Urgh, it's like I can think of everything but my main fics these days… School KILLS my muses and they give out these feeble attempts as an apology.
WARNINGS: This fic involves yaoi, slash M/M whatever you so choose to call it. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, this fic involves GUYS in relationships with OTHER GUYS. Don't like, don't read.
PLEASE no flaming! It's pointless rude and it burns me and my muses, which hurts quite a bit. So, please have the courtesy to not make me very unhappy with you over a silly thing like flaming.
Personally, for no real reason at all, I really like HitsugayaxIchigo. I just… I dunno, think they compliment each other.
Sorry in advance for any inaccuracies or OOC-ness. This fic takes place… I dunno, sometime after the Soul Society arc in a floating, nonexistent time period where Hitsugaya and some others go to the real world and Ichigo knows the gotei 13 a little better.
All Work and No Play
Hitsugaya was annoyed. No, he was past annoyed. Attending Ichigo's school was just like attending the academy back in Soul Society. Everybody prattled on and on about how he was a genius and how cute he was. He knew that all the teachers plotted his swift assent to advanced placement programs and extracurricular academic competitions. He hated it. It was one of the reasons he had resisted Hinamori's pleas for him to join the academy.
Hitsugaya was not as cocky and arrogant to assume- before he had gone to the academy- that he would be a genius and would be treated as such, but he had had a feeling. But if he hadn't gone on Hinamori's pleading, someone would have found him and forced him there anyways (at least, that's what he told himself instead of admitting that it was hard for him to refuse Hinamori anything). It was almost the same in the real world. Ishida- whom Hitsugaya liked a little more than most of Ichigo's friends- had kindly pointed out that a truant officer would certainly find him one day and bring him to school, even if Urahara and Soul Society didn't make him go.
So he had gone to school, and, much to his displeasure, was led around, by the hand, by Ichigo all day. If Yamamoto-soutaicho hadn't ordered their placement to be fixed, Hitsugaya would have been placed in a class two grades ahead of Ichigo and his friends. He supposed that he should consider himself lucky; if he wasn't in Ichigo's class, he would have exploded just considering the looks that he was getting from others.
It was all about his hair, his height, his glare, his appearance, but most of all it was about him being a genius.
So now, he was sitting on the roof of Urahara Shoten and "brooding" as Matsumoto called it and getting increasingly more annoyed. There was nothing in the real world to distract him from his thoughts. The one Hollow that appeared when the group was walking from school was no challenge. He was out of his gigai and disposing of it in a matter of seconds, back in an instant using shunpo. On top of that, he had already alphabetized Urahara's library, organized the former captain's bills and balanced his checkbook, cleaned out the man's backroom, and done his homework for the next month. The last of course, brought him back to the annoyance of being labeled as a genius. The young taichou glared at the sky; he was already doing what others expected of him, why couldn't they just leave him alone?
"Why don't you try disappointing them instead, Toushiro?"
Hitsugaya sat bolt upright. None other than Kurosaki Ichigo was sitting next to him, having just climbed up through the window to check on the troubled taichou. Hitsugaya was so irritated, he hadn't even noticed Hyourinmaru alerting him to another's presence.
The young taichou scowled at the orange-headed boy, "That's Hitsugaya-taichou to you, Kurosaki."
The substitute shinigami held his hands up in his defense, "Fine, but you shouldn't frown so much. You'll get wrinkles."
Hitsugaya threw him a dirty, but half-amused look, "Shouldn't you take your own advice?"
Ichigo just shrugged, smirking, "Probably, but I'm not half as cute as you are without them."
Hitsugaya's eyes widened and he fell back on his hands, mouth agape before he regained his composure, "Hn. Even you're calling me cute? Hyourinmaru must be failing me in the real world…"
"So that's your problem!" Ichigo pounded his fist into his palm loudly, startling the other shinigami, "We were all worried about you, y'know?"
Hitsugaya crossed his arms and frowned at the teenager, "Why should you of all people be worried about me, Kurosaki?"
Ichigo quirked his mouth and looked up at the stars that Hitsugaya had been studying before he came, "You've just seemed… annoyed lately."
"I'm always annoyed."
"I meant more than usual."
This exchange had brought their faces, mirroring the same pouty expression, only a foot away from each other's. Ichigo smirked and Hitsugaya pulled back, the slight blush on his face obscured slightly by the darkness of the night. Somehow, he felt that the orange-haired teen could see through the dark and straight to his face and always would, no matter what he did. Even though his mind told him that Ichigo surely couldn't detect his fractionally rosier cheeks, the diminutive taichou set his features again and crossed his arms, turning to face any direction that the substitute shinigami did not occupy.
"Well, you shouldn't, worry that is, because I'm perfectly fine. I'm just a little bored. Your world is irritating, everything is too easy and people keep talking about my supposed genius and there's nothing to do. At least back in seireitai there were plenty of reports to file…" If the tenth squad taichou had been anyone else, he would have smacked himself in the forehead for telling Ichigo even that much. He didn't even usually tell Matsumoto or Hinamori that much about what he was feeling, but he almost couldn't help the words from spilling out with Ichigo. The orange-haired teen seemed to have that effect on people.
