Chapter Text
This time you dread going back into the room. Anytime you were in there, all you would do is sleep, as walking the entire day tired you out. Hopefully you only stay here for a short bit, maybe he’s just getting something, right?
However immediately after entering, Grimmjow collapses onto his bed, yawning, the impact caused by his weight sends a small vibration across the room.
Since he barely slept the past two weeks, getting into fights nonstop, and his only source of entertainment which got permanently shut down by Aizen, and since there wasn’t anything else to do, his tiredness was reasonable, despite having only woken up about two hours ago.
Except you weren’t tired whatsoever, abstaining a full night's rest almost everyday, and eating to regain anything you’d lost from the days where you barely had food to appease your hunger.
Grimmjow doesn’t seem to notice you watching him, falling asleep within a couple minutes, breaths deepening and growing silent, besides even if he did realize, he probably wouldn’t care either way, too focused on recharging the missing energy.
Right now he was stolid, unconscious and tranquil, like he just got shot with anesthesia. The silence was supposed to be peaceful, however it was creepy. Far too phlegmatic compared to what you’ve been adjusted to lately.
Learning your lesson from before, you decide to wait his sleep out, not willing to risk another chance of you almost dying. Walking over to your side of the room, you silently lay, your stomach facing down onto your couch. The book in your bag was enticing, practically begging to be opened and read, not caring about the dozens of times you’ve cracked it open.
Eventually you did succumb to the temptation of its voice, pulling it out, you flip the page to the bookmark. Although you loved this book, almost being able to recite every word from memory and still being entertained whilst reading it for the thousandth time, right now however, it was the furthest thing from captivating, nearly impossible to focus on, no matter how hard you tried.
Most of your attention span was shifted onto Grimmjow. Shocked since this was the first time you’ve seen him so… still, a whole different perspective compared to what you typically see of him. You haven’t really thought about it before, not caring enough to reflect much of it. As much as you do hate to admit, you’d be lying if you said he wasn’t good looking, which you truly despised yourself for even thinking such a thing.
But obviously you wouldn’t, no couldn’t share that, not to anyone, barely able to accept this yourself, either way this humiliating truth won’t benefit you in any situation.
Right now you should be trying to think of a way to get out of Hueco Mundo, anywhere would be better than being tied down here, only for a job that you didn’t apply for, nor does it give you anything in return whatsoever. Even if you manage to get out of Las Noches (highly unlikely with all the arrancars roaming around, who undoubtedly don’t like you) outside there are even more hollows, definitely aiming to consume your soul. And if you somehow do manage to get through all that, you’ll need to find the portal that helped you get into this world, and back to the human realm.
Trying to escape alive was improbable, the only option as of now is to listen as Aizen says and be on your best behavior, so he’ll maybe consider letting you go. Now you’ll just have to try to make sure Grimmjow doesn’t attack anything/anyone without reason.
Now the moonlight peaks through the high window illuminating every detail of his face, highlighting the most striking features cast upon it, which was basically everything. Not a single part of him was unattractive, besides his irascible attitude of course.
Needless to say, this vexed you, there wasn’t a sensible reason for the sudden switch up of your judgement on him. You’ve been disliking him from the start, taking the words from Ulquiorra into great consideration. Most of what he said was true to an extent, the rest being moderately exaggerated.
Irritated, you delved into the paperback resting over your lap. Yes, it was packed full of angst and heavy topics, creating the reason why it was one of your most favorite books, hitting a deep spot in your heart which no amount of words in the English language, or poets could ever describe how beautifully this book was written.
Your fixation on it never ceased, remaining the same every time you’ve read it, capable of finishing in one sitting if you were lucky, never boring you even with the amount of times you’ve completed it.
—
Losing track of time in the pages, Grimmjow starts to stir in his sleep, tossing and turning to switch positions. Hearing the shuffling, you glance up, observing his slow steady breaths which disrupts into shallow rapid ones.
With 30 pages left to read, he finally jolts awake, swiftly sitting up on the edge of his bed facing you. What horrible timing. You’d like to say that this section of the book was your favorite part, but truthfully you treasured every page.
He disregards your presence, not once looking up at you, glowering into the floor. His expression was unreadable, as it was pointed down and imperceptible.
Your breath hitches unexpectedly when he sharply raises his head, finally welcoming you into his sight, gazes connecting, an irritated look on his face.
You turn back to the book, breaking eye contact as soon as it started, in hopes he isn’t aware of you staring at him during the duration of him regaining his consciousness.
To your terrible luck he unfortunately does.
Lifting himself off of the bed, he strolls himself over to you. Your eyes pasted onto the page, not daring to look at him, pretending to read, when in actuality you’re sweating in nervousness.
Grimmjow stops at the foot of your couch, looming over you, “Why the fuck were you staring at me?” He condemned, more of a statement than a question.
Shifting your head towards him, who is scowling. “I -uhh,” There’s an awkward pause, clearing your throat you speak up again, “I wasn’t staring at you.” You reassured, eyes widening in embarrassment and panic.
Tearing his eyes off of you, he scoffs, ignoring your words, categorizing them as distrustful.
Furrowing his eyebrows, he snorts at your terrible lie, “Liar. You didn’t think I would catch you eyeing me when I tried to fall asleep, and when I woke up?”
Your jaw drops, not realizing he knew about you staring at him drifting off, which was in your opinion undoubtedly far worse than the latter.
