Chapter 2: First and Second Impressions
August 12th, 2014
Homelessness had not been kind to Grimmjow. He barely had any money or personal information. He had his ID, his social security number, and about $20 on hand. He'd been so stupid.
He couldn't get a job, or new clothes that might help him get a job. He didn't know where the unemployment office was, or where the good shelters were, even now that he could admit he needed them now. Nobody helped him, and he ran out of money fast. Food was expensive. He'd never had to worry about it before.
The last 10 days had been terrible, and full of bad decisions.
And that was all before he got stabbed.
He'd been leaving from an interview at a bar and the mugger-who seemed more than a little tipsy-wouldn't believe he didn't have anything for him. His clothes, muddy as they were, had once been nice.
Part of him was disappointed that he hadn't been able to deal with the mugger. Once upon a time, a man that drunk and off-balance would've been easy to disarm. But he'd been tired, and cold, and hungry. The mugger hadn't even meant to do it, not really. Or hadn't realized what would happen. But he'd panicked and ran at the sight of blood, and Grimmjow was just far enough away from the bar that no one saw, or heard. So he'd grit his teeth, and walked. Walked through a maze of alleyways as he tried to find a street because someone would help him now, surely.
And then he'd collapsed at the mouth of the alleyway, and he didn't have the strength to call out.
What a miserable way to die.
"What the-oh my god! Are you okay?"
"Wait, isn't that...Grimmjow?"
"We have to get him to a hospital!"
August 14th, 2014
The first thing Grimmjow registered when he woke up was that he was, in fact, awake. A few seconds later-or maybe minutes-or maybe he fell back asleep first?- he remembered voices. People had found him. Person? How many people had there been?
The second thing he registered was pain. It was all very dull-he must be on some kind of painkiller-but when he tried to move, his body protested, stiff and weak and screaming at him. Probably telling him that he was a stubborn idiot. His body was right.
"Doctor? He's awake!" He sucked in a breath at that. So he was in a hospital. He had been saved.
A man walked in, though 'doctor' wouldn't have been Grimmjow's first guess. He was hardly dressed the part, with a flowing green robe and-clogs? Or just weird sandals?
"Ah, so glad you've returned to us, Mr. Kurosaki!"
"What?" Grimmjow groaned as he attempted to sit up. Giving up, he laid back down and eyed the man, confused. "My name-"
"-Is most definitely Kurosaki! See? It says so right here on the paperwork!" He indicated the Grimmjow's name, though he couldn't make it out from where he was lying. "And wouldn't you know, because that's your name, the bill for all this went down from $50,000 to $5,000!" He eyed Grimmjow over his glasses. "So nice for a family to share medical insurance, wouldn't you say?"
It was obvious what the man was getting at, and Grimmjow-after discovering that nodding was a bad idea-agreed. "...yeah. Good family."
"Indeed! Now I shall go and inform your hitherto unannounced relation that you are awake and well!"
"You get called 'quack' a lot, don't you?"
"I do indeed!"
The 'doctor' closed the door and left Grimmjow to his thoughts. So somebody had found him, brought him to the hospital, and was apparently intending to foot the bill, considering that he'd been put onto their medical plan. It was cheaper this way, and maybe they'd just have him to pay them back, but it was still a surprisingly generous action.
The door reopened and the Quack-Grimmjow couldn't bring himself to think of him as a doctor-led a young man with a very familiar shock of orange hair into the room. Grimmjow's mouth opened slightly in surprise as Ichigo sat down next to him.
"Well, I'll let you two catch-up." The Quack, who had still not introduced himself, exited the room with a flourish.
Ichigo looked at him in concern for a moment, before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
"Well, aren't you a liar?" Grimmjow felt his face heat up, not really having a response. "Unless your 'friend' did this to you?"
"Ah...no. I know roughly one person in Seireitei."
"Let me guess-is it me?"
"...yes."
Ichigo sighed. "You could've crashed at my place, Grimmjow. I would've let you."
