Chapter 14: Movies and Popcorn

(Hey! Sorry about the wait for this one. I've just been forced by my muse to think endlessly about Dark Corners. I am trying to work on other stories too, but that one really has me by the...well, it has me. I am still loving this story and have much more in store. Ichigo will be delivering soon, but first, here's the 'movie and popcorn' date! Enjoy the chapter! Oh, and I went back and worked the fourth baby's gender thing into the story...a little mystery for the prospective parents!)

"All right, I think we have everything we need," Ichigo said, rubbing his rounded belly as he looked around his bedroom, "I hope you don't mind hanging out in my Dad and sister's house to do this. I just like the big screen TV in my old bedroom here. I know the bed's a little small..."

"It's fine," Byakuya assured him, "It just means we will remain closer to each other."

"That works for me," Ichigo said, grinning and stealing a kiss.

He paused, a twinge of arousal touching his nether region.

"Damn, where was I?" he mused, his heart quickening.

"You were saying that we have everything," Byakuya reminded him.

"Right," Ichigo agreed, "Popcorn, check, cozy bed, check, movie in player, check, cuddled up to the most beautiful guy I've ever seen, definitely check! I think we're a go."

Byakuya gave him a tolerant smile.

"I don't know quite what all of that means, but I am ready when you are."

Ichigo's smile warmed and he turned off the lamp beside his bed.

"Lights dimmed, check."

"Ichigo..."

"Movie starting," Ichigo whispered, putting a finger to Byakuya's lips, then kissing them, "Shh..."

The two turned their attention to the screen as the movie started.

I have been to plays and such in Soul Society. We have television, but I have never really watched anything but news reports and the like. This kind of entertainment makes me feel further from the action.

He paused in his thinking as Ichigo turned and started kissing him.

"Ichigo," he objected, tilting his head to still watch the movie on the screen, "aren't we supposed to be watching this movie? I am going to miss something."

Ichigo grinned and touched the pause button.

"We can stop and just kiss for a while, okay?"

"My mouth tastes like popcorn," Byakuya complained, fidgeting and ducking away, "Besides, I thought you wanted me to see this. We've barely gotten past the introduction."

"Are you in a hurry?"

"No, I just..."

Byakuya froze for a moment, stricken by his husband's affectionate smile and aroused expression. He surrendered to one kiss, then to another, deeper one, falling onto his back on the pillows and Ichigo opened his yukata and bent over him, exploring the lovely expanses of soft, pale flesh.

"Honestly, did you just bring me here to have sex with you, Ichigo?" he asked, frowning.

Ichigo pulled away for a moment, looking into Byakuya's dark eyes.

"It's fine if that's what you want, but you could have just said so."

"I brought you here to watch a movie," Ichigo assured him, "It's just, I kinda felt like when you go to a drive-in."

"A what?" Byakuya asked, tilting his head curiously.

"A drive-in. It's an outdoor movie theatre with a big projection screen. They play a movie on the screen and people watch from in their cars. They uh...eat popcorn, and sometimes they kiss a lot or have sex while they're watching the movies."

Byakuya frowned.

"I thought you were a virgin before me."

"I am! I w-was!" Ichigo snapped, blushing, "I didn't say I ever did that. But other kids did. I didn't see the fun in it before, but it would be kinda fun for us, don't you think?"

Byakuya scowled and threw a piece of popcorn at him.

"I am not having sex with you in a movie theatre! Not even an outdoor one!"

Ichigo gave him a cute smirk.

"You had sex with me in a moving car, didn't you?" he asked pointedly, "The top was down and everything."

"The car has a privacy setting," Byakuya said, his frown fading, "But...I suppose that means we could go to the drive in and have sex while watching a movie, if you desire that."

"Really?" Ichigo giggled, "Let's do that then."

"What? Now?"

"Naw, they don't have this movie at the drive in. They show new movies, not old ones like this."

Byakuya looked at the frozen image of a young boy and his even younger sister on the screen in front of them.

"I am interested in seeing this," he confessed, "Especially since you made the reference to it before. I would like to understand the joke you made."

"You will," Ichigo promised, touching the button to make the movie continue.

Ichigo's hand slid down under the covers, caressing Byakuya's nether region as Byakuya fed him popcorn, and the movie advanced.

I do feel rather swept up by this story...an alien trapped in a strange world...innocent children bonding with him and trying to help, while adults around them constantly overlook the important things. There are more than a few lessons in that.

