I do not own Bleach or the characters in anyway, I do, however, own the plot idea.
Full summary; Ichigo like to think of himself as a normal kid. He really does; he have wonderful sisters, a crazy father, great friends and he have just started going to University. A perfectly normal teenager. If completely ignoring the fact that every night he wakes up by Dreams and find himself sporting new bruises and wounds after having witnessed a accident or someone's death, that means. Being psychic might not be everyone's definition of normal, but it is to Ichigo.
Warnings; Not much to warn about. Talks about drugs/medication, character wondering if they're going insane, and a bit of confusion. Other than that, nada.
Author's ramble; Heh. You know, this is the second time I've written this chapter, and it didn't turn out - or end up - the same as the first one, but I'm pleased enough with it still. I had it saved on my USB, but as luck would have it, something happened (and honest to god, I have no idea what) and it broke into four pieces. Go figure. Since I at the time can't afford to fix it, and not even my uncle can prefer such miracles with technology things, I settled with just re-writing it, which is why it took so long to get it out.
I hope you'll accept that as reason enough why it took as long as it did.
Thanks to all those who have reviewed and fav'd this story, I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter too.
...
Sitting in the waiting room of the hospital at seven thirty in the morning wasn't how Grimmjow had thought to spend his Saturday morning. As far as his plan went, he would have still been deeply asleep, hours away from waking up. And when he did wake up, he would be trying to remember what he had done the night before, and nurse a hangover.
Instead, he found himself staring blankly at a TV screen hanging a bit away, tilted for the patient to see the screen no matter where they were seated, unless they were directly under the TV. He was aware that an old re-run of Friends was showing, though nearly incapable of actually seeing the show. Movements, talking and the faked laughter all reached into his mind, though he was too unfocused to actually understand what it was really all about.
Not just with the TV show. Currently, life itself seemed to have him confused.
Glancing down, his brows pulled together when seeing Ichigo. His roommate being deeply asleep, seemingly not bothered at all that his arm was broken. Or that he was resting his head on Grimmjow's chest. Or that Grimmjow's arm was wrapped around his shoulder in a half embrace. Things that normally would have Ichigo flinch away and look half-panicked. And maybe a little flustered. Grimmjow couldn't be too sure about that, since they weren't really this close. The only times they were even touching, was when Grimmjow helped Ichigo clean up his wound, or Ichigo was leaning over his shoulder to help him with homework – which was ironic, considering that Ichigo was the younger of the two. But really, he couldn't help that he sucked on math.
Despite the absurdity with it, he had come to terms with that Ichigo's arm had been broken in his sleep, his mind just... didn't want to process the fact that it was possible to receive such bodily damage by just sleeping. The scars, the bruises – it could be explained with Ichigo subconsciously doing it himself amidst the trashing around during his nightmares. A broken arm, though?
It made no sense whatsoever. Grimmjow had tried telling himself that, by accident or not, the damage to his body was done by Ichigo himself. Breaking his arm in his sleep, however, put those hopes to an end. The truth was – and Grimmjow hated to admit it – that whatever Ichigo dreamed happening to him, actually did happen to him. How something like that actually could be possible, he would never understand, and he wasn't even sure that he wanted to understand it.
Sighing, he leaned his chin against Ichigo's head, his thumb moving in slow circles over his roommate's arm, expression softening slightly when Ichigo nuzzled closer to him. It amazed him how quick he could go from wanting to punch or shake some sense into Ichigo, to just want to hold him. Stupid Berry.
Glancing up, he tried to spot the doctor, wondering how much longer they needed to wait for the old bastard to get back. So far, they had x-rayed Ichigo's arm, and found out that it wasn't broken, but fractured in two places – not that Grimmjow really understood the difference, because something was still broken, right? Considering how odd the arm had looked, it didn't surprise Grimmjow in the least. What did surprise him, was when he found it wasn't the first time Ichigo had broken his arm. Nor was it the second or third. It had been the ninth time that Ichigo got to the hospital, because his arm had been broken, or fractured.
