Byul & Hoshi note: I wonder. In the future, will some d-bag troll actually make pigs fly? Just a random thought. XD

Byul So, did you guys like the intermissions?
Hoshi Yeah, did you have a nice "break"? :D :knows full well that the intermissions weren't a break:
Byul you're evil you know that?
Hoshi Now, now, this is no time for compliments! It's time to get writing!

Show Biz: Act I

Scene VII:
Two Star Crossed Partners

Kanda was being the grump that he usually was when he finally just couldn't take it anymore.

He had tried to ignore it. In fact, he thought he was being very sportsman-like in his efforts to control his annoyance at everything that...that stupid rabbit did...but, alas, he'd finally had enough.

Kanda was currently glaring at the two people being all buddy buddy on the other bed. Allen, Lavi, and Kanda were all currently in room seven, where Allen and Kanda had been staying. While Kanda was sitting in his bed, trying to concentrate on reading over the contract that Lenalee had given him from the studio that had agreed to let them record there, Allen and Lavi were playing with Tim on Allen's bed. They had gotten hold of a laser pointer from who knows where and were laughing their asses off as they watched the small kitten leap after it. However, although it was fun, it was keeping Kanda from concentrating. Not to mention he couldn't help noticing how close Lavi was to Allen, practically draped over Allen's shoulders in a "friendly" display of affection. No, wait, what did he care? Sure he now knew he had...some attraction to the moyashi, but that didn't mean anything yet. No, maybe it wouldn't ever mean anything. Especially if Kanda kept shoving those feelings further into his mental filing cabinet. However, the stupid cat was making them laugh too much...yeah...yeah! It was the cat. Sure.

And so, Kanda finally snapped.

"Don't you have you're own dorm room now? Why not go over there?"

Kanda had addressed Lavi, so he was surprised when Allen answered instead, "Oh! Good idea, that way we can play with Tim without disturbing you."Allen said as he picked up the small cat and headed for the door. Lavi got up to follow him and Allen turned to him to say, "And I need to go over the audition details with you. I've been busy, so I'm sure you're more informed than m-"

But Kanda heard no more of the conversation as the door closed and he was left, aghast and alone, staring open mouthed at the spot that the two friends had just disappeared.

What...what the hell? Kanda thought angrily. He was pretty sure he had looked straight at Lavi when he said that. So why the hell had Allen replied? Had he completely missed the tone of contempt in Kanda's voice? How oblivious can you get? Kanda thought, rather annoyed now. Sure, Allen's naive nature was...refreshing. But seriously, there was a limit. Plus, Kanda had wanted to discuss the terms of the contract with Allen, and he felt as if he had been cheated somehow. As a matter of fact, Kanda was sure that he saw a flash of victory in that stupid rabbit's eyes as he'd followed Allen to his own dorm, room eight, across the hall. And it annoyed Kanda to no end as he kept going back and forth between being annoyed at Allen for choosing Lavi over him, to being annoyed at Allen for being obliviously considerate and moving to the next room. Either way, Kanda was extremely peeved. But, most of all, he was angry at that stupid rabbit!

"Che, idiots, both of them!" Kanda muttered angrily as he reluctantly returned to reading the contract.

Meanwhile, in the hall, both Lavi and Allen sneezed simultaneously. They looked at each other and Allen shrugged. "It must be Bakanda acting grumpy again and badmouthing us," Allen said half jokingly, until they heard a sneeze from the closed door behind them. Both of their eyes went wide before they burst into fits of laughter and stumbled into Lavi's room.

"Okay, we can do this. We can do this...we can do this, right?" Allen repeated to Lavi, sounding more and more nervous by the second.

"Allen, calm down, we've got this. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the comfy chairs," Lavi said as he pulled his headband over his eyes.

"How can you be so calm? I just don't understand."

"Well, will freaking out get you anywhere?"

"..."

