#it's not not innocent until Shuren jumps in and changes what perspective it's coming from

[white--moon]

A small bubble of disappointment sinks into his belly when Ichigo gives his hand back, but a smirk tugs at one corner of his mouth anyway. "Y' know, after the whole Yhwach thing, you're about the only person I'd take that seriously from. I'm glad I could prove their worth right before this conversation."

Ok on second thought, if his own father didn't like him enough to stick around, why should Ichigo's dad like him at all? But he makes a face and looks over at Ichigo. "Is your dad homophobic?" He wouldn't have guessed that, based on Ichigo and his brief meeting of Ichigo's sisters in the hospital. But it's really curbed his confidence about his earlier statement. Good thing he's attached to Ichigo, not Isshin. He doesn't even need his own parents, he definitely doesn't need Ichigo's. "Whatever. He doesn't have to like me."

He doesn't like the idea of hiding. He likes what he has here, his business, his apartment, his crew and patrons. If he resorts to hiding, it's because all that he's worked for is gone and there's nothing left for him here. It's a surprisingly sobering thought. "Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I'd rather visit for fun, not necessity."

For a second, he considers handing his phone over to Ichigo to keep himself entertained, since Ichigo has lost his own phone, but it buzzes in his lap and he figures he shouldn't hand it over while he's talking to clients on it. Not that he thinks Ichigo's going to care what he sees, but still. He flips his own phone screen up for a second, reads the message, before putting it back and refocuses on Ichigo's phone. It feels like he should be sending a photo back, but the only local wildlife available is... junkies. So that's not happening. Instead he tells her he's never been outside of the city and that she should show him more photos, mostly because that's clearly what she's having fun with.

Ichigo says he knows like it’s obvious and Shiro catches on a sound between offense and guilt. It shouldn’t be happening. It definitely shouldn’t be obvious. He was drunk, Ichigo shouldn’t have taken anything he’d said seriously. “I was just drunk and bitching.” He settles on in response, as if it’s some sort of counter argument so the whole thing can be dismissed. “I would'a been fine.” He doesn’t regret his drunk texts, because he can see how that interaction maybe laid the beginnings of what they’re doing now.

He looks over, but Ichigo’s tone is… something he’s not sure what to do with. It’s not casual, it’s not chastising. It’s sort of soft and a lot. He knows exactly what the words means, but not quite how to respond to them. He hesitates a short moment, then swallows and shrugs, and attempts casual anyway. “It’s fine. I told you I’d let you get some school stuff done.”

A brow arches mildly. That doesn’t really clear much up, honestly. But ok. “Oh, right.” He wonders if Ichigo’s talking about his pretty ex girlfriend for a second, but he’s pretty sure that’s not the case.

He’s distracted, but it’s on purpose, which ends up meaning he’s distracted from work and distracted from Ichigo and everything else going on too. He showed up because he basically got bullied into it- though now he wonders if Rukia told him he had to be here because Ichigo showed up without him. And with Shuren, evidently. The line of his mouth thins with a hint of tension that’s broken when he catches the illumination of Ichigo’s phone screen being shown to him. He looks over, then does a little bit of a double take, before grabbing the phone to get a closer look. “What the fuck? How come you didn’t tell me you got friends with fire power? That looks fun as hell, if I had known the family you were supposed to be visiting was gonna blow things up we would'a went.”