AN: Uh this is my first time writing Byakuran so uhhh idk?
Also, thanks to Dee [DEECAPSLOCKISON], who is lovely, and who beta'd this for me! ;w;
Traveller
-Part One-
First Ending
The lecture room is silent, save for the teacher, an overweight man in his late forties with greying hair, droning on about how there could be infinite dimensions, and how there could be alternate versions of themselves in the said dimensions. Byakuran sighs and plays with his eraser between his fingers in a bored manner. He doesn't pay much attention to what the teacher is saying. He's heard it all before.
The idea of infinite possibilities?
Absolute bullshit.
Byakuran knows, he knows, that there aren't any other worlds. That there aren't any 'dimensions'. He knows it. It's fate that made this world, and it's fate that makes things happen. There are no 'what-ifs'. Things have already been decided. He knows that.
And it makes him wonder why he even took this philosophy class.
He stares up to the ceiling at the bright light bulbs and the photos of famous philosophers hung on the wall, printed off from Wikipedia. He thinks that maybe the reason for taking this class was a petty one. It was a challenge, yes, to listen to an old fat man talk about things to exist, and another reason that was—
"Ah, I'm so sorry for being so late, sen-" yells Irie Shoichi (or should it be Shoichi Irie? They were in America, after all) as he bursts into the room, disrupting the class. He panted heavily from exhaustion, his face flushed and sweaty. Shoichi, buck up and stop being so stupid!, he thinks as he accidently blurts out a bit of Japanese. He coughs uncomfortably and rectifies his mistake. "I'm sorry for being late, sir!"
"Where were you, Irie? The lesson started an hour ago," the teacher asks, frowning. His thick brows furrow together and Byakuran, from his seat near the back of the room, thinks it resembles a ferret. Or a squirrel. He claws a chunk of his eraser out and takes aim, flicking it at the teacher. Really, any rodent would do. He's so, god, bored. Clawing another chunk out, he aims it at Shoichi this time (how long does it take to apologise?, he thinks, hurry up Sho-chan, and keep me company!) and flicks.
Shoichi shuffles over to the teacher shyly, ducking under the stares of his classmates. The eraser chunk narrowly misses his head by a few centimetres as he moves and whispers something into the teacher's ear.
"Fine," the teacher replies, and motions for Shoichi to sit down. Shoichi blushes (oh cute, Byakuran thinks, and takes a mental picture of it). "Now, as I was saying…"
The voice slowly fades out to Byakuran; he ignores the teacher and pats Shoichi on the back comfortingly as he reaches his seat, covering his pink face. "Byakuran-san... I was so late... What am I going to do about my grades?" he groans, his low self-esteem probably non-existent by now.
"Don't worry about it, Sho-chan!" Byakuran smiles and cups his head in his hands. "And what did I tell you about calling me 'Byakuran-san'? We're friends; there's no need to use formalities!"
"You call me 'Sho-chan'..." Shoichi points out. Byakuran shakes his head.
"That's a term of endearment! It's different!"
Shoichi just rolls his eyes and turns his attention to the teacher, listening intently to his lecture. The other male pouts at being ignored and leans his head on his friend's shoulder. Parts of his white eraser fly all over the desks as he continues to pick at it. It's now ten minutes until lunch and when the bell rings, Byakuran jumps out of his seat (literally. Shoichi thinks he's a bit too excited but shrugs).
"Shoichi, come on!" he calls from the door (Shoichi is still packing up his things—how slow!) and taps his foot impatiently. The lecture is finally over; Shoichi is heaving his backpack over his shoulder and has only just started making his way down the stairs, but when he arrives, he walks to the teacher instead and mouths to Byakuran, "Go on without me! I'll be five minutes! We'll meet at the bench, like usual, okay?"
There's a thumbs up given to the redhead from Byakuran as confirmation and although Shoichi's back is already turned, it makes Byakuran's dreary day a little brighter when Shoichi gives him a thumbs up in return behind his back. Byakuran blinks, grins, and strolls off whistling (Shoichi never, never, never, fails to cheer him up).
