title: Scorching Days of Avarice

rating: M

characters: Irie Shouichi, Byakuran

pairing: 10051 (sort of twisted but hey, you know my stuff)

summary: Greed and mischief lead to destroyed air conditioning and something else.

warnings: sexual content.

notes: I have no idea how this ended up smutty.

The lazy afternoon light penetrated the cracks of curtains that fluttered weakly in the wind provided by the several large fans located in random corners of the room. Even those fans, however, could not manage to alleviate the scorching heat and humidity of the Italian air, and the Japanese male cursed inwardly the Mediterranean climate – not for the first time during this long summer.

The cons of having his private room as his study room was just this: the stuffy, humid air that clung to his skin like a leech intent on sucking him dry – the only difference was that the air was intent on sucking completely different liquid substance from him than leeches.

Irie Shouichi released an exhausted sigh from deep within his throat as he raised his head up from his desk, noting with dismay the wet spot left on the dark wood as a drop of sweat made its way down Shouichi's nose on which his glasses lay askew, courtesy of his less than practical sleeping position.

Shouichi grimaced as tingles of pain crept up his back. Another trip to his masseuse might be necessary, he thought as he hung his head low and adjusted his glasses absently. That would be an inconvenience to his plans of meeting up with Hibari Kyoya and a certain Vongola Decimo.

Shouichi's lips curled down in worry at that thought, and a familiar bubble of anxiety floated in his stomach, growing in size ut not yet bursting.

He brought a hand over his forehead and swept away his sweat-moistened bangs as he took a deep, calming inhale. It was a weak attempt at self-comfort, but it was much better than the lies he whispered to himself night after night.

It would be alright... Byakuran won't get away with this... Everything will be alright... This world can be saved...

Lies were much better than falling into desperation that he felt clawing at the back of his mind at every turn, at every action he took, at every discreet mirthful glance from Byakuran.

It killed him a little more each day to see Byakuran's barely veiled madness; it killed him to see that hunger simmering behind the eyes of the one he had once recognized as his dearest friend who had pulled the redhead up from the depths of meaninglessness he himself had given himself.

Shouichi's fingers combed his hair that was matted against his scalp. Clothes clung to his skin, and he felt disgusting in a more vain way than usually.

The heat wave in Italy was much harsher than usually, and Shouichi wondered idly if the weather was responding to Byakuran's fickle moods. He wouldn't be surprised if it did, in all honesty; Byakuran had that kind of effect on both people and even phenomena around him and forced everyone to accommodate his overbearing self.

Shouichi shook his head, refusing to indulge his thoughts, as he returned his full attention to the laptop in front of him, now on hibernation as he had fallen asleep on it hours before this moment.

Shouichi tugged at the headphones around his neck before starting up the playlist that had reached its end sometime during his sleep.

Shouichi's sweat-drenched and dreadfully pale face relaxed almost instantly when the first notes of Blood&Pepper's newest single wafted through the air, clearly audible even though the headphones remained around his stiff neck.

"You found me that day, alone and broken..."

The accented English words reached his ears as Shouichi's fingers slid over to his keyboard as the screen full of algorithms and incomprehensibly long series of numbers lightened up, and this brought up the workaholic that was Irie Shouichi, the captain of the Rosa Squad of Millefiore, not to mention the Sun Funeral Wreath who had sworn loyalty to Byakuran along with eternal servitude.

Loyalties, however, were so easy to skewer and to eliminate in front of what was more important.

Shouichi's eyelids began to droop after the first fifteen minutes of enthusiastic typing and programming, shoulders slumping low.

"Tell me, what did I do to you? Tell me, do you love the sight of me, broken and beaten?"

Shouichi hummed along to the song. The drums, the bass, the sound of electric guitars, all of them were enough to put him at ease again despite the rather depressing and resentment-oozing words.

The underlying bitterness of B&P's songs were what had drawn him in – after his memories had recovered, it was the perfect music for him.

