Gah I sorry for the slowness of this chapter. I started typing it a loooonnnggg time ago, but I've been real lazy since spring break ended. But no worries I promise not to be this slow again.

I got the lasagna recipe from Except I only followed the recipe half-way. :-)

Disclaimer: See Chapter One

Also this chapter contains quite alot of cursing here and there. But cooking is stressful...so you understand.

Chapter 7

Playing Chef

Zexion-

Sundays have always been a favorite day of the week for me. I can't really explain why. Maybe because it's usually the night Mom makes her biggest dinners that take all day to make. Or maybe because my brothers aren't pulling me all over town. Don't get me wrong, I like them and like hanging out with them, but sometimes they can be overwhelming, especially when you don't feel good. There have been plenty of weekends I had a cold or a major headache and they still convince (or rather force) me to go somewhere. The only time they let me stay home is if I'm really sick, emptying my stomach in the bathroom every hour.

This particular Sunday everyone had gathered in the living room, lounging around or playing the Wii. I still can't figure out Sora had managed to get one only a few weeks after they came out, but he did. Demyx and Roxas were attempting to play tennis against each other, which was quite amusing. Snicker Doodle was sitting in my lap, sleeping. I had brought her with me when I had moved here, I didn't dare leave her at home where my "dad" lived, or whatever you would call that bastard. It didn't matter now though. I didn't have a father, and I was never going back. I only had a mother and 5 brothers, and that was fine with me.

"Axel, sweetheart, maybe you should go start now." Mom stated, not looking up from her book. Axel stared at her, puzzled. "Start what?" He replied, raising an eyebrow.

Mom smiled and looked up to meet his eyes. "Dinner. I remember clearly on Friday you got your paper back, and it was an 89, one point from an A. You promised me that you would cook a home made dinner if I won the bet." Sora barked out a laugh, startling Fernagard, who was sunning herself on the window sill.

"Aw come on Mom, why Sunday? Can't I do it tomorrow?" He gave her the puppy dog eyes. "Pwease pwease purdy purdy pweeeaaaassseee?" Mom attempted to look serious, but her eyes were filled with laughter. "Don't give me that Ax, I'm sure it will be delicious." Axel sighed heavily and got off the couch. "Fine, but don't complain if it's burnt!" He yelled over his shoulder as he entered the kitchen.

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Axel-

I don't usually cook. I have a tendency to burn things. Don't ask why, it just happens. I opened the pantry first, to see if I could get away with one of the easy bake things, but no such luck. There was hardly anything dinner-like in there, expect for lasagna noodles and spaghetti sauce. I investigated the fridge and discovered Mom had decided for me what I should make.

Lasagna.

Garlic Bread.

Salad.

Chocolate cream pie.

Luckily all I had to do with the pie was take it out of the freezer so it would defrost a little. But lasagna of all things for her to pick! I knew there was no way of getting around burning it some how. Salad I could make. Just throw it all in a bowl. Ta-da! Just like cereal. Plus it didn't involve an oven, or stove, or anything.

I rummaged around in the kitchen for 5 minutes before I found a pan suitable for lasagna. I set it down carefully on top of the stove and found a big bowl for the salad, and a cookie sheet to put the garlic bread on. As I set the cookie sheet down on the counter, I caught sight of a piece of paper on the center island. It was a lasagna recipe I could follow. I sighed in mental relief. At least she had been kind enough to provide me with that.

"Alright so I guess I have to brown the meat and cook the noodles…." I mumbled to myself. I filled a pan with water and set it on a burner, and then retrieved a skillet to brown the meat in. It couldn't be too hard to brown meat.

I slid the raw chunk of meat onto the skillet and sat down on the floor, waiting for the water to heat up and the meat to start sizzling. I had watched mom brown meat a million times before, and she made it look easy enough. And then I just had to follow that recipe and it would all turn out perfect.

Or at least edible.

