[B-DAY Fic] Of Blinds and Pesky Neighbors
It had started with a knowing look. A knowing look packed into a sideways glance and suddenly they weren’t ‘just friends’ anymore.
It had started, just as simply, with a knock on the door.
With a declaration.
With an argument.
It wasn’t easy but the concept behind it was. The theory being proven-Lavi was always one for curiosity. For hands running over a pale expanse of thighs in the secrecy of a dark room; the only light source coming from the window across the room where the blinds were always and resolutely open.
Lavi liked it. Kanda didn’t.
No one knew of this private argument, it was almost natural.
Almost.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
They had been next door neighbors for a while. Allen knew this, Kanda hated it, and they could all just go to hell, couldn’t they? After all it was only fair in the grand scheme of things. Allen had to figure it out at some point, with a fair bit of annoyance because-really? He had had enough already.
So it was perfectly natural that, on a perfectly warm day in April, he would bring it up. Plainly, and honestly, voice as flat as he could possibly get it, “Could you two stop arguing over blinds already? You sound like a married couple.”
Lavi had nearly spit out his drink.
Kanda had a hard time keeping his face straight.
And Lenalee? She nodded her head solely in agreement, “You really should. What’s so wrong with blinds being open or closed all the time?” No Allen hadn’t made her privy to the conversation. What were you talking about?
Seriously?
Lavi coughed a little more, sputtering a bit, cheeks tinting but not so much a vibrant red, as some other shade that clashed horribly with his hair. Lenalee leaned just a bit harder against Allen’s shoulder. Allen didn’t’ quite mind.
“I-we-”
“You?” Allen raised any eyebrow. Kanda remained silent, “The BaKanda here has been my nextdoor neighbor since I can remember. If you’re going to constantly sleep over then you should let him do what he wants with his blinds. They’re his, after all.”
A stagnant pause, “Che, he’s right. Leave my damn blinds alone.”
“Yeah but what if you’re over at my place? Huh?” Lavi spat like Allen wasn’t even there. Like Lenalee wasn’t just frowning a bit harder and messing with Allen’s hair (he had decided to grow it out. Rebel that he was. Cross had laughed at the time. But now he had to admit, it looked pretty damn nice). “He does that even then, he tells me to close them even if I have a crappy lighting system.”
“Then get over it.”
“But it saves electricity!”
“No it doesn’t.”
“Yeah it does-you’re-killing the environment!”
A blink, a stare, “How?”
Lavi fumbled a little, “You’re making it more expensive for yourself.”
Another blink, a shrug, “I’m not the one paying for it.”
“Well you should.”
“Che I won’t be dirty fucking poor like you.” Ouch, ouch, ouch. Allen cringed this time, Lenalee’s eyes widened. Lavi looked pained. Kanda didn’t notice, “so I highly doubt I’ll ever-” Or maybe he did, because Lavi was standing and-ouch, ouch, ouch.
A glare.
“Thanks a lot. Prick.” Redhair flew messily in every direction and it took every ounce of his control for Allen not to get up and give chase-and not beat the ever living crap out of Kanda.
The silence spoke volumes anyway, he was sure of it.
Kanda was good at masking pain, and Allen wasn’t good at reading it, but…sometimes… "You’re doing the eye thing again.” He stated, simply, and those eyes (that were really much more readable that Kanda would probably ever admit to) snapped to him, “Go. Apologize. Now.”
Lenalee nodded her head vehemently.
Kanda che’d.
“Why?”
“Because I said so. And you’re doing that eye thing-you’re feeling like shit. You should go feel like shit with Lavi and not us. I quit being sympathetic a long time ago and you know it.” Lenalee pressed against him and he knew she was curious. Questions, questions, questions, “Can’t save you from being the prick that you are sometimes. Seriously.” He made shooing motions with his hand and it was almost borderline hilarious because, well, Kanda knew better. He did. Allen knew he did. They had been together for months now (unbeknownst to them, of course, Allen knew it hadn’t been expected at first, and-well-yeah) he wouldn’t screw this up.
Kanda wouldn’t.
So when he left Allen waved pleasantly, but Lenalee didn’t. Instead, she turned to him when Kanda broke out into a run and asked, “How did you know?”
Allen simply smiled, “You mean you didn’t?”
*-*-*-*-*-*
They were still arguing by the time the school bell rang. Admittedly with a little less clothes on (it was at school, and that was so not kinky, so all that was managed were lack of shoes and socks, and Lavi was shirtless-Kanda had on an undershirt) but nothing inappropriate. They had been well acquainted with the grassy hill right outside the art hall, but other than that -all that happened was their voices.
