„Speaking"
„Thoughts"
„Neah talking telepathic"
Scarlet-Nin: I was really motivated to write another Chapter so, here it is! Hope you enjoy~! ^^
Disclaimer: I don´t own -Man!
Chapter 4
They finally found a shop for clothes and moved inside. Link and Kanda let go of Allen´s hand. Allen tried to ignore the disappointment he felt when the warmth was gone and looked at a few clothes. They all split up and picked up different things.
A woman moved out of the counter and moved towards them. She had stars in her eyes. She was pretty with long brown hair and sparkling brown eyes.
"Do you need help sweeties?" She asked kindly as she looked them over.
They looked at each other and shook their heads.
"No, we don´t. But thank you for your help anyway." Link assured her politely. They all had a few different clothing pieces in their hands. Not too many but not too little. Just enough to last them through the week. The pieces they picked were cheap too.
The woman seemed disappointed. Then she brightened up. "Your all so cute! How about I give each of you an extra piece that I will pick out? Please!" She tried to make them agree. What could you say? She loved to pick out outfits for children and here were 7! It was like a dream come true for her!
Kanda and Allen looked like they wanted to refuse but Lenalee shot them a warning look and they held their tongues.
"Okay!" Lenalee cheered. Who would say no to free clothing?
The woman beamed at them and grabbed Miranda and Lenalee. "I will start with you two~!" She sung as she dragged them towards the girls clothing.
The rest of the boys waited patiently.
Allen looked uncomfortable. Lavi noticed it and tried to calm him down.
"What´s wrong? Scared that she will drag you towards the girl section too?" Lavi tried to lighten the mood with a joke. Allen shoot him a scowl and Lavi had a feeling he just made things worse.
"Watch it, Lavi. I am hungry and fried rabbit sounds good." Allen warned with a dark grin. Lavi shrunk back behind Krory.
"Allen! Why are you always so mean to me?" Lavi whined childishly. Kanda rolled his eyes while Link sighed. Allen had the nerve to look bored! Like Lavi was just an annoying child!
Krory tried to be the peacemaker.
"Are you alright, Allen? I mean you need to eat much and I can´t believe that yesterday was enough for you." He was really worried. They all had seen that Allen was thin. Too thin for their liking.
Allen shrugged shoulders. "I will live." He answered, like it was no big deal.
Link analyzed and spoke up. "He will have to eat slow at first anyway. People who were starving need to eat more little by little when not they will just throw it up again." He explained with an odd look. It looked like he knew what he was talking about.
"Ah, now that I think about it Link grew up on the streets too, didn´t he?" Allen remembered the time where Link told him about it.
Kanda´s gaze narrowed and he looked like he wanted to make a comment that probably insulted Link in a way, but Lenalee and Miranda came back. They each had a dress on.
The woman looked pleased.
"How do we look?" Lenalee asked as he smiled at the boys. She had a pretty violet dress on. Miranda had a yellow one on. The woman even put Lenalee´s hair up into two pigtails. She gave Miranda a headband.
Lavi beamed. "You two look great!" He praised. Lenalee looked proud and Miranda blushed. Krory nodded.
The woman grabbed Link and Kanda next. She dragged them away while she asked Krory to follow.
They chuckled when they heard Kanda´s protesting.
Lenalee looked at Allen and Lavi. She frowned when she saw Allen´s scowl.
She went over to him and pinched his cheek. Allen flinched and glared at her. Lenalee took a step back at the glare.
Allen´s scowl came back but it was softer this time. "Lenalee, I would appreciate it if you don´t touch me without asking." He muttered as he saw Lavi, Miranda and Lenalee stare at him in bewilderment
Lenalee seemed hurt but nodded. "I can do that. Sorry. But you only scowl since we are little again…." She trailed of unsure. Her concerned gaze made Allen guilty.
"She´s right, you know. It´s like you can´t smile anymore. We are worried." Lavi admitted while he ran a hand through his hair. Allen looked to the ground.
