And I just might say it tonight, I just might say it tonight

. . .

There were two more days until Ichigo's birthday, and everything has been super weird. Nice, he supposed, but really fucking weird. For one, Renji's been really spoony for like, the past week. He'd been overly nice, paid him loads of attention, and was just generally affectionate. Really, it was gross.

It was like he knew that Ichigo was going to put him to work the day he was a man and that he wouldn't have the patience for this shit anymore - so in the meantime he was wooing Ichigo at factor nine while he still had the chance.

Really though, if Renji tried to suggest that they wait longer after he's twenty, Ichigo really will kill him.

Not that going on dates and kissing isn't nice and all, but Ichigo is an adventurous soul, and he's been waiting so long now. At seventeen when he'd come to the end and it had been time to choose his new life, he'd made his choice and then been left sailing round his fucking island for ages, unable to come ashore. Two and a half years was all the suspense that he could take. This shit ended the night he came of age and not a day more. He'd like to see Renji try to talk him out of that one.

Well, at least Renji's made it really clear how badly he also wants to have sex on a few occasions. Nah, he didn't think that Renji would pull any bullshit. All this mushy bullshit could be chalked up to Renji just being a sentimental fool.

Even so, Ichigo intended to find out what his deal was, being all gooey so close to the end. It's not like Renji hadn't had the chance to be all shitty-romantic before now, so it was strange that he'd laid it on so thick all of a sudden. Maybe it had set in that it was finally almost time or something. Whatever, Ichigo wanted to know.

That night, Renji took him out to eat at this fish place to eat all the onigiri and spicy fish eggs that he could hold – he loved this man, he really did. He then proceeded to sit at his elbow munching on a tempura bowl and sipping sake out of a dish, smiling occasionally while Ichigo stuffed his face on his favorite foods.

After the twenty-five minute mark, it was starting to make him self-conscious. Usually they tried to out-eat each other. It'd been their go-to ever since they'd gone through Hikifune's cooking in the Soul King Palace. Tonight, instead, Renji was - to be frank - mooning over him, like he wouldn't rather be doing another else but watch Ichigo gorge on his favorite food.

Knowing that alcohol loosened Renji's tongue, Ichigo decided to attack after his third glass but before his fourth, when he'd begin to fall off the fence towards drunk and away from buzzed. He waited until Renji started pouring himself a refill, and then, with his mouth half-full, he asked, "Yo, why're you doin' his, huh?" before stuffing in some more food.

"What?" Renji replied dumbly, snapping to attention. Yeah, maybe he was a little drunker than Ichigo had thought. The lovey look in his eye might have something to do with it.

"Spoiling me, following me around all day?" Ichigo clarified mildly, pointing at Renji rudely with his chopsticks, which caused him to raise his eyebrows, mouth ajar. "It better not be just 'cause my birthday's in two days."

"Heh'," Renji snickered at that, his eyes brightening at the reminder. "I know." He set his jar of alcohol down and leaned on the counter of the food stand with his elbows, grinning. "I got you a present," he told him happily, which Ichigo didn't allow to distract him.

"Answer my question." Never mind that Renji always said that the human practice of giving gifts on birthdays was silly and a waste of money, and not to expect him to get him shit, yet he'd given Ichigo a birthday gift every year since they'd met – barring his sixteenth and seventeenth, of course – with a sort of mumbled excuse that Ichigo should enjoy being a silly kid, and no, he didn't want a gift back on his own birthday, don't bother. Ichigo knew that in the old days, gift-giving hadn't been the custom on birthdays, but Renji ignored the tradition for him, despite his moaning and groaning. It always got Ichigo all warm inside just thinking about it.

He wondered what Renji had gotten him this year, for his coming of age. All his gifts from Renji before have all been stupid or just plain weird stuff, because he wasn't versed in what to purchase for a birthday, but Ichigo half-expected that this year it would be something really special, because it was totally like Renji to put some time into a meaningful coming of age gift; he was a sap like that.

Just because Ichigo was curious didn't mean he was going to let him derail the conversation though.

"Oh yeah, uhhh." Renji blinked for a moment in confusion at the demand, maybe having expected in his half-drunken stupor for Ichigo to be happy and excited about getting a present from him. Ichigo could practically see the gears turning as Renji tried to remember what they'd been talking about before. "What was it again?" he finally asked sheepishly.

"Why're you acting so spoony all of a sudden?"

