Fic: [Bleach] Celebration
Title: Celebration
Fandom: Bleach
Characters/Pairing: Hisagi Shuuhei, Abarai Renji, slight Kira Izuru/Hinamori Momo
Rating: PG
Warnings: Drunkeness
Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and related companies, I just like to play with his characters
Summary: Celebrations with Shuuhei don't always turn out as planned.
Author's Notes: Set during the Academy days. This is technically an excerpt from a larger fic I'm working on, but it does stand alone. You're introduced briefly to three of my OC's here, but you probably won't see more of them until June-ish when I have time to work on the rest of the fic they're from (unless I decide to use them in another fic of course, after all Shinohara-sensei made it into one ^^). All you need to know is that Hajime = not a nice guy.
Dedicated to ceestar because I promised her the scene, and to
soleil_de_lune because we're both Kira/Momo and academy trio nuts ^-^
“Hey, guys!” Renji jumped up so fast at the shout that he cracked his head on a low branch of the tree they were sat under. Izuru buried his head in the book he was reading, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
“Shut it, Izuru.” Renji growled, rubbing his head and looking up to meet the gaze of a very amused Shuuhei. “Senpai startled me s’all.”
“Don’t feel bad, senpai. Renji’s always clumsy like that.” Izuru offered, laying aside the textbook. Renji whacked him on the back of the head as he sat down again, smirking at the glare Izuru gave him.
“You two are like a comedy act sometimes,” Shuuhei muttered fondly as he joined them in the shade. “And I’m sure I stopped being your ‘senpai’ four years ago when I graduated.” Renji and Izuru shared a glance, grinning at Shuuhei together a moment later.
“You’ll never stop being senpai, senpai.” Izuru asserted. Shuuhei let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head, knowing he would never win this particular argument.
“Or would you prefer 7th seat of the 9th division-dono?” Renji asked with a smirk, gesturing to the black uniform. “What’re you doing here anyway, don’t you have duties over at the 9th?”
Shuuhei’s grin widened. “Well, I’d prefer something a little less elaborate, but if you simply must call me by my title, at least get it right. It’s 5th seat of the 9th division-dono, thank you very much.”
There was a moment of silence where Renji and Izuru just stared at him.
“You got promoted?!” Izuru demanded, leaning forward, wide-eyed.
“You’re a smug git sometimes, ya know that?” Renji asked, leaning back against the tree trunk and closing his eyes.
“Renji!” Izuru hissed. Renji opened one eye to give him an amused glance.
“What? Ya knew it was gonna happen sometime, no need to get all worked up about it.”
Shuuhei laughed, drawing their attention back. “With your differences, I’ve no idea how you stay friends.”
“Aww, senpai.” Renji complained, wrapping an arm around Izuru’s shoulders and dragging him over; grinning at Shuuhei over the blonde’s spluttering. “How can ya say we’re anythin’ but the best of pals?”
“Renji, get off.” Izuru muttered, shoving Renji back, but he was grinning at his louder friend. “Just because some of us have mastered basic politeness,” he huffed, turning back to Shuuhei but not bothering to shift back. “You were saying?”
Shuuhei resisted the urge to burst out laughing at the two of them again. “Yeah, I got a promotion. Tousen-taichou gave me the rest of the day off too; which is why I’m here, Renji.”
“Congratulations, Hisagi-san.” Izuru grinned, catching the hand Renji had been slowly inching towards his side without even looking at him. Shuuhei raised an eyebrow and Renji smiled sheepishly at him, tugging absently at the grip Izuru had on his wrist.
“He’s ticklish.” he explained. “Izuru, let go.” Izuru glanced at Renji, who shrugged at him. “Can’t blame a guy for trying?”
He chuckled softly and released Renji’s hand. “Just don’t try again.”
“How does Hinamori put up with you two?” Shuuhei asked. “No, on second thoughts, don’t answer that.” Izuru and Renji exchanged identical grins. “Speaking of her, where is she?”
“Momo’s got one of her elective classes right now.” Renji said.
“She should be finished about now actually.” Izuru added, glancing at the students emerging from the building nearby.
