CHAPTER FIVE: The Green Stuff
"Would you just leave already? I've had enough of this, go home slave-driver!" is what Allen wanted to say. Instead of course, he just said the statement "Was great seeing ya dad, bye", to which of course, Cross Marianne replied with an inappropriate question
"Hey, when this guy—" a quick glance at Kanda "—manages to kill you, I'm allowed to sell your cadaver to medical students right?"
"Dad, that's illegal." Allen also thinks that calling Cross Marianne 'dad' should be illegal (damn the old man for forcing him to do so (and of course he complied, Allen Walker would rather die than face the consequences)).
"What about—"
"And so is selling my entrails..." and he feels a tad irked that Cross' face falls (not that he didn't expect it)
"Just had to ruin my scapegoats didn't ya? Thought it was genius too"
Allen rolls his eyes "He's not gonna kill me" though mentally he adds the word 'maybe'
"Well whatever..." then he looks like he remembered something "...Oh right, I got a gift for you, son"
'OH SHIT,' Allen thinks 'Cross Marianne does NOT call me 'SON'. Calling me 'SON' is reserved for 'SPECIAL OCCASIONS'. AND BY THAT I MEAN—'
"Here..." Allen Walker did not dare look directly at what Cross Marianne was handing him, but—Oh? What's this? Allen begins to think this is not a bill, unless of course bills come in box form now.
"What… is this?" he asks, still a bit skeptic
"A gift for you... or for Timcampy ... Whatever... are you taking good care of 'im?" yes, Cross Marianne cares for Tim, being the original owner and all.
"Yeah, he's doing good..." Allen finds himself glancing at Kanda for a while, observing those immaculate sunken eyes roll as Froi Tiedoll gives him big hug
"What, you wanna do that to?" and before Allen can face his step-dad and shout 'No! Eww! No!', the statement is continued "Or do you have a thing for girly boy?"
"How would you derive such completely different conclusions from one look?" and the Englishman wears a what-the-hell kind of expression
Cross shrugs, and that, is apparently, that
"Ugh, get off me!" suspiciously the words 'old man' aren't at the end of Kanda's sentence
"Well it seems you're really are doing well without us..." Tiedoll pats his son's shoulders "...Your brothers miss you too, said they'd visit sometime"
"Tsch... you're rephrasing what they said aren't you old man?" and is it just Allen, or does Kanda sound the slightest bit teasing in the affectionate way
Tiedoll laughs heartily "Yes, well you know Daisya... But believe me Marie said something very similar"
Kanda shrugs, his expression beginning to turn passive "Go home" he says
"Yes, yes..." and then Cross Marianne, as if he planned to have such great timing, calls his... 'friend'. Allen waved goodbye, as the two climbed into a taxi, while Kanda just stood and stared. When the last brief 'bye' was said, and when the cab sped off into the distance. Allen heaved an exhausted sounding sigh.
"FINALLY!" Allen exclaims "It's over..."
"Tsch" and then Kanda turns around to walk back into the Apartment Building
"...And welcome back!" it is of course, Lavi who is opening the door "How was—" but then he feels totally ignored because Kanda walks past him then—"Hey Kanda wait up!"—Allen does the same.
"Hnh..." the unfazed doorman says "...That's interesting" and he tells himself to have a little chat with Lenalee about this later
...
"Soo..." Allen says, breaking the silence "...the elevator music's spiffy huh?"
Kanda rolls his eyes "What do you want bean?"
"Uh... nothing really..." yes, what does he want?
"Then shut up" a point, Allen decides, that is perfectly reasonable to be taken (was it a point?)
So instead of making conversation, Allen fiddles with the box, Cross called a gift (well the wrapper wasn't so attractive, but Allen appreciated the concern for Tim).
"Hey bean" Kanda's voice startles him, makes him recoil, he almost drops the box
"Ah... yeah?"
"D'you like that New Year's thing?"
