IMMOBILIZED
[Part One]
.
.
.
Author's Note/s: And this is what my boredom comes up with.
Disclaimer: No, just no.
.
.
.
Wandering the empty hallways of the Black Order, a certain white-haired exorcist trudged along, a hand grazing the odd-fitting bricks of the wall. Letting out a heavy sigh, he stared ahead, set on finding his room and collapsing – happily – in a heap of sore limbs on the floor as soon as he set foot inside it. And he was just about to do that when an annoying –at the moment – hyperactive redhead came into view at the other end of the corridor.
Nooo, he groaned inwardly, No…this can't be happening. I just got back from a mission and this happens? Why does bad luck follow me everywhere? Goddamn it! Make it so he can't see me! Make it so he can't see me…!
Allen pressed his side against the wall looking like he wanted to be swallowed by it, or anything really, before the redhead spotted him. Unfortunately, his wish wasn't granted and Lavi's grin only increased in size when his one good eye, swimming with mirth, locked on the white mop of hair just a few metres away from him.
Shit.
"Allen! Alleeeeeeeeen~!"
While Lavi bounded down the corridor, screaming the younger exorcist's name at the top of his lungs over and over again, Allen made to turn around only to knock into someone else. He let out a startled yelp as he too fell backwards from the impact, only to realise the person he knocked into was, in fact, Lenalee.
"Lenalee! Oh, thank you, God!" he cried, desperately clinging to her shoulders and shaking her slightly back and forth. She just sat there on the cold floor, not entirely sure her friend was even sane at this moment in time.
"A-Allen? What's wrong? Why're you so happy to see me?" The Chinese exorcist asked lightly, somewhat flustered by his attitude. But really, why in the world was Allen so happy to see her?
"You have no idea how happy I am, Lenalee! You're my saviour!" he cried again before a strange glint in his eyes gave her shivers. And those weren't the good kind.
"A-Allen….just w-what are you say–" She started, unable to finish her question as she saw a certain, eccentric something running down the corridor, arms flapping and legs skipping wildly in their general direction. Her blood ran cold when she heard Allen let out a dark chuckle and you could almost – almost – see the black flames sprouting from his back.
"Sorry, but it has to be done," she heard him mutter.
"Allen, what–!?"
Before the girl knew what was fully going on, Allen's grip had disappeared and Lavi was in mid-air, flying in her direction, his one eye closed yet mouth open in an awkward sort of….kiss.
Without any means of stopping.
At all.
The next second, a loud shriek was heard and a deafening crash followed. A small dust cloud flew up from the cracks of the bricks and surrounded the heap known as Lavi and Lenalee. Allen stood back and wiped his forehead in relief. Once Komui sees what has happened – and realizes the redhead sprawled out on top of his beloved sister – he's going to freak out and try to possibly – certainly – murder Lavi, for the umpteenth time this week.
"Well then….I should probably make a break for it," he muttered, glancing around to make sure no one saw what he did. If they found out it was actually him that caused this disaster, hewas going to be the one Komui was after if not both him and Lavi.
Once he got to his room, he could hear the screams and scolding going on behind his door of Lavi being chased endlessly by Komui, while Lenalee tried frantically to stop him with reason. Reason he wouldn't listen to. At times, that was fortunate and unfortunate. Most of the time, unfortunate…yet in this case, very fortunate. Lavi deserved it for interrupting his walk to his room while he was exhausted. Enough said.
As the screaming died down, a loud banging startled him into hurdling out of his bed and landing ungracefully on the icy floor. He then proceeding to yelp once more, spring up off the stone floor, smashing the side of his head into the hard, wooden door behind him.
"Fuuuuuuuh….!? Hng!"
He groaned loudly, clutching the side of his head while he curling into a ball, head resting between his knees, a hint of tears peeking out from the corners of his eyes.
He had completely forgotten why it was he even jumped up in the first place due to the pain until another round of banging echoed through his room. Standing up, he grabbed the handle of the door and swung it open, ready to 'politely' tell whoever it was that was the cause of his pain to piss off. And he was just about to do that when he came face-to-face with a very worn-out Reever.
As usual, he sighed to himself, eyeing the man in front of him, trying to look alert and ready. Ready for what, he didn't know. "Reever…! What are you doing here? Do you need me for something?" He asked nicely, giving him a quizzical smile that just oozed happiness when he was really feeling anything but.
Said man grumbled and rubbed at his eyes surrounded by dark circles, "Yeah, I was wondering if you were busy or not. We need some help over at the Science Division to sort out some things so we can get on with the more important files. Komui lost some of the paperwork in another pile….or possibly piles."
