I put on my casual outfit and slipped on my knee-high boots. Topping it off, I knotted a red bow securely on the collar of my shirt. It was only the beginning of the day and it looked beautiful outside as I glanced out my window. Quietly, as I knew there were still people sleeping in their dorms, I made my way towards the library. I never really enjoyed reading but I've been having slight problems lately in my sleeping habits. I knew if I asked Komui he would probably make me go through something painful, so I decided I should probably figure it out on my own. Sure, I could ask Bookman or Lavi considering they know just about anything the world needs to know, but I never felt too comfortable around Bookman for some reason. As for Lavi, well it seemed lately every time I wanted to speak with him and we met face to face, I would not be able to rip the stupid smile off my face and my hands would go all fidgety, not to mention the little butterflies fluttering in my stomach. Avoiding him for now would most likely be the best way to go as of now.
Turning right into a doorway in the long corridor I reached the library. The whole room was vacant and I was grateful for that. My feet echoing off the walls was the only sound daring to disturb the dead silence. I spent a good hour in there looking through many informational books on the human habits, problems, and sicknesses. It turns out I am going through waves of insomnia which is causing many problems as in lying in bed for hours waiting to fall asleep, waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep, waking up too early, feeling tired when I wake up even if I get a full twelve hours in, and being drowsy and not able to get things done throughout the day. The worst out of these symptoms was the spontaneous fainting caused by sleep deprivation. Coming to the conclusion I needed medication to help with this, I realized it was inevitable, I had to visit Komui's office.
My black, leathery hand rested on the door handle hesitant to twist and open it. "Well it won't do me any good standing here." I said to myself and took a deep breath. When I opened the door, nothing bad happened, at least not yet. Komui sat at his desk and was actually working for once but took the time to look up and respect that I was there.
"Hello Allen it's been a while since you visited now hasn't it? Anyhow, what can I do for you?" he said in his usual overly cheery voice.
"Well, you see I've been having trouble with insomnia and I was hoping you might have some medication here for it." He stared at me tapping his chin, thinking. He then raised his mind from his thoughts and looked up brightly.
"Yes I believe I do, can you wait here a second?" I nodded and he walked off in the direction of his lab. Komui came back out a few minutes later holding a box and humming a little tune. Setting the box on his desk among the various papers he reached his hand in and grabbed an empty bleu pill bottle. Before I could question this he took out a slip of paper and rested it on a clipboard looking up at me. "Now fill me in on your symptoms so I can give you the proper dosage and correct type of medication." I took the time to explain all my problems and occasionally he nodded to reassure me that he was listening. Once I finished explaining my situations he ripped the small slip from his clipboard and taped it onto the bottle. Inside the box he took out a big bottle of pills and various others and spilled an assortment of three kinds out onto his desk. Carefully he divided them up and put the right amounts into the smaller bleu bottle. Finally he twisted on the cap and began writing the dosage amounts onto another piece of paper. Komui handed both to me and looked me in the eye.
"What?" I said in attempt to break the stiffness of the atmosphere.
"You realize that you should've told me this sooner, Allen. This could end up effecting you later on in your missions, I might've been able to prevent this." I looked around the room trying to avoid eye contact and looked to the ground.
"Yeah but I didn't think it would get this serious, sorry Komui." I looked back up to find him somewhat smiling at me and I managed a small grin back at him and he began speaking again.
"Now I suggest you limit your training and try to get as much rest as you can. The green and bleu pills I gave you should make you feel less drowsy and the yellow pills will help knock you out, alright?" I nodded and gave him my thanks before exiting the lab.
It's strange how Komui can actually be helpful sometimes. It did not bother me though, I liked him better that way, and he felt like a big brother when he was like that. I dropped the bleu bottle into my pocket and strode towards the cafeteria for some food, correction, a lot of food. Sometimes I had to wonder how Master Cross kept my appetite fed through all the years, but then again lots of things confused me about that man. I walked up to Jerry at the stand and ordered my breakfast fast knowing exactly what I wanted. With no response, Jerry just smiled wide and ran back into the kitchen all too excited to prepare my food. A little while later he came back to the window handling a mountain of dishes, and passed them on to me. "Enjoy your breakfast now cutie. It's always too fun to cook for you!" He said with a giant smile and sent me off.
Just as I set down my meal on a nearby table I felt a light tap on my arm. Automatically I looked back to find that Lavi was about to join me for breakfast with his one-plate meal. "Oh, hi Lavi." I said nervously and continued sitting down while he slid to the other side of the bench. I just couldn't figure out why I felt so bubbly around him. "What brings you here Lavi?" I asked attempting to fill in the quiet air surrounding us.
