The coffee shop buzzed with activity, more so than Lavi had expected for two in the afternoon. He drank down his third cappuccino in an hour. His hands had started to shake after the second cup, but he still eyed the counter longingly, thinking about getting a fourth. Before he could make a decision either way, his study buddy arrived, weaving through the crowd of people and towards the counter to grab a drink of her own. She waved at him before giving the barista her order.

With a sigh, Lavi tapped his empty paper cup against the table and looked down at the open book and the chicken scratches he called notes. He bounced his leg, the incessant movement earning him a few dark glares from the tables next to him. Ignoring them, Lavi offered his friend a smile when she sat down at the table across from him.

"Lena, you finally made it."

Lenalee took a sip from her cup before replying, matching his grin with one of her own. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner. My professor made us stay late in one of my lectures. It's thrown my whole day out of whack." She dug into her backpack and pulled out a couple notebooks, handing one to the redhead. "But, I have the notes from our Lit class."

Lavi sighed and took the offered notebook. "Lenalee, you are a saint. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Have a lot harder time passing this class, that's for damn sure," she teased, grabbing a few books from her bag before settling into her spot. "Why did you miss class, anyway?"

Lavi's flipped through the pages of the notebook until he found the fresh notes. "I fell asleep in the Student Center," he said, refusing to meet Lenalee's eyes.

"What?! Why would you do that?" Lenalee looked over Lavi's face, then frowned. "Are you all right? Now that you mention it, you kinda look like hell."

"I feel like it, too," Lavi admitted, rubbing his good eye. "I haven't been sleeping well lately, which is probably why I fell asleep in the Student Center in the first place. When I woke up, I'd missed two classes and someone stole my box of crackers and my pudding cup."

"Those monsters," Lenalee commiserated. "But why can't you sleep? Something bothering you?"

Lavi frowned and pushed his empty coffee cup to the other side of the table, avoiding eye contact. "…It's stupid. You'll laugh."

Lenalee shook her head. "You know I won't. Just tell me what's going on. Maybe I can help?"

Chewing on his bottom lip, Lavi lowered his head towards the table as he mulled over answering her. "…Something weird has been happening at my house."

"Weird? Weird, how?" Lenalee asked, resting her elbow against the table as she sipped her coffee.

"I dunno how to describe it," Lavi said, sitting up straight again and looking out the coffee shop window. "I just… I heard some weird noises at night."

"Noises? What kind of noises?"

Lavi's shoulders hunched up and he sighed, exasperated. "Just… weird! I don't know! I mean… Well, Gramps is gone for two months overseas for work and I've never been in the house alone before. Maybe I'm going crazy being by myself for this long?"

"Really? Not ever?" Lenalee asked, tilting her head as she watched Lavi try to explain himself.

"Not for this long," Lavi elaborated. "The noises are strange enough, but I swear my stuff has been moved around."

"Like someone's in the house with you?" She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Maybe? Or… Well… The noises… They kinda sound like… moaning."

"…Moaning?"

Lavi sighed. "Okay. I can already tell you think I'm crazy. Forget I said anything."

Lenalee's lips quirked up into a smirk. "Lavi, are you saying your house is haunted?"

"I am trying very hard not to say that."

Lenalee laughed then and leaned back in her chair. She pressed a hand over her eyes as she fought to control her giggles.

"See! I knew you would laugh! And you even said you wouldn't! How cruel, Lena."

"I'm not laughing at you for thinking your house is haunted. I'm laughing because you're so scared to admit it," Lenalee said, reassuring her friend as she tried to keep from snickering.

"Because ghosts aren't real, Lena! And I can't come up with a plausible explanation for what's happening! I' out here!"

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, Lavi. We'll figure this out," Lenalee said, grabbing Lavi's trembling hands and giving them a comforting squeeze. "I know someone who might actually be able to help you."

It was Lavi's turn to laugh. "Are you saying you know a ghost expert?"

"I do! I have a friend who says he can see spirits," Lenalee explained, smiling over at the redhead. "Maybe he can help you with your ghost problem."

"No way. It's not really a ghost, Lena. It can't be a ghost, because ghosts aren't real." Lavi shook his head. "And I'm not having some crazy-ass fake psychic come to my house and pretend to solve my not-a-ghost problem."

