CHAPTER NINE: Dinner
"This is uncomfortable" Allen thinks to himself, as he awkwardly hides himself behind his menu, occasionally peering beyond it to see if any of the following miracles happen: ONE, the night would be over; TWO, the restaurant would close; THREE, one of them dies (anyone, preferably Kanda, thinks Allen, and then he takes it back quickly, wishing himself dead instead). But miracles don't happen when you need them to happen… at least, not when your reasons for needing them are kind of stupid, and Allen admits that this is stupid, that he is being stupid. This could have been easily avoided "No" should not be such hard a word to say. It is surprising how for the first time Kanda and he are on the same wavelength.
"Bean… Why THE HELL did you come?" Allen thinks that Kanda has every right, to look as infuriated as he does, to SOUND as infuriated as he does. Because this is just so STUPID, why Allen agreed to this dinner is beyond even his own comprehension, which is why he continues to hide behind his menu, pretending he is deaf
"This is how you treat your neighbors then…" Daisya comments, feigning the idleness in his tone "…INTRESTING…"
Kanda glares at him pointedly, he looks like his fists are ready to be thrown any second now
"Please calm down Kanda, the waiter is going to be too afraid to serve us anything if this goes on…" Marie said, with weariness in his tone
Froi Tiedoll, being the man that he is, lets out a hearty laugh "I missed this" he says. The replies are two heavy sighs, an eye roll, and awkward shifting. "I'm so glad you accepted our invitation Allen"
Allen TRIES to nod, but Kanda interrupts his would be reply by saying "It wasn't OUR invitation, it was YOUR invitation. I, in the first place, did not fucking want to be here, bean, or no bean."
Tiedoll leans towards Allen's direction, pretending to whisper something only to him, when in reality everyone hears him when he says, "He's just shy."
Kanda growls, Marie sighs, and Daisya laughs. Allen clasps onto his menu tighter, sinking further behind it, and then, a shaking waiter serves their appetizer, mozzarella sticks. He is forced to climb out of his hiding place (it's the lure of the cheesy smell he tells you, the lure!)
Allen looks around; everyone's already taken a piece. This is what's awkward about dining with an entire family, when it's just you, you don't know if you have a right to a piece of the shared food, so you hesitate to get a piece no matter how delicious it looks.
"Don't be shy Allen! Go on, eat as much as you like!" Froi Tiedoll tells him, and Allen inwardly notes how he SHOULDN'T do that, because his REAL appetite was so big to the point that it was SCARY. In public, he tells himself to eat like everyone else does, and he'll do the same now.
"So Allen…" Daisya says, as he chews "…How is it like to live next door to this monster of a man?"
Kanda tenses and scowls at Daisya, but thinks better than to talk with his mouth full.
"Uhm… It's… fine… He's really…. " the Englishman thinks deeply on an appropriate adjective "…Quiet…"
Kanda snorts "Much unlike how YOU are"
Somehow since it's Kanda, Allen can bring himself to glare "I am NOT that noisy, you're too quiet, nothing drowns sound in your apartment! You can hear yourself THINK in there"
"Please…" Kanda narrows his eyes, and gives Allen the you-are-pathetic look "…I hear you and the rabbit going at it ALL the time"
"My, how well acquainted you two are!" Tiedoll laughs
"So this 'rabbit', do I by any chance know her by 'face' Kanda?" Daisya is looking at the Japanese like he should know what the question meant
"The rabbit is MALE you wanker, and 'going at it' has other meanings, besides…" Kanda takes a small bite of the mozzarella stick he held "…I don't think the bean even KNOWS how to do THAT"
The Englishman looks riled up "Hey, I'll have you know—" Allen pauses, sinks back into his chair, goes meek and says "…never mind…" and now things were back to awkward, for him at least
Kanda snorts, "All the bean knows how to do is eat, drink, sleep and yap…" it is a surprise for Allen how his comment is not about his inappropriate almost-outburst
"You forget, that I know how to make a damn good barista too…" and the Englishman TRIES to look teasing, but whether or not he succeeded in the expression he did not really know
"Tsch..." says Kanda "…whatever, Vanilla frappes don't mean anything to me…"
"REALLY?" and this, all-else at the table says in unison
"The hell is with you people?" Kanda rolls his eyes and grunts "Means nothing, so there, period, SHUT UP"
"That's no way to talk to your father" though strangely, Froi Tiedoll looks utterly amused
"I talk like this all the time" the Japanese points out
"Not in front of other people" his step-father reasons
"But the bean is not 'OTHER PEOPLE'…" and Allen finds himself flushed for some reason "…The bean…" Kanda continues, and the Englishman actually finds himself anticipating of all things, which is probably why, what followed disappointed him (though he would not admit to that even in the slightest bit) "…is a BEAN, that's all there is to it"
The statement is followed, by a few minutes of silence, the waiter, with a confused look on his face, serves them all their soup. As great as the cream of mushroom soup looked, nobody really noticed, because the silence, found itself being stretched for a grand total of seven minutes.
