Kiku stared down at a particularly virulent looking salad. The lettuce was wilted and the croutons were soggy, The green heap wreaked of an overly potent vinegar bile and seemed to have a slimy sheen.
"Seriously," came Alfred's muffled words. "Who comes to the king of fast food restaurants and orders a salad?" The American boy spoke between inhalations of hamburger and french fries. "You're really missin' out, y'know?"
"I doubt it," Kiku replied dryly. He dared to take a sip of the iced tea he had ordered, letting out a retching noise shortly after. "What is this swill?"
"You're the one who ordered it. I usually just go for coke, but I guess that woulnd't be fancy enough for you."
"Tch.." Kiku didn't say much else. He couldn't ignore the fact that his stomach was screaming at him for sustenance, and there was a plate of food in front of him, well, technically it was food. After a deep sigh Kiku reached for the flimsy plastic...thing. "What is this silly thing?"
"Heh, that's a spork, dude," Alfred informed matter-of-factly with a small chuckle. "Oh man! You're overdue for some serious cultural enlightenment."
Kiku sent the boy a glare and stabbed the pathetic salad with his tenuous plastic utensil and took a bite. It seemed like every inch of him sneered at the vile substance. But he could take no more of the American's little jokes. With near complete disregard for proper dining manners, Kiku shoveled the salad down with as much speed as possible, allowing as little to sully his tongue as possible.
"Man, and people say I eat fast..." Alfred eyed the foreigner. "Still hungry?"
Kiku shook his head violently. "Absolutely not!" he retorted, now gulping down his iced tea.
"Whatever you say, this stuff is the bomb!"
Kiku sat silently with his arms crossed, waiting for Alfred to finish his two hamburgers, large fry, milk shake, and extra large Coke, which didn't seem to actually take all that long.
After discarding their waste and leaving their trays above the trash can in the restaurant, the boys headed toward the market near the apartment.
"I hope you're not expecting me to eat at places like that often," Kiku said as they walked, Alfred in front, Kiku purposely lagging slightly behind.
"Of course, I usually have lunch at places like that."
"Every day?" Kiku gawked.
"Sure, is'at weird?"
"It's repulsive!"
"Well it's not like I'm gonna cook for myself."
"Honestly..." Kiku pinched the bridge of his nose with frustration. "I will accept no such thing for a dietary plan. I'm frankly amazed you're as lean as you are. Now, let me see your grocery list."
"Wha...?" Alfred stared at Kiku in confusion.
"You're grocery list!" Kiku demanded, patience now evaporated at this point. "You do have one, right?"
"No, I was just gonna get, like, some ice cream, and TV dinners and stuff."
"Absolutely hopeless..." Kiku enunciated every syllable. "That's it. There is no way I will accept living under the same roof as you with such a poor excuse for an eating habit. I will be doing the grocery shopping from now on, as well as cooking. There will be no more of this strict hamburger diet of yours. Besides, vegetables will do that meek brain of yours some good."
"Hey-" The loud ring of the automatic doors stopped Alfred from whatever he was going to say. All that arguing, Alfred hadn't realized that they had already arrived at the store.
The boys spent the next half hour or so walking around the store with a large metal shopping cart. For every item Kiku added to the cart, Alfred doubled the amount in complaints. "That stuff tastes like the inside of my grandma's mouth!" "That organic stuff'll give you cancer!" "That's not even the kind with bacon in it!" Needless to say the pair earned a good many stares from the surrounding shoppers, and even the clerk once they had reached the checkout line.
"Will that be...cash...or credit..?" the heavily make-upped cashier had asked, evidently finding the situation strange.
"That would be credit, miss," Kiku replied in a voice so graceful that it surprised Alfred. Kiku held out his hand coolly in front of the bewildered blonde boy. "Won't it, Alfred?" Kiku said sharply to the obviously confused boy.
"Oh, er, right," he stuttered, fishing out the shiny blue card. Kiku plucked it from Alfred's fingers, handing it to the woman.
"My, that certainly is a lovely fragrance," Kiku said lightly to the clerk, handing her the card. "Marc Jacobs, I take it?"
"Ah, oh, yes it is," the heavy eye shadow glittered as the woman blinked, bemused.
"A lovely choice, if I do say so myself," Kiku winked, taking the card back.
