"Oliver, did you do something?"

The boy cracked open his eyes. He smiled and raised a hand to the fairy resting on his pillow, and she tapped her palm against a finger. "I have done many things, Lila. You will need to be more specific." He let out a long yawn as he rose from his bed, back cracking from a great stretch. "It is nice to see you again after so long."

"We're really busy during Spring," she quickly said, hovering before his dreary eyes. "When I came back from the Realm, everything was all...freaky!"

"Freaky?" Oliver glanced to the window, frowning at the dark looming clouds. "Perhaps we are all a bit moody for the upcoming storm."

The fairy stuck her hands on her hips. "I'm being serious for once, Oliver!"

"All right, all right," Oliver rose to his feet. "Allow me to get wake up fully and get dressed, first."

Lila followed the refreshed teen to the dining hall, quietly zipping after him, instead of nuzzling into his hair as she usually did. She muttered, "Hm, it is worse toward this area."

Oliver pushed open the double doors, slowing beneath the frame. "No wonder," he seethed, glowering at the group of boys crowded around his table. Allen was already there, munching on his breakfast and looking up at the others as they spoke only to him. He glanced to the approaching figure, and his slightly concerned expression brightened. "Hey, Ollie!"

At the sound of his name, Oliver's heart jumped. The group of boys snapped to face him, and their own expressions soured. Especially his neighbor's, who gave Allen a light smack on the shoulder, "I mean it, Allen. You could be doing so much better in so many ways."

"Uh-uh, sure. I'll keep that in mind," Allen grumbled as they dispersed, most likely to plague some other poor soul with their boredom induced stupidity. He dropped his focus back to his food, but glanced up in confusion as Oliver still stood, watching him eat. "What's up?"

"What were those boys bothering you about?"

Lila fluttered around Oliver's head, staring at the others leave with glares tossed over their shoulders to his back. She settled in his hair, shrinking from the nasty tang hanging in the air. "It was nothin'. They just wondered what I was up to, an' if I would like to maybe ride some shoppin' cars 'round town...maybe even grab a bite to eat. Sounds great, don't it?"

Oliver spoke between gritted teeth, "What. Did. You. Say. To. Them?"

Allen did not seem to catch his tone of voice. "I told 'em I would think about it. Why?"

Oliver pressed his lips together to prevent snapping at his friend's possible foolishness. He turned on his heel to get something to eat. Once in the kitchen, however, unoccupied by any other at the moment, he let out a long growl he was holding. "Those...how could they?!"

"Whoa!" Lila exclaimed. "Don't forget some butter with that."

Oliver did not forget, and gripped his plastic plate enough to make it squeak between his fingers. "They can get all their little snot nosed friends in the gig, but they do not bother any of mine."

Lila sniffed the air. "Yeah, that'll do it."

"First the girls, and now Allen." The plate snapped, and Oliver gasped, snatching another one before his pastries and fruit would tumble to the floor. He took a self-soothing breath, trying not to bring unnecessary wrath on his breakfast. "The girls were never impressed with them, but he..." A horrifying thought slunk through his head. "What if...what if I'm not enough? Do you think that is why he is thinking about becoming a part of their stupidity?"

"What? Ollie, no-"

"I admit, I never really had many friends like this before-"

Lila shot off his head to hover in front of his eyes. She smacked his nose to get him to shut up. "Oliver, you are a good friend. I can back that up. Sure, you may loose your patience easily sometimes, but you give lots of your time and effort into what you do. I'm sure Allen appreciates that, and if he doesn't, punch him!"

Oliver let out a weak little laugh, and raised his free hand to wipe at the wetness pooling in his eyes. "That seems to be your solution more often than I can count."

"It's a good solution!"

"Yes, but what can I do to prevent chasing Allen away?"

"You're not chasing him away."

"Okay, if I was?"

"Oh, that's simple!" Lila said. "You just have to offer more than the other boys do!" She shook her head, "But you're not chasing anyone away!"

Turning to face the doorway, but not leaving the quiet kitchen, Oliver clenched and unclenched his free hand. "What could I possibly offer over a group mentality?"

"Uh, food!" The fairy said as if it were obvious.

"You seriously think food will keep him?"

"You could always rub his back and compliment his eyes, but yeah, I think food will do the trick."

"W-why would I do any of that?"

"Come on!" Lila tugged on his hair. "Before he leaves to do something else." As an after thought, she added, "You'd do that because he has nice eyes, silly! They're very red!" she sang in a terrible tune. Oliver waggled a hand at her to dispel her little song.

"You are so lucky nobody can hear you."

"How is that lucky?!" Lila spat as he approached his usual table.

