CHAPTER TEN: Circumventing

"Oh bollocks…" Allen breathes, looking exceptionally nervous (as well he should). He can feel his hands shaking, whether or not it's because he's nervous or because it's cold and he's just wearing his underwear he can't really tell. What excuse could get him out of this? What the hell was Kanda doing? Why didn't he grab a bathrobe before leaving his room?

Lavi raises an eyebrow, that trademark sheepish grin of his slowly creeping its way on his face "Oh bollocks what?"

"It's…" THINK Walker THINK "…my new pet…"

"What new pet?"

"Uh… My new pet boa… uh… Mel…" Allen then pauses briefly as he mentally considers why on earth someone would name a huge snake Mel

"Allen…" this Lavi says in all seriousness "…there is something suspicious about you today…"

"What makes you think that?" this the Englishman asks with a nervous laugh.

"Well first of all, you slept in your underwear…" he narrows his eyes "…you NEVER sleep in your underwear"

"Uhm… Is that—"

"And SECOND of all, no one, and I mean NO ONE, in the right mind would name a boa Mel" the intonation, is matter-of-factly "It's not FIERCE enough"

"I was drunk last night, and I wasn't thinking straight. When I woke up, I found that I was horrifyingly not alone in my room" Allen is quite surprised that that was a statement that was not a lie in the least

The doorman's eyes remain narrowed "I see you drunk all the time Allen, and nothing like this has ever happened, you broke the rules of the apartment building"

"Right, I know, no pets allowed, I'll get rid of my surprise company right away, before I go to work even." He pauses "Which reminds me, WORK, please leave me to get ready…please…"

Lavi does not respond

"I will DEFINITELY fix the problem ok? I need to—"

It just happens SO fast. Lavi, with his brilliant speed, swiftly opens the door of Allen's bedroom (and yes, we did need the redundancy there). The thing about being a doorman is, you can get a key to every apartment. The thing about being a doorman, plus best friend of the apartment building's owner's sister, is you get a key to EVERYTHING. And thus in door opening, Lavi succeeds every time.

Allen gapes and screams "OH MY FUCKING—"

"Kanda?" Lavi exclaims, looking utterly bewildered

Allen musters all his courage, ALL his courage, just to peer inside his own wretched bedroom. There Kanda stands fully clothed, looking amazingly calm.

"I'm picking up the boa idiotically named Mel" the Japanese says, and he is just so nonchalant, it's become irksome to Allen

Allen tries to look as nonchalant as possible as well "See Lavi? I DID say I was taking care of it"

"You let Kanda see you while you were still in your undies?" the doorman looks at Allen with utter amusement in his face

"Hey, these aren't indecent undies." Allen argues "They're boxers, and they cover most of my thigh. Besides I'm wearing briefs underneath" he wasn't really wearing anything underneath, which makes this situation all the more frustrating. Kanda gives Allen a look, and instead of trying to decipher that look he finds himself trying to remember what the Japanese's undies were. He then mentally slaps himself.

Lavi tries to talk, but Kanda intervenes."Unfortunately…" he says "…because of that DAMN DOOR, it's impossible NOT to see him in such an unattractive state." He pauses "But then again he's already permanently in that state anyway."

"You leave the door OPEN? I thought you two hated each other"

"We do" Allen says "But Kanda here has a secret affinity to the image of me in my undies, despite what he might tell you"

Kanda scowls and says "Obviously not fucking true AT ALL" he turns to Lavi "It has something to do with our 'stepfathers', who are unfortunately close to being friends"

"Right, and it's private family business so can't really tell you any details" Allen follows up "And neither can he" he gestures towards Kanda with his thumb

"How interesting it is that you two share an intimate secret, I CANNOT tell you enough" the doorman grins, briefly they all wonder how he can be both teasing and poetic (well he was KINDA poetic)

"It's not as if we're keeping a secret entirely for our own self-interest" is Allen's relatively untruthful argument

"And there are things, which you can't really tell other people" Kanda agrees "But I'm sure you know that REALLY well don't you rabbit?"