Lenalee's smile grew. "Oh? I'm sorry to hear that. I guess you'll have to figure it out on your own, then. And I was so sure that Allen could help you out."

Lavi perked up at the name. "Wait… Allen? As in Allen Walker?"

"One and the same," Lenalee added.

"He's the one who you invited to that party a month ago?" Lavi asked, his interest piqued. "The guy with the white hair and the scar on his face? The one I told you was super cute and swore you to never repeat that information, even under the most rigorous torture?"

"Yes," Lenalee said, exasperated. "Allen Walker, the guy you have the biggest hard-on for, says he can see spirits. You want me to call him and ask him to come to your house? Or would you rather deal with Casper yourself?"

Lavi frowned at her from across the table and pulled his hands back from hers. "Your sass is not appreciated, but yes. When can he come over?"

"I'll text him now," Lenalee replied with a triumphant grin as she pulled out her phone. "And no more coffee for you. Your hands are ridiculously sweaty."

"Sorry."

xXxXxXx

Allen looked up at the large house as he and Lenalee walked up the paved driveway, feeling more intimidated than he should've been. He'd never seen such a place before, let alone gone into one. There looked to be at least three floors and windows lined the brick walls as ivy grew around the openings. A large porch took up most of the front of the house, steps leading up to the door.

"Are we even allowed to be here, Lenalee?" Allen asked, pulling the hood tighter over his head.

"For the last time — yes. You said you wanted to help Lavi, didn't you?" Lenalee asked, adjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder.

"Yeah, but I didn't know he was, like… rich," Allen said, chewing on the bottom of his lip.

"He's not rich. The house is just a family house that's been passed down. His Grandfather uses it for business. He's a historian."

"A rich historian," Allen mumbled, tugging at his left sleeve, pulling the material of his sweatshirt over his scarred hand. He'd only met Lavi Bookman a handful of times, always when he was with Lenalee. Allen had to admit, Lavi seemed interesting, and he had confessed to Lenalee once (and had regretted it later) that he thought he was handsome. Lenalee had been trying to get him to ask the redhead out ever since, with no luck.

Part of him wondered if this wasn't some elaborate hoax. He knew better than to think Lenalee would play a prank on him, make him think he was here to actually help Lavi when it was all just a ruse to tease him. But he wouldn't put it past Lenalee to use this as an opportunity to play matchmaker. She had been less than subtle in her attempts to get the two of them together, and as much as he appreciated her efforts, he knew it would be a waste of time. There was no way in hell that Lavi had any interest in he trusted her judgment, trepidation still filled Allen's chest as they walked up the steps of the old house. He tried to clear his head of negative thoughts as Lenalee knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Don't look so nervous," Lenalee said. She smiled and elbowed him in the side.

Allen sighed and tried to put on a friendly face, but he had a feeling he looked more constipated than anything else. "I'm not nervous."

"Mhmm…"

"I'm not."

"Riiiiight."

"Lena—"

Before Allen could get the rest of his sentence out, the door opened. Lavi stood there, looking more frazzled than Allen had ever seen him before. The redhead slapped on smile, but the effect was marred by the dark circle lining his good eye.

"Hey, thanks for coming over," Lavi said, opening the door all the way to let Lenalee and Allen enter.

Once they were all inside, Allen looked over what he could see of the house. Decorations were sparse, but everything seemed to be from a different time. Old leather chairs and couches dotted the rooms, along with a few tables. What caught his eye, however, were the bookshelves. Wherever there was room, shelves lined the walls, filled to the brim with books. Everything looked old, and Allen felt like he was in a museum or some sort of ancient library.

"Okay, Lavi. Where's your ghost? I want to meet it," Lenalee said, hands on her hips as she looked around the room.

Lavi sighed and rubbed at his tired eye. "I told you, there aren't any ghosts."

This caught Allen by surprise. "Ah… If you don't think there's a ghost, then why am I here?"

"Oh, it's a ghost all right," Lenalee added, grinning widely.

"Alleged ghost," Lavi insisted, crossing his arms over his chest. "We have no proof yet."

Lenalee grinned and nudged Allen. "Lavi's convinced it's not a ghost, but he keeps describing things that inherently ghostly."

Allen couldn't help but grin back, his friend's cheerful mood contagious, even as Lavi looked more and more stressed. "Well, if it is a ghost, I think I can help you, Lavi," he said. "Tell me what's been happening and I'll see what I can do."

