Exception

By: Aviantei

83. Monday Morning: An Update or Two

"…And Nī-san and I talked things out, and we managed to make a compromise."

Despite all the wild partying and drama that had happened over the weekend, our group of friends all managed to assemble themselves at school on time, even having the leeway to enjoy(?) the fare that was high school breakfast. While Jerry was an excellent cook, he put his efforts into lunch, whereas breakfast was much more basic. The state of the egg rectangles was questionable, but sometimes just downing one of those little plastic cups of apple juice hit the spot. Besides, it was a free meal, so not a lot of people could complain about that.

"Oh, yeah?" Allen asked, feeling curious. He hadn't had a single clue about the whole getting picked up by Road thing and the resulting chaos, so he'd been listening with an extra engaged interest beyond his usual politeness. Not to mention that Komui's extreme reactions had been impacting everyone's lives, not just Lenalee's, so the promise of a compromise was good news for them all. "How did you get Komui of all people to see some sense?"

That was the question for the ages right there, and one everyone else could admit that they were curious about. Even Kanda, who tended to not have any sort of interest in drama, wanted to know how you could pull off such a miracle. It was sure to be a Lenalee-exclusive move, of course—no one else could have done it—but it would still be a good point of reference for everyone if there was a potentially repeatable method for calming the extreme ends of Komui's manic episodes.

"Well, one of his main worries is that I'll get into trouble somewhere because he can't help me." It was pretty impressive the way that everyone at the table snorted in unison. Lenalee felt flattered. "Aw, you're all sweet. But the point is, I was able to convince him to give me more freedom if I take self-defense classes. That way he has less to worry about."

"Ooh, that sounds super fun!" Ari bounced in her seat, already fantasizing about the possibilities. "Did you sign up already? Where are you gonna go? I wanna join in!" Funny how one simple sentence could make an entire table almost choke at once. Lavi, for his part, had always been more interested in religion as a field of study than any particular personal practice, but the thought of Ari becoming any more dangerous than she already was enough to make him consider picking a god and praying right then and there. Allen was alone in his undaunted commitment to eating more food, but that was just business as usual. "It'll be even more fun if you have a friend to join you!"

Lenalee had already been excited about the opportunity to do something new, but the prospect of having company was just making her even more hype. "Yeah, you're right! I'll let you know once we pick out a place."

"Heck yeah!"

"Hahaha, sounds great," Lavi said, though his voice was strained. Was he even going to survive to gradation? He was used to that prospect being on the horizon due to his own actions, but it was just a bit more threatening to have Ari (who was already dangerous, mind you) become even more dangerous. "I hope that helps Komui give you some space, Lenalady. Plus it would be nice if science classes could go back to normal, too." Lavi might've known most of the high school curriculum already thanks to his upbringing, but watching Komui mope for a whole class period had just been a downer. He looked around the table, desperate for a change in conversation. "Hey, come to think of it, Ivy-chan's not here yet. She takes the bus, so she should be here, right?" Lavi wasn't quite up for a whole other adventure right away, but he was willing to do what he must to make sure his friends were alright, and the fact that Lenalee had been out and about in Noah territory had Lavi just a bit paranoid about that part.

Yes, all his friends could take care of themselves. That was why not seeing one was worrying, because if something happened to one of them, then everyone else was just kind of screwed.

"Huh, you're right," Allen said after making sure to chew and swallow his seventeenth cheap waffle of the morning. "Maybe she slept in? She could've had a long weekend, for all we know."

Lenalee and Ari exchanged a quick glance, thinking about the party, while Kanda thought about the day before and the stressful news of needing a new place to stay soon. Both of those things were enough on their own, but the combination of the two was just kinda unfair on someone's psyche. The great irony was that Link, the only one who knew about both of those things, wasn't there to put the pieces together.

"A brilliant insight, Brit!" Lavi said, not even caring that he was just a bit manic. Lucky for him, everyone else just considered his overabundance of energy to be par for the course, so there wouldn't be any deep dive dissections of his psyche today. "If she did sleep in, I hope she can get here alright. Yū-pon, you could call her, right? I'm sure Ivy-chan wouldn't mind getting a wakeup call from you!"

That statement just went to show how very little Lavi knew about Ivy whenever she woke up in the morning, because that was not her time whatsoever, but also it wasn't untrue that Ivy would be in the best possible mood if Kanda was the one to wake her up—even if that was just relatively speaking. While Kanda considered the idea, he also didn't see the point in bothering Ivy if she needed the rest. And with that logic in mind, he grunted, "Mind your own business, Rabbit."

