Work Text:
Ulquiorra didn’t like that they moved. His old house was nicer. It was big with lots of places to hide. This new place didn’t have anything like that. It was too small. He didn’t have a yard or a swing or even the nice old lady who gave him candy for planting flowers.
His mama said it would be good for them. That change was good. He didn’t like change. And he especially didn’t like that he had to go to kindergarten.
His mama walked him down the long hall toward the classroom. There were pictures of the kids on the walls with scraps of paper underneath. Some of them looked like dresses and some looked like pants. His pre-k teacher never made them do that.
The door opened to a lady with dark hair. She smiled at Ulquiorra and his mama. He didn’t like her smile. Ulquiorra tucked himself behind his mama’s leg and dug his little fingers into her pants. Why’d she have to go to work? Mama used to stay home with him after pre-k.
The teacher waved her hands when she talked, and she tried to make him look at her. He didn’t like that. He didn’t like her. Ulquiorra scrunched his nose.
The classroom was too loud, too bright. There were toys, but the other kids were playing with them. Most of them were yelling. He didn’t like the other kids.
The teacher stepped around his mama and knelt down. She wore a blue dress with peaches on it. He didn’t like peaches.
“Hello, Ulquiorra. I’m Ms. Hinamori. Do you want to go play?”
Ulquiorra shook his head. He wrapped his arms around his mama’s leg and pressed his cheek to her pants.
Ms. Hinamori blinked her big eyes at him. “Really? Your mama says you like puzzles. We have some fun puzzles to put together!”
Puzzles were fun. Ulquiorra huffed and let go of his mama. She bent down to kiss his head and promised to be back at three. He looked for the clock. That meant when the big and little hand made an L. But the big hand was at the top, and the little hand was all the way at the bottom! That was going to be for forever!
Ms. Hinamori offered out her hand. “Let’s get you started on a puzzle.”
Ulquiorra looked at his mama, but she was already out the door. His chest tightened a little. He didn’t want her to go, but… puzzles. He sighed and put his hand in Ms. Hinamori’s. Her hand was warm, but she didn’t squeeze his like some of the other grown ups did. She held it gentle. Like when he held his kitten, Murci.
Ms. Hinamori walked him across the room to a corner where there was a table his size. There were boxes on the shelf, and she let him pick one of the puzzles out. He chose a kitty puzzle because it had a black kitty on it. Like Murci. He wished Murci could come to kindergarten, too. Then he’d have someone smart to play with.
Ulquiorra opened the box and sorted the pieces. Someone yelled behind him, and he turned to see two of the boys fighting. One of them had blond hair and most of his teeth gone. The other boy was tall and skinny with an eye patch. Ulquiorra remembered needing one of those once, when he got sick from his cousins. It wasn’t any fun.
“Grimmjow, Nnoitra! Stop fighting!” Ms. Hinamori moved to stop them.
The boys stopped long enough for her to pull them apart, but went right back to fighting when Ms. Hinamori walked away. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes and went back to sorting his puzzle.
A girl came over. She leaned around his side and tried to look at his face. He turned away. She straightened up. Her hair was long and curly. Blonde like the boy, but messy. There were leaves in her hair. Didn’t her mama brush it for her?
The girl asked, “Can I play, too?”
Ulquiorra scrunched his nose. That was a dumb question. “No. It’s a puzzle. I don’t need help.” He could do puzzles all by himself! He was big!
The girl nodded and sat down beside him to watch. He expected her to cry to the teacher about sharing. Mama said he only had to share when he wanted to. Which wasn’t often because his cousins didn’t share ever.
The girl leaned over to look at the picture. Ulquiorra wished she’d go. He didn’t like how she looked at him. He wished he had a basement to go hide in. Maybe he could fit behind the cubby?
The girl got up and left. Ulquiorra felt better and started putting the edges of his puzzle together. His papa said it was good to start with the edges. Then the girl came back with an apple juice.
She announced, “I’m Nel!” She was missing her bottom teeth. She held out the juice.
Ulquiorra looked at the box. He did feel thirsty. And he did like apples. They were tasty. He took the box and put the straw in. The girl was smiling at him.
He sighed and said, “My name’s Ulquiorra.”
Nel blinked. He waited for her to say his name was weird. Or mispronounce it. She just giggled and said, “We’re friends now!”
Ulquiorra didn’t think it worked like that, but he took another drink of his juice. He looked at the puzzle. He’d never had a friend before.
“You can help.”
Nel giggled again. “I like puzzles, too.” She leaned over to take one of the corner pieces.
Ulquiorra let her work on the left side while he did the right. They put the middle pieces in together, and it was a nice puzzle. He thought about doing another when Ms. Hinamori called them over for story time.
Nel pulled him over to the mat in the center of the room. Ms. Hinamori placed a chair in front of them while Ulquiorra plopped down. Grimmjow and Nnoitra were still fighting.
