Today, Tsukushi was over at Tsukasa's house. He had rented a smaller place for him to live at, since the Domyouji mansion he decided was far too large and lavish. Or, that's what he said. The two of them both knew that it was secretly so that Tsukushi and him could spend more time together and she would feel more comfortable in a more casual environment.

Tsukushi flipped through a cookbook, her black hair tied back in a sleek ponytail. A red and white plaid apron covered her chest and ended down at her knees. One could easily guess that she was about to cook or bake something.

But not without a little bit of help.

"Are we seriously going to bake a cake?" he grumbled in disbelief. "We could just go out and buy one, or even have my chef cook us one," he offered. Tsukushi clicked her tongue in disapproval at his behavior.

"Spoiled," she sighed. "And yes, we are baking a cake. I know that this thing called making an effort is a foreign concept to you, so I guess you're just gonna have to man up and deal with it, huh?"

"Did you just question whether I was a man or not?" the curly-haired teen accused. She flicked his forehead.

"You idiot. I'm seriously concerned for your company's future," she remarked. Meanwhile, Tsukasa stood there, rubbing his slightly red forehead, not really paying much attention as to what she was actually saying.

"That hurt," he pouted. Suddenly smirking, he reach over and flicked her back in the forehead. Tsukushi let out a small yelp, before firmly placing her palm against her forehead as well. Even though he wasn't the brightest man on Earth, his strength was definitely something else.

"Tsukasa!" she exclaimed, a hint of annoyance and playfulness in her tone. He gave her an arrogant smile. She felt her face heat up a bit at how attractive he was when he smiled, though she wouldn't ever dare admit it.

"As much as I'd love to stand here and enjoy your adorable reactions all day," he started, "we do have a…cake to bake." The way Tsukasa said this made her giggle since he acted as if it were some deadly disease he wanted to avoid.

"We do," she agreed. "Now then, let's get started!"

-o-

"Okay, the recipe calls for flour, white sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon," Tsukushi recited. A smile made its way onto her lips as she noticed the confused look on her boyfriend's face.

"Uh, can you repeat that?" he requested. She waved her hand in dismissal.

"Can you just get the eggs? I'll grab everything else."

"How many?" he asked. Tsukushi seemed to think about this for a moment.

"Just grab the entire dozen for now," she replied. Tsukasa raised an eyebrow.

"A dozen?"

"Yeah, a dozen. You know, twelve?" she said, now starting to actually question his intelligence. She knew he wasn't smart or anything, but this was just beyond her.

"Twelve?" he inquired. Tsukushi nodded. "Are you mad, woman? A dozen is an exchange of insults engaged in as a game or ritual!" he scoffed as if it were the most obvious thing in the entire world. Tsukushi let out a frustrated sigh.

"Nobody actually uses 'a dozen' like that, you big idiot!" she yelled. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down, Tsukushi closed her eyes and brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. "You know what, just go grab me two eggs out of the fridge," she instructed, no longer wanting to argue with him.

Tsukasa rolled his eyes and wandered to the fridge, as he—she hoped—grabbed a couple of eggs out.

-o-

"Perfect!" Tsukushi cheered. I'm impressed that he actually got two eggs out as I instructed, she thought with a smile. Taking one egg and leaving him with the other, she stood in front of a large metal bowl.

"What do I do with the egg?" Tsukasa asked. Tsukushi sighed, half-expecting this reaction, though still slightly concerned and definitely amused.

"I was just about to show you," she said. Taking the egg, she knocked it against the table, hard enough for her to leave a crack in it but gentle enough for the egg to stay in one piece. Hovering it over the bowl, she separated the two shells away from each other and let the yolk along with some goopy transparent looking liquid ooze into the bowl.

"There. Your turn," she said. You can't mess up cracking an egg, right? It should be easy enough even for someone like Tsukasa.

He lamely took the egg in his hand and stared blankly at it for a few moments. Just as Tsukushi was about to reach out and help him, he finally decided to lower the egg against the table…

…and completely smash it. Tsukasa hissed in pain as a few shards of the eggshell cut through his flesh. The yolk of the egg was dripping off the counter along with the uncooked whites. I stand corrected, Tsukushi observed wryly.

"You idiot. Learn to control your strength," she scolded gently, holding her hand out towards him. He glared at her due to her name calling, but stared quizzically at her awaiting hand.

