A/N: Hey guys! Guess who's still alive? That's right, I didn't drop off the face of the earth yet even though some of you might've thought so... you guys have no idea how sorry I am for not updating for AGES... school, exams, tons of homework, tests, driving lessons, you name it, I had it robbing me off my scarce free time.
Anyway, as you can see, I do still exist, and thanks to the first week of my summer holidays I actually managed to write this, finally... and just in time before I leave town for a week in... eight hours. I should probably go to sleep or finish packing or both. but I didn't want you guys to have to wait ANOTHER week x'D so yeah, I know it's unbelievable, but HERE'S CHAPTER 11! xD

the nice cover picture by the way doesn't belong to me but to the awesome Hanashi o suru who kindly drew it for me when I mentioned to her that I'd have to find someone to draw one for me :) but if any of you are interested and bored enough to draw cover art for me (or any other art to my fanfiction for that matter), please do and I'll love you forever! I was considering changing the cover picture every now and then if more of you decided to draw one and eventually make a poll on which one the readers like best, but that's just a thought ~

other than that, like I said I'll be gone for a week starting tomorrow, so please don't be surprised if it takes me a while to reply to your reviews, cause people who have already reviewed once know that I always reply to my reviewers! I won't have internet where I'm staying but as soon as I'm back I'm going to reply to you all! :)

Now after this giant A/N, without further ado - enjoy Chapter 11 of PIT! x3

Chapter 11 – Question Time

"Would you like some hot chocolate?" I asked loud enough for the white-haired boy in the living room to hear me from the kitchen.

I had just finished washing the dishes and putting away everything Allen and I had used for our late breakfast – it had taken me a while to convince the boy that he didn't have to help me, but I had managed to make him go back to the living room first.

"Yes please!" I heard him reply and promptly began preparing two mugs of the warm liquid.

It was cold outside today and even though it was only about noon, hot chocolate seemed like a great idea to me right now. That and snuggling into a blanket on a comfy couch in a warm living room.

We had been out shopping until the stores closed yesterday and I had helped Allen put away his new stuff in my closet in the bedroom, or more specifically in the half of the closet that I had hurriedly emptied by grabbing it's contents and stuffing them into the other half. It wasn't the best solution, but since I didn't really have a guest room, it would have to do for the time being.

Allen didn't seem to mind, on the contrary he seemed to be very uncomfortable about imposing on me. Which was understandable but also kind of illogical seeing as it was me who had offered him to stay with me in the first place.

With the two steaming mugs in my hands I made my way over to the living room where I found the white-haired teen sitting on the couch watching the news on a low volume with only mild interest, his legs and part of his stomach hidden under a large, warm blanket. So I wasn't the only one who thought that this day just screamed for hot chocolate and soft, warm blankets. I smiled at both the sight and the thought.

"Scoot over, will ya?" I said, still smiling, and Allen moved over to the left before pulling up the blanket to his right to allow me to slip under it. I grinned gratefully at him and handed him one of the mugs.

"Thank you," he said as I made myself comfortable now that I had one of my hands free, "it smells delicious!"

"You're welcome," I told him and we both took a sip of the warm liquid, sighing contentedly at the same time. I chuckled.

"So... what are we going to do on this beautiful day?" I asked sarcastically with a glance out of the window and snorted when the weather decided to prove my point by accompanying my question with the nice sound of thunder.

Allen chuckled softly at my words and snuggled deeper into the soft cushions. "I'd say we do something that doesn't involve going outside?" he suggested, making it sound more like a question.

"Sounds good to me," I agreed. "So... what would you like to do? You can choose today," I told him, partly because I myself didn't have any idea what to suggest.

I watched as the white-haired boy stared down at the mug of hot chocolate in his lap, humming in thought. A minute later, he sighed in defeat.

"Sorry, I can't come up with anything right now... why don't you suggest something instead?" he asked and I concluded that he was probably more comfortable with letting me decide, even if he did have something in mind that he'd like to do.

But what exactly would be a good thing to suggest? I thought about that for a while. I was almost sure that the boy would probably agree to pretty much anything I suggested, regardless of if he honestly liked the idea or not. He was just too shy and polite to act otherwise, in my opinion.

