Chapter 14

His room hadn't changed. Nothing had been moved since the day he'd been kicked out so many months ago. His closet was still ruffled, his dresser drawers still had the wayward sock poking out when he had slammed it closed and his bed was still unmade. The entire time he was gone, his bedroom door had been closed and no one, not even his mother, had gone in.

Even after the weeks he had been forcefully dragged back to Akita, he hadn't done anything other than sit and sleep in his room, tossing the dirty clothes into the hamper, doing the laundry when needed and even though he no longer had to, he still woke up at 3am because it had become habit. Even without his alarm, he would wake on his own into the dark of his room, sitting up to look and stare out the window and watch the moon crawl across the sky. He would sit there in his blankets and count the stars, eventually giving up when he would lose which ones he had already counted and once the sky had finally begun to lighten with the coming of dawn, he would roust from his nest and begin his day.

Yōsen was strict, formal; A school for those whom believed in faith and had come from prominent families. His family was prominent, known in the business field thanks to his father and the moment he had stepped through the academy doors of Yōsen High, everyone already knew whom he was. He mindlessly went to basketball practice, mindlessly played in games without a single thought rolling through his head and even though they were just about guaranteed a victory, he felt nothing. Without Tatsuki to share it with, he was numb, but as he walked the sidewalk to return home from a long day at school, he stopped at the mailbox of his house and froze when he saw familiar handwriting.

Atsushi's dull eyes widened as he pulled out the stack of mail, unable to look away from the letter with his handwritten name on it. It was her writing, he knew it without having to think and suddenly feeling the need to rush, he darted for his front door.

He burst into the wide open floor plan of his home and shut the door a bit harder than needed, not even seeing his mother staring at him from the kitchen as he dropped his bag off, kicked off his shoes and ran upstairs to his room. He shut the door, again with a bit too much strength and as he dropped down onto his bed with a bounce, he tore open the letter and pulled out the neatly folded piece of crisp paper.

Atsushi,

I know that it's been a few weeks since you were dragged away, and I know it's taken me this long to write you. Things here have gotten... crazy, I guess would be the right word. My dad is fighting tooth and nail to keep your uncle's farm safe, and so far, he's been successful, but I don't know how much longer it can last.

Shirō's gotten out of control. After you left, his family managed to snag two more farms and the families were forced to move away, but my dad's noticing small things that can help him fight back for all of us. It's been a lot of work, and he's spread thin, so that's why I've made up my mind; I'm going to law school.

I wasn't sure how to tell you, but I guess this was easier? Maybe that's the wrong word, but it's true. I don't think I could have told you face to face because I'd break down crying. I've always wanted to have my own bakery, but seeing what Shirō did to you; did to us, I can't let it slide. I have to do this and I hope with all my hopes that you understand. I will try so hard to write you, but I don't know how often I'll be able to. This is new territory for me, but know this, Atsu... I love you. I always will and it will never fade. It's almost Valentine's Day, and I wish we could have been together so we could spoil each other and be together, but Fate, it seems, has thought other wise.

I'm sorry, Atsu. I really am, but I love you and I need to do this to keep the promise we made to each other the day you left. Maybe one day, we'll get to pick up where we left off.

I love you, Atsu. Always.

Love,

Tatty-cakes.

He hadn't realized it, but his eyes had begun to water while he read, shedding small, barely visible tears down his cheeks that clung to his jawline. It was the first time in weeks he had begun to smile, to feel in general and he was awash with emotions he hadn't felt in what seemed like forever. He was happy, sad, angry, all of it, but above all, he felt love that he couldn't have. In all these weeks since, he had wanted to hold her, to sleep with her in his arms, only to be denied it, but getting to read her handwriting, read her words, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was real. He had feared that it had all been a dream and getting to hold that simple piece of paper that she had held, it made her real and he began to feel again.

Wiping away his tears, Atsushi smiled as he held the letter and looked out his window, actually seeing the grayness outside instead of what could have been a painting for all he cared. He saw the traffic, the other houses surrounding his and the people walking along the street, but when a soft, timid knock rapped against his door, his smile vanished and he quickly dried his eyes.

