A/N: I was going to ask if you guys wanted more of these random little stories about the four of them being college students, but from your reviews, it sounds like you're all ready for the real story to progress. Don't worry, this is the last one. Next chapter will be someone finding out Allen's secret. ;)

To Foxluna: Yep, that's Tyki and Road. I don't know when yet, but they will definitely be showing up for real at some point during this story.

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It was supposed to be the hottest party of the year. Midterms had just finished and everyone was excited for the chance to let loose and have some fun. Everyone except Kanda Yuu and Allison Walker, that is. They had come as a group with Lavi and Lenalee, but as the night wore on, Allison and Kanda found themselves sitting on the sidelines, together, watching everyone else have fun.

Allison had been looking forward to the party. She had close friends who were going to be there and she was accepted as part of that social scene; or rather, 'Allen' was, but she wasn't going to focus on that tonight. She was going to enjoy the party and have a good time. But all that changed when the first keg was brought out. The addition of alcohol made the party something she didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole. Unfortunately, unless she wanted to walk home in the freezing rain or shell out the twenty bucks to pay for a cab, she was stuck waiting until her friends were ready to leave. So she retreated to a corner where the smell of beer wasn't so overpowering and resigned herself to sitting there in boredom while people had fun around her.

She wasn't expecting to end up with company, and she certainly wasn't expecting that company to be Kanda. She figured the Japanese man would want to be anywhere that wasn't with her. Allison wanted to ask him why he was there, but she knew that if she did, he would only yell at her.

Knowing exactly what Allen was thinking, Kanda chose to answer his unasked question as he sat down beside him. But the answer he gave was only partially the truth; the Japanese man was not about to admit that he came over because he didn't like seeing the white haired boy look so lonely. "I hate parties like this. Everything was perfectly fine and then they had to go and ruin it by bringing beer. Now the music's going to get louder and everyone's going to get stupid."

The comment made Allison laugh. "You mean, 'stupider than usual', right?"

He snorted at the remark and they fell into silence. They were both acutely aware of the fact that it was the first time that they'd sat alone together - outside of during classes, obviously - but their attempt to hold a conversation just made the whole situation even more awkward.

Kanda spoke first, trying to get some information out of the white haired boy he had a crush on. "I'm surprised you're not out there, Moyashi. Shouldn't you be having fun with everyone else?"

Allison shook her head at the half-heard question, not catching that he'd used that nickname that she hated so much. "My foster father was an alcoholic. The smell of beer makes me nauseous."

They fell into silence once more, and this time Allison broke it, with a jab she thought would get a rise out the eerily subdued Japanese man. "You know, if you had something to drink, you'd probably loosen up enough to actually have fun."

"And risk losing my scholarship for drinking while underage? No thank you." He snorted as another thought occurred to him. "Besides, someone has to be sober enough to drive the rabbit's sorry ass back to campus."

Allison laughed as she caught sight of Lavi's red hair as he danced in the busiest area of the party; he was definitely going a little too wild. "True."

As they fell silent once more, Kanda was willing Allen to ask him to ditch Lavi and take him home. He wasn't going to make the offer - though he'd have offered in a heartbeat if he'd known that the other was female - but he would definitely agree to it if the Moyashi were to ask; the fact that there was alcohol at the party was definitely a good enough reason to explain any out of character behavior towards his crush.

Allison was simultaneously wishing he'd ask, because her pride wasn't going to let her play the damsel in distress. She'd rather wait miserably for Lavi and Lenalee to be done partying than ask Kanda for a favor.

Fortunately for both of them, that was when a buzzed Lenalee sauntered over.

Even drunk, the Chinese woman still cared too much about her friends' wellbeing. She smiled brightly at the pair sitting on the sidelines and offered them each a red plastic cup full of beer. "Come on guys! Join the party!"

Having grown up with the Japanese man, his negative response was expected. "Not gonna happen."

Unable to tell her best friend 'no' to her face, Allison quickly came up with a lie for why she wasn't drinking that wouldn't hurt the other girl's feelings. "I have to get up early tomorrow."

Guessing the true meaning behind Allison's words, Lenalee smiled sweetly and set the beer cups aside. Sitting down between the two on the couch - there was plenty of space - she threw an arm around each of their shoulders. "You know, it's ok to leave. Don't worry about me and Lavi, my brother's cool and he'll come get us. You guys can go ahead and go back to campus."

It only took a bit more prodding from the Chinese woman for them to follow her suggestion; after all, leaving was what they both wanted to do.

The car ride passed in complete silence. While Allison secretly hoped that being in an enclosed space with the Japanese man would lead to something steamy, Kanda wanted nothing more than to get home as quickly as possible. Being alone with the Moyashi hurt; the object of his affections was mere inches away, but touching the younger male was completely out of the question. Kanda Yuu was not gay. He was not going to give in, no matter how adorable the Moyashi's pensive expression was.

Back at the party, Lenalee picked up the cups of beer and returned to her redheaded companion. Lavi laughed as he took one of the cups from her. "How'd it go?"

She shook her head at him, unknowingly hitting someone with one of her long green pigtails. "No good. Those two idiots still won't admit that they like each other."

Lavi laughed and downed the beer. "That's cuz they don't. You should give up before they figure out what you're up to."