OH MY GOD GUYS I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY FOR BEING GONE FOR SO LONG. IT'S BEEN LIKE HOW MANY MONTHS SINCE I UPDATED AND I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY! LIKE SERIOUSLY I AM SO SORRY, I HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR BEING ON SUCH A LONG HIATUS AND I REALLY DO HOPE YOU FIND IT IN YOURSELVES TO FOGIVE ME! LIKE OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY, BUT MY LAPTOP BROKE A FEW MONTHS AGO AND ONLY LIKE LAST MONTH DID MY PARENTS GIVE ME ANOTHER ONE FOR MY BIRTHDAY! BUT I AM BACK NOW AND I WILL TRY MY BEST TO KEEP ON TOP OF MY FANFICTION!

Okay, now that all that is over...I know that I should be updating my Hetalia fanfiction but I still need to write up more chapters and this fanfiction was the only one that I could continue easily. Again as I might have stated before, this will be shorter fanfiction and so I would like to finish my shorter ones so I at least have one finished story on my account before for some stupid reason I go on another hiatus. Once again I aplogoise profusely for the lengthy break and I promise that I will continue writing!

Song of the Chapter (It's been so long since I've typed this up oh my god): Happy Little Pill by Troye Sivan

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters depicted in this fanfiction, I own the plot and the story.

Chapter 4

Hitsugaya had no idea how it had become a weekly thing. It was supposed to be that he picked the brat up on Friday's, let him do what he was supposed to and then drop him back off when it was done. Toshiro wasn't counting on the extra step where he was invited into the house for some tea and surprisingly, nice chatter.

"-and so she would just come into the room kicking the door down, showing off her panties in their full glory! Honestly, I'm not the kind of guy to enjoy that! And then she has the gall to get embarassed about it!" Toshiro chuckled as Yukio ranted on. He was quite embarrassed to admit that he had grown to anticipate the Friday's when he'd pick up the Fullbringer, drop him off and then get invited in for some tea and stories. After five weeks, Matsumoto had even begun to tease him about it.

"Oh don't worry, Rangiku's the same, except I think it's more of the cleavage for her. I have nothing against it of course, it's just that when she tries to give me a hug...things can get a bit awkward." Toshiro added; placing his cup of tea back onto the coffee table they were sat at.

Yukio leaned back into his chair, "Yeah, I get what you mean about awkward...though I guess most guys wouldn't really object." he gave Toshiro a suggestive grin.

Toshiro felt his cheeks redden, "Oh shut up! I'm not some creepy pervert, you may be into that stuff but don't go around accusing other people!" he snapped.

Yukio's eyes narrowed, "I am not some creepy pervert!" he fired back. "I'm just saying that most guys wouldn't feel too bad if they got a 'hug' from Matsumoto! Wait...does that mean we're gay..?" he trailed off.

There was an awkward silence before the two burst out laughing. No way, it wasn't possible at all.

Toshiro glanced up at a clock, it had grown to be quite late, later than he'd ever stayed before. He took a final sip of his tea before getting up and politely saying "I'm afraid it's gotten quite late. I should take my leave so you can get your sleep."

"Okay then, I guess I'll see you next week." Yukio replied, Toshiro sensed the tiniest bit of sadness in the statement.

"Yeah, I'll see you." Toshiro flash stepped out of the room.

Even before he reached Soul Society, Toshiro knew that he would do anything to protect the brat from Kurotsuchi, if it was the last thing he did.

Yukio couldn't really bring himself to admit it but he had grown to anticipate - even enjoy - Fridays and Toshiro's visits. Ever since the Xcution disbanded, Yukio hadn't had any people to talk to as friends. He may not admit it outloud either but no matter what he said, the Xcution had been a kind of family to him, they had been close and no amount of denying would change the fact.

Yukio found Toshiro to be quite interesting to talk to, the conversations were intelligent but really, Yukio just liked the company, somebody to talk to when he got lonely. It was a nice change.

There was totally no way Yukio could be gay. He may not have found any appeal in the free panty shots but that just meant he wasn't a sick pervert...right? Yukio sighed heavily before sitting onto the large couch in his sitting room, still pondering over the fact that maybe, just maybe he had a small, tiny little crush on the midget captain.

