~ Day 5: Friday ~

Eiri woke up to a dog licking his face, wishing he hadn't. Putting the horrible way of waking up aside, he had a long day ahead of him. The day before, he had rested until 8 pm, which was when Shuichi had become bored of cleaning and decided to wake the man up. Having had too much of a headache to argue, he had ignored the singer and closed himself up in his study. Unfortunately though, he hadn't been able to get any work done. Even after taking a few pills, the headache had remained, preventing him from getting his thoughts clear. After two hours of fruitless attempts to formulate a few coherent sentences, he'd given up and gone back to sleep alone on the couch. Hence, he now had a lot of work to do. But it could have been worse, he noted as he sat up and realized that the headache had disappeared. Shuichi was nowhere in sight, luckily. Maybe he would actually get a normal day without disturbances for once? At least he could hope.

He left the couch and went into the bedroom to check whether God was going to have a little bit of mercy on him that day. Sure enough, there was no trace of a pink-haired boy. A relieved sigh escaped the author's mouth as he turned to head into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. For the first time since he'd started living with the energetic brat, he had a calm morning to himself. After drinking his coffee and feeding Rui, he walked over to his study, combing through blond hair with his hand and letting out a yawn.

Still typing away, and only having taken a few short breaks in between, five hours later, Eiri heard a door slam shut, though, he didn't take note of the absence of a loud greeting. Writing felt relaxing, for once. He leaned back in his chair, cigarette in hand, and read through the last few lines. Deciding they would suffice, he continued typing.

Not before half an hour later did the novelist remember that his lover was home.

"Odd," he thought, used to being suffocated with hugs, greetings and questions.

That day was very different, not that he minded.., he told himself. Shrugging, he returned his attention to the laptop.

Another few minutes later, he realized that he couldn't control his curiosity anymore. He needed to see what was taking up the pink-haired baka's time. Taking off his glasses, he began heading for the kitchen. That's when he smelled something.., something.. burnt? He walked faster.

The first thing he saw upon entering the kitchen was Shuichi's back. He watched the boy open the oven to find a completely black, dry.. thing, which kind of resembled a cake. The author wrinkled his nose, looking around in horror. The kitchen was a complete mess, dough covering the walls and the floor. He sighed heavily, eyebrow twitching. That's what he got for a 'normal' day. The only, tiny bit of comfort he had was that the puppy was nowhere to be seen and most probably sleeping somewhere.

"Shuichi.. What the hell did you do..?" he grumbled, gritting his teeth.

The addressed boy tensed noticeably, turning around slowly with 'cake' in hands.

"Yuki.. I'm- I'm sorry, I..," he mumbled, staring at his lover, terrified. "I.. just wanted to bake you a cake, but look!" he exclaimed helplessly, motioning at the burnt object.

"No, you look, I want you to clean this room up right now," Eiri demanded coldly, turning to leave, only to stop when he heard sobbing.

He looked at the pitiful boy from the corner of his eye, seeing him slouch on a kitchen chair, still holding onto the cake. Cursing inwardly, he figured he had to comfort the boy somehow. He crouched on the floor in front of Shuichi, staring awkwardly as tears fell from violet eyes.

"I really..," the singer sniffled, "..wanted it to turn out g-good.."

Eiri ruffled his hair, gaze softening.

"Don't worry about it, baka. I don't even like sweets," he said.

Shuichi looked at him with wet eyes, lips trembling.

"Honto..?" he questioned hopefully.

The blonde gave him a slight smile, wiping the tears away as he set the burnt cake aside.

"That's what I just said, baka."

"Yuki!" the boy shouted happily, throwing his arms around the man.

Eiri, who was more than used to his lover's behaviour, shook his head a little, still smiling, as he returned the hug. They stayed that way until Shuichi calmed down.