This may turn into part of a series but im not sure yet. To those following 'Reconsidered Enemies' don't worry I am currently working on the new chapter :)
Enjoy
He could not fucking believe what she was making him do. May hell blow up and take them all with it.
Kanda stood staring at the door to Lenalee's place of residence, nostrils flaring in irritation, steely eyes burning holes through the white painted door before him.
Seriously? Why did she feel the need to do this? Lenalee Lee his childhood and pretty much only friend had decided that this new school year marked the need for change. An unwanted change in his opinion. She wanted to expand the number of their close knit circle of friends… and when she said circle what she actually meant was just their small group of two. Oh Lenalee could have plenty of friends, no doubt about that, and he dared say that she got on pretty much with every person in her year group, but at lunch times and outside of school everyone knew she was friends with him; the unapproachable, silent and fucking terrifying Kanda Yuu. And yes. He was damned proud of his reputation even if he did say so himself.
Anyhow, this is when Lenalee came up with her 'Great Idea.' They were to each find someone in their year that they thought they could get along with and they would all get together and bond over some night at the weekend. Simple. No, actually it wasn't, as Kanda pointed out several times he got along with nobody in his year because they were all a bunch of useless morons that couldn't string two words together, and he wasn't about to start teaching them how.
She reminded him that a lot of new people had joined their school that term, but fine, if that's the way he wanted it then she'd pick someone his age for him, and he better try to get to the know the people she picked or so help her Kanda Yuu she would fucking kick his ass from here to England.
He asked her how she intended to do so.
She kicked him in the shin as a reply.
All week long she'd rambled on about the two guys she's found and invited over to her place. She just knew that Kanda might possibly get on with them. There was always the thin chance. "Oh and get this, one of them has a proper English accent, how cute is that?!" she'd squealed. When he'd pretended to be interested and asked where the other one was from she just shrugged and said he remained a mystery. Had she seriously just asked a perfect stranger to her house? No, she'd met him several times at the library where he worked.
And that brought him up to now. He was still debating if he could just leave and call her pretending that he was sick, when the door opened revealing Lenalee leaning against the doorframe, staring at him from dark eyes and even darker eyelashes expectantly. How did she always seem to know when he arrived at her place when he never even rang the stupid bell? She was dressed in a pair of skimpy denim shorts, over-the-knee stripy colored socks and a lemon yellow t-shirt with a blue sun and the words 'made you look' written printed on it. How she could get away with clothes like that when she had such a weird brother with an over protective sister complex, he would never understand. Speaking of the annoying idiot…
"Where's Komui?" he asked, not really caring, as he side stepped her and walked down the bright hallway to the sitting room. Komui might be incapable of tidiness but Lenalee maintained an excellent standard for the both of them. He sat on one of the expansive white sofa's crossing his legs and jiggling a foot up and down.
"He's out at a robotics convention and then I convinced Reever to take him back to his place for the rest of the night." She flicked a long pigtail over her shoulder. "We should have to the place to ourselves 'til around lunch time tomorrow."
"Right,' he nodded, "so who's this idiot?" He jerked a thumb to a boy who'd been sitting patiently beside him when he'd entered.
"My name is Allen Walker, not 'idiot,' the boy answered, an Upper English lilt coloring his voice. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he continued, forcing himself to be polite.
The boy was skinny. Like anorexia skinny. Kanda could see the sharp lines of his shoulder blades protruding from his back underneath the worn material of a cream three-quarter length t-shirt. His hair was a silvery-grey with plaits woven gently through and he wore gold dangling ear-rings in each lobe. But most striking of all was a pentacle shaped tattoo situated above his left eye brow and continuing through a pale blue eye to the cheekbone below, accentuating the contours of his face.
"I invited Allen over a little earlier than you, hope you don't mind, Kanda. He's new to the area," Lenalee giggled as Allen smiled warmly up at her.
That was it. Kanda officially hated the skinny bastard. No way was he getting his grubby mitts on Lena. She was like a sister to him. "Tch, Bean sprout," he snorted, turning his head away and sticking his nose into the air.
"What did you say, Bakanda?" Allen growled low in his throat.
What did this brat just call him? He whipped his face round to snap at the idiot as the bell rang and Lenalee went to answer it, leaving Kanda and Allen to bicker amongst themselves.
"Err, guys? This is Lavi Bookman," she introduced stepping aside to reveal the last member of their party tonight.
He was Kanda's age and he guessed that he was new to his school this year as he hadn't seen him around before and this kid would be impossible to miss. His hair was a shocking vibrant red which flopped to one side, the longest part of his fringe brushing gently against his right eye which was covered by a patch, the dark material contrasting with his pale skin. He had snake bite piercings on his bottom lip and his ears must be feeling weighed down with the amount of metal in them. His t-shirt was a bright lime green and Kanda was sure he was the only person able to pull off the color.
"Sup guys," he said carefully setting down a backpack, a broad lopsided grin on his face. Kanda picked up a subtle melodic accent that he was unable to place.
"This is Kanda Yuu," Lenalee introduced him, "and this is Allen Walker." Lavi blinked at Allen in surprise.
"You look like a Beansprout," he said simply. Allen's face turned red whilst Kanda cracked up in laughter beside him, thinking to himself that he could almost like this guy. Almost. It was ruined in seconds though as Lavi opened his mouth again and asked him, "That's a Japanese name right? So really your first name is Yuu, so can I call you Yuu-Chan?" The roles were reversed as Allen lay on the ground in fits of laughter and Kanda shot Lavi one of his famous death glares. The boy grinned back ignoring the look.
