Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Yours Is the Only Hand I Want to Hold ❯ Chapter 2

I don't own anything but my ideas.

 

Three Weeks After The Hospital

 

Ulquiorra tipped his head back into the spring breeze, smelling the clear air before Grimmjow ruined it with his swearing as he readjusted his bag on his shoulder. Honestly, the teenager was worse than any sailor. Grimmjow had finally come back to school three days ago, two and a half weeks after getting his arm and chest sewn up at the hospital he was finally fit enough to come back to the strenuous atmosphere of school, and all Ulquiorra could say was thank god he didn't miss any more time. Grimmjow was already confused enough in every class as it was from missing this much school. He had extra lessons every day after school with every one of his teachers and even then Ulquiorra was tutoring him for an hour after his lessons to get him back up to where his class was.

 

Ulquiorra looked over curiously, hearing a basketball bouncing against the blacktop in a steady rhythm, and he knew who it would be even before he saw them.

 

Grimmjow was bouncing the ball on a slow beat with the arm that was supposedly—according to the physical therapist—going to be useless for at least another two weeks, watching Nnoitra over his shoulder as the taller teen defended the hoop. Both of them had discarded their uniform shirts, Grimmjow catching the eyes of passers by not because he was so much more built than Nnoitra, but because of the enormous jagged scars running down the length of his chest and tracing around the outside of his left arm. Nnoitra's eye patch was also laying on top of their shirts, revealing the dark, empty eye socket as Nnoitra watched Grimmjow's movements.

 

“Come on, Grimm-kitty,” Nnoitra taunted Grimmjow, an enormous maniacal smile on his face as he followed Grimmjow's movements carefully. “How you going to beat me with a gimpy arm? Huh?” Grimmjow's smile was just as wild and excited as he looked for an opening to get around Nnoitra.

 

“You're so lucky, Ulquiorra.”

 

Ulquiorra turned to the voice behind him, finding Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose and Apache, three girls from Grimmjow's graduating class watching Grimmjow as he danced back and forth, trying to get past Nnoitra who blocked his every move with his long arms. Halibel was standing beside them, a tall but quiet girl from Ulquiorra's class who had breasts big enough to smother any normal man, but she wasn't watching Grimmjow like the other three. Ulquiorra noticed in almost surprise that she was watching Nnoitra instead of the blue-haired junior.

 

He sighed again, fixing the weight of the heavy bag on his shoulder. He hated the end of the year, teachers always gave the most work, and while that wasn't a problem time-wise or intellectually, it was terrible on his shoulder and spine.

 

“I would totally ask Grimmjow out if he wasn't gay,” Mila-Rose continued, and Apache nodded while Sun-Sun just continued to watch, her mouth behind her long sleeves as usual. Halibel stayed quiet, her eyes tracking the way Nnoitra moved behind Grimmjow.

 

Grimmjow suddenly faked a left and ducked under Nnoitra's arm as he swung for the ball, darting for the hoop as close to the ground as he could get, using Nnoitra's weakness, and jumped for a lay-up with his supposedly useless arm, rolling his shoulder easily after the ball fell through the hoop. Nnoitra scooped it up and started bouncing it back and forth between his hands, undeterred even though Grimmjow had scored. Grimmjow slid his feet apart in front of Nnoitra, checking it before he went immediately into guarding the hoop. A thin sheen of sweat glistened off their bodies as Nnoitra ran for the hoop, easily dunking it with his height though Grimmjow almost knocked it out of his hands.

 

Ulquiorra fought the smile tugging at his lips, glad that Nnoitra could really push Grimmjow to his best and beyond even when he was supposed to be doing terribly. His arm was supposed to be hanging at his side now and lifting two-pound weights at the physical therapist's, but Grimmjow had once told Ulquiorra, completely seriously, that he would rather die than let Nnoitra be better at anything than him. Nnoitra pushed Grimmjow past his limits so easily, and Ulquiorra was just glad to see that Grimmjow loved it.

