Exception 15

Notes: ~Ladies and gentlemen! This is a jazzy fizzle! It's done! It's done! The update is here! Exception! ~ I haven't heard that song in a long time, but I found it quotable for this (if you don't know the song, don't worry)…Alright, I won't make that many excuses for the 10 month absence. 1: I'm lazy. 2: I had writer's block. There, done. But one minute I was digging through old stuff for something I needed for my 4-H project, the next I went to eat a sandwich, and then my brain burst out of its block as to give me the beginning of this chapter, and after almost eleven hours, I was done. Thanks to Lathya, wolfpup026, and Soulless Ghosty for you reviews. Also thanks to people who subscribe for updates, too. I love you all. I am so happy about this. I know it's nowhere near the epic as chapter 14, which makes me sad because there's BIG DEVELOPMENT, but who cares. I like it. And we get to have some fun with my way out of seasonal tune New Year's chapter! So after a long wait, I give you Exception 15!

Another Note: Updates for all my fics will be based on my personal inspiration, my friend's writing patterns (mental deal of me writing something for when she writes), and the poll I'll be posting on my profile. So if you want me to update something, go vote for it.

Disclaimer: Ivy and this fucked up AU are mine. That Girl (XD, you'll see) is Kaitlyn Burlingame's (one of my awesome buddies, that asked that I use her OC). All other patrons of the D. Gray-man universe belong to Katsura Hoshino.

Warnings: Not many. Pretty tame chapter actually. Just a few bits of Kanda's mouth and Lavi's child-like behavior involved this round.

15. Moments of Peace

The apocalypse was surely happening. And no, this isn't that "end of the year" hype or anything. But the apocalypse was still going on, and that was for one very simple reason: It was New Year's Eve.

Let me rephrase that. It was New Year's Eve.

And Lavi was behaving himself.

No joke, everyone's favorite (?) red-headed rabbit had decided to take a day off from his usual SSGTIK related antics, and just chill out on a couch with pop, snacks, and a few good buddies, i.e., Allen and Lenalee. And why weren't Ivy and Kanda involved in this lovely get-together? A few reasons actually.

A: Lavi had used his super ninja skills to stick around after supposedly being scared off on Christmas and knew the couple was getting together and he didn't want to screw it up when the universe was working just the way he wanted it to.

B: Ivy had turned her phone back off and didn't even seem to be checking her voicemail.

C: Kanda was blatantly ignoring Lavi's calls, and his voicemail was equipped with a particularly nasty and detailed message about how he would castrate anybody who even attempted to infiltrate his house again, with an extra beating if that infiltration occurred before school started up again since he was in such a "giving mood."

D: Lavi enjoys confusing the hell out of the universe and giving Kanda a false sense of security.

And so our nighttime adventure begins.

As said, Lavi was chilling out on a couch with his fellow conspirators, sans all the conspiring. Of course there wasn't any conspiring, because this wasn't the Couch of Horrors in Lavi's garage. This was a much nicer, leather couch that was very big, very squishy and located in Lavi's living room. And as you should know, there is no conspiring on any other couch than the one in Lavi's garage. At least, that's what Lavi decided about ten seconds after sitting down.

But anyway.

The coffee table was a nice one, too, also large, with a glass top, and positively overloaded with snacks. Additionally, if one were to go into the kitchen, they would find just as much food, along with various caffeinated, yet non-alcoholic drinks. Because Lavi knows his Brit. And his Brit likes to eat.

So Allen was stuffing his face with as much food as he could cram into his mouth at once, Lenalee was sipping at a neon green plastic cup filled with fizzy orange liquid, and Lavi was leaning back on his couch, hands behind head, smirk on his face, and brightly colored party hat strapped to his head as the trio stared down the New Year's broadcast showing on the high-definition, wide-screen television.

And only 10 minutes until midnight, too.

In the wonderful House of Kanda, there are actually 7 living rooms, the smallest being the one adjoined to Kanda's bedroom, located on the second floor. It has a similar paint scheme to said teen's room, and has two perpendicular navy blue couches facing a small TV set, with a black trunk serving as a table.

Light coming from the television screen, assisted by a small lamp turned on in the background, illuminated the trunk top. On it sat one glass halfway filled with water, a dark blue mug that had once contained multiple servings of coffee (black, of course), a half-eaten bag of Baked Lay's, and the television remote. On the couch parallel to the trunk sat Ivy and Kanda, watching the same broadcast as their friends on the other side of town.

In a sense, it was awkward, because after their unexpected kiss on the previous holiday, the couple didn't know exactly how to treat each other. Actually, it was more of an "Ivy being too shy and Kanda not having any reason to act without prompting by the Rabbit" situation. See folks? Lavi is actually useful. But being more focused, this resulted in the two sitting on adjacent couch cushions without touching each other or even saying much. Yes, if only Lavi could see this now… How he would cry over his hopeful wishes for progress going unfulfilled.

