A/N: Sorry for the delay in a new chapter, guys! We found ourselves a bit busy. Also I know I'm terrible at getting back to most of the reviews but I do read and purr over every single one of them and we both consider some of the suggestions you guys leave! ^_^
So just in case none of ya'll have checked or know about this, both Shaera and I don't just write, we also draw :D and I have art related to fic's posted on my profile here on FFN if you guys want to go check that out. There's both art of Allen and Kanda by Shaera and art of older!Lavi by me, if you guys might be interested in those. We're both pretty good(*whispers* but Shaera's better c: go appreciate her purdiful work!)
White Demon, Red Scribe, Black Nightmare
A D Gray-Man and Assassin's Creed Revelations Crossover
So technically Allen had said they couldn't fight. Lavi, however, didn't really consider it much of a conflict. It was really more of a game and he would defend to his last breath any time he was confronted that he was just being playful and it wasn't his fault that Kanda had no sense of fun.
Some days that excuse worked better than others, but Lavi had no trouble exploiting it to tease and had way too much fun watching Kanda get helplessly frustrated at the fact that if he turned the banter violent, Allen would have both their hides.
The fact that he was a little more subdued about said teasing when Allen was within sight or ear-shot so as not to incur the white-haired man's wrath also helped, although he really wasn't as afraid of Allen following through on his "I'll lock you both up together" threat as Kanda obviously was, since the man saw him as bad enough even when he had the option of walking away.
Allen got especially pissed at him that morning though, after Kanda stormed off again to spend the entire day somewhere where he wouldn't have to deal with the redheaded annoyance, so he figured it was only fair and smart that he try to do something enjoyable with the evening that wouldn't just involve him and Allen. Besides, Allen was probably way too peeved at him still to accept him trying to make amends one-on-one. He would have to try other tactics.
And his storytelling theatrics always did the trick sooner or later.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat loudly as he stood, drawing more attention than just Allen's, who was trying - he might note - to at least pretend like he was ignoring Lavi. He put on his best parody voice. "Ladies! Gentlemen! For this late evening's dinner, we have a special treat for you to~night!"
At this point he had everyone's attention.
"Live to you now, the Theatre of Bookman proudly presents to read to you various tales of daring adventure and chivalrous r-r-r-romance!" he overplayed, rolling the 'r' of the last word with far more dramatization than was necessary, bowing his head like that of a stage actor so far it almost touched the floor, before popping back up to open a book and start reading.
Allen tried not to laugh. He tried very hard. But when Lavi started deliberately making an idiot out of himself he just couldn't help but to let his mouth stretch into a smile. It was one of his talents - to entertain - and Allen wondered just how much money could the man have made if he had chosen to be an entertainer or an actor instead of a Bookman.
He was still cross with him, of course, so he made sure he sat with his back turned to the redhead when he started performing. He even had to bite his lips to keep himself from laughing out loud when the narration got into the best parts and he was sure Lavi was keeping an eye on him as he spoke.
He was still angry, he was. He really was. But maybe not so much anymore. Damn that ginger and his silver tongue.
When Kanda entered with few of his men, clearly after a mission, going by the tired look the man sported on his face, Allen wasn't sure whether to be happy or not. After all, he was cross with the swordsman as well. But at least Kanda didn't prod him too much after their arguments. They both just waited it out and talked about everything after they both calmed down - which many found hard to believe due to the raven-head's violent nature.
Allen saw his partner scan the room and scowl distastefully when he spied Lavi but the grimace was more or less gone when his eyes found him in the crowd.
"Hey," Kanda greeted kind of awkwardly, much to Allen's surprise. It seems that his scolding was good for at least one thing.
"Hello, how was the night?"
"Tedious," the man replied, taking a seat next to him. "And it is progressively getting worse," he added turning his attention to the redhead and his antics. He didn't say more, but whether it was because he was tired or because the man didn't want to anger him, Allen didn't know.
Lavi of course noticed the entrance of the black-haired assassin as well, but he didn't pause in his dinnertime performance. Not quite yet, at least. He had some good energy going and was intent on playing it out to its fullest before he called it quits, and he didn't want to inspire any disappointment in his captive audience.
He continued on his tirade for a while, getting more than a few good rounds of laughter from the men that were listening or watching while they dined and drank, filling the room with a pleasant chorus that had the redhead genuinely beaming under the attention as he was putting on his errs for entertainment.
At some point he caught Kanda's disapproving eye, but for the moment, ignored it. Seemed like it would take more than putting on a fun show to improve the attitude of that gloomy mug, but at the very least, it seemed like he had basically everyone else wrapped around his finger with his boisterous shenanigans.
