#childhood yuulma fluff cures all

[faeriexqueen]

Hey! for the prompt thingy: yulma and number 7. Thank you very much and have a nice day/evening!

AHHH I am so excited you sent this one! I hope it’s okay I went with some childhood fluff for this ficlet. ^^

Title: Safe and BoundPairing: Yuulma (Alma Karma/Yuu Kanda)Chapters: 1Words: 2,709Summary: Edgar gives Alma a new toy, and Alma convinces Yuu to try a game. Childhood fluff.  (Prompt for “I’m stuck, I’m stuck!”)AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11844942FF: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12620267/1/Safe-and-Bound

“Alma, go away.”Alma pouted, his large blue eyes puppy-like and pleading.  “But, Yuu, Edgar gave me this toy and I don’twant to play with it alone!”

Yuu pulled the covers over his head. Technically, it wasn’t that late, but the day had been long and the tests painful.  It had been earlier that he and Alma had toundergo them, but Yuu was worn out.  Hedidn’t even know how Alma had the energy to stay to annoyingly perky.

“Play with it by yourself.  I’m tired,” Yuuresponded, his voice muffled from underneath the blankets.  God, it was so soft and warm being curled up like that-

The sheets were ripped off of Yuu, and he was instantly shrouded in coolair.  Yuu shot up, glaring viciously atAlma.  “What the hell!?

 Why are you such anobnoxious brat all the time!?”

Alma held the sheets away from Yuu. “I’ll give them back,” He spoke, before smiling at Yuu innocently, “After you try this new toy with me.”

Yuu glowered at Alma.  Alma knew that Yuu hated being cold – hehated being cold, and being uncomfortable. And now Alma was exploiting that weakness of all things.

The scientists may have thought that Yuu was a demon in disguise, but theidiots clearly had been misled.

Ultimately, Yuu wouldn’t give up his sheets. He didn’t want to fight Alma though, only because there was the risk oftearing them and that wouldn’t go overwell if Twi found out (Yuu and Alma had fought before where sheets got involved– following that incident, Twi had threatened to leave the boys with tornsheets next time).  Since it was Twimaking the threat and not Edgar, Yuu didn’t want to chance it.

Yuu really hated Alma in that moment.

Growling, Yuu swung his feet over the edge of the bed.  “Fine!” He huffed, before crossing his armsover his chest.  “What’s the stupid toythat Edgar gave you?”

Alma sat on the edge of his bed (next to the bundle of Yuu’s sheets, Yuunoticed with annoyance) and swung his legs. He pulled out a relatively small object that looked like a cylinder,though the texture was braided with some kind of red and white fiber.  

Yuu was immediately unimpressed.  “That’sit?”

Alma looked up at Yuu excitedly, and nodded. “Yeah!  Edgar said it’s called aChinese finger trap!” Alma explained, before he looked at the small, tube-likeobject with slight confusion.  “ExceptEdgar said he didn’t know if it was actually invented by the Chinese – I guessthere’s some confusion over that for some reason.”

Yuu frowned.  “So why is it called aChinese finger trap if it isn’t even Chinese? That’s dumb,” Yuu muttered.  Hedidn’t see the appeal in this object, or what its history was.  Alma probably did since Alma seemed to askabout every single place outside of the lab, and was always asking Edgar toborrow books.  Personally, Yuu hatedreading.

Alma shrugged.  “I don’t know.  But it sounds fun!  You just put your fingers in, and have to getthem out.”

“So…you put your fingers in that thing. And just pull them out?” Yuu asked, with slight hesitancy.  If that was all the “toy” required, then itwas probably the most boring toy Yuu had ever heard of.  Why would anyone even bother to mess withsuch a pointless trinket?  

Then again, if that was all that Yuuhad to do to get his sheets back…

“Okay,” Yuu spoke, “So…I just put my fingers in, and I can have my sheets backafter right?”