Grimmjow had been too afraid to ask, so he hadn't, but he instinctively knew that every damn time Ichigo's arm had been in a cast, it had been because he woke up with the damage. It would explain Ichigo's all too calm demeanor when waking Grimmjow up, and calmly asking for a ride to the hospital. It only had him wondering for how long Ichigo had been suffering through getting his body damaged in his sleep, and how many more broken bones he had gotten by simply sleeping.
Letting out yet another sigh, Grimmjow lifted his head up to be able to look at Ichigo's face. Even when sleeping, the boy was frowning. They were just roommates, barely even friends, and yet Grimmjow hated to see Ichigo so tense the whole time. Honestly, there were many times when he looked at Ichigo's face, saw the dark circles under his eyes, saw him rub a new scar or bruise, noticed the haunted, tired look in Ichigo's eyes, and was overwhelmed with a sudden need to just grab the younger boy and try to comfort him.
If Ichigo hadn't been so terrified of touching, and if he himself wouldn't have felt extremely awkward by doing it, Grimmjow was sure he would have hugged Ichigo long time ago. It disturbed him that he wanted to be close to a person without it being his sister, or it being about sex. Or, more correctly, what disturbed him with that thought, was that it didn't disturb him at all.
Sitting in the waiting room, having Ichigo lean against him as he almost – but nor really – embraced his younger friend whilst they waited for the doctor to be done with an emergency case and come back to splinter Ichigo's arm, Grimmjow only felt content. It was nice sitting like that with Ichigo, just relaxing, having the orangette sleep against him, for once not jerking around by night terrors.
Yes, life was definitely confusing Grimmjow for the moment.
"Oi, Berry," Grimmjow muttered, gently tugging on the orange tresses. "Time ta wake up."
The doctor had told him to keep Ichigo's sleeping to a minimum for a while ahead, after having drugged him. Or, sedated him, as it was so nicely called. It didn't matter to Grimmjow exactly what it was called; drugs and medication rubbed him the wrong way, no matter what it was for. Just taking an aspirin for his head was making him uneasy. Even if it was to sedate Ichigo and numb him from pain, Grimmjow had still felt it to be drugging the teen, rather than medicating him. He got the feeling Ichigo felt somewhat the same. After all, he had argued with the doctor for quite a while, before relenting and swallowed down the pills, his brows pulled together in a uncomfortable frown.
It was a sign that they maybe actually had become friends, instead of just roommates, as Grimmjow had learned the difference between when Ichigo were just showing up his default scowl, or he was scowling for another reason.
Groaning lowly, Ichigo shifted slightly, raising his arm to rub his eyes, and hissed as he was reminded that his arm was fractured and it hurt to move it. Grimmjow's soothing touch as he ran his fingers through orange strands was a little help against the pain, even if it startled him awake almost immediately. He couldn't bring himself to move away from the almost-embrace.
"Told ya not to call me that," Ichigo grumbled, although he wasn't sure why he even tried. Grimmjow rarely called him just Ichigo, it was always Berry, or Kurosaki. He could count the times his given name had fell from Grimmjow's lips on one hand. "Sorry."
"Never mind," Grimmjow muttered, sighing as he gave the orange strands an extra tug, before sliding his hand down, gripping lightly on Ichigo's neck. "...Ichigo..."
And wasn't that ironic. Ichigo would smirk, if he wasn't busy swallowing thickly and trying to ignore that Grimmjow's face was too close to his, breath warm on his skin, nose brushing against his cheek, and he could feel those deep, blue eyes staring into him. Searching his soul.
He quickly started ramble the mantra that had always been familiar to him, and even more so since he had started sharing a room with Grimmjow. Keep the shields up, keep the walls up, keep him away. Hide.
How did Grimmjow always manage with making him falter, by just the simplest of touches? By just looking at him in that way? It wasn't normal.