He sipped at the soda Ichigo had provided, his eyes fixed on the screen as the situation for the little alien being grew more critical and the boy who had grown close to him became ill.

The bond between them is like our resonance...this resonance being one of friendship despite differences. My bond with Ichigo began a little like that. I was an alien being to him when we first met. He barely understood what a shinigami was. It's funny. Like the boy in this movie, Ichigo showed tremendous acceptance and tolerance for what he couldn't have really understood. He first bonded with Rukia in what became a deep, compelling friendship, and then he and I bonded even more profoundly after fate placed us in each other's lives. But fate couldn't have made us really love each other. We chose that. We were guided in our choices. Like the child in this story was guided by his heart to befriend and help an alien being, Ichigo befriended Rukia, then had an open enough heart to admit me.

"You look like you're thinking so much you've lost track of the story," Ichigo chuckled in his ear, snapping Byakuya out of his thoughts.

"No," Byakuya assured him, watching as the alien character's heart glowed as it beat gently, "I was just thinking that it surprises sometimes how perceptive humans are, considering that they live in a material world and most don't know about Soul Society. Oh, they may believe in an afterlife, that there is a spirit realm, but it isn't real to them. Still, things that are intangible and a part of us all are somehow ingrained in all our souls, so even if they don't know that something like this..."

He smiled as Ichigo paused the movie, freezing the little alien with his chest brightly glowing and lighting the little boy's face.

"You and I know that what we're looking at is soul resonance. And the one who made this story, this human, knew what resonance means, and that it's important, even if he or she did not know it by name. It suggests a connection, a bond that travels through all of life. It is a part of all of us."

"That sounds like a pretty good thing to me," Ichigo said, running his fingers down the side of Byakuya's face and seeking his almost smiling mouth again.

"I am glad we did this," Byakuya sighed between slow, warm kisses.

"It was a good idea, wasn't it?" Ichigo agreed.

"It was. But we should finish the movie."

"Have you decided what you want to see next?" Ichigo asked, "If you don't like any of the ones on my desk, we could use the satellite to see what's on there. I think my dad has some porn movies hidden in his bedroom, if that interests you."

"Porn movies?" Byakuya repeated, arching an eyebrow, "Tell me you don't watch those things."

"Eh, doesn't every horny kid, at some point?" Ichigo laughed.

He registered Byakuya's disapproving look and bit at his lips to try to stop smiling.

"Come on, you mean to tell me that you didn't ever look at pictures of naked women...or guys? You never sneaked a porn movie in and watched it with a friend?"

Ichigo caught his breath as an aggressive glint rose suddenly in his husband's dark eyes. One moment, he sat face to face with Byakuya, gazing into his husband's piqued expression, then he was falling onto his back and held there as Byakuya positioned his body over Ichigo's and glared down at him. Byakuya's hands slowly peeled back Ichigo's yukata, baring his extremely pregnant body.

"This," Byakuya said, kissing Ichigo's rounded belly and making his husband blush and grin widely, "is the only body I want to see naked."

He sat back on his knees and slipped out of his yukata, revealing his own handsome, pale form.

"And I hope that when you want to be aroused, this body is the only one that comes into your mind."

"It is," Ichigo whispered running his hands up and down Byakuya's sides and giving a contented sigh as Byakuya moved his hips, teasing Ichigo's hungry member with his, "Sorry if I offended you. I thought porn videos or magazines were just something all kids looked at sometime or another. I was kinda curious, that's why I stole them sometimes from my dad and watched them. But you're right. Nothing in those videos is anywhere near what I have right here. This is the real thing. This is what I lived my whole life waiting for!"

Still on his knees, Byakuya rocked his hips back and dragged Ichigo farther up onto his lap, positioning himself and entering very slowly. As they joined in body, pink light glowed in Byakuya's chest, over his heart, pulsating with each beat.

"Oh my kami! How can you do that?" Ichigo laughed breathlessly, "Just like ET!"

"You can do this when your powers return, after the children are born."

Byakuya's hands tightened on Ichigo's hips, holding him in place as Byakuya's thrusts strengthened and deepened.

"Oh!" Ichigo gasped, laying his head back, but still keeping his head tilted to watch as the beats of Byakuya's glowing heart quickened, "Oh, Byakuya!"

He slid a hand down to caress himself and met each of his husband's powerful thrusts eagerly.

