A/N: I'd like to thank everyone for such a positive response to my first fanfic :) That really pushed me to pump out this chapter. I've changed my story more times than I wish to tell but here is my final product chapter 2! I'm not 100% pleased with it but got tired of rereading and editing this thing a ridiculous amount of times.
Some GrimmIchi updates but still nothing concrete ;) they're working on it, they've only just met after all!
Chapter Two: Date One - This was a Terrible Idea
"Shinji Hirako. Blonde. About the same height. Not shy. Café Reishi. 4:30pm"
That's all the information Ichigo got from Renji and in text, no less. He wouldn't answer any of Ichigo's questions or threats, just kept messaging back "Be there".
Renji's hand-picked clothing lay cold and neatly folded on his dresser as Ichigo packed his backpack and headed out to the café at one o'clock. The charming tinkle of bells on the door caused the usual release of tension in his muscles. To say he was nervous was an understatement; he entertained the idea of skipping out many times on the walk over.
It's not like he wasn't looking forward to his first-ever date, it's just that he wasn't looking forward to a date put together by Renji.
The thought caused all the tension to return with a groan. He slumped in his usual table, it being one of the centre tables off to the side. Renji didn't want to sit in the back, he loudly stated that the ladies wouldn't be able to see him right away and might miss their chance at his 'splendour.'
With a snort at his friend's antics, smooth hands wrenched open a heavier-than-it-looks backpack to pull out two books – one massive textbook and one notebook – both filled with a multitude of coloured sticky-note page-markers.
Once all arranged and happy with his book-to-pencil ratio, Ichigo made his way up to the counter on auto-pilot (he really was here too often) and distractedly ordered his favourite drink: three-quarters coffee, one-quarter hot chocolate.
Just as he was paying for his beverage, Ichigo was snapped out of his self-induced-study-trance-to-avoid-thinking-about-my-date-mode by a highly amused chuckle and "Earth to Kurosa-kiiii?"
Orange brows jumped in surprise as brown eyes finally came into focus and found… blue.
The colour of those eyes were so pure and light that he couldn't even form much more of a thought besides comparative sentence fragments; 'Beautiful... Crisp... Bright like morning. No, brighter… Clear too, like crystals… '
"So where's your loud friend today?"
Ichigo shook his head, 'What was I doing? Ah, coffee, right… God that's such a nice colour – Shit! He asked a question! What was it? Umm…' While he floundered he realized he was gaping a little too much than was socially acceptable. Snapping his jaw back together, he then asked, "Hmm? Sorry, I zoned out… been a long night…" The tried and true excuse for all his social awkwardness.
"Heh no problem, I'm totally used to people getting all lost just by looking into my eyes." His chin came down on two upturned palms, elbows to the counter and the cocky bugger tilted his smirking face, enjoying the situation way too much in the customer's opinion. 'But he looks so damn good doing it, and he knows it too… bastard.'
Cheeks feeling too hot for their own good, Ichigo scowled at the pretty man in his tiny apron, 'The nerve he has! How could he even know anyway? I could've been tired…' All he replied with was "Che," and an eyeroll for good measure.
"Aw come on, I'm just teasin'! I only asked where your loud friend was today." He seemed a little worried for whatever reason. 'Good, then he shouldn't piss off his customers when they say they're tired! He must've figured out by now that I'm a regular.'
Still defensive, Ichigo turned away and threw over his shoulder "He's setting me up with a date in a few hours." Even to himself it sounded a little nastier than he meant, but come on! The guy needed to be knocked down a notch or two on the Grand Pegboard of Ego.
Satisfied with the small and petty victory, two brown eyes looked over neatly organized class notes before the boy himself hunkered down for a few hours of studying.
The afternoon seemed to fly by. Each time Ichigo looked up at the clock the minute and hour hands pointed to new numbers and crept closer and closer to 4:30. He felt the tension intensify continuously and soon was unable to concentrate any further. 'Just as well, the guy should be here soon anyway… Shinji eh? Shinji Hirako. He's blonde… I'm not a huge fan of blonde really, I'm more into…' He snuck a glance at the counter and turned away before being able to catch any more eye-traps, 'Nope, on second thought blonde is fine. Totally fine. Love it already.'
The door chimed and Ichigo looked up sharply, grateful for the distraction. He saw blonde hair and the butterflies in his stomach multiplied ten-fold. The guy scanned the café and let out a huge feral grin when he spotted Ichigo. That only caused the butterflies to zoom around harder. He noticed the guy making his way over and hastened to clear away his school materials.
"Tell me you're Ichigo Kurosaki."
The guy's voice was smooth; Ichigo wanted to hear more and so he shook the proffered hand and smiled, "That'd be me. You're Shinji Hirako then? Here, I made room."
The guy pulled the hand that was still clutched in his grip up to his lips and gave it a big fat kiss. 'Pretty sure the maidens in the movies wouldn't appreciate a dog-lick like that… hey wait! Maiden?!'