"Cracks under pressure, damaged beyond control-"

Shouichi slumped completely over his desk, forehead pressing onto the keyboard. He was not as tired physically as he was mentally; these days that went by with no change made him tense and-

"Boo."

Shouichi was quick to jolt up from his chair with a strangled yelp leaving his lips and his hands tangling with the cord of his headphones before he ungraciously fell off from the chair. His heart jumped to his throat, and he was left gasping for air, his motions comparable to a tortoise on its back.

Shouichi knew plenty of people who would love to see him helpless and scared out of his wits...

"You're so easy to startle, Shou-chan."

...but there was only one person with that lilting and entrancing voice. Only one person who would use that... endearing honorific.

(Endearing? More like mocking.)

Shouichi's heart skipped a beat for one horrid moment that stretched on for far too long for his liking as his lips – his brain – refused to cooperate with him and his desire to speak.

"...yakuran... san."

Why did he sound so breathless? Shouichi wondered as he forced his eyelids to open fully to take in the face hovering high above his own – that narrow, perfectly sculpted face with cheekbones from a model and eyes of a devil from the deepest pit of hell.

...If there was such a thing as personal hell, Shouichi was sure that his own would have plenty of Byakuran in it.

His stomach lurched at that thought, disgust and fear welling up inside him at the sight of Byakuran's lips curving higher and higher on his face until it bore no resemblance to a smile and turned into a sneer – or maybe that was just Shouichi's imagination?

He blinked, and the moment was gone.

Byakuran looked as impeccable as always, and not even a thin sheet of sweat covered his face that glowed with contentment, eyes narrowed into slits and lips curled high to emphasize his mood... or to fake it entirely.

Shouichi's own lips tightened into a thin line in response as he pulled himself up from the floor shakily; his limbs were trembling with pronounced weariness, and a warm dizziness clouded his mind momentarily. All of this heat must be getting to me, he thought as he sat down again to disentangle his hand from the cords of his headphones. The music played in a quieter volume, lyrics barely audible over the sound of both their breaths.

"How can I help you, Byakuran-san?" he questioned softly as he dabbed a handkerchief over his flushed cheeks, eyes carefully blank to hold his previous mood from being seen.

This act was the only thing he could do for the world. He was not a fighter, not a physical one at least.

"Hm, I wonder," Byakuran drawled, eyes crinkling with glee as he took in Shouichi's disheveled form. "Is that thing ready already?" he questioned with a deceptively gentle tone as he unzipped his uniform jacket partially to reveal some of that pearly white neck. The only thing that kept Byakuran from being a possible male lead in a B class horror movie was the lack of sparkles.

Then again, Shouichi mused as Byakuran flashed a toothy smile at him, Byakuran needed no sparkles to be a monster from a horror movie... Byakuran was much scarier than that. Not only could he make anyone's life a living hell, he could also laugh while doing so. Enjoying the torment, the pain, the grand ball of his victory.

Shouichi nodded, weakly so. "I heard it's been ready for a day or two. They're proceeding to the testing phase as we speak. " He paused before narrowing his dark green eyes at Byakuran. "This should all be on the reports I personally delivered to you." He was not a mail man, and yet Byakuran made him do those things anyway, enjoying the stress that accumulated on Shouichi's shoulders that were already trembling with the responsibility the redhead himself had bestowed himself with – ready to crumble, but he had to hold himself together; that's the kind of man he was.

"Ah?" Byakuran's smile was not the least bit sheepish or embarrassed, and Shouichi envied him for that unhealthy amount of shamelessness and confidence. "Are you sure you brought it to me, Shou-chan?"

"I am," Shouichi replied evenly as he pinched at the bridge of his nose to keep himself cool. The heat and the dizzying feeling in his head was not a good combination in Byakuran's vicinity – it was like giving Byakuran a free gift, a head on a silver platter in almost too literal sense.

"Hm?" Byakuran's eyes opened as he sat himself in Shouichi's bed where the sheets lay in disarray and covered in dried sweat. Shouichi shuddered at the horrifying, knowing look that brightened Byakuran's features. "I sure can't remember that happening, Shou-chan." A finger rose and beckoned Shouichi to come to him; people always came to Byakuran, not otherwise. Never otherwise.

