"Stray"
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Fandom: -man
Chapter: Five
Rating: T
Pairing: Kanda x Allen
Summary:
" Just because someone is cursed doesn't mean they are undeserving of love. Even if by loving them it means that you will die. ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. YULLEN. "

Author's Notes:

…after Christmas, I said.
…MOAR LIEK AFTER THE INAUGURATION, AMIRITE?

-cries in corner-

Well, it's up now, at long last, the fifth installment of Stray.It is a tad longer than the previous chapters, the only reason it isn't longer is because I really liked the ending and didn't want to change it. I'll be sure to make the next chapter muchies longer, I promise.
(…didn't I say that already…?)

ANYWAY.

The usual warnings.

This is AU. Don't like, don't read.

This is also shounen-ai. Again, don't read if you don't like.

And without (even) further delay, enjoy~

XXXXX

If there was one thing in life that Lavi never expected, it was too see Kanda's number displayed on his caller ID.

In fact, the redhead had stared at the flickering LCD screen for a good ten seconds, his single green eye wide and his mouth halfway open in the expression of complete astonishment, his brain attempting to acknowledge that, yes, Kanda was calling him. He had never thought he would live to see the day, and in his complete utter surprise he almost forgot to actually answerthe phone. When he did, however, he never got a chance to exclaim how proud he was of his Yu-chan to finally suck up his pride and actually call his best friend, because the dark-haired man's icy voice had cut him off before he even had the words formed on his tongue.

"Get your fucking bunny ass over here right now before I castrate you. Any questions?"

Lavi blinked and tried again before being rudely cut off once more.

"Good."

And then Kanda hung up.

--

Muttering colorful curses and calling the redheaded genius every name under the moon, Kanda stalked back and forth across the carpeted floor of his apartment's living room. Glaring death at the clock perched on the wall, he dutifully counted the seconds and minutes that had passed since he had begrudgingly called Lavi and ordered him here. He let out an irritated growl and shot another death glare at the door, then turned his poisonous gaze to the couch, where the source of the whole problematic situation unconsciously lay, covered in a thin blanket Kanda had quickly grabbed from the linen cabinet he didn't even know he had. No way in hell he would waste his good bed sheets on the stupid, helpless, white-haired, irritating brat curled up on the sofa, who was finally breathing evenly now that Kanda had resentfully bandaged the worst of the boy's injuries. It was no professional job, Kanda knew, which was the reason he had called up that idiot rabbit, who knew far more about medication and treatments then he did.

And Kanda then took a moment to wonder why he was doing all his for the stupid Cursed Boy he barely even knew.

But his thoughts were then distracted by a merry knocking on his door that immediately sent a new spike of annoyance through every vein in Kanda's body and he quickly staked over to the door and threw it open violently to reveal the grinning, crimson-headed man known as Lavi, who's single emerald eye was glittering with a hint of merriment that matched his jolly smile. Kanda wanted to strangle him already.

"A very merry evening to you, Yu-chan!" Lavi chimed, grinning even wider (if that was possible). "Shall I assume that you have graciously invited me into your humble abode?"

"You're going to assume that my foot is up your ass if you don't cram it, fucking rabbit.'

The redhead hummed and pushed his way past an irate Kanda and surveyed the apartment he had uninvitingly graced with his presence many times before. "As polite as ever, I see. Now, for what momentous reason have ya invited me over, Yu-chan? Did you perhaps miss my dashingly good looks? Couldn't go a week without seeing my angelic face? Couldn't sleep without hearing my melodic voice one more?"

"I am going to kill you AFTER you take a look at the fucking beansprout."

Lavi blinked a question and stared as Kanda stalked past him and haughtily stood beside the couch, causing the young man to shift his gaze from the fuming Japanese to the small, blanket-covered shape that was rhythmically rising and falling, as if is was breathing. Which it happened to be doing. Lavi started to get mildly freaked out.

"…Yu-chan, did you have a baby without me knowing?"

"Shut the fuck up and get over here, rabbit."

His curiosity finally got the better of him and Lavi complied, quickly trotting over to the sofa and tilting his head inquiringly in Kanda's direction. The dark-haired man merely scowled in response and Lavi had no choice but to discover what this mysterious creature was himself.