Lenalee laughed lightly, wrapping an arm around Allen's to pull him off the floor. "Come on," she said. "We have to head out to get food and booze, we have nothing in the house and I wasn't sure what everybody liked." She dragged Allen by the arm out the door who continued to smirk back at Kanda.
Leaving the house they headed around the corner and down the main road, traffic bustling past on one side of them and well maintained cream colored houses on the other. Kanda walked behind the others, pretending he wasn't with them and that it was only by chance that he was anywhere nears them. Lenalee hung back to walk with him, leaving the 'test subjects' to get to know each other. She slipped an arm through his and leaned in.
"So, what do you think?" she asked. "I have a great skill for picking people, right?"
Yeah right, and he had two heads and daisies sprouting from both of them.
"Kanda, you will talk to them whether you fucking like it or not," she ordered him. "Promise me?" She smiled up at him sweetly and Kanda gave in.
"Fine, but I'm not going to be nice to them if they annoy me."
He stared ahead to see Allen and Lavi hand in hand, skipping down the road and singing 'it's raining men' at the top of their voices. A guy going past in a sports car honked the horn and Lavi slapped his ass at the man.
I do not know those stupid fuckers; I do not know those stupid fuckers. Must resist the urge to kill. He started to flee from them but Lenalee grabbed his upper arm in a vice like grip and marched him over to the others.
The bell above them let out a ping as they entered the well stocked petrol station and post office, the scent of leaded fuel assaulting their noses. Grabbing a basket they set off around the store.
"Get whatever you want," Lenalee told them.
"Really?" Allen asked, eyes growing wide.
"Mmhmm," she nodded. "Brother lent me money before he left, I've got enough."
And Allen vanished into thin air leaving them to blink at his rapid disappearance.
"Come on, Lenalee," a head said popping around the corner of a shelf. "I can't carry all this by myself." They watched as he tipped a few boxes of Pringles into the basket before he trotted off down another aisle. Lenalee laughed and followed as he started to lift things off the shelves at random, calling over her shoulder for Kanda and Lavi to get the booze.
Over in the alcohol section Kanda watched as Lavi ran a finger over various bottles and cans.
"Lenalee will want pure vodka to mix with fizzy soda," he informed Lavi who nodded and lifted a bottle of Russian Standard down and passed it over to him before grabbing a six pack of Stella Artois and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
"Anything else you want?" Lavi asked fingering one of his lip rings idly. "Captain Morgan's Rum?"
"Do I look like a pirate to you?" Kanda looked at him incredulously.
"Aye, me matey, that ye do," he shot Kanda a wicked grin.
Kanda sniffed swishing his thick, ebony ponytail over his shoulder in irritation and went to browse the drinks, picking up to examine different beverages before finally settling on a bottle of sake. Lavi raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything.
"I am not stereotypical, don't look at me like that you tosser!" he snarled.
The fiery head boy held up his hands laughing. "I didn't say anything Yuu-Chan, I'm not that kind of person."
"Tch, whatever. And don't call me that."
They found Allen and Lenalee haunting the frozen snacks section arguing over the flavor of ice-cream they wanted.
"STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE!" Allen yelled.
"CHOCOLATE FUGDE BROWNIE!" Lenalee doubled the volume.
"I don't like chocolate though," he whined back.
"Or you could get both, Ben & Jerry's tubs aren't exactly big," Lavi pointed out. "Plus people are staring at you both like you're mental." A mother edged herself and her child slowly around them with a fearful look in her eyes as if to prove his point.
"Yeah, cause you never make an ass of yourself considering you slapped your ass at some stranger just a while ago. Nope, not you." Kanda came up behind him punching his shoulder as he walked by. "Have we got everything we need?"
"Just one more thing." Lavi dashed off, returning a moment later holding a bag of chilies. "Right, now we can go."
Tripping through the front door Allen landed on his front crushed a second later as Lavi landed on top of him. Lenalee skipped over them and into the open planned kitchen with a stony faced Kanda, throwing the shopping on the countertop.
Just one night, that's all I have to survive. Just one night.
"Hey, Yuu-chan, come help me up," a voice sang from the hall. A thump and a squeal and Allen walked calmly in to join them, clearly having deposited Lavi off him in a non to gentle manner. Said idiotic boy followed a second later grumbling about his poor abused ass.
Fuck it he would never last that long.
"Allen darling would you put the pizza's in the oven for me?" Lenalee trilled as she pulled out bowels and filled them up sour cream and onion Pringles. "Kanda grab the coke." She shooed them into the living room, switching on the TV and wii while kicking off her shoes, setting down the snacks and seeing that they were all present. Man Kanda wished he could multi-task like her sometimes. Then he could run away while avoiding her aiming a kick at his head.
"Wii Tennis or Super Smash Brawls?" she asked holding up the games.
Tennis won and Kanda watched as Lenalee and Allen went head to head, Lenalee squaring herself, bending low, her ass stuck out behind her whilst Allen swung the remote with a weird air of calm elegance that one can only be born with, his eyes trained on the screen though wondering over a few times to briefly check out Lena's behind.
"Yes!" she screamed, punching the air in victory and hugging Allen who blushed madly and muttered congratulations to her. Kanda scowled at the scrawny kid and kicked him. He'd lost on purpose. Grabbing a remote from him he took up his own position.
