"we've been nothing but friends for our whole lives but then we played seven minutes in heaven on a dare and now i think i might actually be in love with you" AU. LaviLena.

Notes: Written for kandayuu on tumblr which was due long ago but I got distracted with baseball idiots...ahem. Sometimes I don't write lavi/kanda, who knew :D

Lavi is laughing way too hard as curses and shouts are clearly heard from the closet, of which seems to escalate in volume as seconds tick by. Lavi isn't sure if seven minutes will pass before the door breaks open or something—the duo forced to be stuffed in that tiny space together can never be placed in the same vicinity without some sort of disaster happening. Sure enough, by the end of the first minute, there is a loud thump coming from the inside followed by a,

"Fucking shit—where the fuck are you touching me?"

"Stupid Kanda—oww, ugh, don't—that was my eye, you sodding dick—"

"That's it, I'm getting out of this fucking shitty piece of—"

"If you come out before the seven minutes is up, you know what the penalty is!" Lavi sings loudly with a snicker.

Another muffled growl comes from the closet along with a string of darkened curses outlining what the person inside thought about the stupid penalty, and at the end of the fourth minute, the door slams open so hard Lavi winces for the hinge that is probably hanging to its last screw. Kanda emerges first, nearly tripping in his haste to exit the closet, or rather, to get away from one particular beansprout. Lenalee covers her grin as she watches Allen purposely hooking his feet underneath Kanda's leg before the other steps out fully, resulting in a full on crash. More profanities fly, and the white haired boy huffs indignantly as he exits the closet ignoring the retaliating snarl in his direction.

"Penalty time, losers," Daisya smirks, chanting with a devious glint. "Gotta kiss and make up!"

"The hell I will!" Kanda sneers, yanking himself away from the other who had come towards him with wriggling fingers.

Lavi nearly chokes with how much he's laughing, and wheezes hard when Allen comes to sit calmly back down next to him.

"How was heaven, eh?" he nudges the other, who scowls and crosses his arms.

"I'd rather go to the thirteenth circle of hell than back there again, thank you very much," Allen sniffs. "He hit me in the stomach," he grumbles. "And my eye and my jaw and my head and my—"

"There there," Lavi pats the other's back with a grin. "You took one for the team."

"What team?"

"Wildcats—"

"No," Allen cuts him off with an eyeroll. "I meant, there's no team in this game."

Technicalities, Lavi grins, but the younger is right. Seated scattered in the room are some of their hall mates, most of whom they've known for a long time pre-college; they're in a small town with little university choices nearby. They've gathered for a bit of fun after the exams, and someone—might've been him, who knows—suggested a game of seven in minutes in heaven, and because they crashed Kanda's room (the only reason why the other hasn't stormed away), there is absolutely nothing of entertainment value in Kanda's room, as they find out. Except the closet, which is empty; apparently Kanda keeps all his clothes in the drawers.

A pained groan from the other side of the room tells them that Daisya is clutching his rib and rolling on the ground with pain, while Kanda sits himself angrily at the corner of his bed. Lenalee shakes her head and whacks him by the shoulder.

"What," Kanda glares.

"You're such a sore loser," Lenalee replies, smiling.

"I said I didn't want to play this stupid game," Kanda retorts.

"Fine, fine," Lenalee waves her hand absentmindedly and leaves him there to go back to their circle.

Sometimes it's better not to push Kanda; she's pretty sure he could manhandle all of them out of his room if he really wanted to.

"Whose turn is it?" she calls as the rest settle back down, all of their backs turned to ignore the brooding male in his own corner.

"Yours," Lavi answers.

Lenalee picks the dice off the floor and gives it a toss. The dice hits the carpeted floor and spins just once before coming to a standstill—a six. Daiysa hoots and Lenalee rolls her eyes, but she's smiling anyway; no matter who is going into the closet with her, she's sure Daisya will do the same.

"It's your lucky day, Lenalee," Lavi waggles his eyebrows as he stands up, stretching. "You get the hot one aka me," he thumbs, grinning wide.

Lenalee chokes on a giggle, and tries not to laugh for real when Lavi makes a mock offended expression. She steps into the closet first—it actually feels smaller than it looks, and tilts her head up slightly where her head is nearly touching the top. Lavi climbs in after her, and the first thing he does is to knock his head against the top.

"Oww," he whines, crouching further down, and all they see is Daiysa's smirking grin before the other slams the door shut in their faces, plunging them into darkness.

Shit, the closet is tiny, with Lavi's elbows knocking into the sides as he tries to find a position that's more comfortable. But more importantly it's low, and Lavi realises that he can't straighten up fully with his height. He ends up feeling up something in the darkness while he wrings his shoulders, trying to ease the ache that's steadily building up from the way he has to lower his head down.

