Disclaimer: : The only thing I own is the story idea and only some of the witty remarks. I own so little; so please don't steal.

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Elevation

Aspiring detectives (or whatever you wanted to be, honestly) had to finish proper schooling. Never mind you were a shaman or a killer or an ex-X-Law, the world didn't stop if you ticked differently. So the moment the Tournament ended, Lyserg quickly donned the studious student exterior and enrolled himself in a prestigious high school in Britain. He would have to find his place in the world before he could see Yoh and company again. He wanted to show that part of his life, the angry, angstful avenger was done and the only A's he would see would be on a semesterly report card.

Granted, normal students didn't have unexpected visitors float through the table and mess up the order of your notes whilst you studied in the library. Lyserg was just finishing the chapter on the nuances of Quantum physics when a seemingly disembodied head floated through the table, bringing a body with it.

He was normally a calm, composed person. He let out a quite un-gentlemanly shriek at the sight.

"You were always jumpy like that," Hao Asakura commented amusedly, floating completely through the table and taking a seat on the tabletop as Lyserg gaped at him despite startled looks from fellow students.

"What are you doing here?" Lyserg hissed, quickly gathering his belongings to flee from the scene of the crime, where surely the librarians would flock to him and usher him out anyway, assuring him he had studied enough and should probably get some sleep. Hao floated along aimlessly next to him, as if he hadn't just terrorized him months before in a very solid body.

He'd put the shaman side of him on hold. He had ignored the local spirits and never used Morphine (unless, of course, he had forgotten an exam question, to which she was quite useful to flutter around and conveniently find the right answer on another test paper). Hao stared at him with dark eyes.

"Can't I visit my favorite shaman?" Hao asked, a smirk crossing his face as Lyserg dodged the students loitering around. The ghost shifted through the bodies in his wake, causing a few screams of their own as the victims suddenly felt their insides burn as if on fire. Lyserg kept his eyes in front, a look of distaste forming on his features.

"If that favoritism means I was the one you liked to rile up the most, then I guess it makes sense," he grounded out, walking too fast for anyone to notice he was talking to himself. "But I would thank you to leave me alone. I'm trying to be as serious right now as possible."

"If you mean dull, then you certainly achieved it," Hao said boredly, flipping some hair behind his shoulder. "I admit I've been trying to find some entertainment as I watch you."

"I'll forget that stalker comment, but that's not the point." Lyserg had reached the dorms, thankfully deserted. Throwing his books on the clean desk (the rest of his dorm clean as well, he had been thankful to be able to pay for a single occupant room), he turned to face the bothersome spirit. "Please leave."

Hao looked around, as if he had never seen such fascinating surroundings before. "I don't think so. Floating around halfway across the world isn't as tireless as it seems, even for a dead person." Hao settled at the window. "But you never very welcoming to me in the first place."

"Get lost, Hao."

"Let's have dinner." When Lyserg stared at him incredulously, Hao cocked his head. "Or what…'hang out' or whatever you young ones say?"

"Yes, we can have dinner. I'll have it here and you can have it there." Lyserg gestured outside, hoping Hao knew by 'there', he meant hopefully across the British channel.

"I meant together," Hao said, proving to a rather resistant pest. Lyserg threw his hands up, wishing he still had the patience of a saint. Cross that, he never had it when it came to Hao. The gesture seemed to amuse the thousand-year-old personality, rousing a badly disguised chuckle at his account.

"Why would I want to eat anything with you around? I'll try not to think about why you'd want to in the first place after my seemingly homicidal feelings toward you that do not gravitate in the friendly dinner date in any way. And of course, it would be good to remind you that you don't have a physical body and I refuse to eat by myself while you badger me with whatever you obviously want to badger me with." Dialogues were taxing and he hated saying them; but of course, it could have easily been a monologue with Hao's utter disregard for his opinion on the matter.

"Maybe you should answer the door," he said helpfully, and before Lyserg could ask why he would take the conversation on such a random level, he heard the knocking that he had been oblivious to while scolding the retired terror. When he finally wrenched open the door, his startled sandy haired econ class friend was standing in the doorway.

"Oh." Lyserg breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow a familiar face was good after feuding with Hao. "Trevor."

"Are you alright?" Trevor's eyes were slightly mystified. "I could have sworn I heard you talking to yourself."

"It's alright, it's a mental thing." And before he could say anything else or Trevor could insert his two cents, Hao shifted from across the room to invading the poor boy's psyche. Face blank for a moment, Trevor's body blinked before a familiar smirk crossed its face and his eyes suddenly mirrored an intense flame.

"Get out of his body, Hao," Lyserg sighed, exasperated. He did not want to perform an exorcism; with Hao's powers, though dwindled, the Asakura would probably hold on for dear life. He just hoped Hao didn't knock Trevor's psyche up so bad his friend became dazed for weeks. And he did not mean that in a sexual connotation.

"He'll be fine," Hao dismissed, waving Trevor's hand and examining his work. "But it's easy and fluid to move in. So how about that dinner date?"

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"I do not remember being old enough to drink," Lyserg stamped out as Hao/Trevor handed him a glass of red. Somehow Hao had invaded the waiter's mind as well to get them a bottle, as well as convincing the poor man that their meal had already been paid for. Shamans. What a powerful and inconvenient bunch. Morphine glittered at his shoulder, bemused.

"Don't be such a lightweight," Hao/Trevor scolded, waving the glass around while drinking his own. Lyserg gripped his knife; he would not plunge it in the man's heart; he might hurt Trevor. And he liked the boy enough not to cause any physical harm.

