This fic ended up being entirely longer as a whole than I had been expecting. The chapter title doesn't actually have anything to do with the story, it was just something that came up today that more or less fit the mood of this chapter if you had actually been there to experience it. It was hysterical. I write fanfiction, therefore I don't have to make sense.
Renji had every right to be suspicious. Ichigo was Renji's friend and had proven to be a stellar comrade time and time again, but he also wasn't incredibly well-known for taking care of himself, "my dad's a doctor" line aside.
Shuuhei didn't seem to share Renji's concern, nor did he seem to share Renji's rapidly developing phobia of home-practiced medicine. He let Ichigo sit him down on a rooftop, and allowed him to tentatively place two fingers on Shuuhei's injured shoulder. The powerful youth appeared to know what he was doing, but he also wasn't famed for being gentle and when those digits pressed into the flesh at the place where the joints in the shoulder were supposed to meet Shuuhei couldn't withhold a grimace.
"Sorry about this." Ichigo said, wincing in sympathy, "Wish Hanataro was here. He probably wouldn't even take a second to fix this, then. We don't even have painkillers to give you right now."
"It's fine. Really, minor injuries all sort of just fade into the background after the first few times you get stabbed." Shuuhei chirped, the hand of his good arm absently rubbing the wrist of the other.
Renji smirked, pretending not to notice the nervous rubbing or the way that it was somehow making him anxious. "I can help with that, if you ask nicely."
At his side, Rukia lightly punched him and rolled her eyes. "Who needs to ask for a reason to get into a fight with you?" Her eyes went back to Ichigo and Shuuhei, "What do we do to help?"
"Uh," Ichigo thought for a second, "Can you find something we can use as a sling? An injury like this should heal pretty quickly for a soul reaper after we set it back into place, but we don't want it sliding around too much on the way back to Karakura town."
Rukia nodded, flash-stepped into the building they were stand on top of. Renji could feel her spiritual pressure moving around inside, ducking into rooms in its search.
"Hey, can you come over here?" Ichigo asked, breaking Renji away from his focus on Rukia's location. For an awkward minute Renji looked around, wondering if maybe there was someone else Ichigo was talking to because Renji did healing about as well as fish did flying.
Renji pointed to himself in question, to which Shuuhei chuckled and Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I can't believe I talk to you either. Are you going to just stand around taking up air or help me out with this?"
Huffing a little in annoyance at the jab, Renji followed Ichigo's request and approached the two other soul reapers. At Ichigo's insistence, he kneeled in front of Shuuhei while the orange-haired youth stood at Shuuhei's side.
"Okay, grab his wrist." Ichigo instructed, placing his own hand on Shuuhei's elbow and bending the arm at a ninety-degree angle at the elbow. Shuuhei grit his teeth at the movement, his wrist shaking a little in Renji's grip from pain.
Ichigo noticed, "Sorry, Hisagi, but this might kinda hurt. In a way, it's too bad your arm wasn't cut off or something, or we could get Orihime to put you right back in shape."
"Such a shame." Renji idly commented, breaking the tension with no small amount of sarcasm in his tone.
Smirking a little at Renji's snark, Shuuhei shrugged his good shoulder then craned to look back at Ichigo without doing himself further injury "It's okay." He assured Ichigo. Then, to Renji's surprise, Shuuhei turned his head around again to boldly meet Renji's eyes, holding his gaze, accompanied by a small, dreadfully sincere smile when he continued with "I trust you."
Renji had to force himself to swallow down oxygen into his airways, feeling like he was drowning all over again and maybe wanting to die a little bit but if Ichigo noticed that the last part of the exchange was directed at Renji or the inexplicable affect it had on him then he didn't comment.
Although it was probably because at that very moment he was about to be causing Shuuhei an extreme amount of pain.
"Still, sorry in advance."
"Seriously, its fi- OW! Sunovabitch!"
Ichigo bit his lip as he coaxed Shuuhei's arm to rotate from its position pressed to his chest outwards in a backwards L-shape. Slowly, but surely the arm moved and the shoulder slid back into place with an uncomfortable 'pop', and only then did Shuuhei visibly relax with a heavy exhale. The wrist in Renji's hand went limp, and in his grasp Renji could feel Shuuhei's pulse ease.
A hum of moving molecules and suddenly displaced air later and Rukia was back on the roof, carrying torn bed sheet with her. "This is the best I could find!"
"That'll do." Ichigo confirmed, running over to meet her and inspect the make-shift bandages she had scrounged up.
