"Stray"
--
Fandom: -man
Chapter: Six
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:

ASDFGH
TWO TUESDAYS AGO LOL WAS ZEEKEH'S BITHRDAYYY.

Andandand she asked for me to update this on her birthday, which was impossible due to my *COUGHprocrastinatingCOUGH* unforseen circumstances that cold not have been avoided.

SO.

This is now less of a birthday chapter rather than a Happy Valentine's Day chapter to you, in order to make up for the wait I made you sit through c,:

I HOPE YOU LIKE IT.
I THINK IT FAILS.
BUT
MAYBE YOU WON'T.
MAYBE.

-emos-

So yes. GO WISH HER A HAPPY EXTREMELY BELATED FOURTEENTH BIRTHDAY NOW AADWIEGTNW.
/~Zeekeh

And naow, the usual warningss.

This fic takes place in an alternate universe. Don't like AU, don't read.
This is also shounen-ai/yaoi. Again, don't read if you don't like.

So, enjoy; especially you, little miss still-one-year-my-junior-lololol. I give you hugs.

XXXXX

"THAT THING ATE OUT MY ENTIRE FUCKING FRIDGE."

"I'm sorry, but I was really hungry and it's not like you said that I couldn't-"

"I NEVER SAID YOU COULD, EITHER."

Allen shrunk back slightly and scampered to hide behind Lavi's tall frame, leaving the redhead to take the worst of Kanda's murderous glares. The redhead, highly amused, gave the scrawny boy a pat on the head before saying, "Yu-chan, lower the volume, you're scaring the poor kid."

Kanda glared poisonously at the one-eyed man, gritting his teeth with irritation at the forlorn state of his kitchen. He has disappeared into his bedroom for, at most, two minutes – during which the white-haired boy had somehow managed to find and devour most of the edible food the dark-haired teen had in his apartment.

"Food costs money, rabbit. That thing must have cost me a fortune and a half just now."

Lavi rolled his eyes and retorted, "Since when have you of all people been worried about money? An' he ain't a thing, he's an adorable little boy! You're so coldhearted, Yu-chan!"

"….your point? I kept telling the brat to eat his fucking soup. Now look what he's done."

The redhead pouted, turning back to the frightened and slightly embarrassed boy hiding behind him and patted his shoulders reassuringly, grinning. "Naw, don't let ol' grumpypants over there scare ya, beanspout, he's a real softie inside, trust me."

Allen peered beyond Lavi's lanky frame and severely doubted that last statement – but if the last week had taught him anything, it was that the threat-happy teen never seemed to carry out those threats. Well, towards Allen, at least. The boy glanced upward at his protector and tilted his head to the side. "….who are you, anyway?"

Lavi sighed once more and gave the white-haired child a friendly pat shoulder before smashing Kanda's head with a small frying pan he found hanging tantalizingly from the wall.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?"

And now it was Allen's turn to protect Lavi from the death-delivering hands of the Japanese aimed at the redhead's throat with full intent to throttle, the green-eyed boy laughing merrily all the way.

--

And so the morning wore on.

Kanda, after maiming Lavi to the best of his ability, had half-stumbled over towards the bathroom, clutching his head with a snarl on his lips as he slammed the door behind him. The redhead had managed to escape with only a few extremely unsightly bruises to his face, both his cheeks a dull purplish-blue in color and his right eyelid drooping over his rapidly blackening right eye. But he didn't seem to mind – Allen eyed him with a wary look from the armchair, the older teen lounging on the couch across from him, looking like he'd just won a million dollars, his single emerald eye sparkling with glee and his lips turned upward in his apparent, usual grin.

"Uhm, are you sure you're-"

"Hahaha, I'm fine, I'm fine, don't ya fret~."

Falling silent once more at Lavi's reassurance, Allen continued to stare at the redhead while the other casually stared back. "Whatcha lookin' at, beansprout? 'Sides my wonderful features, o' course."

Allen blushed lightly at the last statement before huffing slightly and saying, "Just who are you…?"

Lavi grinned even more (if that was possible) and lazily extended his left hand in Allen's direction. "Name's Lavi Bookman! My Gramps is big in the political business, used to own a library in town 'fore he got up and started travelin' with his government buddies. I own the place now, 'course, now that I'm an adult." Lavi appeared especially proud at that fact, puffing out his chest and smirking. "S'got the best collection of books in the country, it does. Ya ever been there, beansprout?"

