Too Hot – Ichigo, a college sophomore living in his fraternity, throws a philanthropy-related concert before midterms swallow up Greek Life. He thought he had his hands full with the belligerent actions of his fellow party-goers, but when the main band shows up, Ichigo gets way more than he bargained for. AU. GrimmIchi.
WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: Mature language, alcohol and marijuana use/references
The Set-Up
… though often misunderstood, Pontecorvo proves in his onscreen masterpiece that indeed 'state' and 'nation' are two entirely different concepts.
"Fuck this paper," Ichigo groaned as he stretched his tight shoulders.
"Two weeks to complete it, and I still start it only two days before it's due… It's complete bullshit too."
Hey, that rhymed!
As a sophomore in college with an already declared pre-med major, it was a strange experience being in a Film Studies course. Although Ichigo Kurosaki attended a massive university, they still forced freshmen and sophomores to fulfill certain credits to graduate.
Why, he didn't know.
"Stop your bitching, Strawberry, set-up is in a half hour, got it?"
The orange hair adolescent glared at his friend in the open doorway. Freshman year he made a mistake of telling his fellow pledges that his name translated to "strawberry" in Japanese, his native tongue.
Of course, his days of being a pledge were long behind him. Ichigo ventured far from home for college, much to his family's chagrin, and managed to get enough scholarship money to attend his dream school. He loved his family dearly, but being surrounded by studious/anal Japanese students wasn't on his to-do list. Once he arrived, he discovered that housing was significantly cheaper if you joined a fraternity and lived-in, so he figured he'd give it a shot.
He didn't expect to actually be recruited. Or survive initiation, really.
Ah, but back to the tattooed redhead standing just outside his door…
"Don't call me that Renji, or I'll tell your girlfriend who's new number you have in your phone," Ichigo threatened.
"Heh, doesn't matter. She's under a guy's name in my contacts."
Rolling his eyes, Ichigo was too burnt out to retaliate. He quickly submitted his paper, without editing, to his professor's website. He couldn't care less what grade he got; attending class was basically optional and had nothing to do with his major. The seven hour lab he endured that day, however, was brutal.
"Alright, leave. I'm going to get ready."
"Oh? Looking for a lucky dude tonight? Don't be too loud, the freshmen sleeping porch is right below you…" Renji wiggled his eyebrows.
Ichigo chuckled, "No, not tonight. I'll be nice to the new initiates. I'm in charge of this event until midnight anyway." Midnight, of course, was when the party opened up to the whole campus. Shit hits the fan. 'Sober Roamers' are assigned to each function to make sure nobody dies, on fraternity property anyway, and tonight was fortunately not Ichigo's turn. In order to pay his social dues, however, he had to get a few Greek System scholarships. In return for free booze, weed, and food, all Ichigo had to do was manage a few philanthropy functions. It worked out quite nicely.
"Good luck man, I'll see you later. That freshie Hanatarou – or something – asked me to teach him how to shotgun a beer. You down?"
"That wimpy kid made it through initiation? Damn! Yeah sure, find me later," Ichigo got up from his seat and shut the door. If you ignore the constant stench of shitty beer, sticky floors, and used condoms, living in a frat wasn't so bad. Every sophomore through senior who chooses to live there gets their own room. Unfortunately, not their own bathrooms. Ichigo chose not to be too paranoid about where his toothbrush sat.
He pulled out an oxymoronic formfitting bro-tank and his favorite jeans. This would be the last event at the fraternity before midterm studying began, so he might as well look good, right? He popped in his stud earrings (don't tell his father, or little sisters) and threw on some comfy, yet fashionable shoes.
All those crazy workouts he did with Renji and Hisagi were paying off, Ichigo looked damn good.
"I'd do me," he cockily stated as he looked in the mirror. Alas, his time for self-admiring came to a close when a knock pounded at the door.
"Yo, Strawberry, time to set up!"
Everyone in his pledge class called him that. It was fucking annoying.
"Ikkaku, shut the fuck up. I have fifteen minutes."
"Nah, you don't have time. Zaraki says 'seniors don't need to do shit' so we're shorthanded. Lazy ass, my frat dad is useless," Ikkaku said, quietly, through the door. Ichigo felt bad for him, most people chill out with their Greek Families, but not Ikkaku. His 'Father' got belligerently drunk on a bi-daily basis and started fights wherever he went. Ichigo's 'Father' was a senior named Shunsui, a complete stoner. Apparently he's set to graduate, but 'how' was beyond Ichigo's understanding.
