We Can Work It Out, a d.gray-man fanfic

AN: I was having a very thrilling chat in -Divinity, when an insightful person named Digital Eon came up with the idea of Lavi and Kanda throwing Allen into Lenalee's bed because of the 'lack of space' during a night's stay on a mission - and there I promised to write a fic on that. After a while of lazyness and procrastinating, here it is! 'Cause I'm a man of my word. ...except that I'm not a man. Well, you get the point.

I'm not going into too much detail in this one; it's supposed to be humor so it's mostly dialogues. This kind of fics is a 'lighter' read, but that's exactly the point. So don't give me the MORE DETAILS, WE KNOW YOU CAN DO IT stuff, okay? I promise, there's some major detailed LY fics coming up, hopefully soon.

I had almost finished this on summer (!) but only now I managed to write the last couple of paragraphs. Pathetic isn't it. Enjoy the late dinner!

About: What happens between four friends when there is a lack of space to sleep? A humorous story with the hintings (or a bit more) of Allen x Lenalee and Kanda x Lavi, interprete it as friendship if you must...and if you can. xD ( will try to write it so you couldn't. ) Ah...yeah, reviews are appreciated.

Warnings: CRACK. Yu-kun's foul vocabulary. Implied sexual themes, and some shonen-ai, but it doesn't get further than that, so...if you're not generally disgusted by the thought of two guys liking each other, feel free to continue.

Disclaimer: -Man and co. belong to Katsura Hoshino. The song title belongs to The Beatles. I think. And the three lines in the beginning are from that song.

WE CAN WORK IT OUT

We can work it out

Life is very short and there's no time

For fussin' and fighting, my friend

The train was skipping through fields, the monotonic clacking of the rail sounding almost like a lullaby. The scenery behind the window didn't seem to change.

Allen sighed. Another long mission completed, all that's left was the journey back to the Order. He looked at his red-haired companion - who was happily snoring in the seat next to him as if nothing had happened - with a hint of reproach.

"We're almost there, Lavi," Allen said, nudging the redhead lightly to wake him up. The other didn't respond, he mumbled something disapprovingly and turned away. Allen slowly clenched Lavi's collar and suddenly shook him. "Lavi! Wake up!"

"I swear it wasn't me, Panda!" the redhead screamed out in panic, lifting his arms to cover his head. Apparently he was having a not very pleasant dream about the Bookman, who didn't come with them this time. Lavi blinked, seeing it was in fact Allen who interrupted his pleasant sleep, and lowered his arms. "Huh? Allen? We're there already?"

The question didn't need to be answered, as the train started slowing down.

"We're supposed to meet another team here, then spend the night in a place called 'The Charlotte Hotel', and then catch the morning train which will take us back home," Lenalee said and raised her eyes from the papers. "The sooner I'm sure everyone's back safely the better, though I don't really understand why brother wants us to go back all together."

Kanda shrugged lightly, wearing his usual dark scowl. "He probably thinks it's cheaper that way," he said and sneered.

The female Exorcist frowned a little, offended. "Brother is not like that! You only don't like him because...well...you decided so," she finished after a while and sighed. Kanda never needed a reason to dislike people.

The Japanese just 'tch'ed and crossed his arms. "It'd better not be a team of idiots," he said sourly.

"We're late!" Lavi dragged his suitcases almost desperately towards the supposed meeting place. "If we get scolded, I'm SO tellin' them it's all your fault, yeah!"

"I'm sorry," Allen mumbled. "I've never been here before. At least we're not lost anymore, right?"

Lavi sighed. He should have known better than let the unlucky boy guide him. "Well alright, maybe it's not that bad and -" he tensed as he saw someone not far away from them.

They hurried towards the two figures standing by a huge clock tower.

Lenalee looked at the people hurrying towards them. "I think they're here, Kanda," she said and smiled widely as she recognised her two friends. "Allen! Lavi! Over here!"

