I was originally planning to make this one a one shot, but it's going to be really long so I divided it.
This was bugging me for a month now, so hard that it made it difficult for me to write Say My Name.
Also, this is not Betaed. So the grammar is ridiculous, I hope you don't mind.
Thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: I Wish I Own Bleach.
Vindicated, I am selfish, I am wrong, I am right
I swear I'm right, swear I knew it all along
And I am flawed but I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now the things you swore, you saw yourself.
...
"Here comes Blue~!"
Renji's whisper sent shivers all over Ichigo's body as he slowly turned to the direction where his red-haired friend is staring.
And he can't help but frown.
Grimmjow is taking his time walking towards the school building with his girlfriend, Neliel.
They looked so happy, he thought.
"I wonder what will the color of their child's hair is going to be."
Nnoitra suddenly shouted as Grimmjow pass by their table. Well, it's more of a statement than a question. He laughed as he took a handful of fries before stuffing it all inside his mouth, chewing loudly as he smirked. Ever since Grimmjow transferred into their school, Nnoitra has been really pissed. Specially when Grimmjow started courting Neliel, and Neliel agreeing to go out with Grimmjow.
He likes Neliel. But was too afraid of ruining his reputation as a delinquent once he decided to go out with her, because she is a certified scholar. A nerd. He doesn't like other people to make fun of him by going out with a nerd. So he just stayed away from her. Even pissing her off every now and then because that's the only way he could interact with her.
"I'm sure that it's going to be as colorful as the rainbow.."
Renji replied with a huge grin plastered on his mouth. He merrily bite his burger not even bothering for any table manners as he laughed, making some of the crumbs fly out from his mouth. Disgusting.
Ichigo can't help but sigh, this is going to be really disastrous by the end of the day.
"Oi oi, it's not like your hair is different, RED."
Syazel said. He put a strong emphasis on the word Red, making sure that Grimmjow would hear it. He's such a Grimmjow fan, Ichigo thought.
"Well, at least mine is natural. Wanna see it? Pink?"
Syazel grinned from the challenge. He flipped his hair as he stared back towards Renji. His eyes twinkling. Yeah. Syazel would never back down from it. Because he's gay. The Gayest of them All as what Nnoitra would always say.
It's not like the group cared about his sexual orientation. In fact it was super fine with them. However, they kept on forgetting about it. So they would always end up challenging Syazel about "manly" things, and they would always be the ones to back down from it. Because they seriously need to protect their chastity from him.
Renji matched Syazel's grin, even winking his eye on him. Well, at least now they know that they are both just joking about it.
"Alright motha'fuckas, hurry up or we're going to be late for our class."
Gin suddenly interrupted as he stood up, earning him groans from the group as they all stuffed their things back inside their bags.
Ichigo tried to look at Grimmjow after watching his still groaning friends.
That's the only time that he noticed that Grimmjow stopped walking, and Neliel is trying to make him continue towards the building.
Even with a good seven meters away from him, Ichigo can still see that Grimmjow is shivering.
Ohh, looks like his angry.
Ichigo smirked. This is his chance.
He's right hand automatically flew towards his right jaw as if he was trying to fix it.
Yeah, it was only last week. He was really proud of his body's state of recovery. He can now hardly feel any pain from it.
It's been a week since he and Grimmjow last clashed, and the result was a cut on his jaw, and a huge bruise for Grimmjow's abdomen.
It was only bruises normally, but on that day, he landed wrong on a nearby patch of dirt. Who would have known that there is a piece of broken glass in it? And so he cut his right lower cheek.
Luckily for him, Grimmjow immediately accompanied him to the nearest hospital. His father was furious. But what can he do? Accidents happens all the time.
What surprised him though, is Grimmjow's concern.
"The fuck are ya' sayin' asshole? 'course I can't let ya' die in 'ere! Stupid!"
Ichigo chuckled. Grimmjow's accent is really terrible. He's mixing Japanese and German, and it's a bit difficult to understand if you will not pay attention.
Yeah, if I'll die, there will be no fun for Grimmjow anymore.
He thought as he started fixing his bag too.
It's been years now since they've started this ritual.
He can still remember it as if it only happened last month.
He saw Grimmjow smirked as he was walking towards the library. And he swore to Gods that he heard him say 'Orange'.
And it pissed him super big time.
