Hana: New chapter~
Allen: ...
Lavi: -laughing his ass off- Oh man, Allen! That's gold right there~
Hana: I know, right?
Allen: Like you're one to talk, Lavi
Lavi: Ouch...
Allen: Hanashi and Xavier don't own D. Gray-man. And good riddance too!
Hana: Party-pooper. Enjoy the new chapter, and see ya at the A/N~
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+ - Chapter 45 - +
Wisely looked over Allen's shoulder, watching the younger work with a critical eye. During Allen's stay, he had made well on his promise to actually teach the younger how to cook, and not destroy anything. The first few tries, spanning for three days were disastrous. He'd considered giving up, but he had a stubborn pride he never knew he possessed.
"Is...this what I think it is?" Allen asked, looking at the pot before him. "Did I...really make something edible?"
"We'll find out when we make Tyki eat it." Wisely said. "Pour the pasta in the strainer, and don't burn yourself."
Allen, Wisely found, had a knack for getting burned while cooking. The boy had accidentally touched the stovetop more than once, had tried to pick up something off said stovetop without oven mitts, and — Wisely's personal favourite — had dipped his finger in a pot of boiling water to check if it was hot.
Of course...that was Allen taking him seriously to his quips and sarcastic remark...so he was partially to blame for that one. "While the water drains, I want you to check the pasta sauce, and make sure it's still at the consistency it should be at. After which, we're pouring the pasta into the sauce, and finishing the cooking process there."
"And that's not gonna take as long?"
"That's right." Wisely said. "I'm personally surprised you were able to learn as quickly as you have."
"Does that mean a celebration?" Devit's voice sounded as he and his twin entered the kitchen. Both grinning from ear to ear.
"NO." Both the British males said in unison. Neither of them trusted the American born twins' ways of 'celebration'.
If they were lucky, nobody would get shot. If they weren't... well...
"No celebration," Wisely told them sternly.
"You're both such sticks in the mud." Devit said with a pout. "C'mon~ It'll be fun! And you might get a cool tattoo or something~"
"Why would I ever get a tattoo?" Allen asked in disbelief. He didn't mind them, but getting one himself...was just a strange concept to him, for the most part.
"Because they're cool!" The dark-haired twin said, like it was one of the most obvious things ever.
"If they're soo cool, why don't you have any?" Allen challenged.
"We have them!" Jasdero glowered. "Wisely made us swear to never show them though." He then pouted.
Allen looked to Wisely with a questioning look. The other British born male sighed. "It's offensive, and I feel so sorry for the tattoo artist that had to give them their tattoos."
"Oh..." Allen said, realizing what the other meant. "Okay then...um, pasta should be done, right?" He removed the pan from the heat, and placed it on a cool surface. "Is this okay?"
"Hey, Jas, Devit, try the dish."
"NO WAY!" The twins glowered. "We were throwing up for days after the last time you made us try something he made!"
"Worth it though." Both Allen and Wisely said with twin menacing grins.
Jasdero grabbed the sleeve of his brother's long-sleeved jacket and shook his head. "Jas won't eat it."
"His food is poison," Devit agreed, warily eying the pasta.
"I'm going to regret this." Allen muttered, "Okay, if you try the pasta, I'll...get a tattoo for myself...at some point."
The twins actually paused to consider the deal.
"Really?" Devit queried, eyes narrowing skeptically.
"Hii hee~" Jasdero looked at his twin. "He'll really really do it?"
"At some point in time, I'll get a damn tattoo only if you try the pasta."
Devit's eyes went from Allen to the pasta. "Wise... you made sure he stuck to the recipe, right?"
"I did," the older white-haired male said.
Devit pulled a quarter out of his back pocket. "Alright Jas. Heads I go second, tails you go first."
"Right~!"
What an idiot... Both white-haired males muttered.
While Devit flipped the coin, all Allen could think was: Is my cooking really that bad?
"Yeah, it is," Wisely said, answering the unspoken thought. "That's why I had them try it last time."
The quarter flipped, and Jasdero watched the coin with eager eyes. Devit caught it mid-fall, and slapped the coin on the back of his hand. He lifted his hand, revealing the heads side. "Yay! I go second!"
"No, I go second. Tails you go first, heads I go second." The dumber of the two thought back on the logic, and glowered at his twin.
"No fair! No fair! No fair!"
"Eat the damn pasta." Wisely growled.
"Before I help Wisely shove it down your throats," Allen sweetly added.
"Let's dig in!" The twins said unanimously.
And let's hope you two don't die, Wisely thought, watching as Allen pulled out some plates and scooped out equal portions of pasta from the pot.
Once they were served, the twins eyed the dish before them. They were still very weary from the last time. At least it looked like food...
