Falling Into Other Places
Title: Falling Into Other Places
Fandom: D.Gray-man
Characters/Pairings: Kanda/Allen, Lavi, Lenalee
Word Count: 3,899
Rating NC-17
Author's Notes: Written for springkink for a 'Kanda/Allen, angry sex' prompt. This...is not the fic I meant to write for that prompt. *hands* AU as of 160-180ish? (What are chapters). If you want to place it in canon, it's somewhere between Timothy and Alma.
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Lavi kicks a rock along the path as they walk, the late morning sun filtering weakly through the trees. The four of them have been silent for some time, and Lavi would like to say it's companionable.
It's not.
Not that it's hostile, or anything. It's more…tense. Awkward.
Kanda and Lenalee are walking side by side ahead of him and Allen, and Lavi can sense the concentrated effort of Allen's feigned nonchalance just as clearly as he can see the taut line of Kanda's shoulders, the way Kanda carries himself too stiffly to just be alert.
Every now and then Lenalee will say something in what Lavi thinks is a valiant attempt to break the tension. "Oh, look," she'll say, pointing in the direction of a rustling bush and a low bark, yellow dog eyes peeking out at them, "must be another stray." Or, "I think I see the top of the castle!" with a smile and a cheery look thrown over her shoulder.
No one follows her lead, though, and eventually silence falls back over them as they walk. Lavi hopes they find the path soon, because at least climbing a mountain will give them something to do besides bask in their own awkwardness.
He kicks his rock a little too far ahead of him and it bounces off the back of Kanda's ankle. He laughs when Allen snorts in amusement beside him, but chokes it back when Kanda spins on him a split second later.
"Goddamn it, Lavi," Kanda snaps, and kicks the offending rock off into the bushes. He spares a glance at Allen, who raises his eyebrows challengingly, a smirk still turning up the corner of his mouth.
"Tch," Kanda says, turning back around with a sneer. Lavi can see Allen smiling at Kanda's reaction. Inwardly, he shakes his head, trying to convince himself that there is any possible way this could end well.
"Ah," Lenalee says from ahead. "I think I see the path."
Thank God, Lavi thinks.
Poenari Castle isn't too far into the mountains, which Lenalee is grateful for; they've been walking since before sunrise just to get here, and the sooner they finish this mission, the better.
Komui had given them ample warning that, in all likelihood, the string of disappearances and odd accounts from the surrounding villagers was nothing more than a not-so-elaborate trap. Since the Order was required to investigate any and all leads on Innocence, however feeble they might have been, Komui had assigned the four of them in the hopes that they would deal with the situation-whatever it was-completely and efficiently. He had sent them off to a spit of a-well, Lenalee couldn't even generously call it a village-with orders to "Take care of it."
The whole Dracula thing seemed very, very unlikely to her, if she was being honest, but Innocence was generally at the heart of all of human legends, so maybe it fit. Besides, if it did turn out to be a trap, she had to admit that is was very much in line with the Earl's style, as much as he had one.
Still no need to draw it out, though, especially after yesterday's fiasco.
They had arrived in Curtea de Arges mostly without incident, if you didn't count the train ride it took them to get there. Besides the not uncommon hassle of rash accusations by the conductor-which Kanda "handled" in his own special way, comprised mostly of intimidation and the well-placed threat of death-her and Lavi had also had to spend the hours to Romania either keeping Kanda and Allen from killing each other, or fighting off the suffocating tension of their very pointed silences. Almost everyone in the Order was used to this behavior by now, but it was still something else entirely being trapped with it in the cramped confines of their cabin.
"Watch it, Beansprout," Kanda spat, whisking his hand out of the way of Allen's suitcase landing in the luggage rack just in time.
"Allen," Allen corrected him, although it was mostly out of habit at this point. "And I wouldn't have to 'watch it' if you had gotten out of the way."
"Maybe if you had just waited your turn-"
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Allen said, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "but I never really learned to share as a child, so I don't think the appeal to such innocent ideals is really gonna work-"
"Just shut up, Walker," Kanda sighed irritably, pushing Allen bodily out of his way. Allen smirked at Lenalee once Kanda's back was turned.
She had to try very hard not to smirk back at him. The last thing she wanted to do was encourage such behavior, but some part of her knew it was inevitable. Whatever this thing between Kanda and Allen was, it had been building for months. Their stony silences and determined avoidance had become less and less practical the more missions they were sent on together, and their relationship slowly progressed-regressed?-into sniping viciously at each other and the not-so-occasional bout of violence, the latter often depending on the success or difficulty of their current mission.
Lenalee couldn't help but smile fondly every time Komui paired the two of them off, tongue firmly in cheek. She knew better than anyone that her brother had a gift for seeing things maybe no one else could (that was, when he felt like it), and she saw the same thing, here: Kanda and Allen liked each other, even if they themselves hadn't yet realized it.
