Chapter 4. Tuesday

Lavi woke up when a couple of birds thought it was a good idea to chirp happily outside his bedroom window. He glanced at the digital watch on the bedside table. 8.15 AM. That's unusually early for Lavi to wake up. Even Allen was still asleep, and he was more of a morning person.

Lavi studied the sleeping boy's face for a minute before reaching out a hand to gently shake some life into him. It really wasn't fair of him to sleep so soundly when Lavi had had the misfortune of waking up now was it? "Allen, wake up."

"Mm," Allen shifted in the bed as he was slowly dragged out of dreamland. "What is it?" his voice a sleepy mumble.

"Why aren't you up making pancakes?"

Allen squinted one eye opened only to glare at Lavi before turning away, pulling the covers closer to him. "I'm not your personal cook."

"Oh come on," Lavi whined.

"No."

"But-"

"I want to sleep more."

"Sorry, can't let'cha!" Lavi pulled the covers off them and threw them on the floor.

Allen groaned as the cold air hit his exposed skin. "Hey!" his grey eyes glared angrily at the redhead who was already up and getting dressed. Allen sighed as he felt his stomach rumble, it seemed the universe wouldn't let him sleep in this morning. He reluctantly made his way out of bed and made his way over to a chair where he had placed the clothes he got the day before.

"Good boy," Lavi nodded in approval. "See ya in the kitchen," and with that he left Allen by himself.

For a moment Allen considered the thought of just grabbing the blanket from the floor and go back to bed, maybe even locking the door just in case, but as his stomach made another growling sound he pushed that thought away and got dressed.

In the kitchen Lavi was already preparing tea, and he would have started preparing the breakfast too if he hadn't been distracted. He was reading on the package of the tea, finding the short information about tea and it's history quite interesting. As Allen entered the room Lavi looked up with a smile.

"Did you know all kinds of tea comes from the same plant, the 'Camellia Sinensis'?" Lavi asked excitedly, he loved learning new things, even trivial things.

Allen was slightly surprised by the sudden random question but replied to Lavi with a nod. "Ah, yes, I did." Ignoring Lavi's enthusiasm over tea plants Allen started to search the fridge for eggs and bacon, one of his many favorite things for breakfast. Also, Lavi finally started making the tea after wasting some more minutes to read on the packaging. But Allen didn't really mind as he enjoyed cooking, especially when he knew he was going to eat what he made.

As they sat down to eat Lavi suddenly remembered he had an appointment that day. He was meant to meet with a man that had hired him for a project and receive the necessary materials.

"Hey Allen, I have to head out for a while after breakfast," he informed his new lodger.

Allen blinked a few times, shocked. That was not something he wanted to hear for the sake of his own secrecy. "How come? Can I come with?" He tried to sounds casual.

"It's a work thing," Lavi explained. "And as much fun as it would be to have you with I'm not sure it's such a good idea." Allen looked disappointed and Lavi didn't want to be the reason for that, so he went a head and blamed the man responsible. "I mean the guy I'm meeting wouldn't be too thrilled about it."

"Alright," Allen sighed. After all he knew he wouldn't be able to keep Lavi isolated from the news forever, he could only hope that Lavi wouldn't see his face on any tabloids.

"I should do some food shopping on the way back, anything special you'd like?"

The thought of food obviously cheered Allen up as he put on a huge smile before reciting an imaginary endless list of food related items. Lavi just laughed…nervously.

¤-x-¤

The meeting was, according to Lavi, a huge waste of time. He had been given a quick briefing of the idea for the coming project and further instructions written in a folder together with the essential materials. He moped the entire car ride to the supermarket. After all, they could have just mailed the papers to his house, saving him this pretty useless trip. At least the grocery shopping made it a little more worth it, but little did he know that he wasn't even going to make it into the store. He made it out of the car though and almost into the supermarket, it was as he was passing a newspaper stand before the shop entrance that something caught his eye. A familiar face. Allen's face. Right there, on the front page.