"Byakuya!" he panted more urgently.

Byakuya changed the angle of his body slightly and found the pleasure center inside Ichigo, striking three times in quick succession and making his husband's back arch and his mouth open into a howl of ecstasy. Overwhelmed by the beauty of seeing Ichigo, naked, carrying his children and overtaken with erotic bliss, Byakuya forced his eyes not to close as he released, filling his handsome, wild-eyed mate with his essence. He watched raptly as the shudders of completion continued to shake Ichigo's surrendered body, until Ichigo let out a long sigh and relaxed completely. Byakuya pulled free of him and dropped down at his side, suddenly realizing that the movie had continued and the bowl of popcorn laid upside down on the floor with its contents scattered.

"Oh wow!" Ichigo panted, "We must've hit the play button."

"I think we hit fast forward," Byakuya said, smirking.

"Wanna rewind and do it again?" Ichigo giggled.

Byakuya kissed him on a flushed cheek.

"Maybe later," Byakuya said, glancing at the door as footsteps sounded outside, "Close your yukata."

Byakuya tied his own clothing back in place and slipped out of bed, then began to clean up the spilled popcorn.

"Onii-chan!" Yuzu's voice called from outside the door, "Onii-chan, are you and Byakuya-chan all right? Karin and I heard a crash!"

"We're fine. Scram!" Ichigo snapped, grabbing a towel and sliding it under his yukata to wipe off some of the sticky mess.

"We're making your favorite for lunch, Onii-chan. Noodles and curry chicken. Do you want some?"

"No," Ichigo began, but he paused and looked down at his swollen belly as his stomach growled noisily, "On second thought, yeah. Byakuya and I will be down in a minute."

"Okay, we'll set plates at the table for you!" Yuzu called back, scampering back down the stairs.

"Man, I hope you had a privacy shield up," Ichigo sighed, "We were pretty noisy."

"I was well aware there were others in the house," Byakuya assured him, "I took the proper precautions. I just neglected to include the area away from the bed, where the popcorn bowl landed. That is why your sister heard it land."

"I'm glad Dad wasn't here or we'd never hear the end of it. But he has to alternate time between Soul Society, the girls and his job here that he refuses to quit."

"Well, healing people is a worthy thing. His empathy towards others is commendable."

Byakuya frowned.

"It is one of the few things about him that I have ever really liked."

"Hey, that's a little harsh, don't you think?" Ichigo chuckled, "He's not that bad."

"Well, he did abandon his post as a taichou," Byakuya pointed out, "and all of his responsibilities. At the time, we had no idea why."

"But it was for a good reason, right? My mom protected him and was injured doing that. He was trying to do the right thing, and that meant giving up his life as a shinigami. I think that was pretty unselfish."

Byakuya sighed.

"Knowing what I do now, I agree. I don't suppose he could have come back and told the truth. He knew well that he would have been thrown in the Central 46 prison for all of the rules he broke, fraternizing with an enemy quincy, abandoning his duties and engaging in illegal activities to preserve said quincy's life."

"Hey, I know you would have done the same," Ichigo countered.

"Yes," Byakuya agreed readily, "but that doesn't make it right. And I was one of the people inconvenienced by his disappearance. We expended vast resources and engaged multiple personnel, trying to find and rescue him. I understand his reasons, and if he hadn't done as he did, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be you. That is a very sobering thought, Ichigo," Byakuya said more softly, touching his husband's face, then offering him a tender kiss.

He tipped the popcorn into the trash can, then sat down on the bed, turning to lay his hands on Ichigo's belly and starting a stabilizing infusion.

"Hey, Byakuya, I was trying again earlier to sense the gender of our last baby. I still can't tell what it is. Can you?"

Byakuya honed in on the area, closing his eyes and concentrating for several minutes.

"I can't really make a conclusion," he answered quietly.

Ichigo gave him a spooked look.

"You don't think that means something's wrong, do you?" he asked worriedly.

"No," Byakuya said reassuringly, "The baby's reaitsu is fine. Sometimes gender just can't be determined before birth. Most often it can, but sometimes it's more difficult to tell. I suppose we'll just have to wait and be surprised."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Ichigo said, recovering some of his confidence, "I like surprises, as long as they're good ones...like being married to you."

"I also like good surprises," Byakuya admitted, kissing him again and rubbing his belly comfortingly, "like making a family with you."