"Al…right… I'm not particularly busy at the moment, helping wouldn't hurt." He was so tempted to decline and just sleep, but if they needed it, he was willing to help them out. After all, they did nothing to deter him from the job in any way as it was. That was for Komui to do, if he had any more of those useless potions lying around. He was lucky the last one only affected his hair length.
"Thanks Allen, really. We need as much help as we can get with the amount of paperwork we have…" Reever sighed once more, rubbing his sore neck. Soon after, Johnny came running down the corridor to their location, Reever growled when Komui was mentioned and ran off to find the Grade-A idiot.
Staring after him, both Johnny and Allen were silent for a few seconds. These few seconds were disrupted by the former, who told the young exorcist just what he was going to be doing to help out. Nodding and flashing one final smile, Allen closed the door to his room.
"Man," he groaned, running a hand through his white locks, "What did I just get myself into….?"
His legs gave out from underneath him and he slid down to the floor with a soft 'thud' as his back was supported by the door. He more than wanted to close his eyes and drift off into oblivion, but he promised Reever he'd help out, and being the happy-go-lucky-helpful-person he was…he had no way out of it. Placing his head in his hands, he slumped against the cold wood.
"This is not going to end well…..not well at all…"
.
.
.
"Damnit– Could you move, BaKanda!?"
"Why don't you move? I'm perfectly fine where I am, and I don't intend on moving for a pathetic moyashi like you."
"You fucking prick–!"
"Guys! Language!"
Both Kanda and Allen quieted, their dark gazes twisted as they turned their heads to glance at the person who interrupted their little spat. And there she stood, the only one capable of stopping their fights with less than four words alone…and a lot less violence; Lenalee.
"Che!" Kanda just grunted in reply, going back to carrying one of the heavier boxes in the room to the other side which was much cleaner now. Allen watched with a deep scowl as the other walked off without another word.
The white-haired exorcist was already tired as it was and he didn't need Kanda making it worse. Okay, he admits that argument was kind of his fault…slightly. Just being around the other made him irritated – or whatever this feeling in the pit of his stomach was – and even made him swear more. That would undoubtedly be from the utter exhaustion he was feeling.
How in the world did they get, Kanda to do this….?
Turning back, Allen muttered sheepishly, "Sorry, Lenalee…" before rubbing the back of his neck, feeling the slow spread of heat along the bridge of his nose over to his cheeks. He frowned, wondering why this was happening quite often when it involved fighting with Kanda. Or just being around him in general.
Said girl stood there with her cheeks puffed before deflating them fully and offering a bright smile, "Don't worry about it, just….try not to fight in here with dangerous concoctions around. Who knows what these 'things' could do if you knocked one over…." She muttered lowly, shuffling away with a now neat pile of papers, sorted and arranged perfectly.
Everyone else turned to one another, anxious expressions back in place at the mention of those 'things' causing yet another…situation. When Lenalee huffed again in exasperation, they all jumped and went back to sorting through the files in hopes of finding the missing pages. So far, there has been no luck – but on the good side, about a third of the room was neat and sorted. Just…two-thirds left now.
Allen stopped momentarily in his shifting, a large box still in hand, as his gaze drifted around to land on the, now calm, Asian teen across the room, oblivious to his stare. Everyone else was just as unaware of his sudden seized movements and shuffled around him. Various conversations throughout the room of high and low voices alike, died down until it produced a comfortable buzz to his ears.
…Kanda…
Both ash-coloured eyes widened marginally once his brain processed the word that ran about his mind over and over, unable to tear his eyes from the elder exorcist who glared hard at the stack of boxes now rivalling his own height. He wanted to laugh out loud at how childish he looked but stopped himself before it started. Wouldn't want to start anotherfight just yet.
Augh, I just admitted to starting the other fight…
Shaking his head, Allen faced away, quickly getting back to work just as he saw a flash of olive green enter his peripheral vision. It was Lenalee again. Placing one foot in front of the other, he walked over to the spot the Finders helping out had instructed him to put the box, the pair never once leaving his sight. He didn't understand why he had a feeling that if he looked away, something bad would happen…
So he watched.
Why am I being so odd today….?
He shook his head once more, harder this time, just as he bent down to pick up another full box. "Hmph," he grunted as he lifted the heavy box.
Across the room, Lavi viewed the teen's actions with everlasting amusement as the shorter exorcist kept giving both Lenalee and Kanda quick glances while he worked. Everyone knew how clumsy Allen could be and obviously, being distracted while carrying boxes of unsuccessful experiments, was not something he should be doing at all.
