Hana: Here we go, a new chapter for everyone to enjoy!
Allen: ...am I going to fear the next chapter?
Lala: ?
Timothy: -snickers-
Hana: ...why are you two here?
Timothy/Lala: Just 'cos~!
Hana: Right...well, y'all know the drill. Neither myself nor XavierForest own D. Gray-man. We only take credit for the story you guys get to read~
Allen: Enjoy reading!
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+ - Chapter 16 - +
"So good~!" Timothy said, looking much like the cat which caught the canary.
"Glad you enjoyed it." Allen smiled, before turning to Lala. "And what about you?"
"I'm good! The ice cream here is so yummy!"
"Then we'll definitely have to come back some time," Allen mused offhandedly.
Lala nodded furiously. This past few hours had been like a dream; her newest — and probably only — friend had introduced her to the person planning on adopting him, and now the guy wanted to adopt her as we'll; it was more than she ever could have asked for. And aside from being a really nice guy, he didn't give a damn about her eye.
She wanted to ask him about his own, to hear how he'd gotten that scar, but she didn't think it was time yet. Maybe soon though; she was pretty curious. After he'd properly adopted her. That way, he couldn't back out of it.
"We got a lot of time to kill though." Timothy pointed out. "What're we doing today?"
"Hmm...I think Yu should almost be back in the office...maybe we can drop him off his lunch?"
"You bring him his lunch?" Timothy asked.
"Mm...no. But I thought it'd be a nice surprise."
"And then you can tell him about Lala," the blue-haired boy added, smirking when he saw Allen tense.
"Ah...maybe we'll make an extra special lunch...I'm thinking a fully traditional bento, complete with his favorites."
Curious as ever, Lala cocked her head to the side slightly, speaking her question aloud; "Bento? What's that?"
"Japanese lunchbox." Allen explained. "We'll have to go shopping, and I can even make you two snack-sized to take back when I return you two."
"Really?"
"Sounds boring if it's just a lunchbox."
"I'll just have to prove you wrong otherwise, Timothy." Allen said with a chuckle. Standing, he took their empty bowls, and tossed them in the trash. "Let's go food shopping, and we'll get all the supplies we're gonna be needing, okay?"
The younger nodded. "Trust the motherly one to be able to cook."
Allen's smile fell.
"Wait, you can cook, right?" Timothy asked, and then in remembering back to when he'd stayed with the couple, he smirked. "Oh, so was that why it was Kanda who cooked last time?" Seeing Allen's glare, the boy snorted. "Wow. Wouldn't have expected that."
"What does that mean?" The Brit questions, glare still there.
"You're such a girl, I figured you'd at least be able to cook," the other said with a grin.
Lala, with her hands at her hips, pouted. "And what does cooking have to do with being a girl?"
"As it so happens." Allen interrupted, "It just so happened to have been Kanda's night to make dinner."
"You sure about that?" Timothy asked.
"Maybe I should reconsider adopting you."
"I take it back!"
"Foot in your mouth." Lala muttered. "So tell me, what does cooking have to do with being a girl, hm?"
"Ah...uh...I-I didn't m-mean it that way...er..." Allen only shrugged. Timothy got himself into that mess, he could get himself out.
"C'mon. You said it, so you should know what you meant," the blonde said with a glare.
"I-I just... because girls normally cook... so..."
"And so now you're characterizing women by their ability to cook?"
"Uh... no... just... what I meant was..."
"Okay, we don't need any bloodshed, right?" Okay, he was feeling bad for the blue-haired child at this point. "What our naïve friend here means is—"
"Don't start putting words in my mouth!"
"Then you are being sexist." Lala accused the youngest male.
"What? No! I'm not sixest...? The heck is that word anyway?"
"It means that you're characterizing someone or discriminating them because of their sex," Allen supplied helpfully.
"What?"
"Uh...you're bullying someone for their gender."
"Why didn't you just say it that way in the first place?"
"He did. You're just too stupid to know big words."
"HEY!"
"Maybe we'll get you a tutor later," the eldest mused, feeling somewhat satisfied when he saw Timothy tense.
"But Emilia is already his tutor." Lala pointed out. "Does that mean you would have to pay her to teach him, when she already does it for free now?"