Yukio was quite excited though, Rangiku was organising a night out and gave Toshiro permission to bring a plus 1, Toshiro decided that Yukio was a good decision to bring, "I know I can trust you not to get drunk off your ass," he had said. Yukio found it strange as to why his heart hammered in his chest when Toshiro had invited him along, he'd known Toshiro for quite a while now, he shouldn't feel so uncomfortable or nervous speaking to him, so why did he? They'd been having tea almost every Friday night and they'd told stories to eachother, just like friends did. They were just friends, right?

Yukio had a small flashback to the time when he had seen those two shinigami Ikkaku and Yumichika, they were 'friends' too right? But it had been very obvious that the two had something going on, Yukio could use a knife to cut through the sexual tension between them. Maybe the two of them couldn't see it, but it was sure as hell that everybody else could.

But thinking about the situation again, if Yukio wasn't even sure of his own sexual orientation, how could he even begin to guess Toshiro's? The captain might have been asexual for all he knew and not have any interest in anyone at all! Yukio knew that this could end very badly for himself, but he also knew that if he didn't try, he would regret it for a very long time and that was something that he was not willing to risk.

Yukio had to use all of his will to force himself to get up and clean the teacups from the coffee table. He had learned quite a lot about Toshiro and how he took his tea, whilst Yukio himself enjoyed European black tea as opposed to the bitter taste of green tea, Hitsugaya liked the sweet taste of the more fruity teas. Toshiro also enjoyed sweets and biscuits along with his tea. Yukio chuckled to himself as he placed the teacups in the sink, no matter what Toshiro tried to prove otherwise, he was in fact still a kid. Yukio smiled as he washed the teacups and left them to dry on the drying rack.

Yukio always had a fluttery feeling in his stomach whenever Toshiro left to return to the Soul Society, he didn't want to sound cliché but he could only describe them as butterflies, good butterflies, but still butterflies. Yukio still had the smile on his face as changed into his pyjamas, brushed his teeth and slipped into bed. The smile only faded once he drifted off to sleep and even then, he had begun to dream.

Soul Society (Time Skip)

"Hey captain, are you going to be picking up your cute little boyfriend soon?" Toshiro glared at Rangiku as she gave him a sly smile.

"For the last time, he's not my boyfriend!" he growled, Rangiku merely winked at him. "When I do bring him here could you please try to not embarrass me? He already makes enough fun of me as it is,"

"Sure, captain!" Rangiku smiled deviously at him and Toshiro let out a deep sigh. He turned to leave when Rangiku cleared her throat loudly. "Um, captain?"

"What is it?" Toshiro said exasperatedly.

"Aren't you going to bring any flowers?" she smirked. Toshiro felt himself go red but quickly turned away and left before she could see. He shouldn't be getting this embarrassed, so why was he? Toshiro had known for a while now that he was bisexual, but he had no idea about Yukio. He imagined Yukio to be the kind of snobby rich kid who literally had girls hanging off his arms and eating from his palm, not the smart guy Toshiro had tea with every Friday. Toshiro tried to imagine Yukio with another guy but he just made himself jealous, imagining Yukio making out with a person that wasn't him.

He didn't know when he knew, he just knew that in cruel twist of fate, he had somehow fallen for Yukio Hans Vorarlberna.

Before knocking on Yukio's door, Toshiro made sure that he looked presentable, he wore plain skinny jeans, a plaint white v-neck shirt with a black jacket on top and a pale blue scarf. There were no flowers anywhere in sight. He reached out to knock on the door.

"Hey Yukio, you inside?"

"Hey Yukio, you inside?"

Yukio jumped slightly at the sound of Toshiro's voice. Sliding his foot into his shoe he quickly called out, "Yeah, I'll just be a minute!"

Yukio took a quick look in the mirror to make sure he looked good, he wore plain dark slacks, a dark dress shirt and black suspenders along with his hat. After straightening his hat a bit, he grabbed his keys from the key bowl and opened the door. The breath almost completely left his lungs when he saw Toshiro. Now Yukio still had no idea if he was gay or not but if finding Toshiro sexy meant he was, then he was as straight as a circle because God did Toshiro look sexy standing right outside his door. The skinny jeans nicely shaped his cute butt and his skinny yet toned form was showed off well with the v-neck.

Yukio fought hard not to openly show his emotions but nothing could stop the red that rose in his cheeks. "You look...different." he instead commented dryly. "You've gotten that stick taken out of your ass it seems."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow at him, "You too, what's with the suspenders? Where are we going, the 20s?" he replied with equal snark.

