Chapter Thirty-Seven: Eyes

Summary: Lavi says Allen's eyes are beautiful. Allen thinks Lavi's eyes are different.

Genre: Romance

Rating: PG-13

Content: Cute kissing between two half-naked guys in bed.

Author's Note: Part of the 100 Themes challenge on DeviantArt. 100 chapters about Lavi and Allen as a couple. Don't like it, don't read it.

Legal Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man or its characters. They all are property of Katsura Hoshino and I make no profit off these stories.

Author's thank you to: Blip-chan, Reaper1Nanashi, Evanescent Silence, OyaSUMi-heart, Nusku, Tsumi no Curse, Azakura, PheonixShadow, NellaXIval, JuniorArtist, Kayday, Sazuka-Chan, Aion Laven Walker, Uzumaki-Angel-15, fotoshop-cutout, I'm Defective, InfinityOnTheRun, ChaoticFenris and everyone else for your support.

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Lavi always said that Allen had beautiful eyes.

The silver-haired boy blushed the first time Lavi told him this, as well as the second and third time. But when Allen realized that this was Lavi's way of expressing his adoration, the heat retreated from his cheeks when these words were spoken and a newfound curiosity took its place. It was on a summer day late in the afternoon, when this curiosity reached its limit and could not remain silent anymore. The two of them had just been reunited after three weeks apart on separate missions, which led to a few hours where they happily became reacquainted with one another in Allen's bed. It was afterward, beneath tangled sheets in golden sunlight that Allen found himself looking up at Lavi with a pleased, lazy smile and a tongue that had lost all its inhibitions.

"Lavi," Allen murmured, his red fingertips tracing along the smooth curve of Lavi's jaw, following the path into his lover's soft, auburn hair. A smile pulled at his lips, his eyes a bit hot with happiness and amazement at the way Lavi did not pull away from the rough digits, but leaned into them as though nuzzling him like a content kitten. Lavi was the only one who did not fear or flinch from the limb, but loved it as much as the rest of Allen's body. Appreciatively, Allen kissed Lavi's nose, rousing his lover from his small nap with the action.

"Hmm?" Lavi smiled sleepily, his one eye opening slightly to gaze at Allen with as much warmth as the sun shining outside the open window. It filled his chest to the point where the boy thought he surely had been hollow before meeting Lavi, because nothing had made him feel more complete than the redhead's smile.

"What happened?" Allen inquired, a gentle look of curiosity melting into his expression, softened by love and the mid-afternoon light.

"To what?" Lavi asked, even though Allen knew he knew exactly what they were talking about. He knew because of the way Lavi's eye darkened slightly, even before Allen's fingers curled around the band in his hair. The silver-haired boy did not tug, or make to take it off, but kept a tender presence on the strap that held Lavi's mysterious eye patch in place.

"Were you hurt?" Allen asked, his voice low with concern.

"No," Lavi answered, his hand touching Allen's left arm, as if wanting him to remove his hand from where it rested so close to his best-kept secret. "It's not an injury."

"Then what happened?" Allen inquired, moving his hand from the band, resting his palm instead against the smooth dip of Lavi's neck and shoulder. The redhead looked down and away as if in thought.

"It's…complicated," Lavi answered, after a moment of seemingly gathering his words.

"So you can't tell me?" Allen asked, tilting Lavi's chin upwards slightly he could see that one, dark emerald. "Or you don't want to tell me?"

"Don't put me in this position, Allen," Lavi said, although there was no threat in his voice at all. Allen dropped his gaze and moved beneath Lavi's arm, tucking himself in that protective embrace he had missed during their time apart.

"I'm sorry," Allen replied, pressing his lips against Lavi's throat in apology. "I just…want you to be comfortable around me and…know that you can tell me anything…" One of the biggest things that they had come to learn was that, with their relationship came the openness of communication. Allen had told Lavi some of his worst fears, his secret dreams, and even his wildest fantasies. Lavi always listened and seemed to always know exactly how to respond, but it seemed to Allen as if these discussions were purely one way. Despite knowing Lavi for years and dating the redhead for half of them, Allen still didn't know very much about his boyfriend.

