A/N: I have decided to branch out and experiment with shonen-ai (which is significant, because I used to swear I'd never be into such a thing.. xD;;; ), so this is the first remotely m/m fic I have ever written. It's really light in this one, but I am open to doing much less subtle things in the future, if you think I should. XD So here you have it - an angsty, h/c little ficlet starring my favorite DGM yaoi pairing, Yuvi/LaviKan~! :3

Rated T for Kanda's foul mouth, and implied relationship potential. xD

Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-man... *sigh*

Stay

A D. Gray-man fanfic by Amethyst Arbiter's Scribe

Kanda woke shortly after dawn, the healing wounds on his leg throbbing as the flaking plaster of the inn's ceiling filled his vision. A dull ache pounded behind his eyes, courtesy of accumulated fatigue and the stress of the mission they had just completed; and so he was impatient to begin their return trip to Headquarters as soon as possible. However, his idiot partner, who had been fighting a cold for the duration of this assignment, had tossed and turned for hours last night; so, though he was eager to leave, Kanda grudgingly decided to let the boy sleep more first.

It took him no more than a few minutes to pack up what few belongings he had brought and set his suitcase by the door; so then, having nothing else to do, Kanda leaned against the foot of his bed, staring in the direction of the tiny room's only window. The dirty pane was set into the east-facing wall; therefore, numerous brilliant rays streamed upon the weathered floorboards and across both beds as the sun rose, illuminating even the dusty corners of the room with liquid gold. Soon the modest quarters were so bright, in fact, that Kanda did not see how anyone could possibly remain asleep in such conditions; however, as the early hours passed, not a single sound emanated from the impressive pile of blankets that enshrouded the ill Bookman Jr... And so, Kanda was left to his own thoughts, his patience steadily dwindling.

Mid-morning came and went, yet his slumbering partner did not so much as stir. Standing for this extended period of time, Kanda noted with irritation that his leg still wasn't taking kindly to supporting all of his weight; so he shifted position, leaning up against the wall by Lavi's bed. The last of what little patience he'd started with disappeared when his stomach began to rumble; and so, growling, he marched up to the head of the bed and directed a sarcastic comment at its current occupant.

"Oi, rabbit, are you still alive?"

He received no answer, however – not even the customary groan or whine. Therefore, eyelid twitching, he finally bent over and yanked back the covers, preparing to bark his previous inquiry directly in his comrade's ear; however, something about the redhead's appearance gave him pause.

The miserable rabbit was curled into a ball, arms wrapped tightly around his pillow. He was so out of it that he didn't even flinch at the removal of his blankets, though he was shivering visibly in his sleep. His face was halfway burrowed into the pillow, a shock of his auburn hair concealing his one closed eye.

Kanda frowned, slowly releasing his grip on the edge of the blankets. Something was bothering him about the idiotic 18-year-old's appearance, something beyond the generalized antipathy he always felt whenever he really looked at him; but he couldn't put his finger on it at first. After another moment or two, however, he realized what it was, and his scowl deepened. Lavi's cheeks were roughly the shade of his hair, indicating the height of his fever; however, he wasn't sweating at all.

Damn fool is dehydrated or something, he thought, suddenly tempted to slice something up. Great. I don't have time for this.

He leaned over again, placing his hand on the Junior Bookman's shoulder this time and shaking him, none too gently. "Oi. Lavi. Get up." He muttered the words behind his teeth, feeling something almost akin to guilt for waking up the stupid rabbit, and yet furious with himself for even acknowledging this thought.

He needn't have worried, however; for even after that, Lavi still did not move. Kanda set his jaw and straightened again, narrowing his eyes at the sleeping boy. The idiot seemed completely dead to the world, and for a moment he found himself at a complete loss for what to do. Their mission was complete, so they needed to return the Innocence fragment to Headquarters as soon as possible; not to mention, the sooner they left, the more time they would have to rest before whatever new assignments might be waiting for them. But waking his teammate was proving much more of a nuisance than Kanda had anticipated; and there was no way in hell he was about to carry a sleeping Lavi all the way back to the European Branch. His natural instinct was to shout the young Bookman awake; but for some confounded reason, the boy's pitiful appearance continued to deter him from doing so.

