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How to Save a Life	By : saxonjesus Category: +. to F > D. Gray Man Views: 4531 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
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Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Chapter 6�Points of Authority

Power, according to
this logic, is not a means to an end (survival), but an end in itself.

�� ---
John Mearsheimer

Where had that hot, drunken fucktard
of a roommate gone? Yuu refused to panic, but it was hard when the redhead was
nowhere in sight. He walked around the house, weaving through wasted people.

�Kanda?� Someone asked.
Thoroughly worked into a state of terror, the Japanese boy twirled around, hair
whipping out behind him, and caught sight of his T.A. from Microeconomics,
Lulubell.

Maybe it was his look of absolute desperation, but a
concerned look came over her pretty face.

�Are you looking for someone?� Thankfully, she sounded at
least mostly sober.

�Redhead, eye patch, you seen him?�
He asked quickly.

She seemed to think for a moment, and recognition lit in
her eyes.

�Yeah, saw him ten minutes ago walking with Tyki. They
were heading upstairs, probably to my room. I don�t really know why I let him
use it, but he always changes the sheets, so�� She trailed off with a shrug of
her shoulders.

Yuu felt his stomach twist in anxiety (and if he was
honest with himself, jealousy). This was what he had been afraid would happen.
He asked her where her room was.

�Upstairs, first room on the left.�

Not even pausing to thank her�he could do that later, in
class�he raced toward the steps. He didn�t care how many people he knocked
over, how many games of beer pong he ruined, he had to get upstairs.

Lulubell�s door was decorated
with raunchy pictures of her and her friends �goofing off.� It didn�t bother
Yuu in the slightest. Or it wouldn�t have, had it been unlocked. But the knob wouldn�t twist, and the worst part was that he could
hear what was going on inside.

There was muted banging and thrashing, growls that were
obviously from Tyki, and strange, high-pitched
whimpering noises that sounded suspiciously like �stop.� Heart beating
erratically with anger and something a lot deeper and stronger�that couldn�t
possibly still be jealousy, could it?�Yuu reached into his back pocket and
fished out his wallet. He produced from it the credit card Tiedoll had forced
on him and swiped it between the wall and the door. The lock clicked, and the
Japanese boy slammed the door open.

He wasn�t quite prepared for what he saw. Lavi was on the
bed, his hands held at his left side by Tyki. The football* captain was holding
Lavi�s legs apart�the redhead�s trousers were shimmied down to his knees�and
was giving him� oral service. Even though he was at the door, Yuu could see the
denial in Lavi�s face.

�No, Tyki, stop, I dun wanna do
this with you,� Lavi slurred, struggling to get free. Yuu snapped.

He didn�t remember moving across the room, he only felt
himself floating over to the football captain, pulling his head back by his
nasty, fucking curly hair, and punching him square in the nose. He felt it
crack beneath his fist, but all he could really understand was that Tyki was
not nearly hurt enough. So he hit him again, and again, and a fourth time. He
even threw some kicks the Portuguese boy�s way. When Tyki was sufficiently
dealt with, Yuu stood up and came back to his senses.

Lavi had thankfully sat up, but he had yet to replace his
trousers. He was sitting there, eyes half-mast and unfocused in drunkenness. Sighing,
Yuu leaned forward and yanked the redhead�s trousers up. He was surprised when
Lavi threw his arms around him and proclaimed, �Yuu-chan saved me! He�s my
hero!� and then promptly passed out.

Rolling his eyes and trying to ignore how much Lavi
reeked of alcohol, Yuu pulled him onto his back and
carried him downstairs, where he met Lizzie. After a quick conversation, they
all returned to the dorm, Lavi waking briefly to spout shit about how his
boxers were riding up his ass.

�It�s your own fault, idiot,� Yuu growled at him but
adjusted the boy nonetheless.

Back at the dorm, he tossed Lavi onto his bed.
Unfortunately, the redhead didn�t seem inclined to let him go, and he was quite
tired, so why not just fall� asleep�

---

Bright lights scorched Lavi�s eyelid, emphasizing the
awful pounding in his head. Why did he have a headache? It didn�t feel like the
kind he had when he�d spent too long poring over books�that was normal
eyestrain and usually was in a specific region of his head�but this was
all-encompassing and stabbing, rather than the usual dull ache. What the hell
had happened to him? His mouth was dry and tasted like hussy and had a bit of a
furry texture; his body ached, and he knew that if he tried to sit up, he�d lose
the contents of his stomach.

