Chapter Text
Byakuya never liked Leon— let alone anyone else, but that is besides the point. No one ever got close to the heir, even if they wanted to. He either demanded they go away immediately, or he’d just walk away himself. Toko especially had to hammer this into her mind. And even though she didn’t stalk over him too much anymore, she sometimes did and unfortunately drooled over him.
It seemed unfortunate that Byakuya had no friends. But on the other hand, he insulted just about everyone, from the headmaster to Mondo Oowada who could’ve ripped his face off his head. Perhaps it was better he was alone… Probably.
Leon on the other hand; he was part of the “Lunch Table Gang”, LTG for short— the small group of friends that consisted of Mondo, Taka, Chihiro, and himself. Sometimes Sakura and Aoi. So he didn’t really mind nor think of Byakuya. They wouldn’t seem to get along anyway. Leon always stood close with someone, always occupied. Even at night he was occupied. Either hanging out with the LTG in Mondo’s or Chihiro’s room, or by himself yelling lyrics of random songs with the door locked.
The two never interacted much, but this seemed to change everything between them.
All of the students were lined up in the gym once more, after Monokuma had called them there for an announcement. “OKAY KIDDOS! I’m tired to be honest so looks like we’re going on a well deserved WEEK LONG FIELD TRIP!” Monokuma announced, ripping off his black and white suit comically and revealing a green unbuttoned button up, black shorts and somehow sock and sandals. The group of students gasps and started to talk over each other.
“Finally! We get to be somewhere other than here,” Junko sighed, petting her pigtails. “I wonder where we’re going! A beach? That would be AWESOME!! Hopefully some donut stand will be near by!” Aoi cheerfully exclaimed, grabbing onto Sakura who also looked content with the idea of a field trip. All around was cheerfulness and smiles, even Byakuya who bared a small grin. “Bro! If we’re ever going to carnival, I wanna go on the Ferris Wheel with you!” Mondo said, turning to Taka. “Same bro!! Can’t wait!!”
”Monokuma, where are we headed?” Makoto asked. “Oh, right, he didn’t even say where we were headed.” Leon said to himself, crossing his arms. “Well, we’re going to be heading into a city! A city with tourist attractions, carnival, museums, and even a beach!” Monokuma announced. “Wait, how are you gonna pay for this trip?” Chihiro raised their hand. “Welp, you don’t need to worry about that! We’ll have enough money for sure! And if not, we can always ask Celeste or Byakuya.”
”Excuse me?” Celeste knitted her eyebrows and glared at the principal.
”Moving on, go pack up your things and HURRY UP OUTSIDE! Okay, good luck!” Then Monokuma disappeared. “Well dudes, I’m like, totally pumped right now.” Hiro chuckled, his hands planted on his hips. “I know right? I wonder what else would be there,” Leon had a soft smile on his face as he was carried away by Chihiro following Mondo and Taka.
The class did as instructed and had packed up everything and waited outside where Monokuma was.
Or… Was supposed to be.
“Hey, are you sure were supposed to be out here?” Leon tapped Byakuya on the shoulder. “Yes, did you not hear the announcement he made? Or are you deaf.” The heir insulted. “Jeez man, I get it.” Leon murmured. “Problem is, he might be slow himself.” Byakuya added. “Could’ve said that instead of saying I’m deaf, but I guess we don’t always get what we want,” Leon said, hinting his comment with sarcasm.
Soon as that quick interaction ended, a loud honk came from around the corner, and up a speeding bus. “Jesus—!” Mondo was terrified at the speed the bus was going before it had stopped. “Sorry for the lateness kiddos! I wanted to paint the bus but I couldn’t find the paint! So I guess we’re going into this boring orange bus.” Monokuma sighed.
”I think it would’ve taken much longer for you to paint the bus, right?” Hiro said. “Whatever!! Just get in or you’re expelled.” Monokuma teased. “Fine, fine!”
Hiro was the first one on the bus. Then Celeste, Hifumi, Kiri, Makoto, and everyone else. Leon was one of the last ones on and rushed in to get a seat.
The LTG couldn’t all fit in one seat, so Leon looked for another. Aoi and Sakura offered Leon to sit with them, but Sakura was too big, so Leon looked for another. No one wanted to sit with Hifumi, so Leon ended up seated with the heir who called him deaf, Togami.
Leon felt out of place sitting with Togami, who wore a short sleeved button up, grey shorts and black sandals. His arms were crossed and he looked out the window with a blank face Leon couldn’t read. Leon hummed and laid his back against the seat, his stomach filled with excitement.