Ichigo yanked his hand back and wiped it on his jeans, "Um, look I'm not interested in being treated like some helpless girl, alright? Equal footing. Can we do that?"
Shinji put his hands up in surrender and sat down at the table, "Sorry Ichi, I couldn't help myself. You're such a beauty!"
"It's Ichigo," orange brows furrowed as he reclaimed his seat, "and uh it's alright I guess, I'm not used to this or anything so go easy on me. It's my first date and all…" Was that another blush coming on? Yep, totally was.
"Reeeeeally?" Shinji leaned forward with a strange gleam in his eye, "So you're a virgin then?" He grabbed Ichigo's hand again and started playing with the finger tips.
Ichigo wasn't exactly excited about the affection just yet, he was still put off by this guy's demeanour, but just let it happen. "So what if I am?" He huffed and looked away, "I like to focus on my grades."
That caused his date to chuckle and pause what he was doing to Ichigo's hand, "I noticed, what with all your sticky-notes, you seem very well organized Ichi."
The old blush was being overtaken by a fresh one now, and yet, "It's Ichigo."
Shinji ignored the comment, pulled the hand back to his lips and coated it in what was (apparently) supposed to be an enticing amount of saliva… "I also must apologize because I won't 'go easy' on you." He chuckled darkly.
"Cut it out!" Ichigo yelled and sharply retrieved his hand, wiping it off thoroughly, "I told you already that I don't like it when you… do that." His tirade faltered on the awkward words 'kiss my hand.'
'Aaand now my face feels like I dunked my head in fresh coffee… Speaking of coffee-' He shakily reached for his forgotten cup and knocked back the small amount that was left, keeping his hands occupied and (more importantly) out of Shinji's reach.
"Alright, alright. Let's back up a bit shall we?" He leaned back, much to Ichigo's relief, and gave his first purely-friendly smile, "By the way, how long were you waiting for me?" He gestured to the empty cup.
'Okay so started off on the wrong foot but maybe we can still salvage this.' Thought Ichigo as he relaxed some and gave a sheepish grin, "It's not like that! I'm at the Reishi all the time as it is so Renji just had you meet me here. He knew I'd probably chicken out if he set us up anywhere else, the sneaky bastard." He looked Shinji in the eyes and smirked, "Sorry to burst your bubble."
The blonde just waved the apology away with a laugh and let his eyes wander around the shop, taking it in. Ichigo took the opportunity to check out the blonde again, straight cut blonde bob, almost too-full row of perfect teeth... but no matter how hard he tried he could not imagine himself touching the guy. Shinji wasn't bad looking, what with his button-up shirt and patterned tie; Ichigo just didn't have an urge to touch him in a more-than-friendly way. 'Does that even matter? Maybe that'll come with time and I'm worrying too much. It's not like I know what I'm doing anyway…'
Just as he squared his shoulders and mentally slapped himself to give a more valiant effort at this date, Shinji turned back around and dropped a personalized date-wrecking bomb, "This place is kind of a dump, Ichi. You should come with me to my favourite hangout – Club Hueco Mundo. It's definitely nicer than this joint and has a much livelier crowd! We coul-"
Ichigo stopped listening after Shinji's first sentence. That was the big deal. The bomb. His jaw was hanging and he didn't know if it was ever going to go back in place. Reishi? A dump? This place was dear to Ichigo, it was like Shinji just insulted a part of him, or a close family member. He looked around at it all, drinking in the black-and-white photos that were personal mementos of Urahara's life; him as a young boy with his parents, his prom picture, his and Tessai's wedding photo, the adoption papers themselves for Ururu and Jinta, their shop when it was first opened, even the first dollar made had its own simple black frame. Every table in the diner was different - as well as the candy jars that sat on them, and the chairs were more-or-less similar to each other. The diner was the perfect place to come relax, warm up, hang out, or charm a date…
Unless your date is Shinji Hirako.
Ichigo cut off whatever Shinji was raving about with, "I think we're done here." He then grabbed his empty cup and stood, eyes shaded as he looked off to the side.
Naturally, Shinji spluttered at the abrupt cut off of both his story as well as the date. It seemed like he was being silently dismissed. Unfortunately for Ichigo, Shinji Hirako does not get dismissed.
Not without an uproar and the last word.
"What-really? Why? I thought things were picking up!"
"No, sorry, you insulted the Reishi and now I don't feel like talking to you any more." The words were low and measured, but gone was the strained politeness from only moments ago. 'If only he wasn't working today! Then I'd just chew this idiot out!'
"Are you kidding me?!" Shinji was nearly shrieking in his dumbfound-rage, "Because I insulted this," he vaguely waved around himself, "this… shop?" taking a step towards Ichigo and angrily pointing, "You're crazy! Delusional! It's a shop! It's not anything important! Why does how I feel about it change anything?" He dropped his finger and looked around himself, 'Possibly looking for an answer?' inwardly chuckled Ichigo, before Shinji stepped up to his ex-date and stabbed his finger right square in the chest, "Fine! Your ass probably isn't worth all the trouble anyway!" he sneered, "You can't even handle a bit of flirting!"