 

Grimmjow smacked the ball out of Nnoitra's grip, running back to the half-court line before he ran under Nnoitra's long arms again and dunked the ball. Grimmjow reached for the ball as it rolled to a stop on the blacktop before Nnoitra swiped it away, and then the blue-haired teen spotted Ulquiorra, a grin spreading across his face as he jogged over.

 

“Hey,” he said breathlessly, panting from the heat under the almost-summer sun.

 

“Are you ready?” Ulquiorra asked quietly, switching his bag to his other shoulder to try and lessen the weight on his spine.

 

“Yeah, hang on,” Grimmjow told him before nodding to Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose and Apache as he jogged past them to retrieve his shirt and school bag.

 

Nnoitra trudged over, bouncing the ball lazily back and forth between his hands as he watched Grimmjow trying to get his shirt on, though it was sticking to his arms from the sweat.

 

“Hey, Emo,” he said casually, making Ulquiorra glare, before turning to Halibel. “Hey,” he nodded, grinning. She nodded back, but said nothing, though Ulquiorra noticed that she gripped her books just a little bit tighter, and then turned to leave, the other three girls following her.

 

Ulquiorra watched Nnoitra's eyes follow her as she left before he shifted his bag again, looking down as he said, “You should ask her out.”

 

Nnoitra blinked, looking at him with one eyebrow raised before he cackled with laughter. “You crazy? She's a senior.”

 

“So am I,” Ulquiorra said disinterestedly, looking over to Grimmjow. Nnoitra blinked, but didn't say anything else.

 

“We'll have to walk,” Ulquiorra told Grimmjow when the taller teen jogged back over. “My car is getting some brake work done.”

 

Grimmjow shrugged. “That's fine,” he said before bending down and taking Ulquiorra's bag off his shoulder, swinging it over his own.

 

“Grimmjow!” Ulquiorra protested, making a grab for his bag but Grimmjow just turned away, a mischievous grin on his face. “I'm not helpless.”

 

“I know,” Grimmjow said, turning around and walking away. Ulquiorra sighed and broke into a jog to catch up to his taller teen. Stubborn. He looked at Grimmjow out of the corner of his eye for a moment and after determining that he wouldn't collapse under the ridiculous weight of his bag, he reached out carefully and took Grimmjow's hand, lacing their fingers together, smiling slightly as he saw Grimmjow smirk out of the corner of his eye.

 

Two Weeks Later

 

The light rain splashed around their feet, soaking their socks, shoes and ankles as they ran through the new puddles in the street. Ulquiorra held the grocery bag awkwardly to his chest, two more hanging off his right arm and one of Grimmjow's bags on his left arm. Grimmjow was only holding one of the grocery bags, mostly preoccupied with holding his coat above their heads and keeping them from getting completely drenched. Of all the times it had to rain, it had to be when Ulquiorra's civic was again in the shop for its useless brakes when they were out food shopping for their families.

 

Grimmjow growled at the sky as it turned blacker and the rain went from a light drizzle to a small monsoon and lead Ulquiorra under the awning of a small convenient store, which was naturally closed.

 

Grimmjow sighed and dropped his bag next to the bench outside the store, shaking his jacket to get the excess water off.

 

“I hate your car,” he muttered, flopping heavily onto the bench and taking a carton of milk out of one of the grocery bags, drinking straight from it. As usual, Grimmjow had gotten three cartons, one for his family and two for him. Ulquiorra smirked, looking away so Grimmjow couldn't see him. Grimmjow's love for any sort of dairy wasn't unknown, but it was still funny. Half of the gallon of milk was gone already. And Ulquiorra couldn't exactly disagree with him; he needed a new car.

 

“Looks like we're going to be stuck here for a while… unless you want to run back to the store and buy an umbrella,” Grimmjow offered, one eyebrow raised.

 

Ulquiorra looked up to the sky and the unrelenting rain before turning around and sitting down next to Grimmjow on the bench. It didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon.

