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Chapter 11—This is Halloween
For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
-Judy Garland
Hidden behind his hair, Yuu's mouth fell open as Lenalee's did the same. Lavi seemed blissfully unaware of the intrusion for a long moment, but then he squeaked, and the Japanese boy knew he would never, ever live this moment down.
But he'd make sure Lavi didn't, either.
"Oh," Lenalee said, flustered. "I didn't realize I was—"
She dropped the paper bag she'd been holding and fled from the room before Yuu could say otherwise. Quickly, he extricated himself awkwardly from between Lavi's legs. With deliberate movements, he followed after the Chinese girl who had become so much like his sister.
"Oi, Lenalee!" He called, and the girl halted.
"Yuu-kun?" She sounded mortified.
"We weren't… doing anything," Yuu said in a low voice.
"Eh?" Lenalee asked, turning around to face him. Her expression was mystified. "But you seemed like… and Lavi was… and your faces… and you wouldn't appreciate me prying."
The Japanese boy decided to ignore how disappointed she sounded. "No," he said firmly. "I was… tickling him." It sounded incriminating enough, and Lenalee's eyes squinted as her mouth pulled into a sly grin.
"Oh?" She asked, voice heavy with implication.
"He started it," Yuu said, turning his head so that he didn't have to see the Chinese girl's smile turn knowing.
"Were you gonna?" She inquired, going straight to the point as she always was when it came to getting the dirty details.
Mortified but knowing he had to respond truthfully—because that was just who he was—Yuu nodded. His blush could light up an entire city block.
"Awww." The girl walked up to him and put her hand lightly—lightly, so that if he needed to, he could pull away—on his cheek. She patted it twice and then let her hand fall limply to her side.
"He would've hated me for it."
"Wait—Lavi didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?" And why was his heart picking up just a little bit? Che, having emotions was such a hassle, especially when he cared about someone enough to hate any form of rejection from him.
"And I even told him to tell you!" Lenalee groused, fisting her hands briefly and looking cross. It was kind of cute—in the "fuzzy" sense, if he wanted to quote Lavi. Who shouldn't be appearing this alarmingly often in his mind.
"Tell me what?" Yuu asked again.
"That he's gay," Lenalee said as if that explained everything. Maybe in her little Lenalee-bubble it did, but out here in Yuu-land, also known as the real world, it was about as nonsensical as peanut butter on a tuna salad.
Which actually sounded like an interesting combination. He'd have to try it out later. After making a quick mental note, he went back to paying attention to Lenalee.
"Che."
"Is that all you have to say?"
"Just because he's gay doesn't mean he's interested, Baka." He folded his arms.
"Don't call me baka, Baaaaka!" She responded, sticking out her tongue. Yuu thought it was excessively childish when she blew a very wet raspberry at him, so he ignored it.
"Whatever. Were the costumes in the bag you dropped?" When in doubt, change the subject. It had always worked before, especially back when almost every topic had been uncomfortable for him. Of course, that had more to do with the fact that he hadn't been able to speak English, but that was beside the point.
The dark-haired girl nodded, winking. "Wait 'til you see what I got for Lavi! You're going to get a nosebleed!"
No, thanks. He'd already had one of those, and that had only been from his imagination. He blushed a bit, an automatic response to the vivid memory of that particular trip to the bathroom, but managed to cover it with a scowl before Lenalee could notice. He really didn't like having her pry into his relationship with his roommate, even if she meant well. It just reminded him of how useless the situation was, of how useless he still was.
"Whatever." He walked off, still a bit miffed at Lenalee. When he got back to the dorm room, Lavi was there, rifling through the bag and holding up a wad of cotton balls on a hairclip with an expression halfway between wonder and bemusement on his rabbit face. Some of Yuu's heartstrings pulled tightly at the muscle.
Yes, Yuu really hated caring.
October 31
Lavi had surprised himself in the past two weeks with how good he'd been at managing his persona. Bookman had announced that he was going to travel to Argentina for a few days, so it was obvious the man was concentrating more on his own work than his apprentice. Apparently, Lavi had gotten very good at acting.
His persona felt like a much-loved sweater. He pulled it on every morning before leaving the dorm and took it off when he got back (the dorms were overheated anyway).
