Breaking Point - Part I
Burger World, the kitchen in particular, had never looked so clean in the many long months that the Espada had been working there; all the stainless-steel appliances gleamed like mirrors as did the freezer door, all the various grease splatters from the ceiling, walls, and floor were gone, and even the clunky old cash registers had been replaced with newer computer-like models.
"Maybe you should set fire to the kitchen more often, Grimmjow…" mused Starrk, somewhat impressed by the cleanliness of the restaurant now.
"Maybe next time you should die in the fire!" snapped the sexta.
"I think this is a new grill…" said a mostly-recovered Tyn, examining his workstation carefully. "It's so shiny and pretty…"
He hacked up a greenish-looking wad of phlegm and spit it onto the gleaming non-stick surface, using the spatula to smear it about the entire grill before turning the device on and watching the goo bake.
"Gotta break it in," he said, grinning evilly. "Let's hope I'm contagious."
"If I catch whatever the fuck you have, I will murder you," growled Grimmjow, stepping away from the quinto.
"Give it a rest; we're all going to get sick sooner or later, so who cares if it happens to be sooner?" said Starrk.
"I care!" snapped the blue-haired arrancar. "I don't want to be throwing up and spitting out green crap!"
"As opposed to the hairballs you spit up now?" asked Tyn, and the sexta turned and tackled him to the ground angrily.
"God damn you and your freaking cat jokes! I'm going to—" he roared, drawing a fist back just as Tyn coughed up into his face. His rage forgotten, Grimmjow released his hold on his rival and scampered backwards, wiping his face frantically with his own shirt, trying to get the germs off.
"Behave," ordered Ulquiorra coolly, moving to stand between the two before Grimmjow decided to attack again. "This is our first day back at work; we should endeavor not to destroy the kitchen again."
"Not this soon, at least," added Starrk.
"You guys would have an easier time with being sick, anyway; you don't have a sociopathic bitch for a roommate," grumbled Tyn, throwing a few sausage patties and a couple of chicken patties on the grill for the morning crowd that would be arriving soon.
"Halibel took you to the doctor and bought your medicine, did she not?" asked Ulquiorra, unlocking the front doors. "I fail to see the issue."
"She also yelled at me nonstop, hit me, cursed at me, threw a can of soup at my freakin' head, and then threatened to pour a bowl of scalding-hot chicken soup down my throat," complained the quinto, pressing the patties against the grill with his spatula and watching the grease bleed out.
"Knock the bitch out," suggested Grimmjow. "I wouldn't take that shit; I'd kick her ass and—"
"She's the tercera for a reason, dumbass; she could stomp you and me both into the ground without much effort," Tyn reminded him.
"Move out…" suggested Starrk. "It's been eight months since we moved to Karakura and you two still aren't getting along; you should just move out and get your own place. I'm sure it'll be tight paying for everything on your own, but it might be for the best."
"If I did that, she wouldn't be able to afford the rent on her apartment…"
"That's her problem, not yours," said Starrk, putting on his headset and waiting for his first customer of the day to pull up. "She's never treated the rest of us like she does you; she's got something against you specifically. And it's recent, too; you two were completely different back in Los Noches."
"But what's her deal?" asked an exasperated Tyn as he began to flip the patties. "Yeah, I've made a few mistakes, but I've tried to be a good roommate… I've never done anything to her, really."
"Can't say why she hates you; all I can say is that it's time you stop trying," shrugged the primera. "I know what it's like to want a 'pack' to belong to… It was that desire that led me to join Aizen and the Espada in the first place…but you have to realize that sometimes, some people just aren't worth it. I never considered Nnoitra as a member of my pack, or Szayel, and I barely accept Grimmjow—"
"Hey, fuck you, Starrk!"
"—and if all the Espada had been like them, I would have left and gone back to being a drifter with no one but Lilynette by my side," he finished, ignoring Grimmjow's indignation as he turned his attention to the drive-through.
"Maybe you're right…" Tyn considered, placing one of the sausage patties on a biscuit and wrapping it up before tossing it across the kitchen to Starrk for the customer at the window.
