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The first time Yuu falls for Alma, he falls quite literally, flailing with unsteady legs and shaky arms as he tries to get used to his newly created (born? made?) body.
"Yuu!" Alma shouts again, backing away from the tacklehug he'd inflicted on the other, and it's enough to tip Yuu's balance, sending him faceplanting into the ground with a muffled 'oof'.
"Yuu?" Alma asks, and Yuu growls in annoyance, hatred for his new name quickly forming. 'Fucking parrot,' he thinks, and pauses, considering. But then Alma's voice is insistent, concerned by his ear ('areyouokay?don'tworry,islippedatfirsttoobut...'), and Yuu doesn't have time to wonder why he knows how to say anything at all (much less swear), because Alma is loud enough to drown out his thoughts.
--
The second time, Yuu is prepared. He turns, wooden sword prepared to block as Alma barrels toward him, shouting 'Yuuuuuu' in a voice that makes Yuu want to puke.
Alma, noticing this, changes his stance as well, and what should have been a hug soon becomes a scuffle, the two rolling over each other with punches and jabs thrown in. They continue in this way for a while, struggling and growling, until Alma knocks the sword away and holds Yuu down, sitting on Yuu's chest with an expression that's far too smug for Yuu's tastes.
"Get off," he warns, but Alma does nothing of the sort, only sticking out his tongue at Yuu, taunting. That is invitation enough, Yuu decides, and throws another punch at Alma, hitting him square in the face and starting yet another round of wrestling.
By the time they're done, the room Yuu'd been resting in is a complete mess, and they're both breathless and tired, muttering insults at each other from their respective locations sprawled on the stone floor. But Yuu knows that despite his complaints against Alma, he'd never want to be rid of him and his stupid sparring matches. It's as close to freedom as he'll get in this prison of an environment, a taste of something more in the carefully constructed world they're trapped in.
(He knows this is ridiculous, for Alma is just as artificial as he is. But when Alma's fighting, laughing, yelling, living like the human he's not, it's easy to forget and live with him.)
--
The third time Yuu falls for Alma, Alma has no idea what hit him.
It's one of the few days they're allowed near ground level, and Alma is wandering all about, poking in each and every corner. Yuu, on the other hand, is satisfied with just sitting by the one tiny window (closed, locked, and reinforced of course), glancing outside. He watches a group of children outside, tumbling over each other in some game of theirs, silently absorbing all of their moves and sounds.
He's used to being invisible to them, barely noticeable as he is from behind the thick bars and foreboding building, so he's caught by surprise when one of the children, a redheaded boy of about his age, looks up and catches his eye. Yuu blinks, surprised, but the boy seems interested for only a moment before he turns away, prefering the fun and games of his peers over some antisocial child hiding away. Of course, Yuu sighs, but can't help the feeling of hurt welling up in his chest. He's beginning to understand Alma's first reaction to him, for their existence really is rather lonely, and being by himself would be much, much worse.
But before he has time to feel appropriately sorry for himself, though, Alma has wandered over to the window as well, and Yuu takes this as an opportunity to leap into a surprise attack.
Because Yuu knows that no matter what he does, Alma won't ever abandon him, and he will take advantage of this to its fullest.
--
The fourth time Yuu falls for Alma, he falls down, and down, and down, until he hits the surface of what seems to be... sewer water. Great. He yells obscenities up in the direction he knows Alma is, but is quickly swept along by the current, and shuts his mouth for fear of swallowing god knows what.
And by the time he washes up onto shore, he's about ready to skewer and toast Alma alive. Not all of it, though, is because Alma shoved him into a fucking sewer (although that is admittedly a very large part of it). He's also upset, though, because they were supposed to stick together like... what had Alma called it? Friends, something like that. There was no way in hell Yuu would let Alma stay there while he was forced to swim through sewers and face the world alone. And if it meant risking being caught again, so be it, he would stay there until Alma got it through his thick skill that no, he was not leaving alone.
--
The fifth time, Alma mumbles something from where he's slumped on the floor, and Yuu turns around, glancing at the broken body behind him. It's too late, and yet he can't help but regret, when Alma is all he's known and kept in this life. He reaches for the anger and hatred that he'd always reserved for Alma, but looking back, he's always known that that was a lie, that despite countless battles and and an attempt on his life, hating each other was impossible for them. Briefly, he wonders what they'd be had they not been trapped in this fucked up mockery of a life, considers if they'd have been friends at all. But the thought is quickly discarded, and Yuu walks away.
('Friends,' he thinks. 'When did that happen?' And if the ache in his chest has spread, further and faster than that cursed tattoo, he remains silent about it, because words have never really been the truth behind their relationship.)
--
"Yuu!" he hears, and Kanda turns around, eyes wide because he hasn't heard anyone call him like that in years. They narrow a moment later, though, and Mugen is drawn out, pointed at the throat of the new kid (Lavi, he recalls after a moment).
"Don't. Ever call me that," Kanda growls out, because that memory is not something to be trivialized by random newcomers.
"Hey hey okay, I got it," Lavi says backing away, hands up in defeat. "So, Yuu," he says anyways, easy grin belying his supposed surrender as Kanda evidently tenses up, "Wanna show a new friend around?"
Kanda turns, dismissing him without a word because this loser can go find someone else to be his mother hen for a day. Lavi evidently doesn't get the message, though, and a few steps later Kanda feels a weight on his shoulder as Lavi leans on it, looking around curiously as he follows him around.
"Get off," Kanda glares, hand inching toward Mugen again, but Lavi only laughs, arm wrapping further around Kanda as he walks.
"Aw Yuu, no need to be shy," he says, winking.
Kanda stares for a moment, dumbfounded, but that disbelief soon turns into outrage, and Kanda is about ready to toss Lavi off the highest tower he can find in the Order, Innocence be damned. Lavi smiles, though, bright and almost familiar, and Kanda can't help but be reminded of distant memories of laughter and bickering and friendship. Maybe, just maybe he's beginning to fall for Lavi, and even if he's never one to forget, perhaps he'll be able to let Lavi make new memories of the name 'Yuu'.