Exception

By: Aviantei

73. Get In Losers, We're Going Partying

Tyki was not a person who liked to restrain himself with fitting into one mold and one mold only. No, that sort of life was too suffocating. In his younger days, he thought he'd hated the high society life, but after sneaking out for the first time, he realized that wasn't the case. Running around like an ordinary citizen was fun, as was indulging in the privileges that came from being born with a silver spoon in his mouth and all that shit. So long as he could come and go as he pleased, he didn't have much a problem with it, and upon entering MPHS, the Chairman was content to let Tyki do as he pleased, and the rest with history.

Keeping all that in mind, though, meant that Tyki didn't like keeping too rigid of a schedule. Sure, he would attend the things he had to do—like the Chairman's silly Noah breakfasts—and he had no problem showing up for things he wanted to do—like dates, for example—but other than that he kept things as open as possible. That way, during his free time, Tyki could follow whatever suited his fancy.

All rich life and no ordinary days makes Tyki a dull boy or something.

And so on the Saturday we've found ourselves upon, Tyki had at last made his decision for how he would spend his reprieve from the day to day of classes, and the winner had been meeting up with Clark and the rest. Cards were always a fun way to pass the time, and it had been a bit too long since he'd hung out with his non-school buddies. Having put the finishing touches on his "hobo chic" look, Tyki was debating giving Red a call to see if he'd be interested in joining whenever there was a massive bang on his door.

The Millennium Private High School Dorms were high class in every possible day, offering exquisite comfort and space to their students. On top of that, Noah-class students had even better accommodations, including things like private bathrooms and additional soundproofing.

Said soundproofing did nothing to prevent the banging on the door from bashing into Tyki's skull like a sledgehammer, nor did any of the special accommodations happen to prevent said doors from being broken down should the intruder be insistent enough. Sure, it would get repaired within a few hours, but it seemed the Chairman found the concept of beefing up security pointless since he knew none of the Noah would be deterred by anything as mundane as a locked door.

"…This is gonna be a mess, isn't it?" Tyki muttered to himself, then went against all his better instincts to let in whoever was playing the world's shittiest drum solo on his door.

Pulling open the entrance almost sent Jasdero tumbling face first to the ground, and Tyki stepped back so as not to risk getting mascara smeared on his shirt—he'd lost too many garments to such a fate in the past, and he wasn't looking forward to repeating the experience whatsoever. Devitt managed to grab his twin by the back of his shirt, sparing the carpet of a makeup stained fate, and Tyki was already cursing himself in his mind. He'd known from the style of knocking that it couldn't have been Road—she would just pick the lock instead—but at least he knew how to (kind of) handle her.

If Jasdevi had shown up on his doorstep, it couldn't mean anything good.

Even so, showing any of his trepidation was just asking for a death sentence, so Tyki kept up his usual sense of bravado. "Whatever you wanna say, make it quick. I've got places to be that don't involve you."

"Ehhh?" Jasdero said, and Tyki hated how genuinely surprised he looked at the notion. "Tyki-Tyki's got plans already, hee?"

"Well, too bad!" Devitt declared with a confidence that made Tyki feel his earlier concern was very much warranted. Too bad for him that the train had already left the station, and there was no way to get off. "Whatever plans you have, go ahead and cancel them. You owe us a party, and we're here to collect!"

Tyki wracked his memory for any such promises—and lo and behold, he had agreed to something so stupid; what had he been thinking? Still, that doesn't mean… "Don't try and pull a fast one on me," he said, leveling the twins in a half-hearted glare that had no effect whatsoever. "Part of the deal was that I got to choose what party I was going to, remember? And, whoops, looks like I'm choosing not to go whatsoever. Bye, now, see you at the next breakfast. Shoo."

The attempt to wave the twins off was just as fruitless, and those grins could never mean anything good, either. "Sure, that might've been the deal—"

"—and we'd love to stick to that, hee—"

"But the more we thought about it, the more that sounded like an excuse to never pay up—"

"Almost like Tyki-Tyki was trying to skip out on us, you know—"

(Tyki, thanks to all his time playing cards, was able to keep grimace off his face at being found out, but he still didn't like the way the conversation was going, not one bit.)

"So we came up with a plan!"

"A plan that we'd just invite Road, too, hee!"

"And wouldn't it be a shame if Sheril knew you'd let his precious Road go unsupervised?"

Jasdevi had been stepping closer and closer with each sentence, to the point that they were right in Tyki's face as they finished their threat together. Now, all three parties in the room knew very well that Road wasn't going to be in danger at a party—she was more likely to be the cause of trouble, after all—but Sheril was an overprotective twat on the best of days, and he would, in fact, come for Tyki's head if Jasdevi were to reveal such a thing.

