Chapter 3

Allen's feet flew through the air as he tore down the steps, taking them two and three at a time, a grand feat taking his short legs into consideration. He panted out heavy breaths as the stone steps led into the community park. He glanced over his shoulder once; the block of flats where he lived were just a spot in the distance. He turned around again and continued to move, his pale hair sticking to his neck and forehead, jogging the remaining three blocks to his destination, passing under overgrown canopies of trees, narrowly avoiding people that attended his College.

It wasn't until he'd come to a halt in front of Lenalee's gate that all memories of the past half an hour came flooding back into his mind. He dropped his forehead against the metal, hissing and jerking back when it burned his skin.

"Oh dear, oh dear," he mumbled to himself, his knuckles gripping the strap of his bag until they were white.

He'd kissed Lavi. He'd taken Lavi's ridiculous, shameless flirtatious actions and crafted them into a potentially dangerous, serious situation. It wasn't just mindless, harmless flirting anymore. Allen had sealed the deal as soon as his lips had pressed against Lavi's. The bathroom incident a week ago hardly even seemed like a problem anymore, now being worn down by the overbearing shame that he'd forced a kiss onto his (probably) completely straight roommate.

If that wasn't bad enough, their kitchen was ruined. Water had exploded out, sending Allen and Lavi slamming into the kitchen floor. Water had surged under their dishwasher, oven and fridge and whatever else, no carpet to soak up the moisture.

If he wasn't so damned embarrassed, he'd ring Lavi's neck. Though he was sure Lavi was feeling plenty awful anyway. As soon as the pool had ripped apart and sent a monster tsunami wave into their living space, Allen had gone into robotic mode, ordering Lavi to call their tenant and a repairman for their damaged appliances. He'd attempted to soak up the water with anything in arms reach - sponges, cloths, towels, paper towels, a mop and bucket - for a good ten minutes as Lavi spoke frantically on the phone to their tenant. He'd profusely tried to explain himself, the situation and simultaneously apologize for his recklessness.

Allen wasn't sure if Reever was buying it, and decided to slip out while Lavi was busy and not ogling him with wide, saucer-like eyes and flushed cheeks.

He'd gotten dressed in dry clothes, packed a modest bag of things, and bolted out of their Flat faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. That's how Allen Walker came to be, standing in front of one of his best friend's houses, starting to plan his new, comfortable life as a park ranger in Texas under the alias of Winston Buckner. He would own a shotgun called Penny and he would gamble on the side for extra cash. He would marry a young woman named Daisy, give her two healthy young boys, and grow old with her. She would widow him at the ripe age of 72, and he would spend his last remaining, retired years with his shotgun, alone, eating TV dinners and watching Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, until he finally died peacefully in his sleep.

Allen's phone buzzed against his thigh, and he pulled it out, jerked from his overly-dramatic thoughts. The caller-ID told him that it was Lavi, and Allen felt his heart palpitate.

"No!" He muttered furiously at the vibrating phone. "You are not allowed to call me! Do you want to give me a heart attack? Do you?" He shook the phone around in the air. "Do you!?"

The door to Lenalee's house swung open, and the girl herself poked her dark head out, a look of worry passing over her face. Allen turned to her and could see her older brother, Komui, glaring daggers through the window blinds at him.

"Allen?" She called, her eyebrows furrowing. "Are you okay? You look like you're suffering from a serious mental breakdown."

Allen could feel his eye twitching uncontrollably, continuing to ignore Lavi's phone call. When the vibrations ceased, he finally willed himself back to normal and turned his phone off.

"I'm okay." He assured her half-heartedly. "I could really go for a cup of tea, though."

She smiled, warmly, gesturing him in. "I'll boil the kettle."

Her soft, loving smile instantly reminded him that he used to be head-over-heels in love with her during High School. He followed her inside and was ushered into the living room to sit on their plush, floral couch. He sat in the cool air-conditioning, ignoring Komui's sinister looks pointed in his direction.

Lenalee approached him after a while with tea, swatting her weird brother away and into the other room, and Allen wondered just how he'd fallen out of love with her. She was beautiful, intelligent and the kindest person he'd ever met. The very idea that he could stop wanting someone like her seemed surreal.

Something stirred in his gut and a distant memory resurfaced. He realised he'd stopped feeling that way for her about the same time he moved into his Flat with Lavi.

Allen sipped his Earl Gray tea, placing a poker-face over the horrified expression he wanted to show.

"It's delicious, Lenalee. Thank you."

He smiled at her, and she placed her hand over his.

"Allen, you're one of my best friends. I want to help you - with anything. Please tell me, is there something wrong?"

"There's plenty wrong," he admitted, drinking more of the tea. It was warm, and not very good for the smouldering weather, but it helped him to calm and collect his thoughts.

