Glimpses of the Past
This… really wasn't how he had wanted to do this. His idea and plans for a romantic morning with just him and Ichigo fell through almost the instant they woke up when Yuzu had called saying that she couldn't watch the kids that morning after all. Grimmjow looked in the rear view mirror and sighed, all three of his children were fussing but not yet crying. Ichigo was seated next to him, yawning and trying very unsuccessfully to hide it. Grimmjow shook his head and sighed. Well, at least they would all be doing this as a family. Ichigo still had no idea what they were doing and had just about thrown a fit when Grimmjow had insisted they leave on an "adventure" at eight in the morning.
"Damn it, Grimm. I'm fuckin' tired. Can't we do it later?" Ichigo had whined and Grimmjow had shaken his head as he dressed Sorin in a thick onesie that sported the phrase "My daddies are hot", care of Shinji.
"Are we there yet?" Ichigo asked, sighing and leaning his head against the window.
Grimmjow snorted. "Have I stopped the car yet?"
Ichigo glared at him before closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. He hated getting up early on his days off and he had been over at Shinji's until rather late the night before discussing the Halloween party details. He didn't understand what Grimmjow was so excited about but he hoped it was over quickly so they could go home and enjoy the nice warm condo with the kids. The rainy season had barely started and he was already sick of it.
Grimmjow slowly pulled the car into a residential neighborhood and tapped Ichigo's shoulder, grinning when Ichigo huffed and blinked his eyes open, frowning at what he saw. He sat up straighter and scowled at Grimmjow before looking out the window again.
"What are we doing here?" he asked.
"I wanted to show you something." Grimmjow said, barely able to contain himself.
"You brought me out house hunting?" Ichigo asked incredulously.
"Not exactly." Grimmjow replied, unable to withhold the glee from his voice.
When they pulled up in front of a decent sized house with a high fence surrounding it, Ichigo looked back at Grimmjow again, his scowl morphing into a full frown.
"Wanna take a look?" Grimmjow asked, already opening his door and getting out of the car.
Ichigo sighed. "I suppose I don't have much choice now, idiot." he said to himself before opening his own door.
Ichigo grabbed Sorin and Tomoe, pulling their pink and red hoods over their heads before bringing them out into the drizzling rain, and Grimmjow grabbed Taichi before taking off at a jog to the front door of the house. Ichigo continued to frown as he followed and watched Grimmjow step inside. He noticed the 'sold' sign on the wall of the high fence before shutting the door behind him and pulling off his own hood.
The place was big, thick carpeting just like Grimmjow liked, open floor plan and large living room with a huge fireplace. Ichigo toed off his shoes and sighed when he realized the inside of the house was warm and all the lights were working.
"What do you think?" Grimmjow asked, setting Taichi on the floor and grinning back over his shoulder at Ichigo.
"It's nice, but the sign outside says sold." Ichigo replied as he looked around, noticing a large modern kitchen to the left and a tall sliding glass door leading to a wild looking backyard to the right.
"Yeah it does."
Ichigo frowned. "Then why are we standing in someone's empty house?" he asked, setting both Sorin and Tomoe down next to Taichi if only because they were heavy.
"We're standing in our empty house." Grimmjow said, spreading his arms wide and grinning wider than he had in a long time.
Ichigo stared at him uncomprehendingly. "What?"
Grimmjow's hands dropped to his sides and he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Ichigo's waist and kissing his cheek.
"I bought it. Everything became final yesterday. We can start moving in whenever we want." he said, his voice low and methodic.
Ichigo blinked. "Wh… what?"
"It's got four bedrooms so the kids will all have their own rooms when they get older, but for now we can have one be the nursery, one the play room and one can be my office. The backyard needs some TLC, but we can do that when it's the right season. There's a hot tub back there too, but it needs some work and cleaning."
"Grimm." Ichigo said, breathless. "What do you mean, you bought it?"
"This is our new home, Ichi. A place to raise our kids comfortably." Grimmjow beamed.
Blue eyes locked with brown and Ichigo swallowed, not at all sure how to think about this with his still sleep muddled mind.
"You… bought a house. And you didn't tell me?" he said, as if trying to wrap his brain around the idea.
"You mad?" Grimmjow asked, smiling a little when all Ichigo did was snort and look away.