In other words: this was blackmail, baby!

Tyki could deal with Sheril in any number of ways, sure, but going without that pain in the ass was just preferrable, really. Maybe the option lost some of the appeal since he was going to have to change some of his plans last minute, but that was a small sacrifice in the long run, now wasn't it? Not to mention if Road was going, then that meant Red's little princess was going, and wouldn't that just be an unmitigated disaster and a half? His friends were understanding; he'd just have to promise to see them the next week and foot the food bill while he was at it.

So Tyki ran a hand through his hair, pushing his bangs out of his face in preparation for what was to come. "Fine, you fucks. Now let me know where we're going so I can dress appropriately."

Since it hadn't seemed like there was much they could do about the situation but she was a backup strategy of sorts, Ivy had gone into the weekend without any particular plans. The possibility of inviting Kanda over had seemed appealing, but also she sure as hell didn't feel like explaining what was going on there should Lenalee need to drop in, so that plan had been shelved. Following that logic, both Friday night and the Saturday morning following were spent upon homework, and that had amounted to Ivy's plans for the weekend.

Problem now being that all her homework was done, and there was no nothing to do. She'd even cleaned her room, for fuck's sake, as well as took care of the rest of her chores (no way was she inviting Lenalee into a messy house)! There was nothing left to do but hold down the fort and maybe binge watch some YouTube videos (Ivy was a fan of aesthetic desk makeovers, even if she had no desire to do the same herself, nor a desk area to makeover in the first place), but something about that just seemed…she didn't know, sad?

Which is dumb, because this sort of quiet peace is what I said I wanted just last month. And that was still true, sure, but the mind was fickle, and she couldn't help but think that a high school senior with already decent grades and some college acceptance letters should be able to do something a little more exciting. But that wasn't even the kicker, because soon after she decided to just lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling for a while, of course her brain wandered back to the whole Alma dilemma that she'd been ignoring.

Kanda took regular visits to Alma, though they weren't planned in much depth. There was always a chance that Alma's condition would flare up and they wouldn't be able to take visitors, so short-term planning taking advantage of the moment was the norm. Which was fine and all, but it also meant that Ivy hadn't been able to see them again, and so the whole "I love Yū" thing hadn't been resolved whatsoever, giving it time to fester.

What if Yū-kun does choose them over me? Ivy couldn't help but think, and then she felt stupid and petty for letting that bother her. All things considered, she and Kanda had been dating about half a year, plus the cynical part of her couldn't help but think that high school relationships were fragile things. Was there even a future with the two of them, or were they destined to break up and find other people to share their lives with?

We know, uplifting stuff, ain't it?

Hating just how melodramatic she sounded, Ivy groaned and pulled herself up off the couch, leaving her video playing in the background as she went in search of tea to distract herself with. Tea was a nice, grounding habit, one that helped her slow down for a moment and focus on it and it alone, and remembering where she picked the habit up from was almost enough to make her—

Not even halfway through pulling down the teapot, there was a knock on the door.

By the time Ivy had put the teapot on the counter, the knock had escalated to banging.

Ivy's next sound was one of pure frustration, and she abandoned her teatime project to go see who the hell was bothering her. While she'd gained a small group of friends while attending Black Order High, Ivy did not receive unsolicited visitors often (the first time Lavi had tried, he'd ended up with the door slammed in his face and lesson learned), and even the small percentage of said friends she'd allow to drop by without warning—AKA, Kanda—wouldn't make such a racket while doing it.

Of course, living in an apartment could bring the occasional prankster, but Ivy also couldn't help but prepare herself just in case. She was a young woman living alone, but if anyone thought they could take advantage of her, they were mistaken. She already had her hand on her screwdriver before she reached the door, and once she got there, she peered through the peephole to find—

"Ari, why the hell didn't you call first?"

Tool turned weaponry tucked away, Ivy had opened the door with an unimpressed look. Sure, Ari had only been back in town for a few months, but Ivy had made sure the younger girl understood the rules and the consequences for not following them, to which Ari had seemed more starstruck than intimidated, but she'd agreed to the boundaries anyways, so Ivy hadn't been worried. And yet, there she was, one red-haired gremlin on her doorstep.

Come to think of it, Ari hadn't visited before, had she? How did she even know where I live? Not that it was too out of the ordinary, considering that Lavi could've driven her, but surely he would've made sure that Ari contacted Ivy beforehand?

