*clears throat* On this day, I'm thankful for Hal to be born and to have the good internet; that sort of feeling. Congratulations!

/doujinshi oishi
 

And Eat It Too

The sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs echoes through the living room. Tendou smiles, although he doesn't look up from his newspaper, not even when Juka bursts into the room and drops her bag with a clatter.

"Good morning!" she crows, and Tendou sees out of the corner of his eye that she is striking a pose they saw yesterday afternoon on Dekaranger. He can feel his grin stretching to doofus proportions, and hikes the newspaper up a little higher.

Tendou doesn't exactly go back to reading the paper, however, until he hears the thump of Juka's rear hitting the chair, and her usual cry of glee at the sight of breakfast.

"A traditional breakfast this morning!" she exclaims. "Good!"

Tendou finishes up the article he's reading ("Five Easy Ways To Express Your Love With Tofu!") while he listens to Juka's muffled noises of pleasure, and finally he folds his paper, then his arms, and looks over to the breakfast table. "Juka?"

"Mmhmm?" Juka looks up over her bowl, cheeks puffed out and a grain of rice stuck to her cheek.

"Your birthday's almost here." Tendou suppresses his smile, trying to imagine what crazy dinner Juka will ask for this year. "Have you thought about your present?"

"Mn!" Juka nods, swallowing, then takes a second to get her brilliant smile in place before pinning Tendou with her innocent expression. "I'd like to have a slumber party!"

"Well, I suppose I could…" Tendou frowns suddenly as Juka's request actually sinks in. "What?"

"A slumber party!" Juka repeats, tilting her head dreamily. "With popcorn and scary movies and makeovers! Pleeeeease?" Juka clasps her hands together and bows as only a little sister completely confident in the adoration of her older brother can.

"You are getting to be that age…" Tendou gives in, getting a shriek of excitement from Juka. "How many of your little school friends were you thinking about inviting?"

"I want to invite Hiyori-chan and Kagami-kun," Juka says.

"What?" Tendou says again, too stunned to even backpedal.

"They're my friends." Juka crosses her arms. "It'll be fun."

"They're not…" Tendou licks his lower lip when Juka's gaze sharpens. "They're adults, Juka-chan, and adults don't have sleepovers." Juka is still staring at him with an even gaze. Tendou pulls out the big guns. "Grandmother once said…"

Juka interrupted by lifting a single finger. "The man who meddles with a lady's birthday does so only once."

"How's Saturday for you?" Tendou asks wearily, and that's how he finds himself walking to the café with two pink and sparkly envelopes in his hand.

*****

He and Juka are blowing up the last of the balloons when the doorbell rings, and Tendou stands and staggers to the door, dizzy from all the balloon-filling, to answer it.

As soon as he gets the door open, Kagami honks a birthday blower at him, and the only reason Tendou doesn't slam the door shut on both him and Hiyori is because his reflexes are dulled by the light-headedness.

"I brought cake," Hiyori says, pushing past Tendou with a large, white box from the café.

Tendou refrains from retorting that he makes unsurpassable birthday cakes as Hiyori and Kagami offer their birthday congratulations to a beaming Juka.

They order sushi for dinner, as per Juka's request, and Tendou doesn't say anything even when Juka flirts shamelessly with the delivery boy, who notes the balloons and asks how old she is, and then yells "GREATO!" at the answer.

And he settles for just a dignified "Hmph," when Juka sits herself down to eat next to Kagami and eyes Tendou until he settles down next to Hiyori, even when Juka keeps sidling closer to Kagami in tiny increments. They're all wearing silly party hats, which just compounds Tendou's irritation, no matter how cute his baby sister looks in hers.

"Ah, you should really try this one, Juka-chan!" Kagami says, holding up a piece of unagi with his chopsticks. Juka's smile doubles in size, and she leans over with her mouth open, and that's when Tendou finally loses it and kicks Kagami sharply under the table, making him bobble the unagi right into his tea.

Juka and Kagami both break into hooting laughter, pointing at each other, and even Hiyori cracks a tiny smile, which she quickly hides behind her teacup. Tendou narrows his eyes at Kagami and chews sulkily on his own sushi, consoling himself with the knowledge that he could make better sushi in a straightjacket.

