Title: Good Morning
Anime: Bleach
Genre: Romance
Pairing: IchiIshi
Ichigo sat at his table in the morning, reading a book. Not many other people had arrived at school, which was why he was there. Any moments of silence without his father trying to kick or punch him, or Hollows trying to devour his soul or friends trying to annoy the heck out of him, were very much appreciated.
He didn't look up when he heard the door slide open and didn't flinch when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Reading until the end of the line, he looked up and saw Ishida standing by his side. One hand on his glasses and the other on Ichigo's shoulder, his stoic face was replaced by a small smile at the Shinigami.
"Good morning."
The Quincy bent down and they briefly kissed. Neither had anything against a quick kiss when there was hardly anyone around and they usually met early in the morning like this, about fifteen minutes before the first wave of students made their way through the school gates. It was always slow and controlled. Never more than a kiss, a nuzzle and sighs let out in unison. It was enough to last the day, aside from the furtive glances they gave each other when no one else was looking. Besides, they had their afternoons together after their studying was over, where they could be a lot less restrained and much more passionate.
"It's the first day of Winter," Ishida said with a smile not visible on his lips, but in his eyes.
"I remembered," replied Ichigo, pulling his bag up onto his table.
It was somewhat of a compromise for not being able to display their affection for each other in the way that most, if not all, heterosexual couples did with the giggling and kissing – not that either boy cared much for that sort of thing anyway. However, it had become a tradition for them to exchange presents on the first day of each season.
It was unfair to say that Ishida had won Ichigo's heart with chocolate, but he had definitely used it to prove that he cared. It had never been something that was vocally announced between the two. On the first day of Summer, Ishida had presented Ichigo with chocolate, Shakespeare and homemade board shorts. Later that afternoon, Ichigo turned up at Ishida's flat with some Miso he had made himself, a romance novel for the Quincy to add to his collection and a new pair of knitting needles.
That night's love-making had been rather heated and it was mutually decided to turn the present exchanging into a tradition.
"A scarf," Ishida murmured, pulling the hand-knitted article out of his bag and draping it around Ichigo's neck, "with matching gloves."
A look of amusement settled on Ichigo's face when he looked at his present, the green wool was soft to the touch and it was filled with… well, Ishida. That was his favourite thing about it.
"I only got you one," the Shinigmai said quietly as he opened his bag, "But I think you'll like it anyway."
Ishida's mouth dropped open as he saw what had been placed on the table.
"It's… that sewing kit! The one that I wanted but couldn't— Ichigo, this must have cost a fortune!"
Ichigo smiled and standing up, he placed a chaste kiss on the pale cheek, "It was nothing."
Ishida begged to differ, but didn't speak. Instead, he circled his arms around Ichigo's waist, pulling him closer and kissing him.
"Mm, Uryuu… this isn't the place," Ichigo murmured against the smaller boy's neck.
"Don't care," came the muffled reply, "You… you mean so much to me."
At that, Ichigo smiled. This was something that made up for Ishida waking up early in the morning and walking to school in the cold, just to see the smile and peaceful expression on the Shinigami's face before people came and it was replaced by his usual frown.
"You're so sappy," Ichigo teased with a grin.
"Am not," Ishida replied, sounding mock hurt, "I just can't help all this emotion from flowing out of me! Kind of like your reiatsu."
"Hey, you said you wouldn't mock me about that anymore!" the Shinigami said defensively and then smirked, "Man Ishida, you're so gay! With all your sewing and knitting and all that emotion…"
"You're just as gay as I am, Kurosaki Ichigo," the Quincy retorted, frowning.
"Well, I certainly don't show it like you do! You're such a… a… stereotype!"
"Keep your voice down," Ishida growled as he realised that early as it may be, there were still some teachers arriving at school.
"What difference would it make? Everyone knows you're gay anyway!"
"Yeah, but they don't know who my boyfriend is."
"And I'd prefer to keep it that way!" Ichigo hissed exasperatedly and sat down on his desk.
"Why? Are you ashamed of me?" Ishida's voice was somewhat quieter than usual.
"Of course not!" Ichigo cried defensively and his hand closed around Ishida's wrist to emphasise it, "But… you know what it's like."
"Honsho-san gets away with being an open lesbian," Ishida pointed out.
"But it's different," Ichigo said in a near-whine, "They accept you as a gay person by yourself, but as soon as I come into the picture it becomes 'oh no! look, it's the gay lovers Kurosaki and Ishida again! who knows what they get up to! I'm going to avoid them!' and… damn it, I just know it won't be accepted. I think my friends are homophobes anyway."
"They're fine with me," the dark-haired boy said.
