***The Birds and the Bees***
"No!" Nnoitra sat up in the enormous bed, sinking further into the comforter. "You have to charm him first."
"What? Footsie isn't charming?" Grimmjow fingered one of the vials on his vanity.
"It's seductive, more 'bad boy' than 'cute fellow'." He grimaced at his diction, avoiding the Sexta's eyes.
"Don't I look the 'bad boy' type?" He admired himself in the enormous mirror, smiling sleazily and ignoring the look of disbelief the other's reflection had.
"Does Byakuya like 'bad boy'?" He threw his weight unto the bed, crossing his legs and folding his arms behind his head.
Not yet answering, a tiny flame ignited on the tips of his ears and the apples of his cheeks. He mumbled the words "I don't know" under his breath. Not knowing any of the man's preferences, Grimmjow frowned.
"Well, guess you need to get out there and make. A. Connection." He pretended to be interested in the ceiling. "There's more to a relationship than sex, Grimmjow."
The other man slammed his hand on the vanity.
"Like what?" He sneered.
"Talking!" Nnoitra sat up abruptly. "Talking with him about dreams and love and rainbows! Mushy shit!"
Grimmjow spun in his stool and ran a hand through blue strands.
"In the World of the Living, they have courting rituals. Byakuya comes from a world based on that world." He rested his head against the headboard and gave a wide-eyed looked.
He watched the other in the mirror.
"Rituals?"
"Like courtship?"
"How does that go?" His interest was piqued.
The Quinta took a moment to gather his thoughts.
"People go out on dates, out on the town. They go to see movies, to eat at restaura—"
"—Movies?" Grimmjow hadn't had time to explore the World of the Living for a while.
"I have no idea," The taller man shrugged. "They go to eat at restaurants and at each other's houses. They take walks and shop together. They buy each other things and just talk. Get to know each other."
Nnoitra gave the other a condescending look in response to his contemplation.
"You'll have to figure it out." With that, he took his leave, closing the door before the man could blurt out a question.
Walking from his bedroom to the kitchen, the Sexta sighed. He had no idea how to be 'charming'. Was a bad boy supposed to be charming? He shook his head, confused as to how humans had developed such complicated relationships. They were so simple.
Feeling the tickle of Starrk's spiritual pressure upon his own, he jumped behind a wall, hiding from him and the nobleman. Byakuya's voice rang through the hall, sounding like he was trying to smother his amusement with anger as Starrk giggled deeply beside him. Hearing his voice made the Sexta's neck hair stand on end like blue needles in his back. He crouched and silently slid further down the dark hall, azure eyes glowing and reflecting the light bouncing from the floor.
"…I can resist him." Byakuya assured. The other continued giggling.
"You know, that's how he likes it."
Grimmjow heard the padding of bare feet cease.
"He's tender."
Starrk paused after him.
"He can be passionate, rough, excited, menac—"
"He is tender…as well."
Starrk snorted, as the sound of fabric against skin caught the Sexta's ear.
"Don't fold your arms," Byakuya scolded. "He's a good man."
A break in the dialogue.
"…He's a good…beast." The defeat in the nobleman's voice made Grimmjow deflate.
The raven-haired man continued walking.
"Does he feel as confident about you as you do about him?"
"I have no idea," He saw his significant other stroll around the corner.
Byakuya eyes were cast down, his hand on cheek in thought, and a finger pushing stray hairs behind his ear. He wore a long, white junihitoe with dragging sleeves and black, geometric embroidery with half his dark locks pinned at the back of his head. Skin shining, the arm reaching for his face freed itself from the drowning fabric. There was a tiny smile pulling at his pink lips.
"I have to meet with Aizen," Byakuya looked back at the man, glimmering blue orbs missing his eye as he turned. "You should go spend time with him."
Byakuya turned away, blushing.
"Take me to his room."
With that, the Espada creeping in the corner began to tip toe away from the pair, hoping that the hall he was inching down led in some way to his bedroom.
"Why is it so fuckin' dark down here?" Grimmjow thought. He was far enough to walk now. Before taking off, he looked behind him to see Starrk's foot leaving his view.
