Disclaimer: I do not own D,Grayman. It, unfortunately, belongs to Katsura Hoshino. I only want to play with the characters for a bit. Allen belongs to Lavi.

WARNING: this is Yaoi so if you don't like that leave. You don't need to read it and you don't need to flame. Be a good person and go away.

A/N: so sorry it took so long things have been extremely hectic what with school starting and everything. I'll try and get chapters up as often as possible but I promise nothing.

Fourth: Words

Allen sat curled by the fireplace soaking in the heat. His room had been freezing something even the space heater that was Lavi couldn't eliminate. Allen wasn't particularly fond of the cold and so had crept downstairs into the inn's common room to read by the fire. Not long ago the innkeeper, a tall homely woman in her mid thirties, had brought him a cup of cocoa free of charge. Allen held it tightly in one hand as his other traced the letters of each word.

This was Allen's favorite book, a large worn black covered thing filled with contemporary poetry. He loved it. It helped him get to sleep at night; it helped him wile away the hours on trains; it helped him relax. That worn black book was like Allen's bible. Without fail he read a poem every night in soft whispers. Fortunately, Allen's lover took forever getting ready for bed. Allen loved his book but the truth was that it embarrassed him. He could recite most of the poetry by heart now and he thought it was a little bit too effeminate. Lavi liked his girlish features, he knew, but this was just too much.

Allen quietly traced his fingers over the pages coming to a simple poem. He read it softly aloud breathing in the words and letting them pull a blanket around his thoughts.

"I saw you by a lake.
I thought it was you.

I thought it was a lake.
As I came nearer

the clear, blue lake remained,
and you vanished. I thought

it was you who vanished.
The lake was not a mirage.

Blue and clear it remained,
shimmering in the sun.

There was no sign of you
in the sun by that lake.

I walked into the lake
in despair, never thinking

to find you there, sleeping,
with the blue waters drawn

about you like a blanket,
sheltering you from the sky."

(Sun Waters by: Halvard Johnson)

Allen finished the poem with a deep breathy sigh. He closed his eyes and let the feeling of the poem and the words run over him. He breathed in their smell like the blue water and sand. His lips curled into a feint smile as he reveled in the poem. Then he heard a shuffle and he froze. Allen felt like he had been caught, hand in the cookie jar.

He slowly turned his head praying that it was anyone but him. There he stood. Tall shirtless and surprised. Allen stared wide-eyed at him. He quietly closed the book and then looked back down at his hands. He debated throwing the book into the fireplace just to save himself the torment of Lavi's look.

"Sorry," he whispered.

Allen didn't say anything. He just rubbed a hand over the books cover.

Lavi took a step forward, "I didn't mean to interrupt."

Allen still remained silent. He didn't know what to say. He didn't have anything to say. He had everything to say. All he could manage was to rub the cover of the book and look sad.

Lavi filled the silence, "I didn't know you liked poetry." He was getting more desperate. "I liked that poem." He moved around the couch and sat down next to Allen. "Would you read me one?"

Allen blinked surprised and looked up at Lavi. Read him a poem? This was Lavi though, strong manly Lavi. And he liked his book. All worries forgotten Allen dropped his cocoa and threw himself into Lavi's arms. His lips pressed against his lovers and he grinned wide into the kiss.

When they pulled back both boys were smiling. "You spilled the cocoa."

"I didn't like it much anyways," Allen picked up the book and set it between them. He looked up at Lavi nervously and Lavi looked back smiling. They sat there for several long moments before Allen opened the page and read, His voice was soft trembling but sure.

"Apparently, I proceeded in an easterly direction, with no lack
of temerity. Saw the wild bayberry-blossom
of the sink-estate.
A stranger uprooted and said. 'Not that way, mate, it's a cul-de-sac'.

He placed great stress on the 'de'. There was now no turning back.
By then, we were headlong into each other
you, humbled below me, turned the other way, your shoulder-blades
moving like skimmed slates over tawny water.

To sleep with anyone is risk,
—the virus of love, the virus of obligation— the fear of being opened to any
turn
of events. Strange then that after, you formally donned a sleep-mask
as if not wanting to witness a burglar break suddenly into your home.

There are those who believe that, as it and us share swirling molecules,
we can walk through solid matter.

D-d-d don't wait for me by the spider-web scintillations
of the broken kiosk. I won't be back."

(Cul-De-Sac by:Matthew Caley)

The book had been closed midway through the poem as Lavi wrapped his arms around him and tugged him tight to his chest. Allen could only smile into his shoulder as he finished.

A/N: The next one is Strawberry Jam...again I didn't come up with this...heh

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