Grimmjow stepped out of the front doors of his high school and instantly cussed, it was a torrential down pour to say so in the least. It was raining so heavily he could barely see the front gates to the school property less than 10 yards away. He'd ridden to school on his motor bike so of course he didn't have an umbrella with him, and it'd be too dangerous to ride in the rain meaning he'd have to walk all the way home soaking wet.
He stood his books tucked under his arm scolding at the sky and still sputtering curses when a voice rang out, "Jaegerjaquez-senpai you're still at school?" a tiny high voice asked behind him, "If it's because of the rain we can share my umbrella," the person offered and he turned around to spot the shortest girl in his class Esmeralda looking up at him worriedly with blue-green eyes. She blushed bright pink and held up a cheap one hundred yen store umbrella, "You don't have one with you since you rode your motor cycle."
"Tch, fuck off," he snapped at her angrily out of embarrassment, he didn't think he'd get caught by someone in this embarrassing situation let alone someone in his class. He'd been held back because of a detention and thought he'd surely be the last student to leave.
He watched Esmeralda's face contort into a look of panic and she glanced away from him, "Sorry, I hope you have a good night then Jaegerjaquez-senpai," she stated as she shuffled away to the stairs bouncing down them, "Stay dry on your way home so you don't catch a cold!" she called at the base of the stairs right at the edge of the roof where the rain poured down.
He watched her open the clear umbrella and send him one more cautious and worried look and a quick wave before turning around and walking into the rain. He weighed his options and sighed heavily realising he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. He rushed down the stairs two at a time, "Hey wait a minute idiot!" he yelled out but she kept going seemingly ignoring him.
His temper flared up how dare she ignore him after offering to share her umbrella, he ran after her ignoring how icy cold the water was and snatched her by the shoulder wheeling her around to face him. She squealed as her eyes bulged out of their sockets from surprise, "I said wait a fucking minute you stupid piece of shit!" he shouted in her face.
"I-I'm sorry I didn't hear you over the rain!" she apologised loudly and attempted to bow to him while fumbling with her umbrella and books. Grimmjow paused and realised how loud the rain was, it certainly could drown out someone's shouts. His anger faded but he didn't apologise.
"So are you sharing the umbrella or what idiot?" he berated her.
"I-I am!" she exclaimed and held it higher in the air so that Grimmjow was able to stand under it as well, however he was quick to notice that with her holding it both of them were getting wet since both of them couldn't fit at the same time under the umbrella when she held it.
He snorted through his nose, "Let me hold the umbrella," he stated and she passed it off to him, he held it high in the air finally shielded entirely from the rain and the two set off together in the rain. He noticed quickly how Esmeralda carefully kept her distance from him but didn't take it personally since she seemed to be the polite type as well as the inexperienced around guys type.
"It's quite the rain storm huh?" Esmeralda laughed looking up at him with a grin and trying to be friendly. It was probably one of the many reasons many of the students, Grimmjow included, found her annoying was how she was always trying to be friendly with everyone.
"No duh," Grimmjow responded sarcastically not up to dealing with her attempts at small talk. The two fell into silence for several long moments, the only sound being the heavy rain pouring down. That was until Grimmjow's peaceful silence was disturbed by an enormous sneeze. He paused and suddenly another ear splitting sneeze rang out and he turned to stare in disbelief at Esmeralda who was somehow the source of the enormous sound.
She had her handkerchief pressed against her red nose as she sneezed relentlessly and shivered, it was then that Grimmjow realised he had been soaking her the entire walk by holding the umbrella towards him and away from her. He'd only managed to keep her left shoulder under the umbrella, her uniform was completely soaked through by this time and she was shivering.
He rolled his eyes and sighed dragging her against his chest, "Idiot you'll catch a cold that way," he grumbled at her, "At least stand under the umbrella," he scolded her.
Esmeralda flushed bright red in embarrassment at the contact and tried to push away, "I'll get you wet too!" she exclaimed worriedly.
"I'm already wet, and trust me no stupid cold is going to take me down. It's no big deal," he replied, he glanced out trying to spot any cars on the street, "So what held you up at the school?" he asked though not with intention to be friendly, h just wanted to know for his own sake, it wasn't normal for her to stay behind.
