So to everyone who cares: I'm really sorry it took so long to get this final chapter up. There are a number of reasons it took as long as it did. The combination of epic amounts of school work (being a writing major will do that I hear) was the majority of the hold up but also, I received a particularly nasty negative review that got under my skin (I know I shouldn't let it get to me so much) and made it difficult to write this without it sounding weird or spiteful. I hope no one (or at least very few of you) is disappointed with this conclusion. Anyway, thanks to EVERYONE who had read my story and special thanks to those who took the time to give me reviews/input of any sort!!!
Shinji, in spite of knowing better, couldn't help trying to keep an eye on his significant other. He could feel the teen's cycle starting to peak during his morning walk to school. He wanted very badly to walk with him but because he knew he couldn't keep his hands off the feverish teen, he kept a safe distance. Part of him hoped that he would be noticed but Ichigo was swimming in his own energy and hormones too much to notice anything other than himself.
That afternoon, he was please to see Ichigo go to Kon for relief. It was an arrangement that made all the sense in the world to him, even more sense than his relationship with Ichigo.
What happened when they emerged from the house, however, pleased him less. When he saw Kon rush out by himself, Shinji nearly jumped out of his skin, but breathed a sigh of relief when Ichigo exited shortly and hastily afterward. What followed, again however, made Shinji very anxious.
It took him only a moment to realize that it was a game but a potentially dangerous game. He almost went after them but stopped himself. He knew that he had to have faith in Ichigo, that it would only be detrimental to both of them if he interfered. It took all his self-control, but he held back. It gave him the time to reflect on his boyfriend and that reflection made him glad he held himself back because if there was one thing he always admired about Ichigo, it was his incredible self-control.
In fact, it was something that made him feel significant envy. Even during their first time together, he knew that Ichigo had a better handle on himself than he did and he trusted his lover's decision-making capacity. That is, he trusted it right up until Kon allowed Ichigo to happen upon the quincy boy.
The quincy looked down their noses at everyone especially soul reapers so that went double for vizards. He was half way to snatching up his lover and carrying him off to who-knows-where when he was intercepted.
"Just where do you think you're going?" Kisuke asked when he suddenly appeared in the path of his old friend.
"Kisuke," Shinji hissed.
"No, my shop's in a completely different direction. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were going to interrupt an affair that does not need interrupting," the shopkeeper chided.
"Doesn't need interrupting?" Shinji exclaimed incredulously.
"That's what I said," Kisuke calmly replied.
"He's a quincy! He'll never understand!" the vizard raved almost madly.
"Now, now, in the beginning, you said that about everyone who wasn't a vizard," Kisuke reminded evenly. "Give them a chance. They are friends, you know."
"Barely," Shinji scoffed.
"Then this will give them the opportunity to get closer. Who knows? Maybe the rift between them was nothing more than sexual tension, you know how boys that age can be, all the stamina in the world but with no real direction," he feigned disinterest.
Seeing that arguing wasn't getting him anywhere, the blonde vizard took a moment to feel out his lover again.
Kisuke did the same. "It appears they're headed back to Kurosaki's place. Trust me on this one. Let them go. He may be an Ishida but he's nothing like his father," he assured. "Besides, Uryu doesn't have very many friends. Forcing them apart now could very well do more harm than good."
Shinji pursed his lips. He knew he shouldn't follow them and that he shouldn't have even started following them in the first place. "Okay," he replied with a sigh, "but if this ends badly, I'm laying the blame solely on you, got it?"
"Of course," Kisuke replied with an annoyed nod. "Now, come with me. I'll keep you company."
Shinji understood that as, 'I'll keep you out of trouble,' but didn't argue. Instead, he started toward the candy shop feeling especially petulant.
They arrived at the Urahara Shop a couple minutes later and Kisuke furnished them with a small meal and tea.
"Don't look so troubled. You should have some faith in Ichigo," Kisuke advised when they were about half finished with their plates.
"Easy for you to say," the vizard grumbled. "Besides, I do. I just don't have faith in that quincy."
Kisuke shrugged. "He's not a bad kid."
