calling it love // bleach
Title; Calling It Love
Author; aesthetically
Fandom; Bleach
Words; 2,000+
Author's Notes; AU, Nnoinell. WRITTEN FOR MY DARLING GIRL, femmelujah! ♥ also I must do affiliates soon! also also this has only been spell-checked and glanced over, so I may have typos. I probably DO have typos.
There was barely a whisper of warmth on this morning, the sunlight melting into the cold air. Nnoitra crossed his arms, uncrossed his arms and considered zipping his jacket up to the throat as a blast of icy wind hit him squarely in the face, making it difficult to draw a steady breath. He did, however, skid to a halt on the sidewalk, and flip over his hood and pull the drawstrings tightly.
A passing woman gave him a glare, a very tall man stopping in the middle of the body sea moving with the rhythm of the city. Nnoitra ignored her, and stuck his regrettably glove-less hands back into his pockets. His destination was about three blocks from the apartment, but in this weather, it felt like miles. There was hardly any snow left, but the atmosphere itself was cruel. Nnoitra didn't mind the cold, but days after days stretching on without end of freezing and it got old. It got real fucking old.
Especially since Neliel was cold-natured and preferred the apartment's thermostat be somewhere between "hot" and "the lobby outside of hell." They argued over this, they might split up over this. That was a slight exaggeration, but it was such an annoying small thing. There were a lot of small annoying things about Neliel, that had mostly to do with Nnoitra, but Nnoitra didn't entertain that thought. He didn't want to think he was anything that Nel ever accused him of, or rather, knew it and didn't care. She'd take him for who he was and all that bullshit. They weren't married, but for better or worse, through tiny crap and mountains of molehills, til death do they part. That bit always frightened Nnoitra on that level that men of his age get scared of such words. But cohabiation was fine, yeah. They'd been dating for a long, long time and Nel had never even mentioned the "m" word, which was just as good with Nnoitra. He could claim they were too young, but in truth, that wasn't Nnoitra's thing. If she brought it up, he'd tell her. Until then, it was almost a silent agreement.
Taxi cabs honked their horns at the gridlock, light flashed and Nnoitra moved into the shadow of a tall building and spotted the store up ahead. He hated Starbucks, and felt a man should make his own coffee. Cheaper and without all that pretentious shit. To annoy Nel once, he'd calculated how much money she could save in a month if she didn't stop for coffee all the time. Nel had waved the idea away, and Nnoitra always felt like being a prick, so he brought the sum up often, especially when they argued over money. Which was rare, but they knew how to press each other's buttons and saved the small tokens of irritation in their memories to bring up during the best -- worst -- of times. For Nnoitra, it was his smoking, for Nel, it was her coffee habit.
Funny, Nel had said once, that both of the things that annoy us about each other are vices. Nnoitra had turned over because he didn't want Nel to see the "yes, you're right" look on his face. Childish yes, but she was right. It would do better for them to both shape up, but it was a "you first" situation. And the fights always led to good make-up sex. Nnoitra sure didn't read too much into that one, even though Nel had once in her typical fashion. Nnoitra's problem wasn't so much provocation that stimulated an argument that stimulated them both. He just didn't care most of the time and had absolutely no filter for his mouth, never had, never would, or so he claimed, Nel would add. And smile. That smile.
Nnoitra ducked into the coffee store and was greeted with a line that allowed him to move inside an inch before closing the door behind him. And this wasn't a small Starbucks. Shit. At least it was warm inside and smelled like coffee, an amazing smell. But was loud and crowded. Couldn't win.
He lowered his hood and ran a hand through his hair. The line moved a step and he looked around, fingered the display next to the door, which was obviously put there for people like him on mornings like this: stuck in the back, of course you'd look. It was stocked with overpriced chocolates. Chocolates with coffee. Which really sounded good and Nnoitra's stomach growled. Today was his day off, and he should've been in his underwear watching shitty tv. But of course not. Nel had been late to work and woken him up rushing around the house, lamenting about the alarm clock. Nnoitra had unplugged it that night to plug in something else and forgot to replace it. He said nothing.