"What?" if his voice hadn't been so shaky, it probably would have sounded sharp and unfriendly. Instead it was a mix in between, coming out all too breathlessly, and Ichigo cringed at the thought of a undertone of hopefulness being mixed in there too.
Hopeful for what exactly? Having Grimmjow's skin brush against his was too much for him, he didn't want to imagine what could happen if Grimmjow would actually... get closer. Hug him, kiss him, fuck him. It wasn't like kissing someone had ever been easy to begin with, so what could happen if Grimmjow of all people chose to kiss him? Grimmjow, that easily had his shields and walls fall down without even trying. One touch, and Ichigo was a goner. In all the negative ways.
If trying to get too close, it could only end up one way; Grimmjow would see the demon in him, how fucked up he really is, what mess he could bring into people's lives – what mess he would have brought to everyone if he didn't have the smallest of control.
He blinked, swallowing thickly once again as trying to lean away from Grimmjow. Instead he did the mistake to look up, his eyes meeting Grimmjow's, and he... he really was a goner.
Grimmjow and Rukia... their eyes were so similar. They both seemed to bore into his soul, as if being able to read his mind; being so intense that Ichigo had to force himself not to squirm away. Though there was a major difference to what exactly their gazes did to him.
Rukia, trying so hard to be cold and distant to everyone, had eyes speaking of chilliness and a knowledge of that a firm enough gaze could get anyone to talk. Violet eyes staring into his, made him want to share everything in his life, even though he doubted she would believe everything. She was a Stray, though, so he knew that soon he would share most everything. He just wasn't ready for it just yet.
Grimmjow, whose eyes had always been thick with amusement and a hint of almost-cruelty their first months of knowing each other, was now always looking at him with curiosity and a worry that the blunette himself would refuse existed. All the times Grimmjow would care for him, bandage his wounds and clean the scars, made him see the blue haired male in a new light. Grimmjow might act like an arrogant asshole, but from what Ichigo had seen of his past – always the past – he was one of the few around Grimmjow that actually knew what a big heart the man had.
That attraction he had felt in the beginning? It was still there, only it was so much worse, because it wasn't just attraction, but something more. Something scaring the hell out of Ichigo, because he knew that he would never be able to act on it, short of losing his mind.
Rukia's eyes might make him want to share his secrets, but Grimmjow's eyes had his brain short-circuit, made him speechless and had him forced to fight back blushes.
Grimmjow stared at Ichigo, trying to gauge an reaction out of him. Though apart from looking slightly terrified – and nervous like hell – Ichigo didn't do anything. He didn't try to pull back, didn't try to explain what was happening to him, even though he had to know what Grimmjow was wondering about. Instead, those annoyingly gentle amber eyes met his straight on.
Sighing, Grimmjow lowered his head, a slight half-smile tilting his lips as he leaned away from Ichigo. "Never mind," he muttered, moving his fingers into Ichigo's hair again. "If I asked ya, would'ya even tell me?"
Ichigo smirked wryly, turning his head away from his roommate's. "No," he answered honestly. There wasn't any point in lying; Grimmjow seemed to be able to read him well enough already to know if he spoke the truth or not. It didn't bother him as much as it should have. "You wouldn't believe me."
"Ya keep sayin' that," the smile faded as Grimmjow frowned, tugging lightly on Ichigo's hair once again. It always surprised him how soft and smooth the orange strands was to touch; it looked as if it would be as soft to the touch as a cactus. Though despite the spiky look, as if having too much hair products in it, Ichigo's hair was simply naturally standing in all directions like that. Completely defying gravity and logic. "But ya won't know 'til ya tried, Berry."
Call me Ichigo again. Ichigo frowned at his own thoughts, ducking his head lower down to hide his blush. And stop touching my hair. The touches really didn't do anything to help his vow to not get too close to Grimmjow.
"You're not the first one saying that, y'know. They always say 'I'll believe you', but... they just don't," moving a hand up, he brushed Grimmjow's hand away, the petting of his hair getting a bit too much. A little longer, and all his walls would come crashing down. "Unless it's important, I'm not going to tell you."
