Since absolutely everyone I knew thought that it was best, I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to propose to my girlfriend. And since Lenalee had said that she wanted a ring, and Cross was rather adamant that I get her one, I found myself at a jewelry store; if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right.

Besides, I had a couple hours to kill before she would be awake, and I did not like not having anything to do.

It was overwhelming at first, looking at the store's plethora of wedding and engagement rings. Despite the fact that I was supposed to be observant, I had absolutely no clue what Lenalee's taste in jewelry was. And I suddenly understood why Cross had been so specific about getting one with a real diamond; those things were expensive, and the thought of spending that much money on something as simple as a ring definitely clashed with my frugal spirit.

The jeweler laughed at how clearly lost I was, but she ended up being a great help - once I explained to her that I wasn't actually eighteen. I felt bad about it, as I ended up not liking any of her selection, none of them felt like anything Lenalee would like, but I was armed with a lot more knowledge of how rings worked, and that would help a lot later on.

I didn't really expect to find anything that morning; I was just looking and getting ideas, and hoping that I wouldn't have to go through with this. But when I saw that ring at the third store, I knew it was the right one. It reminded me of a necklace I'd seen Lenalee wear, a necklace that had looked absolutely gorgeous on her.

I worried briefly about getting Lenalee an engagement ring that was reminiscent of a keepsake from her mother, as I was a vampire and the woman had been killed by a vampire, but I decided that I thought that it was rather poetic. Besides, if it was an issue for Lenalee, then I could always return the ring and drag her out with me to get a new one.

I paid for the ring, and as I slipped the box into my jacket pocket, I suddenly wondered why I had been so against doing this. Proposing to Lenalee actually made perfect sense. I really did want to spend the rest of my life with that girl.

When my phone rang right after I walked out of the store, I answered it without looking at the caller ID, expecting it to be Lenalee. "Hello?"

It was definitely not my girlfriend; the male voice on the other end was laughing hysterically. I glared at my phone as I checked the screen to confirm that the caller was indeed who I thought it was. When I put the phone back to my ear, the other vampire was still laughing, and that definitely pissed me off a little. "What do you want, Tyki?"

As he continued to laugh, I suddenly realized that he was laughing at me. I had bought the ring using an account that the Noah monitored. A purchase that big would have flagged with Sherril immediately, and he had obviously already told everyone. I was kicking myself internally for being careless, and I was definitely harsher with Tyki than I normally would have been because of it. "Yes, I bought a ring. Now shut up and leave me alone. It's my day off."

The laughter died, and he started to protest, but I was already hanging up the phone.

As I expected, my phone beeped with a text message almost immediately. But as I scowled at the screen, I noticed that the sender was someone much friendlier than Tyki. And given that just the sight of her name on my phone made my heart race like that, I really did need to propose to that girl. -{{ Good morning. Are you feeling better? }}-

-{{ I am. Got any exciting plans for your day off? }}-

-{{ Just homework. I've fallen a bit behind lately. Too many distractions. }}-

I laughed at her text, not getting that she was calling me a distraction. -{{ Want me to come over and help you study? }}-

Her response was much more immediate than her previous texts. -{{ Only if you're actually going to help. }}-

I was still blinking at the words on the screen, wondering what she meant by that, when another text popped up. -{{ Sorry. That was harsh. }}-

-{{ I'd love the help, but I really do need to get this done. If you're going to come over, I need you to promise that studying is all we'll do. }}-

I still didn't understand what she was talking about, but I agreed to her demands without any hesitation. -{{ I promise. }}-

.x.x.

From the moment he arrived at my apartment, it was obvious that Allen wasn't lying when he said he was feeling better; he was relaxed and his smile reached his eyes. After he kissed me good morning, he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me close to him. "Sorry about last night."

I laughed nervously at his apology. "We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to."

He just laughed and shook his head at the suggestion. I was disappointed; after the crappy way I'd slept, I was definitely ready to drop that subject. But Allen didn't say anything remotely like what I was expecting him to say. "I thought about it, and you're right. Getting engaged is what we have to do." While I gaped at him in shock, he kissed my forehead and led me into the living room. "Now, let's see to that homework of yours."

We spent the next six hours sitting around the coffee table as he helped me with my homework. We laughed and joked, but the topic never strayed from whatever assignment I was working on, and I actually got quite a bit done. Our only break was when I stopped to make myself a sandwich for lunch. Allen never once tried to make us do something else, and there was no distracting touching or kissing.

At first, I thought it was because I had made him promise not to, but then I realized that that had nothing to do with it. He was here to help me and he wasn't going to stop until I didn't need his help anymore. It was slightly embarrassing that I had thought that he was going to turn the study session into something else. I really should have known that Allen wouldn't have intentionally distracted me from my homework.

Finished with the assignment I was working on, I closed the textbook and pushed it away from me. "I think that's good enough for today. Shall we go to dinner?"

Allen didn't respond, and I looked up to find him staring at his phone, texting. It was something I'd grown used to, he was frequently on his phone because of his job, but there wasn't supposed to be anything Noah related going on today, so it was frustrating that he was distracted by his phone.

Taking advantage of his distraction, I moved closer and took his phone from him. He protested and took it back, but not before I saw the last text he sent. I had planned to tease him about texting while he was supposed to be paying attention to me, but what I saw on his phone was really out of character. The last text Allen sent contained the middle finger emoji. "Who did you flip off?"

Allen was clearly still distracted, as his answer was far too honest and he didn't seem to care that I'd looked at his phone. His frustration over the texts was obvious. "Tyki. He's giving me crap about the ring I bought."

