It was Valentines Day. Today was the day that everyone was going to go overboard what with the gift giving, serenades that were sure to come, declarations of love, mushy couples, and so on. Things were usually peaceful in Las Noches but not today. Hopefully, Aizen would not be celebrating this horrid day. But that was just wishful thinking. No doubt that that Ichimaru Gin would find it amusing to celebrate it and would persuade Aizen to do so. And Aizen, seeing that he was extremely fond of the fox faced man, would no doubt fulfill his lover's wishes. And of course, the rumours of their great leader planning to let his subordinates celebrate this day triggered a lot of excitement from the majority of arrancar that resided in Las Noches. Days before today the pale arrancar had come across more than a handful of arrancar, both male and female, giggling and blushing whenever he passed by them, and then promptly whispering to one another in hushed voices. He, of course, paid them no mind. Getting excited over this silly Day was below him. He had more important things to think about.

Ulquiorra rubbed his forehead with his fingers, squeezing his eyes shut. Valentines Day is an overly commercialized holiday, in his opinion. Slowly opening his eyes, he grimaced slightly, making his way to the meeting room. Aizen had called for a meeting. Looks like he was going to have to grin (or rather, look as stoic as ever) and bear with it if his suspicions were correct. They always were.

As soon as he threw the two doors to the meeting room open, his suspicions were confirmed.

Oh, dear God.

He was straight away overwhelmed by the abundant colour of pink and red everywhere. Red and pink rose petals were scattered on the floor and on the table. The tabletop was covered with a white cloth and there were several vases of roses arranged neatly on the table. Red and white balloons were stuck to the walls, the ceilings, tied to the back of the chairs… Even the walls were pink! It was a very light pink, but still… Ulquiorra blinked several times, adjusting himself to the sudden burst of feminine colours and decorations. A far cry from the usual drab black and white of Las Noches. The behavior of his fellow Espada themselves was also something that needed getting used to. They were all acting so strangely. They were blushing, giggling, throwing sly looks and flirting with each other. Even the usually silent Halibel was fluttering her eyelashes at him, giggling and giving him a tiny wave.

"Ulquiorra!" the fox faced man cried out, hurrying towards him. "You made it! We thought that you would not be able to make it."

Ulquiorra looked at him. If he could, he would have gladly ran out of the room at once, but Aizen's orders were law. And there was no way that he was going to break them. No matter how stupid he thought they were. "I would not miss this for the world." He tried to sound enthusiastic, but failed miserably. He sounded as emotionless as ever.

If Ichimaru noticed Ulquiorra's lack of enthusiasm, he made no comment of it. "Well, take your seat now." He waved his hand towards the chairs surrounding the meeting table.

Ulquiorra quietly took his seat, ignoring the stare that he was receiving from the person in front of him. As soon as he had sat down, he found a few gift wrapped boxes in front of him. He looked up inquiringly. What the hell are these things doing here? Did someone lose them? He examined them closely, his eyes widening slightly. These gifts were for him. His name was plainly written on them.

"Oh!" Ichimaru squealed into his ear excitedly, startling Ulquiorra. "Ulqui-chan's got some gifts already! Open them!"

Ulqui-chan. He hated the nickname that Ichimaru had given him. Apparently, it amused the silver haired man to no end to see Ulquiorra's eye twitch slightly with annoyance whenever he called him that. At Ichimaru's little outburst of excitement, everyone at the table turned to watch Ulquiorra, a faint blush creeping up his cheeks at the attention he received, but he managed to compose himself and the faint blush disappeared. He could feel his comrades' expectant looks placed on him.

Deciding to ignore the man, like he always did, and everyone else for that matter, Ulquiorra picked up a box wrapped in shiny green wrapping paper. It was from Nnoitra. He raised his eyebrow at this. Nnoitra had given him a Valentines gift? This, he certainly did not expect. He unwrapped the gift slowly, revealing a…

…

…

…

A set of handcuffs, a set of keys (presumably for the handcuffs) and some blindfolds.

What. The. Hell.

Ulquiorra was no stranger to the use of sex toys. He had often walked past shops selling these vulgar items in the human world. A wave of crimson was slowly creeping up from his neck to his face. He looked up slowly, his emerald orbs meeting with Nnoitra's eyes. The lanky arrancar waggled his eyebrows suggestively at him, his gaze on him lecherous.

"I-I-I don't know what to say." For the first time in his life, Ulquiorra stammered. He felt like hurling the box of sex toys in Nnoitra's horny face, but he did not dare. He was not going to be the one to ruin Aizen's little celebration.