Before tossing his bag up on the metal bars above, Leon fumbled through his bag, searching for music as Monokuma announced that the trip was going to take around 2 to 3 hours. Leon pulled out his phone and earbuds, zipping his bag and putting it on the railings a before the bus roared to life once more and started to ride away from Hopes Peak. Leon plugged in his phone and let out a breath of relief as he scrolled through Spotify.
When he found his 16 hour playlist filled to the brim with indie rock, punk rock, and other genres ending with ‘rock’, he almost pressed play… When Byakuya interrupted. “Leon,” He called, his voice weirdly gentle for some reason. Maybe he wanted to keep silent because all the other students were loud.
”Mm?” Leon hummed, taking out an earbud and looking over at Byakuya, who had been staring at him. Leon didn’t notice until a second later, and almost tensed up. “O-oh, I won’t play music if you don’t want to.” Leon said, his palms becoming sweaty. But, his response was nothing like he’d had thought it would be.
”I want to listen to music too. What genres do you listen to, because I will not be listening to rock.”
“Oh—!”
Leon shot his gaze back down to his phone and exited his 16 hour rock n roll playlist. “Uhm, I listen to some indie songs, and… Some calmer songs.” He searched through his playlists before realizing he needed to make a new one. “So, uh… I think I need to make a new playlist.” Leon mumbled, pressing the plus button, and making a new playlist labeled ‘Bus Ride’.
As Leon looked down at his phone, the heir peeked over, his presence unknowingly becoming know by Leon, who felt embarrassed. “G…give me a moment,” Leon whispered. “It’s whatever. Take your time.” Byakuya huffed, still peeking over his shoulder, their arms now pressing up against each other. ‘Take your time’ didn’t really help when Byakuya was leaning on Leon.
This was going to be a loooong trip.
Leon finally picked enough songs to where it was around 2 hours and 34 minutes. “A-alright, here we go,” Leon looked up and Byakuya leaned his head against the window again. “Alright. Give one of your earphones.” The heir demanded. Leon silently complied as he quickly gave him his right earbud. “M’kay,” Leon shoved the left earbud in his own ear and finally pressed play.
This song… was surprisingly soft for someone like Leon to know. The punk looked over after a minute and studied Byakuya’s face. His face was blank itself, but his eyes were just a tad bit wider.
”You… This is a g… an okay song. Didn’t know you liked this type of music.” Byakuya commented, before shutting up. Leon laid his back up against the seat again as the students further up started to talk more quietly.
Each song, Leon tried to hold himself back, but he always ended up leaning forward and examining Byakuya’s face. The heir’s eyes were fixated on the passing scenery rushing by the bus. Soon enough, Leon stopped trying to look, losing interest after around 4 songs. Leon instead peaked over the seats and joined in the conversations that the rest of the gang were participating in. But, those started to die out also, as Chihiro and Aoi got tired, and then everyone else.
So here he was, staring at the floor, almost every classmate asleep.
The bus left at around 4 pm, and as Leon suspected, the sun begun to lower and settle beyond the horizon. Leon himself felt like his eyes were going to close. The gentle music combined with a relaxing atmosphere and the quiet noises of the bus bumping against the road’s rocks and asphalt.
The punk ran his fingers through his hair, sighing through his nose and his eyes softening. His body was drowsy. What time did he sleep at last night? Oh, 4 am… right. Reminded with the late time he passed out, he felt even more drowsy. Getting up, he pulled down his bag sitting on the bars above and plopped back down.
With one more glance, he inspected Byakuya’s face.
…
He was asleep. His face was peaceful, static. The golden lighting from over the horizon laid on one half of his face like a blanket, creating a special vibe around him.
The sound of ukuleles played in Leon’s ear as he admired him. He looked away, down at his bag and felt his face become warm. He mentally set it aside, ignoring what he just saw, burying his face in the fabric of his bag. He didn’t think for a moment, blinking sluggishly before his gaze flickered back to the heir.
So stupid. For someone as much as an asshole like Togami, he was impressively pretty in his sleep. It clawed at Leon’s gut as his eyes shut and the music in his ear faded away, falling asleep.
Voices from what he assumed were other students rattled in Byakuya’s brain, and made him wake up. The sky outside bruised blue and purple, and the sun was set. Bushing his dirty blonde hair to the side, he realized the music still played in his ear. He took the earbud out of his ear and stared at it for a moment, then looking over at the sleeping punk next to him.
Baykuya looked at Leon, looking up and down, scoffing and putting the earbud in his open ear. “The music was okay, I guess.” he whispered to himself, crossing his arms and putting his head up back against the cold window.
Gentle melodies replayed in his mind as he looked at the trees passing by the bus. Stupid Leon and his music influence. It pissed him off. Why would he care for some music? It was okay, but not good.