"I don't know. I probably should be." Ichigo mused.
Tomoe screeched and gurgled looking up at her fathers for a moment before returning her attention to the flower at the end of the zipper on her pink jacket. Grimmjow leaned forward and brushed his lips against Ichigo's before pulling back to smile at him again.
"The master bedroom is huge." he said and Ichigo dropped his head, shaking it as a small chuckle escaped him.
"You… really bought this place?" he asked quietly and Grimmjow nodded.
"For us."
Ichigo smiled and bit his lip before throwing his arms around Grimmjow's neck and hugging him tightly. Grimmjow grunted and laughed, hugging Ichigo back just as hard and was surprised when the younger man was suddenly kissing him passionately. He returned it, he would never not return a kiss from Ichigo, and soon found himself wanting to pulling Ichigo to the floor and make love to him right then and there. Grimmjow pulled back to catch his breath, blue eyes dark as he looked at Ichigo's blushing and aroused face.
"This is why I wanted yer sister to watch the kids this morning." Grimmjow muttered, wincing when Sorin started wailing.
Ichigo smirked and let go of him, dropping to the floor next to his children and looking up at Grimmjow with a huge smile.
"How 'bout we play with the kids till they're worn out and then take them back home and we can celebrate then, ne?" Ichigo said with a slightly cocked eyebrow.
Grimmjow sat next to him and pecked his lips before pulling Taichi's jacket off.
"I say that is a fuckin' great idea."
Ichigo shook his head and laughed and together they began to tickle and tease their children to exhaustion.
Nnoitra frowned down at the top of Shinji's head as they rode the elevator up to Grimmjow and Ichigo's condo Saturday evening. They were a little early but Shinji had insisted they leave before they got too wrapped up in themselves and forgot to go in the first place. Nnoitra didn't want to admit that when Shinji looked up at him with honey eyes pouting and pleading that it had done weird and annoying things to his guts and chest, so he had bargained with the blond to make himself feel better. Nnoitra would go with him… if Shinji promised to let him tie him up later. They hadn't really played that way since they had started sleeping together again and Nnoitra was more than eager to get back to those sorts of activities. Though, by the look on Shinji's face, it hadn't really been that hard of a decision to make as far as agreeing to it.
Nnoitra reached out and began to pull at the ends of Shinji's hair, snorting when the blond twitched away from him and glared.
"Quit bein' a bitch."
"Quit touchin' my hair." Shinji countered.
He'd been snappish since he had gotten a phone call from work about a shipment that had come in that morning. Broken. The entire bar smelled like vodka and there was nothing they could do about it but put out floor fans and open windows and doors after the mess was cleared up. Shinji had spent a good twenty minutes on the phone with the shipping company and had finally managed to get an apology in the form of free shipping for the three months.
"Gonna get a butt ton of shit ordered." Shinji had grumbled as he tossed his cell phone on the couch and tried to think of something to cool his anger.
"We're gonna be too early." Nnoitra commented and Shinji sighed.
"So what? They're probably just hangin' with the kids right now. It's not like we hafta be there right at dinner time."
"Che, we coulda just stayed and fucked first and been just fine." Nnoitra rolled his eyes before letting them travel down Shinji's reflection in the mirrored elevator walls. Shinji was wearing a tie on his day off again. Nnoitra loved that.
"We already agreed what you'd get ta do if we came early so quit complainin'."
The elevator doors dinged open and Shinji stepped out ahead of Nnoitra, turning left down the hallway to Grimmjow and Ichigo's home. Nnoitra cocked his eyebrow at the view the blond presented him and smirked. He really hoped that ass never lost it's perk. The doors started to close on him and he pushed his way out, grunting when he had to nearly jump out of the way and glad that no one was there to witness it. Shinji was just raising his hand to knock when Nnoitra came up beside him and wrapped his long fingers on the door knob and began to turn.
"What're ya doin'?" Shinji asked, grabbing Nnoitra's wrist.
"I'm goin' in."
"Nnoi, ya don't live here no more. Ya can't just walk right in." Shinji pointed out, speaking slowly as if to a child.
"So?" Nnoitra deadpanned. "Only reason I knock at yer place right now is cos I hate listenin' to ya bitch."
Nnoitra finished turning the knob and opened the door, frowning when the living room was empty and quiet. Shinji came up behind him and poked him in the side.
