So basically, Jithu-kun was like, "Ne A-chan, you should write some fluff." And I was like, "yeah I probably should." So you have Sarvajith to thank for this.

I'm dedicating this story to my cat who didn't help me at all with anything, and in fact, she only ever ran away when I wanted to pet her. But maybe she'll love me if I dedicate this to her :c

Disclaimer: Dis-claim-er /dis'klāmer/ noun A statement that denies something, especially responsibility. (heheh #mylife)

It was one of those humid summer days where even the plants wanted to sweat when Allen got the nerve to actually ask someone out. Fortunately, it worked out in his favor, but looking back on it was certainly embarrassing. He'd dressed sharply to go gambling with his poker buddy, as they did every Friday night when his friend wasn't working. He arrived early, as was his habit with these things. That's when Allen saw his school crush

Allen had permanently left high school as a senior just a month and a half ago, so it's not like he expected to see her anymore. She was a year younger, and he gave up the idea of asking her out long ago, and he'd never planned to actually introduce himself.

"Tyki, who's this? Are we not going in tonight?" Allen asked, playing ignorant. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the corners of her mouth turn up.

"Ah, I'm afraid my brother stuck me on babysitting duty, and now I have to bring my niece. It's just for tonight, don't worry." Tyki rubbed the back of his head apologetically and Allen laughed.

"You've got a strange idea of babysitting. What will your brother say?"

"That's the fun part," Tyki smirked while she stepped closer to the two of them.

"What's your name, miss?"

"You know my name, silly! I was in your art class!" Allen cringed. He knew her name, yes, but he'd tried to erase that class from his mind. He only took it for the fine arts credit he needed, but drawing evidently wasn't his thing.

"I'm afraid I blocked that class from my memory. I haven't thought about it for a year."

"Oh, don't taunt him, Road. Her name is Road Kamelot. However, tonight, her ID says she's "Rhode Ellis" and 21 years old." Tyki pulled a card out of his pocket and flashed it to Allen before passing it to his niece. "Are you both ready?"

Allen peeked at Road to see her grinning crazily and lunging for Tyki's arm. She dragged him to the bouncers, not checking to see if Allen was following. Despite her small frame, she was let in quickly, and the bouncer just nodded at Tyki and Allen, recognizing them as regulars.

The rest of the night went smoothly, and Allen felt a little more relaxed as his black side slipped out and he became a poker master. It was becoming a tradition that every Friday, the best and the brightest came out to play against the infamous Crown Clown, and tonight was no different. But then, four rounds in, Allen's Crown Clown persona slipped when Road came up behind him and draped herself over his shoulder with no preamble.

"Wahhh, you're incredible, Allen! Tyki didn't tell me how good you were!" Allen laughed nervously and cut the deck. She just ruffled his hair and told him to keep playing, but she didn't move from her spot on his back, chin on his shoulder. It took half an hour of poker to relax enough to forget about her position. Of course, a voice in his head reminded him that she'd chosen to stay there for half an hour, but he was determined not to ruminate on it too long.

Around midnight, Allen's competition stepped up the game a notch as the rookies went home, nursing their much lighter wallets. This was usually when people started cheating and getting drunk and betting more money. By then, it had been two hours since Road came over to watch and she still hadn't left. Right now, her hands were lightly massaging his shoulders and her head was resting on top of his while she looked down and watched the dealer put five cards down before everyone in the circle.

"Ne, Allen, my legs are tired from standing do long," Road grumbled into his ear. Allen looked up from his hand and smiled.

"Would you like me to get you a chair, Miss Road?" He went to stand up, laying his cards down and nodding at the men at the table, but Road pursed her lips and shook her head. She stood up straight and smiled cheekily.

"Your lap is fine, thanks." Without waiting for a response, she pulled his arms up out of the way so she could sit sideways across his legs, and then she pulled his arms back down around her and rested them on the poker table. The guys snickered into their cards and Allen just tried to avoid looking at Road. It was difficult to keep his arm far enough away from her back, since his former foster father always taught him to be polite, but Road just smiled and twirled a strand of her hair.

"Come on Allen, keep playing," she whined, looking pointedly at his cards.