She smiled at him more, urging him on.

He gazed at her open, honest face, and couldn't help the words bursting from his lips.

"I may have kissed Lavi a little bit."

Her mouth parted in a small 'o'.

"Only a smidge. A teeny bit." He reassured.

"Oh my." She said, her teacup nearly spilling onto the floor. He quickly snatched it from her and set it on the coffee table. He looked back at her expression, her jaw still practically on the floor, and he grimaced.

"Maybe I should go-"

"No!" She clasped his hand as he stood to leave. "Sorry, I was a little bit shocked. I thought Lavi would have kissed you first."

Allen felt like he'd been punched in the stomach by a grizzly bear. He took a sharp intake of breath. "What?"

"Oh, with the way he gazes at you, Allen, I was sure that he'd pounce on you one of these days very soon..." she trailed off when his eyes bugged out of his head. "and you didn't know that. Nevermind."

Allen leaned back in the comfy couch, bewildered, pushing white strands from his face. Lavi gazed at him? Since when? He'd never noticed it. Lavi flirted and acted like a modern Romeo, sure, but he did that to everyone. He was quite sure Lavi even pinned most folk to bathroom walls and ravaged their necks, not just exclusively to him.

There was one thing Allen was pretty sure about: Lavi Bookman was straight. His flirtations with everyone were just a part of his personality - it was his way of teasing and taking the piss out of others, while outsiders might view it as romantic.

Even if he were slightly bisexual, his preference was definitely the female gender. He gave females his most attention. All of his porn magazines that he left laying around the house were of scantily-clad, busty women, much to Allen's chagrin. He always talked about getting lucky with women, always followed them with his eyes, his grin lopsided and dopey, his eyes sparkling as he always and never failed to whisper "Strike!" under his breath as the next bodacious babe would enter his view.

But then Allen's mind flickered back to that morning when Lavi had dipped down to meet his lips and hesitated, stopping just short, hot breath hitting lips. Allen had made the move and kissed him - but Lavi had instigated it first, a detail Allen had breezed over on his many recounts throughout the late morning. Did his usual flirtations go that far? It was pushing the limits between teasing and hardcore flirting, and definitely making Allen worry about his mixed feeling towards the red-head himself.

He furrowed his brows, thinking deeply about what exactly all these puzzle pieces would reveal when put together, when Lenalee's phone began to ring. She gave him an apologetic look and pressed the purple case to her ear.

"Ah, Kanda. How are you?" He heard her say. Kanda's gravelly voice replied, sounding angry - what a surprise! - but Allen couldn't make out the exact words.

Lenalee glanced over at Allen. "Yes, he's here..."

Oh boy.

Lenalee chewed on her lip, wincing at Kanda's vulgar language on the other end. "I'll pass on the message. Also, wash your mouth out, Kanda."

Allen assumed a gruff apology was given, then Lenalee hung up. She sighed, her violet eyes looking almost pitifully at Allen.

"Lavi has been bombing Kanda's phone with calls and texts, asking if you're hanging out with him. It's driving Kanda nuts. Kanda told me to tell you to 'turn your damn phone on, Beansprout, or I swear I'll shove Mugen so far up your bleep that you'll be pooping your intestines out until next year'."

Despite it all, Allen couldn't help but laugh. "Did you just censor the word ass?"

She giggled. "Caught me."

"I also doubt that idiot would say 'pooping'."

"I tried to make it as G-rated as possible. You get the general idea. But here's the 411: apparently I'm next on Lavi's hit list if you don't turn your phone on."

Immediately, Lenalee's phone began to ring again.

Speak of the devil, Allen thought dryly.

"Good afternoon, Lavi." She said when she answered, despite Allen's frantic protests. There was a pause, and she sighed deeply and looked at Allen.

"He wants to speak to you."

"I'm not here," Allen frowned.

There was another pause, and Lenalee smiled. "He said that he can hear your lovely British accent miles away."

Allen wanted to roll his eyes and scoff, but he felt himself smile despite everything. Lenalee caught the smile and looked amused, so he rolled his eyes at her instead, but didn't say anything in reply, unsure of what he would even want to say to Lavi. He'd abandoned Lavi in their flooded apart and felt like a bit of a douchebag. He'd transferred some money into Lavi's account when the flood happened so that he could pay for it, but Allen still felt like a bit of a colossal jerk.

Lenalee managed to pick up the conversation with Lavi again. They exchanged some other words, said their goodbyes, and she hung up and looked immediately at Allen. "He's coming over."

"Well this has been fun. Toodles." Allen stood up, grabbing his bag, and Lenalee yanked him back down onto the couch.

