Exception

By: Aviantei

34. Preparation Comes in Many Forms

"This is dumb," Ivy said to herself. Her reflection stared back from the mirror in the changing room, disgruntled expression agreeing with the sentiment. If it weren't for that, she might not have even recognized herself thanks to the dress. It was dark blue, which was tolerable, but the way it hugged her chest and waist seemed wrong, even though it was lacking in the ribbons and lace that seemed to be on most of the dresses in the damn store. It didn't matter if it fit in size; fitting her was a different matter.

"You okay in there?" Kanda asked from outside. Ivy jumped, the mirror making it all to easy to see the blush settling in on her cheeks. "Are you having trouble with a zipper or something? If it doesn't fit, I can pass you a different one." Based on the sound of his voice, Kanda had moved closer, and Ivy smacked her cheeks to wake the fuck up.

"I'm fine," she said, even though she didn't feel anything like it. Deciding that being a pussy wasn't helping any, Ivy gave in and opened the door to the changing room stall, stepping into the boutique. It was one of the (many, oh so many) stores Lenalee and Allen had gone to on their date, with white paint visible behind the veritable walls of clothes and dresses. How so much fabric could exist in one place and there still couldn't be anything that Ivy wanted to wear was beyond her. Forcing herself not to look grumpy or like the hive of butterflies in her stomach was about to erupt, Ivy took an experimental turn. "And Yu-kun's ranking is?"

Being a good boyfriend, Kanda gave Ivy an appraising look. She tried not to blush darker under his gaze. It was a sleeveless dress, with a tight-fitting bodice that let loose around the waistline into a skirt that looked like it gave plenty of mobility without having too much fabric. Shoes abandoned in the changing room for the moment, Ivy's dark socks peeked out from under the hemline.

At such a moment, the ordinary response was to offer praise, which had been Allen's strategy over the weekend. And while there was nothing wrong with compliments, Ivy had made it clear she wouldn't be accepting empty works, and Kanda just didn't do lip service.

"The color looks good on you," he said after several moments. If Lavi were present, he would've flipped out over Kanda Yu giving such a willing compliment. Since Ivy was the only one around to hear it, though, she just tried to ignore the way her heartbeat started going wild. "You look uncomfortable, though. You don't like it?"

Ivy flinched. As antisocial as Kanda was, he still knew how to read the people he was around on a consistent basis. And dating Ivy kinda meant that he was around her a lot. Not bothering to hold back her sigh any longer, Ivy rubbed her shoulders. "It too cold for all this sleeveless junk," she said, then caught herself. "If you like it, though, I can…"

"I'm not compromising your comfort for what I think you look nice in." Catching the compliment in the words, Ivy felt a smile slipping onto her face. Kanda checked to make sure there wasn't anyone he knew in the immediate vicinity, then let himself smile, too. "Come on, there's a ton of crappy stores in this mall. I'm sure you'll find something you like."

Ivy snorted. "It's not very nice to call places we might be buying something at crappy."

"They're crappy if you can't find something you like in them." Ivy's smile stretched out closer to a grin. It was better than her masked discomfort from before. One mission accomplished, Kanda touched a hand to Ivy's arm and urged her back towards the changing room. "Go ahead, get out of that thing. If you wanna try on something else or get out of here, I don't mind."

Stepping back into the mirrored threshold of the changing stall, Ivy snuck a look over her shoulder. "You sure you don't mind? At this rate, we'll be in the mall all night." Given the past hour hadn't had any success, Ivy didn't feel confident about her chances in finding a dress she liked in one evening, let alone in time for the dance. Despite that, Kanda didn't feel the least bit perturbed by the concept.

"Damn shame that, spending an evening with you." Ivy shut the door before Kanda could see her blushing. He noticed anyway. "Trust me, this is nothing like some trips I've had Lenalee drag me on. I can take it."

"Alright, but you said it, not me." Amused by the image of Kanda loaded up with the spoils of one of Lenalee's shopping trips (Ivy had seen Lena's closet once. It was a wonder everything fit), Ivy worked on undoing the zipper and shaking out of the dress before trying on something else.

If Lenalee can find ten-thousand things to wear in one trip, I can find just one outfit that I like. How hard can it be?

