Not many more chapters to go… *runs round squealing in a crazy way*. I'll have to start thinking about my next project very soon… ideas?

And is it normal to write from the final chapter backwards?

Warning- contains randomness, party-time, and a drunk, ooc Kanda. Whatever next?

Chapter eighteen- A (looong) oasis of WTF? in a desert of angst.

"So, where are you going to start?" Allen asked, slowing down so Kanda could catch up with him. Kanda came to his side and they continued walking towards their room in silent agreement. The older man shook his head and sighed. "I don't know. The logical place to start would be back home, but…"

Allen slipped his hand into Kanda's. "I know we were going to do this together, but orders are orders and going to Japan is the logical thing to do." He sighed heavily. "Maybe you could talk to Tiedoll- there may be something else he knows."

"Fuck that" Kanda retorted immediately, making Allen laugh.

"I can't believe this is happening. It'll seem so weird not seeing you everyday. I've got used to these last few months." Allen rested his head on Kanda's shoulder as they walked back in the direction of their room. Kanda didn't reply, but his hand tightened briefly around Allen's, which the younger took as agreement.

Allen leaned back against the wall, feeling the cool stone through his shirt. The sky outside the window opposite was grey and overcast, reflecting his sour mood. An intense scowl scrawled across his forehead, giving the impression that he was in deep in contemplation, though in reality he was trying to clear all thoughts from his mind. Every time he came close however, another thing would push its way to the forefront of his mind, and the glower intensified further.

A speck of rain hit the window, sliding down the glass like a solitary tear, the only warning before the heavens opened and the vista beyond the window was lost behind a curtain of water.

"Kinda sums everything up, doesn't it?" he asked the man who had come to stand silently at his side.

"That's a bit emo, even for you" Lavi replied. "I know you have your depressing moments but that was…"

"Yeah, I know" Allen laughed bitterly. Not many people had been around to witness his darkest moods, but Lavi was one of those select few. "It was also a bit cliché, but then again, my life feels like one big horror story at the moment."

Lavi didn't comment, instead clasping Allen's shoulder bracingly with an ink-stained hand. After a few moments he cleared his throat. "You know you can come to me- if you need to?" He studied the shorter man with a critical eye, taking in the faint lines of strain around his eyes and the grey pallor of tiredness of his skin. "A problem shared is a problem halved, after all."

Allen gave him a genuine, though small smile. "I wish I could, but not right now. There's something's I have to work through on my own." He gave a twisted grimace, realising how much like a martyr (something he was always being criticised for) and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry Lavi, I appreciate it, really."

"Yeah, yeah" the Bookman apprentice said, ruffling Allen's hair as though he were fifteen years old again. "Sometimes I miss the days when you came crying to me with your problems. I guess that's Yuu's job now."

Allen scowled half-heartedly, trying to straighten his mussed hair. Eventually he sighed, dropping his hands to his sides. "Different problems now, too."

"Ain't that the truth," agreed Lavi, crossing his arms behind his head in a familiar manner. "So what's this I hear about some useless mission you're being sent on?"

Allen looked at him sidelong. "I thought you knew everything, Bookman Jr."

"I do, it's just polite to pretend I don't" the redhead grinned "sometimes it intimidates people."

Allen laughed good-naturedly. "Uh-huh, sure." He crossed the corridor and leant on the window sill, resting his forehead on the cold glass, his breath fogging on the pane. He idly ran a finger through the condensation. "It's just your average, travel the world, find accommodators, fight Akuma sort of mission," he said, before turning back to face the older man. "But of course you knew that don't you?" he asked slyly.

Lavi smacked him. "It's not normal to make you report to certain locations at specific times though is it?"

"They're doing that so they know where I am and who I'm with at all times."

"Ah," said Lavi "back to trying to keep you away from Yuu is it? You'd think they have more important things to worry about."

"Yep. Yuu's supposed to have an exorcist with him doing the same and reporting back to Komui. What he'll actually have is Jim."

