Sugar Cookie

The teenager found himself waking up to sounds of pots and pans being banged around in the kitchen. His dream had been a rather deep one, making it hard for him to get up. The fog of sleep was holding him down and his limbs felt heavy. His chest felt stuffy and he let out a little sneeze followed by sniffles.

Slowly, his eyes cracked open as the noises got softer and were replaced by the echo of footsteps. The floor creaked under the weight of the man walking on them. He noticed that they also stopped and was curious to see where Soubi had disappeared to. He assumed it was the man who had been making the ruckus, they had been alone for hours now.

"Soubi," A wince went through his body at how weak he sounded. His day had been rough and he had a sore throat from it all. "Are you making dinner already?"

There was silence at first, making his cheeks flush. If he had been hearing things that meant he was making things up again and embarrassing himself. And if it wasn't Soubi then he needed to rub the sleep out of his eyes and get himself together. He looked a mess, with slobber sitting uncomfortably on his chin.

His eyes moved from cracked to widely opened as he looked around the room. His chest felt tingly as he realized he was alone and he sighed. His shoulders sagged as he let out a cough that sounded gross with how wet it was. He was catching a cold. A hand moved down from his face to rub against his tight feeling chest.

"Ritsuka are you feeling okay?" If he hadn't been so tired Ritsuka would have jumped out of his seat in surprise. Like a ghost, Soubi had appeared out of nowhere with a plate in his hand. He was blank-faced like usual but the look in his eyes showed how worried he was.

The teenager bit his bottom lip, wanting to reassure the man that he was perfectly fine. But he knew it was pointless to lie, he looked like he had been rolled out of a hospital bed. And even if he didn't look awful, the way Soubi was staring into his soul made him feel unable to say anything but the truth. The man's demeanor also wasn't helping the situation.

Ritsuka let his shoulders fall and gestured for him to come over. "I think I have a cold from being out in the snow so long."

The statement made him think about the previous day. He had been forced to walk in the snow with a weak, thin coat for protection against the elements. By the time he got home, his skin felt raw from the frigid air and red when he managed to shower. Once he arrived at Soubi's house, the man got upset over how cold his body was.

Soubi's grip on the plate stayed the same but Ritsuka could tell he was rattled. It was set on the coffee table that stood near the teen's knees. It was modern but showed Soubi's personality through its somewhat strange design in the tabletop's pattern. It was hard not to marvel at how even the tiniest pieces of furniture were unique in his house.

"You feel warm," A soft hand touched his forehead gently for a minute before moving to his chest. He felt his cheeks brighten even more once he noticed how sweaty he was. "And you're clammy."

"Sorry." An apology left his lips before he could clamp them shut. It was an instinct they both knew about, something he couldn't grow out of. Still, he could see Soubi tense up once he had said it.

Instead of getting angry at him or acting annoyed at his choice of words, the man smiled at him. It was rare to see someone so stoic and blank show such an open display of love. But for him, Soubi seemed to want to convey to him that it was okay. That it was okay to make mistakes and to misspeak at times.

The hand left his body as Soubi hurried to reassure him. "It's alright. Let's just focus on relaxing for now."

Ritsuka was released the man hadn't pushed him on how he had gotten sick. It wasn't hard to tell that Soubi didn't like his mother. For his sake, the man kept his comments to himself but the way his body tensed as the mention of her was enough. If he knew that she had forced him to travel in the cold, some of the harshest weather they had gotten in months, he would lose it.

While he was lost in his thoughts, something warm was put into his hands. It smelled delicious and felt kind of crispy. He looked down at his palm and was met with a delicious-looking cookie. His favorite flavor is sugar. It was simple enough that he was able to buy it when his mother was angry and refused to feed him anything for days.

"I saw you had been looking at a box in the bakery. So, I decided to make you some from scratch." The cookie smelled wonderful as he took a small bite.

It was more of a nibble, with the sprinkles tasting like pure white sugar. So sweet that if it had been any bigger, his teeth would ache. The teen's stomach grumbled but his throat felt like it had gotten thicker. The inside was incredibly hot, feverish even. It was tight and almost made it hard to breathe, to speak.

It wasn't because of his cold. Honestly, he was starting to feel better as he watched Soubi grab a blanket to wrap over him. It was the fact that he was overwhelmed with the sudden rush of care that the man tended to throw onto him. At first, it had been so overwhelming that he couldn't help pushing him away and demanding that he stop acting so weird.

But now, he felt used to it. And he found himself hoping that Soubi would invite him over for a home-cooked meal. Or to take him to a museum to look at art and watch the man marvel at paintings the teenager had never even known existed. It was nice to be wanted by someone and to be showered with little romantic dates and dinners.

"Are you alright?" Ritsuka was startled out of his thoughts to see Soubi standing over him, worry on his face. He had probably been quiet for a way too long chewing on one small bit of cookie.

"I'm fine," He felt better now, his throat wasn't as sore and tired feeling. For now, all he wanted to do was eat and take a nap. "Can you hand me another one please?"