Through my post on Facebook, I've found out that losing pressure is normal if the ziptie is put on while the bike's hot as someone else has had the same issue. I'm going to call it fixed as it holds pressure overnight if I put the ziptie on when cold! Opened a new bottle of brake fluid as the one I've been cycling through the system is over a month old at this point.
Took the brake pads out, cleaned w/ brake cleaner and scrubbed with sandpaper and it felt a little better afterwards, I think I just need to keep riding for the pads to re-mate with the rotors. Broke the little clutch slave spacer while installing it because I didn't pay attention to its orientation, got one off eBay for $7 and put that on yesterday.
I think I'm going to ride the bike like this for a bit and see how it feels. Thank you to everyone for your comments and words of encouragement.