"Ha ha, very funny, you're just annoyed because I dress better than you."

"Classier does not mean better," Toshiro replied hastily.

"Whatever you say," Yukio rolled his eyes, grinning slightly. "You know, when I say different, I mean different in a good way, I mean, at least you don't look like an old man now."

Toshiro's eyes narrowed, "I do not look like an old man when I'm in my Soul Reaper uniform...but I must admit that the same must be said to you, you do look quite nice in that outfit. Those large coats of yours make you look small I'm afraid."

Yukio's heart pounded in his chest, did Toshiro just compliment him? He totally just did! "Thanks," he answered, trying with all his might to stop his voice from betraying his emotions.

"Your welcome, now we best be on our way or else Matsumoto will start making stories as to why we're taking so long." Toshiro turned to leave and Yukio allowed himself another look at his perfect ass before following.

At the Party (Another Time Skip, look at that)

"Hey Captain! Bring your boyfriend over here!" Rangiku called over when she saw Yukio and Toshiro.

Yukio and Toshiro both made their way over to where she was waiting before yelling;

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"I'm not his boyfriend!"

Rangiku winked mischievously at the two of them, "Sure, you keep telling yourselves that." She turned around to grab at drink from the bar before turning back to them, "Any of you want a drink?"

"No alcohol, I have work to do tomorrow and I can't afford to get a hangover." Toshiro declined, shaking his head and pushing Rangiku away as she tried to tip the contents of the bottle down his throat.

"How about you then?" Rangiku asked Yukio.

Yukio was surprised for a moment, "Uh me?" Should he really be trusting this scary lady when she tried to suffocate him using her giant breasts?

"Yes, you."

"Oh, okay then no alcohol, I've got work to do too." Yukio managed to say, remembering that one of the only reasons Toshiro had invited him the first place was because he trusted him not to get drunk.

"Well, aren't the both of you just perfect for each other then! Come on, the others are waiting!"

Rangiku brought them to the table where a six other Soul Reapers were waiting, Yukio recognised Yumichika and Ikkaku. It was a bit strange, seeing all these Soul Reapers in such casual clothing.

"Hey guys! Captain and his plus 1 finally arrived so we can really get this party started!" she called as she sat down, she turned to smile at Yukio, "So, Yukio these are Rukia, Renji, Shuuhei, Kira, Yumichika and Ikkaku! Everyone, this is Yukio!"

"It's nice to meet you," the pretty black haired girl said, the red haired guy with the weird eyebrows next her merely grunted.

"Yeah, nice to meet you," Shuuhei, the guy with the number 69 tattooed onto his face grinned, why anyone would want that number anywhere on their body was a complete mystery to Yukio.

"Oi Rangiku! Order us a round! It's time to have some fun!" Ikkaku yelled, next to him Yumichika winced.

"Shut up! You're so loud and it's not beautiful!" he gave Ikkaku a sharp slap on the shoulder. Rangiku chuckled but ordered a round for them. It wasn't long before she, Ikkaku, Kira and Shuuhei were all drunk off their asses and doing the stupidest things.

"Why aren't you drinking?" Yukio asked Renji, Rukia and Yumichika.

"I'm the 'desginated driver' for these two idiots." Renji replied glumly, sipping at his tea and gesturing at Shuuhei and Kira, who were for some reason starting to strip.

"Getting drunk isn't beautiful." Yumichika answered, "Besides, Ikkaku has the worst hangovers so I have to take care of him tomorrow."

"Big brother wouldn't approve of me drinking," Rukia answered, "Besides, I wouldn't want to look at stupid as they do,"

Yukio laughed along with the rest of them whilst the four drunkards started to fight over who finished the sake.

"I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back." Toshiro stood up suddenly and quickly walked away.

Suddenly Yukio didn't feel so comfortable anymore, without Toshiro with him he felt like a wolf trying to fit in with a flock of sheep. He was surprised when Rukia nudged his shoulder.

"Hey, so you and Captain Hitsugaya are quite close now aren't you?" she smiled at him.

"Yeah, I guess we are." Yukio found himself saying, where was this conversation going to lead.

"Do you like him?" Yumichika joined in.

"Well, he's a nice friend to talk to." Yukio replied awkwardly, he shifted in his seat.

