Ichigo doesn't realize it at the beginning. Not that this is surprising, he has always been one to follow his guts more than anything else and to this day, it has worked incredibly well with some mayor clusterfucks along the way. But the good outweighs the bad and that's all Ichigo needs, really. All of this means that when he does realize what is going on, all he does is shrug his shoulders and move on with his life.

All he knows is that being with Shinji makes him feel nice and comfortable and save and really, that's all there is to it. So one day, after an especially tiring day, Ichigo thinks nothing of it as he crawls his way into the other vizard's bed instead of going back to his recently gained small apartment in soul society or Kisuke's brand new investigations centre.

Shinji grumbles a little in protest of being woken up but soon enough he's pushing and pulling at Ichigo and the younger man allows himself to be moved until he's firmly under Shinji's body, his face hidden on the blonde's collarbone and hands fisted by the small of his back before he relaxes and lets sleep take him.

He wakes up purring and it takes his mind a sleepy second to both come to the realization of what he's doing and then promptly dismiss it as unimportant. What is important, however, is the way Shinji's hand stops its petting of Ichigo as the other man talks with someone. He bites Shinji's shoulder softly in protest and Shinji growls at him in warning.

Ichigo sulks, annoyed, but nuzzles the shoulder in apology nonetheless and purrs again when he's nuzzled back. It takes him a second to realize he's being kissed, another to come to the conclusion that he likes it and less than that to start kissing back. Of course, as it turns out, it was Renji who had been talking to Shinji in an attempt to get the captain to help him out with something or the other.

Which means, in turn, that Renji promptly puts his foot in his mouth. Ichigo doesn't mind as much as he could. Of course, he stills kicks the redhead's ass to a bloody pulp and throws his unconscious carcass at Shinji's feet. Then proceeds to an all-out sparring match in the eleventh when Ikkaku and Yumichika provoke him. And if he shows off a little more than usual because he can feel Shinji's gaze on him and it makes him feel hot all over? Well, no one needs to know.