Lavi nodded, trying hard to hide his flustered state. "Right. Follow me, then."

They headed upstairs, winding through the corridors. Allen and Lenalee followed Lavi as he led them through the upper levels. Allen admired the old architecture of the house, smiling to himself. The façade had been foreboding on the outside, but when he saw every room lined with books, it was hard not to feel the warmth of the place.

"So, I've been hearing some weird noises," Lavi explained as they wandered through the halls. "I'm either in my room or in the main library when I hear it."

"What's it sound like, exactly?" Allen asked, peering into the rooms as they passed. Most of the doors were closed, but the ones that were open were filled with books, like every other room he saw so far.

"Like moaning, I guess," Lavi explained. "I've also noticed doors shut that should be open, and vice versa. Considering I'm literally the only person here right now, it's kinda freaking me out."

Allen nodded, taking in the surroundings and Lavi's accounts. "When does it happen?"

"At night, almost exclusively."

They continued to walk through the house, seeing and hearing nothing out of the ordinary. Allen would've thought Lavi had been joking about the whole experience, but he seemed to grow agitated the more he talked about the occurrences. Allen didn't sense or see anything strange — even the feeling of the house didn't creep him out whatsoever. He was too sensitive to supernatural vibrations to have missed a poltergeist. Lenalee had explained that Lavi's grandfather had been gone for a while on a business trip, and now Allen was convinced Lavi simply wasn't comfortable being alone. It was kinda cute when he thought about it.

He and Lenalee were about to leave when she excused herself to go to the restroom, and Allen smiled over at Lavi, hoping to put the redhead at ease.

"I don't think it's a ghost, Lavi. I didn't sense anything, at least." Allen pulled at the sleeve of his sweatshirt again, making sure to keep his hand covered.

"Oh." Lavi sounded disappointed, but he put a quick smile on to hide it. "Well, I didn't really think it was, but you know… It doesn't hurt to check."

Allen smiled. "Right."

Lenalee reappeared a few minutes later, fiddling with her oversized purse. "No ghost, huh? I'm actually seriously disappointed, Lavi. I was expecting an adventure. You'd better make this up to me."

Lavi sighed. "Sorry, Lena. I promise I will."

She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Good. I suppose we should get going then. I've got an essay to write and—"

Before she could finish her sentence, a loud wail echoed through the house, startling everyone. Lavi jumped first, clinging to Lenalee, who looked just as startled as he did. Allen felt a shiver run up his back and his eyes widening at the sound. It continued for less than a minute before the house turned silent once again. The three stood there, stunned.

"What the hell was that?" Lenalee asked, a tremor in her voice.

"I told you!" Lavi said, still holding onto Lenalee and practically shaking her. "I told you! I told you! I told you!"

"Oh, my God," Lenalee said, her nervousness turning into excitement. "It's a ghost!"

Allen kept listening, waiting to hear the sound again. When everything stayed silent, save for Lavi and Lenalee, he frowned. "Well, that certainly was odd…" He wasn't convinced yet. Something was strange about the entire situation. "Lavi, I thought you said the ghost only bothered you at night?"

"Maybe it's showing up early because of you guys! I dunno!" Lavi said, looking nervous.

"We should do a ghost hunt tonight!" Lenalee said with a grin. "We can all come over and search the house again, see if something else happens! Maybe Allen can talk to the spirit and get it to go away."

Allen raised an eyebrow. "Well, it doesn't exactly work like th—"

"C'mon, Allen! We need you for this!" Lenalee grabbed his hands and pulled him close. She smiled at him, giving him the same look she always did when she wanted something.

It didn't help when Lavi jumped in on the guilt trip. "Yeah, Al! We need your expertise! Besides, I'd like to get some sleep sometime this week. My grades are seriously suffering from all this weird shit."

With a sigh, he gave in easily. He couldn't say no — not with them both giving him sad puppy eyes. "Ok. I'll bring some things over to help you with your ghost problem. I'm sure we can figure it out."

Without regard for personal space, Lavi pounced onto Allen, hugging him tight. "Thank you. I owe you big time, Al."

Allen stiffened at the contact, but softened quickly, a blush on his cheeks.

"We'd better get supplies for tonight," Lenalee said, and after a moment of thought added, "And I probably should do my essay, too."

