Title: The Odd One

Author: fotoshop-cutout // Shiro

Fandom: D. Gray-Man

Characters/Pairings: Lavi/Allen

Rating: PG

Word Count: 1,035

Disclaimer: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this post/fanfiction/fanart (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States state of California, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from.

Summary: Allen ponders over why he likes Lavi.

Notes/Warnings: un-betaed; the eleventh in a series of 104 themes. "33%" is today's theme. Thank you stoneygeek, Aion Laven Walker, PheonixShadow, and IcyFireGypsy for the lovely reviews!

Allen didn't really notice many people. That's not strictly true: he noticed them; he just didn't recognize many people as possible partners. In fact, there had only ever been three people on that list. Lenalee was obvious, but he kept well away from her. Besides, he knew deep down that it could never end well between them. If they ever had a fight it was likely to end the world as they knew it—he wasn't ready to face that.

The other woman was Sarah, a girl he couldn't save. She turned into an Akuma even though they tried hard to not let it happen. Not only was she no longer attainable, but she hadn't been even when they met her. She was the shoemaker's partner. Though she was pretty and obviously kind, Allen knew that she wasn't the one.

The remaining thirty-three percent was taken up by someone who Allen never wanted to even consider, but did anyway. It must be the red hair: that was his first thought. But he took that idea off the list when he remembered that he had not been attracted to Master Cross. Allen took a while, but eventually came up with the eye patch being attractive. But in the end he realized that his Master also had an eye patch of a sort, and he didn't find Marian Cross attractive. And so Allen was stuck.

Allen sighed and rested his chin on his hand. He sat in the cafeteria, wondering what he should be doing. For once he wasn't hungry, so why was he here? He ran his hand through his hair, staring out the window at the end of the room. This room was rather quiet when it wasn't meal time. He was one of four people in the room if you included Jerry. Five if you included Timcanpy—but Tim was a golem—so did he really count as a 'person'? Allen was lost in thought, avoiding the topic he knew he should be thinking about.

Finally he lost any other available subject to think about and started thinking about his problem. Was it his height? No, Kanda was that height too and Allen didn't like him. Was it the headband? No, the green was sort of vomit inducing. Allen went through everything he could think of before he tilted his head to the side. What if he was going about this in the wrong way? He was under the assumption that it was physical attraction—what if it was something else? Allen thought and thought, but he didn't come up with anything that had something negative that came with it. Really, liking Lavi was only going to end badly.

Allen had been in the cafeteria for three hours without interruption, just thinking and staring into space, when a hand waved in front of his face. He started, but the hand rested on his shoulder and a warm voice whispered next to his ear.

"Hey, you were really spacing there. You okay?" Lavi straddled the bench, facing him. Because he had bee caught thinking about him, Allen almost blushed. He quickly caught himself by looking down at the table and answering the question.

"I'm fine." Allen didn't dare to sneak a glance, in case his eyes gave him away. Lavi watched him, slightly concerned now.

"Okay, if you say so." Lavi threw on a smile, scratching the back of his head in his nervousness. Allen couldn't help himself, he looked. Looking to the side, so maybe he wouldn't be caught staring, he watched the redhead. He was still intrigued as to why he liked him. After all, nothing he had come up with really covered why he liked Lavi. Lavi opened his eye once more, Allen still studied him. "Ehhh Allen, why are you looking at me like that?"

Allen did blush this time, surprised at being caught. But then again, this was the Bookman's apprentice—nothing could slip by him. "No reason. Sorry." After that, conversation was easier. Lavi talked mostly, Allen responding occasionally. They chatted about Kanda, missions, the food lately, Komui's insane ideas, and how Bookman was working Lavi to death. Somewhere along the line Allen remembered to think about why he could possibly like him.

Really it was an enigma. Allen did not find men attractive on a general basis. Sex with males didn't appeal to him either. Allen did, however, thoroughly enjoy looking at the female body. The curves were nice and they were just so soft—so it was no wonder that he found it difficult to come up with the reason behind the thirty-three percent that was different from that.

Another hour swept by in this fashion when Allen was suddenly struck with it. He murmured to himself, even though he normally wouldn't. He was just so involved with this new-found idea that he put his finger to his lip, chewing on it slightly. He was so taken by it that he completely forgot Lavi was there and they were in the middle of a conversation.

"Uh, Allen—Allen?" A ragged sigh, "Allen are you even listening to me?" Lavi must have heard him at this point, "Eh? What was that? Allen? What are you talking to yourself about?" This jolted him out of his reverie. Allen looked up.

"What? Oh, it's nothing." Allen stood up quickly, wanting some time alone to think about this epiphany, and then faced Lavi. "Oh, uh, thank you, Lavi."

By now Lavi was completely confused, but started to get ready to stand up with Allen.

"Sure anytime… Are you okay Allen, you seem really out of—" Lavi was cut off rather quickly by soft lips pushing against his. Lavi's eye closed in reaction, but he grunted his protest into the kiss. The kiss ended as quickly as it had come on, leaving Lavi even more bewildered than before. Allen rested his hand on Lavi's shoulder for a moment before turning to leave. Lavi watched him, too shocked to say anything. And so, Lavi stood, straddling the bench and hands on his hips, staring after the white haired boy.

"What was that about?" He asked himself several minutes after Allen left the cafeteria.

Tomorrow's Theme: "Dead Wrong"