Hey folks, thanks for all the well wishes, think they worked cause appart from still being tired, i'm feeling pretty good today!

A bit anxious about hos this next part is going to go down, i hope you all love it and let me know as usual. It is heading somewhere i promise.

Something to ask you all though - do we like the Nnoitra/shinji pairing or should they break up and Nnoitra get someone else? I can't decide and it would be a bit more realistic if a high school relationship fizzled durng college, but they are pretty hot together.

Cheers Peeps

XXX

Chapter 16

Struck off, eight years in jail and a life time on the sex offenders register still wasn't enough in Grimmjow's eyes. Ichigo was strong and getting over it but he still had moments where he'd flinch away from a man if he stood too close and nights where Grimmjow would be woken by the man in his arms twitching violently, cheeks damp from tears that Ichigo had no memory of the next day but still cut Grimmjow deeply inside. The fact that it had happened when he was dating Ichigo and he'd been able to hide it said he'd not been paying enough attention to his lover.

The criminal injuries compensation had come in very handy and was allowing Ichigo to apply to colleges and still take care of his sisters. Starrk had been great for the small family, taking some of the pressure off the young man when it came to being a parent and let the boy have a childhood and a relationship with Grimmjow.

Grimmjow was waiting for his results to come through to let him know if he'd made the grade and got into his college course but Ichigo had applied for a dance course and he had to interview as well as get his school grades, and when he said interview, it meant a dance interview, both in a group doing improvisation and a solo piece of his own composition. He was good at choreographing but as his only dance experience had been on a pole he was at a disadvantage to the others he'd be competing against.

His breakthrough had been when a friend of Sophia had been desperate for a dancer for a music video and had been at the house for a ladies evening with four other women and Nel had calmly suggested her brother's boyfriend, saying he was an amazing dancer. The woman had pounced on the girl, demanding to know what disciplines he was trained in and what experience he had, and what his availability was like. The girl had then thrown her hands up and played dumb, just saying he used to dance but didn't know any details. Valerie, the dance choreographer had insisted on meeting the boy and Nel had legged it up the stairs and barged in on Grimmjow pressing Ichigo to the bed, one of his strong legs pushed up, in between Ichigo's.

"Ichigo, one of Sophia's friends would like a word with you." Nel was hanging off the door frame, her chest heaving slightly from her run.

The boys had stopped moving as soon as she'd opened the door but had yet to move from their provocative position. Grimmjow was reluctant to release his lover but Ichigo's interest was piqued. "Why?"

"She needs a dancer tomorrow, I happen to hear and say you knew how to dance."

"Eh, Nel my kind of dancing is probably not what she's looking for." The idea that one of the prim ladies from Sophia's group of friends needing a pole dancer was laughable.

"Hey you never know, you might make it interesting."

So Ichigo had gone down the stairs and sat with the woman as she explained what she needed from him. The boy seemed to think he could help her out, if given time to learn the routine and she said as long as he could put in a couple of days hard work he'd manage. It helped that he was gorgeous and Ichigo knew she was attracted to him, age gap not withstanding but he'd learned it was just something he had to deal with, and that came in handy at times.

The next two days Ichigo was driven to the studio in town by Starrk on the way to the station and he worked with Valerie and one other male dancer until he got the moves down. They weren't particularly fantastic or even innovative moves but that probably wasn't a bad thing for his experience level. There was one part in it though that didn't mesh well in him and he was frowning on the second day as the group moved to the music, preparing for the singers of the group to be coming in to film later that day and trying to get the routine down in just the morning.

"Ichigo, what's the problem with the face?" Valerie called out from the back of the room, the woman nearly reaching the end of her temper with uncoordinated dancers. The boy frowned deeper, not knowing what she meant. "The frown kid, what is up with the frown?"

"Oh sorry." Ichigo dropped the frown and held a neutral face for as long as he could. "No, I'm sorry but the bridge part, it isn't sitting well with me."

"Have you forgotten the routine already?" One of the camera crew who were setting up for the shoot chuckled at his expense.

"No, it just feels out of place. Hang on, just look." He moved through the eighteen beats he was unhappy with, sliding his feet along the floor as he jumped through the paces. His arms painted the shapes in the air and his head moved to the correct spots but the frown was still in place. "It just feels wrong. How about this?"

