so i started writing this about seven months ago, inspired by several other fictions (which i honestly cannot remember now), it then sat in my folder for six months before i picked it up again recently

haha rather cliched overall but hey, after a long while of strange plots, i figured cliched is the new in (: well, at least for me, my last truly truly cliched plot was in... 2008, so yeah

anyway hope you enjoy!

disclaimer: don't own Bleach

AFFECTIONS

Summary: Boys have a strange way of showing affections. At least, some do...

"Get out of my way, Kurosaki,"

Kurosaki Ichigo ground his teeth together as he felt himself being shoved unceremoniously aside, "Fuck off, Jaegerjaquez!"

Without turning back, Jaegerjaquez Grimmjow gave Ichigo the two-finger salute.

Ichigo growled. He hated that arrogant bastard who thought he owned the school. Then he let out a sigh of resignation and frustration. As much as he hated to admit it, Jaegerjaquez was undoubtedly the most popular kid in the school. People would fly to fulfill whatever his whims were, any time any day. He was breathtakingly gorgeous, unfairly smart and devilishly charming.

Of course, the devilishly charming part was directed at everyone else except Ichigo. He was the only one with the privilege of enjoying first-hand Jaegerjaquez's wrath. He had no idea what he had done to offend the guy, but ever since the first time they met when Jaegerjaquez transferred into his elementary class, he had been picking on him. It had been over seven years since then, this year marking the eighth, and the bullying had not relented in the least.

You would have thought that, after seven years, he would grow bored of the same thing everyday, but noooooo, Ichigo rolled his eyes heavenwards.

"Yo Ichigo, had your fun with the Big Bad Blue yet?" A teasing voice came up from behind Ichigo.

"Morning Renji. As a matter of fact, the morning meeting has already gone by," Ichigo sighed irritatedly, "I will never get how he always managed to find a way to shove me that few non-existent millimeters into the lockers," Ichigo raised his fingers and pinched them together to gesture how non-existing those few millimeters were.

Renji guffawed, "Forget it, man. He's just shoving you for the sake of shoving you. I don't think it even makes a difference where you stood. You could have stood in the middle of the desert and he would still find a way to push past you. In fact, the more you react, the more fun he's going to have with you,"

"I don't think whatever reaction or lack of reaction I'll have will ever deter him," Ichigo shook his head, "I'll be jumping for joy the day he stops. Really, I would,"

"Can't wait. Though I doubt it'll be anytime soon. Or that it'll ever happen," Renji clapped his hands onto Ichigo's shoulders, "Got your books already? Great, let's head for class then. So, how was your weekend? That new gore fest just came out, and man, the queue was horrible..."

Ichigo let Renji's voice washed over him as they headed for the classroom. He was somewhat glad that Renji did not mind sticking with him. The one thing that was truly bad about having a big bully always picking on you was that making friends and keeping them was a monumental task on its own. He had always thought Renji was either really loyal or really dumb. He hoped it was at least a mixture of both. Ichigo snorted then. Dumb loyalty, now that gave the phrase a whole new perspective. He smirked.

"And what's so funny about that," Renji demanded, "You think it's great to be stuck in a theatre with girls, and I mean elementary school girls here, squealing excitedly about that deformed rabbit?"

Ichigo frowned at Renji's comments before his brain connected the dots and he only just managed to bite back his snort in time, "You better not let Rukia hear you say that. Otherwise...," Ichigo let his voice drift off as he caught sight of someone behind Renji's shoulder, "Well, good luck buddy, you'll need it," Ichigo patted his shoulders sympathetically, which made Renji stopped in his tracks confusedly, and waved as he entered their classroom.

"Abarai Renji!"

Renji gulped at the sound of his name coming viciously from the girl glowering right behind him, "Hi Rukia," He laughed nervously, "Had a great weekend?"

"Nice try Renji," With that, the small petite girl grabbed his ears and twisted, causing Renji to let out a whimper, "Now, what were you saying about Chappy?" She asked sweetly.

Ichigo let a smirk cross his face as he closed the classroom door as lightly as he could on the couple, not wanting to draw Rukia's attention to him. Behind the door, Renji's pained yells and protests came clearly through the thin wood. He shook his head. Those two were best friends longer than they were boyfriend and girlfriend but it seemed that nothing had changed at all between them. He privately thought that they were more like brother and sister instead.

His smirk disappeared when he lifted his eyes and made eye contact with Jaegerjaquez. Who was, with all the nerve, sitting on his desk! Ichigo stomped over, ignoring the way Jaegerjaquez's friends moved out of the way and cleared a path for him.

"Get the hell off my desk, asshole," Ichigo stopped in front of Jaegerjaquez who had a shit-eating grin stretched across his face.

"Hmmm," Jaegerjaquez pretended to consider, his eyebrows furrowed and his finger tapped his chin contemplatively, "And what if I say... no?" He grinned, his hand shooting out and grabbing the collar of Ichigo's shirt, pulling him nearer, "Look, prissy boy, I give the order here. Not you. Now I wonder, what gave you the impression that you had the authority to order me around?" The look on his face darkened.

