I feel like the Lizard Queen after writing this thing. Anyways this is the 2nd part of a 3 part one-shot arc. Hope you all enjoy. This chapter goes out to I am the Color of Boom, such a fantastic writer and I urge all of you to go and read Death of a Bachelor if you have not already! Anyway without further ado, please enjoy. And a great big thank you to all who have reviewed. It brings me such joy to read your kind words.

File 37

It had been nearly five days since he had last heard from his blue-haired neighbour, and Ichigo was starting to get pissed. He'd never been blown off like this before, especially from someone who literally lived ten feet away from him. It was becoming aggravating the lack of communication, hell the man barely even looked at him when they would see each other in the hallways of their apartment complex. What the fuck was with that?

The last time he had seen the blue-haired shit they had had some surprizing shower sex. Afterwards they were supposed to go for round two with some Strip-Smash. When he had asked the man to come over all he had gotten was a text saying 'can't, will message you later', and it had been several days after that and still nothing. And he sure as hell would not be the one to message him back, whether it is stubbornness or just pure contempt Ichigo didn't know. Instead he had thrown himself into his work and preparing for the annual Seireitei Ball: a community charity in which all local businesses were apart of.

The Ball was mostly just a way for the big names of Karakura to show who could contribute the most money towards the given charity, this year all the funds from the Ball would be going towards earthquake relief and children's hospitals. The Ball was one of Karakura's biggest events of the year as it brought it high rollers from all across Japan, and this year Ichigo would finally be able to go. Ever since starting at Ichimaru & Kuchiki, he and his superior Ichimaru Gin have been unable to attend due to last minute case touch ups, but this year he had been given the go ahead by Gin.

"Kurosaki-san?"

Ichigo jolted from his thoughts as a hand with long thin fingers was placed on his shoulder. Ichigo's eyes trailed up to a man's face whose eyes seemed to never open and a smile that never wavered; silver hair framed the angular face that reminded Ichigo of childhood myths of kitsune. Fox spirits that would play tricks on mortals for their own amusement.

"Sorry Ichimaru-senpai, I was lost in thought," Ichigo responded as he closed the blue folder and handed it to Gin who took it and read the contents before signing a paper and closing it himself.

"Looks like that settles the last case of the week," Gin spoke, throwing the blue folder onto the long grey conference table. The man stretched his long-lanky body before pulling out one of the office chairs beside Ichigo, "hopefully that will be the last case that comes our way for a while."

"We do still have brokerage deal with Shunsui," mumbled Ichigo as he opened another blue folder and read over the contents. It was a simple open and close negotiation deal but the client had requested to sit down and go over any possible loopholes he may encounter.

"Mhmm," Gin spun in the chair, "hand that off to someone else, Shunsui knows that I am way above his pay grade."

"He's a broker…obviously."

"Make sure ya slip him my business card," said Gin as he spun around again. His never fading smile widened a bit at the confusion on Ichigo's face, "he's a broker Ichi, which means that his services could be very useful."

"You and Byakuya-senpai already have more than enough information brokers on your pay roll," Ichigo commented as he rolled his eyes, clipping Ichimaru's business card to the paper before closing the folder and opening another.

"Can never have enough info Ichi," Gin chimed as he continued to swirl in his chair.

"We still have to sign the negotiations this…Las Noches IT group?" Ichigo read over the papers, looking mostly for words that popped out at him so that he could get the just of the details. He shot over a few papers to Gin who grabbed them and started to read them over, "they want a partnership with us?"

"Not necessarily…" Gin hummed as he flipped the papers, "they want a joint agreement. Our legal protection to cover their asses and in return we run on their servers."

"We already have our own, why would we need theirs?"

"Las Noches is a sleeper company," Gin clicked as he passed the papers back to Ichigo, "they came out of nowhere after several members left both Apple and Samsung to start development on their own software."

"They want to make cellphones?"

"Wrong again," Gin corrected as he got up and took the folder from Ichigo the man heading for the door. Ichigo promptly stood as the pair made their way through the office. They passed a brunette who sat behind a desk outside of Gin's office, the pair waved at the secretary who gave both of them a wink, "the founding member wanted to develop a software engine that was more secure than the Prime Minister's porn-stash."

