I.K. – 9/24 Wed. – 5:21 pm

"All right, one last check up. Spaghetti alle vongole, ragù bolognes, and a Quattro formaggi, correct?" Ichigo listed off the orders he wrote down on his memo sheet and clicked his pen when he finished. Glancing around at the group of females that had entered the restaurant, he searched for their approval. When it was given to him, he nodded and smiled. "May I get you ladies anything to drink?"

"Oh!" The one with sea green hair – Nelliel – and the blond one – Rangiku – handed him all the menus. "Just ice water for all of us, please. I do think it's a little too early to start drinking!"

"What are you talking about? Drinking from broad daylight is the perfect way to spend a day!" Rangiku exclaimed with wide eyes. She received a hearty laugh from her friends and Ichigo, but he did hope she was only joking.

"Then I'll be back with five glasses for you all," Ichigo said with another smile. He grabbed the menus and turned around toward the kitchen.

God, this job was tiring. Not even the physical labor – he could handle that. It was all the smiling, being nice, et cetera, that was bothering him. It wore him out. But it was all right. The job paid well, and he enjoyed being with the other employees as well as seeing the satisfactory grins on the customers' faces.

Carrying five glasses of ice water to the two joined tables, Ichigo was careful not to spill a single drop. He had already broken a plate, three cups, and a wine glass; he didn't want to cause any more unnecessary trouble. However, that was not to be so, for as he neared the table that he had his eyes on, someone bumped into him with a small "oops, sorry" and caused him to lose balance. He looked up, catching a very brief glimpse of a tall, lanky man, but his attention almost immediately returned to the (failed) task at hand. As everything came sliding down the tray, he could only think of one word: shit.

"Oh, my God," a strawberry blond girl from the large table came rushing to his aid. Ichigo was holding the tray against his chest for dear life, three cups spilling all of their contents onto his clothes and the others just creating a giant pool on the tray. The girl hurriedly picked up the fallen cups and set it on the windowsill in front of them, and Ichigo noticed some water still remained in a few of them.

He didn't feel anything at first. He had just watched in shock as everything spilled. But then, the water soaked into his clothes and reached his skin, and the numbing coldness just kept spreading from there – all over his chest, stomach, and down his legs. He kept up an apologetic smile for the worried customers. Well, at least none of the glass had shattered.

"I'm so sorry about that! I'll bring you another set in just a moment… Sorry."

"Hey." As he made his way to the back, he glanced to see Isane smiling down at him. "I'll cover the water for you. Go dry up a little, okay? And nine glasses, right?"

Ichigo managed a smile of thanks and nodded, then found an extra towel to wipe himself down a bit. His shirt and pants were still drenched and freezing, but he would have to manage. He didn't have a change of clothes in the restaurant. He took off the apron, though, since it was wetter than anything else, and replaced the memo sheets he used to take orders. The next time he went out onto the floor was to deliver the pizza and pasta for the women who had ordered them.

III

"Jesus Christ… Thank God it was just water," Ichigo muttered to himself as he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it onto his bed. The water had dried up in the course of an hour and not much other damage had been done to his clothes. He slipped his thumbs into the hem of his jeans, but glanced up before pulling it down. Grimmjow was watching him from the other side.

"Aren't you… Turn around a bit, will you?" he said with a small twirl of his index.

"Hah? No." The guy remained stubborn and wouldn't budge. "Why? You secretly grew a pussy or something?"

… That crass way of speaking. It never ceased to astonish Ichigo.

Rolling his eyes, Ichigo sighed and stripped down to his boxers, then picked up his sweatpants before reconsidering. "I'm… gonna take a shower." And he left the room with his towel and toiletries.

After they had met for the first time (as roommates) on Sunday, not much had changed. Sure, they walked home together after work and said hello when they saw each other in the room, but nothing outside of it. They didn't have meals together. They didn't hang out during their free time. They barely even spoke to each other at work.

All this didn't really bother Ichigo. Much. He enjoyed their little chats and walks; that was for sure. But that didn't mean he craved for more.

Did it?

