June 25th: Cooking with Shizu-chan

(Izaya's POV)

Well Summer Vacation is finally here and Shizuo and me have finally decided what to do this summer… and yes that did take two weeks to figure out. We decided we are going to start off doing stuff I wanna do. Shizuo said I was being selfish, if only he knew I was doing it for his benefit in the end. But anyway, I decided to get the least interesting (to Shizuo anyway) activity done with first, cooking. I wanna teach my precious Shizu-chan how to bake a cake. I think it's going to go well… Actually I have a strange unreadable feeling about what's going to happen….

Izaya skipped down the stairs, dressed from head to toe in pink, powder pink anyway. He wore a frilly pink shirt, pink short with little pink bows at the hips, and pink flats. He was even going to put on a pink apron for the baking that he and Shizuo would be doing. He was totally decked out in what could be called, housewife wear. But he didn't care if he looked like a girl or not, he was actually trying to. He slips the sash of the apron into a knot when the doorbell rings. He skips happily over to the front door and undoes the lock. A huge giddy feeling washes over him like a surge of electricity then it goes out like match blown out in the wind. Shizuo is just standing there quietly, casually. Izaya pouts and grabs Shizuo's hand pulling him into the house.

"Shizu-chan" Izaya starts. "I told you to dress for the occasion."

Shizuo just stared at Izaya; he didn't exactly know what the big deal was. He walked a little ways past Izaya into the house.

"What occasion? We're just going to bake."

Izaya scowls at the taller boy and shuts the door before going to Shizuo and tugging at the orange jacket he was wearing, flailing the light fabric like it was a piece of scrap paper.

"Yes we are going to bake, which means you have to wear the appropriate attire for said baking."

Shizuo only rolls his eyes in return and walks past Izaya and into his living room. He sits on the couch and fiddles with a small piece of paper smeared with waxy crayon spelling out Kururi and Mairu love Izaya in different colors. Shizuo sets the piece of paper on the coffee table and looks back Izaya.

"Ok so explain," Shizuo says. "What exactly am I supposed to wear?"

Izaya comes up behind the brunette and plops down next to him on the couch. He looks up at the ceiling as if the explanation was tapered up there, only it was in another language.

"Well," He started. "It's kind of like when a pretty high school girl gets on the track team. She can't just go in shorts or something, she has to wear bloomers."

Shizuo gave Izaya a, What the heck did you even say, Sort of look and scooted away. Izaya flipped over and rested his legs on the back of the couch, his head falling over the end of the couch letting his obsidian locks wave as he got comfortable. Shizuo stays silent for a second but decides to speak after a while.

"Why does it have to be bloomers?"

"But it's not just any bloomers Shizu-chan. They have to be red too."

Shizuo only stays silent.

"It's the same way with the bunny suit, it has to be black and the leg holes have to go all the way to the waist."

"You've been messing with Kadota's friends haven't you?"

Izaya looked up at Shizuo and smiled.

"Yup. They told me all that stuff."

Shizuo groans and looks away from Izaya. He feels a wave of nervousness wash over him and decides to avoid his next question:

And what does that mean I should wear?

But unfortunately for him it's already being answered.

"And as such, Shizu-chan, You should wear the correct attire. But…"

Izaya looks over Shizuo's clothes. The disappointment in his eyes makes them shine like huge crimson stars. He looks at the orange jacket Shizuo is in, he grimaces as he spots the little holes tapered on his shirt and the bleach stain on the end on Shizuo's cargo shorts that could only be visible if you were searching for it. He makes a whimpering sound and looks at Shizuo with big, mournful eyes.

"Shizuo didn't dress correctly, so it won't be any fun now." Izaya puffs out his cheeks and opens his mouth slightly, letting out sad whinnies every few seconds. Shizuo keeps a stoic stare at the inactive television and only looks slightly over to Izaya every once in a while. Izaya notices he is making no progress and starts to whine louder. He puts his hands to his eyes and starts weeping out loud. Shizuo looks in his direction to see if he's really crying, he is. Small tears slip off of Izaya's round, pudgy cheeks. Shizuo lets out a sigh of defeat and stands up. Izaya uncovers his eyes to look up at Shizuo who sends daggers back at him though it's undermined, as a slight blush is visible on his face.

"Fine Izaya, what do I have to wear?"

Izaya's face brightens instantly as if he'd never been crying in the first place.