But honestly, what did I even know about him? I knew next to nothing. So how on earth could I suggest something that he could like? For example, he definitely didn't have the chance to watch TV when he was still homeless, but would he like watching a movie or is he simply not interested in watching TV since he got by without that pretty much useless activity for who knows how long?

Gaah, it makes me want to pull my awesome hair out!, I inwardly shouted, then blushed slightly when I noticed Allen's questioning look. I must've made a pretty stupid face. Oh well...

"Ne, beansprout?" I asked, grinning at the face he made when he heard the nickname. I paid no mind to it though and continued, "It's kind of hard to think of something fun to do when I have no idea whatsoever what you actually like, you know? You strike me as the person who'd just go along with whatever I suggest regardless of if they like it or not."

He winced slightly at that and didn't meet my eyes, a tiny hint of red on his cheeks. Ha, so I was right about that.

"In fact, we pretty much don't know anything about each other, which is kind of stupid considering the fact that we're going to live together from now on, ne?" I grinned at him. "So how about this: Let's take turns and ask each other questions! That way we can get to know each other better and kill some time! What do you say?"

Allen shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He smiled at me and I smiled back happily.

"Okay then," I said, still smiling, "Would you like to ask the first question or do you want me to begin?"

"You can start if you want," he told me, took a sip of his hot chocolate and leaned back into the cushions.

I thought about what to ask for a second, absentmindedly running a hand through my unruly hair as I did so. Better start with something simple, right?

"So... when's your birthday?" I asked after a moment. I couldn't see Allen's face from where I was sitting since my view was blocked by the cushions, but I was one second away from asking if he had fallen asleep when he replied.

"December 25," he said happily, but I couldn't help thinking that something was off.

I was probably just paranoid because he still was quite a mysterious person to me, I told myself and shrugged it off.

"On Christmas? How cool is that? My birthday's on August 10." I told him. "Anyway, it's your turn to ask a question now!"

"Ummm...," he made as he thought about something to ask about. Eventually he said, "Why does Komui have such a huge sister complex?"

I snickered at that. Komui, huh? So he wasn't going to ask about me just yet? Well, I guess it's just logical that he's interested in that, seeing as how the purple-haired man had reacted to him.

"Well, I know it's not exactly an apology for his behavior towards you yesterday, but their parents were robbed and murdered when the two were younger. Ever since then the two had to take care of themselves and Komui is very protective of his sister since she's the only family he has left..." I trailed off for a second, remembering the time just after I had come to this city with the old panda. "Then, about four years or so ago, some guy tried to molest Lenalee - and he probably would've succeeded if it hadn't been for Yuu."

"Huh?" Allen interrupted me, puzzled. "Me?"

I started for a second before bursting out laughing. "Oh, sorry. It was a guy named Yuu – Y-u-u, not y-o-u. He's Japanese. Anyway, Yuu apparently showed up just in time and scared the guy off or something like that. The point is, Komui never forgave himself for that incident and still blames himself for not protecting her. As you can imagine, his sister complex pretty much skyrocketed then and he's more than suspicious of pretty much any male in Lena-lady's life. Like I said before, I know that it's not an apology for his attitude, but it's an explanation at least. I'm certain that he is truly sorry though, and I hope you'll give him another chance. Besides his sister complex and his craziness, he's a good guy, really."

Allen sat up and placed the empty mug on the couch table before turning to look at me. "I'm not angry at him or anything," he said calmly, "I already suspected that he must have a good reason for acting this way. I can somewhat understand him, I guess..." He paused for a moment. "Well, it's your turn again," he said with a smile.

"Okay then, you said your birthday is on Christmas Day – that wasn't even two months ago. So, how old are you now?"

"I'm sixteen," he simply replied. Ah, so my first guess had been correct.

"What do you usually do on Sundays if you're alone?"

"Well... I usually sleep in, read a book and generally just laze around I guess... hmm... why the whole Post-It note thing?" I asked, honestly interested. How did you come up with such an idea?

Allen blushed. "I felt bad for stealing, okay? It's not as if I like taking stuff away from people who worked hard to be able to buy it...," he mumbled. Awwwh, how cute was that?

