"I'm sorry, Artemis, but I just can't go out with you," Stephanie said, as she jumped into the arms of her obese boyfriend. Then she was swept away , never to see the boy prodigy again.

Stephanie woke up screaming a high-pitched, umm, scream. Once she realized that it was only a dream, and that it was morning so she could get up and do whatever, she got out of bed and looked around the manor. It seemed that no one was there that morning. This was proven truthful, as a note was left on the fridge door saying where everyone went.

Artemis' mother and father, to an island of some sort. The Butler siblings, shopping for provisions. The servants got the day off and were probably sleeping in.

"Oh, well that's a bummer," Stephanie said to herself. "Butler isn't around to bug. Ah well. I guess I'll make breakfast."

Well, she would attempt to, at least.

Artemis awoke that morning to burning…something. He sniffed the air and nearly gagged.

"Augh, what is that atrocious scent?" he snarled. Throwing his sheets of his person, he quickly walked downstairs to see what was causing the disturbing smell.

Artemis found Stephanie in the dining room with something charred and smoking on a plate lying on the table in front of her. She looked proud of her work.

"Err, Stephanie, what is that exactly…?" Artemis asked, pointing to the stinking object.

"They're waffles, I made 'em myself. Why do you ask?"

"Just out of curiosity, do you know how to cook at ALL?"

Stephanie shook her head. "No. This is why I'm forcing you to eat it."

Somehow, without anyone touching it, Artemis' hair suddenly looked messier and distressed.

He kept blinking. "Uhh, err, w-what?"

"I'm making you eat it."

"You aren't forcing me to eat that," Artemis said in a rather stressed tone. "I refuse to eat it."

Stephanie said nothing, but reached into her pocket. She looked dead serious while she did it. To make the anxiety worse, Stephanie drew out whatever was in her pocket really slowly. Finally, a sock puppet was held in her clenched hand

Bruno.

Artemis gasped. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, but I would."

"But-but we're friends! How could you do this?"

"Do you really want to know how?"

"…Forget I said that, just don't do it."

Stephanie smirked. "I won't if you eat breakfast."

This was a difficult decision for Artemis-really difficult. Should he face food poisoning, or the terrors of that childhood plaything he dreaded oh so much? Be bedridden for weeks, or be scarred for life?

Artemis sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll eat it. If I die you can't have my belongings."

Artemis fearfully picked up a fork and looked at the deadly, yet "edible" substance in front of him. He started to sweat. This was all so traumatizing. To stall the whole thing, Artemis poked at his food to see if it would move or growl. Surprisingly, it did neither.

"Oh, just eat it already!" Stephanie yelled impatiently.

"Alright, alright, alright!"

Artemis licked his dry lips. He picked a piece of "waffle" off and raised it to his mouth. He was just about to eat it-

Stephanie broke out in laughter. "Don't eat it!" She knocked the fork out of his hand and kept giggling.

Artemis looked at her as if she were crazy. (maybe she is, we don't know). "Are you high on something!"

Stephanie calmed down a bit. "No, no, I'm not. I didn't think you would eat it, I really didn't, but, but, oh my god!" She was in hysterics.

"I'm just happy I don't have to eat…this," Artemis said, holding it up. "Being sick for weeks isn't my cup of tea."

"I don't imagine that it would be."

Artemis, now relieved that he didn't have to eat it, said calmly, "I'm guessing no one is home, seeing as you attempted to cook."

"Attempted? Nah, not really. I did that on purpose. You're right, though, no one is home except you, me and the brat."

"Not even Juliet?"

"No."

"Oh dear... Tell me, is today Friday?"

"Yes. Why?"

Artemis sighed. "Butler makes Juliet clean most of the manor on Fridays before she can go do anything else. Since she isn't here to do it…"

"We have to?" Stephanie guessed.

"Exactly."

There was a silence. Stephanie was thinking and Artemis didn't have anything to say. Hey, would you have anything to say? I didn't think so. Stop ranting and keep on reading.

Finally, Stephanie asked, "How about we find something to eat, and eat it as slowly as possible? We won't have to start as soon."

"Fantastic idea!" Artemis exclaimed, walking into the kitchen. "Come Stephanie, let the stalling begin."

Artemis and Stephanie had finished breakfast fifteen minutes ago, and they were working on the first bathroom. Everything in there had been cleaned except for the toilet, which was being worked on.

