It was Christmas time again, and Renji was out and about the city looking for goodies for his family. He absolutely loved Chrsitmas, but he felt kind of pressured as to what to get his parents and his little brother. Last year, he had a shitty job and could hardly pay rent by himself without help from friends or his Dad. Now, Renji was making twice what his father was after scoring his job of a lifetime, being a TV host for a 30 minutes show called All Out Request. Better known as "AOR" for short. It broadcasted on MTV, but only in the middle of the night, and only for areas that had the time slot for it. But still, Renji was on tv and he loved every single minute of it. He knew his wise ass personality would pay off ieventually/i. Renji was dressed in his usual out-landish get-up. He was sporting neon purple skinny jeans, darker purple Vans, a bright green belt, and a bright yellow shirt. Complete with a Zumiez hoodie of his choosing. He could never forget his Zumiez hoodie. He had large "Skull Candy" headsets on, bobbing his head to the sound of whatever rock or R&B played on his itouch, and was just chilling. After walking around his local town square for a while, he finally spotted a store he thought would suit atleast one of his parents. "Williams-Sonoma".
"Fuck. It's about damn time." Renji spat under his breath.
He had the utmost impatience anyone could ever see in thier lifetime. Renji actually surprised himself with how long he took searching for a place with stuff to satisfy the needs of his greedy family. Atleast, that's what he liked to call them. Renji casually strolled in and pushed his skullcandy to where it was hanging from his neck.
"Damn this place is spiffy. Someone gets paid alot to make a damn kitchen store look like Cleopatra's closet." Renji mumbled to himself.
That's a good one, i'm gonna write that down when I get home. Renji thought to himself.
The place was huge. The moment you entered, you could see the huge facade they made of the stairs about 40 feet away. Enormous gold, white, and silver ornaments were hanging off the ceiling. Perfectly placed lights hanging above, making them look like they were twinkling in the already dim light. Huge banners that looked like they were made of flaxen gold waved proudly in the foyer of the store reading "Season's greetings". Renji was thoroughly impressed, and it took alot for renji to be impressed.
"She got her period, and ever since she's been fussing and whining..."
"Mom! Mom I wanna see Sanna Riyy nowww!"
"Kathleen. It's to expensive, maybe we can come back later tomorrow and buy it for you then.."
People were talking all around Renji.
iEw. These people need to keep to themselves. Fuck./i Renji thought.
Renji hurridly and roughly put his headset back on, took his itouch, and flipped it to a random Coldplay playlist. Violet hill began playing, and the rhythm and hums of the violins and drums began filling Renji's headsets with sweet, sweet music.
Hmmm...that's much better. Renji thought to himself.
Renji walked around, carefully dodging running toddler's and being careful not to break anything. The entire place was an accident waiting to happen. There were knives and weird hammer looking things out on display in a weird barrel full of hay, what did they think was going to happen? Renji decided to get out of the center of the store and browse from the sidelines. He felt like he had a better chance of survival there. Renji shoved his hands in his pockets and perused on over, getting distracted by every shiny thing in sight. Even things on the sidelines were bad. There were billions of shelves, full of whisks, mixing things, basters, pans, bowls, coffee makers. You name it, it was on that shelf that day.
What the? There is no way in hell i'm finding anything for Mom here. I don't even know if she'd like any of this shit. Renji thought.
Suddenly, something miniature caught his eye. Naturally, he loved it. It was miniature. It was a decorative mini "mixing bowl". It looked exactly like the real thing, except it wasn't, and it fascinated Renji. Renji slowly made his way to the very precisely placed display, next to the stainless steel waffle irons. He carefully shuffled through a herd of kindergartners, barely getting knicked by a child running with a pencil. Then, after having waiting behing a statue of a gold lion, he found his oppurtunity of cleared floor space to run to the mixing bowls. As he was running, a little Asian kid popped out of nowhere from underneath the display table. His hands were above his head and he was jumping up and down trying to show Renji his new Nintendo 3DS, and in the process he scared the shit out of Renji.
"Shit, kid!" Renji yelled, as he attempted to jump out of the way but failed only to re-gain his balance by crashing into the table hard.
All the Mixing bowls and waffle irons came crashing to the floor in an instant, sending the Asian kid crying. Renji's eyes widened as dozens of little kids began screaming in terror.