"Oh," Renji repeated slowly, sucking the side of his lip before looking up to Ichigo in an almost curious confusion, brow furrowed. "Am I?"

"Uh, yeah," Ichigo replied flatly, shoveling some food into his mouth with a roll of his eyes. "A lot," he mumbled, and he would be unintelligible but for the fact that they both had long since developed fluency in full-mouth-speak from all the times they'd pigged out together on Friday nights when Renji and Rukia finally escaped work. "You kissed my cheek in front of Rikichi today." He still couldn't get over that. He'd never know who'd turned redder.

"Oh." Renji hummed, as if this was of some surprise to him, like he hadn't been there or something. Ichigo resisted the urge to slap a hand over his eyes. Ugh. He must've mistaken Renji's fourth cup for his third. "Yeah, guess I did."

"Why?" he asked, as if he were dealing with a child.

Renji blinked a few more times, then shrugged. "I dunno'," he answered noncommittally, and with zero remorse for his actions. "I guess I dint' think about it."

"Renji!"

"What?!" he shot back defensively, frowning. "What, I like you!" he shouted, sticking his lip out. "God damnit, ya' caught me, I fuckin' like you!"

"So?!" Ichigo whisper-shrieked back, because the shop owner was starting to give them looks. "That doesn't explain why you're acting weird!"

"Oh." The attacked air slipped out of Renji's shoulders and the stupid look replaced the anger. "Well I guess'm just happy. Lock me up, why don'tcha'."

"Happy?" Ichigo curled his lip like the notion offended him.

"Yeah, 'bout how lucky I am," Renji replied, grinning and leaning his chin on his hand.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked somewhat warily, curling an arm protectively around his plate just in case Renji was about to try something weird like hug him out in front of the common masses. When that guy got drunk, he didn't care that he was a representative of the Seireitei, and Ichigo couldn't count out any surprise kiss attack, especially with the way Renji's eyes were sparkling, all mischievous and affectionate.

"Well just two more nights an' I get ta' have you," Renji explained, voice surprisingly soft, and Ichigo pursed his lips and glared at his plate like it was his food's fault that he felt… softened. Damn effective, spoony, romantic, monkey-brained, idiotic-

"You already have me now," Ichigo griped, stabbing at his food like a barbarian so that he'd have something to pretend he was busy with. "Unless you mean sex," he noted, "in which case, hell yeah."

"Nice try," Renji replied, smirking on one side, cheek still resting on one hand, meaning that with his grin, one eye nearly closed. "Two days, Ichigo."

"Hmph," Ichigo grumbled in an only half-annoyed way. There was too short of a time to go to really be upset. "You're stubborn to the bitter end, huh." Renji laughed at that, his food entirely forgotten as he gazed at Ichigo like he was the funniest, most entertaining, weirdly interesting thing in the world, like he didn't want to stop looking at him for a minute, like Ichigo was the thing he liked most.

Ichigo let out a long content sigh and took a drink of water before digging back in. They sat in silence for some time again, and Ichigo wasn't as bothered by Renji's eyes on him, softened in the evening light… It was maybe a little romantic, with the fireflies out, and the moon about to rise, the skyline all rosy. Even the air felt like a lover's caress with how muggy and warm it was, sticking to every bit of exposed skin.

"…" Renji scratched a finger at the cheaply painted countertop and nudged Ichigo with his foot, drawing his attention back. "Okay, f'real," he mumbled, mouth resting on his hand lazily, "D'you really wanna' know why'm' spoilin' you?"

"Yeah?" Ichigo replied questioningly.

"Kind of a dick move," Renji mumbled, and didn't clarify for some time, leaving Ichigo to tilt his head and narrow his eyes at him in confusion. Just as Ichigo was about to ask what the hell he was talking about, Renji went on, with an almost creeping slowness, his eyes having dropped to his hands. "Sayin' for you ta' stick around for two an' a half years like that," he explained, "an' wait an' see. That ain't fair. I feel bad for that."

"Ahh, it wasn't so bad," Ichigo brushed off, uncomfortable as he always was when Renji apologized that genuinely for anything.

"No, really."

"Forget it, I don't know what you're even talkin' about. S'fine."

"All of that bullshit I pulled, you liked me through it," Renji muttered, looking at him in wonder, voice quiet and thoughtful, "thinkin' it'd all be worth it. Thas' some serious faith."

"Renji."

