Renji's predictions of his evening being terrible and of him making an ass of himself have proven themselves to be pleasantly false, at least as of yet.

Boys and girls look at him with envy when they see him with Orihime on his arm. Renji can respect that. She does look really good, after all, dressed up in a nice mint-green party dress. He can't fully appreciate it, though, because whenever she smiles politely at Renji with those big brown he just feels guilty.

Renji can deny it being a date all he wants, it still feels like he's breaking some kind of personal trust between him and Shuuhei by doing this. Until recently, Renji was adamant about honestly to the point of brutality, as it was often the simplest and easiest way to avoid misunderstandings and emotional baggage. This whole situation felt as if it was tearing that policy apart, giving Renji a nice new sense of shame to explore. Worse still was the experience that he was wronging Orihime in this situation too, and that she didn't even know he didn't consider this a real date.

Date. Shit, now Renji's thinking about it being a date! Renji suddenly starts feeling nervous and way to hot for comfort. He yanks his coat of trying to prevent the onslaught of sweat he knows might be coming, mentally cursing the article of clothing in his mind. Sure, perhaps it was still a little chilly outside, but the school's heating system seemed to have taken that as an invitation to barrage it's guests with continuous blasts of musty hot air. This is ridiculous. This whole situation is ridiculous. Why does Renji let himself get talked into these things?

The rest of his group notices him struggling with what is now a crumpled piece of fabric in his hands, and to his relief they simply smile and motion him towards the coat-room. As they stand in line, in somewhat awkward silence, his glance steadily moves from Orihime, to Rukia and back again. He is suddenly hit by worry that this little matchmaking session is about a bit more than just giving Orihime a piece of arm-candy.

As Orihime shifts her coat off her body, her phone slips out of the pocket to clatter onto the floor. On instinct, Renji leans down to pick it up, fingers nearly reaching it when he feels Orihime's head bonk against his as she leans down to reach after it at the same time.

"Sorry." They both blurt simultaneously, standing straight up and cradling their bruised temples with raised hands. The muffled laughter and cooing from observers of the scene make Orihime blush before she quickly stoops back down to pick up her phone.

And that was about the majority of interaction that Renji has with his "date" for about an hour. As soon as they enter the gymnasium, Orihime is dragged from his side by her herd of giggling schoolgirl friends. Left alone, Renji resigns himself to casually hanging by the side. Bored, and not really knowing what to occupy himself with, he takes his time to scrutinize the gymnasium. It is decorated, if the word can be used so loosely, with enough green streamers and fake trees to constitute the bare minimum of the jungle theme. The only piece of decoration that remotely looks like something that could be found in a jungle is actually the vegetation-heavy wooden arch that stand proudly over the entrance.

After being captivated by the arch for longer than anyone would consider "manly" Renji's attention slowly moves back to the people in the room as he tries to spot his friends. He sees Orihime being prompted into dancing by an adamant Tatsuki. They were getting awfully touchy over there. There's a thing happening with those two, Renji knows it. Watching them together gave Renji an odd combination of longing for companionship mixed with the sensation that he's intruding on something personal.

He really hopes that couples aren't going to just start springing out of the woodworks. Trust it to fate that as soon as Renji gets a proper boyfriend everyone around him starts hooking up, too. Way to make him feel less special, universe.

"You are the worst at dating. You fail, zero out of ten. Report to my office after class for a stern word." Renji doesn't have to look around to know where the voice is coming from and whom it belongs to. Rukia is standing fairly close to him, just below his line of sight.

"I'm here. She's here. One of us is having fun. I have fulfilled my quota as an honorary woman's accessory for the night." Renji retorts, restraining himself from irritably checking is watch. "How's it going with the orange-headed wonder?"

Rukia puts her hand on her well-dressed hips, beaming with pride. "Good. He's getting drinks right now. He liked my dress! Thanks for helping me with the shopping earlier, by the way."

"No problem. Please don't tell Ichigo I helped you pick out your dress. In fact, don't tell anyone. As far as people know I've never been inside the women's department."

"I promise."

"No, you don't."

"Not really. Aaaanyways..." Rukia wisely starts to change the subject the subject. She folds her arms over her chest, jutting out her hips to the side in her best Determined Rukia look. "The point of taking a beautiful girl to a dance is to, you know, dance with her or something! Not just linger around in the shadows like a weirdo."

