I.K. – 9/1 Mon. – 4:57 pm

Ichigo sat in his bed, reading the summary of The Miracle Worker and skimming through the book. After English literature, he had taken a light stroll around campus before returning to his dorm room at around one-thirty. The book didn't seem too difficult. Considering reading it was the very first assignment given in his last class, it wasn't too bad at all. Although he had never read it before, he had seen the book and knew the general story of Helen Keller. Now all he had to do was actually read it in a week's time.

The book was set up like a play (it probably really was). There were passages describing the setting of a certain scene and what each character was doing in it. And there were lots of dialogue. And adverbs and adjectives to explain how each character said whatever they said. He quickly scanned the list of characters at the top of the page, and then started on the passage below.

"Time. The 1880's. Place. In and around the Keller homestead in Tuscumbia, Alabama; also, briefly, the Perkins Institution for the Blind, in Boston."

He liked reading out loud. He liked how his voice was nearly the only audible thing in the room. He liked the thought of his voice travelling from his lips, bouncing against the walls, and being shot back into his own ears. Maybe it was a good thing that his roommate wasn't around much. Not everyone loved to have someone read some book aloud to him without even asking. Not that he would actually read out loud, should his roommate really be there with him.

"Act 1. It is night over the Keller homestead. Inside, three adults in the bedroom are grouped around a crib, in lamplight. They have been through a long vigil, and it shows in their tired bearing and disarranged clothing. One is a young gentlewoman with a sweet girlish face, Kate Keller; the second is an elderly doctor, stethoscope at neck, thermometer in fingers; the third is a hearty gentleman in his forties with chin whiskers, Captain Arthur Keller.

"Doctor. She'll live.

"Kate. Thank God—"

He hadn't even finished the first column of the page before a loud banging on his door brought him back to reality, out of the literary world. He had already immersed himself so deep within the book that he hadn't noticed the noisy female voices in the hallway.

"Berry-tan!"

Furrowing orange eyebrows, Ichigo checked his phone. It was three 'til five, and he had completely forgotten about Mashiro's party invitation. He was only wearing a plain baby blue shirt and a pair of khaki shorts with, like, hundreds of pockets.

"Berry-tan?"

Carefully closing the book and placing it on his bed, Ichigo stood to open the door. He was going to tell them to just go without him; thanks but maybe next time; he wasn't really a party-guy (which was completely not true, since he was an absolute party-guy in high school… although his brothers and Renji was the only ones who knew about that). When he opened the door, however, the girls attacked him with endless chitchat – except Hinamori, who was shyer and quieter.

"I knew you were in there; people below told us they saw you come in!"

"Quite hard to miss, what with the orange-ness and all!"

"Berry-tan's ready? Nooo!"

"You're wearing the same thing as before!"

"How come Berry-tan didn't change!"

"Hey, this is your closet, right?"

"… Um, sorry, excuse us, Ichigo-san. Heh."

"…"

The three females hustled into the room and began rifling through his closet, throwing potential outfits onto his bed. Ichigo rescued his book before it got buried under his own clothing and watched helplessly as his entire closet was ransacked. He figured it wouldn't do much even if he tried to just didn't understand girls. It sometimes felt like they took advantage of the fact that they were female, and that any decent man would refrain from hitting one of those. It was like they were a completely different species. Of course, he'd had girlfriends before, but they had always been a rather difficult breed to deal with… At least, that's what he thought about them.

"How about this one?"

"With these pants?"

"Oh, this over that!"

Where are the socks? Socks are essential!"

"Does he have accessory?"

"Found it!"

"Oh, perfect!"

When they finished, Ichigo ended up with a crimson tee (huh, he thought he had left that one at home), a casual white collared shirt to go over it (appropriate; it wasn't for formal attire anyway), black skinny jeans (wouldn't that be hot?), long shark-tooth necklace (Kiyone insisted he borrow it), his striped socks (wow, he never even wore those before), and a pair of vintage gray Converse (one of his personal favorites, really) all tossed into his arms. He sighed and decided he was glad that he had stored his underwear in a different drawer under his bed; at least he got a little privacy there.

Once changed and ready, Ichigo was dragged out of the dorm where a sleek yellow car awaited. Nice. It made Ichigo want a driver's license. Although… even if he had one, they wouldn't be able to afford a nice car like that.

Mashiro drove. Fast. They arrived at a large house in less than fifteen minutes, whereas apparently it should have taken twenty-five if someone else drove, and nearly forty if they had walked. When they entered, they were greeted by David Guetta's "Bad" and party decorations; tons of people were already there, but none of them were drunk or drugged like Ichigo had expected to see at a party for older peeps. Perhaps Kiyone noticed Ichigo's slightly surprised, perplexed expression. She leaned over to poke her head into his sight.

