Pest Control ✔

PC │018

【A L V I N】

The morning after that was quite a mess. No, Lucien and I did not wake up in each other's arms. Rather, Lucien woke up on the couch and I woke up on the floor - perhaps somehow in the middle of the night he had ended up kicking me off? But still, I wasn't in the mood to throw a hissy fit over it. Besides, I was the one who had offered to let him stay over. 

Antonio ended up driving the rest of them back home whilst I dropped Lucien over at his place. I remember he had thanked me and asked me to convey his gratitude to my friends for enabling him to have such a great time - and after that, I got a lot of time to myself to collect my thoughts. 

I found myself thinking about the day when I had assumed that he was some alcoholic with quite a lot of issues and nearly laughed at myself. Out of all the words in the English language, there was one to describe me perfectly and that was pathetic. 

He looked lost? Maybe I'm the one who's lost. Maybe I'm an idiot after all. 

Time flew by pretty quickly after that and before I knew it, there were only a few minutes left for Lucien's birthday. We had had everything planned, the place was decorated quite well, there was food, the music had been chosen and we'd all gotten him a gift. 

No, I hadn't gotten him the bottle he so desperately wanted. I did try my hardest to find a deal for it online but that didn't work out the way I wanted it to. It did seem to be quite rare after all. I ended up settling with a John Walker & Sons Diamond Jubilee bottle (I ended up getting a sweet deal, or else I would have had to sell my entire house in order to pay for that thing). I'd even ended up getting him a pair of figure skating shoes which nearly cost me an arm and a leg - and as if that weren't enough, I had even had another custom present made just for him. 

Antonio had gotten him a golden wrist-watch, Margot got him a graphic band tee along with a set of rings because she had noticed that he wore them often. Delilah had knitted him a sweater and painted him a picture which was wholesome, in my opinion. Rowan, on the other hand, had ended up getting him a set of cards which quite frankly outshone us all.

While Margot and Delilah checked on the food to see if everything was alright, I attempted to call pest control once again because I'd spotted a little caterpillar taking a cruise in my fucking sink - and if that doesn't scream disgusting to you then I don't know what will. But guess what? Once again, no response. I was so close to filing a lawsuit and becoming a multi-billionaire at that point but I couldn't be arsed to. 

Now that everything was ready, all we had left to do was to invite Lucien over - and Rowan volunteered to do just that. So, as they left to invite him over, the rest of us hid in the dark corners of the room with the lights switched off. Quite cliche, but whatever works, right?

After a minute or two, the door finally creaked open and in stepped Rowan and Lucien. 

Once we'd spotted their silhouettes, we jumped out of our hiding spots and yelled 'Happy Birthday!' however, for whatever reason, I accidentally ended up yelling 'Merry Christmas!' instead. Thankfully, I hadn't been heard by the others. 

Antonio felt his way in the darkness over to the light switch and switched the lights on before patting Lucien on the shoulder, "Happy birthday, old man."

"You guys did not do all this for me," Lucien responded, dumbfounded. 

"Yes, we did. Delilah, go get the cake," Rowan instructed to which Delilah simply nodded and rushed over to the kitchen. "Sit down."

Lucien obliged and took a seat on the couch, his mouth still agape, "You guys are so precious, holy shit. You really didn't have to."

"It's no biggie, would you like to open your presents now?" Antonio inquired, tilting his head. 

"Presents as well? Come on, I don't deserve any of this."

"I'll take that as a yes," Margot grinned before handing him the bag in which she'd stored her presents along with Delilah's followed by Antonio, Rowan and I doing just the same. 

He examined the graphic tee and the set of rings first with a grateful grin, "This looks sick, thank you, Ro." Following that, he pulled out the knitted sweater and the painting and his eyes widened in amazement, "Holy fuck, did Delilah make this all by herself? It looks fucking amazing."

"Ro makes me sound like that girl from that one Barbie movie," Rowan proclaimed with a grin. "That Island bitch thing."

"Island Princess," Antonio corrected with an unamused expression. "Open mine next, it's the black bag."

He obliged and pulled out the box in which the wrist-watch sat and once he opened it, his grin widened, "Holy shit, isn't this watch expensive?"

"I'm rich," Antonio stated proudly.

"Guess that's why they say eat the rich," Margot shrugged as Delilah walked in with the cake and set it on the table. Antonio shot her a distasteful look as Lucien reached for the bag with my presents. He pulled out the bottle first and his jaw nearly touched the floor as he looked up at me in shock, "No fucking way."

"Yes fucking way," I responded with a grin. "There's more, go on."

"No way, oh my God," he gasped, setting the bottle aside carefully before pulling out the pair of skates. "Holy shit, stop. This is not real, I'm going to cry."

I let out an amused chuckle, "There's still one more thing left."

"Alvin, you really didn't have to," he responded, shaking his head in shock before setting the skates aside as well and reaching into the bag one last time before pulling out a white mug and examining it carefully. "World's number one cockroach killer?"

"Yes," I stated proudly to which he responded with a chuckle before setting the mug aside and getting up before making his way over to me. "I really appreciate it, can I give you a hug?"

"Go right ahead," I consented after which he wrapped his arms around me and engulfed me into a tight, comforting hug which quite literally took my breath away. 

"Let me breathe," I complained after which he let go with an apology, the smile never leaving his face. 

"How much did that even cost you?" he questioned, concerned. 

"Only my entire bank account," I shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm kidding. I got the bottle for a really good deal, the shoes were quite expensive though - and the mug wasn't that expensive, surprisingly."

"You really didn't have to spend so much money for me, Alv," he said with a subtle pout. "None of you had to, but I still really appreciate it. All of you are angels."

"Go ahead and open my gift," Rowan suggested and Lucien, with a nod, sauntered back to the couch and pulled out the sets of cards from the bag Rowan had handed him. 

"Cards against humanity?"