So long. Sorry this late. Love readers. Reviews good. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own D.Gray-man. If I did… the episodes would be movies.

WARNING: YAOI! Man-on-younger man. Shounen-ai! Gay men! You HAVE BEEN WARNED!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Thousand Plans Aside

Lloyd smiled at his sparkling new kitchen, glad that he had put the money to good use, or so it seemed. The wall had been fixed for nearly two weeks and the oven had been back for almost one and yet he couldn't bring himself to get used to it. Besides, everything was clean. Things were never more than just-clean-enough for use in Lloyd's house, but this was really, really, clean.

He had gotten up this late at night to grab a bite to eat and he was immediately distracted by how clean it was.

The Sow Side Log only needed three more things for it to be absolutely what he had always dreamed of. One thing in need was more rooms, because three just didn't cut it. Second it needed a new sign – The Sow Side Log was not a place that got many travelers, and The Snow Side Lodge was no longer taken after that unfortunate ordeal. But there was one more thing, the one thing he wasn't expecting to have for the longest time, if ever again.

Sable and Uri were lost to him, that he knew, but he hoped to have a family again someday.

She would be off fighting demons, coming by whenever things got bad in Sweden, but Uri he didn't know. For all he knew, the middle child was dead and buried. The thought made him sad even with the new kitchen before him.

A hollow knock sounded at the door. That wasn't out of the ordinary. Now, as small as it was, Lloyd's little inn filled last of all the inns in town, which meant late night visitors and early morning demands for service, both of which he provided for a spectacular fee. It worked though, because he had to keep things going even if it meant charging rich men an arm and a leg to sleep in beds they did not think fit for dogs.

When he pulled the door open he was very thankful to have left his boots on, the air was absolutely freezing. The figure that stood before him was swallowed in the shadows, his hat pulled low, his jacket done up, both glistening with frozen rain. The stranger shook his head back and forth as Lloyd opened the door wider, knocking ice across the entrance mat.

"Nice to see you this evening…night… thing!" He chimed, waving his arm as if to invite him in. "You don't have to knock at the door of The Sow Side Log, just come right in." He was giving one of his merry smiles, the kind that made his already thin face look thinner.

"Lloyd," The voice from under the hat made his breath catch in his throat; as did the presence of a sudden, strong hand at the collar of his shirt. Even if it was gloved he knew that hand, as he had known the voice. And now, blinking at the pair of deep emerald eyes that studied him, he felt himself go suddenly paler than usual.

The name on his lips hovered there for a moment before it escaped softly into the night. "Uri?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lavi felt himself dozing in the warmth of the fire and did not fight the feeling. Sleep would be a sweet release from everything that had happened and the tumult of chaos that his mind had become. He didn't usually think while sleeping, though he figured if he were going to start now would be the time. He knew who would be in his dreams, and it did not bother him.

"Are you sleeping?" The question brought his eye open and forced him to gasp in a small breath of air. He blinked at the desk chair for a moment, which was straight ahead and slightly to his left, before he comprehended that there was a man sitting in it. The room was set up so that even if he had not been tired it still would have taken a moment to see in the dimness. The bed was at one wall, the dresser opposite its foot, a desk next to the dresser and a single plush chair turned slightly sideways before the fire. Walking in it looked cozy, but sitting there it felt chaotic.

"Almost," He answered quietly. What were the odds that the object of his thoughts would come waltzing in the door and into his room? Zero. Or at least less likely than having him slink surreptitiously through a wall to take up residence in a chair beside him. Lavi wasn't sure how to feel about this new development – hopeful, afraid, happy, worried – so he settled for trying to feel indifferent, which did not work when the Noah's eyes met his. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

His heart felt like thunder on his ribcage.

Tyki smiled at him from the corner of his mouth, it was a lopsided expression that might have been friendly and might have been dangerous, though which it was Lavi could not say. He wouldn't ask. He wouldn't fight. He would take things as they came.

"Neither did I, honestly," Tyki told him without moving. "Do you know why I am here, Lavi-san?"

