Heya! Saya cant think of much to say, so she figured she should at least be enthusiastic. ehe...

Disclaimer: Saya doesn't own the actors, just the script they're acting to.

Warnings: Rated M for sexual material en masse, and pedophilia, considering how both Cross and Tyki are much older than Allen.

2. Wandering Eyes

Allen ran through the manor to reach Master Cross' chambers, where his master would most definitely be lazing about, if he was awake at all. It was the morning routine, every morning Allen got up, got rid of whatever girl Master had brought home the night before, and was always back a half hour before noon, so he could tend to the master, who would usually be suffering from a hang over by then. Allen could tell Cross not to drink so much until he was blue in the face, he could say that Cross should cut down on the partying, he could remind his master how bad all that alcohol was for his liver, but would Cross ever listen to him? Of course not.

When he reached the doors to the master's chambers, he stopped to take a deep breath and look at his watch.

'One minute until 11:30, I'm just in time.'

Once composed, he walked into the room, his eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. Scarlet curtains were pulled shut, sun light barely making its way through them, casting the room in a red glow. This was, of course, done to accommodate the master, who often awoke with headaches. Allen knew this room well, and though he still had trouble seeing, it didn't matter for he had this room perfectly memorized, he could find anything in it blindfolded. Allen walked over to the night stand and placed the tray he had in hand down. On it was a tonic for hang overs, he made it himself from his father's recipe, it was something he made Cross every morning; God knows the man needed it.

"Good morning, Master Cross," Allen said softly, but that was all he needed to do to wake his master up. Cross groaned as he rolled over, away from Allen, and grabbed the mask that was on the other night stand to put it on. Turning back, he gave Allen a weary look with his good eye. His other was hidden behind the crescent-shaped mask, one he never let anyone see beyond.

"You're horrible Allen, always waking me at this ungodly hour."

"Master, it's nearly noon, no one would consider this early." Cross ran his hand through his vermilion hair as he sat up, and then froze; his nose twitched.

"You smell," Cross observed, his nose twitching again. "Like smoke, and it's not my brand. Who were you with?" Allen blinked, he hadn't realized he smelled, but he should've figured he would, Tyki had been smoking the entire time he was with him, and they had been in a small, confined place together.

"I was just in London, the entire town smells of smoke, among other, miscellaneous things." Cross raised an eyebrow, not quite believing him. Technically, Allen wasn't lying. For one, he never actually denied being with anyone, and secondly, when Cross asked if he was "with" someone, he meant it in a much more intimate way than just sharing a carriage.

A hand came to rest on his cheek, and it slid down to take hold of his jaw, pulling his face forward until their lips touched. Soon more forced was applied, and the kiss was deepened, Cross was tasting him, to be sure of what Allen had said, to be sure that the boy remained untouched by anyone other than himself. When he finally broke their kiss for air, Allen was already dizzy from lack of oxygen; he found the difference between their lung capacities to be quite a problem.

"I believe you," Cross said, and let Allen go, so he could ready his bath.

000

"Welcome Home, Master Tyki," Lavi, the head butler of the Mikk estate, said, bowing at the waist as they met at the door. When he looked up, he saw that his master had a contemplative look on his face, the kind that made it obvious that he was thinking of taking some impossible chance or other.

"Master...did something good happen?"

"Mhm. Say, would you mind getting me some coffee? I've got some thinking to do."

"All right sir." Lavi went off to fetch some coffee; he'd never get over how strange it was that Tyki always asked him if he'd do something for him, when, as his master, he could just order him to. That's why Lavi had taken this job, right? To serve his master with unwavering loyalty, and do everything his master wanted. Still, he couldn't deny that he liked the fact that he was addressed as an equal, even though their positions in the house were so different.

A few minutes later, Lavi met Tyki in his study, coffee in hand. He had a feeling something strange was going on in his master's mind.

"Say, Lavi, have I gotten any invitations recently?" A dumb question, he was practically flooded with them, and he knew it.

Lavi gave Tyki an inquiring look, his master wasn't one to go to parties on a whim, actually, he only went when he was obligated to. That was just another reason why Lavi enjoyed working under his master, because he was sensible and simple, and didn't care much for flamboyant things.

"Uh, yes, there's one at Lady Nyne's Summer home in two days, celebrating her daughter, Tina's, debut into high society. Shall I inform them you'll be attending?"

"Yes, thank you Lavi."

000

Allen walked through the halls of the manor, checking in on all the rooms that should have people working in them, to make sure everyone was doing their jobs. The manor practically ran itself, everyone worked diligently, and there were rarely any problems, in that respect. The servants were very good at keeping their personal dislikes and their work separate. It was rare to see anyone who was on the job fighting. Of course, after hours was a different story, but with so many different people under one roof, it simply couldn't be helped.

