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substituted-shinigami · 11 months

Text

Night Scare, Morning Care

AO3

Characters: Rukia and Renji (RenRuki)

Rating: G+

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship/Pre-Relationship, Thriller-ish??? Kinda sorta not really 😅

Chapter Summary: Sometimes dreams cause us to recognize feelings that we have previously suppressed.

A/N: Happy "almost" Halloween, y’all! And what's scarier than dealing with one's own emotions? I think Rukia had rather I given her a hollow! xD

Part of the "We Can't All Be Winners" anthology series of oneshots.

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"Rukia…" Renji gasped between shattered breaths.

"Quiet, Renji,” Rukia said sternly, “We…We're almost there.” But the strange black sludge they were wading through clung to them, pulling them down. Rukia tried to push through, but it was like moving through tar.

"Ru…kia…"

"Hush now…" Rukia replied more gently, readjusting her grip on him, "Conserve your strength… We'll make it out, I promise." She continued to push through the muck, one of her arms holding tightly onto Renji’s arm which was draped across her shoulders, while her other arm was wrapped around his midsection. Renji hung limply by her side.

"You've…You’ve got to leave me, Rukia… You've got to…"

"Shut up!" Rukia shouted at him, "I'm not leaving you, so just shut it, okay?! We'll make it…" Rukia kept moving towards the light, but it felt like it wasn't getting any closer. What was going on? Where were they?! And what happened to their friends?! She thought frantically as Renji slowly became heavier and heavier by her side. At this rate…

"Ru…please…"

"I said, no, you idiot! I told you we'd make it- ARGH!!!" Her foot got caught on something in the muck, and they fell hard. "Ugh…where… RENJI!!" Rukia looked around furiously before she spotted where he had fallen. She rushed to his side, but now they were both covered head to toe in the tar like substance and were twice as heavy. Rukia struggled to even drag Renji onto her lap.

"You've…got to go, Ru… You've got to…" Renji whispered between rasping breaths. He tried to reach up his hand to her, but struggled to even lift it. Rukia reached out with her free hand and took a tight hold of his, bringing it close to her.

"No! I won't leave you!” she yelled resolutely, squeezing his hand, “I won't."

"Ru…"

"I can’t go on without you, Renji, not again," Rukia clutched him closer to her chest, "Never again. I can't…so please…"

"Ru…"

Tears began to run down Rukia's face, "I love you…" She sobbed as everything went black.

__________________________________

Gasp!

Rukia woke with a start in her bedroom, the expensive Kuchiki sheets tangled tightly around her form. But despite the sweat dripping from her brow, she felt cold, ice cold. Quickly she reached out, and only began to relax when she felt Renji’s familiar spiritual pressure perfectly safe in the Sixth Division barracks. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, only for her hands to come away wet from tears. Rukia tried to laugh it off.

Renji’s safe, she thought, Of course he's safe! Go back to sleep, you idiot!

However, no matter how she tossed and turned, sleep eluded her. Rukia threw off her sheets and got dressed. Within minutes she had arrived at Renji’s barracks, the warmth of his spiritual pressure flowing past his door and spreading over her like a warm blanket. Perhaps she could stay standing there for just a little bit…

__________________________________

When Renji woke up the next morning at the crack of dawn, the last thing he expected was a visitor. He wouldn't have even checked had it not been for the very obvious and familiar spiritual pressure right by his front door. Not even bothering to change out of his sleeping robe, he hopped out of bed and headed straight for it. As he quickly approached his front door, the familiar coolness of her spiritual pressure rushed past him like a crisp morning breeze. It woke him up, invigorated him, made him feel like he could conquer anything.

Renji slid open the door with gusto, "RUKIA!!!!"

"WAAAAAH!" Rukia exclaimed as she tumbled right into him. She had fallen asleep on his door, "What the heck, Renji?!"

"Sorry! Sorry! But how the heck was I supposed to know you were leaning on the door!" He yelled back as he stood her up again. He leaned against his door frame, and asked, "What are you doing here so early, anyway?"

Rukia looked up at him, their eyes locking, and felt her breath leave her. She quickly looked away.

"I… Is it so weird that I'm here?! I've visited you before, y’know?!"

"Well, yeah,” Renji agreed, as he casually cleaned the dirt from his ear with his fingernail, “But never this early. I’m the morning person, remember?"

"I…” Rukia stammered, “I had to tell you something!"

"Okay, what is it?" Renji prompted, but Rukia continued to look away, unable to meet his eyes. Finally, Renji sighed, "Okay, that's it. We're going out." He said, walking back into his dorm.

"W-What?!” Rukia panicked, her head whipping around, “Renji? Oi! We're what?!"