"I meant for after I adopt you guys. Or maybe I'll just send you to school..."
Thinking it over, Kanda would've probably preferred it if Timothy and Lala would be sent to school...but at the same time, he himself was worried. Lala looked as though she'd be subject to bullying...and with Timothy's hair, wouldn't he too?
He could always just try out a bunch of schools... Or sort out any problems that arose... Now that he thought about it, wouldn't sending Kanda in fix everything? Scare the bullies, mess with the teachers; there was no downside.
Allen grinned. Sometimes it payed to have a terrifying lover.
"Allen, you're making a scary face..." Lala said, bringing the British male out of his thoughts. "And making people scared."
"He does that sometimes." Timothy explained, though hiding behind Lala.
Still grinning, Allen pointed off in the direction they were headed. "C'mon. We got people to see, places to go, and whatever else the saying says."
"I think it's only 'Places to go and people to see'." The blonde-haired girl pointed out. "But you really are freaking people out."
"No I'm not," the eldest dismissed with a wave of a gloved hand. He'd have to show Lala his disfigurement eventually if she was going to end up staying with him...
"That guy's calling someone on his phone, while staring with a weird expression." Timothy bluntly stated.
"Ah...uh...let's go then..." Taking both children's' hands, he quickly walked off realizing the kids really weren't lying about the worried glances and stares from the people around them.
Goddamn. Why'd he have to be so weird? Personally, he blamed it on NOAH.
But could he really blame them at this point? They weren't around anymore...Tyki was behind bars, Wisely was somewhere doing Lord knew what, and so was Neah...and the rest of the deranged family had been killed off. Maybe he could at least blame his uncle...yeah, blame Neah...just because.
"Is this the place?" Lala asked, looking around.
"Huh?" Looking for himself, Allen viably paled. He really should've been paying attention...where the hell were they?
"You didn't get us lost, did you?" Timothy groaned. "You totally did!"
"No way!" The elder protested, trying to find some kind of street sign or something to at least give him an indication as to where it was they'd ended up.
"Isn't this where the Police station is?" Lala asked, looking around. "I think we're on Mater Street and 24th right now."
"O-oh... The police station huh..." Wasn't this where officer Moa worked?
"Allen?" Oh for the love of—!
"Woah, that police chick knows who you are, Allen!" Timothy said, laughing. "Did'ja get into trouble or something?"
"Mm...I wouldn't say that." Officer Moa told the kids as she walked to the trio. "I think he might if you two aren't supposed to be around him." Allen finally turned around to face the female officer.
"Uh, actually, these are kids Kanda and I are planning to...um...adopt..."
"He doesn't know about Lala yet though." Timothy piped up. "We were gonna make him a bribery lunch of his favourite food to get him to say "yes" to keeping Lala too."
"I see." Moa said, adjusting her rounded glasses. "Well, in case you three hadn't noticed, I'm not even in uniform today. It's my day off."
"Huh?" Taking a quick glance, Allen realized the brunette was in fact, wearing civilian clothing. A white blouse, blue jeans, and sneakers. "Oh, I, uh, I guess you are...wait, Timothy, did you get into trouble with Moa?" It would explain why he knew Moa was a police officer after all.
"Let me guess, you got lost?"
"H-huh? Of course I didn't! I know exactly wh-"
"Save it," she interjected with a knowing smile. "You're lost."
"I never knew you had a sad excuse for directional sense." Lala bluntly said.
"Harsh..." The youngest male muttered. Allen had all but deflated on the sidewalk, muttering things neither Moa, Timothy, nor Lala could make out.
"Well, to be fair," Timothy began, "you only just met him today."
"True."
"But you're right. It is pretty sad."
Allen, who'd begun to perk up a bit when Timothy had — sort of — stood up for him, stared dejectedly at the two pre-teens before him. "But... there's other things I'm good at..." he tried, attempting to salvage what little pride he could for himself.
"Yeah? Like what?" The blue-haired boy asked, smirking.
"L-like..." Allen stuttered, mind scrambling for something, anything he was good at. "Piano!
Timothy's smirk grew. "And what use is that?"