“Izuru-kun!”
“There she is.” Renji chuckled as Momo pounced on Izuru from behind the tree, having crept up on the three. “And that’s how she puts up with us, she’s worse.”
“I can see.” Shuuhei said, watching Izuru struggle back into a sitting position.
“M-Momo! Do you have to greet me like that?” he asked as Momo sat back on her heels.
“Sure I do, keeps you on your toes.” She turned to greet Renji and stopped short at the sight of Shuuhei, who waved at her. “Hisagi-san! What are you doing here?”
“Oh, nothing much Hinamori-chan. Just telling these two about my promotion to 5th seat is all.” She blinked at him for a few moments.
“Eh?! That’s great Hisagi-san!” Shuuhei grinned at her enthusiasm.
“So-” he began, but was interrupted as Renji wrapped his arms around Momo from behind, lifting her backwards with a shriek.
“Renji, you big oaf! Let me go!” she complained, batting at him with her hands.
“Ah, ah, don’t I get a hello?” Renji asked, feigning hurt badly with a smile. He held her tightly, pinning her arms to her body, almost in his lap.
“Ok, ok, geeze. Hello Renji. Now let goooo!” Momo twisted in Renji’s grip, trying to free her arms.
“Hmmm, your punishment for forgetting me is…” Before Momo could say anything Renji had stolen both her hair ties, dropping her and running behind the tree.
“Renji! I’ve told you not to do that. Give them back!” Momo yelled, jumping to her feet and running after Renji, who deftly evaded her. The two began a race around the tree, Renji laughing and taunting while Momo shouted death threats. Izuru began laughing helplessly, earning himself a glare from Momo as she ran past.
Renji swerved suddenly, reversing direction to keep Momo from catching up, and promptly tripped over one of Shuuhei’s legs.
He crashed to the ground face first and Shuuhei joined in Izuru’s laughter, both of them laughing so hard now that several students passing gave them odd looks. Momo retrieved her hair ties from Renji’s now loose fingers and smirked smugly at him as he raised his head and spat dirt.
“Told you to give them back.” she said airily, sitting back down next to Izuru and retying her hair. Renji wiped his mouth on his sleeve as he picked himself up, kneeling back on his heels and glaring until Izuru and Shuuhei’s laughter stopped.
“As I was saying,” Shuuhei leant in, cutting off any retort Renji might have had. “You guys are free for the rest of the day, right?” The three nodded. “Great. Since you now have permission to be off grounds in your spare time, how about we go out and celebrate my promotion?”
“Yes!” Renji whooped, jumping up again in excitement and narrowly missing the branch this time.
“I don’t know,” Izuru murmured. “We have our mid-year exams coming up…”
“Don’t go all ‘model pupil’ on us now Izuru!” Renji said, shoving Izuru’s shoulder and almost knocking him over.
“Ow! Renji, that hurts.” Izuru complained, rubbing his arm.
“Then don’t be a wuss. Look, Momo’s game, right Momo?” She nodded hesitantly, giggling at the boys’ antics.
“Guess I’m outnumbered then.” Izuru said with a wry grin. “Honestly though, someone has to be level headed around here.”
The group had no problem getting into Rukongai; the fifth and sixth years were allowed to be off grounds after all and in any case they were with a seated officer as well. It didn’t take them long to settle in a quiet bar some distance into Rukongai.
“Izuru, what’s the matter? You look a little jumpy.” Momo asked as they settled into a corner. Izuru managed a grin, still glancing around the bar every so often.
“Ah, nothing, nothing. I’m fine.” he assured her. “Is Hisagi-san still getting the drinks?”
“Naa, Izuru.” Renji smirked at him. “This your first time this deep in Rukongai?”
“My… My third time.” Izuru admitted reluctantly, not meeting Renji’s eyes. Momo shot him a warning glance, patting Izuru on the arm.
“It’s ok Izuru, I haven’t been much further than this, or even this far all that often. Some people just think that they’re ‘tougher’ for having grown up in the more dangerous districts.” she said, smiling at him.