"We're going out to eat, of course! That always cheers you up. Come on in, but stay over there, I'm gonna go get changed," Renji said casually, as he grabbed his shinigami uniform from off the floor and walked behind a changing screen. Rukia took a deep breath and led it out again very slowly. As she stepped into his dorm, the familiar messiness of it eased her nerves a little. She picked up one of his sports magazines off the floor and flipped through it.

"Not that I ever mind eating out, but don't we have a vice captain’s meeting this morning?" she called after him.

"Not until later, and we don't have to eat at a restaurant, we can just go to a food stall," Renji yelled back from behind the screen. He emerged fully dressed, "We'll still beat Matsumoto."

"That's true…" Rukia admitted as she put the magazine back down.

"So then, come on!"

__________________________________

"So,” Renji began after they had grabbed their food and began walking back towards the meeting hall, “now that we've gotten you something to eat, are you ready to tell me whatever it was you wanted to tell me?"

Rukia was mid-bite into a dango when he asked. She finished chewing slowly, and then opened her mouth as if to say something. However, she ended up just closing it again and staring down at her food. Renji sighed.

"You don't have to tell me, y’know?" He said as he took another bite of his takiyaki.

"No, it's okay,” Rukia replied quietly, “It's…It’s just a little silly is all… “

Renji finished chewing slowly, watching her out of the corner of his eye as they walked along. Eventually he swallowed and turned towards her, saying, “Rukia, you are silly.”

“H-Hey!” she snapped back, but she was looking up at him now.

“We both are!” he went on, “That’s why we get along! So don’t even worry about it, okay?” He took another bite.

“Okay, okay…” Rukia relented. She took a deep breath before continuing,” Last night, I had a nightmare…where you died…."

"Ah…Yeah. I've had those… Nightmares where you died, I mean."

"Yeah…this isn't my first time having one either,” Rukia agreed, ”After I woke up, I reached out to feel your spiritual pressure. You were fine, of course, and usually that's enough. But lately it hasn't been. I wanted…I don’t know, reassurance maybe? Or maybe I just wanted to be near y- UH, anyway, I was wide awake after that. So I got dressed, and was planning on just checking up on you real quick, but I ended up staying too long and fell asleep on your door…" Rukia admitted before taking another bite of dango. Renji blinked in surprise.

"Oh.”

"Yeah…Sorry..." she mumbled, as she turned away and proceeded to quickly stuff even more dango into her mouth. Renji’s tattooed eyebrows furrowed together.

"What the heck for?" he asked. Rukia’s head spun back around towards him.

"M’ut mu u mean ‘M’ut m’or’’?!” Rukia attempted to shout out around a mouth full of dango.

“Ack! Dang it, Rukia! You got bits of dango on me! Swallow that before you choke, you idiot!!!”

With much effort, Rukia managed to swallow the massive, munched up mound of dango in her mouth, before glaring up at Renji, “What do you mean, ‘What for?’ I just needlessly woke you up early over a bad dream. It’s not just silly, it’s pathetic…"

"It’s not pathetic, Rukia…” Renji murmured as he brushed bits of dango off his shinigami uniform, “If you want to see me, you want to see me. What's the big deal? We're friends, aren't we?" he crossed his arms, "Just knock next time, alright? I'll let you in." Rukia looked taken aback.

"What?! Really? You’d really let me in? No matter the time?"

"Yeah, I mean, I’d prefer you came during the day, but…I like seeing you too, y’know?" Renji admitted as he quickly turned his face away. Rukia blinked.

"Oh. Thank you."

"For what? We're friends, remember?! Don't let something like this bother you. Anything else?"

"Oh…um…no… That's it," Rukia said, as she immediately stuffed her last dango into her mouth.

"Alright, well, we better get to the meeting if we don't want to get yelled at by Vice Captain Sasakibe,” Renji said as he finished off his takiyaki. He balled up his trash and chucked it in the nearest bin.

"Y-Yeah. Let's go," Rukia agreed as she did the same. As they headed towards the Vice Captain meeting hall, Rukia noticed she was walking even closer to Renji than she did before. She could feel his spiritual pressure flowing around her again, embracing her like a warm, comfortable blanket on a cold winter evening.

Perhaps, one day, she thought, I can tell him the rest…

>>>>>>>>>> Author’s Note

A/N: Happy “almost” Halloween, y’all!

Months, maybe even a year ago at this point, I was scrolling through RenRuki Tumblr and found a post where someone said something to the effect of, “Knowing Rukia, I don’t think she would confess first unless Renji’s literally about to die.” Well, I thought about that for a looooong time, and eventually wrote this piece! xD Obviously no one was actually in any danger here, and sadly no true confessions were made, but hey, at least they became closer! Listen, baby steps, these two need baby steps!!!