That made Lavi laugh, knowing the older of the two brothers would be anything but challenging Kanda's plans. "What about you? You have a partner?"

"No. I have Lanel." Allen made a face. Supposedly it wasn't necessary for him to have a full exorcist with him, since his mission was not planned to involve fighting. Kanda required someone else to fight for him, apparently. No one involved was happy with the arrangements. "You do realise we could be away for years? This whole idea is ludicrous!"

Lavi looked sympathetic. "It won't come to that, orders change all the time, you know that." He yawned and rubbed the back of his neck stiffly. "We should have a leaving party- we haven't had a good shin-dig for ages!"

"A party?" Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea- Lord knew they'd probably never et a chance like this again. "Sounds great. Now I just have to persuade Yuu to go…"

"Where is the old sour puss anyway? I've not seen him since before breakfast."

"He was really pissed off, I think he went outside to mutilate some vegetation. Probably sitting in the rain as we speak" chuckled Allen, imagining his lover sitting, arms and legs customarily crossed and dripping wet, and refusing to move despite the discomfort. "I'll go and drag him inside soon, I need to give him chance to cool off properly first though."

Lavi glanced through the rain. "Well the forest is still standing- maybe its safe now- or maybe he's drowned…" He grinned widely. "Well, have fun with that. I've gotta run- places to be, things to see, people to do…" and with a jaunty wave he sauntered off, leaving Allen to wonder if what Lavi had said was a slip of the tongue or if he'd been taking one too many leaves from General Cross' book.

Bloody rain. Allen irritably flicked some sodden hair from his face, peering through the sheeting rain for some sign of the illusive Kanda.

Nothing.

He let out a low sigh that was almost a growl of frustration. Where could he be? The forest was only so big after all. "Yuu? Where are you, you bastard! It's bloody freezing out here!" He growled again, cursing and silently vowing to cut off all of Kanda's hair as soon as he found him. He shivered and pulled his coat tighter around his body, kicking bitterly at a twig. Unfortunately he missed, slipping in the mud and landing in a spectacular sopping, dirty heap in a puddle.

"Wonderful" he sighed as he failed to get to his feet for the fifth time, ending up face-down in the muddy water.

"What the hell are you doing Moyashi?" a rather amused sounding voice said above him. Allen didn't move, but blew a couple of distinctly angry bubbles into the puddle.

Kanda leaned over and hauled him to his feet, raising an eyebrow at his muddy appearance.

Allen spat a globule of dirt onto the ground and shivered again. "Where've you been, asshole?"

Kanda didn't reply, his derisive eyebrow still raised. Allen huffed indignantly, and tried to ignore the feeling of cold water sliding down his neck and gloopy mud collecting inside his boots. And failed. "Urgh."

"Idiot, let's get you out of those wet clothes" Kanda said, giving him a small push. That sounded like a very good idea to Allen. Maybe he wouldn't cut all of Kanda's hair off after all. Then he noticed that Kanda was distinctly mud-free, the lucky sod. Forget cutting- the bastard needed shaving.

"Why weren't you muddy?" Allen asked a little later, reclining in the steaming water and feeling the chill melt from his bones with the heat.

"Why would I be muddy? I wasn't the one wandering about in the rain" Kanda said. Allen stared at him, mouth agape and a disbelieving expression on his face. Eventually he managed to speak. "What? Why not?"

Kanda looked at him strangely. "It was raining" he said, as though it were obvious. Allen sank under the water, blowing a stream of bubbles out to try and avoid shouting at the other man. It wasn't Kanda's fault, of course, and he knew that, but now not only did he want to shave the Japanese exorcist, he had added to the list several body parts he wished to remove as well.

He felt something tug his hair and allowed Kanda to pull him out from under the water. He barely had time to blink the water from his eyes before a pair of lips settled over his own in a gentle kiss. He blinked his eyes open slowly, not even realising he'd closed them in the first place. "Uh…" he said intelligently.

Kanda rolled his eyes. "Idiot."

