I'm not really sure where did this come from, but I'm quite enthusiastic about it. Although I believe the reasons are that I wanted to experiment with new couples and to redeem myself for always Lavi a bad guy. And I also wanted to try new approaches.

I hope you'll like it! (It's set on the present time, didn't really fit much to another age setting)

Allen was used to the stares and side-glances, he had lived being the centre of them his whole life but they seemed to increase when they arrived to London. Not that he could blame them, though; his appearance was strange for those who were not familiar with him: stark white hair pulled in a low ponytail, silver eyes, pale skin, the red mark on his left side of the face, his black arm and the golden monkey on his head.

The man next to him was something else to: tall, vibrant long red hair, red eyes and the mask covering half of his face. The small glasses and the gun in his leg gave him a dangerous appearance. And he was dangerous.

"Ah Shishō. We arrived." The boy said as he petted the monkey who had moved from his head to his forearm.

"Finally." The red haired man said as he opened the door. "Get the luggage, idiot apprentice."

"Yeah, yeah." The white haired said as he went to get the luggage that a friend so kindly left at the door of their new house. Once inside the house he threw his master his suitcases.

They had arrived in London that same morning but since they needed to take care of some stuff, they arrived at the house a few hours later than they were supposed to.

"Are you in the mood to go make a bit of money, idiot apprentice?" The tall man asked.

"My name is Allen." The boy replied, but one could tell he was not even trying to convince the elder. "But yeah, I want to know how good Londoners are at poker."

"Does it really matter where they are from?"

"Not really. But it's no fun if they are already bad." Allen replied, smiling darkly.

"Anyway, let's go." The red haired man said.

"Yeah, yeah. Tim! Let's go!" He yelled and the monkey settled down on his head once more.

Lucky for them, they were in the central part of the city, which meant that all the pubs, clubs and other night businesses where near their house which was a plus for Allen of he had to run and hide because of the people who lost to him. But that could also be applied to Cross and his runs because of his debts.

It was a plus for his Master if he found someone that would accompany him for the night. Although that could be also applied to Allen.

They entered the first one they found.

"What do you want?" The elder asked as they parted ways: one to the poker table, the other to the bar.

"Whatever you are having. And keep them coming, Shishō." Allen said smiling cheekily.

"You! White head!" The bouncer yelled and he stopped, turning around. "You are out!"

"What?" He groaned as he went to him, ignoring the whispers that surrounded him. As usual. "Why? If I must know." He said to the bouncer, who was easily three times his size.

"You are a minor." The bouncer said.

"And you had to recheck me to come to that conclusion?" He said as he turn to the general direction his master was. "Cross! Come tell this idiot on the door that I'm with you for god's sakes!"

"Why should I?" Came the reply from the red-haired man.

"Because you want me to make money for you since you suck at that!" He yelled back, still ignoring all the glares and whispers.

Sighing, the redhead went to the door and looked at the bouncer. "He's with me, you got a problem with it?" He asked.

"He's a minor. And if he doesn't get out, I'll throw you too." He said and Cross narrowed his eyes.

"Alright. Allen, come here. I'm sure you can play poker somewhere else. They don't even have Romanée-Conti." He said as he nudged the boy to get out. "By the way, you just crossed the worst people you could have encountered." He said and Allen turned around, moving his hair to show the red mark in his face more clearly while Cross showed a mask-like that covered the right side of his face.

"Y-you! Please come inside!" He yelled but Cross only smirked.

"No."

"I didn't know! Please!"

"No." The elder repeated and then crossed the street and got into another pub.

It wasn't long until Allen was sitting at the Poker table, winning some, or better yet, a lot of money for Cross. He used to hate being treated like a money machine when he was a kid, but Shishō ended up not being a so bad person after all. He did take care of him since he was 5 so now at age 18 it was more like repaying him.

"Here you go." Cross sat down besides him, handing him a glass of scotch.

