[Well, he has her cabbage so... he knows that dinner isn't done yet, and he can at least be there to make. Polite suggestions, like please don't put cinnamon and cheese on the cabbage together?
Yikes.
And yikes again, when he actually gets oops, he called it home earlier didn't he? back to the apartment. Pushing open the door and seeing how dark it is inside is alarming, to put it mildly. Ichigo just doesn't trust a goddamn thing in Deerington, and it takes everything he has not to let a sense of panic root itself deep as he closes the door behind him. Shoes off, act normal. This is normal. Everything is fine. Nothing terrible is about to happen right now. (Please don't let anything terrible happen right now, he's still recovering from the end of the Labyrinth and dealing with the inner fallout from all of the rumors about the both of them he keeps defacing while he is out. Among so many other things on the ever growing list.)
[ It takes all her restraint to stay quiet when she hears the door open. Sure, she felt his reiatsu draw closer and closer to the apartment, but hearing the door knob turn sets a new wave of excitement through her. She really hopes that he likes this and that she didn't go too overboard...
The concern in his voice does make her feel a little guilty, but she's hoping he'll think that it's worth the suspicion. Orihime sucks in a breath and then plugs in her "surprise".
In that instant, the apartment is filled with light, but not from the usual sources--there is an impressive amount of string lights carefully tacked and secured to the ceiling to create something to the effect of the banded arm of the milkway going right from the front door to the apartment and then stretching out towards the sliding door to the balcony. There are also little shiny star stickers all over the place, reflecting the lights as they twinkle on and off.
She also jumps out from where she'd been crouching by the outlet by the couch. ]
[To say he wasn't startled by the sudden light filling the room or the way she jumps out suddenly would be a bold faced lie. The look of shock on his face and the way he jumps a little is evidence of it. Ichigo has to actually tell himself to chill the hell out and try to diffuse the tension he'd gotten just from that.
Shock bleeds into confusion though, because it just isn't clicking for him why there are lights and little star stickers all over the apartment. Why Inoue would go through the trouble of, and now it makes sense; the errand she'd sent him on to keep him out, doing this is lost on him. Ichigo moves, eyes not really leaving all of the twinkling in their living room as he sets the bag down on the kitchen counter.]
Now the cabbage and oranges make sense, you were trying to keep me away, but why did you--
[Ohhhhhhhh. It's July. It's July 7th, to be exact. Tanabata. Ichigo has been so withdrawn and jaded with everything that anything like this has just. Slipped his mind completely, or, in the case of his fast approaching 18th birthday, has been just shoving it all aside and ignoring it. And the cheerful, pleased look Orihime has right now makes him feel guilty for taking that route.
Ichigo hasn't wanted to acknowledge things about home lately, partially out of defiance at the fact it's out of his power to return so far... but also because deep down, he is really homesick. Admittedly, he absolutely just forgot about Tababata altogether, but. The idea that he might have to endure his birthday for the first time without Dad, Yuzu, and Karin has been like a punch to his gut. And that's not fair to the girl standing before him, the one who has gone through the effort to surprise him with a living room full of stars and twinkling lights. The one who is in the now with him, who has been there with him during his worst moments in Deerington. It's been too easy to try to close himself off, even to Orihime, and that alone is one of the worst things he could be doing right now. It's like giving her the middle finger, and that's was never his intention.
You're such an asshole, sometimes. Ichigo thinks it to himself as he moves to admire one of the strings of lights, hand coming up to touch one of the bulbs. Then he looks to Orihime, a small but appreciative smile, masking all of that deep shit he'd rather not dwell on anymore in an instant.]
Tanabata. Got it. I totally forgot about it, honestly. How long've you been planning this?
[ Orihime knows that it make take a minute to sink in, but the longer it does the more she starts to worry that maybe, just maybe she went a little too far. This isn't her apartment anymore, after all. It's a shared space...she should have asked him first, right? If she'd done all this to her own room it would have been fine! But if she asked him to come to her bedroom and not to mind all the lights being off, well--that would leave another impression entirely!
