Hello people!

So, I'm writing a lot of major stories, but that doesn't really leave me with a lot of time to write the little ideas that I come up with sometimes, so I decided that I'd try to do it anyway. Perhaps the faster I get these little ideas out, the faster I can get back to my major stories, like MOTN or NTM...maybe even SQotU.

I don't plan on this being long and completely well thought out, so this is more of a ficlet than a book (like my other ones are, whoaly fuck they're long).

Anyway, please enjoy this short fic. It'll only be a few chapters. :)

-JD

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Lavi never thought much about Allen's insistence to bathe alone at first.

No matter what country and culture you came from, the main bath in the Order was an onsen, and eventually most people got used to seeing each other mostly naked. Allen, however, adamantly refused as much as possible to be in the bath at the same time as any other soul. He never said it verbally, but the way he would wait for hours until no one was bathing, even if it meant that he had to check to see if anyone else was in the bath several times, spoke volumes all on its own.

Lavi just sort of figured it was a part of his discomfort with his cursed arm, white hair, and scar. He'd expressed to the white-haired boy that his oddities didn't disturb him, but Allen would simply smile as always and keep his distance as usual. It was a tad unnerving, but he wasn't about to put Allen in an uncomfortable situation.

It wasn't as though the bathroom didn't have accommodations for people until they got used to the onsen setting. There were closed showers in the same area, bathtubs as well. But to get to them, you had to take your clothes off in the room before all of the bathing equipment, then, if you were that modest, you'd have to have your towel wrapped around you to get to the rooms with the showers and such. It seemed that even with that, Allen was still not happy with the idea. For all of his politeness and accommodating behavior, that was one thing he wouldn't budge on.

Upon realizing that Allen was so modest, he realized that he'd never seen Allen without a shirt on. Not once, not ever, not even in the medical ward. And that was saying something. He'd seen Kanda without a shirt on plenty of times—the guy seriously had little to no self-preservative instincts sometimes—and he'd even seen Lenalee in her bra—that'd been an accident, the AKUMA had corrosive abilities and she wasn't about to lose a chunk of her skin because of toxic gender normativity. He'd seen his fair share of chests and breasts in his few years of life, but he'd never seen Allen's chest…or his back for that matter.

So when a casual conversation about pin-up girls began and Allen gave his take on the matter, he was surprised.

"I'd probably do it," Allen said, leaning back onto the wall that led down into the sandy training room.

The small group was gathered together, talking casually in their exercise clothes as they either spared together or spared alone with dummies. Initially it'd only been Kanda, but Marie had followed him, then Lavi, Lenalee, Chaoji, Krory, and Allen trailed their ways into the area. They'd talked about a lot of things, but the pin-up girl conversation had been Lavi's idea.

Chaoji almost choked on his drink. Kanda, though he acted like he wasn't listening, faltered a bit, almost getting smacked in the face by the spinning arm of a wooden dummy.

"Eh? You would?" Lenalee asked, just as surprised as the rest of them.

"Hmm?" he blinked up at her where she sat, her legs lying over the bend, "Oh, probably. I mean, it seems like it'd be a fairly easy thing to do if you got the hang of it."

"Heeeeh…I didn't think you were that kind of person, shorty," Lavi grinned.

"It's Allen," he glared, "but it doesn't seem like it'd be bad to do it. Sure, it's not appropriate all the time, but if you needed easy money or something…"

'Oh, that's what this is about,' they thought, noticing his aura get dark.

Lavi started laughing, "Oh man, I just imagined all of the different poses you could do, wait."

The red-head stood up from his perch before jumping down onto the sand in the arena. After landing, he struck a pose, one arm straight out, the other flexing, his front leg bent, "Now imagine me shirtless."

The group started laughing, Lavi pulling off several poses from old Greek statues, Lenalee and Krory alternatively describing them to Marie as he changed his pose. For his last one, Lavi faced his back to them, his right arm flexing, his left on his hip as he cocked it, peering between the window his arm made with a grin.

"I'm so made for the pin-up scene."

Allen rolled his eyes, "Of course, Lavi. Without a doubt."

"I sensed some sarcasm there."

"I can't help what you sense."

Lavi put on a distraught look, placing his hands over his heart, "Allen, you wound me."

"Heh, sorry, sorry."

