Renji snickered at the hippie comment and then grinned, "I can also tell you take your art very seriously, makes me feel kinda lazy." He turned and watched everyone dance and shoved his hands into his pockets again, tilting his head to the side, grumbling once hair got into his face but didn't bother to lift a hand to move it away. "Your passion for art, this may sound strange, but I felt it when I looked at your sketch book. They were...lively." The redhead's face gathered a blush and smiled warmly before turning to face Ichigo. "Your classmates might not be jealous...but I am."
"Jealous? Why would you be?" It was a bit of a shock for Renji to admit being jealous of such a trivial thing like drawing. Well it wasn't trivial to him but to many others it was. "For one thing you can make a mean double chocolate cherry chip frappicino, which I could never do by the way, and my art is only as lively as my subjects." He was watching Renji as those chocolate cherry orbs wandered through and around the pulsating crowd. An urge to smack himself in the forehead hard enough to leave a mark came over him. Why had he been so stupid and ruined the moment!?!
Renji blinked then laughed lightly, "It sounds crazy as to why I am, not many would understand." He shrugged, "I don't really care if they don't." The man looked back at the crowd and finally took a hand out of his pocket to rub his cheek, a strange habit he got when he was getting a little too in-depth of what he thought or said. Lowering the hand, Renji licked his lips, idly wondering how long they'd been there and what that sound was. Wasn't the music, wasn't the people...what was it. The red haired Abarai frowned from frustration of not knowing. So bothersome when he could figure out what it was.
"I guess I can understand that..." Ichigo's voice trailed off as it seemed Renji wasn't listening to him anymore. His attention was focused elsewhere and he sighed. Just to have something to do, he scuffed his heel on the floor. This isn't going anywhere... Maybe we should leave…? He opened his mouth to suggest just that when someone came up behind him and nearly tackled him to the ground. A spiky head of blue hair identical to his was all his saw before he caught the person. "Kon? What the hell are you doing here?"
Renji turned to the sound of Ichigo's voice and blinked then quirked a brow at the one with blue hair. He turned and blinked a few times. "Whoa...you have a blue haired twin," Renji observed then grinned, "he's kinda cute." With that he lifted his right hand and rubbed the back of his neck from embarrassment. He was a little out there when Ichigo was talking to him, so all he could do right now is try to make up for it.
At Renji's words, a look of slight jealousy tinged with pride was plastered on Ichigo's face. "Yeah... It was sort of a shock when we meet in high school... I mean we aren't related or anything," he shrugged and manage to rearrange his face into a puzzled frown. "So what are you doing here Kon?" The blue haired twin looked up and his eyes were cloudy until he refocused them on Ichigo's face. "Ichi-kun! It's been too long!" And with that, Kon proceeded to plant his lips on Ichigo's. Ichigo's eyes went wide before pulling away and pushing Kon firmly from him. "I thought I told you were over." "But Ichi...!" Facial features mirrored his earlier pout. "I miss you! We used to have such fun and all that hot se-" The orange haired man stuck his hand over Kon's mouth to stop the words from tumbling out.
Renji's eyes widened at the whole exchange and looked to the side before shoving his hands as far as he could into his pockets and kicked at the ground, staring down on it then let a half-hearted smile cross his features once he looked up. "So...you two were together. Okay," He nodded, more to himself than the other two males, "I'll let ya get to know each other again." He turned and headed out the door, yeah...he's done this before. To every single person whose ex showed up and all that, reminiscing...was never the redhead's thing. Nodding again, he pushed past the bouncer and smiled at him before heading over to the Star Bucks. Maybe Momo was there to talk too, Toshiro was interesting to chat with as well. Sighing, he shrugged and kicked at the dirt before continuing on his way.
"What? No!" Ichigo tried to call out to Renji but he left before his words found him. "Well this is just great." Taking in a deep breath, he turned to face Kon. "Kon. We are no longer together and never will be. I admit we had a great relationship but it is over." His ex feebly protested and attempted to kiss him again but Ichigo avoided him easily. "You're drunk." Snorting, he found a man dancing alone in the crowd and shoved Kon into him "Dance and have fun. I'm leaving." And with that an irritated and frustrated young man left the rave and stopped outside the door. A few flakes of snow were drifting down from the dark sky. A few more minutes and it was snowing lightly. "At least it's not cold..." He started down the sidewalk, kicking rocks, litter, anything in his way all the while cursing his bad luck.
