A/N I have been overwhelmed with feelings from these last two chapters. I want to thank each and every one of you that left a review (honestly, some of the best I've had) and especially those who private messaged me. I even got some tips that were, and still are, greatly appreciated. It will definitely help me write better in these upcoming chapters and have what you like as well.
Thank you so much again! You honestly have no idea how much a simple review or a private message means until you get one. Seriously, overwhelmed guys.
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Shirosaki's POV
I stand there, eyes twinkling with amusement as Ichigo tries to save what he can of the conversation. I'll be the first to admit that I was surprised to arrive an hour after the interview at the Kurosaki house only to hear yelling from upstairs. Originally I thought that Grimmjow had showed up before he could get rid of his extensions and his cover was blown, and had resulted in me clearing those stairs faster than I ever have before in my life. Then I actually stopped to listen to the conversation and had to stifle my laugh at King's predicament.
"Let me get this straight," Renji is rubbing his hand over his face in agitation, resulting in my grin widening. "You have two weeks, two, before you have to release a song?"
"Yes," Ichigo winces as Ishida throws another glare his way.
"This is a new low, even for you."
"It was an accident! It's his fault for dragging me there and forcing me to do the fucking interview in the first place!" He points at me accusingly, and I merely raise my hands in defense.
"Hey now, don't be blamin' me. Yer tha' one who said those words, an' ya honestly could have refused ta go, ya know," Ichigo's face turns red at this and I can't but laugh maniacally at the situation he's put himself in.
"I don't think you've thought this through, Shiro," Rukia pipes in and I look at her, one eyebrow raised in questioning. "You do realize that you have to release it in two weeks as well, right?"
"Wha?!" I scream, pushing off the doorframe in my shock. "Tha' fuck I do!" The orangette is laughing at this point, clutching his stomach.
"That's right! You have to help me! Oh, that makes this so much better."
"No no no. Yer tha' one tha' fucked up, ya can do it yer fuckin' self!"
"This is a joint album, Shiro! You have to help as well!"
"Oh yeah? An' if I refuse? Ya can't make me do anything."
"W-why I outta-"
"Huh? Ya can't even walk normally, let alone force me ta do anything."
"Low blow," Shinji mutters from his position at the edge of Ichigo's bed.
"You know what? Fuck you, Shirosaki! Get out of here!" Ichigo yells, throwing a full water bottle at my face that I barely manage to dodge.
"Yer not seriously kicking me out," I question in disbelief, eyes wide as I look at his eyes that are screaming murder.
"Yes I am! Get. The. Fuck. Out," he snarls out every word and despite knowing that I'm acting childishly I walk over to the desk and slam the water bottle on his desk.
"Fine, whatever," without another word I leave the room, hearing a chorus of sighs behind me.
~.~.~.~.~.~
The whole drive home I'm steaming in my seat, and I'm positive that I've broke more than a few laws with my reckless driving. Pulling up to my house, I storm out of the car, slamming the door shut behind me, and march into my house. All of the maids are steering clear, noticing my horrible mood and while I would normally be pissed at this and more than willing to chew out some employees I just want to get up to my room and vent my frustration.
"Stupid fuckin' King," I growl when I finally arrive at my room, immediately throwing a lamp off of the desk closest to the door.
After about half an hour of slamming things into the floor or smashing them against the wall, my breathing is heavy and I fall back into my bed. My head is spinning with hundreds of thoughts and I can feel a major headache starting. Against my better judgment, I hop out of bed and find some pain medication, swallowing the pills dry before once more collapsing on the bed.
My thoughts replay the whole argument and my lips curl down as I try to find out what sparked my anger in the first place. True, I'm pissed that he did that and put even more pressure on us for this album. Since both of us are top tier artists, I have no doubt that his standards will be equivalent, or even greater, than my own which means every little detail will be nitpicked over. And he wants to release a song in two weeks despite that. He should have just let us pull the whole thing.
But that information still shouldn't have been enough to set off my temper.
"Does this mean that you're sexual orientation has not changed?" The man is looking at Ichigo as though he's the most intriguing thing ever, and my eye twitches against my wishes.
"I can assure you, I am still straight," the man nods as Urahara stares at Ichigo, the orangette looking at me but I carefully school my features into the most neutral expression I can manage. "There has been no alteration regarding that."
The memory rushes in uninvited and I grit my teeth at the words. Although it seemed like nothing at the time, the more I replay it the angrier I get. The rage from before is once more building to dangerous proportions and I close my eyes trying to keep it at bay so I don't end up breaking more shit. Theories rush through at a mile a minute, and one hits me like a slap to the face.
