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"ya like what ya see, jax?"
"you woke me up at 4am to get ready and you made me ride multiple trains... to an aquarium."
"yeah? its our first date since we reconciled!"
"dont remind me of that... where did you get the money to get us here and pay for us to go into the aquarium, shinji?"
"i had savings before i left to become a captain again."
"last time you said that you had savings, i had to bail you out."
"im a responsible man now. we have a daughter-"
"ms. hinamori isnt our daughter."
"eventually ill get ya to come around."
ajax shook his head and started walking away from shinji to head inside the aquarium. shinji caught up to ajax and smiled at him.
"i do promise ya that i actually had savings before i left. no sneaking in needed."
"actions speak louder than words."
"i am sorry still about leaving on short notice-"
"i rather we not talk about the past 17 months, shinji. you wanted this to be a date right?"
"right... how about ya go on ahead while i sort out getting wristbands? i see a gift shop there."
ajax just sighed and walked off, heading inside the gift shop. hes not used to being around shinji after all this time. sure they talked it out and had a very long conversation (alongside a rather heated six hours in the bedroom), but it didnt change the feelings ajax had about shinji leaving to join the soul society again. everything was so complicated and he knew shinji was trying to make things better. they both promised to make things better, more like they had to for each others sake. both so miserable without the other and spiraling in different ways.
ajax shook his head, it wasnt the time to think about this. he was out with his boyfriend... no shinji proposed after everything with aizen shortly before he left. hes out with his fiance... now that makes him smile a little bit. he picked up a small pen with a penguin on it, it would be a good gift for hachi...
"see something ya like?"
ajax turned to left to see shinji next to him, holding a wristband. ajax simply rolled up his sleeve and let shinji put the wristband on.
"not for me. hachi has been wanting to get a new pen lately and i was thinking of buying it for him."
"there ya go again thinking of others. yer too sweet for yer own good, jax."
"not really but whatever. you gonna buy me something to drink when we get inside?"
"i will. i was gonna grab ya something to eat too if that was something ya wanted."
"maybe later, its too early. now come on."
ajax grabbed shinjis hand and started walking, almost dragging shinji behind him. heading inside and immediately looking for the nearest cafeteria so he could get caffeine in his system. once finding it he let shinji lead the way, thats how they ended up finding themselves still hand in hand. ajax with a can of soda and shinji with some coffee.
"now will ya accept me dragging ya around the aquarium for our date?"
"whatever you want, shin."
shinji grinned and started leading the way to a few tanks. as the taller started spouting about whatever came to mind, the shorter couldnt help but stare. shinjis bangs did look nice like that... it was a weird change but not a bad one. ajax cut his hair extremely short so he probably cant be talking about someone elses hair. aside from that shinjis smile stood out so much more somehow, its still creepy and weird. hes always liked it that way though, it made shinji cute. getting to admire shinji like this... he wants to do it all the time like he used to. the only thing keeping them apart is shinji living in the soul society again, he only came to visit for a few days. ajax couldnt go back there after everything, all those memories and even the missing ones. he'd constantly be thinking about how he ended his relationship with kensei, how him and gin were more than friends, and aizen... he didnt want to think about all of that. what would he even say to his former captain who noticed his struggles in the past? he couldnt possibly-
"hey look theres seahorses. they remind me of ya. the male ones give birth i think."
"the fuck did you just say about me?"
"that ya carry way too much responsibility. ya arent giving birth."
"did you smoke something this morning? what does that even mean??"
"im keeping ya on yer toes. besides ive been trying to get yer attention for the past few minutes."
"oh my bad... i zoned out. were you trying to show me the sea horses?"
shinji shook his head and raised the hand holding ajaxs towards the tunnel up ahead. ajax looked down it and tilted his head.
"whats down there?"
"my sex drive."
"ha... funny. whats actually down there?"
"jellyfish. ya like them right? i mean i know yer more into sharks and octopi but i remember ya used to have a fake jellyfish tank about..."
"it was five years ago, shinji. i had it five years ago before you and hiyori broke it."
"okay but she attacked me. i had to defend myself, shes crazy!"
"ill be sure to tell her you said that."
shinji pouted as ajax just grinned, starting to walk towards the tunnel.
