Alexis arched an eyebrow as Erich casually slid a door open and leaned in without knocking, adding another tally to her count of things Erich was comfortable doing around Urahara that he normally wouldn’t be.

“Urahara,” Erich said in greeting, then stepped a bit to the side as Urahara appeared in the doorway. “Have some time to talk?”

“Maa, I thought you two would be holed up together for the rest of the night,” Urahara said with a wry smile, glancing between the two of them. “What is it you want to talk about?”

“Benihime gave me an interesting message this morning,” Alexis said in answer, watching the way Urahara’s smile became a bit fixed at her words. “I don’t think we should put this conversation off much longer, do you?”

“Ah, well… probably not,” Urahara said as he fidgeted with his fan and refused to meet her gaze. “Come in, then. Ah… excuse the mess, this is my personal lab and I don’t often… entertain in here—should we go somewhere else? We should probably—” Urahara’s rambling words cut off as he blinked down at Erich’s hand on his arm, clearly confused by the touch.

“We don’t mind. The question is, are you more comfortable having this talk here or elsewhere?” Erich asked quietly. “We could always go to the parlor if we want somewhere neutral, but the choice in this is yours.”

Urahara looked between them, pale eyes sharp-thoughtful-calculating, then hummed and glanced back over his shoulder. “Maa, if we talk here, you’ll have to help me clean off some chairs.”

“That’s fine,” Erich said as he let go of Urahara’s arm and clasped his hands behind his back. “So long as you tell me where you want things to go.”

Urahara hesitated a moment longer, then inclined his head and stepped back, waving them in as he retreated into the room.

Alexis let Erich enter first, then stepped through the door and paused to take it all in as she slide the door closed behind her. Large tables lined the walls, covered with pieces of broken stone — old blastia bodies, she suspected — and stacks of paper. Books were piled haphazardly around, some open, some closed, many with markers jutting from their pages, and even more were put away in shelves built into the walls themselves.

(How Urahara managed to reach some of those shelves she didn’t understand, but… clearly he could.)

The whole room was a mess at first glance, but Alexis had been around Erich’s own lab often enough to see the general shape of things. Granted, Erich’s lab was often much tidier, but… there were enough similarities that she could see at least four ongoing projects and another two that Urahara had only just begun.

(She wondered if Erich helped Urahara at all, or if her beloved had kept his own propensity to research and experiment hidden away.)

(She rather suspected the latter.)

Alexis dragged her attention back to Erich and Urahara, watching the two of them smoothly move around each other in the small area, carrying and putting away books with barely a word spoken between them. For all Erich’s words about Urahara telling him where to put things, they were being remarkably quiet as they worked.

(And Erich wondered where the rumors had come from.)

(Really.)

“Here,” Erich said as he finished clearing off a chair and nudged it closer to the center of the room with his foot. “Take a seat, we’ll be done in a moment.”

She settled into the chair and leaned back to continue watching them, hands clasped over her knee and fingers carefully laced together so she didn’t betray her own nerves; Erich was already uncertain, and for all Urahara’s boldness in proposing this direction, now that he was moments away from an answer… well. His sidelong glances were not quite as subtle as he believed they were.

An awkward silence fell as the last of the books were shelved and Urahara dragged two more chairs over for himself and Erich; once seated, both of them exchanged uncertain looks and then glanced away, focusing on her instead.

(So Urahara did have a crush on Erich.)

(Good.)

“Still interested in putting your neck on the line for a fake triad?” Alexis asked abruptly, arching an eyebrow at Urahara when his eyes narrowed. “You’re going to draw ire for being a ex-Shinigami, and you’ll be in more potential danger because of it. Seems like a lot of danger for little reward.”

“Maa, nothing I can’t handle,” Urahara said with a shrug, then flashed her a grin and leaned forward a bit. “Besides! How could I not help my favorite Quincy and his love escape a situation they want nothing to do with?”

Alexis hummed in acknowledgment of his words; Urahara sounded flippant, but there was an undercurrent of sincerity that settled her thoughts. Whatever reasons or hopes he had for where this agreement went, he did want to help in whatever way he could.

(But would those hopes cause trouble if things didn’t work out between them?)

(She didn’t want to see Erich lose such a close friend, not when he had so few…)

“Lexi?” Erich prompted softly, frowning a bit at her continued silence.

“If that’s your answer, then alright, we can try it,” Alexis told Urahara, discarding her worries for the moment. Urahara was an adult who knew what he was walking into; if things turned sour, they would work it out like the adults they were. “With that in mind, we should talk about boundaries.”

Urahara blinked, clearly taken aback by her words and uncertain how to respond. “Boundaries…?”

Erich groaned and slumped back in his seat, one hand rising to cover his face. “Lexi please, it’s just—”

“No,” Alexis said firmly, cutting off Erich before he could squirm his way out of the conversation. “It’s not ‘just’ anything. We’re going to have to pretend to be in a relationship in front of both of our families. If we’re constantly stumbling around each other, no one is going to believe it.”

“But you said that—!” Erich hastily swallowed the rest of his words and slanted a frantic glance at Urahara then away, cheeks pinking.

