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Enjoy~!

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Day 08: Gingerbread Man

Tetsuya and Shige slumped in the kitchen, gazing at Tanaka's cooking and baking tools. Since it was the festive season, they thought of making Christmas treats for everyone but for the life of them, they didn't know what to bake. They've seen people bake cakes in the shapes of Christmas trees and reindeers and even Santa and giant candy canes, but they aren't so skilled to attempt such a feat. Heck, Shige doubts that Tetsuya could make anything other than boiled eggs.

The two were home alone currently, Tanaka along with Yukio and Shouichi had gone somewhere, Tatsuya and Shuuzou dragged along Kotarou and Kazunari elsewhere, so it's just them inside the house.

And so, with everyone out, the two decided to make something nice for them. Yukio was always caring for them like a mother ―there was this time when they had all played in the pouring rain like idiots and the next day, they were all sick. Yukio was the one who made them soup and porridge, fed them, kept their temperatures in check, everything. Shouichi was like the father, sometimes. He's the one who usually pesters them about their homework and the one who they all go to for advice when Tanaka-san wasn't around. Kotarou was like the cool big brother who they could do shit with and then he would take all the blame for it. Kazunari was just their partner in crime. Shuuzou and Tatsuya would take them places [ADD]

So, they scrolled through their phones for some ideas and at one point, they nearly gave up seeing that it was a lost cause.

"How about we start with some cookies first?" Shige suggested. "Those are easy to bake, I think."

"Sure, let's do that."

Quickly, they took out the necessary tools from the cupboard and settled them on the counter. Then, in one swift motion, Shige bent to preheat the oven.

When that was done, they took butter, sugar ―white and brown―and creamed them together until smooth. Then, one at a time, they beat in the eggs and stirred in the vanilla. In the meantime Shige did that, Tetsuya boiled some hot water to dissolve the baking soda easily. This was later added to the batter along with the salt. They left that aside, they reached for the flour, the bag of chocolate chips and nuts to stir in.

"We can't put nuts in!" Tetsuya shrieked, just as Shige was about to dumb them in. "Yukio-kun's allergic!"

"He is?" This was news to the centre. "He's never said anything."

Tetsuya chuckled lightly. "It's because Shouichi-kun already told us. In the earlier days, Kazunari-kun bought some peanut butter and put it in some cupcakes that he baked with Tanaka-san. Yukio-kun didn't know that peanut butter was in there and he ate it."

"Holy shit, what happened after?"

"He couldn't breathe so we had to take him to the hospital before he died."

Shige gasped. "He was…dying?"

"Roughly. Because of his allergic reaction, his throat was closing up, blocking off his air supply."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah, so absolutely no nuts, or anything related to them."

"Imagine if you weren't here. I would've killed off our captain."

"No worries. If he didn't die the first time, he sure as hell isn't going to die the second."

"We don't know that."

"Come on, this is Yukio-kun where talking about here." The light-blue haired teen chuckled. "So let's finish this before they come back."

"So, if we can't add nuts, what should we add in?"

"Strawberries, maybe?"

"Apples?"

"That's nasty."

"Well, strawberries baked in cookies are nasty too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Of course it is Tetsu!"

"Well have you ever heard of apples in cookies?" The phantom countered. "Have you?"

Shige was silenced. Sure, it wasn't a common practice, but his father does it. And he knew he couldn't use his Dad as a reference because that's just one person.

"Fine." He succumbed. "Let's just kill it with chocolate chips."

…

…

"I tell you, I'm never bringing those two anywhere!"

"Maa, maa, calm down Shuu."

"Don't tell me to calm down Tatsuya!"

The quartet of Shuuzou, Tatsuya, Kotarou and Kazunari had returned home, and along with it, ruckus. It seemed that whatever happened while they had been out, pissed off the power forward. But, hearing the giggles and chuckles coming from Kazunari and Kotarou, it would seem that Shuuzou wasn't "pissed" per se, but annoyed at something or rather ―them.

"Come on Shuu-chan~" Kazunari playfully sang, "You know you ―" He stopped mid-sentence when a sweet aroma caught his nose. "Is that…?"

Quickly, the four ripped their shoes off their feet and left it at the genkan. They dashed towards the kitchen in hopes of seeing Tanaka-san there, but lo and behold, it was Shige and Tetsuya.

Immediately, their faces fell.

"Oh, it's just you two." Kotarou sighed. "I thought it was Tanaka-san."

"What kind of greeting is that?" the centre hissed. "We've baked all this for you and you haven't greeted us properly! Insolent!" There on the kitchen island were numerous cookies, decorated with colourful icing.

"Wait, Tetsuya helped to bake this?" Tatsuya asked as he neared the island cautiously. He took up a cookie and inspected it thoroughly. He even broke one in two to see if there was something amiss. The boys all knew that Tetsuya was hopeless in the kitchen.

"Yes he did! You should be proud!" Shige said with pride.