That left exactly one awkward Renji and one oblivious Shuuhei behind. Shuuhei tenderly felt his newly relocated shoulder with his other hand, his curious gaze rising from the shoulder up to Renji. Renji suddenly found the time to realize that Shuuhei looked very vulnerable like this. Maybe not "vulnerable" as the correct word, as much as "docile". Docile to let Renji this close, to not even mind seeing Shuuhei injured.
"It doesn't still look too bad, does it? I think it's still swelling up." Shuuhei mused.
"Not important." Renji said, biting down the impulse to chew on his own lip before continuing, "How does it feel?"
Shuuhei sighed heavily in annoyance, like getting his arm snapped out of its slot was just a minor inconvenience to his day. The sigh tickled Renji's nose, making him realize how close their faces were. He could see where the pupil of Shuuhei's eyes met the steel-colored irises, where the muscles in his neck twitched when Shuuhei set his jaw thoughtfully. There was that need to swallow air again. "Feels sore and achy- and generally all around like I've had my shoulder dislocated. But like I said, I've had my worse days."
Shuuhei seemed to suddenly notice Renji's grasp still on his wrist, which was more than Renji himself could say he noticed about that particular part of the situation. "For the record, I'm gonna need that arm back."
"Sorry!" Renji recoiled as if he had been burned, pinning his own hand uniformly at his side.
Shuuhei laughed lightly in response. "People keep apologizing for helping me today. It's sort of making me feel bad."
Renji's mouth twisted into a scowl, although that chuckle from Shuuhei had the effect of melting all the anger out of his body. "Well maybe don't get hurt and people won't have to help you!"
A head of shiny black hair popped up between the two men without announcement. "Gentlemen, am I interrupting something?" Rukia questioned. "Because if not, I'd like to direct your attention to the matter of why we are still gathered here."
She shook a bundle of torn-up bed sheets separated into strips in their faces. "Awright! Geeze!" Renji relented, scooting backward so that the vice-captain of the thirteenth squad could arrange the sheets into a makeshift sling around Shuuhei's shoulder.
"How's this? Too tight?" Rukia asked, tying off the ends of the sling.
"No, it's fine. Thanks, Miss Kuchiki."
"Please, Miss Kuchiki is my brother's name." Rukia quipped, smirking at her own joke, "'Thanks, Lieutenant Rukia' to you… I mean- if you prefer, Lieutenant Hisagi."
Shuuhei was good at covering up the discomfort, but not even the sling around his shoulder could prevent his sore arm from jostling around gracelessly as the four soul reapers flash-stepped back to Karakura town. His jaw was clenched, his injured hand curling into a tight fist that drained the knuckles white.
When the four of them stopped to catch their breaths, Ichigo eyed Shuuhei warily. "We can stop at my place before sending you guys back to Urahara's and give you some pain meds. The sooner the better, since they'll take a while to kick in."
Shuuhei nodded, but wore a somber look at the instructions. Renji repressed a smile- the poor guy probably felt like huge inconvenience as it was. It was his own fault for going out alone unarmed. Although his efforts did get back Zabimaru, Renji thought, rubbing his zanpakuto's sheath fondly as if he were comforting the soul inside that he had been forcibly separated from.
In fact, the very notion that Shuuhei had gone out at the crack of dawn and stomped around in that damn river (which simply had to be cursed, Renji knew of it now because no place could carry that much shitty luck) just to find Zabimaru was really, really nice. Renji scowled at nothing in particular but his own thoughts- who had given Shuuhei permission to suddenly start being such an awesome person? Had he always been that kind? Surely, Renji would have noticed that about him before a bit more strongly then, wouldn't he?
And then there was that damn dream, with Dream-Shuuhei who has been extremely unawesome in comparison to the real deal. Renji would have to make it a point to start kicking himself every time Shuuhei did something sweet that made Renji's insides go all fluttery because feelings were dumb and Renji would be having none of them at all, thank you.
When Renji arrived with Ichigo, Rukia and Shuuhei on the Kurosaki house's roof, his emotions had become decidedly so muddled up inside now that he couldn't decide if he was happy to have Zabimaru back, upset that Shuuhei had gotten hurt and they had only uncovered more questions about mysterious hollow-eating zanpakuto-stealing portals, or angry at himself for acknowledging that both those previous emotions revolved around the scarred man who he had to remind himself again was his friend.
Not even his best friend like Rukia, who Renji had always patiently waited on himself to fall for. They were best buds, they fought for each other, and they'd protected each other ever since Rukia's almost-execution so everyone seemed to expect them to become a couple. After a while Renji started to expect it to, only it just never ended up happening. The desire to be anything more than friends never really clicked for Renji, and Rukia gave no indication that she felt any different. Surely on the totem pole of Renji's feelings, Rukia's closeness to him must have put her on crush-worthy level over friendship level, right? Surely at least more so than Shuuhei, who Renji had known for less time and less intensely up until the past few days.