This wasn't an errand or favor out of guilt. He told himself that. He knew Nel had missed her precious coffee this morning -- she'd barely made it out with pants on. Nnoitra smiled for a second, thinking about Nel without pants, an entirely random sexual thought that derailed his original train of thought. Oh, right. Not guilt. This was not anything to make up for ... whatever. He told himself this again, and blamed Nel. She should've checked the alarm clock. Hell, she woke him up and it was his day off! How rude.
The chocolates with coffee were 60% cacao, which was about how dark Nel liked her chocolate. Nnoitra sighed and picked up a box. He grappled with whether or not to buy it for a few seconds, or to buy some for himself, but someone else had come in behind him. He'd get a muffin or some shit, they had that here, right?
Roughly four hours later, by his estimate, the line cleared and regrouped behind him and Nnoitra was at the register, ready, but he pretended to read the menu. He knew he wanted a piece of marble cake and Nel's favorite coffee, but he rocked on his heels for a moment before he realized he was being needlessly cruel too early in the morning and ordered.
"Grande Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with soy milk," he said finally, supressing the urge to wince. "And one of those cakes, the marble one."
Oh, and this. He set the chocolates on the counter and paid for those too.
*
The taxi cab moved slower than he'd have wanted through the traffic, but now that the slow crawl had cleared somewhat, Nnoitra perched in the backseat cradling his purchases and hoping Nel knew what she had. Hoped she knew what kind of man she was involved with. Nnoitra leaned his head against the back of the seat and stared out the window. The sky was a vibrant blue, deceptively beautiful. The statement had started out as jest in his mind ... he was the best boyfriend ever, but by the time he'd thought it again, it had turned a bit sour. He let it go, but with some difficulty. There was always that weird balance, wasn't there, with him? First the realization, then the avoidance.
He closed his eyes and gripped the paper bag the chocolates were inside -- the cake having long since disappeared -- the coffee sitting in the other hand and against his slightly restless knee.
Before he had time to think anything else, the cab rolled to Nel's office and Nnoitra set his things on the seat beside him to slide forward and dig money out of his pant's pocket. He was sure Nel knew what she had.
*
The elevator was deserted and Nnoitra's hands were full, but he had this nagging feeling to free his hair from his jacket. It was matted and the office building was damn warm. Wasn't he just complaining about the cold? But this was too hot. No wonder Nel liked to work here.
He placed the bag between his teeth and with his free hand, grabbed a fistful of his hair and held it up, letting cool air on his neck. The door opened to the seventh floor.
The office was pretty nice. He'd been here several times, but it was always with Nel's consent. He wasn't the surprise lunch partner type. Or he was working. The carpets were decorated with a repeating floral pattern which was a deep red, and Nnoitra found himself watching it as he walked and almost walked past Nel's door. He knew today wasn't a busy day, which is why he wondered why Nel was freaking this morning. No meetings, the latest project, the one she seemed so excited about, was in the early stages. She wouldn't mind him coming by, right?
Too late, he was here. He knocked on the door. Neliel Oderschvank said the little letters on the front. He remembered also how excited she was when she got her own office. God, that was a long time ago. Or so it seemed.
Nel's muffled voice called out the name of the secretary and Nnoitra replied, somewhat gruffly, "It's me."
"Oh. Oh. Nnoitra? Come in!"
Nel was sitting behind her desk, and looked busy at least, papers in hand.
"Busy huh?" he said, by way of greeting.
"Not really, surprisingly, no," said Nel. "I look busy, but this is only the start. I usually have my door open, but some fool keeps turning off the heat and I'm freezing. And I had to put make-up on in my office today so -- wait."
Nnoitra had sat down in the chair in front of her desk and crossed his long legs at his ankles. He slid the coffee cup and paper bag across the clean spot on the desk.
"Wait," said Nel. She set down the papers. She'd seemingly forgotten to set them down before, a little shocked to see Nnoitra.
"How can ya be cold in here?" Nnoitra demanded. "It's like a frigging oven."
"You brought this for me?" said Nel.
"Yeah, what does it look like? I don't drink --"
"What's in the bag?"
"Jeez, just look.
