Work Text:
21 4 2024
Canonically Lalli's birthday was yesterday, but I only got light of it today on Tumblr and I found that shit so funny that I had to write something about it brother.
He was born nearing the later parts of spring, when the flowers would have already bloomed and birds mating like tomorrow was nonexistent. He was a blessing to his family and friend, a peculiarity to society, but his day meant nothing to him, as he despised celebration because of the noises. People would be drunk, loud and impulsive and lacking in restraint, music would be too loud for his sensitive ears, and there was something about people looking at him while singing happy birthday to him that scratched him the wrong way. But mostly he wouldn't have such parties, because he refused to let people know of his birthday and would expertly avoid them like driving at 130 during a street party night. He himself had to be reminded of the day he was born to know! In simple term birthday parties just wasn't for him- if everyone had something, only Lalli wouldn't have a birthday or a party- because it was so predictable and almost outright irritable each time.
Until today.
He had specifically avoided everyone in the school premises, refusing to leave his tiny students apartment or the hostel district. He avoided his teachers, his neighbours who really think he's invisible or something, even his own family. But because she was who she was, Tuuri showed her fresh face when he was arranging somethings.
"Hello Lalli! Good morning to you!"
"Okay."
"Happy birthday! Oh, I so wanted to tell you congrats on getting your new apartment."
Because his years in Medic School was nearly done, he had saved up enough money through his job and bought an apartment room for himself. Considering that he was to move in on Monday, he said that he might as well begin packing his books and clothes and the little things he has on Friday yesterday, but being too tired to even eat right, he reserved the chore for today. He hadn't bothered to inform anyone, but Tuuri's stupid, nosy boyfriend with the annoying plait for hair had to her leading him to this mess. Nevertheless, he responded with a hum and went to packing his books into their respective boxes.
Tuuri, without taking offence, just sat and checked all the books that he had to pack, comparing them to other things like the furniture in the place and couldn't hide her surprise.
"Wow. You have all of these books on your subjects, and yet you only have a small couch, a small table and two chairs and no TV and a sitting fan. Just, wow."
"I don't like a cluttered space."
He responded, now immune to her remarks on his poor décor skills. He hated watching the same news every time that don't concern him, he liked the tiny couch which he could curl up in, he didn't have many guests over, and the fan was adjustable, not sitting. But he kept his smart mouth shut still, knowing that it wasn't her problem or his.
"It's actually cool. In the end your water and electricity bill is manageable (unless they do some stupid shit over at those factories and rob you of your money, those bastards) and you don't have much to pack or clean! Genius!"
"It's common fucking sense."
He remarked, turning to her while still locked in the motion of packing the books, pulling them from the shelf and stacking them in the box in a manner that they would fit. He knew that one or two would be longer or shorter than the other and discoloured (just thinking of that urged him to do something!) and he would fix it, but now, eyes locked on the spaces in-between the books like a window into a dark, mysterious world, he saw a plastic bag.
Nothing about it was special where it was in the shadow, only that it was sealed with light grey rubber bands and contained something Lalli figured to be rotten leaves. Tuuri, as soon as she noticed his pause in motion, look into the window of a gap and stared at the bag. Lalli adjusted his kneeling position feeling his bones creaking and muscles falling asleep, but still couldn't shake the feeling of unease as he pulled the small bag out, making Tuuri gasp like someone in a soap opera.
"Haha! I know you smoke but I didn't think it was at 1620 everyday!"
She joked, rolling on her back and kicking the air like a child as Lalli sat there in total confusion. His face was a blank line, his mind trying to figure out why he had weed hidden behind his biology books. The bag was the size of an A5 paper, and could be held in his hand and take up the length and width of it, but because it was heavy and hard like a damn brick Lalli held it with both before setting on the ground, a loud thud reverbing throughout the wood. He never did weed, though Tuuri told of his smoking habit, it was only of flavoured cigs, and his mind never went to doing weed. Even if he had done psychology and was exposed to phytotherapy a little, everyone and their dumb babies will know that doing weed was a no. If it wasn't a taboo in your country, then he didn't know what the hell would testify for how bad this can be. Tuuri had begun to mellow out from her laughing fit, crying and sniffling as she slowly stopped, composing herself and turning to her cousin.
"Hey, I won't judge, but I think it's fitting as hell!"
Bullshit, Lalli thought. Tuuri only busted into another fit of laughter and was screaming on the damn ground like a deranged cat at his discovery.
"Get it?! Because- because you was born on 20th April, and you- you found some weed just chilling beh- behind your books like "Wait till he finds me, I'm gonna sa-say happy birthday, we're twins!!" Hahaaaa!!"
