If Shuuhei was on edge the following week, it definitely wasn't because of Renji.

There were a lot of other reasons for Shuuhei to be irritable and stressed. The new issue of Seireitei Communications had to be organized and printed by Friday tomorrow or else they'd be pushed off schedule so Shuuhei was in no small supply of articles to edit. Captain Mugumura had taken charge as being the new head of the paper with vigor, but the style he was after clashed with Tousen's method that Shuuhei had inherited when he took up the mantel so both captain and vice-captain found themselves struggling to unite their individual devices into one cohesive flow. Half the week they both stayed overnight at the office to stay on track.

And that was only as far as Shuuhei's struggles with the paper. After informing Rangiku that no, he was certainly quite involved with somebody else the woman had become quite insistent that the matter was her business.

"Come on, Shuuhei! You've got to tell me!" She protested, planting herself firmly in the spare chair in Shuuhei's office.

Shuuhei chewed on his pen as he reviewed the article on Soul Society's economy. "It's no one's business."

Rangiku, ignoring the fact that Shuuhei was trying to focus, crossed her legs and glowered. "Why won't you tell anyone? Is she embarrassing?" Her eyebrows raised and she leaned closer to him over his desk conspiratorially to ask, "Is it someone from work?"

Shuuhei's face darkened unconsciously. On the paper, he underlined a mistake in red ink and accompanied it with a condescending word of criticism to the original author.

"It is, isn't it?" Rangiku grinned, "I knew it! She totally is!"

"Who's what?" Izuru appeared in the doorway, his arms full of papers.

"Shuuhei's girlfriend!" Rangiku supplied before Shuuhei could answer, "She's a shinigami. Our boy has moved up from petty flings to secret office romance- a love forbidden by honor and duty. I'm so proud!" She announced, dramatically flinging an arm over her forehead for emphasis.

Izuru looked at Shuuhei with surprise, and maybe a little bit of hurt. "You didn't tell me you have a girlfriend."

Shuuhei sighed, knocked his head back against his chair and throwing the edited article back on his desk. "That's because I haven't told anyone anything about my love life because it is no one's business!"

"Why? She can't be that bad." Izuru pointed out, setting down the stack on paper on Shuuhei's desk. "This is for you, by the way. Data for the paper collected by Third Division.

"Oh, goodie." Shuuhei groaned, painstakingly picking up the first sheet of the pile.

But Rangiku wasn't finished prodding into Shuuhei's social life. "Is it Isane? I always thought she was your kinda lady."

"I'm not dating Isane." Shuuhei stated firmly, mentally adding he had been there, done that.

"Nanao?"

"No." That ended when he forgot to call her the next day. He'd meant to, honestly. It'd just totally slipped his mind.

"Nemu?"

"Nope." There had been an attempt. Shuuhei was by no means fragile but the woman had been just a tad too rough around the edges and with absolutely no finesse at all. Never go for the ones with daddy issues too fast.

Shuuhei was beginning to realize maybe he wasn't actually all that good with women.

"Maybe she's not a lieutenant?" Izuru offered, the traitor. He put a fist down on his palm decisively and directed to Shuuhei, "Is she a captain?"

Shuuhei gaped with shock, "Kira, No!" and Rangiku agreed with a solemn nod.

"Definitely not a captain. Captain Unohana's too mature for Shuuhei-"

Too mature? What? Should Shuuhei be offended by that? Should he be offended on behalf of Captain Unohana?
"And Captain Soifon, well," Rangiku shrugged, waving a hand dismissively, "I wouldn't assume Shuuhei's really her type, if you catch my drift."

"So it can't be a lieutenant or a captain, then." Izuru observed, tapping his foot and lifting a hand to his face to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "A lower rank, then? But that could be just about anyone."

Rangiku's attention had already flitted beyond the schematics that were still running through Izuru's mind. She clapped her hands in her lap, bouncing in her chair like a child being told a bedtime story. "So what's she like? If you're not gonna tell us who she is, you can at least describe her!"

"Matsumoto," Shuuhei groaned, pushing aside the documents he was looking over in exchange for a new batch, despite the fact that it was getting increasingly difficult to concentrate. "I'm not going to say anything because I know for a fact it's only going to encourage you. Can I perhaps get back to work now, if you aren't terribly inconvenienced by such?"

Of course there was an easier solution available, which was to lie. Shuuhei could simply fabricate an imaginary girlfriend to take Renji's place to pacify his curious friends, but Shuuhei already knew that wouldn't be fair to Renji. Not to mention that Rangiku and Izuru were both frighteningly bright people- it would be simple enough for either of them to divine some way of fact-checking all female shinigami and finding holes in his ruse.