"i promise not to zone out anymore. lets go look at the jellyfish and find that sex drive of yours!"
"we arent finding that one in there, sweetheart... definitely not after a few nights ago. you took it away again."
"shut up."
"yes sir."
as they made their way into the tunnel, they began looking at all the jellyfish. looking at the tiny creatures swim around. perhaps they were both just too easily entertained by these small creatures but they didnt speak to one another the whole time. separating to look at all the different jellyfish there was to offer in the tunnel before eventually both making their way out. they both looked at each other for a few moments before shinji cleared his throat.
"next one?"
"mhm."
"alright lets see... oh theres a map over there!"
shinji started walking off as ajax caught up, grabbing shinjis hand as to not get separated from him.
"starfish... rays... do ya wanna touch a sea urchin?"
"it sounds overstimulating... i can watch you touch them."
"hm isopods... those are bugs arent they, ajax?"
"we can skip over them if itll freak you out."
"i can look at the eels in the room over and wait for ya."
"sounds good to me. ready?"
"sure am."
so the two began their journey to the areas that they saw on the map, taking little stops to point out things. eventually they made it to their first destination as shinji went to touch a few of the creatures. ajax just watched as he waited. after a little bit of waiting, they decided to go their separate ways. both agreeing to meet back up after they finish.
however ajax was so caught up in looking at the isopods that he was there for an hour before he heard someone taking a photo. he looked around before seeing shinji standing nearby.
"did you seriously take a picture of me?"
"ya looked cute and ya made me wait a long time. are you really that interested in everything down here, darling?"
"i.... dont call me that in public.."
shinji grinned and walked over.
"yer embarrassed arent ya? i should say it more often."
ajax put his hand over shinjis mouth.
"not another damn word.. you are- ew did you fucking lick my hand?"
ajax pulled his hand back and wiped his hand off on shinjis pant leg.
"at least i didnt bite ya."
"i only bit you that one time as a joke! why wont you let it go?"
"cause yer little fangs broke skin."
ajax rolled his eyes and grabbed shinjis phone. his eyes immediately looking for the picture shinji took. soon enough he found it as he began to walk off and it wasnt bad by any means. shinji was always good at taking photos when he wanted to. just as ajax turned to say something to shinji who had been following closely behind, he felt a strong sense of pain in across his torso. so he quickly leaned himself against shinji, grabbing onto him tightly.
"whats wrong, are ya having cramps?"
"no... sorry its.. could we find somewhere to sit down?"
"sure. i saw a few tables near here."
ajax let go of shinji so the taller could wrap an arm around around his waist. the two slowly began walking towards the area shinji spotted, which turned out to be a second food count area. shinji moved a chair back and helped ajax sit down before taking the other seat right across from him at the table. ajax put his head down on the table as shinji carefully started combing his fingers through ajaxs hair. after a few minutes ajax raised his hand to place ontop of shinjis hand that was playing with his hair.
"thanks... sorry about all that."
"its fine. i dont mind having to stop or anything like that, i just want ya to be okay."
"always so sweet.. even wearing that dumb green sweater."
"it aint dumb. besides ya told me that ya liked when i got it a few years ago."
ajax picked his head up and gave a smale smiled.
"i think i wasnt looking when you asked, i cant remember."
shinji sighed as he looked at ajax, he moved his sunglasses from his sweater to the top of his head.
"do you think the glasses are dumb too?"
"no i like them. its very you... as is unfortunately the whole outfit."
"ya always bully me... yer worse than hiyori sometimes i swear."
"not at all... actually theres something i want to do real quick."
shinji tilted his head ever so slightly.
"and whats that, darling?"
ajax slightly stood up, leaning against the table as he grabbed onto the front of shinjis sweater. he pulled shinji foward and kissed him on the lips. shinji was shocked for a moment but before he could kiss back, ajax stopped and sat back down. ajax looked at the fish tank directly next to them with his face still red, he cleaned his throat.
"could you get me something to drink? i also want something to snack on. you know what i like so i trust you."
"yer gonna regret trusting me after what ya just did."
"i never did anything. i was just looking behind you at the places to eat."
