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“Shunshui, you look positively stunning today,” Jushiro said, his hand cupping the other man’s cheek.
Shunshui threaded his hand through the long white tresses of his partner and leaned in close, whispering in Jushiro’s ear: “I bring more than just my good looks: I am the bearer of good news, handsome.”
Jushiro’s eyebrows went up in silent question, willing Shunshui to go on.
“I checked earlier, and the ice on your favourite pond is thick enough to skate on.”
A wide grin broke through on Jushiro’s face. He loved skating, and it had been a long time since he’d last been able to. He leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to Shunshui’s lips, entwining his fingers in the dark locks. “We should definitely go there later, then.”
Shunshui cocked his head to the side. “Later? Got something else to do still?”
A mischievous look appeared on Jushiro’s face. “I believe one should always thank their messengers, particularly if they bring such good news.” He leaned in once more, pressing his lips to the other man’s.
Shunshui responded eagerly, deepening the kiss. “Hm, and especially if they’re as handsome as I am?” he teased. He leaned over and started leaving a trail of kisses over Jushiro’s neck and throat, making the other man shiver.
“Hm, definitely.” The other man responded, eyes half closed.
Shunshui smiled against the tender skin of Jushiro’s collarbone, his hands roaming, slipping underneath the paler man’s uniform-
“Captain!”
With a shock, Shunshui snapped out of his daydreaming. He muttered a curse under his breath – his lieutenant, dear Nanao-chan, had caught him slacking again.
“Simply sitting at your desk staring off into the distance isn’t going to get any of the work done! If you want to leave here before dark, you best get to it.” She chided him.
“My apologies, my lovely Nanao-chan. It’s just that these forms are so dreadfully boring, you know? There are so many more fun things to do in this life!” He spread his hands in what he hoped was a conciliatory gesture and assumed his most charming smile.
Nanao, however, remained resolutely un-charmed, and shot him an icy glare. “There’ll be plenty of worse things in your future if you don’t get this paperwork done right now.” And with that, she turned around and stalked off, back to her own desk.
Shunshui stared at the piles of paperwork on his desk and groaned. Being a captain was hard work, especially with a lieutenant hell-bent on making him do his job. He cast a glance out the window, at the icicles hanging from the gutter near his window. It most certainly was cold enough for ice to form, he thought. Maybe if he could sneak off later, and check the ice on Jushiro’s favourite skating pond… he could be the bearer of good news and still turn this day into a highly enjoyable one.
The winter wind biting his face, Shunshui shivered as a particularly strong gust battered against him. It had been cold for almost a week now, so he was fairly certain the ice would be thick enough. True, he hadn’t actually checked whether the temperature had been below freezing, but cold was cold, right?
He pulled his kimono tighter around his shoulders as he followed the winding forest trail. This place had been a testing site for the twelfth division once, but it had long since been abandoned and nature had reclaimed the site. Most people had simply forgotten about this little corner of the sereitei, but Jushiro had an excellent memory and had introduced Shunshui to it some years prior. The white haired captain had taken him to go ice skating then, something Shunshui had never done before. He felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he remembered how hopeless he’d been at it, ending up more battered and bruised from one afternoon of skating than from some of the battles he’d been in.
Shunshui recognized the large, blackened tree stump on the side of the path, knowing he should leave the trail here and cut through the forest itself. After a few minutes of struggling through the clingy underbrush, the forest opened up to reveal his destination: a large pond, perfect for skating. Tall pine trees surrounded it on all sides, shielding it from view and giving it a slightly otherworldly feel. Its remote location meant that they could spend hours here without ever being interrupted.
In summer, Shunshui sometimes made use of that fact, napping by the shore of the sparkling lake, secure in the knowledge not even his dear Nanao-chan could find him here.
He shook his head. It was far too cold to nap outside now, the grey clouds chasing one another through the sky making it unappealing to be outside any longer than absolutely necessary.
“Hm,” he mumbled to himself, leaning over to peer at the ice, “looks solid enough.”
Keeping his weight on his other leg, he gingerly placed a foot on the ice. Then, ever so slowly, he transferred his weight to it. The ice held firm. Grinning now, he stepped onto the ice fully. A few spidery lines appeared, but he still stood secure.
“Ah, I’ll be able to tell Ju- ACK!”
The cry was wrought from him as the ice underneath him suddenly gave out. A heart-stopping moment later, his feet hit the bottom of the lake, the water barely coming to his knees. He had just time to heave a sigh of relief before his feet slipped on a submerged stone and he lost his balance. He frantically waved his arms, trying to regain it.
Then he toppled over, falling full-length onto the thin layer of ice, which shattered under the sudden weight placed upon it.