"Hey. Don't fucking cry! Suck it up! Don't tell your parents I did this though! It was that kid!" Renji yelled, pointing at the shaking child burying his face in his mother's arms.
The Mother stared daggers at Renji, and Renji just snarled, pretending to be a tiger.
"Don't hate lady, control the monster." Renji snickered, quickly grabbing a mini bowl and dashing to the store line.
There were so many people there packed in, that no one could pin it on Renji even if they wanted to. For the first time, Renji was greatful for late Christmas shoppers. Usually he cussed them out under his breath.
That was close. Renji thought.
Renji was behind atleast 40 people. He knew the waiting wasn't going to be easy, but atleast he had his music. Renji took out his itouch and fiddled around with it for a little bit. He rarely lifted his head for anything after that. In fact, he only knew the line was moving because he could see peoples feet moving in his peripheal vision as he was looking down. After about 5 minutes, one of his favorite songs came up. He loved it so much, he decided he would put his itouch in his pocket while he listened to it. The second he lifted his head up, he saw him. The most beautiful man he had ever seen in his entire life.
~Look at the stars. Look how they shine for you. And everything you do. Yeah, they were all yellow.~
He was tall, and pale. His hair, long and black. It fell towards the front, but mainly more on his left side for some reason.
~I came along. I wrote a song for you. And all the things you do. And it was called Yellow.~
His eyes, were the color of steel. His eyelids, seemed as if they were pulled back a bit, yet his eyes were still big and gorgeous.
~So then I took my time. Oh what a thing to've done. And it was all yellow.~
His demeanor was completely calm, even though he was helping three people at once. Renji had just noticed he worked for the store. He was wearing a black Williams-Sonoma apron, with Gold embroidery of the store name on it. He was at the cash register, scanning stuff with that scanner thingy, and Renji couldn't help but remain jaw dropped at the most marvelous sight of man meat.
~Your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones. Turn into something beautiful. D'you know? You know, I love you so. You know I love you so.~
The sound of the beautiful guitar solo filled Renji's ears, and he thought, what a perfect song for a perfect man. Renji removed his headset, and pressed stop on his itouch. He clutched the little bowl in his hands, and he realized, he was about to meet the man.
Shit. Renji thought. I can't do this.
There was only 5 people infront of Renji by that point, and he was nervous as fuck.
My Mom doesn't need a little tiny bowl. This is so fucking stupid.
Renji shook his head 'no' violently while thinking to himself.
He's too pretty, and if I meet him, I don't wanna meet him like this.
Renji was still focused on this man. He couldn't will his brain to move his head or his line of sight. Renji thought it was the cutest thing he had ever seen, when the man was fumbling trying to find a bar code on a Godiva chocolate bar.
"S-so cute..." Renji whispered to himself.
Apparently the man infront of him thought that was directed toward him, and he turned and gave a scowl as a retort.
"Ugh. Sorry. Don't roll that way. Happily married. Thanks though." The man said, waving his ring finger in the air.
Renji just scoffed.
"Wasn't talking about you man." Renji said.
"Next." The beautiful man said, calling the man infront of him to the cash register.
It wasn't long before the man's purchase was complete, and Renji was next.
"Next." The man said, looking straight through Renji's soul with his piercing eyes.
At that moment, Renji wished his hair was down and that he didn't get those ridiculous tattoo's when he was 18. Renji inched forward and placed the mini bowl on the counter.
I must scream fag to this straight guy right now. A red headed, tattooed freak, wearing nothing but clashing colors, dropping a bowl the size of a quarter on the counter. Yeah, holding my head in shame tonight. Renji thought, suddenly becoming more quiet.
"Would this be all for you, sir?" The man asked. For some reason his voice dropped an octave when he said "Sir."
Renji felt like a complete dumbass loser, just standing there looking like a clown with his overgrown jacket hiding his arms, his bright red hair, and his tattoo's drawing unneccessary attention. Buying a tiny bowl, to top it off. Renji looked at the man's beautiful sad set eyes, for, which would probably be the first and last time and smiled a weak; defeated smile.
"Yes." He said meekly.
The man told him how much he owed, and he dug through his wallet retrieving the four dollars and fifty cents.
"T-There you go." Renji stammered.