Steeling their stomachs for what was likely to come, both twins scooped up some of the spaghetti with their forks, and tried the dish they were forced to try. Expecting something to go wrong, the twins swallowed, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
"IT'S GOOD!" Both exclaimed, happily digging into the edible meal before them.
"There's hope for me/you yet." Allen and Wisely said at once. It also occurred to Allen that god dammit, he'd have to get a tattoo at some point now.
"Regretting your wager?"
"A little. Yes." Allen sighed.
"Well you can't go back now," Wisely said. "There's no way the twins would let you."
Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll forget?
Wisely eyed the pigging twins, before sighing. "You wish."
"Yeah... you're right." Allen knew that the twins would never forget something like this.
But hey, a guy could dream. "Where did Tyki go?"
"Oh, he left the moment I said he'd be the test subject for the pasta dish."
. . - * - . .
"Miss Lee! MISS LEE!" Lenalee was startled out of her daydream as she shot to attention seeing an agitated professor before her. "Class ended ten minutes ago."
"O-Oh, right, I'm sorry." She quickly apologized as she began gathering her stuff.
"Now that I have your attention, may I ask if everything at home has been alright for you?"
"Everything's perfectly fine at home, ma'am." Why would her professor think something was wrong at home? Was she acting that weird today?
"Oh. That's good," the professor said, and smiled at Lenalee.
"May I ask why you would think something is wrong?"
"Mm…you've been rather off as of late. I was thinking perhaps you were in bad relations to your family."
"No, my brother and I get along splendidly, actually." Lenalee explained. "I have to go now, but thank you for your concern, Professor." Lenalee said as she hurried off.
"Lena-lady~" She hadn't gotten too far before the voice of her boyfriend made itself known. She smiled and turned to him. "How's the prettiest girl in the world doing?"
"I'm doing great," she said as she was greeted by her boyfriend's familiar infectious grin. "And how are you?"
"I'm border than a plank of wood, if I'm gonna be honest." Lavi sighed. "Like seriously, Yeager? He was fun for an old guy...this person? He doesn't even know what he's talking about."
"Well there's good teachers and there's bad teachers, and you seem to have gotten one of that bad ones," Lenalee shrugged.
"How can you be so cruel?!" Lavi cried, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend. "I thought you loved me!"
"Aw, of course I do. But I'm being realistic here. You just got unlucky with your replacement professor is all."
"Way to win a man's heart, Lena." Lavi pouted. "You seen Allen recently? I can't seem to catch him before he disappears."
"No, I haven't...he leaves our shared class the moment the bell rings these days." At this Lena pouted. "And with Kanda on edge more than normal..."
"I know, Lena. I know."
"I hope they fix this soon," Lenalee mumbled. Her friends were great together, and they'd made each other really happy, so she wanted them to make up before it was too late.
It just wasn't fair...it wasn't right. Neither deserved what they were currently going through. It hurt her inside knowing that her friends were hurting, and for once, she had no idea how to deal with it. How do you fix a problem so big it affects those you love? Maybe they would find a way to make things right...but on the other hand...
Lenalee Lee just didn't know.
"I heard that Yu-chan's been a lot crankier at work lately," Lavi told the girl. "Practically everyone's avoiding him."
"I feel like we should intervene...but no one knows where Allen's staying right now...do you think Link might know?"
"I wouldn't put it past two-spot..." Lavi mused to himself, "Actually, he knows just about everything when you think of it."
"Don't get me started on that guy." Fou's voice sounded startling the duo. "He's scary good at what he does. Did'ja know he's a prodigy amongst his team?"
"Can't say I did." Lavi answered, having regained his composure faster than Lenalee did. "Was that how he found out where Allen lived that first time?"
"Allen actually told you about that?"
"No, that was something Link told us." Lenalee sighed. "I'll give him credit, he's good."
"We want to know where Allen's been staying." Lavi told the orange-haired woman, "He hasn't been with Neah, and Cross hadn't seen him in months."
"Why don'tcha just ask him?"
Lenalee sighed. "Because he disappears before we can even talk to him."
Fou looked astounded by this revelation. "Seriously? Sounds like you broke his trust or something..."
"We didn't do anything to warrant betraying him...for the most part Yu ignoring us would've made far more sense because he was the one kept in the dark."
"Kept in the dark on what?"
Lavi looks around, seeing how many people currently surrounded them. "Walls have ears...here, meet Lena and me at my house when you finish your classes for the day. We'll explain there."
"I understand. Address if you please." Fou said holding out her hand. Grabbing a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, and receiving a pen from Lenalee, he scribbled his address, and handed to the awaiting hand. "My gramps already knows, but not Komui."
"Must be serious if you of all people didn't tell Komui about it, Lenalee."
"Honestly, I felt that if Komui knew, he'd ask Kanda about it..."