Oliver set his plate besides Allen's instead of across from him, earning a look of surprise as he settled in his seat. He had to do mini-breathing exercises to try to stop his heart from hammering against his chest at the same time of thinking what to say without sounding like a tosser. The other boy had polished his meal, and was about to rise to throw out his plate, but a hand suddenly gripped his wrist and stopped his tracks. "Allen, when you are done dumping your tray, can you come back here? I-if you do not mind."

The other teen glanced down in surprise. Despite the dreary weather, the dining hall was lit enough for Oliver to realize he did have nice eyes. They narrowed in the slightest with a gentle smile, and Oliver's self-soothing attempts were in vain. "Sure, I can do that." He let go of his friend, and grasped his fork for something to occupy himself. He flipped his fruit over, but did not eat anything. It took a harsh tug of his hair for him to realize Lila had said something against the background conversations.

He flinched from the damage little Lila was capable of inflicting. "Ow! What?!"

"It's not nice to ignore people!" She scolded, and patted the disturbed clumps back into place. "It's going to storm soon. Are you going to be able to make it to Bella's?"

"Of course! Do you think a little rain is enough to stop an Englishman?"

"It's enough to stop me! I can't fly with wet wings!"

"Then I suppose it is a good thing that I will carry you."

"Ollie, are you talkin' to yourself?"

Oliver jumped, not detecting Allen's return. The other boy slid onto the bench, and scooted closer to him to snatch a strawberry from his tray. "N-no!"

"Yeah."

"Fine, yes, I am," Oliver admitted, frowning in lost as his precious fruit was mashed between his friend's teeth, including the stem. Allen made a face, reaching in his mouth to pull out a small leaf, and dropped it on his plate. "That is gross!"

"Come on," Allen wiggled around, his arm rubbing against Oliver's. "I don't have cooties. What did y'want to talk to me 'bout?"

"It is those boys..."

"I told you I'd think 'bout it. That ain't a yes."

"I know that, but..."

"But what?" Allen stole another strawberry. Oliver was not making any motion to eat it anyway.

"I was with them once, even if it was for a little run. They done something cruel, and I followed their footsteps just to fit in, and make them like me. I still think of what happened to this day, and I still feel awful about it!"

"Really? Shit, Ollie, what could you've done?"

Oliver dropped his fork to put his hands in his lap. "I...I..."

Lila urged, "You can do it!"

The boy's cheeks inflamed with intense heat as he quickly confessed, "I help them steal apples from an old man."

Allen stared at him for a long moment, but he did not lift his head to meet his eyes. "Really?" He repeated, not as if he were angry, but as if he did not believe Oliver. "You...stole some old guy's apples?"

"Yes, they knocked his fruit stand down, and it busted into pieces, and we went in while he was still in shock, and they began to grab them from the ground, and I looked up and into the old man's eyes, and I just felt like this horrible creature, and I turned around and ran with the apples-"

"Okay, Ollie-"

"-and they were so proud of me for stealing apples, but I didn't feel happy at all!"

Lila held out her hands to reassure him the same time Allen clasped one of his wrists. "Ollie! Take a chill pill, all right?"

Oliver straightened, and became hyperaware that those stupid tears were leaking out again, right in front of his friend. Lila did not care; she seen more than enough, but Allen was gazing back with that 'He's lost it' expression. He slouched again, and smacked his free hand to a damp cheek to wipe it. "S-see? I'm an awful person, and I don't want you to become one, too! I didn't even need those apples. I eat plenty here already!"

His company loosened his grip on his lower arm to squeeze the back of his hand. "D-do you now?"

The fairy fluttered to Oliver's abandoned breakfast plate, and pointed to the pile of napkins. "Here, wipe your face!"

Oliver took in an ugly and gasping inhale, snatched a napkin, and unceremoniously shoved it in his own face. "Th-that's why I...ugh...don't want them bothering you. They will try to get you in on a nice little outing, and that turns into more favors, and then they will try to use you, and change you to be like them, and-"

"Ollie..." Lila tried.

Allen was more successful to stop the onslaught of near incoherent blubbering. "Ollie, you're doin' the thing with the 'and's' again."

The teen clamped his mouth shut, but his jaw still quivered with his mourning. Allen removed his warm hand, and took the liberty to pilfer another strawberry. Oliver hung his head, realizing how overboard he allowed himself to go, and probably already chased his friend away. An embarrassingly loud exclamation slipped out of his mouth when the other boy slung his arm around his shoulders, and aggressively squished their sides together.

"'s'all cool, Ollie. I know what you're gettin' at. I know that type. Shit, I guess I can say I was that type at some low point in my life."

"B-but they have been causing a lot of trouble during the past several months, and everyone is ahn-annoyed by them. They take what does not belong to them without remorse, and claim they are helping, but I have no idea how. They used to be tolerable fellows at one time, but now...I-I do not want that for the either of us."