The apprentice Bookman nodded. "You want me to surrender."

The Noah's smile did not fade as he pushed himself out of his chair and closed the space between them, his boots completely silent on the floor. When he was standing in front of the younger man he reached out gently to touch the place he had hit him, Lavi twitched only slightly under his fingers. "I don't want you to surrender, Lavi-san," He said softly, leaning forward so that he could look into that blazing, gem-like eye. Lavi was as stiff as a board under his gaze. "I want you to beg me to let you surrender."

Lavi laughed a little, deciding at last that it was alright to feel happy about his night visitor. Even if only a little. "You're going to have to do more than hit me to do that." He reached up and took hold of the fingers that lay softly on the edge of his face and pulled them down over his heart, unaware that doing so forced Tyki to lean yet closer to him. "I'm still living, Ty-chan, and why that is the case I will not give you my Innocence."

Tyki grinned wider at the unintended pun. "Try to remember that courage for when I make you break your vow."

"Try to remember that determination when I make you stop trying."

Without further warning Tyki kissed him. Lavi was expecting a ravishing touch, something violent like before, but the contact was soft, almost gentle, almost as if the older man were trying to make him enjoy it. He let his lips part and leaned into the hand that moved from his chest to his shoulder, his own fingers crawling across the Noah's sleeve until the found the crook of his arm to hold on to. Tyki leaned into him when he pulled him closer; his knees fell to the ground without him thinking about it as his left hand cupped the side of Lavi's face as he kissed his lips, his jaw, then slowly down his neck.

Lavi heard himself let out a half moan. I've wanted this too, He thought as his right hand lifted the hat from Tyki's head and let if fall to the ground. Even without the ropes.

As if reading his mind the older man stopped his exploration of his throat and looked at him, nearly breathless. This was the last nice thing he was going to do for the Exorcist before he went through with his plan. That was part of the plan's beauty. First there was this, and then afterward if he was stopped from leaving the way he wanted, he would crush the boy with his own hands.

"I didn't bring anything to tie you up with." He said huskily. He watched Lavi's face grow bright at that, even as his heart sank into the pit of his stomach. How could this apprentice Bookman be so light if his mind had been reeling the same as Tyki's?

Lavi let his wicked grin creep across his face as his hands came to Tyki's shoulders. "I have something… if you really want to do it that way…"

Tyki just blinked at him. Did he actually say that? "Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Well, it kind of makes it difficult to tie you up if all I have is a necktie. Where do you keep it?"

"In my suitcase, the outside zipper." His voice was sure and his hands were not shaking, his grip loosened until Tyki could pull away unhindered. "It's softer than that horrible stuff you used last time."

Tyki let out a short laugh as he pulled away, spotting the suitcase next to the dresser. "Do you make a habit of carrying such things with you?" He asked as he pulled the bag to him without standing, began to rifle through the outside pockets.

"I only brought it because I figured you'd show up again." Lavi said without losing a beat. "So… I guess I do."

"Heh," Tyki's hand found what it was questing for. He took the silky cord between his fingers and pulled it out of it place in the bag, an eyebrow raised in curiosity at the texture and the design on it. He had could not envision the boy before him purchasing such a thing with a straight face, nor could see him getting the bunny-printed version of his own volition. It seemed out of character. "This is interesting."

Lavi found that he was still smiling, even though his heart had gone from happy to near apprehensive. "It was a gift. I never would have thought to get it myself."

Honesty.

"That aside, Lavi-san," Tyki said as he ran the rope through his fingers, gave it a few strong tugs with his hands. It wouldn't snap, that was for sure. "Shall we start?"

The words alone made the heat rise in the younger man's chest. He did not trust his voice to speak so he simply nodded, and, thinking that it might help things along, offered his wrists to Tyki. The Noah gave him a sad, amused smile and shook his head, coming back to once again touch the bandage on the side of Lavi's face. The boy's expression was confused to say the least, and his hands had taken to shaking now that he did not know what to expect; just that tiny show of weakness made Tyki smile from the corner of his mouth.