Allen knew that voice."Hey Lenalee!" he said smiling, but the smile faded away as he met a sinister glare that belonged to the swordsman next to the girl. "...And Kanda," Allen muttered, but his voice disappeared in Lavi's happy scream.

"YU~UU! Lenalee! It's been too long!" He gave Lenalee a hug - what earned him a whack from Allen with a hiss "You don't behave like this with a lady" - and turned to Kanda, but the samurai avoided Lenalee's fate by making the redhead meet the tip of his sword eye to eye. Lavi sighed, disappointed that his plan didn't work and just grinned widely, pushing the sword away from his face with a finger. "As vicious as ever, Yu. Foul mood today? Not that you have any other~" Lavi was obviously dangerous for himself, or at least Allen thought so.

"You're late, morons," Kanda greeted them both.

Lavi kept grinning. "Of course, punctuality is a virtue, blah blah blah," he said. "Relax, Yu, the mission's done. You can be almost as bad as the old Panda sometimes."

"Don't compare me to that geezer," Kanda cut. "That's a ridiculous excuse. I take it it's Beansprout's fault?"

Allen frowned. A simple nod of recognition would have been nice enough, and here. "My name is Allen," he said, glaring at the swordsman and lifting his left arm.

Kanda opened his mouth to say something else of low tact, but Lenalee interrupted them. "Now guys, don't start fighting! And Kanda, stop namecalling Allen. We're all friends, right?"

Allen muttered an apology towards the girl and lowered his arm, though the grumpy samurai was the last person after the Noah clan that he'd call a friend - at least aloud. Kanda met Lenalee's last sentence with an expression of pure disgust, but did shut up.

Shortly after, the four Exorcists finally stopped by a cheesy wooden sign that said "Charlotte Hotel". They were supposed to stay in a place like that, but the sign already gave Allen a bad feeling. Once they entered, they were met by silence as there was no one at the counter, nor the rest of the hallway for that matter.

"Hello?"

Nothing.

Lenalee walked forward and pressed the call. It didn't ring and made some weird squeak instead. She coughed and looked around. Next to the main hall - if it could be called that - was a splintery wooden door with a small tablet that said 'manager'. Lavi sighed.

"Maybe we can just get upstairs and go to sleep on our own, eh..."

Before anyone could say anything more, Kanda kicked the door out of its hinges and marched in. He came back in three seconds, dragging a very old man by the collar of his pyjamas.

"Found Charlotte," Kanda stated. Both Allen and Lavi covered their mouths, keeping in a laugh. "Do the talking, Lenalee."

The manager appeared to be half-deaf and half-blind; once the Exorcists finally managed to explain that they had a room booked, he led them upstairs and opened another worn-off door. "He'e you go, Exo'cists," the man said very loudly, "Ye' chief booked this 'oom fo' you." He turned around and walked off, dragging his feet.

The room barely contained a bed and a night-table; there was a door to another room just like that but even smaller. Once they put down their luggage, there barely was any space on the floor left. Everything was old, dusty and creaked.

"What was that about your brother," Kanda sneered, waving towards the room. Lenalee just bit her lip and shook her head disappointedly.

Lavi looked around sadly. "It's a bit cramped, yeah... After all the travelling in first class this isn't exactly what I've hoped for."

Allen didn't say anything; during his travels with his master, he had usually slept in far, far worse conditions. However, he had to agree with Lavi; right now he had definitely expected something else.

Lavi walked to the bed, layed down and stretched his limbs across, seemingly forgetting that he wasn't alone. "Oh well, it'll do. Night."

Lenalee covered her mouth amusingly and stopped on the doorway between the rooms. Lavi was so funny sometimes.

Allen frowned. "Move, Lavi," he said determinedly and sat on the bed. "It's Lenalee and not you who gets a separate room. We will have to share it."

The redhead sat up, widening his eye with sincere indignation. "Why not me?" he whined, looking at Lenalee then at Allen.

The scene was getting rather funny; Lavi looked like he had just been horribly offended, Lenalee saw it was all just a play and smiled lightly, laughing mentally, while Allen's face was holding many different kinds of emotions that all said Lavi had to be taught a painful lesson in manners.

