Work Text:
Byakuya swung open the door, exhausted from work. Rebuilding the Togami Corporation from the ground-up was nowhere near an easy task, but thankfully– he wasn’t alone. He hadn’t been for a while.
“Makoto, I’m back.” He announced, calmly taking off his outer blazer and hanging it on the coat tree beside the door.
This had been routine for a while– he would come back home to their small apartment, to be greeted with Makoto giddily calling back out to him. He’d never admit it to his face, but reuniting with his husband after a stressful day was one of the things he looked forward to the most.
Byakuya stood in the entryway for a moment, awaiting a response. Upon not receiving one, he stepped into the house with caution. “Makoto?” He called once more, peeking into each room.
Upon nearing the main living-room, he heard noises. Sounds of discomfort, but a voice that was indeed Makoto’s. He let out a sigh of relief.
He tilted his head from the wall to get a view of what he was doing. Makoto was undeniably trying to do something, but Byakuya couldn’t tell what from the angle. So, silent as a mouse– he approached the couch which he was sitting on from behind.
“What are you doing?” He said bluntly– causing Makoto to whip his head towards him with a shocked expression,
“B-Byakuya?! Sorry, I didn’t hear you come back!” Makoto got up hastily, standing in a rather odd position, a weird distance away from him. Byakuya raised an eyebrow, coming around the couch to see what he was trying to hide. As he did– Makoto also conveniently shifted to a position obscuring the same spot, wearing a clearly guilty smile with his arms around his back.
Byakuya crossed his arms, this clearly wasn’t going anywhere. “What are you hiding?” He asked, to which Makoto just shrugged, remaining planted in his spot. Byakuya walked closer, locking their gazes. “Whatever it is, I won’t be mad, okay?”
Makoto let out a defeated, near theatrical sigh at his words, stepping aside pitifully. Byakuya finally got a clear view of what he was trying to hide– his eyes widening.
A cat.
A small, void-black cat.
“No.” He declared, already turning away.
Makoto chased after him, grabbing his arm. “C’mon! You said you wouldn’t be mad!” He whined, to which Byakuya just rolled his eyes.
“I’m not mad. I just don’t want that thing in any close proximity to me or this house.” He glared at the feline sitting behind the other as he spoke.
“T-That's basically the same as being mad!-” Makoto shook his head, frowning. “And he’s not a thing!”
“Oh, it’s a he now?” Byakua retorted, turning to face him as he let go of his arm.
“Yeah, he’s a he.” Makoto said amusedly, crossing his arms and tilting his head up, likely in an attempt to make himself look taller. Which was slightly amusing, as Byakuya was still clearly staring down at him.
“And.. his name?” Byakuya enunciated, to which Makoto let out a sound of panic. “You gave him a gender but not a name?” He sighed. Makoto scratched his head as Byakuya resisted the urge to drag his hands down his face. He knew he would kill for this man but couldn’t deny how much he got on his nerves.
“H-hey! It’s a work in progress…” Makoto blushed.
A small, awkward moment of silence passed, to which Byakuya killed the mood off. “We’re not keeping it.” he deadpanned.
“Oh come on, look how cute it is!” Makoto beamed, holding the cat below its arms and presenting it to Byakuya as if it was some kind of trophy.
Byakuya physically recoiled at the cat being held so close to him. “Get that.. gremlin out of my sight at once.” He said, turning away on his heel.
Makoto sighed, turning the feline towards him, pouting. He booped its nose, smiling to himself. “He’ll get used to you, don’t you worry.” He said gently, scratching its chin. This was going to take some work, wasn’t it?
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Byakuya settled into bed with his partner, pulling the throw blanket over himself– sinking into the comfort of the sheets. He let out a slow, deep breath– he wouldn’t trade these days for anything.
He could sense something of disarray beside him– so with his last amount of his strength, he turned his head to the love of his life. Who was.. already staring at him, with a smile which was far too energetic for the late hour. “What is it?” Byakuya rasped.
Makoto’s smile seemed to somehow grow wider. “The cat!”
Byakuya groaned, turning back to face the ceiling– wanting to suffocate himself with his pillow. The aforementioned love of his life pleaded. “Hey! What’s so wrong with a cat?”
Byakuya glared at him through the corner of his eye. “I don’t want it.”
Makoto seemed to shuffle closer, voice low. “I think it’ll be good for us.” Makoto found his hand under the blankets– taking it in his. With Makoto’s soft, warm smile directed at him— how could he bring himself to argue?
