SUMMARY: It had been four days since Lavi had met with his two best-est male buddies and Johnny since the Order was attacked. One night within another week, he almost choked loudly on his spit.

NOTES (WARNINGS): Semi-AU (divergence in 'Searching for A.W.' arc). Language. Male-male fluff. Timcanpy's truancy (I think my heart broke again).

The cool wind made contact on his wet skin and Allen had to stifle his shudder. Sopping sounds of footsteps could be heard as two Exorcists continued to trek within the thick woods with their clothes clinging to them like second skin. Allen glared acidly at his unwanted companion. He was numbed with cold; his parasitic Innocence was killing him agonisingly slowly by starvation, and this bastard of a partner just had to make him more miserable with his biting insults.

'You just had to drag me into the lake with you. Fucking genius, Beansprout,' the Japanese hissed sarcastically, his saturated, dark hair sticking to his cheeks and neck. Allen dug his fingers in his mismatched palms until his right hand made crimson crescents. He longed to wrap them about his throat and give it a hard squeeze. That would shut him up.

'One day, Kanda, I will kill you,' Allen growled.

Kanda craned his neck and sneered at him cruelly. 'Just shut up and walk faster, or Johnny will have a fit.' He quickened his pace to emphasise his point. The pale-haired teenager sighed loudly and acquiesced. Kanda had a point. At a distance, he could see Johnny pacing anxiously like a nerve-wrecked mother ready to bolt at any moment. It could have been amusing if he were not so intent on killing this bloke.

'Allen! Kanda! What in the world happened? I thought you said it wouldn't take you long?' Johnny was almost having a conniption as he continued to cry out all his worries and paranoia. They were gone for almost three days while people from the Order were frighteningly close to them.

'Stop worrying. We're already here, aren't we?' Kanda grumbled without any real edge. Bastard.

Johnny sighed wearily. He ushered them to their makeshift home in the woods to have them attended to their basic needs. 'So, was there Innocence? They didn't get there first, did they?' The former scientist gazed at them uncertainly. Something must have shown on their faces because he grinned happily.

They pushed through the hindering twigs and other plant parts, as respite somewhat ebbed away the stress that never seemed to fade away since becoming involved with the Innocence. His stomach, though, audibly but weakly reminded him it was painfully empty. Kanda regarded him passively and it had Allen curious and wary that he kept his mouth shut. Not that he was complaining. He had helped him back at the lake, hadn't he? And a few times before that, either emotionally or physically.

Maybe he would thank him later. At the moment, exhaustion made it too much an effort to even talk. He would bet with all his money for Cross' debts that Kanda could silently empathise.

He was too far gone that he hadn't comprehended they'd already arrived. It was only when he was passed with fresh clothes (or as fresh as they could be) that he realised. 'Thanks, Johnny,' Allen managed a grateful smile.

'Spacing out would kill you,' Kanda snorted dryly. 'Don't bother thinking too much and spare yourself from brain tumour, Sprout.' He used his fingers to comb his ridiculously healthy hair to a high ponytail. He was almost smartened up. Allen gaped at him, almost horrified. He thought he heard something teasing about Kanda's words. But, his tired, bodily actions belied nothing of it.

With a sigh, Allen strode away to somewhere secluded to change. Great. For all he knew, being delusional was a part of having brain tumour.

A few months ago, Yuu Kanda would no doubt mock the beansprout for every loud churn of the brat's intestines. But, even he was not so heartless as to taunt him on that condition he was in at present. The kid had lost considerable amount of weight from their scarce supply of food. Add that to a lot of days of travel, three recent days of almost no food and sleep, and his stupid Innocence - which explained Walker's unusually short temperance and the barely restrained hostility. In some days, they were so bad that he suspected they might have been the boy's natural personality.

