Shout it Out!

Protest theme, Yullen Week.

AU, and, look out, the 1960s!

Disclaimed.

"I am woman!" the crowd shouted loudly in front of the New York City Hall, picket posters held up high. "Hear me roar!"

It's 1964, it's a freezing cold December day, and Allen Walker is stuck outside, toting a sign for a movement he didn't sign up for. He's nineteen-years-old, a boy, and surrounded by angry, determined women.

What a work of art today is.

"I am invincible!" he shouted, knowing the blow to his masculinity hurt with more pain than he would admit to his best friend. "I can do anything! I am woman!"

The leader of this organized protest, Lenalee Lee, held up a megaphone with a threatening stance. "Can you hear this?!" she called, standing high on the brass base of a statue. "Can you ignore this?!"

She stepped down, a determined look in her eyes. "What you see here," she continued. "Is the congregation of women who don't want you interrupting our lives with your laws! How does it go, girls?!"

"Not the church, not the state!" the protesters shouted, their signs raised up high. "Women must decide their fate!"

Allen licked his chapped lips, shaking his head. He agreed that women's rights were an important goal to be reached, but he can't say that he enjoys this too much.

"That was great!" Lenalee said with a smile, holding up a thumb in approval. "But," she turned back to the city hall with narrowed eyes. "I think they didn't hear you. Hey, Mister Mayor, dig this!" The twenty-year-old woman inhaled in an overly exaggerated breath. "1, 2, 3, 4!" she shouted into the megaphone.

"We won't take it anymore!" the protesters followed up, Allen being extremely reluctant. "5, 6, 7, 8, separate the church and state!"

"Yeah!" Lenalee hopped down from the statue, and squared her shoulders confidently. "All right, girls," she said with a cheerful smile. "That was far out! Wow, this one might be the best protest yet."

Allen placed his picket sign against his leg and shuddered from the cold. His red scarf couldn't even protect him like it should have. "Lenalee," he started in a whining tone.

"Allen, oh man!" the Chinese woman trotted up to him and hugged him tightly. "Thanks a ton for doing this! You don't know how much it means to me."

"Uhm, its okay," he licked his cold, dry lips again. At the corner of his eye, he noticed two men watching them with more interest than necessary. "I thought there would be more guys."

"Yeah, well, so did I." Lenalee shook her head. "Don't sweat it, Al, we've got all the people we need."

"Errm right. Am I the only guy?"

"Well, yeah, but it's all good."

"Lenalee!" another woman cried, stepping up quickly. "I'm really sorry, but my sign broke…" The brunette held up a broken picket sign, with the board stating EQUAL RIGHTS FOR MEN AND WOMEN!

Lenalee sighed, grinning. "No problem, Miranda," she said. "Just use mine."

"No," Allen cut in, rubbing his gloved hands together for heat. "Better yet, Miss Lotto, use mine." He motioned towards his sign that lay on the ground pitifully. He bent down and picked it up, handing it to her with a welcoming smile.

Miranda took it with a shy twitch of her lips. "Thank you," she thanked gratefully, and she turned back to go her spot in the crowd.

The protest leader narrowed her eyes. "You weren't doing that to get out of this, were you?"

"Of course not." Can she see into his mind?

"Whatever. Here," she handed him her sign, smiling. "Keep it up, buddy."

"Ugh." He tightened his scarf around his neck. "Right."

"Okay!" she raised the megaphone to her lips and walked through the town square, raising her fist powerfully. "What do we want?!" she asked the protest.

"Equal rights!"

"When do we want it?!"

"NOW!"

This was simply not his scene. Allen sighed as he held the sign up high. Lenalee truly was lucky that he loved her like a sister, and he would do anything for her.

Even…this.

"Women united," the crowd shouted, including him with a grimace. "Can never be defeated!"

Oh God. Those two creeps sitting on the hood of their stupid red Buick Lesabre were laughing at them. Or, at least the redhead one was.

"Hey, hey," More chanting, for the love of God. "Mister, mister! Get your laws off of my sister!"

Allen felt a blush creep up his cheeks as the two kept watching and the one kept laughing. He had to confront this, because even if he hated standing in the close to zero degree weather for a Women's Rights Movement protest, he was still a firm believer in those rights.

"Lenalee!" he called, waving his hand and the sign. The woman, after a few moments looked over at him. "I'm going over there!" he announced, New York City traffic making him have to speak louder than necessary. He pointed at the two guys.

She gave him a thumb up.

He smiled at her and made a fake salute with two fingers. Then, he pivoted on his heel, and stalked with partly numb legs to the two men.

And, to his surprise, one was exceedingly good looking. Not that the other wasn't, but this one exceeded expectations.

"May I help you two?" he asked, annoyed.

