Pretence
Title: Pretence
Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me... I just borrow the characters for my muse to play with.
Rating: R
Warning/Info: Just some stuff that happens in a club.
Pairing: IchiRen
A/N: I apologise for the rushed attempt (now edited to my satisfaction) and I swear I'll definitely be writing a sequel to this (just not at the moment >.>) This was written for springkink's 3rd Feb prompt - Abarai Renji/Kurosaki Ichigo - Pretending to be Gay - You run the risk of starting a fire.
“Er… Kurosaki-kun… there’s something… that I want to tell you.”
Looking at the orange-haired girl who was walking with him as they made their way back from school after the supplementary lessons meant to prepare them for the upcoming college entrance exams, Ichigo replied, “Yep, Inoue?”
“Kurosaki-kun…”
Slightly surprised as Inoue suddenly stopped in front of him, his brown eyes met hers, and in that moment, felt her sincerity.
“I like you, Kurosaki-kun!”
He knew he was surprised; he could feel his eyebrows rising, eyes widening in time with her abrupt confession. The next moment, his mind went into panic mood.
‘She likes me. She likes me. She likes me…’
As his thoughts whirled in his mind, he managed somehow to hold her enthusiastic gaze, one that was eagerly awaiting his answer, and replied, “I’m sorry, Inoue.”
Even before his mind could make sense of his reply, one that had obviously not been thought through, the dejection in her eyes was obvious to him.
‘Oh shit! She just confessed to me and I just rejected her directly. Good one, Kurosaki. Now quick, try to remedy the situation by explaining yourself.’
“I… er…I’ve always treated you like a sister, protecting you like how I protect my sisters. Er…” ‘She looks like she doesn’t believe you…’ “You’re also one of my closest friends and er…” ‘Idiot, quick think of a fucking good reason to convince her…’
“Well… actually, the most important reason is that I’m gay.”
‘…Wait. Where the fuck did that come from? Did I just tell her I’m gay? I like girls, like you know, what they teach in biology, guys marry girls, they have sex and produce children. Guys and guys… wait…’ Feeling a faint heat rising on his cheeks, he immediately halted where his thoughts were going.
“Kurosaki-kun? I… didn’t realise…”
‘…Actually, it’s a fucking good excuse. At least she’s not going to be that upset, I guess. Also, no one will know of this if she doesn’t tell anyone about it, so…’
“I’m really sorry, Inoue. I’m not really… out of the closet yet, but I didn’t think… it would be fair to you to not tell you the truth. I hope that you could help me keep it a secret though… I’m really sorry…”
“That’s okay, Kurosaki-kun. I… er… suddenly remembered that there’s nothing at home for dinner, so I need to stop by the convenience store. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
With a wave and a smile Ichigo knew was just a front, the orange haired girl turned into the street perpendicular to them and ran off.
It was only then that he realised he had absolutely no idea how he looked during the entire conversation. Ichigo knew he had been surprised at the beginning, but after that, while he had been explaining and especially when he said he was gay, he had no freaking idea if he looked convincing.
‘Well, King, looks like you screwed up big time, eh?’
‘Shut up!’ Shouting at the inner Hollow’s voice in his mind, Ichigo wondered why exactly he had said he was gay, only to have his Hollow reply.
‘Maybe you are. Hehehe. You didn’t have to think of such an excuse if you wanted to reject her, ya know, King? She’ll still be upset whatever reason you have and for all you know, she might be more upset that she liked a guy who’s supposed to prefer guys.’
‘Shut the fuck up!’
‘Aye, aye, sir.’ With that, Ichigo had the mental image of his inner Hollow throwing his head back in his usual maniacal laughter, before both the image and sound slowly faded away.
Slightly flustered, he increased his stride, focusing on reaching home more quickly. As he walked, there was only one thing he thought of, and that was to hope that the rumour that he was gay would not spread. After all, there were quite a few things he knew he was sure of, one of which was that he was straight and liked girls, despite never having a crush on a girl before.
~~~
It was only several weeks later that Ichigo discovered the consequences of his earlier pretence.
After lessons were done for the day, Inoue came up to him. “Kurosaki-kun… Rukia’s invited us to go clubbing tomorrow night. Would you be free to come along?”
