Act III: The Battle Of The Hands
Summary: The teams of stalkers fall to pieces within the first hour. Allen and Lavi engage in The Art Of Hand Holding. Mana is feminized. Kanda expands his emotional range. Tyki turns into a true stalker. In a nutshell, too many things happen in the mere span of two hours in a strangely transparent carnival which has lots of convenient hiding places.
1.08pm, Roller Coaster A
"Honestly though, I thought Tiedoll would never shut up!" Allen exclaimed. Lavi laughed.
"The old man does get like that when it comes to the Renaissance," he said, eye shining with mirth. Allen groaned and shook his head at the memory of the never ending Wednesday that he had.
"Normally I wouldn't mind, but…" Allen cut himself off. Lavi looked curiously at him.
"But what?" He prodded.
"Oh, uh, nevermind!" Allen said as he recalled how he had been interrogated by Shi Fu and Ri Kei that day. It all only served to remind him of the situation he was in with Lavi. "Oh, look, it's nearly our turn!" He said quickly as the queue surged forward, placing them at the front for the next batch of passengers. He tried to look anywhere but at Lavi.
"…Right…" Lavi said with suspicion as Allen tried to change the topic. "Guess I'll go along with you then," he muttered. Allen looked at him questioningly, not having heard the muttering. Lavi grinned. "Nothing, nothing. So, tell me, how did you do for chemistry this week?"
At this, Allen groaned again. "You wouldn't believe how hard the test was! Reever was apparently all set on improving our grades since, you know, our last test was terrible and such? So he made us revise extra hard but this time he tested on all those latest chapters when everyone thought he'd concentrate on the earlier and middle chapters…"
As Allen ranted on, Lavi grinned at the animation in his voice and wildly moving hands and simply enjoyed the glint of happiness in his eyes (even though he was still ranting about school). It really had been too long since they last saw each other, since Lavi started university life, in fact.
.
"Well," Ri Kei said as he stretched, "all they're doing is talking about school, nothing that interesting, really." He took care to speak in a softer tone so as not to be overheard. Lenalee, who was stationed near the candy floss stall, nodded thoughtfully.
"What're their tones like?"
"Hmm…quite normal…though there was one point where Walker might have paused and changed the topic. Lavi looked a little suspicious then."
"Oh, that might be good, actually. Allen might have been thinking about this as a date and if he keeps that up, Lavi might find out eventually about what he's thinking, then maybe they'll confess!" Lenalee sounded rather cheerful at that. Ri Kei just raised his eyebrows.
"Right…if you say so…alright, Lenalee, we'll be getting on the ride now, see you later!" Ri Kei said as the queue moved forward again. Shi Fu led him to seats not far behind the supposed couple they were following.
It was actually a miracle that they haven't been found out by the boys, though to be fair they were wearing some ridiculous things, like a troublesome cap and sunglasses. Ri Kei could only tug at the cap irritably and hope that it was all worth it in the end.
I guess, Shi Fu had said while they were walking to Lou Fa's home, we need to make sure Lou Fa sees once and for all that Walker is attached, or she'll waste all her time on him. Perhaps that's why we need to be here. And, well, I suppose we can just take a break in the meantime as well.
Ri Kei sighed as he strapped himself in, hoping that Lou Fa was at least having some semblance of fun as well.
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1.08pm, A Random Tree
"I want to talk to him."
All eyes turned to Tyki incredulously as he said this. Lulubell smacked him on the head.
"Didn't you admit yourself that he's already taken? And they're on a date, sort of, you can't just interrupt them," she hissed. Tyki scowled and rubbed where she hit him.
"I didn't mean Lavi, if that's what you're saying," he said. Doug blinked at him. Tyki continued languidly. "I meant the kid, the one he's dating."
Kanda gaped. Doug gaped. Lulubell only rolled her eyes as if she expected that.
"He's, what, fifteen? And anyway, it applies as well, he's taken."
"Can't stop me from trying, as far as I see they haven't confessed yet, right? And anyway, I'm not that, I don't know what you kids call it…not that sex-driven?" Tyki ignored the various disbelieving snorts. "I just want to talk to him, he looks…interesting," Tyki pointed out reasonably, if one ignored the inflection he placed on the word "interesting". Doug managed to recover the use of his brain.
"Well, Prof. Mikk, I…don't think it would work, given that he doesn't know you at all," he said, with all due respect. Tyki only raised an eyebrow at him.
"We'll see, boy, we'll see," he said. And a truly scary leer settled upon his lips.
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1.17pm, Candy Floss Stall
"Allen…" Lavi said warningly as the boy gazed at the floss with hunger and eagerness. Allen turned to face his friend.
"What, Lavi? I'm hungry."
"Didn't you say that Mana made a large lunch for you?" He asked.
"Yeah, that was an hour ago. I'm hungry now. Lavi…" Allen said with a very petulant look on his face. Lavi sighed fondly.
