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If someone had to use a trope to sum up Shoichi and Byakuran’s relationship, it would probably be ‘enemies to friends to lovers’. After all, that was how it seemed to work out. In reality though, Shoichi and Byakuran’s relationship was much more complex. It was more of ‘best friends to subordinates to mutual subterfuge to enemies to allies to friends to lovers’.
I.
When Shoichi and Byakuran first met, they were destined to be friends. Across the alternate universes, their first meeting differed; some had them meeting in one of Shoichi’s robotics competitions, paired up in one of their mutual classes or simply bumping into each other on the street.
In this specific universe, Shoichi and Byakuran first found each other in a moderately-popular café in the college campus, named Café Ivy. Byakuran liked it due to the fact it served marshmallows with its hot chocolate, though he usually got his coffee from a different coffee shop. Shoichi frequented the café due to its fast internet. Since the café was smaller but still somewhat popular, it was equipped with good wi-fi but lacked the too many people to slow it down. And the food was decent, which was a plus.
Their meeting went something like this:
Shoichi, intent on beating the crowds that the café sometimes had on weekdays, left his dorm room early to get a headstart and hopefully finish the project that was due today. He arrived right after the café had opened and immediately sat down with his computer and bag, eyes glued to the screen. He only got up to order some coffee and a simple sandwich.
Hours ticked by, and when Shoichi looked back up, the café was crowded, more so than usual. A little listening in allowed Shoichi to catch that the other café people usually went to, Café Rose, was closed due to the owner’s daughter getting into a car crash. Students searching for their daily dose of caffeine came next door instead, resulting in the crowding.
Byakuran was a student also looking for some food and drink. However, when he got there, the café was crowded to an unbelievable extent. As he entered, his elbow accidentally bumped against someone’s coffee cup, spilling it.
“Oh my god!” Byakuran shouted, whirling around to apologize. “I’m sorry!”
The redhead whose coffee he had spilled looked up with a pitiful expression. “Er… it’s okay.”
Byakuran frowned. “I’ll treat you to a new one! How do you take your coffee?”
Looking very confused, the redhead seemed to wince, moving to clutch his abdomen. “With cream?”
“Wonderful! Wait here for a moment!”
About ten to fifteen minutes later (thank the heavens for fast service), Byakuran set two cups in front of Shoichi. He sipped from a cup of hot chocolate, observing the redhead through narrowed eyes. The glasses-wearing boy was a skittish person, seeming to hold onto his stomach as he fought with himself. Byakuran, feeling bad for his peer, decided to start the conversation. “Hi, I’m Byakuran!” he said.
That seemed to make the redhead curl tighter into himself. “I’m S-Shoichi. Shoichi I-Irie,” he muttered, seeming to resist the urge to groan. “I-it’s nice to meet you, Byakuran-san.”
“Eh? Byakuran-san? Are you Japanese perhaps?” Byakuran asked, leaning closer to better observe Shoichi. “Ah, should I call you Shoichi-kun? Or maybe... Sho-chan?”
Shoichi blushed bright red. “Uh…”
“Okay then, Sho-chan! It’s nice to meet you too!”
And from then on, they were fated to be friends.
II.
Compared to how they became friends, becoming subordinates included much less coffee and much more talking. It went something like this:
“Hey, Sho-chan! I need to tell you something,” Byakuran said, a bright smile on his face. “I’m the leader of a mafia family, and I want you to be my subordinate!”
Shoichi froze, feeling the pencil in his hand drop. “W-what?”
“Yep!” The albino’s smile didn’t fade. “I’m the don of the Gesso famiglia, and I want to make you my right-hand!”
The redhead’s stomach began cramping, and he resisted the urge to groan. “You’re… not joking?”
Byakuran’s smile only seemed to widen. “Nope! I think Sho-chan would make a great right-hand man, don’t you?”
“Ah, well…” There were plenty of things wrong with that statement, and Shoichi didn’t know where to start. Maybe with the fact he wasn’t a fighter? Or maybe with the fact he never so much held a gun before? Or that he wasn’t involved with the mafia and never wanted this in the first place? “No, not really…”
“Hm?” Byakuran moved to lean in, his purple eyes open enough to give his smile a predatory feel. Well, more than usual. “Why not, Sho-chan?”
“Well… I don’t think I’d really, well, survive in the mafia…” He curled into himself. “Why are you even asking, Byakuran-san? You know I’d probably end up dead the first day in.”
