I probably would've had this updated this yesterday if my sister hadn't bugged me all day! This is a Laven story, so the Poker Pair is only temporary! Thank you Lenore91, Jazebeth, DGrayManFanatic, sHiro, HipsterL, and ThisgirllovesAllenWalker for reviewing! I really appreciate it!
The next morning, Allen woke up to hear a very loud squealing noise. Allen sat up, rubbing his eyes and crawling out of bed. He walked over to the sound of where the squeaking was coming from. As he entered his study room, he identified the noise as mewling. Like a cat. There was only one cat that could be around this house. But, he couldn't quite tell where it was coming from. He looked beside the computer, where another window was placed and noticed it was open. It did have a screen, but the screen was torn open.
"Oh God...Timcanpy! Timcanpy?!" He heard a meow reply to his call. "Oh Lord, what are you doing out there?"
The roof of the garage was in a triangular shape, making it really hard to walk across. Timcanpy, his golden cat Cross gave him, was stuck. Allen panicked. There was no other way of getting him safely inside without going out there. Well...here goes nothing...Allen removed the screen and walked out gingerly. This seemed like more of a bad idea when he was actually out on the roof. I've fallen off a roof before...I'll be fine if that happens now...Allen said, trying to convince himself rather than knowing he'd survive.
"You, are a very bad kitty, Tim. This is a big no no." Allen told his cat as if it would respond to his liking. "If I fall...well you better hope I don't fall!" Allen's foot slipped and he fell on the roof, grabbing a hold of the point. "...I just jinxed myself..." Allen muttered hoarsely. Allen crawled his way over to Timcanpy and held the kitten in his arms, petting it's stomach. "Don't ever do that again...now we just gotta get back. If worst comes to worst, I'll take the fall." Allen ran his hand through the kitten's fur.
Getting back was harder than going out because Allen was so focused on the window that he didn't look down at where he was walking. Hopefully, karma didn't hate him too much. He couldn't really think of anything he'd done wrong recently. He did cheat in Poker a few nights before for extra money, but it was for a good cause! They were all teaming up on him anyways...wait...did he even believe in karma? Isn't karma not real? As if that thought had pissed karma off, Allen lost his footing and started rolling down the roof.
Then, a miracle happened.
It was just a few minutes ago that Lavi had left his house to apologize to Allen and maybe take him out to show that he really did mean that he was sorry and they should just be good neighbors. He didn't expect the teenager falling from the sky at all. Neither did he expect an angry kitten clinging onto his head. He opened his arms to get the golden fuzzball off his head when something landed in them perfectly. Lavi looked down and the two blinked at each other. He saw Allen's face turn really red and the boy started stuttering. Lavi gave him a cheesy grin and set him down.
"Oh my God...I almost died..." Allen shuddered and shakily walked back to his front porch to sit down and take in all that had just happened. He was rolling off the roof, Lavi saved him and Tim, he was alive! Oh Lord, he was alive! Thank God...he was alive! Yes, he was alive.
"Um, if ya don't mind me asking, neighbor, what were you doing on the roof?" A light bulb had to have gone off somewhere from the look on Allen's face. His face contorted into anger and Lavi was quite worried it was him that Allen was mad at. Allen stormed over towards Lavi and raised his hands. Lavi flinched away and felt a weight lifted off of him. He peeked open his only good eye and watched as Allen glared at a shameful kitten.
"Bad Tim! You are not getting any treats for a week!" The cat expertly gave his owner the puppy dog eyes, despite the fact that he was a cat, not a dog. And boy was he good at it. Lavi watched very amused as Allen's glare dropped and he hugged the kitten. "Don't ever do that again! Geez, you're just as troublesome as Cross." That name was a little familiar to Lavi, though he couldn't quite place his finger on it. Allen put Timcanpy on the ground and embarrassingly walked over to Lavi, blushing. Lavi grinned cheekily at him. Allen sighed and gave Lavi a slight bow. "Thank you." Lavi was surprised for the fact that Allen bowed, but dismissed it briefly.
"You're very welcome! Actually...I wonder what you can do to repay me...maybe take a few years of that grudge off?" Allen gave him a disbelieving look and bit his lip.