"Aww, you're such a nice person~" I half said half sang as I hugged him for a moment before leaning back again and watching the color on his face intensify. I chuckled. "Well then, it's your turn again." I smiled at him.

"Okay, why did you tell Komui I was gay?" Allen blurted out immediately.

My smile grew into a grin. "It was simply the easiest way to get him to leave you alone. I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable though.." I scratched my head, the grin turning slightly awkward.

"No, no, don't worry about it!" He waved his hands in front of me defensively. "Thanks, I guess," he added more quietly.

I smiled broadly at him and ruffled his hair. "You're welcome, little buddy!"

He made a face at me messing up his hair but gave me a small smile as soon as I stopped doing that.

"Does it make you uncomfortable that I'm gay?" I bluntly asked, "I mean, I suppose you already gathered that thanks to Komui's comment yesterday.."

"What? No, of course it doesn't. See, I don't like lying, and if what you told Komui yesterday to make him leave me alone had been a lie, I would've protested. I really don't swing that way." He grinned at my dumbfounded expression, a light blush coloring his cheeks. "What?"

"Nothing..." I muttered under my breath. For some reason I wouldn't have expected that. Strange, considering the way his face keeps heating up when I enter his personal space. I inwardly chuckled at myself – now that I thought about it, it was actually kind of obvious; no straight guy would keep getting so flustered.

Then I remembered something and immediately became serious again. 'Oh, so that's why you took him in.'

I frowned. Well thanks to Komui for making this more awkward than it already is...

"Well, then I hope you didn't take Komui's comment seriously, because that certainly isn't why I took you in." I explained, looking him in the eyes. My serious expression and whatever he saw in my eyes seemed to convince him, and he nodded at me, a smile ghosting around his lips.

"I believe you," he said.

I smiled at him, relieved, and he returned the smile wholeheartedly.

After a short silence, I asked, "So... where were we?"

Allen snapped out of his thoughts and frowned. "Umm, I think it was my turn to ask a question."

"Okay, shoot."

"Well... why did you take me in, then?" He asked, the tone of his voice reminding me of someone hesitating to touch an expensive vase in fear of accidentally breaking it. I guessed he wasn't sure if he wanted to know that. I, on the other hand, wasn't even sure how to answer that.

"Err.. Well at first, I was really angry at you. I thought you were an old man, by the way, you can thank your hair for that. I was pretty pissed off that you robbed me multiple times, and well, the taunt with the bike was kinda mean too, actually." I watched him chuckle nervously, scratching his head. "Anyway, I was determined to catch you and, well, I don't know. Yell at you or something. Take you to the police, whatever. When I grabbed your arm in that alley and you spun around though, I saw that you were just a boy, and-"

"And you took pity on me?" he interrupted, his tone slightly bitter.

"No. No, not exactly. The thing is..." I said, unsure how to express myself. "I saw your eyes. You know how people say that eyes are the windows to one's soul? At that moment I really believed that. I can't explain it well, but..." I sighed. "Let's just say it was enough to quench my anger towards you and leave me thinking. Eventually I just came to the conclusion that if what I thought I saw in your eyes was the truth, I just couldn't leave you alone." Because there was once a time where I hated my life, too, and without someone to pull me out of there I don't know what would've happened to me.

"I know that it's absurd to just randomly invite a stranger to live with me," I continued, "and I can't even properly explain why I did it, but I haven't found a reason to regret my decision yet and I'm confident that it will stay that way." I smiled at him, willing him to understand my admittedly shaky standpoint. How do you explain to someone why you did something when you don't even know the answer to that yourself?

The white-haired boy next to me seemed to accept my explanation though, and I began wondering why I was the only one talking so much in this conversation.

"Okay, my turn to ask a question again," I said. "If you don't mind me asking, for how long have you been living on the street?" I hoped that this wasn't a touchy subject for him, but Allen surprised me with answering immediately and straight to the point.

"About a year." he simply said. I wanted to continue asking more personal questions, but there were several reasons why I thought I shouldn't yet. Besides, it was his turn. I told him that and he asked the next question.

"Why haven't you asked about my past yet?"

