It's a Mistake... maybe.
Title: It's a Mistake... maybe
Genre: Romance, thriller
Pairing: Lavi/Kanda
Rating: T (For now, rating will go up for later chapters)
Summary: Kanda is a detective in NY, but his secret dream is something else... After Lenalee plunged into his house suddenly that dream comes true. But soon after Kanda will discover that there's a price both for fame and dreams.
Warnings: AU, violence, language, boy/boy sex...
Note: As always, a big THANKS to EM1&EM2, aka Saxon-Jesus who did the beta work for me ^_^ I love you!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own D. Gray-man, all belong to Hoshino sensei... If it was otherwise... Lavi and Kanda should have been together from like FOREVER!
WARNING: YAOI - if you don't know what this word means, or if you don't like boy/boy relationship this story is not for you, don't say I didn't tell you! You know the song, DON'T LIKE DON'T READ!
And, as always, this AU too it's Kanda/Lavi or LaviYuu, whatever you wanna put it. Because I'm LaviYuu sick, yeah XD
What else to say? Well, ENJOY!
6 JUNE 2010, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KANDA!
So with Kanda's Birthday this year too starts the second LaviYu Festival!
Welcome to the LaviYu Festival, now at its second year!
For those who still don't know what the hell I'm talking about, let's make a brief look up over it.
The Festival, supported by the LaviYuu fans from all over the world, placed itself between Lavi and Kanda's two Birthdays, beginning with today, 6 June 2010, Kanda's Birthday, and culminating with the LaviYu Day, which it was chosen exactly in the middle of their two Birthdays, on 8th JULY, to then end on 10th AUGUST with Lavi's Birthday.
Go here for the whole event planning and details! --> The LAVIYUU Festival HQ
And, Hell I know that in my country Kanda's Birthday is already over, but till in any other part af the world is still the 6 of June I feel allowed to claim I'm posting on the right day! XD
IT'S A MISTAKE... MAYBE
Chapter 1: Daily Press
New York. The Big Apple. The most chaotic city he had ever seen, but in his own way, Kanda Yuu loved it. Maybe.
When someone wasn't knocking insistently at his door at nine o'clock in the morning after he'd done the night shift at the Police Precinct.
Kanda Yuu, 22 years old, Japanese, recently naturalized American. Currently employed as a detective in the 49th Precinct of New York, in the Bronx area. Certainly not the best possible place, but at least it was not monotonous, sure... sometimes too often for his liking.
And that night was one of those less monotonous ones, so he was tired and wanted to sleep. If only anyone was now at the door would've stopped knocking on it!
But the noise didn't cease. When a woman's voice was added to the annoying strokes, Kanda knew that he had no choice but to go to open the door, because that fucking harpy of a concierge would never leave him alone otherwise. Surely, she had come to complain again about the outstanding rent. Dammit.
"Fucking witch," Kanda railed to himself as he quickly slipped on his trousers and dragged his body towards the door, opening it at once.
He blinked his eyes several times to make sure to focus properly on the astonished face he found in front of him, and who was staring at him with eyes slightly wide-opened, her lips stopped at half of what she was saying and one hand still raised in the act of knocking.
"Ka-Kan...”
"Lenalee! What the hell are you doing here!" Kanda finally managed to utter, stunned to see her in front of his door. "Shouldn't you be at school?”
The girl gave another look at his disheveled appearance (she was not used to seeing him with his hair free on his shoulders), moving a hand to cover her mouth, and letting out an embarrassed giggle.
"There... You see... I've been thrown out from the dorm." Lenalee answered candidly, showing the suitcase she was carrying. "Can I stay here with you? Just until I find another arrangement, I promise!" She said with folded hands before Kanda could argue, noting that his forehead had immediately wrinkled in a frown.
"What will the neighbors say? And the fucking concierge will pester me like hell because I brought a woman in her house!" Kanda opened his arms in a very eloquent manner to emphasize his point of view on the matter. "Not to mention your idiot brother!”
