title; archaeological dig for a heart
summary; in which grimmjow doesn't know how to filter his thoughts and orihime is unaffected.
word count; 506
"any questions?"
grimmjow wakes with a start, his jaw snapping shut and his pencil rolling off of his desk. nelliel snickers. he sits forward and shoots her a dirty look.
"if that's all, then i must be going. thanks so much for your time, yamamoto and class!" an emphatic voice sings from the front of the classroom.
"you are quite welcome, archaeologist inoue," says teacher yamamoto kindly. "we appreciate your visit, and look forward to seeing you next week!" grimmjow glances up from his phone (— are u coming to risa's party tonight? —) to see that said archaeologist is a woman.
and, uh, she's hot.
she has round expressive caramel eyes with milky hints of espresso that dance around small orbs of hazel and when she blinks and re - opens her eyes it's like they've swirled together and he wants to swim in them. (he wonders how soft all that hair is.)
grimmjow's stare rolls over her hips, and he finds himself digging his fingernails into his thigh.
"wait," he finds himself saying. yamamoto's glare throws daggers into grimmjow's chest, as if to say do not mess this up, delinquent boy.
"do you have a question?" he swallows. her eyes - the caramel ones - they're looking directly at him. what does he say what does he say he is too damn cool for this panicking thing
"you got a boyfriend?"
she reddens, mouth falling open. "n - no," archaeologist inoue stammers.
yamamoto is giving him the evil eye.
he is so Very dead.
she is sitting in the office, waiting to be signed out. her eyes are glued to the phone in her hand. grimmjow swallows.
"go on, then," urges yamamoto.
he steps inside. she stirs at the sound of fabric brushing against the doorframe and looks up. he offers a small wave. "hello."
inoue smiles.
grimmjow coughs, abashed. he wipes his palms on the back of his jeans.
"just wanted to apologise for my, um, insubordinate behaviour earlier," he mutters gruffly. she laughs.
"oh goodness, no, it's fine. now i just happen to have another story to tell my coworkers. i was embarrassed at first, but it's quite funny; looking back on it. memorable, i s'pose."
he nods. "well. thanks."
she cocks her head. "not a problem. i really don't have a boyfriend, though. and you're a senior, right?"
he blinks. "yeah."
"how busy will you be the month after graduation?"
grimmjow's mouth forms a round o and his face immediately twists into a toothy grin. "for you? my entire calendar is free, miss inoue."
"please," she says, standing. "it's orihime."
additional notes; this was written for the lovely walis, who suggested 'archaeology' as a grimmhime prompt. this was uploaded from my tumblr ( tsuguhas) on dec. 22, 2017 after being originally published there on june 17, 2017.