Should I be studying? Yes. Am I? No. Why? I am so done with this semester ;P

On another, much better note that I think you will all appreciate, I think I have a clear idea of where this fanfic is going. Since the long break, I lost my way, but now it has been found, and school will pay.

Nah, I'll leaving rhyming to the people who can rhyme. Please just enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 21

Allen's POV

A few weeks after accepting Lavi as my boyfriend (or was it the other way around?) I found myself laying down on my stomach on the bed, reading Lavi's newest song and adding suggests on the side. Next to me, Lavi sat on the floor, drying his hair with a towel. Somehow the simple silence between us felt like enough to me. I could stay there for hours without saying a word to him, and yet still feel happy. I am sure he felt the same way, since he would often come into my room to join me or hang out. We kiss too, and (embarrassing, I have to admit) we cuddle or simple just sit side by side. The simplicity of it all made my heart feel full, and as time passed, I knew I had made the right choice in falling in love with Lavi all over again. Although, in all truth, I do not really know if I ever fell out of love with him.

"What do you think of the song?" Lavi asked me, turning to look at me with his green eye sparkling in a way similar to a fire cracker.

"I think it has potential. It needs some work, but I think it could definitely make it into our list of favorites," I replied, making a note in the margin to suggest a different lyric. "Hey Lavi, there is something that has been bothering me."

Lavi stopped trying to dry his hair with the towel. He turned his entire body around to face me, and leaned against the bed, his face next to mine.

"What's bothering you?" he responded, the spark gone from his eyes, now concern replacing it.

"It's nothing really important," I quickly assured him. "I just wanted to ask you how far everyone intends to go on in the band. I mean, I understand that you used it as a way to stay in contact with our allies, and everyone plays because they want to, but have you ever thought of going professional?"

Lavi's expression became considerate, and he leaned onto his elbow slightly. I studied him carefully, drinking in the details of him that I had never been able to enjoy before. At least not up close. My hormones as a teenager aside, I found Lavi extremely interesting as a person in terms of facial structure and coloring. If he could age, I could only imagine the kind of adult he would grow into. But a shame, that he would never age past eighteen.

"We have talked about it before on occasion," he admitted at last. "Most of us would love to go public, even at the chance of just becoming a small indie group. However, the Earl and some of the Noahs wonder what would happen if we become public figures. Kanda, Daisya, and Marie all reincarnated. What's to say the other Exorcists were not also granted a chance to walk the earth once more?"

"They could be like Marie and Daisya, who have not yet remembered their past lives," I pointed out. He nodded.

"That is true, however, the Earl suspects that there is a significant chance that something will trigger their memories," Lavi replied. "And the same goes for the other Exorcists."

"Will we spend this life living in fear then?" I asked him, meeting his gaze. "Will we hide, blending in with everyone else, like the witch trials?"

He frowned.

"We are in the twenty first century now," I continued on. "Any who accuse of witch craft will be considered insane. And those few who believe them will not be able to do much against us. The times are different now."

His gaze softened.

"You raise a valid point," he admitted. He smirked then, climbing onto the bed to lay next to me. I shifted to give him room so he wouldn't fall off. Side by side we lay, his arm cast over my shoulders. After a moment he then rolled over onto me. I grunted at the added weight, grimacing. He felt like a ton of bricks.

"You're heavy," I grumbled, disgruntled. He laughed, a strange sensation I felt through my back.

"Well, of course! I'm six feet of pure muscle!" he said proudly. A twinge of envy ran through me.

"Are you sure it's muscle and not fat?" I asked him.

"Hey!" he protested. "I'll have you know that if it was fat, I would be lighter! Muscles make you heavier."

I lifted my head, turning it to look at him.

"Seriously?" I asked. He nodded.

"That's why people who swim and have lots of muscle have a harder time floating. People with more fat can float more easily," he explained. Suddenly, it made sense why I always sank to the bottom of the pool, or lake, or any body of water, really.

"Totally did not know that," I murmured. Suddenly I remembered our conversation from before. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously. "You're not trying to distract me from what we were talking about before, are you?"

He gave me an innocent look, one I actually had a difficult time determining if it was real or fake.

"No, I wasn't," he replied. "I was thinking about talking to the Earl, you know? He may think it's okay for us to go out. Because you're right; things are different now."

We spent a minute or so just staring into each other's eyes. After a moment, I tried to roll over. We broke eye contact as Lavi raised himself off of me. I rolled onto my back, making no move to slip out from under him, and after a moment of hesitation he lay back down on me, only supported by his elbows.

"I thought you would be excited about that," he murmured, his eye searching my face for an indicator of what was on my mind, I think.

"I was only listening to about half of what you were saying," I admitted. He looked surprised, but then he began to chuckle.

"Were you distracted?" he asked, his voice lilting slightly as he gently teased me.

"Maybe," I answered vaguely. After a moment, I reached up to him, wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him down to me so that I could kiss him. Our lips met, and like always I found my eyes closing of their own accord, my hands wandering into his damp locks. Strange, how when we kissed, simply kissed, it still did not feel like I could get enough of him. To be honestly, if one of us let a little tongue slip in, I feel that we may find our situation escalating into territory neither one of us wanted to venture into yet.

