Uryuu had no idea when he'd started to take Urahara's presence for granted, but now that Urahara was busy with some project, it was clear that he had.

And it was fine that Urahara was busy with something. It was. It was mostly just that no one would tell him anything except that it was supposed to be some sort of surprise for him.

(Frankly, he'd prefer just being told.)

(He didn't need surprises!)

Urahara was still around, of course. He hadn't left the shoten or anything, and Tsukabishi made sure Urahara came out of his lab every evening to eat with them and to wish Uryuu good night before bed, but… but that was all he seemed to do.

It was Tsukabishi who waved him off every morning, and Tsukabishi who oversaw most of his Quincy practice, and Tsukabishi who walked him through difficult bits of control practice, not Urahara.

(Was he not good enough?)

(Had he done something wrong?)

(Was he… was he going to be sent back to… to his old home?)

(They said Urahara was working on something for him, but was he really, or was he just bored of Uryuu?)

Uryuu did his best to keep his worries hidden, to not let anyone know—

(He wasn't a burden.)

(He wasn't!)

—but the way Ichigo and his sisters would glance at him every so often implied that he wasn't doing a good job of hiding his growing uncertainty.

Still, it didn't matter. It didn't. He was fine. He just had to wait until Urahara was done with whatever he was doing, and then— then everything would just go back to normal.

(He was fine.)

(Everything was fine!)

And maybe he did have some sort of idea of what Urahara was up to, because the rare times when Urahara oversaw his practice instead of Tsukabishi, the man seemed sharper. More focused. Able to explain himself better and pick out Uryuu's problems faster.

He was even starting to use the right words, so… so maybe he'd actually found some books? Maybe his 'project' was teaching himself how Quincy techniques worked?

But why not simply ask Uryuu to help? With a book in front of him, Uryuu was certain he could finally articulate the things he'd learned but forgotten how to explain. Urahara would learn faster if he just asked for help, Uryuu was certain of it!

(It had already been two weeks!)

(That was forever!)

The longer Urahara took on his project, the harder it was for Uryuu to focus on anything else. Curiosity-uncertainty-indignation gnawed at his mind until he could barely finish his homework every night. If it wasn't for Ichigo prodding him along and Tsukabishi reading over his work every evening, Uryuu was certain his grades would have plummeted like a stone.

(It was so frustrating!)

(He just wanted to know!)

(He just wanted to help…)

(He wasn't a burden, he wasn't!)

The fact that Urahara didn't even seem to notice Uryuu's growing distraction was even worse; he'd thought Urahara saw him as a… a person, not just a Quincy or a kid, but this made him wonder if that was true.

Tsukabishi did notice, on the other hand, and constantly nudged him towards Urahara. Each time, Uryuu was given a brief hug, a cheerful grin, and a promises of 'soon', but never any actual answers.

Uryuu couldn't find the words to ask, either—

(What if asking bothered Urahara?)

(What if that made Urahara work slower?)

—so he bit his tongue and tried to distract himself by helping Ichigo learn control; the other boy was terrible at it to an almost impressive degree, but even the new and varied ways Ichigo managed to mess up couldn't hold his attention forever. Even if it was a little amusing.

(Just a little.)

Ichigo always scowled at him whenever Uryuu's amusement grew too strong, his nose wrinkled and his eyes narrowed and the whole thing… not nearly as intimidating as Ichigo probably thought it was.

(Uryuu had seen plenty worse before.)

Honestly, Uryuu sort of suspected that Ichigo was messing up on purpose — surely no one could be that bad, could they? — but he guessed it didn't really matter in the end: messing up on purpose was a sort of control. Sort of. Maybe.

(Seriously, it took creativity to mess up like Ichigo did, Uryuu was kind of impressed.)

But Ichigo didn't train every night, and Uryuu didn't have homework every night, and those nights were the worst. With nothing to occupy his mind with, he couldn't help but circle back and back and back again to wondering what Urahara was up to and why the man was being secretive about it. And all the while Urahara was cheerful-kind-distracted and Uryuu couldn't make himself ask, not in front of the Kurosaki siblings, not in front of Ichigo, and it was fine, it was fine.

With that in mind, he could (probably) forgive himself for not noticing what the Kurosaki siblings were up to until far too late.

Probably.

Maybe.

(Okay, he really couldn't.)

(Nothing excused missing the buildup to this!)

("Uh…" Uryuu froze as Yuzu wriggled into his lap and rested her head against his chest, her thin arms wrapping around his neck. He slanted a panicked glance at Ichigo beside him—

Ichigo arched an eyebrow. Pointedly shifted his leg a bit to press it more firmly against Uryuu's thigh. Glanced past Uryuu at Karin who was also leaning into Uryuu's side.

"Everyone needs hugs sometimes!" Yuzu declared firmly, her wispy reiatsu signature blazing with care-hope-trust as she tightened her grip even more. "Hugs make everything better."

Uryuu shifted his gaze to Urahara, who was watching them with bemused fondness, and sighed when the man just grinned at him and said, "Maa, might as well give in. They've been inching closer for the past week and you didn't notice until just now." Urahara tapped his fan lightly on the table, the amusement fading from his face as he added, "Uryuu-kun, I apologize for being so distracted lately, but I'm almost done. How about we go over it this Sunday? We can spend most of the day on it together, okay?"

Uryuu swallowed and ducked his head, squeezing his eyes closed against the tears of relief that threatened to fall. He focused on the way Yuzu's soft hair tickled his chin and nose. On the the warmth of her arms around his neck. On the emotions hanging in her reiatsu.

It helped.

Barely, but it helped.

Once he was certain he wasn't going to blubber everywhere, he forced out, "Yeah. That sounds… that sounds okay. Thanks."

"Ah, well…" Urahara hesitated, a hint of sheepishness trickling into his reiatsu as he added, "I apologize for not involving you immediately. I wanted to surprise you with something, but then it took me longer than I expected and I, ah… I am… not great at keeping track of time. I didn't realize I'd spent so many days on it already. I'm sorry, Uryuu-kun."

"It's fine," Uryuu said, hardly daring to believe the words coming out of Urahara's mouth. Someone apologizing to him — an adult apologizing to him! — was… strange. Weird.

Nice.

Maybe he would forgive Urahara after all.)