Ukitake knew that most people avoided him because of his illness. To most people this avoidance would be an insult and leave them on the verge of depression or even deep in the pit. Ukitake had to guess that he was kind of strange in that aspect too. He didn't mind the constant avoidance, he reveled in it. He was a very private, or even introverted, person. He drew power from being alone and that was how he liked his life. He liked his private room at the academy, his private time to study and write, and his private thoughts. The bouts of his illness didn't even bother him as long as the medics left him alone after they stabilized him. What Ukitake really liked about being alone was that everyone knew he liked being alone so they left…him…alone.

This was what led to Ukitake's total and utter confusion. If everyone knew that he liked being alone and left him alone why had the head master decided to give him a roommate? It's not that he would ever complain but this roommate was…to say the least, annoying. He was brash, loud, unfocused and constantly chasing girls. Kyouraku Shunsui was the mirror opposite of Ukitake Jyuushiro. Ukitake was soft, quiet, intensely focused and had no discernable interest in girls whatsoever. Quite the opposite actually, if his roommate wasn't so damned annoying he might just be…attractive. But Ukitake would never admit that he held any type of good emotion for the man. He could feel the dregs of hate settling in even as he wondered how he, the man who liked everyone, could hate his own roommate.

He didn't have a choice, however, because even when he went to the head master with a complaint he was told to suck it up. Well, not exactly in those words but that was the general meaning. When Ukitake had asked why Shunsui had been chosen as his roommate he was given a very logical answer. He really, really hated that it was logical to have them in a room together. Apparently they both needed to branch out, meet new people, do new things, stuff like that. That was why they, two mirror opposites, had been thrown into a fifteen foot by fifteen foot room and told to bond. It wasn't that the room was exactly small but with the boisterous man occupying it the room seemed to be almost claustrophobic.

It wasn't until three months later that Ukitake began to hold any type of affection for his unwanted roommate. Well, he couldn't really call it affection…maybe tolerance. He had seen past Shunsui's bad behaviors to what he really was on one of those days. He had seen how determined, strong and loyal the man was. But, those seemed to be the only redeeming qualities that the brunette possessed and they were only shown once in a blue moon.

Then three months after he had had this roommate thrust upon him he was almost literally pounding his head against the wall. All he could think was that Shunsui was driving him clinically insane. It was break time for the students of the academy and Ukitake's room had become the open at all times hub. Apparently now that the two men were on break Shunsui felt that he had to up his game and bring home a different girl at least three times a week. Ukitake was going insane and the brunette was about to find out how bad of a thing that could be.

Ukitake glanced up as Shunsui walked into his room humming lightly under his breath. He had expected to see at least one girl hanging from Shunsui's arm but was utterly surprised when the only person that walked through the door was his roommate. Then Shunsui started talking and Ukitake did bang his head on his desk.

"You should of seen this girl, she was all curves and angles…" Ukitake let his head lay against his desk and thought about growing his hair out. Maybe the extra weight around his ears would muffle his roommates insane and usually way too graphic ramblings. He eventually sighed and gave up as Shunsui's rambling continued. Ukitake sat up and tried to go back to his studying. He really did try but he felt himself become distracted by almost every overly loud word his roommate spoke. Then he felt himself begin to become…agitated. Yes, agitated was the word because he did not get angry. Ukitake did…not…get…angry. He found himself not understanding his own actions once again when he stood from his desk chair and yelled at his roommate.

"Would you just…shut up?!" Ukitake took a deep breath and glanced at the utterly shocked face of his roommate before continuing. "I do not care about your escapades, how pretty a girl is or how good she is in bed. If you haven't thought to notice I'm not even interested in fucking girls so I don't need to hear your stories about them!" Ukitake watched as his roommate sputtered, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Then he saw his roommate grin, which totally threw him off.

"You…don't want to fuck girls, Jyuu-chan?" Ukitake narrowed his eyes and almost growled at his roommates words. His tirade was cut short, however, when he felt a cough force it's way out of his chest, then another in close succession. Ohhh, now he remembered why he didn't get mad, it tended to aggravate his disease. That is if aggravation is what you would call an all out attack. Ukitake let those thoughts drift out of his mind as he fell to his knees struggling for breath as he choked on his own blood. He couldn't get his grip on reality to solidify as he felt his lungs filling with blood then collapsing on themselves as he coughed up the vicious liquid. The last sight that Ukitake saw was his roommate looking very worried and medics rushing into the room. Then his vision faded to black.