"You really are still the same, aren't you?" He said with a grin. Allen grinned back.
"I am. Hi, yes, please give me two sticks of floss, extra large please," Allen said politely to the serving boy. He immediately went quiet with awe as he observed the spinning machine work its magic. Lavi smiled at the enraptured boy and remembered something from a few years back.
"Hey, Allen. Still remember the time when Gill released you late from Physics? And the cafeteria ran out of pizza?" Lavi said. Allen laughed at the memory.
"Oh god, that was horrible. I think Jeryy never recovered from that…though he knows to reserve food for me now when I'm late."
"Well, you have to forgive the fellow, you only burst into their kitchen and started preparing the pizza yourself after all. You destroyed their stock of anchovies."
"Hey! How was I to know how to prepare pizza? Oh, right, thanks," he said hurriedly as the boy passed them two huge sticks of candy floss. "Anyway, thanks to that, Mana got to eat pizza for the next two nights. Worked out well, didn't it?"
"I think he still hates Jeryy for that. Anchovies. For two nights. Poor man."
Lavi accepted his stick with a silent nod of thanks. Allen had already started attacking his, floss sticking to his cheek as he munched contentedly, apparently forgetting the insults Lavi made at his cooking skills. Lavi laughed at the sight while Allen just looked at him indignantly.
"Stop laughing at me," he mumbled through his mouthful, cheeks puffed up like a hamster's storing food. Lavi only laughed harder.
"You really never learn," he said as he pulled out a piece of wet tissue and proceeded to attack Allen's face. Allen squeaked and jumped back from the sudden cold sensation. Lavi only chased after him with his wet tissue and they tore through the crowd, shrieking with laughter.
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1.20pm, Same Candy Floss Stall
"Look, look!" Komui hissed indignantly as he pointed to Lenalee standing somewhere in the crowd. Bak followed his gaze.
"What, she's just standing there, Komui! Seriously, what's up?"
The boy stared at them. "Um, sirs, do you want to get any floss-"
"Quiet!" Komui shushed impatiently. "Look! See what she's looking at? That boy with the white hair and the one with the red hair! Damn, which one is it that she is after? Both? I wouldn't put it past them, boys are all dirty, inhumane creatures after all…" Komui muttered feverishly as Bak glanced away, bored.
"Sirs, if you do not want any floss, I really will have to request that-"
"Gah, don't disturb me!" Komui said with a terrifying glare. The boy gulped. Bak caught sight of Fou and immediately commenced his own glaring.
"What? How dare those two uncouth boys hang around her? I remember they are in the year above her…oh god, what if they're after her!"
"That's right, they're after my little Lenalee! Once they see that she's following them with such an innocent look in her eyes and such pretty clothes they'll, they'll…"
"I'm sorry, but-"
"I know! And they'll think of chasing her and if both of them can't come to an agreement they'll both chase her and then they'll think of something dastardly like sharing her-"
"What! How dare they even think of that! One is bad enough, but two! I won't let this happen, I'll nip this in the bud before it can even begin!"
"Please, you're really disturbing business-"
"Yes, we'll have to stop this nonsense at once, nip it in the bud!"
"The bud!"
"Sirs, please!"
And to the boy's bewilderment, the two extremely suspicious men suddenly dashed off in two different directions, leaving a cloud of dust near his stall.
He really needed to quit this stupid job.
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1.32pm, 360 Degrees Turner-Thing
Lavi alternated between looking up at the contraception and at the boy (now cleaned of candy floss) bouncing on the balls of his feet beside him. He wondered how he would be able to pull out of this.
"You…sure you want to go on this? You're not scared?" Lavi said. Allen stopped bouncing and looked at him curiously. Then there was a terrifying grin on his face. Lavi took a step back and wholly regretted asking.
"Why, yes, Lavi, I'm pretty sure I want to try this," he said very sweetly. Lavi cringed. "Oh, Lavi, don't tell me you're…scared, of this?" He said with surprise, eyes widening innocently. Lavi smiled unconvincingly.
"Of course not! It's just…a ride…"
"Yeah, of course it's just a ride, so come on, it's our turn!" Allen said with excitement lighting his face, and with an extremely firm grip on Lavi's arm, he dragged them into the death contraception.
God, I've never prayed to you before, but please, I'll do anything, kill a lamb in your name, recite the holy scriptures, fast for a month, stick needles in my body, just please save me from your satanic spawn, Lavi pleaded as he glared wholeheartedly at his widely grinning friend. Then they were ushered into their seats, and there was no more escape.
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1.41pm, Men's Toilets A
Allen winced as he kneeled beside Lavi, who was finally only dry heaving into the toilet bowl. He patted the boy's back gingerly.
"I'm sorry, Lavi, I didn't know you'd react this badly," he said with guilt evident in his voice. Lavi gave a last heave before settling back onto the dubiously clean floor. He sighed.