"N-no. Not really." Allen warily eyed the redhead's hand and gingerly extended his own. "Uhm. Nice to meet you. And my name is Allen Walker, not…beansprout." Allen flinched slightly as he hand was clasped and shaken strongly by the man across from him, who was laughing all the way.

"Allen Walker, eh? Beansprout suits you better, I say."

"…shut up."

Then sat in stony silence for a few moments, Allen only slightly sulking and Lavi humming an incoherent tune to the sound of never-ending swear words coming from the bathroom. Lavi learned a lot of Japanese insults that morning.

"…so, what's yer connection to Mr. Grumpypants, beansprout?"

"Eeh?" Unprepared for the sudden question, Allen could only stare dumbly at Lavi, blinking owlishly and tilting his head. "Why the sudden curiosity?"

Lavi's single eye twinkled merrily at him as the redhead leaned forward to rest his elbows on the coffee table, lips twitching upward into an almost feral grin before replying, "Well, ya two seem quite close – and I ain't never seen Yu-chan get close to anything before, unless said thing was about to meet an untimely death."

Allen opened and closed his mouth in shock for a few moments before spluttering, "C-close? We've talked for about thirty minutes a day for the past week! That's not…close! That's not even friendship, or anything!"

"Uh-huh. I can't even take a nibble at a single crumb in his highness's kitchen wit'out his permission and not getting my ass kicked into the next dimension."

"W-well, I'm hurt! Of course, so are you, now, but I don't think he's the type of person to go through the effort of dragging a useless thing somewhere and then, well, damage it further! That's all!"

Lavi raised an eyebrow. "Sprout, he's not the type to drag a useless thing anywhere in the first place. Buuuut he did fer you! How d'ya do it? Secret powers of seduction you got hidden up yer sleeve or sumthin'? Cus I'll tell ya this," he added, seeing Allen's face light up a bright red and not being able to resist messing with the kid more, "He ain't ever been nice to anyone, cept you."

Dumbfounded, the white-haired orphan could only stare at Lavi once more, sporting a vibrant blush, before finding the words to protest the redhead's statements. "…I think 'nice' may be stretching the truth a bit, Lavi…"

"True enough, true enough, but hey, y'know, from what I can tell, he usually hates guys like you, y'know? Cute and needy and fragile and whatnot. But seeing as ya ain't been kicked into next week yet, I'll hafta say, he must really like ya, beansprout."

And then a hefty bottle of shampoo came flying across the room and hit Lavi square in the face, knocking him backwards over the couch with a dramtic thunk. Allen blinked and slowly turned around to see a glaring Kanda strutting over, ponytail swishing back and forth with every stride he took towards the two boys that were just talking about him. Stopping next to the armchair Allen was cowering in, staring at the Japanese with mock-fright, he abruptly snapped his gaze downwards to meet with the silvery orbs looking up at him.

"WHAT."

Allen took this as cue to immediately avert his gaze away from the dark-haired man, the poisonous glare sending shivers of fear down his spine – and some shivers that weren't necessarily caused by fright, as well. "L-lavi, are you-?"

"Yu-chan~! You've killed me! Boo!" The redhead emerged, rubbing his head, appearing relatively unharmed aside from a rather pained expression painted on his face.

"Mission accomplished."

"…meanie."

"Idiot fucking retarded rabbit."

"No fair, Yu-chan, you're dirtying poor Allen's virgin ears!"

"Uhm, Lavi, could you leave my ears out of this…?"

"WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT EARS HERE!" Lavi slammed his fist down on the glass coffee table, causing it to rattle forebodingly. Allen flinched backwards and Kanda looked like he was about to murder Lavi for damaging his furniture. "WE'RE TALKING ABOUT POOR ALLEN'S INNOCENT SOUL AND THE EVIL, FOULMOUTHED BROODY PRINCESS YU AND HIS MANIAC PLOT TO SNATCH IT AWAY FROM HIM—"

Obviously Kanda did not take kindly to being called princess, as his foot was now planted on Lavi's face, radiating an aura of certain death.

"Question my masculinity again and I will castrate you."

"Waaaaah, Yu-chan, leave my manly parts alone, I'll be good, I'll be good!" whined the redhead, gazing pitifully up at Kanda's furious expression, trying and failing to win the Japanese over with his expert display of Bambi eyes.

"Che." Kanda removed his foot before slowly turning on his heel to stalk over to Allen, who shrank back in the armchair as the older teen cast his ominous shadow over him. Dark blue eyes met metallic gray ones. Silence reigned.