The redhead, whom up-close he discovered sported an eye-patch and a bright smile, blinked at him. "Hey, aren't you that one chick—"

"I'm not a girl." Allen interrupted immediately.

The dark-haired one (also known as Mr. Exceeds-Expectations), snorted. "Could'a f-f-fooled me," he grumbled, his deep voice obviously shaky from the cold.

Allen narrowed his eyes. "What was that?" he asked. "I couldn't hear you over the st-st-stutter in your voice. Speak clearly."

"I'll kick your ass, punk."

"Cool out, Yuu. Well, not so much, since it's like ninety-degrees below zero or something." The redhead held out a hand. "I'm Lavi, and I'm really sorry 'bout calling you a girl." He patted his associate on the shoulder. "This is Yuu Kanda, but you can call him Kanda. He was going on and on about how cute you were, man, seriously."

Kanda scowled. "I'll throw you into traffic, you fucking liar."

"Allen Walker," Allen introduced himself, nodding at the both of them. "And, I don't exactly care. Except, I can't have you two laughing at this, because it's really serious."

"What? Women's rights?" Lavi nodded. "Of course it's serious! Never thought it wasn't."

"Then, why were you laughing?"

"Because you look like a loser," Kanda cut in. "Every time they started a chant, you'd look like someone was stabbing you in the heart or something. It's fucking hilarious." But, he was never laughing, so that made Allen think about how Mr. Exceeds-Expectations is really quite weird.

"Well," he said instead. "I'd like to see you do it. It's really bloody hard to do!"

"Yeah right." Kanda shook his head. "Getting knocked by the police just isn't my style."

"And I'm just here for the ladies," Lavi followed up, shrugging. "You're just a real gone cat, man."

Allen rolled his eyes. Typical.

"Well, if you're just going to stand around, then maybe you should just go home and do that—"

"What's going on, Al?" Lenalee had taken the time out of her shouts and chants to come over to Allen. How touching. "Who are these guys?"

Allen huffed. "Oh, they're just—"

"Lavi," Lavi introduced himself, hopping off the hood of the Buick. He smiled charmingly, holding out his hand with flawless timing. "A pleasure to meet you…?"

Lenalee shook his hand. "Lenalee Lee. Who's he?" She pointed at Kanda, who still sat huddled on the hood.

"Oh, he's just Kanda. But, more on you—"

"Are these friends of yours?" the Chinese woman asked Allen, who looked over at the two men with a bit of disdain.

"Not exactly—"

"What? No way!" Lavi swung an arm around Allen's shoulders, grinning. "We're, like, the best of friends! Tell'em, Allen, buddy!"

"Wha—" The younger man tried to wriggle out of the tall redhead's grip, but he was sort of failing.

Lenalee looked at the two. "Allen," she started, a smile blooming on her face. "You got friends to help out our cause…that's so down!"

"But, Lenalee, wait—"

"We'd be glad to help!" Lavi exclaimed, nodding in agreement with himself. "Wouldn't we, Yuu-baby?"

"I'd be glad if you died early." Kanda replied darkly, obviously annoyed with his services being given away so easily.

"But, it's for women's rights!" the redhead whined, his tone suggesting another reason though.

It didn't take much for Allen to guess what, though. "No, if you don't want to help us," he replied, waving a hand in dismissal. "Then, you simply don't have to. After all," he smirked. "It takes a real man to stand up for women's rights."

Lenalee stared at her younger friend, and her arms shot out to embrace him tightly. "I totally love you," she murmured in his hair. "You know that right?"

"That's why I'm out here," he replied with a smile. "Because I love you too."

"Wait, did this punk just say I'm not a man?" Kanda spoke up, narrowing his eyes.

Lavi snickered. "Slow down, Lightening," he teased. "You're going too fast for us dopes."

"Shut up," he hopped off the hood with a scowl and he stepped up to Allen.

It was a slight understatement to say that Allen was a bit annoyed at how he had to look up to see into his eyes.

"Gimme that sign, dweeb," the dark-haired man snapped, snatching the sign from his hands. He looked at Lenalee. "How do I do this?"

"Just protest. Let them know that," Lenalee brought the megaphone to her lips. "What do we want?!"

"Equal rights!" Lavi shouted. The Chinese woman winked at him. "When do we want it?!"

"NOW!"

"Then, you're set, guy." The protest leader patted the two newest participants on the shoulders. "I'm really thankful for you guys," she said sincerely with a smile. "Allen is too. He was so bumped out that he was the only guy."

"Barely." Kanda muttered. Allen glared at him.

"Okay! I'll be over here—" And she walked away towards the slowly thinning crowd. The weather outside was truly frightful.

Lavi turned to Allen immediately. "Please," he begged. "Please, please, please tell me that's not your girl!"