Lalli rolled his eyes, another reason for hating his birthday turning up to say hello, wanting in no goddamn wish that she elaborated on some stupid joke! The slang was one he heard multiple times in his life, knowing full well of nothing about it's origin but either way thinking it was stupid to call it using numbers.
-------------------
So Lalli sat on the ground still, after hours of his discovery, the clock on his wrist and the darkening light from his windows telling him that it was 7 pm and that he needed to eat. But he didn't get up. This entire day, through the ringing of his phone probably from someone else who wanted to harass him with the birthday thing, and through the many books and clothes he needed to fix and sort and pack, he sat or stood looking at the brick of weed on his floor through the black curtain of evening.
Who could have left this here? Who?? I'm not stupid to leave my door open for someone to place this here. Unless I brought someone in and they hid this here....
Standing up from squatting, he rushed to the light in the kitchen and flicked it on, picking up his phone from his bag and looking for a number before contacting it. His arms were crossed as he stood there, leaning on the table and tapping his foot impatiently as the obnoxious connecting noise played every three seconds loudly in one ear.
"Lalli! Oh my gosh, I've been calling you, baby! Happy birthday!"
"Emil, did you really leave your bag of weed in my house??"
Silence interrupted the pair, tension and confusion firm in the air like the world's biggest tree. Emil thought that maybe his darling buddy was joking with him, but he thought again before saying such a thing, remembering that his boyfriend hated any type of joke.
"Excuse me?"
He asked again, unsure of what the man had actually said, but that set Lalli off just a bit. How dare he get him to repeat himself when he knew he was loud and clear.
"Don't play with me! Why did you leave your back of weed in my house?!"
"I'm not playing with you! Why would I? And what makes you think I brought that there?"
Emil asked in a panic, further crossing Lalli who was tired of his joking. Nevertheless he decided to be nice and explain his logic.
"Remember those nights we spent together? When you needed to stay here a week before moving?"
"Oh, yeah I do! Fun times right, buddy?"
"No, you were a nightmare,"
Emil felt hurt, pouting his lips and, like a psychic, knew that Lalli knew what he was doing.
"Anyway, that's my logic. You brought some of your stuff when you stayed here, and you forgot your bag of weed for God knows how long."
Lalli explained, sitting on the small table, arms still crossed as he spoke. Emil remembered that time, but that was a year ago, and he had never brought any bag of weed. He smoked, but not weed. He had his adventure after smoking one down to only the middle, and he never wanted to do it again (it was detrimental to his dignity).
"Lalli I'm coming over, okay? Stay there."
He said before he hung up, a rush in his voice that Lalli recognized usually when that man had a date planned and he was running late or when Emil urgently rushed to him to check up on him. Hearing that tone after so long made Lalli relax a little for an odd reason, knowing that Emil was here and that he would spend time with him (he didn't admit that though.)
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"I have no idea why this is here, Lalli."
"Are you sure, because if I remember well, you smoked this shit once. Couldn't stop being so annoying afterwards."
"It was just half a joint, okay?"
Emil grumbled, feigning hurt as he pouted like a child throwing a silent tantrum as he kept his eyes on the brick of weed. They were sat at the small dinner table, the fingers of their hands laced together in a manner that men and women at criminal meetings would do, all over a brick. When Emil had lifted it, he couldn't believe how heavy it was. The crushed plants inside looked rotten, a leaf brown colour going to a sticky black mush that oozed into the folds of the plastic bag.
Staring at the bag some more, Lalli reflected hard on how this was here. Sure, Emil vowed not to do weed, but the man was imperfect, breaking his promises sure, but he never constantly did them. He owed to every mistake he made- a trait that Lalli admired to high heavens (but he never said it)- and he genuinely didn't remember bringing this, even going as far as attempting to remember what he had brought (Lalli remembered him coming home late, very tired from his job and complaining about his feet and hands being so sore from driving all around town, saving up and sometimes restraining from eating so that he may pay the rental fully for the apartment he was working so damn hard for). Either way, Lalli was convinced, finally, that Emil did not bring this bag.
Who else could have? The only other people I let in is Tuuri (although a pain, she never smokes: her job as a vet being very strict about that). Onni surely not, crybaby ass.
Then Lalli remembered, far back to 3 years ago in his second year of Medical School.
"Ah, I think I know."
He alerted, clearing his throat and freshening his voice from a prolonged time of silence. Emil looked up at him attentively, ready to hear the story.
"About 3 years ago..."
"Is this like those flashbacks to the main character's backstories like in anime?"
"Shut up with your Japanese cartoons."
