Disclaimer: I do not own DGM.
Warning: I don't have a beta. This is a tragedy fic. You have been warned.
Title: Achromatic Sky
Summary:People don't know what they have until it's gone—it's a simple truth that they often forget.
"Isn't it ironic?
We ignore the ones who adore us,
adore the ones who ignore us,
love the ones who hurt us,
& hurt the ones that love us"
— Stewie Stewart, "Ironic"
Chapter 1
"What? 4am? Are you fucking nuts?"
Allen sighed as he hurriedly prepared his bag. He glanced at the wall clock at he grimaced when he realized that he was already five minutes delayed.
He spared his friend, now scowling at him, a glance.
"Lenalee, stop fussing about things, alright? I'm used waking up two thirty in the morning, remember?"
The woman almost slapped her face. If Allen wasn't too keen on keeping his schedule, he would have laughed. Lenalee looked ridiculously out of her character right now. She was a supermodel, well, not really a super, but a model nevertheless. Not to mention that she was quite good at it too. She used wearing designer clothes, top class shoes, and accessories, but when she was at home or around her few close friends like Allen, she was still the same Lenalee they had met before; messy, bulgar at times, and on top of it all, a lousy dresser.
"But Allen, you're no longer acquainted with Cross! And you have no reason to wake up so damn early in the morning just to cook or do something for someone who doesn't have enough balls to keep his lousy house hygienic! Stop doing that maggot a favor and think of yourself even for just once!" Lenalee huffed as he crossed her long legs and her arms.
Allen scowled. "Stop calling him names. You know that is not true, Lena. His house is clean and you know how a clean freak he is. Maybe you're subconsciously thinking of Lavi. He's quite disorganized with his things, if you will ask me."
More furious huffing was heard in the air.
"I am not thinking of that monkey-faced human and I so don't care about him being disorganize! In short, I don't give a damn about him at all!" Lenalee shouted as she flailed, her cheeks were flaming red and her eyes were comically bulging on their rightful sockets.
Allen snorted. Really, Lenalee loved Lavi that much?
The woman's eyes grew dimmer. "What the hell are you snorting at?"
"Nothing."
"You're laughing at me, aren't you, Allen Walker?"
"No, I am definitely not laughing at you," he was trying so hard to keep a straight face while saying that.
Her eyes thinned as she glared at him. "You perfectly know how much I hate that good-for-nothing mutt, Allen."
Allen almost winced with the names Lenalee was calling Lavi. Last week she was calling him buffoon.
Poor ol' lad.
Lenalee looked so flustered and Allen almost laughed. She looked so adorable.
"Alright, alright. I'm stopping now. I'm sorry," he laughed as he nodded his head.
He looked at the wall clock again and he almost cursed when he realized that he was almost twenty minutes late!
SHIT!
"I'll go now!" he grabbed his bag and the sandwich on the small table and headed to the door. "And don't forget to lock the door when you go. Don't forget to give Tim his food! Thanks Lena!" He shouted as he almost ran to the door then he abruptly stopped. He grinned to himself as he turned again. "One more thing, Lena. Will you please stop molesting Lavi in your mind? I think it's becoming more and more obvious by now. I'm sure you don't want him to think you're... uhm... kind of creepy or something like that, don't you?"
He almost got hit with two, flying fluffy slippers.
"I will sell your dog! Just you wait, Walker! I mean it!" Allen heard Lenalle shouted as he closed the door of his apartment.
Allen just smiled. Of course, she wouldn't. She loved Tim as much as Allen loved the dog.
..
"Will you be using credit card or cash?"
Allen smiled. "Cash," he grabbed his wallet and pulled out some money. He eyed his groceries with a smile. He counted the items, trying to think if he forgot anything else. He didn't notice that the woman in front of him was already staring, smiling, as she checked his money.
"You're going camping? That's a lot of cup noodles you got there."
Allen eyed the kind-looking woman and shyly smiled, "N-not really ma'am. A friend of mine just loves eating noodles."
