unslashable

[branchandroot]

Well, they're not, really, it's just that I can't bring myself to do what would be neccessary.

See, I finally figured out why I can't write Byakuya and Renji in bed under any circumstances, despite the buckets of chemistry between them and the fact that, scenically, it would be really, really hot.

It's because I don't believe that Byakuya is capable of participating in any such relationship unless he's the one in control. And that wouldn't happen with Renji unless Renji gave up on the idea of ever matching or surpassing Byakuya. And if that happened it would break Renji's spirit completely.

And then... he just wouldn't be him, you know? And all the fun would go out of it.

Comments

[branchandroot]

I've been rereading the manga, and, on reflection, I think Byakuya is actually a good deal more easygoing under normal circumstances than we see him. That very first intro, when they come to get Rukia, he's aloof and arrogant and cool, but he's not the ice-cold, razor sharp guy we see after Rukia is condemned. (And, of course, until the end of the Rescue arc; he also seems a bit... well, softer, when he and Renji are talking in his hospital room, too.) So I kind of wonder whether he wouldn't be accepting, and maybe amused by Renji's basic squooshiness.

...though I think what would draw him to Renji would have to be Renji's edginess, his strength and ambition. Both would have to be present. So it couldn't be an all-squoosh relationship, that's for sure. But Byakuya is /all/ about the self-control, yeah, so I don't think it would be very lasting. Renji really does need more intimacy--more relaxed intimacy--than Byakuya could probably give him.

*grins* Thirteenth. I actually have inklings of smutbunnies from the past, when Byakuya was younger, and just learning, and Ukitake would have been very much the nice senpai. Ukitake and Kyouraku are so much older than the rest of the captains and vices, I could see Byakyua being a slightly uncertain and possibly even rather sweet young man, and Ukitake taking him to bed.