tried to write a 151 drabble for Lin, ended up with this weird shit instead
ARTISTIC LICENSE NOTE: I tend to think of Byakuran as not keeping his memories from the future like the other characters, because otherwise he would still be pretty much omniscient and restraining him would be nearly impossible.
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The first time Shouichi met Byakuran, the world had exploded and reformed itself into too many buildings with too many stories as a backdrop for this strange, smiling man peering at hi
The first time Shouichi met Byakuran, he was nothing but a name on a sheet of paper full of threats and instruc
The first time Shouichi met Byakuran, he would be an especially talented classmate who would take an odd liking to him and worm his way into his life, his thoughts, his heart, but that was all in that future that would never happ
The first time Shouichi met Byakuran, he was everything at once, flooding into Shouichi's head with too many plans and too many memories and too many feelings until he woke up screaming and crying and younger than
The first time Byakuran met Shouichi, he stumbled out of a familiar limo onto a familiar beach, already an outlier in Byakuran's wedge of space and time before he'd so much as opened his mouth. He was a tiny, messy-haired thing with glasses too big and shoulders too hunched, and Byakuran immediately decided he liked him.
His introduction was a simple, "Irie Shouichi," followed by a brief pause and an awkwardly offered hand to shake, and for all his uncertain body language his voice didn't falter.
"Gesso Byakuran," he'd answered, switching the names out of good humor.
"You don't need to--" Shouichi began, and then clenched his mouth shut. "It's good to meet you."
Byakuran never asked why the Vendice had let him in, never asked why he'd wanted to be let in, never asked anything at all, and as he instead asked Byakuran about his beach and his life, Shouichi shifted and squirmed for all their conversations and visits until he broke, saying, "Don't you have any questions for me?" And Byakuran just smiled.
"You can tell me things if you want, Shouichi-kun, but I'm just not very naturally curious! I never felt like I needed to know everything."
Shouichi left, abruptly so, and Byakuran spent the next few minutes of his time alone wondering what sort of questions he'd ask Shouichi if he ever felt the urge. ("Why don't you want to be called Shouichi-kun" was the only one he really considered asking.)
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The first time Shouichi met Byakuran, the world had exploded and reformed itself into too many buildings with too many stories as a backdrop for this strange, smiling man peering at hi
The first time Shouichi met Byakuran, he was nothing but a name on a sheet of paper full of threats and instruc
The first time Shouichi met Byakuran, he would be an especially talented classmate who would take an odd liking to him and worm his way into his life, his thoughts, his heart, but that was all in that future that would never happ
The first time Shouichi met Byakuran, he was everything at once, flooding into Shouichi's head with too many plans and too many memories and too many feelings until he woke up screaming and crying and younger than
The first time Byakuran met Shouichi, he stumbled out of a familiar limo onto a familiar beach, already an outlier in Byakuran's wedge of space and time before he'd so much as opened his mouth. He was a tiny, messy-haired thing with glasses too big and shoulders too hunched, and Byakuran immediately decided he liked him.
His introduction was a simple, "Irie Shouichi," followed by a brief pause and an awkwardly offered hand to shake, and for all his uncertain body language his voice didn't falter.
"Gesso Byakuran," he'd answered, switching the names out of good humor.
"You don't need to--" Shouichi began, and then clenched his mouth shut. "It's good to meet you."
Byakuran never asked why the Vendice had let him in, never asked why he'd wanted to be let in, never asked anything at all, and as he instead asked Byakuran about his beach and his life, Shouichi shifted and squirmed for all their conversations and visits until he broke, saying, "Don't you have any questions for me?" And Byakuran just smiled.
"You can tell me things if you want, Shouichi-kun, but I'm just not very naturally curious! I never felt like I needed to know everything."
Shouichi left, abruptly so, and Byakuran spent the next few minutes of his time alone wondering what sort of questions he'd ask Shouichi if he ever felt the urge. ("Why don't you want to be called Shouichi-kun" was the only one he really considered asking.)