The pair of former captains talked like that for the better part of the day.
"So…." Kisuke finally broached after they finished their dinner. "I can think of a number of ways to keep your mind occupied until you can see your rambunctious young lover again," he proposed with a sly grin.
Shinji frowned and looked away. "Not today…" he muttered.
"Oh? Are you sure? You know I make an excellent distraction if you let me," he tried again.
The younger-looking blonde rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Fine, wallow in your own pity," the shopkeeper sat back and loaded his pipe, as he often did in the evenings. "I'm not the one suffering from withdrawals so it really makes little difference to me."
"You're an ass," Shinji antagonized but received only an unsatisfying shrug in response.
It wasn't until late that night that Ichigo's riaetsu had waned enough for Kisuke to feel comfortable letting his old friend go without a fight. Of course, Shinji started off in the direction of the warehouse, where his comrades were no doubt awaiting his return, but turned about half way toward his lover's energy.
He had felt it move part way through his 'visit' with Kisuke but tried not to think about it. Though, he shouldn't have been as surprised as he was to find that the energy wasn't coming from Ichigo's home but rather Uryu's single apartment.
Carefully, quietly, he snuck up to the living room window and was unnerved to see only a crumpled up blanket. So, with minimal effort, he snuck inside. Fortunately, it didn't take him long to find who he was looking for.
Ichigo was too preoccupied with listening to the quincy's bedroom door to hear his boyfriend approach and nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard his name in that sweet voice he loved so much.
"Ichi-kun?" Shinji asked in a hushed voice when he saw the younger vizard sitting at the end of the all with his ear to the door.
"Ah, Shinji?" he gasped as he whipped his head around to see if he'd heard right.
"What's goin' on?" the blonde couldn't help asking.
"Uh, well, I-," he stammered and slowly started away from the door.
"Is everything okay?" Shinji couldn't help asking because of the anxiety in his lover's voice.
"Yeah, fine. Here," he led the other away from the door and back into the living room. "What're you doin' here?" he had to ask.
"I came to see you," the blonde vizard answered simply.
"You're checking on me," Ichigo grumblingly surmised, flopping down on the couch.
"Well, sorta," he admitted with a shrug, sitting down on the couch next to Ichigo. "But only 'cause of the quincy," he was quick to defend.
"You were worried about him?" Ichigo asked incredulously.
"Not about him," Shinji dismissed, almost laughing, "About you. Quincy are so stuck-up. I wanted to make sure he was good to you." When he saw that displeased his orange-haired lover, he added, "And I really wanted to see you."
"Take my word for it. He was just fine," Ichigo dismissed.
Shinji cocked an incredulous eyebrow, "Then why were you lurking outside his closed bedroom?"
"I'm okay now," Ichigo assured, even though he still felt the last twinges of his episode. "And, um…well, he and Kon sorta went in there and closed the door."
That made Shinji frown. He could tell his lover wasn't quite finished yet, even if he was well enough to function as though he were. "It's not supposed to be about them," he snapped and tried to rise to his feet only to have Ichigo grab him by the back of his collar and pull him back to the couch.
"It's okay," he authoritatively assured. "If they wanna…ya know, then let'em," he shrugged. "Besides, I was kinda…preoccupied at the time. I'm sure if I wanted to join them, they wouldn't argue." Actually, he wasn't entirely sure about that but it didn't really matter.
"Preoccupied?" Shinji repeated as though he didn't understand the word.
"Well, it was almost over and I was tired of letting other people take care of me so I went in the bathroom and took care of it myself," he resolutely reasoned.
That almost made Shinji laugh. "Oh, okay, I get it," he finally relented. "So…since they're the ones preoccupied now, you wanna let me take care of ya for a little bit?" he proposed in a naughty little voice.
"I don't think I should leave until Kon comes back. We came here together and I don't want him to freak out if I disappear," Ichigo reluctantly refused.
"Who said anything about goin' anywhere?" Shinji gave a sly grin and before his lover could say anything more, he kissed him.
A kiss from his lover made fireworks in Ichigo's brain, making it almost as impossible to think as the episodes themselves, and he found himself kissing back before he realized what he was doing.