"Damn, that's a visual…" Ichigo rolled his eyes as he suppressed a chuckle.

"In the five years since they started, Las Noches has not once had any information spills nor has their software been leaked. Loyal employees and that kind of reputation have many Japanese companies switching over to them. Last I heard they had some investors from Canada and Belgium looking into adopting their software."

"And these people want a what…exchange with us for legal protection?"

"You forget Ichi, that Las Noches is still young," Gin sat behind his wooden desk opening up the folder before swerving on his chair to look at his large desktop computer screen, "big name companies like Apple and Google would just love to come after Las Noches."

"Fine," Ichigo said as he took back the folder, "I'll set up a meeting after hours with them. Should Kuchiki-senpai be invited?"

"Yes make sure he and Toshi-shi are there. I also want to see your ass there too Ichi."

"You know the guy hates it when call him that…"

"Tough, also tell Rangiku we are going outfit shopping before the Ball, your ass is coming as well."

"You're still fucking here eh?" Grimmjow grunted as he kicked off his work shoes. He looked at his ex-fiancée with a neutral look that clearly read get out of my house, however the crimson haired menace just glanced back at him as he sat on a stool clad only in his boxers. Looks like he was still a lazy fuck, "and put on some damn clothes."

"Hello to you to," Renji replied as he continued to read something on his smartphone. Grimmjow walked into his kitchenette practically ripping the fridge door open as his body craved one very important substance, alcohol, "you're out of beer." Grimmjow whipped his head around so fast that there was a slight fear of him breaking his neck, he glared daggers at the red headed man, "don't look at me like that. You finished off the last one yesterday."

"Fucking awesome," whispered Grimmjow.

He walked around the long island where Renji sat into his living room where he immediately slouched into his comfy leather sofa. How the hell could this have happened to him? After three years of complete silence and being left for another the man who haunted his dreams is sitting half-naked at his island, eating cereal and playing with his phone. Why on earth did he deserve this? Was it because he was finally happy with where he was in his life or was it because he curb-stomped a cockroach in the middle of the street just last week.

Things between he and the red-haired man had always been complicated, their relationship had been built overtop of a sinkhole in his mind. They had met when Grimmjow had first started working at Samsung's head office in Tokyo, he had been getting some food at a bagel stand – possibly – when the red head had asked for his number. It was bold, irritating, and exciting all at the same time. Little did he know that Renji Abarai was the son of a very wealthy business tycoon from Nagasaki, it dealt with Lexus from what he could remember. They dated for two years but when he proposed everything changed, the man started to get distant and would often time go out on bingers and return home smelling of different cologne.

Grimmjow ended things when it started spin out of control. Weeks without hearing from his fiancée lead to a whole month of the man fucking around with some guy on a motorcycle who called himself Ginjo. He had packed the man's suitcase full of enough clothes and health products to last two weeks before he set everything else on fire. He even went so far as the pawn off the engagement ring he'd been bequeathed, that little ring of junk had given him enough to buy a new external hard drive – to which he still had to this day.

"Why the fuck are you even here?" Grimmjow asked with an aggravated bite to his voice.

"Already told you, I need a place to lay low for a while," Renji answered nonchalantly, standing up he sauntered into the kitchenette swiping an apple as red as his own hair.

"That's not very specific. What the hell did you do this time?"

"Tch," Renji rolled his eyes as he took a large chunk of the apple in one bite, "not everything is always my fault."

"Yes. Yes it is."

The pair glared at each other, neither wanting to back down from the silent confrontation. Another reason why they didn't work out as a couple very well was because both always tried to assert dominance over the other, and when two forces such as that butt-heads every day something was bound to snap.

"Kugo…" Renji began his face changing in a flicker, his facial muscles tensing like they were being shocked with pain, "Kugo wasn't the man I thought he would be."

"How did you come to that genius realization?" Grimmjow felt the bitterness in his voice but he could not hold himself back. Four years of misery was surfacing all at once.

"Look I know you have every right to be pissed at me and I really don't deserve your forgiveness. What I did to you," Renji continued, taking a seat beside Grimmjow on the couch, "was horrendous." He took another bite of the apple exhaling from his nostrils deeply, "I guess I didn't realize it until he cheated on me how much I must've fucked you up."