It quickly became apparent that Lavi had never played before. He swung the remote around with wild disregard to his fellow friends as though it was a blunt weapon like a hammer, hitting Kanda several times in excitement as he lunged across the room to hit the imaginary ball. His efforts were for nothing though as Kanda won each set straight and they had to pry the remote from his hands with the promise that he could play Allen after the two winners had their turn.
Being the competitive person that Kanda was he did not simply allow Lenalee to win like Allen had…she just beat him under her own steam. Not that he was completely trashed by her, he made her work hard for her victory which she flaunted in his face by parading round the room for several minutes flinging out kisses and yelling 'thank you, thank you' as the other two plonkers applauded her and shouted for an encore.
Allen and Lavi's turn wasn't a friendly match…it became war, each boy shoving at each other and trying to trip the other up every chance they got before finally Lavi lunged at the silver head boy tackling him to the ground where they rolled over each other in circles. Eventually Lavi declared himself winner through default as he sat on Allen's skinny hips and Lenalee called them to let them know that the pizza was finally ready.
"Can you really eat that much?" Lenalee asked in amazement, staring as Allen piled his plate high with salad and a whole pizza, leaving the rest of the group to split one between the three of them.
Allen peered at them, a slice hanging from his mouth. "Huh?" he asked blankly.
"You are a disgusting pig," Kanda informed him, delicately picking at the pepperoni and tomatoes on his own section of pizza. "Obviously you were never taught any civilized or socially acceptable manners."
"Yeah, cause you know all about manners and socializing," Allen drawled back.
Lavi watched them silently his single eye unblinking as he sat crunching on a slice of yellow pepper. Kanda flicked him on the forehead, "stop staring Cyclops," he growled. Lavi rubbed the pink spot woefully before splitting another sun shine smile.
Man he hated these people.
"What have you planned for us next?" Allen asked, crunching on a pizza crust, yet still managing to turn on the 'old British charm' which instantly got Lenalee's attention and another warning growl form Kanda.
"I thought we could play Articulate," she answered brightly.
"Articulate? What's that?" Lavi perked up, reaching for more salad and ignoring the slice of pizza that had been left aside for him. Allen quickly stole it.
Kanda stared at the boy incredulously. "You've never played the wii before or articulate? What the hell do you do with your time? Sit like a vegetable?"
Lavi gave him a superior and smug look before answering in a self-satisfied voice, "I do my studies and expand my already genius intellect through reading and researching topics of political, historical and medical importance like every other good citizen should." He turned away to guzzle down his diet coke, obviously hoping not to get beaten by an angry looking Kanda.
Did he just call me stupid? It definitely sounded that way, I'll show him stupid…asshole.
Lenalee shrugged at Kanda as she started clearing the dishes and depositing them in the sink. "To answer your question it's a board game where you have to describe something, such as a person, world, nature, etc, and your team mate has to guess what it is you're on about," she explained. "Sound interesting?" Lavi nodded in excitement. "Good, grab the ice-cream and I'll set it up."
That was all the encouragement Allen needed as he made a mad dash for the freezer, handing over the Chocolate Fudge Brownie and growling threateningly at Kanda when he tried to remove the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor from him. Obviously it would only be removed from his cold dead fingers. That could be arranged Kanda found himself fantasizing. Kanda scooped out the "revolting and foul evil that is chocolate brownie," (according to Allen) for himself, Lena and Lavi, leaving the silver haired boy to consume the other tube entirely by himself.
That won't take long, Kanda thought as he watched the bean pole digging into it enthusiastically with an oversized spoon. What is he, a bottomless pit?
Bringing the three bowls into the living room he deposited one to Lena, who had finished setting up the game and was cooing over Allen, and tried giving the other to Lavi who gave it a disgusted look and proceeded to ignore it, instead adopting the pensive look he so often seemed to wear, when he's not acting as an immature ass, Kanda thought angrily, fighting the urge to dump the contents over Lavi's head. Instead he returned it to the kitchen, praising himself for not acting violently. And they say I need anger management. Puh-lease.
When he returned it was only to find Lenalee practically sitting in the silverette's lap, leaning close and giggling girlishly. Allen's hand was a little too close to her ass for Kanda's liking and it was gently brushing up and down against the bare skin that was showing. He was not going to stand for this, Lena was like a little sister to him and he refused to watch her get violated by some crisp British sounding prick. He strode over full of purpose, pulling Lenalee away from Allen and threatening the boy with every punishment under the sun and moon. A scuffle broke out as they rolled across the ground, fists whirling, insults being hurled and squeals occasionally being emitted when something actually connected. It was only resolved when the petite girl smacked the back of their heads, told them off and placed herself resolutely between them. Kanda, nursing a stinging cheek from where Allen had cuffed him, glanced over at Lavi to see what he had been doing while all this had occurred. Said boy was sitting on the ground, casually leaning against the couch with his feet propped on the coffee table reading 'The Economist' silently, single eye moving back and forth and turning the pages quicker than Kanda would have thought possible. He hadn't heard a single thing.
"Right, it's time to start the game, Allen you're with me, Kanda you pair with Lavi. I trust there are no objections?" Lenalee glared hard at Kanda who had opened his mouth but quickly closed it as he saw the no nonsense look on her face. He nodded his consent begrudgingly. "Good. Roll the dice to see who goes first."
Lenalee and Allen ended up going first, their impressive six beating Kanda's own dismal one. However that was where their luck seemed to end. Allen may be elegant, attractive enough to catch Lena's attention, have a high metabolism, able to hold his own in a fight and be quite quick witted, but he didn't seem overly bright. That or he was just really bad at explaining things and they only managed to get two correct answers in the allocated time. This satisfied the Japanese boy somewhat.