Sure, on the outside, they did nothing but antagonize each other, but Lenalee had seen both Allen and Kanda truly angry-and neither of their reactions now fit the bill. No one brought out that sinister, profane side of Allen quite like Kanda did; but when Allen was truly upset, he hid that side of himself even more deeply. Kanda tended towards either indifference or complete and utter annihilation; since Allen could so effortlessly rile Kanda up and was yet still alive, there was obviously something there besides anger.
More than that, though, Allen's respect for Kanda was open and obvious-as was Kanda's for Allen, if you knew where to look. They may have been too similar to ever really get along, but they were compatible like no one else. Komui would say that he put them together so often because they were efficient, because even when they spent more than half of their missions arguing, they still got more done and done well in half the time, with half the fuss, than any other Exorcists combined. The real reason, Lenalee would wager, was that he knew that if Kanda and Allen could get over themselves and-Heaven forbid-work together, they would be unstoppable.
Well, that was one of the reasons, at least.
Because Komui was nothing if not fond of doing his Exorcists what he perceived to be favors, tongue firmly in cheek.
And all of that was well and good, but for the moment, she and Lavi still had to ride on the same train with them for the next however many ungodly hours, and that was going to require every last bit of her not-ungenerous supply of patience.
Standing inside the Narthex of the cathedral they were to be staying in that night, they should have realized that-trap or not-this mission had been doomed from the start.
When they were informed that the church had only two available rooms, Lenalee reached immediately for Allen's arm, hoping to settle this dispute before it even began.
However, Lenalee also knew better than anyone else that her brother was an idiot, so when Lavi grabbed her arm instead and led her away to one of the rooms, leaving Kanda and Allen to fend for themselves-"On your brother's orders, Lee," he said with a knowing smile, "He doesn't trust them"-she could only roll her eyes and pray.
"There is such a thing as too hard a push in the right direction; he realizes that, right?" she asked Lavi, meaning Komui.
Lavi just smiled at her in a fatalistic kind of way.
The heavy stone of the cathedral muffled most of the shouting and the louder of the crashes, which Lenalee was also grateful for.
It seemed that Kanda and Allen had gotten their fair share of yelling done the night before, because in the morning they were back to silence and surreptitious glares when they thought no one was watching them. All in all, this was an improvement to open antagonism-especially when they had to charm their way onto various transports north-and Lenalee thought that maybe they could get through the rest of the mission without incident.
That was, she thought that until they made the apparent mistake of trying to reach Poenari Castle the same day they arrived at Capatineni, the small, not-even-a-village they were to make their base and rendezvous point.
They knew that leaving when they did would give them fewer hours of daylight, but they hadn't anticipated that to be a problem until they were ambushed by a band of robbers right near the border of the forest at the foothills of the mountains. Since using Innocence on not-so-harmless-or-unarmed-but-still-not-Akuma citizens was, to say the least, generally frowned upon, they emerged from the skirmish a little worse for wear and a lot down on time and supplies.
After some arguing and appointing of blame on the part of two of their party, they decided to head back and try again the next day.
So now here they were, climbing their way to Poenari Castle in still-awkward silence, with the collective mind to get this over with as fast as possible.
The odd eyewitness accounts from villagers turned out to be not entirely fabricated, so they're all on guard, not entirely sure what they might come across. After an hour or so of wandering the premises, however, they're certain there's no Innocence to be found, and, job done, start to head back to the path down the mountain.
It seems to Lavi like they might actually get through the rest of this mission without incident, not accounting for anything that might start with Kanda and Allen. He thinks they may have done it, too, if it hadn't been for the Akuma attack.
Allen shouts a warning a few seconds before a hoard of Level 1's float over the far side of the castle, rising up from the forest below, led by two Level 2's. The Akuma overtake them in the ruins of the courtyard, but among the four of them, they should be able to handle it. Lavi wonders idly if this was part of the trap (because it's a bad trap, if it is) or just a freak coincidence. Whatever the case, he can't spare it much thought as he watches Lenalee fly off to take care of the Level 1's and charges towards the bigger of the Level 2's, drawing it away from the other so they can attack them separately.
The one he's up against is an armored, beetle-looking thing, with rows of spikes on its helmet and a forward-leaning gait that gives it the impression of protecting its front. Lavi uses the Fire Seal to distract it, hopefully exposing it weak points. The Akuma twists away from the flame, and Kanda takes the opportunity to attack it head on; at the same time, Clown Belt binds its head back, presumably to expose its neck to a swipe from Edge End. Unfortunately, Mugen-and thus Kanda-gets caught up in the bind, effectively pinning Kanda to the Akuma's side.
"Walker, you jackass!" Kanda screams down at him, kicking at the Akuma while struggling to maintain his grip on Mugen.