But he starts to put the pieces together--her trying to keep him out of the house, the seemingly random foodstuffs. But he goes quiet again and she feels the need to fill the silence this time. ]
--Y-Yes, I'm sorry for the deception. Um...we really did need cabbage! The oranges were me being a little selfish, so I hope it wasn't too much trouble.
[ When he inspects her work a little more closely, she shuts her lips tight, keeping herself rooted in place, much more nervous than she was waiting for him. That little smile does ebb some of her worries, though she knows she'll approach the next few surprises with a little less exuberance. One step at a time. ]
Just this last week.
[ Orihime walks up to stand next to him, looking up towards the ceiling and all her handiwork. It is a ridiculous amount of stickers. They'll be peeling those off for weeks. ]
There's been a lot going on and time has really been flying by. I was a little sad when I thought about all the summer festivals that we'd be missing back home, so then I thought..."why can't we still have one here?"
[ She turns her smile to Ichigo, a little nervous. ]
[Oh gods, no, that would have gone over so badly, especially in light of the eternally never, ever spoken about deerlyBeloved match incident.
But. There she goes, apologizing again unnecessarily. If he got even a minor amount of money for every time the words 'don't apologize' came out of his mouth, they certainly wouldn't be staring at a gajillion little star stickers all over their apartment.
The way his smile widens a little bit more should be telling enough, but the fact that it reaches his eyes this time will probably do more for reassuring Orihime that he doesn't mind--neither the star stickers or the fact that she did what she could to keep him out of their apartment. He still feels guilty as hell, for taking her for granted and letting himself sink into that dark place, but her smile and the effort are more than enough to keep him out of it, for the time being at least. If he is honest with himself? This is probably exactly what he needed for that to happen at all.]
Don't apologize. It's just right. Even if it's gonna be a headache for us later. So are we gonna write our wishes and hang em on something? [As if to make up for the way he feels like he has been an absolute jerk to her, he's gonna add in his own suggestion. Orihime has done all of this for them, at the very least he can participate without any kind of complaint.
Not that he really wants to complain, at least not in his normal fashion, when it involves her. A weird thing that he doesn't ever let himself question.]
We could send them off at the lake when our festival ends.
[ That smile? That smile alone is worth it entirely. It makes her chest expand with warmth and she feels a rejuvenated effort to impress him and see if she can help him smile like that again.
When he mentions wishes, though, she covers her mouth. ]
Shh, that will spoil the surprise!
[ Yes, there are most definitely wishes going to be involved. That's a big tradition. And when he suggests that they could give them a proper send off? She lights up. ]
Could we? That would be great! That's the only way to do it.
[ Well, since he already knows part of it, she motions for Ichigo to follow her to the back door. She pulls back the curtain and boy the light of the afternoon beams in and burns her retinas, but she pushes it back just a little so she can open the door and beckons him outside.
Outside there is a potted bamboo plant about three feet tall. There are already a few little tanzaku hanging off. ]
I also got some colorful paper so we can decorate the tree too! And...well, the cabbage is because I wanted to try and make something close to okonomiyaki to go along with our noodles.
[Now that he is easing in to the idea of being in a better mood for the first time in a while, it's easy to smile a little wider at the way Orihime gasps and tells him not to spoil the secret.
Nailed it, effortlessly. Oops.
Ichigo follows her as he replies, stepping out of the apartment to check out the bamboo plant she's acquired.] We can definitely do that. It wouldn't really be right if we didn't, would it? [ He crouches down beside it, touching one of the tanzaku almost thoughtfully, before turning his attention back to her.]
Maybe I can help with that, too. [So that nothing really weird gets put into their already guaranteed to be offbeat okonomiyaki plan. Has she noticed the way Ichigo is always offering to help her cook...? That'll be an awkward conversation, if it ever comes up.] So where do you wanna start?
[ And they can't really go home so might as well go big. Not that that was the parallel she was trying to make. (Whoops.)
Yes, Ichigo, she actually absolutely knows that you're trying to supervise and make sure she doesn't make anything too strange for you. As much as Orihime enjoys her own unique palette, she also is well-aware that it's not most people's cup of tea. She knows she that she should tell him it's fine not to watch her and that she'll save her additives for her own servings or portions, but...well.
