Act II Scene VI: Thread

Szayel, for what he felt was the first time in a very long while, was uncertain what to do. He was fairly sure that his situation could be classified technically as an approach-avoidance conflict. He had to make a choice between two options, and while both seemed appealing, they had their respective drawbacks as well. Should he or should he not sleep with his Ishida-chan? If he did, he would be losing time doing a pointless activity like sleeping, when he could be doing something infinitely more worthwhile. On the other hand, not sleeping with the boy would result in the loss of valuable data and entertainment.

Well, this matter didn't need to be settled immediately. In the meantime, Szayel concluded that he ought to start working on the girl. As a scientist, objectivity was crucial and regardless of his own personal feelings on the matter, she was a crucial component of the experiment. For the time being, anyway. Currently, that meant fostering the growth of her relationship with his Ishida-chan. He'd have to play the part of gracious host to achieve the desired results.

Pushing his hair back, Szayel turned on the intercom connected to the room the girl was inhabiting. He saw no reason to put any extra effort in, no matter how mild, so she wouldn't be stuck talking to a disembodied voice. "Good afternoon, Ogawa-chan. How are you holding up?" He didn't care particularly, but the Octava was nothing if not courteous.

She looked up, her expression startled. "Granz-san! Where are you?" Szayel rolled his eyes. His Ishida-chan hadn't asked such a stupid question when they'd first spoken. The girl was so docile and... and boring. It was disgusting.

The scientist responded in a kind tone. "I'm speaking over the intercom, dear. My Ishida-chan is very protective of you and told me to stay away. He's quite taken with you, to be honest, and wanted to know whether you are comfortable." She blushed at the mention of the boy's purported fondness. It was depressing how easy she was to manipulate. How completely and utterly predictable. Though, that had been why he'd picked her, Szayel hadn't expected it to be such an annoyance.

"Please tell him I'm fine, Granz-san." She looked down shyly before speaking again. "Um. Am I going to get to see Ishida-kun again?" How dense could she possibly be? Why else would Szayel have brought her into his laboratory? Surely she couldn't believe that there was anything special about herself that would incur any interest.

"I'll pass on your message. It will be sure to ease his troubled mind." The words were saccharine. "You both will be reunited tomorrow. My Ishida-chan has been simply dying to see you. Well, I must take my leave now. Enjoy your stay." Szayel left the ignorant girl happily in the room. He found her pathetic infatuation with his Ishida-chan to be truly unappetizing.

The important thing was that he had accomplished his goal. Szayel had planted the seed. Now all he had to do was wait and let it grow. Were all relationships so bothersome to cultivate? It was a complete mystery to him why humans even went to the trouble.

Uryuu hadn't been having as horrendous a time as he had anticipated. The Octava hadn't returned for several hours, and the Quincy had taken the opportunity to shower. When he'd returned, dinner had been laid out. After much internal debate, the boy had opted to try and sleep. Reluctantly, Uryuu pulled the covers back and laid down fully clothed. The sheets smelled clean, a testament to how rarely the arrancar frequented the bed. It was surprisingly comfortable. The boy had fallen asleep with less difficulty than expected and the night had been blessedly dreamless.

He heard a door open and sat up, watching as the Espada casually strode into the room. "Took you long enough," Szayelaporro remarked. "Are you aware that the average human spends roughly two-hundred twenty-nine thousand nine-hundred and sixty-one hours sleeping throughout their lifetime? That's nine thousand five-hundred and eighty-two entirely useless days. While that wouldn't be such an issue if humans had much longer lifespans, 26 years of sleep mark a significant loss given the current life expectancy."

The scientist finished the rant with a flourish, placing a tray of food in front of Uryuu. His sleep-addled brain wasn't entirely certain how to respond to the Octava's tirade. "I'm sorry?"

he looked up questioningly. "Do you want me to stop sleeping?" He started eating.

The Espada blinked a few times. "Would you mind doing that for me? It's terribly boring watching you when you don't have any dreams, and Ogawa-chan is a horrible conversationalist." He looked curiously at Uryuu. "I thought humans needed a base amount of sleep to function properly, but since you've offered to stop that must mean that humans are in fact just incredibly lazy."

The Quincy swallowed the bite he'd been chewing. "No, I do need to sleep. I didn't think you would take me seriously. And if watching me sleep is so boring, why do you do it? Couldn't you just sleep instead? Wait. Do arrancars even need to sleep?" It occurred to Uryuu that while the Octava knew a good deal about him, he didn't know very much about Szayelaporro. To his own amazement, he found that he wanted to know more about the scientist. Getting close to the man was probably a bad idea, but he was intensely curious.

"Ooh, Ishida-chan! Are you saying that you want to sleep with me? And you know exactly why I watch you sleep." Szayel leered. His Ishida-chan was showing interest in him. That was quite intriguing. His Quincy never ceased to fascinate him. Those little surprises were exactly what made the boy so interesting. Well, he did enjoy talking about himself. It couldn't hurt to humor the boy. "Most of the arrancars and Espada do need to sleep. One in particular is extremely lazy and spends an ungodly quantity of time unconscious. I myself, being a paragon, find no need for such trivialities. I am capable, of course; I just find sleeping to be distasteful."

Szayel had held his Ishida-chan's undivided concentration throughout the explanation. It had been quite the pleasant experience. Now, the boy had gone back to eating and the scientist craved being the center of attention once again. Well, that wasn't anything new. The Octava deserved to be focused upon by everyone. He recognized his worth, after all.

Clearing his throat, Szayel succeeded in drawing his subject's gaze as the boy finished the last of his breakfast. "Now that we've had this lovely discussion, I promised Ogawa-chan that she'd be able to socialize with you again today. Would you kindly make yourself presentable so that I may escort you to the damsel's side?"

