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a1y_puffTitle: Bitter Cookies
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
a1y_puff
Fandom: D. Gray-Man
Pairing: DUH. Yullen Week anyone? :/
Genre: Humor, fluff aaannnd a little bit of angst.
Summary: Finding out Kanda suck at taking care of the sick is unsurprising. Finding out Kanda actually has a few mother-hen tendencies, on the other hand…
Word Count:~5900
Warning: AU. Possible OOC-ness.
Disclaimer: I do not own DGM :((
Beta:saphira112
A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry that this is so. LATE. Oh my god, my workload at the office has been killing me. And my beta was kind of busy, so this had taken longer to be beta'ed than what I had expected XD;; Anyway, whatever reasons I have, you probably don’t care, so here! Have the laaate fifth installment! I also want to thanks xforeverforgottenx on fanfiction.net for the idea I use as the opening part =)
Special thanks go toharmony283 and hakasha for giving me…ideas XDD. Couldn’t have finished this if not for you two! Title was given by harmony283 btw :)
Previous Parts: i. Ephemeral Summer | ii. Days Passing By | iii. What's Yours is Mine | iv. Strikes of Waves
- BITTER COOKIES -
Yullen Week, Day 5
Theme: Sacrifice
There was porn on the T.V. screen.
No, no, Allen did not watch it, nor had he been watching it. It was just—it flashed on the TV screen as soon as he turned it on. Allen suspected it might be Michael, since he had noticed the brunette watching something last night, though he didn’t know what.
Well. Now he knew.
Michael seemed to have left it halfway through the… 5th ‘track’ or so, when the man and woman were in the middle of—doing things. And now they were kissing each other senseless as their hands moved to—
The front door was opened and closed quietly, and before Allen could grapple with the remote to shut it off, Kanda was already walking there, frowns deepening at the not-so-quiet moaning sounds coming out of the T.V., and—
And then Kanda was there, frowning at the scene on the T.V., then back at Allen, who was only blushing because he knew how this looked to Kanda. “It was Michael,” Allen said defensively.
Kanda merely raised an eyebrow, before looking back to the T.V. screen with mild disdain, then back to Allen’s face. “Really, now?” he asked and then he—smirked.
Oh. Oh, Allen knew that face. Kanda was—messing with him, wasn’t he?
The moaning still continued from the telly, but Allen managed to control his blush and act like it was all cool. Even though on the TV screen, the man and the woman were Frenching quite soundly, tongues tangling and the frequent moans getting even louder.
Kanda looked slightly uncomfortable.
Allen smirked inwardly. “So,” he began casually, tilting his head to the T.V. direction, “You think that’s—doable?”
“What the fuck?”
“That,” Allen tilted his head, indicating the Frenching on TV, complete with the awkward position and wet, smooching sounds. “I wonder if they’d get a crick on the neck,” he rubbed his chin contemplatively, and it was fairly easy to keep his face flat with how many times he’d walked in on Cross back then.
Taking a glance at Kanda’s face, Allen hid a smirk as another frown was forming on his face. Oh yes, even if Kanda was putting on a stoic-annoyed face, Allen could catch the discomfort from the porn playing on T.V.
“Oh, and they’ve been at it for a long time now. Do you think their tongues are going to be sore? I mean, I don’t know about you but the last time we tried, I was—mmph!”
There Kanda went again, shutting him up with a kiss. He seemed to think that it was an effective way of shutting Allen up and—well. Kanda wasn’t exactly wrong. The next thing Allen knew, he was a little breathless and Kanda was frowning down at him.
“If you’re not watching it, turn it off,” Kanda tilted his head into the telly’s direction, before pulling away completely and—“…you’re kind of pale.”
“Huh? Well my skin is pale,” Allen waved him off. “Maybe it’s just the lighting.”
Kanda kept staring at him for a moment, before finally sighing. “Whatever,” he said and proceeded to walk away to their bedroom.
Well.
Allen mentally shrugged and turned off the video, fiddling with the remote to find something interesting on TV. He’d been cooped up in his room for practically the whole day, sleeping his day off after nearly not sleeping these past two days. He had wanted to just watch some T.V., since he thought he had stayed in his bedroom long enough.
Settling on a cartoon channel, Allen leaned back on the couch. Ever since he woke up, he had been feeling rather unwell. He’d woken up with heavy limbs, feeling a little warmer and a lot lazier than usual. He did feel a little lethargic, too, but Allen didn’t think much of it. Maybe a little bit of relaxing in front of the TV instead of staying cooped up would do some good.
It wasn’t long before he dozed off, the open window letting in the cool autumn breeze lulling him to sleep.
-o-O-o-
Allen woke up to an insistent poking on his shoulder, and he curled even more into himself. He was cold; he just wanted to go back to sleep and go somewhere warm on the Lala Land. But then he was tugged up, and Allen groaned. “Wha—?”
“The hell are you sleeping here with the window open?” he heard Kanda say, but Allen’s eyes refused to open. He felt himself being pulled up now. “You’ll catch a goddamn cold. Come on, get to your bed.”
Allen groaned again, muttering incomprehensible things, but he didn’t fight the hand dragging him back to his bedroom. His eyes felt like they were glued shut, and Allen was leaning heavily against Kanda. But as soon as they were in the room, Kanda dumped him on his bed. Before Allen could complain against it, though, his roommate had already thrown the covers messily over him, and since Allen was rather cold, it was too easy just to pull the blanket tighter over him and curl up.
Settling comfortably in his bed, wrapped in the warm, warm blanket, Allen soon drifted off to sleep.
-o-O-o-
The next time he woke up, it was to a pounding in his head. He had wanted to go back to sleep, but just as he was debating this, his alarm clock went off. With difficulties, Allen managed to drag himself up to a sitting position. Rubbing his face a few times, Allen finally opened his eyes, slowly, just in time with Kanda slipping into a new shirt, about to go to his class.
“…you okay?”
Allen shook his head a little, trying to get rid of the dizziness. If Kanda even bothered to ask him that, he must look pretty bad. “Yeah. Just—need to wake up a bit more,” he replied, placing a hand over his forehead.
Kanda frowned. “I have to go submit a project now,” he started, and Allen looked up at that. “Don’t go back to sleep.”
Somehow, it really made him want to smile. “Yes, mother,” he answered, waving a hand and grinning at Kanda even through the headache.
Kanda grumpily muttered something as he was putting things into his backpack, zipping it closed, before finally leaving the room.
Well.
Trying to muster his lost energy, Allen stumbled his way to the bathroom. Seriously, he hadn’t felt this sick in a long time. Did he exhaust himself? Pulling all-nighters for three days in a row and sleeping on the couch with the window open might be the cause.
Thankfully, he had no morning classes, but he had to meet Lenalee in two hours or so. Though now he felt like—wait, wait, not now, not—
Allen staggered as fast as he could to the bathroom, but before he could reach the toilet bowl, the bile in his throat rose up and he fell on his knees, vomiting violently onto the tiled floor.
He hacked a few more times, proceeding to empty what was left in his stomach until nothing was left to throw up.
Feeling drained, Allen’s body gave in and he was about to collapse. At the last minute, Allen managed to throw himself to the other direction of his vomit, so that now his upper body was lying on the rug in front of the bathroom.
His breathing was ragged, and Allen knew he had to—get up and clean, but his body felt so weak that he couldn’t really move. He didn’t even have it in him to be disgusted even when he felt the tip of his toes touch the vomit.
He had to get help. He had to—
In the midst of his clouded mind, Allen remembered that he had fallen asleep with his cell phone still in his pants pocket, so with some effort, he pulled it out. Forcing his eyes open, Allen fiddled with his phone, finding Kanda’s name in his contact list—because he was the only one Allen could think of right now.
The phone call was answered after the fifth ring. “What?” came the gruff response.