"Hmph, love you too" Allen groused sourly. He fixed the other man with a sharp gaze. "And you can forget about that as well" he added as he felt Kanda's hand sliding across his skin below the water.

"You're being perverted Moyashi, I'm just making sure you've warmed up."

"I bet you are" Allen whispered venomously, trying to push the hand away. He managed to disentangle himself from Kanda's advances and made to get out of the bath.

He didn't get very far.

"Oh no, you aren't getting away that easily- I had to go out in the rain looking for you. You owe me" Kanda informed him.

"I was out there looking for you in the first place!" exclaimed Allen exasperatedly. The older man made a 'so what?' face and yanked on the elbow he held tightly.

"Not in the bathroom!" the younger of the two complained pathetically, trying to resist the tugging on his arm. "I remember the shower incident, do you really want to clean this place with a toothbrush?" he asked, gesturing around the cavernous room with his free hand.

Kanda winced slightly at the memory, but didn't slacken his grip and his eyes still held the same predatory gleam.

"Kandaaaaaaa" whined Allen, reverting to using his last name to get Kanda's attention. "Nooooo…."

Kanda snorted in amusement. "Walkeeerrrrr" he mocked scathingly. "Yeeeesssss…."

There was obviously no getting away from it. Allen sighed and stopped fighting, relaxing in Kanda's grip.

"Better" Kanda commented, pulling him closer ad breathing in his ear. "What's the matter Moyashi? You look a little flushed."

"Pervert" said Allen mildly, the word obviously not meant to insult, turning his head to encourage more attention on his neck. "It's warm in here, that's all."

"Keep telling yourself that" Kanda muttered against the pale column of Allen's neck, brushing damp snowy hair out of the way almost absently.

"How else would you explain your own flush?" Allen asked, sliding his mismatched hands over the hard planes of Kanda's chest slowly. "It couldn't be because of me, could it?" he grinned teasingly, moving them downwards until he was gripping Kanda's hips forcefully pulling the other man flush against his body and running short nails over the pale flesh below his fingertips. Kanda tried to simultaneously arch into and twist away from the touch, resulting in an odd shuddering motion that rippled up and down his lean frame. Allen laughed a little, revelling in this new-found feeling of being in control as he closed his teeth over Kanda's earlobe. The other man's breathing hitched and became ragged, which intrigued Allen- he'd never before reduced Kanda's control so quickly and certainly never with such light, teasing touches. He breathe a puff of warm moist air into the ear he'd been nibbling, watching with satisfaction as goosebumps rose over Kanda's damp skin and shifting his hands to grasp the samurai's backside and grind their hips together.

Kanda growled, a bestial sound that swept through Allen's body, brushing against each of his nerves. Two sword calloused hands fisted in his hair, wrenching his head away from Kanda's neck before Kanda crushed his lips on Allen's own, still clutching handfuls of hair and using it as a handle to force Allen's head backwards, bowing his back and marking his pale flesh. Allen tried (and failed) to be angry at this blatant mark of ownership- they'd agreed long ago that visible lovebites were not necessary, but something about the desperate, fevered way that Kanda was kissing him- leaving small bruises along his neck and collarbone- told him that his lover was worried, upset even, and rebuking him for his possessive demeanour would most likely result in an argument. Even after all these years Kanda never opened up to him fully- any insights into the other man's behaviour came from Allen's observances of the slight give always; those unconscious mannerisms that he had learned to interpret.

So instead of pushing Kanda away he pulled him closer, pressing a knee between Kanda's legs in order to get as much bodily contact as he could, answering the older man's aggression with a matching intensity.

"Out of the water. Now" growled Kanda, pushing them both, still entwined, to the edge of the bath while still trying to devour the younger man. They slid from the water, slick and steaming, but didn't get any further than the cold damp tiles next to the bath. They winced at the contact their sensitised skin made with the chilled ceramic, but didn't break apart until Kanda sat up, looking down at Allen with an almost uncertain expression on his face.