"What's classed as important?"
Biting down hard on his bottom lip, Ichigo shrugged halfheartedly, glancing up just in time to see his doctor entering the waiting room nodding towards him as spotting his patiently waiting patient. He let out a deep sigh, not daring to even glance at Grimmjow as he finally answered. "Dying."
There was a thick silence, Grimmjow looking dumbfound at his roommate, for a few, long moments wondering if he had missed something. Dying? What did that have to do with anything?
"What?"
Ichigo stood up, finally raising his gaze and looked directly at him. Grimmjow just barely kept a grimace back when Ichigo's eyes met his; instead of the normal warm, gentle and weary look in them, Ichigo just looked... tired. Exhausted, weary, frustrated and pained. As if saying that simple word had been all too draining for him. Grimmjow didn't like that look in Ichigo's eyes at all. He preferred to look into gentle amber eyes.
"If you die, I'll tell you," Ichigo clarified, giving his roommate a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Kurosaki-san?" the doctor stepped up to the two students, giving them both a tired, but real smile. "I'm sorry for letting you wait so long. But if you would please come with me, now, so we can have that arm treated."
"It's fine," Ichigo promised, giving the doctor the same half-fake smile as he turned from his roommate.
Grimmjow stared dumbfound after Ichigo, trying to wrap his mind around what Ichigo had meant. If you die, I'll tell you. What the hell could possibly be so terrible with Ichigo's nightmares – 'dreams', his mind needlessly corrected for him – that he didn't want to share it unless the other party was dead?
Kami, it didn't make any sense to him, no matter how he thought of it. Then again, Ichigo rarely made sense at all.
Pressing a hand over his face, Grimmjow let his head fall back against the wall with a soft thud, a low groan slipping him. Out of all the people in their school, he just had to share a room with that damn brat. It could have been anyone; someone nice, quiet, that he easily forgot to exist, or someone fun, that shared his interests and that he could befriend. Instead he got a tired looking brat that got hurt whenever he fell asleep and didn't see anything strange about it.
Out of one thousand students, Grimmjow ended up sharing a room with the strangest of the bunch. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to actually regret getting lodged with Ichigo. The thought bothered him, but he couldn't deny that he did enjoy Ichigo's company.
The times when Ichigo seemed to relax was few, and he wouldn't say all the confusion and weirdness Ichigo brought with him was well worth it just to have the brat give him a smile that was not quite so forced or sarcastic every now and then. But there was just something with him that made Grimmjow want to put in a real effort to forget all about the strange things Ichigo seemed to experience, and just spend time with the boy when he was a bit more... normal.
Biting back a growl, Grimmjow stood up, already reaching for his cigarettes as he headed outside, vainly hoping that the morning air would clear his head enough to make sense out of a highly confusing morning. It didn't do much good.
...
Putting the car into park, sleepy gray eyes glanced up at the rear view mirror, dark brown brows pulling together slightly as he watched the orange haired teen in his back seat. He had barely gotten time to start the car, before the kid had passed out, looking deadly tired and as if he hadn't gotten any sleep for days. Yet, when he had dropped them of at the hospital a couple of hours ago, Ichigo was the one to look awake and disturbingly fresh – for someone just having broken his arm – whilst Grimmjow looked to fall back to sleep any second.
"He's a tired one," the driver murmured as he turned his gaze towards the blue haired man in the passenger seat. The comment gained him a deadpanned look from Grimmjow.
"Yer really ain't tha one getting' a say 'bout that, Starrk," Grimmjow muttered as he turned his body, eyes narrowing for the tenth time since he had gotten into the car as he looked at Ichigo. Kami, what kind of sedatives had the doctor given him, really? It didn't seem normal for someone to be knocked out that easily by just a couple of pills. "The doc drugged 'im."
"Sedated him."
