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“Are you sure you want to come with me? There’s really no pressure and I don’t expect you to bring gifts or anything…” Ichigo trailed off as Grimmjow’s face puckered like a lemon. “What? Do you not want to go that badly?”
Grimmjow shook his head emphatically no. The rock in his hands broke into pieces from his hand flexing. The dust trickled out and settled over the snow covered ground, adding more sparkle to it. “Didn’t know about the gifts. I want to be there with you though. I… This is the first Christmas I’ve celebrated since before I became a hollow, maybe before then too. And you’re the reason I’m allowed in the world of the living so I need to be where you are.”
“So I’m just a convenient excuse for you?” Ichigo chuckled and playfully pushed Grimmjow, disrupting his tentative balance on a fallen log. The smile faded from his lips when he didn’t meet his eyes. “Hey, don’t worry about the gifts or anything like that. It’s my family, they’d accept a porcupine into our house if it was truly insistent.”
The reiatsu between them flickered hot for a moment, the stress washing out of Grimmjow reflected in it, then settled back to their normal. They had an ebb and flow of spiritual pressure between them, both powerful but keeping the other in check. When they first got together their reiatsu had been all over the place, causing havoc just walking down the road. But, as all things tend to do, they found a balance between destruction and protection, making peace where there was chaos.
Grimmjow stretched, standing up on the log and reaching to the sun high above. His whole body was taut like a bow. He released his breath and–
A snowball hit him square in the chest. He fell off the log and into the snow, stunned.
“Kurosaki, you’re going to regret that,” he growled.
“No, I won't,” Ichigo said just before slamming another snowball in his face.
Half an hour and several snowballs later, the pair walked into their apartment and shook the snow off. The air inside was warm and held a scent of sugar and vanilla. The candle Grimmjow left burning on the table was mostly melted wax with a small flame being drowned.
“So who all is going to be there?” Grimmjow asked. He took Ichigo’s coat and hung it up to dry alongside his own. “Your dad, sisters, and who else? I know it’s not just your blood family coming.”
Ichigo pulled out his phone and scrolled to the right group chat before reading off names. “Yuzu, Karin, dad, Kon, Ishida, Orihime, Chad, Tatsuki, and maybe Urahara’s bunch but they haven’t responded yet. So no one you haven’t seen before.”
"Okay, yeah, I can handle that," Grimmjow said with no confidence. He was a bad liar but Ichigo wouldn't call him out on it. Even when he didn't know how to do something, with enough time and energy he would figure it out. That was how they both worked, really. That was why Ichigo knew they could do this.
Snow was shoveled off the path leading to the doorway of the clinic with many bootprints left in shallow patterns. Grimmjow hesitated at the door. There was no way he could be the one to knock, especially with all the people already inside.
Ichigo solved the problem by reaching past him and opening the door. “Hey! We’re here!” he shouted, as if everyone wasn’t already looking at them.
“Welcome home Ichigo!” Ishin screamed with his customary greeting of a boot to the face.
Except instead of Ichigo dodging the attack as he usually did, Grimmjow blocked it with his body. The solid thud of a grown man slamming against another man echoed around the house. Everyone stopped talking, the music dropped, and even the various foods on the stove seemed quieter.
“Is that… Grimmjow?” Orihime asked. She was holding a large bowl of butter and mixing it slowly. Nel appeared behind her with an exceedingly large knife in her hands.
The reiatsu in the house spiked and if there weren't dampeners built into the foundation then the walls may have blown out from the pressure. As it was, the windows shook and the pictures on the walls vibrated to the frequency of the tension.
"Uhh… Yes, this is Grimmjow. Everyone has met him before. And I'm here too." Ichigo had not planned for an unwarm welcome, this was totally off script. How was he supposed to introduce a blood thirsty demon from another world to people who already knew him and had seen him kill? There was no guide for this stuff.
Ishida fiddled with his glasses for a moment and asked "Are you here… together?"
What a useless question. "Yes we're here together. I brought him here and I didn't think it'd be this big of a deal considering the cluster of oddities we are."
Karin laughed. Then Yuzu and Kon. And then everyone was joining in because it was true they were all a little odd. Who's to say an arrancar couldn't be part of Christmas?
The rest of the celebration progressed more or less with ease. Grimmjow sat on the couch and played cards with Urahara and the girls. Ichigo hovered nearby, not willing to let Grimmjow leave his sight. When food was ready everyone grabbed a plate as they were able to and sat wherever there was room. Orihime's fruit cake was surprisingly delicious as she had somehow made a completely normal cake in her efforts to make an extraordinary fruit cake. By the time unwrapping gifts came, everyone was settled down and used to the extra guest at the party.
"Okay okay, gather around the tree and we'll begin exchanging gifts!" Isshin called to the room. If Ichigo wasn't mistaken, he was using his Captain Voice to project some authority.
"I'm going to get something, I'll be back soon," Grimmjow said to Ichigo in a hushed tone before stepping out of the house.
Ichigo had no idea what he could possibly be going to get. They had already brought in their gifts and he knew Grimmjow didn't have the money to buy something on Christmas night. He shrugged. It was possible Grimmjow just wanted an excuse to get out of the house and away from all the poking and prodding questions about his life.