"And I just wanted'a' tell you back, that it was worth it for me too. I'd do it again, even," Renji went on, eyes slipping closed, his voice going almost sleepy as he slapped around for Ichigo's hand, clumsily holding it. "Ten thousand days apart, wantin' you, Ichigo." He yawned and smiled wryly, one eye peeking open just a sliver. "That's how much that I like you."

Any other day, Ichigo would've told him to shut up and not say weird shit to him, he would've told Renji he was fucking drunk and to go walk some of it off, but tonight, under the light of the moon with Renji's warm hand on his sweaty one, Ichigo just ate his food quietly and didn't say a word, because drunk or not, he knew exactly what Renji was talking about, and he thinks it was worth it too.

. . .

When they made it back to Renji's house in the small hours, they went through the routine. They changed into their sleeping clothes, said goodnight, and separated.

Ichigo tried to wind down, tossing around three times before he made himself lie still and close his eyes. No matter what he did, he felt too… unsettled to relax. He listened to the sounds of the night and counted his breaths for what seemed like an eternity, until finally, he yawned, and rolled over one last time, his hands tucked beneath his head as he slipped just beneath the veil of consciousness.

After about an hour of restless sleep, Ichigo roused when he heard Renji come out of his room and creep around. Probably going to the bathroom. Ichigo could hear him fucking around in there with the sink and shit. Maybe getting a glass of water. He listened for a long time, toying with the edges of sleep again. Finally, the noises died down for the time being, and Ichigo let out a shuddery sleepy sigh.

What surprised him was when he heard Renji begin moving again, his footsteps crunching the mats along the hall, growing slightly louder as he approached, coming into the front room and settling near his futon, then going quiet. After thirty some seconds of silence, Ichigo opened one eye and uncertainly rolled over, picking his head up to look around. Overcome with a sense of déjà vu, Ichigo startled to see that Renji was hovering over him slightly, holding a hand out like he'd been about to wake him. Wow, that took him back to his high school days.

Ichigo grunted tiredly, scrubbing at one eye before looking at Renji in confused expectation. It's so late, what the hell was he doing?

"Oh," Renji whispered sheepishly, as if he seemed to rethink what he was doing. He withdrew his hand. "You're awake."

Ichigo sat up, yawning, and looked at Renji through heavy sticky eyes. Renji was holding a box in rather uncertain fidgety hands. Ichigo inhaled breathily, feeling a bit more awake, hardly daring to move.

'Is that for me…?'

"I thought," Renji tried abortively, seeming to feel foolish, maybe regretting whatever he was doing, "Uh… Sorry I woke you up." He grimaced apologetically and rubbed the back of his neck, looking like he felt sort of stupid. Ichigo didn't know why he was whispering in his own home when it was just the two of them. Maybe nighttime did that to people.

"I was awake already," Ichigo rasped, "What's up?"

"I…" Renji took a breath, and then seemed to say 'fuck it.' He scootched forward a bit on his knees so that they bunched up in Ichigo's futon. "Please take this," he said a bit loudly and very formally, holding out the box to Ichigo with both hands in proper gift-giving form.

Ichigo didn't know what to say. He raised both eyebrows and then confusedly noted, "It's not my birthday yet."

"I know, but…" Renji's head tilted to the side a bit, a smile spreading across his face like melted ice cream spilling from a bowl, slow and messy and sweet. "Go ahead an' open it early."

Ichigo stared at Renji for a minute in disbelief and awe, before lighting up in a slow smile of his own. Was he really…?

"That's breaking the rules, Renji," he mumbled lowly, truly surprised.

Renji smiled down at his knees, and Ichigo remembered something Rukia had once said about betting that they were saps when they were alone. Maybe she'd been right all along.

Renji adjusted his grip on the gift, his smile warm and his chocolate-cherry eyes on Ichigo's. "I don't care, I don't want to wait."

Ichigo had to just stare at him for a few moments, his heart squeezing, but he grinned and accepted the box. He folded his legs, sitting up straight and turning towards Renji with his feet tucked under him, and watched how Renji's expression eagerly shifted as he waited for Ichigo to look at the gift. Anticipation, curiosity, impatience, uncertainty, excitement – it really was… well, cute.

Ichigo held the gift in his lap and looked at it politely and made an appreciative noise, because his mom had taught him good manners. Renji sat across from him for a few quiet moments, hands curled up on each thigh. Finally, when he seemed unable to wait a moment more, he urged, "You gonna' open it?"