Knowing Grimmjow's apprehension towards pills of any sort, Coyote Starrk was always quick with correcting his younger friend when Grimmjow claimed for someone to have been drugged. They had been friends for long enough that Starrk understood why Grimmjow hated any form of drugs, and because of that it probably would seem more logical that he would just have let comments of 'drugged' rather than 'sedated' slip. Though it was just because he knew Grimmjow so well that he couldn't let it go; if everyone continued to agree with Grimmjow when it came to 'pills are bad', the blue haired male would never accept people taking drugs, even when it was for medication, and needed for the person. Considering what a hotheaded fool Grimmjow was in the best of times, something like that could not just end up well.
"Look a' him, he's drugged," Grimmjow snapped, snarling lowly in his throat by the amused look Starrk gave him. "Che. Whatever. Sedated him, then. It's suppose ta take pain away an' make him a 'little' tired. But he just keeps fallin' asleep. Bastard probably overdosed it."
Starrk rolled his eyes, before he looked at Ichigo again. He hated to admit it, but Grimmjow had a good point when he said that the youngest in the car looked drugged. Though he doubted that Ichigo was actually drugged, rather than just tired, and the kid had have a long morning. It was logical that he would seem a little knocked out. It was just like Grimmjow to overreact.
"Worried 'bout him?" There was another snarl coming from Grimmjow, followed with a death glare. Despite the obvious threat, Starrk could only just chuckle. Whenever Grimmjow tried denying something, it meant that it was true. If he didn't care, he would make a joke about it, or just ignore it. "Try relaxing, Grimmy. The painkiller's probably doesn't work well with his sleeping pills. Let him sleep it out, and he'll be just fine."
Grimmjow gave him a blank look. "...sleeping pills?"
"Yeah... Kid takes 'em, doesn't he?"
"I live with him, an' I haven't seen him take any pills," Grimmjow informed, running a hand through his hair as he flipped the sun screen down, observing Ichigo through the tiny mirror instead of having to turn his body halfway around. As much as he would like to think of the doctor mistreating Ichigo, it wouldn't surprise him all that much if Ichigo actually took sleeping pills. His roommate held a good deal of secrets, after all, and from what Grimmjow saw, the kid really was in dire need of something to help him sleep. Not that they seemed to help any, though. "Who told ya that?"
With a strong feeling of having said too much, Starrk did his best to not even glance at Grimmjow, and instead stared stubbornly at the blue car parked in front of him, as he shrugged his shoulders halfheartedly. "No one. I'm probably just confusing him with someone else."
"Starrk."And Grimmjow had known him for too long to let him get away that easily.
The brown haired man sighed, wishing that he could just have been allowed to stay in his bed, and sleep for a bit longer. Preferably all day. Instead, he was woken up way too early and became designated driver for the norning, accompanied with a half-drugged teen and a blue haired male that looked ready to strangle anyone saying the wrong thing, and rip the head clean of the shoulders of whoever chose to get a bit too close to him. Inwardly, Starrk smirked wryly; it was just a wonderful start on the day.
"When the kid arrived, I showed him and his old man to your room," Starrk explained with a small shrug. "Kid's easy to remember, with that hair of his, and their conversation was... odd, in a way. His dad was worried you'd be touching him when he was sleeping, or some shit like that, and if ya did, you'd regret it," he shrugged again, a small frown marring his face as he thought back. "I dunno what it was all 'bout. But kid said that he'd ask someone 'bout sleeping pills. It wasn't any of my business, so I didn't think too much about it, and if it wasn't for him being your roommate, I probably just would've forgotten 'bout it."
Starrk scratched his chin whilst glancing towards Grimmjow, his younger companion still looking at Ichigo through the mirror, eyes narrowed and mouth set in a thin line. Though it was the look in the blue eyes that got Starrk to freeze, fingers still pressed against his slight goatee. Grimmjow actually was worried, in another way than he had thought. Grimmjow must have noticed something being off, as in the matter of seconds he looked questioning towards Starrk, who quickly tried to come up with something to say before Grimmjow started asking questions. "So... does he have nightmares? Trauma, something like that?"
