The cool October air sent chills down his spine. Even though autumn was his favourite season, it was abnormally cold for the time of year.
Children scattered the streets happily as sunset was approaching, and every Halloween, after the children were sent out, the teenagers would creep out of the shadows.
"Oi, Allen"
Lost in thought Allen was staring at the ground littered with red, orange and yellow. Lately it seemed all he was doing was getting lost in his own thoughts. This worried Lavi, a close friend to Allen, and had been for about a year, after Allen joined Pascal's high school for gifted children. The thing is, Allen could see 'demons' and 'ghosts'.
Not many people believed this to be true, which is exactly the reason why he joined PHS.
Lavi wasn't of much use to PHS, but was there anyway, as his grandfather was a bookman, and kept their history. This would soon become Lavi's responsibility.
After a few more gentle nudges Allen awoke from his thought and glanced at Lavi, but only for a second.
"What the heck is wrong with you Allen? You've been doing this for days now..."
"Oh...I'm sorry, Lavi. I've just been doing a large amount of thinking lately."
"Okay, but let me know if anything happens...or has happened…"
Allen stopped his breath, and looked wide eyed at Lavi.
"Has… happened?"
"Well yea. I mean... you would tell me right?"
"Sure."
The silence between them was awkward, until a young boy approached them, asking for candy.
Allen could only thank god that the kid came when he did, or he would have started talking to Lavi, telling him what he was thinking about.
The truth was, Allen was starting to think he liked Lavi. Only a few weeks earlier Lenalee, another close friend told Allen about the much fun she had going through Lavi's diary. Sadly in this diary Lavi had revealed a secret, about someone he truly loved.
He wrote about how much he loved Allen Walker.
About how cute he was when he was so determined, and how he was so well mannered. Or how Allen's eyes shone in the moonlight, and how amazing it was.
Of course Allen never thought any of this to be true, but he never thought of Lavi in the same way after he heard word of this.
At first it just seemed like a prank, until Kanda revealed it to be true.
Kanda had been the first to meet Allen at the high school, crashing into him and sending all his books flying. Kanda was never really in a good mood. 'Teen Angst at its finest' is what Lavi would always say. Sadly this was quite true.
The white haired boy stood up, and offered a hand down to Lavi who was still sitting on the side of the road.
"Wanna go to Kanda's?"
"Are you kidding me?! Why the hell would I want to go there?"
Allen rolled his eyes at the comment suggested, and pulled Lavi to his feet.
"You two do get on sometimes, right?"
"Not really. Gosh beansprout, I'm not a pet rock like he is to you."
"Don't call me that!"
"Hehe…sorry. Anyways, Kanda's?
"Hah. That's what I thought you said."
***
Kanda only lived the next street over, and Lavi lived only 2 houses down from Allen, across the road.
Time seemed to be escaping them abnormally fast that afternoon, which was drifting into night.
Arriving at Kanda's, they were greeted by Crowley, Kanda's friendly neighbour.
Aliester Crowley was 28, but still acted like a kid. Not in an immature way, but a naive and rather shy way. He was polite and compassionate, and was quite the worry wart.
He had only recently moved to Britain, after living his life in Romania.
"Oh. Allen! How nice to see you!"
Lavi let out a small cough to confirm his presence.
"And you too, Lavi, Hehe."
"Haha you too Crow!"
Kanda came down his stairs to see Allen and Lavi at the door.
"Oh so you two got bored of trick or treating with the kiddies already?"
"Very funny, Yuu."
With an evil glare directed at Lavi, he corrected himself just loud enough for Kanda to hear.
"So what have you two been up to Crow...?" Allen chirped as he was let inside along with the redhead.
"Kanda and I?"
Lavi snickered. "Yea, I mean it must have been awfully boring hanging around Kanda all this time…"
Crowley sighed.
"Actually I just got here, I was hoping for some company…"
"What? Isn't that what Miranda is for?"
Crow couldn't help but blush, and twiddle his thumbs.
"She's still at work, and won't be home until later tonight."
"I see. Gosh that clock shop really slave drives her these days! It must be getting awfully hard working for longer and longer for less and less."
