Prompt: High Heels

Author: Lotus

Summary: High heels are Kanda's worst enemy.

Disclaimer: We do not own Saiyuki or DGM.

"Ah-ah-ah~" Lavi said, grinning and shaking a finger at Kanda. The swordsman glared at him, arms hanging loose by his sides but his fingers twitching with the obvious desire to summon his Innocence. "A bet's a bet, Kanda. You can't back out now."

"Fuck you," Kanda spat, lips twisting into a veritable snarl. Venomous words aside, Kanda snatched the pair of shoes that had been placed on the table between them. The shoes in question were made out of black, patent leather and took the form of Victorian style ankle boots. Ankle boots with a six inch stiletto heal. "Fine, I'll wear them on shift, but one word out of you, and I will step on your toes in these."

"My lips are sealed," Lavi chirped, beaming.

Kanda stalked into the bar, throwing a glare at Lavi when he found the redhead sitting near the door and the bar. He slipped behind the bar and silenced the owner with a quick and biting "Not a word" hissed through his teeth. He punched in in the back room before returning to the front to start his shift.

The heels themselves were surprisingly comfortable considering the fact that they had Kanda standing practically on his toes. If not actually on his toes. The only reason he wasn't tottering around like a bloated penguin being that slender spike of a heel at the back of the shoe that allowed him to stand on his toes without actually standing on his toes.

Still, shoes aside, the bar was fairly busy and Kanda walked up and down it what felt like a good five hundred times, thanking every god known to man that he had good balance and wasn't twisting his ankles at every turn. He was going to step on Lavi's toes on principle. Besides, the forced sway the heels induced was starting to bother his hip and he was definitely going to make Lavi pay for that.

He got a five minute break, which he was thankful for and immediately regretted. What was that quote about motion? Oh well, it didn't really matter. He could work through it. He had worked through worse.

After brake, Kanda was tasked with restocking the bar. That meant frequent trips to the back room, and carrying around boxes that were rather heavy. Or would have been heavy if he were normal but only came off as mildly cumbersome since they had to be handled gently.

Still, he made about four dozen trips in total before the bar was restocked properly and all the empty boxes were broken down and brought out back. Then, because fate was a cruel mistress, Kanda somehow found himself working as wait staff for half an hour while one of the girls wrapped and iced her ankle after twisting it when she tripped over a patron's chair leg.

Half an hour stretched into an hour, and when the replacement waitress walked through the front door, Kanda almost hugged her. Almost. Okay, not actually at all, but he was rather grateful that he could return to the bar and the short walk up and down that instead of the careful dance between tables with trays of food and drink whilst trying not to trip.

As he stood behind the bar at the beginning of the third hour of his shift, a muscle in his thigh started twitching along with the pulsing agony that had bloomed in his hip. He was definitely going to step on Lavi's toes on the way out. Or throw the shoes at his head. That might be more fun.

But the night went on, as nights were wont to do. To Kanda, the hours stretched out longer and longer as the minutes passed. Each swaying step of the heels made the joint of his hip feel as though it were chafing against itself. Every time he managed to press his fingers to the joint for a split second, he was surprised they didn't come away bloody. Not that he was injured. Not like that.

Hour four started with another break. Or was it hour five… He had just completed an hour behind the bar after his hour on the floor, and had been working for four hours. Okay, so hour five. Hour five started with another break. This one ten minutes. Kanda was less grateful that he probably should have been.

He spent the ten minutes thankfully sitting in the back room and trying to massage the pain from his hip to little result. It wasn't until he stood again that he noticed some of the pain had faded, and even then he only noticed because the pain upon standing was enough to make his knees buckle. It was only the fact that he was alone in the back room that he actually allowed himself to stumble and catch himself on a shelf, wincing as a red hot poker took up residence in the bones of his hip while broke glass grew like crystals in the soft parts of the joint.

Forcing himself to ignore the pain, Kanda stalked back out to the bar. He walked forcefully for a good twenty steps or so, getting his damaged joint back into the rhythm of motion. It helped for now, but Kanda knew it wouldn't last. He could feel it like sickness at the back of his throat.

