"Aaaahhhhh, my wonderful, handsome nephews are here!" Izuru's uncle Rose sang out, in the way only a man who wrote his own operas possibly could. "My happiness is complete!"
They were crammed into a backstage hallway, trying to congratulate Uncle Rose on his success. People dressed in feathers and elaborate headdresses kept scurrying past them. Renji had shoved Rukia in a little shelter between him and Shuuhei after she almost got clonked by a rogue cello.
"Uncle Rose, it was magnificent," Izuru said, in his typical understated way, precisely the opposite of his flamboyant uncle. "You must be thrilled."
"It was so nearly perfect," Rose sighed, throwing his voluminous curls out of his face with one hand. "If only…I had one…more…violinist…"
"Uncle Rose, no." Izuru frowned. He had begged off of his violin lessons when he agreed to study medicine in college, and then never picked it up again.
"It is a loss to the world," Rose lamented. "But if I cannot have your music, I must have your opinions. Come now. What was your favorite part?"
Uncle Rose always asked what their favorite parts of his operas were. This wasn't anything new. Renji realized with some horror that he should have picked his favorite part of the opera while he was actually watching the opera.
"Obviously, the tragic aria where the Queen of the Seven Devils was lamenting the downfall of her firebird army," Izuru replied promptly.
"I thought of you while I wrote that," Rose replied smugly.
The problem was that Renji knew very well what his favorite part of the opera was. There had been a dance number. It was a rather impressive thing, in and of itself. The titular Envoy of the Volcano, who was a beautiful fire demon-fairy thing, had cast some sort of pyrotechnic spell, which resolved into six ballerinas in fiber optic red and gold tutus who danced around her while Ms. Lava Ambassador sang her little soprano heart out. What made the number so great, though, was the way Rukia sat straight up, eyes wide and glimmering with reflections of swirling lava costumes. She had scooted so close to the edge of her seat that Renji was slightly worried she was going to fall onto the floor.
"I liked the giant rock monster guy!" Shuuhei volunteered. "Was he a puppet? He was way too big to be a person in a suit! Also, his song slapped, especially the BOM BOM BOM BOMs!"
The dance number wasn't actually Renji's favorite part, though. It was what happened when it was over.
When Rukia settled herself back in her chair again, she forgot she'd had her hands in her lap before. She put her arm on the armrest, except that Renji's arm was already on the armrest. The applause from the dance number had just ended and the whole theater was very quiet in anticipation of what would happen next, so instead of moving, they had just stayed there for maybe fifteen seconds, maybe forty years, Renji wasn't exactly sure. Then someone started singing about plate tectonics again, and Rukia pulled her arm away with a hissed "Sorry! Sorry!" Renji hastily scooted away and whispered back "I was taking up more than half, it was my bad, come back," and then she set her arm next to his, so close that he could feel the cool metal of the chunky bracelet she was wearing against the bump of his wrist. He spent most of the rest of the opera thinking about how easy it would be to take her hand in his. To rub his thumb over her knuckles. To twine his fingers through hers. Even just to slide over the tiniest bit so that their pinkies brushed. Not that he had. Just that he could.
"Shuuhei, my boy, I will tell you the secret to all my tricks when Izuru brings you over to my house for dinner next week, but I think you have stolen Renji's answer. You know how he loves both monsters and puppets."
Renji realized his face must've been doing something weird, but it was as good a lifeline as any. "He did!" he protested. "But it's okay, I have a second-favorite part! It was the volcano eruption that played out as a battle scene between the lava guys and the tree guys and that one big oak tree guy with the really deep voice held on for so long and then he got to have a cool dying song-"
"Don't sing, Renji," Izuru and Shuuhei said in unison.
"I wasn't gonna!" Renji protested.
"Your taste is as impeccable as always, my tallest nephew, in fight scenes, as well as dinner jackets," Rose commended.
"My favorite part was the inclusion of the ballet number!" Rukia blurted out, having nearly perished from the agonies of waiting her turn. "I suspected that the entire production was styled in the Parisian tradition, as opposed to the Italian influences you included in Sea Drift, and when I saw the dance integrated into the flow of the story, I knew it for sure. I'm also a big fan of ballet, generally, and I really liked the way it symbolized beauty amidst destruction, the way it was placed between the two big, dynamic war songs. The choreography was fantastic, of course, and the costumes were stunning."