"This is just a little party to, you know, welcome the new year. Hang out, see friends, meet new people, you know? Just have fun, yeah?"

Ichigo nodded along. After these girls dispersed, he would leave. Mashiro was already gone, so it probably wouldn't take very long.

"Ah, Ichigo, meet Rangiku-san, the host of out party today! Rangiku-san, this is freshman Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo lifted his head to see a curvaceous woman with wavy blond hair falling all over her shoulders in graceful layers. Her pale blue eyes seemed as if they were checking Ichigo out, and he stood in a slightly nervous stance before she broke into a bright smile. Before he knew it, Ichigo was sinking into the depths of her ample breasts.

"He's sooo cute, OMG, OMG, OMG, right, Nel?" She didn't even seem to notice she was suffocating Ichigo. Instead, with the orangette still stuffed between her boobs, she glanced back at a friend with an equally large bosom, long wavy hair the color of ocean water, and a bright, bright smile.

"Freshie!" Rangiku's friend squealed, hopping, fingers wiggling as if she wanted to squeeze Ichigo to death as well. "Aw, freshies are always so cute."

"That's not true," Rangiku said matter-of-factly. "Remember Ōmaeda? Yuck."

"Thinking back, that's true. Where's he now?"

"Dunno… haven't seen him since sophomore year."

They seemed to have forgotten Ichigo for a moment, while for him, it was getting increasingly difficult to breathe. And it was hot. His face was hot. And probably extremely red. He tried pushing a little at the woman's stomach, not wanting to be too rough, but seeing as it wasn't working and he would die of suffocation at this rate, he shoved at her harder, finally escaping her grasp. He gasped for breath, cool air hitting his cheeks and oxygen circulating back into his lungs.

"Ah, Ichigo," Rangiku acknowledged, eyebrows raised as if she was surprised that he was still there.

"Oh, wait, freshie means you're in Clarken, right?" Nel asked cheerfully. "Or are you in Marson? No, Marson's for juniors and seniors…"

"Clarken," Ichigo confirmed.

"Ah-ha! Then he's in the same dorm as Grimmy!" Nel gave a toothy grin and whipped around to yell: "GRIMMYYY!"

She smiled widely at Ichigo, eyes huge and staring, before a grumpy voice approached.

"What. Jesus Christ. Don't yell like that."

The boy from Chemistry, the one with striking blue hair, the one who had been late to class, strode over with hunched shoulders and pocketed hands. He glanced up at Ichigo and looked fairly shocked to see him there, but then recovered and looked to Nel again.

"Clarken boy. Same dorm! Do you know Ichigo?"

Cyan orbs slowly settled on brown, and Ichigo suddenly tensed. They just stood there, staring for what felt like a millennia to Ichigo before the blue-haired guy – Grimmjow? – turned back around and shook his head. Ichigo realized he'd been holding his breath. He let it out and bit his lip.

What had he expected? Of course he would say no. They really didn't know each other. Well, except the fact that they had seen each other before… but that didn't count as knowing. Had he expected the boy to remember him, out of all the other students there? Had he actually wanted the boy to say he knew him? That's kind of weird. Ichigo felt a slight twist in his stomach.

Maybe I'm not feeling well, Ichigo decided. And after several failed attempts to excuse himself from the party, many more introductions to older students, and a bunch of playful criticism directed toward his plain wallpaper while exchanging numbers, he finally succeeded to escape and walk back home alone.


G.J. – 9/1 Mon. – 12:09 am

God, his roommate slept early.

The lights were all off when Grimmjow pushed his door open, and he had to rely completely on his sense of touch as he felt his way to his bed. His eyes unused to the darkness, he slowly managed to get changed into his loose wife-beater and gray sweatpants before quietly slipping out to brush his teeth and wash his face. Even with the window, the room was near pitch black when he returned.

Setting the alarm on his watch to nine, he yanked the blanket over his head. Some didn't like that because it got warm or stuffy in there, but he liked it that way. He felt unsettled and shaky otherwise.

Under the blanket, Grimmjow exhaled and felt his own breath coming back to him. It smelled distinctly of spearmint; or was he actually tasting remains from his toothpaste? He couldn't really tell. It just felt nice to have his entire body covered up.

III

Tuesday, Grimmjow woke up on time. The bed next to his was already made, pillow neatly placed atop a tidy blanket. So, his roommate was super diligent and a neat freak, who always woke up and went to bed early. He just left his bed the way it was when he awoke: tangled and messy. Tearing open a Heath Bar from one of his desk drawers, he left the dormitory, this time, his first class being at 9:40. This was the class he dreaded: Great Books that Shaped the Western World. Wow. He preferred math or science, but Nel had bugged him to take it… for whatever reason. And of course, he couldn't say no to Nel.

