Author's Note: It's a little early, but I wanted to get this posted. I hope you all are enjoying this as much as I am.

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August 7, 2012

Prompt #2: Quarry

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The first few days at the shelter were uneventful.

The first forty-eight hours or so, Allen spent under observation in the medical facility of the compound. There, he was able to take his first shower in weeks and attend to the build up of blisters on his feet. He was given fluids for his lingering dehydration and aloe for his sunburn. Then the Matron looked over his entire body to ensure that he truly had been been bitten or scratched in any way.

"It doesn't take long for the infection to spread," she explained as she put him to bed on the first night. "I know that you don't have anything, or else you'd be running a fever. But, Komui's orders that you stay here for a day or so to make sure."

Allen got some good rest, a few square meals, and some visitors. Lavi came by to see him at least twice a day. The redhead was always dirty and the Matron constantly scolded him for dragging mud into her infirmary. Despite this, Lavi came and sat with Allen when he had time. On the first day, Lavi brought a deck of cards and they played a few hands of poker, at which Allen was quite skilled, and rummy, at which Allen was not. If they had been playing for money, they would have been about even. The second day, Lavi came by with a bandanna full of cherry tomatoes. He used his body to hide them from the Matron as she moved in and out of the room.

"These are from the garden up on the ridge," Lavi explained in a whisper. "We're not supposed to take them, but they looked so good...don't tell Jerry. He'll have my head."

"Our secret," Allen said, popping a tomato into his mouth.

Lavi grinned. Allen did too.

"Awesome."

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Once Allen was released, he was given his, what Komui referred to as "welcome bag". Johnny called it the "mystery bag" and Reever the "bag of essential shit". Allen preferred the "goodie bag", as Lavi called it. It comprised of a backpack filled with essentials: one blanket, a flashlight and batteries, a waterproof watch, shoelaces, a towel, shampoo, soap, a hairbrush, a razor, and a can of shaving cream.

"I don't shave," Allen said, holding up the last two items in question.

"I'll trade you something for those. My razor is on its last leg," Lavi said, rubbing at his jaw. Allen could see the bits of stubble that he had missed during his morning shave. Perhaps they didn't go on scavenging missions to Wal-Mart or CVS very often.

"Don't worry about it. They're yours," Allen said, handing both items to Lavi. He looked as if someone had just told him Christmas had come early. It was nothing short of adorable. That moment was ruined, however, when Lavi's attention shifted from Allen as they were interrupted.

"What's that face for?" Lenalee asked as she came into the main office. She had a basket of tomatoes under her arms.

"Allen's getting his goodie bag," Lavi said, reaching forward to snag one of the fruits. Lenalee slapped his hand. "Ow, what the hell?" Lavi shook his hand with a wince. "That fucking stings."

"Someone's already gotten their ration of tomatoes for the season I think," Lenalee said.

"Aw, c'mon. I was hungry up there," Lavi whined. "Delivering peace and justice for the community requires energy. Which comes in the form of tomatoes. If I don't have my energy, where's the peace? Where's the justice?!"

"Justice? What are you, Batman?" Reever asked, as he picked up his files and left the room, Johnny at his heels.

"Hey, hey. Storm's coming, man. You wait until you need that justice," Lavi called after them, before turning back to Lenalee. "Hence the tomatoes."

"Look, steal any more and you won't get any raspberries," Lenalee threatened, not listening to a word. Lavi quieted immediately, but he was pouting. When she left, Lavi sunk into the nearest office chair and spun around in it like a child that had just been punished.

"Jeez, always nagging. Nag, nag, nag. What a mom," Lavi said grumpily. The words had no sooner left his lips when Allen saw the change in him. The cheerfulness depleted, replaced by something sadder, more hollow behind his eyes.

"Lavi?" Allen asked, concerned. His voice prodded Lavi into his usual self. Within a second he was back up and beaming.

"C'mon, we've got to get you some clothes and then we'll find you a room," Lavi said. They spent the afternoon digging through piles of clothes and suitcases that had been uncovered from local homes. Allen felt strange digging through peoples' lives—and underwear—but he really needed some things to wear. He found a black suitcase buried under a bunch of women's garments and discovered that the majority of items within it actually fit him quite well. Afterwards, Lavi led him down the hallway towards the previous office spaces. All of the rooms were full with triple or quadruple occupants. Even Lavi's room did not have a spare corner.