Ichigo shivered inwardly. He remembered what happened the last time Jaegerjaquez had this expression. He had ended up with a few new bruises and a sprained wrist that had taken more than a few days to heal. Thankfully, none of Jaegerjaquez's friends ever joined in when he was beating up Ichigo. Otherwise, his funeral would probably have been held several years ago.

Jaegerjaquez sneered at him and Ichigo forced himself to still, a blank expression appearing on his face. Jaegerjaquez shot him an indecipherable look at the impassive expression. Finally, he released his grip on Ichigo's shirt, snarling as he slid off the table and walked the few steps to his own desk.

Ichigo let out a slow breath. The trick was to provoke Jaegerjaquez enough to fulfill whatever amount of mental quota that guy had before suddenly turning cold. And he had learnt early on that keeping his face blank was the most effective method to coax Jaegerjaquez out of any violent situation.

It was lucky he knew how Jaegerjaquez tick.

Or perhaps, more accurately, he based his actions on the several first hand experiences gained over the years.

He wondered if Jaegerjaquez knew what he was doing.

Briefly, Ichigo entertained the thought that he had a masochistic streak. Even though he knew that Jaegerjaquez would not hesitate for any opportunity to rough him up, he always liked to provoke the guy until the thin thread of restraint that Jaegerjaquez occasionally showed was snapped. Would Jaegerjaquez leave him alone if he was more submissive? Ichigo dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. He would never bow down to Jaegerjaquez Grimmjow.

"Hi Kurosaki-san,"

Ichigo turned his attention away from the windows when he heard his name being called. Belatedly, he realised that classes for the day had ended.

"Kurosaki-san, you're on duty today so please help to deliver the homework to the offices,"

"Sure," Ichigo nodded to the class representative who had spoken to him, a girl whose name he could not for his life remember.

He continued frowning even as she turned away to pack her own things, he felt he should remember her name. What was it? Chiki, Saki, Uruki? Hmmmm. He gave up after a minute. It was not that important after all, since he knew she was the class representative even if she was nameless to him.

Throwing his books into his bag, he slung the straps across his shoulders and grinned at Renji. Renji scowled in return. The two of them were on duty today but it seemed that he got the delivering job while Renji got the cleaning job. Ichigo smirked back. Delivering books was so much easier.

He made his way to the teacher's desk at the front. There were four different piles in front of him, each for a different teacher. Two of the piles were books while the other two were just papers haphazardly stacked together. Arranging the papers neatly, he wondered how many trips he would require. Surely he could carry all the sixty-plus books and sixty-plus sheets of paper in one go? Then he snorted and shook his head. He knew what was going to happen, so what was the point of carrying so many things and being forced to pick all of them up later. Might as well cut his losses, Ichigo decided.

Putting his bookbag beside the desk, Ichigo stacked the first pile of books onto the next pile of paper and made his way out of the classroom. He did not bother increasing his pace since he knew it was unavoidable.

And it was.

Like clockwork, a shoulder shoved roughly into him and caused all the papers and books to scatter onto the floor.

"Later, Kurosaki," Jaegerjaquez laughed as he strode past the scattered papers and books.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. Jaegerjaquez was getting rather predictable. Though, being predictable did not mean that Ichigo could avoid him. With a sigh of eternal sufferance, Ichigo bent down and picked up the scattered items. Luckily they were easily identifiable, otherwise it would be like the first few times this had happened where he had to painstakingly sort out which papers belonged to which subjects. He scowled darkly at that memory in middle school. He had stupidly carried a stack of nearly three hundred sheets of holiday homework and it was all messed up when Jaegerjaquez decided to be friendly.

He picked up his pace and delivered the first stack to the teachers safely before doubling back for the second stack. And found Renji cursing under his breath as he cleaned.

"Too difficult for you, pineapple? If I remembered correctly, cleaning does not require any brainwork," Ichigo teased as he picked up his bookbag.

"Shut up strawberry. You got off easy today," Renji answered darkly, "I still have to clean the floor, arrange the tables and clean the dusters before I can go off. Unlike you,"

"What?" Ichigo asked in feigned shock, "You only managed to clean the chalkboard in the long while I was gone? Strange, I thought they always said that people will either have brawn or brain. Seems like you have neither though,"

Ichigo laughed as he ducked the duster thrown at him and grabbed the papers and books off the table, "Have fun!" He hollered as he escaped the classroom, dodging the second duster aimed at his head.

He snickered when he heard Renji cursing as the duster bounced off the door. No doubt there would be a cloud of chalk dust left behind for Renji to sweep.

Straightening the stack in his arms that were threatening to fall out, Ichigo made his way down the hallway. It was less crowded than his first trip already, with most students out of the way and on their way home. Ichigo shrugged mentally, even if it was crowded, he usually was given a wide berth. That was the advantage of having your own resident bully. No one dared to come too near to him lest Jaegerjaquez's attention was transferred to them. Though it was only an advantage when he had to get through a large crowd fast. Usually he hardly needed to do that.