"You owe me one for this, beansprout," he muttered. Allen nodded and continued smoothing his hand down Lavi's back. Lavi sighed in relief at the soothing touch and continued looking as uncomfortable for as long as possible, so Allen wouldn't remove his hand. It looked like it worked as Allen kept doing so while he was thinking.
"Well, I guess so…as long as it's not too unreasonable," he added hurriedly as Lavi looked at him with a glint in his eye. Lavi smiled.
"Well…hmm, then I would like…" He started. Allen nodded, gesturing for him to continue.
However, what Lavi wanted was never heard as the door to the toilets opened with a bang and they both jumped from where they were sitting on the floor. They stepped out of the cubicle and turned quickly to the source of the commotion, only to find what looked like a terrorist dressed in black standing in the middle of the room. They stared.
"Ah hah, I finally found you, you dastardly boys!" The figure shouted. They looked around only to find the bathroom devoid of other people. They then looked blankly in the terrorist's direction.
"Don't act like you have no idea!" He shrieked and all of a sudden, a terrifying mass of robots flew towards them. They squeaked in surprise and jumped, holding tightly onto each other's arms.
"Allen, what on earth did you do!" Lavi yelped as an incredibly ugly buzzing robotic bee swooped past them. Allen shrieked and jumped as he was knocked in the head with some fuzzy soft toy that still had its price tag attached.
"Why on earth are you asking me! Shouldn't it be you, Lavi?" He shouted over the din of squawking toy animals and boomerangs whizzing over their heads. They instinctively ducked and attempted to swerve to the exit. The terrorist laughed madly and sent another squad of animals after them.
"You shall never escape, you dirty boys, you! Prepare yourselves!" An ugly humanoid robot with the inscription "KM" was launched at them this time.
"Shit, let's just get the hell out of here first!" Lavi said frantically and Allen nodded. They proceeded to kick all the robots and toys out of the way. With a nimble hand, Allen plucked a boomerang out of the air and, doing some incredibly fast physics, threw it with all his force in the direction that would eventually end the trajectory at the terrorist's head. The man, too concentrated on controlling all his robots, did not notice the attack and was knocked cleanly on his head. In the midst of his curses, the boys dashed out the bathroom and far, far away, not stopping till they reached a bench just near a sizeable crowd.
Deeming the area safe, they slumped down on the bench, still panting from the adventure.
"What…what the hell…was that…" Lavi gasped out, doubled over and resting his elbows on his knees. Beside him, Allen leaned tiredly against the back of the bench.
"I…I have no idea…I've never even seen the guy before," he said, bewildered. Lavi nodded in agreement and, the matter of none of them knowing the guy settled, they just focused on catching their breath back for a while.
Then, inexplicably, Lavi started laughing. Allen looked at him in shock for a while but Lavi just wouldn't stop laughing. Slowly, a smile pulled at Allen's lips, before he started giggling and, spurred on by Lavi's laughter, he soon descended into his own full-blown laughter, clutching his belly as it started getting painful to even draw breath.
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1.56pm, Near The Circus Tent
"Do you know what happened?" Lenalee asked Fou anxiously. Fou shook her head, slightly bewildered herself.
"Ri Kei and Shi Fu went to get some food, so nobody followed them into the toilet. Damn, we won't have any idea at all what happened," she growled.
Suddenly, Lenalee perked up. "They were holding hands, right?" She said.
Fou cackled and shook her head. "I wouldn't count it as that, darling. Lavi was pretty much just pulling Walker's wrist to run with him, no romance at all."
"Oh," Lenalee's face fell. She thought for a while. "Well, at least it's pretty close. Oh, Shi Fu, Ri Kei, over here!" She waved. The boys spotted them and weaved their way over. They both looked perplexed. "What did you find?" She asked.
Ri Kei scratched his head. "Uh…it was kind of strange, when we were going in to see what they were running away from we only bumped into this really…fat…man, I think," Ri Kei looked at Shi Fu for confirmation. Shi Fu frowned.
"Not really fat, his coat just looks really bulky…but either way, the toilets were perfectly normal, so I have no idea what scared them so much."
The girls raised their eyebrows and looked at each other questioningly. Fou shrugged. Lenalee sighed.
"Well, okay, where's Lou Fa?" She asked.
Ri Kei looked surprised. "I thought she was with you girls?"
Lenalee looked equally surprised. "I thought she was with you guys?"
There was a pause, and a horrified silence descended upon them.
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2.03pm, The Shooting Stall
Doug turned from watching the boys on the bench and observed curiously as Kanda picked up the toy gun. His look turned into one of awe when Kanda proceeded to shoot down all the cups expertly. The owner of the stall looked at the fallen cups with dismay.
"Well…guess you win a prize then, laddie," he said gruffly. "Whaddaya want?"
Kanda scoffed. "I don't care for this, you just get something," he said to Doug. Doug looked surprised.