He grabbed a Cookies n' Cream Pop Tart on the way.

III

Shirt loosely tucked in – check.

Three buttons left open – check.

Worn navy Converse – check.

Just-rolled-out-of-bed hair gel – check.

Ready.

Slipping his hands into the large pockets of his dark jeans from yesterday, Grimmjow walked straight to Dangai. He was there by 3:56.

"Good afternoon, Grimmjow-san!" a voice greeted him when he entered the place. It was that short guy – Hanako… was it? It looked like he was getting ready to leave.

"'Sup."

There were a lot of customers today. Well, what's new? Dangai was popular.

"I'm Izuru Kira. I'll be taking care of the kitchen with Shuuhei-kun while you work!" Kira's voice. Grimmjow turned around to see the blonde now in a cook's uniform, Hisagi leaning out of the kitchen with a wide grin on his face, and Kotetsu smiling warmly at a certain orange-haired male. He wore the same black shirt, two buttons left undone. Hmm, not too bad. And he wore pretty tight jeans. Like, he wore skinny black jeans, not those super loose kinds. But it didn't look bad on him at all.

He had forgotten that Kira could easily switch from waiter to cook. Apparently, he had taken professional cooking classes since his sophomore year, now twenty-four and graduated. Hisagi, of course, was more talented, but Kira was a good helper. Grimmjow wondered if Hisagi cooked for his boyfriend – this really muscly guy with short silver hair. He couldn't remember his name, though. Did Kira have a lover? As far as Grimmjow knew, no.

"Ah! Jaegerjaquez-san!"

Grimmjow met Kira's eyes, and the blonde grinned warmly at him first, then at the orangette.

"This is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez-san. Perhaps you know him? Jaegerjaquez-san, remember the new employee we told you about yesterday? This is him – Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Um, yeah." Grimmjow nodded, glancing at Ichigo, who averted his eyes as soon as Grimmjow's settled on him.

"Pleasure," Ichigo muttered, looking away with a slight scowl. What was with the guy? Had Grimmjow done something wrong to him? Jeez.

"Sorry, Yadōmaru-san isn't here today… um, the boss. She's out sick. I didn't even know the lady was capable of falling ill. Well, Kurosaki-san, you'll be taking tables twelve through sixteen. Okay?" Kira explained, then pointed toward the front area by the windows with two tables for four and three tables for two.

Ichigo nodded. "Okay." Then, a hasty addition: "Thanks."

He was a fast learner – that Ichigo kid. After watching Kotetsu and Grimmjow take care of a few customers and probably taking several mental notes, he was off on his first one, perfecting all the orders, good service, and even the charming-waiter-smile. The kid even took up to calling everyone by first names almost right away (adding –san). Grimmjow was… impressed, at the least.

III

"Yo, Grimmjow," a freakishly tall man with straight black hair falling all over his eye patch called from a table in Grimmjow's corner. He knew him. Nnoitra Gilga.

"'Sup."

He placed four menus on the table, scanned it to see whom Nnoitra had brought around this time. Tesra was sitting to the left of him by the wall, Ulquiorra across from the blonde, and a platinum-haired man with a funny looking hat he knew as D-Roy sat next to the raven.

"Drinks? Ice water?"

"Nah, just ice water," Nnoitra answered for the other three, then leaned forward on his elbow. "Dude, who's the orange kid? Newbie?"

"Huh?" He followed Nnoitra's gaze to Ichigo even though he knew full well what the man was talking about before he did so. "Oh… Yeah, came in today."

"Damn, he's cute, no?"

Ichigo was smiling at two female customers (taking their orders) who were practically gawking over him; it even looked like they had their phones out to snag his number. Grimmjow shrugged.


I.K. – 9/5 Fri. – 11:12 am

"Ichi, ya ready?"

Someone rapped against his door, and Ichigo glanced up from The Miracle Worker. He was so close to finishing. College life was pretty busy already, what with classes, homework, and work at Dangai.

"Yeah, I'll be out in just a moment."

"'Kay." Ichigo heard Takeshi leave, and then pushed his book into his bag before leaving his room as well.

When he opened the door to the staircase (which was extremely heavy, just for the record), his eyes met blue – Grimmjow, was it? The guy who was in his Chemistry class and worked in Dangai with him. He had his hands in his jeans pockets and was looking up at Ichigo with only his eyes. They stared for a moment before Ichigo backed up to let him through, for the staircase was only wide enough to let one person through at a time. The guy passed by him without a word and Ichigo was off to the first floor common room, where Takeshi and Mugetsu were waiting for him.

