[Log] Ukitake, Ryuuken
Title: Working OT
Characters: Ukitake (lcpdragonslayer), Ryuuken (thenakedcat)
Rating: PG
Timeline: September 6, 2007
Summary: Ukitake's overtime is more of an ordeal than he expected.
Soul Society was quiet after hours - most of the lights were switched off. His workspace was lit by a table lamp, glaring down upon the piece of paper on his desk. He was supposed to be on sick leave for a few days next week, feeling the onset of the flu, and happening to have a medical check-up scheduled for then. He had taken enough sick leave for the year, and he was not going to let the work pile up while he was gone, so he figured he would do some in advance.
Hence the working overtime - something he rarely did, or rather, something he seldom needed to do. He looked through the document and circled and highlighted some of the script before putting it away on the growing pile on one side.
Sighing, he leaned back into his chair and placed his hand over the back of his neck. Tilting his head to one side, then the other, he closed his eyes and sighed, his hand slipping back down into his lap. One more stack to go, and then he would have to go to storage and pull up a few documents before he was done.
Soul Society was a whole different world with the lights off and the silence as thick as fog, Ryuuken thought to himself as he stepped off the elevator with his load of empty cardboard boxes, and it wasn't a world that he liked. But it would have been so much worse to try and do this during the day, so he wouldn't complain.
But he would investigate the ray of light that was creeping out from under the door to the archives, because in the unwelcome dark he was a moth to the flame. He shrank back slightly when he realized the source, uncomfortable with the display Ukitake had witnessed in Isshin's office a few days before.
"Shouldn't you be home, Jyuushirou?"
He perked up at the noise. When he went out to get some coffee a while ago, there was no one else in the office. So it must have been... someone coming in to the office? At this time? He looked to the clock on the wall, squinting to detail the numbers and spaces the needles were pointing at.
He was about to go and investigate when said person materialised before him. Ryuuken? What was he doing coming here at this time - and... What was with the boxes?
"I'm finishing up some work. Won't be in office much next week," he replied. He gazed at the empty cardboard boxes. "What's with the boxes?"
Ryuuken slunk back further, retreating into the shadow of the door. "Don't overwork yourself. Isshin would rather have you running a little behind rather than running your health into the ground." It hurt knowing that he shouldn't be saying these things anymore, that it wasn't his place right now.
He looked down at the burden in his arms, dread curling in the pit of his stomach. "I need them to clean out my office."
He was mildly surprised that the co-boss did not raise his voice or chase him out of the office, as he usually did when it came to their ongoing debate about the balance between his health and his work.
But what was really surprising was what Ryuuken had said. Cleaning out his office? What? Why?
"Uh... What for? You're getting a painting job done?"
Ryuuken's voice was definitely uncharacteristically soft and sad as he turned to walk to his office. "No, Jyuu. I'm leaving for England in two days, and I won't be coming back."
He thought he had heard wrongly - and there was a high possibility of that, seeing as Ryuuken's tone dropped to about two decibels.
Did he just say... he was leaving for England in two days... and that he was never coming back?
Every thought in his mind - about his candy stock, about work, about the milk in the fridge he should have thrown out yesterday - dissipated except for what Ryuuken had just said. Even the pen in his hand fell onto the table.
He got to his feet and slipped around his table, reaching out and grabbing on to Ryuuken by his arm. "W-Wait!"
"...I don't understand... Why?"
Ryuuken winced, hard, at the touch, even though it didn't hurt a bit. He'd been hoping to have this conversation only through a cool and impersonal email, but he couldn't brush just brush Ukitake off when he had that look on his face.
"It isn't anything that reflects badly on the staff," he said, trying his hardest to weave a silver lining for the situation. "It's just issues of a....very personal nature between Isshin and myself. I'm here on a green card, though, so once I leave the job I also have to leave the country immediately to avoid getting deported."
He realised he was still holding on to Ryuuken and let go, his hand slipping away. He could not see Ryuuken's expression, but he had a feeling that it had been about the argument he and Isshin had the other day - the one that sent the whole office into a bit of a flurry.