He didn't know quite how it had happened, but somehow, he'd ended up sleeping in Yuu's bed. When the other boy had gotten back the previous night, he'd immediately berated Lavi for going through the bag and had hidden it in the recesses of his closet.
"Why not?" He asked, pouting. The little puff-ball of cotton—which he supposed was supposed to be a rabbit's tail, seeing as it matched the ears—was slightly amusing to look at, especially when he imagined how adorable he could manage to look with it on.
Lenalee had told him to be cute, after all. And he thought he was living up to her expectations, maybe even surpassing them.
"Because." And that, apparently, was the end of that.
"Awww, because whyyy?" Lavi asked, a whining tone infusing his voice. He knew it annoyed Yuu, but when he added the widened eye and the slightly parted lips, it was suddenly a divine recipe for cuteness.
And men, Yuu included, tended to like cute things. Lavi wasn't an exception to that rule. Yuu had made plenty of cute expressions, but they were usually hidden very efficiently with a scowl. Once you looked past the harsh exterior, Yuu was definitely gooey and adorable.
It was just really, really hard to look past it.
"Because they're for tomorrow, idiot," the Japanese boy growled, sliding his closet door firmly closed. He turned around to glower at Lavi, and the redhead shuddered back in horror.
"Er, Yuu, you aren't going as Frankenstein's monster, are you?" He asked timidly.
"What the fuck?"
"Well, I mean, you're just doing a good impression of 'im right now, and I was just wondering if you were practicing or somethin'…" He trailed off, grinning maniacally when he saw his words had caused the vein at Yuu's temple to jump menacingly.
"I'm going to kill you," the boy warned—threatened?—as he walked over to place a hand on his sword. Lavi gulped as a shiver of fear climbed his spine like a ladder.
"Sorry, sorry, I was joking!" The redhead exclaimed, raising his hands and letting his persona fall off. He'd put it on when Lenalee had come in (and had kept it on, in case she returned), but he assumed he could take it off now. He folded it up and put it down on a barren shelf in his mind. Technically, that shelf was for fifty-one through seventy-five, but he figured he could let forty-nine use it for now.
"Were you, though?" Yuu asked, and his eyes flashed. Lavi nodded emphatically and went to go back and sit on the other boy's bed.
"Sorry, Yuu, was just makin' sure she wouldn't be back," he explained. The other boy nodded in acceptance of his apology, crossing the room from his closet to his bed all the while.
The atmosphere turned awkward when Yuu sat down. All of a sudden, Lavi couldn't get the tickle fight out of his head. And the fact that Yuu had been so close—so close that he'd almost kissed him, which would have been bad, as there was no chance the boy would ever like him back, him being straight and all.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, and then the Japanese boy reached under his blanket and pulled out his sketchpad. Lavi hadn't been through those in a while, as he sort of respected the other boy's privacy now. Bookman would no doubt ask him about that soon, meaning he would have to pry, which he really didn't want. He knew Yuu would probably help him out—the boy was his friend, after all—but Lavi didn't necessarily care about the information; he wanted the trust that came with the confession, and he couldn't have that if Bookman forced him to ask.
Or worse, he'd have to go through different channels: hound Lenalee until she caved. He didn't know how he knew, but he was positive she knew what else had happened to Yuu. It wasn't very apparent, but little gestures in their conversations gave it away. She would always ask before touching Yuu. Or, if she so fancied, she would raise her hand a bit to give a warning. Significant glances that could have meant anything but which had enough weight to be more than just frivolous nonverbal conversation passed between the two almost constantly. Also, the way she sometimes clammed up, as if she was about to let something extremely important spill into the open air like a toxic gas, was a big indication.
Lavi was jealous. It had nothing to do with him suspecting Lenalee was with his roommate. Seeing as she was still pining after Allen and doing pretty much anything she could—from dressing slutty to sitting in provocative positions—to get with him. Well, to date him, anyway.
No, the reason he was jealous was something even less significant. He didn't like that Lenalee knew more than him, he didn't like that Yuu obviously trusted the girl more. It was natural, of course, especially as the two had known each other for a great deal longer than Lavi had known the Japanese boy, but it still hurt to see that he was not included in the circle, or dot, he supposed, as there seemed to only be one person in it, of Yuu's most trusted. He would have to put up with it for now, though.