But backtracking to the unfairness of the situation, it also wasn't fair to Shuuhei for Renji to let himself be cowed into playing the part of another person's date, was it? Shuuhei didn't doubt Renji's loyalty, but the human girl Orihime didn't know Renji was spoken for. Plus, Shuuhei had observed that the ryoka teenager was quite the looker and could be very charming. But just because Shuuhei had noticed this didn't make him jealous. It was just precautionary.

Naturally, Rangiku was unaware of Shuuhei's inner turmoil. "Is she pretty? Does she have freckles, or fair skin? Are you romantic with her?"
"Don't you have your own work to be doing, both of you?" Shuuhei was losing his patience. Thinking about Renji has set him on edge. Not to mention the obvious fact that Shuuhei didn't want to explain that it wasn't a woman he was interested in. He didn't want to have to explain to people, even people he trusted, about his feelings when Shuuhei was honestly struggling to understand them, himself.

Izuru folded his arms over his chest, "You got to admit, Hisagi, it's very suspicious of you to withhold this kind of information. Is there really something so wrong with this girl that you have to-"

"You know what?" Shuuhei announced, placing his palms flat on the desk to push himself up, "This might startle the two of you to know, but I actually have things to do. My time might be just fine to waste to you, but I'd like to get back to actually using it! You can both leave now."

"Hisagi-"

"That time it wasn't a suggestion." Shuuhei stated, barely managing to keep the growl out of his voice through gritted teeth.

At that statement, Izuru finally summoned the awareness to look surprised. His eye narrowed cautiously and his mouth set into a thoughtful kind of frown, looking at Shuuhei carefully even as he raised his hands in a peaceful "woah there" gesture. Rangiku just glared at Shuuhei, her finely manicured nails curling into the armrest of the office chair she was seated at as if she might physically fight to stay. After a second, however, she stood up.

"Do pardon us for taking an interest in your life, Shuuhei. We won't bother you again." She hissed melodramatically. As she said it she pushed Izuru out the doorway and shut it gracelessly behind her.

Shuuhei waited, standing frozen at his desk as he heard their footsteps out the door. The muffled but still loud echoes of a verbal scuffle between the two blonds broke out and continued down the end of the hallway.

Shuuhei released a heavy sigh, sitting back down and picking up the next article and a highlighter pen. Fucking Renji, He just had to go setting off this whole cycle of pissing Shuuhei off so he could in turn piss off the two of his closest friends. Great, just great.

The highlighter squeaked against paper and Shuuhei didn't even realize he has still been highlighting until half the page was coated in yellow. Goddammit. Oh well, it's the fact-checker's problem now.

The door to his office slid open once more, and Shuuhei felt what little was left of his tolerance break at the ever-daunting task of warding off more visitors.

"Hisagi!"

"Holy shit, what is it now?" Shuuhei demanded, speaking perhaps a bit louder than he intended, standing up automatically and accidentally knocking over his chair in the process. He looked up to the slightly startled but otherwise overwhelmingly stern face of his captain.

"That's a damn fine way to talk to your captain, runt!" Captain Mugumura stated.

A hot flush of mortification flashed through Shuuhei's body. His arms jerked awkwardly, as if thinking they should make some gesture of apology without his brain's consent. "I am so sorry, Captain! I wasn't expecting you-"

The silver-haired captain's mouth twitched in a frown. "Yeah, yeah, I know. We've got a lot of work for the next few days, so try to pull through this oncoming mental breakdown for a bit longer. Christ, what's with you being so jumpy all of a sudden?"

"'M not jumpy." Shuuhei grumbled, relaxing now that he knew he wasn't in trouble. He righted his over-turned chair to slump back down into it, "I'm just a little on edge, I guess. Sorry. Again."

"'Sorry' isn't going to get you to pull yourself together." Kensei announced, stomping into Shuuhei's office and heading towards the window on the other side of the room. "Fresh air, Hisagi. It's a thing that people need. Learn to embrace it."

He yanked open the curtains, letting the sunlight of a dying winter's afternoon soak up the room. At the sudden increase in natural light in comparison to the otherwise slightly dim artificial lighting of the indoors, Shuuhei squinted his eyes and hissed on instinct, raising a hand to shield his eyes.