The creature, A.K.A. Allen Walker, gave an annoyed, unintelligible mutter when the blanket he had been sheltering under was removed, shifting slightly in his fitful sleep. Lavi merely stared at the small, white-haired boy dozing on the couch, covered in various cuts and bruises and various other injuries, the worst of them patched up botchily by Kanda. The glove and bandages that had previously been obscuring his left hand and eye had been removed, displaying the boy's deformities for all to see. A ragged, crimson scar marred the left side of his face, and his left hand and arm were savaged so badly with burns that the skin was reduced to a crinkly, uneven mess of dull red flesh. Not even the boy's fingernails had escaped damage – they were charcoal black in color and dead looking, as if they would snap off with the slightest of touches.

Lavi felt his heart clench slightly in sympathy for the poor kid; no wonder he tried so hard to keep these parts of him hidden – no one would be proud of having wounds like that. "…the Cursed Boy, Yu-chan? Seriously? Aren't you, oh, I dunno, getting in a bit over yer head here?"

"Shut the fuck up and make sure he doesn't bleed all over my carpet."

Lavi merely rolled his eyes and decided to examine the sleeping child. His grandfather, the head of the Bookman family, was a master of many healing remedies and procedures from various cultures of the world; while Lavi had studied under the man as his apprentice (he tried notto think of that period of time in his life), he had passed on many medical techniques down to the redheaded genius, in case he would ever find himself with the ability to get an actual doctor. Medical practices weren't on Lavi's list of favorite things to do (they reminded him too much of Bookman), he concluded that to save his life from the imitate danger that would come from refusing, he decided that now was the time to put his long dormant skills to action.

Kanda watched with narrowed eyes at Lavi worked at giving Allen at least semi-proper medical treatment, reluctantly fetching the redhead supplies when asked, making sure to throw whatever thing he had fetched directly into the stupid rabbit's face before muttering about how he wasn't a fucking dog and that the stupid bunny should fetch his stuff himself. But Kanda had brought this upon himself by calling Lavi over in the first place, so he (mostly) kept his mouth shut and let Lavi finish patching up the still sleeping boy.

"…wow, this kid's one helluva sleeper," Lavi commented, spreading disinfectant on one last cut up near Allen's shoulder blade. "You sure he ain't dead already, Yu-chan? Why didn't ya take him to see an actual doctor in the first place, anyhow? And happened to the kid anyway??"

Kanda snorted. "He's breathing, isn't he? Although I'm surprised he hasn't died from overexposure to your stupidity. I know I'm almost done for."

"Oh, wouldn't that be a service to the world." Lavi grinned jovially has he felt Kanda's glare of death pierce the back of his head, and after applying the last bandage to Allen's shoulder he straightened up and surveyed his work. The boy's wounds were not properly treated and wouldn't contract infection unless he was extremely unlucky, and he was sleeping even more calmly than before, snuggling into the inside of the couch as if nothing had happened. "Aw, he's just too cute, don't you agree, Yu-chan?"

"Cute in a disgusting kind of way, as all cute and disgusting things are. If you're finished, then get the fuck out."

Lavi raised his hands in mock-surrender and gave Kanda an inquisitive stare. "So, are ya gonna answer my earlier questions or not, Yu-chan?"

Kanda glared and rolled his eyes. "No fucking way I was going to pay for a doctor. And he got in some kind of fight."

Lavi gasped, half irritated at Kanda's selfishness and half surprised that someone this cute managed to get into s fight. "A fight?! How could they! The fiends!"

"He's the Cursed Boy. People hate him."

Lavi couldn't help but agree with that, and the two of them stood in silence for a while, watching the unconscious boy sleep on the couch. Then Kanda aimed a kick at Lavi's ass and the redhead yelped. "The hell was that for, Yu-chan?!"

"OUT."

Lavi merely sighed in defeat and sauntered over to the door, humming all the way. "Always a pleasure to be of service…" Then the redhead trailed off, his hand already on the handle, staring at the door as if something had just gone off in bright neon lights in his head. Then he slowly turned his head back to Kanda, gaping and beaming at the same time. Kanda stared back. There was silence for a good five seconds before Lavi's mouth split into a grin that was way too wide for Kanda's liking. Something annoying was about to happen, he knew it.

