Author's note: Hello friends! I barely made it in time for this week's deadline. Yeah, I know there is no real "deadline" but I made a promise to myself that I would publish a chapter every weekend and I haven't missed it so far. In this chapter they are finally getting closer...oho. Remember that every time you comment a fan-fiction angel gets their wings! Thanks for your continued support and I hope to see you next weekend for a new chapter.

Chapter 12 content warnings: sexual situations (PG-13ish in nature)


By the end of the story, Renji had already emptied his glass of sparkling water, cried into a few tissues, and untucked and unbuttoned his dress shirt. He now sat there speechless in his white undershirt. He knew that apologizing and sympathizing were useless. He stole a glance at the dark-haired man across from him, who seemed lost in thought, probably battling off the demons that had awoken from the past by re-telling the tale.

In an instant, Renji had crossed the distance between them, pulling the other man into his arms. He held Byakuya to his chest as if he were a precious yet injured dove who might fly away at any moment.

"Don't go," Renji murmured into the other's hair, pressing his cheek to the side of Byakuya's head.

"You don't have to hold me so tightly," Byakuya's voice was small. "I'm not running."

"I want to." Renji clutched at Byakuya as if he were fading away in his arms. "Just stay with me."

"I'm here." The pale man carefully returned the embrace, resting his hands on Renji's back.

Renji fiercely whispered against the other's ear, "Don't you fuckin' dream of going anywhere else again. I'm not letting you go, Kuchiki."

"Is this a hostage situation?"

"Hell yeah, it is."

That sentiment prompted a slight snicker from the noble, "Should I be afraid?"

"Nah. You're never gonna feel fear again if it's up to me," Renji's lips brushed the other man's raven hair.

"That's not what I meant."

"Fuck, Byakuya. Give me a reason I shouldn't go beat your grandpa's ass right now?"

Byakuya pulled away for a moment; that apathetic glaze was still cast over his face. "He's old. His time will come."

"I'm about to lose it," Renji warned. They both had tempers as children, but Renji had never quite tamed his.

"Oh, quiet down." Byakuya grasped Renji's tanned hand in his own. "I don't need any protection, thank you."

"Then instead, let me offer some healing." Renji pulled the other man back down onto the couch, holding him to his chest. "Lie here with me."

Byakuya did not have the energy left to object. Instead, his head found a comfortable place between the crux of Renji's neck and clavicle. He was engulfed in that spicy-sweet fragrance he had come to know as his childhood friend's scent. He listened carefully to the thumping of Renji's heart in his chest. Such a small organ brought exuberant life and joy to the person he cared for. The idea of losing Renji again, like he had lost his most precious family, was a fear that clawed at the back of his mind.

"Comfy?" the baritone of Renji's voice reverberated through Byakuya's head.

He nodded in reply, but his eyes had become heavy with the day's weight. His memories clouded his consciousness as his eyes slipped closed.

Renji stayed quiet as the raven-haired man slipped off to sleep. He watched in awe as the stern expression he usually wore faded at the first signs of sleep. When he was slumbering, he looked so much like the young boy that Renji had known. Careful fingers brushed through the silky ebony hair, pausing only when he noted some faint scars near Byakuya's hairline and neck. Last he had remembered, the man had been flawless. But, time and trauma had taken their mark on him. Renji scowled as he wondered just how he had received these blemishes.

Soothing lips placed more chaste and loving kisses on the top of Byakuya's black hair. Renji then rested his chin on the other man's head and closed his eyes, noting how warm Byakuya was in his arms. He pondered how his dream of holding Byakuya again had come true before being pulled under.

When the morning came, the light was forgiving as it shone through parted blinds, basking the sleeping pair in a golden hue. Renji's dark eyelashes twitched as he came to. He felt the soft sensation of fingertips tracing the designs across his neck and chest. The touch was so faint, like the fluttering of leaves in the breeze.

When he opened his sleep-heavy eyes, he was met with the sight of a deity in human skin. Despite himself, his breath was still stolen away by the presence of his childhood friend. Byakuya's inky hair was messed up from sleep, and the collar of his shirt had become unbuttoned to expose his milky collarbones.

"Mornin'," Renji grumbled hoarsely. He wasn't quite as graceful in the morning hours. "Ya playing with my tattoos like an Etch-A-Sketch?"

"Good morning." Byakuya's fingers halted while tracing a tattoo that disappeared into the redhead's undershirt. "When did you decide to continue tattooing yourself? I remember the first one you got. It was awful."