I heard a telltale sizzle from above me and stood to inspect. The meat was starting to brown on the bottom, and the water was just starting to boil. Carefully I placed the noodles in the water before turning to the meat. Fork. I needed a fork. As I turned around to head to the silverware drawer, my first mishap of the night happened. My elbow knocked into the handle of the skillet, causing it to crash down on my foot and send the blob of meat rolling across the floor.

"….FUUUUUUCCCCKK."

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Sora-

"Ow…..Shit!"

Axel's loud cursing was muffled, but still clear as a bell. Luckily Mom had retired from the living room to go take a shower before dinner. We all exchanged silent glances before we started snickering. It had taken Axel less than 10 minutes to begin cussing about whatever. After a while he died down, and the kitchen was quiet again. We had turned the Wii off and Roxas was now flipping through various channels. Zexion was in his usual spot in the large black recliner, reading. Marluxia was leaned against the arm rest of the large couch, doing math homework it looked like. Demyx was sprawled out on the floor with his notebook, an agitated look on his face. And me, well I was sitting in one of the white chairs, trying to figure out what the hell was my problem. There was no possible way I could be in love with my best friend in more than a best friend way. I was straight. Not bi, certainly not gay. I had dated plenty of girls before moving here, but they just weren't my type. That's all. That's the reason all those relationships failed…right? Maybe I was just going through a phase. That had to be it. I bet every teenager goes through a dumb phase that they think they are in love with their best friend, and after awhile, they figure out that they aren't. It's just my turn to go through the little phase.

I hope.

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Axel-

I threw another pound of meat into the skillet, and threw the old one away. Mom had supplied two of them so I could make a very meaty lasagna. So much for that. I chopped the meat up into little pieces quickly and checked on the noodles. They were slightly overdone. Crap. I pulled them out of the water and set them on a plate and emptied the pan and placed it in the sink and returned to the meat. How did Mom manage this almost every night?

The skillet was already really hot so it didn't take very long for the meat to brown. I took the skillet off the hot burner and placed it on a back one out of the way and looked at the recipe again.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix meat into sauce.

Cover the bottom of the pan with sauce.

Layer noodles on top of it.

Hey this wasn't so hard now. I can do this. ...Aw damnit! Just as I was attempting to layer the sauce, ricotta and mozzarella cheese over the noodles, the sauce pan tipped over, spilling a good amount of it across the counter and stove top. Groaning I cleaned up the spilled sauce as best as I could.

I finally got the lasagna layered perfectly, with a little less sauce and meat, but no doubt it was in there. Carefully I picked up the pan to move it so I could clean the counter off a little to make the salad while the lasagna was cooking.

I'll admit I'm not the most coordinated person in the world, so it's no surprise I ended up on the floor on my stomach, sauce and cheese flicked across my face. Apparently tomato sauce splatters more than I thought, so there had been some on the floor I had never even seen. Luckily enough the pan landed upright in my hands, it just splattered a little…ok well a lot. I would have to remake the top two layers.

"Axel do you need any help?" Mom's voice. The kitchen door was opening. Quickly I scrambled to my feet, pushing my back up against the door to keep her out. "Everything is fine, Mom. Don't worry about it."

She paused, as if thinking about it. "Well alright sweetheart. Just holler if you need anything." The pressure on the door went slack as she went back into the living room. I breathed a sigh of relief and retrieved the half ruined lasagna, and began to remake the top two layers, after I cleaned the floor this time.

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Demyx-

Dear Namine: We have been friends for awhile now, and its been great. You're an awesome friend and…

I tore the piece of paper out of my notebook and started again.

Hey Namine you're a great friend and all but we should take it to the next level. You, me, dinner next weekend. Maybe a little make-out session afterward…

Wow. No way. Much too forward…and creepy. She would probably think I was a stalker/killer freak and she was my newest victim. Tearing that piece out I started a third time.

