Work Text:
It was a slow day in the office which meant Grimmjow was bored. He leaned his elbows on his desk and watched one of the new girls fiddling with her bag. Giselle, he thought that was her name. From Hungary. She was a little weird, but some of the clients liked her. She pushed them to improve. Or tormented them, given the noise he’d heard during her sessions.
He watched her pull out a ball of yarn and a crochet hook. Then a lumpy sphere. Huh.
“What’s that, Gigi?” Grimmjow craned his neck a little to see over their desks.
Giselle smiled. “I’m crocheting a zombie! Isn’t it cute? I mean it’s just the head, but isn’t that cute?” She wiggled the disembodied head at Grimmjow.
It didn’t have much features, but he could see splashes of red yarn here and there. “Sure. You know how to make other goth stuff?”
Giselle scrunched her nose. “Duh? You wanna buy somethin’?”
“Nah. I wanted to know if you’d teach me. Maybe to make bats? My boyfriend loves bats.” It would cut down on his bored days, Grimmjow was sure. And it would net him a win to expand Ulquiorra’s collection.
Giselle’s lashes fluttered. “Oh my gosh! Yes!” She squealed and pushed herself away from her desk. The wheels on her chair squeaked, and she glided over to Grimmjow’s side of the office. “Okay. So it’s not too hard to learn. You just need to be patient.”
Nel snorted into her wrist. “Better chance of pigs flying.”
Grimmjow shot her an ugly look before he leaned in closer to Giselle’s side. She pulled out a fresh ball of yarn and a new hook.
“Okay, first thing’s first. I’m gonna teach you to hold the hook.”
~*~
It took a few tries for Grimmjow to get the hang of the basics. And Giselle wasn’t the nicest when he messed up. But now he knew how to not make it look like a weird alien egg sack.
Mostly.
Grimmjow made it home before Ulquiorra and plopped down on the sofa for his next attempt. Or his thirty-fourth. His mother knitted. How was this harder than working with two needles?
The front door opened.
Grimmjow called, “Welcome home, princess.” It must have been busy in the cafe. Ulquiorra was never late.
Ulquiorra walked into the living room while he unbuttoned his jacket. “What are you doing?”
“Crocheting.” Grimmjow lifted the lump to show Ulquiorra. It wasn’t that bad, actually. Kind of relaxing. If he didn’t decide to burn the yarn.
Ulquiorra continued through his after work routine. “Did your mother teach you? I saw her knitting the last time she visited.”
“Nah. New girl at work showed me.” Grimmjow wondered if his mother knew how to crochet. He’d only ever seen her knit and do embroidery.
“How kind of her.” Ulquiorra leaned against the arm of the sofa.
Grimmjow bobbed his head and focused on his next stitch. “Thinkin’ about makin’ a baby blanket for Orihime when I’m done with this, but I’m running low on yarn.”
“If you need more, I have to go pick up dinner. The takeout place is too busy to deliver.” Ulquiorra stretched his arms over his head.
“I can grab some more tomorrow.” Grimmjow leaned back to look at Ulquiorra. He was wearing one of Grimmjow’s shirts. Oh, that wasn’t fair. It hung off Ulquiorra’s shoulder and made him look biteable.
“I’ll be walking past the craft store. What color do you need?” Ulquiorra grabbed his keys off the rack.
Grimmjow fished the label from under his thigh and handed it to Ulquiorra. “I only need the one skein.” Unless he fucked up. Again.
Ulquiorra tucked the label into his pocket. “I’ll be back in half an hour.”
“Thanks, princess.” Grimmjow stood up and leaned over the back of the sofa for a quick kiss.
Ulquiorra hummed. “I’ll get extra spring rolls.”
Grimmjow’s lashes fluttered. “Oh, I fuckin’ love you.”
“I know, mi pantero. Te amo.” Ulquiorra opened the door.
Grimmjow settled back down to finish off what was left of his yarn.
By the time he did, Ulquiorra was back. Grimmjow gave him another kiss and popped a spring roll in his mouth while he worked on rolling the yarn ball.
Ulquiorra plated their food and turned on the television. They ate in silence. Ulquiorra finished first and continued to roll Grimmjow’s yarn without comment. He leaned against Grimmjow’s side, eyes focused on their murder mystery show. Grimmjow couldn’t help but smile to himself. He tried not to think about all the lumpy little predecessors. Or Giselle calling him a thumbass.
The body looked fine, and the head fit well. Grimmjow didn’t even prick his fingers when he sewed them together. He wiggled the bat back and forth to make sure the wings moved. He dug in his bag for the black snap eyes and stitched a set of fangs and a little nose. He stuffed it full with cotton and sewed it shut. Its mouth was a little lopsided, but it wasn’t bad. A lot better than Grimmjow expected.
“Hey.” Grimmjow held the bat down to Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra didn’t respond.
Grimmjow leaned forward to see Ulquiorra was fast asleep. Cute. He ran his fingers through Ulquiorra’s hair and sighed. It felt like luck to be here, in this moment. Domestic as it was.
Grimmjow put his bag on the coffee table and scooped Ulquiorra up to carry into the bedroom. Grimmjow tucked him in and placed the bat on the pillow beside Ulquiorra’s head. Maybe Ulquiorra would wake up and find it. If Murcielago didn’t decide it belonged to him. Spoiled little thing.
“Night, little bat.” Grimmjow leaned down to kiss Ulquiorra’s cheek.
Ulquiorra grunted in his sleep and turned over to curl against Grimmjow’s side of the bed. Grimmjow smiled and headed back into the living room. He sifted through his bag for a ball of black yarn. There was a white ball beside it and a pair of yellow and blue eye buttons.
Grimmjow flipped the channel from the murder show to an action movie and picked up his phone. He scrolled until he found Giselle’s name and shot her a text.
Do u know how 2 make cats?