Ichigo went in for a hug. He thought that he had read the signs correctly. Toushiro was grinning, leaning into his space as they talked, and there was no sign of tension anywhere on his body. The moment Ichigo's arms came around his shoulders, he ducked under them and took a few steps away as if nothing had happened. Ichigo let his arms fall to his side, knowing that his expression had dropped as well. He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck, trying to play it off. It was nothing, really. Toushiro didn't even seem to notice that he had avoided the hug, continuing on with his story about a book he was reading. Still, Ichigo felt a little hurt.

When he went to massage Toushiro's shoulders as he sat stiffly on the edge of a chair one evening at the libraby, he jumped away. Ichigo swallowed down the sting of rejection. At least this time Toushiro realised what he had done. He rolled his left shoulder.

"Sorry, don't take it personally; I don't really like being touched."

Ichigo nodded. He could respect that. They hadn't been dating for that long either; Toushiro probably just needed a little more time to warm up to him. But, the next evening, as they settled down on the couch in his living room to watch a movie before Toushiro headed home for the night, he eyed the space between them and couldn't help but feel a little bit upset.

Each time they said good-bye Ichigo had to refrain from reaching out to hug him tightly. And he found it very awkward to part with a simple wave. Greetings were even more awkward, his arms twitched to wrap themselves around Toushiro's shoulders or waist, and he caught himself a few times trying to lean in for a kiss. He respected Toushiro's boundaries; if he didn't want to be touched, Ichigo wouldn't touch him.

It was hard for him to fathom, coming from a very physical family. His father wasn't afraid of showing emotions. He clung onto Ichigo when he was happy, sad, or just felt like it. His little sister, Yuzu, on many occasions had jumped on him without warning. For as long as he could remember, he had been woken up by his father trying to attack him, and had settled countless arguments via wrestling matches. But Toushiro was clearly more reserved. He held himself neatly, taking up as little space as he could. He had seen him set up his work, everything in precise lines in the middle of his area. It was a harsh contrast to Ichigo's own stuff which was thrown haphazardly across the table, books on top of books with a few crumpled sheets of paper strewn about for good measure.

Toushiro probably had a good reason for his aversion to touch and Ichigo could respect boundaries. But he really, really, wanted to hug his boyfriend.

A few days later found Ichigo pissed. He knew that outside he looked grumpy, inside he was boiling. He had seen Toushiro lounging in the student area with his 'best-friend', Rangiku, hanging off of his neck. He watched them for a few minutes. Toushiro went about doing his work, while Rangiku chatted happily in his ear and he didn't seem to mind at all. He turned around and left before anyone saw him and bristled all the way back to his apartment.

He didn't want to be the spiteful, jealous boyfriend. But Toushiro had told him that he didn't like to be touched. He hadn't hugged him, or even kissed him, and it was bugging him more than he thought it would. Ichigo was supposed to be someone special to Toushiro; their relationship was supposed to be distinctive. And yet, he allowed Rangiku to throw herself on him while Ichigo couldn't even tap him on the shoulder without him skittering away. Maybe he didn't want a boyfriend; maybe he wasn't ready to date. Ichigo's tongue tasted bitter as he sat down at his desk and pulled out a few textbooks from his bag. If he'd left Rangiku put her arm around his neck, then maybe he didn't trust him at all. Or his relationship with his so-called best-friend ran a little deeper than Ichigo had thought.

...

"Here."

A cardboard cup was set down next to his book and he smelt the telltale aroma of a mocha latte from his favourite coffee shop.

"I'll never understand how you can choke down that sweet stuff."

He glanced up to see Toushiro sit down in the chair next to his, holding a cup of his own. "What's this for?"

Toushiro tilted his head and began to pull out a few textbooks from his satchel and stack them neatly on the table. His thumbs expertly lined the spines up perfectly and he set down a pen exactly parallel to the bottom edge. "You seemed a bit off this morning." He shrugged. "I thought you could use it."

"Thanks," Ichigo said gruffly and went back to his biology notes, pushing the drink to the side so he could rest his elbow on the desk. He'd gotten a bit of self satisfaction when he snapped at Rangiku that morning, but didn't think that Toushiro would notice that anything was up.

"What's the matter?"

Ichigo spared him a glance. "Hmm?"

Toushiro set down three sheets of binder paper then turned to face him. "I've seen you scald your tongue on that particular drink because you were too eager to wait for it to cool. Now you're not touching it?"

Ichigo glanced to the coffee as steam rose from the hole in the lid. He shrugged. "Don't really need caffeine right now."

Toushiro cocked his head. "Are you mad at me?"

Ichigo sighed softly, setting his pencil down in the spine of his textbook. "Mad isn't really the right word."

"What did I do?"

He turned so that he was sitting sideways in his seat. Toushiro was sitting straight-backed as usual; the only sign that he was perturbed was the deep crease between his eyebrows.

"You told me that you don't like being touched. We're dating, but I can respect that. But that's not the issue. You let Rangiku hang off of you like it's no big deal, like she's the one you're dating."

Toushiro shook his head. "I can assure that you have no reason to be jealous of Rangiku."

"But I am. She's allowed to touch my boyfriend, but I'm not?"

Toushiro chewed the inside of his cheek. "I've known Rangiku for a very long time. She's very... affectionate. At this point, I honestly don't feel anything when she touches me because she does it so often."

"But she's still allowed to."

Toushiro poked his finger through one of the holes in his binder paper. "She wouldn't listen if I told her not to."

"She's allowed to and I'm not."

"It's not that you're not allowed to-"

"You told me that you don't like it. But then I see her casually touching you and you say that's it's no big deal. You have to see how that would hurt." He felt his stomach clench as he watched Toushiro look away guiltily. He didn't mean to make him feel bad about it; he'd just been stating facts. It did hurt and he wanted him to understand how he felt about the no touching rule, especially if he made exceptions for others.

"I'm sorry," he said softly after a few minutes. "I didn't realise."

"It's okay. I mean, now that we talked about it."

Toushiro shook his head. "It appears that I need to compromise on some things." He paused, tapping his fingertips against the tabletop. "You can touch me. I apologise if I try to move away on instinct, but just warn me first."

Ichigo raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

Toushiro nodded. "You are my boyfriend after all. I admit that it does seem a bit cruel if I don't let you touch me at all. If you were willing to try not to touch me then I should be willing to let you."

...

"I'm going to hug you now."

Ichigo saw Toushiro tense for a second before he nodded and met him halfway. He wrapped his arms around Toushiro's shoulders, stooping down a bit to pull him comfortably against his chest. Toushiro placed his arms loosely around Ichigo's waist.

"Is this okay?" Ichigo asked.

Toushiro nodded, his hair tickling Ichigo's cheek. "It's good."

This prompt was donated by Daygon Yuuki. I didn't understand what you meant in your PM, and I had a hard time trying to incorporate Isshin. Since you didn't really have an idea for specifics, I came up with this.

Okay guys, I've done the jealousy prompt quite a few times already - both in this fic and What Makes Us. Unless you have directions for a specific plot/situation, I'm asking that you please, please, please don't suggest jealousy as a prompt.

Up next is YellowDizzyLombax then Boys-Love-Yaoi.

I'm also only going to be accepting prompts in reviews for the next two chapters, then this fic is going to go on a short hiatus while I figure some things out.

Thanks to those who've reviewed and donated!

- Mymomomo