A note from the Author: Okay so this chapter is actually pretty short, and was originally a part of the next chapter. However the two bits lumped together didn't quite work, so you get a short chapter this week. But! I'll be updating TTW twice during Laven Week in honour of these cuties. So look forward to that. In this chapter we have the tube incident which did indeed happen to me, Allen's confidence issues see a bit of light (and will play a key part much later) and Lavi's a cutie-patootie.

Again, all reviews are appreciated and I read every single one.

Chapter Three: Harrods Sold Pure Cocaine

Lavi woke up first. He'd never really been a morning person though. Maybe it was the jet lag? Was that even how jet lag worked? No no, because it would be like 5AM or something stupid back home. He ran a hand through his hair, grabbing for his phone in the dimly lit room. He settled for being exhausted later.

Kanda had texted him. Kanda always had been a morning person.

5:45 [Yu Kanda]: Saw the pictures of you on your date.

5:46 [Yu Kanda]: Told you he'd like you.

5:48 [Yu Kanda]: Fuckwit.

He texted Kanda back just to annoy him so early in the morning. Pictures? That must be the ones those fans took yesterday. He swiped across to twitter. Searching through his alerts, surely he had been tagged in the photos how else would Kanda have seen them? Yep. There it was. Three pictures when they'd agreed to have their photo taken and one of Allen and Lavi laughing at each other across a table of pizza, just after Lavi had snorted his beer.

They looked…happy together. Sat across from each other in that tiny pizza place, knees bumping ungracefully under the table. Lavi slouching like the lazy bum he was, Allen straight backed and tidy.

His gaze fell to where Allen was sprawled across his bed, snoring quietly, face down. His shirt had ridden up slightly. His red hand curled around the back of his head.

Lavi already knew about the burn, as did most of the fans (you could only keep an arm sized burn a secret for so long). He didn't know how Allen was burned. The poor kid, well not really a kid let's be honest, seemed to have been through a lot. What with the scar, the burn, everything that happened online and the way he talked about his god father.

They made a great pair; the one-eyed ginger and the burnt pianist. You could write a book about their adventures together, as they raced through the universe searching for Lavi's lost eye and the one who burnt down Allen's home.

That was a brilliant idea.

Lavi was going to get to work on that.

Soon.

Lavi quietly slipped out of bed, grabbed the camera Allen had been lent and skittered into the bathroom. He replaced his eye smoothly, as he did every day. He could sleep with it in, but it was safer not to. He started recording into the mirror, speaking quietly.

"Hey guys. So this is a day before vidfest and 'The14th' is fast asleep in the other room, so I'm gunna go wake him up with a really loud noise." He pulled his phone out of his pocket, selecting the right app and tiptoeing towards Allen's bed.

"3…2…1"

A loud horn blared through the small room. Allen shrieked, springing out of bed and collapsing onto the floor. Lavi's laugh probably peaked the audio levels but he didn't care. The horn was shut off and a panting Allen was glaring up at him from the floor.

"Morning Al." he chimed.

"I hate you" Allen rubbed at his cheeks and hoisted himself to his feet. Lavi continued to record, "Soooo what are we gunna do today."

"Well we were going to do tourist things but I might just dump your body in the Thames instead." Allen yawned stretching his arms above his head and Lavi tried really hard not to focus the camera on his hip bones, because damn those were some very prominent hip bones Allen had there.

"That's not very nice."
"You're not very nice."

Lavi set the camera down on the dresser and stood in front of it. "So we'll be traipsing around London today…." Allen shuffled into frame next to him, "And I'll upload this before we leave so you never know, you might bump into us…where were we going?"

"Tourist things Lavi. You know, London Eye, Tower Bridge, Camden, Cyber Dog-"

"Cyber Dog?"

"Yeah. Bright lights, loud noise, neon clothes. I thought it'd be your sort of thing."

Lavi squealed, "Are you taking me clubbing?!"

"No." Allen replied folding his arms, "I was going to. But you woke me up with a fog horn." He jabbed Lavi with a pointy elbow.

Lavi laughed, "Right! So we'll be around London and at VidFest slash London Comic Con slash the MCM Expo from Friday till Sunday."

"Did you have to say all of its names?"

"Yes"

There was a long pause which involved a lot of staring. "I hope you have a lot of backlog saved up because I'm going to murder you." Allen whispered threateningly. 'And Cut' Lavi thought. He snickered picking up the camera and reaching for his laptop.

"I'll edit this real quick and upload it….where?"

Allen pondered in the action of running a comb through his hair but decided he'd just shower, "Upload it to yours, more people'll see it. We can put the con stuff on your channel, unless I record something personal. And then anything from my house we can put on my channel. Maybe? We'll figure something out." He waved his hand in a nonchalant way, shrugging his left shoulder and stifling another yawn.

They stood in silence briefly, two sets of eyes searching for something.

Lavi; wondering if he'd imagined the light venom in 'more people'll see it'. Allen; wondering if Lavi had heard it. Allen broke away from piercing green eyes, mumbling something about the shower.

