Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man, although I wish I did.
"You know what would make your lullabies sound absolutely heavenly?" Allen's new female manager said sipping at her coffee.
She, Allen, and Lavi were celebrating her hiring with coffee from a locally owned coffee business.
"What?" Lavi asked taking a chunk out of his crescent roll.
She frowned looking at the rabbit like redhead, "I wasn't talking to you," she said. Lavi shrugged with indifference and shook her head before continuing, "Anyway," she said focusing back to Allen who was turning a glass of iced tea in his hands nervously. "I was thinking that we should add a violin to the mix." Allen frowned in thought. "Of course if you don't like the idea I'll drop it immediately," she added hurriedly.
"No, no," Allen said waving the flustered woman down. "That might work, do you have anyone in mind?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
The woman smiled in relief, "Of course. He's a bit of an ass but when you get to know him…" she frowned, "he seems like an even bigger ass."
Lavi and Allen shared a questioning glance, "Is he any good?" Lavi asked looking to the manager.
She nodded vigorously, "Yes, and he's been looking for a job for quite sometime now. I almost feel sorry for him, but then he shoves that damn bow up my nose and I immediately regret it," she muttered.
"What could this guy be like?" Lavi whispered to Allen.
"So, do you want to meet him? He should just be practicing in his apartment right now," she said looking at her watch and crumpling up the coffee cup in her hand.
"Sure," Allen said, but then whispered to Lavi, "I don't know, but I have a feeling I won't like it."
About fifteen minutes later they were standing in front of an apartment complex that normally housed people just out of collage trying to make a living.
"Let's see, if I remember correctly he should be in apartment 3A," Allen's manager said climbing up the steps. They reached a room that had haunting violin music pouring out from the other side of the wooden door. "Yep!" she exclaimed knocking on the door loudly.
She hadn't noticed that Allen was now cowering behind Lavi. "Tyki was never like this," he muttered.
"Tyki, was a lying, cheating, scoundrel that left you with two dollars and a t-shirt," Lavi hissed angrily.
The door then opened to reveal a long haired, grumpy looking, middle aged man holding a bow, "What do you want, Clair?" he growled crossing his arms.
'He's kinda hot,' Allen thought peeking over Lavi's shoulder and blushing lightly.
"You may or may not have a job offer, Kanda," Clair said gesturing behind her.
Kanda's gaze move to Lavi and he speculated him for a moment, "This red haired rabbit, could be my new employer?" he said pointing to Lavi and raising an eyebrow at Clair.
"Huh?" she glanced behind her. "Oh, no. I'm talking about the one hiding behind that one." she said scurrying over and tugging Allen into view. He squeaked softly and looked up at Kanda.
Kanda observed him a moment before he made his decision, "Moyashi." he declared turning and gesturing for the trio to come inside.
"Wait, who the hell are you calling moyashi?" Allen said following.
"You, moyashi." Kanda snorted.
"They sure warmed up quick," Lavi muttered walking in after the already arguing duo.
"That's just scary," Clair muttered shutting the door behind her.
Ten minutes later Kanda ended the fight with his ever annoying 'che' and sat on his futon with Allen fuming moodily on the floor. "So what's this job anyway?" Kanda asked crossing his arms, "Building, filing, something that'll make my rent for the month?"
Allen snorted, "No, we want your violin."
"There is no way in hell that I'm selling my violin!" Kanda snapped.
"Selling your violin is not a job, dumbass. We want you to play the violin for an upcoming recording." Allen sneered. His stomach suddenly growled, "Hey, you got any food?" he asked the now dumbstruck violinist.
"I'm sure he has something in the kitchen," Clair said pulling out a couple sheets of music from her purse.
Allen walked into the kitchen right as Clair was asking Kanda if he could convert the piano part into a violin part. He tugged open the fridge to reveal a half of a sandwich and three fourths a bottle of wine. Taking a quick glance over his shoulder to see if Lavi was in sight he snatched the bottle and chugged half of it. He set the bottle back down in the fridge and closed the fridge before opening the pantry for food.
He walked back in with a bag of stale cheetos just as Kanda was raising the violin to his chin to test out the music.
"Oi, moyashi, what's the tempo for this?" he asked eyes flicking to him, "These idiots have no clue what I'm talking about."
"I said slow didn't I?" Lavi said exasperated.
"He means numbers, Lavi," Allen said crunching on a cheeto, "I'm not exactly sure but somewhere around 180 per quarter sounds right to me."
