Author's Note: Hello, everyone! This is a one-shot I wrote a while back and didn't find until just recently. It's based on the interesting student/teacher relationship between Allen and General Cross that we enjoy so much.

Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man's plot and its characters belong to its author (mangaka), Katsura Hoshino. I own no rights to anything mentioned here.

Cross was in despair. The fact that he was frowning while drinking wine was enough evidence. The General was slouching on the couch, feet propped up on the cluttered coffee table, with an empty glass in his hand. If any of the other Generals were present, they would've assumed he'd gotten the cheaper variety.

That last thought was enough to make him scoff. Him mistakenly choosing the cheap crap they called "wine"? Of course not!

Besides the coffee table, the room was a mess. A bed was seemingly cut in half, a window was completely broken, the bedding was literally torn to shreds, and the rest of the room overall was just a mess. His apprentice, though clearly out of sight and mind at the moment, was going to be questioning himself whether a tornado or earthquake he was unaware of had struck while on his "debt run", or if his caretaker had some kind of psychotic disorder he was unaware of.

Just as Cross was pouring himself another glass of alcohol, the door opened, completely snapping off of its hinges, and leaving his visitor in shock for not only that, but for the room that had once been in one piece before leaving. There was a soft plop as his apprentice's bag dropped from his hands.

Cross took the liberty to turn his head toward the entrance and greet his apprentice with, "hey."

Finally, the scene seemed to register in Allen's mind, for that he cried out in shock.

"The room's a little messy, as you can see..."

"A little?!" Allen bellowed. For the sweet, innocent child the women seemed to find this kid to be, his face was quite red, and smoke was blowing out of his ears. "Master, what happened? Where'd Martha go? Wasn't she supposed to be drinking with you?"

The child was left hanging when Cross' mood darkened. "It wasn't my fault..." he flatly muttered, but didn't seem quite sure of it himself."It's not my fault she thinks I'm a slob..."

For a second time, the child's bag fell from his hands. "Wait. A woman dumped you before you got drunk?"

Cross nodded solemnly. "She said I was horrible for throwing you in front of an Akuma and ponding off debts on you... and a couple of bad words Mana would kill me for if I taught you--"

"She called you the 'B' word?"

Cross blinked, but said nothing of him mentally questioning how he knew of such things. Obviously, it was from the street. Mana hated those words so much; he had no doubts that he'd wash his own mouth out with soap if he used them on accident. Cross snickered at the thought.

"You pay off all of those debts like I told you?"

The child nodded, stepping further into the doorway. "How'd Martha do this?"

"She was an Akuma." Cross muttered, "came back about an hour after dumping me. Can't believe I didn't see through that the minute she walked in..."

"She cut your bed in half and tore up the sheets."

"So?"

Allen dared himself to ask, "where are you going to sleep tonight, Master?"

"Hey, I'm the adult here. I have the authority to deprive you of anything I feel like depriving you of."

Allen huffed in irritation, crossing his arms over his chest. His anger only lasted a brief second, for that he asked randomly after a moment, "Master, what does 'denial' mean?"

Cross' eyes widened for a second. "You know about politics in the United States--"

"United States of America." Allen corrected calmly.

"Anyway, you're aware of politics all the way over there, but you don't know what 'denial' means?" Allen's silence was enough of an answer for the older man. "Fine, I'll tell you. Denial is the beliefs one holds when in fact what they believe is wrong."

"Like how you believe you're not a bad man when in fact you are?"

"You have tonight to come up with the money to repair this dump. You hear me?"

"What?! That's inconceivable, Master!"

Cross grinned. "Guess next time you shouldn't insult me, huh?"

"That's impossible, Master!" the child cried, "you and Martha destroyed it far beyond repair!"

"Now, now. We both know it was the Akuma that destroyed this room."

"Yes, but it was Martha who broke up with you after finding out the kind of guy you really are!"

Cross growled, "she was mistaken."

"No, she wasn't!"

"Yes, she was."

"No, she wasn't!"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Fists clenched, and his face red, Allen stomped his foot, irritant.

"You're in denial, Master!"