The most fucked up thing about this situation wasn't him abandoning Haikyuu to get stuck in this shit hole, well, that comes to a very close second, but he must have destroyed a country in his past life to watch Renji sucking another dude's face.

He could have honestly died without bearing witness to this C grade porno wannabe, but hell, he'd think it's weird if his days weren't fucked up.

He turns around and heads to the kitchen in the frat house, grimacing and barricading his body against the swarm of horny motherfuckers in the frat house, which, he decides, is worse than he'd imagined or seen in any movies before.

Renji had called him an hour earlier in drunken slurs, threatening to expose his anime list on his Twitter, he has fucking 3k followers what the fuck- if he didn't come and take him home, because, ''I honestly think if we were Veep, I'd be Selina and I would kill to have you as my Gary. Come and get me, I'm so drunk.''

After several failed attempts at finding the address to the worst bat shit frat house in the entire country, he ended up inside only to find Renji in the midst of a gross ritual of hooking up.

He just wants to watch Haikyuu, he misses Hinata already.

But the idea of getting drunk now is not so bad and Ichigo figures, why not? Because his eyes caught sight of all the alcohol sitting on the kitchen counter when he was searching, and sure, Ichigo doesn't drink usually, he was too busy with his academics now (ha, never thought he'd say that), and the rest of the free time that he gets, he spends it on the internet.

Right now though, after a week packed with of exams and an unhealthy pattern of stress inhibited sleep, he wants to get drunk.


Half an hour later has Ichigo with a cup full of something he doesn't know what. He knows it's alcohol, his mind is hazy.

He never liked alcohol. He doesn't know how people like doing this; it made his mouth bitter and his mind lose coherency. Especially in public, when he isn't aware of what spills from his lips and into the ears of absolute strangers.

He scans his eyes across the crowd, not spotting Renji, and he sighs, something buzzy in his head distorting the shitty EDM playing in the background.

Just when he lifts up his cup to take another sip, something bumps into him, and he watches as the cup inclines without control and the somewhat cold liquid drenches his t shirt immediately.

''What the fuck-''

''Hey, you should watch where you're going.'' And Ichigo knows that the heat that travels through his body at that statement is definitely not from the alcohol.

He tries to glare up, but the guy towers over him with a shitty smirk on his lips and Ichigo thinks he wouldn't mind making the guy bleed.

''Be careful,'' he says, shoulder bumping against Ichigo's as he passes by, ''Or you might get seriously hurt.''

Ichigo turns around, dropping the cup to the ground as he tries to find the guy in the crowd. He is absolutely pissed off. Generally, he wouldn't lose his cool so quickly as he knows how people can be. It must be the alcohol, but all he wants to do right now is sock the guy in the face.

As Ichigo moves further into the back, he ends up behind the glass sliding doors leading to the backyard.

It shouldn't matter to him, but Ichigo sees Grimmjow sitting at the pool alone, and he's sliding the door open.


It's cold. It's so fucking cold and Ichigo honestly believes today is going to see his death. And pray, he has yet to finish Haikyuu.

His wet t shirt sticks to his chest and his teeth clatter when a gust of wind passes by him. The tiled floor near the pool is wet, it's October, for fuck's sake, who even needs a filled pool?

But Grimmjow has his legs submerged in the water with a beer bottle next to him, and deliriously, Ichigo thinks the water must be warm.

He walks next to Grimmjow, and takes off his shoes, the other glances up at him for a brief second before resuming staring off into nothing, or whatever it is he finds so interesting about the night sky even darker with rain clouds, but hey, who was he to judge? He watches nail polish videos sometimes just because he likes the before and after.

He nearly slips on the wet tiles but slowly seats himself down a few feet away, his pants getting wet as a result and he groans, cold, cold, cold. It's so cold.

With quickened breaths, he dips his feet into the water and screams, ''Holy fuck-'' Grimmjow's eyes fall on him and Ichigo stares back with a frantic look in his wide eyes, hands clutching his shirt at his chest, shivering even more with every muscle in his body tense, ''What the fuck, how are you- Why are you sitting here with your legs in cold water? You will die!"

Grimmjow raises one eyebrow, ''It's not that cold.'' He responds, much calmer than Ichigo.

Ichigo gapes, ''Dude, this is the water Jack died in. You are gon-gonn-" he sneezes, ''Gonna die-''

''Then go inside. I'm fine here.''

Ichigo breathes heavily through his mouth, and glances back at the house, and somehow, it looks worse inside.

He can't stop the displeased frown that furrows his brow due to his unfavorable situation.

In the end, he reaches a decision. ''Gimme your booze.''

''Excuse me?''

''I'm asking you to give me your booze.''

Grimmjow looks thoroughly offended, attacked, even, ''Why?''

''It will warm me up.''

''Get your own.''

''Why do you have to be a baby about it? We are acquaintances,'' Grimmjow gives him a look, ''Kind of, you can share your booze with me.''

Grimmjow doesn't relent and he sighs, ''Please, I'm so cold, just gimme your booze.'' He's not sincere about his request, and he knows Grimmjow knows it too but the other man takes his beer bottle and passes it to Ichigo anyway.