"Okay honey."
"... 3 years ago I was in a psychology class. I usually sat at the back of the lecture hall so i could sneak out whenever I wanted to, so that time i was going to until i smelled weed,"
He looked down at the bag, cringing as he remembered the putrid and sweaty smell of the thing.
"My seatmates were weird, and they looked out of it. When I looked over to them, they asked if I was interested in what they had been doing. I said no and I left."
"I imagine you ran out of there?"
"Yes I did. Anyway, the next week, I had an ICT assignment that I had turned it around 10 at night, and I was going home, until I smelled those same guys in the parking lot smoking,"
"Heheheee..."
"What's so funny?"
"I like how instead of saying you saw them, you said you smelled them. Y'know I really think you're a cat in a really beautiful human's body."
"I will hit you if you keep interrupting me, stupid."
Lalli said, flustered slightly from his comment (he wanted to hit him so badly!). Emil stopped his teasing and let him continue, enjoying hearing Lalli speak as much.
"So, they called me over, but I ran to the hostel,"
"Naturally."
"Yeah. Time passes, I meet you, we become friends, we go on dates, blah blah, and I begin to get super stressed because I was fumbling in some of my lessons. Onni caught light of this and I hated it, so I went to those guy's- well, his girlfriend- and I bought the bag to hopefully de-stress if I were to use it."
Emil stayed silent, resisting the urge to sigh in relief that Lalli hadn't tried weed. He suddenly remembered that night he had come to take Lalli to the movies around Halloween. Lalli looked upset, extremely upset, and he was fidgeting more than normal and very very irritable, almost like he was holding himself from exploding from suppressing a scream he needed to release. He was glad that he showed up 2 hours too early that day.
"Out of shame or fear I hid the bag where no one would care to look, I think."
Lalli completed, tapping his nails on the bag, enjoying the sort of clicking sound it made each time. Now that the story was told, and that this bag finally had it's origin discovered, the pair chose to get rid of it, and Emil knew of a great spot.
-------------------
On nights when his mind would be too full to allow him sleep, he went for walks in this park. It wasn't special to many people, maybe parents who brought their children to play on the playground, and maybe this place was special to them too, but this place was especially special, setting it apart from other parks: it never closed. So if it were to be three in the morning, Emil could enter without having to jump over the wall. It seemed like a curse that this place was always open at night, because any sorts of people can show up. And since his part of town was not really good, he knew for a fact that a poor child or two had been taken from here.
Lalli had rode on his motorcycle all the way from the college to where Emil told him. In the day, the park was awash with the white of the sun and pink of the willow trees that flowed like a dancing dress, but at night the place felt dead and terrifying, the pathways dim and clearings completely black in the night. Nevertheless this place was perfect, and fear never latched to them as they walked.
Lalli carried a small backpack that held the brick, walking alongside Emil enjoying his chatter about his work and his new neighbors. It was nice to think that Emil was getting a new start, Lalli would admit. He truly deserved it. His talking sometimes got loud, but he took notice and often tried to regulate his volume, ultimately failing and repeating the cycle, Lalli needing to stop in the middle of the road and taking his face into his hands, noses touching and eyes locked onto each other.
"Hello, babe."
Emil whispered, touching Lalli's hand and leaning in to kiss him, but his darling slipped away from him quickly like when they played games together. It didn't hurt him that Lalli did that often, because he knew it only meant that he should chase after him some more. They were in no rush, the pair, as they walked across the park and closed in at a bridge overlooking a running stream. Emil walked further forward and looked down, turning to Lalli and nodding, signalling that this was the place. Lalli took out the brick, walked over closer to Emil and dropped it off of the ledge, watching as his splashed into the white water below, disappearing and never to be seen again.
"What's gonna happen?"
Lalli asked after sometime, watching his boyfriend sit on the railing of the bridge looking down at him in the black of night.
"It's gonna drift off and get caught by the storm drain, I think. Or someone else will find it and do whatever people do with weed."
"Sounds like The Ring if it were drugs related."
"Hehehe. Wouldn't that be a funny crossover? Like, the characters are just teens screwing around in modern day and they find a bag of weed and someone says "7 days" to find out who made it?"
"The girl from the TV isn't in this universe?"
"No, she's the dealer of the thing who gave it to you on 20-4."
Emil snickered, red in the face at his own joke. He was so lucky Lalli loved him enough to not be offended, and he was also lucky that he was too tired to push him off into the water. Emil finished laughing and stayed in silence with his opposite, soon giving him a kiss on the lips at how he missed seeing Lalli so happy on his day.
"Happy birthday, babe."