Title: Happy Glow
Author: Celeste
Universe: Bleach
Theme/Topic: Shuuhei chases Yumi this time?
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing/s: ShuuxYumi, Ikkaku
Warnings/Spoilers: Whole Soul Society Arc, some OOC and sap.
Word Count: 3,111
Time: All day. O.o
Summary: Companion Piece to "Earnest Glow"- Evolution.
Dedication: Jen- thanks for editing the other fic, despite your aversion for um… R+ ratings. XD
A/N: This is probably reactionary to the "Body Shots" fic I just wrote, because all I wanted was super fluff after writing that almost-pron. So we have this. Super fluff that is in no way meant to stir anyone emotionally. Just… be fluffy and mindless. I needed it, okay? --;;
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

The next morning, Ikkaku took one good look at his friend and slapped a hand to his forehead.

"What?" Shuuhei asked.

"It's not just a crush anymore, is it?" The vein in the bald death god's temple was popping out as he said it, like he was accusing Hisagi of some sort of obscenely heinous crime.

Shuuhei just blinked and wondered how he should respond to that implication.

After a minute he gave up and smiled sheepishly at his friend. "How did you know?"

"Che. Ain't it obvious? That stupid look ya got written all over your face," Ikkaku muttered, looking like he had a headache now.

Shuuhei grinned a little. "Well I can't help it. We sparred and had dinner and…"

Ikkaku glared. "Dinner?"

Shuuhei nodded. "Yeah. Dinner. Weirdest thing…he said no at first and I thought I was bein' flat out rejected."

The bald death god blinked. "At first?" he repeated, realization slowly beginning to dawn.

"But then he told me to ask him again and from there, everything was… well. It was nice."

Ikkaku gritted his teeth. "That bastard."

Shuuhei blinked, drawn out of his goofy little day-dreamy recount of his dinner date. "What was that?"

Ikkaku sighed. "Nothing. So, lemme guess. Ya banged him and now you're all crazy for him, right?"

"What? No!" Shuuhei glared a little. "And even if I did, it isn't any of your business, asshole."

Ikkaku looked vaguely confused. "Wait… so you didn't?"

"No!"

"Huh. Weird."

"What's weird about it? It was the first date! It wasn't even officially a date really. At least, I think that's what he thought…"

Ikkaku waved a hand at the other man. "Just weird, is all I'm sayin'. Ain't his MO. Usually, he thinks a guy's good lookin' enough he'll have him on his back'n beggin' for more by the end of dessert. Ain't somethin' I ever wanna walk in on again, truth be told. Had to get all the furniture in our damn office replaced just so I could go into the room and not feel dirty."

On any normal day Shuuhei might've punched the bastard for so lightly talking about such things regarding his own best-friend, but as it was, he was beginning to feel something like dread ball up in his stomach. "Wait… so you're saying…. you think he didn't try to… um, do any of that stuff to me because he's not attracted to me at all?"

Ikkaku shrugged, thoughtful. "You're kinda weird as cases go, Hisagi. Think you look to be 'bout the right type in the physical department, but Yumi don't usually go for the nice guys, you know what I mean."

Hisagi took unexpected umbrage at that remark. "…I could be a bad boy if I tried. Or something."

Madarame snorted. "Yeah. Sure ya could. And I don't mean it like that, not exactly." He paused and scratched his head, searching for a way to explain. "Look… back when me'n Yumichika was on the road, you know, before we met taichou… he and I had to get around best we could. Survival and all. Weren't easy out there."

"Yeah."

Madarame looked awkwardly at his friend. "Look, I'm gonna tell ya this 'cuz I think you oughta know, but you damn well better not say a word to anyone 'bout what I'm about to reveal to ya, got me?" he warned.

Shuuhei swallowed. "Yeah."

"Well, Yumi was always pretty. Ain't gonna deny that. Nights we were especially desperate he'd spruce himself up best he could and go sit at a bar, somethin'. Find a target… usually the good-lookin', clean types. Like yourself. But you know, different in that they was just lookin' for some fun and an easy lay for the night."

Shuuhei felt his cheeks turn a little bit pink. "So he…"

"They was real assholes so he didn't feel bad 'bout it or anythin', but he'd do his magic, have 'em eatin' outta the palm of his hand before too long. And after that, we was pretty much set for a few weeks. We'd meet up again when he was through doin' his thing and combine what he'd got with what I managed to get'n we'd get outta town."

