Disclaimer: Alright, I'm tired of this. No pwnage.

Wish On This: Behold my belated update. Sorry. I didn't feel as long to me. One day went after another and.. Well, boom. Nonetheless.

Ryou woke up abruptly in his bed, with his muscles tight and strained. He'd been dreaming-- A familiar dream, about his parents.
He levered himself, holding his torso weight by his arms. It was still Thursday. He'd been sleeping for well over two hours. Ryou glanced out the window quickly. The sun was setting now, purple-blue hues against under-ripe banana yellow tree leaves.
Baking smells tingled at his nose, and he breathed deeply.

Ah, can only be Keiichiro's baking.

Like a dog, he followed his nose. He noted that he was already clothed, and slipped out of the blankets noisily. He grabbed the black hoodie he has worn the other day, knowing he'd probably go on a walk.

Down the hall, down the stairs and to the kitchen.
Ryou pushed the kitchen door open with ease, then relaxed his arms again, crossing them against his chest. Keiichiro had his back turned to Ryou, and tapped his fingers impatiently. Ryou realized he was waited for the timer to alarm.
Ryou leaned against the wall as the timer rang and Keiichiro bent down to open the oven door. Ryou smirked at the aroma that played at his nose and lips.
"Smells good." Ryou remarked. Keiichiro flinched and must've hit his bare hand, not guarded by the oven mitt, against hot metal. He let out a hiss of pain through gritted teeth then stood up to face Ryou, after placing the baking good on top of the oven.
There was a good 3 or 4 metre gap between them. Keiichiro sucked on the top section of his ring finger, obviously the one he had burnt. Ryou's expression shifted into something of mild concern and there was an odd heart beat in his chest.
Keiichiro blinked. "Didn't hear you come in," He said, moving his finger to the side to speak more clearly. "Hey."
Ryou nodded in return. "Sorry about that."
Keiichiro simply shook his head as if waving off the apology. "It's okay." He said, removing his finger from his mouth and cradling it in his other hand. He flashed Ryou a quick smile before returning to baking.
Ryou reluctantly left the kitchen without a word. He needed to go for his walk, and there was nothing else Ryou could just blab out there in the kitchen.
Ryou chortled at the thought of spilling all his gratitude in front Keiichiro while he was baking with a burning finger.
You can't just spit that out, can you? Ryou mused. He thought about how he wanted Keiichiro to understand how much he enjoyed having him as a companion, a friend, a best friend. More than that. Ryou had a certain attachment to Keiichiro he couldn't find with anyone else. It wasn't brotherly, like a father, or even like a great friend. Something more Ryou couldn't put his finger on.
Ryou started out the café door, drifting from warmth to the coolness of nature, with a squirming butterfly feeling in his stomach.

Leaves were losing color, red burdening the green. Ryou stretched across the strong tree branch. He'd been laying for about 25 minutes now. He was glad no one had passed. It was expected anyways, this part of the park was least popular.
The sun had said it's farewell with a splurge of beautiful colors like a painting, and now it was dark and getting quieter around the city.
Ryou wasn't really thinking of anything. He had the hood of his hoodie under his head as he layed and his arms steadying him on the branch.
Another 5 quiet minutes passed before Ryou heard crunches of leaves under feet. He opened his eyes. Ryou hoped it was Keiichiro, but that would be unusual. Keiichiro gave him his space, and wouldn't follow him unless it was important.
"Ryou?" A timid voice spoke. Lettuce's voice. Ryou sat up politely in Lettuce's presence. He wasn't feeling particularly sarcastic at the moment.
"Yes?" He answered lowly. Lettuce paused for a moment, then attempting to climb the tree. Ryou ended up helping her up.
She sat beside Ryou with a flustered and flushed look on her face. Ryou showed no emotion and crossed his arms against his chest, but kept his ears attentive. A blow of wind pushed by.
"I kind of followed you here." She said conversationally.
"Obviously." Ryou stated with an annoyed tone.
"Sorry, I…" Lettuce trailed off. Her breathing seemed to fall shorter. Ryou motioned for her to continue.
"I-I… Just wanted… I've been thinking a lot. I m-mean," Lettuce stuttered, and Ryou found it irritating. He surpressed the urge to groan, he did not want to be disturbed in the first place.
"I wanted to tell you… That I really like, like" Lettuce paused. "You."
Ryou kept his face straight while his mind welled up.

Oh, crap.

Ryou flinched and didn't say anything until he noticed Lettuce was waiting for a reply. Her body was tense. Ryou tried to give a comforting smile, but it felt in all fake. Lettuce seemed not to think so, and leaned in toward Ryou. Ryou tensed uncomfortably.

Does she want… A kiss?

Ryou grunted and pulled away. "Lettuce, I," Ryou sighed and decided to be straight forward. "I'm sorry. I don't feel that way about you." Ryou understood that this, ordeal,would probably cause some unwanted tension between them.
Lettuce pulled back like a scared rabbit. "Oh my gosh," She squealed. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." She played with her glasses nervously, and her face had a look of depression on it. She layed a hand on Ryou's shoulder awkwardly in apology. As soon as she realized it was there, it was off, and so was she.
Lettuce ran out of the park and down the sidewalk, not bothering to go back to the café, but straight home. It was almost closing time anyways.
Ryou stared blankly as she turned a corner. His jaw was locked in place. He had nothing better to do then head back to the café.

"It was weird." Ryou said, moving in his seat, holding his cup of hot chocolate.
Keiichiro sat across from him at the table in a relaxed position. He nodded, contemplating what to reply to Ryou's recent incident with Lettuce. He came out with a low-toned reply. "You mean, you didn't realize she had a thing for you?"
Ryou had pulled his hot chocolate to his mouth and swirled some in his mouth. He swallowed it quickly at the end of Keiichiro's sentence and furrowed his eyebrows.
"What? You knew?" He asked, irritated. Keiichiro nodded reluctantly, refusing eye contact for a moment. He looked back into the blonde's eyes.
"You should pay attention to them more, you know." He said sweetly.
Ryou snorted and shrugged. Keiichiro tapped his fingers once then spoke again. "Are you going to do anything about Lettuce?" He asked. Ryou raised an eyebrow. Keiichiro sighed and changed his words. "I mean, do you like her?" He said, and gave the best imitation of a smile he could.
Ryou scrunched his nose. "No." He said calmly, then added "No!' in a more flustered voice as an afterthought.
Keiichiro's body relaxed. Ryou hadn't noticed he had tensed. "Why?" Ryou asked.
Keiichiro's face flushed a soft pink, lucky for him it was hardly noticeable. "No reason." He said, his fake smile becoming a grin. Keiichiro placed his finger tips lightly on Ryou's, testing.
Ryou contemplated Keiichiro's action for a moment, before placing his palm on top of Keiichiro's hand. It was an akward action, but Ryou clutched on to Keiichiro's hand tighter, as if Keiichiro was leaving and Ryou was begging him to stay.
Ryou's body tingled as he gazed at his hand on top of Keiichiro's, and for some reason he knew it wasn't the hot chocolate that made him feel warm.

Wish On This: Originally I had Ichigo kiss Ryou, but I decided it would cause too much havoc with Ichigo and her special crush. And I see a lot of LettucexRyou stuff. I'm not into it, but it seems to be popular.
I was considering to just stop writing earlier. I'm not much of a writer, I just read stuff. But I couldn't find much good KeiichiroxRyou fanfiction, so I made my own. Haha. I'm still uneasy about continuing. Oh well.
Thank you for the reviews, they make me happy 3