your time
is
running
thin
.
.
.
#1- comfort
There's little comfort in knowing that Byakuran could no longer execute his ruthlessness upon the unexpecting world; this does not ease Shouichi's mind.
#2- kiss
Byakuran's company is like a kiss: it sucks the breath right out of you, making your heart hammer in your chest painfully until it feels like your ribs break under the pressure.
#3- soft
Soft feathers flutter down from the sky, on him and on the Vongola, and the softness of feathers as they tickle at him reminds him of much happier days when the softness was from Byakuran's fingertips as they trailed his cheeks.
#4- pain
Byakuran's world ends with relief; Shouichi's world begins with pain.
#5- potatoes
Cheeky little brat that he is, Byakuran responds to his red-haired superior's question with a flippant smile and giddy giggle, "I'm eating a potato, sir. You should try them."
#6- rain
In the rain, he met Irie-kun for the first time in this world, and he likes to remember the soaked clothes, the wet red mop of hair that frames Irie-kun's – (Shou-chan's) – face.
#7- chocolate
Even with chocolate-induced acne, to Byakuran, Irie Shouichi is the cutest thing he has ever seen, and he makes a point to tell Shou-chan this as he feeds the redhead another piece.
#8- happiness
Happiness comes in little things – like in the way Shouichi shyly beams up at him from behind the mosca he has been working on with Spanner, and Byakuran feels the tight knot around his heart loosening as his lips curl up to return the smile.
#9- telephone
Byakuran finds telephones to be useless, be they mobiles or not – there's no phone line that reaches another person's heart, after all, and it's something he sulks over during his weakest moments.
#10- ears
Byakuran talks, Shouichi listens – his ears hear what his heart refuses to believe.
#11- name
He repeats the name a thousand – no, a million – times in a thousand different ways, and yet he still can't get enough of it: Shou-chan.
#12- sensual
There's nothing, nothing sensual in Shouichi's persona – he's clumsy, awkward, introvert to the bone – and yet Byakuran feels himself falling into the trap of seduction.
#13- death
Numb and bloody, he makes his way to Byakuran's eerily still body, praying that he, for once, is wrong and that the other is just faking it.
#14- sex
"How does this even work?" Shouichi asks, disgruntled and embarrassed beyond words as he adjusts his glasses and looks at anything but Byakuran. "Sticking it in my ass seems very... not enjoyable."
#15- touch
It's the first touch after weeks of hesitant acquaintanceship that finally convinces Byakuran that not all is lost – that, and the wary smile that blooms on Shouichi's lips as his fingers dance over the palm of Byakuran's hand.
#16- weakness
They're each other's greatest weaknesses – but neither is enough for the other to halt their actions, neither heart weak enough to succumb into temptations, and one mind already too lost to realize this love.
#17- tears
The last thing Byakuran sees before he parts from this world, before the flames turn him to ashes, is the crestfallen expression on Shouichi's face – and the crystal-like tears glistening the once bright green eyes.
#18- speed
Too fast – too quick – this is all too surreal to be happening, and Shouichi's mind struggles to keep up with the speed of Byakuran and his intense, fickle desires, of which Shouichi now seems to be a part.
#19- wind
Colder than winter wind, Byakuran's arms wrap around Shouichi and cradle the broken body tenderly while Shouichi's mind helplessly screams no.
#20- freedom
Byakuran has always been freer than a bird in the sky with his easygoing, never-changing attitude, meanwhile Shouichi's own mind traps him and brings forth a maze from which he can't escape.
#21- life
"Kill him," Byakuran orders with a smile that holds no regret for stealing a life from someone who used to be precious to him.
#22- jealousy
The feeling scorches him from the inside – it burns, blisters him – but Shouichi can't help it, not when Byakuran argues good-naturedly with Rokudo Mukuro, one who shared many secrets with Byakuran.
#23- hands
Shou-chan's hands were not made to take lives, Byakuran knows; he knows, and yet he forces Shou-chan to do it anyway.
#24- taste
Byakuran has tasted many things in his lifetime before, but there's no taste quite as exquisite as Shou-chan's fear as the redhead trembles underneath him.
