A/N: And this would be the last set of deleted scenes for now: the Lavi portion of the 'if Allen was Steve and Natasha's biological kid' scenario. Which, by the way, I'm glad you guys have liked so much. *smile* Note: Lavi has never told Tony about his past, either. That revelation wouldn't have initially taken place until they united with Lenalee.
Thank you to Nightgray, frodalulz, InsanityOwl, jy24, Niari. D. Mischief, Shadow-X1999, karina001, RMXStudio, MsMusicLover, and 2 guests for reviewing!
Title: You Are My Universe
Author: liketolaugh
Rating: K+
Pairings: None
Genre: Family
Warnings: AU, !spoilers for Winter Soldier onward, spoilers for Agents of SHIELD!
Summary: Side story to Cosmic Composite, primarily family fluff oneshots and missing scenes.
Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man, and the Avengers are but a dream that is not my own.
Allen: Three years old
Kanda: Six years old
Lavi: Six years old
"Tokyo?" Lavi, now six years old, muttered, setting his chin on his hand with a frown. Then he shrugged and scribbled in his notebook. "Difference starts here, then. The Edo period is when Japan started going to hell."
Despite his slight grumbling, Lavi was pleased – not just with his progress, which had been pretty good so far, but with the ability to do this, to record history again.
Starting with breaking down the differences between this world and his own. Now that he was finished analyzing mythologies across the world for traces of akuma (he'd found none, to his relief, unlike in his own world) he'd moved on to solid history, albeit only what the public knew. It was very satisfying.
He settled down to read this section more carefully, writing down each distinct event and split as he came across it. As in the world of Noah, all outsiders had been banned from Japan in 1641, he wrote. The next confirmed divergence is in 1774, when a Japanese translation of a Western medical journal, Kaitai Shinsho, was published. However, in the world of Noah, Japan had by this time been completely lost to the Noah. I theorize that the downslide began soon after 1641 and was sped up substantially when Mt. Fuji erupted in 1707.
He considered the entry for a moment, and then sighed and put his pen down.
Was Bookman alive here? Was he doing the same thing as Lavi was, examining everything in history with that keen, experienced look?
What about his friends? Was Yuu here? Lenalee? Allen?
And if they were, where would they be? Had Yuu been screwed over again, or Allen, or Lenalee? Was their luck bad enough for that?
How many were there? Or was it just him?
Damn it. Lavi couldn't concentrate like this. He rolled and pushed himself off the floor, stretching slightly, and then jogged off to find Tony. Tony was always lots of fun.
"Where's Daddy?" he asked FRIDAY, not looking up.
"In the common room, Lavi," FRIDAY replied instantly.
Lavi didn't acknowledge her further except to head off in that direction, green eyes gleaming with melancholy. He didn't want to think about his friends right now. It always led to more nightmares.
Not that much could keep them away.
Tony was indeed in the living room, and Lavi paused just outside to listen, out of sight.
"Really? No joke?"
Tony sounded very suspicious. Lavi tilted his head slightly, interested.
"You, Steve Rogers, want me, Tony Stark, to come in." Tony sounded the very meaning of dubious. Lavi stifled a giggle and kept listening. "Oh, technical troubles, that explains everything. So you want the genius, not the hero?" Another pause. Lavi's smile faded at the tightness in his father's voice. "Fine. Fine. When and where?" Pause. "Got it."
"Daddy?" Lavi questioned, peeking into the room uncertainly.
Tony smiled tersely, crossing the room to ruffle Lavi's hair. Lavi stared up at him, unimpressed. "Hey, little buddy. Feel like seeing Uncle Steve and Aunt Natasha again?" Lavi stared at him, wide-eyed. Tony's smile softened a little. "And their kid, too – I know you were looking forward to meeting with him. His name's Allen."
Lavi's breath caught, and then he beamed up at Tony, so pleased he couldn't speak, and nodded enthusiastically.