"Don't give yourself too much credit."

"Fuck off," sniggered Renji sadly as he took another bite of the apple, "after the fifth time Kugo did it I left him. Then he became kind of possessive over everything when I broke it off with him."

"So you thought that coming here was a smart idea?" Grimmjow asked, his blue eyes rolling as he could only imagine what was going through his ex's head.

"This was a while ago, he's calmed down since then," Renji commented, pushing back long strands of red hair. He let it grow out again, though it was longer than the first time they had met, "truth be told I wanted to see you. After you burnt most of my shit and cut me off I couldn't get a hold of you." Renji stood up walking back over to the kitchen where he discarded remainder of the apple core, "I wanted to apologize for years. And since I'm presenting an award for the Seireitei Ball I figured I would break into your place and say hi."

"Seireitei Ball?" Grimmjow questioned mostly to himself. He had Starrk mumbling about it in the office, "why are you presenting an award?"

"Abarai Corporations was one of the thirteen founding members, dad couldn't attend this year so I'm presenting in his honour." The man began to put his long red hair into a man-bun, trying to get most of it out of his face, "look whatever, I just really need to say I'm sorry."

With a loud sigh Grimmjow stood up and walked into the kitchenette to join Renji, brown eyes looking confused as the two stared at each other for a good fifteen minutes in awkward silence. Without warning or hesitation, Grimmjow's fist connected with Renji's abs, all the air leaving the man's lungs as his mouth made a comical O shape. In the same movement, he brought his ex-fiancée into a tight bear hug, "we were never really great together. We were always better as friends."

Either out of shock or confusion, Renji began to pat his shoulders soothingly as he tried to regain some of the oxygen in his lungs had lost, "sure…did I really deserve that?"

"Yes, ya fucking did."

"Fair enough. Friends?"

"Don't push your luck," warned Grimmjow as he created some distance from the redhead. Though there was still so much to be said, he would settle for this. At least he had gotten some closure; he didn't want to hear the man's bullshit reasoning for leaving him in the first place, " your bun came undone."

"It wasn't a very good one in the first place," Renji commented to himself as he took the hanging elastic from his hair.

"We need beer," Grimmjow commented as he headed towards his washroom, "lets get some food too. And put on some fucking clothing."

Ichigo stood in front of apartment six's door debating whether or not he should knock. On the way home from work he had settled with his inner hubris and sucked up his childish annoyance at being the first one to make a move. He had no idea if he had done something to irritate Grimmjow but he deserved answers and god dammit he was going to get them! He had also another ulterior motive that made his face blush every time he thought of it.

This was the first time he had ever been invited to the Seireitei Ball and he was supposed to bring a plus one. Though it was only a stray thought, Ichigo had wondered if maybe the blue-haired man wanted to attend it with him. He wasn't exactly sure what to expect at such a gathering, it would probably just be a bunch of rich old people talking amongst themselves. So he had thought that he'd bring the blue-haired man to be a little more entertaining. That and he secretly wanted to see what Grimmjow would look like in a suit.

With a slight blush on his face he raised a hand up to knock on the apartment door. Quickly he picked up the mail that had been left in front of the man's door. Hikifune always grabbed their mail for them and just left it on the ground. His knuckle tapped against the door making his stomach drop as he heard movement from the other side, footsteps approaching the door.

The door flung open but instead of the flirtatious blue-haired man, a rather tall and robust tattooed covered man with long blood red hair that draped over his shoulder and was wearing nothing but boxer briefs. Ichigo instantly stiffened as one thought passed through his mind: not again. Stepping back, he could feel the blush crawl across his face as a flicker of anxiety made the smallest spark in his stomach. Who was this man and why was he half-naked in Grimmjow's apartment?

Not wanting to jump to any conclusions he straightened himself up, though he could not stop the blush from growing across his face, "hello, is G—I mean is Jaegerjaques-san in?"

"Well hello to you too," the red headed man smiled a teasing grin leaning against the door frame, arms folding over his chest making his biceps and pectorals flex, "Grimm is just in the shower…?"

