The Noah clan discovered their captive, Lavi Bookman Jr, possessed the Heart. It was no shock to anyone his comrades fought like hell to free him regardless of losing his exorcist abilities. It was in fact, the indisputable shock of the century when what seemed like the ghost of Cross Marian strolled into the Order – Heart in hand, miraculously intact. His only demand (a side from his later requested reward of full access to the Order’s winery) being no one, not even the Pope, ever inquire by what means he successfully delivered the Heart to the Order.

Max synchronization was automatically reached by all innocence accommodating exorcists. That was one of many things that happened upon the Heart’s mergence with the unaccommodated innocence residing in Helvasca. Knowledge flowed into her at an alarming rate; her screams sent haunting echoes through the Order’s hallways for days. Bestowed upon the Order through her was the one simple solution – Noah Exorcism. “Mercy of the Heart”, was a way in which each “Noah” including the Earl reverted back into their human origins and lost their fearsome abilities, whist keeping all their memories but also regaining their humanity. After all, the relic was amply named the Heart.  It was in every sense of the word a miracle for the Order.  

Kanda could not deny his heightened synchronization with Mugen when he was briefed but he didn’t swallow the other half of the news so easily. He wasn’t going to risk Allen’s safety. Still, once Neah heard, who by then completely took dominance over Allen’s body whenever he pleased, he wasted no time in making his way to destroying the Heart on his own. Five days of battle later Allen Walker was the first man to be exorcised from a Noah. The rest of the Noahs were no exception. A draw back with the Mercy of the Heart was once exorcised the Noah soul would not vanish, but find the Earl and reside within him. This was a double edged blade; the personality, memories and abilities of that Noah would all embed themselves with the Earl. By time the Order fought the Earl, though he was beyond Unworldly power, the man was driven insane containing each Noah in one vessel – all of which clashed for control. The battle with what the Earl had become lasted half a year. But in the fall of 1893 the war had been won.  A side from the already existing akuma in the world, that the Exorcists would easily turn to dust, never again would departed loved ones be summoned back from their peaceful rest to be enslaved for the Earl’s bidding.

….

It took Howard Link almost 3 and a half years of specialized Crow techniques to heal Mana’s tattered mind and the merged memories of Neah, being the only Noah memories other than his own that remained after the Last Exorcism. After all, he was just a human man born with Noah remnants in his make-up that took over. The Order did not want any unnecessary bloodshed, and the poor man was a danger to himself and others after all he’d been through. So much so, that nothing considered harmful to him was let onto the island. Meaning most cooking utensils, more importantly to Link, his baking utensils were out of the question. Finally though, Link could leave the God forsaken island they had been stranded on for this whole process. He’d be back on main land in 3 weeks. Komui, who constantly relayed the latest gossip to Link at the end of each of his reports, made an annoyingly absurd fuss that he attend Kanda’s Birthday Lenalee and the rest threw every year. According to him it was made into a tradition since they all agreed that man would most likely never go to anyone else’s party! (the first year he attempted not even attending his own, and failed thanks to Miranda’s Time Record) Link didn’t want to give Komui the satisfaction of telling the others he’d won him over, but he was actually looking forward to seeing them… or anyone’s face other than Mana’s to be frank. Again, thanks to Komui he already knew the just of each of their current goings-on, but maybe it was the sure presence of cake that sold him…

On June 6th Link arrived to a small house right on the corner of Pelican Bay. He raised an eyebrow. “That street name seems so unfitting for Kanda.”  

An all too familiar mop of bright red hair and ear to ear grin of a man answered the door promptly. “No WAY!? Guys, LINK is here!”

Slightly startled by the abrupt noises from inside getting closer and Lavi’s generous hug, Link flinched, making him drop the sword sharpening stone he had made from island rock for Kanda. It fell. On his foot. Which in-turn made him yelp, followed by a hint of an embarrassed blush.

“Hahahahaha! A few years of seclusion has made u a bit of a klutz hasn’t it?”

Link didn’t have to look up from inspecting the scuff on his new shoe to know who’s slightly obnoxious-too chipper of a voice that belonged to. He decided ignoring the comment all together would tick Allen Walker off far more than a smart come back. Setting his present very securely amongst the others on the table near the door, he walked in further to see Miranda making her way towards him.