"Thanks?" he chuckled, vibrating the other man in his arms in the process, "I dunno. I had a lot of shitty tattoos in my early twenties. Eventually decided to get everything covered with black tribal work. Took about five years to get my whole body done."

"Your–" Byakuya hoped the other man didn't notice him swallow dryly, "your whole body? Interesting."

"Oh, are you curious as to where they are?" the redhead snickered, arching a dark brow.

"Well," Byakuya admitted, "naturally."

"Afraid I'd have to get really, really naked in order to show ya."

"Oh," the nobleman looked at his watch. "I'm afraid I cannot stay."

Renji snuggled closer once again as if time limits didn't matter. "Where do you have to be on a Sunday morning?"

"It's…" Byakuya chose to veil the truth, "work-related."

"Figures. You never could just relax."

"I should get going. I look like a mess. I can't very well show up to work like this," the Kuchiki gestured to his wrinkled clothes.

"You could always," the redhead paused with a grin, "shower here with me."

"Renji," Byakuya chided in a soft voice, shaking his head in disagreement.

"No funny stuff, I swear." He raised his hands up in a show of innocence, his eyes practically pleading for the other man to stay.

The noble cut the silence dryly, "You have weak self-restraint."

"I'll try to keep my hands off of you."

"Try?"

"No promises," Renji chuckled. "Do you remember when we used to go skinny dipping when we were younger?"

"I'd prayed you had forgotten," Byakuya sighed, rubbing at his temples.

"As if I'd ever forget playing naked in the lake with you." Renji's hands reached up for Byakuya's, delicately pulling them away. "You can leave if you have to. I know this shit is a lot to deal with at once. I just want you to know that I'm here to stay."

Byakuya grasped Renji's hands in return, lowering his voice so that it could only be heard in the space between them. "I must've dreamt of our childhood together a million times."

"How was I in your dreams?" Renji's amber eyes glowed in the morning sunshine.

"You were perfect." Byakuya's fine-boned hands brushed over the other man's cheek. "You always have been."

"Oh, jeez." Renji was never one to take compliments well. He blushed, averting his gaze. "I guess so."

Then Renji's hands were brought to those pristine lips and cherished by a reverent kiss. Renji felt the heat spread from his face down his chest. His stomach did small somersaults in time with his erratic heartbeat.

"I suppose," Byakuya murmured between chaste kisses to the other's hands, "I could stay for a morning shower."

The weight in Renji's stomach pooled. He swallowed harshly, "Awesome. Um, let me go prepare the shower real quick."

Renji quickly fled in an attempt to make his bathroom presentable, starting with the cluttered counter space. He shoved everything in the cupboard under the sink. He then went to grab fresh towels, stuffing the grimy ones into his laundry hamper overflowing with other dirtied clothes and linens. Next, he rummaged through his body washes and shampoos, choosing something he thought might suit Byakuya. Usually, everything he used was heady, which would hardly fit the refined man he had invited to shower with him. Finally, he turned on the shower to let the water heat up.

He quickly rinsed his face and messed with his hair even though he was about to be soaked anyway. His face was still reddened so he tried to rinse it away with more cold water to not prevail. Renji jumped when Byakuya suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Hey. I didn't tell you to come in yet."

"I'm in a time crunch, remember?" Byakuya was already unbuttoning his wrinkled white dress shirt. Renji choked on the air he breathed in.

The noble man was as confident and nonchalant as a fox. He didn't seem bothered as he quickly worked the buttons, folding and setting the shirt aside. Renji noted how muscular Byakuya had become. He had slender, well-proportioned muscles that framed his arms, shoulders, and torso, filling his pale skin with flawless dimensions.

Byakuya looked expectantly at Renji, who was still in a dumbfounded state. He shrugged, slipping out of his pants, then his underwear. He bypassed the shocked redhead on his way into the bath, closing the fogged glass door of the shower behind him. Renji watched the distorted outline of the nobleman as he rinsed out his long ebony hair. The redhead tried his best not to do his thinking with his dick. He had promised not to do anything to make Byakuya uncomfortable, which included the half-hard mass that was in his pants.

He took a moment to compose himself, splashing more cold water on his face and then giving it a little smack. Once he had finally calmed down, he shed his own layers, leaving them in an unceremonious pile on the floor.

"Is it still okay for me to come in?" Renji called out over the sound of the shower water.