He kissed his smaller companion gently as he bound his right wrist with the rope, careful to increase the intensity of the kiss has he increased the tightness of the bond. When Lavi was kissing back with equal ferocity he pulled experimentally, and the jerking motion made the apprentice fall into him, a small exclamation on his lips. That was good, because it meant he could go about this the way he wanted, and once he got started, Lavi would have no say in it than he had previously.

"We are changing chairs." He said flatly.

"What?" Lavi could hardly think properly. First the kiss, and then the other kiss, and now a leash on his wrist – there was just too much going on for his disconnected mind to absorb it all. And it didn't help that his skin wasn't talking to him properly.

"I cannot properly tie you to this one." Tyki explained as if it were a given.

Lavi snickered up at him, trying to hold himself off of his chest but finding it rather difficult with his right wrist being held behind Tyki's back. "Then… can you help me get over there? Whatever you did to my head hasn't worn off yet." He tried to smile at the almost worried look Tyki gave him. "It's not that bad though, mostly just makes it hard to balance."

Tyki hooked an arm around Lavi's waist as he stood, felt the boy sway against him. He had meant to leave that side effect but he wasn't going to say anything about it, confessing might lead to premature hatred, which would not be the strong emotion that he wanted. He did not want strong dislike, or mild aversion, he wanted Lavi to want him dead. It was the only way to make the ifs go away.

"I will not be taking that into account." Tyki said quietly as he lowered him into the desk chair. The piece of furniture was perfect for what he wanted to use it for; the main frame was hard wood, and the back was slatted with three lesser posts held securely in place, and heavy seated to avoid tipping. He had thought to use it the moment he sat down on it – because a Bookman, a desk chair, and a length of rope were about as ironic as one could get without being laughable in his mind.

"I wouldn't expect you to." Lavi answered. He could feel himself starting to shiver all over, anticipation running through his veins like boiling water while his nerves sang with the mixed messages he was getting. The cold floor was not icy, it was fiery; the lips that pressed momentarily against his were not warm, they were brands against his flesh; the fingers twining through his hair were not human, they were electricity dancing on the edge of feeling. When the rope and his right wrist went through one of the slats behind him he didn't struggle, but the fingers left his hair to take hold of his left hand and force it through another whole beside the first, and that was mildly frightening. He began to worry most when Tyki's mouth abandoned his.

He slumped forward wordlessly as Tyki wound his wrists to each other, binding them until Tyki was confident his captive would not be escaping. With the extra length he secured Lavi's ankles to the legs of the chair, and silently he thanked whoever had purchased such an odd gift for him; the length was perfect for this, and he even had extra if Lavi's knees needed to be held later on – but for now that wasn't important. For now it would be enough that he could not stand up out of the chair without Tyki releasing him.

Lavi found that with his hands behind him he had to sit on the very front of the chair, and with his legs held in place he could not even straighten his spine entirely without feeling that he would tip the chair forward and onto his face. "What's the point of this?" He asked when Tyki came around to face him again. "Just want to kiss without me getting in the way?"

The older man laughed as he took a gentle hold of Lavi's headband and slid it off. "No, my dear Lavi-san," He said sinking slowly down until he was nearly sitting on Lavi's lap. "I have much more in mind than that."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as they got back to their room Allen had curled into a little ball on the bed and proceeded to fall asleep like a kitten in the covers. He didn't even bother to change his clothes. It made Kanda smile though, seeing him so peaceful in his bed, not even thinking of the irony of it all. When he had changed his own clothes he sat on the edge of the bed, watching the slow rise and fall of Allen's chest in the light of the single bedside lamp.

Allen's hair was getting long again; long enough to be in a ponytail whenever he was doing something that required him to lean down or forward. Kanda liked the ponytail. Somehow it made him look less childlike, more serious, even though that much hair was supposed make one look immature and joking. Without even thinking about it he reached out and brushed Allen's long white bangs out of his face, and smiled when his silver eyes fluttered open at the contact.

