Fireworks
Part 2
Lenalee allowed herself to be led into the festival grounds, eyes traveling over every stall and display— she clearly had no idea where to start. Allen, on the other hand, knew exactly where he wanted to begin, and made his way toward the nearest food stall offering some sort of small bird skewered for consumption. He barely noticed Lenalee slipping off to explore what other offerings were available, focused on deciding which helping was largest. A man in front of him handed over several unfamiliar bills adorned with red and black ink to the stall owner before walking off. It took a moment for the scene to sink in; Allen could almost feel his stomach crying out in disappointment.
... Right. Money. Allen wasn't in the habit of carrying any on him, having gotten used to sending any bills back to the Order, and he barely knew a thing about American money to begin with. He doubted that the thought had crossed Lenalee's mind at all, which was certainly understandable, but he felt a little stupid for not thinking of it himself. This wasn't exactly something that they could just add to their tab. It was a little disconcerting, how much he had come to rely on the Order without realizing it. But... maybe more disconcerting that it had to be a problem.
His stomach growled, loudly. Surrounded by delicious smells and shouts advertising different foods he was suddenly very intent on trying. This was a little torturous. Allen tried to comfort himself with the thought that they would still be able to enjoy the fireworks, and maybe some free shows, but the lack of food put a significant damper on his hopes for the evening.
Caught up not-pouting (really) he didn't notice Lenalee waltzing over until she was right in front of him, smiling, with an ear of corn in either hand. Allen blinked at her as she offered one to him, taking it automatically. How...?
"I thought they looked good, and the man selling them was nice enough to give me a free sample," she explained, noting his slightly dumbfounded look. Allen glanced behind her at the stall she had come from. The cook was giving her a look that Allen was not at all sure he approved of, and he turned his attention back to Lenalee just as quickly.
It wasn't exactly a technique he was unfamiliar with, having gotten by on handouts quite a bit when traveling with Cross and unable to sucker someone into a game of poker, but he felt a little dirty accepting the food none the less. It was different when it was Lenalee doing it.
The sentiment largely disappeared after his first bite. Sneaking out here was once again a terrific idea.
"I'm not sure what do so first," Lenalee confessed, eying their surroundings over her ear of corn. It was second nature to orient herself toward the most crowded places, leaving her back to the forest. The grounds weren't quite as big as she had first suspected from the sheer volume of people, but Lenalee found herself relieved by the lack of activities rather than disappointed by it. Fewer choices, and a better chance of getting to try a little bit of everything. "Do you have any preference?"
Allen shook his head, taking a minute to finish chewing before speaking. "Whatever you want to do."
"But there's so much," she protested with a slight pout, surveying the crowds again. The biggest seemed to be on the other side of the field, crowded outside of a small tent with some sort of rink set up outside of it. She unconsciously leaned forward, interest piqued. "How about there?" she suggested, pointing. Not that she had any idea what it was, but if so many people were gathering then it should be at least a little interesting. Or so she hoped, anyway. It would be disheartening for her first choice to be dull.
Allen glanced in the direction she pointed, a small smile making its way to his face as he instantly recognized the set up. "Sure," he agreed, tossing a fully cleaned corncob into the woods before leading the way. Lenalee glanced down at her own, practically untouched, and took a large bite to compensate before following.
Unfortunately, nearing the tent required plunging into the heart of the crowd. Lenalee felt herself tense up the moment they approached the throngs of people, though any outward signs of it were too subtle for anyone to notice unless they were looking for it. She wondered vaguely if after all this time with the Order, Allen felt that way too. She wouldn't have had to wonder with anyone else, it was a given; a crowd was an Exorcist's worst nightmare. Far too many people pushed together, walking in different directions and chatting about different things and impossible to keep an eye out for all of them until every single one started to look like an akuma staring at the target painted on her back.
That was how it had felt at first, anyway. The thoughts still nagged at her mind now, but they did not frighten her, regardless of her how her body reacted to the situation. Of course Allen's eye would notice any akuma in the area before she did, but a healthy paranoia cultivated over years and years of surprise attacks could not be dissuaded so easily. Besides, his eye wasn't something that she could ever come to rely on anyway. To some degree, she still resented it for allowing Allen to push himself farther than anyone else, to fight harder than his body would let him.
But there were no targets painted on their backs tonight, anyway.