Ichigo tossed the thought into a small corner of his mind and squeezed his eyes shut as he faced the showerhead above him. Lukewarm water sprayed his face and streamed down his entire body, and he turned the temperature up until he unintentionally flinched from the stinging heat.

When he finally pulled away, he was gasping for cool air. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath all this time. Growing extremely hot, he turned the temperature down a little before hurrying through the shampoo, body wash, and brushing his teeth, rinsing himself off before turning the water off completely. Steam rose from his stall when he pulled the curtain open and cool air greeted him. He inhaled deeply and exhaled through his half-open mouth, then grabbed his towel to wipe away a bit of the water and tied it around his waist. He went back to his room like that.

"You're studying?" he asked Grimmjow when he saw the man sitting before a desk that wasn't Ichigo's. It was a rare sight – Grimmjow studying. The guy went out to a lot of parties and things, and honestly, Ichigo had no idea when he ever found the time to finish some homework. Maybe he did it all in passing periods between classes.

"Nah, man, just got sick of sitting in my bed all the time."

A grin broke out on Ichigo's face and he gave something like a semi-laugh. "That's stupid."

"D'you break anything today?" Grimmjow turned around to face him, and Ichigo noticed there really wasn't anything school-related on the desk.

"No. Just spilled." He then said playfully, "Thank you for worrying, though."

Grimmjow was staring at the ground, and he only shrugged when Ichigo thanked him. Ichigo furrowed his eyebrows and nodded slowly, biting his lip. God, he should really stop doing that. It had already bled once that week.

The conversation seemed to be over. Once Grimmjow was out of the room for a shower, Ichigo changed into a clean pair of boxers and a shirt much to big for him, then sank into his own chair to finish up his assignments.


G.J. – 9/24 Wed. – 6:58 pm

It was Nnoitra who tripped him. Ichigo, that is.

He had seen it happen. Nnoitra bumped into Ichigo's arm on purpose and made him spill everything. The guy even had a grin on his face when he did it.

It had made Grimmjow fume inside. To see someone take pleasure in humiliating somebody like that.

He never actually meant to refuse when Ichigo told him to turn around so he could take off his clothes in privacy. It just… came out like that. And when Ichigo stripped right in front of him, he nearly lost his cool. He had to whip around and pretend to mess with the little fan he owned, or else Ichigo would have noticed his hard-on. He could relax only after the orangette left the room.

"Holy shit," he muttered under his breath as he stared down at his own erection. What the hell? What was wrong with him? He hadn't just gotten hard because he'd seen a half-naked man, had he? Was that even possible?

He tried to will it down; he really did. But he just ended up solving the problem on his own with his hand.

Wiping himself with Kleenex tissues, Grimmjow sat back down on his chair. Was he… gay? No. No way. He wasn't. He was as straight as any man could be. He had dated a countless number of girls and had fucked even more. But never a guy. He'd never felt any sort of attraction at all toward the male species; why should this one be any different?

It must have been some sort of rushing-hormones-thing where he got a very random boner that happened to strike just when Ichigo took off his clothes. He'd seen Ichigo before, right? Him taking off his clothes. He'd seen it quite a few times now, so it had to do something with, like, his hormones.

"You're studying?"

The familiar voice startled him, and he wondered what Ichigo would think if he ever found out about Grimmjow's masturbation. Well, it wasn't even because of Ichigo, so it would be okay… right?

Caught off-guard, he said something absolutely moronic. Seriously? Sick of the bed? What the hell? But Ichigo laughed. Chuckled. Giggled. Whatever. He smiled for him.

Grimmjow turned around in his chair, his heart skipping a beat. Holy fuck. Ichigo was naked.

Well, not completely naked, but still, naked enough. The guy only had a just-a-little-longer-than-knee-length towel around his waist, and some parts of his upper body were still moist from the shower. And of course, his hair was still wet. Almost dripping, even. He noticed that Ichigo never really dried his hair well. It was falling all over his eyes, and the normally upright spikes were brought down with warm water.

He had to escape. Fast.

