Chapter 2
Broken things and other shenanigans
"Run away, my little fox, for if I catch you, you'll never be free"
-The Tale, R.E.
Naturally, Jeagerjaques, the pesty neighbour, couldn't keep his hands to himself. Or his nasty dog on his yard. Or the volume down during nights. Or the ogling to a minimum.
Yeah. Ulquiorra soon found out that Grimmjow loved being annoying. Or more like he loved annoying the living lights out of Ulquiorra.
Just the very next day after the brunette encountered his new neighbour, the latter man decided to wake Ulquiorra by throwing not pebbles, but pretty big stones at his windows. Needless to say, he needs a new one.
"It's hot enough to sleep with your windows open. I'm actually doing you a favour- now you don't have to bother opening and closing them anymore!" the bluenette explained from downstairs, huge grin plastered on his face. Ulquiorra just threw the stone back at him. "Oi! You could've hit me!" He should've sounded angry, but in reality he was more amused than anything. Ulquiorra simply rolled his eyes and walked away.
And of course his good for nothing uncle couldn't bother to call the police and report the idiot. After Ulquiorra informed him of the broken glass, the man just laughed it off and said he'd fix it- "it's not like you need the window closed anyway." The brunette swore in his head that he was surrounded by bleeding idiots.
The day after the windows adventure, this time at noon, Grimmjow came up with a new idea: leave watermelons at Ulquiorra's doorstep- cut in half and edible, the fruits came along with a note.
Dear Ulqui,
I left those melons at your doorstep in hope to apologize for the broken window. Seriously, I don't get what's the big deal, but your face looked so horrific yesterday morning that I thought to myself that I have to do something about it, I have to sweeten you up!
Hopefully, after you receive my amazing gift and eat it, maybe you'll actually act like a decent human being and stop looking like an old-fashioned vampire.
With love,
Your awesome neighbour Grimmjow
Yeah, Ulquiorra tore the kind letter down without hesitation and threw it away. His uncle loved the watermelons, the nephew did not even touch them.
That night, the bluenette next door held another loud party- Ulquiorra managed to finally fall asleep at 5 am or so. He was woken up at 9 am by a loud bark coming from downstairs.
Obviously, it was Jeagerjaques' huge annoying dog- he did have Grimmjow as his master, Ulquiorra shouldn't have been so surprised. The dog was monstrous- for starters, he was huge. Secondly, he looked fierce. And last but not least, he didn't even look like a proper dog.
Ulquiorra could swear the beast was half feline, half wolf. Ughh. Terrible creature. And if his appearance wasn't enough, the thing was happily destroying Ulquiorra's garden- the raven-haired man adored his garden.
Yet again, his uncle proved useless. Instead of throwing the evil beast out of his property, he started petting it! The nerve! Grimmjow was watching the entire scene from his yard with a rather triumphant smirk curling his lips.
Yeah, Ulquiorra hated his guts. And if that wasn't enough, two days later after the garden lovely incident, Ulquiorra went to the grocery store to buy the usual- eggs, tomatoes, cherries, bread and others.
Unfortunately for him, he also encountered Grimmjow, who happened to slap his shoulder so hard he dropped the eggs right after he bought them.
Raising his hands in the air as if to say he was innocent, Grimmjow said: "It was just a friendly pat on the shoulder. Get over it." And he walked away.
Ulquiorra had never felt so furious in his entire life. And he's encountered quite a few unpleasant things or persons. But never someone as aggravating as his blue haired neighbour.
It didn't help that Edgardo seemed not to mind Grimmjow's tasteless jokes.
That's why, today, Ulquiorra left his house as early as he could, with an almost empty backpack on his back and sun cream already sinking in his skin. He was careful to leave just when Grimmjow's gang of lunatics were passed out in his yard.
His destination: the local library. He highly doubted the bluenette would ever approach a library willingly. Ulquiorra thought that if there was any safe place for him in that town anymore, that would've been the library.
And right he was. Just as expected, he didn't see Grimmjow for the biggest part of the day.
The day was mostly sunny with a few clouds that crossed the sky lazily, just like how the stoic teenage boy flipped pages in the cool, shaded library.
The book was neither captivating nor boring. It simply served its purpose- busing Ulquiorra's mind enough to pass the time and not to think about a certain person.
The place itself was almost deserted; beside the old lady who also happened to be the librarian, there was another kid who seemed to be totally captivated by his book.
At some point, Ulquiorra stopped reading altogether and simply blankly looked at the small tanned figure. It reminded him of his early days; how he'd always run from the bullies to seek shelter in that one floor building stuffed with dusty books.
He wondered, for a fleeting moment, if that kid was the same or if he simply liked reading.
He loved his local library. And not only because there were books in there, but also because it always closed a bit later than most libraries in other towns pr cities.
He didn't even realize when the closing time came. If it wasn't for the polite sweet librarian, who worked there as long as Ulquiorra could remember, he would've probably stayed the night there. He almost wished he could.
No. He definitely did.
"Come on, sweeties, it's closing time!" She said in a calm nice voice, pulling both Ulquiorra and the kid out of their thoughts.