Trying to think back to the night before, Lavi realized
he couldn�t remember a thing. The redhead balked. Was this a hangover? After
all, he�d had a headache last time he�d gone drinking, but it was nothing
compared to this.

What the fuck was wrong with him? He�d already had the
drunken experience, so why had he decided to repeat it? Sure, drinking was
fine, but the problem was he was having trouble remember�

He couldn�t
remember anything beyond his third game of beer pong.

That had been early in the night. He�d had a shot of Absolut citron and then had been forced into a game of beer
pong, which he had lost. The boys had taken pity on him and given him a handicap�he
only had to drink one cup of beer per lost game. After his first beer, he�d had
an appletini, courtesy of Lizzie (he didn�t trust
anyone else mixing them), and had then played another game of beer pong, which
he�d lost. Angry that he�d once again failed to hit the ball into a cup, he
opted for a third game, which had seen his ping pong ball bounce off the table
and into the nearest person�s cup of beer.

The redhead didn�t really remember drinking anything
after the third cup of beer, but from the state he was in at the moment, he was
assuming he had. His lips felt kind of chapped, though he couldn�t figure out
why. Maybe he�d licked them too much.

A tickle at the tip of his nose alerted him to the smell
of cinnamon. He tried to move his right hand to scratch at it, but it was stuck
under some kind of heavy object. Actually, now that he was paying attention,
his hand felt kind of tingly, kind of asleep.
A jolt of pins and needles danced up to his shoulder, and Lavi grimaced,
grunting.

The weird cinnamony thing
tickling his nose shifted with a sleepy sigh. And then Lavi realized his
position. The heavy thing over his half-numb arm was a person. This person was
pressed to Lavi�s chest, and the redhead was effectively straddling his back
and had curled his legs around the person.
It didn�t help that he had his left arm draped over the person. Or that the cinnamony scent identified
the person as Kanda Yuu.

His roommate.

Of all people to wake up next to in a compromising
position, it had to be Yuu-chan. Why? Oh, dear God, why?

Kanda stirred again, pulling himself away. Lavi let him
go, but the dark-haired boy didn�t move more than a centimeter or two. Trying
to extricate his arm, the redhead felt another shock of painful pins and
needles shoot up the limb. He cracked an eye open to see how much of his arm
Kanda was still dead-weighting on.

If the lights had been bright earlier, they were now
positively scorching. Maybe it was his extra-sensitive vision, but the tiny
crack in the industrial yellow blind in the window let in the most painful,
cutting line of daylight. If Yuu was awake, Lavi was sure he�d tell him to get
over it�it was his own fault anyway.

Lavi sat up and instantly regretted it. Whyyyy? So dizzy, so achy, so brighty. So dumby. He needed to get up.
Maybe then his brain would return to him and he would stop thinking idiotic
things that would make Kanda scoff.

And why was he thinking of Kanda so much anyway? It
wasn�t that he carried any special feelings for him. Sure, he could admit that
maybe he�d gotten a little attached, but that didn�t mean that he liked the Japanese boy. It didn�t mean
that he wanted to be thinking about him all the damn time. It was probably
because he was living with the other boy. After all, he�d travelled with
Bookman for years�the man was his Master�and he thought about him all the time.
So it made sense, didn�t it?

He just had to tell his heart to stop twitching.

Which was weird, because he didn�t
understand why it was doing that. He knew that it was somehow related to
Kanda, but he didn�t understand what emotion his body was trying to feel�if it
was an emotion after all. He�d just have to repress it further, until his body
was no longer reacting to it.

A sleepy grunt sounded through the room, making Lavi
flinch. Why was Kanda being so damn loud?
But the boy was groaning and shifting and then sitting up. Immediately, the
redhead pulled his arm back, cradling it as sensation began to return.

�M-mornin�, Yuu,� Lavi mumbled,
scuttling to the end of the bed, despite the pain the action incited in his
head.

He received the customary grunt in response.

�Sooo, what happened last
night?� He asked smoothly.