His leg began to ache as he stood weighing his options; so he shifted forward, resting his knee on the edge of Lavi's bed. He clenched his jaw, annoyance building within him as he stared at the sick teenager's face. This one was always causing trouble in some way or another. Granted, this time it was perhaps not entirely his fault; but nonetheless, it was ultimately his idiocy that was the cause of this delay. Kanda's hand strayed instinctively to Mugen's hilt, gaze trained warily on his companion's flushed face. Abruptly, it dawned on him that with that stupid lock of hair obscuring the rabbit's good eye, he couldn't even tell for sure if it was closed or not. For all he knew, the idiot was actually awake already and just being lazy...

In a flash of restiveness, Kanda leaned across the bed, reaching to brush the other's bangs out of his face. He meant to do so quickly and with as little contact with Lavi's person as possible; however, the intense heat coming off Lavi's skin startled him so much that, without really thinking, he pressed the back of his hand to the other boy's forehead. By now, anyone with a brain could have easily guessed that the sick boy was quite feverish, and Kanda was no idiot; but actually touching him sent a ripple of unease through the young samurai. Lavi's forehead burned beneath Kanda's hand, so uncomfortably warm that Kanda caught himself wondering how much more uncomfortable it must be for the boy himself. His annoyance at his own inexplicable concern spiked again, and he was about to retract his arm when the redhead's eyelids suddenly fluttered open.

"Y...Yu?" he whispered, feebly touching his fingertips to Kanda's wrist.

Kanda jerked away, retreating a couple of steps to glare fiercely at the other boy from a comfortable distance. "Tch, shut it," he growled, folding his arms tightly across his chest.

Lavi raised his head weakly, squinting to peer at the window. Furrowing his brow, he slowly pushed himself to a sitting position; then, without warning, he twitched forward, sneezing uncovered in the direction of the mattress. Kanda recoiled, shooting him a disgusted look; but Lavi never saw it. Barely managing to bury his face into his sleeve in time, he was overtaken by a fit; and when he finished, he winced, huddling over his lap and muffling a handful of tired sniffles into the fabric. As he opened his eye, however, he flinched in surprise, dropping his arm and gaping at Kanda.

"Y-Yu!" he sputtered hoarsely, plucking at the front of the shirt. "Th.. -" He held his arms out, eying the garment with dismay. "Th..this i-is yours."

Kanda stiffened at the reminder, scowl darkening. "What of it?" he muttered testily, looking away. "You were too stupid to bring an extra of your own, and sleeping in wet clothing would have made you even more useless." Thinking back now, he could have simply let the rabbit remain shirtless; but when they'd returned, he hadn't been sure how many more blankets he could obtain, and the redhead had been shivering so violently even while unconscious that Kanda had reluctantly given him his own spare long-sleeved shirt.

"...Oh." Lavi sniffled again, then rubbed absently at his red-rimmed eye. "Y'kdow, you're a lot more thoughtful than y' like t' act, Yu..." He regarded Kanda with a sleepy grin. "I g-guess y'... y' really –" Congestion rattled in his chest, and he smothered a coughing fit into the crook of his elbow before continuing. "...y' really do have a heart, huh –"

"I said shut it, idiot," Kanda snapped, giving him a withering look. "Your fever is making you even more stupid than usual."

Lavi blinked. "F-Fever..?" He gave a slight shake of his head, raking his fingers through his hair. "I-I'b dot th-that sick –"

"Tch! You're burning up." Kanda interrupted him sharply, hand straying to Mugen. "Surely you're not such an idiot that you can't tell."