"…you called the kid cute."

Kanda continued to stare, raising an eyebrow and snorting disdainfully at the redhead. "Che, since when did I say that?"

"Earlier, I asked you if thought he was cute, and you said 'cute in a disgusting kind of way' which means that you called him cute!"

"I didn't-!"

"Yu-chan thinks the beansprout is cute!"

Kanda was positively fuming now. "I most definitely do not."

"Ahh, but denial is just the first step, my friend!" the green-eyed teen sang, wrapped and arm around the Japanese and jabbing the taller man's chest with his index finger. "And now there's no way I can you alone with the kid you think is cute."

"I fucking told you, I do not think beansprout is cute."

Lavi completely ignored Kanda and quickly danced away before the dark-haired man could knock his lights out for invading his personal space and instead began pacing in circles around the couch, muttering to himself. "Of course, of course, that would explain the petname and calling me and everything and ooh, it's going to be like slumber party, yay!"

Kanda twitched at the mention 'slumber party' and growled threateningly. "What are you on about, fucking rabbit? Who says I'm letting you stay one more second inside my house?"

"You already have and this is an apartment, not a house! 'Sides, if I left you alone with the kid you'd probably do something indecent to him and I won't be able to live that on my conscious (actually, I probably could, but that's beside the point) and so I have no choice but to stay!"

Kanda glared even more and attempted to forcefully shove Lavi out the door, who merely whipped around and clung to Kanda like a redheaded parasite, whining. This proved to be an unwise decision, because now all of Lavi's vital points were within reach of Kanda's fist.

There was a few more minutes filled with Kanda chasing a whooping Lavi around the apartment before the black-haired man finally gave up and slumped on the armchair beside the couch, sulking. Lavi emerged from the kitchen with a triumphant grin on his face and he sprawled on across the floor next to the couch, his green eye shining with amusement in Kanda's direction.

"…you're sleeping on the floor."

"Deal."

--

The next morning arrived with Kanda already being awake, much to Lavi's displeasure. The redhead had awoken from his spot on the armchair to see the light on in Kanda's room and silently cursed his luck – he was hoping for this is be the perfect chance to snoop around Kanda's apartment. But if the Japanese was already awake then he would most certainly hear Lavi stalking around and the teen was enough of a genius to know that being caught snooping by Kanda would result in a great amount of pain.

As he stretched and yawned the dark-haired man strutted from his bedroom, glared at Lavi, and then disappeared into the kitchen. Lavi's lips twitched upwards into a grin and he reclined back on the armchair, glancing sideways at the couch as he did so. Allen was still sleeping peacefully, and the redhead couldn't help but feel attached to the boy already. He was just too cute!Lavi patted the white head affectionately before getting up and calling, "Oy, Yu-chan, I want some breakfast!"

"Get it your own damn self."

'But I'm a guest!" Lavi whined, "You should be serving me!"

"Great idea. We'll be having Rabbit Stew for breakfast today." There was silence for a moment in which Lavi sulked before Kanda added, "Wait, nevermind, it would give me a stomachache. We can feed it to the brat though."

Lavi sulked some more and made a move towards the kitchen before stopping, due to the fact that something now had a rather strong grip on his sleeve. He looked down and saw two silvery pools of gray staring back at him, and Allen Walker's face split into an angelic smile as he said, "Did you say breakfast?"

And Lavi could only stare at the boy for a few moments before laughing his head off.

XXXXX

/end

Hope you all enjoyed the Lavi-ness! I always enjoy writing him, he's an amazing character c:

Anyway, when will you see the next update of Stray?
…
Well, seeing as my previous predictions have never been accurate, let's just say February c,:

Well, till next tiem (whenever that may be),

-27

XXXXX

Somewhere, far in the inner regions of a German forest, three ghosts haunted the trees and flew through the night, chatting furiously at each other as they went about their ghost-like duties and being generally annoying.

"…brother, I really wish you would stop scaring people away from here. It gets very lonely with just the two of you here…"

"But dearest Lenalee, some stranger could come and snatch you away! My poor heart wouldn't be able to take it!"

"I think you would somehow manage to survive, Komui."

"No one asked you!"

"Please, you two, don't fight again…"

And so the night wore on.