It's no secret that I've been developing feelings for the orangette, but I've been more than prepared for him to reject me at every turn. There's never been any proof that Ichigo is gay, but there hasn't been any evidence against it either despite his girlfriend. Inadvertently I must have let my hopes take hold and fester like a disease when the incident at the party occurred with Hisagi. I thought 'Yeah, maybe there is a chance'. But not after that, such a blatant statement with no hesitation attached at all. As much as it hurt to admit it, my feelings were useless.
King was straight, and there was no way to change it.
The information almost sends me into another fury, and I roll over on my stomach glaring at the headboard like it's done me some sort of personal injustice. Of course, no surprise. The moment I finally decide to pursue a somewhat serious relationship and the guy is fucking straight as a pole. Fantastic.
A knock at the door snaps me out of my thoughts and I sigh before granting them permission to enter. The person who walks in is the last person I ever expected to see, and I instantly regret the mess that is now my room.
"Should I just come back later?" He deadpans, his expression changing from hesitant to neutral in a heartbeat.
"No, it's fine. Why are ya here?" My tone is more aggressive than I had planned, and I internally flinch.
"Yeah, I'll just come back whenever," the door closes and I'm up out the bed and across the room in seconds flat, throwing the damn thing open.
"King, get yer ass back here," basically growling his shoulders set and he turns around, a scowl on this face.
...
Ichigo's POV
"Why? So you can yell at me some more? No thanks. I came here to apologize, but clearly that won't be enough. Bye," I turn around again and try to walk away with as much pride as I can, but before I can make it more than a few steps my feet leave solid ground. "Oi, what the fuck are you doing?!"
"Ya just admit tha' yer here ta apologize, an' ya think I'm gonna yell at ya? Yer an actual idiot, King," Shiro's voice is right above me and I barely restrain the urge to punch him in his stupid smug face.
"Alright, but put me down," he ignores me and I notice that he's continuing to walk. "Hey, genius, you passed your room."
"I'm well aware."
"… Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise, can't be givin' ya all mah secret?" He looks down at me and winks and I refuse to admit that my heart skips a beat.
"I didn't know you were smart enough to keep a secret," I snap my retort and he merely laughs at me.
It's then that I notice that at one point in time crossed my arms like a small child would when they pout. Huffing, I uncross my arms but then realize I don't have any place for them and let them just hang deftly at my sides. Actually, I'm pretty impressed that Shiro can carry me for so long. Now I'm not saying he's weak, not by any means, but he seems to be supporting all my weight with no problem at all.
We reach the end of his mini maze of a house and he pushes the double glass doors open, revealing a balcony overlooking a large portion of the city. Despite my still simmering anger, I have to gasp in appreciation, leaning on the railing when he finally bothers to set me down. Even in the day it was beautiful, so my imagination is running wild at what it probably looks like at night.
"Nice, isn't it? Tha' country an' open air is nice an' all, but I'm more of a fan a manmade scenery," he's right beside me, close enough for me to lean over and touch if I wanted to.
Which I obviously do not want to.
"Yeah, I understand. Back when I was younger, we used to go camping a lot. I remember looking at the stars, and comparing them to city lights," I chuckle at the memory, and it's then that I recall my whole reason for coming over. "Look I just want to apologize-"
"Don't bother," my head whips to the side so fast a spike of pain runs through my neck, but I don't care when I see his eyes staring off into the distant.
"Uh, but it was my fault? Is my fault," correcting myself, I can see him sigh before turning to look at me.
"Really it's not tha' big of a deal. I just lost mah composure fer a minute there. Mistakes happen, just gotta live wit em ya know?"
"Wow. That's… mature. Who are you?" I try to get a better look at his face as he had turned away, but he merely scoffs and retreats to one of the seats.
"I take offense ta tha', ya know? I can be mature."
Oh, my God. He's pouting.
"I'm not poutin'!" Oops, must have said that out loud.
"Yeah, sure," I limp over to the other chair, refusing to wince at the pain.
"It was really stupid fer ya ta come up here just ta apologize. Tha's why we have phones, King."
"I don't like apologizing over the phone," my response seems to placate him, as his shoulders relax and he continues looking out over the city.
We sit in companionable silence for at least half an hour, the sun moving in the sky. Sometime after I arrived, a maid came up to us and hesitantly asked us if we wanted anything to drink. Water had been my response, and my eye twitched when Shirosaki asked for some complicated alcoholic beverage. It's at this moment that my ringtone shatters the silence, and I shrug before answering it.
"Hello?" I didn't bother to look at the number, but I have a pretty good idea who it just may be.
"So you're still alive," Rukia's voice is emotionless with this statement, and I laugh at the fact that she's attempting to hide her worry.
"Of course I am," attempting to move to a more comfortable position, I clench my teeth when I manage to jostle my injury.
"How long until you're back?"
"No clue. You sound like a jealous girlfriend," I'm unable to restrain the smile when I hear her spluttering on the other side of the line and it escalates to a giggle when I receive the dial tone signaling she had hung up on me.