"Well...I guess I could sleep in the lounge..." Allen said, after a fruitless search for space.

"No, we'll find someplace. Don't worry," Lavi replied. He ruffled Allen's silvery locks. Luckily, he didn't notice Allen's blush.

Eventually they settled on a small space. It had been used as an office supply room for copy paper and ink. About the size of a moderate walk-in closet, Allen would have to make it work. He set his suitcase down.

"Home sweet home?" he said. A spider ran over his shoe.

"Hey... we'll make it spiffy, yeah? And think about how jealous everyone will be that you've got your own room," Lavi said, winking at Allen. "It's the bachelor pad of this whole place."

Allen went red again, and this time, Lavi did notice. He laughed and pulled Allen along by the hand as they began a search for a spare cot. They found one, but realized that it wouldn't fit in the space no matter which way they turned it. So they went to Plan B.

"It's not the best...but it'll do...right?" Lavi asked. They had stolen some sort of insulation foam from the main office, which was used to transport electronic equipment, and laid it down on the floor. Then they put an old comforter on top of it, followed by a plush sleeping bag. When Allen sat down upon it, he sunk into the center. Lavi tried not to laugh, but he couldn't stop himself, and pretty soon the both of them were rolling around on the makeshift bed with a fit of the giggles.

"The end of the world kind of sucks," Allen said. Lavi huffed out a laugh and turned over onto his back. Both of their feet stuck out into the hallway through the open door.

"It does. But let me tell you, if the world hadn't ended, you would have been sleeping on much worse shit in college," Lavi said.

"Maybe one day I'll see for myself," Allen said. He turned onto his side and looked at the folds in Lavi's green t-shirt. They were so close that Allen could smell Lavi's soap. It was what everyone used, but it smelled good. So good that Allen felt he could close his eyes and fall asleep right there. They had just fallen shut when he felt Lavi's fingers touch his hair gently.

"Maybe."

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Allen eventually fell into a routine.

He woke up everyday at seven and had breakfast. Then he went and helped with whatever tasks needed to be done. Mostly it was internal guard duty, cleaning duty, or running water back and forth to the compound. They needed oh so many gallons of water a day to put into a tank that provided them with showers, running water in the faucets, and indoor toilets.

(Reever explained about the system, which filtered all the impurities out of the water through some sort of sterilization process. That water was used for drinking and bathing, while the rest of the untreated water was used for sanitation. The system had been partially installed in the shelter upon their arrival, as the main plumbing pipes had been laid in the shelter with the basic wiring for electricity. But the tank and filtration system had been stolen from the high school in the back of a U-Haul. Apparently Gozu knew a lot about mechanical engineering and was the one who had figured it out. That wasn't to say there weren't problems. The pipes leaked every night and the water pressure was atrociously poor. Not to mention, the filtration system keep needing constant repair, so there were stretches of time when there was no running water in the facility. They had to manually pump water from the quarry for two days in order to be able to utilize their sanitation system again. It was a nightmare.)

Then he had lunch. Afterwards he did more chores. He sometimes saw Lavi and Lenalee, but mostly it was just in passing or at mealtimes. Usually at dinner he sat with them and they talked about what had happened during the day or told funny stories. Then Allen waited in line for the shower and spent some time in the lounge. Then he went to bed. Every day turned into a similar schedule.

He met everyone within the compound and learned their stories. A lot of them were from around town, so they all knew one another. Somehow they had all avoided the initial bloodletting and had gathered together at a local supermarket. They had barricaded themselves inside for a few days until help came in the form of Yuu Kanda, who had been driving through town with his friend, Noise Marie. They gathered together, found more survivors hiding in a local clinic, and then began heading towards Atlanta. They met a roadblock: Reever Wenham's van from the local radio station WRKZ and Johnny Gill's broken down Geek Squad VW Beetle. From there they came into contact with Komui, Lenalee, and a few others who were on the emergency radio.

"That was one magic clusterfuck," was how Reever described it. "If I hadn't been looking for a signal from the CDC, I never would have heard Komui calling for survivors." They were at breakfast, forking down powdered eggs and biscuits. The eggs weren't very good, but Jerry said that he had to use the last of the real eggs to make the bread, so Allen wasn't complaining. He made sure to put extra honey on them, like Lavi had told him that day in the car.