Rose blinked at her. "Why, thank you! Izuru, pardon your old uncle's brain, but have I acquired another niece?"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Izuru hemmed. "I told you that Momo was sick and wouldn't be able to make it, but we were still trying to figure out who else we could invite the last time I talked to you. Uncle Rose, this is Renji's, um, client…friend, Rukia Kuchiki. She loves opera."
"I love opera," Rukia concurred.
"You love opera and have magnificent taste in dresses and you have let our Renji draw skeletons on your person? What a delightful person you are! Do you have any uncles?"
"I don't actually have any Renji-skeletons on me yet," Rukia clarified. "But I will in twelve days. I do have some uncles. Well. They're actually second-cousins, third removed or something like that. I call them uncles, but they aren't actually my uncles. My family is very complicated."
"Then one more should do no harm," Uncle Rose proclaimed, then his brow furrowed. "Wait, 'Kuchiki'? Of the Byakuya Kuchikis?"
"That's my older brother," Rukia confessed. "Do you know him? I didn't realize…"
"I know of him," Rose replied, "in the sense that he donates a lot of money to the orchestra."
"Oh," said Rukia, turning cutely pink. "He is a great Supporter Of The Arts. He's on his way to California right now, he would much rather be here. I'm sure he'll try to catch the show next week, especially after I tell him how good it was." She tapped her finger against her chin and made a cute little scheming face. "Maybe I'll make him take me again."
Rose clutched at his chest. "My darling, you do not need to make his excuses to me! My company has given the performance of a lifetime and I have acquired a new niece, my heart is full to bursting, already! Oh, speaking of my nieces- Izuru, I sent poor Momo a dozen roses, to aid her recovery. I wonder now if it should have been two dozen."
"I think one will be fine," Izuru reassured him.
"In any case, give her my love," Rose entreated. "Now, I must go give my love to my brilliant performers. Thank you all so much for coming, it means the very world to me!"
"Thanks for the tickets, Uncle Rose," Izuru replied.
"You know we love to come!" Shuuhei added.
"Don't party too hard, you have another show tomorrow!" Renji hooted.
Rose let off a sonorous chortle in return. "Oh, Renji, you know that I will!"
"Why do you always have to encourage him?" Izuru sighed a few minutes later, leading them outside through a side door.
"So you don't have any regrets about dating Shuuhei instead of me," Renji promptly answered.
"Speaking of partying hearty, though," Shuuhei brought up cheerfully, "I heard there's a new cocktail bar a block and a half from the theater. What would you all think of eschewing our usual cheese fries and going somewhere nice for a change?"
"No," said Renji.
"Come on," Shuuhei protested. "I want to order a Boulevardier and look really sexy drinking it so Izuru will make out with me later."
"I don't even know what that is," Renji retorted.
"It's the winter version of a Negroni. It's got whiskey instead of gin," Izuru replied.
"They sell wine at the diner," Renji shot back.
"You're awful," Shuuhei announced. Then, under his breath he added, "C'mon, man, don't you want to take Rukia somewhere classy?"
"Shuuhei showed me the place's website," Izuru said. "They also make some sort of snowflake martini, which looks to be mostly made of white chocolate liquor and comes with a sparkly marshmallow stuck in it. You can still be ridiculous if you absolutely must."
"Ooh," said Rukia.
"Aren't you driving?" Renji jerked his chin at Shuuhei.
Shuuhei blinked. "No. We took the subway. Which would make it a pain to go to the diner anyway, it's, like, a mile from a station."
"It's two blocks from your place!"
"I wasn't planning on going back to my place," Shuuhei said through gritted teeth.
Oh. Izuru's place, on the other hand, was right on the subway line. Renji felt like an idiot. Shuuhei and Izuru had danced around each other for so long that very little had outwardly changed in their relationship since they started dating. It always managed to hit Renji with surprise when they mentioned one of the thousand ways it actually had changed to them.
"Well, Rukia drove, and she's not gonna let me drive her car, so we're not drinking," Renji insisted.
"I think they have food," Shuuhei offered lamely.
"You know, I was actually really looking forward to some diner onion rings," Rukia suddenly put in. "It's been a lovely evening with all of you, but maybe it makes sense to split up?" There was something about her tone of voice, which was extremely polite and pleasant, but also suggested that this was an extremely logical course of action and also that if you tried to argue with her, you would not win. Not that he had doubted it, but Renji got the distinct impression that Rukia was very good at her job.
