"Jun, back away from the kitchen," Hikari said with every fiber of calmness she could muster. She closed her eyes as she inhaled a deep breath from her nose, setting the spatula down on the counter. "I mean it."

"I can cook," Jun whined under his breath, crossing his arms as he stopped just outside the kitchen. "I don't understand why you don't believe me."

"Maybe because you can't even read a book for more than five seconds without dashing off to do something else that never lasts?"

Hikari picked up the spatula again, dipping it in the container of dark chocolate frosting. She spun it around the edges, making sure to pick up every last drop of frosting that was left in the near empty container. Jun let out an irritated groan from behind her, though she didn't bother to look back; she already knew what his face would look like from memory.

"You talk like I don't complete anything." Jun strolled over to the refrigerator as he talked, quickly pouring himself a glass of water that he started to chug down as soon as he closed the fridge door. "I filled up the Pokedex just like you did."

"That's not the point. Besides," she said, a giggle escaping under her breath when she locked eyes with Jun, "this is baking, not cooking."

For added effect, Hikari waved around the frosting-coated spatula in her hand. Jun's eyes never left the utensil Hikari moved around with a flicked back and forth with her wrist. She sighed after a moment of watching Jun's eye light up while watching the frosting, bending slightly to slide the spatula over the last uncovered part of the cake. By the time that she was finished smoothing out the frosting so there was no visible lines, Jun was standing behind her, gripping her shoulder as he bounced on his feet.

"I get to eat that, right?"

"No," Hikari said, a long sigh pouring out of her mouth. She threw the spatula in the skin, turning around to face the boy that was mere inches away from her. "It's for the neighbor that just had a baby. Don't you ever pay attention?"

"To who?"

"Me or your mother. We both told you."

"You want me to be honest?"

"That'd be nice."

"Then not really."

Another sigh came out of Hikari's mouth. She shook her head, turning back to place the lid over the cake. Anyone would have to be blind not to notice that Jun never paid much attention after a couple of seconds of talking. Say it fast and say it quick, and hope that he listened.

"Can I trust you to take take this cake over to the neighbor's without eating, licking, or tasting it in any kind of way—that includes purposely dropping it? I still need to wrap the present."

"Why don't I just help you wrap it?" Jun offered, setting his glass down in the sink. He paused for a second before vigorously nodding his head. "It's faster with two of us. Right. It's decided! Hikari, where's the present?"

"I just want you to take the cake over," Hikari moaned. She leaned her hip against the counter, crossing her arms as she started at her best friend who clearly wasn't listening. With a shake of her head, she smiled to herself trying to hold in her laughter the best she could."Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with you."

"Because I'm awesome and you know it."

Hikari laughed. She brought a finger up to eye to wipe away a stray tear. "Sure, okay, Jun."
"Good, because if you'd disagreed, I'd have to fine you."

"You say that like you don't have a choice," Hikari said, jabbing Jun in the side playfully with her elbow as she guided him to the living room.

"I don't!" Jun placed a hand over his heart, his faced pulled down into a frown. "It'd be a crime for you not to know by now, Hikari. We're childhood friends, so you of all people should be well aware of my awesomeness by now."

Not bothering to reply, Hikari simply rolled her eyes. Jun jumped on the couch, lying his head back on the arm rest. His bangs lightly caressed his eyelashes, causing his nose to twitch just the slightest. Hikari laughed quietly to herself as she walked around the couch to get the present. It was a box of diapers and some formula for milk. Jun held one eye open while Hikari placed the boxes in between the couch and television.

"Which one do you want me to wrap?" Jun asked, stretching as he stood up. He let out a yawn that only got a quick glance from Hikari.

"At least stay at the baby shower for a little bit, Jun. Oh. Wrap this one, please." Hikari held out the white rectangular baby formula package to Jun. "The wrapping paper's behind you. Can you get that, too?"

Jun placed the baby formula on the ground in front of the couch. With one knee on the couch, he reached over and pulled up the long tube of pink and blue balloon paper. He stared at it for a minute before turning around to sit back on the couch. Hikari got up a few seconds later after mumbling something about sissors, opening and closing draws like a madwoman in the kitchen. Jun, however, barely registered the noise as he stared at the baby formula he held. When Hikari came back in, Jun was sitting on the ground with the wrapping paper surrounding the formula. His hand was hovering over the edge like he was contemplating something. Hikari cleared her throat, tapping her feet on her hardwood floor until Jun looked up.