Then Allen squeaked as strong arms abruptly lifted him up over Kanda's shoulder, and he could only yelp in protest as he was carried in the direction of the man's bedroom, protests that seemed to fall on deaf ears. Allen felt rather pathetic, being carried like some damsel in distress by the dark-haired man, but seeing as –

Wait.

Bedroom.

Bedroom.

The realization of exactly where Kanda was carrying him slowly settled in Allen's brain and made it's nest there, causing the white-haired boy to blanch and protest with renewed vigor, recalling Lavi's earlier statement about Kanda and his 'maniac plot.' Lavi had been joking…right? Allen gulped and attempted to persuade himself that this was true, vehemently beating down that small part of his teenage brain that was sending completely him completely different and completely unwanted signals.

Then he felt soft material hit his back and strong hands push his shoulders down and whimpered as Kanda stared down at him from his dominant position above Allen, emotionless eyes boring down on him, pinning him there to the comfortable material of Kanda's bed.

"You. Sleep. The sooner you get better, the sooner you can get the hell out of my apartment."

"U-uh…"

And then he walked out, long hair gracefully swaying behind him as he slammed the door shut, leaving Allen alone in Kanda's bed in the settling darkness of Kanda's room. The white-haired teen listened to the sound of the two older teens shouting at each other, the door proving to be a rather effective sound barrier (Kanda probably intended it to be that way, knowing him) and not allowing Allen to distinguish what the two were saying. Fighting down the last of his now fading blush, the young boy merely stared at the wall for a few moments before shrugging and sliding back down onto the bed, snuggling beneath the extremely comfortable covers and letting out a small sigh of confusion.

What do I do, Mana? I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do anymore…

And that day, Allen's dreams were filled with vicious tongues of fire and the face of a certain grouchy, Japanese teen.

--

His eyes flickered open to the sound of birds softly chirping morning tunes outside of Kanda's window, to soft shafts of light slicing through the slits in the curtains. I slept…for the whole day? But Allen's sleep-drugged mind was still too tired to take the situation with any seriousness or alarm, so his next course of action was to, of course, snuggle his pillow and let himself get lost in the sound of the singing birds and the gentle beating of his own heart.

That's when he heard the soft sound of breathing coming from the foot of his bed.

Finally able to kick his mind in gear, Allen slowly lifted his head and blinked in surprise when he spotted that distinctive long hair and pale face of Kanda, who happened to be sitting lightly at the foot of the bed, staring at the covered window with narrowed eyes and an expression the white haired boy couldn't decipher. As he watched, the black-haired man let out an irritated sigh and muttered, "Those fucking birds should fucking shut the fuck up."

"…I think it's nice."

Allen couldn't help but grin at Kanda's reaction – the Japanese stiffened with shock and whipped his head around to stare at the now-awake boy, who could only stare and smile sheepishly in response. The startled expression, to Allen, was priceless.

"…since when the fuck were you awake?!"

"Since when did you say 'fuck' three times a sentence?"

"Ever since I learned the word, moron."

"Not around me you didn't. Until just now."

"Because I thought you were fucking asleep!"

"…so you admit you don't swear a lot in front of me?"

"I never said that, beansprout."

Allen, truth be told, was rather touched that Kanda had, however subtlety, made some kind of attempt to be relatively kind to him – although he knew the Japanese would never, ever admit it, it was a nice thought, at least.

"'Ey, what's all this yelling so early in the mornin'?" From the voice Allen heard, the sound of the door slamming open, and the way Kanda's dace distorted into a disgusted scowl, the white-haired boy deduced that Lavi had entered the vicinity. He shifted slightly to look behind him and confirmed his earlier guess, seeing that glittering emerald eye and messy crimson-orange hair and feral grin that pretty much shouted the redhead name in bright, neon letters.

"Good morning, Lavi," Allen chimed, smiling brightly in the other's direction. Despite not knowing him for more than a day, the white-haired boy felt himself to be quite at ease when talking to the red-headed teen, much like he did when talking to Kanda. But not quite the same. Not at all.

"Mornin', Allen! Sleep well, beansprout? And what's the ol' sourpuss doin' in here? Couldn't let ya sleep alone?" A mischievous smirk replaced his jovial grin and Allen felt a light blush appear on his cheeks as he hotly denied this fact. However, it was Kanda that seemed most adamant in his denial.

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL HERE."

