Nothing's Changed [Byakuya × Renji]

7 - Time Flies

Three years. Three hasty years. Renji Abarai, now at the age of ten; sitting in his best friend's bedroom. Who is that best friend? None other than Rukia Kuchiki, now age seven. The two sat in her room, watching late night cartoons while in the room across the hall Byakuya Kuchiki age sixteen sat at his desk doing school work.

The two who had first met at camp no longer needed that one month a summer to see each other; now that Rukia was old enough and was the ginger's best friend they saw each other almost every other weekend. It annoyed the teenager to see Renji sneak into his room every now and again whenever Rukia had left the room to grab snack or to steal some movies off the shelf in the living room.

He didn't understand why the ten year old didn't just wait patiently for his best friend to return, but because he didn't want the little ball of enthusiasm to stay for long he'd talk with him about whatever the boy wanted to discuss.

The main topic of the conversation was Byakuya, how school was for him, if he ever got lonely whenever Rukia was over at Renji's, if he got lonely at night and needed a cuddle buddy. It weirded him out slightly; but there wasn't much he could do, the child was just asking questions and he clearly had no filter on that oral cavity of his.

He was deep in thought studying for a chemistry test whenever his usual unwanted guest wandered into the room, walking up to his desk "Yaka" "worthless Money." Gray eyes stared into brown ones that closed ever so slightly due to a huge smile growing on his face. "My mom said that I could stay the night! Could I sleep with you?" "Why don't you sleep with Rukia in her room?" The teen sighed a little and jerked his head towards his bedroom door as if his little sister was standing right there.

"She hogs the bed," the fourth grader stuck his tongue out on displeasure, getting down on his knees and resting his chin on the desk in front of him; then peered at the worksheet. "What class is this for?" "Chemistry, you'll be taking it in a couple years." Byakuya knew that he wouldn't be able to work on it, so he picked up the sheet and placed it in the textbook that he was using to help him.

"What do you want Monkey? You should be with my sister." "She fell asleep," the smaller boy pointed towards his best friend's bedroom door, frowning a little. This caused the raven to sigh a little louder to prove how displeased he was, pulling his phone up to see the time, "I guess it is getting late huh? If you're not going to leave me alone then just get in bed," the very annoyed teen rubbed the back of his neck then removed the hair tie from his wrist and pulled his hair up into a bun just like he had it during summer camp.

"Thanks Yaka!" Renji smiled and nodded, running across the small room to a full size bed, crawling under the covers. Of course he knew that Byakuya would say yes; or something to that degree, so he had brought Zabimaru with him. No matter how old he got he continued to bring that slightly burned stuffed monkey snake with him wherever he went.

"I really wish you'd just call me Byakuya, Monkey." He sighed once again and got up from his desk chair, pushing it in before turning the only source of light that came from his desk light off, then walked towards his bed and lifted up the covers. This felt very familiar to both boys, seeing as this stunt was pulled multiple times at camp, every year, almost every night the spry child would persist that the two slept together.

The main reasoning was because Renji enjoyed his new friend's company, and still wasn't used to falling asleep on his own. Yes he was ten, but that didn't mean anything. He enjoyed falling asleep with someone by his side out of fear that some sort of monster would see him alone and snatch him from the real world.

Byakuya scoffed a little, but this one wasn't out of annoyance; it was more due to his amusement. "Yaka, will you braid my hair?" "Again? I get tired of doing that you know," "I know, but I like it when you do it!" Renji smiled widely, clutching his stuffed toy to his chest, his hair out of its normal pony tail so the older boy could braid it.

"Fine, but soon you're going to have to do it on your own, you're not gonna be able to come over and sleep with me forever, turn around." The raven grabbed his phone and turned the flashlight on, then placed said device down on its screen so the room would be illuminated. Then he took the hair tie from the ginger and pulled it onto his wrist, gently grabbing and parting bright red hair into three sections before weaving one section over the other.

"Really? How come I won't?" Renji looked back at Byakuya, but only earned a big pale hand turning his head forward again, "because soon I'll be living on my own, and I'll have work. You'll still be in school and find someone that you really like," in the midst of trying to explain that the ten year old would soon find someone else to bug, he turned his head around again, resting Zabimaru in his lap. "But I really like you Yaka,"

This caused the older spawn to sigh as he finished his work, keeping the ends together by looping the hair tie around it, "I mean someone that you want to marry Renji, if you keep following me around all the time then you won't be able to find a lover and be happy, or focus on school,"

And of course, with the ten year old being a ten year old and not understanding teenage and adult feelings, he responded with, "but I love you Yaka."