"Because she's a lady, blockhead," Kanda answered and threw his coat on a chair.

So it was decided; Lenalee would have the smaller room all for herself, while the guys would be squished into one bed for the purpose of being gentlemen. Of course, Lavi wasn't too happy about it; but after meeting Allen's glare, he just said he could sleep anywhere and shut up. No one knew what Kanda thought about it, as he didn't say a single word and just looked daggers at his two comrades while resting against a wall.

Now all that was left was to decide how exactly they will share the space.

Lavi scratched his head. "I think Allen should sleep in the middle, since he's the smallest," he explained.

Allen didn't seem too happy with that statement. "You could have chosen another wording..."

"No way," Kanda cut off their talk.

The redhead looked at him disapprovingly. "But Yu -"

"I'm not sleeping next to a cursed guy," Kanda stated. His whole appearance was obviously saying that he would rather spend the night standing by the wall.

"That's a really mean thing to say," Allen muttered, frowning. He had a hard time swallowing a reply 'Ladies' room is that way', but there was no way he would have sent Kanda to Lenalee's direction even if it would have been just an insult.

"Yu, you're so stubborn," Lavi sighed. "Fine, I'll be in the middle, so you wouldn't kill each other," he said, then grinned. "Heh.. I know I'm irresistible like that, yeah. Even Yu~"

Kanda stared at him in disbelief, then used his sheathed sword to whack Lavi over the head.

"Shut the fuck up and get into bed!"

Lenalee had found a spare blanket on her bed and she gladly gave it to the guys, hoping that it could make it at least a bit more comfortable to them. Of course, Kanda immediately claimed it, leaving Lavi and Allen to share one, but, how it later turned out, it was just the beginning of the problems.

Soon, everyone finally was in place and the lights were off. It was silent in Lenalee's room, however, it was a lot more difficult for the guys. The bed barely fit all three of them, and a silent fight for every spare inch took place. Apparently, it was hopeless to expect a good night's sleep.

After few minutes of intensive nudging, Kanda hissed in pain.

"Move, idiot! You're on my hair!" he snarled, not caring to keep the volume of his voice low.

"I can't help it!" Lavi whined as he received a rather strong punch in the ribs from his ferocious friend. "Beansprout's claw is poking me!"

The white-haired boy twitched. "For the last time, the name is Allen!"

"Che, I don't see a difference."

"What's that supposed to mean, Bakanda?"

"How about my sword explains it to your throat, Beansprout?"

"Stop it you guys! You're squishing me!"

Lenalee layed in her bed and listened to the noise behind the thin wall. She sighed. The boys could be such kids sometimes.

After some more threats, nudging and punching, Lavi sat up. "No one will get any sleep if this continues," he said seriously. "Honestly, I envy Lenalee. She has all of the bed to herself, why couldn't she share with one of..." he trailed off as he saw Kanda sitting up as well and lifting the spare blanket.

Allen seemed horrified by Lavi's train of thoughts. "That's out of question, Lavi," he said firmly. "And I don't mean it only because Komui-san would kill you just for such thoughts. We're the men here, so we are the ones to put up with difficulties..." he silenced and looked at the other two who suddenly went quiet as he started to talk.

Kanda was looking at Lavi, holding the spare blanket and lightly nodded towards Lenalee's door.

Lavi looked at Kanda and the blanket, and a wide grin slowly formed on his face.

Then they both turned to Allen.

Allen sensed some kind of danger and eyed them suspiciously. "Guys...why are you looking at me like that?" He saw them getting up and stretching the blanket. "And what's with the... ACK!"

Lenalee looked at the ceiling. Maybe she should have...no, she shouldn't think this way. She turned a bit, lightly irritated by the noise behind the wall, and tried to fall asleep.

Suddenly, there were several bumps, crashes, some swearing, a sound of fight and then everything went silent.

Lenalee rised on her elbow worriedly, wondering what the hell was happening there and if she should go check it out and maybe give out some of her loving head-kicks, when she heard a loud knock on her door from the guys' room.

