Chapter 28

10th August 2014

"Are you completely certain he's turning eighteen?" said Allen as he and Lenalee walked from the tram stop towards the large, colourful and slightly creepy entrance to Luna Park, "You're sure he's not turning nine?"

"Quite sure," laughed Lenalee, "He is in year twelve and have you seen how tall he is?"

"He could just be super smart and had to get bumped up eight grades," said Allen, "And some kids get freakish growth spurts when they're young," he sighed and then continued, "I just think it's a little strange for someone to want to spend their eighteenth birthday at an amusement park. I thought people had massive parties and the like. But then again, this is Lavi and his brain works in mysterious ways."

"Well, for your sake he'd better really be eighteen otherwise that would just be awkward when you realise you're in love with a nine year old," said Lenalee matter-of-factly. Allen blushed furiously and was starting to splutter protests when she interrupted him, "Oh look! There they are!"

She then grabbed his hand and dragged him over to where Lavi was standing with an incredibly grumpy looking Kanda. Lavi greeted them with his usual cheer and they both chorused, "Happy birthday!"

Lavi grinned and said, "Aw, thanks guys! Kanda gave me similar birthday wishes, except with more attempted murder and shouting of 'Get the fuck out of my apartment.'"

Allen raised his eyebrows and said, "I thought you learned from last time that breaking into Kanda's apartment is a really bad idea."

At this Kanda muttered something darkly under his breath as Lavi laughed and replied, "Allen honey, come on! You've known me for what, seven months? You should know by now that I never learn! But anywho, we're all here now and that's fuckin' A! So… on to the amusement park!"

And with that he started running towards the gates. The others followed after him at a slower pace with a collective sigh. They caught up with him at the gates and Allen felt his heart sink as he saw the size of the queues of people waiting in line for tickets.

"Bloody hell, it's winter!" he groaned, "Why are there so many people here? They should be elsewhere, doing other things. And not standing in line obstructing our path to the ticket vendors."

"I am not fucking queuing," growled Kanda, starting to walk off, "I'll be sitting over there. Come and get me when you've got them."

"And I've got this queuing and swearing disorder thing," said Lavi with a sheepish cough, "I can't stand in line too long otherwise I just start swearing. It gets really bad. It's like, queue activated turrets syndrome or something. Sorry baby."

And he went off to go and sit with Kanda. Allen looked at Lenalee, saw her smile awkwardly and said irritably, "Fine! Go and sit with them! I'll get the tickets."

Lenalee's smile became thankful as she said happily, "Thanks Allen!"

"I'm way too nice to you people," grumbled Allen as he trudged to the end of the line.

000

Half an hour later, Allen returned in a considerably worse mood, four tickets in hand. The other three took theirs before moving into the park. The air was filled with the sounds of music and rollercoaster riders' screams and laughter. Having never been to an Australian amusement park, Allen had hoped to have had a look around before they started doing things, but of course, Lavi made a beeline for the nearest rollercoaster as soon as they were in. It wasn't the biggest rollercoaster Allen had ever seen, but it was still fairly large. And seeing that he wasn't the best when it came to riding rollercoasters, it was certainly enough to make him feel nervous. After about twenty minutes of queuing, the four of them piled into a car and set off.

Three terrifying minutes later, they were off, Allen as white as a sheet and shaking and Lenalee and Lavi laughing, the exhilaration of the ride still buzzing through their veins. Kanda just looked like he always did. Once Lavi had made sure Allen was really okay, he turned his attention to the Japanese youth.

"Okay, seriously! How is this possible?!" exclaimed the American, waving his arms about, "Not one hair on your head is out of place! Your hair defies logic and physics!"

Kanda gave him a scathing glare but said nothing in reply. As they moved on to the next ride, Allen overheard Lavi asking Lenalee whether she could gather samples of 'Yuu's Physics and Logic Defying Hair' because she was less likely to be killed if she cut his hair.

Both Allen and Kanda decided to sit the next ride out. Kanda because he couldn't be bothered waiting in another line and Allen because he had no desire to be shot a hundred feet in the air only to be dropped back down again at a million miles per hour. So they left the rollercoaster addicts to it and went and sat down nearby. It wasn't until Lenalee and Lavi were actually on the rollercoaster that the nerves started to set in to Allen's stomach. As he watched the carriage go shooting up into the air he look away with a gasp of, "Oh dear lord…"

Kanda glanced at him once, snapping, "What now?"

"It's just…" groaned Allen, "I just realised what a complete death trap that thing is. Think about it. Shooting up into the air and then plummeting to the ground. So many bloody things could go wrong. Break down halfway up. If it's bad weather, struck by lightening. Someone didn't fasten their harness, pretty much instant death. And if the brakes fail…"

"Moyashi, shut the fuck up or I'll punch your fucking teeth in," snapped Kanda suddenly. Judging by the glint in his eyes, Allen guessed that he was serious and fell silent, trying not to think too much about all the possible disasters that could befall his friends.