Beloved Nami: Thou hast the most beautiful eyes this young lad has ever had the utmost privilege of gazing into. Thou hast thee most lustrous lips and thy has gently lock of hair that…

When did we become a bad version of Romeo and Juliet?

Dear Namine: I love you.

Hmm. Not bad. Short, sweet and too the point. But if I gave her this she would probably ignore me forever. Hell I didn't even know if she liked me back or not. I sighed heavily, thudding my head down on my notebook. I'm hopeless.

Something smells like its burning….

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Axel-

Alright. All I had was salad left. The lasagna was almost done and I had just decided to throw the garlic bread in there with it about 10 minutes ago. I dumped a bag of lettuce into a bowl and started skinning a cucumber.

Something smells like its burning somewhere…oh shit. "Hey Ax anything wrong?" Roxas opened the kitchen door a crack. I jumped, slicing my finger open with the knife.

"Everything is fine Rox. It will be ready soon." I clamored across the kitchen to the oven, opening it and peering cautiously inside. Carefully I pulled out the garlic bread. One loaf of it was slightly burned, but no one would notice. The lasagna though…The top layer of sauce and cheese was almost completely black. I didn't have anytime to redo it, and besides I wanted to be done with this already. I sprinkled a layer of left-over mozzarella cheese across the top, hiding the burnt part nicely. I switched the oven off and returned to skinning and slicing the cucumber, trying my best to keep my bloodied finger away from it. I threw in some olives and grape tomatoes, and whole carrots. Hell I was tired and didn't have time to cut them anyway. I picked up the lasagna and carried it slowly to the dining room, staring at the floor as I went. My shoulder ran into a wall once, but nothing bad happened. I did the same with the garlic bread and salad, and quickly set the table.

"Come get your God damn dinner!" I yelled, entering the bathroom beyond the dining room in search of a band-aid.

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Marluxia-

"Axel! Don't you want to come eat the lovely dinner you made?" Mom called. A disheveled Axel exited the bathroom and sat down wearily in his chair. "Not in particularly." A piece of lasagna was passed to him anyway.

The twins tore into their slices immediately, but I examined mine anyway. The top was kinda burnt, but it didn't really matter. It didn't taste bad. It tasted like…well lasagna.

"Oh Axel sugar thank you for making dinner. It's wonderful." Mom said. Mom. It was still kinda weird calling her that. At first I didn't really call her anything, but after awhile I started calling her Mom like everyone else. The first time I had called her that she had gotten this giant smile on her face, like I had told her she had inherited a million dollars. Not like she didn't have a lot of money anyway. Her parents had been very rich, and all the money had gone to her when they both passed away. She also got money from the state to help her run her group home.

"And just for that, I'll make some special blueberry muffins, just for you and your hard work." She beamed at him. "Thanks Mom." Axel said, shoving an olive across his plate.

"Marly, did you call your sister back yet?" Mom said, switching her attention to me. Lizzie had called earlier, but I hadn't had time yet to call her back. "I'll call her as soon as dinner is over." I replied. I missed Lizzie, but I knew she was pretty happy where she was. Every time she called me she had a new story to tell me about.

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Roxas-

The dinner table grew silent as everyone focused on their dessert. Right at this time I was deciding that my life was pretty good now. Good house, good siblings, good Mom, good friends. A lot better than life was before. Truthfully, I wasn't planning on going back to that life, if that life ever got sorted out. I liked it here. It was like a family should be. I was just starting on cutting down on my pill doses, which made me happy that I wouldn't need to be as dependant on them anymore, and eventually I wouldn't need them at all.

That's when Mom decided to drop the news.

"I have something to tell you all." Mom started, to get all of our attention. Once everyone was focused on her she said, "On Wednesday all your social workers are coming….with you're…..parents. For a visiting day. Any siblings you have will be there too. Won't that be lovely?"

As lovely as failing my semester math test.

Please review if it does so please you:-)

Next Chapter: A Girl's Point of View