Martinet's foible, II. part
First wisps of whiteness broke the darkness as Renji blinked with his sticky eyelids. He wanted to rub his face, but when he lifted his hands they felt heavy and they obeyed him with delay and without coordination; he lightly smacked himself. Whoa.
He stared at the wooden ceiling, trying to go beyond the fog in his brain, but every time his brain tried to form a thought, a pain echoed in his head. He pushed himself up like that might clear his thoughts, but it didn't. He still felt like he was drunk and having a hangover at the same time. He bent his knees and leaned on them.
Fingers touched Renji's crimson hair and ran though it.
Renji slowly turned his head; he saw blurred features of a person and long black hair. "Taichou." His voice was cracked and his throat bone dry.
Byakuya withdrew his hand and pulled himself up from his squatting position. "It's time. You can start with preparations."
Foreign, gentle hands touched Renji, helped him up and sat him down before the dressing table. His hair was combed and pulled back to be tied up at the back of his neck, before the hands started to undress him to replace his simple grey yukata with hadajuban, nagajuban andlight green kimono. After the obi was tied around his waist, the hands lifted him, straightened things here and there and silently guided him out of the room, ignoring Renji's one-word questions.
Renji tried to focus on the face that went with the hands or on his surroundings, but every time he hoped his sight would clear as he pushed beyond the pain, he fell back in the blurred world. What was going on? What's happening? "Taichou." He called for the only familiar thing.
"Kuchiki-sama is already in the hall, waiting for you, so that the ceremony can start," a woman's voice said.
"Huh?" The words tumbled in Renji's brain, but he couldn't grasp the meaning.
He was led into a large space, across the room where at its front, on the lifted platform he was seated on zaisu. He could feel his taichou's reiatsu beside him, the familiarity of it putting him at ease. An elegant hand briefly touched his before a monotonous voice from somewhere in front of him started to recite. Renji could see the white blob that represented the man, but he couldn't distinguish the shape of it. He leaned back in the chair and probably dozed off since the next thing he was aware of was somebody slightly shaking him. He opened his eyes and the smell of cherry blossoms drifted into his lungs.
"Renji, are you tired?" Byakuya whispered in his ear.
"Yes," Renji said.
"Say it louder," Byakuya urged him before the warmth of his breath withdrew.
"Yes," Renji repeated, taking Byakuya's question as a permission to lie down, but when he leaned sideways, Byakuya's hand hindered his descent, and that annoying, dull voice, which Renji hadn't heard when he roused, started to recite again. He just wanted to sleep. He wanted to lie down and allow the mist in his head to invade his all senses and to pull him into the darkness. Why couldn't they let him sleep?
He dozed off again and the next time he woke up, his head felt lighter as hands helped him to stand and guided him out of the room, he could even distinguish the close surroundings: a large room with people kneeling on the pillows in rows – Why were there so many people? Was there a party or something? Renji looked to his escort, five girls dressed in plain white kimono. And what with them? He swatted their hands away; his legs were weak, but he was damned if he would let girls help him walk. "I can... I can walk... on... my own." His knees gave out on him.
"Renji, they are doing their job. Let them." A strong hand grabbed Renji's forearm, helping him to stay upright.
Renji looked to his right, seeing Byakuya walking beside him. What was taichou doing here? "Taichou?"
"Renji." Byakuya smiled at him. Just a slight curve of lips that would probably go unnoticed by most people, but not Renji, not even in this state.
Renji knew his taichou, reading subtle signs of Byakuya's body language was now a second nature to him, and he saw sun and joy in that smile. It was weird, but not as weird as Byakuya's arm that, when they made it to the hallway, wrapped around his waist and forced him to lean against Byakuya's side. What was going on? The last thing he remembered he had been at Chad's, hiding before – He looked at Byakuya, his eyes widening.
Renji: zero, Byakuya: one, Renji could hear snake's voice in his head.
