Disclaimer: I don't own D.Gray-Man. Hoshino-san does and I'm eternally grateful for the creation of such a fun manga.

Started out as plans for a chapter story, decided it was better ficlet material instead.

So, I kind of gave up on my Christmas Day story. It was turning out to be a real bore…. And 2stupid, your story is coming up shortly…I finally figured out a prank. I had my sister look up prank stuff (she asked for a topic to look up) and she found some pretty funny stuff. cackles I will have fun writing.

Summary: Cross' mother would tell him how when he grew up and had children of his own, those children would change his entire perspective and force him to rethink his priorities. Later in life, Cross would be fervently trying to prove his mother's words wrong.

When he was little (and when he was older as well) his mother would have him drink a glass of milk each meal of the day: breakfast, lunch, and supper. That was probably why he'd grown to be so tall. Heck, he was five-foot-eight by the time he was twelve.

Cross forced his apprentice to drink milk every day. Allen had been about twelve when he first picked him up and he looked seven at the time. Allen would always be short and scrawny, but at least he might end up looking his age…or close to it.

He had had two brothers, one older and one younger. As soon as they could say 'no' and get away with it, the two had stopped drinking milk every meal much to their mother's disappointment. His younger brother took to wearing tall top hats that their mother had found very charming. His older brother had boldly stated to their mother's dismay that he liked being short and took to slouching around the house until their father calmly told him that slouching wasn't a very grown-up thing to do. Needless to say, his older brother had stopped slouching.

Cross found that measures such as challenging Allen's physical capability or masculinity weren't required to get the child to do as he wanted. The established regime of Master and Idiot Apprentice had been set early into the boy and thus, Allen did whatever he ordered—although there tended to be much of the 'dragging kicking and screaming' thing involved.

His family was one that practiced black magic. He excelled with magic in all areas while his older brother…was good enough while his younger brother was completely inept in the art. He was particularly fascinated with the art of necromancy, a fascination his father, mother, and a strange, so-called 'friend of the family' encouraged.

Cross had only truly lost his temper once with Allen during their years together. The first time he called upon Maria, the boy had more or less called him the Millennium Earl in human form. Needless to say, Cross had not taken that comment with any sort of humor and pistol-whipped the boy, knocking him out for a full day. Their relationship had already been dangerously shaky to begin with and the incident hadn't helped the situation. Cross could only suppose that the two of them had apologized somehow when for the next few days, Allen did what he was told without the usual fuss and Cross himself wasn't nearly so demanding of Allen.

Cross' mother would tell him how when he grew up and had children of his own, those children would change his entire perspective and force him to rethink his priorities. Later in life, Cross would be fervently trying to prove his mother's words wrong.

Allen wasn't his kid, but Cross still had to change his priorities. The kid required more food than the average twelve-year old and withholding any amount of food from the boy was nothing short of an early Apocalypse. Clothing, gloves for the Allen's hand, and other small but necessary things for a boy of twelve, although his required daily intake of food was nowhere near small. But Hell be damned again if he gave in to some sort of freaky father-complex like a certain old man he knew.