What would he do if something happened to those eyes or that hair? What would he do if something terrible happened to Allen? The more he looked the more he thought about it and the more his lover's recent nightmare came back to haunt him. Why would Allen dream something like that unless he was afraid of it too?

He should never have to be afraid of me. Not even when he sleeps.

"You shouldn't sleep in your clothes Myashi-kun," He said quietly, running his palm over his forehead again. "You'll wrinkle them."

Allen blinked at him a few times before his lips spread out in a very sleepy smile. "Then what should I wear, Love?"

Kanda grinned back at him and the light on his features made his eyes shine. "Che, how about nothing?" But even as he suggested it there was not a note of lust in his voice, only a twinge of caring.

"Turn off the light." Allen instructed. When Kanda did Allen reached up and took him by the hand, pulled him down onto the mattress and laid Kanda's arm over his chest. It was very similar to the first night Kanda had slept next to him with his bare arm on him, the Japanese man's face just inches from his ear, a dull pain coursing through part of his body. The difference was that this time he honestly did not mind the touch, nor did he care that Kanda was pulling him closer. He settled his head on the pillow as Kanda placed his by his shoulder.

Quietly, Allen giggled.

"What?" Kanda asked seriously. He had been perfectly content to just lean his head there and sleep like that, but his lover had to go and laugh in that innocent, cute way.

"For one, I'm still wearing clothes. And for another… it's just funny." He turned his head ever so slightly so he could look at the older man's sinfully blue eyes. Sometimes, when they were that close, he imagined that he might one day fall into them, but then Kanda would blink and the illusion would be broken. He felt that way now. "You're… cuddling with me."

"Che, bakayaro." He gave Allen the look he used when he called him stupid in his mind, and Allen blushed under his gaze. "This is not cuddling, it's attempted sleeping. Now, unless you're going to peel off your clothes to avoid wrinkling them, I suggest you shut your mouth and close your eyes." Without waiting for his lover to respond he snuggled his head down closer, lifted his knee just so that it was propped on Allen's leg, arranged so that he was absolutely comfortable. "Besides," He mumbled. "I'll wake up this way, so what's the point of not falling asleep like this?"

Allen laughed a little before placing a gentle kiss on Kanda's forehead and allowing himself a final sigh. "Yeah, I guess… if you wake up to find that you've been attempting sleep all night..."

"Moyashi-kun."

"Hm?"

"No more talking."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fabric in his mouth tasted terrible, but he wasn't about to try and chew through it. It was his headband. He would have to be nice to his headband if he ever wanted to wear it without someone seeing teeth wholes.

If he could wear it without thinking about Tyki, that was.

Tyki had knelt down gently on the floor between Lavi's knees, facing him, and the apprentice Bookman was surprised at how light he was when he leaned up into him. Lavi figured the weight was made easier to bear because of the placement of his feet and the way the older man held himself without swaying. He never would have thought it possible but he was more or less comfortable like that, even if he could do nothing about the hands spreading slowly across his bare chest.

The night I chose to sleep shirtless… He thought, unsure if he should feel good about that decision or to hate himself for it. He watched Tyki's almost yellow-brown eyes carefully as the Noah touched him, his expression serious. This was different than last time, Lavi could see, but he was once again unsure how to feel about that. The fingers on his skin were almost reverent; the lips – when they did touch him – were slow and tasteful, leaving no pain behind them but the slowly growing ache in Lavi's heart. He wanted Tyki to do what he had before, to be cruel. It would make things easier if it hurt to do this, if he had to fight to get what he wanted, it made finding the hate inside much easier than how it was now. Instead, with feather-light kisses running up his neck and a skilled hand tracing the side of his stomach like a breath of wind, he wanted to lean into the touch and give himself over to the enemy. Part of him wanted to just melt into his captor.

"What's wrong, Lavi-san?" He asked as the boy's head fell forward onto his shoulder, leaning sideways to draw his face across the fabric of Tyki's lapel. He took the boy by the shoulders and pushed him back slightly, drawing his eyes up to look at the expression on his face, the pain in his eyes. Tyki could not understand why Lavi looked him like that, as if he could not breathe if they parted, but he felt a little part inside of him twist at the expression, bend and threaten to break. "Are you not enjoying yourself?"