“I. Said. I. Was. Sorry,”
Lavi was still scowling, “I’m not that poor, Yuu. You know how much it took just for-” a hitched breath, “me to get away from that senile old man. And I still have to make a choi-”
“I know that. Che,” it was a bit pathetic and he knew it. He didn’t need the reminder that he was the reason Lavi got up the nerve. That he, in succession, was the reason Lavi wound up in the hospital. He didn’t want to think of it-he-“Che, I’ve said you could-move in-” and apparently he had cut Lavi off, but did it really matter?
Lavi was blushing again, and it was irritating, “But I can’t.”
Kanda frowned, “Why not?”
Lavi stayed silent.
Kanda repeated, “Why. Not?”
Lavi never gave him an answer.
*-*-*-*-*-*
“I’m hanging up.”
“But-”
“This is pathetic, Lavi, he asked you to move in with him. Why won’t you?”
“It’s-because-I”
“You?”
“I’m afraid he might change his mind, dammit!”
“Don’t you think it’s enough that he was able to ask you?” A pause, “Shouldn’t that mean enough?”
“B-But-”
“It’s not like you’re getting married.”
“But it’s close enough!”
“Then congratulations. Now call him. Not me. Goodbye.”
For good measure, Allen didn’t pick up the phone for the rest of the day. Cross nearly broke the answering machine.
*-*-*-*-*-*
“So I heard I’ll be having a new next door neighbor soon.” Kanda’s left eye twitched, and Allen’s grin spread just a little slier across his lips, “Do I need to ask how the phone conversation went?”
Kanda’s right eye twitched, “It’s none of your fucking business.”
Allen let out a laugh and leaned back in the chair, “Good, because it isn’t supposed to be.”
He nearly laughed at Kanda’s expression a split second later, when he nearly fell out of his chair in attempts to get away from the suddenly very pointy object thrust in his face. He was borderline livid. And blushing.
Hey, at least it didn’t clash.
“That’s a good color on you Kan-da.”
Then he hightailed it.
….Cross made it a point not to ask.
*-*-*-*-*-*
“Close the blinds.” Lavi’s hand immediately darted away, eye widening a bit comically at Kanda’s shifting form on the bed behind him.
“Y-Yuu-chan! I thought you were asleep!” Kanda growled, Lavi tensed, shifting back to sitting on the floor-away from the blinds, because hey, he didn’t want to make sleeping beauty a bitchy beauty because that just wasn’t right was it?
“I was. You woke me up when you left.” The bed, of course, but Kanda wasn’t going to say that. Body warmth was nice especially in a room with perpetual air conditioning. Kanda was a frigid person, so it made a frigid sort of sense. Lavi had pondered over this while stocking the fridge.
Fridge Logic, if you will.
“I-sorry?” Lavi stammered a bit, pushing himself up off the floor and blinking, curiously, right eye a bit dimmer but no less there than the left. He had taken to not wearing his eyepatch around the house.
Maybe Kanda somewhat understood now why he hated lights.
Maybe that made him just a little squeamish, but he forced the thought down, “Come to bed.” He shifted a little, a silent acquiesce to Lavi’s perpetual sleepiness and needing to cuddle in bed. It was-nice. Sort of. No-it was.
Kanda grit his teeth with Lavi scrambled a bit, shifting a little to his right. Right, right, right. Then oh-left. He would have to ask him about that. But now wasn’t the time.
The blinds remained closed. Lavi had let them be closed. Kanda would make sure to open them when they woke up. Just because.
But now wasn’t morning. Now was time for sleep, and warmth, and idiot Rabbits crawling into bed and fusing themselves to stoic-swordsman’s sides. If he wanted to refer to them as something else, which he didn’t. It was just him and Lavi.
Kanda and Lavi. Sharing a bed because Lavi was a permanent guest now, and his room lacked the proper space for a second bed.
That was the only reason. Of course.
Well, no. It wasn’t.
*-*-*-*-*-*
“Sounds like you two had fun last night.” Kanda was tempted not to kill the brat. Really he was. At the laughing grin on his face -at the way his eyes flashed-at the way of tempting teasing that just-
“che, your point?” But he grit his teeth against it, “It’s none of your damn business anyway.”
“Yeah, well you’re my next door neighbor.” Kanda opened his mouth to respond, but the smile caught him off guard, “the blinds aren’t closed anymore, are they?”