Once he finally managed to reach the end of the story, he offered up an overly zealous bow of conclusion that was met with various applause and happy faces.
Rest of the den aside, he still had one and a half more occupants within the building to win over. That would put him at least solidly in Check, but winning Check-mate would be no walk in the park.
It was just after storing away the book he had been using to script his performance and getting himself his own dinner and drink that he joined the other two, sitting across with a very satisfied smile on his face that wasn't mutual, especially from Kanda.
"Everyone else is having a great time, yet you're still over here moping as always~" he teased, taking a seat on one of the pillows now that he'd thoroughly entertained the entire den. 'Everyone', of course, included Allen. He hadn't failed to notice how the other man had been trying to hide his amusement, but he left this part of his statement up to interpretation.
Allen shot him a half-hearted warning look before shaking his head. "Play nice boys," he said calmly, but Lavi could still hear the edgy tone.
"I'm always nice," Kanda murmured sulkily, lying down so that his head rested next to Allen's thigh. It made the assassin bite back another smile. Kanda could sometimes be like a big, grumpy cat that tries to win back its master's affections by timid purrs and gentle bites. Sneaky bastard.
Lavi couldn't help but snort suppressed laughter at Kanda's self-defending words, poorly trying to hide a contradicting smile in his palm as he propped his head up with one hand. If he had anything to say to that, he knew better than to speak it in front of Allen, at least for right now.
"Will there be a continuation, maestro?" Allen asked trying to get distract himself from Kanda's not-so-subtle advances.
"Nah, not tonight, but maybe another day. I think I'm burnt out. Pretty sure everyone who is going to get a kick out of it already has, anyway. The other guys seem to be in good spirits now, though."
True enough, the hall was soon filled with music and songs, the men taking the entertainment into their own hands.
Allen hummed silently to himself as they ate and drank, and gradually forgot that he was supposed to be angry at both Kanda and Lavi. The redhead lured him into a friendly chat about this and that while Kanda snuck his head onto his thigh and napped. It seemed like the swordsman was too tired to care about the amused stares and chuckles of his fellow men.
That is, until one of them dared to coo over him to which Kanda promptly replied with a threat and an angered growl.
Allen smirked and moved to sit against the wall where Kanda took refuge so he could glare at all his men at once, sinking into the pillow.
"You're like a child," Allen commented, closing his eyes. He could swear he heard the man repeat the sentence back but he no longer paid any attention to him. How could he, when his belly was full and the taste of wine tingled in his fingers?
"Aw look, mamma is asleep!" someone said, making the other men laugh.
"I will cut your throat," Kanda threatened again, making the assassins laugh once more.
"That would probably require you to move from your cuddly-wuddlies, and you don't look like you're doing that anytime soon," Lavi chuckled, smiling widely as he took a sip of his drink and earned himself a dark glower that only further lent to his own amusement. "Lighten up, Yuu. There's nothing wrong with having a bit of fun now and again. Difficult concept for you to grasp, I know, but you could probably do it too if you tried."
"You know you are within reach, rabbit," Kanda said, but his voice didn't hold much heat. He sighed then and let his shoulder slump. "I'm too tired to kill you anyway. I had enough of it for today," he admitted, his eyes straying towards the sleeping Allen.
He looked as if he wanted to say something but by the looks of it, and the sound of his teeth grinding, he hesitated. It was not everyday one could witness Kanda Yuu holding his tongue.
"I need your advice," he finally spoke, stubbornly staring ahead.
"Oh?" Lavi's brows rose slightly, looking the part of surprised. Whether it was merely an act or he was legitimately taken aback by this admission, it was impossible to tell. "Well I can't guarantee that it'll be what you want to hear, or that it'll help, whatever it is you want from me, but I'm open to offer up the best I can, at any rate," he stated neutrally, single eye fixed on the man. "So what is it, exactly?"
Kanda sighed again and rubbed the back of his neck. "There's a few missions we meant to do til the end of the month but it requires a little bit of coordination and I find myself too tired to think as of late." He huffed and the dark circles under his eyes suddenly became even more visible. "My men could use some rest as well, so if you're interested in some extra payment, let me or Tiedoll know."
"Payment?" Lavi's brow almost reached his hairline before he laughed. "It's not like I'm a mercenary or something. You don't have to pay me and I don't expect you to. I mean, not unless you really insist wanting to pay me, out of the goodness of your heart or some such thing, but otherwise, consider it on-the-house. I'd be happy to help." He chuckled under his breath in amusement and paused for another sip of his drink. "Anyway, rest in and of itself is good, but up-keeping morale will definitely help as well. Seems like your guys have been long overdue, and I imagine that goes for you as well, even if you won't admit to it very openly."
