#and then there's toshiro who could absolutely look older if he wanted but he chooses not to

[keikakudori]

okay lu, list off the top 5 most toxic traits/most unhealthy aspects of aigin, go, before the mobs arrive thinking you actually don’t see them as unhealthy —

i never said they were not UNHEALTHY I JUST SAID THAT THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS HEALTHIER THAN THE ONE AIZEN HAD WITH SHINJI----

but top five you say? alright then, let me think here.

at the top of the list, we have that mutual murder attempt between them. and it was very much mutual; gin killed aizen. for a minute, aizen was dead. then he woke back up and he was going after gin in kind and that is probably at the top of the list. of course, we get to see the repercussions for it when the blood war rolls around and even in a canon divergent verse, this is not yet something that they have really hashed out yet.

we also have rangiku and gin's lack of communication in regards to "you took a piece of her soul you fucker---" which is there for sure. after all, aizen MIGHT HAVE changed things at least a LITTLE if he had been aware of that whole thing. of course, might is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

though nothing sexual happens, there is an undeniable air of grooming that does hover around the edges of aizen's relationship with gin. yes, gin threw himself into his relationship with aizen wholeheartedly from the moment they actually and officially met, but aizen also had plenty of room to guide gin's growth. he never told him directly i want you to do this and this in regards to our plans but he preferred to make suggestions; if gin chose to go his own way? alright then. but there is that subtle aspect to them all the same.

when it comes to their sex life, sometimes consent is -- admittedly dubious, if almost lacking. that isn't to say that they don't listen to one another if the word "no---" comes into play (do they even have a safeword, cas? do they?) and it's meant, but just because it's not being said means that what's happening is great. of course, they're also both strong enough to stop the other if they really want to, but---

oh. and they're murder husbands. they have committed war crimes and unethical experiments together. like it is canon that aizen modified or crafted mestacia which led to kaien's death which led to aaroniero's birth so that counts. the toxic kicks in because they can have fun while committing these casual murders when it comes down to it. like that's not healthy i'm pretty sure.

we also have honorable mentions of

mutual manipulation of one another.

the lack of communication on important issues (they are both guilty of that).

the mutual obsession with one another; gin aimed himself directly at aizen and made sure that aizen paid heed to him. and then it just went from there.

the power imbalance that sat between them for years though aizen will absolutely assert from the outset of their relationship stepping past the boundary of sexual tension and into actual sex that gin is his equal. he's a captain now and while aizen is stronger than he is? gin's really not that far behind. years of weight training thanks to aizen's reiatsu.

and also the fact that gin would deliberately flirt with other people in front of aizen with the desired result of having aizen slamming him into a wall and snarling at him; this began when gin was a lieutenant and has persisted all the way up to their time together in las noches.

oh AND the fact that they're both absolutely possessive of one another while we're at it. that's one of the aspects of their relationship that is very prominent where they're both concerned; there is no chance of 'sharing' between them.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Going to be 100% predictable here: 💛, ❤️‍🩹, and 😋 for Toshiro, Momo, and Rangiku

From this ask game~

(I apologize ahead of time for this absolute wall of text but there are two of us with lots of thoughts and no ability to be coherent or succinct)

ippoddity's answers

💛- Brotp

Hitsugaya - I'm gonna have to be predictable here, and go with Matsumoto and Hitsugaya. They have such a wonderful depth to their relationship, and unlike most other Captain/Vice-Captain pairs, they have a long history too! (lol not to blast Byakuya and Renji but at the start of the series these two barely know each other) I think that long working knowledge together makes them one of the strongest pairs in the Gotei 13, which is an organization that really seems to value individual strength, but not working together? Which is good and all, but like... you would never get a badass ash/ice wall without two shinigami who understood each other's strengths/weaknesses really well, and then used them to their advantage. Obviously teamwork makes the dream work!

Hinamori - I love Academy Days Renji/Kira/Hinamori. They're so adorable together as they're coming up in the world, and I think there's something very special about bonds forged at school. I think when they graduated, Hinamori made them all a photo scrapbook that they Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-around throughout the years and add to every once in awhile. The pages that Kira makes are usually somewhat straightforward, but nice. Renji puts in pages that are usually activity themed (futsal stickers anyone?), and Hinamori makes pages that are nostalgia-inducing.

