Teach Me Something (Rukia/Shiro)

Rukia talks herself into a corner a lot, huh? Shiro sort of recognizes it now. It caught him off guard when she brought up sitting on him, but he’s sure she regretted it. He wonders if she’s going to go through with it still though. Normally, she keeps her word, but he wouldn’t press her too much to get out of her comfort zone just because she wasn’t paying attention to her own mouth. That won’t stop him from stopping her if she doesn’t speak up because having her actually make the moves feels like a dream come true.

Maybe he’s overthinking it. She seems to not be bothered. Her steps are even a little peppy. The walk didn’t even feel long despite him hating having to make it. One second they were in the Rukongai, the next, they’re at her place in the Seventh Division. Shiro has wondered how her real home actually is, but Rukia probably isn’t the type to introduce her boyfriend to her Noble family just like that, even if it’s been a couple of months. Actually, he wonders if her family even knows she’s seeing someone.

“Alright. Tea and tests: the perfect combination.”

He’ll not worry about it too much. It’s obvious she’s not, like, ashamed of him. If that was the case, she would have made a bigger fuss about him sleeping outside her class. Yeah. He’s worrying a bit too- Wait a minute. He’s in her place. This is his first time, right? It has to be. There’s no way he wouldn’t remember how straight up girly her place is if he’s been here before. It’s like he stepped into his little sister’s room, if he had one. He could feel his manliness slowly fade the longer he let his focus remain on anything. You know, thinking about it, this should have been expected. Despite Rukia’s tomboyish nature at times, she really did just have a tendency to just be extremely girly at random.

“What a place…”

He muttered as he moved to the bed and sat down. He almost felt bad for tarnishing her nice sheets with his manly ass. Look at all the rabbits too. How does she even sleep with the parade of stuffed animals taking up almost all the space? It’s a bit crazy, but it’s really freaking adorable too. However, she is not decorating their place if they ever start living together.

Making tea for Shiro gave Rukia just enough time to think about the fact that they were now firmly in this situation, and that she really couldn't back out of it now. Not that she would, that would make her look like an idiot, and despite her age, Rukia was still very much the type to worry about those sorts of things. Even moreso when it was her boyfriend.

"You'll have to wait a little bit while it steeps. I guess I'll get everything together."

That meant putting it all on the bed, didn't it? And probably moving some of the cute pillows off to their other spots, especially now that there was someone a lot bigger on the bed. Yep, he was still there, wasn't he? Better to just not think about where she'd gotten herself, put all her paperwork on the nightstand next to it and start setting the pillows on the coffee table nearby.

Honestly, it didn't take long at all until her options were to stand around awkwardly or engage with Shiro again.

"The tea'll probably take a little bit. So..."

At that point, the options were to just let the awkward silence take over or to actually do something, and frankly, Rukia thought about just flipping a coin. But she braced herself, even as her face once more flushed pink, and sat down on the bed next to Shiro, leaning against him quite firmly.

"We can just wait for that."

It’s a comedy. Between the room and Rukia’s fidgeting, it’s proving nigh impossible to not break down. This sort of stuff just writes itself sometimes. He doesn’t even care about the tea anymore. Watching this woman who invited him here fail at committing to her own quips is somehow becoming the highlight of his day. Honestly, not a hard achievement though when compared to class and sleeping on the ground. Well, he couldn’t help but feel bad for her still. She’s just a pure maiden attempting to accurately play her part in a relationship. It feels wrong to try and push her into doing something she’s obviously struggling with.

“You know, it’s just a lap. I think I’m fine just being here like this. There’s no real need to force yourself.”

Besides, she has papers to grade, and he’s almost positive she’d struggle doing them if she actually engaged with him like that. He knows he’d probably make it hard for her to concentrate anyway. Unfortunately, that’s all she gets for right now, no other reassuring words or gestures from him. Everything is in her hands because this situation is just too rare. He wonders if she will take the first chance to back off, or, maybe, she’ll actually commit. He’s a bit of a bully at times, huh?

Was she that obvious? What a stupid question, of course she was that obvious. She may have been inexperienced, but she wasn't a schoolgirl, she had a fairly firm idea of exactly what this must have looked like. Something about that idea only irritated Rukia all the more, both at herself and at Shiro, and she nearly went to hit him on the shoulder before collecting herself.

"What, I can't force myself? I always heard I should try and live life, do new things, be happy. Been a long time since I saw any of those people, but I still think it's good advice, don't you?"

Of course, just because she believed it didn't really cull the nerves at all, but it was still something that ran through her mind as she forced herself forward, taking a breath inward to center herself before she moved right onto his lap, facing toward him rather than away from him as she (somewhat awkwardly, honestly) did her best not to simply straddle him in an incredibly suggestive way. It didn't really work, though, given the very nature of the gesture.

