*snickers*

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Chapter VI:

In which Lavi talks about his problems.

In which Tyki is confronted. Twice.

- o0o -

There were times when Lavi wondered what he could possibly have done to deserve all of this.

Other times, Lavi realised that he had probably done a whole lot of things. Granted, few of them could be linked to the current situation at hand; besides karma, that is. Either way, Lavi's unwilling listener and waiter hadn't deemed him worthy of more than a decidedly irritated look before going about his business, ignoring him. Lavi didn't fault him though, because the stroller mafia had just gathered for its daily dose of caffeine, sweets and gossip.

The Lotus Tearoom was on the small side, but it was cosy. Various landscapes decorated the walls, lovingly painted by one of the regulars. The décor was also decidedly eastern, which made sense, considering the owner, Mr. Chang.

Admittedly, the man himself generally stayed in the kitchens these days, leaving duties such as serving to the younger generation; Mr. Chang was now old, very old. And by that, Lavi meant very, very old; he was willing to bet that the man was even older than Bookman, which was an accomplishment in itself. Mr. Chang was also really kind, if a bit dense at times. The latter was honestly more than could be said about Bookman, whose sharp tongue went hand in hand with his intellect. Granted, this was not to say that Lavi wasn't grateful about all that the man had done for him, because he was, he really was, but that didn't make the man any less‒

The small bell at the door jingled, and Lavi immediately turned his head towards it. The newest arrival stood slightly breathless in the doorway for a moment before heading farther inside.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" Lenalee apologised as she reached his table. "Ms. Lotto urgently needed to talk to me and‒"

"No worries," Lavi shrugged, moving to help her get out of the coat. "I just arrived here myself."

The waiter would likely have begged to differ, had he not been busy taking the orders of the stroller mafia. Either way‒

Lenalee took a seat. "So, is Allen‒?"

Lavi waved dismissively at that. "Nah. He was a bit annoyed, but I'd say that he was more annoyed that you'd texted me about his afterschool activities than the… you know… He said that we needed to discuss boundaries or something."

"Still, I should've talked it over with you first before getting involved. But I saw him and I just‒" Lenalee offered up, looking a tad embarrassed; Lavi could hardly fault her for misunderstanding the situation though. Still‒ "Hi Kanda, do you think that you could‒?"

The waiter, otherwise known as Kanda Yu, swept past them, barely deigning them a glance. Even so, he returned just a minute later, placing a steaming cup of tea and a saucer with a slice of strawberry cake in front of her. "On the house," he uttered, giving Lavi one last unfriendly glare before vanishing back behind the counter.

Lavi briefly considered making a quip about Lenalee being his favourite, but ultimately abandoned the thought; however fun it might have been to agitate Kanda, agitating an already agitated Kanda would hardly be for his benefit. Besides, Lavi wasn't there to rile up Kanda now, was he? "Simply put, I need some advice."

Lenalee looked up briefly and then averted her gaze, idly stirring her tea while looking at the people passing by out on the street. "If it's Allen, then I don't think I can help you. He doesn't seem to like me very much," she said at last.

"It's not Allen."

Now that got her attention. "Then‒"

All things considered, it would probably be easier just to show her. "Let's just say that I've got a problem," he said, pulling up a picture on his cell phone before turning over the phone to her. "This. This is my problem."

For a long moment, Lenalee said nothing. She simply stared down at the picture. Then she looked up at him briefly, back down again and then repeated the motion. Then, finally, she looked up at him, her eyes regarding him calmly. "Lavi," she said at last, her lips curving into an ominously sweet smile. "Did you perchance drag me all the way out here to brag about your new boyfriend?"

Had Lavi been drinking, then he would have spat it out. Now he merely choked on his own spit. "He's not my boyfriend!"

Lenalee shot him a look that just said 'yeah, suuuure'. "Then who is he?" she asked at last, schooling her expression into a more neutral one, which in turn morphed into a slight frown as she continued studying the picture. "You know, he's got his hand on your‒"

Lavi snatched the phone back, entirely too aware of his racing heart while Lenalee leaned against her elbows. "He's just a creep," he managed somewhat weakly.

"Well, creep or not," Lenalee said at last, interlacing her fingers and resting her chin on top of them, smiling. "I'm listening."