"We're all so happy you could make it!" She helped him put away his coat.

 "Thank you, Miranda. It's good to see you all doing well. Where's Kanda?" Link asked.

"He's upstairs!" Lenalee said as she came off the ladder she used to fix a slightly crooked birthday banner. "He's not to come down till we finish up" she gave Link a generous hug "I don't think he minds that."

"I think I'll go up and greet him properly then, wouldn't want any rules broken on my account!"

Lenalee smiled. "He'll be in the room to your right most likely."

"Thanks."

Lavi had just made his way back to the greeting committee. "Krory will be in soon, Julia is finishing up the cake. He's over joyed you could make it, Link. Krory got married just almost a year ago!"

Link chuckled. "I had heard from Komui he did, lucky fellow got him a good cook too, good for him."

Allen piped in "Good? Her baking skill rivals your own. You'll like her."

Link glanced over, patting his old friend on the back "No doubt you do too then." They both shared a smirk admitting to their shared gluttonous habits. “I’ll be back in a sec,” Link started up the stairs, “Curios to see if that boy finally aged…”

Link gently knocked on the door to the room on his right.

“I’m in here, Link” responded a half muffled answer coming from the left room.

Link opened the door to a small study, catching a glance at a painting of a half crumbled, though elaborate church that was undoubtedly General Tidal’s work right above the desk Kanda was still turned to. “Sorry to intrude, Lenalee thought you’d be…”

“She thought I’d be sleeping, that’s what,” Kanda snapped while turning to him, “I swear she thinks all I do is meditate, mope, or sleep! I suppose that’s what got me into this mess” He gestured one hand to the papers on the desk and rubbed his face wirily with the other before getting up to give a brisk hug to his comrade.

 “What are those? Order reports?”

“God, no!” spat Kanda. “I haven’t set a foot there since the Last Exorcism.”

“Oh? But this house is so close by…” Link was puzzled.

Kanda let out a heavy sigh. “Though it’s the place I despise the most on this Earth, it’s the one and only thing I have left that’s real connecting me to ‘Him’.”

 Link was quite taken aback with Kanda’s openness.

“I’m sure you must’ve felt the same with your fellow Crows…”

“Oh…” Thought Link. “I see.” He said. Link didn’t want to linger on saddening subjects, after all, it was Kanda’s birthday, maybe he’d re-open the topic another visit. “So then what are the papers? You seemed quite immersed.”

Kanda let his head fall to one side and glanced back at Link. “Heh, I’m grading papers.” The begrudgment was audible in Kanda’s voice. It took Link half a second to recall Komui mentioning Kanda had taken on teaching at a dojo that was on the verge of closing, but the topic was cut short at the time thanks to one of Mana’s episodes. “If Lenalee wasn’t so damn persistent I most defiantly wouldn’t have ever thought of teaching little brats.” Unbeknownst to him, the idea was actually Allen’s; they knew Lenalee was the only one who could get Kanda to do it. “At the very least I don’t get any grief from the town’s folk for carrying Mugen.”

Somehow Link sensed an actual fondness in his tone at “little brats” that was quite unexpected. Link could hear the opening of the main door down stairs. Shortly after, a shout from Lavi,

“Link, Krory and Julia are here! Kanda, you stay up there!!”

At the base of the stairs Link greeted Krory and a beautiful, smiling red-head.

“I’ve heard so many interesting things about you, Inspector Link.” Julia had a firm hand-shake despite her slender hand.

“Oh, just Link is fine, Madame,” he reassured her, “and as have I, about you! I haven’t had a decent cake in years.”

Julia blushed.

“Butternut cake is her specialty.” Krory exclaimed, beaming with pride. “How have you been, Link?” Krory asked.

Allen yelled from inside the kitchen , “Julia, did you happen to bring your cake cutter again, no way Kanda has one."

Julia excused herself from the two before yelling back, “Walker, don’t you dare lick a morsel off that icing, so help me… I’m not covering it up like last year!”

Link replied to Krory, “Quite obviously not as good as you. How did you two meet?”