"Shit, sorry!" Allen yells back, once he sees what he's done, but the Akuma laughs at their confusion, and the other Level 2 floats over, bearing down on them. Allen is visibly flustered, and Lavi considers the wisdom of leaving him in order to fight the newcomer, wasting precious seconds they can't afford to lose.
In the end, Lenalee comes out of nowhere and slashes down the beetle-one's belly with her Boots, and Lavi takes the other Akuma by surprise with a well-aimed Heaven Seal, rendering Kanda and Allen pretty much useless.
When they're all back on the ground, Kanda (newly unbound) goes immediately for Allen's throat. Allen seemed to have anticipated this and immediately backs off, accordingly.
"You idiot," Kanda snarls, backing Allen against a crumbling wall, which Lavi thinks wasn't the smartest move on Allen's part. "What were you thinking? Didn't you see me there after Lavi's attack?"
Allen affects a Kanda-worthy scowl. "If I saw you, do you think I still would have attacked?"
"I don't know what you were thinking! All I know is that you fucked up our whole assault-"
Allen stands a little straighter, using the wall as leverage to get up into Kanda's face. Huh. "I fucked it up? How do you know you didn't fuck it up? My attack would have worked fine if you hadn't gotten in my way-"
"Guys, c'mon," Lavi tries interjecting, but half-heartedly. "We took care of it, yeah? 'S good enough."
But Allen is still gesturing wildly, and Lavi doubts they even heard him. Kanda's tone lowers in volume, getting that steel-sharp edge that would shut any sane person up in a heartbeat, but Allen's voice rises over it, color spreading down his neck like it only does when he's truly unsettled.
They're in dangerous territory, here.
"Well sorr-ry I'm not Mr. Macho over here, just charging in without a plan-"
"I had a plan, you jackass, you just fucked it up-"
"Maybe if you let everyone else know about this genius plan of yours-"
"I could say the same thing to you, Walker; we had no idea what you were doing, either-"
"Aw, Kanda," Allen suddenly croons, in the 'I'm-holding-better-cards-than-you' tone he sometimes got when he knew his opponent couldn't do a damn thing about it, or when he was feeling reckless enough that he just didn't care. An unconscious chill runs down Lavi's spine when Allen opens his mouth to continue. "I didn't know you were so concerned about me-"
"I'm not fucking concerned about you, you piece of shit, I'm concerned about them!" Kanda yells, gesturing to him and Lenalee. Lenalee visibly freezes at his side. "They had to cover our asses back there because we can't fucking work together, because you always barge in to everything head first without bothering to ask for help-"
Kanda cuts himself off to a ringing silence. The manic glint is gone from Allen's eyes and he looks honest-to-God humbled. "Kanda," he says, quietly abashed, "I'm-"
"No," Kanda tells him, voice deadly. "Don't fucking apologize." Kanda reaches out and grabs Allen's wrist, pivoting on the spot and stalking off, pulling Allen along behind him. Allen sends what could be a pleading glance over his shoulder as Kanda drags him around and behind the castle wall, but neither of them so much as move.
It's shit like this that always makes Kanda want to ring Allen's neck. He's so fucking stupid, and it's not just the way he barges into things, because Hell, Kanda does that do. It's the way he thinks that no one else will, the way he doesn't realize that what he does affects all of them. And then Allen has the gall to try and apologize for it once Kanda shows him up. It's enough to make Kanda hate even the sound of his voice.
Kanda hates even more that he can't hate him, that Allen is capable and decent and selfish, all at once. It drives Kanda fucking crazy.
Before Allen can say anything else idiotic (or drive Kanda to do the same), Kanda reaches out and wraps his fingers tight around Allen's wrist, pulling Allen after him as he turns and walks off without another word. Allen stumbles in his wake but allows himself to be dragged away.
"You always say too goddamn much," Kanda mutters, not turning around to look at him, and Allen doesn't know how to respond. He glances back once to see Lavi and Lenalee's shocked faces before Kanda tugs him around a corner, cutting them off from view.
"You're such a fucking dumbass," Kanda tells him, shoving him none-too-gently into the other side of the same wall he was most recently backed up against. Allen can barely flinch from the impact before Kanda is pressing into him, crushing their lips together.
At first, Allen is too shocked to respond: He hadn't even considered this as a possible course this whole situation could take. (That's not to say he hadn't considered it, but, yeah. Not like this). His body still hasn't caught up with the proceedings when Kanda backs off an inch or two to mumble, "Fucking ridiculous," before leaning in again. This time, though, Allen responds eagerly, opening his mouth to Kanda's insistent tongue, letting him inside. Kanda's whole body sinks into his, and at the moment Allen's just reacting when he wraps his arms around Kanda's neck, his shoulders, pulling him closer. Kanda goes with the momentum and presses against Allen in a slow roll of his hips, his hardening erection obvious. Allen breaks off the kiss to gasp against Kanda's lips.
