Renji blinked and looked over. “What, you’ve really never…?”

Ichigo couldn’t help bristling. “That’s perfectly normal, you know!”

“Ah, right.” Renji leaned back on the grass again, arms crossed behind his head. “I keep forgetting how damn young you are.” After a contemplative moment he looked over again, frowning. “Wait, so are you asking…?”

“Not asking a damn thing,” Ichigo muttered, setting his back more firmly against the scratchy bark of a tree and looking fixedly off into the distance, not in any state of mind to appreciate the sunlit day or the soft rustle of leaves here at the edge of the Court of Pure Souls. He heard Renji snort.

“Yeah, whatever.” Louder rustling made him look back to see Renji climbing to his feet and briskly swiping grass bits out of his hakama. “C’mere, then.”

“Wha…?” Ichigo stiffened as Renji pulled him away from the tree with a hand at his back. How did people manage this without panicking? What was he supposed to do with his hands, anyway? When he finally settled them gingerly on Renji’s sleeves he looked up to find himself eye to… chin with Renji. “Um…”

“Nah, up here.” Renji’s smile was crooked as ever but his fingers were gentle as he set a knuckle under Ichigo’s chin and tipped it up. Ichigo still couldn’t stop his hands tightening on Renji’s sleeves.

“Renji…” His voice had turned husky, too, and he hadn’t meant it to.

Renji’s smile untilted for once. “It’s okay.” He leaned down and Ichigo’s breath sucked in as Renji’s mouth brushed his, light. And then again. It made shivery little feelings run down his spine. He gasped outright when the tip of Renji’s tongue brushed his lower lip.

“So, you going to let me in?” Renji’s voice was low and quiet and Ichigo had to swallow.

“I… um.” Another quick breath. “Yeah?” And the way Renji smiled at him was positively embarrassing, so he was kind of glad to close his eyes as Renji leaned down again.

The embarrassment frittered away to nothing when Renji’s tongue slid into his mouth, because sensation was suddenly everything. The slow, wet slide sent heat rushing down between his legs so fast he was light-headed. It would have been obscene, that wet softness filling his mouth, if it didn’t feel so good.

When Renji finally drew back Ichigo found himself breathing fast, clutching Renji’s arms, pressed up against him. One big hand was cradling the back of his head, supporting him, and okay, yeah, that was kind of a good thing.

“Good?” Renji murmured.

“Yeah,” Ichigo managed after a moment. “I, um. Thanks.”

Renji’s smile slid into a more familiar grin, toothy and sharp. “Hey. My pleasure.”

Hot face and uneven breath and all, Ichigo couldn’t help laughing at that.

Asking Renji had been a good choice.

End