"Yes?" she answered after a while, sitting up.

"Ah, good, you're awake," she heard Lavi's voice. "Hey, Lenalee, it's a bit stuffed in here, and I'm sure you wouldn't mind, so do you mind if Al -" the rest that was heard was only muffing, apparently someone covered his mouth.

"Can we dump some spare luggage in your room," Kanda's even tone never changed even when he asked something - maybe because it happened so rarely.

Lenalee thought she heard some muffing again, a bit different and angrier this time, but decided it must have been her imagination. "Sure," she said after a while. "If only it helps you guys. Go ahead."

Lavi snickered behind the door. "Great," he said. "Alright, we're coming in."

The handle turned, the doorhinge creaked and the door opened. Lenalee saw silhouettes of Lavi and Kanda walk in, carrying some rather big and long bag by its ends. She didn't even manage to ask where was Allen, when they threw the bundle to the feet of her bed. It was quite heavy, as the bed creaked threateningly. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw it had the shape of a human body.

"Guys, what is the meaning of this?" she asked, frowning lightly as she saw Kanda walk out hastily with his hand on his mouth.

"Thanks Lenalee," Lavi said innocently. "You're the best." Lenalee could almost hear him grinning in the dark.

"What's in -"

"Sweet dreams, Lenalee~" Lavi sang happily, sounding an awful lot like the lullaby-singing robot that Komui constructed for his sister, and walked out. Lenalee could hear the door closing, and a silent laughter behind it.

Lenalee let out a frustrated sigh. Lavi could be even more irrational than Kanda, and that last part was way overdoing it. She decided to have a talk with him in the morning, and leant forward to touch the bundle by her feet, when in the now present silence she heard that it was in fact breathing.

She narrowed her eyes and saw familiar silver-gray eyes staring at her helplessly. She didn't even have to ask.

"Allen?"

The poor boy was wrapped in the spare blanket that she left for the guys, up to his ears. His mouth was covered, and his arms and legs were tied. He was so shocked to be in Lenalee's room that he even stopped struggling once Lavi and Kanda brought him in, hoping he could last until tomorrow in that uncomfortable position without anyone noticing anything. Allen hated himself for being so helpless and not seeing through the older guys' plan - then again, it was two against one.

Lenalee couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "You look just like a mummy," she said.

Allen's ears and the visible part of his face turned red. This wasn't just embarrassing and inappropriate, it was down-straight humiliating.

"Sa, they thought we haven't noticed anything...Wanna bet they'll thank us one day for this, Yu?"

Lavi watched as Kanda unsheathed his sword and put it in the middle of the mattress. Apparently, the samurai was expecting Lavi's scream of agony to wake him up if the redhead ever tried to sneak into his side of the bed. Old, yet effective way.

"It ain't gonna work Yu," Lavi said with a strange smile on his face. "We only have one blanket."

Kanda looked like he had just received a wet towel whack in the face. That was true; they used the extra blanked to wrap up Allen. Come to think of it, it would have made sense to make Sprout and Lenalee sleep under one blanket, but there wasn't any rope in the room. "You can keep it," he finally mumbled, a hint of irritation to his voice.

"Oh come on, don't be stupid. You'll catch a cold."

"I don't think that's a problem." Kanda couldn't recall himself ever catching a cold. Last time he remembered of being sick anyhow, was after eating his 11th birthday's cake, and he detested sweets ever since. He kicked away his boots and sat on the bed.

Lavi smiled wider. "Hey, Yu. It's not like you're afraid of me or something?" If there was any way to make Kanda do things, it was making it a challenge. Kanda tensed immediately, eyeing him suspiciously. The redhead tilted his head playfully. "If you're so scared, just tell me. I can always find another place to go to with my charm~"

The swordsman snarled, grabbing Mugen and sheathing it. "I'm not scared," he hissed and put the sword together with his coat next to the bed, where he could reach it. "Don't even think of trying anything funny, I've had it with you."