At that, the older male didn't know what to say. "But... there's other things..."
"Like...?"
'Killing', a voice in his head whispered, haunting, but he quickly shoved that thought back wherever it came from. "Getting my fiancé to do what I want!" He said instead.
Moa nodded, sighing. "He's right. That takes talent."
"Can you really play piano though?" Lala asked, her curiosity burning.
"Uh? Well, yeah."
"Papa you've got to teach me!" Again with 'papa', Allen noted. He wondered what title Kanda would get from Lala...she was pout-begging...oh crap...
"I-I guess I could..."
"Yay~!"
"Did you adopt them, Allen?"
"Not...yet...see, I was going to visit Timothy...and then I was introduced to Lala...and then well, here we are."
"Hm." Moa said thoughtfully. "Where did you say you were originally going before you got lost?"
"The store. Allen was gonna make Kanda a bribery lunch." And then some...Allen found himself thinking. "Because he wants to adopt Lala, as well as me."
"I feel you'll nee—"
"I KNOW!" Allen quickly interrupted, face red to high heaven. "L-let's just...go...okay?"
"And do you know in which direction the store is?" Moa asked.
Allen gulped, before timidly chuckling, scratching the back of his head, "Uh...n-not really?"
"Lame." Timothy sighed.
"I'm not lame!" The Brit indignantly huffed.
"But your sense of direction is." Both police woman and children pointed out.
"Is not!"
"Is too," Timothy muttered.
"I think you should stop putting your foot in your mouth, Allen." Lala advised. "It can't be good for your health."
"Here, I have some groceries to shop for myself, I'll lead the way, alright?" Moa offered.
Allen slowly nodded, feeling somewhat dejected. Well, it could've been worse... Maybe.
"Now, what do we need?" Allen asked mostly himself going through the aisles. Timothy and Lala were on either side of him, looking at the different foods on the shelves.
"What are we gonna make him again?" Timothy asked.
"His favourite foods," the former answered absentmindedly.
"And they are?"
"Soba."
"That's only one."
"Is…there anything else?" Lala implored, curiosity getting the better of her.
"If there is, I hadn't found it yet. I know in his soba he'll either have lotus or pumpkin seeds and tempura shrimp with green tea, no sugar..."
"Lotus?"
"Uh...blossoms I think? Or were they seeds like with the pumpkin...I never did bother to figure that tidbit out."
"Well you'd better," Moa said with a slight smirk.
"Yeah, but either way, I'm still gonna end up being half ra—" Allen cut himself off, blushing madly at what he'd just been about to say.
And Timothy was smiling way too innocently. "Half what?"
"Um... h-half... Half ready if we don't hurry up and buy what we need!"
Yes, he knew how pitiful his cover-up had been. He also knew from the three separate looks he was getting that no one believed a word he'd said.
"Whatever you say." The youngest male said, not really believing him for a moment. "Hey, can we get candy?"
"Candy? We just had ice cream."
"Please?"
"How about this." Allen came up with this plan on the spot, "We'll buy a whole sack of candy when I can finally adopt you and Lala, deal?"
"With plenty of chocolate, gum, and gummies?" Lala probed.
"And jawbreakers, and pop rocks?" Timothy added.
"All candy made with real pure cane sugar."
Both children eyes widened, "There's such a thing?" Allen nodded, and quickly covered his ears when the two younger ones squealed in delight.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Moa questioned, eyeing the two children.
Allen grinned. "Why wouldn't it be? I get candy, they get candy; it's a win-win situation for all."
"If the three of you get a sugar high, I have a feeling that your fiancé will make you regret it."
She could almost see the glint in the British male's eyes. "Three against one. We can't lose!"
"Yeah!" Moa silently prayed Allen's fiancé would grant some mercy on his soul. Some mercy, not complete.
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Hey guys~! So, bribery lunch, hm? Who thinks that'll actually work on Kanda? :3 Well, you're gonna be waiting until next week anyway~!
R&R ain't for rest and relaxtion, so please, show this story some love! Leave a review and let us know how we're doing, and feel free to fave and follow if you hadn't already~! It's appreciated~
See you wonderful people next week on Fade to Gray!