Gin and Izuru crawled into their bedroom around ten thirty, wiped out from six or seven rounds of the most competitive dominoes they'd ever played. Gin was still very pumped and restless, but Izuru was worn out like crazy. So he was very thankful when Gin offered to run a bubble bath for him. The water was very nice and warm, and the lavender bubble soap was nearly intoxicating. The tub was the biggest claw-foot tub Izuru had ever seen, complete with an ornate faucet, and steam rose lazily from the surface of the water. His knobby knees were bent and protruding from the warmth of the water, and he sank lower, dipping his chin into lavender-scented bubbles. He gave a deep sigh, relishing the relaxation of bathing in another person's incredibly elegant tub. Letting the stress of travel and strange places roll off him like the bath's steam, he leaned his head back on the tub's edge, closing his eyes, and there was a light knock on the door.
"'Zuru?" Gin asked quietly.
"Yeah?" Izuru's voice was resonant in his throat.
"Can I come in?"
Izuru felt his face get warm, and his gut twisted in warning. "S-sure. I suppose so."
The door creaked open, and Gin slithered in, wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe that was somewhat reminiscent of the yukata that he had worn to the summer fireworks festival. Izuru's chin dipped below the water line again. "Can I comb your hair?" Gin picked a comb up from the counter with white, white fingers.
"Yeah."
Gin came and sat on the floor by Izuru's head, and began to run the comb through his damp hair. He smiled happily, breathing in Izuru's flowery scent. "Yer hair smells nice." Gin noted.
"Thanks." Izuru splashed warm water on his face, hoping to maybe erase his blush. Come on, Izuru. You sleep in the same twin bed as he. You should be able to handle having him so near while you're bathing. He hugged his knees to his chest, liking the feeling of Gin's long fingers running over his scalp.
"Think there'd be room for me in the bath?"
Izuru's rear slipped suddenly, and the water sloshed about. "Huh?" He said, gripping the edge of the tub and righting himself. "Wh-why?"
"I'm dirty, too."
"Um."
Gin pushed himself up off the floor and set the comb back on the counter. He pulled open one of the drawers, and rummaged through it, looking for something. Not finding it, he shut the drawer and pulled open another. He came up with a hair scrunchy, and holding it in his teeth, pulled the majority of his hair into a small tail on the back of his head. He prompted to turn on his heel and drop the bathrobe to the ground, right before Izuru's wide eyes.
Gin then made himself right at home in the bathtub, the water rising a good two and a half inches. Both had their knees up under their chins, and… oh God, Gin's toes were touching Izuru's nether regions. All the blood in his body rushed to tint his face.
"G-Gin, your t-toes are touching m-my..." Gin understood, and much to Izuru's relief, moved his feet. Now their toes were overlapping and their knees were knocking, but nobody's personal regions were being taken by storm.
"Here." Gin said, and plunged his hands under the water to grab Izuru's fingers, which were gripping the undersides of his knees quite tightly. "Y' can hold my hands." He laced their fingers together.
"This is embarrassing." Izuru muttered, inspecting a cluster of bubbles floating just below his nose.
Gin leaned very close, so close their lips brushed, and Izuru was forced to lift his head. Placing one of the chaste kisses that Gin knew stole Izuru's heart on his lips, Gin knelt on bottom of the tub, his knees on either side of Izuru's boney ankles. Another kiss.
"D'ya think you're ready?" Gin whispered in Izuru's ear.
"For what?" Izuru croaked.
"T' get real intimate." Gin put his hands on Izuru's cheeks, looking him straight in the sapphire eyes.
"Right here?"
"You're right." Gin looked off into the distance over Izuru's shoulder, the pony tail his crystalline silver hair was pulled into deterring from the stoniness of his expression. "The bed would be a better place." He then prompted to climb out of the tub, splashing water on the floor. Flinging open a conveniently placed linen cabinet, he found a very large fluffy white towel, and pulled Izuru clumsily out of the bath. He put the towel over Izuru's head and began to dry him off, much like you would a dog you'd just scrubbed.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Izuru protested as Gin's vigorous drying yanked on his ear cuff.
Gin put the towel around Izuru's shoulders, and apologized with a quick kiss and a "Sorry, 'Zuru", pressing their bodies together as they explored each other's mouths. Groin ground against groin and Izuru fought to suppress the moan that was threatening to escape. Gin noticed this and smiled wickedly, thin ivory fingers curling under Izuru's jaw. "Like it, do we?"
"Sh-sh-shut up." Izuru stammered, his teeth clattering from the sudden change in temperature. He wrapped the towel very tight around his wet body.