"There's your problem. I am a weirdo." Renji mutters. No one's getting him drinks, he notices. Drinks sound good right now. If Shuuhei were here he would totally get Renji a drink, that's just how awesome Shuuhei is.

His words don't earn him any more points with Rukia, who rolls her eyes at him. "So help me, Renji, I will become the fairy godmother to your tragic Cinderella story if this doesn't start speeding along!"

"What's a Cinderella?"

But she's already off, stomping across the dance floor and pushing rowdy teenagers aside with her tiny yet purposeful strides. What did Renji do to her in their combined youth that made her so fussy?

And is she- yep, she's pulling Orihime aside, talking to her so that Renji can't hear over the din of the terrible dance music spilling from the makeshift DJ's table. Rukia looks very animated and emotional, no doubt selling the sob-story of poor, misunderstood Renji with no one to hold him to the naïve Orihime. Renji can practically feel himself become ever more entangled in this web of lies. The two girls glance at him from across the dance floor. Whoo boy.

Suddenly eager for something to do, Renji finds himself awkwardly drifting backwards out of the gymnasium into the school hallway, one eye warily trained on the young ladies across the way as he does so. He almost trips in the process. This is why Renji shouldn't try to be cool.

Renji spins on his heel, surprised to find himself face-to-face with Ichigo. "Hey. Your girlfriend is scaring me, make it stop." He deadpans.

Ichigo's nose crinkles as he balances the two precariously filled plastic cups in his hand. "She's not my girlfr- shit, yes she is, isn't she? I hope she didn't hear that. Force of habit—I got so used to denying it." He pauses for a moment and sighs. "How's it going with Orihime? You two seem to get along well."

Ichigo emphasizes his point with a camaraderie-esque elbow jab. Or at least he would have, were his movement not hindered by the drinks in his hand. He just sort of vaguely gestures towards Renji with his arm.

Renji doesn't know how to respond except with (how to respond with anything but/ something other than) a noncommittal shrug and grunt. "It's going, I guess." Not really. They've barely said a word to each other. "Not anywhere near good, though. Does it make me sound like an asshole if I say I didn't even want to come here in the first place? This may shock you, but I am actually kind of a grown-up. Sort of. Maybe." He pauses, considering seriously. "After the first century, I kind of forgot how old I'm supposed to be."

"You fit in just fine. It's not like you're mature enough that people will question your age anyways." Ichigo retorts, beginning to lead them both back to the dance. "And yeah, it does make you kind of sound like an asshole. An understandable asshole, though. Maybe if you just try and have fun it won't be so bad-"

Perhaps if Ichigo has been allowed finished his statement, Renji might have considered taking his advice. He might have decided to play it cool, try to work into the groove of the hip young teenager he might actually be. But destiny was not having any of that sort of "convenience" nonsense tonight. Instead, he opened the gymnasium door and made to take a sharp turn to the right at the same time Orihime was coming toward him from the left. They barrel into each other, Renji's larger stature keeping him steady. Poor Orihime, however, bounces off Renji's chest like a superball and goes down, man, down.

The direction of down is Disrupted slightly by one of the columns of the wooden arch above their heads. There's a worrying crack as Orihime falls against it, followed by a long moaning creak that directs their attention upwards just in time for them to see the structure starting to collapse onto itself. In a split of a second, with a loud startling crash, it crumbles down. Directly on top of Renji.

Because this is what happens when he tries to be cool. Or to do anything, really.

Stupid school dance. Stupid flimsy-ass arch. Stupid woundable gigai. These fake quote unquote bodies are made out of cardboard, Renji swears.

His vision is slightly impeded by the flashing red and blue lights of the Kurosaki Family Hospital Ambulance. The ambulance is new and shiny and Renji puts away the thought of wanting to play in it like a three-year-old child for another day, because now is really not the time for Renji's fantasies about what he would do if he had no sense of shame. Ichigo's sister, the one with lighter hair Yuzu, adjusts a soft cervical collar to the neck that was sprained by the falling arch. It was only the gigai that was injured so Renji will have merely a fraction of the damage when he pops back out into his soul particle body but for now he's trapped in what appears to be a hipster fashion statement gone humiliatingly wrong.