Damn. Lavi was becoming my addiction.

My eyes snapped open, and I broke away. He looked startled.

"I have inspiration for a song," I blurted. He blinked at me, a little lost for a moment. Then he smiled, burying his face into the crook of my neck. Hesitantly I wrapped my arms back around him to hold him.

"Only you could find inspiration in a moment like that," he told me, voice muffled.

"I don't inspire you when we're together?" I asked, a little hurt.

"Well, you do," he admitted. "But I enjoy kissing you and stuff too much to let it burst out."

"Sorry," I apologized.

"Don't be," he told me softly, raising himself up once more. He smiled warmly. "I am with you because I like you as you are. Don't change because of something I say."

After a moment he sat up, pulling away. He took the fallen sheets of his song and gave Allen a lopsided grin.

"Let's get started on your song then, and we can work together, okay?"

I wondered when he became so sweet. Or maybe we brought the best out of each other. Either way, I liked Lavi like this.

::

Lavi's POV

After helping Allen with his new song (which actually gave me a much deserved boost of confidence in myself), I caught a ride from Tyki, who apparently had to run some errands in the areas. He drove me back home, where I stayed with the Noahs and Bookman.

During the drive back, my mind wandered, contemplating the topic Allen brought up. We've played for so long, never pursuing anything more than a band in someone's basement/garage, I had forgotten about most of our secret wishes and dreams. But always in the back of our minds, we knew we had to stay hidden in case the Black Order's Exorcists had been reborn. After hearing Allen speak, I realized that while not wholly foolish, we have been overly cautious. Despite the blow they gave the Earl in the 1700s, and their continued existence, the times have not been kind to them. They have lost ground in terms of their war. Innocence lost, Innocence destroyed, Exorcists passing into legend, nearly. The church lost power, they no longer have the means to wage war against the Noahs.

Why couldn't we live like we wanted to? Without a war, we are normal people, simply with longer lies and our own abilities. Well, the Noahs have their own abilities, and I have Innocence. But that aside, we lived just like everyone else. Why should we put a stop to our dreams simply because of a fear lingering from the past?

"You're being awfully quiet," Tyki remarked as he pulled up to a stoplight. I came out of my thoughts, head swiveling around confusedly.

"Hmm?" I hummed intelligently. He snorted, switching on the blinker.

"Usually after you've been hanging out with Allen, you have a happy look on your face, and you're constantly humming to yourself," he explained, checking to make sure no one was around as he made a (slightly illegal) left turn on red. "Something on your mind? I seem to be the one my bandmates come to for advice."

Well, you are pretty old, I thought to myself. Actually, I felt a little sorry for Tyki. Compared to the rest of us, He and Marie looked like old geezers. I'm sure that anyone who saw them playing instruments next to us would think of them as jobless bums or something, people without lives.

"If you had the opportunity," I began slowly, wondering if I would sound stupid asking him this. "Would you go pro?"

He glanced at me from the corner of his eye.

"You mean like our band actually performing in front of people?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

He hummed, a slightly troubled look on his features.

"I suppose I would," he said at last. "It seems like an adventure. I mean, look at all of those bands who split up, and replace each other. Such drama."

I winced. Maybe becoming a professional band wasn't such a good idea after all.

"But I think we would be better than them," Tyki added. He wore a big grin on his face. "I mean, how many bandmates have stuck together as long as us? We're all pretty crazy, especially those humans who were reborn and decided to join us. They certainly are crazy, don't you think?"

"You may be right," I agreed with a small smile. "But considering how we all lack our sanity I think it's the reason we work so well together."

Tyki pulled up to the curb of our home, putting the car into park.

"Will you ask the Earl if we can pursue that possible future?" he asked me.

"Yes," I answered. "The Black Order may still exist, but in this world, do you really think they can hurt us? Imagine, a witch hunt in this age, where science is everything."

"I wasn't arguing with you," said Tyki. "In fact, I would love to follow my precious family into fame—"

"I didn't say anything about becoming famous," I interrupted him, but he chose to ignore that statement.

"—because I will always stand with my family," he finished. He gave my shoulder a firm clap. "I'm sure that you can convince the Earl to allow us to do what we want to. I think he will be unable to deny you when you speak on behalf of all of his children."

"Does the Earl think of me as one of his children?" I asked slowly. Once, I hated him, feared him. Especially after Allen's death, where he took my eye, and cursed me with immortal life under his control. But time is a strange thing. It can turn a friend into a lover, an enemy into a friend. A friend into a parent. After so many decades, I have come to see him differently. Like a father. Figure. Father-figure.

"You should ask him that yourself," Tyki suggested. "If you have doubts as to your relationship with someone, you always need to discuss it with that person, and find your own answer."

I sighed, wondering why he had to sound wiser than usual. Usually I would write him off, but today he just had to be so wise.