"You... You drugged me ... tricked me… you Joined with me!" The betrayal and disappointment choked Renji. His taichou could be many things, cold and aloof, but Renji could never imagine him being evil like that. "Why?" With his weak limbs he tried to push himself away from Byakuya. "Why? Tell me why?"
Byakuya ignored Renji as he dismissed the girls before he dragged a weakly struggling Renji down the hallway.
"Why?" Renji wasn't about to let it go, even as he was pulled through a fusuma and then pushed on a bed; the fragile knot of a ribbon that held his hair tied unstrung and crimson tassels fanned across the embroidered cover. He cursed his inability to properly fight against Byakuya. He might not come out as a winner – he never did – but at least that way he could show how strong his resentment was. And yes, he might curse the man, hurl one insult after another at him, but somehow he never could show his temper to his taichou, not even in a situation like that.
"Because I could." Byakuya climbed over Renji, his cold hand touched Renji's cheek. "Because I finally could."
#
Renji stared through the slit between the panels that divided the bedroom from the bathroom, at the large wooden bathtub, at the naked back and the wet black hair that hung over it. He shook his head to pull himself out of the daze, his gaze falling on the kenseikan that lay on the bedside table.
It was so unreal, unreal as the things that happened yesterday: the Joining, finding himself at Byakuya's side, then in Byakuya's room, on Byakuya's bed, with Byakuya's fingers touching him, sliding under the fold of the fabric. They hadn't gone all the way; if Byakuya had used his immobility for rape, Renji would have hated him and trashed the place and Byakuya with it as soon as his strength came back. No, Byakuya was smarter – the crafty jerk – he gently held him, softly touched him and kissed him, making Renji now feel strangely embarrassed and horny with just one glance at his taichou's naked body. And there was also this burning feel of betrayal that twisted his stomach into a knot and clawed at his insides.
Shit. Why did the Joining and Byakuya's betrayal hurt so much? Renji hid his face in his hands.
The splash of water made Renji raise his head; he saw Byakuya wring the water out of his hair, which pushed Renji into action. He stood and from the low bench at the foot of the bed picked up the folded clothes he had worn yesterday for the ceremony and in a rush pulled them on. It looked sloppy, but Renji didn't care. When he had woken up Byakuya was already in the tub, which, after Renji got his bearing, suited him just fine, and he had intended to sneak out, when flashes of Byakuya's skin took his breath away and rooted him to the spot for a few precious moments.
He tiptoed toward the door, slid it open and slipped through it.
"Renji, where do you think you are going?"
"Home." Renji stiffened under the hand that touched his shoulder; he looked over his shoulder at Byakuya clad only in a towel that hung around his hips.
"This is your home now." Byakuya moved closer; the water dripped down from his hair and body onto the floor and wetted Renji's kimono wherever Byakuya's skin came in contact with the fabric.
"I don't think so." Renji brushed Byakuya's hand off, praying that the heat he felt in his cheeks wasn't visible, turned forward and strode along the hallway. He had to get out; he had to get away from Byakuya and just distance himself from this strange, new feeling that squeezed all the air out of his lungs and made his heartbeat sound like a parade drum. What was it? Lust? The pain of finding out that Byakuya wasn't as noble as Renji expected?
"Renji." Byakuya used flash step to overrun Renji and to prevent Renji's progression. "You are not allowed to leave this manor."
"What?"
"I forbid you to leave this house. Return to the room."
Renji couldn't believe his ears. How dare Byakuya order him around like that after everything that he had done? "You made fool out of me, something that I should already be used to, right? I was always just a monkey reaching for the moon... " He swallowed the anger that foamed in the pit of his stomach. "You used me for your games, whatever they are. If you had come to me..." He frowned, the beginning of his tattooed eyebrows almost touching. "If you had explained yourself... if you had asked me... I might have agreed to this whole fiasco, but no - you had to drug me and you – You went too far! I don't care if you are my taichou or if you are the head of the one of the Four Noble Houses, I will not obey you anymore!"