Yes. Yes, please.
Lavi was waiting. Lavi was also very impatient.
In fact, he was sort of bouncing with it, rocking back and forth on his feet and making Tony laugh at him, not that he especially cared right now. His green eyes were sparkling, bright with anticipation.
"Try not to burst before we get there, little buddy," Tony chuckled, looking down at him with amused brown eyes. "Geez, and we haven't even gotten on the jet yet."
Lavi wrinkled his nose at him. Tony just didn't understand.
Tony was taking Lavi with him for now, only because Lavi had insisted and whined and thrown a very small tantrum, which he never did. Pepper had to remain at Stark Tower, because she still had to run the company, and Lavi would theoretically go back and forth between them.
A wind started to blow, and both of them looked up sharply. Lavi's eyes were sparkling again, but Tony had gone tense.
Then an invisible jet door opened, and Rhodey peeked out, smiling apologetically and waving. "Hey, Tony. Ready to go?"
Tony stared for a long moment, and then he relaxed with a reluctant smile. "Rhodey!" he greeted, rather pleased, moving forward with Lavi trotting along behind. "Should've known they were smart enough to send you."
Rhodey chuckled. "Yeah, they're a little concerned about how you'll react. You didn't sound real happy on the phone, you know?"
Tony snorted and didn't dignify that with a response, but he bumped Rhodey's shoulder on his way in. No hard feelings with Rhodey, after all.
"Hi, Rhodey," Lavi greeted cheerfully, waving at the tall man with a grin.
"Hey, tiny Tony," Rhodey returned without missing a beat, as the jet took off. "How've you been?"
"Great!" Lavi smiled, hopping onto a seat. "Daddy taught me how to read and write, and it's a lot of fun."
Rhodey stared at him incredulously for a moment before shaking his head at a proud-looking Tony. "Well, he's as nuts as you are, Tones."
"Yep," Tony agreed, as cheerful as his son.
They continued to make small talk, avoiding the real issue, right up until Tony mentioned FRIDAY and they both sobered.
"So…" Tony drew out the word for as long as possible, and Lavi both quieted and stilled, doing his best to make sure they forgot he was there. Adults always said the most when they forgot that kids could hear them. "Something's wrong with Vision, huh?"
His voice was a little strained as he mentioned the android, and Lavi winced as well, ducking slightly to hide his face, though neither man was looking at him. It was ridiculous. It had been a few years now, and he still missed JARVIS.
He'd barely known the AI. And the AI had barely known him.
But he'd kept his secret anyway.
"Yeah," Rhodey said quietly. "And Tony? Try not to give him a hard time, alright? It's not his fault."
"I know that," Tony said, a little too sharply. "It's mine."
For another moment, they were both quiet, and then Tony sighed again.
"Sorry. What's wrong?"
"His nervous system isn't working right, and lately it's been cutting out altogether sometimes," Rhodey explained. "It's been coming on for a while, but it's getting real bad now. His left arm keeps refusing to work altogether, and sometimes his left eye does, too."
Lavi glanced up, brow furrowed. That sounded… strangely familiar.
"And last but not least-" Rhodey's voice was a little dry now. "He isn't recovering right. You know the self-repairing system? Yeah, it's gotten pretty inconsistent."
Tony 'hm'ed. "Well, there's nothing I can think of off the top of my head that'd cause that, but I'll do my best, alright, honey bun?"
Rhodey chuckled and shook his head at Tony. "I know you will."
The small talk returned, lightening the atmosphere, and Lavi pondered the familiarity of Vision's problems – just the same ones Allen and Yuu had had before. Strange. Real strange.
"Are we there yet?"
The two adults paused in their conversation to laugh at him. He huffed.
Some time later, they landed in front of the New Avengers' base, a former Stark warehouse, if Lavi remembered. Steve was out front, face serious, and the lines around Tony's eyes tightened slightly at the sight.