Ichigo found a spot on the couch and settled down into it. The cushion dipped at his side as Nel sat next to him. They hadn't talked much after the war but any time they were together it was like they were siblings with no issues. Or maybe she was more like a cousin since she stayed warm Urahara and not at the clinic. Ichigo didn't care too much to analyze his extended family tree like that.
Gift wrap and tissue paper littered the floor by the time the front door opened again. Everyone was chatting about the new clothes and gadgets and books they were given, exchanging thank yous and whatnot. Ichigos gifts were well received and in return he amassed a collection of romance manga that he was told were 'purely ironic.' The box of manga were shoved out of his lap to make room for a rough hewn sack containing something cold and heavy.
"What's this?" Ichigo looked at the arrancar that gave him the gift. Grimmjow wouldn't meet his eyes. His cheeks and nose were tinted with red, presumably from the cold temperatures outside.
"Happy Chrystler or whatever," Grimmjow muttered.
Ichigo knew he had a goofy smile on his face, and that his friends were snapping pictures of it, but he didn't mind. He was allowed to be happy about a gift. The sack had a rope tied around the opening which he quickly undid. Once it was open, Ichigo felt the cold thing in the sack move. His eyes blew wide open as he realized what may be his gift.
Slowly, tentatively, a tiny white nose poked out, followed by a sleek snout and finally golden eyes with black scelera. With a coaxing hand, Ichigo drew the little creature the rest of the way out. It was a white lizard. Well, a hollow lizard. It had its hollow hole right between its shoulders, extending through to its chest.
Nel was the first to say anything. "You got him a…"
"A pet!" Yuzu squealed with delight.
Immediately all eyes were on the tiny hollow. The room exploded into conversation as everyone wanted to talk about pets, hollows, the ethics of keeping hollows as pets, and how they could work together to get one as well. Ichigo tuned them all out.
"Thank you, Grimmjow. I've never had a lizard before but I appreciate the gift." His words were sincere and warm. Truthfully, he had never had any pet before so getting one now was exhilarating and a little anxiety inducing.
Seeing Grimmjow scowl and blush from the thanks was worth any future pet troubles they may have. The first of which happened when Ichigo went to pet the little beast and was shocked to be attacked. The lizard jumped with speed Ichigo didn’t know he possessed and clamped pointed teeth into his very human flesh hand. It hurt. Badly.
“Holy-” Ichigo had a second to catch his breath before screaming. “You little bastard! Quit biting me!” He shook his hand violently. The hollow stayed attached. It would have been a comical scene – Ichigo trying and failed to wrench a teeny tiny hollow off his hand – were it not for the several people around him who were getting smacked in the face with the hollow’s flailing body.
When he could feel the blood dripping from the wounds, Ichigo decided enough was enough. He liked the gift, really he liked animals and he liked that Grimmjow had tried but he really did not like being bit in his human body. So, in a fit of pain, Ichigo released his spiritual pressure full force. The hollow popped off like a salted leach, shriveling in on itself and baring its fangs.
“I think he likes you,” Grimmjow cajoled even as he handed Ichigo a towel to wrap his bleeding hand with.
“He likes me? How is biting me a show of affection?!” Ichigo’s voice practically echoed in the house.
“Didn’t have a problem with biting last night…” Grimmjow mumbled.
Chaos.
Isshin’s head just about hit the roof with how fast he stood up, Orihime was in a fit of giggles, money exchanged hands. Even Tessai, seemingly the most level headed of them all, was blushing and smiling approvingly at that. No one was listening to poor Ichigo as he tried to explain Grimmjow and him were not intimate like that, they were fighting and it got close, that’s all.
In the hubbub of activity, Ichigo hardly noticed when Grimmjow once again placed the hollow lizard on his lap. This time, the beast did not try to bite anyone. It was like it understood this was a safe place and no one was going to try and eat it here.
Hours later, when the festivities were drying down, Ichigo and Grimmjow made their escape.
At the door, Ichigo was stopped by Nel. She shifted back and forth on her feet before finally saying the words she had held back the whole night. "Do you know the significance of Grimmjow’s gift?"
"Yeah, I know. Pets are a huge responsibility but I think a lizard that eats pests and doesn't shit is a bit of an easy pet. No worries I'll treat it well." Ichigo smiled and reassured her.
"No, I mean, do you understand what it means for an arrancar to give you a hollow?" She emphasizes her words, trying to impart their deeper meaning to the clueless human.
Ichigo shook his head and chuckled lightly. "I don't get it. This is just a pet, right?"
Nel didn't return the smile. She grasped Ichigo by the shoulders and looked into his eyes with the intensity of a soldier at war. "Ichigo, you big dumb oaf, hollows form families with each other. That gift was Grimm asking you to be his family. It's essentially an engagement."
Oh. Ohhhhh. Oh boy. Ichigo's face flushed red and this time it wasn't from the cold. A myriad of emotions crossed his face before settling on happiness. "Thanks for telling me, Nel. I, uh, probably would have figured that out at some point. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go home with my fiancé and have a chat about our relationship because up until tonight I thought we were just roomates."
Nel let him go and watched as the strongest being in the three worlds nearly slipped on ice three times before finally falling because of a well timed snowball to the face. A perfect Christmas.