To all my guest reviewers: Thanks a lot for the comments, glad you're enjoying so far!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any characters associated with it. Damian Lamb, on the other hand, is mine. I claim ownership. So are the two other OCs.
Warnings: Language, pathetic attempts at humor by yours truly, and a lack of sexual situations. Erm. Basically lots of filler material.
Circus
Chapter 6
Nelliel was the first to wake, and she gently disentangled herself from Renji's arms. She slipped out of bed and scooped Renji's shirt off the floor, judging it would cover her sufficiently. She was too tired to put on two different articles of clothing right now.
She straightened and smiled fondly at her friends sprawled all over each other, before her eyes flicked to the digital wall clock that was hung adjacent to the bed. The red numbers told her it was six am. She stretched languidly and yawned before she ambled off to the bathroom to wash her mouth and take care of business.
When she stepped back out of the bathroom, she saw Yoruichi was up and staring blearily into space, her mouth working to get rid of the dry feeling that came after deep sleep. She turned to Nel and regarded her with the same flat look, one of her tan hands coming up to sleepily scratch at her head.
Renji was half hanging off the bed, his mouth ajar and light snores escaping it. Kisuke's legs alone were on the bed, while his upper body rested on the floor.
She chuckled lightly and walked into the living room, and wasn't surprised to see all the men sprawled across the carpet in various poses, naked as the day they were born.
Starrk was on the floor, curled protectively around Damian who was clinging to the larger man like a baby chimpanzee would cling to its mother. Nnoitra was spread eagle on the floor, with Shinji's legs lying on his stomach. The blond was lying on the floor with his head pillowed on Shuuhei's arm, while Shuuhei was curled on his side with Kensei spooning him, his head resting on the bigger haired man's bent arm.
But she was surprised to see Grimmjow on the couch with Ichigo firmly tucked into him, the younger man's face buried in the valley of his chest and Grimmjow's nose buried in a mass of orange hair. The blue haired man was scowling lightly even in his sleep, as if he thought someone would take the smaller man away while he was dozing. She immediately looked around to spot a pair of pants that she identified as Starrk's and bent to retrieve his phone from where it was buried in a pocket.
Keying in in Starrk's security code (LambCutlet was way too cheesy and way too easy to recognise, seriously, what was the man thinking?) she opened the camera app and quickly shot a few pictures from different angles.
"Nel? What are you-"
"Shhhhh!" She scowled at Kensei, who looked amused at the 'shut up before they wake up' glare on her face.
Kensei's movement woke up Shuuhei, and that in turn woke Shinji when his head slipped off Shuuhei's arm to thunk on the floor.
"Oww what the hell..." the blond whined, rubbing his head and squinting at Shuuhei accusingly.
When Shinji tried to sit up, he ended up kicking Nnoitra in the side.
"SONUVA-" Nnoitra swallowed the yelp before it made it out of his mouth, turning on his side and curling up a little to ease the pain. "Damnit Shinji!" He hissed, glaring at the blonde.
"Shut. Up. All of you!" Nell whisper-screamed, effectively stopping what would have become a violent argument. Once she had their attention, she pointed to the couple on the sofa. Still whispering, she cooed. "Isn't this adorable?"
Everyone awake simultaneously grew large, mischievous grins, locking away the tranquil image in their heads for future ammo.
Kensei produced a phone from somewhere and held the camera for Nell to take. "Get me twenty pictures. All possible angles."
As Nell enthusiastically clicked away, the men scrounged out their underwear and pants. Shuuhei went to wake Damian, knowing the man would want pictures of his own. "D, come on, you gotta see this."
"Mmm five more minutes, please Alpha..."
The dark haired man snickered. "I'm not your Alpha. Come on, wake up, I'll give you chocolate."
"Where... " Damian mumbled, maneuvering a single arm out of Starrk's embrace and letting it flop on the floor. "Gimmie."
"In the store, as of now," Shuuhei laughed, pulling the the still sleepy man up by his arm and smacking him on the face a little. "Wake up. See there." He grinned, holding the sleepy man up and pointing his face at the spectacle. "You see it?"
