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Chapter 14: Comforting

Allen's POV

Tyki lay on the snowy white couch with Allen sprawled across him, fighting sleep due to the warmth, peace, and exhaustion overtaking him. The only thing keeping him from falling asleep entirely was Tyki's concerned voice. "I should probably go check on Road, soon..."

He made no move to get up, so Allen decided he wasn't in too big of a rush to converse. "Road? Why?"

The older man sighed heavily. "Earlier, I saw her moping around all depressed-like. She said it was because you rejected her, not that I care. However, nothing's fun when she's like this."

The boy stiffened and it was as though a great snow storm had engulfed him and he'd been turned to ice, because of his guilt. "That's true, I guess..."

"Maybe you should come?" The noah said it like a question even though his tone told Allen that it was more so a recommendation or suggestion. One that wasn't commanding yet not up for debate.

Allen sat up on the noah, straddling his thighs as though it were the most normal thing in the world... though Tyki wasn't unfazed. "While I was out buying that ribbon, last night, she kissed me-" Tyki's eyes narrowed but the boy continued before he could respond. "Of course, I told her how I don't like her like that and she got really depressed and went home." He rubbed the back of his head and laughed sheepishly.

The noah shrugged, shifted under the boy, and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and saying, "Well, that's what she gets, I guess. I change my mind. Maybe we shouldn't go comfort her. Maybe confront is more-so the word..."

"Ty-ki", Allen pouted. "Why is it that I care more about your family than you do?! We can't just leave her be!"

The older man groaned and sat up, dropping the boy onto the floor (with a surprised yelp) and moving to exit the room with a slight smirk on his face. "Fine. But only because you asked me to, Shounen."

Tyki's POV

The two popped their heads into Road's room and stared at the bed, where a sleeping lump lay under the covers. The boy looked back at him with a "you go first" look on his face but he was in no hurry to talk to her. In fact, he wasn't so sure he could handle being around her without finding time to tell her to keep her lips off of his Shounen. His Shounen.

Honestly, what did she expect to happen? For him to kiss her back? Clearly not, Allen was obviously taken by Tyki. Wasn't the fact that he was out buying a gift for him proof enough? Unless she didn't know... Did he tell her? Or was the ribbon nothing but something random he picked up? Not that I could talk...

The boy finally scoffed irritably and swiftly tiptoed towards the bed with the noah following behind, attempting to hold back his smirk by smoking his cigarette. He's just so cute, when he's angry.

Once they reached the bedside, Allen finally peeped, "Road...?"

"I want to be alone", she whined, childishly.

Does she have even the slightest amount of dignity? The noah scoffed, then, and the boy glared at him out of the corner of his eye. The noah held out his hands and smiled with his cigarette poking out of the corner of his mouth; a silent but frantic apology, too good to be declined. Or, so he thought. The boy held up a fist and his eyes filled with fire, as though he were silently yelling at the noah, "help me out here or I'll punch that smile off of your face".

The noah sighed heavily and his eyebrow twitched. "Road, come out and talk. I don't care what you're going through but this idiot does. So let him apologize."

She peeked her head out from under the covers. "Apologize...? You care about me...?"

"O-of course I do! Just because I don't want to be your... boyfriend..." His face lit up bright red but he continued with a nervous smile. "Doesn't mean that I don't care about you. I love you like a little sister. My favourite little sister."

Her eyes widened and she blushed before jumping out of bed and heading toward the door. "Well, there's going to be a party in the ballroom tomorrow night, so stay away from there until then, dress nice, and don't be late! There are going to be a lot of people there, Allen~" She giggled and winked at him before slamming the door behind her.

The boy looked at him with the same confused look on his face that he imagined he had. What just happened? One second she was too depressed to come out from under the blanket, the next she was planning a party and her usual overly-happy self, giggling out of the room. Was the party pre-planned, even? Or was she just planning to throw it all together, in one day?

"Tyki", the boy asked.

He stiffened visibly and nearly dropped his cigarette, doing so. "Hm?" Was I making a weird face?

"Now, doesn't that feel good? To make her feel better?" The boy had that smug grin on his face, smiling as though he'd just won all of the world in a game of poker.

The noah knew how to counter this, though, and smirked just as smugly. "Oh, you surprise me, boy. I was so sure you were about to ask for an invitation to sleep in my bedroom, once more. I have to admit, I'm disappointed. Though, you know that the door is always opened, Shounen."

Allen's face lit up like a bright, red Christmas light and he froze, looking as though he were made of glass and that comment actually broke him into several weird pieces. The noah couldn't help but chuckle at that and the boy's blush somehow became twice as bright. He clenched his hands into fists and held them at his side. "S-shutup, Tyki Mikk!"

The noah continued to smirk and let out one last small bubble of laughter before saying, "Don't be flustered, boy."

"I-I'm not! You're the one saying weird things!"

"Would a game of cards cheer you up, perhaps?"

Like a switch flipped, the boy's face went back to it's original color and he looked at the noah with stars in his eyes and suppressed excitement, as though he were looking at God, himself.