"Nice Kanda, NICE…" Allen finally says "…VERY intelligent" he stares at his mushroom soup, picks up his spoon, and then takes a sip. He then glares at Kanda, sighs, and then "Excuse me…" he says while standing up, Froi Tiedoll looks at him questioningly. "Restroom is all" Allen says smiling casually "Be right back…" and he walks off
"WHY..." says Daisya "…did you fucking say that you effeminate moron?" he grits his teeth as he scowls at Kanda
"Why do you people choose to condemn me NOW, when I do this ALL the time?" everyone has to admit, that Kanda has a point, BUT
"This ISN'T the time to be an ass Kanda, this isn't the time…" Daisya rolls his eyes and roughly grabs his spoon, growling as he began to drink his soup
Marie, awkwardly shifts, and proceeds to doing the same, while their beloved stepfather nonchalantly slurps loudly (but just loud enough for only their table to hear (genius really, who knows how he does it)).
Kanda sighs exasperatedly, and does what one should never do in front of their parents, play with his food.
……………………
When they serve the wine, Kanda and Allen drink much of it, so much that Froi Tiedoll, Daisya, and Marie, actually feel nervous letting them go home on their own.
"Nice talking to you Allen" Tiedoll says, serenely jolly as ever "I'll say hello to your dad for you"
"I'd rather you tell him 'Pay your debts' for me…" Allen pauses, tilts his head to one side "…It was nice talking to you too"
Tiedoll laughs "Right then…" he turns to his sons "…boys, say goodbye to your brother and Allen, then"
"We were about to" Daisya says
"Goodbye Allen" Marie offers a handshake "Till next time then"
Allen takes the handshake, but then quickly retracts his hand to cradle his aching head "Sorry…" he tells Marie "…the world is kinda spinning right now"
In the most smartass way possible, Kanda says, "The world's ALWAYS spinning"
Daisya 'playfully' punches his Japanese stepbrother and proceeds to patting Allen on the shoulder "Bye then, Allen Walker"
The Englishman smiles at Daisya and Marie "Bye. Nice meeting you two." Daisya grins and Marie nods, smiling.
"And as for you oh dear brother…" Kanda receives a painful pat on the back "…I'll see you around…"
"I fucking hope not…" Kanda replies "…BYE DAISYA"
Marie pats the Japanese's shoulder "Bye for me too then"
"Bye Marie…" it's obvious, who Kanda would pick as his favorite brother, if he's forced to choose.
"All right, group-hug boys!" Froi Tiedoll exclaims, and he pulls all his sons in with just one go
Even though the three were either awkward, furious, or complaining, Allen still felt a slight pang of envy. Just a tinge, mostly because this is probably time, out of all times that evening, that he felt most out of place. This is the time, out of all the times, where he felt like he should have REALLY said no. But then again, maybe he was just letting himself think he felt that way, maybe, maybe that weird feeling at the pit of his stomach was happiness and not unease or indigestion.
"GOODBYE OLDMAN" Kanda explains, as he somehow pries himself free from the hug
"Do visit us sometimes Yuu, we miss you so…" says Tiedoll, and this is the one time, that Kanda and Daisya agree on something, because they both snort as a reaction
"Fine, fine…" Kanda says "… The cab's waiting for you, go on all of you… Head home!"
