Disclaimers: I don't own Beyblade; I'm simply using the characters for my and my muse's entertainment.

Mother, Dear by Yaoi Girl

Rei sighed, growing ever impatient with the pancakes that seemed as though they didn't want to turn brown in his skillet.

"Breakfast ready yet?" came a voice from another room in the house.

"No…" he mumbled loudly and angrily enough for the other to hear. "If you're so hungry, why don't you get in here and help?"

With this, Kai poked his head around the edge of the kitchen archway, smirking.

"Do you really want me to set the kitchen on fire again?"

Rei glowered at him over his shoulder as he skillfully shifted the pan so the pancake would flip perfectly over to brown on the other side. "I didn't say you had to cook. But you could get the plates and stuff ready."

"If I wanted to do things myself, I wouldn't have moved in with you, now would I?"

The neko-jin gave a heavy, mouth closed, throaty sigh, almost to the point of an irritated growl before he turned back to the stove to flip some bacon.

"Why are you so moody today? Aren't I supposed to be the grouchy one?" Kai said, continuing to smirk as he opened the plate cabinet, grabbing some things before rummaging in another cabinet for some cups.

"I don't know. I just feel very agitated today."

"You really are turning into a woman, aren't you?"

"Haha…"

The boys weren't so much boys anymore as they were young adults, Rei 19 and Kai 20, almost 21, give or take a few weeks.

After a while, blading grew old and too routine, and both sought out a change. At first, he and Kai had gone their separate ways, Max and Takao continuing blading for a short time after them, Kyouju bouncing back and forth between helping his friends blade and helping Max's father at his store.

Rei had moved back to China but bought his own place, even after his mother begged and pleaded with him that he wasn't ready to be out on his own at such a young age. But then again, she did the same thing when he went off to become a world champion beyblader.

He had gotten himself a part time job, just for fun, at a local restaurant as a waiter. He really didn't have to worry about money anytime soon, seeing as much as he had acquired from blading years ago. And then Kai had called last year.

It was late at night when he received the call. It seemed that things weren't going so well wherever he was and wanted a place to crash for a while. He even offered to help pay utilities and whatever else Rei may have needed while he stayed. Of course, Rei couldn't take any money from him. He didn't need it. And besides, he was always there to help out an old friend.

But it seemed that Kai had gotten attached to Rei's place. And so they made arrangements for Kai to simply move in.

Rei continued with his waiter position, but Kai chose not to work at all, instead sleeping late into the day, cleaning things around the house, and watching TV. It's not like either of them had anything better to do. With all the money they had, they didn't need to go to college to become anything fancy with high paying jobs.

But now they were looking to have two temporary roomies. Of course, Kai had refused to let the one into his house, seeing as they would have to go food shopping everyday, but he agreed to let the other stay. Rei admonished him, pulled the 'I bought this place, so what I say goes' card and allowed both to stay for however long they needed to.

And of course the downside to all this was that there were only two bedrooms in the house. One was Rei's and the other was Kai's. But with Takao and Max moving in, they'd have to do some switching around, which meant that Kai and Rei would have to share a room and a bed until the other two found another place.

Takao and Max were due the next day and Kai had just a few more things to move to Rei's room and the storage room, which was only a walk-in closet already half full of whatever Rei had tucked away in there.

Rei had since finished his pancakes and set them on plates for him and Kai, filling their cups with milk soon after, finally sitting down and setting the plate of bacon between them.

"I think it's a sin for someone to cook breakfast as well as you do," Kai said after finishing his first bite of pancakes.

Ever since Kai had moved in, he became more vocal and ten times cockier, not to mention sarcastic.

"They're pancakes from mix. You just add water. Even you couldn't mess those up," Rei said, face blank.

"You really don't know how to take compliments, do you? And yes, I could mess them up. I would have homemade lava rocks or your kitchen would be on fire yet again."

Yes, it was a fact that Kai had, not once, but twice set the kitchen on fire while trying to surprise Rei with dinner. After that, he was banned from using anything other than the microwave and toaster while cooking.