Lavi sat up straighter, apparently believing he could convince his Japanese partner that he was all right, despite the fact that he was visibly trembling with fatigue and cold. "I.. I'm okay," he croaked, with what Kanda suspected was supposed to be a confident tone (but fell quite flat). "I-I'm prob'ly jus' w-warm be.. because of a-all the b..b-blankets, you –"

"You have a fever," Kanda snarled without sympathy, long past tired of this conversation.

Lavi flinched, face falling, and bowed his head a little. Shoulders drooping, he massaged the heel of his hand against the spot between his eyes for a moment, then sighed quietly, looking up again. "I-I'll.. I'll be fine..." he mumbled, batting his hair out of his face. "Wh..What..." He swallowed gingerly, squeezing his eye shut. "W-What time is it...?"

Kanda hesitated, eyeing him warily. "...Nine o'clock."

Lavi's head jerked up. "Nine – ! What the –" He glanced around hurriedly, looking relatively more alert for a few moments, though he soon cringed, touching his head as though it hurt. "We... W-We gotta go, yeah..?"

He seemed to be trying to sound eager, but he still sounded more half-asleep than anything else.

Kanda resisted the urge to whack him over the head. Yes, they had to go; however, the redhead hardly looked capable of remaining upright, much less traveling.

"...Feverish idiot," he muttered.

Lavi's expression turned almost sullen at this. "I-I'b okay," he reiterated, though his pronunciation was suffering thanks to his congestion, and he muffled another cough into his sleeve after speaking. "We... we ndeed t' get back t' H-Headquarters ndow, so..." Biting his lip in determination, he untangled his limbs and slid stiffly off the bed, hand drifting to his head as he stood. He managed to successfully get to his feet; however, no sooner had he done so than he started to weave – so badly that Kanda finally stepped forward and grabbed the front of his shirt.

"You're pathetic," he growled, tugging Lavi upward roughly enough that the young Bookman flailed, arms instinctively swinging out for balance. "Sit down."

He let him go with a slight push, and Lavi stumbled backward, sitting down hard on the bed.

For a moment, Lavi seemed to lose his bearings, clearly experiencing a wave of dizziness. However, he fought to recover, almost immediately leaning forward as if to attempt to rise again. "No, Yu, I-I c-can –"

"The hell you can," Kanda cut in mercilessly, towering threateningly over the redhead. "You can't do anything like this, so shut up."

Lavi opened his mouth, then closed it again, suddenly looking very small. He dropped his gaze to the floor, rubbing the hem of one sleeve beneath his reddened nose; and all of the sudden Kanda had the very uncomfortable suspicion that the 18-year-old was about to cry.

"O-Oi..." he uttered, unease creeping into his voice in spite of himself. It was bad enough having to deal with a sick companion; he didn't need one who was sick and upset.

Lavi seemed not to notice Kanda's reaction, however. His head remained bowed; and when he spoke again, his voice was huskier, and muffled by the soft material of the borrowed shirt.

"I-I... I j-just..." He sucked in a breath, pausing and drawing his arms to his chest as a chill wracked his body. "Nh.." He shook his head slightly, as if to clear it, then tried again, tentatively lifting his gaze to Kanda. "I j..just ndeed a mi..." His breath caught, and he wrinkled his nose, bunching the fabric of his too-long sleeve in one hand and pressing it to his mouth. "nn... a mbidute, I-I –" Before he could finish, he sneezed again, seeming almost startled by it; though even Kanda had seen it coming. Continuing to let the shirtsleeve obscure the lower half of his face, he shivered harder, brow knitting.

Meanwhile, Kanda bristled silently, an assemblage of feelings he did not want tumbling around within him as he glared at his miserable teammate. He should, by every reason, be ignoring the ailing junior Bookman – who should be able to take care of himself anyway. And yet, the more he tried to ignore him, the harder it became; for Lavi's genuine distress was somehow just as demanding of attention as his obnoxious personality usually was.

For one thing, the idiot was feverish to the point of disorientation, splotches of deep color adorning his otherwise pale face; and as ridiculously off his game as he'd been the previous day, Kanda could tell that he was in an even worse state now.

