Hello everyone,

since I'm back, I return to my usual two updates per week.

Thanks for the reviews.

To jy24: They don't know the gender yet. If I wrote a pronoun that clarifies it, it's just a mistake I made. I didn't know it either yet at the time I wrote that chapter.

To Ryuakilover: Thank you and I would have loved to stay there longer, but we had to be back in time for school.

And something else. I recently started watching DGM Hallow. What exactly did happen to the drawings? It may be just my impression, but that isn't the same style as the earlier seasons, is it? I don't really like it if I'm honest. No offence, but Allen's eyes are silver, not violet and the second version of his arm is black, not red if I'm right. But maybe I am just being picky... I still prefer the earlier episodes.

Disclaimer: A bit repetetive every chapter, isn't it?

In the afternoon I am woken up by someone softly shaking me, "Mr. Walker? It is time. You can leave the hospital now, if you wish."

I groggily open my eyes, scanning the room, "Where is Kanda?"

"Getting the car as far as I know," River answers, "Do you want me to fill in the papers?"

"Yes, that would be great."

"I will," he chuckles, the motions to a chair next to the bed, "Here are your clothes. Kanda will get you, I guess."

I can only nod. After he left I get out of bed. My stomach still aches slightly, but at least the burning pain is gone. I sigh in relief when I feel a strong kick. Then I pull on my clothes and sit back on the bed. I am still tired. It takes only some minutes for the door to be thrown open. Despite the rough treatment I smile when it reveals Kanda, a hint of tiredness visible in his features as well.

"Come on, moyashi. We're leaving. I don't like hospitals much more than you do."

I grin and walk over to the door, still careful. I smile at him when I reach him, but he only scoffs. I ignore it and grab his hand cheekily. He opens his mouth but before he can say anything I argue.

"I am still weak, BaKanda. I need some support," I have no problem lying to him like that, after all I only want to hold his hand.

Finally he accepts it, if you look past his mumblings about 'baka moyashis' and 'being clingy'. On the way out, River hands us the documents for my release and I happily follow Kanda out to the parking lot. He helps me into his car and sets on driving home. I fall asleep on the way back. So I don't notice how Kanda carries me into the flat and puts me to bed.

I am getting better fast after we returned and only two days later I am back to my full strength. And it is good that I am because that means Kanda can go into the park to train again. He was already getting agitated and I wouldn't want him have a relapse. So we go there every second day, with him training and me sitting under a tree, watching him or reading with a blanket around me.

Nonetheless something still seems to be bothering him. He is slightly troubled. Some days not even sword-fighting seems to be enough to get him calm and I am running out of possibilities. But at the moment we or more I have more pressuring matters. I am getting closer to my sixth month and by now even Kanda's clothes are getting tight for me, only around my stomach, obviously.

So after I nearly failed to close one of Kanda's trousers while having to roll them up at the end quite a bit he decided that it's time to go shopping and dragged me out of the apartment. I am actually excited to leave because I was never really out like this with him, only to the park, but not to the mall. Sure I was there with Linali but it's just not the same. But it's also quite embarrassing, knowing that I don't fit into any normal clothes anymore.

Kanda doesn't seem all that happy either but I guess that comes from having to go shopping maternity clothing (how I hate that word) with me and most likely being assumed as the father of the child. Which he isn't, unfortunately. Wait, where did that come from? Would I really want to have his children? And to my embarrassment, the answer I find in myself is yes, I would. The hell? I blush which earns me a strange look from him, but luckily he is focused on driving.

When we arrive at a big mall he parks the car and helps me out of it. Moving is getting more difficult each day. Not that I am that big yet, I just like complaining while being emotional. I am just glad Kanda didn't snap at me yet. I stretch, the bump in my abdomen becoming clearly visible, and enjoy the sun shining on my face.

"Come on, moyashi. We don't have all day," Kanda grumbles and motions me to hurry.

I grin and bounce (more or less) after him, happy to be spending the day with him. It is Friday and he even took leave from work today, so I am just glad to have him at my side. To be honest I would be quite afraid to do this alone. Only now do I notice just how difficult it would have been if Kanda had never taken me in. I wouldn't have any support now and most likely wouldn't even have money for the needed clothes. He gets it from a fund from Tiedoll and some money he said he inherited from his real parents (whoever they were).