Shouichi rose, the sweat on the back of his head turning cold as he trudged over to Byakuran. "I am sure," he repeated firmly as Byakuran's bony fingers laced around Shouichi's wrist and tugged hard enough to make Shouichi's knees buckle and the redhead to tumble over onto his lap, the eye contact unbroken.

Shouichi went rigid immediately once he had landed ungraciously onto Byakuran's lap. "Byakuran-san," he said, voice straining with impatience and weariness that came from the past days with barely any sleep. "I did bring you the reports-"

Byakuran thumb flicked over the pulse point on the redhead's wrist before the hand holding the wrist brought it up towards Byakuran's grinning face. Shouichi's eyebrows knit together in confusion, unsure what Byakuran's intentions were.

And this position... It was all too reminiscent of all the other times this had happened, and Shouichi knew where this could lead.

A sole drop of sweat trailed down the side of Byakuran's neck, Shouichi noticed.

"Nope," Byakuran insisted as he placed Shouichi's hand on the broad yet strangely narrow shoulder before neatly wrapping the now free arm around Shouichi's waist to prevent the dazed redhead from slipping away.

Shouichi felt heat flooding his body when Byakuran's other hand snaked up to Shouichi's cheek, the cold alabaster skin pressing against Shouichi's flushed one.

"Shou-chan didn't," Byakuran whispered lowly, "because Shou-chan has been busy avoiding me." Cold fingers stroke at Shouichi's cheeks, and the engineer shuddered in response – he could never keep his reactions from Byakuran.

Never.

Languidly, the fingers moved down his cheek to his chin, tucking underneath the jawline and lifting Shouichi's head up from its sunken position. Their eyes met for one, long moment, and in that moment, Shouichi knew that Byakuran knew – and that Byakuran knew that Shouichi knew of him knowing.

His breath hitched.

...and that was when Byakuran's mouth assaulted his own, which rendered Shouichi practically frozen on Byakuran's lap despite the rapids of warmth rippling through him in foamy waves. He could taste blood on Byakuran's insistent lips – and that was a clear indicator just why Byakuran had waltzed over like he owned the place.

(To be fair, Byakuran did own the place.)

The icy lips pressed in more, demanding and hard, against Shouichi's, the kiss lacking a very essential thing... but which didn't matter to Byakuran, who took anything and everything whenever he felt like it.

Shouichi stayed stiff on Byakuran's lap, unresponsive until Byakuran's fine teeth scraped over his lower lip and bit the tender skin, making Shouichi gasp out loud softly. Byakuran's arm around his waist tightened its hold, making Shouichi's sweaty, cloth-covered body press hard against his own.

"Nngh," Shouichi protested against Byakuran's lips as his hands attempted to push Byakuran away from him. His attempt went unheeded as Byakuran nibbled on his lower lip with the intention of bruising the pale pink skin thoroughly.

Only when he was satisfied with that, Byakuran pulled away, eyes narrowed in slits as he peered up at Shouichi's face that was now flushed for a completely different reason than the enveloping heat of the room.

Shouichi panted, chest rising and falling in frantic rhythm before it slowed down. "Byakuran-san, this isn't-"

Byakuran hummed, the sound all too pleasing and melodical to ears. "Shou-chan wasn't there, so I came to him instead," Byakuran said chastisingly, as if it were all Shouichi's fault. "You ignore my calls too. How rude of you, Shou-chan."

Shouichi blanched slightly. "I told you I was busy that time, Byakuran-san..." His heart pounded against his chest, nervously. It had been that time when he had been making contact with-

"Crush me, over and over again." Those words came to his mind, and his head turned slightly and his eyes slid towards the headphones resting on his desk before his eyes moved onto the laptop for a moment... before Byakuran's hand already pulled his head back, demanding Shouichi's attention to stay on the white-haired boss.