And then there was the sneezing. Kanda's edginess mounted further as he recognized the damned helpless expression on Lavi's face that meant he was gearing up for another.

And another.

And another.

Kanda resisted the urge to strangle him. Any sort of sound from the rabbit was bad enough, in Kanda's opinion.. but this was especially aggravating. And of course, it was never just one. Worse, he'd been doing it this entire trip, and clearly was not going to stop anytime soon.

Lavi groaned, tangled hair falling into his face as he wilted forward, leaning his elbows shakily on his knees. Mouth and nose buried pitifully in his hands, he sniffled; and Kanda suddenly had an overwhelming desire to return him to an unconscious state, if it meant he'd be quiet.

After a moment, Lavi lifted his head again, as though to speak; but before he could, he dissolved into a fit of harsh, chesty coughs, to Kanda's dismay. His mood soured further as he realized that at this rate, this was what he'd have to haul all the way back to Headquarters.

As inconvenient as a delay would be, Kanda was beginning to think it would actually be preferable to having to bring the stupid sick rabbit on the hours-long train ride back.

"..Y...Yu..."

Already on edge, Kanda was quite ready to lash out at him for his use of that name; however, he stopped short as Lavi choked, voice cracking on the word.

The sick boy faltered, hand straying to his forehead. "I-I o..only n-need..." He attempted to continue, failed, then shivered visibly again, wincing at the violence of the chills.

It was then that Kanda made up his mind about what he was going to do. He didn't care what the stupid rabbit said: it was clearly going to be a hell of a lot longer than a "mbidute" before he was anywhere near useful to travel. Therefore, as much as it irked him to admit it, it would be marginally less of a nuisance to stay here another day than to try to leave.

"Tch. Shut up," he growled, shifting his weight as he purposed to retreat to the other side of the room again. As he moved out of the way, the light from the window streamed uninhibited into the other boy's face, causing him to flinch, then sneeze again.

Lavi was still for a moment afterwards, muffling several very congested sniffles into the sleeve (of the shirt that Kanda did not want back). Then, slowly, he pulled his feet back up onto the bed, curling up further as he rubbed roughly – almost childishly – at his eye.

Kanda remained motionless, regarding him with what was originally derision; however, as he watched, the same odd, foreign feeling that had been nagging at him all morning grew in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't annoyance, exactly; nor was it disgust, though he felt that too. It was...

Pity?

The moment he placed the feeling, Kanda swore inwardly and forced himself to tear his eyes away from the shivery, sniffly mess that was his idiot partner. However, he'd been looking at him long enough today that, even then, he couldn't get the damn rabbit out of his mind. He looked completely worn down, utterly exhausted – as though he'd been soundly beaten by an entire flock of akuma, rather than this stupid commonplace illness.

Kanda's irritation swelled again, though it was mixed with frustration at his own feelings, this time. Compassion of any kind was for naive fools like the beansprout... Ordinarily humans were ridiculous. Kanda certainly never acted this pathetic on the rare occasion that he got sick. And Lavi was a Bookman, so surely he wasn't such a weakling as to just let this overwhelm him either.

Yet, even as Kanda thought this, he remembered the day before – how, despite his condition, it had been the other boy who defeated the akuma in the end. Lavi may have been an idiot, but he could more than hold his own in a fight, healthy or not. Nevertheless, he was still human; meaning he had likely expended far more energy fighting than Kanda had... or at the very least, he would not regain it as easily, since he did not possess regenerative abilities and was ill besides. In order to recover quickly, what he really needed was rest. Which, Kanda realized suddenly, was hardly a ridiculous notion after all.. in fact, it was logical.

Kanda cursed again, trying to dismiss this revelation... but instead, he found himself drawing the musty curtains shut and turning back to the suffering Exorcist on the bed.

"Take this," he snapped, producing his own clean handkerchief from his jacket pocket and thrusting it toward Lavi's face. "You're disgusting."

