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It was as if all his past demons were cleared away in a few days. Yumichika never thought it would be possible to clear his conscious of all the things that had happened in his past, and he never believed he would feel love towards anyone nor trust. Every one of those doubts vanished within the confines of two days. It was too good to be true. He laid down on the bed, unable to sleep with his mind racing.
Ikkaku laid beside him with his arms around the man just like they had been the previous night, holding Yumichika close. He was exhausted by the time they got home, so much so that he wasn't even interested in doing anything besides sleep, skipping eating and talking about what had happened until tomorrow. Yumichika was lucky to get him to change clothes and wash most of the blood that coated him off before going to sleep.
By the time morning light shone into the room, however, Yumichika settled down and got in enough sleep to feel better than he did the previous day. The bags were still under his eyes, but so much less pronounced that anyone who wasn't looking specifically for them wouldn't notice. He woke up first and when he tried to get up, Ikkaku groaned and complained that it was too early to be awake yet.
"I'm going to make something to eat."
Ikkaku's stomach answered with a loud growl before he could protest anymore. Yumichika wiggled out of Ikkaku's arms and started on breakfast. He was hungry too. After a few more complaints, Ikkaku got up too.
"Hey, Ikkaku?"
"What?"
"When you told me you loved me..." Yumichika didn't find himself able to finish.
"What about when I told you I loved you?"
"You meant it, didn't you? I mean, you didn't say it in the heat of the moment or something?"
Ikkaku frowned. "Of course I meant it. I don't say things I don't mean."
"Promise?"
"What do you mean? You don't trust me?"
"That's not it," Yumichika looked down. Breakfast was cooking itself in the pan at this point, he didn't have anything to distract himself with so he chose to look anywhere but Ikkaku's eyes. "It's just, I never thought anyone would say that to me."
"Why?"
"Because everyone is either jealous of me, or disgusted with me."
"I'm neither," Ikkaku replied. "And look at me, not the floor."
Yumichika looked up at Ikkaku's face, focusing on his nose to avoid his eyes. There was something about talking to people when he was nervous that kept him from looking into anyone's eyes. This time, it was more than likely being afraid of Ikkaku getting angry with the conversation more than anything else. "I never felt love towards anyone in my entire life, except now, with you. I don't want you to leave, and I just want to know you feel the same about me. I mean, people have lied to me before and I've gotten hurt by it, but if this is a lie, I don't think I'd ever be able to be with anyone ever again."
"You love me?"
Yumichika looked into Ikkaku's eyes with a little more confidence. He wanted to say it so the other would know he wasn't lying. "I love you," he looked back down at the food that just finished and put it on plates, taking it to the table. When he set down Ikkaku's plate, the man grabbed his wrist and pulled him down into a kiss.
"Good, 'cause I don't think I could ever find anyone else to put up with me."
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Maybe they had their problems. A lot of arguments, about Yumichika never being ready to go on time and Ikkaku yelling at anyone who so much as looked at his love the wrong way, be it woman or man. Ikkaku still drank, Yumichika still was fiercely independent. They were different in a plethora of ways, and similar in very few. One of those very few ways was their eternal love for one another. They found out awhile ago, that no matter how annoying the other would be at times, there was absolutely no one in the entirety of the Soul Society, be it one of the countless districts or even inside the Soul Reaper community, that could or would put up with either of them.
It wasn't easy to live for an eternity with someone, and none of their interactions were something to be looked back on as a whole and think of in any pretense as adorable or fairytale-like. That wasn't them. There weren't real life fairy tales in the lives of two people like them. They were two who loved to fight, to slice others and when they weren't busy putting their swords to work for them, they could be found often times yelling at each other over the most trivial things.
It hardly mattered to either of them. Whether they could be role models or examples of what not to become. They were stable in their love, no matter what. If one needed a crutch, the other would be there in an instant. That was how it was and always would be, regardless of arguments or petty problems. Whether it was their time in Rukongai, Yumichika's nursing of Ikkaku's wounds after his first real lose against Kenpachi, or in their present condition as Soul Reapers, they would stay together for the rest of their immortal lives.