Ichigo drummed his fingers at his table, trying to wait patiently for Grimmjow to finish his counts and start their little date.

'Here's to second chances, hmm?' He thought nervously.

He watched the barista twirl around the shop, putting dates on newly opened milks and creams, cleaning the syrup stand and wrapping up sandwiches for the next morning. He was being a little silly about it, juggling the products and gently ordering them to 'stay' once they were all neatly packed in the fridge. Ichigo giggled at the little show, making Grimmjow smile sheepishly.

"I'm not gonna lie, this will be my first time trying to impress a - a guy..." he said, carefully not making eye contact. "How am I doing so far? I just don't want to offend you or whatever..." Grimmjow trailed off, definitely embarrassed.

Ichigo laughed, "I think you're doing fine, I'm here aren't I?" causing Grimmjow to grin. "But this is my first time actually dating so, you know, don't be surprised if I get all... uhhh awkward?" He cringed, 'yes, awkward just like that sentence. Come on Ichigo, don't screw this up already!'

Grimmjow laughed at the flustered male, walking over to him. "Don't worry Princess, I'll take good care of y-"

"Don't call me Princess" Ichigo stood, squaring up with a growl. "I am NOT a damsel."

Grimmjow leaned in to Ichigo's personal space, evil grin spreading slowly, "But aren't you in a LITTLE distress?" He took in the scent of the orange haired man, feeling the heat coming off of him and watching the red gather in his ears.

'Too close!' Ichigo sat down very quickly, anything to get away from the dangerous barista. "Th-that's not fair! You have e-experience..." he mumbled, crossly telling his heart to calm down. "Are you done yet?" He nodded to the counter, trying to quickly change subjects.

Grimmjow grinned at the two ways the last sentence could be mixed up, "Done with you? No." He paused, "Done with closing up shop? Yes." He strolled over to the switches by the door, keys in hand and flicked the lights off. "Let's get out of here." Came his quiet voice in the dark.

'...' Ichigo's mind went blank as the darkness suddenly enveloped him. He slowly stood and picked his way to the door, fumbling along chair tops he couldn't see. Grimmjow was the only thing lit up from the streetlights outside the door, like a light at the end of a dark tunnel.

"Lead the way." He said as bravely as he could, his stomach was doing somersaults. He had been impatient all night to get to this part but now that he's here Ichigo suddenly became very patient and wouldn't have minded waiting another 10, 20, or 30 minutes for the barista to close up shop.

"So why Reishi?" Hands behind his head, Grimmjow was the picture of nonchalance.

Ichigo, on the hand, wasn't sure if dates were supposed to be so easy. They had been walking down the street, in what appeared go be no real direction, swapping pleasant conversation. Considering his last few dates, he assumed things were supposed to be difficult or at least on some level embarrassing.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, why do you spend so much time there? I doubt you even need to study for that last exam of yours, can't the teacher just count your sticky notes and give you an A+ or something?" Grimmjow snickered at his own joke, earning himself a playful punch in the arm.

'Holy hell he's solid!' Ichigo inwardly groaned, 'Don't touch him, it'll be hard to focus.' On the outside he was able to remain composed and answered, "Well it started with Chizuru working there and the rest of us went and checked it our after school, to make sure it was a decent place ya know? We were high school seniors and had to make sure everyone was safe."

"Wow that's really kind of you guys. Was she having difficulties with previous jobs? Because she's a chick or..?"

Ichigo paused and processed what Grimmjow might possibly mean. "Umm... oh! Oh! Hahaha oh god you've got it backwards!" He laughed loudly while his companion grew more confused. "No, no she was fine. She's always safe. It's the OTHER people at the Reishi we wanted to make sure were safe from HER!" Ichigo started giggling again and Grimmjow finally understood the humour.

"Ok, now that you say it like that I can finally see it. She a bit of a... umm predator?" He grinned apologetically, not wanting to offend his date.