She also just kind of likes the attention and involvement. Like a fun activity that they can do together, something she looks forward to. It's greedy. She'll tell him someday.
Today is not that day.
So Orihime just nods that too. Sometimes feigning blissful ignorance saves them both face, doesn't it? ]
Are you hungry? If so we can start with food while we think of some good wishes.
[...yeah, some things are probably better left unsaid on that front, because they're just gonna end up going in some typical apology circle over that.
Anyway, it's a similar feeling that he has. Sure, he does it with a self serving purpose in mind on the surface, but the time spent together cooking has actually been one of his favorite things about being stuck here with her. It makes him feel like something is normal, and okay, and he would probably keep doing it even if she were to tell him.
Either way, Ichigo is getting to his feet, offering her a smile that only seems to get more comfortable the longer they talk about their plans. Ichigo definitely needed this, in hindsight. He's going to have to make sure to tell her that, at some point.
Not yet, though.]
I could definitely eat, I haven't had anything yet. [Because his appetite has been at a bare minimum level, thanks to anxiety and everything else eating at him. Now that he feels a little lighter, he's definitely not just saying that to keep her from worrying, like he's gotten used to doing lately.] Lead the way. Your good sized cabbage is on the counter.
[ Keeping some sense of normalcy is absolutely her goal. Even though their idea of "normal" may not exactly be mainstream, it's important to keep them grounded, at least she believes so. Orihime has been worried that it might come off as complacency, an acceptance of their situation and a lack of desire to change it. Because there have been good things, hasn't there? She's gotten to spend time with him, she's made new friends, but...
...but their end goal is to leave this place. They have to get home and fight another battle. Yet every day in Deerington can't be spent fraught in worry and in disappointment of their lack of progress. Others have spent years in this town, and while she does think that Ichigo can make a difference, she also doesn't want him to to feel pressured to be the only one to push forward. If time really is paused, the time is something they do have.
Which means there's time to have some okonomiyaki and set fire to paper.
So she smiles at his appraisal of the cabbage and heads back inside. She'll have to flip a few lights back on to actively cook, though. ]
It is! It might be more than we need for tonight...although I could just make really, really fat okonomiyaki? Mmm, what do you think, Kurosaki-kun?
[ Orihime pulls two different packages out of the refrigerator. ]
They didn't have octopus so we'll have to improvise. I did get some sort of white fish, though? And I got chicken! Which one would you like? Or maybe both?
Edited (damn that kurosak-kun for showing up again) Date: 2020-07-24 05:05 am (UTC)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-08 07:19 pm (UTC)Any time. Be there soon.[Well, he has her cabbage so... he knows that dinner isn't done yet, and he can at least be there to make. Polite suggestions, like please don't put cinnamon and cheese on the cabbage together?
Yikes.
And yikes again, when he actually gets
oops, he called it home earlier didn't he?back to the apartment. Pushing open the door and seeing how dark it is inside is alarming, to put it mildly. Ichigo just doesn't trust a goddamn thing in Deerington, and it takes everything he has not to let a sense of panic root itself deep as he closes the door behind him. Shoes off, act normal. This is normal. Everything is fine. Nothing terrible is about to happen right now. (Please don't let anything terrible happen right now, he's still recovering from the end of the Labyrinth and dealing with the inner fallout from all of the rumors about the both of them he keeps defacing while he is out. Among so many other things on the ever growing list.)Cautiously, with an obvious dash of worry:]
...Inoue?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-08 07:46 pm (UTC)The concern in his voice does make her feel a little guilty, but she's hoping he'll think that it's worth the suspicion. Orihime sucks in a breath and then plugs in her "surprise".
In that instant, the apartment is filled with light, but not from the usual sources--there is an impressive amount of string lights carefully tacked and secured to the ceiling to create something to the effect of the banded arm of the milkway going right from the front door to the apartment and then stretching out towards the sliding door to the balcony. There are also little shiny star stickers all over the place, reflecting the lights as they twinkle on and off.