The woman smiled again as he grabbed the plastic and gave it to him. "I see. Thanks for shopping with us, hope you'll be back again soon."
Allen beamed as he bowed to her and he saw her do the same.
By the time he reached the train station, he was almost got left by the train. It would take another seven minutes for the next train to arrive. Allen panted as he tried to regain a steady breathing.
He leaned at the train's wall as he puffed. He looked at his wrist where he usually wore his watch but it was not there. He panicked for a second, thinking that maybe he lost it. Maybe he forgot it at the kitchen sink this morning? He was thinking about the watch when a small girl approached him and asked why his hair was white and said "You look beautiful, mister." Her mother immediately reprimanded her daughter and apologized to him. He blushed when he felt the other train passengers staring at him and some of them were even smiling. Allen didn't know where to look after that.
He smiled as he looked outside. He was quite early. He thought he would be late today. He closed his eyes as he think of the things that he would do today. He was finished with the laundry yesterday so maybe he should air out the futon today?
Allen smiled.
..
When he reached the house, he gleefully opened the door using his own key. He made sure to be quiet though because it was only nine in the morning and that guy was probably still sleeping by now. Allen couldn't help but smile at this thought. It was just so hard to think of him cuddling a pillow. He looked around the house. It was still the same as he left in yesterday. Allen smiled and he took his shoes and placed it at the floor near the door. Then suddenly, he felt an unexplainable feeling bubbling inside of him. Allen looked around again, deciphering what was that feeling he felt upon entering. Blinking a few times, he disregarded that thought and went straight to Kanda's kitchen and placed his groceries at table.
Maybe he was just thinking too much. Or maybe, an empty house kept him on remembering his own apartment every evening when he was all alone inside.
But this is not an empty house, he told himself. I am not alone because Kanda is here.
Allen smiled, cheering himself up.
He wanted to cook something special for this day so he should probably start working now. He folded his long sleeves until it reached his elbow and he gathered his silver white shoulder-length hair into a pony tail.
"Alright. Here we go..." he whispered as he stared at the ingredients lying in the kitchen table. He had to hurry if he wanted this to be finish exactly after an hour.
Cooking was one of his favorite past time when he was still in college, aside from playing the guitar and piano. He grew up without his parents and he really didn't remember them now. Mana, a pianist that took him when he was still a kid, said that his parents were both talented musicians and he was their friend. When Allen was still two years old, they died in a car accident. All he had that time, according to Mana, was his nanny who was taking care of him when his parents were away.
Due to the fact that the marriage of his parents were never been blessed by his grandparents and they never really talked about their past even to their close friend, Mana Walker, the kind man had a problem tracing his relatives. After quite some time, Mana decided to took him as his own son and that's how he ended up with his surname 'Walker'.
Truth to be told, he didn't even remember his own surname by now. He was happy growing up with his adoptive father, though he felt bad whenever he remembered that he was exactly the reason why Mana decided not to marry anymore.
He wanted his father to be happy and to lived his life as he would like it – not to be stuck with some kind of burden a son that wasn't even his own.
He would like Mana to have his own kid, his own family. But whenever he would bring out the topic, Mana would just dismiss him with a smile while saying, 'I don't need a baby. I already have one'. Allen would just pout at this, while murmuring something like 'I am not a baby anymore', well aware that his father could hear him.
Mana would just laugh and ruffled his hair until Allen would whine on how childish his adoptive father was.
He never thought of himself as an unlucky child. He never remembered being sad while he was a kid, all because Mana wouldn't give him a chance to be. He would constantly shower him with attention, never leaving him alone.
The kind man taught him so many things. He was the man he was today, all because of Mana. He taught him how to love music and how to appreciate people and their kindness. He showed him how beautiful the world was and taught him be sensitive with other people's feelings. Mana was a kind man and he loved Allen as much as he could – just like a real father, possibly even more than that.
Allen would forever be thankful that Mana was the one who took him. He promised to himself that he would spend his whole life making his father happy.
Because he knew that Mana wanted him to be as much as happy too.
