AN: Hey, all. I have an important connection in this story that I'd like to point out. I don't think that it will give away any of the story line - just make it easier to understand.
In chapter one, Ichigo was referred to as glass - delicate, while he was being approached by Grimmjow. In chapter two, Ichigo referred to Shinji as a mirror - he was delicate and he often showed Ichigo his true self - while he was approaching Shinji. This is just a peek at Ichigo's internal battle of whether or not he wants to dominate or be dominated, which of course, will ultimately decide whether or not he stays with Shinji or scurries off to Grimmjow.
Oh, and yes. Most of these characters are bilingual, for my sake. I hate language barriers. Unless it says otherwise, assume that they understand each other.
Right now, the gang is in Oklahoma, if you didn't catch that from the first chapter. Not for long, though. Gotta keep moving!
Chapter Three - Rock, Paper, Telephone
M.I.A - Boyz
"Ichigo?"
Silence.
"Ichigo?"
Silence.
"Ichigo!"
A stir.
"Ichigo, I swear to fucking God, if you don't wake up, I will actually kill you."
Ichigo squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to block out the sun that was currently invading the lavender room he had been sleeping so peacefully in. It hit his eyes like knives, piercing his pupils and stabbing at his overworked brain. He had been thinking so hard lately that his cranium rewarded him with mind-splitting headaches. It was just so hard. Grimmjow was a topic that he couldn't seem to drop. If Ichigo had nothing to do, he'd find himself wondering what Grimmjow was doing. Feh. He was starting to act like a schoolgirl... which made him think about Shinji. Did Shinji get all mushy over Ichigo too? Did he suffer the same what-ifs?
"I'm giving you three seconds before I suffocate you with your own pillow. 3... 2..."
Ichigo sat up, now officially pissed. His expression faded, however, once he saw that brilliantly black mop top of glistening black hair and displeased scowl. "Tatsuki!"
"It's about time, dumbass." She sighed, her countenance softening as well.
"The whole time we've been here, I've only seen you twice."
Yes, Ichigo and the crew had been staying at Tatsuki Arisawa's house, She and the drummer had been good friends throughout junior high and high school, but once college hit, Ichigo started playing gigs at shitty bars and Tatsuki travelled across the globe to compete in martial arts competitions. There was no doubt that she could have killed Ichigo in five seconds flat - she held several first place belts in her trophy case, which was just a shoe box in her basement. She was proud and extremely humble at the same time - as any true martial artist should be. Once she had achieved second dan, she decided to move to the States, where she started her own dojo from the ground up. She was very successful - she had around twenty loyal students who she taught rolls and punches every Monday and Wednesday.
"I know. I was planning shit." Way to be vague, Tatsuki. She was never one for elaborating on boring things.
That didn't dissuade Ichigo. He pulled the blankets off of himself and started to pull skinny jeans over his boxers. Neither was dissuaded by the action. Tatsuki was well aware of Ichigo's sexual preference and Ichigo just really didn't give a shit. "Planning what?"
"Wedding." She mumbled. Ichigo's head whipped around and he stared at her with wide eyes.
"Whose?"
"Mine."
Ichigo zipped up his pants and started pulling a gray v-neck over his head. "Who's the lucky guy?" He asked through the cotton.
"Chad." She looked down, slightly embarrassed that she was settling down.
"Chad?"
"Is there a fucking echo in here?" She snapped, molten chocolate burning with the intensity of a thousand suns.
"Why don't you just cut to the fucking chase and tell me how it happened!"
"Goddamnit, Ichigo! Everyone said your boyfriend cooled you down."
Ichigo gritted his teeth and puffed up his chest in what he hoped was a manly manner. "Fucking tell me what happened, Tatsuki. I'm tired of beating around the bush."
"We met. We went on dates. We-" she continued quietly. "-fell in love. I popped the question. He said yes."
"Oh, thanks. Thanks for clearing that the fuck up." Ichigo exhaled through his clenched teeth. Tatsuki really knew how to fire him up. Seriously, they were like fire and oil. No, more like a volcano and tornado.
"By the way, your phone had been ringing off the hook." Tatsuki motioned to the phone next to the remnants of Ichigo's midnight snack - a Snickers wrapper. "I finally picked it up and damn! Whoever that Hitsugaya guy is... He needs the stick removed from his ass."
"Toshir- Hitsugaya called?"
