D. Gray-man Fan Fiction ❯ 'Till Halloween ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimers: The usual: I don't own D.Gray Man. I'm using the characters for my own entertainment and molest Lavi in my mind frequently. XD

Pairing: eventual Lavi/Allen

BTW, this is AU and Lavi has both of his eyes and Allen has no scar and a normal arm :D

`Till Halloween by Yaoi Girl

 

He waited…and waited…and waited some more. Lavi wasn't a very patient person, at least when he was ready to go somewhere and had to wait for someone else to get ready, in this case, Allen.

 

The red-head sighed as he leaned against his front door, on the outside enjoying the fresh air for a change. And it was over the hour and half limit that he had given his neighbor boy. By about 10 minutes.

 

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared out across the city rooftops from his apartment complex. It was different from seeing it out his window; a totally different view altogether. It was actually rather nice.

 

“I'm sorry!” came a rather distraught voice from beside him, gaining Lavi's attention, who then doubled over in laughter at the person who owned the voice.

 

Allen had emerged from his house while fighting with his shirt, damp silver hair poking out from the top as he tried to squeeze it over his head. You could tell he was somewhat annoyed as he grumbled against the fabric before just stopping altogether and peering at his neighbor through the thin material, the shirt stretched this way and that on his thin body.

 

“Lavi, I know it's amusing to you, but could you please help?!”

 

He chuckled a few more times before tugging the red T-shirt with black lining over the teen's head.

 

“Don't you have clothes that fit better than that?” Lavi inquired as he then noticed that the shirt was in fact a bit tight. Not that he minded, mind you. It showed off Allen's form rather nicely.

 

“All my short sleeved shirts are too small anymore. I'm so used to wearing winter clothes all the time that all my summer stuff has been packed away for ages. It's all dad's fault,” he frowned as the pair began walking, Allen slinging his olive green fabric bag over his should and across his body, some of the pins adorning it looking like they would fall off from the flimsy material.

 

`It suits him,' Lavi noted as he folded his arms behind his head and Allen caught up to fall into pace beside him.

 

Down the stairs they went and Lavi couldn't help but snicker as the silver haired teen nearly tripped more than once. So he was also a little clumsy.

 

“So what kind of landscapes do you like to take pictures of?”

 

“Mainly the clouds when they look different, like their shapes or colors aren't ordinary. Some of the places that I've lived before had mountains, so I'd take pictures of them during different times of the day too when the lighting changed. I really like water landscapes, but they weren't too many bodies of water back home.”

 

Lavi thought for a moment. The park had a pond, but it wasn't that great for taking pictures. And the closest lake was a few hours drive away.

 

“Maybe we can take a weekend sometime and go to the lake up north. Its a few hours away, but it's nice.”

 

“That would be nice. Maybe I could go fishing again. I haven't done that in ages!”

 

“I've only been a couple times and gave up years ago. I've never caught anything other than the plants from the bottom,” the red-head replied as he stuck his tongue out slightly at the thought of the slimy stuff.

 

From there, the pair talked about all sorts of random things until they reached the grocery store. Lavi was definitely growing fond of him as at least a friend, and he sure Allen felt the same; there didn't seem to be any awkwardness between them at all, even during the silent moments.

 

“This place is huge compared to the store back home,” the silver haired teen breathed as the walked into the air conditioned building, much to his dismay. How he hated the cold…

 

“What even sounds good for dinner? I didn't really think too much about it.”

 

Allen cocked his head to the side as he thought, peering this way and that down the isles.

 

“I'm not too sure myself. I'm kinda picky…”

 

“Me too. We'll just eye shop, and whatever looks good will go in the basket!” Lavi grinned as he leaned against the push bar on the kart.

 

“Works for me,” Allen then shrugged as they began pacing up and down the many isles.

 

“Some type of pasta maybe?”

 

“Nah. Not in the mood for noodles.”

 

“Hm…How about pizza? No, too easy. I actually wanna cook for once, and pizza doesn't count as cooking.”

 

“How about chicken in orange sauce and whatever kind of vegetables or something?”

 

Lavi just stared at the boy a few steps in front of him and the kart. “Chicken in what?”