As Allen turned the corner to check on the laundry room, he wasn't all that surprised when he was "attacked" by a pile of clean clothes.

"Oh! Allen I'm so sorry! I couldn't see you over this pile..." Lenalee apologized, trying to look around the pile to see him. She held a basket, filled with neatly folded clothes that were piled high. Some had fallen to the floor, and Allen picked them up, taking more off of her pile, enough so that she could see over it.

"It's ok, Lenalee, I'll help you with this."

"But surely you're busy! I couldn't let you..."

Allen smiled, "It's ok, I'm just doing my rounds. I can help you bring these wherever they need to go and do that at the same time."

"If you say so..." Lenalee Lee was one of the younger workers in the manor; there were a surprising number of teenagers working there. They were of course, kept in check by all the older workers; as many teens as there were, those stuffy old folk were still the majority. Cross really didn't like them though, they always wanted him to work, and stop partying, and do things on time.

Lenalee was of Chinese decent, she had come to England when her older brother, Komui, had brought her here after their parents had died in a fire. He was a scientist, a genius really, who worked alongside the master, and together they worked on all sorts of unusual experiments. The two had studied together since they were teens, when a young Cross had happened upon the vagabond, who happened to share his interest in the sciences.

Because of this, Lenalee had lived in the manor nearly her whole life, and she cared deeply for its occupants. When she was old enough she decided she didn't want to be useless. Therefore she was now working as a maid when she could've been living much more comfortably because of her brother's position in the house. Allen was sort of glad that she had chosen to work though, because when he'd first come to the manor she had helped him out a great deal. The two had grown up together.

"So, why were you in such a rush today Allen? You were running around like a chicken with its head cut off when you got back." Lenalee was referring to how, when he'd returned to the manor, he'd run around like a bat out of hell to get everything he needed done out of the way before he had to wake the master.

"Ehe... I was accosted...again... and was held up quite a bit, I barely made it home in time to make the master's tonic and wake him. Honestly, he complains every morning about being woken up "early", but if I'm even a moment late, he'll have my head." Allen sighed, though he had nothing against being punctual, he thought it was a little ironic that someone who was the definition of "late" would be so angry when he wasn't on time. He was grateful that Tyki had offered him a ride home, even though he'd nearly gotten in trouble; it would've taken far too long for him to get home otherwise.

Lenalee smiled at Allen sympathetically. "Well, at least you have the master's favor. He trusts you explicitly, you practically run the estate! Even if you got into trouble, I doubt Master Cross would be too hard on you."

'So I have "the master's favor", huh? Well, I suppose that's one way to put it. Of course, she doesn't know...'

Not that Allen had a problem with having "the master's favor", a shameless part of his mind loved the attention, and he'd never dreamed that he'd be treated in such a way until it actually started. When Allen had first been brought to the manor by Mana, Cross had made his dislike of children clear as glass, but even so he'd allowed Allen to stay, for which Allen had been immediately grateful. Allen had made it his mission to work hard, so that he could change the Master's opinion of him, and make his new father proud.

But when Mana died, Allen was sure he'd be thrown out, because while Cross had allowed him to stay, it seemed as though his dislike for Allen had never gone away. He'd been all ready to leave; he had packed and was ready to be thrown back onto the streets. Then, one of the servants who had happened to be near Cross' chambers at the time, ran in, panicked and winded, telling him that Cross was angry as all hell because Allen had failed to wake him up on time. That was all that Allen needed to realize that Cross expected Allen to stay, and take Mana's place. Now Allen lived only to serve his master.

000

Lavi waited by the back wall of the ball room of the Nyne estate, watching as his master danced and chatted with the other nobles. He wasn't alone, far from it actually. It wasn't all that unusual for the nobles to bring their assistants with them, there were plenty of servants by the wall, just watching their master's for any sign that they might be needed. It was pretty boring, because most of the Lords' and Ladies' escorts were old and uptight. Lavi usually just watched Tyki, and stole food when he felt like it.

Soon after he had arrived, Lavi noticed a new presence at his side. Looking down, he saw a familiar boy who was always at every party. Poor Allen, Lavi felt so bad for the poor minor who was toted around everywhere by his drunkard of a master. No, Lavi didn't have the best opinion of Cross.

"Allen! It's been a while, huh?"

"Lavi, the last party your master attended was only 3 weeks ago," Allen said, smiling despite himself. Even though Tyki disliked parties, he was usually obligated to go to at least one a month, if not more.

"So? That's a very long time, I'll have you know."