The noises from the corridors eventually filter out until Byakuran is thinking in silence. He ponders about a lot of things. He thinks about how Shoichi's hair matches the colour of the sky at sunset (cheesy) and how the colour of Shoichi's eyes are like grass (maybe a little darker? Yes, a bit darker, I think!) and how flustered and adorable Shoichi gets when he flirts with him.
There's a small, unsettling feeling at the bottom of his stomach though (is it indigestion? I don't think it's indigestion. I never get indigestion); the hairs on the back of his neck prick up all of a sudden.
He spots a blonde-haired teen from the corner of his vision and his eyes narrow. It's not that hard to see what's been annoying him. The apathetic-looking blonde isn't really paying much attention to his surroundings and tinkers with the mechanical device in his hands. This is the guy Shoichi's been talking about for the past few days. I think his name is Spanner? Panner? Gayner? Byakuran grinds his teeth together (I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous!) and curses teen's very existence to the depths of hell.
He's as perfect as Shoichi describes him, much to Byakuran's annoyance. (Of course, he wasn't as perfect as Shoichi, but it seemed like they were made for each other, and Byakuran was supposed to the only one Shoichi liked.)
The blonde has a swirl of hair in a perfect curl, and perfect blue eyes with a perfect pale complexion. God, that makes Byakuran angry. The khaki overalls he's wearing are unusual for a student. Pretty sure that's against the school regulation to wear stuff like that, Byakuran thinks. He purposefully walks into him and makes the blonde drop his device. "Oops," he apologises with a playful smile, "I didn't mean to do that!"
There's a moment of silence and Byakuran waits, almost eagerly, to see his reaction. The blonde just picks it up and replies nonchalantly, "'S'okay. You're a friend of Shoichi, aren't you?" Byakuran nods and thinks I'm his best boy- err, friend, yes, and the blonde continues, "Any friend of Shoichi is mine too. Byakuran, is it? I'm Spanner."
"Hm? Ah, yes," he agrees, but truthfully, he stopped listening after he heard the first 'Shoichi'. It sickens him that someone other than himself calls Shoichi 'Shoichi' and he pretends to check the time on his watch (never mind that he doesn't even have one). "I should be going now. I'm meeting Shoichi," he enunciates that word because Shoichi is his—Shoichi is his property, "for lunch. I'll see you some other time, I guess?
And he leaves before the bemused blonde can say anything.
He walks through the twisting, winding, corridors, and now, he can't stop thinking about it. His mind's all jumbled up with useless thoughts and when he steps outside, he thinks this'll be good. It'll clear my mind.
Except it totally doesn't because he's been waiting for ten minutes now and Shoichi is still not here and where could he have gotten to and brain please, shush. I am trying to think!
He fiddles with his backpack strap and he can't help but fidget. It's rather, very, unsettling that Shoichi's late, and he can't stop worrying. He suspects it's that damned blonde who's holding Shoichi up in the corridors, probably making small talk about things Shoichi doesn't even care about. The seconds pass by and Byakuran wonders when Shoichi will come, until he suddenly spots a mop of red hair running towards—
And into him.
"Heh, in a hurry Sho-chan?" Byakuran asks as the boy falls onto the floor. He offers his hand to the short boy, then pauses. The boy is short.
He's too short to be Shoichi.
He supposes that Shoichi could have a younger brother that he's never told Byakuran about. Somehow, he sincerely doubts that, though. He asks anyway. "Um, I'm sorry about that. Are you, by any chance, Shoichi's... younger brother?"
The boy flinches and scrambles away. "H-How do you know my name?" he asks back, and looks like he's on the verge of tears.
Oh.
Byakuran makes a 'hmm' sound thoughtfully. He opens his mouth to reply, but the boy runs off before he can.
Oh.
That was strange, Byakuran thinks, and a few minutes later, the normal Shoichi comes stumbling back, bowing apologetically.
"I'm sorry I'm so late, Byakuran-san! I got caught up with other things..." he says. Byakuran pats him on the head and tells him it's okay. He tells him that they still have tomorrow, and that they still could have lunch together like always.
Except that tomorrow doesn't come and it's all pitch black and Byakuran can't find Shoichi anywhere.