''OhmyGod,'' he groans, gulping down half the bottle, ''It tastes like shit, but it feels so much better,'' He catches Grimmjow scrunching up his face and merely shrugs, ''Thanks, though.''

Grimmjow doesn't respond and Ichigo passes the bottle back.


This continues for a few minutes, until the bottle is empty and Ichigo is slowly moving towards Grimmjow until there's only about two feet of space between them.

He looks towards the sky, his mind feels like there's little sparks going off in his brain and the silence is almost an unbearable weight at this point. He never realized what a lightweight he was.

''Hey, Grimmjow, what are you thinking about?''

Grimmjow doesn't respond. So Ichigo continues, ''Do you ever wonder if the Earth is really round?''

To this, he feels the other man's gaze fall to the side of his head, so he turns to meet it with his own, ''Like,'' he says, ''Have you ever been to outer space? The theory makes sense, but what if it's all a lie?''

He knows the alcohol is making him loose mouthed, these are thoughts that are too silly even to Renji, even to Yuzu who listens to everything he has to say, he knows this, so he doesn't say them, but he wants to now, and he wants someone to hear.

''What if it is a lie?'' Grimmjow says and Ichigo blinks in confusion, ''What if it is a lie, how does it matter to you?''

Ichigo licks his dry lips, unconsciously shivering, pulling his wet shirt away from his chest, ''Don't you want to know the truth?''

Grimmjow appears to consider this for a moment before he replies, swinging his legs in the water for a brief moment, ''Is knowing the truth important to you?''

Ichigo doesn't answer, and slowly, Grimmjow asks, ''Does knowing something like that give you happiness?''

Ichigo frowns softly, ''Maybe. It's satisfying.'' He looks up at Grimmjow, ''It feels real.''

Grimmjow's eyes are so bright, Ichigo thinks, it's the first time looking at them so closely, and he thinks look so sharp and intelligent, like he knows everything Ichigo doesn't, ''I don't know what you're talking about.'' And Ichigo knows Grimmjow's lying.

''Then what gives you happiness?'' Ichigo asks, and his teeth chatter a bit, chest in pain. He's so cold, but he wants to hear.

Their eyes meet yet again, a conversation of their own.

Grimmjow says, ''Happiness is overrated, Ichigo.''


Ichigo sniffs harshly, his fingers are kind of cramping. It's gotten to a point where it's too cold for him to stay there, so he gets up, making Grimmjow look up at him.

''I- too cold.'' He says, fingers pulling his wet shirt away from his chest, teeth chattering.

Grimmjow looks him over, and the water splashes when he pulls his legs out to stand up.

''Why is your shirt wet?'' He asks, ''Come inside, I can get you a new shirt.''

Ichigo follows, but he slips, his hand catching onto Grimmjow and nearly taking him down with him. Both of them cuss like sailors.

''Some-some asshole bumped into me-'' He says, hands circling around his biceps for warmth.

Grimmjow says something along the lines of dumb, and Ichigo scowls with a, ''Fucking heard that.''


It's warmer in the house and Ichigo feels himself relax already. Grimmjow disappears somewhere right away and Ichigo wanders into the kitchen again.

There aren't many people still here, and most of them present are slumped down or passed out like they have lost everything.

''Gary!'' He hears a familiar voice call out to him then and turns to see Renji walking up to him.

''You're still here?'' He asks, kind of irritated when he remembers he's the reason why Ichigo ended up here in the first place.

Renji looks a bit more sober, but he still reeks of alcohol. His short red hair is damp with sweat, and Ichigo wishes he feels hot enough to sweat as well.

''Uh, yeah. So what happened is,'' he laughs drunkenly, leans forward and pushes all his weight onto Ichigo. Renji was a touchy drunk, ''-wait, are you shivering?'' He frowns, words slurring together.

But the frown is still there, the one he has been seeing since they were children. Renji was only five months older than he was, but he always had this animal kind of instinct where he wouldn't hesitate to do anything to play the overbearing mother to Ichigo.

He quickly takes off his sweatshirt and forces Ichigo to take his own shirt off, quickly pulling down his own clothing down Ichigo's head, leaving Renji in his long sleeved shirt.

''You idiot!'' He flicks his forehead and if Ichigo weren't drunk and slow, he would flick back twice, ''Fucking idiot. Always.''

Ichigo nearly groans, but he turns around and grabs a beer bottle from the kitchen counter, making the bad decision to get more drunk.

''Anyway, I met this guy-'' And Ichigo blocks him out. He doesn't need this information.

But then Renji is catching a hold of Ichigo's wrist and dragging him somewhere.

''Stop, where are you taking-''

''Oh, Grimmjow!''

Grimmjow stops in his tracks, a shirt in his hand and Ichigo sees a frown form on Grimmjow's face for the first time.

''Renji.'' The words are uttered with such venom that has Ichigo curious. Weren't they friends?

But Renji is relentlessly happy, ''We are gonna play a game, wanna come with?'' He asks but his other hand circles around Grimmjow's wrist and he's dragging them both into the living room.


I'm so sorry, I have been very busy. This chapter was a bit difficult to put out as well, but here you are!