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Grimmjow's face is really close to his. They've just finished a spar, this time going for hand-to-hand, which means that Ichigo is going to wake up quite bruised tomorrow, but there's nothing broken, at least.
And now they're standing up, Grimmjow having pulled him up by the hand, which he's still holding. They're so close, Ichigo can feel Grimmjow's breaths as puffs of air against his face.
He swallows. Grimmjow is just staring and Ichigo is… he can't look away. He doesn't think he's ever met anyone with such blue eyes and he's seen them with a lot of different emotions, mostly violent and aggressive ones. But that's not how Grimmjow is looking at him now, not at all.
He just looks… Ichigo can't help the way a breath gets stuck in his throat. Grimmjow looks at him like he's something precious.
Ichigo turns his eyes down to their hands. Grimmjow's hold is loose, around all five of his fingers. Ichigo rotates his hand slowly, not pulling away, and then interlaces their fingers. He swallows nervously again, then looks up.
Grimmjow's eyes are soft in a way Ichigo doesn't think he's ever seen before. It makes his heart start beating faster, though he's not afraid.
This is a long time coming. But Ichigo doesn't feel any regrets in slowly having gotten it. All the moments that he thought "this is it, we're going to kiss" and that didn't happen, he's okay with that. Because he remembers being really nervous then and while there's still some of that now, it's mostly anticipation. Anticipation and simply… enjoyment.
He's truly happy to be here, in this moment, with Grimmjow.
Ichigo inhales, once, lets the air out. Then he slowly approaches Grimmjow's face, leaves their hands where they are, raises his free one to Grimmjow's cheek, the one uncovered by his mask. Grimmjow turns his face before he's close and Ichigo almost thinks that he's read it all wrong, but Grimmjow just kisses his palm and Ichigo feels… he doesn't even know.
Grimmjow turns back to him but Ichigo is still frozen, even though he's raised himself on his toes so they're the same height. But he can't really keep his balance, so he falls back down. But Grimmjow follows the movement, is the one to bend down, though he still doesn't kiss him.
There's a part of Ichigo that doesn't even want to breach the space between them. He loves this moment just as it is. It feels like there's no one around them, like they're the only two people in the world and Ichigo has read this in books before, scoffed at it, but suddenly, he gets it.
He doesn't close his eyes as he keeps getting closer to Grimmjow's face, doesn't want to miss a second of it. And suddenly, their lips are touching and even though it's a kiss as innocent as his first one, when he was nine and he and Tatsuki wanted to see what all the fuss was about, having kept their lips pressed together for three seconds and then deciding that grown-ups were clearly idiots, it still makes Ichigo give a little gasp.
But Grimmjow doesn't take the chance to deepen the kiss, instead he raises a hand to Ichigo's waist, pulls him closer and Ichigo never wants to leave this moment.
They kiss until Ichigo, even in his soul form, needs air, but he barely lets go, Grimmjow still with his neck lowered. Ichigo moves his hand from his cheek to the back of his head, starts playing with his hair and Grimmjow closes his eyes, makes a sound that goes straight down, but Ichigo doesn't think on that. That's the last thing he wants right now. They took their time with their first kiss, and they'll take their time with that too.
"Hi," Ichigo whispers and Grimmjow leans quickly forward, dragging the hand tangled in his hair, to kiss Ichigo on the cheek.
Ichigo feels enamored.
Grimmjow blinks, slowly. "Do you know what this means?"
"Huh?" Ichigo asks, totally caught by surprise. This? The kiss?
"A kiss," Grimmjow starts, pauses, then continues, "it has a different meaning in Hueco Mundo."
Ichigo blinks. Is that… a bad thing?
"What does it mean?" He can't help the way the words still come out in a whisper, suddenly afraid that he's done something to push Grimmjow away. He'd rather never kiss him again than never see him again.
Grimmjow swallows and he actually looks kind of nervous. Ichigo doesn't think he's ever seen him this way, not even when Urahara is trying to get him as a guinea pig for one of his new ideas.
"We don't kiss," Grimmjow starts and Ichigo feels his heart plumet to his stomach, but when he tries to let go of Grimmjow's hand, he's stopped. So he stays in his place, pays attention to everything Grimmjow is telling him.
"You can fuck, but you don't kiss. It's… it means something."
Oh. Does Grimmjow think this didn't mean something to Ichigo?
"It meant something to me," he says, voice still low, for some reason incapable of speaking louder and Grimmjow snorts.