"Damn it! I don´t want you to worry! Why would they worry!? I-I….don´t deserve it…" Allen felt frustrated again. "Well, if you would talk with someone for a change then maybe you would feel better?" Neah suggested with sarcasm.
Allen just ignored him. "Don´t have the energy to deal with something so tiring." He sighed as he plastered on his biggest fake smile. He ignored the "Hey!" from Neah.
"Sorry! I will try to smile more then!" Allen tried to sound as happy as he could. Lenalee and Miranda seemed a bit relieved, but Lavi didn´t buy it.
Lavi opened his mouth to tell him that it was a bad idea to keep everything bottle up inside. To tell him they wouldn´t leave his side till he finally told them what´s bothering him. That stubbornness of Allen was something truly frustrating in Lavi´s opinion. But he was interrupted because Kanda, Link and Krory came back.
The woman grinned at her work. The three had a little more colorful clothing now. Something that wouldn´t rip so easily.
She held out her hand for Lavi and Allen and they accepted it, even though Allen looked at it in distain. The rest of them watched them go.
"Did something happen while we were gone?" Link inquired as he felt the tension in the air. Lenalee smiled bitterly.
"Allen´s stubborn again." She replied frustrated. Kanda snorted. "What´s new?" he deadpanned. Lenalee had to smile at that. Miranda giggled.
"M-Maybe we could ask him what´s bothering him? I mean if we ask him often enough he will give in eventually r-right?" She stammered unsure, but determined. Allen did so much for her. She couldn´t have been more careless about the fourteenth. All she wanted was to help Allen.
Krory seemed to like the idea. "I think it´s worth a try." He confessed. Link frowned. "I don´t think it´s a good idea. He could react impulsive to such pushy behavior." Link commented quietly.
Kanda shoot him a glare. "Well, he didn´t explode with you. So if he managed to bear your damned watching, I don´t think he will have a problem with us, you backstabbing Mutt!" Kanda sneered at Link. Krory, Miranda and Lenalee watched in confusion as Link bristled at being insulted right to his face.
"Listen here you Prick. I am just trying to respect Walker´s feelings! You can´t expect that he will take every shit you throw at him!" Link hissed back. Kanda hit a nerve and he knew it. Kanda seemed to get even angrier at that.
"You? As if! Respect his feelings my Ass! After what you did how can you even dare to think about saying such stuff!? You are the worst of them all!" Kanda growled at Link with disgust. Link flinched and glared right back.
"At least I didn´t stab him! Or put him down at every chance I get!" Link spat feeling angrier than he could remember in a while. Now it was Kanda´s turn to flinch.
Lenalee, Miranda and Krory watched their fight in confusion. Just before Lenalee had a chance to remind them that they were inside a shop and that people were already giving them dirty looks they heard a yell.
"I-I am sorry!" They heard the woman from before apologize in panic. They quickly ran towards the changing rooms.
They saw the woman standing there with a pale and guilty face. Lavi was kneeling next to Allen who had curled into a ball in the corner.
They could clearly see that Allen was shaking and that Lavi looked concerned.
Kanda lost it right away. "What did youdo!?" He growled at the woman. She flinched and took a few steps back. "I-I just wanted to help him tie a ribbon around his neck and he suddenly went pale and started backing away and snarling!" She stuttered trying to explain what happened. She held up a black ribbon.
Lenalee and Miranda hurried over to Allen but before they could get to near Lavi pulled them back.
"Don´t! Leave it to me." He hissed at them quietly with such a serious look that they nodded and backed away.
Kanda and Link were shooting the woman dirty looks. Well, Kanda was chewing her out right now and Link was giving her dirty looks.
Lavi slowly put a hand on Allen´s head and stumbled back at the violent flinch from Allen. "Okay, so touching wasn't a good idea." Lavi made a mental note to be more considerable in the furture. Still Lavi wasn´t disheartened so he tried again.
"Hey, Al? Can you hear me?" Lavi said softly while he kept his distance. He wasn't stupid, he knew what that reaction meant and it made him furious. A reason more to hate humanity-no, he would not go there. He needed Allen to calm down first.
