A/N: Hello everybody! :D Did you miss me? xD Sorry for taking so long once again, I hope the chapter will make up for it somehow ^^° For those who aren't as crazy a Laven fangirl as me and don't press the refresh button on their always opened tab (that shows all completed LavixAllen fanfics of course) multiple times a day, I want to point out that the Laven oneshot in celebration of my 100th review is already uploaded! It's called "May I have this Dance?" and it's of course dedicated to the 100th reviewer, Hinoshi-Jino! Again, congratulations :) So if you guys haven't read it yet but would like to, check my profile! :D

Anyway, since I was also busy writing that oneshot it took me quite a while to finish this, I hope you didn't wait too long :3

Enjoy!

Chapter 10 – Lunch with the Lees

As soon as the door had fallen shut behind us, I waited for Lavi to lock it and lead the way since I didn't know where Lenalee lived. As he passed me I raised an eyebrow at him not wearing a coat (I would've worn one if I had one) and grabbed him by his bright orange scarf, making him pause his movement suddenly, accompanied by a fake choking sound that caused the corners of my lips to curl up slightly.

"What's wrong?" he asked me as he turned to look at me.

"Don't you need your coat?" I questioned, confused that he didn't seem to have noticed that he wasn't wearing it.

"Huh?" he asked, surprised, but then he began to laugh. I raised an eyebrow at him once again and waited for him to explain himself, which he did soon after. "No, I don't need it. But thanks for your concern, beansprout." Ignoring the low growl I let out at the nickname, he continued, "Come on, they're probably already waiting for us."

I felt him grab my arm and before I knew it he pulled me up the stairs. Up? I frowned.

When Lavi pressed the doorbell of an apartment one level above his, it finally clicked and I mentally facepalmed. Of course, I thought, why else would we go up instead of down?

Suddenly nervous I tried to fix my hair, which I realized probably looked messy after the tickle battle earlier, and took a step back to inconspicuously hide behind Lavi. If he noticed, he didn't say anything, so we just waited for the door to open, which it did a few seconds later.

"Yo, Lena-lady!" Lavi greeted the Chinese girl that stood in the doorway with a warm smile.

"Hey Lavi," she greeted before turning to me, smiling gently. "Allen, right?"

When had Lavi.. ah, probably when he asked her if we could come over for lunch. Oh well, I thought and nodded. At my nod she held out her hand.

"Lavi probably already told you, but anyway... my name's Lenalee. Nice to meet you."

I took her hand and shook it, smiling at her. "Nice to meet you, too."

Her smile widened and she stepped aside to let us in. "Lunch is almost ready, by the way. I hope you're hungry."

"You bet we are! Allen here emptied my fridge while I was gone," Lavi whined as he walked past her, causing me to follow him inside, chuckling slightly. "Hey, where's Komui?" The redhead in front of me asked.

"He's asleep on the couch right now," Lenalee replied from behind us as she closed the front door. "He stayed up late working on experiments, again..." At that she heaved a sigh, and Lavi joined in.

I frowned and then raised an eyebrow at them in confusion. Lenalee seemed to notice that, for she opened her mouth to say something, probably to explain, but Lavi interrupted her.

With a mischievous grin on his face, he said, "Come on, let's go wake him up!" and turned left into what I assumed was the living room. The apartments seemed to have a similar layout from what I could tell. I looked at Lenalee who just shook her head and shrugged before gesturing me to follow her.

Together we entered the living room where Lavi was currently standing in front of an occupied couch. The man on the couch had purple hair that probably stopped around his shoulders or a little above, it was hard to tell considering the position the man was in. He was probably in his late twenties or something and actually looked pretty handsome, I noticed, but I was distracted from taking in his appearance by Lavi, who bent down so he was close to Komui's face.

Before I could ask what he was doing, he whispered into the man's ear, "Hey, did you hear? Lenalee is getting married!" before hurriedly straightening back up again and taking a few step backs in caution.