When silence fell onto the room again, Grimmjow headed out to the bathroom, taking a towel, toiletries, and his sleepwear.

There was another freshman in there, but it seemed he was finished for he was all dressed and drying his hair. Grimmjow paid no mind as he stripped and stepped into a stall.

Hot water cascaded down his backside, and he moved around a little so that he could get his entire body wet.

He wasn't gay. That was for sure. So what just happened?

Since when had he become this way?

He recalled the first time he ever saw the orangette – in chemistry. The man's eccentric hair pigment had caught his attention. Then, it was at that party. He had pretended not to know the guy. And then at Dangai…

The way Nnoitra treated Ichigo – first leering over him because he was cute, then pushing him like that just for the heck of it – made his blood boil.

. . .

He… he hadn't been mad only because somebody thought it was fun to embarrass someone else.

He had been mad because someone was able to get so close to Ichigo. Sure, he slept in the same room as the orangette, not to mention they also worked together, but…!

"… Shit…"


I.K. – 9/20 Sat. – 1:01 pm

"Dude, I swear, I think that girl really likes you," said Renji, a cup of frozen yogurt in hand, strolling down the street, chewing on a pink plastic spoon.

"What? No." Ichigo walked alongside him, licking his own yogurt off a green spoon.

They had just had lunch and swung by Menchie's since Ichigo hadn't gone home this weekend. Before entering Crazy Shirts, they finished up their treats and threw the cups away.

"It's so freaking obvious. You said she was also the one that helped you out at work, right? When you spilled all that water."

"That was only common courtesy," Ichigo disagreed, recalling the incident at Dangai.

"Seriously, Ichigo? No one helps a waiter."

"That is so not true."

"Well, anywho, she was literally gawping at you. Like, nonstop."

At Renji's words, Ichigo stopped shuffling through shirts and gave him a look, as if to say, Really?

"You kidding me? What move?"

"C'mon. The girl likes you. Flirt with her a little, then ask her out! Who knows what could happen after that?"

"Hell. No." He went back to looking at T-shirts while Renji babbled on beside him.

"Why the hell not? I mean, what's her name again?"

"Inoue."

"First or last name?"

"Last."

"Exactly."

"What?"

"Start calling her by her first name. It'll drive the girl right to the top, yeah?"

"Yeah-no. You don't even know for sure whether she likes me or not. You can't just assume that and expect me to pretend to like her solely based on that ludicrous assumption."

Renji rolled his eyes. "It's not a ludicrous assumption," he said with air-quotes around the last two words. "It's a theory that will soon develop into a theorem when you make a move!"

Ichigo just raised an eyebrow, then went back to rifling through shirts. He wasn't really shopping, per se, but he needed something to do while listening to Renji's bantering.

"Like, look at the way she was acting back at Menchie's. All like," – here, he began speaking in a sudden high-pitched voice that was supposed to represent Inoue's voice – "Kurosaki-kun! Oh, how wonderful to see you here! Please, take anything you want! I'll make it free of charges, just for you, my love! No, why don't you take me home with you, while you're at it!"

"She did not say that."

"I mean, I didn't even know she worked there…" Rolling his eyes again, Renji sighed. "Whatever. Just saying."

Ichigo scoffed, and went back to the various assortments of shirts. "Mm… Renji, you know, I might start working here. Or somewhere else."

"Huh? Don't you work at that restaurant already?"

"I do, but I want to earn some more."

"Eh? 'Cause of Mugetsu-san?"

"Yeah… I think he's getting married. He wants to. He has a girlfriend and everything and it's already been two years since they started dating. Take-nii's working a lot too. Sort of wanna take the burden off of Getsu-nii's shoulders, even just a little bit, you know?"

"Mm," Renji hummed, watching Ichigo's face. The guy's eyes were downcast, and his voice had become lower. "Does Mugetsu-san know all this?"

"… No. I feel like he'll tell us to stop working at once if he ever finds out. He's just that kind of guy."

"Exactly. That's what I thought. But y'know, if he doesn't want you guys to be doing all this, maybe you should lay off a bit, don't you think?"