000

"But-But it's scary!" whined Lavi as they neared the front of the queue to the Ghost Train. Kanda coughed and replied snidely, "Oh please. This is one of the lamest fucking things on the planet. How can you think it's scary?" he then caught sight of Lenalee's nervous expression and muttered, "Well, there are some kind of scary parts in it…"

Allen smiled to himself at this as they reached the front of the queue. There was a rather worried-looking man behind the counter dressed in a black cloak and with a long white streak running through his hair. He managed a weak smile and then asked, "Four for the ride?"

"Yes please," said Allen, trying to sound as nice as he could. The man looked on the verge of a mental breakdown and the British boy was worried that having even one slightly unfriendly tone in his voice would send him to tears. He just hoped that Kanda would remain silent for this exchange. The man quickly printed out their tickets and directed them towards the first car, Lavi and Allen at the front and Lenalee and Kanda in the back. He was pretty sure that Lavi had organised these seating arrangements not only for his own benefit but for Kanda's as well. Sneaky redhead.

The ride started and immediately Allen was amazed at how not scary it was. Everything was obviously fake and the costumes the actors were wearing weren't exactly the most convincing on the planet. Lavi, however, seemed to find everything terrifying.

"Oh god!" he moaned as some robotic spiders went scuttling up and down a wall nearby, "Hold me!" and he wrapped arms around Allen and buried his face in the crook of his neck. Allen sighed and patted his arm awkwardly, but otherwise did nothing.

A man in a skeleton costume jumped out at them from behind a pillar and there was a small shriek from behind them. Allen turned in time to see Lenalee grab onto Kanda's arm and hide her face against his shoulder. Kanda looked very surprised about her actions, but then his expression actually softened as Lenalee mumbled something to him that Allen couldn't hear. Kanda murmured something back and actually reached up with his other arm and placed it gently on the top of her head.

Unable to suppress a grin Allen turned to face the front again.

000

"I hate rides like that!" complained Lavi as they made their way towards the exit, "They're so fucking scary!"

"They're really not," Allen replied with a grin. Kanda and Lenalee remained silent, and Allen noticed that they were both looking anywhere but each other… until they were certain the other wasn't looking and steal a glance. Seriously, if they didn't get together soon, he was going to have a frustrated spack attack.

"But apart from that, I think today was a lot of-" Lavi began when he was suddenly interrupted by a shout of, "You there! You, with the long black hair!"

Allen and Lavi turned just as Lenalee and Kanda did to see an incredibly tall and muscly… man? Woman? Running towards them. As… it got closer, Allen realised that it was in fact a man, though he was dressed in a very feminine style. There was a lot of tight black leather, a lot of coloured feathered boas and lots of make up and jewellery. It was a rather odd look but Allen had seen stranger. The man stopped in front of Kanda and stared at him. Kanda glared back in his usual aggressive fashion.

"You…" muttered the man, before he suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, startling everyone, "I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU! I MUST CAPTURE YOU AND TAKE YOU HOME WITH ME!"

"Oh fuck! Dude, seriously, don't- too late," tried Lavi. The man lunged towards Kanda, hands outstretched, and the Japanese youth simply slammed his fist into the man's face, sending him flying. There were a couple of screams from nearby as the man lay twitching and Kanda turned away, only looking a little miffed. Allen felt himself pale considerably as Lavi said, "Y-Yuu… you really are a monster, aren't you?"

"Che," said Kanda. Lenalee leaned over the man and said worriedly, "I think you might have really hurt him Kanda. He's not getting up."

"It was self defence," replied Kanda, "It was his own fucking fault that he wound up like that."

A siren started to echo in the distance and Lavi said quickly, "Better scram Yuu. I don't think the police are going to be to happy when they see this."

"I have to go the way you go too," said Lenalee, "I'll go with you."

She bade them farewell and waved once (Kanda said nothing as per usual) before the two of them ran off towards the trams. Allen watched them go before saying, "Well that certainly was an action packed finish to the day," he turned to Lavi with a smile and continued, "Thanks for inviting me by the way. And I'm sorry I didn't get you a present. I couldn't think of anything, so just let me know if you need a new book or DVD or something, okay?"

"Hey, don't worry about it man," said Lavi with a grin, "It's great you could come. You going to head home now?"

"Yeah. I have to go and walk Timcampy," replied Allen. Lavi nodded and a thoughtful look came over his face. After a minute's silence, he said slowly, "Actually… there is something you could get me."

"What is it?" asked Allen with a smile. Lavi grinned back and said, "This," before he leant down and locked his lips with the British boy's. Allen body and brain went into completely freeze up meltdown. The kiss only lasted a couple of seconds before Lavi broke away and ran, calling over his shoulder, "See you at school Allen!"

Recovering from his momentary paralysis, Allen shouted after him, "Lavi you bastard! That is not what I- Oh forget it!"

And he turned on his heel and stormed off towards the trams, his face as red as a ripe tomato.

000

A/N: Heh, a bit of randomness before sh*t starts happening. My friend helped me come up with this. I asked her where she thought Lavi would go for his birthday if he lived in Melbourne and she immediately said, "Luna Park." I couldn't help but agree with her! Thanks for continued support! 'Til next time!