Very merry Christmas indeed

Mornin' glories

Eiji woke up with food on his mind. He wanted American food. Food loaded with sugar. Sweet food. Anything, but he didn't feel like cooking it. He turned over in bed to turn, wrapping his arms around Ash's broad shoulders, kissing them softly.

"Ashu." He whispered. "Are you hungry right now?"

Ash groaned and said yes.

"I don't feel like cooking. Can I order breakfast?"

"Mhm." Was Ash's only response other than him pulling up the blankets over his shoulders.

"On your card?"

"Mhm."

Eiji kissed his forehead. "I love you Ash. I'll come get you when it gets here."

He hopped out of bed, pulled on his comfortable light blue sweats, and tip toed into the kitchen.

By the time he started a pot of coffee, Skip had wandered out of his room, rubbing his eyes.

"Ohayo gozaimas Eiji. What's cookin'?"

"Coffee. I'm tired and have a sweet tooth for French toast so we're ordering in."

The news of eating out woke him right up. Just imagining the sweet smell of syrup, the soft crunch of waffles, the warm feeling they left in his stomach. Perfection.

"Can you do me a favor? Run over to Shorter's, Alex's and call Cain to see what they want."

"Cain?"

Eiji shrugged. "Just in case."

Hungry and motivated, Skip left the apartment on a mission. He let himself in to Shorter's apartment and waited for a moment, listening fro silence before crossing the threshold.

"Oy. Shorter. Sing." The response was rustling, frantic stumbling, and finally Shorter appeared in front of him, his purple Mohawk in a tangle and his eyes blurry.

"What do you want? It's early."

"Sorry." Skip slid across him and disappeared into their second bedroom, which they converted into a walk in closet/lounge. "Eiji had me come over because he's ordering breakfast and wants to know what you guys want. Mornin Sing."

Sing had appeared in the doorway of their bedroom, looking just as bedraggled as Shorter and shirtless. At least Shorter had a tank top on. News of eating breakfast out perked both of them up.

"Did you say breakfast out? Like delivery?"

Skip nodded, sifting through Shorter's collection of flashy bomber jackets. "What do you guys want?"

Shorter asked "Which one?" At the same time Sing said "a blueberry pancake stack with scrambled eggs, not fried this time." They looked at each other and laughed. Skip wrote down the order and by the time he looked up, they were doing that wierd thing where they stared into each other's eyes and blocking out anything else in the world. Skip was used to it by now, Ash and Eiji did that a lot too. He knew by now how to use it to his advantage. Two sweatshirts and a leather jacket later, he got a vague order out of Shorter before leaving their apartment, forever scarred with the image of Sing's hands weaved in Shorter's purple hair burned into his mind.

"Damn, I'm only 15. Y'all bitches really think imma forget this."

He let himself into Alex's place to find him sprawled out on the ground, exercising.

"Mornin Alex. IHOP for breakfast. What do you want?"

"Omlette? Whatever really. It doesn't matter."

"Huh. You really loved her then?"

"Yeah." Seventeen pushups before he spoke again. He kept moving, afraid that if he would stop, the heat of it all would catch up to him. "I really loved her. I spent all of my spare time with her, I told her secrets, there were so many things I thought we had that were special. I can't believe she would get mad about something like that, and give me up."

He slowed, then cradled himself on the ground. "I hate it. I HATE IT."

Skip sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall. "Was she actually in love with you or were you just so in love with her that you didn't see the truth of the matter?" Alex cut him a dirty look, one riddled with hurt and pain along with hatred. "Sorry. That came out blunt. Basically what I'm trying to ask is were your feelings mutual?"

Alex sat back on his haunches to think. His heart sank every moment he thought about it more and more in depth."I don't think so."

"That's it then. You need to watch out for yourself now, stick with the boys. Women are complicated as hell man."

"And how the hell do you know about all this? Have you ever even had a girlfriend?"

Skip shrugged and got back to his feet. "Coaches don't play." He picked up his jackets and left out the front door. "I'll call your phone when the food gets here."

Skip walked back to his apartment, greeted instantly by Yasu.

"There she is. There's my favorite girl." He rubbed behind her head. "You, my pretty girl, aren't complicated at all. I give you food and you love me." He cradled her and returned to his room with his acquired jackets.

"EIJI." He called. "I GOT THE ORDERS."

Eiji appeared seconds later. "SHHHH. Ash is still sleeping. Do you really want to wake him now?"

"Nope. I got the orders so you can call it in."

Eiji looked like somebody's mother, the way his face twisted. "Fine. Just keep it down in here."

So Skip waited, listening to his music and playing with the kittens.

His Spotify mix of Black Violin, Tech N9ne, Pop Smoke and Brent Faiyaz swirled through his head, leaving lyrics in his mind, of which he wished he could tackle hold of, but instead he just let it wash over him. Lyrics, their meanings, art without an artist. A muse came into his head once again. It seemed like she wouldn't leave him alone. His eyes closed, easing him back and letting him relax.

Loud noises from the kitchen woke him. He startled, which jolted Yasu from her perch on his chest. Under further investigation, he found that Alex had come over to talk to Eiji about his problems, they had coffee and the smell woke Ash. He was now noisily preparing himself for the day, resentful of the fact that he had been woken up earlier than he wanted. Eiji just laughed.

"Oh Skip, the order should be ready. Do you wanna go get it yourself or should i call for delivery?"

But Skip was already pulling on his converse and heading out of the door with the jacket he thought would suit him for today.

"I'll be back in a half hour!"

"FIFTEEN MINUTES. SEE, NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE. I'M HUNGRY." Ash yelled from the bathroom. "I HATE IT. I'M SO HUNGRY."

Eiji just laughed. Skip picked up the money left on the counter and disappeared out of the front door.