If he ever had the grudge disappear...he would fall in love with Lavi all over again—and he definitely didn't want to do that. Lavi was popular in school and Allen was a nerd. There was no way a relationship between them could ever work out. Even if Allen did fall in love with Lavi, Lavi probably wouldn't like him that way...and if it ever could work out, Lavi would eventually see his arm and break his heart by leaving. It was like that with everyone who became his friend.
"I..." Allen looked away and bit the inside of his lip some more. Then again, if I only take a little bit off each time, I'll never fall in love with him...I guess it couldn't hurt... "Fine, one year." Lavi pouted.
"What?! But that's like three more years to go!" Allen studied his nails rather than looking at Lavi.
"I could always lower-"
"No! One year is perfectly fine!" Lavi held up his hands and flailed them about. "So, are you doing anything today?" Allen blinked and ran the gears in his mind effectively. Let's see there was eat breakfast, feed Timcanpy, do something to occupy himself, eat lunch, feed Timcanpy, do something to occupy himself, eat dinner, feed Timcanpy, do something to occupy himself, eat a snack, not give Timcanpy a treat, talk to Fou, go to bed.
"Uh..." Allen sweat dropped. He really needed to get a hobby...or a job. Then again, he could always take that rain check Tyki offered him. "Hm...I might just go out with Tyki today, but other than that...no idea." Lavi rose an eyebrow.
"Are you sure you want to go out with that guy? He could try something and from what I've observed, you don't like to be touched a lot." Allen narrowed his eyes.
"Well, I have to go out with him sometime, I promised." Lavi sweat dropped.
"Oh! You're one of those guys."
"What do you mean one of those guys?" Allen felt a bit insulted that he was separated out from everyone else.
"Goody two shoes." Lavi waved his finger in front of Allen's face. Allen pushed the finger down.
"Excuse me?"
"You always have to do the good things, and you don't ever do anything wrong! That's your problem bean sprout-"
"-Allen-"
"-you need to relax! Stop being so uptight all the time and break some rules! It feels great!"
"But-"
"You're like an adult now, you can do whatever the hell you want! Why waste it being a good boy?" Allen felt a bit intimidated by Lavi's requests. "Have you ever drank alcohol before?" Allen made a disgruntled face at Lavi. Hell no. Cross had gotten drunk so many times and wasted away all his money on that and cigarettes.
"No."
"Have you ever smoked?"
"No..." Damn, the way Lavi was smirking was just ticking the younger off.
"Have you ever done drugs?"
"No!" Allen definitely looked offended that time.
"You need to be your age, man! Go break rules and shit! Hell, have you even cursed before?"
"...yes..."
"Really? I find that doubtful." Allen looked away.
"Believe what you want."
"No, no, no! You're not supposed to—ugh! You have to stand up for yourself as well! Where's all that self-esteem, man?" Lavi punched Allen's arm playfully and Allen backed away from him. What self-esteem? You kind of ruined that for me...
"I just...grew up differently than others." That sure was an understatement. That threw Lavi for a loop as he thought about what Tyki had said yesterday about Lavi giving him four years of hell. Allen was practically gnawing on his lip from thought. He was usually tense around others...and Lavi had a point...but he just couldn't bring himself to trust many people his age. Not since high school anyways.
"You're gay, right?" Allen instantly lit up in a rosy color. Why did Lavi have to ask such questions so bluntly?!
"Wh-what does that have to do with what we're talking about?!" Lavi barked a laugh at Allen's reaction.
"So, like, have you ever kissed someone before?" Allen didn't answer. "Have you even held hands with someone before? Family doesn't count either." Allen was still silent. "You're joking...okay, have you at least hugged someone before?" Allen looked away. It wasn't his fault he was like this! Everyone he tried to get close to would just insult him and walk off. That was when he started avoiding people rather than talking to them. Then they would get more violent around him. The only person that ever talked to him was Road, and barely her because she was a grade lower than he was.
"What does this have to do with anything?"
"Okay! I've got a little challenge for you to help you with your haphephobia nonsense."
"My what?"
"You're afraid of people touching you, right? Well that's haphephobia, what would you say brought this on?" I feel like I shouldn't explain to him that I was bullied throughout high school because of him...yeah, this is just too awkward...
