I do not own any of the Bleach characters. Obviously :)
If you had walked in to Grimmjaw's room in Los Noches on a particular morning you would never have believed your eyes.
Grimmjaw was making tea.
This shouldn't have been a strange occurence in a regular person's place at 9am in the morning except that:
a) Grimmjaw isn't human, he's an Arrancar,
b) Grimmjaw should not have the patience to make tea
c) One cannot be sure if Arrancars even have the anatomical functions to drink tea, although one can also assume by this that yes, they do,
d) It is never clear whether it is morning or indeed what time of the day it is in Los Noches. Do Arrancar sleep? We shall never know for sure.
Anyway ignoring our doubts on certain matters, the sight was peculiar.
And a turn-on for Ulquiorra Schiffer who was watching him through the doorway.
For some reason it can be a beautiful and fascinating sight to watch certain individuals doing the kind of things which everybody does...such as comparing how others complete chores. Especially when the gestures are ones which you would never expect to see the other doing. Grimmjaw yawned as he waited for the tea to brew and rubbed some dust from his eye.
'Such a slob' Ulquiorra smirked inside. His outer features remained as a ceramic mask with no betrayal of emotion apart from the slight tensing of his lower eye muscles; which could have been dismissed as a muscle spasm but in this case was...a ghost of a trace of a smile. That lack of expression was probably an asset in stealth situations such as this. Grimmjaw was stupid but his instincts were sharp as a cat's, even in that bleary state and Ulquiorra didn't want to risk the embarrasment of being caught by the half-awake Espada.
Finally the tea was brewed. Grimmjaw poured himself a cup before sitting back down on the bed and breathing in the steam. Was he actually appreciating the scent? Ulquiorra briefly wondered whether this could be Aizen-sama's influence, if he was using tea to control the more rebellious Arrancar. Whatever the case, this was a different Grimmjaw than the one he was used to seeing. Perhaps he was ill? 'But no one gets ill in Los Noches, they die first' he reasoned with himself. Still that would be the best way to describe it.
Grimmjaw's motions were slow, his teal hair messy, lank and covering his face as be breathed gingerly onto the surface of the hot liquid, making more steam. He sipped it quietly and almost looked as if he were contemplating something. The usual energy which fuelled him was missing and his muscles were relaxed where they were usually tense. In fact his whole body language was different. Receptive. Ulquiorra almost made an expression when he noticed that Grimmjaw was mostly naked.
Why would he be naked? Ulquiorra would never have let himself be like this.
It was unproffessional although admittedly, not unsightly.
There was a slight perspiration covering Grimmjaw's body, as if the steam from the hot tea was condensing on his skin and Ulquiorra could trace the tea being swallowed from mouth to neck and who knew where after that. Funnily enough Ulquiorra hadn't really drunk any of the tea Aizen-sama had given them. It never occured to him to figure out where it might end up. Somehow it circumvented the hole in each Espada so perhaps they all had unique organ placement...he made a note to ask Syazel later.
Ulquiorra gulped, wondering how the tea would feel going down his throat.
His attention was brought back to his target as Grimmjaw used his hand to brush the hair from his face. His face, which was unmade. Why wouldn't his marks be there? Ulquiorra was absolutely confused by this point.
Why would an Espada, one of the elite ever have an excuse not to be ready for battle at any given moment? Ulquiorra himself kept a compact sewn into his clothing so as to be prepared at any given hour.
Still it was fascinating, wasn't it?
So this was Grimmjaw's real face? He couldn't even remember what his looked like, as at some point the makeup wouldn't even rub off fully when he tried. All he needed to do nowadays was keep it fresh looking. But Grimmjaw had a face...and what was visible was almost human.
So that was it...perhaps Grimmjaw...kept time.
And this...this was after what the humans call sleep.
Slowly but surely Grimmjaw was waking up and the whole process was captivating.
Ulquiorra's eyes widened as he heard Grimmjaw exhale with pleasure. Obviously this tea was pleasurable to intake. The sound was soft and delicate, entirely the opposite to Grimmjaw's usual brash noise.
He wanted to hear it again.
It seemed that he would have to wait for another day though as Grimmjaw got up to put on his face and Ulquiorra could see the stress starting to return to his muscles. Preparing himself as if nothing had happened, Ulquiorra started to turn down the corridor, but stopped in his track as a voice whispered in his ear.
"Wanna try it ya'self now, huh?"
He heard Lieutenant Gin rap sharply on Grimmjaw's door before disappearing mysteriously into a corridor which had just opened. Damn Syazel and his cameras.
He panicked but managed to keep face as Grimmjaws face appeared at the door.
"Ugh?" ('Back to his usual self then' Ulquiorra was almost disappointed) "Whaddya want?"
'Obviously Grimmjaw does not deal well with 'mornings''
Ulquiorra was caught. He opened his mouth to say something but hesitated as he realised he wasn't sure what to say. His eyes moved to the teapot which was still steaming.
"You want some?"
And for once Ulquiorra relinquished.
"Mhmm".
He wanted to know where the tea went after it passed through Grimmjaw's lips.
Just a bit of fun for Cassie :)
Thank you to everyone who reviews or favourites my stories. I don't always reply but I appreciate it. No pressure though, I just hope you enjoy.