Title: Earnest Glow
Author: Celeste
Universe: Bleach
Theme/Topic: Shuuhei chases Yumi this time?
Rating: PG-15
Character/Pairing/s: ShuuxYumi, Ikkaku
Warnings/Spoilers: Whole Soul Society Arc, some OOC and sap.
Word Count: 3,293
Time: All day pretty much. You know, except for when I had class, I guess. O.o
Summary: Companion Piece to "Battle Glow"- The chase begins.
Dedication: tsukishine and idiosyn- I am so flattered that you think I would make a convincing flaming gay man. XD
A/N: SAP! I just wanted sap. Plus I can't think of anything to write for my bleachexchange fic at the moment, so I'm being an ass and procrastinating it, even though it is currently the most urgent thing on my list of things to write. I suck as a person, I think. --;; On a brighter note, I had fun writing this, as dumb as it is. XD
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

Well, he could at least comfort himself with the fact that one of his goals had been accomplished.

He hadn't had a single dream about his fight with Yumichika on the roof ever since that visit to the eleventh division yesterday.

Now, now he was dreaming about something else altogether. And it was getting messy.

He wanted to blame it on pure physical frustration, his body all too willing to transform one sort of physical act into another, especially after the show Ayasekawa had put on in the training facility the other day.

Shuuhei didn't like to think that he was some sort of deviant who got off on sex and violence or anything, but to be fair, the package it had been wrapped in as he'd watched it dance across the battleground yesterday had definitely planted the seeds for something like… unhealthy fascination in his heart.

Perhaps it was a residual trace of Ayasekawa's now-familiar reiatsu, the one that had been intimately entwined with his own body not so long ago. It had triggered something, or left an impression on Shuuhei's spirit maybe.

It must have done something weird to him.

Yeah.

Looking at the clock, Shuuhei sighed and rubbed at his gummy eyes in resignation.

As nice as those thoughts were, the vice-captain didn't like to think of himself as the sort of man who always had to find a scapegoat for his own problems or shortcomings or, god forbid, desires.

So the rational part of his brain knew with a fair amount of certainty, that every ounce of Ayasekawa's reiatsu was gone from his body. What was left behind was something else altogether.

Sighing, the vice-captain slipped out of bed with a disgusted face, cursing his new set of dreams as he went in search of a new pair of shorts.

He deducted that maybe he had a crush, or something.

Ikkaku confirmed his suspicions about the issue the next afternoon at lunch, when the third seat saw the bags under Shuuhei's eyes and the vaguely thoughtful expression on his face.

"Oh fer cryin' out loud," the bald death god muttered in disbelief. "You've got a crush on him."

"I do?" Shuuhei questioned.

Ikkaku gave him an appraising look.

He sighed. "Yeah. Maybe."

Iba grunted from around a mouthful of rice-porridge. "A crush? On who?"

Ikkaku crossed his arms, expression grim as he turned to the other man, his former fellow eleventh-division member. "He's got it for Yumi," the bald shinigami proclaimed.

Iba spit his food out all over the table. "W-What!"

Shuuhei blinked at his friend's volatile reaction. "What?"

"Oh god, Hisagi…" Iba groaned, rubbing his temples. "Yer a dead man."

Ikkaku nodded. "Absolutely dead."

Shuuhei blinked. 'The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I've seen what crushes on a man like that can do to a fella," Iba began, wiping at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. "Man like that… he'll have his fun with ya and forget ya just as quick. Destroy ya."

"I don't know what the hell you mean," Shuuhei responded, suspicious.

Ikkaku took a deep breath. Sighed thoughtfully. Shared a look with Iba. The two of them nodded to one another. Eventually, Madarame turned back to Hisagi and began again. "Look, Shuuhei, I know you're a good guy, so I'm gonna tell you about this straight up, okay? I've been Yumichika's best friend for long as I can remember, and while I'm fond of the bastard, I gotta do my duty as your wingman, man, an tell ya. Yumi's a… well, he's a player."

"To the bone," Iba agreed.

"And I also know you," Ikkaku continued, before Shuuhei could interrupt. "And I know ya got all these honorable intentions and pretty pictures of love'n whatnot…probably wanna put a ring on the guy's finger'n give him lotsa cute little babes runnin' all over the place or some such thing."