"I wouldn't say I'm afraid of everyone touching me..." Like when Cross would ruffle his hair once in a blue moon, he didn't mind. Road tended to hug him and it wasn't as bad as with everyone else and Fou...he could probably deal with hugging her in a friendship sort of way.
"Yeah, but mostly everyone. Like if I came up to you and hugged you, you'd be all like back the fuck up!" Allen blinked. That was...not quite put the right way. "You need to trust others more! That's your problem, man!"
"Apparently, I have many problems." Lavi's eyes widened at Allen's casual response.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn't mean it that way, man! I'm sure if we just got to know each other, I could help you with your problems a bit more." Allen bit on his lip again, something he did quite often.
"I don't know if that would work out quite well."
"Awe, why not? I'm an awesome person!" Allen waited for Lavi to actually get it. Hello, Lavi was a popular 'awesome' kid who was good with all his classmates and well-known, while Allen was a bullied victim because of his pranks, how could he not get it?
Allen didn't want to be involved with Lavi, but at the same time, he did. Allen was mesmerized by Lavi. He had so much self-esteem and confidence. Not to mention the kid was a genius and good with flirting. He was one of the cool kids that would always be considered awesome despite their flaws. If Lavi had been put in Allen's shoes and been who Allen was, he would probably be teased for his eye. But he wasn't, he was much more confident in himself than Allen was. It pained Allen to admit that Lavi was one of the people that he always dreamed of becoming. Had it not been Mana's words saying to be himself, Allen might have been able to adapt like Lavi did, what with all his sarcastic remarks and assurance with Fou.
"Dude, are you still in there?" Lavi waved a hand in front of Allen's face. Allen caught it and immediately let go of Lavi's wrist.
"Y-yeah, just thinking..."
"What's there to think about? C'mon, lets be friends, ne? If not, I'm going to start singing the Why Can't We Be Friends song!"
"Do that if you wish. You still have to get rid of my grudge before I can trust you." Allen just wanted an excuse to end this conversation. There was no way Lavi would be able to get rid of Allen's stubborn grudge against him. Allen wouldn't let him. Lavi's confidence couldn't possibly overcome his will, could it? Just how much did confidence can one person hold? Certainly...Lavi didn't have that much confidence did he?
"You better be ready then! I'm going to dissolve that grudge whether you want me to or not!" Allen looked behind him to see Lavi giving him that familiar charming grin and a wave. Even after Lavi left inside the house, Allen still stood on his front porch, staring at where Lavi used to be. That charming grin was still bolted in his mind and it didn't want to get wrenched out.
"I guess we'll only have to see about that." Allen said softly to himself. Timcanpy looked up and mewled at him. "Ah, right, breakfast time. Let's go, Tim." Allen turned the knob and cursed silently to himself.
Locked.
"God dang it." Allen muttered and walked to the side of the house, dismembering the screen from his living room window. He pushed the window up and threw Timcanpy in and crawled in afterwards.
Note to self: Get an extra key and store it in a place no one can find it.
Allen unlocked his door and stepped outside to put the screen back on. He didn't want Timcanpy getting the joy out of leaving the house whenever he wanted to go knock up some stray cat. He did not want to deal with kittens. Maybe sometime in the very far future, but he was going to be busy with college in a few months with a job on top of that. He wouldn't have the time to deal with that. He walked back inside, humming to himself. Oh yes, he was going to enjoy his breakfast for sure. He took out some eggs, raw bacon, bread, butter, pancake mix, sugar, and milk. Licking his lips, Allen began to make breakfast.
Halfway through his cooking, or half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. Allen couldn't just drop what he was doing to go answer the door, but he wouldn't want anyone to see him so...messy. He was pretty sure that there was pancake mix sticking to his face and some flour in his hair. His apron was littered with stains. Let's just say that when Allen cooks, he's seriously serious about it.
"Come in!" He shouted anyways. He just hoped that it wasn't a stranger that had come to rob him blind...then again...why would a burglar knock? Okay, now he felt stupid.
"What's cooking, boy?" Tyki. Oh God, now he was going to be embarrassed. This beautiful guy was going to see what a mess he made of himself. He hoped that he wasn't too messy. Tyki smirked when he saw Allen busy with making himself breakfast. "Need some help eating all of that, boy?"