When the younger vizard, who still happened to be nude but didn't seem to care, melted into his affections, the older slowly started to slide down his body until the was kneeling on the floor between his legs. Before he could receive any sort of protest he said, "I've wanted to do this all god damn day," before licking his lips and going down on his lover, taking his either length in one shot.
Ichigo couldn't control his reaction. There was still just enough of him that was susceptible to pleasure and his head flew back with a loud, deep-throated moan. After that, he couldn't think about where they were or the fact that the quincy and the mod soul in his body were now frantically making love only a few meters away. All he could think about was the wet heat of his boyfriends mouth expertly sucking him off, drawing out every last little drop of cum that he had left.
Kon and Uryu had just finished what they were doing and were laying panting on his bed, the mod souls legs still wrapped around the quincy's lithe hips with his softening member still inside, when they heard Ichigo moan Shinji's name. It wasn't the first time he'd vocalized his lover's name but it was the first time they were quiet enough to hear it.
"Ichigo…" Uryu muttered, worry in his voice. "Do you think he's okay?" After all, moaning someone's name so loudly while by oneself wasn't usually an indicator of someone in their right mind. However, after a second to feel the extra energy signature in his apartment, he felt some ease. "When did he-?"
Kon laughed a little. "He's so bad at following even his own rules." He unwrapped his legs and let the limp member side easily from his bottom. "Probably just showed up while we were getin' busy," he gave a crude little chuckle.
"Should we just let'em go?" Uryu had to ask because he hardly knew anything about the episodes and the mention of a broken rule startled him.
"Yeah, they should be okay. Ichigo's just about spent anyway, best to let his boyfriend finish'im off," he dismissed, grabbing some tissues off the night stand to clean them up.
"So they really are together," the quincy half-marveled.
"I know, weird, right?" Kon laughed a little. "It's 'cause of the episodes. They take pretty good care of each other but they can't see each other all the time or things get messy," he tried to explain.
"Did you see my living room?" Uryu laughed incredulously. "I'd say things got pretty messy."
The mod soul laughed too. "Yeah, but that's different." He sighed as he collected his thoughts. "I know you're not the type to go around talking about this kind of stuff so I'll let you in on it a little better than Ichigo did. Not that that was his fault. His brain was nearly fried by that point anyway and it was the first time he's had to explain it to somebody so he really didn't do too bad of a job," he digressed for a moment before getting back to what he was going to say. "Ichigo doesn't get the full brunt of the episodes like the other vizards do, on account of him being mostly human. The others though…they get a kind of raietsu addiction to somebody if they're with them too many times in a row; it makes'em kinda crazy, I guess. That's why he and Shinji had to cool it."
"But it's okay to let them go now?" Uryu reluctantly verified.
"I think so, yeah," he nodded confidently. "Like I said, Ichigo's episode's pretty much done. We took good care of'im," he gave a naughty little wink that made the dark-haired teen blush.
Even though that made Uryu feel a little better, he still felt uncomfortable.
"What's the matter?" Kon asked with genuine concern.
"I dunno. This whole thing is so strange. I'm not sure what to think," he admitted.
That made Kon laugh. "I know what you mean. Did you have a good time?"
The quincy blushed even more deeply. "Y-Yeah…I guess I did," he replied, seeming almost astonished by his own admission.
"Then it all worked out," Kon gave a confident nod.
"If you say so," Uryu shook his head in exasperation and finally felt exhaustion starting to overwhelm him again. "I'm fuckin' beat," he laid his head down on his soft pillow.
"Thanks for everything. I mean that…for both of us," he added but the teen still looked unsure. "I dunno what Ichigo's gunna say to you when you get to talk to him again but I know he really appreciates everything you did, from letting us crash here to, well, you know," he gave a sly smile.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. Just let me rest, okay?" Uryu was almost asleep even as he spoke. He didn't want to think about talking to Ichigo or anything really. He just wanted sleep.
"Yeah, okay," Kon smiled gently down at the dark-haired teen and, brushing a few stray hairs from his eyes, gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Ichigo was so close to orgasm that his vision was blurring. "Oh, shit!" he hissed. "Shinji!" he gasped.