He was almost lost in his thoughts when he suddenly spotted blue hair heading in his direction. He groaned mentally. You have got to be kidding me.

This did not happen often. Usually Jaegerjaquez was satisfied with pushing him once. Looks like I'm out of luck. Ichigo squared his shoulders and steeled himself. He knew Jaegerjaquez was bigger than him and had more strength, but he was more lithe and flexible. He could dodge it.

Well, only a rare few times had he managed to dodge and even rarer few times did he escape unharmed from the consequences of dodging. Today was going to be the rarer few times, Ichigo told himself firmly.

Jaegerjaquez was much nearer now, a taunting grin large and mocking on his face. Three feet, two, one. Ichigo ducked down as Jaegerjaquez's hand shot out in a purposeful move to knock the books out of his arm. He managed to avoid getting hit and could even feel a shock of surprise from the larger teen. Holding onto the papers and books, Ichigo swiftly darted down the hallway before Jaegerjaquez could recover.

He knocked quickly and entered the teachers' offices, slowly taking his time to place the respective books and papers on the correct desks and exchanging polite words with his teachers. After a few more minutes where he could no longer drag his feet in the office, he bowed respectfully before pulling open the door. He looked left and right for his blue-haired tormentor and sighed in relief at the lack of it in the hallway.

Safe.

Ichigo still remembered the day they first met. It was in the middle of fifth grade at Karakura Elementary. He vaguely recalled that the day had started well, his lunchbox was packed with his favourite food and he was also wearing his favourite shirt at that time.

Then the teacher had introduced him. A mixed-blood kid who grew up overseas and only knew enough Japanese to pass. With his outrageous hair and devil-may-care attitude, the whole class was attracted to him.

Jaegerjaquez was assigned to sit behind him and it was fine initially. Then during lunch break, Jaegerjaquez had turned to him and started insulting him, sprouting some nonsense about him being a mummy's boy. As it was, his mother was still a fresh wound at that time and Ichigo had snapped. Somehow, the somewhat harmless teasing had evolved into a full-out brawl.

They had been enemies since. Of course, seeing as Jaegerjaquez was more popular, nobody wanted to get on his bad side. And soon Ichigo became the bullied and Jaegerjaquez the bully.

Thinking back about it now, Ichigo occasionally wondered if they could have been friends if not for the fight. Though his mother was still a rather sensitive topic to him even now, he still felt guilty whenever he thought of how he had flew off the handle that day.

And now, seven years later, their relationship was still the same as ever. Pushing and provoking the other for the slightest reason. They had argued and fought and Ichigo had always been the first to back down.

Not because he was weaker but because he did not want to know what would happen if he ever won their fight. Would the bullying stop? If it did, then that would mean that he would no longer have a connection with Jaegerjaquez. And that meant no more Jaegerjaquez.

It was something that Ichigo liked to avoid thinking too much about since it was as good as admitting that he was a masochistic fool who liked the worst person ever.

Ichigo was lunching with Renji's friends on the roof of their school when the door to the roof slammed open. His personal bully stepped through the open door and glanced around, smirking when his sight landed on Ichigo. Ichigo sighed, he had hoped that his peaceful lunch could have lasted for a few more days. But he supposed he ought to be grateful that his borrowed time had at least lasted for a few months. Tomorrow, he supposed, it was back to lunching with himself.

"What do you want, bastard!" Arisawa Tatsuki, one of Renji's friends, yelled as Jaegerjaquez made his way over.

"Stay away woman, before I re-arrange your girlfriend's face," Jaegerjaquez sneered.

"It's fine," Ichigo stood up and dusted off his pants, "You best not get involved or he might really hurt Inoue,"

Arisawa looked like she wanted to argue with that but held back at the helpless and frustrated expression on Inoue's face. Ichigo smiled a little, he knew Arisawa and Inoue were loyal, much like Renji himself actually, but Inoue was not strong enough to protect herself. He would not want her to pay for it just because Arisawa decided to stand up for him. He directed a smile at Inoue, trying to reassure her that he would be fine.

"I'm sorry," Inoue said softly, knowing that it was her fault for being weak and helpless.

"Ichigo..." Renji stood up.

"No, don't worry, I'll be fine," He glanced at the group behind Renji, signaling his worry that Jaegerjaquez might target them if Renji got himself involved.

Renji followed his glance, and even though Sado was there as well, he knew that Sado alone just was not enough to protect everyone if Jaegerjaquez decided to spread his bullying.

"Well, this is all really sweet, but can we get a move on?" Jaegerjaquez drawled, his foot tapping impatiently against the cement floor.

"Stuff it, asshole," Ichigo grabbed his lunch and made his way over, not stopping when he reached Jaegerjaquez and continuing past him to the door of the roof.

Jaegerjaquez scowled as Ichigo brushed past him and in a fit of irritation, reached out to grab his elbow, "I don't appreciate being ignored," He hissed as he dragged Ichigo down from the roof.

"You don't much appreciate anything," Ichigo muttered under his breath, as he patiently allowed himself to be led down the stairs.