Kanda shrugged. "Do as you wish, but we all split money from the raids and such. There's always a little bit of coins on the guards as well." He sighed again and rubbed his eyes. His eyelids were really getting heavy. "They have been working every day and night since I came. They are tired and it makes them distracted. I'm taking a new team next week so my men can have some time to rest." Kanda glanced at Allen in silence.
"That's a good idea," Lavi acknowledged. "Though you should probably consider taking some time off too, even if it's just a day or two. Even if you get fresh guys, it will only do so much good if you run yourself too ragged to be effective as a leader. Even if you're physically capable of making yourself work, you'll be mentally fatigued and more prone to having a temper, which is usually pretty short on a normal standard, I notice," he advised carefully, touching back into territory that he had tried bringing up multiple times before and failed on account that Kanda usually grew fed up and stormed off before they could get anywhere productive.
Maybe he'd actually listen this time since he was too tired to either go on the attack or run away from the subject.
"And if you're running on a short fuse and prone to hostility towards your guys, that's going to affect everyone's performance negatively no matter how hard everyone tries to work, including you, whether that's your intention or not. Hence the maintaining good morale as I already mentioned."
Kanda scoffed and it was probably the first time his smile did not hold an arrogant gleam. "What is this? Free counseling? I can assure you that neither me or my men are affected by hostility, I can assure you." He said as he scanned the room. "They know me and they know the boundaries they cannot overstep." His face was serious as he spoke but when his eyes fell on Allen, the smirk was in place again. "Keep your advices, little brat. You might be smart but you still have a lot to learn."
"Not true," Lavi shook his head. "Whether you admit it or not, it has a negative affect. Tolerance is not the same as being unaffected. Human nature is a constant, and your men are each individual human beings before they are assassins, prone to all the same basic needs, instincts, and mistakes as any other, and you aren't any different. Don't misunderstand my reasons for telling you this though. It isn't about 'free counseling', as you call it. It's as much a part of successful war tactics as is how readily you arm the men under you with sword skills or where you place battlements."
He stretched back slightly and shrugged noncommittally, not looking as though he cared either way.
"You wanted my advice, and I gave it. I did say it might not be what you wanted to hear."
"You sure talk a lot." Kanda grumbled and it was evident that his patience with the redhead was wearing thin. "Shouldn´t you be in bed?" He remarked, rolling his eyes.
Lavi only shrugged again. Couldn't say he didn't try.
"Aren't you a little too young to be dictating I should have a bed-time?" Honestly, the arrogance on this guy sometimes! The Panda was the only one who could get away with treating him like a child, but the redhead was pretty sure he ranked amongst oldest geezers on the planet, so everyone was a child by comparison.
Kanda frowned at him, but it was not quite the same as his usual frown. "Young?" He repeated with mild bewilderment. "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'? You're like... what? Twenty-something-or-other?" He propped his chin on palm and side-glanced at the other man. "I'm two years short of thirty, ain't no way you're that much older than me, if you even are at all."
Kanda gaped at him for a short while before breathing out something between a laugh and a thoughtful hum. Should he take that as a compliment or an insult?
"I'm turning thirty-seven in the summer."
Lavi's hand dropped away from his chin so fast it smacked the table, the redhead staring at him for a long moment in dumbfounded silence, looking as though he was trying to discern if that was a lie or not.
"You're totally screwing with, aren't you?" he finally deadpanned.
Kanda arched an unimpressed eyebrow at him and shook his head. "Did you think the men here would let a child command them? I thought you're smarter than that."
"Age has little to do with willingness to follow a person if they're capable enough," Lavi pointed out, brows still raised.
Thirty-six? Christ. The years had sure been gentle on his features, especially considering what sort of high-stress profession the man had.
The redhead didn't imagine he would look anywhere near that young in another eight years no matter how well he took care of himself, a thought which admittedly sparked a small pang of envy.
Suddenly Kanda's advanced skills made a lot more sense in retrospect, too.
He finally looked away to rub his face wearily, as if just now coming to terms with the fact that Kanda was entirely honest about his age, muttering something under his breath that might have been a curse.
"Crap, that's a big age gap. If I didn't know Allen 'well as I do, I wouldn't of been able to believe how you'd be his first choice."
"You're right," the swordsman started, shrugging. "Age is not that important. It's the experience that counts. The sprout never complained." Something dangerously close to a fond smile appeared on his face and he froze then, and cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean in the fighting..."
Lavi raised a brow, a smirk playing across his lips.
"Well you're definitely skilled with a sword, I'll give you that..." His smirk twitched wider for a moment at the double-edged potential behind those words. "-but that wasn't really what I meant. His interests aren't drawn by that at all."