Shuuhei frowned. "Waitaminute there, I don't…"

Ikkaku held up a finger. "If ya don't listen to anythin' else I say ever, then listen ta this, ya great idiot. You don't want to be heartbroken'n suicidal like the last few guys I saw Yumichika play around with? Then you stay the hell away from him. Find yourself a good woman. I hear Ise's on the market, if you can get past that overprotective-daddy captain of hers…"

"The hell are you talking about?" Shuuhei butt in, finally losing his patience. "It's just a little crush, no big deal! I just…"

Iba and Ikkaku shared another look.

"Are ya stupid, Shuuhei? Didja not understand the words I used? Was I talkin' too fast? Maybe ya couldn't interpret my speech patterns. I don't enunciate properly or somethin'?"

Shuuhei glared at his friend's tone. "Of course I heard ya. I'm just saying, it ain't anything serious. A crush, right? Not like I wanted to have it! It's just here," he stated, though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. "Look," he started, "I bet it's some of that psychological shit…transference or somethin'. Since I haven't been able to fight him yet, I bet my subconscious or whatever, is transferring my um, battle energy or whatever, into some sort of weird sexual stuff. It might not even be a real type crush and you two're getting worked up over nothing, ya know? I just gotta do something to make sure first, is all."

Iba and Ikkaku shared a third (or fourth?) look. "He's doomed," they proclaimed after a moment, sounding resigned.

"I'm not…"

Iba held up a hand. "Look, you know we don't like steppin' into another man's battles, Hisagi. Tried our best ta warn ya, but if you're determined, then well… best of luck to you," the seventh division death god proclaimed, somehow making his words of support sound like Shuuhei's death knell.

"It was nice knowin' ya," Ikkaku added, with something like sincerity.

Shuuhei stared at them.

After a moment, "Maybe I oughta ask him to dinner or something?"

They'd just shared another one of those damn looks and told him that wasn't a good idea when he'd suggested that, but Shuuhei wasn't too keen on taking their romantic advice considering that it usually involved something like buying the girls drinks until they couldn't see straight and hoping they invited the idiots home with them afterwards.

And while he discovered in retrospect that he agreed about dinner being a bad idea-- too much at this point in time, really-- it wasn't as if they had to act like he was about to be executed or something.

He snorted.

What the hell did those two idiots understand about something like this anyway? Shuuhei wasn't the kind of man who could just deny the truth when it was plain as day in front of his face, despite how desperately they wanted him to. He just didn't believe in the whole ignoring the problem until it went away theory. Besides, if he had a crush on Ayasekawa, then he had a crush on Ayasekawa. There was no use tiptoeing around it or burying it. That kinda stuff was unhealthy. The best solution he could think of was to get to know the guy a little better and see where it went from there. Maybe he'd find that it wouldn't work, or maybe he'd find that it would, he didn't know.

What he did know was that he wanted a good night's sleep sometime in the near future.

And that he was running out of clean pairs of shorts.

Meanwhile, Ikkaku was trying out one last possible avenue of resistance in order to do the noble thing and save Hisagi's fool life.

"Look Yumi, he's a nice guy, huh? So just uh… you know, turn him down as a favor to me?"

Yumi frowned. "But he's cute! And how do you know he's a nice guy? He's one of your friends."

Ikkaku groaned. "Look, there're plenty a other cute guys out there for ya, Yumi. I'm askin' as a favor, alright? Just…let him down easy like when he asks ya out. And leave him alone. Don't use your demon charms or whatever it is on him, and let him forget ya. He's had a hell of a time lately, you know. With his captain and what all. He probably ain't thinkin' straight right now, and the last thing he needs is you doin' your thing on him and havin' him fall in love with ya just 'cuz you like the attention."

Yumichika sighed. "You usually let me have my fun," he complained to his longtime friend.

"Yeah, well, you usually date complete dicks. Which 's why I'm askin' ya just this once, to leave this one alone, alright?"

Yumi pouted. 'He was my type, too."

Ikkaku let out a little sigh of relief. "Thanks man."

"But I'm only doing it this once!" Yumi declared. "And you're buying me dinner at that expensive restaurant I like next weekend."

Ikkaku blustered. "But poker night's at my place next weekend!"

Yumi arched an expectant eyebrow at his best friend. "Well, if you don't want to take me I'm sure Shuu-chan will!"

Madarame frowned. "Fine, ya bastard."

Yumi fluttered. "Yay."

The fact that he'd promised Ikkaku that he would refuse Shuuhei's invitation just this once didn't mean he wouldn't say yes if the man asked a second time, of course.