"You probably love this anyway, right? That's good enough. I don't mind looking a little stupid."

That wasn't entirely true. She definitely minded it. She just appreciated that he liked it more than she minded it.

“Looking stupid is what it’s all about. A man on his knee? A woman being jealous? Sharing each other’s laps? Pretty funny, don’tcha think? A bit silly too. It’s a wonder why things like that are often found as attractive.”

What is he even getting at? His words aren’t exactly reassuring, but they’re there for a reason. He wonders if she’d get it. Well, that’s none of his concern, honestly. His hands resting on her sides should be enough for her to understand that he’s not going to bully her about any of this. Despite his small grin, his whole demeanor felt more appreciative than anything else. He’s comfortable. That’s the only way to explain it.

“But, I guess I can’t say I’m not happy. There’s a fine peach on my lap after all. Fresh from the market too. I wonder if she’d like it if I took a handful.”

Now, that was more a threat than anything else, his little smile shifting a bit into something a bit more his style: mischievous and teasing. His fingers tapped on her sides as he slowly guided them down, but before he did anything to shift their pleasant afternoon into something else, he left her. His hands moved over to the side, grabbing the papers from her nightstand. Now, he did say he’d rather her finish her work before they got distracted with other things. He’s not going to let anything get carried away until then.

“Someone’s got some papers to grade. Don’t want to become a bad teacher just because you have more interesting things to do.”

Now, his face is definitely in Shiro territory. It’s disgustingly smug and ready for some back and forth.

"I don't know those answers, you know that."

Being called a fine peach certainly turned her a nice shade of red, but before she could even come up with a suitable retort, he was already moving things right along, giving her a reminder that she hadn't really needed. She still appreciated it, though.

"Hey, I'd never go being a bad teacher just because of you. I'm a professional, after all."

Despite that, though, she leaned up to give him a short, sweet kiss. Rukia had to admit that she appreciated the way he acted in these situations, even if he was overly cocky about it. There was a genuineness to it that she appreciated, and beyond that, his intentions were still in the right place. It was really the only thing that kept her from beating him senseless every time he did it. Taking the papers from him as he grabbed them from the nightstand, Rukia took out a pen and turned herself back around, nestling herself against him as she began her grading.

"Should I take my time with all these, make you squirm?"

“Professional? Say that again, but this time, add a little wiggle.”

Is he supposed to be taking her seriously right now? While she’s literally sitting on him? Guess one can focus on their work while being comfortable, but she then taunted him. Would she really take her time just to test his patience? He’s sure she would, but he also knows she would also want to get done so they can hang out.

“...”

It is a bit weird to be sitting like this, doing nothing but watching her scribble on papers. His hands are behaving. Rukia would probably get mad if he played around too much while she’s trying to be professional. Mmm…

"Hey, don't go pushing your luck."

Rukia couldn't say much else, though, considering she was the one that'd even caused this situation to begin with. She focused on the papers in her hands, doing her gradings slowly and properly, but it didn't take too terribly long for the tension of this setup to loom over her like a dark cloud. It didn't get in the way of her focus, of course, she wasn't nearly that immature. But it would have been pretty much impossible to deny the truth of the situation.

"You're comfortable, you know."

Was that the right sort of thing to say? She really didn't know. On one hand, maybe it was good small talk. On the other hand, maybe it was just the kind of teasing that would frustrate him even more. Oops.

“I am, aren’t I?”

He muttered, bored with the process of grading. He thought he’d have fun, watching who failed and passed, but he doesn’t feel much of anything about it. Of course he already knows how his friends would have done. It’s not the first time he’s seen their scores on tests and such. Nothing he saw elicited a particular reaction from him. Not even her weird comments did much to cure his boredom. Yeah, you’d think he’d want to feel more than comfortable, but he’s rather content with chilling. Not everything is about getting down and dirty. That’s been done enough to not always haunt his thoughts. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe it’s a bad thing.

However, despite what he’s feeling, bothering her in some form or fashion is just something to do, so… He didn’t do much. His hands just found themselves in her head, playing with her hair. She wouldn’t mind if he started to braid it, would she? Ah. It doesn’t matter. She soon has a little braid on the side of her head.

It didn't surprise Rukia too much to feel Shiro playing with her hair, and if anything, she had to admit it was a little nice. The braiding caught her off guard, though, but she didn't stop him by any means. Even if it was something she wouldn't have expected, it was the sort of simple intimacy that she had to say she was fond of. It was the exact sort of quiet life she was happy to live these days.

Setting her finished gradings to the side, closing her eyes with a quiet sigh, Rukia leaned back a bit more, simply relaxing against Shiro for now. She could have been a bit more forward, more affectionate, but she thought there was something really nice about this. She didn't want to change it just yet.

"You know, I didn't really ever see myself being a teacher."