"Oh I was in the library getting some research done on our next lab report, the computer at my house is down so I had to use the school's" she replied with an embarrassed giggle, "I heard you got detention again, I'm sorry about that-I don't see why you should get in trouble for driving a motor cycle, especially when you have a certified licence."
"Yeah well a licence doesn't get you that far," Grimmjow muttered grumpily her attempts at being comforting only souring his mood.
"But in your case it does! I mean you have a more advanced licence because of those racing events you participated in right?" she answered eagerly titling her head back to look up at his face.
He wrinkled his brow in confusion, "You know about my racing?" he asked her.
She raised her shoulders as she ducked her head, a habit she had when she was embarrassed while her face turned red, "I heard you talking about it one day in class, when you got in that argument with Kurosaki-san over who was cooler," she admitted shyly, "I think you win hands down for being cooler. Boxing, motor cycle riding, speaking Spanish-Kurosaki-san has the bad boy look like you but I think you've got more of the traits," she answered with an embarrassed giggle on the end and flushing a brighter shade of red.
Grimmjow watched her gaze snap away from him as she rose her shoulders even higher as if to hide her bright tomato red face, "Oh I shouldn't have said that," he caught her mumbling to herself.
"Of course I'm cooler!" he insisted with bravado and puffing his chest out bravely.
Esmeralda let out another sneeze, and then straightened up, "Oh look we're almost to my house!" she said relieved that she could get out of her cold wet clothes soon.
Grimmjow perked up, "Really?" he asked glancing around at the shabby apartments curiously, his apartment wasn't too far off either but he lived in this neighbourhood because living alone this was all he could afford.
"Yep, it's not much but with just me and my father it's all I really need," Esmeralda replied smiling happily, Grimmjow wasn't sure if he caught a flicker in her smile or not, "Of course he won't be home for several more hours but it just gives me something to look forward to," she continued.
"Should you really be telling me that you're home alone?" Grimmjow asked her bluntly, and with the intention to spook her by implying vulgar things.
"Why's that?" she asked him innocently, flipping her head back to look up at his face, he hoped that his face was just burning hot and a blush hadn't broken out at his embarrassment at the threat going over her head, "Anyways, would you like to come in for a little while until the rain lets up. You could dry off too, I think you could fit into my father's clothes if you want dry ones. And I could make tea," she began to ramble on but he was quick to silence her.
"Do you really think it's a good idea to just invite me, me, into your house?" He asked her trying to keep the insult in his voice out and keep it as a threat.
"Why? I trust you, you're not going to do anything weird," she replied.
He snorted through his nose and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, this girl could be so thick headed with her naivety, "I've got things to do so I can't stay," he responded knowing that was the only thing to get her to drop the case.
"Oh, okay. Well we're at my place," she remarked slightly disappointed, "Thank you for walking me home Jaegerjaquez-sempai!" she exclaimed merrily with a polite bow, and with that turned off to dash under the overhang of her apartment complex to get out of the rain.
"W-wait your umbrella!" Grimmjow exclaimed fumbling with it.
She waved at him dismissively, "You can keep it! I've got an extra one!" she shouted back beaming ear to ear as she waved farewell, "Have a good day!" and with that dashed up the stairs disappearing from Grimmjow's sight. He continued on through the rain until he arrived at the door of his own apartment.
…
"Where is Miss Montezuma?" the home room teacher called as she took attendance, Grimmjow who had been tuned out suddenly dragged his attention back to the class his curiosity piqued.
Orihime stuck her hand in the air, "She's at home sick today Miss!"
Grimmjow glanced across the classroom from his window seat to Esmeralda's seat by the door to see it really was empty. He recalled how he had accidentally let her get soaked in the freezing down pour and was most likely the cause of her being ill. The day puttered along at a slow crawl for him and once the bell rang he couldn't help but run at full speed to the parking garage. There he found his beauty, his own personal motorcycle.
He quickly examined it over worriedly since it had been out of his possession for over twenty four hours and was relieved to find it in the exact same condition as what he left it in. He revved the bike and sped off to his first destination, the convenience store by his apartment. After pursuing the aisles for twenty or so minutes he was confident he had found everything he needed and set off to his next destination. He impatiently strode along the apartment hallways checking every family name on the door looking for the family name he sought.