"Enough of that, you. You need to talk to him." She scolded, idly playing with some hair at the nape of her neck. She'd recently cut all of it off, wanting a change, and despite the style being a little boyish, Allen thought it made her look older and womanly instead of girlish. She felt one hundred times more mature than he did, at the very least.

"Talk about what? I kissed him, Lenalee, and I honestly don't know why. This sort of thing never happened before last week."

"Jeez, it's like being in High School all over again. You're twenty, Allen. An adult." Lenalee's eyes looked away from his as she spoke; immediately he knew he was missing out on a vital piece of information to something. She was holding something back. "I'm not going to tell you what you're feeling. I think you should work that out on your own. But I want you to know that running from Lavi will not help. He would be more upset about you running away than kissing him. It's nothing to ruin your friendship over."

Allen slumped back against the couch, ruining his usually nice posture, slouching like a normal guy. He'd been best friends with Lavi since High School. Sometimes he knew exactly what Lavi was feeling. Other times they were like strangers, on completely different planes. Lavi was carefree, confident and cool about everything; sex, alcohol, drugs, parties, studying, work - he'd been there done that and wasn't afraid to talk about any of it. Allen was a lot more reserved, and had to try a lot more at everything. Lavi was born smart, born confident, born a handsome devil with a bit of a narcissistic streak. His only weakness was his blind eye, always covered by his eye patch, yet it only added to his charm.

Allen had to force himself to oppose his quiet nature often, to talk to strangers and pipe in to conversations - otherwise he would be left out. He had to study hard or fail. He had to work hard at his job or lose it. His only ever romantic relationship was with a girl named Lou Fa who was more awkward than he was, and he'd gone into the relationship just as he'd realised he was in love with Lenalee. Both of those endeavours had turned out to be fruitless.

And now he was starting to question his entire sexuality, wondering what the churning inside his stomach was every time he pictured Lavi's face in his mind.

"Hey, Lena?" He glanced up at her, and she brushed the white strands from his forehead in a sisterly, affectionate way.

"Hm?" She asked.

"Can I stay over here tonight? My entire kitchen is sort of flooded."

She snickered, glancing down at his bag that he'd brought. "Looks like I don't have a say in the matter, you've already decided to stay here." He went to speak up but she put a finger to his lips. "I'm joking, Allen. You can stay here as long as you want. But I promised Lavi he could stay here too - his kitchen happens to be flooded as well, you know."

He winced as if the words burned him. "Why oh why did I ever agree to move in with that lunatic?"

The door swung open and Lavi appeared, the sun beaming from behind him, a halo of sunlight glinting off of his red hair. "I dunno, it's probably because I'm the dopest." His green eye focused on the two of them sitting close to each other on the couch, her hand still idly touching Allen's snowy hair, and he went a little rigid, averting his gaze to looking around the furnished living room. "Is that new wallpaper? Fancy as fuck."

Lenalee hopped off the couch to greet him properly and envelope the tall ginger into a hug, while Allen stared very pointedly at his shoes, fighting hard to control the eye roll and sarcastic comment that wanted to spring from his mouth. When in doubt, turn to unparalleled wit and sarcasm - that was Allen's motto.

"Should I call Kanda over?" Lenalee was saying when Allen zoned back in. "We could have a movie night. I have popcorn and maltesers."

"Aw sick, maltesers. I'm in." Lavi grinned. "Go ahead, ring Yuu, get his dumb butt over here."

Allen perked up at the idea of food. "How about a pizza?"

"Which loosely translates to 'how about ten pizzas, all for me, no one else'?" Lavi asked, smirking directly at Allen. Allen found himself wanting to violently wipe that smirk off Lavi's face with his mouth. He locked that thought up into the back of his mind and never dared to go near it again.

"Why, I would never even entertain such a dastardly idea," Allen smiled slightly, thinking about eating ten pizzas with much enthusiasm.

Lenalee giggled behind her hand. "Okay, I'll go call Kanda. Be back in a sec. Play nice. Don't flood my house."

She shot a warning look at Lavi and walked out of the living room with phone in hand, leaving the two young men alone.

A wave of silence fell over them both. It was easier to pretend that nothing had happened when Lenalee was in the room. Now they were both standing there awkwardly, waiting for the other to say something. Their eyes locked, both staring intensely for a few moments before Allen panicked, grabbed his bag and headed out of the lounge room, through the hall and up the stairs and into one of the spare bedrooms to put his belongings down. Being alone in the same room with Lavi was not high on his to-do list.

Unfortunately, that exact idea seemed to be number one on Lavi's.

Lavi entered the spare bedroom and closed the door behind him, giving a finger wave at Allen whose jaw dropped to the ground. "You're terrible at evading me. You should get some lessons."