“Let’s talk about this tomorrow. Please.” He noticed Makoto’s smile faltering slightly, before it was quickly brought back.
“Okay. G’night, Byakuya. Love you..” Makoto closed his eyes, still facing him, their hands intertwined. Byakuya stared at his face, studying all of his soft features, tightening his grip on his hand, as if he’d slip away otherwise. He didn’t ever want to lose this.
“Good night.” He said, to no one in particular.
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hope moves forward.
Byakuya stared into the mirror, picking apart each detail of his face. He reflected on the Killing Game, as he often did. As they all had.
He reflected on the exact moment he found out his entire family heritage had been eradicated. He’d be lying if he said he truly felt any sort of warm or emotional connection with them. He never had.
Despite not caring for them, they still made up his identity.
He reflects on the moment he felt the claws of despair reaching out for him, at long last. The moment the source of his superiority was stripped away from him. The thing that separated him from being a commoner. Gone. All at the amusement of Junko Enoshima.
The moment was short lived, nonetheless.
Though he tried to claim that he had never, even for a moment, felt that despair— he did. Even if it was for a fraction of a moment– he felt it. Complete, utter hopelessness.
That was when he truly realized his feelings for Makoto Naegi.
He was snapped out of his retrospect when he heard Makoto’s worried voice, presumably trying to get ready. Also probably late, again. He huffed, a mixture of annoyance and endearment.
He walked out of the bathroom, seeing exactly what he expected– Makoto running across the room, clueless, looking frazzled. Wordlessly, he walked toward the frantic man, holding his shoulders. “Byakuya! I’m gonna be late!-” Byakuya muffled the rest of his words with his palm, to the other man’s embarrassment, shushing him.
He then traced his hands down to his tie, which was lazily strung over his collar. He began tying it for him with unmatched precision, Makoto’s gaze still ineptly trained on him. As soon as Byakuya finished– Makoto suddenly leaned forward, burying his face into his chest. Byakuya froze at the new sensation of warmth, before placing his hand on Makoto’s head, massaging his scalp.
“What am I gonna do..” Makoto said, muffled by Byakuya’s shirt. Byakuya combed through his hair reassuringly. He knew exactly what this was about– the Future Foundation consistently placed an unruly amount of responsibility onto him. Byakuya wanted nothing else than to give them a piece of his mind– but was stopped on multiple occasions by Kirigiri, likely for the best.
“You’re going to be late,” Byakuya said softly, to which Makoto groaned. “Makoto.” He repeated.
Makoto finally rose, albeit languidly. “Sorry.. ‘Kuya..” He drawled, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes.
Byakuya stepped forward, cupping his cheek. Makoto placed his hands on his wrist, smiling. Their faces inched closer, their lips close to making contact– before Makoto suddenly stopped, his expression filled with urgency. “I forgot to feed the cat!”
With the moment formally over, Byakuya sighed, giving him a small peck on his forehead instead. Makoto’s face flushed, mouth agape– “I’ll do it.” Byakuya said.
“A-are you sure? Don’t you have work?”
“Not today. Just go, Naegi.” Byakuya sighed, Makoto smiled at his words– and Byakuya convinced himself it was worth it.
“You’re the best Byakuya!” He knew. “The food’s in the left pantry. It's in a purple bag.” Byakuya hummed, despite not really paying attention.
Makoto went on his tippy-toes to quickly kiss him on the cheek. “I’ll see you later!” Just like that, Makoto left, Byakuya’s eyes lingering on the door for a moment too long.
He was brought back from his reverie at something pushing up his leg.
He looked down to see hazel-green eyes staring back at him, soft, half-closed eyelids. Byakuya resisted the urge to kick it off. “Shoo. Go away” He spat.
It did in fact, not shoo, or go away.
It did in fact, cling onto his leg the entire walk to the damn pantry.
His limp to the kitchen was anything but graceful, but alas, he got there in the end. He briefly contemplated throwing the thing out to the streets, but shut down the idea. Makoto would be heartbroken. However, with the way it was clinging to him and probably ruining the fabric of his pants, he was indeed tempted.
“Ugh.” He groaned, swinging open the pantry. He found the food Makoto was talking about, a purple bag with an edited image of a smiling cat on it. He grabbed it with two fingers, nose scrunched.
The feline meowed, finally letting go of his leg. “Quiet, will you?” Byakuya scolded. He seemed to have listened, as he obediently sat down next to the counter, staring at Byakuya with those half-lidded eyes. Byakuya huffed, the color of them reminded him strangely of Naegi.