Matsumoto - Ok, but who DOESN'T Matsumoto have chemistry with?? The possibilities are endless. I already talked about why Hitsugaya/Matsumoto is so good together, so I will choose someone else to talk about for her. Not sure if this is necessarily a Brotp, but I love thinking about Matsumoto being a big sister to Yuzu and Karin. She already acts in that capacity for many of the other characters (Rukia, Orihime, etc), so can you imagine her with Isshin's daughters? I think she would be a very good influence on them, in terms of knowing even better how to get on Isshin's nerves. He'd probably hate it, but love it all the same, to see his former vice-captain influencing his kids (for better or worse).

❤️‍🩹- Angsty headcanon

Hitsugaya - I don't think this is an original take at all, but as the designated "tensai" character of the series, I think Hitsugaya is rather isolated. He didn't really have a childhood where he got to play with children his age, and then he went straight into the academy, full of people older than himself. Now, he has what is arguable the most Grown Up Job in all of the Seireitei, and he still doesn't get many opportunities to let his guard down and just act silly. Even while everyone else around him gets to carouse and relax occasionally, he's afraid if he joins in, he'll just be seen as childish. So he hangs back, and watches everyone else have fun, all the while wishing he could join.

Hinamori - Prior to Aizen's defection, Hinamori used to regularly make up excuses to visit Hitsugaya. Whether it was bringing over baked goods that she made "too many of" or asking him whether he'd read any good books lately, she really just wanted to make sure he was taking care of himself. But afterward... she didn't seek him out for a long time. She told herself it was because she didn't want to make him worry about her (he already has enough on his plate), but a small part of her was haunted by the look of hatred and ferocity he had in his eyes when he impaled her during the Winter War. Logically, she knew those feelings weren't meant for her, but she still couldn't get it out of her head that they could be. After all, she had accused him of some terrible things, and even attacked him. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he might hate her.

Matsumoto - After Ichimaru dies, birthdays are very difficult for her. Not just because he's the one who gave her her birthday, but also because it's a reminder of the passage of time, and what once was. Normally she loves any excuse to celebrate, and birthdays are a great opportunity for it, but she's never happy on her birthday. She uses to occasion to drink even more than usual, because it's better to be overly inebriated than to think.

😋- Funny/stupid headcanon

Hitsugaya- At some point, maybe when life gets less crazy and people stop invading Soul Society Hitsugaya wants a pet cat. He thinks they're cute and soft and he enjoys their quiet company. (I don't know if this is really based on anything, I just feel it's true in my heart of hearts)

(Yup, we did indeed steal an Arakawa cat for this, and we regret none of it. Let it never be said B3 didn’t commit to the bit.)

Hinamori - Not sure if this is funny/stupid, but Hinamori is insanely good at puzzles. Not just jigsaw puzzles, but also logic-game ones like sudoku and kakuro. She likes to do them on her breaks, and she's always the first to complete the sudoku/kakuro puzzles in the latest issues of Seireitei Communications. Her unmatched superiority at puzzles is also why she's so good at using kidou spells and weaving them together in innovative ways.

Matsumoto - No one has ever seen Matsumoto with a bad hair day. And this is because they do not exist for her. Her hair is just like that naturally, much to the chagrin of Yumichika. Sure, she takes care of her hair, but doesn't have any special regimen or products that she uses.

--- 

whipplefilter’s answers

Brevity is not the soul of my wit.

😋- Funny/stupid headcanon

Hitsugaya - This is something I think about a lot… and the stupidity of this HC comes from how often I think about it, lol. But like, the scene post winter-war where Hitsugaya is training bankai in a cave. I get the reasoning for this, but when rock is subjected to stress (for instance, the volumetric expansion of moisture contained in/between rock as it becomes ice) it cracks, and Hitsugaya has definitely brought that cave down on himself at least once. I mean, he obviously knows how ice works. I don’t think it was a surprise. But lol how embarrassing? (Maybe it was a BOGO thing—built-in kekkai training too?) Just out here CAUSING EROSION...

Hinamori - Some time after the publication of the Seireitei Communications Birthday Edition (and Hinamori’s heroism in getting it fit to print), one of the regular staff approached Hinamori about collaborating on a new artistic feature. Hinamori stopped dead in her tracks, put a hand firmly on the editor’s shoulder, and smiled. "Absolutely not," she intoned, so coldly that it was not until hours later, in the comfort of his own quarters, the editor thawed enough to burst into tears, wholly incognizant of the reason for them. Unless it has already been proofed, polished, and published, Hinamori is never touching that magazine again.

