Torrents of the Rich

"Thank you. I want to be able to take it and get it out of the way so I can enjoy my winter break instead of stressing over what I got. No...you are the closest thing I have sad to say." Takuya wasn't a friend...the rich weren't friends with the poor. That just wasn't how it worked.

"It's in two days. If I can get it all by then I'll be alright." He was ignoring what happened. He wouldn't face it until he had time to breakdown.

Was he ignoring his first question? "Well then as the closest thing yuu have listen to me when I say don't ignore it until later because it'll eat you alive! Hyde!" He was getting annoyed about being ignored. And with the way his emotions were going right now... it would not be a good idea to upset him too much.

Hyde snapped at him. "I can't! If I do I won't recover from it in time for the final. Just leave it be...I don't have time for a breakdown, okeh?" He went back to his book. Takuya was...different. He knew that if the teen came over and held him, he'd breakdown anyway. He knew he wouldn't though. Despite being nice...Takuya would never do that. Why would he be interested in someone like him? He was poor, worked in the kitchen at Takuya's home and was therefore the help. Oh and he was damaged. There was no way he'd want him. Hyde wasn't even going to entertain the notion that he might...it'd only end in heartache.

"Fine! Good luck with your studies, call me when you're read to face reality." He stood and left to go home, Hyde would be there in the evening doing his studying and everything would go back to semi normal... ecxept now he ALWAYS had a careful eye on him. He couldn't let anything happen to him again...

A few weeks had gone by and Hyde faced what had happened...only he had no one to hold him and tell him it would be alright. He faced it though. It went back to normal. He passed his last final and his scholarship was still in tact. He saw Takuya in the hall next to the guys that...he went up to him and bowed slightly.

"Thank you...f-for helping me..." Then he turned and left. He had to go home and make a cake.

Both the guys were looking at Hyde like they want to try for him again but Takuya swiftly elbow him into a locker and decided to follow him, "Hey Hyde... hold up... we need to talk..." He caught up and continued to walk with him...

"About the other day... my snapping, it was... uncalled for... are you... okay?" This was so not him... what was Hyde DOING to him?

"It was perfectly called for. I had to face it. I did. I'm passed it as well as I can be...thank you for being concerned...you probably saved my life. I have to go. Gotta go to work." Hyde turned away from Takuya again. He wasn't falling for the nice act again. He was...hard to understand. He was nice and then really mean...and then nice....and then even worse than before. It was...hard. Hyde wasn't going to fall for that again.

Later that day Takuya was sitting at his usual table when the cook came out and gave him a look, "No, I tried dammit, I suck with people."

"You didn't try hard enough... He rants about you all the time, reminds me of some of the girls around here. Why don't you try talking to him in the kitchen, be his test dumbie for his food, anything. You have to try too... Now go on, he's making an amazing cake."

Takuya sighed and walked slowly to the kitchen... he really did want to try... It was just a hard thing for him... "Hey Hyde-kun... Whatcha cooking?" He rested his head on Hyde's shoulder and looked at the mix in the bowl... looked good.

Hyde was making a cake...and there was a head on his shoulder?! He froze when Takuya came up to him. This was...new.

"I'm making a cake..." He decided to ignore the flutter he felt and started to mix everything together, adding a bit of cinnamon as his own special touch.

"Why are you in the kitchen? You never come in here. I didn't mess something else up did I?" The blond was holding strawberries and kiwi in his hands when he looked up to question Takuya. He really didn't want to have messed something else up.

"No, someone dropped a hint you were making sweets... I have a weakness for them and besides that one time everything else you made was good... have you worked on that one at all?" Takuya stole a strawberry from his fingers and ate it, making a happy sound as he did... sweets were good...

"What kind of cake is this? It might not make it out of the kitchen..." He had a severe weakness for sweets...

"Double chocolate. With strawberries and kiwi. What kind of icing do you think would be good with this?" Hyde watched Takuya. He might....well. One more chance. "I haven't really. I'm trying to think what I can do to make it right...I just...don't know. I wish I had the recipe." Hyde poured the batter into two cake pans and popped them in the oven before moving to cut the fruit.

"Whipped vanilla icing of course!" It was an odd this for Takuya to get excited of anything, but he was really looking forward to stealing a piece of that cake... or maybe the whole cake, depended on the cake and his mood.

He watched Hyde as h echopped the fruit, thinking back to that cake... "Well, I dunno if it'd help any... but the texture was flat, and it was missing a very important key ingredient... maybe we could look it up sometime?" He was getting proggressively talk-ok

Hyde stopped at those words. Texture. "Texture....texture....oh my god! Texture!" Hyde turned around and hugged Takuya.