 

“…Well, I'm graduating this year. My grades are high enough,” Grimmjow broke the silence after a minute.

 

“Courtesy of me.”

 

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Grimmjow smiled devilishly before leaning over and kissing Ulquiorra's cheek, making him blush.

 

After missing three weeks from his injuries in the knife fight, Grimmjow's grades, which were usually C's and B's, were D's and F's from how much work he had missed. In a few classes he'd even failed a test or a project he was so confused. But with his extra classes after school he'd brought his grades back up to their usual levels and then Ulquiorra had continued tutoring him even after he'd completed all of his missed work and Grimmjow had managed to jump his grades up to all B's and one A with only two weeks to go before graduation.

 

Ulquiorra leaned against Grimmjow's side and relaxed, molding his body against Grimmjow's chest as the taller boy swung one arm over his shoulder—his injured arm, Ulquiorra could feel the thick scar even through both of their shirts. Ulquiorra closed his emerald eyes, just listening to the sound of Grimmjow's breathing, matching the beat of the rain on the road. He hated to admit it, or even remember it, but for a split second at the hospital when he'd seen Grimmjow sitting there covered in blood, he'd been afraid that it would be the last time he'd be able to hear Grimmjow breathing. He couldn't explain what a calming sound it was.

 

“…I'm going to miss you next year.”

 

College. Ulquiorra had been trying not to think about how little he'd see Grimmjow once he started college. Grimmjow still had one more year in high school, and even then he could go to a different college.

 

“I'll still be around,” he said quietly, his voice firm. “I'll always visit and I can keep helping you with your studies.”

 

“…Yeah…” Grimmjow said, something off about his voice, but Ulquiorra didn't have time to think about it before he leapt to the other side of the bench, almost flying in his haste when he recognized the car pulling up in the distance.

 

The sleek, black Aston Martin slowed to a stop, the tinted windows rolling down to reveal Ulquiorra's foster parents, Sosuke and Momo Aizen.

 

Aizen did not look happy. He was smiling, but it was the dangerous, strained smile. Ulquiorra had actually never seen his foster father mad before, just… dangerously polite, and this was one of those times. Momo on the other hand just looked unsure and even nervous, but whether it was about him and Grimmjow being together or how Aizen would react, Ulquiorra wasn't sure.

 

“Ulquiorra?” Momo asked finally, breaking the tension.

 

“I-I…”

 

“We ran into each other at the store and decided to walk home together because Ulquiorra didn't have an umbrella and my coat was big enough for both of us,” Grimmjow said calmly, holding up his coat to show Aizen and Momo, his other arm draped over the back of the bench. They hadn't. They both needed to go and went together, but Ulquiorra's foster parents didn't need to know that.

 

“Well if you both would like to get in, we can give you a ride home, Grimmjow. There's no reason for you to need to walk home in the rain,” Aizen said, the strained smile still prominent on his face.

 

Ulquiorra and Grimmjow jammed their bags into the back seat with them, scrambling to get in as fast as possible to keep the food out of the rain and to not annoy Aizen any more than they had to. Ulquiorra wasn't missing for a second how annoyed Aizen looked to having Grimmjow sitting next to his `son'. Ulquiorra had been living with the Aizens since he was eight, it was only natural that they would feel protective, but Ulquiorra wasn't swayed on his opinion that this was just a little over the top. At least they weren't being rude to Grimmjow, but that could have been because they knew Gin and Rangiku personally.

 

“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Aizen,” Grimmjow said quietly, putting the grocery bags in between him and Ulquiorra so he didn't get kicked out of the car.

 

“Of course,” Aizen smiled politely, his grip slightly tight on the steering wheel as he started down the road.

 

“Any time you need a ride, honey. We live so close, it's right on our way,” Momo chirped, thankfully not as against Grimmjow as Aizen was. At least she knew Grimmjow had good points. Ulquiorra liked his foster parents, they were nice, caring and didn't hate Grimmjow, they just thought he was a bad influence because he was rough and almost always injured. Ulquiorra didn't think Grimmjow was a good influence, he whole-heartedly agreed with them on that, but he wasn't trying to be like the younger teenager either.