�Che.
You don�t remember?� There was definitely a note of exasperation in his
roommate�s voice, one that Lavi didn�t quite like.

�Well, not exactly. I didn�t do anything� stupid, did I?�

�Depends on how you define stupid.� That didn�t sound so
good.

�We�ll use your definition,� the redhead said, nervous
already.

�Then everything,� Kanda responded, deadpan.

�You�re mean, Yuu-chan.� Lavi pouted.

�Whatever.�

�But seriously, did I do anything I�ll regret?�

�Well, you played seven games of beer pong, lost each
one, made out with some� harlot��

�Is that why my mouth tastes like hussy?� He interjected
innocently.

�No, but thank you for calling me a
hussy.�

It didn�t make sense. His brain wouldn�t work. Why wouldn�t it work?

�Wha?�
Lavi finally managed to spit out.

�When you were finished with her, you decided it would be
a good idea to make me sloppy seconds.� Kanda replied matter-of-factly, though
he was looking away.

Oh god, he�d violated his roommate. Kanda probably hated
him�he�d make good on his threat to make the redhead into a shish-kabob. For a
brief moment, he imagined himself skewered on Mugen as Kanda rotated him over a
fire.� But the worst part would be that
the dark-haired boy would hate him. But wait, why did it matter that Yuu would
hate him? Ah, there it was.� First names
were for personas, so why would he call Kanda that in his mind? He was even
more screwed than he had thought.

He became aware that someone was waving hand in front of
his face.� He wondered what it might look
like at this moment.

�Oi, idiot, pay attention,� Kanda
growled at him, and he realized he should have responded to what his roommate
had just told him.

�Sorry, guess I�m just a bit hung-over. I�m sorry I
kissed you. You probably hate me for it.�

Dammit, he shouldn�t be feeling sorry. He should just
laugh it off and hug him. He shouldn�t care if Kanda hated him!

�You were drunk; you didn�t know what you were doing,�
Kanda dismissed.

�But, I��

�Besides, I haven�t gotten to the worst part yet.�

�Greaaat,� Lavi said dryly.
What could possibly be worse?

�You wandered off a few minutes later saying you had to
piss, and when you didn�t come back��

�Well I don�t feel like I got raped,� Lavi said, trying
to lighten the sudden somber atmosphere.

�He got close enough.�

Shit, that didn�t sound good.

�Wait� he?� The redhead asked, horrified. He had a vague suspicion,
but his mind was rather addled at the moment, and he wasn�t really sure he
wanted that question answered anyway.

�Yes.�

�Who is� he?�
No, that was not his heart beating a mile a minute in absolute terror.

�What other he
could there be, Baka?� Kanda still
managed to sound condescending. It was a small comfort, almost. And then Lavi
remembered that this wasn�t the time to be thinking such things, because there
was a he involved.

�Well I don�t know, there�s you,
there�s me, there�s Jason� and then� there�s� Tyki!?�

Kanda nodded gravely, and Lavi felt like he was going to
die. No, he was pretty sure he wanted
to die.

�I was violated by him?�
Lavi almost shouted. �Couldn�t it have been someone else?�

�You should be grateful I found you,� Kanda mumbled.

�I am, but why couldn�t it have been Barbar
or something?�

�You would prefer to be violated by an animated
elephant?� The dark-haired boy asked incredulously.

�At least he�d be gentle! And it would be G-rated because
he�s a friendly animated elephant.�

�I think you may still be a bit drunk.�

�No way.�

�Go sober up, idiot.�

Seeing no other option, Lavi did.

---

September 21

Yuu was almost glad that the idiot rabbit was out of the
room, suffering through classes. It gave him time to think. The past day and a
half had been less than satisfactory, with Lavi switching between appallingly apologetic
mode and pointedly ignoring mode like a bipolar dunce.

The idiot was probably embarrassed for having gotten so
wasted that he made out with his roommate. It was obvious because the redhead
kept switching back and forth between his god-awful persona and his pathetic
real self. What was most infuriating of all was that Lavi blatantly refused to
talk about it.

He�d tried to bring up the topic after the redhead had
sobered up, but Lavi had skillfully changed the subject, and before Yuu knew
what had hit him, they were talking about dachshunds,
of all things.