He was caught off guard and almost jumped out of his seat when he saw Mondo stand up and turned around to talk to Leon. “Hey—! Oh, he’s asleep.” Mondo almost yelled.
Mondo hummed before looking over at Byakuya and giving a glare of disappointment. The heir returned the favor before averting his eyes back to the window as Mondo sat back down. A piss off “Whatever,” escaped his lips as he pressed his body against the cold metal wall of the bus that shook violently.
”SHARP TURN EVERYONE!” Monokuma yelled out, as the bus entered a road loop. As the principal said, a hard sharp turn occured. At that moment, almost everyone woke up, and Byakuya could’ve sworn he heard Aoi fall out of her seat, telling from the yelp she gave out and the following thud.
Groans and complaints came from each student that have woken up after the turn. And so, sadly everyone was awaken and up to annoy Byakuya with their loud conversations.
Well, except Leon. Leon had his ribs pressing up against Byakuya’s and he was halfway off his bag he used as a pillow that also shifted to the right with the turn. “Gh—?!” Byakuya was taken aback at the still sleeping punk pressing up against his cold body.
Byakuya almost yelled out a demand before deciding against it. Cursing under his breath, he realized that the position that Leon had been in must’ve been uncomfortable. He considered pushing him off, maybe out the seat but after long consideration, he pulled up the all-star and let him rest against his arm and shoulder.
Leon must’ve been manipulating him via brain waves.
There was no way that Byakuya could’ve just did this out of generosity. Impossible.
Just to make matters worse. Chihiro jumped up and turned around, assuming to ask if he was okay. Instead, they were met with Leon leaning against the Togami. Chihiro mouthed an ‘oh.’ then sat down slowly. And Byakuya couldn’t do anything to stop them, because he might’ve woken up Leon.
Not like he cared, if he had woken up Leon, he might’ve gotten punched, probably.
Byakuya had no idea how long this was going to last, but he wanted it to end soon. As conversions started up again, he remembered, did he pack his books?
He tensed up but he relaxed. This was going to be the worst vacation ever.
His first vacation, to be the worst must be bad luck. With his constant motivation to be perfect running through his mind since he was just an infant, he had never expected to ever go on vacation.
Frankly he was afraid. He was scared being caught being vulnerable, and turning into no one in name of the Togami family. He could die while having fun. He couldn’t decide what fate would do to him if he dare shown imperfections in front of his lower classmates.
In reality, deep down, past his deepest secrets and shoved down memories, he believed he was just nothing. A no one. This Togami mask he put on for the sake of his family he needed to carry, it was his whole life. If he left for the streets, he would be spit on, and constantly reminded of what he was.
He hated this mask. Yet he couldn’t tear it off, even if he wanted to. He was chained to the Togami name, and he was only going to be let go if he failed. He can’t bear the thought of failing. Vulnerability equals failure. Failure equals death.
Not to mention, he was expected to take care of himself from just 6 years old. His parents saw him as a thing, a trophy that needed to be won. He was fucking pissed at how they treated him. He was so pissed that he needed them to survive. Sure he was perfect but it took too much damage to turn out that way.
”Bya..kuya?”
The heir snapped out of his trance of the trees and looked down at the punk. Leon’s tired eyes widened as he saw the slight emotion in his face, deep in his eyes. “Byakuya.” Leon said.
Byakuya’s face morphed back to his normal blank slate of a face. “What.”
”Why was I laying on you?”
”The bus hit a sharp turn. It should be at least an hour until we get there.” Byakuya grumbled.
”Oh,” Leon responded, his back sitting back up against the seat and rubbing his tired eyes. He tried to ignore the face that Byakuya made, and it was hard.
The worry in his blue glassy eyes, the slight downwards of his eyebrows that weren’t angry, his lips open just a tad bit to show how upset he was. Did Leon do something in his slumber?
Leon yawned, shaking off the feeling. He leaned forward and peaked out of his seat and tapped Mondo on the shoulder, who’s legs were itching out into the aisle.
”Oh, hey man!” Mondo replied, looking over his shoulder. “Good evening Leon!” Taka yelled out, a smile planted in his pale face. “Hey,” Chihiro peeped out.
“Wha’ happened when I was asleep?” Leon asked. “Well, nothing much, Monokuma hit a hard fuckin’ turn and Chihiro said that you were leaning on Togami.” Mondo explained, turning half of his body towards him.
”Oh.” Leon said. “Oh.” Leon added.
”Yeah..” Chihiro said from the corner of Leon’s eye.
”Fuck.” Byakuya whispered loudly from behind him.
Fuck the bus ride, Byakuya had to deal with a whole week of this week. This was going to be painfully long.