It was only a small change, a different direction for the first part of the move but his body flowed through and into the next set of beats with less jerking. Valerie frowned as she ran through the moves in her head, asking Ichigo to repeat what he'd done a couple of times, a few of the other dancers joining in as they picked up the step change. It was agreed that his way was marginally better and it led to less confusion into the next beat so they practiced it until the three singers appeared for their mike test.

The dancers were whisked away to be dressed and get make up applied in a hurry, Ichigo getting put in a skin tight black tank top and loose black trousers that were tight against his firm abdomen but flowed loosely on his legs with the amount of fabric they contained. His exposed skin was oiled up till he glowed and his eyes were heavily lined. They scruffed his hair up and he was ready to go. The other dancers were watching him as he moved through the routine in his costume, Ichigo just making sure the billowing trousers didn't impede his movements but he felt their stares.

"Hey kid, where did you learn to dance?" One of the male dancers came to his side and was sliding through the new bridge part with him. He was taller than Ichigo and his dark skin glowed almost blue with the oil on it. His eyes were so dark brown they were almost black.

"In a club. Been dancing for a couple of years now."

"Done anything cool?"

"Nope, this is my first actual job with it. And I'm just a stand in." Ichigo twisted on one foot at the end, his other leg bent up and held close to his body until the end where he pushed it back to stop his motion.

"Ballet then yeah?"

Ichigo looked at the man incredulously. "Do I look like a ballet dancer? Nah, nothing actually formal, I can just move to music."

"You mean you're not like a professional dancer?" The man looked genuinely shocked.

"No, why is everyone else here trained?"

"Everyone else here has been handpicked either from their final years or after graduation due to their experience; how the hell did you get this gig?"

"Eh, Valerie knows my boyfriend's mum."

"Knew you were a bit young but hell, are you still in high school?"

Ichigo nodded, walking with the man over to the bags and pulling out his water bottle, taking a couple of long pulls to rehydrate. "Yeah I graduate at the end of this year."

"Typical, some wonder kid with no training ends up choreographing us; remember me when you get famous alright? My Name is Zommari, call me Zom. If you're looking for a dancer for a project give me a call ok?"

When Grimmjow had asked Ichigo what he wanted to do before then the boy hadn't been able to answer, the only thing he enjoyed was dancing. Afterwards they looked into the courses at the local schools and he'd applied for modern dance and dance choreography, two things he wanted to do. He had taken some basic courses in dance, one in ballet, during the school session to get him into the habit of learning routines and technical moves and he'd ended up in an end of course dance show with Grimmjow, Nnoitra and Shinji coming to watch and cheer him on as he danced with the much younger students.

His audition was in two weeks and he'd been working hard, Valerie helping him at times to repay the favour and they had come up with a solo routine for him to perform and she woman had assured him he had enough natural rhythm and a good personality that he'd be able to work in the group just fine.

iiiii

Two manila envelopes lay on the counter top, both boys staring at them as they sipped on cups of tea. Grimmjow had headed over to Ichigo's as soon as the post had arrived and was in time to see the post man approach his boyfriend's door, waiting on the other side to pick the mail off the ground inside the main door and take it up to him. Their futures lay inside those envelopes, where they could go for college and what result their hard work gave them from hours of studying.

Ichigo stood straighter, lifting both envelopes and weighing them in his hands. "I think yours is heavier."

Grimmjow frowned, taking the envelopes one at a time and shaking his head at his boyfriend's nonsense. Placing his mug on the surface he took the envelope with Ichigo's name on it and held it up, flap facing him. "You do mine, I'll do yours?"

Ichigo held up Grimmjow's and they watched each other tease the paper open, eyes locked over the hands as the flaps were lifted. They put on hand inside and lifted the paper and card back out, breaking the eye contact to see the results. The top of the page was their details followed by their junior qualifications they had got the previous year and they inched the certificates out bit by bit.

"Maths, B." Ichigo smirked over at his lover, knowing he'd be glad of the high mark.

"A, English B."

"B, Geography B.

"Computing Science B, Woodwork A."

"A, Chemistry A."

"Physics A." They exchanged grins before the envelopes were abandoned onto the surface Ichigo leaping into his lovers arms, wrapping his long legs around his waist as Grimmjow leaned back and rested his ass on the counter behind him as he allowed Ichigo's tongue entrance to his mouth and the smaller man mapped out the cavity thoroughly. Both had got ample qualifications for their first choice colleges and they celebrated the only way they knew how. Karin was less than impressed when she walked in to the pair exchanging saliva first thing in the morning.