There's no waiting, no confirmation. He immediately punched Grimmjow's face with all his might.
Hah, Grimmjow's face hit the floor. But of course Grimmjow will never let it end by just that, so he stood up and punched Ichigo back.
They both end up going to the principals's office on that day.
Went home together, but was never talking to each other. Then after a week, they fought again, but this time, not inside the university.
Grimmjow is a fighter, even though he was a scholar in their school. He came from Germany, the reason for transferring; unknown.
And because he never had so many friends, whenever Ichigo would see him, he was always alone, that's why in between of their weekly bout, the days where they silently agreed that they will not jump each other for they're both healing their injuries, he would always approach him. It was nothing in particular. They would just sit side by side, sometimes Ichigo would sleep beside him, or vice versa, just wasting their time together. But it was relaxing. It was always like that for a year. Then after a year, Neliel came.
Their silent time together became rare. And Ichigo's punches grew stronger.
"Yer' get'in stronger Ich, fuck, tis' one is goin' ta take two weeks to 'eal! Would ya' mind if we'll extend our healin' time huh?"
That time, Ichigo gave Grimmjow a huge black eye. But of course it didn't last that long. Their regeneration is superb. Sometimes it makes Ichigo wonder if they're some kind of a werewolf or something.
But even though it didn't took that long to heal, Grimmjow's time for him became really seldom.
He was always with Neliel. But it was something unavoidable. He have his personal life now. Ichigo should be happy for him.
Ichigo smiled weakly as he saw Grimmjow continued walking towards the school building, Neliel pulling him.
Yeah, it was something unavoidable.
Control.. Control.. Control.. Ya could do it.. Jus' breath..
Grimmjow sighed as he finally entered their building. It is now safe, many people around to stop him in case he changed his mind and return to those assholes. That fucking prick Renji, and that walking stick Nnoitra is really getting in to his nerves.
Seriously, how can Ichigo manage to stay with them?
"Grimmy, are you okay now?"
Neliel's voice is like a bucket of cold water splashed into him. It woke him up from his reverie.
"Yeah, 'am fine."
He saw Neliel sighed. It was like she finally felt relieved. Something about that makes him feel uneasy.
Neliel is a very nice girl. Really, anything about a girlfriend that you could ever hope for, beautiful, intelligent, sweet, everything, you can find it in her. That's why he immediately courted her the moment his eyes landed on her in their advanced class.
"Grimm, you shouldn't let them affect you like that. You know that they wanted to piss you off right?"
"Yeah.."
Grimmjow just nodded to a frowning Neliel. She's all motherly mode now. And it's kinda cute. He sighed
"Don't lose your cool like that again. Ever. Promise me, okay?"
Another nod before he exhaled loudly, closing his eyes to compose himself.
"Oh, and one more thing. Seriously, you should stop your childish fight with Itsygo, you will not gain anything from that, just some bruises. You should know better than that after what happened last time, Itsygo almost died."
Grimmjow's eyes immediately opened after hearing that. While Neliel just continued walking as if she knows that Grimmjow has no other choice but to follow her. Yes, Grimmjow has no choice.
She's tellin' the truth..
Up until now, he still get goosebumps whenever he remember Ichigo's form that day. Blood covered his shirt and it's still flowing out from his jaw, like his fucking neck was the one slashed and not his cheek. It was scary. So damn fuckin' scary..
His whole body went numb, and he can't move. Then Ichigo groaned and laughed as if nothing happened.
"Fuck, my father is going to kill me.. Shit. This sucks"
That's when a resolve formed inside his head. He needs to take Ichigo to a hospital.
He was so scared that Ichigo is going to die. He doesn't want that to happen.
Ichigo was his first friend in Japan. No one ever attempted to approach him because he was big and different.
Yeah, all of the people around him gets easily intimidated just by his body. Well, it's not his problem that Japanese are smaller that Germans. Plus, his hair is blue.
That's why when he saw Ichigo with all his glory on that day, proud and all mighty like a fucking road cone, he can't help but utter the word 'Orange'.
Turned out that the boy heard him, but he was not expecting Ichigo to punch him like that.
He was not even expecting a blow that strong from a body that small.
Well, Ichigo is not small, it's just that he was bigger.
Ever since then, they would always engage each other to a fight on an every other week basis. Because they need a week to cool down and heal themselves.
Roughly twice a month. It immediately became some sort of competition between them.