Sneaking up behind the white-haired exorcist – now conversing with a Finder about where to put the next box – Lavi couldn't help the huge grin that could do nothing but grow larger on his face. When Allen was finished talking, the redhead saw him give another sweep around the room with his eyes, only to land on Lenalee again, the movement of his feet halted.
"Yo, Allen~! What're doing shooting secret glances, then again not-so-secret, at people~?" Lavi chirped happily, slapping the younger on the back roughly, causing him to jolt forward on impact, eyes flying open in shock.
"Ouch! L-Lavi?!" he spun around, glaring weakly at the smiling redhead.
"The one and only~!" he cried, slinging an arm around Allen's shoulders, giving him a wolfish grin, "So~ gonna answer my question?"
The former pouted, eyebrows furrowed, "First, why'd you hit me? And secondly, I wasn't giving anyone 'secret glances', I was just wondering about something…"
"Oh~? Oh~? And just what were you wondering, Beansprout~?" Lavi interrogated, not answering his question about the slap.
He frowned deeper at the name before sighing, letting the act slip this time, and scanning the room for that familiar head of silky, raven-blue hair. "Hmmm…well, how on earth did they get Kanda to agree to helping out?" he asked as soon as his silver eyes landed on the Asian teen, "I just can't imagine him 'volunteering'…you know?"
Lavi slapped a hand over his mouth in a sad attempt at muffling his laughs, which soon turned into full-blown laughter in less than two seconds. The younger groaned at the redhead's antics and stepped slightly to the left, trying to escape, and failing terribly. He tripped on his own feet and fumbled a bit with the box until Lavi snatched it from right out of his arms to cradle to his own body.
"Lenalee did," the redhead waved to Lenalee with a goofy grin on when she turned, "She always manages to get that grumpy guy to agree somehow or other." He then laughed again, this time not as frenzied but still a bit unnervingly.
"So then….he'd listen to her to help out here but if it's on a mission, and I ask him one simple thing that's extremely important, he doesn't listen?! That's so unfair!" Allen wailed, his face pulled into a tight frown as he pouted childishly as well as throwing his arms up in the air, attracting some attention from others. "I mean, come on! It was on a mission!"
The latter just laughed some more, annoying Allen further until he gave Lavi a contemptuous glare. He stopped laughing but his one emerald eye was full of its usual mirth, shining playfully back at him despite the fact the redhead ruffled his hair.
"Awww~ don't be like that! Maybe Yuu just likes Lenalee a lot then, to be persuaded by her and not you~ Though that's kind of obvious already since you always fight, ahaha~" He joked, hoping to calm the younger exorcist down before he became his punching bag.
Unfortunately, those words had the opposite effect and Allen froze instantly upon hearing that. Lavi didn't seem to comprehend that at all so Allen just forced a smile and muttered something about getting back to work. He grabbed the box from Lavi's hands and strode off in the opposite direction, head hung but back still rigid.
Why did that have such an effect on me…? I don't care who Kanda likes, he hates me anyway…
The white-haired teen stopped, surrounded by bustling members of the Order.
…Hates me…
His right hand left its grasp on the box and found its way to the left of his chest, where the heart was. His fingers twitched uncomfortably before fisting his shirt in an almost unbearably tight grip. It hurt there. A lot.
I know he hates me… He always has, from the first time we met to now… It's been so long…
Knowing that he hates me…it hurts.
Why does it hurt so much?
.
.
.
"LAAAVIIIII! I won't forgive you for it this time!" Komui shrieked, brandishing his usual drill and hardhat as he charged after a very frightened rabbit.
"K-Komui!? Wait– this time wasn't my fault either! UWAH!"
Allen just watched with tired eyes at the pair darting in and around rooms along the corridors of the Order. No one was really paying attention and Allen couldn't help but want Komui to somehow catch the eccentric redhead and hit him a few times….hard. After what he said about Kanda liking Lenalee, he really didn't feel like forgiving the other, even if it wasn't on purpose. Well, then again, who wouldn't like Lenalee? She was kind and sweet and everything anyone would want…but still–
"Allen….?"
The white-haired exorcist already knew who the voice belonged to and he flashed her one of his well-known smiles. "Yes Lenalee? What is it?" He greeted her politely, even though he really didn't want to converse with anyone else at the moment and just sleep. Maybe then he wouldn't still be thinking about Kanda.
Lenalee seemed to be taken off guard by his sudden brightness and got flustered. "I-I was just wondering if you were alright," she smiled back as she waved her hands dismissively in front of her, "You looked a bit distracted is all…. Are you perhaps tired? I could make some coffee for everyone?"