The skritch-scratch of Yuu's pencil eventually became hypnotic, and Lavi found his head drooping just a bit. He swooned a little bit, barely registering when his head hit something hard and vaguely pointy. He blinked a couple times, and his vision cleared for a second before his eye decided it was too heavy to stay open anymore.
He remembered seeing the collar of Yuu's shirt, so he figured he was using the dark-haired boy's shoulder as a pillow, which was kind of uncomfortable, but who really cared?
Of course, that didn't explain how his back was pressed tightly against Yuu's chest, why he was nestled so perfectly against his roommate's sleeping body.
Not that he was complaining at all. Actually, he rather enjoyed the position; he was just a bit nervous that Yuu would wake up, see what position they were in, call him a faggot and a whore, and then proceed to gut him with Mugen.
As far as Lavi was concerned, it was a legitimate fear.
Looking over at the clock, he realized with horror that the alarm was a minute from going off. Apparently, he'd forgotten to turn it off the previous night. Careful not to wake his bed partner (that sounded weird, but he didn't really know how else to categorize Yuu at the moment, and that sounded kind of sexy, and no, he was not thinking anything pervy at the moment), the redhead wobbled over to the alarm clock and turned off the buzzer.
With near-silent movements, he pulled off his clothes and put his towel around his waist. He was almost to the door when his first spectacular fall of the day arrived. He went crashing to the floor with a mighty squawk.
Yuu grunted loudly, and light flooded the room, originating from the Japanese boy's bedside light, which was on the shelf above his bed.
"What the fuck!" He shouted. Lavi groaned and looked over.
Yuu's face was very nearly laughable. It was pale and flushed and a bit green all at once, and his mouth was turned down in an open-mouthed frown of horror. His eyes, normally relaxed and soulful in their brownish-onyx depths, poked protuberantly from his skull like someone had hit him in the back of the head with a sledgehammer.
The boy began choking a bit, probably too surprised to form coherent words, let alone those in English.
"Ha—ha—hadaka…" Yuu said, horrorstruck.
Wait.
Lavi knew that word.
With trepidation, he took stock of his position. Ah. Now he understood. His towel was a good foot away from his head, and his ass was waving in the air.
He was bare as the day he was born.
Immediately, the faint pink of a blush spread across the entirety of his skin like a cancer. The room suddenly seemed very, very hot, and he couldn't seem to move for a moment. When he regained the ability a moment later, he reached out wildly for his towel, not seeming to be able to claim it.
All the while, Yuu just stared on, transfixed in some kind of paralysis of the soul.
The only thing that could make it worse, Lavi mused, would be if Lenalee walked in at the moment. Of course, she'd already done that the previous night when they'd been—he cut that thought off, as it was spreading a blush in the form tingles down to places that Yuu should definitely not be seeing at this point.
With an inner whoop of triumph, Lavi's frantically searching hand settled on a lump of fabric that felt suspiciously like towel. He grabbed it up without thought and covered himself as efficiently as he could. Scampering, mortified, from the room, he made it to the shower at a record speed.
Under the hot tap, the redhead decided never to re-emerge.
The rest of the day passed in a similar manner, with Lavi's boot forcing him into strange positions. After his shower, he'd had to walk past his desk. At least that time, his towel had stayed on, even though he'd ended up on the floor with his laptop on his chest.
Yuu, the apprentice Bookman noted, spent the entire day disregarding his homework, working only on filling his sketchbook.
Around noon, Lavi had had enough of just staring at the other boy and decided to join him, carting his (mercifully unbroken) laptop with him so that he could finish off the seven-page paper he had for his World History class. He intended to walk over and plop down on Yuu's bed, but of course, his boot got in the way, and he used all his effort to make sure his computer finished the voyage.
One nosebleed and five bruises later, Lavi sat on Yuu's bed, having completed his mission. His computer was still working, and the boy next to him was only blushing a little bit. The redhead had been afraid the boy would hate him for his earlier blunder, but Yuu seemed to have taken it with surprising grace. He only growled once and then snapped at him to remember to keep his clothes on if he was going to be clumsy.
Lavi responded with a well-flipped bird.
Yuu snorted, and somehow, everything returned to normal as if nothing had happened in the first place.
Trying not to seem curious, the redhead strained his neck so that he could see what the dark-haired boy was drawing. This time, he was shading a particularly dark piece. Every line seemed to have unspoken weight, like Yuu was trying to convey the emotions more than the actual image.