"Really? Wouldn't you want anything?"
"No."
"Well…thanks, then!" Doug just randomly selected a huge stuffed toy bear, which the owner plucked from the stand. "Though…I have no idea what to do with this either. Maybe I'll give this to Colette," he said, looking sheepish. Kanda sighed.
"Now that we've established that the stupid bunny is safely on his date, I'm leaving."
Doug looked a little puzzled. "Well, sure, but it is a nice day out, I thought we could just hang out around here, take a break from schoolwork," he said simply.
Kanda shot him a suspicious look. "Why?"
"Well…considering that we're both Math majors, it's a bit surprising that I've never even talked to you much. I thought it'd be a good chance to get to know you a little. Of course, you can leave if you want to, but I thought if it's a fair, at least if you don't want to talk about stuff you could play some games, and well, we could just hang out to see the results of Lavi's date."
Kanda frowned. "Why do you even want to get to know me?"
Doug shrugged. "There's no why, I would just like to. If you really don't want to, it's alright with me, Kanda," he said and looked at Kanda sincerely.
Kanda sighed and considered his options. While he didn't really relish being at the fair, it would be somewhat…rude to just leave Doug here suddenly, now that Tyki and Lulubell had disappeared off elsewhere as well. On the other hand, he was missing a fantastic chance at doing work undisturbed. But something told him that maybe, just maybe, Lavi would stop bugging him about meeting more people if he told him that he was with Doug that day. And Doug was being irritating by being so respectful, which would, oh horror of horrors, make him feel guilty if he were to snap at him. Yet…too much thinking, best to treat the bunny's date as a job that he had to see completed, and so when that idiot returned from his date he wouldn't have to listen to him blabbing on and on about every single thing he did. Doug, at the very least, was a civil person to be with.
Kanda just headed off towards the next stall that was still within sight of the bench that Doug had been observing, hearing Doug following behind him and the boy starting a little one-sided conversation.
"Well, I guess it would be rude not to offer some information about myself first…"
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2.05pm, Bench Near The Performance Tent
Their laughter had finally died down and now only random chuckles escaped them. Lavi leaned back against the bench, his eye closing. Allen smiled at how peaceful he looked.
"Well…that was funny, wasn't it, sprout?"
"Yeah…I still wonder what was up with that guy, though. I can't shake the feeling that I might have seen him somewhere before…" Allen said.
"So it was your fault after all?" Lavi teased. Allen laughed.
"Nope, still have no idea what he wanted. Maybe he's just some weirdo off the street?" He suggested.
Lavi hummed. "Could be…well, let's forget it. What do you wanna do next?"
Allen smiled. "Let's just sit here for a while, let your weak self recover."
"Oi! That's not my fault and you know it, tons of people puked afterwards too!"
"Oh yeah, that's right, you're strong. To hold it in till you reached the toilets."
"Gah, I'll get you back, sprout," Lavi said without any real threat in his voice. He then closed his eye again to rest a little while more and Allen quieted down, letting him.
The sunshine, kind to them that day, made it a fairly warm spring day. Allen looked out at the mass of milling people and smiled at the number of families out with their children. Inadvertently, he also caught sight of several couples walking close together, murmuring and laughing to each other. He took extra notice of their clasped hands.
It looked nice, holding hands with someone he liked. He wondered…
Glancing to the side, he saw Lavi's eye still closed and his left hand sprawled carelessly on the bench, fairly near Allen's right hand. It was almost like an invitation. Allen gulped, wondering what Lavi would think if he suddenly held his hand. But, their hands were so close, and now might be the perfect time to tell Lavi how he felt…
He let his hand slowly move towards Lavi's.
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2.12pm, Popcorn Stall
"Maria," Mana said suddenly and she looked up from her popcorn. "I think that's my son over there, and his date."
Interest perked, she looked in the direction of the bench Mana was pointing to and gasped. "Mana, it looks like your son is about to hold the redhead's hand!"
"Lavi. And yes, he is, isn't he?" Mana murmured, stepping forward for a better view. The hand was slowly approaching the other and it was so close, just a downward motion and they would be holding hands…
Mana and Maria cursed together as a horde of people suddenly ran by, obscuring their view.
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2.12pm, Near The Circus Tent
Lenalee and Fou had dispatched the boys to find their wayward friend and were watching developments closely, though they couldn't hear a single word the boys said. They suddenly gasped in unison.
"He's actually going to do it!" Fou said, delighted. Lenalee nodded in excitement. They held their breath as the hand reached downwards towards the appendage. It was so close, it was so close, Lenalee would win five dollars from this!
A loud chortle sounded in their ears and a clown jumped in front of them, making both girls scream.
"Oh ho, what do we have here, two lovely young ladies! Do come for our show-"
"Damn it, you're blocking our view!" Fou said loudly, extremely irritated now and as the poor clown wondered what was going on, he was suddenly pushed to the side by the lovely young ladies.
