The one thing he really, really wanted to do for her before she got back was clean their apartment so it was spotless, and make a fabulous dinner.

After all, it's not every day that his lovely girlfriend, Orihime, gets to go France to introduce her new line of bakeries. She had her own little store here, and soon after, more stores were popping up, and after a while, a friend of a friend of a friend of his dad's lived in France and owned a chain of stores. This "friend of a friend" yaddah yaddah found out about her delicious pastries and ventured to her store while on a business trip to Karakura, and he found her bubbly personality to be absolutely delightful.

To keep a longer story short, she went to France for her own business trip, and was currently on her way back, due at the airport in almost three hours. Ichigo's lips curled up at the thought of seeing his amazing, hard-working girlfriend after almost three weeks. Three, very unbearable weeks without her… He thought, remembering how he listened to her ramble and ramble while on the phone. He would get tired, definitely, due to the drastic time change, but he'd stay up late just so he could listen about her day.

"Damn, I'm so smitten…" He cursed lightly, picking up a newly folded basket of clothes, though part of him was really, really excited to see her again. They could talk; they could eat dinner together… His cheeks started to flush with color. He could finally kiss her again.

Ichigo let his lips curl into a goofy smile and started to take frantic paces back to their bedroom, as there was much to be done and little time to do it. Unbeknownst to the substitute shinigami, he had dropped a towel on the floor earlier on, before they were folded, and hadn't noticed it at all now. With all its wrinkled and bunched up glory, Ichigo tripped over the fabric, falling ungracefully to the floor. Sensing his imminent fall, he positioned his body to fall on his back so the folded clothes would (hopefully) keep folded on top of him.

There was no such luck, and the clothes flew and scattered everywhere. Dish towels and various socks fell around him, and his eyes narrowed in irritation. Propping his body up on his hands, his right fist gripped at a random garment, growling at what had just happened.

I don't have time for this! He fumed in his mind at his accidental trip, also beating himself up for pulling such a dunce move.

"Ichigo-kun, I'm home!" A cheery, very familiar voice called out into the apartment, nearly startling him. His eyes grew wide with confusion. She's not supposed to be home yet!

Just around the corner, Orihime smiled to herself, very proud of how she'd been able to get an earlier flight in. Part of her felt so mischievous at her idea of surprising Ichigo by being home early. Dropping down her suitcases, she assessed her figure for a quick moment, straightening out any wrinkles in her dress before putting on her signature smile.

"I actually wanted to surprise you, Ichigo-kun!" She started, folding her hands together behind her back as she neared the hallway. "I managed to get on an earlier flight and…" Orihime trailed off as she turned the corner, eyes growing alarmingly wide at the sight in front of her.

Part of her wanted to laugh at how adorable he looked on the floor, clothes scattered around him with a look on his face that he knew he made a mistake. Almost like that of a little kid's, she mused.

But most of her was mortified at what was sitting on top of his adorable, tangerine-colored head. Orihime opened her mouth to say something, but instead snapped it shut with more humiliation. Ichigo looked at her in confusion, but still felt horrible about not being able to clean the mess up quicker.

Finally, Orihime pointed her slim finger towards his head, cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"I-Ichigo-kun… W-Why do you have my… p-panties on your head?" She asked quietly, not wanting to make more of a scene, if possible. His already big brown eyes grew bigger, bugging out of his head. His left hand hesitantly lifted off from the floor and he reached to touch the underwear that had somehow nestled upon his cranium. Immediately, his face flooded with heat and shame, absolutely mortified with this predicament. He'd folded her clothes hundreds of times before, but now it seemed like the more degrading time yet.

"I-It's not what it looks like!!" He cried, throwing his right hand into the air along with the accompanying cloth he had grasped before. A loud gasp came from the woman in front of him, and lone behold, he was holding up her frilly, pink bra.

Never in her life had she seen his face so absurdly red.

Ichigo yanked it back, eyes huge at the offending piece of underwear. "I-It really isn't!!" He stuttered, brown orbs silently begging for forgiveness. Orihime shifted her weight to one hip and brought her hand up to her mouth, cheeks still burning with embarrassment from the both of them.

She really had felt bad about it. He looked so, so upset and flustered over her underwear both in his hand and on his head. It was like he'd never seen them before! Orihime rolled her eyes up to the ceiling for a moment, biting her bottom lip.

Dropping her knees to the floor, she was face-to-face with her boyfriend of a few years, his cheeks vibrantly red and eyes glancing off to the side. Orihime snaked her arms around his neck, letting her weight fall onto his half-leaning, half-sitting form.

"I'm home…" She whispered almost inaudibly, hoping he'd calm down with her gentle tone. His lips curved upwards and he placed a hand on the small of her back, fingers twitching against the fabric.

"Welcome home, Orihime," Ichigo replied breathlessly. Truly, it was so good to have her back.

Pulling away from the hug, leaving Orihime confused, he smiled before leaning in to meet her lips. Her small hand rested on the front of his shirt, her skin almost burning through the cloth. A soft blush spread throughout both their faces as they parted, foreheads leaning against each other. Orihime smiled one of her bright, blinding smiles.

"It's definitely good to be back…"

He grinned, agreeing, and immediately dove in back in for another kiss.

Definitely.

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