Early update 'cause I'm gonna be super busy tomorrow. Enjoy :D

Mute

Not supposed to talk; laryngitis. Ichigo typed into his cell and slid it across the table.

Toushiro tilted his head. "How long are you supposed to stay quiet for?"

Ichigo held up two fingers.

"Two days? Only?"

Ichigo scowled and pulled back his cell. Don't worry; I'll it make up for it when I'm better.

Bored

"Shiro, I'm bored."

"I'm your boyfriend, not your babysitter."

Dance

Ichigo extended his hand as the music started to play; an unbelievably large smile was plastered across his face. Toushiro gingerly placed his own hand in Ichigo's larger one, blushing when it was covered completely. They had learnt the dance specifically for this occasion and only then, because it was expected of them. Neither of them was very fond of dancing or particularly good at it, but they had gotten to a point where they felt comfortable enough not to step on each other's toes. Ichigo tightened his hold on Toushiro's hand and Toushiro rested his head against Ichigo's chest. They swayed back and forth and everything, including the music, faded away and to them it was just each other. Best friends. Lovers. Husbands.

Moving

"Is that it?" Ichigo asked, as he carried a cardboard box outside.

Toushiro took one last look around the bare room. "Yeah." It was kind of strange, he thought, to see his room devoid of his possessions, even how meagre they had been (a few framed pictures of him and Ichigo, Rangiku, his granny, and Momo, a dried flower arrangement, a small bamboo chest which had housed his clothes, and a stand for Hyourinmaru – when the zanpakuto wasn't strapped to his back).

"This is so weird. I can't believe you're leaving, Captain," Rangiku sighed, poking her head into Toushiro's former quarters.

"I'm not leaving. You'll still see me all day at the office." Toushiro rolled his eyes. "Besides, it's not like I used this room for much anyway. And the futon is still there."

"Yes, but you're leaving me to play house with Ichigo." She pouted.

Toushiro blushed. "We're not playing house."

"Oh, forgive me, cohabitating."

Toushiro rolled his eyes just as Ichigo trotted back into the room.

"You ready to go, babe?" he asked.

Rangiku grinned as she cheekily mouthed 'babe' behind Ichigo.

"Shut up, Matsumoto," Toushiro growled.

Ichigo turned to her in confusion.

"You two are so cute. But don't think I'll forgive you for taking Captain away from me, Ichigo."

Fire

Toushiro never would have guessed that sitting around a bonfire would have felt so relaxing. Rangiku and Momo had dragged him out to the beach to meet up with Ichigo, his sisters, and Yuzu's boyfriend; Jinta. They spent most of the evening setting up the fodder and trying to get the fire burning; the wind had been unforgiving to any spark they had managed to ignite. But now the fire was crackling comfortably and they sat around – on blankets on the sand – laughing, talking, and roasting marshmallows. Yuzu and Jinta had paired off as soon as the fire started burning and fed each other warm, marshmallows. The others ignored them out of respect and a bit of embarrassment. So, as a result, entertainment duty fell on the other couple. Toushiro was simply leaning against Ichigo's side as the redhead fought with his roasting stick. Momo, Rangiku and Karin gorged themselves on raw marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers, asking the couple questions for their amusement. If the three had wanted to see anything 'romantic' they should have just gone to the movies – Toushiro told them, but they had just laughed at him. He refused to partake in their nonsense, but Ichigo humoured them with vague answers that had Momo and Rangiku cooing in delight – Karin was a bit more sensible, or at least less vocal.

But they were given a break when Ichigo, who was particularly bad at roasting marshmallows, yelped loudly as the tip of his stick caught fire. Toushiro stifled a chuckle with the palm of his hand. The redhead waved around his flaming marshmallow, jumped to his feet and was halfway to the ocean before he realised that he had kicked up sand into his boyfriend's face.

"Crap," he muttered guiltily and blew out the marshmallow, mentally kicking himself for not doing that in the first place, and knelt down next to a spluttering Toushiro. "Sorry..." he murmured wiping a bit of sand from Toushiro's cheek with the palm of his hand.

Toushiro glared at him, but allowed him to clean his face with the corner of his sleeve.