"Why are you holding your hand out, moron?" he asked. Tsukushi rolled her eyes at the word 'moron', as she knew it was only to get back at her for calling him an idiot.

"Your hand," she responded. "I need to make sure you didn't injure it," she added when she noticed his face turning red. Did he really think she wanted to hold his hand at a time like this?

"Oh," he said, holding up his hand covered in raw egg with small eggshell pieces stabbed into his skin. She almost winced at the sight of it, but for his sake, she acted like it wasn't a huge deal. "It's not even hurt, see—"

Tsukushi frowned, before cutting him off. "Don't lie. Bring your hand closer," she instructed. Tsukasa smiled at her concern, though played it off as annoyance.

-o-

With his hand bandaged loosely, Tsukasa and Tsukushi continued baking. Of course, after that incident, the two of them agreed that he probably shouldn't be in charge of cracking the eggs.

"Tsukasa, where's the cinnamon?" she asked, turning around to face him. He glanced around the kitchen, before his eyes lit up and she knew he had found it.

"Ah, let me go grab it," he said. Tsukushi nodded. She watched as he came closer to her, his eyes staring straight over her head.

Spinning back around to work on the still unmade cake, she gasped in shock as she felt his body come in contact with hers. Almost dropping the wooden spoon, she timidly turned her head back around, unable to adjust the rest of her body. Her face immediately turned red.

"T-Tsukasa," she called. "What are you doing?" she asked, feeling quite nervous and desperately hoping he didn't hear her stutter as she said his name.

He suddenly pulled away from her, leaving Tsukushi disappointed. She'd surely expected a kiss or something, since he was cornering her and such.

"Here. The cinnamon," he told her, holding out a small container of ground cinnamon. Tsukushi stared at his hand, completely dumbfounded. She gulped awkwardly as she realized that he was only trying to grab the cinnamon from the shelf above her, not make moves or advancements on her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, taking the cinnamon from him. He raised an eyebrow at her strange reaction. "Thanks," she said. Just as she was about to resume her baking, he said something that made her tense up.

"Do you have a fever? Your face is incredibly red," he noted. Tsukushi laughed nervously as she sprinkled an adequate amount of cinnamon into the batter.

"No, I'm fine," she assured him.

"You sure?" he asked. A chuckle erupted from his throat. "Or…maybe you thought I was going to kiss you?"

Tsukushi lost it at that point and before she knew it, she'd taken a random innocent egg off the counter and hauled it at him with all her might.

Splat!

The egg landed squarely on his forehead and exploded in his face, the yolk dripping down his nose and some in his unnaturally curly hair. At the mere sight of him in such a state, Tsukushi's anger dissipated as she burst into laughter.

Tsukasa scowled at her, before rushing to the fridge and grabbing an egg out as well. Tsukushi's laughter soon came to a halt as she was also covered in raw egg.

Glaring at Tsukasa, she declared war once more just as she had in high school.

"It's on, rich brat!"

Reaching out for a bag of flour by her side, she instantly grabbed a handful of it and dusted it in his face. A cloud of flour puffed up and filled the air along with their senses, leaving the couple to breath in and cough out flour.

Tsukasa smirked. He wasn't going down without a fight, and neither was she. Despite the flour still lingering in the air and on his face, he grabbed the entire bag and held it over his girlfriend's head.

"What do you think you're—HEY!" she shrieked, the flour piling up on her head and falling into her face, down her shoulders, and all over her clothes.

"Haha! Serves you right," Tsukasa taunted. Tsukushi huffed, now getting serious about this battle. She slowly untied the plaid apron that had a bow around her neck and waist, before messily folding it and setting it on the counter.

Tsukushi turned on the sink, before she started collecting the cool water in her cupped hands. Without any warning, she spun towards him and flung the liquid in his direction.

"What the hell?!" he yelled. As soon as the water came in contact with the flour, it lost its powdery form and instead became more sticky.

Tsukushi gave him a knowing smile, her lips curled up in almost a mocking way. He raised an eyebrow, before returning the wicked smile. He walked swiftly over to her, stopped a few inches in front of her, and flicked her nose. She let out a squeak.

"Ow! Cut it out, you turd cake!"

You gotta love fighting like you're four.

