Title: Fit to be Tied
Author: Akuni
Universe: Bleach
Genre: Humour
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Renji/Ichigo
Spoilers: none really, but it makes more sense if you're familiar with the SS arc
Word Count: 629
Summary: Ichigo's birthday is a big letdown – or is it?
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, I'm just borrowing it for a while.
Distribution: Originally posted to my LJ.
Dedication: For Ichigo, because it's his birthday. And for Renji, because you just can't have the one without the other. ;)
A/N: Even heroes have normal, every day troubles to deal with. Since it's his birthday, Ichigo gets a happy ending. (grin)
Fit to be Tied
To say Kurosaki Ichigo was having a bad day would be an understatement. Everything that could have gone wrong seemed to have done so with a vengeance. His bus had been late, which made him late for his shift at the clinic. There was a hole in his pants pocket and he'd lost three thousand yen somewhere between his shabby flat and the bus station, which meant he missed picking up lunch on the way. Since it was shopping day at the Kurosaki household, that mean there'd be no food until Yuzu returned from her classes late that evening, by which point Ichigo would have gone home anyway.
To top it all off, today was his birthday. Renji had sent a brief letter of apology at not being able to get time off, which was annoying since they hadn't seen each other in a month, but he grudgingly understood that this was how things had to be when you took a working shinigami for a lover – especially one whose work involved being Kuchiki Byakuya's lieutenant.
But no one else had remembered. There were no invitations for supper or drinks. No cards, or cakes, or even simple well wishes. And he knew there wasn't going to be a surprise party sprung on him, because most of his friends had gone to a concert – one they'd been planning on seeing together for months but which Ichigo had to miss because he had to cover for his father at the clinic while Isshin was away on business.
It was with a heavy heart and heavier footsteps that Ichigo stomped back into his flat late that evening, tired and hungry and deciding that a pathetic meal of cup ramen would be the perfect cap to a miserable day.
But when he stepped into the small, one-room flat, a wave of bright colour and delicious smells assaulted his senses. And something familiar tickled his spiritual awareness…
Ichigo wanted to look around the room at the garish decorations – strawberry themed again, for fuck's sake! – and his nose definitely wanted to investigate the take-out boxes on the table – he recognized those boxes, and he was certain he smelled his favourite soup.
But his eyes were hopelessly locked on the only other occupant of the room.
It can't be. But it was. Sitting on his bed, wrapped head to foot with neon-pink ribbons that ended in a giant floppy bow at the waist, was Abarai Renji. Looking at once both enormously pleased and thoroughly disgruntled.
"Renji, what the hell?" Ichigo dropped his bags and went to stand in front of his red-haired lover.
"Happy birthday?" Renji cocked his head and grinned, evidently deciding to accept his situation with good humour. "There's a note." He awkwardly waved one beribboned hand over his shoulder.
Ichigo pulled the note off Renji's back and unfolded the stiff paper; it had only a few lines of elegant, flowing calligraphy on it, which he read aloud.
"I understand it is the custom to wrap birthday gifts, but this was all we could find on short notice. Please return him to the 6th Division in two days time."
There was no signature, but Ichigo's suspicions were confirmed when Renji's face lit up to match his hair.
"They ambushed me on Kuchiki-taichou's orders. Ikkaku, Shuuhei, Rukia – the whole lot of 'em," Renji admitted with a rueful grin. "Chad an' Inoue did all this this afternoon, an' left the window open before they left." He shifted around a bit. "Could ya open your present now, 'cause I've been sittin' here for almost an hour an' these ribbons are startin' t' chafe."
Chafe? Ichigo's eyes widened. "Are you—" He broke off and regarded his 'present' with a growing smirk.
Things were finally beginning to look up.
END