Word count: 5,032


The Quiet Earth

Chapter 2.3


Sunsets often appeared divinely inspired; a celestial being on a whim, dipping a planet-sized brush into coral and apricot hues and flinging them erratically across their galactic canvas, painting a stage for the waning sun for eons to come.

Those brilliant, bedazzling colours streaked across a darkening sky by the time Kanda considered retiring to his room. Before that, however, he responsibly stopped by the cafeteria to return the lunch box, sneaking in through the employee's door to avoid being seen.

Jerry eyeballed his questionable manner but merely asked if he found the food satisfactory, to which Kanda nodded. As he made to leave, the Thand'ian man called for him to wait outside the kitchen. Appropriately curious, he complied and after a few minutes, the other man emerged with another food box in a bag.

"Sushi," beamed Jerry. "And more tea. I thought you might skip dinner again. I'm not letting my babies go hungry."

Despite how averse Kanda was to being pampered, he felt a sizable twinge of gratitude. Remembering his manners, he muttered his thanks before he fled.

Thus far, his good fortune had allowed him to avoid any more familiar faces. Ambling along the edges of the field, he tilted his head up and breathed in the evening frost, admiring the vast expanse of indigo above. With night closing in, his skin prickled with goose bumps and the discomfort hastened his pace.

The dormitories loomed ahead, a wide monolith against a navy sky. Infrequent domes of lamp light dotted the corridors like a tentative road home. Those who stayed there typically occupied the second and third storeys, with the highest floor currently vacant.

Kanda's room was thankfully on the third storey and at the east end of the corridor, away from the main road and residences opposite the First District. Most importantly, it was farthest from every other room.

All these little benefits could be attributed to Tiedoll putting in a furtive word for his reclusive son. This might have been an issue in other contexts, but most people paid no mind to its relative lack of offence, even if it involved a kept foreigner like him.

Two stairwells hid behind the reception desk, flanking either ends of the lobby. Kanda trekked up the right and proceeded to the end. Fishing his room key out from the other pocket, he unlocked his door, keen to indulge in cold sushi and hot tea.

"Yu."

Kanda froze.

That voice. Oh, how often had it invaded his mind in the past year. Time slowed to a crawl as his hand fell, as if losing grip on reality. The world seemed to slip beneath a suffocating veil even as his heart rate jumped and sharpened his senses.

He turned.

And there, a few paces away, stood the very person whose radar he had gone lengths to stay under of. Wrapped in his signature orange scarf and green bandana, Lavi was a colourful turn of events. The sight of familiar ginger hair and boyish features so evocative and tangible it threatened to take Kanda's breath away.

The redhead appeared a little ragged, but the emerald of his lone eye caught the dim lights, shadowed under his brow. They stared at each other, both undecided and unmoving, the universe holding its breath with them.

Fuck.

All Kanda could register was the hammering in his chest and the blood pulsing in his ears. His fingers tightened around the bag's handle.

This wasn't supposed to happen – he had done everything he could to avoid encountering this situation.

Perhaps all the luck needed to bring him to this point undiscovered had finally exhausted itself. Presumably the universe had tasked him with climbing in through the fucking windows, and he failed the check.

Lavi looked at him like a man starved.

That intensity caused heat to flare up his neck, reminding him acutely of how Yu Kanda wasn't one to react like a stunned rabbit. No, that was Lavi's job for whenever he got hit over the head for acting obnoxious. Perdition might be freezing over somewhere.

Ice forming in impossible locations notwithstanding, he found himself unable to tear his gaze away even as Lavi took another step closer, closer, bringing them a mere arm's length apart. Instating proximity like thin air at the top of a mountain.

Then again, neither was Lavi admittedly acting like he usually did. The redhead seemed unusually solemn, staring quietly, expression unreadable. Just like that day—

No, Kanda refused to think about the day before Lavi left. He had dreaded the day of Lavi's return. Yet somehow, both occasions began with them being this close to each other again. Enigmatic eyes sharing a moment under the tentative cover of night.

Fate might be a cruel mistress, but she knew how to make the torment poetic.

The silence dragged on. A loud reminder of their one year's worth of non-communication. Although that had entirely been Kanda's fault, one should forego the idea he would confess to that. It was possibly cosmic intervention that prompted Lavi to speak first.

"It's really good to see you again. I've missed you."