Kanda grabbed a few of the cards and glared at his partner with a look that he hoped conveyed the following message.
If we lose against this kid I will personally rip the skin from your fucking face.
Lavi grinned at him in a reassuring way instead of paling and stuttering the way everyone else usually reacted when being met with Kanda's famous death glare. Why didn't Lavi act the same? And why, dear god, did it unnerve Kanda so much?
Lavi guessed each card correctly and quickly and Kanda could hardly believe it when they got eleven cards and moved far up the board. Team 'Lenlen' eyed Lavi nervously. He was not a force to be trifled with in this game it seemed.
Lavi was very excited when it came his turn to call the cards. He grabbed them with enthusiasm and nodded at Lenalee to start the miniature sand hourglass.
"It's a Polynesian Island famous for its 887 moai statues."
What the fuck? How the hell would anybody know that?
The blank look on Kanda's face must have been enough because Lavi quickly added, "It's named after a festive holiday over here to do with the Christian faith."
"Er…Easter Island?"
"Correct. Next," Lavi quickly flipped to the next card. "Itwas home to the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, and to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered it in the 16th century." Another blank look from Kanda. "Er, South America, the capital is Lima…Incas!"
A flashback to history and geography class three years ago. "Peru," he blurted.
"Good, next," Lavi was sounding pretty frantic now. "Capital of France?"
"Paris!" Kanda yelled, on his knees now, leaning forward towards the paler boy.
"The war here began on October 7, 2001, as the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom was launched, along with the British military, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US." Lavi was also on his knees yelling and panicking.
"Afghanistan!"
"I'm from here!"
"Huh? Wait what?" Kanda asked confused. Why would he know that? Lavi seemed to notice this and hastily moved on to the next card as Lenalee yelled time. He placed that particular card into the middle of the deck.
Allen was rocking from side to side on the floor, holding onto his stomach as he laughed, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Man, you should have seen yourselves, you were both screaming in each other's faces." He pulled himself into an upright position wiping at his face. "That was hilarious. I don't know how you managed to get any of those places, what were you thinking Lavi?"
Lavi giggled and gave an apologetic grin whilst Kanda punched Allen on the shoulder, hard. "Obviously he knew I was smarter than you, bean sprout."
"MY NAME IS ALLEN," he roared.
"Che, whatever, like I care."
"I don't want to play anymore," Lenalee interrupted quickly before they could start fighting again. "Why don't we start drinking now? We could play a few games with cards, like 'higher and lower' or 'cheat' to determine who drinks when."
Kanda nodded slowly, still glaring daggers at Allen. "I'm game," he said.
"Yeah I'm in," Allen also replied, staring hard at the ebony boy in front of him refusing to even blink.
"Are they challenging each other?" Lavi asked, sounding a bit confused but also very amused. "That definitely sounded like a challenge. I think the person who does the least well in each game has to chug half a glass of pure vodka at the end. Just to liven things up," he shrugged innocently, although the appearance was ruined due to the evil looking grin across his face.
"Fine by me," came the chorus from the other two boys.
Lenalee and Lavi left the two boys to hiss at each other like cats, claws out and barely keeping from scratching at the others eyes. Together they collected shot and whiskey glasses, ice, booze, lemonade and coke, a pack of cards and Lavi's chilies, all of which they deposited carefully on the ground. From Lavi's bag he also produced three round bottles, each containing a brightly colored liquid in them. Lena sat, curling her legs beneath her and leaning against the wall, stretching an arm out to run her hand gently down Allen's back in order to calm him. Lavi was less gentle and after reclining languidly against the couch he punched Kanda on the shoulder, which of course earned him one in return.
Lenalee poured each of them a shot glass of the Russian Standard vodka as Lavi also distributed glasses of Southern comfort and ice to be mixed with coke if they so desired. She shuffled the deck of cards and flipped one over. Three of hearts. Kanda was to her right so he went first, smirking at the easy number and saying, "higher." They went in a circle, giving the call of higher or lower in response to the card they were shown and it was Lenalee that became the first to drink, knocking the shot back with a flick of her slender wrist and jerking her head back as she swallowed before topping her glass up again. Kanda was frowning at the card she had gotten wrong and wondering what to call the next one as. It was a seven of clubs, the middle number of the pack and in the end he decided on going lower. He was erroneous and he too was forced to knock back his vodka, the clear liquid burning the back of his throat and he wrinkled his nose in disgust both from the smell and taste of the potent substance. After that card Kanda did not get another one right and having polished off four more measures he demanded that they changed the game immediately, but not until after he and Lena shared a glass of 'paint stripper' together as they had both done equally badly.
Cheat was next. Each person was trying to discard cards of either the same number, or the number on either side. Every time someone called cheat and guessed wrong they had to take a drink whereas if they guessed right and the person had tried to cheat, then the cheater had to drink instead. Allen was scarily good at this game, his face remaining unreadable the entire time, no one ever got the better of him and he was the first winner leaving the other three to battle it out, Lavi eventually becoming the undeniable looser and he pinched his nose as he gulped down half a whiskey glass of vodka his eye crossing afterwards as he gasped for cleaner air.
Can a single eye really cross? Kanda wondered vaguely.
"This isn't fair," Kanda voiced three games later after Lenalee, who was looking slightly flushed, lost one and Lavi had suffered two devastating blows. "He hasn't drunk anything yet," he was looking at Allen as he said this who grinned cockily back.
