Switched Identity | Chapter 1 |
Title: Switched Identity
Series: No.6 & D.Gray-man
Pairings: Kanda/Allen & Nezumi/Shion
Summary: One has it all. The other next to nothing. Different worlds collide when the two meet and decide that taking a break to live in another’s shoes. While the two boys look so similar to one another, it’d be easy to fool those around them. Though will this change of pace hurt their relationships or make them stronger?
Word count: 2,532
Author’s note: This is the first time writing anything from No.6 So I apologize for any incorrect characterizations. ;;
Chapter 1: The worlds we live in.
Life sure could be cruel, couldn’t it?
It was the one thought on his mind constantly these days and yet he really couldn’t stop himself from staying by the one person who both frustrated him and made him happier than he ever could be. There were times when they would be happy, cuddle and do all kinds of loving things and others where things were smashed and one of them got a fractured jaw and a ton of bruises.
Many people asked him just how he could stay with someone like Kanda Yuu, and he just brushed it off, flashed a smile and told them the same thing he told everyone; “He’s a jerk but he makes me happy.” And then the subject was dropped. He had always been fine with that as it was entirely true. Him and his boyfriend had been together for almost two years with this sort of love/hate kind of relationship and he didn’t regret it for the most part.
Sighing as he leant back in his chair, Allen tapped his pencil on the top of his desk as teeth worried at his bottom lip absently. Lately he had kept coming back to his relationship with Kanda and he didn’t know entirely why. He was happy with it so he shouldn’t think about it.
Right.
For godssakes, he was a healthy eighteen year old with a good boyfriend and a perfect life.
“Allen, sweetie?”
The voice shook him out of his thoughts and faded grey-blue eyes turned to the doorway to meet the sight of his step-mother, a smile on her gentle face. She was a nice woman, getting into her forties and barely any gray hairs showing for her age, with her light brown hair kept in a braid that hung along over one shoulder and ended a little below her chest. Life had been good to her as she had a rather young, youthful appearance and rarely any wrinkles on her face, her eyes matching his in color and appearance; giving her such a gentle, peaceful look about her when he knew she could be anything but. When she got pissed off, it was time to avoid her and bolt the other way as she had the ferocity in her enough to scare the toughest of grown men.
An example being his uncle, Cross.
A man who took no shit from anyone and treated everything else without a single care had once tried to not only drink a bottle of whiskey but put his feet up on his mother’s table. Twice. She asked him and kindly reprimanded him not to but when he just ignored her and flippantly went back to his drinking, it’d earned one kick at the side of the man’s head and some rather unkind words - that he’d been told to forget had ever been said - before he finally listened and took heed to her words. All of it had been done with a soft, gentle smile on her face without even a hair being out of place.
Yeah. It wasn’t like he’d ever forget that. Or stop teasing his uncle about it.
“Yes?”
A smile curled his own lips and a hand brushed snow-white locks behind one ear as his head tilted lightly to the side in rapt curiosity. She rarely came to see him in his room unless it was important so he did get a little curious. “…Can you drive to the bar and pick up your uncle?” A sigh followed those words and his mother put fingers to her temple, exasperation written all over her face as she bowed her head slightly, leaning a little against the doorframe. “Did he get piss-drunk and pass out at Lucky’s?” A nod was all of a response Allen got from his mother before he put his pencil down and stood up, stretching stiff limbs as he shook his head.
“I would have had one of the butlers pick him up but I would hate to trouble them.”
“That man is more trouble than he is worth, Madame”
Spoken from the doorway behind his mother, one of the said butlers in question had approached with a small bow of politeness to which his mom moved to let him aside to pass. The man happened to be one of his favorite butlers; he wasn’t as stuffy as the others in this house and Allen actually got along well with him. Coming back from Allen’s closet, he produced the boy’s coat with a kind smile as he approached the said teen. “Thank you, Reever. You didn’t have to…” A quirk of Allen’s lips and he scratched at his cheek absently as he then accepted the coat; the material soft but thick enough to withstand the fall weather outside at this time of the evening. The sun had only gone down a few hours ago and as such, the weather became much cooler than it was during the day, hinting that the winter weather was just around the corner and fall was coming to a close.
“I insist. I believe your mother would throttle me if I let you catch a cold.”