Allen opened his mouth to say something, but he gasped instead, and coughed a few times, before managing a small, “S’ry… Threw up…can’t move.”
A moment of silence, and then, “Where are you?”
If Allen was more aware, he might have noticed the quite-apparent worried tone, but as it was, Allen could barely keep himself coherent enough to talk. “Bathroom floor,” he gasped out, before going back to coughing.
“Fuck,” he heard Kanda swear, but before he could say anything to that, Kanda spoke again, “Okay. I’m coming now. Just—don’t pass out or something.”
“Thanks,” Allen mumbled into the phone, his eyebrows meeting in a frown due to the headache. He ended the phone call and—yes, Kanda told him not to pass out, but maybe… he could just close his eyes for a bit?
-o-O-o-
Allen didn’t know how long he’d been lying on the floor like that. All he knew was that he was feeling really cold and—there was the sound of the bedroom door being thrown open, and then there were footsteps coming closer.
He tried to force his eyes open, but the lids felt heavy and his head was pounding. Groaning in discomfort, he was a bit thankful when a cool hand was pressed against his heated forehead. He tried to say something, but it came out as incoherent mumble instead. And really? The tip of the rugs brushing his nose was getting uncomfortable.
There was a quiet curse, before that hand on his forehead was pulled back. Allen made a disappointed noise at that, but soon, he heard the water running. The next moment, he was being turned over and a wet cloth was pressed to his face, wiping his mouth and chin and—Allen forced his eyes open.
Kanda was looking right back at him. “Umm—s’ry, th’ floor… messmmff,” his disjointed sentence was cut off when the wet towel was wiped over his mouth again. Allen made a protesting noise.
“Shut the hell up,” Kanda simply said, finished with cleaning Allen’s face. Thankfully, there was no vomit on his shirt.
Putting Allen’s head back down to the floor, Kanda stood up again, and Allen kind of missed the warmth already. He blamed the cold floor.
A few moments later, Allen felt his right foot was lifted and wiped—oh right, it got vomit on it—and then he was maneuvered again. Hearing the sounds akin to someone mopping, Allen figured Kanda was probably cleaning up his mess. If he had been in a more coherent state he might've felt really bad about it, but right now he could only mumble something that may or may not be an apology, and a complaint about the floor being cold.
Kanda sighed then, putting away the cleaning utensils, even when he wasn’t finished cleaning. He washed his hands and dried them on the hand towel, before walking back to the bathroom door where Allen was sprawled halfway through and—lifted him up.
Allen was mumbling something again, though he might not know what he was saying. All he knew was that the cold, hard floor was no more, and there was warmth on his right side. So he turned his head and—buried his face in that source of warmth that just so happened to be Kanda’s chest.
“Don’t fucking nuzzle my—tch. Big baby.”
Said ‘big baby’ didn’t even bother to counter that, because his head was still pounding. He needed it to stop. Maybe if he could just fall asleep…
He felt himself dumped on the mattress, and Allen groaned in complain. Before he could even rant on Kanda about the concept of being gentle, the blanket was already thrown over him. Forcing his eyes open, Allen was welcomed by the sight of dark blue pillow cover and—when he turned his head, he noticed that—the blanket covering him was of a dark color instead of his fluffy, white one.
Oh. “But—this is your bed,” Allen mumbled in a rather hoarse voice, trying to focus his eyes on Kanda who was—messing with the cover until he was wrapped properly.
“Shut up,” Kanda said once he was done. “It’s closer. Now just sleep.” And with that said, Kanda walked back to the bathroom to continue cleaning.
Well. Allen was far too lethargic to—do anything, so he just curled up further under the blankets, snuggled the pillow. Before long, Allen fell asleep to Kanda’s scent surrounding him.
-o-O-o-
He was awoken by a thermometer being forced into his mouth.
Allen scowled and he really wanted to—gag or something, because its taste in his mouth really didn’t help him feel any better. “What the bloody—” Allen pulled it out, “Don’t shove it into my mouth, you—”
“What, you’d rather I stick that thing into your ass?” Allen gaped at that, but Kanda merely snorted. “Tch. Big baby.”
“M’not,” he retorted weakly, relenting and bearing with the discomfort of the thermometer inside his mouth when it really didn’t want to be intruded by anything. But he just leaned back against the pillow, watching the way Kanda sat on his bedside with crossed arms, staring at the contraption intently.
Not long after, the thermometer beeped, and Kanda pulled it out of Allen’s mouth, checking the temperature shown on the device. The way his roommate looked at it as if it had done him a personal offense didn’t bode well for Allen.
“Umm,” Allen started, but before he could ask, the digital thermometer was shoved in front of his face. 103.1 F. Well.
“The hell have you been doing anyway? Idiot.”
It kind of offended him, to be honest. Allen pouted. “It’s not like I wanted to get sick—”
Kanda was tugging him up, fussing with the pillow to prop him up on the bed before he could even complain. Then, there was a cup of hot tea held out in front of his nose. Allen blinked once, twice, and—“Drink,” came the command.
“Oh. Thanks,” Allen mumbled, slowly accepting the cup of tea with both hands and sipping it bit by bit. It was kind of bitter, but maybe it was his taste buds messing up due to the sickness. Or Kanda really just didn’t put any sugar in it.
He gulped the tea down with some difficulty, and he was just glad that he managed to keep it down.
“You need to take some meds,” Kanda started again, but it was more like he was talking to himself. “But you need to eat first. Yeah.”
“Umm. You don’t have to—”
“Shut the hell up,” Kanda cut him off before standing up and walked out of the room with a quiet click.
Well.
Sighing, Allen finished the rest of the tea and set the cup aside on Kanda’s desk by the bed before leaning back against the pillow. This position helped lessen the sick feeling somewhat, but he still felt like crap. And—right, he had an appointment with Lenalee soon, hadn’t he? At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to make it.
Allen found his phone lying on the desk. Kanda had probably picked it up when he’d brought Allen here earlier, because Allen didn’t remember putting his phone back into his pocket, but—whatever. He started composing a text message for Lenalee, letting her know of his condition and that they might have to cancel the appointment later. After sending it, Allen set his phone aside and shifted to get more comfortable to—doze off a bit.
It wasn’t long that Kanda was back with something that looked like some—soup? Porridge? A cross between the two? Allen didn’t dare ask, although he was really tempted, especially once Kanda shoved that bowl of—something—for him to—“Eat.”
Allen stared. “Umm.” Did he have to—eat it? “You don’t have to—”
“Bean sprout. Eat.”
Peering at the food hesitantly, the boy accepted the bowl and start spooning the—porridge-soup-whatever and brought it close to his mouth, blowing on it to get it a little cooler. Slowly, he took a bite of said food and—
Ugh.
Okay. So the taste was probably not that bad. Just—the texture was…weird and—and Kanda was getting impatient, so he took the bowl and the spoon from Allen’s hands and took it upon himself to—“Wait, what are you doing?”
Because Kanda was spooning the porridge-soup, filling half the surface and now that spoon was—nudging Allen’s lips.
“Eat,” Kanda growled instead.
Allen frowned at his roommate. “But I—” Once he had opened his mouth, the spoon was shoved inside, and he had no choice but to swallow it—since he didn’t even have to chew, but—he looked up at Kanda. “But I really don’t feel like eating.” And now he was pouting.
Maybe it was his taste buds, or maybe because he had just thrown up. But it was difficult to swallow, not to mention keep the food down. He managed it just now, but he wasn’t sure if he would—
Kanda was nudging another half-filled spoonful to his lips. This time, Allen wouldn’t budge, defiantly clamping his mouth shut and shaking his head lightly.
Kanda let out an exasperated sigh. “You never refuse food.”
Well. Allen did now. He shook his head again.
There was a low growl coming from Kanda, and Allen thought, uh-oh, because—usually, that never was a good sign.