"That's a bad Shou-chan," Byakuran chided, his smile toothy and dangerously giddy at the edges, as though Byakuran could only hardly contain himself. "A bad, bad, bad Shou-chan." Shouichi shivered at the lustful tone, realizing his mistake. Ignoring Byakuran even for a moment could spark something unexpected in the man that was used to getting everything he desired. That man to be ignored like this... especially when Shouichi had already ignored him before...

Shouichi swallowed thickly, though he tried to keep his composure despite the swollen feeling on his lower lip. "I'm supposed to be working," he said quietly, his words coming out in a mumble and almost incomprehensibly as Byakuran's hand lifted the hem of his B&P shirt up before slithering in.

"And...?" Byakuran questioned gleefully, taking enjoyment from Shouichi's situation. If anyone were to walk in on them right now... "I don't see how that has anything to do with this, Shou-chan," Byakuran hummed, cooed actually, as his other hand remained on the crook of Shouichi's neck, fingers lazily drawing circles near the blood vessels.

Shouichi's temper flared at that, and hazed green eyes narrowed at Byakuran despite the rubbing on the small of his back, which actually felt really good on his sore muscles.

"Please don't be unreasonable!" Shouichi all but hissed, eyes closing in sheer exasperation as Byakuran's fingers and hand worked on different parts of his body. "This is important, didn't you say so yourself-"

Byakuran chuckled airily, shoving Shouichi's protests off just like that as his hand rested against the side of Shouichi's neck. How easy would it be to break the neck? Shouichi could sense the question hovering in the air, and he went rigid again and held his breath.

"Excuses won't work, Shou-chan," Byakuran murmured, forcefully pulling Shouichi's face closer to his own again as the spidery digits pressed against Shouichi's neck in a subtle warning. "You're just too cruel." Byakuran breathed this part against Shouichi's face, eyes opened halfway as he glanced at Shouichi with ill intentions burning behind the violet hues.

The feeling of imprisonment caught Shouichi in its tight lock, and the redhead could only stare into Byakuran's eyes evenly, doing his best to suppress the rapid pounding of his heart.

"I don't see how I'm-"

Byakuran interfered his words by squeezing the side of Shouichi's throat, the nail of his thumb pressing against Shouichi's Adam's apple hard enough to make the redhead's posture to crumble enough to reveal a wince.

Oh, such a wonderful expression on his dear toy boy's face.

If there was anything he truly enjoyed in this world, it was this: torturing Shouichi with simple gestures and words. He didn't need to hurt the redhead physically to damage him beyond repair.

"Shush now, Shou-chan," Byakuran whispered, cooed into Shouichi's ear after leaning in closer and closer. "You can, ah, give me an oral recital of those reports you failed to send me, yes?" Byakuran's hand underneath Shouichi's shirt traveled lower, letting the shirt droop back to its place as the hand found something more... squeezable.

Shouichi jolted immediately in response to the inappropriate touch. "I told you, Byakuran-san-"

Byakuran tutted, leaning up to press his lips against Shouichi's jawline, tongue flicking out to taste the salty sweat of the other's skin. "Mmm," Byakuran made an approving noise. "Report, Shou-chan," he murmured before pecking Shouichi's jawline again, the omnipresent bloodlust turning into something else, something equally carnal.

Byakuran's hand massaged at the firm flesh of Shouichi's ass and effectively pushed Shouichi forward towards Byakuran until their crotches brushed against each other.

Shouichi's lips parted as noiseless groan left his lips at the sensation, and Byakuran's eyes trained on the man's uneasy but nonetheless ecstatic expression. Hmhm, it seemed like the heat was affecting Shouichi more than he could have calculated.

Byakuran's lips curved higher. This had definitely been worth destroying every fan and other air conditioning systems in the whole building... or, wait, it had been lucky that they had suffered an unfortunate malfunctioning, yes? Even though it seemed that Shouichi had managed to fix his own fans, Byakuran mused as he briefly glanced at the large fan located in the corner nearest to the bed.

"Report, Shou-chan," Byakuran urged patiently as his hand kneaded on the cheeks of Shouichi's ass, pushing Shouichi against his own crotch some more to add some of that beautifully hot friction between his legs.

