Chapter Text
His hands gripped the paper between his fingers a little too tightly as he squinted, looking at the numbers displayed above the classrooms. He was already a little late, which made him feel guilty. Cross, his legal guardian, had insisted Allen switch schools mid-year and disappeared off of the face of the Earth, probably due to his increasingly large debt. He'd resurface in a couple years, probably once the two of them had scrounged up enough money to pay it back. The occurrence wasn't abnormal by any means, but he had finally gotten used to them settling down a little. Still, he was a little excited about the school. Cross had recommended this school himself having known quite a bit of the faculty. Allen had never heard much about his guardian having friends, so he was having a hard time imagining what these people were like.
His eyes finally settled upon his classroom and he opened the door slowly, cheeks turning a faint shade of pink as all the eyes moved towards him. He bowed nervously, though the teacher only responded by giving him a warm smile.
"Sorry I'm late," Allen said as he stood straight up once more, "I uh--"
"It's alright. New schools are always tough." He stated, "I'm Mr. Wenham, do you want to introduce yourself to the class?" Allen returned the smile and nodded, albeit a bit nervously.
His eyes scanned the room, taking note of the different faces staring back at him. Two faces stood out to him in particular as he gave a short introduction--one girl's smile radiated kindness in a way most others didn't and she focused intently on him as if committing every word to memory. He could already tell that she was probably pretty popular. Having a kind aura and good listening skills got you far, as he'd learned while dealing with Cross' debt collectors. The other girl that caught his attention had a smile that instead sent shivers down his spine. She seemed absurdly amused by his presence and upon noticing her, he couldn't help but shift his weight from one foot to the other.
"Do you want to take a seat by Lenalee?" The teacher said, pointing at an empty desk. Allen, having been stuck on the creepy girl with spikey hair's intent gaze, hadn't taken note of where Mr. Wenham had pointed. He blinked a couple times as his attention was forced back towards the teacher, brows knitting together.
"Hm?"
"Over by me." The first girl had stated, raising her hand to show who had spoken up. Relief flooded over Allen upon seeing her and he weaved his way through the occupied desks to sit next to her. Upon sitting down, he glanced towards her.
"Sorry, what was your name?"
"Lenalee." She stated, offering that same smile he had noticed while introducing himself. She extended a hand out towards him and his own smile grew upon taking it. God, he really hoped he was going to like it here.
---
As soon as lunch began, Lenalee turned in her seat to face Allen, her lips curling into a smile once more.
"A couple of my friends and I eat lunch on the lawn together. You're welcome to join us if you want." He wasn't sure if he could turn her down even if he wanted to with how excited she seemed at the prospect of having a new friend.
"If it's not too much of an intrusion!"
"Great!" She said, grabbing a bento box from her bag as she stood up.
"You can't hog the new kid already, Lena~" A voice rang out from behind Allen. When he turned, he found the girl with the unsettling smile leaning over the desk next to his.
"Ah--I'm not meaning to." Lenalee stated, "Allen, if you want to join Road, you can. I wouldn't want to keep you from making other friends." As his blue eyes glanced back towards Lenalee, he could tell she also looked mildly uncomfortable. Road moved from where she had been perched to walk towards Allen's desk, leaning in uncomfortably close. Lenalee averted her gaze, uncertain as to what kind of intimacy she was possibly intruding on. "Ah--I'll just leave you two alone." She laughed nervously before beginning to walk away.
Allen stood from his seat, a little taken back from Road's proximity to him and Lenalee's sudden departure. He glanced towards the girl leaving before finally locking eyes with the one right next to him, pressing his lips tightly together. "Ah, sorry--I've already promised Lenalee I would have lunch with her. Maybe tomorrow?"
Road puffed her cheeks and glanced towards the doorway of the classroom. A small whine escaped her lips before she placed her hands behind her back and stood up straight. "Mmm~ Only if you promise."
Allen was slightly taken aback by the strange encounter, but he gave her a short nod before grabbing his own bento box and rushing after Lenalee. "Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to be rude back there," Allen apologized upon catching up with her. Lenalee shook her head, offering that same smile back towards him.