"Now?" His head popped up curiously. He hadn't expected to open it right this second. He'd thought maybe Renji would go back to bed or something. Surprised but pleased, Ichigo gave an incredulous grin. It was bad form to open a present right in front of the giver, because one could usually assume what the gift was and didn't need to check it until later, when in private. That is, unless… unless the gift was special. Ichigo began to feel a little excited. What did Renji get him?

"Yeah, I wanna' see you open it."

Trying not to let on how eager he was to open his present, Ichigo looked at it more closely. He bit the inside of his lip to try not to smile too much at the fabric wrapping, which was a pattern of orange fishes, carefully tied shut with another piece of orange cloth – happiness and love.

Ichigo fought the urge to bring the gift to his forehead or hug it. Renji, you sentimental fool…

He carefully unwrapped the fabric and saw that inside was a polished box with dark wood. Taking off the lid and moving aside the inner covering, a dark soft cloth, he was surprised to see… Zangetsu.

Lips parted, Ichigo blinked a few times at it, looking up to Renji for a second and then back down to the tiny sword. He shifted the box to one hand and reached out a finger, running it along the painted wood.

"Ikkaku taught me how, an' then I had Momo help me paint it," Renji explained when Ichigo didn't say anything and merely marveled at it. He pulled on his ponytail, mumbling gruffly, "It's not that great, but… Well, this is just my way of saying… Yeah." He cleared his throat, scratching at his ear like he did when he felt awkward but was trying to say something he really meant.

"This is you, to me."

Ichigo wondered at the sight of it, tilting it back and forth in the low light. It looked just like the constantly released form of his shikai, the one he'd stormed Seireitei with for the first time.

"I just wanted you to know," Renji began to talk faster, "that you don't have to feel like you've gotta' grow up faster for me ta' love you better, because… 'cause…" He sighed, nose wrinkling up between his eyes. "You're already great." Ichigo just stared and stared at it, Renji's voice floating through to him even through his own stunned silence.

"You've already done some amazing shit, Ichigo. I know people change as they get older. Just…don't let go of that person," he whispered.

Ichigo carefully took it out of the box and held it in his hand. It was slightly longer than the length of his hand, going from the tip of his middle finger to about two inches past his wrist. The wooden edge had been hewn to a mock sharpness, and the paint made it look almost like it could cut flesh, but as Ichigo felt the point, it was clearly wood, brittle from being carved into such a thin slice. Ichigo couldn't stop looking at it, it seemed like it had been pulled straight out of his memory. There was even a trailing bit of string around the small wooden hilt, and Ichigo smiled as he remembered the white wrappings of his zanpakutou in those days, when it had been too broad and long to wear at his waist, and too sharp to carry on his back without any sheathe.

It seemed like such a long time ago now. When he thought of those days, how much he'd grown since then, sometimes he resented that that was who people knew him as – this bulky unrestrained brute force.

Ichigo looked at it, and he smiled a bit at the representation of his sword. Back when he'd known nothing about suppressing spirit power, when he'd been fighting Shirosaki, no control, no finesse, no experience, immature, all blind determination and stubbornness and nothing else - Renji remembered everything about that time, and it was all right here…

"You don't have to say anything," Renji finally put forth rather awkwardly after Ichigo's long pensive silence. "It's okay if you don't like it, I got you chocolate too."

"No, it's nice, it's…" Ichigo licked his lips and looked back up at Renji.

He took a breath, intending to say something back, something that could match the sentiment and the memory and the fond feeling that Renji had put into that, something that could try to explain the heart-thing Ichigo feels in human terms, but instead, he just set the box down and kissed Renji.

It was a warm thing, slow and long, and heartfelt. Renji snuck a hand into his and laced their fingers, using the other to hold Ichigo's chest to his. Ichigo didn't know when their tongues started to languidly stroke one another, but when they do, Renji lay him back on the bed, slowly, one vertebrae at a time, finally setting his head down and looming over him, one arm braced on his other side. Ichigo's arms laid on the blankets and his chest rose and fell as Renji began kissing him on his neck and under his jaw, his ear.

When Renji's hands started to skim and grip the collar of his yukata, Ichigo let his arms snake up around Renji's shoulders and he gasped, breathing wetly as Renji seemed to lose himself in a moment of indecision. It didn't last long, and Ichigo viciously dug his hands into Renji's hair and held Renji's head against the crook of his neck as he yukata came open at the chest. Renji's hands, with a sense of indulgent guilt but a simultaneous greedy disbelief, slid over his bare skin, and Ichigo held onto Renji tightly.