Kanda put the bowl on his desk, but not the spoon. With his now-free hand, he grabbed Allen’s jaw, and Allen’s eyes widened in surprise. “Eat.” He pressed on Allen’s jaw, trying to force his mouth open while nudging the spoon to his lips and—
“Hey Allen, are you okay? You said you were—oh.”
Both boys turned their heads and—by the door that had just slammed open stood Lenalee. She was holding a paper bag in one hand while her other hand was in front of her mouth, forming a small ‘o’ and—she was staring at them. Them, being Kanda still holding Allen’s jaw and trying to feed Allen, while the sick boy had both hands on Kanda’s wrist, attempting to force the offending limb away.
Taking in the sight, Lenalee went, “Aaaawwwww…” Then, before neither of the boys had the time to react, she fished out her cell phone, and—click.
Silence.
“…what the fuck, woman?”
Allen groaned.
Kanda, though, took that opening to shove the food into Allen’s mouth and—Allen looked ready to gag. “Shit.”
Kanda immediately took the glass of water he’d prepared before and offered it to Allen, trying to make him drink it, but Allen gagged even more and—
“Oh here, you can’t give him water,” Lenalee cut in, hurrying to Allen’s side while fishing out a box of apple juice from the paper bag. She inserted the straw into the box and moved in between Allen and Kanda, holding the straw close to Allen’s lips. “Here, Allen, sip this.”
Managing to keep his food down, Allen leaned forward to take the straw between his lips and started sipping the apple juice. At least, his throat did not decide that it didn’t like it, so Allen was able to drink a lot of it.
“Th-thanks,” Allen whispered once he was done drinking, and he leaned back against the pillow.
Lenalee turned to Kanda, and seeing his confused face, she elaborated, “When he’s sick, Allen can’t take water. Give him apple juice—it’s easier for him to keep it down.” She put the juice box on the desk.
“By the way,” Allen glanced at his best friend, “Why are you here? And how did you get in?”
“Oh, well I thought since I was already in the area and you were apparently too sick to meet me, I thought I’d come visit you,” the girl explained, smiling. “And a guy opened the door for me. You know, brown hair, freckles—”
“Michael was here?” Allen perked up. If he was here, then Allen could have asked help from Michael instead of—he turned to Kanda. “Sorry…”
Kanda, though, only raised an eyebrow. “Why the fuck are you apologizing?” And before Allen could say anything, Kanda cut him off with a, “Tch. Whatever,” and looked away.
Well.
“By the way,” Lenalee began, turning to face Kanda now, and asked, “What did you try to make him eat?”
Kanda scowled, holding the bowl just a little protectively. “Food,” he answered simply.
“Very eloquent,” Allen remarked, feeling well enough to at least throw a sarcastic comment.
“Shut the hell up, bean sprout.”
Lenalee let out a giggle, and both boys quieted down. Turning to Kanda, she said, “Here, let me,” and she proceeded to take the bowl from Kanda’s hands. She brought it close to her nose, then stirred it with the spoon. “Hmm, it smells fine, just a little too—liquid.”
“None of your bus—”
“Kanda. Be nice,” Allen frowned, then seeing the darkening scowl, he added, “Please?” Kanda scowled, but he said nothing more, so Allen offered him a smile. “Oh, by the way, this is Lenalee Lee, my best friend,” Allen introduced her, then as an afterthought, he added, “The one who baked the cookies you stole.”
Kanda growled at the mention of The Incident, but Lenalee just giggled again. “Don’t worry, I brought you guys cookies this time, too. Enough for the both of you.”
It was almost funny, Allen thought, to see Kanda’s scowl falter even just a little. “Thank you, Lenalee,” Allen said instead. “This is Yuu Kanda, by the way.” Like Lenalee didn’t know that already.
“Oh, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Lenalee giggles, “Wow, you really do have beautiful hair.”
“What the f—”
“Umm. She really appreciates nice hair, Kanda,” Allen interjected, trying to convey the message via their eyes, telling Kanda to just shut up for once.
“Anyway,” the girl cut in again, “I see that Kanda here hadn’t been really successful in making you eat. So here, say ‘ah’.” Now Lenalee had the spoon in front of Allen’s mouth. What was with people trying to make him eat anyway?
“Umm, Lena, I really don’t feel like—“
“Al-len!” Oh, Allen hated it when Lena used that tone. And even though she was smiling, she looked quite—intimidating. “Say. Ah.”
Allen relented, not wanting to upset Lenalee, because—it wouldn’t end well. It really wouldn’t. So he opened his mouth, taking in the soup-porridge hybrid into his mouth and swallowing it obediently.
Not giving Allen too much chance to breathe and say he’d had enough, Lenalee was already nudging his lips with another spoonful, smiling that same smile that gave no room for argument. Allen opened his mouth reluctantly and accepted the food.
Every now and then, Lenalee would give him the apple juice to help him keep down the food, and—well. It had worked better than he’d expected.
That was, at least, until he noticed Kanda was—kinda sorta pacing restlessly, going from sitting down in his desk chair to walking across the room and fiddled with his art supplies, and finally, he loomed over Lenalee before snatching the bowl.
“This is my bed,” he started in a low growl. “I don’t want you people mess it up further than you already did.”
Allen blinked, and—oh right. This was Kanda’s bed. He wouldn’t want it to be dirty, right?
Lenalee, though, was blinking for another reason. “It’s his bed?” she asked Allen, and the boy nodded, then Lenalee turned to Kanda now, “So—you’d rather… do that yourself,” she indicates to the bowl in Kanda’s hands, and when Kanda merely scowled but not denying, Lenalee tapped her chin. “Hmmmmmmmmm…”
Oh, how Allen hated it when she hummed like that—like she knew something he didn’t, and the mirth in her eyes was too obvious to ignore. “What?”
“Nothing~” she replied in a sing-song voice, before standing up and backed away. “I’ll just—use your kitchen to make your meal for dinner later. And Kanda, you have to make sure he eats it, okay?” And with that, Lenalee left with a wink, leaving Kanda frowning and Allen groaning.
“Tch, whatever,” Kanda shrugged it off, fiddling with the cutlery before spooning the porridge and bringing it to Allen’s lips. This, time, Allen no longer bothered to argue, because—what was the point?
Though really, Kanda didn’t need to be that rough. Allen cringed when the metal spoon clashed against his teeth.
“Seriously,” he started once he’d swallowed, “You suck at this.”
“Shut up,” Kanda took another spoonful and shoved it into Allen’s not-so-waiting mouth, “At least I don’t suck enough to faint on the bathroom floor.”
“Hey, it’s not like I wanted to—mpff!” he quickly swallowed another spoon of the porridge, before scowling deeply at Kanda. “Did you want to make me choke or something?”
“Shut the hell up and eat. Just a little more,” Kanda replied, showing Allen the bowl and—indeed, it probably would only take two to three spoons.
“No need to be so rough,” Allen pouted, but he obediently opened his mouth when Kanda brought yet another spoon of the food. “Seriously, you should just kiss me.”
Kanda blinked. “Wha—?”
“That way,” Allen paused to take the food offered to his mouth and quickly swallowed, “I can transfer my virus and germs to you. Then I’ll get better, and you’ll get sick. But I promise to take care of you then. I can do it better than you anyway.”
Kanda snorted, spooned the last bit of the porridge and brought it up into Allen’s mouth. “Yeah, no thanks, no kiss until you get better. I’m not getting your germs. Fucking disgusting.”
The answer was—actually kind of expected from Kanda, but Allen couldn’t help feeling a little hurt. He didn’t want to dwell on it, though. So instead, he huffed and crossed his arms. “Meanie.”
A raised eyebrow was the response he got. “Really? ‘Meanie’? Are you twelve?” Kanda snorted again, setting the bowl aside on his desk and grabbed a tissue to wipe Allen’s mouth. The boy felt his heart skipped a beat, but he dismissed it as surprise.
