"___,you do this every time! I hardly have enough room in the refrigerator to put our own left overs in! Let alone yours!" Tomoko sighed and sipped her glass of water.

"Momo! Come on! It won't happen again!" You begged placing your hands together.

"Yeah,Momo! Miss.___ does us a favor! You don't have to cook and I get a free meal!" Ryohei laughed patting his gut,He wasn't a super large man but he did have a bit of a belly.

"You need to watch your weight anyways, honestly ___,I really can't take any of your food you-" the front door started to jingle and jangle open.

"Im home! And I brought Okuyasu over!" Josuke yelled,slipping his shoes off.

"Hi Mr. And Miss. Higashikata!" A new voice yelled.

"Welcome home brat" Tomoko yelled back.

"Hi jojo, oh! you've gotten so much bigger since the last time I saw you!" You opened your arms for the young teen.

"Huh? I saw you like half a week ago!" You swung him side to side and pressed a kiss to his forhead,"aww! Miss.___! Your going to get lipstick marks on my hair!" He whined.

"Oh your hair will be fine! Why don't you introduce me to this handsome young man?" Your wave caught the other boy off guard,"hello,I'm ___, I live a block down from here"

"Uh! I'm nijimura Okuyasu! Nice to meet you! Miss.___" He gave a polite bow.

"Oh no need so polite! Well ill let you boys carry on"

"Bye miss.__! Come on Oku I want to beat you in seven kart"

"As if!" He chased after his friend upstairs.

"Anyways,___, how is your son anyways?" Tomoko asked,digging a slice of cake out of the refrigerator.

"Oh they're fine, I hope atleast! Xiao wanted to start a family with his fiance over seas and yang wanted to go into the military so you already know how that goes," you sighed, your boys had came over to your large studio for a short visit and you missed them dearly! But your baby birds had to fly the coop at some point!

But It got so lonely back in your studio,all you had were your paintings and your brushes for company! You were a bit shy when it came to talking to other adults and teens. But you knew josuke would never bring someone with a bad history back home! So maybe...

"Hey, did you ever finish that one piece? With all the flowers and the waterfall?" Tomoko poured herself another cup.

"Ehh hehe, still a work in progress~"

Upstairs Josuke flopped onto his bed.

"Ughhh my butt is killing me!" Josuke rubbed his rear,"sitting in those stupid chairs hurt!"

"Ha! Just bring a pillow or something" Okuyasu sat on the floor and started digging for one of Josukes controllers.

"Im not bringing a whole pillow to school every day,They need to make them so my butt dosent hurt! I mean the teachers get to have some cushion on their chairs!"

"Yeah plus they stand like half the day too....hey Josuke who was that lady your mom was talking too?"

"The lady? She's an old friend of my moms, she used to babysit me when I was younger,you'd like her,she's really nice" he sighed and picked up another controller,"but she always makes too much food so she tries to give it us or anyone else since she lives alone"

"Lucky! I'm always down for some good food! Toni is good and all but man does it take a bite out of my wallet!"

"I mean, you can have them,the extra food I mean" if he could remember to take them home.

"For real!? Hell yeah! No take backs!" He cheered.

Down stairs tomoko yelled to 'Keep it down!'.

A few hours later you groaned and stood up.

"Well Momo, it was nice chatting with you but Its getting a bit dark so I'd best be heading home now" you flattened out your ankle length,burgandy dress,it was a bit old fanshion and looked like something out of the western 1800s but you liked it. It had that 'old quiet home on the side of the road' feel to it.

"This late already? Guess I'm heating up left overs then, do you want me to drive you back?" She peaked out the window,the sun was beginning to set and the street lights were starting to come on as kids ran home.

"-take care of my old man,Bye josuke!" Okuyasu popped his fingers as he desended the stairs with Josuke leaning on the wall.

"Ill see you later,oh miss.___? Your still here?  Do you want me to walk you home?"

You shook your head,"of course not jojo,you stay home and eat dinner, I know my way around the block! I'll have you know I was a tough cookie back when I was your age!" You put your hands on your hip with a bit of a smug look on your face.

"You cried when that one girl said your shoes were ugly,___" Tomoko gave you a flat look.

"They were my favorite pair! Hmph! If this is the way I'm going to be treated I guess I'll leave!" You teased.