There was a moment of silence before there was a loud gasp and a hushed "Holy mother of God. Alpha needs to see this. Shuuhei, are you taking—"
"Already on it!" Nel whispered cheerfully, taking a close up of Ichigo's sleep-rumpled face.
"Alpha. Alphaaaaaa," Damian hissed, pinching Starrk's goatee and tugging. "Wake up, wake up!"
Starrk grumbled and pushed away the hand that was on his precious facial hair. "What?"
"Wake up, and see this," said Shuuhei, helping Starrk up so he could see what was going on.
Pretty soon Yoruichi and Urahara had stepped out into the living room too (wearing clothes by now), and all of them just stood and observed the quietly sleeping couple after each taking a satisfactory amount of pictures. When Ichigo snuffled a little and cuddled closer, there was a collective, shushed, cooing noise.
"So adorable!" Nel whisper/squealed, and Yoruichi nodded in agreement.
"So of course we need to disturb them, right?" Shinji grinned, and was mirrored by an equally sadistic grin on Nnoitra's face.
"Wait wait, let me record this," Yoruichi positioned herself so she got a prime angle, a few steps away from the middle of the couch and phone trained on the peacefully sleeping faces. A big grin bloomed on her face. "Okay, ready."
"Here, let me do the honours," Nnoitra snickered, and silently walked to stand next to couch near Grimmjow's head. He bent low, and with his mouth right to their ears, yelled.
"FIRE!"
"WHAT THE FU—!"
"Simba no!"
Ichigo practically jumped a foot in the air as he tumbled right off his human mattress, who was still holding onto him by the way, so they both wound up falling to the floor in a tangle of limbs.
"Waha- hahahaha! Ha ha! Ichigo were you actually dreaming about the lion king?!"
"Brilliant! I got it all on video!"
"Nnoi, man that was awesome!"
"Ichigo, are you okay?"
Grimmjow snarled darkly at Nnoitra and Shinji as he gently moved Ichigo off of him. A glance around the room told him that they were the last ones to wake and were currently the center of attention of a bunch of guffawing idiots.
Ichigo looked like he wanted to disappear, face bright red and wearing a look that was a physical embodiment of the expression 'OH GOD WHY.' He was still adorable, bed head and all. Grimjow wanted to cuddle him some more.
But not before he dealt with this lot. His intense blue eyed glare managed to immediately disperse the gathered crowd, and Ichigo gave him an embarrassed yet grateful smile.
"Are you okay?" Grimmjow asked, raking his gaze down Ichigo's body and making sure there weren't any bruises from their tumble off the sofa. His eyes lingered a bit too long on his naked skin for it to be a simple checkup, but it wasn't mentioned.
Ichigo did give him an impish smile though. "Nope, I'm fine. Thanks for cushioning my fall."
They just sat there smirking at each other before Starrk intruded with a chuckle. "It's always a pleasure to see you buck naked, but Ichigo, shouldn't you be getting ready for college?"
Ichigo blinked, and then slapped his forehead. "Shit. What time is it?"
"It's almost seven. When does class start?"
"At nine. I need to hurry to get there on time..."
"Why don't you go and shower, and I'll drop you off at home? I did drive you here after all."
"Sure that'd be great, thanks!"
Ichigo got up, trying not to blush at the gray and cerulean stares he could feel on his bottom. He wondered if he would ever be as carefree in his nakedness as the others were. He didn't think he would be. It was silly, considering he had participated in an orgy yesterday and had public sex four times already, but he couldn't help feeling shy when he wasn't high on adrenaline and lust. He wondered why.
If Uryuu were to know, he'd probably say something about how he had self-image issues or some psychoanalysis bullshit like that.
He paused in redoing his pant fly. What would his friends think of him if they found out? Would they be disgusted? Chad would probably just nod and not say anything, he was cool like that. But what about Tatsuki and Inoue? Shit, What about his family? His dad?
He shuddered, not even wanting to think about such a situation.
"What are you thinking about?"
Ichigo snapped his head up to see Shuuhei and Nel looking at him with amused smiles. It had been Shuuhei's voice.
"Uh, nothing really..."
"You sure? You looked pained for a minute there. Morning after pains? Though it didn't look that rough to me yesterday night. It was actually... very loving and slow." Shuuhei leered and Nel snickered behind her palm.