To that, his step-mother gave the near-blonde butler a bit of a jokingly reprimanding look before sighing softly. “That’s right. Now, Allen. Why don’t you go before he wakes and decides to get into one of those ridiculous, uncouth poker matches.” She shook her head before making her exit from the room, that previous exasperation clear on her face again. Allen could understand that frustration as… well… being in the type of family that he was, people playing such ‘uncouth’ games was never looked upon very well and were practically seen as dirty, and yet he swore his uncle did it to piss off his mother. The damn bastard was a masochist with a penchance of racking up a debt that would likely scare any sane person, and the worst part of it was that usually he got roped into helping pay that off. It was better than asking his step-mother for money out of his account or have her ask why hundreds or thousands of dollars had disappeared out of his chequing account, as she wasn’t even remotely aware of any of these so-called debts, and he knew the second she found out about them that the chance of her trying to disown her own brother would be quite high. How the hell Cross had managed to survive this long while hiding such massive debts from her was beyond his entire comprehension.
Slipping on his coat and deciding he didn’t want to think on the subject any longer than he actually had to, Allen grabbed the first pair of shoes he could find and about headed out the door when he caught his reflection in the mirror. He raised pale fingers to brush against his cheek, tracing the edge of a blood-red scar before he stopped himself, shook his head and headed out with a frown etched into his features.
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“Ack!”
“Shion?”
A flash of a smile and a hand waved, the aforementioned boy couldn’t help but laugh, placing the tip of a burnt finger between his lips to try and alleviate the pain. He’d been trying to make dinner for the two of them but he hadn’t been watching the soup as closely as he had originally thought, his gaze having been stuck on the book nearby the stove. It was a great book; a worn copy of Hamlet that he’d had for years as thanks to Nezumi, he’d started reading more of the classics, his pile of them growing almost every year and filling more and more of his boyfriend’s apartment.
Something which said boyfriend couldn’t help but comment on everytime a new book entered their home. It was never negative, mind you, but rather… observant. In the beginning, he had been a bit hesitant about it but eventually came to accept it. After all, the kid was still quite unknowledgeable about things with how he’d grown up before he’d met him, and as such, if it got him reading more than he was fine with it for the most part. Nezumi had been known to have quite the book collection himself when they’d moved in together, a collection of well-kept classic plays and other various types of novels made up his own and Shion’s smaller set was slowly starting to catch up to his own.
It was getting to the point that the ivory-haired boy was actually buying his own books more often than not these days.
They’d known each other for almost four years and he was rather happy with the fact that they had now almost been in a steady relationship as lovers/boyfriends of nearly three years as it were. Sure, Nezumi had an odd way of how he did things and how they interacted but he couldn’t be happier.
Setting the spoon aside and lowering his hand, he turned to face the darker-haired boy sitting across the room at the sofa, watching the news with a rather bored, uninterested look clear on his face. “Dinner’s ready, Nezumi~!” Shion chirped with a bright smile, to which silver eyes turned to him and a small moment of silence lingered afterward as he drew himself to his feet gracefully; he’d always had that sort of air about him and had never really questioned how he could do that all the time. Of course, there were no words as the taller teen approached him, simply watching him before a hand darted out to grab the one Shion had been trying to hide in a pocket of his sweater.
“You burned yourself, moron. It’s not something to simply laugh off.” A sigh and a smirk curled the edges of Nezumi’s lips, only briefly however, as it was followed by him raising Shion’s injured finger to his lips and kissing it while eyes watched the boy for the sheer reaction alone. He was most definitely not disappointed; Shion sputtered and blushed about ten shades of crimson as he jumped visibly, but not yet pulling back as that would mean backing up into the stove and coincidentally, into the pot of soup he’d just finished making for dinner and that wouldn’t end well.
In the beginning it really had been just Nezumi who had cooked for them in their new place, seeing as Shion had very little knowledge of how to do much in way of cooking. Whereas Nezumi had to grow up making his own meals instead of having someone else get up and make them for him; like it had been for Shion almost his whole life. Though things had shifted a little in the past year, as Shion did attempt to try and get food made the few times Nezumi had been stuck late at the theater after one of his plays had ended or gone a bit longer than expected. Seeing as that Nezumi was always just so exhausted upon arriving home, Shion had figured that it would be nice to have a hot meal waiting as when he’d been growing up, he’d always enjoyed that after a long day of school. That and he didn’t feel right not doing anything but just sitting around in their place, trying to make himself useful so it wasn’t just Nezumi who did all the work in their home.
Having this happen was a touch surprising in itself as he wasn’t entirely expecting it, but he did accept it and occasionally offered a hint here and there about how Shion could improve on some of the dishes he made. Thing is, it wasn’t that Shion was bad at it; he was a fast learner for such a clueless kid, making things a little smoother in their household.
Pulling his hand back, Shion shook his head and looked away from the taller teen, deep red eyes almost matching the blush spread over his pale cheeks.