And not too long after that, they're off, the two watch the cab speed into the distance.
"You have such a nice family…" Allen comments
Kanda snorts "Yeah…" he says "…Whatever you say"
They stand there a while, silently, awkwardly.
"GAH" the Englishman exclaims "I need a beer"
"I know just where to get that"
………………………
It's a beautiful morning, the sun shines down brightly form the heavens, the birds are singing, and the temperature, is just so WONDERFULLY right. Allen thinks, that his bed is an unusual kind of warm, not that he complains because it's a good kind of warm, kind of smells good too, and—"Oh god…" Allen thinks "…it's breathing! My bed is breathing!"Hesitantly, Allen lifts his body up.
Kanda rubs his eyes "What the hell's so heavy—" he stops, eyes widening "What the—"
"GAH!" Allen shouts, and they tumble to the floor
"Holy shit!" Kanda shouts "Fucking HELL, what were you doing sleeping ON ME?"
"Why are you in you NAKED!" Allen screams in reply
"Why are YOU naked?"
"Oh man" Allen looks around frantically for his clothes, he finds them scattered around the room; the room being his BEDROOM, "DID WE" he waves a hand frantically, back and forth between Kanda and he "Did you? Did I? Did—GAH" he grunts "… shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!"
"We couldn't have… " the Japanese says, voice calmer now, face still frantic, eyes still wide
"But we MIGHT have"
"WHATEVER, even if we did…" Kanda looks at him pointedly "… we should FORGET IT"
"Way ahead of you" Allen says "I don't remember a single thing"
"Good" Kanda says "Neither do I. Let's forget it "
"Rig—"
"ALLEN! Hey! Wake up!" the voice is painfully familiar
"OH SHIT" Allen loudly whispers "It's Lavi!"
"Oh great, you left your door open"
"I want DEEEEEEEEETAAAAAAAAILSS!" Lavi exclaims
"He's the DOORMAN Kanda, he has access to EVERYONE'S keys"
"Fuck, whatever, what do we fucking do now?" Kanda looks uncharacteristically flustered
"I'm going out to greet Lavi, you lock the door and stay in here, I'll get him to leave, don't go out till I say so." Kanda acknowledges the plan with a nod, and after he locates and puts on his underwear Allen exits the room. The knob goes click, and it's locked. 'SAFE' Allen thinks
"Hey Lavi" Allen says, breathing a sigh of relief
"There you are! Details then! Details! How was the food? How was the dad? How were the brothers?" the doorman says cheerfully
"Sorry, I have to…uhm…" Allen looks at his wall clock, and realizes it's Saturday "…GET READY FOR WORK!" he shouts "Yeah, uh, thanks for waking me up, would've been fired if it weren't for you" he laughs nervously
"Damn…" Lavi understands completely the value of a job, being a professional and dedicated doorman himself "See you later then, remember Allen, DETAILS" he grins
"RIGHT" Allen breathes "Bye then" and then, Lavi turns his back on him, still grinning, and begins to walk—
THUD, goes something in Englishman's room
"SHIT" thinks Allen; "FUCK" thinks the unlucky person in his bedroom.
"What was that?" Lavi says, turning his head back to Allen, eyes wide
And the Englishman, says the most intelligent reply could think of…
"Oh bollocks"
……………………..
(Original A/N: I am debating on whether you EAT or DRINK soup…… ANYWAY. It's been a WHILE. I've been busy with schoolwork and midterms, so I haven't been able to update this… Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this long due update.)
A/N after edit: My dad said you DRINK soup, so I was like ok, whatever then. I toned down the cursing and reduced the number of all caps sentences and phrases. It annoyed me when I was rereading this chapter so I sort of changed up some of the things they said in that last part, it's still almost the same as the original though. Except yes, instead of waking up being almost naked in bed with each other, I made them wake up entirely naked next to each other. It just makes more sense seeing as [spoiler] I implied in the later chapters that they DID do it