Nel lifted her arm to flip her hair off her shoulder, in a way Nnoitra would only describe as huffy and stopped as soon as she saw what was inside. She had turned the bag upside down with one hand onto the desk. The chocolates plopped appealingly, a cream colored box amid bright white copy paper.
"Dark chocolate." She bit her lip. "Is this coffee?"
"Yeah," said Nnoitra. "Your fucking frou frou drink. It's probably warm by now, I had a time in the traffic."
She stared at it for a moment, lip still being nibbled. "Nnoitra. You ..."
He hoped she wouldn't get emotional. Especially over coffee. Yeah, the gesture was way out of his league of niceness, but he knew that. He wouldn't deal with Nel crying.
Instead, she laughed, but in a pleased way. "I don't even know what to say."
"Maybe thank you."
"Well, yes," she replied, laughing again. "I just. I guess it's just one of those days."
She sighed and added, "You got dressed and caught a cab just to bring me this and ..." Before Nnoitra realized it, she was pushing back her chair. Nel wasn't generally the overly-emotional-Hallmark-card-crying-at-puppy-commercials type. Nnoitra dug this about her. Which is why any tears would be awkward to say the least.
Breasts held tightly in an expensive suit pressed against his sweatshirt and lips pressed to his cheek and she hugged him. Nnoitra was and wasn't surprised to feel wetness on his cheek as she kissed him again, tears. Christ, she was acting like he abused her or never did anything sweet for her ever. He really didn't, but this wasn't cause for alarm. He enjoyed the warm feeling of Nel against him.
He slowly placed his arms around her and hugged her back.
"Thank you," she whispered in his ear.
"I unplugged your alarm clock," he whispered back, in the same emotional, hushed tone, only a tad mocking.
Nel laughed, louder than before and whispered back, "I know."
She pulled back, straightened her clothes and wiped her eyes delicately with one finger. "You're so despicable."
"Thank God, you didn't --"
"And I love you."
"Oh right," said Nnoitra, laughing slightly. "That was what I was going to say. That would've been too weird. You're such a girl, Nel. Nothing you say makes sense."
"I do love you," she repeated.
"Me too," Nnoitra answered, after a second. He paused, smiled at her, and asked if he could have one of her chocolates.
Author; aesthetically
Fandom; Bleach
Words; 2,000+
Author's Notes; AU, Nnoinell. WRITTEN FOR MY DARLING GIRL, femmelujah! ♥ also I must do affiliates soon! also also this has only been spell-checked and glanced over, so I may have typos. I probably DO have typos.
There was barely a whisper of warmth on this morning, the sunlight melting into the cold air. Nnoitra crossed his arms, uncrossed his arms and considered zipping his jacket up to the throat as a blast of icy wind hit him squarely in the face, making it difficult to draw a steady breath. He did, however, skid to a halt on the sidewalk, and flip over his hood and pull the drawstrings tightly.
A passing woman gave him a glare, a very tall man stopping in the middle of the body sea moving with the rhythm of the city. Nnoitra ignored her, and stuck his regrettably glove-less hands back into his pockets. His destination was about three blocks from the apartment, but in this weather, it felt like miles. There was hardly any snow left, but the atmosphere itself was cruel. Nnoitra didn't mind the cold, but days after days stretching on without end of freezing and it got old. It got real fucking old.
Especially since Neliel was cold-natured and preferred the apartment's thermostat be somewhere between "hot" and "the lobby outside of hell." They argued over this, they might split up over this. That was a slight exaggeration, but it was such an annoying small thing. There were a lot of small annoying things about Neliel, that had mostly to do with Nnoitra, but Nnoitra didn't entertain that thought. He didn't want to think he was anything that Nel ever accused him of, or rather, knew it and didn't care. She'd take him for who he was and all that bullshit. They weren't married, but for better or worse, through tiny crap and mountains of molehills, til death do they part. That bit always frightened Nnoitra on that level that men of his age get scared of such words. But cohabiation was fine, yeah. They'd been dating for a long, long time and Nel had never even mentioned the "m" word, which was just as good with Nnoitra. He could claim they were too young, but in truth, that wasn't Nnoitra's thing. If she brought it up, he'd tell her. Until then, it was almost a silent agreement.
