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Allen blinked weary eyes open, rolling over and burying his face into his pillow.
He sat up with a lurch when he found himself burrowing into the lingering scent of cigarette smoke and heady cologne, feeling sick to his stomach. He was alone.
"Son of a bitch," Allen cursed, gripping the sheets in his hand. He shouldn't be angry, really. It was just his heart wasn't listening to his head and no matter how he tried it wouldn't stop feeling like someone had dropped a ten ton weight on it. He hugged the pillow to his chest, curled his knees up against it, and rested his forehead against them, breathing in deeply and exhaling nicotine and sweat.
They hadn't done anything. They'd been too drunk to think straight, and so had just collapsed on Allen's bed lazily intertwined, legs tangled and arms wrapped around each other as Allen found the hollow of his neck the perfect niche to rest his head in and he found the dip of Allen's waist following the curve of his forearm. They had been warm together, like dying embers on winter days, and waking up to his startling absence hurt more than Allen was willing to admit.
Shit, he couldn't even remember his name. It had been a one-night stand - or, as much of one as them cuddling and falling asleep really was. Allen was actually very embarrassed that all they did was - nothing. Absolutely nothing. Well - he touched his lips tenderly. They hadn't gone that far would be more accurate to say.
And still he felt betrayed and treated like a dirty bed warmer. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, then glanced at the clock. He grimaced. He had to meet Road in a little under two hours. Suppressing another sigh and forcing vague memories from last night from his head, Allen slipped out of bed to get ready.
---
Allen glared at his watch as he walked into the cafe late. How could it just up and break like that? Allen was damn sure nothing had even touched it - hell, he hadn't even worn it for a week yet! His wallet was seriously starting to feel the burn of how many watches he had to replace.
Still, he brightened when he saw Road perched at their usual table for their Saturday meet-ups, legs swinging from the chair and thick platforms hitting the rungs of the chair.
"Road!" Allen greeted cheerily. "Good morning."
Road jerked her head up towards him with a smile like the sun, eyes positively lighting up. "Al-len!" She cheered, leaping from the chair to jump and hug him around the neck, forcing him to catch her around the waist. He swung her around lightly with the momentum of her tackle, relishing in the warmth of the embrace. He could feel the stares of the other patrons but didn't mind them. Road leaned back, and Allen grinned at the intimate gesture as she looked at his eyes. "This doesn't look like a good morning for you," she commented bluntly as Allen finally put her down, leading her back to the chair with her arm twined with his.
"It's not," Allen admitted, grasping the back of her chair as she sat and pushing it in, before taking his seat across from her. He rose a brow at the blazer hung over the third seat at the table. "Oh? Is someone joining us?" He asked.
"Yep!" Road grinned, one hand going to cup her drink and the other fiddling with its straw. "It's my uncle- his name is Tyki Mikk."
"Tyki Mikk," Allen repeated, forming the letters carefully with his lips. It sounded nauseatingly familiar. "Your uncle?"
Road nodded. "Mm-hm. Well, uncle makes him sound very old but he's really not - he's my dad's younger brother. Ah! He's getting us some food right now." She giggled. "He looked very disbelieving when I gave him your order. Or," she tapped her chin, watching Allen thoughtfully. "Maybe shocked is the better word."
"Normally people are," Allen replied dryly, propping his chin in his hand. "Well, it's very kind of him to order my food as well."
Road waved her hand airily. "Oh, don't think anything of it - he's being forced by daddy to chaperone me because he's in trouble."
"Oh?" Allen encouraged, curious.
Road giggled and leaned in, eyes glittering with the details of a juicy secret. "Yep. Daddy caught him coming in this morning from God knows where! He said Tyki was too old to be fooling around anymore like this!" Road laughed. "But as long as Tyki looks like sin incarnate, he's not going to stop!"
"Sin incarnate?" Allen repeated distastefully. He eyed Road's dark skin and dark hair, because even though she wasn't related by blood to her father she still resembled him quite a bit. He thought of skin tasting of sun and heat, of wrapping thick dark and coarse hair around his fingers, coiling his legs around a finely built waist, and moaning into open-mouthed kisses as he ground down wantonly with his hips. He shook the vibrant images away, feeling incredibly guilty and gross for thinking them while with Road. "That's a very... strong description."
"A good one," Road corrected, light shining in her eyes, and Allen shifted uncomfortably. Road was always way too perceptive for the good of others, seriously. "Ah, there he is."
"Road!"
Allen blinked and looked up. "Was that him?" He asked, eyes traveling the breakfast cafe until they stopped on a tall dark man waving towards them, one hand balancing a tray stacked with food. His throat dried and his tongue felt thick and heavy as he met gold eyes across the length of crowded tables and chairs. "Oh."
"That," Road said, leaning forward onto her elbows and pitching her voice a notch lower. "Is my uncle. Tyki Mikk."