"Well I got hungry, and I also came looking for you. I don't know why but the Panda insisted on me telling you now." He swallowed another bite of his breakfast and continued on. "Komui is sending us out on a mission; it's nothing serious, no innocence to collect or anything like that, but just some random akuma attacks and appearances." He finished while I was still scarfing down my food as if I had not eaten in days.
"So when do we go?" I asked inquiring more information. I wiped my mouth with a napkin as I finished and paid all my attention to my friend on the other side of the bench. "Wait one second; I'm going to get some water from Jerry." I ran off and appeared in less than a minute. "Now continue."
"Well he said as soon as possible so we should leave once you are ready. I'm already set so whenever you want we can go." Lavi responded and just sat there smiling.
"Oh, okay, I'll be good to go right after this." I said as I drew out the bleu bottle from my pocket. I opened the cap and fished around for a green pill which all seemed to be near the bottom. When I finally got one out I felt Lavi's stare on me. "What?"
"What are those for Allen? I've never seen you take them before." He said indicating the small green circle in my hand.
"Oh, these are to help me with my insomnia. I'm supposed to tale the green one after breakfast, the bleu one after lunch, and the yellow one following dinner." I informed then plopped the pill in my mouth and swallowed it down with some water.
"When did that happen?" he asked as I closed the top and placed it back into my tight pocket.
"Just recently, and it's got a bunch of obnoxious effects, but I won't get into that now." We both got up and walked towards my dorm to retrieve my exorcist coat. He did not push any further in the subject and eventually we reached my door. I swung it open, stepped inside, and got my jacket quickly so we could leave and we walked to the boats.
When we arrived at the train station and hopped on board and there was not anything to talk about. Gladly the ride was only about an hour we stopped in a deserted area filled with snow and frigid air. The winds were strong and almost blowing me off my feet. We could even hear the train conductor laugh as he drove away at our misfortune. "It's f-freezing out here." I said raggedly as I tried warming my hands through my gloves. Lavi should have been much colder than me but he seemed fine even though he had a significantly shorter coat. I really was not paying much attention to Lavi as much as I was concentrating on rubbing my hands over my arms. These actions soon led me to thoughts of how warm it would be under Lavi's embrace. That, or how nice it would be to be cuddling with him under a blanket right about now. I shook my head at the thoughts and reminded myself we were just friends, nothing more. Maybe I wanted it to be more; maybe that's what had been bothering me lately. After all why else would I feel so light and feathery around him? As I came to this realization I felt heat rise to my face and I knew it to be true. I love Lavi.
We continued walking through the snow and I was at a giant energy loss. Not only had it been hours since my last meal but we'd been trudging through the vast land of snow for a good while. Last night I did not get the best sleep, come to think of it I had not slept at all. I could have sworn I kept seeing Lavi glance back at me but I was not completely sure. My eyes began drooping from exhaustion and then everything went black engulfing the white surrounding out of sight. Before all my senses shut down I heard Lavi yell my name and that he lifted me onto his back in a hurry.
Lazily, my eyes blinked open looking straight up at a wood panel ceiling. I guess Lavi had carried me all the way to the town on his back. For that, I felt a little guilty but then sat up to take in my surroundings. I clamped my forehead in my gloved right hand and felt dizziness take its toll. "Easy there Allen, you might not want to get up too fast." Lavi said pushing me back onto what seemed to be one of the two beds in the room. I felt that my exorcist coat had been removed and I was left with my casual vest, white shirt, ribbon, tight pants, and boots on. "Your coat was soaked from the snow so I left it on a chair to dry." I smiled up at him still feeling tired and attempted to sit up straighter now.
"How long was I out?" I asked curious and shyly feeling a blush creep up on my face.
"About an hour, we arrived here around fifteen minutes after you passed out and we've been here since." He just smiled and I turned away slightly, hoping he had not caught my blush.
"Thank you Lavi, for getting me here safe." I said timidly and looked down to my knees beneath the sheets.
"No problem Allen. That's what friends are for." I caught that he said the last part a little regretfully and now it seemed he was the one avoiding my eyes. The room got real quiet real fast and I just could not take it.
"Do you by chance know what time it is Lavi?" I asked and he too seemed to be relieved for a voice.
"Around one o'clock, why?" I dug into my pocket and pulled the bottle out again.
"It's about time I took the bleu one already." I replied frowning at the little oval in my hand.
"Do you want me to get you some water for that?" he asked concerned.