"I didn't get any in your eyes, did I?"

"No, just my mouth-"

"I'm so sorry, babe. I think we have some water..." he trailed off as he turned around to rummage in the bag they had brought.

Rangiku, Momo, and Karin shared a look. Yes, why would they go to the movies when they had free entertainment? Besides, Ichigo and Toushiro were more realistic than some cheesy romcom anyway.

Sketchbook

"You never told me you could draw," Toushiro mused as he flipped through a book that Ichigo had left lying around that morning.

Ichigo looked over in confusion, but shrugged noncommittally when he recognised his sketchbook. "I'm not that good."

Toushiro snorted and held up a photorealistic rendering of his own face. "Shut up; you're great. When did you even do this?"

"Last month or so... It's really nothing special. Just a hobby, I guess."

"Well, you're really good at it. You should show more people."

Rain

"Shit," Ichigo shouted when, without warning, rain started to fall heavily. He really needed to start carrying an umbrella during this season; the weather was always unpredictable. He grabbed his boyfriend's hand and made a mad dash for the nearest bit of shelter, which so happened to be a bus stop covered in graffiti. Still, both he and Toushiro were drenched by the time they reached cover.

Ichigo grumbled as he pushed back his sopping bangs then glanced down at his shirt. It was soaked through. "Goddamnit," he swore softly, wringing out the fabric. Already, goose bumps had risen all over his skin. He rubbed his palms up and down his arms in an effort to keep warm. "Hope this doesn't last too long."

"I don't know... the clouds look pretty dark."

Ichigo huffed, now trembling full force. "Thank you Mr. Optimist. I feel so much better. Can't you make it stop?"

"I could, but I really shouldn't."

"But I'm cold."

"You're a baby."

Ichigo stuck out his tongue, but continued to rub his arms and bounced lightly on the balls of his feet. When his teeth began to chatter Toushiro sighed.

"Fine, come here." He held out his arms. His rolling eyes were pretence, though; he had an image to maintain.

Ichigo grinned and ducked into his boyfriend's embrace. "I love you," he mumbled into his wet shirt as Toushiro's arms tightened around his shoulders and back.

"It's not even that cold."

Clumsy

Ichigo thought that it was amusing to purposefully embarrass his boyfriend. When flustered Toushiro's cold poise gave way to stuttering and a tendency to run into and/or knock over things.

Travel

"If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

"I'm not sure that I could pick just one..."

"Okay, fine, top three."

"Machu Picchu in Peru, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, and Argentina for the Iguazu Falls... no wait-"

"So... South America?"

"... I suppose so in that case."

Missing

Mornings after were the worst in Toushiro's opinion. He always regretted not cleaning up immediately, and he was always so sore. It was the one time where he appreciated a steaming hot shower. Finding his clothes was the next worse part because it was apparently too difficult for them to undress like normal people and they had to fling every article of cloth into the most obscure corner of the bedroom. Every time he swore that he was never going through this again. And every single time he could never find his tabi.

Not under the bed. Not behind the desk. Not mixed in with the rest of the piles of clothes. Not under the rug. Not flung over the lamp. Not in the space between the bed and the night stand.

He couldn't go to work without his tabi. He wasn't a barbarian, like a certain member of the Eleventh Division who ran around in only his waraji. Besides, the straw made his feet itch.

Toushiro drew his lips into a thin line and regarded the snoring lump on the bed. The only other place his tabi could be was tangled up in the bed sheets. He poked the lump.

"Ichigo, move; I need to find my tabi."

The lump groaned but woke up. "Morning, Shiro."

"Yeah, yeah. Get up, need to shake out the sheets."

Ichigo yawned and rolled over. "It's a sign; you should stay here today."

"You know what else is a sign? Me kicking your ass out of bed if you don't move."

Ichigo rolled his eyes before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Toushiro was most definitely not disturbed by his nakedness. He didn't blush at all. He yanked the sheets from the bed once Ichigo stood and tried not to notice, and failed spectacularly, as he stretched his arms over his head, toned stomach giving way as he took a deep breath. One tabi tumbled from the mass of cotton, and Toushiro dove to the ground to pick it up, happy for the excuse to look away from his tantalisingly dishevelled boyfriend. The other one was wedged between the mattress and the bed frame. He grumbled loudly as he pulled them on and Ichigo sat down next to him grinning.

