Title: Blueberry Cheesecake
Author: Umi-chii
Disclaimer: Umi-chii don't own Rave. Mashima-sensei still does.
Pairing: Lucia/Haru
Warning: BL/Slash. AU. OOC. And a lot of abuse on the meaning of AU.
A/N: Since this is an AU, don't be surprised that everyone is beyond the comprehensibility of the normal OOC. Yes, I'm pushing the meaning of AU to its very limit, so don't complain. And sentences counted as one word.
Summary: Amidst the glaring spotlights and blaring sounds, they were still able to hold onto each other and enjoy not the sight or the sound, but the company. Fourth in the Hunger, Not Anger series.

Blueberry Cheesecake

"HARU!"

'Pleaseletitnotbedadpleasepleaseplease—'

If the idiot behind them yelling his name isn't his father, Haru is willing to swallow his pride and just jump into the air and cheer. But alas, fate is never nice with him. Beside him, Lucia only turned his head and looked over his shoulder. The sudden change of his face made Haru cringed. It took every ounce of his remaining manly pride not to dash away from the inevitable embarrassment that will surely follow suit.

"HARU GLORY!"

"PleasepleasepleasetellhimhissonisdeadandpossessedandI'mnotHaruGlory!"

Lucia turned and stared at his friend then at the approaching—WHY the hell is the senior Glory running and waving his hand like an idiot—OMG IS THAT HIS FATHER?!—elder Glory. His face turned even sour (if not redder) when he noticed that yes, it IS his father running behind Glory, obviously trying to catch up.

"Haru, I say we go for it and get ourselves run over by Tanchimos with perverted blue blobs and nekkid pengus."

"I so agree with you there."

Warily, the Haru took a small step forward (backward for Lucia). In the next three seconds, the two ran for their lives, bypassing some random lost dogs and people in business suits.

"OI! GET THE HELL BACK HERE!"

And thus the day continued in the lives of the Glorys and the Leagroves.

The bell gave a soft clinking sound as the door opened. The two boys entered the bakery (though it was more of a café, since they serve both pastries and coffees) and warm hues of pink and cream meet their sight. Without bothering to check, Haru already knew Lucia felt greatly out of place. But he ignored the nagging feeling and shrugged, tugging and dragging Lucia over the first rows of tables. Musica and Deepsnow were already on their own booth.

Pushing aside the empty plates of cakes, Haru sat down while Lucia sat opposite him. Deepsnow only gave them a nod while Musica grinned toothily at Haru, slapping him behind with a rather loud smack.

"Yo! Elie finally gave me the tickets."

"Ah, thank you then. And no, I won't pay you for the abortion fees."

The two silent boys over the table grimaced at the thought. But Haru deadpanned Musica with a leveled stare. The guy was still trying to objecting the idea.

"NEVER in my entire life would I want to sleep with that chick, man!"

"But you called her a chick, and you only call a girl 'chick' once you've slept with her—"

"No! No, no, no, no, blatant NO!"

"Yeah, that's right. Keep on living in Self-Denial World."

Deepsnow sighed and Lucia looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. The older boy shrugged and motioned for the counter with a look. Lucia turned to look at it then back at Deepsnow and nodded.

"Do you think they're talking in that ellipsis language?"

"I don't think 'talking' is the right term…"

"Yeah, but they're doing it… Look! See?! They can like, understand each other!"

"What the—"

"We're going to get ourselves some cappuccinos and cheesecakes. Want some?" The blond asked him as he stood beside the table, Deepsnow already striding towards the counter.

Dumbfounded, Haru nodded absently with his jaw hanging. Lucia gave him a quirked look, grinning at the sight then flicked the dazed boy on the forehead.

"H-Hey!"

"Well? Yes to cheesecake or no?"

"Ow… fine, yes. You treat me though. Flicking me at the head… so mean…"

Lucia grinned again at the pout Haru gave him, poking out his tongue. Shaking his head, Lucia turned for the counter, calling out to Deepsnow to order for him too.

Back at the table, both the two boys stared at the other two's backs. There was a pregnant pause of silence between the two of them, Haru watching Lucia absently as Musica watched Haru with a soft look on his eyes.

"He's finally coping with it?"

Startled, Haru blinked at the two then turned and gave Musica a confused gaze, clear grey eyes wide with curiosity. "Huh?"

Musica only shook his head. At least Haru didn't lose that underlying innocent during the dark storm between them.

"Lucia. How is he?"