Lenalee tried to focus on the individuals around her, allowing the hoard of people to have a face. A tittering group of women passed by, and she couldn't help tugging at her sleeve a bit. While her dress didn't stick out terribly, it was obviously of a very different style, lacking the poofy sleeves and heavy fabrics that everyone else seemed to be wearing. It didn't bother her terribly; she was well used to wearing clothing far more eye-catching and outlandish. But this did feel a little different than that— her uniform was meant to draw attention to her, after all. This dress had been her attempt at blending in.
A glance at Allen reminded her that of the two, she was still better off; he appeared half-dressed, wearing only a large dress shirt, boots and slacks. She felt a little guilty for taking comfort in it, but it was pleasant to think that if they looked odd, they at least looked odd as a pair.
After some shoving and mumbled apologies, they managed to make their way to the tent. A quick look at the colorful balls strewn around inside the rink and a tightrope tied to two trees over it (was that really safe?) made it obvious what the attraction was, despite her own unfamiliarity with the spectacle. A small circus. Lenalee covertly looked up at Allen through her bangs, but couldn't quite make out his expression.
"Should we sit?" she asked eventually, unsure of what else to say but growing uncomfortable among the buzzing chatter of strangers. Most people were still standing or wandering around, greeting old acquaintances or making new ones. There was a small group of people seated already, mostly younger adults or children, but the show clearly hadn't begun yet.
"I wonder how long it will be..." Lenalee mused aloud, louder this time as she wasn't sure Allen had heard her before. She glanced around for any hint of a preparing performer. While she really did want to see the show, it wouldn't be worth waiting too long— they hadn't stated any time that they should be back by, but it went unsaid that the less time spent here the better. That was how it went with sneaking out, right?
"Hard to say. Do you want to do something else first?" Allen asked, raising his voice as well to be heard over the crowd. It was amazing how loud people could be just talking.
"I suppose that might be best," she agreed, bordering on shouting. Her eyes traveled to the tent again on the off chance that the performers would come out right as she looked for them, but had no such luck. Lenalee frowned, disappointed, and quickly admonished herself for it; there were plenty of other things to do. "We can check back later?"
She paused, waiting for a reply, but none came. When she looked back at Allen he was staring at the makeshift rink with an unexpected intensity. "Allen?" Again she couldn't quite understand the expression on his face, or what he was thinking.
"I'll be right back," he stated decisively, stepping forward and looking around one last time for any sign of the performers before jumping the rail. Lenalee sent a wary look back toward the tent, alternating between keeping an eye on it and watching Allen as he made his way to the center of the rink.
Those seated looked on curiously as Allen eyed a large red ball in the center before bending to pick up several smaller ones. There was a faint smile on his face as he hopped onto the sphere as easily as if it was a platform, balancing on one foot and tossing a few of the props he had gathered into the air. There was a smattering of applause as he started to juggle them— four, five, then six, working his way up. He could handle far more, as well as more difficult objects, but they were all that was lying around and he resolved to put on as good a show as he could with them, privately thinking that the one planned probably wasn't going to be very impressive.
There was a nice sort of mindlessness to the actions; paying attention enough to never lose his footing or miss an object, but still letting his mind wander as his limbs intrinsically knew what to do. Even after all this time, it felt like second nature. Allen doubted that he would ever forget anything he had learned at the circus, anything he had learned from Mana, no matter how long the skills went unused. It was a comforting thought, and nice to be able to put the less life-altering things he had learned during those years to use as well.
A quick look to the audience assured him that they were still entertained by the act, giving him enough time to think up his next trick without rushing. A look to where and Lenalee was standing and— his eyes got stuck. There was no better way to put it, or at least none that he could think of. She was clapping along with the audience, eyes glued to him just like everyone else, except it wasn't just like everyone else because no one else had a soft smile like that or looked at him so earnestly that he was sure she would clap just the same if his act was horrible, yet the thought did nothing to dull how much it meant to have her cheering for him. It was something of a paradox, but he couldn't quite manage to notice it or mind either way.
