He tugged at his tie, never having liked formal wear but his manager had backed him into a corner and threatened to spend a week with him. That was more scary than a death threat. Grimmjow had never actually been to an opening before today he'd never even had his own showing, it had always been group shows. Rangiku walked up to him, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.
"I'm impressed blue, you managed to use all the wall space and it doesn't look cluttered. Remember talk to people, be nice, if I catch you swearing at someone I'm going to kill you. Refer all sales to me," she muttered fixing his tie and jacket, Ran was nervous, she became fidgety when she was nervous.
"Studio's set up the same way, and I promise blondie. I'll be on my best behaviour." He smiled to reassure her everything would be fine, moving to a place were he could watch the door hoping Silence would come. He'd sent her an invite even though it was open to public but he still couldn't push down his fear of her not coming. Surprisingly the first person in the door was Neliel and she was alone, that was even odder.
"Where's Nnoi? normally the two of you are joined at the hip," he asked. She looked at him utterly confused and glanced over her shoulder.
"I may have left him behind, I swear he was following me," she muttered, frowning for a second before pushing past Grimmjow to look at the paintings. He couldn't help but be amused by her child like personality. It wasn't long before Nnoitra entered, Halibel trailing behind him with a man on her arm and a child on the other. Nnoitra didn't speak a word to him storming off to find Nel once he stepped through the door but Hal stopped to say hi, the man continuing on.
"Grimm," she said nodding, a slight smile on her face. The most expression he had seen on the woman's face since he met her.
"Hey Hal, whose this pretty young girl?" He asked, bending down to her height only to be kicked in the shin before she started running. Hal glared at her, smile gone.
"That was my daughter Lilynette, the man sitting on the park bench over there is my husband Stark," she said, pointing over to him. Grimmjow scowled at the man, he was asleep sitting next to the marble skeleton statue that adorned the bench.
"The fuck is he doing?! Get him off my work now Hal," he growled, storming over to where Stark was before Halibel could do anything. Grabbing the man by the scruff of his shirt, he shook him till he woke up, yawning as if he wasn't being held up by someone.
"Yo." Grimmjow's eye twitched, he dropped the confused man to the floor without another word, walking away before he hit the man remembering his promise to Rangiku. Halibel marched over to her husband glare venomous as she pulled him from the floor, Stark looked scared.
"Do not sit on the art work," she stated, her face once more a stern mask. Laughter filled the gallery shortly after, he spotted Tatsuki near the entrance a voluptuous orange haired woman on her arm. The pair accompanied by the petit raven he'd seen a few times in the locker room at the ring and a tall man with long blood-red hair. It wasn't long before the general public started to pour in, art dealers and critics among them. Few bothered speaking to him, all preferring his manager which annoyed him slightly because she knew nothing about art and all the critics were talking to her. It seemed like his explosive temper had been leaked to the art community.
"Relax Blueberry, the crowd's looking rather worried since the artist looks like he's going mad." He jumped at the foreign voice, anger forgotten for the moment. It was the exotic woman from the ring and her blonde counterpart that had come up and spoken to him. He rolled his eyes at the pair but slowly started to relax.
"I'm just peeved that the critics aren't willing to speak to me, and what are you two doing here?" He asked, since it was extremely odd for them to be here. He'd never spoken to the pair, they knew him by name because of the twins but the nature of their relationship was non-existent, at least to his knowledge it was.
"Well the girls at the ring are like family to us, they are all here tonight and the twins asked us to come. There's more to it but if Silence hasn't said anything then neither can I," the blonde said, his fan hiding a sly smile. His words caused him to relax further, if they were invited by the twins then it meant Silence was going to come.
"Now who do we go to if I want to buy one of these paintings?" The lady asked, the biggest grin on her face, making it seem like she was up to mischief. "Planning to embarrass Silence then, well ma'am my manager Rangiku is handling the sales. The busty blonde in the shirt and slacks with the black book, over there," he pointed out, she was currently talking to Neliel.
"A thought just came to me, you've no idea what our names are do you?" The blonde asked, ever-present smile becoming wider with each word.
"Oh honey don't, she'd kill you. I'm Yoruichi and this idiot is Kisuke or hat 'n' clogs if you ever forget, later blueberry." And with that they were gone and Grimmjow was left standing there feeling slightly confused by the conversation.
Ichigo and Shiro arrived an hour and a half after the doors opened, having been stuck in traffic after picking up a friend from the train station.
"Ishida why didn't you just catch a taxi here instead of waiting for us?" Shiro asked, utterly annoyed with him.
"Because Snow-chan, I can't believe your making us use those silly nicknames in public, you invited me all the way out here so you have to take care of my needs," he stated, striding off the second he finished his little speech. It was as if he couldn't stand them but the girls knew he missed his friends having been the only one to stay in Karakura after graduation. He was just happy to be here and instead of just saying that he acted like a prick which was normal. They shook their heads, Chad rolling his eyes at him.
"He could have just said thanks," he muttered sighing, he nodded to the twins choosing to follow Ishida. Shiro glanced over her shoulder at Ichigo, brow raised at how she hesitated to move from that spot. Ichigo had told Shiro what had happened the next morning and from what the other had said it seemed Grimmjow liked her a lot. What was bothering Ichigo was that things between them were going to be weird. After he went out of his way to complement her, she acted like a dick. Even if she didn't want to make attachments to others, she didn't need to make more enemies while she was still living in the city.
"We have to go say hello, it'd be rude," she said, grabbing the others arm and tugging. Just a meter away from the artist she stopped digging in her heels, jamming her elbow into Shiro's ribs. It was going to be awkward, she just knew it after what had happened between the two.
"Hey blueberry," Shiro called ruining all chances of escape. The man in question turned around with the biggest smile she had ever seen on him. Her theory was correct, Grimmjow had fallen hard.
"Hello good to see you made it," he said, eyes on Ichigo alone, making her squirm a little.
"Well I'm going to look around, let you two chat." It seemed the pair didn't hear her, Ichigo to busy hiding behind her to notice anything she said till she walked off. Ichigo's eyes went wide and she grabbed for her sister only to miss her. With a scowl she mentally cursed the other, promising to punch her in the ribs later. She didn't know what to say to Grimmjow and now she was alone with him. Better to just face the music now then put it off and let things get worse.
"About the othe-" he cut her off, saying, "just forget it, doesn't matter. If it's easier for you just pretend it never happened." It hurt to see how she relaxed at his words, but that didn't matter. If Silence didn't feel the same way there was nothing he could do about, it was just best to act like normal even if it killed him.