The teenager was about to leave when he passed her and greeted her with a curt nod. It was also the moment she stopped him for a bit.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?" She asked, her voice slightly worried, her blue eyes sparkling with concern. He frowned a bit, not really understanding what she meant. "You haven't spent a whole day in here since two years ago. Has something happened?"
He sighed. Ulquiorra knew it was her way of asking whether someone was picking on him again. When he was little, it amazed him how she always seemed to know when something was wrong with him.
Then he grew up and understood he was as transparent as a window.
"I'm fine, Mrs. Zaragoza. Just bored, is all."
It wasn't technically a lie. Grimmjow was just messing around. Ulquiorra'd been through worse. It didn't pain him that much when the oaf destroyed something of his. It just irritated him. He wanted peace. He liked peace. It was neutral; neither happy nor sad. Grimmjow merely disturbed that peace. Ulquiorra just needed time to adjust to the situation.
If he did, surely the bluenette would've gotten bored and left him alone.
"Oh, dear. Is it the new kid? The one with blue hair and big dog?"
Of course she didn't buy it. Ulquiorra shouldn't have been so surprised. He should have expected her to know about it- it was a small town after all and the news traveled fast, also she was a clever woman. He sighed, he should've been sharper.
"He's just annoying. I've dealt with worse. He'll get bored of it pretty soon. They all do."
He shrugged. Mrs. Zaragoza wasn't pleased with the answer but they both knew there was nothing they could do about it.
"Oh, dear. I know. It just isn't fair. The world is too cruel with a nice young man like you." She was locking the building when she said it. Ulquiorra watched her absent mindedly as she did so.
"Life is cruel, Mrs. Zaragoza. I'm no more abused by it than others." She sighed.
"Such a wise soul!" She turned to look at him, dropping the keys in her big purple purse. "Take care, Ulquiorra. Don't let the world steal your soul!" She waved and left.
"Have a nice evening!" She smiled before losing herself in the cheery crowd that came from the beach or simply wondered about.
Ulquiorra should have known that he wouldn't have a nice welcome when he arrived home. Apparently, Edgardo invited the whole gang on the other side of the fence plus a few easygoing women and a few more shady men whom Ulquiorra vaguely knew.
" 'ello there, Urquiola!" slurred his uncle, head resting on the table, beer on one hand.
Ulquiorra just nodded, not wanting to attract even more attention than he already had.
Too late, the pink haired guy already spotted him and he wasn't silent about it. "Ulquiorra, my man! Welcome home!" He tried to hug the teen, but he was blatantly ignored.
Said teen just walked past him, not sparing a single glance in his direction.
"So cold, man! So not cool!" he whined earning himself a slightly angered glare. Szayel backed away.
"What are you lot doing in my house?" Ulquiorra finally enquired, eyes narrowed.
It was as if lightning struck the house- all the (unwanted) guests stopped whatever it was that they were doing and looked at him.
After minutes of silence and thick tention, none other than Grimmjow steps in front of him, his infuriating grin never leaving his features. Ulquiorra pondered whether he should after all punch the bastard in the face or not. He decided not to. Yet.
"Well hello there, honey!" Grimmjow. Always the teasing asshole. "Uncle invited us to his party. We couldn't possibly refuse such a generous offer."
Again. Silence. Ulquiorra was trapped. For whatever reason, Edgardo seemed to like this idiot enough to invite him over. Of course, the young man would never understand why, but Edgardo and him had always have a different way of seeing life.
Too tired to argue anymore, he exhaled loudly and closed his eyes.
"Whatever."
That was all. Not a single glance in his direction, Grimmjow's direction, before Ulquiorra headed for the stairs.
"Wait!" The bluenette said half grabbing his arm, surprising Ulquiorra. He liked physical contact as much as he liked sunbathing. Involuntarily, he flinched away from his grip and glared.
"What?" he hissed.
"Don't you...don't you wanna party with us?" Now the usually loud and obnoxious man seemed a bit reluctant and less confident all of sudden.
A wave of triumph washed over Ulquiorra and although his face was as emotionless as ever, there was mirth in his eyes and Grimmjow saw it.
"No. I'd rather not. Thank you. Now behave and leave me alone." And with those words spat on his direction, the teen rolled on his heels and left without looking back.
It took a while for the party to start over.
It was 2 am when it happened. Ulquiorra finally managed to fall asleep and the party downstairs was still a thing.
Still trapped in dreamless sleep, Ulquiorra didn't even hear when the door creaked open, revealing a tipsy blue haired man.
Grimmjow was not that drunk, just a bit more loose with his actions. He didn't stutter, nor did he lost the ability to walk straight. He stood tall in the darkness of the room, his electric blue eyes steadily looking at the almost fragile sleeping form covered by sheets.
No one knows how long he simply stood there, watching, but not really there. Ulquiorra stirred in his sleep and suddenly Grimmjow's well-built figure vanished.
To be continued...
*A.N.: Have some human Ulquiorra look alike. Sorry for the über late update. I know it's a bit boring but hopefully it'll get better. After all what are annoying but hot neighbours for?
Cheers,
Eris