I do not own Man. Katsura Hoshino does.
There are ooc characters in this fic, so watch out and don't complain. I welcome flames as long as they are sensible and offer a critical opinion. Reviews are welcomed, as are inquests.
CHAPTER ONE
Allen admiration for his partner was reflected clearly in his eyes and he slowly closed the lids on his eyes as he leaned forward for the kiss that was promised. A strong hand was placed on the small of his back pulling him forward and another hand under his chin tipped his face upwards to award his friend with an angle better to kiss him with.
They leaned into each other and their lips brushed for the fist time---
"WHAT THE HELL LENALEE?"
Allen turned to stare at his female companion incredulously. Seriously what was with this script? When had his best friend become a yaoi fan girl? This was new and Allen decided he did not necessarily like it.
"What Allen?" Lenalee asked inquisitively. "Is there something wrong with it? Did I make a spelling mistake somewhere? Show me."
Lenalee snatched back her manuscript and Allen sighed.
"Yes Lenalee there is something wrong with it. What on earth possessed you to write a play with Kanda and I as the main characters? And why are we making out? You know what never mind, I don't want to know. But can you promise me you won't show this to Kanda. Not only would he kill you he'll kill me, even if you tell him I had nothing to do with it. You know what he's like."
Lenalee ducked her head. "Alright Allen, I'll do it for you." She looked up with tears welling her eyes. "I can respect your wishes Allen. However it saddens me that you don't respect my writing abilities"
Allen looked around flustered; scared somebody might see her about to cry. This emotional blackmail was unfair. When did Lenalee get so manipulative?
"Lenalee I don't think you're writing was necessarily bad. I think the content was bad."
"Allen that's the same thing" Black Lenalee came out, and Allen was getting very anxious due to his precarious situation.
Allen was saved by the arrival of Lavi and Kanda two of his classmates. Suddenly a thought popped into his head and he whispered urgently to Lenalee.
"You can't show it to anyone else either right. Please don't show Lavi, I'll never live through the embarrassment Lenalee."
Lenalee grinned she might be able to use this to her advantage.
"Of course I won't show them Allen but if I ask you for help with the cultural festival you have to say yes okay."
Allen not seeing another alternative had to say yes. The pair who had just approached them was looking at them suspiciously; after all they had just had an entire whispered conversation in front of them.
"What was that about?" Lavi asked curiously.
"Nothing, nothing" Allen said shaking his hands in front of him for emphasis.
Kanda looked disbelieving.
"Che, sure it wasn't moyashi"
"MY NAME IS ALLEN! Not moyashi BaKanda"
Dark Allen and dark Kanda were both out now.
"You're short, white, and I'm sure you taste bad so there you are. You are a moyashi as far as I can tell." Kanda smirked,
"I am not," Allen replied and then smirked. "And if you're so sure I taste bad how would you know. I don't want to know what you've been doing to me in my sleep, and to think I trusted you. Also if that is as far as you can tell then you must be pretty stupid BaKanda"
Kanda was glaring at Allen with flames rising up behind him while Lenalee and Lavi were staring at Allen in amazement.
"Burn" Lavi said.
Kanda turned to focus his attention on Lavi.
"You said something Baka Usagi?"
"No"
"That's what I thought"
The older voice of one of their school's teachers came echoing though the corridor.
"Children shouldn't be hanging around after school time."
The four friends turned around to see which teacher it was and their faces brightened when they saw who it was. It was the school's Spanish teacher Mr Mikk. If it was another teacher they might have got landed with detention, Mr Mikk was cool though.
"Yo, Tyki what are you doing at school still? Don't you usually leave as soon as the bell goes?" Lavi greeted the teacher.
Kanda, Allen and Lenalee sweat-dropped at this. Trust Lavi to be on first name basis with a teacher.
"I actually had some exams to mark from last week," Tyki replied "Well you better get going and leave before another teacher finds you, get going."
With a wave of his hand Tyki left the four of them, walking towards his office. They then proceeded to walk towards the front gates of the school together.
"I'll guess I'll see you later guys," Allen said smiling before he turned left to walk home the opposite way to the others.
"I wonder were Allen goes in the afternoons after he gets homes. He hardly ever comes over to hang out with us any day that's not Sunday."
Lenalee frowned. She thought Allen could make more of an effort to be friendly. Not that he wasn't when at school, but he hadn't even invited them over to his house before. His guardian couldn't be that bad could he? That was the reason Allen gave them for not being able to invite them over.
"Why should you care what the moyashi does? The less time we have to see each other the better as far as I'm concerned" Kanda scowled. He and Allen were constantly fighting over nothing. Granted it was fun but it did get annoying after a while.
"Don't say things like that about Allen Kanda, he's our friend and you should be kinder to him."
"Che"
Allen had reached his house by the time Lenalee and Kanda had finished their argument. Allen's guardian Cross had insisted in getting a house close to the school because he didn't want to have to drive Allen there or pay for a bus fare.