The spark ignited into a flame as Ichigo felt like a bullet had just hit him square in the chest. Not letting the initial shock show on his face – like the good lawyer he was – Ichigo gave a small smile, "Kurosaki-san, I'm his neighbour. Could you just give Jaegerjaques-san his mail when he gets out of the shower?"

"Sure thing cutie," the redhead teased taking the newspaper and envelops out of Ichigo's hand. Without any else the man closed the door on Ichigo's face, leaving the man stunned in the middle of the hallway. On wobbly feet Ichigo walked back to his own apartment where he took out his key and unlocked his door. Stepping inside he walked over to his couch where he slumped into it.

You're an idiot, a small voice whispered devilishly into his ear as he starred blankly at his wall, "looks like I'm flying solo at the Ball this year…"

Grimmjow had no finally come to terms with the fact that he would be having a very annoying vagabond living on his couch for a little while, that was until said vagabond had told him that he'd met his orange haired neighbour who lived in apartment twenty-three. In that instant he felt the colour drain from his face as one single word came to his mind, fuck. He had been kind of giving the man the cold shoulder ever since Renji had popped up in his apartment, he wanted things to be sorted out with his ex-fiancée before he would explain to Ichigo. But all that just flew out the window, fell about seven stories and landed flat on a car killing it instantly when Renji answered the door half naked. Fuck the man was an idiot.

So for the past twenty-four hours he had been trying to reach the man, but nothing seemed to have been going through. Either that or he was being ignored over a little misunderstanding. Well to Ichigo it probably looked ten times worse, especially if he didn't explain the situation soon. Now he had to resort to his last option, corning the man at his workplace during the negotiations between Las Noches and Ichimaru & Kuchiki. He along with his boss Coyote Starrk and one of the head engineers Szayelaporro Granz – a pink haired idiot savant in Grimmjow's opinion – had been asked to oversee the negotiations.

So here he waited in a very lavish conference room drinking the offered water and trying not to punch Szayel as the man continuously fidgeted in his seat. Just when his knuckles began to crack from the clenching two figures walked in. A younger man with snow white hair and a fairly short stature walked beside a rather slim and trimmed man that held an air of sophistication to him, long black hair pushed back to show his calm face. Another man walked in who looked semi familiar from one of the times he had joined Starrk out for drinks after work. He reminded Grimmjow of a fox for some reason.

Ichigo walked in last looking sharp and calculated in his grey suit. In fact the man was wearing completely—though varying degrees of—grey everything; tie, shirt, dress shirt that only made his orange hair all the more demanding. His face looked stoic as large black glasses rested on his face, giving him the appearance of a university professor. Hot. He was also the only one who brought a yellow page note pad to take notes. Try hard. Grimmjow cracked a wicked smile at the orange haired man who only rolled his eyes and took his seat behind the familiar looking fox-faced man. Ice cold. He probably deserved that though.

"I hope you are all comfortable and thank you all for attending," spoke the black haired man, all four of the lawyers opened up folders they had been carrying, "my name is Kuchiki Byakuya and I am sure you have already made acquaintance with my associate Ichimaru Gin."

"Thank ya for comin'," spoke the fox-faced man, Ichimaru Gin.

"This is my associate and underling Toshiro Hitsugaya," the white haired youth nodded and gave a quiet hello, "and this is Ichimaru-san's associate and underling Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ichigo gave a sincere smile to both Szayel and Starrk before his eyes settled on Grimmjow's where the smile took on a more false and irritated appeal "pleasure."

"And without further ado," concluded Byakuya as he clicked his pen, "we shall commence the negotiations between our two companies."

"Are you just going to stare at me or are you going to say something?" asked Ichigo as he flipped through some papers. His eyes gazed towards the blue haired IT that was currently sitting behind his desk installing some program or another onto his computer. He still didn't know what to make of what had occurred yesterday. He'd been so peeved at the man he'd completely ignored the man's texts and calls.

"Damn someone is on the rag…"commented Grimmjow as he fiddled with the computer before him.

"I have work to do and you're taking a lot longer then when you were installing Toshiro's," Ichigo scowled as he dropped the papers on his desk, walking around to stand beside the man to see what he was doing, "what are you even putting on my computer. It better not be porn."