"Fuck," Allen says, tipping his head back against the wall as Kanda does the thing with his hips again, more insistent this time. All of his anger at Kanda disappeared about the same moment that Kanda first kissed him, and now he can feel all of his frustration leeching away as well, to be replaced with something that feels so much more right. Kanda mouths across his neck, nipping at tendons, and suddenly Allen needs him-not just a reaction, but a conscious choice. Allen needs him closer; he needs to touch him.
"Kanda," he says, "Kanda, let me-" and he pushes them up off the wall, flipping them around in one swift movement. It's Allen's turn to crowd Kanda against the wall, and his hands go immediately for Kanda's fly; he's barely finished undoing the laces before he snakes a hand inside, fingers brushing clumsily against Kanda's cock. Despite the minimal contact (or maybe because of it) Kanda immediately bucks up towards Allen's hand, and Allen doesn't even think of denying him. He wraps his hand firmly around Kanda's cock and starts jerking him steadily.
Kanda sucks in a breath through his teeth and lets it out on a growl, and Allen leans into him to rest his forehead on the curve of Kanda's shoulder. Allen mutters continuously against the smooth material of Kanda's uniform, things like soft encouragements but mostly Kanda's name, while Kanda tries, and fails, to steady his breathing, harsh in the echoing silence. Every now and then he'll choke back a moan and instead make little mewling sounds in his throat that Allen thinks he'll never get enough of.
Lavi and Lenalee can hear them-they must be able to hear them-but Allen finds that, at the moment, he really couldn't care less.
Kanda's noises are getting more impatient than pleased now, and when Allen picks up his pace a little, he's rewarded with a quick gasp and a "Fuck, Walker" that shocks Allen so much he leans back up to look at Kanda in surprise, his hand faltering momentarily.
"Shut up," Kanda hisses, seemingly perfectly aware of what he just let slip, but more concerned about how Allen's hand isn't moving. "It's not like I've never-"
Allen starts jerking him off again.
Gasp, "-called you that before," he finishes breathlessly, and Allen just smirks at him. Kanda's clearly about to attempt what would otherwise be a scathing remark if not for Allen's hand on his cock, so Allen spares Kanda that potential failure by taking this moment to twist his wrist and tighten his grip, effectively shutting him up.
Kanda squeezes his eyes shut and tries even harder to keep silent, now freely fucking up into the circle of Allen's fist. Allen doesn't exactly try to keep them on pace, too wrapped up in the mere sensation of it-of the tension melting off of them in waves and of the heat lingering in every place where their bodies touch, and then Kanda's coming over his fingers, back arched gracefully off the wall behind him.
Allen goes with him when Kanda falls back against it, and he ruts against Kanda's hip shamelessly. Kanda doesn't even bother with Allen's pants: He just reaches around to grab Allen's ass, pulling him closer and grinding against him.
Allen comes less than two minutes later with one hand clamped tight around Kanda's bicep and the other braced against the wall for support, breathing heavily into Kanda's neck. Kanda's nice enough to allow Allen a little time to collect himself before deliberately loosening Allen's grip on his arm and getting shakily back to his feet.
He'll deny it later, but Allen smiles kind of dopily at Kanda once they're both standing free of the wall-God bless that wall, Allen thinks-and doesn't stop even when Kanda "Tch"-es at him with a not-very-sincere scowl.
But then Kanda says, "Shit," and Allen panics before he can even really think about it. Kanda must notice, because he turns and regards Allen thoughtfully, and then slowly shakes his head.
"Lenalee and Lavi," Kanda clarifies, and Allen panics.
"Shit," he agrees.
They step out from behind the wall as casually as they can manage, which, Allen is going to have to do something about the coming-in-the-pants thing before they start walking back, because chafing. Tim floats down to his shoulder out of nowhere and Allen is immediately suspicious of where he's been the whole time, but can't spare him any more thought after he catches a glimpse of Lavi and Lenalee's faces.
Both of them have since sat down, presumably to wait out the current events, Lavi sprawled right out across the ground and Lenalee perched on a crumbling piece of castle. They both look like they're trying to hold back laughter; Lenalee raises her eyebrows at him playfully, and Lavi fucking winks at him. Allen feels his cheeks heat up and he looks to Kanda for support.
Kanda, though, seems content to ignore them to the best of his ability (which is saying something) and leaves Allen to field this one on his own.
He turns back to them. "So!" he says, clapping his hands together, slapping on one of his brightest smiles and trying his damnedest to act like nothing out of the ordinary just happened. "We should probably get going before any more Akuma come, right?" He doesn't wait for them to respond.
"Let's go!" he adds cheerily, marching back towards the path. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the two of them get up and start to follow, and resolutely pretends not to hear the muffled laughter they can no longer contain. Kanda falls into step beside him.
"Thanks for that, Kanda," Allen grumbles, without looking at him.
Kanda ignores him. "You're walking funny," he observes idly, like he doesn't know exactly why that is.
"Oh my God, shut up," Allen hisses. But he's smiling.