"Uh huh, that's what I thought." Captain Mugumura announced, tying the curtains away from covering the window again. "A vice-captain's no good if he stays cooped up in the office all day. Tomorrow I want you to take lead in the patrols. It's finally warming up around here and it's about time we take the chance to cover more ground before the rain gets heavy."

"Yes sir. Maybe that's a good idea." Shuuhei agreed thoughtfully. He'd been spending an awful lot of time on this latest issue of the paper, and whatever nights he didn't camp out in the publishing office was spent with Renji so there had hardly been any time for Shuuhei to catch up on training. A patrol around the Seireitei would do him good. Especially when considering.

Considering that tomorrow was Friday, the day Renji was supposed to take Orihime to that ridiculously childish high school dance. Yeah, maybe staying cooped up in the office wasn't a great thing to do on that day.

A though struck Shuuhei. "But Captain, what about the paper?"

But Captain Mugumura brushed off his concern, waving a large hand dismissively. "The lower ranks and I will take care of it. It's not like you're going to be much help in this kind of state, anyways."

"Gee, thanks sir."

"Don't worry about it." Captain Mugumura assured him, setting off to leave the office. "Just concentrate on finishing up your work here tonight. And get some goddamn sleep, you walking train-wreck."

That was about the heightened point of interest in Shuuhei's day. After that the minutes crept by slowly, the clock mounted on the wall above Shuuhei's head ticking nearly inaudibly against the otherwise stark silence of the office. Minutes crawled into hours, which blurred together as the noontime sun continued its slow descent into evening.

Finally, Shuuhei could shove aside the mountain of papers he had been forced to scour over. Half the piles of white sheets tumbled over the edge of the desk, but that would be a problem for tomorrow. As he locked up his office, preparing to head straight home and surround himself with the comfort of familiar sights and smells, he rubbed at his sore eyes. The headache blossoming there was not from tiredness, but a sense of restlessness.

It's a brief travel from his office to his quarters, even so Shuuhei has time to contemplate that his captain was correct in asserting the increase in temperature. Shuuhei wouldn't have noticed it unless somebody had pointed it out to him, but the knowledge made the trip seem a bit more pleasant with the observation. He shrugged, thinking perhaps that maybe it was a hollow thing.

The Ninth's quarters are mostly dark when he arrives, the happenings of each soul reaper inside their respective living space silenced by the separation of sturdy walls. The lieutenant's quarters, however, mar the shadows with a sliver of light ducking out from the bottom crack.

Opening the door confirms that yes, it's Renji in Shuuhei's quarters. The man has produced a hotplate from somewhere and taken to heating up leftovers from the fridge. He regards Shuuhei with a quirk of his tattooed brow, "Well look what the cat dragged in. Tonight I'd like to suggest the house's evening special; relatively warm three-day-old beef dumplings with rice and this cask of sake I confiscated off some under-aged recruits in my division."

"How did you know I'd be home?" Shuuhei asks. He doesn't bother to stop to question the moral implications of taking possession of other shinigami's drink. "I've spent the last two nights in the office."

"I have my ways." Renji promised, prodding at the food on the hotplate. He looks at Shuuhei out of the corner of his eye, maybe even looking a little bashful. "I was in the neighborhood, so I may or may not have occasionally been swinging by to check if you were in."

Shuuhei props up his zanpakuto by the door, side-by-side with Renji's. Although they typically spend more time at Renji's when they're together, the spot on the wall for Zabimaru has already been designated and labeled in Shuuhei's mind. It's no longer just that spot where Renji puts Zabimaru, it's Zabimaru's Spot. "How'd you get in? I know for a fact that my door was locked. Did you come through the window?"

Renji just shot him a blinding grin as he continued to fumble with the hotplate. "Ask me no questions, I tell you no lies."

But Shuuhei knows him a little better than that. He risks ducking his head back into the hallway, looking at the latch on his front door. Tiny scratches, thin enough to be just barely visible even in daylight, clumsily decorate the metal around his lock. It's a trick of the trade that every child in the Rukongai without a guardian to their clan knows.

"You've been picking my lock for three nights straight." Shuuhei says, hoping that the twisted appreciation for the gesture is not lost in his voice. "You sneaky shit."

Renji's expression drops and he snaps the hotplate off with extreme prejudice. "You know, when I said 'ask me no questions' it was kind of a sign for you to just shut up and let me have my moment of mysterious bad-assery."

