Disclaimer: The characters within this story all belong to Hoshino-san.
Warnings: This IS a MALE/MALE pairing, so if such things disturb you, or bother you in any way, you should stop reading.
Summary: In which the holidays are explored with the tidbits and the drama of the Kanda/Allen we all love and adore. Yaoi. This will only be updated on holidays that I recognize. Which means that if I know it, I'll probably write it if I have time, or care. Readers should mention closer holidays in reviews for faster updates.
Next Update: Likely to be Children's Day, unless other, closer holidays are introduced to me.

In A Year
Easter
by: Kagome-reincarnation

Two days after White Day, or the sixteenth of March, Lavi had convinced Komui to hold a treasure hunt in the Easter festivities. It was no easy feat, seeing as he had to get through Lenalee's protests and persuade the others to hurry onward with their paperwork. Then he'd had to convince Lenalee to get Allen and Kanda involved with the event as he went to explain the situation with Reever. He was hoping to get out of said experience in one piece, preferably alive and breathing.

Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock...

When he'd gone into the supporter's office, he found the man far more agreeable than he'd thought he'd be.

"The lack of energy in that boy has been getting to all of us." he'd said. Both knew he was referring to Allen – Kanda was only energetic when it involved Akuma, and even then, they weren't entirely sure if they could call that energetic.

"So you agree?"

"Allen's normally so cheerful – it's strange to see him going about the halls so listlessly." Reever admitted.

Lavi nodded knowingly, before frowning suddenly. He sighed. "I'm not being a very good Bookman." He muttered under his breathe.

"Sorry, I missed that." the scientist had been immersed in his paperwork once more.

Lavi shook his head, the default grin returning to his face. "Nothing."

Too late now, he thought. I'll just be careful not to run into the Panda.

"Right. Just let me know if you need help, then." Reever said dismissively as he disappeared behind yet another pile of paperwork. The mountain grew by the minute, not the hour.

Lavi grinned at the man's head, shaking his own as he left the office. Now, he just had to wait for word from Lenalee. He had nearly reached his own room when he came upon a curious seen. It seemed his partner in crime had found Allen sooner than he'd thought. And they'd both forgotten to close the door.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick-tock.

"You'll be there, right?" Lenalee seemed anxious as she requested Allen's presence.

The cursed boy frowned. They were in his room, the door hanging wide open. "Why?" he asked, curious, but not particularly wanting to go. For one thing, he felt like he didn't belong there – he wasn't exactly religious – and for another, he still didn't want to see him.

Allen Walker might be one of many Walkers, but it didn't mean that he doesn't pause at moments and circle around puddles.

"It'll be fun!" she tried.

His frown grew. "I'm sure it will, but I might get a mission that day."

The statement was actually quite honest. His eye had been roving, searching for Akuma to destroy and to save. He was sure that if he didn't destroy some, and soon, that the pangs of pain would start. He didn't need another reason to hide.

Lenalee placed a hand at her chin before looking down at him – he was short as is, and since he was sitting on his bed, and she'd just vacated her chair, he was much shorter than she. As it was, he had a feeling of impending doom.

He heard his door close and nearly winced when the lock turned. Doom was definitely coming.

"Allen, my friend…" the Asian teen began, voice firm. "You know how much my brother, Komui, loves me, right?"

He nodded, wide eyes fixed on her.

"What do you think he'd do to you if I said you kissed me?"

Suddenly, an image of a horribly squashed, tortured, and gasping for breathe white-haired teen entered his mind.

He twitched quite visibly. "Would you really?" he asked, hesitant.

"With crocodile tears." she told him, relishing the look of fear that crossed his face. It was just as well. She didn't plan on taking any answer but an affirmative.

"Fine." he relented, still twitching slightly as the image in his mind was stabbed with a rather dull looking spear, the girl before him standing behind him as his torturer shouted at him.

"Great!" her aura of doom instantly became that of the normal, cheery feel she often gave off. "See you there!"

The lock turned once more, letting the door swing open, then shut.