"Yes, it is. But she refuses to quit, she loves those clocks. I really don't know why, but I respect that."
Miranda was a 23 year old woman, and was very much like Crow, only 10 times more clumsy. She found time very interesting and had been working in a clock shop for 9 months now, but it recently went under new management, with a rather greedy new owner.
Lavi smiled and turned to Kanda.
"Upstairs?"
"Hey Kanda did you get that same homework as my English class? I think its homework time…"
"HOMEWORK? You gotta be kidding beansprout, I think you mean 'Its time to kick your butt at Guitar Hero' time."
"Haha, maybe that is what I meant."
Kanda rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
Crowley just followed upstairs quietly behind his friends.
***
After a few hours of Lavi showing Kanda how it's done in Guitar Hero, Crowley pointed out how late it was getting.
"ITS 10 ALREADY? Oh well no point going home now. Thanks for letting me stay the night, Yuu."
"…If your lucky I would let you sleep on the from porch, bookman."
"Where's Allen?"
..Allen…
Looking at each other they split up to search the house for the white haired teen.
Lavi stumbled upon a snug figure curled up on the downstairs couch. It was Allen, who had found a warm enough blanket and decided he would have a nap. Sweetly hugging a cushion he breathed shallowly in his light sleep.
Lavi couldn't help but stare a few moments longer at the younger boy. The redhead noticed he was inching closer and closer to the sleeping beauty, and was now only about a foot away from his face. Allen had a pink tint to his cheeks, and Lavi had an urge to kiss him, so he did.
His lips dove quickly and took a peck at Allen's. Doing as he wished he looked up suddenly to see Kanda standing in the shadows.
"Ah, Lavi."
"KANDA! What are you...?"
"Its okay, I already know, baka."
"You...WHAT?"
"Lenalee told us, she went through your diary, I told you it was a stupid thing to keep. I mean I know you're a bookman and all bu-"
"What a little—wait, us?"
"Me...and Allen."
"Allen...knows?"
"Yes, he does, and has since August."
Lavi mindlessly sat on the couch Allen was laying on, and woke the smaller boy.
Eyes peeping open and gazed at the bookman staring at him from above.
"..L...Lavi?"
"Oh, Allen. I'm sorry."
"Mmm, I just needed a nap. Kanda is it okay if I stayed the night?" the white haired boy mumbled.
"Sure. Night Allen."
"G'night Kanda, Lavi."
"…yea."
Lavi's head dropped, and so did his heart. A mixture of frustration and heartbreak was brewing deep within him, and he needed to let it out, one way or another. Kanda could see the pain written across the Bookman's face, and was starting to regret telling him the truth about Lenalee's little discovery.
They started walking upstairs together.
"Listen, Lavi, don't worry about it. Does it really matter? You have tons of hot girls at school always chasing after you, so there's really n-"
"DO YOU THINK I REALLY FUCKING CARE ABOUT THEM?! THEY MEAN NOTHING TO ME, AND ALLEN MEANS EVERYTHI-"
"SHUTUP!" Kanda exclaimed covering Lavi's mouth with one hand.
"Do you want him to worry more or something you idiot?"
Lavi shook his head.
"Then keep it down."
Kanda removed his hand and they continued up the stairs. Meanwhile, Allen turned on the couch with a tear in his eye after hearing Lavi's outburst.
A tear of sadness or joy? Allen didn't exactly know himself.
Kanda laid out a blanket and cover on the bed for him and Lavi, since the bed was rather large, sharing wasn't a problem. Kanda on the far left and Lavi on the far right.
"What did you mean by…worry him MORE, Kanda?"
"Well, after hearing such big news, he's had a lot of thoughts running through his mind, you know? Like the whole, 'Am I Gay?' thing…and...he told me something yesterday.."
"…that was..?"
"That he might like you back."
Lavi was gobsmacked. He didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream.
"He...he might like....me?"
"Oi, don't get your hopes up, bookman. He said MIGHT."
"Yea...just the 'might'...means so much."
"Okay, whatever bookman. Night."
"Goodnight, Yuu."