"HA!" Grimmjow laughed, "your boss made me block all porn sites from the new server."

"They weren't blocked before?"

"Apparently not, fox-faced got a good chuckle out of it," Grimmjow responded as he stood up from Ichigo's chair, powering off the computer, "let it reset itself before you start your work."

"Great, more waiting," Ichigo grumbled as he rubbed his face, a rumbling sigh left his mouth.

Ichigo walked over to the large plate glass windows that adorned the western wall of his office. Though he wasn't a huge fan of the space he was given in moving up the company, he did have to admit that whenever he worked late he always appreciated watching the sun fall behind Karakura. Grimmjow had come to stand beside, his piercing cobalt eyes looking almost silver in the falling sunlight. A moment passed between them – each other's eyes looking down at the other's empty hand. Ichigo felt a prickle in his fingers as though his muscles were pushing him to reach out to the limp hand that hung on Grimmjow's side.

Brown eyes trailed up the sleeve of Grimmjow's white dress shirt before connecting with light blue oceans. His whole body trembled as lust settled in, he could feel the animalistic desire radiating off of the other man. How long had it been since they last fucked, two weeks? He had never been screwed in his office before and his office chair was adjustable. But his brain – though drowning in lust it was – kept picking at the thought in the back of his mind, who was red-head who answered Grimmjow's door. But there was also another image playing at the cusp of his imagination, being able to socialize with Grimmjow outside of their apartments where they could dress nice and admire each other.

"You really do have an impressive office view," Grimmjow commented but his eyes never broke from Ichigo's brown orbs. His fingers flinched as they ached to be grasped.

"S'alright," said Ichigo as he felt his hand move towards Grimmjow's. With the will of a thousand Gods, Ichigo halted his progress not wanting to be the first one to make a move, especially after what happened this morning, "you should see my bosses view."

His hand fell back against his leg, defeated.

"Probably a little more spacious?"

"Definitely," Ichigo could feel himself cringe at the uncomfortable small talk the two were making. The image of the Seireitei Ball came before his eyes as if his brain was giving him the answer he needed to break the tension. What was the worst thing the man could say, no? "I heard from Starrk that your company is invited to the Seireitei Ball this year?"

"Yeah, sounds like an evening to drink and give away money," sarcasm thick on Grimmjow's voice.

"Only the companies give away the big bucks. There are smaller donation tables where the charities have small events," corrected Ichigo as smile played on his face, "I was thinking…would you maybe, like to go with me?"

"Like a date?" Uncertainty grew in the other's voice, as he didn't even try to cover it. Ichigo felt his hand cramp up; he did not like where this was heading.

"Not necessarily…"

"Yeah it sounds like a date," Grimmjow stepped away, heading back towards Ichigo's monitor. The orange-haired man did not move as he looked at the man's reflection, at the man's unmoving face, "you know I don't do the whole exclusive thing."

And there it was, the worst possible answer he could have been given. Ichigo tensed for a second as he looked away from the other's reflection not wanting the man to see how stunned he felt. He had been expecting rejection, but he hadn't expected it to feel like this, especially coming from a fuck-buddy. His hands began to feel clammy, "yeah. I know."

Before anything else could be said Starrk stuck his head into the office, "so this is where you've been blue, common pink and I are going to the bar with Ichimaru to celebrate the negotiations going through. You should come too orange!"

"Thank you Starrk-san," Ichigo spoke not turning to look at the man, "but I have a lot of work that needs to get done before I go home."

"Suit yourself orange, thank you for all your hard work."

"You as well," Ichigo watched as the sun slowly begun its venture towards the edge of the horizon. He did not turn around when Starrk left, nor did he turn to say a formal goodbye when Grimmjow made his departure. He could not see the eyes on him that held both curiosity and confusion. He stood there for some time trying to understand where this pit in his stomach was growing from.

He walked back over to his desk seeing as the computer had been rebooted he set off to his work. Looking down at his phone, he opened his text message conversations before choosing the one that had Grimmjow's and his exchanges. He swiped on the conversation, deleting all the messages without a second's hesitation. In the end he had even forgot to ask who the man was from the other day.

Please don't hate me for this, it all comes together in the next chapter!