"Oh for god's sake it's breakfast time. Put him down!" She stood with her hands on her hips, a frown to match her brother's usual one across her face. Ichigo broke away and lowered his legs, Grimmjow supporting his weight for a moment before he touched down onto the floor.

"Aw come on Karin, don't be mad, just because you don't have a boyfriend there is no need to shout at us." Typical big brother trying to wind up his sister and the girl wasn't impressed, the black haired girl fuming and stamping her foot at the jibe. "Besides I had something to celebrate, my results came through, and it turns out I have a very smart boyfriend as well." Ichigo roped his arms around Grimmjow's neck, leaning his head in the hollow of his boyfriend's shoulder. Grimmjow hung his arms gently behind Ichigo, holding him close as they watched the girl back away slowly.

"You sound so surprised on that last statement."

"Nah, I always knew you were smart, you chose to date me after all."

"Ha, and all those attempts to push me away, does that just show how dumb you are?"

"Yeah, if I was smart I would have listened to my instincts and not stopped running." Ichigo grinned as he looked up the few inches into his lover's eyes, his small smile softening his jibes. "So college then, which one you going for?"

"Sports journalism and editing. You?"

"Let's see how the auditions go before I get my heart set on a particular course. Choreography would be cool, I was looking at jobs out just now and there is a musical looking for a junior choreographer right now. Working in the theatre or on music videos would be so cool but I doubt I'll get that far. I was thinking of maybe teaching? You know they those that can't do, teach."

"That's a misquote. It was those who can, do; those who understand, teach."

"Yeah but who said it, George Bernard Shaw said the first one, Aristotle wouldn't have exactly read his stuff."

"Listen to us getting all philosophical in the morning. Must be all those brains of ours hard at work. Shall we feed them?"

"I was thinking of ways of destroying a few brain cells actually, fancy heading out tonight? I was in the mood for a dance. Shinji is game if we are." Ichigo pressed himself into his boyfriend, knowing Grimmjow had little resistance when it came to watching his lover dance.

"Yeah sounds good. Heading to Revolution?" Grimmjow looked down at his lover, caressing the firm backside with both of his hands. He ground their groins together as he thought about the night to come; both of them had returned super horny after nights in the local club.

They spent the day together, having breakfast before heading back to Grimmjow's house to tell his family about his results and Sophia popped a bottle of champagne for them at lunch time, both boys sipping the liquid with little enjoyment but revelling in the celebration of their successes. Starrk took them back to Ichigo's to get ready for their night out and picked the twins up for their sleep over.

Ichigo was dressed in a pair of pale grey skinny jeans with a black vest tucked in and a short sleeved white shirt open over the top. He placed his favourite pin striped fedora on top and reapplied the liner around his eyes, making it heavier for the evening as Grimmjow messed up his hair, working the top until it flopped the way he wanted it to. Grimmjow had gone with a loose pair of blue denims held to his trim waist with a fabric belt and a simple tight white t-shirt on top with a wide neckline that showed off his collar bones. A thin silver chain ran around his neck with a gothic cross at the bottom, a gift from Ichigo that went with the cross dangling from Ichigo's ear tunnel, a thin chin travelling through the silver tunnel and dropping the pendant along his neck. The cross was only about an inch long and it was light enough that it didn't hurt when it caught on his hair. Grimmjow's cross was a bit bigger and it fell just at the top of his sternum.

They met their friends at the bar, like they'd arranged and chatted lightly to each other, Ichigo and Shinji comparing computer science grades and Ichigo smiling as he found he'd been out done. Shinji's shining A wasn't a surprise and made Ichigo get in a round of tequila shots as a reward. Unfortunately it turned out that Shinji didn't like tequila and the blond gagged for a moment after swallowing, turning a pale shade of green as he pressed his hand to his mouth. Ichigo was still sucking on his slice of lime as he sniggered at his friend's problem and he allowed Grimmjow to pull him against the strong chest behind him, Grimmjow leaning his chin down as he grinned as well. Nnoitra was doing his best to keep his composure, knowing his temperamental little boyfriend wouldn't appreciate him laughing as well.

The club was fairly empty till later in the night and the boys had no problem getting a table to sit at with their beers and the music was fairly low key as well. The club was an old theatre with an upper balcony of seats and a surround of tables down stairs with an open dance floor in front of them and of course the stage at the back. The bar was along the wall behind the tables and the Dj had a raised booth just to the side of the centre in the table area, the man in black sorting through his lap top to make a good playlist. Ichigo was a regular here since he'd turned eighteen and enjoyed moving to the music, trying out new moves and just enjoying himself with friends and his boyfriend. Ichigo and Shinji had gone a couple of times by themselves but after Ichigo getting strongly propositioned and nearly ripping the guy's head off, Grimmjow preferred to accompany him, if only to show the world they were together. As Ichigo pointed out on a regular basis, he was no princess in need of a knight.