"You're seriously not thinking about ripping that, are you?" she asked.

"I was thinking about it." The blonde shrugged, picking up the roll of tape, waving it in his hand. "The tap's right here, anyway."

"That's not the point! The point is that it'll look bad. It's a rectangle; it's easy to wrap. Everyone would notice you ripped it right away."

Hikari bent down, taking the wrapping paper in her hands as she easily and delicately cut the wrapping paper straight across. She took in a deep long breath, her eyes scanning her work. Jun rolled his eyes as Hikari started going off about how he should tape the present. He made sure to make it look as nonuniform as he could just to piss her off. Hikari, however, was too busy wrapping her other present to pay attention to how he'd tapped it.

"You know," Jun said, placing his hands behind him as he leaned back. His bangs scraped against his eyelids again, but this time he moaned with a quick shake of his head. "Have you ever thought that far in the future?"

"That far?" Hikari asked, glancing up as she put the last piece of tape on the wrapping paper.

"Like, have you ever thought about what would happen when you started a family, or how it'd happen, or with who? It seems like it's really far away, but then it's like I thought it'd be a long time for us to fill up the pokedex and it wasn't even that long."

"I always used to want to marry a guy like a prince when I was little." Hikari stared at the floor, her eyes glazed over in a distance stare. A small laughter that came more out of her nose, curled the sides of her mouth upward for a split second. "Then I realized I wanted someone reliable that'd be able to take care of me. I guess I was just scared of being left alone after dad left. It wasn't something I particularly thought about, though. Why're you asking?"

Jun shrugged as he sat up straight. "I just thought it was kind of a miracle. Babies make everyone so happy. I mean, my mom constantly tells me that I was more of a pain in her butt most of the time, but she said she wouldn't give up having me for anything. I just think that's kind of amazing."

"That's pretty deep for you, Jun." Jun smiled along with Hikari as she collected both presents. "I'm impressed you could think about all that without your brain melting."

"I can think," Jun mumbled, walking into the kitchen with Hikari.

"Yeah, I really wonder what goes through that thick skull of yours. You're always bumping into people and things, I'm surprised it's not damaged."

"I really will fine you, Hikari. I'll seriously keep tabs this time."

Hikari just laughed. "Grab the cake and let's go. The sooner we get there, the sooner you can go home and sleep."

At the mention of sleep, Yun let out another yawn. His eyebrows furrowed together when he was done, a frown taking over his face. "Don't say that. Every time you say sleep, I get more tired."

"Alright." Hikari laughed, repositioning the wrapped boxes. "Come on. Let's go. The baby shower probably already started."

"You know," Jun said, gently picking up the cake. "I think you'd make a good mom, Hikari. I've thought about it for awhile, it's not just spur of the moment."

Hikari's eyes flew open. It felt like all of the blood in her body was rushing to her cheeks in an insanely short amount of time. Her whole face was in a hot flush, and for some reason she felt immensely embarrassed as if she was wearing something utterly inappropriate at the moment. She glanced down to make sure, but sure enough, she was wearing a normal outfit, socks included.

Jun's eyebrows furrowed together again as he started walking to the door. "But I guess I'm not that reliable yet, huh?"

Another wave of heat washed over Hikari's face. She pulled at the collar of her blue-knitted turtleneck, glancing outside to make sure it was in fact autumn and not summer. It was autumn, and Hikari sighed. The embarrassed feeling wasn't going away, and her memories of the time she started picturing Jun as the prince to her childish dreams didn't help ease that a bit.

"Hikari!" Jun called from the door, snapping the girl out of her thoughts. "Come on, you slow poke. I thought you were only this slow in the mornings? Who'd a thought it."

"I'm coming, geeze!"

Blowing her bright pink cheek up, Hikari huffed as she ran to the side of her best friend. She made sure to knock into him as she ran past, laughing her heart out as she did.

"Race you there, Jun," she called out.

"You beat'cha!"