"So it's like I said before, why don't you just disappoint them on purpose?" Ichigo suggested in his practical way.
"You don't understand. I can't do that. As a captain and member of gotei 13, I have responsibilities and I happen to like them."
"Still, Toushiro, You're still a kid. Even if you don't like it, have you ever just tried relaxing? You might enjoy yourself a little more." Ichigo had snuck up behind Hitsugaya and he had pulled the shorter boy almost into his lap with his arms wrapped around the taichou's shoulders.
'When did he get so fast?' Hitsugaya wondered, his heart skipping a beat for no apparent reason. This action had distracted him from the two cardinal sins of dealing with Hitsugaya-taichou that Ichigo had broken, and he swallowed nervously.
"R-relax?" Inwardly, the white-haired taichou prayed than no one, especially Matsumoto or anyone from his division, would ever find out about their taichou losing his carefully cultivated cool.
Warm breath blew across his ear as Ichigo leaned over to whisper to him, "All work and no play makes people dull Hitsugaya-taichou."
Surprised, Hitsugaya swallowed a retort. The young genius had never been so warm and comfortable than he was at that moment, wrapped in Ichigo's arms.
"Maybe..."
'Maybe you can shove your opinions up your ass, Kurosaki! I am not dull!' a part of him raged.
'Hitsugaya! Relax! Even I know that it's good sense to relax when you're with someone that cares.'
'Hyourinmaru! What is the meaning of this? Are you saying that I should go along with Kurosaki's asinine advice?'
'Don't you mean, are YOU saying, Hitsugaya?'
The white-haired taichou scowled inwardly, annoyed with his zanpaktou's good sense. He shut his eyes tightly, looking evermore like a child, and he took a deep breath. After a moment, he let it out and relaxed completely in the other boy's arms.
"Maybe... you're right for once Kurosaki." Hitsugaya's features relaxed gradually, and he quickly fell asleep, nestling deeper into Ichigo's grip. The substitute shinigami raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't expected the petit tenth division taichou to fall asleep so quickly, but was slightly relieved that he wouldn't be pressed to follow through with any of his actions before either he or the other shinigami was ready.
Smiling slightly at the soundly slumbering white-haired boy in his arms, Ichigo lifted the taichou as carefully as he could and jumped off of the roof, sliding open the door of the store with his foot when he landed. He marched into main body of the house with a Toushiro-induced reckless grin on his face, startling Renji, Rukia, Ishida, Orihime, Sado, and especially Matsumoto who were all waiting on the two shinigami.
"What?! Ichigo, what did you do to him?!" Matsumoto stood shocked at the sight of her taichou looking so... normal.
"Oi! Quiet! He's asleep," Ichigo admonished with a small, satisfied smile on his face. Rukia, not about to take such a dismissal from him, stood and marched up to the substitute shinigami, hands on hips, small frame full of suspicion.
"I'm not buying that crap for a second, Ichigo. What did you do to him? You have a strange smile on your face. Keep in mind that he is a taichou of the gotei 13 and that his fukutaichou is present and capable of disemboweling you from the inside out."
Ichigo immediately began frowning, "Just because I don't usually smile doesn't mean that it's suspicious, Rukia. And for your information, all I did was tell him to relax. I guess he just took my advice a bit literally. Now if you'll excuse us."
The orange-haired teen turned in the direction of the white-haired taichou's room, smile restored when he looked down to make sure that Hitsugaya was still asleep, and walked off cradling the other boy tenderly.
The others stared after the departing shinigami with the same confused expression copy and pasted on their faces.
Matsumoto was the first to speak, "Oh how cute! My Hitsugaya-taichou fell asleep without frowning! I can't wait until the rest of the seireitai hears about this!!!"
-
Ichigo tucked Hitsugaya in as gently as he could, and tucked the smaller boy in, brushing stray spikes of hair from the young taichou's eyes. Finished, he stared at Hitsugaya before he seemed to decide something for himself. He leaned in, close to Hitsugaya's face, and paused for but a moment before he planted a soft kiss on the white-haired boy's forehead.
"Oi, you better sleep well...," He grinned evilly for a moment, remembering Hinamori's favorite name for the young shinigami, "Shiro-chan."
He stood to leave and slid open the screen, a sort of reluctant pang in his heart, and a small sleepy voice called out to him, "Oi Ichigo, it's Hitsugaya-taichou to you."
The orange-haired shinigami turned with a smile on his face. The other boy had turned away from Ichigo, sound asleep once again.
'So it's Ichigo now, is it?'
When Ichigo went home for the night, his father didn't attack him, probably from the shock of seeing his son actually smiling at something.
Err... sorry. It's not very good. I'm thinking of continuing this, and I would like some feedback. Please review? Gryphie out...