The pond is just out of view from the house and the gardens and not far from the stable, sheltered by a swell of the land. It appears to be a grove of trees at first glance. This day is warmer than most have been, humid, not even a breeze to lift the hair from around Lavi's face and the back of his neck.

"Want to show you something," Lavi says, rapping on the door frame of the parlor. Allen starts from where he is curled up with a stack of dogeared telegraphs in the giant chair he only sits in when he is alone. "Maybe Yuu's back, too. Let's go."

Kanda is hanging tack and covered in dust, dirt streaking across his forehead underneath bangs plastered there by the heat. "What?" he asks.

"Allen has been holding out on us," Lavi replies. Kanda eyes Allen and then Lavi with suspicion, but follows without question. "There," Lavi says when they reach the water.

"The pond?" Allen asks blankly.

"I believe we all know how to swim," Lavi says, unbuttoning his vest and toeing off his shoes. "It's very hot out today, don't you think, Yuu?"

"Oh," Allen says. "Um. Really, Lavi, I need to get back to work, I'm trying to settle some of Cross's affairs today and it—"

"Can wait until tomorrow. Or the next day. It's waited this long." Lavi shrugs his shirt onto the ground. Allen watches it fall with a pained expression.

Allen's hesitance seems to make up Kanda's mind. He makes an annoyed noise as his shirt goes slipping to the grass.

"I think Allen is chicken," Lavi says, and slings an arm around Allen, who smells like paper, thin and dry. Allen's shoulders hunch inward, and a memory that could be from another lifetime springs to the front of Lavi's mind: the smoke-filled headquarters of the Order; Allen, grimy and only half-conscious, nearly tipping over with the weight of his sword in his right hand; the slip of Kanda's hand over his own as they scrambled to prop Allen up. Details, all of which had been meaningless in the urgency of the moment.

Lavi tightens his arm around Allen. "What do you think, Yuu? Shall we give him a bit of encouragement?"

"I'm not coddling him," Kanda says as he steps out of his trousers. The sun brightens Kanda's skin until it is difficult to look away, and Lavi catches himself before he can spend too much time evaluating his thoughts about the lean lines of Kanda's body.

He turns his gaze back to Allen instead. "That's not what I meant." Lavi grins and pats Allen's shoulder before sliding his hand down to Allen's wrist.

"What if someone sees?" Allen whispers, tiny and scandalized.

The difference between then and now, Lavi realizes. He rolls his eyes and chuckles instead, his next sentence coming out more wryly than he had intended. "They'll envy our good sense. I've got his arms. Yuu? Legs, if you please."

Kanda has his mouth twisted up in a smirk as fast as he sweeps down to grab Allen's ankles, and Lavi looks across Allen's flailing form at Kanda before they swing Allen back and toss him into the pond. Kanda follows him in a moment later.

Lavi finishes undressing, pausing to snicker when Allen comes up gasping. "How is it?" he calls.

"I'll kill both of you," Allen splutters, his eyes screwed shut.

"What violent sentiments from such a refined gentleman." Lavi takes a moment to calculate what kind of entrance will make the biggest splash before jumping in himself.

"My clothes," Allen is moaning when Lavi surfaces.

"There's a word for you, Allen. A dandy." Lavi wipes the water out of his eye. "You should get out of those wet things. And then there's nothing for it but to keep swimming and enjoy yourself until they dry."

Allen makes a face at him and then sloshes to the bank, where he sits with his legs dangling into the water to peel off his shirt. Lavi watches him out of the corner of his eye, following the span of his shoulders, Allen's mouth set in a determined line, fingers fumbling with buttons. He is too thin, pale, but not nearly as frail as he appears in his clothes. Allen's left arm is vaguely pearlescent in the sunlight, sharp in the shadows against the grass behind him. He catches Lavi's eye and frowns before dropping back down into the water to struggle with his trousers.

"He's not going anywhere now until he's dressed again," Kanda says from behind Lavi, and Lavi realizes how long he's been watching. He turns on Kanda and splashes him.

"Just making sure he doesn't bolt," Lavi says cheerfully, splashing Kanda again.

"Have you ever tried to put on wet clothes?" Kanda asks, scowling when Lavi splashes him one more time. He swipes forward, catching Lavi's arm and twisting it to push him underwater until Lavi thrashes. Kanda lets go, retreating to a quieter part of the pond.

The hard set of Allen's shoulders relaxes after he's arranged his clothes on the grass and he has been in the water for a while, although he keeps his eyes on the scenery, alternately squinting up into the trees at the sunlight and peering anxiously at his clothes. Lavi paddles over to him.

"Not so bad, yeah?"

"We're not children," Allen retorts.

"That so?" Lavi swims a lazy circle around Allen. "That seems fairly irrelevant." Lavi closes the distance between them. "I'd do this to Yuu since he thoroughly deserves it, but he's too far away." Allen's eyes go wide in the second before Lavi pounces on him. Lavi's fingers slide off Allen's shoulders as Allen goes under, but in the next second his legs are somehow tangled up with Allen's and Allen has pulled him under after him.

When they both come up, gasping for air, Lavi shakes the water out of his own face and laughs as Allen pushes him away.

"You've had that coming since you decided to throw me in," Allen says. There is water beading in his eyelashes. A hesitant smile plays over his face, like he wants to grin but can't quite allow himself to.

"S'all right. I'm delighted to know you still have it in you. You going after Yuu next? Fair's fair."

Allen glances at Kanda, who is swimming slow, stretching laps across the length of the pond. "No," he says. He sinks down a little, his chin skimming the top of the water. "It was your idea, anyway."

"I am full of brilliant ideas," Lavi says.