Allen can only assume it's the little box in his hands that reminded Kanda of that present of his. Now he is CONVINCED Cross Marianne can never end a visit without giving him something dreadfully inconvenient.
"Uhm..." and the Englishman is fidgeting slightly "...It was good..."
"Hnh..." Kanda doesn't look at him, keeps his gaze forward "...You didn't open it"
"I did!" maybe he was sounding a bit too defensive
The dark-haired man does not turn his head, but his iris rolls slowly to the side, his gaze fixating at the shorter man "That..." he says "... is a blatant lie" the elevator makes that little bell sound, the doors open, and Kanda walks out, swiftly, with poise.
Allen gapes there, almost has the elevators closed on him, manages to get out, and then shouts after Kanda, while taking larges strides. He talks to Kanda as they both fumble for their keys "Look, it slipped my mind! I was planning on opening it sometime—"
Kanda's doorknob goes clink, and it's unlocked "I don't fuckin' care bean, I'm tired, get lost" and he enters his apartment, banging the door behind him
There is no logic behind Allen's actions, when he opts to bang his door shut as well.
...
"You know you COULD just open his gift, but hey, I guess it's too difficult..." Lavi says as Allen hands him a beer. They're in Allen's apartment, because this is where they usually hang out when neither of them is busy.
"It's kinda too late now... though I WILL still open it..." he takes his seat next to Lavi on the fluffy couch. "And keep your voice down Lavi, he's gonna hear us..."
The doorman grins, but gives no explanation.
"What?" Allen feels slightly unnerved by the look
"I talked to Lenalee about that little scene down there early this afternoon" and he's still grinning
"What scene?" Allen genuinely does not know
"When you so desperately ran after Yuu, as he angrily headed for the elevator" his cheeky grin widens
Allen looks appalled, but he turns a shade of pink "I was not DESPERATELY running after him"
Lavi shrugs "That's what it looked like... Lenalee says you're growing to like him... Despite what you might like to make people think"
"By like him..." he gulps "...you mean?..."
"I mean... As one hell of a friend or as a—" the doorman whispers so only they can hear
"NO NO NO!"Allen's shade of pink is now closer to red "WHAT THE HELL! NO WAY! "
"But that's what it looks like..." Lavi frowns, as if offended "...and hey, I know you don't swing that way so don't worry, our final theory was 'like as one helluva friend'."
"Yeah, that makes it WAY better" the Englishman rolls his eyes "Don't spread false rumors about me Lavi" and then he sneers
Lavi gulps down some beer and shrugs in response. "Seriously though what's up you and Yuu?" the doorman sniggers at his own unintentional name pun
Allen rolls his eyes "What's up with you calling him by first name?"
"Jealous?"
"Hell no"
The red-head laughs "Don't be so defensive Allen"
"Who's defensive?"
"Why you are bean sprout!"
"Oh please don't start calling me that too..."
"Oh no no, I am well aware that nicknames is reserved for Yuu and Yuu alone."
Allen furrows his eyebrows "Should I take that as Y-O-U or Y-U-U?"
"Either way it means the same thing in this case" and a shrug accompanies the reply (thereafter followed by a grin)
"Guess I should keep a safe distance from that almost 'almost roommate' of mine from now on..."the Englishman mumbles (and yes, it's almost...almost)
"Seeing as how it looks like he's gonna ignore you for a WHILE... Shouldn't be too hard to do..."
Allen sighs "Well... in any case, I should open these gifts now..."
"How 'bout we open them at the same time?" and to that suggestion an eyebrow is raised (though the eyebrow was not of course of the one who suggested it)
"What?"
"I open Kanda's, you open your step-dad's... It's fun that way, two surprises in one big boom"
"Uhuh..." but Allen was not one who liked spoiling the fun (for anyone) "...Sure..."
He throws Kanda's gift to Lavi, and when the doorman gives some sort of signal, only the ripping and rustling of paper can be heard.