"Idiot." he muttered, his voice quiet.
Nnoitra frowned and looked around the room. Usually the kids were making some sort of noise, at least in his limited experience with staying there, but there was literally nothing, except….
"Whazzat?" Nnoitra asked, whispering.
"What?"
The small sound he had heard before repeated and he couldn't tell if it was a whine or…
"Holy fuck." he snorted, grinning widely.
"What?" Shinji asked again, a frown pulling down the corners of his mouth.
"Shut up and listen. We came in time fer a fuckin' show." Nnoitra chuckled as he watched comprehension dawn on Shinji's face.
"Are you…?"
Another noise, this time much louder, was heard from the direction of Grimmjow and Ichigo's bedroom and Shinji blushed, turning and smacking Nnoitra in the arm.
"Idiot!" he hissed.
"Ah c'mon. Ya don't wanna listen?"
The next moan from the bedroom was louder still, this time reaching their ears with a mewling, "Grimmjow!" and Shinji began to pull Nnoitra toward the door.
"Ya big asshole. I ain't gonna sit here listin' ta this." Shinji whispered heatedly as he reached for the door knob and began to pull the door back open.
"Ah-ah… fuck. Grimm. Yeah, fuck me… just like that. Yes."
Nnoitra snorted and began to laugh and Shinji dragged him out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them as quietly as he could.
"Someone just had ta be early taday." Nnoitra teased, holding in his sides as if that were the only thing stopping him from bursting out in a loud guffaw.
"Shut up." Shinji continued to blush and leaned against the wall near the door.
"Man, that could be us ya know? Coulda just stayed and fucked and, see, we wouldn't'a missed nothin'." Nnoitra reached out and ran a finger up the back of Shinji's arm as he spoke and almost laughed when the blond smacked it away only to glare at him.
"I said shut up."
"Ah, don't get all bitchy Blondie. C'mon ta the roof to smoke with me." Nnoitra tried to bargain. He was pretty sure they'd have a bit of time to kill from the sound of it.
"It's cold outside." Shinji huffed, following Nnoitra anyway as he strode off to the emergency stairs. He couldn't believe Ichigo was doing that in the middle of the day, and with the front door unlocked! Idiot. He was surrounded by idiots.
Nnoitra ignored him and took the stairs two at a time as they ascended, smirking at the quiet mutterings Shinji was making behind him. Once they reached the top and opened the door they were both blasted by the cold wind. Shinji shivered and scowled at the weather, glad that at least it wasn't raining at the moment. Nnoitra, on the other hand, was suddenly assaulted by unwanted memories as a deep and dull pain began to throb in his shoulder at the cold. The last time he had put himself willingly out in weather like this for an extended period of time was when he had finally caught up with the man who he had been looking so long for, almost four months ago. Ulquiorra had been with him, the annoying little shit, and they had snuck up to the building unnoticed by the shitty guard dogs the man had set out. Really a child could have wandered aimlessly up and none of them would have seen it.
Ulquiorra shot every one of them after affixing the silencer over the muzzle of his gun before he turned his giant green eyes to Nnoitra and told him to do his job. Nnoitra had sneered at the small man and gone inside without a word. It was so ridiculously clichéd, the entire situation. An empty abandoned warehouse. A man with a gun and a righteous attitude blabbing on and on about justice and whatever the hell else. Nnoitra didn't want to hear it, he didn't care. All he wanted was to get what he came for and leave. He was beyond fucking tired of this shit. But of course the man wouldn't shut up and Nnoitra had been forced to fight, not that it had taken much to get to that point.
Too bad for Nnoitra, the man was fast - impossibly fast given the fact that he had been told this man was blind- and dodged every one of his punches and kicks. Nnoitra had gotten frustrated, he didn't like guns, rarely used them and didn't have one on him at the moment, and slipped up, leaving himself open for the man to catch him. A bullet went straight through his shoulder and he grit his teeth, now more angry than he had been before but before he could do anything about it something knocked the man out of his field of vision. The man stumbled and clutched the side of his head as dark red blood seeped from a large gash. They turned as one to see Ulquiorra standing there with a long thick, hollow pole in his hands, his face blank.
"You're taking too long." the small man said and swung the pole again, knocking the man's feet out from underneath him.