He seemed to have no problem with Grimmjow having his arm across his lower back, his fingers inside the man's boxers, just teasing at the sensitive skin there and making goose bumps appear over the rest of the body.

Ichigo broke off his sentence as a track started, the slow intro line quickly dropping into a beat. He smiled and moved to the music, eyes half closed as he shifted his shoulders. Grimmjow grinned down at him knowing his lover had been kidnapped by the music. The song was one he'd been working on to get his solo routine sorted. Grimmjow wrapped his arm around Ichigo's waist better and started to stand out of the booth, pulling the boy with him. Ichigo looked up at him in shock and smiled as Grimmjow jerked his head towards the dance floor.

Ichigo pause stepped as they approached the half full dance floor, Nnoitra and Shinji standing at the table to watch the orange haired boy dance and keep their seats. Ichigo turned on his heel as soon as his feet hit the slightly slippery floor. He twisted right round, taking a side step out and sliding over, Grimmjow catching his hand and pulling the boy back to him. Ichigo kept swaying his hips to the music as Grimmjow pulled him closer, sinking down at times as he let the music take him over. The boy twisted out of his grip, turning twice and ending several feet away, the dancers unconsciously giving him the space he needed. He tilted his hat down over his eyes, Michael Jackson style and he moved over the floor. He leapt into the air and landed on his knees, flipping up onto his feet with his back still in a crouch before twisting round, backing up in the same motion as he stood right in front of his boyfriend, swaying side to side with the man, Grimmjow placing his hands on Ichigo's waist as he nuzzled at the soft skin under his jaw. Ichigo was smiling, his face still half hidden under his hat and he took Grimmjow's hand, spinning out but keeping a hold of it as he just moved his feet back and forth to the music, Grimmjow pulling him closer again with a feral grin on his face. They ended up pressed against each other, Ichigo's arms around Grimmjow's neck and Grimmjow pulling him hard against him by the lower back. The club had no issues with homosexuality and there was nothing thought of as Grimmjow started to ravish his lover's mouth, Ichigo breaking it off before it could get too serious. He just smirked up at his taller lover, jerking his head back to their table, one of his arms staying around Grimmjow as they started to walk, Grimmjow leading him by his own arm.

When they were nearly there Ichigo stopped suddenly, Grimmjow turning with a frown. A strange man had his hand on Ichigo's other arm, and was looking hopeful, but not aggressive. That didn't make Grimmjow any happier that another man had hands on his boyfriend.

"Can I help you?" Ichigo didn't sound any happier with the situation.

"Are you a dancer?"

Ichigo sneered at the man, pulling his arm free and shrugging his shirt back into place. The man caught him again, standing in front of him this time. "I'm sorry; I don't shake my ass for money. Excuse me."

The man was taller than Ichigo but on about eye level with Grimmjow, dark hair slicked back but some had fallen out of the style. "No, I'm serious. I scout in clubs but I am legit. Here, take my card, google me. If you don't like what you see, don't call me. If you do then we can talk. I'll look forward to hearing from you. Can I ask your name?"

"Not interested." Grimmjow pulled his boyfriend away, heading back to their friends, Nnoitra still standing with a frown on his face like he'd been anticipating his assistance being required.

Ichigo took his seat, flicking the card back and forth between his fingers as he thought about things. Xcution was a strange name for a company but it would give fewer results on the internet search anyway. Ichigo slid the cardboard into his back pocket, taking a swig of his beer to bring himself back to his friends, catching the end of Shinji's rant over the lack of proper beverages at the club, the two taller men rolling their eyes at the picky man.

Grimmjow noticed his lover's quietness and put his arm around the boy, pulling him closer. "You alright Ichi?"

"Yeah, I'm great. You?"

"Yeah, can't wait to get you home though." Grimmjow pulled Ichigo's hips right against his own, Ichigo dropping a hand to the thick thigh pressed against his own.

"I'm ready to go as soon as you are." Ichigo slyly looked up at his lover, knowing they'd be leaving very soon and taking a large swig out of his bottle before he was yanked out of his seat.

I'm sleepy. xxxx