Renji twiddled his thumbs while his receipt was printing out. He looked from beneath his brow, to see a name tag on the man's apron. "Byakuya K."
"Byakuya.." Renji accidentally said outloud.
Suddenly Renji's eyes went wide, and he bit his bottom lip as punishment.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Please tell me he didn't hear that. Renji thought.
When he looked up again, Byakuya was staring directly at him, and smiling. A fellow employee looked at him, and her jaw dropped. She had never seen him smile before.
"Yes?" Byakuya asked.
Renji stayed looking at him, frozen.
"Um, nothing. It's, it's a nice name. Is all. That's just, all I was thinking. That's it, nothing else." Renji babbled.
Byakuya got a perplexed look on his face.
"I mean. Not that I wouldn't think of something. You know, I mean, think of something else. About you?"
Things were going horribly wrong. Byakuya ripped the receipt from the register and handed it to Renji, all the while listening to his ranting but never breaking his gaze with him.
"Merry Christmas." Byakuya said.
He is so much more intimidating up close. Fuck. That was too much for me to handle. Renji thought.
Renji turned on his heel, and dissappeared into the crowd. The female employee, stopped pretending to not listen, and got behind Byakuya and whispered in his ear.
"You smiled at that guy!" She said, in excitement. Byakuya rolled his eyes.
"Is that such a crime? It is Christmas, after all." Byakuya said, beckoning the next customer.
Byakuya's tone became more stoic again, like it usually was, and his gait serious.
"No! It's not a crime...but you never ever smile at anyone! I've been working here for an entire year, and i've never seen that happen!" She exclaimed, bouncing up and down.
"Thank you. Merry Christmas." Byakuya said to another customer as he was handing them their receipt. "You should get back to work. You could be helping people." Byakuya replied.
The girl rolled her eyes and began to walk away.
"Whatever. But I know you think he's cute." She said, excitedly.
Byakuya turned around and glared at her.
"So what?"
Renji had just barely made it outside, before he began cussing himself out.
"Renji! You fucking idiot! God! Why couldn't you have gone to Crate and Barrel? Always go to fucking Crate and Barrel!" Renji yelled through clenched teeth.
Renji looked at the tiny bowl that was inside the bag Byakuya had put it in, and smiled then frowned.
"Crate and Barrel!"
Renji power walked over to the parking lot, and began looking for his black Escalade. He was looking for it angrily. He was still thinking about what happened.
"There you are, fucker." Renji spat, after finding his car with the panic button on his keys.
He trudged over to the car, and opened the door. He threw the bag with the stupid trinket inside, and hopped in.
"God. I need to listen to some fucking music." Renji muttered to himself.
He liked talking to himself when he was alone. Especially when he was under stress. Renji connected an audio cable to his itouch, and suddenly the car was filled with music. He scrolled down the touch screen, and selected a certain song he thought was right for the occasion.
~Here we go again I kinda wanna be more than friends, So take it easy on me I'm afraid you're never satisfied. Here we go again, We're sick like animals We play pretend. You're just a cannibal And I'm afraid I wont get out alive. No I won't sleep tonight. Oh, oh I want some more Oh, oh What are you waitin' for? Take a bite of my heart tonight. Oh oh I want some more Oh oh What are you waitin' for? What are you waitin' for? Say goodbye to my heart tonight. Here we are again I feel the chemicals kickin' in It's gettin' heavier I wanna run and hide. I wanna run and hide. I do it every time You're killin' me now. And I won't be denied by you The animal inside of you. Oh, oh I want some more. Oh, oh What are you waitin' for? Take a bite of my heart tonight. Oh oh I want some more. Oh oh What are you waitin' for? What are you waitin' for? Say goodbye to my heart tonight.~
Renji listened to the whole damn song, while guzzling a gatorade he found in his door compartment. He made the noise you make after having a drink and feeling refreshed, then took the car out of park and began to back out. Suddenly, a dark figure zoomed past his window, freaking Renji out and forcing him to pull his emergency break.
"What the FUCK is up with TONIGHT?" Renji yelled, reaching in his glove box and pulling out a stun gun.
He lowered his window and looked around. He didn't see anything. He decided to get out of the car and check, just in case.
"This better not be that same damn Asian kid!" Renji yelled, holding the stun gun up like a firearm. "I'm going to make you say Konichiwa bitch!"