Izuru glanced immediately at Renji, (for what, Renji didn't know) before turning to Rukia. "You do understand, Ms. Kuchiki, the diner is not good."
"Oh, yes, I was counting on that. I realize I lead a bit of a charmed life, but I can get fancy cocktails anytime I want. It's a real treat for me to go to a place that'll serve you half a grapefruit with an enormous scoop of cottage cheese on top."
Shuuhei just about exploded. "Renji ordered that once! It was horrifying! He ate most of it, too!"
"I was a different person, then," Renji replied grimly.
"Well, it's your funeral," Izuru shrugged. "It was a delight to spend the evening with you, Ms. Kuchiki. If my uncle tries to invite you to his house, which he inevitably will, do you want me to pass the invitation on?"
"Yes, please," Rukia nodded eagerly.
"He's a really good cook," Renji put in.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Renji!" Shuuhei said, wrapping his arm around Izuru. "If you show up diner-wine-hungover, we'll make fun of you."
Renji flexed a bicep obnoxiously. "Worry about yourself, hipster. Go enjoy your Rob Roys or whatever."
They finished their goodbyes, and Rukia and Renji made their way back around to the front of the theater to retrieve her car. A light snow was falling, and Renji liked the way the flakes caught in Rukia's hair and on the fluff of her coat, sparkling in the street lights reflecting off her hair combs.
"Do me a favor," Rukia said, looking up at him winsomely. "Get me the name of the bar they're going to. I want to try that snowflake martini."
Renji let out a loud laugh. "Why didn't you say something? We could have figured out a way for you to have a drink and still get home afterwards!"
Rukia shook her head. "Nah. Didn't you tell me they'd just started dating recently? Let them have a little time to themselves."
Renji blinked. Shuuhei and Izuru saw each other all the time at work, and they slept over each other's places pretty frequently. When they went out, they usually invited Renji and Momo along. It hadn't really occurred to Renji until just this minute that they probably didn't get many chances to dress up nice and make eyes at each other across a table in a smoky speakeasy. "I didn't even think of that," he admitted. "Back when they told me and Momo they were together, they made a bunch of noise about keeping the group the same as it ever was. Now I feel like kind of a dick. That was really thoughtful of you, Rukia. Thanks."
Rukia waved a hand dismissively. "Voice of experience. I am firmly in my 'all my friends are getting into committed relationships' era. I'm sure they meant what they said about maintaining your friendship, but if they're anything like my friends, they're so stubborn that sometimes you need to ditch them for their own good."
Renji sucked his teeth for a long moment. "We don't actually have to go to the diner if you don't want to. Izuru's right, it is kinda sh-"
"Shut up," Rukia cut him off. "The only thing I want to hear about your diner is whether I should get onion rings or whether I should get pie. I love onion rings more than just about anything in this world and the next, but some diners have really good pie and I don't want to miss out."
Renji considered this. "You know, the diner does have really good pie. I haven't gotten pie there in ages. You are very smart."
"I am, thank you," Rukia replied. "But give yourself some credit. You were the one who was smart enough to ask me to the opera."
"For that," Renji agreed, "I was a genius."
Another eardrum-blasting car ride and twenty minutes of intense negotiations later, they sat across a peeling Formica table from one another with a piece of pie each and a basket of onion rings. Rukia had sour cherry, Renji had chocolate chess, and they had promised to swap halfway through.
"So, what's going on tomorrow?" Rukia asked, crunching into an onion ring. "Sounded like you and Shuuhei had plans?"
"Oh," Renji replied. "It's work."
Rukia pouted cutely. "You had to work last Saturday."
"Ye-ahhhhh…" Renji drew out. "Things are kinda wild at work right now. Momo's gonna be out for a month at least, and our business plan is kinda dependent on having four working artists, so we're all pulling some extra shifts. My style is the closest to Momo's, so I've been able to take a few of her jobs, and we're squeezing them in wherever we can. Shuuhei's running some piercing specials, too, if you know anyone who needs some additional hardware."
Rukia frowned and looked down at her pie as she poked at it with her fork. "Is…uh…that is…will everything be okay?"
Renji's eyes widened. "Don't worry about your appointment! Your appointment is written in stone! A meteor hitting Earth couldn't move your appointment!"
Rukia looked up and shot him an exasperated scowl. "No, not that! Your business!"