"I know, doofus," he leans forward to quickly touch their foreheads, only speaks when they're looking each other in the eye again. "It means forever."
"What." Ichigo says, heart trying to make a path out of his chest.
"A kiss," Grimmjow is saying and he's back to looking kind of nervous, even as he keeps his eyes straight on Ichigo's, "it means you trust the other Hollow with everything you are. And you'll always be there for them and will never betray them. You'll kill for them… and die for them."
Ichigo has to force himself to keep breathing. Grimmjow smirks, even as he doesn't look as confident as usual, "humans go for a marriage proposal, I guess."
"I-," Ichigo starts, but he has no idea how to continue. So he goes for something else, "have you ever kissed someone before?"
Grimmjow snorts, like the answer is obvious, "no."
Ichigo nods, slowly. But he still doesn't know what to say.
He uses the hand still on Grimmjow's hair to pull his head closer to his, touches their foreheads together and then just breathes, slowly.
Grimmjow's words keep running through his mind.
"It means you trust the other Hollow with everything you are. And you'll always be there for them and will never betray them. You'll kill for them… and die for them."
Ichigo can't quite wrap his brain around what this truly means. But he does know Grimmjow is older than him, that he's spent decades around Hueco Mundo. Kissing someone must be truly something precious.
"Did you think," he starts, slowly, "that I wouldn't have kissed you back if I knew what it meant for you?"
Grimmjow doesn't say anything for a while. Then he sighs, lowers his head so it's against Ichigo's neck, speaks against it, the words like quick kisses, "I was afraid," Ichigo can hear him swallowing, "I'd rather have this one kiss than none at all."
Ichigo leans back immediately, let's go of Grimmjow's head so he can grab onto his chin and force eye contact, squeezes their hands. "This isn't going to be our only kiss."
Grimmjow blinks. Then he clenches his jaw, pulls back from Ichigo's touch even as he doesn't remove his hand. "I'm not going to be your human boyfriend, Kurosaki. I'm a Hollow. I want it all."
"I know," this time, Ichigo does let go of his hand, then grabs a hold of both his cheeks, feels the mask pressing into his palm, it isn't soft, doesn't care. "I want everything too."
"What," Grimmjow's eyes are wide in a way Ichigo has never seen before, but he thinks it's a way he's never felt before either. Like he's… looking at something he never thought he could have. Never let himself fully want it, perhaps.
"I trust you with everything I am. I will always be there for you, I will never betray you," Ichigo lowers the hand that's on his unmasked cheek so that he can put it atop Grimmjow's heart, fingers spread, "I will kill for you. And I will die for you."
Grimmjow snarls, grabs him by the hair and this time their kiss isn't soft at all. Teeth clash, Ichigo definitely gets a cut on his tongue but he also doesn't care, gives as good as he gets.
Grimmjow moves back just as suddenly, "you better fucking not die," he smiles and yeah, there's some blood right there, "cute of you to think death would get you out of this relationship, anyway."
Ichigo laughs, because yeah, that was cute of him.
"So, what do you say?"
"To what?" Grimmjow raises an eyebrow, puts both hands on Ichigo's waist. They feel right.
"Let's get married," Ichigo doesn't look away from his eyes.
"You…" Grimmjow’s eyes widen, "you want to get married?"
"You said a kiss for Hollows is like marriage for humans. We've done this your way, let's do it mine now."
Grimmjow blinks, looks seriously at him. "You mean it?"
"Yeah," Ichigo doesn't even have to think about it.
Maybe he'd never really thought of marriage before this exact moment, at least no more than as a passing, fleet thought, but Grimmjow said "I want it all" and so does Ichigo. He's never going to feel like this for anyone else. This… This is it. What's the point in waiting?
"Okay," Grimmjow smiles and he somehow manages to make it soft even as he shows him his very pointy teeth. Maybe Ichigo does have rose-colored glasses when it comes to him. He never wants to take them off.
"Let's go," Ichigo says and lowers a hand to interlace their fingers, starts pulling Grimmjow with him.
"Now?" He laughs, "don't you want a party? Ceremony?"
Ichigo wonders how Grimmjow knows how a human wedding goes, decides to ask later. Instead he turns back and smiles, "later. This is for us. Just us."
Grimmjow stares at him for a couple seconds and then Ichigo has to lock his knees not to go down as Grimmjow kisses him again for all he's worth.
Maybe they won't get the traditional wedding yet, but definitely the honeymoon.