I could only stare blankly at him in reaction to those words. The texting was immediately forgotten. I could only focus on Allen's last four words. And I didn't have to ask to know that 'ring' actually meant 'engagement ring'. On top of that, he'd said 'bought'. Past tense. He'd already done it. Allen had already purchased an engagement ring for me. That whole thing had happened less than twenty four hours ago, and he had already bought a ring.

When I finally collected myself, Allen was giving me a weird look, concerned and waiting for me to tell him what was wrong. It took a moment for me to find my voice. "You bought a ring?"

I expected him to react like he had meant to keep it a secret, but instead he just seemed confused. "You said you wanted one."

That was true; we may have been coerced into an engagement, but that didn't mean I couldn't have a proper proposal, and I definitely wanted a ring. But even then, it was disconcerting that Allen had already bought one. "I didn't mean for you to immediately go out and buy one."

Allen merely shrugged in response. "I know. I just happened to find a good one the first time I went looking."

"But isn't that too fast?" I asked partially because I was freaked out and partially because it was weird that Allen was completely over his reservations from last night. "You didn't have to buy it. You could have just remembered where it was and gone back for it later."

He just shrugged again. "The sooner we do this, the sooner they'll get off my back about the whole thing. They may not have told me what my deadline was, but that doesn't mean they didn't give me one."

I didn't have an argument for that, so I changed the subject. "Can I see the ring?"

"No." His quick response hurt, but he just laughed it off and pulled me into a sideways hug. "It's bad enough that you already know that I'm going to propose. I want you to be at least a little surprised when I do it."

"I guess that makes sense." I was definitely disappointed that my curiosity wouldn't be satisfied, but I had to admit that Allen did have a point. As I tried to think of something to say that would convince him to change his mind, I suddenly recalled how we had gotten onto this subject. "Wait. How does Tyki know you bought a ring?"

Allen snorted. "I was careless and used one of the accounts they monitor. Sherril saw it and told the others. Tyki's trying to talk me out of proposing because he doesn't want to lose another bet with his brother over me."

I was curious what he meant by that, but I really didn't want to be talking about the Noah right now. "So, dinner. I've been cooped up inside all day, shall we go out somewhere?"

He laughed as he stood and pulled me to my feet. "Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere that's not Italian."

.x.x.

After dinner that night, we unsurprisingly ended up out at the bar with Allen's friends. Though I suppose, after everything that had happened lately, they were my friends too, and I probably should refer to them that way. It was also unsurprising that Allen had not proposed to me during dinner; he clearly wanted to put at least a little romance into it, and he was therefore not going to propose on the same day I learned about the ring.

And even more expected than both of those things combined was the fact that our friends all knew that he had been ordered to marry me. Those boys - Alma in particular - had no boundaries, and they all knew absolutely every detail about Allen's life. And I suppose, by that logic, it also made perfect sense that they knew that Allen and I had almost slept together just two nights earlier.

What was not expected was that Alma would pull me aside to talk about it.

While Allen was distracted by an argument with Kanda, the purple haired vampire grabbed me by my elbow and led me to a quiet corner of the bar. He sat down next to me on the bench, a little too close for comfort, and stared at me. I tried to slide over and put some space between us, he was really creeping me out, but my back hit the wall, signaling that there was nowhere to go. "What's going on, Alma?"

When he finally spoke, he seemed to struggle with his words. "There's something you should know. About having sex with Allen. He might be different afterwards."

His words put me even more on edge than I already was, my mind going wild wondering what that could possibly mean. Alma just laughed and pet my hair; the strange moment of seriousness in his behavior was gone. "Don't worry, it's nothing major. There just might be some slight changes to his personality."

"How is that not something to worry about?" I shoved his hand off my head. "And how would sleeping with me change his personality? Allen is definitely not one of those guys who turn abusive once they're in a relationship."

Alma laughed, probably at the ridiculous mental image of Allen being abusive, and the words he spoke next both calmed me down and made me more nervous. "Because he's a vampire."

"Oh." Once again, I was thinking of Allen as if he was human. I really needed to stop doing that.

"When a vampire has sex for the first time after their turning, their powers settle in and they become more in tune with their vampire nature. It's usually a subtle change, almost unnoticeable. But for vampires like Allen, who were virgins when they were turned, that change is a lot bigger." He paused his explanation to smirk at me. "You didn't really think we've been teasing Allen about being a virgin simply for fun, did you?"

The question made me blush, and that made Alma laugh. Having had enough of him talking without really saying anything concrete, I shoved him away from me. "Get to the point, Alma."

The purple haired vampire frowned. "But that's no fun."

When I did nothing but stare levelly at him, he hurried to fill the silence. "Ok, fine, have it your way. The point is that even though Allen's already more in touch with his powers than most vampires could ever hope to be, he's going to be stronger once you two have sex. And that's going to mess with his personality. There's no telling how drastic the change will be - knowing him, it'll probably be negligible - but you still need to be prepared."

That was the short version? But I think I finally understood what Alma was trying to tell me. "So basically what you're saying is that Allen is going to start acting more like a vampire."

His eyebrows knitted in thought. "I hadn't thought of it that way, but yes."

"And what was the point of telling me this? It obviously wasn't because you're concerned about me."

"Of course it was! How can you say that?" He pouted playfully at me, but it quickly turned into a serious stare. "If you're prepared for what's coming, then maybe it won't freak you out and scare you off. Allen needs you in his life."

And with those words, Alma got up and walked away. I sat there for a moment, processing everything I'd just heard, but then I too returned to our table. It really wasn't worth worrying about. If having sex with Allen was going to make him act more like a vampire, then that was all the more reason to do it. At the very least, it would put an end to my problem of forgetting that he's not human.