Byakuran frowned, and Shoichi felt like punching himself. ‘Great on you,’ he thought. ‘You made Byakuran sad, and a sad Byakuran is an annoying one, too.’ But Byakuran didn’t throw a fit. Instead, he said, “You shouldn’t sell yourself so short! After all, Sho-chan has everything he needs to be part of the mafia.”
“What?” Shoichi spine stiffened. What did a mafia man need? A criminal record? A natural ability to kill mercilessly? Last he checked, he had neither, right?
The albino leaned in closer, a mysterious smile forming on his face. “Yep! Sho-chan has very, very pretty Sun flames, don’t you know? He’d make a great right hand, with pretty flames like his… Won’t you consider it?”
Shoichi sighed. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to be part of the mafia. Besides, “What do you mean by ‘Sun flames’?”
Byakuran quirked his head to the side, as if that sentence was confusing in some way. “Hm? Sho-chan doesn’t know? But his flames are Active already, and he’s been teasing me with Harmonization since we first met…”
“Active? Harmonization?” His stomach seemed intent on squeezing his previous meal out, and Shoichi couldn’t hold in a groan of pain. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing~!” Byakuran giggled. “If you don’t join the mafia, you can’t know~! Sorry, Sho-chan, but those are the rules. Of course…” The white-haired male shuffled so his face was right next to Shoichi’s, his mouth almost kissing the other’s ear. “...with flames like yours, some mafia is bound to notice. They won’t be as nice as me, Sho-chan, giving you a choice.”
The redhead shuddered. “I…”
As Byakuran leaned away, he offered his friend another smile, but it was dark now, creepy in its innocence. “So? What do you choose? Come with me, or get swept away by another family?”
Shoichi closed his eyes. The answer was obvious, right? “I-I’ll go with you, Byakuran-san.”
And that was how they became subordinates.
III.
When the ‘mutual subterfuge’ stage of their relationship started and when ‘subordinates’ ended was hard to pinpoint. Some may argue it started when Byakuran first received the Gesso Ring. Others might say it was when Shoichi was presented with the Sun Mare Ring from his boss. Still others will say it was when Shoichi realized exactly what the hell he had done in all those other timelines because beforehand, it wasn’t quite mutual, was it? Regardless, it could easily be said that both stages overlapped, considering that you did have to be subordinates or, at the very least, aware of each other, to ‘mutually sabotage’ each other.
There were definitely a few signs that Byakuran was aware of Shoichi’s inevitable betrayal, and a few signs that Shoichi was going to betray his boss. One of those signs went something like this:
Byakuran hummed happily as he methodically burned his way through a bag of marshmallows. Shoichi, who was called into the office not too long ago, watched with some amount of wry amusement. “Byakuran-san,” he said, “If I may speak, but I don’t think eating that many sweets is very good for the body.”
His boss giggled. “Is Sho-chan worried about me? Don’t worry, then! I make sure to eat my vegetables!”
Shoichi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Was he taking care of a child or an adult? Sometimes, he had trouble telling. “I’m sure you do,” he replied. “Anyway, Byakuran-san, what did you call me for?”
Byakuran offered Shoichi a closed-eye smile. “I know you really don’t like doing stuff like this, Sho-chan, but you’re the only person able.”
The redhead’s blood suddenly went cold. Byakuran only started conversations like that when he would give out the more gruesome tasks to him, like killing a target personally. Despite it already being quite a few years since Shoichi became Byakuran’s right-hand man and a while since Shoichi’s first kill (through a robot, of course, but he couldn’t sleep for weeks without being haunted by the after-images, and god , how did Spanner deal with this?), he was still a naturally gentle soul. Threats, hacking, blackmail, he could make do with. Taking a human life? Not so much.
He could feel his stomach cramping. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, slowly, as if that would make Byakuran change his mind.
It did not. “I want you to take this woman out,” the albino said, sliding a file towards Shoichi. “Remember that conference you’re scheduled to go to in about a month’s time? I need you to kill the daughter of one of the dons you will be meeting with. He’s been kicking up quite the fuss lately, but the death of his only child should shut him up quite quickly.”
As Shoichi opened up the folder, he felt his breath catch in his throat. Though he didn’t like hits, killing a few old men that would have died sooner or later was easy enough to justify. But killing a nine-year-old girl? That felt too cruel. Reading through the report on the girl only made him feel even more sick. The daughter, named Lucia, was a sweet thing, her favorite thing being baking cookies for her father when he worked. Her hobbies included singing, drawing and gardening, and she was described as a “ball of happiness that could do no wrong.”
“I… I can’t do this,” he said, shutting the folder. “I’m sorry, Byakuran-san, but I don’t think I’m cruel enough to kill a little girl.”