“I’m not—”
“And you’re the one who wants to be kissed so you can transfer your fucking virus and get me sick. Now who’s the one being a ‘meanie?’”
Well. Allen couldn’t counter that. Nor could he say that he really just wanted to—be kissed…wait. Where did that come from? But before Allen could mull over it, Kanda was shoving the apple juice and his medicine in front of his nose.
“Take this and sleep. I’ll—go help your friend. Or something.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” Allen answered. Kanda grunted, but before he could walk away, Allen stopped him again, asking, “What about your project?”
Kanda turned his head, a confused frown on his face. “What?”
“Your project. You said this morning that you had to submit it soon, right? Did you make it or—” Or did Allen stop him on his way with a stupid phone call because he bloody fainted on the bathroom floor?
“It’s fine,” Kanda replied curtly and—and Allen just knew that—Kanda didn’t go submitting it because he was calling. He couldn’t help feeling really guilty for that.
Allen looked down, his hands fiddling with the blanket covering him up to his waist. “I’m sor—”
“I said it’s fine. I’ve talked to the professor. He said to submit it tomorrow morning, so...” Kanda shrugged at that, and then proceeded to grab the empty bowl. “Drink that,” Kanda looked pointedly at the medicine, before stalking out of the room, not even giving Allen a chance to say thanks.
-o-O-o-
Allen only realized he’d dozed off at some point, when his eyes fluttered open at the feel of a cool hand on his forehead. This time, the hand was slender, the fingers were slim. Just when he opened his eyes, the hand was pulled back, and he could hear voices—Lenalee?
He blinked his eyes opened, and once he was more aware of his surroundings, Allen could vaguely make out what was said—Lenalee giving instructions to Kanda on—feeding? What? Allen groaned a little, and it caught their attention.
“You’re awake?” came Lenalee’s gentle voice, and Allen could barely keep his eyes open long enough before they were closed again. His head felt—fuzzy? And it was like he was pulled back to sleep. He heard a chuckle, before Lenalee spoke again, “It’s okay, go back to sleep. I’ll be going now. And don’t worry, Kanda will take care of you.” A pause, and then, “Right, Kanda?”
“Shut up,” came the grunted response.
Allen mumbled something, trying to make it coherent but apparently failing, because Lenalee was giggling again. He heard footsteps coming closer and tried to force his eyes to open, but then there was, again, a hand on his face, this time bigger, stronger, and it was covering his eyes, forcing his eyelids close.
“Just go back to sleep, moron.”
This time, Allen didn’t need to be told twice.
-o-O-o-
By that night, after sleeping much longer than he felt he had for these past few days, Allen was feeling better enough. So when Kanda brought him the porridge Lenalee had made earlier that day, Allen could at least eat by himself. And it wasn’t as hard to keep the food down, although he still had to eat slowly instead of—inhaling his food, as Kanda would put it.
His fever had gone down too. His temperature was still warmer than normal, but it was far better now. Though he was still kind of lethargic, Allen was sure he could muster the few steps to get to his own bed, but for some reason, Kanda wasn’t kicking him out yet, and Allen was too lazy to move if he didn’t have to. Maybe, Kanda was—actually being really nice?
Or maybe not.
Because right now, Kanda was—munching on Lenalee’s cookies with a self-satisfied smirk, right in front of him! Kanda knew Allen couldn’t eat the cookies yet. His favorite sweets were, ironically, his enemy when he was sick like this.
And yet there Kanda was, eating the cookies right there, on his desk chair now placed by the bedside, as if to mock him.
“Don’t eat them all,” Allen managed through grit teeth because—yes, Lenalee had brought twice the amount she had given him last time, but still.
Kanda just raised an eyebrow, biting on another cookie and chewing with sound crunching noises. Damn.
“At least give me a taste,” Allen mumbled sulkily.
“No,” was the flat respond. “That Lee girl told me not to give you this until you’ve recovered. And I don’t need you gagging while you’re in my bed.”
And that was exactly what Allen was wondering about. Why hadn’t Kanda kicked him out and to his own bed? Or maybe Kanda just forgot there was such an option in the first place? Who knew, Kanda could be—dumb. Sometimes. “So I can throw up if it’s in my own bed?” he asked instead.
Kanda’s frown deepened. “No, I don’t fucking need germs in this room. I sleep here.”
There he went about germs again. “Never knew you were a health freak,” Allen commented, pouting still.
“Just shut the hell up and take your medicine,” Kanda simply responded, shoving the bottle of Allen’s medication in front of his nose.
Having no other choice—and he did want to get better—Allen obeyed, taking the pill even though it was bitter against his tongue. The taste of the pill nearly made him want to gag, but Kanda already held out the apple juice in front of his face. Allen took it gratefully and sipped.
“…I still want the cookies,” he said after a moment of (almost) peaceful silence. Kanda gave him a look, but Allen didn’t falter. “Just one bite? I just want a taste.”
“No.”
“Oh, come on! You’re not my mother or something, so why should you forbid me to eat cookies? And besides, at the rate you’re eating, God knows, they will all be gone when I’m not looking and—mmphhh?!”
And this, Allen thought, must be the shut-up kiss. Although he couldn’t help feeling a little perplexed, because—didn’t Kanda say no kiss until he was better? But right after he thought that, Kanda pulled away, and he was going back to munching the cookies.
“Wh-why?” Allen started, “I thought you didn’t want to kiss me?”
Kanda sighed at that, before turning to face Allen again. “It got you to shut up,” he shrugged. “And if you can start being annoying, then you’re well enough,” his roommate added with a snort.
Well. What a typical Kanda argument. “Then kiss me again,” Allen blurted out before he could help himself. It was—actually embarrassing, yes, no matter how much he tried to sound casual. “I could barely taste the cookies on your lips earlier,” he reasoned.
Kanda was looking at him funny though, and Allen nearly wanted to just—hide under the blankets right then. But then the jerk snorted and in a half-amused, half-mocking tone, he asked, “You like these cookies that much?”
Yes, Allen wanted to tell himself, but—he knew it wasn’t just that. He was—craving the kiss, again, and he could only blame it on the fever. He had to.
But when Kanda relented and leaned in, Allen decided to stop thinking, focusing instead on the feel of Kanda’s lips against his. He closed his eyes after a while, and poked his tongue out to sweep against the other’s lips, tasting the remnants of the sweets there. But then Kanda parted his lips, and he didn’t even bother fighting when Allen slipped his tongue inside, roaming around greedily to lick whatever crumbs of cookies were left in there—or that was what he’d like to think he was looking for. Not the taste of Kanda’s insides, or the warmth of his mouth, or—
Kanda pushed back then, probably feeling he’d given Allen enough leeway, so he was now fighting back—or he would have had to fight back if Allen didn’t simply retreat and let Kanda invade his mouth.
It was rather slow, and maybe a little sloppy, but Allen thought Kanda was trying not to be—as rough as he usually did. Allen tilted his head trying to give more access, and unconsciously, his arms reached up clutch at Kanda’s back, pulling him closer and—
They fell back on the bed with a yelp and a swearword, effectively breaking the kiss and leaving Allen blinking up at Kanda, who was—kinda-sorta unintentionally pinning him down to the bed.
Well. This was awkward.
Kanda pulled away as soon as he’d snapped out of it, and Allen didn’t even get to say sorry before Kanda was off the bed. “Just—go rest for now. The meds should be working soon.”
“Umm—yeah. I’ll just—go back to my bed,” he mumbled, not looking up at Kanda and went straight to his bed. Once there, he fiddled with his blanket, pulling it up to his shoulders before turning to his side to face the wall, because—
“G’night, Kanda.”
“Night.”
—because his face felt too warm that he was sure he couldn’t blame on the fever. His heart was beating a little too fast for his liking, and his lips were still tingling.
Although—maybe it was his taste buds messing up due to his sickness, or maybe it was because he had to keep reminding himself that—that it meant nothing, but…
The kiss left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.