As soon as Allen walker through the set of gates and started up the driveway he could hear the loud pounding of music signalling his "master" as being home. Yes, he had to call his guardian master; it was part of his conditions for living with him. Not that Allen had much choice but to live with him. Allen parents had died left him on the streets and he had lived there until his adoptive father, Mana, picked him up. Unfortunately Mana had died before Allen entered school and he was left in Cross Marian's care. Great.
The only good thing about living with Cross was that he got steady employment (although most of the money he earned he had to give to his master), he got a golem for himself, and they had a whopping, huge house courtesy of one of Cross' lover Anita.
Entering the front doors Allen could smell the acrid stench in the air with lingered as a result of the cigarettes his master smoked, he hated that smell.
Allen headed to were the source of the smell was located walking into the drawing room he found his master entertaining a young women sharing a bottle of red wine.
"Oh, baka deshi. I need you to go into work tonight. One of the usual workers fell and broke her arm so you'll be covering her shifts this week. Now get changed and go.
Allen left the room and then sighed, he would have to start doing his homework at lunchtime again.
Allen changed into his work uniform, which simply consisted of a pair of skinny-leg black jeans and a pinstriped monochrome shirt. The most annoying part of the uniform to Allen was that he had to leave said shirt half undone so it was partially falling off. Apparently Cross thought this was sexy, especially on the women but he had to have a non-biased dress code so the men and women had to do the same thing. Damn workplace relations and feminists.
Allen had finished his shift without accident and was on his way home (it was about three in the morning) when he encountered some older students from his school. These boys Allen knew well, they were constantly ridiculing him for being parentless and a "freak". Allen thought this was extremely unfair, as he couldn't help having a scar on his face, or a discoloured arm. He had been in an accident when he was younger.
The boys upon seeing Allen had surrounded him taunting and jeering. The leader, Connor, was particularly cruel to Allen at school and always initiated the bullying.
"What are you doing out so late at night freak? Doing some work on the side with the paedophiles in town? Maybe you need to be taught not to be so casual about walking the streets at night. We'll fix that for you. Right boys."
The others in the group just goffered and nodded closing in around him. Allen slid into a defensive pose. He knew a little martial arts that he had learned from Cross but not enough to defend himself from such a large group. As the first boy lunged Allen stepped aside. He spun around and kicked the same boy hard in the stomach sending him to the ground. Another boy rammed into him with his shoulder. Allen leaned into the movement so he could place his hands onto the ground and flipped himself over backwards. The group was beginning to get worried, as Allen was able to hold his own against them. The leader motioned to two of the boys to attack at once. The boys came running from opposite directions, all Allen had to do was step away and they punched each other in the face. The leader was getting fed up of this and he ran in himself and attacked. He was better at fighting than the others had been and he managed to land a blow in Allen's ribs, eliciting a sharp crack forcing Allen to his knees. The boy who had rammed Allen came forward and grabbed his arms pulling them behind his back to restrain him. Allen did the automatic manoeuvre of step, punch, elbow, and punch. Hitting all his targets. When the boy released him Allen turned and gave him a glancing roundhouse kick to his head and the boy dropped unconscious.
That was all Allen remembered as someone hit him in the head after that and he was also knocked out.
Lavi was walking up Allen's street when he heard the sounds of a scuffle. Racing up He came in time to see the last bully be knocked out by Allen. Then Connor came up behind him and smashed a plank into the back of Allen's head. What the hell, Lavi thought.
Lavi walked forward gaining the attention of the boys. He waved a phone at them saying;
"I'm phoning the cops now so piss off or be caught."
He put the phone to his ear and the group, scared by his bluff, turned tail and fled. As soon as they were out of sight, Lavi ran forward to see if Allen was all right. He was still out of it and checking him out Lavi saw a large bruise on his chest and a cut on his head, which was bleeding profusely. It didn't look too serious so Lavi lifted Allen into his arms and headed down the street to the address he found on Allen's I.D. card. Reaching this address Lavi thought he must have gotten it wrong. This house was huge. Shrugging Lavi buzzed the intercom on the outside of the fence.
It took a while but after pressing the button repeatedly and gruff male voice responded.
"What the fuck do you want?"
Lavi pushed the button to respond. "I have Allen here"
"You think I give a shit. What about it?"
Nice. "Well this is where he lives right"
"Yeah, so?"
"He was bashed by some guys up the street and I don't think he needs to go to the hospital so I brought him here. I'm one of his friends."
"I don't give a fuck what you are. Piss off, I'm busy and I don't want to take care of that brat at the moment. Take him back to your house or something. I'm leaving now so don't bother buzzing, I'll just ignore it."
How rude and inconsiderate Lavi thought. Exactly what type of jackass was Allen living with? Lavi bit his lip; he couldn't take Allen to his house. His grandpa was home and he didn't like anybody staying there. Lenalee's was out of the question as she lived with her brother. Her brother would never allow a boy to come unexpected at three in the morning. They lived far away to. So who was there?