Shuuhei blinked. "You did it too?"

"What? Fuck no. I did some short-term labor-type work. Bodyguardin', transportin', entouragin' and the like. Didn't get nearly as much as Yumi for my efforts but I ain't exactly the type that can look pretty in a bar'n draw some rich playboy's eye, ya know."

"Yeah. You really aren't."

Ikkaku scowled. "Che. Anyway, it's how we had to get around for some time, you know, before taichou."

"So what you're sayin' is…"

"You ain't exactly Yumi's type."

Shuuhei frowned. "Well, you two aren't exactly in dire straights either, are ya?" he pointed out. "Maybe I could be his real type and not his meal-ticket type. You ever think of that?"

Ikkaku had to be honest. "Nope. Ya wanna know why? Because old habits die hard and Yumi likes playin' even though we're here now, even though our meal-ticket is an actual damn ticket those crotchety old cafeteria dames give us at the door to the commissary. And don't try ta argue with me on it either," the bald death god added when Shuuhei looked like he was about to protest again. "Yumi knows it too. Hell, the fool tells me it more'n I wanna hear. He likes ta have his fun and move on quick. He just ain't made for romance and flowers and soul mates and stuff like that. "

"But…"

"I'm just sayin'. He probably didn't grab ya and throw ya on top of him 'cuz he can tell you are that type and he decided to do us all a favor'n let you off the hook. And you better be thankful for it too, ya big love struck idiot. He gave ya an out and now all ya gotta do is take it, before you're in too damn deep."

Shuuhei's brow furrowed. "An out?"

Ikkaku nodded. "An out. Now get that fool expression off your face and give it up, will ya? Marry a nice girl'n forget Yumi's demonic gay charm or whatever he's callin' it these days. He ain't the type to settle. You are. Won't ever work."

Shuuhei frowned. "Give up, huh?"

He took a bouquet of flowers and went to see Yumichika later that day.

The fifth chair looked at him in surprise as the vice-captain stood in the division hallway with an armful of gladioli and a sheepish look on his face.

"Hey."

Yumichika didn't quite know what to do. "Hello."

Shuuhei tried not to blush too hard when he held out the flowers. "Um…for you."

Ayasekawa blinked and automatically stepped forward to take them. He smiled. "Thank you." Pause. "But… if you don't mind me asking, what's the occasion?"

Shuuhei rubbed the back of his neck nervously, his cheeks tinged pink. "I uh…I guess I just wanted to make myself clear, is all," he managed with some determination.

"About what?"

The vice-captain took a deep breath. "I don't know if you thought of it that way or not, but I asked you to dinner last night as sort of a…date, I guess." His blush deepened but he forced himself to continue gamely on, though he couldn't quite look Yumichika in the eye as he did. "Because I've had a crush on you. Probably for a longer time than I've come to realize. And because I couldn't ignore that, I asked you out to see if there was any basis for me liking you other than the fact that I was physically attracted."

Yumichika felt his stomach turn in an odd way. He managed to keep his voice impressively level. "And?"

"And I don't have a crush on you anymore," Shuuhei announced, firmly.

The fifth chair's hands clenched around the armful of flowers he had. "I see."

"Now… now I like you," Shuuhei admitted, softer. "I genuinely like you."

It was the oddest sensation because it was one he hadn't let himself humor for so long, but Yumichika thought he felt himself blushing. "You like me."

Shuuhei looked up then, managed to catch the other death god's eye. "Yeah. So. Flowers. To let you know. I mean, I don't expect you to like me back or anything, not just yet. But I thought I'd let you know where I stand and maybe ask that even if you don't like me, you give yourself uh… you give yourself the chance to."

"You want me to try you out." Yumichika's smile was anything but alluring this time. More confused and slightly afraid. Kind of like he was on autopilot.

"Yeah, I guess that's what I'm saying," Shuuhei agreed, sounding a bit breathless after his admission. "So… um…." he trailed off, gesturing towards the flowers. "So there we are."

Yumichika looked down at the bouquet in his arms and felt his stomach do that strange turning thing again. "Gladiolus. Strength of character," he murmured, softly.

Shuuhei smiled. "Yeah. To let you know. I'm gonna see this thing through. One way or another."