They finished breakfast and Rei had perked up a little bit. Kai had found out that his mood was from not having any coffee that morning, seeing as he had run out the day before. Which meant that they got to go food shopping today. And with Takao coming, that meant lots of extra food shopping.

"I'm gonna take a shower, so be ready by the time I'm done, 'kay?" Rei said as he rinsed off the dishes and set them in the sink to wash later.

Kai nodded around his chugging of milk and waved him off.

Rei felt bad for being so edgy this morning, but really, not even enough grounds for one cup of coffee? 'I really need to cut back,' he mused as he unbraided his hair that he had done up the night before, goose bumps forming on his skin as his hair cascaded and caressed his bare form.

He stood there, looking at himself from the waist up in the mirror over the sink, which was already starting to collect fog on the edge of the corners seeing as he had already turned on the taps so the water was nice and cozy for him.

The neko-jin then looked at his own sad face, studying it carefully. Every time he looked in any mirror with his hair down, he always got the urge to cut it. He hated looking so feminine, but he was proud of his raven locks and always had been. But he figured that cutting it was the only way to attract someone of the opposite sex. He had always been hit on by guys all his life because of the way he looked. He was sick of it.

Closing his amber eyes, he turned to the shower, moving the curtain aside just enough and stepping inside, letting the falling water wet his long silky bangs which then became plastered to his face.

He was so lonely. This was the only time he could express his loneliness. He didn't dare do it in front of Kai for fear that the other would tease him or brag about how many girlfriends he's had.

There came a slight knock on the bathroom door before it slowly creaked open.

"You in the shower yet?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I need to tame my fro, that's why," he smirked as he entered the steam filled room and closed the door behind him. And he couldn't help but stare at Rei's gorgeous shadowy form from the other side of the shower curtain as the boy began the task of washing his hair. Even after he had finally torn his eyes away, he stared yet again through the mirror as he brushed his ever long blue hair.

About five minutes had passed, and still, Kai lazily continued to brush. And Rei had since turned off the taps and stood in the tub wringing his hair. Kai wasn't going to get caught watching him. He never did when he came into the bathroom to take a leak or brush his hair and whatever else he needed to do in the bathroom.

Boy, was he wrong.

Rei usually tossed his hair back over his shoulder and grabbed the towel from over the top of the shower curtain bar, but nothing like that occurred this time. He simply wrenched the shower curtain back, hair slung over his right shoulder in one giant circular curl from where he had wrung it out. But the most bizarre thing of this odd behavior was that Rei had tears in his eyes.

Kai's brush fell forgotten into the sink as he whirled around, a horrified look in his crimson eyes as his eyes met Rei's.

"I'm loosing it, Kai," he whispered, smiling as best he could. "I need someone to talk to." Rei had no other choice, as much as he didn't want to say a word of anything personal to Kai, but he couldn't hold off until Max got here. He knew he could turn to Max for anything without fear.

The bluenette yanked the towel off the bar and tossed it to drape around Rei's shoulders, drying him slightly before urging him with his hands leading him to get out of the tub. "Put these on at least, then we'll go to the room and talk," he said as he handed Rei his boxers.

Slowly, he pulled them on before falling against Kai's chest in sobs.

"C'mon, let's go," he whispered in the neko-jin's ear as he wrapped an arm around his waist and led him from the bathroom and down the hall.

Rei basically let himself just fall bottom first onto the bed while Kai knelt between his knees, resting his arms on smooth thighs and looking up into tearful amber orbs.

"Now what's this all about?"

"I feel so alone, Kai," he said, hugging himself and letting his slight nails dig a little into his flesh, the towel falling off his shoulders to scrunch up behind him. "I need someone in my life."

"I'm right here, and I don't intend on leaving anytime soon," he soothed.

Rei shook his head. "I mean a lover. Not just a friend. But I'm so feminine with this hair! I don't want women to look at me like I'm weak just because of my hair! I'm tired of guys constantly hitting on me and trying to grope me…"

"Rei, your hair is what makes you you. But since you don't want a guy chasing after you, I'm not going to ask you for you to be my lover."

