Private

Chapter 6

Chapter 6:
Ichigo, who was currently in the middle of having his shirt pulled off, jumped when someone knocked on the door and looked up at Grimmjow in worry. "Did you invite someone over?"
Grimmjow frowned and glanced behind himself at the bedroom door. "No, no-one should be here." Looking back at Ichigo, he shrugged and grinned, leaning down to kiss him. "Just ignore them, they'll get the message and go away."
Ichigo grinned and locked his fingers in Grimmjow's hair, pulling the man down on top of him. "Sounds good to me." Grimmjow growled in annoyance when they knocked again, frustrated beyond belief as he was currently in the middle of undoing Ichigo's trousers. Ichigo chuckled at the look on his face and sat up. "Just go answer the door; I'll still be here when you get back."
"Yeah, you better be," Standing up with a sigh, Grimmjow left the room and strode to the front door and opened it. He stared in confusion at the person on the other side. "What are you doing here Kuchiki?"
She looked up at him through narrowed eyes, folding her arms as she squared up next to him. "Where's Ichigo?"
Grimmjow lent against the doorframe and eyes her sceptically, noting Renji further down the corridor, watching him apprehensively. "You followed him didn't you?"
"Does it matter if we did or not? Now where is he?"
"He's in my bedroom, currently in the process of being undressed. Wanna see him?"
Whatever Rukia was expecting, it wasn't that and for a moment she stood there in a stupor before she pushed past Grimmjow to march into the bedroom. Ichigo jumped when the bedroom door slammed open and his mouth opened in shock when Rukia marched in and glared at him.
"Care to explain this Ichigo?"
Ichigo quickly grabbed his shirt and pulled it on, redoing his trousers before standing up. Clearing his throat, Ichigo ran a hand through his hair. "I, uh..."
"You've been seeing Grimmjow?" Rukia asked exasperatedly, stepping forward to stand just in front of him. "What are you thinking Ichigo; this is the same guy that you've hated for over ten years now. What the hell changed?"
"Nothing's changed Rukia, well maybe a bit but still, things haven't changed that much."
"Changed? You're sleeping with him Ichigo!"
Before Ichigo could respond, she went back into the main room and he followed, seeing Renji stood awkwardly with Grimmjow. "You." She pointed at Grimmjow and went to stand in front of him. "Why Ichigo? Do you really expect us to believe you've just magically fallen in love with him?"
Grimmjow snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'm not in love with him Kuchiki. It's just sex, that's it."
Ichigo, who was about to defend their relationship, or lack of, stopped and looked at Grimmjow in confusion. He sighed heavily and rubbed his head. "Rukia..." She paused mid-rant and glanced at him, noting the hurt in his voice. "Just leave, I'll talk to you tomorrow." Hearing the now quiet desperation in his voice, she nodded and grabbed Renji's arm and they left.
Ichigo waited until they had gone to turn and glare at Grimmjow, who looked back with a confused frown. "What?"
"What did you mean by 'it's just sex'?"
Grimmjow shrugged and pushed away from the wall to stand in front of him and grasp his shoulders gently. "What do you think I mean. That's all there is between us isn't there? When has it ever been anything else?"
Ichigo scowled and pushed him away. "I don't appreciate you telling people that. You make it sound like you're using me and I don't want people thinking that. I don't want to be used and then for you to throw me away when you're done and get bored."
He made a move to go around Grimmjow and leave, but was stopped when Grimmjow grabbed his arm. "Why are you leaving? Wasn't it clear from the beginning that this was only ever going to be sex?"
"It wasn't clear to me."
"So what did you expect to happen? You expected us to fall in love and end up together? Have the perfect happy ending, because that's bullshit Ichigo and you know it."
"No that's not what I expect! But I do expect a level of respect from you!"
"Respect? Nothing about this has anything to do with respect Kurosaki!" Turned away and ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh before turning back to Ichigo. If he really wanted to do this now, then he wouldn't show any weakness in front of him. "You will never become someone I need, I can easily replace you and that's it, nothing else."
Ichigo stepped back like he'd been slapped and looked away for a moment before rubbing his face. Walking around Grimmjow, he yanked the door open. "I'm done with this, I'm done with you."
He left without a backwards glance, but Grimmjow's last words as he called after him still managed to leave what felt like a stab to his chest. "You'll be back within a day Kurosaki!" Slamming the door shut, Grimmjow sighed and rubbed his head before slamming his palm into the wall with a yell. "What the hell have I done?"
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Ichigo sighed heavily and banged his head none too gently against the elevator wall. "C'mon Ichigo, you knew this would happen eventually. Better now than when you've actually fallen in love with him." When the doors opened down at the lobby, he looked up and slowly left and at the entrance he could see it was raining heavily. Since Renji and Rukia had already gone, Ichigo knew he'd have to walk. "Great."
Stepping out in the rain, Ichigo drew his blazer closer and looked down with another sigh. He rubbed the spot on his chest where it ached, but he knew it wasn't physical, Grimmjow's last words still echoing in his head. Ichigo felt the warm tears leaves tracks down his face and rubbed one away before laughing shakily.
"Guess I already fell for him huh."
"Ichigo!"
He stiffened when he heard Grimmjow call his name and shook his head, continuing walking down the street. "It's not real Ichigo, you're imagining things."
"For god's sake Ichigo will you stop?!"
He whirled around, not caring if Grimmjow saw him crying, he just wanted to be left alone. "What?! What else could you possibly have to say to me?!"
Grimmjow stopped in front of him and sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Come back."