Mana was also the one who introduced that person to him.
He was fifteen years old when he first met him.And he couldn't help to remembered that at that time, he thought he saw the most expressive pair of eyes there were in the world.
The kid was scowling. His face was distorted with immeasurable displeasure but his eyes were really something... Allen even called those orbs beautiful that day. And his opinion about Kanda's eyes never wavered up until now, though. Midnight blue colored orbs stared at him without any inhibitions; there was no single hint of qualm about what he might think about the glaring since this was their first meeting. His anger was emitting through his eyes, never holding back. Kanda stared at Allen like he knew him for a long time now and then he smirked while his scowl was clearly deepening.
When he spoke, Allen was literally blown away.
"What the fucking hell are you staring at, Shorty? Fuck off."
And he thought; what a bloody dirty mouth.
He was Kanda Yuu, a seventeen-year-old Japanese teenager with a personality disorder. He was fifteen years old when his family first migrated to England. He was thrown by his father in Mana's care at that time in hope that he would learn some character and finesse if he learned how to play the piano.
Unfortunately, he didn't, and Allen was so feeling bad about it since Mana was really a great teacher. It was just that Kanda was not really into music and his father was just pissing him off when he solely decided to throw Kanda in piano lessons.
Afterwards, Kanda and Allen became somewhat friends.
They went to the same college after their high school and since then, the two of them became attached to one another. Well, kind of.
But Allen couldn't seriously say that the two of them were friends. For instance, his presence here, in Kanda's apartment, wasn't really wanted. He was just the one who insisted in helping Kanda with the laundry and cooking since the man was so bad at these things. At first, Kanda was so pissed at Allen's constant presence in his apartment but as the time went by, the cussing in the air stopped. Until one day, Allen saw a spare key lying in the kitchen table.
He was so happy, he almost cried.
That was probably one of the happiest moments in his life.
Kanda had accepted his presence, that's what all Allen understood.
He efficiently juggled his time in work, in his house, and going to Kanda's place every day. He was a Piano Teacher at a music university. It was a great thing that his house was near at Kanda's place. He could easily board the train to go here and help him with the chores.
Mana was currently away because of his three month world tour as an international pianist along with other international piano geniuses in the world and Allen was honestly happy with his adoptive father's achievement. It was his life time dream after all – to be acknowledged as a professional and world-class pianist and he was more than happy to see Mana's dream become a reality. He was just feeling a bit alone because this was the first time that Mana had been away from him for so long. They were always talking on social websites though and Allen could see him always everyday because of video messaging so he told himself to stop feeling down.
It was the second month of his world tour and next month, he would be seeing his father again.
It was more than enough to motivate Allen.
..
Allen wiped the sweat that was now running it way down on his forehead and stared at his master piece. He cooked quite a lot today and it was only for breakfast.
Tamagoyaki, okayu, broiled fish, and miso soup. It was all Japanese food and Allen wasn't really sure if he did right but since Kanda was so adamant on eating Japanese food, he actually researched some Japanese recipes to at least please his friend.
He wanted to at least see Kanda smiling once in a while.
Allen beamed while imagining what would be Kanda's reaction if he saw what's on his dining table this morning. He looked at the closed door of the man's room and decided that he should first wash his hands before waking him up. He wiped his hands with his apron and headed to the door. After eating breakfast, Allen reminded himself that he needed to air out Kanda's futon before he go to work.
He sighed as he happily wiped his forehead again. He was tired, yes, but it was all worth it.
Allen didn't knock and just continued turning the knob. Slowly, he silently opened the door; a refreshing smile was still etched on his face only to be found out that Kanda wasn't inside.
There wasn't even a trace that the man slept here last night. The futon was carefully rolled at one side of the room and the books that Kanda used to read before he sleep wasn't even out of the bookshelf. Usually, he would see them scattered around the floor by morning.
He felt his shoulder sagged.
Kanda wasn't inside the house when Allen entered an hour ago.
This wasn't the first time it happened.