Sitting in the ambulance next to him, Karin helps Orihime into her leg brace for the dislocated knee before moving to the few other bystanders hurt by the arch incident. Renji risks a glance back to the windows of the gymnasium, where the other students, including the core Karakura group are lined up to watch by the windows. They aren't allowed nearby for medical/legal reasons despite it being Ichigo's fucking family and their staff treating them.

Wearing an expression that Renji can only hope represents his complete dissatisfaction with current events, he gives them a sarcastic thumbs up. Abarai Renji. Lieutenant of the Sixth Division. Total loser. This tops every other embarrassing thing that has ever happened to him. This tops puking in the potted plant at the vice-captain's meeting. He should get a t-shirt made: "I literally crashed a high-school dance and all I got was physical pain and the loss of my dignity."

Ichigo's dad announces all of them More Or Less Okay, which is a totally legitimate medical term, and lets them go back inside to continue the festivities. Entering that pressingly hot, stuffy building under the watchful eyes of the student body feels like being slid under a microscope. Frankly, Renji would have preferred to be laid upon the parking lot asphalt and be run over by the ambulance a few times but apparently that's not a medically sound option.

Which is why he eventually ends up sitting on the floor against the wall the gymnasium, watching the other dancers trying to get back into their partying mood while Orihime sits next to him. She apologizes profusely for the accident, and the date, and basically her whole existence. Renji feels for her. He sympathizes with that feeling entirely.

"I am really, really sorry!" She says for the hundredth time, even though half of the accident was actually kind of Renji's fault. He doesn't try to correct her though. "I-I really wanted this to be fun for everyone and I just had to go and ruin it!"

"Naw, you didn't ruin it. The stupid arch is the one that did that." He tries his best to reassure her and awkwardly pats her on the shoulder, finding the movement of his shoulders impeded by the neck brace. He is very much aware of the fact that he looks like a dork.

Orihime's fingers fumble with the hem of her dress, her leg awkwardly shifts in its clunky brace. "Still, this was awful. I knew from the beginning that you weren't having a good time! I should have tried to talk and dance with you but I felt so... awkward." She pauses and Renji fumbles for an appropriate response. Before he can think of anything, though, Orihime nervously continues: "Rukia is worried about you, you know. She said that you needed a woman to take care of you…"

Goddammit, Rukia.

Renji sighs, hitting his stiff neck against the wall. The music gets louder around them, as if trying to make up for the buzzkill of the various minor injuries from earlier. It pounds in his ears and he finds he suddenly has difficulty trying to think. Worst of all, the beat is actually catchy. Is being surrounded by human-world teens rubbing off on him?

Speaking of human-world teens, Renji really should address the one sitting next to him. None of this would have happened if Renji had just said he was too busy to take Orihime to this dance, or Hell if he had just told the truth in the first place, and then all this embarrassment that must surely be affecting her as well never would have happened. It's certainly not her fault that Renji has a tendency to sputter and apparently lose all traces of sanity at inopportune moments. Making decisions based on rationality is more Shuuhei's specialty.

"You know," He says, "I should be apologizing to you."

His voice comes out fuzzy and muffled against the background noise, and Orihime purses her lips in frustration "What?" she asks, cupping a hand over her ear. She has to speak up just to be heard over the roar of the music. "I can't hear you, sorry!"

Renji tries to talk louder, his voice nearly drowned by heavy bass. "I said, this whole time I've kind of been leading you on. I think. There are rules for this, I'm sure, and I'm breaking them." He falters for a second, wondering if there are actually rules for dating and if not, why aren't there, but he tries to reassess his flow of thought before his mind can taper off too far, "What I mean to say is- I shouldn't have let you come on a date with me! I'm with somebody else!"

She quirks her head, brows furrowed in confusion. Renji isn't completely sure, knowing Orihime only as well as he does, but he thinks he sees a spark of something almost like anger in her eyes. "You're 'with' somebody? Do they know you're here with me?" Her face becomes one of realization as an idea dawns on her, her delicate eyebrows climbing her forehead, "Are- are you cheating on someone by being here?"

Now would be an excellent time to say something profoundly charming and genuine to backtrack this oncoming disaster.

"Er, well… not intentionally!"