Allen sighed, spirit deflated. He held his head in his hands, far too weary for his years before falling back onto the firmness of his bed.

Staring up at the ceiling, the only words he spoke were that of a broken-hearted, "Damn it."

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Just outside the door, oblivious to the words of the trapped teen she'd left behind it, Lenalee winked at the carrot top, telling him that Allen was sure to be there for the treasure hunt he had planned. He smiled at her in return.

"I've got to convince Kanda now, and I'll be done. Make sure you get everything set up!" Lenalee told him, all too happily. The threat of her brother always worked.

"Will do." Lavi grinned, before heading up the stairs. He still had to make a few more arrangements with Komui before he'd be satisfied with it all.

Tick-tock-tick. Tock-tick-tock.

Just six days later, everything had been arranged to his liking. The treasures and prizes had been hidden, and the exorcists and finders had been partnered up. Allen, of course, was partnered with Kanda. The point of the event was so that Lenalee and Lavi could force the two to spend some time together to at least be civil, if not talk things out.

The stage had been set, and it was up to the boys, now, to play their parts.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

The day had finally come, and things were happening. Certainly, there was nothing of the religious sort. There were no prayers heard, and there were no Bibles to be seen. Rather, there were multitudes of members of the Black Order moving from place to place, hunting for treats. They'd all been partnered up, and assigned floors to search.

The floor that had been reserved for the exorcists was the very top floor. It was a place that both Allen and Kanda had never ventured to before and it was rather difficult to navigate. The entire floor was, it seemed, built in the fashion of a maze. Neither of them knew that Lavi and Lenalee had specialized their floor in order to force them to finish long after the others. Kanda had been given the map, and Allen had received the basket.

The silence on the way up was uncomfortable. Allen wasn't sure of what to say to Kanda, and he was very much afraid of angering the Japanese boy. Kanda, however, wasn't being as considerate and was obviously irritated. He didn't hide it, and it showed visibly in the dark cloud that seemed to envelop him.

While Allen might normally have told him to get a grip on himself, the white-haired boy was now too timid to. It was strange how much change had been wrought in him, and perhaps Kanda would have been concerned, but the taller exorcist refused to even look at the boy, expecting him to follow behind him obediently.

Much to his surprise, that's exactly what Allen did. It took him until the third egg to notice. He'd just picked it up and turned around to tell Allen to put it in their basket, when he'd noticed that the boy's confident walk wasn't there. He simply held the basket out to Kanda to place the egg in, but didn't look up. In fact, Kanda was surprised he didn't trip. From the few glances backwards that he'd gotten in, he realized that Allen had been watching his heels to know which way to walk.

What…? He was confused. What had happened? Then he remembered what Lenalee had told them and mentally sighed. The boy was more trouble than he was worth, but he couldn't help but want to fix things anyways. Even if Allen still disliked him.

"What's wrong with you?" he demanded, frowning at the small teenager.

Allen's head shot up to look Kanda in the eye before he suddenly flinched and look away. He'd nearly let his habit of looking people straight in the eye catch up to him. It wasn't a bad thing, but he was afraid of seeing what would be in Kanda's eyes.

The Japanese's frown grew ever so slightly. "What's the matter with you, bean sprout? Can't even look up anymore?"

Allen didn't react. Kanda was growing even more worried now. Even when doing something else, Allen would usually respond to his taunts. Just as he was about to ask again, the boy looked up. Eyes closed with a wide smile on his face, he simply said, "Let's go."

Kanda was taken aback, both by the sudden change in the boy's reaction, and then by the fact that Allen had abruptly turned and taken the lead. He mused for a moment, before realizing that the boy was nowhere in sight.

"Allen?" he called, almost cautiously. "Allen?"

There was no reply. He cursed loudly, before taking his map out and tracing their location. Judging from the direction the boy had gone… There was a variety of different paths that branched from there.

He cursed again, before hurrying after Allen, not wanting to lose him.