The last two hours of the shift were, despite not being the dinner rush, ironically the most busy. Patrons were in and out, and a lot of them came up to the bar for drinks instead of waiting for the girls to bring them their orders. So Kanda was up and down the bar a lot, making drinks, refilling glasses, cleaning up, and generally pretending to be an amiable person to anyone who approached while ignoring the growing tenseness in his left side.

He ran restock a couple of times during lulls, but there wasn't much of that. Still, by the time he reached the last half hour he was choking back nausea with every step and the smells of alcohol were not helping in the least. But he kept up his act even though he felt like it was wearing thin. Then again, Lavi was still snickering at his table, so maybe he still looked like he was going strong. Six hours wasn't exactly a long shift, and as it was Saturday, he'd had the day off from construction. By all rights, he shouldn't have been strained at all.

The last half hour passed with a feeling of increasing strain. When the clock finally hit midnight, Kanda finished serving his last customer before turning on his heel and stalking into the back room. He punched out and stalked straight back out of the room and the bar itself, making sure to step on Lavi's toes as he passed. Lavi yelped.

Kanda thanked the Merciful Goddess that Lavi had to pay his tab before following him. It allowed Kanda to get to the corner and turn out of sight of the bar. The second he was sure they couldn't see him, he pressed his hand against the wall and came to a stop.

Groaning, he leaned heavily against the wall, turning so both hands were flat against the shingles. His hip tensed, left leg locking, and left side cramping up. The combined pain made his stomach churn to the point that he actually heaved as Lavi rounded the corner.

"Whoa, Kanda!" Lavi said, jogging the last three steps until he reached Kanda. "What's wrong?"

"I'm going to kill you," Kanda gritted out, jaw locking against the pain and nausea. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and pushed off the wall, limping heavily away from Lavi. Lavi was only stunned for a moment before he followed after Kanda.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Lavi said. "I didn't think."

"Obviously," Kanda bit out, shooting the redhead a venomous glare.

"Man, stop," Lavi said, grabbing Kanda's shoulder. He had to catch the swordsman when the action threw his balance off, but he just grinned sheepishly. "Kill me later, okay, let's get you home."

"I hate you," Kanda said, but he nodded all the same.

With very little argument, which only attested to how much pain Kanda was actually in, Lavi got the swordsman situated on his back. Lavi adjusted his grip before setting off for Gojyo's tiny house in the middle of fucking nowhere. Next time he made a bet, the consequences were going to be more thought out.

Much to Lavi's chagrin, Kanda ended up biting down on his shoulder. Every time Lavi stepped in a hole, or his foot slipped on a rock, or he jostled Kanda in any way, the swordsman bit down before relaxing again. Lavi would have asked him if it was entirely necessary, but with Kanda's mouth that close to his ear, he could hear all of the mostly suppressed groans that came out as tiny whimpers every time.

When they reached Gojyo's house Kanda had stopped biting Lavi for the most part. Lavi opened up the front door and walked in, carefully depositing Kanda on the couch where the swordsman groaned. Kanda slumped there for a moment before sitting forward to take his shoes off.

"Babe, what happened?" Gojyo asked from his seat on the other end of the couch. He had been sprawled out, but he had since straightened up a bit.

"Stupid fucking heels," he growled. "Never a-fucking-gain."

"The heels put a sway in his walk," Lavi explained. "It ended up agitating his hip." He let out an undignified squawk when the heels flew through the air and smacked into his face. He was fairly certain that one of them left a cut under his good eye.

"You deserved that one," Gojyo said. Kanda wasn't sure what Lavi's response was, but assumed it was probably a nod. He wasn't exactly in the mood to check. Gojyo slid down the couch to check on him, not that there was anything to really see.

"Get up," Kanda said quietly, nudging Gojyo's shoulder. Once his red haired lover was standing, Kanda carefully got to his feet as well, leaning against the taller man. "We are going to go take a very hot shower until I stop wanting to bite through my tongue. Lavi, I hope you get mugged by overly intelligent monkeys."

With that said, Kanda nudged Gojyo into helping him over to the tiny bathroom. He ignored the sound of the front door shutting in favor of limping towards the promise of minor relief. He spared a moment to contemplate just how bad of a bollocking Lavi might get from Hakkai before focusing on Gojyo and the much desired shower. He didn't care that it wasn't actually big enough for two people to shower at the same time. That was definitely not the intention right now.