The boy just pushed himself forward again until his head was over Tyki's shoulder, their chests pressed together. If it's going to be like this, I'd rather have the power to touch you the same way.

Tyki breathed slowly in and out again, indecision making him do nothing but sit up on his knees, the Bookman falling into him. What was he supposed to do? Abandon the first half of his plan and jump to the second? He did not feel like it. Because even if his arms were slowly wrapping the younger man in an embrace, even if his heart was pounding in his chest because of it, even if part of him screamed that no goal of Millennium was as important as this one person, he knew that they were on different sides of a war.

A thousand black marks against me, He thought as he pulled Lavi closer. I can never kill him. But why? Is it because he wants me? Is it because he doesn't fight?

"If…" The word fell from his lips even before he could think to stop it. "You want me to untie you, Lavi-san; I will not keep you like this. I…am sorry." As he spoke Lavi leaned up again, looking at him with his eyebrows pushed together in a question. He was very, very confused about all of this. Tyki's right arm snaked its way out of the embrace so that his fingers could once again caress the place that he had hit. "I am sorry that I hurt you."

Baka, Lavi thought tilting his head toward the hand on his face. I've hurt me more than you ever could. He did not speak when the hand on his face removed the headband from his mouth, instead he kissed Tyki, willing all of the confusion he felt, and the heat, and the impossible hope into that one single action.

I'm not a Bookman anymore, if I ever was one. But…I honestly don't give a damn.

He was powerless and he knew it. This Exorcist, this enemy, had awakened in him some part of him that he did not know existed. He felt a tiny, flickering warmth in his heart, and its presence made him wonder if, maybe, perhaps, somehow…

No. It was a resounding word, spoken from the bottom of his soul. The sound of it made his hands stop their slow progress toward the ropes that still held Lavi in the chair. I am Noah's pleasures. It said darkly, pulling his hand back again and forcing him to straighten. Tyki did not want to straighten, nor did he want to leave those hands in a place that they could not work to stop him, but it happened regardless. For so long the Tyki Mikk he was inside and the Tyki Mikk that was Noah's pleasures had had an understanding, a balance between human and monster, that he had nearly forgotten that there was a monster. And now his blacker nature was fighting him, attempting to reestablish the natural order of things.

Lavi blinked at the older man, trying to understand the emotions that were sweeping across his face in waves, his eyes never blinking. For a moment he thought the Noah was pausing for thought, but he realized how wrong he was when a wicked grin split his face like a gaping wound, a harsh laugh escaped his wide mouth.

"Ty-chan?" He asked quietly. It did not take a Bookman to see that something had changed.

Without warning the Noah pushed him painfully back in the chair, his twisted smile blossoming across his face even farther, his left hand came forward with enough speed to knock the air from Lavi's lungs but the hand never hit; it passed through his flesh as easily as a fish in water. Lavi stared at the arm protruding from his abdomen, astonished that this was the same man who had just held him so closely. It did not make any sense unless…

They aren't the same person, He thought in amazement. This isn't the man I want touching me.

His eyes went wide with fear and the other man moved his hand until he seemed to like where it was, a sinister gleam in his dark eyes.

"You're not… Ty-chan…" He said softly.

Tyki laughed at him, curled his fingers around the place he had been looking for. What had he been thinking just a moment ago? Something about not killing him? About not causing Lavi pain? He could to recall. It all seemed unimportant now that he was feeling like himself again. "It was almost enough, Lavi-san. For a moment, you almost had me." Before his captive could respond he let his fingers gently prod the place within him, provoking a shuttering gasp from the boy. That one green eye had taken on a glint of fear that reminded him why he was here, what his plan had been, who he was.

The pleasures of Noah were not always kind. Tyki was not always kind.