"C'mon." Gin said, grabbing Izuru's hand and dragging him into the bedroom. Izuru left a trail of watery footprints leading up to the giant bed where Gin threw Izuru down on the feathery bedding and sat on his scrawny hips. "I think you're ready."
"I am?" Izuru squeaked, his cheeks turning a deep crimson.
"'R rather, I'm gettin' tired a waiting. I hope ya don't mind it rough."
"I've never done "it" before, so I guess you're going to have to set the standard for me." Izuru could tell his knees were shaking in either fear or anticipation.
"Oh, fun! Virgin flesh." Gin purred, running spidery fingers down a sensitive ribcage. Izuru's hands twisted sheets and he cried out as Gin began the dirty work.
Izuru was so very glad he had made Gin stop in the middle of their rolling about, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to walk in the morning, and that would have been embarrassing beyond measure. His eyes cracked open to the dull morning light, and a heavy feeling similar to that which he felt after a night of heavy drinking had settled about his temples, giving him a vague ringing headache. Sitting up, his ass throbbed faintly, but the pain wasn't as great as it had seemed it would be last night. Izuru pushed his tangle of blond hair away from his face and got out of bed and the mess of sheets, leaving Gin behind in a bundle of down comforter and feather pillows and porcelain pale lanky limbs. He cranked on the water in the bathroom sink and washed his face, scrubbing away the sand crusted around his eyes the Sandman had left behind while Izuru slept. Hearing a yawn and a grunt from the bedroom, Izuru guessed that Gin had arisen from the dead, and proceeded to pull the cap off the toothpaste and brush his skuzzy-feeling teeth. Gin shuffled into the bathroom, and shouldered up to Izuru, his broad simper spread across his chipper face. "Last night was fun, ne?"
Izuru grunted, and spat minty foam into the sink. He scraped his tongue and spat again, running the water to rinse the Colgate saliva down the drain. "I guess so."
"Guess so? I could tell by th' way you were screamin' that y' li-" Izuru elbowed Gin sharply in the ribs. "Oh, I get it. You're not the kind ta kiss 'n tell." Gin rubbed his side.
Izuru blushed and furiously brushed his hair over his left eye.
"Grimmjow said they'd be makin' breakfast 'round ten." Gin sighed, and ran a comb through his own hair.
"What time is it?" Izuru asked, flipping his hair over his shoulders.
Gin peeked out the bathroom door at the large clock similar to the one in the kitchen. "Nine fifty-six."
"Okay." Izuru gave himself a once over in the mirror, and adjusted the hem of his tee, then scuttled out of the bathroom and to the bed, where he found an afghan to wrap himself in. He sat on the bed, his tender buttocks protesting minutely, and waited while Gin let the water run as he brushed his teeth.
Gin tromped out of the bathroom, and together they tripped down the stairs to the kitchen, where the seven foot tall boarder stood over the stove, stooping low to scramble eggs for the tiny green-haired girl that was weaving between his toothpick legs.
"Is Grimmjow up yet?" He asked Nel, trying to shake her off his leg.
"Nope!" Nel laughed, yanking on Nnoitora's flannel pajama bottoms.
"Well, go wake him up! Tell him I'll burn his eggs if he doesn't come down!" He scooted Nel away with his toes, and she slapped her little hands on the shiny tiling, got up, and ran to wherever Grimmjow's room was located with happy giggles.
Ulquiorra was perched on a stool at the kitchen's island, sipping coffee with French vanilla creamer and sugar, a plate of peppered scrambled eggs before him, and an interior design magazine in his hand. He nonchalantly turned a page. "Morning, lovebirds." He purred.
Izuru blushed and hunched his shoulders, and Gin patted him on his back.
"It's not like we couldn't hear what you two were doing. Gin, teach the boy how to have sex quietly, next time. Anyway, how do you like your eggs? Nnoitora will make them however you like." Ulquiorra lifted his eyes very briefly from his magazine, and Izuru blushed harder at his comment about quiet sex.
"I like mine fried." Gin said, slumping onto a stool.
Izuru sat next to him so that their shoulders were touching. "Same, please."
Nnoitora growled at the cooking range, and dumped Nel's scrambled eggs on a plate. "One egg or two?"
"Two for each a us." Gin said.
"Trying to beef the kid up?" Ulquiorra asked into his coffee cup, which Izuru noticed had "#1 Dad" printed on it.
"Not really. But that's a good idea! He is kinda skinny, ain't he." Gin leaned against Izuru's shoulder, almost pushing him off his stool. Izuru grabbed the edge of the counter to keep from crashing to the spick-and-span floor.