Icy tendrils wrapped themselves around him, sapping his strength and numbing him. Time seemed to slow as his hands scrabbled over the bottom of the pond for purchase. Then, agonizingly slowly, he pushed himself up out of the water. The cold air made him cough, and an uncontrollable shivering broke out all over his body.
I need to get the hell out of here, he thought, before the cold saps my strength completely. He was suddenly acutely aware that nobody had the faintest idea he was here.
He pushed himself to his feet and began stumbling back towards the shore. He’d almost made it when his foot caught behind a jagged shard of ice. Looking down, he saw a red line of blood welling up just above his ankle. He didn’t actually feel any of the pain he supposed he should’ve been feeling. Cursing under his breath, he considered his options.
His own barracks were almost an hour’s walk away, which would be suicide in his current condition.
The twelfth division was the closest, as this testing ground was almost adjacent to their compound. No way in hell I’m going anywhere near Mayuri, he’d dissect me before helping me.
That left one option: the thirteenth, which was only a few minutes further than the twelfth, but in opposite direction. He shook his head. That much for his plan of seducing the man by being the bearer of good news.
Jushiro frowned as he felt Shunshui’s reiatsu approach his office. His frown deepened as he cast his gaze to the digital clock Rukia had recently brought back from the world of the living for him as a gift. The glowing display read Tuesday 3.45 P.M..
Shunshui never visited his offices for business reasons – if the eight division needed any papers delivered or picked up, it would always be Nanao doing so. Which meant that Shunshui was here to keep him from his work, and Jushiro’s frown became even deeper as he surveyed the pile of documents that still needed his attention.
Looking up at the door, where Shunshui’s reiatsu was still approaching slowly – very slowly – Jushiro set his jaw in a determined line. Shunshui would just have to find someone else to distract in the middle of the day. He, Jushiro Ukitake, captain of the thirteenth division, had actual work to do on normal working days.
The door slowly slid open to reveal the broad-shouldered form of the captain of the eight division.
“Ah, Shunshui, what can I help you with on this fine afternoon?” Jushiro said, quickly wiping the frown from his face. It wouldn’t do to be rude, after all.
The frown, so quickly removed, sprang back onto his face as Shunshui merely stood in the door opening, the frigid outside air causing the fire in the hearth to flare up.
“Shunshui, come inside and close that door, don’t just stand there!” He couldn’t help irritation from creeping into his voice.
This time, there was a reply from the other man, but the speech was so slurred that Jushiro couldn’t make it out.
He’s this drunk, at this time of day? What the hell has he been up to?
Sighing, Jushiro walked over to his lifelong friend and partner. The frown on his face deepened once more upon seeing Shunshui up close.
“Shunshui, you’re soaked!” He shook his head. “Come inside, I’ll dry the floor after you’ve changed out of those clothes, we can’t have you catch a cold just because I refuse to mop my floors.” And the soul king knows I despise putting up with your whining when you’ve got a cold.
“I’ll go get you a towel to dry off, you get those sodden clothes off yourself.”
Still shaking his head, Jushiro made his way to his bathroom and rummaged around for a towel. Familiar with Shunshui’s hulking figure as he was, he made sure to pick one of the largest he had. “I wonder what he got himself into this time?” he muttered quietly to himself. Well, nothing too terrible, anyway, he’s not even shivering, despite his soaked clothes and the cold outside.
Jushiro shrugged. He’d pry it out of the other man eventually.
When he returned to his office, he found Shunshui in the exact spot he’d left him in – soaked clothes still on, open door still allowing cold air to gush into the room. Jushiro draped the towel over a nearby chair and folded his arms in front of the other man, meeting the other man’s gaze with a challenging stare.
“Shunshui, if you think you can get me to undress you by getting yourself soaked and then showing up on my doorstep, you’re very, very wrong.”
When he got no response whatsoever from the other man, he suddenly realised Shunshui wasn’t meeting his gaze. Instead, his eyes were unfocused. Looking more closely now, he saw that Shunshui was soaked, but his clothes were no longer dripping, meaning he must’ve been soaked for a while. There wasn’t any alcohol on his breath, either.
Fitting the pieces of the puzzle together, Jushiro could hit himself on the head for his assumption that the lack of shivering meant Shunshui wasn’t cold – it meant he was so cold, his body could no longer manage to shiver. He quietly cursed himself for assuming Shunshui had drunkenly come here just to distract him. Instead, the man had come here seeking his help, barely able to stay standing, and all Jushiro had done was mock him.