What amuses him is the time during their "cease-fire".
Ichigo would always find him, no matter where he would go, and the boy would always spend some "quiet' time with him.
They don't talk, just sit there, sometimes lay down side by side, looking at the clouds, or listening to their own mp3 players, or smoke.
Then after an hour, Ichigo would always go with just a simple wave.
It happens all the time, like a routine. That whenever Ichigo would fail to appear, he would feel uneasy. Then he'll end up looking for him himself.
For Grimmjow, those quiet times are so comforting, and it means more than chatting with other people.
But of course, it can't last forever. Neliel became his priority. It's not like it's Neliel's fault. But sometimes, he miss their quiet time.
I should find 'im later.
He thought as he took his time walking towards their first class frowning, following a very enthusiastic Neliel.
...
Ichigo sucked a huge amount of smoke before letting go of his cigarette. Then he blew all of the smoke in front of Syazel who eventually moved away from him. He chuckled.
Syazel doesn't like people who smokes. He's such a baby.
"Fuck it Ichigo! I told you I hate smokes! I'm going to fucking kill you asshole!"
Syazel snarled as he sat down beside Gin on the side walk as Renji groaned.
"Geez Ichigo, do we really need to wait for Blue with you? I mean what for? You will not even let us punch him ourselves!"
Ichigo sucked another mouthful of smoke before blowing it towards the sky. Then he faced Renji with his trademark scowl.
"Of course! Who's going to prove that I won this time? You need to witness my ultimate success prick!"
Nnoitra just chuckled as he threw his cigarette butt on the street before stepping on it.
"Why don'cha just take a fuckin' picture?"
He answered with a huge grin.
"Yeah! Just take a fuckin' picture! Then just follow us in Syazel's house!"
Renji added, still looking so pained as if Ichigo was asking him to eat a goddamned cockroach.
"Hey hey! Why my house you asshole?!"
Syazel stood up like his ass was suddenly put on fire.
"It's because you're the only one who has an Xbox you fuckin' faggot!"
Renji answered back with the same manner. They both gritted their teeth like animals.
"My mom is going to kill me again, it's because you pricks doesn't know how to tidy up things before you go!"
"Tch, it's your fault, I told you, just bring the friggin' Xbox to my house then it's my house that's going to be dirty."
Renji answered back, shrugging his shoulders.
"Are you sure that it's just about the friggin' Xbox Ren?"
Gin said as he chuckled, his already small eyes turning into slits.
Renji's eyebrows furrowed.
"What do you mean?"
Gin chuckled more, then Nnoitra followed, then Syazel, even Ichigo smirked.
"Oh sure, my brother will be there too.."
Syazel followed with the sweetest voice he could ever do.
Renji immediately turned red as his eyes grew wide.
"FUCK YOU FAGGOT!"
Syazel giggled.
"Oh sure Renji baby!"
Gin laughed so hard with Nnoitra as Ichigo just sighed with a smile. His friends are cracked up. He thought.
This is what's good about their friendship. Everything is cool, no hard feelings. They're all open with everything. Doesn't even give a fuck if one or two of them is a gay.
They would always spend time together, cutting classes, going to the mall or playing billiards together. But even though they're having fun, it doesn't mean that they're slacking off with their studies.
Gin is on advanced classes. He ranked as the 5th most intelligent student in the school. Syazel the 7th, Ichigo was the 16th, Renji the 25th and Nnoitra on the 30th. They're not your ordinary delinquents.
At first, the teacher would always bully them in school. But since they always turn the tables back to their stupid teachers, they let them be after 2 months. Because really, they are going to be jobless if they continued messing with them.
After a few more bickering, they finally stood up, cleaning their pants before facing Ichigo who remained leaning on the gate of the school. A few students are now starting to make their way home.
"See you later Ichigo."
Syazel is the first who walked away making sure that Ichigo would hear his remark.
"Yeah, see you."
"Wooohoo! I'll be the first one to play okay?!"
Renji started running towards Syazel.
"Sure sure, Byakuya is not our type Red."
Nnoitra shouted as he too made his way out.
Renji shouted something back but Ichigo didn't pay attention to them. He just sighed once more, straightening himself too.
"Ichi, be careful okay? Don't repeat what happened last time, or I'll kill you myself, got that?"