"Yes?" He said just loud enough so his voice would reach through the door.

The doorknob turned and his door began to open, but he knew whom it was because his father never would have knocked. It was his mother, quiet and wearing an apron which told him she was getting ready to start making dinner.

"Is everything alright, Honey?" She asked, poking her head into his room to spot him sitting on his bed.

Atsushi nodded, "Yeah. I was... um... reading a letter I got from a friend." He said, not really wanting to go into too much detail.

"Is it from that girl?" His mother asked, standing up straight and fully stepping into his room.

"Yeah... Her name's Tatsuki Himuro... Well, that's the name she goes by." He said, hiding his sniffle behind his sleeve as he watched his mother walk over and sit down on the edge of his bed.

"Is everything alright?" She asked softly.

"Yeah... She said she's decided to go to law school for agricultural law. I'm happy for her." He said, curling his knees into his chest and still with the letter clutched in his hand.

"Good for her." His mother said.

As they sat in silence, Atsushi studied his mother's expression, how distant her violet eyes looked and how standoffish she was sitting. She wasn't close to him, rather, sitting a couple feet away, but she was leaning on her arm in his direction.

"What's wrong, Mom?" He asked, earning a brief glance from her.

She sighed, "Sweetie... This may not mean much, but... I want you to know how sorry I am for what happened. You know I don't have a lot of pull when it comes to your father and I would have stopped it if I could." She said, looking at him with sad eyes.

"Why do you stay with him? He isn't a good man." Atsushi said ultra quietly out of fear of his voice carrying down the hall to his father's study.

"He is though, Honey. I stay because he gave me you and your brothers and your sister. For that, I will always love him." She said, producing a soft smile.

"But we hate him. None of us talk to him. We don't want to." He said, resting his chin down on his knees.

"I can't tell you not to, but know that your father has always wanted the best for you kids. I know he isn't good at showing it, but he really does love you guys." She said.

Atsushi airily sniffled, "I wanna believe you, but he took me away from there. I liked it there." He said with a crackle in his voice.

"I know you did, Sweetie," she smiled, "Can I make a request of you?" She asked, sniffling herself as she dabbed her eyes with her apron.

"I guess." He shrugged.

"Talk to him. I wanna have dinner as a family again." She said, sitting up to reach out and put her hand down on his knee.

"And say what?" He asked.

"Whatever you want."

With another smile, she stood up and patted his knee before stepping out of his room, leaving the door open into the dimly lit hallway. He knew where his father was, being down at the end of the hall and in his study where he usually spent his evenings till dinner was called. It was his way, his space to finish up with work and be alone, but hearing his mother's words, how her eyes looked so sincere, he wanted to try to talk to the man he hadn't said more than two words to in the last several weeks.

He uncurled himself and stood up, padding out of his room and turned down the hall to the closed, double wide door. His stomach lightly flipped with nerves, as the last time he had spoken with his father it was to yell at him, but just as he raised a fist to knock, he heard the barest sound of a sniffle.

His brows furrowing, Atsushi leaned in close to the door to listen, hearing the softest of weeping sounds from inside and it confused him. His father didn't cry, never even showed emotions, but he knew what he was hearing. It spurred him on.

"Dad?" He called out softly, rapping his knuckles against the door softly.

"Come in." He heard in his father's typical gruff voice.

Steeling his nerves, Atsushi began to open the door, unsure of what he was going to see, but poking his head inside, all he saw was the back of his father's office chair. He was looking out the window at the neighborhood outside and without the barrier of the door, the man's clear sniffles weren't lost to his ears.

"Dad?... A-Are you okay?" He asked, braving a step inside and shutting the door behind him.

Another hard sniffle sounded as the leather of the chair groaned and when it began to turn, Atsushi's suspicions were confirmed; His father, the infallible, immovable man he had always feared, was crying with a letter and a picture in hand.