"Ohhh!" Renji replied. "Nah, don't worry about it. Izuru's been running numbers, and we're really on top of it, actually. We have some reserves, we're just trying to not dip into them too much. To be honest, it's…really nice to be in a place where we can handle a disruption like this with a little extra elbow grease. In the old days, we'd have to go beg Izuru's folks for a loan and not get paid. We decided to all take a little pay cut this month, so that we can pay Momo her usual, but that's the worst of it." He scratched the back of his neck. "I managed to pick up some hours at Urahara's, too, so I don't even have to cut back on my ruinous unicorn hot cocoa habit." He sucked his teeth for a moment. "If, uh, I'm not as responsive to my texts this week, that's why. Please don't think-"
"I'm the last thing you should be worrying about!" Rukia scolded, stabbing off a bite of pie. "Good luck! That sounds like a lot. If there's anything I can do…to…" She stuffed the pie in her mouth before finishing the thought.
Renji laughed. "Are you lecturing me on being a workaholic?"
"Look, I'm an expert on it, okay?" Rukia grumbled.
Renji smiled at her. "It's the small business life-style. I'm not exactly an amateur at it, either, you know. I may have tricked you into thinking I am a chill dude, but I can do the rise-and-grind when I need to. My rise-and-grind just involves drawing skeletons on people." He scooped up a bite of his own pie. "Speaking of which, how's your week of allegedly taking it easy going? I want to hear about that."
Rukia opened her mouth, blinked a few times, and then closed it again. She tapped her fork against her chin twice. "It's going very well, actually," she finally declared.
The entire proceedings were so adorable that Renji couldn't help but laugh. "What th'Hell took so long to decide?"
"Well, I started the week being very intentional about things. I made those terrible brownies. I set an alarm so I would leave work on time. I selected a book from my shelf of books that I have bought with good intentions and then never read. And I just realized that I hadn't done any of that stuff since Tuesday, but it's because I got completely overcome by the idea of going to the opera. I decided I wanted to try something new with my eye makeup, and I actually went to the Sephora, which was fun, because I usually just order things online. I definitely fell down a rabbit hole watching clips from my favorite operas one night and stayed up way past my bedtime. I actually took off work early today, so I could make it to my hair appointment."
"You got your hair done for this?" Renji choked out.
"It was hardly a hardship," Rukia shrugged.
"It does look very nice," Renji said weakly. "I'm sorry my dumb favor sucked all the free-time out of your week."
Rukia shook her head frantically, which made her fancy earrings jingle. "You don't get it! I was doing a bad job of relaxing! I kept trying to pencil 'have fun' into my schedule. What I really needed was someone to drop something I was actually excited about into my lap. I think this was really good for my brain, actually. So thank you for that."
There was a weird feeling in Renji's stomach. Maybe it was because Rukia being excited about going to the opera was only a half step away from Rukia being excited about going to the opera with him. Or maybe he just liked the idea of being able to do something nice for Rukia, being able to make her happy.
A little smile tugged at the side of his mouth. "Well, Uncle Rose loves you now, so I'm sure there'll be a ticket for you next time, if hanging out with us wasn't too painful. Hopefully Momo will be able to come. She's so much better than the rest of us. You and Momo would get along like gangbusters."
Rukia smiled back shyly. "Well, I would love to meet Momo eventually, but I really liked meeting Izuru and Shuuhei. Shuuhei is so friendly, and Izuru has the most fantastic dry sense of humor. I understand that the three of you are deeply devoted to dragging each other relentlessly, but I think they're just wonderful."
Renji snorted. "Don't you dare tell them I said this," he said, leaning closer, "but I do, too."
"Your secret is safe with me," Rukia assured him. She rested her chin in her palm and looked at him for a long moment. "I'm glad it didn't get awkward when they got together. That…happens sometimes."
People had said this sort of thing to Renji before, usually in the form of a rather pointed question, and he usually just blew it off as nosiness. But he thought about the way he'd seen Rukia's best friend Ichigo put his arm around Rukia's other best friend Orihime at the bar. He thought about Chad's wedding invitation stuck to the door of her fridge.