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2.12pm, Bench Near The Circus Tent
"Alright, let's go, Allen!"
Lavi sprung up from the bench and stretched upwards, eye still squinted shut against the light from the sun. He then spun around to face the bench and tilted his head curiously when he saw Allen staring at him.
"Do I have something on my face? Wait, you didn't draw anything, did you?" He asked, eye narrowed. Allen still continued staring. Lavi felt a little unnerved.
Unexpectedly, Allen started laughing softly, shaking his head. Lavi jumped and felt a little worried. Allen was just laughing and to Lavi, it felt weirdly…sad? He frantically wondered what he did wrong.
"Are you alright, Allen? I'm sorry, what did I do?" He asked. Allen just smiled weakly at him.
"It's…nothing, Lavi. Sure, let's go."
"Allen, it's not nothing. Tell me, please?"
Allen actually did stop and pondered over it for a little while. Lavi didn't prod him, just let him think at his own pace. He was still a little dismayed when the boy only smiled at him without offering an answer.
"Maybe later? Let's just go first, alright?" He said sincerely. Lavi could not detect any frustration in his tone, but Allen's reaction still worried him slightly. Allen just smiled wider.
"Let's try the next roller coaster!" He said with a slight lilt to his tone. Then, he grasped Lavi's arm and tugged him along, much like how a child would tug a reluctant parent. Lavi sighed and allowed himself to be dragged along.
An awkward silence fell upon them. Lavi bit his lip, hating himself for not knowing what went wrong.
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2.12pm, Popcorn Stall
"They didn't," Maria said, sounding disappointed. Mana shrugged.
"Well, they'll do it at their own pace. Salty popcorn?" He offered and let his hand sneak to her box of sweet popcorn. She sighed and grabbed a handful of his popcorn.
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2.12pm, Near The Circus Tent
The girls cursed. The poor clown had wandered off to find more agreeable customers.
"Idiot Lavi," Lenalee muttered. Fou just shook her head in disappointment.
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2.18pm, Roller Coaster B
Unaware of the mass disappointment that accompanied his own, Allen instead mused in an existentialist fashion upon the meaning of silence. There is something, Allen thought seriously, about silences that can change the situation entirely.
He had seen it before, executed perfectly on stage to set the mood. It was a couple's strained silence after a quarrel, so the actors were standing just across the stage from each other and training their faces to reflect the awkwardness. He and Lavi had to try that once. Not as a couple, but as some sort of screwed up father-son relationship. It was pretty difficult, Lavi had to try not to burst into laughter at any second because Allen was miffed at how he got the role partly because of his white hair. The director made no apologies for it and the play ended up wildly successful anyway. In any case, the silences during their rehearsals were always filled with the strain of barely held-in laughter.
Now though, as he glanced to the side where Lavi looked like he was thinking over something, he thought he could categorize this silence perfectly as 'uncomfortable'. He wanted to break the silence.
Lavi, however, beat him to it. "Hey, Allen…this might be weird, but…you have anyone you like now? As in…like."
Allen stared. This was simply too much of a coincidence. Lavi had a look of nonchalance on his face, but they weren't both actors for nothing – it wasn't just pure interest on Lavi's part. Allen carefully chose his next words.
"That's…pretty sudden and weird indeed. Why do you ask?"
Lavi frowned at the suddenly careful and polite way in which Allen spoke. This seemed to be making their situation worse and worse. But there really was no choice but to go on with this topic, seeing as he started it.
"I guess I would just like to know, as your friend," he said, affecting a neutral tone as best as he could.
"Hmm…and if I said I have someone I like?" Allen said, taking note of the tone Lavi was using.
"Then…I guess I would ask who it is."
"And if I said it is someone you know?"
"Then that would give me even more incentive to know who it is."
"And if I ask you the same question?"
"If you answered me, then it's only fair that I give you an answer in kind as well."
"But if I don't want you to know who it is that I like?"
"Then I would have to guess at the reasons as to why you don't want me to know," Lavi raised a hand and started counting down. "One, it's someone unsavoury. Two, it's Lenalee and so her brother would kill you if he knew. Three, it's someone totally forbidden, like a cousin, or a sister, or a brother. Four, it's someone you know I might like, and so in some strange code of honour you're not fighting for that person with me." He glanced from the corner of his eye at Allen who was frowning.
"It could be none of those reasons," Allen said somewhat defensively and Lavi raised his eyebrows.
"True, but then I would have to get you to tell me your reason then."
Allen allowed Lavi to have the last word of their exchange and just fell silent, looking troubled. Lavi sighed and slung his arm around Allen's shoulders. Allen looked up, a little surprised.
"Look, I was just wondering. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine, sprout," Lavi smiled at him. It bugged him that Allen would want to keep it secret from him but well, he'd give a shot at the respecting other people's spaces thing. Allen gave a little smile back.