Krory took a seat in one of the near-by chairs and gestured for Link to do the same. “She’s a science division botanist from the American branch. She transferred 3 years ago to be closer to her uncle in London. She was quite impressed with my additions to our London branch garden and was the only one who knew how to care for them properly when I was sent out for missions. I guess things just set into place and we clicked. Never did I think I’d meet someone else in my life time, but I did, and all thanks to my grandfather’s pets, might I add.” Link noticed his bit of fidgeting when he talked about her, he clearly was in-love.

“Krory!” Miranda came in looking for him. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I just need you for a moment, Krory. Kanda is so tall, I can’t reach his cups in that cupboard, would you mind?”

Krory got up. “Oh, sure thing.”

Link followed towards the kitchen, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“YES,” exclaimed Lenalee while tying up the last few streamers “keep Allen and Timcanpy out of here away from the food! Gosh, the two of them still haven’t grasped that puppy-dog eyes and whimpers don’t faze us.”

“Geez Allen, have some tact.” Link cautioned, as he swiped a croissant from the edge of the counter.

Allen smirked, trying his own luck, reaching for one.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, I’ll let it slide for Link this time, but did you actually think you were gonna pull a fast one with a Bookman standing gurad? Get walkin, Walker.”

Back in the living-room Link retook his seat and Allen sat down too. “Any chance you’d share that?”

“Ahhh, no.” Link’s grin hadn’t been this genuine in what seemed like forever. “So tell me, last I heard, you were doing carpenter work. How’d that come about?”

“Well I had to do something other than just therapy after the exorcism since the Order refused to let me dive right back into work. The claw goes through wood like a short knife in butter; I’ve even gotten artsy with it actually. I don’t just get repair requests anymore; I’ve gotten orders for full sets of furniture a few times.” He pointed to the kitchen, “That table is one of mine. I practically had to break Kanda’s old joke of a table myself to get him to keep it though, stubborn mule.”

Link put his hand on Allen’s chair armrest, “Allen, we should have a session some time about the fragmented memories. I know so much now about them since working with Mana, I’m sure I could give you far better answers than anyone else from the Order.” he was serious.

“Thank you for that, I figure with you back, the Order would make that arrangement anyway sooner or later.”

“Most likely yes, but I wanted you to know I’d do it as your friend, not just to follow orders.”

Allen smiled, then he caught a glance of Lavi passing by in the kitchen helping Julia with the candles. “Actually, for the most part we’re all doing rather well, all things considered. All but Lavi. He’s the Order’s Bookman now, but doesn’t have his innocence since it needs to be kept with Helvaska for the rest of us to stay fully synced up. It still baffles me he had the Heart... I think he for some reason feels less apart of the team without his hammer. All he can do watch History and record it.”

Link nodded. “I can imagine him feeling excluded”

Allen nodded back. “The Order sends him out, he doesn’t tell us to where and doesn’t write until he’s almost back home. I don’t know, it’s just not like him. I’ve asked him, but he just claims to have been busy. It not that he’s not WANTING to communicate with us… he’s always bringing gifts back and tells us all sort of new things about the different places, but never about his mission. I’m worried the Order has him doing something shady.”

“I’ll defiantly see what I can do to find out more on him for you.” Link promised.

A giddy Krory emerged from the kitchen. “Ok, everything is ready, could you two go and tell Kanda he could come down now?”

Link and Kanda came down the stairs looking very unamused with an ecstatic Allen grasping the ends of both their pony tails behind them yelling “Faster Starlight, Faster Midnight! Giddy-up!”

Link was too busy thinking just how much teaching children must have soften Kanda since he would’ve already attempted slicing Allen in half in the old days… in fact Link considered threatening to doing so himself if he hadn’t been so baffled by Kanda’s change in behavior.

Only Lavi dared let out a chuckle at the joke and then Lenalee decided she had better make a move before the party turned into a murder scene. POP, went a rather large round of confetti over the three followed by a loud “Happy Birthday Kandaaa and Welcome Back Link!!” Krory ushered the two in front of a cake with those exact words written on it.

