Inspired by this prompt from Corvidprompts.
Uryuu slinks into Urahara’s hidden lab and drops into a seat with a silent sigh, exhausted and depressed and one intolerant word from going rogue. Instead, he soaks up the quiet of the gently-lit room and tries to relax, setting his glasses aside and draping himself over the table in front of him without even a by-your-leave.
Urahara won’t mind.
(He hasn’t for years.)
”Here to hide away and mope again?” Urahara asks mildly from across the room. At Uryuu’s incoherent noise, Urahara chuckles softly and continues, “Shiro-kun or the knights this time?”
“Both,” Uryuu tells the table, knowing Urahara will be able to decipher his words. “And I’m not hiding and moping. I’m hiding and de-stressing.”
“Mmm, of course, of course,” Urahara agrees, then lets the silence stretch. Whatever he’s doing, Uryuu can hear the soft click of metal-on-metal and smell the tang of leashed lightning.
“Ichigo-sama and Shiro-sama came to watch the knights train,” Uryuu says, tipping his head to the side so Urahara doesn’t have to try too hard to understand him. He leaves the rest unsaid; Urahara knows all too well what Uryuu suffers through at the hands of his fellow knights. The snotty words and dismissal of his skills. The snide comments about his commoner mother.
(The way they carefully conspire to make him look a fool in front of their Lords. In front of Shiro.)
(Some days, Uryuu doesn’t know why he bothers to get up in the morning.)
Urahara’s pried that knowledge from Uryuu over the space of years, and his continued silence on the matter is the only reason Uryuu continues to retreat to the man’s lab whenever things become too much.
“You know, none of our Lords would accept that behavior,” Urahara reminds him gently. “If you don’t feel comfortable bringing it up to Shiro-kun or Ichigo-kun, perhaps Zangetsu-san? He does make himself available whenever someone needs to speak in private.”
Uryuu swallows back a whine at the very thought. “N-no. It’s… it’s nothing they should worry themselves over. It’s… it’s just— it’s nothing.”
A vicious crack of lightning makes Uryuu twitch, though he doesn’t look up. Urahara’s always playing with volatile experiments, and he’s admitted — albeit reluctantly — that lightning is not his best element. Losing control is nothing new.
“It’s hardly nothing,” Urahara says with a dark edge to his voice. “Leaving out how little any of our Lords approve of infighting, do you really think that they would overlook what the other knights are putting you through?”
“It’s…” Uryuu swallows and shifts to press a hand to his chest, trying to ground himself against the panic that threatens to rise. The very idea of telling any of the trio terrifies him; what if they agree with the other knights? What if they do consider Uryuu lesser because of his heritage? “They… they have other things they need to worry about. The comfort of a single bow knight isn’t… isn’t anything they should have to worry about.”
(What if the act of ratting out his fellows is enough to lose him what little respect his Lords have for him?)
Urahara sighs and rises from his seat, footsteps echoing as he approaches. His hand settles on Uryuu’s shoulder, a warm, solid weight that Uryuu leans into without hesitation.
For all of Urahara’s eccentricities, he’s one of the few people that Uryuu trusts, even if he can’t quite make himself believe what Urahara has to say about their Lords. He knows Urahara has known all three for their entire lives, but surely his position as family friend has colored his view.
(Surely their Lords would never care about a barely-legitimate noble like himself. Surely…)
“Well then, if you’re here to de-stress instead of mope, how about I get you situated with some tea and snacks?” Urahara offers. “And you can tell me all about the things Shiro-kun did today, and how pretty he looked, and—”
“Urahara!” Uryuu whines, then frowns and lifts his head, peering blearily around the lab. He’s almost certain he heard a sound, like someone inhaling, but there’s no one in the lab but the two of them. “Did you hear that?”
Urahara laughs softly and lets go of Uryuu’s shoulder, ruffling his hair instead. “Just another one of my experiments,” he reassures. “You remember the wind-magic generator? I think I’ve finally got it contained properly. It’s been running in here for the past week without exploding!” Urahara chatters cheerfully, gesturing excitedly about them. “A few more tweaks and I think I can convince Zangetsu-san to install them in all our mines. Just think, Uryuu-kun! Fresh air, no matter how deep underground! And if I mix a bit of ice magic in, I think I can cool the air as well!”
Uryuu frowns and scans the lab again; he knows what Urahara’s wind generator sounds like, and it wasn’t what he heard. Yet he can’t see anyone, nor sense anything that stands out beyond the mingled signatures of Urahara’s various experiments.
And Urahara would have never prompted him to speak if they were not alone; he knows how little Uryuu likes or trusts anyone in the castle beyond himself and their Lords. And as much as he loves all three of their Lords, Uryuu is hardly blind to their inability to fully contain their magic. Even Zangetsu, the eldest, can be felt entire rooms away.
The idea that one of them would be here, tucked away under some manner of invisibility, is laughable.
He glances up at Urahara and takes in the man’s kind expression, then sighs and gives up. Whatever Urahara is hiding, Uryuu isn’t going to pry it from him today, nor does he feel up to the effort. Instead, he picks up his glasses and cleans them off, rising to his feet.
“Very well,” Uryuu says with a final glance around the lab. “I suppose I can stay for some tea, so long as you’re not the one making it.”
Urahara laughs and flashes Uryuu a bright grin. “Maa, so cruel! But no, Tessai is here today, so you’re safe from trying to pretend my efforts are palatable.”
“At this point I wouldn’t even pretend,” Uryuu says dryly, following in Urahara’s wake as the man heads towards one of the exits. “We /both/ know you’re terrible at it. There’s no reason to pretend otherwise.”
Urahara gives him a wounded look, shoulders slumping in dejection, and Uryuu can’t help but laugh. He sets aside his suspicions and his worries, accepts the tea and treats that Tessai offers, and settles back in Urahara’s lab to watch the man work.
(And if he maybe rambles a bit too much about Shiro-sama, well…)
(Urahara is kind enough not to tease him too much.)