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Lenalee comes home to the lights off and quiet music playing. She doesn’t mind it; she’s tired, and the glaring fluorescent lighting would only add to her pounding headache. With all the studying and subsequent exams, and then a busy shift at her part-time job, today of all days it’s lucky that several of her roommates have the sort of one track mind that forgets to turn lights on once they're focused.
Walking into the soft gray of early evening wasn’t really as strange as the music though. Kanda preferred silence when he was working or relaxing, Lenalee muses, as she locks the door behind her and pulls off her flats, and the slow acoustic guitar wasn’t Allen’s style. That left one other person, but he was supposed to be out late tonight. Something in his schedule must have changed though, because as soon as she reaches up to turn on the kitchen light a hand closes over hers before she can.
“Lenalee, please, I’m trying to be romantic.”
Lenalee snorts, tugging her hand out of his to instead rest it on his cheek.
“What, by making me walk into the table in the dark? Consider me charmed~”
He pouts, and she smiles up at her roommate and longtime friend Lavi.
This sort of behaviour wasn’t unusual for Lavi. Her old friend had a habit of acting sweet to the point of flirtatious towards her, something he’d picked up when they met (to tease her, she'd suspected) and had never quite been able to shake.
Like the others, she’d met Lavi in highschool. He was a year and a half older than her, the senior known by everyone as the clever and charming class clown, and they’d met by literally running into each other, in, what Lavi called, a moment suspiciously reminiscent of a romantic comedy. Despite obnoxiously flirty beginnings they’d become fast friends, and had stayed that way ever since. Lenalee had wondered (after being prompted by Allen) whether there was anything more to it, but with the hectic nature of her final year, and subsequent starting of university, she had yet to put more thought into it. For now, it was enough that they were close, and comfortably so, though she could certainly do without the dramatics so often.
“I thought you were working late today,” Lenalee says, allowing him to pull her deeper into their kitchen.
“Well, it turns out that they only need this extra handsome librarian to come in late during finals this semester, so I’m free to woo you as I please this evening.”
“Oh, is that what this is?”
“Hey, I would have lit candles, but Yuu strongly implied that that would be frowned upon.”
“Oh, really? Did he do this by glaring at you when you picked up the lighter?”
“How did you know?”
“Lucky guess,” Lenalee says with a grin, “Where is he by the way?”
“In his room, skyping Alma. I’m pretty sure it’s Alma, anyway, I mean, he sounds too happy for it to be anyone else.”
Lenalee giggles, leaning back gently against the counter for support, and he grins in delight.
“Anyways, are you going to tell me why you’ve trapped me here in the dark?”
“Well,” Lavi begins, scratching the back of his head while rather pointedly not looking at her, “I had an idea, see? Because you’ve been so overworked and stressed lately, and then this morning you were talking about how you used to dance to blow off steam, and I just thought. Well. That I might, uh, take you for a spin?”
Lenalee blinks.
“Lavi, are- are you asking me to dance?”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Do you even know how to dance?” Lenalee says, tone skeptical and a little teasing. Lavi does her the service of looking highly offended.
“Excuse me, I’m an extra smart college student who happens to have read a lot of very educational books, Ms.Lee-”
“You’re a history major!”
“So what? It can't be that hard.”
“Trust me when I say, as the former dancer, yes, it can, you complete dork- oh!”
Lenalee hardly has enough time to breathe out the rest of her sentence before Lavi sweeps her off her feet and into his arms. The effortlessness of the lift shouldn't have surprised her (he went to the gym almost as regularly as Kanda). However.
“Lavi, I don't know any dance that starts with a lift.”
“Oh? My mistake, your highness, I had no idea, being the lowly commoner that I am, that my form was not good enough for her grace….”
“Lavi, put me down. Please.”
“You know what, actually, I really like this, a lot,” he says, nuzzling her shoulder, “You’re so small and soft~”
“If you put me down,” Lenalee says quickly, entirely unsure whether she ought to start laughing or try kicking him, “I’ll teach you how to dance!”
“Alright, alright,” Lavi huffs, setting her down gently on her toes, without completely letting go, “it’s not like I wasn’t going to or anything. So bossy- ouch!”
“If you’ve finished being rude," Lenalee says, rubbing the elbow she’d just finished planting in Lavi’s stomach, "Then give me your hands.”
“Yeah, yeah, ok.”
Then Lavi gives her his hands, his fingers quickly and gently wrapping around hers. Trying not to over-think that, Lenalee moves his hand to her waist, nearly jumping when he pulls her flush against him. Then he leans down and whispers playfully, “What do you think of my form now~?”
“Shoosh,” Lenalee scolds, blushing darkly.
She pinches his arm, punctuating his laughter at her expense with a startled squawk, before taking his hand, and leading him through the steps of a simple waltz to his playlist. They turn slowly, trying to follow the music and laughing softly when one of them miss-steps. One song turns into three, then four, and Lenalee finds that, despite their silly beginning, she doesn't want this to end. Then there is a lull in the music, and Lenalee realizes that they’ve stopped moving, and he is holding her, his embrace warm and enveloping her like a blanket. She closes her eyes.
The kitchen is now dark, a blue-magenta wave of soft shade wrapping around everything but their hands, clasped tight.
A slow and quiet song starts to play, trickling slowly out of Lavi’s speakers. She feels him sigh, and looks up just in time to see him look away. That’s her only warning before he starts to sway, a simple step and turn to the music.
She opens her mouth, to protest his leading or to congratulate him on picking up on her teachings so quickly, she isn’t sure, but before she can utter a single word, Lavi presses a finger to her lips. She looks at him, confused, and he smiles softly down at her.
“Lena, listen, I’m…learning a lot but…could you do me a favour this time around? Let me lead and…listen to the lyrics for me, would you?”
She’s still confused, but there is something in Lavi’s expression that compells her to silence. So she nods, and as he pulls her gently along, she listens.
“And all I really wanna do is love you
A kind much closer than friends use
But I still can’t say it after all we’ve been through…”
Her eyes widen, and she looks up at him, questioning, but she can't see his expression. The melody continues, painting a picture and answering the question she hadn't thought to ask in months.
"If I should be so bold
I'd ask you to hold my heart in your hand
Tell you from the start how I've longed to be your man…"
She reaches up and cups Lavi's cheeks, and feels a warmth there. She wants to ask, opens her mouth to do so, but his hands reach up to gently hold her wrists, as he says, “Can we- can we just have this song? Just like this? Please?”
“Yes, of course… but you could have just said…”
“What?”
Lenalee looks up at him, cheeks crimson and eyebrows pulled together, and he breaks out into a grin so bright it'd rival the sun. He pulls her closer, burying his face into her hair, and her heart stutters at the warmth. She'd been tired, overworked and unable to focus on herself, and he'd gone out of his way to make sure she took some time to. Maybe she'd always had his answer. Maybe she shouldn't have waited so long herself.
Lenalee tightens her hold on him, the revelation urging her body closer. He whispers in her ear, and it sends a pleasant tingle down her neck.
“No, listen, it had to be like this, to this song. You had to know that I fully plan on stealing you from your boyfriend.”
“My boyfriend? Who could you possibly mean?”
“Your education, obviously.”
Lenalee laughs, feeling lighter than she had in weeks. “Oh, is that so? Well, I’ll have you know that he’s the jealous type; wants all of my free time.”
Lavi grins, and dips her, landing his next teasing whisper on her lips, “Well. I’m sure we can make it work.”