Fireworks
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For Candyland
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"It's easy. You can do it in the microwave if you don't want to get near the stove. Surely the genius novelist can figure this one out." Kudo Yukiko winked as she began to head out the door. "I just forgot to pick up a bag of rice. I'll be back soon. Shin-chan, keep an eye on your father."
Kudo Yuusaku scowled as his wife walked out the door. For goodness sake, he didn't need his five year old son to play babysitter. Nonetheless, he smiled at said son, who was currently giggling to himself and looking up at his dad. Yuusaku bent down slightly and ruffled Shinichi's hair. "Come on kiddo, you want to give me a hand while I do some gourmet cooking?"
The little boy grinned. "Gourmet? I thought Mommy said gourmet was fancy cooking. You don't know how to cook fancy food. Mommy said so."
Yuusaku frowned. "Et tu brute? My one and only son betraying me? What is the world coming to?" He looked up at the ceiling dramatically.
Shinichi laughed loudly and hugged his sides. "Dad! You're acting like Mommy!"
Yuusaku chuckled as well. "Don't let Mommy hear you say that. She'll put me in the doghouse."
The little boy's brow crinkled. "We don't have a dog…"
"Never mind, Shinichi."
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Yuusaku was staring at the potato on the counter, his arms crossed. On his right, Shinichi was imitating his father's stance and stared at the counter as well. However, their field of vision was considerably different.
Shinichi frowned. "Dad, why are we staring at a potato?"
"Erm…" Yuusaku stuttered. "We're not staring…well, we were but I was also thinking. Your mother wants us to bake this potato. With the microwave."
"Bake it? We're going to make a cake? When Mommy bakes something, it's usually a cake or cookies. Hey! Can we bake a cake, Dad?" Shinichi grew excited. "Chocolate. I think it should be chocolate…but we have to use the potato?"
Yuusaku hardly knew what to do with the potato. There was no way he was going to attempt to bake a cake. "Um, no, Shinichi. We're making a baked potato. Remember? It'll be all warm and buttery." His stomach growled at the image coming to his mind. Somehow, he doubted that his baked potato would look like the one he was imagining.
He sighed. He could solve crimes, he could write best-selling novels, hell, he had even managed to marry the most beautiful (and smartest and most talented and funniest and sweetest and…crap, back to cooking) actress in the world! However, the world-renowned genius Kudo Yuusaku had no idea what to do with this potato.
"Oh ok! Wow, I wonder how we're all going to share. There's only one and Daddy…you eat a lot." Shinichi looked up at him.
On reflex, Yuusaku brought a hand to his stomach and wondered whether he had to start heading to the gym more often. At his father's action, Shinichi gave him a knowing look and Yuusaku wondered just how old a child had to be to begin developing a snarky sense of humor.
He didn't think he wanted to know.
Shaking off unpleasant thoughts of the witty barbs he knew his son would one day toss his way, Yuusaku looked once again at the potato and realized that Yukiko probably meant for him to cook more than one. Grabbing two more and setting them on the counter again, he tried to remember whether he should just toss them in the microwave.
"Shinichi, doesn't your mother usually wrap these things up in aluminum foil or something?" An idea began to form in Yuusaku's mind but he had no way of knowing how bad it was.
"Huh? What's alumi… alumina…aluminum, Dad?" The little boy asked as he trotted over to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair to sit.
"Aluminum foil, Shin-chan. It's a special metal sheet that keeps food warm. I bet if I wrap each potato in the foil and toss them in the microwave for about five minutes, they'll be nice and hot." With each word Yuusaku's smile grew. Ha! Now he'd definitely prove to Yukiko that he wasn't entirely useless in the kitchen.
Shinichi clapped his hands excitedly. "Mommy's going to be really happy when she gets back, huh?"
Yuusaku grinned. "I know I'll be." He walked over to the pantry, pulled out the box of foil, and proceeded to wash the potatoes thoroughly before wrapping them in the foil.