Ulquiorra nodded. "I'm sure you noticed that last night."
Gin shrugged, and Izuru wanted to curl up into a ball and die. He didn't have to be quite so abrupt with his comments about them having sex. But for some reason, Izuru felt like Ulquiorra wasn't going to let him live it down. Not ever. Ulquiorra swirled his coffee around in its mug, and Nel drug Grimmjow into the kitchen by the wrist. His blue hair was in absolute disarray, and dark circles were littered under his eyes, next to what looked like teal eyeliner, crisply smudged in shapes reminiscent of the markings around a panther's eyes. Or maybe jaguar. Anyway, Izuru guessed that the smudges were probably tattooed on like Ulquiorra's, as they had been there last night, too.
Grimmjow rubbed a sleepy eye, and Nel pulled on his wrist again, causing him to stumble. "C'mon, Grimmy! Sticky said that he'd burn yer eggsth if you don't come down!"
"Well, I'm down now, bug. And Sticky won't burn my eggs. I'd pound him into the ground if he did, anyway." Grimmjow mussed up Nel's sea foam green hair with a warm smile.
"Oh, good." Nel looked positively relieved, dropping Grimmjow's hand and placing a chubby hand over her chest and her army green oversized sleep shirt. She stopped in her tracks, and Grimmjow, in his happy, sleepy state, tripped over her little frame. Izuru gasped lightly as Grimmjow tumbled forward, dropped to the ground on his shoulder and somersaulted, bouncing to his feet next to the kitchen island. Nel swayed from the push she'd gotten from Grimmjow tripping over her, and fell back on her rear. All eyes turned to stare at Grimmjow and Nel and their unintentional acrobatics, save for Ulquiorra's, which were trained steadily on the Scandinavian furniture magazine.
"Somebody get my hubby his coffee." Ulquiorra said, sipping his coffee again.
"I'll get it." Izuru said, hopping up, hoping to get a little farther away from Ulquiorra and his snide comments about sex. A ceramic coffee cup was pressed into his hand by Nnoitora, and he was shoved in the direction of the coffee maker. Izuru pulled the clear coffee pot off its base, and poured a cup of dark black coffee. His eyes wandered around the small expanse of counter containing the coffee maker and slick brushed nickel toaster, and landed on a modern, high-end espresso machine. "You guys have an espresso machine?" He asked, turning around with "hubby's coffee". Grimmjow swooped Nel up from the floor, and balanced her on one hip. She wrapped chubby arms around Grimmjow's neck.
"Yeah, but nobody knows how to work it." Grimmjow answered, receiving his coffee from Izuru.
"I know how to work it." Izuru brightened. "Does anybody want a cappuccino or a latte? Does Nel want a vanilla steamer?"
"I'm fine with black coffee." Grimmjow said, taking a big gulp of his joe.
"I've already had my coffee." Ulquiorra set down his #1 Dad mug.
"There's some vanilla flavored syrup in the cupboard, and milk in the fridge, if you need it. I don't drink coffee, but Tia might want some sort of fancy drink." Nnoitora called from the stove, putting a lid on top of frying eggs. "She'll come down soon."
"All right." Izuru said, lugging the carton of milk out of the refrigerator, along with the vanilla flavoring and the little metal pitcher used for steaming milk. "Gin? You want a latte?"
"Can I share yours?"
"I guess so." Izuru shrugged, and flipped on the espresso machine.
As if on cue, Tia drug herself into the kitchen, her blond tails not beaded yet and pulled to the back of her head, twisted up and held in place with a small jaw clip. She trod over to Nnoitora and shouldered up beside him in a friendly manner, and struggled to reach up and get a cup from the top shelf in the cupboard above the stove. "Nnoi." She said quietly, and Nnoitora swiftly got a crystalline cup down for her. She grunted, and poured herself a glass of milk from the open carton Izuru had just gotten milk from for he and Gin's latte.
"Tia, do you want a fancy coffee?" Nnoitora asked, pushing fried eggs out of the pan and onto a plate to set before Gin. "We have someone who can work the espresso machine."
"If you can make me a super dry cappuccino with a heart drawn in the foam, then that's what I'll have for breakfast. Along with the eggs you're going to cook for me, Nnoi."
"One cappuccino, coming right up!" Izuru said with a smile as he began to steam the milk in its little metal pitcher.
AN
This chapter was super delayed... Heh, sorry about that. I was having problems finishing it and proclaiming it done and ready to post.
The first part of this chapter was my Christmas gift to my good friend Clockwork-Seraph, who is so in love with this story she can't bear to give me criticism.
Please enjoy and sorry for the wait!
sfj