"Your uncle," Allen repeated again, feeling terribly stupid and slow as Tyki made his way to them, eyes locked on Allen the entire while. "Your uncle, Tyki Mikk."
"Yep!" Road giggled, bouncing in her seat.
"I-" Allen began, but snapped his mouth shut as Tyki made it to their table, golden eyes scorching Allen with their intensity. He brought up an easy polite smile. "Hello," he said.
"...hello." Tyki replied quietly, furrowing his brows, lips dipping down slightly. Road reached over the table to grab the tray from Tyki's hands roughly, grabbing both their attention suddenly. She dropped it on their table with a noisy clatter and smiled winningly at Tyki.
"Ty-ki," she said, drawling the first syllable cutely. "Please go get the rest of the food."
"Oh. Um. Right," Tyki said, turned sharply around on his foot and left to grab the rest. Allen quickly grabbed his drink, ignoring Road's searching gaze.
"Don't tell me Mr. Tyki Mikk," Road started sarcastically. "Is the reason you look like shit?"
"Road," Allen said in a tone that implied please, don't.
Road laughed. "Seriously? Tyki? Tyki is the one who has you this way? Oh man," she giggled, settling the plate of her pancakes in front of her and reaching for the syrup. "That is just," she poured it over and over, twisting and creating lines criss-crossing. "So very," the pancakes were drowning. "Messed up." She reached for the fork.
Allen hurriedly placed a gentle hand on her wrist, smiling for all he was worth. "It's okay, Road!" He insisted, worried for the state of not only her pancakes but also her uncle if this continued. "It wasn't... It's not as bad as you're thinking, probably. I'm just - just being silly."
"Oh, Allen," Road said softly, her anger leaving as swiftly as it came. "It's really not. Do you want to go?"
Allen shook his head, hating the sympathy in her eyes.
The look in Road's eyes softened even further, but Tyki was already returning. It unnerved Allen how easily she covered her anger and sympathy for nonchalant cheer. "Tyki!" She cooed as he set the second tray down. "You took forever!"
"Patience is a virtue," Tyki commented dryly, and Allen felt cotton grow in his throat, expanding and choking him as suddenly he heard another time and place, a different kind of thrill running through him then.
Meu querido, meu amor, ama-me ama-me. Look at me, love.
"Who ever said I was virtuous?" Road replied, and Allen banished tender touches and searching eyes from his scattered memories.
"It's something to strive for," Tyki grumbled, and Allen noticed he hadn't touched his meal yet, sitting hot before him. He noticed Allen's stare and offered a thin smile. "I've a cat's tongue."
"I see," Allen said, then spooned some eggs into his mouth. He didn't remember them to be so bland before.
Road sighed gustily across from him, and dug into her own pancakes, sopping with syrup. She wrinkled her nose as she lifted her fork, strands of syrup dripping from the utensil to pool back on the plate. "I regret this," she announced, and Tyki shot her a puzzled look.
"Then why'd you do it?" He asked, and Allen rolled his eyes as he continued to eat. If only he knew where that fork had been aimed before.
"Don't question my life decisions Tyki," Road said solemnly. "And anyways, daddy is really pissed at you!"
Tyki grimaced, glancing at Allen who stayed resolutely focused on his food, refusing to meet the heavy weight of his look. "Please, Road. I don't want to talk about it."
"But we are!" Road said with a gleaming smile, white teeth seeming feral in her grin. "So, talk."
Tyki had the look of man who knew he had no choice, and so he sighed and pushed his food around morosely with his fork, tumbling a sausage link over. "Sheryl is ridiculous," he muttered. "I'm a grown man - he hasn't let go of my childhood."
"Imagine being his daughter!" Road said, pushing her ruined pancakes aside and tugging Allen's plate towards her. He almost reached to yank it back, but considering the favor she was doing him, decided to let it pass with only a scowl in her direction. She speared one slice of ham. "He's not wrong though - how could you come back crawling into our house at eight in the morning all messed up? It's actually really disgraceful."
The glare Tyki leveled at her could have withered blooming flowers. "This is not how I want to spend my breakfast," he announced, pushing his plate away from him.
"I don't care!" Road sing-songed. She grabbed a knife and cut a clean sharp slice down the ham, then into a smaller portion until she could reasonably pierce it with her fork. She eyed the ham thoughtfully. "You looked like someone had wrung you dry."
Tyki winced and colored slightly and Allen choked on the bit of potato in his mouth. He shot her a look filled with meaning: Road what the fuck.
"It was really sad to see. Moping around our kitchen, drinking your orange juice like it was half vodka-"
"It was." Tyki mumbled.
"- and drowning your sorrows away! Honestly Tyki, you acted like a fifteen year old head over heels for some two-dimensional one-night bang again."