"Ready?"

"Yep."

This time, Ichigo and Takeshi both rode on the back, since it wasn't too hot out today, more like cloudy and breezy. Mugetsu opened the divider and cranked up the radio so the two outside could hear as well before setting off on the three-hour drive home.

Their house wasn't much. Really. It was just a rented place in an apartment complex with barely enough room for two bedrooms, a bathroom, Mugetsu's office, and the foyer (which really just consisted of the kitchenette and some room for a TV and a couch).

"Ah-ha, home sweet home," Takeshi announced when they finally arrived, plopping down his bag onto the couch and following not long afterwards.

Ichigo was pretty sure Takeshi had rejected many invitations to hangouts or parties for the sake of being home this weekend. The albino probably had a lot of things he could be doing that was much better better than veg'ing out here. But… no matter how cheesy it sounded, that was the thing Ichigo loved about Takeshi – that he valued being home with him and Mugetsu more than he did his reputation or social life. That went for Mugetsu, as well, since he took off from his work to see them both.

They went out for ramen, having eaten granola bars and smoothies on the pickup as their lunch, and then watched television until late into the night. They quarreled about Mugetsu's girlfriend (and potential fiancée), then about Takeshi's male crush, then finally about Ichigo's non-existent partner and how they would murder whomever he fell for, whether male or female. It was a joke, of course, just a matter to laugh about, but he sometimes felt as if the older two actually did mean what they were saying. Ichigo was pretty sure he'd fallen asleep on the couch next to Mugetsu, Takeshi sprawled out on the floor before them, but when he woke up the next morning, he was in his own bed, his albino brother snoozing beside him.


G.J. – 9/6 – Sat. – 1:18 pm

"Two lattes for us and a caramel macchiato for him, please!" Nel ordered cheerily, gaining a smile from the waiter as he walked away.

Grimmjow rolled his eyes. He had told Nel he could handle some actual coffee for once; honestly, he wasn't even a kid. But of course, she would go ahead and order his favorite drink from junior high. Oh well, he would go along with it for today.

Elbows on the table and chin on her palms, Nel grinned happily at her brother who sat in front of her, and her boyfriend who sat to the right of her. She had practically begged Grimmjow to come with her and meet her lover, hanging on his every word before he said yes. Seeing those eyes, there was no way he could have rejected her… offer.

"Ah, this is so nice!" Nel smiled with both her eyes and lips as she faced the window of the little café they were in, humming a little tune from the radio on the way here. Grimmjow was leaned back in his chair, arms crossed and staring at the man beside his older sister.

Jeez. He hadn't even known she had a boyfriend. After that wimpy-looking guy named Dondochakka (?) (he didn't even know what she liked about that loser), he hadn't heard of anything regarding Nel dating anybody. But now, here he was, definitely staring, and a-little-more-than-half-glaring at this Giovanni.

III

"Grimmy, wait! I have something suuuper important to tell you!"

"Yeah, yeah, what is it?"

"Okay, so," Nel breathed heavily, catching her breath from running to him all the way from the mathematics building. "Phew. Okay. I'm gonna get married, Grimmy!"

Oh, okay, cool.

No, no, wait, WHAT?!

"Sorry? Whad'ya say?"

"I'm getting married when I graduate."

"…"

"Look, I know it's abrupt, but I've been dating him for nearly a year now… that's a record! And I just… He proposed just last week, and I guess, I really love him."

"…"

"So! I was thinking – it would be so nice if you came along to meet him this Saturday! I promise, he's a really great guy; you'll love him!"

III

So now, here he was, sitting with a man who was dating his sister but he hadn't been aware of the fact until just a few days ago. All he knew about Giovanni was that 1) he was Greek-Italian 2) Nel called him Gio-chan 3) he was twenty-five – four years older than Nel (for now, since she would turn twenty-two in a couple of months) 4) he had dark, curly hair, and was slightly taller than even Grimmjow – which, of course, did not sit well with him at all.

The guy was actually really smiley. And it did seem as if he really loved Nel. That, of course, did not mean Grimmjow approved of him. Although Nel would probably marry Giovanni anyway whether he approved of the fiancé or not.

Currently, Nel was in the bathroom, and she was taking an awful long time. Maybe she was fixing her makeup or something, but Grimmjow didn't mind how long she was taking at all. He loved glaring at the older man and probably making him feel rather uncomfortable. The guy had been trying to make small talk, but all Grimmjow had given him so far was a raise of the eyebrows without ever uncrossing his arms.