She also jumps out from where she'd been crouching by the outlet by the couch. ]
Ta-daaaaah! Welcome back, Kurosaki-kun!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-08 08:40 pm (UTC)Shock bleeds into confusion though, because it just isn't clicking for him why there are lights and little star stickers all over the apartment. Why Inoue would go through the trouble of, and now it makes sense; the errand she'd sent him on to keep him out, doing this is lost on him. Ichigo moves, eyes not really leaving all of the twinkling in their living room as he sets the bag down on the kitchen counter.]
Now the cabbage and oranges make sense, you were trying to keep me away, but why did you--
[Ohhhhhhhh. It's July. It's July 7th, to be exact. Tanabata. Ichigo has been so withdrawn and jaded with everything that anything like this has just. Slipped his mind completely, or, in the case of his fast approaching 18th birthday, has been just shoving it all aside and ignoring it. And the cheerful, pleased look Orihime has right now makes him feel guilty for taking that route.
Ichigo hasn't wanted to acknowledge things about home lately, partially out of defiance at the fact it's out of his power to return so far... but also because deep down, he is really homesick. Admittedly, he absolutely just forgot about Tababata altogether, but. The idea that he might have to endure his birthday for the first time without Dad, Yuzu, and Karin has been like a punch to his gut. And that's not fair to the girl standing before him, the one who has gone through the effort to surprise him with a living room full of stars and twinkling lights. The one who is in the now with him, who has been there with him during his worst moments in Deerington. It's been too easy to try to close himself off, even to Orihime, and that alone is one of the worst things he could be doing right now. It's like giving her the middle finger, and that's was never his intention.
You're such an asshole, sometimes. Ichigo thinks it to himself as he moves to admire one of the strings of lights, hand coming up to touch one of the bulbs. Then he looks to Orihime, a small but appreciative smile, masking all of that deep shit he'd rather not dwell on anymore in an instant.]
Tanabata. Got it. I totally forgot about it, honestly. How long've you been planning this?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-08 09:29 pm (UTC)But he starts to put the pieces together--her trying to keep him out of the house, the seemingly random foodstuffs. But he goes quiet again and she feels the need to fill the silence this time. ]
--Y-Yes, I'm sorry for the deception. Um...we really did need cabbage! The oranges were me being a little selfish, so I hope it wasn't too much trouble.
[ When he inspects her work a little more closely, she shuts her lips tight, keeping herself rooted in place, much more nervous than she was waiting for him. That little smile does ebb some of her worries, though she knows she'll approach the next few surprises with a little less exuberance. One step at a time. ]
Just this last week.
[ Orihime walks up to stand next to him, looking up towards the ceiling and all her handiwork. It is a ridiculous amount of stickers. They'll be peeling those off for weeks. ]
There's been a lot going on and time has really been flying by. I was a little sad when I thought about all the summer festivals that we'd be missing back home, so then I thought..."why can't we still have one here?"
[ She turns her smile to Ichigo, a little nervous. ]
Is it too much?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-08 09:52 pm (UTC)But. There she goes, apologizing again unnecessarily. If he got even a minor amount of money for every time the words 'don't apologize' came out of his mouth, they certainly wouldn't be staring at a gajillion little star stickers all over their apartment.
The way his smile widens a little bit more should be telling enough, but the fact that it reaches his eyes this time will probably do more for reassuring Orihime that he doesn't mind--neither the star stickers or the fact that she did what she could to keep him out of their apartment. He still feels guilty as hell, for taking her for granted and letting himself sink into that dark place, but her smile and the effort are more than enough to keep him out of it, for the time being at least. If he is honest with himself? This is probably exactly what he needed for that to happen at all.]
Don't apologize. It's just right. Even if it's gonna be a headache for us later. So are we gonna write our wishes and hang em on something? [As if to make up for the way he feels like he has been an absolute jerk to her, he's gonna add in his own suggestion. Orihime has done all of this for them, at the very least he can participate without any kind of complaint.