Kanda suddenly tensed at the rustling of leaves in the general direction of where the wimpy scientist and the scrawny brat should not be. He was about to draw Mugen and lunge when a familiar tuft of red hair emerged at his line of sight. He clenched his jaw when he heard a gasp. His goddamn pride won't let him flee from this crackpot.

'Yuu! What happened? You look horrible! And where's Allen? You didn't use him as bait and leave him to die, did you?' Lavi gesticulated wildly, getting way too close to his personal bubble. When he felt his breath mingle with the fucker's, he curled his lips in disgust and shoved the Bookman apprentice a little too roughly. 'Get a room, dumbass,' he growled and received a sheepish grin.

'Okay, okay, Yuu,' Lavi raised his hands in a placating manner, 'but seriously, what happened? I heard your little stunt almost blew up the whole town with its people.'

Kanda snorted. 'What, you think Walker would let that happen?' he drawled cynically.

'Uh, no. But that's not the point. Whatever happened out there alerted some of the Finders they sent in the area,' the rabbit stated slowly with that look on his face. 'We should get out of here.'

Kanda grunted, nodding begrudgingly in agreement. Fuck knew how the beansprout would keep up with any more of this shit.

As if summoned by some unknown entity, Walker made his way towards them like a literal vegetable. Kanda almost pitied him.

'Hi, Lavi,' he greeted and cocked his brows when the other let out a nervous chuckle.

'Ehehe… Hey, Allen. Uh, sorry to break it to you but we need to go. Like, now.' Lavi shifted awkwardly as he noted the youngest Exorcist's appearance.

'Oh. Okay,' Allen sighed woefully, retracing his steps. 'I'll help Johnny with the packing.' Not that they had much to pack.

Lavi faced him again when the kid was out of audial range. 'You think we should carry him on the way? To let him sleep?' He said half-jokingly like he was actually considering it.

'Tch. Do whatever you want.' Kanda decided to ignore him to meditate when the blabbermouth decided to open his mouth. Again. He was about to throttle him for the mindless prodding that followed when he was surprisingly left alone. Perhaps some god finally turned him into a pile of dirt for being the bane in his universe, or some bull like that.

And of course he was mistaken because he could still sense Lavi's displeasing presence with his eyes closed. There was a sniff of disappointment for being snubbed but otherwise he didn't say anything else. Though, his being there was still irritating the hell out of him since his tired body was screaming to be left alone.

He'd be damned to give him the pleasure to violently express it. Thereby, he spent the longest fifteen minutes of his life ignoring his twitchy companion's existence as he forced his mind and body to relax.

Not long after, the nosily-peering full moon in the dusk-tinted heavens found four people trudging to the east towards a small town. Lavi confidently claimed that, from his little trip, he found out it was the completely opposite course where some of the Crow members Leverrier sent would highly likely be looking. However, that didn't mean they wouldn't come their way given the second chance, but the four of them should be long gone by then.

Over the span of hiding, they had unwittingly led nigh the entirety of the Order to believe they were siding with the Earl. What else could explain why they were repelling from it like a group of criminal fugitives? That, and the Catholic priests couldn't just let the potential hazards frolicking about with their Innocence under their noses.

Be that as it may, what could three kids and a puny science-geek of an adult do to survive the Black Order, the Earl, and the Noah? And what about the lack of better source of nutriment like actual food. With all truthfulness, the brass proved to be useless that they dragged this damn war for this long, and that they had failed to have their dogs wrack the town a few miles away. But hell, the four of them were more than happy for that small blessing if it meant for a night in bed.

There was also a matter that Allen was walking with them like a ticking bomb.

'Hey, Allen, how come I haven't seen this "Neah" mind-fucking you yet?' Lavi almost asked but didn't. Johnny could have said the same thing, if not for the fact that Allen was far from being approachable.