They stood there in the hallway looking at each other for another moment, before Shuuhei blinked and cleared his throat. "I um, I better get back to work," he stated, tearing his eyes away.

"Me too."

The vice-captain turned to go then, letting out a breath and trying to calm the rapid beating of his heart as he walked, steps measured because his legs were shaking a little.

When he was almost out the door he heard, "Hisagi-san!"

Surprised, he stopped, turning at the sound of Ayasekawa's voice.

"You're right," Yumichika started, cheeks suspiciously pink. "I don't like you just yet."

The pretty shinigami paused to lick his lips, clutching the flowers more tightly against his chest. He smiled then, like the silly bouquet was helping him along or something. "I don't like you just yet, but I think… I think I might have a crush on you right now."

Shuuhei stared.

Slowly, he felt his lips widen into a goofy smile that couldn't have been the least bit attractive. "Dinner!" he called back impulsively, not caring about how he looked right now. "Tonight. I'll come get you after work."

Yumichika beamed back, eyes sparkling with something that might have been anticipation. "I'll wear something nice."

Shuuhei chuckled and turned to go again, that idiotic smile still plastered to his face. "I think you'd look good in a potato sack!"

Ayasekawa's surprised laughter followed him out.

Yumichika came back into the office humming softly, and Ikkaku looked up, watching his friend as he arranged a nice bouquet of long, frilly flowers in a vase on his desk. He snorted. "Gift from another one of your admirers?"

"I'm not sure," the fifth-seat responded, looking both ridiculously satisfied about something and completely perplexed all at the same time.

Ikkaku snorted. "Yeah, well. Don't break the guy too badly huh?"

Yumichika sniffed. "I don't always do that on purpose."

"Yeah, I guess you don't," Madarame allowed, leaning back to regard his oldest friend. "Hey. You're a bastard for double-crossing me with your fancy denotations and all that yesterday," he started. "But uh… I'm gonna let that one go on account of you not sexin' Hisagi like you'da normally done."

Yumichika frowned at the bald death god all snootily. "How crude."

"What, truth, ain't it?" Ikkaku snorted. It had been a long time since he'd had any shame by which to be embarrassed when it came to his friend's particular methods of courtship. "I'm just sayin' thanks, okay, asshole?"

Ayasekawa ran his fingers along the petals of one gladiolus flower. "I didn't do it for you," he said with a little toss of his head. "Besides," he surmised with a secretive little smile. "I don't think he would have gone for it."

Ikkaku grinned. "He's too nice a boy fer the likes of you, Yumichika."

"Is he?"

"Obviously." The bald death god paused and looked at the flowers Yumi was still fussing over. "So who's the soon-to-be-doomed bastard on the list for tonight?"

Yumi turned to his friend and smiled, though it wasn't the type of smile Madarame was used to seeing from the other man.

"Probably me," Ayasekawa responded with a little laugh.

He didn't know why, but that little line of dialogue made Ikkaku feel rather disoriented all of a sudden.

"Hey, uh…everything all right?" he posed, awkwardly.

Yumi studied his friend for a moment. "I'm having dinner with Shuuhei again tonight."

Ikkaku almost fell out his chair. "Wait, what?"

Yumichika smiled again, but it was watery in a weird way that made Madarame feel like he was in some sort of twilight zone or something. "I think there's something wrong with me," Ayasekawa confided, looking anything but perfect as he said that.

It had to be some weird alternate universe or something. This wasn't real.

Ikkaku stared. "Wrong…with you? There's never anything wrong with you!" he began to protest. "And even if there was, you wouldn't say so."

Yumi looked vaguely amused by the idea. "I suppose not."

Weirder and weirder.

The bald death god couldn't help but wonder what kind of stupidity Shuuhei and Yumichika seemed to be infecting each other with lately. If he didn't know any better he would have thought his best friend was…

Ikkaku's eyes widened.

He sputtered and pointed at Yumichika.

"You like him!"

Ayasekawa might have been insulted by the incredulity in his best-friend's voice if it didn't have so much basis behind it. So he let himself be slightly amused by Ikkaku's reaction instead. "I don't like him," he said, carefully.

Ikkaku gave him a look. "Well you're wearin' the same face he was when he was crushin' at least," he allowed, reluctantly. "So you're…"

Yumi sighed. "I don't know." He wrinkled nose. "He throws my game off."