Tatsuki just gave him a puzzled look. "That' s what I just fucking said, dumbass."
"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Ichigo ignored the cuss words that spewed form Tatsuki's mouth as she left the room. He grabbed the wrapper on accident, put it down, and picked up the phone as he had meant to. His fingers danced across the keyboard as he dialed Hitsugaya's number.
It rang three times before the white-haired manager picked up.
"Kurosaki Ichigo." The voice on the other line hissed. "I have called you exactly fifteen times. Fifteen. This is not acceptable. When I call, I expect you to pick up. I don't care if you have your head stuck in a hornet's nest. You pick up the phone." There was a pause. "Got it?"
"Why didn't you just call Renji if it was so important?"
Hitsugaya huffed and pinched his nose. "You're not getting the point, Ichigo. You have a responsibilities and they are to: stay in shape, practice your music, find a bassist, and answer the goddamned phone when I call."
The man was so cold you could have skated across him.
"I fucking get it, Toshiro."
"Don't say 'fuck' when you talk to me, and refer to me as Hitsugaya."
Ichigo 'pshh'd. "Fine. And by the way, we found a bassist."
"Is going to come back to Japan with you?"
"Yeah. He hasn't said otherwise, I mean."
"Well, that's not a yes. That's a maybe. I need a yes."
"Well, then, yes - he can come back to Japan with us." Ichigo sighed into the mouthpiece. What a great morning.
"You just said that he hadn't spoken a word on the matter. Go call up this bassist- wait, is he good?"
"Yes..."
"Okay, so call up this bassist and ask him if he can come back to Japan. And I swear to God, don't let him play a gig before I hear him! Do you know whose name is on this?"
"Mine?" Ichigo smirked.
"No, Ichigo. Mine. Sure, when the teenage girls look at your album, they see your name, but when the big music execs look at the album, they see my name, and I can't afford to have you screw up when you're under my direct orders."
"Calm the f- calm down."
The phone sounded like it was being tossed around. All Ichigo could make out was: "Matsumoto! Put that back! Matsu-"
"Sorry." Hitsugaya grunted. Ichigo could practically hear the man scowling through the phone.
"S'alright."
"So, I need you to send me a recording of this guy playing by himself and with you guys as soon as possible."
"We don't have a lot of recording equipment. Just our phones."
"Then record something on your goddamned phones at the next practice."
Hitsugaya hung up.
Ichigo shoved the phone in his pocket with a groan and walked into the kitchen\dining area, where Shinji was calmly sipping a glass of orange juice while he sifted through the newspaper. He smiled weakly at Ichigo before continuing with his activities. Renji was trying to help Tatsuki prepare breakfast, but the two had never really meshed all that well, so the food had ended up more so on the tiled floor and counter than on the plates.
"I made pancakes." Tatsuki turned to Ichigo, a pristine, white plate with a tower of pancakes on it in her hand.
"We made pancakes." Renji pivoted on his feet to reveal that he was wearing a pink apron. God knows where he got it.
"No, dipshit, I made pancakes and you spilled batter everywhere." Ichigo took in the mess with twinkling eyes.
"Hey, who died and made you Rachel Ray?" Renji pointed accusatorially at Tatsuki, as if we all didn't know who he was talking to.
"That name will never be mentioned in this house!" She slapped his across the face with her rubber spatula, leaving a pink imprint on his cheek.
"Goddamnit!" Renji rubbed at the blemish like he had contracted leprosy. He ran into the bathroom to inspect it. Tatsuki casually set down their breakfast as if she hadn't just abused Renji.
"I didn't know you cooked. I thought that was Orihime's forte." Ichigo took an awfully large bite of his pancake after dousing it in syrup.
"I was just too busy with martial arts." She shrugged. "Speaking of Orihime, I kind of lost contact with her after high school. What's she up to?"
"I was hoping you knew. I hit the road hours after we got our diplomas."
Shinji lifted his eyes from the newspaper and glanced at the two. "Orihime Inoue?"
"Yeah, you know her?" Ichigo widened his eyes in shock.
"She's married." He drew out the sentence as if it wasn't a big deal. "To that fashion designer, Ishida Uryu. I did an article on him not so long ago. They're a cute couple."
"Agh! Married to that four-eyes jerk?" Ichigo yanked on his hair. "Of all people!"
"I'm not surprised.." Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "She got tired of waiting for you."