He moved faster, breaking out into a bouncing jog through the wide hall before passing a corridor with a ghostly, glowing hollow. Sprinting away as fast as his human-like legs would carry him and turning left, in the general direction of his room, he sprinted in long strides, finding the freedom of his run thrilling. He released a smile he didn't know was upon his face and stopped before coming to a hallway that was lit. He peered around the corner, seeing the coast clear and the entrance to his chambers. Exhaling inaudibly, he walked quickly to it and slipped inside, closing the door behind him. Throwing himself unto a sofa seemed the most natural thing to do. That and starting a conversation with a suspicious Yylfordt.
"So," He cleared his throat.
The blonde eyed him over his book, 'Sleeping Beauty' read the spine. He didn't move, simply studying the broad shoulders rising and falling with frustration. Grimmjow stared back, stubbornly waiting for the other to assist him in socializing. Yylfordt didn't want to play this game.
"Go…go somewhere." He gave a flick of the wrist and the other huffed and stood obediently.
With closed eyes, he listened to him tread across the room and into the tiny hall that contained the fraccions' private rooms. The click of the door unnerved him and he brought a hand to thin lips. He waited for the double doors on his right to open, the sound of bare feet growing louder. Pale fingers grasped the whitened wood before a slim figure entered the room.
Byakuya stood before him, hand clutching the train of the white kimono and purple orbs focused on the man's thick digits. Grimmjow sunk his teeth into his knuckle as the imitation sunlight came down through the false window on the ceiling and bounced off the tiled floor into the smaller man's eyes.
The Sexta watched him pad to have a seat on the white, silver-legged lounge across from him. He put his feet up and leaned against the single arm like ethereal woman. Holding his head up, he looked like a queen, arms resting gently against the cushion of the furniture. The sight made the arrancar run his thick tongue along his teeth and twirl it along that daunting canine.
"Afternoon." Byakuya said coolly.
Grimmjow didn't respond, instead keeping his half-hooded eyes locked on the other pair. The nobleman looked away, clearing his throat quietly and turning to hide the pink tinge on the apples of his cheeks.
Before the urge to pounce on the man overtook him, the Sexta remembered what the Quinta had said about being charming. He furrowed his brow and searched for something intimate yet…cute, a word that was completely alien to the blue-haired beast.
"What's your favorite," He paused at hearing how stupid the question sounded outside his head. "Animal?"
"A bird." Byakuya answered awkwardly, he turned back to the other, concerned.
"Why?"
The other seemed offended by his question.
"Because they're tranquil, free, and pleasant".
Grimmjow grunted in response, waiting for a brighter idea of a question to come to him and regretting questioning the other's choice.
"What about you?" His blue eyes shot back up to the expectant face.
"Panthers, cats."
The shorter man suppressed a chuckle.
"I should have figured." He smiled at the blue-haired arrancar, who smiled back.
"You won't be able to figure my favorite color." He smirked.
"Blue?" Byakuya was still smiling.
"Nope." The smirk remained on his mouth as a bad reflection to the captain's continuous smile.
"White?"
He shook his head, pulling his knee up and slouching into the sofa. He sat like a decadent king, manhood exposed except for his hakama.
"Black?"
"Purple." He said softly, his lips pouting a little after he finished the word.
Byakuya's cheeks turned a darker shade and he looked down at Grimmjow's exposed chest. The taller man's mouth curved up at the corners.
"My favorite color is yellow." He blushed even more, noticing the symbolism in their preferences.
"Pretty." The Espada brought his hand from his mouth and let the meaty appendage hang off the arm of the couch.
Their conversation died and both scratched themselves in uncomfortable silence.
"Are you thirsty or anything?"
"Some tea." Byakuya nodded.
"Okay," The taller man stood and rushed out of the room and into the kitchenette. "This is awful! I didn't know I had no game! I feel like an old man. Like Aizen hitting on Lillinette or something."
He had sensed Nnoitra's reiatsu on the couch and used the offer of a beverage to get away. With the skeleton peering over his shoulder, he cracked the big, white door and looked out into the serene room. Byakuya shuddered and ran a hand over his face, exhaling harshly.