Like many of Yuu's drawings, it was of a person. The expression was a squinty-eyed face of agony. Tears pooled at the corners of the eyes and then slid steadily down sweat-glistened cheeks. The body was entirely nude and heavily scarred. Long hair the color of the night splayed out in all directions, and a blood-soaked knife was clenched in the person's hand to the point that the knuckles seemed white. Dark shadows that Lavi supposed depicted blood covered the person's legs and arms, even encroached a bit on the face and chest.
The only color at all in the sketch was in the background, which was a pale mixture of blurred and indistinct pastels. There was a light golden-white color, a soft, delicate pink, and many slightly darker grays.
Wait, no, that wasn't right. There was color in one other place, too. The person's eyes were a deep color, not quite black, but not quite anything else either.
Was this how Yuu saw himself?
"Yuu…" he started, but the boy made a little "not now" grunt. Lavi let the subject drop, contenting himself with just watching the Japanese boy draw.
When the sun fell below the horizon, Yuu sat up from his sketchbook, back popping audibly as he shifted positions for the first time in hours. His self-portrait wasn't finished yet. Many of the lines had grown darker, more detailed, over the course of the past few hours. The indistinct background had since been spattered with scarlet ink. The blood had all been colored in the same shade.
The dark-haired boy headed to the shower, and the second he was out of the room, Lavi leaned closer for a better look at the drawing.
The look of acute pain on Yuu's face had not changed much. The tears had been colored, too, a deep, rich midnight blue, like they came from the oceans in the Mediterranean.
Lavi hadn't known that Yuu had been crying out this much. Not for attention, obviously. Somehow, he got the vibe that the other boy got enough attention from his adopted relatives. It was more like he was begging someone to just understand and let him heal on his own. It was like a plea for someone to stay by his side, never questioning and always accepting.
Silently, Lavi promised Yuu that he would be that person.
The door opened, admitting a very wet Kanda, who was looking particularly shirtless and sexy in his black sweatpants. His medium-length fluffy, white towel was hanging around his shoulders, and his hair unceremoniously dumped a fresh spray of water with every movement.
Rolling his eyes, the redhead pushed himself off the bed and went over to his roommate.
"Geez, Yuu, dry your hair off before you leave the shower, at least. I don't really like you getting water all over my shit," he admonished, grabbing the towel from Yuu's shoulders and using it to gather up the long, dark strands. With efficiency, Lavi dried Yuu's hair, careful to leave the scalp alone. A week ago, he'd tried giving his roommate a scalp massage. Yuu hadn't been pleased. He'd nearly attacked Lavi in his fervor not to be touched.
In order to get a good angle on the untouchable hairs closer to Yuu's skull, the redhead moved closer. The warmth of the shower was still radiating off of the dark-haired boy's skin, heating Lavi as he did his work. Also, there was a buzzing in the air around them that he couldn't define, and every time he accidentally brushed a portion of Yuu's skin, they would both inhale sharply at the static sensation.
They were very, very close, Lavi realized abruptly. But it seemed okay to be there right now, with his hips just barely an inch from Yuu's, with the other boy's dark eyes gazing up (but only a little bit) into his. Flushed lips—it was because of the shower, yes, the shower, nothing else—parted just a bit, inviting him closer. Oh God, ohgodohgodohgod, he really wanted to kiss Yuu.
But after this morning's incident, Yuu would definitely hate him forever if he did that, so Lavi regrettably pulled back a bit, looking away with flaming cheeks. He let his hands drop and stepped back.
Yuu moved awkwardly over to his closet and pulled out the costumes Lenalee had given them the previous night. His movements were stiff as he separated Lavi's from whatever else was in the paper bag and handed them to him.
Lavi's hand trembled a little as he took the clothes, ears, and tail. All of them were pure white like unmarred paper or maybe his skin. He made short work of them, quickly replacing his Saturday sweats with the skinny jeans (which were highly uncomfortable—had Lenalee gone to the girls' department for him?) and tight white t-shirt (which thankfully looked like it came from the men's department, as the garment lacked the extra fabric for breasts). To complete the ensemble, he clipped the cotton ball tail to the back of his pants.
Putting his ears on, he turned around to look at his roommate.
His mouth dropped to the floor.
