YAY! LAVEN! AT LAST!

'Bert Is King'- present

'Bert Is King'- flashback

I finally got back onto the internet after a few days cut off from the world, only to find that DGM is now on hiatus. How is this fair?!

Finally, a long chapter!

Chapter Two

Lavi saw his quarry wandering aimlessly down a corridor up ahead of him and grinned wickedly. The other exorcist paused at a T-junction and looked around, and as Lavi watched the perplexed expression cross the younger boy's face his grin, if possible grew wider as he realised the apparent aimless meanderings of Allen Walker were actually the white-haired one's attempts at finding his way.

Lavi sneaked stealthily down the otherwise deserted corridor towards his unsuspecting prey, who appeared to be digging through his pockets in the hope of turning up a coin with which to flip. It was unlikely there would be anything remotely resembling cash in Allen's pockets- exorcists rarely had anything as material as money on their person- usually a flash of the Rose Cross was enough to pay for anything they might need.

When he was finally close enough to the still oblivious (and still optimistically searching) boy, Lavi pounced.

"MOYASHI!" he yelled as he attached himself to the smaller teen's back. The first time he'd done this he'd expected (and half-hoped) his weight to be too much for the boy's slight frame to handle and that he'd be scraping flattened bean sprout up off the floor, but Allen had surprised him by not even flinching at the additional weight forced onto his back. That first time Lavi had brushed it off as a fluke- perhaps Allen had heard him coming and braced himself for impact, as it were, but each time (and he did it often, if only to try and get the desired 'flat sprout' result he'd been hoping for) the reaction was the same, and frankly, it annoyed the redhead, who was sure it wasn't his failure at stealth that was at fault here. And eventually he became so frustrated (because even a Bookman could only take so much mystery, and he wasn't even a full Bookman yet) and just flat out asked Allen about it.

0o0o0o0o0

"Say Moyashi, why don't you collapse into a pile of mushed vegetable when I jump on you?"

Allen blinked at him like he was crazy. "You're not that heavy." Then he scowled accusingly. "And I'm not that weak!"

Lavi ginned winningly at the infuriated boy. Even a few weeks ago, Allen would never have raised his voice at another person, and this was the closest Lavi had ever seen the boy come to losing his rag.

"And my name's Allen!" said person snapped almost as an afterthought. It amused Lavi that Allen still hadn't given up on correcting him, though the reaction was usually less violent nowadays.

"Never said you were weak, Moyashi" Lavi said, still grinning like a loon and ignoring the angry pout (Allen's irate glare still left a lot to be desired, though he was improving- overexposure to Kanda, Lavi mused) "but you are kinda small, and I am, of course, a spectacular specimen of masculinity" and he struck a pose.

An odd expression crossed Allen's face, as though he was in pain, and Lavi stopped flexing his arms and posturing to look at the boy in concern, since Allen was now bent double and shaking terribly.

"Are you alright?" Lavi asked, because of course, 'Lavi' would be worried by this odd behaviour. To be honest, he was kind of worried anyway- Bookman would slay him if his mission suddenly keeled over and had a fit or something.

A noise he'd never heard from Allen before broke the tense silence that had followed his question and he frowned, laying a broad hand on the shorter teen's slim back. "Moyashi?"

Allen drew in a deep breath, then the noise continued and suddenly Lavi realised that Allen was laughing. Of course, he'd heard the other boy laugh before, but it had been polite, restrained, controlled, fake, not this breathless, hearty, altogether wild sound that shook his whole body, turned his face bright red and brought tears to those pale eyes.

"I…I…I'm s…s…so" deep breath "s…s…sorry Lavi" Allen wheezed as he tried to get himself under control and stand upright. He cleared his throat. "That was really rude of me, I didn't mean to laugh at you, it wasn't that funny" he apologised as soon as he was able, though underneath the mask of politeness and good manners, there was something almost feral dancing in Allen's eyes.

Lavi's baffled expression melted away with understanding to an easy grin. "Are you kidding? I've never seen anything so funny in my life, and I watched Yuu-chan go through puberty!"

Allen was still flushed, his colouring an odd reversal of Lavi's, what with his pale hair and reddened skin. "It doesn't excuse my behaviour" Allen replied with a small bow, the consummate gentleman. "How can I make it up to you?"

"You don't ha-" here Lavi paused, a rather nefarious twinkle appearing in his single green eye. "Well there is one thing…"

Allen waited in silence, suddenly wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. Damn him for having manners!

"Strip for me."

"WHAT?!" Allen squeaked and backed away.