The boy sighed, the engagement visibly draining from his expression. "Do I have to? I'd much rather stay here." Szayel was illogically happy that his Ishida-chan didn't want to be around the bitch. That didn't make sense, considering he wanted the experiment to proceed smoothly, and that meant the human and his Quincy developing a relationship. Yet here he was wishing for his subject to reject the girl.

Well, the scientist wouldn't allow his irrational notions to interfere with the procedure. Szayel was very good at what he did, an expert. "I understand that I'm a hard act to follow, but a gentleman doesn't break his promises. It would be rude of me not to grant the lady her request. You have ten minutes."

Uryuu was waiting by the bed when the scientist returned. He really didn't want to see Michiru-chan. Not only would he feel guilty, but to his chagrin he considered Szayelaporro to be better company. He'd even been enjoying his last conversation with the Octava. Clearly, this entire experience was messing him up.

Speaking of the arrancar, the man was currently smirking in self-satisfaction that seemed almost obscene. One of the Octava's slim hands was placed on the scientist's cocked hip. The other was held out towards Uryuu, languidly dangling a clinking pair of shiny handcuffs. "Oh no. Not again." The raven-haired boy was adamant on the matter.

"Oh, yes. Again," the arrancar purred, grinning wider than the Cheshire cat. He posed as if in deep thought. "If you don't want them, I suppose I could accommodate your needs. I'm quite well versed in shibari if that's more to your particular tastes." The scientist looked far too excited about the suggestion, and the color drained from Uryuu's face.

"Handcuffs are fine." The Quincy made a mental note to never allow Szayelaporro with a rope anywhere near himself. Resigned to his fate, he stood, facing away from the scientist, arms behind his back. He watched in the mirror as the man took his glasses and raised the blindfold to his face. Uryuu felt the distinctive chill of the handcuffs on his wrists, hearing them close with a snap. This time, the scientist chose to guide him by placing his hand on the back of Uryuu's exposed neck. The boy could feel himself getting goosebumps.

"Since you're restrained, I'll be taking you know." Uryuu heard a low chuckle near his ear following the whispered words. The Octava really needed to stop talking so close to the boy when he was this hyper-aware, it made his stomach slightly flutter and that was in no way acceptable. The Quincy allowed the scientist to guide him to their destination.

"We're here." The scientist said the words in a tone that was oddly flat. The walk had seemed significantly shorter this time, Uryuu noted. He felt the restraints around his arms be released. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. Make good choices, children. And remember to use protection. Ta-ta." The Quincy flushed at the man's shameless insinuation. He felt the fingers that had been at his neck stroke gently down his spine and Uryuu shivered. His glasses were placed in his hand; and was that his imagination, or did the Octava's fingertips linger for a moment? The boy yanked off his blindfold and replaced the returned glasses.

He was back in the original room and Michiru-chan was there. The Espada was nowhere to be found. "Ishida-kun!" The girl's voice was laced with excitement. "I'm happy to see you again. How are you? Granz-san said you were worried about me. You're really sweet, Ishida-kun. Don't worry though, I'm fine."

"I'm fine." Uryuu couldn't think of anything to say to her. He'd liked it better when they'd been in school and Michiru-chan had seemed afraid of him. She was honestly rather annoying, worse than Szayelaporro even. He at least said something interesting every once in a while. And what had the scientist even been telling her? He wanted to keep her alive, sure. But that was just because she was some innocent bystander from Karakura town. He decided the best thing to do was to be blunt with her. "Look, I would appreciated if you didn't talk to me right now."

"Oh... okay." Michiru-chan seemed to be crestfallen. Uryuu knew that his words had been harsh, but his chief interest here was not making sure he didn't hurt her feelings. Allowing her to be delusional would hurt her far more in the end. They sat in an awkward silence for several long minutes. Uryuu really wanted to leave. The next few hours were sure to be agonizing.

Translations:

Shibari - the art of Japanese erotic rope bondage. It's quite interesting.

A/N: Dedicated to Himorin and Booktiger22, my favorite readers. Sorry for the late update, I was finishing and posting On the Topography of Pluto for Himorin, and then I didn't have the opportunity to write. Apologia. On the subject of Michiru, I have a draft of her death written up, and it's...disturbing and traumatic at best. I personally don't have a problem with it, but it has rat torture and self-cannibalism level shit. It occurs to meet that as I am attempting to write something not horror, I might need to tone it down, but if anyone wants to read the entire ordeal, I could post it separately. If nobody specifically requests it, I won't post it. Guidance would be appreciated on this. In other news, I was watching Cracks because...I have no excuse. Anyway, there was this one with Szayel doing Applause, and it was brilliant. He sort of is the Lady Gaga of Bleach. Don't kill me. If you do, make it interesting and catch it on film. Intermission after the next chapter. You know the drill.

Himorin: There'll be plenty of UST involving that bed next chapter. Sorry for crushing your dreams, but it's what I do. Glad you liked your oneshot, I really wanted to make it good for you. I usually don't read angst, so that was a challenge, but I'm happy I pulled it off. If you have any more requests, I'm always here. Gonna get that PWP out soonish, I've got all of Szayel's dialogue written for that. Next chapter of his should be up tomorrow. I hate being late, and I'm kind of annoyed at myself, even if it was unavoidable.

Booktiger22: So sorry for the delay! I kneel in repentance. That's the whole crux of the plot, more or less: who gives in first? We'll see how it plays out. You're special enough to request oneshots too, by the way. If you haven't heard, I'll be writing a Spanish dirty talk PWP for these two, which is basically going to be choc-full of pet names. Next chapter will be a super good time.