I was just about to ask what that just now had been about when the man's eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet, frantically looking around until he spotted Lenalee, which he hugged around the waist while wailing excessively. I watched, dumbfounded, as desperate cries and wails of, "NOOOO! Lenaleeeee! My precious little Lenalee! How could you do that to me, your awesome big brother? You can't marry anyone, you're far too young for that, you have to stay with me! And the boy that is good enough for you to marry doesn't exist! LEEENALEEEEEEEEEE! How could youuuuu? Leeeeenaaaaaleeeeee!" resounded in the living room so loud it was deafening and Lenalee looked more pissed by the minute, shooting an angry glance towards a sheepishly laughing Lavi.

"Brother!" Lenalee finally exploded, whacking him in the head, hard.

Komui stopped wailing for a second to look up at his sister with teary eyes. "But Lenaleeeeee-"

"NO! Behave yourself, we have guests!" she reprimanded him, finally alerting the man to our presence. With tears still in his eyes he looked around, spotted Lavi, nodded absentmindedly in greeting, locked eyes with me and suddenly jumped to his feet, pointing an accusing finger at me and scaring me half to death with his yelling.

"YOU! It's you, isn't it? HOW DARE YOU try to make my precious Lenalee marry you! You-" he walked towards me, causing me to hide behind Lavi, whose laugh seemed to have died on his lips.

I saw the redhead look back and forth between me and Komui (who was approaching me with a murderous look on his face) in panic and then send a helpless look towards Lenalee, who looked seriously annoyed by now.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, Komui landed on the ground with a crash, Lenalee's foot on his head. I winced sympathetically and made a mental note to never get on the girl's bad side, but then I sighed in relief.

"Brother!" she yelled at the whimpering man on the ground, "Can't you just listen before you act? I told you that Lavi and the boy he took in would come over for lunch. What kind of first impression is that?" she sighed, "besides, I'm not getting married. Lavi just played a prank on you to get you to wake up." Then she muttered, "As usual..."

At this, the man immediately calmed down and straightened up, adjusting and dusting off his clothes before grabbing the glasses and strange-looking white hat that were lying on the coffee table. Moments later he had smoothed out his hair, donned his hat and was wearing his glasses. He then cleared his throat before looking at me with a bright and happy smile on his face that for some reason felt a little creepy to me considering the way he had acted seconds before.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you like that," he apologized and actually sounded sincere. "My name is Komui Lee, I'm Lenalee's brother. It's nice to meet you, uh..." he trailed off.

"Allen Walker," I responded automatically, my politeness winning against my suspicions, "It's nice to meet you, too," I told him, shaking his hand with a smile.

The smile turned strained as the pressure on my hand increased and I gritted my teeth at the pain. Komui on the other hand smiled creepily and told me in a low, threatening voice, "If you dare to even think of getting too close to my precious Lenalee, I'll-ugh!"

The grip on my hand loosened and disappeared a second later as Komui was sent flying, hitting the ground a few feet to my left with a nice imprint of a foot on his cheek.

"Brother, I thought I told you to behave yourself..." Lenalee sighed, fed up with her brother's crazy antics. Then she looked up, completely ignoring her brother, and told us, "I have to go back to the kitchen. Lavi, could you help me carry the food to the table?"

Lavi nodded and she turned to me, saying, "Allen, you could go get glasses and drinks if that's okay with you."

"Sure." I smiled at her and she returned the smile.

"I'll show you where everything is, then," she said as she made her way to the kitchen, passing a small dining table laid for four that was decorated nicely on the way there.

Lavi tugged on my sleeve and followed her, pulling me with him. The three of us entered the kitchen, leaving a sulking Komui behind on the living room floor. When we reentered the living room a minute later, placing the stuff we were carrying on the table, Komui had straightened up and looked composed and calm again, but still eyed me with a suspicious look on his face that made me shudder. What did I ever do to the guy? Stupid sister complex.

Lenalee moved to sit on the chair closest to the kitchen, her back facing the wall or rather the window that was framed by white curtains. I reached for the backrest of the chair closest to me, which happened to be the one opposite of Lenalee, but I was shoved aside by Mr. sister complex who enthusiastically pulled back the chair and gestured for Lavi to sit there.