Three shiny silvery potatoes were then placed inside the microwave and Yuusaku set the timer for five minutes. Perfect. Yukiko was going to come home to a surprise. This cooking stuff wasn't so bad. He could see a future in it. Kudo Yuusaku: world-class novelist, mystery solver extraordinaire and now…internationally acclaimed chef!
Hey, it could happen.
Yuusaku pulled another chair alongside his son. "Want me to tell you more about the new book I'm writing?"
Shinichi sat up in his chair, spine straight as a rod. "YES! Please."
Yuusaku chuckled. "Ok, not even your mom knows this even though she's been trying to get it out of me all week. All right, do you remember how the Night Baron had just finished robbing the museum's jewel exhibit? You remember what an exhibit is, right?"
"Yes, it's a place where museums show off special collectuals…collections!" Shinichi answered proudly.
Yuusaku smiled fondly at him. "Excellent. Anyhow, he's just finished robbing the exhibit when-"
"Dad…"
"Just a second, Shinichi, let me finish."
"But Dad…"
"It's rude to interrupt, Shinichi."
"Dad, why are there fireworks in the microwave?"
"Do you want to hear the story? What is that sound…OH CRAP!"
Yuusaku shot up from his chair to shut off the microwave but it was too late. The formerly shiny white appliance was now releasing smoke from its inside. "Shinichi! Out of the kitchen, now! Open the windows in the living room!"
The boy was already out of his seat before Yuusaku had finished speaking. There were no flames but the smell was foul. The few sparks that had started up hadn't actually turned into a full fire. Yuusaku unplugged the microwave and moved it towards the sink. "Damn… damn… damn… damn… DAMN!"
"What the hell happened? Stupid microwave doesn't work? Just potatoes…wrapped in aluminum foil…aluminum…which is a type of metal…oh shit." Yuusaku began to feel a headache coming on. "Yukiko is going to kill me."
"Oh, yes. I am definitely going to kill you." Kudo Yuusaku's irate wife was standing in the kitchen doorway, her son by her side. "I arrive only to find Shin-chan running around opening every window in the house to let out the black SMOKE!"
"There were mini fireworks, Mommy! It was so cool…until it started to get all smoky and stuff." Shinichi wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Daddy…I don't think you did a good job."
Only a groan came from Yuusaku as he banged his head against the cupboards.
"Shin-chan, sweetie, why don't you run off the to library while I help Daddy clean up in here, ok?" Her sweetness would have been entirely believable if it weren't for the vein throbbing in her forehead.
"Um, ok…" Shinichi began to back away slowly.
"No wait! Um…" Yuusaku recognized that his son would be the last defense against his wife's rage.
"Oh Mommy, you missed it! Dad was saying all these words that I heard in school from Miyazaki-kun." Shinichi cracked up. "It was so funny!"
Or the last weapon in Yukiko's arsenal.
"Yukiko, I can explain."
"Aluminum foil?! ALUMINUM FOIL?? I knew you couldn't cook but I thought you could at least operate a microwave. A MICROWAVE!! Who doesn't know how to use a microwave?" Yukiko's tirade had begun.
"Um, me. Apparently."
Yukiko glared. "Now is not the time to be a smart-aleck, Yuusaku."
"Sorry."
Shinichi heard the rest of Yukiko's rant in the library, where he was safely trying to get through a Holmes book. Aside from the fact that it was rather advanced reading, Shinichi couldn't much concentrate through all the yelling. His mom could be really loud when she wanted to.
The little boy learned a very important lesson that day. Potatoes…and microwaves…were dangerous.
That and Daddy should never be left alone in the kitchen.
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The End.
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A/N: This is for Candyland!! She asked for a father/son story with the prompt being potatoes. I hope you liked it! It was a lot of fun writing these two. Adding an annoyed Yukiko was even better. Please Read and Review. Thanks for reading!