branchandroot

Cross-post from my archive.

Fandom/Arc: Bleach, Standalone
Characters/Pairings: Abarai Renji, Byakuya/Renji, Kuchiki Byakuya
Summary: Renji contemplates how he acts with his captain. Written for the Porn Battle prompt: Byakuya/Renji, any form of power play.
Meta: Porn with Characterization, I-3.
Wordcount: 413

Renji almost never gave his captain a full salute.

Other people almost never noticed.

At Your Feet

Renji almost never gave his captain a full salute.

Other people almost never noticed.

Renji figured it was just Kuchiki-taichou’s attitude that kept them from seeing it, the same way everyone thought Kuchiki-taichou was taller than he really was. But he noticed. He watched the way the other vice-captains were with their captains. There were the casual ones like Rangiku and Yachiru who teased everyone, including their superiors. There were the punctilious ones like Iba and Hisagi who wouldn’t dream of reporting without a formal bow. There were resentful ones like Oomaeda and exasperated ones like Ise, not that he could blame her, but there didn’t seem to be any other vice-captains quite like him.

Ones who were always proper. Always respectful. But almost never knelt down in a full salute.

Renji knew no one had noticed because no one said anything. No one looked surprised when he and his captain met. No one ever mentioned how odd it was that Kuchiki-taichou didn’t seem to mind, when he was such a stickler for formality.

So Renji never had to decide whether or not to tell anyone that he thought Kuchiki-taichou knew the reason why he didn’t.

That he thought Kuchiki-taichou liked it.

Liked it that Renji wanted it to mean something.

Renji never bowed for the sake of formality. Only for rightness. Only when they were out on duty. Only when he chased something at Kuchiki-taichou’s side. When they hunted, it was right; his place was at his captain’s feet, waiting to be released.

Waiting for the light touch of fingers against his nape that made him bow his head and shiver, kneeling beside his captain. Waiting for his captain’s command.

Renji didn’t want to fritter this away in empty forms; this meant something.

Something he’d always kind of thought Kuchiki-taichou liked just as much as he did.

And now he had the proof of it. The proof of Kuchiki-taichou’s hands in his loose hair and Kuchiki-taichou’s cock sliding between his lips. The proof of Kuchiki-taichou’s hips flexing under his hands as he fucked Renji’s mouth slowly. The proof of Kuchiki-taichou’s faint smile at Renji’s moans and the heavy darkness of his eyes, looking down at Renji.

Renji spread his knees wider on the floor and Kuchiki-taichou stepped closer between them, thrusting deeper into Renji’s mouth, slow and deliberate. His hands in Renji’s hair held him still for it and Renji shuddered.

It meant something when he knelt for his captain.

End