Roommates Assemble!!! (College AU)
AO3
Characters: Rukia and Ichigo (RenRuki/Ichihime), with a guest appearance of the rest of the Karakura Gang
Rating: G
Genre: Slice of Life, Friendship, Humor
Chapter Summary: Having chosen to go to an out of town college, Ichigo has found dorm life to be less than ideal. Rukia, a friend he met in college, feels the same way about her living situation, and so do several of their friends. But don’t worry, Rukia has a plan! (Author’s Note after the story)
Part of the "We Can't All Be Winners" anthology series of oneshots.
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“That complete and utter- ARGH!!!!” Rukia yelled, forcibly shutting off her phone and stuffing it deep into her bag. She stormed up to the college breakroom table, and dropped her bag heavily onto it, before slumping down into a chair.
“Oi! Don’t rock the table, I'm trying to write in pen here!” Ichigo complained as he scowled at the fresh, unintended pen marks on his page. He sighed and reached over to his bag to grab his whiteout. “Who was it this time? Byakuya or the old man?” he asked.
“The old man…” Rukia grumbled, as she rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands, “Ginrei was bad enough when Byakuya was actually at the mansion. But now that he and Renji are gone on active duty for two years, he is utterly unbearable…”
“How are you dealing with that, by the way?”
“With Ginrei? Hmph,” Rukia crossed her arms, “By avoiding him whenever possible, of course!”
“No…I mean with Renji being gone,” Ichigo asked as he continued to rummage through his bag, “You two got engaged right before you found out about the deployment, right?”
“Ah…that…” Rukia looked down and was quiet for a moment. She glanced at the simple, but beautiful ring hanging on the chain around her neck, before closing her eyes, and stuffing it back inside her shirt, “It sucks that he’s gone, but it sucks more that I couldn’t go with him. But ever since I got injured on my last rescue mission, I’ve been useless. That’s why Brother- that’s why Byakuya submitted for my discharge after all…” Ichigo glanced up at her, before returning to his rummaging.
“Hey, don’t get me wrong, from what you’ve told me before, this Byakuya-guy sounds like a real pain, and I’d never defend him. But as a brother, I don’t think that’s why he did that.”
Rukia continued to look down, “You don’t know him like I do…” she muttered. She uncrossed her arms and sat back up, waving a hand dismissively, “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. This is Renji’s last deployment, I’ve got college to keep me busy, and when he gets back, we'll elope, and then I can finally leave that stupid mansion and its worse occupants behind for good.” Rukia withdrew a notebook from her backpack, “Although, with how things have been going with Ginrei, I might just move into the dorms at this point.”
“As someone who is currently living in the dorms, trust me they can be just as bad,” Ichigo grumbled, as he finally found his whiteout and began carefully spreading it across the aimless marks on his paper. Rukia looked up at him.
“What? Is your roommate still causing you trouble? Do you want me to come over and beat him up for you?” At that, Ichigo finally fully looked up from his assignment, in complete exasperation.
“What?! No! Why is that always your first solution!”
“Hah! Says the guy always getting into fights!” Rukia countered with a laugh, as she took out her markers, “Orihime told me how you “valiantly defended her donuts” from the “confounding confectionery thief” on her way home from the bakery the other day. You get into fights over donuts, Ichigo. Donuts. Still mad you didn’t call me about that, by the way, I wanted to give the guy who messed with her a good licking too…” Ichigo threw his hands up in the air at that.
“I don’t try to get into fights! Plus that was different! First of all, he was a thief, not just a general jerk like my roommate. Secondly, that guy started it by grabbing her arm. And thirdly, it was off school grounds so no one was going to get expelled by it!” Ichigo said, ticking his excuses off on his fingers. He waved his hand dismissively and went back to writing his paper, “Plus the guy went down fast, you wouldn’t have had any fun with him.”
“Hmmm,” Rukia hummed in agreement, “Still it sucks that she lives in such a dangerous neighborhood. If she could live in the apartments closer to the school, she wouldn’t have to worry about it so much.”
“Yeah…” Ichigo agreed quietly, as he stopped writing again. They sat there silently for a while as they fretted over their friend. Suddenly, Rukia perked up, and slammed her fists on the table.
“Ichigo!”
“Gah! Rukia, what did I just say about rocking the table!”
“Hey, I waited till you stopped writing, didn’t I? Anyways, listen to this!” she looked at him, eyes gleaming with…ideas, “You and Orihime should get an apartment together closer to the school!” she exclaimed excitedly. Ichigo looked up at her with huge eyes.
“W-WHAT?!? Rukia, we’re not… But I haven’t yet… Even if I had…” He stammered, but Rukia just waved her hand dismissively at him.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there too, as a chaperone,” She stated matter-of-factly. Ichigo’s face immediately deadpanned.
“Gee, thanks a lot,” he scowled. He scratched his head, “Anyway, that’s not the only problem, y’know? Even between the three of us, there is no way we could afford the apartments that are near the school. They are way too expensive!”
“Hmmm…true,” Rukia agreed, as she tapped her chin in thought. But she quickly perked up again, much to Ichigo’s chagrin, “What about Chad? You two were tight back in high school, right?”
“Since middle school, actually, and I can ask him, but I’m still not sure. I think we need one more to be in the clear.”
“Easy,” Rukia shrugged, “Ishida.”
“What?”
“Ishida. He hates his dad, constantly complains about the guy. He’d be glad to move out.”
Ichigo stared at her. “First of all, just ‘cause someone doesn’t like their parent doesn’t mean they want to move out,” Ichigo said. Rukia shrugged nonchalantly at this, “Secondly, Ishida might be a bigger introvert than you.”
“Untrue, Ichigo! How could you utter such a falsehood? No one is a bigger introvert than me!”
“That’s exactly my point!” Ichigo exclaimed as he waved his hands for emphasis, “Out of the people you have gathered, including myself, you’ve got three huge introverts, a guy who barely talks, and a girl who constantly overworks, and never asks anyone for help. Ever. Also, we’ll probably each have to share a room. How in the world do you expect us all to live together?!”
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Three weeks later, Ichigo stood outside the nice apartment building, his bag swung around his shoulder and a suitcase in his hand.
“You’re in the way, Kurosaki,” Ishida said as he bumped his way past him with his bags.
“Come on, Rukia, let’s go pick out our room! Oops, sorry, Ichigo!” Orihime apologized as she accidentally grazed him with the large item she was attempting to carry in by herself.
“Orihime…let me…help…” Chad muttered too quietly for anyone but Ichigo to hear. He ended up having to jog to catch up with her. Finally, Rukia strode up beside Ichigo, bags on each shoulder, hands on her hips, looking smug.
“This is going to be great!” She grinned. Ichigo just sighed.
>>>>>>>>>> Author’s Note <<<<<<<<<<
A/N: So I've started reading through the Bleach light novels and I really like their chill, slice-of-life feel. This piece was inspired by the first one, Letters From the Other Side, where they really tap into Ichigo's and Rukia's roommate/schoolmate relationship. I would love to turn this into a whole series one day, but that would be a pretty massive undertaking, so this is it for now. Thanks for reading!