"Oh, you know that my brother trusts you blindly." Lenalee gave him her best innocent and hopeful expression, which she knew the Japanese youth couldn't resist. "Please...”
Kanda sighed, stepping aside to let her in, and slamming the door behind himself. The fact that they grew up together made her the closest thing to a friend that he'd ever had, but this didn't give her the right to interfere in his life that way...
They had a good relationship, sure, but this didn't mean he could bear to live with her for as little or as much time that it could be... Oh, fuck!
She followed him obediently, parked her suitcase in the Japanese man's room and cast him another disarming smile: and Kanda knew then that he would be sleeping on the couch. That was definitely a bad start for the day.
He would have had to adapt his study to let the girl sleep there, and regain in doing so his room with his beloved privacy. But what irritated him the most in the whole fucking thing was that he had a more than precise idea about who the guilty party of his current troubles was. Ah, if he only could lay his hands on him!
"Does this have anything to do with that ridiculous albino midget who claims to work in the school's little newspaper, right?" Kanda spat out in a sharp tone, every word steeped with poison while leaving his mouth.
He then let the girl have a seat in the kitchen and began to prepare some tea for the both of them.
Lenalee put on a hurt expression, feeling cut to the quick by the young man's words. It was a fact that Allen wasn't that good of a reporter, but it wasn't needed to emphasize it in so brutal a way.
"Oh, don't say that! He was hired part-time in a real newspaper, the Daily Press!" She exclaimed whole-heartedly, trying to defend her supposed suitor against the accusations of ineptitude that hung over him.
"As a deliveryman, I bet." Kanda's face formed a pleased sneer as he saw his current apartment-mate's eyes going wide: he'd hit the mark, he thought triumphantly.
"Well, everyone has to begin somehow, right?" Lenalee retorted, pouting.
The Japanese man held back another cruel comment, filling their cups and handing one to the girl, then sitting in front of her. He brought the tea to his lips, sipping with satisfaction, when a sudden thought struck him.
"How on earth did you get in here?" He asked out of the blue. Kanda was 100% certain that the fucking harpy was always on the lookout in her post, and therefore something was surely wrong with it all. "With the suitcase too!”
"Oh, I said I'm your girlfriend, and that I'm moving in with you." The Chinese girl spoke those words in such a casual way, like it was the most obvious and natural thing in the world, that Kanda could not help but cast her a completely shocked look.
"You said... what?" The young man gasped, almost choking with the tea he was drinking. "Are you crazy?”
"Come on, there's no harm in it, it's only for appearances." She met the other's incredulous gaze with her disarming smile, and Kanda slumped his shoulders, defeated.
Lenalee kept smiling at him, her face radiant and her expression full of expectation. Now the damage was done, he just had to play along with the game. He sighed. And he couldn't even go back to sleep.
"Hey, Lavi!" Someone shouted over the sound of many fingers typing, lots of people talking, and other phones ringing. The red-haired youth turned, a donut in his mouth and a pen tucked behind his ear, casting a questioning look towards the one who had called him. "The old Bookman on line two! And he also seems to be very upset, if you ask me!”
Dammit, again! It was the fourth time in two days that the old man had called to complain about the trend of the newspaper, and he didn't really know what new excuse he could cook up.
He settled the eyepatch that covered his right eye, pulling the bandana with which he tried in vain to hold the rebel locks of his flaming red hair at bay a bit further down, and scratched his head thoughtfully.
What if he got the other reporter to say he wasn't in? No, it was too late by now, he had to answer and face Bookman's wrath.
After all, the newspaper was booming, if the old man didn't like how he ran it, he could also come to the office sometimes and do the job himself. He picked up the phone slowly, cautiously, and brought it with the same caution to his ear.
«Lavi! You, useless idiot!» Shouted the voice at the other end of the wire.
"Love you too, Grandpa." Said the young man, moving the receiver to a safe distance from his eardrum. A blind eye was more than enough; he wouldn't want to become deaf in one ear as well.