Ulquiorra didn't wait for the man to get his bearings and instead slammed the pole down into the middle of the man's chest, the sound of cracking bone loud in the large empty room. Nnoitra watched as Ulquiorra twisted the pole, his face still expressionless, and clutched his wounded shoulder. He watched the life drain from the man's eyes as blood pooled beneath him and trickled out of his slightly open mouth.
Nnoitra had been six years old the first time he saw a dead body. It was high summer and he had just gotten home from terrorizing some stray dogs, shirtless and barefoot as his summer dress code dictated. He smelled it first, even before he walked inside. The heated stench of death that seemed to waft out of the open windows and when he opened the door it hit him like a tidal wave. Even as old as he was he knew what the smell meant. His stomach clenched and if he had eaten that day he knew he would have thrown up. He took a deep breath of what fresh air he could get before straightening his slim back and walking inside. "uncle" Takashi, one man in a long line of "uncles" Nnoitra's mother had brought home, had been sleeping on the couch when Nnoitra had snuck out that morning, or so he had thought. Now that the sun had risen and the room was lit with more than the sickly blue from the television screen, Nnoitra saw that this man must had died some time last night.
The heat had made the thin body bloat around the middle and Nnoitra moved closer, curiously kicking at a sock clad foot. His body recoiled a bit when the foot didn't move and he took a step back, waiting for the man to wake up. He'd seen the shows about zombies on late night television, sitting up with drugged out adults as they did whatever it was they did had been fun, a treat for the young boy, but now the images came back to him and he couldn't help but wonder if that could happen with this man. Nnoitra found a broom and poked at him, jumping back when he could have sworn he heard a groan. He snorted and straightened again, whacking the body with the hilt of the broom and watching carefully to see if it reacted.
That's how his mother had walked in on him; mid swing. She had screamed so loud he'd dropped the broom and covered his ears. She tried to slap at him and missed, tripping over the wooden hilt of the broom and falling face first into the lap of "uncle" Takashi. Nnoitra hadn't stuck around to see what happened after that, opting instead to run as fast as his long legs could carry him away from the house, his mother, and the stench.
He had seen many bodies after that, in varying states of decomposition and gore. Still, until that moment, he hadn't seen someone so methodical in their dispatching. Ulquiorra pulled the hollow iron pole out of the man's chest with a sickening schlup, and Nnoitra curled his lip. Large, emotionless green eyes turned to him as Ulquiorra set the pole beside the body and stood to his full height, cocking his head to the side as he regarded the taller man. His face and clothes were spattered with blood and matter, bloody rivulets like tears running down his cheeks.
"Clean up this trash." Ulquiorra instructed before walking calmly away.
Nnoitra looked down at the body, the huge gaping hole in it's chest and face covered in dark red blood and thick black dreadlocks, and curled his lip further. Nnoitra was not a cleaner. Nnoitra was a hunter and a fighter. He kicked the body and walked away from it, his head held high. This wasn't his job. Ulquiorra could find someone else to do his dirty work.
"Nnoi, tell me somethin'?" Shinji started, startling Nnoitra from his thoughts.
"Odontophobia is the fear of teeth." Nnoitra muttered distractedly, reaching up to rub at his aching shoulder.
"What?" Shinji asked incredulously, looking up at Nnoitra with a frown.
Nnoitra grinned and flicked his cigarette away, brushing off the memories with ease. "Elephants are the only mammals that can't jump."
"Shut up." Shinji snorted, shaking his head slightly. "I meant tell me somethin' about while ya were gone."
Nnoitra grunted and fished out another cigarette, lighting it and inhaling deeply before replying. "Like what?"
"I dunno." Shinji sighed, folding his arms over his chest and scooting closer to Nnoitra in an attempt to get warmer.
"I ate some bad sushi and got sick all over a cabbie." Nnoitra smirked and Shinji rolled his eyes.
"More."
"I found what I was lookin' for. Had to listen ta stupid little bitch and a retard the whole flight back ta Japan." Nnoitra grumbled.
"Was… was that the job ya said ya were gonna refuse?" Shinji edged, his voice quiet and nearly taken away on the gust of wind that hit them.
"Aizen needed me ta find a coupl'a kids. Turned out one was his daughter and another was this handicapped kid she cared for."
