Disclaimers: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters (though who wouldn't want to?) oh and eventual yaoi: fluffy, silly, romance smutt
Premise: Uryu has had a crush on Ichigo for some time now. With the assumption that the soul reaper won't notice his advances, he starts to relieve some of the stress of keeping such a secret by flirting. Ichigo surprises himself as well as Uryu by how well he reacts.
Uryu Ishida, in spite of everything he tried to tell himself, had started to fall for, of all people, Ichigo Kurosaki. He knew this was absurd but as time passed, he couldn't continue to lie to himself. No, he had let it get to the point where he needed to make a decision. He needed to do something about it. He could either (A) continue to attempt to quell his feelings, which had been working thus far but also had been wholly unsatisfying or (B) go for it. He laughed to himself at the thought. How would the soul reaper react to such a thing? He was obviously ga-ga over Orihime, and what straight man wouldn't be? The quincy groaned inwardly, had he been a girl, none of this would be a problem. Besides, Ichigo is so dense, it would take quite a lot to get his point across. He couldn't stop himself from briefly wondering just how much it would take, how much of himself he would have to put out there in order to get his crush's attention. He was fairly sure that short of coming totally clean with Ichigo or outright kissing him, he could say or do whatever he wanted to let his feelings be known and the other wouldn't bat an eye.
The thought of kissing Ichigo lingered in his mind as he pretended to go over his notes from the day before. He imagined that the more precocious young man would be very tentative at first, if at all accepting to such an advance and that he would have to help him overcome that if he was going to be met with any sort of positive reaction. After that, if he was successful, he got the impression that Ichigo would try to take over from there, even though he most likely would have no idea what he was doing. Now that is if he was successful, there was no guarantee there at all. As far as he knew, the soul reaper was straight as an arrow, irony be damned, making the chances of such an occurrence practically nil.
"Ishida…hey, earth to quincy!" Ichigo waved his hand in front of his friend's face several times before he got a reaction.
Uryu started at the sudden intrusion and, putting on a glare for the offender, quickly discovered that it was the object of his affection. "Kurosaki, good morning," he greeted as though he was not at all pleased to see his comrade.
Ichigo, knowing better, ignored his tone, "What ya thinking so hard about this early in the morning?" he teased with a wide, friendly smile.
He knew he couldn't answer that honestly but he also couldn't help the slight smile that crept across his lips at the sight of that face. "Nothing you could grasp," he shot back, an excellent parry from his perspective and simple jab at his intelligence for the soul reaper.
"You don't have to be a jerk. I was just trying to say hi," Ichigo tried not to raise his voice.
Uryu gave a heavy sigh. This pretending to hate him thing was really starting to become burdensome. Perhaps he could be nicer to the other boy. After all, as he'd already reasoned, it would take quite a bit to make the soul reaper anything but totally oblivious to such a notion. "I'm sorry. Good morning," he tried again, this time with a much more pleasant tone.
Ichigo was obviously taken aback by the sudden change in his friend's demeanor but he wasn't going to argue. "So what's up?"
From there, their conversation was fairly normal save the fact that Uryu wasn't taking every opportunity to cut the soul reaper down. In fact, he was being unusually polite, even considerate. The more they talked, he couldn't help but smile at the change. Uryu was actually quite nice to talk to when he wanted to be.
God, if he keeps smiling like that I think my head's going to explode, Ishida thought to himself, trying to quell his urge to pull the orange-haired teen down for a kiss to test his theories. He couldn't stop himself from smiling, even laughing a little, at one of Ichigo's lame jokes.
It was all over too soon when the teacher entered and class started.
That wasn't so bad, Ishida thought, he's even cuter when he smiling than when he's scowling.
Five minutes into class, Uryu found his mind wondering. He didn't usually have problems concentrating in class but his short, but rather sweet, conversation with his friend left him with a lot to think about. Ichigo had responded very well to the positive reinforcement. It was then that he decided that he didn't have to tell the soul reaper his feelings but that didn't mean that he couldn't have a little fun with him. After all, Ichigo was really dense so there was really no harm in him being even just a little bit nicer. Hell, he could probably even flirt with the other boy and have it only be seen a 'just being friendly' if it was noticed at all. They very idea made him smile and he made a quick glance over to his classmate.
Ichigo was concentrating very hard on whatever it was that their teacher was lecturing about this time. He looked cute when he was all serious like that, trying so hard over something that he knew the orange-haired boy couldn't really care less about. He would much rather be out fighting hollows or something like that. That was something he liked and something he was naturally good at. I wonder what else he'd be naturally good at? Uryu couldn't help wondering. Immediately, his thoughts went to the idea that because Ichigo was so strong and generally free-spirited, he would make an excellent lover, once he got comfortable. He looked back up to the front of the classroom just in time to avoid being caught staring. Instead, he nibbled on the end of his pen as a blush rose to his cheeks. Did I really just think that?
