The phone alarm blares and vibrates against the table. An annoyed grunt rises from my throat, but I am prepared to get up. My boyfriend, however, is not ready to wake from our nap on the couch. He reaches behind himself to grab the phone and dismisses the alarm.

"Mmmm, five more minutes." Ren moans against my lips. Burying one hand in my hair and placing one on the small of my back to hold me to his body.

"Ren, we should start lunch," I complain even as I pull him closer. "Kuon." I moan into his mouth. I can feel his excitement against my thigh as I rub my legs together between his. "You volunteered to host. Not me."

"Mm," Ren moans in agreement before he drops a hand to my thigh and lifts my leg over his.

He has gotten bolder lately and been pushing the boundaries of our relationship. I am not sure that now is a good time for him to be playing his games though. His parents and my landlords will be here in a little over an hour.

"Kuon," I say as a stern warning. He pulls away from my lips and gives me his hurt puppy look.

"Five more minutes, please." His lips land on my cheek in a gentle kiss.

"Ren I can feel your," I bashfully whisper as he trails his lips down my neck. I can feel him pulsing against my thigh. It's a little nerve-wracking but also dangerously exciting.

"So?" His voice vibrates against my throat. "It's not like it's the first time you've noticed my reaction to your presence." He says with a chuckle as he looks at my unamused expression.

"We don't have time to get carried away," I say even as I place a kiss to his lips.

"I can do all the cooking, but we still need to get ready, and there are a few more things we need from the store than there is the prep and the cooking. We only have two hours left after the nap you insisted on us taking." I say not wanting to admit that I am tempted to let myself melt into his desire.

"That's more than enough time." He says planting a kiss on my forehead before sitting up and leaving me by myself on the couch. With a wink, he says, "Let's go get ready than while we still have enough time." He motions for me to follow him, but I don't know if I trust that look in his eyes.

Enough time for what exactly? I should not follow him to his room to find out. I bite my lip and tiptoe after him. He spots me peaking in on him as he removes his shirt. The wolfish grin he gives me sets my heart on fire.

"I was joking you know. Unless you want to join me in the shower." He says heading to his bathroom.

I take a tentative step forward uncertain if he is still joking. I can hear the shower turn on and I imagine him taking off the rest of his clothes. The thought of water sliding over his rippling muscles as he enters the shower makes my thighs quiver. I take another step forward and another until I am standing just outside the slightly open bathroom door. My thighs squeeze together, and my fingers touch the door, and I contemplate pushing it. As it is, I can't see anything but the white wall. If I nudge the door just a little, I would be able to see my boyfriend's godly body. Could I play it off as an accident? A soft chuckle informs me that he is aware of my presence. I grip the knob, and with a heavy sigh, I pull the door shut. My teeth grit together as his boisterous laughter seeps through the door.

"Pervert!" I growl opening the door and impulsively stepping into the bathroom to scold him. My heart stops, and I stand in the steaming bathroom wondering why I just did that. My eyes trail down from his smirking face to his… "No!"

I'm such a pervert! Why did I come in here? Why is he just standing there watching me ogle him?

"I'm sorry." I don't know why I'm apologizing; he obviously doesn't mind me being in here. Still, this is a giant leap forward in our relationship, and it was impulsive and unromantic.

"Don't be. I don't want our first time to be in the shower. I was only teasing."

"Perverted playboy." I grouch then keeping my eyes glued to the floor.

"Hey, I'm not a playboy. And I'm only perverted when I'm with you." He clarifies and I can hear the smirk in his voice.

"I feel so special." And I honestly do. The way his eyes rack over my body like I'm the last drop of fresh water on earth and he is absolutely parched makes me feel pretty. Like I'm not a flat chested plain girl nobody wants.

"You should probably go to your bathroom now." He says still teasing.

"Why?" I ask forgetting why we were in here. I made the mistake of looking at him, and now I can't stop staring. How can anybody look that perfect?

He laughs heartily drawing my attention from his chest to his face.

"You said that we need to get ready for our little lunch date. I'm showering and then I'll wear the nice clothes you picked out for me. You should go get ready in your bathroom unless you want me to ogle you like a piece of meat. Which I don't mind by the way it's just you told me that we don't have time to get carried away right now." I bite my lip and sulk at his know it all tone.