Allen just curled more into himself. He felt his heart pounding against his rib cage. It was getting hard to breath.
He felt rough hands grip his neck tightly and squeeze. It hurt. He couldn´t breathe! He kicked and struggled in the grip with all his might but his body still hurt from the beating he got before. Oh how he wished that that man would just drop dead, so he could celebrate. His vision was getting blurry now and he couldn´t help feeling panicked now. The taste of blood was getting heavier in his mouth.
He smelt a rotten breath near his face. "How does it feel ya trash? That´s all ya ever will be! Helpless Freak!" the voice mocked and Allen felt a new surge of anger swell up in him. He wanted to live and no worthless Asshole had the right to mock him like that! With all his might he kicked and clawed and bit till he was dropped to the ground and he felt a smirk spread across his face as he heard the man cuss and wince in pain.
"Ya little-!" the man spat as he kicked Allen who still tried to get air into his lungs. Bruises were sure to form. Allen chocked and his hissed in pain. He quickly rolled out of the way of an incoming kick and clung to the leg. Biting as hard as he could and ripping out flesh. He was kicked of and heard loud screaming-!
Allen chocked when he heard someone calling him. "Allen? Calm down. I am here." A warm hand pulled him into a hug and he flinched trying to move away, but he wasn´t let go of. He felt panic swell up in him again. "Letgoofme!Letgo!LETGO!"
A warm hand rubbed his back and he felt himself calm down as someone whispered comforting words into his ear.
"Shh, no one is trying to strangle you. It´s alright." Lavi, it was him. The voice belonged to Lavi. Allen could finally identify who tried to comfort him. Allen felt shame burn in him.
He hesitantly hugged back and he felt Lavi breathe out in relief. "It´s alright. Do you want me to carry you?" Lavi asked quietly. Allen considered it and nodded. He didn´t think his legs would support him anyway.
Lavi turned around and Allen climbed onto his back hiding his face in Lavi´s neck. Lavi smiled slightly and moved towards the others.
He saw the woman near tears. And Kanda looking pissed off. He quickly laid the money on the counter and walked toward the exit.
"Hey! We have to hurry! I am hungry and we need to get going." Lavi called out to the others. They snapped their heads to him and run to catch up. The woman still looked guilty.
When they were outside the others couldn´t help it.
"Allen are you alright?" Krory, Lenalee and Miranda asked simultaneously.
"Walker, what happened back there?" Link demanded worried.
"Beansprout, what the fuck!?" Kanda growled out.
Allen only tighten his arms around Lavi´s neck. Lavi felt irritation spread through him. "Can´t you see that he doesn´t want to talk about it!? Back off!" Lavi growled at the group. They flinched and nodded. Lavi rarely sneered at anyone.
After 10 minutes of silence they found a shop were they could buy food. They moved inside and looked around.
"Lavi….you can let me down now." Allen whispered as he pulled back. Lavi let him and sat him back onto the ground again. Allen still looked a bit shaken up but smiled in the hope that the others would worry so much.
They already had the food that they needed and Lenalee and Miranda were paying for it right now.
"Are you better now Walker?" Link inquired carefully for any negative reaction. Allen nodded and smiled. "Yes, just thought of something unpleasant." He answered as he thanked Lavi. Kanda rolled his eyes.
"We will talk about it when we get back Bean, no getting out of it." Kanda´s words seemed final and Allen couldn´t take it.
"Listen here, ya damned jerk. You have no right to force me into talking ta ya! So fuck off!" Allen growled out while he glared at Kanda. Now, this tone seemed to surprise them.
Kanda for a reason didn´t get mad. He only looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Fine, how about this. Everybody talks about something that bothers him, so you aren´t the only one." Did Kanda just try to compromise!?
Allen cooled down and scowled, but agreed. They didn´t say what he had to talk about after all. He could at least make an effort. When they had the food they needed they began to walk back to Mothers.