Taxi cabs honked their horns at the gridlock, light flashed and Nnoitra moved into the shadow of a tall building and spotted the store up ahead. He hated Starbucks, and felt a man should make his own coffee. Cheaper and without all that pretentious shit. To annoy Nel once, he'd calculated how much money she could save in a month if she didn't stop for coffee all the time. Nel had waved the idea away, and Nnoitra always felt like being a prick, so he brought the sum up often, especially when they argued over money. Which was rare, but they knew how to press each other's buttons and saved the small tokens of irritation in their memories to bring up during the best -- worst -- of times. For Nnoitra, it was his smoking, for Nel, it was her coffee habit.
Funny, Nel had said once, that both of the things that annoy us about each other are vices. Nnoitra had turned over because he didn't want Nel to see the "yes, you're right" look on his face. Childish yes, but she was right. It would do better for them to both shape up, but it was a "you first" situation. And the fights always led to good make-up sex. Nnoitra sure didn't read too much into that one, even though Nel had once in her typical fashion. Nnoitra's problem wasn't so much provocation that stimulated an argument that stimulated them both. He just didn't care most of the time and had absolutely no filter for his mouth, never had, never would, or so he claimed, Nel would add. And smile. That smile.
Nnoitra ducked into the coffee store and was greeted with a line that allowed him to move inside an inch before closing the door behind him. And this wasn't a small Starbucks. Shit. At least it was warm inside and smelled like coffee, an amazing smell. But was loud and crowded. Couldn't win.
He lowered his hood and ran a hand through his hair. The line moved a step and he looked around, fingered the display next to the door, which was obviously put there for people like him on mornings like this: stuck in the back, of course you'd look. It was stocked with overpriced chocolates. Chocolates with coffee. Which really sounded good and Nnoitra's stomach growled. Today was his day off, and he should've been in his underwear watching shitty tv. But of course not. Nel had been late to work and woken him up rushing around the house, lamenting about the alarm clock. Nnoitra had unplugged it that night to plug in something else and forgot to replace it. He said nothing.
This wasn't an errand or favor out of guilt. He told himself that. He knew Nel had missed her precious coffee this morning -- she'd barely made it out with pants on. Nnoitra smiled for a second, thinking about Nel without pants, an entirely random sexual thought that derailed his original train of thought. Oh, right. Not guilt. This was not anything to make up for ... whatever. He told himself this again, and blamed Nel. She should've checked the alarm clock. Hell, she woke him up and it was his day off! How rude.
The chocolates with coffee were 60% cacao, which was about how dark Nel liked her chocolate. Nnoitra sighed and picked up a box. He grappled with whether or not to buy it for a few seconds, or to buy some for himself, but someone else had come in behind him. He'd get a muffin or some shit, they had that here, right?
Roughly four hours later, by his estimate, the line cleared and regrouped behind him and Nnoitra was at the register, ready, but he pretended to read the menu. He knew he wanted a piece of marble cake and Nel's favorite coffee, but he rocked on his heels for a moment before he realized he was being needlessly cruel too early in the morning and ordered.
"Grande Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with soy milk," he said finally, supressing the urge to wince. "And one of those cakes, the marble one."
Oh, and this. He set the chocolates on the counter and paid for those too.
*
The taxi cab moved slower than he'd have wanted through the traffic, but now that the slow crawl had cleared somewhat, Nnoitra perched in the backseat cradling his purchases and hoping Nel knew what she had. Hoped she knew what kind of man she was involved with. Nnoitra leaned his head against the back of the seat and stared out the window. The sky was a vibrant blue, deceptively beautiful. The statement had started out as jest in his mind ... he was the best boyfriend ever, but by the time he'd thought it again, it had turned a bit sour. He let it go, but with some difficulty. There was always that weird balance, wasn't there, with him? First the realization, then the avoidance.
He closed his eyes and gripped the paper bag the chocolates were inside -- the cake having long since disappeared -- the coffee sitting in the other hand and against his slightly restless knee.
Before he had time to think anything else, the cab rolled to Nel's office and Nnoitra set his things on the seat beside him to slide forward and dig money out of his pant's pocket. He was sure Nel knew what she had.
