Bookmen Have No Hearts
By Misster Cackles

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"I don't want to fight against you..." A comforting kiss upon the brow that might have been too gentle was his answer followed by a slow smile.

Tyki returned, "Then save the best for last, won't you?" Lavi swallowed thickly.

"Tyki..."

He was cut off by a kiss that made tears form in the corners of his eye, and it was all that he could do not to breathe the older man in. Lavi clutched tightly at the gray shoulders, pulling him as close as he could get without them becoming one again. The kiss multiplied over the crying teen's face, whispers of sweet nothings sent to his ears. It nearly made Lavi sob harder.

He sniffed. "Tyki, I-"

"Don't say that, Lavi. Not now."

"...later? When the fight's over?"

"You can hold me tight against you as you declare it over and over."

Lavi buried his face in Tyki's chest and wept with wails. Tyki wrapped his arms around the redhead's shoulders and kissed at the top of his head many times, hands stroking the back of his arms. The older man pressed his nose in Lavi's hair, eyes closing tightly.

His shoulders trembled.

: / / / / :

Lavi pushed the Exorcists away forcefully. He rasped out as loudly as he could a name that tumbled out of his mouth, shoving himself violently out of Lenalee's grip. Kanda stood over the last enemy, and when the green eye caught sight of the dying man on the ground, he ran with all the energy he had left.

He shaking arms caught Tyki before he hit the ground and he drew him to his chest, cradling his upper body tenderly. He stroke the man's hair almost hesitantly. "Tyki...?" Lavi's voice cracked and already tears pooled in his eye.

Tyki opened his eyes at him with a small smile that made Lavi's heart ache. "Lavi. Oh my Lavi... You best put me down; You'll get blood on you..." It was already too late for that.

Lavi forced down the lump in his throat but couldn't stop the tears from falling over fast. "But you said that I could hold you tight against me." His voiced raised in pitch with emotion, "Can I not do that now, Tyki...?" The older man smiled a bit larger, eyes looking more tired than they had a few seconds ago.

"Now I can't...go back on my word, can I?"

"No..." Lavi gritted his teeth to keep the noises stuck in his throat, but that only made the tears run harder down his cheek and jaw. A lot of them fell on Tyki.

Kanda stepped forward towards the two. Lavi's head snapped up and he glarred with malice at the samurai. "You stay away!" Lavi snarled, "You've already done enough!" Kanda flinched and drew his hand back.

"Lavi..." Tyki got his attention again like a bug to light. He was breathing with trouble, eyes half-way closed. "Won't you...say what you wanted to...earlier? Please?" The redheaded teen wailed once in sorrow then, pulling Tyki against him as he put his mouth against the shell of his ear.

In so many tongues did Lavi tell Tyki that he loved him, the rivers never once having stopped streamed but his voice didn't choke on signal word. In the background, Lenalee was crying.

A hand weakly came up and cupped his cheek softly, and Lavi leaned back up to look at the dying man he loved and could only see the light leaking his eyes as life slipped more so from him.

"I'm...glad," Tyki whispered so quietly that Lavi had to lean forward to hear him, "Because I do...too."

Lavi's face contorted with suffering, a moan of agony tearing itself from his mouth. "Pl-please don't tell me that... Not when you won't be here later!" Tyki's eyes crinkled upward with difficulty.

"Don't cry...Lavi..."

Wet sniffles. "Why shouldn't I?!"

A tear finally escaped the dark caramel eyes and he reached up to take a hold of Lavi's face again, but this time to pull him into their softest kiss. "Because...you're breaking my...heart... Lavi, won't you let me...go?"

Lavi cried to the earth and the sky. "No!! Dammit Tyki, I love you; don't leave me here, please! Oh, God, I'm begging you! Please, oh, please! You're the only one I ever loved; I can't loose you, Tyki!" His voice was almost too tight to make out the words.

"I'm so sorry...to disappoint," he gasped, "I didn't mean...for you to...get...attached..." His gray hand fell to his chest and his eyes drifted shut. His breathing slowed, but he was still there, if only for a moment more.

"Kiss...?" Tyki weakly asked for and Lavi couldn't refuse.

"Just one more..."

The older man tensed in his arms before he exhaled in what may have been in contentment, falling lax against the still-living male that propped him up. When the breath released, Lavi's heart shattered.

Knowing he couldn't hurt a corpse, he pressed Tyki almost painfully tight against him. "I love you... I love you... I love you..." He declared it over and over into the unhearing ears.

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Lavi became a successful Bookman.

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