"An' a good mornin' to you too, sunshine," came the sarcastic reply, and Allen felt himself get yoinked from the bedsheets and pulled out of the bedroom by Lavi, who shouted, "I told ya yesterday, I can't leave ya alone with the precious beansprout! God knows what ya'd to t'him!"

"L-lavi, I'm supposed to be resting-"

"NONSENSE!" Allen eeped as he was hit in the face with a shirt, followed shortly by a pair of pants and other such clothing items. Blinking stupidly from beneath the garments he now held, he merely stared at Lavi, who was standing in the living room with his hands on his hips, looking quite triumphant. "There's a change of clothes for ya, sprout! Go change speedy-like, kay?"

Allen could only blink some more at the redhead standing before him. Kanda, radiating death towards the one-eyed teen, stalked forward from the bedroom with a snarl. "What the hell are you on about now, stupid rabbit?"

"In my professional opinion, beansprout ain't gonna get any better unless he gets some fresh air, yeah? So we're gonna take him out!"

" …we're?"

"Yes, we're, because however much your surly presence may dampen the mood, little Allenkins would be a mess without his knight in shining armor there wit him! Yer the one who said ya wanted him outta yer apartment as soon as possible, and here we are! Getting him out…temporarily, tha' is."

"…stop twisting my words to meet your out needs. You're making no sense."

"IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE!"

Allen noticed that Lavi had a tendency to raise his voice a lot, which seemed hazardous to the redhead's health, if the murderous look on Kanda's face was anything to go by. At the moment, though, there were other matters the white-haired boy needed to address. "No, Lavi, it's ok, I understand, of course he wants me out. I need to get out." Blood-laden memories lined themselves up at the edge of Allen's mind as he said this, but he bitterly pushed them away – he couldn't deal with them at the moment. Not now.

Lavi cocked his head, eying Allen questioningly. "Well, course yer stayin'. Ya need somewhere t'go. From what Yu-chan here has told me, you've been livin' out in the streets, yeah? Don't ya want free room and board?"

Allen stared at Lavi, dumbfounded. "D-don't you know? Who I am, what I am, what happens to people when they…take care of me…" He trailed off once more, mentally fighting to keep the bad memories at bay.

Lavi tilted his head to the other side and grinned. "Oh? That? Yeah, we know about that. Anyway, I hope those clothes ain't too big or nuthin', I had to run out late last night to get 'em an' the only shop tha' was open was this shady place on the corner so I don' know whether they're actually the size they say they are-"

The cursed Boy gaped at Lavi, annoyed now. "Don't change the subject, you completely ignored the fact that if you guys take care of me you're going to-!"

"Shut up, beansprout." Allen turned his head sharply to see Kanda glaring at him from where he leaned against the kitchen counter, annoyance evident on his features. "You voice is getting on my nerves."

"But-"

"Quiet."

Allen was about to protest anew when Lavi's hand abruptly covered his mouth. "S'alright. Trust us, yeah? We know what we're doing."

Allen stared up at Lavi, at that carefree face that seemed so serious when he said that – and then Kanda, who was glaring at him and glaring at him some more, but with an expression of stubborn determination that meant he supported Lavi's words – and that, somehow, made Allen happy. Uncontrollably, deliriously happy.

And Allen smiled.

"Now, where were we," Lavi hummed, shoving Allen towards Kanda's bedroom again. "I do believe you were off to get changed so we could go out! It'll be like a date, only without the romantic shit and all tha'."

"Mention my name and 'date' in the same phrase again and your head is finding a new home, stupid rabbit."

"Ah, but I said 'we' not 'you'…haha, Yu, geddit? I didn't say Yu!"

"...your jokes are getting stupider every day. If that's even possible."

"Ha ha ha. Always the sweetest little ray of sunshine, aren't ya?"

And as he listened to the two argue and shout death threats at each other, Allen was struck by a strange sense of foreboding.

But that didn't stop him from leaning against the bedroom wall and cry, crying and crying and laughing from his own uncontrollable happiness.

XXXXX

AUGH.

I SWEAR.
I HAD
SO MANY DAMN WRITER'S BLOCKS WHILE WRITING THIS THING.
A-and I…don't think it turned out so great.

-cries softly in corner-

A-anyway.
Please visit my profile and vote in the poll I've put up. If you want to, that is c,: I'd really like an answer to that question as soon as possbile~

Happy Valentine's, hope everyone got sum good lovin' and sum good candy c:

Much luv & chocolate,
-27