The kitchen held an air of warmth as two people busied themselves with their task; Lenalee smiled as she chopped vegetables into bite size slices - this would be her first time hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. She was nervous about messing up, but one thing kept her going...

"Che," The person behind her clicked his tongue in a manner that told the young Chinese adult that he wanted to be done but had once again messed up.

Glancing over her shoulder, Kanda's back was the only thing she could see before he turned his head a little to glance down at something to his left before turning his head back to the task in front of him. Yes, she had managed to get him to help her.

Outside the streets were bustling with life with last minute shopping - among the crowd, Allen kept his pace while his mind wandered over the past month. After the events at the cafe, the Brit had made an honest attempt to talk with his boyfriend about their fight; at first, it seemed like the redhead wanted nothing more than to avoid talking about it. Not that Allen could blame him - when the snow-capped adult heard about Lavi's accident, he was furious! He wanted to race to the hospital and yell at the redhead as tears ran down his face, but when he got to Lavi's room his heart dropped. He hated seeing the normally vibrant childish adult covered in bandages. The IVs in his boyfriend arm also was no help. Slipping inside proved more difficult than he wanted it to, his chest ached with guilt and his legs felt as heavy as lead.

"Are you a friend of his?" A voice spoke from behind Allen, spooking the young adult who jumped the rest of the way into the hospital room.

Turning around, the Brit tentatively replied: "Y-yeah..." to the slightly worn down male behind him; the man, with his short brown hair tied back in a surprisingly neat ponytail, entered the room after Allen carrying a chart that no doubt belonged to Lavi.

"Let's see..." scanning the chart briefly, "Lavi Bookman... Made it through surgery just fine... Although he will be wearing a patch over his eye for a while... but other than that, he'll make a full recovery" The brunette man explained, finishing with a small warm smile.

A small part of him eased with relief, but the rest of him felt sick with guilt and anger; feeling a new sense of irritation towards his boyfriend for getting into an accident, Allen excused himself.

"Ah, wait... I know it's not my place but he should be waking up within the-"

Shaking his head, "Its better if he didn't know I was here," bowing his head, "Thank you for telling me how he was doing, doctor" the Brit passed the other male before leaving the hospital room.

He needed time to digest Lavi's newest idiotic move; at least he was alive. That was important...

The whole trip back home, Allen was sure he would visit Lavi in the hospital before the redhead was released, but when he got back to the place he shared with his boyfriend - it all came back. The fight. The frustration with Lavi's long and hectic hours at work. The problems with Tyki. Everything that boiled up after that. Leaning against the front door, he slid down it as he stared at the space before him. They had argued right in front of the door before Lavi stormed off and Allen went out on the balcony for a smoke.

"I'm sorry..." He drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them.

A couple days later, he got a call from Lenalee - he was surprised how he was able to keep the guilt well-hidden from her as he listened and responded like he was expected. Or at least he thought he had but right as he was about to end the conversation, the Chinese adult asked: "Is everything okay with you and Lavi?"

His resolve broke a little, "We had a fight that night..." He explained sadly, earning a gasp and apologetic whispers but before his best friend could go on he made up an excuse to end the conversation.

Mere moments after hanging up, his phone buzzed with a new text message: 'If you are up to it, Lavi's going to be at HQ tonight' Allen stared at the screen and for the rest of the night his eyes wandered over to it until he caved.

He hadn't expected anyone to still be there when he showed up, but one drink might help him forget his conversation with Lenalee. The bar was pretty empty, a few groups here and there but the most surprising sight was at the bar. A lump of red hair that couldn't be mistaken for anyone else sat at the bar with a glass of water in front of him; the bartender keeping an eye on the drunk customer.

Taking the spot quietly beside the redhead was nerve-wracking no matter how many times the Brit tried mentally reminding himself that he needed to apologize about the portion of the fight surrounding Tyki. His words caught in his throat when a bleary green eye glance over at him and it was then that he understood why the doctor had mentioned a patch; the white eye-patch glared at him like a neon sign.