“Boys, be good. Grimmjow, come sit by Ulquiorra.” Ms. Hinamori pointed to Ulquiorra.
The blond boy crossed his arms, but stomped over to drop beside Ulquiorra. He showed Ulquiorra his teeth. One of them was loose. Ulquiorra thought about pulling it for him. Maybe he’d cry.
Ulquiorra turned away from Grimmjow to focus on the story. It was about a mouse with a big dream to go to the city. Ulquiorra sighed. He’d heard that one already.
When Ms. Hinamori finished, she told them they could go out for recess. Ulquiorra waited to go out last. He looked for the swings when he saw Grimmjow.
Grimmjow poked his shoulder and yelled, “Tag! You’re it!” Then he ran away.
Ulquiorra remained in his spot. The swings were already full, so he’d have to wait. Grimmjow stopped running and turned around to look at him. He put his hands on his hips.
“You’re s’posed to chase me!”
“Why?” Ulquiorra tilted his head. Grown ups hated when he did that. His mama and papa thought it was funny.
Grimmjow scrunched his whole face. It made him look ugly. “Because that’s how the game works? Duh.”
Ulquiorra didn’t think games worked if it was just one person playing. He rolled his eyes and looked for Nel. Maybe she’d want to do more puzzles. He started to walk when he heard running. Then a hard shove in the side. He hit the ground and looked up to see Grimmjow standing over him.
Grimmjow shouted, “I said you’re it!”
Ulquiorra laid on the ground, thinking. Grimmjow smiled.
“You gonna cry?” Grimmjow laughed.
Ulquiorra decided what to do. He got up, wiped off his pants, and turned to Grimmjow. Grimmjow was bigger than him, but so were most of the kids. Ulquiorra was late, his mama said. He’d get bigger later.
“I’m not gonna cry.” Ulquiorra shook his head. “But you are.”
Grimmjow stopped laughing. He turned to run. Ulquiorra took off after him. His cousins always thought they could outrun him, too. Grimmjow looked back, and he looked scared. Good. Grimmjow ran up the ladder onto the pirate ship. He turned around and kicked the ladder off. Then he blew a raspberry at Ulquiorra.
“Can’t get me!”
Ulquiorra looked to the side. He grabbed the edge of the ship and clambered up. He climbed everything at their old house. His mama didn’t like it, but his papa said it was okay. Grimmjow looked even more scared. He jumped off the slide. Ulquiorra slid down it and followed Grimmjow to the monkey bars.
Grimmjow grabbed the first rung and started across. Ulquiorra followed. Grimmjow tried to jump, but he let go too soon. He fell on his face.
Ulquiorra hopped down and kicked him in the leg. Hard. “Tag. You’re it.”
Grimmjow pushed himself up. There was dirt all over his t-shirt. Ulquiorra readied for a fight. His cousins always got mad when he kicked them.
Grimmjow’s face was red. “You… caught me.”
Ulquiorra nodded. Of course he did. He could run really fast.
“No one ever catches me.”
“Well I did.” Ulquiorra put his fists down.
Grimmjow smiled. “I like you.”
It wasn’t that easy. Ulquiorra huffed. “I don’t like you.”
“Can we play?” Grimmjow pointed to the other side of the playground. “We can go play battle with Kaien and Nnoi and Tesla.”
Ulquiorra turned around to see most of the other kids huddled around a jungle gym with sticks. He’d never played battle before. Well, his cousins would say he was a “casualty” sometimes when they did. That meant he had to play dead.
“Can I be the doctor?” Like his mama.
Grimmjow nodded and grabbed Ulquiorra’s hand. He drug Ulquiorra across the playground, yelling they finally had a medic!
~*~
When the big hand and little hand on the clock made an L, Ulquiorra’s mama came to pick him up. So did Grimmjow’s mama. She was pretty, Ulquiorra thought. Not like Grimmjow. But Grimmjow wasn’t so bad. He showed Ulquiorra around the classroom and helped him tie his shoes.
Grimmjow smiled at him. His cheeks were still red when he looked at Ulquiorra. That was weird. Was he sick?
Grimmjow said, “Can we be best friends?”
Ulquiorra had never had a best friend. “I guess.”
Grimmjow gave him a big hug before he ran over to his mama. He grabbed her sleeve and pointed at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra turned away. Now he felt warm. He’d never had friends before, now he had two. And one of them was his best friend.
His mama offered him her hand. They started to walk to their new house.
“So, will you go back tomorrow, love?” His mama rubbed his fingers.
Ulquiorra chewed his lips. “Mhm. Nel’s gonna work on another puzzle with me, and Grimmjow said we can play battle again.”
His mama laughed and squeezed his hand. “That sounds nice.”
It did. Maybe kindergarten wouldn’t be so bad.