"Renji, you are in no position to –"
"You showed me that you are not the same man that I admired and looked up to, so fuck off." Renji pushed past Byakuya, determined that if the man tried to stop him by force, he would fight tooth and nail to get past him. The bastard. But Byakuya didn't tried to stop him anymore and Renji found his way toward the entrance without trouble, well, with small detours since the house was freaking big and he got lost four times and needed directions from passing servants.
He was almost at the door when hearing two voices from around the corner momentarily froze his stride.
"Who would have thought that Byakuya-sama would Join with a man? I didn't think he had such inclinations. "
"Who knows what kind of inclinations that cold man has? But since he Joined with a person from noble family the gender doesn't matter as long as union brings more power to our family. And this one even managed to erase the disgrace of the previous one when he married that commoner. She didn't even have any dowry or connection – how vulgar."
"But have you seen those tattoos and that red hair? Quite indecent."
"Some might call it that, but... he comes from Kasumioji House and is now a member of Kuchiki House... I find his tattoos... refreshing."
"Yes, quite. They suit him well and make him look unique and a little eccentric."
Renji growled, and rushed toward the entrance door and through it before the two snobs, who probably hadn't lifted a finger in their lives and lived on the shoulders of the family in which they had been born, could see him.
He wrinkled his forehead as he hurried past two guards before the door. So, that was the reason for the Joining. Byakuya just wanted to reinforce his House's influence.
Yeah, that sounded like Byakuya, like the cold, calculating taichou that Renji knew and lo – admired.
And maybe to erase the shame of his previous marriage.
Renji stopped and with his palm against the smooth wall leaned against the building, his gaze on the pavement. If you loved somebody and bound yourself with them then you shouldn't be ashamed of that bond no matter what people thought or said. He punched the wall. "You better not be using me for that!" His leaned his forehead against the cold bricks and whispered: "You better not."
#
"I was so happy knowing that we have become family… … … never knew how good could you look … … … Nii-sama seemed so happy, … … ..."
Renji averted his gaze from Rukia, who with a smile on her excited face couldn't stop yapping about the ceremony and the fact that they were now related. He laced his hands in his lap and looked at the lotus blossoms that floated in the pond a stone's throw from his room's engawa.
"...explain that Joining is the term for the union between two men, had even drawn pictures –"
"What? You knew?" Renji almost overturned the teapot that was on the tray between him and Rukia.
"Yes, don't you remember? Just before Nii-sama interrupted. I thought of telling you later, but you were sent to the Human World and then the first time I saw you after that was at the Joining ceremony. And you already knew by then." Rukia took the peach-shaped sweet from the plate on the tray and stuffed it into her mouth.
"We still have phones, you could have sent me a message. Why didn't you?"
Rukia swallowed her mouthful. "Why are you getting upset? It doesn't matter anymore. And aren't you happy to be the partner of my Nii-sama? And to become my brother?" She released a happy sigh. "He's so magnificent, isn't he? A perfect big brother. I'm sure he would be a perfect husband too. "
Renji snorted.
Rukia narrowed her eyes at Renji. "Do you doubt Nii-sama's abilities?"
"You would probably beat me if I said yes. With your 'Nii-sama this' and 'Nii-sama that'. Like he's some kind of god!"
Rukia stared at Renji.
Renji pressed his lips together, his hand adjusting the sash of his white, pink-flowered yukata.
"I know what this is about."
Do you, Renji thought.
"Just because Nii-sama had to go on a mission in the middle of your honeymoon you shouldn't resent him. It wasn't his fault. He got his orders, and you know how he strongly he feels about his obligations. And you are a bad 'wife' if you don't understand that."