Of course Lavi had a point. Freaking out was getting him nowhere. Now that he thought about it, he tended to freak out when first doing something. He made a mental note to try and fix that...

"Exactly. So we might as well get rid of as much tension as we can,"the red-head said as he stretched his hands behind his head and pulled his headband down for a nice long nap-

"Number 14, Allen and Bookman? Allen and Bookman to the audition room."

...well, Allen could fix the nervousness later. For now, it wasn't going anywhere.

"Scratch that then," Lavi grumbled, but easily adjusted by putting a smile on his face and guiding a frozen Allen into the room.

As soon as they entered the room, the judge gave them a once over and continued looking at his papers in a very dismissing manner.

W...what the heck? This guy just blew us off. It's freaking Allen out, Lavi thought as he looked to the side at the Allen-cicle, And it's ticking me off. Tch. Judges. Aptly named.

But still, Lavi nudged Allen to get his attention. He winked at him, making Allen smile, which made him smile. "Remember, we've got this." he whispered.

Allen's smile grew more confident, which made Lavi happy. There was just something about that smile that looked totally right on Allen's face, as if God had stopped to personally check its perfection. From the pearly whites, to the glittering, crinkled eyes, to the faintly visible dimple on the left cheek. It was simply perfect.

Allen, in turn, was grateful to his friend for the push. He always managed to pull through things like this, but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous as hell. Usually, Kanda was the one who snapped him out of it, but he was coming to expect the same from Lavi. He didn't know exactly when it happened with Kanda, but he had grown to trust these two men immensely. Even though the red head had seemed clingy at first, he had grown on Allen in just the few times he'd seen him.

Lavi and Allen shook themselves back to reality, and walked to stand before the judge. And boy did this guy look mean. He had a full on Gendo Ikari pose going on complete with a stern face, glinty glasses, a slight frown, and a permanent crinkle between the eyebrows. He was dressed in a dark outfit, complete with a thin and unneeded scarf thrown expertly around his shoulders.

All in all, the typical big shot.

As soon as Lavi and Allen stopped moving, he started talking.

"Here's your scenario. You," the man said, pointing at Lavi, "are the Demon Lord. You just brutally murdered this boy's – the future Demon Slayer's – family, right in front of his eyes. He has no one left. Nothing left. And it's all. Your. Fault." After he dropped that bomb in their laps, the judge just leaned back and said, "Well...whenever you're ready."

Lavi was turned away from Allen, presumably thinking of how to react, and the judge was looking around, bored.

"I'll kill you."

The trembling words were spoken so softly that it could have been a breeze. But Lavi was on his toes, expecting that Allen, with his confidence boost, would act first. He whipped around, and sent a piercing glare in Allen's direction.

"Tch. Still one left?"he growled, immersed in this new character and sending a burning glare in Allen's direction.

The judge was immediately on alert. So far, these two were the first ones to start the scene immediately, with no prior planning.

This should be interesting, he thought, as he let the scene unfold.

"I'll kill you," Allen repeated, louder this time. His voice broke. Lavi sensed that something was off but brushed it aside.

At first, Lavi seemed angered. "What was that, you weakling? You? Kill me? Don't make me laugh. Now, any last words?" Lavi said menacingly - completely taking on the mold of a Demon Lord - as he stalked midway to where Allen stood.

"I'll kill you," came the mantra once again, more forcefully this time, as if this boy was restraining himself from clawing out the demon's throat then and there.

"Still going on with tha-"

"First," the boy growled, stepping forward in a slow creep, "I'll scar you. The mere sight of your face disgusts me, so I'll target that first. Then I'll break your bones. Slowly. Painfully. You could hardly die from that,now, could you? So for a final touch..." and by this time the boy was within arms reach of him. Then, he looked up, right into the demon's eyes.

And when he saw the look in Allen's eyes, Lavi completely forgot that he was acting. That this was a practically empty room where nothing could happen to him. Because Allen's eyes told them he was serious. And as Allen brought a finger up to the left side of his chest he whispered venomously:

"For the final touch...I'll put a bullet straight through your damn heart."