"Pervert!" I yell annoyed and I stomp out of the bathroom. Although I am not quite sure who I think is more perverted.

Once we are both ready and have gone to the store for the remaining ingredients, we walk back to the apartment to find Kuu and Julie waiting for us. They have two dishes in their hands which I am grateful, but Ren sneers at them.

"We came early to help you cook Kyouko." Kuu says opening his arms to hug us both.

"I'm making lunch." Ren says sounding like a bigger brat than Setsu. He walks past his parents without hugging them.

"Sorry." I apologize for him before bowing to greet them. "Thank you for coming."

Taisho-san and Okami-san arrive soon after. They bring a bottle of sake and some small steamed fish. I thank them but only show Ren the sake so as not to offend him.

"I can cook," I say as I observe him setting things out on the counter. His face scrunches in confusion as he examines a carton of tiny eggs. I was wondering if he knew what those were when he added them to the cart. "I can cook," I say again as sweetly as possible.

"Don't you trust me to cook a nice meal for our guests?" He asks with that damn puppy dog face of his. I wish he was joking, but I know him too well. He's been practicing and wants to show Taisho-san that he has improved.

"Corn," I say gently, and he ups the puppy dog level by three. That is really unfair. "Do you need any help with anything?" I ask instead of ordering him out of my kitchen.

Beaming at me he motions to the vegetables on the counter and offers me a knife. The wrong knife but I accept it anyway.

"You prep the vegetables. I'll handle the rest." He says tying his apron around his waist.

I can make this work, I hope.

I spend the next twenty minutes watching a true horror show. I watch my perfect boyfriend clumsily pour salt into one pan and add too much oil to another. He really is hopeless in the kitchen. Nothing Taisho-san or I taught him seems to have stuck. I'm not even sure what he's trying to make. He spills something brown all over the counter, and I quickly wipe it up. I try to sneak peeks at what he's doing, but all I see is the giant pot of boiling soup, I think, he keeps adding more seasoning too.

"Kuon, I think you should let me taste it now." I try to reason with him. He seems to be having fun making this concoction of his.

"Not until it's finished. You will be the first one to try it. Do you have the carrots done?" He asks dumping onions into a pan to sauté with some chunks of beef and chicken.

I sigh and hand over the chopped carrots. He adds them to the water and gestures for me to finish prepping the potatoes, corn, and tofu. What is this man doing? More importantly, why am I letting him do it? I stare at the goofy grin plastered on his stupidly handsome face for a moment before I shake my head and return to peeling the potatoes. He's cooking things out of order, but I know he's trying.

"Can you start the rice?" He asks me, and I have to bite my lip to control my need to take over the kitchen.

Kuu slips in surreptitiously to see how lunch is coming along. Though I suspect he really wants to stare at his son with that idiotic expression on his face. He truly is a baka-oyaji. I sneak over to him crouched low on the floor behind Ren.

"What is he making?" Kuu asks bending low to my ear so Ren can't hear.

"I'm not sure. Soup?" That is what it's turning out to be whether he intended it to or not.

"You really couldn't convince him to let you cook?" He asks a little confused then with a mischievous grin he asks. "He got you with the look, didn't he?" I can only nod embarrassed. "I'll go warn everyone. Maybe we can work together to figure out a way to order something without upsetting Kuon.

"Maybe we'll get lucky, and he'll burn everything." I whisper wickedly, and Kuu chuckles.

"I heard that." Ren growls. I flinch seeing the shadow looming over me. How had he crept up on us like that? I turn to see him glaring with his arms crossed over his chest. "The food is almost finished. Not that either of you will want any."

"No, Ren I…" He brushes past me heading to the living room to announce to the others that the food will be done soon.

Whatever it was supposed to be has turned into 'soup' with noodles, slices of beef, tofu, and quail eggs. I don't know what happened with the chicken he was cooking, and I don't want to ask for fear of upsetting him further.

"Kyouko," Ren says my name coolly when he returns to the kitchen. I flinch at the annoyance in his voice. "Go set the dining table." He adds a please after a silent beat as an after thought.

"Yeah, I'll go do that." I reply averting my eyes from his. I hadn't meant to hurt his feelings, but it's not as if he doesn't know he can't cook.