His affliction was becoming more and more of an
annoyance. It was infuriating how disappointing it was every time Lavi brushed
him off, saying something about �homework,� even though he�d never seen the
idiot doing assignments before.

And speaking of assignments, if he didn�t start paying
attention soon, he was going to mess up the Macro homework he was currently
staring blankly at. It wasn�t that he didn�t understand it�actually, even
though he found the subject dull and hopelessly boring, he was one of the top
scorers in the class�he just couldn�t concentrate
long enough to get it done. Every time he read one of the questions, Lavi�s
face would pop into his mind, smiling that annoying-ass grin, and suddenly,
every word his eyes passed over was magically in the redhead�s voice.

The entire situation was infuriating. Gritting his teeth,
Yuu glared at the paper, willing it to do itself, just so that he wouldn�t have
to look at it and think about Lavi. He went so far as to growl before deciding
to give up the assignment as a bad job. There was time to do it tomorrow, so it
could wait. He threw his textbook to the ground. It hit with a satisfactory thump that made the Japanese boy feel a
little better.

Ignoring the lotuses in his peripheral vision, he pulled
out his sketchpad. It had been a while since he�d added something new�a few
days at most. The second his pencil hit the paper, the turbulence in his mind
simply melted away. Everything was quiet and relaxed, just like it always was
when he let his hand move and draw whatever he was
feeling. Gone were the feelings, gone
was the sticky, gooey, sappy emotion in his heart that distracted him so much.
Gone, too, were the heart pounding moments, the sinking
of disappointment, and the ever-present cold that always tried to freeze his
limbs and mind into inactivity. All that was there were the soft, forgiving
lines of his pencil and the soothing, lukewarm calm that always swirled around
him like old bathwater.

Yuu�s eyes unfocused as the lines flew out from his fingers.
He didn�t need to think about anything, annoying roommates included. He didn�t
need to think about bad pasts or chains or fucktards
with red hair. Shaking his head, Yuu growled again. Lavi was ruining his zen.

He looked down, wondering what he�d drawn so far. With
sickening frustration, he realized he�d just spent the past twenty minutes
outlining Lavi�s profile. And he�d added rabbit ears.

�Fuck you!� He shouted at no one in particular as he
ripped the page from the pad and crumpled it. Why did the apprentice Bookman
have to haunt him even while he was at class? Reaching under his blanket, Yuu
grabbed a lighter and immediately disposed of the drawing.

Perhaps it was best if he just brooded. He�d tried
everything else. Thankfully, he was saved from that choice by a knock on his
door.

Whoever it was didn�t wait for him to answer, they just
burst in. And then Lenalee was standing in front of him, hands on her hips as
she scowled at him.

�Where�d you bury the body?� She demanded. Yuu blinked.
What the fuck?

�Excuse me?� He asked politely, hoping he�d misheard.

�You heard me, Yuu-kun, where�d you bury the body?�

The world suddenly wasn�t making much sense, like someone
had taken away his ability to understand English, or like someone had turned
logic off.

�Che.
What body?� He asked angrily. Distracting as the Chinese girl was, he really
didn�t want to talk at the moment. Even if she was keeping
his mind far away from The Annoyance.

Lenalee flipped her phone open and fiddled with a few
buttons before turning it around for him to view. There, on the tiny
pink-framed screen, was a bad-quality picture of Lavi on his lap. The redhead�s
hands were on his chest, and their lips were melded together. It looked kind of
like they were stuck that way, actually. The mini-Yuu in the picture even
looked a bit annoyed. Or perhaps that was Yuu�s pathetic excuse not to be
reminded of how good the kiss had
been. That aggravated face was probably satisfaction with what Lavi had been
doing to him.

�Your roommate, Lavi�he made out with you, so obviously
you killed him. I just want to know where his body is so that I can keep people
from finding it. You could always play the insanity card in court, should it
ever escalate that far if you are caught.
I�m sure that your psychiatrist would back you��

�I didn�t kill him,� Yuu interrupted. It amused him
somewhat that Lenalee was thinking of such possibilities. He wasn�t that
violent. Maybe.

�Of course you did. Don�t lie,
Yuu-kun,� Lenalee brushed him off. Yuu would have been offended, but perhaps
she had a point. He did tend to get angry at people who made advances on him.
And Daisya had deserved it anyway. And it wasn�t his fault Cross needed Viagra
now.