"You can take her…" said Grimmjow, suddenly standing beside him. "She'll never know what hit her if you just—"
"Stop trying to get me killed," growled Tyn, shoving the sexta away. "I'm not you; I know better than to attack her."
"Have you considered trying to hold a mature, thoughtful discussion with her about it?" suggested Ulquiorra from the register as he rang up his first customer of the day.
"Considering that she generally tells me to shut the hell up anytime I try and open my mouth, no, no I haven't," said Tyn, glancing at the order screen before preparing the chicken biscuit for Ulquiorra's customer.
"Hey, less talking and more cooking back there; I want my food!" called the impatient human obnoxiously.
"Right away, sir," called Tyn sarcastically as he ducked out of view and hacked up another wad of phlegm, smearing it into the mayonnaise on the biscuit before wrapping the tainted food up and handing it over to Ulquiorra.
"Enjoy your meal, sir," Ulquiorra told the man as he left, not bothering to chastise Tyn about spitting on the food or warning the customer about it.
"Perhaps you should try…" said the cuarto, walking back into the kitchen. "If necessary, I shall serve as a neutral third-party moderator. However much she may despise you, she is not a savage and will likely listen to reason if you present it as a calm, mature adult…Grimmjow, stop playing with the hash browns; you can work the front register if you're bored."
Ulquiorra gave control of the register to the other arrancar and stepped into the kitchen to continue his conversation with the cook as a new customer came up.
"I believe the root of the problem is not you, but her; she knows this, and simply refuses to face it."
"Okay…and what would that problem actually be, then?" asked Tyn, preparing another biscuit.
"That is for her to admit to you, not me; I will simply mediate the conversation for you both," replied the fourth, taking the biscuit and handing it off to Grimmjow to give the customer. Tyn snorted, obviously annoyed by Ulquiorra's refusal to tell him what he thought the problem was as Grimmjow managed to ring up another customer in a surprisingly normal manner.
"That's two for two today, Grimmjow… I'm moderately impressed," Tyn admitted, tossing the sexta a pair of wrapped biscuits for his next customer. "This has to be a new record for you."
"It won't last," predicted Starrk from the window as he handed someone their change. "Five customers before he loses his temper, tops."
"Go to Hell!" snarled Grimmjow angrily before turning his attention to the customer walking in.
"Welcome to the World! What can I get for you this morning?" welcomed Grimmjow, straining to maintain his composure in the wake of Starrk's comment.
"Two chicken biscuits to go," said the customer curtly.
"Would you like some hash browns with that, sir?"
"Did I ask for hash browns?" asked the customer irritably.
Bad idea.
Grimmjow lunged across the counter and seized the man by his shirt before roughly yanking him back over the counter. The Espada picked the human up from the floor and slammed him against the wall harshly, eyes smoldering with rage.
"Did I ask for your smart mouth, asshole?" demanded Grimmjow. "It's a simple fucking question, yes or no! Now, do you want any goddamned hash browns, or am I going to have to shove your face into the deep fryer?"
"I love hash browns!" croaked the man fearfully. "I'll take six orders to go!"
"Smart man," hissed Grimmjow, dropping him to the floor and going back to the register to ring it all up. The man slowly climbed to his feet and nervously walked around the counter back out into the dining room and Grimmjow saw him sneak a look at the door.
"If you try and run off without paying, I'll put your fat ass on the fucking lunch menu," warned Grimmjow, and the human paled under the promise of death before dutifully trudging up to the register to pay.
"Told you…" said Starrk from the window as he bagged an order to go.
"Shut the fuck up, Starrk!"
After a long day at work, most people looked forward to a quiet, relaxing evening at home, moreso if they were also just recovering from an illness. Should they have an attractive roommate of the opposite sex, they would also likely hope for some quality time together to bond and maybe become closer, that he or she might take pity on them and play doctor.
Then again, most people didn't have Tia Halibel for a roommate.
"You forgot to put the cap back on these pills before you left this morning!" was Tia's way of 'welcoming' him home, shaking the bottle of medicine in his face. "Do you have any idea how much this crap cost? I paid for this since you were broke!"
