A/N: Hey! *grin* This is a little later than I intended to put this up, but it's up.

Thank you to Cheese Wizzard, Jaggedwing, Kittenanimegirl13, Ryuakilover, Candy Crackpot, Shadow Spears, BloodyHeart12050, and guest for reviewing!

Title: Pale Blue Ribbons

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: Link/Allen

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Warnings: AU

Summary: Allen likes to wear dresses. Also known as: the crossdressing AU. (College AU.)

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man.


When Allen first met Link, it was on professional terms.

Allen, as it happened, was terrible at English. So much time spent in foreign countries not speaking English had largely messed up his ability to interpret connotations, which were, apparently, important in things like understanding poetry. And symbolism? Forget it. Give him a deck of cards and a circle of blank expressions any day.

It had been Lenalee's idea to get a tutor. She'd put him in contact with a friend of hers, Tewaku, and she had been able to put him in contact with Link, who immediately gained Allen's interest by bringing a pie to their first meeting.

It was awkward at first; Link apparently had a definitive idea of how a tutor should act, and it fell somewhere along the lines of 'stiff, formal, and attentive'. Allen appreciated it, really, but all politeness aside, formality had never really been Allen's thing, not with people he liked.

It was now most of the way through the semester, and it wasn't awkward anymore.

Allen straightened up and smiled at Link. "Thanks a lot for your help, Link."

Link inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Of course, anytime." He reached out to close the book, and Allen started to gather up his things a moment later. Then, referring to the upcoming final, "You're sure you feel prepared?"

"I'll ace it for sure," Allen assured him. He chuckled nervously. "Well, maybe not ace it…"

"You'll do fine," Link decided, shaking his head with a slight softening of his smile. "I promise."

"I hope so," Allen smiled, tugging at the hem of his glove. "Are you ready for yours?"

A wince flashed across Link's face. "As I'll ever be."

Now both of them were standing, facing each other from either side of their chairs, equally hesitant. Slowly, a hint of uncertainty made its way onto Link's face.

"You don't have an English class next semester," Link said, going for brisk and missing slightly. "So I suppose you won't need my help after this."

Allen kept himself steady and confident. "No, probably not. But we're friends, aren't we?" He tilted his head and smiled. "You have my number, right?"

A smile broke out across Link's face in return. "Yes, I do," he confirmed. And then, unprompted, "I'll keep in contact, then."

Allen beamed at him. "Great! We'll have to meet up sometime after finals."

Link's gaze shifted aside, but the smile stayed. "Yes. Certainly." He glanced back up to meet Allen's expectant eyes. "Will you be alright getting home?"

Allen laughed. "Of course I will, Link. Don't worry."

Link frowned and shook his head slightly. "I don't like you going home alone," he muttered, for what Allen fondly knew as the sixty-seventh time (and probably not the last).

"Link," Allen protested, politely smothering both his laugh and most of his exasperation. "I'll be fine. It's not like I live in a red-light district."

Link visibly cringed, a hint of pink tinting his cheeks. "That- I- That is…" He caught Allen's amused expression and the flush deepened. "I know," was what he finally settled on, studiously avoiding Allen's gaze. "Still, it isn't particularly safe to go out alone this close to dark."

Allen's smile softened. "I know. But really, I'll be fine." He grinned. "I can take care of myself, you know."

Link glanced up. "If you're sure," he said at last, and shook his head. "Very well. I'll see you after finals?"

"After finals," Allen agreed with a smile.

Finals were hell, as expected. Allen texted Link after his last, suggesting they meet up on Sunday to hang out. Link agreed soon enough, and promised to bring cookies on top of it. Link was the best.

For now, it was Friday night, Allen was free, and he wanted to go out.

"When are you getting back?" Kanda asked suspiciously, standing by the door, hovering. It was almost adorable. Allen wanted to laugh. "I want to know when I have to go look and see if you've been murdered."

Alma did laugh. "We'll be back by midnight, Yuu," he smiled. "I promise!"

"You'd better," Kanda grumbled. "If I have to go murder someone for you, I'm gonna be pissed."

"Oh, Yuu," Allen cooed, and Kanda gave him a glare of death. "Are you worried?"