"No, no, don't you get it?" He raised his head, eyes looking up at the taller redhead. "We've been laying off all these years while Getsu-nii worked his ass off to get us a good education and everything. And he's the one that wanted to go to college. More than Take-nii, and even me. He really wanted to go to college and everything, but he couldn't. Because of us."

Damn, he had gone into a freaking life story in the spur of the moment. Ichigo groaned inwardly, but he was glad it was Renji, not anyone else. He could trust Renji, and he knew the guy already knew all of this anyway.

"Hey, but you don't really have to blame yourselves for that. I mean, it was your parents, wasn't it? Originally. And you all got scholarships for the school… so…"

Ichigo shrugged. A sign he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Renji sighed.

"Well, Dangai pays well, right? Besides, Mugetsu-san wanted you to have a real good college life. That's why he gave up his own education to work for you, am I right? So… wouldn't that be a waste? Personally, I think you should just stick to what you have now and just rely on Mugetsu-san for a little longer. Appreciate what he's done for you, even if it's only for a few more years or so."

"But I do appreciate—"

"C'mon, Ichigo."

"…"

Perhaps, Renji was right. Ichigo couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of expression Mugetsu would wear if he ever found out about the brothers' extra work. It would probably be the I-couldn't-even-provide-well-enough-for-my-own-little-brothers sad face. He didn't think he would be able to bear with that.

"Yeah. Okay."

Renji grinned widely. "Good."

III

They ended up buying a T-shirt each (Renji got a white one that said Red Pineapple, and Ichigo got a navy one with a yellow 15 on the sleeve – nothing much; they had picked the least flashiest shirts they could find), and then went back to campus to play pool for a bit. Ichigo won the round, but then Renji won most games of Ping-Pong they played, and they eventually decided to equally share the price of two sodas and a bag of chips.

"You sure, man? It's gonna be awesome." Renji was trying to convince Ichigo to come to this party he was going to while he changed in his room. Ichigo was sitting on his friend's bed noticing just how big of a pigsty the redhead lived in. It seemed his roommate – Ikkaku – wasn't too different either.

"Nah, I'm good. I'm probably just gonna go down to the court and play with the other baller kids, you know?"

"Eh… Okay, then. If you get bored, you can always come down and hang out."

After writing down the address of the place in which the party would take place, Renji left the dorm with a new friend of his, and Ichigo returned to his own room.

What to do now? He had rejected the party idea, but he didn't have anything else to do. Maybe he should really go play basketball, as he had told Renji. Grimmjow was out as well, and he… really hadn't made many friends on campus. Except those girls who acted really close to him, but he just kind of felt uncomfortable around them. Besides, they were probably out on some sort of party, anyway.

So, Ichigo changed into his shorts and jogged down to where the court was – a little far from his dormitory, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. As usual, the ballers were already playing and they greeted Ichigo gladly. This was what he liked about these ballers. He could join their play anytime and things would just go smoothly. Nothing had to get too complicated with them when they were playing basketball. Just come along and butt in; let us all unite as family through basketball!

They played until six, walked to the dining hall to eat, and then played some more. Ichigo had sweat dripping from his hairline and down his jaw by the time they split. He took a cold shower because it was much too hot to bask in warm water, and he liked the feeling of having cool streams ride down his body. It was nearly nine when he turned on his phone back in the room, and then plugged in his earphones.

His earphones were the type that had cushy things on the ends so that they fit snugly inside your ears and you couldn't really hear anything else once you turned the music up. They were white and blue and someone had once told him that it looked good in contrast to his hair, so he quite liked it. And he also liked music. He had over three hundred songs on his phone that he had collected over the years (his audio took up more space than his apps or photos did), and he was quite proud of his collection. It was sort of like the collections of books he had back home.

Back home. In his room. The room that he and Takeshi shared. In the large, wooden bookshelf beside the door; on the windowsill in front of the cushion Ichigo liked to sit on when reading; even on his desk that he was supposed to do his homework on, there were books. Books were piled everywhere. But he always did his homework on the bed, so that didn't really matter. His desk was for other things. Like maybe, putting books on, or storing food in, or throwing all his stuff at when he came back to the room, uncaring whether something actually landed on the hard wood surface or not.