"Dad?... What's wrong?" Atsushi asked, slowly sitting down in the chair on the other side of the desk from him.

"Atsushi... Did you know you were an uncle?" His father asked, looking up from the pages in his hand to look at his youngest son with his reddened eyes.

Atsushi held his breath, but nodded, "Yeah... Hanaka had her baby about six months ago."

His father's bottom lip slightly quivered, "I-I... I'm a grandfather?"

Atsushi just nodded as he picked at his fingernails.

Swallowing passed the lump in his throat, his father pulled the photo from his hand and put it down on his desk, sliding it across towards Atsushi to see the smiling baby frozen in time. The baby was his niece; a young baby girl that his eldest sibling, his sister, had given birth to only six months ago. Her and her husband had been ecstatic, elated to the point of child-like giddiness when they had found out they were expecting and when Atsushi and his three older brothers had been told, their own excitement had joined theirs. All the children kept in close contact, and it had been up to Atsushi to keep their mother informed since he was the last one to remain in the Murasakibara nest, but when it came to their father, no one, not even he, wanted to keep the man in the loop.

"Cute, huh." Atsushi breathed out as he barely smiled at the photo of the happy, purple eyed baby with a shaggy mess of black hair splashed over her head.

His father sniffled, "Very... She looks like Hanaka did the day she was born." He said, pulling a tissue from its box that rested on the side of the desk.

Atsushi's brows lightly furrowed, "Y-You were there?"

His father nodded to buy him time to finish blowing his nose and dry his face.

"I was. I was there for all five of you and I remember each one as if they were yesterday." He said, drawing in a steady breath as he shifted his eyes down to look at the photo.

"R-Really?" Atsushi exhaled.

For as long as Atsushi could remember, since his first true memory, there was one thing that he couldn't recall ever seeing and that was his father smiling. However, as he sat there looking the man in the eye for the longest time in his life, that very man had begun to smile.

"Yes... The day you were born, it was the longest labor out of all of you. We were in the hospital for 37 hours and when you were finally born, you weighed 26 pounds. You were so big that the doctors had to do a C-Section, but despite that, you cried for only a second before falling asleep." His father said with his smile persisting through each word he spoke.

"Who held me first?" Atsushi asked quietly, actually wanting to keep his father talking to see more of his smile.

"I did."

Atsushi's heart fluttered as his father's words sunk in, how his aged eyes that he had always seen dull and angry were actually uplifted and content. He looked like a different man, a man he had always wished his father to be, but sitting there across from him, seeing those new eyes, he had suddenly began to feel guilty.

"D-Dad... I'm sorry I didn't tell you that Hanaka had her baby. I-It's just... It's just-" Atsushi tried to find the words, but couldn't.

"I know... My children don't want to have anything to do with me and I only have myself to blame." His father said quietly.

Atsushi exhaled, "C-Can I be honest?"

"Of course."

"We don't," he took a much needed breath, "We don't talk to you because we don't like you. We thought you didn't want us talking to you unless it was to tell you we were successful, or that we had won a game. We don't feel like we can approach you." Atsushi said, ignoring the rapid beating in his chest.

"I know... All I've ever wanted for my children is for them to have a better life than I, to be successful, but look what it cost me; My beloved children hate me." His father said as his sad eyes began to return.

"I-It's not that we hate you, Dad; It's that we don't know how to please you." Atsushi said.

"Atsushi, I spent my years trying desperately to please my father, and since we're being honest here, I'll tell you that I never got it. My father didn't care about anything else, other than absolute success, and if I did less, than I paid for it. Till his dying day, I never got my father's approval because I never surpassed him." His father said as he leaned back in his large office chair.

Atsushi just sat quietly while his father continued.

"I thought that, maybe, if I had mimicked my father's methods, than my own children wouldn't strive so hard trying to please me, but in the end, all I managed to do was push you all away. I failed you all as a father and," he held his breath for a moment, "and I don't know how to make up for it." He said, keeping his shimmering eyes locked with his youngest son's.

"If I knew where you could begin, I'd tell you, but I don't know either." Atsushi said with a small shrug.