 

“My mom used to make it when she was still alive, but that was when I was really young. You take some boneless chicken breasts; dip it in some flour, milk, salt, and pepper mix; and then roll it in bread crumbs before you fry it. Then you need orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, just a little flour, salt, and corn starch and you boil it on the stove until it gets thick. Then you pour the sauce over the chicken when it's done frying,” Allen grinned triumphantly, having remembered everything from when he was just a small boy, about 9 or so. It was one of his favorite things that his mother had always made for him, but since his father wasn't too good of a cook, he had never attempted to make it for fear of turning his son against it.

 

“You just like it because it's sweet!” Lavi then teased as he began to put a bottle of lemon juice into the kart.

 

Allen then gave him a goofy grin. “So you'll make it?”

 

The red head then shrugged. “It'll be a first time thing for me, so you'll have to watch and make sure I'm doing it right.”

 

“No problem~”

 

They then wandered down some more isles, gathering the rest of the things they'd need for their dinner and some other food stuffs for when Allen was sure to come over from being frozen to near death.

 

“What do we need for the pie?”

 

It had completely slipped Allen's mind, seeing as he was content with having an old favorite dish that was sweet dancing around in his mind.

 

“Cream cheese, sliced peaches, and non-instant vanilla pudding. I think that's it…”

 

“You think? We're not making another trip back here; you can if you want.”

 

“If there's something else that goes in it, I'm sure you'll already have it here in the kart or back home. But I'm pretty sure that's all.”

 

With that said, they headed for the check-out, walking out with several shopping bags.

 

“I'm glad the store isn't too far away,” the silver haired teen groaned as the bags dug into his arms.

 

Lavi just smiled at him as they walked. “You think you should be complaining? Just think what I'd feel like if I came here by myself!”

 

“I'm sure you wouldn't have gotten as many things,” Allen then pointed out, nodding sagely before completely disappearing from Lavi's view.

 

Confused, he turned around to see the boy stumbling to keep his balance, having nearly tripped over a box in the middle of the sidewalk next to a street lamp. He really was clumsy.

 

Lavi walked back to him, chancing a look into the small cardboard box to find a cute little orange and white kitten, mewing for all it was worth.

 

And this, of course, didn't go unnoticed by Allen either.

 

“You poor thing!” he cried out as he sat the bags aside and scooped the kitten up into his arms, standing and snuggling it to his cheek.

 

“Forget it.”

 

“But Lavi~” he whined, looking as cute and innocent as the kitten.

 

“You can keep it, but it's not coming into my place!”

 

“But dad's allergic to cats…”

 

“I said no.”

 

And that should've been that, but Lavi had lost, horribly. Not only did he now have an adorable little girl kitten, but also all the groceries, minus a light bag or two that Allen was still able to carry while holding the kitten close.

 

“Now I'm gonna have to make another trip back to the store…” the red head groaned as realization finally dawned on him that he now actually had something else to feed other than himself.

 

“I'll go,” Allen grinned. “If you keep her at your place, I'll buy the cat food.

 

Lavi could deal with that, he supposed anyway. But having to house break a kitten would be the real fun.

 

Once they finally reached the apartment building, they climbed the stairs and Lavi all but dropped the bags of food and drinks outside of his door, his arms feeling ten times lighter than they ever had before.

 

No sooner than he had the door open, Allen took off inside first with his new kitten, grinning all the way with his bags still around his arm. He finally ended up in the kitchen and sat them down, still snuggling the purring kitten.

 

And then, slowly but surely, in came Lavi with his load, plopping it down on his kitchen table and plopping himself into a chair, wiping his forehead.

 

“I hate you,” he said monotonously to Allen, or the kitten, whichever had heard him.

 

“How can you say she's not cute?” the teen grinned as he offered the kitten to Lavi.

 

For some odd reason, Lavi actually gathered the kitten to his chest, stroking her head with one finger. He had never really cared for animals, but since Allen was going to be taking the responsibility of feeding her, then she could stay. His parents only gave him so much money a month to live off of. But to Lavi, they were being stingy, seeing as they were loaded, having inherited most of it from their deceased relatives as of late, and the rest from work. And of course they didn't approve of their son's reckless party behavior, but seeing as he was doing well in school, they couldn't really complain.

 

“Allen,” Lavi said without looking up from the kitten's alluring green eyes, “write down what I need to do to get dinner going so you can go get her something to eat for tonight, and buy a couple newspapers too if you would.”

 

“Newspapers? For what?”

 

“A bed for her for now until I can get something better, and seeing as she's more than likely not litter trained, I don't want her doing her business on her bed or my floor.”