"Hey, hey, are you blushing? You've grown up so muc—ack, okay, okay, I give!" Rather than throttling Lavi, as Kanda would have done before, all he had to do was raise the plastic knife that came with his breakfast to have Lavi wave the white flag of surrender. Sheesh, why's everyone around me so scary?

It was hard to tell if that said more about Lavi or the people around him that worrying for his life was just a part of a typical Monday.

"Oh, there she is," Lenalee said, spotting Ivy wander into the cafeteria from afar. Lenalee raised a hand, waving and giving Ivy a reference point of where to head to, though it was just their usual table. "'Morning, Ivy! We were just wondering where you were."

"'Morning," Ivy said with far less energy and enthusiasm. She didn't even bother to get into line for breakfast, instead dropping herself and her backpack into the seat by Kanda without any hesitation. "I got a call whenever I got here, so I was busy." And it had been draining, judging by the way she dropped her head on Kanda's shoulder.

The show of public affection was almost enough for Lenalee to squeal and for Lavi to consider taking a picture, just for posterity, but he'd feared enough for his life in one morning, so that was going to be a pass for now! "Everything alright?" Kanda asked.

"Klaud Nine got back to me." Well, yeah, no wonder she looked exhausted, then. Kanda was already committed to it, but he decided to approach his role as a recharging pillow with the utmost seriousness. "She's gonna pick me up after school tomorrow and we're going to figure things out."

"Figure things out?" Ari asked, her curiosity going into overdrive. While she was doing her best not to pry (a show of restraint aided by the fact that she hadn't quite had time to pry), hearing about the whole probation thing from Road secondhand sure was making her gears turn. "You're not in trouble or anything, are you?" If Ivy needed a testimonial, then Ari would give it, no hesitation. Don't underestimate the ability of a Bookman to tell a convincing lie!

"Huh? No, not really. Unless you count needing a new place to stay as being in trouble." Funny how such a simple sentence could cause so much alarm, huh? Right, Yū-kun's the only one who knows… Ivy took a quick moment to give everyone some context, which helped ease some of the tension, though of course a certain amount of stress was also reasonable. "So, yeah, I'll have to stay somewhere else, so my guardian's gonna come and help me figure that out." Which Ivy knew was the whole point of having a guardian, but it was still a weird feeling to adjust to after growing up in the foster system for so long.

"Man, that's rough, though," Allen said. He'd done plenty of moving around as a kid, and that junk could do a number on you if you weren't built for it. "I wish I could help more, but I wouldn't wish sharing a house with Cross on anyone." Not to mention Eli was a whole other mess.

"Yeah, same," Lavi said. "Though in our case, the Old Panda has too much sensitive stuff lying around, so we can't just have anyone stay over for a long time…" Parties and hangouts were about as much as the Bookman siblings could get away with, and even those were something that Lavi and Ari maybe did a bit on the sly (as if Bookman wasn't well aware of what they were up to anyways).

"Well if you need to, I know I can talk Nī-san into it," Lenalee said, already forming a backup plan in her mind. Yes, she was grounded for the moment, and she wasn't trying to get out of that, but Komui could be talked sense into in the case of an emergency. "I mean, I know it's not perfect, but if you need somewhere to go, we have the space." The Lee household had once held two more people, after all; there was plenty of room for one more.

Getting so much support was kind of overwhelming for Ivy, but like in the best possible way? It was nice to know all her friends had her back, and not just Kanda and Link. Everyone could stand to slow down a bit, though, so she held up her hands. "Easy, easy," Ivy said. "I appreciate it, for real, but it's not like I'm out of options yet. If push comes to shove, I'm sure I can just stay with Klaud Nine for the next few months..." It would be a lot, considering the woman had a few other younger foster kiddos under her watch, but it wouldn't be impossible. It was hard to tell if staying under the same roof as Komui would be better or worse.

"Ah, don't fuss, Ivy-san. Think of it as insurance," Ari said with a sage nod. "Besides, if something happened with one of us, you'd so offer your couch, right? Even if nothing comes out if it, it's all about the vibes." The others tossed in their agreements, and, man, unconditional support sure was a wild thing to have in her life again. It sure had snuck up on her. "Besides, aren't we all forgetting something and someone important?

"If Ivy-san's going to stay with anyone, don't you think Kanda-san makes the most sense?"

"Oi," Kanda said, not disliking the idea but instead not a fan of having other people butt into his and Ivy's relationship in principle, "why don't you mind your own business?" Which was, as we all know, an impossible ask for a Bookman sibling, but it still needed to be said.

"Hmmm? But Ivy-san's turning red right now."