"I know," Lavi said, but his voice did not sound as if he wished to divulge any further information.

"Okay," Allen replied, knowing that it wasn't going to get any further any time soon. "I won't bring it up again." Biting his lip, Allen remained silent, hoping that he hadn't put Lavi into a bad mood. After so many weeks apart, the smaller Exorcist should have eradicated his curiosity so as not to have brought about such a negative result. But just as he was resigning himself to silence, Lavi spoke.

"It's…the reason I became a Bookman, you know," Lavi said quietly, his breath stirring Allen's hair. Silver eyes opened, slightly wide, but Allen stayed in his position against his lover's chest, not daring to move. He did not want to interrupt the first indication of Lavi's willingness to share something so personal with him.

"Really?" Allen asked, his voice just barely a whisper as he prompted Lavi further. "Why?"

"Without it, I never would have met Bookman at all, because my parents wouldn't have abandoned me in the first place," Lavi said. Something about his tone reminded Allen of the night he had first told the redhead about Mana: where Allen's first memories of life had been the cold and an aching hunger, never knowing what warmth or love truly were because of the absence of parents he couldn't remember. Now, Lavi's voice sounded similar to his had, in the same sense that the redhead sounded slightly bitter, the edges tinged with sorrow. Allen felt a gentle kiss pressed to his temple and he chanced to tilt his head slightly to look up at Lavi. "We're the same after all, I guess."

"So…you were born with…" Allen began, but stopped short, not knowing what to say exactly.

"Yeah," Lavi answered, his fingers idly playing with Allen's long strands of silver hair as he chewed his bottom lip momentarily. "I was lucky they only abandoned me and didn't kill me. Back where I was born, it was a sign of the devil…but Bookman saw it as an opportunity. You know him: not one to pass up something that could help him on his mission…" The bitterness was gone, replaced with something like fondness for the old man who had given him purpose, no matter how depressing it might seem to someone like Allen.

"I'm glad he did take you in," he said, placing his hand on Lavi's chest, directly above the heart that belonged to Allen and only Allen, "or else I never would have met you." Lavi smiled gently and kissed him, which Allen was only too happy to return. When they parted, Allen's hand was taken in Lavi's, his red fingers pressed against the black patch that covered his lover's right eye.

"I'm so glad, too, Allen," Lavi replied. "And because of that, you can…if you want to."

"Are you sure?" Allen asked, sitting up to look down at Lavi fully, wanting to make sure he had heard correctly. A serious nod from the redhead confirmed this; the left eye that told him with emerald certainty that he wanted Allen to go ahead. With a shaky breath, Allen moved his hand behind Lavi's head and gently untied the knot there. Slowly removing the black piece of fabric, Allen finally revealed what had been one of the most mystifying attributes in the entire Black Order.

The green he had fallen in love with stared at him with intensity, with worry of rejection, but when Allen smiled, all anxiousness disappeared. The body beneath Allen relaxed with a soft sigh, warmth reaching his eyes—it was so strange to think in the plural after so long—and lighting them so curiously. If the left was the color of evergreens at sunrise, then the right was the sun itself: the most peculiar pigment of amber Allen had ever seen. It was so rich and vibrant, as if someone had taken honey and mixed it with pure light. Allen could not understand how someone could think it a curse or any hand other than God's that had made something so unique.

Lavi always said Allen had beautiful eyes.

And Allen thought that, although Lavi's eyes were different, they were beautiful too.

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Aw. Despite its length, I like this one.

Chapter 38 – ON HIATUS

Due to the amount of criticism I've been receiving, I can only deduce that I am merely a disappointment and that I am no longer pleasing you. Therefore, I'm putting this fic on hiatus until I improve myself to your standards.

Later, everyone.

Dhampir72