Yuu's hair was down, still wet, but shining and glinting against the bright, industrial light above. It caressed his shoulders and fell like a black waterfall to the small of his back. The shirt he wore clung just as tightly as Lavi's did, but it managed to do what the redhead's couldn't. Every muscle rippled visibly each time the Japanese boy made a slight movement. The pants were definitely a man's (Lavi was going to kill Lenalee), but they clung at his thighs just a little bit.
The Japanese boy was outfitted completely in black. On his head sat a pair of black cat ears, and in the belt loop on his back, a long, stuffed black tail hung with all the sexy authority of a panther.
"Well, don't you look dashing," he said, attempting to be humorous, but his dry mouth made his voice crack in a way that made him seem… affected by Yuu's appearance.
"Che."
Lavi didn't like the way that scoff sounded. It was like Yuu knew that he looked damn fine and was admonishing his roommate for stating the obvious.
"What?"
"Nothing, you're just an idiot." With that response, Yuu walked from the room, not waiting for Lavi to finish staring. Which was a shame, in the redhead's opinion.
By the time they made it to the party, it was clear that this was definitely going to be a mixer to remember. It was nine o'clock and people were already drunk and acting crazy. The shuffle was exclusive to Dave Matthews Band, and people were grinding up against each other. In a corner of the main foyer, two beer pong tables were set up. The house already smelled of cheap beer and sweat.
"Yuu-kun! Lavi!" Came a loud voice from the sea of people. It was a voice that Lavi associated with mangoes, rainbows, and pigtails. Lenalee. The crowd parted slightly, which was unbelievable enough, but the costume that Lenalee was in created a new definition of unbelievable in Lavi's head. There was a lot of skin showing, much more than Komui would ever be pleased with. Her red bustier had lace poking out from the bottom, and her red short shorts were more like underwear, clipping to her red, thigh-high fishnets. Devil horns adorned her gold-glittered hair and the devil tail and pitchfork finished off the outfit. Lavi had never seen a girl expose as much cleavage as Lenalee was now.
"I'm glad you guys made it! Isn't this great? There are so many people! C'mon, Lavi, I wanna introduce you to my friends!" With that, the Chinese girl pulled him through the oppressive mass of people. He was only able to catch a last glance at Yuu, who was looking quite disturbed at Lenalee's appearance and confused as to where the redhead was being taken.
The next few hours passed in the usual blur. After a few failed games of beer pong, he found Yuu sitting on a rather uncomfortable-looking couch. Lenalee was next to him, looking like she was trying to get him to accept the drink she had in her hands.
"C'mon, Yuu-kun, try it, you need to relax. Just drink it, I made it myself," the long-haired girl pleaded.
"Che. Fine," Yuu said, grabbing the jello-shot and downing it.
Seeming pleased, Lenalee bounded off, saying something about needing more vodka because Yuu-kun has a high tolerance.
Lavi wondered just how high of a tolerance it was. Curiosity was beginning to churn in the back of his head and a plan began to form. He followed Lenalee quickly. She was in the kitchen, mixing some sort of vodka drink.
"Hey, Lenalee, just how much are you planning on giving him?" He asked, trying not to sound overly interested.
"Well, Lavi, you should know that stuff like this doesn't affect him much. It takes a lot… You wanna get him drunk, don't you?" She accused, turning from the drink to face him, a suspiciously sly smile on her face.
"What? No! I just…" He spluttered, and she patted him on the shoulder.
"It's okay, Lavi, I understand. Here, give him this." The dark-haired girl handed him the drink she'd just made and sent him away.
When he returned to the couch, Yuu was scowling at a group of girls who seemed intent on coming on to him. They didn't look keen on giving up, so Lavi plopped himself down next to his roommate, grabbing the boy's hand in the process.
"Here you go, Yuu, got'cha the drink you wanted," he remarked, smiling widely at the disappointed faces his actions incited.
Yuu accepted the beverage without complaint, and Lavi was amazed when it didn't have any effect on the Japanese boy. Lenalee hadn't been exaggerating, but then again, with the rate at which Yuu healed from things it would probably be a very long time before any ill effects were seen.
Lavi had soon lost count of how many times he had come back to find Lenalee forcing more alcohol on his friend. It had been a few games of beer pong later when Lavi returned to find something he thought was impossible.
Lenalee was giggling and sitting next to Yuu, who seemed to be smiling at her.