He looked around the room for another minute, savoring the emptiness he was seeing.
He slowly closed the door and he unhurriedly walked to the kitchen.
It was so quiet.
Allen wondered why empty houses always seemed like bigger than their usual size.
He pulled a chair and sat, his eyes were never leaving the food in front of him.
"I still need to air out the futon..." Allen whispered as he closed his eyes. He leaned his head to the chair; his silver white hair was slowly dancing to the small wind entering from the small window in the kitchen.
He should have known.
That he was all alone all along.
..
"That's great! I mean, I've been searching for it for months now and then you found it from a rundown bookstore? Geez, you're really a bookworm, Kanda."
"You mean you're just too lazy to actually look for it."
"I am not!"
"You are."
Allen opened his eyes when he heard a familiar voice of a woman. There's Kanda's voice too. That's when he understood it all.
A faint smile graced his face but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Hey, the door's open," Allen heard Kanda said and he stood. He walked to the door and before the woman could give Kanda her reply, they were greeted with a smiling white haired man, his left hand was clutching his head and seemingly bowing in apology.
"Allen!"
"I know it's you. What the hell are you doing here this early?"
Smilling, Allen kept his head bowed. "I'm so sorry. I thought I'll cook a little since my first class will not start until one this afternoon."
Kanda tch'ed. A familiar habit of the man whenever he was kind of pissed or if he just didn't know what to say. Allen smiled again.
"Allen! How are you? I've been meaning to visit you to your apartment but the nasty guy over there was saying you're too busy to entertain visitors. I miss you!" The woman hugged him and Allen almost yelped in surprised. He draped his arms over the lithe body of the woman and he smiled again and said, "I miss you too, Alma. You know that you can always visit me, right?"
He was chuckling over Alma's frolics and whining when he caught Kanda staring at him intently. He was watching Allen with a known intensity and he was sure that it wasn't because Alma was still hugging him. Alma had always been a sweet friend and she had always treated Allen as a small brother she never had. Kanda had no qualms with Allen and Alma spending time together because Kanda was sure that Allen wouldn't feelthatway to the woman.
It was funny to even think that way.
Kanda knew, after all, that Allen Walker was in love with him.
So why he was staring at him like he had done something gravely offending?
"... and he was complaining all the way here! Hey? Allen? Are you listening?"
Allen blinked and stared at the face that was still stamped to his chest. He smiled as he ruffled Alma's short hair. "Sorry. I was just thinking of something. What is it again?"
Alma pouted as she buried her head on Allen's coat again. "No one's really listening to me."
Allen chuckled at that.
"Stop sprouting nonsense," Kanda butted in, his eyes were fixated at the food on the table. "Make yourself useful and arrange the books in my room. I think I've left them scattered on the floor."
Alma stuck out her tongue and shouted 'you stingy!' before she ran to the door.
Allen sighed and turned to Kanda. "Why did you lie to Alma just now?"
"What the fuck's your problem, moyashi?"
Allen halted and stared at Kanda.
"What do you mean?" Allen asked as he watched Kanda drink. He looked so pissed.
"Didn't I tell you I'll fucking wipe out that phony smile on your face if I ever see it again? What the fucking heck is your problem now?"
Allen blinked as he tried to catch his voice now wandering somewhere in his throat. He really wanted to answer that one.
"You don't have to come here every fucking single day to cook. I can do it myself. I don't need you to do it for me."
But it was getting harder and harder to catch it.
"And if it's about the laundry, I can always send my clothes to a laundry shop. So, you don't have to come here anymore. You don't have an obligation to do these things," with a finality, Kanda said and he sighed as he scratched his head. "You're always here, everyday single day. Aren't you getting tired coming here? Your apartment is quite far away from here, right? Why don't you spend your extra time for yourself?"
He couldn't help but remember Lanalee and her words just this morning:
"You have no reason to wake up so damn early in the morning just to cook or do something for someone who doesn't have enough balls to keep his lousy house hygienic! Stop doing that maggot a favor and think of yourself even for just once!"