"Ty-chan…" Lavi gasped as a finger flicked again, forcing an unwanted good feeling to sear through him. He knew what Tyki was touching he knew that in a few more twitches the Noah would have him begging for more. He had to say his thoughts before that happened. "Even if…ah!" His hands were straining at his bonds, his heart was slamming in his chest, and the calm that had filled him a moment before was lost. If the Noah wanted to, he could have pleasured him beyond the point of thinking clearly. "I don't… have you. You still have me."

"Heh," The Noah moved his hand again, amazed at the immediate response he got from his prey. Just a single finger could make him writhe like a snake in his bonds. "And what makes you think that I would want you, Lavi-san?"

He could not speak at first because Tyki would not stop hitting that place. He could not breathe. He heard his own voice ringing almost softly in his ears as he whimpered, his head thrown back over the chair, fingers clutching desperately around the wood that he could reach. When the hand pulled out of him he was left more than half bereft, his face falling forward until the pull of his arms stopped him. This hadn't been what he wanted nor did it seem that this was what Tyki had initially hoped for, but this was what he was getting. When Tyki's expression had changed something else had changed with it – and something told him it was the man's willingness to let him free.

The boy's red hair clung to the sides of his face in strands, his shoulders moved rapidly with his gasping breaths. It was perhaps one of the most gratifying things he had ever seen.

"And, Ty-chan," Lavi said after a moment of catching his breath. Slowly he lifted his sagging head until he could look at the man between his knees and focus on that sadistic smile. "I would have hit me too, in your position." He watched the gaze of the man before him falter for a moment as he continued speaking. "So, if it makes you happy to do that, feel free to hit me again."

He blinked a few more times before he swallowed hard. Then, because it was the only way to be sure Lavi said nothing to distract him again, he picked up the makeshift gag and placed it on his lips. That mouth was dangerous. It said things that made him want to stop being cruel, things that made him want to act human. He was glad when Lavi did not protest and instead slackened his jaw so he could secure the obstruction properly. He felt a thrill go through him as he turned his attention to his captive's throat and his chest, aware that he could caress any part of him without being stopped. It was a compromise now – the half of him that wanted to give Lavi happiness would indeed supply him with that, but the other half would have fun doing it.

Lots of fun.

He's like a void, Lavi thought as a hand ran up the inside of his thigh and teeth came down hard on his shoulder. But the thought still did not matter. He had learned that there were two different sides to Tyki, one that would hold him close and offer to free him, and a side that would try to drive him insane with yearning. The man he was at the moment Lavi did not know, but his body did not care. It still responded to the touches as if it wanted every bit of the man before him. He did not like that idea. He did not want this. This was not the same as kissing Tyki in an ally way. If this were going to happen, which it most obviously was, he wanted it to happen with the may who had apologized for hurting him, not with the man who smiled at his fear.

His hand was not gentle when Tyki undid the draw string of Lavi's pants. He felt the boy tense and begin pulling at the rope for the first time. It made him smile. Even if he had tied them while still only half-appreciating their use, those knots were more than secure. There were some things that his white mind and his black mind did equally well.

"I am guessing that you have noticed, Lavi-san," He said softly, pulling the boy's pants to his knees. "That I have changed in our last few moments together?" As he spoke he lowered himself so that he could more easily touch Lavi's exposed erection and draw his tongue slowly over the inside of his thigh. There was a strangled moan and an involuntary thrust of hips before Tyki spoke again. "The truth is that sometimes, if I am not careful, a more humane part of me will find its way to the surface of my mind and cause me to do stupid things like feel." He hand brushed gently over the place his mouth had been as he took to the other side with his lips. "I must fight to keep it more or less docile. To not do so threatens my standing with the Millennium Earl. You, dear Lavi-san, almost made me forget to restrain it.

"But I have remembered. So I can now do what I intended and please you with my torture." He licked the tip of Lavi's phallus, grinned when he made a choking sound that might have been out of pleasure or pain. That was what he had come for – he had not come to fill the hollow ache in his heart. "Would you like that, Lavi-san?"