Allen frowned. "I'm not evading you. I'm putting my bag in here."

"Is that right? Because your face is practically screaming shit, shit, he followed me, tea and crumpets, shit."

Allen put a finger to his twitching eye. "That is not how the British talk or think."

"You sure? Sounds like it to me."

Allen quickly realised the conversation was not going anywhere and decided to change topics. "Have you cornered me for any particular reason, Lavi, or may I return to our gracious hostess? She's probably off of the phone by now. That idiot, Kanda, isn't a man of many words, you know?"

"I wanted to talk to you alone, actually. Kind of why I stalked you into here and all. Thank you so much for ignoring every single one of my calls and texts, too. That was super awesome."

"You're very welcome. I try my best."

Lavi flicked him off.

Allen pulled his lips back into a faint, teasing smile.

"Okay, anyway, I'm here because we need to talk. I don't do good with the awkward convos and dodging around each other. So let's get this morning straight-" Lavi began, and Allen immediately cut him off.

"We should forget it," he blurted out. "Forget it all, forever. We have so many problems to deal with right now, for example our flooded kitchen. That should be priority."

Lavi did not seem impressed with the answer, folding his lightly tanned arms over his chest. "You sound scared, Allen. What are you afraid of?"

Allen swallowed the hard lump in his throat. He was afraid of many things. Like how he was starting to think of his roommate and best friend in an amorous way. He was growing more aware of Lavi and it scared him to bits because he knew Lavi flirted with everyone - not just him. Their suggestive encounters over the past week would mean nothing to Lavi, but was starting to mean the world to Allen.

"Me? I'm not afraid of anything. Rather, I should be asking you that."

Lavi's eye widened a fraction, perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you lean in to kiss me then do a double take, realised you were about to kiss your male best friend, and nearly had a heart attack? Is that not what happened? You looked like a deer in headlights. Kind of laughable, really."

Lavi's once folded arms dropped to his sides. He opened his mouth and closed it, then opened it again. "Oh, so now you want to talk about it?"

"No, I don't. I'm just saying that I'm not the one who's scared. I only finished what you started."

"Well, congrats, you continued it. But now you're running away. Like you did last week in the bathroom. Like just before when you ran away from me and into this room. Like you will continue to do so," Lavi pushed his hand through his way, tugging at the tufts of red, hard, venting his frustrations on it. "Look, I get it. I really do, Allen. You've got bigger things on your mind, with our flooded kitchen and our lovely Lenalee out there and all."

Allen blanched for a moment. What did that mean? What did any of their odd predicament have to do with Lenalee? He remained quiet, his mouth unnaturally dry, nodding his head as the only indication that he'd heard him.

"Anyway, yeah, I agree with you. I propose we just go back to normal." Lavi studied Allen's face, searching for a sign of sorts. He didn't seem to find what he was looking for, because he looked away. "Let's just peg it under that we're both sexually frustrated males. I know I sure am. And I know you're not getting any luck in that department, so it all adds up. Does that suit you, Mr. Walker?"

Allen scratched his arm uncomfortably. He was way too reserved when it came to talks about sex. Lavi was the opposite. It made living together both amusing and uncomfortable. "Yes, it suits me just fine."

"Dope, me too. Just do me a solid. When you turn your phone back on, give it to me."

Allen started at him, bemused. "Why?"

"I'll clear out all the messages I spammed you with so you don't have to deal with them. I left a lot of them."

Allen felt his curiosity peak. "What did you write?"

Lavi pouted, looking unusually embarrassed. "None of your business."

Allen raised an eyebrow. "Lavi-"

The door burst open, knocking Lavi into his back and sending his face into the ground, butt high in the air, groaning. Kanda half-stepped in, glared down at Lavi who was rudely in his way, then raised his glare to Allen. "Stop fucking already. Lenalee wants to start."

Allen flushed. "We were just talking. That was rude, Kanda." He helped Lavi up, trying and wanting to believe that the rift between them had sealed up nicely and smoothed over. Instead the rift had been crudely forced together and encased with lots of metaphorical duct tape and rope. He didn't think the peace would last.

All three men headed out into the lounge room, where Lenalee was propped up onto the couch with a bowl of popcorn, the original 1978 version of Dawn of the Dead already on the TV screen, halted at the menu. The lights had been turned off, the blinds drawn, and there was a case of beer on the coffee table, which Kanda had presumably brought over.

Lenalee turned to them all, excited. "Come on, sit. I thought we should go for a classic."

Allen took a seat on the other side of the couch. "This movie is honestly terrible. The remake is better."