Lavi sighed as his mind drifted off to a faraway dream. There was one time in Jerry's cafeteria when he was with an exasperated Lenalee and an arguing pair of Allen and Yuu, and stared off past the latter two. For that one crazy moment, he was thinking that if he were ever to have children, he wanted them to be just like his two male best friends. Dreaming about little Yuu and littler Allen running round and being watched by him and his faceless, hot wife (maybe Lenelee when her deranged brother finally ceased to exist), Lavi had half-snickered and –squealed in glee. That had earned him strange looks from his three meal-mates.

Still thinking about it now made him cackle merrily.

'Have you finally cracked?' Kanda's voice jerked him to reality. He noted how Kanda gave Allen a look of 'He's useless to us now, Beansprout. Can I mince him now?' Allen rolled his eyes, easing down by the tree near him. They had decided to rest for a moment.

'No, Yuu,' Lavi said as though he were talking to a small child. Kanda snarled. 'I was remembering, but you'd probably kill me this time if I told you about it.'

Before the swordsman began to think of turning Lavi into stew, Johnny decided to pipe in. 'Eh, Kanda, would you mind getting us some wood?'

'We're building a camp right here?' The red-head furrowed his brows. Smoke would give away their location.

The bespectacled male's countenance shifted to a troubled one whilst he worried his lip. He lowered his voice as he said, 'I don't think Allen can walk right now…' He cast a meaningful glance at the mentioned boy. Lavi followed his gaze to find Allen already dozing off.

A movement caught their focus and got them disquieted. Kanda crouched to Allen's level. To both of their surprise, he hoisted the younger teen onto his back. He then started walking away towards their destination. The other two followed suit, choking down a litany of questions on his suddenly-alien behaviour.

'Oy, Johnny, what the hell happened until four days ago?' That'd been the time when Lavi had finally met with the three since their disappearance. He vaguely noted at that time that Kanda had already been acting oddly.

Johnny bewilderedly shook his head. 'I can't understand it myself. He's been like that since the Noah and Earl infiltrated the Northern Branch. He even told that he'd come with me when I decided to look for Allen,' and I think he'd looked guilty at that time, too, he added to himself, suddenly realising something.

It seemed Lavi had also caught on the same line of thought because his eye glittered in understanding.

'Lavi, how long till we get there?'

'Huh? Oh, about two hours.'

Lavi walked slightly quicker to chance a scrutiny on Kanda without turning his head. There was an unreadable emotion on the teen's veneer as he shifted his hold on Allen. His eyes, though, let him know that his mind was miles away. Allen looked blissfully comfortable on Kanda's back, succumbing to days of exhaustion.

Right, these two were starting to freak the shit out of him.

He looked back at those times in four days he had caught Kanda give his share of food to the beansprout. However rudely he had done the oddly kind gesture, it still showed how soft he had become. Now that he thought about it, Kanda had been anything but intentionally cold to all of them these days.

God must have lost a few screws, then.

It was a week later when Lavi finally recognised the signs.

The night was far from young. They had been sleeping in some inn. Or he had been, when his mind registered dreamily he had been woken up. By some sort of movement, he thought, as tilted his head to the side of his pillow.

Allen lay sick and weak on the other bed, he knew. The outline of a sprawled-asleep Johnny on the chair by the bed could be seen in the dark room. He sought absently the thing that roused him, only to vaguely see the tall form of Kanda placing something on Allen's forehead – a wet cloth, obviously.

For a long moment, Kanda stood there like a statue. He did not seem to be aware of the redhead's staring. Then, hesitant fingers seemed to tenderly brush the feverish boy's cheek.

He couldn't make out Kanda's face in the moonlit-black quietude.

Lavi's slow mind finally comprehended this bit of moment and had to choke back a gasp.

The oddity of the teen's antics bordering to some kind of illness for the past several days suddenly made sense - especially when he caught him spacing out for an hour. Kanda was lovesick.

And Lavi suddenly couldn't make sense of something dropping in his bowels and the inexplicable sadness which was beginning to furl heavy fingers around his heart.

Ah, his mind provided, it must be the bastardry of Komui.