A/N: This is the first of a series of one-shots. Concept: I was givien one word for every letter of the alphabet and I will be writing a ByaRen story based off of each of those words. Some will be really short, others will be fairly longer, all will involve fluff. I will update whenever I can! Reviews are love.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Bleach. Tite Kubo does. I just toy with the characters a bit.

A: Available

Renji Abarai regretted saying that he was unavailable. Sure, he did have plans, but how often did his captain extend an invitation to lunch? Never. That's how often.

"Hey, you're not paying attention," Hisagi Shuuhei complained from across the table. Renji looked up at his old friend with an absent expression.

"What's got you looking all dreamy?" Rangiku Matsumoto leaned across the table, her arms crossed neatly below her voluptuous chest. "Thinking about someone special?" She winked.

The red-haired lieutenant rolled his eyes, shoveling rice into his mouth to avoid answering the question.

"He was!" Rangiku exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"Settle down, Matsumoto," Kira Izuru said, pointing his chopsticks at her. "Who Abarai Fukutaichou daydreams about surely is none of your business."

"Hey! I never said I was daydreamin' about anyone!" Renji snapped, spitting rice onto the table.

"Right . . ." Izuru said, raising a brow while Shuuhei and Matsumoto shared a stifled snicker.

Renji glared in their direction and scooped up his belongings. "I might not be able to come to lunch tomorrow," he said and, noticing his fellow lieutenants' mischievous looks, quickly added, "Work is piling up and I want to get caught up with it."

As he left the cafeteria behind, he knew that what he said was only a bit of a lie. While it was true that he was never without a backlog of paperwork, he mostly wanted to make himself more available in case Captain Kuchiki decided to invite him to dine with him again.

The next day was much like most days with Renji showing up to the office late and out of breath, invading Byakuya's sense of calm with his fiery reiatsu before he could successfully pull it back. Settling down at his desk after his usual apology, Renji got to work filling out papers.

As noon began to roll around, the young lieutenant couldn't help but glance at his raven-haired superior every few seconds in hopes that he might again ask Renji to accompany him to lunch. The minutes ticked by slowly, and with every second, Renji grew more and more anxious.

"Abarai Fukutaichou?" Byakuya said, making Renji jump and answer, "Yes!" far too eagerly than he had originally intended. The cold noble paused; raising an eyebrow while his lieutenant mentally kicked himself. "I believe it is lunchtime," Byakuya continued. "You are dismissed."

Renji smiled, knowing that this was his chance, "Actually, Kuchiki Taichou, I thought that maybe I would stay in the office and get some work done today."

Byakuya nodded in approval before reaching below his chair and pulling out a bento, placing it on his desk before opening it and calmly taking small bites. Renji's jaw dropped.

Of course! Why didn't he think that his captain usually brought a lunch to the office when work was piled up! The red-head mentally kicked himself again as he realized that he couldn't really leave now that he had already said he was going to finish paperwork. He silently cursed his growling stomach as he bent over his desk, trying hard not to glance up at his captain gently dropping delicious morsels of rice and chicken into his mouth.

The next few days were much the same. Renji, as stubborn as ever, skipped lunch in hopes that maybe, just maybe, Byakuya would invite him to eat with him again. Every day, his stoic captain would pull out his own lunch and eat it at his desk, while Renji cursed his paperwork and rumbling stomach.

By the end of the week, Renji was exhausted; his usually late mornings causing him to skip breakfast almost as often as he skipped lunch. As the morning went by and Renji mechanically filled out paperwork while he waited for noon, he soon discovered that his inbox was empty. He stared in bewilderment at his paperless desk. Holy shit, was he really caught up for the first time since he was promoted?

"What is wrong, Abarai?" Byakuya asked, sensing his lieutenant's confused flux in his reiatsu.

"M'all caught up," Renji murmured, gesturing at his desk with a baffled expression.

"Good," his captain nodded, "You may leave early for lunch."

Renji's mouth opened but then closed with an audible snap. Shit! He no longer had an excuse to stay behind! "Uh, a-actually," he stammered, trying to think quickly. "I was thinkin' about resting up a bit here. After all, no one's expectin' me . . ." He trailed off as Byakuya fixed him with a stare, his gray eyes boring into hazel.

"Abarai Fukutaichou," he said, his stony glare making his lieutenant fidget. "You have been skipping lunch every day for the past week. It is unhealthy and as your superior I demand that you do not miss out on this meal again today." Renji lowered his head a fraction and nodded with a murmured, "Yes, sir."

"Now," Byakuya began again, removing his gaze from his dejected lieutenant and standing, "If you feel that the cafeteria food is not up to your satisfaction, you may join me for an early lunch if you like."

"Y-yes, of course!" Renji stood, his reiatsu humming with sheer joy. Finally! His sacrifices were worth it! It wasn't until he noticed his captain fixing him with a look that he remembered to reign in his reiatsu to hide his excitement, Byakuya's mouth twitching as he did so. Shit. Was that annoyance? Renji cringed.

"Follow me," Byakuya said before flash stepping away.

It took no time to get to the Kuchiki estate and once they were inside, Renji was shown to an informal dining room where servants were more than happy to set another place for him. Despite his hunger, the redhead held back nervously, trying not to do anything that might insult the noble.

Byakuya stirred up polite conversation about work, free time, the weather, and anything that normal people usually talk about. As Renji answered his questions, sometimes going into a story about his fellow lieutenants' antics, he noticed his captain's mouth would twitch in the same way it had before. Worried that he had said something wrong, he soon fell silent.

"Renji?" the redhead pulled out of his daze too late to discover that he had trailed off in the middle of a sentence and was staring at his captain's lips.

"Ah! S-sorry Taichou, I did'nt mean to . . ." Wait. What did Byakuya just call him? "S-sir?"

"What is it?" the steel-eyed man across from him questioned, lifting his teacup to his lips.

"You just called me Renji." Another twitch from his captain.

"Is that not your name?"

"Well, y-yes, but . . ." Renji stared wide-eyed as Byakuya's mouth twitched again, this time lingering on his lips as they formed a slight smile. His captain was smiling!

The tattooed lieutenant was pulled out of his dumbstruck state by a cold hand on his face. Glancing at his raven-haired captain sitting so close to him, he wondered when the distance between them had closed. He sighed as the hand traced the tattoos on his forehead and slowly moved down his cheek to gently brush against his lips. To Renji's surprise, the fingers were replaced by soft lips, pressing gently against his own. He wrapped his arms around his captain's thin body, hearing him gasp as he pulled him closer.

Eventually, Byakuya pulled away and fixed his stony glare into Renji's eyes, making him cringe. "Renji Abarai," he said sternly, causing the larger man to remove his arms from around his captain's body. "I expect that you will no longer be skipping lunch and will instead spend noon hours here to dine with me. Are you available?" A smile crept onto Byakuyas face as he said the last part.

Renji answered with a wide smile as he replaced his arms to pull the smaller man closer. "Oh, I think I can make myself available."