I raised an eyebrow at his antics and decided that I wanted to find out if I had just imagined that just now, so I made my way around the table to the chair next to Lenalee. I could feel strands of my hair moving in the breeze that Komui caused as he passed me in a blur, basically throwing himself into the chair next to his sister.

Well, I thought, inwardly chuckling as I sat down on the remaining chair to Lavi's left, I guess he succeeded in making me sit the farthest from his sister, but it's impossible not to notice his intentions. I don't think I've ever met someone with a sister complex as great as this guy's.

And I wasn't even interested in her in that sense, I just thought of her as a nice person. Besides, I was –

"This looks delicious as always!" Lavi exclaimed, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I agree, and it smells good, too!" I added with a smile.

"Thank you," Lenalee replied, happy about the compliment, while Komui shot me a look that promised never ending pain if I did so much as look at his sister wrongly. I sighed inwardly as I began shoveling food onto my plate. I was definitely not happy about sitting opposite that guy.

As soon as everyone had helped themselves to the food, we chorused, "Thanks for the food!" and I happily dug in, taking care to hide my left hand inside my sleeve as I did so.

"Woah, this is good! Are you a professional?" I exclaimed after I had swallowed my first bite, flashing Lenalee a smile.

"Well, I do work at a restaurant, but my cooking really isn't that good," the Chinese girl muttered with a smile on her face.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Komui shooting me a death glare, but I chose to ignore it and continued complimenting Lenalee for her cooking when she tried to be modest about it. I then continued eating even more enthusiastically, albeit trying to keep my good table manners so the others wouldn't think of me as rude and ill-mannered just because I loved to eat.

"So...," Komui began, looking at me and thus making me pause with my fork in midair, place it down again and focus on chewing the bite that was currently in my mouth so that I could reply to whatever he was going to say, "you're the homeless kid this guy here picked up?" He gestured to Lavi who raised an eyebrow at the both obvious and slightly offensive question.

I gulped when I noticed the uncomfortable atmosphere the purple-haired man had created with his question, but decided to answer anyway, even though I could feel some blood rush to my cheeks when he reminded me of where I came from. It wasn't as if I was happy about being homeless, after all.

"Ye-" I started with a (forced) polite smile on my face, only to be interrupted by Lavi.

"He's not homeless anymore, Komui," the redhead cut in, shooting the man an annoyed glance, "he lives in my apartment now."

"Well yes," Komui agreed, "but he was homeless until less than 24 hours ago. Have you been to a doctor with him yet? Who knows what kind of illnesses dirty street rats like him could have caught?"

I stared at him with my mouth open, dumbfounded.

"Brother!" Lenalee complained, shocked about her brother's offensive comment.

Lavi didn't say anything, but the indignant and angered look he gave him said more than enough.

"What?" Komui asked, "I just don't want him to infect my precious Lenalee with some sort of contagious illness!"

I was trying to keep my composure but wasn't able to conceal my shock completely as I said, "Sir, I can assure you that I am completely healthy, so would it be possible for you to refrain from being so rude towards me? I haven't done anything to you!"

"Not to me," he replied, "but you could do something to my Lenalee!"

"Brother, you will stop this immediately!" Lenalee exclaimed before shooting me an apologetic glance.

"But-" The purple-haired man was cut off by the loud sound of Lavi slamming his hands on the table.

"Komui, stop it! I don't think I've ever met anyone with a greater sister complex than yours. Listen, Allen is not interested in your sister! Now how about you begin treating him the way you should treat a guest?" Lavi exploded, clearly more than pissed.

I looked at him with wide eyes and watched him sit down again and resume eating. When he saw me looking at him he flashed me a small smile which I returned with a grateful one. I then glanced at Lenalee, who looked both guilty and annoyed. She glanced at her brother and I followed her gaze. Komui didn't look all too convinced, and Lenalee seemed to have noticed that too. She sent Lavi a "can't you do something about this?" look, who nodded and shot me a glance that must've said something along the lines of "I'm sorry, please play along" and told Komui,

"Yeah, he doesn't swing that way, Komui."

I- ...what!