The younger man looked up, eyes glazed and wearing a confused expression. He fought with his lust-clouded brain to understand the reason for the sudden cessation of the wonderful mouth-on-body action he'd been enjoying moments before. He blinked a few times to bring everything outside his hormone bubble back into focus and made a few rather pathetic attempts to speak before he managed an intelligent "huh?"

Kanda appeared to be having some kind of internal debate. Or maybe it was a full-blown argument with himself, judging by the look on his face. To anyone else he might have appeared as stoic and calm as usual, but Allen could see the caution lurking in his sapphire eyes and the subtle worrying of the inside of his bottom lip, as though chewing the words he wanted to say.

That was enough to bring Allen down from his high and sit up on the slowly warming tiles. "What is it?" he asked, somehow managing to keep the exasperation from hi voice, feeling a bit deflated, in more ways than one. Why did Kanda have to pick now of all times to have an emo moment? When he had no reply for several minutes, during which time the water on their skin dried, leaving them chilled and uncomfortable, Allen decided to speak. He reached out and laid a hand over Kanda's where it lay on the tiles between them. "Yuu? What's wrong?"

Kanda stopped chewing his lip and looked directly at him, eyes showing his emotions so clearly that Allen flinched slightly at the unaccustomed openness. It unsettles him greatly.

"We're leaving in two days" the Japanese man said at length. Allen said nothing, but blinked at the sudden, seemingly random comment. "And we won't see each other for a long time" Kanda added.

"Well, that's true, but it's really no different from our usual missions…" began Allen, clearly wondering where this was going.

"It is though. You…" Kanda visibly swallowed, his voice tight with emotion. "We," he amended, "might not come back from this one."

Allen stared dumbfounded. "What? What's the matter with you? This isn't like you at all!" He glared at the other man, feeling inordinately angry. Of all people, Kanda was the last one he'd ever consider to be having these types of negative thoughts, and to actually voice them…

"I'm just being realistic" snapped the other man with a scowl. "I don't want to lose you."

Allen's furious expression softened. "BaKanda." He didn't elaborate, instead closing his fingers around the hand still below his own.

Kanda closed his eyes momentarily, accepting the voiceless reprimand without complaint, and when he opened them again they were once again void of the uncertainty they had held. He exhaled loudly and shrugged one shoulder, as much of an apology that he was ever going to offer, acknowledging the fact that he'd probably been acting foolish. Then he smirked, turning his hand over and gripping Allen's which was still resting there. "Now let's get off this freezing floor and finish where we left off."

Allen regarded him with a calculating expression, before meeting Kanda's smirk with one of his own, only Allen's hovered more on the evil side of the spectrum. "If you promise me something."

Ok, that didn't bode well at all. Kanda twisted his mouth irritably, sure that he would come to regret this. "Fine."

"Lavi wants to throw a leaving party…"

"No."

"…and since we're going away for a while, you should really…"

"Hell no."

"…make an effort to go…" Allen carried on as if he wasn't being interrupted.

"Hell. No." He jabbed a finger at Allen to emphasise his point.

"…you are the one who said we wouldn't see anyone for ages…"

"No, I said we wouldn't see each other for a long time…"

"Yuu…"

"…and I'm certainly not going to miss anyone else around here."

"Liar" Allen snorted, crossing his arms petulantly before throwing them into the air. "I'll be going anyway. I'll miss everyone, and at least I'm man enough to admit it." He made to storm away, his whole posture betraying his disappointment and anger.

Ignoring the slight at his masculinity Kanda grabbed hold of Allen's arm. "Tch. Whatever." Which of course was Kanda-speak for 'you win'.

Allen grinned, foul mood vanishing immediately. He paused with one hand on the door handle when he spotted Kanda eying him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Don't let me stop you" the other man commented airily. "But you might want to rethink going out there naked."

(Hah- no lemon for yeeeeew!)