Ichigo sputtered at them, his face heating again. Seriously, his head was going to explode if he kept blushing like that. "Wha- What? No! I'm not thinking about that! I was just thinking about my lectures. I swear!"
Nel took pity on the boy. "Okay, okay! No need to get so defensive. Go wash your mouth and come get breakfast."
Ichigo had to wait till Nnoitra and Shinji had finished with the bathroom before he could claim it. By the time he was done, everyone else was fully dressed and gathered in the kitchen.
Kensei handed him a porcelain plate with small yellow designs around the edge, and a glass filled with orange juice before he went back to flipping pancakes. "Do you want pancakes or toast?"
"Pancakes, thanks," Ichigo looked around and took a deep whiff of the delicious smell permeating the spacey kitchen. He hadn't noticed it yesterday, but the kitchen was quite large and done mostly in white and yellow, giving it a cheerful atmosphere, especially with the natural light coming in from the large windows. The view was spectacular too.
Shuuhei served him some pancakes from the freshly prepared stack and pointed him to the counter. "There's a bunch of toppings to choose from, knock yourself out."
There really were quite a lot of topping: chocolate sauce, whipped cream, sliced fruit, honey, nutella, blueberry syrup, peanut butter, orange marmalade, mixed fruit jam and slices of cheese for the toast.
He ended up with a big dollop of whipped cream and a generous squeeze of chocolate sauce, and some fruit.
He seated himself on an empty space on the kitchen island between Damian and Renji. They gave him sly smiles.
"So," Renji started, evil intents in his burgundy eyes.
"Yesterday night was awesome, huh," Damian continued, his green eyes reflecting Renji's intents.
Ichigo shrank in between their knowing glances. Suddenly, it felt like everyone was focused on him.
"Uhm..."
"So tell me, Ichigo," Shinji piped up, a creepy grin on his face that was too close to the orangette's own. "What was your first orgy like?"
"I- I gotta go!" Ichigo practically screamed and ran out the room with his breakfast in his hand. He heard loud laughter follow and cringed in embarrassment. Starrk was sitting on the sofa, contently munching on a slice of toast slathered in nutella. When he noticed the orangette standing awkwardly, he gestured to the empty space next to him.
"Just ignore them. They mean no harm."
"Yeah, just like a school of great whites mean no harm when you're bleeding and stranded int the middle of the ocean."
Ichigo joined him on the couch. He didn't sit comfortably though. He perched on the edge of the seat, acutely aware that this was the same couch on which he'd experienced his first orgy. The reaffirmation brought a new blush to his face.
There was a moment of silence before what sounded suspiciously like a muffled snicker. "Remembering last night?"
"You're just as bad as the others!" Ichigo groaned, burying his face in his hands as Starrk chuckled quietly beside him.
"I'm sorry," Starrk said, smiling. "You're very easy to tease, that's all. I couldn't help myself."
"Of course you couldn't," Ichigo mumbled, and he stiffened before relaxing again when Starrk patted him on the head.
"Sorry, sorry." Stark grinned and popped the last of his toast into his mouth as he stood. "I'll just shower, and then I'll drop you off at your apartment okay?"
"Okay." Ichigo nodded and ate the first bite of his food. It was damn delicious, and soon he was licking the cream off the plate. He needed to return the plate to the kitchen, but he didn't want to go in there in case they started on him again. Maybe he should just leave the plate here and head downstairs to wait near the car?
"Hey, Ichigo."
Ichigo put down the fork he'd been sucking on and slowly looked up into Grimmjow's eyes. The man was freshly showered, and his hair was in stylish disarray, and even though he was wearing yesterday's shirt, he looked artfully rumpled and not like slob. Was it some sort of superpower?
"Yeah," he answered after an inappropriately long pause.
"I was serious about the invitation to the café, you know," Grimmjow said, raking through his hair and glancing at the large clock on Shinji's wall. "So when do you want our date to be?"
"You— really?"
"I said so just now." Grimmjow raised his eyebrows.
Ichigo smiled wide. "I'm free everyday after 5, so you tell me what suits you best."
"Ah, the joys of college." Grimmjow chuckled. "How about Wednesday evening at six, then?"