I looked at the redhead in shock, glanced at Lenalee who had choked on her food and looked equally dumbfounded for a moment before regaining control over her facial expressions, nodding at Komui with a serious look on her face. I blushed and turned to look at Komui, who looked at me for confirmation. I nodded, still blushing, and he looked visibly relieved.

The four of us heaved a sigh of relief, though out of different reasons, and resumed eating.

I was just taking a sip of my drink when Komui quietly said to Lavi, "So that's why you took him in."

I spluttered and immediately apologized for it while Lavi was coughing once again and waving his arms around in defense, muttering something incomprehensible. Ah, so Lavi is gay. I tossed that new piece of information back and forth in my head for a while, drowning out the conversation just after Komui's apology for his earlier behavior, which I of course accepted (although I was still suspicious of him). I was surprised, but not freaked out. It would be kind of stupid if I of all people was freaked out about someone who was gay.

I watched Lavi out of the corner of my eyes. Messy, flaming red hair, gorgeous green eye, nicely built body clad in fashionable clothes, loveable crooked smile as he nonchalantly chatted with Lenalee, the eye-patch giving him an air of audaciousness... now that I thought about it, he was pretty handso- No. Allen, don't go there. It will just make everything complicated. I shook my head to clear it and tried to focus on the conversation again.

"...told him about it. See?" Lavi said, bending down a little to point at a bump on his head, causing Lenalee to erupt into a laughing fit.
"I told you he'd beat you up for not telling him sooner," she giggled.
"Lenalee, he always beats me up," the redhead shot back, grinning as he straightened up in his seat again. "It's just that he beat me up a bit more than usual today."

"True," she agreed. "So, what did he say about it?"

I saw Lavi's grin widen and raised an eyebrow. I assumed that they were talking about Lavi's boss or something, since the only place other than his and Lenalee's apartment that the redhead had been to since I was here had been at work, but I had no idea what this "it" was supposed to be.

"Well, he was angry at me for keeping my plans a secret, but he was actually nice enough to give me a bonus so I could pay my rent and buy the necessities for Allen!"

"Eh? Really?" Lenalee exclaimed. "Wow. Even though he hit you?"

"Yeah, although he'll probably make me work even harder for the next week. You know the old panda – it's just his way of showing affection... I think..." Lavi sweatdropped, and I did, too, even though I had no idea who exactly this panda guy was.

I had gathered that I was what Lavi had talked to him about, and I was reminded that me staying with the redhead was going to cost him a lot of money. I felt guilty about that, and I wondered if it would be possible for me to get a job, but who would employ a boy from the streets? Even if I had a home now, my past didn't change. I didn't have a proper education, it would be impossible for me to enroll somewhere without any documents and stuff, and to find a job like that... I inwardly sighed. I'd just have to try not to be too much of a burden.

"Speaking of buying stuff for Allen here," Lavi said, glancing at me before facing Lenalee again, "Are you free this afternoon? The three of us could go shopping together!"

I looked at Lenalee, who smiled happily and said, "That's a great idea! I'm in!"

"Okay," I agreed with a small smile on my face.

"Then it's settled, we're going shopping after lunch!" Lavi declared.

xxxxxxxxxAxLxLxExNxxxxxxxxx

The rest of lunch went by without any incidents, and Komui had proven to actually be a nice guy as long as he was somewhat convinced that you didn't want to "steal his precious little Lenalee away from him". He probably had a good reason for his giant sister complex, but I didn't want to pry, especially not since I didn't even know the two that well.

We spent our time talking about all sorts of things, for example I found out that Komui was a Science teacher at the local High School and liked to experiment and build robots in his free time, that Lenalee had learned how to cook from a man named Jerry and that the panda Lavi and Lenalee had mentioned was actually Lavi's guardian.

Everything I heard was new to me and just by watching the three interact it was obvious that they knew each other since who knows when – to be honest, I felt a little left out. All of them were very nice to me, though, and I could see that they were really trying to include me and it made me happy, but I knew it would take time.