Kanda 'tsk'ed unhappily. This isn't exactly where he wanted to go with the talk.
"Just let's not go there," he warned, already hating the rabbit's shit-eating grin. So immature. "As far as I know, his interests are drawn to many things. It's really hard to tell." Lavi wasn't the only one wondering how he and Allen ended up together.
There were times when Kanda couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard he tried. At those times he found himself wondering about many things as he stared at the relaxed features of his young bed-partner. How indeed did they end up together? It is not as if he would start complaining. Not at all. But he wondered what drew Allen to him.
He was aware that his charms and temper weren't really something he could boast about.
"It is really funny how people change," he glanced at Lavi as he played with a stray strand of Allen's white hair.
"Everyone has many interests that catch their eye," Lavi hummed. "-but most of those interests are only worth a glance, no matter what they are or who they belong to. It's called infatuation, and it passes eventually and makes the object of attention lose appeal. Unless, of course, they find something that holds deeper meaning to them to cling to. I heard that the first time you two met, you tried to kill him under hire, but for some reason you didn't. I don't know much beyond that, but what I do know is that he found what he wanted in you, and somehow things worked out."
Kanda shook his head, regarding Lavi with somewhat annoyed look.
"Do you do this every time you talk to someone? This reciting bullshit? It is as if listening to a walking book."
"Occupational hazard, I guess," Lavi laughed, scratching the side of his face idly. "If you think my mouth is loud, you should hear what goes on up here," he tapped the side of his head. "Gramps-... that is, the Bookman that raised me, taught me how to turn my mind on. Never really taught me how to turn it off though."
Kanda sighed. "Some things can't be explained." He paused, glancing into the distance as if he saw there the past. "I remember the first time we had met. Our fist fight ended with me giving him the scar in his gut which he returned by nearly cutting my arm off. I can't say I didn't deserve it," he shrugged, "I was the one who killed one of his students back then. I guess it was his reaction that made me doubt the words of my superiors."
He fell silent then, remembering how heartbroken Allen's cries were when he found the corpse.
"He was pretty vicious back then. He hated me so much, but I guess the feeling was quite mutual."
Lavi hummed idly at Kanda's recollections of how he and Allen had first started out with each other. No doubt it had taken years for them to really be able to stand each other, much less be at ease the way they were now. Even more than that, really.
"You're right, it is kind of funny, in an almost sardonic sense, how time and experience together can have such a heavy effect of change." He paused for a sip of wine, his single eye lingering over Allen for a wistful flicker of a second. "But I guess that's the reward of living. Or a curse, depending on how you look at it." He paused again to chuckle, stopping himself before he could start treading too deeply into forbidden sentiments. "Sorry, I really must be the worst company for someone like you, talkative as I am."
"You really are," Kanda huffed, but his voice was mild. "Think about what I said earlier... the missions I mean. And don't think of it as a charity. The spoils split evenly between everyone."
"I'm so proud of you," a voice suddenly interrupted and the two men shared a look. "See," Allen said, smiling as he squinted at the two, "you're able to be nice to each other after all."
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Kanda asked with a roll of his eye as Allen shoved his arm away so he could make himself comfortable on his chest.
"The lack of your temper woke me up," he teased as he wiggled into a more comfortable position.
"Get a room!" someone shouted and Kanda promptly answered with a nasty frown.
"Also, I might join a mission or two. I am pretty bored just lying around doing nothing..."
"Hey, if anyone here's mean, it ain't me. If I wanted to be mean, I could think of much better ways to do it... Like set up another introduction with Mr. Mousy. You of all people should know that!" Lavi laughed. After all, he could be a rather notorious prankster once he set it in his mind. Those of which Allen had been on the receiving end of more times than probably anyone would like. "And anyway, just don't strain yourself too much, with those wounds o' yours and all."
"You put that mouse anywhere near me again, I will slap you so hard..." Allen threatened, his sleep completely forgotten. "And anyway, with you two fussing over me like two mother hens - I'm not complaining, by the way - there is no way anything could happen. And it's only a few missions. I am bored out of my mind already."
"I'm not fussing," Lavi defended, stretching out on his back comfortably. "I mean it ain't as if I'm saying not to go on a mission, just sayin' be careful is all, because you tend to be reckless-and-a-half even on a good day."
"I am not," Allen whine indignantly. "It's a healthy dose of risk."
He did not see the sour look Kanda gave him. He really seemed like he disagrees as well, but he stayed silent. Mostly.
"I'll decide what missions you'll take part in," he warned, still frowning. "No protests," he added pointedly, looking away when Allen whipped around to voice his objections.
"Sorry, 'sprout," Lavi chuckled, yawning. "-but looks like you've been unanimously out-voted!"