"I can't. I'm going into the legal business. I can't drink."

"Suit yourself." Hao studied him through Trevor's murky eyes and set the glass down. Lyserg studied his own grilled cod; he'd had enough Fridays of fish and chips to want any more swimming organism. Hao always addled with his mind.

"So what possessed you to come find me? No pun intended," Lyserg added as Hao burst out laughing, sounding the room with Trevor's contagious laughter. "I got the feeling you didn't like me much."

"You were second. To the American." Hao waved a forkful of rare meat before popping it into his mouth. "And I admit he is just not as appealing to the eyes as you are."

"Looks and strength aside," Lyserg rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't imagine the great Hao Asakura wasting his time on such an insignificant person like me."

"You would be surprised," Hao mused, waving an empty fork around like a conductor. "I've had time to think. Being dead does that to you."

"Last time I was dead, I was attacked so I suppose I'm not as lucky as you are when it comes to the second life."

"I was thinking I never quite had a childhood. So I was thinking I might toy with it this time around."

"I'm not the epitome of a wonderful childhood," Lyserg retorted, wiping his mouth with a napkin. Why did this oddly seem like a date, with dim lighting and insignificant chatter? Pull some flowers and a box of chocolates and they'd be set. Perhaps even shined shoes and a blazer if he went all high end.

"I meant friend-wise. And relationship-wise."

Lyserg scoffed. "If you're trying to come on to me, you've got another thing coming."

"It's not me, it's your friend Trevor. I hope you've noticed by now he's got a not-so-platonic crush on you." Hao sighed dramatically, Lyserg pretending not to be amused that his friend seemed to be referring to himself on a third person basis. "You turn all the boys on you, Diethyl."

"Including yourself, I presume."

"You can presume right," Hao dismissed. "I've lived enough lives to know gender doesn't matter a flying fuck when it comes to your mind. And I've never met someone like you; I'd like to know how I can fuck with you – you know, for experience in the next life."

"I've believe you've done that enough in the past few years," Lyserg said, staring at the glass of red and suddenly wishing he had agreed to drink it.

"Blah, blah, incessant chatter," Hao waved, shaking his head. "You know you would have slept with me anyway. Your type is the type drawn to people like me; why else would you want to dedicate your life to catching crime? Obviously you lust after the badboy image."

"Please stop talking."

"I think you should know by now your orders don't actually make anything happen."

"Be quiet."

"That's not a nice thing to say to your friend." Hao smiled knowingly as he refilled his glass. "But seeing as I've struck a nerve, I must have been right, right?"

Lyserg held up his fork, and Morphine shot off his shoulder and grabbed it, flying toward Hao. But for all his seemingly defenseless exterior, Hao must have brought a spirit of his own, as a cat's tail appeared in thin air and wrapped around Morphine, stopping the fork in its tracks. "Now that wouldn't be a smart move, would it?"

The air was cold for a spring evening, and Lyserg saw his breath as they walked back to the high school dorms. He had not considered himself a juvenile delinquent, but he thought it best to study in a strict environment of a boarding school – that, and he was technically homeless although he could have bought himself a new home. It was too much hassle for a teenager. Hao talked through the trip and Lyserg ignored him through the trip.

All at once, Hao disappeared from his side and reappeared with a handful of balloons of all different colors. Thrusting them toward Lyserg, Hao/Trevor looked away. "Because you always liked a bouquet of balloons better than flowers."

"Is this Trevor talking?" Lyserg tested, taking the balloons. But he saw the cat's tail, waggling at him in greeting and he took one look at his hand that held the strings and suddenly let them go into the night air.

"Ungrateful," Hao grumbled, storming away, but Lyserg kept his eyes trained on the orbs floating away slowly, wishing on each one, I want to be happy, I want to be happy, I want to happy.

When they reached the dorms again, Hao/Trevor leaned against the doorframe as Lyserg let himself into his room, like this was really a date, and Hao/Trevor was just waiting at the doorstep for a good night kiss. Lyserg was all for ignoring him until Trevor regained his senses, but Hao cleared his throat. "I think a farewell is in the works, Diethyl. But of course you were never polite anyway."

"I'm plenty polite." Lyserg walked up to the door, smiling falsely at Hao/Trevor. "Good night, Trevor. I had a great time."

"If you'll play that way," Hao scoffed, leaning forward. But before their lips could make contact, Lyserg pressed a hand against Trevor's chest, ejecting Hao's spirit suddenly, and the startled Asakura barreled into the hallway with the force of a bullet.

Trevor blinked, murky turquoise eyes quickly taking in the situation. Not only did he have a blank as to how it had gone from a friendly conversation to his best friend suddenly standing very close to him, but he had a groggy feeling in his head and a horrible instinct that a long period of time had gone by already and he hadn't once touched his chemistry notes and the test was tomorrow.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me…" And Lyserg leaned up and kissed him, shocking him even further. Hao sputtered in the hallway.

"Your plot…well, I'm not jealous at all…!"

Lyserg grinned.

Owari

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Note: a fun, lighthearted fanfiction for a fandom I haven't touched in ages. I read in a book, some fung sui book or something, that if you let go of a light colored balloon, you can make a wish on it as it floats into the sky. Also, I personally would prefer a bouquet of balloons as opposed to flowers. They're much better anyway. For you old timers who knew me when I was still mankinfan, was this satisfactory? Review, please!

PS – I definitely definitely ship tsundere!Hao and Trevor/Lyserg. Please.