"sure ya were. ill be back with lunch."
shinji got up and walked over to a few different places just grabbing a few things from everything. as he made his way back over, he noticed ajax was looking outside. so as shinji placed the trays he was holding, ajax looked at him.
"i heard in america, they have whales and sharks at the aquariums there."
"i dont think i have enough savings to get us there, ajax."
"dumbass."
shinji just sat down and gave ajax a look, waiting for elaboration on what he did this time.
"i wasnt saying we should go for the aquariums, i was just saying it in general. you like to think i always mean everything like i wanna do it."
"thats my bad. ya said it like ya wanted to go, i guess im a bit rusty at reading ya."
"then you better get some rust remover... is that strawberry shortcake?"
"it is."
ajax went to grab the container before shinji pulled it away.
"at least eat the actual food i got ya. even if its just the fries."
"this is sick and twisted.. im in pain and your blackmailing me to eat?"
"i gotta play dirty sometimes with ya. i promised to help ya get back on the right track didnt i? so lets get yer stomach full of some food."
ajax pouted but started slowly eating the fries regardless. as the two began engaging in small talk over the date so far.
"its probably... b rank."
"only b so far?? i thought surely that ya would love this one!"
"its been nice. ive been enjoying myself... it only went down because of how much pain i was in. also the blackmailing."
"oh bullshit. ya just added the blackmailing to make me try to forget about the first part."
"its honesty nothing serious. just some leftover pain from where aizen cut me down."
"i thought ya said there wasnt any pain anymore."
"not as often every few months. captain unohana did a good job healing me despite my injuries... but the pain will always come back so long as i have memories. do you ever just think back to that day?"
shinji took a sip of his orange juice. there was no harm in talking about it.
"of course i do. i think about what happened with hiyori.. what happened with ya as well. i live with it everyday and i have regrets about that day."
"we share that in common then. i wish i hadnt listened to you for the days leading up to the battle. you refused to let me leave and was pretty adamant that i stay at the hideout instead of going back into town."
"i didnt want ya getting hurt or involved."
"and that meant robbing me the chance to also take revenge on aizen for what he did? i get that you wanted to protect me but... if i was there sooner then maybe i couldve taken the hit for hiyori."
"if yer gonna blame yerself for that then i suppose im at fault for not stopping hiyori sooner. id also blame myself for letting aizen cut ya twice and allowing ya to catch me as i fell."
"this is stupid... why are we so fucking stupid?"
"i say the common factor is kensei."
"now why would you say that?"
shinji smiled and held of two fingers.
"well first because ya dated him."
"over a 100 years ago now..."
"and secondly because ive slept with him once."
ajax lightly kicked shinjis leg as he laughed.
"im so telling him you said that."
"dont do that! that would be like me telling ichigo that ya think hes never gonna grow a pair and ask orihime out."
"but in that case im right."
"ya gotta have hope in him."
"ichigo is a dumbass kid. ive been hanging with him for the past 17 months remember? hes not ever gonna grow a pair..."
"ya got a sad look."
"ichigo got his powers back... i heard everyone in the seireitei pitched in from kisuke. everytime i think about it... i really wanted him to have a normal life yknow? he did what we couldnt... hes a damn brat. he deserves to live a normal life."
"is that why i havent seen you and fūtan together since i came to visit?"
ajax nodded.
"she wasnt happy when i decided to stop keeping her close by, even if she was pretending otherwise. i wanted to show ichigo that being a normal human was just fine. i was already good at pretending hollows werent near me and suppressing my spiritual pressure so i did it 24/7, even if one was in my path."
"was it working though?"
"i thought so... some of his friends stopped hanging around him but i was hoping that i was helping. i invited him over to the house a few times to play some games and wed bicker over stupid shit... i dont have to explain who showed up and what happened from there."
"yeah... but what now? ya gonna let yerself lay down with two losses or are ya gonna get back up?"
"i definitely have more than two losses... but i know that i have to keep going. ill just have to train... maybe i can help ichigo out one day. i never did train him like he asked me too in the past... i mean what are the odds something horrible happens again?"
"i wouldnt jinx it. ya got some damn bad luck on yer side sometimes. remember how ya said that no one would stop shopping at yer favorite store because of how popular it was?"