Allen slumped into the warm water. Grateful for a barrier between himself and the perpetually happy American. He really hated this stupid feeling he got. Lavi was better than him, in more ways than one.

But that didn't mean he had to hate himself so often, he certainly didn't want to hate himself. He was sure Lavi picked up on it though. That guy was sharper than he let on, knowing just when to stop asking Allen personal questions and distract him with theories about how everything was the result of aliens.

He fisted his hair, massaging the coconut shampoo further into his scalp. He was never good enough. He'd never be good enough to please everyone. It was about time he accepted that.

Okay. So admittedly taking Lavi on the London Eye may not have been the best idea. But in Allen's defence, how was he to know that the twenty-six year old man would reduce to a childlike state of excitement upon entering the compartments?

He'd never met him before. Not properly. So absolutely none of this was his fault. None of it. Lavi was just another boisterous tourist.

"Allen look! Look!" Lavi was pointing out the windows, filming lopsidedly. He jumped around, looking at the landscape. The other tourists were giving them weird looks, both because of Lavi's antics and his white hair. Allen grinned anyway, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

"What Lavi?" he asked.

Lavi was still staring eagerly past his own reflection, "Did you know that the upper span of Tower Bridge was originally a walk way, but they close it because it became a haunt for prostitutes?"

"It was?"

Lavi nodded, "And until…nineteen-sixteen I think, Harrods sold pure cocaine."

Allen peered nervously at the red head who was paying him no attention, but was instead muttering different facts about the architecture of London. He was rambling aimlessly about the Underground and all of Londons 'hidden rivers' when they came to a stop back at the bottom.

Allen practically had to drag him off, "Why on earth do you know so many pointless facts?" he asked as the settled by an unoccupied stretch of river. Lavi looked at him indignantly, "They're not pointless! They're interesting!"

"Okay how do you remember them all?"

Lavi shrugged, watching the murky river ripple in the summer breeze. It was warm in the city, but the weather predicted rain. "I'm not sure. I mean I have a photographic memory. And eidetic memory. And…well my Grampa taught me how to organise thoughts. Like a library."

"You have a photographic memory?"

"Hm."

"What's…what's that like?"

Lavi pondered the question. Allen was always full of questions he never quite knew the answer to. "Well I'll tell you one thing. It certainly makes remembering codes and information for those 8-bit horror games really easy."

Allen chuckled, "So that's why I never see you scribbling down notes."

They headed toward a tube station, their day passes taking them wherever they needed. It had been a long day, they were both laden with bags of little gifts and things they probably didn't need but really wanted anyway.

They'd bumped into a few fans around on the streets, and few people had pointed and mumbled "Hey isn't that BookmanJr? And The14th?" The sun was just setting, the London Eye having been the second to last thing on their list.

"C'mon time for a wonder through Camden. They have a lot of food stools." Lavi fist pumped, Allen laughed.

The tube was busy, but they were too tired to walk. They waited on the platform for a lull in the rush, they weren't in a hurry. The two of them leant side by side against the wall, thankful for the rush of air that breezed past whenever a train arrived.

They sat in a pleasant silence when they finally got onto a tube. Managing to get onto a pretty empty carriage. Lavi had quickly learned that talking on the tube was kept to a minimal. The seats around them steadily began to fill, they were a few stops from their destination. And then something terrible happened.

An old woman got on.

Allen had educated Lavi on standing for elderly, disabled or pregnant people. Simple enough and easy to remember. Lavi glanced around the carriage, noticing that no one else had stood up for this woman and then noticing a few empty seats nestled between a napping man and a tired looking teenager.

Allen looked as if he was about to spring to his feet, but then he noticed the set of empty seats just along from them. He relaxed back. The old woman came to a halt in between the two rows of seats, looking pointedly at Lavi and Allen.

"Well aren't either of you going to offer me your seat?"

Lavi barely had a chance to comprehend what was happening before she began to rant.

"I'm eighty-seven years old! You can't expect me to stand up!"

"Ma'am? There's some spare seats here." A man offered. She ignored him.

"I can't believe you would expect me to stand!"

"Lady there are seats over here." A woman this time.

By now the whole carriage was staring openly at the two of them. Before she could start up again Lavi pulled himself to his feet, "Sorry. I didn't know. Bit new to this whole thing." He hoped, prayed, that his accent would convince her to stop. He gestured to the now empty space when the woman didn't move. Slowly she lowered herself down, walking cane bashing against his shins.

His heart thumped heavily in his chest and his breathing was shallow and panicked. Trying to remain calm he stood as still as he could as the train trundled into motion.

He held the pole and stood over Allen. The poor guy looked like he might be about to cry. Out of embarrassment? Maybe. Panic? Probably. Anger? If he was anything like Lavi, definitely.

Allen had mentioned, well not really mentioned but Lavi had figured out from the way he acted, that he wasn't great with conflict and big crowds of people. Lavi was fuming, trying his best not to direct his angry glare at the young man in front of him who was turning a peculiar shade of grey.