Not wanting to disappoint the orange-haired girl again, especially after the mess that was the confession, Ichigo considered briefly, just to ensure that he did not actually have something on, and nodded in response.
“That’s great! Rukia said she’ll try to get someone else to come along. Remember to dress up!”
That was how he found himself dressed in one of his tight white T-shirts, this one with a black v-neck collar, three-quarter sleeves and an abstract design on the front, form-fitting black jeans that rode low on his hips, and white Adidas sneakers with black and grey stripes to match.
Heading down the stairs and out of his house, narrowly sidestepping one of his father’s over-the-top farewell hugs, Ichigo nodded in greeting to his friends who were waiting at the gate for him, gaze lingering briefly over each as he took in their outfits.
In a pink long sleeved top that exposed her shoulders and cleavage, and tight blue jeans, Inoue looked like she was all ready to party. Next to her, Rukia was stunning in a strapless little black dress, paired with a metallic clutch, red pumps and a simple necklace.
The person who surprised him the most was however the one Inoue had said Rukia would try to convince to come along. Ichigo had never expected to see Renji dressed in that manner. Muscular arms were exposed in a sleeveless purple hoodie, zipped only half way up, revealing more of the tribal black tattoos that adorned his muscular torso. Paired with a white belt and low riding black jeans, and with his usual pair of sunglasses absent to reveal his tattooed forehead, the redhead looked like the epitome of cool to the orange-haired teenager.
“Ichigo.”
“Hey Ichi, how’s it going?”
“Rukia, Renji.” Addressing the two Shinigami in the order they had greeted him, Ichigo asked, “So where are we headed?”
“Somewhere you’ve never been before, but need to go some day.” With her cryptic reply, Rukia then turned and started walking down the street. Along the way, they chatted, sharing the latest happenings in their respective worlds.
After the Winter War, things had gone back to what could be more or less considered normal. With Rukia being promoted to the Thirteenth’s Lieutenant and with a more capable Shinigami watching over Karakura, Ichigo had needed to use his powers less. Nonetheless, he still kept in contact with his Shinigami friends, who visited him when they had time off from their busy schedules and the orange-haired teenager still trained occasionally with them.
Some time later, they reached the club and entered easily - Inoue’s birthday had just been two weeks ago. It was only after they entered the club that Ichigo realised with a start that they were in a gay club. It looked the same as any club on the outside, with the usual music playing through the loudspeakers. The main difference was the fact that most of the couples holding hands or dancing on the floor were guys.
Hoping that his look of surprise was not giving him away, Ichigo stared at Inoue, surprisingly unable to be angry, wondering what exactly was going on. Moments later, they found a table and it seemed that Rukia had noticed Inoue’s expression, taking off with Renji to get drinks for them immediately.
“Er… Kurosaki-kun. I’m sorry for doing this so suddenly, but you said you weren’t completely out so I thought I’d try to help. It’s not good to be bearing all pain and discrimination on your own. So I thought about it a bit, and told Rukia, who offered to help. Well… you know… Abarai-san is gay too, so that’s why we thought of bringing you here, so he can bring you around.”
‘Renji’s gay? He doesn’t look gay! Oh fuck, so what’s going to happen later? I mean… well…’
‘I told you so, King.’ His Hollow’s voice echoed from somewhere in his mind but before he could reply, the sudden skin-on-skin contact made him jump.
Whoa! Relax, Ichi. I’m guessing it’s your first time here, but you don’t need to be this nervous.” The redhead spoke, raising his arms in front of him.
“Sorry, Ren… I… er…never mind.” Picking up the drink the redhead had placed in front of him, Ichigo took a gulp, tasting the fizz and sweetness of coke, then the alcohol it had been mixed with.
‘Well, if I need to do this, I guess I better get some alcohol in my system first then. At least that seems to be how it’s done in books and stuff. Alcohol’s supposed to lower inhibitions anyway…’
Taking a smaller sip from his cup this time, Ichigo then turned to look at Renji, who was sitting next to him. “What’s yours?” He asked out of curiosity, this being the first time he was in a club.
“Gin and lime. Wanna take a sip?”
Nodding, the orange haired teenager took a sip of the slightly sour drink and found the redhead looking at him closely.
In response to the raised eyebrow, Renji replied, “It looks like you’re taking to the alcohol easily, eh Ichi? Wanna go take a look around or go dance? If you’re nervous, you can just stay with me and I’ll make sure no one will touch ya.”