 

Grimmjow thanked them again after they had pulled into his driveway, climbing out to grab his things easier.

 

“I'll help you carry your things in,” Ulquiorra snatched one of the bags before Grimmjow could take it and climbed out of the car before either of his foster parents could stop him. “I'll be back in a minute,” he said and shut the door before Momo could say whatever she was going to and trotted around the car to catch up to Grimmjow.

 

Ulquiorra sighed, placing the bag on the countertop as Grimmjow started to put the food away, smirking as he remembered setting up the huge tray of food on this counter for Grimmjow after coming back from the hospital. Grimmjow had only slept another hour after falling asleep before waking up and inhaling the entire tray, then asking for more milk when he had finished.

 

“I'll see you at school tomorrow,” Ulquiorra said, turning to go before his Momo came in after him. He almost gasped, his eyes going wide as Grimmjow grabbed his arm suddenly and turned him back, pressing their lips together and threading his hand into Ulquiorra's black hair.

 

Ulquiorra spluttered, pushing the blue-haired teen away and stepping back, his cheeks tinged lightly pink, which he was sure was showing up beautifully because of how pale he was. “My foster parents might come in.”

 

“So what?” Grimmjow asked bluntly, making Ulquiorra pause.

 

…Yeah, so what?

 

Ulquiorra reached up and grabbed the back of Grimmjow's neck, pulling him down as he stood up on his toes to meet Grimmjow's lips, thrusting his tongue deep into his mouth. Grimmjow's hands were instantly at his back, battling him back with his own tongue.

 

Ulquiorra finally pulled back, a little winded as he smiled lightly up at Grimmjow. “I'll see you tomorrow,” he repeated, kissing Grimmjow once more lightly on the lips before walking to the door, breathing deeply to calm down and straightening his shirt.

 

Gin and Rangiku were pulling into the driveway when Ulquiorra stepped outside, Luppi climbing out of the car after them. Ulquiorra grimaced mentally as Luppi smirked, the same devilish smirk that Grimmjow had, though Luppi was currently smirking for a completely different reason. Ulquiorra unconsciously braced himself.

 

Gin and Aizen nodded politely to each other as Ulquiorra walked back to the car, Momo and Rangiku waving happily, though Rangiku just a little more eccentrically.

 

Ulquiorra sucked in a deep breath, waiting for whatever Luppi was going to say thing time as he walked by him.

 

“Will I have to disinfect the house because you were making out?” Luppi asked evilly, just quiet enough so that only Ulquiorra could hear him, a clear glint in his eyes as he pulled his school bag out of the car. “Or did you do more with him and I'll just have to burn the kitchen? You know Rangiku wont be happy, we just bought a new stove.”

 

“Hello, Luppi,” Ulquiorra said without stopping, climbing into the back seat and praying that Luppi wouldn't say anything else when the younger boy suddenly caught the door, preventing it from being shut, and leaned into Ulquiorra's ear.

 

“You'll have to get him something special this year for his birthday, he's turning eighteen after all. Though I suppose you could just come as yourself, seeing as you'll both be the… legal age to go all the way… if you haven't already,” he pulled back slowly and closed the door for Ulquiorra, smiling and waving happily as Aizen pulled away. He'd gotten Ulquiorra flustered at that last remark, and he knew it and was enjoying it.

 

Ulquiorra groaned mentally. He hated being Luppi's source of amusement.

 

One Year Later

 

Ulquiorra was driving back to his old high school in his new Toyota Highlander—without faulty brakes—with Halibel in the passenger seat. Ulquiorra had specifically chosen the larger car over anything smaller because he knew at some point Ichigo would be asking him to cart around him and most likely his new girlfriend, Rukia Kuchiki, and some of his friends for how many times Ulquiorra had `stayed over his house' when he was actually at Grimmjow's, and he knew if he was going to fit people like Renji Abarai, Uryu Ishida or Orihime Inoue (which he had found out was the girl Grimmjow had saved) in his car, let along Sado, or Chad or whatever his name was, he would need a big car. Ichigo was such a simpleton. Ulquiorra would have been asking for the redhead's left arm if he had asked for as much as Ulquiorra had over the years.