That whole fiasco had been unnecessary. There were empty seats for fucks sake. And the British said Americans were rude. Yeah New York was worse, but Jesus Christ. He wondered whether this happened often or if this was just a strangely rude woman. Everything was silent for a few moments, but then Allen was jabbed rudely in the arm.

"You could do to learn some manners from your friend." Allen began to tremble, opening his mouth but no words escaping it.

That was it.

"C'mon Al. I think this our stop." It wasn't.

He gripped a thin, shaking, hand. Yanked Allen to his feet, grabbed their bags, and stomped off the train. He marched his way up the escalators and out onto the busy street. He walked in the general direction of what he thought might be a park. There were trees.

"Lavi."

He stopped. They were in the middle of a small garden area, which they probably weren't meant to be in. Allen was still being dragged along behind him. "Sorry. I just….argh!"

"I-it's okay. Thank you…you know for bailing me out."

"Dude! I just took you away from some grumpy old bitch who apparently could not see the empty seats two fucking meters away from her! No need to thank me for that." and there was that anger that he felt during those really shitty video games. His loud American was showing.

"It's fine. I should have gotten up. I-"

"No way. You had no obligation to get up. You were planning to anyway, until you noticed the seats."

He muttered furiously under his breath in what might have been Spanish but definitely had a hint of Dutch to it. Allen decided to ask about that later. "Well, thank you anyway. I wouldn't have done anything if you weren't there. I just sorta…froze." He waved absently with the hand that wasn't enclosed in Lavi's death grip, bags rustling.

Lavi nodded, "It's fine. I don't think I like old people very much." He sniffed. Allen laughed lightly, some of the colour was beginning to return to his face (not that he wasn't as pale as the fucking moon normally).

"Shall we head back to the hotel, order take-out and play stupid games on our laptops? Don't we have a Minecraft empire to build?" Allen asked, figuring he could take Lavi to see the shops in Camden another evening. They were here for a few days anyway.

Lavi nodded but didn't move.

Allen sighed gently, "I think this is some ones garden." He gestured deftly at a lawn gnome neither of them had noticed before.

"Oh. Shit right. Let's go."

"And Lavi?"

"Yeah?"

"You can…uhm…you can let go of my hand now?" it sounded more like a question than he had meant it to. Lavi silently released his strong grip, apologising with a nod that Allen waved away.

They'd headed back, ordered Chinese (Lavi had gone to pick it up), built castles in a blocky world for far too long (Allen was working on some gothic looking tower that hung in the air "I'll add the floating Island later."), filmed their haul of store brought items (mostly perishables that'd be gone by the time Lavi went home) and crashed out in front of a cheesy rom-com. Something about some dead Irish dude who had a load of letters sent to his wife.

"Lavi? Hey Lavi?"

Lavi groaned, someone was shaking him lightly. "C'mon Lavi, don't sleep there. You'll get a crooked neck." He blinked his eyes open, squinting at Allen's pale face. So this was what jet lag was.

"C'mon go get ready for bed. You need to take your eye out yeah?"

Allen was goading him out of his chair and toward the bathroom. Pushing him gently with cold hands. Lavi must've fallen asleep in front of the mirror because the next thing he remembered was Allen pushing a toothbrush into his hand and pointing at the pyjama's and eye patch by the sink.

Lavi's eyes blinked open, he was in his bed.

"You really do blank out when you're tired." He peered at Allen who was trying to nudge the covers out from underneath him.

Lavi reached up and thumped him gently on the shoulder, "shaddap. S'the jet lag."

"Mmhm. Course it is. Go to sleep you moron. I'll see you in the morning."

Allen turned his attention back to the TV, it wasn't that late yet. He decided to turn all of the lights off, bar a single lamp, hoping that would disturb Lavi less. The guy was out cold in a matter of minutes, but it never hurt to be considerate. Unlike that woman earlier.

Allen felt a pang of embarrassment, mixed with what might have been fear, poke at his heart. He wished the feeling away, trying to focus on what was playing on the screen and not the terrible impression of himself he'd given Lavi today.

The film was about half way through, but he'd mostly been watching Lavi try really hard not to fall asleep through the first half so he had no idea what was going on.

He watched it through till the end, glancing over his shoulder at the American lump snoring in bed every so often. It was kind of amazing how not awkward their interactions had been so far, considering they'd only ever spoken over skype and had had a nightmare experience on the tube. An experience which he was meant to be trying to forget.

Then again, Allen guessed Lavi was one of those people that could get along with anyone.

It was late, but Allen knew he wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. So he flicked the TV off, pulled out his laptop and began backing up the photo's he had taken today. Allen wasn't one to wear his heart on his sleeve, that got you hurt. But he could admit when someone was important to him. And Lavi, smiling lopsidedly with garish suitcases and a fake eye, was important to him.

Lavi who loved watching kids cartoons and swearing in different languages. Lavi who snored when he lay on his side, but not when he was on his back. Lavi who didn't make a big deal out of his fake eye. Lavi who called him 'Al' and 'Lil'Buddy'.

That stupid clumsy idiot was so important to him.

And that worried Allen a little.

But he wasn't too sure why.