Lavi sandwiched himself between Allen and Lenalee, draping his arm around Lenalee's shoulders. "Come on, Allen. A classic is a classic for a reason. It's terrible, but so damn good. The effects are hilarious." Lavi swivelled his head to Lenalee. "Though, if you still get scared, Lena, you can cuddle up to me, I ain't gonna judge."

She rolled her eyes, smiling at his antics. "Not in this lifetime, Romeo."

Allen found himself feeling weird about Lavi's arm draped over Lenalee's shoulders. Kanda, who situated himself tensely in the single recliner, also seemed to be feeling much of the same as Allen did, shooting conspicuous daggers at Lavi.

But Lavi was Lavi, and those actions weren't out of the norm, so they all settled in and pressed play, Lavi and Kanda opting for a beer each and Allen instead deciding on food alone. He spent the majority of the movie reaching over Lavi to destroy the bowl of popcorn in Lenalee's lap, meanwhile also hoarding Maltesers and a bag of Salt & Vinegar chips. It still hadn't been enough for Allen, so it was a godsend when five pizzas Lenalee had ordered arrived fifteen minutes into the horribly fantastic movie that was Dawn of the Dead.

It ended, eventually, with Lavi screaming enthusiastically at the TV for Peter to hop into the Helicopter. "Go Peter! Don't you throw your life away, damnit! Do it for Roger! Do it for Flyboy! Do it for Francince's baby! Go go go!"

Allen snorted. "You've seen this about five times. You know how it ends."

"Don't judge me."

The credits rolled, they all stretched, and Lavi went for a bathroom break.

When he returned, the two older guys cracked open another beer and they put in the The Lost Boys. About a quarter through that one, the door bell rang.

Lenalee jerked at the sudden noise, standing up sleepily from being inactive for so long. "Wonder who that could be? I'm not expecting anyone." She wandered out into the foyer. Allen heard the door open, loud voices filtering into the lounge room, and Lenalee quickly returned, placing her hands on her hips and staring Lavi down, who was slumped on the couch with a blanket and his beer.

"What?" He asked her innocently.

"I hear you tweeted that there was a party here tonight. It's weird that I wasn't informed, isn't it?"

He grinned sheepishly. "I had the crazy idea while I was peeing that this night would be double fun with more people. Forgot to tell you. Vampires and motorcycles are distracting. But am I right or am I right? Double people equals double fun time."

"Lavi, pretty much our entire class from High School is at my door."

As she said so, people began to filter in, carrying eskies and cartons of alcohol. Noise Marie, the DJ, even appeared with his boom box and headphones.

"Come on, Lena, it's fine. Isn't it?" He glanced at Kanda to back him up, but he just grunted, rose from his recliner, and pushed past the herd of people and disappeared. Lavi turned to Allen, hopefully, and Allen sighed.

"It's Lenalee's house, don't look at me. I don't really mind, though."

Lavi turned back to Lenalee. "Allen doesn't mind, and Allen is the leader. So we cool?"

Lenalee rolled her eyes and laughed, ruffling Lavi's hair, significantly taller than him as he was still seated. "You're lucky that my brother is pulling an all-nighter at the office tonight. He would freak. Go on, enjoy yourself."

Lavi bounced up, kissed Lenalee affectionately on the forehead, and dove into the newly formed crowd. The lights had been switched back on, and Noise Marie was pumping the music already.

Allen stood from the couch, cracking his back, as a group of dudes immediately claimed his spot and switched the TV to a football game that was playing. Allen grimaced, awkwardly crab-walked away from them, and slid to a stop next to Lenalee.

"Are you really alright with this?" He asked her.

She sighed. "Yeah, it's okay. He just does things so spontaneously, it's hard to keep up. Luckily I'm an expert at hosting parties, so I'll go set some food up and make sure there's enough drink to go around." She said so, but looked off into the distance where Kanda had stormed off, a flash of worry crossing her face.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll take care of that. You go after Kanda before he murders someone. You're the only one who'd be able to stop him."

She looked surprised at his thoughtfulness. "Are you sure?"

"Definitely. Go."

She smiled at him, squeezed the hand he'd placed on her shoulder, and disappeared into the crowd.

Allen found himself alone, but felt very suffocated. Loud and obnoxious teenagers and adults alike knocked into him and pushed past, and he had the very annoying thought that he was just way too short for this. He began to move, navigating his way through Lenalee's house skilfully, and found himself in her kitchen serving chips, dip, oreos, crackers and burger rings. He carefully restacked the fridge, as the guests had just shoved their alcohol straight in without caring if it was all spilling out or not, and eventually found himself face to face with his good friend Krory.