"If you say so..." Allen sighed, as his eyes scanned the room for where Cross had wandered off to. Allen and Lavi were rather good friends, it was only natural that they would be. They were usually the youngest servants on the wall, and neither of them wanted to attempt to talk to one of the older butlers. The two had gotten along with each other right away, too. They saw each other often, thanks to Cross' partying habits and Tyki's many obligations.

"Why do we always get brought to parties like this all the time...? It's so tiring."

"Well, your master needs someone to lug his drunk ass home..." Lavi mumbled, hoping Allen hadn't really heard him. Allen tended to get defensive of his master, even though he had no problem complaining about the man himself. Even so, Lavi only had minimal respect for Cross, and it showed.

Allen had heard him, and as expected, he looked rather disgruntled, though he really couldn't say anything to contradict Lavi's statement. Lavi didn't want to get on the boy's bad side though, so he quickly tried to make amends.

"I'm just kiddin'. It's because bringing us around is sorta like a status symbol, you know? Like saying they have so many people working perfectly at their manor that they can bring some of them here. And, more importantly, it's 'cause they entrust themselves to us, in a way, yeah? I mean, they trust us to keep their homes in order, chose their workers, tie their shoes... So it makes sense that they'd trust us to get them home safely too."

Allen nodded. "Well, I suppose that's true. It's still tiring though."

"That could be because you take such care to always keep your eyes on Cross. Really, if I watched Lord Tyki so closely, I'd get tired too. Pull out a chair, sit down, relax a little. It's not like Cross is gonna notice if you take your eyes off of him for a second."

Allen blushed when Lavi pointed this out, but even so, he never took his eyes off Cross. He had to be alert, because he knew even the smallest thing could be a signal for Allen to get something for Cross, or a sign that they would be leaving soon. Of course, there were other reasons, more important ones, such as the master's jealousy. That was just another reason why Allen couldn't let his eyes wander.

Lavi and Allen continued their light banter for a while, but something was different. Allen's eyes were no longer following Cross. It was accidental, completely by chance, Tyki Mikk had waltzed (quite literally) into his field of vision. Allen's eyes latched onto his figure without his permission, following his movements. Tyki seemed to glow in that special way that only certain people ever could. He had an air of confidence, natural charisma, and a grace that one has to be born with. Tyki pulled it off better than most gifted in such ways could.

Lavi, who was for whatever reason watching Allen, noticed that he was no longer staring at his master, but that his gaze was following someone different across the floor.

"Whoa...Allen... You aren't looking at Cross... you know that, right? Which one of these lovely ladies caught your eye? She must be somethin'."

Allen, only now becoming aware of his folly, hastened to bring his gaze back to Cross, hoping that Lavi hadn't followed his line of vision, that would've been more embarrassing than actually getting caught staring at someone else in the first place. But oh, it was bad either way! Had he been so obvious? He'd be in so much trouble if he were caught looking at another.

"It was nothing, I just got distracted, is all." Why though? It's not like Tyki had never been at a party before, Allen was good friends with Lavi, that should be proof enough that he'd seen Tyki a number of times. He'd had one encounter with the man and now..! He was getting distracted, Allen Walker, the most focused one in the room, imagine! Why did he stick out so much more now? Why was he no longer just one of the other nobles? Maybe it was just curiosity?

"Man, whoever caught your eye sure is lucky!" Lavi said, slinging an arm around the younger boy's shoulders. Allen went stiff; oh, if Cross saw Lavi now, the red head wouldn't see tomorrow.

"Lavi... if you keep that up, we'll both be in trouble. And what are you talking about anyway, are you drunk?"

"I may have stolen a few glasses of wine, but that's not the point," Lavi said, as he removed his arm from Allen's person. "I mean you're smart, dependable, loyal, and cute! You'd be the perfect gal and yet you're a guy. Even worse you belong to someone else, a cryin' shame, really." Allen's face grew red, he really wasn't all that, and he most definitely didn't like being told he'd make the perfect girl. Still, Allen knew that Lavi was a little infatuated, he'd known for a while. He didn't understand why Lavi didn't just give it up and find some girl. Allen could never see Lavi that way, he was completely occupied with Cross. He'd only need to set Lavi straight a few times though, and the older boy didn't usually cause much trouble, because Lavi kept himself in check. Even when drunk, he still listened when Allen gave him a warning.

"If you say so Lavi..." Allen said, with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"I do! And one day, when you can stand to take your eyes off of your master, I'll steal you away! And it'll all be better then." Allen didn't understand how that would make things "better"; he didn't think they were bad in the first place.

"You sure you only stole a few glasses of wine? Sheesh, and you talk about the master being a drunk," Allen teased. He stopped when he noticed that Cross was motioning for him to come over.

'This isn't good.'

For the record, Lavi doesn't know about Cross and Allen's relationship, as far as he knows, Allen's simply overly-loyal to his master.