Better left unforgotten

It wasn't that Allen had expected much from Kanda. Not really.

Allen wasn't a complete idiot. He hadn't expected a rose or a sugary "good morning my love" text or a box of chocolates to be delivered to his apartment. God, he hadn't even expected a phone-call, which was saying something about how little he expected. Because, who didn't call their lover on Valentine's Day, even under some shitty pretext?

It wasn't that Allen wouldn't have liked any of these things. In truth, he had been harbouring a secret hope that maybe his totally insensitive ass of boyfriend by the name of Yu Kanda might just surprise him with something. Like a nice note on his door. Or a half dead daisy on his doorstep. Was that asking too much?

But all of hopes went down the toilet spectacularly this morning with a text.

And it hadn't been the pre-mentioned sugary text.

When he'd been woken by the vibrating of his phone at six-thirty in the morning Allen had received a mild shock upon seeing Kanda's name flashing across his display. With fumbling hands and blinking blurry eyes, his managed to flip open the cell and skilfully mash the 'open message' button.

Instead of some kind of sweet good morning message, however, he was greeted with five harbinger words of heartbreak.

I'LL BE WORKING LATE TONIGHT.

And Allen's day was, effectively, shot to hell.

Now, shortly after sixth period with one more ahead of him, Allen let out an annoyed sigh and ran one gloved hand through his noxiously white hair in a vain attempt to bring his rising blood pressure down a few notches.

Seriously, he thought bitingly, he hasn't sent me a single text since that stuuuuuupid one this morning.

And it was true. Nearly a full school day and elapsed and Allen was getting rather sick of all the lovey dovey couples spread throughout the school. Honestly, had the school always sported so many lovers? He was sure last year – which incidentally was before he and Kanda got together – there hadn't been anywhere near this number.

Temper, Allen reminded himself as he took his seat in his advanced chemistry class and worked very hard on retaining his composure. It wasn't like he wasn't going to see Kanda at all today. Not even Kanda would be that much of an ass. He doubted the meeting would be anything of the norm, but as long as he got to see Kanda he sure he could end the day on a high note.

"Allen~!"

Lavi cheerfully smiled as he slid his books onto the table beside Allen and dropped himself into the seat next to him, flashing an obnoxiously cheerful grin as he did so, wasting no time declaring, "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Allen gave him a genuine smile. "Happy Valentines to you too, Lavi." He returned with his usual soft demeanour.

"It is indeed a happy day," Lavi agreed whole heartedly as if Allen's words had been an offhand comment rather than part of the traditional greeting, "I've received two letters and a box of chocolate today already." He crooned happily and Allen felt a stab of misplaced jealousy.

"That's very nice Lavi," he said, "but don't you already have a girlfriend?"

The girlfriend in question was Lenalee Lee, the rather kind and popular baby sister of the schools headmaster. Allen was sure that after how long it had taken Koumi to accept that Lavi and Lenalee were an item; he would not be pleased with the idea of Lavi receiving gifts from other girls.

Lavi waved one hand dismissively as he ruffled through his hefty stack of books for the one relevant to the subject. "I returned them all, of course. But it's the principle of the matter!" he insisted.

Allen gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "As long as you're enjoying yourself I guess…" He conceded.

Lavi blessed him with a truly blinding smile before wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at him – which was quite the feat seeing as how only one eye and its surrounding features were visible.

"So…" Lavi trailed off and Allen could see exactly where this was heading but couldn't tactfully think of a way to cut him off.

"So what?" He asked instead, preparing himself for the interrogation and the bad puns he was sure would follow.

"Have you and Yu met up yet?" Lavi joked, confirming Allen's worst fears. "Have you had a chance to see Yu yet? Have you done anything with Yu today? Has Yu called you yet? How about has Yu –."

"- Okay," Allen cut in stubbornly, raising his hands to defend himself against the onslaught of terrible, terrible puns, "I get it. You can stop asking about Yu now so – Now you even have me doing it!"

Lavi openly laughed at Allen's pissed face but quickly dropped to a low giggle when Reever Wenham – The advanced chemistry teacher – whirled around to glare at him.

"Sorry," Lavi sniggered, "But Yu-chan's name is pure gold."

Upon Allen's lack of reaction to his clear genius, Lavi sobered up slightly and noticed for the first time the darkly downcast look on Allen's face as the younger boy dutifully scribbled down notes as fast as his hand could.

"Neh, Allen. What's wrong?"

Allen looked up in surprise from this notes but quickly covered his expression with an easy smile. "I'm fine, Lavi. Really."

Doubtful Lavi asked, "What are you and Kanda planning on doing today?"

Instant reaction. Allen's back stiffened and his grip on his pen tightened noticeably – which alarmed Lavi seeing as how Allen's left hand had an abnormally strong grip anyway – and he answered with a much too casual, "We might meet up when he's done with work."