DW post here. Comment there? |
Fandom: D.Gray-man
Characters/Pairings: Kanda/Allen, Lavi, Lenalee
Word Count: 3,899
Rating NC-17
Author's Notes: Written for springkink for a 'Kanda/Allen, angry sex' prompt. This...is not the fic I meant to write for that prompt. *hands* AU as of 160-180ish? (What are chapters). If you want to place it in canon, it's somewhere between Timothy and Alma.
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Lavi kicks a rock along the path as they walk, the late morning sun filtering weakly through the trees. The four of them have been silent for some time, and Lavi would like to say it's companionable.
It's not.
Not that it's hostile, or anything. It's more…tense. Awkward.
Kanda and Lenalee are walking side by side ahead of him and Allen, and Lavi can sense the concentrated effort of Allen's feigned nonchalance just as clearly as he can see the taut line of Kanda's shoulders, the way Kanda carries himself too stiffly to just be alert.
Every now and then Lenalee will say something in what Lavi thinks is a valiant attempt to break the tension. "Oh, look," she'll say, pointing in the direction of a rustling bush and a low bark, yellow dog eyes peeking out at them, "must be another stray." Or, "I think I see the top of the castle!" with a smile and a cheery look thrown over her shoulder.
No one follows her lead, though, and eventually silence falls back over them as they walk. Lavi hopes they find the path soon, because at least climbing a mountain will give them something to do besides bask in their own awkwardness.
He kicks his rock a little too far ahead of him and it bounces off the back of Kanda's ankle. He laughs when Allen snorts in amusement beside him, but chokes it back when Kanda spins on him a split second later.
"Goddamn it, Lavi," Kanda snaps, and kicks the offending rock off into the bushes. He spares a glance at Allen, who raises his eyebrows challengingly, a smirk still turning up the corner of his mouth.
"Tch," Kanda says, turning back around with a sneer. Lavi can see Allen smiling at Kanda's reaction. Inwardly, he shakes his head, trying to convince himself that there is any possible way this could end well.
"Ah," Lenalee says from ahead. "I think I see the path."
Thank God, Lavi thinks.
Poenari Castle isn't too far into the mountains, which Lenalee is grateful for; they've been walking since before sunrise just to get here, and the sooner they finish this mission, the better.
Komui had given them ample warning that, in all likelihood, the string of disappearances and odd accounts from the surrounding villagers was nothing more than a not-so-elaborate trap. Since the Order was required to investigate any and all leads on Innocence, however feeble they might have been, Komui had assigned the four of them in the hopes that they would deal with the situation-whatever it was-completely and efficiently. He had sent them off to a spit of a-well, Lenalee couldn't even generously call it a village-with orders to "Take care of it."
The whole Dracula thing seemed very, very unlikely to her, if she was being honest, but Innocence was generally at the heart of all of human legends, so maybe it fit. Besides, if it did turn out to be a trap, she had to admit that is was very much in line with the Earl's style, as much as he had one.
Still no need to draw it out, though, especially after yesterday's fiasco.
They had arrived in Curtea de Arges mostly without incident, if you didn't count the train ride it took them to get there. Besides the not uncommon hassle of rash accusations by the conductor-which Kanda "handled" in his own special way, comprised mostly of intimidation and the well-placed threat of death-her and Lavi had also had to spend the hours to Romania either keeping Kanda and Allen from killing each other, or fighting off the suffocating tension of their very pointed silences. Almost everyone in the Order was used to this behavior by now, but it was still something else entirely being trapped with it in the cramped confines of their cabin.
"Watch it, Beansprout," Kanda spat, whisking his hand out of the way of Allen's suitcase landing in the luggage rack just in time.
"Allen," Allen corrected him, although it was mostly out of habit at this point. "And I wouldn't have to 'watch it' if you had gotten out of the way."
"Maybe if you had just waited your turn-"
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Allen said, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "but I never really learned to share as a child, so I don't think the appeal to such innocent ideals is really gonna work-"
"Just shut up, Walker," Kanda sighed irritably, pushing Allen bodily out of his way. Allen smirked at Lenalee once Kanda's back was turned.
She had to try very hard not to smirk back at him. The last thing she wanted to do was encourage such behavior, but some part of her knew it was inevitable. Whatever this thing between Kanda and Allen was, it had been building for months. Their stony silences and determined avoidance had become less and less practical the more missions they were sent on together, and their relationship slowly progressed-regressed?-into sniping viciously at each other and the not-so-occasional bout of violence, the latter often depending on the success or difficulty of their current mission.
Lenalee couldn't help but smile fondly every time Komui paired the two of them off, tongue firmly in cheek. She knew better than anyone that her brother had a gift for seeing things maybe no one else could (that was, when he felt like it), and she saw the same thing, here: Kanda and Allen liked each other, even if they themselves hadn't yet realized it.