One of the balls was thrown too high, and Allen's attention was wrenched back to the task at hand to compensate for it. Another quick glance at the non-Lenalee audience, and they were getting bored now. He plucked each object out of the air before hopping to the ground, barely pausing to set the smaller balls down before launching into a handstand on the big one. Two hands, one hand, then two again as he traveled around the circumference of the rink with his feet in the air. A peel of laughter from the crowd among the applause; not one of the more dignified tricks, but what use had dignity ever been to a clown? It was good to make them laugh, felt better to hear it than he would have expected. Even if they were all perfect strangers, even knowing that they might have thought badly of him if they knew what he did or what he was, laughter was something he had eventually been taught to appreciate. It felt all the more precious now that there had been so little of it.
It was hard to focus on any one face as he moved; difficult to keep his balance while looking up at all, but especially when he was looking for one person in particular. Still, he managed to catch a glimpse of her expression as he made his way around. She was still smiling, still clapping— but not laughing. And at the moment, that felt like something that he needed to fix.
Allen came to a stop back in the middle of the ring, thinking. Of all the supposed gags he'd been subject to while traveling with clowns, he had never found most of them funny. Other people seemed to, but he didn't have the props to pull off anything that came to mind anyway.
Really, he could appreciate how hard it was to intentionally make someone laugh.
Allen did a backbend to land back on his feet again, picking up the juggling balls from before to stall for time. There wasn't much else he could think of to do with them. Unless... hm. He started juggling again, simply, before beginning to throw the last ball in the sequence in odd directions only to hit it back into the air with his foot or a knee. He continued that way for a few minutes, every so often swapping a different color out of the pattern, always waiting until the last possible moment to catch it. But the interesting part came at the end, as he threw each ball into the air at varying heights.
The first two landed on his head, one on top of the other, while the next rolled down his shoulder and was caught on the backside of his hand. Allen shifted to repeat the catch with his other arm, and stuck out a foot to catch the fifth. Careful not to jostle the others still balancing but moving quickly, he switched to stand on the occupied foot and raised his other leg up nearly ninety degrees to catch the last ball in the same manner, ending up looking like something akin to a human Christmas tree.
It was silly. He would probably think back on it embarrassedly later, but—
The other onlookers were laughing. He chanced a look at Lenalee, and there it was, hiding behind a closed hand that could do nothing to smother it. Allen found himself grinning in response.
If there was anyone who deserved to laugh more, it was Lenalee.
"Hey!" Allen jolted at the shout, turning in time to see a man emerging from the tent, pointing an accusing finger at him and glaring. The actual acrobat, he suspected. Allen let the colorful spheres fall to the ground, but judging by the man's expression that only served to anger him more.
The correct course of action was obvious: apologize. Or...
Allen jumped the rail right by Lenalee."Run!" he half whispered, half laughed, grabbing her arm and taking off. Lenalee squeaked, almost tripping before falling into step with him and quickly surpassing him despite the unwieldy outfit. For as impenetrable as the crowd had seemed before, it melted aside now, with a few vulgarities and insults hurled after the insane couple intent on running someone over.
The field felt a lot smaller after running all the way across it. They were both laughing when they came to a halt, glancing back as if expecting the acrobat to have chased them. All that could be seen was a massive crowd of people, having closed up after they shoved their way through. Lenalee's cheeks were starting to hurt from grinning so hard, but she didn't feel capable of stopping. Looking at Allen at just the right moment resulted in locking eyes, and then they were both doubled over laughing again.
Ridiculous, but nice.
Allen was going to ask what she wanted to do next when a quick look around revealed that most of the stands seemed to be closing up. There were no less people about, but they were swarming around far fewer places than before. He could see two men setting up what looked to be a gigantic crate of fireworks in the center of the field, with everyone else giving them a considerable girth. The grand finale then, probably to signal the end of the festival.
"Things seem to be shutting down," he noted.
"Already?" Lenalee asked in surprise, looking around. It seemed early to be closing up; she guessed that it must have been later than she had first expected. They had caught the tail end of the festival. After a moment, her smile returned. It seemed more lucky that they happened upon it at all than unfortunate that they had missed most of it. Her eyes followed Allen's to the fireworks, or what she assumed to be them, and lit up. Besides, they had still gotten here in time for the best part. "Do you want to just wait here then?"
Allen had half a mind to go to the closing food stalls and ask for leftovers, but dragging Lenalee around to help carry things didn't seem like a good way to end the night and neither did abandoning her to do it himself. He comforted himself with the thought that there would probably still be a few open after the fireworks; better to have a good seat when they started than still be wandering around (and possibly catch on fire).
