Allen prodded his dumpling with a chopstick he didn't know how to use, crinkling his nose as his gaze caught sight of a glaring Kanda. "What?" He poked a hole through the dough, the tip bathing in the midst of meat and boredom.

"Don't play with your food."

"Shuddup," the male remarked, his brain too occupied with the mere fact that Lavi had a date. With a girl. That night. And he, was here with Kanda and Lenalee, for some ungodly reason.

xxx

"You have to go out while I'm gone! I forbid you to sulk over the temporary loss of my presence, and just lie here doing nothing!" The redhead exited his room, adjusting what appeared to be a tie. "Can you come over here and help me?"

Fingers enclosed around the silk of the light grey fabric, a color worthy to compare to Allen's eyes, his skillful hands showing useful in the situation. "You have your date, and I have mine. With my piano." He stepped back to admire his work, nodding approvingly.

"I already told Lenalee you were going with her and-" Lavi coughed, "-so, I don't want her to be disappointed and all..."

"Lenalee and who?" His girlish features demanded.

"Kanda..." He murmured under his breath, backing away with caution at his friend's angered expression. "It's not like he's that bad..."

"To you maybe."

"Please, do this for me, Allen baby~" 'Allen baby' cringed at the unintended affection in his petname, diverting his opaque sight to his retreating hands. Attempting to shrug off the term, he sauntered to his bedroom door, hands wriggling in his pockets.

His heart jumped at the smile Lavi had beamed. He knew he had won before Allen had even managed an unimpressed 'fine'. Clicking his tongue, he reentered his room before his face unwillingly turned a glowing pink. He loathed the power the boy had to control him.

The male proceeded to take his sweet time, rummaging through his closet to look at all his options. No point in dressing up or anything, seeing as his company could have cared less. But through the crack of his door, Lavi was constantly rambling about how he should dress nice to go out. He knew if he had come out in the comfortable ensemble of loose fitting jeans and a random shirt, the redhead would have gone batshit crazy and made him change (or come in and dress him himself, which, he though grimacing, had happened before).

So with a careful eye, he slipped into a pair of midnight black dress pants, that hugged every crease of his lower half in a rather flattering way. Pulling off his rather bland choice of a shirt, he examined the rack of potential.

Hands found his hips, a chest finding the curve of Allen's back, a pair of lips met his ear. "What's taking so long, shortstuff?" His body tingled, but not with his usual anger for the unappreciated nickname, but with longing. The feel of his warm breath against his neck was enough to drive the male utterly mad.

"I've got a lunatic clinging onto me," he muttered, pushing away reluctantly. Lavi wasn't phased by this, heading over to invade the personal space of his closet, and returning not too long after with a white button up, almost as pure as the sight of Allen's hair.

"Here, this is much better." Allen didn't have time to argue or resist as he slid the fabric over his shoulder, fingers brushing against exposed flesh unintentionally. As he went to button his own shirt, Lavi smacked away his hand. "No, you know how terrible you are buttons. Lemme do it so we can avoid injury."

Defeated, he weakly nodded. There was no use arguing about it, no matter how illogical he had sounded. His eyes met those of Lavi's, not missing the fact he had a cat like grin plastered to his face. "What?..."

"...So who are you dressing for?"

"Excuse me?" He asked in a mildly confused tone, fingers pausing to linger over set in the middle of his shirt.

"Lenalee?" Lavi's lips upturned into a smirk, "or Kanda? Because you look very appealing right now."

The familiar feeling of an oncoming blush rose in his cheeks whilst he diverted his gaze to his chest. "I'm dressing for you..." As his smirk grew, he rethought his words, "I didn't mean, for you, I meant, because of you... You're making me dress up."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

As he turned to finishing dressing, swallowing to dampen his cracking throat. "Shut up, your date is probably waiting, so you better get going."

The redhead escorted Allen to the door, one hand placed gently on his back. "Fine, I'll play nice if you do. And remember, be back by eight so I can give you all the details."

"Right, eight."

As the white haired male exited the door with a small smile and a 'goodbye', he let out an irritated groan. Had it ever occurred to him that he didn't want to hear the details?

xxx

Alright, so he had lied to himself. He did know why he was there with Kanda and Lenalee. It was a little four letter word that plagued his mind-

Lavi. Though, he guessed that love would have fit nicely into that category as well.

Time was passing by agonizingly slow...

He was running out of things to say...

Kanda was running out of patience...

And Lenalee was running out of enthusiasm, seeing as she was trying to provide enough for all three of them...

Allen let out a gruff sigh, staring up at the clock with tired eyes. He really didn't want to be here. Or at his apartment, for a matter of fact. He didn't want to be anywhere really, no place in particular creeped into his thoughts when he pondered the word sanctuary- because anywhere he went wouldn't hide him from the unrequited love he felt.

He sat back, hands folded in his lap, his mind whirling with thought.

"Allen?"

This really sucked.

"Allen?"

Just being here.

"Allen? Didn't you say you had to be home..."

Existing.

"...around eight?"

The silver haired boy blinked as his attention was brought back to reality. "Yeah, why?" Her gentle stare flashed to the clock on the pallid wall. It was a quarter to eight. He had spent all this time... sulking about Lavi.

"Right, thanks. I had a fun time." The words were derived of emotion, their meaning nonexistent. Without much else thought, nor hesitation, he bolted out of her house, not even bothering to mutter a distasteful goodbye to Kanda as he did so.

He ached to see his best friend.

...If only he came with an off button.

xxx

The key to the apartment door was held firmly in the grip of it's inhabitant, his fingers rubbing along the ridges as he inhaled. And exhaled. And inhaled again. He didn't have to go in, right? Okay, maybe he did.

It was now or never.

He slid the hilt of the key into the hole, twisting the door open with a loud creak. Allen gasped at the sight he came across, his heart thumping in his chest violently.

Candles were placed all round the room, the only source of dim light, but beautiful nonetheless in all their glory. The air was coaxed in the soft scent of vanilla- which he had to admit was truly intoxicating. There were even roses, small bouquets of pure white placed neatly beside the existing sticks of wax. His eyes shifted to examined the rest of the room, resting on the smiling figure of a male, outstretched on their shared couch and single red rose in hand.

"Welcome home, Allen."

His voice was so sweet, he almost couldn't stand it. But he loved every single moment. "What's... what's all this for?"

"You got into that National Piano Competition," he responded softly, urging Allen forward to sit beside him. "Think of this as a celebration."

He had no recollection of celebrations being so...

romantic.