He did not want to ask - it was probably true, and mentioning it now might make matters worse.
"...Does Isshin know?"
Ryuuken's hold tightened on the boxes, and as soon as Ukitake let go he started walking rapidly towards his office, determined to get this over with already. "Isshin doesn't know now, but he will tomorrow morning."
"Hey - wait!"
This is ridiculous. Why was he chasing after his boss - co-boss? ex-co-boss? soon-to-be-ex-co-boss? - down the corridor of the office?
"But... But... You can't..." How could he just leave, like that? What about Isshin? Was he going to leave without telling Isshin? If what was depicted in that photograph in the tabloid was genuine, and they shared any sort of feelings with each other, he... couldn't just...
He wanted to say that leaving would not solve anything, but he doubted it would make Ryuuken feel any better.
"...Is this the only way?"
Why oh why, of all the people who could have been working late, did it HAVE to be sweet-natured Ukitake, who would be sympathetic and politely confused and actually care? The feeling that maybe people wouldn't celebrate his departure was not making this any easier to get done. But he couldn't just brush Ukitake--whom he'd known for almost as long as he'd been sleeping with Isshin--away like he could a callous intern. So he slowed his pace a little and tried to find the words to explain.
"I can't let him ruin his own reputation--and by extension, the magazine's--just over our relationship. It's too much to give up. He won't recognize that it's a problem...so I have to act alone, and leaving is all I can do."
He paused to unlock the door of his office, scrupulously NOT making eye contact with Jyuushirou. "So yes, this is the only way, ugly as it is."
But... It wasn't a problem... Why did their relationship have to be a problem? They must have gone to extra lengths to keep their relationship going for who knows how long, and now that everything has been unbundled, he was just going to up and go?
He managed to catch up just as Ryuuken was fiddling with the keys to his office. So, what, this was it? He was just going to clean out his office and leave without telling anyone?
"Isshin won't be happy... if you leave... like this. You started out the magazine together... You've gone back a long way, and you've struggled through thick and thin together to get to where you are today. How can you... You're just... going to leave overnight, like this?"
Ryuuken set the boxes down, separated them, and then moved immediately to start stripping the photographs and framed covers from the walls. He was moving on autopilot, the task the same as the one he'd left mostly finished back at home.
And Jyuu STILL hadn't given up. You'd think that he'd been the one sleeping with Isshin.
"When he and I started out, we had certain expectations which....haven't held over time. It had to happen. I won't leave without saying goodbye in person--his son already made me promise that--but I have to go."
As he pulled his books off their shelves, he turned back to Ukitake, a pleading look on his face. "Keep an eye on Isshin for me, will you? I know Urahara will be looking out for him, and Yuzu, but it wouldn't hurt to have one more checking in from time to time."
In all his time working at Soul Society (and this would be roughly a decade or so), Ryuuken had never, ever looked at him like that. He didn't want to pretend like he knew what was going on, or what either of them were thinking, but it just...
That kind of question... Did he really expect him to...
He was stubborn, but he did not say anything. Nothing he could say right now would change Ryuuken's mind - nor was he in any position to do something like that. The man had probably packed up everything in his house as it was, and was just about ready to head off.
"Well I..." He didn't really know what to say.
"I... You haven't, really..." He pursed his lips for a second, trying to formulate the right words in his mind.
"I've enjoyed working with you. A lot. Even though we. Argue at times. And you're a hard man. But Soul Society will not be the same without you. And uhm. I'll really miss you. And I'm sure everyone else will, too."
Oh God. Why oh why oh WHY couldn't it have been someone other than Jyuu, preferably someone pissed over a denied promotion, who would have reminded him of all the frustration inherent in his job, and not of why he loved it.
Ryuuken didn't have the energy or the venom right now to say something that would completely cut the other man down. A long sigh, and, "You're a very good archivist, Jyuushirou, and the magazine has been lucky to have you. I do hope you'll stay on quite awhile longer...although please do continue to refrain from coughing on anybody."