 

“I see,” he nodded. “Where's some paper?”

 

“See that drawer to your left?” he said, still not looking away from her.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Open the next one over; there should be a small notebook in there.”

 

Allen did as he was told, and he found said notebook with a pen attached to the spiral. And from there he wrote down the recipe before setting the notebook in front of Lavi.

 

“Want me to take her with me so you can cook?”

 

“Nah. I'll let her roam and get used to the place.”

 

“Are you sure? You won't be keeping a very good eye on her, so she may do her business on your floor…”

 

This was true…

 

“Let her stay. I'll take the chance. After all, she's just a little kitten, she can't do too much damage.”

 

“Alright. Do you need anything else while I'm out?”

 

“No, that's it.”

 

“Well, here anyway,” Allen said as he scooped up the notebook and scribbled something down before setting it back down, Lavi now watching his actions as he sat the kitten down on the floor next to his chair. “Call me if you think of something.”

 

And with that, the silver haired neighbor boy ventured out to get his little one some num-nums.

 

“Just what am I going to do with you?” Lavi then inquired to the kitten who was slowly and cautiously heading for the living room, tail straight up in the air, pausing and looking around wildly if she thought she heard something before continuing on her little adventure.

 

He sighed, finally pushing himself up from the table and began to put things away and set things aside that he needed for dinner.

 

And after that was done, Lavi had a rather full refrigerator and full cabinets. That was a first in a long time, since his last steady boyfriend, if he recalled right.

 

After everything was put away and all the bags were all thrown away, he ventured to his table and picked up the notebook, beginning to read what Allen had wrote. And from there dinner was started.

 

About ten minutes had passed since the first of the chickens had hit the skillet and Allen had returned with a bag full of cat food and some expired newspapers that the store lady was more than glad to give him for free.

 

“How's it coming along?”

 

“Not to bad, as far as I can tell,” Lavi replied as he focused on mixing his sauce before putting it on the burner.

 

And so Allen stood on his tip toes, trying to peer over Lavi's shoulder to see, but to no avail. He was just too short…So he grabbed a hold of the taller boy's shoulders and hoisted himself up just a bit more, smiling as he seen a meal that he hadn't seen in years.

 

Lavi, of course, wasn't expecting Allen to climb on him like that and so he nearly lost his balance, tilting back slightly as pressure was applied to his shoulders before he settled back forward, smiling.

 

`Allen's just a curious as that little kitten,' he thought as he finally turned the burner on, setting it to just the right flame height before turning the chicken over in the skillet.

 

“Does it look right?” Lavi inquired as he turned his head just enough to face Allen, whose cheek he nearly brushed against in the process.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Wanna start on the pie?”

 

“I told you, I'm no good at cooking. But I'll write down what you need to do at least while you're doing that,” he offered.

 

“Nah, you can walk me through it when I get a minute.”

 

And with that, Allen released Lavi's shoulders and wandered around the apartment, looking for his little one, finding her and curling up on the couch with her in his arms. “Is it alright if I watch TV?”

 

“Go ahead,” Lavi called back as he finished up the first couple chickens, putting them aside as he started the next batch.

 

And so for a while, until dinner was nearly done, Lavi listened and Allen watched TV, the silver haired teen no curled in Lavi's blanket. Drifting further and further into a comfortable nap…

 

“Allen!”

 

Or so he thought he was going to take a nap.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I'm ready to start the pie!”

 

Lazily, he unwrapped himself, setting the kitten down on the floor before venturing back to the kitchen, smelling the sweet smell of orange.

 

“Okay, mix the pudding the with this much flour,” he said as he took a measuring cup and scooped out the right amount of flour, dumping it into a mixing bowl Lavi had already pulled out, “This much salt and baking powder,” he then continued, measuring out all the ingredients and dumping them into the bowl before adding the pouch of pudding mix. Then came some butter and eggs. “Now mix it together.”

 

And so Lavi did as he was told, mixing the batter until Allen was satisfied, then pouring it into a pie pan like he was then instructed to do, then adding the cream cheese after he whipped it, then draining his can of peaches before placing them on top in a random pattern.

 

“And now you let it bake for a while.”

 

Easy enough.

 

“Go ahead and go get Mana if you would; I just have to heat up the vegetables and everything's ready.”

 

“Okay,” Allen nodded before disappearing once again into the living room, then outside. Then back in again a few minutes later. “He'll be over in about five minutes.”