"Hey, Kuro-chan, what kind of pose would you pull?"

"Eh?" Krory's face went a bit red, the man becoming flustered.

"Oh, c'mon, you have to have some idea!" Lavi climbed back up onto the wall, moving over to the older man.

"Uh—uhm…I wouldn't—"

Before Lavi could reach Krory, Lenalee stood to her feet. She slid her right foot forward before she cocked her hip leftward, bending over to put her right hand on her knee. She shifted her left hand into her hair, pushing some of the hair back as she gave him a mischievous smile.

"How's this?"

They all blushed at least a little.

"STRIKE!" Lavi cried, his eyes alight with joy as he moved his hands into a photo position, "Yes, yes, this is perfect! Absolutely perfect!"

Lenalee struck another pose as Lavi cheered over her and Allen grinned at the two. Secretly, Krory gave her a thumbs up, thanking her for distracting the hot-blooded boy. Chaoji cheered for her lightly as she posed, clapping his hands as he tried to find a way to cool the blush on his face down. Marie just chuckled at their antics.

"So...since you said you'd probably do it, what kind of pose would you throw out, Allen?" Lavi said, his target changing once again.

Allen seemed a little startled at the question, his face flushing lightly, "I don't know, really. I just thought I might do it."

"Oh c'mon Al-chan! You've gotta have an idea of a pose, right?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"I want to see it, too!" Lenalee cheered, genuinely curious.

All of them started getting really curious once they noticed how embarrassed he was getting, looking off to the sides as the blush spread lightly across his nose.

"Ah, no…I—uhm…I really don't…"

"You have to have some idea!" Lavi said, a grin spreading across his face.

"Now I'm pretty curious…" Krory leaned over the wall just a bit.

Allen seemed to fidget with himself for a moment before he came up with an idea, "Wait, wait, this might not look right."

He activated his innocence, surprising them a bit. The watched as his claws grew on one hand and his white coat materialized, the back of his hair standing up. He gave a sigh, then, hiding his left hand with the cloak, he held it open as it slipped lightly off of his right shoulder. He held a tall stance, but tilted his body lightly to the right, his head tilting as well, holding his eyes only half open as he bit lightly at his lip.

"Uhmm…this is all I could think of."

The group stared at him for a moment, and if you listened closely, you could hear Kanda actually get hit by the training dummy that time.

Lavi carefully brought his hand up to his chin as he scrutinized Allen's pose. Lenalee was blinking rapidly, an embarrassed smile on her face as she flushed. Krory's jaw seemed to hang just a bit, and Chaoji had to stop drinking so he wouldn't choke himself. After Marie asked what he was doing, Krory described it to him, and Marie seemed to think about it as well.

"I didn't think I'd say this…" Lavi muttered, "but…"

Allen blinked at him, body twitching just a tad.

He gave the white-haired boy a thumbs up, "Strike."

Crowned Clown completely dissipated at that, Allen's face turning beet red, "What?"

"I agree, that was strangely sexy of you," Lenalee said, smiling lightly as she tried to cool her face down.

"I wasn't really expecting it either. You're pretty good at posing, Allen!" Krory cheered.

The boy waved his hands, "Nonononono, stop."

"Seriously, I'm honestly trying to cement that pose in my memory for all eternity. I mean, Lenalee's better, but you're not bad yourself. Not bad at all. I don't say 'Strike' to many guys, so take that compliment with pride."

"Many?" Lenalee asked.

Lavi shrugged, "One must appreciate both sides of beauty, you know?"

Allen was obviously flustered, but he seemed to be thinking about it. He gave them a look.

"If you saw me in a photo, how much money would you spend to buy it?"

"Allen, no," Lavi laughed, honest worry coming into his tone.

"Seriously. Even fully clothed, how much would you—"

"Allen, please," the humor was gone.

"It's an honest question," the nervousness was gone.

"Don't make me do this, oh my gosh."

"Lavi."

"Allen, no."

Said boy clicked his tongue, glaring off to the side.

"Oh God, you're not seriously mad at me right now."

"I'm trying to pay stuff off, and you introduce me to this option, now you're not even giving me a good gage on how to use it," he clicked his tongue again, the dark aura beginning to come off of him.

"Please tell me you're joking," Lavi said earnestly.