When we were done eating, Lavi and I convinced Lenalee to let us help with the dishes. We decided to go shopping immediately after, so Lavi and I went back to Lavi's apartment, where the redhead grabbed his coat and I went to get my worn gloves and pulled them on before returning. Lavi said something along the lines of having to buy me a new pair of gloves and asked me if I wanted to borrow one of his jackets, but I was used to the cold anyway and didn't feel like looking ridiculous in a way-too-big coat. We met Lenalee in the hallway, she was wearing the same coat she had worn when I first met her. Together the three of us left the apartment building and allowed the Chinese girl to lead the way.

xxxxxxxxxAxLxLxExNxxxxxxxxx

"Try this one!" Lavi told me, placing another piece of clothing onto the pile in my arms. I had long given up trying to convince Lavi to not spend too much money on clothes and stuff for me – he was stubborn and didn't listen to me anyway, so there was no point in repeating the same argument again and again.

I groaned. "Lavi, can't I just go to the changing booth before the pile is too high for me to see where I'm going?"

"Aww, come on, don't be like that, beansprout. How about-" I only took one glance at the shirt he was holding up before cutting him off.

"Rejected!"

"But-"

"I'm not going to wear that."

"Lavi, let him go change already," Lenalee laughed, and I sent her a thankful glance. She smiled at us and said, "I'm going to take a look around for myself, okay? Lavi, you stay with Allen and help him decide what to buy."

"Sure thing," Lavi agreed, and I nodded, relieved that nothing more would be added to my pile.

Together the two of us made our way to the changing booths where the redhead held the swinging door to one of the booths open for me so I could place the pile of clothing inside.

"Show me once you're ready," he told me before allowing the door to swing back in place, leaving me alone in the small booth to choose the first piece of clothing to try on.

I emerged from the booth multiple times, each time sporting different outfits, and for the most part left it to Lavi to decide if they suited me or not. I hadn't allowed him to pick any clothes for me to try on that I didn't like, so I was basically fine with anything as long as it was comfortable. There were a few articles of clothing that didn't fit, though, but I just stayed inside the booth and tried something else instead if that was the case.

By now the clothes were divided into three piles – the pile of clothes Lavi had said we should buy, the pile of clothes that we would not take with us, and the pile of clothes that I hadn't tried on yet. The latter had already shrunk considerably and I was currently trying on a simple light gray long sleeved shirt. I was glad that we were only buying long sleeved stuff for the most part, except for a few t-shirts here and there, since it was still early in February and thus pretty cold outside – this way people (including one stupid rabbit) wouldn't give me strange looks for wearing my gloves all the time.

As I pulled the shirt over my head, I noticed that it was pretty small even though it was the same size as pretty much every shirt I had tried on until now, but didn't pay much mind to it before I heard a sound that suggested that trying to pull on it any further would be a bad idea.

I better take it off again, I said to myself and tried to do just that. I struggled with the shirt for a minute, but it wouldn't budge. Great. Just great.

I was stuck.

I continued struggling, but to no avail. After a few moments, I heard Lavi's voice from outside the booth.
"You okay in there, little buddy? You're taking a while."

I groaned in frustration before admitting, "I'm kind of stuck."

"Do you need some help?" the redhead asked, and I could hear that he was grinning. Stupid rabbit. Suppressing a growl I muttered, "Yes please" and made room for him to open the swing door.

He pushed against the door and entered the small booth, letting the door swing closed behind him.

Lavi chuckled when he saw me and reminded me that I was probably looking fairly ridiculous with the collar of the shirt around my head and my arms not fully inside the tight sleeves, struggling to get out of the shirt without success.

I pouted even though he couldn't see me behind the shirt fabric. "Don't laugh at me!" I complained, but it only elicited more chuckles.

"Could you please hurry and get it off me?" I asked, half hopeful and half annoyed.

"But why? I think it suits you" Lavi commented before bursting out laughing, causing me to let out a low growl.

"Thanks. I'd still like to get it off, though."

"Well, if you insist, of course I will undress you~" he said in a suggestive tone and then laughed.

I was quite sure that I was blushing, but I chose not to reply in hopes of him pulling the damn piece of clothing off me already if I didn't make conversation with him.