Lavi quirked his lips into a hesitant smile. His voice sounded like warm honey. It stirred the strangest feeling within Kanda, no different from discovering the first day of spring after an eternal winter.

"Aren't you glad to have me back? Did you miss my endless yakking? And don't lie to me, I know how your heart grows fonder in my absence!"

The smile turned teasing, as though some light-heartedness could defuse Kanda's personal staring agenda.

Contrary to the volume of his thoughts, Kanda stood there mutely. Wondering how the fuck Lavi couldn't hear his heart rattling frantically in his ribcage like a captured bird. The warm corridor lights peered down at him like countless wolf eyes, elongating the shadows and silence.

As seconds passed without any response, the blithe arch of lips faltered.

"Mm... why so quiet, Yu? Are you planning my murder again? Do I have to sleep with both eyes open tonight?" The redhead joked, but the nervous glint in his eye belied the verbal playfulness. It suffused his expression as Kanda's stillness dragged on.

"Is everything okay?" Lavi tried again. "Oh shit... did you lose your voice? You did, didn't you? Was there a terrible accident—"

Spell broken, Kanda stepped back to reclaim his personal space and look away, muttering, "Shut the fuck up, you're noisy."

When Kanda hazarded a glance back, the gentle smile cast in his direction lit a fire in his chest. The bird in its cage grew restless anew. Such a raw and genuine look – did Lavi even realise the face he was making? At Kanda , no less?

Fuck. There simply wasn't going to be an end to this undesirable situation, unless Kanda carried it out himself.

"...It's late, you should go," he said curtly. Keeping his sensibilities felt like swimming through molasses, but he managed to retrieve his forgotten key without fumbling. All he needed to do now was retreat to the safety of his room. He pushed the door open – only for another hand to pull it shut in his face with a slam.

Stormy eyes descended upon Lavi's chagrined face, who backed away, stammering, "Oh jeez – I'm sorry, I didn't mean to close it that hard. I just wanted—" Lavi broke off, a grimace crossing his face.

As satisfying it was to be the cause of someone's self-doubt, the emotion appeared oddly disarming on a face like Lavi's, and Kanda found his glare unwittingly softening. Catching himself, he wrenched his eyes away. He inhaled heavily for what could have been the hundredth time today and let his hand swing off the door handle.

Fine.

"What do you want."

"I... wanted to talk." At that, Kanda tensed but waited. Emboldened by the silent permission, Lavi continued. "I, uh, couldn't find you earlier and nobody seemed to know where you were either... Where have you been?"

"Busy," he replied tersely.

Lavi threw him a discerning look. "...During the holidays?"

"Che."

Lavi seemed to accept the non-answer and for one relieved breath, Kanda thought this might be the end of it. But Lavi's next words uttered struck at the core of the matter.

"Yu... is something wrong? I feel like you've been avoiding me."

That was the last topic Kanda wanted to discuss presently, or ever. He needed to put a good chunk of distance between them. Curse the tenacious redhead obstructing his escape route. A quick assessment behind him showed railings and a long way down. Lavi had him at a dead end, with only one way out of this.

In an unassuming manner, Kanda hooked the bag around his door handle, feigning contemplation as he mentally counted the seconds. On three, his hands flew to the scabbard hooked at his hip.

But as luck would have it, Lavi apparently possessed the gift of foresight. The shock of a rough shoulder to Kanda's side destabilised him. Without pause, Lavi pivoted around to shove him against the brick wall with a low thump.

Swiftly, Lavi pinned both of his wrists against the stone surface. He struggled furiously, repeatedly throwing himself against his restraints. But Lavi pushed back with matching force, causing them to slide down in a heap of limbs and quickened breathing.

A few times Kanda came dangerously close to dislodging Lavi from his person. Unfortunately, Lavi's weight and newly elevated position granted him the additional advantage of gravity.

"What the fuck !" Kanda snarled breathlessly, simultaneously astounded and enraged.

"Stop," Lavi panted from exertion. "Will you – ouch! Ugh... Stop – stop fighting. I just want to talk!"

It was quite the awkward situation, enmeshed in this stand-off that had Kanda firmly pressed against the wall. Cornered with his wrists out of commission and their legs tangled like a fortuitous trap. Their laboured breathing splashed more warmth across already heated faces.

In this position, it was impossible to serve a knee to the groin, so Kanda attempted the easiest move he could currently manage – a fierce head-butt to the face. Lavi winced and whimpered, but to his credit didn't let go.