"Not my fault you're all bad at cards," his eyes were glinting in dark amusement.
"Why are you so good at them," Lenalee asked, tilting her head slightly to the right, although Kanda couldn't be sure if it was done willingly so or if the sudden chugging of alcohol had rushed to her head a bit. "You've even got one of those, what do you call them, straight faces, face masks, things?"
Allen laughed lightly. "You mean a poker face. And that's for me to know and you to find out."
Lenalee pouted, huffing before reaching forward and picking up the deck. "Want to play 'pick up 52' with me Allen." Kanda grinned knowingly at this, he and Lavi quietly sipping their Southern Comfort as the two interacted.
"Sure," he nodded. "How do you play that?"
She threw the cards into the air and they watched them rain down around them, fluttering delicately like butterfly wings. "There, now pick them up," she smiled sweetly.
"Ha de bloody ha," Allen muttered gathering up a few that had surrounded him.
She watched him closely before making another suggestion. Picking up a stray card she said, "A friend from class said that they always played this. I can't remember the name, but you have to pass one card around the circle without using your hands, instead you use your mouth to pass it."
Blank looks from all round.
She rolled her eyes. "Here I'll demonstrate." Putting the card against her lips she inhaled gently through her mouth, making the card say in place. Turning towards Allen she leant forward, the alcohol obviously adding to her boldness, expecting him to comply, which he did, copying her earlier actions tentatively and successfully taking it from her. They grinned at each other, causing Allen to exhale and the card immediately flew onto the floor.
"Sounds stupid," Kanda concluded. "Besides there are only four of us, that's not much of a challenge."
"It's fun and harder than it looks, don't be such a spoil sport," she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"How about another drink first?" Lavi asked, pouring them all around of shots from the strange bottles he had brought out earlier. "I'm definitely up for it," he added as he split open a bag of skittles.
Kanda growled at him in annoyance for agreeing to something so dumb, but his curiosity got the better of him as he watched the boy spill a pile of sweets onto the floor. "What are you doing?"
"Skittle shots." Lavi grinned at him. "Look." He popped one into his shot which was the same bright green that the sweet was. He knocked the shot back and chewed on the skittle. "I just like having a sweet at the end of the drink," he laughed.
Lenalee leaned forward, eager as ever to try something new and soon they had all deposited one into their own drinks. Kanda examined his doubtfully. Luminous orange was surely not a colour that should be allowed to enter his body he thought. Colorings and food additives had a lot to answer for in his opinion. Still he followed the others actions and ended up coughing and choking, half attempting to spit it back out. "That is vile," he exclaimed. "Fucking horrible."
"I don't know, Lena mused, lifting another of the deadly concoctions. "I think it gives it an extra something."
"It looks radio-active," Allen commented off-handedly as he swirled his own green mixture. "Which is quite cool." As the others had drank so much more than him Allen decided to be a good sport, finishing off more of the skittle shots than any of them and smacking his lips together at the end in a satisfied manner.
Lenalee sprung back into action. "Shall we play now? Good," she continued without waiting for the expected negative response from Kanda. She started the circle again passing the card to Allen. Lavi had somehow switched to the other side of Kanda, meaning that it was to him that Allen was to pass to. He glared at the boy daring him to try putting his filthy mouth anywhere nears his own. Lenalee gave a sharp tug to his ponytail and sighing, he unwillingly leant forward, inhaling as much as possible so that there would be no chance of not getting the blasted card. He turned to Lavi but the card fell and he had to spend a few attempts trying to pick it back up. They managed to pass it around the circle twice successfully, but the third time just as Lavi leaned for to accept the card, it dropped and their lips touched lightly. Kanda briefly tasted the sweetness from the skittles on Lavi's mouth before quickly pulling back and he instantly started to berate Lavi who was cackling on the floor.
Kanda scowled and reluctantly rejoined the game again, but he was unable to shake the strange feeling that had settled in his stomach the moment his lips had brushed against the red heads.
They didn't manage to get through a full circle before Lenalee's and Allen's lips met, although they were not in as big of a hurry as Kanda had been to pull apart. Instead they seemed to be crushing their mouths harder together. There was a flash of tongue and Lavi found himself having to physically restrain Kanda as he tried to lunge at the younger boy, although he did manage to get a well aimed kick at the boy's ribs. This assault effectively ended that particular game.
Kanda practiced some deep breathing exercises which clearly weren't working, glaring daggers at Allen who ignored him instead lying back on the floor comfortably whilst Lenalee tried to do some damage control. Lavi, who appeared interested in the interactions between them in a psychological sense, did not seem so willing to be actually involved and had instead returned to his bourbon. Kanda had a sneaky suspicion that Lavi had been inhaling the liquids instead of actively drinking them without the others noticing, being as wrapped up in their antics as they were.
"I'm going for a smoke," Lenalee announced, getting up and heading for the back door. Lavi got up to join her leaving Allen and Kanda in the same room alone together. A potentially dangerous situation one would have thought considering their track record of just that one night together. He watched Lenalee and Lavi chatting animatedly together through the glass door's window as their cigarette smoke unfurled above their heads like misty dragons roaring and dancing into the cold night sky above.
"Ya know," a voice broke through his thoughts. "You should learn to lay off Lenalee a little. She's a big girl. She knows how to look after herself."
Kanda turned to look at Allen who was leaning on his side, head propped up on one hand.