"Road!" Tyki snapped, slamming an open hand across the table and eliciting a vicious smack. "Really? Are you really doing this right now? In front of a complete stranger?"
"Yes," Road hissed, the world curling from her tongue and as sharp as her eyes. "I am."
Tyki sucked in an angry hiss and stood suddenly. "I see you want to just ruin our meal right now - I'm leaving." He yanked his blazer from the chair, grabbed a few bills and dropped them on the table, and left abruptly without a single glance at Allen, trailing the scent of cigarettes and heady cologne.
Allen tried not to let it get to him.
Road sighed, watching him go until the cafe door closed behind him with a merry ring of the bell overhead. "He so simple, so subject to his emotions. Do you really want someone like him?" She turned her searching stare on Allen, and he dropped his eyes to trace the condensation dripping down the sides of his glass, remembering the taste of sweat along Tyki's throat.
He swallowed dryly. "Yes, I guess I do," he eventually managed, remembering the searing touch of fingertips dancing along his arms, shoulders, neck, into his hair.
Road primly plucked the bills and thumbed through them. "Ever the gentleman," she murmured, then caught his eye. "Well? Get going, then! He's liable to just stop around the corner for a smoke, since no matter what he wouldn't just leave me here. He's such an idiot," she added with an affectionate roll of her eyes.
Allen hesitated for only a moment, but when the bills began to crinkle in her clenched fists he hurriedly nodded and stood, the chair screeching behind him with his haste. Road waved as he left.
It was barely dipping into autumn - cool enough to warrant long-sleeves but nothing to need a coat for. Road was right. Tyki was just around the corner, fingers holding a cigarette as he blew smoke into the air, an angry tilt of his finely shaped mouth and a dark look in his eyes.
Allen stopped just a few feet away, shoes scuffing on the ground, and Tyki turned to him, dark eyes knowing. "Listen," Tyki began, and Allen's heart stuttered in fear.
"It's okay!" He blurted, then winced at how pitifully desperate he sounded. He took a deep breath and forced his trembling fingers to stop. "I mean... I get it. It wasn't anything. You don't have to-"
"It clearly wasn't anything!" Tyki snapped, eyes flashing. He exhaled sharply, then put his cigarette out on the bottom of his sole, tossing it into a nearby trash can. "You don't look like it wasn't anything," he said, softer this time.
Allen smiled. "It doesn't have to be," he said.
Tyki looked pained, glanced away for a while and let the silence fill the space between them. All Allen could think of was the strong curve of his arms around the small of his back, his chest against Tyki's, breathing Tyki's breath and smell and warmth and exhaling it right back. Of the soft skin under Tyki's jaw and how steady his heartbeat was.
"What..." Tyki started, meeting Allen's eyes. "What if I want it to be something?"
"What?"
Tyki grimaced, frustrated. "Dammit, what if I want it to be something? Shit," he chuckled, running his fingers through his hair and tangling it further into a mess of curls. "Sure as hell, I've never literally just went to bed with someone. Not until you"
"Until me?"
Tyki looked at him then, eyes golden and lashes like soft kohl. "Until you," Tyki said.
"Oh."
Tyki grinned then, a dangerous curl of the lips that made Allen want to grab him by the shirt and replay the memories from the night before. "Funny, you sure had a lot more to say last night."
Something settled in Allen, like puzzle pieces snapping together with startling clarity, a sharp distinction. It left his heart racing for entirely other reasons, and he took a step forward. "Really now? Funny you say that. You weren't all that chatty last night. In fact," he took another step, Tyki's eyes darkening with each one that brought him closer.
"All I remember," he continued, another foot closer. "Was you whispering," he murmured, close enough to feel the warmth of Tyki's body cutting through the morning chill. "Ama-me."
Tyki hissed, grabbing Allen harshly by his hips and keeping him still, fingers digging in through the fabric of his sweater. "Do you know what that means?"
"Of course," Allen replied, smiling sunnily.
"I think I should be feeling embarrassed," Tyki confessed, and Allen laughed.
"You should," he said. "Because Road knew from the beginning." He laughed harder when Tyki cursed colorfully.
"That girl!" He snapped, the tension between them dying now. "I swear, she'll be the death of me one day. How are you voluntarily friends with her?"
"That's a terrible thing to say," Allen chastised. "She was going to stab you with a fork for me! She's a wonderful friend."
"I," Tyki announced, "am beginning to have doubts about having both of you in my life."
Allen laughed again, feeling like he was floating on air, light and buoyed. He reached down and interlaced his fingers with Tyki's, relishing the tight squeeze Tyki gave. Allen knew he was smiling too wide, too happily, his eyes slipping closed with the force of his grin and the blush on his cheeks much too dark, but he didn't care. "I don't have any."
Tyki scoffed and began the walk back to the cafe, pulling Allen to his side.
"Then, I won't let you have a chance to."