"Dreams," Grimmjow replied, and then immediately facepalmed. The kid was a damn bad influence. "Nightmares," he corrected, the word said in a low growl that confused Starrk. "Brat got freakin' nightmares, not goddamn dreams."
"Uh-huh," Starrk nodded, with a strong feeling that he was missing something. Then he sighed, tugging a hand through shoulder length brown locks, and pushed the car door open. "Ya better wake him up, unless you want to carry him."
"Che, no help from ya?" Grimmjow muttered, sounding close to sulking as he opened his own door and stepped outside. His eyes briefly met Starrk's over the roof of the car, his friend looking tired as always, but also amused. It was sort of the tired male's default expression, and Grimmjow would never understand how someone could look so relaxed and serene almost the whole time. Himself, he could barely show up a smile that somehow didn't read as I'll-kill-you-and-rip-your-spine-right-out.
"No way in hell, I deserve some sleep," Starrk smirked, leaning down to look in through the window as Grimmjow opened the door to get to his roommate. "And he's your responsibility, Grimmy-kun."
Grimmjow groaned, sending yet another glare towards Starrk as he leaned inside the car. "Don' call me that, fuckhead," he warned, though the annoyed expression quickly melted away from his face as he turned his attention to Ichigo instead.
The kid pissed him off most of the time, and annoyed him like hell just as much, but in difference to Starrk and his other friends, he just couldn't seem able to stay mad at Ichigo for a longer period of time. Especially not when yet again watching Ichigo in a rare moment of calm sleep, his body for once not trashing around, and even though he still managed to scowl, his face was somewhat looking a lot more relaxed than it normally did. If Grimmjow thought in the terms of 'cute', he definitely would have though of Ichigo like that, though instead he just stared at Ichigo, stupidly wondering what there really was different with his roommate.
Sighing lowly, he reached out, gripping lightly around Ichigo's healthy arm, and gave the kid a careful shake. "Oi, Berry. We're home, and I don' think ya wanna sleep in Starrk's car, yeah?"
Starrk blinked – once, twice, thrice, just to be sure – as he watched his childhood friend trying to wake Ichigo. Whilst he hadn't expected Grimmjow to just shake the kid awake in his normal, gruff demeanor – considering the kid had a broken arm, even Grimmjow wouldn't be that rough – he had at least expected Grimmjow to snap at him that he should wake up, and halfway drag him out of the car. Something that Grimmjow normally would do.
Instead, Grimmjow was gentle, eyes having softened the minute they landed on Ichigo, and his voice was low, only for Ichigo to really hear, but Starrk knew that he didn't just hear Grimmjow try to be nice. There was actual, honest-to-god tenderness in his voice. Which so far, Starrk had only heard him use when it came to his little sister and niece.
Inside the car, Ichigo stirred, lids slitting open to look up at Grimmjow, his brows pulling tighter together in confusion. "Grimm?"
Blue brows raised by the shortening of his name, and after a small, internal battle, he chose to let it be. He called the kid Berry, after all, and that was way worse than Grimm, and at least it wasn't Grimmy. "Yeah, t's me. We're at the dorm, an' if ya don' wanna continue sleepin' in Starrk's car, ya better get out, 'cause I'm sure as hell ain't carryin' ya all tha way up."
Ichigo managed a smirk, as he tilted his head back. "What a gentleman," he mused, his smirk growing as the blue haired male rolled his eyes and undid Ichigo's seat belt, a motion surprising all three of them. "See, you don't have to pretend to be mean all the time," Ichigo grinned, feeling a odd – and highly annoying – fluttering in his chest by seeing the slight red color over Grimmjow's cheeks. "T's 'kay bein' nice once in a while when people's around too."