“That people already believe the two of you are fucking? They do.” Alexis ignored Urahara’s soft sputtering as best she could, trying not to laugh at how shocked the man was by her words. “But we’re going to have to sell this to your father, beloved,” she continued softly, leaning forward and gesturing for emphasis. “Seigmar is no fool. He’s not going to be taken in by rumors and we both know that. If we slip up…”

Erich hesitated, then slumped in his seat with a sigh and scrubbed at his face, knocking his glasses askew. “You’re right,” he mumbled. “Fine. Where do you want to start?”

“Sleeping arrangements,” Alexis said without hesitation. “Seigmar knows that we used to sneak into each other’s bedroom all the time. If we don’t do something similar this time—”

“Maa, won’t he just think that you’re— that we’re being mature?” Urahara asked slowly, a small folding fan out in front of his face and his gaze darting between the two of them.

She and Erich exchanged a speaking look and snorted, shaking their heads.

“Uh…?” Urahara’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“My father… my father and I are… very similar,” Erich began, lips pursing as he struggled to put their confidence into words. He huffed a laugh when Urahara shot him a look of pure disbelief. “Not physically,” he said in exasperation. “I take after my mother more than my father in looks, but he and I are both very… we like to be with our loved ones as much as possible, even if just to sleep next to them. If the three of us don’t at least pretend to do so…”

“He’ll realize,” Urahara finished, gaze dropping to the floor as he tapped his fan against his chin. “Are you… alright with that?”

“Are you?” Erich asked instead of replying, which neatly answered Alexis’ question on Erich’s feelings. If he didn’t like this idea at all, he would have refused to share a bed with Urahara.

Urahara’s eyes narrowed as he looked up at Erich, fan flipping open to cover the lower half of his face again. “I asked first.”

Erich snorted and leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. “We’ve slept next to each other before—”

“When it was cold or when the Inn didn’t have enough space,” Urahara countered, annoyance growing in his voice. “Rerugen—”

“Erich,” Erich interrupted abruptly, then twitched and looked away, color staining his cheeks. “Since we’re… pretending to be lovers. You might as well,” he finished awkwardly.

“I… yes… right…” Urahara sent Alexis a look, his eyes wide and an edge of panicked uncertainty beginning to creep in. “Uhm… in that case, you should — you both should — call me Kisuke…”

Alexis smiled softly at the man, trying to reassure him as best she could. “You’re quite welcome to keep using my name,” she said teasingly, knowing that Urahara — that Kisuke — had never managed to ferret out her actual family name. From the flash of amusement that crossed his expression, he knew exactly what she found funny about it. “So, if the two of you are fine with sharing a bed, how do you want to handle the three of us? Would me being there make you uncomfortable, Kisuke?”

Kisuke shook his head, folding the fan with a flick of his fingers and then spinning it around. “No, it’s fine. So long as you don’t mind… and I imagine it would look better…?”

“It would,” she agreed with a nod, then leaned forward a bit and made sure to catch Kisuke’s attention as she continued, “But this isn’t entirely about what’s going to look ‘best’, Kisuke. If something makes you uncomfortable, or you’re not interested, or you have a suggestion, let us know. We can work around it or find another way. Even if we’re building a fiction here, there are still three of us involved; your voice is no less important than ours, Kisuke. Don’t swallow your discomfort in an effort to ‘make it easier for us’, because you’re just going to make it harder for all of us in the long run.”

“I… right. Of course.” Kisuke looked away, shoulders hunching in a bit and fan flicking open once more to slide across his lower face. “But uhm… the sleeping together doesn’t bother me. Reru—Erich already knows, but… I tend to cling to people near me in my sleep. I don’t… think it bothers him? But you should know that.”

“It’s a bit uncomfortable in warm climates or the summer,” Erich answered with an edge of forced casualness to his voice, still not actually looking at either of them. “But it’s certainly not objectionable.”

Alexis snorted and gave Erich the flattest, most deadpan look she could muster, ignoring Kisuke’s confusion at her reaction; ‘not objectionable’ was the most hilarious descriptor she’d ever heard her lover use, given that they tended to sleep tangled together all the time.

(More evidence that Erich cared more than he let himself think he did.)

(She was going to enjoy it when these two finally clued in…)

“I am perfectly alright with being clung to,” Alexis told Kisuke loftily, then smiled sharp-teasing-wicked and continued, “But if you’re worried, we could always just stick Erich between us every night.”

Erich inhaled sharply and then started coughing, his eyes wide with shock and his skin paler than usual. The look he sent her was entirely betrayed, so she smiled back at him, knowing exactly where her suggestion had sent his mind.

(It was certainly a very pretty mental image.)

The fan dropped away from Kisuke’s face and he rose from his seat, expression a twisted mix of concern-embarrassment-hope as he moved towards the door. “A-ah, uhm. I’m… going to fetch something to drink and maybe something to eat. This seems like it’s going to last for a while so I really should stop being a bad host, and I’d really rather Erich not die, so I’m just going to— I’m going to go now, be back soon,” he rambled as he slid the door open and blatantly escaped the room before any of them could say anything more.

Erich swallowed. Cleared his throat. Exchanged a look with Alexis and—

Both of them dissolved into hysterical laughter.

(They could make this work.)

(She had a good feeling about it.)