Allen wanted to laugh. Somehow, Kanda and Lenalee, who was declaring how much they hated each other every time they would meet, were now saying almost the same thing to him.
It was funny, but Allen surprisingly couldn't force his face to smile.
"You don't have to do this anymore."
Cooking and doing the laundry, he could still do it. Anything at all, as long as he was close to Kanda. As long as he could stay close him. Anything, he could do anything. He really didn't care if his efforts were all futile. It was alright. As long as he could see Kanda, as long as he could be with him. He could endure anything...
When Allen caught his voice, he immediately spoke, afraid that Kanda would just cut him off, "It's okay, I really don't mind –"
"Alma and I are getting engage this month."
However, that sentence made all the difference.
He felt something explode inside of him.
Pain.
Pain.
Despite the excruciating ache now bubbling inside him, Allen, in all his might, tried to relax his shoulders and appear as calm as the calm sea. He tried to smile his best smile to Kanda, one of his best fake smiles that even a keen observer like Kanda wouldn't notice, and he comically sighed as he patted the man's shoulders (that Kanda furiously slapped away) as he said his congratulatory remarks.
It was the longest and agonizing two hours of Allen's life.
Because at that time, all he wanted to do was to ran away from it all and let all the bottled feelings inside him out.
He wanted to take it all out.
Kanda perfectly knew what Allen felt about him.
But he didn't care.
Kanda never cared.
Because Kanda love somebody else.
He loved Alma, a woman.
That all made the difference.
..
"I love trips like this!" Alma shouted as she twirled in front of Kanda's ancestor house deep in a mountain. "The journey was so breezy! I'm glad we didn't close the windows, right, Allen?" She looked at the white haired man who was now helping a rather irritated friend, Lenalee with her baggage. Allen showed a smile and he faintly nodded to the inquiry. He glanced at his friend and he almost ran in fear when he saw that Lenalee was indeed furious. Her long hair was now sticking out in all directions. She glared at Allen who was silently hushing her and the man cringed when she glared at him, her sharp eyes were screaming, 'why do you agreed with this trip, you fucking masochist?'
"Are you alright, Lenalee?" Alma asked when she saw her glaring furiously at Allen. Kanda was now staring at the two too.
Allen gulped, "Yes, she's alright. Lenalee is just having a bad hair day. Literally."
From out of nowhere, a loud chuckle was heard.
Lenalee dangerously snapped his head to the culprit. "What the hell are you laughing, you good for nothing twerp? Who said that you can go with us, huh? WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE, HUH?"
Lavi immediately hidden himself behind Kanda who was carrying Alma's bag.
"Yuu invited me, you witch! The owner of the house invited me!"
Kanda glared at the red haired, "I didn't remember inviting you, asshole."
"Aww... that was harsh, Yuu... I'm hurt!"
Lenalee's eyebrows twitched.
"If that's the case, then GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE. NOW!" She kicked Lavi will all her might and Lavi flew a few meters from where he was standing seconds ago.
Alma shrieked as she watched Lavi stumbled in a grassy plain.
"Lenalee! Stop this!" Allen was trying all his might to stop Lenalee's rampage.
The woman just smacked him on the face.
"I didn't remember inviting you here too," was Kanda's cold response to the violence happening in front of him.
Lenalee abruptly stopped. She stared at the pair of cold eyes staring at her, her eyes were growing colder and colder each passing second. "You think I will let Allen go here alone with you? You're fucking nuts, if that's what you think, Kanda Yuu," she was glaring Kanda in such a manner that was completely foreign to Allen. He was used in Lenalee's anger but the feeling the woman emitting when she was with Kanda was so overwhelming. It seemed like she hated him in the bottom of her heart. Like Kanda had done something so appalling to her that all was left was to her was to hate him.
"I didn't invite the moyashi here, so shut your trap, woman. If you hate me so much like what you are always saying, then why don't you get the fuck out of here? No one's forcing you stay, bitch." Kanda coldly asked as he walked passed Lenalee and Allen while dragging Alma with him.