Link got lost for a moment, he didn’t know if it was just the contentment he’d felt or if it was the sight of that glorious cake, but whatever it was, he was really quite thankful to Komui for persuading him to come. He was brought back to reality hearing Kanda grumble to Lenalee that the messy confetti wasn’t necessary, followed by a Thank you. Link thought it was probably the first time he personally heard Kanda say it. Man, he was going to have to get adjusted to things fast.

Julia cut the cake as each of them got their drinks.

“Link, try this, it’s spiked with some of the real good stuff Tyki brought Kanda as an early birthday present before he left for his mission.” Miranda gave him a glass.

His eyes widened and he couldn’t hide the look of sheer confusion on his face.

Miranda giggled “Oh no! Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”

“Know what!?”

“Oh my, it seems you really don’t. After they underwent Mercy of the Heart, the former Noah members were recruited as Akuma Locators, basically being in charge of our Finders. It makes sense actually, even after regaining their humanity they still had their Noah memories, so of course they knew where a lot of the Akuma hide outs were. They really are quite helpful and very much part of the team now. In a way I’m sure it helps them find redemption.”

“Their spread out between the American, London and Asian Braches,” added Krory. “We have Tyki, Road and Wisely here.”

“Luckily for me!” Allen raised his glass “Tyki is almost as bad at cards as Cross, I’ve made so much money off that man. I just don’t get why he’s so dead set on beating me. I don’t even cheat with him anymore – the man has rotten luck!”

Link downed his glass and asked for another… he didn’t think he could take many more surprises sober.

“Lenalee and Road are quite the duo!” continued Allen. “In Greece they took down 53 high level akuma in 2 weeks. They’re kind of scary when they team up for pranking too, so watch out for that Link. Wisely seems to like working with Miranda. The boy hates pain so her Time Record is a plus. Oddly enough he relentlessly teases you, though Miranda. If you ask me, I think he likes her.”

“No! It’s not like that at all, Allen, I assure you… I think…” Miranda’s face was practically a strawberry.

“This cake is divine, Julia!” Link changed the subject saving Miranda from more incomprehensible babbling about Wisley.

“Here Kanda, open these first!” Lavi dragged over the present’s table closer to Kanda. He opened the box and carefully pulled out 3 silk garments and then another small box packed full of sandalwood incense.

“Oh, good thinking Lavi, incense! For God’s sake, put those in your laundry room Kanda.” Allen was smiling with an eyebrow raised waiting for a brutal response.

“I’m going to throw your present in the trash, Walker.” Kanda didn’t disappoint.

“Picked those up while I was in Taiwan just a few weeks ago,” Lavi pulled a stick from the incense, “just one should be potent enough for the whole house. And I hope those fit you Kanda.”

“I’m sure they do, thanks Lavi, they’re great.” 

Allen and Link shared a quick glance, if Lavi was all the way in Taiwan, no doubt he was summoned to the Asian Branch.

Kanda grabbed a small rectangular package. “Huh, from Link? What could be this heavy?” He tore open the wrappings. “Woah, I actually needed another one of these. Where did you find one so big?”

“There were plenty of suitable rocks of that kind on the island; I used the same stone for my blades. I made that one myself.” Link knew a swordsman would appreciate the size.

Kanda smirked and gave him a nod of appreciation, reaching for the next item - a pot holding some sort of herb shrub.

“Ah, that’s mine!” Krory made his way over. “These plants are the BEST pest repellent, I’m sure training outside with the kids in summer is quite hard with all of the mosquitoes. Dry out these buds on top once they flower and plant their seeds around the perimeter, you barely have to water and you have a bug barrier!”

“If only getting rid of Akuma were that easy…” shugged Kanda.

“Actually we’re working on something like that for the bug type akuma.”Julia chuckled.

The next present was a chrome bag from Lenalee. Kanda’s face was puzzled when he pulled out an Order’s golem.

“Komui helped me with modifying it. It’s a much older model, so no one would miss it from inventory. It’s no secret Kanda, at least not to us, that you’ve been slaying akuma whenever you get word. We actually appreciate your help. That golem has zero tracking and this way you can hear for yourself where the threats are and if you can engage without crossing paths with the Order’s Finders.”

“Tch. …I see. Well I appreciate it. I’ll make good use of this Lenalee”

Next up was the rather large box that no doubt was Allen’s. “Well thank you all for your gifts, you guys really shouldn’t have...”