The two fell silent for the remaining of the walk, with Ichigo musing idly where they were headed to. He stared at the back of Jaegerjaquez's head, admiring the way his blue hair swayed with each step they took. It looked soft and he was once again tempted to touch it. He shook his head quickly to rid himself of the thought. It would not do if he accidentally gave in to his temptation. It was an action far too embarrassing with a consequence that was probably unthinkable.

"Sit down," Jaegerjaquez said gruffly as he jerked Ichigo in front of him and roughly pushed him down onto the courtyard bench which they had arrived at.

Ichigo growled in irritation as his hand shot out in time to prevent his face from splattering on the table. He righted himself and took a look at the other occupants at the table. And sighed.

"Yo," He held up a hand in greeting before letting it drop to his side.

"You finally found his hiding spot?" Gilga Nnoitora's voice was laced with amusement as he fixed his gaze on Ichigo.

Jaegerjaquez grunted in acknowledgement as he sat himself down beside Ichigo, "Don't exaggerate, I always knew where his so-called hiding spot was,"

"I was never hiding," Ichigo rolled his eyes.

Jaegerjaquez fixed a glare at him, "Shut up and eat your lunch,"

Ichigo gaped at the order. Was that all he wanted him to do? He eyed the guy beside him suspiciously. Maybe the beating would come after lunch? So that he could see how much of his lunch Ichigo would regurgitate out? Ichigo nodded to himself, that was probably it.

Well, better start eating then. Maybe by the time he got to beating me, most of my lunch would have been digested. Ichigo almost snorted at his own thoughts. They sounded impossible even to him.

Eyeing the group around him cautiously, Ichigo slowly pulled his lunch out onto the table as the conversation continued. They talked among themselves and practically ignored him as he slowly took a few bites out of his bread. He was invisible and Ichigo wondered for the umpteen time why had Jaegerjaquez dragged him here for. He fidgeted, patience was never one of his virtue.

"Is that azuki?"

Ichigo heard the question one second before his bread was out of his hand and another was in its place.

"What is this?" His eyes twitched as he looked at the melon bread in his hand.

"Your lunch," Came the dismissive reply.

Ichigo frowned at the answer, looking down at the bread again. It was half eaten and he could clearly see the teeth mark on it. The filling was still oozing out of it though and it did look rather good. But it was the principle of the matter here.

"Return me my lunch, asshole,"

In turn, Jaegerjaquez only fixed him with a bored expression before taking a large bite. Ichigo watched in irritation as his azuki bread disappeared.

"Bastard," He threw Jaegerjaquez's melon bread right in his face before grabbing his bag to leave.

Jaegerjaquez dodged the bread and reached out to knock Ichigo's hands away from his bag. Using his other hand, he slammed Ichigo's face down onto the wooden table.

"Who ever said you could leave," Jaegerjaquez sneered.

Ichigo growled in annoyance, unhappy to have his lunch time so thoroughly destroyed. He pushed away Jaegerjaquez's hand forcefully and in his bent position against the table, kicked Jaegerjaquez's shin.

There was a growl of pain which Ichigo ignored as he swiftly followed with a punch to the shoulder. It connected and Ichigo had to duck backwards to avoid the retaliating swing at his neck. In the same motion, he stretched his hand behind him and backflipped off the table, crouching down to avoid the melon bread that was flung at him. The bread flew over his head and landed on the grass.

"Let's stop this, Jaegerjaquez," Ichigo stood up from his squat position and dusted himself off, facing Jaegerjaquez's glare unwaveringly.

An odd expression crossed over Jaegerjaquez's face before quickly disappearing, "Get lost," Jaegerjaquez barked at his friends, his eyes never leaving Ichigo's as he gave the command.

Ichigo's eyes flickered to the group of people who had a look between irritation and exasperation between them. They complied though, as they packed up their lunch and headed back towards the school.

Jaegerjaquez stood casually with his hands tucked into his pants pocket as they glared at each other, measuring and weighing the other up. Ichigo was slightly nervous since he had never truly fought Jaegerjaquez with all his strength before. It had been seven years since they first started this senseless nonsense between them and frankly, Ichigo was getting tired of it. Tired of having his day destroyed, tired of not having friends and generally tired of being pulled around by his nose. He wanted Jaegerjaquez's attention, that still held true, but he did not want his attention in this manner. Maybe it was time to end this. One last fight to end the seven years.

Once Jaegerjaquez's friends were gone, leaving them alone in the school's courtyard, Jaegerjaquez leaped over the table and raised his fist. Ichigo ducked and delivered an uppercut. The punch connected and it surprised Ichigo enough that he froze. Jaegerjaquez did not react though, and merely touched his bruised chin lightly. Then he smirked.

The next few seconds were a blur with a series of fast punches to his body and kicks to his legs. Before he knew it, he somehow found himself backed into a wall. A maniacal grin had spread across Jaegerjaquez's face and for a moment, Ichigo truly felt fear for the first time in seven years. His fists were faster than ever, raining down on all parts of Ichigo's torso he could reach and Ichigo could only lift his arm helplessly in front of him to attempt to ward off some of the blows.