"Ya never told me he had a kid."
"Che, like you'd care anyway. Anyway, one of Aizen's old employees didn't care for the way he was raisin' the bitch and decided to take matters inta his own hands. So, me bein' the best, he asked me ta find them."
"Musta been pretty hard ta find if it took ya two years." Shinji muttered darkly, knowing that that wasn't nearly the entire story but glad that he had finally heard something. Even if it did leave a bittersweet taste in his mouth. Now that he had some answers, surely Nnoitra would start asking his own questions.
"It's fuckin' cold." Nnoitra announced suddenly, pushing away from the wall and looking down at Shinji's bowed head. "Let's go see if they're done fuckin' so we can eat."
"All ya think about is food." Shinji mumbled, shivering and hunching his shoulders as he too pushed off the wall.
"Not all." Nnoitra grinned and pulled Shinji close, wrapping his arms around him and burying his nose in this soft, fragrant hair.
Shinji sighed and pressed his nose into Nnoitra's neck, giggling when the taller man shivered and tried to pull away.
"Fuck, yer nose is like fuckin' ice."
"And yer neck is warm. C'mere." Shinji grinned, clutching Nnoitra's shirt tighter and pressing his entire face close to the warm skin of Nnoitra's neck.
Nnoitra chuckled and let go with one hand, reaching up and lifting Shinji's chin with a crooked finger. Their eyes locked for a moment and Shinji sighed, eyes dropping briefly to Nnoitra's lips. Nnoitra bent and brushed his own cold nose against Shinji's before he let out a cloud of moist, hot air from his mouth.
"I can warm ya up." he said, letting his lips brush against Shinji's gently.
A slow smile stretched Shinji's lips and a soft giggle bubbled up. "I bet ya can, but I think we should just go back inside."
Nnoitra snorted and licked at Shinji's lips once before pulling back and grinning. "Aw c'mon. Ya don't wanna fuck around on the roof when it's freezin' out?"
"Idiot." Shinji rolled his eyes before pushing out of Nnoitra's arms and walking towards the propped open door.
Ichigo answered the door with his face still flushed and knew the instant he saw Nnoitra's face that he and Shinji knew what he had been doing almost moments before. He cleared his throat and let the two men inside, shutting it quietly and whispering for them to all go to the kitchen. They could speak normally in there without fear of waking the kids just yet. Grimmjow was sipping a beer from a can, leaning up against the counter, and nodded to Nnoitra when he came in the room. Nnoitra smirked.
"Yo. Ya always leave the front door unlocked when ya fuck yer bitch?"
Ichigo made a strange noise, something between a whine and a groan, and Grimmjow laughed quietly, shaking his head.
"Whoops."
"You did that on purpose!" Ichigo accused and Grimmjow grinned, pulling the younger man towards him and kissing his cheek.
"Shut up. We were in a hurry to put the kids in bed and I forgot."
"Don't worry, Blondie wouldn't let us stay for the whole show." Nnoitra threw in and Ichigo scowled at him.
"Who told you, you could just walk right in to people's house's anyway?"
"Enough." Grimmjow said quietly against Ichigo's hair. "Tell them the good news."
Ichigo's face suddenly transformed, his scowl morphing into a full blown smile and his eyes lighting with joy. He bit his lip and looked at Grimmjow behind him.
"I get to tell them?" he asked and Grimmjow nodded.
Ichigo turned back to Nnoitra and Shinji and bit his lip again. "Grimm bought us a house."
Shinji's mouth dropped open and he stared, not sure if he had heard Ichigo right. They had been talking about it before the babies were born but as far as he knew they hadn't even started looking. Nnoitra grinned at Grimmjow and stepped forward, slapping the man's shoulder.
"Right on, man. You were bitchin' about that when I got back. I guess yer gonna make me help out with the movin' right?"
"Damn right. Payback for all the times I let you stay here fer free." Grimmjow handed Nnoitra a beer and wrapped an arm around Ichigo's chest, pulling him flush with his own body.
Shinji and Ichigo left the room shortly after when one of the triplets started fussing and Shinji elbowed Ichigo in the ribs.
"You okay with him doin' this on his own?" he asked before he reached for Tomoe.