“Pff, some of us weren’t coddled by a loving family. We had to survive for ourselves. Right Hisagi-san?” Renji’s sudden question startled Shuuhei, who had just that moment returned to the table with a tray of drinks.
“Hm? Oh no, I am not getting involved in another of your arguments without knowing what you’re arguing over first.” Shuuhei declared as he sat down. Izuru and Momo started laughing, remembering the last time Shuuhei had agreed blindly to something Renji had said.
“Renji was just saying how not growing up with a family made him somehow stronger than Izuru and me.” Momo explained, pointedly not looking at the sake cups.
“Really? Well personally I’d say I did grow up with a family.” Hisagi said softly. “The gang I formed with my friends was the best family I’ve ever known.” Izuru and Momo gave Renji a significant look and he raised his hands in defeat.
“Alright, alright, so I had Rukia and the guys, shut up.” Renji grabbed the full sake cup Shuuhei held out to him, ducking his head to hide the blush threatening to appear on his face. Shuuhei chuckled and handed drinks to Izuru and Momo; the latter taking the cup reluctantly, suddenly all too aware of what had happened the last time Shuuhei had taken them drinking.
“Congratulations, Hisagi-san.” Izuru said, raising his glass. The other two academy students followed with similar sentiments and all four gulped their first glass.
Several hours later found Renji and Momo drunk out of their minds, giggling and poking each other every so often, with Shuuhei and Izuru a little better off.
Shuuhei gave the giggling pair an odd look. “I know Hinamori can’t hold her alcohol well, but what happened to Renji?”
“I think… we reminded him of Kuchiki-san.” Izuru murmured, giving his friend a concerned glance.
“Oh.” Hisagi would have continued, but at that moment Izuru found himself with a lap full of very drunk Hinamori.
Izuru blinked down at the giggling girl leaning on his chest and then looked to Shuuhei, silently pleading for help. Shuuhei smirked and shook his head.
“Momo… Ah, what are you…?” Izuru broke off when Momo giggled again and began to traces over the circles on his uniform with her finger. “Mo-”
“Momo.” she murmured, looking up to meet his eyes. “Momo. Sounds cool, huh? Momomomomo. All syme.. Syme… sounds the same!”
“Uh, yeah. I guess it does.” Izuru shifted slightly, trying to ignore the tickling.
“You’re name doesn’t sound right. It should do it too.” Momo pouted, jabbing Izuru’s chest with her finger.
“Well, I can’t help my name not being symmetrical.” Izuru reasoned, trying to ignore the snickering from across the table.
“Mm… So let’s give you a nickname!” Momo brightened at the suggestion, grinning lopsidedly at him.
“Momo I don’t know-”
“Izuzu! That’s it. You’ll be Izuzu!” There was a splutter from Shuuhei as he choked on his drink; laughing and choking in equal measure into his arm. Izuru ignored him in favour of his classmate still on his knee, smiling widely at him.
“I… Izuzu? Momo I-”
“No, no,” she interrupted. “It’s fine! We’ve got me, Momo, you, Izuzu, Ji-ji over there…” Izuru thought Shuuhei might just be killing himself, judging from the sounds coming from his direction.
“Oh, oh, but we have to do something with your name too!” Shuuhei’s laughter abruptly shut off as Momo swivelled around to fix him with her glassy gaze.
“Yes, Hisagi-san.” Izuru added, grinning widely.
“But I’m not part of your group. I don’t deserve a nickname.” Shuuhei tried to wriggle out of that stare, but to no avail.
“Nuh uh! Of course you are!” Izuru nodded along, grin getting wider as the conversation progressed.
“Now, let’s see…” Momo tapped a finger against her chin as she thought, tilting her head to one side. “Oh, I got it! Your last name doesn’t work so well… So, you’re Shuu-shuu!” Momo looked so proud of herself that Shuuhei couldn’t bring himself to protest; even as Izuru buried his face in Momo’s shoulder, trying his best not to laugh at his rapidly reddening senpai.
“That’s… That’s nice, Hinamori-chan.” She made a face at him.