"Speakin' a girlfriends, how are ya gonna explain it ta Nel?" Shiro questions curiously, and I groan while letting my head fall back in exasperation. "Not tha' reaction I was expectin'."
"I don't have to worry about her knowing. Actually, it's probably a small blessing. Don't know how I would explain it to her," throwing a glance down at my foot, I scratch the back of my head. "We broke up the night of the party."
"Ah, she wasn't happy about 69, I take it?" I throw a glare at him, and have to admit relief at the return of his maniacal grin, although not out loud.
"It was before that, you jerk."
"Yikes, sorry," his smile tells a totally different story though, and my heart skips another beat, although I'm sure I'm just interpreting it wrong.
"It is what it is. Can't change it. But like I mentioned, small blessing."
"Guess so. So," he turns in his seat to face me fully and I'm instantly cautious, "Hisagi was yer rebound, basically?"
"No, he was not," frowning, I ignore his demonic eyes that are glued to my face.
"Care ta explain it then?"
"Why should I?"
"Because I asked? Duh?"
"Not with that attitude."
"Ah, come on~" my hand is suddenly grabbed, and I instinctively tried to remove it from his grasp which only results me looking at his puppy dog eyes. "Please."
"What in hell makes you think that's gonna work?"
"Because yer too good of a person," I try to pull my hand away again, but he only grips them tighter much to my annoyance.
"What does it matter?" I throw at him, refusing to look at his face hoping that he won't notice my blush.
"Call it curiosity," is his response and I curse silently.
The dreaded dilemma has finally reared its ugly existence. I had known from the moment that he discovered my secret that it would come with some unwelcomed questions and situations, and this was a definite mix of the two. While I was by no means ashamed of my preference towards males, it was even more ammo that Shiro could use against me if things went south. Many considered me as someone who could trust easily, but that just simply wasn't true.
"Ya know ya can trust me," Shirosaki suddenly drops that bomb on me and I mentally cry in frustration. "But by yer lack a response, I'm already pretty sure I can guess it."
Shit.
I can't resist the urge, and before I know it my face is covered with my one free hand. For some unexplainable reason, Shiro knowing is embarrassing and uncomfortable. A pressure is suddenly applied to my other arm, and I have no doubt that he's trying to get me to show my face.
"Ya know I'm not gonna judge ya or anything, wha's tha' big fuckin' deal? Yer gay. Whoop-de-fuckin'-doo. Congratulations," he states as he finally coaxes my hand down, but I still hang my head. "Really, King?"
"I just, it's been a while since I've had this conversation," it's not a lie, but the next part certainly is. "Guess I forgot how awkward it is."
"King? Ichigo Kurosaki is feelin' awkward?" Anybody with half a sense could hear the joking edge to his voice, and I slap his hand away.
"Gimme a break."
"Sure, sure."
I'm about to release the breath I didn't realize I was holding, but then the chair is holding double the original weight and I groan when Shiro throws his legs over mine. He doesn't say anything, which is a blessing, so I just sit there and let my legs fall asleep from all the extra weight. It's a few minutes later that the girl from earlier returns with the drinks. I thank her while Shiro just grunts his response, earning him a slap on the head.
"It's getting late," I break the silence after we both finish our drinks and I'm beginning to feel as though Shiro seems to be moving closer every minute. "I should be off, I'm sure Yuzu is waiting for me to get back."
"Ya can stay here if ya want," the offer is unexpected and I'm reeling back, my mind rebelling from the idea.
"U-uh, thanks, but I'll have to decline. Another time," I mentally face palm as the words leave my mouth and I curse at my lack of brain-to-mouth filter.
"I'll hold ya ta it," my fear is confirmed that Shiro won't let my makeshift promise go until it's fulfilled and I resign myself to my fate. "Need a ride home?"
"Actually, I will take you up on that," my original driver was Shinji, who whined the entire time about the unnecessary actions I was taking.
"Let me grab mah keys," he stands up and I clearly hear all the cracks as he stretches before he reaches down to pick me up.
"I'm capable of walking."
"This is more fun," he grins that creepy grin at me and I know the battle was lost long before it even begun.
"Whatever."
...
A/N Okay, so I got a PM (as mentioned) and someone suggested that some more interaction between them would be a welcome change. Thinking back on it, I noticed that there weren't as many interactions as I actually did want, so I'm making a definite point to try and fix that. Reason for this chapter.
Yeah, uh, review if you manage to find yourself with some time. Comments are always welcome, as well as constructive criticism or just help hints Send a message over telling me that you hate Grimmjow, or that Shiro is acting like a fucking coward, or Ichigo needs to get his shit together. I love these kinds of comments, as it lets me know that I'm portraying them as actual people instead of just like animated robots or something. I don't even know.
Would anyone want a playlist for this? I'm just curious, if anybody does I'll consider making one and sharing it :)