"Tch. You are too stupid to even say anything," came a disgruntled voice. Ulquiorra looked up. It was Grimmjow who was sitting in front of him. On his face was a scowl. He looked venomous. "Fourth ranking Espada my ass." Grimmjow looked angrier than Ulquiorra had ever seen him before, but the Sexta was trying, with some difficulty, to control his temper. He looked even sexier when he was angry. With a huff, Grimmjow looked away from Ulquiorra's confused stare, his arms folded across his chest, glaring resolutely at the wall as though trying to burn it with his death glare. "Valentines Day is fucking ridiculous," he muttered under his breath. "I can't believe I'm being made to sit through this shit."

"My, my," Ichimaru tutted. "Looks like someone is jealous."

"Fuck you, fox face!" Grimmjow glared at him.

"Temper, temper," Ichimaru giggled. He reached out and ruffled the blue eyed arrancar's hair. This action earned him a snarl from Grimmjow. "How cute!"

"Trust me, Ichimaru, I am not cute!"

"Fine, then. Hideous, whatever," Ichimaru said dismissively.

Grimmjow reached out to punch the silver haired man, who evaded him. "Too slow, Grimmy!" Ichimaru giggled, making the blue eyed arrancar more furious.

"I'll get you for this, you little shit!"

"Mind your language, my dear!" Ichimaru said in a sing song voice as he flicked Grimmjow at the nose.

Ulquiorra ignored the two. He was getting used to Grimmjow's curious behavior. The teal haired arrancar had been getting cross whenever anyone spoke to or touched Ulquiorra. It was really getting troublesome. He looked at the rest of his gifts and opened them one by one.

Halibel had given him a box of condoms. His eyes widened at this, unable to keep the blush from his pale face. Halibel was even standing too close for his comfort while he unwrapped the gift, her face at the crook of his neck, her breath warm on his cheek. When she had asked him whether he liked her gift, he just gave her a tight smile. He did not want to offend the higher ranking Espada. He turned his attention to the rest of his gifts.

A poem.

Some flowers.

A book.

Poems. More poems.

Grimmjow's face grew steadily redder with each gift he unwrapped.

Cards.

Candy hearts.

Chocolates.

A framed picture of Yami wearing nothing except for a tiny towel to cover his privates as he lay on a sofa in a highly suggestive position. The card attached to it said, "Come get it."

Ulquiorra nearly died.

"Like it?" Yami touched the green eyed Espada's shoulder, running his fingers from Ulquiorra's shoulder to his elbow.

If possible, Ulquiorra's already pale face drained of all colour.

"Excuse me!" Ulquiorra hurried out of the meeting room, away from all of the arrancars that could not wait to jump his bones.

Grimmjow glowered at the remaining Espada when Ulquiorra ran out of the room. He did not like Valentines Day. In his opinion, it was the lamest holiday in the whole year. He punched a unsuspecting Yami in the arm.

"Hey! What the hell was that for!"

"Bastard." Grimmjow scowled and left the room.

Ulquiorra, one of the strongest arrancars in Aizen's army found himself to be hiding from everyone by locking himself up in his bedroom. It was embarrassing to say the least that the Cuarta Espada was scared shitless. The whole day he had been assaulted and trailed by one of Aizen's 'cupids' (lower arrancars that were appointed to send Valentines gifts from admirers and sometimes even serenades that the admirers request them to give). Ulquiorra was not used to this kind of attention. It made him feel uncomfortable.

You would think that him being stoic all the time would put them off, but nooooo.

Ulquiorra frowned slightly, pinching the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes.

Today alone he had received dozens of gifts, poems and cards and he had even received FIVE serenades. He had to stop himself from blushing and maintaining him composure as passersby giggled at him whenever a cupid came up to him and broke into a song, singing loudly and horribly, nearly deafening him. Once, when he was relieving himself in the toilet, one of the 'cupids' broke into the stall he was using and sang loudly, clearly ignoring the fact that Ulquiorra was on the can. He had never felt so embarrassed in his life. It was after that incident that Ulquiorra had taken to hiding inside the security of his room.

But it did not stop the banging on his door. The 'cupids' had been demanding him to let them in for hours, claiming that he was being difficult and making their job difficult as well.

Not that Ulquiorra particularly cared. Just as long as he was left alone. He had had enough.

He sighed and stretched himself, leaning his arms back and above his head.

