(Omg I spent like two weeks just trying to perfect this because I've wanted to do the dinner table scene for so long, I just never got around to it and didn't think I could ever do it good enough. *^* I feel like this scene is like the beginning of the author showing Allen's affection for Tyki, although it was clear Tyki respected/liked him at LEAST by the time they met again during the Suman arc. c; Sorry that this is such a lengthy chapter, by the way! It was a pretty long scene! I hope that this was good enough, too. I've got more oneshots from this arc coming soon, including Laven, which tbh I don't even think I've done, before. I always plan to but then get all excited about Poker Pair. xD
Anyway, this is the second part of a multiple-part oneshot-series. This mini series of mine will be just me going over the ark arc and "exposing" Tyki and Allen's hidden thoughts and intentions, as well as everyone else's opinions on this and that and how I wished things would have gone, during this arc/how I felt they might have talked/acted "off camera". :3
This one takes place during that "dinner party" that Road and Tyki planned just before their fight to leave the ark. It almost seems like the author was implying that they have more than just a friendship, the way Tyki and Road were talking, haha! I can't help but ship it!)
Tyki's POV
Tyki sat in that room of books, flipping Allen's button in his hand repeatedly in order to entertain himself while he waited for the exorcists. "I really hope he gets here", Road groaned. "It would sure be disappointing if he were to die by Jasdevi and all of this would've been for nothing."
The noah of pleasure ignored his niece, staring at the button as he continuously flipped it in his hand like it was a coin. He agreed with her entirely and had come to realize that he actually enjoyed his fights with the boy. He and Road both could agree that he was their favourite exorcist and, more than that, they always looked forward to meeting with Allen. Whether they looked forward to fighting with him, killing him, or simply meeting with and talking with him was a total mystery to them both. Tyki, on the other hand, had feelings that went deeper than that and he knew it.
The only thing that Tyki could say for certain was that, the more they fought, the more the noah began rooting for Allen. He almost wanted him to win, just so they could fight another day. Of course, he thought, a malicious grin forming on his face as he stopped flipping the button and squeezed it in the palm of his hand. That means that I'm only fighting for my life. I can't let him kill me, after all. "What do you say, boy", he said aloud, drawing Road's attention. "Are you ready to fight me to the death?"
Tyki's POV
The noah sat at the end of the table of food, smoking a cigarette and waiting anxiously for the boy to walk through the doors. Road ran around the room with excitement, clearly just as anxious as him. Finally we're able to sit down and have a conversation. It's been awhile, Shounen~. He grinned at his own thoughts before dropping his lips into a surprised frown when he heard the doors to the room flying opened. As he looked up, he widened his eyes, watching Road run up to the boy and scream his name before planting a jealousy-inducing kiss on his unsuspecting lips.
"Do you really like him that much", Mikk asked, though his jealousy was hidden behind his shock and confusion at the eldest noah's childishness. "That's the first time I've seen you kiss anyone other than the Millennium Earl. And why did that first person have to be Allen? I'm jealous." He pouted at the girl before reaching for his silverware to eat away his disappointment and stuff his face before he could say anything more.
"I won't give you one, Tyki~", she giggled, skipping her away back to the noah of pleasure.
"You aren't the one I wanted one from", he mumbled under his breath, shoving a piece of steak toward his mouth. Just before it entered entirely, he paused. He spoke calmly in the hopes that he might convey his genuine wish to eat and not fight, at the moment, directing his next comment at the boy. "While I was waiting for you, I got hungry. How about dining together?" Because of how affectionately he spoke to the boy, though, he added, "I wanted to talk to you before the fighting" before placing the steak in his mouth and chewing carefully.
"I'll have to refuse", Allen monotonously responded, much to Tyki's dismay. "I take my time to eat, when I have it."
He sighed a small smile onto his face. I guess that makes up for it - I'll just pretend that was his only reason. "Oh, time? Don't you want to know how much time you have left?"
They rushed over to the window, obviously distressed at the sight of the disappeared town. Road slammed the doors shut and chained them so the exorcists couldn't escape. "Sit down", she commanded them.
"Take a seat, exorcist", he echoed, lifting his drink to his lips and being sure to make it obvious he was only talking to the boy, not the other three who had so rudely barged in on their "date".
When he received no response, he paused and teased with a smirk, "Or are you scared?"
Just as he planned, Allen marched over to the table and slammed his hand onto the table, glaring over at the noah with that look of his he'd always loved. That look which was fearless and fierce, challenging Tyki to do his worst unlike anyone before him.
"It looks like we can finally take our time to talk, boy", he said. Allen's glare seemed to deepen to one that almost convicted the noah, like he'd just wronged a good friend of his. Of course, we're not good friends, are we? He sighed semi-loudly, slouching in his seat as though it was the Earl who'd just scolded him, and spoke with absolute ease, no longer hiding his affection, though he merely hinted at it in order to prevent Road from gaining suspicion. "Don't make that face, boy. I haven't set any traps. Didn't I say that there'd be no cheating?"
