It's Christmas Eve now and Cross had succeeded in making a full-grown man cry (Komui) and getting hit numerous times (Neah, Tyki, Lavi, Lenalee, Kanda, Klaud, and Komui after he had calmed down). Allen did nothing to help the man, thinking since he personally didn't want to hurt Cross for leaving like that, he would leave that privilege to his friends.
Allen stayed home from school for the rest of the week to finish healing and to be able to get everything sorted in his life again. The nightmares kept up and Allen would wake up with some sort of self-inflicted injury on himself, the newest being scratches around his stomach and on his thighs. The cuts on his chest healed enough to take the bandages off and Allen saw, to his relief, the cuts weren't as deep as he thought they were, so they won't leave scars.
Neah was able to get a house close to Tyki's and they are now in the process of getting the rest of the boxes into the house, which has taken a while since Neah's moving van came with all of his junk from his first home.
"This box goes into the living room, right?" Cross lifts a heavy box, making it look like he's carrying just the box with nothing inside.
"What's inside of it?" Allen asks, wobbling over to the taller man and peeking inside the box. "Yeah, just place it behind the couch with the other boxes." Cross nods and goes inside while Allen continues supervising everything. Allen was forced to take it easy because of the scratches on his legs and stomach. They just happened the other night and Neah told him that he was to just supervise the moving, not actually acting in it. Allen persuaded him that he was fine, just a bit sore, and that he could still help carry the light boxes in. All the light boxes were carried in at the beginning, so Allen was left to stand around and watch people.
"Hey Allen!" Lavi races towards the white-haired teen from across the yard, "How are things coming along?" He throws an arm over his shoulders.
"Everything's fine so far. I'm just kinda mad at Neah for making me watch these people and tell them where to put everything." Allen crosses his arms across his stomach, being careful of the scratches there, "Worst of all, Tyki and Cross backed him up! I feel so betrayed." He sniffles a bit and Lavi pulls him closer with a smile on his face.
"You know they're just looking out for you. They don't want you to over-exert yourself." Allen lets out a sound of frustration and Lavi's smile grows. "How are the scratches?" He looks down at Allen's stomach and thighs as if he could see them through his clothes.
"They're fine. I wrapped them up, so they should heal without any trouble."
"The only problem is that it looks like something is stuck up your ass when you walk." Allen flushes and shrugs Lavi's arm off before smacking it. "I'm just speaking the truth."
"Oh shut up. Go move some boxes." Lavi quickly kisses his lips before running to the moving van. Allen blushes an even darker shade and pouts at Lavi as he walks by before telling him where to put the box. He rubs at his arms, shivering slightly at the breeze. 'Why did we do this in the middle of winter? At least it's not snowing.'
They finish getting the boxes in and everyone huddles inside to get away from the cold. The house is big enough for a small family, so everybody doesn't have to squish together to make room, thankfully.
"God, it's freezing outside." Neah mumbles as he brings out a tray full of hot cocoa with mugs he dug out of one of the boxes.
"Well, it is winter; I'd be worried if it wasn't cold outside." Allen adds with a smile, thanking Neah for the hot drink. "Did Lenalee and Kanda not want to come?" He asks Lavi before Neah could say anything.
"They wanted to come, but Tiedoll kept Kanda for some last-minute decorating and Komui dragged Lenalee off somewhere before I could get an answer out of her." Lavi takes a sip from the mug, taking in every bit of warmth he can get from the hot drink. Allen nods his head and holds the mug in his hands, not really thirsty. The adults start talking about some business, Allen's not really paying attention, and he puts the mug on the table before standing up.
"Lavi, come on, lets go to my room. I want to start unpacking." Allen quietly says to Lavi, not wanting to disturb the adults in the room. Lavi nods his head and follows Allen into the hallway, mug in hand.
They enter a room filled with only an uncovered bed, a few boxes, and some shelves. The room has a bay window and hardwood floors, no carpeting whatsoever. The floor is chilly against their naked feet (they took their shoes off at the front door) as they make their way to the first pile of boxes.
"It's a really nice room. It's hard to come across hardwood floors nowadays." Lavi comments and Allen nods his head.
"Neah said he didn't have to fight much for the house though. Since it's Christmas Eve, no one is really moving around." Lavi walks up behind Allen and carefully wraps his arms around his stomach, being mindful of the scratches.
"I love you." Allen tenses for a second before relaxing again. He turns in Lavi's grip to face Lavi with a sad look on his face.
"Lavi-"
"I know you probably don't feel the same." Lavi stops Allen, "Not because you don't like me, but because I know it's hard for you to trust someone like that. I just want you to know that I love you, so when you feel comfortable enough, you can say it in confidence knowing that your feelings are reciprocated." Allen smiles and hugs Lavi close before giving him a small kiss on the lips.
"Thank you." Lavi steals his lips again, but Allen pulls away before it could get too far. "If Neah comes in here and sees that nothing is unpacked, he'll hurt you. Help me get this shelf moved." They move the tall shelf over to the corner of the room and fill it with Allen's books. They leave one shelf empty for the stereo and move onto the boxes by the door, wanting to clear out the doorway before someone trips on the clutter.
Lavi opens up one of the boxes on top and is met with multiple shoe boxes and frames filled with pictures. Most of the photos are of strange looking people in different poses, as if they were playing around.
He picks one up of a man with hair all over his body and a sign behind him that says 'See the amazing wolf-boy!', "God Allen, the circus had some weird people in it, huh?" Allen walks over from the closet, leaving the clothes on the floor, and looks at the photos in the box with a smile.
"Well, it was the circus, Lavi. The people there are supposed to be weird, or they wouldn't have a job." Allen picks up another picture of a woman with a full-grown beard, "Despite their appearances, they were all really nice people, and we treated each other like family; a big, dysfunctional family, at that." They continued to unpack the boxes late into the afternoon and succeeded in getting all of Allen's belongings into their rightful place just as the sun was starting to set.
"I should probably get back before Gramps gets mad." Lavi raises his arms above his head and arches his back, reminding Allen of a cat when they stretch, while letting out a huge yawn. "I'll see you tomorrow Allen, Merry Christmas!" Lavi gives Allen one more kiss before leaving the room and Allen can hear him saying goodbye and happy holidays to the adults down the hall.
Allen looks around the room once more and, feeling satisfied, leaves the room to the kitchen where Neah is putting away dishes. "Need any help?" Neah turns around, slightly surprised before settling again.
"If you want to, that'd be great, thanks." Allen gives him a smile before opening a small box and putting away the silverware inside. A few hours later, all the boxes in the kitchen have been cleared out and both men are fighting back yawns.
"Let's get to bed; we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Allen nods while rubbing at his eye, following Neah down the hallway before turning into his room.
"Good night Neah, Merry Christmas." Neah looks at his watch and lets out a laugh.
"Yeah, I guess it is Christmas now. Good night Allen, Merry Christmas." They both go into their own rooms and stay in there even after the sun comes up a few hours later.
.o.O.0.O.o.
I know this chapter is so freakin' short, but I just wanted to give all of you amazing people to hang onto until I get back into the groove of things. Everything has cooled down in RL, so all I have to do is get back into this story… That's why this chapter is so crappy and short and just horrible in general. God, I feel like I've failed all of you by not updating with a decent chapter in what felt like forever ;A; I had the story all planned out and somewhat written in my notebook, but the notebook was stolen by the gnomes that live in my closet (feel free to translate that any way you want). You know what I just noticed? I have 50 reviews for this story and I don't even know why! People love this story, but I just don't understand why when there are much better stories than mine… Thank you everybody for being patient with me and reviewing/favoriting/alerting my story~~!