Kanda was thoroughly trapped.

"You fucking asshole." Kanda's eyes blazed, resorted to hurling death threats. "I'm going to fucking kill you. I'm going to break every bone in your body and choke you with them. You'd better fucking get your other eye back, because I want you to watch with both eyes how I murder you in your sleep and string your lifeless body by your entrails from the district gates."

Lavi chuckled weakly. "You're as charming as ever, Yu." He stared down tempestuous blue eyes. "If I let you go... do you promise not to stab me?"

"No!" Kanda spat.

The redhead hummed and shifted his outer knee to replace one hand in restricting Kanda's wrist. Suspicion immediately piqued, Kanda craned his neck to track the action.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

Without responding, Lavi promptly reached over to draw the sabre and sent it spinning across the corridor's floor.

Kanda exploded with rage. " You —!"

With a great heave of his body in apoplectic fury, Kanda quite nearly succeeded in throwing the redhead off.

Unsurprisingly, Lavi once again came prepared for his shenanigans. Instead of opposing the force, Lavi dug his fingers in and utilised the momentum to roll them over – catching Kanda off-guard and allowing the redhead to purposefully rearrange their bodies during the action. His scarf trailed along with the motion, almost robbing his line of sight.

After the second roll, Lavi emerged on top again – but this time Kanda was face down with both wrists locked down at either side and a heavy weight immobilising the back of his thighs.

"I'm sorry, Yu," Lavi said, sounding genuinely contrite. "I just really want to know why you've been avoiding me... Have I done something to upset you?"

"You mean besides this?" Kanda hissed, barely containing the outrage at being held against his will. With some difficulty he turned his head and pierced the redhead with an incandescent glare, one narrowed eye visible through the hair pooled around the taut curves of his neck and shoulders. "And you think this is the best way to discuss it?"

Lavi blinked, feeling sheepish under that icy gaze. Had he gone overboard with his disarming techniques? Just then the body beneath his shifted, and he looked down.

Kanda had forcefully bent and jammed his right knee between them, breaking the hold Lavi's weight had on the back of his thighs and knocking one restraining knee off-kilter. In the next instant, Kanda planted the same foot down while twisting his body in the opposite direction. The jarring movement loosened the grip around his wrists, enough to free himself entirely.

The world spun on its axis as Lavi finally lost the battle to stay in control. His back slammed to the ground, knocking the breath from his lungs. A solid body flattened him in a complete reversal of roles.

Attempting to move shed light on the fact Kanda now held Lavi's wrists down above his head, and definitely with none of the consideration Lavi had treated the other man with. He swallowed. Right away the pressure made itself known – shit, was Yu's other hand around his throat?

Why did he ever think he had the upper hand? In Easfrija, Lavi had regularly exercised and even learned some disarming moves, but it could never compare to an active soldier. What a fool he had been to think otherwise.

He stared up and gulped.

Kanda appeared every bit an avenging demon. Narrowed eyes glowed blue fire and brimstone, and his ponytail spilled around pale shoulders like waves of damnation itself. Thighs squeezed Lavi's ribs relentlessly, forceful enough to hurt. Grounding him to his rightful place beneath a higher being.

"Now this ," Kanda taunted, "is the best way to discuss things. Don't you think?"

Alright, Kanda was nigh impossible. The most violent and stand-offish person Lavi ever had the pleasure of meeting. And yet he couldn't help but drink in those otherworldly features – a thirst intensified by their many months apart. Surely there was a word to describe this self-destructive decision, if he could restart his brain.

The fingers around his throat tightened as Kanda leaned down, teeth flashing white.

"Don't you think so, Lavi Ayinhara? " Kanda repeated maliciously, squeezing firmly for many long seconds. Ten... Fifteen... Twenty.

Lavi could barely wheeze as he bucked weakly against his restraints. His scarf felt like a hot brand against his skin. Through gathering tears, he identified a nebulous kind of anticipation lurking in unforgiving eyes.

"Yes," he choked out obligingly.

A smirk played on the edges of Kanda's lips, but to Lavi's mortal consternation the man still didn't let up. Time ticked by lethargically as his lungs desperately grasped for air. Monochrome spots crowded in on his vision. Oh Gaia, he had pushed Kanda too far and now he was going to die.

"Yu—" He gasped out a final, strangled plea.

