Chapter 11: Chapter 11

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Hazards

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The light in the dining room was still on, though the divider blocked the room from view. Shrugging, Ichigo tossed his keys into the decorative bowl and shed his jacket as he walked past the kitchen and opened his bedroom door with a yawn he didn't bother to conceal.

On the verge of crashing, he didn't bother to switch the light on as he shut the door behind him.

Fiddling with his belt, he grunted at the work required to take his jeans off and settled for his shirt halfway through, momentarily grateful that when he pulled the material over his head he didn't catch the strong scent of antiseptic. Still, he probably needed a shower, he realized belatedly, but couldn't muster the energy to get to it.

His phone, creating a significant annoyance in getting his jeans off, was removed and deciding against throwing it on the bed as was his habit, he put it between his lips and wiggled himself free.

Relieved, he crawled onto his side of the bed on top of the covers in his boxers and socks, rubbing the sleep off his face as he turned his phone on; glad for the foresight he had to put the brightness down by a lot so he wouldn't be blinded.

A picture of his sisters and idiot father greeted him from their latest Father-Daughter dance at the high school, and upon swiping the screen, a picture of him and Rukia with a background he didn't recognize. Rukia had taken a selfie and he charitably complied and actually smiled, arm thrown casually across her shoulders as if it always belonged there.

Inwardly, he chuckled. No wonder everyone always thought they were a couple.

Opening his messenger app, he selected his chat with her.

Home safe
tired as hell
talk to you at noon
02:32

Curiously, a light flashed to his right, Rukia's side of the bed, and he rubbed his eyes thinking he was imagining it.

And then he realized there was a lump beneath the covers that wasn't there when he left.

His phone buzzed just then, a new message notification he promptly ignored when the lump stirred and moaned a little at the noise.

"What the -"

There was another moan and then she turned abruptly, pulling the covers almost clean off from beneath him. Though, it did little good when she only used the material she hijacked to hug and ended up exposing her back to him instead as she faced the other way.

In the sliver of light coming from the window on his side of the bed, he caught sight of the colour of the shirt she was wearing, the graphic writing of NICE VIBE catching the light and –

"Unbelievable."

Tugging the covers his way, and turning her in the process, she huffed out an annoyed breath and pinched her eyes closed.

Finally managing to pull the covers out from the side it was wedged between, exposing her legs and forcing them to curl up to her chest to retain the heat, she moaned once more, this time adding in a voice tinged in sleep, "Ichigo, you're mean."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Shh, I'm sleeping."

"Like hell you are," he hissed, all signs of exhaustion abandoning him as his chest filled up with a confusing cocktail of relief, irritation, and elation. "When – how?"

"Tomorrow," she mumbled, managing to strong arm him and tug the cover back over herself, snuggling back into her pillow next to his. "Go to sleep."

"How the – how can you expect me to sleep when you're -"

"Tomorrow," she insisted, nuzzling the pillow.

"Rukia -"

With an exasperated sigh, she peeked at him through sleepy half-lidded eyes and all protestations went right out his head because damn it, I missed just seeing your eyes. She seemed to realize, on some level that she got him to shut up before she smiled slightly, raised an arm and invited him in for a half hug, and he fell in willingly because yeah, this doesn't happen when we're fully conscious.

Almost immediately he was hit with the smell of her shampoo and his body-wash, and his grip tightened, feeling her legs tightening around his, socked feet pressing against his.

She tangled around him easily then, her arm thrown over his shoulder with fingers curling into his hair, her nose pressed against his collarbone with one of her legs wedged between his. When his hand came around her back, restless circles against the material of the shirt of his she claimed for herself, she sighed again, much more content than before. He could feel the curve of her smile on his chest, and in the darkness, he smiled back.

I missed you, he almost said, instead, he pressed his lips against her dark hair before he realized what he did – froze and –

A puff of air brushed against his skin, and he swallowed, peering down to find her sleeping once more.

Oh god, what the fuck.

He was supposed to have this shit contained, he thought to himself clenching and unclenching his fist – unconsciously bunching up her shirt in the process – which was actually his shirt, but not really because –

"Ichigo," she whined into his chest, eyes still pinched close. "You think so loudly, what's going on?"

"You're home," he blurted out.

"Yes, I know," Rukia said, patiently impatient as always. "I was going to talk to you about it tomorrow, figured you would just sleep and not notice me when you came home anyway."

So close.

"I…"

"Aren't you tired? Don't you want to talk about this later?"

"Rukia -"

"I know you came out of a shift and you must be exhausted, but thanks to me you're awake," she interjected, "But also – I haven't slept that great after having to sleep by myself so don't tease me, but I could literally go into a coma right now."

He exhaled, so it wasn't just me.

"Fine," he chose to say, his voice as grumpy as it usually sounded to his relief because now would really be a shitty time to start going all soft and mushy with feelings when she was sleep deprived and could possibly pass out at any point during – crap, was he somehow talking himself into this?