While Ivy was having that very sound line of thought, Ari had one very simple counterargument: "I did! You're the one that didn't answer your phone, Ivy-san." Ivy went to open her mouth to protest—and then realized she had no idea where she'd put her phone down. Knowing her luck, it was buried in her couch, and she'd been so preoccupied that ignoring an incoming call wouldn't be unlikely. "When you didn't answer the door right away, I almost thought I was gonna have to form a search and rescue group. But it's okay, 'cause you're fine, and now we can go on an Adventure together!"

"An adventure," Ivy said, the word sounding so deadpan that one might think she had no idea what it meant.

Ari didn't let that attitude deter her whatsoever. "Yup, an Adventure!" Given that they were having an Awkward Hallway Conversation, Ari let herself in. Seeing that she took her shoes off before wandering too far in, Ivy didn't protest. "You see, Ivy-san, you're the only one out of the group I don't know super well. Everyone else has spent some time with me—" rather unwillingly in Kanda's case, but it had still happened! "—and I more or less know what they're about. But you're a friend of my friends, not to mention there's just a few more months until you graduate. So! If we go on a life-changing adventure together, I can get to know you better while we still have the chance!"

Now that she'd said it out loud, Ivy did have to admit she and Ari weren't the closest of their group. Of course, it wasn't a competition or anything, but that didn't mean that Ivy should turn down the effort if Ari was going to offer it. "Okay, fine, but don't you think the timing could be a little better? We agreed that if Lenalee needs it, she can come stay at my place, so don't you think I should, I don't know, be here?"

"Hm, that shouldn't be a problem if you answer your phone like a normal person," Ari said, her high levels of cheer just making it worse. Ivy knew she wasn't about to live that one down anytime soon. "But also-also, that's why now is a good time, because the adventure I have in mind involves us going to check and make sure Lenalee-san's a-okay tonight."

Ivy's mind filled in the blanks at near breakneck speed. "Breaking into MPHS is a little bit beyond an adventure, don't you think?" Ivy had no desire to get slapped with breaking and entering charges; that would just fuck everything up beyond measure, and there'd be no going back.

As it turned out, Ari's intended answers to filling in the blanks were a bit different than what Ivy had come up with. "As fun as that sounds, it's not what I had in mind, Ivy-san." And then Ari grinned that Bookman grin, and Ivy was well on the way to regretting almost every life decision that had led her to this moment. "You see, Lenalee's not going to be on MPHS campus tonight. Instead, she's going with Road to a party hosted at some Noah's family house or another. That's way easier to sneak into, don'tcha think?"

Ari had a point—she knew it, Ivy knew it, and this wasn't going to end well for anyone involved, now was it? Even so… "Can't you think of something a little less ridiculous for our…adventure?"

"Adventure," Ari said. "The proper noun bit is important." Ivy ran her hand down her face, already feeling a headache coming on. "Come on, I just wanna look out for Lenalee! Stopping her is just gonna not be trusting her, like you said, but you know this could be risky, and she does, too. That's why she sent me the party info, just in case an emergency happened. So we should totes go. Best case scenario, nothing bad happens, and you and I can bond over junk food and soda. It, like, covers all the bases!"

It was not the most compelling argument, no, and Ivy's sense of logic was already tearing the pieces down, bit by bit. But the one nugget that Ivy couldn't deny was that there was a chance something could go wrong, and if it did, Lenalee got hurt, and Ivy had done nothing to potentially prevent it, she would feel a hell of a lot worse in the long run.

And since it's a party with Noah, you know something's just gonna go wrong.

That, of course, did not change that going along was an awful decision in so many ways. But what was the alternative? Sit around in her apartment and mope over problems she'd caused herself? Yeah, that didn't sound all that great, either. At least this way Ivy would know for sure whether or not Lenalee was going to be coming over anytime soon.

"Alright, I'll go," she said, and Ari exploded with just as much joy and energy as Lavi would have in that situation. Said similarity did nothing to make Ivy feel better about what was happening, but she wasn't about to back out now. "Though, no offense, besides the whole Adventure thing, why did you think bringing me along for this was a good idea?" It felt like it would be better to have one of the guys along, seeing as that would provide an extra level of safety.

"You know why you, Ivy-san," Ari said without any hesitation. "It's because no one would ever suspect that the two of us are dangerous together, and that's going to be our secret weapon!"

All things considered, this night could end in nothing but tears. Who was going to be the one crying was another guess altogether.

[Author's Notes]

What could be more teen romcom energy than a house party gone awry? That was pretty much my inspiration for this sequence of events, and I won't apologize for it.

I'm out of clever thoughts, so I hope everyone's well. I have a small amount of my summer break left, and I'm craving more. But that's life, right? This story will continue its updates, as usual.

Next Time: "74. How to Get Revenge: Partying Hard." Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[22 June 2024]