Yawning, Renji pushed open the door to the tattoo shop. It was his third Saturday in a row working. Right now, he was scheduled to have the next one free, and after his talk with Momo the day before, he had resolved to try to keep it that way. Free from work, anyway. He was holding out a small hope that if Rukia turned out to be amenable and didn't happen to have any plans…well, the fact was, if he was going to ask her out, he'd better actually have some time to go out, right?

At least today was just a couple hours of desk duty and then a single client. He'd swung by the coffee shop on the corner and treated himself to a breakfast sandwich and the biggest cup of coffee they sold, and he was looking forward to working on a few custom designs in the quiet office while Izuru handled his own morning client.

To his surprise, when Renji walked into the front room, Rangiku was sitting behind the desk. Renji tipped his sunglasses up onto his forehead. "Good morning. Uh, what are you doing here?"

Rangiku was taking a big sip out of her own Starbucks cup. She slowly put it down. "I…could ask you the same? Please tell me you got my texts."

Renji frowned and tried to remember checking his phone at two a.m., when he had gotten off from Urahara's. "You…sent me some shirtless pictures of Henry Cavill?"

Rangiku pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I don't think I meant to send those to you."

Renji shrugged. "I appreciated them."

"That's not what I meant, anyway. This would have been earlier, around seven, maybe?"

"Oh, I must have missed that one and only seen the later ones. I was bartending." He pulled out his phone and scrolled back through his messages. "Here we go:," he read out loud, "'Hey, cutie pie. Your client had to reschedule. It's silly for you to come in just for desk duty. I can sit in for you, and you can sleep in or'-in all caps-'maybe make some hot hot Valentine's Day plans, dot dot dot, question mark, kissy face, heart, flame, eggplant.'" Renji looked up at her. "Well. Fuck me."

"Just go home, sweetie," Rangiku made an extra sad frowny-face. "You could go back to bed? Or anything you want, really. There's a certain joy in a surprise day-off, right? Serendipity?"

"You're not wrong," Renji said slowly, a wild idea sending down roots in his brain. Serendipity. "You haven't scheduled anyone else into that slot, have you? The room should be free?"

"That's right," Rangiku narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.

"Okay," Renji said, half to himself. "I wanna eat this sandwich while it's still hot, so I'm gonna go back to the breakroom and do that. And maybe make a phone call. Don't schedule that room for anything."

"Are you trying to line up another client?" Rangiku's brows furrowed. "Don't you dare, Renji Abarai, Momo will murder me-"

"Momo is weak, like a tiny bunny, laid low by the ravages of her kissing illness. You can totally take her, I know it." He grinned. "It doesn't matter, I promise you that Momo would approve of what I'm doing."


For once, Rukia was sitting on her couch.

It really was a very good couch. Remarkably comfortable. She probably would have felt very classy sitting on it, except that she was wearing sweatpants printed with frogs and wrapped up in a fluffy blanket. She was skimming through the Netflix "romantic comedy" category. She hadn't actually heard of any of these movies. There was a Christmas one that seemed kind of cute, but her sixth sense told her it was probably going to turn out grossly heteronormative. Normally, Rukia would steer far clear of that category on Valentine's Day, but when she sat down, she'd felt oddly open to something cute and fluffy. She sighed and looked over at her laptop, which was sitting open next to her on the couch. Her browser was open to a website that sold vintage reproduction wallpapers. She should probably be looking through those instead, but she just wasn't feeling it.

"Maybe I should get out of the house," she said to herself.

"Mrwl," Shirayuki disagreed from her cozy position on Rukia's lap.

Did she really want to go out in the world on Valentine's Day? One on a Saturday, no less? Maybe Costco wouldn't be crowded. She didn't actually have a Costco membership, but Chad liked it. She could get a Costco membership.

"I could go to the gym," she frowned. She absolutely did not feel like putting on clothes and going to the gym.

Shirayuki yawned and rolled over.

Rukia picked up her phone and frowned at it. She had been waiting all morning for Orihime to text with reaction shots to the five course breakfast-in-bed she had planned for Ichigo. The radio silence only suggested that it had been all too successful.

Idly, Rukia opened up her photos and scrolled back to look at her opera night pictures. Again.

She loved going to the opera with Byakuya, of course, but going with Renji had been fun. Renji thought about opera in completely different ways than she and Byakuya did. They liked to contemplate themes and technique. Renji liked giant puppets and kettle drums and things that were awesome. It was just very interesting to experience something she loved with someone who loved it in an entirely different way. Additionally, Renji was very enthusiastic about doing poses for pictures. Byakuya did exactly one pose, which was 'his good side.'

Nevertheless, Rukia, once again, found herself scrolling back towards the two pictures she had taken of Renji back at his apartment. Obviously, she enjoyed looking at the one where he was making a stupid Instagram thirst trap face. It was honestly unbelievable how good he was at doing that, considering that his actual Instagram account was entirely pictures of his professional work.

It was the other photo, though, that Rukia kept coming back to, the one of Renji's goofy, bashful grin. She had caught him unguarded, she could tell from the way he had squinted at it afterward, like it was a person he didn't quite recognize. It was funny, though, because that's exactly how he looked in her mind whenever she thought of him.

Suddenly, Rukia's phone buzzed and she jumped guiltily.

[ Stupid Hot Tattoo Guy Renji ][10:08am] hey there, good morning!

Rukia stared at her phone stupidly for a minute, a warm feeling pooling in her stomach.

[ Stupid Hot Tattoo Guy Renji ][10:08am] i have a question for you, and it's time-sensitive, so please let me know when you see this.

Rukia immediately shook off her stupor.

[ Rukia ][10:08am] i'm here, what's up?

[ Stupid Hot Tattoo Guy Renji ][10:09am] oh, great! I'm glad i caught you. it's saturday, i thought you might be out and about.

[ Rukia ][10:10am] nope, just having a lazy day in

[ Stupid Hot Tattoo Guy Renji ][10:11am] oh! okay! so!

[ Stupid Hot Tattoo Guy Renji ][10:11am] i had an emergency cancellation this morning

[ Stupid Hot Tattoo Guy Renji ][10:11am] and i realize this is super short notice

[ Stupid Hot Tattoo Guy Renji ][10:12am] but if by some chance you were able to come in, i could do your tattoo today

[ Stupid Hot Tattoo Guy Renji ][10:12am] i know it's a longshot, feel free to say no, but it would really help out my schedule =D

Rukia stared at her phone, frozen.

She could have her tattoo today.

Her original appointment was for Wednesday, which was only five days away, but she hadn't even started contemplating what she was going to wear or planned her pre-tattoo meal or purchased aftercare supplies (she had done some research, though, and had compiled a shopping list).

But she could have it today. Screw five days, she could have a grim reaper on her body in just a few hours from now.

She glanced around her little couch nest. She wasn't really dressed. She should probably take a shower. She should probably also hydrate and eat something. Maybe she should do that before she showered.

"Mew?" said Shirayuki.

[ Rukia ][10:14am] i can be there in an hour, is that good enough?