I looked at his anxious expression and smiled softly. "Well, do you want me to? I didn't want to pry, I thought it was an uncomfortable topic for you. Besides, you haven't asked about mine, either," I explained, pointing at my eye-patch. For a moment, Allen looked as if he hadn't even considered that, then he smiled at me. "I see."

"Umm... will you let me see your arm again?" I asked him, not sure if he'd be okay with that. But if he was, I thought this might be a good way to earn his trust since apparently he had had some bad experiences involving his left arm. He was so terrified when I saw it that I was determined to show him that I didn't mind it in the slightest.

I saw a flicker of fear flash in his eyes before he reluctantly nodded and held out his left arm. I gently took his hand with my right and used my left hand to pull up the fabric of the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing, exposing the red skin underneath.

I shot a glance at his face and saw how anxious he looked, so I decided to act as if I didn't know he was staring and placed my hands on the rough skin of his arm. I let my fingers trail along his arm to his wrist gently, tracing unknown patterns as I took in the feeling of touching leathery, slightly scaly skin instead of the soft texture one would usually expect. It wasn't unpleasant though, and I couldn't understand why he'd have to be so scared of people seeing it. Of course an arm that looked like this was highly unusual, but it wasn't as if it mattered.

"Why?" said Allen, his voice a little raspy and shaky.

"Why what exactly, Allen?" I asked quietly, still stroking his arm with my fingers.

"Why are you different from the others? Why are you reacting to my arm like this?" He looked at me, eyes full of doubt. "There were only ever two people in my life who didn't care about my arm."

I met his unsure eyes with my astonished one. "Really? Then you don't seem to have had much luck with your acquaintances until now. Honestly, I bet Lenalee would react quite similar to how I did. And your arm really is nothing to be ashamed of, not at all. It's part of who you are and it doesn't make you hideous or a monster, if that's what you think." The determined look I gave him when I said that elicited a slightly crooked smile from him and I thought for a moment I saw his beautiful silvery-gray eyes water up a little.

Without thinking about it, I asked another question. "So have you been born with your arm like this?" I playfully poked the red skin and saw the corners of Allen's mouth twitch before he answered.
"Yeah, I was born with it. My parents apparently were very religious and thought I was the devil's spawn or something, so they abandoned me." The pained expression in his eyes betrayed his neutral and detached tone and I fought the urge to hug and comfort him – he didn't act unfazed for nothing, he probably didn't want to be comforted right now.

He looked away then and his voice was perfectly calm when he spoke again, his tone curious this time. "Why aren't you living together with your guardian?"

I snorted. "With the old Panda? I already see him almost every day at work, he's way too violent to see him 24/7. Don't look at me like that," I added when I saw his shocked expression, "it's not like he's abusive... much..."
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Well I think it's just his way of showing affection. At least, I hope it is." I chuckled and he grinned at me. "He's kind of a withdrawn person and I think he doesn't enjoy my constant company very much, and I didn't want to be a burden on him so I moved out. Plus, this new freedom is a nice change." At that I leaned back into the soft cushions, stretching with a smile on my face.

"Ne, Allen? Is that your natural hair color?" I asked after a moment of silence, just after I realized that it was my turn to ask a question again. I was trying to tiptoe around topics involving his past without directly asking about it so he didn't have to reveal anything if he didn't want to.

"Well, yes and no." was the reply, and I raised an eyebrow and sat back up again, looking at Allen's face. He looked as if he was trying to figure out how to explain himself, so I figured that if he was already thinking about an explanation, I might as well ask for one.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I originally had reddish brown hair, but it turned white from shock when..." he paused for a second, frowning, "um, actually, I don't really want to talk about that. Let's just say something happened before I became homeless that caused my hair to turn white and leave it at that, okay?" he looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Sure, don't worry about it, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." I smiled reassuringly. "Okay, your turn again."

"Um, you don't have to answer if it's too personal, but why the eye-patch?"

I grinned half-heartedly. "When I was a little kid, my parents died in a car crash. I was in the car, too, on the back seat, and I got lucky." I pointed to my eye-patch. "Glass shard. Other than losing my eye I only had scratches and bruises, a few broken bones, but nothing too serious. I was the only one who survived that crash." I sighed. Back then they had called it a miracle, and I must've been the only one who would've liked it better if I had died, too. I had felt so abandoned back then...