At long last Kanda released both hands but continued treating Lavi like his throne by birth right. Sitting there without reservation, features twisted with vindication. Watching his willing victim wretchedly suck in that sweet, sweet oxygen like a butterfly pinned to the board.

Lavi knew better than most how brutal Kanda could be, but he hadn't been expecting to find impromptu asphyxiation on the list. No doubt it was hot-headed payback for his sacrilegious attempt at restraining Kanda. Granted, he must have been the only person foolish and brave enough.

Many breathless thoughts came and went before Kanda recovered enough presence of mind to roll off him. Miraculously, Kanda chose to sit next to him instead of disappearing immediately as he was wont to do. One arm propped on a bent knee as he stared out onto a moonlit field with neutral brows.

Lavi sat up, taking a moment to catch his breath while keeping a discreet eye on the other man. Silence crept back around them like fog, heavy and stifling, but he didn't mind so much. It felt like an eternity since he had last seen the object of his affections. Being able to stay like this, simply observing, being this close – it was Lavi's own flavour of contentment.

Until hands grabbed Lavi by the front of his shirt and he flinched uncertainly.

"I hate you."

A concerned eye met agitated ones. Kanda looked torn, as though inner conflict raged inside him, locked behind mental walls. Brows and lips arched harshly. The misery in his eyes resonated in Lavi's heart. Desperately he wanted to know – what went on in that distant, inaccessible mind?

Something – a jolt of impulsiveness, or perhaps simply an unusually strong desire to console – compelled Lavi to raise his hand and gently cradle a pale cheek. Utter shock zinged through sapphire eyes at the contact.

Kanda often gave the impression of one fashioned from everlasting ice, but the faint pink adorning his cheeks indicated otherwise.

"Yu... I'm sorry," Lavi whispered, voice still raspy. "I really am. Tell me what's wrong..."

Lips parted slightly.

Another surge of courage coursed through Lavi's veins, daring him to drag his thumb across those lips, skin tingling at the touch. After a moment he slid his thumb back across the smooth skin of Kanda's cheek, caressing it repeatedly, knuckles brushing against silky hair.

"Talk to me, won't you? Let me make it right," Lavi murmured.

A portion of the wall seem to crumble.

"You—" Kanda jerked away, frown deepening. He seemed to be struggling to articulate his frustrations, but the words eventually burst out. "You're a fucking bastard for that night."

Being finally able to voice his grievances energised Kanda. He lurched away and stomped over to where his sabre had been tossed.

It might have been Lavi's imagination, but those ocean eyes had refused to meet his. Perhaps that observation was what convinced him to stay instead of high tailing it out of there. Kanda would have taken pleasure in watching the light die in his eye – not shy away from looking at it.

"You're a fucking piece of shit," Kanda growled at the ceiling. "I should kill you. Fuck, I really want to. But that fucking look on your stupid face, the stupid things you say, and it—Fuck!"

Lavi climbed to his feet, massaging his throat. The previously occupied space on his waist felt cold. His bandana nudged against one eyebrow and his scarf hung limply around his shoulders like an exhausted snake.

"Yu..." Lavi started but Kanda spun around, weapon half-raised as if in warning. All his pent-up emotions seemed to have finally found an outlet and rushed through like an unstoppable flood.

"Were you drunk? Do you even remember anything? Or was I simply another one in a string of similar nights?"

The words stung, bitter and acidic, needling vitriol into his brain. Understanding trickled into Lavi's mind. Gradually, then all at once. The truth of their situation disclosing itself. Kanda had misunderstood Lavi's intentions to be him merely messing around.

Although Lavi struggled to comprehend how his earnest actions could be so tragically misinterpreted, he recognised the urgent need to set the record straight.

"Wait. Wait, I think you got it wrong—"

"Do you take me for a fucking fool? Then and now? Acting like nothing happened – did you fuck your prodigal memory away in Easfrija? Should I help you refresh it?" Kanda was on an incendiary roll. No opportunity for either of them to step back and breathe, for Lavi to get any defence in. "Do you remember the ruckus you made that night? I let you in—"

No, I wasn't drunk. Yes, I do remember. I can picture every single detail, even if I don't want to. Only you. You, you, you.

Kanda flung the door open, and it rebounded off the wall with a loud thump. A bed could be seen tucked into the far corner. The bed that held witness to a memory Lavi had replayed constantly in his mind for the past year.