Ikkaku blinked. "Huh. Really?" he asked, pretty much responding on autopilot to his friend's confessions.

Too much shock in one day might not have been good for his heart after all.

"Maybe I should forget it," Yumichika huffed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "I'm not meant to go about finding men like this."

"Yeah, no kidding," Ikkaku agreed. After a moment, he eyed his friend hesitantly. "You know though…" he started, kind of embarrassed. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad."

"What wouldn't be so bad?"

Madarame cleared his throat and looked away. "You'n Shuuhei. Might work. Might be a good kinda change for ya, you know. Plus it'll save the world some horrors when there aren't any more of your jilted assholes around to flood the mailboxes with bad suicidal poetry."

Yumichika laughed at that. "Are you telling me to settle down, Madarame?" he asked, teasingly disbelieving. "That's sweet."

Ikkaku shrugged one shoulder noncommittally. Scoffed. "After all the shit you two've put me through these past few days, I'm beginnin' to really believe you idiots deserve each other, is all."

Yumichika looked thoughtful at that, and turned to stare at his flowers a little more.

Ikkaku decided to be nice and not complain when the fifth chair ended up doing no work at all for the rest of the day.

Shuuhei was usually pretty confident about himself. His whole life he'd been told that he was good looking and good natured, that he was all the things anyone with an ounce of taste would find attractive.

Yumichika made him feel oddly self-conscious.

It might have been the fact that his date for the evening was stunningly gorgeous.

And knew it.

Yumichika seemed to take some satisfaction in being able to render Shuuhei speechless by entering the room though, and there was something kind of sexy about that if the vice-captain was honest with himself.

"You're staring," Yumichika murmured with an amused smile, obviously flattering himself with speculations as to what Shuuhei was thinking about as he did it.

The fifth chair was in his element here at least, knew when he'd stunned a man into silence with his looks and his dress and his devastating confidence. This part he knew how to deal with, and really, it was a relief to know that Shuuhei was the same as other men in that respect, that the fifth seat could take what he knew about dating and adapt it to suit the mystifyingly earnest vice-captain sitting across from him.

Hisagi flushed slightly at having been caught. "Sorry."

Yumi chuckled. "No, keep doing it. I like it."

Shuuhei favored him with a little lopsided smile then, and Ayasekawa wondered what it was about that small, almost insignificant gesture that felt so endearing.

"It's just weird I guess," Shuuhei started, sheepish. "I started out the week wanting to beat you up."

"Oh?"

"But I uh… I saw you fight the other day," he explained, embarrassed. "You were… well. You were a sight."

Yumi looked back at him mischievously. "You still wanted to fight me," he reminded the vice-captain teasingly.

"Yeah, well. Among other things I guess…"

Shuuhei blinked.

Turned red.

"That is… not that I… well…" he looked down at his plate. "Dammit."

To be honest, Yumichika felt relieved. There were already a lot of 'other things' he was certain he wanted to do to Hisagi if the other man would give him the chance. "I'm glad."

Shuuhei looked up. "Yeah?" Pause. "Still… ah, not something I should've said… at least, until the fifth or sixth date, right?" he laughed, sheepish. "Just came out. You just… do things to me, I guess."

Pause.

Flushing redder, the vice-captain fiddled idly with his chopsticks. "See?"

Yumichika reached out and put his hand over Hisagi's impulsively.

The other death god's eyes shot up to meet his.

"What, hand-holding is allowed on the second date, right?" Yumichika posed innocently. "I really don't know all the formalities of these things, to be honest," he admitted.

Shuuhei swallowed, moving his hand until it clasped Ayasekawa's in return. "Yeah. This is fine." He took a breath. "If you want, I'll show you. The uh…formalities."

Yumichika offered a smile back. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I mean, if you want."

There was something warm and invitingly hopeful in Shuuhei's eyes when he said that, and it killed the automatically teasing response on the tip of Ayasekawa's tongue, prompting the fifth seat to answer with, "that sounds nice," instead.

Shuuhei grinned. "Okay then. Dinner. Tomorrow, after work. I'll pick you up."

Yumichika glowed back at the vice-captain, unable to look away from the other man's eyes. "So what's allowed on the third date?" he asked, voice soft.

Shuuhei licked his lips nervously. "First kiss."

END