AN: These all happen within a year, and follow the major holidays; New Years, Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Christmas. This takes place during their relationship, possibly just within the year after it started
Resolution
Ichigo stared out his window, up at the sky as the bright lights flashed in the sky, lighting up the whole town. Today was officially the start of the New Year, and fireworks were going off in celebration for it.
The rest of Ichigo's family had gone to visit their distant family for the New Year, but Ichigo'd decided to stay home. To him, it was just another day; another day that everyone made too big of a deal out of.
"Are you not going to join in on the celebration, Kurosaki?"
The teal-eyed boy stood at his doorway, hands crossed into the sleeves of his shihakusho. Ichigo looked back at him before shrugging and looking back out the window as the fireworks continued to light up the sky, casting different colored glows on his face in the dark.
"Not really in the mood for it. What about you? I'm sure they must have some sort of party going on back in the Seiretei. How come you're not joining in?"
"I'd much rather be doing my paperwork. But Matsumoto decided that she'd throw a party in our division." The captain grumbled a bit, shaking his head in exasperation, "Have you seen what happens when you get Matsumoto, Hisagi, Kira, and Abarai drunk?"
Ichigo snickered a bit, a smirk spreading on his lips, "I think I can guess."
Toushiro huffed but stayed quiet afterwards. After a long moment of silence, the young captain spoke up,
"Why don't we go for a walk?"
Ichigo blinked, looking back at him for a moment before shrugging,
"Sure…"
Ichigo pulled up his scarf against the cold winter breeze that seemed to blow right through him. The sky continued to light up with different colors, casting a rainbow of glows on him and Toushiro. They walked quietly down the street, passing people having fun on the holiday. Neither spoke up as they walked into a park, walking down the sidewalk and passing the leafless trees and snow.
After a while, they both stopped and sat down on a park bench overlooking the frozen landscape, the fireworks causing the snow to light up and shine beautifully. The park was empty, most people being back home or in town at a bar somewhere.
After a moment, Ichigo finally spoke up,
"So, Shiro, do you have any resolutions?"
Toushiro blinked, turning and looking at Ichigo with a raised eyebrow, Ichigo looking back down at him,
"You know, for New Years."
Toushiro blinked before making a sound at the back of his throat, turning and looking up at the sky.
"… I don't ever really do any kind of resolution. Never really think about that kind of stuff."
Ichigo chuckled a bit and smiled, turning back and looking at the sky,
"That honestly doesn't surprise me."
"Well how about you? What's your New Year's resolution?"
Ichigo blinked and turned, looking at Toushiro. Teal eyes looked right back at him, honestly waiting for the answer. Ichigo turned and looked down at the ground,
"Hmm… I guess I didn't really ever thing about it, either…" He looked up at the sky as the lights danced across it, lighting up the town.
Really. He never did usually think about this kind of thing. Everyone always asked him, but he usually just gave a half-assed answer; the kind of thing that's cliché or stereotypical to hear. Like 'I'll lose 5 pounds by the end of the year', or 'I'm going to be a better person', or even the 'I'm going to get better grades' resolution. The kinds of things that everyone knows you don't really intend to do anything about.
Why was it that whenever Toushiro brought something up, it almost always gained a great amount of significance? He'd never really ever thought about that kind of stuff before; but every time Toushiro brought something up, it seemed to become even more important.
"… I think… my resolution will be just to do nothing."
Toushiro blinked before raising an eyebrow at Ichigo,
"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Kurosaki? Resolutions are supposed to be to do meaningful acts in your life."
"But that's just it; Everyone's resolutions are always about changing themselves, because there's something in them that they don't like, or even hate," Ichigo looked up at the sky, watching each firework light up the sky one by one, "But I don't want to change something in me. I like me just the way I am. I don't wanna change who I am. The me that has all of my friends. The me that can protect everyone," Brown eyes turned toward Toushiro as the teen smiled, his face glowing in the light of the fireworks, "And the me that managed to get you to love me," Ichigo grinned, turning and looking up at the sky again, "So my resolution is not to change. To do nothing. That way I can just be me."
Toushiro stared at Ichigo in almost shock. Somehow, out of pure dumb luck, this man seemed to always catch Toushiro off guard in the right way.
Toushiro huffed and turned away, closing his eyes as he chuckled faintly, a small smile spreading on his face,
"Not much of a resolution. You'd have done that even without it."
Ichigo grinned widely, laughing a bit,
"You know it!"
Red Hearts
"You know that I don't really like sweets, Kurosaki." The teen huffed, grumbling a bit as he crossed his arms.