He put it away, though, and looked down at Lavi with a smile, while Lavi pretended he hadn't noticed. "There's your Uncle Steve," he said with false cheer. "Let's go say hi."
Lavi nodded eagerly, and together they strode forward. Steve paused to give Lavi a friendly, warm smile, but it slid off his face as soon as he returned his attention to Tony, now slightly regretful.
"Tony," Steve greeted, holding out his hand. "Good to see you."
Tony waved it off with an easy, fake smile and said, "Yeah, yeah, right. Okay. Can I take a look at Vision? C'mon, Cap, he's got a kind of hardware I haven't seen myself and that's just unacceptable."
Steve's smile wavered. "Right." He cleared his throat. "Vision's inside. He hasn't had any problems with his legs or flight system yet, but…" He shrugged.
Yeah. Lavi would be willing to bet that he wouldn't, either. Not unless Lenalee…
Awkwardly, Steve turned and started to lead the way in. Tony seemed perfectly content to give Steve the cold shoulder, so Lavi feigned obliviousness and hurried forward to grin at Steve.
"Steve, Steve," he chanted, tugging on Steve's sleeve. Steve looked down at him with an indulgent smile. "What's everyone like? Are they fun? Are they nice?"
"You'll see," Steve laughed, running his fingers briefly through Lavi's hair. "Calm down, Lavi. I promise they're very nice, and most of them are fun, okay?"
"Okay," Lavi agreed easily. "What about Allen? Is he fun? Is he nice?"
"He's very nice," Steve assured him, smiling fondly. "He's best friends with Bucky's son, actually." Lavi felt Tony jerk slightly but pretended not to. Then Steve glanced down, looking a little worried. "But Allen looks a little… unusual. Be nice, alright?"
Lavi's eyes sparkled. Yes. Yes! "I will," he promised, barely keeping the excitement out of his voice. Steve smiled at him and ruffled his hair.
Inside, he barely listened to the introductions, only halfheartedly noting how the whole thing went – Wanda staying away from Tony, Vision looking awkward, Scott looking a little stunned – before Natasha finally noticed his skittishness, chuckled at him, smoothed his ruffled hair down, and said with amusement,
"The boys are in the next room over. Why don't you go play, zaichik?"
About time! Lavi beamed at her, nodded, and then darted to the door as quickly as he could.
He swung it open, stopped, and stared.
He didn't know how he was feeling right now, but happy was not nearly a good enough word for it.
A boy with white hair and a vicious scar lay plopped on his stomach, coloring carefully. Beside him, a boy with long black hair and dark blue eyes did the same.
A beaming grin spread slowly across Lavi's face, and he stepped inside and shut the door behind him, heart beating fast. Yuu looked up at the sound, eyes narrow, stopped, and stared.
"Yuu!" Lavi beamed, darting across the room to stand in front of them.
At the sound of his voice, Allen's head jerked up, and silver eyes widened. "Lavi!" he exclaimed, and he bounced up, eyes sparkling, and lunged forward to wrap his arm around Lavi.
Lavi laughed and grinned and hugged him right back, picking the tiny boy up and swinging him around gleefully. "Allen! I knew it was you, I knew it!"
Yuu slowly pushed himself up, still looking stunned, and, as Lavi finally let Allen's feet touch the ground again (though the younger boy didn't let go) Yuu threw his arm around his shoulders, smirked at him, and squeezed once before letting go.
"About time, stupid rabbit," Yuu said with a playful growl. Lavi beamed at him, though he didn't dare dislodge Allen's determined hug.
"Sorry, I was a little groundbound," Lavi said cheerfully, still barely stifling happy laughter. "Got here as soon as I could."
Yuu smiled a little, and Allen spoke up at last, face still half-buried in Lavi's shirt. (Strange. Lavi didn't recall Allen being this affectionate.) "Miss you," Allen mumbled, and Lavi could feel his smile.
Lavi's smile softened but stayed just as genuine. "Missed you too, beansprout."