"So, uh, I heard you're a sophomore. How's school?"

All of a sudden, Grimmjow stood, approached the older man, and grabbed his collar, lifting him slightly from the chair. Well, not exactly lifting, really. Giovanni just straightened his back so he wouldn't choke from Grimmjow's aggressive move.

"Look, Gio-chan," he said huskily, growling at the other's face. They were getting a few curious glances by now, but he didn't mind. "I don't care what the hell you do for a living, where in this shitty world you're from, or when you fuckin' met Nel. But, one thing. Make her cry, hurt her, and I fuckin' murder you."

He then let go, and shoved his hands back in his jeans pockets. Fishing out his phone from the right one, he quickly texted Nel, "sry. leaving early cuz work. later."

Glancing up at the clear blue sky, he exhaled deeply. He didn't really have work today; it was a Saturday, after all, and he only worked Mondays through Fridays. Sometimes, he worked Sundays when he needed to make up for missed shifts. He was pretty sure Nel knew it too. However, he really didn't feel like staying anymore. It was no use staying and ruining a date for the other two. So he took the opportunity to get a little exercise as he walked back to the dormitory, and then decided to stay there for the rest of the night, lying back on his bed and reading for his literature class. He turned down all the party/hangout invitations he received via text message, and when his eyes would no longer open for the book, he left it open on the floor and shut his eyes, not even bothering to turn off the light and only hoping he would remember the page number when he woke up, just in case the book closed during the night.

He dreamed of sharp orange mountains and trees that grew strawberries.

III

The next day, Grimmjow stayed mostly in his room, reading The Miracle Worker and munching on uncooked Pop Tarts. His roommate seemed to have left for the weekend – not that he really cared, of course. He took a nap at noon, went back to reading, and then got up for a stretch after who-knows-how-long. He had finished the book.

A sudden scratching against the door made him jump. He turned his head toward it, and it opened.


I.K. – 9/7 Sun. – 4:36 pm

There was a boy in his room.

No, this should actually be completely natural since that was what was supposed to happen since the first day he arrived here. But he had gone a whole week without a roommate, and now it was strange to see someone he knew in his room. Someone he knew, but not as his roommate.

"Um."

Ichigo stumbled as he looked for the right thing to say. His eyes were wide and he was still standing in the doorway, probably looking absolutely moronic.

"Why're you here?" were the only words that made it out.

The blue-haired guy he knew as Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez from both his chemistry class and his workplace cocked his head, finally recovering from his own state of shock. "This is my room."

"… This is my room."

"You're my roommate?"

"I'm your roommate?"

He stared, taking in the striking blue locks of hair that he saw not very long ago at all – in fact, he had seen them just last Friday at Dangai. Grimmjow never really even spoke to him, much less look at him, and it was only natural that he supposed the guy just didn't like him. But… roommates? Really? They had been miraculously avoiding each other for the entire first week? Yeah.

"You're never in the room," Ichigo muttered, the door finally closing and he leaning back on it.

"Where've you been all weekend?"

"I never see you in the room."

"… Except at nights. And mornings."

"Too dark at night. And did you know you sleep with your head completely hidden under your blanket?"

"Well, you sleep too goddamn early, and wake up too goddamn early."

"Maybe that's why you're always late to chemistry."

"FYI, I always come in before the bell. Shihōin's just freaking strict."

"You should just come earlier."

"Where were you anyway?"

"None of your business."

Finally, Ichigo pushed off from the door and walked over to his desk, putting his stuff down, and then sprawling out on his bed. He glimpsed Grimmjow's expression before he turned around on the bed to face the wall; it was a frown at first, but then turned into a wide, toothy grin – almost maniacal, even. As Ichigo wedged his left hand between the mattress and his ear, he couldn't help but grin as well, even if he knew the other couldn't see. Or perhaps he only did it because Grimmjow couldn't see. Either way, he was tired for some reason, and when Grimmjow asked if he was going to sleep through the entire night like that, he just said no with a soft laugh. He told him it was only a light nap, and Grimmjow said he would wake him up for dinner.

Ichigo positively beamed.


A special thanks to William Gibson for his book, The Miracle Worker, and to Rainbow Rowell for a very slightly altered version of a sentence in her book, Fangirl.

This was a TERRIBLE chapter, I know. But I promise it'll get better! It's just… God, I needed to get a few random thingamajiggies out of the way before some real… stuff happened. Heh. In return, I'll make a quicker update.

But hope you enjoyed, all the same J

Thank you for all the reviews on the first chapter! They weren't too many, but it really boosted my mood.

[ Jou ]