"i miss that place... i cant believe it closed the next day still..."
"exactly so dont going around saying bad things wont happen. id like some damn peace so i dont gotta do more paperwork."
ajax shook his head and went to grab the cake, which shinji let him do. as ajax opened the container and took a bite of his cake, he smiled and nodded. he quietly ate it as shinji watched, he always forgot how ajax got when he got his favorite sweets. they decided to sit there for the next hour, talking while occasionally shinji would get up to grab more drinks and more cake. eventually ajax leaned back in his chair.
"okay... i ate everything i could and had enough cake to last me a long time. you wont make me eat dinner later right?"
"wont make ya unless yer hungry again. good job on eating that much."
"thanks... the cake helped a lot even if i think ill explode.."
"ya just got a tiny stomach. i promise that ya wont explode."
"says you... so whats next?"
"good question. lets find another map!"
shinji stood up and grabbed the bag full of snacks as ajax slowly stood up, stretching with a few loud pops being heard.
"yeesh jax, id think ya were older than me if i didnt know better."
"shut your ass up... ive seen you lose hats that you had on already before."
"we can just both agree to stop talking.. for a guy with a shit memory, ya remember too much."
ajax grabbed shinjis hand and leaned slightly again him, looking slightly up at him with a smile. shinji just smiled back as they walked around to find a map. eventually finding one and standing there for a solid ten minutes.
"i dont see anything else, shinji."
"me either... i guess we just arent as into this as we thought."
"no we were into it but.. we went to everything we wanted to and efficiently at that. its been a few hours right?"
"mhm... we could hit up all the gift shops if ya wanted. something to remember the trip by and all that."
"do you think they have pompompurin? i heard someone say they saw sanrio stuff!"
"ajax... do ya even have space?"
"asshole."
"thats our cue to start our quest. lets go."
so they started walking from gift shop to gift shop, grabbing stuff from every single one. unfortunately for shinji, he ended up carrying all the bags as ajax grabbed things. however while in the second to last gift shop, shinji realized something.
"ajax get yerself something."
"huh?"
ajax turned around to look at shinji. once again with another obvious gift for lisa in hand.
"all ive seen ya buy is gifts for everyone else. i mean seriously ya got lisa two things already, i dont think she needs a bookmark."
"shes been reading more lately..."
"did love really need 4 pairs of slippers?"
"each one was a different animal..."
"hiyori isnt that big of an animal person."
"but she told me that she thought starfish were cool..."
"ive seen ya clearly passing on every pompompurin plush in sight."
"i dont have space like you said.."
shinji sighed and put all the bags down, placing his hands on ajaxs shoulders.
"will ya please just spoil yerself a little? i know its hard for ya but i cant have ya spending all yer own money on everyone else."
"oh you noticed i wasnt using your card then..."
"it took a bit but i realized when i didnt feel dread as ya grabbed things. money is still tight for ya so i really dont want ya spending anymore."
"but-"
"no arguments. its our date and its my apology to ya remember? let me just spoil ya if yer too nervous about picking out stuff."
ajax just nodded and handed shinji the bookmark, he picked up the bags.
"i guess you lead the way around here then.."
"ya can still pick out some gifts but only one per person now kay?"
"okay.."
so they slowly walked around the gift shop as shinji pointed to different things asking if ajax wanted them. though ajax would say no, if he gave a sad look before answering then shinji grabbed it. shinji probably grabbed at least one thing from half the store before they finally went to the checkout. ajax temporarily placed the bags down and slipped away to grab something while shinji was distracted talking to the cashier. ajax quickly made the purchase before placing it into his sweaters pocket, picking up the bags as shinji was just now starting to pay for everything.
"you didnt have to buy me so much, shinji..."
"ya deserve it for all yer hard work today.
ajax stared at shinji confused as the taller finished paying and grabbing all the bags. as they walked out the gift shop and started leaving the building, deciding to skip the shop at the entrance as they had too much to carry already. ajax finally decided to speak up.
"i didnt do anything today that deserves everything your holding."
"huh? sure ya did. ya got up this morning."
"what?"
