There was always something to bicker about when it came to the two of them.
Today they were walking briskly ahead of the rest of the group, fighting over which one of them had eaten the last of Jeryy's biscuits that they'd brought with them (it had actually been Lavi). At least, that's what they had been fighting about, but it had long since devolved into name-calling and childish bullying. Allen was a self-sacrificing dumbass beansprout who fought like an infirm old man even more than he looked like one. Kanda was a bossy, stick-up-the-ass classic superiority complex who couldn't navigate through any type of social situation even if his life depended on it because he was a stupid pretentious hermit.
Lenalee looked visibly exhausted, and Lavi was twitching in his effort to ignore Allen and Kanda's antics. Krory looked close to tears. Timcampy circled his head, flapping uncertainly. This marked the sixth fight they'd had in only two days, and it felt like they were occurring more frequently and for continually dumber reasons.
The five exorcists had reassembled after splitting up to complete a series of missions, and they were now on their way to return to the Order Headquarters. They'd decided - on Komui's strong suggestion - to take the longer, more scenic route, keeping an eye out for any Akuma or early cases of Innocence roving the countryside.
The trail they took passed by a valley town, the road breaking away and sloping gently down the tall green hillside into a messy sprawl of farms and humble wooden houses. Allen and Kanda kept walking, so engrossed in provoking each other that they missed it completely.
Lavi was at the end of his endurance. He cupped his hands to his mouth. "Hey, Lenalee!" he shouted dramatically, staring down the two that continued to squabble instead of looking at his rather chagrined companions. "Maybe we should stop by this village! To get something to eat!" He waited a moment. "It is bad," he muttered to himself, when the word 'eat' failed to even catch Allen's attention.
Krory caught on quickly. "Good idea, Lavi!" he shouted back, enunciating each word clearly. "We could also! Keep a lookout for any Akuma!"
Neither Kanda nor Allen gave any indication of hearing them. In fact, their fight had only intensified - they had taken to shoving at each other, scowling and snarling. The remaining three exorcists sighed in unison.
"Well," Lavi said, shrugging. "They can catch up to us later, whenever they're... done." He crossed his arms behind his head, jauntily humming a carefree tune as he marched himself down the path leading to the village. "Let's go, Lenalee, Krory," he encouraged. "I'm starving." Krory followed with few qualms, but Lenalee hesitated, watching Allen and Kanda get even more distant. Timcampy settled on her head, obviously seeing no real problem in letting his keeper fend for himself. "Lenalee," Lavi repeated, not unkindly. With some reluctance Lenalee decided to trust them, and followed behind Lavi and Krory.
In the meantime Kanda had drawn Mugen, his hackles raised as he chased after Allen. "Too slow, BaKanda!" Allen taunted, blowing a raspberry just to piss off Kanda even more as he haphazardly dodged Mugen's blade. He considered activating his own Innocence, but he shuddered when he recalled the last time he tried to use his arm to protect himself against Kanda.
"Shut up, you moron! You're not even fighting!"
"I don't need to, because you're too slow to get me! Idiot!"
Both of them were fully aware that Kanda was more than capable of rending Allen clean in two, even with the latter's commendable acrobatic skill. Actually killing Allen would be a bit inconvenient, though.
That didn't mean Kanda wasn't perfectly fine with landing a few hits on Allen's thin body.
The swordsman bared his teeth in frustration, his blood pressure mounting. "Get back here, moyashi! I'll slice you to ribbons!"
"Is that the best you've got?" Allen teased. He narrowly avoided the incoming strike, ducking underneath and feeling the disturbance in the air just above his head. He leapt backward, slipping slightly in the mud left over from the rains the night before, and was startled when another attack grazed his torso, cutting his coat and drawing a thin line of blood behind it. Allen retreated a bit more, backing even further away from where had left the trail.
"Moyashi..." Kanda growled, warningly, and Allen sneered.
"What, BaKand- wah!" The boy stumbled, having not known he had been so close to the edge of the canyon, and tripped over the precipice.
"Walker!" Mugen was sheathed in an instant as Kanda lunged forward, their disagreement momentarily forgotten, and grabbed onto Allen's hand. "You dumbass!"
Allen simply hung there for a moment, processing the sudden shock, and then he laughed. "Kanda, you do care!"
Kanda visibly ground his teeth together, now making no effort to hoist the other exorcist back up. He studied the steepness of the drop below Allen - nothing he wouldn't recover from if he were to fall - and with a dismissive "Che," he promptly let go of Allen.