"Krory! How are you?" Allen beamed as the tall, slender fellow eased into the kitchen, followed by a beautiful blonde girl wearing all purple. The kitchen emptied considerably as soon as they appeared. A rumour had gone around in the early years of High School that Arystar Krory III was a vampire. All false accusations of course, but the rumour had never truly died out, most still believing it was true. Allen had never believed it for a second, and they'd became fast friends after Allen had saved Krory from a poker match gone wrong.

"Allen, it is so good to see you, my friend. It has been far too long." Krory scooped Allen's small frame into a hug, only stopping to introduce his female companion. "Pardon my manners. This is Eliade, my girlfriend. Eliade, this is Allen, my good friend from school."

Krory looked down at Eliade with the most compassionate, loving smile that Allen had ever seen, and felt his chest swell with happiness and pride.

Eliade smirked at Krory slyly. "Oh, Arystar, don't be shy. You can introduce me as your fiancé, you know."

Allen's jaw dropped, Krory flushed, and Eliade stuck out her hand, her wedding finger decorated with a glamorous but small ring. It was beautiful without being too flashy, and suited the two just fine.

"That's incredible, I'm happy for you two." He looked at Krory, impressed. "You've really got your life together. I feel like I'm nowhere near that level."

"Don't forget that I was your senior, Allen," Krory said kindly. "You're only twenty. Things work out. Happy surprises always pop into your life. You just need to know where to look, and learn to accept them with open arms." He entwined his fingers with Eliade's, and Allen truly believed every word that he said.

They chatted for a long time in the kitchen. Eventually Allen suggested they go look for Lavi, who was practically glued to Krory back in the good old days, and bid them farewell.

Alone again, Allen decided to take a drink from the fridge. His options were limited to beer and cruisers and/or breezers mainly, but he found a Canadian Club stashed in the back and took it for himself. Allen didn't exactly drink a lot; his scarred childhood of living with an insane alcoholic definitely took away that fun. But he decided one or two cans wouldn't kill him.

He wandered through the party aimlessly, not sure who he should be talking to. He passed by plenty of people that he knew, like Johnny Gill, Suman Dark and Daisya Barry, stopping briefly each time to say hello. Daisya invited him to a game of poker, and he sat in for three rounds, robbing each and every competitor of money and clothing. That would go to repairs in the Flat.

Eventually he left them all in their grief and stumbled onto Miranda Lotto, who had the worst luck in the world, but had been successfully keeping Noise Marie company all night without too many technical meltdowns and screw-ups. He congratulated her and went to move on to mingle more when her hand grabbed his arm.

He turned to her, surprised, and she quickly retracted the arm, flustered. "I'm so sorry! Oh god, I'm really sorry! Please don't be mad! I just had something else to say!"

He looked at her gently. "It's fine. What's on your mind, Miranda?"

She relaxed, playing with her brown curls. He noted that she now wore it tied up in a ponytail, wrapped with a cute pink ribbon. He could tell she'd gained confidence since High School, though it was only a little bit. "Well, I was just wondering if Lavi was okay."

Allen turned his attention to her fully. "What do you mean?"

"He seemed distracted when I spoke to him earlier, and he had this unsettling woman on his arm. It's not the type he usually goes for so I was worried. She's not like Chomesuke- I mean, Sachiko. A completely different kind of girl."

Sachiko, nicknamed "Chomesuke" by Lavi, was his ex-girlfriend. He'd seen her already at the party, and she was a sweetheart. So if Lavi was with a woman who was the complete opposite of Chomesuke, that was bad news.

"Thanks for letting me know, I'll go see him, okay? Don't worry about it."

"Thank you, Allen."

He wandered off, drinking more from his can, his stomach cramping with unease. He hadn't seen Lavi since the party begun, which was a long time ago. Through serving out food, playing three long rounds of poker and stopping every two minutes to mingle with practically every guest, time had flown by and had turned into 1:00 am. He hadn't seen Lenalee or Kanda either, and was starting to get worried. First, though, he would take care of Lavi.

Finding him in the crowded two-story house was not an easy quest in itself. Allen immediately thought to look upstairs with all the bedrooms first if he was with a woman, but managed to just walk in on plenty of horny, drunk people that were none too pleased at his intrusion. He surprisingly found Lavi in the basement at the ping pong table, where evidence of people playing Beer Pong remained. Like Miranda said, there was a girl with him, and there was no Beer Pong being played anymore.

Allen swallowed, as he recognised the woman immediately.

Road Kamelot, his very clever, stubborn stalker from school, was sitting on the ping pong table, her lips locked onto Lavi's, his hips between her legs. Allen made a small noise in the back of his throat which sounded like a dying mouse, and Road opened one of her eyes to see him gaping at them at the bottom of the stairs.

She immediately pulled away, her face brightening and cheeks flushing, and scurried off the ping pong table to attach herself to Allen. Her small arms wound around him, burying her face in his chest.

