Hi..
There is no reason for me to be posting this. I found it in a folder of old stuff while I was cleaning up from my computer upgrade, reread it.. Annnd, now I wanna share.

It's a pairing that I've never really done before. I write more DGM than Bleach anymore. I reread Her Brothers sometimes and really wanna work on it, but that muse is asleep or something.
But here's this little piece of UryuXSzayel- Not many people actually read that stuff anyway. (Chuckles)

Lemme a review and let me know what you think. Not gonna lie, probably not gonna update it- but maybe..

By Association

They had never been 'friends'- Uryu would deny it still if anyone cared to ask- because being 'friends' with a person like Szayel was, for lack of better terms, a stupid idea. He was positive of that.

Szayel was a loner, who rarely bothered to acknowledge that he was friends with anyone, even people who easily called him their 'best friend'. The only thing Uryu would acknowledge was that they were (albeit, loosely) friends by association- had been for a long time.

He'd been, not exactly close, but- in high school, he had been friends with Ichigo Kurosaki, the elder of the male Kurosaki twins. He could remember numerous occasions where they'd been left to fend for themselves, as Chad would be taken to distract Orihime and Tatsuki- who, some days, neither he nor Kurosaki had had the patients to deal with. Maybe he should have noted this similarity sooner, though.

But Shiro, Ichigo's younger twin, would rarely hang out with their friends- even after freshmen year, when they're little group nearly doubled, as an old family friend of Ichigo's father's moved back to town with his two kids- and his kid's weird friends seemed to all follow. There'd be those moments when the two groups would collide though- the brashness of all of Shiro's friends mixed oddly well with their eclecticism's. Uryu had never really thought about it much, but suddenly he wondered why the two groups hadn't openly mixed more.

But, then again- they really did mix more than most of them, in either clique, would probably admit.

Then they'd all within a span of three years gone off to college. First had been Shinji, Ichigo's nearly brother, along with his friends Kensei, Mashiro, Love, and Lisa- with Chad, who, oddly followed the mismatched group to the same college as Love and Mashiro. A number of Shiro's friend were then gone too- he could now tell you that Nnoitra, Nelliel, Grimmjow, and Szayel, and by default Yylfordt, had all gone that year- then, he hadn't cared to pay attention. The year after that, it felt like all but a few of them had successfully managed to (inadvertently) go off to college, in the same city.

But, it all, changed in his freshmen year- when at the end of winter quarter, those high school friends had finally managed to drag him out for a night to celebrate the end of the winter quarter. And as they walked in, Uryu following just in Ichigo's wake as they were once again left to fend for themselves, he realized their friends had brought them to a gay bar. They'd shared an unamused few minutes mulling over it, before Kurosaki's younger half decided to swoop down and distract them by directing them to a corner booth that they'd all taken up.

"They've been trying to get me here for nearly a month," Ichigo had said a bit later as they were left alone again, his tone coming off a bit miffed. Uryu had merely shook his head with a sad level of pity.

But got worse, when suddenly Shiro's friends were there and he was met with a completely different problem. Because as Grimmjow smiled into the booth and Ichigo smiled back, even Uryu in his moments of social retardation would have known it wasn't platonic. And then there were five people traveling in the blue haired man's wake- Nnoitra, holding Nelliel's hand like it was a leash, Nelliel's new college friend Tia, her boyfriend (Uryu assumed, anyway) Coyote, then lastly none other than Szayel himself. And as Ichigo went through saying hello to each of them, Uryu giving only his usual nods- the dark-haired man had to notice the very even numbers. And from how he hung to the back of the group, farthest from where Uryu sat with his hands in his pockets and grumpy look on his face, so had Szayel.

Then they'd all tapered off, going their own ways, leaving Uryu sitting, planted in his seat, openly admitting to playing mindless games on his phone while slipping his way slowly through three light beers. Added with the mild conversation, the dulled music from the back of the club, and the cheap drink- his night went fine. Even just passed midnight, when Szayel suddenly thunked himself into the space opposite where Uryu sat at the thin table. And for a while, the pink-haired man didn't speak and Uryu was inclined to just leave him be. Glancing up after a while, he met the other man's eyes and after a short moment where neither seemed to have anything to say, Uryu returned to his drink and Szayel returned watching the people scurry about the darkly lit room.

Both would refuse to admit that they may have been comforted by how they didn't have to talk, or that when Szayel shifted his leg just a bit and his foot brushed the outside of Uryu's leg he didn't seem bothered. And Uryu Ishida would have definitely failed to acknowledge that it was because he felt mildly comforted by the other man's presence, as they sat there, not needing to talk or fill the air with some kind of noise; both just simply content to be.

But maybe he could have noticed this sooner, too. Because, after the holiday break, when Uryu made his way into his first class, he was suddenly reminded of it, as he noted the pink-haired man again, this time seating to the far side of the lecture hall, a book open in front of him as he flipped through the pages, obviously waiting for class to begin. And Uryu suddenly he found himself standing right next to him, pinning him with a hard look as the other man simply looked back up at him. Finally after a few silent moments, Szayel let his head bob toward the seat next to him.

"Sit, people are looking at you weird." And with a disgruntled grunt, Uryu did- though, he wouldn't have been able to tell you why.

"Aren't you a year above me," he found himself asking his eyes pinned to the front as if the blank whiteboard would write out the answers to his questions- as if he were preparing for a test.

"I couldn't fit this class in last year," Szayel managed to reply easily, his eyes still skimming over the page in front of him, only the small smirk of his lips belaying his amusement.

"I didn't even know you went here."

"I doubt that would have ever come up, no. Not like we ever really talk much."

"Why are you still smiling," he found himself asking, wondering if that was part of the test too.

But Szayel merely let his eyes slide over and meet Uryu's darker ones- the amber color smirking just as much as his lips. "Because watching you get all flustered seems to amuse me." And then he was back to reading the page and Uryu could think of nothing else to say. But the companionable silence only seemed to last a few moments. "Are you gay," Szayel was suddenly asking so bluntly Uryu took a few moments to process the question, his face instantly lighting with a bright blush as much as he tried to stop it- that shouldn't be part of the test.

"Are you serious?"

"That's a yes," Szayel let his smile continue to linger on the page as he chuckled a bit.

"Are you crazy?" It seemed to be the bonus answer, he supposed.

"Would you like to find out?" And Uryu decided it would have been a true or false question.

And as they sat next to each other for three mornings of the seven for the following weeks, Uryu never could find a proper response to the odd question Szayel would have each and every time. After the first two weeks he barely tried to answer.

By midterms, Uryu was nearly unsettled by how much he looked forward to the two and a half hour lecture on the cerebellum- mainly because knowing they both knew the material, Szayel had an odd habit of reading the book, not really listening to what the professor was saying at all, and muttering odd phrases in time with the older man's monotone teaching. It amused him, every day. And by the time preparations for finals were being made, Uryu was willing to admit he knew more about Szayel than he had ever expected to in his life.

But when the slightly taller man asked him if he would like a 'study-buddy' as their professor had suggested they find, Uryu realized he hadn't known Szayel lived alone. Looking up at the large lavished apartment complex, as he buzzed to be let in, he realized he didn't know if Szayel worked- though he did know it would be odd considering the other male took a full load of classes. And as he entered, after being buzzed in without a question, Uryu walked slowly through the lobby, making his way to the elevators, he wondering how much he still had to learn about the other.

Once again, lemme know what you think?

Thanks for reading-
Aseru