Tsukushi glared at the taller male threateningly, before taking a good chunk of frosting from the spatula onto her finger and smearing it across his cheek. Due to his height, she had to stand on her tiptoes to achieve this.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, instinctively reaching up to his face to rub the cream-colored frosting off. She giggled at how ridiculous they both looked—covered in flour from head to toe with cracked eggs spilling down their heads. If anyone were to ever see the oh-so-high and mighty Tsukasa Domyouji in such a state, they wouldn't be able to believe their eyes.

"We're even now, right?" she asked innocently. Tsukasa grumbled something under his breath—something about 'evil', 'girlfriend', and 'cooking'.

Frowning, Tsukushi wondered if she'd taken it a step too far. "Tsukasa?" she called. "...Are you mad at me?"

That got his attention. Tsukasa gave her an incredulous look.

"I'm not mad at you," he replied. "Why would I be mad at you?"

Tsukushi shrugged. "I…just thought so. But if you're not then I won't worry about it," she grinned. He couldn't help but smile at her behavior. Gently, he lifted her chin up with his index finger, before gently pressing his lips against her soft ones. He took note of the fact that she didn't protest whatsoever, meaning she enjoyed his kisses.

Taking a step back, he asked, "That's what you wanted, right?"

Being the stubborn girl she was, Tsukasa expected an answer more like "not at all!" or "of course not!" and so he was surprised when he heard her response.

"Yeah."

-o-

Ding!

"Finally, the cake is done!" Tsukushi exclaimed, rushing over to the oven. Tsukasa was soon by her side, probably just as excited as her, though he definitely hid it a lot better. She sometimes wondered what was with him and why he found it embarrassing or whatever to show some excitement about things like this. Maybe he just didn't want to show that he actually enjoyed such "common people things".

Opening the oven, Tsukushi glanced inside at their cake and gasped in surprise at the presence of their completely deformed coffee cake.

"What's the holdup? Let's take it out," Tsukasa said impatiently. She took a step back and grabbed a large plate along with a spatula. She rested the spatula beneath the cake and guided it onto the plate.

"It got messed up," he stated. Tsukushi snorted indignantly.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," she said sarcastically. Tsukasa rolled his eyes and patted her on the head. He could tell she was a bit upset about how the cake turned out even if she wouldn't admit it.

"Sorry that it turned out like this," he apologized as Tsukushi set the plate down on a nearby table. "Maybe if we hadn't messed around so much and focused on the cake it would've turned out pretty." he sighed. After all, the one thing that mattered most to him in the entire world was her happiness.

"You big dummy," Tsukushi said. Tsukasa stared at her in confusion and wondered what he had done to deserve the sudden insult.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" he inquired. Tsukushi nodded.

"Of course you did!" she exclaimed. "I don't care about the cake. I…" she inhaled sharply. "I'm just really happy that I got to spend some time with you…" she murmured. Still, he was able to hear her words. A smile immediately lit up his face, no matter how hard he tried to fight it.

"Yeah," he agreed, trying not to sound too excited or eager. "Me too."

Tsukushi stood on her tiptoes, attempting to peck him on the cheek, only to fail and stumble slightly due to him being an entire foot taller than her.

"What are you doing?" he inquired. Tsukushi blushed.

"Nothing."

He smirked once more, before bending down and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Thanks for today," he said. "It was lots of fun."

Tsukushi's eyes widened in surprise. He'd just admitted that he thought the day was fun! Does this mean he likes baking or likes spending time with me? Or both? thoughts immediately began running through her head.

"Mhmm. We should do this again sometime," she suggested. He made a face.

"No."

"Huh?" she blinked. "Why?"

He paused. "I don't like baking."

"Then why—"

"Because you really wanted to, and I like seeing you happy, okay?!" he cut her off. "You idiot."

Her heart beat wildly inside her chest at his words, but of course her competitive side had to take over the moment the word 'idiot' came out of his mouth.

"Dummy."

"Stupid."

"Bully."

"Shortie."

"Curly-haired weirdo."

"Well, you love this curly-haired weirdo, don't you?" he countered. Tsukushi opened her mouth to retort, only to close it and realize he was completely right.

"Well," she started. "You love this stupid shortie, don't you?" she inquired. He responded by enveloping her in his warm arms and pulling her towards his chest for a hug.

"Does this answer your question?" he asked gruffly. Tsukushi couldn't fight the huge smile that spread across her face.

"Mhmm." she hummed. "And, um, I love you too."