Renji looked around, and only found an ordinary parking lot.
"Fucking Chupacabra's." He mumbled, and turned around.
Renji caught Byakuya's amused gaze.
"In Latin America maybe, but not here." He said, shrugging his shoulders.
Renji had no clue how to react.
"Don't worry, i'm not going to steal your money. Or, your shiny car either." Byakuya joked.
Renji just stood there, as if he was trapped in quicksand.
"Um...what. What are you doing here?" Renji asked. He was so stunned, that it sounded a bit rude.
Byakuya shrugged his shoulders once more, and put his hands in the pockets of his long black trench coat.
"I asked an employee to cover for me. I-I wanted to catch you before you left." Byakuya stated bluntly. His eyes were warm but his voice was sort of cold.
Renji's heart bounced around his insides, and his palms dove head first into his pockets. He swallowed hard, and tried to respond to those heavenly words.
"Why?"
He hated that he was still sounding rude.
"I wanted to ask you, why you said my name?"
Renji's eyebrows furrowed.
"R-really? You got off early on Christmas Eve to ask me why I said the name on your nametag?" Renji responded, again sounding rude. "I'm sorry. I'm sounding like a dick right now...I'm really not." Renji whispered, looking down at the gray pavement.
Byakuya stepped a little closer to him.
"Yes. Most people are in a big hurry, and are usually dicks to me." Byakuya said. "But, you. Weren't a dick. And I still don't think you're a dick."
Renji smiled, and cleared his throat a little. He hoped he wasn't blushing like a little pussy.
"That's good to know." Renji whispered.
Byakuya inched a little more closer to Renji. His breathing quickening. You could see his and Renji's breath turn white in the frosty air.
"It's fucking cold out here. Are you going to invite me into your car, or do I need to beg?"
Renji looked up, absolutely stunned and shocked, for a second time.
"I'm sorry. Not to be rude. But, i'm a complete stranger to you. Why would you want to get into my car?" Renji asked, but still completely flattered.
Byakuya didn't hesitate with his response at all. He didn't even blink.
"Because. I think you're cute, and apparently it's a big deal. I'm not one to do this, so if i'm making an ass out of myself I shall leave. But I needed to say that. Oh, and if you're offended, I apologize, I don't have a "gaydar". Like people like to call it." Byakuya confessed, his chest feeling a little bit lighter after.
Renji couldn't feel his outside extremeties at all, but his insides were raging with fire and burning like mad.
"Yes. Absolutely. Get in my car, iplease/i before I end up making an ass of myself even more and you walk away and I never see you again." Renji chuckled, finally acting like himself again.
Byakuya smirked and walked to the other side of the car, opening the door. Renji got in through his side, and they both shut the door. The sexual tension rising instantly. Renji liked to think that happened because they were both attractive, he didn't know why. Renji lowered his music to almost zero, and basked in the awkward silence. Byakuya warmed his hands with the blasting hot air from the front vents.
"The hot air in here is really good." Byakuya stated.
Renji stared at the gorgeous man and thought how this never really happened to people. He was thinking how lucky he was. That, or how dead he was.
"I was staring at you. In the line, I was staring at you. I couldn't stop staring at you. It was awful, really. I felt like a fucking pervert, but, i've never seen anyone as statuesque as you. You, are fucking gorgeous, and I can't believe you're in my car right now." Renji managed to say, his hands still non-chalantly in his pockets.
Byakuya turned to pierce Renji's sole once more with his eyes, and he smiled. A whole, toothy smile. In turn, causing Renji to smile. He felt like he was in high school again. Byakuya flipped his hair back, getting some strands out of his face, and leaned forward, kissing Renji full on the lips. Renji just moaned, like he'd been wanting to do thinking about that man for the past 30 minutes.
"Thank you...um,"
"Renji. My name is, Renji. Even though I almost forgot it." Renji joked.
Byakuya smiled and kissed Renji once more, grabbing at his red hair with his free hand.
"Best-Christmas present-Ever." Renji said, out of breath.
"Generally people unwrap their presents." Byakuya said, slyly.
Renji gave Byakuya an evil smile, then revved up the engine.
"You look like you need a ride." Renji said, hidden meanings spilling from his voice.
Byakuya just rolled his eyes.
"I think you're right."