A new way of life

Friendship

"Well, well, well. Look who it is!" Allen looked up. Tyki was walking down the steps off to his left. There were several doors that led into this lecture hall. "Found some seats!" He laughed grinning back to the large silent man behind him. He pushed his way past the students at the other end of the row. Dropping heavily into the seat right beside Allen.

"Switch." Kanda hissed in Allen's ear. Tyki dropped his arm around Allen's thin shoulders. He smirked over to Kanda.

"Now, now, Allen is fine. I won't hurt him or anything." He laughed looking at the furious faces around him. "If you like himself so much, maybe you should tell him." Tyki cooed. "Holding in all those constipated emotions just isn't healthy, Yu." He purred.

"Please get your hands off of me." Allen asked he was sitting stiffly.

"Now, Allen, we have so much friendship behind us. Plus, there is the matter of your step father..." Tyki looked slyly at Allen.

"I wouldn't call him that." Allen hissed.

"Well, Allen, if you don't want me talking to him, I think you should do what I say." Tyki leaned in closer. "Or maybe we will see if dear old daddy feels that your debt is properly paid?" He kissed Allen's cheek. "I know you didn't expect me to buy that bullshit this morning."

Kanda had enough. He reached over and flung Tyki's arm off of Allen just as the professor walked in. They glared at each other but sat quietly listening to the lecture on how the semester would go. After class, Allen picked up his things. Kanda grabbed one arm, while Tyki grabbed the other.

"Allen, come with me. We have a lot to discuss." Tyki glared down at the smaller teen.

"Allen, he is only using you!" Lavi cried. Allen looked over at them. He sighed lowering his head.

"Kanda, please let go." He whispered. Kanda snarled.

"Only if you can strike me." Allen's head lifted.

"What?" He demanded.

"I will let you go with Tyki, if you can land a hit on me. Anywhere." Kanda stated. Allen looked shocked.

"But, that's like impossible!" He cried.

"As is the idea of me letting you go." Kanda pointed out.

"YOU DON'T GET IT!" Allen cried.

"But we do, Allen." Krory said. "You have a hard past. This Cross guy will try to extort money from you. Maybe try to kidnap you. But we are your friends. We will come up with a plan and we will be the ones to help you. Don't go with Tyki. He is just like Cross." The deep blue eyes of Krory bore into Allen's startled reds.

"You. I," Allen paused shaking his head. "No. I can't ask you to do that." He declared. Lavi laughed rubbing at the back of his head.

"Haha, like we were waiting for you to ask." He chuckled. He leapt over the seats, hip checking Tyki out of the way as he put his arm around Allen's shoulders. "We're friends. You don't need to ask. We volunteer." He smiled. "Now let's go everyone else has left." He glared over his shoulder at Tyki as he pushed Allen out to follow Kanda.

The friends headed out into the late morning sunlight. "OK, what's the deal?" Kanda demanded. Allen looked at him. The tall dark man hadn't let go of him. "This Cross guy, what's the deal?" Kanda asked.

"Well, he uh, his uh brother took me in after my parents died. Manna was great. The best father I could ask for, well since I was too small to recall my actual parents. Manna died one night and Cross showed up. He said he was Manna's brother and that Manna wanted him to take care of me." Allen paused. He looked away. They were walking through a hardly used sidewalk of the school. Kanda still holding his wrist.