But Ikkaku didn't need to know that and Yumi thought that given all the time they'd known each other, the other man really should have suspected something like that in the first place. He definitely wasn't to blame for the other shinigami's thoughtlessness.

A few hours later, he was indeed approached by Hisagi like Ikkaku had predicted, the vice-captain looking adorable in all his nervous anticipation.

It would be painful to say no to such a good looking man, but Yumichika did have his own code to follow, convoluted as it was.

"Ah… Ayasekawa-san? Can I uh…can I maybe talk to you for a moment?"

Well, that definitely hadn't been on Ikkaku's painfully short list of stipulations. "Sure."

Hisagi took a deep breath and avoided looking at Yumichika's eyes, the ones that were smoldering invitingly at him.

He cleared his throat. "Um… well. I was… I was wondering… are you, erm, busy tomorrow?"

Yumi smiled. "Nope." That wasn't a lie.

Shuuhei looked up then, and scratched a bit awkwardly at the back of his head. "Well, good. Okay then. So… I was wondering… maybe… erm…"

"Yes?"

"If you uh…if you wanted to have a rematch?"

Yumi blinked. "Excuse me?"

"A uh…rematch. You know. Since we fought before and you well, you won."

"A…rematch?" Pause. "That's all you wanted?"

Hisagi swallowed. "Yeah."

Yumichika stared at the other man in confusion.

Maybe Ikkaku had misconstrued the situation and Shuuhei didn't want him after all?

Strangely enough, the thought bothered the fifth chair.

"Why?" the pretty shinigami found himself asking, thoroughly thrown off-balance by the unexpected turn of events. Usually it was handsome men asking him to dinner with the plans of taking him home later. With one look, he knew exactly what those boys wanted.

But looking at the man in front of him now, Yumichika could honestly say he didn't know what Shuuhei wanted from him.

"I uh… well. You beat me pretty bad last time," Shuuhei admitted with a small laugh. "It hasn't left my mind once, to be honest. Among other things."

How odd. Momentarily forgetting airs, Yumichika tilted his head and studied the earnest vice-captain, who seemed to be growing less and less confident the longer the silence stretched on between them.

After a little while, Ayasekawa nodded without thinking. "I'd love a rematch."

The encounter left Shuuhei's heart pounding like a drum in both of his ears, but he walked away with a smile at the end despite the slight shortness of breath, congratulating himself on a job well done.

Small steps would be best.

It would've been weird after all, if he'd just cornered Ayasekawa and asked him to dinner out of the blue. At least this way they could establish a repertoire of some sort.

Plus Shuuhei really did want to fight the other man.

He just wasn't so sure if he minded losing again, given what he'd seen the other day.

Practically glowing with a sense of accomplishment, the vice-captain stepped lightly into his division and eagerly anticipated his agreed upon meeting time with Yumichika tomorrow evening.

First, some sparring to get the blood boiling and then… well, then it wouldn't be so strange, Shuuhei surmised, to ask the other man if he wanted to join him for dinner afterwards.

It would be real easy. Very casual. To get to know each other only, really.

He was convinced that that was the best sort of way to start this kind of thing off, see if it had potential. Besides, slow was especially ideal considering his level of experience—none—with courting other men.

Right. Slowly. He could do that. It was just a little crush after all. Harmless, really.

The fact that he felt as if he'd just conquered the entire world when Yumichika had agreed to spar with him didn't play into it at all.

Not at all.

It wasn't like he was eager for tomorrow or anything.

While he'd been confused as to Hisagi's proposition the day before, Yumichika found himself rather pleased to discover that he was having…fun.

They'd met at the agreed upon meeting place and Shuuhei had looked at him with a burning sense of anticipation that made the fifth seat's toes curl just a little bit, made his stomach muscles tighten and his shoulders reflexively straighten.

They'd begun shortly thereafter, and the rush of blood pounding in his veins and the sound of the other shinigami's harsh pants in his ears were possibly the most thrilling things he'd experienced in a long time, the look of sincere determination and genuine excitement on the vice-captain's face spurring the fifth chair's own natural abilities forward.

It was so earnest a fight that Yumichika hardly remembered his normal stipulations of trying and keep himself from getting too filthy during battle.

They eventually dropped their swords and went at it bare-fisted, breaths heavy with exertion and exhilaration as their bodies moved together, a beautiful play of muscle and sweat and mutual admiration.

Yumichika laughed and supposed that if this was all that Shuuhei wanted from him right now, then that was okay too.

Ikkaku had been right. He really was a good guy.