"—you just sit there looking at me with a stupid look on your face and wouldn't fucking leave. I told you if you wanted to feel like shit for your travels the next day then be my guest."

Kanda swung back, dark eyes pulsing with accusation. "And you k —" His tongue fumbled over the word. "— kissed my hand!" An angry fist shoved at Lavi's shoulder, who stumbled back a step. "You! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Lavi recalled the retaliatory punch for his misguided efforts. The rest of his night drowned in empty alcohol bottles strewn across his bedroom floor and a blurry vision that stained his cheeks. In the morning he sailed for Easfrijia with a sore head and heart.

A year later found him standing in a quiet corridor staring at his biggest heartache so far, feeling the toxic slurry of regret pump through a heart as crumpled as it had been on the day of his departure.

Maybe he shouldn't have, maybe he did fuck up. This mess started because he hadn't wanted to leave for a year without any sign of his feelings – a word, an action, something for Kanda to remember him by. To show something, anything. To make a mark, to mark something that would never be his.

Regardless of the impossibility that the antisocial man would fancy anyone at all, much less someone else besides Lavi, that reckless intention still propelled him to act upon those feelings for the other man. Caught in his turmoil, he had decided upon the sincerest message he could have given Kanda at the time, even if the words themselves escaped him.

I don't want to leave like this.

Did you know? I like you.

...

After his well-planned action was painfully shot down, Lavi had fled, unable to bring either of them closure about the incident.

How incredibly self-serving of Lavi to indulge in that moment of desire and fear, only to leave Kanda hanging on a single, sudden gesture. Looking at how upset and confused the other man was – and probably had been for an entire year – the sharp knife of guilt plunged into Lavi's conscience.

Suddenly, he couldn't find it within himself to care about all those unanswered letters anymore. Even if Kanda had trashed or burnt them, he would have considered it justified.

However, one thing remained unanswered. The Kanda he knew would try to murder him on the spot and call it a day – certainly not spend the past year brooding about it.

Lavi wouldn't be surprised if a kiss of any form and in any way was a foreign or forbidden topic to the other man; given how disinterested he always acted when it came to matters of the heart, and how fiercely he defended his personal space. Perhaps Kanda felt his sanctity had been violated. That could explain Kanda's uncharacteristic reaction, that unresolved fury.

That said, Lavi should be dead right now with a sword through his heart – a gratifying resolution to Kanda's long-suffering anger. But so far, the other man hadn't endeavoured anything fatal.

Instead, Kanda seemed to be seeking answers, ceding space for discussion despite the freight train of his potty mouth being rightfully misleading. If anything, that angry rambling revealed his own confusion and hidden desire for closure. All in all, his actions gave the impression he actually cared about what had happened between them.

Whatever could be the reason for it? What if Kanda wasn't as heartless as Lavi thought?

Regardless of the truth, in retrospect what he did that day was especially unforgivable.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." Lavi lamented.

Taking his mild response as disingenuity, Kanda's fury overflowed. He strode forward and hoisted Lavi by the front of his shirt again, pitching him into the railings. "You don't get to act like it was nothing, you bastard!"

Lavi had to grab onto a bar to stabilise himself. "It wasn't nothing —"

"You started this shit, take some fucking responsibility for it!" Using his shirt as leverage, Kanda shook him roughly. "Either I stab you right now or you jump off right here—" The side of a clenched fist smacked metal and the railings reverberated.

This man. Always so destructive, so overwhelming in his responses.

In a twisted form of perception, every outburst brought Lavi glimpses of a different kind of passion simmering under all that unapproachable ferocity. Raw and not yet shaped, and it could be his. It stirred his thirst, intrigued him. To this degree, despite knowing it to be the worst idea to ever cross his mind, Lavi desperately wanted to stifle the enraged man with a kiss.

Shit, Kanda was going to be the death of him.

Lavi needed to focus. But how could he possibly explain his actions of that night? He wasn't Allen, and Kanda wasn't Lenalee. He wasn't brave, and Kanda wasn't going to be understanding and patient. The stakes were higher, and every choice came from the edge of a precipice.

Should he lie and play it off as a temporary inclination to loneliness at the prospect of leaving home for a lengthy amount of time? Or should he confess his heart's desire, despite the conviction he would be immediately rejected for it?