"Sure." Allen moved toward the outskirts of the field, though not so close to the forest that the trees would obscure their view. It was quieter, obnoxious chatter toned down to an almost pleasant hum of activity. Finding what seemed to be the perfect spot, Allen plopped down on the grass, patting the ground next to him as a rather unneeded invitation. Lenalee smiled at it all the same, carefully lowering herself to the grass so as to not pull the dress in any destructive way. On a spur of the moment whim, she settled herself directly in front of Allen instead of sitting next to him. Allen blinked, not sure what to make of it. Then she scooted back a bit, so that her back was only inches away from his chest, and... he couldn't not get it.
It felt tense, having her sit there ramrod straight; both uncomfortably close and uncomfortably distant. Allen had no idea what possessed him to do it, but he found himself tentatively touching her shoulder with his right hand. Ever so slightly pressing against it, encouraging her to lie back those few inches separating them because really, it wouldn't be at all comfortable for her to watch the fireworks like that and it was a little difficult for him to see past her too. For a moment Lenalee resisted, and Allen wondered what sort of expression she could possibly be making while doing all of this, but then she was leaning back against his chest. And it felt... nice. Like a hug, which somehow had also come to feel nice rather than something to tense at while awkwardly patting her back. Time was a funny thing.
Lenalee's hands lay on either side of him, and Allen was at somewhat of a loss over what to do with his. Couldn't put them in his lap, as it was already occupied, couldn't rest them by his sides because that was where hers were. He rested them partially behind him for a minute, but couldn't quite relax back on them because then she would come back too and that would be just a little bit too close to lying down, and this was a really stupid thing to be thinking about. Allen would have been annoyed with himself if he wasn't too busy being flustered; realizing that he was so worked up over nothing somehow only served to make it worse.
After another agonizing minute, Allen slowly rested his right hand over hers. It wasn't a big deal. They held hands a lot (wait... sense when?), this wasn't so different just because they were sitting like this. It was truly frustrating, being unable to see her face. Far too difficult to know what she thought about his actions. Allen hesitated slightly before resting his left hand over hers as well. Lenalee sucked in a quick breath, and Allen yanked it back as if he had been burned, a hundred different apologies fighting their way to the tip of his tongue.
"I'm s-"
"Shh," she interrupted before he had even decided fully what he was going to say, twisting around to take hold of his left hand before returning to her previous position. "It's cold," she stated simply, letting go only to wriggle her hand under his, making him hold it again. After a moment's pause, Allen rested his right hand back over hers again as well. It was only symmetrical. Lenalee made some sort of contented noise that he didn't quite have a name for, but it made him graze a thumb against hers.
They were quiet for a while, waiting for the show to start.
"It's nice," Lenalee sighed at length, eyes toward the sky. Allen hummed his agreement, squeezing her hand, and that just made her smile all over again. She must have looked ridiculous, grinning over every little thing, but she couldn't bring herself to care about that any more than she could pay any mind to the thought that demanded to know just what she was doing. Lenalee intertwined her fingers with Allen's. She was sitting in a field, having snuck out of the Order, wearing a fancy dress she had no business using with her back pressed against the chest of her fellow escapee, holding hands and watching the sky as if the sun might just come up early. And somehow, despite the fact that she was all but in his lap (though that thought she would not pursue), the world wasn't ending. And it was really, really nice.
Lenalee's smile turned wry. "We should do this more often."
She could feel the laughter rumbling in his chest, and that was nice too.
"We might have to invite Link if you want to make a habit of it," he teased. Lenalee made a face at the thought, tilting her head back far enough to let Allen know just what she thought of the idea. Her view was obstructed by his chin, but she was fairly certain that he was trying to keep from laughing.
"Well, if we're bringing friends, it would only be fair to bring Kanda along." Yes, he was definitely grimacing now. There was something more than a little endearing about it.
Unthinkingly, Lenalee grazed her nose and then lips against the underside of his jaw before straightening back up.
There was a moment in which they both seemed to be in shock, as if wondering if the action had really happened. Allen felt the urge to touch the spot, while Lenalee was acutely aware of his hands covering hers and suddenly frightened by the prospect of them leaving. They were both quiet for a long while, somehow stiller than before. But again, the world didn't end. And then the fireworks finally started, and whatever had just transpired was easily brushed away by the lights.