Renji's hand wraps around Shuuhei's wrist and suddenly Shuuhei finds himself being pulled back inside, letting Renji sit him at the low table where they can eat their dinner of leftovers. Throughout the meal Renji is unusually inquisitive. He asks questions about trivial things in Shuuhei's day that they would both otherwise gloss over, and afterward when they gravitate towards Shuuhei's futon to sit on out of need for comfort he prods Shuuhei into making more in-depth dialog about all the things at work that irritate him.

Shuuhei knows this game. He's played it on the opposite side of the looking-glass enough times to know. This is the "I think you're still mad at me but I'm not sure so I'm going to be as useful a conversation partner as possible so you won't have time to remember why you might be mad at me."

It's almost too adorably pathetic to stand, Shuuhei observes to himself with a smile.

Renji stops in the middle of whatever he's been saying that Shuuhei hasn't been listening to and glances at him curiously, absorbing the look on Shuuhei's face with suspicion. "What's that face for?"

Shuuhei smirks, leaning into Renji so he can wrap his arms around Renji's shoulders. "Remember when I said you were cute?"

"Yes, and I wish you'd stop."

"I'll stop when it stops being true." Shuuheu asserts. Honestly, he's not really sure if he was ever mad at Renji in the first place, or if it was just the fact that Renji could walk out of the room and as far as anyone would know or care he was a single man. Good lord, all of this secrecy was perplexing. But what was important, at least for now as far as Shuuhei was concerned, was that Renji was there in his living area, on his futon.

Shuuhei leans over to kiss Renji, using just short of enough force or intent so the action can be interpreted as teasing. He is delighted by the response of Renji's hand trailing up his hip as he moves to deepen the kiss. It took Shuuhei a while to get used to the idea of being considered attractive to other men, even before he met Renji. He actually found he didn't mind so much, which in itself he did mind at the time. But there's a certain surge of emotion that comes from Renji's reactions to Shuuhei's coyness, a simultaneous give and take of power and pressure that's madly addictive. Shuuhei likes teasing, and he likes being teased. It's a sort of puzzle, a secret code of communication that he would almost suspect Renji wasn't aware he was taking part in if only he wasn't so good at it.

Shuuhei shifts, aiming to break away and go for that neck that has been the target of his affection for quite some time now but Renji is too quick this time. Renji catches Shuuhei's lip in his teeth, pressing down in a gentle nip. This throws Shuuhei off guard, but not enough that he can't take note of Renji shifting against his body, wriggling his hands under Shuuhei's thighs.

Shuuhei is coaxed into kneeling on the futon in front of Renji, a knee thrown on either side if the redhead's hips until he's practically sitting in Renji's lap.

It's not a bad position to be in, Shuuhei decides as he flicks his tongue against Renji's lip. Renji wastes no time in reaching for Shuuhei's torso, hands crawling under his clothing to grab at smooth olive skin. Shuuhei squirms a little, shifting his thighs that have been pressed into Renji's angular hips. "You're bony." He whines. "Gods, it's like you have absolutely no hips. It's just a pointy pelvis full of my crushed dreams."

Renji grunts in response, peeling aside the part of Shuuhei's shihakusho to press lips to his collarbone. "Not bony. Fit. You're the skinny one here."

"Don't body-shame me." Shuuhei demands with mock-offense. He takes a moment to still himself against Renji, simply enjoying the feel of the taller man removing the top half of his uniform to hang at his obi. Renji's hands glide over the muscular expanse of Shuuhei's back, and Shuuhei in turn works his hands under the fabric of Renji's uniform to cling to broad shoulders and anchor himself.

A part of Shuuhei takes a second to step back from this activity to gently remind the rest of his brain that this is kind of getting heavy. There are boundaries to think about, and Shuuhei has the impression that perhaps it's not wise to demonstrate to Renji how much Shuuhei respects his choice to wait by jerking off the rising interest in his fundoshi in the bathroom.

That in mind, Shuuhei is mildly surprised when he feels something working the tie on his obi. Hello, Renji's hands, we weren't expecting you around this neighborhood.

"Renji?"

Renji gives Shuuhei a patient look, but there's an edge to it. A bit of eagerness and excitement and confidence and other wonderful Renji-things.

Shuuhei gives Renji a more doubtful expression in response, even as the obi is being worked from his waist. "I thought you weren't ready."

"Yeah, here's the thing about that." Renji answers, throwing in a hard kiss to Shuuhei's mouth before he continues. "When I said that, it was also with the intention that I'd get to change my mind later."

Shuuhei isn't convinced even as his own fingers are tentatively edging down Renji's shoulders across his solid chest to his obi. "This isn't because, you know, you're trying to compensate for the date-thing?"