Kanda paused. Well. He could let the Moyashi live just this once, couldn’t he?
It had started, just as simply, with a knock on the door.
With a declaration.
With an argument.
It wasn’t easy but the concept behind it was. The theory being proven-Lavi was always one for curiosity. For hands running over a pale expanse of thighs in the secrecy of a dark room; the only light source coming from the window across the room where the blinds were always and resolutely open.
Lavi liked it. Kanda didn’t.
No one knew of this private argument, it was almost natural.
Almost.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
They had been next door neighbors for a while. Allen knew this, Kanda hated it, and they could all just go to hell, couldn’t they? After all it was only fair in the grand scheme of things. Allen had to figure it out at some point, with a fair bit of annoyance because-really? He had had enough already.
So it was perfectly natural that, on a perfectly warm day in April, he would bring it up. Plainly, and honestly, voice as flat as he could possibly get it, “Could you two stop arguing over blinds already? You sound like a married couple.”
Lavi had nearly spit out his drink.
Kanda had a hard time keeping his face straight.
And Lenalee? She nodded her head solely in agreement, “You really should. What’s so wrong with blinds being open or closed all the time?” No Allen hadn’t made her privy to the conversation. What were you talking about?
Seriously?
Lavi coughed a little more, sputtering a bit, cheeks tinting but not so much a vibrant red, as some other shade that clashed horribly with his hair. Lenalee leaned just a bit harder against Allen’s shoulder. Allen didn’t’ quite mind.
“I-we-”
“You?” Allen raised any eyebrow. Kanda remained silent, “The BaKanda here has been my nextdoor neighbor since I can remember. If you’re going to constantly sleep over then you should let him do what he wants with his blinds. They’re his, after all.”
A stagnant pause, “Che, he’s right. Leave my damn blinds alone.”
“Yeah but what if you’re over at my place? Huh?” Lavi spat like Allen wasn’t even there. Like Lenalee wasn’t just frowning a bit harder and messing with Allen’s hair (he had decided to grow it out. Rebel that he was. Cross had laughed at the time. But now he had to admit, it looked pretty damn nice). “He does that even then, he tells me to close them even if I have a crappy lighting system.”
“Then get over it.”
“But it saves electricity!”
“No it doesn’t.”
“Yeah it does-you’re-killing the environment!”
A blink, a stare, “How?”
Lavi fumbled a little, “You’re making it more expensive for yourself.”
Another blink, a shrug, “I’m not the one paying for it.”
“Well you should.”
“Che I won’t be dirty fucking poor like you.” Ouch, ouch, ouch. Allen cringed this time, Lenalee’s eyes widened. Lavi looked pained. Kanda didn’t notice, “so I highly doubt I’ll ever-” Or maybe he did, because Lavi was standing and-ouch, ouch, ouch.
A glare.
“Thanks a lot. Prick.” Redhair flew messily in every direction and it took every ounce of his control for Allen not to get up and give chase-and not beat the ever living crap out of Kanda.
The silence spoke volumes anyway, he was sure of it.
Kanda was good at masking pain, and Allen wasn’t good at reading it, but…sometimes… "You’re doing the eye thing again.” He stated, simply, and those eyes (that were really much more readable that Kanda would probably ever admit to) snapped to him, “Go. Apologize. Now.”
Lenalee nodded her head vehemently.
Kanda che’d.
“Why?”
“Because I said so. And you’re doing that eye thing-you’re feeling like shit. You should go feel like shit with Lavi and not us. I quit being sympathetic a long time ago and you know it.” Lenalee pressed against him and he knew she was curious. Questions, questions, questions, “Can’t save you from being the prick that you are sometimes. Seriously.” He made shooing motions with his hand and it was almost borderline hilarious because, well, Kanda knew better. He did. Allen knew he did. They had been together for months now (unbeknownst to them, of course, Allen knew it hadn’t been expected at first, and-well-yeah) he wouldn’t screw this up.
Kanda wouldn’t.
So when he left Allen waved pleasantly, but Lenalee didn’t. Instead, she turned to him when Kanda broke out into a run and asked, “How did you know?”
Allen simply smiled, “You mean you didn’t?”
*-*-*-*-*-*
They were still arguing by the time the school bell rang. Admittedly with a little less clothes on (it was at school, and that was so not kinky, so all that was managed were lack of shoes and socks, and Lavi was shirtless-Kanda had on an undershirt) but nothing inappropriate. They had been well acquainted with the grassy hill right outside the art hall, but other than that -all that happened was their voices.