Kanda nodded in understanding bringing the bow to the strings. "Whaa?" Clair and Lavi said in unison. Allen sat next to Lavi munching happily on his snack as Kanda began.
The violin sang Neah's lullaby softly and smoothly, enchanting Clair, Lavi, and Allen. On the cue, Allen automatically began softly singing the lyrics to the song.
Kanda ended the song by drawing the last note out painfully, yet beautifully. Clair blinked and clapped her hands together, "That was awesome!" she exclaimed, "Allen what do you think?"
Allen took a second to think before saying, "If he wants to, I'd love to have him play with me."
"How much money are we talking about here?" Kanda asked putting away his violin in its black case.
"I'd say 30% sounds fair to me," Clair said digging around in her jacket pocket. "Allen composed all the songs -aside from Neah's lullaby- that is. He is also singing and playing the piano." She pulled out a pencil and paper. She jotted something down on the paper and handed it to Kanda while saying, "This is the time, address, and date that we're recording. Until then you will meet up with Allen at Lavi's house to practice. In fact, I'd recommend you go now."
"This is in four days!" Kanda exclaimed reading over the paper.
"Exactly," Clair nodded, "So lets get going." she stood from her spot on the futon and ushered everyone out.
Allen and Lavi sat at the front of Lavi's car while Kanda and Clair sat in the back, squished up with his violin. "Fasten your seatbelts, because I'm going to make a fifteen minute drive, a three minute drive." Lavi grinned gripping the steering wheel.
"Oh, shit," Allen mumbled grabbing onto the sides of his seat.
Lavi took off in a speeding frenzy, hitting every pot whole and running every red light in town before coming to a stop in front of his small house, "And here we are." Lavi said proudly before looking to his horrified passengers. "What?"
"I hate when you drive," Allen said opening the car door and stepping out shakily.
"That was horrible," Clair said doing the same.
"It wasn't that bad," Lavi said rolling his eyes, "Right Kanda?" he turned to the violinist who was looking more pissed than usual.
"You're a terrible driver," he stated before climbing out of the taking his instrument with him.
"Whaaaat?" Lavi asked getting out and following them to the front door.
"I feel woozy," Allen said walking in and hanging his jacket hook on the back of the door.
"I wonder why," Clair muttered flopping down on the couch. "Anyway, you should start, like, right now." she said looking to Kanda.
"Don't tell me what to do," he said setting the violin on the floor. Allen advanced to the piano and sat on the bench, after getting all of his written pieces from the storage area inside of it.
"Hey, Lavi, I was wondering why you had a piano when you had no idea to play," Allen said handing half the paper pile to Kanda to convert.
"It came with the house," Lavi shrugged, "I didn't ever bother to try and sell it or throw it away."
"Lazy ass," Kanda muttered twirling a pencil in-between his fingers. Allen didn't answer and opened the piano cover to practice one of his songs.
Later Clair claimed she had a boyfriend to get home to and Lavi said he had a date with Lenalee. When the two of them walked out the door, Lavi's parting words to Allen was, "No booze," along with raised eyebrows and an accusing finger. Allen merely waved him down and continued to practice his piano.
The front door shut and Allen stood looking out the window to watch Lavi leave. As soon as he saw the car turn the corner, Kanda's phone buzzed and Allen darted into the kitchen.
Kanda had a text from an unknown number, he slid it open had read it. 'Hey, it's Lavi. Please make sure Allen doesn't drink ANY alcohol whatsoever. I'm afraid he's becoming an addict.'
Kanda frowned and glanced at the kitchen before sending a message back, 'I'm NOT babysitting, and how did you get my number?'
'Clair gave it to me. Please? Allen's really…I guess I should say fragile right now. He may not seem like it but one mention of his ex will send him to his room with a bottle of beer and a weird emo-like aura.'
'Fine! Whatever!' Kanda growled and tucked his phone back into his pocket before standing and stomping grumpily into the kitchen. "What are you doing?" he asked putting his hands to his hips when he saw Allen sitting at the table and sipping at a beer.
Allen jumped and set the bottle down next to two others. "None of your business, BaKanda." he said smoothly.
Kanda's eye twitched at his new nickname, "Didn't the red haired rabbit tell you not to drink?"
"Well," Allen said standing and coming up face to face with Kanda, "I guess I didn't listen." He smirked in such a way that made Kanda's blood boil.