Sure, on the outside, they did nothing but antagonize each other, but Lenalee had seen both Allen and Kanda truly angry-and neither of their reactions now fit the bill. No one brought out that sinister, profane side of Allen quite like Kanda did; but when Allen was truly upset, he hid that side of himself even more deeply. Kanda tended towards either indifference or complete and utter annihilation; since Allen could so effortlessly rile Kanda up and was yet still alive, there was obviously something there besides anger.
More than that, though, Allen's respect for Kanda was open and obvious-as was Kanda's for Allen, if you knew where to look. They may have been too similar to ever really get along, but they were compatible like no one else. Komui would say that he put them together so often because they were efficient, because even when they spent more than half of their missions arguing, they still got more done and done well in half the time, with half the fuss, than any other Exorcists combined. The real reason, Lenalee would wager, was that he knew that if Kanda and Allen could get over themselves and-Heaven forbid-work together, they would be unstoppable.
Well, that was one of the reasons, at least.
Because Komui was nothing if not fond of doing his Exorcists what he perceived to be favors, tongue firmly in cheek.
And all of that was well and good, but for the moment, she and Lavi still had to ride on the same train with them for the next however many ungodly hours, and that was going to require every last bit of her not-ungenerous supply of patience.
Standing inside the Narthex of the cathedral they were to be staying in that night, they should have realized that-trap or not-this mission had been doomed from the start.
When they were informed that the church had only two available rooms, Lenalee reached immediately for Allen's arm, hoping to settle this dispute before it even began.
However, Lenalee also knew better than anyone else that her brother was an idiot, so when Lavi grabbed her arm instead and led her away to one of the rooms, leaving Kanda and Allen to fend for themselves-"On your brother's orders, Lee," he said with a knowing smile, "He doesn't trust them"-she could only roll her eyes and pray.
"There is such a thing as too hard a push in the right direction; he realizes that, right?" she asked Lavi, meaning Komui.
Lavi just smiled at her in a fatalistic kind of way.
The heavy stone of the cathedral muffled most of the shouting and the louder of the crashes, which Lenalee was also grateful for.
It seemed that Kanda and Allen had gotten their fair share of yelling done the night before, because in the morning they were back to silence and surreptitious glares when they thought no one was watching them. All in all, this was an improvement to open antagonism-especially when they had to charm their way onto various transports north-and Lenalee thought that maybe they could get through the rest of the mission without incident.
That was, she thought that until they made the apparent mistake of trying to reach Poenari Castle the same day they arrived at Capatineni, the small, not-even-a-village they were to make their base and rendezvous point.
They knew that leaving when they did would give them fewer hours of daylight, but they hadn't anticipated that to be a problem until they were ambushed by a band of robbers right near the border of the forest at the foothills of the mountains. Since using Innocence on not-so-harmless-or-unarmed-but-still-not-Akuma citizens was, to say the least, generally frowned upon, they emerged from the skirmish a little worse for wear and a lot down on time and supplies.
After some arguing and appointing of blame on the part of two of their party, they decided to head back and try again the next day.
So now here they were, climbing their way to Poenari Castle in still-awkward silence, with the collective mind to get this over with as fast as possible.
The odd eyewitness accounts from villagers turned out to be not entirely fabricated, so they're all on guard, not entirely sure what they might come across. After an hour or so of wandering the premises, however, they're certain there's no Innocence to be found, and, job done, start to head back to the path down the mountain.
It seems to Lavi like they might actually get through the rest of this mission without incident, not accounting for anything that might start with Kanda and Allen. He thinks they may have done it, too, if it hadn't been for the Akuma attack.
Allen shouts a warning a few seconds before a hoard of Level 1's float over the far side of the castle, rising up from the forest below, led by two Level 2's. The Akuma overtake them in the ruins of the courtyard, but among the four of them, they should be able to handle it. Lavi wonders idly if this was part of the trap (because it's a bad trap, if it is) or just a freak coincidence. Whatever the case, he can't spare it much thought as he watches Lenalee fly off to take care of the Level 1's and charges towards the bigger of the Level 2's, drawing it away from the other so they can attack them separately.
The one he's up against is an armored, beetle-looking thing, with rows of spikes on its helmet and a forward-leaning gait that gives it the impression of protecting its front. Lavi uses the Fire Seal to distract it, hopefully exposing it weak points. The Akuma twists away from the flame, and Kanda takes the opportunity to attack it head on; at the same time, Clown Belt binds its head back, presumably to expose its neck to a swipe from Edge End. Unfortunately, Mugen-and thus Kanda-gets caught up in the bind, effectively pinning Kanda to the Akuma's side.
"Walker, you jackass!" Kanda screams down at him, kicking at the Akuma while struggling to maintain his grip on Mugen.
"Shit, sorry!" Allen yells back, once he sees what he's done, but the Akuma laughs at their confusion, and the other Level 2 floats over, bearing down on them. Allen is visibly flustered, and Lavi considers the wisdom of leaving him in order to fight the newcomer, wasting precious seconds they can't afford to lose.