"Yes, I know, but I still want you to come in here and pick something out. You're supposed to get something sweet today."
Toushiro was put out. Ichigo continuously insisted that Toushiro would get some kind of sweet today, and just would not back down.
Today was Valentine's Day. Normally, it was custom to make something with chocolate for someone you liked; friends, family, lovers, etc. However, it was known that Ichigo was not the best of cooks, especially with something that was so delicate and could burn easily. So instead, Ichigo saved up his money and dragged Toushiro off to town to pick out something he liked. No matter how many times Toushiro tried to decline, Ichigo just wouldn't take it.
The inside of the shop they'd gone into was filled with all kinds of candy and sweets- everything from chocolate bars to fruit arrangements. The décor had been done to match the theme of Valentine's Day, with red ribbons strung up everywhere and hearts decorating every corner of the store. Toushiro couldn't help but twitch at the frilliness of everything.
Ichigo walked with him around the store, having him look at the different items in the store. Nothing really caught his eye that he wanted. As he'd told Ichigo before, he just wasn't into really sweet things. He liked milder tastes when it came to sweets.
After a while, they ended up wandering into the fruit section, and nearly right off the bat, Toushiro's eye landed on something.
A 'Strawberry & Watermelon' fruit basket; it had slices of watermelon and strawberries cut into the shape of hearts, full strawberries dipped in chocolate, and a strawberry watermelon drink mix.
Both Ichigo and Toushiro took one look at each other before Ichigo burst out laughing. Of all things to choose, of course Toushiro would pick something like this.
Toushiro growled a bit at Ichigo for laughing before huffing, turning away, a light blush fading into view on his cheeks. The substitute just snickered before grabbing the basket and heading toward the counter, with Toushiro following just a little behind.
Ichigo grinned widely as they sat at home,
"I really shouldn't have expected anything less from you, Shiro."
The white-haired captain growled a bit before shoving a strawberry piece into the substitute's mouth.
"Just shut up and help me eat this, idiot."
Hollow's Eve
"Onii-chan, how does my costume look~? Do I look cute~?" Ichigo turned to look at his younger sister, showing off her angel costume that sported little feather wings and a halo shaped like a heart. She'd been saving it to show him until Halloween night to show off how cute it made her look. Ichigo blinked a few times as he stared at her,
"… Oh, that's right. Today's Halloween, isn't it? You going out with Karin tonight?" Yuzu suddenly got a look of utmost annoyance. Ichigo couldn't understand why Yuzu would always do this. She'd done it with her middle school uniform as well. Ichigo sighed a bit and shook his head as she stomped off. A snort sounded off from beside him,
"She seems upset. She'd been saving it to show you, hadn't she?" Ichigo shrugged a bit as teal orbs lingered on him and waited for his answer,
"Mmph, she always does this. I dunno why she gets so worked up about it. S'not like I haven't seen her in a costume before…" He grumbled a bit, "Though if that skirt were any shorter, it'd show her panties." The white-haired captain sitting next to him snorted and shook his head, a small smirk playing on his lips
"Well, I see that your 'big brother mode' is working perfectly."
Taken for Granted
"Oi, Toushiro!" The young captain growled a bit, vein twitching on his forehead as he whirled around,
"Dammit, Kurosaki, must you insist on always calling me by my given name?" The teen snorted a bit,
"And must you insist on not calling me by my given name? I swear, you've only called me 'Ichigo', like, twice." This only earned him a snort in return. Ichigo huffed a bit before walking over to the young captain's desk.
It was Christmas Eve and almost everyone was out having a good time under the moonlight. Everyone that is, except Toushiro. As usual, he was holed up in his office working on paperwork.
Why did he always insist on doing his paperwork at night?
"Come on, Toushiro, it's Christmas Eve. I've managed to convince my family that I'm staying over at Chad's for a Christmas party, so I can come spend time with you, and I find you working on paperwork- again!"
Toushiro sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head,
"Some things are more important than having fun, Kurosaki." An unexpected silence followed.
"… Are those same things more important than spending time with me?"
This caught Toushiro seriously off guard. He looked up at Ichigo to see a resigned expression on the substitute's face. Ichigo's never said something like that before. He's always either just sat and waited until Toushiro was finished with his work, or-when he was just too impatient- dragged Toushiro off after promising that he'd let Toushiro work on whatever he needed to later.
Ichigo sighed a bit before turning, shaking his head a bit,
"It's like this every time, Toushiro. Every time I try to make time to come to the Soul Society just to see you, you're always working on something, or busy doing a mission… like it's more important than being with me."
This left Toushiro speechless. Ichigo never acted like this before. He always seemed to be somewhat understanding; impatient and annoyed, yes, but still understanding.
