Title: Theory in Practice

Fandom: D. Gray-man

Pairing: Allen/Lavi

Prompt: Mistletoe

Genre: Romance/Angst

Rating: PG-13 for kissing

Summary: Lavi knows a lot about mistletoe. He just wants to find out if Allen does too, that's all.

Notes: Happy Christmas to finite_farfalla! I have the feeling I didn't actually do what you requested… *twiddles thumb* But I still hope you like it, dear! (: To everyone who reads this as well, Happy Holidays!

"Did you know that mistletoe is a partially parasitic plant?"

Allen sighed and turned around slowly, unwilling to relinquish the sight of the beautiful food storage in front of him. What he saw was Lavi on the other side, leaning against the kitchen counter, cocking his head to the side and blinking at him.

Since Lavi didn't seem to be offering anymore information…"Lavi. What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep," he shrugged. Apparently not registering Allen's slight annoyance, he went on. "And did you know that there are two different sorts of mistletoe? The one Komui's hanging everywhere, those actually come from the North America continent. The ones you actually find in Europe, they look like little shrubs with yellow flowers and white berries. Did you know that the berries are poisonous?"

Lavi had a habit of waving his hands when he was talking, and this time as he spoke with the matter-of-fact tone of one who had read widely and indiscriminatingly the habit didn't change. He paused, waiting for Allen to make a suitable response.

"Lavi," Allen sighed and pushed the refrigerator door close, glancing at the clock as he did so. "Is there a point to any of this?"

Lavi blinked at him again and thought for a while, finger placed on his chin. He shrugged and smiled widely. "Maybe?"

Allen looked at his nonchalant smile, relaxed posture and bright eye. It seemed like there was nothing out of the ordinary, just Lavi out for a chat. The boy smiled slightly, humouring him, a little curious himself. "Alright then, as long as Link doesn't find us because of you talking. Go on."

"Ah, but did you know all those?" Lavi said, a grin lighting up his face.

Allen barely resisted rolling his eyes. "No, I suppose I did not."

"Well then." Lavi pushed himself off the counter and swung around, glancing backward at Allen to see if he was following. Allen, balancing five sandwiches in his arms, looked back forlornly at the kitchen. He supposed what he had was enough for a midnight snack, though Lavi will pay if he was hungry again later on. He followed after Lavi's retreating back.

"Now, where was I?" Lavi said, cheerfully. He attempted to snag a sandwich out of Allen's horde. Allen smacked him none too gently on his arm.

"Ouch. Right. You'll eat me if I eat your food, I remember now."

He blushed hotly at the reminder of their last mission where, in a fit of hunger and exasperation, he had threatened to eat Lavi in the middle of the freaking desert. Why the hell there was an Innocence there Allen will never know, but apparently Lavi was determined not to let him live that down.

"Will you stop mentioning that?" He muttered, hiding his face in the crinkling paper.

Lavi grinned. "Why, if I remember correctly, you said 'Lavi, you're looking mighty delicious right now. Let me eat you' and then you were chasing after me and Link did not even try to help me. Heartless." He sniffled.

"Oh dear lord, you won't shut up about that, will you?"

"Nope!" Lavi affirmed. "Now, where was I…" He tapped a finger on his chin. Allen snorted at his pretence of forgetfulness and continued eating.

"Oh, right. Now, Allen, listen up. Did you know that Druids would cut mistletoe down with a golden sickle for prosperity? Bet you didn't know that."

"Like I said" – Allen swallowed down the last of his third sandwich – "you know I don't know any of this, you nerd."

"Old man~"

"Idiot rabbit."

"Beansprout~"

"Sexually deprived pervert."

Lavi's eyebrows shot nearly under his bandana and he grinned, slowly; a grin which made Allen entirely too uncomfortable. Allen shifted a little.

"Ohh? Why then, did you know, mistletoe used to symbolize fertility and has long been regarded as an aphrodisiac? It comes from a Norse myth, really." His voice lowered and deepened toward the end of it, as if imparting a precious secret. To make himself more comfortable, he swung his arm back down and slung it around Allen's neck, forcing his face into the boy's direct line of vision.

Determined not to back down, Allen met Lavi's gaze squarely. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. See, there was this guy, Baldur, and his overprotective mum, Frigga. Frigging paranoid is what I'd say, but nevermind." Lavi waved his free hand dismissively, almost smacking Allen in the face. Allen glared.

"So anyway, her son is weak and stuff like that so she makes every animal and plant promise not to hurt him but, lo and behold, she forgot our little mistletoe. So this prankster god Loki makes another gullible god shoot an arrow tipped with mistletoe at weakling boy, and…"

Lavi leaned his face closer, grinning slightly manically this time. Allen chuckled and pushed his face away. "And what?"

"You're no fun, Allen. Play along with me!" Lavi whined.