Sure, Lavi, just make the condition for hanging out with you going out on a date! It'll be a good way to let Allen know your feelings. Nothing could go wrong with this plan at all!

Sweat slicked Lavi's palm, and he fumbled with his putter. The dark of the indoor, glow-in-the-dark mini golf course hung over everything, save for the patches of color from the obstacles. Not even ten feet away, the glowing circle at the end of the hole seemed way too far away, given the twists and turns on the path. A few steps behind to give Lavi enough room to swing (minimal as it was needed for put-put golf), Allen admired Lavi's concentration.

I didn't really expect him to go through with it. I mean, sure, I'm pumped, but my body was not ready for this. Is this awkward? I'm sure this is awkward. Dammit, Lavi, just put the damn ball, already!

Finished lining up his angle (but not his thoughts in the slightest), Lavi made his put. The hot pink ball bounced off the neon green walls, ricocheting far enough to make it into the final square with the target hole. Allen golf clapped, as the situation called for. "Nice shot, Lavi."

"Yeah, thanks." The dim lighting made it hard to see each other's expressions, which Lavi was grateful for, since flustered was an understatement for how he felt. He swung his club up over his shoulder, carving a pink arc through the air. "If I'd given it a little more force, I think I could've hole-in-oned it." Ari was better at things like that than Lavi was, but he wasn't about to bring up his baby sister who also had a crush on Allen when he was on a date with said crush.

I'm on a date. With Allen Walker.

Given that it was a Tuesday afternoon on the week leading up to Valentine's Day, there wasn't much of a crowd clamoring to play indoor mini golf, so the two boys had the place to themselves. Both of them had their own nerves about it, given the connotations, but Allen stepped up to putt anyways.

It was better than getting dragged around by that Road girl anyway.

"Well, if you think a hole-in-one can happen, maybe I can make it," Allen said, rolling his club around in his hands. Unlike Lavi's pink, he had gone for basic white, and the two dots of color lined up as he prepared his ball for action. Lavi stepped out of the way and tried not to look too much like he was staring. "Alley-oop."

With a series of successive taps as it ricocheted off the walls, Allen's ball made its way towards the hole. His angle wasn't as precise as Lavi's, and it zoomed past the hole, but ended up closer in the long run. Lavi returned the gesture of a golf clap and added a whistle for extra credit. "Lovely shot, Brit." Allen smiled (shit it was adorable), and Lavi bounced across the small course to make his next move. "Though I'll admit, as happy as I was that you took me up on my offer, this wasn't quite the out I was expecting to give you. Ari and the Lenalady were behaving themselves."

A nervous laugh bubbled out of Allen's throat. "Sorry, guess I kind of sprung this on you without any explanation." With the way Road had been sticking to him, there hadn't been too many options. Allen waited for Lavi to take his next put, which rattled into the hole, marking his score at two. "I thought things would be calm, but there was this girl from Millennium, and she was freaking me out."

"Whoa, you got hit on by a Noah?" Not knowing how in the world Lavi came to the correct conclusion so fast, Allen's swing went wide, missing the ball by a good half a foot. He pouted, and Lavi held up his hands in apology. Not his fault part of being a Bookman was having brilliant mental capacities, if he must've said so himself. With Allen's ball successfully in the hole and the pair moving on to the next, Lavi added, "Everyone just wants a piece of ya, don't they, Brit?"

Allen performed the high-difficulty task of choking on empty air. He scored brilliant marks, too. "But—Why—I can't believe you just said that!" Allen fumbled to not drop his ball, the fingers of his gloves flashing in the dim light as he put them up in succession. "First Lenalee, then Ari, then you, and now this other girl. What is with you people?"

"Hm, well, if I had to put a reason on it…" Lavi hummed, hopped into place, and lined up his next shot. Given the amount of curved turns, a hole-in-one was impossible, so he'd have to settle for trying to sneak under par. "I'd say it's just because you're damn cute." Never one to waste the chance for flirting, Lavi tossed in one of his patented One-Eyed Rabbit winks.

The timing of Allen's jaw dropping in time with Lavi putting his ball onto the course was a nice touch of the universe.