Surprise flickered briefly upon the redhead's countenance, followed by dejection. "..I.. I-I kdow..." he mumbled with a heavy sigh, accepting the article with such evident, if tired, gratitude that Kanda was almost annoyed enough to take it back. But he didn't, instead watching with measured distaste as Lavi weakly blew his nose.

Kanda glowered in his direction, wondering why in the hell the boy didn't just flop over and sleep like he clearly needed to do. He wasn't helping anyone by trying to insist that he was fine; Kanda could more than see that, so why couldn't he?

"Oi. Lie down." Kanda muttered the words tersely, almost under his breath; but it was enough to make Lavi glance up at him, eye widening.

"...I..." Lavi opened his mouth, then closed it again, incredulity continuing to grace his features. Brow furrowing, he stared blearily up at Kanda, then swallowed hard and winced.

Kanda narrowed his eyes. The normally effusive moron actually seemed at a loss for words.

This remarkable phenomenon only lasted a moment or two, however, for the young Bookman quickly collected himself and shook his head, correcting his posture with difficulty.

"I-I'll be okay," he murmured, working his fingers through his hair again. "G... Get me some more t-t..tea.. or sobethi'g, and thed w-we can –"

"I'm not your maid," Kanda cut in irritably. "And you don't need tea, idiot."

Lavi's eyebrows knit into a puerile frown. "B-But Yu, I... I'b..." His voice rasped as he whined, and he cringed, hand darting to his throat as he tried not to cough again. His hands were trembling, Kanda noted with annoyance and concern; and the flush that burned across his nose and the tops of his cheeks had not faded at all since he'd woken – if anything, it had only grown more pronounced. Yet, despite the evident severity of his fever, he still had not broken a sweat.. instead quaking so much that, looking at him, one would have thought the room was freezing.

Growling deep in his throat, Kanda stalked over to the door and yanked his canteen from his luggage, then deposited it in Lavi's general vicinity without enthusiasm. "Here," he snapped, crossing his arms and glaring ferociously down at him. "If you're thirsty, have that."

Lavi blinked, then snatched it up and tugged the stopper out. The water was surely tepid and stale by now; yet he drank it over-eagerly, tilting his head back and squeezing his eyes shut as he clutched the container tightly in both hands. Kanda watched him guzzle it for a minute or so, then stepped forward and jerked it out of the idiot's mouth.

"Oi, you'll make yourself sick," he muttered through his teeth, re-capping the jug and tossing it onto the bed.

"Ehh.." Lavi withered a little under his stare, but managed to give a sheepish chuckle. "S-Sorry.." he murmured, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth. "Th...thanks..." He swiped absently at his nose, which was now even redder than his hair, then took a deep breath, ignoring the congestion that predictably crackled in his chest. "Now... l-let's go..."

Kanda hissed in displeasure. "We're staying."

"No, w-we... I f-feel better!" Not even Lavi looked like he really believed the feeble objection, yet he blurted it anyway.

"Like hell you do."

Lavi cringed at Kanda's vehemence, new color suffusing his already flushed cheeks. "I can..." His voice was husky and low, and he dropped his gaze to his lap, leaning his head on his hand. "I c-ca make it back, all right..? Seriously, we... we ndeed t' g-get goin', 'r else we'll mbiss th'... the train."

Kanda resisted the urge to strangle him. "Idiot! You're not going anywhere."

Lavi frowned, confusion clouding his features. "But Yu... we c-can't jus' stay here, we ndeed t' –"

"There's no way in hell I'm traveling with you like this," Kanda interrupted mercilessly. "You're enough of a pain as it is – I'm not going to be responsible for you dying on me. You'll be less useless if you recover first, so shut up and go to sleep."

A sudden anger flickered to life in the other boy's green eye, and he shifted, pressing his hands into the mattress. "Dammit, Yu, I told you, I'b –"

"LISTEN to me, stupid rabbit!"