Once he found it he banged on the door, shuffling could be heard and the clicking of locks the door creaked open revealing a disarrayed looking Esmeralda. Her blue and teal locks bedraggled and sticking out every which way, nose bright red, bags under her eyes and dressed in a large bathrobe that swallowed her almost entirely except for her pencil thin ankles that disappeared into white bunny slippers.
She stared at him with a dumbfounded expression for a long second before realising Grimmjow was not a fever induced hallucination but really standing in front of her, "S-sorry!" she apologised, "I don't really think you should come over right now-I mean what if you catch my cold. And I'm not exactly going to be able to entertain you as well as I should if I have a guest-" she began in a nervous tangent.
Grimmjow scoffed cutting her off, "Like I said no cold is going to keep me down, anyways I'm here to look out for you like you looked out for me," he stated, "I got cold medicine and some food to say thanks for yesterday-"
"Thank you-" she started to say but he interrupted her by shoving his hand over her mouth.
"Don't mention it, alright idiot?" he snarled and she nodded, he pushed past her into the small apartment. The living room couch and coffee table had been pushed back so a futon could be laid out in front of the television, a pile of tissue boxes and cold medicine rested next to the pillow and a hot water bottle rested on top of the sheets. Homework papers lay scattered around the make shift nest.
"Forgive the mess," Esmeralda quickly said and slipped past Grimmjow to start organizing everything, he trotted up behind her and swung her up into the air by her waist with one arm, the other hand pressing against her forehead.
"Not with that fever, tch you idiot," he remarked and carried her over to the bed, "Just lay there and don't move alright," he ordered her and sat down next to the bed and began rummaging through his bag comparing the medicines he bought to what Esmeralda already had out.
Esmeralda rolled her head over to look at him while he stuck the hot water bottle on her stomach and his cool palm back down on her forehead. Her eyes dropped down from the cool relief his hand provided, "You should take this for that fever, have you seen a doctor it's really fucking high," Grimmjow remarked unable to recall a time he'd had such a high fever. He watched as she weakly shook her head.
He sighed in frustration taking his shopping bag with him as he made his way to the kitchenette, he tossed the bag on the counter and grabbed a washcloth rinsing it in cold water. He tossed it onto her face unceremoniously to which she made a weak noise of complaint.
"Where do you keep the pots?" he asked her impatiently.
"Over there in the other cabinet," she directed him, and soon enough he found himself preparing a warm broth for the two of them, "You really didn't have to go to such trouble over me," Esmeralda insisted to him as he prepared their bowls.
"I just owe you one alright-this way you can never hold it against me," he replied gruffly carrying the steaming bowls over, he set them down long enough to help sit Esmeralda up against the couch but didn't bother passing her the bowl of porridge he'd prepared for her instead taking the one he made for himself.
"I'll pay you back for the groceries," Esmeralda sated looking down at the simple but delicious porridge he'd made for her.
He grunted, "Don't bother, the fuck are you watching anyways?" he asked grumpily staring at the screen of the television impatiently.
"Y-you can change it, it's just this stupid show I watch," Esmeralda was quick to reply blushing bright pink in embarrassment that he didn't like the show. She went to get the remote.
"Don't bother, all shows are shit these days, I really don't give a fuck," he stated so she wouldn't trouble herself. The two fell into a comfortable silence after that as they ate, neither having much to say or discuss. Grimmjow paid a little attention to the show and found it not to be as bad as he had assumed, but focused more on Esmeralda who seemed to have perked up slightly since he had arrived.
"Thank you for everything Jaegerja-"Esmeralda started but Grimmjow interrupted.
"Just fucking call me Grimmjow," he stated impatiently.
She blushed bright red and hoped he didn't notice since her face was already quite red from her fever, "Thank you for everything Grimmjow-sempai."
He grunted and collected the empty bowls washing them up in the sink, "Now listen here, I've got to go so you better get some fucking rest you hear me? You better not be sick tomorrow or I'll give you a reason to cut class got that runt?" he watched her nod and sink below the covers.
He collected the bag of groceries he hadn't used to take home with himself and walked over to the door, "Thanks," he muttered.
"Hey Grimmjow-sempai, thank you for everything," Esmeralda whispered in a tiny voice as he put his hand on the door to leave. He turned back to see her face flushed bright lobster red but couldn't tell if it was the fever or from embarrassment.
"Just shut up about it alright idiot?" he replied trying to keep his usual mean tone out of it.