"I don't think he is, Lavi," Lenalee replied, surprised by his reaction as well.

"You're underage, Allen!" Lavi cried, sweat running down the side of his face, "I can't give you advice about modeling like that, that's illegal! This was just a joke, really…"

The thought seemed to click, finally, and the dark aura dissipated around him, "Oh…right."

Lavi sighed, "Geez, I didn't think you'd take it seriously."

Allen had an odd expression on his face, but he smiled embarrassingly, laughing lightly, "Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. You know how I get into zones like that."

He placed his hands on the top of the wall, pulling himself up, "I feel a bit hungry. Anyone coming with me?"

Lenalee laughed, knowing he didn't actually want anyone with him, "No, I'm good for another few hours. You go ahead." Krory and the others gave him a similar reply.

Allen turned to them and smiled again, though it didn't quite reach his eyes, "I'll go on then. See you all later." He then began jogging away from them lightly.

"Awwww…he got all polite again," Lavi grumbled.

"He's just embarrassed is all," Lenalee replied, watching after him worriedly.

Chaoji sighed, "Giving out photos like that wouldn't have been much more different then selling yourself on the street really."

"Whoa wait, that's very different," Lenalee turned to him, frowning.

That started a whole 'nother conversation, one that got a tad heated at points. Krory, not really knowing how to be in it, opted to train with Kanda instead, who had grown irritated with the dummy and agreed without too much glaring.

As Lenalee and Chaoji continued their conversation, Lavi glanced over to Marie, who was still looked off toward the way that Allen left.

"Everything alright, Marie?"

"Yes…" he said slowly, "I'm fine. I wonder about Allen, though."

"Hmm?"

Marie turned his head toward him, "It seems that Chaoji's comment upset him a bit. His heartbeat increased after he said it."

Lavi hummed, looking down the hall that Allen had disappeared down.

'I kinda regret bringing it up, now…'

Allen was still in the dining room when Lavi entered, feeling a bit hungry after sparing with Lenalee. He was sitting at a table alone, surrounded by empty plates, three more left. He seemed to be thinking, his eyes a bit cloudy, slowly eating on autopilot. Lavi watched him as he moved over to Jeryy's window.

"How long's he been like that?" the red-head asked.

The man sighed, "Since he got here. Poor dear, he's been eating slower than usual. You know, I had to ask him twice to tell me his order. Did something happen?"

"Not sure…probably…I'll have a shawarma, please."

"Lamb as usual?"

Lavi grinned, though it lacked its usual energy, "You know what I like."

Jeryy gave him a kind smile, "It'll be right out, sweetheart."

Lavi waved a thanks his way before heading over to Allen, who was still eating on autopilot, Timcanpy settled in his hair. He didn't even respond when Lavi sat down in front of him.

"Oooooi…shorty."

His eyes cleared a little as he glared up at Lavi, "It's Allen."

The teen grinned, "Nice to see you're awake. I thought you were sleep eating for a moment there!"

"No one sleep eats, Lavi," he replied, though the smile let him know he was getting cheered up, or acting like it at least.

The two joked around with each other for a while, only pausing once so Lavi could get his food. Allen had finished with his plates by the time Lavi took his third bite, so the two just talked with each other as usual without Allen mumbling through his chewing. After getting comfortable again, Lavi gave him an apologetic look.

"Hey…about earlier…"

Allen held his hands up, "Ah, don't worry about that. That was all me, really."

"No, I mean…I kind of forgot how you get about money sometimes, and I should've thought about that. It was just a joke, really."

"Yeah, but I was the one who took it too far. I'm not that desperate, but…" he shook his head, "A joke's a joke. None of it was your fault, really. I was just being too serious about something I shouldn't have been serious about," he grinned reassuringly, though it seemed some of the embarrassment came back.

"Allen…"

"Really, Lavi. It was my fault."

Lavi looked ready to fuss, but Allen was just as ready to deny any claims against his own. Lavi sighed, giving a dismissive gesture, "I guess."

Allen hummed in reply.

"…So, when's Two Dots supposed to be back?"

"Hmm? Not for a little while. He's doing some…business with Lvellie. I can only go on small missions because of it for now."

They continued talking on like that before they eventually went their separate ways. Though the situation wasn't completely resolved, it seemed resolved enough for the moment.