Lavi Bookman, 22 years old, nationality unknown. Adopted by Bookman Senior, the owner of the newspaper where he was working, was now in all respects American. Pluri-graduated already at his young age, the boy prodigy had to be the pride of his guardian and mentor. Instead, he actually was the man's despair.
The newspaper that had to be a serious and blameless masthead, under Lavi's direction was slowly turning into a paper of news, something the old Bookman considered to be the step before of becoming a squalid tabloid magazine.
But all the redhead's efforts to make his grandfather understand that he indeed had saved the newspaper from bankruptcy were useless. A newspaper just talking about history wasn't much of a choice in line with the market...
«I want you behind the discovery of these archaeological relics immediately, you hear me?» Bookman was nearly shouting at him. «And I want your article about it on my desk tomorrow morning!»
What else could he do? This time he had to yield, after all, that discovery had a certain importance, it would have turned out into a good article.
" 'Kay, 'kay, stop worryin' or you'll have a stroke, you ugly wizened geezer!" Said the redhead in a mocking tone. " 'M goin' there at once.”
«Lavi! Be respectful, you unworthy grandson!» Bookman protested, but Lavi had already closed the communication.
"Hey, Johnny!" He shouted at the little chap who called him to answer the phone just before, putting his camera over his shoulder. "I've t'go out for a report, fish out the albino, I need someone t'help me shootin' photos." The other nodded, and Lavi headed toward the entrance, waiting for his assistant to arrive.
Kanda drew out a sigh of relief when finally, three days after Lenalee's arrival in his house, he was able to regain possession of his beloved bed. He knew the girl wouldn't leave so soon, so he had had to share his study with her, and preferably indulging in his current primary hobby (after the training with his beloved katana, of course) without the girl around, or bringing his computer into his own room, since Lenalee had hers.
The important thing was that she'd never caught him writing; that would have cost him dear on pride terms.
But above all, Lenalee would have claimed immediately to read every fucking thing and then give her bloody opinion and meddling in his work, criticizing his choices and beginning to make suggestions everywhere. Not to mention that she would have tried, no doubt, convincing him to change the plot of his stories...
So no, she mustn't even suspect that his dream now was to become a writer, and that he was already sending his works from quite a long time to any publisher willing to examine the deeds of emerging authors... Not that there was something wrong in knowing it, no, but...
So far, every file he had sent was rejected by each and every publisher, and he didn't want that defeat to become public, it was too embarrassing for someone as proud as Kanda. It made him feel silly, and also, unsure of his true abilities, though he would never have admitted to it, ever.
However, he believed he had improved really a lot since he had started writing, and the last story he had just finished let him hope for the best. He was very confident about it. He had put all his efforts toward creating that crime story, thanks to his first-hand knowledge of the field.
Now he just had to send it to another publisher and wait. It was a minor publishing house this time, with a name so banal - Bookman Publishing - which until then he'd never considered among those to which send his writings; but now that he was almost to despair everything became an option.
It irritated him so much to admit it, but he really needed extra money, and selling one of his stories could help, even the small amount he would earn if it was accepted. He sighed, leaving the parcel containing the precious CD at the post office and hoping that his luck would turn this time.
Lenalee was really curious about why Kanda was so protective and mysterious about his computer. After all, now that he quit going to university he didn't need it as much, at best, he used it the most for his work, to type some report at home instead of doing it at the Police Precinct.
So why had he categorically forbidden her to touch it? The thing was suspect, and because of that, very, very interesting. If Kanda Yuu was hiding something, there was always a good reason behind it, which then made it absolutely important to discover. And Lenalee had excellent grades in computer science: she would hack the password.
One afternoon, when Kanda had the night shift, Lenalee decided to enter into action, knowing that she had the calmness of a whole night to try entering the Japanese man's computer. But to her great surprise, Kanda was more predictable than she'd dared to hope, and Lenalee got in after her first attempt.
The Japanese youth had used his sword's name, Mugen, as a password. Too obvious, Kanda-kun!, the girl thought, giggling complacently to herself as she began to rummage among her current co-tenant's files.