Musica figured that this would be a good opportunity to let Haru talk more than usual. Even if he had been smiling a lot as of late, he's still reclusive when it comes to long-term chats. Haru shrugged at the question, lips going back to its bowed state. "He's better now, compare to the last few months. Even King said Lucia got them nightmares lesser, and actually responds to his words," Nodding along, Musica hummed a soft tune, going back to looking at the two while Haru rested both of his arms on the table, hands poking the edge of a plate. "He had also flushed down all of his supplies and haven't made any signs of knowing they exist, so I guess that's a good thing…"

"It is." Musica agreed, eyes going back to Haru. His sight had been shifting from Haru to the two boys at the counter every ten seconds, and Musica can't find the answer as to why he's suddenly playing the big brother here. Deepsnow should be the one doing this.

"And yesterday, he actually went to school and went to the arcade with me… that's really something, right?"

For a second there, Haru sounded too hopeful for his own good but Musica didn't mention it. Instead, he just smiled, eyes closing as his smile radiated the warmth he had been giving ever since Haru lost his.

"Ah, it is." Musica whispered again, his lips widening into an even brighter smile. Haru nodded, though it was more for his self-reassurance, and gave off a big, warm smile of his own.

"Oi, dorky, the hell did you do to my boyfriend?"

Haru lost his smile (His mind was going through a fit of 'Didyejustcallmehisboyfriend?' and 'HedidOMGI'mgonnafaintcanIfaintplease?') and went back to gaping at the empty air in front of him that's now become Lucia. It's still nothing but empty air to his sight though. Musica only grinned at the two as Deepsnow put away the tray, a plate of strawberry shortcake pushed to his side of the table.

Muttering a soft 'Thank you', Musica grabbed his fork and chuckled at the sight of Lucia trying to fix Haru's hanging jaw.

"Would you close your mouth?"

"I told you it's bad to assume." Deepsnow muttered sideways to his blond half-brother sarcastically. Lucia chose to ignore him though and went back to slapping Haru back to the living world.

"Oi! Haru! I was just kidding! Come on! Don't make me do CPR!" Then out of nowhere, a loud slap was heard all over the entire coffee slash bakery house. Even Haru's head was slapped to face the other side, and suddenly, Lucia felt fear; something he hadn't felt since… when? Ten years ago when his father decided that adopting a kid from another woman and cooking breakfast is the best thing to do to wreck their lives after his mother's death?

"Ohmygawd, Haru! I'm so sorry! Shit! Haru!"

The other two older boys sighed, shaking their heads as Lucia rubbed the slapped boy's reddening cheek while trying to scowl and glare away the accusing and angry look other customers were giving him. "It's not my fault!" His glare was telling them, but they didn't believe an ounce of his words. So, Lucia went back to apologizing while rubbing off the pain (and of course, swearing).

"Shitshitshit! HARU! OI!"

Currently, Haru's mind is going off like this: 'I'mhisboyfriendOMGhejustslappedme!'

"Oi, Lucia, you keeled the guy."

"Musica, please refrain from using nonexistent language."

The two elder boys would have continued bickering over the thousands of languages they knew if Lucia didn't suddenly beam like the sun of Ra. Heck, seeing Lucia suddenly beaming, as in shining, made them stop and just stare at the blond as if his golden yellow hair was glowing and there's an existing halo on top of his head.

What. The. Heck.

"Oh, shit. I think I just wet my pants."

"Fuckfuckfuck, I feel like I got fucking flashed by the principal!"

Musica would have retorted, because the world damn well knows getting flashed by the guidance counselor Ogre is ten times worse than getting flashed by Headmaster Doryu. He couldn't though when suddenly a loud and angry smack replied the slap Lucia had previously made. Deepsnow stared with wide eyes as his eyes met straight on with his half-brother's wide and dazed golden ones. Shit, the guy nearly got his eyeballs popped out!

"OHMYGOD!"

Musica groaned to himself as Deepsnow felt his entire face twitching, including the two standing hair stands on his head. Great, now Lucia had been reduced to a dazed and keeled moron while Haru was obviously screeching and shrieking and obviously screaming like a pregnant woman about to give birth only couldn't since she's ten countries away from the nearest hospital. If not then a mad, headless chicken. Wait. That's worse to the mental sight. Back to the pregnant woman.

Damn. The Dudes above must be loving them all right.

And thus, the rest of the day continued in the lives of the four friends.

After getting kicked out of De Luné, the four went on for their own separated way. Musica had to go and check up on his grandfather in the city hall while Deepsnow decided to go home and make sure his father isn't getting pushed over by adamant drug dealers. Lucia told him there's really need for it, but then Deepsnow objected. It's as clear as daylight that their father is the person who needs their—yes, both of the two sixteen year old boys. If not, then at least one of them—protection when it comes to angry drug dealers. One time Lucia had kicked a guy with an ugly styled blue hair in the face. Then the fat guy with a girly name, riled up at the sight of his partner being kickassed by a fifteen year old kid, yelled at his father for being a coward to step away from the life of a drug lord. Ten seconds later, both Lucia and Deepsnow transformed into some Kung Fu masters, complete with the Tai Chi uniform and Cheongsam. (Deepsnow had kept on insisting his Cheongsam was personally tailored, and Lucia told him his tailor is probably a sick, old perv.)