Renji had reached the Star Bucks and paused, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his head. Maybe he shouldn't have done that. Ichigo probably got the wrong message, that would be bad, terrible. "You think about this now?!" he scolded himself in a whisper, smacking his forehead and then shaking his head. Well...small anger was nothing to be over-reactive over. Kicking at the ground a little too hard, Renji squeaked from shock once he fell back, luckily putting his elbows out to catch his fall, barely. Scrapped elbows, bleeding, nice. Cursing, he pushed himself up and used his left hand to rub his elbow to hopefully numb the pain. Stupid move there and the redhead couldn't help but laugh at himself.
"Why the hell did Kon have to show up and pull a stunt like that of all things?! And right in front of Renji! I swear I'll skin him alive if he ever tries to do something like that again..." Ichigo's slightly psychotic mutterings were distracting him from the route he was walking. A few couples passed him, holding hands, and generally being all lovey-dovey. Frowning, he fell silent until a wave of emotion swept through him. "Why did I have to pull a stunt like I did? I must have sounded like a lecherous pervert, which is what I didn't want to sound like. And due to that I surely don't have any chance of getting closer to Renji..."
Renji, by this time, was heading back to the rave. Well, to apologize for giving the wrong message of course. He continued to rub his bloodied elbows and looked from side to side before pausing once again and crossing his arms. "They're probably having a good time reconnecting," Renji looked up at the sky and lifted his hands up to see the small snow and a wide, joyful, smile spread across his face. "Maybe I should just go home? ...I dunno..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, reaching in again once flipping it open to get the slip with Ichigo's number on it. Finding it and mentally 'woot'ing he looked back and forth while dialing, pressing the green talk button and holding the phone up to his ear. Wow...apologize for walking out through a cell phone, what a crap-filled way to do that. Blushing he swallowed and tensed a bit. ...Ichigo was probably mad, well, wouldn't know until he answered.
Still dejected, thinking about his slim to none possibility of getting with Renji. "It wasn't that high to begin with. True, he kissed you and danced with you but that's it. Nothing to indicate an interest in any kind of romantic relationship." He had taken a seat on a bench. It was cold and since there had been snow on it when he sat down, his butt was wet. Ichigo didn't care. He was too concerned with soaking up all the self-pity he was squeezing out. A vibrating sensation on his thigh alerted him to the fact he had a call. Sighing, he contemplated just ignoring it but it might be his dad or something. Slipping the slim piece of technology out of his pocket, he looked at the screen. It said 'Unknown Caller.' "Who could it be…?" He shrugged and flipped it open. Might as well see who it was. Not like he had anything better to do than wallow. "Yo?" The tone of Ichigo's voice was depressed.
Renji felt the urge to squeal, for some unGodly reason, when Ichigo answered the call. Biting down the urge he grinned, "Hey, Ichi...sorry about walking out earlier..." He lifted his freed hand and rubbed the back of his neck and blushed, "I just figured, y'know, you'd wanna get to know your ex again." Renji then smacked his forehead. "If it sounded like I'm using it as an excuse, I'm not." Ah, he cursed his little ranting thing and his luck at being so stupid and just walking out. Dropping his head he stared at the ground, "Just...called to say I'm sorry."
A grateful smile lit up his features as he glanced heavenward, thanking any and all gods that had watched over him. The sound of Renji's voice lifted him up and out of his funk some. Just enough for him to forget about the wet bottom ha now possessed. "I figured you were mad...and maybe felt like a third wheel or something." Ichigo sighed and passed a hand over his eyes. "About the getting to know each other part..." He let the words trail off suggestively but resumed speaking after a few moments. "Well, Kon and I didn't have that good of a relationship. So it wasn't the best surprise for him to show up."
Renji blinked at the last sentence that passed Ichigo's mouth and lifted his head. "Somethin' went wrong, I'm guessing." He shivered a bit and placed the phone against his shoulder to use his hands to rub his cold arms. "And he's not over you either," Renji began to chuckle, "looks like I've got some competition, eh?" The redhead's shoulders shook slightly at his laughter and shut his eyes with his face gathering the slight tinge of pink. Yeah...couldn't handle the cold very well. "And...I can't be mad at you, things happen."
"Unfortunately, Kon has a very narrow idea of a relationship. Sex. That was all it was... So yeah I guess you could say something went wrong." Thinking back on what they had done... It all seemed so dumb and pointless if two people in a relationship only have sex and not connect on any level other than the physical one. "And you're right. He doesn't seem to be over me. At least subconsciously. He was drunk," Ichigo said with a laugh. "So I can't really blame him for his actions." Competition huh? What a thought... A snowflake spiraled down to land on his outstretched hand. It stayed there, perfect, until the heat from his skin melted it.