"I, ah..." Shouichi faltered, his expression hovering between worry and carefully veiled self-disgust, which Byakuran, naturally, could see.

That's a good boy, Shou-chan. That's right; dwell in your self-hatred, feel disgusted by your own traitorous actions, Byakuran mused, his insides churning with sadistic desire to make this man crumble completely before him. Desire to let him know that Byakuran knew of Shouichi's plans to meet Sawada Tsunayoshi, Byakuran's designated victim.

Byakuran licked his own upper lip in expectation as he watched Shouichi tumble over his words while Byakuran kept pushing Shouichi against the white-haired man's groin. Shouichi was one of his favorites simply because of the myriad of expressions that could cross Shouichi's face – even if Shouichi usually did a good job at hiding them from other people.

Too bad for Shouichi, Byakuran knew every insinuation of every twitch of Shouichi's face gave – because he had met him hundreds, no, thousands of times before.

Byakuran lowered his other hand from Shouichi's neck, trailing it down to Shouichi's hip and gripping Shouichi's pants firmly just as Shouichi began to recite his report dutifully like he ought to do.

Byakuran paid attention to the words, but only slightly as most of his mind was preoccupied with the mental images of Shouichi's face contorted in twisted mixture of pleasure and pain as Byakuran would slide into him, unprepared, and pain would reign over Shouichi's high-pitched cries.

Byakuran bucked his hips up lazily at that thought, amusing himself with the mental image of Shouichi's eyes gazing up at him with crystal blue tears hanging from the corners, blood-stained lips parting to beg Byakuran to stop doing such things to the world, to Shouichi.

Byakuran could barely suppress the shiver of excitement from running through his body from head to toes. He couldn't, however, stop his cock from twitching in response to his little, mundane fantasies of fucking Shouichi next to Sawada Tsunayoshi's beheaded corpse... or maybe the head should be there, eyes pointed at their direction...

Shouichi's voice faltered slightly at the bucking movement from Byakuran, breath catching in the redhead's throat, and Byakuran flashed a grin at his subordinate, a row of pearly white teeth revealed from beneath the lips.

Yes, taking Shouichi in front of Sawada Tsunayoshi's lifeless eyes... That would be only one part of the punishment his dearest friend would receive for betraying him, Byakuran mused as he started grinding up against Shouichi slowly, more than pleased to feel Shouichi's erection reacting to the movements so eagerly.

"Ahhhh..." Shouichi's posture crumbled, face contorting as he shivered against Byakuran and tentatively mimicked the movement of Byakuran's hips.

"Continue," Byakuran demanded lowly, his own erecting pressing up against the front of his pants – eager to be freed, eager to get into Shouichi's tightness again. "That's not all, right~?" he purred, the sound lewd and practiced with quite a number of selected women and men alike.

The trembling form in his arms gave a nod, dark green eyes even hazier than before as the mouth opened to recite the items on the report he had claimed to have submitted to Byakuran.

Pleasure rolled inside Byakuran almost like a thunder, and a small growl erupted from his throat – again comparable to that particular weather phenomenon.

Sexual desires were perhaps the only thing that bound him tightly to lowly humans, but Byakuran didn't mind that. Appreciation for exquisite beauty as one's face when they came undone was something that Byakuran couldn't give up, after all. Giving that up would make the world much duller for him than what it already was.

"...Sa...wada Tsunayoshi's movements are under surveillance," Shouichi continued chokedly as more sweat rolled down his scarlet face, his fingers clutching at the fabric on Byakuran's shoulder. "It's assumed that... ahh..." His words were cut off by a loud moan when Byakuran thrust against him particularly roughly, the created friction sending waves of pleasure to wash over both of them.

Byakuran rubbed a hand against Shouichi's ass, squeezing and feeling the heated flesh up while listening to Shouichi's report and moans that Byakuran knew no one else had heard. Not even Spanner – and, well, if he had... Byakuran was sure there was a remedy for that.