Jim was very drunk. Despite having been old enough for more than a year, there had been little opportunity to indulge in such deviant activities such as mindless drinking, and the nineteen year old was a decided lightweight. His younger brother however, despite being underage, was holding his alcohol better than most adults present, looking like a hooligan rather than an exorcist, what with his tattoos and piercing as he cheerfully downed pints to the enthusiastic cheers of an inebriated audience. Jim in particular seemed rather proud of his brothers chugging skills, though he was by now so drunk he couldn't see straight and what he thought was the impressive talent of necking two drinks at once was the less spectacular actuality of only drinking one.

Lanel, having never drunk alcohol before in his life, was drunk before he'd even finished his first drink, and now, having had several more pressed upon him by Order members keen to see the oddly stiff angel make a fool out of himself, was entertaining a collection of scientists with The Voice, using the stern-sounding, choral voice to say stupidly immature things, encouraged shamelessly by Lavi, who was sitting in the crowd adding his suggestions while allowing a tipsy Lenalee to hand all over him.

The Chinese girl seemed to be using the fact that her brother was ensconced in a corner doing very inappropriate things to a certain Australian Head of Section to get some action of her own, and had her hand tangled in Lavi's bright red hair, giggling as Lanel exclaimed "Testicle!" in a carrying strict voice. Just what was Jerry giving them all? (Author entertains previous aphrodisiac theory)

With some amusement, an entirely sober Allen watched Jim's finder girlfriend, Xanthe, try and persuade him to dance with her. Allen pitied the younger man, he wouldn't like to try and refuse her, and he was going out with Kanda. Damn that girl was scary.

Somehow the dark blonde man managed to get free and dive under a table, vanishing behind the floor-length tablecloth. After five minutes of yelling and pulling, the dark haired girl managed to extract the exorcist from beneath the table, to the accompaniment of mocking sympathetic comments aimed at the glum-faced young man as he was dragged away.

Allen approached the table with a wide grin, and, pretending to be bending to pick up a dropped cocktail sausage, leaned in close to the tablecloth. "You ok under there Jim?" he whispered, chuckling quietly at the surprised squawk that answered him.

"How did you know I was still here?" Jim asked in a low voice, not shifting from his hiding place.

Allen gave a small laugh, casting about to make sure no-one was listening in. It wouldn't do for Jim to be caught for real.

In the background, Lanel cried "nipple!" in his thunderous voice, momentarily distracting them both.

"Unlike everyone else here, I have not been drinking, and so I can tell that you've given yourself two left feet, and I'm not just talking about your abysmal dancing technique either."

A hand shot out from beneath the tablecloth and grabbed Allen by the collar, yanking him under the table. "Ack!"

"Help me!" Jim whined pathetically, the green glow of his innocence casting his face in a sickly light. Allen took a moment to allow himself to be impressed by his one-time student. Drunk and unable to see what he was doing, he was still able to maintain the illusion, albeit with the hardly noticeable omission of a right foot.

"Sometimes it's less painful to just give in" commented Allen, sounding like he was talking from experience. Jim just looked at him like he was crazy. "And actually dance?" He curled into a smaller ball, looking positively wretched as he did so. "Please don't give me away!" he begged miserably.

"JAMES WILLIAM HARVEY!" shrieked an enraged female voice from beyond the veil of the tablecloth.

"Too late for that" Allen laughed, only to be cut off when a hand appeared under the table and grabbed him by the arm in a vice-like grip. He found himself dragged from the hiding place and face to face with an incensed finder, who shook him roughly. "Where is he?" she cried, giving him an extra shake to emphasise her point.

Allen, having ha his brain thoroughly rattled, felt no sympathy for his ex-student, who had left him to his fate, and pointed a shaking finger to the rapidly shrinking figure dashing for the door. He was dropped unceremoniously as Xanthe caught sight of her quarry and charged after him.

Allen sat slightly stunned ("scrotum!" shouted Lanel) until Kanda appeared at his side and heaved him to his feet. "Thanks. I can't believe that little bitch left me here!"

"The finder?"

