It was December. December the 20th to be exact. Christmas Day was five days away, but Allen was not excited. Christmas hadn't meant anything until Mana had adopted him and assigned the day as Allen's birthday, and now that Mana was gone, Christmas brought more heartache than anything else. Allen hadn't had a birthday without Mana since he was adopted; it was the first Christmas since Mana's death, and Allen was dreading the approaching day. His Master didn't know, he had no friends as he and his Master had moved again, and no one else would celebrate the day with the thought 'Its Allen's Birthday,' but this was all in Allen's head; one other person did, indeed, know his birthday...

Cross wasn't in panic mode. At least, not yet. One reason was that Allen had stayed at home; Allen had been sulking again, but Cross knew why. He had learned random bits of information about Allen as Tim had spied on him and Mana. And one of those bits had been Allen's given birth date, and being five days away, and thinking no one cared anymore would of course depress a child.

He wasn't sure what to do for Allen's birthday, but he had to figure something out quick. Cake? Ummm... Maybe. No, probably was more like it. Definitely. He would get cake for Allen... And Allen loved food, so why not let Allen have as much as he wanted for his birthday?..

Well, Allen's birthday had been planned without him even knowing it! This would cheer him up, right?

Cross returned home to find Allen in his room lying in bed sulking. He felt it better to leave him alone; Allen could be touchy. While most of the time Allen was of Mana's persuasion, that of being a gentleman and holding his tongue when he needed to, Allen's rude, bratty, and misdisciplined self would emerge if Cross pestered him at a time like this, and while Cross enjoyed watching from a distance small, eleven year old Dark Allen raze all in his path, Cross hated to deal with Dark Allen.

He left Allen be, and found a bottle of wine in the kitchen. He had a few days before he had to know details of Allen's Birthday gift, so he popped the cork out and began drinking, disregarding a glass.

About an hour later, Cross snapped out of whatever state he had been in; the bottle was empty in his hand. He looked down and noticed he had taken off his coat and boots, rolled up his sleeves, tied his hair back, and laid on the sofa, all characteristics of him making himself comfortable. He lay confused on the plush sofa, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't drank enough to forget what happened... He smirked as he realized he had just nodded off.

He saw Allen shuffling out of the hallway into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and clutching Timcanpy in his arms. He began rummaging through the pantry, and started another round of sobs in the process. Cross got off the sofa and walked into the kitchen; he sat the empty bottle on the table and gently placed his hand on Allen's head.

Allen kept sobbing and Cross tousled his hair gently; he wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to surprise Allen, but he wanted to make Allen feel better, and he just wasn't sure of another way to cheer him up.

Timcanpy squirmed out of Allen's grasp and fluttered to Cross's shoulder. Tim nuzzled into Cross's neck gently in greeting, and Allen hugged himself from the absence of Timcanpy. Cross continued to tousle Allen's hair as he thought about an answer to his problem. He could just walk out of the kitchen, out of sight out of mind, but he would still think about Allen in his depressed state.

Cross decided to risk it.

'...Allen... What's... Wrong?'

'Nothing...-sniff-... It's not like you'd understand anyways...'

Cross smiled at the irony of his response; quite on the contrary, Cross knew exactly how it felt to be forgotten, or at least to feel forgotten. The tough, loner persona he now presented to most everyone was the simple result of having that same feeling for so long. Sure, he was around women a lot, but that was to take his mind off how lonely he felt, the same as when he drank and smoked. And sooner or later, the women he went out with would break up with him, usually when they found out his heart wandered as much as he did, but Cross really didn't think too much about it himself; he liked getting to know them, the sex was a plus, not the reason he sought out women. He digressed, he thought, he was trying to help Allen, not wallow in self-pity.

Cross put his hand on Allen's shoulder and dropped to his knees to be closer to the boy's height.

'I know the feeling more than you think...' With this, Cross pulled Allen into a hug, hoping he had chosen the right path to make Allen less depressed...

This was not happening. His Master was the devil that made him pay off debts! Allen had suspected that his Master had gotten slightly attached to him, but all the big hints he had found where easily dismissible as a dream, or something he imagined spur of the moment to cheer himself up, now this! This was hardly dismissible! His Master had just up and hugged him, as if that was no different than how he normally acted!

Allen wasn't sure how to react; should he try to get away or should he just wait for his Master to stop?..

Finally sensing the tension, Cross released Allen without words, and watched as Allen hurried to get away to his room. Tim flew after Allen, and Cross was left to himself again.

Looking at the clock, he decided it wasn't too late to resume his unplanned nap, and curled back up on the sofa.

Cross was glad he had Allen around; not because he could push his debts onto him, but because Allen was a constant in his otherwise hectic and unstable life. If Cross moved, Allen moved with him. Even if it was just from wanting to become an Exorcist, if Cross took a negative mood swing, Allen took it with a grain of salt and stayed. Cross was just glad that Allen was around...

But, that was probably because he was less lonely with Allen around...

But, he wouldn't tell anyone else that; he'd die before he told someone he was attached to and needed the kid...

† 'misdisciplined': 'to be wrongly rebuked; rebuked in an incorrect form or for an incorrect reason' While I realize 'misdisciplined' isn't a real word, it's one I made up, I feel it fits better because of it's meaning; 'undisciplined', as I thought to use for a second, doesn't really fit. Allen was disciplined while he was in the circus, via being beaten if he didn't complete the task he was given, and so it is in this way that I feel 'mis-' is the better prefix for this case. Since Allen could really only use one arm, this way of 'discipline' while he was in the circus was harsh, and made him bitter, along with other factors. The prefix 'mis-' can mean 'wrongly', and so, paired with the definition of 'disciplined', I find this to be a better fit :3

Hmm, I think that turned out a little more depressing than usual... Sorry, been feeling a little down lately, so my writing might express that... Fortunately, I'm really optimistic, so I should get better :3

Haha, and sorry I haven't been updating on any kind of schedule; I can go weeks without feeling the need to write, so its hard for me to say 'I'll update on this day every such and such week...' And time eludes me; I can wake up one morning and say ' oh... its been two weeks since I said I would update... And that chapter isn't even close to being done... huh...' Excuses aside...

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, followed, and read these :3

And as always, please review, I love reading them :3