"Okay," Stephanie said. "I'll spray it with this cleaner crap and you wipe it down."

"Alright," Artemis agreed, rolling his sleeves up.

Stephanie sprayed the entire toilet down and, of course, Artemis wiped it down thoroughly. Stephanie suddenly shot an area with the cleaner.

"You missed a spot," she said. Artemis gave her a funny look and wiped the cleaner off.

Stephanie sprayed another area. "You missed a spot." Artemis growled, and wiped it off again.

Once again, Stephanie sprayed. "You missed a-"

She never got to finish, for Artemis pounced on her, pinned her to the ground and started tickling her sides.

"You missed a spot, you missed a spot, you missed a spot!" he exclaimed in a mocking tone.

Stephanie started giggling. "Augh, you're so m-e-e-e-an! Ah ha ha ha!"

"That's what you get, isn't it?" Artemis smirked.

It took them both about ten minutes to get out of the bathroom and finish the rest of the manor. Without Shawn there it would've taken about two hours. Since he was there to pester them, however, it was five. The last room they had to work on was Juliet's.

There were clothes all over. I mean, ALL OVER. You couldn't see the floor, or her bed, or her dresser, or anything else in her room. Just the clothes were in sight.

"Is her room always like this?" Stephanie asked Artemis.

"You ask as if I would know," he answered. "Should we clean Juliet's room? It's her room."

"I guess so." Stephanie shrugged. "We might even get something out of it."

"Like what?"

"Exercise? I don't know. Let's just get it done."

"Very well," Artemis said. He grabbed an armful of clothes and stuffed it in Stephanie's arms. He kept on doing so, without a sign of stopping.

Stephanie, struggling to hold on to the clothes, asked, "What on Earth are you doing?"

"I'm getting it done, that's what I'm doing," Artemis replied. He grabbed another bundle and added it to Stephanie's load.

"But-"

"But nothing, Stephanie," Artemis interrupted.

"I'm going to fall over!"

"You have stamina, keep going!"

"Why are you such a-"

At that moment, the bundle of clothes teetered in Artemis' direction and fell on top of him. Both of them were lost in the mountain of cotton, flannel and denim. The pressure of all of the clothing, however, was not noticed. It seems that they were rather distracted by something that had happened.

What the- Artemis thought. What's against my lips? Wait…OH MY.

Artemis came up from the pile of clothes with nothing on his face. Stephanie soon came up with her hands over her mouth. She was a deep scarlet.

Artemis could hardly finish his sentences out of surprise. "Did your lips-"

Stephanie nodded violently.

"Mine…?"

Stephanie nodded again.

Artemis could feel himself starting to blush. This was all very strange and awkward, as you can imagine. He said nothing, but, with no difficulty, thought, Holy crap.

After a moment, Artemis finally broke the silence. "This, will never be mentioned around others, do you understand?"

"…Yeah…" Stephanie said, sounding a bit frazzled.

"Very well." Artemis stood up. "I imagine that we should just carry the laundry one armful at a time, this attempt."

"Okay…" Stephanie still sounded dazed.

They did so, making sure that their load wasn't too big whenever they went for a new one. Neither Artemis nor Stephanie spoke to each other, for shock of the moment had affected them both. If you have ever been surprised like that, you would know how that feels. All of this took more that half an hour (Juliet had a lot of clothes, what do you expect from her?), and by the time they were done little energy remained.

Instead of taking naps, Artemis and Stephanie sat in the laundry room and had a small chat. Stephanie felt that talking about the matter would release the tension, if any was left.

"So," she said, sitting on the washing machine, "how did it feel to you?"

Artemis sat on the dryer next to her. "I can't really describe it," he told Stephanie. "It was rather quick. What about you?"

"It was nice, I guess…" she said, blushing.

"You guess?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Like you said, it was quick. Plus, it didn't mean anything because it was an accident."

"Well," Artemis said slowly, "do you want it to mean something?"

Stephanie didn't say anything, but she just looked at him. He gazed back, his dark eyes glistening.

Both assumed that it was safe, for Shawn didn't know where the laundry room was and nobody else was home. With beating hearts, they leaned in and, after so many days of waiting and hoping, softly kissed. This time it meant everything to Stephanie.

And Artemis as well.

Dear readers,

LOLNOODLE

Regards, Noodle