"Texture!! Mashed wasabi peas! My mom always kept wasabi peas in the house. I knew there was a spice I was missing. Oh my god. I have to get some. I have to see if I'm right. If it is you have made my year."

Takuya was surprised by the hug, but definitely returned it this time... it was nice... and it made him want to just tell his 'friends' to fuck off and leave them alone. He never paid attention to his friends, Hyde definitely got the more real side of him... He wanted to try, so bad he did, next time he'd do out of the norm and blow off said friends for him.

"You should try it out tomorrow, I'll even come down and taste it for you." He had to keep himself open for Hyde... maybe even study with him, not that he needed to but being close to him was all that mattered.

"Really? Oh thank you." Hyde hugged Takuya again before finishing the cake he was making. He cut them all a slice and the night turned out very well...he was looking forward to making his mother's soup again. Hyde stopped in the halls to talk to Takuya again.

"Are you still coming over to try that soup, Takuya?" Takuya's friends were looking at him but Hyde was too excited for that evening to care. He was even letting himself carry the notion of a somewhat date...even though that couldn't really be true.

Takuya's normal quickfire answer was dying to come out, he had an image to keep up but Hyde... and his adopted father would give definitely give him hell if he hurt him anymore, so he nodded and gave him a genuine smile, "Sure, I'll see you after class, be careful till I catch up with you." He was still a worried about anything happening to him, especially with what his friends had just scene now... He'd have to watch both their backs for sure.

Hyde was beaming. He nodded and started to walk down the hall. Takuya was nice to him in front of his friends. That was definitely something new. Maybe he was changing. Hyde was happy he gave him one more chance. It was starting to look up. All that was left was his mother's recipe being completed. Then he heard Takuya's friends call him out on his being nice...

"Uh hello? Earth to Takuya? He is so many levels bellow you yet you're treating him like us... Are you slipping from the throne my dear friend?"

"In you're dreams, I rule this school... No harm in testing new waters." They all chuckled and commented how it was all poor water and Takuya just went along with it while he was with them... Let em think what they wanted, in the mean time he had a tiny bit of a date to catch up with. "Hey Hyde, you ready?" And back to happy, real Takuya.

The happiness popped. Takuya was only testing new waters? He was a test? Nothing? He was almost all the way down the hall. There was no one else around when Takuya caught him. But Hyde pushed him into the lockers, showing the tears that he was holding back in his eyes.

"You really are unbelievable. Testing new waters. You and that yoyo attitude. I'm done with it. I gave you enough chances. I can't believe I actually thought you might like me. Stupid. Go away and don't talk to me anymore." He walked away from him to go home. No soup, no secret date...the cook saw Hyde on his way and knew it had to have been something Takuya did.

"You didn't keep your mouth shut did you?"

"Nope... My friends seem to bring out the worst in me while Hyde brings out the best... Those two worlds don't and never will mix." He released a long sigh and fell into the chair next to his father figure... "I hate it... you know, I really do... but I can't stop, that part of my life was the one thing that filled the gap in my life when I got here... and now, well, now I just don't know. I really fucked up this time."

Hyde walked into the kitchen and ignored Takuya. "I won't be making the dinner I had planned. Would you go ahead and make dinner please? I have studying I have to do." Once the chef nodded and watched Hyde leave without even glancing at Takuya he nodded at Takuya.

"Yeah. You fucked up big time."

"I know it... he shoved me into a locker and let the anger fly... I'm surprised he didn't do more. So much for making his year... if he makes that soup now he'll probably hate me for it..." Takuya groaned and dropped his head against the table...

"Help? I know it's not gonna be easy... I suck at this kind of thing."

Takuya was silent for a long time... Then stood, "What's for dinner? I'll make it..." He wasn't bad at cooking he just never really had to do it while he was here... It wasn't going to be easy... but he wanted to try, he didnt feel so fake around Hyde. Things felt normal around him and...

"To hell with my rep... If they don't like than they can damn well deal with my fist in their face. I want Hyde... and I'm going to do this." So he started working on a beef stew his mother used to make... and when it was done, he brought it up to Hyde's room with his favorite drink and dessert... plus a freshly picked purple daisey, "Here you are sir, enjoy." He offered a sad little smile and left.

Hyde was...more than a little confused. He was just delivered dinner by Takuya...who called him sir and then left. Hyde ate the dinner and took the tray back down with the daisy and set it in the kitchen.

"Let him know that his tricks won't work. But thank you for dinner." Then Hyde was back to his room, studying. He wouldn't be fooled again.