"What about him?" Allen asked, nodding his head at the middle-aged man with the bow tie. He was reading at the breakfast table across from them. Lenalee sat a seat down from him with a book of her own. "Oh, that's Jake Russel. He's the high school history teacher," Reever said. "We ran into him on a scouting mission looking for cooking supplies at the high school. He was actually the one who tipped us off about the school's internal water filtration system."

"And Jerry?" Allen asked. The chef was whistling to himself as he rolled out more dough on the wooden block in front of him. Allen could see him through the open doorway.

"Found him at a bakery about fifteen miles from here," Reever replied. "Here we were trying to steal his generator and he was shoving cinnamon buns at us. We couldn't leave him behind."

"No way. Those cinnamon buns are righteous," Lavi said as he passed by. He nabbed a biscuit off Reever's plate.

"I was eating that, you cretin," Reever said.

"Saving you the calories," Lavi explained, as he poured honey all over the biscuit. Then he shoved it into his mouth and made a pleased sound.

"You're a pig," Reever told him, but it was with only fondness.

"A hungry pig on guard duty all morning," Lavi said in between bites. "Save me from the monotony."

"One of these days, guard duty might save all of our asses."

"True, but until then, save me from the monotony," Lavi whinged. He put the last bit of biscuit in his mouth, saluted Reever and Allen, and then walked away.

"That guy," Reever said, shaking his head. "I swear, we go crazy with him, but heaven help us if he wasn't here. We'd all be going postal by now."

"Oh, so what about Lavi?" Allen asked, trying to sound casual. "What's his story?"

"He went to high school with Lenalee, but he graduated early. I guess they're about the same age, but Lavi's gifted or something," Reever said, making a twirling motion with his finger at his temple. "Anyway, he was going to Duke, but was at his grandfather's place in Charlotte for the summer. He booked it down here after shit hit the fan."

"His parents?" Allen asked. Reever shrugged.

"Never talks about them. I dunno," Reever replied.

"What about his grandfather?"

"We're in contact with him. He's the records manager at Fort Bragg. He happened to be there when the world started falling apart, so he's safe. He told Lavi to come there, but the I-95 was so congested with zombies that he couldn't make it. Instead he came back here. He knew about the shelter. Apparently him and Lenalee and the other neighborhood kids would come down here to play all the time."

"Oh," Allen said, and poked at his eggs.

"You seem really interested in him," Reever said thoughtfully.

"I-I'm not. Not really. I mean, he saved me. I just wanted to know...because he doesn't talk about himself so..." Allen stumbled through his words. Reever nodded in understanding.

"Yeah. Folks around here either talk too much or not enough. You get used to it after a while. Now, c'mon. Let me show you the training room."

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They started training Allen in weaponry and combat.

He learned how to clean, load, and unload several guns. They taught him basic self-defense, armed and unarmed. Then they showed him various other weaponry, including crossbows, throwing knives, and even a katana. Allen preferred the bow, but he wasn't very good at it.

"You'll train with me three times a week," said the big, bald man in the training room. He was Kanda's friend, Noise Marie, and had been trained in Jujitsu, Karate, and Tae Kwon Do. Kanda was certified in Judo and Kendo, as well as Tae Kwon Do. They had met at their local dojo four or five years ago and had been training together ever since. With several certifications, they were authorized to teach anyone in the compound who wanted to learn. Even without them, Allen had a feeling they would have been in charge. "And if Kanda has time, you can spar with him on Sundays in the evenings."

"Okay," Allen said, and added the training to his list of things to do. It was tiring and he went to bed exhausted each night. But he had a roof over his head and food in his stomach and he was way too tired to dream about Mana, so that was a relief.

Saturday was the only good day.

On Saturdays, everyone went out and played in the quarry. They couldn't make a lot of noise, but that didn't stop them from having a good time. In the heat of the day, swimming in the water felt amazing. Afterwards, throwing a Frisbee around or playing volleyball was a welcome break to the endless chores that seemed to accumulate on a daily basis.

"Isn't it weird?" Lavi asked him, on Allen's second Saturday at the shelter.