No, Lavi shook his head, trying to comprehend what Tyki had said about being humane. I don't want the torture this time. I don't want the ropes. I want to hold you. Why can't you see that I want to hold you? It was more frustrating this time because he wasn't ashamed of his eagerness and because it was his fault things had turned out this way. If he had kept his hands to himself in the ally, Tyki would never have even been tempted to hold him like that, and he would not have known the impossible emotions that filled them both. And the more you talk about this, the more you let out about the Noah, the more I just feel sorry for you.

Somehow, the expression the apprentice made at his question made Tyki very angry. It was almost pity. He needed no one's pity. "If you do not like that idea, Lavi-san, I can simply keep you this way." He ran a light hand over him, holding his hips in place with his free left hand to be sure nothing went father than he wanted it. "Perpetually filled with desire, unable to do anything about it, there when I wish to release you but incapable of it so long as I say. If you would rather have it that way I would be happy to help," He smiled at the horrified look in Lavi's eyes, the sudden strength he put into tugging at his restraints. "Shall we try that until dawn? Though your friend might come back before then. What a horrible fate it would be for her to find you this way…" Lavi felt his hand was running slowly up and down him, being sure that he stayed as aroused as he was, so he threw himself at it only to have the hand pull away completely. Tyki laughed at him again.

"No, that would be too difficult on both of us to explain." He said sadly. "We shall have to do this some other way." While he spoke he sank yet lower, his lips mere inches from their destination. He knew his breath could be felt on the sensitive skin there.

Lavi was stuck between feeling physically and feeling emotionally. His body screamed that it wanted this, that it was good, but his mind told him that this wasn't how he wanted to go about things.

I'll stop him. He decided finally. When he tries to leave, I'll stop him. I'll tell him what I'm feeling. Goddamn it, I don't care that I'm an Exorcist and he's a Noah, there has to be a way for us to just be people.

Impossible warmth closed around him. He had expected it, but he couldn't stop himself from gasping at the sensation, or making pleasant sounds as Tyki's hot mouth encased him, his soft hand stroked the length that did not reach his lips, sending wave upon wave of pleasure through him. His hips bucked forward into the sensation, rocking the chair ever so slightly with the force of weight until the hand at the base of his erection left to take steady his thigh. It was still great feeling, and he was vaguely aware that Tyki was not pulling away even has he came impossibly close to release.

Tyki waited ever so patiently for the moment when Lavi came and sank his finger though him to stop the action. It was so very simple a thing, to just block the escape of his seed, and the response it provoked was perhaps the most glorious thing he had ever seen the boy do. His eye was wide and fearful, mild confusing clouded it, and his hips continued to trust wholeheartedly even though the motion was completely futile. An aggravated growl escaped his throat and he stared at Tyki as if he did not understand, his mouth opened and closed despite the cloth between his teeth. He tried to form a word. Frustration made him yank at the ropes desperately and he rocked back in the chair nearly far enough to tip it.

"Kly-ki…" It came out wrong, but it was enough. The finger that was obstructing his release gave way when Tyki stood up to avoid the ensuing moister, and he moaned again when it happened. Tyki smiled at him when his limbs first went ridged and then went to putty, his arms and the silky rope the only thing that kept him from sliding out the chair and onto the floor. For a long moment Lavi just stared at nothing, trying to remember everything that had happened in the aftermath of what might have been the greatest sexual experience of his life.

"That was not so bad, was it Lavi-san?" Tyki asked rhetorically as he reached around to unknot the ropes behind his captive. When his hands were free the apprentice Bookman slowly reached up and pulled the gag from his mouth before tremblingly slithering his pants back up onto his waist. His eye did not look at Tyki, he simply let it focus on the self-inflicted red marks his bonds had left, and then the glossy shoes of he man standing before him. "Did I break you, Bookman-san?" Tyki asked, reaching out to touch the side of Lavi's face.

He recoiled slightly, but the action was more out of habit than anything else. After a long moment he remembered what he had hoped to do before all of this had started, before Tyki had seemed to have an argument with himself. No, this wasn't the man he had hoped to see tonight, but he was in there somewhere.