But nonetheless I can't keep my feet from slowing down more and more the closer we get to the maternity store. Alone the thought of entering this store and most likely being surrounded by pregnant women is frightening. Carrying males like myself are still the minority and society sometimes views it as unnatural, in rare cases even disgusting. To my relief Kanda shows the same reluctance. Nonetheless we both know we have to do it, so when he stops in front of the entrance, turns to me with a frown and taps his foot impatiently, I hurry to catch up.

"You okay, moyashi?" he asks gruffly, "You seem a bit pale."

"I'm fine. Just a bit nervous about having to go in there."

He scoffs but then simply steps into the store. I take a deep breath and follow him. Immediately the eyes of the woman at the cash register are fixed on us. She is seizing us up and down. I am pretty sure that she sees that I am a mamorunin and that causes me to instinctively inch closer to Kanda, in search of safety. He throws me an irritated look but doesn't say anything. Instead the lady speaks up.

"Go straight through and then to the right side," she says blankly and points to the back of the store.

I nod while Kanda stares at her slightly bewildered. So I set myself on dragging him there. With that line she confirmed my fears about me being immediately recognised because most of the maternity stores today are adapting and putting in (smaller) sections of male clothing and that is exactly where she pointed us.

I stand still as soon as we reach it. That is embarrassing! I am not sure if I even want to touch any of these clothes. They look way too feminine for my liking, thanks a lot. I see Kanda stare in disgust at them. That at least causes me to snicker.

"Come on. I am sure, there are better ones somewhere in these piles," I say to him, trying to sound as optimistic as possible.

He grumbles but then follows my lead and starts searching. At some point I hear him mumble angrily about it.

"That's shit. Why the fuck do I have to this? There is a fucking reason why I order my own clothing online."

I chuckle, "Your clothing consists of white dress shirts, black trousers, some jeans and your beloved dark, sleeveless training shirts. It's not that difficult to buy."

"You're one to talk, baka moyashi," he grumbles back accompanied with some shirt flying in my direction, "Back then you wore basically the same every fucking day."

I pout, "That was my favourite outfit! And after Mana saw how much I liked it he bought it another time."

"More like ten," he mumbles and I throw a pair of trousers at him which he catches without even properly looking. That only causes me to pout harder. (And the chuckle from another man nearby.)

Some time later we made it through the clothing and meet in front of the changing cabins. It was not really easy to find something that would fit my size (not only my stomach) because these clothes are generally designed to fit grown men apart from the stomach. Completely grown up! I am relatively short to begin with, as much as I hate it, I can't deny it. Adding to the fact that I am only 17, it ends in the fact that most of the clothing here is way too long for me. When Kanda joked if we should try the woman's clothing I nearly snapped and he had to console me with the promise of an ice-cream later on so I would not start a crying fit then and there.

Wordlessly he hands me the articles he has taken and I walk into one of the cubicles. I try on most of the clothes with varying success. He seems uncaring of what I am actually wearing, causing me to pout. In the end we decide on two pants, three shirts, two sweaters and a jacket. Kanda does his best to keep his embarrassment and anger from showing while he pays the objects. I don't really care because I am too much looking forward to my ice-cream.

Later we buy a new coat for me in a normal shop (normally too big for me, but with my developing baby bump, I need it) because my old one is literally falling apart. After that we go eat lunch and Kanda is starting to eye his emptying purse warily. We try another maternity clothing store in the afternoon but it is even worse there and all we take is another shirt and some sweat pants. Just when we come out of this store it happens. We hear a loud voice from behind us.

"Hey, Kanda. Is that you? Nice to see you here," a young man, I would say some years older than Kanda, is waving at us and coming closer.

"Fuck," I hear the raven curse next to me.

I look at him curiously, "Who is this?"

"Lavi number two," he answers grumpily.

But before I can ask more, the male has reached us. He smiles at Kanda, luckily ignoring me for the moment. That gives me time to study him. He has short brown hair which is slightly wavy at the ends and a stubbly beard. His eyes are a dark brown as well and sparkling with mirth. He is clad simply in a green shirt and jeans. The way he speaks with Kanda, they are familiar and I can't help but wonder from where they know each other, a slight pang of jealousy cursing through me. Damned hormones! So I clear my throat audibly.