“Er… It’s fine. I’ll just stay here and look around first.” As the redhead left his seat, drink in hand, Ichigo sat where he was and turned his eyes to the dance floor and the surrounding tables. He had never seen so many homosexual couples in a single location and he found that he was not really bothered by the fact that some were actually close to making out right in front of him. In fact, he was hoping to see how they interacted, not entirely sure how he was supposed to be behaving.
He soon turned his attention to the type of guys that were in the club. While some were effeminate, most of the others looked like any other typical guy he could meet on the street and somehow Ichigo found himself using Renji as the benchmark for comparison. To his surprise, most were nowhere near the redhead’s looks, or poise, or confidence and of those who did, Renji still seemed to be the coolest person in the club to him.
There were a scattering of girls in the club though and Ichigo had noticed a cute girl in one of the corners as well. With Inoue around though, Ichigo knew that any attempt to approach her would only blow his cover totally, and would make the earlier mess with the confession seem simple in comparison.
‘What the hell am I supposed to do now? Do I actually need to prove anything to Inoue, or do I need to head out on the dance floor and try something for her to believe me? Wait… she believes me, that’s why she brought me here… so maybe I don’t actually need to do anything…’
Just as Ichigo decided that sitting and looking around the club was sufficient to maintain his pretence, Renji returned to the table.
“Renji, we have some girl stuff to discuss. So here’s your chance to take Ichigo around the club and get comfortable.”
Before Ichigo could make sense of the glint in Rukia’s eyes that told him she was planning something or try to think of some excuse to stay put, he felt the redhead’s warm hand wrapped around his. “C’mon, Ichi. Let’s go over to the bar for a refill. I’m sure you don’t wanna listen to girly talk.”
Unable to protest as Renji grinned at him, Ichigo allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and headed over to the bar with the redhead.
“Another of the same?”
Nodding in response, Ichigo seated himself at the bar, listening as the redhead ordered a rum and coke and a beer before climbing into the seat next to him.
Watching Renji take a mouthful of cold beer, Ichigo was surprised when the redhead leaned closer and whispered, “Uh… so the bar’s actually the place people hang out when they’re looking for someone to dance with or… basically someone they want to pick up. What usually follows is the ‘bump-and-grind’ on the dance floor… and well… stuff later.”
Ichigo could tell from how Renji was staring at the bottle in his hand that he was embarrassed, and took a sip from his own cup, not knowing how the hell he should respond. So they sat in silence, gazes occasionally meeting, then darting back out around the club.
As it got later, the club gradually filled up. Renji had given up his seat some time earlier, and was now standing next to Ichigo, third bottle of beer in hand. Having finished his third shot of liquor, Ichigo was a little dazed and rather high already, unused to consuming so much alcohol. When Renji asked if he wanted to dance after they both finished their drinks, he nodded, without even once thinking that it was wrong for him to be dancing with one of his best male friends, even if he had keep up his cover.
It really was ‘bump-and-grind’ on the dance floor as Renji had said. Somehow though, with Renji’s large hands on his waist, Ichigo felt that Renji was ensuring that nothing bad would happen to him as he had promised earlier. That had been a moment of clarity despite how hazed he felt. In addition, despite the thought in his mind that kept protesting against how wrong it was to be dancing with a huge group of guys - Inoue was too far away to see and he did not need to keep up the act - Ichigo found that he actually enjoyed it; he rather liked having his arms around the redhead’s firm torso.
The rest of the night passed in a haze after the alcohol finally got to him. There were only two things Ichigo remembered somewhat vividly: one, that he had kissed Renji and liked it, and two, he had been somewhat turned on by the redhead - the feeling of denim covered arousals grinding against each other was unmistakeable.
The next morning, Ichigo woke up in slightly unfamiliar surroundings. Opening a sleepy brown eye, the first thing he caught sight of was Renji’s red hair and that startled him sufficiently to fully wake up.
The orange-haired teen heaved a sigh of relief when he realised they were both fully clothed and that he had not been grabbing onto the redhead. However, that only lasted a few seconds. It was only when his memories of the previous night returned that he knew he was really screwed this time.
‘I am so fucked.’
‘Well King, this time, you’re fucking right.’
Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me... I just borrow the characters for my muse to play with.
Rating: R
Warning/Info: Just some stuff that happens in a club.
Pairing: IchiRen
A/N: I apologise for the rushed attempt (now edited to my satisfaction) and I swear I'll definitely be writing a sequel to this (just not at the moment >.>) This was written for springkink's 3rd Feb prompt - Abarai Renji/Kurosaki Ichigo - Pretending to be Gay - You run the risk of starting a fire.
“Er… Kurosaki-kun… there’s something… that I want to tell you.”
Looking at the orange-haired girl who was walking with him as they made their way back from school after the supplementary lessons meant to prepare them for the upcoming college entrance exams, Ichigo replied, “Yep, Inoue?”
“Kurosaki-kun…”
Slightly surprised as Inoue suddenly stopped in front of him, his brown eyes met hers, and in that moment, felt her sincerity.
“I like you, Kurosaki-kun!”
He knew he was surprised; he could feel his eyebrows rising, eyes widening in time with her abrupt confession. The next moment, his mind went into panic mood.
‘She likes me. She likes me. She likes me…’
As his thoughts whirled in his mind, he managed somehow to hold her enthusiastic gaze, one that was eagerly awaiting his answer, and replied, “I’m sorry, Inoue.”
Even before his mind could make sense of his reply, one that had obviously not been thought through, the dejection in her eyes was obvious to him.
‘Oh shit! She just confessed to me and I just rejected her directly. Good one, Kurosaki. Now quick, try to remedy the situation by explaining yourself.’
“I… er…I’ve always treated you like a sister, protecting you like how I protect my sisters. Er…” ‘She looks like she doesn’t believe you…’ “You’re also one of my closest friends and er…” ‘Idiot, quick think of a fucking good reason to convince her…’
“Well… actually, the most important reason is that I’m gay.”
‘…Wait. Where the fuck did that come from? Did I just tell her I’m gay? I like girls, like you know, what they teach in biology, guys marry girls, they have sex and produce children. Guys and guys… wait…’ Feeling a faint heat rising on his cheeks, he immediately halted where his thoughts were going.
“Kurosaki-kun? I… didn’t realise…”
‘…Actually, it’s a fucking good excuse. At least she’s not going to be that upset, I guess. Also, no one will know of this if she doesn’t tell anyone about it, so…’
“I’m really sorry, Inoue. I’m not really… out of the closet yet, but I didn’t think… it would be fair to you to not tell you the truth. I hope that you could help me keep it a secret though… I’m really sorry…”
“That’s okay, Kurosaki-kun. I… er… suddenly remembered that there’s nothing at home for dinner, so I need to stop by the convenience store. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
With a wave and a smile Ichigo knew was just a front, the orange haired girl turned into the street perpendicular to them and ran off.
It was only then that he realised he had absolutely no idea how he looked during the entire conversation. Ichigo knew he had been surprised at the beginning, but after that, while he had been explaining and especially when he said he was gay, he had no freaking idea if he looked convincing.
‘Well, King, looks like you screwed up big time, eh?’
‘Shut up!’ Shouting at the inner Hollow’s voice in his mind, Ichigo wondered why exactly he had said he was gay, only to have his Hollow reply.
‘Maybe you are. Hehehe. You didn’t have to think of such an excuse if you wanted to reject her, ya know, King? She’ll still be upset whatever reason you have and for all you know, she might be more upset that she liked a guy who’s supposed to prefer guys.’
‘Shut the fuck up!’
‘Aye, aye, sir.’ With that, Ichigo had the mental image of his inner Hollow throwing his head back in his usual maniacal laughter, before both the image and sound slowly faded away.
Slightly flustered, he increased his stride, focusing on reaching home more quickly. As he walked, there was only one thing he thought of, and that was to hope that the rumour that he was gay would not spread. After all, there were quite a few things he knew he was sure of, one of which was that he was straight and liked girls, despite never having a crush on a girl before.
~~~
It was only several weeks later that Ichigo discovered the consequences of his earlier pretence.
After lessons were done for the day, Inoue came up to him. “Kurosaki-kun… Rukia’s invited us to go clubbing tomorrow night. Would you be free to come along?”