"It is a little awkward," he admitted. "But the thing is…" He scratched his neck. This wasn't a thing he usually went around telling people, but on the other hand, it sounded like Shuuhei and Izuru had already told Rukia most of his embarrassing stories anyway. "The four of us made many attempts to date one another in college, for various definitions of the word 'date.' For the most part, it was like, 'okay, we all learned something about ourselves, let's continue to be friends and never speak of this again.' It wasn't like that for the two of them, though." He smiled, lost in memory for a moment. "They must have gotten together and broken up at least a dozen times in maybe two were both really high-strung in those days, really intense, and they were even worse when they were together. Just super into one another, but couldn't handle being together."
Rukia snagged another onion ring from the basket. "What changed?"
Renji shrugged. "Age. Life. Getting jobs. Paying bills. Opening a tattoo shop together. Growing up. Mellowing out." Renji also grabbed an onion ring. "I would normally not tell you this next part, but I know Shuuhei showed you that stupid picture of me in my short-shorts, so he brought this upon himself." Renji cleared his throat. "Shuu turned 30 this past summer and it turns out, he and Izuru had made some awful pact that if both of them were single when they turned 30, they would get back together. The problem is, they were drunk when they made it, and neither of them could remember the exact terms- did they both have to be 30, or just Shuuhei? He's two years older than the rest of us. Did 'single' mean 'not married' or 'not seeing anyone'?"
Rukia had her hands clapped over her mouth, her shoulders shaking as she tried not to laugh out loud.
"Anyway, they were very ridiculous about it for about three weeks until Momo and I found out and then Momo pointed out to them that the entire thing was made up and if they could just renegotiate it. I stood behind her and made a very disappointed face. We are very effective when we do this. The upshot is, they decided to give it another go and it's been…hmm, going on six months, I guess."
"I love them so much," Rukia said in a tiny, choked-up voice.
"It's really all you can do," Renji agreed. "So, back to the original question, it's not like it's really changed anything, because they've always been like this, more or less. On the other hand, there's also sort of this sense of…Shuuhei and Izuru have finally gotten their shit together? What is this, the end times? Pigs flying, Hell's frozen over, and yet-" he gestured vaguely at himself, "here I am, still…well… you know how it is."
Rukia's eyes widened, and Renji realized what he had said.
"I meant that in the generic 'you', not you, specifically," he excused frantically. "You are very beautiful and have an amazing job and life, I am quite sure you do not 'know how it is', please forget I said that."
Rukia was turning red now. Renji knew he should really stop talking, but as usual, once he had the shovel out, it was almost impossible to keep from digging himself into a bigger hole.
"Also, my big break-up happened this fall. I keep forgetting, because it was really way overdue at that point, but I'm sure, y'know, I got some Bazz-feelings in there, too. It's not like I thought he was the one or anything- well, I think they're all the one, that's my big problem. Even though I'd already gotten, like, three lectures from Momo with both Izuru and Shuuhei making disappointed faces over her shoulders…well, it was still disappointing when it ended."
Shut up, shut up, shut up, his brain was screaming. This is way too personal! It's because he was at the diner. The diner was just where you had deeply personal, late-night conversations with your friends. What the hell had he been thinking, bringing Rukia here?
"Ending things is hard," Rukia replied. "Even when they're not great, it's hard to give up what's familiar. It's good that you were able to do that."
"Huh?" Renji blinked. "Oh, no, I very much got dumped. Bazz had always been really hung up on his old best friend who had ghosted him. The guy finally showed up again, and that was it for me. I mean, the other guy basically looked like an angel, I can't entirely blame him."
"Renji," Rukia said, sounding amazingly Momo-like.
"Sorry, sorry!" Renji sputtered. "I didn't mean to start in on my ex! Do you want to talk about the opera? The costumes sure were good, huh?"
"Do you ever talk about him?" Rukia frowned. "It sounds like your friends didn't like him very much. That can make things hard."
"Ah, I try not to," Renji admitted. "And they had good reason. He was kinda mean and he never chipped in around the house. He was really hot, though. He liked my bike. We had some good times."
Rukia made a very sad face at him, and Renji kicked himself for having destroyed the vibe completely.
"You were wrong earlier," she finally said. "I do know how it is. The longest relationship I ever had was this girl I dated in college. She was also mean, in a really cool way. I mean, I think she was a good person, deep down, but she had a lot of baggage. An entire airport carousel full of it. Really good aesthetics, though. She's a fashion designer now. The point is, I understand really well how you feel. To miss someone even though they were really bad for you, and to feel really weird about talking about it. I would never in a million years get back with her, but Riruka was so cute. She had pink hair. She used to wear it in pigtails"
Renji stared at Rukia. "Like, cotton candy pink, or like hot pink?"
