Well... this is sort of pre-slash stuff. I've never written anything from Lavi's POV before, so I'm still getting a feel for him *sigh*

Anyway... I'm a fan of Lucky as well... well... I'm not usually too picky about pairings anyway lol

Warning: not much except the possibility of slash later on and a bit of semi-unwanted flirting

Disclaimer: Lavi, Tyki and everyone else from D. Gray-man belong to Katsura Hoshino, not to me *pout*

Glaring up at his current companion, Lavi crossed his arms and leaved back against the brick wall behind him in a seemingly relaxed pose. Someone familiar with battle would have seen the way he rocked on the balls of his feet, though, prepared to spring at the slightest hint of a threat. Not, of course, that he was going to let the man leaning against the opposite wall of the scummy alleyway know that.

Tyki Mikk… Lavi should have hated this man, of course, being an exorcist, but truthfully he didn't really care one way or the other. He was only on the side of the exorcists as long as they offered him a better deal than the Noah, which wasn't hard to do, considering the ultimate goal of these freaks was to annihilate everything.

Large golden eyes watched him from beneath the sultry half-hooded lids which were lined with thick eyelashes. Lavi guessed that this was part of the allure this man held for the ladies. It worked on men, too.

He didn't trust Tyki… not one bit. The Noah was entirely unpredictable, and as long as Lavi carried Innocence, they were enemies, whether Lavi allied himself with the Black Order or not.

"What do you want?" he asked sharply, tilting his head to one side to examine the unchanging, seductive expression on the other man's face. Just a look at it would have been enough to partially seduce most women, but Lavi was put off at the sheer malicious pleasure which glowed in the golden irises of the Noah's eyes. Tyki could pretend all he wanted, but the darkness lurking beneath the surface was far more powerful than the light of this man's human soul. The heinous crimes he had committed on the orders of the Millennium Earl should have been proof enough of that.

Since when should that sway you? Because he attacked Allen? You're a Bookman; you don't have friends or enemies, merely allies.

Tyki pushed himself gracefully away from the wall, stalking towards Lavi in a way which might have made a lesser person faint or tremble. Lavi did neither, instead standing and staring his opponent down, waiting for the move that meant he could try and crush this man once more beneath his hammer.

It didn't come.

"You're so tense, my little rabbit," the Noah purred, leaning close to him—too close for Lavi's comfort. "That is what that annoyingly persistent exorcist called you, is it not?"

"Yuu-chan?" he asked before he could stop himself. "Ah… he calls everyone mean names so he can pretend he doesn't care about them."

"You really believe he cares about you when we both know that you don't care back, Bookman Jr.?" Tyki grinned widely, and the very essence of his smile sent shudders running down Lavi's spine. "Because the fact that you name him a pet-name suggests otherwise, doesn't it, little rabbit?"

Lavi scowled. "I'm not a rabbit, and I don't care about Yuu or any of the other exorcists. Bookmen do not care for anyone or anything except the unbiased recording of history." It was a rule which had been the foundation of his training. Never before had he been so furiously challenged or so close to failure as he was during his time with the Black Order, as he still was.

They are not your friends, and Tyki is not your enemy.

But wasn't he? Wouldn't the Noah kill him, if it came down to it? Would the man not destroy him because he carried Innocence, a substance that the Noah viewed as most heinous and disgusting? So then he was Lavi's enemy…

That's biased. Bias was not allowed.

Yet he couldn't help but remember how horrible it felt to watch this man try to kill his friends, to think about Allen dying, or to think about Yuu or Lenalee dying… or Gramps dying. He shouldn't have cared.

But he did.

Gramps would smack me something good if he ever knew what I was thinking just now, he admitted silently to himself. It's shameful for a Bookman, but…

"I think that you do care about them," Tyki replied, leaning ever closer, planting his hands on either side of Lavi's head, the palms digging into the craggy, rough brick wall behind him. He was far too close to the Noah's face, close enough to feel the hot breath on his skin and smell the distinct cigarettes which the Noah habitually smoked. "Why else would you become so defensive… so protective of them. Or have you forgotten what took place in Edo… on the Ark?"

No, Lavi had not forgotten… how could he forget?

"I don't," he insisted sharply, unwilling to admit that he might have lost the silent battle raging within himself, between the exorcist whose friends were facing down the end of the world alone, and between the Bookman—raised to be unfeeling and cold—who wanted nothing more than to record history and its victors without choosing a side, right or wrong. Of course, being an exorcist certainly made that second part difficult, but…

The Noah leaned closer, his proximity making Lavi flush helplessly. He hated the man for making him feel this way, though it was mere carnal lust. He shouldn't have been lusting after anyone, not seriously. Such relationships let to attachment, which was forbidden by the Bookman Clan.

"It is truly a shame," Tyki stated softly, his grin unwavering as one of his hands moved to trace up Lavi's slightly pink cheek towards the patch that covered his right eye. "Being a Bookman drains all the humanity out of you just as surely as does my Noah."

Lavi needed to halt this before it went too far. I can't let him get any closer. "I'm still an exorcist, despite being a Bookman. You hate exorcists."

Rich peals of laughter assaulted his ears. "My dear rabbit, you are so very naïve if you think that such an inconsequential detail as Innocence would keep me from what I want…" Lavi felt his eyes begin to flutter shut as surprisingly soft lips made contact with his cheek, burning his skin right down to the bone. "You know what I want…"

"And I already told you," he snarled, shoving the Noah away, too occupied to be surprised at actually being able to touch the man's solid form for once, "I'm an exorcist. I'm your enemy, and I don't trust you. You wouldn't hesitate to murder me in my sleep."

"And you would hesitate to do the same," Tyki shot back cynically. "And by your own admittance, you are a Bookman, a supposedly unbiased observer of history. You don't have enemies. If your foolish mentor hadn't allied you with the Black Order, it wouldn't have been necessary to attempt to kill you at all." The Noah licked a trail downwards to the corner of his mouth, so close that Lavi could see the specks of dark brown and green in the gold of his eyes. "If you wanted to, you could join us instead."

Lavi was not at all tempted.

He is the enemy.

But that wasn't good enough. Lavi shook his head. Tyki was the enemy of the exorcists and the Black Order, not of the Bookman Clan. Why should Lavi let such a detail stop him from having what he wanted?

Because he wanted Tyki just as badly.

"I am part of the Black Order until my mentor decides it's time to move on," he finally said, looking away from the man's heavy, penetrating gaze. "You ought to kill me now, Noah, because I'm not going to hesitate to crush you later."

"Foolish…" The man gave his cheek one last caress before pulling away. "But if you want to deny yourself Pleasure, then so be it, Lavi."

The redhead watched in bemusement as the Noah pulled away from him, leaving him shivering against the cold wall as he set out on his way with but a nonchalant wave to the exorcist to mark his passing. It left Lavi feeling slightly… empty and strange… and unlike a Bookman. Angrily, he slumped against the wall and raised to hands to his face, covering his eyes, even though he couldn't even see out of one of them.

He's the enemy! What's wrong with you?

The problem was—Lavi silently mourned—that he wasn't quite sure if Tyki was an enemy at all. And some part of him which he kept locked in the back of his head and hidden away from all sight or sound wanted Tyki Mikk and would do anything to have him.

You're a Bookman; you have no enemies or friends. You have no attachments of any kind...

Any kind...

But he resisted the urge to follow the Noah by the sheer force of will.

This time, anyway.

Poor Bookman Jr... I love how he's not allowed. It makes it so much fun to think of possible ways to make him break all the rules, doesn't it?

Review if you wish to