Nailed it. Nailed it so hard the hammer broke in his hands like driftwood. Renji almost has to record the moment for posterity as proof of what a verbose, charismatic Casanova he is. Nope, he doesn't hate himself at all right now.

Orihime's face flushes at her answer, her eyes narrowing and getting shiny. Please don't cry, Renji has no idea what to do with crying girls. Scream at him, slap him, slice him in half with her powers but please, please don't fucking cry.

Without warning, Renji's mouth begins to move of its own accord. An obnoxious babbling noise fills the air before he has a change to realize, all too late, that it's the sound of his own voice. "That's not what I meant! You're really great, and there's probably a lot of people who really do want to date you! Not that I'm saying we should date, because that's the opposite of what I'm trying to do here. Um, wow, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. This is stupid. Forget I said anything-"

"Renji." Orihime says with what sounds like painstakingly collected patience, and it's a jarring experience because Renji has never heard her use his given name, nor her address him in that tone of voice. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

It's not to say that Renji has reached the point of no return, that would simply be inaccurate. But Renji is by nature an "in for a penny, in for a pound" kind of guy, even against his on accord, so he's not incredibly surprised to hear himself say with finality "I have a boyfriend."

Orihime blinks, the flushed anger draining out of her face and leaving behind an only faintly glowing blush. "Oh…" She says finally. "I see. That's okay, then. It would have been kind of disappointing if you were just a jerk, so it's better."

"It probably actually isn't. This night was probably really sucky for you. Sorry." Renji mutters to the floor. Something else nags at his mind, though, something very important as if he's seen something very odd in his peripheral vision but can't quiet place it.

Then it hits him.

"So," He says conversationally to Orihime, tilting his body so his face is pointed up towards the ceiling, "How long do you think the music has been off?"

Orihime's eyes widen in surprise, "Oops."

Renji drops his gaze back to stare straight ahead at the crowd, where the jarring silence of the music having been prematurely stopped echoes dully around the gymnasium. People are staring at him, eyes full of pity and some of laughter at his expense.

At this point, Renji decides to step back from his life for a minute. Use a few seconds to analyze and problem-solve, maybe even workshop the situation.

In an event such as this, there are two kinds of people. There are people who will handle these processions of events rationally and with maturity. And, then there are people who will totter to their feet, unable to do any complex spine movements thanks to the brace around their neck, and take the silence and shock of their unwanted audience as an opportunity for a hasty retreat.

Renji is, obviously, of the second breed.

As he disappears through the gymnasium doors into the empty hallway, he is genuinely debating whether it would be preferable to go home, or simply just walk outside and throw himself in the snow and wait until he freezes to death

"Renji, wait!" Orihime calls out to him, limping after him. Apparently using given names is a thing they do now. He watches in abstract horror and fascination as her leg brace works against her stiletto heel so she chaotically tilts this way and that left and right as she walks. He can see what looks like Rukia, Uryuu, Chad and Ichigo's outlines approaching the door behind her. At least the situation probably can't get any more humiliating or awkward.

Suddenly there's a familiar press of spiritual pressure prodding at him. Very familiar, accompanied by a very familiar deep voice.

"Excuse me, is there an unreasonably tall red-head partially covered in tattoos around?"

Renji was wrong about the possibility of the situation getting more humiliating and awkward. Renji was so wrong. He should just stop trying at everything.

"Uh, Hisagi? What happened to your eye?" Renji peeks back into the gym. Shuuhei is there, without a gigai so the majority of oblivious humans around him mill freely through his spirit particle body. The eye that Ichigo is gesturing towards is puffy and swollen a nasty purple, adding an interesting contrast of color to the grey and black of the tattoos on that side of his face. Shuuhei touches it absentmindedly, like he's forgotten about it.

"Huh? Oh that. Must've been where Captain Muguruma hit me when he knocked me unconscious." Shuuhei explains, experimentally poking at the tender spot. The action is so childish it makes Renji want to march over and slap his hand away. No really. Stop, you're only making it worse. "I'm not gonna lie, I've been having kind of an off day."

There's a warm sensation as Shuuhei's spiritual pressure weaves through the crowd of bodies of the student population, reaching out to Renji familiarly. Having located him, Shuuhei casts a curious look in Renji's direction, surprised by Renji's distressed aura. Renji takes a moment to curse himself for not being able to control the tone of his spiritual pressure better. "Is Renji okay?"

