First off, happy birthday to Allen and Merry Christmas to you all, as I said on the last theme (if no one noticed it, it was the Author's Note before the theme), I had managed to write this and post it just in time for Allen's birthday. Hope this turned out good because oh god, I should have arranged my time better and I don't know how this had turned out.

I forgot to post this and then I saw a happy birthday post for Allen and I remembered. Damn you memory.

Anyways, enjoy the theme.

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man. You don't know how annoying it is to put a space between the D. and the Gray.

Theme: Christmas

"Dad!"

Allen turned around and smiled at his son.

"Welcome home, Alma." he said "You're home quite early."

"Because it's minimum day, the school wants us to go home and begin the holiday break early." he grinned before it faded away as he looked around the whole apartment.

'No decorations again, huh?' he thought sadly as he looked back at his father.

"Dad." he called.

"Hm?" Allen turned around from his piano.

Words got stuck in his throat when he saw his face.

When will tou-san come home to us?

"Do you want me to put up the decorations?" he asked that instead.

"Oh, I didn't notice it! Ah, I'm so forgetful these days." Allen smiled "It's already Christmas, I must hurry up and start decorating the house."

"Dad." he said "I'll decorate the house, you can go and buy the ingredients for the meal."

"..." Allen looked at the photo he laid on the grand piano "Am I...failing as a father to you?"

"No, dad, there's nothing wrong with with you, you're not failing." he protested "It's just...none of us got over it yet."

The purple-haired male looked at the picture, wondering where his other father, his tou-san, was. Was he still living and trying to get back to both of them, or was he dead?

-0-

"Hey dad, when is tou-san coming back?" 12-year-old Alma asked impatiently.

Allen smiled "He's on the way back, I just got a call from him."

"Tell him to hurry up, I wanna dig in already!" he whined, and Timcanpy barked as if to agree.

The white-haired male laughed and looked at the food on the table, it was still hot, since it was just finished, but he's worried that they would gone cool if this keeps up.

He's worried.

He bit his lips and checked the clock, it's only 9, the time that his husband had promised he'll be back. It's not unusual for him to come back late, but he said today he was only scouting around and fill in the reports, maybe something happened?

Just as he finished those thoughts, his phone rang. He picked it up and brightened when he saw the name.

"Kanda, when are you coming home?" he immediately asked.

"Moyashi…"

He froze, Kanda didn't sound annoyed, he didn't even sound like he was angry.

He was in pain.

"Oh, are you busy with your job?" he asked, going to their room while giving Alma the look that this call was private.

"I might not...come back...for your birthday." he managed to pant out.

"Oh." he said plainly and smiled sadly.

"Don't smile, baka moyashi, you look-" a cough "-like a fucking retard when you try to-" another cough, this time he was sure blood was spilling out of that mouth "-smile in that state."

"When are you coming back, BaKanda?" he asked, looking outside the road.

"Not this year...but I'll definite-" Harsh panting "I'll definitely come back soon...Wait for me?"

"Hey, there he is!" a foreign voice reached his ears.

"Always." he said, tears leaking down his cheeks "I love you."

"Kill him!"

Bang!

Thud.

Allen looked outside the streets, as he slowly lowered his hand that was holding his phone down and ended the call, he released a small sigh.

"Seems like this year, I would be lonely again."

-0-

"It's been three years, huh?" he said while lying on the bed of their shared bedroom.

He had finished buying the needed ingredients for the Christmas' meal, the whole apartment had been decorated.

"Now what did I buy for the meal?" he recalled "Turkey, mayonnaise, steaks, mashed potatoes and-"

Ah.

"Soba…" he completed, looking down.

Even though he's not here.

"He'll be back soon." he smiled despite himself.

Even though he heard that gunshot ringing in his ear like he was there.

"He promised." he protested.

Even if your mind is saying he's dead?

Allen didn't know what to believe in anymore.

I miss you, Kanda.

The bed felt so cold.

-0-

"I see, so Allen is not coming this year too, huh." Anita said.

Alma nodded sadly, his hands distractingly playing with Raphael's hair.

"He's been like that for three years, ever since tou-san was announced AWOL, he just didn't want to celebrate christmas, or even his birthday anymore." he said "He just sat there on the piano and just stared at the picture."

"He needs to get back to his feet, mourning like this won't get him nowhere." Raphael said.

"I know that, but I don't know what to do to make him snap out of it." he sighed harshly "It's frustrating."

All was silent, thinking of a way to pull the one that they really care out of depression.

"Alright, if you want one, you get one." Cross finally said, pulling something out of the drawer near him and flung it at Alma.

"Whoa!"

"Dad!" Raphael called, almost exaggerated "Can't you just be a normal civilian and at least slide it on the table that we kindly put it very close to you?"

Cross looked down, and indeed the coffee table was put near him "...I just saw it."

His son sighed "You still haven't gotten over Alma and I dating, aren't you?"

"I'm not confirming or declining that shit." the redhead said before pointing at the purple-haired male "You, go back and tell my idiot apprentice to pay off the bills."

"What?" he checked over and indeed they were bills, he quickly skimmed over them and his eyes almost popped out of his socket when he saw the debts.