Renji looked to the side with a questionable look. All Kon thought of was sex? "Why didn't he hook up with Grimm," he spoke before realizing he had said that and grabbed at the phone, "forget I said that...accidental slip." Renji laughed a little nervously then stopped. "Kinda sad though...only in it for that." He shook his head at the thought. Messed. Up.
He released a snort as the suggestion of Kon and Grimmjow was put in. "I'd like to see those fights. Kon sure doesn't look like it but he is a real wildcat." An image of Kon smacking Grimmjow over the head with a frying pan, not quite unlike what Rukia had done earlier that day, was very amusing. "But don't worry. Not a word to Grimm nor Kon." Ichigo couldn't keep the smile from his voice. "And that's true. A real relationship is about more than sex."
Renji laughed and his face was bright, full of joy, "I'm kinda tempted to tell Grimm we found someone just right for him." He lifted his left hand and placed it over his mouth and snickered then pulled it away after a while. "Still," His sneaker kicked the ground, "I feel like you were used...doesn't really sound good either." He then dug the heel of his foot into the snow and kicked at it again. "Kinda pisses me off." Renji mumbled.
Brushing snow off his legs and shoulders, Ichigo felt warm at those words. So he cares? That's good to know. "No need. It was partially my fault for being a hormone, sex crazed guy. When we were together, well, all everything was about involved when I would have my next orgasm." Ah, the bliss of being stupid and young. "Since then I've learned though." And his experiences had taught him that sex was as great as something that was more real than flesh pressed to flesh. Souls joining and touching must, he thought, feel tenfold what plain banging did.
Renji moved to sit under something, continuing to rub his arm and let a shaky chuckle fall before readjusting the cell to his other hand. "Figures...I'm not impressed either way," he replied with his cherry-colored orbs taking in the sight of the sky, "Though...I'm sure you woke a few people up back then." Renji bit his tongue. Bad tease, very bad. "Nee, but...I'm sure this's a sore subject, I'll stop."
"Actually..." Now this was very interesting. It appeared Renji was prone to teasing as well. "It doesn't bother me all that much. And you are very right about some people losing sleep." In fact, his father had threatened to kick him out if they had sex one more time in that house. He had been ranting and raving about how his poor sister's ears were being deflowered. Which had been a real turn off. "What about you?" Ichigo leaned back shivering when his back, only shielded by one layer of cloth, touched the icy metal. "Any stupid relationships to speak of?"
"God, Ichigo," he sighed then grinned, "you're somethin' else." He shifted where he sat and squirmed as a cold breeze moved over him. Renji licked his lips and ran a hand through his hair. "No. I don't have any as of yet...sounds crazy...but I'm a little too careful." He let the hand move to his neck and rubbed it with a sheepish smile.
He started to nod but realized that Renji couldn't possibly know unless he said it. "I can understand that. When I first discovered my sexual preference well..." All the fear and uncertainty rushed back as his first thoughts of question whether he liked girls or guys. He'd been terrified. "I was terrified, scared and had no idea what to do. Especially when it came to admitting feelings to another guy."
The redhead dropped his hand and fell silent for a moment, his eyes flickering with concern and confusion. Maybe, just maybe, that was his problem and he had to deal with it like Ichigo did. He swallowed thickly and let out a soft exhale of air, watching a small cloud form in front of his face, eyes falling shut and his heart pounding at his mind recalling how he acted before Kon interrupted in the rave, pressing against Ichigo without worry. "Ahh, shit," Renji grumbled as he shook his head to rid of the thoughts bouncing about. "Yeah…I hear ya," The tattooed form slumped his shoulders and brought his knees close to his chest, "I've seen it and been told by a friend of mine…kinda broke down into tears." Renji opened his eyes and stared at the ground with another shiver. "…honestly……I'm scared."
There was a pause on Ichigo's end. Not even a breath was heard. Scared? Of being hurt? he let out his held in breath slowly. "Scared of being hurt?" His tone was sincerely empathetic and understanding. Renji was reaching out to him and it struck a chord deep inside his heart. He'd once gone through this though at an earlier age and with no one to support him. Sure his family had when he came out but while he was trying to figure things out... He had been alone.
"I don't know," Renji replied with his head falling and holding the phone close with a slight frown, "I don't know why...I just am." He moved his feet a bit, having the toes of the sneakers brush together and then beside one-another when he had them settle. "Kinda stupid...not knowin' why." Renji kicked at the snow for a moment and released a pitiful sigh.