Shifting into action now, Jushiro quickly closed the door behind Shunshui, then set to stripping the sodden clothes off the other man. Despite the situation, a wry smile crept up on him as he remembered all the other, better occasions he’d done so. Once he’d removed all the wet cloth, he set to work with the towel, drying off his partner. He then swiftly wrapped him in several blankets and put him on the soft couch that stood next to the blazing hearth. Then, certain that he had done all he should have, set to work with healing kido, gently trying to get any kind of reaction at all from the almost catatonic Shunshui.
After a few minutes, his breathing deepened and he started shivering once more. A little slow still, Shunshui looked around, eyes lighting on Jushiro, who continued his kido ministrations.
“Juu..? W-what happened?” His speech sounded a little slurred with his teeth chattering continuously, but at least he was talking again.
Jushiro smiled gently at the other man. “I was hoping you could tell me that, showing up on my doorstep with severe hypothermia, barely able to stand.”
Shunshui seemed to think for a few moments, and then nodded. “M-maybe smart t-to wait until I’m n-no longer shivering q-quite so much.”
Jushiro couldn’t help but laugh at that, relief flooding him. Shunshui would be alright. To his surprise, he saw his relief mirrored on Shunshui’s face. Had the other man thought he’d be angry for showing up on his doorstep like that? You were, at first, he chided himself. But that was when he’d thought his fellow captain had been drinking and looking to distract him. If Shunshui needed his help, he’d always give it.
He gently put a hand on the other man’s thigh, or at least on the three layers of blanket situated over it, and gave him another smile. “I’ll go make us some hot chocolate, that might help with warming you back up again. I’ll be just next door in the kitchen, okay? Yell if you need anything.”
He waited until Shunshui nodded, then got up and made his way over to the small kitchen.
Jushiro took a small pan from his cupboard, added two measures of milk to it and set it to heat. Opening another cupboard, he chose two mugs and set them on the countertop. They were simple affairs, each a single, plain colour, but Jushiro had always liked their elegant design. They’d been a gift from Shunshui many years back, after the dark-haired man had accidentally broken most of his mugs by tumbling into the cupboard. He had to put the mugs down carefully, as his hands were unsteady.
He measured out the coca powder, his unsteady hands spilling the majority of it onto the countertop instead of into the mugs. Attempting to remedy the damage, he accidentally knocked the entire box to the floor. He let out a shaky breath and sank to the floor, next to the spilled brown powder. How could I have been so blind, as to not even notice he needed my help?
Shunshui sat shivering on the couch, feet stretched out towards the fire burning merrily in the hearth. While the shivering hadn’t stopped yet, it had lessened so that he could now at least hear himself think over the sound of his chattering teeth. He looked up as Jushiro came back into the room, carrying two steaming mugs. Shunshui smiled at him, grateful for all the white-haired man had done for him. If not for his care, he would likely have frozen to death.
“I- …uhm,” Jushiro sounded uncharacteristically shaken, and Shunshui frowned, worried. The captain of the thirteenth took a deep breath, steadied himself and spoke again: “There were some problems with the hot chocolate, so I made us tea, instead. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh no, not at all, I’m grateful for anything that’s warm, and that tea certainly looks like it fits the bill.”
He extracted a hand from the blankets wrapped around him and carefully accepted the warm mug, letting out a contented sigh.
“I’m sorry, Shunshui.” Jushiro suddenly said, a sadness in his eyes.
Shunshui’s eyes widened. “Sorry? What would you have to be sorry for? You saved my ass! Again!”
But Jushiro shook his head. “I almost didn’t, I was about to send you back out there because I assumed you were drunk and here to distract me from my work. I-” But Shunshui interrupted him. “Except you didn’t. And,” he said, cracking a smile, “to be entirely honest, I do often come here just to distract you. You’re just too good to stay away from.”
Jushiro gave him a smile in return. “Well, in that case, I do believe you owe me an explanation.”
__________
“You went out into the cold to check on the ice, specifically for me?” Jushiro’s eyes were wide.
Shunshui looked down into his mug. “Yeah, didn’t entirely turn out as planned, though.”
Jushiro let out a laugh. “You could say that, yes.” He paused and met Shunshui’s gaze with his own, fondness evident in the green eyes. “But I’m flattered that you’d do that for me, despite your aversion of cold weather. Thank you, Shunshui.”
Shunshui gave him a charming grin, and, remembering his daydream from earlier in the day, wiggled his other hand free form the blankets. He reached out, gently cupping the other man’s cheek.
Jushiro, however, immediately flinched away. Shunshui’s eyes went wide with shock. “Jushiro, what-”
But the white-haired captain simply laughed. “Your hand is still terribly cold, Shunshui, you’ll have to warm up a bit more if you want any of that!”