A/N: Ew, a weird couple again... Well, it's just a cute and fluffy one-shot, so I dunno if it counts as a couple...
German Lessons
Yes/No = Ja/Nein
Hello = Hallo
How are you? = Wie geht es ihnen?
Very well, thanks = Danke, gut
Good morning = Guten morgen
Good afternoon = Guten tag
Good evening = Guten abend
Goodbye = Auf Wiedersehen
Good night = Gute nacht
Please = Bitte
Thank you = Danke
You're welcome = Bitte
Sorry = Entschuldigung
Excuse me = Entschuldigen sie
That's fine = Das ist gut
Wanna dance? =
The man who was holding the document in his hands, whose lines were formed by these words mentioned above, nervously tapped his pencil by the words 'Wanna dance?', then encircled them with a swift movement as his teeth bit his downer lip.
He had been searching at the library lately, and, since he spends much time there, found some translations for the words written there. Oh, yeah, since a little while, German became an interest for him. He doesn't really know how to pronounce those words, but whatever; he thinks it's okay the way he does right now.
Even so, he still couldn't find the translation which corresponds with the last sentence. It preoccupied him yesterday, but seems like there was not answer at his question: How do you ask someone to dance in German?
He memorized those basic phrases he considered necessary to be known, then thought it would be alright if he'd learn the pronouns. That until Komui filled his weary mind with how his first date went like, which made him curious about how to act when hanging out.
So, that's how he began to search for different phrases, words, etc. He found some of them, but still no data about dancing. Yeah, that's just Bookman Junior's curiosity killing him about weird things and topics.
"You're not eating, Lavi?"
"Eh?"
At hearing his (nick)name, the eyepatch-wearing exorcist lifted up his gaze, which, until some moments ago, had been attached to that paper. Oh, he forgot, he was at the cafeteria, having the breakfast with the others. "What's that?" Lenalee curiously asked, taking a bite from her breakfast. She was talking about Lavi's paper with basic phrases.
"Oh, this?" Lavi giggled, pointing at his piece of paper. "Just Bookman stuff, you know... Nothing special."
He carefully rolled the document and put it in his pocket, then continued to eat. "Doesn't seem like it's just Bookman stuff, you know..." Lenalee slyly insinuated, her hand moving towards the back of her head.
"What do you mean?" Lavi questioned, raising an eyebrow as playing with his spoon.
"Well..." the female exorcist muttered, "Do you ever study anything besides History and Medicine?"
"Uh, ugh..." Lavi fumbled for an answer, "I also have to learn other languages so I can get to know about civilizations and cultures, y'now! Is not that easy!"
Lenalee just stared with boredom. "Yeah, yeah..."
[TIME SKIP]
Lavi subtly entered the library, finding out that he wasn't really alone. There were some finders wasting their time with reading, but it seemed free of really familiar people, excepting Krory, who was probably reading syrupy novels or stuff like that.
He made his way between the shelves filled with old, ruffled books, searching for anything about German. Dictionaries, books with phrases, anything is welcomed. He started to realize that, if English and German are both Germanic languages, then maybe the order of the words is the same. So, if he finds every single word in the dictionary, he can form the phrase.
Tilting his head a little so he could read the title of the books, he sighed for himself: "I think I've read this already... No, neither this... Nor this... Um... Oh, here it is. Basic phrases for any occasions. Guide to learn German."
Happy, he took the book. Firstly, he analyzed its covers, but it didn't really matter how old it was; as long as it can help him, it's considered useful. As walking to his desk, he let his eyes wander through its pages, so he wasn't attentive anymore where he was stepping.
Just because of this, he stumbled over something, resulting him to impact with the floor, the most affected part of his body being obviously his nose. His book flew some yards away. "Ouch..." he lowly cried, the floor muffling his weak voice, some tears forming at his eye.
After some moments of blankness, he lifted up his weight and got up, his bones cracking as doing those movements. Then he lazily picked up his book and limply closed the rest of the distance between him and his desk. "Oh, c'mon, don't begin to bleed..." he prayed to his nose, rubbing it. That crash with the floor hadn't been just hurtful, but probably also broke a small vein somewhere.
He sat down at the desk, and opened the book, carefully, so no pages will detach. He firstly looked over the contents table. "At the restaurant, at the picnic, at the post office, at the interview, at the office..."
His eye continued to explore the various titles, patiently scanning everything. He seemed so disconnected to the other things happening around him; he couldn't even understand himself. The sudden passion for German came from... He wasn't really sure. It seemed a nice language, even if it was a little... It sounded tough, that's all. It resembles with Russian in some ways, or maybe it just sounds like it.
Lavi wasn't sure if his pronouncement is right, but he tries his best. But German still seems a tough language due to those weird characters...
"Success!" the exorcist quietly snapped in triumph – even though he was inattentive, he still remembered that he was at the library and has to be silent. The red-haired boy began to read at that page with phrases used at dates, hoping that maybe he'll find the sentence he needs. He tried to pronounce one of them: "Schön dich... wieder... zu sehen." He meditated at the sentence he just let escape from his lips. Then suddenly sighed heavily, discouraged as knocking his head on the desk. "Uh, is this really how you say it in German? Sounds weird..."
"Of course it sounds weird if you pronounce it like that..."
That intervention somehow startled him, and visibly has taken him aback. The first reaction egged him to immediately close the book, put it away and stand up like nothing's is going on in fact. What surprised him even more was whose the last voice owned to. "Oh, Miranda!"