"Wait, you're leaving me alone?" Lavi asked, tightening his grip on Allen.

"You're not scared of a little 'ol ghost, are you Lavi?" Lenalee asked, heading towards the front door.

"No, but… I… Can't I just go with you guys?"

Allen chuckled and shook his head before looking over to Lenalee. "Go easy on the guy. His house is haunted."

"All right, you can come with. But you owe me a latte at the coffee shop. It's going to be a long night and I'll need all my focus for hunting ghosts."

Lavi grinned. "Deal."

xXxXxXx

"Are you sure you needed all this stuff?" Lavi looked over the contents of Allen's bag as the three of them set up their home base in the redhead's room for their night of ghost hunting. He and Lenalee helped Allen collect a few items from his house, as well as some snacks to keep up their energy through the evening.

"Probably not, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right?" Allen laid out some of the more interesting items on Lavi's desk. Tarot cards, a Ouija board, crystal pendulums, small bundles of sage and other incense – It looked like a New-Age Wicca store threw up in Lavi's room.

"Yeah, wouldn't want you two to leave me for a supply run," Lavi said, shivering involuntarily at the thought.

"Relax, Lavi. We're going to protect you from the big, bad poltergeist," Lenalee commented, pulling out a few books from her bag and sitting down on a corner of Lavi's bed.

When the redhead looked her way, he huffed. "You brought homework? To a ghost hunt?"

Lenalee shrugged, opening a textbook to the marked page. "I mean, aren't we just waiting around for something to happen? I'm not just going to stare at the wall in boredom."

"No! Well… Maybe? I've never hunted ghosts before," Lavi admitted, rubbing at his neck. "Allen? You've done this before, right? What are we supposed to do?"

Allen smiled, and pulled out a couple of notebooks as well. "Lena's pretty much right, Lavi. We're just going to wait around for the ghost. I mean, we could do a few sweeps of the house, but until we hear or see something, there's not much to be done. You did say that you hear it in your room a lot, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"So I say we stick it out here and see what happens. We can go looking around in an hour or two." Allen sat down next to Lenalee on the bed and opened a spiral notebook. "In the meantime, let's be at least a little productive?"

Lavi sighed, grabbing his laptop and sitting next to Allen. They all lined his bed, backs against the wall as they worked on separate projects. "Just for the record, bringing homework to a ghost hunt is the lamest thing ever. We could be playing a game or watching a movie or something."

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Allen asked, looking over at Lavi as he tapped his pen on the notebook.

"Anything besides studying," Lavi replied with a grin, elbowing Allen.

Lenalee clucked her tongue. "Study first, then goof off. You know the rules." She was just about to start reading when she her phone rang. She looked at the caller, her eyebrows pinching together as a frown marred her face. "Hello?"

There was silence for a long moment, Lavi losing interest in the call in favor of his laptop. However, when Lenalee spoke up again, panic in her voice, Lavi and Allen both turned their attention to her. "No, no, no. Just stay put. I'll be there as soon as I can." After ending the call, she grabbed her things and started putting them away.

"Whoa, what's the rush?" Lavi asked, looking over at his friend nervously.

"Kanda has an emergency and he needs a lift somewhere. I'm going to go pick him up." Shouldering her bag, Lenalee sighed. "You two can do this on your own, right?"

"I think we'll be okay," Allen replied. "You go take care of the emergency."

"But Lena, you promised!" Lavi whined, pulling himself to his feet and wringing his hands. "I mean, what if something happens and we need your help?"

"I think you can handle it on your own. And if I get done quick enough, I'll be back. Okay?" She shouldered her bag and smiled at Lavi and Allen as she left the room, not giving them a chance to reply.

"But, Lena—" Lavi started, too late to catch her before she disappeared into the hallway. He sighed, then sat back down on the bed next to Allen. He looked over at him. "I guess it's just the two of us now."

Allen looked up from his notebook and smiled over at Lavi. "Don't worry. I'm the ghost expert, right?"

Lavi returned his smile. "I suppose so. I'll have to leave my safety in your hands." As he stared over at Allen, Lavi mused that he had never thought Allen Walker would be in his room on the lookout for ghosts. But here they were, and even if it wasn't the ideal situation, Lavi would do his best to take full advantage of having his crush at his house all night.