"HOLY -!" they shout in unison, and then they turn to each other, eyes wide
"You first" Lavi says, saying it like he INSISTS it
"It's a battery... I don't know where to buy the kind Tim needs so this was a VERY thoughtful gift, considering it's dad..." he pauses, grimaces because he called Cross dad again, then breathes "...but there's also a bill... I have to pay for half of it... and it's SHIT expensive..." he looks like he's about to hyperventilate
"Well this might make you feel better... or worse..." then the doorman's nervous laughter echoes in the room
"What is it?"
"Ah..." and Lavi lifted a shiny silver wrist watch, with a metallic blue face, this is all Allen can tell from this distance
"Lemme see that!" the Englishman shouts, and he grabs the watch. It was one of those watches where only the numbers twelve, three, six, and nine were present (you know, where the rest of the numbers are just lines). The numbers were silver, and boy was the watch (overall) fucking gorgeous. "Holy cripes, this is a fucking Rolex." Allen finds his jaw slightly dropping.
"You might not want to avoid him for a while... And apologizing is still a good idea" Lavi suggests, for which he gets glared at
"I know that..." Allen gapes at the watch "A FUCKING ROLEX!"
"Yeah, I've seen that watch... Went to Rolex on a whim once, I asked for the cheapest 'Cartier Pasha' watch, whatever that is, saw it on a flyer, and this is what they gave me but..." Lavi takes a peek at the bill Allen's loving step-father sent him "...Yeah, this is just half of what this watch is worth"
"WHAT!" Allen shouts "How much is this worth!"
The doorman bites his lower lip "Around 3.7 thousand"
Allen finds himself buying his own lower lip, inwardly telling the evil urges (of selling the watch to pay his new bill) to go to hell. He was a better person than that, he will, instead, make like a good person, and take good care this expensive gift. Yes, that's what he was going to do.
"So what are you going to do?" Lavi asks
"I'm gonna keep it, use it, so I can tell AND show Kanda that I'm grateful... Not much else to do is there?" there's a bit of sarcasm in Allen's tone
Lavi snorts "And so you do like him..."
"Whether or not I like him the way you say I do is irrelevant." Allen scowls "He bought me a ROLEX, Lavi..."
"Excuses, excuses..." and then Allen smacks him playfully (?) on the cheek "That hurt!" Lavi said with a hiss, though his eyes were laughing
"Yeah whatever" the Englishman takes his bottle and chugs down more beer
"But Kanda must be rich... This is one hell of a present, for someone he barely knows even!" Lavi the doorman is slowly really beginning to look like that creepy cat from 'Alice in Wonderland'
Allen narrows his eyes "What are you implying?"
"Nothin' bloke, nothin' at all..." anyone can tell it's a lie
...
The next day, yet again, Kanda and Allen end up alone inside the elevator (so few people wake up so early, the halls are really empty at such a time of day). The Englishman makes it a point to discern the brands of the dark-haired one's clothes. Not that he really cared if the guy was really rich like Lavi said, but... 'Dang, that coat is unmistakably Armani...' and no, Allen doesn't know this cause he's been eyeing that coat since the Winter clothes were put on display. 'And is that watch Rolex too? Everything else about his outfit just screams Louis Vuitton though, boots included...' again, Allen does not stare from outside Louis Vuitton's store window. Maybe he should stop this pointless brand discerning and just apologize.
"Uhm... Look, Kanda—" and he's cut short when Kanda grabs his wrist and raises it up, the shiny silver Rolex is revealed
"You opened it" he says, coldly, expression impassive "Good" and right then they hear that little bell sound. Kanda steps out of the elevator.
Yet again, the doors almost close on Allen.
...
(Original A/N:I was actually so inspired for this chapter, I got so many things going on in my mind for it... I dunno, I was just thinking that things are about to get more Yuullen (and isn't that energizing? Lol). Anyway, I'd love reviews ^^)
A/N after edit: Kanda's nicer here than in canon, I like to think it's because he's lived a different life (a much more pleasant one). I changed some minor details in this chapter; I doubt anyone can spot those though.