"Thank you," she said with some relief, lifting her head until her lips brushed his cheek lightly, and she murmured, "Good night" then, promptly rolled over and –

Shitshitshitshit

He lasted maybe twenty minutes in the bed staring at the ceiling and then her back and then – he got up as quietly as he could which wasn't a problem because, at that point, Rukia was sleeping like the dead. Ichigo grabbed his jeans off the floor and stepped into them outside his room, not wanting to risk waking her up.

"Kurosaki, what are you –?"

"I'm in love with Rukia."

Ishida blinked, settled his coffee cup back down, readjusted his glasses and then said slowly, "Yes, I know."

"You – what?" he asked, baffled.

"I know," his friend repeated. "Everyone with eyes knows."

"What?" Ichigo repeated again.

The Quincy sighed, and muttered to himself, "I'm not caffeinated enough for this" before saying, "You're just tired – get some sleep."

"She's in there."

"Yes," he said slowly. "That's where she sleeps, isn't it? Or do you actually make her sleep on the couch?"

"I'm being serious– she's back from Soul Society."

Still looking at him with a mixture of pity and an expression of you can't be this slow, Ishida said, "I know, I was here when she showed up." When he didn't reply, he sighed again. "Are you just realizing now that you're in love with her?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem? Most epiphanies don't make people stupider."

"Uryuu, you don't fucking get it."

He paused, lips pursed, before, "You risked your life to save her, you sacrificed your death for her, went through multiple levels of hell to get her back, fought every being that's gotten in the way of you reaching her and you practically tore through the people who hurt her like tissue; what am I not getting?"

"I – I don't know how to do the other stuff," he admitted, running his hands through his hair.

"What other stuff?"

"The stuff that doesn't include dying and leaving her, not just life and death shit because that's – that's not enough."

"What do you -"

"I don't know how to tell her without ruining everything."

"Ichigo -"

"She changed my entire world," he insisted, "not just with the powers she gave me – and then the powers she helped me to regain on my own. Rukia – she's my best friend – and I'm going to screw this up and I don't know how to ask her to stay when I do."

"Why would you think you'd mess this up?" his companion asked quietly.

He took a breath, collapsed on the couch, repeating, "Because I don't know how to do that stuff." When he was met with silence, Ichigo elaborated, "The romantic stuff, the confessing, the feelings, the gestures, the life without having to save one another from Hollows are executions or – Everyone just assumes we're together, and I – I'm going to fall into that and think we are – and one day, some asshat is going to ask for her and she'll say yes because we're not really together, at least not in the way we should –"

"Should has nothing to do with it. Your situation has never been normal."

"Gee thanks."

"Shut up, I'm trying to help you." When Ichigo rolled his eyes, Ishida set his coffee aside. "You two are together, life and death stuff notwithstanding; you two are living together, in every sense but the romantic kind. That's not as hard of a fix as you think it is."

"What if she says no?"

It almost looked like he smiled, but Ichigo thought it was probably just the trick of the light, before, "She won't. She's just as comfortable as you in the situation you're in, I highly doubt it's because she simply tolerates you."

"See, if that was the case she wouldn't be talking about me finding someone else." It pissed him off whenever she brought it up, and he could never quite tell if it was because she didn't see them being a thing or because she didn't feel like she'd be the one he wanted because Rukia always thought of stuff like that.

Ishida shrugged. "She's probably thinking of the whole shinigami-not-actually-human thing which she can't be blamed for; you've been dealing with crazy things for almost your whole life. Maybe she thinks you want normal?"

"I had normal for seventeen months, not a fan," he deadpanned.

"Would it have been bearable if she hadn't been gone, but your powers still were?" Ishida ventured to ask.

"As long as she was there, I don't think I would have noticed all that much," he muttered. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Nothing," Ishida said, "Just – you really love her, that's all."

He grunted, ignoring the redness seeping into the tips of his ears. "So, what now?"

"I don't know why you think I'd know what to do."

"Oh please, you're chastely dating my sister." It was Ishida's turn to blush, and Ichigo would have gone at it more but – damn it, he's dating Yuzu. "How'd you manage that, what-what did you do?"

"I…" He cleared his throat, looking away. "We talked."

"Rukia and I talk," he argued.

"Banter, you two banter," Ishida corrected. "Like actual, honest to god; here's my soul, weigh it and find me worthy kind of talk."

"Are you fucking –"

"You're not allergic to feelings or romance, Kurosaki. You read Shakespeare religiously, don't tell me you didn't absorb any of that."

He huffed. "I don't want to come off like an idiot."

"She already knows you are one, I don't think you can go wrong here."

"Jackass."

Ichigo is squishy as shit and no one can tell me otherwise.

And yes, I really am blessing you with two updates in one day; these two really don't want to leave my brain alone.