“Nooooo. I’m Momo. Momo. Otherwise it doesn’t work!” Momo whined, waving a hand around and almost failing off Izuru’s knee. Izuru quickly put his hands around her waist, holding her there.
“Woah, watch out Momo.” he murmured, drunk enough not to blush at the contact.
“Thanks, Izuzu-chan!” she exclaimed, pecking him on the cheek. He wasn’t drunk enough not to blush at that.
“Wass all th’ noise?” Renji asked groggily, waking up from the drunken stupor he had fallen into after Momo had bounced over to Izuru. He stared at the two of them for a moment, mouth open, before smirking slowly and turning to Shuuhei “Oh, so those two fin’ly got it t’gether, huh?”
Izuru blushed scarlet and tried to think of a way to get Momo off his knee without offending her. With any luck, Renji would forget all about this by the morning.
“No, Renji.” Shuuhei rescued them. “Momo just decided Izuru was more comfortable to sit on than the bench is all.”
“Shuu-shuu! It’s Izuzu.” Momo chided him. Even as drunk as he was, Renji fell back against the seat, laughing helplessly.
“Shut it, Ji-ji.” Shuuhei growled, glaring at him. Izuru was too occupied with Momo to retaliate; she had shifted around to face him again and curled up against his chest.
“Tired.” she murmured, yawning and closing her eyes. Izuru stiffened for a moment, before gently putting his arms around her to keep her from falling off.
Renji continued to laugh, obviously not having heard Shuuhei. Shuuhei grumpily turned back to Izuru and Momo him in a huff and raised an eyebrow at their position
“She… uh… Fell asleep on me.” Izuru explained, shrugging. Shuuhei shook his head.
“C’mon, let’s get these two home.”
Izuru carried Momo, who stayed asleep the entire journey back to the academy, while Shuuhei tried to control Renji, who insisted on singing loudly and trying to run off down every alleyway he saw.
They made it back to the academy without any accidents. Izuru took Momo back to her room, leaving Shuuhei to get Renji back to theirs. Her roommate opened the door on the first knock, giving Izuru a decidedly unfriendly look.
“You’ve only just made it back for curfew, you know.”
“I know, Mitsuragi-san. I’m sorry.” Izuru murmured, shifting Momo in his arms.
“Why’d you let her drink that much?” she asked as she stood aside to let Izuru put Momo down on her bed.
“I think she was trying to keep up with Renji.”
“Honestly, you four.” Mitsuragi glared at him. “It’s not good for her.”
“It’s only once in a while Mitsuragi-san.” Izuru tried to defend himself. “And she had fun.” He hoped Momo wouldn’t remember the kiss - can I call it a kiss? - and that if she did she wouldn’t tell Mitsuragi; otherwise he might have to hide for the next few weeks. He didn’t know what he’d done, but Momo’s roommate had at some point decided that there was no way in hell she’d let Izuru, or the rest of his friends, have her without a fight.
Izuru bid her goodnight and returned to his own room to find Renji trying to get Shuuhei to sing loud drinking songs with him. Shuuhei gratefully gave him over to Izuru and hurried off to his division before Tousen-taichou had the gates locked for the night. Izuru managed to get Renji undressed and into bed without incident and he drifted off soon after.
Sleep was a little harder for Izuru to find, though he’d had plenty to drink that night. It was an hour or so later that his mind allowed him to rest and fall into dreams that he could not remember well, but wished that he could.
If Momo remembered the next morning she gave no indication, but she certainly remembered the nicknames, much to everyone’s consternation. Mitsuragi took to calling Izuru by his nickname as often as she could, especially around Momo and especially around teachers. Shuuhei would bring them back up every so often, mostly when they were drunk, though Renji wanted to forget about them; which Izuru was glad of.
Too bad Hajime found out really. Oh well, the fourth healed his nose so well that there wasn’t even a scar. Still, the rest of the year could be fun, even if Makato had left, with Hajime nursing a grudge like that. Izuru didn’t want to think about the trouble that was going to come out of their celebration with Hisagi, not the least of which would be if Momo remembered.
Life was never boring at the Academy of Spiritual Arts.