Then suddenly, the beating stopped and Ichigo felt his hands being pushed above his head and forcibly held there. Dazed at the abrupt change of pace, Ichigo lifted his head up in askance. A wet warmth descended upon his lips and bit and nipped at them. Still not fully comprehending what was happening, Ichigo winced when he felt a sharp pain on his lips. It was only when a warm and wet appendage forced its way into his mouth did he realise what was going on.

What...?! His eyes widened and he stilled.

He flushed in embarrassment the next second when he accidentally moaned. He could just feel the triumphant curve of a smirk in Jaegerjaquez's lips against his.

Then Jaegerjaquez descended onto his collarbone and Ichigo could not stop the mortifying whimper that tore out of his mouth. Jaegerjaquez's smugness almost became palpable and Ichigo felt his face burned. Rough hands roved all over his body and untucked his shirt from his pants. He jerked when warm fingers made contact with his skin and started tracing it. He briefly wondered when Jaegerjaquez grew so many hands before he realised that his own hands were no longer held up and were instead tangled in those natural blue locks.

His thoughts were rudely derailed when he felt Jaegerjaquez licking and biting his nipples. Ichigo gasped loudly at the sensation before moaning what sounded like a mangled version of Jaegerjaquez's name. Somehow in the short time when he was lost in his own thoughts, his shirt had been unbuttoned and his tee shirt pulled up to expose his nipples. The hot mouth latched onto his pert nubs, sucking and lightly biting on them before licking them apologetically. Ichigo lost all coherent thoughts he still had at that point.

The warm mouth returned to his lips again and this time, he opened his mouth to welcome Jaegerjaquez's rough tongue. He licked and sucked the roving tongue into his mouth, biting it teasingly when it started licking at the walls of his mouth. The heat retreated for a moment to let both of them breathe and Ichigo took the break to lean forward. He eagerly nipped at Jaegerjaquez's lips before pushing his own tongue into the other teen's mouth. Ichigo explored the new territory as he let his hands wander down the strong shoulders in front of him, stopping at the edge of Jaegerjaquez's unbuttoned shirt.

His hands were caught though before he could do anything else and Jaegerjaquez broke away from the kiss. His teal eyes were unreadable as he leaned his forehead against Ichigo's. Their breaths mingled as they inhaled and exhaled and Ichigo could only breathe shallowly at the intimate moment. Finally, without breaking eye contact, Jaegerjaquez reached down for the button of Ichigo's pants and popped it open. Ichigo gulped and tensed, fingers digging into the broad shoulders as he felt and heard his zipper being pulled down.

Then he abruptly disappeared from Ichigo's sight and Ichigo only had a brief glimpse of Jaegerjaquez kneeling down in front of him before his vision exploded into white spots. His hands let go of those shoulders as he pitched forward weakly. Ichigo gasped loudly at the new sensation, feeling his whole body turned into jelly as Jaegerjaquez licked and sucked his cock enthusiastically. His hand tangled back into blue locks as he leant against Jaegerjaquez. Only the rough hands on his hips managed to keep him upright as he moaned and groaned loudly in appreciation of Jaegerjaquez's ministration on the hottest and most sensitive part of his body.

His breathing sped up and the spots increased their dance across his eyes as Jaegerjaquez started humming. Ichigo's hands tightened onto Jaegerjaquez's head, causing him to jerk and his teeth to lightly scrap the underside of Ichigo's cock. With a yell, Ichigo came, his vision blanking out for those few seconds.

By the time he managed to shake himself out of his post-coital bliss, he found himself sprawled ungracefully on the grass. Dazedly, he looked up and frowned. Jaegerjaquez was already dressed and in fact, looked almost decent.

Coming near him, Jaegerjaquez gave the teen slumped on the ground an almost fond nip on his lips, "We will never be over, Ichigo,"

Bewildered and completely not understanding what Jaegerjaquez meant, Ichigo could only stare at the back of his head as Jaegerjaquez turned to leave the courtyard.

"By the way," Jaegerjaquez twisted around, "Next time, it's Grimmjow, not Jaegerjaquez," He leered before turning back, giving a small wave as he entered the school building.

Ichigo continued staring for a few moments before he finally managed to gather his wits. He scowled when he realised that his pants were still unzipped and was pooling around his ankles. He hurriedly made to pull it up before anyone else caught sight of his exposed bits.

That ass, couldn't he at least pull my underwear up?!

Ichigo was not exactly sure when he realised he might have a bit of a crush on Jaegerjaquez. It might have been at the time when another bully had appeared and Jaegerjaquez had proclaimed Ichigo to be his. It might have been that time when he had broken the window and Jaegerjaquez had taken the rap for him. Or it might have been the time when he drew something in Art class and said it was meant for Ichigo.

Though truthfully, the picture was really badly drawn which had made Ichigo thought it as another insult at that time. Jaegerjaquez had gotten angry when Ichigo refused to take the picture and he ended tearing it into pieces before lunging at Ichigo and delivering several punches. A few weeks later, he overheard the Art teacher commenting that Jaegerjaquez drew worse than a three year old and lamenting the loss of the torn up picture which happened to be one of the better ones. He had felt something funny flutter in his stomach at that moment.