Lavi tilted his head further with an innocent look. "Like what?"

Kanda just send him a glare of pure hatred and got into the bed.

Lenalee finally succeeded in getting Allen out of the blanket. "For them to resort to that, it must have been really tight in there," she muttered.

Allen kindly disagreed; Kanda wouldn't ever mind resorting to humiliating Allen, and Lavi loved playing pranks. But in the situation he was now in, he decided to keep silent about it. "They probably wanted some alone time," the boy muttered murderously before his dark mode completely disengaged and he felt embarrassed again. "I-I guess I'll go," he muttered, still red, trying not to look at Lenalee in her nightrobe.

"To be thrown out this time?" Lenalee frowned lightly. She wasn't really in the mood of scolding the other guys now, but they obviously didn't want Allen there. Besides, she didn't really mind having someone close to her in a place like this...especially if... "These beds are too narrow for three people, none of you will get any sleep at all. You're staying here."

Allen blushed again. "B-but.."

"No buts."

The boy sighed. "I'm sleeping on the floor," he said determinedly and slided off the bed.

"No you're not."

"But-"

Lenalee's voice was silent but strict. "You're not sleeping on the cold floor, Allen."

"I have a blanket-"

Lenalee cut him off a bit more angrily than she had meant. "It doesn't matter! You need a good rest after your mission!" She grabbed his ear and pulled him up.

Allen yelped. "Y-yes L-Lenalee, I - I mean i-if you're sure," he stuttered, holding in tears of pain.

She could be so scary sometimes.

Kanda layed still with his arms crossed, covered by a corner of the blanket. He glared daggers at Lavi, who was laying on his stomach humming happily and fluffing the free side of pillow. After a while, Lavi finally noticed his look.

"Scary, scary Yu," the redhead sneered. After getting no response, he added, "Fine, don't talk," and turned on his side, facing away from Kanda and pulling all the blanket for himself.

Kanda snarled silently. He waited a bit until the redhead's breath evened, and tugged the blanket back, just for the hell of it.

Lavi felt the blanket being pulled, but he didn't let go. Instead, he suddenly shifted on his other side and nuzzled into Kanda's shoulder. The swordsman twitched. Now he not only had the blanket back, but an idiot wrapped in it as well, and that idiot was obviously planning to play another blanket for the samurai.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, rabbit-moron?" he asked.

The redhead apparently was half-asleep already and didn't hear him. "Ah, Yu-chan... you're so warm.." he mumbled happily and wrapped his arms around the other Exorcist.

Kanda frowned. He moved his fist, swinging his arm back just enough to power up a punch.

Allen balanced himself on the edge of the bed, so he wouldn't touch even Lenalee's feet and took the blanket. Lenalee smiled lightly, and they were about to lay back, when the silence was suddenly erupted by Lavi's voice.

"OWW, YUUUU!" they heard an agonizing shriek from the next room. "That was my crotch!"

Allen and Lenalee looked at each other dumbfounded.

"...Is that...Lavi?.."

Then they suddenly cracked up. They laughed, laughed and laughed, until tears came out of their eyes.

Allen could feel his dark side chuckle evilly at the image of the two guys that had bullied him getting what they deserved.

Eventually silence once again fell upon the hotel, and everyone sooner or later fell asleep.

Lenalee suddenly waked up. She looked at the dark ceiling; it might have been early in the morning and she thought she heard something rustle in the other room, but that wasn't what had woken her up. What it was, was Allen.

The boy was dead asleep, his mouth slightly open, and one of his arms was laying on top of Lenalee. It was probably the unexpected weight that had woken her up. Not to mention that his hand was practically on Lenalee's chest.

"Um...Allen?" Lenalee asked a bit hesitantly as she wasn't sure if he was asleep or not. "Do you mind removing your hand?"

No answer. She tried carefully moving the boy but got no response. She was feeling lightly uncomfortable at being touched like that, but she couldn't blame a sleeping person for where their limbs went to, could she?