Ichigo just grinned towards Gin. Among his friends, Gin is the one that he treats as his older brother. It's tiring being the older brother all the time in their family, but with Gin, he experienced how it feels like to be a younger brother.
Gin tapped his shoulder before following the others.
Ichigo just stood there, watching them walk away. Then when he's sure that they are already gone, he sighed big time.
Now, where is that fucking blue haired prick?
He tried looking inside the gate, then after a few more minutes, a huge number of people started coming out from the gate of their school. He backed away from it as he waited for Grimmjow.
Well, he was a hundred percent sure that Grimmjow would agree with him today because Neliel will not go home with him.
Rukia said that she's going out with Neliel today to finish their project.
So this is his chance to return the favor to Grimmjow.
Ichigo can't help but smirk on that idea. Yeah, he'll make him eat shits.
And then, after a few more minutes, he saw them.
Grimmjow is walking beside Neliel, holding her hand as Rukia follows them quietly.
Ichigo quietly stepped back to avoid being seen. He hid from the bushes, watching Grimmjow and Neliel from afar.
He saw them stop in front of the gates, stare into each other's eyes, and kissed.
Eeiw.
He never imagined that Grimmjow could be this bold. He quietly sighed thinking that Love is such a scary thing.
Then after a few more PDAs, Neliel and Rukia finally walked away from Grimmjow.
Stupid Blue just stood there, watching his girlfriend walk away before he finally started to walk towards Ichigo's direction.
Ichigo sighed then stepped out from the bushes, smiling.
"Finally, been waiting here for ages!"
He said with a joking tone.
Grimmjow just grinned back as if he was already expecting this to happen.
"Yeah right, just grin asshole, I will wipe that grin out of your fucking face later"
Ichigo added with an evil smile.
"You wish!"
Grimmjow answered before walking towards him, hands on his pocket, mirroring the same evil smile on Ichigo's face.
...
"Fuck Ichigo!"
Ichigo turned his head towards Grimmjow with a grin. His labored breathing is drying up his throat giving out a wheezing sound. Too bad. He wanna laugh out loud right now. He wanna shout his heart out. It feels so great. But he can't move because he's too wasted.
Yeah, it's fucking too bad.
He dropped his body and stared towards the sky while panting heavily.
"Fuck! Nel'll kill me you fuckin' asshole!"
Grimmjow continued as he stared at his reflection on a nearby parked car's windshield. He was checking out his face thoroughly like a girl.
Ichigo grinned once more. Even though Grimmjow is now showering him with curses, there's no antagonism towards him. Another thing why he likes fighting Grimmjow.
After the fight, everything's cool.
He just can't understand why he feel something weird after hearing that girl's name.
Ichigo sighed. Then he gathered all of his remaining strength to stand up and took out his cellphone.
"Hey Grimmjow.."
"Huh?"
click
Grimmjow's eyes widened from shock as Ichigo stared down the result of his candid shot. Then a smile formed on his lips before tucking the phone back into his pocket.
Grimmjow's eyebrows furrowed.
"The fuck was 'zat for?!"
Ichigo grinned once more before laying back down to the dirt but this time, with more caution. He don't wanna add more pain to his already painful body.
Well, at least he gave Grimmjow a very nice and big bruise on his face.
"Proof. I need this to show them that I won this time."
"Tch, as if y' didn't earned marks on yer' body yer'self!"
He chuckled.
"Still need a proof, with your inhuman recovery, who knows how short of a time you'll need before those bruises disappears?"
"Heh, ti's ain't disappearin' overnight asshole. Tis' will prob'ly take three days."
Grimmjow sighed as he walked towards Ichigo and sat down beside him, his eyes staring far ahead as if he was trying to figure out a distant future.
The sun is now setting, the sky slowly turning orange, to crimson then to purple as they watch. Children playing a few feet away from them.
The river that's flowing right through the middle of Karakura is now very calm.
This is Ichigo's favorite moment.
The silence that engulfs them was never awkward. He can go on like this forever with a smile. But of course he's not going to say that to Grimmjow.
After a few minutes, he heard Grimmjow sighed.
He turned to face the man that is now sitting a few inches away from him. He was frowning. Like he was having a debate inside his head whether he should say something or not. Ichigo chuckled.
Another sigh, then Grimmjow cleared his throat.
"Ichi, I think, we should stop this nonsense."