I ran a hand through my hair and tried to clear my head. "Anyway, I was given the choice – either a glass eye or an eye-patch. I chose an eye-patch because it's just way cooler." At that I grinned broadly, causing Allen to erupt into laughter.

My grin turned into a soft smile as I watched him laugh, his voice clear and melodic. It made me happy to see that he was able to continue laughing like that regardless of what he had gone through so early in his life.

The white-haired boy next to me stopped laughing, noticed my smile and raised an eyebrow at me. "Why are you smiling like that?"

I snapped out of it. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind." He shook his head absentmindedly, frowning. "Your turn to ask a question."

I thought about it for a moment before asking, "So, if your parents abandoned you, who raised you?"

I watched as his expression turned sad and distant and regretted the question immediately. "Sorry, you don't have to answer if you-"

He interrupted me. "No, it's okay. Well, I grew up in an orphanage. At some point I was adopted by a man named Mana Walker. He was the first person that didn't either shun or condemn me because of my arm." I watched Allen as he talked, the way his eyes shone with unshed tears, adoration, nostalgia and love when he began talking about Mana, and couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the guy for it was simply impossible that Allen had just left him.

"Mana and I –" Allen never finished his sentence, for someone chose this exact moment to ring the doorbell.

Both of us looked up and the younger boy next to me shot me a questioning glance.

"I don't know who it could be, I'm not expecting anyone. I'll just go get the door, wait here." With that I rose from the comfy sofa, crossed the room in a few long, quick strides and hurried to the front door.

I opened the door to find, to my surprise, the landlord on my doorstep. With his unruly dark hair and his baggy, casual clothes he didn't look like someone who would own an apartment building at all, but I knew that he wasn't unqualified and I was glad that he wasn't stuck-up but actually a nice person to talk to.

"It's been a while, Mr. Morikawa. What can I do for you today?"

The man smiled at me sheepishly, scratching his head. "Well, you see, Mr. Bookman – You're kind of late with paying your rent for the month..."

My eyes widened at that – paying my rent had completely slipped my mind with all the stuff that had happened since Allen moved in.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry about that! I completely forgot, I'm such an airhead these days... Do you want me to give it to you right away or should I transfer the money to your bank account first thing tomorrow morning?"

He smiled at me, obviously relieved that it was just a mistake on my part and his problem was solved. "Either way is fine with me, but if you have the money here it would probably be easiest to just give it to me right now."

"Sure thing, just wait a moment, please," I said and turned around to go fetch the money I owed him. I moved past the ajar living room door and turned right, making my way to my bedroom where I had hidden away a certain amount of money. Seconds later I returned to the hallway with the money in hand, smiled at Mr. Morikawa and handed it to him.

"There you go, sir. I'm truly sorry for not paying sooner."

"Ah, don't worry about it. No harm done, right?" He smiled at me and I returned his smile.

"Thank you, sir" I glanced back towards the living room before turning to face my landlord again. "Well, if there isn't anything else..."
"Actually, there is," Mr. Morikawa replied to my surprise.

I raised an eyebrow. "There is? What is it?"

"I have heard that you are currently not the only one residing in your apartment, is that correct?"

Wow, news sure traveled fast. I wondered who had told him that. But I didn't have time to think about that right now – I had to think of the best way to phrase my arguments now.

"That is correct, sir. The tenancy law states though that it is not necessary to inform the landlord of someone's stay as long as the person does not stay or intend to stay for longer than six weeks. I hope you do not think that I was planning on keeping my temporary roommate a secret from you, Mr. Morikawa – I merely had not been sure if my guest was going to stay here permanently, so I did not contact you about it before."

The landlord didn't look fully convinced, but there was a hint of a compliment in his voice as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said, "You sure know your literature, Mr. Bookman. So I assume you now know if your guest would like to stay permanently?"

I nodded, smiling kindly. "Yes, sir. Allen would very much like to live in this apartment together with me, and I will take full responsibility of paying the rent without fail. Seeing as two people living here does not exceed the limit of people allowed to live in the apartment, there should not be any reason for you to be against it. So, would you grant permission for him to remain here?"