~NeverEnding~
Thank you for reading so far! I hope you enjoyed it. Comments are much loved and will motivate me to write the next part—which I haven’t written XD; but yeah, feel free to poke me via comments and let me know what you think so far? :’D
Author:
a1y_puffFandom: D. Gray-Man
Pairing: DUH. Yullen Week anyone? :/
Genre: Humor, fluff aaannnd a little bit of angst.
Summary: Finding out Kanda suck at taking care of the sick is unsurprising. Finding out Kanda actually has a few mother-hen tendencies, on the other hand…
Word Count:~5900
Warning: AU. Possible OOC-ness.
Disclaimer: I do not own DGM :((
Beta:
saphira112A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry that this is so. LATE. Oh my god, my workload at the office has been killing me. And my beta was kind of busy, so this had taken longer to be beta'ed than what I had expected XD;; Anyway, whatever reasons I have, you probably don’t care, so here! Have the laaate fifth installment! I also want to thanks xforeverforgottenx on fanfiction.net for the idea I use as the opening part =)
Special thanks go to
harmony283 and hakasha for giving me…ideas XDD. Couldn’t have finished this if not for you two! Title was given by harmony283 btw :)Previous Parts: i. Ephemeral Summer | ii. Days Passing By | iii. What's Yours is Mine | iv. Strikes of Waves
Yullen Week, Day 5
Theme: Sacrifice
There was porn on the T.V. screen.
No, no, Allen did not watch it, nor had he been watching it. It was just—it flashed on the TV screen as soon as he turned it on. Allen suspected it might be Michael, since he had noticed the brunette watching something last night, though he didn’t know what.
Well. Now he knew.
Michael seemed to have left it halfway through the… 5th ‘track’ or so, when the man and woman were in the middle of—doing things. And now they were kissing each other senseless as their hands moved to—
The front door was opened and closed quietly, and before Allen could grapple with the remote to shut it off, Kanda was already walking there, frowns deepening at the not-so-quiet moaning sounds coming out of the T.V., and—
And then Kanda was there, frowning at the scene on the T.V., then back at Allen, who was only blushing because he knew how this looked to Kanda. “It was Michael,” Allen said defensively.
Kanda merely raised an eyebrow, before looking back to the T.V. screen with mild disdain, then back to Allen’s face. “Really, now?” he asked and then he—smirked.
Oh. Oh, Allen knew that face. Kanda was—messing with him, wasn’t he?
The moaning still continued from the telly, but Allen managed to control his blush and act like it was all cool. Even though on the TV screen, the man and the woman were Frenching quite soundly, tongues tangling and the frequent moans getting even louder.
Kanda looked slightly uncomfortable.
Allen smirked inwardly. “So,” he began casually, tilting his head to the T.V. direction, “You think that’s—doable?”
“What the fuck?”
“That,” Allen tilted his head, indicating the Frenching on TV, complete with the awkward position and wet, smooching sounds. “I wonder if they’d get a crick on the neck,” he rubbed his chin contemplatively, and it was fairly easy to keep his face flat with how many times he’d walked in on Cross back then.
Taking a glance at Kanda’s face, Allen hid a smirk as another frown was forming on his face. Oh yes, even if Kanda was putting on a stoic-annoyed face, Allen could catch the discomfort from the porn playing on T.V.
“Oh, and they’ve been at it for a long time now. Do you think their tongues are going to be sore? I mean, I don’t know about you but the last time we tried, I was—mmph!”
There Kanda went again, shutting him up with a kiss. He seemed to think that it was an effective way of shutting Allen up and—well. Kanda wasn’t exactly wrong. The next thing Allen knew, he was a little breathless and Kanda was frowning down at him.
“If you’re not watching it, turn it off,” Kanda tilted his head into the telly’s direction, before pulling away completely and—“…you’re kind of pale.”
“Huh? Well my skin is pale,” Allen waved him off. “Maybe it’s just the lighting.”
Kanda kept staring at him for a moment, before finally sighing. “Whatever,” he said and proceeded to walk away to their bedroom.
Well.
Allen mentally shrugged and turned off the video, fiddling with the remote to find something interesting on TV. He’d been cooped up in his room for practically the whole day, sleeping his day off after nearly not sleeping these past two days. He had wanted to just watch some T.V., since he thought he had stayed in his bedroom long enough.
Settling on a cartoon channel, Allen leaned back on the couch. Ever since he woke up, he had been feeling rather unwell. He’d woken up with heavy limbs, feeling a little warmer and a lot lazier than usual. He did feel a little lethargic, too, but Allen didn’t think much of it. Maybe a little bit of relaxing in front of the TV instead of staying cooped up would do some good.
It wasn’t long before he dozed off, the open window letting in the cool autumn breeze lulling him to sleep.
Allen woke up to an insistent poking on his shoulder, and he curled even more into himself. He was cold; he just wanted to go back to sleep and go somewhere warm on the Lala Land. But then he was tugged up, and Allen groaned. “Wha—?”
“The hell are you sleeping here with the window open?” he heard Kanda say, but Allen’s eyes refused to open. He felt himself being pulled up now. “You’ll catch a goddamn cold. Come on, get to your bed.”
Allen groaned again, muttering incomprehensible things, but he didn’t fight the hand dragging him back to his bedroom. His eyes felt like they were glued shut, and Allen was leaning heavily against Kanda. But as soon as they were in the room, Kanda dumped him on his bed. Before Allen could complain against it, though, his roommate had already thrown the covers messily over him, and since Allen was rather cold, it was too easy just to pull the blanket tighter over him and curl up.
Settling comfortably in his bed, wrapped in the warm, warm blanket, Allen soon drifted off to sleep.
The next time he woke up, it was to a pounding in his head. He had wanted to go back to sleep, but just as he was debating this, his alarm clock went off. With difficulties, Allen managed to drag himself up to a sitting position. Rubbing his face a few times, Allen finally opened his eyes, slowly, just in time with Kanda slipping into a new shirt, about to go to his class.
“…you okay?”
Allen shook his head a little, trying to get rid of the dizziness. If Kanda even bothered to ask him that, he must look pretty bad. “Yeah. Just—need to wake up a bit more,” he replied, placing a hand over his forehead.
Kanda frowned. “I have to go submit a project now,” he started, and Allen looked up at that. “Don’t go back to sleep.”
Somehow, it really made him want to smile. “Yes, mother,” he answered, waving a hand and grinning at Kanda even through the headache.
Kanda grumpily muttered something as he was putting things into his backpack, zipping it closed, before finally leaving the room.
Well.
Trying to muster his lost energy, Allen stumbled his way to the bathroom. Seriously, he hadn’t felt this sick in a long time. Did he exhaust himself? Pulling all-nighters for three days in a row and sleeping on the couch with the window open might be the cause.
Thankfully, he had no morning classes, but he had to meet Lenalee in two hours or so. Though now he felt like—wait, wait, not now, not—
Allen staggered as fast as he could to the bathroom, but before he could reach the toilet bowl, the bile in his throat rose up and he fell on his knees, vomiting violently onto the tiled floor.
He hacked a few more times, proceeding to empty what was left in his stomach until nothing was left to throw up.
Feeling drained, Allen’s body gave in and he was about to collapse. At the last minute, Allen managed to throw himself to the other direction of his vomit, so that now his upper body was lying on the rug in front of the bathroom.
His breathing was ragged, and Allen knew he had to—get up and clean, but his body felt so weak that he couldn’t really move. He didn’t even have it in him to be disgusted even when he felt the tip of his toes touch the vomit.
He had to get help. He had to—
In the midst of his clouded mind, Allen remembered that he had fallen asleep with his cell phone still in his pants pocket, so with some effort, he pulled it out. Forcing his eyes open, Allen fiddled with his phone, finding Kanda’s name in his contact list—because he was the only one Allen could think of right now.
