A/N: sorry for the absence, busy summer :) and my mind's been on INCEPTION lately, so I hit a writer's block that I'm not reluctant to admit I have to qualms about. It was great writer's block; the whole week I have been reading Inception's fanfic and couldn't afford to think about anything else. It was amazing. I order you guys to see it XD oh, and the new bleach chapter too, READ IT! Epicness!

Ahem, well on to the story...

Chapter 2

"Hello."

"Hey." A clink of ice against glass.

Aizen smiled. "You know we have rules here," he casually commented. "No one under 18?"

"And?" The boy talked back. "I'm 21, how does that concern me?"

"No, you are not." Aizen flashed another bright smile. "You, my dear boy, are definitely 18, if not younger."

The teen stared at Aizen's amused face as if to glare him down, but the older man only returned the look right back with an unflappable gaze. With a scoff, the teen drank the last drops of the shot and slammed the glass down onto the bar counter. "I'll leave then."

He made a move to get up, but Aizen lightly held him down by the shoulder. The teen turned to look at the man, frowning, but confused all the same.

"I'm looking for someone to drink with anyway," said Aizen, casually ordering two more drinks with a lift of his fingers. He glanced back at the teen. "So stay."

"You sure about that? I mean, you just asked me to leave a moment ago."

"I only informed you of the law…nothing more," said Aizen.

The teen lifted an eyebrow in suspicion. "Not gonna get in trouble with you boss?"

Aizen chuckled at that. "No, do not worry about that. I can do as I pleased."

"You boss sure is lenient around here," the teen commented with an indifferent attitude.

"Well." Aizen smiled. "Thank you for the compliment."

The teen's eyes widened and his mouth hung opened. He coughed in mortification. "Sorry, didn't know—."

"It is fine." Aizen brushed the apologies off with a simple hand wave, eyes staring at the teen with interest. "Give me your name and I'll call it even," he offered.

"…Ichigo."

The teen was scowling, but Aizen didn't care. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Ichigo. My name is Aizen Sousuke, and thank you…for keeping me company this evening."

"No problem—wait, Aizen Sousuke. THE Aizen Sousuke? Geez why didn't you tell me before?" The teen looked around wildly. 'Endearing,' thought Aizen. "This is your bar?"

"You came in here without knowing?" Aizen asked, actually a bit surprised. He tossed a glance towards the door where Nnoitra was checking people's IDs—or rather, doing whatever he wanted. "It would seem that someone's not doing their job properly…"

"If you're talking about that tall guy with long hair, yeah, he actually invited me in—cut the line and everything. I wasn't even heading here in the first place," said Ichigo, lifting up the glass to drink. "I think he was coming on to me…but I couldn't tell…he was too blunt I didn't know if he was making fun of me or actually want to have a go at me."

"That is Nnoitra…Trust me, he is not very good when it comes to flirting." Aizen mentally shook his head at his employee, and then, shifting his eyes to Ichigo, he continued. "He is not making fun of you, I can tell you that much."

To his surprise, the teen blushed.

"Ichigo?"

"Shut up." He buried his face into his arms

"Okay, but will you care to join me another time if I promise you that?"

Ichigo peaked up to face the man. He paused for a moment in consideration and then muttered something into his arms.

Aizen's smile never left his face. "Pardon?"

"Yes, sure, whatever."

It was going to be a fun night indeed.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

So, after that one faithful night, the two started to go out—if they could even call it that.

It was nothing much, really. They only agreed to meet at Hueco Mundo in the evening since the teen was still suspicious of him. It wasn't something that Aizen had a problem with. In fact, Aizen thought that it was rather perceptive of the boy.

He wasn't in any illegal business, per se, but some of his acquaintances may have dirtied their hands a couple of times to get where they were now. Aizen was close with these acquaintances. Gin, particularly. And the fox-eyed man always had a tendency to bring trouble everywhere he went. And then Aizen had to help clear up the mess.

He grimaced at the thought. It would be best not to let Gin meet Ichigo, or at the very least not any time soon.

"Would you consider going on a date this Saturday?"

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow as an answer. "No."

"May I ask why not?"

"Cus, didn't we agree that I was just going to be your drinking buddy. Nothing else, Aizen-san."

"There was no such agreement," said Aizen, frowning. He didn't like it when Ichigo used honorifics with him. "Are you still worried about my age?"

Yes, Ichigo was also a little troubled by the age difference, another fact that Aizen was not bother with—well, not much anyway. But since the teen didn't seem to completely trust him yet, Aizen had no choice but to play the role of a patient boyfriend, even if they weren't exactly on that level yet.

"No," the teen lied. A pause. "Yes."

Sighing, Aizen slicked back his hair and played with his glass, swirling the ices with a movement of his wrist.

"I'm not exactly at an appropriate age to date you yet, you know. Shouldn't you be worried about going to jail?" Ichigo said.

