Jessica & Karter note: Forgot to mention in previous chapters. If you're re-reading, and the chapters seem different, that's because they are. We're going through and re-writing them because Kater's writing style changed/developed and he wants to improve the chapters from the beginning. Please be patient with us! c: The way you'll be able to tell if the chapter has been updated is that our names in the note will no longer be "Byul and Hoshi" but "Jessica and Karter".

Show Biz: Act I

Scene III:
All the World's a Stage

It was Saturday, June 18th when a black van pulled up to The Ark.

"Okay people, we all know the plan right?" Lenalee said as she turned in her seat to look at her two aspiring stars in the back of the car.

Allen just looked at his partner for an answer.

"Che..."

Even without a proper response, Allen seemed to interpret it just fine. He turned back to Lenalee and said, "Yes, we know."

"Are you sure?" she asked them.

"Lenalee it's fairly simple," Allen told her.

Kanda joined in saying, "All we have to do is go into the building, meet some people, practice with them, then dance."

Allen just looked at him and said, "Okay not that simple...but basically, yeah."

"Well all right then; let's get this show on the road!" Lenalee said as she opened the car door and hopped out.

Kanda was about to follow her when he felt a small tug on his jacket. He looked back to see none other than the Moyashi holding onto his sleeve. Despite his earlier bravado with Lenalee, Allen looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

'The hell?' Kanda thought. He'd never seen the moyashi like this, so to him it seemed really out of character.

"...Hey, Kanda, how does that third slide go again? And that eighth step of the chorus? And everything else? Now that I think about it...oh, God, I've forgotten everything!" Allen said in a sudden panic, bowing his head between his legs.

'Che, stupid Moyashi,' Kanda thought to himself. He wished Allen had told someone else about this. No doubt Lenalee would be a better comfort than he was. He didn't really know what he was supposed to do. He wasn't usually one to offer comfort to people. In fact, he had a strict handle-your-own-shit policy. But it was weird. Over the last week, he noticed that, in a way, the moyashi was the same. He always hated it when people tried to help him too much. He would insist that he was fine. But, unlike Kanda, he was always willing to help others. Whenever that 'other' was Kanda, it ticked him off to no end. But otherwise, Kanda secretly found it an admirable trait. He hated to admit it, but the moyashi was starting to grow on him.

However, this still left him with the problem of having his partner huddled in the fetal position with no sign of him moving any time soon.

'Ugh, bothersome.'

Suddenly, Allen felt himself flying through the air, only to land squarely on Kanda's shoulder.

"...Eh? H-hey! Bakanda! Put me down!" Allen protested, calling Kanda by his new nickname. He flailed in Kanda's grasp, but couldn't get loose. He felt like a sack of potatoes thrown over Kanda's shoulder.

"Give me one good reason," Kanda replied smoothly as he walked towards the entrance.

"What if someone sees us? This is humiliating!" Allen said as he started to blush.

"Che, this is the back entrance. No one is here but Lenalee. It's not like you were going to move from your fetal position anyways."

"I was NOT in the fetal positio-!"

Allen's retort was cut short when Kanda set him down none too gently in front of the entrance.

"Yes. You were. Che, I don't know why; you're better at this dance than I am," Kanda told him casually, then walked away.

Allen was left there, stunned that Kanda had said something so nice. And to him no less. Then, "But only this dance," Kanda continued with his customary smirk.

"Oi! I'll show you!" Allen said as he ran to catch up to Kanda, completely unaware that he had forgotten all his worries.

xxxxxxxxxx

Lenalee, Kanda, and Allen were led to a dressing room where the latter two would be changing. When they got there, they found a huge vase of purple stephanotis and pansies on the counter. They were all baffled until Lenalee went up and plucked out a card tied to the neck of the vase. She started blushing as soon as she read it. Allen and Kanda gave each other a look, and then snuck up behind her to read it.

My Sweet Lenalee,

I bought these flowers in hopes that they would cheer you up. The stephanotis are for good luck, and the pansies are for my constant thoughts of you. Congratulations on your first management position! I'm proud of you.

Love, Bak

P.S. Let's hope your brother doesn't intercept these. If he does, I'll be hiding until the show starts!

Lenalee let out a soft giggle, and then gasped as she noticed her two fellow readers.

"What do you think you're reading!?" She asked them indignantly.

"Nothing...So...who's this Bak person?" Allen asked with the beginnings of a smirk.

Kanda just turned away with a 'che', acting indifferent, but when Allen asked the question he turned his head to the side to listen.

"He's the host of the show you're going to be on. You know, The Ark. He also owns this place," Lenalee said, trying to recover from her previous embarrassment..

"That's not what I-"

"Let me rephrase that question for Moyashi. Who is he to you?"

'There, that should be what he fucking wanted to ask,' Kanda thought, feeling strangely irritated.

'Eh? Why is Kanda so interested? Hmph, whatever,' Allen thought as he pouted unconsciously.

"...He's...he's my boyfriend..."

Kanda and Allen just snapped to look at her. Boyfriend? At the same time they asked incredulously, "What about your brother?"

"I've...kind of kept it a secret from him. He knows Bak likes me, but not that we've been dating for..."

"How long?" Allen asked in shock.

'Che, guess Moyashi was interested in Lenalee. Whatever,' Kanda thought as his scowl deepened without him realizing it. For some reason, the thought...didn't sit well with him. Was it because he was growing protective of Lenalee? No, that wasn't it. What was this weird feeling?

'Well, Kanda looks upset. I guess he was interested in Lenalee...' Allen thought dully. The thought of Kanda and Lenalee dating flitted through his mind. Normally, he would have thought they looked good together, but he just...didn't like it. Probably because Kanda dating anyone was a weird thought. He didn't even know why he was lingering on it.