"What do I do?" Closing the door, he turned to the other's chest and continued whispering. "What do I say?"
Nnoitra took a sip of his tea.
"Bring him some tea." Grimmjow sighed and snatched the cup out of his gangly hand.
He glared and walked to the other side of the tiny room.
"Just sit on the couch with him and cuddle. Get out there and take charge. Bitches love it when you take charge." He nodded and walked to start making more tea.
"What's 'cuddling' mean?" With a pensive look, he was bombarded by the man's bony body.
"You just hold someone like this." He wrapped his endless arms around the smaller Espada and pushed the flaming head of hair unto his chest. "Just lying down or sitting. Let him lean on you."
"Okay, fine!" He pushed the other off, rushing out of the door.
The nobleman jumped and straightened as the arrancar strode over to him and roughly put the tea on the table between the couches. Grimmjow plopped down beside him and watched his shaky hand reach for the cup.
"Thank you," He said almost silently.
The other nodded in appreciation and leaned back, fiddling with his thumbs in his lap.
"Do you want to…c-cuddle?" His face turned bright red as the question left his lips. For once, the raven-haired man's cheeks were dull in comparison.
Byakuya looked at him, the tea, and then the rest of the room. He wasn't exactly an expert in the area of intimacy or sweet gestures. Holding a baby would have been comparable as far as his experiences went. The closest he had come was cradling a bleeding soldier on the battlefield.
"…Sure." He scooted over as Grimmjow leaned into the arm.
The captain missed the table when putting his tea down, spilling the burning golden liquid in his lap. He hissed and stood, moving to his right as the taller man towered over him. He groaned and held up his skirt like a princess. From the corner of his eye, Grimmjow could see the Quinta investigating through a cracked door.
"Come on," The blue-haired man pulled him by the elbow to his bedroom and pushed the door open with his other arm. He turned back and examined the steam coming from the fabric as they made their way to the washroom. When he reached to close the door, Byakuya slid past Grimmjow and spun to face him.
"Ow," He whispered.
The Sexta reached his arms around the other man and untied the sash of his kimono. As the silk hit the floor, the nobleman flushed in realization at what situation he had gotten himself into, again. Starting at the shoulders, the taller man pushed the fabric off and gathered it, tossing the heap to the side as Byakuya began to undo his fondushi. Quickly, he stepped over to the porcelain tub and freed the scalding water. His thighs reddened with more hot liquid and he hissed in discomfort. The sound sent a shudder through the man on the opposite of the room's body. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and reminded himself not to take advantage of delicate scenarios, in which real men are sweet and would offer to clean him with a rag. He grabbed a black cloth and towel from atop the toilet and strode to the man sitting on the edge of the tub.
Grimmjow cleared his throat and held the washcloth under the water, gripping the porcelain as he faced the irritated and still seductive pieces of the man's body. Byakuya leaned back with a blush and let the man wipe him clean, the sting of the terrycloth making him grimace.
"Okay," The blue-haired man reached for the towel and handed it to the other, standing in perfect stillness when the captain used him to get up.
A small noise of appreciation escaped the soul-reaper when he began to pat himself dry. The Espada went to grab a vial of lotion from the vanity on the other side of wall and came back into the room, unaware of the determined look upon his face. Byakuya jumped immediately and covered himself with the black terrycloth. He held his breath and Grimmjow stopped, sizing him up.
He opened his mouth and sat down, looking away from the man in shame for assuming such things. The other stealthily advanced and kneeled before him, unscrewing the cap from the bottle. He squirted some on his hand and reached up the temporary skirt formed by the towel. His captive twitched as warm hands made their way up the inside and outside of his thigh. The man with the big hands was aiming for gentle, not seductive, but Byakuya's body didn't know the difference. Patiently, he let the man work the moisturizer into his skin, tickling and exciting him with each slow stroke.
Heated air fell from Grimmjow's lips unto the man's thighs, sending a wave of wariness through his body. The raven-haired man knew the arrancar's tell tale sign of arousal, flared nostrils, would come into his vision in moments. He held onto the fabric tightly, pressing it over the tops of his thighs and unaware of the inadvertent affect it was having on the Sexta. Grimmjow's brow furrowed in concentration as his electric blue orbs kept finding their way back to the line of contrast created by the colors and textures of the garbed leg. The pull of the terrycloth made the squishy flesh on the soft man bulge.