�He was drunk, he didn�t know
what he was doing.�

�Wait� Is Yuu-kun� defending
him?� Lenalee asked, shocked.

�No.�

The Chinese girl�s face lit up and then darkened in
suspicion. �You like him, don�t you?� She asked slyly.

Yuu looked away. �No,� he said.

�You do, don�t you?� She said almost raunchily.� Yuu tried not to
blush.

�No,� he insisted.

�Yes, you do,� Lenalee countered.

�Shut up.�

�I knew it!�

�Shut up!�

�Yuu-kun has a crush!�

�Shut up!� He
glared at her. But the effect was ruined by his enormous blush. Lenalee only
giggled mischievously.

�Well, are you going to tell him?� The dark-haired girl
questioned intensely, suddenly completely serious. It shocked Yuu how quickly she could change moods. It had
to be a girl thing.

�Che, no,� Yuu
replied dismissively. His friend seemed horrified at this, but he tried to
ignore her as she scowled at him and grabbed his shoulders. He didn�t really
mind her touching him that much, especially now�especially after all she�d done
for him. Still, he couldn�t help the reflexive twitch that just wouldn�t go away even though he was
beyond it. Lenalee was safe. She�d
proved that much to him time and again, so why wouldn�t his body believe that
too?

�Why not? If you like someone,
you should tell them!� She exclaimed almost excitedly, as if she was a bit put
out by his choice but thought that she could make him budge on the issue. He
wouldn�t, though.

�Like you�re one to talk. Moyashi?� He shot
back. Lenalee looked a little bit offended, but the expression faded too
quickly for him to be sure. Besides, she was a big girl,
she could take care of herself.

�We�re not talking about me and Allen, Yuu-kun,� the
Chinese girl said quietly, blushing as hard as Yuu had been a minute ago.

All it took was a look for her to crack.

�Okay, fine, I know I�m being hypocritical, but it�s not
that I haven�t been telling him, it�s just that he doesn�t understand,� she gushed. Yuu frowned. Typical of
the idiot Moyashi. But still,
he was no longer the center of her attention, and if she just kept on talking,
he would feel better. It wasn�t that he didn�t like talking to Lenalee, he just
didn�t like talking. He didn�t like being in the middle of things.

�Then kiss him. Maybe he�ll get the picture then.� It was
sound advice, but now that he thought about it, he really wasn�t in the mood to
listen to Lenalee moon over the stupid Old Man. The Chinese girl seemed
slightly surprised that he�d said anything at all�it was extremely out of
character, but then, he�d felt so� off
ever since the party (and that damn good kiss he�d had with Lavi)�but she
seemed to take it in stride, smiling as if nothing at all was wrong. Even
though it had to be, because there was no way in fucking hell that Kanda Yuu
was falling for someone.

This affliction had definitely surpassed simple crush and had gone into the terrifying
territory of really like. Before he
knew it, he�d be wearing his hair in pigtails and prancing around with a mug of
coffee for Tiedoll.

�Hmm, I suppose I could�� Lenalee looked thoughtful. �But what about you? I mean, why aren�t we telling him?�

�We?�
Yuu scoffed.

�It�s the royal
�we,� Yuu-kun!� She exclaimed exasperatedly, throwing her hands up as she
rolled her eyes. Yuu smirked. Her tactics always cheered him up, even if it was
only a little bit. Back when he�d been in the closet,* she�d been the only one
to make life at Tiedoll�s tolerable.

�Che.�

�Well, anyway, why aren�t you telling him?� The dark-haired girl questioned again.

Yuu shrugged. He didn�t really know what to say. It
wasn�t that he didn�t want to be honest with Lenalee,
it was just that he couldn�t figure out how to articulate it. The words �not
ready� didn�t seem to cover it. It wasn�t fear of rejection that held him back,
it was something else, something he couldn�t quite
define.

Some would call it trauma, but that wasn�t quite right,
either. Yes, Yuu had been hurt, but no, he was no longer strictly tied down by
that particular portion of his past. It was concern, maybe, concern for Lavi
and for himself. Bookmen didn�t date, and like hell Yuu would do it for the
sex. If he could even comfortably go that far.