"Come back?" Ichigo asked, almost laughing in disbelief. "Are you insane? You just told me I mean nothing to you!" Ichigo stepped forward and pointed a finger threateningly at him. "Why the hell would I want to come back with you? I want nothing to do with you."
Grimmjow reached out to touch him but Ichigo slapped his hand away. Grimmjow sighed and tried again, grabbing Ichigo's arms and pulling him against his body. Ichigo struggled but he knew it was pointless since Grimmjow was stronger than him.
"Let me go!"
"Ichigo listen to me! I'm sorry!"
"Sorry?!" Ichigo managed to get back enough to glare up at him, only for it to falter and he looked down with a sigh. "Why are you sorry? You were only telling me how it is weren't you? I guess it's my own stupid fault for believed this could've been something else." Ichigo looked up at him again and Grimmjow swore, when he saw those tear filled eyes, he never wanted to be the cause of it again. "Just let me go already."
"No."
Ichigo tried to pull his hands free again, only to fail. Chewing on his lip, he made a quick decision as to how to get Grimmjow to let go and quickly leaned forward to kiss him. Just as he hoped, Grimmjow's grip on his wrists loosened but before he could pull away, Grimmjow let go of him to cup his face, deepening the kiss.
Ichigo's initial plan was completely forgotten and he reached up to grab Grimmjow's collar, pulling him down slightly. When they broke apart, Ichigo's eyes flickered open to see Grimmjow looking down at him with a soft smile and he shivered. Pulling Grimmjow down further, Ichigo wrapped his arms around his neck and sighed heavily, closing his eyes again.
"Tell me you love me." Grimmjow frowned and tried to pull away, only to have Ichigo's arms tightened around his neck. "Please." He murmured, his voice barely audible over the rain. "I know you won't mean it, I just need to hear you say it."
He sighed and pressed his head to Ichigo's wet hair and wrapped his arms around the man's lithe frame. "I love you." When he said it, he meant it with every fibre in his body and he hoped Ichigo knew that too.
Ichigo shivered and let go, slowly pulling away to look Grimmjow in the eyes. "I love you too." Leaning forward, he kissed Grimmjow quickly before completely breaking contact with him. "Thank you." Ichigo smiled softly and turned to leave, but Grimmjow pulled him back again.
"Stay Ichigo."
"Why?"
"Because it's raining and dark, do you really think it's the best time to be walking through town?"
Ichigo sighed and looked down to contemplate his options, although he already knew what he was going to do. "Ok."
Grimmjow held out his hand and Ichigo hesitated before slowly taking it in his own and letting Grimmjow lead him back to his flat. Following him in, Ichigo stood in the middle of the room and wrapped his arms around himself. Grimmjow glanced back at him and sighed before turning around to face him.
"You can stay in a spare room if you want."
"Yeah." Ichigo nodded and followed him down the corridor into another room he hadn't noticed before.
"There's a bathroom in there." Grimmjow pointed at the other door in the room and Ichigo nodded again, chewing his lip anxiously.
"M'kay."
Grimmjow watched Ichigo rub his arm, noting he was refusing to meet his gaze and sighed before moving to leave the room, kissing Ichigo's head as he went. "You know where I'll be if you need me."
"Thanks." Ichigo waited until he'd left the room before sighing heavily and sinking onto the bed to hold his head in his hands. "What am I doing?" He glanced at the bathroom and bit his lip.
I really should shower, besides, my clothes are soaked and I'm freezing. Grimmjow did say I could use it if I wanted to.
He nodded to himself and stood up, peeling off the soaking wet clothes to hand them over the radiator to dry before shivering. Heading into the bathroom, Ichigo turned the shower on and stepped under the warm spray, sighing happily as his body warmed up again.
He rubbed the back of his neck and frowned, thinking back over everything that had happened in the space of a short few hours and snorted. "Why the hell did I ask him to tell me he loved me? What am I doing here when I should've just gone home?"
Ichigo shook his head and turned off the shower, grabbing a towel as he opened the door to go back into the bedroom. He looked up and froze in shock when he found Grimmjow there, currently in the middle of collecting his wet clothes and instantly covered himself whilst blushing furiously.
Grimmjow was the first to move and he stood up, clearing his throat and carefully averting his eyes from Ichigo's naked form. "I was uh, just gunna dry your clothes. I left clean ones on the bed."
"T-thanks." Grimmjow nodded and left quickly, leaving Ichigo to exhale shakily, not realising he'd been holding his breath. He glanced at the bed to see the spare clothes and changed into them before curling up in the bed. "I really need to sort this out tomorrow."
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Grimmjow threw Ichigo's clothes into the dryer and turned it on before leaning against the counter with a heavy sigh. Closing his eyes, the image of Ichigo walking out the bathroom came to mind and he groaned, rubbing his forehead. He jumped when his phone rang and pulled it out to see it was Nelliel and groaned again before answering the call.
"What Nel?"
"Hey Grimmy! How's things going?"
"Oh just perfect."
"What's wrong?"
Grimmjow sighed and leant against the counter again, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's Ichigo."
Nel took a moment to reply, and he could hear the hesitation in her voice. "Did you tell him?"
"Yeah. But he thinks I only said it because I asked him to, not because I actually meant it."
"Where is he now?"
"In the spare room, probably asleep."
She sighed and Grimmjow could practically see her chewing her nails in worry and smiled. "You should tell him the truth Grimmy."
"Yeah I will."
"Soon."
"Ok Nel, I will."
"Good. I'm coming down tomorrow, see you then."
"Sure." He dropped the phone on the side and rubbed his head with a heavy sigh before glancing at the door to the spare room. Shaking his head, he snorted and went into his own room. "Now is definitely not the time."