He still wondered how his dad managed to find enough money to pay the previous bills.

"Tell him to come to the D. Campbell party too, everyone's preparing a nice surprise for his birthday and if he doesn't come, he should start expecting some more bills coming his way."

"O-Okay." he stood up and bid goodbye to all of them before leaving.

"You're getting soft, dad." Raphael said, dodging a bottle "Making him paying the bills to keep his mind off, dragging him out of the apartment to to take a break, rather a tsundere way to show your affection to your godson, don't you think?"

"You and your manga shits, stop spewing them out of that fucking mouth of yours." Cross growled.

Smack!

"Your mouth is a lot worse, Cross." Anita said sternly.

"Hey!"

Raphael snickered.

-0-

Snow crunched over his feet, and the cold was merciless for his body as Allen approached Mana Walker's gravestone with flowers in his hands. The same flowers he brought ever since he had died.

"Hello Mana." he said while cleaning his grave carefully "It's been three years, hasn't it? I still wonder where he was right now. Is he there with you, Mana? Am I all alone again?" he smiled "Alma finally got Master's approval to date Raphael, isn't it nice, I thought Master would never approve, but seems like he's getting soft. And I can't believe I still have to pay for his debts, I thought he didn't have them anymore, but I guess I was wrong."

The smile vanished "I don't know what I am doing, I didn't put up the christmas decorations, I forgot to buy the food for the party, I just sat there all day and forgot about Alma."

He leaned his forehead on the gravestone "I don't know what to do anymore. Everything felt so cold and sad without him. I don't want him to leave, I should have told him to leave that job and do something else. He loves drawing too, I saw his sketchbook once and it was amazing. Why didn't I tell him to leave that job? Was it because I don't have enough guts to do it?"

"I'm scared, Mana. I'm scared of lying on the bed without Yu, it felt so cold. I can't cry anymore, maybe I ran out of tears to cry. They said they couldn't find his body, Mugen was confisticated back to the FBI headquarters, they won't let me keep anything that belongs to him, even his car was gone."

"I'm so tired." he breathed out "I don't think I can keep walking like this. I'm sorry Mana, maybe I'm bad at keeping promise, after all."

-0-

When he came home, Alma was sitting with Timcanpy in the living room. He smiled when the golden Retriever pounced on him.

"Hey dad, Neah's inviting us over for a party, I heard everyone's gonna be there. Do you want to come?" Alma asked.

He hummed "I don't know, I don't feel like going much. Besides, didn't we buy the food already?"

"Dad." his son said, his tone serious and sad "We're all worried about you, I am worried about you. We all wanted to make you happy again and get back to your own feet, we don't want to see you sad anymore. What would tou-san say when he sees you in this state?"

Allen chuckled "He would probably tell me I look like a retard and smack that look out of my face. But he's not here anymore, Alma. He's gone."

"Wait for me?"

"No, he's not." Alma said.

"He's gone, Alma. Can't you see?" Allen finally snapped "I want to believe that he's still alive somewhere and he's trying to come back to us, but there's nothing for me to make me believe in that anymore. The FBI told me they couldn't find his body and I heard a gunshot ringing right next to my ear. I can't keep this up when the evidence of him dead was there in front of me!"

There, he said it, right in front of his son. He desperately clung to that tiny hope that Kanda was alive, but not everything was like a fairytale story that he would magically come back because of a miracle.

He's so tired of hoping.

Pair of arms wrapped around him, and he hugged his son desperately because he needed someone to tell him that everything's alright, everything was fine and it was all a nightmare. He would soon wake up to find Yu pulling him into his warmth, seeing his dark blue eyes and his beautiful dark hair, comforting him in his own way that everything was just a dream.

"It's alright dad." that's all Alma said.

And Allen pretended that it was Kanda who was assuring him.

-0-

"Good news, seems like Allen is coming!" Road announced.

"That's great news, it's been a long time since he visited us!" Adam smiled.

Neah smirked "A rather convenient time for you to show yourself, huh?"

"..."

-0-

It was the 24th of December now, a bit later than 10 and the streets was still bustling with people and the lights were still on, shops were still open and chatters were heard everywhere.

"It's so bright tonight." Allen commented while looking around.

Alma smiled "It's still christmas until tomorrow after all, Neah told me to bring you over and celebrate christmas first, and then we'll celebrate your birthday tomorrow."

"They don't have to do it, I'm not young anymore." the white-haired male said, looking so lost in his thoughts but then he snapped out of it "I think I'm forgetting something…" then he remembered "Oh! I forgot to buy them gifts!"

Alma gasped before hurrying to the sweet shop "I take dibs on Skinn and Jasdevi, you can take care of Road and Tykki!"

"No fair, you always take care of the easy ones!"

-0-

They managed to buy the gifts in time just before the shops closes, which is at 11:30. They might be a bit late, but hell hath no fury over a cousin who has no gift on christmas. And Allen wanted to buy presents to Jasdevi, Skinn and Tykki because he wanted to. The rest were, well, too adult-like for him to consider buying a gift, but he did try to buy them some.

"Hm...yup, this is enough." Allen nodded "Let's go before they start whining."