 

Halibel, who also had no car, was in the passenger seat because Ulquiorra was driving her home for the vacation, but first they were picking up Grimmjow at the high school. Grimmjow had his own car now, but opted not to drive it whenever it could because it meant Ulquiorra was coming home from college to visit and would pick him up.

 

Ulquiorra pulled into the school parking lot, looking around for Grimmjow and immediately relaxing when he saw the electric blue color over all of the other heads of the students. The only one who stood taller than him now was Nnoitra. If possible, Grimmjow had grown another inch, though thank god Ulquiorra had also so there was still only six and a half inches difference between them, but Grimmjow still stood at 6'5” now.

 

Grimmjow was leaning up against the side of the building talking to Nnoitra and another kid named Coyote Starrk, though Starrk seemed to be doing more sleeping than talking. Ulquiorra only recognized him from the honors list when he was in high school last year. Starrk had been the highest in the class, though Ulquiorra was baffled as to how he did it, with how much sleeping he did.

 

Grimmjow immediately pushed away from the brick wall when he saw Ulquiorra's car, waving to Nnoitra over his shoulder as he jogged over. Ulquiorra almost smiled, but it turned into a confused blink as Halibel suddenly got out of the car.

 

“Do you want me to wait?” Ulquiorra asked unsurely.

 

“No, thank you for driving me hear,” she crossed her arms, crossing the parking lot to where Grimmjow had been standing, nodding to Grimmjow as they passed. Ulquiorra watched as she walked up to Nnoitra, nodding to Starrk who just cracked an eye to say hi before going back to sleep.

 

“…So…” Nnoitra drawled, making Ulquiorra strain to hear what he was saying. “A little birdie told me that I should ask you out.”

 

Grimmjow climbed noisily into the car, drowning out Halibel's response much to Ulquiorra's annoyance as he threw his bag roughly into the back. Grimmjow let his head flop back over the seat and muttered, “I hate school,” grumbling incoherently for another minute about the work and how much it weighed.

 

He sat back up suddenly to cup Ulquiorra's cheek in his hand and turn him into a kiss, smiling when they pulled apart. Ulquiorra quickly forgave him for making him miss what Halibel said, swallowing embarrassedly and shifting his grip on the steering wheel when he straightened back up.

 

Nnoitra banged on the hood suddenly as he walked by, making them jump. Ulquiorra immediately noticed that he had Halibel's hand in his own, though it was kind of hard not to.

 

“Keep it PG!” Nnoitra shouted, loud enough to be heard for the windshield and for the rest of the parking lot to hear. “We're at school!”

 

Grimmjow instantly flipped him off as he and Halibel walk to Nnoitra's car, a new truck that no longer spewed smoke when it started. Ulquiorra smothered his smile at Grimmjow's muttering and pulled out of the parking lot, ignoring the people wide-eyed, glaring at him for steeling Grimmjow, or glaring at Grimmjow for steeling him. He waited until they were on the road, sparing Grimmjow as much heckling as he could tomorrow at school, before leaning over and kissing Grimmjow's cheek. Grimmjow instantly turned a nice shade of pink. He loved how cute Grimmjow looked when he blushed.

 

Six Years Later

 

Ulquiorra pushed himself up onto his side, leaning on one elbow as he looked down at Grimmjow sleeping on his stomach, tracing the gothic 6number six tattoo on Grimmjow's back idly. He fixed the blankets around them and picked his pillow up off the floor to get more comfortable even though he was so sweaty he was sticking to the sheets.

