A/N: Help, I am drowning in ideas from freaking Tumblr.

Title: Juxtaposition

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: K+

Pairings: None

Genre: Friendship

Warnings: Implied mental illness

Summary: Allen, Kanda, and Alma meet in the first grade. Alma feels sorry for Ms. Galmar; Allen and Kanda are a handful. Modern!AU.

Disclaimer: Like hell I own D. Gray-man.

On the first day of first grade, Alma and Kanda sat alone at a table.

Kanda was slumped grumpily, fisted hands resting on the surface in front of him, glowering at nothing, with his head resting on one arm. Alma nudged him.

"Yuu," he whined quietly, dismayed. "Stop being such a grumpyface."

"I'm not a grumpyface," Kanda muttered grumpily.

"You are!" Alma said petulantly. Kanda scowled at the whine in his voice.

Alma tugged at Kanda's arm, and Kanda rolled his head to glower at Alma instead, a complaint already on the tip of his tongue. It faded when he saw Alma's genuinely upset expression, and he sighed, heavy and put-upon, and pushed himself up.

"What?" he asked at last, frowning at his friend.

Alma beamed at him, all signs of distress gone already, and looked around quickly. His hair whipped across his eyes, but he'd already spotted his victim and pointed at a red-haired boy sitting alone at another table, head propped on one hand and frowning at a set of geometry blocks.

"Look!" he told Kanda excitedly. "He's all alone! We should go make friends!"

"He's all alone 'cause no one likes him," Kanda sniped, slumping back down. "We don't need other friends, anyway. We have each other."

"Kanda," Alma pleaded, eyes wide and sad, and Kanda exhaled harshly, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever," he muttered.

Alma beamed and dragged Kanda over to the other table. You'd've never known it to look at him, but Alma was strong.

"Hi!" Alma said brightly, as soon as they were in front of the redhead. The boy tilted his head up to frown at them, and Alma continued, still holding onto Kanda's wrist, "I'm Alma, and this is Yuu, but he likes to be called Kanda! What's your name?"

The boy frowned at them for a long time. Alma's smile never wavered, but Kanda was scowling in seconds, glaring at him. No one was allowed to upset Alma.

"Go away," the boy said at last, short and curt, and looked back down. Beside Kanda, Alma deflated, and when Kanda glanced over, his expression had crumpled, tears welling up in his eyes. His hand went limp, Kanda's wrist sliding out of it.

Kanda went from apathetic to furious in about two seconds.

"Hey!" he snarled, taking a step forward, fists clenched. The boy looked back up, disinterested, until he saw the look on Kanda's face, and then Kanda could see his gaze sharpen. "Where do you get off being a jerk to Alma?"

The boy's gaze lingered on him, a faint scowl on his face. "I wasn't being a jerk, I was using my words," he snapped. "Like people get told to, jerk."

"Say something nice or shut your face!" Kanda snapped back. "Or I'll hit you!" He really, really wanted to hit him.

The boy stood up, grey eyes intent on Kanda's and scowl deepening. "You can try, asshole!" he snapped. Behind Kanda, Alma gasped, clapping both hands over his mouth.

Kanda twitched slightly - what's that mean? - and growled, "What did you just call me?"

"Asshole!" the boy snapped, arms crossed, glaring.

"You're an asshole!" Kanda countered instantly.

"Allen! Yuu!"

Both of them looked up as the teacher - Ms. Emilia Galmar - crossed the room in a few easy strides, expression stern. Kanda instantly deflated, eyes falling to the ground as he crossed his arms and scowled. Across from him, the red-haired boy, apparently named Allen, stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet, also scowling.

"Who taught you that word?" Emilia asked sternly, one hand on her hip and an unforgiving frown on her face.

"Cross Marian," Allen announced in a sing-song voice, a smirk appearing on his face even as he refused to lift his gaze from the ground. "Asshole and shitface and motherfucker-"

Kanda made a mental note of all of those words, loathe as he was to learn anything from the stupid jerkface.

"Allen Neah Walker!" Emilia snapped, looking more frustrated than offended.

Allen's smirk immediately transformed into a scowl. "Don't call me that!"

"Sit in the corner and think about what you've done!" Emilia said firmly, pointing at a stool sitting innocuously in the corner of the room. Allen slunk over to it without further objection, plopping down and drumming his heels against the ground, scowling at his feet. Emilia rounded on Kanda, who was smirking, and his smirk disappeared. "And don't think I've forgotten about you, Yuu!"