Allen laughed, pulling his right hand up to his lips as he tried to hide his smile. "I promise to take good care of you."

Lavi liked the sound of that. After a moment's thought, he closed Allen's notebook and tossed it to the other side of the bed. "C'mon. Now that Lena's gone, we should do something fun! No more homework."

Allen watched as his notebook sailed across the bed, then chuckled. "Okay— What do you have in mind?"

"Hmm…" Lavi pondered the options for a moment before grabbing his laptop. "What kind of movies do you like? We could watch something?"

Allen scooted closer, leaning against the redhead as he scanned over the list of movies. "I pretty much like every genre."

He tried to ignore Allen's closeness, and the growing blush on his cheeks. "Well, I'm going to say right now that we won't be watching horror movies."

"Agreed."

"So that leaves Romance, Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy…" Lavi looked through the list of movies until the answer came to him all at once. "How about all four then?"

Allen blinked. "You have one with all four?"

Lavi grinned and queued up the movie. "Tell me you've seen The Princess Bride?"

"Can't say that I have," Allen admitted.

With an exaggerated gasp, Lavi stared the film. "You are in for a treat."

xXxXxXx

One movie turned into two, turned into four, and by the time it was 1:30 AM, Allen and Lavi were worn out from laughing and talking half the night. They'd discussed each movie — pointing out their favorite parts, re-telling anecdotes, and meandering down tangents for so long that they forgot what had started the conversation thread in the first place. They missed half the movies while they were distracted with each other.

They sat closer and closer, sharing a blanket over their laps and cuddling together to get a better view of the laptop screen. By the time the fourth movie ended (The Goonies, as insisted by Allen), their legs had tangled together under the blankets, and Lavi's arm found its way around Allen's shoulders.

"Lavi, you can't tell me that was scary," Allen said, shaking his head as the credits rolled.

The redhead shrugged, a nervous smile slipping onto his face. "Well… There was a skeleton."

"Oh, my God." Allen curled up against Lavi's lap, laughing hard.

"Don't laugh, Al!" Lavi whined, pouting as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.

Trying to rein in his giggles, Allen sat back up and wiped at his eyes. "I'm sorry, but you're being so ridiculous."

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm super sensitive to scary stuff right now," Lavi complained, giving Allen a half-hearted glare.

Shaking his head, Allen apologized. "I'm sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?"

Lavi spit out the words before his brain could even think to censor himself. "I wouldn't mind a kiss."

The silence that hung in the air after Lavi's suggestion felt hot with tension. Lavi stiffened, surprised at himself and how utterly stupid he was, and looked away from Allen as he tried to think of a way out of the situation.

Before he could say something, Allen spoke up, his voice soft and serious. "Really? Is that what you want?"

Lavi wasn't sure how to answer, and his mouth hung open in shock as he tried to figure out the right words to say. He turned back to Allen, who watched him with guarded eyes.

"Al, I—"

Then they heard it, the same deathly wail that had echoed in the house earlier that day. Lavi felt the hair on his neck stand at attention, and an involuntary shiver crawling down his spine. The noise only lasted for half a minute, then silence descended over the house once more. "Tell me you heard that?"

Allen nodded, turning his gaze to the door. "I did. I think it came from upstairs…"

"Oh, fuck me," Lavi groaned, pulling the blanket over his head. "Let's ignore it and maybe it'll go away."

"Lavi, isn't this why I'm here? To help you with this ghost problem?" Allen asked, tugging the blanket off Lavi's head.

"Oh, God. I forgot."

In spite of the situation, Allen laughed. "C'mon. Let's go face this apparition."

Lavi paled at the suggestion. "But what if it possesses us of something? We could end up like that girl in The Exorcist. And I don't know about you, but I'm not excited for my head to spin around in circles spewing green gunk all over."

"Wasn't the girl in that film possessed by the Devil? Not a ghost?" Allen asked, untangling himself from the sheets.

"Oh, shit. The Devil is in my house and he's going to possess me."

Even though Allen rolled his eyes, he couldn't help but smile. "Lavi, don't worry." He reached down and grabbed the redhead's hand, pulling him to his feet. "We're going to face this ghost and get you the sleep you deserve."

Lavi resisted the pull. "Or, we could stay here and pretend we didn't hear anyth—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, power went out and the moaning echoed in the house again. It startled Lavi so bad that he jumped forward and clung to Allen's waist in fright.