Lavi batted his eyelashes. "Aw, Moyashi-chan is shy! I just want to see why you can stand so much weight." Yeah, great, he'll never suspect anything suspicious with that excuse. Though of course, this was the amazing oblivious bean sprout he was talking to…

Allen wrapped his right hand around his left arm, biting his lip worriedly before sighing. "Alright, fine, but I'm not losing my shirt here."

0o0o0o0o0

Lavi smirked to himself as he remembered Allen dragging him to his room and locking the door as though he was about to divulge to the redhead the secrets of the universe.

What he did reveal was almost as good in the apprentice Bookman's opinion.

0o0o0o0o0

Allen shucked his shirt with nervous gestures, and might have crossed his arms protectively over his bare chest if the motion wouldn't have exposed more of his left arm.

Lavi circled him predatorily, causing Allen to break out into an anxious sweat that made his pale skin glisten. Lavi licked his lips unconsciously as he walked around Allen's back. He could see why the boy was able to stand his weight anyway- who'd have thought that the simple white shirt hid all these muscles? The boy obviously worked out and took care of his body, he may have been small, but there was a lot of wiry strength packed into his slim frame. Well one mystery solved at least. Time to get to work on the rest.

He half expected Allen to turn with him, to keep him in view, but by all appearances the white-haired boy had frozen, his eyes clenched tightly shut as though anticipating some form of attack. This worried Lavi slightly (damn, what was with him and all these feelings? This wasn't right- he should feel nothing!), since Allen was obviously uncomfortable with the situation, but he couldn't let that interfere with his mission- he'd been charged with finding everything out about Allen Walker, and he fully intended on finding out everything.

He ran a rough calloused finger along Allen's shoulders, feeling the younger teen shudder and his breath catch in his throat, a half sob falling from his lips. As determined as Lavi was, even he didn't think he could continue if the boy started to cry, he wasn't that unfeeling. Though he should have been- damn persona, confusing him!

But as he circled back to face his unwilling victim, he was surprised to find that he was not entirely unwilling, and suddenly, Lavi had no inclination to stop whatsoever.

0o0o0o0o0

"Lavi!" Allen complained in a not-quite whine as he attempted to dislodge the taller male. "Get off me!"

"Nuh-uh, Moyashi-chan" Lavi said, burying his nose into Allen's soft hair "I like it up here."

Allen humphed disagreeably, but stopped wiggling, giving in easily, if not happily. "Since you're now attached to my back, can you please tell me which way to the dining hall?"

Lavi laughed cheerfully, wrapping his arms around Allen's neck and legs around his slim waist, forcing the shorter exorcist to support his full weight before pointing down the left hand corridor. "Giddy up, Moyashi-chan, food waits for no sprout!"

0o0o0o0o0

Lavi wasn't sure whether he should draw attention to Allen's blatant arousal. The boy was still flushed; though it was no longer a blush of embarrassment- it was softer than that, though it still burned with a ferocity beyond Allen's control. His lips were parted oh-so-slightly and as Lavi watched, a pink tongue skated out to moisten them. Lavi followed the motion raptly. He'd done this so many times in his life- seducing people came as easily and naturally to him as breathing, but as he raised his gaze from Allen's mouth to his heavy-lidded silver eyes, he distantly wondered just who was seducing whom.

Allen's eyes flew wide open and he stared at Lavi with something like shock in his eyes, though beneath that was something darker, more base, and Lavi didn't have to be a Bookman to identify the expression as want.

"Err-" Allen licked his lips and swallowed convulsively, backing away and looking rather frightened and very, very mortified.

"Wait!" Lavi said, reaching out and grabbing Allen by the wrist.

Allen looked down his arm to where Lavi's hand clasped his arm. His left arm. He swallowed again, raising confused cloud-coloured eyes to Lavi's face.

Inwardly Lavi smirked. He'd thought he'd have to work harder than this to seduce the young exorcist when he'd first seen Allen- polite, gentlemanly, hopelessly in love with Lenalee and probably as straight as a ruler. He mentally snorted- as straight as a protractor at least, if not wholly circular. Outwardly he fixed a small nervous smile on his face, insistently tugging Allen closer. "Don't go, please."

Allen allowed himself to be pulled to Lavi, stopping half a foot away and looking up at Lavi's face, clearly at a loss as to what to do- the options as he saw them all involved running away and hiding in a hole until this whole thing was forgotten, which he couldn't do with Lavi's ink-stained hand wrapped around his wrist. He jerked his arm experimentally- he knew he could escape if he wanted to, but breaking Lavi's arm would only add to his humiliation, and Lavi's grip was too strong for anything but a serious attempt at freedom.

With his free hand, Lavi reached up and tucked an errant lock of hair behind Allen's ear, leaving his palm on the boy's pale cheek, not missing the flinch that the simple motion had earned, as though Allen expected to be struck. Well, that wouldn't do.