Renji can practically see the gears working in Rukia's mind, putting the facts together. Her eyebrows knit together with realization and she casts an icy-cold glare in Renji direction, still hiding behind the door. "How interesting it is that you ask."

But not everyone, for better or worse, is Rukia. Renji imagines that for the other four teens Shuuhei's presence must be a little startling considering the lack of battle. It's Uryuu who asks, "Lieutenant Hisagi, why exactly are you looking for Abarai? There's no hollow sense. Not to mention it's rude to barge in without paying for your ticket."

"Oh I think I know why he's here." Rukia says with an impeccable raise of one eyebrow, "And I think it's ruder that someone wouldn't appreciate it if his boyfriend stopped by for a visit."

Renji closes the door as gently as he can, preparing to slink away into the darkness and never return. But the high-pitched sugary-sweet call of "Oh, Renji!" warns him it would be in his best interest not to try to escape and to simply accept his fate. It's not like he has anything to lose at this point.

Like a tiny specter, Rukia's shadow appears in the window of the gymnasium door, which opens ever-so slowly so Renji gets to see every emerging inch of her stony face. Finally she stomps purposefully into the hall, the curious faces of Shuuhei and the rest of the Karakura pack looking in from the dance.

For a moment, both Renji and Rukia just stare each other down. Then, to Renji's surprise, Rukia folds her hands over her chest and smirks. He's not sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't that. "I knew it."

Stemming from reasons he just can't seem to place, this feels affronting to Renji. Really, does this woman just have to stick her nose into every facet of his life? "No, you didn't!"

"I knew that Hisagi liked you!" Rukia points out, shoving a petite index finger into his face in an accusatory manner, "I just didn't think you'd like him back!"

This earns a protest of "Hey!" from Shuuhei, who actually looks a little wounded by the comment. "I'll have you both know I am perfectly likable."

"So you didn't really know it." Renji continues, ignoring Shuuhei, "You only knew, like, half of it, and it wasn't even the half concerning me."

He blatantly skips over the fact that he's been nursing a crush for Shuuhei ever since the portal mission. No one needs to know that. What crush? Renji has no knowledge of his "crush" phenomena.

Back in the doorway, Shuuhei leans over to the rest of the teens. "Why is he wearing a neck brace?"

"Decoration malfunction." Uryuu explains, "He broke our arch."

Orihime tentatively raises her arm, throwing in "Technically, I helped. It was a group mutual effort."

"I hope the school didn't get these as rentals." Chad sighs, casting a look back to the shattered pillars of the arch abandoned in the corner.

Meanwhile, Rukia throws her hands up, asking in an exasperated voice "So letting me set you up with Orihime like a dumbass- was that the part that concerned you? I just-" She makes a sound like a frustrated growl, or perhaps a strangled cat, "-I cannot believe you weren't going to tell me about this! I'm the one who told you Hisagi had a crush on you in the first place."

Ichigo raises an eyebrow at that, looking skeptically at Shuuhei as he asks "You did?"

Shuuhei shrugs, looking uncomfortable at suddenly being in the momentary spotlight. "Well, he threw up on me. Romance bloomed. You know how it is."

"Wow. No, I don't think I do at all."

Rukia's not finished yet. "Why didn't you just say something? That's all it would have taken! You never even said you were gay-"

"Well, it's a little more complicated than that!" Renji mutters, looking down at the floor as he is suddenly struck with a sense of self-consciousness. Trust Rukia to home in on the big, invisible elephant of sexual confusion in the room.

"If anybody's interested," Shuuhei interrupts calmly, "I think I might have a slight concussion. I'd like to sit down now, please."

By now, the commotion is beginning to draw attention from the other participants of the dance. A few whispers break out over the roar of the music wondering why there are people gathered around the door like that. Who's shouting? Isn't it that Kuchiki girl and the exchange student who broke the arch?

Looking back at the curious student body knowingly, Uryuu sharply elbows Ichigo in the gut. "Do something! People will start to wonder why we're standing around like this!" He hisses.

"Why me? I don't want to be a part of this!" Ichigo says glaring at the quincy.

"Your shinigami, your problem."