Allen stood up, grabbed the box and dropped it in Kanda’s lap.

“Oomph! Shit Allen, what’s in there?”

Allen bent down right in his face with a menacing grin. “Open it and find out.”

Kanda tore through the cardboard to reveal a five piece stainless steel cooking set. “Shocker, it had to be food related.”

“You can’t just say “Thanks Allen, these are much better than the aluminum crap I’ve been using… you’re such a pal!” now could you?”  

Kanda set them aside. “The aluminum at least gets hot far quicker than these heavy beasts will.”

Miranda shot up from her seat “Oh, wait, you’re not done yet, Kanda. One moment.” She hurried into the kitchen, coming out carrying a box with holes in the top; she set it gently on Kanda’s lap and released her Time Record that was encasing it. “Now, easy does it…”

Kanda obviously didn’t like where this was heading as he lifted the lid to see inside. He looked up with the best forced smile he could muster but his eyes screamed “help me, I can’t be crude to polite-as-always Miranda of all people”. “You got me a kitten?!”

Miranda smiled back hesitantly. “He has all his shots; he’s fixed and already potty trained!”

Kanda pulled the little fellow out for the rest to see the tiny blue eyed and grey kitten. For a good while he was silent, deliberating on how he should phrase “I don’t want it.” without causing Miranda to have a panic attack.

The kitten turned right around, looked at Kanda and gently pressed his paw on Kanda’s cheek. His head ever so slightly jerked back, he wasn’t expecting that. This didn’t go unnoticed to his guests, all of which were at the brink of tearing into manic laughter.

The first to break was Allen. “The kitten bopped Kanda! Hahahah!” The kitten turned his way, pounced off Kanda’s hand and strolled over towards him. Timcanpy instinctively hid behind Allen’s shoulder. “Aww, hey little guy, I know, Kanda is grumpy. I’m much nicer.” He pet the kitten and it made its way up towards his chest. “Ohh, you may need your claws trimmed a bit, ouch…” with no warning at all the little animal lunged it’s self at the hovering yellow ball behind Allen, Allen jerked back so quickly he squished Tim to the chair and hit his head on the wall behind him. “Oh my God!!!” He shouted.

The kitten only mildly startled, strode back to Kanda and pawed at his loose hair strands. At this point everyone was giggling at the little entertainer. Kanda looked over to Miranda.

“So what do you think?” she asked.

Kanda looked back down at the little fur ball. “I think his name is Karma.”

Pairing: Lavi Bookman X Reader

Rating: M

Requested by: spazybuns

Warning: Drug use

Summery: AU - There's a party and Lavi's late, only to find his girlfriend smoking weed when he does get there.

Author’s Note: Wow. I actually wrote something. I'm sorry these are taking so long sweetie. I hope you like it <3

They were supposed to meet at the party an hour ago, but Bookman wouldn’t let Lavi leave the house until all his work for the day was finished, which put him an hour behind. He made sure to text [name], tell her that he would be late. The lack of text back has him more nervous than he should be and he has a bad feeling about this.

  The house is crowded when he finally arrives and he notices the smell right away. It pulls his lips down into a frown as he pushes through a few people crowding the door. He has to cover his mouth as he gets further into the house, the smell of pot hitting his noise and making him cringe.

  But then he sees [name].

  The jot isn’t supposed to be in her lips. They’ve talked about this before; the damage that drug can do to your drain, especially at their age. The way it seems to affect her behavior, which is clear by her laid back behavior right now, watching her laugh and flop around because she can’t seem to put one foot in front of the other.

  “[Name], what are you doing?”

  At the sounds of his voice, [name] seems to perk up, a smile pulling up her lips as she runs over to Lavi, throwing her arms around his neck. “Lavi!” A giggle leaves the girls lips and a frown pulls down Lavi’s.

  “I’m taking you home.”

  “But I’m having fun!” She whines, pulling away to look at him. She smells like pot and it makes Lavi wrinkle his noise in disgust.

  “No, you’re high. There is a different. You’ll do something stupid.” Lavi knows she will too, because this isn’t the first time it has happened and Lavi’s been trying to get her to stop, but she always seems to go back to it when he isn’t around.