Immediately, the faces swarmed around him, each one vying
for his attention, even the blurry, indistinct ones. They swarmed in front of
Lenalee, masking her like a dense cloud hid the sun. If
Lenalee was a sun, which she wasn�t. Why was he making idiotic metaphors
in his head, anyway?

As if reacting to his change in mindset�perhaps they
didn�t like sarcasm?�the faces drifted away, revealing the Chinese girl�s face,
soft with an emotion that looked vaguely like sad understanding. Her hand had
appeared on his shoulder at some point, and though it was comforting as always,
he found himself wishing it was someone else�s hand. Someone
with red hair.

Which made his chest grow heavy.
Could the idiot not stay off his mind for five
minutes!? It was infuriating, having to think of him all the time. It made
him feel vulnerable and weak�weaker than usual.

�Awww, it�s okay,� Lenalee said
quietly as her hand moved up to pat his cheek in an amiable fashion. He
remembered the first time she�d done that for him.

�Aw, poor Yuu-kun,
having to sit next to the big, bad Daisya monster,� Lenalee said in
faux-sympathy, grinning as she sat down next to him at the island in the
kitchen. Next to him, the �Daisya monster� snorted into his Cheerios.

�Yes, please come
and save me,� Yuu responded sarcastically. His voice was still high with youth
even though he was fifteen. It irked him to no end.

�If
you insist!� Lenalee said
brightly, picking him up and carrying him into the living room. Yuu didn�t care
about the contact�he�d long ago stopped reacting aversely to Lenalee�s
touch�but the fact that she was carrying him princess style�well, the fact that she was carrying him at
all�made him want to punch things.

Thankfully, she saw
his anger and set him down (roughly, so as not to further demean his manly
pride) on the couch. He glared at her, and if he had been Moyashi or Daisya or anyone else, he would have
gotten up and tackled her to the ground. But he was Yuu, and even if he liked
Lenalee, he wouldn�t dream of touching her more than was necessary.

�Sorry, Yuu-kun,
but I know you don�t really like him, and I did get you out of there�� she
mumbled, putting a hand to his cheek.

�You left my
breakfast, baka,� he growled. But the
Chinese girl laughed, patted his cheek quickly, and stood up.

�I left mine, too. Lemme go grab them, okay?� She walked off cheerfully and
returned a few moments later with a bowl of Fruit Loops and a bowl of soba. Grumbling to himself, Yuu accepted his breakfast
and settled on glaring at the floor until Muffins came up and started purring
at his feet, begging for soba he could never have.

Shaking his head slightly and dislodging Lenalee�s hand
from his cheek in the process, Yuu stood up.

�Shower,� he grunted. Lenalee laughed.

�You�re so predictable sometimes, Yuu-kun,� she said with
a smile.

Yuu had absolutely no idea what she meant.

---

September 24

Without realizing it, Yuu had let three papers creep up
on him. Even Lavi, who was rarely seen doing work, was typing busily away at
his computer. Presumably, he had an essay for one of his language classes. Yuu,
on the other hand, was up to his neck in homework. It was as if all his
professors had decided it was time to stop going easy on the impressionable
little freshmen.

Those fuckers.

But his professors aside, he
really needed to do this. So he set about getting into his writing in English
mode, which despite living in America for nine years, he still had trouble
with.

He managed to get through half of his first paper when he
realized someone was leaning over his shoulder in a very rabbit-like manner.

�What�cha writin�, Yuu-chan?� Aforementioned rabbit said
obnoxiously.

�Che.
You�ve been reading over my shoulder, you tell me,� the dark-haired boy replied
darkly.

�Well, I can tell you that you have horrible grammar, and my god, how did you manage to misspell business? You�re in a business class for Christ�s sake!�� Lavi exclaimed.

�Shut up, it�s a hard word,� Yuu growled.

�Yeah, sure. Do you want me to
check for errors? I�m really good at it,� the redhead offered helpfully.

�Whatever.� Yuu wasn�t going to admit that he wanted the
help, even though all his teachers had pointed out his inability to use commas.

So Yuu continued to write and Lavi pointed out mistakes
as he went. He wouldn�t have minded that much, except that the idiot was
infuriating as he rudely and exasperatedly complained about the Japanese boy�s
complete failure at distinguishing �there,� �their,�
and �they�re� (even if he hadn�t made that particular mistake). He�d even gone
as far as to ask Yuu if he�d even learned
English. Yuu had flipped him the bird. Lavi had had the gall to look offended.

