Title / Blushes

Rating / PG

Warnings / None


She'd grinned and reached across the table to refill her own glass from the bottle perched at its edge; her hair falling in a mass of auburn curls across its covering. For an instant his head had been filled with her scent and he'd recoiled away from her slightly. His hand strayed upwards, searching for a zip that wasn't there to cover his blushes this time, she'd seen the movement and had started to laugh.

It was a disconcerting thing about Matsumoto Rangiku; her readiness to laugh and the way she always had him on edge was a strange mixture of unsettling and endearing. Nova leant forward and tried to apologise for his reaction but all it served was to send her into louder gales of laughter, at times he couldn't help but wonder just how her captain put up with it. Heads were turning he realised, looking to see what the source of the commotion was and he felt the flush creeping back into his cheeks.

"Rangiku-san please, we're in a public place!"

The small catlike smile that flashed across her features gave him a warning but he didn't have time to prepare himself for what might come next.

"Why Nova-kun, in that case maybe we should return to my apartment for some coffee?"

This time the blushes didn't disappear for almost a full hour, her laughter having finally quietened some 20 minutes previously. Still, perhaps the evening had been worthwhile he mused as he reclined on Rangiku's sofa; its owners head was resting softly on his shoulder , their hands twined together as the fingers on his other ran slowly through the copper curls cascading across his chest.