It didn't take long for her to locate the indicted folder. Kanda had made little effort to disguise it, and indeed, why should he? He lived alone... until shortly before, of course. Lenalee opened the first file, thinking it was a collection of hard core stories (or photos) Kanda was ashamed that she could find out.
Instead she gasped open mouthed ascertaining that she childhood friend, that same Kanda Yuu who had always shown himself cold and impatient towards everything, the stoic, callous, cynical Kanda Yuu she thought she knew like her pockets, was actually writing stories.
More, it was not a whim, all of them were meticulously cataloged, and there were reported all the publishers to whom he had sent them - and from which they were promptly rejected - with dates and notes. Her Kanda-kun wanted to become a writer! Now that really was shocking news.
She copied the folder's entire contents onto a USB pen and poured it into his laptop, then put all back as it was in Kanda's room: she would read everything calmly in the safety of her room.
From the beginning it was clear to her why the publishers had rejected all of Kanda's work: defining them just as banal was an euphemism. However hard he had engaged in it, his grammar gaps were more than evident, his outlines were too predictable, the characters were flat and not very developed, and the situations had no verve at all.
But the background was very accurate, thanks to the fact that the young man worked in the field, so the stories had potential, they just needed to be developed a little more...
So Lenalee decided she would lend him a hand, willingly or unwillingly. Thus, starting from the first story, she did her best to correct them all from head to foot, developing and adding that missing bite to the plot with her 'personal touch'.
Now she just had to wait for Kanda to decide to send something to another publisher, exchange the files, and the game was over.
She then began to keep an eye on him, very discreetly, taking particular care that her every action, every question, seemed completely random to the Japanese man. And Lenalee was damn skillful at looking innocent.
It soon became clear that Kanda was working on another story, and she simultaneously devoted herself to it while he was working at the Police Precinct.
She really admired the imagination that the youth just showed to possess and of which she would never have believed he was capable. He had always seemed so... material. Every emotion scrupulously kept under control, no dreams, no illusions.
Instead she was wrong, realized Lenalee in that very moment. Kanda dreamed. He hoped. And she would have helped him to fulfill his wish.
Two weeks later, Kanda seemed ready to ship the file. Lenalee could tell that from the time he spent at the computer when he wasn't in duty at the Precinct. And then the envelope had appeared, which was waiting for an address to be placed on it over the young man's desk.
The Chinese girl was also ready, and after the last check to Kanda's written text, she prepared her own CD, then set a trap for him, pretending to go to her class and instead lurking in a side street, waiting to follow him.
Kanda came out of the building shortly afterwards, looked around himself, and continued toward his goal absently.
Lenalee knew she had no hopes of following him without being discovered, but from the direction he took, she could guess to which Post Office Kanda was heading: she would get there before him.
Sitting in a bar in front of said Post Office, she watched the Japanese youth going inside it and waited patiently for him to come out and walk far enough away, before moving into action. She was going to put on a play worthy of an Oscar Award.
She entered the office pretending to be worried, wearing a slightly sullen little-face, and approached hesitantly to the man who was at the letters and parcels window, addressing him with a shy smile. He greeted her warmly, asking about what she needed.
"I made a big mess..." Confessed the girl, looking down and nervously rubbing the belt of her handbag. "But I'm not sure if you can help me..." She added next, looking the man in the face again, showing off her most innocent expression.
"What in the world could ever have happened to you, miss! Please tell me all about it, you'll see that we'll find a solution!" The man immediately offered, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.
Lenalee mentally congratulated with herself: she was already holding him in the palm of her hand.
"Oh, you see, I put the wrong CD into the envelope that my boss came to send this morning, and if he realizes it, I'll be in big trouble!" Bemoaned the girl, pretending to be desperate. "That man has no heart, he's capable of firing me right after." She added a fake sob for good measure to that revelation.
"Come on, don't do that, just describe your boss and the envelope to me, so I can manage find it and you will be able to exchange the content. You have the correct CD with you, right?" The employee took the box with all the letters he had accepted until that time, and put it on his legs.