 

“Let's hope he's not like you!”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Allen pouted, knowing fully well what Lavi was referring to: him being late this morning for their store rendezvous.

 

And sure enough, Mana was just like his son, or his son was just like him. Either way, they both were late!

 

“It smells so good in here!” Mana smiled as he sat down next to his son, while Lavi set various dishes down that held their dinner on the table between them.

 

“Dig in!” the red head smiled as he poured some drinks and sat them down as well before he himself sat to join them.

 

“Allen talked you into making this, didn't he?”

 

“How'd ya know?” he laughed.

 

“It was something new for me to try,” Lavi shrugged. “I never even heard of such a thing.”

 

“I didn't either until the first time my wife had made it.”

 

From there they all talked and joked around, Mana thanking Lavi profusely for inviting them over and watching over Allen all day, saying that he was going home for the night and was too full from everything else to even think about dessert. He unfortunately had to start work the next day.

 

The pie had since been baked and chilled, and Allen couldn't wait to eat a slice. And so, he and Lavi curled up on the couch, much like they had this morning, and watched TV with the kitten curled up between them, sleeping soundly after having eaten a good meal for the first time in who knows how long.

 

“This is so good, Lavi! You weren't kidding when you said you could bake sweets!” the silver haired teen managed between bites.

 

“You helped too.”

 

“But still, mine always come out wrong for some reason.”

 

“I'll teach you how to bake then,” Lavi shrugged for the umpteenth time that day.

 

“Really?”

 

“Sure, why not?”

 

After setting his plate aside, Allen then leaned over the kitten and wrapped his arms around Lavi in an appreciative hug, although Lavi blushed horribly. Allen was just full of surprises it seemed.

 

“Nobody's ever offered to teach me how to cook before!” he smiled as he went back to his side of the couch, Lavi trying to regain himself.

 

“So, uh, what are you going to name her?” the red head then offered after a few minutes of silence, though Allen had since returned to watching TV.

 

“I don't know yet. I'll think of something by tomorrow though.”

 

Lavi nodded.

 

“What time do you need to go to bed? Or rather, when do you want me to go home?”

“I won't go to bed for another couple hours; you can stick around till then if you want. I have classes tomorrow, so I better not hear an alarm clock blaring at o'dark thirty!” he said with a playful glare.

 

“I'm going to be SO bored tomorrow!” Allen then whined. “Since you're going to class and dad starts work, I have nothing to do other than unpack and sleep in the freezing cold all day until you get home.”

 

On a whim, Lavi stood up, startling the other boy slightly in the process since he hadn't said a word of warning, and headed down the hall to his room, returning a moment later, dangling a shiny silver object on a string in front of Allen's face.

 

“What's that for?”

 

“It's the spare key to my place.”

 

Allen then looked from Lavi to the key and then back to Lavi's face again, confused.

 

“Why are you showing it to me?”

 

He sighed, grabbing one of Allen's hands and placing the key in it, then wrapping the boy's fingers around it. “I'm trusting you, okay?”

 

“I'm confused.”

Lavi really wanted to roll his eyes at the boy. Didn't he understand anything?

 

“I'm giving it to you so when you get bored tomorrow, you can come over here and watch TV and raid the fridge. And so you can clean up any messes she makes,” he said, pointing to the kitten. “She is yours after all. And you can come over when you want to thaw out too,” he added with yet another shrug.

 

“Are you sure, Lavi?”

 

“Yes, I'm sure. I know I can trust you, Allen,” he smiled at him, in which he received a rather shy smile.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, just watch TV already,” the red head grinned.

 

And so the pair spent the rest of the evening watching random things until Allen decided to go to bed for the night, having nodded off a couple times on the couch, waking when his head would fall forward or to the side.

 

Lavi and Allen both walked to the front door, Allen to go home, and Lavi to make sure that his home was secured for the night. And right before he could shut the door behind Allen after their good-nights, the latter boy stuck his foot in the door causing Lavi to open it back up in curiosity, and soon after Allen launched himself into the older boy and hugged him.

 

“It means a lot to me that you can trust me this much, Lavi,” he said as he nuzzled his cheek against Lavi's warm chest.

 

And again Lavi blushed as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around Allen, resting his chin gently a top Allen's head until the other boy backed away a few moments later.

 

“Night, Lavi!” he then waved as he opened his own door.

 

“Night.”