"On this tower's top floor, my door is prepared properly and everything", Road said, smiling flirtatiously at the white-haired one.
"It would be pleasing if it lead outside properly, as well", he responded, sounding even more relaxed and kind than before. She giggled in response, apparently happy that he was speaking to her so pleasantly. Jealousy pricked at Tyki's heart, watching the two.
Allen's POV
"What was it that you wanted to discuss, Lord Tyki Mikk", he said without emotion. "Or is it Mr. 'Sticky-Fingered and Immoral Orphan and Tramp'?" The insulting nickname was meant to be somewhat of a joke while still being a genuine jab at the one he'd once seen as a friend and now was sure he'd have to fight to the death. But he didn't want to kill him. He didn't want Tyki Mikk to die.
"Don't be so cold, boy", the noah said, leaning on the table and smiling that adorably relaxed smile that he both loved and hated. "An exorcist made a noah strip down to his underwear. Was that the first time you did it? Do you think it was destiny for it to be us?"
He knew the noah was obviously flirting with him in his own weird way and he would have normally responded with the same attitude, but he was angry at the idea that the man was a noah who had not only nearly destroyed his innocence, but he'd been out to kill his friends. And that's what mattered the most to him. This noah was trying to take away his family and he wasn't in the mood for pleasant conversation. "Not really", he responded confidently, intending to push the noah away with his words. "There are a lot of people that I've made strip down to their underwear in cards."
Tyki's POV
The noah was stricken by the boy's words and he hesitated before responding with feigned arrogance, "Ohh! What a dark thing to say!" He lowered his head and smirked down at the ground, speaking as though his words were meant to be a joke, though he somewhat meant them. "I'm jealous, boy. Why are you so mean to me and not Road, huh?"
Dodging the question, Allen held up his left arm and asked, "Is it about this innocence?"
He slouched against his chair and huffed out his pent-up excitement, smirking through the laughter which threatened to break through. "The truth is, I was pretty shocked. I'm sure that I broke it down."
The boy mirrored his expression as he politely asked, "But you couldn't break it down, right? After all, it's right here."
They stared at each other as the rest of the room stared at them. "Oh? Have you gotten interested in the innocence now, Tyki?"
"Just a little bit", he mumbled, leaning forward and holding his chin, now wondering how many steps it would take for him to remove that pesky innocence from the boy and free him from his so-called God, making it possible for him to stand by his side along with the noah family. "So anyway, boy, is it because of that left arm that you're alive, even though the tease ate through your heart?"
The exorcists freaked out, yelling at the boy because he'd apparently not told them about this. The worry they showed irritated Tyki more than anything and it only made things worse that Road had been hugging him this entire time. It was as though she had taken a similar interest in the boy to Tyki. But he's mine, the noah of pleasure thought, lighting another cigarette, his expression darkening as he spoke. "Road, isn't it about time you let go of the boy?"
She hugged him tightly, screaming, "Eh?! But I love him!"
Mikk was thankful to see a disturbed look on the boy's face. "Nothing's going to come out of a love between an exorcist and a noah - don't climb onto him." Although his words were true and he knew they were, he didn't intend to suppress his own feelings for the boy. If he's no longer an exorcist, it won't be a problem for the noah to be with him, right? But, of course, I don't intend to let you have him, Road.
He stood from his chair, speaking as he did so and placing a hand on his hip as the other hand held his cigarette to his mouth. "You know the Lord Millennium's scenario of demise? Half of me's taking part of it just to have fun - as expected, you gotta be evil to have fun. Yeah... thanks to you, boy, I'm a little self-conscious, now." He looked away from the boy as he continued speaking, the weight of his situation now holding his heart heavy at the idea that his options are either to save or kill Allen. His words were a mumble and more so meant only for him to hear, since they were for the Earl and not the boy. "Extermination? I see that you're going to seriously try and do it."
He allowed one of his tease to flutter over toward that Lenalee girl - the one the boy always seemed so fond of. Should I start with killing his friends or taking his innocence, hm? The boy jumped onto the table faster than lightening, so fast that no one - not even his friends - had noticed him until his claw nailed the tease to the chair behind the female exorcist's head. Allen's expression darkened with absolute rage that only increased Mikk's jealousy until his heart ironically lifted with hope at the boy's following words. "Tyki Mikk, I have something to say, as well. If you lay a hand on my comrades any more than this... I may end up killing you."
Although his words were meant to be a threat, the idea that the boy had also wanted them to get out of this together gave him hope and joy that they could be together, if things worked out as planned. Yes... I must free you from that wretched innocence.
As the white-haired exorcist ran toward him, he soothed, "I don't hate you, boy, but..." He pulled out a horde of tease and let them flutter around them, pulling out his dark matter to shield him once the exorcist reached him. As they collided, their fight initiating finally, he smirked at the boy, happy to finally get on with the show and begin his own plans. "Let's have the last dance, Shounen."