"I quite disagree." Ichigo retorted over the phone, a little sternly. "You fears are not stupid. You have a right to fear something you haven't experienced." He chewed on his bottom lips as he thought about what to say next but the prefect words came to mind. At least he thought they were. "Though you didn't seem scared when we were dancing earlier. If you could call it dancing." There was a teasing note to his words.
Renji's face went red and felt so warm he was sure it'd melt the snow. "D-don't make fun of me..." he stammered, both hands swapping the phone to the other ear, licking his lips and eyes falling halfway shut. "Ichi-Tomato."
At the 'Tomato' comment he began to utter words that might come together to say something like 'I'll get you back with my own friggin tomato.' Ichigo blew a piece of hair of his eyes and pouted. "Wasn't making fun. My point was that..." He resumed chewing his bottom lips before continuing. "Well, with the right person maybe you won't be scared."
"Uh..." Renji's eyes looked up to the sky and then to the side. "...I don't really get it." His left hand removed itself from the phone and rubbed his arm. "It makes sense a bit, then again it doesn't. Are ya saying that I -" the redhead stopped then shook his head with a sniff, crossing his eyes to see a, wonderfully, bright red nose. "-I think I'm beginning to look like that Red-Nosed Reindeer."
"Red-nosed reindeer...? Aw shit." With a shiver he remembered they had been having this conversation out in the cold without wearing the proper clothing. He sneezed and sniffed. "Crap. Now we're gonna get colds." Mumbling about his own stupidity, he got up from the bench. He winced as he heard a crack and stared down to realize that his wet bottom had frozen to the bench and now there was a patch of fabric on the bench. Where he had been sitting. In the exact same color as his pants. He let out a string of curses. "These were my favorite pants too!!!"
"Ichigo, are you all right?!" Renji asked with a worried tone, pushing himself up and blinking once the curses reached his ears. "Where are you? What happened?" His left hand rubbed his nose vigorously and began walking in a direction he thought Ichigo was.
"You stupid bench! I'll get you for this!" He had dropped his phone and was trying to pull the piece of fabric off. To his surprise and frustration, the bundle of wood and metal refused to give it up. Ichigo growled and started to yank with new zeal. Renji rounded a corner to see his fingers slip off the cloth and Ichigo's arse to meet the pavement. The fuming Kurosaki was staring daggers at the inanimate object.
Renji blinked and hung up the phone, jogging over to look between the artist and the bench, lifting a hand to snicker in it as his lips turned back into a wide grin. "Poor bench, you picked a fight with the wrong artist." he chuckled, bending down and picking up Ichigo's cell, brushing the snow off and handing it to the orange head, then kneeled down in front of the bench, sliding his thumb under the fabric and scrapping it off the best he could with his nail, continuing to laugh while his shoulders shook in amusement.
"I'll make you into matchsticks bench!" Ichigo said as he stuffed his phone in a random pocket. "Or maybe burn you into coals." He shifted through the pros and cons of each possibility. His eyes refocused on Renji and his shaking shoulders. Laughing at other's misfortune... He harrumphed and hesitantly got up. Twisting and turning his upper body, Ichigo finally managed to inspect the damage. "Guess could sew them back together…"
A snort came from Renji and he hunched over a bit, lifting his free hand to stop Ichigo's angry outbursts, "No more, no more!" he laughed, face red from the cold and his laughter. "I'll get it off in a second, just no more." Slowly he slid a couple more fingers under it and shivered, continuing to scrape with a look of joy still on his face. "I can't believe you got so angry at a bench."
Staring at Renji's back, his eyes narrowed and he snorted. "There were my favorite pants! It'll take time I don't want to spend on them to fix it. And it was the bench's' fault." Now where did he leave his sewing kit? Probably tossed under his bed somewhere. "And I'll stop only if you stop laughing." Sure enough, there was a small ragged spot in the middle of his pants' bottom. It showed his dark blue boxers. And not to mention that the wind was cold.
Renji looked over his shoulder and held onto the fabric he finally got off while biting his lower lip to keep from laughing, eyes welling up with tears at the effort. Letting his left hand he covered his mouth and released the lower lip, "I can't stop..." he giggled, "Y-you're too funny." Slowly he regained control of himself, lowered his hand and stood. "I'll fix 'em for ya. The coffee shop's got a room with extra supplies and there's a sewing kit in there in case someone rips their clothes or the apron."
Still slightly angry but quickly getting over it, he shrugged. "It's closer than my dorm anyway..." Ichigo glared at the bench one more time and promised revenge. "You can lead the way." Arms clasped together in front of him, he now looked like a child who was getting a reprieve for ripping his best Sunday clothes. Only Ichigo was the one reprieving himself.