But whenever he thought that Jaegerjaquez was being remotely kind, he would turn around the next moment and provoke Ichigo. Ichigo never knew what to expect and it left him rather confused at the whole hot and cold attitude.

One thing for sure, life was never boring with Jaegerjaquez around.

"Hey man, you alright?"

Ichigo looked up from his homework and raised his eyebrow at the person standing in his doorway, "Ah Renji... Goat-chin let you in again? Tsk, he should be more discerning on who could enter his house,"

"Why you brat!" Renji lunged forward and grabbed Ichigo into a headlock, "Show some gratitude that I'm here showing you concern!"

"Okay okay! Stop!" Ichigo struggled to get away from the hands that were wrapped around his neck and ruffling his hair.

Renji pulled away after a few more seconds, "See if I ever be such a good friend again,"

"Yeah yeah," Ichigo muttered under his breath as he straightened out his hair, "So what brings you here on this fine afternoon which you have chosen to spend with your male friend instead of your girlfriend?"

Renji narrowed his eyes, "Ass, and to think I was worried about you the whole afternoon,"

"...oh,"

"Yeah, oh," Renji rolled his eyes as he sat himself down onto Ichigo's bed, "You disappeared after lunch! After Jaegerjaquez dragged you away! Did you think I would not be worried? I keep thinking that I would find your body beaten into a pulp at every corner,"

"Oh erm," Ichigo fidgeted nervously before flushing deeply, Renji's words bringing up memories of the afternoon.

"So..." Renji eyed Ichigo's pink cheeks suspiciously, "What happened exactly?"

Ichigo hesitated. On one hand, he really wanted to seek a second opinion because Jaegerjaquez's actions confused the hell out of him. On the other hand, he would really like to keep what had happened a secret between just the two of them.

Then he frowned. Would it really be just the two of them? How could he be so sure that Jaegerjaquez had not gone back to his friends and had a great laugh at Ichigo's expense?

He looked up at Renji's suspicious face, maybe Renji could make sense of this whole situation?

"Well?" Renji crossed his arms behind his head expectantly.

"Hey Renji..."

"Yeah?"

"Say... would you do something intimate with a guy you don't like? Just so you can laugh at him?"

Renji uncrossed his arms in surprise and leaned forward at the unexpected question, "What exactly are we talking about?"

"Erm, kissing, some groping..." Ichigo flushed, unable to finish listing the things that Jaegerjaquez had done to him.

"Hmm," Renji tapped his fingers against his thighs as he considered the scenario, "Groping is fine, I guess... Kissing is pushing it somewhat. It really depends on how much I don't like the guy. Why? What has that got to do with this afternoon?"

Ichigo flushed deeper.

And then it clicked, "What?! You mean he kissed and groped you?!" Renji yelled, standing up from the bed in his agitation.

"Shut up you idiot!" Ichigo hissed, "Could you please not announce it to my whole family!"

"And you! Don't be an idiot! Report him for sexual harassment! If it's him, he could do anything just to make life hell for you!" Renji hissed back.

"So you think he was just pulling my leg?"

Renji sat back down and crossed his arms, "Well yeah, we're talking about Jaegerjaquez here. The guy who had bullied you for the past seven years,"

"But could he really do something like that with someone he hates...?" Ichigo trailed off, his eyebrows knotted together in uncertainty.

"Well... it really depends," Renji narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Was it really just kissing and groping?"

Ichigo fidgeted under the intense stare before mumbling out an answer, turning red as he did so.

"Ichigo..." Renji said warningly.

"He... mighthavegivenmeablowjob," Ichigo said hurriedly, his cheeks burning.

Renji gaped in shock when the rushed words sunk in, "HE WHAT?!"

"SHHH! Keep it down!"

"Er yeah okay," Renji replied dazedly, his thoughts spinning faster than he could process, "I'm just in shock right here. Give me a few seconds,"

"Yeah, you don't say. Think about me, I experienced it firsthand,"

"So was it good?" Renji asked, his voice faint but still slightly curious.

Ichigo's cheeks flared, "Renji!"

"Hey! It's not like it's a common occurrence, of course I would like to know. So?"

"...yeah,"

Renji let out a loud laugh, clutching his sides as he tried to hold it in, "Oh this is priceless,"

Ichigo scowled at his reaction, crossing his arms as he waited for Renji to had his fill of laughing, "So? What do you think?"

Renji composed himself at the serious question, though a few snickers still escaped his mouth when he looked at Ichigo. In the end, he focused his view on the table somewhere behind Ichigo so that he would not be tempted to laugh. But before he could speak, Ichigo had already beaten it to him.