Lenalee shrieked, calling Kanda names, telling him to fuck off while Allen's eyes grew dimmer as he watched Kanda's hands held Alma's.
Something painful throbbed in his chest as he sighed. Really, was he becoming a masochist like what Lenalee kept on saying?
He didn't notice that Lenalee was staring him while he stared at the two.
"Quite painful, isn't it?"
Allen snapped back to reality upon hearing that. He looked at Lenalee and he saw her sighed. Allen almost bit his lips.
Not good.
"What is?" he asked, smiling. He went to helped Lavi stand up as the man whined how cruel women could be. He let Lavi go inside first as he carried the remaining baggage on the van.
"Like being so unnecessary kind?" Lenalee lit up a cigarette and she flicked the end of it on the ground. Allen watched the smokes weaved in the air like threads.
He was usually against Lenalee smoking but today, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to lecture Lenalee about what was wrong or right when he was clearly doing something worth reprimanding too.
"Don't say that," he said as a faint smile formed on his lips. "It hurts when your friend reminds you that you're too kind for your own good."
"Why did you agreed on this pathetic excuse for a vacation then? Kanda will propose here, right? You actually want to witness that, Allen? You actually want to see that with your own eyes, because, what? You feel you still can't not let go, not until you do? Know what, friend? You're sick."
Allen bit his lips.
It hurts.
"B-but A-Alma invited m-me here... and she didn't know anything about the proposal."
"You should have said no! God, Allen. What are you? A fucking saint? As far as I know, there were no gay saints out there so don't start fucking acting like one!" Lenalee was now seriously mad, Allen could tell. Her words were now cutting and callous. Allen knew that it was supposed to wake him up, to let him see what's right now and what the hell was wrong with what he was doing but all he felt was a raw pain digging on his heart, making his head more messed up.
It hurts feeling like this, but it hurts more to hear his friend forced the hurtful words out of her mouth just to make him understand that there was nothing he could do now.
Kanda already decided and there was nothing to look forward in the first place anyway. Because Kanda made sure that what he gave Allen was not more than what he could take. He never gave Allen false hopes, he downright rejected him the first time Allen told him his feelings. Kanda had been straight to the point. He was straight and he loved Alma.
Allen was just an extra baggage he accumulated along the way.
But still, he stayed.
He never left Kanda's side no matter how harsh Kanda to him.
Allen never left.
Alma was Kanda's childhood friend and he knew that the man already loved her since they were still kids.
He knew that he was no match to Alma.
That he never had a chance to win Kanda.
But still...
"Allen," Lenalee's voice softened as he watched her friend's agonized face. Allen wasn't crying but she knew that inside, Allen was screaming for help. She was now seriously feeling so bad that she said all those things. "I'm sorry. I should have never said that. I-I'm... I am just f-frustrated that you were hurting yourself for someone that doesn't even worthy of your attention. He was a jerk and you freaking know it," her voice became stiff at the last sentence.
Allen just stayed quiet. His eyes remained fixed at the ground as he listened to Lenalee. He wasn't angry at her – not at all, but rather, he was mad at himself for making Lenalee say those words.
Lenalee pulled him into a hug.
"Stupid... Stupid, stupid Allen..." She said as he caressed his hair, his face was buried into Allen's neck. "You're so stupid I can smack you again, really."
Allen smiled. He closed his eyes and returned the hug. Lenalee was so warm and Allen leaned his head to the comfort of having someone beside you. He was such an idiot for thinking that he was alone when he had Lenalee.
"Are you angry at me?" He heard the woman asked him, his face was still buried at cook of his neck.
Allen closed his eyes. He touched Lenalee's hair with his left hand and gently ruffled it. "How can I stay mad at someone who always makes me smile?"
Lenalee smiled too, her eyes were gleaming with unshed tears. "You bet. I'm important to you so you better take care of me, you pinhead. 'Sides, it's your fault. You really don't listen to me."
Allen sighed, still smiling. "Yes, yes, I am an idiot for not listening to the great Lenalee Lee. I am sorry."