"You might?" Lavi repeated, aghast.

"Maybe." Allen confirmed, "but he doesn't get off until five today."

"Five?" Lavi echoed. "See? This is why I said after school jobs were a bad idea."

"He had the job before he had me." Allen pointed out without taking his eyes away from the hurried notes he was jotting down while Lavi's own notebook was completely blank.

"Yes, but… Maybe? I mean seriously? Who does that on Valentines?"

Lavi was too busy ranting to notice the ironic smile on Allen's face. "Yes," Allen muttered, "Who does that?"

"- have you guys at least planned on meeting up when Yu-chan finishes with work?" he said with a frown. Allen tossed him a rather dull smile.

"You know what Kanda's like. He'll probably text me when his off and we'll go for coffee or something."

The off handed way Allen said that really ticked Lavi off and he resolved to give his self-proclaimed 'dear friend' a piece of his mind when they were done here. That was the problem not only with jobs but with different schools. It made it so much harder to kick his ass when he hurt his poor, little Allen.

"Why don't you just go see him at work?" Lavi suggested.

"You know he doesn't like being bothered while he's at work."

"He works at a coffee shop. You're allowed to go in and order."

Allen shut his book in unison with the ringing of the school bell and stood up, gathering his things up before offering Lavi the first true smile Lavi had seen from him all day.

"I don't want to make him mad."

It was such a pity, Lavi thought, that Allen's smile looked a tad too pained.

oOo_oOo_oOo

Kanda was decidedly unimpressed when the damn rabbit rocked up out of nowhere and asked him for a black coffee with double sugar.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He growled as he snatched the proffered bill from Lavi's hands and mashed some buttons on the cash register with more force than intended. Just because the fucking rabbit was annoying didn't give him any right to refuse him service. Or so he'd been told many times by his boss, anyway.

Lavi threw out a pathetic smile. "I missed you, Yu-chan. Did you miss me?"

"About as much as I would miss a bullet through the head." Kanda shot back nastily before stalking off to make Lavi's order. The problem, he decided, with small coffee shops like this was there was only one person on per shift. Meaning he couldn't pass the damn rabbit off to somebody else to take care of.

"How about Allen, then?" Lavi called cheekily as he expertly slid around the counter to follow Kanda towards the coffee machine.

"What about Moyashi?" Kanda grunted distractedly.

"Have you missed him?" Lavi asked sweetly with words coated in sugar that made Kanda vaguely nauseous. By the time the rest of Kanda's relatively slow brain finally caught up with the rest of the words he fumbled the mug he was holding and ended up spraying steam all over his hands.

Cursing, Kanda slammed the mug down and turned the machine off before whirling around to glare aggressively at the innocent looking Lavi. "What?" Lavi batted his eyelashes as if he had not just caused Kanda to sear his skin.

"What'd you ask?"

"Oh c'mon Yu-chan –."

"Do not," Kanda cut, "Call me that."

"- It's only natural to miss your boyfriend." Lavi finished as if Kanda had never interrupted, drawing circles along the counter with his finger.

"If you just came to blabber on about fucking stupid things you can leave." Kanda growled but reluctantly returned to make Lavi his coffee.

"Fine," Lavi huffed rolling his eyes and stood up straight, "I came here as a concerned friend, but that's alright."

"I don't need your shitty concern."

"Concern about Allen." Lavi amended, hoping to stir a reaction out of Kanda but was severely disappointed when he didn't even turn around. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Geez, Allen had it tough…

Kanda mostly ignored Lavi until he slammed down the Styrofoam cup before him with a complimentary, "Now get the fuck out my sight and never come back."

It was good to see working in customer service had improved Kanda's people skills considerably.

"Wasn't playing on sticking around anyway," Lavi grumbled, "I have a special date."

"I don't care where you go," Kanda ground out, "Just get the fuck away from me."

And so Lavi did.

And it wasn't until he was half way down the street did it occur to him that maybe… maybe…

Did Kanda even know what day it was?

oOo_oOo_oOo

Allen waited until five-thirty until he ducked around to see Kanda.

It was partially out of necessity seeing as how the school system seemed hell bent on giving every single Junior an ungodly amount of homework, and seeing as how Allen was taking a few advanced courses for Seniors, it only added to the workload.

Also partially because knowing Kanda, he was bound to end up staying in a bit later then he was booked to work. That was always the way. Sometimes Kanda could wind up staying for a couple more hours which really ticked Allen off.

And the final reason was because Allen wasn't entirely sure what mood Kanda would be in.

It wasn't like he didn't want to see him. He did, truly. It was their first Valentines as a couple and… Well… In all honesty, this was Allen's first Valentine with anybody other than friends. And it wasn't like he expected a big deal…

But it'd be nice to be able to see him in a decent mood at least.