"Why thank you," the woman smiled. She reached beneath the counter and retrieved two foil-wrapped squares. "Why don't you take these? Someone paid for them earlier but forgot to take them. Such charming young lad's deserve a little reward for their good manners, don't you agree?" The woman smiled, handing Kiku the two candy bars.
"How kind of you, ma'am," Kiku said with a tiny bow of the head, taking the chocolate. "I appreciate your selfless gesture. Now then," he turned to Alfred. "We ought to get home and put these in the refrigerator."
"R-right," Alfred replied, a bit flustered.
Kiku led the way out of the store, and Alfred waddled along with his heavy plastic bags.
"Hold up, Kiku," he called. "What was that all about? I've never seen you act so... nice."
"That woman was the assistant manager of the store," Kiku responded, not looking back at the blonde boy.
"How did you know that?"
"It was on her name tag, baka."
"So...? What does that have to do with anything?" Alfred inquired, looking puzzled.
"Well that is your usual place of shopping, is it not?" Kiku explained matter-of-factly. "By wooing the people who run an establishment you frequently visit there is a much higher chance of receiving better service. For one, it works for one time occurrences, but by charming the employees on a regular basis they will get to know you and will go out of their way to please you."
"So you were faking...?"
"A burger-gulping airhead like you will do well to learn this, especially if I'm going to be stuck under the same roof for God knows how long."
"That's not nice, Kiku," Alfred frowned. "You're just acting nice to manipulate people. All you're doing is lying."
"It's not lying, it's diplomacy."
"It sounds fishy."
"Perhaps you'll learn when you're older."
"We're like, the same age!" Alfred retorted wildly.
"Chronological age and mental age are two entirely different things," Kiku replied calmly, hinting at an amused undertone.
"Y-you're unbelievable, y'know that?"
The rest of the walk home was full of colorful back-and-forthing between the two boys, Kiku's suave remarks, and Alfred's zany reactions.
It was astonishing how very different the two youths were from each other. The American fearless and foolish, never allowing his quirkiness to get the better of him, the Japanese introverted and spoiled, too damaged to even consider allowing someone into his tiny, self-absorbed world. However, even more astonishing than that fundamental difference, was something even stronger, a quality that was identical between the two. Some would call it fate, some would call it destiny, but in truth, that unfathomable quality was nameless and intangible.
Kiku spent the next week or so quite consistently, and so did Alfred. The angsty Japanese boy stayed sitting on his bed for hours at a time on his laptop, and the other would stay on the couch in the living room playing various games on his PS2. Kiku preferred as few dealings with the American as possible, and Alfred was none the wiser. Kiku would only leave for necessary reasons, such as bathing, cooking, even cleaning.
Back at home he had his own maid, but he had learned a thing or two about keeping up a place of living in home economics class. Most of his classes were far different that what you would expect for a twelve year old boy. Back home Kiku was taught subjects like global economy and business management, everything he would need to be properly groomed by his parents to take over the family business one day. He didn't find such teachings particularly interesting, but he easily understood them.
It was a miserable Tuesday afternoon, it seemed even the clouds could not withstand the intensifying heat of the looming summer. Kiku checked his watch. Half past five and time to start preparing dinner. He snapped the cover of his laptop shut and set it on the nightstand to his left before hopping off the bed. As he entered the kitchen, Kiku heard the expected sound of button-tapping and the poor quality voice acting of some video game.
"Haven't you anything better to do?" Kiku asked wearily, opening a cupboard.
"Eh, not really," Alfred replied, not looking away from the television screen.
"You don't even have any summer homework?" Kiku inquired with a thick layer of boredom in his voice. "Your brain will rot out of your head before the semester begins in autumn."
"Mmm," Alfred thought for a moment. "Well I do have a summer project, but I'll probably get to it later this summer. What about you? What do you do in there all day on that laptop?"
A sharp clicking sounded as Kiku lit a flame on the stove. "Stocks, usually," he replied simply. "Various research into what's going on with the major businesses in Japan, and here as well. Things like that."
"The hell?" Alfred replied with a raised brow. "What kind of a kid are you? Stocks? Economy?" A hiss came from the kitchen as meat was thrown into a pan.
"Well considering the bulk of my education lies in business I might as well use that knowledge to my advantage. It is certainly more productive that playing silly little games all day."