"I got what y'mean!" Another strawberry vanished from Oliver's plate, and he then had no more. "You don't gotta worry 'bout that, though, since I'm under heavy watch from the cops, stuff like that would be a perfect excuse fer 'em to nag me. There ain't no way I'm gettin' into that kind o' risky business just fer shits an' giggles."

"O-oh?" Oliver exclaimed in delight.

Allen squeezed his shoulder and winked. "Yeah, sure, it's a nice thought, 'cause every guy needs a bit adventurin' in his life, but this time, it just ain't worth it."

The other boy found himself smiling again. "Maybe we will have to do some adventuring on our own sometime, instead!"

Lila reminded Oliver of her presence, "Count me in! If you can spare the attention..." with little to no prevail. The boy was too busy adoring the way he made Allen grin like that.

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

All was well, or at least life acted like it for the summer. Maybe it was the hot weather that distracted the kids more so than usual, or that they were busy taking advantage of the heat to do not be cramped in the House, but everyone, even Miss Warden, was in lighter moods. Oliver, too, deciding that there was no harm in playing with nostalgia, dragged Allen from the property to the nearest park with his own bed cover in tow to lay in the grass and watch the younger kids run around. Sometimes, they even joined in when the others needed more players on their teams.

Lila, of course, visited regularly from the Realm of Spirits during her unconscious hours, bringing mischief and funny fairy stories from her fields. If Oliver's attention poured too much onto the other teen, she would pull his hair, and the boy would have to play off his sudden yelps as if there were bugs biting him. He was not sure if Allen had bought the excuse, but he laughed anyway.

If he had let Crookednose down, politely or not, neither of them mentioned anything to Oliver, who was rather glad they did not. He and his friend had better things to do than worry about troublemakers, and the baker was positive his neighbor had other stuff on his mind during those warm days than annoy his friends.

His friends, the girls on the bleachers, were glad that Crookednose's posse let up their antics, but that opened up more time and attention to Oliver. They were not pleased about being neglected, and had not allowed the boy on the bleachers as they demanded an explanation from him. Oliver had to stand before them, like a child standing before his parents after his hand was caught in the cookie jar. "You haven't sit with us in...how long has it been?

"Eleven days," another hissed.

"Eleven days! You are so far behind!"

"W-well I-I have work, and m-my boss is teaching me how to drive-"

"Okay, how about the other half of the day? Our time out here is very limited before winter sets in! The benches are going to be too cold to sit on in a matter of a month or two!"

"Yes, I know, I know..."

"If you know, then why aren't you up here?"

Another girl yowled, "Who's the bitch that stole you away?!"

Oliver choked a little at the girls' collective wrath. Before he could get a valid answer out, another one spat, "Is it someone we know? Or is it someone from outside? Is that why you sneak out all the time?!"

"You got to be careful! She might be a gutter rat!"

"Or have other guys!"

"No!" Oliver stammered, "I-I am not sneaking out! I have been hanging out with Allen, getting out of the House! Th-the weather is nice!"

A wave of silence hushed the crowd. "Wait," one whispered. "Did you say Allen? That dorky guy that comes up here to mooch food from us?"

Oliver nervously pulled on his own fingers, and nodded.

"Oh!" One girl threw her hands up in the air with mock surprise, "That chummy boy Allen thinks he can just pull you away from us!"

"W-well, no, it sort of the other way around." As soon as the words were out of Oliver's mouth, he sucked in a sharp breath, and winced.

The girls bristled. "Oh, really?"

"Oh dear," the baker muttered to himself, wondering what he had just unleashed upon himself. Much to his surprise, however, a few snickers snuck through the crowd. He looked up with raised eyebrows. "Is...is there something funny?"

The eldest girl held out her hands to quiet everyone down. "Girls, girls, please. I think I know what's going on here." Her eyes flickered to Oliver, and waited an intense moment for a smirk to stretch across her face. "You two got a thing going on."

"What thing?"

The bleachers came alive with whoops and cackles as the girls latched onto one another in desperate attempts to save themselves from laughing too hard. Heat plagued Oliver inside and out. He asked louder, more agitated, "What thing?!"

One girl clapped her palms on her knees. "You two got the couple thing going on! Oh-ho! That's great!"

"Well, crap! That explains everything!"

Oliver shouted over their giggles and snorts, "We are not a couple!"

"Stop lying!"

"I'm not!"

"Oh yeah? Do we have to get Allen over here and prove it?"

It was so not funny to be on the receiving end on all that gossip and teasing he loved to do with his lady friends. Gritting his teeth so he would not say something scathing, Oliver managed to spit out, "That will not be necessary, girls."

"Prove it, then!"

"I will! Next time I see him, I am going to ask!"

The girls promised, "We'll be looking forward to it!"