Matsumoto - Junrinan Grandma sometimes makes off-color jokes about Matsumoto being a home invader (Matsumoto’s sudden appearance inside her home in the dead of night to have a heart to heart with baby Hitsugaya was their first introduction to each other). Given the somewhat shaky reputations of shinigami to many Rukongai residents, Matsumoto honestly cannot tell if the jokes are really jokes or not. Hitsugaya refuses to clarify the matter, which leads Matsumoto to believe that it probably is a joke and not that serious, except then Hitsugaya regarded her very seriously and said, "You’d trust my interpretation of a joke?" and Matsumoto is pretty sure that’s a joke (...right?), but in any case, the saga is ongoing.

❤️‍🩹- Angsty headcanon

Hitsugaya - I simply cannot believe that reconstituting your body to augment its ability to function as a sausageskin for bankai power is actually good for you. I don’t think that that TYBW form was the organic, intentional way Hyourinmaru’s bankai is supposed to go. My headcanon is that after pulling that off under duress, it takes years (possibly ten of them) to "undo" the messiness of its aftermath. Patience is a virtue, but I think the angst comes in because during that time Hitsugaya really had no way of knowing that Soul Society *was* going to see peace for the duration of those ten years. And if they didn’t, he did know he wasn’t going to be able to meet the demand. His epilogue smile as he’s talking about that peace is one of very personal relief.

Hinamori - Whenever she messes something up, or isn’t quite good enough at something, or even just has an off day, there’s a >50% chance someone around her will attribute it to her trauma at the hands of Aizen. This is more damaging to her than it would be for someone to see her faults as entirely her own. Her reactions/responses aren’t always healthy, and it can be a compounding vicious cycle.

Matsumoto - Contending with her "greatly diminished" lifespan as a result of Mayuri’s zombie cure is really hard for her. For all the regular reasons that any other shinigami would share, but it also feels like it moves up the deadline for things she might want to experience, and hadn’t previously given much thought to—romance, marriage, children. This is especially difficult because, well. Who’s she going to talk to about these things? Hitsugaya?? Basically all of the women she knows are younger than her, and it feels like all of these life events are probably even further from their minds than they had been from hers. It’s isolating.

💛- Brotp

I wanted to talk about potential pairups that I think would be interesting, even though they may not actually be my dyed-in-the-wool 100% brotp. …BUT MAYBE THEY WILL BE IN MY FUTURE.

Hitsugaya & Zaraki. We talk about Hitsugaya and Byakuya, but Hitsugaya, Byakuya, and Zaraki spent a LOT of time together in the reigai arc and I think the OT3 needs to be acknowledged. I think Hitsugaya and Byakuya like working together because it’s easy for them to understand and predict what the other will do. However, they are both amenable to working with Zaraki because he is actually also easy to predict, albeit in a... completely different way. Also, Zaraki has never once asked a personal question of anyone, which to Hitsugaya merits some commendation.

Hinamori & Sasakibe. I can never quite tell what the protocol is for seeking an audience with the Captain Commander, because sometimes it seems like there’s a lot of pomp and circumstance around it and sometimes Hitsugaya is just like "yeah, I went and dropped off a report." So do random shinigami just like, wander into his office to shoot the shit sometimes, or do these mystical reports need to be personally walked over midday, Captain-to-Commander, with no intermediary, because access to the guy is a big deal? Anyway, my point is, Hinamori sought an audience with Yamamoto, and asked for AND GOT permission just to talk to Hitsugaya on the incredible Fancy Worm TV, and I feel like there’s a story there. I’d love to know more about how that all came to be, and what it was like for Sasakibe and Hinamori to witness each other in the wake of Aizen’s betrayal (of Hinamori, of Yamamoto, of Soul Society).

Matsumoto & Rukia. I feel like Matsumoto might be someone Rukia used to actively avoid one-on-one time with, because Matsumoto’s exuberance can sometimes make Rukia feel a bit inadequate and more wallflower-y than Rukia has imagined her ideal self to be. Plus, Matsumoto is one of Renji’s Friends and Rukia basically only knows her in the context of Many of Renji’s Friends Mutually Getting Shitfaced. But they become closer once Rukia makes VC and Matsumoto is the one to welcome her into the fold. Re: my Angst HC above, I imagine Rukia’s pregnancy with Ichika also opens up a new dimension of Matsumoto and Rukia’s relationship, especially since birth/pregnancy amongst shinigami seems rare to begin with.