Allen grabbed Lavi's shoulders out of reflex, holding them both steady until the sound passed. He looked back at the door with a frown, even though he couldn't see much in the dark. "I think it's time to face your fears, Lavi."

"Or I could move to a nice, un-haunted apartment."

Allen sighed, tugging Lavi to his feet and pulling him towards the door. "Let's go."

Lavi whined, but let Allen tug him along. They grabbed their phones, turning on the flashlight function, and headed out into the hall. The lights scanned over the hallway, and everything appeared normal — nothing was moved, askew, or out of place.

"We should search to see if we can find where the noise came from," Allen suggested, moving forward down the hallway. Lavi clung to his arm, shivering so hard that the light from his phone shook with him. They only took a few steps, and the noise happened again.

"It's going to kill us," Lavi cried out. "I've never heard it so many times in one night before. It's probably pissed. It knows, Al! It knows that we're here to kick it out and it wants my blood! I'm too young to die!"

"Shh, calm down," Allen said, his voice hushed, yet rougher than before. "We need to have clear heads if we're going to figure this out. Now, I think the sound is coming from upstairs. So, let's go check it out."

"Okay, just don't let go," Lavi said with a whimper. He grabbed Allen's hand and held on tight.

"I won't — I promise."

They headed upstairs, silently moving and keeping their lights up to scan every inch of the house. Once they were on the third floor, Lavi forced himself to pay attention. He looked at each of the doors lining the hallway. After he scanned his light, it landed on the only door that was left ajar.

"Allen — that room there. The door should be closed. I know I closed it."

With a nod, Allen tightened his grip on Lavi's hand. "Then let's check it out."

Moving cautiously through the hall, they walked towards the door. The moaning sound had ceased for the moment, a fact that Lavi was thankful for. As they neared the open door, he noticed Allen seemed as nervous as he felt.

With caution, they slipped into the room. Lavi checked the small room and found nothing out of the ordinary — a large study table with a few chairs, bookcases lining the walls. He almost breathed a sigh of relief, finding things in their place.

However, on the far end of the room, there was a closet door — left open when he knew it should be shut. Gramps hated having doors left open when there was no need, especially a closet door.

"T-The door," Lavi spat out, his voice trembling more than he'd have liked. "It shouldn't be open."

Allen took a breath. "Okay — Then we check it out."

"Do we have to?"

"Do you want this ghost problem to be solved?"

Lavi sighed. "Fine, but remember you promised not to—"

Allen cut him off. "—Not to let go of your hand. I know, and I won't." He gave Lavi a comforting smile before setting his sights on the closet in front of them. "Now, let's do this."

"Aw, fuck it," Lavi grumbled, moving forward with Allen. Each step was hard fought as Lavi had to stop himself from booking it downstairs, leaving the house and never returning.

When they stopped just in front of the door, Allen peered inside. "… I… I don't see anything creepy. Lavi, you know what's supposed to be here, right? Help me look."

Allen walked into the closet and Lavi followed, their hands still linked tight together. Lavi searched the walk-in closet, finding it full of odd items, stacks of magazines and newspapers, and the occasional garment bag. All in all, he could see nothing out of the ordinary.

"I don't think anything is he—"

The closet door slammed shut with a BANG, startling Lavi enough to for him to cut his sentence short and grab onto Allen like his life depended on it. Immediately, the moaning started again, louder this time, and sounding like it was right in the room with them.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." Lavi freaked out, rushing to the door and turning the knob, only to have it resist his attempts. He tried again and again, even hitting his shoulder into the door with little effect other than a throbbing pain shooting down his arm.

"Lavi, stop!" Allen shouted, trying to make himself heard over the noises. He pulled the redhead away from the door, forcing him to stop on his escape attempts.

"We gotta get out of here! It trapped us!" Lavi cried, trying the doorknob again.

"Just hold on a second," Allen insisted, more calm than he should've been, considering their predicament. He turned his light further into the closet, searching as the sound continued. Finally, his search paid off, and he pulled out the offending object, showing it to Lavi with a triumphant grin.

Lavi squinted in the dark, moving his light source over at Allen. "…Is that a fucking phone?"