Allen tipped his head up so Lavi could see his smile instead of feel it. "Yuu miss you, too," he said brightly. Lavi raised an eyebrow, surprised.
"Since when do you call Kanda Yuu?"
Yuu looked at Lavi with a scowl of challenge. "Don't have the name Kanda here," he said, by way of explanation. Lavi grinned.
"Now you can't argue with me!"
Yuu scowled at him, but there was an amused look in his eyes. "Watch me."
"Ah, but Yuu!"
Happy as they were, they couldn't stay walking on clouds forever, and eventually, the three boys settled down a little. Lavi plopped down on his stomach in the middle of the floor with Allen tucked up against his side, one arm thrown across the small boy's back. Kanda was on his back on Allen's other side, head tilted to frown at Lavi.
"I found somethin' out," Lavi said suddenly, remembering that he'd wanted to tell them this. Kanda raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, out with it, stupid rabbit."
Allen nudged Kanda sternly and gave Lavi an expectant look. "Lavi?"
"We're not in the same world," Lavi told them, face gone serious, two green eyes meeting theirs.
Both their eyes widened slightly, and Kanda shot a paranoid glance around – a cursory search for Scott – before looking back to Lavi.
"How you know?" Allen wanted to know, silver eyes gleaming in concern. He and Kanda had talked about it before, and had eventually decided that they were probably just in the future.
"History," Lavi explained, pushing himself up a little more, though he didn't move his arm from around Allen. "Japan never got wiped out – in fact, it did some stuff it didn't do when we were alive. Translations and stuff. Plus, there wasn't any point in time when cities were disappearing without explanation, and you guys remember – that happened all the time. There's other stuff, too – I started writing it down about two years back, if you wanna see."
Kanda nodded absently, gaze turning to focus on the ceiling, frowning. "Yeah, do that, rabbit." Suddenly, he blinked and rolled over to look at Lavi seriously, now on his stomach again. "We got some stuff for you, too."
Allen's face turned solemn, and Lavi tilted his head slightly.
"Yeah? How bad?" he asked, frowning slightly.
"Pwetty bad," Allen admitted, leaning his head on Lavi's shoulder. "No' Noah bad. But bad."
"HYDRA," Kanda explained, and to his slight surprise, Lavi perked up slightly.
"Great," Lavi breathed, looking genuinely pleased. "Been worrying myself crazy about them, honestly. And Dad, too. You know some stuff?"
Kanda snorted and shook his head. "Of course you know about them," he said with some disgust. "Well, they nearly went down for a bit, but obviously they've recovered. 'Parently there's signs that they're gonna attack SHIELD, and there's a bunch of stupid leadership shuffling. Aunt Tasha thinks that a guy called Grant Ward is gonna come out on top."
"Grant Ward," Lavi murmured, committing the name to memory. (Not that he would have forgotten it otherwise.) "Know anything 'bout him?"
"No' really," Allen shrugged. "He worked fo SHIELD, I tink. Mom knew 'im. If I asked, she coul' tell me." After a moment for thought, he added, "He was a goo' spy."
"Figures," Lavi muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Anything else?"
"They're still collecting people with powers," Kanda said with a wrinkle of his nose. "Oh, shit, I didn't tell you."
Lavi felt Allen start slightly and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I was an experiment again," Kanda explained with a scowl. "A HYDRA one. With the bear."
"Bucky," Allen tacked on by way of explanation, face solemn again. Lavi winced.
"Damn, Yuu, you just have the worst luck, huh?"
Kanda scowled. "Whatever. Anyway, so they're doing that. Wanda got her powers like that, too, from HYDRA. Might wanna look out for that."
Lavi nodded, frowning, mentally noting all that down. This would be a lot easier to figure out from the HYDRA perspective, but well… like hell, to be blunt.
"Oh, an' here," Allen pitched in, laying his head on his arm and tilting it up to look at Lavi. Lavi looked down, expectant. "You gonna wanna know who to look out for, wight?"