Ichigo, head still cast aside, made his way back to the counter and murmured a new order of coffee, the barista wisely keeping quiet until the hysterical man finally got his last word in.
Those last words were, "Ah fuck this! You can have your little shitty, run down shop and I'll go find someone with better taste that actually wants to date, you prude!"
With eyes still shaded, Ichigo struggled to bite his tongue and not say any more on the topic but he need not have worried, the blue-haired barista came to his rescue. "Hey! He did want to date otherwise he wouldn't have shown up! Having some sleaze like you slobberin' all over wouldn't have impressed anyone, really, and it makes me wonder if you've even had a meaningful relationship… Do you even know what the words 'decency' and 'respect' mean?" He smirked at Shinji's 'gaping fish' re-enactment and waved him away with, "Get outta here!"
The door chimes tingled and Ichigo slumped from his rigid pose, relaxing his white-knuckle grip on the debit machine, "Thanks," he sighed, dragging a hand over his face and eyeing the newbie again with some gratitude. "You didn't need to stand up for me like that, I was going to just let him walk out once he was done… sorry to disturb your customers… again." The corners of his mouth had pulled up in a toothless grin.
The aproned man waved off his apology and walked him back to his table, new coffee in hand. Once Ichigo was settled, the man gave him his drink and pulled up a chair from the side. At the raised orange eyebrow, he explained, "Your 'date'" he started, using air-quotes around the now humorous nickname, "scared off all my customers." He chuckled at Ichigo's shock and embarrassment as he quickly looked around finding the shop was, in fact, empty. "And don't apologize for yesterday. That little show was hilarious! It was my first shift and to be honest, I was bored as hell! I'm used to running around and working at my job, not this…" he gestured at himself, unwittingly bringing Ichigo's attention again to the struggling apron and well filled-out shirt, "quiet feeling." He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "That didn't come out right. I mean that I'm not used to putting 'work' and 'relaxed' into the same sentence, this place is like… uhh.."
"A home away from home?" Supplied a knowing smirk.
"Yeah! That's about right, it's too comfy for its own good." He shared a content silence with Ichigo before finally breaking the lull with, "I'm Grimmjow by the way, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."
"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." He stuck out his hand to shake.
"Mmm, I think I'll pass," replied Grimmjow, eyeing the extended hand, "I've seen where that hand's been and sorry but, I'm not a dog-person."
Both boys shared a chuckle at that and before he knew it, Ichigo was feeling completely at ease. He even started laughing along as Grimmjow poked fun at his mess of a first date.
"Yeah true, I mean, it didn't even last 5 minutes!" Ichigo chuckled, "What was Renji even thinking? I know I said I didn't want to be the one doing all the chasing but come on! That was a little much!"
"Heh, no kidding! I wonder if he only asked the guy if he was gay, and that's what sold him!"
Pause. Orange brows lifted for a few seconds before furrowing deeply. A cellphone was whipped out and dialling before the blue eyes even registered it out in the open. "Renji. I need to talk to you... Where do you think I am? Reishi… No he isn't here, I sent him away… Because he was a total asshole! Did you not pick up on that when you talked to him? … Yeah he is! He was slimy and horny and didn't even last 5 minutes! … Don't apologize, just tell me how you know him… Mhm? … Yeah… … So you- … ARE YOU SHITTING ME?! You overheard him talking about guys and thought, 'Hmm yep, he's perfect' and just waltzed up to him and- … FOR FU- Renji I swear to all that is held sacred in your life if you even think of setting me up again I will- No Renji! I'm done! … No! ... NO! … … … Argh! Alright aright! You're right, everyone's different. Apology accepted, you bastard. I'll go again, just- I don't know, just try and put a little thought in this okay? Gay is not a personality, you still need more information after that… hhuuugh! Alright, just text me then."
Silence while he stared at the 'ended call' message. Then he remembered he had company and glanced up.
Grimmjow made not a single sound but his face was scrunched up hard from holding back heavy laughter. Ichigo eyed him warily before sighing dejectedly and commenting, "You were right, apparently my friend is an idiot as well as an asswipe… Go ahead, just let it out. No one's here."
The entire café filled with Grimmjow's loud howls, a tear even rolled down his face. The sound was music and Ichigo was hooked, he had no choice but to join in on the mirth, soon finding himself also watery-eyed.
The two boys settled down enough to breathlessly trade horror stories of their own, their friends' and even jokes pertaining to bad dates, even less tasteful pick-up lines and worst couple-combinations.
After all was said and done, Grimmjow had really saved the day for his distressed customer. He put the hysterical reject in his place, distracted Ichigo's sudden yet brief depression of failing his first date, and even made the boy laugh and release all that pent up tension that caused his shoulders to ache. Ichigo smiled as he realized Grimmjow had been a hero of a sort to him that day, and even considered saying so. 'I better not though, he'll just get cocky again.' And left it at that.