Title: For the Love of Strawberries and Needles

Description: 40 drabbles on the wonderful coupling Ichigo x Ishida. Why? Because #1, I felt like it and #2, I'm part of the lj community "40baisers" and IchiIshi is one of my two pairings that I chose to write 40 short fics on. ...so, I was like if I'm going to spend so much time writing 40 fics,why not post it here as well and enjoy comments on both sites. :-D therefore, plz R&R!

Warnings: Shonen-ai...almost can be considered yaoi, but there's nothing too detailed...if you know what I mean...

Pairing: Ichigo x Ishida

Rating of this Specific Chapter: T (because I don't think it's detailed enough to be rated M)

Explaination behind title: Since it's IchiIshi, I decided to use a little symbolism xD heehee. Well, the literal translation of Ichigo is strawbery and Ishida is like the man of arts and crafts so obviously he's the needle...problem is, you stick a needle into a strawberry...not the other way around. And according to me, Ichigo is definately the seme ...oh well, life is full of contradictions xD

Theme 1: One night stand

"I can – hic – take sooooo much moooooooore…" Ishida swayed, cheeks bright red under his square glasses. Smiling in all his sobering glory, he held out his empty bottle of sake, "Soooommmuch moooore!"

"Seems like yerrr – hic – going tooo…" Ichigo slumped onto the couch, his words fading as another wave of dizziness caught him "…yerrr gonna lose, Ishiiiida…"

"What'er you talkinnnaaabout?" The black haired man growled, only to be broken off by unexpected giggles bubbling up his throat, "I would never – hic – loooooo – hichic – lose to a shiiiinigami…" He quirked an eyebrow, studying Ichigo for a moment before bursting into a fit of laughter, "Especially you! You maaaaango head, youuuu – hic –"

Ignoring that last remark, Ichigo watched as Ishida's glasses caught the light, hiding his eyes from view as they always did, "God damnnyuu! Take off those – hic – stupid glasses…" Willing his heavy limbs to move, Ichigo reached out and snatched the Quincy's lenses from his pale face.

"You evil mangoooo…" Ishida muttered, trailing off as he was caught up in a string of hiccups, "Now I cant seeeee…Ichiiiigo…"

"Oh, but I can see you…" Leaning in, the shinigami whispered in Ishida's ear, "and god! You're beautiful…" The Quincy froze, blushing despite himself. Even in his sobering state of mind, those words sent shivers down his spine.

"I…" Ichigo brushed his fingertips over Ishida's cheeks, watching the Quincy's eyes widen in surprise then soften, twinkling ever so slightly. The blush in Ishida's cheeks was deepening and it was enchanting to see a bit of pink on his pale skin. God! If only Ishida were always like this. Without those large rectangular lenses always hiding his eyes, the Quincy was an angel.

Cupping Ishida's face with his hands, Ichigo hovered above the him, their noses only centimeters apart. "Ishida…" he whispered, "I want you…"

"What was that, shiniga–"

Before Ishida could finish, Ichigo silenced him, stealing his delicate lips. They were nothing short of a delicacy and what Ichigo had first intended to be a mere peck, became much more. How he had never given the Quincy a second thought until now was beyond him. But now that he had, he found Ishida to be truly irresistible. Perhaps the alcohol was setting free some of his deepest feelings, the ones that he had involuntarily denied all these years.

Ishida didn't break away when the shinigami deepened the kiss, tongue burrowing into his mouth. Instead, he moaned and pulled Ichigo closer, sending the shinigami tumbling off the couch. Tangled up in Ichigo's lips, Ishida couldn't help but lust for more…much more…

Groaning, Ishida opened his eyes and squinted at the blinding light that was seeping in from the window. He had never gotten so drunk nor had he ever had a hangover this bad. Who ever thought alchohol could make your lower regions ache so much… Why had he been drinking anyways? He couldn't remember…something about failing a test. His stomach made a turn and he furrowed his brows, curling himself into a tight ball to help ease the nausea. He was definitely in no shape to go to school today. …not that anyone would notice… No, Inoue would notice and so would Chad… and…and Ichigo, he would notice too… I-ICHIGO!

Springing up with more energy than he thought he had, Ishida froze into a rigid sitting position on his bed, the blood rushing to his cheeks as memories of last night's ordeal flashed clearly through his mind. Did he really… Did Ichigo really… He shook his head wildly… No, it was just some odd dream…it had to be… Why else would he be in his own bed and fully dressed, with no sign of Ichigo anywhere?