"Slow," He reminded himself. "Takin' it slow."
The Sexta breathed in frustration and feverishly spilled more of the aloe into his palm. Sending his blue hair on end, his hands clapped against the doughy leg. The sound rang through the room as he watched intently while it oozed past his hand and flexed with the tightening and loosening of his grip. Standing abruptly, he let go and stood over Byakuya, unaffected by the pinker hue of the right leg. He grunted in approval.
"More tea?" His face looked like he had just been caught with some mortifyingly inexplicable paraphernalia and he was out of breath.
"Uhm," The other stood, covering himself with the towel and shaking his head in bewilderment. "Something solid perhaps."
Without a word or gesture of understanding, the arrancar spun and left for the kitchenette. He pounded his forehead in the privacy of a kitchen sans an ever-lurking skeleton.
"Gentleman, gentleman, gentleman," He stopped and opened his eyes. "Would not have left him to waltz around in a fuckin' towel."
Stopping mid-turn, he groaned. If he ventured back into the room, he'd be the dorky idiot boy that Nnoitra had mentioned, but if he just got something for them to eat, he'd be the insensitive bad boy.
"Crap." He continued and marched back into the bedroom.
"Here's so—"
At the sight of a very pale, very naked backside displayed fully before him and a girlish yelp caused by the slamming of the double doors, he froze. Byakuya jumped and did a 180 in a single motion, his hands scrambling to find which anatomical component was more vulnerable before Grimmjow could inspect his entire body. He breathed hard and threaded a stray lock from his mouth, eyes wide.
The Sexta weighed the option of walking back out.
"Clothes." He stated before moving to the closet. Inside, he pitched face first into the clothes and took a moment to breathe the instinct to hump out of his system before grabbing the first thing he could get his hands on.
It was a haori, white of course, yet very revealing. He studied it and noticed how deep the neckline was only after exiting the closet. The soul-reaper put his hands on it before he could refuse him.
"You think they're getting anywhere?" Starrk tucked some stray hairs behind his ear.
Nnoitra chuckled and smashed a bug on the stone railing.
"Grimmjow doesn't know a fuckin' thing," He looked out into the abysmal desert of Hueco Mundo. "Wanna see him out of his element? It's funny as shit."
Starrk shook his head and followed the Quinta's vague gaze.
"Guy deserves props for trying," He put a long fingernail between his serrated teeth. "He's not just chasin' after some ass this time."
"And if he is?"
"It's gotta be the holy grail of asses." They both hid their looks of confusion.
The shorter arrancar focused on something in the distance, a disturbance in the restless, pale sands. He blinked and it had disappeared.
"Did you see that?" He questioned, standing erect and searching around the place where he had seen the thing.
"What?" Nnoitra didn't pull the finger from his mouth, squinting as a small gust tousled his black strands and tickled his eyelids. "Did I see what?"
"In the sands, by that dune."
"Which dune? There's a thousand of them."
"That dune." He pointed, rather ineffectively.
"Where?"
"Nevermind!"
The lanky being took another gander out into the distance. He folded his arms and looked at the Primera.
"It's probably just a lizard or something." Thrusting himself from the ledge, he began down the terrace, past Starrk.
The other looked at the pitiful mess that was the bug Nnoitra had crushed. He sighed and turned in the opposite direction Nnoitra had left.
The captain screamed.
"Not what you were expecting, I know." Grimmjow smiled sympathetically.
"That is not a bird!" He stood behind the blue-haired man. "What is that thing?"
"Closest thing we have to birds around here." He tossed a slab of meat to the creature, one of its heads popping out between the bars of the cage and crushing the beef between bleeding, yellow teeth. "Szayel made her. Big surprise there, eh?"
"It has hands," He pointed to the deformed and nubby digits gripping the bars. "And only a few feathers."