The current box was being loaded down with papers from Ryuuken's desk. "These should go to you--you'll know what to keep and shred." He laughed, soft but with a very dark edge. "Nothing of a terribly personal nature--no love letters from Isshin, for instance."
He was not particularly fond of having talk like this, either. It was an awkward moment, and he never really knew what was the best thing to say. As much as he wanted Ryuuken to stay, he didn't want the man to have to do anything he didn't want to.
"I wouldn't want to shred anything of yours..." he started quietly. "And I'll try not to cough and bleed on anyone - just for you." He smiled a little - despite the office banter, he had known Ryuuken for a long time, and they were on good terms with each other.
It would really be a loss - Ryuuken was one of the first people he had met in New York, and everything.
"Take care, Ryuuken," he said. It was one of the few times he had used the man's name personally. "Maybe... we can keep in touch?"
One last handful of pencils into the box, and then the office was bare. Ryuuken spent a few minutes hunched over taping them up and arranging them to carry out. It gave him time to cement his composure before he faced Ukitake for the last time. "I'll be sure to send you a note once I've settled into a place--won't be any address for you to write to before then."
Ryuuken stood and wrapped his arms around the other man in way that suggested he'd never really mastered this whole hugging thing. "Goodbye and good luck." Boxes weighing him down, he made his way out of the office and across the building to the elevator, pausing only to leave a folded letter on the desk in Isshin's office. And then he was gone.
He would have offered to help his... Perhaps he would just stick to calling him Ryuuken - however he seemed to be doing fine on his own. It only made things harder if he had to carry those boxes with the man's personal belongings out of the office.
He would make sure to write to Ryuuken regularly, if it came down to that... A part of him still wished Ryuuken would stay.
He returned the awkward hug with a brief hug of his own, and he felt his head hang a little when Ryuuken said his last words. He looked out after a little while, just to watch Ryuuken's back disappear behind the corner to the elevator.
And then, the office fell into silence again, as if none of this had ever happened.
He sighed and closed his eyes. He was in no mood to finish up his work.
Characters: Ukitake (lcpdragonslayer), Ryuuken (thenakedcat)
Rating: PG
Timeline: September 6, 2007
Summary: Ukitake's overtime is more of an ordeal than he expected.
Soul Society was quiet after hours - most of the lights were switched off. His workspace was lit by a table lamp, glaring down upon the piece of paper on his desk. He was supposed to be on sick leave for a few days next week, feeling the onset of the flu, and happening to have a medical check-up scheduled for then. He had taken enough sick leave for the year, and he was not going to let the work pile up while he was gone, so he figured he would do some in advance.
Hence the working overtime - something he rarely did, or rather, something he seldom needed to do. He looked through the document and circled and highlighted some of the script before putting it away on the growing pile on one side.
Sighing, he leaned back into his chair and placed his hand over the back of his neck. Tilting his head to one side, then the other, he closed his eyes and sighed, his hand slipping back down into his lap. One more stack to go, and then he would have to go to storage and pull up a few documents before he was done.
Soul Society was a whole different world with the lights off and the silence as thick as fog, Ryuuken thought to himself as he stepped off the elevator with his load of empty cardboard boxes, and it wasn't a world that he liked. But it would have been so much worse to try and do this during the day, so he wouldn't complain.
But he would investigate the ray of light that was creeping out from under the door to the archives, because in the unwelcome dark he was a moth to the flame. He shrank back slightly when he realized the source, uncomfortable with the display Ukitake had witnessed in Isshin's office a few days before.
"Shouldn't you be home, Jyuushirou?"
He perked up at the noise. When he went out to get some coffee a while ago, there was no one else in the office. So it must have been... someone coming in to the office? At this time? He looked to the clock on the wall, squinting to detail the numbers and spaces the needles were pointing at.
He was about to go and investigate when said person materialised before him. Ryuuken? What was he doing coming here at this time - and... What was with the boxes?
"I'm finishing up some work. Won't be in office much next week," he replied. He gazed at the empty cardboard boxes. "What's with the boxes?"