The phone call was answered after the fifth ring. “What?” came the gruff response.
Allen opened his mouth to say something, but he gasped instead, and coughed a few times, before managing a small, “S’ry… Threw up…can’t move.”
A moment of silence, and then, “Where are you?”
If Allen was more aware, he might have noticed the quite-apparent worried tone, but as it was, Allen could barely keep himself coherent enough to talk. “Bathroom floor,” he gasped out, before going back to coughing.
“Fuck,” he heard Kanda swear, but before he could say anything to that, Kanda spoke again, “Okay. I’m coming now. Just—don’t pass out or something.”
“Thanks,” Allen mumbled into the phone, his eyebrows meeting in a frown due to the headache. He ended the phone call and—yes, Kanda told him not to pass out, but maybe… he could just close his eyes for a bit?
Allen didn’t know how long he’d been lying on the floor like that. All he knew was that he was feeling really cold and—there was the sound of the bedroom door being thrown open, and then there were footsteps coming closer.
He tried to force his eyes open, but the lids felt heavy and his head was pounding. Groaning in discomfort, he was a bit thankful when a cool hand was pressed against his heated forehead. He tried to say something, but it came out as incoherent mumble instead. And really? The tip of the rugs brushing his nose was getting uncomfortable.
There was a quiet curse, before that hand on his forehead was pulled back. Allen made a disappointed noise at that, but soon, he heard the water running. The next moment, he was being turned over and a wet cloth was pressed to his face, wiping his mouth and chin and—Allen forced his eyes open.
Kanda was looking right back at him. “Umm—s’ry, th’ floor… messmmff,” his disjointed sentence was cut off when the wet towel was wiped over his mouth again. Allen made a protesting noise.
“Shut the hell up,” Kanda simply said, finished with cleaning Allen’s face. Thankfully, there was no vomit on his shirt.
Putting Allen’s head back down to the floor, Kanda stood up again, and Allen kind of missed the warmth already. He blamed the cold floor.
A few moments later, Allen felt his right foot was lifted and wiped—oh right, it got vomit on it—and then he was maneuvered again. Hearing the sounds akin to someone mopping, Allen figured Kanda was probably cleaning up his mess. If he had been in a more coherent state he might've felt really bad about it, but right now he could only mumble something that may or may not be an apology, and a complaint about the floor being cold.
Kanda sighed then, putting away the cleaning utensils, even when he wasn’t finished cleaning. He washed his hands and dried them on the hand towel, before walking back to the bathroom door where Allen was sprawled halfway through and—lifted him up.
Allen was mumbling something again, though he might not know what he was saying. All he knew was that the cold, hard floor was no more, and there was warmth on his right side. So he turned his head and—buried his face in that source of warmth that just so happened to be Kanda’s chest.
“Don’t fucking nuzzle my—tch. Big baby.”
Said ‘big baby’ didn’t even bother to counter that, because his head was still pounding. He needed it to stop. Maybe if he could just fall asleep…
He felt himself dumped on the mattress, and Allen groaned in complain. Before he could even rant on Kanda about the concept of being gentle, the blanket was already thrown over him. Forcing his eyes open, Allen was welcomed by the sight of dark blue pillow cover and—when he turned his head, he noticed that—the blanket covering him was of a dark color instead of his fluffy, white one.
Oh. “But—this is your bed,” Allen mumbled in a rather hoarse voice, trying to focus his eyes on Kanda who was—messing with the cover until he was wrapped properly.
“Shut up,” Kanda said once he was done. “It’s closer. Now just sleep.” And with that said, Kanda walked back to the bathroom to continue cleaning.
Well. Allen was far too lethargic to—do anything, so he just curled up further under the blankets, snuggled the pillow. Before long, Allen fell asleep to Kanda’s scent surrounding him.
He was awoken by a thermometer being forced into his mouth.
Allen scowled and he really wanted to—gag or something, because its taste in his mouth really didn’t help him feel any better. “What the bloody—” Allen pulled it out, “Don’t shove it into my mouth, you—”
“What, you’d rather I stick that thing into your ass?” Allen gaped at that, but Kanda merely snorted. “Tch. Big baby.”
“M’not,” he retorted weakly, relenting and bearing with the discomfort of the thermometer inside his mouth when it really didn’t want to be intruded by anything. But he just leaned back against the pillow, watching the way Kanda sat on his bedside with crossed arms, staring at the contraption intently.
Not long after, the thermometer beeped, and Kanda pulled it out of Allen’s mouth, checking the temperature shown on the device. The way his roommate looked at it as if it had done him a personal offense didn’t bode well for Allen.
“Umm,” Allen started, but before he could ask, the digital thermometer was shoved in front of his face. 103.1 F. Well.
“The hell have you been doing anyway? Idiot.”
It kind of offended him, to be honest. Allen pouted. “It’s not like I wanted to get sick—”
Kanda was tugging him up, fussing with the pillow to prop him up on the bed before he could even complain. Then, there was a cup of hot tea held out in front of his nose. Allen blinked once, twice, and—“Drink,” came the command.
“Oh. Thanks,” Allen mumbled, slowly accepting the cup of tea with both hands and sipping it bit by bit. It was kind of bitter, but maybe it was his taste buds messing up due to the sickness. Or Kanda really just didn’t put any sugar in it.
He gulped the tea down with some difficulty, and he was just glad that he managed to keep it down.
“You need to take some meds,” Kanda started again, but it was more like he was talking to himself. “But you need to eat first. Yeah.”
“Umm. You don’t have to—”
“Shut the hell up,” Kanda cut him off before standing up and walked out of the room with a quiet click.
Well.
Sighing, Allen finished the rest of the tea and set the cup aside on Kanda’s desk by the bed before leaning back against the pillow. This position helped lessen the sick feeling somewhat, but he still felt like crap. And—right, he had an appointment with Lenalee soon, hadn’t he? At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to make it.
Allen found his phone lying on the desk. Kanda had probably picked it up when he’d brought Allen here earlier, because Allen didn’t remember putting his phone back into his pocket, but—whatever. He started composing a text message for Lenalee, letting her know of his condition and that they might have to cancel the appointment later. After sending it, Allen set his phone aside and shifted to get more comfortable to—doze off a bit.
It wasn’t long that Kanda was back with something that looked like some—soup? Porridge? A cross between the two? Allen didn’t dare ask, although he was really tempted, especially once Kanda shoved that bowl of—something—for him to—“Eat.”
Allen stared. “Umm.” Did he have to—eat it? “You don’t have to—”
“Bean sprout. Eat.”
Peering at the food hesitantly, the boy accepted the bowl and start spooning the—porridge-soup-whatever and brought it close to his mouth, blowing on it to get it a little cooler. Slowly, he took a bite of said food and—
Ugh.
Okay. So the taste was probably not that bad. Just—the texture was…weird and—and Kanda was getting impatient, so he took the bowl and the spoon from Allen’s hands and took it upon himself to—“Wait, what are you doing?”
Because Kanda was spooning the porridge-soup, filling half the surface and now that spoon was—nudging Allen’s lips.
“Eat,” Kanda growled instead.
Allen frowned at his roommate. “But I—” Once he had opened his mouth, the spoon was shoved inside, and he had no choice but to swallow it—since he didn’t even have to chew, but—he looked up at Kanda. “But I really don’t feel like eating.” And now he was pouting.
Maybe it was his taste buds, or maybe because he had just thrown up. But it was difficult to swallow, not to mention keep the food down. He managed it just now, but he wasn’t sure if he would—
Kanda was nudging another half-filled spoonful to his lips. This time, Allen wouldn’t budge, defiantly clamping his mouth shut and shaking his head lightly.
Kanda let out an exasperated sigh. “You never refuse food.”
Well. Allen did now. He shook his head again.
There was a low growl coming from Kanda, and Allen thought, uh-oh, because—usually, that never was a good sign.