Suddenly, it feels like something clogged Ichigo's airways. A frown made it's way on his face as he elevated his upper body using his elbows as support to see Grimmjow properly.
"Huh?"
Another sigh escaped Grimmjow's mouth before his eyes landed on him.
"I'm sayin' that tis' is goin' to be our last fight."
Ichigo's frown deepened. What the fuck is this prick tryin' to say? Ichigo hates to look so dumb, but he just can't help it now. He needs to understand. He needs to fucking clear this up.
"What do you mean?"
Grimmjow exhaled then chuckled, returning his gaze towards the horizon.
"We're not gettin' any younger dummy. Sooner or later, we need ta' grow up. And stoppin' tis' childish thing can be a good way to start that.."
Grimmjow's face looked so calm. It looked so, weird, strange, new. This is not the Grimmjow that he knew.
He didn't know this man.
"Childish? Are you saying that I'm childish?"
Something's not right. It feels so heavy. Like a goddamned pressure is surrounding him and crushing his head. This is not what he was expecting. A while ago, he was contemplating whether he can live forever in this kind of environment. How did this suddenly go wrong?
"Silly, I'm not sayin' that. Come on Ichi, I know you can understand what I'm tryin' ta' say..."
Grimmjow returned his gaze once more, he was smiling. Like he was just trying to explain a simple mathematical equation to him. This is too much. Far too much..
He sat up properly, looking at the direction of the setting sun with a frown.
"Did she asked you to stop this?"
Grimmjow pouted his lips and rubbed his head.
"Umm, not really. She's jus' worried 'bout us.. I mean, wit' what 'appened las' time, ya' can't blame 'er if she's goin' ta' be scared.."
Ichigo sighed. It can't be helped. The girlfriend asked it, there's no way for him to not obey.
He clenched his fist, but then immediately released it. For once in his whole life, he wanna corner a woman and torture her until she die. Wait, what the fuck is he thinking? There's no way that he's going to do that.
He forced a smile, but his brows are still frowning.
"So, you're going to resign right after I defeated you huh?"
He saw Grimmjow stopped for a moment, then he chuckled.
"As if!"
Grimmjow answered with too much enthusiasm. Then he stood up, cleaning off some of the dirt on his pants, then stretched.
"Well, at least you now hold the title of being The Last Man who put a mark on the great Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, right?"
He said with a grin on his face. Ichigo frowned once more.
"Of course. I will brag that to everyone. The great Grimmjow Jaegarjaquez, defeated by me. I'll be more famous by next week."
"Oi oi! Don' ruin my name that much asshole!"
"I'll do what I want to do stupid."
"Tch, stubborn prick!"
Ichigo pouted, but he hid that by placing his head between his knees and facing the ground.
"Oi, don't you cry on me now babe!"
Grimmjow said laughing.
"You wish"
Good thing that his voice was muffled, he was afraid that his voice is now cracking up. He can't understand why this is happening to him. Everything felt so, surreal. This is the first time that he felt this way. And he didn't know what words he should use to describe this overwhelming, dark and heavy feeling.
After a few moments, he felt a hand on his head, then the said hand ruffled his hair.
"Thanks Ichi, for everything. You know that yer' ma' only friend right?"
He didn't answered. Seriously, what is he going to say? Thanks? This is getting really awkward.
"You should try to be more serious too. I mean, yer' goin' to be a doctor some day right?"
"Shut up, you're not my mother, asshole."
A very thrilled laugh erupted from Grimmjow that made Ichigo raise his head.
"Alright, I'll go ahead.. I still need to pick Nel up from Rukia's house.."
Ichigo stiffened. Funny how that fucking name could make him feel so fired up.
Then Grimmjow started walking away, and everything went slow-mo.
Ichigo immediately stood up.
"G-Grimm..!"
Grimmjow stopped walking and turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm?"
He gulped. What is he going to say? Why did he stopped Grimmjow?
Fuck it all to hell..
Ichigo swallowed once more before returning Grimmjow's gaze.
"I-If.. If you need help, you and Neliel, anything, j-just tell it to me.. Got it?"
There was a moment of silence as a gust of wind blew between them. Then Grimmjow grinned.
"Sure. Thanks Ichi."
Grimmjow continued walking, leaving him behind with a very confused mind, and heart.
つづく
Welcome to the Friendzone! *Bwahahaha*
Aheem, so, what do you think will happen?
Thanks for reading!