"You weren't rude. I just thought..." She paused for a moment, knitting her brows tightly together. "Did you know Road before you came here?"
"No, I don't really know anyone here. I mean, my guardian apparently has a friend who works here, but I've never met him."
"Ah...that's weird." Lenalee tilted her head to the side, "Road usually is only close with her friends. I've never seen her that interested in someone outside of the people she already knows."
Allen laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Is that so? That's a little weird then. I wonder if I remind her of someone."
Lenalee pressed her lips tightly together before opening her mouth to speak once more, but seemed to change her mind as her expression visibly changed. "Oh, so who does your dad know?"
"Guardian," Allen corrected, "And his name's Komui Lee? I think he teaches science here." A giggle escaped her lips and Allen could feel his cheeks getting warm.
"What a coincidence. That's my brother." Allen's eyes widened slightly and the embarrassed blush made way for an excited smile.
"Really?! What's he like? I never get to meet any of Cross' friends!"
"Well, he's a little eccentric, but he doesn't really mean anything by i--"
Another voice cut her off. "Lenalee~" Another boy whined as he approached from behind and rested his hands on her shoulders. He shook her lightly before resting his chin on the top of her head, which Lenalee returned with a gentle pat to the side of his head. "You have to tell Kanda to give me back my phone. He was getting annoyed at me texting and stole it from me during break."
"Were you ignoring him?" The black haired girl asked, this time pulling at the man's cheek slightly. He feigned a whine and straightened to walk behind her, rubbing his cheek after she finally let go.
"He wasn't even talking! I was just texting Chomesuke." The ginger actually whined this time, though stopped once his one green orb finally caught onto the new kid. "New friend?"
Lenalee smiled and nodded, looking towards Allen. "Lavi, this is Allen! He's new in my class. I invited him to eat lunch with us, I hope that's alright."
Lavi placed a hand on Allen's shoulder and smiled, "Any friend of Lenalee's is welcome~ I'm not sure Kanda will say the same, though. He's in a bad mood today."
A giggle escaped the black haired girl's lips and she shrugged her shoulders gently. "Kanda's always in a bad mood. I'm sure he won't mind more than normal." Lavi gave an uncertain hum.
---
There was already another boy sitting under the tree Allen had already learned to be the group's normal spot for lunch. From the power of deduction, he had already figured this must have been the Kanda they had been discussing earlier. This was only confirmed when Lenalee stuck her hand in his face, demanding Lavi's phone back.
"Fuck no," The new boy was surprised by the harshness of the response, especially in front of someone he hadn't met before. "Like hell I'm going to listen to him giggle all through class." Lenalee didn't put up too much of a fight on the subject, instead turning to face the one-eyed boy and giving him a shrug.
"End of day then." She said sternly. Both of the boys arguing didn't reply and Lavi was the only one to show any emotion when he crossed his arms over his chest and let out a pout.
"I bet he's just jealous Chomesuke pays attention to me."
"Like hell I am." Kanda scoffed, "I don't need external validation to feel good about myself." Allen shifted his weight nervously and glanced towards the grass. Did Lenalee have to deal with this all the time? It sounded like him and Lavi weren't friends at all, really. "Who's the beansprout, anyways?"
It took Allen a moment to realize that the comment was directed towards him. He glanced towards the man sitting on the ground, his face flushing hot with anger. "Beansprout?! I'm not even that short!" He huffed.
"Short enough, Beansprout."
"The name's Allen. Allen." He enunciated extra slow for the long haired boy, suddenly feeling the annoyance Lavi must had felt. Lenalee was quick to physically step between them in an attempt to deescalate the situation.
"Kanda, please calm down. This is Allen and he's new here. I thought it'd be nice if we invited him to lunch. Please, please be nice." She begged. Kanda replied by merely giving a loud huff, but didn't engage in the taunting any longer. Lenalee turned back towards Allen and smiled, motioning for him to sit down. He hesitated a moment, blue eyes glaring at Kanda for a moment before taking a seat as far away from him as he could manage without seeming too rude.
"So, Allen, what do you like to do?" Lavi prodded after a moment of awkward silence.