"Who is this, Kanda? Would you mind introducing us," I say in a slightly strained voice.

He stares at me strangely for a moment then answers unwillingly, "This is Dean Turner, a colleague from work."

"Nice to meet you," Dean says and holds his hand out to me.

"You too," I answer and shaking his hand, fake smile right in place.

I see Kanda frown at me from the corner of my vision, but hey, everything strange I do I can later blame on the pregnancy. So I can freely play the jealous boyfriend right now.

"And you are?" Dean asks.

"Allen Walker," I say politely.

"An old friend," Kanda cuts in.

"Ah," the brunette laughs and turns back to the other, "I am glad that you actually have friends like this, Kanda. I was always afraid you were alone."

"Che," the younger scoffs and I narrow my eyes.

But before I can bore into the subject Dean seems to spot the bags Kanda and I are carrying, "So why are you here? I never saw you at the mall before. Wait… 'maternity clothing'?"

His gaze raises and he fixes Kanda with a strange look, "You are shopping for a girlfriend? And you, anti-social Kanda Yuu, are going to become a father?"

I can basically feel Kanda flare up with embarrassment and anger, "No! I don't have some stupid girlfriend! Baka!"

I also puff my chest up at that and step next to him. Unfortunately I forgot about the fact that I am wearing only a long-sleeved shirt right now and the bump is pretty good visible when I stand like that. So it takes only one moment for Dean to see it. That ends in him gaping at me, which causes me to immediately change my stance to nearly doubling over to hide my stomach. Then he starts to look in between Kanda and me which causes the latter to seethe even more. In the end the brunette grins broadly.

"Wow, so you are the one pregnant. You're one of those carrier-males. Mamo-something, right? I never met one. You guys are real wonders of nature you know that? This is so exciting. How does this feel like I wonder. And you, Kanda. Congratulations. You could have just told me that you favour men, I don't care. And now you're getting a child. I am so happy for you. Does anyone else know? But why didn't you tell me that he was your boyfriend. He's quite the cutie you know?" Dean is babbling and by now I understand why Kanda calls him 'Lavi number two'.

Unconsciously I inch behind Kanda, a habit that becomes more and more the further I get in my pregnancy. The raven himself first gapes at the older, then he starts to seethe again. Until he explodes.

"It's fucking not my child, you idiot! And Allen is really only a fucking friend! Not more, for god's sake!" he yells, causing some heads to turn towards us and me to burry my face in his back.

Dean stands there a bit shocked. Then he shakes himself out of it and smiles.

"Sorry then, I guess. I was jumping to conclusions. But you have to admit that it would point that way if you're the one shopping maternity clothes with him, don't you think?"

I only sigh and Kanda growls, "That's just because he fucking has no one else."

I refrain from hitting him even though I want it. Can anyone be more blunt? Nonetheless the brunette's face softens at that. He looks almost pitying. Oh, how I hate it to get pity. That was also always I reason I liked Kanda that much. He would never pity anyone. I don't know why and other people would see it as cruel, but I like it.

"Then I have to apologise," Dean says coming closer to me, "What I said was inappropriate. I didn't mean to offend any of you."

"It is no problem," I answer getting slightly uncomfortable.

"If you don't mind me asking. How did it come to this?" he continues and also still gets closer with every step.

"Nothing I would like to recount," I say back, inching around Kanda to keep away from the brunette.

It is kinda ridiculous how we are circling Kanda with Dean trying to get closer and me evading it. And I am sure the raven won't stand that for much longer. I can see the vein on his temple while Dean keeps on asking questions. Finally he has enough and grabs my wrist to pull me towards the exit of the mall.

"We are going beansprout! I have had fucking enough for one day!" he growls, leaving his colleague standing there stunned.

The drive back is relatively silent because I am too tired after this day and doze half of the ride. Kanda on the other hand is still fuming over our encounter with his colleague.

In the end he (indirectly) excuses the strange behaviour of Dean. He said that the brunette is just an idiot even though he had a big heart (that wasn't expressed directly either). But all in all this trip was good because we could get out of the flat for other things than work, the park or groceries. And I have clothing that is not tight anymore. Great…

That's it for today. Thanks for reading.

So, that was the obligatory filler chapter about buying clothes ;) I needed something lighter after the near miscarrige and what is coming up afterwards anyway.

Please review and see you all next time.