"ya got out of bed despite how early i woke ya up and got ready for the day. ya got on multiple trains, walked through pretty much the whole aquarium, and ya ate lots of food."
"but thats what people normally do, shinji."
"thats not true. we all have days were getting up aint worth shit but i know ya have those days more than most people. so ya accomplished a lot today and i told ya earlier didnt i? well actually now that i think about it, i only said good job. so let me tell ya properly."
"shin wait a minute, i-"
"im proud of ya. i really am okay? dont forget that."
ajax stopped walking as looked at the ground. he didnt actually deserve any praise, he did what he shouldve been doing everyday for the past 17 months and yet...
"if ya start crying then i might cry too."
"im trying to keep myself in check... sorry that a bit is coming out. i was trying.."
"to stop me from saying it, i know. but i cant let ya go almost the whole day without knowing that. i have a lot more to say but its getting late and i want us to get back home before i say more. also... my arms are fucking kill me."
"i told you not to buy me so much, dumbass. now lets go home- oh wait i got you something!"
"when did ya have the time to grab me something?"
ajax put all the bags down which prompted shinji to do the same, a tiny break before the long walk to the the train station. ajax pulled it out his sweater pocket. as he handed the item to shinji, the blonde looked surprised.
"this is.."
"phone charms. i just... i know you said not to buy anything else but i saw that they had an eel one so i grabbed it for you. unfortunately though it was a two pack so it as a isopod and your scared of bugs... but im sure youll find a use for it. now we can head to the station."
as ajax was about to pick up the bags again, shinji stopped him.
"lets wait a second. i wanna use the charms."
"already? alright then, im sure you remember how to put them on."
"i do. i also need yer phone too."
"my phone? why could you possibly... oh! so you could take a picture of it once you put it on."
ajax took his phone out and handed it to shinji as he decided to sit down on the bench a few feet behind him. ajax moved all the bags to the bench as he started sorting through all the bags, he wanted everything to be organized for what goes to who. a good way to pass a bit of time as shinji was getting the charm on.
after about ten minutes shinji finally sat down on the bench and handed ajax his phone back. shinji had a smile on his face as he showed ajax the eel charm.
"it look nice on your phone, shinji. i cant believe it took ten minutes for you to put it on, are you that rusty?"
"it actually only took five minutes. the other five was spent doing something else."
"like what?"
"look at yer phone."
shinji grinned as ajax looked at his own phone, seeing the isopod charm on it.
"shinji.."
"you cant expect me to be the only one with a new phone charm right? you got me into putting them on my phone so we could match. weve both had the same ones for well over 17 months now, this is our new one. a good memory to start off being engaged."
"you really are a dumbass..."
"yer dumbass though."
"mhm.. all mine. now lets go home.. i wanna go to bed."
"i hear ya loud and clear. my back is starting to kill me. the faster we get home, the better."
as they both stood up and grabbed the bags, beginning the walk to the station. it was clear that things would be just fine between them both.
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bonus -
"shinji what the hell is all of this?"
"its obviously stuff from my trip, kensei. thats why i called you and mashiro here to meet up with me. theres way too much for me and momo to carry back!"
kensei looked past shinji and sure enough momo was trying to carefully balance the boxes she was holding. with mashiro carrying multiple bags, bouncing around as she stacks more boxes onto what momo is holding. shuhei, who was dragged into this, trying his best to take the boxes mashiro is stacking onto momo. akemi grabing a few items at a time and putting it into a cart, eventually also going to help shuhei stop mashiro from causing momo to drop everything.
"i know kisukes prices for stuff like this isnt cheap. so how did you get your hands on enough money after only staying for a week?"
"bout that... i aint the one paying for everything.."
"you didnt."
shinji looked to the side and saw rose coming over and decided to run over to greet him. kensei shook his head and yelled after him.
"shes going to come beat your ass for that!"
~~~~~
"and thats the deal, ms. hiyori! thank you for supporting our shop, ill contact you when i need assistance. bye now~!"
kisuke hung up the phone as hiyori held her phone. she looked at ajax who was nervously glancing away, as if knowing exactly what that was all about.
"THAT DAMNED SHINJI, IM GOING TO KILL HIM THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM!!!!"