Komui suddenly stopped all movement and spun around, face serious for a second before he grinned widely and latched himself around Lenalee's waist, wailing.
"Awww~! Lenalee is just too nice~ Make some coffee for your precious big brother too~ LENALEEEEEEE~~!"
"Brother….."
Everyone just watched silently, heads turned at such an angle that showed their obvious discomfort with this usual show of affection Komui had for his little sister. And it only got weirder when he started rubbing his face against her skirt.
"Supervisor…." Said man raised his head with a hum just as Reever walked by and snatched him by the ear, dragging him away from Lenalee forcibly and out the door. "Stop that or else you'll annoy everyone here and not just 'your precious' Lenalee."
Screams of "Lenalee, NOOO! Save your brother from the Reever! Leeeenaaaaaleeeeeee!" flooded the corridors before it died down with the definite slam of a door.
"I….think I'll just go get the coffee then…" Lenalee offered hesitantly, making her own way to the door.
.
.
.
"Here is everyone's coffee," Lenalee exclaimed happily, holding the tray up above the piles of boxes for them all to see.
All of the members inside the room rushed over to collect their respective mug filled with the wonderful substance that would give them the boost they needed to keep going.
At the back of the room, Allen glimpsed at Kanda who muttered a low 'che' before turning and getting back to work without a second glance. The former cocked his head to the side slightly, wondering why Kanda didn't go over to her as well until he realised maybe, Kanda didn't drink coffee. Or he did but he didn't want any at the moment. It was then that Allen realised he hasn't seen Kanda drink anything other than tea before at the cafeteria.
Perhaps he would rather have some tea instead….
"Allen!"
"Wah!?" He jumped forward when a voice sounded in his ear, a little too loudly for his liking. He turned to come face-to-face with a weakly scowling Lenalee. The box he was holding jostled with him and a small amount of brown powder fell from the crack in the bottom of the box, falling straight into a mug the latter was holding, and dissolving upon contact. "Wh-What is it?"
"You almost tripped over a box while carrying one filled with packed test tubes!" Her face lightened and she smiled slightly, ushering for him to put down the box. He did and raised an eyebrow in question, just as she shoved a coffee mug into his face. "Drink", was the only command before she walked off to hand out the rest of the beverages.
Allen looked after her, a little shocked by her motherly tone. He was about to shrug it off, taking a sip of his coffee, when he saw her approach Kanda with a more-than-friendly smile – by his standards. The hot coffee suddenly turned ice-cold in his throat and it became an effort to just swallow the substance.
Why does she look so happy to talk to him? In fact, how does she even talk to him without having snide comments thrown at her like he usually does?
Better yet…. Why do I even care?
Shaking his head, Allen opened his eyes, realising only now that he had closed them at some point. For a second, his eyesight fogged up and he felt himself stumbling to the left. Throwing his arm out, it struck a box stacked rather high and he winced, pulling it back to his body. Although he regained his footing, his back struck another tower of boxes right behind him and sent him tumbling backwards, the boxes falling over him in the process.
"WA–WAH–! AAH–!?"
The boxes landed one by one on top of him and the sound of glass shattering filled the room, uttering everyone else silent except for the few that screamed in alarm, shouting his name. Right before he was covered in the contents of various boxes and papers completely, Allen searched for that head of midnight-blue hair. Spotting it, his body froze when those cobalt eyes locked with his, his usual scowl deeper than ever and eyes darkened into an almost pitch black abyss.
Why does he look so angry? Frequently when we fight he's angry…but…this one seems a lot more heated than usual…
It was only then that he noticed Lenalee fretting over him, rushing forward.
Is it because I interrupted his talk with Lenalee…?
His chest tightened considerably and he found it hard to breathe while those eyes were still gazing at him. Everything was moving in slow-motion. Yet his heart rate sped up even more.
Does he hate me that much…? Am I really that unpleasant…?
Those eyes never left his and he instinctively reached his left hand out to the elder teen without his knowing. The latter's expression didn't change. Instead, he made a face of disgust before turning on his heel and walking away like the white-haired exorcist wasn't just about to be crushed by a tower of boxes.
Oh….it hurts again….
His arm felt numb. No matter how much he reached and called for Kanda to come back, he wouldn't turn around. He wouldn't like him. He wouldn't lovehim.
Is that what it was…? Love…? Do I love Kanda…?
One more look at back of his diminishing figure, and he knew it. He loved the anti-social teen. And his heart just ached that much more to know that he meant nothing to him. Less than nothing.
Ahh…..it really hurts…
…Kanda…
.
.
.