"What?" Allen asked. They were sitting on the "beach" by the water. It was where the limestone had been crushed into an almost sand-like texture. Lavi and Allen sat in it instead of on the beach towel Lenalee had brought out to them.

"I mean, it doesn't feel like the world ended," Lavi said. He had on yellow sunglasses. There were stars on the sides. It all clashed horribly with his hair. "It feels like a normal Saturday."

"It kind of does," said Allen. He leaned back on his hands and squinted up at the sun. "I need sunglasses." Lavi took his shades off and handed them to Allen, who laughed.

"Those are for girls," he said. Lavi frowned and squinted at the glasses.

"No they're not," he replied.

"Yes they are. The stars are pink," Allen pointed out.

"They're a manly pink," Lavi said, putting them back on. "It takes a real man to pull off magenta."

Allen laughed until it hurt.

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The generator started malfunctioning in early September, so they began experiencing random cuts in power. Komui and the others decided that perhaps the generators were overloaded and they should start rationing power for certain tasks. The first hit was the air conditioning, which went off at nine at night, and then they enforced a rule that the lights had to be off by a certain time. Their lives became restricted and somewhat miserable. Allen couldn't sleep at night, even though he was tired, just because the heat was unbearable. One night, while tossing and turning in his sweat-damp clothes, Allen heard a knock on his door.

"Hey, Allen. You awake?" His door cracked open. Allen rolled over from his spot on the floor. The fake mattress nearly spit him out onto the concrete with the motion. Around his ankles, he found the discarded blanket that he had thrown off when the temperature had risen above ninety that night. "Allen?" In the space between the frame and the door, Allen saw Lavi's right eye looking at him.

"Yeah."

"You wanna go for a swim?"

"Ugh, I have to move?"

"It's better than lying in here and waiting for death," Lavi said cheerfully. "C'mon. It's balls hot in here. Let's get moving." His eye disappeared from the crack in the door and Allen heard him moving purposefully down the hall towards the main corridor. Allen scrambled up out of bed, pulling off his shorts and pulling on his trunks so quickly that he nearly tripped out of his cupboard.

"H-Hey wait!" Allen whispered, padding barefoot after him. Lavi stopped up ahead. He had on a gray tee and his green swimming shorts. He wore his shotgun across his back. "Do you always invite someone to go somewhere and then just run away?"

"No, just you," Lavi said with mirth.

"Why?" Allen asked, knowing he was being teased, but not minding it.

"Because I like seeing you chase after me," Lavi replied. His voice had lost some of its teasing, but Allen still did not know how to respond. He felt a bit of heat in his cheeks as Lavi put his arms behind his head and whistled softly for the rest of the way.

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"What are you guys doing out here?"

Kanda stood at the main entrance, arms across his chest. He scowled at the sight of them. Across from him, Marie just nodded his head at Allen and Lavi in greeting.

"Going for a swim, Yuu-chan. It's too hot in here," Lavi replied, not even flinching when Kanda suddenly moved forward. His katana stopped just centimeters from his throat.

"What did I tell you about that nickname?" Kanda asked dangerously.

"That it was adorable and you loved it?" Lavi said. Kanda made an irritated sound-probably at the insinuation that he loved anything-and dropped his weapon.

"I hope you get eaten by zombies," was all he said. Lavi laughed as Marie lifted the gate for them to pass through. They ducked under it and heard it close behind them.

"Toma and Gozu are on the ridge if you spot anything," Marie informed them. He passed them two large glow sticks through the grate and a small pistol. Upon closer inspection, Allen saw that it was a flare gun. "Be careful out there." "Aye, aye, captain," Lavi said, breaking both glow sticks. He handed one to Allen and took the other for himself. He put the flare gun in his back pocket.

"So why the glow sticks and not flashlights?" Allen asked, as they moved away from the gated entrance and went towards the water. Lavi's face was cast in an eerie green beside him.

"Well, they're not as bright as flashlights. I guess the zombies are attracted to bright white lights. That's why we dimmed our floodlights and try not to use flashlights when we're on night patrol," Lavi said. They picked their way over some rocks and soon arrived on the smooth sand of the beach. Lavi put his glow stick down and removed his gun. Then his shirt. Allen averted his eyes, because he didn't think it was right to stare.

"Can they not see this?" Allen asked, waving the glow stick.