"But, um... Are you sure you don't want me to get you a chair?" Allen asked, nervously smiling and tilting his head.

"You're so clueless, it's cute. No, I'd much rather sit right here." She made her point by crossing her arms and slouching.

Allen lost that round. It wasn't really his fault though; Road had a way of distracting him unconsciously, and wherever she found that sucker certainly wasn't helping! Now he just felt the urge to cross his legs, but she prevented that, unfortunately.

On the bright side, he always has a policy of betting in small amounts in case he needs to lose on purpose non-suspicoiusly. Of course it wasn't pn purpose this time, but that was in his favor, because his opponents would feel a little more confident.

But as an hour passed and his legs fell asleep, his panic died off and he was back into his persona. Tyki stopped by at one point to check on them, but Road shushed him as Allen lay down his full house and won all the chips. Allen was too bust to see Tyki raise and eyebrow and laugh before he left again.

At two in the morning, the crowd started to disperse and the players at Allen's table that had been brave enough to stay started to pack up their things and leave, one by one. The last two and Allen played one more round – which Allen lost for their sake – and they left together. Allen sighed and spared a glance at Road so he could ask to stand up, but he was surprised to see her asleep, slouching forward rather uncomfortably. How long had she been like that? Did the other players notice when he didn't? Should he wake her up, or just take her to Tyki? Deciding it was too late to rudely awaken her, Allen gathered her up and held her under her arms and legs.

When he stood up, Allen almost fell because his legs were both dead asleep. And then he realized how heavy Road really was. She certainly wasn't very large, but Allen had next to no muscle on him because all he ever did was school work, play the piano, and gamble. Perhaps carrying her like this wasn't really a good idea. He was immensely glad this place had private rooms because people would have probably laughed as he set Road down on a chair and kicked the air to get blood flowing to his legs again.

The next problem was to somehow put her on his back and carry her that way. It took almost a full five minutes just to pull her up, but he couldn't adjust too much, for fear of waking her. A shock that she hadn't already, really.

Now he just needed to find Tyki and pass her off to him. That was going to be a chore. Everyone still there would probably look at him weird as well.

Predictably, sneaking to each room with a girl on his back wasn't very successful. What was surprising was the amount of lecherous stares they were receiving. A group of older men, probably in their fifties, were laughing loudly and drinking heavily, and as Allen passed they shouted that "he should share" and "what's the fun of having her to yourself?" Eye twitching, Allen turned and glared, getting a roaring laugh and shaking off their interests.

I saw her first.

Before he could continue looking for Tyki, he felt Road shift and pull her head up to look around.

"I'm sorry Miss Road, did they wake up?" She hummed in response, but still said nothing. Her tired golden eyes swiveled to his and held him there. It felt like an hour of just staring at each other until Road broke it and buried her nose into his neck.

"Sleepy. And you're cute." Allen could feel his face heat up and he almost dropped Road. Did she really say that? His brain seemed up, so he didn't realize he was speaking until it was too late.

"Will you go out with me Miss Road?" Allen blinked and almost yelped. WHY did I say that?! I'm an idiot!Master Cross always says so, but I never believed it until now. Sufficient to say, Allen was too mortified to hear her response.

"-ss Road."

"S-Sorry, what did you say Miss Road?" She laughed and brought her lips close to his ear.

"Only if you stop calling me "Miss Road"."

"But what am I supposed to call you?"

"Most people just call me Road. You know, normal people. But you could call me Honey. Darling. My Sweet. Baby..." Allen cringed, hiding behind his bangs.

"I'll call you Road, then." She snickered into his neck, giving Allen shivers.

"Then we're dating! You know, you took a long time."

"I've only spent the night with you! And I was playing poker the whole time."

"You think I didn't notice you watching me for a year? You're painfully obvious, but I think it's adorable." Then she leaned in close and planted a kiss on his cheek. Allen could feel her smile growing wider as he froze. He was half tempted to set her down and run away. She didn't wait for him to speak.

"Let's go find Tyki so he can take us home. You're staying at my place tonight."

Hey, need a pointless website to play with for a grand total of ten seconds? HERE!

http (colon slash slash) mirrors. Rit. edu/instantCSI/

Abyss-chan out~!