Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-Man or its characters.
This is the first time in a long time I have written something like this. In case you were wondering, this is one of those "ReaderxCharacter" stories. So it is you in the alternate universe D Gray Man world.
Thanks to CrazyAsOrange for requesting this! Hopefully it's not a let down.
"I'm very sorry, miss _. It appears that we will be needing to relocate you after all. Your original benefactor has gone missing." You blinked a few times, caught off guard by the words. Gone missing?
"Is he all right?" You asked quickly.
"More than likely, yes. According to his son, this happens often."
"I see." You didn't, but there was no point in trying to get the personal details about the man from a person who was, more than likely, just a messenger.
"Let's see. Are you all right living with another exchange student?" The man asked.
"Yeah, that's not a problem." It would be a lot better than having your exchange program delayed by another year, regardless of your thoughts on living with another exchange student.
"Fantastic. If that's the case, you will be living with the Bookman family. This family consists of... Oh. Um. It appears that he and the other exchange student will be the only other residents. If you would like, we could wait for an opening with a larger family."
"No, that's fine! I don't mind!" Last time someone opted to wait for a larger family, they graduated high school before they were notified again. It didn't matter what your relationship with your family was like. There was no denying that this opportunity needed to be taken. It would be an embarrassment not only those that nominated you, but to you and your family if you turned the offer down. Why it was so great, you were not sure. You had never heard of it. Nor had you applied for any such program.
"I am glad to hear this. I will contact Mr. Bookman and will contact you soon with details for your travel."
"Thank you."
"Thank you. Have a nice day." The other line went dead.
"You too." You spoke to the static. You let out a breath and shut your eyes. The program had been nothing but problems since you found out about it. The office workers at your school had not mailed your transcripts when requested which resulted in extra paperwork. That would not have been a problem if it did not require a signature from your adviser who had begun her maternity leave two days before. Finally, when everything was worked out and the dean saw to it that your grades from the program would indeed transfer over and not delay your graduation, departure was in sight.
Your phone rang. The number indicated that it was the program coordinator once more.
"Hello, miss _. It appears that Mr. Bookman will be able to pick you up from the airport. The other exchange student will be on your second flight. I'll see to it that the two of you are seated together as requested by Mr. Bookman. Do you have any questions?" When the conversation ended, you heaved a sigh of relief. Everything was finally in place. This time next week, you would begin your first semester at Black Order High.
You brushed your fingers through your hair in the crowded airport bathroom. Your first flight had been uneventful. Not that you could complain.
Soon, you would be meeting the student you'd be living with for the rest of the year. It would be nice if you'd had the chance to look your best. Or feel your best. After several hours in a plane that left far later than you normally went to bed.
"Oh well." You weren't the type to doll yourself up like a beauty queen to make a good first impression.
You dragged your suitcase behind you, glad that the boarding had begun on time. The ride would only be forty-five minutes. The school, it seemed, was just too far from the main city for the main airport to be convenient.
Finding your seat and number had been difficult on the last plane. It had been too crowded to permit taking a deep breath without fear that your expanded lungs would bump in to something. This plane, though smaller, was far less crowded.
"48E." You spoke when you saw your seat. No one was in the one beside it yet. You had the window seat. It was probably better that way. You would not need to worry about your host sibling having to clamber over you to get to their seat.
"Sir, I'm afraid you need to throw that away." The flight attendant's voice, sterner than you'd heard before, caught your attention. You looked up to see the flight attendant blocking off a red-headed male's path. "We cannot allow such a odorous food on the plane. It would disturb the other passengers."
"Odorous? It's a hamburger!" The red head complained. The flight attendant did not respond. "All right. Fine, fine." You watched as the male unwrapped the hamburger and proceeded to shove the entire thing in his mouth with only two bites. He voiced something that sounded like 'tada' and held his hands up.
"Just... just take your seat, sir." The flight attendant placed a hand to her head, took the wrapper from the red head's hand. Somehow, you weren't surprised that he took a seat beside you. He waved and said something in greeting.
"Right back at you." You held back laughter. Even if you thought that people talking with mouths full of food was rude, there was something about the red head that didn't allow you to be angry. "My name's _. Nice to meet you." The red head swallowed an amount of food you doubted to be humanly possible to swallow.
"The name's Lavi. Nice to meet you." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, grinning. There was no way to deny it. He was attractive. His jawline was perfect. His nose was perfect. His skin was perfect. The only thing that "marred" his perfection was an eyepatch over the other of his strikingly green eyes. You wondered what he thought of your looks, self conscious for a moment. "So where are you from?"
"I'm from _. What about you?"
"Bookman's house." He answered off-handedly, busying himself with digging through his backpack. When he came back up, he had a box of candy in his hand. "Want some?"
"What? I mean uh. Yeah, sure. Thank you. But what do you mean? About the coming from Mr. Bookman's house. Not about the candy. I kind of figured that one out already." Lavi laughed.
"Bookman and I go way back. I'm his apprentice." He opened the box of Thin Mints and poured more than you wanted into your hand. And then he kept pouring.
"That's good."
"Right? I'm glad I was able to live with him too." He responded, still pouring the candy into your hands.
"No, I mean that's enough. That's enough candy. That's-"
"I have three more boxes. Don't be shy!" When your hands were full, he tilted his head back and poured the remainder in to his mouth. "Man. These things are great."
"Excuse me, ma'am?" A flight attendant's voice was directed toward you.
"Yes?" You looked up from your Thin Mint mountain, pretty certain that the woman's attention had been gained by said mountain.
"Please refrain from eating until we are at proper altitude. The plane hasn't even taken off yet."