Of course, there was the matter of Allen as well. He'd not gone yet moved fifty meters and was already lost. While he did hear Kanda, he didn't want to see him. He'd already decided that he'd try to find his own way out. Of course, that would be horribly painful, seeing as he didn't have a map, much less a sense of direction. Still, he'd resolved to do it.

V

"Allen? Allen!" Kanda's voice was growing hoarse. He'd been searching and calling for nearly three hours now. Their youngest exorcist had yet to be found. "Dammit! Where are you?!"

He felt bad for being inquisitive now. It had been for his own damned good, but the boy had up and disappeared on him. He couldn't help but worry even more. Dammit! he cursed. He'd long since given up walking and jogging - now he was plain out sprinting, searching for signs of the boy. He'd found several strands of hair a while back, indicating that he was at least moving in the right direction.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Allen tripped for the umpteenth time. It was normally a rare occurrence, but he was very much off kilter today. He'd managed to find a couple of eggs on his own, but he still hadn't found the exit. He guessed that Kanda had already left long before. After all, they'd gotten three eggs together, and he'd gotten two. Kanda had probably already found the rest - there were supposed to be ten - and left. Allen didn't blame him.

His head held down, he sighed. He slid down against one of the walls to sit at the bottom. He set the eggs down carefully next to him before hugging his knees to his chest. He just wanted to stop for a bit. To stop and to not think, not move, and to not feel. He especially wanted the last one. Just the thought that Kanda had left had hurt. Still, he'd turned down Kanda's offer of romanticism for a good reason. At least, he felt it was a good reason, anyways. It made sense to him.

Of course, Lavi and Lenalee and the others might've said differently, but no one but himself knew exactly why he'd turned Kanda down. It was a simple reason, really. Obvious, even. Kanda had things he wanted to do. He had to find that one person - Allen wasn't sure if it was a girl or a boy - and he had goals to reach. Allen would likely only be in his way. Kanda was too gentlemanly to just drop a lover if something important happened, and Allen refused to risk letting his long time love being hurt.

It made sense to him. Maybe it was selfish of him to want to keep Kanda safe, but it was something he wanted to do. And now that they all knew for sure that he was the Noah's target, Kanda would be in danger of being close to him anyways. I can't let him be hurt, he thought. He wasn't stupid. He knew that Kanda wasn't his to command or anything like that. But... That didn't mean that he wouldn't be worried, or even emotionally hurt, so he knew that keeping Kanda out of the greater harm's way - away from the Noah and the Earl - was better. If he was lucky, by the time that they made their next appearances, Kanda would be exhausted.

Still, thoughts of Kanda and keeping him safe didn't truly make him feel any better, despite how much he lied to himself to say it did. He'd been so absorbed in his thoughts about the man, he hadn't realized when the older one had actually appeared.

"Hey!" the Japanese boy had growled at him.

"Eh?!" Allen had responded with the expected wide-eyed shock. He was brought face to knee with Kanda's knee. For a moment, he wondered if the Asian was going to kick him. "K-Kan...da?" The European couldn't believe his eyes.

Why is he still here...? he wondered to himself, even as he said: "I thought you left already!"

Kanda scowled. "Like I'd just leave you here. I know your sense of direction, you bean sprout."

Allen simply gazed up at Kanda, still surprised. "...Oh." he murmured to himself. He smiled broadly. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah." Kanda dragged the boy to his feet and watched as the white-haired teenager bent over to pick up the eggs that he'd found. He looked away, a light blush staining his cheeks. He was still very much attached to Allen. He'd never quite fallen out of love with the other cursed teenager, and somehow, he was comfortable with it, even if there was a hurt there that he'd never really experienced before.

"Come on." he told him. "I've got the rest of the eggs, so let's get going." They'd just pretend that things were alright and they weren't in love. It wasn't the best of solutions, but it was a solution.

Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock...

That night, when Lenalee went to bed, she was quite satisfied when she didn't hear the usual cries from the vent between her room and Allen's. She guessed that he was sleeping peacefully, which meant that Kanda likely was as well.