Ho Yay / Descendants of Darkness

Word of God is that this series isn't yaoi. Official art would indicate otherwise.

Descendants of Darkness is probably one of the most gay non-yaoi manga in existence.

Tsuzuki/Hisoka

• Their relationship is absolutely loaded with subtext, starting the day they meet and evolving into flat-out Ship Tease.
• Tsuzuki calls Hisoka cute, is only half-joking when he wonders whether he should give Hisoka a kiss goodnight, and then proceeds to flirt with him the next day about how he had to sleep in Tsuzuki's bed. This is their first meeting.
• They become very protective of each other while on the job despite the fact that they don't even like each other at this point. Tsuzuki even shields Hisoka (and Maria Wong) with his body from an attack from Muraki even though both Hisoka and Maria are already dead, and can't die again.
• They grow close after their first job, to the point where Hisoka can immediately tell that Tsuzuki has been possessed by a demon through his mannerisms.
• Hisoka likes to blush and stutter whenever Tsuzuki is around.
• Hisoka seems to get jealous that Tsuzuki develops feelings for Hisae, and he gets mad that Tsuzuki lies about it.
• During the Devil's Trill arc Tsuzuki, possessed by a demon, forces himself onto Hisoka, who is disguised as Hijiri.
• The King of Swords arc ups the amount of ho yay, despite the fact that Hisoka develops feelings for Tsubaki. Tsuzuki gets a kicked-puppy expression on his face when he notices Hisoka brooding about Muraki, and is legitimately glad once Hisoka starts acting like himself again. He reacts furiously to Muraki when the latter casually mentions what he did to Hisoka.
• Hisoka and Muraki play a game of cards to win Tsuzuki's body for the night. Muraki had originally won against Tsuzuki, but Hisoka interjects just in time in an attempt to save him.
• When Hisoka passes out he dreams about the night Muraki raped and murdered him. Understandably distraught by this, he begs for Tsuzuki to help him before waking up. Tsuzuki is there to calm him down, and although Hisoka called out his name in his sleep, Tsuzuki refrains from mentioning this so as to not embarrass him. And then we learn that instead of continuing the murder investigation like he should have, Tsuzuki has been farting around taking care of Hisoka while he was unconscious.
• As mentioned above, Hisoka develops feelings for Tsubaki, but she stops him from saying he loves her because she feels she doesn't deserve it. She tells him to wait to say it to someone who does, and then thinks to herself that there's someone for Hisoka who will "protect you, grow with you, understand you, know everything about you, forgive you...and love you. [And they're] right...beside you." It's obvious that she's referring to Tsuzuki, but just to drive the point home, during 'forgive you' and 'love you' we see Tsuzuki reaching out to Hisoka to rescue him from the sinking ship. And if that's not telling, then nothing is.
• After Tsuzuki rescues Hisoka, he hugs him quite intimately, and again after Hisoka suffers a breakdown, whispering into his ear to calm him down.
• During the Hokkaido arc, Tatsumi and Watari infer that Tsuzuki and Hisoka are an item. Tsuzuki responds not with Squick, but a Luminescent Blush. While this is going on, Hisoka is brooding that Tsuzuki will never see him as an adult and always just think of him as a cute kid.
• Later on Hisoka confides that he's afraid of the dark to Tsuzuki. Tsuzuki offers to let Hisoka hold his hand, and Hisoka responds predictably.
• During the St. Michel arc, Tsuzuki goes from being Squicked at the idea of two men having sex to inviting Hisoka into his bed within a minute.
• The storybook arc features little interaction between them, but Tatsumi reveals his past with Tsuzuki to Hisoka and asks him to take care of Tsuzuki from that point on. He muses that perhaps it will be Hisoka who stays with Tsuzuki for eternity.
• The entire Kyoto arc just shows how much they've grown to care for one another. After Tsuzuki suffers another Heroic BSoD Hisoka tries to leave him him Tatsumi's hands because he doesn't want to say anything that will hurt Tsuzuki further, only to be refused by Tatsumi under the basis that Hisoka knows and understands Tsuzuki better despite the short amount of time they've spent together. Tatsumi also says that Tsuzuki would prefer Hisoka's company, anyway.
  • When Tsuzuki agrees to go see a play with Muraki, Hisoka insists on tagging along because, "I won't let that bastard steal Tsuzuki away from me on top of everything else."
  • Tsuzuki finally confides in Hisoka that he's not human, and then he attempts to stab out his eyes with a shard of glass, because it was the colour of his eyes that made the people in his life mistreat and abuse him. Hisoka is absolutely furious that they would treat him like this, and that even after that Tsuzuki still craved their acceptance because he was so starved for love.
  • In an attempt to calm Tsuzuki down, Hisoka hugs him and puts their faces very close together◊, telling Tsuzuki he's human and that he doesn't have to cry anymore. The scene is capped off with Hisoka internally swearing to stay with Tsuzuki forever.
    Hisoka: "Even if everyone else in your life disappears... I'll always be here by your side."
  • Hisoka frantically searches for Tsuzuki once he goes missing, and even duels one of Muraki's closest friends with little chance of success to gain information on Tsuzuki's whereabouts.
  • At the climax, Tsuzuki attempts to commit suicide with his most powerful shikigami, and Hisoka hugs him out of it, begging him to stay with him and not leave him all alone again, and to live if only for Hisoka's sake. It works.
  • Made even more apparent in the manga version, where Hisoka decides that his place is by Tsuzuki's side no matter what, and if Tsuzuki chooses death then so will he. He's so terrified at the prospect of being left alone again that he'd rather die with the only person who is important to him. Oh, Hisoka.
    Hisoka: "I don't want to lose you, Tsuzuki! So I won't leave you. I'll never let go of you again. I'll go with you... to the world you dream of... Tsuzuki."
• In the drama CD Hisoka can feel Tsuzuki's gratefulness toward him, and he reacts by spluttering incoherently and hitting him. Later, he walks in on Muraki molesting Tsuzuki and acts like a betrayed lover with some Crazy Jealous Guy tendencies, and after that he seems very put-off that Tsuzuki never listens to him.
• There's a cute piece of official art showing Tsuzuki and Hisoka cuddling under a cherry tree.