"Fuck you," Kanda bit out eloquently. "Lenalee's too good for some like you, and once she stops drinking she is going to drop you without a second thought."
Allen shrugged. "Sure, if that's what you think keep deluding yourself."
And what the fuck is that meant to mean?
A stiff tension hung in the air, broken a few minutes later by the opening of the back door and Lenalee's loud laughter. They entered the room again, Lavi carrying the beer and Saki in as well.
Lavi handed the saki to Kanda who immediately broke the seal of the bottle and without even bothering to pour it out, he chugged about half a glass in order to get rid of the taste of vodka. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glared hard at Allen, mind fuzzily telling him that the boy would be dead in the morning.
Allen didn't seem to be aware of the imminent danger he was in, he and Lavi were having a competition to get to the bottom of their beer first. Lavi yelled happily at his victory, waving his hands in the air and promptly toppling over, Allen gasping for oxygen through his fit of laughter hung onto Lenalee for support. Lenalee giggled uncontrollably as she also tumbled over before finally managing to righten herself and push Allen into an upright position.
"Truth or dare now," she said a slight slur evident. She grabbed the near empty bottle of 'Russian Standard' and spun it where it landed on Kanda.
"Truth."
"Who do you like the most?" Allen asked smiling slyly.
"Myself," he answered promptly.
"Yuu-chan," Lavi exclaimed loudly. "What about me? I'm so hurt." He flung his hand to his forehead dramatically.
"And it's those types of antics that make me love myself more than others," he replied firmly, though his heart tugged just a little as he said that.
Lavi tilted his head to one side in thought. Wonder if it hurts, Kanda thought as the boy opened his mouth. "Does that mean you're asexual?" he asked curiously, his forehead furrowed.
Kanda choked on his drink as Allen and Lenalee roared in laughter. "No," Kanda forced out between ground teeth. "It just means I have higher standards than you do." Defiantly he reached forward and spun the bottle again.
"Truth," Allen said simply as it landed on him.
"How did you learn a poker face?" Lenalee asked quickly.
Allen eyed her wearily before responding. "My guardian, Marian Cross, is how should I put this? He finds it difficult to show restraint when it comes to money, women and fun. He ends up owing a lot of money to some rather unpleasant people and it's not that he's poor and unable to pay up…it's just that he doesn't like to. Hence I am then forced to step in and find an alternative way of covering the payment and avoid potential conflict. No big deal." He shrugged his shoulders as elegantly as Kanda had ever seen of a tipsy person manage.
"That's terrible," Lenalee gasped, hand fluttering to her mouth.
"It's not that bad," Allen shook his head vigorously. "The guys in my class like to have poker nights at least once every few weeks, which means I'm never behind on my rent." He grinned wickedly and Kanda thought him quite evil at that moment, although nothing that he could not handle.
The bottle landed on Lenalee, and she gave Lavi a queer stare as he fidgeted beside Kanda.
"Dare," she said promptly and an awkward silence hung as she continued to glare at the poor boy.
Yes, Lavi?" she questioned, a strange tone in her voice. "You look like you have one."
Lavi looked wearily at her then turned to eye Kanda cautiously as well. Back to Lenalee and again to Kanda, who wasn't sure what to think of the boys behavior except to think that there was something mentally wrong with him. Lavi averted his eyes to the ground before clearing his throat slightly and saying, "I dare you to make out with Allen for five minutes without Yu-Chan interrupting." Realization to what Lenalee must have been saying to Lavi outside during their smoking break dawned on Kanda's face and he shot an evil look at Lavi who threw his arms in front of his face incase Kanda decided to bludgeon him right there and then.
"Don't be so worried, Lavi," Lenalee said soothingly. "Kanda agreed to this game and therefore he has to obey the rules."
"I'm not agreeing to play the game now," Kanda said quickly.
"Tough luck Kanda, the majority wants to play. Now turn away before you see something that you don't want to." Promptly she turned her back on them and wrestled Allen to the floor.
He spun away quickly as the sound of lips smacking together assaulted his ears, which burned red with anger. How dare that Allen Walker defile Lenalee, he would fucking murder him!
A gentle tug to his sleeve made him aware of Lavi at his side, whose cheeky smile infuriated him even more before he noticed the underlying look of concern on the boys face. "Fancy a fag?" Lavi asked him, holding up a packet and tilting his head to one side in question. "It'll make you feel better."
Now Kanda Yu had always prided himself on never giving in to Lenalee's nagging to try smoking with her, namely because she didn't want to look like a loner, and because he liked to think of himself as above the group of sheep that flocked after class for a quick ciggie. But right now all those self righteous thoughts could go fuck themselves for all he cared as he nodded, getting quickly to his feet and staggering into Lavi as they made their unstable way to the back door.
Stepping through onto the back step he shivered in the bitter night air, hugging his cardigan closer around himself as he Lavi passed him a cigarette and lighter. He looked at it dubiously and clicked the lighter a few times in an attempt to light it, but never quite managed. Irritated he thrust it back at the chuckling Lavi, who put it to his lips and lit it, cupping his hands around it slightly so that the slight wind wouldn't blow out the small flame before the cigarette caught. He handed it back to Kanda.
Kanda watched Lavi as he lit his own cigarette, his light frame silhouetted against the dark, shoulders slightly hunched, and goose bumps appearing along his thin, pale arms. The cigarette hung precariously between his plump lips, snake fangs flashing seductively in the glow of the flame. Kanda licked his lips nervously.