Not wanting to disappoint the orange-haired girl again, especially after the mess that was the confession, Ichigo considered briefly, just to ensure that he did not actually have something on, and nodded in response.
“That’s great! Rukia said she’ll try to get someone else to come along. Remember to dress up!”
That was how he found himself dressed in one of his tight white T-shirts, this one with a black v-neck collar, three-quarter sleeves and an abstract design on the front, form-fitting black jeans that rode low on his hips, and white Adidas sneakers with black and grey stripes to match.
Heading down the stairs and out of his house, narrowly sidestepping one of his father’s over-the-top farewell hugs, Ichigo nodded in greeting to his friends who were waiting at the gate for him, gaze lingering briefly over each as he took in their outfits.
In a pink long sleeved top that exposed her shoulders and cleavage, and tight blue jeans, Inoue looked like she was all ready to party. Next to her, Rukia was stunning in a strapless little black dress, paired with a metallic clutch, red pumps and a simple necklace.
The person who surprised him the most was however the one Inoue had said Rukia would try to convince to come along. Ichigo had never expected to see Renji dressed in that manner. Muscular arms were exposed in a sleeveless purple hoodie, zipped only half way up, revealing more of the tribal black tattoos that adorned his muscular torso. Paired with a white belt and low riding black jeans, and with his usual pair of sunglasses absent to reveal his tattooed forehead, the redhead looked like the epitome of cool to the orange-haired teenager.
“Ichigo.”
“Hey Ichi, how’s it going?”
“Rukia, Renji.” Addressing the two Shinigami in the order they had greeted him, Ichigo asked, “So where are we headed?”
“Somewhere you’ve never been before, but need to go some day.” With her cryptic reply, Rukia then turned and started walking down the street. Along the way, they chatted, sharing the latest happenings in their respective worlds.
After the Winter War, things had gone back to what could be more or less considered normal. With Rukia being promoted to the Thirteenth’s Lieutenant and with a more capable Shinigami watching over Karakura, Ichigo had needed to use his powers less. Nonetheless, he still kept in contact with his Shinigami friends, who visited him when they had time off from their busy schedules and the orange-haired teenager still trained occasionally with them.
Some time later, they reached the club and entered easily - Inoue’s birthday had just been two weeks ago. It was only after they entered the club that Ichigo realised with a start that they were in a gay club. It looked the same as any club on the outside, with the usual music playing through the loudspeakers. The main difference was the fact that most of the couples holding hands or dancing on the floor were guys.
Hoping that his look of surprise was not giving him away, Ichigo stared at Inoue, surprisingly unable to be angry, wondering what exactly was going on. Moments later, they found a table and it seemed that Rukia had noticed Inoue’s expression, taking off with Renji to get drinks for them immediately.
“Er… Kurosaki-kun. I’m sorry for doing this so suddenly, but you said you weren’t completely out so I thought I’d try to help. It’s not good to be bearing all pain and discrimination on your own. So I thought about it a bit, and told Rukia, who offered to help. Well… you know… Abarai-san is gay too, so that’s why we thought of bringing you here, so he can bring you around.”
‘Renji’s gay? He doesn’t look gay! Oh fuck, so what’s going to happen later? I mean… well…’
‘I told you so, King.’ His Hollow’s voice echoed from somewhere in his mind but before he could reply, the sudden skin-on-skin contact made him jump.
Whoa! Relax, Ichi. I’m guessing it’s your first time here, but you don’t need to be this nervous.” The redhead spoke, raising his arms in front of him.
“Sorry, Ren… I… er…never mind.” Picking up the drink the redhead had placed in front of him, Ichigo took a gulp, tasting the fizz and sweetness of coke, then the alcohol it had been mixed with.
‘Well, if I need to do this, I guess I better get some alcohol in my system first then. At least that seems to be how it’s done in books and stuff. Alcohol’s supposed to lower inhibitions anyway…’
Taking a smaller sip from his cup this time, Ichigo then turned to look at Renji, who was sitting next to him. “What’s yours?” He asked out of curiosity, this being the first time he was in a club.
“Gin and lime. Wanna take a sip?”
Nodding, the orange haired teenager took a sip of the slightly sour drink and found the redhead looking at him closely.
In response to the raised eyebrow, Renji replied, “It looks like you’re taking to the alcohol easily, eh Ichi? Wanna go take a look around or go dance? If you’re nervous, you can just stay with me and I’ll make sure no one will touch ya.”