In the amount of time the redhead had known his dark-haired roommate, he had never once seen anything resembling a smile, except for the occasional smirk. It made him seem completely different. Perhaps if Yuu smiled more often, he'd be able to convince people he was happy… except that Lavi knew that his roommate didn't care if people thought he was happy. Lavi understood that, and even though he knew whatever had happened to Yuu that had made it so that the dark-haired boy would never smile again, Lavi hoped that one day he would get to see a non-alcohol-induced smile. Perhaps he would be the one to put it there.
That thought made his stomach twist slightly as he walked over to the couch. Seeing him, Lenalee stood up from her spot next to the Japanese boy and walked away, giving him a very suggestive wink as she passed. Lavi took up her place next to his roommate.
"Hey, Yuu," he greeted, and threw his arms around Yuu's shoulders. He expected to be pushed away or to have to let go because the dark-haired boy was going to try and maim him. Only there was no customary flinch away or angry shout. Yuu just sat there, giving him a questioning look.
"Your face looks weird," Yuu said, smiling bemusedly and giving a gentle hiccup.
"Well, so does yours," Lavi retorted, pushing Yuu over slightly. The boy looked overdramatically offended and gasped accordingly.
"Oi, Baka, that wazzn nice," the dark-haired boy said, and as he sat up, Lavi found himself flipping off the couch. Looking up from the floor, the redhead frowned. It wasn't that it wasn't nice to hear Yuu laughing, it was just that his hip hurt.
Because Yuu was laughing. Really, truly laughing. His head was thrown back toward the ceiling, and his eyes were closed in apparent mirth. He was clutching his sides like he was falling apart from the strength of his hysteria-induced tremors.
The cat ears looked like they were going to fall off, so the redhead put on his own fallen ears and then jumped up rather unsteadily to rescue Yuu's.
"There ya go, Yuu-chan," he said happily, patting the middle of his roommate's head as he took a seat back on the couch again. The other boy hissed at him and then guffawed.
At that point, Lenalee came back with another drink. This one Lavi recognized as a banana daiquiri. It was a light yellow and really delicious looking. He intercepted it for her and took a sip from the straw before handing it to Yuu.
"Nya!" The boy said cheerfully, smiling and taking the plastic cup from him.
"Nya?" Lavi asked, amused.
"Nya?" Yuu repeated, lapping at the contents at the top of the cup.
"Er, Yuu… uh… are you drunk?" He asked tentatively. He didn't want to set off another round of nyas.
"I'm sooooo drunk right now," his roommate responded. And then the world ended. Yuu giggled. Legitimate, bona fide giggles eschewed the path from his voice box to the room.
Lavi froze, jaw dropping for the second time this evening, and if he hadn't just used the restroom, he would have shat himself. The world had just taken a turn for the abso-fuckin'-lutely terrifying. Yuu giggling was just… a million different kinds of wrong.
What was left of the world crumbled away as the dark-haired boy took it on himself to lean over and glomp Lavi so that the redhead's face was stuffed into the upholstery. The redhead couldn't breathe. But he wasn't sure he wanted to. Yuu's face was pressed into his back in a way that was very, very pleasant, and Lavi would be damned if he couldn't feel hot breath raising goosebumps there. Yuu's arms were tight around his middle, hooking around his stomach so that his hands could latch onto the tight fabric of Lavi's shirt.
Pushing his roommate from on top of him, Lavi ran back to the crowd to get some more booze. He was entirely too sober for that kind of loss of control to be…
But did he really want to get more drunk? Yuu was there, vulnerable and wasted, and while he wouldn't take advantage of that, maybe the redhead could see the real Kanda Yuu for just a little bit. And though he felt warm and tingly as alcohol sloshed in his stomach with each step, Lavi knew he wanted to be able to remember what Yuu could really be like.
So he returned with another drink for Yuu.
He passed Lenalee on the way. She looked rather busy as she searched through boxes in a closet next to the doorway to the kitchen.
"Whatcha doin'?" He asked. The girl squawked at the sudden noise but then turned around to look at him and smiled deviously.
"I'm getting out the croquet things."
"Er, why croquet things?" Lavi was mystified.
"Because it's always the most fun to play croquet when you're drunk!" Lenalee explained, laughing joyously and then making a wordless exclamation as she found what she was looking for.