"I understand. Perhaps starting with an apology would point me in the right direction?" His father asked.

"Maybe." Atsushi half shrugged.

"Then Atsushi; I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was so hard on all of you; Always pushing and forcing you to do things that you truly didn't want to do. I'm sorry that I wasn't a better father to you. I should have supported you and allowed you to make your own decisions." His father said as his eyes began to glimmer once more with building tears.

Atsushi's chest hurt the more he listened to his father's words, hearing the sincerity in them as he spoke. He had always been a man whose words were honest, no matter how mean they sounded, or how few they were. His words were always rule, always so solid that the strongest of winds couldn't whisk them away, but the one thing he had never heard him say, was 'I'm sorry.'

"D-Dad... I'm sorry too for the things I said before going to Uncle Hiroshi's. I was angry." Atsushi said, looking down at his lap where his fingers hadn't stopped picking at his fingernails.

"As was I. I didn't know you didn't like basketball and it's my own fault. I didn't see it." His father said.

"It's not that I don't like it, it's that I don't wanna do it for the rest of my life." Atsushi said, looking back up at his father.

"Do you know what you wish to do?" His father asked.

Atsushi nodded, "Yeah... I wanna be a baker with my own shop. I know it seems small, but... I like it; Love it actually. Muro-Chin and I were really good at it."

"The girl from your uncle's?" His father asked, lacing his fingers together in his lap.

Atsushi nodded, "Yeah. I miss her."

"You have every right to. From what your mother has told me, you and her were close." His father said, reaching up to grip and rub the back of his neck.

"Mom told you?" He asked, intrigued by what he was hearing.

His father nodded, "She did. She told me everything she knew." He sighed and dropped his arm into his lap once more.

"I didn't know she could talk to you. You always said that women are supposed to serve their husbands." Atsushi said quietly.

"My father's views and something I, in turn, picked up. However, it would seem that those views are too old fashioned to hold weight this day and age." His father said with a slow exhale that was drawn out and silent.

"Time's change, Dad." Atsushi said.

"It would seem so, and I have been too shortsighted to accept that fact. I hadn't realized it until I saw that photo. I missed out on meeting my own grand-baby because of my stubbornness." His father said.

"There's still a chance if you change now." Atsushi said.

His father let out a long and heavy sigh, one that filled the quiet of the office study with the whoosh of air that quickly vanished back into the silence. In all his years, raising five children and making sure that their foundations for a strong future were set whether they liked it, or not, he had been so focused on that, that he had missed everything else. It was like he was caught in the shadow of his father, spending his entire lifetime trying to prove to the long passed ghost that he could do it, but because of it, he had scarred his children. It was his mistake and one that he would have to live with for the rest of his life, but now that he sat across from his youngest son, the last of his brood, his offspring, perhaps it was his childrens' turn to lift him up.

With another sigh, his father's sad eyes eased into a gentleness that was still too new to believe, but as the man started to smile, perhaps a new light had begun to flicker.

"So baking, hmm? Like cakes, pastries and candies?" His father asked as the atmosphere in the office study began to feel lighter.

Atsushi nodded, "Yeah. And everything in between," he huffed a smiled, "You should try Muro-Chin's lava cupcakes sometime. I've never had something so good."

"Lava cupcakes?... I'll admit; Those sound very good." His father said with the briefest widening of his light smile.

"They aren't really hard. I-I... I can make some for you sometime, if you want." Atsushi half shrugged.

"I think I would like that." His father smiled.

"Then come to the store with me. We can get the ingredients and I can show you." Atsushi said as he pushed himself up to his feet.

"What? Now?" His father mildly reeled.

Atsushi nodded, "Yeah. All you have to do is follow my lead."

"And pay for it, I'd imagine." His father actually smirked.

Atsushi lowly laughed, "That would help."

His father continued to smile as he slowly shook his head, turning his office chair just enough to look out the window at the cold and gray day. Life seemed peaceful outside that window and as he sat there in his office with his youngest son, perhaps it was a peace he could obtain inside as well.