But his date yet laughed harder, "Pfft! Oh, wow that didn't take you too long! She's so obvious. But she means well!"

The boys giggled and trailed off into silence for a bit. The dark empty streets were surprisingly comfortable. Ichigo chalked that up to the confidence-oozing man walking next to him. He felt safe in his presence.

'Che, cut that shit out Ichigo, I can handle myself!' He huffed at himself, catching the attention of Grimmjow.

"What's the matter doll?"

Immediately Ichigo bristled, "Seriously?"

Grimmjow pulled him to a stop with a gentle touch on the arm, "Hey, look I'm sorry. It's just a habit now." He tried to make eye contact by putting his face close to the stubborn orange-haired man, "this is still pretty new for me. I mean I've dated before, no problem but uh, well now I'm changing gears here so it might take a few bumps, Ok?" His hands rubbed up and down Ichigo's arms, leaving hot trails of tingles that he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

Ichigo nodded and smiled at the chastised man, deciding to just let it go and not be a whiner about the little things. It's true it would take time for Grimmjow to adjust, he wasn't about to be an ass and pout over every mistake. He'd try not to.

"Do you know where we are?"

"Of course, you didn't think we were just idly walking... wait... are you seriously lost right now?"

Ichigo felt his face flush with embarrassment, "I haven't really been paying that close attention..." He muttered to the side.

"So then what have you been paying such close attention to..." He looked around dramatically, his mouth made a large 'O' as he suddenly 'caught on'. His eyebrows shot up as his hand pointed to himself, mouth still open in 'shock'.

Ichigo shoved him away and started up walking again, doing his best to ignore his burning cheeks. He didn't get far before Grimmjow once again reached out and gently tugged him back. Being led around was getting tiresome and he was about to open his mouth and complain when he looked up and bumped right into Grimmjow's chest.

"Hey," he said lowly, his hand running down Ichigos neck and shoulder. "You know what?" He husked out, his captive's whole attention following those finger tips down his arm. He whispered directly into Ichigos ear, "you're going the wrong way." And with that his fingers curled around his dates and he pulled him off the sidewalk and onto a park trail.

Spell broken when the incredible heat of Grimmjow's body so close to his suddenly vanished, Ichigo allowed himself to be pulled onto the path, grumbling in embarrassment under his breath. "...Oh my god... what the hell... jackass... He can't just... unfair... fuck..."

The grin he got from all his half coherent statements was dazzling. 'Must be nice to know you're doing things right.'

They suddenly stopped and Ichigo looked around to see why.

They were standing on a beach.

Ichigos mouth dropped as he remembered their first date and their conversation about beaches. He looked up at Grimmjow, thoroughly impressed. 'This guy.'

They took off their shoes and walked along the water, Ichigo stepping on the very edge of the lapping waves while Grimmjow kept dry on the sand.

"Isn't it cold?"

A laugh, "Yes."

"Then why the fuck..?"

The orange haired man grinned up at him, "It's refreshing, I just like it."

"...weird fuckin' Strawberry".

Pause. "What was that?"

Grimmjow paused too, "I called you a Weird. Fuckin. Strawberry." He accentuated each word with a challenging step towards Ichigo but stopping just shy at the waters edge.

Well said Strawberry wasn't gonna have any of that! He ducked down and splashed a long arc of water directly along Grimmjow's front. The water fell away revealing a shell-shocked date and a smug Ichigo. "No Strawberry."

Grimmjow recovered and let loose a feral grin, rushed forward and grabbed Ichigo around the middle, backwards tackling him to the ground so Ichigo would land on him and not get hurt.

The student looked up to Grimmjow's face so close to his and tried to figure out how he ended up sideways so fast. 'That should've hurt... why didn't it... I'm laying on Grimmjow!? He's holding me so tight... so warm... need to get up! What the hell is wrong with me? God those eyes though..."