Much to Allen's surprise, Lavi tenses at Kanda's (rhetorical) question.

The doorman bites his lower lip, narrowing his eyes as he gives Kanda a funny look. The Japanese, in turn, shrugs, looking triumphant in indifference.

"See you later then Allen" says the redhead, and he leaves the apartment without another word

For a moment, Kanda and Allen just listen to the sound of the doorman's footsteps

"What the hell was THAT?" the Englishman asks

"THAT bean, was blackmail"

"How would you—" he grunts "… What do you know about Lavi that I don't?"

Kanda shrugs "Can't tell you can I?"

"NO WAY" Allen exclaims "You slept with him too didn't you?" the thing about jokes is they're usually half meant

"Whatever meaning you're tying onto the phrase 'slept together' my answer will always be no. And I don't know which kind of 'slept together' you and I did last night, but I'm not planning on finding out. So when you stick your fingers into you skinny little ass latter in the shower, don't even bother telling me if you find something there, keep it to yourself" that is one of the longest statements ever to come out of Kanda's mouth, Allen thinks

"What makes you so sure there'll be something in MY arse?" suddenly Allen finds it uncomfortable to say ass and all its synonyms

Kanda snorts, and does not reply. A few seconds later, he is closing that damn door behind him. The Englishman's question is left in the air.

……………………

The thing about silver Rolex watches is they can be blindingly shiny on an especially sunny day. Such as this day, in which Allen has blinded about ten people in the bus with the spiffy looking eye hazard. An exaggeration, this is not. Though Allen will admit that he had not thought it possible till that day, he always thought that there was no adverb you can attach to the phrase 'shiny silver Rolex' to make it better (or worse?), because 'exquisite', 'very', 'tantalizingly', and the like, were sort of a given (because it was a ROLEX, and in Allen's humble opinion, when it's a Rolex, it is automatically exquisite (never mind that ugly Rolex watches DO exist)). As the glaringly bright sunrays bounce of the silver baron that is Allen's Rolex, the Englishman (pathetically) valiantly pulls himself through the morning crowd while trying with all his might to shield his eyes and the Rolex from the sun.

Winter is not long gone, and spring is just barely here. Allen fidgets in his significantly thinner than before clothes as he waits impatiently for the sign to say 'walk'. He just wants to cross the street already, couldn't the darn light understand? Turn green! Turn green! Turn—YES! Allen runs across the road, not caring how unsightly he looked as he dashed. On the other side of the road, was one man, who was by all means tired of waiting.

"What took you so damn long bean?" but he doesn't really sound angry

"My watch kept on blinding other people" Allen answers truthfully

"Keep your hands in your pockets then"

There's a reason why Allen and Kanda are meeting up here in front of a trendy mall's entrance, and it's not a very good one.

…………………..

(OriginalA/N:I'm so embarrassed xD The last chapter had many unforgivable grammatical errors. I should get an editor, I'm just too lazy when it comes to editing… Anyway, I realized I have to clear a few things mainly: (1) I was not really paying much attention to the fact that Marie is blind, whether or not I'll follow that fact depends on if it's still fit (I have yet to re-read my own story), and (2) I realize that Daisya is actually from Turkey. If I ever called him Spanish then I suck :| But the thing about him with the Spain shirt is supposed to be suggesting he likes the Spanish soccer team... xD I gotta fix this fic…

ON THE NEWEST DGM CHAPTER:The cover was GRAND. I was so HAPPY that it was Kanda and Allen, and they look AWESOME x3. The chapter cover is currently my wallpaper :| You guys should check the latest chapter out. There isn't much Kanda (much to my disappointment) to go around really but what we do get of him is frustratingly intriguing. xD Kinda pissed that the next chapter comes out November. ANYWAY

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I re-read this chapter, so hopefully I didn't miss any errors this time like I did last time :|)

A/N after edit: Just changed what needed to be changed so this chapter was consistent with the new version of the previous one