"What was she waiting for? For me to suddenly abandon my interest in dicks?" Ichigo scoffed, shoving another pancake between his cheeks. Shinji blushed hard from behind the newspaper.
"She didn't know, Ichigo. She's so oblivious. It broke her heart when she saw you and Shuuhei making out behind the bleachers."
A little bit of pancake fell out of Ichigo's gaping mouth.
"Chew with your mouth closed, Ichigo." Shinji reached over and shut his boyfriend's mouth, a little irritated at the subject of Ichigo's ex boyfriend.
Ichigo swallowed the pancake. "I had no idea she saw that. Damn. Ugh, I feel like shit. When did this happen?"
"You and Shuuhei ate each other's face on several occasions? I thought it was a one time thing." Tatsuki ate a piece of pancake slowly.
"Well, it was a one time thing. There were several one time things with Shuuhei."
"You're so..." Tatsuki shook her head and focused on eating.
::::
Cibo Matto - Flowers
Shinji planted a chaste kiss on Ichigo's pursed lips and murmured something into his hair.
"Huh?" Ichigo said dumbly.
"I said I'm sorry." Shinji pressed his face into Ichigo's shoulder.
"Why?" To comfort him, he petted his soft, blonde hair.
"I haven't been paying a lot of attention to you. I've been so busy."
"Yeah..." Ichigo averted his eyes. "About that. What's been keeping you away?"
Shinji looked up with furrowed eyebrows. His hazel eyes gleamed in the soft, natural lighting of noon. "Work." He said the word like Ichigo has just asked him what two plus two is.
"Mm-hmm." Ichigo pouted. "Can't you put off work? Can't we have some fun tonight?" He played with Shinji's shirt collar flirtatiously. "It's been so long."
Shinji leaned into Ichigo's hands with a mournful sigh. "I'm on a really big project right now. I have to go somewhere tonight."
"Somewhere?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow, his hands still on the blonde. "Are you trying to make me suspicious?"
"It's just work, Ichigo. I'm meeting up with some people." He placed another kiss on Ichigo's cheek to make the words concrete. "A big project, seriously." He repeated for emphasis.
"When will we ever get to-" Ichigo made a circle with one hand and stuck his index finger in and out of the circle. "Seriously." He added at seeing Shinji chuckle.
"Soon, soon. I promise I'll be free, but right now I have to go make some phone calls." He separated his body from Ichigo's and headed toward the bathroom.
"In the bathroom?"
Shinji looked over his shoulder. "I can't have you and Renji cussing in the background. It's an important call."
Ichigo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. What was Shinji doing? Well, only one way to figure out.
In moments, Ichigo had a cup pressed to the bathroom door to eavesdrop on the "important phone call."
"Uh-huh." A laugh from Shinji. God, he had such a cute laugh. It was like bells. Pretty bells, not those horrible, huge ones that feel like they're ringing in your stomach. Small bells. Tinkling bells. But why was he laughing so adorably?
Ichigo listened harder.
"Yes, I get that." A pause as the other party spoke. "Mm-hmm. Actually, I haven't been there... Yeah. I don't know. I'm not really into Japanese. Sure, I was born there, but still."
Was he... Was he arranging a date?
"Italian? Yeah, I'm good with Italian. Much more refined. It's weird how it's on the other side, of course, but still..."
What else could he be talking about? Ichigo tried not to punch the door. Here he was, feeling so guilty about the Grimmjow incident, and Shinji was arranging dates!
"I'll see you tonight." A pause. " No? That's actually better. why?" He laughed angelically again. "I need you all to myself, that's why." He growled seductively. "That's how you get the best stuff!"
Ichigo was now holding back tears. Shit shit. A taste of his own medicine, but at least Shinji didn't listen to him and Grimmjow...
"I'll see you at six." Shinji hung up.
Ichigo slyly stepped away from the door and pretended he was just finishing a glass of water. Shinji smiled at him. No, he beamed. It was so bright - like looking into the sun.
Ichigo's eyes bore in Shinji's back as he walked away. That's it. He would follow Shinji to this little secret date of his tonight, and bust him.
AN: Oh, dear. There certainly is drama now, though? I introduce some new characters... I love Tatsuki. She is probably my favorite to write. Also, sorry that most of this chapter was on the telephone, but it's just such a useful plot device! Muahahaha. I'll let you decide what you think is going on with our Shinji boy. I dare you to try and fill in the gaps in the phone conversation.
