Chapter 3: The day after

Yamaguchi felt like dying. Slowly, he slid out of the bed and headed for the bathroom, only to walk straight into the wall. Yamaguchi grumpily opened his eyes and glared at the wall.

"Why are you here, you stupid wall? Hurting people first thing in the morning!" he mumbled. But Yamaguchi's room didn't have a wall there. This way led straight to the bathroom. There was something strange here, very strange.

He sat down on the bed again and rubbed his eyes off the weariness. Then he took in his surrounding. The room was simple enough with a bed, a closet, a table and a chair. There were two doors, which he guessed one would lead to the bathroom and the other connected to the hall. Yamaguchi Tadashi was absolutely sure he wasn't in his own house and the questions here were whose house this was and who brought him here. But as he tried to remember what happened the previous night, his head throbbed painfully and Yamaguchi let out a groan.

He would definitely found the answers to those questions right after he found some pills for the headache. He once again tried to stand up and unsteadily walked to one of the doors. But before he could open it, the door sprang open and hit him square in the face.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. Here, let me help you."

The person hurriedly helped Yamaguchi back to his feet and led him back to the bed.

"Thank y-"

His voice stuck in his throat when Yamaguchi saw who it was. The person in front of him was Tsukishima Akiteru! Tsukishima's brother! Which meant he was in Tsukishima's house! Which meant something had happened last night. And Yamaguchi automatically panicked.

"Whoa there, don't start panicking on me. Breath in and out slowly."

Akiteru said while patting Yamaguchi's back. Seriously, that little brother of his! Bringing someone back home and leaving before that person even wake up! Akiteru swore he had taught Kei better than that! Now it was all up to him to take care of this poor stranger who started to panic and on their way to fainting. You aren't cute at all Kei! Not even a little remotely cute!

"Hey, my name is Tsukishima Akiteru. What's your name?"

He asked what my name was. How should I answer him? Should I say a fake name? Should I even speak? He was staring at me now. Just say something Tadashi.

"My name is Y-yamaguchi Tadashi."

The stranger looked constipated for a moment before he answered Akiteru's simple question. Akiteru sighed, at least the stranger wasn't too scared to speak.

"You are in my brother and my house right now. You must know my brother, Tsukishima Kei right?"

Akiteru leisurely asked and watched at the stranger hesitantly nodded his head, seemingly a little relax. Which was good because he couldn't deal with him if the stranger was too tense to even listen to him.

"So Yamaguchi-san, sorry again for slamming the door into you earlier, I thought you were still asleep. You must feel terrible right now, so these are some pills that would help. Please drink it."

Yamaguchi received the pills and the cup of water from Akiteru, after muttering a 'thank you' he drank the pills. He closed his eyes and sighed, waiting for the pills to kick in. A few minutes later, he reopened them and sighted no Tsukishima Akiteru in the room.

"Hey, have you done in there? If you're done with the pills, get in the bathroom and get clean. And once you finish, come to the kitchen!"

Yamaguchi heard Akiteru said from somewhere down the hall. Decided to listen to Akiteru, Yamaguchi headed for the bathroom.

When he finally got to the kitchen, Akiteru was sitting at the table, enjoying a cup of coffee. On the table were the simple breakfast of rice, fried fish and miso soup. Yamaguchi slipped into one of the chair across Akiteru and silently looked at him.

"Don't be shy, help yourself." Akiteru chuckled, pushing the fried fish toward Yamaguchi.

"I can't, Tsukishima-san. I've already bothered you so much. Please eat, I'm going to go leave now." Yamaguchi shook his head furiously and stood up.

"I've already eaten, Yamaguchi-san. If you don't eat, it will be a waste of food and that will bother me very much. So why don't you leave after finishing the breakfast." Akiteru smiled and placed his cup on the table.

Yamaguchi had already opened his mouth to refuse when his stomach let out an angry growl. Instantly his face heated up and Yamaguchi found himself wanting to hide in a hole.

"See, your stomach seems to agree with me. So please sit down and eat."

Yamaguchi reluctantly sat down and started to eat, embarrassing that Akiteru kept on laughing. After he had finished, he washed the dishes and was glad that Akiteru didn't stop him. It was the least he could do when the man let him stay the night and have breakfast.

"You know, you look kind of familiar. Have we met before?" Akiteru asked when Yamaguchi was drying his hands. He had the feeling he had seen the stranger somewhere before.

"Um, you and your brother ate in the bakery I worked yesterday, the Sunshine bakery. I was the one who served you two." Yamaguchi timidly answered, wondering if Tsukishima Akiteru could remember him.

"Oh, really? You were the one who gave us 2 chocolate cupcakes huh? Thank you very much then." Akiteru replied with a good-hearted smile, pushing a cup of water toward Yamaguchi.

"It's nothing really! He had given one of the kids his cupcake so it's only fair that we gave him one in return. Did you two enjoy the cupcakes?" The baker in him kicked in and Yamaguchi simply wanted to know what the brother thought about his cupcakes.

"It was absolute delicious. The cupcakes were perfectly baked; the flavour was not too sweet – which was really appreciated because some shops make cakes cloyingly sweet leading to me can't eat it. All in all, the cupcakes were wonderful, I'm definitely coming back."

Yamaguchi's heart jumped at the compliment. It was nice to hear someone said that. It was these kind words that made him loved baking even more. The satisfactory of the customers after eating one's cake always managed to make his day seemed brighter and more beautiful.

"We would be happy to welcome you back anytime, Tsukishima-san. Thank you for the compliment!" Yamaguchi gave Akiteru one happy and grateful smile. Maybe this wouldn't turn out so bad after all.

"Thank you Yamaguchi-kun. If you don't mind, can you tell me how you know Kei?"

Too soon, he said too soon.

Hello, I'm Link, the author of this story, really nice to meet you. Thank you all for reading this story and stick with it although I'm really awful at updating ; u ;

This chapter we don't have any Tsukishima and TSUKIYAMA (caps necessary) but we have Akiteru. I think he and Yamaguchi will get along really good because their connection with Tsukishima.

And why I choose to write bakery AU is because Tsukishima's fav food is strawberry shortcake and I think Yamaguchi will learn how to make it so he can bake it for Tsukishima – my headcanon.

Big thanks to Calico Neko for reviewing! Would you like something to happen in this story or a certain couple? Or maybe you want a one-short? Because you are the first one to review so I will (try, because I'm really slow at writing and typing and updating) writing a one-short for you as a thank you.

Also, for your question, I suggest you read the manga? Because then you will know who Tsukishima Akiteru is (Kei's canon bro) and Kei's past and the 'Pathetic' story.