 

Pantera and Murcielago, their two cats, jumped up on the bed, Pantera rubbing vigorously against Ulquiorra's shoulder until Ulquiorra gave in and pet him. Grimmjow had a soft spot for cats, so when he had graduated from high school and he and Ulquiorra had gotten an apartment together Ulquiorra was not at all surprised when Grimmjow had one day brought home two stray kittens barely four weeks old after his morning classes in college.

 

Grimmjow had graduated from college two years ago and had just turned twenty-four, while Ulquiorra had graduated three years ago and was now twenty-five. Somewhere along the way Ulquiorra had gotten out of his foster parents that they didn't care about him being gay, which had initially been kind of a surprise to him, they just didn't think Grimmjow was the best person to be with, but Ulquiorra honestly—as Grimmjow would say—didn't give a flying fuck. They could think whatever they wanted about Grimmjow, it wasn't going to change how Ulquiorra felt about the brasher man. At least Gin and Rangiku loved him. Rangiku nearly smothered him with love every time they visited so that Grimmjow almost had to resuscitate him, and naturally, Luppi got a kick out of this, so he wasn't against Ulquiorra being part of the family.

 

Ulquiorra looked up in confusion at the doorbell echoing up the stairs from downstairs. The one thing he would never miss about the apartment was the doorbell, which was so quiet you could actually sleep through it if you wanted to and make the person outside come back in the morning. The house had come with the air raid siren doorbell because a deaf old couple had lived in it before moving to Florida, so they would have to put in another one. Who the heck was coming to their house at 1:30 in the morning anyway?

 

Ulquiorra got out of bed, pulling on his boxers as he did. He knew his clothes were somewhere around here, but where the heck were they? He threw aside Grimmjow's pants, looking for the offending clothing before the person at the door rang the doorbell again. Ulquiorra froze as Grimmjow groaned, only relaxing after Grimmjow just rolled onto his side and a low snore rolled off his tongue. Ulquiorra glared at the door for a moment before giving in and pulling Grimmjow's t-shirt over his head, running out of the bedroom and down the stairs before they rang again and actually woke Grimmjow. Grimmjow's shirt was like a dress on him, it was long enough to keep his pride, but he still wasn't too pleased about being woken up at this hour, even though he was already technically awake.

 

Ulquiorra opened the three needlessly enormous locks and pulled open the door to reveal Rukia and Ichigo on the doorstep, both in their uniforms with Hisana, their four month old daughter asleep in Rukia's arms.

 

“Sorry for coming so late,” Ichigo waved sheepishly and Ulquiorra nodded to say it was ok. Looking at Hisana, suddenly it wasn't so bad to be disturbed at this hour.

 

“Could you watch her for the day?” Rukia asked hopefully, even though Ulquiorra always said yes. “We got called away again.”

 

Ichigo and Rukia, who was now Rukia Kurosaki three years to the day tomorrow if Ulquiorra remembered correctly, were both police for the city. Rukia called them Shinigami, though Ulquiorra thought it would be a little weird to be called a death god for someone who worked to prevent death. Ichigo had said that was the point of why Rukia called them that, but Ulquiorra still thought it was stupid.

 

Rukia stepped forward and Ulquiorra held out his hands, carefully taking the tiny baby into his own arms and making sure she didn't wake up before he stepped back into the house and out of the chilly one AM air.

 

“It'll only be a day or so, we'll be back tomorrow morning at the latest,” Ichigo said as he walked back to the cruiser, pulling the door open for Rukia as he always did, though she punched him lightly on the arm for it.

 

Ulquiorra watched them drive away before he shut the door, holding Hisana in the crook of his arm as he locked the three deadbolts on the door. He sat down at the table, rocking her gently as he did. This happened so often, Ulquiorra was used to it by now. Even though Ichigo and Rukia lived closer to some people, like that girl Orihime Inoue or Uryu Ishida, who was now living with his new girlfriend Nemu Mayuri, they still felt that Hisana was the safest with them. It must have been because of how close as friends Ichigo and Grimmjow were. After the first three times of Rukia and Ichigo bringing over a bag of baby food, clothing and diapers, Ulquiorra finally rolled his eyes and just went out to buy the stupid things. Hisana was over often enough during nights as well as days that Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had an entire shelf in the basement dedicated to baby food, formula, bottles, diapers and changes of Hisana's clothing. They even had a travel crib in the room next to them after Grimmjow had said flat out no, Hisana was not sleeping in their bed with them because he would roll over and squish her in the night.