"Shut up, brat," Grimmjow muttered, the blush staying on his cheeks as he reached into the car and, as carefully as he could whilst avoiding the damaged arm, wrapped an arm around Ichigo's waist. He was close enough to hear Ichigo's breath hitch and see how he swallowed thickly. It made him pause a little, his grip around Ichigo tightening as he glanced up, immediately regretting his motioning when meeting those disturbingly warm amber eyes.
They stared at each other for long enough that Starrk started to wonder if he maybe should cough a little discretely, to remind them that despite what they might think, they really weren't alone in the universe. Though before he got time to actually act on it, Ichigo turned his head away, and now both males were carrying slight blushes.
Starrk had a sudden urge to just march up to the two and smash their heads together, because it was as clear as day that the only thing both of them wanted right then, were each other. Though he figured it to be good enough that Ichigo hooked his arm around Grimmjow's shoulder and allowed the slightly taller male to help him out of the car.
With those two, baby steps was probably the thing best suited.
"Ya know, I'm often nice," Grimmjow muttered. The comment was so out of the blue, that it was obvious to everyone that he only said it to dissipate the slightly awkward silence.
Ichigo smirked, shaking his had slightly. "I didn't mean it like that, idiot," he sighed, tilting his head to the side to look at Grimmjow, his eyes softening slightly as he looked at his still blushing and embarrassed roommate. "You've patched me up too many times for me to think of you being as cruel as you pretend to be," he paused slightly as Grimmjow glanced at him, desperately trying to read the emotions in Grimmjow's eyes, before he gave up and smiled weakly. "You just don't act nice when more than one person's around, though."
Starrk prepared for another, minute long staring between the two as their eyes once again locked, this time already having decided to cough to get their attention. Though, for probably the tenth time that morning, he was once again taken by sligh surprise. This time around they seem more comfortable with looking into each other's eyes, Grimmjow looking searchingly at Ichigo, before he sighed, a smirk twisting his lip upwards.
"Fuckin' hate how perceptive ya are," he mused, and slammed the car down shut. The grin over his lips took any menace out of his words. "Starrk've known me fer a long time. He knows I can act nice."
Ichigo hummed lowly as nodding, biting down lightly on his bottom lip as he glanced towards Starrk, an unreadable look in his eyes. Whatever he saw, Starrk wasn't sure, though the boy soon enough gave an absentminded nod, a weak, thankful-looking smile playing over his lips, before he turned back to Grimmjow.
"Are you going to help me up, or let me go and have me walk on my own?" Ichigo asked, his tone calm and typically conversing, even as his cheeks took on a even redder hue, and his grip around Grimmjow tightened almost unnoticeable.
A few, long moments passed, and then Grimmjow gave out a dark chuckle, and without further ado he bended down, hooked his arm under Ichigo's legs and lifted him up in bridal style. A extremely unmanly squeak escaped Ichigo, his eyes wide as he desperately clung onto Grimmjow with his healthy arm, the other pressed tightly to his chest.
"Imma help ya," Grimmjow mused, his voice low, husky and disturbingly dark, and if it wasn't for the fact that Grimmjow had nearly given him a heart attack by the sudden movement, Ichigo was sure that it would have caused him quite the little problem.
"You bastard!" Ichigo yelled, doing an odd kicking motion with his feet, before hitting Grimmjow over his shoulder. "You said you wouldn't carry me! And give me a goddamn freaking warning next time!"
"Next time, eh?" Grimmjow snickered. "Ya want me to hold ya more times, Berry?" he winked teasingly, grin widening until taking up almost his whole face. "An' I ain't gonna carry ya all tha way."
"...bastard," Ichigo muttered, his face now being blood red as he quickly looked away, trying his best to avoid both Grimmjow and Starrk's eyes – the latter who was staring at them with something akin to shock and awe in his eyes. "Just... get me to the room, ne? I'm too tired to argue with you."
"Alright," Grimmjow agreed, the teasing, half-way-there cruel undertone disappearing almost by magic, to make him sound a lot more gentle and calmer. It did not help Starrk to recover from his state of shock. "Oi, Starrk, thanks fer drivin' us. I owe ya one."