"Fine, I'm coming." It's not like he had anything better to do anyway.
They walked downstairs and Ichigo began eyeing the preparations. It was his job, after all.
The next two hours they spent setting up backdrops in the main room on the ground-level floor and hooking in lights to their ceiling rigs. Tonight was a charity concert, and they had six bands on the lineup. Going to a big school, Ichigo only recognized a few of the band members, but nonetheless helped them setup their equipment. All that was left was the…
"BOOM BITCH! GET OUT THE WAY!"
Booze.
Kenpachi Zaraki, the lunatic himself, hurled at least six kegs into the room with thunderous consequences. Following him, a guy named Kira and one of the frat little-sisters, Matsumoto, entered carrying bags of hard liquor. Matsumoto was always trying to jump Ichigo in his freshman year, until finally, when everyone found out he was gay, she stuck to playfully flirting with him.
"Ichigo~! You look so HOT tonight! You sure you don't want to give tits a try?" She winked in a faux-seductive manner.
"Shit guys, did our budget even cover this much alcohol?" Ichigo ignored Matsumoto's words and instead gawked at his brothers.
Kira replied all-too enthusiastically, "Yeah! These half gallons were only ten bucks!"
Ichigo gave him a suspicious look; ever since his role model / major crush graduated, Kira drank way more than he used to.
The blonde noticed and backtracked, "Not that we'll be needing all of this but… after midterms you know… Okay Ichigo, this isn't about Gin!"
Matsumoto and Ichigo awkwardly laughed about the English play on words: Gin, gin… Gin and tonic is Kira's favorite drink, in fact. Go figure.
"Alright, alright, just checking…" He backed off and helped Zaraki put all but one of the kegs in their walk-in fridge.
He had to be relatively sober until midnight, but the first band wouldn't start playing until 9:00. He had forty-five minutes to kill.
"Who wants to smoke a bowl? I just finished an essay and I could really use it," Ichigo announced, awaiting the inevitable response.
An array of hands, and "yes's" came from the decorated venue, and five of his friends followed Ichigo to his room. Being a responsible adult, he always made sure his homework was done and classes completed for the week before indulging in either marijuana or alcohol. In reality, it was more like he didn't want to get deported for getting caught, so he used these substances with restraint. It was even legal in the state he was in for college, but since the university received federal funding, it was still illegal on campus.
Though, that never stopped anyone, right?
The twenty year old, fire-haired man sat on his bed, carefully balancing a grinder and one of Shunsui's beautiful, glass bongs between his legs. One of the few pros of being a stoners "Son" in a frat: free access to the best glasswork. Everyone brought their own bud, swapping strands and comparing… Like wine tasting, but with weed.
Ichigo loaded the first bowl with a sativa, the type of green that gets a party started. Lighter in hand, he took half the bowl with him as a fat amount of smoke entered his lungs. Another pro of Shunsui being his frat dad: he knew how to smoke weed. Smoke tricks and all.
There was no one to impress here, though, so Ichigo let it out with a small cough and waited for the high to kick in. Passing the bowl along, he heard his friends mumbling about having to reload after only two hits, or something like that. He was feeling too good to care.
Time flew quickly as he and his friends laughed at the stupidest things and hyped each other up for the night to come. Everyone was on the prowl tonight, in a respectful way, of course. All men, especially at this age, like to get laid. Fact. The particular fraternity Ichigo joined was known for its better nature towards women, in comparison to half the other frats on campus. He had been impressed after hearing about this reputation during Rush; he didn't want to be surrounded by vagina-crazy maniacs, after all.
"Hey you fuckin' stoners, come down already. People are starting to come!"
"Oh shit that's Zaraki, come on guys, show time!" Ikkaku yelled as he stood up too quickly. He promptly fell back onto his chair and laughed.
They all cracked up and meandered downstairs to their places. Ichigo had first shift in collecting donations for the event, so he sat down in front of the frat at a table. Fortunately, the first band was always shit, as was the second, because not that many people show up to any party until 10:30-11:00.
With the keg tapped and music going, he happily accepted his first beer of the night from Renji.
"Strawberry, we're all fuckin' high, so make sure you remember to collect donations, aight?"
Ichigo dismissed Renji's reminder, "I'll just flash everyone my smile and the money will start pouring in, don't worry about it." There wasn't anything wrong with flirting with the ladies (and men, if they show any sign of homosexuality) to get donations, it was for charity!
As promised, his shift ended with the jar for cash being emptied to allow for more donations. What could he say, he had a winning smile!
Next Chapter: The Party