A few more hours passed this way, with Yuu getting more
and more annoyed each minute. Until two firm,
authoritative knocks came at the door. Immediately, Lavi froze. His smile grew
wider as his eye grew faker. And suddenly, he was completely in persona for the
first time in weeks.

The door opened and the familiar upright hairdo came into
view. Looking down, Yuu saw the man attached to it.

Yuu saw the man give the room a cursory glance but almost
instantaneously turned his attention to his apprentice.

�Lavi, will you come with me?� The old man asked, his
voice as dusty as the tomes he probably spent days at a time poring over.

�O� course, Panda!� Lavi said, all smiles. If Yuu hadn�t spent so much time looking
at him�because they were roommates, not because he had some weird obsession
with the boy�he wouldn�t have noticed the small indications of fear that came
in the form of slight crow�s feet at the corner of Lavi�s left eye and the
infinitesimal shaking of Lavi�s right hand. And if Yuu could see it, then
Bookman probably could, too.

Still, even though Lavi usually didn�t get called out of
the room�Bookman usually just dropped off Lavi�s newest set of notebooks and
textbooks�there was no real cause for worry (not that Yuu ever would, crush or
not). They could be talking about an issue that the Japanese boy could never be
privy to.

They were out of the door before Yuu could blink. Five minutes
passed without any worry. Ten minutes passed, and Yuu wasn�t even beginning to
get anxious. No, not at all.� Fifteen minutes passed, and maybe he could
admit to feeling a little bit concerned. Twenty minutes passed, and then
twenty-five, and Yuu decided it was time to go searching. He was about to grab
his keys and leave when Lavi stumbled in, looking more than a little worse for
wear.

In addition to the many bruises already beginning to
shadow his too-pale skin, Lavi�s left eye was swollen almost completely shut.
His right arm, covered in blood from what looked like a deep knife wound, was
holding his left arm to his side, making the forearm sticking out at an odd
angle all the more apparent. His shirt was splattered with blood, as were his
jeans. There was a veritable stream of the red liquid stretching down the hall,
all of it seeming to seep from his right leg. Stepping forward, the redhead
grimaced in what looked like acute pain. He hissed as he took another step that
turned into a very pronounced limp. With horror, Yuu realized that the
apprentice Bookman�s left ankle was broken.

�Lavi?� Yuu asked too loudly,
alarmed. His eyes went wide as the redhead lost his balance and went nose-first
to the ground. The Japanese boy barely made it in time to catch him, and
perhaps he shouldn�t have, because Lavi let out a strangled scream as his elbow
was thrown further out of alignment. A bloody tear fell from the corner of
Lavi�s puffy eye. Yuu didn�t make a sarcastic comment about it. That would be
unfair. After all, he knew something about pain, and taking his pent-up
frustration at Lavi out on the boy while he was in this state was just plain
cruel.

Carrying the larger boy over to the closest bed, which
happened to be Yuu�s, the dark-haired boy set his burden down. His first
priority was to stop all the bleeding. Without care for modesty, he pulled
Lavi�s jeans off, thankfully not taking his boxers with them. The gash in his
leg was deep.

Yuu reached under his comforter and felt around for his
small sewing kit and rubbing alcohol. He didn�t really know much about stitching
people up, but Marie had had a few large scrapes when Yuu had been the only
available driver in the house. It didn�t look too hard. And besides, he�d sewn
plenty of Lenalee�s stuffed animals back together. The most epic time had been
when he�d replaced Komurin�s head. When he brought
the needle into view, however, Lavi let out a whimper�how he could see with his
eye so swollen, Yuu had no idea�and another tear fell down his bruised face. A
third tear fell as Yuu sterilized the wound. This time, the dark-haired boy
couldn�t resist the jibe.

�Man up, idiot,� he growled, and then poured alcohol over
the needle before jabbing it roughly into Lavi�s open wound.

To say that Lavi screamed would have been an understatement.
It was more of a howl, like that time when Allen�s left arm had been completely
shredded by the lawn mower back when he was fifteen.