"They're not silly!" Alfred retorted. "At least I know how to have fun."
"Having fun is irrelevant when you have actual responsibility." The harsh sound of metal against metal rang out as Kiku stirred around the contents of his skillet.
"Man, I'd go crazy if all I did was boring stuff like stocks all day."
"Well that's not all I spend my time doing." Kiku's tone grew more indignant as the conversation progressed. "I do a lot of reading as well, and writing research articles."
"Man!" Alfred dropped his controller on the coffee table in front of him and threw his hands in the air. "What are you, like, forty? You never play games or watch TV or anything!"
"Well technically I watch television on my computer. I spend about sixty percent of my time watching the news," Kiku said, his voice growing smaller as he pulled out two bowls from the cupboard.
"There's nothing interesting on the news, it's totally boring. Who would bother caring about something so lame?" Alfred yawned.
A harsh clattering of porcelain made Alfred jump. He looked toward the kitchen to see Kiku's hands clasped rigidly around the bowls from the cupboard. His gaze was cast downwards, his face obscured by sleek, jet black bangs.
"I watch the news..." the boy said in an almost inaudible voice, "...because when I wake up every day, the first thing on my mind is whether or not my country, my family, have been wiped off the face of the earth by nuclear explosion!" Kiku stormed off and out of sight, a sharp slam of a door as a clear end to the conversation.
Alfred stared in the direction of Kiku's leave, blank for a few moments. He let out a large sigh. "Alfred you idiot..." He sat down on the barstool at the counter, his glasses pushing up to his forehead as he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. He decided to give Kiku a little while to cool off before he'd go in to apologize. He looked across to the other side of the kitchen where Kiku had been cooking. Two empty bowls sat next to the hot skillet of food. There was still a small mess left behind. Kiku would have normally cleaned it up after eating, but not this time.
Alfred let out another sigh as he hopped off the stool, walking slowly into the kitchen. He began to lazily wipe off the counter with the sponge from the sink. Even though Kiku was a spoiled rich kid, he was still a much better housekeeper than he. Kiku was a lot of things better than him. He was smart, responsible, mature... He really was amazing, even if he was a spoiled brat. Alfred found himself lightly smiling to himself as he cleaned. After returning the spices that Kiku had used to their proper places in the rack, Alfred ladled the now lukewarm food into each bowl until they were evenly portioned. He carried one in each hand and walked to their shared bedroom, and knocked on the door after shifting the bowls to free a hand.
"What is it?" came the cold reply from the other side.
Alfred turned the handle, careful to not drop the bowls and entered. Kiku was sitting on the bed, his computer resting on his lap. "I, well, I just wanted to apologize," Alfred said nervously, unsure of what exactly to say or expect. "I...didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"Tch," Kiku scoffed. "You think I'm angry because of feelings?" The boy had a sharp look in his eye.
"Wha... You're, you're not-?"
"I'm angry because you're a tactless moron." Kiku said flatly.
"...?" Alfred was speechless and confused.
"Honestly, you really are an idiot..." Kiku glanced up from his laptop.
"W-well, I'll admit I don't get the best grades..." he gave an awkward, embarrassed little smile, attempting to scratch his temple, realizing he had two bowls in his hands. "Oh! He-here, I brought you some food," he said, handing one of the bowls to Kiku. The boy took it, then held out his hand expectantly. Alfred looked down at the waiting hand with confusion.
"I take it you didn't think to bring along any eating utensils..." Kiku said with unsurprised exasperation.
"Oh, ah, r-right! Eheh..." Alfred stuttered, scratching the back of his neck guiltily.
Kiku couldn't suppress a small smirk. "You really are a moron."
Alfred let out a spell of light laughter, and Kiku couldn't help but chuckle along with him.
~x~
Kesesese... I liked how this chapter ended =^-^= If you guys have any requests, for like, possible pairings and whatnot, feel free to let me know! ^^b And I'm loving the reviews! Love it love it love it!
Oh, and I hope there isn't any confusion when Kiku talks about his country and family getting wiped off the face of the earth by nuclear explosion. I only referred to it briefly in the first chapter, the reason that Kiku was sent to America, because of the tragedies going on in his homeland, based on what has actually been going on in Japan lately, what with the tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear reactors.
So with that, I hope you enjoyed and will write a review telling me what you thought!^^
See you next chapter! ;D