 

Ulquiorra looked over to a groan from the hallway, finding Grimmjow leaning against the wall running his hand through his hair tiredly. He only had his shorts on, making the scars on his chest and arm very visible, dark red marks even after all these years. He didn't need to ask who it had been at the door with Hisana in Ulquiorra's arms.

 

“What?” Grimmjow asked when Ulquiorra didn't look away, trying to blink the sand out of his eyes. Pantera came bounding down the stairs, Murcielago striding in lazily after him as Pantera rubbed against Grimmjow's legs until the electric-blue-haired man picked the cat up and put it on his shoulders.

 

Ulquiorra looked back to Hisana, silent for a moment as he rocked her before he said, “Let's have a baby. Adopt.”

 

“You want to have a baby?”

 

Ulquiorra nodded, almost dreading the response he didn't want to hear as he watched Hisana's tiny fist grip his forefinger in her sleep.

 

“All right.” Grimmjow shrugged suddenly, walking around Ulquiorra to the fridge and taking out the milk. Pantera jumped off of his shoulders and onto the counter, waiting for Grimmjow to put out a saucer of milk while Murcielago just waited patiently on the floor.

 

Ulquiorra, shocked that the answer came so fast and strongly, almost kicked the table hard enough to break his toe when he jolted. His eyes snapped up to Grimmjow, but even though his lover wasn't looking at him, he could see no trace of uncertainty or a joke in his eyes.

 

“International or domestic?” Grimmjow continued, scratching Pantera's head after putting Murcielago's saucer on the floor.

 

Ulquiorra smiled slightly, biting the inside of his bottom lip to keep it from spreading too much as he looked back to Hisana. “…Just domestic.”

 

Grimmjow downed his milk before yawning like an ape, scratching the back of his neck. “Come back to bed, I have to get up early tomorrow.”

 

Much like Ichigo and Rukia's jobs in the police force, Grimmjow's job as a homicide detective had him up early and more often than not working crazy hours at night or on the weekends. Ulquiorra relished in the days that Grimmjow didn't get called in during the middle of the night so that they could just sleep. It wasn't that he didn't see Grimmjow, his hours during the workweek were normal, but—though he would never admit it—he was terrified that Grimmjow wouldn't come home one morning. Ulquiorra worked as a computer programmer, which wasn't nearly as strenuous and better when they had Hisana because he could work from home.

 

“I have to work too,” Ulquiorra reminded him, shifting Hisana in his arms so he could stand.

 

“It's not nearly as early as I have to,” Grimmjow said, almost smugly, and Ulquiorra rolled his eyes as he went back up the stairs.

 

Ulquiorra stripped out of Grimmjow's shirt after putting Hisana in her crib, climbing in next to Grimmjow and moving into his chest, sighing silently as the taller man's arms wrapped protectively around him and pulled him in closer.

 

Ulquiorra buried his face in Grimmjow's chest and whispered, “Thank you.”

 

Grimmjow blinked, trying to look down at him, but Ulquiorra only hid his eyes.

 

“For what?”

 

“…Nothing.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I honestly didn't mean for it to be that long when I started, I just couldn't stop! :D Just be glad I broke it up into two chapters; it used to be one!

If people want an epilogue, go ahead and review and beg for it! ^^ I might just write one if enough people ask (singsong voice)

No, seriously, I loved writing it, so if you like it, I totally want to write an epilogue!

Also (for Fanfiction.net) check out my profile page to vote on my pole, because if you're here, you're obviously a yaoi fan too!

If you're on MediaMiner, go ahead to my Fanfiction profile page to vote too!

http://www.fanfiction.net/~fireserpent14< /div>