"No, Jim! That complete arsehole, I hope she catches up with him!" He gave Kanda a sidelong look. "You haven't even had one drink have you?"
"Of course not."

"Pity" Allen commented, secretly thinking that a drunken Kanda would be a sight worth seeing. Kanda chose not to reply, but crossed his arms and glaring at Allen as though he knew exactly what the younger man was thinking. Allen gave him a mischievous wink and grabbed a sparkly pink party hat from the table, snapping it onto Kanda's dark hair and daring Kanda to remove it by twanging the elastic cheekily, before patting his face in a patronising way. "Smile Yuu, it's not so bad." He put a dark blue hat onto his own snowy hair with a winning smile, before pressing something into Kanda's hand. "I know I don't usually touch the stuff," he said, briefly descending into depression as he recalled the incident that had led him to be tee-total, "but tonight's a special night. Who knows when we'll have the chance to do this again."

"If" Kanda amended, though he didn't put aside the glass of whatever Allen had handed to him, instead raising it slightly in a toast, thinking that Allen was far more likely to get himself drunk before he did, after all, it wasn't as though he'd never had alcohol before. Just not very often. Okay, just the once, but that was more than the Moyashi ever had, wasn't it?

Allen clinked glasses with him, hiding his smirk with his hand as he pretended to down his drink while Kanda tossed his own down his throat. The fact that Kanda hadn't eaten anything since breakfast was going to work in Allen's favour- a couple more of these shots and Kanda would be completely rat-arsed. 'I hope Yuu's a happy drunk' thought Allen, 'God help us all if he gets more violent…' as he quickly tipped his drink into a handy plant pot while the other man wasn't looking, before turning back with a bright, innocent smile. "Another?"

"I think," said Kanda slowly in a very serious voice, "that you are trying to get me drunk."

Allen raised his eyebrows and handed the other man another drink. It was his fifth already. "Really?" Allen asked, sounding genuinely surprised at the accusation. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know" Kanda slurred, squinting at him. "But Ix guess its okay, payback for all the perverted things I've done to you."

Allen laughed. "So are you drunk yet?"

Kanda shook his head vigorously, his hair flying around his face. "No, I'm drunk yet not."

"Uh-huh" agreed Allen with a grin "not you're sure."

"Exactly" Kanda told him with a firm decisive nod.

("Penis!" shouted Lanel, not sobered at all, despite the fact his audience had all-but passed out.)

Lavi, who had joined them around Kanda's third shot, grinned sloppily, still a little unsteady, though he'd stopped drinking earlier in favour of watching this new and interesting side to Kanda's personality.

Kanda murmured something in Japanese, a couple of words in French before descending into pleasant gibberish in a language of his own creation. Suddenly he turned to Lavi, fixing him with a drunken glare, which turned immediately into a friendly smile. "I love you, you stupid rabbit."

Lavi blinked in shock while Allen fell about laughing. "Please tell me someone recorded that!"

Kanda then turned to Allen. "And I really love you Moyashi" he purred seductively. Allen gulped and tried to inch away. "Really, really…" the older man stressed, attempting to grope him in front of everybody (except Komui and Reever…who knew where they had got to…)

"Alright, that's enough!" Allen said quickly, dragging Kanda upright. "Night everyone!" he called, pulling the drunken man behind him. Happy drunk? Bloody horny drunk more like!

Allen was trying to get Kanda undressed and into bed, something he usually had no trouble with, except now Kanda seemed to have grown three extra limbs which made undressing him difficult, especially since each one of Kanda's limbs (and the three surplus) seemed intent on taking Allen's clothes off as well.

Eventually Allen, down one shirt, two boots, one sock and a belt, managed to get Kanda, who was wearing nothing but a blissful smile, onto the bed.

Kanda blinked serenely up at him. "I meant it you know, I do love you. I never tell you, but I do."

Allen blinked rapidly and cleared his throat. "You don't have to say it, I know anyway."

Kanda hummed tunelessly for a moment as Allen removed his remaining clothing. Then he said, quite randomly "Fuck me."

