[A/N] - Hi~ Read this please?
Ahh, not much to say. I'm on break from school right now so I'm a great deal more relaxed than I was a few weeks ago.
This chapter is extremely short - apologies beforehand.
Even so, please enjoy the eighth chapter of For the First Time!
Recommendations: Read in 3/4th page size. I personally think it makes it look cleaner.
Disclaimer: I do not and never will own D. Gray-man or its characters or anything else I might've ever wanted from it.
A week after his birthday, Lavi would have sworn that hell had come up from below and decided to burn everything on the surface. The temperature rose even more, to the point where being anywhere without air conditioning was rather unbearable. Even Allen, who was adverse to the idea of baring his marred left arm for people to see, was forced to roll up his sleeves and abandon his gloves – only when he was sure Lavi was his only witness, though.
The heat had made both Allen and Lavi lethargic as well, keeping them from doing anything that might have kept them occupied. Instead, they had retreated to the kitchen, where Jerry was happy to supply them with refreshingly cold drinks and ice cream.
"Hey, Allen." Lavi drew the other boy's attention away from his seventh glass of iced lemonade. "… I'm bored."
Allen sighed lightly. "I know. Summer vacation's become kind of monotonous." He stood up and walked over to the dining hall's kitchen counter to refill his glass before returning to his seat across the table from Lavi. "Unless you feel like starting the summer assignments…"
Lavi cringed, hitting his head on the table where he'd been resting it for the past several minutes. He rubbed the abused spot on his forehead, his eyes narrowed at the thought of doing something productive. "No way."
"Well then, you're out of options." He paused. "Actually…" Allen patted the pockets on his pants until he felt the sharp edge of his stack of playing cards. "We can play a game – I forgot I had these with me."
Lavi raised his head, eyeing the cards with interest. "What game were you thinking of?"
"Poker, of course."
Lavi's interest turned into wariness at the sight of the seemingly innocent smile forming on Allen's face. "With what stakes?"
"We don't have to have any, if you don't want them." Allen idly shuffled the cards, the black-and-white backs of the cards blurring into an arc jumping from one hand to the other before he tapped them on the table, straightening them into a clean deck.
"That would defeat the point of playing poker."
"You can set the bet then."
"Eh…" Lavi thought for a moment before Allen could practically see the light bulb pop up from his head. "How about, if I win, you're not allowed to use the bathroom for the next twenty-four hours?"
Allen was horrified by the thought. "Are you trying to kill me by rupturing my bladder?"
"Of course not."
Lavi's grin and joking tone betrayed him. Allen relaxed. He had nothing to worry about anyway. "Then those will be my terms as well. You've had as much to drink as I have, so there's plenty at stake here."
Lavi felt a sense of foreboding from the smile still present on Allen's face – something about it seemed to tell him to run and use the bathroom while he still could.
"Call!"
Lavi winced at the word and prepared for the worst. Allen flashed him a crooked smile and lay down his cards face-up to reveal his hand.
"… A royal straight flush?" Lavi was horrified.
"Looks like I win." Allen's self-satisfied smile led Lavi to believe that something wasn't quite right.
"Allen…"
"Hm?" The silver-haired boy shuffled their hands back into the deck with a quizzical tilt to his head.
"Are you cheating?"
Allen's silence and slight avoidance of eye contact confirmed his suspicions.
"Allen!" Lavi protested. "Come on! If you're as good at poker as you said you were, then you shouldn't have to do that kind of thing."
Allen's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink and he had the grace to look abashed. "I'm sorry. It's… a hard habit to break. When I had to pay off Master's debts, people would always try to cheat me since I was young and apparently easy to trick. I had to learn how to cheat them in return, and ever since, I've never let myself lose a game."
Lavi sighed sympathetically and put a hand on Allen's shoulder. "Well, no one's trying to get money out of you now. It wouldn't kill you to lose a game."
The younger boy's stormy grey eyes shone with a glint of competitiveness. "Who said I would lose if I didn't cheat? Cheating just assures an outstanding victory – I'd win anyway."
[A/N] - When it takes me next to no time to edit relative to the time required to write, I know it's either short or that I took way too freaking long to write.
In this instant, it's the former.
But anyway.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! I hope you enjoyed this small gift from me to all of you!
Have a wonderful until-the-next-chapter and enjoy hot chocolate with marshmallows!
