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The ferocious rumbling alongside the cries of a lonely child echoed throughout the kitchen of the empty Sakuma manner.
Ritsu had tried his best, he really did.
After his Onii-chan had gone out for whatever reason, Ritsu had decided to try and make dinner for them all by himself. If he had succeeded, Rei would surely praise Ritsu and never leave his side again. It shouldn't have been difficult, Ritsu's seen (and even helped a little — even if it was just grabbing the noodles from the pantry, which Rei may have made Ritsu do as a distraction for the young boy) Rei make food, especially pasta. It wasn't too hard. Just boil the water, then the noodles, then add sauce.
But in all of Ritsu's time watching Rei cook (which had been every day for the past few years), he'd never seen the water behave like this.
Rather than the usual calm bubbles, they roared loudly, violently exploding. threatening to burn Ritsu's hand off at any time.
He did already get a burn, in fact. What was once the smooth ivory skin of a child was tainted with red-ish pink hues, small layers of skin bordering the wound.
If Ritsu were in a calmer state of mind, he would've just turned off the stove and put his hand under cold water for a few minutes, but as he was plunged into a fear-ridden mindset the irrational became the logical. And so, the monsterous pot of liquid was left to its own devices in the kitchen whilst Ritsu hid under the dining-room table, occasionally peaking out from under the table cloth, only to still be met with the ghastly sight.
Ritsu knew it was stupid to leave anything cooking unattended, even if it's just water, he's not dumb! After all, he has the smartest Onii-chan ever, it's a nobrainer that Ritsu inherited his genius from Rei; it's just apparently his mind doesn't work so well under stress.
It's easier to just cry and wait for his Onii-chan to save Ritsu yet again. Maybe this situation will teach Rei to not leave Ritsu ever again.
It's not like Ritsu fears being scolded, Rei's too nice for that. It's just... Ritsu really wanted to do something good for Rei because Rei is always good to Ritsu. Besides, he really thought that if he could do something like this for Rei, he'd see Ritsu as less of a burden and spend more time with him as Ritsu, not as his 'baby brother' who can't be trusted to do anything by himself.
Cowering under the dining table for ten or so minutes, the front door of the manor is loudly opened announcing the presence of Ritsu's older brother.
"Ritsu, I'm home!" Rei loudly calls out. As much as Ritsu would like to reply to Rei's announcement, berate him for leaving Ritsu all by himself and tell him how much he hates him (to which Rei knows that he secretly doesn't actually hate him.) Ritsu can only stifle out a few whimpers, the roaring of the kitchen looming dangerously close to Ritsu.
Thankfully Rei seems to hear the small echoes of Ritsu's cries, and rushes to try and find the boy.
"Ritsu? Where are you?" He yells. pausing in front of the dining room table, lifting up the cloth blocking the two before crouching down to Ritsu's level.
"Found you" Rei smiles, calming Ritsu just a little bit. He can only greet Rei with a few sniffles, tiny boy heaving with his cries.
"Ritsu, why're you crying? You hurt again?" Rei says scanning Ritsu body before taking his hand. "What happened here? You burnt yourself, how?"
Before Ritsu can answer Rei question, steam wafts from the kitchen, grabbing the both of their attention.
Rei heads off to investigate, and Ritsu finds himself trailing behind his brother, stepping foot just outside of the kitchen.
The oven is turned off with a simple click and Rei heads back towards Ritsu.
"Ritsu..." Rei sighs out, "did you get hungry while I was out? You know you're not supposed to cook alone. I'm glad you're mostly okay but what if anything else happened?" Rei nags going to fetch the first aid kit.
Ritsu can feel his tears burst out as he mumbles apologies. Attempting to calm Ritsu, Rei rubs his back whispering small little things, but Ritsu finds himself inconsolable. As Ritsu's cries grow, he finds himself struggling for air as he hyperventilates.
"Hey! Hey! Ritsu look at me, I'm not mad, so you need to breathe. You don't have to talk just breathe." Rei says, reaching for Ritsu's hand, loudly taking deep breaths for Ritsu to copy.
After a while, the blotchy spots from Ritsu's vision disappears and he realizes just how stupid this situation was. Seriously, what was he scared of?
"You okay now, Ritsu?" Ritsu nods in affirmation. "Can you tell me what happened now? You don't have to if you don't want to..."
"Ricchan wan'ed to do s'mthing nice for Onii-chan, so Ricchan t'ied to make dinn'r" Ritsu softly explains looking down, surprised at his own words and how stupidly babyish they come out as tears begin to well into his eyes.
"Ahh, I see. Well thank you for trying Ricchan! Next time let's do it together, okay? I'm grateful that you tried making dinner for me, but you shouldn't do it without any help." Rei swipes his thumbs gently across Ritsu's eyes, trying to brush away the tears.
"Okay..."
"Hey, Ritsu? Why don't you help me with dinner tonight. I'll help teach you, m'kay." Rei gently asks.
Ritsu lights up at the suggestion, "okay!"
And so, the two spend the rest of the night together, giggling and telling each other secrets and making pinky promises that they'll probably forget about in the morning.