It was true. Maybe it shouldn't have or maybe it was to be expected, but Ivy had started to blush, the color not just sticking to her cheeks, but going all out. While a bit of embarrassment on her part wasn't altogether new, it sure was something to see her so affected over a little comment. Making matters worse, getting her embarrassment called out was keeping her from giving any sort of retort—and the whole thing was just begging for a chain reaction of Kanda getting embarrassed because she was embarrassed, which just set up the cycle right then and there.

"Whoa, I've known him since he was little, and even I don't think I've ever seen Kanda turn that color."

"Ari-san, I think you might've made things even messier than they already are…"

"I know, isn't it great?!"

Man, if I didn't get thrashed last time I took a picture, I so would do it now. Not for blackmail or anything, but just to mark the occasion.

With the novelty of the situation ratcheting up, the other four in the group stared, which wasn't helping anyone calm down in the slightest. Like, which one of them would say something first? What would they say when they did? It was prime-time drama of the finest order, bringing this fic back to it roots for once! And the result of all that waiting was…

The warning bell rang, soon filling the cafeteria with the bustling sounds of tired students as they went to begin another week of school.

Surprising no one, Ivy and Kanda saw the opportunity to flee and ran for it.

With such unfortunate timing of the school bell doing its job and reminding the students that they did, you know, have to attend school, Ivy felt herself worked up into a whole new type of panic on top of her already existing worries! Even worse, because meeting with Klaud Nine was making her hyperaware of not wanting to fuck up her future prospects, she put all her focus into paying attention to her actual schoolwork, giving her no time to process the myriad of emotions that had come from even the suggestion of living with Kanda.

She would've been lying if she said it wasn't something she'd thought of before. Sure, she and Kanda were still early in their relationship, but thinking about the future had seemed reasonable. Ivy didn't know how far they'd go, but the possibility of that kind of long-term relationship wasn't impossible.

Much like her sudden need to move, though, it was the sort of thing she hadn't expected to deal with for a long, long time to come. As such, she didn't even know how to start that conversation, let alone have the rest of it. And, yeah, maybe it was silly to even consider something like that an option once you accounted for the fact that parental permission would be necessary to even make it happen, but the whole idea was like a catchy pop song: once it wormed its way into your head, it just wouldn't go away, no matter how much you wanted it to!

When it came to moments of emotional turmoil, it was important to have a ready sanctuary you could retreat to. And Ivy did have one of those—the free period study room. The one hitch was that her usual free period study room just so happened to involve Kanda, which would be great in any other situation, but it was just a bit too much whenever part of what had her so worked up in the first place was the idea of living with Kanda in the future.

Ugh, this is dumb. Why can't I get over the hormones already? I would like to be able to handle all my problems like a rational human being, please! (The unfortunate news was that no one was capable of being a rational human being through and through, no matter the age, but that wasn't something Ivy needed to hear that moment.) Now I'm not even sure what to do. What if Yū-kun's already there? What if he doesn't show up? Dammit, Ari-san, I would've rather had you drag me out to another stupid Noah party than this!

Such were Ivy's thoughts as she made her way to the usual study room. Pure habit was enough to keep her going there, even if it felt like her thoughts were spiraling by the second. And after all the work she'd put into keeping a cool and stoic demeanor most of the time! Getting embarrassed in front of Kanda when they were alone was one thing, but blushing that hard in front of everyone was making her want to go dig a hole, crawl in it, and not come out for thirty years, thanks!

But because Ivy was a responsible person through and through, she did not abandon her studies in favor of finding a shovel and getting to work, and instead she made it to the door of the usual study room. Still feeling way more self-conscious than she ever wanted to be, Ivy crept up to the door to peek through the window. The lights were on, because that was just how the study rooms were kept, but no one was inside, not even Kanda just yet. Ivy breathed out a sigh of relief, though she felt guilty afterwards.

Pretty sure I'm not supposed to feel relief that I don't see my boyfriend right now… But maybe it'll be easier if I'm the one waiting for him. Yeah, that works; I can get started on my homework, and that'll make things seem like normal—

"Any particular reason you're sneaking around instead of just going in?" Kanda asked, having arrived on the scene.

If you asked her later, Ivy would never admit that she yelped, but that was so what happened. She whirled around, finding herself face to face with Kanda, and there was just no talking her way out of that one, now was there?

The die for the course of our next chapter had been cast.

[Author's Notes]

We've made it to the 21st, which means I'm on vacation from work for a bit! Which is good because we have some massive updating going to be happening in a couple of days.

I just enjoy writing these silly interactions. My philosophy on this story has been "I can make whatever I feel like happening happen." I'm sure high school me would be proud.

As mentioned before, it's my anniversary for posting fanfiction in two days, and thus this story's anniversary! The next chapter will go up early as a bonus~.

Next Time: "84. The Future Holds Way More Than Anyone Is Expecting." Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[21 December 2024]