"Sure looks like it, and an ancient one to boot." Allen looked over the ringing phone. It vibrated angrily in his hand, and he carefully flipped the phone open to see the caller ID listed as "Darling Sister." Raising an eyebrow, Allen answered, hesitantly pulling the old flip-phone to his ear. "…Hello?"

"Ah, so you finally found it?" a voice called from the other end. Allen recognized it immediately.

"Lenalee."

"What?!" Lavi screeched, rushing over to Allen. "What the fuck is going on here?!"

"Allen, put me on speaker phone before Lavi has a shit-fit."

With a sigh, Allen pulled the phone from his ear and pressed the speaker button. "Okay, you're on speaker. Now explain yourself."

"Well, there's not much to explain. I faked the haunting so you two would hang out. That's why I left you both alone — there was no emergency."

Lavi groaned, falling back against the shelves. "Goddammit, Lena. How did you do it? You couldn't have had this phone stashed here for weeks."

"Nope. You actually did hear something before. But when we came over to your house today, and I ran to the bathroom, I noticed it was just a cracked window. It started to moan when the wind blew — so I closed it all the way," Lenalee explained. By the tone in her voice, Lavi could tell she was smiling. "I planted the phone upstairs while I was gone, then just set the ringtone to the creepiest thing I could. It's my brother's old phone and the ringtone is a Halloween one from years ago. I was supposed to bring it to get recycled today, but this seemed like a better use. Since I left, I just called it until you guys found it. Figured I'd keep you on your toes."

"But what about the door, and the power going out?" Allen asked, looking down at the phone in his hand.

"Oh, I rigged that."

"How?!"

"Secrets, Lavi. I'll come by to get you two out in an hour or so. Hold tight until then. I'm sure you'll find something to keep you occupied."

Lavi opened his mouth to shout at her again, but they were left with nothing but a dial tone. He sighed heavily and slid down to sit on the dusty floor, his legs no longer able to hold him upright.

"I can't believe she did that to us…" Lavi dropped his phone to the ground, the light bouncing off the ceiling and illuminating a good portion of the closet. Allen took a seat next to him, leaning against the shelving as well.

"I'm sorry, Lavi. This is all my fault," Allen said, pulling his knees up to his chest as he curled up.

"What? Why would you even blame yourself like that?" Lavi asked, looking over at him. "There's no way this is your fault."

"Yes it is," Allen insisted, his voice sounding defeated. "The only reason Lenalee did this is because she knows I have a crush on you. I'm pretty sure she set this whole thing up because she wanted us to get together."

Lavi stared at Allen for a long moment, not believing the words echoing in his ears. "Come again?"

Even in the dark, Lavi could see him blush. "I like you — have for a while actually. And Lenalee has been bugging me to hang out with you. I was just too nervous. I'm really sorry this all happened. I'll make it up to you somehow."

Lavi couldn't help it — he laughed. After everything that happened, the lost sleep, the nerve-wracking psuedo-haunting, and nearly fifty minor heart-attacks, this was the cause for it all? He leaned back, his head knocking against an old shoebox and continued to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Allen asked, watching him with concern.

Lavi shook his head. "Lena knew I've had a crush on you for a while now. I can't believe her. She's so fucking crafty."

"Wait," Allen said, straightening up as he realized the implications of Lavi's answer. "So she knew we both liked each other and chose this as the way to approach the situation. Why couldn't we just go for coffee like normal people?!"

"She probably thought we both would chicken out. I know I would've," Lavi admitted. After a moment's thought, he turned to Allen. "So, you like me, huh?"

"Apparently, the feeling's mutual." Allen laughed, scratching at the back of his neck.

Lavi moved closer to Allen, a coy smile on his lips. "Well, Lenalee said she wouldn't be here for an hour, right? So, maybe you could make up this whole night to me right now?"

Allen blushed harder. "What do you have in mind?"

"I'm still waiting for that kiss."

Allen averted his eyes for a moment before looking back at Lavi. "I suppose I do owe you. But I'm not entirely at fault for this. You should take part of the blame."

"And what do you have in mind for your reciprocity?"

Allen smiled. "You'll find out later." Before Lavi could say another word on the matter, Allen leaned in and met their lips in a soft, deep kiss.

Even though the night had been nothing but a wild goose chase, Lavi couldn't help but like the outcome. Still, when Lenalee finally came to get them out of the closet, he wasn't sure if he was going to hug her or kill her.