Lavi must have been staring at it for minutes before the man in the stand dragged him back to reality by asking if he intended to buy anything. Lavi quickly pulled out some money to buy the newspaper before getting back to his car where he continued to stare at it. He read the article but it didn't explain much, just stated that Allen was wanted for various reasons and that one should report to the police if one had seen him or had any other helpful information about him.

The thoughts going through Lavi's head were endless. "Was he a criminal? CIA? A spy? Did he betray the Queen of England?"

Lavi concluded that there were two ways to find out what was going on. Either he'd conduct his own research or he'd ask the boy in question. After a few minutes of thinking he decided to go for the later alternative, as he wanted answers as fast as possible. Doing his own research would mean he had to keep this a secret from Allen. What if Allen didn't even know what was going on, then what? He'd have to cross that bridge when he got there, for now he just had to get there. Throwing the newspaper aside he started his car and drove back home slightly faster than legal.

¤-x-¤

Lavi ran into the apartment, almost slamming the door behind him in the rush. He was just about to call Allen when he realized he had no idea what to say. And Allen who had obviously heard him coming, showed up in the hallway doorframe. "What are you doing?" he asked curiously.

Lavi was quiet, his head hung low and his eye was fixated on the floor.

Allen took a few steps closer. "What's wrong?"

"You tell me," Lavi didn't look up.

"What are you taking about?"

"This," he held up the newspaper.

"Oh," was all Allen could say. He had known this day would come eventually but he hadn't expected it to be so soon and therefore had no idea what to say either.

"Oh?" Lavi retorted, a slight annoyance in his voice. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Well, no…"

"Then explain this," Lavi was finally looking up and his one green eye, carrying a hint of betrayal, was locked at Allen. "Are you a criminal?" He didn't know why he asked, cause it obviously wasn't true.

"Sort of…" came Allen's mumbling reply.

Okay, so it was true and Lavi instantly regretted the question. Couldn't he have asked if he was a secret agent instead, 007 was pretty cool after all. "What?" it was almost inaudible but the silence around them made it clear.

Knowing he had no choice but to explain himself, Allen leaned against the hallway wall and slid down, taking a seat on the floor. He feared if he were to make it to the living room couch he'd have time to change his mind about telling the truth. "It all started when my father died…" This time it was Allen's turn to avoid eye contact, he kept staring at the wall in front of him but he could hear Lavi moving, probably sitting down on the floor as well. "I was just a child," Allen continued. "So I could not take care of myself and my uncle had to take me in. And he…" He made a pause, unsure how to continue, if he even wanted to continue but Lavi had been really kind so he deserved to know, right? "He had some major money problems and with no intention of fixing them so we had to depend on me for getting money. I have always been a good card player," Lavi made some kind of noise here meaning he knew exactly what Allen meant after the loss he had suffer the day before.

Allen continued. "So I gambled to keep up with my uncle's debts but after some time the little money I could earn by that wasn't enough and I had to advance for different methods." Another short pause to let the information sink in. "In other words, I didn't only cheat when playing cards I learned to trick people out of their money." Allen took a deep breath, readying himself for the conclusion. "Eventually came the time when I tricked the wrong people and with the money already gone I had to other choice than to flee," he finished with a long sigh and without looking up he waited for some kind of reply from the other man. But there was none, all Allen could hear was Lavi getting up and without a word walk out the door. He buried his face in his gloved hands, he wasn't crying but he felt abandoned, a feeling he knew all to well. He had only known Lavi for a couple of days so why did it hurt so much?

¤-x-¤

After having left the apartment Lavi found himself laying on a park bench, not too far from his home, his one eye following the slow movements of the clouds. He didn't know what to feel, a part of him understood why Allen had done what he'd done but another part couldn't even phantom this small, fragile looking kid as a mischievous criminal.