"You're groping me," comes Lenalee's flat voice much closer than he expects, and he jolts, banging the back of his head up against the top again.

"OW!—Shit, sorry!" he retracts his hands, now at a loss at where to place them now. "I uh, I didn't meant to uh, do that. Sorry. Fuck, I see why Yuu was swearing the house down just now."

"That's just Kanda, don't you think," Lenalee adds in dryly.

"Maybe about 90%," Lavi agrees, "But damn, my neck hurts already. How long has it been? Half a minute?" he groans. "Man, this isn't romantic at all."

Now that his eye has somewhat adjusted to the darkness, he can make out a very vague outline of Lenalee in front of him.

"Dude," Lenalee starts, and he can hear the clear mirth in her voice. "Was that what you were aiming for? And how long have you known me?"

"Who says I was trying to set the mood with the lady?" Lavi counters teasingly. "Maybe I wanted to have some time alone with Yuu, have you ever thought about that?"

Lenalee nearly outright laughs this time. "And how long have you known Kanda?"

"…Fine," he mock huffs. "You win this time round."

"You mean like you've ever won?"

"Ouch," Lavi clutches his chest, but he's grinning too hard to lather convincing hurt in his voice. "That was a shot right through the heart, Lenalee, I think I need a kiss to make up for that."

Even though it's too dark to make out the expression on her face, Lavi is beyond certain that she's rolling her eyes. They settle into silence after—he can't see what she's doing, but he's uncomfortably trying to wriggle his neck into a better position that doesn't consist of him tilting it down. He tries for a bit to bend his knees but that just results into him knocking more into Lenalee and more hasty apologies to follow. Eventually he finds a way to lean sideways towards the door as much as he can.

"It's pretty hot in here," Lenalee says absentmindedly after a few more seconds of quiet.

It's kind of suspicious how there is no yelling on the outside, to be honest.

"Sorry, that's my fault." Lavi answers winningly, and takes the jab to his rib with no complaints. "Fine, it's your hotness, are you happy now?"

"You're so lame, sometimes," Lenalee shakes her head. "All the time."

"Careful, you're pushing the arrow in the heart deeper. Digging it in. Shoving it around—"

"Lavi, stop," she laughs, exasperated as she jabs his rib again. "God, why did I even agree to this game with you boys? Ugh, it's so stuffy in here."

"Well, at least it doesn't smell like old socks."

"True, but there is a smell."

Lavi pauses abruptly. "…This might be awkward but…it's not me, right? I mean, I know I sweat and stuff but I'm pretty sure I wore deo this morn—"

"I'm not talking about you. I know how you smell like," Lenalee states. "I'm just saying the closet has—"

"Woah, what," Lavi chokes. "You know how I smell like? How do I smell? Is it good or bad?"

"I didn't mean it in a weird way, dude," Lenalee says, deadpan. "You haven't changed whatever brand of deodorant or cologne you've used for at least five years now."

"Oh," Lavi blinks. "So…do I smell better in the closet?"

Lavi takes the smack to his stomach while he's trying to breathe from his laughter, bumping around the tiny space. The extra exertion and stuffiness of their darkened space makes him breathe heavier than before, and he sincerely hopes that he isn't sweating too much—he might joke about that, but he's a little genuinely concerned about suffocating Lenalee with bad odour, especially when the girl smells incredibly nice and sweet like she always does.

"Ugh, how long have we been in here?" he asks with a groan. "Not saying being alone with you isn't great, but I'm going have a neck sprain by the end of this."

Lenalee shrugs and he can feel a bit of the movement.

"No idea," she says. "It sure feels longer than when we were outside."

Lavi hums in agreement while he shifts his weight on his feet again. He has never once cursed his height until now, because he's starting to get a headache from how much strain is put on his neck by how he's leaning forward whilst trying not to touch Lenalee in the process. He gropes the sides of the closet to find a way to rest them comfortably, and eventually he mutters a short apology and places one above Lenalee's shoulder. It's just too cramped—and it's getting even more conspicuous on how cramped it is for both of them.

Just before he opens his mouth to say something, he hears Lenalee click her tongue. Her fingers run through the hair on the back of his head before gently pressing his head down low, such that his forehead rests her shoulder.

Lavi freezes, breath suddenly caught. "Uh, L-Lenalee?"

"It's better for your neck if you rest your head on my shoulder," she replies, voice too near his ear.

"O-oh. Thanks."

It's not the first time he's been in this close proximity to Lenalee—he's known her for plenty of years, they've hugged many times too, but for some reason he feels hyperaware of her hand resting on his nape. His neck feels really hot this time and it's burning up to his ears. It might be how stuffy the closet is, but that doesn't explain why he's nervous of how close his nose is to her neck, and fuck, it smells good, she smells really good; light and sweet and soft.