"It's not a date." Renji reminded him sharply, "And no, this isn't me trying to use sex to get you all quiet and complacent."

Shuuhei snorts, fluidly undoing the knot. "I'll bet you'd like that, though, wouldn't you?"

"The point is-" Renji continuous, "I'm probably going to go in there tomorrow and have absolutely no fun and make as ass out of myself. Makes me think we should have fun tonight to even it out. I'm ready if you are."

Shuuhei doesn't miss the last bit- the open invitation that if Shuuhei is still feeling bitter, he can back out right now.

Instead, the scarred man efficiently sets to peeling Renji out the top half of his uniform.

"If you're sure you're all good with this…" Shuuhei adds, trailing off when Renji pulls him up and forward a little more.

"Let me answer your question with an expressive gesture." With that Renji presses hard, rapid kisses like scattershots down Shuuhei's chest, across his abs and over his stomach.

"No dead fish this time?" Shuuhei says, and he is unable to keep off goofy grin spreading across his face as he says it despite his best efforts.

A severe pinch is applied to Shuuhei's hips on either side and despite Renji's insulted frown, the corners of his lips turn up at Shuuhei's noise of complaint. "No dead fish, you incorrigible bastard."

If only a few months ago Shuuhei was told that there would come a time involving Renji removing Shuuhei's clothing, he would have cello-taped himself to his uniform to be safely sealed in his clothes forever. Now, however, Shuuhei is gratefully wriggling out of his shihakusho and pressing their bare chests together.

Mouths clash in vibrant harmony as their bodies roll against each other. A familiar heat is building in Shuuhei's body, rolling in waves to the rhythm of Renji's touches. There's a tightening in his chest and a warmness spreading down his belly in a manner that is sinfully delightful and so heavenly right. Renji's bandana gets flung to the floor, where it flutters in the air before coming to rest. Shuuhei fights for the troublesome burden of locating Renji's hairtie, but the reward of being able to run his fingers through the scarlet strands are more than enough in return. The sensation of skin against skin his hypnotic, the press of Shuuhei's tan skin against Renji's more pale, tattoo-striped silhouette, it's something Shuuhei could find himself doing for hours without getting bored.

He is reminded, however, that there are other ways to occupy his time when Renji guides him to lay down on the futon, baring his half-clothed body to the younger shinigami. Shuuhei is aware that the rest of his uniform is being pulled free from his person and his hands clench against the futon in anticipation.

Shuuhei's not really sure what to expect of Renji because he's sincerely not sure where the mutual comfort-zone is at this point. Renji answers the unasked question by sliding his hands down Shuuhei's torso, beneath his hips and presses a kiss below Shuuhei's naval. He keeps going, his mouth dipping deeper down until Shuuhei has a pretty clear indication of what they'll be doing when Renji stops to linger between Shuuhei's legs.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Shuuhei asks, not unkindly but curiously. "I feel like I should get the camera and record this for posterity. 'Baby's First Blowjob'. We can get it framed and everything."

Renji laughs as he hooks his fingers around Shuuhei's fundoshi. "Hey, what did I say about talking to me like I was an innocent virgin? I'll have you know I've sucked off a grand total of one whole guy all by myself."

Shuuhei sits up on his elbows to look at Renji in surprise. "Really?"

"Eeyup." Renji says, grinning smugly as he slides Shuuhei's undergarments off his body painstakingly, painfully slowly off Shuuhei's hips. He adds thoughtfully. "Things are a little different this time, though. For one thing I know your name. That's a pleasant improvement."

"There's a story behind that, isn't there?"

"Weeeeeell," Renji hisses through his teeth. "I may or may not have been at this party, see? And I didn't know anyone there, except for like this one chick who invited me then fucked off somewhere and I was feeling pretty bitter and maybe a little bit buzzed so I thought 'what the hell?'"

Shuuhei nods with an expression of mildly impressed acknowledgement. "Wow. You are really gay."

"Oh yeah. Romance me, baby." Renji retorts with a deadpan snark and a wolfish grin. Without further invitation he quickly yanks down what was left of Shuuhei's fundoshi over his crotch, and Shuuhei gasps and twitches a bit at the sensation of his hard cock hitting cool air.

Shuuhei squeezes an eye shut, trying to adjust between the heat of his body and the briskness of the air. It's enough time to realize Renji hasn't made any further movements towards his hardness.

Shuuhei cracks an eye open, and he almost squeezes it shut again just to cope with the sight of Renji crouched between his knees. "Are you going to do anything, or just stare at me all night?"