Alma blinked, and looked at the finger trap. “Well, I was thinking it’d be more fun if we each put a finger in.  Edgar said there was a trick to it, but Ifeel like it’d be too easy if I just did it by myself.”

Yuu rolled his eyes.  “Whatever.  Just let me stick my finger in the stupidthing already.”

“Wow, you sound so excited.”

“Look, it’s a freakin’ paper cylinder! Now do you want me to do it or not?”

Alma sighed, knowing that it was probably close to impossible for Yuu togenuinely be excited about anything. Well, Alma could settle – at least Yuu was participating in the littletoy’s game.  “Okay, let me come overthere,” Alma said, getting off of his bed and hopping onto Yuu’s.  He then slipped his finger into one end ofthe finger trap, before holding it up and smiled.  “Your turn!”

Yuu glanced at the strange little toy, but onlyhesitated for a second for popping his finger into the cylinder.Well, that was anticlimactic.  Yuu exhaled impatiently.  “So…do we haveto wait for anything, or can we take our fingers out now?  Because this game is really lame.”Alma scrunched up his nose, with a hint of disappointment in his face.  “I guess…”Somewhat relieved that Alma wasn’t arguing any further (though Yuu actuallyfelt a little bad hearing how disappointed Alma sounded – not that he wouldever admit to it), Yuu tugged his finger. He frowned when the object seemed to cling even more to his finger.  Yuu pulled one more time, before he finally just tried to jerk his finger outof the cylinder.  Alma immediately was thrown off balance. “Hey, don’t do that!” Alma exclaimed, not knowing why Yuu was pulling so hard.A confused frown was on Yuu’s face.  “Myfinger isn’t coming out!” He snapped, as he tried to pull again.“Stop pulling so much!” Alma retorted, before looking at the finger trap.  “Maybe my side will work better-“Alma tried to pull his finger out as he said this, but his expression fell whenhe realized his finger was notgetting out of the trap.  For a moment,Alma actually looked nervous.  “Yuu, I’mstuck, I’m stuck!”“We’re both stuck, moron!”“I’m not a moron!”“You’re a moron for making me play this dumb game!”Alma pouted, then looked away.  “We’reprobably stuck like this because you’re playing wrong….”Yuu whipped his head in Alma’s direction. “What?  How am Iplaying wrong?  You told me all I hadto do was put my finger in and pull it out! Maybe you’re doing somethingwrong!”Alma’s cheeks flushed, and Yuu wasn’t sure if it was because Alma wanted to tellor cry.  Yuu really hoped it wasn’t thelatter – he hated it when Almacried.  It was gross and annoying and itmade Yuu feel terrible.  Fortunately for Yuu, it didn’t seem that Alma was going to cry.  He looked upset though, which made Yuu alittle worried.  Except Yuu shouldn’t have worried – this was allAlma’s fault, anyways.Alma remained quiet though, and Yuu scowled. He glared down at the finger trap. “This sucks…”Alma bit his lip, and averted his gaze. “Maybe we should ask Edgar for help…”Yuu immediately felt his cheeks heat up. “No way, I’m not walking out there like this!  We look stupid!”Hearing this, Alma’s expression turned into a frown.  He looked genuinely offended.  “We don’t look that stupid!”Yuu turned his head away from Alma, huffing silently.  He hated being stuck like this.  He should have just gone to bed cold.  It probably would have been less trouble thanhaving his finger connected to Alma’s.Alma was also looking away, and for a moment things were quiet.  Alma soon broke the silence.  “I should have never asked you to play thiswith me…” He muttered, words oddly quiet.Yuu snorted.  “Then why did you?  It’s not like I wanted to.”“Because you’re my only friend here…”The words spilled out softly, so much that it immediately registered  to Yuu as uncharacteristic for Alma.  Yuu’s eyes flickered over in Alma’sdirection, where he say Alma sitting in a slumped posture, clearly dejected forone reason or another.  