AN: Please read AN at the end concerning CP.
Dinner Imperfections
Dinner isn't always perfect. In fact, Shuichi thought Dinner was never perfect. Every night for the past year there always came up something that had both lovers hurrying to eat their food, or arguing over and worst yet- leaving the table.
But not today. Shuichi thought vehemently, racing around the kitchen and living room while setting up all the necessary plates and utensils, today is Yuki's birthday, and it will be perfect. No matter what!
The pink haired boy stepped back towards the living room entrance and sighed at his wonderful work. It was beautiful. There were flowers strewn about the sofa…pink too must he say, and three tall candles perched upon the table top- already setting the mood he'd wanted. All he needed now was to place the food.
Seven thirty. He thought, glancing at his wristwatch and grinning happily. Yuki should almost be home!
The boy hummed his new song, he was the happiest man on earth, even if dinner had always been chaotic, even if Yuki really doesn't like him that much and even if Yuki doesn't like his cooking and criticizes him all the time about anything- he was still the happiest man. It's because he lets me stay here in his house, duh. Shuichi reprimanded inwardly. How could he ever be sad if Yuki lets him stay?
Taking up his speed a notch, the rock star flew into the kitchen with zeal and opened the oven. "Yes! It's cooked!" he exclaimed, congratulating himself for the wonderful work. Finally, finally, he'd done something right, and hopefully Yuki would also congratulate him too. Putting on his pot handlers, Shuichi hopped down the hall placed the dish on the table, checking more than five times that there was a protective top on the table to avoid burning through the cloth.
God he was happy! Crazy happy.
He sighed again in wonderful bliss. Good. Everything is perfect-
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Ah!" Shuichi exclaimed, running out of the living room and to the kitchen. "The fire alarm!"
When he'd approached the kitchen, smoke had already been spewing out of the door, and the alarm shrilled louder by the second. Rapidly he spurred his feet and entered the kitchen, trying not to inhale the smoke while he snatched the fire extinguisher from underneath the sink.
How could I do this? He thought in dismay, Yuki is going to be angry! Furiously the singer beat on the fire and was finally able to terminate the last of the blaze in the oven. He let out a breath of relief and set down the extinguisher, almost ready to cry when his breath hitched and he began to cough, rushing to the window, he opened the shutters as far it could go and watched from there and down to the streets.
Yuki's car wasn't there yet.
Taking one of the hair ties on his wrist, Shuichi decided he needed to get back to work. There was no telling when his lover was going to come home!
Yet color drained from his cheeks when he turned back around. Ah the clumsy fool he was! There were foam residues everywhere! He had to be baka!
"You idiot." Shuichi cursed glumly, taking a cloth nearby and getting on his knees, but still with a small zeal, he began to work away his energy. Scrubbing, scrubbing, and wiping and washing and cleaning and making every sparkle. He wasn't even aware of the time until the phone began to talk- or at least Yuki's voice began to talk through it.
"Why aren't you picking up? Damn brat…I just called to tell you that I'm almost home." And then he hung up.
'God!' Shuichi thought. Suddenly remembering what he should be doing. "Okay. Salad. Chop carrots, slice lettuce…" He paused when he heard a familiar engine outside the window. "Eyah!" He shouted, staring back at the cutting board and staring at his bleeding finger. Oh dear.. "Damn it Shuichi!" He shouted at himself, wiping the blood on his shirt and running to the fridge. He ignored the sharp sting and continued on his task, taking out the box of cheesecake he'd purchased earlier.
Placing it on one of their larger plates, he cut it swiftly in even sections while miraculously dodging his fingers. He made a solemn promise that Yuki would have all of the cheesecake except for one very small slice he'd saved in the fridge for himself. That ready, he took out a hidden bottle of Champagne from the very back of the refrigerator.
He could already hear Yuki walking down the hallway.
The singer started for the door when he hesitated and turned back. There was no time for him bring each dish one by one. "Ah! I know!" Shuichi thought triumphantly, wearing a Cheshire grin and running back to the counter. Carefully, he held the plate of cheesecake on his right hand while the other took the bowl of salad and champagne underneath his arms. He started for the door, made it out with his grin still on when the whole universe and karma went against him.
Unexpectedly, his toes began to numb and the genki boy took a step too soon and caught his other leg with his numb one; everything went down from there…literally.