"Ya owe me lots," Starrk mumbled absently, before waving his hand dismissively. "Don't mention it. Just rest and heal up alright, Kurosaki-san."
"Yeah, thanks," Ichigo grinned, his face still holding a unnaturally red color. "I owe you, too. Just... let me now if there's something you need."
"T's alright," Starrk nodded, watching with a small smile as Grimmjow gave him a nod that probably was suppose to be a goodbye, whilst Ichigo waved his fingers slightly.
As the two disappeared into the dorm, Ichigo still held securely in the bluenette's arms, Starrk was reminded of the worry he had seen in Grimmjow's eyes as he had looked at Ichigo mere minutes ago. It had been worry, tenderness, and something that was close to lust, but not really. Starrk wasn't stupid, he knew what that look meant, but he also knew that this was something completely new for Grimmjow, and his younger friend surely had no idea at all what was going on in his head.
There was different levels of worry, in Starrk's opinion.
There was people you knew just a little, and if hearing about them getting hurt, you expressed worry, but you didn't think too much on it. Then there was worry for closer friends, where the worry was deeper, making people uncomfortable when thinking about their friends being hurt. Last, there was worry for loved ones – family, or friends being so close that they felt like family. The kind of worry eating on one from the inside out, leaving anxiety behind and had people twitch and being unable to think about much else.
Starrk had made up that chart of worry a long time ago, after many people had called him coldhearted, as he didn't react or care much when hearing about distant friends getting hurt or being in trouble. It was too tiring and troublesome to worry about too many people, when there wasn't any point for it anyway.
Starrk had thought it was just the first degree of worry, when he had teased Grimmjow about it. Though when seeing Grimmjow being so careful and gentle with his roommate, he realized that he had been completely wrong. There was no mistaking that look, a mix between how Grimmjow looked at his sister and niece, and how he watched someone he wanted to sleep with. And the way Ichigo acted around and looked at Grimmjow, made the brunette have confident that the tangerine haired kid held the same kind of feelings for his friend.
He wondered if Grimmjow even knew that he was acting differently with Ichigo, or if he just thought of the orange haired boy as another distant friend – or just roommate. Oh, he didn't doubt that Grimmjow had already figured out that he wanted to fuck Ichigo six ways to Sunday, he just had to wonder if Grimmjow himself realized that there actually was more to it than that. Even the short moment Starrk had been around them, with no one else who had only just seen the rough version of Grimmjow being there to interfere, he had seen... not a completely new side of Grimmjow, but definitely a rare one. It was a side he rarely even showed to his closest friends, but often held towards his remaining family, when believing no one to watch.
Tugging a hand through his hair, Starrk let out a deep sigh as he locked the car and then headed back to his own room. He could get involved, but really – it was too troublesome. And it would probably just do more bad than good. Besides, as far as Starrk knew – and when it came to Grimmjow, he knew a lot – Grimmjow was completely new to these kind of things. It was better if he just stayed out of it, and let the youngsters figure it out by themselves.
Not to mention, it would definitely be more entertaining that way.
...
Author's ramble; Grimmjow carrying a blushing Berry bridal style is cute, end of story -holds hand up in dismissive motion- And I love writing Starrk, he's just such a thankful character to write. By the way, I wrote him in the first chapter too, how many figured it to be him? Raise yer hands, please.
Also, how many people have figured out who Grimm's sister is, and how many dare to guess who the niece is? I love not writing characters names until later chapters, even if dropping lots of hints about who it is - myself, I love guessing who people are in stories, when slight descriptions and hints are given, so obviously I'll do it myself, too ^^
Third thing; next chapter will be up within a week. It will, however, be an extremly short chapter, more of a interlude, in lack of a better word. But, since you've been waiting rather long for this chapter, I'll give you a little award of sorts.
That's all from me for the day. Please review, and I hoped ya enjoyed reading.