Lenalee nodded, trying to suppress the triumphant flicker that threatened to light her eyes.
"Oh, my boss is a rather tall and thin youth, oriental features, long black hair gathered up..." The man interrupted her with a sharp gesture, shaking his head.
"That arrogant man is your boss? I bet that you're so scared, he's disarmingly rude." He picked up an envelope from the floor, handing it to the girl. "I decided to leave it here for a really long time, given the way in which he treated me, but if you're the one who has to lose out, miss, I can't let it happen.”
Lenalee had a hard time trying not to burst into laughter; she was pretty much sure it would have taken little for the postal clerk to identify Kanda, given his not exactly civil manners.
She looked at the envelope out of curiosity. Noah's Ark Publisher, stood out in large letters as recipient, so that was the publishing house that Kanda had chosen this time.
"Rather unknown," mused Lenalee. She opened the letter skillfully, replacing the contents with his precious work: she had included all of Kanda's stories, passing them off as a collection, since the main characters seemed to be the same for each one.
"Thanks, really, you saved my life!" Exclaimed the Chinese girl, showing off a dazzling smile. "You can trash it." She added, putting the other CD in her victim's hands. The clerk kept staring at her, hypnotized.
"You're welcome, miss. If I can be of help, I'm always ready." He followed the girl with his gaze as she left, and greeted her warmly.
"You are an idiot, Victor," called out a colleague from the seat beside him "Thank goodness you don't have a wife.”
Along the way back, Lenalee was almost jumping in joy. She congratulated herself extensively, her plan was perfectly successful, and she hoped to have good news soon. Now she could go to take her class with peace in her heart.
Kanda was anxious; it seemed like an eternity had passed since he sent out the file containing the new story, and yet he didn't receive any news. He didn't know whether to interpret it as good or bad sign. Luckily, Lenalee didn't seem to notice his nervousness, so she didn't start to torment him with her irritating apprehension.
Then, one afternoon, Lenalee came home from college, her face radiant with happiness, clutching in a hand an envelope that seemed to contain documents of some sort. Kanda had just woken up, he'd been on duty that night, and as always, it had been a really bad night.
"Kanda-kun! Look, you received a letter from a publisher! It must be important!" Called the girl right after opening the apartment's door. She handed the envelope to him, and Kanda blinked in disbelief, considering if he was still sleeping. It was a cover too large and heavy to contain the usual 'We are sorry, but it's not the kind of stories we are interested in'. He gazed at Lenalee with a puzzled look. "It was the concierge who gave it to me." Explained the Chinese girl, smiling. "Come on, open it! Aren't you curious to know what in the world they could want from you?”
Kanda was too surprised to put up a resistance; he slowly opened the envelope and pulled out the contents, starting to read the letter that accompanied the sheaf of papers. No, it was impossible! They had accepted his story! And those documents were his contract!
He read the letter quickly, then he started with the contract terms, and here his brow wrinkled. He didn't understand that much about bureaucracy and legal clauses...
The Japanese man sighed. Willy-nilly he should have had to ask for Lenalee's help, which now no longer seemed so terrible a thing to him, since it wasn't about a failure anymore, and he shouldn't necessarily tell her of the previous ones.
"Well, I... I write. Stories." Kanda admitted, imagining the girl's confusion in seeing him so shaken by the letter's content. "They say... they're buying it." The youth ended his speech, swallowing hard.
"Really? It's a wonderful thing, Kanda-kun!" Lenalee said, feigning surprise. "I never would've thought you'd like writing!" She smiled at him sympathetically. "Here, give it to me, I'm reading the contract. I'll be your manager!”
Oh no! I've created a monster... Kanda thought, but it was too late to pull back. And now the girl would pretend to read his stories...
So Kanda Yuu signed the contract with the Noah's Ark Publisher; and his book of short stories was published; and it quickly became a best seller. And Kanda couldn't quite understand how such a thing was possible.