Being a gentleman, Lavi stepped aside for his date (mother of god, his date). It took Allen's brain a few moments to reboot and recognize it was his turn. At the rate they were going, Lavi would be able to feel the heat burning off of Allen's face before long, though the reality was closer to their combined efforts were going to negate the need for any central heating in the place.

"Speaking of cute, though, how about that Noah?" Lavi asked, with an air of breeziness to his voice. "I mean, sure, she gave you major bad vibes, but was she at least pretty?"

That time Allen straight up just dropped his golf ball, and the putter along with it. Given that the place was pretty much empty save for them and some staff, there wasn't a pressing need to move the game along. Even Allen's politeness didn't have a ready counter. "Lavi, wasn't this supposed to be a date?"

"It is a date." Lavi's intention of pretending to have a superior smile gave way to the grin he just couldn't hold back. "But you're also trying to figure out if you wanna go steady with my sister and our mutual friend, so I'd say trying to pretend like this is an exclusive thing is kinda silly. And just because I am interested in you doesn't mean I can't still appreciate the lovely ladies in the world." He flipped his club from one hand to the other (mad ninja skills, man), using the putter end to poke at Allen's arm. "So, spill: was she cute? At least tell me what she looked like."

It was a sound argument. Allen never knew whether to be grateful or concerned whenever Lavi started making sense. The moment at hand allowed flustered to come to the forefront of emotions.

Had she been cute? Sure, besides being over-the-top insistent, her self-introduction had been polite, and her smile was even pleasant. "Bad vibes aside," Allen said, retrieving his dropped golf supplies, "I would say she was cute." Lavi nodded, leaning in for more details. "She was in uniform, of course, but she had these sharp gold eyes." Just remembering the way she looked at him was worth a shudder. "And her hair was distinct, too. It was styled up. Kinda like yours, but bigger."

Lavi pushed up his bandanna. "No one's hair is bigger than mine. This will have to be corrected." Allen snorted, but managed to knock his ball farther down the glow-in-the-dark path than Lavi had. Considering how cute Allen looked, Lavi didn't mind. Too bad his brain had the tendency to run off in twenty-different directions when he caught onto new information. "Wait, big hair, gold eyes, bad vibes…about this tall?" Lavi tossed up a hand, and Allen nodded, confusion slipping back into him again. That level of guesswork went way beyond the usual Bookman intuition. "Shit, man."

"What? What is it?" It could've just been the somewhat spooky lighting, but Allen didn't like the look on Lavi's face at all, and that was coming from a guy who had been friends with Lavi for years. It almost made him miss the archery incident. "Lavi, you're worrying me, and not like usual. What?"

"Okay, like, try not to freak out." It was hypocritical advice from someone who was in the process of freaking the fuck out, but Lavi took in a breath to steady himself and locked single eye to the pair of eyes watching him as best he could. "I think I know who that girl is."

Allen's stomach wouldn't have performed several aerial flips and feats if it weren't for the all-too serious tone in Lavi's voice. Two months late, and the end of the world was at last upon them. "And?"

"And," Lavi said, for once in his goddamn life not trying to play things up for drama, "she was at the mall when you went out with Lenalee. She pretty much pulled scissors on Ivy-chan."

"What?!" Allen's voice echoed off the walls of the golf course. Not wanting to have the staff overhear his incoming panic attack, Allen stepped closer to Lavi and dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Scissors? Why the bloody hell didn't you guys mention this?"

Lavi's hands would've flown up in defense if the action wouldn't have smacked Allen right in the chin with the put-put club, which hadn't been even close to the plan for the afternoon. He had to settle for putting on his best puppy-dog/rabbit pout, hoping it would count as forgiveness. "You were at the same meeting I was. There was no way that would've fit into the flow of the conversation." Never mind the usual wayward direction of TRIangular, Ivy had all but threatened Lavi not to bring the incident up. Considering she'd stared down Psycho Loli with a screwdriver, he hadn't been willing to push his limits. "Look, no one got hurt, so it didn't seem important at the time."

Brushing hair out of his face, Allen tried to catch onto a bit of sanity in the situation. Then he realized there hadn't been the slightest bit of sense since he'd moved to Black Order High and the bonkers town it was in, so what was even the point? "Okay, so maybe now it is important," he said with a huff. "If we are talking about the same girl, and God I hope we aren't, then my bad feeling wasn't just a feeling, and she's super bad news."