Byakuran smiled, but it was his penchant dark smile, the type that made shivers run down your spine. “Are you disobeying me, Sho-chan?”
“Yes.” In an uncommon display of stubborness, Shoichi looked Byakuran straight in the eyes as he said, “I’m not doing this hit.”
“Why not? It’s for a good cause.” Manipulative, cold, impersonal. What had his good friend come to?
When did power and control become everything to him?
“With all due respect, Byakuran-san,” Shoichi started, “but I don’t think ‘a good cause’ justifies the killing of a nine-year-old girl. I’d rather kill the don himself.”
Byakuran pouted, but it didn’t feel cute or childish anymore, not when he had just given the orders to assassinate a child with no mercy or hesitation. “Killing the don would be too obvious. The child though, she’s shown penchant for multiple flame types, so we can just blame the crime on Estraneo. They’re debauched enough to kidnap a little girl for experimentation, and it’s not like they’ll object anyway.”
“That’s… that’s disgusting. Byakuran-san…” It took all his self-control not to throw up on the desk, not as the kind and caring man who had bought him coffee and made up games with him talked so casually about child murder. “I… just, why?”
A head tilt. “What do you mean, Sho-chan? It’s for a perfect world, isn’t that why enough?”
“No.” He could feel his knees turn weak. “The ends don’t justify the means, Byakuran-san. I’m sorry, but I really don’t like the way that you’ve been going about killing people for the sake of this ‘perfect world’! What use is a perfect world when killing and bloodshed made it?! I’m not doing it and that’s final!”
It wasn’t the first time they had this conversation. It wouldn’t be the last, he was sure.
Byakuran only sighed. “You’re too green for this,” he said mournfully. From his desk, he pulled out a bundle of red dahlias and a branch covered with Judas blossoms. “For you,” he said. “I had a feeling you’d deny the hit. Well, I’ll get to him somehow…”
And that was that.
IV.
In contrast, it was much easier to pinpoint exactly when Shoichi learned about Byakuran’s doings, marking the moment when ‘mutual subterfuge’ turned into ‘enemies’. It went something like this:
Shoichi rubbed his eyes, as he groaned from the stomach cramps. He had just saved Vongola, but now he was too anxious, both from wondering when Byakuran would find out and how he would face he boss after his obvious betrayal. Would he be killed on the spot?
At that moment, he spotted a hologram of Byakuran and almost jumped out of his skin, thinking that was the real person. “B-Byakuran-san?”
The hologram Byakuran laughed. “I had a feeling it would come to this.”
“W-what?”
“You trying to fool me into thinking you were on my side… it was really funny, you know that, Sho-chan?”
He flinched. “Y-you mean, you knew?”
“You couldn’t be more obvious if you tried, Sho-chan,” hologram-Byakuran said. “It was a good idea to use the Merone Base invasion to switch sides though, I’ll give you that, Sho-chan. And well, I knew you’d betray me at some point, but joining Vongola was a shocker, I’d say that too. Still, I suppose you becoming my enemy was rather obvious, considering you’d never approved of my actions, Sho-chan…”
“N-no… you’re… wrong,” Shoichi gasped out. He could feel Spanner and Tsunayoshi’s concerned stares on him as he had his mental breakdown, but he didn’t care. Everything he knew seemed to be crumbling down, down, down. Frantic, he tried to grasp onto any sort of rationale he could think of. “You’re… wrong, right? Because, I still have your Sun Ring.”
“Oh, that thing?” Not-Byakuran snapped his fingers, and the ring he wore so proudly shattered into a thousand pieces. “That was fake. Sorry Sho-chan, but did you really think I’d trust something like that to a traitor? Granted, the ring was high-purity, but it’s nothing compared to the real Mare Rings.”
And as his boss (ex-boss now, right? Since he was now officially marked as a traitor of Millefiore) continued to explain about the real Funeral Wreaths, the plans he had kept secret from Shoichi this whole time, Shoichi could feel the way his world crumbled faster than he could tape it together. Even as he numbly agreed to the offer of a job with Vongola, he was barely functioning, too shocked to think properly.
They were now officially enemies. He and Byakuran, best friends in college, now enemies.
What had they come to?
And thus, friend was pitted against friend, now foes.
V.
When the Tenth Vongola Generation returned to the past and all the fighting was done and over with, a tentative alliance was struck between the Millefiore and the Vongola famiglias. Despite the fact that Byakuran had endangered the lives of the entire Tenth Generation, they still decided that an alliance was the best choice to make once Byakuran showed he really did change his ways. Shoichi, however, decided to remain a technician on Vongola’s side, just in case Byakuran returned to his crazy mentality.