However, upon seeing the exhausted looking form leaving the shop with a far too obvious frown, Allen's hopes were immediately dashed.

"Kanda!"

Kanda was slow turning around and he didn't do much else but glare as Allen approached. Allen tried his best not to be put off. Kanda glared a lot. It didn't really mean he was mad at him.

"Wanna grab a bite to eat?" Allen offered as a conversation opener, because Kanda never ate while he worked and when Kanda got hungry he got grumpy. Eating something might just improve his mood that little bit.

Kanda wrinkled his nose. "Che. Just not some shitty fast food place."

They wound up at McDonalds much to Kanda's disgust. "But," Allen protested, "It's not a shitty fast food place. It's a classy fast food place."

This argument was understandably lost on Kanda who only went along with the idea because he was admittedly starved. And when he said starved, he meant starved. He never would have agreed to go to the crappy fast food giant otherwise.

Despite the fact Kanda's stomach was making quite the show of eating itself; Allen ordered at least double the amount of sickeningly cheesy deep fried goodness as his boyfriend has, spurring annoyed looks from the couples lined up behind them.

After a meek pause in which Kanda tapped his finger impatiently on the counter Allen asked, "How was your day?"

Kanda sent him an annoyed look. "Like shit." He replied tersely. "And I have major test tomorrow I need to study for."

Allen interpreted that as 'I won't be able to waste much time on you tonight', much to the sinking over his heart. Well, he thought dumbly, it's not like I hadn't expected this.

A few moments more of waiting and they were finally awarded with their food, and balancing three trays each they made their way to a back booth in a corner. Allen slid into one side and Kanda across from him who wasted no time tearing the wrapping of a cheeseburger.

It was strange how Kanda managed to make scoffing down food like strange attractive. Kanda, Allen decided, had an annoying penchant to be good at anything. It had been one of the things that had pissed Allen off the most when they met. Kanda's apparent perfection.

Now, after knowing each other for years and dating for almost eleven months, Allen found it just as endearing as it was annoying. And he tried to force himself to remember this and the fact that he loved the man sitting across from him with all his heart and he probably shouldn't be wishing that he choked to death on his damn fries.

Perhaps sensing Allen's less than happy gaze Kanda looked up with sharp eyes. "What's your problem?"

"My problem?" Allen repeated.

Kanda furrowed his brow and Allen vaguely remembered that Kanda wasn't fond of repeat himself. "Yes," he ground out, "your problem."

Allen smiled sweetly as Kanda reached for another chip. Patience, he remembered himself, he hasn't had a good day. Give him a chance.

However, it was maybe a little easier in theory than in practise. Allen's own day hadn't exactly been love hearts and roses either (no pun intended) and he was finding it hard to be tolerant of Kanda's own pissy attitude. Besides, Kanda always drew out the worst in him normally, so when he was in a lousy mood like today it just made things that much harder.

"I have no problem." Allen insisted.

"You look like somebody forgot your birthday." Kanda snorted.

"Well," Allen growled, growing irritated, "Maybe if you –."

Cutting himself off Allen gave Kanda a strange look. "Kanda… Do you know what day it is today?" He asked slowly as something slowly began to dawn.

Send him a fierce scowl Kanda snapped back, "A Monday, right?"

And then it hit.

Allen abruptly pushed himself up and grabbed his bag, shoving his wallet and phone back into it before swinging it quickly over his shoulder and scooting out of the booth.

"Oi," Kanda called, "Where the fuck do you think you're going?"

Allen glared at him and Kanda was honestly at a loss. "If you don't know, don't worry about it." The lighter hair male snapped back and made to stalk off. Kanda watched him go with one hand frozen an inch away from the coke with no clear about what the hell just happened.

A second later Allen stomped back into sight snatched the coke and stalked away again.

oOo_oOo_oOo

"You better have a damn good reason for interrupting my date."

Lavi looked unjustly annoyed as he swirled a spoon around in his coffee, adding copious amounts of sugar to it as he went like it was an unlimited resource.

Kanda sent him as pissed off look as he could. "Shut up and listen."

Lavi cocked an eyebrow and quietened down. More so out of curiosity then because Kanda told him to. It was admittedly rare for Kanda to come crawling to him for any kind of advice. Lavi want to savour this moment.

Kanda took a drought of his own coffee before shooting Lavi an irritated, "Something's wrong with Allen."

Lavi smiled. He couldn't help himself. When he was right (and he often was) his mouth had this brain-frazzling habit of curling up at the corners and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Well, he never really tried before but he was certain he couldn't.

"What are you smirking about?" Kanda snapped angrily, eyes flashing dangerously.

Lavi fought for his pokerfaced before saying, "Kanda, Kanda, Kanda…"

"What?"