"Err, no!" the British teenager was offended at the very thought. "She's my best friend."

"How old is she?"

"Twenty? Yes, she's twenty." He nodded in agreement with himself.

The redhead grinned harder, letting out a whoop. "Sweet!" he exclaimed. "I'm only twenty-three!"

Kanda rolled his eyes and ignored the both of them, stalking towards the crowd.

Allen cocked an eyebrow. So, maybe Mr. Exceeds-Expectations was a little sensitive towards his masculinity? He snorted. Well, with hair like that, it was expected.

"9, 5, 3, 1," Lenalee was shouting, walking around. "We won't stop until we've won!"

"1, 3, 5, 9," the protesters chorused, with the cheering deep voice of Lavi's being one of the loudest. How in the world did he get the rhyme scheme down that quickly? "We'll be right back every time!"

Why won't the mayor just come? He was getting tired of standing out in this freezing cold.

"Gay, straight, black, white—" he shouted loudly, moving closer to the crowd and hoping the godforsaken council would just come out and listen to them. "—All unite for women's rights!"

Kanda cocked an eyebrow at him. "Still got that stabbed look, punk," he commented, waving the sign with an almost violent intensity.

"Well," Allen replied, his breath clouding around his face. "I'm bloody cold and I can't feel my legs and my knickers are freezing."

"Whoa. You're English?"

"You couldn't tell?" What an idiot.

"Yeah, well, your accent started showing." Kanda shrugged. "How long does it usually take for the heat to bust you?"

Heat. That was a nice thought. "Heat? Oh, you must mean the police," the white-haired teenager shrugged, running his numb fingers through his hair. "Well, Lenalee says that they usually get the mayor out after two hours of this. From what I experienced, it's more like five, but whatever." He sighed. "But, the beat might be feeling a little holiday joy, so they'll possibly stop by."

"Possibly?" the dark-haired man scoffed. "There are a bunch of chicks and a few guys parading around town square in the snow with fucking signs. You think they give a fuck about the first amendment?"

"Err—"

"They don't. They're going to bust this party," Kanda held his sign up higher. "So, don't punk out if they do."

"You prick, how would you—"

And, speak of the devil, there was the loving sound of a police siren now. The black and white vehicles of the police force cruisers drove into place, surrounding the crowd artfully.

The protesters, with a few cries of panic, began to disperse, while Lenalee stood her ground bravely in front of the cars. Lavi was practically jumping up and down as he grinned at the actions of the woman.

Allen glared at the older man. "You prick."

"Hey, I warned you." Kanda rubbed his nose, which was turning slightly red at the tip from all of the cold. "Man, where the hell is Lavi?"

"The redhead?" the nineteen-year-old pointed forward. "Isn't that him right there?"

"Yeah." He walked forward, shouldering the sign. Allen followed him, because Lenalee was in the same place, and then a police officer stepped out of his black and white Plymouth Fury cruiser.

The policeman, a large man with dark skin with a bronze tint, stood in front of the Chinese woman, shaking his head as though this were a regular occurrence.

(Allen could put his money on that: yes, it was.)

"Miss Lee," he started in a deep voice that had years of patience on his side. "You've got to stop this at some point. The mayor, well, he isn't too impressed, and it'll be Christmas in two days. I've got—"

"Bump the mayor!" Lenalee retorted, crossing her arms defiantly. "If we won't make a difference for women in New York City, then I will!"

The officer sighed. "This isn't the first time we've had this talk, Miss Lee," he said calmly.

"I know, I know, Copper Marie." She huffed, her breath swirling around her face in slow white clouds. "It won't be the last though, not until I can look a man in the eyes without getting in so much damn trouble. You wouldn't understand, though, being a man yourself."

"Right on," Lavi cheered, pumping a fist at his side.

Marie rubbed his clean chin. "I am a man," he admitted with a smile. "And, that isn't changing anytime soon. But, like I was saying before," he scratched underneath his hat. "You've got a choice." He sounded awfully tired, and Allen was so down with that.

Lenalee nodded in understanding. "Lay it on me," she said in a determined tone.

"Well, you can either stop, like Mayor Earl wants you to," Marie smiled thinly. "Or, you could come with me to the big house. I mean, you'd only be in there for a day or until someone posts bail later on, but still."

Allen, even through his love of the woman and his appreciation for women and their headstrong determination, hoped to his Protestant God that the woman would have some common sense and just stop for now.

Kanda whistled, impressed. "Man," he said lowly, wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck. His voice picked up that amusing stutter again from the cold. "If-f-f I w-w-were her, I'd-d go to j-j-jail."

"Wh-wh-what?" Allen mocked, annoyed at the mere suggestion. Really, the woman was radical, but she was also smart.

"Shut up," the man sniffed, insulted. "That's why y-you're, l-like, f-f-five foot one."