We never use the dining table, but I suppose it makes sense to do so now. The table in front of the tv is too small for five people. I bring out the unused ornate dining wear Ren purchased after seeing me admiring it for the briefest moment. I have to keep myself in check around him, or he's likely to buy every little trinket that I take the slightest interest in. Kuu helps me place everything just right on the table and Taisho, and Okami-san come in with the side dishes. They all take their places looking ready to accept their doom.

"Kyouko, I think Tsuruga-san might need your help in the kitchen." Julie says with concern in her eyes.

Worried I hurry to the kitchen to find Ren pacing. He stops when he sees me then his eyes flicker over to the pot of food he has prepared. Shaking his head, he starts pacing again muttering to himself about how foolish he was to think he could do this. I sigh and make my way over to the pot. To be honest, it doesn't look edible. Still, he did try his best. With a gulp, I spoon some into a bowl and take a deep breath. It actually doesn't smell bad.

"No, Kyouko, wait!" He's too late to stop me.

I tip the bowl up to my lips and let the 'soup' touch my tongue. Wanting to get it over with I gulp it all down then set the bowl down curiously.

"Oh!" I gasp in surprise. It's a little spicy, but overall it isn't bad. "I kind of like it."

Ren blinks at me his hand still in the air reaching to stop me from trying the 'soup.'

"What?"

"Your presentation is horrendous, but the flavor isn't bad." I tell him and watch as his face lights up like a little boy on his birthday.

"Really?" He exclaims swooping me up in his arms and spinning me around. "I made something you like?"

We share a laugh as he sets me down. The look he gives me makes my stomach flip. I kiss his cheek and turn away from him quickly before he can see what his sudden happiness is doing to me. His parents are here for goodness sake. Kyouko get your head out of the gutter.

"Right! Time to eat." I say ignoring his soft chuckle. I pour the 'soup' into the fancy serving bowl Ren has set out on the counter. Maybe it was meant to be soup.

"Bring it out already; I'm starving." Kuu calls into us jokingly.

"I'm coming," I call back as Ren takes the bowl from me and we head out to the table.

Kuu wastes no time in helping himself to the food. Okami-san politely thanks Ren for the food and Julie demurely sips at the broth.

"It isn't the worst thing you've made." Taisho-san grumbles gruffly as he serves himself his second bowl. "I still expect you over next month for your next lesson."

"Yes," Ren says rigidly as he stares down at his own food suddenly nervous again.

"Hey, everybody likes your food." I soothe patting his hand.

He inhales a shuddering breath and takes my hand.

"Ren?"

"Kuon." He corrects me, and I look around at the four sets of equally confused eyes looking at us. "My name is Hizuri Kuon." He states calmly lacing his fingers with mine.

"Hizuri?" Okami-san asks looking at Julie and Kuu. Then, to everyone's surprise, she scowls at Taisho-san. "You mean he was right?" She asks me in a hushed tone.

"What?"

"Of course, I was right. Look at them." Taisho-san says looking at Kuu and Kuon.

"Well, I never said it was impossible. I just didn't want you assuming things." She grumbles eating her rice.

"Kuon, my baby!" Julie exclaims leaping at him across the table. They tumble to the floor with her kissing his head.

"How sweet." Okami-san whispers and her hand grazes over my hair in a motherly way.

kuu retrieves his wife and helps his son back to his seat. He gives him the smallest kiss on his forehead before returning to his own seat. I smile up at Kuon knowing that he isn't quite healed but he has learned to accept himself at least.

A/N: I'm not dead! For a while there I had no plans of finishing this because it had been so long and I couldn't seem to get back into Skip Beat. I still love it but the pace and a few of the characters have been annoying me. Mostly Lory and other adults for reasons. This chapter though will be the end of this story. Don't be sad there is a part two planned that takes place a few months later. Mostly I just don't want to fill in the months but the only thing I can think of next is Kyouko's birthday and their eventual engagement. Anyway sorry for the long wait and cheesy ending. Funny enough Ren's cooking is based on someone I know who burns yet under cooks everything, the chapter where he first cooks for Kyouko describes food this person has actually made me eat and the soup in this chapter is too, although it was while I was sick and helpless to stop the person from cooking for me. I'm gonna work on Shameless than I'll work on part two of this story. Promise.