"Why would he ask Kanda about it?"
"We'll explain at my place." Lavi intervened. "I promise, nothing will be left out."
"Jeez. What could've happened to make you all like this?" Fou asked rhetorically, glancing down at the address before slipping the paper into her bag.
"We're sorry..." Lenalee softly said.
"Don't worry about it. Besides, how bad can it be?"
. . - * - . .
Fou regretted ever asking. "Wait, wait, wait...Kanda's old man took up Allen's old job?"
"You seem more surprised about that then you did with the part of Allen being Crowned Clown." Lavi muttered. "But yeah, that's the gist of it."
"And that's why those two aren't together anymore?" She asked for clarification.
"Yeah...Allen was the one to end it..." Lavi affirmed.
Lenalee hugged her arms against her "There has to be something we can do to get them to make up."
"If you meddle, you'll probably only make it worse," Fou absently said, still processing everything.
"But we can't leave this all to themselves!" Lenalee exclaimed.
"They are adults, Miss Lee." Bookman's voice sounded as he walked into the red-head's organized mess of a room. "I am sure they'll come to terms when they have settled down."
"Old man, how well do you even know Yu and Allen?" Lavi asked. "It could takes weeks, maybe even months before they admit they're wrong."
Sighing to himself, Bookman looked up to the young adults, his weary eyes unimpressed, "It's because of your generation that I fear for the future. Allen Walker, at least, is mature for his age for the most part. Even with his own prideful stubbornness, I'm fairly certain he will be first to appologize and try to make things right between them."
"I hope you're right." Lavi said, crossing his arms. "But as you said, they're both as prideful as they are stubborn."
Fou snorted, crossing her arms as she gave the group a wry grin. "You can say that again."
"I know, right?" Lenalee admitted. "I just wish I knew where he could be staying...at least that way we could plant the idea that he should make things right as soon as possible?"
"So...we're not really interfering...we're just...helping things along?" Lavi's grin broadened, at the mischief his girlfriend was cooking up. "Sign me up~"
"You didn't have to sign up," the green-haired women told her lover. "I would've roped you into it anyway."
"The way I see it, my job as your lovable bunny is to love you, and make sure you're life has as minimal snags as possible~"
"Spare me the mushiness," Fou said, as she made a few gagging notions. She re-crossed her arms once she finished, and gave the couple a blunt stare, "Seriously, I think I almost threw up."
"You're just jealous of our love!"
"Nope," the orange-haired woman deadpanned. "I'm just grateful that Bak is nothing like you."
"So mean." Both Lenalee and Lavi pouted.
"I'm only being truthful."
"Still mean," Lavi mumbled.
"Well sorry for not appreciating the sappy display."
"Anyway! What's the plan, Lena-lady?" Lavi asked, deciding on changing the subject to the original conversation.
"I'm so very glad you asked. First, we'll need to find where Allen is currently staying. Kanda couldn't find him, but maybe we can ask Link oh-so-nicely?"
"If he doesn't know where Allen is, then who knows who does, right?" Lavi asked.
"Exactly. After that, I'll speak with Allen, you speak with Kanda."
"Think about that a little, Lenalee." Fou sighed. "If you have Lavi talking to Kanda, things might get worse."
"On second thought, /you'll/ go see Allen, and I'll knock some sense into Kanda."
"Only after you find out where Allen is." Fou reminded her. Lenalee glowered at the other woman. "Just saying."
Lavi looked at both of the girls. He could understand where Lenalee's annoyance was coming from; she just wanted Allen and Kanda back together again as soon as possible. "We need to at least get them in the same room together. All this time apart won't be helping their relationship."
"Easier said than done." Fou sighed. "I'll help where I can. I'll get ol' twin mole to tell me where Allen's staying for the time being. Maybe rather than a room, have them in a semi-crowded place. We can keep an eye on them, and they wouldn't be able to get out of it."
"That's...BRILLIANT FOU!" Lavi said in excitement. "If I wasn't so afraid of getting hurt, I'd plant a sloppy kiss on both ya cheeks."
"Don't." Lenalee and Fou both said.
"I wasn't going to," Lavi insisted, sliding an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.
"Still. Don't. I'll break your leg." Fou warned.
"Definitely won't..." Lavi muttered.
"I would've broken more than just your leg," Lenalee piped up, smiling a smile that looked far too cheerful.
"You're an idiot." Bookman muttered.
"I realize that..." Lavi said, having the strongest urge to hide.
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Fun times~ Interactions between characters are always so fun~
R&R ain't for Rest and Relaxation, no matter how much I need it. Leave a review and let us know how we're doing. Follow the story to stay up to date with new chapters, and hey, why not show the story some love by favoriting it? We'll see you guys next week!
On another chapter of Fade to Gray!