Ignoring Kanda's rising temper Lavi let out a soft sigh and leant forward to stare seriously into his eyes. "Sometimes," He said, "You can be an insensitive ass." Lavi rethought that last statement. "Okay, you're always an insensitive ass, but sometimes more than others."

Gritting his teeth Kanda waited as patiently as he could for Lavi to continue. The sooner Lavi told him who the fuck shoved a stick up the beansprouts ass, the sooner he could tear Lavi limb from limb for his cheek.

"Do you know what today is, Kanda?"

Kanda's grip on his cup tightened. "The anniversary of your death?"

Lavi blinked. "But I'm not dead."

"Don't tempt me."

"Okay, okay. Geez..." Lavi shot him a pouting look. "You're so hard to get along with. Today is Valentine's Day."

Kanda stared at him blankly for a couple of seconds and Lavi could all but hear the gears ticking at the back of Kanda's head.

"Valentine's Day?" he repeated.

"Valentine's Day." Lavi affirmed.

It was silent for a moment.

"You completely forget it, didn't you?" Lavi sighed.

"Shut the fuck up. It's a shitty day anyway." Kanda snapped.

"Yes, but you're still meant to do something to show Allen you're not a total dick and that there was a reason he agreed to go out with you. Instead, I gather, you acted like a complete prick."

"I did not!"

"Your presence here without Allen says otherwise." Lavi contradicted with growing irritation. Kanda opened his mouth to argue but Lavi raised a hand to stop him. "Look, I don't care about your reasons, the point remains that if you keep acting like a royal prick all the time, I don't see your relationship making it a year."

"Who asked you?"

"You did," Lavi snapped, "When you called me out of the blue. Now," he pointed toward the door, "Go. Go and make up with Allen or I swear to god…"

Grumbling Kanda pushed himself to his feet and didn't even leave money on the table for his coffee. His little revenge, Lavi garnered. But that was fine. Lavi would pay for a million coffees so long as Kanda would swallow his pride long enough to go see Allen!

"And don't forget to bring him something!" Lavi shouted after Kanda's retreating back and received the finger for his trouble.

oOo_oOo_oOo

Allen was making himself something to eat when he heard the doorbell to his small one-person apartment ring.

His first thought was that it might be the Landlord. His rent was due and he hadn't paid it yet and the Landlord had never been the most patient person in the world. He dismissed this idea, though, because the Landlord wasn't a complete jerk (unlike a certain someone) and would never come barging in demanding rent on Valentines.

His next thought was Lavi. The redhead always had an annoying penchant for showing up unexpectedly without calling first. However, this too, made little sense seeing as how Lavi was on a date right now if memory served.

If it wasn't the Landlord, and it wasn't Lavi… Who the fuck was it?

Setting down his knife Allen dried his hands on a towel just as the doorbell gave another annoying shriek. "I'm coming, I'm coming." He called irately. "Some people just have no patience…"

It took a moment of fumbling to undo the several locks adorning the edge of his door and the security chain dropped away with a low chink metal links. He could hear somebody shifting impatiently outside and Allen's more sadistic side contemplated leaving them out there for a little longer but his natural instinct overcame it and he opened the door.

Standing on the doorstep was none other than Yu Kanda looking thoroughly irritated and annoyed.

Allen was more than a little surprised and after a moment of thinking leant carefully on the doorframe and met his eyes. "Do you need something?" He asked slowly.

Kanda grimaced and cast a (was the nervous?) look over his shoulder as if to see if anyone was watching them.

And, for the first time, Allen noticed the slender rose held loosely in Kanda's tensed hand.

Looking back over Kanda saw Allen staring bemusedly at the rose and wasted no time shove it at time. "Take the damn thing," He growled awkwardly, "I look like a fucking moron carrying it around."

Slowly, Allen accepted the gift feeling way out of his depth. He looked back up into Kanda's eyes as if seeking explanation.

Huffing, Kanda brushed some hair out of his face. "Just… take the damn thing. I don't care what you do with it… And it's not like I did it because of what today is or anything… I just found it on the road and…"

Allen had to grin. It was just like Kanda to do something sweet and look for a way to make it seem like something completely insignificant. It was cute. Although Allen doubted Kanda would be very pleased if he told him that.

Still smiling Allen stood up straight and put one arm around Kanda's neck, drawing him down to his level so he could kiss him softly on the lips. Thank you, he tried to communicate through the kiss, just, thank you.

When they pulled away Kanda seemed to have gotten the message for he asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, "Do I get to come in?"

"Only if you feel like stew –"

"- We just ate."

"– And we'll see where things go from there." Allen finished with a suggestive smirk.

For once, Kanda did not object.

oOo_oOo_oOo

A/N: Sorry this is so late I was to exhaust the past few days to finish it off! But seeing as how I don't have to be at school till eleven this morning, I thought it was a good chance to finish it off :D

This is unbetad right now, but she'll get to it. In the meantime, review?