It's just the alcohol talking. I am NOT turned on by this red head idiot; it's just brain damage from drinking too much tonight.
"So," Lavi started, releasing a large exhale of smoke as he pocketed his lighter safely. "How long have you known Allen?"
Kanda glared at Lavi, snapping out of his train of thought. Hadn't he been paying attention? "I just met him tonight, right before you came."
Lavi bobbed his head up and down. "Oh really? That's strange."
"What is?" Kanda snapped.
"Well, it's just that you seem to really hate each other so much. I thought it must have been something that happened between you two in the past and your anger towards each other had grown over time. But as you've both just met I don't understand. Are you interested in Lena?"
Kanda choked on his smoke. "No," he spluttered. "What makes you think that?"
Lavi shrugged his shoulders in a non to bothered fashion as though he couldn't believe he was getting involved over something so stupid. "It just seems that every time Allen goes near her you tend to try ripping his throat out. I thought there was some potential love rivalry going on." He squinted over at Kanda, smirking cockily. "But I'm happy that that's not the case. It means I don't have to share you with her."
Kanda wasn't sure what to say to that, so instead he stayed quiet and adopted a scowl instead.
"If you want my advice though," Lavi continued, standing in front of Kanda, their noses barely half an inch apart, "you would let Lenalee make her own decisions or mistakes, whichever it may come to be. By what she tells me her brother worries more than enough and if you also start going on at the boy she likes, well, you might just ruin your closest friendship." Kanda gulped as he stared into the emerald depths of Lavi's good eye, a strange heat pooled in his stomach. Lavi turned away, dropped his finished cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it under his foot to put it out. "I'm guessing they should be finished now, I'm gonna go back in."
He entered the house leaving Kanda alone. Kanda's head was feeling light from his first time smoke and his limbs felt relaxed even if his stomach and mind weren't. He pondered the red head's words. Could he be jealous of Allen because of the attention Lena was giving him? Kanda had never had to share Lenalee with anyone before, but neither had he thought about her in any special way. Come to think about it, he'd never felt inclined to any girl before, or indeed anybody at all. An image of Lavi's grinning face flashed across his mind and he froze mentally before cursing and throwing his unfinished cigarette to the ground and trampling on it in frustration. Glancing back up at the night sky one last time he headed back in to join the others.
As he took up his spot again Lenalee twisted the bottle where it spun a few times, the remainder of the clear potent contents sloshing from side to side. It pointed in between him and Allen.
"Alright, you both have to complete a dare," Lenalee said, looking triumphant although Kanda was willing to bet it was because of her not too distant make out session.
"Don't you usually spin the bottle again if it doesn't point fully at someone?" Allen enquired lazily from where he lay stretched out on his stomach looking for all the world life a smug cat.
"Yeah, well, we're changing the rules," Lena said waving a hand dismissively. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she stared at them, trying to plot something as evil as possible, but Lavi got there first.
"Eat one each," he grinned, holding up the bag of hot chilies.
"No problem," Allen said confidently, reaching out and taking one of the chili's before popping it whole into his mouth and crunching down. He chewed a few times and swallowed, opening his mouth to show them it was all gone.
Kanda's eyes widened at the astonishing feat of a trash can that Allen called his mouth whilst the others cheered and laughed. Damn it, he cursed. He would not be outdone by that bloody bean sprout. He snatched one for himself and bit down.
It burnnnned! Kanda started sucking in huge amounts of cool air as his eyes watered uncontrollably. He grabbed his saki and chugged, coming up for air when the burning sensation had died down.
"Hot enough for you Kanda?" Allen smirked as he slowly nibbled at another one.
"Shut up you fucking bastard," he snapped, his eyes shooting daggers.
Allen's mouth twisted into an annoyed frown. "Bloody imbecile."
"Asshole."
"Old bugger."
"Dickface."
"Bloody loony."
"Ee-dee 'nahooy," Lavi chipped in happily, throwing his hands into the air and consequently spilling some southern comfort down himself. Everyone in the room stared at the boy blankly and Kanda deadpanned as a horrible truth revealed itself. The bottle of whisky was completely finished.
Lenalee giggled as Kanda tried to pry Lavi's drink away from his death grip. "But I haven't drank that much," the slighter boy whined, clawing at Kanda with one hand.
"Didn't drink much my ass," Kanda growled ignoring the pain that was being inflicted on him.
"Don't be ridiculous Kanda, it's got nothing to do with your ass, even if it is rather fine," Lavi said completely seriously.
"You were being speaking jibberish a second ago, Red," Allen drawled, watching the two boys struggle before squinting at them and leaning over to whisper to Lena who's own eyes opened in delight and mischief.
"I'm bilingual you idiot, I speak several languages in fact," Lavi flipped him off and subsequently lost his drink to Kanda.
"Whatever, I'm spinning." With a calculated twist of his bony wrist the bottle's menacing cap hit between Kanda and Lavi.
Do I have the worst fucking luck or what?
"I hate you all," he informed them.
"No you don't," Lena smiled, eyes sparkling with mischief as she poured a good measure of sake equally between the two boys. "Drink up," she smiled sweetly.
Knowing that he'd already had more than he should have to drink, he brought the drink to his lips, slowly downed it. Lavi, who had never had sake before, coughed and spluttered at the strange taste, pulling a look of disgust once he had finished and dropped his glass onto the floor.
"That is mank," he gasped, grabbing a chili to nibble as though he thought burning the taste away would make everything better. "Worse than the vodka."