"Because I'm fine with you," Ichigo replied and sighed, "They're too afraid of me to oppose me."
"Sado doesn't seem afraid of you. And he's nice to me."
"That's because Chad's a great guy. You don't get many of his type."
"So you're afraid of what people will think of us," Ishida concluded.
"Yeah," Ichigo said with a sigh, "I mean, you were alone enough before you started sitting with us. Hell, you're alone enough now. I don't want people to avoid you just because of me."
"You know I wouldn't mind," Ishida said with a soft expression, "As long as you were there with me."
"Still," said the Shinigami as he rested his head against Ishida's chest as the dark-haired boy moved closer, "I'd prefer to keep it secret."
"I know."
Pale and slender fingers entangled into the bright orange hair and they kissed before Ichigo pulled away.
"We're kissing a lot more than usual today," he pointed out.
Ishida gave him a small grin, "Well new seasons tend to do that to me."
"What else do they make you do… or want to do?" Ichigo teased, his hands resting on Ishida's hips.
"Ichigo…" the voice carried a bit of warning and a lot of desire.
Raising an eyebrow at the paler boy, the Shinigami grinned, "Well, we are the only students at school right now. In this area, at least."
Leaning closer, Ishida's internal battle between sense and lust was clearly visible in his eyes. As he took his glasses off and placed them on the desk in front of Ichigo – his own – his decision was clear.
"C'mere," Ichigo murmured, pulling the Quincy closer as Ishida placed a knee against the edge of the desk the orange-haired youth was seated on.
They kissed and shifted a bit, only to be broken apart suddenly by the sound of something hitting the floor.
"Damn it, only my book," Ichigo said, his heart gradually returning to its normal pace.
"What book?" Ishida asked, looking at the book on the floor with mild interest.
Bending and picking it up, he dusted it off before reading the cover, "The Comedies of Shakespeare?"
Ichigo scratched his neck and looked away, "I'd already finished tragedies, so I moved on to the comedies."
Ishida smiled, "You really like Shakespeare, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do…" affirmed Ichigo with a nod.
"Which play are you currently reading?"
"Much Ado About Nothing… can you please stop teasing me like this and just get back here into my arms?" the desperation was crystal clear in Ichigo's voice.
"Which one's that again?" Ishida asked, intentionally ignoring the plea.
Ichigo rolled his eyes and sighed, "The one where there are two people who really start off disliking each other and end up together in the end. Come on, Uryuu…"
"Kind of like us, isn't it?" the pale boy asked with a grin as his hands returned to Ichigo's hair.
"You were just jealous of my big ass reiatsu," Ichigo retorted with a smirk.
"Attracted," Ishida corrected, placing his index and middle fingers on the taller boy's lips.
"Whatever you say, Mr. Denial," Ichigo said, grinning before he kissed the fingers and they were replaced by Ishida's own mouth.
"I'm not in denial," Ishida murmured into their kiss as he leaned further into the Shinigami, forcing him to half-lie on his table.
"Doesn't quite matter at the moment," the orange-haired boy said with a grin as he began to unbutton Ishida's shirt from the bottom, sliding his hand under it.
Holding back a groan, Ishida gripped onto the green scarf still around Ichigo's neck in an attempt to keep himself in control.
"If you want to stop, you'd better say it now," Ichigo warned, massaging the Quincy's sides.
A silence followed and a school tie fell to the ground.
"You're not going to get all the fun," Ishida murmured, pulling at Ichigo's shirt too while his own was pulled half-way down his arms.
"Uryuu" Ichigo moaned as his neck was bitten, his arms tightening around the slender frame between them.
It was at that exact moment that the door of the room slid open. The two boys cursed and pulled quickly apart, but the damage had been done. It also didn't help that Ishida was well on his way to being shirtless with Ichigo not too far behind.
The tall dark figure of Sado in the doorway remained still for a moment before making a sound, "Mm."
Cursing quietly to himself, Ishida put his shirt back on and picked his tie up off the ground, "Good morning, Sado-kun."
He found himself blushing. Good morning indeed…
After a moment's pause, Ichigo also buttoned his shirt up and slid off his desk and into his chair, "Uh yeah. Hey there, Chad."
Out of all people, Ichigo yelled mentally, why did it have to be Chad, his best friend! Bye bye tough-ass reputation.
Awkwardly sitting in his own chair and replacing his glasses on his nose, Ishida pulled out a book and began to, well, attempted to study.
Finding his place in the book, Ichigo also resumed reading.
Looking at the two, and then noticing the green scarf still around Ichigo's neck, along with the green gloves on his bag, Sado chuckled slightly.
"Don't worry guys. I knew already."