Because of the distance, their relationship became strained in the way becoming enemies didn’t do. At least becoming enemies meant they would still acknowledge each other, see each other, even if they were at each other’s throats more often than not. However, simply being allies meant that Shoichi could never see Byakuran, and it weighed heavily on his heart. After all, he was just one technician out of plenty, and it wasn’t as if they had any reason to meet up.
In the end, Shoichi ended up pouring out his frustrations on Spanner, his good friend and fellow technician. It went something like this:
Shoichi frowned. Lately, he had difficulty thinking, and whenever he wasn’t focused, his thoughts always seemed to drift back to white hair and purple eyes and three purple triangles. His work was deteriorating dramatically in quality, to the point he had Tsuna worried over his health.
Eventually, he went to Spanner for advice. His good friend, though blunt, was a good listener if he really tried and did give good advice when he truly cared.
“I don’t know,” he said, watching Spanner as he worked on the Gola Mosca prototype. “I just can’t think straight. Everytime I get off topic, it just seems to trail back to him.”
Spanner chuckled. “It seems like you’re in love.”
“L-love?!” Shoichi squawked, flailing uselessly. “W-what?! What are you talking about?! How could I be in love with Byakuran-san of all people? He tried to kill me!”
“They do say absence makes the heart grow fonder. And maybe you’re just into hot guys with pale hair that try to kill you. There was that time you had a crush on Gokudera in the future, remember? And he was perfectly happy with seeing you die.”
“S-Spanner! T-thatㅡ”
“Totally happened because you wouldn’t shut up about him. Just like now.”
And that was that.
VI.
Shoichi and Byakuran’s previous close friendship was only reignited with a combination of Tsuna’s help and Spanner’s meddling. When asked about it later, Tsuna would deny all allegations while Spanner would say something about how it was entertaining to watch Shoichi blush whenever Byakuran was brought up in a conversation, it was getting irritating fast. In response, Shoichi would claim that no, he did not blush when they talked about Byakuran-san! while sporting bright red cheeks.
The encounter went something like this:
“W-what do you mean, you invited Byakuran-san over to play video games?!” Shoichi shouted before collapsing because stomach cramps. “A-and why didn’t you tell me?”
Spannner rolled his eyes, an easy smile on his face. “Because I knew you’d react this way,” the mechanic said. “I’m willing to play third wheel if that means I don’t have to listen to you talk about him anymore.”
“H-hey! Spanner!” But before Shoichi could say another word, the doorbell rang. He collapsed on the couch, clutching his upset stomach as Spanner went to answer the door.
“What’s up?” the fifteen-year-old greeted the albino. “I hope you’re good at Super Smash Bros because we’re not. I also hope you don’t mind watching us take apart robots, because gaming sessions always seem to end up that way. I bought marshmallows, just in case.”
Byakuran smiled brightly. “Don’t worry! I’m just happy to see Sho-chan and you!” He handed Spanner a bouquet of flowers he seemed to pull out of nowhere. “For you!” he said. Purple hyacinths.
In the living room, where the TV and Wii were set up, Shoichi was currently trying his best not to hyperventilate. How could Spanner do this to him? He trusted him!
“Sho-chan?” an all too familiar voice called out.
Out of sheer instinct, Shoichi called back, “Here!” before cursing himself. What was that for? I thought you didn’t want Byakuran to know you were there?
“Oh, Sho-chan!” Byakuran soon appeared above him, a bouquet of purple hyacinths and red roses in his hands. “I brought flowers for you!”
Shoichi took them helplessly. “Thanks.” At least they weren’t red dahlias or Judas blossoms. “I’ll, uh, see if I can find a vase to put them in.”
“No problem!” Byakuran chirped. “Should we start the game now?”
Spanner, ever the dependable person, said, “I’m already there. Shoichi gets Player 1, since he says he plays better as Player 1. You want Player 2 or 3?”
Byakuran didn’t even think. “Player 2.”
“Alright.” Spanner handed the albino his usual controller. “Do you know the instructions?”
The albino shook his head. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Whatever you say.”
For the rest of the hour, they spent time playing different video games. Spanner trounced Shoichi and Byakuran without even breaking a sweat, resulting in Byakuran playing dirty to win. Shoichi, too timid to pull off half of the things Byakuran was currently and also resigned to his fate as forever last place, took to eliminating himself as early as possible and then fiddling with his latest pet project. Spanner, when he realized he couldn’t beat the level of dirty Byakuran was currently playing on, also ended up getting himself killed off early to building mini-robots with Shoichi. When Byakuran realized they weren’t taking the video games seriously, he shut off the Wii and took the bag of marshmallows, contentedly eating while watching Shoichi and Spanner work.