"I know! I just didn't...want to...bother...you…" Ichigo arched an eyebrow at him. "Hey, you're the one who decided to pay!"
"As opposed to you ending up in massive debt? You can pay me back."
Grimmjow's blush returned, deeper this time. "You know, 10 days is a very short time to expect someone to get a job."
Ichigo stared at him for a long moment, before shrugging slightly. "Eventually. You're going to be staying with me until you recover, anyway."
"Am I?" He'd tried to sound threatening, but it came out as more of a grunt, or cough.
"Yes. I promise I can be every bit as stubborn as you, and I'm not recovering from a stab wound and blood loss."
"How bad was it, anyway?"
"You've been here for two days."
"...well. Shit. Pretty bad, then?"
Ichigo nodded. "It was mostly blood loss, at least that's what Doctor-"
"You mean the Quack?"
"Uh, sure? Anyway, he said it was mostly because you were walking around after you got stabbed. Kept working the wound, so it didn't close or clot. On the bright side, apparently it means you've got phenomenal pain tolerance."
"Fantastic," Grimmjow muttered. Being alive was the most important thing right now, and it seemed like he had very little say in what would happen in the near future. He should just sleep.
"Now that you're awake, you'll probably be released tomorrow. Released into my care, mind. I'll be back after work. Get some sleep."
Grimmjow lazily waved him away, already drifting off. Ichigo didn't need to tell him twice.
June 22nd, 2016
Present Day
"So, how did you two meet?" Yuzu asked, finally putting her knife and fork down.
"Dad didn't feed you guys at all on the way here, did he?"
"No, and don't change the subject," Karin said. Ichigo and Grimmjow exchanged a look, before Ichigo had an almost evil smile.
"You know, I think I'll do the dishes. I'm curious as to how you would explain this." Grimmjow scowled at him as Ichigo collected everyone's plates.
"This sounds good," Karin said, handing Ichigo her plate and leaning in to listen, Karin mirroring her, interest trumping politeness.
Grimmjow crossed his arms, thinking. "Uhm...well…" He seemed completely stumped.
"Oh come on, it's not that hard of a question," Karin said.
"You know, she's right," Ichigo said over the noise of the sink. "Tell them, or I won't be nice about it."
"And just what is that supposed to mean?"
Ichigo shut off the water, grabbing a towel and wiping his hands as he walked back over to the table.
"You know how you two would occasionally find a stray cat or dog and bring it home?"
"Hey! Ok, ok I'll tell them!" Grimmjow protested.
"Definitely stray cat," Ichigo said, and they all laughed, Grimmjow grudgingly joining in.
"You shouldn't make fun of someone who has the power to embarrass you at will." Grimmjow warned Ichigo, catching his hand and drawing him close.
"What about us?" Karin said in mock disgust.
Grimmjow released Ichigo and grinned at her. "I was talking to you, too."
"But you were saying?" Yuzu said excitedly.
Ichigo walked back over to the sink without a word, and Grimmjow sighed. Some business was private, but he could tell them most of what happened.
"I was wandering Seireitei…"
August 15th, 2014
Grimmjow didn't get a wheelchair. He did get crutches, but they were uncomfortable, and expected back within a week.
"Don't look so happy, Grimmjow!" The Quack said, clapping him on the shoulder and nearly knocking him down. "All that smiling will be infectious!"
"Do you think stab wounds are?" He growled.
"I'm sure young Ichigo will let me know!"
And without a backwards glance, he vanished back into the hospital.
"Well, that's one good thing about leaving." Grimmjow sighed.
"He's doing all of your checkups."
"Dammit."
Ichigo's apartment wasn't much to look at. He was away from the more crime-ridden areas, but the complex was still pretty run-down. It was also all single bedroom, so he'd be sleeping on the couch.
Or so he'd thought.
"I can sleep on the couch!"
"You're recovering," Ichigo said flatly. "You're not sleeping on a couch."
"I'm not kicking you out of your own bedroom!"
"No, you aren't," Ichigo said with a note of finality. "I'm voluntarily giving you the use of it."