The Destroyer of Time let out a most unbecoming yelp that he would definitely deny later, scrabbling for purchase before he activated his Innocence and sunk his claws into the chalky dirt of the clifftop. Kanda watched with amusement as he dragged himself up, then looked away with a "hmph" when Allen pouted at him. The white-haired boy barely noticed that he'd crawled through a mud puddle before righting himself.
Once Allen was back on solid ground and his Innocence deactivated, he looked around and blinked in bemusement. "Where... are the others?"
Kanda started, also just noticing that they were completely alone. "Idiot! You lost them!"
"I lost them? You lost them too, BaKanda!" Allen defended, bristling, and shoving Kanda in the chest.
Kanda's hand hovered dangerously at Mugen's handle again. "Don't you ever touch me," he growled. "Maybe if you weren't such a moron, moyashi, they wouldn't have..." He trailed off, eyes now wandering over Allen's body.
"What was that, dumbass? You got something to say?"
"Walker, you're filthy," Kanda said simply, and they both quickly glanced down at themselves.
They were covered in caked mud. "You're dirty, too," Allen pointed out as he picked at his clothes nonchalantly.
Kanda looked ready to explode. "Because you got me dirty, you asshole!"
"No I didn't! You were already dirty!" Allen shouted, clenching his fists.
"I was not! What did I say about touching me, moyashi?!"
Possibly because this pointless back-and-forth argument was getting nowhere, or possibly because he just wanted to antagonize Kanda further, but most likely a combination of the two, Allen didn't retort. Instead, he scraped off some of the mud from his cloak, and patted Kanda in the face.
Kanda was absolutely still for several seconds, blinking in incomprehension as mud dripped thickly from his cheek. Just minutes ago he might have drawn Mugen in retaliation, but both of them were too weary to fight each other for real now. The time for reasonable solutions had long since passed, so it felt like a completely natural reaction when Kanda blinked once more, strode forward, and nailed Allen in the face with his own handful of the viscous mud.
Allen sputtered, shocked, and smeared a mud mustache on Kanda's lip, only to get clouted in the ear. The situation quickly devolved into an entirely serious war of slapping mud and quick acrobatics until Allen started to feel his lips stretching into an involuntary smile. He paused in his advance, taking in the sorry state they were both in, and he giggled.
"What are you laughing at, moyashi?" Kanda demanded, but there was a distinct lack of his usual malice.
Allen only giggled more, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it. Kanda's lips were beginning to upturn in a blatant betrayal, which he was visibly trying to fight down.
"Idiot - stop laughing, it isn't funny -" But Kanda had been doomed to fight a losing battle from the start, and the situation really was stupidly, hilariously ridiculous, and Allen was laughing for real now - and they were alone, so he supposed -
Kanda allowed himself to smile. A soft, breathy chuckle escaped his lips.
Allen had gone red in the face, cheeks flushed and stretched, clutching at his stomach with tears shining in his eyes. But he kept his eyes open, something like wonderment in them as he watched Kanda.
The swordsman felt himself slipping, felt a lightness in his chest that he hadn't felt since...
He let himself laugh.
Kanda and Allen laughed together, the heavy press of the desperation that hid beneath the mirth lifting just slightly, and for those few moments the weight of the world was shared between them - and no one else. It was only a few precious moments, a temporary lie, but it felt like a lifetime spent carefree and safe.
Kanda threw this head back, his laugh deep and throaty and sudden, feeling buoyant and free for the first time in too long, and he heard Allen's peals subside. The boy was staring at him, mouth agape with awe as he stared at Kanda. "Do that again," he breathed, as if he had just discovered that hearing the stoic Kanda laugh was a rare thrill, before catching himself and clearing his throat awkwardly.
They looked away, Kanda frowning half-heartedly and Allen worrying his bottom lip. They made a taciturn agreement in the silence that stretched between them to never speak of this again, but they would be lying if they said it wasn't a little bit easier to breathe now. This was an act of trust, and their rib cages could expand a bit more unfettered for it.
If something imperceptible had shifted between them, they didn't dare to admit it.
"Let's go catch up to the others," Allen proposed, then glanced sideways at his companion. "Since you lost them."
"Say another word, moyashi, and your ear is coming off."
"At least I wouldn't have to listen to you."
"Che. Dumbass." Kanda's tone was almost friendly.
"I bet they're in that town down there," Allen said, pointing past the cliff that he nearly fell from.
"Obviously," Kanda said, not as scathingly as he could have, and began down the trail that they had come from.
Allen fell into step beside him, bouncing just slightly on the balls of his feet. For once, Kanda didn't have anything to say about it.