Renji was holding him, touching him, his mouth pressing wet warm kisses in a trail from his neck to his collarbone, lower, lower, the damp area seared with his hot breath as he went. Ichigo held Renji almost frantically, desperately – if he stopped now-

To his great relief and excitement, Renji threw his leg over Ichigo's and hovered over him, a quiet hungry glint in his eye before he leaned back down to kiss Ichigo again, carefully and slowly settling his weight down on him. It didn't take Ichigo more than a second to wrap one leg up around Renji's, linking it there and using it to press their bodies together. A shuddery breath escaped Renji's heaving chest, the warm breeze fluttering Ichigo's bangs. Slowly, Renji let his hips rest atop Ichigo's, his weight bearing Ichigo down into the few layers of blanket and settling a delicious pleasure through his sensitive flesh. Their lips brushed, and they shared a quiet gasp as they moved together, Renji's hips with a more slow cautious grind, coordinated, while Ichigo's were tentative and sporadic, coupled with small excited puffs of breath.

Renji didn't succumb to a more savage starved pace as he had that day long ago when Ichigo had tempted him in the locker room – this time he let out a long almost resigned sigh and wrapped his arms around Ichigo's shoulders, underneath him, encircling his back, and held their faces close as they rocked together. Ichigo thought his heart would burst from it's frantic fluttering pace and the excitement that- maybe- finally- Ah, it felt so unbelievably nice…

"Ichigo," Renji panted, evidently more affected by the situation and the steamed atmosphere than Ichigo had previously assessed, "Ichigo." He gave a loud swallow and a small whisper of a moan on the next breath and bearing his body down on Ichigo's, twisting and pressing his hips against him in small, slow, but effective motions, slight curls of his lumbar vertebrae which caused his lower back to bend and slacken beneath Ichigo's hand.

He didn't know what Renji was trying to say to him, whether to beg him to stop or to simply relish that they were together, in each other's arms- but he couldn't take it. Ichigo swallowed and gasped into Renji's ear, his throat and his breathless lungs making his voice come out unbearably rawly. "Renji," he rasped, "I don't want to wait." He held onto Renji fiercely then, because he could already feel the return to sanity taking him over, stilling the wonderful grinding of their hips together. He could already feel Renji easing away into safer territory.

"I don't want to wait anymore," he begged unabashedly, burrowing his head into Renji's neck and trying to hold onto him, keep them pressed together. He wrapped his legs around Renji's back and held on like a koala, but he knew, with a sad sense of disappointment, that it wouldn't work.

"One more day," Renji rasped, sounding as though he hated himself for it. "Just one more day, Ichigo," he practically pleaded, gently trying to press Ichigo back, get him to loosen his grip on him without hurting his feelings or making it seem like rejection.

"What's one day gonna' do?" Ichigo argued with a frustrated desperation. Renji leaned back down and continued kissing on his neck, pacifying him enough that he released his death grip, which allowed Renji to slowly draw his hips away and lay at his side, his arms still around him.

"You won't try to back out of it, will you?" Ichigo mumbled, revealing a long-held and rather vulnerable secret fear of his… Only because it was nighttime and they were alone. Maybe he might've whispered it and looked away, even though it was pretty dark too.

"Only one more day, Ichigo, an' you're all mine," Renji repeated with a pleased hum, laying his weight across Ichigo's chest, holding Ichigo's arms to the bed, gentle thumbs skimming his wrists.

"But you won't pull some bullshit though, will you?" Ichigo might've let his expression soften into one of concern and maybe, maybe worry. His brow definitely creased somewhat more sadly than he would've usually allowed.

"Don't worry," Renji whispered in his ear, kissing at it, which made Ichigo flinch and smile at the tickly sensation. One of Renji's legs wormed over one of his, not enough to let their still-fading arousals revive, but enough that their bodies could rest warmly and snugly against one another. Renji's hand let one of Ichigo's escape in favor of skimming the side of his face, his thumb teasing Ichigo's lower lip as he nudged his head aside with his nose and whispered hotly against his jaw, "I think my patience can only withstand this last day."

Ichigo couldn't deny it – he totally had one of those full-body shivers that left you with goosebumps and all the hair standing up on every flat surface of skin. He curled his toes up and swallowed, and if he thought he was hiding the thrill of Renji lowering his voice purposefully to sound sexy – which he seldom did for the exact reason of not wanting to encourage Ichigo – well, he was fooling himself.