The shower's glass door opened and Byakuya stuck his head through. His wet inky hair stuck to the sides of his face and provided a beautiful contrast of white and black. "Your shampoo has a powerful scent."

Renji chuckled, gently moving Byakuya aside as he entered the bath. "That was the tamest one I own, sorry."

Now it was Byakuya's turn to marvel at the sculpt of Renji's build. He was much more broad and brawny but somehow still graceful and stunning in his own way. The geometric tattoos on his body drew entrancing angles and shapes across his chest, down his torso, and then onto his thighs and calves. He was a moving canvas; the stark black lines contorted and danced as he shifted closer.

"It's rude to stare, ya know?" Renji teased and captured the other man by the waist, finally relishing the opportunity to touch Byakuya's bare, sublime skin. "Is it okay if I hold you like this?"

"You needn't ask." Byakuya's fingertips grazed the contour of Renji's chin.

They indulged in each other's eyes for a long moment as the water soaked and matted their hair, mingling down their face. Byakuya ran his fingers through crimson hair that was much longer than his own, marveling at the different shades of color that shimmered in the light.

"May I wash your hair?"

"Can you?" Renji laughed. "You can do anything you want to me."

Byakuya then turned the other man to face the water. He took the opportunity while he wasn't being watched to drink in the sight of Renji's back tattoos that trailed all the way down onto his supple ass. Byakuya reached for the shampoo once more, coating his hands before he began using long and skillful fingers to massage the lather into the other's scalp.

Renji couldn't help himself from groaning in pleasure, "Damn. What else can those hands do?"

"Oh, hush." Byakuya continued to scratch his scalp. He then brushed the long crimson strands up over the other's shoulder, exposing the vulnerable skin on the side of his neck.

The noble leaned in, caressing the backside of Renji's body with his own. The redhead's breath hitched, but he remained silent. Byakuya's warm breath ghosted against the man's tattooed neck as he leaned closer, nipping the skin with playful canines.

"Byakuya," Renji breathed in a hushed voice, "I thought–"

"I said be quiet," the commanding voice silenced the other man.

Byakuya found a patch of inked skin that he trapped between the edges of his teeth. He pulled and then sucked at that sweet, fragrant space of skin, marveling at how the other's salty flesh tasted on his tongue. His lips meandered across the tattooed canvas as he indulged in more and more of his skin. His hands had found their way to the front of Renji's body, resting ever so softly on the muscles of his abdomen. He could feel every hitch in the tattooed man's breath, and the heavy heat of his labored breathing seemed to fog the shower.

His tongue darted out and traced those intricate designs from Renji's neck to his shoulder blades. He bit there again, bringing another gasp forward from Renji. He nuzzled his nose there, closing his eyes as he inhaled the fervor that radiated off the redhead's skin; he tasted like liquid ecstasy. Byakuya's mind was clouding over with thoughts of lustful fantasies of what he could do and what he wanted to be done to him. Then, with a shake of his head, he dispelled the erotic thoughts.

"I apologize," he whispered fervently against the other man's back.

"N-No need to say sorry," Renji barely managed to speak. "I enjoyed that."

"I saw that, but…" Byakuya trailed off, resting his head against the other's back as he merely stood there hugging him from behind.

Renji chose not to pry. Instead, he let himself fall into the embrace as the quiet pitter-patter of the shower hitting the tile floor filled in the rest of the silence.

After a long moment, the noble broke the silence, "I have to go."

"Let me drive you at least," Renji offered in vain.

"I mustn't be conspicuous."

The redhead turned in the other's arms, glancing down at him with hurt in his eyes. "You mean you don't wanna be seen with me."

"T-That's not it," the raven-haired man began with a glower, "just I need–"

"You think I'm gonna be content this time in the shadows? Do you think Rukia is gonna be content with that? Give me a break," Renji finished his thought with a scoff of disbelief.

Byakuya's hand tugged on his wet hair while he tried to wrangle his frustration. "Do you really think that was my intent?"

Renji then noticed the distress clearly written on the pale man's face and softened his tone a bit, "Then what's up?"

"Give me some goddamn time," Byakuya's concentration snapped as he fell into the brash habits of his youth.

The taller man was stunned into silence by the uncharacteristic profanity that echoed through the hollow bathroom, "S-Sure. Sorry."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I really have to get going. I-I'll call you later… or something," the flustered noble was at a loss for words as he quickly escaped the shower.

Renji was left behind, wondering just what the hell he had done wrong.