"Pardon?" Allen asked, unsure if he'd heard right. Kanda wasn't that drunk, was he?

"I said, 'let's have sex'" replied Kanda

"No…you didn't" said Allen slowly

"No I didn't" agreed the other man. "I said fuck me."

"Uh-" Allen paused, groping for something to say, which was difficult seeing as Kanda was now on his front, waving his backside in the air invitingly.

"You know you want to" prodded Kanda.

Allen shook his head. "Not like this, not while you're drunk- you don't know what you want."

Kanda rolled his eyes. "Yes I do. And I'm not as think as you drunk I am" he said, a small smirk forming on his face. "You thought I wouldn't notice you feeding that plant your drinks?"

Allen gaped at him, wondering whether he was dreaming- this was going beyond surreal. "How…how long?"

"Not till after the third one you foisted on me" admitted Kanda.

Allen listened closely, he could hear the faint slurring of Kanda's voice and the drunken glaze of his eyes. So, not completely rat-arsed by any means, but still very relaxed. Very, very relaxed. Allen cracked a wide evil grin, which faltered immediately as he looked at the figure on the bed. Now it had actually come down to it, Allen wasn't entirely sure he could go through with this. Sure he'd been dreaming about doing this very thing (or rather, doing Kanda) for months, but he wasn't convinced this was the right way to go about it- Kanda was definitely less than at his best, and something told Allen that it was almost like taking advantage of the other man- Kanda would never have agreed if he was stone-cold sober, would he? Damn it, it was hard to think while Kanda's ass was right there, almost calling to him. Well, he'd probably never get another chance, but still… damn his morals!

Allen sighed and shook his head. "Never mind, let's just get some sleep."

Kanda frowned at him, rolling onto his back, indolent and relaxed, with his hair slightly mussed from the struggle earlier and reclining languidly against the pillows like being naked was the most natural thing in the world. Allen felt his mouth go dry and his resolve slip a little, and had to clench his fists at his side to stop him from leaping forward and just touching Kanda. He forced himself to smile, and it must have come across a little strained because Kanda sat up, the frown deepening.

"I'd rather do this when you're not drunk" Allen told him apologetically. Kanda's frown turned into a scowl, and he opened his mouth to argue back, but Allen held up a hand to stop him. "If you still fell like this in the morning…" assuming you don't have a stinking hangover "then I'd love to…but…well, let's just go to sleep." Before I do something I regret.

He climbed into bed after flicking off the light, snuggling up to the warm body next to his.

"It's not because we're leaving, if that's what you're worried about" Kanda said eventually, "or because I'm drunk." Pause. "Which I'm not!" he added.

"'Kay," Allen agreed, not really paying attention as the heat warmed him and sleep tugged at his consciousness.

After five more minutes in silence Kanda spoke again. "You're treating me like a girl, Moyashi" he said quietly. "But thank you."

"Welcome" muttered Allen, all but fully asleep. "Now shut up."

A/N- I'm sorry. I

needed to update, so I was crazy-writing all week, but I'm at my parents house and sharing a room with my rather innocent minded little sister. So not only could I not face writing any zesty stuff this chapter, I couldn't even begin to consider a seme Allen! ARGH! Maybe sometime… but there's only going to be opportunity for…um…two at the most…more lemons in this fic… yeah… I know, it's all down hill from here…

Plus I got a couple of WTF?s regarding my one-lemon-per-chapter thing that I was doing lately (not on purpose, its how the muse works…) so despite…what two chances in this chapter alone… I didn't put one in. Anyway, I will crack on with chapter 19… 20 is already written, so depending on how long it takes me to write the next one you might get a double update! Thrills for you.

And please let me thank anyone who is still reading this- I am fully aware I am being a horrendously lousy author lately, but exams are now over, I've had my first hospital visit of 2009, and I have an off-again-on-again relationship with a boy I went out with three years ago… so life's pretty good right now…maybe I'll be more motivated! Thank you to the few but faithful! Lovage!