Muraki/everyone

• Muraki is fixated on Tsuzuki, and Word of God is that if someone interests him, regardless of gender, he will pursue them until he's satisfied. Cue several scenes where he straight-up comes onto Tsuzuki.
• And then we find out that he's so obsessed with Tsuzuki because Tsuzuki looks like his brother, and he wants to use Tsuzuki's head to bring his brother back to life and then kill him again.
• Not to mention how he found Hisoka so beautiful that he felt he needed to make his death special, so he raped him and then cursed him to die slowly over the next three years.
• Oriya is one of Muraki's closest and only friends, and his level of devotion to Muraki is somewhat suspect.

Everyone else

• At one point in the Devil's Trill Arc, Watari rips off Tsuzuki's shirt after he's attacked by the demon and tells him that he "wants to see his upper body". Seemingly lampshaded by everyone present—Hijiri's shocked, the Geshoshen cover Kazusa's eyes and tell Watari that he "shouldn't do that" and Hisoka just looks embarrassed. Though it turns out that Watari was checking to see if the demon had left a parasite on Tsuzuki's body, there's some extra ho yay inherent in the fact that Tsuzuki sounds a tiny bit disappointed when Watari says "there's nothing there".
  Watari: Oh thank god. There's nothing there, you can relax.
  Tsuzuki: Well, I wouldn't say nothing...most people say I'm rather attractive-
  Watari: NO YOU DOLT!
• Hijiri seems to have legitimately fallen in love with Tsuzuki, complimenting him frequently and eventually telling him he loves him to bring him back from a demon's control. He decides to dedicate every song he plays from that point on to Tsuzuki.
• The Count has been dogging Tsuzuki for years and takes every available opportunity to flirt with him.
• Rika seems to have a thing for Chizuru.
• Saya and Yuma go around groping each other in their onsens.
  • In the same chapter, both Tatsumi and Watari get a bit hot under the collar when Tsuzuki arrives in his towel.

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