Not that he really wants to complain, at least not in his normal fashion, when it involves her. A weird thing that he doesn't ever let himself question.]
We could send them off at the lake when our festival ends.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-08 11:57 pm (UTC)When he mentions wishes, though, she covers her mouth. ]
Shh, that will spoil the surprise!
[ Yes, there are most definitely wishes going to be involved. That's a big tradition. And when he suggests that they could give them a proper send off? She lights up. ]
Could we? That would be great! That's the only way to do it.
[ Well, since he already knows part of it, she motions for Ichigo to follow her to the back door. She pulls back the curtain and boy the light of the afternoon beams in and burns her retinas, but she pushes it back just a little so she can open the door and beckons him outside.
Outside there is a potted bamboo plant about three feet tall. There are already a few little tanzaku hanging off. ]
I also got some colorful paper so we can decorate the tree too! And...well, the cabbage is because I wanted to try and make something close to okonomiyaki to go along with our noodles.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-10 07:30 pm (UTC)Nailed it, effortlessly. Oops.
Ichigo follows her as he replies, stepping out of the apartment to check out the bamboo plant she's acquired.] We can definitely do that. It wouldn't really be right if we didn't, would it? [ He crouches down beside it, touching one of the tanzaku almost thoughtfully, before turning his attention back to her.]
Maybe I can help with that, too. [So that nothing really weird gets put into their already guaranteed to be offbeat okonomiyaki plan. Has she noticed the way Ichigo is always offering to help her cook...? That'll be an awkward conversation, if it ever comes up.] So where do you wanna start?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-13 02:39 am (UTC)It's best to go all out. "Go big or go home!"
[ And they can't really go home so might as well go big. Not that that was the parallel she was trying to make. (Whoops.)
Yes, Ichigo, she actually absolutely knows that you're trying to supervise and make sure she doesn't make anything too strange for you. As much as Orihime enjoys her own unique palette, she also is well-aware that it's not most people's cup of tea. She knows she that she should tell him it's fine not to watch her and that she'll save her additives for her own servings or portions, but...well.
She also just kind of likes the attention and involvement. Like a fun activity that they can do together, something she looks forward to. It's greedy. She'll tell him someday.
Today is not that day.
So Orihime just nods that too. Sometimes feigning blissful ignorance saves them both face, doesn't it? ]
Are you hungry? If so we can start with food while we think of some good wishes.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-17 05:11 am (UTC)Anyway, it's a similar feeling that he has. Sure, he does it with a self serving purpose in mind on the surface, but the time spent together cooking has actually been one of his favorite things about being stuck here with her. It makes him feel like something is normal, and okay, and he would probably keep doing it even if she were to tell him.
Either way, Ichigo is getting to his feet, offering her a smile that only seems to get more comfortable the longer they talk about their plans. Ichigo definitely needed this, in hindsight. He's going to have to make sure to tell her that, at some point.
Not yet, though.]
I could definitely eat, I haven't had anything yet. [Because his appetite has been at a bare minimum level, thanks to anxiety and everything else eating at him. Now that he feels a little lighter, he's definitely not just saying that to keep her from worrying, like he's gotten used to doing lately.] Lead the way. Your good sized cabbage is on the counter.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-07-24 05:04 am (UTC)...but their end goal is to leave this place. They have to get home and fight another battle. Yet every day in Deerington can't be spent fraught in worry and in disappointment of their lack of progress. Others have spent years in this town, and while she does think that Ichigo can make a difference, she also doesn't want him to to feel pressured to be the only one to push forward. If time really is paused, the time is something they do have.
Which means there's time to have some okonomiyaki and set fire to paper.
So she smiles at his appraisal of the cabbage and heads back inside. She'll have to flip a few lights back on to actively cook, though. ]
It is! It might be more than we need for tonight...although I could just make really, really fat okonomiyaki? Mmm, what do you think, Kurosaki-kun?
[ Orihime pulls two different packages out of the refrigerator. ]
They didn't have octopus so we'll have to improvise. I did get some sort of white fish, though? And I got chicken! Which one would you like? Or maybe both?