Ichigo sighed in frustration. He hated having to pay avid attention to things he didn't give a damn about. To keep himself from staring out the window, which would inevitably result in a reprimand from their teacher, he let his eyes wonder around the classroom. They eventually handed on Ishida, with the cap of his pen resting lightly on his bottom lip, slowly rolling it back and forth as though he was deep in thought. The orange-haired teen felt strangely drawn to the sight. There was just something very appealing about the way it ran along those perfectly pink, barely parted, slightly moist lips. Did I really just think that? Ichigo blinked in disbelief at his own thoughts. Sure, Ishida was attractive. He found himself silently agreeing when he'd heard a couple of his classmates (both boys and girls) call him 'pretty' but he'd never really thought about him this way. Acknowledging another person's physical appeal was different from outright appreciating it. When had that started to change?
Uryu took another quick glance back at his crush, turning his head only as much as he absolutely needed to see before quickly turning back, so as not to get caught. The soul reaper wasn't paying as intense of attention to the teacher any more. In fact, he looked really distracted. Figures, he can only really pay attention for ten minutes before his mind starts to wander. The quincy couldn't help wondering what had so suddenly caught his classmate's attention. He took another quick look back. It almost looks like he's looking at me, he mused to himself, and was he blushing? Uryu paused, absentmindedly clicking the pen lightly against his teeth and at that he was sure he heard Ichigo make the slightest whimper. He cocked an eyebrow. That's why he's staring at me? And all these years I've been told chewing on my pen was a bad habit. He tried not to chuckle. It still could have been a coincidence. He had to test it. Lightly, he traced the cap of the pen with the tip of his tongue while continuing to brush it across his lips. When he didn't hear anything, he turned, ever so slightly to take another peek. Ichigo was blushing just a few shades more deeply and he was starting to chew on his bottom lip.
Now that's an interesting development…perhaps I should be nicer to him more often. Uryu sighed softly and forced himself to pay attention to his studies. It was amusing that Ichigo was reacting that way to him but it still could have just been a fluke. Either way, there was really no reason to rush these sort of things. He'd been patient for this long, a little longer wouldn't kill him.
When it came time for lunch, Uryu did something he'd never done before. He approached Ichigo and his circle of friends.
"Oh, Uryu-san, are you going to have lunch with us today?" Orihime smiled warmly.
"I was hoping to, if that's not a problem," he half-joked, making sure to make eye contact with the soul reaper if only for a moment.
"Whatever, I don't care who you have lunch with," Ichigo casually avoided those dark eyes.
So he's going to pretend it was nothing. Uryu smirked. Oh well, that means I get to play with him some more.
"Awww…we have to have lunch with the nerd?" Keigo whined.
"You don't have to stay," Ichigo casually shot back.
But he's okay with being protective of me…of course, he's protective of all his friends, even Keigo, that idiot. Ishida ignored the insult, taking his usual stance of 'arguing with someone so stupid would be a waste of his time'. Instead, he concentrated on Ichigo. He didn't want to make it too obvious but he needed to do enough to get an idea of what sort of reactions the soul reaper would give. In other words, he started flirting. Nothing too overt, mind you, not yet anyway; just simple stuff like occasionally stretching his muscles so that he could make slightly suggestive poses, occasionally taking just a few seconds longer than necessary to lick his lips, or making eye contact whenever possible, things that could be considered innocent if one was not in the correct mindset.
Because their conversation was so disarming, Ichigo didn't notice it at first but as time passed, he occasionally felt a slight blush rise to his cheeks. Damnit! Why the hell am I thinking like this? Wait…did he just lick his lips again? Uuugh! Is he doing it on purpose? No, that's stupid. Why would he do that? I've just barely convinced him to have a conversation with me without him making fun of me. I'm just not used to him being nice to me. Why am I trying to ruin this by thinking all weird? Besides, he's my friend…but if he licks his lips one more time I'm going to have to excuse myself.
The end of their lunch break came too soon for Uryu but not soon enough for Ichigo. Since the quincy was rather pleased by the fact that Ichigo was at least pleasant to eat with, meaning he didn't get immediately rejected for the minute advances he'd made, he decided to let it go for the time being. The soul reaper was much more confused by comparison but because his classmate returned to his more normal behavior, he was able to quickly put it out of his thoughts.
This sort of routine continued for the better part of two weeks. They would speak politely before class, Uryu would do something seemingly innocent but somehow obviously suggestive, usually involving his favorite pen; they would have lunch, where he would continue flirting with the other boy; and then it was over. The rest of the day they both needed to take to settle down.
I wanted to do something a little different from what I have been and this is what came out. I rather like it so far but I am kind of a fiend for sexual tension. Things will get heavier in the next chapter. And one more thing...I've changed my style a little for these two. The style I developed while working on those Ulquiorra x Grimmjaw pieces just didn't seem quite right for this. To show that, I've switched from using italic for single word and phrase emphasis to using it for internal monologues. However, I didn't want to tag all of them as such (as it was getting very clunky and drew a lot more attention to itself than I intended). If anyone has any comments of suggestions on that I'd be more than happy to entertain them.
And as always, thank you for reading.