Lenalee smiled confidently as he hugged Allen tighter. "Good," she said as he patted Allen's back. "At least you're learning."
Allen just shook his head and let Lenalee hugged her more tightly than before.
"Thanks, Lenalee,"Allen whispered, almost to himself, as he stared at the blue sky.
..
"You should have not said that, Yuu," Alma said as he watched Kanda arranged her things. She insisted to arrange her cabinet but the man refused.
"What is?"
"Those things that you said at Lenalee," she said, her voice was low. "She is also my friend, you know. Why do you hate her so much, anyway?"
Kanda was retraining himself to sigh. Sighing meant frustration and he refused to be frustrated over something so trivial.
"She hates me first," was all he answered. He continued arranging the bags at the other side of the bed.
"But why?"
"I don't know, Alma. Maybe she has something with that moyashi..." his voice trailed and he was now actually thinking if maybe that was really the case.
"Something with Allen? What do you mean?" Alma prodded, insistently poking for some answer.
"Nothing. Don't think about it." Kanda dismissed the conversation immediately. "Just rests for tonight then tomorrow, well go in the river to boat, just like I promise you." He leaned to kiss Alma on the cheeks and Alma blushed. Kanda faintly smiled as he closed the door and headed to his room. He saw the room that was being occupied by Allen and somehow, he felt his footsteps faltered. He found himself in front of Allen's room. He pulled something on his jean's pocket and stared at the watch at his hand. It was an old, cheap-looking watch. He remembered buying it when he was eighteen years old as a gift to a rather odd friend he made when his father thrown him into a piano lesson. He was the son of his piano teacher and the first thing he said to him was to 'fuck off' much to the horror of his father.
His lips stretched into a small smile upon remembering the boy's facial reaction to his rather uncouth remark.
Something flashed in Kanda's mind.
I like you.
The watch slipped on his hands and fell on the floor.
Kanda bent to get it and he clutched in again with his hand.
Somehow, Kanda knew the reason why Allen was still keeping the cheap and old watch he gave to him seven years ago.
"That stupid moyashi," he spit the words and continued walking through the hallway.
..
The next morning, Allen woke up feeling rather sluggish. Lenalee insisted to sleep inside his room, much to the white haired man's chagrin. No matter how close they were, Lenalee was still a girl.
Allen was gay, alright, but he was still a man and of course, as a gentleman through and through, Allen refused – at first, because Lenalee, as hard headed as she was, snubbed Allen's words.
And in the end, Lenalee still won.
That wasn't even new to him.
Allen sighed as he dragged his body to the kitchen. There was only one bed inside his room and since Lenalee refused to let Allen sleep on the floor, he waited the woman to fell asleep before he sneaked out of the bed to get the extra futon inside the cabinet that he saw yesterday. It was already two in the morning when Lenalee's energetic mouth stopped talking.
Allen felt like sleeping the whole day. If he hadn't promised Alma that he would help her get strawberries at the back of the mansion, he wouldn't even dare open his eyes this morning. The woman was so enthusiastic about it that Allen couldn't say no to her.
"Good morning, Allen-chan!" Lavi greeted Allen as the red haired slumped into the chair. "You look so tire, Allen-chan. You didn't get enough sleep?"
Lavi was surprisingly very energetic.
Allen slowly turned his head to the man and he smiled, his cheeks were shallow and there were dark circles under his eyes. "Lenalee kept me awake until two in the morning..."
Sleepiness was now clouding Allen's mind, he was now thinking of collapsing here at the kitchen's floor just so he could get some sleep.
Lavi eyes impossibly widened, his cheeks were red. "Y-you t-two are like t-that?"
Allen's shallow face turned again to Lavi. "Like what?"
"N-nothing... ha... ha... D-don't mind me," the red haired awkwardly smiled as he slowly shook his head.
"Good mornin', guys!"
