Flowershop

Chapter Six

Kiku actually did just spend the night Alfred's house. They didn't really do much, and tried too hard to make conversation. The whole night was filled with akward silences and forced laughter. They were just so caught up in the earlier events that they didn't even think to make natural conversation. The most they really talked was over dinner, and when they argued over who would make it. Kiku ended up winning of course, much to the American's displeasure. He wanted to let Kiku relax the whole day, but quickly got over it once he saw what Kiku had prepared.

They watched a couple episodes of an anime together, but none of them were really paying attention to it. The both of them were too lost in their own thoughts to process the moving pictures on the television. Alfred seemed more preoccupied than Kiku, and ended up taking an hour in the shower. While Alfred was more freaked out about this whole ordeal, Kiku was just more confused.

Alfred let Kiku sleep in his bed, and Alfed just slept on his couch.
It took Kiku some time to fall asleep, and when he did, he dreamed of his childhood. It was a happy childhood for the most part, but it still had this lonely twinge to it, he couldn't describe it. Many happy memories were playing in his mind, and a watery smile drifted onto his face in his dream state. He awoke with a tear on his face, but didn't notice it or wipe it off until Alfred asked what was wrong. Alfred made breakfast this time, and let Kiku sleep in so he could make it in peace. Alfred had made pancakes, something that Kiku had not had before. Kiku actually liked it, and asked Alfred for the recipe. They were slowly but surely becoming more comfortable with eachother again, and slowly processing their thoughts, embracing them.

Kiku went back home at about one in the afternoon, and since it was his day off, he just lounged about the whole day. To be honest, he was exhausted, and ended up taking a five hour nap. He probably would've stayed asleep a little longer if the American didn't call, waking him up for the second time over a call. This time it took three calls to get him to answer. He answered the phone wearily, upset he was interrupted from his sleep. He looked at the caller ID this time, and answered it carefully. "Yes, Alfred?" He answered in a calm voice. He was hoping Alfred didn't notice he was sleeping, but to no avail; Alfred was more perceptive than people think. "Dude? Were you sleeping again? Why? You should go out and do more exciting things!" Alfred also happened to notice that he didn't call him Mr. Alfred. He took a mental note of that and smiled to himself. "I..I don't know, I've just been tired lately." He answered carefully. He sat up fully and rubbed his eyes. He squinted at his clock. 9:46?! He went to sleep at 4:00 o'clock, after he cleaned his balcony a bit. Why would he sleep well over five hours? He sighed and closed his eyes in disbelief. He would have to try harder to keep awake next time. He focused his attention on the man on the other end of the phone, realizing he accidentally tuned him out.
Whoops.
"...So yeah, I was thinking that would be a cool thing to do maybe like, next week! Kiku? Are you listening?!" He ended in a questioning voice. "Ah yes, that seems like it would be fun!" Kiku answered hastily, cursing at himself for not listening. Alfred did not buy that. "Ok, then repeat what I just said!" He countered. "Oh..ah..I'm sorry.." Kiku stuttered. "Could you repeat that?" Kiku asked politely. Alfred considered for a moment before answering. "..No, just meet me at the park next to your house at 4 next week!" He said before hanging up. It would be better if it was a surprise. "Wai-" Kiku started before getting cut off. He sighed angrily and through his phone at next to him as he rose from his couch. He tied on his apron and began making dinner for himself. So at four next week, huh? He thought. I could make time for that, he thought in content.

Kiku's eyebrows knit together in frustration. He had no eggs to to cook, and he didn't have enough to go buy some more. He opened his wallet to find it practically empty. He just realized how financially screwed he was. He needed another job, and fast. Oh god, he thought. I'm turning into my mother. His mom always had more than one job, Kiku had a lot of siblings. He closed his eyes and sighed, having having rice and corned beef without the eggs.

Alfred splayed himself on the couch, thoughts buzzing around in his head. He wanted to buy the new version of his video game, but it was 60 freakin dollars! He couldn't buy it yet. He looked up at his ceiling, frowning at it when it looked a bit off. He noticed he had a headache a lot these days. "Oh man.." He frowned. "I need a new prescription already! These things are like, eighty dollars!" He got up off his couch as he suddenly thought of his conversation with Kiku. He seemed to be having a hard time. I mean, why wouldn't he be? He just moved here from a completely different country! He wondered if he had enough money to pay for everything. I mean, he just worked at a little rundown flowershop from what he understood. He suddenly felt a little guilty pang at his heart as he thought of Kiku trying to always pay for things, and how he was upset because he couldn't buy a video game. Kiku was more distracted than usual, and it sounded like he was sleeping heavily. Was he ok?? He wondered if Kiku was sick. He hoped it wasn't that serious. After all, Alfred didn't think he could be able to handle it if another person in his life got sick.

Kiku brought the fork to his mouth, wishing he had eggs to go with this. He cleaned off his plate and began to make plans in his head. He had to get another job, and he had to start looking for places tomorrow. He rubbed to frontal part and back part of his head, where he started to get a stress induced headache. He winced as he realized he accidentally cut himself on the knife he was washing. He really needed to stop spacing out. He went over to his bathroom to get a bandaid, but found only a couple left in the box. the blood kept seeping through and he needed multiple bandaids, and he groaned as he used his last one. He was just falling apart at the moment. He sat down on the floor and turned on his tv, hoping to realax. He started to relax his shoulders and calm his headache after a little, and got into his show. He was almost at peace when jumped as his phone started buzzing rapidly. He flipped it open and saw that it was his mother this time. He braced himself and sighed before answering.