*
The elevator was deserted and Nnoitra's hands were full, but he had this nagging feeling to free his hair from his jacket. It was matted and the office building was damn warm. Wasn't he just complaining about the cold? But this was too hot. No wonder Nel liked to work here.
He placed the bag between his teeth and with his free hand, grabbed a fistful of his hair and held it up, letting cool air on his neck. The door opened to the seventh floor.
The office was pretty nice. He'd been here several times, but it was always with Nel's consent. He wasn't the surprise lunch partner type. Or he was working. The carpets were decorated with a repeating floral pattern which was a deep red, and Nnoitra found himself watching it as he walked and almost walked past Nel's door. He knew today wasn't a busy day, which is why he wondered why Nel was freaking this morning. No meetings, the latest project, the one she seemed so excited about, was in the early stages. She wouldn't mind him coming by, right?
Too late, he was here. He knocked on the door. Neliel Oderschvank said the little letters on the front. He remembered also how excited she was when she got her own office. God, that was a long time ago. Or so it seemed.
Nel's muffled voice called out the name of the secretary and Nnoitra replied, somewhat gruffly, "It's me."
"Oh. Oh. Nnoitra? Come in!"
Nel was sitting behind her desk, and looked busy at least, papers in hand.
"Busy huh?" he said, by way of greeting.
"Not really, surprisingly, no," said Nel. "I look busy, but this is only the start. I usually have my door open, but some fool keeps turning off the heat and I'm freezing. And I had to put make-up on in my office today so -- wait."
Nnoitra had sat down in the chair in front of her desk and crossed his long legs at his ankles. He slid the coffee cup and paper bag across the clean spot on the desk.
"Wait," said Nel. She set down the papers. She'd seemingly forgotten to set them down before, a little shocked to see Nnoitra.
"How can ya be cold in here?" Nnoitra demanded. "It's like a frigging oven."
"You brought this for me?" said Nel.
"Yeah, what does it look like? I don't drink --"
"What's in the bag?"
"Jeez, just look.
Nel lifted her arm to flip her hair off her shoulder, in a way Nnoitra would only describe as huffy and stopped as soon as she saw what was inside. She had turned the bag upside down with one hand onto the desk. The chocolates plopped appealingly, a cream colored box amid bright white copy paper.
"Dark chocolate." She bit her lip. "Is this coffee?"
"Yeah," said Nnoitra. "Your fucking frou frou drink. It's probably warm by now, I had a time in the traffic."
She stared at it for a moment, lip still being nibbled. "Nnoitra. You ..."
He hoped she wouldn't get emotional. Especially over coffee. Yeah, the gesture was way out of his league of niceness, but he knew that. He wouldn't deal with Nel crying.
Instead, she laughed, but in a pleased way. "I don't even know what to say."
"Maybe thank you."
"Well, yes," she replied, laughing again. "I just. I guess it's just one of those days."
She sighed and added, "You got dressed and caught a cab just to bring me this and ..." Before Nnoitra realized it, she was pushing back her chair. Nel wasn't generally the overly-emotional-Hallmark-card-crying-at-puppy-commercials type. Nnoitra dug this about her. Which is why any tears would be awkward to say the least.
Breasts held tightly in an expensive suit pressed against his sweatshirt and lips pressed to his cheek and she hugged him. Nnoitra was and wasn't surprised to feel wetness on his cheek as she kissed him again, tears. Christ, she was acting like he abused her or never did anything sweet for her ever. He really didn't, but this wasn't cause for alarm. He enjoyed the warm feeling of Nel against him.
He slowly placed his arms around her and hugged her back.
"Thank you," she whispered in his ear.
"I unplugged your alarm clock," he whispered back, in the same emotional, hushed tone, only a tad mocking.
Nel laughed, louder than before and whispered back, "I know."
She pulled back, straightened her clothes and wiped her eyes delicately with one finger. "You're so despicable."
"Thank God, you didn't --"
"And I love you."
"Oh right," said Nnoitra, laughing slightly. "That was what I was going to say. That would've been too weird. You're such a girl, Nel. Nothing you say makes sense."
"I do love you," she repeated.
"Me too," Nnoitra answered, after a second. He paused, smiled at her, and asked if he could have one of her chocolates.