"And a Noah. Don't forget she's a Noah." Allen nodded. As if the whole thing hadn't been awkward enough, school pride just added to the fire. Allen might not have been on the same level as some of his classmates and outright hating any of the Millennium kids, but his competitive nature did push him towards a negative inclination. Lavi was down for dissing on anyone who freaked the Brit out. Even Ivy hadn't liked her, which wasn't saying too much, but that didn't just happen without a reason.

And then Lavi's Bookman memory kicked in and he wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse.

The Noah had mentioned that Lavi had been at Millennial.

She'd called Allen by name on Saturday, though they hadn't met until yesterday.

"Brit, I hesitate to say this without any concrete evidence, but there's the tiniest chance you might have a stalker."

Such news tended to be taken in two ways: the first, with the brush off that it was a joke; the second, with terror or at least some sort of self-preservative alarm. But Allen Walker had grown up under the care of Cross Marian, which meant that Allen Walker had seen some shit, which meant that Allen Walker didn't scare just from the mention of a stalker. It took mention of one off Cross's many hounding debt collectors to even get a rise from the kid, and even that was a long stretch after so many years of immersion therapy. As such, Allen didn't even blink.

Lavi waited a few minutes for a reaction. Sure, he might've said to not freak out, but something was warranted with that sort of drop. "Uh, Brit? You hear me?"

"I heard you." Allen stepped back a bit, his top notch angelic smile slipping onto his face. It was almost enough for Lavi to forget what he was so worried about. "I mean, I could be worried, but I have you guys as my friends, so I know I have you all as backup. Not to mentioned she'd have to be really out of it to try to get close to the house when Cross is inside it." Shitty guardian or not, the bastard had his perks. Lavi bobbed his head in agreement, and Allen retrieved his fallen put-put supplies from the ground. "So let's set aside the stalker issue for another day. I don't want to ruin our date with talking about gloomy stuff, okay, Lavi? This is to thank you for your help, after all. Besides, I gotta crush you at this golf course."

"'K-kay, I'm down for that." Lavi's heart hadn't started beating so fast since Ivy had decided to murder him in dodgeball, and that had been for all-too different reasons. Allen Walker was an undeniable saint, despite the competitive drive seeping out of him. "Though, while I'm all for moving on and enjoying my date with you, can we really afford to leave this for another day?"

Allen set himself up to take first shot at the hole but glanced over his shoulder at Lavi. "Why not?"

"Well, she's a Noah, so she's from Millennium Private, right?" Allen hummed in affirmative, pulling back for his put. "Doesn't that mean she's gonna be at the dance on Friday? Y'know, where Ari and Lenalee are gonna be trying to win you over?"

Allen's white golf ball whizzed through air, cutting a white streak through the darkness that landed several holes over.

"Shit."

Tyki opened the door to a whirlwind of clothes flying in all directions through the air. Given that Millennium Private had regular room inspections, most dorms remained clean. Even the Director's favorites, who tended to be exceptions to most rules, were expected to maintain the standard of appearances. Even Road didn't push her luck that far, which the casual observer might not have guessed given the state of her room.

Clothes weren't the only items that had been flung everywhere. Several books, enough candlesticks to make a pyromaniac sweat, and the dozens of plush toys Road collected had created such a mess that Tyki almost couldn't tell what was what, let alone have a clear patch of floor to stand on. The owner of the room herself was at the closet, still tearing what seemed to be her entire wardrobe off the hangers and into oblivion. Tyki stepped aside as a rather massive petticoat almost landed on top of his head.

"You know when you get like this I always get sent to check on you because I'm your cousin," he said.

Road clicked her tongue, not even bothering to turn around. "Sounds like a personal problem." She pulled out a pair of striped tights, imagined what it would be like to ring the pigtailed girl's neck with them, then sent it to join the rest of its clothes brethren. Against his better judgement, Tyki closed the door behind him, and Road at last turned around at the noise. "If you're here to calm me down, Tyki, I'm not listening."