That was about when Nezumi leaned forwards and kissed the middle of Shion’s forehead before pulling back and going about getting himself a bowl for dinner, pleased with the reactions he’d gotten out of the ivory-haired teen. While being his boyfriend, it was just too amusing to get at least one of those reactions out of him at least once a day or every other day, because the boy never learned and ended up usually sputtering the same way, no matter what it was. Though, granted, Shion had gotten him a few times in return, but those were rather far and in between.
“Do you have another play coming up soon, Nezumi?”
Shion was back to wearing that soft smile once again, happily dishing out bowls for their dinner and able to ignore the pain from his previously burnt finger, the subject on something else to distract from the fact that there was still a bit of warmth lingering on his cheeks. Sure, they didn’t have the fanciest lifestyle but it got them by; Nezumi as a small-town actor and Shion as an apprentice of a doctor at the main hospital in the city. Both of their jobs together were just enough to pay for the decent apartment they shared on the sixth floor of the rather large complex.
Sure, it wasn’t in the best neighborhood but the apartment complex was run by a friend of Nezumi’s so it’d come for a bit of a cheaper price for them and making it a touch more affordable. One would think that with their respective careers that they should have an utterly amazing place, but in a city like this, something like this was just barely affordable.
“Yeah. Your favorite one, I believe.”
Silver eyes ticked over to the book nearby the stove with a pointed look before turning and heading to the kitchen table to eat, while Shion just blinked a few times and looked to his book and then back over to Nezumi. That was about when it clicked and his expression absolutely lit up in happiness, dishing his bowl of soup and coming to sit across from him at the table with a rather interested expression to match his more than uplifted mood that news had brought. “How long have you known?! Who are you going to be playing?”
Chuckling at Shion’s reaction, he shook his head and took a careful sip of his soup from the spoonful he’d gathered. “That’s a secret. You can just wait until the play premieres.” “That’s… hey! You know it’s my favorite so why’d you tell me and then not tell me who you’re going to be playing?!” There it was; that slight whine of insistence leaking into the normally calm boy’s voice and the darker haired teen looking entirely unphased by it as he simply shrugged in reaction, a slight smirk again tugging at the edges of his lips once more.
Really. He just made it too easy sometimes.
Perhaps that was part of the boy’s charm that he admired so much.
Series: No.6 & D.Gray-man
Pairings: Kanda/Allen & Nezumi/Shion
Summary: One has it all. The other next to nothing. Different worlds collide when the two meet and decide that taking a break to live in another’s shoes. While the two boys look so similar to one another, it’d be easy to fool those around them. Though will this change of pace hurt their relationships or make them stronger?
Word count: 2,532
Author’s note: This is the first time writing anything from No.6 So I apologize for any incorrect characterizations. ;;
Chapter 1: The worlds we live in.
Life sure could be cruel, couldn’t it?
It was the one thought on his mind constantly these days and yet he really couldn’t stop himself from staying by the one person who both frustrated him and made him happier than he ever could be. There were times when they would be happy, cuddle and do all kinds of loving things and others where things were smashed and one of them got a fractured jaw and a ton of bruises.
Many people asked him just how he could stay with someone like Kanda Yuu, and he just brushed it off, flashed a smile and told them the same thing he told everyone; “He’s a jerk but he makes me happy.” And then the subject was dropped. He had always been fine with that as it was entirely true. Him and his boyfriend had been together for almost two years with this sort of love/hate kind of relationship and he didn’t regret it for the most part.
Sighing as he leant back in his chair, Allen tapped his pencil on the top of his desk as teeth worried at his bottom lip absently. Lately he had kept coming back to his relationship with Kanda and he didn’t know entirely why. He was happy with it so he shouldn’t think about it.
Right.
For godssakes, he was a healthy eighteen year old with a good boyfriend and a perfect life.
“Allen, sweetie?”
The voice shook him out of his thoughts and faded grey-blue eyes turned to the doorway to meet the sight of his step-mother, a smile on her gentle face. She was a nice woman, getting into her forties and barely any gray hairs showing for her age, with her light brown hair kept in a braid that hung along over one shoulder and ended a little below her chest. Life had been good to her as she had a rather young, youthful appearance and rarely any wrinkles on her face, her eyes matching his in color and appearance; giving her such a gentle, peaceful look about her when he knew she could be anything but. When she got pissed off, it was time to avoid her and bolt the other way as she had the ferocity in her enough to scare the toughest of grown men.
An example being his uncle, Cross.
