He couldn't believe he was doing this.
Len pulled the sloppy looking...he couldn't even call it a cake anymore...out of the oven. He winced as the smell hit his nostrils. It was repugnant and gross in every way. It smelled like wet dog mixed with burn flesh.
Len willed himself not to gag as he got out a knife and began to cut the monstrosity into eight pieces. He couldn't believe he was actually doing this.
The "cake" was surprisingly solid, not liquid in the middle like he assumed it would be. He was slightly afraid that it would have been. That would have made it that much harder to get down.
He wasn't going to be able to eat the whole thing. No, that'd be too much for him. He'd throw up before he got to four pieces. His stomach was too small for that, even if it wasn't disgustingly wretched. He would try for two pieces. If he could get two, then that'd do it. There was a chance that it might not even make his stomach upset -not including the taste- so he'd probably have to stuff himself if it didn't work, just to be able to blame it on the cake.
Len sat down at the table, fork at the ready. He gulped. Maybe it would be better to get some milk to mask the taste. He quickly stood up, glad to be away from the fate that he was sure to meet. He got a large glass of milk and sat back down. Now or never. He gulped. He prayed for never.
The first bite wasn't as bad as he initially thought; it was worse. The taste after cooking was 1,000 times worse than he ever could have imagined. He already felt like barfing, and he hadn't even swallowed it. He choked down the stomach acids that threatened to come up, splashing against his esophagus. Three more bites went by and he thought he wouldn't make it. The salt was absolutely revolting. It was all he could taste after a while. He quickly reached for the milk, downing half of it in one go. He hated to do it, but he successfully finished the two pieces of cake. His stomach ached terribly and he felt like he would vomit if he breathed in too deeply.
"Now what?" he asked himself. He hadn't thought of that. How was he going to get Rin's attention? He could hardly move, much less walk into their room and ask her to take care of him.
Len forced himself to stand, gripping the chair so tight that his knuckles turned white. He clamped his hand over his mouth.
Once he was certain that he wasn't going to throw up -yet- he made his way over to the couch in the living room. This was such a bad idea. He didn't even care about Rin anymore, all he could think about was the pain in his belly.
He moaned loudly, cursing himself for being such an idiot. His stomach burbled and groaned. Why'd he eat that cake? His cheeks puffed out. And so much of it?
He let out a loud belch and moaned again. He was hurting too much to care if anyone heard him. Screw manners. He flopped down on the couch and held his tummy tightly, curling up in a fetal position.
Miku walked into the living room. She had forgotten her bag that she needed for the project she was working on. Science wasn't going to make itself, and Rin certainly wasn't going to do it. She bent over to pick up her bag, but then she noticed Len and stopped, straightening up.
"So'd you get her happy yet?" she asked, hopeful that he wasn't still mad at her, but he didn't respond. Miku pouted. So he was still mad. "Len? I'm sorry I made her upset, I wasn't trying to..."
Len moaned, unable to speak well enough to tell he to go away. He shifted into a different position, trying to turn to look at her, but not quite making it. He moaned again and his stomach burbled, sending shock waves of pain throughout his abdomen. Miku raised her eyebrow. "You okay?" Len burped again. Miku glared at him. "You don't need to be rude, you know." Len mentally rolled his eyes at the irony of that statement. He moaned in reply. Miku got curious and moved so that she could see him better. He was lying on the couch with an arm draped over his stomach. Sweat shined on his forehead. Miku got scared and ran out of the room. He wasn't a zombie, right? Not hungry for brains? No...No, he couldn't be. She was being silly. Miku ran into the twins' room and threw the door open.
"RIN RIN RIN RIN RIN!" she screamed. Rin sighed. So she was going to tease her too?
"Go away, Miku!" she growled. Miku ignored her and started shaking her like crazy.
"But Rinny, there's something wrong with Len!" she exclaimed. "I think he's a zombie or something!" Rin rolled her eyes and shoved Miku away.
"Miku, I'm not in the mood!" she screamed. Miku gulped and peered down the hall, checking to see that Len wasn't Grudge-crawling towards the room.
"But Rinny, he was moaning over and over and holding his tummy!" Rin froze. "I think he's a zombie! He's trying to tell us he's hungry, and he wants to eat our brains!" Rin stood up, walking around Miku. Miku grabbed her ankle, tripping her. Rin faced planted into a pile of laundry.
"Miku," Rin mumbled into a pair of unwashed boxers. "Let go of me."
"Nuuu! Rinny, I won't let you get eated!" Rin groaned and stood up, dragging Miku along with her. "Nuuu, Rinny, it's too scary!"