"Come on Shizu-chan, I have some extra clothes upstairs."

Izaya grabs Shizu-chan's hand and lead him out of the living room and up the stair to Izaya's bedroom. Izaya swung open the dark wooden door to reveal the clean, pristine room with red paint on the back wall behind his bed. Izaya released Shizuo's hand and ran over to his closet swinging back the doors and shuffles throughout the heaps of clothes. He lets out a joyous gasp as he spots what he was searching for. He pulls it out and Shizuo is threatening to run out the door screaming as the pink dress fluttered in his best friend's hands.

"Isn't it pretty Shizu-chan?"

Shizuo stood frozen; his eyes were wide and his mouth slightly agape. He took a step back feeling like at any moment he would slip out of his shoes from the puddles of sweat forming in them. But he did nod in return; the pink dress was cute just not on him. Then it happened. Izaya started peeling off his own clothes one by one then he tossed them over to Shizuo who picked them up carefully and hesitantly as if they would bite him. Izaya was left in only red briefs after stripping himself of all his clothes. Izaya proceeded to dress in the pink dress and retie his apron on. Shizuo only stared quietly almost in a daze. Izaya walked past Shizuo and left the room, standing in the hallway, smiling brightly his face warm and sweet.

"When you get dressed come down stairs, Shizuo. I'll go get things ready." Izaya said before skipping off down the stairs and into the kitchen. He grabbed flour and sugar from the cupboard and milk and eggs from the fridge. Shizuo came down about two minutes later. He stood next to Izaya who was cutting strawberries into fourths and took one of the pre-cut pieces and popped it into his mouth. Izaya gasped as the hand suddenly appeared in front of him from behind. Izaya spun and looked at Shizuo who was chewing on the piece of fruit. Izaya pouts and tells Shizuo to stop eating the ingredients and to make himself useful and crack the eggs into a bowl. Shizuo did as told and took the four eggs away from Izaya and to another part of the counter. He got out a glass bowl and started cracking the four eggs into the bowl. After he finished the fourth egg he looked at Izaya. The raven-haired was crouched over on floor picking up little pieces of leaves from the strawberries that fell onto the floor. Shizuo looked at the bowl of strawberries Izaya had made and his mouth began to water. Soon Izaya had picked up all the green pieces and looked to see if Shizuo had cracked all the eggs. He noticed the brunette's hungry face and sighed before getting to his feet.

"You can have one of the extras. They're in the fridge." Izaya threw the leaves into the rubbish bin. Shizuo smiled and went over to Izaya's refrigerator and took out a juicy red piece of strawberry and stuffed it into his mouth. He hummed a tone as the sweet juices swelled in his mouth, he loved the sweet fruits; they were all ways his favorite. Izaya smiled and went back over to Shizuo and told him to get some water and put it into the measuring cup. Shizuo agreed and took the glass cup from Izaya and over to the sink and filling it with cool water. Izaya turned on the mixer and dumped the dry ingredients into the large mixing bowl and took the bowl of eggs and strawberries, tossing them in as well. The batter was now giving off a sweet aroma that was filling the room with ripe strawberries and fresh cream. Shizuo smiles as the splendid fragrance swept over him. Izaya could scent it too, he giggled and turned to Shizuo who was standing over his shoulder with the full glass. Izaya took the glass from his friend and poured it into the mixture, which only made the fragrance of the batter bloom more. Izaya lets out a loud giggled out scream as Shizuo lifts Izaya off the floor and into his arms bridle style. The ruby-eyed boy sends little fists down on the taller boys chest. Izaya giggles as he settles down and rests his head on Shizuo's chest. Shizuo smiles and rocks Izaya back and forth in his arms. The raven hair flies back as Izaya pouts up at Shizuo telling him to stop treating him like a baby. The mocha eyes brighten as Izaya's face turns the same shade as the strawberries.

"I'm sorry," Shizuo says, still rocking Izaya in his arms. "Hey Iza-kun, where'd you learn how to bake?" Izaya's face brightens and he looks away from Shizuo to hide his face.

"My mom taught me how to." He murmurs out and cuddles closer to Shizuo's chest.

"Yeah? Now why would she teach you first and not your sisters instead?" Shizuo bounces Izaya in his arms and hugs him closer.

"I mean, when are you ever going to be cooking? And your sisters are the girls so they should learn instead of you, right?" Shizuo's voice is genuinely questioning Izaya almost pressuring him to answer. Izaya frowns and pulls away from Shizuo, re-placing himself onto the floor and walking over to the now fully mixed batter.