"It's not like I own every shinigami! Usually it's just Rukia and Renji who follow me around everywhere. Hisagi's kind of a... recent addition." Ichigo sighs, before making an attempt to intervene, "Hey guys? Hello? Rukia, shut the hell up for a second!"

Finally that gets their attention. Renji and Rukia stop bickering to/and whip their heads around to look at him. Even Shuuhei looks at Ichigo through one swollen eye.

"This drama is getting annoying and this dance blows." Ichigo announces, "If you guys are gonna squabble, do it somewhere else."

Grudgingly, Renji agrees that somewhere else sounds pretty good right about now. And while escaping from weird social situations may sound a lot like running away with his tail between his legs, Renji would be a lot happier with that than with loitering around here. He nudges Shuuhei purposefully, "Fine, we should be leaving anyways."

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere without us just yet!" Rukia contradicts, sputtering and clutching at Renji's sleeve. "If you think you can strut in here, drop this on me and just walk out like that, you've got another thing coming, buddy!"

Orihime fidgets a little, "Maybe we all should go, we're getting weird looks." She looked back to the crowd, then back down to her leg brace. Renji feels another stab of guilt. "Can someone with a car please drive me home?"

"We'll take you." Ishida promises, motioning for her to follow him and Chad. "It's getting pretty late anyways."

However mad Rukia might be at Renji for withholding information right now, those feelings clearly don't extend to Shuuhei. She must notice Shuuhei still tenderly rubbing his injured eye, because she scowls a little in assumed exasperation. "You guys meet me by the exit. I'm going to get an icepack."

She scampers off in the direction of the drinks table, heading for the cooler of ice, leaving an awkward trio of Ichigo, Renji and Shuuhei to glance at each other.

There's an uncomfortable blanket of quiet as Shuuhei and Renji share a blank look, and Ichigo seems like he's trying hard not to fidget or look back and forth between the two lieutenants. This is the most socially painful thing Renji has ever had to do.

Ichigo must feel like he needs to break the silence, because his brow furrows and he gnaws on his lip a little before saying, "So, uh…"

"Yeah." Renji answers in a dull voice that Shuuhei echoes hardly a second later.

Ichigo glances back to where Rukia has vanished to before turning back, "She's not really mad, I think. Just surprised." He looks to Renji, directing his words at him now, "I don't think she ever really expected you to have your own, y'know, relationship without her involvement. Especially with a guy. It's sort of like finding out that your parents have sex."

Neither Renji or Shuuhei have parents. Renji can't even imagine why that would be an issue. People who have families are so fucking weird, sometimes.

"She's kind of protective, isn't she?" Shuuhei comments, the corner of his lip threatening to turn up in a smile.

Ichigo smirks proudly when he confirms. "Yeah, she is. But, she means well."

Shuuhei cocks an eyebrow, gesturing with his hands towards Renji while looking at Ichigo. "So on the subject, I'm not going to have to pay a dowry to Rukia for his hand or something now, am I? Because that wasn't really on the table until now."

"Hey." Renji says in a warning town.

"Just feed him three meals a day and make sure he gets all his shots on time and I think you're good."

"Hey!"

Ichigo casts another look back into the darkened gymnasium, looking for Rukia's outline amongst the hoards of people. "On a similar note, you guys can probably go now. Your window for escape is closing."

The idea of leaving his very embarrassing incident behind does sound very appealing to Renji. Still, there are other factors to consider. "What about Rukia?"

"She'll be fine." Ichigo assures him with a wave of his hand, "I think time to let this sink in will make this all a little less… weird, I guess?" He finishes with a note of uncertainty, "Not that it's not cool. Just. Yeah. Unexpected."

This is getting awkward again. "Sorry, I guess?" Renji hazards, although he doesn't know what he's apologizing for. "We'll just go then."

"I actually would like an ice pack-" Shuuhei gets cut off by an impatient shove from Renji.

The high school's doors swing shut behind them, leaving them in the brisk air of the invisible tipping point between winter and spring. Shuuhei's feet are light in the snow, his sandals barely crushing the thinnest layer of white and leaving behind the barest of indentations as proof of his presence. Renji's heavier gigai body stops through the slush, however, nice shoes bought specifically for this occasion soaking up the moisture from the snow.