A man who took no shit from anyone and treated everything else without a single care had once tried to not only drink a bottle of whiskey but put his feet up on his mother’s table. Twice. She asked him and kindly reprimanded him not to but when he just ignored her and flippantly went back to his drinking, it’d earned one kick at the side of the man’s head and some rather unkind words - that he’d been told to forget had ever been said - before he finally listened and took heed to her words. All of it had been done with a soft, gentle smile on her face without even a hair being out of place.
Yeah. It wasn’t like he’d ever forget that. Or stop teasing his uncle about it.
“Yes?”
A smile curled his own lips and a hand brushed snow-white locks behind one ear as his head tilted lightly to the side in rapt curiosity. She rarely came to see him in his room unless it was important so he did get a little curious. “…Can you drive to the bar and pick up your uncle?” A sigh followed those words and his mother put fingers to her temple, exasperation written all over her face as she bowed her head slightly, leaning a little against the doorframe. “Did he get piss-drunk and pass out at Lucky’s?” A nod was all of a response Allen got from his mother before he put his pencil down and stood up, stretching stiff limbs as he shook his head.
“I would have had one of the butlers pick him up but I would hate to trouble them.”
“That man is more trouble than he is worth, Madame”
Spoken from the doorway behind his mother, one of the said butlers in question had approached with a small bow of politeness to which his mom moved to let him aside to pass. The man happened to be one of his favorite butlers; he wasn’t as stuffy as the others in this house and Allen actually got along well with him. Coming back from Allen’s closet, he produced the boy’s coat with a kind smile as he approached the said teen. “Thank you, Reever. You didn’t have to…” A quirk of Allen’s lips and he scratched at his cheek absently as he then accepted the coat; the material soft but thick enough to withstand the fall weather outside at this time of the evening. The sun had only gone down a few hours ago and as such, the weather became much cooler than it was during the day, hinting that the winter weather was just around the corner and fall was coming to a close.
“I insist. I believe your mother would throttle me if I let you catch a cold.”
To that, his step-mother gave the near-blonde butler a bit of a jokingly reprimanding look before sighing softly. “That’s right. Now, Allen. Why don’t you go before he wakes and decides to get into one of those ridiculous, uncouth poker matches.” She shook her head before making her exit from the room, that previous exasperation clear on her face again. Allen could understand that frustration as… well… being in the type of family that he was, people playing such ‘uncouth’ games was never looked upon very well and were practically seen as dirty, and yet he swore his uncle did it to piss off his mother. The damn bastard was a masochist with a penchance of racking up a debt that would likely scare any sane person, and the worst part of it was that usually he got roped into helping pay that off. It was better than asking his step-mother for money out of his account or have her ask why hundreds or thousands of dollars had disappeared out of his chequing account, as she wasn’t even remotely aware of any of these so-called debts, and he knew the second she found out about them that the chance of her trying to disown her own brother would be quite high. How the hell Cross had managed to survive this long while hiding such massive debts from her was beyond his entire comprehension.
Slipping on his coat and deciding he didn’t want to think on the subject any longer than he actually had to, Allen grabbed the first pair of shoes he could find and about headed out the door when he caught his reflection in the mirror. He raised pale fingers to brush against his cheek, tracing the edge of a blood-red scar before he stopped himself, shook his head and headed out with a frown etched into his features.
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“Ack!”
“Shion?”
A flash of a smile and a hand waved, the aforementioned boy couldn’t help but laugh, placing the tip of a burnt finger between his lips to try and alleviate the pain. He’d been trying to make dinner for the two of them but he hadn’t been watching the soup as closely as he had originally thought, his gaze having been stuck on the book nearby the stove. It was a great book; a worn copy of Hamlet that he’d had for years as thanks to Nezumi, he’d started reading more of the classics, his pile of them growing almost every year and filling more and more of his boyfriend’s apartment.
Something which said boyfriend couldn’t help but comment on everytime a new book entered their home. It was never negative, mind you, but rather… observant. In the beginning, he had been a bit hesitant about it but eventually came to accept it. After all, the kid was still quite unknowledgeable about things with how he’d grown up before he’d met him, and as such, if it got him reading more than he was fine with it for the most part. Nezumi had been known to have quite the book collection himself when they’d moved in together, a collection of well-kept classic plays and other various types of novels made up his own and Shion’s smaller set was slowly starting to catch up to his own.
It was getting to the point that the ivory-haired boy was actually buying his own books more often than not these days.
They’d known each other for almost four years and he was rather happy with the fact that they had now almost been in a steady relationship as lovers/boyfriends of nearly three years as it were. Sure, Nezumi had an odd way of how he did things and how they interacted but he couldn’t be happier.
