It was bound to come up sooner or later. They had been skirting around the topic for a while now, especially when it became harder for Ichigo to come to the Seireitei and Toushiro to the world of the Living. Ichigo had started med school and Toushiro was up to his ears in paperwork and training. They sometimes went days without talking and weeks without seeing each other. Toushiro didn't think that anything was terribly wrong with this, but then he realised that he hadn't really noticed. Then he began to feel something sink in his stomach.

Toushiro managed to find time one night to visit Ichigo. Ichigo knew he was coming over, but some friends from his university had planned to come over to work on one of their project together. The deadline was soon, so he couldn't cancel on them and Toushiro was understanding enough to share his boyfriend. He mostly sat in silence as Ichigo and his friends passed around text books and complained about their professors. His stomach tied itself into a knot.

He watched as Ichigo buried his face behind his note book when one of his friends did an impression which Toushiro didn't understand. He barely understood all of the medical references, but when they called out classmates and reminisced about weeks gone by he was completely lost. Even when Ichigo tried to explain some of the jokes to him, he didn't get it, and Ichigo gave up, saying that it was a had-to-be-there moment. So, he pretended to get a phone call from the Seireitei, and retreated to the bedroom until Ichigo's friend's left. This was what had happened to Ichigo in two weeks. He didn't even recognise half of the people in the living room. He couldn't fit into Ichigo's busy lifestyle when he could barely find time to stand up from his desk. Ichigo was going to finish med school before he even made a dent in his stack of paperwork. He was going to become a doctor before he could finish the budget report. He was going to start getting grey hair before Toushiro could fully train the new recruits. His stomach churned and twisted and went ice-cold.

It had been a very long time since Toushiro had felt so left out. He couldn't relate to anything when he had no idea what was going on. He felt a pang in his chest; this was what Ichigo's life really was like. He wasn't just a substitute shinigami; he had something else that Toushiro just didn't fit into. Toushiro scratched the back of his neck and sighed heavily. They would need to talk about this and it wasn't going to be an easy conversation.

"I don't think this is going to work, Ichigo," Toushiro sighed as he and Ichigo listlessly tidied up the living room later that night.

Ichigo froze, holding a half-empty bag of chips in a death grip. "Are you talking about what I think you are?" he asked after a while.

Toushiro breathed deeply through his nose. "Our relationship."

Ichigo licked his lips. "Why?"

"We are from two completely different worlds."

"Like I haven't heard that before. So were my parents."

"Their situation was entirely different from ours."

"How?" Ichigo asked fiercely. The chip bag crinkled loudly in the silence that followed.

"For one, you're not in any immediate danger. You don't need me-"

"I need you."

"Not like that."

"We both knew that this was going to be a bit difficult and really weird, and we decided that we were going to try anyway."

"We tried-"

"We're still trying!"

Toushiro sighed softly and shook his head. "It isn't working, Ichigo. This night just proved it; I had no idea what was going on and I couldn't relate to anything."

"Because we have a lot of inside jokes. I didn't expect you to understand them."

Toushiro rubbed his temples as he sat down on the couch. "That's not it..."

Ichigo sat down next to him. "Then what is?"

"Do you ever think of the future?" he asked after a while.

Ichigo swallowed and roughly brushed his hair for his forehead. "I know where you're going with this and I told you before that I don't care."

"You have to care," Toushiro barked, turning to look at him. "I don't want you to... waste your life just because I can't be part of it."

"I'm not wasting-"

"We hadn't seen each other in two weeks."

"So what? That's expected; you're a world away."

Toushiro shook his head, clutching his knees tightly and bunching up the fabric of his pants. "What happened during those two weeks?"

"What?"

"Did you learn new things in class, make new friends, and go to new places?"

"I guess... but what does that-"

"I did none of those things. I sat at my desk and did paperwork."

"You have a job-"

"No... I'm trying to say that time passes differently for us. Your life is going to pass in a fraction of mine. Are you okay wasting it waiting for me?"

"Of course-"

"No. Think about it."

Ichigo blinked a few times before hunching over his knees and pressing his knuckles into his temples. "I missed you. Gods, I missed you so badly."

Toushiro sighed again. "I know, I can't stand the thought of you suffering... of me causing you to suffer." He swallowed. "I didn't even notice that two weeks had passed, and that's why this isn't going to work."

"So what?"Ichigo asked quietly, "Do we just end it now?"

Toushiro covered his face with his hands, feeling his throat tighten. He took a loud shaky breath.

"Why are you crying; you're the one breaking up with me?" Ichigo asked bitterly.

"It's hard," he choked out. "It's hard and it's unfair."

"I don't want to breakup." Ichigo scrubbed his eyes and scooted closer to Toushiro, wrapping an arm around him.

"We have to, it won't work."

"I know."

Toushiro looked up at him. His brown eyes were glassy and his jaw was clenched tightly. Toushiro swallowed, feeling a single hot tear break free from his eye and leaned up into Ichigo.

The kiss was wet and salty.

This was donated by BTRE3lover :)

Here's to a healthy dose of reality.

Up next we have Daygon Yuuki, then Chibi Envy Chan, then Azumi Ojima.

As always, if you want to donate a prompt shoot me a review with your idea.

- Mymomomo