Renji sighs in realization. "I still have to drop this gigai off at the Shouten. What a pain."

"Poor baby." Shuuhei says sarcastically, looking aforementioned gigai up and down. He coughs into his hand, obscuring his mouth, "You look really nice though. The clothes suit you, except for the brace."

Renji grunts, fingers reaching up to tear at the ties on the cervical collar and free him of its ridiculous-looking confines. "Stupid thing. This is what happens in a world without healing kidou. Respect the Fourth Division, Shuu, without them stuff like this happens."

"I was in the Fourth earlier today." Shuuhei says offhandedly,

"For that shiner?" Renji asks, referring to the black eye Shuuhei's sporting, "Did you say your captain had done that to you? It looks like you got into a fight with the Kototsu and lost."

Shuuhei rolls his eyes, stubbornly stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Sort of, yeah. Long story."

As they walk, Renji is struck with a sense of déjà vu. The dark sky over head, staring down at the streets below is reminiscent of the same sky in Soul Society when he and Shuuhei walked together just like this on the night of their first kiss. The taller of the two vice-captains tries to look up and take in the expanse of sky above him, but his continuous struggles with the cervical collar continue to limit him.

"Sorry I kind of ruined your night." Shuuhei says suddenly, glowering at his feet.

Renji scoffs, "Well you didn't really ruin it. It was already ruined, so I guess you sort of made it better. Even if that wasn't the way I would have wanted to let people know we were together. At least it's only the kids in Karakura."

"About that," Shuuhei drawls, cheek twitching a little, "I may have accidently told Kira. And Matsumoto. And Captain Muguruma."

"You're kidding." Renji demands, his gaze turning into a glare. "You're not joking. Hisagi Shuuhei, I am going to punch you right in the dick."

"Does it bother you that much?" Shuuhei says, taken aback and eyes wide.

Renji scowls, "That's not the point! Don't you think that's the sort of thing we should be doing together?"

"Well pardon me." Shuuhei says concisely. He stops suddenly, pulling on Renji's shirt to stop him in his tracks as well, hands deftly slapping Renji's fingers away to finally remove the restrictive neck brace. "I'll try to text you next time I break into a school dance to announce my love for you."

Even with the brace gone, Renji suddenly feels he has difficulty breathing. He meets Shuuhei's eyes, a steel gray that somehow seems warmer than it did in all the past years Renji has known Shuuhei. "Your love for me?"

"Yeah, that's kind of what I came here to tell you. I wanted you to know how crazy I am about you." Shuuhei chuckles, giving Renji his genuine, crooked smile. An endearing glow of red gathers in his cheeks, under ink on one side and scarring on the other. "I love you, Renji."

Holding another person in his arms has never made Renji feel so good. Shuuhei lets himself be enveloped into Renji's grasp, lets himself be squeezed because right now Renji never wants to let go. Never wants to lose this moment. Wants it to be captured, frozen forever in a snapshot of the universe for Renji to carry around in his pocket.

"Shuuhei." Renji announces into the other man's shoulder with a soppy grin, "I love you, too."

Shuuhei pulls back, hands moving to Renji's head to caress his face. It doesn't feel inherently different from their kisses before, but its satisfying. Like the refreshment of cool water across Renji's tongue when he didn't even know he was thirsty. He feels light-headed and giddy but grounded at the same time in a hot mix of emotions.

But moments can't be frozen forever, so Renji chooses to trade Shuuhei's embrace for slinging an arm around Shuuhei's hip as they continue walking.

"So are you still going to punch me in the dick?"

Renji groans, "Let me have his happy, fuzzy feeling for a little while longer before you decide to be obnoxious, okay?"

But Renji is in no danger of losing the happy fuzzies. Because while moments can't be frozen, they can be kept and hoarded in the mind like precious treasures. And that is exactly what he plans to do with this one. He wants to keep them in a special compartment, a trove of memories, of mornings and nights and days to come.

Author's note: Sap sap sap sap SAP SAP SAP SAPPY SAP.

Moral of the story: if I'm not writing about Renji getting hurt/being publicly humiliated, I'm probably not writing Renji.

Much thanks goes to my beta, Namayani, who you can all be grateful for that this is even readable!

[Aggressively starts on next chapter]