She has been fraying his nerves with her praises to Byakuya all afternoon, but being called a 'wife' was the final straw for him. "When did I become the fucking wife?" Renji roared as he jumped up, his hand curled. "I didn't even want this –" He stopped himself before he said too much. He hung his head; his red hair covered his face, and with a tired sigh he rubbed his neck. He had almost ruined Byakuya's lie, the lie that allowed Renji to keep his distance and which allowed him to enjoy Rukia's company without any nagging or questions. "You know how I felt about the whole Joining."
"When you thought that you would be tied to a stranger, right? Before you found out that it was Nii-sama, right?"
Renji closed his eyes for a second. He could tell her the truth. He could tell her how Byakuya forced the Joining on him, but he doubted that she would even believe him with the way she put her Nii-sama on a high pedestal, or even if she did believe him, what would he accomplish? He would only become the person who dirtied the pure image of her beloved Nii-sama. She might even end up hating him. He threw his hands in the air. "What do you expect from me? To be all lovey-dovey with him, just because he's Byakuya?"
"Umm, yeah."
"You aren't all lovey-dovey with your husband, Renji."
Renji looked down at Ichigo, who suddenly appeared before the veranda.
"What rock did you crawl out from under?"
"Was in the neighbourhood and just had to drop by to congratulate the newlywed." Ichigo grinned as he pulled himself on the engawa and sat beside Renji's side, opposite to the tray and Rukia.
Renji could feel the vein pulsing at his temple and he ground his teeth, knowing that between Rukia and Ichigo he was bound to lose his temper - those two somehow just knew how to push his buttons to make see him red – and he was right. Before Rukia left for home, he had exploded at least six times, twice coming really close to blurting everything out.
"It weird that just a day after the wedding the happy couple is living apart," Ichigo, leaning on his hands and staring into the cloudless sky, commented as soon as Rukia left.
"Didn't you hear Rukia? His Highness is on a mission." Renji, with his legs stretched out and leaning back on the wall of the house, gazed into the distance.
Ichigo raised his brows.
Renji looked Ichigo "What?"
"He rarely goes on missions alone: He either sends you or goes with you." Ichigo sat sideways so that he was facing Renji. "Except if something big turns up. And lately everything is pretty peaceful."
"What would you know?" Renji tried to brush him off; he pushed the hair that fell on his face behind his ear.
"Rukia believes Byakuya, because she wants to believe him and because she naively thinks that he isn't capable of lying."
"So?" Renji tried not to get irritated. The strawberry always acted on impulse, he had never been known for analyzing things... so why was he doing that now? With things that had nothing to do with him?
"So," Ichigo said as he pulled himself up and crawled closer to Renji. "Something happened between you two. What was it?"
Renji narrowed his eyes at Ichigo.
"Was he trying to have your ass? And you didn't like that?" Ichigo smirked.
Renji grabbed Ichigo's collar and pulled him closer until their noses touched. The little brat. "If you don't stop with your nonsense, I'll have your ass. And I bet you won't like it."
"Have I struck a nerve?" Ichigo grinned.
Renji growled and slammed his palm against Ichigo's chest, then when Ichigo fell down, straddled him and used his weight and his forearm against Ichigo's neck to pin him down; Renji's crimson red hair framed them like a curtain.
"You are suffocating me," Ichigo managed to breathe.
"That's the idea," Renji hissed.
"I'm sorry if I accidentally guessed the truth."
Renji shifted his weight and pressed harder with his forearm.
"I just apologized," Ichigo choked out and clawed at Renji's arm.
"You didn't sound like you meant– " Renji loosened his hold and slightly tilted his head like he was listening to something.
"What?"
"Can't you feel it? The hint of reiatsu. Somebody is watching us," Renji whispered.
"I can't feel anything."
"What a surprise." Renji rolled his eyes. "I think it's coming from above the Summer Pavilion. On three we both jump there. Me from the left, you from the right."
"Okay." Ichigo nodded.
"One. Two. Three." Renji jumped up and using flash step he was instantly on the Summer Pavilion's roof, but there was nobody there anymore. Only the faint smell of cherry blooms that must have drifted from the promenade leading from the main house toward the pond. Should he even smell cherry blossoms when the cherry trees had stopped blooming and the fragile pink flowers were gone?