"We don't really know. But the times that we have used them and been close to those things, they have a slower reaction time to us. It's like they know there's something there, but they're not drawn immediately to us," Lavi said. He removed the flare gun from his back pocket and placed it down next to his shotgun. "And, the great thing about these is that they can go underwater." With that said, Lavi immediately jumped into the black waters. He dropped the glow stick at the shallow bottom. It provided the perfect amount of illumination by which to see, but not be seen. Allen removed his shirt and joined him, letting out a sigh of relief at the night-cooled water that soothed the heat away from his skin.

"This is good..." Allen said, dropping his glow stick near Lavi's. Beneath their feet, the shallow bed lit up. Allen could see Lavi's face a bit better. His hair clung to his forehead and neck.

"Midnight swims are always the best," Lavi replied. He adjusted himself to float at the surface for a few minutes while Allen watched. "So what do you think. About all this?"

"About what?" Allen asked. He adjusted himself to float beside Lavi. His hand brushed Lavi's, but he didn't seem to notice.

"You know. All this zombie shit. What do you think? Are we gonna just wake up one day and it'll all be over?" Lavi reiterated. Allen pondered the sky for a long time. He could barely see stars beyond the clouds. There was only a sliver of a moon.

"I dunno," Allen said. "Maybe. I hope so."

"Yeah, me too."

They didn't say anything for a while. Lavi stopped floating after some time and began treading water, as if he were restless. Allen turned his head to look at him.

"You got parents?" Lavi asked.

"Not really," Allen said. Lavi looked at him and even in the dark, Allen could see his confusion. People usually were in this area, but even more so now. One question like that had inspired a crying fit in one woman in the compound just that morning. Her husband had been killed in front of her. "I'm adopted," Allen clarified.

"Oh," Lavi said. "Your adoptive parents?"

Allen let out a breath of air, a heavy sigh, and stopped floating. He wanted to face Lavi when they were talking about this. "Only have one. His name is Mana."

"Oh."

"He adopted me when I was ten. He and his wife had been hoping to take me in, but she died of Lymphoma just before the final paperwork was complete. Mana took me in anyway and raised me on his own. I think it was really hard for him after Sasha died, but that I at least helped make it easier. We moved to Madison when I started middle school and he quit his job at this really high-stress advertising company so that he could have the hours he wanted. It was great...he came to all my soccer games and we went on vacations every year up north to go skiing. He taught me how to play piano..." Allen felt his eyes prickling with tears, but he kept them from falling. "He was a good dad. A really, really good dad. And a great man. He... His company wanted to promote him and they sent him to this conference. He was away on business when everything happened..." They tread water and looked at each other for a while. Allen swallowed and forced himself to look Lavi in the eyes. They widened marginally when Allen spoke again:

"He's in Atlanta."

"Atlanta..."

"Yeah. So I guess that means..."

"No, don't say that," Lavi interrupted him before he could finish.

"You said that."

Lavi closed his mouth. Allen continued.

"You told me Atlanta's a dead town now. And if people were alive, they'll die inside because they can't possibly get out," Allen said. He surprised himself with the words. The things that had been tormenting him since Lavi and Lenalee had put him in the truck and brought him to the quarry...they were all coming out of his mouth so clearly. It hurt to say, but it also felt like pressure had been relieved from a wound. Allen didn't have to bear this alone anymore. "So, he's probably dead." Allen wanted to cry, but his tears had already been shed. Besides, Lavi didn't need to see that. No one needed to see that.

"You can't...give up hoping, though," Lavi said. His voice came quietly, quieter than Allen had ever heard before. When he looked closely, Allen could see the redhead's face: tired, lined with a sadness he had never seen. "You've got to...you've got to believe in something, right?"

"So says the guy who never comes to Sunday service," Allen said, trying for a joke. It was true. At their Sunday services, Allen had not once seen Lavi there. He's atheist, Lenalee had explained, but how anyone could not believe in anything during such a tumultuous time was beyond Allen. And now the non-believer was telling him to believe in something? Something almost unbelievable? "You're a walking paradox."

"I may not believe in a higher power, but that doesn't mean I don't have faith in people," Lavi said. "I believe that we're the masters of our own fate. We can make miracles happen without divine intervention. We..." he stopped, sighed. "Never mind. Religious and spiritual matters aside, don't give up. Don't give up just yet."