Ryuuken slunk back further, retreating into the shadow of the door. "Don't overwork yourself. Isshin would rather have you running a little behind rather than running your health into the ground." It hurt knowing that he shouldn't be saying these things anymore, that it wasn't his place right now.
He looked down at the burden in his arms, dread curling in the pit of his stomach. "I need them to clean out my office."
He was mildly surprised that the co-boss did not raise his voice or chase him out of the office, as he usually did when it came to their ongoing debate about the balance between his health and his work.
But what was really surprising was what Ryuuken had said. Cleaning out his office? What? Why?
"Uh... What for? You're getting a painting job done?"
Ryuuken's voice was definitely uncharacteristically soft and sad as he turned to walk to his office. "No, Jyuu. I'm leaving for England in two days, and I won't be coming back."
He thought he had heard wrongly - and there was a high possibility of that, seeing as Ryuuken's tone dropped to about two decibels.
Did he just say... he was leaving for England in two days... and that he was never coming back?
Every thought in his mind - about his candy stock, about work, about the milk in the fridge he should have thrown out yesterday - dissipated except for what Ryuuken had just said. Even the pen in his hand fell onto the table.
He got to his feet and slipped around his table, reaching out and grabbing on to Ryuuken by his arm. "W-Wait!"
"...I don't understand... Why?"
Ryuuken winced, hard, at the touch, even though it didn't hurt a bit. He'd been hoping to have this conversation only through a cool and impersonal email, but he couldn't brush just brush Ukitake off when he had that look on his face.
"It isn't anything that reflects badly on the staff," he said, trying his hardest to weave a silver lining for the situation. "It's just issues of a....very personal nature between Isshin and myself. I'm here on a green card, though, so once I leave the job I also have to leave the country immediately to avoid getting deported."
He realised he was still holding on to Ryuuken and let go, his hand slipping away. He could not see Ryuuken's expression, but he had a feeling that it had been about the argument he and Isshin had the other day - the one that sent the whole office into a bit of a flurry.
He did not want to ask - it was probably true, and mentioning it now might make matters worse.
"...Does Isshin know?"
Ryuuken's hold tightened on the boxes, and as soon as Ukitake let go he started walking rapidly towards his office, determined to get this over with already. "Isshin doesn't know now, but he will tomorrow morning."
"Hey - wait!"
This is ridiculous. Why was he chasing after his boss - co-boss? ex-co-boss? soon-to-be-ex-co-boss? - down the corridor of the office?
"But... But... You can't..." How could he just leave, like that? What about Isshin? Was he going to leave without telling Isshin? If what was depicted in that photograph in the tabloid was genuine, and they shared any sort of feelings with each other, he... couldn't just...
He wanted to say that leaving would not solve anything, but he doubted it would make Ryuuken feel any better.
"...Is this the only way?"
Why oh why, of all the people who could have been working late, did it HAVE to be sweet-natured Ukitake, who would be sympathetic and politely confused and actually care? The feeling that maybe people wouldn't celebrate his departure was not making this any easier to get done. But he couldn't just brush Ukitake--whom he'd known for almost as long as he'd been sleeping with Isshin--away like he could a callous intern. So he slowed his pace a little and tried to find the words to explain.
"I can't let him ruin his own reputation--and by extension, the magazine's--just over our relationship. It's too much to give up. He won't recognize that it's a problem...so I have to act alone, and leaving is all I can do."
He paused to unlock the door of his office, scrupulously NOT making eye contact with Jyuushirou. "So yes, this is the only way, ugly as it is."
But... It wasn't a problem... Why did their relationship have to be a problem? They must have gone to extra lengths to keep their relationship going for who knows how long, and now that everything has been unbundled, he was just going to up and go?
He managed to catch up just as Ryuuken was fiddling with the keys to his office. So, what, this was it? He was just going to clean out his office and leave without telling anyone?
"Isshin won't be happy... if you leave... like this. You started out the magazine together... You've gone back a long way, and you've struggled through thick and thin together to get to where you are today. How can you... You're just... going to leave overnight, like this?"