Yuu immediately felt a pang of guilt. Alma really irritated him, and was clingy and obnoxious, and sometimeshe whined a lot, but…Yuu still feltbadly when Alma got upset.  He hadn’t inthe beginning – Yuu hadn’t cared before. Alma was just some little creep that always stalked Yuu, trailing aroundhim like some lost little animal.  Some lonely little animal.Silently, Yuu looked off to the corner of the mattress.  Looking at Alma suddenly felt difficult.“I’m sorry I made you play this.  I’llfigure out how to get it off,” Alma spoke up again, voice still quiet.  “It’s fine,” Yuu responded, still looking away. He couldn’t tell if he felt more agitated from Alma’s downtrodden tone,or how that Alma’s downtrodden tone made Yuu feel like a horrible person.  “It’s not that bad being stuck like this…”Alma looked at Yuu, and appeared somewhat caught off guard by his words.  However, Alma didn’t comment on them andglanced over to where his own mattress was. “Um…do you want your sheets back?”Yuu scoffed lightly.  “It’s not like Ican go to bed when we’re still stuck like this…” He responded, before noticinghow chilly it felt in the room.  Hefought the urge to shiver.  “But yeah.”Alma nodded, before hopping off the bed. Yuu noticed that Alma was careful not to pull him along too abruptly,and thankfully their beds were close enough to each other that Alma just had tostep in-between them to grab the sheets. He then hopped back onto Yuu’s mattress as he innocently tossed thesheets onto Yuu.“Mmfph,” Yuu mumbled, as the sheets hit him in the face.  He pulled them down.  “Ugh, you didn’t have to toss them on my face.”Alma’s lips quirked upward, and he giggled. “Sorry,” He apologized, before his expression turned a little somberonce more.  “Um…so what do we do aboutgoing to bed if we can’t get this off?”Yuu froze.  He wasn’t sure how toanswer.  “Uh….I don’t know,” He respondedlamely, looking away.  Well, there wasthe obvious option of just sharingsomeone’s bed that night, but for whatever reason that choice made Yuu feelweird.  Not necessarily in a bad way,but…definitely weird.  He didn’t knowwhy.“Oh,” Alma said, before looking off to the side.  He seemed to be thinking about something, butwas hesitating on vocalizing his thoughts – which was strange for Alma.  After a moment, Alma got enough bravery to speak up.  “Well…we could share a bed tonight.  I mean just until we get this thing off…”Yuu felt himself stiffen.  Well, now thatAlma had said the suggestion out loudit was difficult for Yuu to think of a reason to shoot it down.  Anyways, Yuu and Alma slept next to eachother already, so sharing a bed shouldn’t have been a bit deal, right?“Yeah, I guess that’ll work,” Yuu answered with a shrug.  Alma’s eyes seemed to brighten a little. “Okay!” He chirped. “Do you want to goto bed now?”Yuu blinked.  “Um, sure.”The next few moments felt a bit awkward, primarily because the two boys hadtheir fingers in the toy trap still.  Yuualso just wasn’t used to sharing his mattress with anyone – they weren’t largemattresses to begin with, and were more narrow. Since Yuu and Alma were still children, it wasn’t too difficult to fittogether – although, they did have to lie rather closely.Then, there came the awkward silence. It was a little odd since Alma normallychatted more, but he seemed to be more quiet than normal.  Yuu didn’t particularly mind, although he didstill feel a bit cold.  Even with thesheets, it was hard for him not to shiver. Usually, the sheets were enough to keep warm, but that night it seemedthat the temperature in the room was just lower than normal.Alma turned his head in Yuu’s direction. “Are you cold?”Before Yuu could answer, he suddenly felt warmth beside him.  Immediately, he recognized the warmth asAlma’s body.  “There,” Alma murmured, sounding sleepy. “Does that feel better?”Yuu nodded.  