He was beginning to look decidedly unsteady as Kanda, who's brain felt like it was slowly turning to mush, awkwardly spun the bottle, hitting Lavi again.
"Stand up, take your top off and do a cartwheel," Lenalee ordered. Obviously she was in control of the game now.
"Odd combination," Allen commented, watching with interest as Lavi struggled to his feet and nearly collapsed, looking slightly dazed. With encouragement from Lenalee and Allen he managed to maintain his balance and fight his way out of his baggy T-shirt. Kanda felt his face heat up inexplicably, and something squirmed in the pit of stomach at the sight of Lavi's pale, toned form as it swayed unsteadily around the room.
He raised his hands above his head in preparation and instead fell into a graceful tumble, his head landing on Kanda's lap where he smiled up from into Kanda's eyes.
"I failed," he slurred, extracting himself from Kanda and putting his T-shirt on back-to-front, before sprawling across the ground.
"No, we'll call that pass," Lena said, reaching for the bottle in Lavi's, smirking as she noticed two things. Firstly; that Kanda had not stopped staring at the fiery haired boy, and secondly; that all the blood in his body seemed to have rushed to a very different organ. She and Allen smirked at each other. One more dare and Kanda would no longer notice them sneaking off to less than innocent things.
Simply pointing the bottle at Kanda instead of calling it, she called the boy's name, who muttered a distracted, "dare."
Perfect
"Make out with Lavi," she said simply.
Kanda's head whipped round, sending his mind and vision reeling, before focusing on Lena.
"It's in the rules," she shrugged. "You have to complete the dare."
Kanda blinked. Well, if it was in the rules…and he was never one to back down from a dare. And he was feeling rather hot, and Lavi was lying so openly there.
He crawled towards Lavi, who blinked up at him with his one good eye.
Lavi smirked. "I knew you wanted some of this."
"Shut up, usagi."
"Rabbit?" Lavi started to ask, but was stopped as Kanda's lips came crushing down on his own. It was a bit awkward, the alcohol muddling their actions slightly but fueling their lust. An arm snaked around Kanda's neck, hand slowly threading its way into the ebony hair and crushing their lips even tighter together.
Allen and Lenalee silently sneaked away.
Kanda's hand began to creep slowly up the inside of Lavi's T-shirt, eager to explore the toned and agile body beneath it, but Lavi pulled away, shaking his head a small and slightly sad smile on his lips.
"Sorry Kanda," he said. "But I can't. It's hard to explain, and I really do want to but it's complicated and we're drunk, and I know that if we did do something you'd regret it in the morning."
For a moment Kanda wanted to ignore what the boy beneath him was saying, his lust clouding his judgment. But the look in Lav's eyes convinced him that he truly meant what he said. He pulled back reluctantly, nodding his understanding.
Lavi smiled, the bright and happy smile that he'd given all evening, the one that Kanda was becoming used to even if it did make him want to punch the red head every now and again. The boy rolled over onto his side, tugging the Japanese boy down with him so that Kanda lay against Lavi's back. Maybe it was because of the alcohol confusing the way that Kanda was currently thinking, but the usually cold and 'I will kill you if you touch me' Kanda put an arm around Lavi where they fell into a deeply contented sleep.
Kanda awoke late the next morning with the most killer headache he had ever known. His mouth felt like he had been chewing on sand all night, and he felt disgusting. Practically crawling on all fours he dragged himself to the ground floor toilet, cursing every god he could think of for allowing himself to be reduced to such a pathetic state and promising to crush the throats of every person to witness him in his current condition.
He heaved once into the toilet, feeling instantly better as he did, before rinsing his mouth out several times with mouth wash that was perched on the bathroom shelf. He proceeded to scrub his face with soap and hot water, feeling more human with each passing moment.
Finally unlocking himself from the bathroom he stumbled towards the kitchen where he could hear voices. Upon entering he saw Lenalee, nursing a cup of coffee, purple bags under her eyes, pale skin revealing a state of delicacy from the previous nights drinking but a smug smirk across her face.
She was chatting animatedly to Lavi who was sitting comfortably at the table sipping at a large glass of orange juice, a clean T-shirt on that boldly claimed 'gravity thou art a heartless bitch.' Someone was obviously a big bang theory fan. Lenalee saw Kanda's approach, and subtly excused herself, squeezing past him with a sly, all knowing grin.
Kanda stared at the other boy, who sat with his legs crossed, leafing through a paper on the table. The sun rays came into the kitchen turning his vibrant red hair into a blaze of fire that tumbled and curled around his cheeks and the base of his neck. He turned, his emerald eyes full of mischief as they caught the ebony haired boy staring, and he winked cheekily at him.
"How ya feeling, Yu-chan?"
Kanda growled, cheeks coloring as the nights events between them both began to make itself re-known in his mind forcefully and hoping beyond hope that the younger male didn't remember. But from the look on that face he did. Crap. "Fine, just fine," he snapped.
"Fair enough," Lavi smiled. "I'm leaving now, walk me to the door?" he asked sweetly.
Kanda nodded slowly, the action hurting his head slightly, watching as Lavi downed the last of his juice and stood up, swinging his bag loosely over his shoulder.
They walked in silence to the door together, but whereupon opening it to reveal a bright yet chilly morning Lavi spun around to face a startled Kanda.
"I enjoyed last night a lot," Lavi informed him. "See you in school," and he kissed him, quickly turning away to stroll down the street, whistling a strange tune and leaving Kanda to touch his lips and taste the delightful mixture of chilli and mint.