  “I don’t want to leave!”

  There are mummers coming from behind them about Lavi being a party pooper and so on so forth, but Lavi doesn’t really care. The girl shouldn’t be doing this and they’ve talked about it

  “Come on.”

  It’s easy to tug her out of the place when she is like this, swaying and eyes unfocused. She looks like a wreck and Lavi makes sure she leaves any pot behind before shoving her into the passenger’s seat of his old beat up car.

  She asleep before he can talk to her though, chest rising and falling easily in the passenger seat. He isn’t going to wake her either, because it’s easier to talk to her when she isn’t high and she’s always been a pro at sleeping this stuff off.

  --------------------------------

  He wakes up late to the sound of the shower going. The apartment he lives in with Bookman is small and the other doesn’t even know [name] is staying over so Lavi hopes she wasn’t spotted this morning, because that is obviously her in the shower, because she isn’t next to him anymore.

  Getting up, he pulls a shirt over his head, padding out of the room in his boxers. Bookman glares at him on his way out and he can only give the other a weak, nervous smile as he grabs a box of cereal. “There was a problem. I had to take her here,” he explains. Bookman is about to speak when [name] chooses that moment to walk out, wrapped in a towel.

  “Hey, can I have some of that too?” she asks and Lavi can only scowl as he puts the box down, walking over to [name] and grabbing her wrist to pull her into his room.

  Once the door is shut, he turns on [name], green eye narrow. “What the fuck were you thinking last night? We talked about this and you promised you try and quite.” He’s mad, because they’ve been over this time and time again.

  “Hey, came down,” [name] says, stepping forward to rubbing his arms. “You know what addiction is like and I just couldn’t not take a drag when it hit me when I walked in. You were the one that left me alone there and I just couldn’t help it. I hadn’t had one in ages and it was just calling to me.”

  The point about him being late is ignored. “You need to fight it though.”

  “It’s pretty damn hard to fight when disappointment is running through your damn system because your boyfriend is going to be late….again. I was disappointed and I’ve been stressed lately and I’m sorry.”

  Dammit, he was the one who left her alone…again. She always says he’s a good distraction from it and the thought pulls a frown to his lips. “I’m sorry for being late. I am, but you know Bookman. That doesn’t make this okay though.”

  “I know. I tried okay. I resisted for nearly half an hour. Sitting in a room full of smoke like that for half an hour is pretty damn good. I’ll try harder next time though.”

  “And I’ll try to be there on time next time.”

  It’s obvious that the little tiff is over when [name] presses a kiss to his lips and he’s happy to realize she brushed her teeth, because her mouth doesn’t taste like shit.

  “Now, I think I need to make it up to you.”

Pairing: Kanda Yuu X Reader

Rating: T

Summery: "At least you have the good grace to admit it." (Prompt from writeworld)

Author’s Note: I wrote another thing. Don't be afraid to request! I have a bunch of time on my hands now that summer is here,

A frustrated sigh leaves [name]’s lips as she rube her tempts in an attempted to sooth her oncoming headache. “Why the hell can't you just cooperate for once?” she growls, her words like venom as she glares at the dark haired male in front of her.

  She watches the emotions wash over his face before it turns to the usual blank mask, his features hard and unforgiving as he glares at her. “Che,” he grunts, arms crossing over his chest in an intimidating way. She rolls her eyes, her fingers dropping from her temples and clenching into fists.

  “Why can’t you just say it? Why can’t you have the decency to return those three damn words? I know you do! At least I admit I love you! I don’t get why you can’t do that same!” she screams, her chest heaving as she takes in a lung full of air. She can feel the tears trying to escape, but she pushes them back. She isn’t going to cry.

  “Fine!” It takes a lot for Kanda to lose his cool, but she can see him cracking, his words coming out strained. “I don’t get what you’re damn problem is. I don’t know why I have to say it if you already know!”

  “That’s the thing! I don’t know! I’ve never had anyone say they love me before. I never had parents to tell me that or friends who loved me as siblings. I didn’t get those things. I’ve never even heard those words directed toward me before!”

