Lessons (Marian Cross/OC)

Here's a nice lighthearted D.Gray-Man oneshot featuring General Marian Cross.  A friend of mine adores him, so this is for her.

"General."

"What is it, sweetheart?" came the lilting, faintly slurred reply. Evelina Cavallo swirled the wine in her glass, fidgeting beneath the weight of the arm resting all-too-comfortably around her shoulders.

"I understand that because I am training with you, we will be spending a lot of time together," she began carefully, "but is it really necessary for me to go drinking with you?"

The red-haired man grinned as he downed another shot of don perignon. Clinking the ice in the glass, General Marian Cross turned to face her with the side of his face that wasn't covered by a mask, his breath thick with the odor of alcohol.

"It's more fun drinking with a woman next to me," he explained bluntly, nuzzling her dark hair. "And a lovely Italian lady at that. You're a rare find, Evelina."

Her name was light and cadenced on his tongue; the four syllables dropped like the rich notes of a saxophone and slid seductively around the shell of her ear. Evelina brushed off a chill and cleared her throat, leaning forward on the table to let his arm slip from her shoulders and still swirling her untouched wine. Undeterred, Cross let his arm slide down to curl around her waist and leaned forward as well so that their faces were level. His chin rested on his hand, his eyes on her face. Hers were in her glass. There was a long pause before Evelina spoke up again, abruptly and with obvious discomfort.

"General, I really don't think you're supposed to be doing this."

"Why not? You're twenty-two."

"I'm an apprentice. You're a general. Could you act at least a little more professional?"

"I'm not professional enough for you?" Cross sounded doubtful and a little amused.

"Yes, because every general goes around chasing every woman that catches his eye," Evelina scoffed, shaking her head. "Could you at least teach me something before you start hitting on me?”

Lighting a cigarette, Cross took a long drag and exhaled a lungful of smoke. “Oh really. Just what do you want me to teach you?”

Evelina groaned, abandoning her wine glass on the table. “Isn’t it your job to figure that out? I don’t care, just do something that doesn’t involve drinking or smoking or flirting with everything that moves.”

“I’m not that bad,” Cross protested good-humoredly, still grinning to himself. “You’re awfully feisty. Shouldn’t you be more respectful towards a general?”

“You don’t act like a general,” Evelina retorted, and Cross laughed.

“All right, all right. Here, come a little closer. I’m going to teach you something,” he added, seeing the skeptical look she sent him. Reluctantly, Evelina leaned a little closer as the general took his cigarette out of his mouth and fiddled with it, placing his arm back around her shoulders.

“When in battle,” he began, watching the cigarette as he turned it between his fingers, “you have to be aware of your surroundings. You never know,” he took a drag, “when visibility will be compromised.”

A breath of white smoke clouded her vision, making her eyes burn. Evelina suppressed a cough as Cross continued talking.

“It’s often then that the enemy…”

Evelina gasped as her chin was suddenly tilted up towards a smirking face.

“…will decide to attack.”

Evelina started to swear, but she was cut off a mouth pressed to her own and a tongue slipped between her parted lips. Trying to pull back, she found herself being pulled into his lap and wrapped in a pair of strong arms, and as one of his hands tangled in her hair, her arms wandered their way around his neck and pulled her closer to his body. When their lips parted, Cross’s face crept down to the crook of her neck and then pulled back from a pinking mark.

“Was that professional enough?” he grinned smugly. Evelina blushed.

“Some teacher you are,” she grumbled, fidgeting in his lap. A husky chortle slipped to her ear.

“It sounds like another lesson is in order.”