"Be home before five, alright? Leave me to suffer alone and I won't give you those tickets."

"He has the tickets…!"

"Oi! You bastard!"

Deepsnow grinned at the two, walking to the opposite direction while waving two tickets for the Ars Arcanum concert. Lucia only seethed and snarled at the leaving figure of his brother while Haru sighed, figuring that as long as he convince Lucia to go home before five (if not, four), then he can still have the chance to go and see his greatest idol sing live on the freaking stage right in front of him.

Yes, he had just gone off like the closeted Ars Arcanum slash Sieg Hart fanboy he is.

When Lucia had finally decided it's time for him to stop pulling his face, he looked at Haru who's staring off distantly, probably back in his dream world since he got that odd, dazed and glittery look on his eyes. The glitter of the thought had just killed him and dragged him back from Hell.

"Oi. Haru. Arcade." He snapped at the silver haired boy beside him, who suddenly jolted as if Lucia had stuck an electric hill on his ear. And so, the two walked in a slow pace towards Ruby's Poyoic Arcade, intent on satisfying themselves with the calm and peaceful air between them.

But of course, along the way, someone had to break that silence. The last time the silence between the two of them was made by Lucia's cries. Now, it's by Haru's uncertainties.

Stopping in mid-step, Haru looked down on his curled hands, fingers twisted and laced together. It took Lucia two more steps to realize that his companion had stopped on his track. Turning sideways to regard Haru, he closed his mouth when he noticed the other boy's trembling lips and hollowed cheeks. Those silver eyes were back to their dark, gloomy shade, and somehow, Lucia felt it so uncharacteristic of him to be brought sad by the display.

"Haru—"

"Lucia—"

Both started and stopped at the same time. Then Lucia started but Haru quickly stepped in between, but Lucia wasn't able to stop himself to give way for the other. Neither was Haru able to himself.

"I'm sorry—"

"I don't know—"

And thus, though their words may seem clashed and snapped in the middle, they were able to understand.

"I swear—"

"It's okay though—"

"I really mean it!"

That made Haru stopped and choked on his own words. Neither of the two knows how Lucia had come to standing in front of Haru, with both of his hands gripping Haru's shoulders harder than opted for comfort. But Haru didn't mind this, because the only thing running in his mind was how comfortable their current situation was, even if they're standing in the middle of the sidewalk and a lot of people were giving them weird looks.

"Lucia—"

"I know."

"But—"

"I know this is too sudden."

"Seriously—"

"And I know it's just so strange."

"Damn it, LUCIA—"

"But I swear I'm damn serious."

This time, Haru only bit his bottom lip and kept his fist from springing upwards and gave the blond who looked so out of place another good punch. Taking a deep breath, he decided the best way to deal with this idiot is a good, well-formed sentence that will not earn him interruptions after another.

"Lucia, seriously—"

"I know, Haru. I know—"

"GODDAMNIT! LUCIA LEAGROVE, WILL YOU FUCKING LISTEN TO WHAT I'M GOING TO FUCKING SAY!?

The blond suddenly met Haru's fist face to face the second time in a short span of two hours as Haru made it his duty to punch Lucia whenever it's necessary for him. Indeed, Haru had put the job to heart. His skull greeting the cement pavement with a loud bang that screamed 'Hello!', Lucia swore he can see stars in broad daylight while Haru glared down at him from above. Oh no, his Haru had become a part of the celestial bodies...

"Lucia Leagrove, if you don't get up from the ground this instance, I'm so going to kick you below the below and then step on your stomach. Aye or not?"

"Aye…" Lucia muttered to himself, pain still evident from the sound of tone. Haru gave him a cold, evil and unforgiving look from the tone of the voice, but Lucia quickly regained his footing albeit with a sore ass and a cracked skull. He wouldn't be surprised if the back of his head was already bleeding like mad.

Haru took a long breath and then sighed, fixing Lucia another look. Lucia avoided it with a flippant gesture, shrugging and finding too much interest in that gay bar's rainbow flag.

"Lucia, what's with what you said back then?"

Oh dear, the rainbow flag had just collapsed and hit the ground. A screw was rolling down the street.

Wait. That's Lucia on the floor with his screw missing.