The idiot managed to shut up after a while, otherwise
people would think Yuu was murdering his roommate. Once he was finished
stitching the leg, he proceeded to sew up the gash in Lavi�s arm. The idiot was
quiet for that, too. Actually, Yuu was starting to get worried that the redhead
was going into shock.

�This is going to hurt,� Yuu warned harshly, taking hold
of Lavi�s shoulder and forearm and snapping the bone back into place.
Unfortunately, that cued another veritable howl
from the injured rabbit. It was almost painful to listen to, and maybe there
was a tiny twinge in Yuu�s heart, but he ignored it. �You need some ice for
your eye, but you�ll need to go to the health center for your ankle. I�ll carry
you.�

Lavi nodded weakly, and they set off.

---

Two hours later, they were back in the dorm room, Lavi
sporting a big, bulky black boot.

�Sorry for all this, Yuu,� Lavi said, sounding completely
sincere. The Japanese boy scoffed and left the room with the large popcorn bowl
Tiedoll had forced on him. As if he ate popcorn. After filling it with water
from the bathroom, he came back and started stripping the room. Someone had
already cleaned the blood from the floor in the hall, but the inside of their
room was sadly neglected. As well it should be. Yuu didn�t want some person
just barging into his room like it
was some kind of hotel.

�Che.�
He didn�t really feel like talking at the moment. He took a washcloth from a
drawer and began to scrub at the floor, and then the walls (�I don�t remember
bleeding on the wall,� Lavi remarked weakly), and then the mattress of his bed.
The entire time, he was physically holding himself back from asking the
apprentice Bookman just what had happened. But it wasn�t his business, so he
really couldn�t expect to just butt in like that.

There was a long silence, broken only when Yuu went into
one of his drawers again to get a second washcloth. It was stifling in the
room, like the window was closed (which it was, but that was beside the point).
The sharp tang of blood filled the air, making Yuu nauseous. It had the added
effect of keeping some of the more indistinct faces from materializing in front
of him. But the dark brunette with the small nose and eyes would forever be
burned into his mind, along with the blonde that inevitably followed him and
the foreigner that followed her. Other faces milled around, but they were
vaguer than usual, softer, fuzzier.

�He didn�t really do it, he got someone else. Usually
it�s not so bad and he does it himself,� Lavi said after a while.

God. The idiot didn�t get it at
all.

�Why did you let him hit you?� He asked, harsher than
he�d meant to.

Lavi looked taken aback. �Because it�s
just a punch here, a needle in a bad pressure point there, nothing to worry
about. It�s never been� this bad.� Just from his tone, Yuu could tell
the redhead was lying.

�Whatever,� he said, trying to dismiss the conversation
and maybe clear out his head. He was acting so weird. Yes, he liked the guy, so he certainly didn�t
like it when he was injured, but that was no reason for him to be so angry in
this situation. He had no right to be. And anyway, Lavi was going to realize
soon just how crazy his roommate was if he didn�t stop doing such weird, out of
character things. Like carry him to the health center. Or let him kiss him.
Thank God Lavi didn�t remember that.

Because Lavi was a Bookman, and even if Yuu had wanted to
tell him, he knew he couldn�t. And perhaps that was why he was angry. He was
angry because Bookman had hurt Lavi and there wasn�t a damn thing he could do
about it. He was angry because no matter how much pain the redhead went
through, Lavi would still become a Bookman. He was angry because somehow, in
some way, this incident had just made him realize that there was no way in
fucking hell that his feelings could ever be returned. And that hurt.

---

*Football as in� not American football� as in soccer.

*We mean this literally. As in, he lived in his closet
(for certain reasons we will touch upon later). But he was also closeted,
though we don�t think he really thought much about sexual orientation at that
point in time, him being twelve and all�

When Allen was hurt, he was lying (spread eagle) on the
grass and Daisya was mowing the lawn (they have one of those pimptastic riding mowers). A groundhog or other small
woodland creature that lives in America ran in front of the mower, he swerved
to avoid it, lost control of the mower, and it sorta
went over Allen�s left arm. So it was really all Allen�s fault, because he
should�ve vacated the lawn once it started being mowed. But he never did have a
lot of brain cells to begin with. >.< *shot* (� la Dem)
- 5
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How to Save a Life