"It's actually five foot seven, if you'd like to get technical."

Lenalee waved her arms wildly, catching the quietly arguing duo's attention. "Hey!" she exclaimed, grinning. "I'm going to jail!" She sounded way too excited about that.

Allen almost snapped his neck with how fast he turned to look at her. "Why?" he whined, reserving the right to feel childish even if he was turning twenty in, like, two days. "Why do you want to go to the pound?"

"If the mayor wants me to give up, then it's solid. I'll just go to the big house instead." She looked pointedly at Lavi. "Hey, what's your name?" Marie shook his head in amusement.

"Me?" Lavi pointed at himself. He grinned. "Oh, yeah, me. The name's Lavi, Missus Lee."

"Do you have a car?"

Where was Lenalee going with this, Allen asked himself suspiciously.

Lavi just about puffed up in pride. "Yep," he answered gleefully. "A Six-O authentic Buick Lesabre, just about new and runs like a dream."

"Do me a favor," Lenalee said, smiling bashfully. Marie held the back door of the cruiser open for her. "You and your friend, the long-haired one, take Allen to dinner. I promised him I would, but maybe I won't make it. Oh, and Allen!" She waved at him. "Be sure to be back later after you eat to post my bail!"

Kanda gritted his teeth, obviously annoyed with something, and stalked over to the police cruiser quickly. "Hey, Miss Solid," he called, catching her before she ducked into the backseat. "When's y-your next p-protest shit?"

Oh my God. Oh my God.

Why? Why did this prick that Allen barely knew have to ask a question like that? Now he'll never get warm, and he'll die of hypothermia.

Damn him.

"Check with Allen," Lenalee answered with a bright smile. "I always keep him hyped."

"All right. See you."

"Bye!" Marie closed the door behind her, and he tipped his hat at the remaining crowd with a smile. "A good day, and a Merry Christmas," he said kindly, getting into the car himself.

Lavi sighed, his clouded breath hanging around his face wispily. "She's the deal," he said happily. "The real one, Grade-A, primo."

"F-f-fucking fantastic," Kanda rubbed his red nose once more, sniffling. "C-can we g-get into the c-c-car now? It's fucking c-c-cold out-t here!"

"Y-y-yeah." Sometimes, the horse gets you. "I mean, err, yeah."

"Sure, whatever." The dark-haired man stuffed his hands in his coat pockets. "What kinds of food do you like, punk?"

"Food?" Mmm, food. That sounded great about this point. "Ah, well, I enjoy all kinds really."

"Then we're g-going to Skippy's." Kanda kicked the bender of the Buick, inciting a squawk of injustice from Lavi. "Hey, hodad, open the d-damn car!"

"Shaddup," the redhead jammed his key into the driver's side lock and twisted it. Opening the door with a smile, he pushed the front seat forward to make room for the back. "Hey, Al, buddy. Hop in!"

"Err, okay?" Allen climbed into the back of the somewhat warmer car, feeling grateful. His original plan was taking the bus, but this is cool too. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. Yuu, get in the damn car!"

"Don't rush me!" Kanda slid into the passenger seat, slamming the car door. "Fuck, turn on the heat, and pronto!"

"Yeah, yeah." Lavi revved up the ignition loudly. "So, Al, where're we goin'? And, when're we off to bail out Missus Lee?"

"Whenever you'd like." The nineteen-year-old's stomach growled loudly. "But, err, Skippy's wouldn't be too bad right now."

"Che'yeah," Kanda sniffled a little more. "Let's go fast, I need a malt."

"In this weather?"

"Hey. Don't judge me."

"I can't. I'm a protester for Women's Rights, and usually the only guy." Allen shrugged lowly, not trying to dislodge his crossed arms. "I would simply have no right."

"Just so we've got that straight." The dark-haired man banged the dashboard. "Lay some scratch! Go faster!"

"Hey! She goes like a Sano, but rolls like a tiger. Let her warm up, first!"

Kanda huffed.

"It's fucking freezing, and I don't want to shout."

"But—"

"Quit protesting—" Kanda sneezed, and Allen muttered a quick 'bless you'. "—just go."

END

LAWL ALL-TIME FAVORITE.

Seriously.

If I weren't in so much love with the eighties, stuff like AWYWI would probably take place in the next best time: the 60s. (Note to self: :D) (But, it'd be called "Good Vibes")

I luff you, Fonz. :D (Ask for help if you don't understand the slang, please. D: People usually don't, and end up confused around me)

Kanda with a stutter made me smile more than you will ever know. :) (Oh, and I'm not the biggest fan of Lavi/Lenalee, (for there was only one writer who could make me read it and stay impressed) nor is my wife a fan at all, but it helped the story move along more. D: Sorry, dear!)