When Lavi stood he nearly toppled over, the problems with his equilibrium and having his feet still tied to the chair did not help in catching him – it was only Tyki's arm that truly saved him from the fall.

"But what about you, Ty-chan?" His voice was worn and tired, cracking in the oddest of places. He watched the Noah's face change from somewhat happy to somewhat worried at the sound.

"What?"

"Doesn't it seem… unfair if I'm the only one who gets to be… tormented all the time," As he spoke he let his left hand drift up to Tyki's neck, let his fingers twine through his hair. "Wouldn't it be more fun if we each had a little…" His right hand came up from his side to touch the older man's belt; Tyki was too surprised to stop him. "Of what you're always giving me?"

Tyki narrowed his eyes at him, but he could not bring himself to push the boy away. "If I am to get any pleasure out of you, boya, it will not be a good experience for you."

Lavi lifted an eyebrow at him. "Is that so?" Tyki gasped at him when he shoved his hand down the front of his pants. "Seems like we were both enjoying what just happened, Ty-chan." He gave the hardness against his palm a little pat as Tyki took a strong hold on his shoulders. "Unless you have an unripe banana in your pants, you want me."

There was no arguing that point, and Tyki was well aware. "Unripe?"

The mischievous grin that passed over Lavi's lips was entirely different from the first smile he had let Tyki see; he did not need to talk himself into this one. "Ripe ones aren't this hard." He pulled on Tyki's neck, silently thanking whatever force it was that kept the older man from throwing him aside like an old toy. Without speaking he brought his lips up to the other man's, stroked with his fingers, and leaned in with his weight. He had to fight a triumphant smile when the lips against his kissed back.

I can't hate him. He thought as he pulled away. Never.

The sides of Tyki fought each other in the moment of that kiss, the one side demanding that he embrace the boy, confess his obsessive thoughts, and truly make love to him, right there. The other half wanted nothing more than to pin him down and forcibly take the pleasure he sought.

When the kiss broke Lavi looked up at him, knowing that in all likelihood he was going to end up violated in more ways than he could ever count, but not really caring. Because if that happened maybe, just maybe, he really would be able to pretend that Tyki Mikk was nothing but ink on paper. But instead a strong pair of arms came down and wrapped around his back, pulling him into an embrace like the one before, and this time he hoped that it would never end.

"I am a Noah, Lavi-san."

"And? I'm an Exorcist."

"We are fools if we think we can get away with this."

Lavi laughed as he pulled his hand from beneath Tyki's belt and wrapped it instead around the small of his back. "I told you before; I don't care how foolish it is. What else am I supposed to do when my heart tells me that this is right?"

"Your heart?"

Lavi nodded. "Yeah, that thing I'm supposed to pretend not to have."

"Then…" Tyki said quietly as he lifted a hand to touch Lavi's hair. He had never really touched it before, only ran his hands through it, but now he had a chance to really know what it felt like. "Where do we go from here, Lavi-san? We are on opposite sides of a war. I will kill your comrades and you will destroy mine, what good can come of it?"

"It doesn't matter." Lavi insisted, tugging Tyki still closer. He could feel his heartbeat on the side of his face when he rested his head on him, a perfectly human heartbeat, to be sure. "None of it matters because I just want to be with you."

It was like a dagger to Tyki's darker heart to hear those words, and a flame to his brighter one. Before he even understood what was happening he had pulled Lavi flush with him, and was burying his face in his soft red hair, drawing in his scent as if he needed it to breathe. "Then we shall leave it at that for now? Even if I turn black on you again? Even if it marks us both as traitors?"

Lavi nodded into him, the warmth that had circled around his heart seeming to come to life again, seeming to spread through him like sweet poison in his blood. "If I'm in league with a traitor who betrayed his side, does that make me a traitor?"

For a moment Tyki thought about it until a real, baritone laugh escaped him. He playfully ruffled Lavi's hair, letting himself smile for what felt like the first time in his life. "No, Lavi-san. I guess it doesn't."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You like? I hope. I feel lacking. So long. Love all you!