CHAPTER ELEVEN: Words That Begin With P

"I've been trying to remember what happened the other night…" Allen confesses, as he and Kanda strolled. The Englishman knew something was up when Kanda of all people invited him to go to a mall to help him buy a gift for a 'friend'. It was by far the lamest cover up reason, for an action with ulterior motives that Allen has ever heard. But since everyone back at the Black Order Apartment Building was just SO 'supportive' about this trip, he decided to carry on with the outing anyway. He was comforted (?) at least by the fact that this was not anything Kanda initiated on his own. In fact the Japanese looked like he was forced to go through with the outing. Allen had a nagging feeling that everyone back at the Apartment building somehow put this guy up to this.

"Didn't I tell you to forget about it?" and Kanda did tell Allen this, not so many moments after they had both discovered they may have done something irreversible. To both their dismay, this thing they might have done is something they did with each other. And for Allen, all things he did with Kanda were awkward, and in the same way (?), Kanda feels that everything he does with 'the bean' is annoying (and if the Japanese was going to be honest, it was because for him, anything awkward was annoying).

"I did forget about it. That's why I'm trying to remember it." Allen knew this was a smartass (dumbass?) comment. He knew perfectly well what Kanda meant by 'forget about it'. It was just that he'd like to know what he was 'forgetting about' before he begins to set it aside in his brain. "Do YOU remember anything?"

"I don't." Kanda answers plainly "And I don't fucking want to"

"You know, it's fine with me if you curse at home, but when we're in public I'd rather that you—"

"Whatever. Shut up." And to that, the Englishman replies with a sigh. For a moment, they both walk in silence, until Allen asks the inevitable question (which Kanda had admittedly wished to not have been asked by his unwilling companion).

"So who are we buying this present for?"

"Heaven knows…" the thing about this phrase, Kanda thinks, is it is never a lie

"You don't know who we're buying this present for?"

"I do. But I'm only allowed to tell people who need to know" Kanda glances over to the shorter boy "…and you don't need to know"

"Then why did you as ME to go with you?"

"Because it makes sense"

"How the hell does it make sense? The only way it'd make sense is if it was for –" Allen pauses, and he stops walking abruptly. Kanda finds himself suddenly ahead by a few steps, so he stops too, and turns around to face the Englishman. "What is it now?" the Japanese asks.

"The gift's supposed to be for me isn't it?" this makes a lot of sense, for several reasons. Around this time of year, the people at the Black Order would always throw him a party. Since Allen didn't really know when his real birthday was, and since he was unfortunately adopted by his first step-father on a holiday (December 25), everyone decided that the day he moved into his Apartment would be his 'birthday' for everyone in the building. It was customary that every year, someone would 'distract him'. Allen was never really surprised by the parties, because he was never really distracted by the supposed distractions. Maybe, Allen thought, Kanda was attempting to be this year's distraction. And maybe, Kanda was also using this chance to buy him a gift he'd surely want.

After taking a moment to stare indifferently at the smaller man, Kanda replies "Now that's just plain stupid" he narrows his eyes "I bought you that Rolex didn't I?" he gestures towards the said watch which was on Allen's wrist. When Kanda doesn't continue immediately Allen says "So?", to which the Japanese then replies "So I don't need to drag you along just to buy you a gift that you'd definitely like"

"How do you know I like this watch?" Allen retorts, for the lack of any real argument

"Well sorry if I just ASSUMED you really liked it" Kanda snaps "You fucking wear it ALL the time"

"How are you so sure?" really, he lacks any real arguments, this was a losing battle, which he idiotically chose to continue fighting.

"I have eyes, and I happen to know how to use them" sarcasm ran deep in the tone

"But that would mean you're always checking me out" Allen says with dignity (?) "And we wonder why we ended up in bed together"

Kanda scowls at him "Bold words for the initiator…"

"Oh my god, you DO remember!" Allen exclaims, making sure it was only loud enough for only the two of them to hear. Something snaps within him, when he sees those cobalt blue eyes roll "What the fuck do you mean I INITIATED it?"

"You're cursing in public" the edge of Kanda's lips twitch, as if he was about to smirk, though his face remains stoic. The Englishman glares at him pointedly, unwittingly fueling his amusement. "I don't remember MUCH bean, at least, not much of the parts that really… MATTERED…"

"And who INITIATED doesn't MATTER?" Allen shouts, forgetting they were in a public place. When he realizes his little blunder of an outburst, he immediately covers his mouth with both his hands. He scowls further when he sees the Japanese finally give in and smirk. He grabs the taller man by the wrist "Let's take this somewhere private"

"This is a mall" Kanda says indifferently "You won't find a single place you could readily call 'private'."

"We're eating at a restaurant with private rooms, and you're paying." Allen says with a grunt. Kanda doesn't want to admit that this was a smart move.

……………………….

"And now…" Allen closes the sliding door gently "… we have PRIVACY" he announces this firmly, and Kanda can't help but think how intelligent a move this was indeed. Not only did this restaurant have private rooms, but it had Tempura Soba. The best dish in the entire fucking world (that is, in Kanda's not so humble opinion).

"Did you make sure the waiter jotted down my Tempura Soba on that list of his?" the Japanese then asks, intentionally teasing the Englishman by stalling. As expected, Allen Walker now wears the feistiest of glares.

"YES KANDA. I ordered your fucking Tempura Soba. Now tell me how exactly I INITIATED IT" there was vehement irritation in Allen's tone, not that that bothered Kanda in the least, in fact, it made him want to anger the other man if only a bit more. And so the Japanese stares at him without expression, and thereafter indifferently saying "You were being VERY promiscuous" to which Allen loudly replies "GET ON WITH IT"

It's almost as if something was tugging on Kanda's lips, because suddenly he finds himself sporting the most devilish of smirks. He gesture for Allen to lean in closer, a command to which the other obliges to. As Kanda whispers something into the Englishman's ears, Allen's eyes widen.

………………………..

Lenalee was always good at these kinds of things, parties and stuff. She never failed to organize an enjoyable get together. You needed talent for that, and Lenalee had it. But the thing about the charmingly pretty Chinese girl was, whenever she was setting up the venue of the party, she could be such a slave-driver.

"Hey Lenalee, you're looking beautiful as always…" Lavi comments, because he at least wants to alleviate SOME of his workload.

"Why thank you Lavi" the doorman notes how eerily sweet the response smile was "Now here's a list of what I need YOU to do today" the red-head then gawks at the awfully long list before him. You see, they didn't get much help in organizing this party, for it was only natural that the other tenants had their own lives, and that the other employees were relatively busy with more important things. Lavi however, was among those whom people called "Lenalee's Usual Three". Lavi is not always part of being among these three. But since his day job as a doorman was always temporarily (forcibly) covered by the owner of the building himself, Lenalee's dear older brother Komui Lee, he had no choice. So along with the night shift doorman Crowley and the ever free tenant Miranda, he was forced to do the bidding of party-mode-Lenalee-Lee. "Now get to it" Lavi wonders why no one else realizes just how evil that sweet smile of hers can be

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(Original A/N:Somehow I feel like this chapter was pretty anti-climatic considering the ending of the last chapter… Anyway, after this "Allen's supposed birthday" slash "Kanda and Allen's drunk night together" arc of the story, it's gonna get to the point of the story (surprisingly I DO have a plan for this HAHA). I was also thinking that maybe in the end (when the story's done) I'll change the title of this story… Maybe xD… Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter)

A/N after edit: I still can't get over how anti-climatic this chapter what, but I guess it's just that the last chapter ended too ominously. I dunno.