Chapter 9:

"Uwaa!~" Misaki cheered in awe as he gaped as he looked around the large penthouse unit. It was the first time that he ever entered a large dwelling. 'So huge! I bet all the kids in the orphanage could put their futons in here and sleep!'

"Oi… Takahashi…" Hiroki grumbled as he took the book entitled 'The Black Parts of the Panda and Their Purpose' from the coffee table at the living room. "Stop gaping like a fish and better put that pot full of whatever-that-is on the kitchen counter…" he instructed the teen.

"H-Hai!" Misaki blushed, realizing that he was acting like an idiot in front of the person whom he was a 'little' bit scared of. He put away the pot and looked for cleaning tools around the house.

Hiroki watched the teen look around and sighed, "The vacuum and other stuff are in the closet under the stairs." He pointed out. "Akihiko doesn't really use those stuff so, better check if they can still be used…" the professor slipped the book into his bag and wrote a small note on the coffee table.

"A-Ano… Kamijou-san…" Misaki started, "This place is really big, is Usagi-san still living with his parents?" he asked innocently.

"HA?! Are you an idiot?" Hiroki spat, taking Misaki aback. The older brunette massaged the bridge of his nose, 'Calm down Hiroki… This brat doesn't know anything about Akihiko… You better calm down or you'll scare the brat…'

"I-I'm sorry! I just thought that he was cause the house is so big…" Misaki mumbled.

Hiroki sighed, "Look, if you have questions, you should ask Akihiko personally because he won't like me telling you personal info about him." He told the teen as he walked towards the door, "I'm going ahead! Remember don't go in Akihiko's room… No matter what happens as long as he hasn't gone out himself!" he growled. 'That's for your own good'

"G-Got it! Take care Kamijou-nii… I mean Kamijou-san!" Misaki squeaked and noticed the brunette blush a bit after hearing the 'nii'* honorific.

"Whatever…" Hiroki grumbled and left.

Misaki smiled a bit, "Well, I guess Kamijou-san isn't as scary as I thought before…." He huffed and stretched his arms out, "Well! On with the cleaning!" he grinned started to clean.

The house wasn't a bit messy, well until Misaki looked behind the pink sofa and saw a pile of dirty clothes, "W-What? I didn't see this a while ago…" he muttered and picked all the dirty shirts and slacks. Then, he noticed it was just a start of the trail of clothes going towards the stairs onto the hall of the second floor. "EH!?"

Misaki scowled and continued to pick up the trail of clothes, one after the other. 'Seriously, Usagi-san doesn't know how to put his clothes in a proper place…' the teen thought. The teen sighed upon reaching the top of the stairs. 'Usagi-san… do you know how to put away your clothes properly?' Misaki thought and looked back to fully view the first floor.

'WHAT THE HELL…'the young brunette thought as he saw the 'real' condition of the house. The kitchen was absolutely a mess, the top of every appliance and cabinet were thick with dust and he just realized that the floors were stained… BADLY.

"How come I didn't notice this stuff?" Misaki groaned and facepalmed. He was seriously going to be bushed. He managed to find a laundry basket somewhere near and decided to do the laundry first. He was lucky enough to see that Akihiko had a washing machine (automatic at that) so, the little housekeeper set everything up and let the machine do the rest. Misaki still had many things to fix.

"So…First floor, living room, kitchen and balcony…" the teen listed on his mental notebook and proceeded with the cleaning.

3 hours later…

"UWAAA! Now it looks better!" Misaki grinned at the sparkly clean living room. The whole house animatedly sparkled. The foul smell was gone and was replaced with a clean 'Misaki-like' scent. It finally looked like a decent dwelling.

The teen removed the white bandana on his head and plopped on the couch and yawned. He was certainly exhausted with all the cleaning and the stuff he came across. (Particularly the bear room upstairs). The teen was completely confused with the amount of toys that the author had.

'I wonder how Usagi-san managed to live here if he is alone… This house is really big, almost as big as the main house in the orphanage. It's really great living in a place like this but it kinda feels… rather lonely,' he mused and felt his eyelids heavy. He was tired and the sofa was too soft and comfy to even sit up straight again. Thus, the youth fell asleep right after a small creaking sound of an opening door.

~Misakihiko~

The sun was shining very brightly and its cheerful yellow color flooded the house from the glass partition from the balcony. However, the blissful weather did not please the owner of the luxurious penthouse but it simply blinded his sight. The transition from the abysmal darkness of his bedroom to the blinding light of the noontime sun never failed to annoy the silver haired novelist.

Akihiko rubbed his eyes and sighed. Dark circles on his eyes could easily tell anyone that the novelist stayed up all night until the wee hours of the morning. He scratched his head and loosened a few more buttons of his shirt to feel more comfortable. "Now, where did I put the remote of the AC…" he mumbled and sighed.

'better find that later… need to have coffee first' Akihiko thought and stopped halfway down the stairs as he noticed that each plank was cream colored again. His brow crooked and looked around the house again. His eyes widened as he noticed everything was CLEAN, not a single part of his catastrophe remained. 'Is this really my house? Or I'm still sleeping…' he thought reaching the first floor and continued to examine every nook and cranny of the house. "It's all clean…" he mumbled and stopped when he heard soft sound of breathing.

When Akihiko looked back, he saw scenery he never thought he would witness, Misaki on his sofa, sleeping peacefully. Some of the strands of his brown locks drooped on his heart shaped face while a few beads of sweat were on his forehead. The delicate skin of his neck was exposed to the bright light of the sun along with the exposed part of his torso. The teen's white shirt was covered with a green apron, the one which Akihiko remembers he saw in his first visit at the orphanage. Misaki's khaki shorts were stretched due to the teen's position, he was facing the edge of the sofa with one leg over the other, giving the teen's narrow hips a little twist.

To Akihiko, such scenery was too enticing to see.

'If ever I am still in this dream,

and I have you by my side,

I would like to touch your face

and see you through this light…'

The author swallowed and slowly approached the teen. Placing a gentle hand over Misaki's brown mop hair, Akihiko tried to register this feeling and knelt before the boy. "Misaki…" he softly called as he wiped away the sweat from the other's forehead.

"Mmm... No more bears…" the teen mumbled in his sleep.

Akihiko blinked in surprise and smiled gently. The silver haired novelist leaned closer to the teen and placed a kiss over those rose petal lips.

The novelist smiled gently and fetched a blanket for the teen. He also turned up the AC. He was feeling more inspired knowing that the muse he has come to love was on his reach. Loneliness was no longer…

Or was it?