Just as they are shoving around the last few pieces of food, Kagami and Juka daring each other to bolt a few more despite the fact that they both look almost sick with how much they've already eaten, the doorbell rings again, and Kagami hops up with a grin.

Hiyori and Tendou blink at each other, but it all becomes clear when Kagami yanks the door open to reveal Daisuke and Gon.

"Happy birthday, Juka-chan!" Kagami says, bowing deeply, and Juka's elated squeal sets Tendou's teeth on edge.

He starts picking up plates along with Hiyori, but suddenly Kagami is beside them, plucking the plates out of Hiyori's hands and nudging her cheerfully over towards Daisuke. She gives Tendou a bland look, which may indicate panic, before Kagami bustles Tendou cheerfully into the kitchen.

"Yosh!" Kagami rolls up his sleeves. "I'll wash and you dry, ne, Tendou? Dish washing best friend combination!"

"We're not friends." Tendou rolls his eyes and reaches for a dish towel. "And you watch too much anime."

"Maybe you don't watch enough," Kagami teases, nudging Tendou's shoulder with his own, and Tendou rolls his eyes again but doesn't move away.

By the time they go back out, Daisuke is putting the last touches on Juka, and even Hiyori is watching with something that might almost be interest. Juka's eyes are closed, her face tilted up, and Tendou fights down panic at how the baby fat is almost gone from her cheekbones.

"Hey, Tendou," Kagami says quietly, nudging him again. "Juka-chan's growing up, ne? She's getting pretty doki-doki."

Tendou squashes down even more panic, gives Kagami a withering look, and makes a mental note to send his zecter to cut Kagami's cable line at the earliest possible opportunity.

"Ultimate Makeup!" Daisuke interrupts Tendou's sulk, which apparently means he is done. Gon hands him a bottle of perfume, and Juka giggles when the spray touches her skin. "You are as delicate as a…a…"

"Cherry blossom," Gon supplies as she hands over the mirror, and Daisuke agrees immediately.

Juka doesn't look at the mirror, though; when she opens her eyes, she looks right at Tendou, smile wide and expectant. "Well? Am I beautiful?"

"Yes," Tendou says, chest twisting a little, but he can't help smiling back.

"Really?!" Juka squeals, hopping up to dash over and hug Tendou. His smile fades quickly, however, when she grabs both his and Kagami's hands and starts dragging them over to Daisuke and Gon.

"Whoa, whoa!" Tendou protests, but Kagami is shrugging and going along with it, and Tendou isn't quite sure how to process that.

"Ah," Daisuke says when Kagami flops onto the cushion in front of him, "a repeat customer."

Tendou barely has time to smirk at that before Gon is in front of him, brandishing a cosmetic brush. "I'm in training," she reports, deadpan. "You don't have to close your eyes, but the brush after this is a lot bigger."

Tendou closed his eyes tight and pretended not to hear the snort from Hiyori.

******

After everybody has their makeover, Juka somehow talks Daisuke and Gon into staying for horror movies, although it's a toss up whether her mascared lashes or Hiyori's cake puts the final nail in the coffin.

Sadako is just crawling up out of the well when Hiyori shifts beside him on the couch, and Tendou looks away from the screen. Just to check on everybody. On the other side of Hiyori, Daisuke has his hat pulled low over his eyes and twitches every time something on the TV makes a noise.

"Too scary?" Tendou asks Hiyori, leaning closer to whisper.

"No," Hiyori says without looking away from the television. "The screen is glaring off your lip gloss."

"SHH!" Juka and Gon both hiss from the floor, and between them, Kagami may or may not be hiding behind the huge popcorn bowl.

Tendou makes it through the end of Ringu and about half of Ju-on before declaring that he is going to go set up the futons in Juka's room, like any half-decent host would. Kagami practically breaks his neck offering to help and fleeing the room.