“I. Said. I. Was. Sorry,”
Lavi was still scowling, “I’m not that poor, Yuu. You know how much it took just for-” a hitched breath, “me to get away from that senile old man. And I still have to make a choi-”
“I know that. Che,” it was a bit pathetic and he knew it. He didn’t need the reminder that he was the reason Lavi got up the nerve. That he, in succession, was the reason Lavi wound up in the hospital. He didn’t want to think of it-he-“Che, I’ve said you could-move in-” and apparently he had cut Lavi off, but did it really matter?
Lavi was blushing again, and it was irritating, “But I can’t.”
Kanda frowned, “Why not?”
Lavi stayed silent.
Kanda repeated, “Why. Not?”
Lavi never gave him an answer.
*-*-*-*-*-*
“I’m hanging up.”
“But-”
“This is pathetic, Lavi, he asked you to move in with him. Why won’t you?”
“It’s-because-I”
“You?”
“I’m afraid he might change his mind, dammit!”
“Don’t you think it’s enough that he was able to ask you?” A pause, “Shouldn’t that mean enough?”
“B-But-”
“It’s not like you’re getting married.”
“But it’s close enough!”
“Then congratulations. Now call him. Not me. Goodbye.”
For good measure, Allen didn’t pick up the phone for the rest of the day. Cross nearly broke the answering machine.
*-*-*-*-*-*
“So I heard I’ll be having a new next door neighbor soon.” Kanda’s left eye twitched, and Allen’s grin spread just a little slier across his lips, “Do I need to ask how the phone conversation went?”
Kanda’s right eye twitched, “It’s none of your fucking business.”
Allen let out a laugh and leaned back in the chair, “Good, because it isn’t supposed to be.”
He nearly laughed at Kanda’s expression a split second later, when he nearly fell out of his chair in attempts to get away from the suddenly very pointy object thrust in his face. He was borderline livid. And blushing.
Hey, at least it didn’t clash.
“That’s a good color on you Kan-da.”
Then he hightailed it.
….Cross made it a point not to ask.
*-*-*-*-*-*
“Close the blinds.” Lavi’s hand immediately darted away, eye widening a bit comically at Kanda’s shifting form on the bed behind him.
“Y-Yuu-chan! I thought you were asleep!” Kanda growled, Lavi tensed, shifting back to sitting on the floor-away from the blinds, because hey, he didn’t want to make sleeping beauty a bitchy beauty because that just wasn’t right was it?
“I was. You woke me up when you left.” The bed, of course, but Kanda wasn’t going to say that. Body warmth was nice especially in a room with perpetual air conditioning. Kanda was a frigid person, so it made a frigid sort of sense. Lavi had pondered over this while stocking the fridge.
Fridge Logic, if you will.
“I-sorry?” Lavi stammered a bit, pushing himself up off the floor and blinking, curiously, right eye a bit dimmer but no less there than the left. He had taken to not wearing his eyepatch around the house.
Maybe Kanda somewhat understood now why he hated lights.
Maybe that made him just a little squeamish, but he forced the thought down, “Come to bed.” He shifted a little, a silent acquiesce to Lavi’s perpetual sleepiness and needing to cuddle in bed. It was-nice. Sort of. No-it was.
Kanda grit his teeth with Lavi scrambled a bit, shifting a little to his right. Right, right, right. Then oh-left. He would have to ask him about that. But now wasn’t the time.
The blinds remained closed. Lavi had let them be closed. Kanda would make sure to open them when they woke up. Just because.
But now wasn’t morning. Now was time for sleep, and warmth, and idiot Rabbits crawling into bed and fusing themselves to stoic-swordsman’s sides. If he wanted to refer to them as something else, which he didn’t. It was just him and Lavi.
Kanda and Lavi. Sharing a bed because Lavi was a permanent guest now, and his room lacked the proper space for a second bed.
That was the only reason. Of course.
Well, no. It wasn’t.
*-*-*-*-*-*
“Sounds like you two had fun last night.” Kanda was tempted not to kill the brat. Really he was. At the laughing grin on his face -at the way his eyes flashed-at the way of tempting teasing that just-
“che, your point?” But he grit his teeth against it, “It’s none of your damn business anyway.”
“Yeah, well you’re my next door neighbor.” Kanda opened his mouth to respond, but the smile caught him off guard, “the blinds aren’t closed anymore, are they?”
Kanda paused. Well. He could let the Moyashi live just this once, couldn’t he?