He brushed off the thought and grabbed a bowl, internally noting which one it was so he could throw it out after. He would rather be caught dead then found eating off the same bowl as that.
He opened the bag, grimacing at the stench. A pungent, earthy smell. He stared down at the creature, who was clearly excited. He almost felt sympathy for his limited palette. He poured the kibble into the bowl until half-full, then put the bag back in the pantry.
When he turned back, the cat had already jumped to the counter, and began stuffing its face. “What happened to manners?” He muttered.
Byakuya considered his job done, and sat down in his recliner by the balcony, the early sunlight peering in through the glass. He let out a deep sigh, putting on his reading glasses and grabbing the book from the table beside him.
He felt serenity for a solid two minutes, before another high-pitched meow caught his attention.
He sighs, putting his book down, to be greeted with the sight of the furry creature staring up at him from his legs. “What?” He said, the feline only blinked.
He shut his book. “You’re not starving. What else could you possibly want?”
Another small meow, eyes dilated and seemingly locked on something. Byakuya furrowed his brows, before realizing far too late what it was about to do.
It gracefully landed onto the armrest of the recliner, to which Byakuya instinctively shifted away. “Get down you cretin-!” He didn’t listen, only curling up into a ball, a loud purring sound filling the air.
Byakuya remained motionless, questioning the sheer audacity of this thing. It was stubborn, forgiving and clingy.
He sighed. Damn you, Makoto…
He didn’t shove it off, he didn’t want to get his hands dirty, after all. Who knows what sort of diseases it was carrying? That’s at least what he told himself over and over while questioning why he was tolerating it sitting so close to him for so long.
So, under that purrfectly sensible justification– he begrudgingly picked up his book again, still keeping a close eye on the feline through the corner of his eye. It seemed.. completely sound asleep, still purring. Byakuaya scoffed, turning back to his book, still keeping an eye out for any sudden movements on its part.
When getting nothing out of it– he let down his guard. Somewhere along the way, he somehow missed the cat completely turning to its side, headbutting against his fingers, seemingly purring louder. He absentmindedly began stroking the cat, eyes not tearing away from his book.
By the time he came to his senses and turned his head– it was too late, the cat had already melted into his touch, a seeming expression of pure serenity.
In his mind, at this point– he was just pitying the poor thing.
That didn’t explain why he scratched under his chin, or why he even continued to pet him– but the thought didn’t exactly cross his mind at the moment.
He noticed he was tired. This was rare for him generally. But for some reason– he felt a particular drowsiness today he couldn't ignore. The sound of purring was also strangely comforting, better than any white noise. He set down his book on his lap, deciding to rest his eyes. Yep, just rest his eyes– still petting the cat, of course. What could go amiss?
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“Byakuya! I’m back! I also got some stuff for the cat.. I figured he was getting sick of the kibble.” Makoto entered the apartment– kicking off his shoes, holding two plastic bags. “And.. I know you don’t like him but i really think that-”
Makoto’s sentence died out upon walking into the living room.
Byakuya sat on the recliner, eyes closed and head tilting sideways. What really caught his attention though– was the furry feline companion he had beside him. His hand placed gently on its back. Makoto’s jaw hung open in shock. “O-kay.. I’m just going to..” He said, silently running to their room.
Snap!
His phone’s camera shutter decided in that moment to go full-volume. Bad luck.. Huh.. Makoto thought to himself, silently preparing himself for the cold embrace of death.
Expectedly, Byakuya’s eyes flew open, catching sight of Makoto immediately, then noticing the position he was in– retracting his hand as if he’d been burned, all while the cat remained unaffected, not exactly helping his case.
Byakuya stormed towards him, hair tousled and glasses askew– he’d clearly been napping for a while. Makoto, once again– prepared for the sweet, sweet release of death. “We never speak of this.” He grumbled. Makoto nodded hastily. Byakuya then slogged towards the room– he’s probably tired. Makoto thought, smiling to himself.
He stared down at the picture he’d gotten, the afternoon light hitting his lover's face perfectly– his gentle expression when fallen into slumber much different from the tense one he’d often seen. He adored seeing his face rid of any discomfort or coldness– he could stare at him for hours, despite how creepy that sounded in retrospect. He admired the photo for a prolonged second, hugging it to his chest.
He then drew his attention to his feline friend, crouching down to meet its level, near nose-to nose. His eyes were still closed– likely still sleeping. Makoto smiled endearingly, scratching behind its ear. “We really have to get you a name.”