  She’s shut down before any more words can leave her lips. Kanda crashes her against his body and smashes their lips together. She takes in a deep breath through her nose, blinking her eyes closed as the tears start to drip down her cheeks, smearing as she kisses Kanda as hard as she can, trying to get out all her frustrations.

  He pulls back, only for her to lean forward and place their lips back together. The kiss only lasts a few seconds before Kanda steps back, his lips red and puffy from the pure intensity of the kiss. “Dammit, [name], you know I love you!” The words come out harsher than they probably should, because she knows he is still frustrated, but those are still the words she wanted to hear. Those are still the three little words she’s been waiting for someone to say to her her whole life.

  “I love you too,” she says and she can’t help the sob the escape from her lips as she steps forward and presses their lips together again. This time it is gentler, lips moving against each other until he brushes his tongue across her bottom lips.

Pairing: Lavi Bookman X Reader

Rating: T

Summery: AU - The Laundromat down the street seems to be her only option when she realizes her washer is broken.

Author’s Note: The reader is 23 years old.

Part one | Part Two

Three

The coffee date went better than she thought it would. They talked like old friends and she got to learn a lot about him. She knows he’s still in college, 21 years old and working toward a medical degree. He works at his grandfather’s bookstore when he has time and reads almost all the books that go through the book store. He graduated high school a year early and eight grade a year early. That put him in college at the age of 16.

The only problem with the date was that she didn’t get his phone number.

She is tempted to conveniently have the mechanic cancel again so she has an excuse to go to the Laundromat, but she knows that would be on the pathetic side. She doesn’t want to seem that desperate. Plus, she doesn’t even know if he’ll be at the Laundromat when she goes.

She decides to just drive by it on her way home from work. It adds an extra five minutes to her drive, but if she runs into Lavi the extra five minutes is totally worth it. She is about to give up with the extra five minute drive when she notices the batch of red hair in the Laundromat. She pulls over onto the side of the road and smiles to herself as she pushes the door open. She is about to walk over when she notices it isn’t Lavi standing on the other side of the Laundromat. The man has red hair, but looks older and half his face covered. She frowns, shoulders slouched in defeat. She’ll just have to accept that she isn’t going to see him again.

“What’s wrong, [name]?” The question startles her and she ends up dropping the door as she spins around, the glass coming in contact with her butt, throwing her forward. She falls into Lavi’s chest and she can feel the chuckle rumbling against her cheek. She pulls away as quick as possible, nearly falling as she tries to get her footing.

“S-sorry, um….” She doesn’t know what to say know. She can’t very well tell him she was looking for him. She can’t tell him she’s been driving by this place every day after work just so she can see him and talk to him. She can’t tell him she thought of cancelling on the mechanic just to come back to glimpse the red hair she’s grown to really like in only the few short times they’ve seen each other.

“Where you looking for me?” Lavi teases and she tries to laugh, force the sound out of her lips, but it just sounds bad and Lavi blinks at her, obviously wondering if his words were true. “Wait…where you?” He tilts his head to the side a bit and she bits her lips, contemplating what to say. She decides the truth is the best way to go.

“I guess…um…Maybe-” She takes in a deep breath, because she’s pretty sure her lungs are going to give as well as her heart as it pounds against her rib cage. “I just wanted to know if we could go out again.” The words are rushed and she’s worried he will turn her down when he takes so long to say something.

“Really?” The words leave his lips minutes later, or at least she thinks its been minutes because it feels like it has.

“Yeah, I really liked hanging out with you last time,” she says honestly. She returns the smile that graces his lips.

“I would love to go out with you again! Here, we can exchange numbers and see what happens,” he says, digging into his pocket. He pulls out an old beat up phone and she wonders how he can afford college if he can’t even afford a new phone. He’s smart though. He must be on scholarship. She gives him a sheepish smile when she pulls out her new iPhone issued by her work. She watches in amazement as his fingers fly across the screen and in seconds the phone is thrust back into her hands. She takes the phone and shoves it back into her pocket before finishing up with him phone. “I’ll call you?”

“That sounds good to me,” she smiles. They stand in silence for a few minutes and the red head [name] mistook Lavi for walks out, nodding in Lavi’s direction before walking away. That breaks them both out of their silence. “I’ll see you later then.” Lavi nods his head.

“Yeah, bye!”