Ryuuken set the boxes down, separated them, and then moved immediately to start stripping the photographs and framed covers from the walls. He was moving on autopilot, the task the same as the one he'd left mostly finished back at home.
And Jyuu STILL hadn't given up. You'd think that he'd been the one sleeping with Isshin.
"When he and I started out, we had certain expectations which....haven't held over time. It had to happen. I won't leave without saying goodbye in person--his son already made me promise that--but I have to go."
As he pulled his books off their shelves, he turned back to Ukitake, a pleading look on his face. "Keep an eye on Isshin for me, will you? I know Urahara will be looking out for him, and Yuzu, but it wouldn't hurt to have one more checking in from time to time."
In all his time working at Soul Society (and this would be roughly a decade or so), Ryuuken had never, ever looked at him like that. He didn't want to pretend like he knew what was going on, or what either of them were thinking, but it just...
That kind of question... Did he really expect him to...
He was stubborn, but he did not say anything. Nothing he could say right now would change Ryuuken's mind - nor was he in any position to do something like that. The man had probably packed up everything in his house as it was, and was just about ready to head off.
"Well I..." He didn't really know what to say.
"I... You haven't, really..." He pursed his lips for a second, trying to formulate the right words in his mind.
"I've enjoyed working with you. A lot. Even though we. Argue at times. And you're a hard man. But Soul Society will not be the same without you. And uhm. I'll really miss you. And I'm sure everyone else will, too."
Oh God. Why oh why oh WHY couldn't it have been someone other than Jyuu, preferably someone pissed over a denied promotion, who would have reminded him of all the frustration inherent in his job, and not of why he loved it.
Ryuuken didn't have the energy or the venom right now to say something that would completely cut the other man down. A long sigh, and, "You're a very good archivist, Jyuushirou, and the magazine has been lucky to have you. I do hope you'll stay on quite awhile longer...although please do continue to refrain from coughing on anybody."
The current box was being loaded down with papers from Ryuuken's desk. "These should go to you--you'll know what to keep and shred." He laughed, soft but with a very dark edge. "Nothing of a terribly personal nature--no love letters from Isshin, for instance."
He was not particularly fond of having talk like this, either. It was an awkward moment, and he never really knew what was the best thing to say. As much as he wanted Ryuuken to stay, he didn't want the man to have to do anything he didn't want to.
"I wouldn't want to shred anything of yours..." he started quietly. "And I'll try not to cough and bleed on anyone - just for you." He smiled a little - despite the office banter, he had known Ryuuken for a long time, and they were on good terms with each other.
It would really be a loss - Ryuuken was one of the first people he had met in New York, and everything.
"Take care, Ryuuken," he said. It was one of the few times he had used the man's name personally. "Maybe... we can keep in touch?"
One last handful of pencils into the box, and then the office was bare. Ryuuken spent a few minutes hunched over taping them up and arranging them to carry out. It gave him time to cement his composure before he faced Ukitake for the last time. "I'll be sure to send you a note once I've settled into a place--won't be any address for you to write to before then."
Ryuuken stood and wrapped his arms around the other man in way that suggested he'd never really mastered this whole hugging thing. "Goodbye and good luck." Boxes weighing him down, he made his way out of the office and across the building to the elevator, pausing only to leave a folded letter on the desk in Isshin's office. And then he was gone.
He would have offered to help his... Perhaps he would just stick to calling him Ryuuken - however he seemed to be doing fine on his own. It only made things harder if he had to carry those boxes with the man's personal belongings out of the office.
He would make sure to write to Ryuuken regularly, if it came down to that... A part of him still wished Ryuuken would stay.
He returned the awkward hug with a brief hug of his own, and he felt his head hang a little when Ryuuken said his last words. He looked out after a little while, just to watch Ryuuken's back disappear behind the corner to the elevator.
And then, the office fell into silence again, as if none of this had ever happened.
He sighed and closed his eyes. He was in no mood to finish up his work.