"Lavi... let's get you home..." Allen spoke slowly; he knew all too well how the redhead was when intoxicated and as expected, the redhead seemed to be dozing off.

With no other option, the Brit somehow managed to hoist his drunk and sleeping boyfriend onto his back; he gave a small smile to the bartender as thanks for keeping an eye on the redhead before he made the trip to his car. Getting Lavi in and out of his car was easy, but getting him upstairs to reach their apartment was harder and by the end, Allen was ready to curl up and sleep right next to him.

Carefully placing Lavi on their bed, the snow-capped adult stumbled out of their bedroom and headed back to their living room; their couch was comfy and just as sleep took him over, he noted that he would have to get up earlier than Lavi. He was still a little scared to bring the fight up again in order to apologize.

The next morning, Allen was up and out of the house before the Lavi got up; on his way out the door, he called the hospital, leaving a message with the redhead's doctor to inform him where Lavi was. After hanging up the Brit, who had made it to his car, simply sat hoping work might get his mind off of their fight. And his guilt...

...but it didn't. No, Allen found himself facing it head-on. Bak Chang, a co-worker of his, had come to him asking for advice about resolving a fight he and his girlfriend had last night. It wasn't even the fight that reminded him of his own - it was the events that happened during and after that made Allen choke on his answers at times.

By lunchtime, Allen had found the determination to bring up the fight so he could apologize after work, but when he arrived home he was met by silence. Lavi couldn't have been given the 'ok' to go back to work yet so where was he? Pulling out his cell phone to call the redhead, Allen entered the kitchen to at least start dinner, but a bright orange post-it note caught his eye.

'I'm going - Lavi'

Those two words hurt; the snow-capped adult sunk to his knees, the post-it note crumpling in his hand as he bent forward until his forehead reached the floor. Tears breaking past all his defenses, Allen regretted their fight more than ever. He hated that he didn't have the courage to wake the redhead up this morning to apologize. That he hadn't rushed home during his lunch break - maybe then he could have caught Lavi before he left.

That night Allen didn't sleep and when the hours finally ticked by, the snow-capped adult called in sick, but still he hadn't moved much from his spot in the kitchen. The orange post-it note laid slightly crumpled in his outstretched hand as the Brit curled up on his side; where had Lavi gone? Who was he with? Was he okay?

Questions like those plagued his mind as his eyes started feeling heavy...

An abrupt knock sent Allen upright before a hiss escaped his defenses the moment his body caught up with his sudden movement. Sitting against the counter, the Brit was ready to ignore the annoyance until it went away, but thirty minutes later - it was still there! Knocking. Loudly.

Vein throbbing in his forehead, Allen all but slammed the door open, but irritation quickly vanished when he saw who was standing on the other side. Holding up a bag that no doubt contained ample cold remedies, Tyki took a long drag of his cigarette before speaking: "About time... I was sure I would need to call the police or something..."

The sight of the toxin dangling dangerously from the Portuguese's lips made Allen's stomach churn; it had been a few days he had last had one. And it was one of the leading reasons he and Lavi fought that night.

"Sorry... not really feeling well right now," He lied politely.

"So I heard..." Tyki's eyes narrowed at the snow-capped adult's appearance; it was obvious that the other hadn't slept much -if at all- and it was obvious that he wasn't really sick with any sort of excusable illness so that only left, "Let's go out for lunch. I'm thinking some cheap cafe food... might help take your mind off of things," The Portuguese suggested as he turned and started heading back the way he came.

"E-eh? B-but I'm-" Allen's attempt to cut any non-work related excursions with his co-worker was silenced when the other glanced over with a threatening gleam in his eye.

The smile that spread on Tyki's face further expressed his threat, "But if you don't I'll explain to the boss that you skipped work for no reason"

Huffing, "Give me a moment," The Brit turned around and grabbed his jacket off the top of the couch before following his co-worker. The cafe was, luckily, not far from his house; following reluctantly behind Tyki until the other grabbed a seat at the counter of the cafe. After taking a seat, Allen glanced at the interior - it gave off a cozy feeling with the paintings and photographs that were done by either college or high school students interested in art and photography.