Ichigo nodded and pulled out his phone. "Great! Give me your number then."
Instead of answering though, Grimmjow pulled out his wallet and handed him a card. "Here. Text me or call me later. I gotta run now or I'll be late for work."
Ichigo blinked at the card that was now in his hands, but before he could say anything, Grimmjow was off with a "Don't forget to call!" before he shut the door.
Wow, he must've been in some hurry.
Ichigo flipped the card to copy the number, but then he actually saw what was written on it:
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez
Library Director
Oh god. He knew a library director wasn't the same as a librarian, but still, it really messed with Ichigo's head to imagine the tall, studly blunet wearing glasses and threatening to spank him for making noise.
It brought forth visions of being fucked on a sturdy desk surrounded by piles of old books, Ichigo blowing Grimmjow under the desk while Grimmjow did paperwork, fucking in a secluded corner of the library, where they could be discovered any minute...
Ichigo would never be able to step into a library without blushing again.
qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp
Ichigo spent the whole day in a bit of a daze. Damian and Starrk had given him knowing smiles when they headed to Starrk's car, but they hadn't said anything, and Ichigo was relieved.
On his lunch break, Ichigo thought of maybe texting Grimmjow, but decided to wait till he got home so he could have a long, distraction-free conversation with the man who kept popping up in his dirty day dreams.
So here he was now, sitting on his bed with his phone held to his ear, cuddling a pillow like a lovesick shoujo manga heroine.
Grimmjow picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"
Oh, that voice was made for phone sex. "Hi, Grimmjow. Ichigo here. I wanted to talk you about our date." His voice cracked a little when he said the "D" word and Ichigo hoped Grimmjow hadn't noticed it.
"Oh, Ichigo, hello," Grimmjow said, his voice a lot warmer than when he answered the phone. "Sorry about rushing off like that today morning. My work day starts pretty early and I hate being tardy."
"It's no problem. Don't worry bout it."
"Hmm, great. Is Wednesday okay for you? I'll come pick you up from your apartment."
Oh, only two more days then. "Yeah, Wednesday is fine. Six o clock?"
Grimmjow hummed. "I only get off at six. How about seven? Unless you have some work or anything, then we can go some other day."
"No! I mean, no..." Ichigo cleared his throat. "Seven is fine with me."
The low and throaty chuckle that caressed his ears gave Ichigo tingles. "That's great. Text me your address soon, okay?"
"Will do."
"Good."
There was an awkward pause in the conversation when Ichigo didn't want to cut the call, yet didn't know what to say next. "Um..."
"I'll talk to you later then, Ichigo?"
Ichigo was a little disappointed. "Yeah, sure..."
"I'd love to chat for longer, sweetheart, but I'm a little busy at the moment. Later for sure, okay?"
Ooooh that little endearment got him like nothing else did. "Oh, okay, I'm sorry for keeping you. Bye, Grimmjow."
"No problem. Goodbye, Ichigo."
As Ichigo type out his address and added in a smiley face after, he felt like telling someone about the conversation. But who'd he tell without being teased to death?
Hmm. Looked like a call to Chad was in order.
qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp
When Wednesday came, Ichigo could hardly focus. He looked calm as always, chatting with his classmates and taking meticulous notes during lectures, but in the back of his mind, he was excited to be meeting Grimmjow in the evening.
And another part of him was eager to gorge on cake. Because which self-respecting sweet tooth could not be excited at the prospect of cake?
Finally, after getting home, he headed straight to the shower. After cleaning up, he spent some time deciding what to wear.
No button ups, they seemed so oddly formal.
No hoodies because they made him look sloppy.
His favourite black shirt was too snazzy for a date at a cafe.
His other favourite white shirt was in the wash after he spilled ketchup on it.
Oh man...
He settled for his second favourite red and black checkered shirt that he left unbuttoned over a grey tank, and black skinny jeans that cupped his ass like a dream.
He looked himself up and down in the mirror before nodding decisively. Yup, he looked good.
He headed downstairs to wait for Grimmjow, and within a few minutes, a gorgeous, dark blue Jaguar stopped in front of him. He opened the passenger side door and slid into the cool interior of the car, smiling brightly at Grimmjow. "Hi!"