"That'd be nice, yeah," he agreed, settling down slightly to look at the younger boy. Allen was the only person he knew who was better at people than Lavi was.
"Well, Daddy likes to trust people," Allen started, silver eyes focused on Lavi's green. "He's gonna tink dat you're just a little stwange, won't tink anyting of it. But Mommy was a spy, you hafta be caweful 'round her."
Lavi nodded in acknowledgement.
"Scott still worried 'bout his place hewe," Allen continued, laying his cheek in his right hand, bare left splayed across the ground. "So he won't say anyting, bu' Yuu like to look fo 'im anyway, 'fore we talk. He tuwns small, y'know?"
"Turns small, huh?" Lavi asked, with a bit of a grin. "Pretty interesting."
Allen gave him a little smile and a nod. "Vision doesn' get us, so he won't notice. Rhodey-"
"I know Rhodey," Lavi interrupted, grinning properly now. "Don't worry about him."
Allen smiled and nodded again. "Awight. An' Sam's a bit like Daddy, but a little more suspicious, so be a li'l caweful. An' Wanda won't notice 'cause she still really worried all th'time, but don' be too obv'ous anyway."
"Alright," Lavi acknowledged with a grin, ruffling Allen's hair and chuckling at his protest. "Thanks, little beansprout."
Allen smiled at him, and then reached for his paper and the crayons again, apparently satisfied. Kanda grabbed his as well, and Lavi took a fresh sheet of paper from a little stack. He liked coloring, too, when he wasn't recording.
He picked out a color, bright red, and glanced over at the other two thoughtfully.
Kanda's paper was scattered with little, clumsy lotus flowers all over, and now he was carefully adding just one more. Below each lotus flower was a name – Bucky, Allen, Yuu, Uncle Steve, Aunt Tasha, Alma, and under the one he'd drawn just now, Lavi.
Lavi's smile softened slightly and he transferred his gaze to Allen's, expecting something… well, not what he found.
Allen was carefully, almost obsessively, trying to capture what was very clearly a very basic akuma soul. Lavi stared at him.
"Beansprout?" he asked cautiously.
Allen started slightly and glanced up at him, followed his gaze, and smiled weakly, a little sad.
"I haven' seen any," he promised Lavi, who was looking at him with concern now. "I just…" He shrugged. "Can' stop tinking 'bout them."
He bent his head down to the paper again, and Lavi shot Kanda a concerned look over his head.
"His curse still activates," Kanda explained shortly, looking possibly more disapproving than he had when he'd explained about how he'd come about this time 'round. "At night. Wakes him up, but there's nothing there."
"Damn," Lavi muttered, setting crayon to paper. "Scratch that, you both have the absolute worst luck."
Kanda snorted and looked down, setting aside the soft pink in favor of a basic blue, which he started to use to color between the lotuses. Then Lavi started to draw as well, struggling blueprints emerging in primary-color red.
For a while, all them drew in silence. Allen switched colors and struggled to get the details of the akuma soul, but never quite able to get there, to capture that sickening, heart-wrenching image. Kanda switched from blue to brown and started to color around the lotuses again, lighter and mixed in with the blue.
Lavi finished last, dropping the crayon as he put the last details on the sketch of Dummy, and hopped back up, tilting his head at the other two.
"I'm gonna show Dad," he announced with a grin.
Kanda shrugged and stood up as well, taking his picture with him, but Allen crumpled his up and scurried away to hide it.
"Coming, beansprout?" Kanda threw over his shoulder, though it was a rhetorical question – Allen rarely passed up a chance to spend time with his parents.
Allen nodded quickly and followed them out the door, smiling brightly already.
The Avengers weren't all in the room, just Bucky, Natasha, Steve, and Tony. Natasha was mediating the talk between Tony and Steve, looking somewhere between annoyed and amused, and Bucky stood back and watched thoughtfully.