- o0o -

In hindsight, maybe pulling a second all-nighter after pulling his first had been him seriously pushing his luck. Was it worthwhile though? Well‒

Blearily, Tyki stared up at the ceiling fan. From what he could observe from his current spot, it had quite a fair number of new paint blotches, most of them either red or green. Tyki hardly saw much of a reason to grieve it though, because really, he could use some additional colour in his life. Besides‒ "It doesn't look half-bad, at least from this angle." ‒ And in these light conditions, seeing that the curtains were still drawn.

His words sounded a bit slurred, even to his own ears. If Tyki hadn't known any better, then he would have blamed alcohol for his sorry state rather than fatigue resulting from hard work and sleep deprivation. Besides, he had been awoken by a sneeze of all things.

Tyki got up slowly, hissing as the migraine intensified, and checked his phone. He regretted it almost instantly as the brightness of the screen sent another spike of pain through his head. After a while, it became increasingly apparent to Tyki that he had five missed calls and eleven irate text messages. Nothing unusual, per se.

After checking the call log, Tyki finally resigned to his fate, pressing the phone against his ear. It didn't take very long for the call to connect; for the person on the other end to pick up. "Tyki."

As ever, even in such a sorry state, Tyki was reluctantly impressed by just how much emotion could be conveyed in such a short utterance; roughly twenty-four percent disdain, thirty percent disapproval, sixteen percent anger, ten percent concern and twenty percent‒ "Good morning, Duke."

"Good afternoon, Tyki-pet. Did you not get my lunch invitation?"

Uh, actually‒ "Not that I can recall. When did you send it?"

"Yesterday. Do you not check your mail?"

Actually, Tyki was fairly sure that he hadn't checked the mail for at least two days. After returning home, he had only really gone off in that general direction when his takeout had arrived. "It must've slipped my mind."

"You're sounding quite haggard, Tyki-pet. Are you unwell?"

Hah, unwell? "Just tired. I think I'm pretty done with most of my stuff, but this place is a mess. I'm a mess, but we already knew that, right?"

For a brief moment, there was silence on the other end. It was either a fairly good thing or a very bad thing. All things considered, it was probably the latter, because the silence on the other end persisted. "So," Tyki ventured at last, pinching the ridge of his nose while willing himself to endure, no matter was the case. "You're back in town?"

"That I am," responded the Duke, and Tyki drew an inward sigh of relief at the tone. "There was some unfinished business, you see? Actually, the business is still unfinished."

Well, that sounded decidedly ominous, but going by the tone, it had nothing to do with Tyki, so… "Good luck."

"Still," the Duke began anew, with a tone that immediately set him on edge. "Recently, I have heard some… unsavoury rumours."

Well, shit. Someone had blabbed. "Is there some kind of clause in my contract that says I'm not allowed to make friends or does Sheril just have it in for my nearly inexistent social life?" Tyki asked at last, exasperated.

Again, there was silence. Then‒ "Sheril worries, and so do I, when time allows for it, Tyki-pet. However‒"

"However?" Tyki repeated, well aware that he was venturing into some very dangerous territory.

"It would put my mind at ease if I could meet them in person and judge for myself. These candid photos are of awful quality."

Tyki experienced a sudden urge to drink himself into oblivion, because like Hell he'd ever‒ "I'll make sure to pass on the message."

Having ended the call, Tyki flopped back down to stare up at the paint-speckled ceiling fan. "I only said that I'd pass on the message," he muttered, laying an arm across his face to shield his eyes. "I never said that I wouldn't discourage them."

- o0o -

After downing a few more painkillers than ordinarily recommended, Tyki set to work on cleaning up the apartment. It wasn't the most fun thing in the world, but trying to scrape off dried paint sure worked wonders as far as distraction went. Yes, it was a mundane and occasionally very frustrating endeavour, but still, it was a challenge and one that required some mental exercise. Mostly, it was figuring out where and which cleaning products could be of use, and where cooking oil would prove the best bet. Tyki had even opened a window; it was a bit late, considering all the paint fumes. Coming to think of it, the latter were probably also to blame for his sorry state, coupled with the lack of sleep and nicotine withdrawal. There were remedies though, and immediate remedies for the latter.

Tyki had no idea who invented nicotine patches, but he was determined to revere them as a god from this moment onwards… or at least until the high wore off.

For a while, he just stood there, lost in thought. It could have been minutes, possibly even an hour. Then, resolutely, he stepped back into the kitchen to make himself some instant coffee; he would have gone out to buy some, but Tyki didn't feel quite ready to meet the world yet.