"Eh, what the hell. I'll get my coat." His father said, exhaling a long breath as he stood and picked up the photo of his granddaughter to slip it into his wallet.

Atsushi's lips immediately spread into a wide smile as he followed his father from the office, trudging down the stairs into the common living space where his mother was scrubbing some dishes. She looked up and smiled at Atsushi as the two put on their coats and with a silent goodbye, they stepped out the front door and into the cool air of the winter's day.

Getting into the front seat of his father's car, Atsushi pulled out a small notepad and a pen where he began to jot down the things he would need for the cupcakes. In all this time, he never forgot Tatsuki's recipe and with each word he wrote, he was reminded of her. He wished she was there with him, but he understood why she wasn't, and he was happy for her in her own decision. He wasn't sure if they could keep their promise, but in some, small way, he felt like he was carrying on by using her recipe.

Together, they had come up with a whole cookbook's worth of recipes that were their own, but having been dragged away like he had been, he didn't have it. He wished he could, if at all to have something of hers with him at all times, but there was nothing he could do about it now. All he could do was make his own, and as his father started the car and began to back out, he decided that's what he was going to do.

Not much was said in the car on the way to the nearest market, and even less was said at the store while Atsushi gathered the things he needed from the shelves with his father in tow. He picked up the sugar and the cocoa, all while his father just watched and followed like a loyal child. He looked out of place, a bit lost, and as he softly laughed, pulling a small bottle of vanilla from the shelf, his father looked at him with a popped brow.

"What's so funny?" His father asked, his hands in his pockets to refrain from touching anything out of curiosity.

"You look uncomfortable." Atsushi said, his smile evening out as he put the bottle down into the hand basket hanging on his arm.

"Would you laugh even harder if I said this was the first time I've been to the grocery store without your mother?" He said, sadly smirking with a lopsided smile as he gripped the back of his neck.

"I won't. I've known you too long to be surprised." Atsushi said as he continued down the aisle and scratched off the vanilla from his list.

"I know... I've been an idiot, Atsushi. I have so many apologies to hand out, that it's almost easier to just... stay the way I am." His father said, stuffing his hand back into his pocket as he followed his son.

"Nothing worth it is ever easy, Dad." Atsushi said with a glance back over his shoulder.

"That is very true." His father said, following a few steps behind.

Atsushi's own words struck a cord in his chest as his mind recited the words he had read from Tatsuki's letter. When he had first read them, he had been filled with hope, with love, but now that he thought about them, there was a far different meaning be hadn't seen. He understood why she had made her decision, but that didn't change the fact that he felt hurt and alone. She was leaving to save her way of life, and it meant that she was leaving him behind as well. He wanted to be angry, if at all to make it easier to cope with, but the fact was, was that it pained him to know that he wouldn't get to kiss her again, to hold her again and to be with her again. He and Tatsuki were no longer and even though his heart ached, squeezed with that dull pang every beat, that anger that would make it easier never came.

It wasn't until he felt his father's hand on his shoulder that he was jolted from his head, realizing that he had yet to take the sugar off the shelf and had frozen where he stood. He dared a glance at his father, whose eyes were strangely kind, soft; A far cry from the usual sneer he usually wore. It was almost like his father was two different people, a Jekyll and Hyde as it were, but the man standing next to him, comforting him, was the man he had always wanted in his life.

"I could say that it was better to love and lost, than never to have loved at all, but if I were to ever lose your mother for even the simplest of things, I would crumble." His father said, taking his hand away from his son's shoulder.

"She's put up with a lot of your crap, Dad." Atsushi said, starting to move again and putting the sugar carton in the hand basket.

"She has... You all have, but it's what was behind the scenes you didn't see that kept her from leaving." His father said, slipping his hand back into his pocket.

"How so?" Atsushi asked.

"Every night before we'd go to sleep, I've always told her that I love her and every morning is always greeted with a kiss. Do you remember coming home from school and sometimes there would be flowers sitting on the dining table?" His father asked with a gentle smile.