Grimmjow smiled back and pulled into traffic. "Hello. You're looking especially good today," he said, and winked at him. Ichigo felt his ego fluff up.
"You too." Grimmjow was wearing a black button up, with his sleeves cuffed in the middle of his forearms. It emphasized his big hands and the prominent veins in his wrists. Ichigo committed the visuals to memory.
The choice of clothes had Ichigo comparing the both of them. Grimmjow looked more mature than Ichigo did. It was to be expected, since Grimmjow was nearly ten years older, after all, and Ichigo found that arousing, but also a little worrisome. Would they have many things in common to talk about?
The drive to the cafe put his fretting to rest because Grimmjow was interested in many of the same authors and musicians Ichigo liked, and they had no awkward gaps in conversation.
Before long, Grimmjow was parking his car. They were in the section of the city which was mostly office buildings and small establishments, and a lot of people were waling about in twos and threes. Grimmjow let Ichigo to a wooden door that had a cute little signboard hanging above it, proclaiming 'Café Café' in large swirly letters and then in a smaller script, 'The most Café a Café can be'. There weren't any windows.
Ichigo shot Grimmjow an amused glance.
"The inside is going to be just as wacky." Grimmjow chuckled. "But I promise you'll love it."
"Well, lead on, then."
The inside was wacky, and Ichigo did love it. The first thing that hit him was the sweet smell of warm bread twined with the bitter aroma of coffee. The second thing was all the colours. The tables and chairs were charmingly mismatched, and the decor was in mostly cozy earth tones, with wooden bookshelves being used a space dividers. One wall had framed quote posters, the other had a huge wall mural, and a chandelier of polaroid photos hung from the ceiling. Ichigo didn't know where to look first.
"Grimmjow!"
Ichigo hadn't noticed the woman standing behind the counter until she'd called out, which was surprising since her hair was rainbow coloured.
Grimmjow laughed at his flabbergasted expression and gently pushed him forward. "Hello, Rain. This is Ichigo, a friend of mine. I promised him the best cake in the city, so I brought him here."
The woman smiled widely. "You know flattery won't work on me the same way it works on Octavian, right?" She wiped her hands on her apron as she stepped out from behind the counter, and reached a hand out to Ichigo. "Hi! I'm Rain and I make the best cake in the city."
Ichigo found himself smiling int the face of her happy grin. "I'm looking forward to it!"
She waved toward the tables. "Why don't you take a seat and pick out what you'd like to drink?"
Grimmjow looked at Ichigo. "Where do you want to sit?"
"The chairs along the wall look comfy."
Grimmjow actually pulled out his chair for him. It was kinda irritating, but mostly sweet.
It was Rain who took down their orders, but it was a gorgeous, serious looking blond man that delivered them.
"Nice to see you around, Octavian," Grimmjow said, smirking, and the guy blushed all the way to the tips of his ears, even if his expression remained reserved.
"You too," he said, not looking at either of them as he set their steaming mugs of coffee down. "Have you decided what you want to eat?"
Grimmjow nodded. "We'll have one of all your cakes."
Octavian frowned a little. "We have 10 kinds of cake today."
"And we'll take one of each type."
The waiter shrugged before leaving to get their order.
Ichigo looked at Grimmjow a little quizzically. "Are you sure we'll be able to eat that much?"
Grimmjow nodded. "I'm sure we can. If we can't though we'll just box them up to go. Besides, I really want you to try all of them."
Ichigo smiled at the man's enthusiasm. "If we box them though, I want to take them with me."
Grimmjow laughed. "Deal. So, how's college?" he asked, turned his mug around a couple of times before picking it up and taking a small sip.
Ichigo was mesmerised by the action. Grimmjow could be swatting flies and still manage to look graceful. He moved with a sort of subconscious poise, like a feline. No wasteful movements, no tics like tapping his feet or raking his hair. Grimmjow was, in a word, majestic.
"Yeah it's... going on. There isn't really anything exciting really, just classes, tests and essays..."
"But you like what you're studying, right?" Grimmjow looked at him over the top of his cup.