Rukia considered this. "More like magenta."
"Fuck," Renji groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. "Fuuuuuck."
"What? What's the matter?" Rukia sputtered.
Renji flopped his hands onto the table and leaned forward, very seriously. "Bazz also had magenta hair. He wore it in a mohawk. It was so cool."
Rukia made a sputtering noise. "Oh, no."
Renji shook his head. "What the fuck, Kuchiki? What are the odds?"
Rukia grinned and shrugged. "People with pink hair are hot, I don't make the rules!" She cocked her head to one side, and her grin softened into a mischievous smile. "What color do you tell people your hair is? Like, if you had to fill out a form or something."
"My hair is red," Renji insisted.
"Are you sure? You're an artist, you haven't ever figured out which Pantone shade you are?"
"Look, if you ever saw me and Bazz standing next to each other, you would understand that it is definitely red. Also, be grateful you don't have to. Iba-the guy whose awful back tattoo you had to see- straight up told me he was glad we broke up because looking at us hurt his retinas."
Rukia grinned. "Was Bazz tall?"
"You, always with the important questions," Renji shook his head. "Yes. Not as tall as me, but the mohawk made up the difference."
"Iba seems like he does not have great taste," Rukia said, in what was probably the most diplomatic statement anyone had ever made about Iba. "I bet you were very striking together." She paused. "Riruka and I were devastatingly cute together."
"I bet," Renji agreed. "And yes. We had matching leather jackets." He took a deep breath. "I almost gave mine to Goodwill. You know. Afterward. But it's too good a jacket, so I kept it."
"The one you wore to the bar last week? Oh, I'm glad you didn't! A really good leather jacket is a precious thing, and I'm glad you didn't let him ruin it for you. Shows very strong character on your part, I say."
Rukia squinted down at her pie and rotated the plate back and forth a few times. While her attention was diverted, Renji allowed himself the shameless indulgence of looking at her. In the snowy starlight outside of the opera house, Rukia has seemed fey and unearthly, a girl spun from glass and fireflies. It ought to have ruined the magic, seeing her in the more corporeal setting of an over-bright diner, just a regular human woman, pushing a piece of hair out of her face as she scrutinized her pie. To Renji, though, it was like being taken backstage to see the fog machines and trap doors. Special and secret. Rukia Kuchiki the financial genius socialite heiress was a woman worthy of admiration, there was no question there. But Rukia Kuchiki, the woman who thought goofy skeletons were high art and had never met a challenge she couldn't solve by scowling at it hard enough and whose heart apparently broke only the same fault lines of his own…
"I have eaten half," Rukia had reached her verdict. "It is time to swap pie."
"Hold on, I'm not ready!" Renji protested, not entirely sure he was talking about pie. Decisively, he hacked off one last, enormous forkful. "There. Half." He cocked one eyebrow at Rukia. "The chocolate's really good. You're lucky I am an honorable man who holds up my end of a bargain." He gave his plate a little shove, and it skittered across the table, where Rukia caught it easily.
"The cherry is also very good," Rukia replied, flicking her plate at him, although she managed to get hers to slide smoothly into his waiting hands. "And you're also lucky you are an honorable man who keeps his promises, because I would stab you with one of my hair thingies if you tried to cheat me out of my pie."
"I get hurt a lot, it probably wouldn't even slow me down," Renji declared, examining his new piece of pie. Rukia had eaten her half lengthwise.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Rukia waved a hand. "That one's pretty tart, and it'll be really powerful coming off the chocolate one. Eat an onion ring to cleanse your palate first."
"Ah, yes, of course," Renji replied in a fake-snooty voice, because if there was anything he loved more than eating pie, it was doing a bit.
Delicately, they each fished an onion ring out of the nearly empty basket, clinked them together like hot, greasy champagne flutes, and bit into them dramatically.
"I sincerely hope that Izuru and Shuuhei are having a wonderful time," Rukia commented when she had finished chewing, "but I am really glad you insisted we come here."
"Yeah," said Renji. "Me, too."
Author's Note: To any Bazz-B or Riruka fans: Please don't regard this fanfic as a commentary on your faves! I needed some "romcom exes" and they just fit the bill really well. If it makes you feel better, please think of them as actors having a good time playing a role in this AU. (Not that either of them actually appear here, but rest assured, both of them would be chewing scenery if they were). 💕