"Ah, well, I don't really know. I'm pretty good at cards." He shrugged, knowing full well that that was one of the things he was very good at. Still, he couldn't reveal his hand too early. It was always most satisfying to watch people's reaction when they realized they were going to lose everything they had.
"I guess I'm the only one not good at anything, then." Lavi gave out a dramatic sigh, pulling a sandwich from the sparse bento box he had brought with him. Allen's curiosity was piqued and he raised an eyebrow, looking towards Lenalee and Kanda. "Lenalee's little miss track star, actually putting our school on the map in that field."
"It's a team effort, he's too nice to me." Lenalee chimed in quickly.
"Hardly. I wouldn't be surprised if you competed in the Olympics after high school or something."
Allen turned his attention back towards Lavi, already determining that Lenalee was probably too modest to speak very highly of herself. However, he still wasn't sure if Lavi was the type to over-exaggerate about his friends or not. "Is she really that good?"
"She's really fast." He nodded. "I'm sure Komui will drag you to one of her meets if you hang out with us much longer. He's her biggest fan."
"Obsessive, if you ask me." Kanda chimed in and Lenalee laughed nervously, though she didn't deny it. Lavi leaned back on the grass, propping himself up with one elbow as he continued to eat his sandwich.
"Kanda over here's the captain of the kendo club, too." He said, gesturing vaguely in the shinai that Allen hadn't noticed was laying out the ground next to him. He had to admit, that was actually kind of cool even if this guy was a jerk.
"Lavi's good at being an idiot around women." Kanda offered, causing Lavi to toss the remains of his sandwich at him. The boy with the long hair dodged it expertly, though Allen was certain Lavi hadn't really been trying either.
"Lavi's really smart!" Allen had to admire Lenalee--she always seemed to want to say something nice about other people. Though, it made him wonder why she had seemed so uncomfortable with the girl in their class earlier. Lavi rolled his visible eye in response.
"Says the girl who tests higher than me."
"Well, if you studied with me, you'd definitely be getting higher scores than me."
"What's the fun in that~?"
Lenalee turned her attention back towards Allen, a smile on her lips. "The three of us usually get together before tests to study. I'm usually the only one really studying, but you're free to come if you want! Komui usually makes us dinner and helps us. It's really helpful!"
"She means Komui chaperones." Lavi stated, letting out a small chuckle as Lenalee's dark eyes glared back towards him. Allen was starting to gather that her relationship with her older brother may be a bit weirder than most others, but he dared not question it on the first day meeting her. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable. It seemed it was some information she really didn't want to offer up just yet considering the death glare she had given the redhead.
"I'd like that, thank you!" Allen smiled towards Lenalee. She gave a nod in return, definitely excited at the prospect of having someone else who might take studying seriously. It was odd to feel this included. He hadn't had many friends at his previous schools--people seemed a bit wary of him because of the strangely shaped scar across his left eye. Either people avoided him altogether or asked too many questions he was uncomfortable with and he distanced himself. This group hadn't even batted an eyelash. Plus, it helped he wasn't the only one who seemed to have a problem with his eye. That probably helped.
---
His first day had been exhausting, that was for sure. He turned on the light to his apartment, greeted only by the chirp of Cross' cat. Usually he had taken him with him when he disappeared, but he had left a note telling Allen to bring him with him into the city for school so he wouldn't be lonely. Allen had originally scoffed at the letter, knowing that Cross hadn't cared about how lonely he was the previous times he had disappeared. Still, as he moved to sit on the couch next to the newly-awakened orange cat, he had to admit it was nice to have someone to talk to when he came home.
"I'm home, Timcampy." He said with a smile, giving the cat a gentle rub on the top of the head. The cat got to it's feet and moved to bring it's front to paws on Allen's legs, begging for more pets. The white haired boy obliged and his smile grew a bit wider, thinking about the people he had met throughout the day. Kanda was a little rough, but Lenalee had insisted he was nice once you got to know him. Lavi seemed interesting, though a bit like a playboy. Lenalee was just as nice as he had expected when he had first seen her. Allen brought a hand to wipe at one of his eyes, feeling a wave of relief crashing upon him so hard that his eyes began to tear up ever so slightly.
"I think I made some new friends today."