Now if you thought I was going to tell you that during his previous break-in, Lavi had oh-so cleverly placed cameras in our wonderful Kanda's house and was actually watching at this very moment, you can stop right there. Because at the point of the break in, he thought he was going to have to drag Ivy and Kanda to his house to get anything to happen. And he just doesn't plan that far ahead. Lavi is more of a "go with the flow" kind of man.

Now we should stop discussing this. Don't want to give him any ideas.

"Three minutes to midnight! Three minutes to midnight!" Lavi excitedly chanted, bouncing up and down on the couch, making both Allen and Lenalee duck in cover. Because we all know that Lavi is a little kid at heart. And right now that little kid just happened to be coming out like this was its first New Year's ever, and it was finally allowed to stay up at night.

"Man, the year went by so fast," Lenalee wistfully remarked after the redhead sat back down. On the TV, the announcer shouted into his microphone the minutes left to the crowd gathered in the plaza of some big city. They all elatedly cheered as prompted, and the announcer went to recheck the countdown.

"I'll say," Allen agreed. Polite as always, the Brit left out that a good amount of the year had been spent on Lavi's plans. He didn't even want to think about what all was coming next.

"You two make it sound like the world's ending!" Lavi exclaimed, draping his arms around his friends' shoulders. "We still have the rest of the school year left! And besides, I've been cooking up some plans that none of us will ever forget!" The rabbit seemed totally oblivious to Allen as he shuddered at the thought. "Oh! Oh! The countdown's starting! The countdown's starting!" The redhead jumped back up to stand on the couch and pumped his fist into the air.

"Five!"

Lenalee laughed at her friend's antics and joined him in calling out the numbers. So did Allen.

"Four! Three! Two! ONE!"

"Happy New Year…" Ivy muttered under her breath as Kanda said nothing. The Japanese male simply continued staring at the television. The announcer continued shouting out that it was a New Year, building up hype about what may happen. Throughout his spiel, the camera panned across the crowd, pausing on couples kissing each other, and giving a prolonged stop as a man proposed to his girlfriend.

Kanda reached for the remote and slammed down as much as one could on the power button. The set blinked out as Kanda resumed his position on the couch, the images on the screen nagging in the back of his brain.

But what did he have to lose?

What the hell…

"Hey, Ivy," he said, causing the girl to turn her head towards him with a slight "Hm?" Kanda smirked and kissed her, thoroughly enjoying himself without the otherwise present rabbit to interrupt or instigate afterwards. When he was done, Ivy stared back up at him, her blush barely visible in the dim light.

"Yu Kanda, was that your way of asking me out?" she asked, a slight smirk of her own forming. Of course, the smirk ended up turning into a grin, because she was so damn happy at the moment.

"What do you want it to mean?"

Ivy's grin grew even wider. "I think that was you asking me out."

"Ten points for reading my mind. So what's your answer?" Kanda felt odd acting like this, especially without the Rabbit to encourage it, but at least he was getting what he wanted. At least, he hoped he was getting what he wanted.

"What do you want it to be?" Ivy asked in response, still grinning, almost feeling drunk off her elated mood.

"'Fuck yes,'" Kanda mumbled before going to kiss her again.

"All right! Who wants some celebratory drinks?" Lavi happily asked of his two friends. Both provided responses in the affirmative, so Lavi gathered the plastic cups and headed into the kitchen. Halfway throughout refilling the glasses with bubbling liquid, his phone vibrated in his pocket. With the finesse of a showy bartender even though no one could see him (just cause he is that cool), Lavi topped off Allen's drink, and spun the cap back onto the bottle before digging his hand into his pocket to retrieve the device.

"Hello, you've reached the super-awesome Lavi. Wazzup?"

"Nii-chan!" The voice was youthful, and excited, and feminine, and of the devil. Lavi froze in the middle of his kitchen.

"L… Lil' Sis…?" he fearfully asked, not even wanting to think about the girl on the other end. Because he could see her now, grinning happily and ready to send her brother through hell in a single phone call with zero effort.

"Nii-chan, it is you! Guess what? I'm coming ho—!"

Lavi hadn't bothered with ending the call. He hadn't bothered with powering down his phone safely. Because in his desperation to kill the connection and avoid hearing from that girl again at all costs, Lavi had simply ripped the battery from the back of the phone and shoved it into the nearby silverware drawer, which he promptly slammed shut with a loud crash and much jangling of the items inside.

With a trembling hand, Lavi tried to resume pouring drinks like the phone call had never happened, only to have her last cut-off sentence replay in his head, except in a completed form. "I'm coming home," she had said.

It really was the end of the world.

On the other side of the city, on a navy blue couch, unaware of her friend's peril, Ivy slept soundly on Kanda's shoulder.

After a few minutes of watching, he set out to join her.