"I might tell you…sometime later," Allen decided. He half expected Lavi to remove his arm at that, but Lavi just kept it around him, warm and snug until they had to get onto the ride.
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2.25pm, Fast Food Restaurant
Lou Fa looked glumly at her milkshake. Bak, sitting across from her, sighed.
"Alright, so let me sum this up…you, Ri Kei, Shi Fu, Fou and Lenalee are stalking Walker. You didn't want to ruin the date he has, but you don't want to be with the rest when they are trying to get Walker and his boy together. So you ran away and now, here we are."
Lou Fa winced. "I'm sorry I knocked you over, Mr. Chang."
Bak just waved his hand. "Nah, good that you did anyway, Fou would have skinned me if I disturbed them. So, you're sure Ri Kei and Shi Fu are not after her?" He narrowed his eyes. Lou Fa nodded. Bak settled back in his seat, smiling slightly this time.
Lou Fa frowned a little. "Mr. Chang, excuse me for saying this, but well…Fou is seventeen, and you're twenty nine, you don't think this is a little, uh, difficult?" She looked genuinely curious.
Bak blinked. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I've never thought about that, it's just, we've grown up together, you know? So I've never really seen her as a student. Well, even more so now that I'm not teaching at Hersh anymore. And you know her, if she really doesn't like it she'll kinda kick me off to the side, so…"
"Oh…" Lou Fa blinked rapidly. "That's quite sweet, actually…"
Bak looked at her for a while. "You know, Walker isn't the only good man in this entire world. It probably hurts now, but, uh…damn, I'm not good at this," he muttered as Lou Fa just looked glummer. He scratched the back of his head. "Uh, what I meant was, if he really does like that boy as you said he does, then you can't really do anything about it- ah, don't cry!"
He looked frantic as Lou Fa dabbed at her eyes. She waved her hand for him to go on though, and he hesitated then continued.
"Well, um, it doesn't look like it now, but I can…kinda get what you're feeling. Look, since you're here, just try to have fun, go on some rides or something, um, you've probably cried enough already, so just…spend a good Saturday here?" He blanched as Lou Fa looked up at him suddenly. He really didn't know what to do with girls crying. Lou Fa looked contemplative though.
"You're nicer than I thought you are, Mr. Chang," she said. Bak squawked. "I mean, in school, you were always this stern teacher."
Bak looked indignant. "I've always been nice!"
Lou Fa smiled. "Yeah, maybe…oh no!"
She suddenly ducked down under the table. Confused, Bak looked behind him and blinked as Walker and that boy – he never did teach him before – walked into the restaurant. Allen blinked when he spotted Bak.
"Mr. Chang!" He said, recognition lighting up in his eyes. Bak waved.
"Yo, Walker. Doing well, I see," he said in way of greeting.
Allen smiled at him. "Lavi, this is Mr. Chang, he taught me Math in Hersh."
Lavi grinned. "So I finally get to see the person who single-handedly pulled the sprout's grades up from a D." Allen huffed and punched Lavi on the arm. Then, to Bak's alarm, they sat down at his table, under which Lou Fa was crouching. "Ah, right, there're too many people here, could we just sit here for a while so that the sprout can eat really quickly in, like, five minutes?"
Allen huffed though he didn't look unhappy. "Not my fault I have such a high metabolism rate. Right. What do you want, Lavi?"
"Just grab me some fries, sprout," Lavi said and he managed to get in a hair ruffle before Allen could duck. Allen scowled at him and turned to Bak. "You want anything, Mr. Chang?"
Bak shook his head and resisted the urge to peek under the table to see how Lou Fa was doing. He felt an urgent grab at his legs as Lou Fa pressed as close as she could to him to avoid bumping into Lavi's legs. He could feel the sweat building up in his palms from his nervousness.
Feigning nonchalance, he leaned forward to talk to Lavi. "So, you are studying at the uni here then?"
Grinning, Lavi leaned forward to give his little self introduction to Bak. Bak tried to ignore the nervous grab at his ankles.
.
While Allen was standing in the queue, he looked back periodically to see how Lavi and Bak were interacting. To his relief, Bak seemed to be listening with interest to whatever it was that Lavi was talking about, and Lavi seemed to be his usual chatty self. And, while he wouldn't admit this to Lavi, he was glad to get away for a while so he could think about what Lavi asked him about.
Allen wondered how he was supposed to break to Lavi that yes, it was indeed someone Lavi knew (extremely well), someone close to both of them, and perhaps, to a tiny extent, someone forbidden. He wondered if Lavi had the same quantity of female admirers as he did when he was in high school. He wondered if Lavi found someone. He even wondered whether Lavi had a new best friend, and beat himself up with guilt once he thought that and hence in the process doubted Lavi's friendship. It was such a headache thinking of all these.
"You don't look happy, boy," a smooth voice sounded next to his ear, making him jump. Allen turned and blinked.