Lavi shrugged and continued on his way. He swayed a bit as he moved through the crowd, but for the most part, his balance was intact. When he reached Yuu, the boy was once again surrounded. A girl was currently sitting next to him, scratching behind his ears as he made catlike chirps of delight.
"Hey! Clear off!" Lavi shouted, and the sea of girls parted. Angels, naughty schoolgirls, Pokémon, bridezillas, and belly dancers all swarmed away like a hive of estrogen. Walking up to his roommate, Lavi pulled Yuu up from his "sitting" position (he was taking this cat thing too seriously, even for a drunk) and handed him the drink. "Who's the baka now, huh?" He asked as Yuu slurped away, thankfully in a more human manner.
"You are," Yuu slurred, poking him hard in the chest and smiling contentedly as he finished his drink.
"I am?"
"Yeah. You're stuuupid."
If Lavi were a bird, he would ruffle his feathers in offense. He puffed out his chest and scowled at his roommate.
"God, stop makin' tha' face. Iss fuckin' adolaber!" Yuu said loudly, half-jumping across the couch and wrapping his arms firmly around Lavi's shoulders.
"Er, Yuu…?" He was tipsy, and this felt good, but his roommate was being weird, even for a drunk. He had no idea how to react to this. It was new. Usually, he reached out for Yuu, not vice versa. And Yuu was making his hold even tighter, more secure.
"Mine," Yuu stated, burying his head in the crook of the apprentice Bookman's neck. He nuzzled there for what seemed like forever, and Lavi thought he would combust from the sudden heat in his chest. It was soft and electrifying at the same time, like he was a marshmallow being cooked in a microwave.
"Huh?"
"Mine." The Japanese boy held him even tighter, his lips grazing Lavi's collarbone. The air immediately shone brighter, and it had nothing to do with the booze. Something soft and wet encircled the end of his clavicle. For a moment, Lavi didn't understand what it was. But then there was something rougher, something that made the world even brighter and gooier and alive. Yuu followed the path up Lavi's neck with shallow kisses, nipping here and there until he reached the redhead's ear.
With desperate fingers, Lavi reached for Yuu's head so that he could pull the other boy closer. His hands tangled in Yuu's hair as the boy began sucking on his earlobe. Lavi gasped. His entire body was on fire. It was as if Yuu was a warm wind blowing on lightly smoldering charcoal, bringing it back to life with every graze, touch, and kiss.
The arms around his shoulders lowered so that they were running slowly—so damn slowly—down his sides. When they reached his hips, Lavi felt the tight fabric of his shirt being pushed gently upward. The mouth on his ear grew more insistent, and the redhead tilted his head to the side to give his roommate better access. Oh, dear God. Shivers of something pleasant but foreign—something that was most definitely wonderful and should never, ever stop—ran with electrifying intensity through his veins.
"Croquet!" A voice wafted over the crowd to them like a delicious smell to a famished heavyweight.
Immediately, Yuu backed up, distracted and smiling dazedly.
"Croquet? I love croquet!" He exclaimed, wobbling over to the other side of the room, where a complete course had been set up.
Lavi stayed on the couch, both because he was a bit overwhelmed by what had just happened and because any movement would force his too-tight jeans to chafe against his erection.
Which, technically speaking, he shouldn't have, but screw Bookman to hell, and would Yuu come back already? He definitely wanted to continue that, because whatever that had been, it hadn't been unpleasant in the least.
Shouts and cheers erupted in the room a few minutes later. When Yuu returned just a little bit after that, a drink in his hand (though it looked like half was already in his stomach, the great glutton), Lavi was a bit surprised.
"What happened to croquet?" He asked.
"Won," Yuu replied as if it was natural to win so easily at a sport while drunk and then come back to his current squeeze of the evening and plop down on the couch.
"How dare you leave me," Lavi whined. He wanted to grab Yuu close again, but he waited for the other boy to do so. It was such a rare treat for the older boy to reach out first that Lavi wished it would happen again.
"Oh, ssshhut up, RRRRabbit," Yuu replied, bopping him on the head with what remained of his drink. Which wasn't much, Lavi noticed, though he couldn't exactly remember the boy taking another long gulp from the cup.
Of course, things were pretty damn hazy. Really, the most he could perceive was that he was horny, Yuu was hot and sexy and right there, and the bass of the music was so booming that it shook the couch. So it wasn't that much of a surprise that he wasn't really understanding everything that was happening.