"Okay, hold on a second," Lavi told me and I felt him grab the hem of the shirt that was somewhere around my neck area, pulling gently to get it off. When it didn't work properly, he pulled a little harder and I tried to stay where I was, which eventually resulted in him stumbling backwards a few steps with the shirt in hand and me standing there topless with my bare back against the wall.

I exhaled loudly. It felt good to have my head and arms free of all annoying fabric. "Phew... Thanks, Lavi."

"You're wel-" he stopped for a split second and looked at me before continuing, "...come."

What was wrong all of a sudden? I didn't know. I followed his gaze and my eyes widened.

Shit.

I hid my arms behind my back, tears forming in my eyes. "Don't look at me!" Lavi only stared at my outburst, dumbfounded. "Get out of here!" I yelled at him, panicked, and shoved a startled Lavi out of the swinging door. "Don't come in here again!"

As soon as he was outside, I sank to my knees, a few tears escaping my eyes, and stared at my hands. My gloveless hands.

He had seen it.

He had seen the one thing I hadn't wanted him to see. My hideous arm. He had seen it. That was the only thought that was going through my mind while I frantically fumbled with the damned shirt to find my gloves. I pulled them out of the sleeves and slid them on, breathing a sigh of relief when the ugly thing I called an arm was out of sight again.

What for? You can't make him unsee it.

That thought struck me like a fist that painfully collided with my stomach, and I winced and doubled over even though nobody had physically hit me.

He'll probably throw me out.

Absentmindedly I threw on a loose t-shirt from one of the piles as realization hit me. I was beyond shocked when I realized just how much I didn't want to go back to the way I had lived before Lavi. He had allowed me to stay with him and in the short time we were together I had thought that we could become great friends and I could finally look forward to a happier future, finally leave behind my life as a thief. And now? He's probably angry. He might feel betrayed. He'll rethink his offer of letting me stay with him. He'll think of me as disgusting. Hideous. A monster.

Still sitting on the ground, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. I had been insulted like that countless times – that was why I always wore gloves. There were just some things that were impossible for you to get used to, and despite everyone saying that you get a thick skin over time and it doesn't bother you as much anymore, for me that never happened. Deep down, it still hurt. And if Lavi was to insult me like that, I wasn't sure if I could bear it. Not after he had showed me kindness and I had allowed myself to try to put trust in him.

I leaned against the wall of the booth and sobbed quietly.

"...len? Allen!" He sounded worried. I must've drowned him out for a while.

But how could I face him now? "Go away!" I know you want to.

"Allen, I'm coming in now."

Before that sentence had fully registered in my brain, the swinging door swung open once again (at this point I cursed clothing stores for not having changing booths with locks) and before I knew it a pair of arms wrapped around me. I opened my mouth to yell at him, but Lavi was faster and put a hand over my mouth to silence me.

"Mmph!" I made and tried to struggle.

"Shh..." he said, trying to soothe me, tightening his hold on me instead of releasing me. "Shh... Calm down, okay? Please don't yell at me. I'm not gonna leave."

I paused at that, confused. He wasn't leaving? But...

"If I take my hand away now, will you yell again?" he asked me, unsure, and I shook my head in reply. I heard him sigh in relief, his warm breath tickling where it hit my neck, and the hand on my mouth disappeared. He didn't let go of me though, wrapping his other, now free arm around me instead.

It felt nice. How long had it been since I was last embraced like that? It felt like... home. My eyes widened.

"Allen?" the redhead asked, calmly and quietly as if he didn't want to startle me with his voice. I smiled at his actions. "Would you turn around? I don't want to keep talking to your back." He loosened his grip as he said that, and I gulped before turning around, my gaze cast downwards. That loose thread on Lavi's jeans suddenly seemed very interesting.

The older teen's hands were placed on my shoulders now, and he gently asked, "Will you let me see your arm?"

My head shot up at his words and I stared at him with wide eyes for a second before I remembered that my face was probably tear-stained, so I looked down again immediately.

I stayed quiet for a moment before reluctantly holding out my left arm. My heart was beating loudly in my chest as I watched him carefully pulling off the glove before taking my left hand in his. With his other hand he gently trailed patterns across the blood red skin.