"Lucia…"

Calling 911 would have been a smart move but Haru decided that screaming 'Shit!' on top of his housewife-style shrilly voice in the near vicinity of their school, the town's police station, and the city hall was definitely a hundred times better choice. Somewhere inside the huge city hall, Musica could hear a flower vase cracking.

Anyway, back to a random street that's near Haru's school, the town's police station and the city hall, Haru crouched low beside Lucia's dormant figure and began slapping Lucia (he didn't care if it's so painful he's snapping Lucia's head left and right) back to consciousness.

"Lucia! Come on!"

The last thing Lucia needed was hearing Haru whine his ass off, because trust him; for his entire sixteen years of living in this miserable world they call The World, a whining Haru is the worst of all the evils in the worst worse-case scenarios. Yes, a whining Haru is definitely worse than being flashed by Principal Doryu and the bastard Ogre at the same time.

Opening his eyes, he blinked then shuddered when wide, whiny silver eyes were staring down at him. Lucia winced outwardly, but Haru took this as a sign of being alive again from Lucia. So, he did what most idiots and/or dorks would do; he hugged the blond so hard Lucia chocked even more on his breath and decided that it's high time for him to return the gesture.

Pushing Haru off of him, Lucia sat up and dusted off every speck of dirt clinging on him.

"God, Haru, GOD!" He continued patting his shoulders and arms off of the dusts while Haru sat there beside him, on the middle of the god freaking street, oblivious to the now wary stares coming from the people around them. Even the policeman standing not so far from them was giving them a cautious look.

"Why, of all times, must you ask some crappy shit crappily?"

Haru didn't know if the blond knew he had just used a word that doesn't exist at all. But he had decided since long ago that it's better not to attack whatever pride that's left on the blond… if, he had any pride, to begin with. Still, that's just Haru being though so please, ignore the thought. Focus more on how he's going to ask Lucia about how serious he is, and just what the hell he's so serious about.

"Lucia, how serious are you?"

"As serious as a mudkip is when it's fooling around in April's Fools Day."

"Then what do you mean by saying I'm your boyfriend?"

This time, the entire gay bar's building collapsed as Lucia felt a strand of golden hair suddenly bolted upright, sizzled as if struck by lightnight.

Oh, dear lord. Just what had he done to warrant such an ill fitting form of punishment from The Dudes above? What?! Why?!

"Er…"

"Lucia Leagrove, if you don't answer me in the next five seconds, I assure you, you'll strongly believe castration is indeed a better choice than priesthood."

Lucia gulped audibly, along with his pride. That's it. It's now or never. He'd rather keep his manhood than live a life in the monastery with their creepy redheaded neighbor.

"I'm sorry, Haru, but I swear I'm not really joking! Ireallylikeyousincekindergartenthat'swhyIalwaysbullyyoumarrymeplease?"

Haru gave him the hardest and coldest look he could muster. Lucia vaguely thought he'd rather vasectomy then castration instead of The Look.

"Lucia Leagrove, if you don't speaking in a coherent language, I SHALL feed your loins to my dog."

Damn! Someone just hit him below the freaking belt!

"But Haru!"

"NOW!"

So a Haru barking an order wasn't the most pleasant idea, but neither was his current position. No matter how badass of a jerk Lucia is, the least situation he'd ask for when confessing to his crush since kindergarten is this, also known as: sitting on the floor with a bleeding skull and an aching jaw while ass is dead flat, a few miles away from the earshot of their school, the town's police station and the city hall. Not only that, they're clearly surrounded by the same people going back and forth across the street for the last few hours.

But Lucia convinced himself that the last thing he need was to lose his loins while he's still alive. Oh well.

"To quote and unquote what I said earlier in a speed easy for you to understand," Lucia did the airquotes hand move, which made Haru's eyebrow twitch. But Lucia ignored the sudden nearness of his doom and proceed with a brave front and a bad back. Literally. "I really like you since kindergarten, that's why I always bully you just so you would enough attention at me. Please marry me?"

Haru stared at the blond in front of him with the widest eyes his eyes could go for. But it still couldn't beat world record as Lucia stared at him with the most determined look. If the people around them had decided that clapping and cheering at their new, sudden and definitely out of place engagement is the best thing to do, then Haru can't say otherwise as he did any normal person in his predicament would do (if there IS some normal person like him in such state of insanity).

He pounced on the blond and gave him the wettest and loudest kiss ever witnessed in the entire world, in front of a bunch of people in the middle of a street near their school, the town's police station and the city hall, some portion of their jaws and cheeks pretty much still bruised. But both idiots didn't give much of a damn at all, as the only thing in their list of top priority is making out in the street.

And of course, getting Lucia home before five so they can go to the concert and have some wild, bunny romping afterwards in one of their homes… Though Lucia had been thinking of renting a hotel room.

TBC