"What's gotten into you, Kurosaki? You never seemed to be upset by this before."
"I'm always upset by it, Toushiro! I sort of dealt with it at the beginning, because we were just starting out. I figured you'd get better over time, but every single time you do this… I tried to be understanding; tried to look at it from your point of view, and figured you'd just had a lot of paperwork to do, especially with Rangiku always putting it off… But I still figured at some point you'd start trying to get it done before I came, so we could spend time with each other without having to worry about anything…"
The icy captain stared at the substitute, surprised by this confession. Ichigo searched Toushiro, as if trying to find something in his features. When he couldn't seem to find it he sighed and shook his head, turning and heading to the door,
"I guess I expected too much, though. I'll see you later, Toushiro." Toushiro flinched a little as the door closed. It might as well have slammed shut.
He could feel a pang of guilt jolt through his chest as he stared down at his desk. Ichigo had a really good point… Toushiro'd worked on a schedule, where he would get a specific number of his paperwork finished every day so he'd never be behind… but he'd never tried to work on more of it or put it aside so he could spend time with Ichigo… He'd always taken for granted Ichigo waiting for him to be done… He'd simply taken Ichigo himself for granted. Of course Ichigo wouldn't have said anything… until now.
He stared down at his paperwork for a while before standing up, walking out of his office. He walked out of the building into the courtyard where his subordinates enjoyed themselves under the night sky.
"Captain? You okay?" He didn't answer; simply walking passed them, trying to find Ichigo.
It took a while, but he finally found Ichigo up at the Senkaimon, just standing there, as if debating on whether or not he should go through or not.
"… Kurosaki."
Ichigo seemed to flinch a little when Toushiro spoke up. Toushiro stopped several yards before Ichigo, watching as he turned to look at him, a slight frown on his face,
"… Don't you have paperwork to do?" This stung Toushiro probably a lot more than it should have. He looked down at the ground,
"Kurosaki… I…" He sighed and closed his eyes, "… I want to apologize. I've been taking you for granted… taking for granted that you seemed to be okay with most of the things that I do…"
Ichigo didn't speak for a long time, making Toushiro's shoulders sag faintly,
"… I understand if you're upset with me. I know my apology doesn't excuse my actions… But even so… I apologize."
Ichigo still didn't speak up, and Toushiro was wondering if Ichigo even wanted to hear it,
"… Apology accepted."
Toushiro blinked and looked up at Ichigo with wide eyes. The boy had a soft smile on his face that nearly caught Toushiro off guard. He stared as Ichigo walked toward Toushiro, standing about a yard from him,
"I'm not all that upset with you, Toushiro. Just a little frustrated is all. You don't have to feel bad."
Toushiro stared up at Ichigo with slightly wide eyes. This man… he was almost too forgiving. He sighed a bit before blinking when Ichigo reached into the fold of his shihakusho, pulling out a small box,
"Merry Christmas, Toushiro."
Toushiro snorted and shook his head faintly,
"… It's still Christmas eve, Kurosaki."
"Well still. Take it."
Toushiro hesitated for a moment before nodding and taking the box, not entirely sure he deserved a present or not. When he opened the box, he was greeted with the sight of a braided leather bracelet, a dragon design burned into it. Ichigo took out the bracelet and tied it onto Toushiro's wrist, mumbling about how tiny his wrists were. As he did so, Toushiro blinked and saw that Ichigo had on another bracelet, matching the one Toushiro was wearing. Ichigo grinned and pulled back, holding up his own,
"There. Now we match."
Toushiro stared at the bracelets before smiling faintly and chuckling, closing his eyes.
"… Thank you, Kurosaki."
Ichigo grinned even wider before looking up as a few nearby partiers cried out in a slightly drunken state
"It's Christmas~!"
As they'd said, it was midnight; and now Christmas. Ichigo laughed a bit before turning to Toushiro,
"Come on; let's get back to 10th division." Toushiro nodded a bit before turning with Ichigo and heading back toward his division. On their way back, Ichigo looked up before smirking, stopping Toushiro in the doorway to the division, nudging Toushiro and pointing up. Toushiro rose an eyebrow at Ichigo before looking up as Ichigo motioned to do.
There hung a small branch of mistletoe, dangling just overhead. Toushiro blinked before looking at Ichigo, as if asking if he were serious. The teen just grinned in response before kneeling down, pressing a kiss to the small captain's lips. Without any hesitation, Toushiro kissed him back, causing Ichigo to grin when they pulled away,
"Merry Christmas, Shiro."
"Merry Christmas… Ichigo."