Chapter 4: Have You Eaten?

Preview: In which Hibari impresses upon Gokudera the importance of dinnertime.

Living with Hibari means living by the clock. He comes to wake Gokudera every morning at six on the dot, even on the weekend. He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same time everyday; food is prepared for him and set on the table before he even comes in the room. Although Gokudera has never eaten lunch with Hibari at school, he's willing to bet the same happens there.

So he knows something is up when he comes home and the kitchen light is on. He doesn't have a watch, but it is definitely past dinnertime and Hibari is not one to go for a late night snack. He approaches the rectangle of light on the floor cut from the kitchen entrance, pauses, then crosses through it.

Hibari sits at the head of the table and doesn't turn around to look at Gokudera when he walks in. Gokudera stops behind his own chair.

"Have you eaten?" Hibari asks.

"What?" Gokudera looks over the careful arrangement of the plates and bowls—symmetrically aligned, as they always are when he and Hibari sit down for a meal, and, without thinking, lies, "Uh, no. No, I didn't. How long have you been sitting here? Have you been sitting here since seven o'clock?"

Hibari doesn't answer.

It occurs to Gokudera now that since he moved in with Hibari, he hasn't once missed dinner. He ate at Tenth's house today. He doesn't usually since Tenth's mother already has to feed so many mouths, but it was the last day of class and that called for some celebration. Bianchi and Reborn had gone out as well, so he didn't have to worry about puking up all his food and offending Tenth's mother.

But if he'd known Hibari was going to sit here for hours, like a robot out of battery…

He touches the platter holding steamed fish. "Man, the food's cold. Did you even take a bite?"

"No."

Gokudera stares at Hibari, who reaches for the serving spoon beside the fish, but Gokudera grabs his wrist. "Just wait a minute. You can't eat it like this."

Hibari watches Gokudera gather up as many dishes as he can carry at once to the kitchen. There's no microwave, like it's not good enough for Hibari's food or something, so he shoves the fish and rice and vegetables into the oven for a couple minutes. He can't find oven mitts, but dealing with explosives all his life he's built up a considerable heat resistance; he picks up the hot ceramic without flinching and takes them back to the table.

Hibari begins to serve himself as soon as Gokudera sits down. It's the fastest Gokudera has ever seen Hibari eat (which means he doesn't chew each bite for a fricking year like a camel). Gokudera toys with his own food, but makes out like he's eating whenever Hibari looks at him.

"You shouldn't have waited," Gokudera says finally. "Why would you wait so long? Weren't you hungry?"

Hibari takes a moment to answer since his mouth is full. He swallows before saying, "It's more convenient if we both eat at the same time."

"Don't be stupid. If I'm not here at seven, just eat. I mean it's not like I can let you know until it's happened, so if I'm not around, just go ahead."

Hibari blinks, then goes back to his food. When he finishes, he walks out, and Gokudera can stop pretending to eat. As Gokudera stacks up dishes to take to the sink, he wonders why Hibari did such a thing. He does everything by his own schedule, never listens to anyone, will beat the shit out of anyone who dares to waste his time, yet he waited until Gokudera came home to eat dinner. With him. What a weirdo.

Then Gokudera notices he is smiling.

The next morning, Gokudera is awoken at six, but not by Hibari—on the table is a cellphone vibrating and ringing. It repeats the same cheerful jingle over and over until he crawls over, tugs it from the charger cord, and flips it open.

It chirps and vibrates in his hand.

1 new message

He opens it.

Breakfast? -Kyoya

Endnote: Well, well, another update so soon. New chapters will probably be shorter now until I work in the manga storyline again.