"Yeah go on! Shoo! Yah cry baby! Bye Okuyasu, stay safe ok?"

You stuck your tongue out at her.

"sure thing!" Nijimura waved goodbye to higashikata's.

"Oh! I never asked Nijimura-kun, do you like beef?" You held up the bag of extra food as you both walked down the sidewalk. There were bikes and scooter litering driveways and lawns.

"Hell yes! I'd love some! Josuke said you always make too much but ill gladly take that food off your hands!"

"Really?!" You lifted the bag up and handed it too him,"Thats great! Like Momo said,I always make too much food but if your ever hungry or need a place to relax my door is always open!" You pointed down the street once you both came to a fork in the road,"I live right down there,the big house with the giant Glass green house!"

"Ill take you up on that!" He was already digging through the many containers in the bag,"thanks Miss.___!"

You started to make your way across the street,"Anytime Okuyasu! Stay safe!" You smiled at him.

"Bye!" He watched you just about skip home with a half smile on his face.

Doki Doki
.
.
.
About a week later you heard a knock on your door. Setting down your paint brush you wiped your fingers off and dashed for the door.

"Coming! I'm coming!" You double checked to make sure there wasn't any paint on your body again,"yes? Okuyasu!?"

"H-hey um,miss.___? Do you think uh I could maybe snag a plate?" He seemed a pale.

"Yes of course! I have some extra waffles sitting on my stove!" You let him come inside and closed the door behind him,today was a warm Tuesday morning and you were  a bit shocked to see Okuyasu show up looking so pale,"would you like some water?" You heated him up a plate and dug around for a cup he could use.

"Yeah please" he rested his head on cold,marble counter top. He really wasn't looking all that good!

"Okuyasu,are you sure your ok?" He seemed a bit ill to be honest.

" 'm fine, I just didn't eat any yet..."

Yeah something was definitely wrong but your didn't know what. Sliding Okuyasu his plate you poured him a cold glass of water and watch his every move. His hand seemed a bit shaky and there were alot of small marks on his hand and arm,"here you go" you passed him a fork,when you touched his hand you could feel the callus on the palms of his hands.

'So he's either been working out or doing physical labor' you concluded. He practically tore through the waffles and fruit you put out for him,'is he not eating enough at home?' you couldn't tell if he had any marks on him or not due to his uniform.

"Yummy!" He perked up.

"I have another batch,would you-"

"Yes please!" He held out his plate.

"I always forget how strong boys appetites are,"you piled on another stack of waffles and fruit,"today is Tuesday right? Shouldn't you be at school Okuyasu?" You asked,washing your hands again.

"I wasn't feeling well today" he rubbed his face.

You knew that look, that was the look of someone who wasn't getting enough sleep and working too hard. You'd seen that face in the mirror way too many times,"well,I dont know what your home life is like,so forgive me if I'm wrong but if you ever need anything, you can swing by"

He stopped eating and leaned back in his chair,"I....the power went out back at home and...ughhh I hate talking about this sappy shit!" He slammed his fist onto the table,"I cant- I'm not smart enough! These bills are due soon and I dont know what half the words mean on any of those papers!" He started to rant, "and I don't want to bother Josuke cause he's already got his own problems to deal with! Just- how does anyone deal with this shit!?" His voice cracked a bit,"I wish my brother was still here, he'd know what to do"

"I see, if you don't mind me asking, what happened?" You pulled up a stool next to him.

It took Okuyasu a moment to try and come up with believable story but the best he could do was,"my father suffered from a radioactive mutation and m-my brother died from a power line accident" hopfully you'd believe him.

"Thats awful! And at such a young age...Okuyasu, I know we just met recently but your more than welcome to come live here with me,you and your father"

He bit his lip,maybe this was wrong of him but he wanted to take you up on your offer. He missed the days when he didn't have to worry about work and all he had to worry about was his dad and his mood swings. But how could he explain the unfortunate monstrosity his father had become?

"You..." he sighed,"your a really nice lady,Miss.___ but that would be rude right?" He wasn't too well versed on manners.

"Okuyasu,do you see how big this house is? I could let you and your entire classroom stay the night here and it wouldn't put a dent in my wallet but lets put a pen in it," your offer was a bit bold true but you'd rather help this poor teen than to let him suffer. After all you had the money for it.

