Nothing's Changed [Byakuya × Renji]

14 - Late Start

Renji quickly and quietly slipped out of Byakuya's bed, tiptoeing to the bathroom so he could take care of his problem.

Meanwhile in the bedroom he just left, the adult in bed  lay awake, resting his cheek on his hand; wondering what had startled the teen as to make him leave so hastily. He sat up and removed the hair tie from his hair nest, brushing through it with his fingers whilst he waited for his dear friend to return. Upon seeing the teen enter again he reached over to the bedside lamp he acquired when he was seventeen and turned it on, clearly startling the redhead who froze in place.

"Did you have a nightmare?" The raven heard the ginger let out strange and hushed noises as he slept, thinking that they were the result of a vivid nightmare. The boy in the doorway nodded, "yeah, just a nightmare.. did I wake you?" Coy footsteps were taken towards the bed; crawling back under the covers against the wall where he liked to sleep whenever sharing that specific bed.

"No, I've been awake the whole time." A soft yawn rushed its way out of the adults mouth as he grabbed his phone from his nightstand, seeing that it was only 12:07. "How come?" Renji spoke up after a moment of silence; trying to calm his nerves, thinking that he would be caught if he wasn't careful.

"I just haven't been sleeping too well lately," Byakuya shrugged and looked to the teen who seemed very tense and slightly startled. "That must've been a really bad nightmare," he stated, to which the other just nodded quickly then laid back down, closing his eyes almost immediately. "Yeah, very scary..Grimmjow took Zabimaru..."

This nightmare was one that the younger man used to have whenever he was little; sparked after the night that his money got burned. Once he hit about the age of twelve he stopped having that nightmare. "Again?" Black brows furrowed as a pale hand reached out and gently stroked the top of the ginger's head. "I'm sorry Renji, I really am." "Nah, it's ok." The sixteen year old shook it off and relaxed at the soothing gesture, smiling up to the other male.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like forever; until the eldest yawned that is. "I think I'm going to try and get some sleep. Will you be ok Monkey?" After thinking it over for a minute or so, Renji nodded and pulled the cozy blanket up to his nose like he did when he was younger. "Yeah, I'm gonna try and get some more anyways. Night Yaka," and with that goodnight he rolled over. Keeping his eyes open—waiting for the man next to him to fall asleep first.

Eventually the two males found themselves waking up to a very annoyed thirteen year old, lecturing her brother and best friend about sleeping together in the same bed. "Is this why you said you wanted to check up on my brother? You're not a child anymore Renji, you need to grow up." Of course she was only teasing him; evidenced by the huge grin on her face.

The redhead only grumbled a little bit and took his hair out of his braid, then put it into his normal mess of a pony tail, "Ichi and I made pancakes, c'mon, before they get cold." Rukia crossed her arms over her chest and pouted playfully, looking towards her brother as he sat up and yawned while nodding. "Yes Ma'am," he teased then gave his sister a pat on the head. "We'll be there in just a moment.

She nodded and fled from the room into the kitchen, leaving the two alone. With her went a very calming and relaxed air. Now the room felt stale, pressured; panic started to take over. But of course those were only the emotions of the very hormonal sixteen year old who left the bedroom last night to rub out a load whilst thinking of his best friend's older brother. He started to regret asking to sleep with him; but he then took back that regret when the raven hugged him and laid back down.

"Yaka?" He was filled with surprise, this action was very much welcomed and appreciated; it just startled him. "I'm still sleepy Monkey," Byakuya mumbled then buried his face into the bush of red hair he braided last night. "We can't keep Rukia waiting though, she'll-" "yes we can, just tell her that that you wanted to talk about a test you took while I was subbing." Renji sighed softly and slowly snaked his arms around the male in front of him, clutching onto him tightly like that man was a five foot eleven stuffed Zabimaru. Accepting the fact that the substitute teacher wouldn't let him go for a little while.

The high schooler removed one of his arms from the raven and pulled the blanket over them once more, with it came a special awkward blanket with a very familiar name. Silence. Until the twenty-two year old spoke up, "do you still have Zabimaru?" "Yeah, why?" Brown eyes looked up to closed gray ones. "Well, you didn't bring him so I assumed you got rid of him. I remember you used to bring him everywhere." He chuckled softly and opened his eyes, recalling every time the rowdy child would waddle into his room with that stuffed white baboon.

Renji looked away from Byakuya, being a little embarrassed by the fact that the older male remembered how he couldn't put Zabimaru down; not even for a minute. "He's still around..I just keep him home.." he grumbled a little bit; continuing to look elsewhere to avoid further embarrassment. "Have you gotten him fixed?" Long fingers started to pull the black hair tie from red locks, then ran their fingers through the strands of red; much like when they were both younger.

"No, I don't think it would be worth it," the sixteen year old closed his eyes and snuggled up closer towards the slightly taller male; clinging to his warmth. They both felt like they were years younger—laying in each other's arms, having a normal conversation instead of one that felt like they had just become acquaintanted. "How come?" Hearing those words made Byakuya curious, he knew that Zabimaru meant everything to the teen, so why wasn't it worth getting him fixed? "I dunno,"

The truth was that he knew, he was worried that whoever got their hands on his baboon to fix him would ruin him. Not drastically—but he was afraid that something would be off. Whether it was not getting the right faux fur, taking out or adding stuffing, cutting away too much original material and adding new. To him it was equal to losing precious memories.

After a few more moments that had been absorbed by silence the two men got out of bed and wandered into the kitchen, joining the two who had been waiting at the table, joking around and talking about school.