"Why?" Allen asked. "You said-"

"I know what I said. Atlanta is lost, but that doesn't mean 100% of the people in the city will die. People are resourceful. They can be smart. They can live through terrible things," Lavi said. His voice sounded pained with his own experiences. "So you have to believe that Mana might have made it. Don't count him out so quickly."

Allen looked at him for a long time.

"Who is it?"

"Who is who?"

"Who is in Atlanta that you know and don't want to believe dead?"

Lavi smiled, very sadly.

"My parents."

He turned onto his back and began floating again.

"They separated when I started high school. I lived with my mom here in town. Dad moved to Atlanta. They were trying to work things out, but it didn't seem to be getting any better by the time I graduated. I got a scholarship at Duke, so I went. My grandfather lived nearby, so sometimes on weekends I would see him. This summer I was living with him until my parents could get time off work to see me. My mom agreed to stay with my dad at his apartment in Atlanta. I was supposed to fly in and meet them at the airport. We were going to spend time together like a normal family. They even got reservations at this great Italian place we used to go to when I was a kid. We were going there for my birthday..." Lavi stopped and quieted for a moment. Then he continued. "The night before...everything went to hell...my mom drove to Atlanta. I talked to them on Skype. They seemed...happy, you know? After so many years, it was finally starting to work out. And then... I wake up ready to go to the airport and my neighbor is out on the front lawn, eating the mailman."

Lavi stopped talking. He looked so small and sad in the greenish glow of the water.

"I don't want to believe that they're dead. Not yet," he said finally. "Not now."

Quiet again. Somewhere in the woods surrounding the quarry, Allen heard an owl's nocturnal cry. He wanted to say something to break the ugly silence between him, but he couldn't think of any words. Nothing could be comforting, Allen knew. They were in the same situation; nothing would make them feel comforted until they saw their families again. Until then, the words were empty. Apologies for things beyond their control meant nothing at all. So Allen thought about other things. What did he really want to say more than anything to this man beside him?

"You know, I never said thanks," Allen said, breaking the unnatural stillness.

"For what?" Lavi asked.

"For stopping that day. You saved me. You really did. You saved my life," Allen said earnestly. He was treading water again, looking at Lavi; looking at the drops of moisture clinging to his dark eyelashes. It wasn't fair how much he liked to look and hated himself for it at the same time.

"Thank you."

Lavi's smile returned as he turned to face Allen.

"You're welcome."

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They climbed out of the lake and sat on the rocks to dry off. Allen leaned back on his palms and surveyed the surrounding lip of the quarry, which extended halfway to the sky before melding in with the darkness. A few times, Allen caught sight of the greenish glow of glow sticks in the surrounding woodland. The thought of Toma and Gozu up on the ridge, walking through the forest in the dead of night, was somewhat terrifying. Actually, extremely terrifying, though Allen didn't dare to admit it.

"So how long is night patrol out?" Allen asked.

"They switch shifts every four or five hours," Lavi replied through a yawn. Now that they were both cooled down, the events of the day were wearing on them. Allen could feel his own tiredness descending down upon him, but the thought of having to go back into the sweltering confides of the shelter to sleep made him struggle to resist his exhaustion. "You'll have to do it, too, but they adjust your schedule and let you sleep in so you're not ragged."

"I'll have to go out there?" Allen asked.

"Of course," Lavi replied, and turned to smirk at him. "Scared?"

"Yeah," Allen said, because he didn't care what people thought of him. It was terrifying to go out into the darkness with only half the light of a glow stick and a small weapon. Allen had seen those things traveling in packs. They weren't to be taken lightly.

"Good. Anyone who isn't, is stupid. Night duty, well...it's the worst," Lavi agreed, "but at least you won't be alone. If I don't go out with you, Kanda or Marie will." He put his hand on Allen's shoulder and squeezed. His palm felt warm against Allen's bare skin. "Don't worry. We all look out for each other here."

Allen smiled. And then he leaned forward and kissed Lavi softly on the cheek. He had no idea what possessed him to do it, but he did, and said:

"Thanks."

Even though it was dark, Allen could tell that Lavi was as red as his hair.

"Yeah, no problem."

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