"Please," the redhead murmured again, inching towards Allen to close the gap.

Allen's breathing quickened and his pupils dilated as Lavi's hand slid up his arm before slipping behind his neck.

"Lavi, wait, I-" but Allen got no further as Lavi closed those last few inches of space and covered Allen's mouth with his own before the dissent reached his lips.

It was a gentle kiss, a soft caress of lips- Lavi didn't want to scare the boy off after all- so no one was more surprised than he was when the hands Allen had placed on his chest to push him away suddenly clenched in the black material of his shirt and yanked him closer and an insistent tongue probed at his lips and demanded entrance.

'Damn' the thought slipped across his mind in the seconds before it was wiped clean of everything but the sensation of Allen's tongue against his own and slim, though distinctly male hips aligned with his, moving in a drugging rhythm that both aroused and frightened him in its intensity. 'The Moyashi can kiss…'

0o0o0o0o0

"I thought you had a photographic memory!" Allen said in a faintly amused and wholly accusatory tone of voice.

"I do" said Lavi proudly from his perch on the smaller boy's back.

"Then why, pray tell," asked Allen, the epitome of politeness, "are we outside my room?"

"Well…" Lavi grinned, even though Allen couldn't see him. "I'm not hungry yet" he said and released his hold on his ride, his hands lingering longer than good manners dictated.

Allen turned to face him, one slim eyebrow raised slightly above the other.

"Want to help me work up an appetite?" Lavi asked with a downright suggestive grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Lavi…" Allen sighed. "You know…"

"Yeah yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean we can't still have a little fun…"

Allen smiled slightly with a despairing shake of his head and opened his bedroom door.

0o0o0o0o0

Allen abruptly froze, making Lavi falter slightly as the tongue he was currently enjoying trying to swallow stopped moving in his mouth and the body pressed against his became rigid. He blinked open his eye (not entirely sure when he'd closed it in the first place) and looked down at the shocked and awkward expression on Allen's face.

The younger exorcist blinked up at the redhead, his eyes almost crossing as he focused on Lavi's suddenly too-close face, suddenly unsure, and his hands, which had still been clenching bunches of Lavi's shirt, slackened their grip. Allen attempted to step backwards, but Lavi's own hands were still holding him in place.

Lavi himself wasn't entirely sure what was going on- his brain seemed to be taking longer than usual to reboot, so he just stared in a lightly dopey manner as Allen began to chew on his bottom lip and renewed his attempt to escape. The redhead moved his constricting hand from the back of Allen's head, only to reattach it at his hip, allowing him more movement but stalling any further getaway plans. He leaned back a little to free his mouth to talk. "Something wrong?" he asked, his voice coming out a lot softer than he expected it to as he ducked his head to try and catch those grey eyes as Allen turned his head to the side, preferring to look at the distant wall instead of meeting Lavi's perturbed green gaze.

"Sorry" Allen muttered after a short pause during which he seemed to be trying to pull himself together, though a couple of fragments slipped through his grasp. "I don't know what… I didn't mean to… I…" he swallowed tightly and shook his head. "Sorry" he whispered dejectedly. "Could you… go, please?"

'Shit, shit, shit' Lavi thought rapidly trying to think of something to convince Allen that what had just happened was not a mistake. 'Damn it, I took it too fast- if I let him go now I'll have lost my chance completely!' Only, this was Allen's room, and he'd just asked him to leave… but he was sure if he did, it would be years before the chance ever rose again, if it ever did. Allen was still avoiding looking at him, obviously appalled by his own actions- he'd just kissed one of his closest friends- the fact that it was Lavi was the one who had initiated the whole thing had obviously slipped the British boy's mind completely.

"No, I can't" Lavi said quietly, grabbing hold of Allen's chin none too gently and forcing the other boy to raise his face and look at him. "Not until you tell me what the hell you're playing at."

"I said I'm sorry" whispered Allen, allowing his face to be redirected but not raising his eyes. "I know I shouldn't have done that."

"I'm not talking about the kiss dammit, I'm talking about this" and he gestured at the defensive stance the younger teen was employing, shoulders hunched and hands clenched into fists at his sides, as though he would have crossed them across his chest protectively if that wouldn't have put them into contact with Lavi.

"I don't know what you mean" Allen said firmly, sounding less like the boy that Lavi had got to know in the last couple of months, and more like… well, himself.

"I want to know what your problem is!" Lavi snapped. "Why are you trying to deny this happened? I don't regret it at all, and I want to know why you do!"

Allen's mouth dropped open slightly and he flushed red and mumbled something that not even Lavi's sharp hearing caught.