The landlord tapped his stubbly chin in thought. "What did you say was your guest's name?"

"Allen, sir. Allen Walker."

I watched as the landlord let his gaze wander, thinking about my words. Eventually, he nodded.

"Very well, I will allow it. I will send you the necessary documents for Mr. Walker to sign as soon as possible. Have a nice day, Mr. Bookman." And with that he turned on his heel and left.

I closed the door behind him and sighed. That went surprisingly well, actually. I would've thought he'd at least want to meet Allen... Strange. I shrugged to myself and went back to the living room to find Allen still sitting on the couch, though this time snuggled up into the blanket and with his arms around his legs. He looked as if he was shivering.

"What's with that posture, beansprout?" I asked.

No answer.

I frowned. Something was definitely wrong. "Allen? Are you okay?" I asked as I rounded the couch to look at him.

When I saw his face, I paused. He was staring straight ahead, his eyes wide and glazed over, his expression a mixture of shock, fear and sadness.

Immediately I grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him, first gently, then, when I didn't get a reaction out of him, more roughly. "Allen! Hey, Allen, snap out of it!"

I watched as he blinked and shook his head, fear still in his eyes. He looked up at me in half surprise, obviously confused.

"Are you okay?" I asked again, only this time he replied.

"Y-yeah..." he uttered, his voice raspy. "Yeah, I'm fine now. Sorry."

I raised an eyebrow, concerned. "You sure?" I sat down next to him on the sofa, taking his hand and squeezing it gently.

He flashed me a slightly pained smile. "I'm sure. I just... remembered something."

I could see that he was still shaking uncontrollably and didn't buy it. "Allen... don't just pretend you're fine when you're clearly not. I thought you hated lying."

His head snapped up and he looked at me with wide eyes, as if surprised that I saw through him even though it was more than easy to see that he was hurting for some reason, traumatized by something even. I didn't know what had triggered this reaction – maybe our conversation from before, after all I pretty much left him alone to think after he had started talking about bits of his past – but I was not going to ignore it just because he pretended to be fine.

So I just calmly held his gaze and watched his eyes slowly water up, tears threatening to spill. "Allen.. just because you don't want to explain it to me, that doesn't mean I can't comfort you."

My words seemed to have been the last straw, and the expression on Allen's face as the first overflowing tears began leaving wet trails on his cheeks almost broke my heart.

Wrapping my arms around him, I pulled him into a warm embrace and pressed his head against my chest, my other hand gently trailing circles on his back as he cried into my shirt.

"Shh...," I made, patting his head as he sobbed, not caring about the wetness I could feel seeping through my shirt. "Don't worry about it, just take your time to let it all out, sometimes you just need that to calm yourself."

I could feel his hand grabbing my shirt and curling into a fist at my gentle words as I held him, softly rocking us back and forth. We sat like that for a while until the boy in my arms became silent and his breathing calmed down.

I gently loosened my grip on him and leaned back a bit, which prompted him to do the same and rub his now red, slightly puffy eyes dry with his sleeves. He looked at me with gratitude in his eyes and smiled a real smile at me this time, a smile that was so breathtaking that it left me stunned for a moment. How could someone who had just cried their eyes out suddenly shine so brightly? "Thank you, Lavi."

I snapped out of my thoughts and stood up, ruffling through his white locks affectionately. "You're welcome, buddy." I flashed him a grin.

"Now, would you like some more hot chocolate?" That said, I grabbed our mugs from the coffee table and made my way to the kitchen.

"Sure!" he called after me.

And I smiled.

. Chapter 11 FIN .

A/N: For anyone who's confused about that tenancy law stuff, that's just how (I think o.O) it works in my country, but it was kinda hard to get info on that cause, well, you know how all of this law stuff is phrased, right? yeah, nuff said. and if it doesn't work like that, I don't really care because I don't know any better, don't blame me please, until now I've never had to deal with tenancy law so I really have no idea if I understood everything correctly Q_Q even if I didn't, please just pretend it works that way? thanks x'D

I love you all, by the way, even if you attack me with pitchforks now that you know that I didn't die but simply didn't update for two friggin months! O_O

bye! xxxx

~ bakaxusagi