Finally, probably in response to the shaking, the white-haired boy muttered something in his sleep and pulled Lenalee closer, burying his nose in her shoulder and clenching his hand a little.

Lenalee blinked, feeling a blush creep upon her face, and was about to hit the boy, but reconsidered the last moment seeing how tired he apparently was and not wanting to wake him up. It wasn't Allen's fault, he would never do something like that on purpose.

With that thought, Lenalee sighed and tried to ignore the boy's hand, deciding to try and fall asleep again. However it was harder than it seemed, since Allen would move his hand from time to time, apparently dreaming that he was sold into a slave ship and had to row all the time.

"That's right, manner boy," Lavi whispered to himself as he leaned closer to the large keyhole in the door, "Keep this up and yer gonna make me rich." He pinched Timcanpy that he was holding in one hand next to the keyhole, "I hope you got everything right and clear."

Tim squirmed, trying to pop free, but it didn't work, so he nodded, swishing his tail disapprovingly. Lavi smiled widely; with a tiny little video like this he could get a fortune of money and free massage for weeks from Allen, only for not showing it to Komui. Because if the Supervisor had seen how the cursed boy shared bed with his beloved sister, and, nonetheless, was practically groping her, he wouldn't just kill him. He would maim and torture the boy in most despicable ways before disposing of his corpse somewhere in the middle of the North sea.

Lavi snickered for himself, turning Tim to get a better angle.

"What the hell, Lavi," Kanda hissed from the other end of the room in low tone, "You're loud. Haven't you fulfill your stupidity norm for today?"

Lavi snorted, covering his mouth with his hand. "It's just really funny!" he squeaked silently, apparently trying to keep in laughter.

"Do you know what Lenalee would do to you if she caught you now?"

The redhead's smile immediately disappeared and he paled so much that his face was almost shining in the darkness. "Y-you're right," he stuttered in a whisper, "T-that's enough, Tim. It would be enough for Komui." He stuffed the struggling golem into his pocket and sneaked back to the bed.

Which creaked loudly when he layed down, causing him to stop breathing and grit his teeth, cowardly glancing towards the door to Lenalee's room.

"Don't piss yourself," Kanda said with his usual kindness as he noticed Lavi's fear, "If they weren't asleep, you'd be halfway to moon by now."

"Sheesh Yu, you always know how to brighten the mood, eh..."

"Shut up, I want to sleep."

"Fine, alright." Lavi tried to make himself comfortable against Kanda's shoulder again and this time didn't receive a kick nor a punch; they both quickly fell asleep.

Lenalee blinked as she heard the creak from the other room, for a moment forgetting the rough hand that was massaging her chest. What are they doing? she thought, a bit curious but at the same time not wanting to intrude other people's privacy. And judging by the fact that it was night, it had to be something 'private', right?

Allen's hand moved downwards, and she held her breath for a bit, now seriously considering to wake him up. However, after few rubbing motions, it went back up and stayed there, the boy's dream apparently coming to a halt.

"Sheesh, Allen-kun," Lenalee muttered with a light frown; she had to agree that it was somewhat arousing even if this wasn't exactly the way she imagined the beginning of their relationship.

Eventually, she managed to fall asleep again, and this time no one woke up until morning.

When Allen woke up, it was already morning. As he opened his eyes, he saw that he was holding Lenalee by her waist; he blushed and let go of her, deciding to let her sleep for a bot more. He got up and headed towards the door, since his clothes were left in the other room, but it was locked. He narrowed his eyes, staring at where he supposed the other guys were, then sat on the corner of the bed, waiting for Lenalee to wake up, since she had the key.

It didn't take long, the girl stretched lightly and opened her eyes. Her face went red the moment she laid her eyes on Allen, while the boy blinked in surprise. "L-Lenalee? Are you feeling alright?" he asked with concern as he eyed the unusual colour on her face.

He really had no idea what he was doing, Lenalee thought trying to calm herself down and placed her hands on her cheeks. "Yes, I'm fine," she managed a smile before quickly getting up and putting her shorts and jacket on. Allen was looking in another direction gentlemanly like always - when he was conscious, that is.