Before him stood a tall man with his hair slicked back. He had the weirdest gold eyes Allen has ever seen; he concluded that it must be the work of contact lenses. Allen was slightly unnerved at the enormous shit-eating grin on his face. To top it off, he was wearing really nice expensive clothes to a carnival.
Allen couldn't help but think that he would have looked pretty good had it not been for the grin on his face. Allen smiled politely back.
"Hi, sir, I don't believe I've met you before," Allen said, preparing to close it at that. He did not expect the verbosity of the man.
"Ah, and I don't believe I know you either. Well, here I am, just curious, why indeed are you looking so down in a carnival?" The man might have thought he looked sincere, and it would have fooled Allen had he not recognized the same faux-sincere look he had adopted many times in the past. Allen just continued keeping his polite smile.
"I really do not believe it is any of your business, sir. Oh, do excuse me, I have to order now," Allen said with a blinding smile as he stepped up to the counter. He launched off a list of food and deliberately turned his back to the still-grinning man.
.
"Oh, so you do know Professor Mikk!" Lavi said, intrigued. Bak grimaced.
"He might be excellent in teaching history, but that man has never settled well with me."
Lavi nodded fervently and shifted forward even more, preparing to speak. Unexpectedly, his feet connected with something soft and the something soft squeaked. Lavi blinked.
Bak laughed in a sudden, loud manner. Lavi winced at the assault on his ears. "Uh, Mr. Chang?"
"What! Oh! Hoho, right, you were about to say?"
"Uh, I do believe there is something under your table? It made a sound…"
Lavi pushed his chair back and was about to put his head under to investigate. Bak panicked and under the table, Lou Fa nearly screamed.
In that split second, there was a disturbance at the side of their table. Allen had ran to their table and was currently tugging at Lavi's arm.
"Lavi," he said with a warning glint in his eyes, "there is a truly horrendous pedophile leering at me from the queue, and I really must insist that we leave. Now." Bags of food were thrust into Lavi's arms. Lavi blinked.
"A what? Pedophile?"
"Really fantastic meeting you, Mr. Chang, but I'm afraid we'll have to leave right now!" Allen said cheerfully and without another word, he dragged Lavi out of the booth and hightailed it out of the restaurant. Bak was left to faint at the near mishap.
Under the table, Lou Fa hyperventilated.
.
2.40pm, Bench On The Sidewalk
"I think, Maria, that you will have to hide me," Mana said calmly. Maria looked bemused.
"Mana Walker, whatever do you mean?" She said with a small smile. Mana nodded in the direction of the performance tent. Two boys were headed their direction with enormous bags of food, looking for a free bench. Maria cursed and in the work of a few seconds, she had draped a colourful, flowery scarf over Mana's head. Mana didn't even have the time to protest as the two boys came to the sidewalk and proceeded to a bench near theirs.
To Maria's amusement, she could even hear some of their conversation.
"Lavi," Mana's son was asking, "er, do you think," his voice lowered in volume, though Mana and Maria could still hear them, "that person…is a woman?"
Maria suppressed her giggles as Mana choked. The redhead – Lavi, she remembered – laughed a little.
"He could be a gypsy. A very manly one. Now, where're my fries?" The paper bag rustled as he dug through them. Allen was already chewing on an overly large burger.
"Grab it yourself, m'busy," he mumbled. Lavi waited patiently until the burger was demolished before he asked the next question.
"So, pedophile?"
Mana choked again.
Allen groaned. "It was the weirdest thing ever. He was going all 'oh boy you look so sad, let me warm your sad little self up with my huge manly warm body'. I swear that he's a pedophile." Maria could hear the disbelieving, angry sounds of a protective father. She patted his hand.
"From my experience, you usually exaggerate things. He probably said something along the lines of 'how is the weather'."
"Mmf," Allen swallowed quickly. "Okay, yeah, so he didn't say all that-" Lavi chuckled. Allen poked him in the side. "But he still was all 'oh, tell me your deep dark secrets'. Gah, wait, let me finish my food." Apparently hunger took priority over the danger of rape and kidnap. Lavi appeared disgruntled by this fact as Allen scarfed down yet another burger. He stole a fry from Lavi's packet along with it. Maria felt Mana leaning against her, trying to see their interactions from under the protective cover of her scarf. She had to admit that had she not wanted to avoid being labeled a stalker, she would have squealed at their boyish adorableness.
And when their hands reached for the same fry and touched, she really very nearly did that. Mana stopped breathing beside her.
.
2.47pm, Bench On The Sidewalk
There were several incidents in his life which scared Lavi shitless. Lavi could count them on one hand.
Once, he was pretty young and the teacher refused to let him go to the bathroom. He peed in a spectacular fashion all over the chair and floor. He was caned. He wasn't a popular kid at all then, so he was taunted for a whole month for being "pee-baby" or something equally ridiculous.