"No reason." Izaya said in a stoic voice with just a twinge a cruel sadness. Shizuo stays silent and walks back over to the bowl too. Shizuo's learned some things about Izaya's family that he wishes he didn't because of curious questions. He didn't like talking about Izaya's parents in the past even though now they were very nice and kind to everyone, but a few years ago they used some pretty bad stuff. Shizuo was actually surprised Izaya would tell Shizuo some of these things without worrying of the risks of Shizuo telling the police or the U.S. government, yeah it was that bad. Izaya pulls the bowl away from the mixer and pours it into an aluminum pan and sets the bowl into the sink and fills it with water. While Izaya is washing off some other dishes Shizuo set the oven to 450 degrees and popped the cake into the oven. Izaya looks over to Shizuo and smiles weakly though his eyes still gave off a sad feeling.

"Don't worry about what I said earlier, Shizu-chan. It's just that my mom and dad worked late all the time so I often had to cook for my sisters and you know how they like sweets." Izaya smiles for real and dries his hands with a fluffy towel. Shizuo smiles brightly. Even though he knows what Izaya's mom used to do for a living Shizuo was just happy it was a normal reason and not like The Match story or the Sushi story Izaya had told him before. "Oh ok then. I guess it was a good thing Kyouko taught you how to cook first then"

Izaya frowns down at a plate he was drying off when the use of his mother's name is at hand.

"I wish you'd just call her , Shizu-chan. That's just common courtesy."

Izaya looks at Shizuo, well Shizuo's back end anyway. He's sticking out of the refrigerator like he's bolted to the inside of it. The chocolate tuffs of hair finally come up and the fridge door finally closes. Shizuo has two strawberries in his mouth and four more in his hand.

"What's curtsey? Isn't that how girls bow or something?" He asks though it's slurred past the strawberries. Izaya scoffs and tells Shizuo to go sit on the couch and watch TV while the cake bakes. Shizuo nods and heads towards the living room. Izaya follows not far behind and pulls of his apron and sets it on the kitchen table.

About two hours and two episodes of Ninja Warrior later Izaya gets up from the couch where Shizuo was sitting but now the brunette is on the floor staring up at the TV at a very strange angle. It truly amazed Izaya how he had to where glasses and Shizuo had perfect 20/20 vision. He entered the kitchen and smiled at the sweet aroma that flourished between the hard walls. Izaya turned to knob on the over to off then opened the oven door and released a small squeak as the scorching air from inside the oven turned his cheeks red with a burning, piercing heat. He shook his head letting the heat rush down his arms. He looked at the pinkish cake sitting on the bottom rack and pulled it out, with oven mitts on of course. He set it on the stove to cool and went to the ice box to get the chilled whipped cream for the icing since Izaya's sisters all ways complained about Izaya's icing being to grainy and bitter.

He sets it next to the cake and opens the lid to the container. He lets it sit and walk back to the living room to tell Shizuo to get Mairu and Kururi. Shizuo smiles excitedly and rushes up Izaya's steps to the second floor and into Mairu and Kururi's nursery and woke the little baby girls and told them that Izaya made cake. Down stairs Izaya could hear the squeals of his sisters as he covered the cake with the last of the whipped cream. Shizuo came stomping down the stairs full speed with the girls clinging to his head and shoulders. Izaya smiles at the cute scene: Shizuo's happy face and his sister's cheery faces (or as cheery as Kururi could possibly get) as they rode Shizuo like a pony. Izaya pulled out a knife and cut four equal pieces out of the cake and gave one to each of the children, Shizuo included as a child. Izaya spooned pieces of the sweet cake into his mouth as his sisters ate with their hands and Shizuo shoveling chunk after huge chunk down his gullet. Izaya finished his cake shortly after Shizuo and the girls and decided to see what they were up to since they had moved to the living room to give Izaya some peace and quiet. He walked down the hall and into the large room and smiled at the sight. Shizuo and his twin sisters were curled up on the floor keeping each other warm as they slept soundly. Izaya sighed fulfilled with the day. It was only 6:30 but he was already ready to sleep. Izaya grabs a cover from the couch and snuggles into Shizuo's chest resting Kururi's head on his stomach and nuzzling into the larger boy's chest. They slept soundly through the night of June 25th.

Reviews and flames welcome