"There's nobody here."
"Of course, there's nobody here; whoever it was, they're gone." Renji smacked the top of Ichigo's head.
"Or maybe there was nobody here to begin with." Ichigo smacked Renji's back.
"No, there was somebody here, I'm positive."
"If there were and we couldn't surprise him, he must be really fast."
"Yeah," Renji nodded, his thoughts for a moment on Byakuya. He wouldn't, would he?
"Hey, Renji."
"Huh?"
"Before..."
"Yes." Renji frowned. The brat better not be trying to rattle him again.
"I know I'm young, human and all, but if you ever need somebody to talk to, you know where to find me. Okay?"
"Okay." Renji wrapped his arm around Ichigo's neck and pulled him against his side, while he used the other hand to ruffle orange hair. "Not that I would ever need an advice from a saucy, snot-nosed brat like you."
"Who are you calling a saucy boy, you pineapple?"
"Strawberry."
"Pineapple."
"Strawberry." Renji had to resist the temptation to laugh out loud. Suddenly he felt much better, the strain of last days for a moment forgotten.
#
Okay, okay, calm down, it's going to be alright. Renji, his gaze on the paper before him, his fingers tightly wrapped around a pen and a lump in his throat, waited for the door to open. He knew this moment was going to come. Yes, he knew that sooner or later he would have to face his taichou.
He had been relieved when he had first come to the barracks after his vacation to find Byakuya was still absent. That gave him time to make some preparations for getting out from under Byakuya's thumb: like filling out a request for a transfer back into the eleventh division, the request that had to be approved by his taichou, but with the way Renji had acted the last time they had seen each other, he had no doubt that Byakuya would agree. And demotion, as much it would sting his pride, was all right if that meant being out of Byakuya's reach.
Three, two, one, Renji silently counted as the familiar reiatsu became stronger and stronger.
The door opened and Byakuya crossed the threshold, closing the door behind him. "Good morning."
Renji had to swallow before he replied; his grip on the pen so strong that he felt the wood giving in. He loosened his hold, set the paper before him on the pile on the right and took a new one from the stack of papers on his left.
Byakuya sat down, the scrape of the chair loud in the silence.
A tension hung in the air; thick and heavy it pressed on Renji's nerves. He could hear the scribbling of a pen that told him his taichou had dismissed him and he couldn't decide if he felt relief or annoyance at that. Byakuya had to know about his request, why hadn't he addressed it as soon as he sat down? He put the pen down and took a deep breath, not daring to look in Byakuya's direction. "Kuchiki-taichou."
"Yes." The scribbling stopped.
"About my transfer..."
"It has been rejected." Byakuya said before he resumed his writing.
"What? Why?" Renji tensed his jaw and looked at Byakuya. The sight of black circles around Byakuya's eyes and the hollowness of Byaykua's cheeks surprised him. What had happened to the taichou?
Byakuya put his pen down in a perfect alignment with other stationery. "Because I will not allow it." His grey eyes gave Renji a hard stare. "I have overlooked your ill-mannered behaviour, have offered excuses for your disappearance after the Joining and have even given you time to come to terms with it, but I will not allow you to run away." Byakuya stood up, went around the desk and stopped before Renji. He laced his fingers behind his back. "And I do expect you to stop your nonsense and move into the Kuchiki manor by the end of this week."
The damn jerk, who does he thinks he is? Renji narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth.
"And if you are going to tell me to 'fuck off' like you did before, think again, Abarai Renji." Byakuya's voice was cold and merciless as hollows' hearts, if those creatures even had one.