Kanda put the bowl on his desk, but not the spoon. With his now-free hand, he grabbed Allen’s jaw, and Allen’s eyes widened in surprise. “Eat.” He pressed on Allen’s jaw, trying to force his mouth open while nudging the spoon to his lips and—
“Hey Allen, are you okay? You said you were—oh.”
Both boys turned their heads and—by the door that had just slammed open stood Lenalee. She was holding a paper bag in one hand while her other hand was in front of her mouth, forming a small ‘o’ and—she was staring at them. Them, being Kanda still holding Allen’s jaw and trying to feed Allen, while the sick boy had both hands on Kanda’s wrist, attempting to force the offending limb away.
Taking in the sight, Lenalee went, “Aaaawwwww…” Then, before neither of the boys had the time to react, she fished out her cell phone, and—click.
Silence.
“…what the fuck, woman?”
Allen groaned.
Kanda, though, took that opening to shove the food into Allen’s mouth and—Allen looked ready to gag. “Shit.”
Kanda immediately took the glass of water he’d prepared before and offered it to Allen, trying to make him drink it, but Allen gagged even more and—
“Oh here, you can’t give him water,” Lenalee cut in, hurrying to Allen’s side while fishing out a box of apple juice from the paper bag. She inserted the straw into the box and moved in between Allen and Kanda, holding the straw close to Allen’s lips. “Here, Allen, sip this.”
Managing to keep his food down, Allen leaned forward to take the straw between his lips and started sipping the apple juice. At least, his throat did not decide that it didn’t like it, so Allen was able to drink a lot of it.
“Th-thanks,” Allen whispered once he was done drinking, and he leaned back against the pillow.
Lenalee turned to Kanda, and seeing his confused face, she elaborated, “When he’s sick, Allen can’t take water. Give him apple juice—it’s easier for him to keep it down.” She put the juice box on the desk.
“By the way,” Allen glanced at his best friend, “Why are you here? And how did you get in?”
“Oh, well I thought since I was already in the area and you were apparently too sick to meet me, I thought I’d come visit you,” the girl explained, smiling. “And a guy opened the door for me. You know, brown hair, freckles—”
“Michael was here?” Allen perked up. If he was here, then Allen could have asked help from Michael instead of—he turned to Kanda. “Sorry…”
Kanda, though, only raised an eyebrow. “Why the fuck are you apologizing?” And before Allen could say anything, Kanda cut him off with a, “Tch. Whatever,” and looked away.
Well.
“By the way,” Lenalee began, turning to face Kanda now, and asked, “What did you try to make him eat?”
Kanda scowled, holding the bowl just a little protectively. “Food,” he answered simply.
“Very eloquent,” Allen remarked, feeling well enough to at least throw a sarcastic comment.
“Shut the hell up, bean sprout.”
Lenalee let out a giggle, and both boys quieted down. Turning to Kanda, she said, “Here, let me,” and she proceeded to take the bowl from Kanda’s hands. She brought it close to her nose, then stirred it with the spoon. “Hmm, it smells fine, just a little too—liquid.”
“None of your bus—”
“Kanda. Be nice,” Allen frowned, then seeing the darkening scowl, he added, “Please?” Kanda scowled, but he said nothing more, so Allen offered him a smile. “Oh, by the way, this is Lenalee Lee, my best friend,” Allen introduced her, then as an afterthought, he added, “The one who baked the cookies you stole.”
Kanda growled at the mention of The Incident, but Lenalee just giggled again. “Don’t worry, I brought you guys cookies this time, too. Enough for the both of you.”
It was almost funny, Allen thought, to see Kanda’s scowl falter even just a little. “Thank you, Lenalee,” Allen said instead. “This is Yuu Kanda, by the way.” Like Lenalee didn’t know that already.
“Oh, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Lenalee giggles, “Wow, you really do have beautiful hair.”
“What the f—”
“Umm. She really appreciates nice hair, Kanda,” Allen interjected, trying to convey the message via their eyes, telling Kanda to just shut up for once.
“Anyway,” the girl cut in again, “I see that Kanda here hadn’t been really successful in making you eat. So here, say ‘ah’.” Now Lenalee had the spoon in front of Allen’s mouth. What was with people trying to make him eat anyway?
“Umm, Lena, I really don’t feel like—“
“Al-len!” Oh, Allen hated it when Lena used that tone. And even though she was smiling, she looked quite—intimidating. “Say. Ah.”
Allen relented, not wanting to upset Lenalee, because—it wouldn’t end well. It really wouldn’t. So he opened his mouth, taking in the soup-porridge hybrid into his mouth and swallowing it obediently.
Not giving Allen too much chance to breathe and say he’d had enough, Lenalee was already nudging his lips with another spoonful, smiling that same smile that gave no room for argument. Allen opened his mouth reluctantly and accepted the food.
Every now and then, Lenalee would give him the apple juice to help him keep down the food, and—well. It had worked better than he’d expected.
That was, at least, until he noticed Kanda was—kinda sorta pacing restlessly, going from sitting down in his desk chair to walking across the room and fiddled with his art supplies, and finally, he loomed over Lenalee before snatching the bowl.
“This is my bed,” he started in a low growl. “I don’t want you people mess it up further than you already did.”
Allen blinked, and—oh right. This was Kanda’s bed. He wouldn’t want it to be dirty, right?
Lenalee, though, was blinking for another reason. “It’s his bed?” she asked Allen, and the boy nodded, then Lenalee turned to Kanda now, “So—you’d rather… do that yourself,” she indicates to the bowl in Kanda’s hands, and when Kanda merely scowled but not denying, Lenalee tapped her chin. “Hmmmmmmmmm…”
Oh, how Allen hated it when she hummed like that—like she knew something he didn’t, and the mirth in her eyes was too obvious to ignore. “What?”
“Nothing~” she replied in a sing-song voice, before standing up and backed away. “I’ll just—use your kitchen to make your meal for dinner later. And Kanda, you have to make sure he eats it, okay?” And with that, Lenalee left with a wink, leaving Kanda frowning and Allen groaning.
“Tch, whatever,” Kanda shrugged it off, fiddling with the cutlery before spooning the porridge and bringing it to Allen’s lips. This, time, Allen no longer bothered to argue, because—what was the point?
Though really, Kanda didn’t need to be that rough. Allen cringed when the metal spoon clashed against his teeth.
“Seriously,” he started once he’d swallowed, “You suck at this.”
“Shut up,” Kanda took another spoonful and shoved it into Allen’s not-so-waiting mouth, “At least I don’t suck enough to faint on the bathroom floor.”
“Hey, it’s not like I wanted to—mpff!” he quickly swallowed another spoon of the porridge, before scowling deeply at Kanda. “Did you want to make me choke or something?”
“Shut the hell up and eat. Just a little more,” Kanda replied, showing Allen the bowl and—indeed, it probably would only take two to three spoons.
“No need to be so rough,” Allen pouted, but he obediently opened his mouth when Kanda brought yet another spoon of the food. “Seriously, you should just kiss me.”
Kanda blinked. “Wha—?”
“That way,” Allen paused to take the food offered to his mouth and quickly swallowed, “I can transfer my virus and germs to you. Then I’ll get better, and you’ll get sick. But I promise to take care of you then. I can do it better than you anyway.”
Kanda snorted, spooned the last bit of the porridge and brought it up into Allen’s mouth. “Yeah, no thanks, no kiss until you get better. I’m not getting your germs. Fucking disgusting.”
The answer was—actually kind of expected from Kanda, but Allen couldn’t help feeling a little hurt. He didn’t want to dwell on it, though. So instead, he huffed and crossed his arms. “Meanie.”
A raised eyebrow was the response he got. “Really? ‘Meanie’? Are you twelve?” Kanda snorted again, setting the bowl aside on his desk and grabbed a tissue to wipe Allen’s mouth. The boy felt his heart skipped a beat, but he dismissed it as surprise.