"Oh, she's holding those for me. My hands were full. Right, _?" Lavi grabbed a handful from your hands and poured them into his mouth. For the second time, he held up his hands and mumbled a garbled 'tada' to the irritated flight attendant.
"It's always on my shift. Every time." She muttered to herself, walking away. Lavi laughed and sat back in his seat.
"Sorry about that." He rubbed the back of his head, apology on his face.
"No problem." You downed the remaining candy to avoid any further confrontation. "Thanks for the candy!" You returned the smile that came, seemingly characteristically, to his face.
"I'll get you some more once we take off." Lavi affirmed.
"That's okay, really."
"No, it's rude to offer someone something then take it back. Man. I'm making one heck of a first impression, aren't I? You know what? You can have a whole box." What was with the guy and the Thin Mints? Who packed four boxes of Thin Mints for a forty-five minute plane ride?
"It's really okay."
"No no. Besides, they need to be gone before we meet up with the panda or he'll knock my teeth out."
"He'll what?" You asked, astonished.
"Don't get on Bookman's bad side." Lavi held up a finger in warning. "Even though he's ancient, he can still drop kick your noggin on the drop of a dime."
"Thanks for the heads up." You muttered, unsure how to feel.
"Ha! Good one!" He slapped you on the back.
"What?"
"It was a pun. That was funny. Heads up! Because... Oh." He looked away, feigning discomfort. "Yeah. You weren't making a joke, were you?" Before you could answer, the TV's began to blast the flight safety information. "Oh. Better watch this. Don't wanna drown."
"R-right..." You turned your attention to the TV wondering just what your new life would be like. So far, it was pretty interesting. You glanced toward Lavi, unintentionally seeing what he'd written.
Strike!
He noticed you and shut his phone, his grin broadening.
"Thin Mint?" He offered, raising an eyebrow.
"No, really. That's okay."
"It's nice to meet you, _. I hope that your flight wasn't too dreadful."
"Come on, gramps! Don't be so cold." Lavi complained, trying to get the attention of the man that had been introduced to me as Mr. Bookman, panda, and gramps.
"_, look over there for a minute." Bookman pointed to something behind you.
"Huh?" You turned and looked, wondering what he could've been pointing at. There was a thud behind you.
"Ow!" You recognized Lavi's voice and turned around. Bookman appeared to have not moved. His hands were folded together. Lavi, on the other hand, was lying on his back.
"I'd like to maintain the facade as a civilized family for as long as possible." Bookman took the larger of your two suitcases from you, refused to listen to any complaints, and walked toward the exit. "So, _, tell me. What was the name of your former host family?"
"Cross." You answered. Lavi burst into laughter.
"Man, you got lucky." Lavi exclaimed.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know the full story. Actually, I don't know much at all."
"That's true." Bookman interjected.
"Hey!"
"Get on with your story already, brat. It's too late to listen to your voice for long."
"I-"
"Oh, _? There is a fascinating building over-"
"Okay okay okay! Jeez!" Lavi threw up his hands in mock surrender. "Anyway, you were almost Allen Walker's sister."
"That's a bad thing?"
"Yes. Not because of Allen though. Allen's the best. You're going to love Allen. Marian Cross, though, that's another story. Mention his name around Allen and you'll watch the most polite kid you know go from lamb to Tanzanian devil in the blink of an eye."
"I'm taking it they don't get along well." Allen Walker? Not Allen Cross?
"That's the understatement of the year." When the three of us had gotten in to the car, Lavi pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and put it on speaker.
"It's the middle of the night, Lavi. What is it?" A tired voice came from the phone.
"You'll never guess who I'm with." Lavi started.
"Bookman?" The voice asked.
"Wrong! Better than that!"
"Oh no. Lavi, you didn't. You didn't seriously break in to Kanda's house, did you?"
"Nah, less lethal than that. Oh, and Bookman is here. You were right about that."
"Was that your idea of a trick question?"
"I'm here with _."
"The exchange student?"
"That's right. Say hi, _!"
"Um, hi." You lifted your hand to wave, lowering it when you realized that waving at a phone would be useless.
"She was going to be your sister, but now she's mine! I heard that Cross bailed out again." There was incoherent muttering from the other line. Judging by what Lavi had said, I assumed the person on the other line to be Allen Walker.
"Yes."
"He turned up the chance to house a cute girl? That doesn't sound like him."
"I had to find some way to protect _. No one deserves to live with this demon."
"What did you do?" Lavi asked. You sat back in your seat, not sure if you were uncomfortable with listening to Allen and Lavi's conversation or not. You wondered if you were supposed to say more. You wondered why Lavi had called Allen for that matter.
"I altered the information he got. He left when he found out he was signed up to house 'Frank Hudson' from Nevada." Allen answered. Lavi and, to my surprise, Bookman both started laughing.
"Man, that's good." Lavi shook his head. "He might kill you if he finds out that you tricked him. _ is no Frank Hudson. You got my text, right?"
"Lavi!" Bookman reached behind him to crack Lavi upside the head. "Enough being rude. Let Allen go to bed and stop ignoring _!"
"All right, all right! I'll see you tomorrow, Allen. Apparently the panda has- Ow! Ow! Okay! I'm hanging up!" Lavi shut his phone. "I wasn't ignoring you, _. I was trying to introduce you to Allen."
"Shut up, Lavi."
By the time you got to the Bookman household, you wondered if Lavi would be alive when you returned to your city at the end of the year.
A/N: I hope you're not out of character. Ha. Get it? Because it's you. No, I'm not funny. I know. Anyway, I really hope that you enjoyed the first chapter! Perhaps there will be more. If anyone is interested, let me know who you'd like to see yourself with.