Title: Subtle Disappearances
Series/Disclaimer: D Gray Man, which I don't own.
Warning(s): None.
Pairing(s): VERY soft Kanda x Lavi
Summery: Lavi's has an allergic reaction.

Author's Note: Dunno what to say. Worried about characterization but ECSTATIC to have finished something. Can't care too much if it absolutely sucks right now.

Enjoy, plz.

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His hand itched.

He hadn't realized it at first because it was just an occasional effort to reach over and scratch it while he read. More like a subconscious effort to make sure he could still move as the stiffness of sitting stationary for so long overcame him. However, 'occasional' itching gradually progressed to something annoying and painful. By the time he was tucking the book back into its rightful place on the shelf, it was hard to tell the difference between irritated-red and rash-red. The only clue he had was that the rash looked to be a bunch of splotches just off the center of his palm. Being the source of his itching, Lavi rightfully glared at it.

A reasonable person might have tended to the problem. If not for the fact it was unappealing to look at than because of the sheer tediousness of scratching it constantly. Every couple of seconds he reached over, flinching at the sting but ignoring it for the thin layer of gratification and relief. Once or twice he gave it an extended amount of attention in the vain hope that it would give him more than five seconds of peace.

It didn't, and the day was compiled of itching, scratching, and broken focus.

When dinner rolled around, Lavi felt a presence enter the Order library. The feeling itself was like someone had suddenly decided to distract him by peering over his shoulder. It was like a bubble had been burst, disturbing his center and throwing off his attempts at reading. Still, he only lifted his head when he felt the cold presence had completed its journey and now stood in front of him, waiting. Then, Lavi grinned.

"Evening, Yu," he said, using his most cheerful library-safe voice, "You never struck me as the reading type."

"Come to dinner," he replied, his gray eyes already averted as testament to his disregard for Lavi's teasing, "You've missed two meals. You need to eat."

Lavi's grin dropped, though only enough to become a considerate expression. He scratched his hand, "I didn't think you would notice. Let alone worry--"

Kanda's eyes had briefly flicked back to Lavi with the motion, like a hunter weary of every sound, but found themselves making an extended visit. The disgust in his voice made up for the unchanging expression, "What's wrong with your hand?"

He blinked, looking at the reddened attachment before shrugging, "It's itchy."

Always the quicker one, Kanda grabbed his wrist before it could fall back to the table. Lavi's confusion was vocalized by a brief shout of unintentional volume, but the Japanese Exorcist ignored it completely, "An allergic reaction. Have you really been in the library all day?"

The red head nodded.

"Then why are you having an allergic reaction to poison oak?"

"Poison oak…?" He seemed to think on this deeply over the course of half a minute before reaching across the table and picking up a brown book with his free hand Narrowed hues watched him flip through the pages to reveal leaves, flattened by weight and time, tucked between the thin paper. Kanda frowned.

"Who marks a book with poison oak!?" Lavi cried, sounding so distraught at the very idea that it was hard to take him seirously

"Che," Kanda said, pulling the other out of his seat by his wrist, "A fool."

"Yu?"

"Come with me." He said it, leaving room for argument, but Lavi wasn't sure he had a choice.

- x - x - x - x - x - x - x -

"A-ah! It stings!" Lavi flinched, his fingers twitching in Kanda's strong hands. There was a firm tug on his arm and, while the idea of arguing crossed his mind he shoved it aside, he only sighed and left the protesting to his face.

"Stay still." Kanda's voice was the usual direct harshness, and he frowned though his eyes never left what he was doing. Lavi pulled on his hand particularly hard, glaring at him a bit as his hand was jerked suddenly from Kanda's. He wasn't sure exactly what emotion he must have been radiating because a few minutes later Kanda sighed, "It'll help with the itching." He hesitated, it seemed like an excuse, but Lavi nodded anyway and held his hand out again.

Yu's hands were slick with some kind of herbal lotion and it felt cold on the aggravated skin. Well, actually, it amplified the natural chill of Kanda's own hands - but the contrast of temperatures was pleasantly soothing so he didn't complain after the stinging subsided. As his skin absorbed the cream, it tingled and sent a shiver up his spine. If Kanda noticed, he didn't bother to show it.

His visible green eye watched the pale skin slide over and along over his own. There was something undeniably nimble about every movement as it coated his palm as well as each finger. They were too quick and fluent to have been thought out, yet every touch rang with a sort of intention. It was as though he had done this enough times for it to be a language spoken without fault. His motions in battle were similar, Lavi noted, but he realized the ferocity was replaced with something much milder. He wasn't trying to hurt Lavi by any stretch of the imagination - a new development within the past month or so.

"You'll eat when I'm done," he said, his voice a sort of nonchalant instruction. He was still the same Yu Kanda but something had subtly changed. Lavi watched him reach for gauze and his fingers twitched again.

"You don't need to wrap it," he tried, "I won't scratch, promise!"

"Che," Kanda remarked, tugging on Lavi's wrist again, "I don't buy that for a second. Stay still."

"Aw, Yu…" but he sighed, defeated only because he found no point in arguing it; Kanda was right. He usually was. Instead, his attention fell back to Kanda's hands as they worked. His motions with the gauze were slightly less fluid, but he managed to create a protective white wall that encompassed Lavi's wrist to the middle of each finger. Every attempt at motion was ceased with a tightened grip to his wrist or a jerk to his arm that increased slightly each time it needed to be used. After tightening the bandage one last time at his wrist Yu secured a subtle knot and tucked it under the wrapping.

"Aren't you worried your hands will break out, Yu?" he flexed his fingers as much as he could, faintly surprised by the movement allowed. He never pegged Kanda for much of a medic.

"I'm not allergic," he said, washing his hands in the infirmary sink.

"You could be."

He dried his hands with a washcloth, dropping it into the waste basket to prevent any further contamination, "I'm not."

Lavi opened his mouth once again, this time fully intending to argue, but Kanda grabbed his bandaged hand. For a second, the Bookman was sure that his hand was endangered, but no pain came. Instead, he watched the Exorcist's lips press to his palm just above where the rash was hidden. His visible eye blinked, surprised by one of the chance insight into his friend's soft side. As he had many times before, Lavi tried to call forth the first time these moments had started happening. He struggled, annoyed with the memory he took so much pride in, to come up with the season or day when Kanda had started expressing such care. More than anything he wondered when his affection had seen that beginning glimpse of reciprocation; when his lips had felt that first force of a kiss returned; when his ears had first tingled with an answering flirtation.

But all he could think of was how intently he had watched Kanda massage the lotion into his hand…but didn't notice when the last of it disappeared.