Being all alone in a two-person bedroom gave Ichigo a lot more time to think than he would have liked. Like, for example, about Inoue. She was cute. He wasn't absolutely positive that she liked him, of course, but it sure seemed like she did. Not that that meant he liked her back or anything.

He had had girlfriends. As far back as he could remember, there was always at least one person that liked him. Since pre-k to high school, there had been no instance when no one at all seemed to take interest in him. In high school, there had even been a few males that approached him in hopes of finding a partner, but Ichigo had rejected. He didn't think he rolled that way. He had dated a guy in freshman year, but it turned out he was only wanted for sex, and Ichigo hadn't even known sex was possible between two men. Apparently, it was.

And they did it through the backside. If that was really the case, he didn't think he ever wanted to do it.


G.J. – 10/2 Thu. – 2:34 pm

Aw, this was bad.

He wanted Ichigo Kurosaki.

He accepted the fact by now. Every time he saw Ichigo, he wanted to slam him up against a wall and kiss him until neither of them could breathe.

Was that bad?

Whenever Ichigo blushed (which – Grimmjow noticed – he did quite often) he wanted to squeeze the man to death for being so… cute.

Was that bad?

It made his blood boil and his chest tighten when Ichigo was with that strawberry blonde. What was her name? Some princess. Well, Princess didn't have to be that close to Ichigo. Couldn't they just speak normally? Like normal people who have normal conversations at normal distances?

They seemed to get along really well. Princess came around to Dangai more often and always sat in a table Ichigo was in charge of, or managed to find Ichigo and always ordered from him. Grimmjow had even requested a rearrangement of the tables, but he couldn't exactly give a legitimate reason to explain himself, so the assigned tables remained.

Plus, who knew where else those two went to out of the restaurant?

"Jaegerjaquez! Snap out of it!"

Grimmjow was woken from his daze by a loud clap in his face.

"Ah, Ikumi-san," he acknowledged. "What do you need?"

The woman glared at him. "What do I need? You're seriously asking me that? Go get your orders and everything? What're you spacing out for!"

Hah?! How about Ichigo? He's socializing like there's no fucking tomorrow! But he didn't say that, and Ichigo was still talking to Princess. He had only gone there to give her some ice water, but it seemed they were now caught up in the middle of a full-on conversation.

"Okay, okay, sorry," Grimmjow muttered.

He was tired. He should really cut down on the number of parties he attended. Like Ichigo. How come it seemed like Ichigo never really enjoyed going to parties? Maybe the kid was a social freak. Or maybe that was just his hopes and imaginations going wild. Ichigo got along just fine with customers… so that couldn't be it. Ichigo was a social butterfly.

Or, he was, as far as Grimmjow could tell.

III

The air was already turning cooler, the leaves falling from their branches. The roads were soon covered with dead leaves that crunched noisily whenever Grimmjow walked on it. He hated fall.

He hated it because the noisy leaves were annoying. He hated it because it wasn't cold or hot; it was just stuck in the middle and he thought that was a terrible thing to be. He hated how everything was slowly dying in autumn, as if they were desperately trying to leave a mark but all they could really do was be crushed ruthlessly under sneakers and boots and irritate people's eardrums.

He hated fall.

The only person he had ever told that to was Nel. She told him that some people loved fall because the sounds leaves make are actually pleasant to the ear, and not so annoying at all. She said some people like how fall was a not-too-cold-not-too-hot-perfect-breezy-weather sort of season. She said some people thought that, in fall, everything was falling apart in order to give birth to the next generation – new colors and new lives beginning in the coming spring.

And after hearing Nel say those things, he decided they were actually okay reasons. It was really deep, considering it was Nel who said it. Other people had the right to think what they wanted to think about the season, but so did he. And he decided that even after all that, he still disliked fall.

He didn't even know why he was having this mental debate with himself.

"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow!" The door opened and Grimmjow turned his head to see Ichigo step out of the restaurant, his apron and notepad being the only things he left behind.