One day in primary school, on a dare, he streaked through the grounds. A man tried to kidnap him. He can't remember how he escaped, his grandfather assured him he developed trauma from that incident so he will never remember it and his mind will remain mostly unscarred. And he was given ten whacks of another formidable cane for that incident.
In high school, Allen Walker entered his life. One time, with absolutely no idea a whole bunch of sophomores had pool lessons, he walked into the changing room only to find the boy in perhaps the most normal pair of swimming shorts ever. Still, swimming shorts. Tight swimming shorts. It made Lavi experience a huge epiphany for the first time in his young life. He had to duck-run out of the place even as he had his epiphany. In the end, it was a miracle that Allen didn't notice his hard-on. Allen never did question him for that though, for which Lavi was eternally grateful.
More recently, when he entered university and got to know Kanda Yuu as his dorm mate, he made the fatal mistake of calling him by his first name and making fun of his hair and playing with his fake katana. He still wondered till this day how his head didn't get lobbed off. Perhaps it was selective memory that didn't allow him to remember anything of that truly traumatic incident.
And now, Allen's hand was on top of his. His hand was being pressed into the fries, scratchy with salt grains against his skin. Allen seemed to have frozen beside him. Lavi didn't know what to do. He tried to remember the formula of trashy romance novels.
On the one hand, he really liked Allen. And he wondered, if Allen didn't remove his hand, if that meant Allen really liked him too.
On the other hand, if he didn't remove his hand and Allen didn't really like-like him, then it would simply spell disaster for both of them.
Abandoning all thoughts of trashy romance plots, he decided to wait for Allen to act. For some absolutely weird reason his breathing quickened.
Then, inexplicably and impossibly, Allen's hand tightened on his and the boy lifted both their hands from the crushed fries. Lavi peeked and saw Allen staring at their hands with a weird concentration. Allen's hand was really, really warm against his. Allen turned Lavi's hand over, palm up, and gently brushed the salt grains off, his right holding Lavi's hand and his left brushing the palm.
"You have salt on your hands," he observed very astutely and did not lift his eyes from their hands. When the hand was clean, Allen didn't seem to know what to do.
Taking a leap of faith, Lavi quickly flipped his hand back over and gripped Allen's. A jolt seemed to run through Allen's body and he lifted his eyes this time to look at Lavi. Lavi, nervous, gave him a somewhat shaky smile. Their palms were sweaty and itchy with salt. But they were warm, and it felt weirdly nice, and they couldn't quite bring themselves to pull away.
Allen smiled back and in a somewhat strained silence, he went back to eating with only his right hand. Lavi concentrated on his fries as well. Their clasped hands lay on the bench between them.
.
2.49pm, Behind The Shooting Stall
"You owe me five bucks."
"Oh come on, we didn't even establish a bet."
.
2.49pm, The Fishing Stall
"They did it, wow, I can't believe Lavi actually did it."
"Hmph, that rabbit is shameless."
"Wow…Kanda, your fish is escaping."
"Whatever."
.
2.49pm, Behind The Hoops Stall
"This is so very gay."
"Mr. Chang said he'll take care of Lou Fa, right?"
"Yes. This is so very gay."
"Ri Kei, do be quiet."
Notes:
Holy shit I'm exhausted. I really do apologize for how long this chapter took.
I need to finish Middlemarch, which I've taken to affectionately (har har) calling The Long March. And then Jude The Obscure which many people have promised me is going to be hugely depressing. Not to mention I've only recently finished Vanity Fair. Oh, the joys of being a Literature major, wouldn't you want to be me? (No, better not answer that.)
This chapter dislikes me. Lavi and Allen are being hugely uncooperative. Why can't they hold hands like normal happy people and frolic off into the land of rainbows and unicorns and live in a huge castle and be married happily ever after? Why is Tyki such a perv? Can he not be a perv? (Oh right, the alternative is being an ass…actually, I can't really fathom him. Hmm. This calls for character analysis. Just take note here he's mostly for comic relief.) Why has Kanda expanded his emotional radar from that of a teaspoon's to that of a tablespoon's? Komui is forever a mad scientist. And holy shit, is Bak actually not stalking Lenalee for once? What the hell is the layout of this weirdly transparent carnival?
These wonderful questions flit through my head as I try to figure out Heathcliff and Catherine. As you can imagine, this is all hugely distracting me from schoolwork. It was rather difficult thinking of some sort of format that can accommodate our main players Allen and Lavi and their affectionate groups of stalkers, and that can move the pace forward while still developing the characters reasonably. Well. I hope this is somewhat satisfactory.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the more reviews an authoress gets, the happier an authoress is, and the quicker the next installment of this midsummer madness can be released. If you have plowed through all the literary references in this author note, tell me so we can angst together. By the by, didja spot a D. N. Angel moment in the story? (:
Many thanks for the reviews for the last chapter, I enjoyed reading every single one of them!