"You united Kuchiki and Kasumioji Houses; you got what you wanted." Renji wasn't about to back down; where Byakuya was concerned, he had done that too many times. "What more do you want from me? A new servant? Don't you have enough of them? Or..." Ichigo's taunts came to Renji's mind; he leaned forward, a false leer on his face. "Do you want somebody for more intimate –"
Suddenly Renji had his taichou's lips pressed against his. He blinked. But that wasn't the most surprising thing; the most surprising thing was Byakuya's tongue deep in his throat sweeping in carnal rapture, sinfully rubbing his palate, his gums, his tongue, awaking a fervid hunger deep inside Renji. His eyes fluttered closed.
Byakuya's hand cupped Renji's head; he tilted it and deepened the kiss.
And Renji couldn't do anything but hold onto the thread of sanity in the middle of the luscious storm.
The kiss ended and Byakuya slowly straightened himself, his eyes not leaving Renji's face.
Renji's glazed eyed stared at the black-haired man before him. He shook his head, his hand automatically ascending to touch his lips, but he caught himself and hid his trembling hands in his lap. He said, more to himself than to Byakuya, "Is that a yes?"
"Don't be vulgar."
Could that be true? He had jerked him off that time, didn't he? And kissed him right now. Renji frowned. The thought had never crossed his mind, not until now - it was too preposterous. Byakuya wanting him for a lover? It still sounded ridiculous. But what else then? A pet? Somebody to warm his bed? "Then what was this all about?"
"A quick way to shut you up." Byakuya glided back to his table.
Renji licked his lips; he could still feel Byakuya's taste in his mouth. He should be angry, but somehow he wasn't, just disappointed. But disappointed over what? He hid his face in his palms. Everything had become so complicated and he hated it. He hated it.
"Renji," Byakuya's voice interrupted Renji's depression. "I mean it. Forget about transferring to another division, and I expect you to show up in Kuchiki manor at the end of this week, if not sooner."
#
Renji ran toward home, his waraji silent against the stone path. Today was the beginning of the weekend and out of fear that Byakuya would come over after work and do something... erm… not to Renji's liking, he had ordered servants not to let anyone in his chambers except the Shinigami Men's Association, who had just insisted on having a meeting today. But knowing Byakuya, if that man managed to get to his quarters before Renji, no servant would want to stand in his way - well maybe Kenjauu or Enkougawa if that was in Rurichiyo's interest, which it wasn't. Rurichiyo had said that she didn't mind Renji staying in Kasumioji's house, at least she would have company, but she asked him not to involve her in his quarrelling with Byakuya –meaning that she wouldn't go against Byakuya's will.
Renji frowned and turned around the corner, the enclosing walls of Kasumioji's mansion opening before him. He could understand Rurichiyo, it was difficult to deal with an annoyed Byakuya, that was why he had rarely disputed with his taichou, until now. It was not that Byakuya became violent or that Renji feared physical encounters, no, it was much worse that that; when Byakuya became annoyed, the air around him started to crack with thunderbolts and the burning glares that he directed at the object of his displeasure scorched like the poison of Mayuri Kurotsuchi's Zanpakuto.
As soon as Renji arrived at the gate, they opened for him and he rushed to his rooms. He didn't know how long he would be able to bear the tension that grew with each passing day and he still lived in his rooms in Kasumioji's manor. Or how he would bear the small touches that Byakuya bestowed on him whenever he got the chance and which always sent shivers up Renji's spine and warmed his body with lust. But there was nothing he could do. Without his taichou's consent or giving a pretty damn good reason to the authorities to overlook his taichou's opinion, he couldn't transfer to another division.
He hadn't told anybody what was going on, well, except Rukia, and they hadn't been on speaking terms ever since, especially after he had gotten upset when she tried to justify Byakuya's actions with the love that Byakuya had to feel for him and she could clearly see in his eyes. Yeah, right. And Aizen did what he did out of the goodness of his heart.
