Chapter Text
The soft ticks of the heir’s timer spun in his mind as he stood in his room, looking down to see where it was at.
TWO HOURS AND THIRTY MINUTES.
He was always told to ignore it, his father leaning over him as a child pushing the thought into his skull. The timer almost guaranteed that he would never be heir- that's not how the Togami company ran. It was always countless women to bear the children of the future, never someone’s soulmate.
He convinced himself whoever it was, he would just simply ignore the timer, and ignore the woman on the other side of it, the same timer on their wrist. Maybe if he was lucky, he would ignore it to where he could just continue the tradition of his family name and forget it ever happened to him.
No, wait, that didn’t seem right.
Byakuya was always one to be fine if he didn’t actually have one, and to ignore the whole “soulmate” cliche all together, but.. No it didn’t seem right. He hated thinking of it, the thought always quickly manifested imperfections in him. It always quickened his heart, and made his palms sweaty at the thought.
Woman? On the other side?
No, it didn’t feel right to him. He usually ignored that, because that’s how it would be. How did he think the future would happen? The only one who made it happen were those doing this to people. And he was certain he was not out of his family’s expectations.
Take one look at his family. No one stepped out of place in the open.
It was all behind closed doors, and even then you could be blackmailed if you told the wrong sibling.
Byakuya checked the time on his watch, grabbing his bags for the next few weeks. Sure, everything was already set up in his room before he even left, but if he didn’t take it, he was sure it wouldn’t be there when he returned eventually.
-
THIRTY MINUTES.
He set his bags down, unpacking the last things to make his dorm room his own. Byakuya seemed to get there before any other student did, the rooms empty. He set his violin case to the side of the room, thanking whoever silently the rooms were soundproof.
Seven Thirty, he should probably head over to where the class could be.
Byakuya spent his time silently going back to the halls, looking at his schedule to find where to meet everyone. Class 1-A, then. Seemed simple enough.
He opened the door, checking the timer. Fifteen minutes . He stepped in, face to face with early arrivers.
There were very few in the room. One was dressed in white, hair short cut and a deep, gray-purple. And as soon as Byakuya got in the room he stood to his feet, body straight as a board.
“MY NAME IS KIYOTAKA ISHIMARU!” He shouted, bowing his body in half to him. “I AM THE ULTIMATE MORAL COMPASS!”
Byakuya scoffed, taking his seat. “Byakuya Togami. Ultimate Affluent Progeny,” he stated, still refusing to give the other male eye contact.
Slowly kids had started trickling in, Byakuya checking his timer every time another classmate entered. He was sure some of their timers- if any of them had one- had stopped by now. So where was his other side?
“Am I late?”
Byakuya’s heart dropped. His eyes shot to his wrist, timer stuck at a perfect 00:00:00:00. Eight Am. For the first time in fifteen minutes the heir lifted his head, eyes immediately connecting with..
Him.
Nothing about him said I a m an ultimate! And for a moment, Byakuya thought he had mistaken this room for the reserve classroom. He scoffed, eyes narrowing.
“You might as well be.” He was painfully.. Average. There was nothing that spoke to his level of perfection. And for a moment, Byakuya almost thought his father was right; there was no such thing, and that it was false to think otherwise. Besides, this was a complete joke, and a waste of his time.
If it was meant to be, why was the person who painfully average? Nonetheless, why did it seem to be a boy ? Surely this was a mistake. Byakuya Togami was perfect in every way, and everything about this was.. Not perfect. On top of this, it really could be a joke. He could’ve just been distracted by the boy speaking to realize anyone else had walked in before him. There was a hint of.. Something in the boy’s eye he couldn’t make out. Understanding? Trust?
He sharply sighed, eyes growing intense on the boy keeping steady eye contact with him. No one did that.
And Byakuya would make it absurdly clear he wanted
nothing
to do with him.