"That took you long enough," Grimmjow muttered and began walking out of the narrow alleyway out to the main street.

"Sorry," Ichigo said with a shrug, "but you didn't have to wait for me, you know."

The bluenette almost halted completely, but continued with his long strides. "What's the point? You're going to run and catch up anyway. Your panting is irritating as hell." Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

The lovely noise of Ichigo's laugh resounded from between straight lips. "Whatever you say." Sliding slender hands into the pockets of his white hoodie, Ichigo jogged into step with Grimmjow.

Okay. Now's the time. Ask!

"Hey… Ichigo." They walked alongside each other, yet neither seemed to want to look one another in the eye.

"Hmm?"

"Are you dating Prin… that girl? Busty one? She comes often these days."

No reply. Grimmjow glanced down to see cheeks tinted a slight pink, and his chest tightened from whatever emotion he was feeling. He chose not to show it.

"Ehhh – so you are going out with her."

"No – yeah – no, just… yeah. I mean no. No, we're not."

"Since when?"

"We're not dating."

"Wow. Got into her pants yet?"

Ichigo glanced up in horror, and then punched Grimmjow's arm. "Dude!"

It didn't hurt. Ichigo probably hadn't meant it. "S'that a yes?"

"'Course it's a no! You're not listening to me."

"How's it feel like?"

"We're not going out."

Grimmjow paused and stared at the shorter man for a long moment. Ichigo looked up at him curiously, honey-brown eyes refusing to back down from piercing azure.

"Okay," was all he said.

"… What was that look for?" Ichigo asked, confused, a playful grin dancing across his oh-so-perfect features.

"Nothin'. Stop following me."

"But this is the way to Clarken."

"Come later. After me."

"Hell no, why should I?"

"… You annoy me."

And then, Ichigo was laughing, the sound reverberating through the chilly air and strangely empty streets. Soon enough, the once-green leaves would be painted in colors as bright as Ichigo's hair – no, that was a little exaggerated… Ichigo's hair was bright. Was it natural? He would ask sometime.

When they got back, they both took a shower (in different stalls, of course, and Grimmjow almost had to jack off in silence), and Ichigo turned on some music for the both of them using Grimmjow's portable speakers. He could never admit it aloud, but Grimmjow did enjoy indie – as much as he enjoyed punk rock or dubstep.

"Ichigo."

"Mm – what?"

Grimmjow shuffled around in his bed, and then, deciding against his pillow (as always), snatched it from under his head to wedge it between his arms. Shiiit, he never acted like this before in front of… well, in front of anyone! Not even in front of his elementary crush!

"There's, like, a party on Halloween. I know it's a bit early, but it's gonna be pretty big, y'know? I was wondering… ah, well, Nel and peeps asked if you wanted to join us. Like, unless you have any other plans, of course."

Silence followed, and Grimmjow focused his eyes on a certain crease in his pillow, following the lines and dips, moving onto the ones next to it…

"Okay, sure."

"What?"

"I said sure. I mean, I don't have much else to do… unless you weren't really asking me and you just wanted to be nice… In that case, it's fine, I have plans."

"Oh… okay, cool. I'll get you details. Later." Okay, cool? Seriously? Stupid. "Um, you can invite a friend if you want."

"Cool."

"Yeah. Cool."

"… 'Night."

"Yeah."


I think Grimmjow might be slightly OOC – out-of-character – in some scenes. However, I think that's just what happens when one has a crush on someone. I mean, when you really like someone, I think a lot of people would get jealous, even if the opponent weren't exactly "yours" yet. You get nervous too, don't you? Anyway, this is just how I saw him, and I hope you like it too! =)

By the way, if you think things are moving too fast (as in, the crush-thing) please keep in mind the dates. They're slowly growing closer, and I believe that's plenty of time to develop feelings for someone, especially when they share a room and everything…

Otherwise, just, please excuse other plot issues (minor, of course… I hope *^*)!

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIMMJOW! (JULY 31ST) I love him so much and I really hope he comes back in the manga!

Thanks, you all!

[ Jou ]