"I'm on it. I just-" Renji shakes his head, as if in shock. "I must have been drunker than I thought the last time I did this. That's some dick you've got there."

Shuuhei groans in frustration, setting his hands down against the futon and making a move to hoist himself up. "I knew you weren't ready."

"Slow down, spike-head. I've got this." Renji assured him, placing one hand on Shuuhei's thigh. "It's a fine penis is all I meant."

He emphasized his words with a loving pat to Shuuhei's member and it's all Shuuhei can do not to throw back his head in laughter at the absurdity. "Stop petting my dick you freak of nature- oh."

The noise gets yanked out, as if something crawled down deep inside Shuuhei to the noises he kept locked up inside and dragged it back up his throat. The pressure of Renji's hand reaffirms itself, and there's a twitch of something warm and wet lapping at the head of his cock that Shuuhei definitely recognizes as a tongue.

An amused chuckle comes from Renji, the hot air of his words brushing against Shuuhei's inner thighs. "That's a bit better. Let's see if I'm still as good as I think I am."

Shuuhei props himself up enough to watch, observing Renji on his hands and knees between Shuuhei's legs. There's a maddening heat, and a silky soft sensation as Renji's tongue explores Shuuhei. There's an obvious hesitancy in the motions, a careful search for all the right spots and movements that make Shuuhei moan and angle his hips into the air and closer to that mouth. When Renji works out a pace and a pattern he strikes mercilessly, drunk on the little sounds of pleasure from the man beneath him.

Shuuhei is unprepared for the heaviness of a mouth taking him in, and he throws an arm over his face that is now coated in a thin sheen of sweat and flushed with the heat of everything being so hot, too hot. Moving his arm up and peeking back down at Renji pushes Shuuhei a little closer to the rapidly approaching edge at the sight. The redhead in question is utterly mollified and completely enraptured in sucking Shuuhei, a kind of concentration obvious in his expression. Renji's inexperience is palpable, but Shuuhei doesn't mind when he can feel every movement of that cautious tongue and every nervous twitch in Renji's mouth reverberated onto his cock. Noticing Shuuhei's gaze, Renji opens a set of amber, heavy-lidded eyes up at Shuuhei and there's a final wave of force rolling up and down his body at a particularly powerful suck.

And that's it. The dam breaks. There's the well-known sensation of the heat in Shuuhei's belly discharging like the release of a tightly coiled spring and a clenching of his thighs and a blissful feeling of spilling himself into Renji's mouth.

Renji retreats from Shuuhei's softened cock, heaving only a lingering heat. There's only a minute of relaxing for Shuuhei, however, before he feels the need to roll over, scooting closer to Renji.

Renji doesn't stop Shuuhei from removing his fundoshi and rewards the older soul reaper with a sound of approval when Shuuhei's hand curls around Renji's hardened member. The redhead let's himself be flipped over onto his back, off slightly wobbly knees. Renji's been very patient in pleasuring Shuuhei first, an interesting show of courtesy.

He grunts at Shuuhei's strokes which turn into much more attractive and progressively more wanton groans and moans. Shuuhei observes in appreciation the way that Renji's legs tighten and his toes curl as Renji comes undone underneath him.

With some talented (if Shuuhei does say so himself), handwork Renji doesn't last long, apparently already shoved close to the breaking point while sucking Shuuhei. His face is flushed, face nearly as red as his hair and Shuuhei is sort of struck by the beauty of it. Shuuhei strokes his thighs affectionately as Renji releases, sighing Shuuhei's name and telling him in a warbled kind of voice that he's so good, so amazing, Gods, Shuuhei.

Afterwards, neither really are in the mood to care that they are now both sticky and sweaty. Shuuhei edges up the futon to lie beside Renji and pull the covers over the two of them. His arm comes to curl over Renji's chest, lying on his side to sort of half-spoon Renji's side. Renji yawns sleepily on his back, throwing his head to the side and burying his face under Shuuhei's chin.

Shuuhei kisses Renji's brow, smiling when he feels the man in his arms dissolve into sleep. This is nice. This feels good. Absent-mindedly, Shuuhei glances at the clock next to his bed.

He's leading patrol in five hours. Oh fucking well.

Author's note: We did it, kids. We finally got to the porn.

On a side note this might not be the proper occasion to bring it up, but I happen to be in the market for a beta for the following chapters of this fic. I've never had a beta before (can you tell? Plot twist you can.) so if you think you're up for the job gimme a holler on PM and tell me why you think the lovely job of being my editor-slave should be yours!