"No." The response was quick. Aizen stared at Ichigo. "You're eighteen, aren't you?"

"Technically, not yet. My birthday is tomorrow night. So yeah…" Ichigo muttered. He changed his approach. "How about being branded as a pedophile?" Ichigo asked with a scowl.

"Well, that is…" Aizen paused. "Wait, Ichigo, your birthday is tomorrow night?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but it's nothing to get all hyped up about."

"I beg to differ."

Aizen proposed that they should go on an official date. It had been a couple of weeks since they first met, and Aizen thought that it was high time to make a move. It wasn't such a long shot, and after a bit of persuasion from Aizen, Ichigo reluctantly agreed. The teen had scowled at him to hide a blush that always came out in his presence, but Aizen knew that Ichigo wasn't as unwilling as he seemed to be.

However, the start of their relationship was already marked with difficulties.

They were going to go to the movies during the day, but Aizen called at the last minute to tell Ichigo about a sudden meeting. The date got canceled, and Ichigo was miffed at the turn of events, so they decided to meet at the club tonight to at least spend some time together.

Apparently that was also the night Isshin caught on to the news that his son was finally dating someone.

What an interesting situation…

"So, when is this young man going to show up, my son?" asked Isshin enthusiastically. The three of them ended up ordering a late dinner at Hueco Mundo, and Aizen couldn't describe the atmosphere as anything else but awkward. Ichigo would agree.

"Uh…He called, and well, he said he had work," said Ichigo, which wasn't exactly a lie. Aizen did have work.

"Work? I thought your school doesn't allow part time jobs?"

"Uhhh…"

"You're dating an old guy?"

Aizen coughed, and Isshin looked at him, confused.

"No, dad, he's not old," said Ichigo. He paused. "Well, older than me, but not exactly old."

"Well, as long as it's not someone that's old enough to practically be your father, I think it's—."

Another cough.

Aizen saw Ichigo scowling at him.

It was not his fault.

"Well, now." Clearing his throat, Aizen turned Isshin's attention towards him with a charming smile and a raised glass. "Shouldn't we be congratulating Ichigo-kun on his relationship and not castigating him? I'm sure he's uncomfortable as it is with you here. Imagine, your own parents wanting to know everything about your love life, you wouldn't want that either, now, would you, Isshin?"

Ichigo cast a glance to his pondering father, shifting back and forth between him and Aizen in anxiety. Isshin didn't seem to be discouraged from the words at first, but then something changed his mind. Ichigo gratefully let out a small sigh of relief.

"I guess you're right, my friend…my son's all grown up now." Isshin shook his head, as if unbelieving. How the years have gone by, he thought. "I shouldn't be ruining his 18th birthday…" Mirroring Aizen's actions, Isshin raised his glass and smiled at Ichigo with glee. "TO ICHIGO! May you have the best, best, BEST life and beyond."

Then added, "and to your craziest love and sex life, too."

Ichigo nearly spluttered, while his dad downed his glass without any thought whatsoever about his discomfort. Across from him, Ichigo sensed Aizen smiling again and frowned. The man had the most shit-eating grin present on his lips and, oh, how Ichigo wished to smack it off.

He settled for mouthing a "fuck you" at the older man, then crossing him arms and looking away. However, Ichigo didn't miss the respond Aizen mumbled under his breath and he cursed, feeling warmth creeping onto his cheeks.

Given the situation, it was a surprise no one had died yet. No, he was not being overdramatic. He was being as real as he could be.

It was either going to be Aizen dying from his father's wrath, Isshin dying from his son strangling him, or Ichigo himself, dying from mortification.

He wanted to go home. A home where there're only he and his sisters. Goat-face could just go live in solitude for all he cared.

Sighing, Ichigo was about to excuse himself to go blow off some steam. His father, of course, had to choose the most opportune moment to finally take the hint and leave.

"Well, the night is still young. It's your birthday after all, so I'm not going to stay and be a party-pooper for you," Isshin winked at his son, and Ichigo had to bite back a remark. "I'm going to go home to greet my lovely daughters first. But remember to at least come home in the morning, Ichigo!"

The orange-haired teen groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I know! Geez, stop treating me like a kid already!" He clutched his hair and glared at his father. "Now, leave."

Isshin smirked and gave him a wave before disappearing out the door. But before Ichigo could sit down and actually begin his night with Aizen like they planned, Isshin poked his head back from the exit and bellowed at him.

"Oh, and don't forget to use protection, my son!"

"LEAVE!"

And with that, he disappeared, leaving Ichigo to wallow in self-loathing and resentment.

"Well," Aizen had to add. "At least he didn't come back through the entrance."

Ichigo didn't even want to picture it.

A/N: R&R plz XD I feel like my writing style has been deteriorating lately, so I'm kinda depressed T^T can't write anything at all...