"Hey, you shouldn't give the kid alcohol. He is clearly underage." One of the men watching the game said, but shut his mouth when he saw the look in the redhead's face.

"I think I'm entitled to give him whatever I want as I am his father, am I not?" He barked and Allen shook his head.

"You are not my father, Shishō." The teen said, shaking his head and remarking the last word.

"Tch. Whatever." He ruffled the white hair. "Just finish quickly, idiot apprentice. We have a meeting tomorrow morning, remember?" He said.

"Yeah, yeah." He said as he sipped his scotch and leaned back against his Master.

It wasn't long until pupil and master were leaving, the boy with a rather large amount of cash and a little of jewellery, mostly rings and earrings, in a small backpack he always carried around for this.

Once they got home each one went to his room and when Allen was starting to feel uneasy because of the new place, Cross came in clad in just his pyjama pants. The younger was glad he decided to wear pants that night since his Master usually slept naked.

"Move." He said gruffly but Allen knew better than that after so many years besides him.

"Shishō?"

"Move. I know you don't like it when we go to new places." He said and the teen moved to the other side, letting the elder get into bed with him. Once the red hair was pushed to one side, Allen rested his head on the broad chest.

"Thank you, Shishō." The man growled, making his chest rumble and Allen pressed a kiss in there. "Good night."

"Night." Came the reply as one hand found white hair and opened a book to read for a while.

Since Allen was a child, he would not be able to sleep at night every time they moved to a new city, to a new hotel unless the elder slept with him at the beginning. Even after so many years he still found it hard. At the beginning, after Cross picked him up of the streets he would definitely be scared of the man mainly because of his short temper, but as years went by, Allen ended up facing him and eventually, loving him. Just as he loved the kid.

He didn't really know why he picked him up, he could have gone on with his life perfectly, but something in those silver eyes and hair made him stop and go back a few steps. But what got his attention was the mark in the child's face.

So he's one of us. He remembered thinking.

Now that he thought about it, he had picked up him because of that mark, but as years went by, he just forgot the first reason because it got masked by love and care. At first, he thought of the kid as a tool, but after he took a bullet for him at age 11, everything took a sudden turn and when he was tending the wounds of the kid back at Mother's house he realised he loved the kid and that he… that he didn't want to lose him.

Most people disapproved the relationship they had because it was abvious it was definitely more than a guardian-fosterling one. There was more physical contact, more trust and more love than in those: they trusted each other with their lives. And more importantly, they knew everything about the other, every little dirty secret, they new it. But they never cared about the rumours, the glances, the whispers, they had been surrounded by those for a lot time that they learned to ignore them.

"You are not reading." Came the soft voice from his chest.

"So?"

"I can't sleep with the light on and you know it." He grumbled and after Cross removed his glasses and put the book away the light was switched off.

"Happy now, idiot apprentice?" He asked.

"Yes. Thank you Marian."

"Don't call me that." He admonished softly.

"I've been telling you not to call me that shitty nickname you gave me for ages and you still do it."

"Not a nickname. The truth." He replied and Allen huffed before snuggling down again.

Next morning, when Marian woke up, he found Allen sleeping on top of him. Talk about old bad habits. Allen started to do that right after he had picked him from the streets, always saying he didn't like the cold and that he was warm. Without much ceremony he threw him out of bed, but the boy woke mid-air and stopped the fall by flexing his arms and turning in the air.

"That was mean."

"You got away with it, don't bitch." Cross said as he stood and accommodated his hair. "Your turn to make breakfast."

And Allen huffed as he pulled his hair in a low messy ponytail. "Tim! Let's go make breakfast!" The monkey chirped and hung himself onto Allen's extended arm, making the boy laugh.

"We need to be gone in two hours, alright, idiot apprentice?"

"Tell yourself that Shishō, you are the one who is always late." The boy said and then ducked the pillow nimbly. "Anyway, is it going to be Chinese, Indian or Irish?"

"Let's go for Irish." The elder said.