The beast was three men tall and the color of a human heart. The feathers on its back were matted and covered with a thick layer of mucus. Leering, purple eyes glared behind a bone-white mask, imitating that of an arrancar. It lacked any real intelligence, simply lashing out and swinging its two heads in any direction.
"'She', her name is Beelzebub." Rubbing the blood on his uniform, he turned to the smaller man. "He named her after some shit. I don't remember."
"'Beelzebub' is another name for Satan, Grimmjow." Byakuya inched backward.
This creature in no way reminded him of the illustrious collection of birds waiting for him in the Kuchiki compound.
"Too much?" He looked at the other and grimaced. "Okay."
Grabbing the man gently by the elbow, he guided him out of the laboratory. He shut the door after switching off the light and saluting the screeching beast. The captain smiled in appreciation for the muted cries.
They returned to the illuminated sitting room and sat together on the silver-legged lounge chair. Grimmjow thought to resume the cuddling he had suggested nearly an hour before this. He settled back into the single arm of the sofa and waved the onyx-haired captain closer to him. Said captain complied and leaned into the other, a small grin accompanying a small blush on his cheeks, both arising out of anticipation.
His back hit the other's thigh and they both chuckled uncomfortably. The taller man pulled his leg around to let him lean into his chest and after a moment of adjusting, Byakuya rested his head on the Sexta's shoulder, his body connecting with the thicker one to the hips where the captain's pelvis dug into Grimmjow's groin. He didn't complain though, the fact that this man's hand was on his chest and that he was the one literally on the bottom making him flush. Luckily, said man couldn't see the other's cheeks and was hiding his own blush as an enormous, hot hand curled around his waist.
Grimmjow smelled good; soap, musk, and grass with a hint of sweat. The sound of his heart beating made the nobleman quiver and press his ear further into the wrong side of the broad, tanned chest. He studied how his pale fingers rested against the tiny curls of blue hair rising and falling with the bulky muscles. The robust heart sped up as he trailed his fingernails in small circles around the brawny curves. In response to the tiny gesture of attraction or adoration, the Sexta couldn't figure which, the blue-haired man put his nose against the other's scalp.
The smell was intoxicating, natural, and sweet with an underlying hint of pine. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, shifting to put his cheek atop his companion's head.
Byakuya turned in the arrancar's grasp, still resting his head on the meaty shoulder and bringing his knees up. The Espada let out a shaky breath inaudibly, he could see straight to the other's belly button. He knew that the plunging neckline would come back to bite him in the ass. Focusing somewhere else, he noticed the white haori sliding down the now unblemished thighs of the captain. Biting his lip, he adjusted underneath the man. Those ivory, jiggly sticks were his kryptonite.
Grimmjow leaned his head forward and laid his mouth against the other's temple. He reached up with both hands and pulled the smaller man into a hug. Flushing and unaware that the arching of his back would be an unplanned result, he let the thick fingers curl around his shoulders and press him into their corresponding chest. The man behind him groaned as a small noise escaped his lips. Craning his neck, he felt that familiar lump of despair rise in his throat. It made his breath louder and his heart quicker, his cheeks flush and his mouth grimace. He turned his head away and the other's mouth followed, thin lips landing on the shell of his ear as a gravelly voice called his name. Grimmjow gripped him tighter and bit him.
A whimper fell from his mouth as he wrapped his hands around the thick thighs on his sides. "Oh" he said when the other turned the grasp of his teeth into the vacuum of his lips. Just as the larger man began to grind against him, he froze, the vice created by his chest and forearms immediately pushing any air Byakuya could suck in back out.
A knock sounded on the door and the Sexta practically threw the other off him. Byakuya was more than happy to be discarded so quickly, he couldn't have pushed any faster himself.
Here it is, kiddies. What you all have been screaming for: The Next Chapter! Complete with an extra nine hundred words.
My Grandmother is visiting and my brother went to my cousin's. So while mother is at work, I have to entertain Gramma and since I spend half the day sleeping I have to spend the rest of it with her. I'm still making progress on all my stories, though, I've got pretty much the rest of the plot for this figured. Just let me know if you wanna see something sweet or something tragic.
Anyway, thank you for all the appreciation.