Setting the spoon aside and lowering his hand, he turned to face the darker-haired boy sitting across the room at the sofa, watching the news with a rather bored, uninterested look clear on his face. “Dinner’s ready, Nezumi~!” Shion chirped with a bright smile, to which silver eyes turned to him and a small moment of silence lingered afterward as he drew himself to his feet gracefully; he’d always had that sort of air about him and had never really questioned how he could do that all the time. Of course, there were no words as the taller teen approached him, simply watching him before a hand darted out to grab the one Shion had been trying to hide in a pocket of his sweater.
“You burned yourself, moron. It’s not something to simply laugh off.” A sigh and a smirk curled the edges of Nezumi’s lips, only briefly however, as it was followed by him raising Shion’s injured finger to his lips and kissing it while eyes watched the boy for the sheer reaction alone. He was most definitely not disappointed; Shion sputtered and blushed about ten shades of crimson as he jumped visibly, but not yet pulling back as that would mean backing up into the stove and coincidentally, into the pot of soup he’d just finished making for dinner and that wouldn’t end well.
In the beginning it really had been just Nezumi who had cooked for them in their new place, seeing as Shion had very little knowledge of how to do much in way of cooking. Whereas Nezumi had to grow up making his own meals instead of having someone else get up and make them for him; like it had been for Shion almost his whole life. Though things had shifted a little in the past year, as Shion did attempt to try and get food made the few times Nezumi had been stuck late at the theater after one of his plays had ended or gone a bit longer than expected. Seeing as that Nezumi was always just so exhausted upon arriving home, Shion had figured that it would be nice to have a hot meal waiting as when he’d been growing up, he’d always enjoyed that after a long day of school. That and he didn’t feel right not doing anything but just sitting around in their place, trying to make himself useful so it wasn’t just Nezumi who did all the work in their home.
Having this happen was a touch surprising in itself as he wasn’t entirely expecting it, but he did accept it and occasionally offered a hint here and there about how Shion could improve on some of the dishes he made. Thing is, it wasn’t that Shion was bad at it; he was a fast learner for such a clueless kid, making things a little smoother in their household.
Pulling his hand back, Shion shook his head and looked away from the taller teen, deep red eyes almost matching the blush spread over his pale cheeks.
That was about when Nezumi leaned forwards and kissed the middle of Shion’s forehead before pulling back and going about getting himself a bowl for dinner, pleased with the reactions he’d gotten out of the ivory-haired teen. While being his boyfriend, it was just too amusing to get at least one of those reactions out of him at least once a day or every other day, because the boy never learned and ended up usually sputtering the same way, no matter what it was. Though, granted, Shion had gotten him a few times in return, but those were rather far and in between.
“Do you have another play coming up soon, Nezumi?”
Shion was back to wearing that soft smile once again, happily dishing out bowls for their dinner and able to ignore the pain from his previously burnt finger, the subject on something else to distract from the fact that there was still a bit of warmth lingering on his cheeks. Sure, they didn’t have the fanciest lifestyle but it got them by; Nezumi as a small-town actor and Shion as an apprentice of a doctor at the main hospital in the city. Both of their jobs together were just enough to pay for the decent apartment they shared on the sixth floor of the rather large complex.
Sure, it wasn’t in the best neighborhood but the apartment complex was run by a friend of Nezumi’s so it’d come for a bit of a cheaper price for them and making it a touch more affordable. One would think that with their respective careers that they should have an utterly amazing place, but in a city like this, something like this was just barely affordable.
“Yeah. Your favorite one, I believe.”
Silver eyes ticked over to the book nearby the stove with a pointed look before turning and heading to the kitchen table to eat, while Shion just blinked a few times and looked to his book and then back over to Nezumi. That was about when it clicked and his expression absolutely lit up in happiness, dishing his bowl of soup and coming to sit across from him at the table with a rather interested expression to match his more than uplifted mood that news had brought. “How long have you known?! Who are you going to be playing?”
Chuckling at Shion’s reaction, he shook his head and took a careful sip of his soup from the spoonful he’d gathered. “That’s a secret. You can just wait until the play premieres.” “That’s… hey! You know it’s my favorite so why’d you tell me and then not tell me who you’re going to be playing?!” There it was; that slight whine of insistence leaking into the normally calm boy’s voice and the darker haired teen looking entirely unphased by it as he simply shrugged in reaction, a slight smirk again tugging at the edges of his lips once more.
Really. He just made it too easy sometimes.
Perhaps that was part of the boy’s charm that he admired so much.