Monthly gaming sessions soon turned to every other week which soon turned to a weekly basis. Shoichi couldn’t deny it was helping him regain his lost friendship with Byakuran, but that didn’t mean Spanner wasn’t going to be treated to more rants about him.
Spanner only sighed when he realized the rants weren’t going to stop. He had resigned himself to his fate a long time ago.
And that was how Shoichi and Byakuran became friends again.
VII.
When Shoichi and Byakuran became lovers, it was entirely of their own volition. This time, neither Spanner nor Tsuna had meddled with their love lives, allowing the two boys to sort it out on their own. Two years had passed since Byakuran and Shoichi’s (plus one Spanner) first gaming session, and Shoichi could say he was content with the way their relationship was progressing, but he wasn’t entirely too happy, craving something more from the albino. The amount of time they spent without each other was unbearable, and as Spanner said, absence did make his heart grow fonder.
His confession of love went something like this:
Shoichi first studied up as to what Byakuran really loved. Careful observation and experience with the man gave him plenty of data to work with, and what Shoichi ended up fixating the most on was the other man’s love for flower symbolism.
It was what attracted the male Vongola Mist Guardian, Mukuro Rokudo, to Byakuran in the first place. It also explained all the gifts of Judas blossoms and red dahlias and anemones he’d get from Byakuran when they were in the ‘mutual subterfuge’ stage of their relationship, or the purple hyacinths he and Spanner first got when they invited him.
He adamantly ignored the fact he was also given red roses and focused on the task at hand.
Right, flower symbolism. He could always give Byakuran red roses, but that somehow felt too simple and not good enough for the other boy. A little bit more research, and Shoichi finally came up with the perfect bouquet for the other man.
Granted, it put quite the dent in his pocket, but it was worth it, okay? Although, Shoichi really couldn’t understand why custom made flower bouquets were so expensive to begin with.
Surprisingly enough, Byakuran was the one that called the date. “This Saturday, 6:30 PM,” he had said. “Wear something nice.”
Shoichi, whose clothes consisted primarily of t-shirts, jackets and school uniforms at the time, had to borrow something nice from Spanner, who, to many people’s surprise, did not just wear mechanic suits all day. Granted, most of his clothes were mechanic suits, but traveling a few years back resulted in collared t-shirts and black blazers. Once Shoichi had found something he assumed would look rather nice, he first got Spanner’s approval before heading out the door.
At first, Shoichi couldn’t stop his stomach from cramping. An unwieldy bouquet of flowers in one hand and a Rubix cube in the other, Shoichi fiddled with the colorful cube as he tried to dampen his anxiety, though to no avail. He soon found Byakuran, decked out in a purple-white ensemble, standing in front of the restaurant.
“The reservation is in fifteen minutes,” Byakuran said, offering Shoichi his arm. “Shall we take a walk? I heard the sunset is beautiful in Namimori.”
Shoichi took it, silently reminding himself that a) collapsing from his dying stomach would ruin the date and b) they weren’t a couple yet, before Byakuran led him to a building and up the stairs. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any cliffs that would be easy to walk to, so we’ll have to make do with watching the sunset on a building,” he said rather mournfully. Shoichi merely nodded in reply.
Byakuran wasn’t lying when he said the sunset was beautiful in Namimori. Especially on a clear day, the sun dipping on the horizon, seemed to dye the sky in a sort of rainbow that slowly darkened as the sun went down. At first the sky was red, then orange, then yellow, then pink, before fading into a deep navy blue.
‘Well,’ Shoichi thought, ignoring the stomach cramps. ‘No time like the present.’
And so he thrust the bouquet of flowers into Byakuran’s face. “I… really like you, Byakuran-san! Will you date me?!” he asked, wincing at the absolutely altogether too awkward confession. Then again, he hadn’t practiced this at all, although he probably should have.
Byakuran took the bouquet gently, murmuring under his breath. “Red chrysanthemum, myrtle, forget-me-not, lilacs, violets. All of which mean love.” He glanced up. “You made this for me?”
“Yeah,” Shoichi murmured, blushing red. “Do you… do you not like it?”
“No.” Byakuran said, offering Shoichi a warm smile. “In fact, I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time.” And kissed him.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Later on in life, Shoichi and Byakuran would look back on how far their relationship had gone. “Well,” Shoichi would say. “I guess you could call it unconventional, maybe.”
“Nah." Byakuran decided, "It’s more of, complicated, I think.”