"Don't call me that," Kanda muttered irritably. Emilia sighed.

"Sit in the opposite corner," she instructed, nodding at a small table in another corner, which was indeed opposite from the one she'd sent Allen to. "I'll come talk to both of you later."

Kanda scowled at her, and then stomped over to the table, dropped himself into a chair, crossed his arms, and sulked.

Alma was left all alone, lower lip trembling. Emilia sighed again and knelt in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Alma," she said, somewhat calmer and quieter. "I know you hate to be alone."

Alma nodded tremulously.

"I'll let them out in ten minutes, alright? You can play with Yuu again then."

Alma nodded again. Satisfied, Emilia stood up, turned away, and called over to another group,

"Johnny! Get down from there!"

Alma stood in place for a moment, staring in dismay at the ground, before his shoulders rose and his resolve hardened.

He was going to make Allen and Yuu make friends if it was the last thing he did.

The next day, Alma saw Allen sitting alone again, dragged Kanda over, and sat down beside him, with Kanda on his other side.

Allen and Kanda started fighting and got sent to separate corners.

So Alma tried again the next day. This time, they almost knocked over a bookshelf, and then got sent to separate corners.

So he tried again.

And again.

And again.

Allen, Alma decided, was a lot like Yuu, except he didn't have any friends.

That just made him more determined.

"You're a stupidface!" Allen snapped at Yuu.

"You're a stupidface!" Yuu snapped back.

Alma covered his face and contemplated throwing books at both of them. But then he'd get sent to a corner too, and he hated getting sent to the corner.

"Boys! Behave!" Emilia sounded almost as tired as Alma felt. She must've been feeling lenient, too, because she was putting off coming over to break them up.

"Yeah, behave, Allen Neah Walker," Kanda said mockingly, smirking at Allen. Alma wondered despairingly if that was progress; Kanda had refused to call Allen by name since that first day, apparently on basis of the fact that Allen had refused to introduce himself.

Allen bristled instantly, a snarl stretching his mouth as his gray eyes turned hateful. "Shut the fuck up!"

"Make me, Neah," Kanda taunted, and Alma groaned, not that anyone noticed, fingers buried in his hair as he mourned the difficulty of the task that was forcing Kanda Yuu to be civil.

Allen screamed, and Alma sat up straight, eyes widening. Even Kanda started, taking a half-step back, but had no further time to react before Allen was on him, fists flying.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Allen screamed. "You don't fucking know anything!"

Kanda flared up in return, as Alma had known he would, and then both of them were fighting, rolling around on the ground while most of the other children stared, wide-eyed. One started crying.

Alma looked up, eyes wide, and Emilia was already making her way over, expression forbidding and shoulders tense.

Ten minutes later, both children were in the principal's office, waiting on their parents.

"Sorry," Kanda said after a long time, in a quiet mutter.

Allen, who hadn't stopped scowling at the ground since they'd been left in there, didn't even look up.

"For what," he asked flatly.

Kanda growled at him. "For calling you 'Neah', stupidface. Didn't think you'd hate it that much."

"You don't think," Allen sniped back, but he relaxed a little, his fierce scowl turning into a small frown. Then, "Sorry for being mean to Alma."

"Good," Kanda snapped, tensing a little as if Allen's anger had been transferred to him. "You should be!"

"I didn't think he'd actually be nice, okay?" Allen snapped, crossing his arms and scowling at Kanda again. "Lots of people've tried to be my friend, but none of 'em meant it."

"People're like that sometimes," Kanda snapped back, rolling his eyes. "Get over it, beansprout."

"Stop calling me beansprout," Allen muttered halfheartedly. Kanda ignored him.

For a long time, both of them sat in silence, just in sight of the secretary working on the other side of the room. Kanda kicked his feet against the ground grumpily, and Allen scratched at his arm, heel knocking the leg of the chair.

"You're a jerk," Allen said at last, without looking at Kanda.

"You're a jerk," Kanda countered.

Satisfied with the truth of both statements, both of them went back to being quiet.

A very long eternity later, their parents arrived at about the same time, which… figured.

Allen had been dreading this. He hated it and he was ashamed of it, but he always dreaded the moment when people he knew met Mana. (Being seen by strangers with Mana was different. Strangers were assholes.)

Kanda's dad came in first, all flustered and worried. He went straight over to Kanda - who had a big red mark on his face that Allen was damn proud of - and asked instantly, oozing concern,

"Yuu, are you okay?"

"'M fine," Kanda muttered, crossing his arms and refusing to look up. "'S nothing."

