AN: Happy birthday, Ebil!

Theme: Delicate
Characters: Kyouraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jyuushirou
Pairings: N/A
Rating: K
Warnings: N/A

People sometimes thought Jyuushirou was delicate, Shunsui reflected as he shifted in the cushioned but still uncomfortable hospital chair. His friend had dozed off now, face still ashy-pale, even against his bright white hair and white pillowcase. Dry lips surrounded a ventilator tube, pipes trailing away towards a machine close to Shunsui's chair, and another line connected his friend to an IV line. Shunsui rubbed his hands over his face slowly, eyes sandy and dry from tiredness. Sometimes, these trips all started to blur together in his mind. The sudden coughing, seeing bright red blood. Waiting for it to pass, and growing concern and worry when it didn't, getting his friend to Fourth, and then pacing nervously in the lobby until he could see his friend again. Then, the long vigil, waiting for Ukitake to fight through it.

See, that was the thing about Jyuu. You could think, at first, that he was delicate. He was lightly built for such a tall man, and he got sick far too easily. Even Shunsui had made that mistake at first, dismissing his roommate as nothing but a weak noble kid with no idea of the real world, and no place in a real fight.

Of course, their first actual fight—more of a brawl, really, when Shunsui finally said the wrong (or right) thing and pushed Jyuu over the edge to physical violence—disabused him of that notion. Shunsui grinned tightly. Jyuushirou lacked the experience of dozens of bar fights, but he was wiry and surprisingly tough. And most importantly, he never gave up. Shunsui had him pinned down at one point in that first fight, and he was willing to call an end to it, but Jyuu managed to shove him off and kept right on fighting until they were both exhausted.

That was the thing he admired and respected most about Jyuu. Shunsui would fight and push and refuse to accept things as long as possible, but at the end of the day, he was a realist. Sometimes, shit happened and you couldn't change it. There were battles you couldn't win. But Jyuushirou would keep on pushing and fighting way beyond the point where it made more sense to give up. Discretion is the better part of valor, Shunsui liked to point out. But it was reassuring too. Because Jyuushirou would never, ever give in to his illness. It might beat him some day (Shunsui tried not to think about that), but it wouldn't be because his friend had given up.

Sometimes Shunsui wondered, in rare moments of self-examination, if part of the reason for what many people considered his recklessness was an unconscious attempt to avoid outliving his best friend. Because honestly, Jyuushirou was far from delicate. He was by far the stronger of the two.

Ukitake turned a little in the bed, as much as he could with the ventilator and IV lines restricting his movement. Shunsui roused himself from his brown study to watch, feigning casualness in case Jyuushirou woke up. And indeed, after a few moments, his friend opened his eyes, a few instants of panic on his face before he processed where he was and why his lungs wouldn't obey him. "Yare, yare," Shunsui murmured, inwardly light with relief. There was always the gnawing fear during these trips, no matter how strong he knew his friend was, that one of these days the illness was going to be stronger. But today, it wasn't. His friend was all right. "I see you decided to rejoin the land of the living," he teased lightly, taking a wet towel from the bed and squeezing it out before handing it to his friend. Ukitake used it to rub his eyes and face clear, glancing at the window to try and determine the time. "It doesn't matter," said Shunsui, answering the unspoken question. "Rukia-chan has things well in hand at Thirteenth. Don't worry so much and focus on resting and getting better, Casanova."

Ukitake rolled his eyes at the nickname but nodded. Still, he glanced at Shunsui pointedly and raised an eyebrow. Shunsui laughed. "Yes, yes, I'll get some rest as well, old friend." He put his hand over his heart dramatically. "Even though I won't be able to sleep because my heart is broken by the latest slight from my lovely Nanao-chan…"

And as Ukitake grinned good-naturedly around the ventilator, Shunsui leaned forward and began telling him the latest stories and gossip, while the horizon outside the window slowly began to turn pink with dawn.