As things turned out however, the world didn't exactly care about Tyki's current state of mind.

"Are you just fucking with my brother or do you really want to fuck him?"

Tyki spat out his coffee, caught off guard more by the question than by the fact that he had company; he had after all answered the door and let the other in, but he hadn't really been listening. "Say what?"

Allen shot him a mildly exasperated look; Tyki absentmindedly wondered if he had missed out on something important. "Look," the boy said at last, managing to look quite imposing despite his short stature. "I just want to know about your intentions. Do you actually want to fuck him or do you just want to fuck with him?"

Uh‒"Do I have to answer that right away or can I have my coffee first?"

Allen folded his arms across his chest, narrowing his eyes at him.

With a sigh, Tyki put aside his mug of coffee; it was too hot to gulp down anyway. "Right, so, first of all: Are you here to cheer me on or to discourage me?"

Allen didn't even blink. "That depends entirely on your answer."

Oh goodie. "Okay…" Tyki took a deep breath. "So, to be completely honest, I'm just messing around at this stage. He got so flustered and I really couldn't help but want to tease him a bit, honest."

The boy's eyebrow climbed slightly at that. "You think he's attracted to you?"

Well‒"He did say that I was handsome?" and Tyki had technically told the boy about that, hadn't he?

A brief pause followed, and Tyki felt decidedly scrutinised.

"Well," Allen decided at last, posture relaxing somewhat as he leaned against the fridge. "You kind of are; handsome, I mean."

Hoh? "Kind of handsome, you say?"

"Lose the glasses and the greasy hair. Then you'd be pretty hot."

Tyki blinked, processing the words. "Are you hitting on me, boy?"

The boy's smile widened slightly. "That depends. Is it working?"

Tyki was eighty-five percent sure that the boy was just screwing with him. Still‒"If you'd been about five years older and a bit taller, maybe."

There was a slight snort at that, but there was something in the boy's expression that unnerved him. "You were joking, right?"

The smile turned decidedly wry. "Who knows?"

Really though, Tyki was so not mentally equipped to deal with this kind of shit right now. "No really, do tell."

"I'm not," the boy responded, watching him with definite amusement. "Not serious, I mean."

Phew.

The amusement gave way for slight exasperation. "Stop looking so goddamned relieved," the boy scoffed, eyes narrowing slightly. "Is the thought being liked by me such an awful thing?"

Well, to be honest‒ "I don't mind being liked, but I'm really iffy about discussing these kinds of things with a minor."

How old was he anyway? Tyki honestly couldn't remember.

Shrugging mildly, Allen pulled out his phone, levelling his eyes on the screen. "I actually like you though," he said, without looking up. "As a friend."

Well‒ "It's the same for me."

Things lapsed into silence again after that. Then, just as Tyki reached for the coffee mug, Allen spoke up once more. "So…"

He didn't elaborate. "So?" Tyki repeated, understandably cautious as those eyes settled upon him once more.

"What exactly are your intentions regarding my brother?"

Some semblance of horror must have shown on his face, because Allen actually looked slightly unnerved. "…What?"

"You actually sounded exactly like my brother there for a sec; not the voice, but the wording." Fucking scary. "But, to answer your question: Your brother seems to be a very interesting person. Given the opportunity, I'd like to get to know him better."

The look sharpened once more. "Intimately?"

Geez. "Intellectually, but I wouldn't say no to a bit of cuddling either."

Allen levelled him with a definite look, seemingly trying to make sense of him. Well, good luck with that, because Tyki didn't even make sense to himself at the moment. "So you want to date him?" the boy said at last, tone indicating a question.

Well‒"I've already been on a date with him, technically speaking."

Going by the look on the boy's face, the aforementioned brother had apparently neglected to share this particular scrap of info. Hah. "He treated me to coffee and demanded that I tell him my intentions. He was really pushy," Tyki explained, not bothering to hide his amusement. "Initially, I decided to flirt just to see if he would back off, but then‒"

Then the redhead's reactions had simply proven too damn amusing and with all the shit going on in his own life, Tyki definitely craved‒

"If you break his heart, then I'll break your arm," Allen offered up with a slight yet somehow very dangerous smile. "Lenalee's apparently called dibs on anything beneath than that."

"For real?"

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