"If you're hungry you can have some." Allen answered, turning the pan off that he made pancakes in. He made a few omelets full of cheese and others full of different varieties of food. Tyki certainly felt like he was getting ready to eat at a five star restaurant from the looks of the food. Allen finished up and turned off all the burners on the stove. He put all the items on the plates accordingly and set them down on the table. He walked over to his cupboard and grabbed two plates, setting one down in front of Tyki and the other in front of him. As Allen piled the food onto his plate, he tried making a friendly conversation with the man in front of him. "So, Tyki, you don't have work today?"
"I do, but I'm working tonight instead of the afternoon today."
"When did you learn how to cook?"
"...twelve..." Tyki tried thinking about how long ago that was and why Allen would start cooking then. That was 6 years ago...which is also when Neah moved...which is when Mana died. Oh. Tyki piled a few foods on his plate as well and took a bite of his cheesy omelet.
"Damn..." Tyki muttered with surprise. "Are you planning on going into culinary arts?"
"You mean college? I don't know what I'm doing first yet, but I'd like to do the best I can."
"You'll do great." Allen blushed at the compliment.
"Th-thank you..."
"So, are you ever going to take that rain check?" Allen's head perked up; he and Lavi had just finished talking about that not too long ago.
"Of course. I said I would, so I will."
"Really? Lavi didn't say anything bad about me, did he?" Allen shook his head slowly.
"No...why?"
"No reason, it just seemed like the stunt he pulled earlier would affect you to the extent that you were indebted to him." Allen had his fork in his mouth as he tilted his head. "What were you doing on the roof anyways?" Allen's jaw dropped and he dropped his fork in surprise. Oh God he saw that! Allen blushed and picked up his fork.
"M-my cat climbed out the window...I had to get him..."
"Ah, you're cat?" Allen nodded.
"Yes, he was Cross' before, but Cross didn't want to tale care of him so he gave him to me."
"You mean Timcanpy?" Allen looked at him in disbelief.
"How did you..."
"As I said before, Cross knows Neah and I know Neah, so yes I know the infamous cat that was a walking fuzz of trouble." Why...am I so nervous to ask? How does Tyki know who Neah is? I don't want to be rude...and I just feel guilty if I actually have to ask about my uncle... "So, since we're going out today, what do you suggest we do?" Ah crap, he changed the subject. Allen shrugged in response, still wondering about how he was going to ask Tyki about Neah. "Oh c'mon, there has to be something you want to do, we don't need to go out and eat at all."
"Hm...I haven't been here long, so I really don't know what to do..."
"How about we go to the movies?" Isn't that what people do when they're dating? Is he implying something by this? Allen blushed a bit at that.
"They play movies in the morning here?"
"Mhmm, and if you don't want to do that, you can always meet my family." Somehow I have a bad feeling about this.
"How do you know Road?" Allen asked, he didn't feel rude asking that.
"She's my niece...why?" She's all for you and her uncle hooking up. Lenalee's words echoed in her mind. Oh...my...God.
"N-no reason..." Allen blushed, looking away. Maybe she has more than one uncle...
"I know of your relation to Neah by the way." What's his point? "And you're probably wondering how I know him."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't-"
"He's my brother." Allen processed that for a moment. So wait...Tyki was his uncle too? Tyki didn't look like Neah at all. "By engagement." Allen's brain started to hurt with all his thinking. "He's getting engaged to Road." Tyki couldn't help but smirk at Allen's reaction. His eyes were bulging and since Allen had a higher than average eyeball size, it was quite hilarious. "You didn't know?"
"N-no, I didn't..."
"It tends to be like that with all of our family. But we're not blood related." Okay, he's doing definitely implying something there. "I didn't think Neah would cut off all ties with you, though." Allen gnawed on his inner lip, causing it to swell and irritate a bit.
"Ah..." Allen didn't even know what to say. He hadn't had any contact with Neah since he was 12. He remembered that the last time he saw Neah, he still had brown hair. Neah probably wouldn't be able to recognize him at all now.
"If you don't want to talk about it, I would completely understand, although we all are wondering how Mana passed. You know, his last words and such. Not to mention we can't find his will." Allen clenched his jaw to keep the tears away. He hated talking about Mana. "Neah also mentioned that he at least wanted a memento of him to remember him by, you know?" Allen didn't even look at Mana's stuff. It just hurt so much whenever he thought about it. Was that the only reason Tyki was flirting with him? To get stuff for Neah. Allen stood up and walked upstairs. Tyki was a bit confused and waited for Allen to return. When Allen came back, he had a box in his hands and pushed it towards Tyki.