Shuichi could tell he was falling forward, it was as if everything was in slow motion all of a sudden. His purple eyes widened and his grin began to vanish, all the plates, food and everything flying around him as if it was ridiculing him. Even the 'click' from the door seemed to echo.
Crash.
Shuichi's head ached as he opened his eyes and slowly looked around him. "Oh no…" he whispered, looking down at the mess of salad and smashed cakes and puddle of liquid and broken glass. "Oh no…" he whispered again. Slowly he raised one of his hurting arm and took out the piece of glass that had victoriously cut into him, but he wasn't worried about that. "Oh no no no…no!" he cursed, tears beginning to gather around his eyes as he tried to gather the food and what not.
Lights flickered around him and then steadily went on. And a silky flat voice interrupted him from crying,
"What's going on?"
Shuichi looked up at his handsome blonde lover who was standing on the entrance way with his sharp eyes scrutinizing him for sure. Watching his imperfection yet again. His blonde lover's eyes caught Shu's eyes for a moment and the singer looked away, afraid that he might just cry and annoy Yuki even more.
He tried to explain, "I-"
"What the fuck is going on here?" Yuki asked again. Walking towards him threateningly.
"I-"
"Fuck. Shuichi!" Yuki growled, stopping before the wet puddle, "Look at you! What the hell have you been doing all day? No. Don't tell me. Ah- fuck, Shu- you're a mess! Don't you know what day it is today?"
Shuichi shook slightly from the angry voice, "I…I do." He mumbled quickly, enlightened a little, "It's your birthday Yuki."
"Exactly! For one day. God…Shuichi- for one. Day. Do something right! This is your gift to me Shu? This…this mess?"
"No Yuki. I-"
But Yuki cut him off again, "No. I'm tired. Give me a break today from you. I can't be having this stress now. I have a new deadline. I can't believe you're so stupid as to do this today!" By now Shuichi could feel his lover's eyes drilling on top of his skull, continuing on as the man scolded him, "What the fuck have you been doing?!"
Shuichi sniffed as his lover continued at it. In fact, he couldn't even hear anymore, just the steady drip, drip, drip, his tears were making on the puddle of wetness he was forced to sit on.
"Useless." Yuki concluded. Turning his back and walking down the hall, turning a corner and shutting the door to his study.
"O…Otanjoubi omedetto." Shuichi whispered after his lover. But he knew Eiri was too angry now to hear anything else from him.
Too angry.
At that Shuichi burst into long overdue tears. He stayed on his position for another five minutes, hoping Yuki would come out and hear him out. But that was useless too. "God." He mumbled, giggling a little before crying and again and wiping the tears away. Shuichi gathered all the broken food and threw them out the thrash, next wiping away the spilt champagne and finally sweeping the broken glass to the thrash bin.
Inspecting the spot where the mess was, he made sure that there was nothing left for his lover to worry about before turning to the kitchen and placing away all the pots and knives he'd used.
"It's okay." He said lowly to himself, "Maybe next year." And opening the fridge, he withdrew the small plate of his own cheesecake and set it on the counter. "Maybe he'll come out of his office if I'm not here." Shuichi told himself, and with that in mind, wiped some more of his tears that had escaped and headed down the hall and out the front door, "Next year." He mumbled to the seemingly empty apartment, and closed the door.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O
God Yuki felt horrible. He'd never felt like this…in a year. Not since he'd met Shuichi. But now, it's back. That stupid, horrid feeling that made him that cold bastard he was.
He closed his eyes in frustration. God, he couldn't even remember some of the things he'd just said to his lover. Did he just blame Shuichi about ruining his birthday? He'd never cared before, and it had always been an insignificant day. So why had he cared for this particular year?
"Shit." He cursed. He'd lied. There was no deadline. Today, the day after and even after that was free. There was no deadline because he'd just finished.
Yuki's nose flinched. He smelt something strong. It was almost like liquor…but it had a tad of sweetness in it. Like apple…or grapes. Champagne?
The writer sat up a little straighter, pushing against his desk and raising his head to sniff the air. It was a bit fainter to his nose now, but it was definitely champagne. Now come to think of it, Yuki's mind spelled out, the broken glass on the floor did look a lot like a bottle of champagne.