Grimmjow gave him a gentle squeeze, "Yes Strawberry." And rose a challenging eyebrow.

Ichigo sighed in defeat, "Fine! ...Strawberry." He struggled to stand, and this time was allowed up.

"Atta boy, remember who's in charge here." Came the knowing smirk as the blue haired man dusted himself off. Picking at his half-wet shirt.

Ichigo whirled around, "and who the fuck is that? You?" He got up in his dates face and poked him in the chest, "Why can't it be me?"

Grimmjow grabbed a hold of Ichigos belt loops and brought him flush with his body, lowly growling out "Why don't you try?"

Then he leaned in that extra inch to bring their lips together and steal his breath away.

Ichigo stalled out for eternity before Grimmjow started moving his lips and tilted his head, dominating the kiss and deepening it at the same time. Ichigo barely just caught on and began kissing back with equal enthusiasm. When it felt like he wasn't making much progress he raised his hands up to Grimmjow's hips and slowly, tentatively brushed his fingers up Grimmjow's sides.

The feather light touches caused waves of electricity and fondness to wash over him in equal doses, Grimmjow was definitely distracted.

Ichigo celebrated internally at the small win and continued trailing his hands higher. Over the well-built shoulders they ghosted, still too shy to try anything braver, and gently landed at the nape of Grimmjow's neck. He leaned back, blue eyes meeting brown. Both pleasantly surprised at this new development.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, Ichigo fluffed the soft hairs on the back of Grimmjow's neck and looked away, biting his lip. He wasn't used to all the strange feelings swirling inside of him. Sure he's read his fair share of romance novels but to actually experience this stuff first hand was blowing his mind. He didn't know how to disengage but he did know he was feeling overwhelmed.

Grimmjow chuckled and reached up to one of the hands on his neck, stepping back slowly and bringing the hand up to his lips. His eyes locked on Ichigos as he planted a very chaste kiss on the back of his hand and tilted his head towards the path where they came from.

Ichigo, stomach fluttering from the gentle touch, nodded and reluctantly removed his hand from Grimmjow before turning for his shoes. 'That was... really nice.'

They made their way to the street and Grimmjow hailed them a cab. "What, I'm all wet, remember?" He answered the questioning eyebrow, effectively breaking the happy silence between them.

The idle small talk wasn't doing anything to make Ichigo forget such a magical kiss on the beach. He thought of the little kiss on the hand too, 'That wasn't so bad. It surprised me but not in a bad way. Such a small thing but it felt so intimate...' he touched his hand in thought, 'Shinji definitely doesn't have a smooth bone in his body.' He looked over at Grimmjow, idly watching the town float by, 'He knows what he's doing. Dating isn't new to him like it is to me. I hope I don't make stupid decisions just because I'm excited...' he monitored his butterflies, 'This feels pretty genuine though...'

Grimmjow caught him staring and hesitantly held his hand. "What chya thinking so hard about?" He asked quietly, rubbing small circles into the back of Ichigos hand with his thumb.

"Just uh, your experience..." He flushed and internally ranted, 'stop saying EVERYTHING on your mind, you sound so stupid!'

Grimmjow paused and stared into Ichigos eyes, "This here," he held up their entwined hands for emphasis, "this is new to me too. Don't you worry 'bout a thing, I'll do enough of that for us both." He smiled sheepishly. "Don't YOU go and get swept off your feet by the next piece of meat your loud friend sets you up with." He leaned forward and kissed Ichigo's forehead awkwardly, "I want my chance first."

Ichigo watched as those blue eyes quickly looked out the window in a small moment of embarrassment. He smiled, "Don't worry, I'll tell Ren to take me off the market." He rubbed circles into Grimmjow's hand now, "besides," he gathered up a bold smirk, "I'm in charge now so I need to look out for you."

Blue eyes whipped around and pinned Ichigo with a totally predatorial look, causing Ichigo to internally sweat.

'I'm in for it now.'