Like Yuu leaning toward him again, pulling him into his arms. Then alcoholic breath was really, really close to his lips, and Yuu's eyes were holding his in a gaze far more intense than Lavi was strictly prepared for.
Maybe it was Yuu who moved first, or maybe it was Lavi, or maybe they both did and they met in the middle, but the logistics didn't really matter, not as long as their lips were touching like this. Not when the dark-haired boy's arms were snaking around his back and when Lavi found himself in Yuu's lap.
His white jeans were painfully tight as arousal hit him with all the brutality of a wrecking ball. Yuu nibbled on his bottom lip, causing the redhead to gasp. Taking advantage of this moment, Yuu then slid his tongue into Lavi's mouth.
And then it got kind of fuzzy, because this was really, really good. Briefly, Lavi recalled the first party, where he'd ended up kissing some college sluts. He remembered Tyki's kiss had been different, with a spark like this one, only so much different. This one made him feel high and light-headed and definitely a lot more drunk than he was.
Hands were back at his sides, and then his shirt was gone—where had it gone? And then Yuu's delicate-looking fingers were ghosting over his chest, and when had the Japanese boy's shirt left his front so spectacularly bare? And oh, that was a new feeling, Lavi hadn't realized nipples could be so sensitive. Yuu's mouth was back on his neck, sucking hard on a spot about halfway between his head and shoulders. Lavi's head was thrown back, and maybe he moaned, but he was having trouble hearing over the unending pounding of the music.
He scratched at Yuu's head because that made him moan more, and when he moaned, the mouth on his ear—wait, when had it moved? Was he losing time again?—vibrated arousingly.
Vaguely, Lavi knew he was painfully hard, and all he wanted was to just touch, touch, touch, and Yuu's hands were on his midriff, and why wouldn't they go lower, and were they playing with his fly now, and—ngh.
He knew he moaned this time. Yuu's mouth was back on his own. It was kind of spitty, but it tasted a lot like Yuu-chan, so it was okay, and he didn't really care, because there was a hand on his dick.
So, gathering his tipsy courage, Lavi reached up the few inches between them and undid Yuu's button and fly. After that, he wasn't sure who did what, or even how things got accomplished, but in the back of his dizzy head, he heard Yuu call his name, heard himself curse in what he thought might be French.
And then there was relief. Bliss. And a pounding bladder that needed to be emptied. But the room had ceased to exist, the music had ceased to blast, and it was only him and Yuu breathing heavily on top of each other. They were on a cloud, floating above the sky, just the rabbit and his cat, holding each other and panting.
He'd deal with the bladder problem when it neared accident levels.
Hands buttoned him up, and a body collapsed on top of him, but Lavi took no notice, only wrapping his arms around Yuu's bare waist and pulling him closer so that their chests touched.
He was still on the cloud, and he kissed Yuu's lips lightly before he let his eyes fall closed. He was still on the cloud when he drifted away to somewhere infinitely calmer than the party or Lenalee's crazy plot or all of the pain that weighed both him and Yuu down. Different pain, different weights, but still so very heavy.
When Lavi dreamed that night, it was about a cat and a rabbit dancing in front of a panel of judges. Tiedoll, a big mole with an impressive frizzy hairpiece and glasses that extended all the way back to his perky little ears, gave them a ten. Lenalee, a sleek baby otter, grinned slyly and gave them the same score. Next to them, Bookman—an old, gray rabbit who looked like he'd seen far too much—glared on disapprovingly, explaining that they should receive a zero because cats and rabbits should never mix. Rabbits could never feel anything for another animal.
This dream eventually gave way to a deep, peaceful sleep, and when Lavi awoke the next morning, mouth tasting like a dead, cobwebbed animal, he didn't remember a thing.
Not about the dream, anyway.
A/N: So... aren't you glad we didn't leave you with this chapter? Anyway... wow! We made it past 7,000 words for the first time in this story! :D Or maybe the second time. Dunno how long the first couple chappies were. We're so proud of ourselves! Oh, by the way, the Japanese word, hadaka, means naked. ^_^ Also, Iss fuckin' adolaber! means it's fucking adorable. But Yuu's accent came to bite him in the ass. So the l's and r's changed. Sorry if the smut is a bit... weird. It's 2:40 in the morning and we're tired... Zzzz. -_-