In the end, Lenalee comes out of nowhere and slashes down the beetle-one's belly with her Boots, and Lavi takes the other Akuma by surprise with a well-aimed Heaven Seal, rendering Kanda and Allen pretty much useless.
When they're all back on the ground, Kanda (newly unbound) goes immediately for Allen's throat. Allen seemed to have anticipated this and immediately backs off, accordingly.
"You idiot," Kanda snarls, backing Allen against a crumbling wall, which Lavi thinks wasn't the smartest move on Allen's part. "What were you thinking? Didn't you see me there after Lavi's attack?"
Allen affects a Kanda-worthy scowl. "If I saw you, do you think I still would have attacked?"
"I don't know what you were thinking! All I know is that you fucked up our whole assault-"
Allen stands a little straighter, using the wall as leverage to get up into Kanda's face. Huh. "I fucked it up? How do you know you didn't fuck it up? My attack would have worked fine if you hadn't gotten in my way-"
"Guys, c'mon," Lavi tries interjecting, but half-heartedly. "We took care of it, yeah? 'S good enough."
But Allen is still gesturing wildly, and Lavi doubts they even heard him. Kanda's tone lowers in volume, getting that steel-sharp edge that would shut any sane person up in a heartbeat, but Allen's voice rises over it, color spreading down his neck like it only does when he's truly unsettled.
They're in dangerous territory, here.
"Well sorr-ry I'm not Mr. Macho over here, just charging in without a plan-"
"I had a plan, you jackass, you just fucked it up-"
"Maybe if you let everyone else know about this genius plan of yours-"
"I could say the same thing to you, Walker; we had no idea what you were doing, either-"
"Aw, Kanda," Allen suddenly croons, in the 'I'm-holding-better-cards-than-you' tone he sometimes got when he knew his opponent couldn't do a damn thing about it, or when he was feeling reckless enough that he just didn't care. An unconscious chill runs down Lavi's spine when Allen opens his mouth to continue. "I didn't know you were so concerned about me-"
"I'm not fucking concerned about you, you piece of shit, I'm concerned about them!" Kanda yells, gesturing to him and Lenalee. Lenalee visibly freezes at his side. "They had to cover our asses back there because we can't fucking work together, because you always barge in to everything head first without bothering to ask for help-"
Kanda cuts himself off to a ringing silence. The manic glint is gone from Allen's eyes and he looks honest-to-God humbled. "Kanda," he says, quietly abashed, "I'm-"
"No," Kanda tells him, voice deadly. "Don't fucking apologize." Kanda reaches out and grabs Allen's wrist, pivoting on the spot and stalking off, pulling Allen along behind him. Allen sends what could be a pleading glance over his shoulder as Kanda drags him around and behind the castle wall, but neither of them so much as move.
It's shit like this that always makes Kanda want to ring Allen's neck. He's so fucking stupid, and it's not just the way he barges into things, because Hell, Kanda does that do. It's the way he thinks that no one else will, the way he doesn't realize that what he does affects all of them. And then Allen has the gall to try and apologize for it once Kanda shows him up. It's enough to make Kanda hate even the sound of his voice.
Kanda hates even more that he can't hate him, that Allen is capable and decent and selfish, all at once. It drives Kanda fucking crazy.
Before Allen can say anything else idiotic (or drive Kanda to do the same), Kanda reaches out and wraps his fingers tight around Allen's wrist, pulling Allen after him as he turns and walks off without another word. Allen stumbles in his wake but allows himself to be dragged away.
"You always say too goddamn much," Kanda mutters, not turning around to look at him, and Allen doesn't know how to respond. He glances back once to see Lavi and Lenalee's shocked faces before Kanda tugs him around a corner, cutting them off from view.
"You're such a fucking dumbass," Kanda tells him, shoving him none-too-gently into the other side of the same wall he was most recently backed up against. Allen can barely flinch from the impact before Kanda is pressing into him, crushing their lips together.
At first, Allen is too shocked to respond: He hadn't even considered this as a possible course this whole situation could take. (That's not to say he hadn't considered it, but, yeah. Not like this). His body still hasn't caught up with the proceedings when Kanda backs off an inch or two to mumble, "Fucking ridiculous," before leaning in again. This time, though, Allen responds eagerly, opening his mouth to Kanda's insistent tongue, letting him inside. Kanda's whole body sinks into his, and at the moment Allen's just reacting when he wraps his arms around Kanda's neck, his shoulders, pulling him closer. Kanda goes with the momentum and presses against Allen in a slow roll of his hips, his hardening erection obvious. Allen breaks off the kiss to gasp against Kanda's lips.