In a blind rush of exasperation, Kanda lunged forward, his palm connecting with Lavi's sternum as he pushed him backward onto the bed with one swift, forceful motion. He ended up atop the bed himself, one hand sinking into the mattress just above Lavi's shoulder, and the other effectively pinning the redhead down. This position startled them both; and for a moment, neither moved, the tension between them palpable.

Heat from Lavi's body blazed against Kanda's touch, and he could feel every tremor of the other's muscles, every ragged intake of breath. Lavi was tense at first, his wide, liquid-eyed gaze locked to Kanda's; but after a second or two, he began to relax. He lifted his head a little to glance at the hand Kanda was pushing into his chest, then dropped it back to the pillow, his expression shifting to a tired ghost of a smile as he returned his sleepy gaze to Kanda's face.

Abruptly, inexplicably, Kanda felt his own face growing warm; and he began to jerk away, flustered and appalled and angry all at once. Before he could, however, Lavi shook his head vigorously, tugging him back down. Kanda grunted in surprise, then shot him a furious glare, teeth clenched. But as he pulled his arm free of the redhead's grasp, Lavi pushed himself partway upright; and then, on some fevered, childish impulse, reached out and slipped his arms about Kanda's stomach, burying his face in his chest.

Kanda froze, mind reeling. He was half-sprawled along the edge of the bed, the stupid sick rabbit's arms wrapped around him – yet he could not will himself to move. Lavi clung even tighter to him as yet more chills rippled through his body; and Kanda realized that he was probably a source of coveted warmth for the fever-addled Exorcist. Cursing the idiot's pathetic state, Kanda regained his powers of movement and started to untangle himself from Lavi's embrace; however, the miserable 18-year-old actually whimpered at this, and refused to let go.

Kanda could easily have extracted himself forcibly; but upon sensing the other boy's barely-coherent distress, he found himself hesitating. If he moved, the stupid redhead would only start his ridiculous argument all over again, wasting both his energy and Kanda's. However, if he did not... Kanda realized with tremendous reluctance... the sick Bookman Junior might actually fall asleep.

Sure enough, when Kanda stopped resisting for a moment, he felt Lavi's breathing beginning to ease; and he nestled up against Kanda, apparently having no misgivings whatsoever about his current security.

A stream of choice words ran through Kanda's mind as he silently fumed, trying to decide what to do. This was ridiculous. And yet... somehow... the longer he let the boy stay like this, the less uncomfortable he felt. Lavi was warm, stirring an oddly soothing heat into Kanda's muscles, which were stiff and sore from battle; and while the redhead's hold was secure, it was not as constricting as it had seemed at first. Kanda began to relax, his initial umbrage fading. He hadn't allowed anyone to be this close to him in a very long time; so long, in fact, that he'd forgotten what it felt like. The sensation was foreign, yet also familiar; and it was... was... pleasant.

With a sigh, Kanda gave in, shifting position so that he and Lavi were lying side by side, Lavi's head now pillowed on his chest. Lavi snuggled against him, one arm still encircling the disgruntled but tolerant young samurai; and Kanda, after a few moments, awkwardly rested his own hand upon the back of Lavi's head.

Though the redhead's symptoms had settled down considerably as he calmed, he still sniffled from time to time. Kanda told himself that if he sneezed on him, he would definitely move. But he didn't, and so.. he stayed, allowing the miserably feverish rabbit to doze off against him. It wasn't a particularly desirable situation. But if this is what it took to get the moron to actually sleep like he was supposed to, then... it was all right.

For some reason, Kanda presently found himself beginning to drift off as well. He supposed the past few days had been more taxing than he thought, so his own body could use some rest. He still wasn't sure why he even cared what happened to his idiot partner... but... he was too tired to change his mind now. They were staying.

"Th... Thanks, Yu."

Kanda felt, more than heard, as Lavi mumbled the words against his chest, voice thick with fatigue and congestion; yet his sincerity – a rare quality, coming from him – was clear.

Kanda opened his eyes for a moment, then closed them again, deeming it simpler to pretend he hadn't heard.

~ Fin ~