"I...don't know what's all in it...its his things...but I didn't pack it...if the will isn't in there then Cross knows wh-where its at..." Tyki could see tears rimmed around his eyes. Tyki smiled at him and stood up, walking over to Allen and hugging him. This just made Allen unable to hold his tears back any longer.
"Thank you, Allen. I'm sure Neah will be glad. Well, enough of all this depressing news and how about you come over and meet some of my...or your family. Don't worry, Neah's not there...I don't think you'd be able to confront him get."
"I don't know...I think I feel safer here...I... I mean...not that I..." Tyki chuckled.
"I understand. I'll be back in a little bit if you don't mind. I think I need to call Neah." Tyki pulled away and grabbed the box while waving to Allen as he walked out the door. Allen panicked. Would Tyki bring someone back with him? Allen wasn't ready to meet anyone yet. He was just now recovering from giving away Mana's stuff. Who could he possibly turn to at a time like this?
Road was Tyki's niece, Fou was in Asia, Lavi...well, he wasn't going to turn to Lavi...the only other person he could think of was Cross and there was no way in hell Allen would turn to him. He would just make him buy him alcohol and cigarettes. Allen had already spent enough money yesterday. Wasn't there someone else? There just had to be someone...He was too late though, there was a knock heard on the door. Oh geez...I hope they don't hate me. Allen walked over to the door and was quite puzzled when it wasn't Tyki at the door...
It was Lenalee.
"Good morning, Lenalee."
"Morning, Allen!" She said brightly and her eyes widened a bit when she smelled the food in the kitchen. "What's that smell?"
"Ah, I was um...cooking."
"Typical gay guy..." She whispered.
"What?"
"Nothing! You were saying? Whatcha cooking in there?"
"Breakfast?"
"No really? I never would've guessed...but I mean...can I have some." Allen blinked.
"Huh?" Lenalee sighed and leaned against the door frame.
"Well, I was cooking some pancakes and I left Lavi in charge of them...he burned them...and I don't even think they're edible."
"Oh sure, I just finished." Allen let her in and grabbed Tyki's plate, rinsing it off in the sink.
"Someone else was here?"
"Mhmm, Tyki, he lives across the street." There was a gleam in Lenalee's eye that Allen felt a bit uncomfortable with.
"Really~?"
"Uh yes...?"
"So...I have a favor to ask of you..." Oh great, now what?
"What is it?" Lenalee twirled a finger through her long pigtail.
"Well, Komui and I have to go to some science fair thing but...I'm afraid to leave Lavi and Kanda at the house alone...can you like, I dunno, babysit them?" Allen narrowed his eyes at her.
"You do realize that they're older than I am, right?"
"Yeah, well, last time I left them alone, they were throwing flaming marshmallows at each other...did I mention that we didn't even have marshmallows?" Allen gave her an incredulous look while the gleam in her eyes deepened but were concealed with her kind smile. Lavi told her about the incident between him and Allen and while she agreed that he shouldn't have done that, she still wanted Allen and Lavi to become friends and if possible, Kanda. Allen dealt with Cross so maybe he can help with Kanda too. Her plan was working out perfectly.
"Well, I dunno...have you asked them what they think about this?"
"Oh c'mon! Please?" Allen thought back to the fact that Tyki and his family were coming over.
"I guess it couldn't hurt..."
"Great! Thanks so much!" Tyki was across the street on his porch, watching as Lenalee pushed him out the door and into their house. He couldn't tell whether or not Allen was struggling against her or not. "Oh, and by the way, it's Kanda's birthday, so make sure you take him and Lavi out to eat! I, meanwhile, am going to jack the rest of your breakfast! See ya later, Allen~!" Allen watched her carry food out of his house, locking his door. Great...now I have to climb through the window again! As long as no one calls me bean sprout, I think I might survive this...
"Whatcha doin' here, bean sprout?"
Today was going to be a long day.
Reviews are welcome. Flames shall be used for the marshmallows that Lavi and Kanda throw at each other! :)