But now this mischievous criminal was his friend, right? Or was it all an act to stay hidden from the people who were after him? After all, Allen had been left with him without an explanation from that Kanda guy. There had to be a reason why he failed to mention anything about the boy. If he had told Lavi that Allen was a thief he would obviously not accept him and especially not if he really was evil.

"But how could he be evil?" Lavi mumbled quietly to no one in particular. Allen had shown no signs whatsoever of being a malicious human being. No, Allen had told him that he had no choice so it's not like he was enjoying the life on the run…right? "Speaking of run," Lavi thought. What if Allen did just that? He sat up quickly, taking a second to make his decision. "Allen is my friend."

Quickly he made his way back hoping Allen would still be there. He was relieved to see, that when he opened the door to the apartment, Allen was exactly where he had left him. The boy looked up from the floor with an expression Lavi couldn't describe but if he was forced to he'd have to guess it was a mix of sadness, betrayal and chock.

Quickly Lavi approached him and gave him a hug. "I don't care if you're a thief. Because above that you are my friend now."

Allen tensed before clearing his throat.

Lavi released the hug to look at him. "What?"

"I am not a thief, I don't just steal from random people," Allen looked at him seriously.

"Okay?" Lavi didn't exactly follow, hadn't Allen just told him he stole money?

"I'm something of a con artist," he explained, almost sounding proud over the fact. "I carefully target people who are dishonest and offer them something they can't refuse, so in my opinion it's entirely their own fault for being stupid enough to fall for it."

Lavi laughed nervously. Maybe this boy was quite vicious after all. "It sounds kinda like a trap," Lavi stated despite a slight fear for Allen's reaction.

"Oh no," Allen waved his hand dismissively. "As the saying goes 'you can't cheat an honest man', I can't be held accountable for their choices."

Lavi wasn't sure he agreed but it seemed best to pretend Allen was right. "Alrighty, if you say so," he patted Allen on the head, slightly ruffling those white locks. "Anyway, I'm sorry I took off, I didn't know what to say, but now," he thought for a moment. "I think it was very brave of you to tell me the truth."

"Well, I had no choice, did I?"

"Nope!" Lavi laughed and so did Allen. It felt like normal again, like they could trust each other, maybe even more know as they had gone through this together. "So, now what?"

"What do you mean?" Allen asked.

"I mean, what do we do with this people who are looking for ya?"

"Oh," Allen took a few moments to think it over. "They can't know where I am, I've been very careful," he smiled and gave Lavi a reassuring pat on the shoulder before getting up from the floor, dusting himself off slightly. "I'm hungry."

Lavi smacked his forehead. "I never did the shopping."

Allen looked at him with horror in his eyes. "What?!"

¤-x-¤

"Lenalee!"

Lenalee slowly opened her eyes wondering what it was that had awakened her from the nice dream she had. She glanced over at the clock on the wall, 7.30. Now why would she wake up at this unfortunate hour?

"Lenalee!"

Oh, so that's why. Her brother Komui was calling her from downstairs. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before giving him a reply.

"What is it?"

"We're going to America!"

"What?!" She hurried out of bed, not bothering with clothes she ran down the stairs in her pajamas meeting Komui in the hallway. "I thought we were going to Japan?"

"False alarm," Komui explained taking a sip from a cup of coffee. "Only Kanda went to Japan, Allen has been spotted in America."

"I see," She nodded. "And when are we leaving?"

"Tonight, I wish we could go right now but I need to sort a few things out first."

"Alright, I will start packing." She turned around ready to head back to her room, maybe even going back to bed for another hour, when she heard her brother sniffle behind her. A little annoyed that she was losing precious moments of sleep she turned her head to look at him. "What?"

"Won't you give your brother a good morning hug?" His face suddenly filled with joy as he reached his arms out towards her.

"No." And with that firm statement she hurried up the stairs to her room.

TBC

Author's note: Though short I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always I'd like to thank my beta Silver Ecstasy for fixing all my mistakes and giving me her honest opinions, they mean gold to me, what I mean is, she's always gold so do check her out if you haven't already.