"Do you think he could do something like that for a laugh? It's not like it's rape exactly. I mean there could be better ways if he wanted to rape me. But a blowjob, that's more like giving me pleasure while not getting any himself. Unless he gets off on just giving blowjobs. But still! Normally people would rather someone else suck their cock, not sucking on someone else's. And, I'm quite sure he swallowed it. So okay, I was in somewhat of a daze, but I clearly didn't remember him spitting out anything, so he had to have swallowed it. Would you really be able to just suck and swallow your worst and most hated enemy? It's not like it tastes goo -"

"Woah woah woah Ichigo," Renji clapped his hands onto Ichigo's shoulder to stop his rambling, "I could tell you have been thinking a lot about this,"

"Yeah," Ichigo huffed, "I just can't stop thinking about it. Seriously, I mean, would you do something like that?"

"To someone I dislike? Definitely no. Even if it's a friend, like you, it's definitely a no way," Renji paused, "No hard feelings,"

"I'll be worried if you wanted," Ichigo muttered, "But yeah, exactly. So I can't make heads or tails of his actions,"

"Hmm, when you put it this way, the last seven years seemed to be just UST,"

"What's UST?" Ichigo's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Renji grinned, "Oh, does poooooooor little Ichigo not know what it means?" He burst into laughter.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Get out of here you unhelpful idiot,"

Still laughing, Renji stood up, "Alright then, I'll be off, seeing that you're fine. Don't drag the UST out for too long!" Renji dodged the pillow thrown at him and left, still laughing on his way down the stairs.

Once he was sure that Renji was out of the house, Ichigo quickly turned on his computer, his fingers drumming impatiently as he waited for it to boot up.

His face burned when he found out what UST meant.

The next few days passed the same way. Jaegerjaquez treated him the same way and it was as if nothing had ever happened between them. Ichigo was not sure what to feel. Relieved that they had remained status quo? Or disappointed that they are still stuck at square one?

Though now that Renji had opened the can, Ichigo started attributing everything that Jaegerjaquez did as UST. The not-so-friendly shoves, the rude gestures and the arrogant smirks.

Renji's snickering had not been helpful.

"Hello there Kurosaki,"

Ichigo looked up from fiddling with his MP3 player and spotted three third-years blocking his path.

"What do you want," Ichigo said shortly, still frustrated from having his locker messed up by Jaegerjaquez and was in no mood to entertain nonsense from any other people.

"What do you think?" One of them leered at him, "We saw what happened the other day, right here,"

Ichigo rolled his eyes, stuffing his MP3 into his bag at the same time, "Oh yeah? What happened? And honestly, a word of advice, you might want to practice that look in the mirror sometime, it's not flattering at all,"

"Shut it bitch, we saw you spreading your legs the other day. Is that how you got away unharmed so many times?" The leader of the three seniors sneered, "Well, no matter, now why don't you be a good whore and spread them again for us,"

Ichigo snorted before glancing around, the school was empty, seeing that it was rather late in the afternoon. That was good, no one would see him breaking the jaws of these three idiots and report him to the teachers.

"How about no," He deadpanned.

"Don't get smart with us. You don't want to hurt your pretty face do you," The leader gestured for the other two to circle their prey.

Ichigo slung his bag across shoulders before cracking his knuckles, "Well, I would have said that right back at you, but then again, you're not really pretty so I guess it doesn't matter if I mess it up further," Ichigo taunted, "Come on, you cowards,"

The two lackeys rushed forward and grabbed hold of his elbow, pinning his hands back in the same motion, "You can't run now," One of them grinned lecherously as his hand travelled down to grope Ichigo's ass.

In retaliation, Ichigo kicked his legs out and swept it in a circular motion, catching Lackey Number One by his knees and causing him to fall backwards before his hands could reach their target. At the same time, his right hand twisted in Lackey Number Two's grip, successfully loosening his hold. While Number Two was still staring in surprise at Number One, Ichigo grabbed his elbow, straightened it as he hefted it over his shoulder and single-handedly yanked. Number Two yelped in shock as he was thrown over Ichigo's shoulder, landing right next to Number One who was still groaning on the ground.

"Weak," Ichigo muttered as he straightened up, giving a few more kicks to Number One and Two for good measures, "Well then," He turned his attention back to the leader who had lost his smirk, "Come on you ugly bastard,"

"J-just you wait, Kurosaki!" The leader shouted as he took a few step backwards, "You better watch your back!" With that he turned and fled.

Ichigo snorted, "Coward," He looked down at Number One and Two on the ground, "Choose a better leader next time," He kicked their shins a few more times.

Getting only a few groans in reply, Ichigo tugged his shoulder strap again before turning to leave. Being seen bullied by Jaegerjaquez for so many years, other people tended to think that he was weak and tried their hands at bullying him. Of course that was not true, but those that he beat down never repeat their experience to anyone else and everyone continued to hold the misconception that he was weak. It was probably embarrassing to admit that they had been defeated by someone thought to be the weakest in the school.

Ichigo did not mind being thought of as weak. It was always refreshing to beat up his attackers, especially after a whole day of suffering at Jaegerjaquez's hands.

"Though the whore thing is new," Ichigo muttered under his breath, "Stupid Jaegerjaquez," His face burned at the memory.

"So... I've got some news for you," Renji said cheerily as he appeared out of nowhere and plopped himself right beside Ichigo, "Nice place by the way," He gestured at the large tree Ichigo was leaning against.