And then there had been salad, and cheesecake…
Yuki Eiri stood up. Oh this cannot be happening. He thought to himself, taking large strides towards his door and flinging it open. His feet carried him to where he'd found Shuichi upon entering the house, and there was no sign of disasters recently occurring. No sign of his lover either. Turning around, he walked down the hall and into the kitchen. Nothing.
"Shu?" He called. He had wanted to check the bedroom to see if the kid was sulking, but instead he turned the opposite direction of the hall and towards the living room.
He hadn't turned one the light but upon entering, he immediately saw a round table with white linen top, three tall candles without light- and Shuichi sitting on one of the chairs.
"Oh!" his lover said in shock, craning his neck over his shoulder, a wide grin coming on his heart shaped face, "Hey Yuki!"
Yuki blinked and found no Shuichi. Slowly his feet carried him to the table, walking around it as if it had been protected by an invisible barrier…his eyes fell upon two empty plates and unused knives, forks and spoons, coming upon the empty crystal glasses and then to the heart of the circle.
At the middle of the table was a proud roast beef, the smell still strong. Yuki could tell that it had been sitting there for some time along with perfectly cooked rice, French bread and miso soup on the side. A seasoning cart was also on the side.
"Do you like it?"
Yuki glanced at the sofa where his pink haired genki lover sat, and upon blinking he was gone again. The blonde looked down at the table with a sad smile, touching the dainty plates its utensils,
"Was this your plan Shu?" Silence. "God…" Yuki mumbled, bringing a hand on his eyes, "I'm so sorry Shu."
Casting a last glance on the table, Yuki smiled and headed out.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O
Yuki snubbed out his last cigarette upon coming up at the top of the stairs that led to a place that only a handful of people know. And he was one of the lucky ones, because of the fact he knew this place existed, he got to meet his peace of mind.
Shuichi.
His lovers sweet melodious voice floated to his ears, and as he'd expected, his lover was at the park, knees on his chin and sniffing while his shaking voice rang out to the warm night,
"Otanjoubi omedet-to…otanjoubi-omedetto…Otanjoubi…Yuki omede-"
Shuichi stopped when Yuki suddenly stopped next to him. Yuki's eyes fell on his lover's face, at first it was blank, and then all the heart break began to show on his face. Yuki found Shuichi slowly twisting himself away from him, back facing him and hiding himself from the novelist.
"We're not perfect…are we." Shu said more than asked.
Yuki nodded, placing a careful hand on his lover's pink hair, "No." he replied, but before continuing he petted Shuichi's hair even more, saying, "Shuichi, look at me."
The boy didn't budge for a moment, even though the snubbing resolve was rapidly dying away at Yuki's touch. With a last resigned sigh, Shuichi slowly turned his head, flinching a little when Yuki cupped his face and kissed him full on the lips, just softly kneading at him while pulling him closer until the singer found himself on the writer's lap.
"Shu, I'm sorry." Yuki said, still cupping Shuichi's face and catching his gorgeous violet eyes. He kissed him again softly before continuing on, "We're never going be perfect. And it's not you Shuichi. It' me. I'm the one that refuses to make us perfect. I'm the one who doesn't know how to be perfect. Not you."
"Ah- Yu-Yuki…" Shuichi began, "Don't worry about it. It was me! It was my fault I'm clumsy-" the singer stopped when Yuki rested his blonde head on his shoulder, burying his face on Shu's neck and inhaling his scent. Watermelon…strawberry…every kind of sweet fruits. That was Shuichi. "Yuki, am I…making you sad?"
Eiri kissed his neck and raised his head, "Shu. I'm sorry."
The pink haired baka grinned, placing a hand behind his head before shaking his head side to side, "No, no Yuki. Besides it wasn't anything special…just…just dinner. I thought maybe you'd want…to- but never mind."
"Shu." The older man interrupted again, stopping the babbling teen for any more, then standing up with his pink haired koala, he wiped away the traces of tears from Shuichi's eyes and smiled ever softly, kissing his love's temple before saying altogether, "I do want."
He headed towards the direction of their house and clarified, "I do want our perfect dinner."
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O
AN: Review? Please do. That would be nice.
As we all know, I havent' updated on Cold Play, but hopefull I can soon. I do have only five more pages to type, so thank you for waiting patiently.
Another thing. Otanjoubi Omedetto means 'Happy Birthday.'