Youth

#40 - Second Time Lucky

[Y/n] sat in the kitchen, twirling a teabag in a cup of boiling water with a teaspoon; a pout resided on her lips and her brows furrowed slightly.  Her head upturned when she heard light footsteps. "Good afternoon, Laion," she dipped her head, though no emotion presented itself on her face other than confusion and thoughtfulness.

    "Good afternoon, [Y/n]," Laion dipped his head, walking over to her. "You like tea?" he questioned. [Y/n] shrugged in response, which earned a light laugh from the blonde. "I didn't know whether you would or not. I chose this one especially, though. It contains jasmine. Good for many things," he smiled. [Y/n]'s fist clenched around the spoon and her eyes narrowed. "What's wrong?" he asked.

    "Thanks for the aphrodisiac," [Y/n] rolled her eyes, removing the spoon from the steeping brew and taking the cup over to the sink, pouring it away. Laion let out a sigh.

    "That's not the sort of properties I was on about," he huffed, "jasmine is good for anxiety - which I know you've been having a lot of." [Y/n] was about to respond 'I wonder why,' but she thought better of it. "It's also an amazing antidepressant and contains antiseptic properties too—"

    "And it's a sedative," [Y/n] added, turning to look at him, "I had a friend who never shut up about alternative medicine. I've heard everything there is to hear about damned jasmine and it's amazing ability to make you an incoherent fool." Laion rolled his eyes.

    "It's not that potent. Plus, there's only a small amount in there. I'm not making you take it in the form on compressed pills or something." He paused, giving her a small smile. "I understand that you're sceptical of my intentions but have I done anything to break your trust of me?" he questioned. [Y/n] looked away, walking over to the small box of teabags, placing them back in the cupboard. She didn't fancy tea anymore.

    "Sorry for wasting the tea," she sighed, looking down. Laion simply shrugged and offered her another smile, though she almost felt it to be patronising. She sat down at the table again, peering up at the blonde. "When you were looking for me... you were in pain. Did something happen?"

    "So I missed you by that little, eh?" Laion laughed dryly, though his eyes quickly went dark as he grew more annoyed at himself. "Yeah. Rayne stabbed me. Nothing bad, don't worry— not that I expected you to," he added, another dull chuckle escaping him. [Y/n] didn't respond verbally; a simple nod of apathy which caused Laion to let out yet another depressed sigh. He walked over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a wad of dried plant stems. Plucking one stem from the wad, he passed it over to [Y/n].

    "You're tense," Laion sighed, "its lavender stem.  Just chew on it or whatever, you don't need to actually eat it."  [Y/n] raised a brow.  "Really, it helps.  It'll relax you," he hummed, staring over at the door.

"Do you do this every time you get stressed?" [Y/n] questioned, twirling the lavender root in her fingers but making no move to follow Laion's advice.

"Well... um, yeah, I do—"

"So you're telling me to suck a plant because you do it and it makes you calmer?" [Y/n] questioned, leaning back and pushing the lavender root away from her.  "Sorry Laion but you can have your plants back.  I have a feeling this isn't really gonna work for me," she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It does have scientifically proven benefits," Laion mumbled, picking up the stem and walking back over to the cupboard and placing it with the rest of the stems, "but if you insist it won't work, you'll work yourself up to the point where you feel no difference."  [Y/n] rolled her eyes.  "[Y/n], why are you being so hostile with me?"