There was no denying the situation scared him, plain and simple. Beyond anything else, he feared losing one of his dearest friends. To inadvertently drive the other man away, or drift apart because someone couldn't deal with the aftermath... To lose not just his heart but the whole person from his life – his mind ached at the painful possibility. No doubt it would inflict a greater heartache than the rejection would.

Both options filled his mind with terrible scenarios. This was Kanda he was talking about here, after all. Neither did there seem to be an easy way out and, in all honesty, rightfully so. If human nature could be so readily sorted out, would there remain any purpose left to be discovered?

Staring at Kanda's face animated with all its hostile energy, savage and beautiful, a question sprang to life over Lavi's head.

Was this worth fighting for?

The intensity of Kanda's emotions jump-started his own. The strange electrifying courage from before had returned, and along with it a little clarity – when had running away resolved anything for either of them? They would remain stuck, unless someone worked on getting them out.

"Of course, you have nothing to fucking say." The resentment in Kanda's voice hung like a poisonous cloud around them. "I should have expected you would do shit like that like it's fucking nothing. Lavi Ayinhara, fucking around again."

Fuck it.

"I like you."

Sapphire eyes widened and the grip on his shirt stilled.

Carefully, Lavi curled his fingers around Kanda's fist and slowly untangled them from his shirt. This was the hand that had struck his cheek after he kissed its other half, a year ago. He watched Kanda follow his actions, tight-lipped and unmoving.

Lavi shifted his grip to hold those long fingers between his thumb and palm, ever so gently, like they were the petals of a frozen flower, and one wrong move could shatter everything. Kanda's gaze flickered back to his. In those ocean eyes swirled a storm; of confusion, apprehension... and recognition.

"I like you," he repeated.

Did you know? Let me show you.

Without breaking eye contact, he brought Kanda's hand up and gently brushed his lips across the back of it. This pose, the stunned silence. Reminiscent of a previous chapter in their history book. The painful precursor to a second chance.

A long puff of air left Kanda's lips, as though he had been holding his breath the entire time.

"Do you still think it was nothing to me?" Lavi asked softly.

Despite all the bravado shown, Lavi's heart thumped wildly, fluttering like a frightened bird.

Kanda didn't respond immediately, although Lavi wasn't expecting him to. Lavi was long accustomed to these sudden bouts of silence – a strange tendency that hadn't bypassed his attention since their early days as acquaintances. The other man wore a stoic mask, but he couldn't completely hide.

Lavi could discern the tell-tale hint of heat upon tense cheeks, the give-away of his minutely trembling hand, and his clenched jaw. Surely he need only wait. And wait he did while pressing his lips persistently against each knuckle, trying to drive home the sincerity of his emotions. His gaze never wavered.

In the end, Kanda snatched his hand back as if it was on hot coals. Grabbed the forgotten bag of food, and Lavi's heart along with it. Without a single glance back, he slammed and locked his room door in Lavi's face, the sound like the lid of a coffin sliding home.

Lavi stood there for a few seconds, speechless. His heart felled to the pits of his stomach, turning his nerves to stone. A horde of despairing thoughts ran through his mind. Frantic, fearful.

What just happened? Was it... over?

Eventually he roused himself and stepped up to the door. Rapping lightly on the wood, he called out in soft trepidation.

"Yu...?"

But no response came, even after his third attempt. A mere slab of wood stood between them, yet Kanda felt further from reach than when an entire ocean had separated them.

There wasn't anything more he could do here, short of breaking down the door. He hadn't the faintest idea how Kanda truly felt about any of this, and he so desperately wished to know. His more sensible side reminded him that Kanda might simply need additional time to process what had just occurred... and perhaps Lavi did as well.

Evidently, they were both idiots taking turns to fail miserably at emotions.

Lavi eventually turned and began his short walk back to his own room, wondering if he would ever find relief from the hollowness in his chest. The surroundings had sunk deeper into shadows during their altercation. Overhead, the stars danced in their individual places upon night's tapestry. Cold, distant and lonely.


A/N: I took the liberty of choosing Lavi's last name. This is how I derived it: The name Lavi is of Hebrew origin. The author and wiki both confirmed that Lavi is primarily Asian with a mix of other races. From that I assumed that he could have been born in the Middle East and could have a Hebrew last name, whether chosen by someone or himself. 'Ayin hara' means 'evil eye' in Hebrew, which I felt was oddly fitting (or ominous) giving his missing eye.