Allen rolled his eyes. "Aaaaaaaand?" He said in a voice that he thought matched Lavi's maturity level.

Lavi nodded, satisfied. "And so, little Allen…it kills him!" He said, eye widening dramatically.

"Oh no," Allen said. He looked mournfully at his last bite of sandwich.

"You're not moved at all, heartless fiend! Let's move on anyway, it gets boring from here. So he's eventually revived by his mum. And so the mum, for some reason, declares that mistletoe should be for looooove and not for death and now when any two people pass under a mistletoe, well," Lavi waggled his eyebrows, "they kiss. To celebrate this Baldur guy."

Lavi bounded off to stand in front of Allen and bowed deeply, raising his hands to an invisible audience. Allen laughed, patting his head like he would a dog.

"Do you tell this to every girl you meet under the mistletoe? To get them interested? You suck at flirting, Lavi."

"Aww, Allen!" Lavi raised himself up and pouted, looking imploringly at the boy. "I was telling this to educate you, man, for your education!" Allen hummed and walked ahead, ignoring Lavi's whines.

"But it doesn't help. Unless you're suggesting that this will help me somehow in the romance department."

He had lowered his voice and slowed his pace as he approached his room. Fun as this was, and regretful that the walk was so short, Allen didn't actually want to risk the chance of waking Link. Lavi, however, had stopped in the middle of the hallway where Allen had left him.

"Lavi?" Allen looked back, curious. Lavi's eye and face was unreadable, his gaze fixed on Allen. "What is it?"

"Hey, sprout – "

Allen glared at him.

"Okay, Allen, not-a-sprout, come here."

Huffing, but obligingly, Allen stepped over, still glaring at Lavi a little. "More stories about mistletoe?"

"No, not really," Lavi said softly, his eye gleaming in the candlelight of the hallway. "A little closer, Allen."

"Now, really," Allen chuckled nervously as the one extra step brought him back within breathing space of Lavi. "You're weird, Lavi."

Lavi smiled. "Perhaps I am. You know why I know all this, Allen?"

Allen blinked. Thinking about it for a while, there was indeed an obvious answer. "You learnt all these from your Apprenticeship, yes?"

"Yeah." Lavi grinned and looked up. "But like you said, this won't help me at all in real life, yeah?"

"Wha – " When Allen looked up as well, his jaw dropped. He brought his head down to glare at the unrepentant redhead. "You tricked me."

"Sure did."

"There's a bunch of mistletoe up there," he said, voice very controlled.

"Sure there is," Lavi said quietly, still grinning. "And did you know, two people who meet under the mistletoe cannot refuse to kiss?"

"We're both guys," Allen said, enunciating each word carefully, panicking a little on the inside. Lavi was too close, he really should step back, custom be damned.

"Still doesn't break tradition," Lavi said.

And then he swooped down to press his lips against Allen's.

It lasted but a second before Allen's mind, recovering from the shock, woke up and screamed that he was kissing a guy, his best friend in the Order, and said redhead wasn't pulling away.

And also that he wasn't pulling away.

It felt like minutes before Allen stumbled back in shock, eyes widening. Lavi remained standing there in the circle cast by the weak candlelight, his smile somehow quiet and his face again unreadable.

"Lavi?" Allen breathed. "What – "

Lavi raised his hand and Allen fell quiet, unsure what his question was in the first place anyway. What was that? A kiss, of course, but…maybe 'why did you do that?' would be a better thing to ask, or what he meant, or…

Allen pressed his lips together and swallowed, waiting for Lavi to speak.

"Last thing," Lavi said quietly, smiling. "Did you know that a kiss under the mistletoe could mean a deep romance – "

Allen breathed in shakily, his heart still beating a little wildly from the unexpected encounter.

" – or it could mean a lasting friendship and goodwill?"

Lavi was utterly still after that. He had dropped his hand and his eye was fixed on Allen's own, studying him. He shivered a little under that gaze.

Was that a question? Lavi…wanted him to answer that, to choose one of the two? What did Lavi mean, by that?

He wished, more than ever, that he didn't venture from his room in the search of a midnight snack and that he had just slept until morning, when everything would have seemed perfectly reasonable under the morning light and this wouldn't have been allowed to happen under Link's watchful eyes and they would just have had a normal, friendly breakfast together and –

"I guess it's the latter, then."

Allen jerked his head up when he heard that. Subconsciously, he had at some point lowered his head, his arms having moved automatically to wrap around himself. He had looked up in time to see Lavi smile. Lavi's eye brightened, shining a little with the flickering fire.

"Good night then, Allen."

He turned and stepped down the dark corridor, not turning to look back even once, his pace steady and even.

In the flickering light circle thrown out by the candles, Allen stood there, the parasitic, poisonous plant shrouded in shadow.