Hi! In advance, I blame Kitsune... Warning! This chapter contains stupidity, Yuu vs You, and Allen making popcorn!
Jester (I Saw Lightning)
Kanda turned the card over in his hand. The feel of it irritated him, the smell of it bothered him, and the picture annoyed him. He wanted to kill it. Kanda glared at the card in his hand, ignoring the bemused stare from the white-haired boy sitting across from him.
"Kanda?" Allen spoke, voice cautious, "Why are you glaring at the card?"
Kanda changed the focus of his glare from the card to Allen. "The Jester," he hissed, "is smirking at me. It looks like Tyki."
Allen hid a grin. "That's a joker, Kanda. Of course it smirks."
Kanda went back to glaring at his card. The little black lines were smirking at him. He could tell. One day, Kanda thought to the card, I will stick you in the blender and walk away laughing. With that comforting thought in mind, Kanda picked up the rest of his cards.
Allen watched the Japanese teen rifle through the deck and methodically sort the cards. He had no idea what had possessed him to teach Kanda how to play poker; the older male didn't usually want anything to do with 'trivial matters' such as card games. But somehow, that same person was now sitting in Allen's living room, sorting cards, and ... eating Allen's dinner. Allen watched sadly as the last bite of mashed potatoes disappeared into the other man's mouth. Allen sighed and got up to make himself a second plate, silently hoping that the other wouldn't steal this one as well.
Opening the fridge door, Allen scanned the contents inside, searching for something to satisfy his hunger. Spotting a container of pizza, Allen grinned and put the Tupperware in the microwave. As he pushed the buttons to set the cooking time, the loud beeps echoed of the tiled counter top. Movement from the other room caught Allen's attention, and he turned his head. He watched as Kanda twitched, then twitched again. Each twitch followed a beep from the microwave. Allen clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing at the sight of a spasming Kanda. Said spasming Kanda looked over at him and glared, prompting Allen to refocus on the microwave. He pressed the start button, watched Kanda twitch from the corner of his eyes, then jumped as his phone buzzed in his pocket. Frowning, Allen pulled it out and looked at the number. It was a text from Lavi. Allen sighed, then slid the phone open.
[Hey, A! Game night? Ts been asking and u know I love getting beat by u!]
Allen snorted, then typed his reply,
[Sure. Kanda's here to , btw.]
After a second, his phone buzzed again.
[Kanda?! O.o]
Allen sighed again, the shoved the phone back into his pocket. Beside him, the microwave shut off, and the beeping signalling 'end of cooking time' began. Allen shot a surreptitious glance at Kanda's back, grinned, then opened the door, shutting off the beeping.
Allen returned to the couch to watch Kanda sort the last few cards. Kanda glanced at him suspiciously, Allen looked back at him with his best innocent look; the one he had picked up from Road. Kanda gave him a wary look, then returned to the cards in hand.
"Lavi and Tyki are coming over tonight. Game night." Allen informed him.
Kanda grunted in response.
Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Allen jumped up from the couch to answer it, knocking into the coffee table in his haste and sending a deck of carefully stacked and organized cards fluttering to the carpet. Allen ignored Kanda's glare and opened the door, admitting the guests in.
"Brr, Allen, it's raining out there!" Lavi shivered.
Allen rolled his eyes and took the redhead's soaked jacket. "Yes, Lavi. And rain's wet, did you know that?"
Tyki smirked at the two of them, then walked over to Kanda. "Hey, Yuu."
Kanda snarled, something the other three found very amusing. "Stupid Noah. Call me Kanda, or I'll slice you into pieces and feed you to the rabbit."
Allen and Lavi exchanged looks. Tyki could always be counted on to aggravate the ill-tempered Kanda.
Tyki sighed. "And I've told you, it's Mikk. Not Noah, not Millennium, just Mikk."
Allen coughed loudly, effectively cutting off whatever Kanda's response may have been, and gestured to the newly stacked pile of cards. "How bout a game? I'll make us some snacks."
He headed to the kitchen, chuckling at Lavi's comment of, "Hey, these cards are set up by suit! Kanda, you swore you weren't OCD. Did you forget to take your pills again?"
Grabbing a bag of popcorn from the pantry, Allen placed it in the microwave and set the time, the beeps blending in nicely with the sounds of a certain redhead getting the crap beat out of him by another teen with a ponytail. Allen smirked as the first kernels started popping. 3...2...1
"Kanda?" Lavi asked. The man in question was sitting straight up, and twitching randomly. Lavi looked at his friend with concern. Tyki got down from the couch and waved a hand in the other's face. "Oi! Kanda...Kan~da! Yuu~!" Lavi said in a singsong voice. Kanda didn't reply, still twitching every few seconds. The sound of maniacal laughter could be heard coming from the kitchen.
Tyki raised a finger. "I smell...popcorn!"
Lavi's eyes lit up. "The popping! Remember the time we had the firecrackers?"
Tyki grinned at the memory. The laughter continued. As did the twitching.
Two minutes, one irate Kanda, and a much pained Lavi, who was holding his now-bleeding nose, later, they began the game.
And five minutes after that, Kanda won the game.
"I don't get it!" cried Lavi. "Kanda's always been crappy at cards! Or he just refuses to play. How did you get so good?"
Kanda allowed a small smirk to pull at his lips as he dealt out the cards.
Tyki groaned and put a hand to his face. "Allen's been teaching you, hasn't he?"
Allen gave him the innocent look; which had about the same effect as it had on Kanda. Lavi sighed in theatrical sadness, and Tyki groaned again. And the game continued.
"I call." Lavi said. Tyki gave him a disparaging glance.
Allen looked to Kanda. "Well?"
Kanda surveyed his cards. "Two...Jesters."
Lavi twisted around to face him, puzzled look on his face. "Jesters?"
Allen grinned. "Silly Yuu! I already told you, they're called Jokers." Kanda scowled at the use of his name, but didn't speak.
"Yeah Yuu...should already know that!" Lavi piped up. Kanda glared at him, but couldn't say for certain that the idiot had been using his name; that was the problem with the English language. Too many loopholes for stupid rabbits.
"Didn't Yuu say that Allen was teaching Yuu how to play cards?" Tyki added.
That was too much for Kanda. "If any of you say my name again, I will find Mugen, and slice you to ribbons. Then Allen can feed the ribbons as pasta to Road."
Lavi looked a bit green at the idea, but Tyki smiled. "What are Yuu talking about? I'd never say your name. You will always be ponytail-guy to me."
Allen and Lavi decided that the upstairs landing looked well fortified and out of the way of the impending bloodshed, Allen moaning about how he would have to replace the carpet again. Lavi contented himself with flicking unpopped kernels into the chaos below.
All in all, it was another eventful game night.
Three hours later,
"Are they done yet?" Allen asked hopefully. It had been quiet in the lower levels for the last ten minutes.
Lavi leaned over the edge of the banister. "I'm not...wait, no. Definitely not." He ducked as a bowl flew towards his head, which then sailed past to bounce of the wall behind him.
Allen sulked.
They listened in silence for a few more minutes until,
"Allen?" Lavi asked in a confused tone, "What kind of game were we playing that involved Jokers?"