But…that would explain the pain. Sighing, he flopped down on his bed and willed himself to forget about such disturbing memories…all those moans and pants and hisses, riddled with his cries for Ichigo to "go harder, go faster". God! It had to be a dream! The pain could surely have another explaination… It had to have another explaination. How he'd dared to dream of such things was beyond him but now, he needed to forget. There were more important things at hand, like his hangover, which now that he thought about it, was getting worse. Slapping a hand over his mouth, Ishida made a dash for the bathroom.

"Ishida-kun!" Inoue pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing so tightly it was a wonder how he didn't die on the spot, "Where were you yesterday? You look awful! Did you know that Ichigo was absent too? I wonder if he's coming today…"

The rest of Inoue's normal babble was drowned out as Ishida froze, body stiff with apprehension. Ichigo had been absent as well? It couldn't be… The memories that he had hoped to forget, came rushing back to him and his face flushed a deep red. There were many reasons he could have been absent for. It was just a dream… He couldn't have really done it with…him…could he? No, it wasn't possible…

"Oi! Ishida, you ok?" A hand grabbed hold of his shoulder and turning, Ishida came face to face with Ichigo. The heat rose to his cheeks and he could not stop his voice from shaking.

"I – I'm fine…" he hung his head hoping the hair that fell over his eyes would also cover the heavy blush. Turn and walk away, his mind was screaming but he couldn't move. His legs would not budge.

Taking Ishida's hand, Ichigo leaned over and whispered, "Come outside…we still have a few minutes before class begins." Without waiting for a reply, or more like not needing one, the shinigami dragged Ishida out of the classroom and into another hallway.

"Wh-Where are we going?" Ishida murmured, so softly he could barely hear it himself but Ichigo heard it.

"The roof," he replied, smiling. Scaling two flights of stairs, they finally came to the door to the roof. Ichigo turned to face Ishida and immediately, the Quincy diverted his eyes. "Always knew you were unbearably timid…" Ichigo said softly, slipping his arm around Ishida's waist, "Come on…" He pushed open the door and they walked into the bright morning light.

"W-Why did you bring me up here?" Ishida asked softly, his entire body shaking with Ichigo's arm wrapped tightly around him. His legs could barely hold him up and he could feel them getting weaker and weaker as Ichigo pulled him in. Leaning against the shinigami, Ishida felt soft kisses running down his neck and a new set of chills ran down his spine.

"You need to get contacts…" Ichigo whispered, his breath tickling Ishida's ear as he reached up with his other hand and snatched away Ishida's lenses.

"D-Did you really…last night…was I…" Ishida trailed off, his words barely reaching Ichigo's ear.

Not bothering to answer…not needing to answer, Ichigo turned the Quincy around to face him and caught his lips in a delicate, fleeting kiss. "Did you want it?" he asked slowly after letting Ishida go.

"Want…it?"

"Yes…did you want it? Do you want me? …or," Ichigo paused, "was it just the alcohol?"

"I…" Ishida could feel his heart thundering against his chest. So it wasn't a dream… it had never been and would never be one, no matter how much the Quincy wish was. But why did he deny it? Was he afraid? Why could he not meet the shinigami's eyes? Had it really been because of the alcohol? …or had he really wanted it? Had he really wanted Ichigo… Did he – Did he love him?

"I –" his legs finally gave out and stumbling forwards, Ishida fell onto the shinigami pulling them both down onto the floor. Caught up in a moment's confusion, Ishida lifted his head and their eyes met.

"You ok?" Ichigo asked, his gaze softening as he stared up at the person who hovered over him.

"I – I did…want it…" Ishida whispered, looking away once more as the heat returned to his cheeks.

The Quincy felt two hands grab onto his shoulders and before he knew it, he was lying on top of Ichigo with the shinigami's arms around him and a warm voice reaching his ears, "God! Took you long enough to spit that out."

A/N: Come on! You know you wanna... REVIEW! wheee! plz? -puppy eyes-

Well, I don't expect much, since this fic was so completely pointless... but still, wont you comment on the randomness of it all? xD heehee. Well, hope you enjoyed my ramblings!

p.s. will make big changes tothis chapter later because Ishida (for reasons unknown) doesn't feel any pain when he wakes up in the morning...I have no idea what I was thinking... xD Oh and I don't feel like making those changes now, because, well, I'm a lazy bum >o>

EDIT! yay! I finally got to it... actually, it wasn't much of a change...just added a few sentences here and there and changed a few. Well, now Ishida wakes in pain as he should logically...