"Allen Walker! Where have you been?" She said, punching him in the stomach after detaching from him. "I've been searching for you all night, Mister. Bookman has been no help, either."

"Ah, sorry." He mumbled, distracted, as he stared at the slightly horrified face of Lavi, who was watching the scene unfold. "Been busy."

"Hey, Road. I need to talk to Allen." It was Lavi, his voice sounding raspy.

"But I want to talk to him!" She whined, pressing Allen closer to her. "You live with him, it's not fair."

"Just for a bit. Then I'll show you how to play Kings, okay?"

The proposition interested her, at the very least, as she loosened her grip around Allen. "Only if Allen plays."

"Yeah, sure."

She winked at Allen and sauntered over to the couches surrounding the ping pong table, making herself at home. Lavi left Road with some passed out stoners, then grabbed Allen by the arm and pulled him out. Allen didn't even object, feeling slightly numb from seeing Lavi and his ex-stalker making out on Lenalee's ping pong table.

He dragged Allen up the stairs and out the front door, where they could both breathe and hear themselves think. He pulled him around to the side of the house, stumbling slightly from way too much Beer Pong, knocking them both into the brick wall.

Allen grunted, feeling Lavi's weight full on him, his white head pressed hard against the wall. He grabbed Lavi's waist, helping him stand straight, peering up at the red-head.

"Are you okay? You need some water."

"I'm fine," Lavi said, pressing his hand beside Allen's head to steady himself. "Just moved way too fast, is all."

"You need to pace yourself," Allen scolded. Lavi didn't reply; instead he pressed his forehead into Allen's shoulder and cursed loudly.

"Fuck, Allen. You weren't supposed to see that. Fuck. Anyone but you."

Allen didn't really understand what he meant, so he dragged his fingers through Lavi's hair to soothe him. "Yes, that was very weird. I'm not really impressed. Actually, I'm kind of pissed off about it. But you're collapsing on me and in need of some serious bed time and that's more important right now."

"I don't like her like that," Lavi blurted, forehead still pressed into his shoulder, resting his hands on Allen's waist and keeping them there like he wasn't completely aware of what he was doing. "She wanted to find you the minute I saw her, and I knew she'd kiss you. I knew you'd be too polite to stop her."

"Lavi, you are really very drunk-"

"I didn't want you to be in that situation. She'd force herself on you, and you wouldn't know what to do, so I distracted her."

"By making out with her on a ping pong table?"

"Um, yeah. She didn't object."

"Your plans are the best, as per usual. Forget the ice pool, that one takes the cake." Allen said sarcastically. "Look, it's not my business, you can make out with whoever you want."

Like hell that's true, he thought.

"Anyone except you." Lavi muttered darkly.

Allen frowned. "Huh?"

Lavi opened his mouth to elaborate, when his face paled and he covered his mouth quickly. "I can feel those pizzas we had earlier rising up faster than a pubescent dick at the community pool in summer."

Allen didn't even have time to take in the absolutely stunning imagery of Lavi's comment before he turned away and vomited in Lenalee's bushes.

Allen crouched down beside him, resting a hand on his back and pushing his red hair from his eyes, wondering just where the hell is headband was in its time of need. He rubbed Lavi's back as the more intoxicated of the two continued to dry heave for a bit. When he was done, Allen helped him up, wrapped a supportive arm around his waist and heaved him inside and into Allen's temporary bedroom. Luckily it wasn't occupied by more horny, drunk couples - that is, except for Allen and Lavi themselves.

Allen fetched gum, water and panadol and handed them to Lavi, who was sprawled out on the bed, cradling his head. Allen offered him the water, which he sculled with the panadol, then some gum for after.

Lavi sat up, chewing absently, staring at Allen from the corner of his eye. "Well, I don't have to worry about you ever kissing me again. I'm sure that display turned you off of these lips for a few centuries," he laughed.

Allen grinned despite it all. "Please, that wasn't even the worst you've been. I've seen you at rock bottom, Bookman, and trust me, it isn't pretty. Yet I'm still your dumbass roommate."

Lavi propped his head up with his hand, leaning over to ruffle Allen's white hair affectionately. "Yeah, you are. Thanks for sticking by me, 'sprout."

"No problem." He smiled at Lavi. He still felt weird about seeing Lavi kissing Road, but he fully believed his reasons. Road was not Lavi's type at all. "You can stay in here. I think all the other rooms are full."

"'Kay." Lavi glanced back at the pillows longingly. Lazily he shucked off his shirt and threw it onto the floor, flopping down onto the soft cushion and closing his eyes.

Allen looked at him with a mixture of amusement and desire. He swallowed. "Sleeping in jeans?"