"Shou-chan," Byakuran growled, feeling his stomach tightening with accumulating pleasure and frustration from these actions and the fantasies he had amused himself with. Those beautiful, fragmented fantasies his parallel selves had been able to act out with their Shou-chans – with their gloriously broken Shouichis – upon their ascension to their respective worlds' thrones.

The friction between thir lower halves was delicious, utterly so, but what Byakuran found even more wonderful was how Shouichi gave up and winded his arms around Byakuran's shoulders as he bucked back while still continuing with his all-over-the-place report, moands dripping from his mouth at regular intervals.

But all good things must come to an end, Byakuran mused with disarrayed thoughts as he fastened his pace against Shouichi, this time not bothering to listen to the other's jumbled up words. Only the loud mewls and moans of pleasure counted, and Byakuran leaned forward, unable to resist, to bite the juncture between Shouichi's neck and shoulder, teeth sinking into the sweaty flesh as tingles of pleasure grew and erupted like volcanoes inside him as he reached his own completion. Teeth gnawed on Shouichi's skin moments more as Byakuran continued to thrust his hips up – Shouichi's breathless gasps and the shuddering Byakuran felt against him were enough of a clue that Shouichi too was close to climax.

When Shouichi's arms tightened around him, followed by a breathless moan for Byakuran-san, Byakuran knew Shouichi had come right there and then. The violent shuddering might also have been a clue to Shouichi's state.

A low chuckle left Byakuran's lips then, one Shouichi had started to pull away from him, and the don leaned in to steal a kiss from Shouichi's lips that he wanted to abuse more and more until they would bleed for him.

Hazy, green eyes stared back at Byakuran from behind the large glasses Byakuran had once upon a time bought for his beloved friend.

Byakuran marveled, for a moment, the underlying depth in the eyes in front of him. Emotions stronger than Byakuran had ever felt were apparent in those hues, even though they were subdued and muted, barely noticeable even to Byakuran's all-seeing eyes.

After a moment of silence, which both used to catch their breaths, Byakuran chuckled effortlessly, as though he had not just been in a heated grinding session with his second-in-command, and he released his hands from Shouichi's hips and ass, allowing Shouichi to stand up to his shaky legs.

Byakuran followed suit – relaxed, completely different from Shouichi – and smiled despite the sweat lingering on his face as well. The fans did little to help the scorching heat, in the end.

He didn't allow Shouichi to back off, though, and grasped the slender wrist again with his long digits, leaning close once Shouichi had reluctantly turned his face to Byakuran once more.

"Come find me tonight," Byakuran whispered – but in the near silence of the room, it felt like a scream.

Shouichi's eyes darkened – shame? Worry? Disgust? Byakuran was sure it was all three of them he saw in the redhead's eyes that moment, but the engineer quickly gathered himself despite his dishevelled form.

"...Fine."

Byakuran raised his free hand to stroke Shouichi's hair, just like one would do to a precious pet. Stomach rubbing would come later.

"Good boy," Byakuran murmured into Shouichi's ear, his whisper reflecting the glee and sickening pleasure he felt from making Shouichi's face contort and twitch in self-disgust and anger and oh so many other emotions.

If Shouichi didn't want to stay by his side, Byakuran would just have to break and bend and mold him until Shouichi would want nothing more than stay with Byakuran, to serve him, to love him.

Byakuran always got what he wanted, after all – and, oh, did he want Shouichi by his side when the world would be forced to transform.

It was only fitting to let his most beloved friend to see the fruits of his ambition – if only to torture that friend's very soul even more, to draw out more anguish.

He would drape his arm protectively, possessively over Shouichi's shoulders upon the creation of his most perfect world and whisper – this is all for you, Shou-chan.

Lies were beautiful when they tore people's hearts out, and Byakuran wanted to feed more of them to Shouichi. More, more, more... Until Shouichi would believe them, until he would love Byakuran, until Shouichi would...

Byakuran's eyes closed fully as he exited the room, a jovial whistle leaving his lips.

Shouichi would be his, along with this rotting world.

His greed wouldn't allow anything less.