-And was a guy! Why did Renji keep forgetting that? Shuuhei was a guy who liked Rangiku, as everyone in Soul Society and beyond knew, so he was a guy who liked women. Damn, why was Renji even thinking about this?
Renji cast a sidelong glance at Shuuhei, who could easily duck into Ichigo's bedroom window after Ichigo and Rukia with only one active arm. He followed after Shuuhei, feeling no closer to understanding his own mind than when he had first had the stupid dream.
Ichigo motioned for Shuuhei to follow him. "We've got the painkillers in the clinic downstairs. I'll show you and grab you some water."
The two left, but when Renji made to trail after him he found a pale, elfin hand holding him back with a surprisingly firm grip.
Shuuhei and Ichigo disappeared down the hall, and Renji looked back questioningly at a serious-looking Rukia.
"Uh, sup?" He tried weakly.
She was not impressed with his response. "You. Me. Talk. Now."
Renji turned around to fully face her, feeling that same Troubled Student metaphor arise from when he had spoken to Captain Kuchiki in what seemed like forever ago. "What did I do this time?"
The petite lieutenant glared up at him, arms folded resolutely over her chest. "I know what's going on with you and Hisagi."
Emotions up, brain shut down. "No you don't!" Renji blurted out, internally punching himself in the face for saying so even as it was happening.
Rukia's frown deepened at the outburst, "Actually I'm pretty sure I do. Vice-Captain Abarai Renji I cannot believe you would be so inconsiderate with someone else's feelings!"
Wait a second.
"What?" Renji asked, now thoroughly panicked and confused and wanting a little bit to curl up into a ball and wait for death to claim him.
Rukai tossed her short dark hair and fixed him with a chastising look. "Don't play dumb- it's obvious that Lieutenant Hisagi has a crush on you!"
Renji silently sucked a breath in through his teeth, an indignant scowl painted on his face. Shuuhei had done those kind things for Renji out of his duty as a friend, surely. "No, he doesn't! I mean- how can you be so sure?"
"I know the way he looks at you." Rukia announced, looking unperturbed, "The way his voice changes when he talks to you. He's cold and distant to everybody but he can't seem to jump on the opportunity to do something for or with you fast enough. Which is fine- or it would be, if you didn't keep stringing him along like you've been doing!"
"Stringing him- No, Rukia!" Renji held his hands up in a surrendering gesture, "I'm not 'stringinghim along' or anything! I didn't even know he had a crush on me- I mean I still don't know- I mean, I'm still not sure I agree with you that he likes me like that."
As usual it seemed Renji's pleas of ignorance were the only thing Rukia could fully believe from him, her posture relaxing a bit and her icy gaze melting just a little to something more sympathetic. She sighed, "Just… I wanted to talk about it with you because if he confesses, I don't want you to do something stupid like break his heart."
"'Break his heart'?" Renji echoed, feeling his own sink somewhere into the pit of his stomach.
"Don't sound so surprised." Rukia continued, not seeming to register Renji's tone, "Vice-Captain Hisagi is a strong man, but people are notoriously fragile about these kinds of things. I know you want to preserve your friendship with him, but brashly putting aside another person's emotions like that just because it makes you anxious or scared is just mean."
Renji felt like Rukia's words were coming in slow motion, not really absorbing their meanings in time with the way she was speaking. "I just… it is?"
"It is." Rukai confirmed. Quick as a whip her voice turned hard again, her expression comically severe. She pointed a finger at Renji warningly. "So you're going to be nice, so he doesn't figure out that I told you or that you know about his crush. But not too nice so he thinks you're reciprocating!"
"Okay?" Renji confirmed, although his answer sounded much more like a question.
"Good." Rukia stomped past Renji to the door, "We should see how Ichigo and Lieutenant Hisagi are doing, in that case." Before exiting however, she gave Renji one last warning look. "I've got my eye on you. Behave."
She ducked into the hallway. Renji had little to do but sigh and follow her.
Was Rukia right? Shuuhei didn't have feelings for him- the idea was even more ridiculous than the concept that Renji had feelings for him.
Renji's hand drifted to Zabimaru. Before it had seemed lighter, it's weight lifted by the knowledge that it had been retrieved by someone who trusted Renji and that Renji could trust in turn. Now the weight just seemed to be dragging him down.