Miranda just warmly smiled to him. "So you wanna learn German, huh?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess... Wait... How did you know?"
His cuteness made her giggle; she felt like she wanted to help him, even if it kinda confused her why he wanted to learn German. But, huh, at least she can help someone. She likes to help people, to see them smile. "Well, it wasn't really difficult," she friendly explicated, "I accidentally saw the title of the book you've picked when you fell down on the floor. I wanted to help you get up, but after I realized that you're okay at all, I forgot about my idea."
She paused a little, until she added: "So, may I help you?"
Lavi remained dumbstruck at Miranda's suggestion. Oh... He's so stupid! He forgot Miranda is native German! All of sudden, his problems about learning German seemed to have a solution. Miranda must know everything pretty well... So, he quickly answered: "Of course you can help me! I'd be really grateful if you'd help me!"
So, she took a seat next to him and then cast a look at the book he borrowed from the library. "Um... This is a book with phrases?" she curiously asked, analyzing the old, scratched covers.
"Yeah..."
"Oh, by the way, about the sentence you were saying earlier... Schön dich wieder zu sehen."
And Lavi remained dumbfounded once again. Whoa, he couldn't believe how clean, clear and fluent Miranda's pronouncement was. "Let me write down how it's pronounced like." She took a piece of paper and a pencil and wrote down the pronouncement key, in English alphabet. "Okay, that ö is pronounced like... you know, it's close to the œ in the French 'sœur'. C'mon, repeat:schön."
Lavi hesitated in the first moments, but finally got trust and played along. "Schön." he repeated like a little 1st grader trying to pronounce exactly like his teacher.
"Again." Miranda insisted, "Schön."
"Schön."
"Good. Now: dich. Repeat."
"Dich." Lavi said, analyzing the way his 'sensei' was looking at him, so he could see if he's right or not.
"Wieder." Miranda continued, which, for Lavi, meant that he pronounced the last word right. It gave him a dosage of trust, and he likes that feeling when he's full of hope.
"Wieder."
Miranda shook her head this time, indicating that his pronouncement was wrong. "It's not like that. You don't pronounce the r. Again. Be attentive at my pronouncement: Wieder."
"Wieder."
"Once again, come on. Wieder."
Lavi was a little disappointed that he couldn't do it right, but, of course couldn't give up so easily. If Miranda was okay with spending her time teaching him German, then he has to try his best. "Wieder."
Miranda smiled, nodding her head in agreement. "Ja, that's it. I wanna hear you again."
Lavi smiled back to his sensei. "Wieder."
"Good. Now: zu sehen. Remember, do not pronounce them as separate words. Pronounce them like they're a single word. This one it's easier, so I don't think you will have problems."
And he didn't have problems; he followed Miranda's advice and pronounced the last word correctly as well. "Now repeat the entire sentence: Schön dich wieder zu sehen. And, do not forget, try to consider the words as a whole one; do not pause between them. Understood?"
"Okay." He paused a little before he uttered: "Schön dich wieder zu sehen."
"Good. Do you know its meaning?"
Lavi meditated a bit, trying to collect all the data he had stocked in his brain. "Um... I know that schön means nice, and that zu sehen mans to see, but I'm not sure about the complete meaning of the sentence."
"No problem, I can explain you. What you said is right. Wieder means again and dich is a form of the pronoun du, which means you. So, the translation is like... Nice to see you again."
[TIME SKIP – Some hours later]
"Danke, Miranda, you really helped me!" Lavi thanked to his new sensei, a huge smile occupying his lips. Miranda pulled her lips into a smile as well; and why wouldn't she smile? After all, she helped someone – she did a good thing. She did something besides fighting akuma or stuff like that.
"Bitte! Anyway, no problem, it is my pleasure to teach someone my first language... I've learnt it without too much effort, so it wouldn't come hard to teach it."
Lavi giggled in amusement. "I'm happy to hear. Oh, by the way, I have one more question."
"Sure, feel free to ask anything." Miranda replied with a small welcoming nod.
Lavi wasn't really sure if he should ask or not, but it wasn't really a sensitive topic, right? It wasn't anything... sexual. I mean, maybe it was, but definitely not that way. It was just a question.
"Okay, so... How do you ask someone to dance in German? I mean, something like 'Wanna dance?' or 'May I have this dance?'"
Miranda stared quizzically, a vague shade of curiosity hiding deep into her eyes. Her index finger made its way to her lips and lightly brushed the surface of them as she was thinking. She wasn't sure why he asked this; however, she took it as pure curiosity of his and ignored the kinda weird topic. "Um... When asking someone to dance in German, you say... Willst du mit mir tanzen?"
The male exorcist meditated some moments.
"Oh! Now I get it!" Lavi snapped like woken up from a long sleep. He ran to his desk and quickly wrote down, then came back to Miranda. "Danke, Miranda! Du siehst schön aus!"
He kissed her cheek several times in appreciation, which froze her. The touch of his lips felt rather warm and wet than soft but still somehow pleasant. Uh, together with that last German phrase he said, how could it not... terrify her? "L-L-L—"
"Danke, Miranda!" he repeated, then rushed out of the library, yelling: "Komui-san! I've found it!"
"L-L-Lavi..." she mumbled dreamily, caressing the surface of her face where he planted those small kisses. "Du siehst schön aus, Miranda-chan..." her quivering voice repeated for her.
Then she fainted.
Wait... Did she just... let a teenager kiss her?
Du siehst schön aus = You look beautiful