Atsushi nodded as he continued down the aisle.

"They were from me to your mother. Sometimes, I'd send her flowers just because she's my wife and the mother of my children. You never saw it because I was so insistent on pushing you all and unfortunately, I didn't listen to your mother." His father said as he released a slow sigh.

"That would have been nice to know. I don't like thinking that my dad is someone I don't wanna be." Atsushi said.

"Don't be like me. All my years and everything I've done, if it results in you not being like me, than I was successful. None of my children are like me and for that, I couldn't be prouder." His father said with the barest growing of his smile.

That was the one word his father never used, never even attributed it to any aspect of their lives. He had resolved himself in thinking that he would never hear his father say such a thing in regards to his children, never expected to ever please his father, or make him proud. It was all starting to make sense; His father's reasoning behind being the man he portrayed. Years ago, Atsushi had made the decision and accepted that he would never make his father proud. Just like his father had wanted.

"D-Dad-" he exhaled, "Dad, I wanna make you proud of me. Not because I play basketball for Yōsen, but because of what I've done in my life." Atsushi said, stopping at the end of the aisle to look his father in the eyes instead of at his feet.

"You've already done that. I may not agree with your uncle's... life, but he taught you something I never could. He taught you to be real and true to yourself and that was the final piece. My methods may not be widely accepted, but now that this man stands before me?... I'm gleaming with pride that he's my son." His father smiled.

Atsushi's breath caught in his throat, "You haven't called me your son since the day I left." He briefly smiled.

"Yet another one of my mistakes. I have a beautiful daughter and 4 amazing sons that I hope I get to show off to the world. Where I wasn't very good at raising children, your mother, it seems, did an amazing job." His father said.

Atsushi nodded, "Yeah."

Both softly sighed as Atsushi resumed the task of gathering the needed items, finding the last few things he needed in the dairy section where the chilled cream cheese was kept. He put the couple of packages into the basket before heading back towards the front of the store to checkout, and once his father had paid, never once complaining at the cost, both headed out to the car and headed home.

As his father shut the front door, Atsushi toed off his shoes and headed into the kitchen, setting their pair of bags down on the counter and pulled out each item. Having spent as long as he did with his uncle, he had memorized the recipe, and after slipping on an apron without batting an eye, he began to work while his father watched.

Unbeknownst to him, as he worked with ease, his father watched with wonderment struck in his eyes. He had seen his son's prowess on the court; His ferocity, his determination to win and the way he actually scared his opponents, but in the kitchen, that same confidence and skill was present. Despite his son's size, his astounding statue, his large hands worked the same way they worked a basketball. He mixed the batter, preheated the oven, prepared the cups, all without hesitation, or a stutter in his steps. His father was completely amazed as he watched from the dining table and when Atsushi slipped the first batch into the heated oven, he could already smell the delightful aroma of chocolate and light cream.

"I had no idea you were just as skilled in the kitchen as you were on the court. You're so confident." His father said as Atsushi shut the oven and set the timer.

"You always said put your all into whatever we do, so I do." Atsushi said, slipping off the oven mitt and setting it down on the counter.

"I can see that," he sighed, "Atsushi... I want to make a deal with you." His father said as he stood, coming eye level with the tallest of his children.

"A deal? What deal?" Atsushi asked, lightly furrowing his brows as he leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms.

"So long as you continue to put your all into this, your baking, I want to be apart of it. I'm offering to pay for your tuition for culinary school." His father said.

Atsushi's eyes widened, "D-Dad?... I-I... I can't accept that. What would everyone else think? You didn't help them with school." He said, not moving a muscle out of shock.

"Actually," he started to smile, "I did." His father said.

Atsushi's mind went entirely blank as he stared at his father, not even breathing, or blinking his eyes. He had never thought, or seen any sort of offer made by his father growing up, as his older brothers and his older sister had never said anything to such a degree before they had all left the Murasakibara nest. He had always thought that his father wanted them to pay their own way when the time came, but now that he thought about it, all his older siblings had managed to go to university without trouble.