"More like scared." Kazunari mumbled out, but it was loud enough so everyone heard.

"I second that." Shuuzou agreed.

Swiftly, Tetsuya grabbed a nearby bowl and threw it at Kazunari, knocking him off the chair. Tatsuya and Shuuzou let out frightened screeches, at the sudden action. "I'll have you know that my cookies are delicious!" He hissed. He neared the hawk-eyed point guard with a darkened face. "Now, you're going to eat my cookies or else."

"Tetsu-chan…I was just joking." He nervously chuckled out.

"Oh no, you were not."

"But ―!" He was cut off when a cookie was forcefully shoved into his mouth. Tasting the cookie, Kazunari's eyes widened.

"This tastes good!" He screeched. "Did Tetsu-chan really made this?!"

"He had my help." Shige huffed with pride. "If not, then…"

"Don't even finish that sentence."

"Hai, hai."

"But whatever, these are regular cookies." Shuuzou said, rising from his seat. He headed to the counter and put on an apron after which he took up a wooden spoon and pointed it at the others. "Let me show you how it's done."

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"Thank you for coming with me boys," Tanaka said as he pulled up in the driveway.

"It's no problem." Shouichi replied with a chuckle after seeing Yukio's face. But on their way back, the Blue Elite had a bad feeling regarding the boys they left at home. He knew that with them being unsupervised, disaster was bound to happen. He had even tried to get Tanaka to drive faster, because of the uneasy feeling he had.

And now that their finally home, Yukio immediately dashed out of the car and opened the front door. And what greeted him, was indeed what was troubling him.

"You son of a bitch! Look what you did to my man!" A deep voice roared. "He's missing a head! A head!"

"Me?! Look what you've done to mine! He has no legs! And one of his arms is missing! You monster!" Another voice shrieked. "You MONSTER!"

Yukio dashed to the kitchen to stumble upon the horror.

Tetsuya was carefully decorating something by the far side of the counter while Shige, Tatsuya, Kazunari, Kotarou and Shuuzou were screaming and swinging bowls and kitchen utensils and throwing flour at each other in bitter rage.

Bits and pieces of cookies were littering the ground, and on the island there were numerous gingerbread cookies lying on the table in trays. The colourful icings were splattered and spewed out everywhere, in essence, the kitchen was a mess.

"What the hell is going on?" Yukio said with a stern voice. "What have you done to the kitchen?!"

The boys instantly stopped upon hearing Yukio's voice.

Fear replaced their anger in seconds, seeing the captain stand before them with folded arms and tapping his feet on the floor like an impatient mother awaiting her child's explanation for doing something wrong.

"We…uh, Shuu-chan dismembered my man!" Kazunari shrieked.

"Because he took my man's head!" the power forward defended. "Tell me, what he had done to deserve this!?" Shuuzou took the headless gingerbread man and held it up. "Look at him! He was so innocent!"

Yukio face-palmed at the idiots.

He grabbed the gingerbread man from Shuuzou and bit into it. He munched rather loudly, with a satisfied look on his face. "Nice."

That said, Shuuzou let out a shriek of horror. "You demon!"

"He was dead anyway." Yukio deadpanned as he licked his lips. He then moved to the others and ate their gingerbread men as well with a wide grin on his face.

The others looked at him in horror.

"I'm going to kill you!" Kotarou screamed as he lunged for the captain. "How could you eat my gingerbread man?! My first child!"

"You're a dead man, Yukio." Shuuzou hissed.

…

…

"I wonder what's the racket about?" Shouichi asked while he gingerly took his shoes off at the genkan. Yukio had already entered a couple minutes ago, and all he heard were screams about "men missing heads and limbs" and "monsters" and crazy stuff.

"Well, let's go find out." Tanaka said with a shrug. "Can't be anything to worry about."

Entering the kitchen, their eyebrows rose at the sight before them. Sprawled out on the floor on their backs were Shige and Tatsuya, while Kazunari and Kotarou were curled into foetal positions. Shuuzou was laying face-down but it was Yukio who had them questioning what happened. He was sitting in Shuuzou's back, with both his legs stretched out on Kazunari and Kotarou like they were his footstools. He picked his nails without a care in the world.

"Uh, Yuki…?"

"Yes?" The Blue Elite answered as though there wasn't something odd going on.

"Yay! I've finished!" Tetsuya perked up and said, totally ignoring the others on the floor. "You want to see it, Yukio-nii?!"

"Sure."

Tetsuya held his now colourful gingerbread man with a smile on his face. The cookie had white hair, blue eyes, green buttons, and red shoes.

"Good job Tetsuya." Yukio said ruffling his light blue-hair.

"Tetsuya! Let me taste it too!" Shouichi grinned as he sauntered in the kitchen, hopping over the others.

"Are they going to ignore the groans of agony of the others on the floor behind them?" Tanaka asked in wonder.

Thank you for reading~!