“Er… It’s fine. I’ll just stay here and look around first.” As the redhead left his seat, drink in hand, Ichigo sat where he was and turned his eyes to the dance floor and the surrounding tables. He had never seen so many homosexual couples in a single location and he found that he was not really bothered by the fact that some were actually close to making out right in front of him. In fact, he was hoping to see how they interacted, not entirely sure how he was supposed to be behaving.
He soon turned his attention to the type of guys that were in the club. While some were effeminate, most of the others looked like any other typical guy he could meet on the street and somehow Ichigo found himself using Renji as the benchmark for comparison. To his surprise, most were nowhere near the redhead’s looks, or poise, or confidence and of those who did, Renji still seemed to be the coolest person in the club to him.
There were a scattering of girls in the club though and Ichigo had noticed a cute girl in one of the corners as well. With Inoue around though, Ichigo knew that any attempt to approach her would only blow his cover totally, and would make the earlier mess with the confession seem simple in comparison.
‘What the hell am I supposed to do now? Do I actually need to prove anything to Inoue, or do I need to head out on the dance floor and try something for her to believe me? Wait… she believes me, that’s why she brought me here… so maybe I don’t actually need to do anything…’
Just as Ichigo decided that sitting and looking around the club was sufficient to maintain his pretence, Renji returned to the table.
“Renji, we have some girl stuff to discuss. So here’s your chance to take Ichigo around the club and get comfortable.”
Before Ichigo could make sense of the glint in Rukia’s eyes that told him she was planning something or try to think of some excuse to stay put, he felt the redhead’s warm hand wrapped around his. “C’mon, Ichi. Let’s go over to the bar for a refill. I’m sure you don’t wanna listen to girly talk.”
Unable to protest as Renji grinned at him, Ichigo allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and headed over to the bar with the redhead.
“Another of the same?”
Nodding in response, Ichigo seated himself at the bar, listening as the redhead ordered a rum and coke and a beer before climbing into the seat next to him.
Watching Renji take a mouthful of cold beer, Ichigo was surprised when the redhead leaned closer and whispered, “Uh… so the bar’s actually the place people hang out when they’re looking for someone to dance with or… basically someone they want to pick up. What usually follows is the ‘bump-and-grind’ on the dance floor… and well… stuff later.”
Ichigo could tell from how Renji was staring at the bottle in his hand that he was embarrassed, and took a sip from his own cup, not knowing how the hell he should respond. So they sat in silence, gazes occasionally meeting, then darting back out around the club.
As it got later, the club gradually filled up. Renji had given up his seat some time earlier, and was now standing next to Ichigo, third bottle of beer in hand. Having finished his third shot of liquor, Ichigo was a little dazed and rather high already, unused to consuming so much alcohol. When Renji asked if he wanted to dance after they both finished their drinks, he nodded, without even once thinking that it was wrong for him to be dancing with one of his best male friends, even if he had keep up his cover.
It really was ‘bump-and-grind’ on the dance floor as Renji had said. Somehow though, with Renji’s large hands on his waist, Ichigo felt that Renji was ensuring that nothing bad would happen to him as he had promised earlier. That had been a moment of clarity despite how hazed he felt. In addition, despite the thought in his mind that kept protesting against how wrong it was to be dancing with a huge group of guys - Inoue was too far away to see and he did not need to keep up the act - Ichigo found that he actually enjoyed it; he rather liked having his arms around the redhead’s firm torso.
The rest of the night passed in a haze after the alcohol finally got to him. There were only two things Ichigo remembered somewhat vividly: one, that he had kissed Renji and liked it, and two, he had been somewhat turned on by the redhead - the feeling of denim covered arousals grinding against each other was unmistakeable.
The next morning, Ichigo woke up in slightly unfamiliar surroundings. Opening a sleepy brown eye, the first thing he caught sight of was Renji’s red hair and that startled him sufficiently to fully wake up.
The orange-haired teen heaved a sigh of relief when he realised they were both fully clothed and that he had not been grabbing onto the redhead. However, that only lasted a few seconds. It was only when his memories of the previous night returned that he knew he was really screwed this time.
‘I am so fucked.’
‘Well King, this time, you’re fucking right.’