"The things I'm gonna' do ta' you," Renji breathed, and Ichigo couldn't help it, his breath started rushing in and out in excited puffs, and he squirmed, wishing that Renji would lean that small bit closer and press his mouth against his neck again. God, Renji turned him on…

"Ohh," slipped out. He meant to just acknowledge Renji's sentence with a simple 'oh,' but it had come out as a breathy, stuttered, almost-moan that he was immediately embarrassed by, because he could feel Renji smile against his neck.

Those words sent his mind into a whirlwind. What would Renji do? What wouldhe do when the hours on his adolescence finally dwindled down into nothing? What kind of things would Renji show him and do with him? He could hardly take the tantalizingly enticing scenarios that came to the forefront of his imagination.

"Oh," he tried again. "Yeah?" He said this in the hopes of prompting some more explanation, no matter how much that proved that he liked to torture himself…

"Yeah," Renji hummed, his voice rumbling through his chest and vibrating Ichigo's insides. Renji pulled back enough to look in his eyes and smirk, and Ichigo tried to scowl, tried to appear unaffected and not every inch the spooked, excited, inexperienced kid that he was, but he knew he failed badly, because Renji's smirk grew wider. He kissed at Ichigo's cheek, his chin, down the front of his throat, where Ichigo knew Renji could feel it every time he held his breath, every time his voice tried to come out and he held it back. "I'm gonna' pleasure you in every way known to man," he mumbled against Ichigo's pulse. Ichigo heaved and gasped, feeling truly helpless and thrilled by the fright of uncertainty. Whenever Renji got like this, whenever he teased him back a little, Ichigo was seized motionless by the fear and excitement, the delight and the simultaneous anxiety; it was horrible and wonderful, he loved nothing more, hated nothing more than the suspense.

What was Renji going to do? God, what would he do to him? He could do anything when Ichigo was like this – oh god, what would he do to Ichigo?

Renji took a handful of Ichigo's hair and pulled it tight. Another fractured noise burst from Ichigo's throat, in pieces, as if chopped up and tossed out one by one with no sense of rhythm. "-until you can't fucking take it anymore," Renji whispered harshly, seeming to relish it, like he was imagining it just as Ichigo was, as riled up and close to breaking as he was.

"O-" Ichigo stuttered, unable to even complete a moan without his breathless gasps getting in the way "O-ohh."

"We're gonna' make love 'till you forget we're separate bodies. You won't be able ta' pick our reiatsu apart – I'm gonna' tie you in a fucking knot." Renji's hands ran up and down his body in a surprisingly calm and slow gesture for the way he was talking. His voice took on a note of amusement then, and he dialed back the intense spooky-sexy factor to about one or two, giving Ichigo room to breathe and sweat and shake.

"I'll make all this taking-it-slow shit up ta' you. I'll make you cum for every fucking day I made you wait," he murmured in Ichigo's ear, kissing him a couple times, lightly, tenderly, affectionately, "No, Ichigo, once I've got you… you just see if I ever let you go after that."

Ichigo lay there for a moment, quietly gasping for air and staring at Renji, who had sat back a bit to see his face. "You… you…" His brow pinched.

"What?" Renji inquired.

"Cocktease!" Ichigo howled, snapping up, his cheeks so full of blood that thankfully his dick wasn't in as much trouble as it would've been otherwise. He beat Renji around the head and shoulders with loose fists and open palms and all the frustration of a pack animal being led along by food dangled by a line in front of its nose. "This is the – last – time – you do this to me!" He whacked Renji for emphasis, but Renji just laughed and laughed. He thought that was funny, that fucker!

Ah well…

Ichigo smiled a bit begrudgingly… eventually – because well, there was only a day to go, and it was maybe a bit funny. Not that he'd admit it out loud.

"You're somethin' else, kid," Renji sighed with a fond smile, cuddling up next to him, his feet sticking out further than Ichigo's and his head and arm curling around Ichigo's shoulders, the fucking giraffe.

"Don't call me that," Ichigo muttered back, sulkily, but conceded to rest his head against Renji's shoulder, just underneath Renji's own head, his forehead a pillow for Renji's cheek.

"Last chance I got," Renji murmured through a grin, and pulled Ichigo into his chest for a final long squeeze. Then they rested their heads together and lay there on Ichigo's blankets until sleep came.

Maybe, maybe now Ichigo understood it. And maybe it wasn't stupid after all. Not entirely.

. . .

I just might tell you tonight that I love you.