He had no real means of protesting, and it was pissing him off. He had trouble walking, but he wasn't an invalid. He stood up-and his legs promptly disagreed with him, Ichigo having to catch him so he didn't hit the ground.
"Hey, remember that part where you experienced horrible blood loss?"
"Shut up." Grimmjow grit his teeth against a stab of pain as he was forced to lean on Ichigo.
Ichigo, surprisingly, didn't say anything, practically carrying Grimmjow through the apartment. He'd assumed Ichigo was leading him to the bedroom, but the tub and shower head said otherwise.
"If you think I need help in here, I'm going to ki-"
"Have to remove the bandages and clean the wound," Ichigo said tiredly. "And one of us grew up in a medical clinic."
Grimmjow didn't think he'd ever blushed so much in his life before he met Ichigo, as the man helped him into the tub.
"You don't know I didn't."
"If you had, I wouldn't have to explain this all to you." Grimmjow shrugged slightly, conceding the point.
"Shirt."
"Oh, yeah." He started to pull it off, when Ichigo grabbed his shoulder.
"Stop and think for a few seconds. Do you really think you can pull that off over your head?" He was right, as he'd been ever since they'd first met, and it was quickly pissing Grimmjow off. "Pull your left arm out first, and then I'll help with the right side."
He grumbled, but did as he was told. He liked to imagine he saw a flicker of interest in Ichigo's eyes as the shirt came off, but his side hurt too much for him to be sure of anything. He'd probably imagined in. Ichigo stood up and opened a cupboard to grab a washcloth, and then Grimmjow could hear the sink running.
"I can't believe you have a full bathroom here."
"I know the landlord. He got me one of the nice ones."
"Cool." He was definitely still on some kind of drug, even if they weren't doing their job properly.
Ichigo snorted and kneeled next to the tub. He leaned down to start dabbing at a mess of stitches Grimmjow hadn't actually seen before, when Ichigo paused, and looked up at him.
"You ah...aren't one of those people that reflexively hit people...you know, when you get surprised or feel pain?"
Grimmjow blinked. "Are there...a lot of people like that?"
"It's normally very funny to watch. But I'd rather not get decked."
"I don't...think...so?"
Ichigo sighed. "Nothing for it then. This will sting, but regular cleaning will help it heal better."
"Faster?"
"Better. No way to speed it up, but we don't want any kind of infection."
Grimmjow winced as the cold cloth touched his skin. He'd broken bones and had cuts before, but this was definitely worse. He didn't punch Ichigo, though.
"What exactly happened? It didn't seem like you had much to say to the police." They'd taken his statement once he was lucid, but he hadn't remembered anything useful.
"Just some drunk dumbass. I don't even think he meant to stab me. I cut through an alleyway when I was leaving from an interview."
"Interview?"
"At a bar down there."
"The Sexta?"
"Yeah."
Ichigo shook his head. "I know it means six, but all the patrons seem to only focus on the first three letters." Grimmjow snorted. "I went there once, and have always regretted it. You can get up, by the way."
Grimmjow blinked, and just barely caught sight of the red-stained cloth as Ichigo tossed it.
"I'm going to owe you some washcloths too, huh?" Ichigo just smiled slightly, slipping his arms under one of Grimmjow's and helping to pull him up. "Neat doctor's trick."
"Always better to distract the patient in a situation like that." He could walk a little bit better now, but Ichigo still helped him get his shirt back on and move across the hall. When he laid down on the bed, he had to admit, at least to himself, that if this was the bed, he'd never get rest on the couch.
"You don't have to sleep on the couch, you know."
"You aren't. We've already had this discussion."
"No, I mean, we can share."
Ichigo gave him a level stare. This kind of flirting came naturally to Grimmjow, and he always enjoyed the result, regardless of what it was.
"There's hardly room."
"So we ditch the blankets, share body heat!"
"Goodnight, Grimmjow!" The door slammed shut. He really didn't need the sheets, it was still hot enough that he could just lay on top of them.
What the hell had happened to him in the past two weeks?
And what was going to happen next?