#25- devotion
Shouichi's devotion to get any task done is wonderful – but at the same time Byakuran hates it, hates how that devotion has shifted to Tsunayoshi-kun instead of him.
#26- forever
Forever is a word that gets tangled up and twisted so easily – out of empty romanticism, out of fleeting feelings – but Byakuran still promises forevers and never agains to Shouichi, who is inclined to not believe in them.
#27- blood
Shouichi stares at the stains of blood seeping through Byakuran's clothes, and he's once more reminded that Byakuran-san is mortal, just like him.
#28- sickness
In sickness and in health, he stays by Byakuran's side, even as both their minds rot away into different depths of insanity.
#29- melody
He swears he knows this song, the notes, the melody – it's so nostalgic, though Byakuran is hardly swayed by such emotion, but what really pulls his heartstrings is the bland man that plays the guitar, his red hair and green eyes the only remotely remarkable things Byakuran can see.
#30- star
Eyes like diamonds, hair like angel's wings – and a person whose existence is as omniscient as a star; this is what Shouichi grudgingly acknowledges of Byakuran Gesso.
#31- home
"Welcome home," Shouichi whispers to him the very first night they spend together after Byakuran has been released from Vendicare.
#32- confusion
Shou-chan is such a baffling person, Byakuran decides with a frown on his face – why would he choose Tsunayoshi-kun after all the things they have been through together?
#33- fear
Sometimes Shouichi forgets that Byakuran is capable of feeling fear – it seems such a ridiculous thought that Byakuran-san would ever be scared – but now that Shouichi holds a suitcase and a weary expression, Byakuran looks scared, oh so scared.
#34- lightning
Like lightning, he strikes – like lightning, Byakuran blinds him and disappears before Shouichi can ask why.
#35- bonds
It's a friendship on the way to ruins; it's a romance on the road of self-destruction; it's a relationship that shouldn't have happened.
#36- market
Another world, and he meets Irie Shouichi on a market – as a slave owner who's purchasing his next servant.
#37- technology
"Byakuran-san, I'm pretty sure you know how to operate your computer yourself," Shouichi huffs as he sits next to Byakuran, whose hand inconspicuously goes around Shouichi's waist.
#38- gift
What better gift to present to Byakuran-sama than the beheaded head of the once-upon-a-traitor, Irie Shouichi?
#39- smile
Shou-chan lips curve up at the sight of him – and his heart misses a beat, because oh how he missed that smile.
#40- innocence
Seeing innocence wither away from Shou-chan's emerald-like eyes was entertaining; sadly, Shou-chan's loyalty disappeared too.
#41- completion
It's not until he hears the quiet confession from the awkward red-haired teen ("I really like you, Byakuran-san") that Byakuran finally feels complete and at ease with this world.
#42- clouds
"I see you and I in the clouds, Shou-chan – see that one on the right; doesn't it look like us two kissing~?"
#43- sky
Byakuran encompasses it all, like the sky does – greedily, greedily, he takes everything and makes it his, and Shouichi – the ever-burning sun – is no exception.
#44- heaven
Heaven is no place for them – too many mistakes, too many evildoings – but they need no such thing, for they have each other.
#45- hell
Watching Byakuran's insanity grow with the size of his ambition is the most torturous hell Irie Shouichi has ever had to go through.
#46- sun
Sun is blinding in its radiance – hot, warm, never lukewarm – and the sun illuminates the sky; Shouichi smiles sardonically and as his hand absently pets Byakuran's hair, he finds this statement to be true in all of its sentimentality.
#47- moon
Shouichi is the sun; Byakuran is the moon, a pale and hollow reflection of sun's radiance and warmth.
#48- waves
The sound of waves are deafening yet calming as they walk down the beach hand-in-hand, the shackles connecting Byakuran's feet clinging quietly as a reminder that they're not free.
#49- hair
The only thing Shouichi has left is a strand of white hair and a lonely ring.
#50- supernova
They are the dying stars – whispered goodbyes, hands clasped together, i'm sorry i couldn't save you – and they go down in a flash, leaving behind stardust and black holes (and a i'm sorry echoes in the dead universe).