I really had a lot of fun writing the nightmare part! It was interesting trying to write this strange, dangerous environment they found themselves trapped in. I thought about changing the title to make it not as obvious that they were just in a dream, but I was never a big fan of when they did that in stories, so I left it.

Oh, another thing I liked about writing this was trying to figure out HOW THE HECK WOULD RUKIA CARRY RENJI?! (This was written before I saw her carrying the captains in the tybw anime) Like it’s easy to imagine how he would carry her. He’s done it several times. It’s adorable, and I love it. But like, Renji deserves to be carried off too right?! Lol, Unfortunately the result isn’t nearly as romantic, but I think it works! I imagine Rukia is pretty strong even before the TYBW arc, so I doubt his weight is the problem. It’s his dang length!!! Anyway, I’ve gone on way too long, and talked about basically nothing, so I better go now. Thank you for reading!

#rukia kuchiki #renji abarai #renruki #fanfiction #we can't all be winners #wcabw #Happy Halloween y'all!#I hope you all enjoyed!#Stay tuned next week for a special double feature of content!

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world-of-fire-and-flight · 2 years

Note

Herro! It I, SleepyAnon :DDD

It is past 5am and I am really sleepy—

BUT! What if hero/villain really likes to cook and bake as a way to relax and have a lot of leftovers, so they give some to their neighbors. The neighbors being villains/heros and vigilantes and everyone doesn’t know their alter ego— (think it’ll be cute if most of them really like hero/villain and have an unspoken agreement to not mess with the block they live in)

((And idea of how they can find out is by smell or little smears of ingredients, along with behavior—))

A/N: SLEEPYANON THIS MIGHT BE MY FAVORITE PROMPT EVER (which you’ve granted me a lot of amazing prompts and I happen to follow a lot of awesome prompt blogs but this one is such a MOOD for me) <3 In other news, I really should be baking pie but here I am, writing instead 😜

Warnings: some violence, reference to fainting (no actual fainting occurs in this fic😊), me avoiding my responsibilities, unedited

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Hero tapped their fingers patiently against their knees, leaning over themselves as they sat staring into the oven and watching their perfect pie bake. It didn’t matter that there was flour streaked in their hair or crusty pie dough caked underneath their fingers, all that mattered was the apple crumb pie baking in the oven and filling their home with a warm buttery and cinnamon scent.

Inhaling deeply, Hero sighed. They sagged against the back of the kitchen chair they sat in and leaned their head against the back of the chair.

All was quiet and still after an afternoon full of washing apples, whipping up pie dough and rolling it out, then peeling and slicing the apples, and finally putting together the pie filling. They weren’t entirely convinced there wasn’t pie dough in their hair too or spiced apple juice dried into their hair either, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.

This was heaven.

Sure, they were sore from being on their feet all day and from struggling to roll out the pie dough and getting it sit just right on their pie plate and delicately crimping the edges, but it was worth it.

And it would be all the more worth their while when it was done and cooled enough to bring to their new neighbor to say “welcome to your new home!”

After all, Hero knew just how awful the city could be and how quickly a good day could turn rotten. That, and moving was such a headache. Hero certainly wouldn’t have minded if someone had brought them a pie when they’d moved into the row of brick townhomes.

As it was, the few times their neighbors had tried to reciprocate the small acts of kindness from Hero’s baking habit, hadn’t exactly gone over well. If Hero had learned anything about their neighbors, it was that none of them could bake. Some of them could cook—which was a lovely surprise when a full meal had shown up on their doorstep moments after they’d gotten home from their shift—but it seemed like they were then only one on the block capable of baking anything.

It was the thought that counted though. They’d happily accept another tray of over baked cookies (not burnt, Hero would never say that unless the whole cookie was as hard as a hockey puck) if it meant knowing that someone had thought of them just as they’d often thought of their neighbors…

Hero laughed to themselves.

So maybe their baking wasn’t that righteous. In truth, all they cared about baking and getting their mind off of their work and whatever troubles had crossed their mind thanks to the meddlesome actions of whatever villain they’d fought. Too often, Hero would bake a whole batch of cookies or cupcakes and realize they couldn’t possibly eat them all by themselves. They couldn’t even save everything in the freezer (they really should try to work on their stash of previously baked goods to make room for new desserts or at least some ice cream but they often couldn’t wait for their pick-me-up treat to defrost).

But today, they were truly baking from the kindness of their heart and not their stress or frustrations about being one of the city’s shining saviors.

They bit their lip.

Hopefully their new neighbor liked pie.

***

Villain grabbed their mask and slipped it on. Even though it’d been a few good minutes since they’d set their fork and plate aside, they could still taste the sweetness of the apple and the warmth of the cinnamon. What they wouldn’t do for another piece, but staying home didn’t pay the bills. They didn’t know what they’d do if they missed this opportunity to rob the City Bank.