"What're you doing here?" Ichigo picked up his unopened juice that he had dropped in surprise when Renji had popped up suddenly

"Having lunch with you, what else does it look like?" Renji dropped the few bread that he was holding onto the ground.

"Hmm," Ichigo answered noncommittally as he rifled through the stack of bread before grabbing one.

"Hey! That's my favourite!"

"Everything is your favourite, don't be stingy,"

"Ugh, you punk. Fine, be glad that I'm in a good mood today,"

"So," Ichigo started as he munched noisily on his stolen bread, "What did you want to tell me?"

"Oh right, so I saw you kicking those third year asses, nice throw by the way, and thought to come down to congratulate you,"

"Wait wait, where were you? I didn't see you around,"

"A few floors up, serving detention with Hatsutori-sensei,"

"Detention again?"

"Yes. Now shut up and let me continue," Renji shot a look of annoyance at Ichigo, "So anyway, I saw you fighting them as I was packing my bag and thought about helping you out. Though judging from yesterday, you didn't need any. Why are you pretending to be weak anyway? Oh well, that's not important. The thing is, as I was going down the stairs, I saw Jaegerjaquez beating up Toriyama!" Renji finished excitedly.

"Hmm okay, so who's that?"

"Ichigo!"

"What?"

"Ugh! Remember the guy you let off? The one who ran off?" Renji prompted.

"The leader of the uglies?"

Renji paused, "Yeah, that one. That's Toriyama,"

"Okay,"

"Okay?! What you mean by that? Don't you get it? Jaegerjaquez was beating him up!"

"So what has that got to do with me?" Ichigo said disinterestedly.

"Everything! Don't you see! He was beating that guy up cause he was trying to make a move on you!"

"Oh," Ichigo mumbled thoughtfully through his bread, "But that's nothing new,"

Renji's eyes bugged out, "Woah, backtrack here, what do you mean by that's nothing new? It happened before?"

"Well yeah, Jaegerjaquez had always been a little possessive. It's not the first time that he beat up those that had tried to bully me,"

Renji slapped a hand over his eyes, "You really are dense. If this has been happening for awhile then it means that Jaegerjaquez had liked you for quite some time!"

"Really?" Ichigo paused in his eating, "But it's rather normal for a bully to be possessive with their prey right,"

"Hmm," Renji sat himself back down from when he had leaned forward in his enthusiastic story-telling, "Now that you put it that way, maybe? I really don't know. I'm not exactly a bully myself,"

The two of them lapsed into silence.

"So what's your next move?" Renji asked after a few minutes.

Ichigo shrugged, "I tried to end this last week and looked where that got me,"

"You tried to end it? Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Ichigo scowled, "Who likes being bullied,"

"Well I kinda figured you didn't mind, if it was him. I mean it's not like you're weak but in all the seven years you didn't really fight back,"

"Yeah? I thought so too," Ichigo looked down at his empty wrapper, "But it's getting rather tiresome lately,"

"Get off my desk Jaegerjaquez," Ichigo found his blue hair tormentor sitting on his table again.

A few days had passed since his conversation with Renji and surprisingly, Jaegerjaquez had not bothered him for the past few days. An indescribable loneliness had welled up within him when he realised that Jaegerjaquez may never annoy him again. So finding Jaegerjaquez sitting on his desk like he used to, made a strange mixture of relief and indignation swept through him.

Azure eyes locked onto his own as its owner grabbed his collar and dragged him forward. Ichigo scowled at the treatment and tried to pry Jaegerjaquez's hands off him.

"So I heard from a little birdie," At this Jaegerjaquez glanced towards his right and Ichigo followed his line of vision, "That you're getting tired of this,"

Renji, that traitor! Ichigo glared hard at his friend, who held up both hands in mock surrender. A grin slowly spread across his face and one hand changed into a thumbs-up.

"Look at me!" Jaegerjaquez hissed, dragging Ichigo's attention back to himself.

Ichigo looked him up and down, "Yeah I am. I told you before, let's end this,"

"And I said this before as well, we will never be over,"

Behind him, Ichigo heard a few gasps and at that moment, Ichigo realised that the whole class had been silent throughout their exchange. It was like having a personal orchestra waiting for their cue.

"What do you want from me, Jaegerjaquez,"

"I also said this before, it's Grimmjow. Do you have short term memory?" He sneered.

"Fine, Grimmjow. Stop changing the subject. Have you made up your mind? What do you want?"

Ichigo stared at the other teen as he remained silent. Jaegerjaquez broke eye contact and his eyes darted everywhere except at Ichigo. He looked conflicted and his hold on Ichigo's collar loosened. Ichigo gently pulled his hands away from his shirt but kept the slightly clammy hands in his grip.

"Grimmjow," Ichigo said quietly.

Jaegerjaquez met his gaze and his hands tightened in Ichigo's grip. Slowly, Ichigo inched forward until their faces were a mere inch apart.

"Kiss me," He muttered.

And Jaegerjaquez complied.