Renji went through his rooms, relieved when the servant that appeared assured him that they were empty. He went out on the engawa and fell down on the pillows scattered across the wooden veranda. Another afternoon Byakuya-free. He released a sigh. He needed an outlet, something along the lines of a good drinking party. Yeah, it would be good to go on one of those, but getting wasted in public now – call him paranoid – would left him vulnerable and at Byakuya's mercy. No, he should get wasted between the walls of his home, but drinking on his own was boring. Maybe he could invite the Shinigami Men's Association to drink with him. What a good idea. He should definitely do that.
So, an hour after he was notified about the arrival of the Men's Association members, bottle of sake in hand and a servant behind him – yes, life in Kasumioji House had its perks – carrying more sake, Renji entered the room that he had lent Iba for the meetings.
"Hey, guys," Renji greeted as he put the sake bottle on the one of the cabinets that stretched along the inside wall. "Since you're probably already finished, I though we could have a drink together." He turned and the smile he wore on his face froze.
"Only if it's the good stuff." Omaeda said. His large belly hanging over the brown sash jumped as he strained his neck to see the label on the bottle. "I'm only used to fine things."
Renji, ignoring Omaeda, stared at the man - not just any man - at Byakuya, glad that his hands were empty, because otherwise the bottle would have ended up broken on the floor and his surprise over Byakuya -with oval sunglasses, dressed in distinguished Men's Association clothes: hakama, brown sash and kosode thrown over his shoulders, sitting between Omaeda and Ukitake-taichou - would be much more apparent. What the hell is he doing here?
"A good idea." Kira helped the servant with arranging the cups around the low table.
Damn, Renji silently groaned. He couldn't get out of it now, it would be too rude. He slowly neared the table and sat down between Hisagi and Iba, as far away from Byakuya as he could. Not that it helped him much when his gaze was constantly drawn toward the black-haired beauty and his naked chest, the sight that lighted a fire in the pit of his stomach.
"It's weird seeing him like that, isn't it?" Hisagi nodded toward Byakuya. "I still don't know how Iba managed to persuade him to join us."
"I didn't, not this time. He came to me." Iba leaned closer to Renji and Hisagi. "He probably realized how important Men's Association is for Soul Society and decided to help us regain the former glory that those women took from us."
"Yes, that has to be it." Hisagi rolled his eyes, leaned his elbow on the table, his fingers wrapped around his cup. He lifted it up and took a sip.
Renji imitated him, with the difference that he drained his cup. He poured another one which soon followed the fate of the first, and then another one, and another one.
The hours passed by and Renji became more relaxed with every glass despite the oppressive presence that lingered in the corner of his existence. Yeah, he leaned back in the zaisu, Byakuya was just an oppressive presence, nothing more, the bastard. Always bossing him around like he was some kind of dog or something. He poured another glass to himself, turned to offer to do the same for Hisagi, when he noticed that the room was empty, with exception of one man, who in that moment towered over him. "Kanpai, taichou." Renji grinned and lifted his cup.
"You are drunk." Byakuya's hand curled around Renji's cup, and careful not to spill anything, he pulled it out of Renji's grasp.
"You are so mean, taichou. So mean." Renji leaned his upper body on the table; his right arm straightened, he leaned his cheek on it. "Bullying me with that glare of yours all the time. And taking my drink." His lips made a pout. "I'm not going to take you out for your birthdays anymore, you jerk."
Byakuya set the cup out of Renji's reach before he buried his fingers in Renji's red mane, tugging at the tie until it snapped and the hair spilled over the table and Renji's shoulder and arm. "Renji," he breathed out and kneeled beside Renji.
Renji stared into grey eyes, warmth spreading through his body at the touch of Byakuy'a hand that brushed the strands off his face, then cupped his neck and forced him to lift his head. "Huh?"
Byakuya's lips descended on Renji's, he entangled them into a kiss, intense and full of longing.
Renji opened himself to the kiss, the ardent joy filling him, consuming him, drowning him in its intensity. He wrapped his arms around Byakuya's shoulder, pressed himself against his pale, smooth chest and let Byakuya to pull him into a sensual delirium.