For month’s they’d surveyed the bank, its security, the employees and tellers. If they didn’t hit it today, they didn’t know when the next opportunity would come around and they couldn’t wait, not if they wanted to pay off their debt to Supervillain.

As they slipped out of their townhome, Villain wondered what their sweet, precious, innocent neighbor would do if they ever found out just who their new neighbor was.

Chuckling to themselves, Villain imagined they’d faint. They seemed like the sort of too-good-to-be-real person that somehow manifested straight out of a T.V. show or a book. There was no way their neighbor, who they’d learned from a few of the other neighbors who’d stopped by to say hello, had a habit of baking and sharing their treats with the neighborhood would survive the news of living next door to a villain.

Villain’s lips set in a grim line. They’d have to make certain their neighbor never found out, especially if they could bake a pie that delicious and habitually share their homemade baked goods.

***

Villain huffed, finally pinning their nemesis down on the lobby floor. Leaning closer, they meant to sneer in their face, but something gave them pause. Sweet apples and cinnamon? Villain sniffed again, trying to be discreet as they leaned even closer and squinted down at their nemesis. Something white streaked through their hair, along with something slightly yellow in color.

“Excuse you, creep,” Hero said, squirming and managing to flip them both over so Villain was the one pinned down to the gross bank floor. “But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t sniff me.”

Villain couldn’t even manage a glare, catching another whiff of what could only be apple pie. “Were you baking?”

Hero froze, their grip loosening just the slightest bit.

But it was enough for Villain to shove them away and jump to their feet.

“I-I don’t know what—”

“You’ve got flour in your hair!”

Hero rolled their eyes, crossing their arms. “All right so I was baking! Unless you’re about to go into anaphylactic shock, I don’t see how what I was doing before you decided to ruin my day by robbing a bank matters!”

Villain scoffed. “Yeah like some flour and crusted pie filling is going to do me in.”

Hero’s hand erupted into flame. “I never said what I was baking.”

Villain froze. Cursing silently to themselves, Villain’s eyes darted to the bag full of money they’d collected from the bank drawers and from breaking into the ATM machine they’d dropped when Hero had flung a ball of fire at them earlier to announce their presence.

“Yeah well…it’s apple season?” Villain tried in vain to lie their way out of the bind they’d wrapped themselves in. “Anyway, it’s always nice to not be burned after one of these little—”

Villain flung themselves to the floor, dodging the ball of flame Hero threw their way. Twisting around in time to see the flames die out before the fire caught on anything flammable, Villain was absolutely certain.

Hero was their new neighbor.

“How did you know I was baking pie?” Hero hissed, bouncing a ball of flame in their hand.

“Because…” Villain hesitated, searching their mind for an excuse. They saw Hero raise their arm like they were getting ready to throw that ball of flame. “IMYOURNEWNEIGHBOR!”

Villain braced themselves, shielding their face with their arms.

Nothing.

No heat hissed against their suit. There wasn’t any light flashing behind their closed eyes from flames hurtling toward them.

Villain peeked open an eye and lowered their arms. Hero stood, their body slack and without a single spark of their flames.

Well, they hadn’t fainted.

No, instead Hero was staring at them with a mix of bafflement and slight horror. “You’re what?”

“Yeah, uh, unit 6?” Villain slowly shifted toward the bag of money. “The apple crumb pie?”

“What a waste of a perfectly good pie,” Hero pouted. Sighing heavily, Hero pinned them in place with a harsh glare. “Take the money,” they said, “Pay your debt to Supervillain, and don’t ever tell a soul about any of this.”

“That’s it?” Villain sputtered. “You’re letting me go? With the money?”

“I’m hoping to buy your silence,” they explained, walking away. Embers sparked from their clenched hands. “It’d be a real shame if I had to move because you found out who I am.”

“Well I wouldn’t have,” Villain muttered, “if you’d only taken a shower when you were done baking.”

“I would’ve!” Hero shouted across the lobby, lobbing a cold ball of flame at them that tickled their face. “But someone decided to rob a bank!”

“Well, I’ll be more considerate next time,” Villain smirked, strolling toward the gaping hole in the bank wall that they’d blasted through earlier. “Especially if it means more pie in my future.”

Hero scoffed. Calling after them, Hero’s harsh made Villain chuckle. “As if.”

#writeblr #my writing #heroes and villains #hero x villain community #baking #hero x villain fluff/feel good stuff #still gotta bake those pies. whoops #this is me belated celebrating my blogiversary and first snippet post lol #and also halloween #Happy Halloween y'all!#trick or treat

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