute best! You're unbelievable! No, you're unbelieva-Gill!"

Once Johnny was free of the Infinite Thank You Hug, he went to grab his sketch materials while Ari laid the chess soldiers to rest.

Millennium Private High School was usually a quiet place, save if you were in the vicinity of certain male dorms. But Road was tucked away in her private room, decked out with purple, lace and candles. The fourteen-year-old herself was at her computer, hair only partially spiked up for the day as she navigated across several webpages at once.

It was a wonder what you could find when you knew someone's name and face.

Road hadn't known what exactly to expect, but she was more than pleased with the results. Allen was a student at the nearby Black Order High School, meaning that he had to live in the area. From there, it was easy to find out everything about him—from his defunct guardian to his street address and P.O. box number.

"You look like you're hard at work," a voice drawled from the doorway. Road scowled; she had definitely locked the door, which meant only one other person could get in. She spun around in her chair to face the intruder.

Tyki Mikk, recently nineteen-years-old and definitely handsome—as well as Road's cousin—stood in the middle of the room, looking amused. Road wished she knew how Tyki could pick locks so easily, but he steadfastly refused to tell her. The man crossed the room, leaning over Road's desk to look at her screen. "A bit of an extracurricular project, hm?"

Road stuck out her tongue, but didn't bother to shut down her computer. Even if he was a pain, Tyki would never snitch on her—mainly because Road would snitch back in response. It was a relationship of mutual preservation. "What's it matter to you?" she asked. "It's been so boring, I'm allowed to have a little fun, right?" And just like that, Road went right back to digging through her acquired files. Tyki could watch or get bored and leave, his call.

Tyki did watch for a while. Road ignored him, but that was fine. For some reason, Tyki was sure he had seen the boy before, but he couldn't quite place where. However, there was a face he recognized—a redhead with an eyepatch in one of the pictures, his arm hooked around the other white-haired boy's neck, nearly strangling him from the looks of it.

"Care to share a bit more?" Tyki asked, and the interest in his voice definitely wasn't missed by Road. "I might be a bit interested in helping you out."

Allen shuddered violently enough for Timcanpy to protest from his shoulder. Allen pet the bird as an apology, skimming over his readings for his literature course and his phone lit up with a text from Ari. It was a completely ordinary Saturday, but he couldn't get rid of the chill that had decided to settle in the pit of his stomach.

"I better not be getting sick again," he grumbled, and Tim let out a concerned warble. "That's the last thing I need right now…"

Alright, apologies for the lateness: I took a trip to Austin on Saturday to watch the Welcome to Night Vale live show and it ate up my day. Plus I worked the last two days plus NaNoWriMo (where I've been making some excellent progress, I might add), so you know.

Thanks to hermagix, Shiori07, and Chronic Guardian for their favorites, follows, and reviews! Bonus thanks to CG for dropping me a line (or several) even though he's busy as well. I know you still have a bit of time til you get to this point, but you really encourage me to keep going forward (and hopefully stay more on deadlines from here on out!).

In any event, I really enjoy writing these chapters. All these little AU snap shots of life feel nice and cozy at times. And I actually managed to dump some plot movements in here, too, yay! Next chapter will be posted when its supposed to on Saturday, and it will be another dip into the SSGTIK! Please look forward to it, and don't hesitate to drop me a line!

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