Dedication: EJ, yet again, because I love her like WOAH. Also, she requested me to write this quite some time ago, and no matter how much she protests, I'll STILL write it for her. Love makes people do some odd things, but love, in the end, can be gratifying; at least, ours is. I love you, amante del Missa.

Disclaimer: Sure, I own D. Gray-Man. I am also SEEKRITLY a ninja and also God. Do you guys believe me? No, didn't think so.

Allen has never really liked coffee. He found it too bitter, and before, he always had to have it made a specific way, lightened so much it was more tea than coffee, before he could drink it; that, however, all changed when he entered The Order. Here, they all drink coffee by the bucket. Coffee is a constant companion, and eventually, he doesn't have it made as specifically, because of how often he drinks it, and also because of her.

And now, just as surely as he is addicted to coffee, he is to her, as well. She draws him to her like a moth to the flame, and Lenalee is definitely a flame. She is warmth, glowing, but she is also wild and, also, just as beautiful.

"Allen-kun?" Her voice is a soft caress, like a familiar touch, and he glances up from the book he had been researching with.

"Lenalee." He smiles at her and an answering one blooms across her face. In her hands is a tray, and balanced on them are cups, most likely full of coffee. She comes in, setting the tray down on top of the table. She then turned to leave.

"Wait." Allen is hardly aware that he's spoken the words; all he knows is he doesn't want her to go away.

Lenalee turns her head back to him, amethyst irises dark and probing. "Yes, Allen-kun?"

Allen-kun. His name sounds so good, coming from those lips.

"Keep me company. This book isn't that great." He makes a face and she laughs, and he watches her, watches as the way her eyes crinkle and her mouth upturns, and he feels his heart pounding, thrumming incessantly against his ribcage in a way that's almost painful.

They sit in silence after that, him reading and her sipping from her coffee cup, looking around them at the books.

Allen picks up his cup, and, under pretense of drinking from it, he diverts his eyes to her; notices the way the sunlight filtering in from the windows surrounding them highlights her hair a deep green, and the way it makes her porcelain skin practically shine.

His heart thumps in his chest, reacting merely from the sight of her. She is almost so perfect that it hurts, but he knows she's not; he knows all too well the sight of those empty violet eyes, knows the way she hunches into herself when she sleeps, and he hates it, because he wants to wrap his arms around her and never let go. He wants to be there for her always, to let her know that he cares, will ALWAYS care.

"Allen-kun? Are you hungry?" She turns to him, and her eyes are so sad again, and he just wants it to go away.

Because Lenalee is a beautiful, happy, amazing person; she doesn't deserve darkness, or sadness, and he may be cursed, but Lenalee is the cure to his symptoms, and he is so addicted to her; he doesn't want her to go away, to stop being the Lenalee he knows, because…

I love you.

He loves her; loves everything about her. Her sweetness, her brilliant smile, her beauty, her charm, because she is his everything.

"Yeah, I am." He tells her, and closes the book; researching can wait. "Let's go out to eat. My treat."

"What?! Allen-kun--"

His smile stops her, and he shakes his head. "Please."

He can see her protests dying before they even have a chance to surface, and then, she smiles, nodding.

Their coffee cups are left forgotten as they start to walk towards the exit, and their hands brush accidentally, but then he grabs her hand, and she turns to him, startled.

You've already saved me; you are my light, my flame, my addiction. Please, let me save you.

Lenalee smiles at him, and almost inconspicuously, she tightens her hand around his.

Okay.