Bleach, Ichigo/Uryuu ; Chinese take-out - 1/2
It was easy to forget sometimes that they were still teenagers, still going to highschool, still worried about a future that was all too mundane, when they were exhausted from fighting Hollows, or trapped in the afterlife fighting for their lives.
Easy to forget until it was the night before a major project due and they both looked at each other with that 'oh shit' expression over the dissolving corpse of the latest Hollow as it simultaneously occurred to them that it was after nine and there was school tomorrow. And Uryuu was definitely not intending to let his unpaid part-time job interfere with his prospects for medical school. No way.
"I'll get the books."
"I'll order take-out."
"It's not dinner time, Kurosaki."
"Fuck that! I just killed four Hollows. I'm hungry. Meet me at my place in an hour?"
"So long as you don't order pizza again."
"Fine, fine."
As he sped away over the rooftops, Uryuu wondered if it was a bad sign when the two of them could practically finish each other's sentences.
When he reached the Kurosaki house, Ichigo was in his room with bags spread all over his bed. He let Uryuu in the bedroom window. No sense in risking waking anyone up by coming in the front door.
The smell of chow mien hit him hard as soon as the window slid open. Ugh.
"Hey, at least it's not pizza," Ichigo said when he saw the look on his face.
"Yeah," Uryuu replied, crawling in the window and stepping carefully to not dislodge the bags and boxes all over the place. "Where's Kon?"
"Sleeping with Rukia," Ichigo said. There was a rumbling growl in his voice. Kon was so good at pushing his buttons.
But so was Uryuu. "At least someone's having a good time."
"Shut up," Ichigo snapped.
"Hush," Uryuu replied with a smirk. He plopped down cross-legged on the floor and dumped his armful of books. "So how much research have you done already, or did you completely forget about the project until tonight?"
Ichigo grabbed a chicken ball and popped it into his mouth. His cheek puffed out as he chewed. "I dunno. I thought I'd do it on the Heien period and got a book, but it was dull. Kept falling asleep when I tried to read it."
"How do you intend to keep your top-five placement with that attitude?" Uryuu tut-tutted, reaching into his pile and pulling out a couple of books that might help.
"I don't. Not all of us are geeks like you. Fried rice?" A box was shoved under Uryuu's nose.
He batted it away. "Not hungry." His stomach rumbled.
"The fuck's wrong with you tonight?" Ichigo joined him on the floor, tugging a book out of his hands and tossing it aside. Uryuu winced as it landed open and face down. That was how you bent pages.
"Nothing's wrong." He glared at Ichigo as he rescued the book. "Let's just work. It's late."
"You're just pissed because you forgot about the project, too. C'mon, I can't finish all this by myself, and once I eat I'll be able to think. I can't work on an empty stomach."
"I just..." Uryuu shoved another box out from under his nose. "I don't like Chinese food."
"What?" Ichigo was staring at him. "Everyone likes Chinese food."
"Well I don't," Uryuu replied stiffly. "Go ahead and eat. Don't worry about it."
Ichigo frowned and grabbed a fork, twisting it in the chow mien and coming up with a ball of noodles. "How can you not like Chinese food?"
"People just don't like everything," Uryuu replied, rolling his eyes. "Let it go." He opened a book and buried his nose in it, pulling a notebook towards him and beginning to take notes.