Ichigo stirred his coffee before licking the foam off the stirrer and setting it aside."I do, I really do. But it can get kinda boring you know."
"I guess the monotony of it gets pretty frustrating, huh."
Octavian came back then, and set down two sampling platters of cake in the middle of the table, and a dainty china plate with flower patterns and a set of spoons and forks in front of each of them.
He looked at Grimmjow with a mild smirk. "I'm guessing you don't want me to explain which cake is which?"
Grimmjow gave him a shark grin in return. "I got it."
"Ichigo, if he hogs everything, just tell me and I'll give you free cake, okay? I'll leave you to become diabetic now," Octavian quirked a little half smile at them before leaving again.
"You come here a lot, don't you?" Ichigo asked, not even trying to hide his amusement.
"At least once a week. Now let's start with this chocolate cake..."
qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp
By the time they were done eating, it was nearly ten, and Rain and Octavian were prepping to close up.
"Oh man, I'm so stuffed," Ichigo moaned, rubbing his stomach.
"So am I, but I'm not complaining," Grimmjow retorted, draining the last of his coffee.
Their feet had come closer and closer over the evening, and now their legs were tangled together under the table, and Ichigo acted nonchalant about it. He was so goddamn giddy about it though. The whole evening had been so great, and there hadn't been a lull in conversation even once. They'd talked about Ichigo's family in Karakura, and his friends from uni, and Grimmjow's family back in Germany, and Grimmjow's work. Their cake appreciation had turned into a cake eating competition, and Ichigo had won by a whole cake.
Ichigo had been in the middle of gloating when Grimmjow reached over to wipe the corner of Ichigo's mouth with his thumb, and Ichigo's tongue automatically swiped over the area once before he realized what he was doing.
Grimmjow's icy blue eyes settled on him with a intensity that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
An hour later, they still hadn't settled completely.
"Guys, you know we'd love to host you for longer but we gotta go sleep now," Rain called from the counter.
"Of course, we're sorry," Ichigo said, sadly pulling his leg free from where Grimmjow had it trapped.
Grimmjow stood up, but not before trailing his toe over Ichigo's ankle while giving him a sexy smirk.
Ichigo blushed but returned the smirk.
Octavian gave them both tiny sandwiches stuffed with spicy grilled chicken to get rid of the sugar numbness in their tongues. Grimmjow popped the whole thing in his mouth before pulling out his wallet, and Ichigo nibbled slowly on his as he watched Grimmjow pay. They waved goodbye to Rain and Octavian, and stepped back out. There were fewer people out on the streets, and a few other shops had begun closing as well.
"How much do I owe you?"
Grimmjow shook his head "I did ask you, so it's my treat. Don't worry about it."
Ichigo shrugged. "I'll pay the next time, then."
"Sure," Grimmjow agreed easily.
"So we're going to have another date, then?" Ichigo said, curious. He thought today had been great, but was the other man interested in a repeat performance?
"I'd be heartbroken if we didn't. How else am I gonna prove that I'm the best cake eater there is?"
Ichigo snorted. "Dream on. I'm going to win next time too."
The drive back home was silent, save for the soft rock music from the Jag's speakers. It wasn't a bad silence though, and Ichigo was too lost in his thoughts of the evening to even notice it much.
"So, we're here," Grimmjow said, snapping Ichigo out of his musing.
"Wow. Sorry for totally spacing out there." Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck.
"Hey, no worries. So was that the best cake in the city, or what?"
"It was! Thanks so much for taking me."
Grimmjow smiled. "It was my pleasure, sweetheart."
The word sent a little zing of pleasure through him. "Well, yeah. Goodbye then. Thanks again," Ichigo mumbled as he undid his seat belt.
Before he could open the door though, Grimmjow was tugging him closer by the collar to capture his lips in a slow, toe-curling, chicken flavoured kiss. "Goodnight, Ichigo."
**********continues...
So while I was away from the world of fanfiction, I got into writing my own stuff. You can find my first two books (they're free!) at
bit dot ly/deeaditya
Cafe Cafe, Rain and Octavian are actually from one of those books... I'm bending and joining universes, muahaha!
Also, if you're enjoying this story, please consider buying me a coffee (if you can) via ko-fi.com/A1649S6