The men Yumichika knew always eyed him hungrily when they saw him, didn't bother to hide their open lust and admiration, their beliefs that a nice dinner followed by a quick tumble in the sheets was all a man like Yumichika could ever ask for.

He'd gone with that for a while, though he always eventually used his own charms to turn the tables on his arrogant lovers because it had been fun to see those predatory men turned into the prey, to leave them panting and crying and begging for more later, when he grew tired of them before they did of him.

It hadn't given him a very good reputation maybe, but it had served Yumichika well enough, and he'd never gotten attached to any one partner, which made it easier in the end, to leave them in search of newer, more exciting prospects.

Usually, Ayasekawa didn't let himself play with good guys.

It was part of his own code, strange as it may have been. He saved the good ones for nice girls who deserved them and only let himself mess around with the ones he didn't feel bad about tripping up later, the ones he could have some fun with and leave in ruins afterwards, because they'd thought they could do the same to him first.

And he could tell that Shuuhei was a good guy, one of the ones who never looked at Ayasekawa twice. It made the fifth chair wonder what was different about this vice-captain to make him seek out someone as disreputable as Yumichika so openly.

It wasn't how things worked.

His thoughts unintentionally misled him and he noticed too late, Shuuhei's forward lunge towards his open side. It wrong-footed him and made it impossible to dodge at the last minute, meaning that all he could do was prepare himself for the blow. Heart pounding fiercely in his chest, the fifth seat braced himself for impact, thinking that this would really ruin his hair something fierce.

He just wasn't sure if it was such a big deal, right at the moment.

Instead, he felt arms coming around him, and looking at his opponent, he watched as Shuuhei's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before the vice-captain fell on top of the fifth seat as if he hadn't been expecting the other man to actually be there when he reached out for him.

"Oof," Hisagi grunted indelicately, nose smashed against the other shinigami's shoulder blade as they landed on their sides in the dirt.

Yumichika laughed at the rather undignified sound the apparent victor had made. "I guess you caught me," he sighed, breathless. He squirmed a little then, sounding vaguely discontent. "Unexpected."

On the ground beside him, Shuuhei wasn't sure if he was being teased or if Yumichika was genuinely surprised over the fact that he'd won that round.

But after a moment he realized he was too casually pressed up against the other death god and hastily let go of him, scrambling to his feet.

Yumichika frowned and rolled onto his back, looking up questioningly at his partner.

Honestly, it hurt his pride a little bit that Shuuhei hadn't even tried to linger with him there on the ground for a moment longer. But he sighed to himself and decided that that was okay too. Because they'd really been having fun.

Besides, nice guys weren't for demonically charming men like him.

Looking sheepish, Shuuhei mumbled a quick apology and reached out, offering the other man a hand up.

Reluctantly, Ayasekawa took it, feeling a bit odd in his stomach when he saw the look on Hisagi's face.

"I uh…that's probably good for today, huh?" the vice-captain murmured as he pulled Yumichika to his feet. "I got you all dirty."

"You just wanted to end up on top at the end," Ayasekawa teased, looking at Shuuhei and thinking he seemed rather cute when he was sheepish.

"Nah…I was just… gettin' hungry, is all," Shuuhei segued. Pause. Deep breath. "Uh… hey. You wanna go get something to eat?"

Yumichika blinked at that, having genuinely convinced himself that Shuuhei hadn't wanted anything more from him but the rematch.

But a dinner invitation probably meant…

He chanced a looked up at Hisagi's face then, and there was something hopelessly honest about the way he was posing the question, something like genuine curiosity in his eyes rather than the uncensored lust he was used to seeing from the men who usually solicited his company.

He supposed this was what good guys looked like, when they were asking someone out.

"Dinner?" he repeated, sounding uncharacteristically un-suave.

"Yeah," Shuuhei responded, flushing slightly and looking away.

"I can't," the fifth-chair blurted.

Hisagi's expression fell and he turned to leave. "Oh. Well, no trouble then. Was just wondering anyway…"

He didn't know why he said it, but before the other man could leave, Yumichika reached and grabbed the vice-captain's arm. "Ask me again."

Hisagi blinked. "Huh?"

"Ask me again," Yumi prompted. "I only have to say no once."

Looking thoroughly confused, the other death god stared at Yumichika. Seeing nothing like a joke there, he swallowed. "Do you want to…"

"Yes."

Shuuhei was still confused, but he found himself smiling anyway. "Well. Okay then."

END