“I’m not—”
“And you’re the one who wants to be kissed so you can transfer your fucking virus and get me sick. Now who’s the one being a ‘meanie?’”
Well. Allen couldn’t counter that. Nor could he say that he really just wanted to—be kissed…wait. Where did that come from? But before Allen could mull over it, Kanda was shoving the apple juice and his medicine in front of his nose.
“Take this and sleep. I’ll—go help your friend. Or something.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” Allen answered. Kanda grunted, but before he could walk away, Allen stopped him again, asking, “What about your project?”
Kanda turned his head, a confused frown on his face. “What?”
“Your project. You said this morning that you had to submit it soon, right? Did you make it or—” Or did Allen stop him on his way with a stupid phone call because he bloody fainted on the bathroom floor?
“It’s fine,” Kanda replied curtly and—and Allen just knew that—Kanda didn’t go submitting it because he was calling. He couldn’t help feeling really guilty for that.
Allen looked down, his hands fiddling with the blanket covering him up to his waist. “I’m sor—”
“I said it’s fine. I’ve talked to the professor. He said to submit it tomorrow morning, so...” Kanda shrugged at that, and then proceeded to grab the empty bowl. “Drink that,” Kanda looked pointedly at the medicine, before stalking out of the room, not even giving Allen a chance to say thanks.
Allen only realized he’d dozed off at some point, when his eyes fluttered open at the feel of a cool hand on his forehead. This time, the hand was slender, the fingers were slim. Just when he opened his eyes, the hand was pulled back, and he could hear voices—Lenalee?
He blinked his eyes opened, and once he was more aware of his surroundings, Allen could vaguely make out what was said—Lenalee giving instructions to Kanda on—feeding? What? Allen groaned a little, and it caught their attention.
“You’re awake?” came Lenalee’s gentle voice, and Allen could barely keep his eyes open long enough before they were closed again. His head felt—fuzzy? And it was like he was pulled back to sleep. He heard a chuckle, before Lenalee spoke again, “It’s okay, go back to sleep. I’ll be going now. And don’t worry, Kanda will take care of you.” A pause, and then, “Right, Kanda?”
“Shut up,” came the grunted response.
Allen mumbled something, trying to make it coherent but apparently failing, because Lenalee was giggling again. He heard footsteps coming closer and tried to force his eyes to open, but then there was, again, a hand on his face, this time bigger, stronger, and it was covering his eyes, forcing his eyelids close.
“Just go back to sleep, moron.”
This time, Allen didn’t need to be told twice.
His fever had gone down too. His temperature was still warmer than normal, but it was far better now. Though he was still kind of lethargic, Allen was sure he could muster the few steps to get to his own bed, but for some reason, Kanda wasn’t kicking him out yet, and Allen was too lazy to move if he didn’t have to. Maybe, Kanda was—actually being really nice?
Or maybe not.
Because right now, Kanda was—munching on Lenalee’s cookies with a self-satisfied smirk, right in front of him! Kanda knew Allen couldn’t eat the cookies yet. His favorite sweets were, ironically, his enemy when he was sick like this.
And yet there Kanda was, eating the cookies right there, on his desk chair now placed by the bedside, as if to mock him.
“Don’t eat them all,” Allen managed through grit teeth because—yes, Lenalee had brought twice the amount she had given him last time, but still.
Kanda just raised an eyebrow, biting on another cookie and chewing with sound crunching noises. Damn.
“At least give me a taste,” Allen mumbled sulkily.
“No,” was the flat respond. “That Lee girl told me not to give you this until you’ve recovered. And I don’t need you gagging while you’re in my bed.”
And that was exactly what Allen was wondering about. Why hadn’t Kanda kicked him out and to his own bed? Or maybe Kanda just forgot there was such an option in the first place? Who knew, Kanda could be—dumb. Sometimes. “So I can throw up if it’s in my own bed?” he asked instead.
Kanda’s frown deepened. “No, I don’t fucking need germs in this room. I sleep here.”
There he went about germs again. “Never knew you were a health freak,” Allen commented, pouting still.
“Just shut the hell up and take your medicine,” Kanda simply responded, shoving the bottle of Allen’s medication in front of his nose.
Having no other choice—and he did want to get better—Allen obeyed, taking the pill even though it was bitter against his tongue. The taste of the pill nearly made him want to gag, but Kanda already held out the apple juice in front of his face. Allen took it gratefully and sipped.
“…I still want the cookies,” he said after a moment of (almost) peaceful silence. Kanda gave him a look, but Allen didn’t falter. “Just one bite? I just want a taste.”
“No.”
“Oh, come on! You’re not my mother or something, so why should you forbid me to eat cookies? And besides, at the rate you’re eating, God knows, they will all be gone when I’m not looking and—mmphhh?!”
And this, Allen thought, must be the shut-up kiss. Although he couldn’t help feeling a little perplexed, because—didn’t Kanda say no kiss until he was better? But right after he thought that, Kanda pulled away, and he was going back to munching the cookies.
“Wh-why?” Allen started, “I thought you didn’t want to kiss me?”
Kanda sighed at that, before turning to face Allen again. “It got you to shut up,” he shrugged. “And if you can start being annoying, then you’re well enough,” his roommate added with a snort.
Well. What a typical Kanda argument. “Then kiss me again,” Allen blurted out before he could help himself. It was—actually embarrassing, yes, no matter how much he tried to sound casual. “I could barely taste the cookies on your lips earlier,” he reasoned.
Kanda was looking at him funny though, and Allen nearly wanted to just—hide under the blankets right then. But then the jerk snorted and in a half-amused, half-mocking tone, he asked, “You like these cookies that much?”
Yes, Allen wanted to tell himself, but—he knew it wasn’t just that. He was—craving the kiss, again, and he could only blame it on the fever. He had to.
But when Kanda relented and leaned in, Allen decided to stop thinking, focusing instead on the feel of Kanda’s lips against his. He closed his eyes after a while, and poked his tongue out to sweep against the other’s lips, tasting the remnants of the sweets there. But then Kanda parted his lips, and he didn’t even bother fighting when Allen slipped his tongue inside, roaming around greedily to lick whatever crumbs of cookies were left in there—or that was what he’d like to think he was looking for. Not the taste of Kanda’s insides, or the warmth of his mouth, or—
Kanda pushed back then, probably feeling he’d given Allen enough leeway, so he was now fighting back—or he would have had to fight back if Allen didn’t simply retreat and let Kanda invade his mouth.
It was rather slow, and maybe a little sloppy, but Allen thought Kanda was trying not to be—as rough as he usually did. Allen tilted his head trying to give more access, and unconsciously, his arms reached up clutch at Kanda’s back, pulling him closer and—
They fell back on the bed with a yelp and a swearword, effectively breaking the kiss and leaving Allen blinking up at Kanda, who was—kinda-sorta unintentionally pinning him down to the bed.
Well. This was awkward.
Kanda pulled away as soon as he’d snapped out of it, and Allen didn’t even get to say sorry before Kanda was off the bed. “Just—go rest for now. The meds should be working soon.”
“Umm—yeah. I’ll just—go back to my bed,” he mumbled, not looking up at Kanda and went straight to his bed. Once there, he fiddled with his blanket, pulling it up to his shoulders before turning to his side to face the wall, because—
“G’night, Kanda.”
“Night.”
—because his face felt too warm that he was sure he couldn’t blame on the fever. His heart was beating a little too fast for his liking, and his lips were still tingling.
Although—maybe it was his taste buds messing up due to his sickness, or maybe it was because he had to keep reminding himself that—that it meant nothing, but…
The kiss left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.
Thank you for reading so far! I hope you enjoyed it. Comments are much loved and will motivate me to write the next part—which I haven’t written XD; but yeah, feel free to poke me via comments and let me know what you think so far? :’D
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