One hand still on Kanda's arm, the man looked up to the secretary for answers, eyes shining with worry.

"Mr. Wennham," he asked anxiously, still hovering, crouched, in front of Kanda. "What happened?"

Reever glanced up and tilted his head toward the two of them. "They got into a fight," he explained, disapproval and concern curling around his voice in equal measure. "But it sounds like they worked it out while they were here, so you probably just have to talk to the principal and take your kid home for the day. Don't worry about it, Mr. Tiedoll, really."

Tiedoll 'hm'ed concernedly and looked down at Kanda. "Is that true, Yuu?" he asked gently.

Kanda grunted, not looking at him. "Beansprout's a jerk," he offered, but his tone was almost placid, which visibly surprised Tiedoll.

"You're a stupidface," Allen countered with a matching lack of heat. Reever coughed.

"For a given measure of 'working it out'," he offered weakly. Tiedoll chuckled, though most of the concern lingered in his eyes, and to Allen's surprise, he looked at Allen next.

"And you, Allen? Yuu didn't hurt you too badly, did he?" His expression was slightly wry, and Allen frowned at him, and then shook his head once.

"Couldn't if he tried," he muttered aggressively, and Tiedoll chuckled while Kanda stuck his tongue out.

"Could too!"

And maybe they would've continued in that vein, except then the door opened again, Allen jerked his head up to look, and Mana entered, with his bowler hat on his head and a slightly confused smile on his face. Allen braced himself and ignored Kanda giving him a confused frown.

"Hello," Mana greeted Reever cheerfully. "I heard there was a small issue with my son?"

Allen let out a quiet sigh of relief and resolutely ignored Kanda's puzzled frown. Today was a good day. That was good.

Reever's expression turned serious. "I wouldn't say 'small', Mr. Walker. I understand it was your son who hit first."

Allen growled quietly. Kanda rolled his eyes.

Mana laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Mr. Wennham! Allen's just a feisty boy, aren't you, Allen?" He reached out to ruffle Allen's hair, and Allen growled and swatted at his hand irritably.

"Shut up, I'm not a-" He cut himself off, remembering what a terrible idea it was to highlight all Mana's problems in front of people who didn't already know what they were. "Baby!"

Reever and Tiedoll both looked startled, but Mana just laughed again.

"Of course not, Allen," he assured him, patting his head and taking his hand away before Allen could swat at it again. He looked at Reever, eyes sparkling merrily. "Now, what did you need me here for?"

Kanda was still frowning at Allen. Allen scowled at him.

Mana made it through the meeting with Principal Leverrier better than Allen had expected, which is to say, he didn't say anything too obviously weird or call Allen by the wrong name. Allen was relieved, if he was honest with himself, which he usually wasn't.

Both of them were let off with a warning, since they'd resolved it on their own, and sent home for the day.

The next day, both of them came back.

"Hey." Kanda frowned at Alma, who had his chin on the backs of his hands, looking dispirited. "Aren't you gonna drag me over to the stupid beansprout again?"

"No," Alma mumbled miserably, sounding like he was about to cry, which alarmed Kanda. "You hate each other. It won't work."

Kanda fumed silently, and might've stood up, dragging Alma himself to talk sense into the stupid beansprout, except just then, someone broke in.

"Hey."

Both of them looked up to find Allen in front of their table, arms crossed, feet shuffling, gaze flicking between them and the ground and back.

"'Bout time, stupid beansprout," Kanda said at last, nodding firmly.

Allen snorted and threw himself into a chair, and Alma, slowly, started to sit up, looking like Christmas had come early. Kanda felt unbelievably pleased, so pleased he actually smiled at the sprout, who gave him a startled look.

Both Kanda's smile and Allen's wide-eyed look dissolved when Alma launched himself forward and enveloped them both in a hug, leaving both of them struggling.

"I knew you could be friends!" Alma cheered.

Allen and Kanda met each others' gazes across Alma's back, and silently agreed to never speak of this again.

Later, Alma became the one thing they could agree on. No one messed with Alma.

Alma quickly lost track of the times they were sent to the principal's office because they'd teamed up on someone who they claimed was being mean to him.

Alma had such frustrating friends.

(He wouldn't trade them for the world.)

Hey! *smile and wave* So that's done, instead of anything I probably should be doing. *nervous chuckle* As a little bit of added clarification, Cross is basically the weird uncle to Allen, and for worldbuilding and clarification, Edgar and Twi Chan are serving as Alma's parents, even if it didn't come up. Thanks for reading, and please review!