It all suddenly made sense.

"D-Dad... You've paid for everyone." Atsushi finally breathed out, his lips agape with shock that persisted no matter what he did.

His father nodded, "I did." He smiled.

"I didn't know." Atsushi said, uncrossing his arms to grip the meat of his shoulders.

"As planned. I never told each of your siblings until it was their time, and that's when they put two and two together. I felt as if I was attempting to buy their love, but I know that's not the case. I wanted them to have their foundations and that includes you." His father said simply.

"D-Dad-" Atsushi tried to speak, but found the words had caught in his throat.

"There's no need for words, Atsushi. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but the one thing I don't regret is having the five of you as my children and supporting you from backstage. Even at sixteen, you are already so independent and capable of so much. I'm proud of you, Son." His father said as his eyes became glassy and shiny.

All Atsushi could do was swallow through the small space that was left in his throat. He had never thought he would ever earn that word, had resolved that it was just a pipe dream, but there was so much about his father he hadn't realized and he felt like an idiot because of it. He felt as if he should have seen it, should have gotten even the smallest of glimpses of it, but it wasn't until he had taken a step back, had gone to his uncle's in the countryside that he had seen the whole picture.

His father loved him wholly and truly.

As the kitchen began to smell like the baking cupcakes, Atsushi finally realized that the oven's timer had gone off and he began to move as he put on the oven mitt and opened the oven door. The moment he did, both were hit with the warm and delectable scent of chocolate as he pulled out the cupcakes and they had browned and risen into perfect fluffy plateaus. He smiled down at them as he placed them on the stove top to cool and as his father stepped up next to him to admire them, both smiled as his father rested a hand down on his back.

"They're beautiful. I'm impressed." His father said, patting his youngest son's back before taking his hand back.

"Thanks." Atsushi said.

"You're welcome. Have you thought about which school you want to go to?" His father asked, turning around to lean back against the counter.

Atsushi nodded, "There's a culinary school in Tokyo I wanna go to. They have an acclaimed baking program that looks really good."

"I didn't give you enough credit. You're smarter than you look." His father smiled.

"Don't go spreading it around. I have a reputation to maintain." Atsushi grinned as he clamped his teeth down onto the tongue bar to expose the purple ball.

However, the moment he did, he realized that there were still secrets that had yet to be told, and he froze solid as his father's brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed. He had never told his father about the tongue piercing, neither did his mother for that matter and now that he had absentmindedly exposed his dirty little secret, he had some explaining to do.

"Atsushi... What is that?" His father asked dully as he popped an eyebrow over his eye.

"Um... A tongue piercing?" Atsushi cringed as he gripped the back of his neck.

"When did you get that?" His father asked, crossing his arms.

Atsushi gulped, "L-Last year?" His voice kept rising up at the end of his sentences as if he was asking his father for the right answer.

"How?" His father asked.

"Uh... Mom took me for my birthday. It helps to keep focused." Atsushi said, cringing again as he waited for the backlash.

"Uh huh-" his father breathed, "Somehow, that's fitting for you." He said as he continued to glare and try not to smile at how his son was so unnerved.

Atsushi began to breathe again, "Not mad?"

"No... Not mad. I'd only be upset if I don't get to try one of these cupcakes. They smell delicious." His father said, turning around to look down at the puffy chocolate confections.

"That's what I said the first time Muro-Chin and I made them. I didn't even wait for the tops to get put on before trying one." Atsushi said as he started to relax.

"Do I have to?" His father asked.

"No. Go right ahead." Atsushi said.

Atsushi's father smirked with a crooked grin as he scanned the cupcakes and decided on the perfect one; the corner one with the roundest, puffiest top on it that looked like a dark brown cloud. He carefully picked it out of the pan, cradling it almost as if it was fragile and he feared it crumbling if he wasn't careful. It was still warm, still so soft and it felt like air and when he brought it to his mouth and bit down, instantly having his mouth filled with the gooey filling of sweet cream cheese, his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Damn his son could bake.