Ukitake woke up two days later to the pristine white of the infirmary inside the academy. He could still feel the restriction in his lungs from the attack and sighed. Well, he tried to but the sigh turned into a series of small coughs. He was quite surprised to see a white cloth held up to his mouth when he finished coughing. He could feel his own hands gripping a strong arm and rolled his eyes up to see his roommate holding the cloth for him. That surprised him even more. Why was his roommate here?

"Hehe." Ukitake watched as Shunsui lifted his hand and scratched the back of his head in an unconscious nervous gesture. "I know the medics said not to be in here cause you liked being alone after attacks but…" Ukitake leaned forward as his roommates words suddenly got a lot softer. "But…I was worried…and didn't want to leave you alone. It's kind of my…responsibility to stay with you. It's my fault anyway." Ukitake's eyes widened and he tried to speak but only managed a few more coughs before Shunsui's hand was rubbing soothingly across his back. "I really am sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad, I really didn't think about it. But, I promise I won't do it again. I never want to see you like that again…" Ukitake looked up just as a he felt a warm kiss on his forehead and a tight hug around his shoulders. To say he was surprised was an understatement. He was even more surprised when that kiss left his forehead and his roommate lightly kissed his lips. "I waited so long for you to say it, Jyuu, but then you collapsed and I didn't know what to do." Ukitake eyes widened almost comically when he felt Shunsui bury his head in his shoulder and breathe in his scent. Ukitake was trying to think of a polite way to ask his roommate what the hell he was doing when his door opened and he heard the medic giggle.

"How cute boys, but I really need to get to Ukitake-san. I need to give him his medication." Shunsui extracted himself and nodded at the medic before leaving the room. Ukitake sighed slightly and gratefully took the medication the medic gave him. He spilled some water into his mouth to take the pills with and about chocked when the medic spoke. "I am so glad you finally noticed how much he loves you. He just looked so dreary when you didn't even seem to acknowledge his existence." Ukitake finished swallowing the pills and breathed as the medic gave him a confused look.

"He…loves me?" The medic giggled slightly at this again and patted his head like he was a child.

"Of course he does, why else would he skip a year just for the chance to be assigned as your roommate?" Ukitake found himself gaping like a fish when he heard this. He looked up at the medic just as she was leaving and saw a knowing look in her eyes. "Maybe he's not the one that wasn't observant, Ukitake-san."

Ukitake wasn't in the shape to see Shunsui for another week and when he was he had too much homework to catch up on to even find time to talk to the brunette. It was a full three weeks before Ukitake found himself sitting on his futon across from his roommate in his sun drenched room. He couldn't seem to find a way to eloquently put his words and just felt himself talking bluntly.

"Is it true?" Ukitake watched as Shunsui looked up at him and smiled a genuine smile before speaking.

"Of course it is." Ukitake barely had time to process the words before his was pushed back onto his futon with his roommates hot mouth sealed over his. He felt a big hand slide into the opening of his haori and gasped at the feeling. Shunsui's skin was so hot against his own that it felt like he might melt from the contact. Then he felt Shunsui's tongue slide into his partially opened mouth and promptly forgot about the hand exploring his chest in favor of the tongue in his mouth.

This was a new experience for Ukitake. No one had ever kissed him like this because of his disease. They had all thought that they would taste blood or death in his mouth so his kisses had always been very chaste. They had never been like this, an exploration full of teeth, tongues, and lips. He had never known that feeling something licking inside of his mouth could feel so good. Shunsui was finding sweet spots inside his mouth that he had never known he had but was sure he would never forget again. He felt that mouth pull back whimpered as his haori was smoothed off of his shoulders falling onto the bed below him.

"I can't believe you never noticed, Jyuushiro, I always watched. I always thought you were so observant that you would automatically notice. I guess you do have dense moments just like the rest of us." Ukitake felt himself rankle a bit at this words but couldn't focus on the emotion when he felt Shunsui lean down a lick a line over his chest. He swore he could feel even more of his brain cells die as that agile tongue smoothed over a nipple before biting down. He heard a sound escape his mouth and almost instantly Shunsui was looking up at him, one of his big hands smoothing Ukitake's hair back from his forehead.

"Are you ok?" Ukitake nodded and lifted his own hands pushing at Shunsui's haori.