He suddenly felt morecomfortable than he had seconds prior, and with that comfort followedsleepiness.  “Yeah…”Alma smiled.  “Good,” He spoke, beforeresting his body against Yuu’s.Yuu was too tired to stiffen or go rigid at that point.  Usually, he hated Alma being clingy and allover him.  He hated Alma getting tooclose.  It was intrusive and aggravating.  It made Yuu angry.But, for whatever reason, Kanda didn’t mind that night.  He didn’t mind the feeling of warmth besidehim, and he didn’t mind the deep sleep he fell into either.~~~The next morning, Yuu woke up to a body lying against his.  Sleepily, he blinked his eyes open.That was right – Alma.  Alma hadpressured Yuu into trying some silly toy that had gotten their fingers stucktogether.Yuu fought the urge to groan.  Thatstupid Chinese finger trap.  How werethey going to get it off?  Yuu wiggledhis finger, expecting to feel the tug that connected him to Alma, when-Yuu’s eyes widened, and he sat up in bed. He pulled back his hand, and saw that there was no more finger trap.Somewhat bewildered, Yuu lifted the sheets, wondering where the little toy hadgone.  Sure enough, it was there on themattress just in-between his body and Alma’s. Yuu picked up the toy, just as Alma shifted in bed.  Alma yawned, before rubbing his eyes.  “Yuu, when did you wake up…?  Did you have one of those dreams again…?”Yuu shook his head. “No, but that stupid toy of yours came off,” He grumbled,before tossing the finger trap at Alma. “I don’t know how, but neverput that shit on me again.”Alma blinked, waking up a little more upon registering Yuu’s words.  “It came off? Really?”Yuu gave Alma a deadpan expression. “Well how the hell are you moving that hand so freely?”Alma glanced at his hand – the one he had used to rub his eye – beforerealizing that was also the hand that he had gotten stuck to Kanda’s.  “Oh.”“Oh my ass.  Don’t ever ask me to play that again – I have no idea how it came offwhile we were asleep, so I don’t want to risk it.”Alma’s expression faltered.  “Aw, Ithought you said being stuck together wasn’t that bad…”Yuu stiffened.  “Don’t get any ideas –this whole sharing beds was a one time thing!”Alma grew defensive.  “I wasn’t gettingany ideas!”“Tch.  Sure you weren’t.”A knock at the door came, distracting both boys before the door slid open.  Both Alma and Yuu turned, and wereimmediately faced with a slightly confused looking Dr. Edgar.Edgar looked at both boys, who were sitting in Yuu’s bed.  “Did you two sleep in the same bed?” Edgarasked, his tone innocently curious.Yuu’s face heated up.  “No,” He answeredimmediately, while Alma tried to stifle a giggle.A hint of amusement appeared in Edgar’s eyes, though he didn’t comment anyfurther on it.  Instead, he spotted theChinese finger trap and smiled.  “Oh, Isee you two were messing with the finger trap. Did you figure out how it works?”Yuu and Alma exchanged some slightly lost glances before shaking their heads.  “Um…we’re not sure how we got it off…” Almafinally spoke up, sounding uncertain.Edgar seemed a little surprised. “Really?  I mean, the trick isyou’re supposed to push together instead of pull a part.  Pulling apart causes the braided fibers to tighten,but pressing closer will free your fingers.”“Oh…” Alma said.  He glanced at Yuu, thenback to Edgar and smiled.  “That makessense.”Yuu looked at Alma skeptically.Edgar smiled.  “You boys should put onsome more clothes.  It’s chilly this morning,”He advised, before making a move to leave the room.  “I’ll see you two in a bit.”Once Edgar was gone, there was a slightly awkward silence between Yuu andAlma.  It was broken when Yuu literally kicked Alma off the bed.  Alma groaned, rubbing his behind as he sat up on the floor.  Yuu was sitting on the edge of the bed, armscrossed and scowling at Alma.  “We are never playing with thatstupid toy ever again.”Alma just laughed.  “Okay.”Then, Yuu laughed too.