Her response was to be expected. For most mere mortals (like Lero), her response also carried a clear connotation of "get the fuck out before I make you regret it." Tyki was a veteran, though, and no stranger to what Road was capable of. However, Road may have been fierce, but she was also just scraping under five feet, and Tyki liked the advantage his height gave him.

So he said, "Lulu told me what happened," and leaned against the doorframe. He did keep the knob free of obstruction, just in case, though. Considering Road started pulling on the blouse in her hands enough to make the seams start to pop, it was a good call. Tyki tucked his hands in his pockets. "I don't understand what the big deal was. You already knew he had a date."

"No, he was on a date," Road said, seething. Lero would not be in for a good time the next time she saw him. As therapeutic as ranting to Lulu on the drive back to the school was and the sweet satisfaction of wrecking her living space was, bullying Lero paled in comparison. "But this was a second date. That means it wasn't just a fling." Never mind that Road's assumption was incorrect, the world had to be worried about just what she'd do with that assumption. "If he's serious, I can't just let it go."

At last, the buttons of the blouse went flying, accompanied by the sound of ripping cloth. Not looking forward to the cleanup he was going to be subjected to later, Tyki hoped he could minimize some of the damage. "So what are you gonna do? Hunt down his date?" Road smiled one of her patented Foreboding Pure Evil smiles. Tyki would've been more worried about suggesting the idea if Road hadn't already thought of it on her own. "Do you even know which one of them he went out with again? You said there were two."

Humming, Road skipped across her carnage. "No, I don't. While I did ask to be the head of the dance committee just so I'd have a chance to see him again, I did have a meeting to go to." She kicked aside several plushies in her tromp, knocking the poor things against bedframe, wall, and shelves alike. You'd be able to hear their cries in your soul, but Road was very much out of any soul that day. She picked up a stack of her committee notes and flapped them at Tyki across the room. "Everything's settled, though, so there's just a few closing preparations. And that pigtailed dress up doll was dress shopping, so I'm sure my Allen's going. I just need to go, then I can take care of my interference problem there."

Tyki turned to open the door, but without exposing his back to the enemy (i.e., Road). "Well, since you've settled that for yourself, there's no need for me to do anymore. Have fun with your—"

A candlestick smacked into the door next to Tyki's hand with enough force to dent the wax. It hadn't been an accidental miss; Road's aim was too good for that. "Not so fast, Tyki," she said, almost singing. "I know you're going to the dance. You already picked out an outfit." Just when the hell did she figure that out since she's been in major stalker mode the past two weeks? Road snatched up a few more candles and started prowling towards Tyki. "I think this would be a great time for you to be my backup. You know, real backup." If that brown-haired Black Order girl was going to be there again, Road couldn't risk making any moves without some form of support. She stopped a few feet away from Tyki, his hand still hovering near the doorknob, and smiled. "What do you say?"

Tyki had his own plans for the evening, and they didn't involve catering to Road's insane needs. "Absolutely not."

"Hm. I'll tell where you're hiding your cigarettes." Legal age or not, smoking wasn't allowed on campus.

A glorious eye-roll from Tyki. "Like it'll do any good."

"Oh, goodness, my mistake." Road twirled a candlestick between her fingers, looking almost bored. "I meant to say that I'll tell Sheryl where you're hiding your cigarettes. And that you smoke them around me."

Now that was a battle no one wanted to participate in. Tyki groaned. "What's your damage?"

Check and mate, Road thought, then dropped all potential weapons and glomped Tyki hard enough to slam his spine straight into the doorknob. Ignoring his grunt of pain (or maybe even because of it), Road giggled and cheered, "You're the best, Tyki! Thanks a bunch!"

Tyki just hoped that whatever Road's plans involved, they would stop short of murder. Having to bail because he needed to hide a body wasn't very romantic.

[Author's Notes]

Alright, as promised, we're working on getting in some more regular updates here! The goal is to work in publication order, so Exception is first up to bat! We're steadily chugging towards getting this arc in motion. We're almost at Valentine's Day people!

I believe one of my notes for this chapter was "Let Allen say shit." That's probably the most interesting production story I have on this one, so I'll leave you til next time when chapter 35 goes live! Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[01.02.2018]