#ginichi

People move around them, arms laden with bags, hands full with children of hot beverages. It’s a wet kind of cold, th clouds gray and covering the tops of buildings, but there are lights covering trees, and festive window displays to help alleviate such drab surroundings. The windows were interactive, so there are crowds of people pushing buttons and getting their photos taken to be part of the display. Food stands release aromas of burnt sugar and spiced meats. Horns blare from cars as they inch their way across the intersection.

Gin and Ichigo are downtown, on their way to a lantern festival by the water. Ichigo’s holding a cup of hot chocolate while Gin eats a waffle drizzled with chocolate and topped with whipped cream – as well as strawberries just to see Ichigo roll his eyes.

Gin can’t help but stare at Ichigo as much as he can while they walk. Ichigo, he feels, looks radiant, despite being dressed in the muted colors that matched the sky. He has a slight smile on his face as he enjoys the hot chocolate and looks around. His blue scarf is wrapped tightly around his neck, the color drawing attention to his hair and eyes, and Gin can’t help but trace that path over and over.

Gin finishes his waffle as they make their way through the crowd. They find a place not too far from the tree to wait, and tease each other about the gifts they’d bought already. If you show me yours, I’ll show you mine, Ichigo offers. That would get us arrested, Gin teases.

Ichigo playfully pushes Gin away from him.

Thy sky is dark and the crowd is eager. There’s a short announcement, a countdown, then the tree is lit up in white, light reflecting off the ornaments to throw a myriad of colors around.

These colors hit Ichigo and he seems… ethereal, a supernatural being beyond even himself, and the softness in Ichigo’s eyes, the contentment he sees…

Gin knows, with absolute certainty, that Ichigo is the one.

Ichigo turns to Gin with a small smile and tugs his hand so they can walk away from the tree. He stops briefly to throw away their trash as Gin trails after, a bit dazed at his revelation, and follows Ichigo without a word.

The tree lighting marked the beginning of the lantern festival, so Gin and Ichigo start to make their way through it. Ichigo takes pictures of every single one of them to send to his family, makes comments to Gin, and reads the signs about the displays.

Gin watches the photo shoot in amusement, waking slower than his partner, reflecting on their relationship as Ichigo finds the best angle for photos along the path.

They’ve come a long way from when they had first met – on opposite sides of a war, of a person, though the same side of an agenda. It wasn’t until Aizen had been secured in the Maggot’s Nest, smirking as if this was an obstacle instead of a detriment, that Gin was paid attention to, and his side of the story heard. He explained himself while bound to a bed in Squad Four, this time being as honest as possible, recognizing this fresh start for what it was.

He wasn’t excused from anything he did, nor did he expect that, but Ichigo, kind-hearted Ichigo, had decided to give him another chance – not wipe the slate clean, but start a new chapter.

It took months for them both to relax around each other enough to have more than a stilted conversation. But, Ichigo was always one for quick forgiveness and Gin was always one to get what he wanted, so they both found topics to talk about without animosity.

Gin couldn’t be more in awe of Ichigo: the teen who blindly charged in to rescue someone he had only known for a few months; the young adult he became when Yhwach was laying waste to Seireitei; the man he became when he went to Seireitei Academy for formal training.

He follows Ichigo as he buys another hot chocolate, making sure to order a brownie for himself, and pulls Ichigo over to the Chinese zodiac lanterns. Ichigo makes him pose by the snake, and he knows that Ichigo will send the picture to Rangiku.

The last part of the festival is a tunnel of lights, and it’s so cheesy romantic they both laugh. It doesn’t stop Ichigo from snapping a selfie of them in the tunnel, though, and Gin wants to stay just to watch the lights in Ichigo’s eyes.

They head back to their apartment, chatting about the lanterns as Ichigo makes tea, knowing how Gin tends to stay cold. They eat and have dessert, Gin thinking over the day as Ichigo messages his family on the phone, sending the photos he took to his sisters.

“Will you marry me?”

Ichigo phone drops out of his hand and hits the table. He looks up, eyes wide.

“Wh-what?”

The question surprises Gin himself. They sit there staring at each other with their mouths open.

“I asked if you would marry me,” Gin repeats calmly, his toying of the spoon the only thing giving away his nerves.

“Ichi,” Gin starts, spoon still in his hand, “when the tree lit up, I knew, to the bottom of my twisted soul, that we were meant to be. Though we met as enemies, we’re now lovers. You are one of the few pure things I have in my life. You helped me fulfill a promise that took more than a century to fulfill, and I would love nothing more than to spend the centuries to come by your side, fulfilling an even better promise. So, I ask again,” he takes a deep breath as he looks at his still gaping boyfriend, “will you marry me?”

Ichigo is silent. They had never talked about marriage, so Gin’s proposal completely blindsides him. But, the commitment, the affirmation, of a marriage bond appealed to him. Ichigo, secretly, had always wanted a love like his parents, one that lasted despite different natures and beyond death.

He loves Gin fiercely. They had come together after Aizen’s imprisonment and somehow fell into a pattern of civility, then friendship, then a romance. Ichigo loves Gin because of his convictions, his different opinions, his outlook, his fun nature. He had accepted Gin’s past, and wanted nothing more than to be part of his future.

“Yes.”

“Yes?” Gin asks, dropping the spoon he had picked back up after his proposal.

“Yes,” Ichigo repeats, eyes lit with happiness, “I’ll marry you.”

Gin’s face splits into a wide grin as Ichigo gets up to move in front of Gin, and kisses him deeply. He pulls away to look into Gin’s eyes and he sees the love and happiness that he is sure is reflected in his own. They stare at each other, hands touching each others faces and tracing familiar shapes, before Gin's eyes darken and he asks with a sly smile,