"Yes please, if you don't mind." He nodded and got up from a chair I had not noticed he was sitting on. Wait, was he watching over me the whole time? I did not have any more time to think it through when Lavi came back in the room and handed me a cup of water so I could take the prescribed medication. "Thank you again, Lavi." He nodded in appreciation and watched me as I swallowed the single bleu pill which was supposed to be stronger than the previous green one.
Lavi and I spent the better part of the day walking through the mostly abandoned village and detecting akuma to protect said village. Since the mission was not at all a highly serious one we had already finished in the length of about four and a half hours. When we got back to the inn I flopped down on the bed and felt my stomach threatening to eat itself. "Lavi, I'm hungry, do they sell food here?" I asked almost whining through my pouting lips.
"Well, yeah but it's only soup, corn, mashed potatoes, and apple pie. So there's only a limited menu." Lavi almost was not able to finish since I was already rushing towards the inn's kitchen. He caught up to me when I got there and we started ordering our meals. I got four of everything and Lavi had just gotten some soup. By the time we finished it was about six o'clock and we had just ended an embarrassing conversation with the inn keeper about how sweet it was that Lavi carried me all the way here through the horrible weather and I was still sleeping on his back when he checked in. Besides the awkward talk she seemed to be a really nice lady. I had just taken one of those yellow pills and the keeper had to ask me what it was for exactly since she didn't want the usage of drugs or alcohol in her lounge. I reassured her that it was only prescription for my insomnia and she let it go with an understanding nod. I started feeling the effects of the pill almost instantly and honestly I felt a little woozy and almost drunk.
"Lavi, I'm feeling kind of tingly." I said with a slurred voice and a sloppy smile. This is when I started feeling more effect and started swaying back and forth a little.
"Allen, are you okay? What was in that last pill you just took?" Lavi asked, thankfully I could still hear him.
"Well, Komui told me that my case was pretty bad and I needed my rest. I think he said something about it being enough to," I stopped there and had to grab onto the table to keep myself upright. "tranquilize a horse." I finished. He looked at me, mouth gaping open and he ran to my side of the table and picked me up bridal style. I was only half-conscious now and really had to pay attention to know what was going on around me.
"Well, sorry for the trouble, I think I have to get Allen back to the room now." Lavi said and the keeper nodded in acknowledgment. He turned around and started walking towards the stairs of the two-story inn. By now I'd lost contact through my mind and mouth and started saying some stuff that I really hadn't intended.
"You know Lavi, you're pretty cute. At least I think so anyway, no, not just cute, beyond that, I think you're handsome and super attractive, yeah." I said out of the truth in my mind without knowing so. He looked down at me red covering his face.
"Um, Allen I think you've lost it."
"No I've been thinking that for a while." I said as he opened the door to our room.
"Well at least the stuff is working." Lavi said mostly to himself than to me. "Better tell Komui to warn Allen about the effects." He placed me on the bed and everything blacked out from there.
Once again I woke up not remembering how I got there. I looked at the clock and it read four o'clock in the morning. "Great I woke up super early again." I tried going back to sleep but nothing prevailed. On the other side of the room lay Lavi stretched out on his bed still peacefully sound asleep. Lightning crashed in the distance outside and I jumped. I never really showed it but I really was scared of lightning. Afraid of the fact it might crash on me any second. Another crash boomed but this one sounded closer. A yelp escaped my mouth and I ran over to Lavi who was ruthlessly shaken awake by me.
"Whoa, whoa, A-Allen is that you?" he asked sleepily then he took it into recognition that I was crying and hot tears streamed from my face onto his outstretched arm. "Allen, are you okay? What's up?" he opened his arms, in which he was now sitting up, to embrace me in a comforting hug. More lightning shot far away and I stiffened in Lavi's grip.
Through shaky breaths I tried to answer his question so the whole situation would make sense. "I woke up, and I couldn't go back to sleep and the lightning and boom and," I went still again as another strike lashed from the not too distant sky. I felt light rubbing circles on my back and heard Lavi hushing me.
"Would you like to sleep with me then Allen?" I nodded my head and crawled in next to him looking up with almost pleading eyes. Lavi hugged me as close as possible and what he did next was unexpected. He lent down to kiss my quivering lips and then gently began running his fingers through my hair slowly soothing me and calming me down from the blasts of light and crashing. "I love you Allen." I heard Lavi say into my ear his voice calm as ever. My human arm tightened to Lavi's hold and Lavi's hand gently squeezed the black crown clown hand, being one of the only people to touch me as if I am human.
"I love you too, Lavi." With that, I got the best sleep I'd had in months. The only bad thing left on my mind was the fact we were going to have to tell everyone back at the Black Order.
END