"You should keep better tabs on you tabi."

"Shut up." He bent down to pull on his waraji as Ichigo chuckled.

When he sat up Ichigo linked his arms around his shoulders and kissed him a few times on his neck. "I love you, baby, but you're god-awful in the mornings."

"And whose fault is that?" Toushiro muttered, leaning into the embrace.

"Not mine, I hope. I thought I was quite good last night."

Surprise

"Hey, I got you something."

Toushiro raised an eyebrow as Ichigo placed a small, wrapped present on his desk. "What's the occasion?"

Ichigo shrugged. "Do I need an occasion to get you a present?"

Toushiro picked up the box and inspected the wrapping. "What is it?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and went to flop on the couch. "Seriously? It's right in front of you; open it." He looked at his husband out of the corn of his eye as he silently unwrapped the present. He carefully peeled back the tape and unfolded the paper before pausing to smooth out the wrappings and fold it into quarters. Ichigo could never understand that habit; he always ripped his presents open. Once the paper was folded and placed to the side, Toushiro examined the small tin of green tea, reading each side before prying off the lid and taking a deep whiff of the dried leaves. His eyebrows rose with pleasant surprise.

"That smells amazing. Thank you, Ichigo."

Ichigo grinned.

"Now come over here so I can kiss you."

Confusion

Everywhere Ichigo went chaos and confusion followed. Usually, Toushiro was the one on damage control.

Insomnia

"Ichigo, come back to bed," Toushiro muttered, still half asleep.

Ichigo glanced over his shoulder at his slumbering husband then padded over to their bed and quietly slipped under the sheets. He could not fall asleep, though. He listened silently as Toushiro's breaths deepened and evened out then rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. Not after the soldier had died in his arms that morning. The mission had gone wrong and relief had taken too long to arrive. Ichigo had seen death before; he had lived amongst it for the better part of his life. But as a captain, it was his job to look after his men, and not let them die. He could have saved him. It had been a simple fix, but he didn't know any healing kido, so the solder had died painfully as he watched. How could he possibly sleep after that?

Every time he shut his eyes he felt the soldier's blood warm his arms and chest, he heard his wracked breathing, and saw his skin turn pale. He hated that he had just let it happen. He clenched his jaw and breathed heavily through his nose. Why hadn't he thought to learn kido? Every single shinigami had a basic knowledge of kido. He could have saved the soldier –

"It's not your fault," Toushiro mumbled, draping an arm across Ichigo's chest and pressing his forehead against his shoulder.

"I... I couldn't do anything. I just sat there and watched," Ichigo growled.

"It wasn't in your capability to do anything."

"I should know kido, at least. What kind of captain am I?"

"A damn good one." Toushiro propped himself up, bony elbows painfully digging into Ichigo's chest. "The hollow that attacked him is what you should be blaming. It's still out there. I think the best solution would be to kill it so that no more of your men will get hurt."

Ichigo sighed and prodded Toushiro's elbows until he collapsed on top of him, folded his arms, and set his chin upon them. Ichigo looked down his nose at him. "I still should have been better prepared. He died... right in front of me, in my arms."

Toushiro sighed gently and wormed his arms around Ichigho's chest in a tight hug. "It's not your fault." He repeated.

Ichigo covered his face with his hands, set his jaw, and took a few forced breaths through his nose. He felt Toushiro move around on top of him and a cold nose was pressed to the side of his neck.

"It wasn't your fault."

He repeated the phrase softly every time Ichigo started slipping back into the memory. Only when dawn broke and soft, white light stretched across their bed in delicate patterns did Ichigo think he could start to believe it.

Panic

"Hey, Shiro, don't panic, but-"

"You know every time you say that I panic, right?"

"Well, don't worry, but-"

"Now, I'm worrying."

"Uh, don't be alarmed-"

"What did you do?"

This set was donated by Lu-N (Thank you!)

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-Mymomomo