Picking your jaw back up, you draw your lips into a thin line, looking away while shaking your head, not wanting nor knowing how to answer his question.
You hope he gets the hint and drops this confrontation, but during the few weeks you’ve known him, that wish was definitely indubitable.
Not wanting to keep up this awkward conversation, you open your mouth, trying to change the subject, but as if he could read your mind, Grimmjow beats you to it, speaking up before your throat could cough up any words out.
“Well? Are you just gonna pretend that you didn’t hear me?” He snorts again, turning back to face you.
That part was wrong. You did hear him, the humiliation that came with it left you speechless. No matter what you say, if you could even come up to contradict his assertion, it won’t help you whatsoever, probably even worsening the situation.
Taking your silence into consideration, he laughs maniacally once concluding that his assumptions were right.
He keeps on laughing for a while, the sound loudly bouncing between the walls, bringing heat to your already ashamed cheeks.
Too embarrassed to even look at him, you shift your eyes back into your book. Although you couldn’t focus on it, anything was better than facing him. You would give anything to leave the place you live in now, to physically immerse yourself into your book, no matter how bad it was there.
His laughter does eventually die down after a while, turning into small chuckles that should’ve stopped long before, or superiorly, never having even started.
Thankfully he doesn’t comment more about it, already satisfied with the amount of ignominy he’s caused you.
The only noise here was coming from his grinding jaw, the area absent of any type of activity, even Grimmjow was abnormally stationary, standing idly while deep in thought.
If only you could get at least one small glance into his mind, to see what happens inside there for him to act this strange lately. If he was secretly insulting you right now (which was a very high possibility).
With your peripheral vision, you notice Grimmjow aiming for the exit, slowly advancing towards it.
“Wait wait wait. Where are you going? Didn’t Aizen tell us to stick together?”
Stopping his stride, he steadily turns his head to face you, keeping the rest of his body in position. “Tch, you better hurry then.”
“Okay okay okay, hold up a bit!” You scrambled, dropping your bookmark as you got up.
Quickly jumping off the couch, you bend down to pick the bookmark up, the vibrant blue forget-me-nots on it contrasting against the hard dull ashen grey floors, the only sort of color in this lifeless fortress.
Behind you, was Grimmjow, crossed arms, head back, gaze clung to the ceiling. His weight was leaned all on one foot and was impatiently tapping the other one against the floor, the clicks echoing between the vast walls, slowly speeding up and sounding more displeasing by the second.
Oh my goodness I’m not even taking that long chill out. You think to yourself, obviously too scared to say it out loud, having seen what he was capable of doing, trying to be good so you’ll leave sooner.
Sensing his annoyance, you hurry up, shoving the piece of cardstock back into the nook of the paperback, marking the last section of it that has yet to be read, on account of Grimmjow (sadly) waking up earlier than expected.
Tossing the book onto the couch, you quickly scurry over to him, hoping that he isn’t exasperated enough to punish you, although he surprisingly hasn’t done anything like that in a while, despite the things you’ve done to (not purposefully) infuriate him.
Rushing to his side, almost tripping over your own feet, he glances back at you, making sure you’re caught up, locking in eye contact in the process. The moonlight seeming to favor him, shines directly on him yet again, emphasizing each different sea colored line on his iris.
You don’t look away, you can’t. The shimmering blue freezing you still. Numb, and cold to the bone, time appears to stop completely. If you thought it was awkward before, now was way worse, not even he was making any noise.
You both continue to stare at each other for a couple more seconds, his eyebrows slightly furrowing, which was barely noticeable and you would’ve completely missed it if you didn’t blink a second too late.
After what felt like an eternity, he was the one to turn away, picking up speed and heading out to the place he had in mind, not looking back again, perhaps to avoid this happening again.
For all of the weeks you’ve been here, the only thing Grimmjow would do was fight, maybe he was too vital, or it was entertaining to him. But ever since that meeting with Aizen, there wasn’t anything to spend his extra energy on, bottling up inside of him instead.
Now, you could possibly just be accompanying him as he burns off the extra energy. You hope this wasn’t the reason why you guys left the room, with him being indefatigable, this “stroll” could last hours, even worse if you had to go fast paced. Thankfully, he wasn’t treading quickly, much more adjusted to your speed than what he usually goes.
Walking closely behind him, he keeps on taking unprecedented turns into a part of the fortress you’ve never been, each one keeps changing your mind about the purpose of this trip. Where could he be taking you? Was he getting his revenge on the time you almost got him in trouble?
“Where are we going..?” You whisper, careful not to bother him too much, “We haven’t been here before..”
He slowly turns his head, not all the way, but just enough for you to see his smirk, “You’ll see.” He reciprocates your tone, his words sounding softer than usual.
You don’t say anything back, uttering a noise which signaled to him that you heard him. What was that smirk earlier? It was the same one he usually does whenever he was fighting. Is he gonna attack me here? You think, he has lots of reasons to, but if he does, the consequences might be worse.
Around half an hour later, you enter a long hallway, way brighter than the rest of the castle, not used to it, you squint more as you tread on. The light came from the opening at the end of the hall, radiantly illuminating every crevice between these walls, all the tiny divots and dents, with some crumbling and cracking apart (presumably from all the violence that happens among each arrancar).
Finally exiting the hallway, you step onto a long walkway, connecting to another building. Looking around, there was…a blue sky??