"Oh, quit looking like the poor bench raped your ass," Renji rolled his eyes and turned, heading in the direction he came, shaking his head with a soft snicker before forcing his laughter down and just sticking with laughing his ass off mentally, shoulders bouncing slightly.
"I'll get you bench and little Renji too," he muttered and let his stride fall in with Renji's. The snow was coming down lightly still, giving everything a dusting of powdered sugar. Scowling at anything and anyone that looked at him wrong, they quickly scuttled out of his way. Ichigo closed his eyes and took in a few deeps, cleansing breaths, let them go, and resumed watching Renji. Some snow had stuck to his shirt and pants, giving him a coating of the substance. He looks like a cookie! A powdered sugar cookie. Bet he tastes yummy too.
Renji glanced over his shoulder, looking forth he reached his left hand up to brush some snow out of his hair and off his shoulders with a frown. Freakin' A was it cold, and he didn't like the cold. Nope, Renji no likey. Releasing a puff of breath and watched with amused cherry-colored orbs as it floated up before his vision. Shaking his head to get more flakes off, Renji kicked at the snow and tilted his head, grinning once he saw the shop come into view. Thank God for Rukia begging for that spare room to put crap in!
"Damn my ass is cold," he said, hissing as a particularly bitingly old gust nipped at his hind end. "Can't you walk any faster?" Orange hair bending with the wind, Ichigo increased his pace to come level with Renji. "I'm literally freezing my ass off here ya know?"
"And I'm close to laughing mine off," Renji retorted with a grin. "If you're that cold, run like your ass is on fire there." He shrugged and moved a little slower on purpose with a pleased expression. "I think God has somethin' against ya. Nice boxers by the way." Renji mentioned as he walked backwards a bit to inspect the damage the frozen bench had done.
His chest puffed out, not much dissimilar to that of a bullfrog, before Ichigo began to speak. "Whatever. At least it didn't get my boxers... Thanks for the compliment." His eye zeroed in on their target. "I expect you'll be getting to see much more of them since I'll have to take my cargo pants off for you to fix 'em." He snorted and ran fingers through his messy hair. "I'm not going to let you anywhere near my butt with a needle."
"Hey, I'm a pro at sewing!" Renji pouted and crossed his arms. "I've fixed Grimm's pants ten times the past three weeks. Idiot can't take a hint with not ticking Rukia off when she's holding a knife or cooking." He groaned and blushed while slumping his shoulders. One tear he needed to fix was near the man's crotch and he told him that he either takes the pants off and hands them over or stays with the tear.
"Still." Ichigo shook his head. But a thought formed, making his eyes sparkle with some unknown joke. Until he explained. Which of course he did. "You should count yourself lucky. You're the first to get my pants off on the first date." Grinning, Ichigo turned his head and his eye met Renji's. This was adventure he'd have to remember. This night...well had been more interesting than most he'd had even when he'd been buzzed.
Renji frowned and shoved the torn piece of cloth into Ichigo's face once he passed and blushed as he walked ahead with his arms crossed, frowning with his brows furrowed, his long crimson strands fluttering in the breeze that blew by and blew out an irritated huff of air. "Pervert," he grumbled while looking to the side.
Just managing to grab the piece of fabric before it fell to the ground, Ichigo caught up with Renji. He let out a sigh and looked at the ground. "Well if you haven't noticed, and you would have to be pretty thick to not notice, I'm a pervert. That's just how I am. Besides," he smiled and glanced sideways at the annoyed Abarai, "they do say that artists are eccentric. Not that it's an excuse."
Renji wished he had something else to shove into Ichigo's face so he just looked away again stubbornly and let his eyes follow the white path the flakes had caused. "Well, ya should've said you'd have to be Grimmjow or someone else I know." The redhead uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets. "And you'd have to be a perv to draw live models...pretty good at hiding it too." Once he stood in front of the Star Bucks and waved at Hinamori and Toshiro, he pushed the door open and motioned for Ichigo to follow him behind the counter and into the very back while looking at the girl with a grin. "Just gonna help him fix his 'bench-rapable pants'." And with that, he headed to the back with a joking wave.
"I've got that tomato just waiting for you Renji," Ichigo said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and slumped a bit. It was a bad attempt at trying to make himself invisible. And not working judging from the snickers he got when he did. He narrowed hsi eyes and frowned deeply at those who dared mock him and his, yes he'd admit it, poor bench-raped pants. Going around the counter, he walked over to the door and pushed it open. His feet lead him inside to find boxes stacked all around. "Storage I guess."