Lavi waved his hand around absently in some form of drunk hand gesture. "Too lazy to take off."

Allen sighed. "Are you wearing underwear?"

"'Course I am, what do you take me for? A barbarian?"

"I know for a fact that you don't wear underwear sometimes. You like to announce it to me whenever you've run out of fresh undies."

Lavi snorted. "Oh yeah. Well I am wearing them today."

Allen decided to believe him on a whim, and with shaky fingers, reached for his belt. He retracted his hand, told himself to calm the hell down, then unclasped Lavi's belt with more steady hands.

Lavi's eyes snapped open as he pulled the belt off. His drunken state seemed to phase away momentarily. "What's happening?"

"I'm helping you out of your jeans so you can go to sleep. Just shut up." He moved for the buttons, popping the first one open, and Lavi stared up at Allen through a lidded, green eye.

Allen hesitated. "Don't look at me like that when I'm undressing you."

Lavi sat up on his elbows. "What do you want me to do, pretend I'm asleep? No, sir. I'm going to watch this and remember it for the rest of my life. Nothing of the sort will ever happen again."

Allen smirked dryly. "You're not even going to remember this."

"Then maybe you should take advantage of the situation," he said, and winked.

Allen gave him a look which told him to shut up, and unzipped his jeans. "Raise your hips, lazy ass."

"This is sexy. This is really kinky." He raised his hips, and Allen tugged them down past his thighs and all the way down to his ankles. True to his word, he was wearing patterned briefs, and Allen let out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding. It's hard to play babysitter when the 'baby' you're sitting is a sexy, drunk 22 year old.

"You need to zip the lip or I'll give you another cheek fracture." He pulled the pants off of his ankles, folded the pants neatly, and set them on the floor. "Better?"

"Yeah, but now I'm cold. I might need you to join me."

"Yeah, right, it's boiling. You've still got blankets to use if you need them anyway. I'm going to go make sure Road is okay, then I'll go find Lenalee and Kanda, so go to bed."

"Don't you dare go see Road. She'll sexually assault you. She touched your butt that one time at lunch, remember?"

"I remember. Look, it's fine. I'll just make sure she's fine, but I won't stay down there, okay?"

"You gonna come back?"

Allen looked at his roommate, sprawled on the bed in only his underpants, and thought that he definitely wanted to come back. That was why he couldn't.

"Um..."

"So that's a no. If you aren't coming back, you're not leaving."

"Excuse me?"

Suddenly Lavi was off the bed, standing up right but slightly swaying, tugging Allen's shirt over his head.

"What on Earth are you doing?" Allen yelped, stumbling back until his legs bumped into the bed. Lavi eased up to him smoothly despite the alcohol consumed, their chests nearly level, unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. He yanked them down, sprawling Allen back onto the bed at the rough movement. They were tugged off completely, and Lavi simply grinned.

"Damn, I was hoping you'd forgotten your underwear."

Allen flushed scarlet. "You're worried about me being sexually assaulted by Road? I think you need to worry about yourself more. Don't undress me without my permission! And just why can you undress me but not undress yourself?"

"I have more motivation to undress you than myself, duh." Lavi flipped the light switch off. He looked over at Allen in the now dark room. "Hop in. We're going to bed."

"I'm not even tired."

"Well I'm tired and drunk and I'll drown in a pool of my own vomit if you're not here, so stay because I'm asking you to, alright?"

Allen stared at Lavi, eyes adjusting slowly in the darkness. He'd already decided that he didn't want to leave; but he knew he should. He didn't want the rift to grow bigger again, not after they'd somewhat fixed it.

Despite his inner workings, he got into the bed, and Lavi slid down under the covers beside him. Allen rolled onto his side, facing his back to Lavi, and Lavi's arm slid over him, curling closer but not too close. Allen sucked in a breath, trying to focus on the loud music blaring outside of the room, and not on the arms wrapped around his midsection.

In the back of his mind he suddenly remembered his phone, and that he needed to check the messages Lavi had sent him. Tomorrow, he thought, feeling the buzz from his consumed cans now that he was lying down.

"Thanks," the red head managed through a yawn. "For staying."

"Yeah, yeah," Allen said, patting his arm, his stomach flipping nervously. "Just don't vomit on me."

He could practically feel the sleepy smirk grazing into his back. "Wouldn't dream of it, beansprout."

"It's Allen."

Well this chapter is decidedly longer than the other two by a lot. Was not my intention at all. Couldn't find a great place to stop, and I had so much I wanted to write in this one. Somehow throughout this story, it became less of a story about two idiot roommates in summer with an ice pool. It became more of a story about two idiot roommates and ALL THE SEXUAL TENSIONS in summer. Not sure if that's for the better or not. Guess we'll see.