"You should see the place Shin. It's perfect for us. Everything we talked about and more. And yeah, it would have been nice to help out with everything but I just didn't have the time and Grimmjow did." Ichigo replied, making quick work of a dirty diaper.
"Can ya two really afford this with Grimm not technically workin'?" Shinji asked.
Ichigo sighed. "He's going to go back to work after the new year. Him and Yuzu have been talking about daycares behind my back too. I swear," Ichigo stopped and turned to Shinji with a small scowl. "Those two are getting way to close."
Shinji chuckled. "Maybe it's cos he never had siblings?" Shinji guessed and Ichigo shrugged.
"C'mon. I need to start dinner."
Dinner was gone and Ichigo and Shinji were on the floor trying to coax the triplets into crawling while Grimmjow and Nnoitra fought over what movie to watch. Shinji used the distraction to fix Ichigo with a loaded stare.
"So?" Shinji asked quietly and Ichigo sighed, looking sideways at Grimmjow to make sure he wasn't paying attention.
"Shinji…."
"If yer gonna do it I need ta know now." Shinji pressed and tickled Tomoe.
Ichigo sighed again and looked once more at Grimmjow before smirking and nodding his head. "I'm in." he said, blushing a little at the thought of what he had just agreed to do.
Shinji, not thinking about how it would look, whooped loudly and tackled Ichigo with a tight hug.
"YES! I knew you would do it Ichi." he giggled and the both of them ignored the raised eyebrows from the two men on the couch.
"Get off me idiot." Ichigo said, pushing Shinji off him and clearing his throat. Nnoitra was distracting Grimmjow again so Ichigo leaned close to Shinji and spoke quietly again. "I don't want Grimmjow to know I'm doing this though, so shut up. I want to surprise him."
Shinji snorted and grinned at his friend. "Trust me Ichi, ya go up on that stage dressed the way I have planned and you'll give Grimmjow a damn heart attack."
Ichigo ran a hand back through his hair and shook his head. "I can't believe I'm doing this again."
Shinji grinned and bumped his shoulder against Ichigo's. "Once a dancer always a dancer Ichi. You can play doctor all you want, but inside there's a stripper waitin' ta bust loose."
"Shut up." Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"Now ya gotta come over more and practice with me. We ain't got much time to get this figured out and okaachan has to finish sizin' yer corset."
Ichigo groaned and Shinji giggled. "It'll be worth it." he said in a singsong voice and Ichigo resisted the urge to back out. At least he could blame the outfit on the fact that it was a Halloween party.
Shinji stood and started to walk to the kitchen, intent on grabbing a glass of water when Nnoitra reached out and grabbed the back of his pants, yanking Shinji down into his lap. Shinji, instantly defensive, began to struggle as Nnoitra wrapped his arms around him.
"Let go…." Shinji started and stilled when a warm set of lips brushed against his neck.
"Quit movin'." Nnoitra whispered and nibbled the top of Shinji's ear.
"Let go."
"I love you."
Shinji stiffened, briefly realizing this was the first time Nnoitra had said that outside of the bedroom but knowing he had been quiet enough to to be overheard, before he groaned quietly and curled his body into Nnoitra, bringing up his knees and wrapping his arms around the larger man's neck. Nnoitra grinned and ignored the stunned look from Ichigo on the floor. Grimmjow shook his head and picked the movie he wanted to watch, turning down the volume so it wouldn't scare the kids. He only hoped the two wouldn't get too comfortable and ruin the show.
A/N So... I updated! And we got a little glimpse at China? Anyone wanna venture to guess who the "kidnapper" is? I bet yer right~ ;p Anyway, I really struggled with this chapter but I hope it turned out okay. Just a tad bit more until we get to some major drama with this story. Not gonna reveal anything but I'm sure it'll sock the hell out of pretty much all of you :D
Anyway, some news: New art over at the FC, so if you haven't ventured over there I suggest it. Link in on my profile page as always. The winner for the Halloween contest has been revealed already and it's a fantastic picture that everyone should go see with Grimm, Ichi and the triplets :D Also, NaNoWriMo starts Monday! I'm super excited about it and I'll try to not lapse in updating but just know that November will be pretty busy for me. Then again last year I managed to get a butt load of SBB done in November so we'll just have to see I suppose.
Anywho, as always, more information can be found at the club page. And again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it took so long to get out!
~Penny