"Like hell!" Kanda snarled, and turned around to storm off, slamming his bedroom door behind him.

"Allen, that wasn't nice," Alma chided, hiding a grin of his own. "He really is worried!"

"I know," Allen admitted, and shot Alma a slightly mischievous smirk. "That's why I asked."

Alma shook his head at him. "You are not a nice person," he told Allen with a completely serious face.

Allen pouted. "Well, that's not a nice thing to say."

It was perhaps the fourth or fifth time Allen had crossdressed since Lavi had first dared him to, and the third time he'd gone out with Alma.

This time he was wearing a forest green dress with short sleeves, falling just to his knees and made of a thicker, less flowey material than the blue dress had been, though his shoes were the same. There was a pastel blue satin-covered bangle around his left wrist, more for the sake of amusement than anything, and he'd made up his eyes to be a little more dramatic than usual just for fun.

Alma, meanwhile, had put on a red shawl over a purple button-up blouse and a dark grey skirt, only partway past his knees, with high-heeled shoes that were at least an inch higher than Allen's. Unlike Allen, he was wearing a long, curly wig and silver earrings that dangled and caught the light. He looked excited for their night out – he always did – and his eyes sparkled.

"Did you see how Kanda was ogling you?" Allen teased, changing the subject.

Alma beamed proudly, opening the door so they could get going. "Of course! Yuu loves it when I dress up, even if he won't admit it." Softer smile. "And he has, you know. He was really supportive when I first told him." Brighter again. "And he actually blushed the first time I dressed up for him!"

Allen's smile softened, too. No matter how gruff he could be, Kanda really did love Alma.

"I don't even want to know what you get up to after these nights," he commented, and when Alma's grin turned mischievous, elaborated, "Definitely don't want to know."

"Killjoy!" Alma accused playfully.

"Nope," Allen disagreed. "Just get enough of that from Cross."

He didn't know why Alma found that funny.


Because it was the end of finals, they went out to their normal celebratory restaurant, a place called the Black Order Diner, which was affordable, gave discounts to students, and had really great food.

Alma and Allen spent most of the time talking while Allen periodically flirted with the visibly flustered waiter. It wasn't anything they wouldn't have done normally, really, but even so- it was nice. It was always nice, and tonight was no exception.

Toward the end of the night, a group came in and was seated at the table beside them. Allen barely noticed, possibly wouldn't even have glanced over if he hadn't heard,

"Allen?"

Startled, Allen glanced over.

It wasn't like he was worried about being recognized. If he had been, he would have stuck to long sleeves and gloves, and worn a wig like Alma. He was pretty distinct, after all.

He hadn't been expecting it, though.

Despite that, there was Link, sitting with a group of his friends – Allen recognized them, from pictures Link had shown him, as Madarao, Tokusa, Tewaku, Kiredori, and Goushi – blinking owlishly at him, with his gaze drifting down briefly before snapping back up with a flaming blush.

Allen couldn't stop his own cheeks from turning pink, but all the same, he smiled. "I thought we weren't meeting 'til Sunday?" he teased.

"Allen, who's this?" Alma asked curiously, before snapping his fingers in realization, a wide smile spreading across his face. "Oh! Is this Link?"

"This is Link," Allen confirmed, when it was clear that Link was deeply unprepared to speak. (He was still staring, in fact.) At Alma's sly grin, he rolled his eyes, smiling anyway. "Oh, don't you start."

"I didn't say anything," Alma protested.

"Wait." Tewaku leaned forward, eyes intent. "You're Allen? I thought Allen was a boy."

Allen kept his smile up. "I am a boy," he agreed, "but I like to dress up as a girl sometimes." He wiggled demonstratively in his seat. "You get prettier clothes, it's just not even fair."

Madarao shook his head, looked at Link, and flicked him on the forehead. "Close your mouth before something flies into it," he advised. "And stop gaping before your boyfriend starts to get the wrong idea."

Link closed his mouth, visibly struggled with himself for a moment, and then settled on, "You look… very pretty." And then he turned red again, looked at Madarao, and objected, "And we aren't dating!"