A strange, tingling feeling lingered where he had touched, though that was probably just because I wasn't used to my arm being touched like this, or so I told myself. He was acting as if it was beautiful, precious even. I didn't know what to make of that. Not once in my life had I experienced such a reaction to my arm.

It crossed my mind that he was just going to act like this before declaring that he was throwing me out and that I shouldn't be too sure of myself since I was a monster anyway, but I discarded the thought quickly, choosing to believe in Lavi's honesty.

I let him continue what he was doing, feeling awkward and unsure and not knowing what to say at all. Eventually he placed his other hand on top of my left hand so that he was holding it with both of his.

"I'm sorry," Lavi began, and my heart skipped a beat. He was sorry? What for? So was he throwing me out after all? "I got a bit carried away. It's just so fascinating! I've never seen anything like it." he exclaimed, for some reason sounding excited. "It looks so badass! Though it doesn't really suit such a cute little beansprout like you."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. He wasn't disgusted? "You're not throwing me out?"

"Huh?" Now it was his turn to stare at me, speechless. "Why would I want to do that?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, aren't you disgusted at all? It's hideous, I'm a monster... who wants someone like that in their home?"

He laughed. "Who want's a homeless thief in their home?" he shot back. "I do," he added before I could respond. "Plus, you aren't hideous, and you're anything but a monster. Stop saying such negative things about you. So what it your arm is different? It doesn't change who you are, does it?"

I looked up at him with tears in my eyes, my bottom lip quivering from the effort it took not to cry.

"So you won't leave me like my parents did? Not like all the others?"

Lavi looked at me in shock. "Your... parents?"

I looked down, ashamed of myself. My parents hadn't wanted such a monster as a son, so they had left me behind.

Suddenly I felt a hand under my chin and allowed the slight pressure of the redheads fingers to tilt my head upwards.

Gray met green.

Lavi inched closer and looked at me earnestly, his green eye boring into my gray ones. "Allen, I don't know anything about what happened to you in the past, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, and certainly not here, but I promise you: I won't ever abandon you. You hear that? I'll never leave you."

I looked at him, unbelievably relieved, grateful and happy, and my eyes watered once again. Lavi cupped my face in his hands and used his thumbs to gently wipe away the tears that threatened to fall, smiling fondly at me. He then placed a kiss on my forehead that made me blush bright crimson, but he didn't see my blush because he enveloped me in a warm hug that I returned wholeheartedly.

Eventually we let go of each other and he ruffled my hair affectionately. I returned the happy grin he flashed me and he said, "Come on then, let's pay for your stuff and go home."

He stood up and held out his hand to me. It was his left hand, and I chose to show him my trust by placing my left hand in his. The redhead pulled me up and startled me by raising my hand to his lips and placing a kiss on the back of my hand.

After a few seconds of standing there, dumbfounded and with a blush on my face, I slipped on my glove, changed into the black shirt Lavi had given to me the day before and then followed Lavi, who had already picked up the clothes we had decided to buy and left the changing booth. I hurried after him and caught up with him just as he reached Lenalee, who was standing close to the checkout counters with a few pieces of clothing in hand.

Lavi made a comment about a skirt she wanted to buy and received a whack in the head in reply that had him whining about how she had hit his panda-bump spot on.

As the three of us joked and laughed together, I couldn't help but think about how much brighter the future appeared after spending just two days with these people.

Maybe I had finally found a place that I could call home again.

. Chapter 10 FIN .

A/N: Sooo, I hope you liked it! :) And don't forget to check out the OneShot in celebration of the 100th review, ne? I still can't believe it. 100 reviews! (actually already 111 by now o_O) I love you guys so much for all your support!
Oh, and for the next chapter, I've been thinking of focusing it on Lavi and Allen getting to know each other better by asking each other some questions, so here's a question for you: If you were Lavi, what kind of questions would you ask Allen? And if you were Allen, what kind of questions would you ask Lavi? I won't promise you to put in your questions because in the end it all depends on how the story flows, but your suggestions are always appreciated! :)

See ya all next chapter! x3