Kanda.
Shit, it was the only option left. Lavi glanced down at Allen speculating the chances Kanda would actually let them stay there. He would just have to see when he got there. Retreating from Allen's house it took Lavi only fifteen minutes to reach Kanda's carrying Allen. He didn't know they lived so close by each other.
Knocking on the door Lavi stepped back and waited for Kanda to open the door. The lights were on so he presumed at least one person in the house was awake, unless Daisya or someone didn't like the dark and just kept it on for comfort. Kanda's family was weird.
Kanda was up training early in the morning when he heard the knock at the door. He remembered they had no doorbell because Marie destroyed it. Sensitive freak, he didn't like the pitch of the chime. Kanda sighed no one else would wake up to answer the door so he had to go. Placing his sword Mugen in its sheath Kanda moved into the entrance hall and opened the door. Needless to say he wasn't prepared for the sight that met his eyes. The baka Usagi was standing there with an unconscious moyashi in his arms.
"WHAT THE FUCK?"
Kanda opened the door a little wider as Lavi came barging in. Moving to the lounge room Kanda trailed behind trying to comprehend what was happening. Lying Allen on the large couch Lavi turned around to address Kanda.
"Kanda," Lavi said seriously, "Allen and I need to stay here the night. As you can see he's hurt and I couldn't take him to his house."
"Why the hell not?" Kanda was as confused as hell.
"The person he lives with is a bastard. I'll tell you all about it later but can we stay here?"
At that moment a light flashed on in the hall. Kanda adoptive father came in wearing bunny slippers and a cloud covered dressing down. He looked around the room with drowsy eyes.
"Kanda why is there a bleeding boy staining our couch and why is your friend Lavi here?"
"Shut up old man its one of your business" trust Kanda to be so terse with his family.
"Now Yu-kun you can't treat me like that, I'll still love you no matter what so there is no reason to be hurtful"
Kanda face-palmed himself in the forehead. Obviously he wasn't getting his message of 'fuck off' across properly. It was at that moment Lavi decided it was best to speak up. While he was busy explaining the situation Kanda moved closer to Allen. He knelt on the ground giving him the once over. He noticed something different about the moyashi just by looking at his appearance.
"Oy, usagi why is Allen dressed like this?"
Lavi looked stumped, he hadn't really looked at Allen's clothes more preoccupied with his wounds. The fancy shirt and pants didn't go unnoticed now; neither did the half-unbuttoned state of the shirt.
"I don't know Kanda. Why was he out at three in the morning?"
"Why were you out at three in the morning Lavi?" Tydoll questioned.
Lavi did not reply to this, as he was busy staring at Kanda; who was busy staring at Allen; who was unconscious and staring at nobody aside from the back of his eyelids.
Tydoll noticed this chain of staring and also began staring at Kanda. Hearing the commotion Kanda's two adopted brothers came in and started staring at everyone.
Lavi finally noticed what was happening and stopped the nonsense before it got any more confusing.
"Hey Kanda isn't that white-haired shrimp bleeding out on the couch a friend of yours from school?"
Tydoll and Marie started.
"Kanda has another friend!" they exclaimed in unison. Kanda glared at them.
"Lavi is staying with the moyashi tonight"
Nobody even tried to contradict him and left to go back to bed. Tydoll was crying in his euphoria upon hearing Kanda had another friend and was led out of the room by Marie.
Kanda went to the bathroom to find some bandages as Lavi pulled Allen's shirt off. The bruise had grown exponentially bigger and Lavi was worried there was more than one cracked rib. Feeling around he found that there were three fractured ribs he wouldn't have to go to hospital for that. The cut though was fairly deep and would need stitches.
Kanda came back and together they wrapped Allen's ribs and they bound his head with a gauze pad and some more bandages. As much as Lavi was worried Kanda had to be twice as worried. Though he tried not to show it. Allen was one of his friends, and to Kanda, friends were a precious commodity. With his attitude it wasn't easy to make friends with people. Allen especially, Kanda was constantly anxious over the Moyashi's well being. He knew the other didn't see he noticed but Allen often came to school with bruises dappling his arms and back, and he often had to leave school early, and no explanation was ever given. He noticed all of this but never spoke to Allen about it. He would wait for Allen to speak up.
"Should we take him to the hospital do you think Kanda?"
Kanda thought about it for a moment. "I think we should sleep now and in the morning we can decide whether he needs to go or not."
Lavi curled up next to the couch and laid his head on a cushion. Intending to sleep right next to Allen to watch out for him. Kanda looked at Lavi for a moment before moving to his room.
He came back a moment later with three blankets over his arms and a pillow. He laid a blanket on each of his friends saving the last for himself, and went to sleep on the single couch.
They would wait and see what happened in the morning. Hopefully they would get to miss school Kanda thought selfishly. Little did Kanda know his father was lurking outside with his brother in a side room with a camera. This would make awesome blackmail and memories later of Kanda's first sleepover.