Madarao closed his eyes. If Allen had to guess, he was counting to ten to regain his patience.

We aren't dating, Allen noted with a great deal of interest. Not I'm not gay, or a similar denial of the possibility.

"Thank you, Link," was what he said, suppressing a laugh. (Alma, across from him, wasn't even bothering.) "Are you here celebrating the end of finals too, then?"

"That was the plan," Link confirmed, and that blush really didn't want to leave, did it?

"But we seem to have found something rather more interesting," added Tokusa, with a downright merciless smirk on his face. "Link never told us that his boyfriend liked to crossdress."

"We aren't dating," Link repeated, visibly pained and distinctly not looking at Allen.

The rest of his table laughed. Apparently this was an ongoing argument.

"And he didn't know," Allen said in Link's defense, trying not to laugh. "It never came up."

"Didn't come up, he says," Madarao snorted.

"Don't worry," Alma assured Link, smiling broadly, probably at his embarrassment. "It was months before he told me, and I live with him."

"And have the same interest, I see," Kiredori noted, eying Alma thoughtfully.

Alma smiled cheerfully. "For much longer, too!"

"Would you like to join us?" Tokusa proposed suddenly, eyes glittering with amusement at Link's betrayed look. "It's about time we met you. Link's been holding out on us."

"If you're sure you don't mind," Allen agreed with only a hint of hesitation, sending a concerned look Link's way. It morphed into an amused grin when Link shook his head quickly, giving Allen a small, borderline embarrassed smile as he did.

"I'll tell Yuu you'll be back late," Alma chuckled, starting to rise – they'd been just about ready when Link noticed Allen, and the waiter had come and gone since, meaning they were free to go.

"I don't you'll be telling Kanda much of anything for a while," Allen commented dryly.

Alma shot him a sly grin back. "Well, maybe."

It ended up being a fun night, almost more so than when he went just with Alma. Even more fun than the time Kanda went along and growled at everyone who looked at Alma, and some who didn't. Link's friends were entertaining and teased Link almost as much as Allen himself liked to, and it was halfway through the meal before Link stopped blushing every time he looked at Allen.

At about one in the morning, Link walked Allen home, confirmed that they were still meeting on Sunday, and left again, leaving a smiling Allen on the doorstep.

It was a nice night.


Sunday afternoon, Allen dressed as he normally did, and they met in the park (Link bearing a bag of the cookies he'd promised) and settled on a bench that overlooked most of the flat field.

It only took a few minutes before Allen noticed that Link seemed preoccupied – even as he answered and countered questions about free time and plans for the next semester and exam difficulty, he stumbled over words and hesitated for long lengths of time, occasionally glancing at Allen with a furrowed brow.

Allen's heart clenched anxiously.

Finally, he'd had enough, and instead of replying to Link's comment (something idle about a recipe he'd found) he finished his cookie and asked, "It doesn't bother you, does it?"

For a moment, Link looked confused. "Bother me?"

"That I like to crossdress sometimes," Allen elaborated, gray eyes settled on Link's brown and gleaming with worry.

Link winced, but then shook his head decisively. "No, not at all. I just…" He hesitated. "You're not transgender, are you? Or gay?"

Allen shook his head cautiously. "I'm not trans," he confirmed, and then added, "I am gay, though that doesn't really have anything to do with it." Link looked caught between interest and embarrassment, the latter being probably at his blunder, and Allen took a chance. "Link?" He waited until Link was clearly and completely focused on him, and then smiled hopefully. "W-would you like to go out sometime? On a date, I mean."

Link stared at him, mouth open slightly. He blinked, and then his head jerked slightly, so he was looking away from Allen, pink once again dusting his cheeks. And then he nodded. "I, ah… Yes. I would." He looked at Allen and smiled, soft and genuine, and Allen beamed back.

"Great!" Allen exclaimed, relief and happiness making his chest feel light. "Would Wednesday night work?"

Link nodded mutely without pausing to think, and Allen smiled.

"It's a date, then," he said cheerfully, and reached into the bag for another cookie.


And that's the end of that! *smile* It's a little short, I know, but it's a fairly simple idea, so I didn't think it needed much expansion. Thanks for reading, and please review!