When his hands came into contact with something solid.

His eyes flew open, panic settling in. No, surely not. He had locked the door. Surely those confounded cupids could not have gotten into his room! Or even be brazen enough to break into his room without his permission. But then again, they had barged in on him when he was on the can. Only one other person had a key to his room.

He tried turning around, but could not when he found a pair of strong arms wrapping themselves around his neck, almost as though the person behind him was pulling him into a hug. He could feel the intruder nestle his face into the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent. "Missed me?"

Ulquiorra did not answer. In his panic, he found that he was unable to move.

The intruder chuckled and lifted his head from the confines of Ulquiorra's neck and turned Ulquiorra's face so that he could look into those emerald orbs. Panic was clearly written on the younger man's face but it quickly disappeared when he discovered the identity of the intruder.

"Don't you dare sneak up on me like that, Grimmjow!" Ulquiorra swatted at one of Grimmjow's arms.

"Don't be such a woman." Grimmjow laughed. "You are happy to see me, don't deny it."

Ulquiorra threw him a dirty look.

"Oh, you know I love it when you get mad, Ulqui. Makes the sex better." Grimmjow nipped at Ulquiorra's earlobe.

"Pervert."

Ulquiorra could not believe that the man holding him was his lover. The man was obnoxious, loud and rude. And yet he could not help getting attached to this man. They had been seeing each other for maybe a month now and were getting closer to one another with each passing day. They had been keeping their relationship a secret, much to Grimmjow's irritation. He could not take seeing other people touching or even talking to his beloved without bursting into a jealous rage. And he could not he even tell them to keep their hands off his little Ulqui! Ulquiorra was not ready to make their relationship public just yet. He wanted to spend as much quality time with the Sexta as possible before being hounded by the rest of the Espada with questions they were sure to harass them with.

"So are you." Grimmjow laughed. Then his face turned serious. "I hated seeing those stupid gits fawning all over you today."

"Jealous?"

"No!" the Sexta said quickly. Too quickly.

"You really should learn to control your temper."

"Aww, you know I love you." Grimmjow leant down and brushed his lips against Ulquiorra's, making him blush for the umpteenth time that day. "Cute." He tweaked Ulquiorra's nose, making the younger man blush even harder.

"Don't tell me that you just came here to tease me," Ulquiorra said, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"There's that." Grimmjow suddenly stood up and pulled something out of his pocket. "And I also wanted to give you a gift."

Ulquiorra's eyes widened. "I thought that you don't believe in Valentines Day?"

"Tch. What do I look like, a sucker to you?" Grimmjow scoffed, and then his face softened. "No. This isn't a Valentines Day gift." He placed the rectangular box into Ulquiorra's white hands. "It, it just a little something to celebrate our one month of being together." It was Grimmjow's turn to blush. "It's not much, but I hope you'll like it."

Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow. He had no idea that Grimmjow was sentimental.

"Quit staring at me like that and open it." Grimmjow huffed.

Now that sounded more like the Grimmjow he knew. Smiling to himself, he looked at the box curiously. It was wrapped in blue with cats decorating the surface – Grimmjow had a soft spot for cats. He unwrapped the box and pulled out the gift.

It was a frame with a picture of him and Grimmjow in it. Grimmjow's arm was wrapped around his shoulder as he was giving Ulquiorra a kiss on the cheek. Ulquiorra was blushing in the picture and he looked so happy, his usually expressionless eyes were alight with happiness and warmth, looking at his lover lovingly. This picture was taken when they had just become an item.

"Grimmjow…" Ulquiorra breathed. He was speechless and touched.

"You hate it, don't you?" Grimmjow covered his face in his hands. "I knew that it was too early to give you something like that!" he cried out in frustration. "God. I am so stupid!"

Suddenly, Ulquiorra stood up and turned to face the teal haired arrancar who was still cursing himself for his stupidity. "Grimmjow." Ulquiorra reached out and held the older man's hands in his own white ones. "I think that it is perfect."

"You do?" Grimmjow sniffed. It was only in front of the green eyed Espada that he dared to act like this.

"Yes," Ulquiorra said gently. "I love it." He touched the taller man's cheek, tracing the contours on his face. "And I love you." Then he took Grimmjow's lips into his own, his fingers curling into the Sexta's unruly blue hair. As Grimmjow's hands wrapped around his slim waist to pull him closer towards the taller man, he thought dazedly, that maybe Valentines Day was not so bad after all.