"I'm sorry…" Tyn mumbled, brushing past her to collapse on the couch. "I'll be more careful next time, and I'll pay you back—"
"Goddamn right you will, you moron," she said, dropping the bottle in his lap. "And take one now; I don't need you to relapse and miss even more work."
"Yes, Halibel…" Tyn sighed, popping the top off and swallowing one of the chalky white pills quickly.
He replaced the cap and set the bottle on the glass coffee table in front of him, listening to the sound of Tia moving about in the kitchen and replaying the words of the other Espada in his head from earlier in the day.
Move. Kick her ass. Talk it out. Stop trying to be nice. Get someone to mediate things.
He rubbed his tired eyes, trying to shut out the voices as he stood up from the couch and trudged to the kitchen to find dinner. Tyn opened the fridge and began rooting through the meats, only to have Halibel yank him away and slam the door shut, thrusting a can of chicken soup at him.
"No red meat until you're better," she told him. "Eat this."
"I've had nothing but chicken soup for three days now… I don't think it's going to kill me to eat something else."
"It might not kill you…" she agreed, giving him a threatening look, "but I'm a different story."
"Oh, come on!" he cried in disbelief. "I've got a pound of hamburger meat in here that—"
"That I gave to Emi's mother before you got home. Now, eat the chicken soup before I pour it down your throat; it's good for sick people."
Tyn's eye twitched visibly as he bit his tongue to try and keep from losing his temper and he knew she was aware of how pissed he was at the moment. Still, that didn't stop Halibel from returning to her seat at the bar and eating her meal of fish and rice as if nothing were wrong.
Growling the entire time, Tyn yanked the pull-tab on the can and tore it open, dumping the contents into a bowl and stirring it around with a spoon; stupid chicken soup didn't even have that much chicken in it!
There were some chicken tenders in the freezer that he could thaw out and add to it…but he knew full well that his bitchy roommate wouldn't allow it.
He dumped the empty can in the garbage and shoved the bowl into the microwave, setting it for ninety seconds before returning to the fridge for a drink to go with his meal.
"No beer and no soda…" Tia reminded him, taking a sip from her own diet drink just to further irritate him. "Sick people need water to stay hydrated."
Angrily, Tyn grabbed a bottle of water from the back of the refrigerator, squeezing it so hard the clear plastic bottle nearly burst apart.
Eight months of living in the human world with Halibel had taught him that she wasn't doing this out of any sense of concern for his well-being or a desire to take care of him; she did this purely to keep him healthy enough to work and make money so that she could afford the apartment, and he also suspected that she was taking a perverse pleasure in tormenting him.
Move. Kick her ass. Talk it out. Stop trying to be nice. Get someone to mediate things.
Again he struggled to block out the voices from earlier; he didn't want to think about any of that now. Hell, he didn't want to think of anything right now, other than eating his dinner and going to bed. Everything else could wait until morning.
Although, a part of him had to admit that moving was sounding better and better with each passing second.
The microwave dinged and Tyn removed his hot bowl of soup, taking a seat at the other end of the bar, as far from Tia as possible given the small size of the Corian countertop.
They stared at each other hatefully as they ate their respective meals in silence, Tyn swallowing the too-watery soup and washing it down with even more water as Tia slowly and deliberately ate her fish and rice.
She's taunting me…
He looked away before the desire to hurl himself across the bar and wrap his hands around her throat became too great to resist; he wasn't Grimmjow, he wasn't going to handle things like that. Best to ignore her for now, and tomorrow he'd pick up a newspaper and start browsing the apartment listings so he could get away from the perpetually-bitchy Shark Queen.
"What the hell is with you today?" asked Halibel, going over and dropping her empty plate into the sink. "You've done nothing but scowl since you got home."
"Why bother asking?" he countered. "We both know you don't really give a damn."
"I just want to make sure you didn't get fired, nothing more."
"No, I didn't…" he said, eating another spoonful of the god-awful soup and then pausing a moment as he considered his next statement. "I am, however, thinking about moving out."
That certainly got her attention.
"What? You can't move out!" she bellowed, marching over to him and grabbing him by the front of his shirt angrily. "I can't afford this apartment without you!"
Starrk's earlier words came back to Tyn, and he took a certain pleasure in echoing them back to her, smiling grimly as he did so.
