Today I need to get words out on the page, and stress out of my life. This is an attempt at doing both:
Ridiculous
"Taichou!"
"I don't want to talk right now, Matsumoto."
"But—"
He paused, one hand on the door, trying desperately to control his breathing, maintain his image, remain the cool, calm, collected adult he was always trying to convince everyone that he was. "Not. Now."
She watched him walk through the door. "Fine then! Just go, just leave why don't you! Why wouldn't you? Everybody leaves!" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Everybody leaves."
She folded herself into his chair and let the tears come.
He sank down on the other side of the door and tortured himself listening to her cry. It wasn't her fault he didn't know how to express his emotions. He ran hot or cold, angry or unemotional, with no gradations in between.
So when she told him she loved him, when she grabbed him and kissed him like that…he just panicked.
Wow.
His first instinct had been to push her away, to flee, to get away from the mockery and humiliation. He'd forgotten this was Matsumoto. She might tease him all the time, make fun of his height and his youth and his inexperience, but she was never cruel.
The door flew open and the woman in question took two steps forward…and promptly tripped over Hitsugaya and fell right into his lap.
"Taichou!" she shrieked, quickly wiping the tear tracks off her cheeks.
To her credit, he looked just as surprised as she felt. When that vein began to pulse in his forehead, she came to her senses.
"I'm sorry, taichou!" She scrambled to get off of him, but every movement just seemed to tangle them up more.
Every muscle in his body was taut, and it was beginning to scare her. So, of course, she lashed out at him. "What were you doing sitting here anyway? Who sits in front of doorways? There are better places to be alone, you kn—" She cut herself off as he began to shake. "Tai—"
A hand clamped over her mouth. "I-it's okay, M-m-matsumoto!" he stuttered, gasping for breath, and she realized he was laughing. Her grumpy, stuffy, too-cool-to-care taichou was rolling around on the floor, giggling like a little kid. Moreover, he was cradling her in his arms as he did it.
"Taichou," she whispered, smiling and reaching up to cup his cheek.
Their eyes met, and he let out a few final chuckles. "God, that was hilarious."
His eyes were bright with mirth, full of life, and open—open like she'd never seen him before. Like somehow her falling on him had ripped down the wall surrounding his emotions and sent it crashing to the ground.
He slid his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck and drew her head down to his chest, kissing the top of her head. "Matsu—Rangiku, I…love you too."
This time when she kissed him, he didn't run away.
A/N: Okay, so it's probably utter crap. But, I have to give credit to Bowling For Soup's Ridiculous for the inspiration. Review, if you care.