Hearing his name so many times, pleased Shinji to no end. He loved hearing his two syllables flow so naturally from his lover's lips over and over. He wanted to tell Ichigo how sexy that was but knew better than to withdraw while the member in his mouth was twitching with impeding release so he simply hummed a little with satisfaction and forced him over the edge. The intensity of the orgasm was poorly portrayed by the few tiny spurts of cum he received but the groaning moan the other gave more than made up for it.
Shinji gave a silly little smile upward at his panting boyfriend, "Thanks."
Ichigo returned the smile, "Yeah," he barely replied, his head still swimming from the release.
He wanted to tell the orange-haired vizard how sexy he looked when he was spent like that but decided to save it for another time. Instead, he laid down on the couch with his naked lover and they drifted to sleep together.
Kon and Uryu woke late the following morning. The apartment was quiet, save a few birds still singing out side the window, and it put them at ease.
"You hungry?" the quincy asked when he felt his stomach about to growl.
The mere mention of food made Kon's stomach do just that.
"I'll make breakfast," he agreed with a slight smile. He got dressed and tossed Kon a pair of sweat pants to wear in the meantime, as his clothes were still scattered about the living room.
They emerged a few minutes later and couldn't help smiling at the pair sleeping on the couch. Uryu thought it was more than a little odd that Shinji was still completely clothed, even with his shoes on, but let it go. Stranger things had happened in the last twenty-four hours than that.
"I'm surprised they didn't leave," Uryu mentioned as they entered the kitchenette.
"Ichigo wouldn't just leave me here like that," Kon dismissed.
"Oh? Doesn't trust you?" the quincy distractedly teased.
"Well, there's that," he joked because he knew that Ichigo trusted him much more than he was willing to admit even to himself, "and that's just not his way. Besides, they didn't have anywhere better to go."
"Right…" Uryu dryly agreed.
The whistle of the tea kettle was what awakened the pair sleeping on the couch. Ichigo started violently and nearly knocked Shinji onto the floor. If the blonde hadn't been holding onto him, he very well might have. After a second of panic, he realized there was nothing to panic about and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sounds like breakfast," Shinji half-teased, sitting up and running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to make at least a little presentable.
Ichigo frowned slightly.
"What's the matter?" the blonde vizard asked quietly.
"Oh, um…I dunno if I can…that is…seeing Uryu face to face," he stammered.
"If he was as okay as you assured me last night, then it shouldn't be a problem, right?" Shinji sternly reminded.
"Yeah…you're probably right…" Ichigo agreed even though his stomach still had butterflies and he redressed to join the pair in the kitchen.
"Good morning, sleepy head!" Kon greeted merrily.
Ichigo rolled his eyes at the enthusiasm.
"Good morning," Shinji greeted back when he saw his boyfriends irritation.
"Morning," Uryu distractedly obliged as they sat down. He served them eggs and toast a minute later as he joined them.
Their breakfast was awkward but not too bad. Uryu, Kon, and Ichigo were so hungry that they couldn't bring themselves to care too much about that and when they were finished, Kon got dressed and they took their leave.
"Uh, you guys go ahead. I'll catch up in a minute," Ichigo told Kon and Shinji as they were exiting.
"Oh? You gunna try for a quickie before we leave'im alone?" Kon teased.
Ichigo gave a sound of irritation and pushed him out the door.
"Look…Uryu…" he blushed, "I'm really so-" he was cut off before he could finish.
"Kurosaki, after all that, don't you dare apologize," the quincy scolded.
"Uh, yeah, okay. Thanks for everything. I really mean that," he said instead, barely able to make eye contact.
"Yeah, okay," Uryu barely replied, feeling his face starting to light up with a matching blush.
"I…I won't bother you like this again," Ichigo continued.
Uryu rolled his eyes and pushed up his glasses. "You're always a bother but don't count this as one of those times."
That made Ichigo smile almost stupidly. "Yeah. See ya." He finally left, allowing Uryu to clean up the rest of the mess in peace.