"Kai…"

"Why do you think I moved in with you in the first place? Do you really believe that it was because I fell in love with your house? Not to say that I've fallen in love with you, but there's just something about you. I need to find out what the something is, Rei. There's a reason that I like you so much, something there that draws me to you."

Rei was silent for a few minutes as Kai smiled gently up to him, their eyes dancing to a rhythm that only they knew.

"Even if I would allow you to be my lover, that flame's going to die out eventually. I don't want to face that day."

"It'll happen even with a woman. You grow tired of them and their constant nagging and whining. You grow tired of them walking all over your heart with another man. Even if she never whines or nags or cheats on you, even if you think you'll be in love with her forever, you'll wake up one day and see just how routine this person has become. How not interesting this person has become. Trust me, Rei, I know this all too well."

"You're only 21, Kai. How would you know? The longest relationship that I can recall you having was eight months."

"That's true," he said as he tilted Rei's now downcast and concealed face up to meet his gaze. "But she broke my heart by cheating on me, in my own place no less. But I know about the rest because that's what happened with my parents. They split up shortly after my 6th birthday because my dad was tired of day in and day out the same routine with my mother and me."

"I'm not willing to give up someone if I fall in love with them. I'll do whatever I can to keep that flame going."

"Then fall in love with me. I told you I'm not going to leave."

"But you will one day. We can't live together forever."

He could tell that Rei was considering his offer. "Let's do this then. You become my lover until the day you find your woman. Once that day comes, I'll leave without a fuss."

"How could you do that to yourself, Kai?"

"What do you mean?"

"How could you imply that you'll be my lover, but you'll let me sleep around with other women until I find the one for me? If you really care for me, you'd want me all to yourself."

"That is what I want, but you don't. I want you to be happy, Rei."

More tears silently ran down the neko-jin's cheeks as he stared at Kai and thought.

'We've been living together for so long now. We know each other so well. So I guess that if I did go through with this, the only thing that will really change is the physical side of our relationship. I mean, we already tell each other everything…' the raven haired teen mused to himself.

The bluenette simply sat there on the floor, one of his hands finding one of Rei's as he gently clasped his fingers around the other's palm. Patiently, he waited.

And his patience was rewarded as Rei slowly wrapped his fingers around Kai's hand.

"I don't want to try finding someone else if I'm with you, Kai. I'm going to stay with you until the flame burns out. If I'm going to be with someone, I'm going to be loyal to that person. And I expect the same from them."

"Consider it done," Kai smiled as he stood and leaned over, resting his forehead to Rei's so they were eye to eye. "I've been loyal to you since the day I moved in, haven't I?"

Rei choked back a sob before closing his eyes and nodding, smiling. He couldn't believe how blind he was sometimes…

"Now get dressed so we can get this shopping over with," he said as he stood fully, urging Rei to stand by pulling up on the hand he had been holding for a while now, to which Rei obliged.

The raven haired teen grabbed his things from the bathroom and got dressed in the bedroom, his hair brush and binder on the bed, not going unnoticed by Kai who scooped up the brush and proceeded to brush it from his spot on the bed as Rei sat down to tie his shoes.

Rei had to admit that it felt rather nice on his scalp to have someone else play with his hair for a change.

After Kai had managed to get Rei's hair into it's binding, he released the white cloth and wrapped his arms around Rei's shoulders from behind, his lips brushing against the neko-jin's ear as he spoke. "You ready?"

Rei simply nodded and turned slightly to face Kai. He figured that it would be at least a little awkward with making this advance in their friendship to lover relationship, but he didn't seem at all phased by Kai's lips gently pressing against his own in that moment. It seemed almost like he had been expecting Kai to do that everyday since he moved in with him.

I heart this pairing so much!

Anywho, you'll see why it's called "Mother, Dear" in the next chapter...and no, they won't be having kids in this one...XD