The girl was done in surprisingly short time; apparently she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Allen got up as she walked to the door and unlocked it, only to see a surprising view in the other room.

Lavi was dead asleep, practically snuggled against Kanda's chest, while the samurai seemed fully awake and not actually minding it at all.

"Look what we have here," Allen said darkly, while Lenalee's blush only deepened thinking of what she heard at night.

Kanda's eyes widened in horror, and he pushed Lavi off himself, smacking him over the head while at it. "Get off of me, idiot!"

Lavi whined, woken up in such a rude way, and grabbed his head. "Sheesh, Yu, what stung you?"

"Don't touch me like that!"

"It didn't bother you three hours ago!"

Kanda gaped and hit Lavi again, "Be silent," he growled, angry that Lavi ruined his last hope of prtraying this as coincidence, and got out of the bed, throwing his coat on angrily.

"I'm surprised you two are still in your pants," Allen said with a devilish chuckle, eyeing the two other Exorcists. Damn, he should have gotten a picture of this, it would have been so great to blackmail Kanda!.. talking about pictures, where was Timcanpy anyway?

"Stop it, Allen," Lenalee said strictly, hitting the boy with her elbow, and the dark mode disappeared immediately.

Lavi finally stopped clutching his head and started dressing as well; both Kanda and Lenalee had already stormed out of the room. Allen stared at his so-called best friend with both surprise and displeasure.

"Look, it's not how it looks like," Lavi said quickly when he noticed the younger boy's look. "Though...if you tell this to anyone, Yu will kill me. So..." he looked at Allen, grinning sheepishly. "I'd be thankful if you kept it secret.."

"What's in it for me?" Allen asked, his poker face back in place the moment Lenalee walked out of the room.

Lavi's uncomfortable grin widened, then suddenly became mischievous. "Then you can have this back," he said, pulling Timcanpy out of his pocket and waving it in front of Allen's nose.

Allen blinked, then snapped. "Hey! Give it back!"

"No!"

"Why you!-"

After a bit of Innocence-activated fighting that destroyed most of the floor - surprisingly, neither Lenalee or Kanda bothered to stop them and were already waiting in the street, glaring in opposite directions - they managed to make a deal. Allen got the recording - which he didn't yet know existed - and promised not to make Kanda's sleeping habits public, though he was sure he would have enough fun just teasing the guys without actually bringing it into spotlight somewhere crowded.

The train travel seemed rather long this time; Kanda didn't talk with anyone - not that this was anything new - and Lenalee would turn red and silence each time Allen would even look at her, eventually sitting further away from him.

Allen sighed and walked to his last option - Lavi, who at the moment was in a seat behind Kanda, poking the samurai's head with a wrapped newspaper trying to make him respond in any way.

"Lavi, can we talk?" Allen asked, sweatdropping lightly as Kanda finally grabbed the newspaper and whacked Lavi with it several times, never actually turning back to look a him.

"Sure," the redhead grinned, finally leaving his best buddy - a really close best buddy, so it seems - be in peace and plopping down in front of Allen.

Allen sat on the corner of the seat. "Lenalee's.." he started silently, then sighed. "She's blushing and running away from me all the time; I have no idea what I did wrong! I don't like it when she's ignoring me like that," he said, looking at Lavi pleadingly, obviously expecting some kind of advice.

For his own fortune or misfortune, Lavi was too blunt to keep the secret for any longer. "Gee, Allen, you might be an excellent Exorcist, but you sure are a wimpy man," he snickered. "You don't understand women at all, do you?"

Alen frowned, wondering if he should thank for the compliment or seriously offend. "Excuse me?"

"It's obvious you were fondling her in your sleep, Beansprout." The redhead grinned widely, obviously amused by the thought, and pointed at Timcanpy who was floating happily above Allen's head. "You can see for yourself, it's all there."

"WHAAAAA?"

Lavi blinked, catching Allen right before he hit the floor. "Uh...Allen?"

Beansprout had fainted.

THE END