"Then leave!" Rin barked. Miku ran back into the room and slammed the door shut behind her. She cracked it open out of curiosity. Not enough for a zombie to get through, though. Yeah, definitely not enough. Miku nodded.
Rin rolled her eyes at the "blonde" behind her. Sometimes that statement didn't even make sense. You can't call it a blonde moment if the blonde is smarter than you.
Rin walked as quietly as she could, but she stepped on a creaky floorboard and it groaned under the weight of her foot. She winced, hoping she didn't alarm Len. But she did.
Len moaned and curled up tighter. "Miku, is that you?" he moaned painfully, wincing slightly. "Miku, I'm not a zombie, I'm not gonna eat you." Rin got a good look at him. He was pale, sweaty, and shaking bad. His arm hung lazily over his stomach, then suddenly dug into his abdomen with a sharp force. He moaned again.
"Ohhhhh, my stomach hurts..." He burped obnoxiously and curled up even tighter. Rin frowned at his actions and put her hand on his forehead. Len opened up his eyes, seeing his sister's face contorted in concern. Wow. He didn't even have to go get her himself. She was just naturally drawn to him. He almost laughed, but another wave of nausea sent him running to the bathroom, his sister close behind. She watched him as the cake came back up through his mouth, making him gag and whimper. She rubbed his back as he emptied his stomach, having to close her eyes at one point, afraid that if she watched him any longer, she would get sick too. Once the cake was out of his stomach, he felt much better. But there was still an obvious pain that plagued him, and he couldn't hide it from his sister. Rin wiped his mouth with a tissue and flushed the toilet. She helped her brother stand up and led him back to the couch. She made sure he was comfortable before leaving to get some ginger ale and crackers. She came back and gave them to him a little bit at a time. He felt like throwing up again once he got them down, but it wasn't because Rin had done anything wrong. His stomach was too sensitive to consume all that much. Besides, the salt on the crackers brought back bad memories, making him gag. Rin rushed into the kitchen and looked for something they could afford to have him throw up in. She froze when she saw the cake sitting there on the stove, a few slices missing. She frowned when she realized what had happened. She made her brother get sick. She messed up again.
Rin sniffed as she set the trash can down next to Len. Len widened his eyes. What happened?!
"Why are you crying?" he asked. What could have possibly happened in the two minutes that she was gone?
Rin sniffed again. "I-I'm sorry...I should have told you," she whimpered. "That cake wasn't safe to eat. I'm really sorry, I didn't think anyone would actually eat it. I'm sorry I got you sick." Len frowned upon hearing that. There was one- No. There were many, many, many flaws in his plan, but that was probably the biggest one. Rin was the reason why the cake was contaminated in the first place. He touched her face and wiped a tear away with his thumb.
"Rin..." he began. "It...It's not your fault. It's not your fault that I'm sick. I knew it was gonna be bad, but...Well, I ate it anyway." Rin widened her eyes.
"Why?" she asked.
"I hate seeing you so sad," he mumbled. "I wanted to make you feel better. Everyone kept saying that nobody needed you, so...So I wanted you to feel like you were needed. Because I need you, Rin."
"Len, you dummy, you didn't have to go and make yourself sick!" Rin pouted at him. Len squeezed his eyes shut in pain for a moment, clutching his abdomen.
"I tried to get you to help me a bunch of times, but you wouldn't even try..." Rin finally realized why Len kept asking her to do stuff for him. Her heart ached at the thought of her brother going to all this trouble just to help her.
"Len, I..." Rin didn't know what to say. She couldn't think of the right words to express her feelings. Len just smiled at her as best as he could and held her hand. Rin flushed at the action, not used to physical contact from males much, even if it was just her brother.
"It's okay, Rin," he said. "I wanted to get sick. I did this because I wanted to. You mean so much to me, I just couldn't stand to see you cry like that. I'm okay with this, really." He winced, making Rin tighten her grip on his hand. She put her arm around his shoulder to help support him.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," he mumbled. He frowned. "Actually, no, I'm not okay." He looked up at his big sister. (Big for the moment, at least.) Rin's bright blue eyes were filled with concern as she waited for her baby brother to tell her what he wanted to say.
"Rinny, I need you," he finally said. "I need you to take care of me. I-I need my big sister..." Rin sat down on the couch beside him and put her hand on his tummy. She nodded.
"Okay," she said, tucking his hair behind his ear. Len smiled.
"Good!" Len practically shouted. "Because I need you to cuddle with me and rub my tummy, I feel awful." Rin playfully rolled her eyes.
"Gee, I wonder why?" She giggled and snuggled up with her brother anyway.