"Let's see, it's been...About two years."

After they heard that Kanda and Allen had two different responses. Allen let his jaw drop ungracefully, while Kanda was mildly shocked, but didn't really show it.

"I'm surprised your brother hasn't found out," Allen deadpanned.

"Che," Kanda remarked as he walked out of the room.

"Eh? Kanda where are you going? Hey, wait!" Allen said as he ran to catch up to him leaving a puzzled Lenalee behind in the room.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Kanda!" Allen called again, as he caught up to the other after a few turns through the halls. He reached out to grab on to Kanda, but before he could Kanda spun around causing Allen to bump into him.

"Ah, s-sorry," Allen said as he looked up at Kanda who was right. In. His. Face.

'Asdfgjklkjhfdfgsahjasdfghjk!' Allen mentally screamed as he sprang away from Kanda, who had reflexively spread his arms out to catch Allen.

The both of them were left in an awkward silence until Allen cleared his throat and asked, "So, why did you storm out so suddenly? Sad that Lenalee has a boyfriend?" Allen asked in an unintentionally irritated tone.

"Che, I'm not like you, Moyashi. Give up; she's too old for you," Kanda answered, surprised by the spite in his voice. But nevertheless, his scowl remained on his face.

"What are you going on about? Besides, shouldn't I be saying that to you?" Allen told Kanda, starting to get annoyed for a reason he couldn't explain.

"Che, no. Because she's not," Kanda retorted, suddenly angry for some reason. Then he stormed away to the practice rooms.

'What the hell was that all about? It's not like I like Lenalee. Che, I don't like anyone period. Not in that way at least. The moyashi needs to get his head out of the clouds,' Kanda thought to himself as he tried to sort out the emotions he had just experienced.

Very much the same thing was going through Allen's head as he stood there in the hall, left behind. As he was trying to name the weird feeling he got when he talked to Kanda, a thought struck him.

'Wait...If Kanda just left...how will I get to the practice room!?' Allen thought frantically.

xxxxxxxxxx

Allen was wandering the halls of The Ark, lost, until he heard music.

'Ah! That must be it! Bakanda, wait 'til I get a hold of him. Leaving me there like that!' Allen thought as he entered the practice room the music was coming from. The first thing Allen noticed was that the room was much too small for all the dancers to practice in. The second thing he noticed was that Kanda was nowhere to be found. The third, and most shocking thing he noticed, was that a single person was dancing in the middle of the room.

And they were dancing really well.

The person was a tall male with white pants, black high-tops, and a black t-shirt. He was wearing a headband to keep his shocking red hair out of his face. Allen was caught staring when the boy looked up at the end of the song. Silver and emerald met in a brief gaze, before the red head blinked, smiled and said, "Hi! I'm Lavi. Are you lost?"

"Eh? How did you know?" Allen asked the boy.

"You seem the type," the boy replied, obviously good at reading people.

"Gee, thanks," Allen said sarcastically. "I'm Allen, by the way. Do you know where the main practice room is? My partner stormed off after we had a...uh...an animated discussion...and left me marooned in this maze of a building."

"I know the way. Actually, I was about to head there myself. You're a dancer in the first performance also?" the red head asked.

"Yes, you too?"

"Yeah! Hey, before we go, could you help me with something? I didn't get to see the last half of the dance. Could you dance for me really quick? I just need to see it once."

Allen was a bit puzzled by the odd request, but complied to the stranger. He hoped that this Lavi person would be able to get enough practice in for the second half. If he'd never even seen it before, the most difficult part would just be remembering everything.

"Okay," he said. "Where should I pick up from?"

"Could you start on the bit where the music switches on the second part of the remix?"

"Sure, do you have music?" Allen asked.

The boy just walked up to the CD player in the room and said, "I'm ready when you are."

Allen walked to the center, breathed in and out a few times, then pointed at Lavi to start.

xxxxxxxxxx

At the end of the song, he stood there trying to catch his breath. Then he heard clapping and looked up to see the red head walking towards him with a big smile on his face.

"Wow! That was really good, Allen! I didn't think you could pull off a dance like that since you look so innocent but damn was I wrong!" the boy told him as he patted Allen on the back.

Allen just scratched the back of his head. "Thanks. My partner helped me get over the more...ahem...provocative parts. Haha, it's like you said, I was really embarrassed at first, but thanks to my partner forcing me to perform looking right into a mirror the whole time...I don't really know how it works, but it does. It kind of nullifies anything you find sexual about it."

"Well thank God your partner was there. She sounds great!"

Allen just gave him a look and said, "Lavi, this is an all boys dance number."

"Whoa! You're right. Haha, the way you talked about him made me think it was a girl you liked! You must be close," Lavi told him.

And that's when it hit Allen. The strange jealousy. The weird feeling. It all came together. And as soon as it did, Allen boxed it up and shoved it into a little filing cabinet in his mind labeled 'DENIAL: will process later'.

"...Ahaha...hahaha...m-m-me? Like that Bakanda? Hahahaha you're crazy!"

"So you don't like him?"

"No!" Allen replied a little too quickly.

Lavi just gave him a knowing look. Then he walked a bit closer to Allen and asked, "What about me then?"

[ Scene end. ]

T. B. C.

J: Hey, so, I wonder if anyone actually reads these things.
K: What, the rambles like this?
J: Yeah.
K: Let's find out. If you read these, put "bear" somewhere into your next review. It can be at the beginning, the end, or slipped randomly in between words. You'll get a mention in the next chapter's notes if you do!
J: Good idea.
K: Bonus points if you use it in a pun!