"You know what we mean! Come on, 'fess up, do you like like him?" Renji wiggled his abnormally intricate eyebrows at him.

"Well..." Yukio trailed off, should he really be telling this to these people? Could he really trust them? It wasn't long ago that they were enemies, but if Toshiro trusted them then Yukio could trust them, right?

"Well what?" Rukia pressed on.

"Well, does he even swing that way?" Yukio asked, it was the first thing he needed to know, if Toshiro didn't even go for guys then he had no chance at all.

"Of course he does!"

Renji gave a large cry as Rangiku pushed him aside to enter their conversation, "He swings both ways! Didn't you know?"

"No!" Yukio's eyes widened, "Is he really?"

"Of course! I know almost everything about my Captain! I know almost everything there is to know about everyone in Soul Society! Gossip is a fast and furious business and I am one of the best!" Rangiku boasted proudly, her cheeks were flushed red and her breath reeked of sake. "I even know that Yumichika and Ikkaku secretly started dating a month ago!"

"Who told you that?" Yumichika hissed at her, he blushed in embarrassment.

"Everybody knows," Renji said flatly, "It's pretty obvious."

"What?!"

"It is, really, you two could not be anymore obvious, I'm pretty sure even Omaeda would be able to tell." Rukia added helpfully.

Yumichika was about to say something when Ikkaku crashed into him from the side and started making out with him. Rangiku cheered loudly and the rest of them joined in.

"So really though, do you have a crush on Captain Hitsugaya?" Rukia asked seriously.

"I guess I do." Yukio confirmed, this all seemed so strange, talking to people who were once his enemies about his love life.

"Then tell him!" Renji clapped him on the back, "If he invited you here then he must obviously like you to!"

Rukia punched him on the shoulder, "No Renji you idiot! You don't just confess right away! Yukio, you have to get to know him a bit more first, get comfortable so that when you do confess, it isn't going to be a spur of the moment thing, those almost always end in heartbreak. You need to be sure that he will return your feelings, do you understand?"

Yukio nodded, should he be taking note? This all seemed like pretty good advice.

"Yeah, what she said. Take it slow, it's never a good idea to take it too fast, it could make either one or both of you uncomfortable and this way, if it does end badly, there's a higher chance that you two will still be friends after." Yumichika was a bit breathless from Ikkaku's intense making out session but no effort to stop Ikkaku as he went in for a round two.

"Did I miss anything?" Yukio almost jumped when he heard Toshiro's voice from behind him.

"No, not much except for the two love birds over there finally figuring out that we knew about their not-so-secret romance a long time ago." Renji answered, he looked over his shoulder to see Shuuhei and Kira unconscious on the ground with just their undergarments on.

"Oh okay then not much," Toshiro retook his place next to Yukio and Yukio immediately tensed up at the closeness, his breathed deeply, keeping his face a straight expression. There was a strange silence where Toshiro sipped at his tea and Yukio looked down at the hands in his lap awkwardly, Rukia noticed it and kicked his foot underneath the table.

Yukio grunted and gave her a slight glare, she gestured her head towards Toshiro who had now started shouting at Rangiku to please stop stripping. Yukio opened his mouth to say something, anything, his new friends had given him advice and now that he knew that Toshiro did indeed play for his team, he should have had the confidence to at least talk more to him, after all they had spoken many times before. But this was different from their previous talks, back then they had just been friends telling stories and laughing about past mishaps, now it was different, it was awkward and it was too much for Yukio.

He got up. "Hey, Toshiro I really should be going..."

"Are you sure?" Rukia blurted out, her eyes were wide, clearly asking what the hell are you thinking?

Toshiro gave him a strange look of worry and Yukio felt tingly at the thought of Toshiro being worried about or even concerned for him. "Yeah, I have to wake up early tomorrow and I should get some sleep."

"Do you need any help?" Toshiro asked, getting up.

"No!" Yukio realised that he had said this quite loudly when he saw the surprised expression on Toshiro's face, he lowered his voice, "I mean, no thanks, I think I'll be fine, you guys go have fun."

Yukio turned and left, not looking back in fear of what he might see. Fear that Toshiro didn't care at all if he left. He didn't see how Toshiro's eyes never left him until he was out of his sight, he didn't see how Toshiro almost got up to follow him and he most certainly didn't see the evil eyes that followed him as he exited the building.

Not until it was too late.