Late one warm afternoon, Orihime was finally relieved from work at the bakery. She ran to each of her friends' homes to give them their weekly supply of free bread- rather disappointed she couldn't spare more time at a certain someone's. Really running around Karakura Town in the slight heat of a late-summer's day was something she would have to get used to, but humming the rhythm of her new favorite song gave her an energy boost she had hoped for. Now just before her final stop, Orihime yelled out a name as she grabbed the railing of the stairs leading to his apartment.
"Ishida-kun! Ishida-kun, open up!"
"Inoue-san?" he questioned as he began to stand, soon walking to open the door. Ah, that's right, Uryu thought. It was that time of week again when Orihime would share the extra bread from her job. Busy with a job of his own, the necessity to keep is grades on point, and with the responsibility of the student council it was difficult for even him to keep everything in tune.
"Here!" she huffed as her foot landed on his floor. "I brought you… some bread… take the ones you want!"
"Sure…" He noticed how uneven her breathing was as he began to place bread inside the paper bag she supplied for him. Usually she would run up to his apartment without so much as a hair out of place, but today was obviously different. Orihime closed her eyes as she took one last big breath to even it out then reopened them to the rotating hands of her wrist-watch.
"Are you in a hurry, Inoue-san?" Uryu asked.
"Ah, sorry, Ishida-kun!" she jumped, feeling rude for checking the time. "Ghost Bust is about to start so I wanted to hurry home before I've missed too much."
"…Right. That should soon." He coughed a little to unravel his nerves. "Isn't-"
His words caught in his throat when his television blared the overly obnoxious slogan of their mutually favored show.
"Spirits! Are! Always! With you! BOHAHAHA!"
Uryu's mouth twitched.
"Oh no! It started!" Orihime cried.
"S-Seems like it…" he said nervously. He glanced at her, seeing that her eyes were shut in a fit of disappointment, grateful that she hadn't noticed. "This is all I'll ta—"
"Wait!" she yelled. He thought too soon. Uryu already had his back turned to her, bread in arms, to hide his ghostly-white face. He jumped at her quesition, "Ishida-kun, do you watch this show?"
In a second's delay, he dropped his head and swiftly turned to face her again, picking up his head by the brim of his glasses. He closed his eyes and cleared his throat to give her his answer, "…Yes."
He thought it would be easier to give her the straight response instead of trying to play it off. He was much too tired for that, but that doesn't stop the regret of not thinking of this situation as an outcome of leaving his television unaccounted for. At this time especially.
Orihime gasped. Her mouth agape and eyes shining, her feet bounced from her heels to her toes.
"Really?!" she shrieked, making Uryu blush slightly, in embarrassment, as he nodded.
"Can I watch it with you?!" she asked. "I was really looking forward to this episode!"
Expectedly, his eyes widened. Inevitably, he blushed just a little more as he made room for her to walk through the door.
"Yeah… Come right in." he calmly replied.
"Thank you, Ishida-kun!" Orihime said, soon hurrying inside.
As she entered his apartment she began to look for the table that she opportunely found in front of his television. After she placed the basket of bread atop the table, she stood happily waiting for Uryu to join her. Finding out that he enjoyed this show was something she didn't expect, but, of course, became another thing she found interesting about him. She turned to look at him and couldn't help but smile and laugh a little in disbelief, allowing her cheeks to warm up. Closing the front door, Uryu looked up to her as she called for him again.
"Ishida-kun, come on!" her hands gestured for him to hurry inside. "It's already two minutes in! The location this time is a bakery in Chiyoda!"
"A bakery?" Uryu asked. He walked inside and stopped right before the table, gesturing for Orihime to sit down. Once sat down as well, he opened his paper-bag of bread and took one to snack on.
"Mhm." Orihime mumbled with her own mouth full. "That's why I was really looking forward to it!"
She smiled in complete comfort and he couldn't help but smile, too. Perhaps his absentmindedness wasn't so bad after all.