"That's your problem, not mine."
"It's about to become your problem!" she snarled, yanking him off his stool to his feet violently, the action sending the soup bowl flying to the floor, its contents splattering everywhere.
He saw her drawing a fist back, as he had seen her do many times in the past eight months, and now it was Grimmjow's voice that came back to him.
Kick her ass. I wouldn't take that shit from her…
Without thinking, he knocked her left hand free of its death-grip on his shirt and deflected her right fist as it came in. With a sudden surge of aggression, he knocked her away, sending her stumbling back against the wall roughly.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded, "Do you want me to kill-urk!"
Tyn silenced her by shoving his right forearm against her throat, nearly cutting off her air as he seized her right wrist with his left hand, holding it tightly to prevent her from using it to strike back. He shifted his body sideways and stepped in close to try and keep her from bringing her legs up to kick him and he put the tip of his nose to hers, growling menacingly.
"No more…" he said finally. "No more of this, no more of you. I'm tired of it, Tia: tired of playing nice, tired of your abuse, tired of this never-ending nightmare… I'm going to move out and get away from your bullshit, and there's nothing you can do about it."
He knew she was mentally cursing the limitations their gigais imposed on them right about now; had they been in spirit form, there would be no way for him to overpower her like this, not even on her worst day and his best. But here and now, he had the advantage; male gigais were heavier-built than females, with slightly more muscle, just like normal humans. He could feel her struggling against his grasp, and while it wasn't easy to hold her, she was unable to get loose.
"You idiot," she hissed as he eased up the pressure against her throat slightly. "You want to see me angry? When I get free—"
"Want to see you angry?" he asked, giving a humorless laugh. "You've never been anything but angry and hateful to me!"
He pressed his forearm against her throat again to keep her silent as he continued.
"I've tried so hard to be the good guy here… I've bowed and scraped to your every demand and insult, I've smiled as you've screamed at me, and I've tolerated your physical abuse…and what the fuck have I done to deserve any of it?" he demanded.
"I could have left you to die in Fake Karakura, and I'm starting to think that maybe I should have; I've never done a goddamned thing to you, and you treat me like I'm lower than dirt!" Tyn continued, shaking with rage. "It wasn't this bad before I left the Espada… You and the others didn't like my distrust of Aizen or how I questioned his integrity, but you were never this hostile to me back then! What the fuck happened?"
He took a deep breath, struggling to regain some composure.
"Is it because I left? Is that it? Are you pissed at me because I abandoned the Espada instead of staying to be executed? Because I'm a traitor?"
Tia's eyes narrowed and the look contained within told Tyn that he'd hit fairly close to home.
"If that's it, then GET OVER IT!" he yelled into her face. "I was right and you were wrong; Aizen was the true traitor, not me! He used you all and discarded you like garbage; you were nothing more than disposable soldiers in his private war, just like I predicted!"
Venting like this…it felt so good, so very good. He'd waited a long time to say these things, to make her understand… Tyn wanted to savor the moment, but he wasn't finished just yet.
"Ulquiorra, Starrk, and even Grimmjow…we all have our differences, but they don't treat me like this. Grimmjow may not like me, but at least he's started to accept me back as part of the group! But not you…you still treat me like garbage," Tyn knew a bit of hurt had seeped into his voice with that last comment, but he couldn't force himself to care anymore. "All I wanted was a pack to belong to…and I have it now. You're just not a part of it, not anymore. I'm going to move out, and we'll never have to deal with each other ever again! Find a new roommate, find yourself a place you can afford…whatever; it's not my problem anymore."
Finished with his rant, Tyn released his grip on her wrist and slowly stepped back, cautiously watching for a counterattack that never came. Judging by the look on her face, Halibel was too stunned to even consider attacking him at the moment.
But that could change at any moment, knowing the tercera.
"One more thing…" Tyn added as he began to walk back to his room, pausing at the door just long enough to look back at the Shark Queen. "Next time you scream at me or come after me, someone is going to die. No more games, no more tolerance; either you kill me, or I'll kill you."
With that, he disappeared into his bedroom for the night, slamming the door behind him and leaving a stunned Halibel still standing in the kitchen.