The sound of an all-too familiar gasp loudly echoed inside the building, earning everyone's -including Allen's- attention; the snow-capped adult's chest swelled painfully at the sight of Lavi sitting at one of the booths with a young lady that appeared to be one of the redhead's students. His gaze was briefly blocked as a waitress moved past him to rush over to the redhead, who once the waitress was out of Allen's line of vision glanced up. Silver pools met green and as quickly as they met, it was over.

Allen watched as the redhead spoke to the waitress before excusing himself and leaving the cafe in a hurry; without a moment's hesitation, the Brit was following. Outside he was met with a breeze and a few yards to his right was Lavi, his pace not letting up for a moment.

The snow-capped adult did all he could to keep up, but his legs were much shorter than his boyfriend's, and just when it seemed like he would lose Lavi in the crowd on the sidewalk - a burst of speed hit him just in time.

"LAVI!" Allen's voice found its strength; grabbing the fabric of the redhead's shirt, he pulled the both of them backwards a couple steps just as mere inches before them, a car sped past them.

Silvers eyes, shook with a flood of emotions as he heard the noise on the street grow silent and the noise around them picked up. Allen felt movement under his shaky grip before feeling a gaze land on him, inhaling slowly helped calm the adrenaline rushing around inside him. Glancing up, silver met green; Lavi's eye widened and the Brit could see. See how restless his boyfriend was. The bag under his sole green eye, which lacked luster, said volumes about how the redhead had been handling the break-up.

Regret. Surprise. Sadness but underneath there was still love.

"What the hell were you thinking? If I hadn't stopped you, you would have walked right into traffic idiot rabbit!" The sudden caring (but angry) outburst had slipped out before Allen even had a chance to stop it.

Lavi's brain seemed to freeze at that moment and the only logical thing he managed was a weak: "Huh?" as Allen released his hold, allowing the redhead to finally turn and face the other.

The snow-capped adult ran a hand raggedly through his hair as he muttered, "Bloody hell, if it's not a car accident... its drinking yourself until you almost pass out at the bar... and now," groaning earning a dumbfounded look by the redhead, "you're walking into traffic,"

Allen continued naming off all the stupid things the redhead had done since they had met, bringing up a lot of irritating memories but upon feeling hands grab his shoulder - he stopped.

"Allen..." Lavi's tone serious as his green eye came to meet silver pools that were filled with so many contradicting emotions before the mature atmosphere between them crumbled: "...how did you know about the bar incident?"

The childish atmosphere forced between them cause a vein to visibly throb in the shorter adult's forehead before his eyes hardened slightly and brushed off the redhead's hands; "Because Lenalee invited me that night..." He explained with a sigh that he was sure would give away more than he wanted his response to let on.

"You okay over there?" Lavi voice drew Allen from his thoughts; glancing over he saw concern laced with the regret that still hadn't left that green eye since their fight.

Smiling, "Yeah, just thinking..." Allen trailed off, not wanting to bring up the topic again, but still they had a lot to fix if they were ever to ease the wedge -that had formed because of their fight- into oblivion.

"...about the fight, right?" Lavi's question needed no answer; it was obvious. It was a topic that was constantly on both of their minds and throughout this past month, the wedge between them hadn't grown much smaller.

Squeezing the fingers laced with his, Allen hoped to make the tense atmosphere between disappear before they reached Lenalee's place; the grin that greeted him back was more than enough to say that they could make it work. They could move past their fight. The wedge. Everything.

Csilla: Sadly my laptop glitched and half the chapter disappeared so I'm sorry if the second half of Allen's thoughts kinda sucks - I tried :/

&now there's only 4 on-going fics remaining to work on (once I'm down to my last two, my newest multi-chapter fic will be posted but in the mean time, oneshots~)