"Fuck," Allen says, tipping his head back against the wall as Kanda does the thing with his hips again, more insistent this time. All of his anger at Kanda disappeared about the same moment that Kanda first kissed him, and now he can feel all of his frustration leeching away as well, to be replaced with something that feels so much more right. Kanda mouths across his neck, nipping at tendons, and suddenly Allen needs him-not just a reaction, but a conscious choice. Allen needs him closer; he needs to touch him.
"Kanda," he says, "Kanda, let me-" and he pushes them up off the wall, flipping them around in one swift movement. It's Allen's turn to crowd Kanda against the wall, and his hands go immediately for Kanda's fly; he's barely finished undoing the laces before he snakes a hand inside, fingers brushing clumsily against Kanda's cock. Despite the minimal contact (or maybe because of it) Kanda immediately bucks up towards Allen's hand, and Allen doesn't even think of denying him. He wraps his hand firmly around Kanda's cock and starts jerking him steadily.
Kanda sucks in a breath through his teeth and lets it out on a growl, and Allen leans into him to rest his forehead on the curve of Kanda's shoulder. Allen mutters continuously against the smooth material of Kanda's uniform, things like soft encouragements but mostly Kanda's name, while Kanda tries, and fails, to steady his breathing, harsh in the echoing silence. Every now and then he'll choke back a moan and instead make little mewling sounds in his throat that Allen thinks he'll never get enough of.
Lavi and Lenalee can hear them-they must be able to hear them-but Allen finds that, at the moment, he really couldn't care less.
Kanda's noises are getting more impatient than pleased now, and when Allen picks up his pace a little, he's rewarded with a quick gasp and a "Fuck, Walker" that shocks Allen so much he leans back up to look at Kanda in surprise, his hand faltering momentarily.
"Shut up," Kanda hisses, seemingly perfectly aware of what he just let slip, but more concerned about how Allen's hand isn't moving. "It's not like I've never-"
Allen starts jerking him off again.
Gasp, "-called you that before," he finishes breathlessly, and Allen just smirks at him. Kanda's clearly about to attempt what would otherwise be a scathing remark if not for Allen's hand on his cock, so Allen spares Kanda that potential failure by taking this moment to twist his wrist and tighten his grip, effectively shutting him up.
Kanda squeezes his eyes shut and tries even harder to keep silent, now freely fucking up into the circle of Allen's fist. Allen doesn't exactly try to keep them on pace, too wrapped up in the mere sensation of it-of the tension melting off of them in waves and of the heat lingering in every place where their bodies touch, and then Kanda's coming over his fingers, back arched gracefully off the wall behind him.
Allen goes with him when Kanda falls back against it, and he ruts against Kanda's hip shamelessly. Kanda doesn't even bother with Allen's pants: He just reaches around to grab Allen's ass, pulling him closer and grinding against him.
Allen comes less than two minutes later with one hand clamped tight around Kanda's bicep and the other braced against the wall for support, breathing heavily into Kanda's neck. Kanda's nice enough to allow Allen a little time to collect himself before deliberately loosening Allen's grip on his arm and getting shakily back to his feet.
He'll deny it later, but Allen smiles kind of dopily at Kanda once they're both standing free of the wall-God bless that wall, Allen thinks-and doesn't stop even when Kanda "Tch"-es at him with a not-very-sincere scowl.
But then Kanda says, "Shit," and Allen panics before he can even really think about it. Kanda must notice, because he turns and regards Allen thoughtfully, and then slowly shakes his head.
"Lenalee and Lavi," Kanda clarifies, and Allen panics.
"Shit," he agrees.
They step out from behind the wall as casually as they can manage, which, Allen is going to have to do something about the coming-in-the-pants thing before they start walking back, because chafing. Tim floats down to his shoulder out of nowhere and Allen is immediately suspicious of where he's been the whole time, but can't spare him any more thought after he catches a glimpse of Lavi and Lenalee's faces.
Both of them have since sat down, presumably to wait out the current events, Lavi sprawled right out across the ground and Lenalee perched on a crumbling piece of castle. They both look like they're trying to hold back laughter; Lenalee raises her eyebrows at him playfully, and Lavi fucking winks at him. Allen feels his cheeks heat up and he looks to Kanda for support.
Kanda, though, seems content to ignore them to the best of his ability (which is saying something) and leaves Allen to field this one on his own.
He turns back to them. "So!" he says, clapping his hands together, slapping on one of his brightest smiles and trying his damnedest to act like nothing out of the ordinary just happened. "We should probably get going before any more Akuma come, right?" He doesn't wait for them to respond.
"Let's go!" he adds cheerily, marching back towards the path. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the two of them get up and start to follow, and resolutely pretends not to hear the muffled laughter they can no longer contain. Kanda falls into step beside him.
"Thanks for that, Kanda," Allen grumbles, without looking at him.
Kanda ignores him. "You're walking funny," he observes idly, like he doesn't know exactly why that is.
"Oh my God, shut up," Allen hisses. But he's smiling.
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