"They're already spamming my phone." Alma said as he checked his messenger box "20 messages…"

"Then let's go."

-0-

"You're finally here." Road wasted no time glomping him "Allen!"

"Good evening, Road." he smiled.

"You're late!" she reprimanded "Do you know how harsh it is to wait for you to come visit us? Geez, now where's my gift?"

"Here." he handed her a gift card "One year of of sweets." he told his cousin.

"Yay! This is a better gift than daddy gave me." she hummed.

Cue Sheril broke down crying.

"Here's your gifts, uncle Jasdevi, and you too, uncle Skinn." Alma said as he handed them gifts.

As expected, they loved it. Jasdero and Devit (Both when together were called Jasdevi, as they wanted to be called) received 5 different kinds of Nerf-N Strike guns with 100 bullets, and they wasted no time trying to shoot each other. Skinn was easy to figure out what he wanted, and Alma went and bought him a strawberry cake, making sure that it was very sweet for the man. Skinn had accepted it and now was practically drooling over the sweet treat.

Tyki was rather a hard task, since was currently in his mid 30s and and felt a bit awkward to give presents to someone older than you, but Allen managed to buy him a new pack of cards and an expensive wine, which the man accepted with a challenge for poker.

The Earl, well, Allen gave him a some new knitting equipments, since his uncle actually loves knitting. Every sweaters and socks that was in the D. Campbell household was all knitted by the head of the house, Adam D. Campbell. And you have to wear it, no matter how embarrassing it was, or you'll be greeted with sad eyes that made you feel guilty forever.

"Thank you, just in time for me to need some more knitting equipments." the Earl, a nickname that everyone got for him, said.

Allen smiled "I'm glad you like it."

Allen and Alma managed to give all of the people inside the house the gifts, and soon, they started the party. Later then, Cross and his family showed up, and Raphael joined Jasdevi for a battle, dragging his boyfriend into the fight with him. Allen simply enjoyed the party and avoided alcohol, going with something that didn't have any alcoholic inside it. He laughed among the sidelines when the gun battle had dragged more people into the fight.

When the clock struck one, it was bedtime, everyone decided to retire to their own bed. The Earl had prepared some rooms for the guests to stay for the night, so they can celebrate Allen's birthday tomorrow, or today.

"Happy birthday, Allen." Neah said "I hope you know that if you have any problems, you can still come to us. You are a member of our family, and we always welcome you and Alma."

Allen thanked him, and he went to the room with a heavy heart.

He knew he could come to his uncle for his problems, but it feels too embarrassing for a man who's already old enough to get a job go bawling his eyes off and ranting his problems to his uncle.

Besides, Kanda wouldn't come back even if he prayed so hard for it, praying for the God that none of the people in the family believed in.

He decided to take a warm bath, yes, maybe that would empty his thoughts for a while.

"This counts the fourth year." he sighed while undressing himself "Time sure passes away quickly."

He dipped his toes into the water, testing to see if it's too hot or too cold. Feeling the warmth instead, he dipped his body slowly into the water, sighing in relief when the water soothing his muscles and easing his mind.

"So much time had passed." he repeated "Waiting for you to come home had never been so painful, Kanda."

He chuckled mirthlessly "I can't even call you Yu anymore."

He raised his ring finger, where the ring that announced that both him and Kanda were married "You even quoted the vows from the Corpse Bride, I didn't even know you watched it."

With this hand,

I will lift your sorrows.

Your cup will never empty,

For I will be your wine.

With this candle,

I will light your way in darkness.

With this ring,

I ask you to be mine.

"I'm waiting Kanda." he said out loud, as if someone's there with him "Home never felt like one when you're not there."

-0-

The first thing Allen felt when he woke up from an unfamiliar bed was a pair of warm arms that felt safe wrapping around him.

Wait.

What the bloody hell?

He snapped his eyes open and he froze when he saw the familiar tattoo.

It couldn't be.

This couldn't be real.

"Kanda…?" he called out hesitantly.

"Hm?" arms pulled him even closer to his chest, if that was possible "Go back to sleep, moyashi."

"I can't." he said, trying-and failing- to control his heart "I want to make sure if you are really here."

"Tch, baka moyashi." Calloused hand grabbed his chin, and slowly pulling his head up to see that familiar face "Satisfied?"

"Never." he pushed himself up and kissed those lips that had missed.

They deepened the kiss, and Allen cried while smiling.

"Welcome home, Yu."

Kanda smiled.

"I'm home, and happy birthday, Allen."

So here's the whole time skip, Kanda got shot by an enemy and was thrown to the sea. Skinn found him somewhere and brought him to the hospital, which he was in a coma and woke up and tried to recover and then returned 3 days prior to the plot, and stayed at the D. Campbell mansion to surprise Allen. I think that sums it up, and yes, the person that Neah was talking to was Kanda.

I just looked at a Facebook post and saw the vows in the Corpse Bride and decided to put it there, because that vow is epic and romantic to me.

I won't put any themes because this is just a theme for Christmas and Allen's birthday, if you want to choose the themes, go to the previous one.

What do you think of the ending, too boring? It looks like that to me.

Until then.