"Want to stay over?" Juka asks Gon when the second movie is over, since the two have apparently bonded over their caretakers' ridiculous fear of silly horror movies. Gon looks over at Daisuke, who is fiddling with his hat and looking supremely unconcerned with anything but watching Hiyori bully Kagami into picking up popcorn kernels off the floor.

"We should go." Gon shakes her head. "But thanks." She tugs on Daisuke's sleeve, and they both bow to Juka and offer her congratulations again before they go.

Tendou shuts the door behind them and makes sure it's locked for the night, then turns to find Juka clinging to Hiyori's arm and grinning at him. Hiyori looks startled about the sudden touching, but too confused by Juka's enthusiasm to do anything about it.

"We're going to my room!" Juka announces, voice authoritative from hours of research into things one must do at a slumber party. "To talk about you."

Juka skips off, dragging Hiyori along with her and giving Kagami's rear an adoring glance as they go by.

Kagami straightens up, holding a handful of crushed popcorn. "What was that about?"

"I don't know." Tendou thinks about kicking over the popcorn bowl and making Kagami pick it up some more, then gets a hold of himself. "I'm going to bed. You can sleep on the couch."

******

It's pitch dark when the sound of Tendou's door sliding open wakes him, and in the moment of disorientation, Tendou asks, "Juka-chan, did you have a bad dream?"

But instead of Juka-chan, when Tendou fumbles on the light a second later, it's Kagami standing in the doorway, looking sheepish and clutching the flat pillow from the couch.

His pajama pants have ducks on them. Tendou lets his head flop back down against his pillow. "Get lost."

"But, hey, Tendou-kun," Kagami doesn't get lost, and shifts his feet a little, "you didn't think Sadako was just a little creepy?"

"Aren't you too old to be scared of movies?" Tendou asks, ignoring the way his skin prickles at even the thought of Ringu's climax.

"The TV is staring at me," Kagami insists, and just then the house creaks, making Kagami give a little "Yipe!" and Tendou tells himself that he didn't shiver at all.

"It's just the house settling," Tendou says, like he's talking to a small child. "There's absolutely nothing…"

Suddenly there is a strange noise from the hallway, like something is skittering across the wood floor, and before Tendou can say "Clock up," Kagami is in his bed, staring at Tendou with wide eyes, blankets pulled up over his head.

"Absolutely n—" The noise starts up again, louder, or maybe closer, and Kagami clutches the blankets tighter around himself and makes pleading eyes at Tendou. Only idiots are scared of silly noises, Tendou tells himself firmly, then rolls over and says, "Just go to sleep."

There's about ten seconds of Kagami settling down, then settling some more, and just as his warmth is seeping into Tendou's back and Tendou is about to drift off again, Kagami starts talking.

"You don't think something like could really happen, right? With the video tape, I mean. Of course, who even has a VCR anymore, but then again, burning DVDs is really easy too and…"

Tendou rolls over and covers Kagami's mouth with his own, figuring that it's the only way he'll ever get some peace and quiet.

Out in the hallway, the Gatack zecter taps it's feet against the wood floor, and clicks a little like a snicker.

******

In the morning, Tendou scowls at his breakfast, faced with the double shame of Kagami being discovered sleeping in his bed by Hiyori, and the fact that Hiyori was there to inform him that she was making pancakes in his kitchen.

"Delicious!" Juka says to Hiyori for the fourth time, and Tendou stabs his pancake more forcefully that is strictly necessary. "Isn't sleeping over with friends fun?"

"Friends are the best," Kagami mumbles through a mouthful of golden, syrupy goodness. He elbows Tendou with a look that Kagami probably thinks is subtle. "Ne, Tendou?"

"We aren't friends," Tendou growls, then shoves another forkful of pancakes in his mouth when Juka's forefinger twitches upwards.

"It's too bad birthdays are only once a year," Juka sighs.

"Mine's only a few weeks away," Hiyori mentions casually as she flips a few more pancakes on all of their plates. There's a moment of silence before Juka and Kagami break into identical grins.

"Yosh!" they chorus. "Slumber party!"

Tendou presses his glass of juice against his forehead and ignores the way Kagami's foot is purposefully brushing against his under the table.