"It's just never…felt like this before." Shunsui smiled and rolled his shoulders to help Ukitake remove his haori. Ukitake watched the delicate play of muscles before smoothing his hands over the soft skin. He heard a low moan escape his mouth as Shunsui pressed them together skin to skin and mouth to mouth. Ukitake noticed, somewhere in the recesses of his mind, that when Shunsui was kissing him like this he couldn't really think. He felt the brunettes hands at his waist and sighed softly as he was fully disrobed and then pressed firmly against Shunsui's still partially dressed body. He finally found out why what he was doing with Shunsui felt so much different then anything he had done before.

It's was totally, utterly, destructively tender.

Ukitake shuddered when felt Shunsui pull back from him. It was cold without the body heat from the other man but just as he was about to voice his discomfort he felt that warm body press back against him. He shuddered again but this time in pleasure when he felt Shunsui's whole body press against him. He was now just as nude as Ukitake and both men really enjoyed the feeling. Ukitake felt Shunsui's arm slide under his body pulling him into a slightly sitting position before thrusting hard down against him. Ukitake couldn't stop himself from crying out and grasping onto Shunsui's arm, it felt too good.

Both men shuddered when Shunsui thrust down again causing both of their hardness's to rub sinfully together. Ukitake trembled against Shunsui's grip and let his head fall back as Shunsui's thrusts became harder. He could feel his muscles tighten as Shunsui's tongue ran across his collar bone intensifying the sensations that he felt. He felt as his body was pushed back against the futon and Shunsui's movements over him became more erratic. Ukitake lifted his hands and gripped Shunsui's back as he felt his muscles coil tighter. He had never been this aroused just by rubbing his body against another mans and he could tell that both of them were going to lose it before they got any farther. Ukitake knew he was right when he felt the brunette tilt his head up and kiss him again thrusting so that his hardness dragged directly over Ukitake's. He felt his muscles tense and then the coil of his orgasm snap. His fingernails dug into the shoulders of the man above him dragging a startled groan out of Shunsui as his body jerked. Ukitake felt Shunsui jerk twice more before he tensed and there was more white liquid spreading across Ukitake's chest and stomach.

Ukitake took a deep breath, surprised that his chest didn't tighten before Shunsui collapsed on top of him breathing quickly. He let his hands drop from the heaving shoulders and glanced down glad to see no blood from his nails digging in. He had reevaluate his stance as the brunette slid to his side to lie close without crushing him. He couldn't exactly say he hated Shunsui any more. Far from it actually. He could feel his heart hurt a little at the thought of losing the loud man and knew that he had fallen in love somewhere along the way. It was hard to accept but he had fallen for Shunsui because of what he had shown him.

Tenderness.

Shunsui cut off his thoughts when he kissed him again running a finger through the cooling liquid on his stomach.

"This isn't all I want to do with you, Jyuu." Ukitake looked up at the brunette and smiled before pulling close and kissing him again. Shunsui chuckled before speaking again. "Do you want more?" Ukitake quirked and eyebrow before responding.

"I want more." Both men watched as Shunsui's fingers made their way through the liquid on Ukitake's stomach then down his body.

More was soon to come.

AN: This is a gift fic for liralenli (yaoi. y-gallery. net/user/liralenli/) over on Y!Gallery because she constantly throws plot bunnies at me and drives me utterly insane (she knows once i have a plot in my head i can't help but write it) but i love her anyway!! She wanted a Shunsui/Ukitake story with the prompt Tenderness.

Before i forget! This whole idea was started by lookingback's (yaoi. y-gallery. net/user/lookingback/) pic (yaoi. y-gallery. net/view/439388/)! It's an awesome pic, you should go look at it, fave it, comment on it, hehe.

Anyway, lookingback was kind enough to say that i could use the picture and that started the whole ball rolling.

I really hope i did the picture justice. I tried to put the pose in there but sometimes people dun see them.

The story didn't turn out quite like i wanted it to. It seems to have taken on it's own life and i couldn't stop it. (Ahhh!! Terrifying plot bunnies!)

Anyway, i meant this to be a oneshot but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen. Well that is unless liralenli doesn't like it. If she doesn't i just won't write the second part of it.

Unnooo, this took a hell of a lot longer then i thought it should and that kind of surprised me. I actually had major writers block (no angst, how am i supposed to write no angst?) on it but i got through it cause i promised liralenli it would be up tonight.

Well...i think thats all i wanted to say, thanks for reading and feedback is loved!

And big thanks to lookingback for the permission to use the pic, i'm sry i didn't ask personally but i have this shyness problem and...well, i think liralenli explained it to you.

(There are spaces after the dots in case your trying to look up the addy's)