"Pardon?"

"I said I don't regret it" Allen repeated "but I still shouldn't have let it happen."

Lavi felt like throttling him. At this rate he was never going to get anywhere, and knew he'd need to change Allen's mind to fulfil his mission- if he let the boy go now he'd never be able to get close enough to try again. "Why? What's wrong?" he asked, adopting a gentle tone. He dreaded Allen's reply. If it was anything like 'it's wrong' he'd have a hard job convincing Allen otherwise.

"I hardly know you. You're my friend, but we don't know all that much about each other" Allen began hesitantly. "I don't want to get in too deep at the moment" he finished apologetically, finally meeting Lavi's eye.

Lavi felt like grinning like a fool and jumping up and down. Really, could this get any easier? The boy was playing right into Lavi's trap without Lavi even realising he'd set one. Instead he smiled softly. "There's nothing wrong with that" he said, taking Allen's hands in his own. He noticed Allen's gaze falling to where Lavi's hand was gripping his own left one and he squeezed it gently, showing he realised just what he was holding and wasn't afraid or disgusted. When Allen's eyes rose back to his face he met the confused silver gaze, he raised the red-skinned left hand and brushed his lips across the knuckles. Allen swallowed tightly as he flushed deeply. "I'd like to get to know you" he smiled.

Allen shook his head and tried to pull away, looking horribly troubled and eyes gleaming with regret. "I can't, Lavi…"

Ooh, this was getting interesting… there was obviously something in Allen's past he didn't want getting out. "And you know that I can't either" he pointed out sensibly "but that shouldn't mean anything- this" and he shook Allen's hands still gripped in his meaningfully "this means something, and I'd like to find out exactly what it means."

Allen sighed and shook his head, looking back at Lavi with something akin to desperation in his eyes. Lavi's singular green eye widened in slight shock that he had trouble hiding. The mask was gone and Allen was looking at him, expression unguarded and open. "It'll only cause trouble for the both of us," he sighed, his voice no higher or lower, but still different, more sombre, more mature, "but I guess… I guess" another sigh "I'd like to get to know you more too."

The Bookman apprentice smirked widely in his head, congratulating himself on a job well done. "We can take this as slow as you want, I wont force you into anything you don't want to do."

Allen flushed deeply, absolute mortification at the ease with which Lavi had just said that making his face glow bright red, the scarlet of the scar almost becoming lost among the blush. "O… okay."

Lavi grinned cockily at the blatant embarrassment on the younger's face. "Firstly, I'd like to get to know your mouth a little better."

The blush didn't fade, but Allen's eyes twinkled with mirth as he allowed himself to be pulled closer. "I guess that'll do for now."

0o0o0o0o0

Lavi laid his head on Allen's shoulder, snuggling in closer and trying to ignore the fact that the sense of accomplishment he was feeling was not completely attributable to the act he was putting on. Though they hadn't progressed beyond extensive make-out sessions and cautiously wandering hands over bare chests, any time he spent touching Allen's boy in any way was extremely gratifying.

Allen sighed above him, making his chest rise and fall deeply. Lavi played with one of Allen's shirt buttons with relaxed finger as he rubbed his cheek against the clothes shoulder of the slim body he was using as a pillow. "Hey, Moyashi?"

"Mmm?" The sleepy response came from above his head. Despite Allen's earlier hunger, he didn't seem to be in too much of a rush to move.

"I thought you liked Lenalee?"

Allen stiffened almost imperceptibly and he cleared his throat nervously. "I know I should… she's quite pretty and everything…"

Lavi supposed this was true, but he'd never allowed himself to look at the Chinese girl in that way- he had some sense of self –preservation after all. Not enough to make him stay away from Kanda, but enough to know hitting on the over protective supervisor's little sister was a bad move. "But?"

"I don't like her that way" Allen mumbled, obviously uncomfortable.

Lavi wondered whether this was true- he couldn't see that he'd got it so wrong- he was usually right on the money when it came to observing. Unless the object of his observation was as good at employing masks and disguises as he was… "Hmm?"

"I don't think I like any 'hers' that way" Allen clarified in a small voice.

Lavi knew his face was registering his shock, and was glad that Allen couldn't see it. Wow., he was really off the mark… just how good was this kid? This mission was just getting more and more interesting.

Protractors- you know, the semi-circular thingies used to measure angles? One straight side and one round one. :) My friend and I once became involved in a game of people watching at school where we tried to guess their… preferences… by labelling them either a ruler, a protractor or a roll of sticky tape. Not the most intelligent of games, but hey, I was young and stupid once. Still am.

Please review. I haven't had much feedback for this so I need to know whether it's worth me updating. X