Alma entered the dining room and smiled at the two men. "We're going to pick strawberries this morning! Then we'll go boating in the river this afternoon. Whoah... So much activities to do!" she exclaimed as she smiled from ear to ear. "I hope we Lenalee will go with us. She looked angry yesterday... I wonder why?"
"She's pissed at you because of your little stunt yesterday,"Allen and Lavi both thought as they avoided the woman's questioning eyes.
"You know why, Allen?" she looked at Allen then turned to Lavi. "How about you, Lavi?"
They both gulped and shook their head at the same time.
"No, I don't have a tiniest idea."
"Nope. No Idea. Really. Ha... Ha..."
The door suddenly opened. Allen saw Kanda walked through the door and his breathe suddenly hitched when he looked at him.
He wondered what the man was thinking right now.
"How about you, Yuu?" Alma asked the long haired man, her eyes were following her boyfriend's moves.
"Who cares about that woman?" Kanda deadpanned as he opened the fridge and pulled out a box of milk. He probably overheard their conversation.
Allen watched the man empty the whole carton, an old memory was now crawling back in his mind.
"You love milk, Kanda-kun?"
Allen and he cringed when a pair of sharp eyes suddenly stared at him.
"Yeah, so what? You got a problem with that?"
Allen shook his head as he tried to calm his furiously beating heart. He wondered why he was always nervous whenever Kanda was near him.
"N-no. I just n-noticed that you always drink that after meal," Allen said as he looked away.
Kanda's eyebrows twitched but didn't say anything else. Then after a while, he spoke, a mischievous light was glinting on his eyes.
"Why, moyashi? You don't like drinking milk, don't you?"
A red blush crept on his face. He stood and shouted at the older kid while his arms were horrendously flailing at both sides. "No! I like drinking milk!"
Kanda shouted so hard that Kanda was sure almost all the people walking in the street that day heard it.
"That is why you're so small!"
Kanda laughed so hard that day.
Allen remembered that that was probably the first time he heard Kanda laughed.
"Stop staring at my milk, moyashi. You look creepy. If you badly want one, there's a lot here. Go get yourself one."
Allen was suddenly woken up from his stupor.
Kanda was intently staring at him. Again.
Allen tried to cover his spacing with a smile. "Sorry. I'll go get one. If you don't mind."
He walked towards the fridge and got a small carton of milk.
"You looked like shit, moyashi," he heard Kanda commented as he walked away.
He knew that Alma and Lavi were staring at him.
Allen just smiled.
Yeah. I probably really looked like shit, Kanda...
He drank the milk straight from the carton like Kanda did. He was thinking about the intense glances he was receiving from the long haired man that he didn't notice that he was drinking too fast. He gagged a little and coughed the milk that got into his nose.
Lavi laughed and Alma immediately went to his side and wiped the spilling milk into my mouth. Allen winced at the situation. He was sure that he looked pretty un-cool right now.
"What the hell are you doin' Allen-chan? You planning on drowning on milk, man?" The red haired roared again when Allen coughed as he tried to speak.
Allen smiled when his chest recovered. Really, that was really uncalled for.
"Are you alright, Allen?" Alma asked, a small smile was adorning his lips. She was probably containing her smiles.
Allen gave her thumbs up and grinned. "It will take more than that to kill me, don't worry."
Lavi was now banging the table because of continuous laughing. That was when Lenalee entered the dining room, aghast when she saw Lavi almost rolling on the floor.
"What the hell happened here? The wastrel finally snaps?" She asked Alma.
Allen just smiled while Alma almost choked on laughing.
Lenalee looked dubious.
"What hell's happening with you, people?"
TBC
Author's Notes: now, I should have been working with my other fics right now and not writing another NEW STORY again, but I JUST CAN'T GET THIS IDEA OUT OF MY F***KING HEAD! argh! This was meant to be a Oneshot but I realized that It was just too damn long and I decided to split it into two or three chapters. If many of you will like this story and hope to read more, then I'll continue writing this, then by all means.
Don't worry; I'll update my other fics maybe next week or the week after that. For now, just let me write this one. Thanks for reading.