Lavi broke into this by running right up to Tony and grabbing onto his pants, attracting an expectant look. He shoved the paper in Tony's direction, beaming. "Look what I drew!"
Tony obediently took the paper and looked at it, and after a moment, he smiled, glancing past it again to Lavi's beaming grin. "Is this Dummy?" he asked, raising one eyebrow, still smiling.
Lavi nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh!"
Bucky looked over and found Yuu hanging back beside Allen, who was looking at Lavi and smiling, right hand cradling his left elbow so it looked like he was crossing his arms. Yuu was holding a paper and carefully not looking at Bucky.
"Yuu? Do you have a drawing too?" Bucky asked, because he knew Yuu.
Yuu glanced at him, slightly hesitant, but after a moment he nodded and left Allen behind to hold up his drawing silently – lotuses and names on a background of muddy water.
"You're getting good at those," Bucky noted, nodding at the flowers. Yuu shrugged and placed it on his lap, but he didn't leave again.
Natasha smiled at both of them and looked at Allen. "Did you not draw anything, Allen?"
Allen wouldn't meet her eyes, but he shook his head and walked over to her, holding up his arms. Natasha chuckled and lifted him up to place him on her lap.
"You're a terrible liar," she said with amused fondness, making Allen flush and duck his head. She ruffled his hair and added, "I hope you show us your drawings someday. Your father and I would both like to see them."
Allen shrugged and leaned his head on her shoulder, and Natasha sighed and let him, smiling fondly. Steve looked over at both of them and smiled, too, looking warm and happy. The look made Tony soften as well, and suddenly he started chuckling.
"Always knew you'd be a happy family, Cap. And your kid is just like you."
"Could say the same of yours," Steve retorted, without a hint of bite.
The tension was gone like it was never there.
Natasha was not oblivious, and she was not a fool, and she trusted, ultimately, no one. There were a lot of things she saw that Steve missed, many of which she chose to ignore.
This was not one of them.
Natasha had been away a lot lately; as far as most of the Avengers were concerned, it had been a quiet few months with little HYDRA activity. Natasha and Bucky, though, had gone out on many a fact-finding mission, keeping up with the rapid shuffling of the leadership, and its swift recovery. So she took her down-time where she could.
Now, she was playing quietly with Allen, but as much as she was playing, she was thinking.
There was something odd about Allen. Now, Natasha had never claimed to be an expert on children, even with Allen right there in front of her, but she knew that Allen was mature for his age, and her little angel, bless him, could never lie to her.
Consequently, she knew he was hiding something, and had been for quite a long time. She just didn't know what it was. And while it had been a little disconcerting at first, she'd decided to let him tell her when she was ready.
"Mommy?" Allen was tilting his head at her, eyes concerned and quizzical. She brought herself out of her thoughts to look at him thoughtfully, long enough that he started to look a little uneasy.
"Allen," she said finally, looking down to the puzzle they were assembling together. "You know you can tell me anything, don't you?"
Allen was silent, and when she glanced back up, he was giving her a wide-eyed, slightly frightened look. She offered a small, reassuring smile, which didn't quite dispel it.
He opened his mouth, closed it, and then ducked his head, cheeks burning with what appeared to be shame. After only a few moments of his silence, Natasha took pity on him.
"I can wait, angel moy. You can tell me when you're ready."
Allen hesitantly glanced back up at her, caught her smile, and offered a small smile back. "Okay," he said, soft and honest, and looked back down to the puzzle to move a piece into place. She smiled, and both of them went back to work.
Oh look! I remembered what plot was. Just in time to drop everything. *wry smile* But no half-finished scenes in this one. Anyway, like I said, this finishes out everything I had from when Allen was still their biological child. I might not get anything else for this up for a while, since I've been busy, but unless I think I really need to put something else first, the next thing should be a very late Christmas fic with the boys. Thanks for reading, and please review!