Lavi unconsciously took a step back, but managed to regain his composure. He had to think quick if he wanted Allen to come back to his senses. Something told him this was more than just acting. No, wait. There was no way Allen could be this way...it...it had to be acting...right? Either way, Allen was really deep into it.

"You..." he growled, somehow taking hold of his character once again, "...you're different."

Then Lavi grabbed Allen's outstretched wrist and pulled him forward so Allen's head was hiding his face from the judge's view.

"Allen, calm down, and pretend to pass out when I grab your head," Lavi whispered in Allen's ear. At once, Allen seemed to snap out of it and realize what was happening. His eyes widened, which added to the effect of the scene, though Lavi wasn't sure if it was acting or a reaction to the realization of what he'd been doing.

Then Lavi spun them around so he was behind Allen and facing the judge with half his body. He grabbed the back of Allen's head, and Allen let out a startled cry that cut off half way as he fell to the ground.

"You're very different," Lavi repeated. "You've earned my interest. I'll let you live, for now...Scene."

The judge seemed to come out of his stupor as Allen got up from where he lay and brushed himself off.

"...Well done, both of you. You may leave. We'll notify you if you make call backs."

"I'm sorry!" Allen said.

As soon as they got outside he had called to get them picked up. Once that was over, he immediately turned and bowed to Lavi at the waist.

"I...don't know what came over me." Which was a lie. Allen knew exactly what had happened. He'd snapped. He had totally forgotten that they were in an audition room and he was just acting with a friend. The scenario that the judge gave them had been like a slap in the face to Allen. He knew all too well the feeling of losing everything at the hands of a demon...

"Allen...why are you apologizing? The judge loved us! Besides, isn't it a good thing to get immersed in your role? You were amazing back there," Lavi said, sensing his friend's distress and stepped closer to comfort him. He put a hand on Allen's shoulder, resisting the urge to add one on his waist, and said, "Really. You were perfect."

Allen closed his eyes and chuckled, "Thank you, Lavi."

Lavi just couldn't resist anymore. He was about to pull Allen into a hug when those silver orbs opened, looked over his shoulder, and Allen's face spread into the biggest smile Lavi had seen so far. A soft, unknown, glow came into Allen's eyes. Lavi was shocked. This smile he'd never seen before and it was breath-taking.

"Kanda!" Allen sang as he left without a second glance at Lavi and walked towards the dark haired man leaning against the car that had pulled up in the parking lot.

Lavi turned in time to see Kanda's smirk turn into a smile. A smile. Sure, Lavi hadn't known the guy long, but he knew enough to know that Kanda wasn't a smiling type of guy.

"Moyashi," Kanda teased, the smirk back full throttle.

Oh. Lavi thought. So...that's how it was.

"You're both idiots." Lavi murmured with venom, surprising even himself.

"Hm, what'd you say Lavi?" Allen asked innocently over his shoulder.

"N-nothing!" Lavi hastily said as he laughed and walked up to the trio, earning weird looks from Kanda and Allen.

"Are you okay Lavi? Allen said while getting into the passenger seat.

"I'm peachy king!" Lavi joked, pasting a smile on his face as he got in the back.

Just a little crushed is all.

[Scene end.]

T.B.C.

Hoshi Poor Lavi :c
Byul Oh please, you're the one that wrote it that way. Sadist.
Hoshi and I hate myself every second of it!
Byul Masochist.
Hoshi Shush you!
Byul Dumb bitch.
Hoshi ...this is revenge for waking you up so late to write a rant isn't it?
Byul Damn straight.

H: We love you all! And we love how you stuck with us even though I took so long to update xD Despite all our bickering and teasing, Byul has actually been pretty understanding, which helped a lot c: Thank you. All of you. You're amazing, really!