"Lavi."

"Yeah?"

"Your hands."

It takes a few seconds to realise that his hands are settled on her hips, and he retracts so fast that he bangs his head on the top of the closet again.

"OWW—fuck, shit—oww—" he moans in the midst of pain. "Shit, I-I—I didn't realise—I really didn't—"

He silences when she fumbles at the front of his shirt, and forcefully pulls him down so that he can rest his forehead on her shoulder again. "Calm down, you're going to hurt yourself."

"Too late for that," Lavi mumbles as he accedes, but this time he takes extra precaution to leave his hands behind his back. "Uh. You're not going to tell your bro, right? Because I didn't mean to uh, touch you. Not that I wouldn't—I mean, I. You. You know what I mean. And. Uh. I want to have kids in the future, so you know, it'd be really cool if I get to keep the appropriate parts necessary for reproduction, just saying—"

Lenalee cuffs his nape during his monologue and laughs. "You're such a dork."

"A hot one, right?"

Lenalee pats the back of his head. "If that makes you happy."

"Lenalee, come on," he whines, and squeezes his eye shut when he really feels the strain on his neck setting in. "…This is really less fun than I imagined it to be."

"It was your idea," Lenalee agrees. "You know," she begins thoughtfully after a beat. "Maybe there's a spider."

A chill goes down Lavi's spine immediately from the hushed way that she says it.

"Why did you have to say that? Oh my god," he whispers. "I think I feel something on my back."

Lenalee chuckles. "We did check before we started playing though."

"Yeah, but you can never be too—" Lavi stops when a light prickly sensation creeps up his back. "Now, I definitely felt something."

He feels Lenalee also stiffen under him, and both of them stay stone still for the next few seconds until Lavi is definitely sure there is something crawling up his back.

"Hey, are you just—"

"Shit, shit, shit—" he whispers furiously, voice getting louder with each word when he feels it again. "There's something—can, can you help me see?" Before Lenalee can even reply, he groans. "Okay, stupid question. Uh. Fuck, I swear there's something crawling up my—" he chokes off in a sharp squeal when a light touch breezes up his spine.

He clutches Lenalee hard, nearly shoving himself into her arms. "FUCK WHAT WAS THAT—"

Lenalee laughs, she laughs so loud that he startles.

"What was that sound you did?" she manages, in between breaths. "It was like a dolphin—"

"Lenalee, it was your hand, wasn't it?" Lavi states flatly, over her continuing laughter. "Lenalee! Don't just keep laughing at me—"

But she won't stop laughing and he tries to get her to stop with his hands, fumbling to cover her mouth, which makes her laugh even more. He grapples with her childishly, yelling his insistence about there was no sound while she attempts to imitate him. It's horrendously bad, and he can't help a choked chuckle even as he tries to stay mock offended.

"You're terrible, Lenalee, the worst—" he argues, and Lenalee wraps her arms around his head to smush his face into her shoulder to shut him up.

Except in the darkness his face doesn't land as proper as it should—his nose smashes right into her collarbone, and his mouth is dangerously pressed open near her cleavage—but Lenalee seems to take no heed, holding him tight while he struggles, noises muffled.

Almost immediately all thoughts about the spider prank are gone and replaced by blurred panic. Lavi is hyperaware of how his heart is thumping so hard he feels like it's slamming against his chest. He tries to take a deep breath but his throat is constricted, head too blank except for the realisation that he's going to hyperventilate if she keeps holding him there.

"Lenalee, l-let go—" he gropes around for leverage, and accidently presses his hand against her ass—she pounds a fist on the top of his head for that in between her laughter and refuses to let go—and he takes the punishment willingly, inwardly cursing his hand till the end of time.

Fuck, he's sure his face is so red, he's isn't sure how he's going to play it off on the heat later.

All too sudden the door opens and Lavi is hit with fresh air and brightness, with the sound of Lenalee's laughter still trickling strong. Lavi nearly crashes on his knees when Lenalee releases him, turning to extract herself from the closet, fanning her hands at her face. It takes a while for his vision to adjust, where he sees Daisya listening eagerly to whatever Lenalee is trying to say through her gasped laughter, while Allen comes over to offer a hand.

"…Are you okay?" Allen asks, eyes blinking. "There was a lot of screaming," he says after, with an amused smile.

"Uh, yeah," Lavi swallows, taking the hand.

Lavi stumbles out, distracted. With the open air he now breathes easier, but his heartbeat is erratically fast, like he's just ran a marathon. Self-consciously he pats his cheeks and fans himself—at least no one has commented on his face, so it's probably not as red as he thinks it is.

Maybe it's just…the heat.

He darts his gaze back to Lenalee, just to check, and like a command his heart thumps again.

Ah, shit.

Fin.