While Allen made breakfast, Timcanpy set the table for three and Cross bathed and while Allen bathed, Cross did the dishes.

"I'm impressed, Shishō, only twenty minutes later: that's your new record." Allen said sarcastically as he sat down on the passenger's seat, Tim on his lap and eating an orange.

"I try." The elder replied, earning a huff in reply.

Half an hour later they arrived to a big mansion at the outskirts of the city.

"Is it me or every time we come back here this seems bigger?" Marian asked, cocking his head.

"That's what worries you? We, as usual, are the last ones!" Allen growled as he opened the door and let the small golden monkey run to a bit while his Master takes his time to lit a cigarette and straighten up his black and red coat.

"Are you done now?" Allen asked as he too put his own black and red coat.

"Yes. Let's go." He said and Allen followed him as he whistled to Timcanpy to go to him.

Cross knocked on the door (quite rudely). "Password." A voice said form the inside.

"Password my ass. Open up if you don't want to get a bullet between your eyes." The elder said.

Allen rolled his eyes and said the password "Meldo, tula, yula yulma." He hissed and then the heavy wooden door opened. "Forgive his manners." He said, not sparing even a glance to the butler as he said so.

The two men and the monkey made their way to the saloon where everyone was already gathered around a big hexagonal table. There were a total of seven people in the room: two couples, two singles and their host. Plus them, of course. That made a total of nine people.

"My, my, only 25 minutes late. You seem to be improving, Cross." A man with grey skin, long and slightly curly dark hair, golden eyes and a monocle said. The boy sitting next to him had white hair, just like Allen, golden eyes, same grey skin and covered his forehead with a white-n-black scarf. Sheryl and Wisely Kamelot. Allen hugged both of them briefly.

"Shut up, Sheryl. British way of driving is fucking confusing." He growled and Allen shook his head.

"Forgive his manners, uncle." He repeated as he sat down next to his Master and snatched his cigarettes away to prevent him of smoking inside the room and then crushed it.

"After so many years, one would think that Allen's manners would rub off on you." A blonde lady clad in a violet dress said. Next to her there was a brunette woman with a rather innocence face and dressed in a pink kimono. But everyone in that chamber knew better than believe in appearances.

"You would need more than a miracle for this to happen, Miss Eliade." The mentioned boy said as he stood up and went to the bar section to pour his master a drink, not wanting him to start a scene because it was the right liquor or because it wasn't served right. Once he had poured the red wine he served himself a glass of scotch. "Here." He said, giving his master the glass.

"Isn't it a bit earlier to drink?" A small man asked. He had one long light brown ponytail on the top of his head. Allen always thought that Mr. Bookman resembled a lot to a panda because of the black make-up around his eyes.

"You won't change them, Bookman. They have been drinking at these hours since always. Specially Cross." Another woman said: she was blonde too, a scar in her beautiful face and small white monkey in her shoulder. Miss Klaud Nine. She was alone. Seemed to be her partner couldn't make it.

"Anyway, if you have already finished talking about our friends bad habits here, I would like to start this meeting." Their host said. "So, let's start by attendance." "Bookman Clan." Bookman raised his hand. "Exorcists." Klaud raised hers. "Akuma." Eliade did too. "Noah clan." Sheryl and Wisely leaned forward. "Curse clan." Master and apprentice raised their, now empty, glasses. "Everyone seems to be here, today. For once." The man said as he shot a dirty look to Allen and Cross since they were always late. In case they even bothered to go to the meetings, which usually, they didn't. "All right, I reunited here today because I would like that everyone knows how are your statuses and your updates and see if we can complete some possible gaps. First topic is the drugs smuggling." There were a few sounds of approval and every one turned to look at the Exorcists side.

Allen sighed and leaned to rest his elbows on the table the moment he saw his master prop his feet on it. This was going to be a really loooooong day.

So... This is it for now! I hope you liked it!

Please review and tell me what you think about it!