"...so what do you even do? This house is massive,its even bigger than Rohan-sensai!" He noticed all the art hanging off the walls and busts on smooth marble statues. To be honest it kind of felt like he was in a museum than a house.

"I do a bit of everything when I comes to art,painting, sculpting, sand work, glass blowing," you listed a  few.

"Wh-? The hell is glass glowing?! Wait is it that weird Pervert stuff?"

"Pervert stuff? Heavens no!" You were a bit embarrassed at the mear thought! "Come, wash your hands and ill give your a tour since your playing hooky today" He shoved a strawberry in his mouth,a bit if its juice escape his lips.You reached and wet a napkin to wipe his face off before realizing exactly what you'd done,"oh I'm sorry! I'm just so used to my boys and-"

"Its fine,miss.__!" He laughed and patted his stomach,"I dont mind!" Yeah it caught him off guard but he didn't mind," your hands were so soft! Plus you smell like baby powder!"

"Do I?" It was an odd yet cute compliment,"If your full I can show you my work shop"

"Oh hell yeah!" He covered his mouth to burb,"sorry about that but that was soooo good!"

"Thats good,I'm glad you like it" you walked down the long carpet on your smooth,wooden floor.Your home had a bit of a 'cottage' feel too it as you opened up one of the many doors of your two story house,"here we are," you pulled out glove and protective eye wear.

"Woahhh did you make all of these?" He pointed to a large shelf of glass vases and small figurines. You'd made blue cats, pink elephants and even a giant birdbath!

"Mmhm, I can show you how to make one if you'd like?"

"Are you sure? I'm kind of clumsy, I dont want to break any of your fancy shit- I mean stuff" he sat the glasses on his head as you checked on the smelting oven. Early this morning you'd turned it on,now it seemed like it was ready to go.

"Dont worry about breaking anything,as long as your not swinging things around crazy like,we'll be just fine" inside the furnace you put in a clean tube and rolled it around,"here you go" you handed him a tube.

"Hey! What do I do with this?"

"Here, there's a hole you blow into,"

"So just blow?"

"Thats all there is too it"

He brought the clean pipe to his lips and blew hard. At the end of the pipe the small glass bubble began to glow and expand,"woah!" He blew harder and the glass continued to slowly expand until it was about the size of a grape fruit.

"And now we mold it," you grabbed a curve shape object and used it to smooth out the white hot glass until it was a perfect orb. You let it cool off a bit then grabbed a pair of glass cutting scissors to remove it from the pipe. Putting the orb down you sat it on stand and put the pipe back in the fire.

"So is this how they make ornaments?" He watched you pull out a small jar of colorful, broken glass shards.

"Mmhm, here you drop these on the glass and they'll melt together,just be careful with you fingers"

He dug around for a bunch of dark green ones and dropped them on the glass,"for my dad,I couldn't get him anything last year"

"Im sure he'll love it" you placed it in the smaller furnace so it wouldn't crack and shatter.

"That's it?" He was confused, he thought it was supposed to be difficult.

"That's it, I'll check on it in a few hours and let you know when its done, would you care to take a gander at my garden?" You offered,setting your gloves and Eyewear down, "unless you've something else you'd rather go do?"

"Yeah let's go, iv never see a garden that big in real life!" Okuyasu had seen pictures of massive gardens in magazines and on t.v but never in person. He didn't really care for the hobby but he really didn't have anything better to do.

"Very well then!" You held open the door for him and slipped into the hallway,"so then Okuyasu, how's school?"

"Ehhhh," he thought about it for a moment,"its ok? I guess?"

"Boring?"

"Stupidly boring,if they did more fun stuff I'd probably come to class more often..." then he realized he'd just admitted to playing hooky,"I mean its not like I DON'T got to class! Its just- well"

"Its ok,I understand how you feel, sitting down for hours all day every day in a cold class room? I used to skip as well" maybe it was a bit ironic for an artist to be saying that.

"You did?" He looked at you funny, you didn't look the type! If anything you looked like a teachers pet.

"Mmhm, I used to get into trouble all the time too," sliding the glass door open you stepped out into your large back yard. There were large,smooth, Stepping stone rocks that led to the front of your house while your greenhouse sat near the back. It too was large,almost like a birdcage with black metal outlining it was something you ever very proud of to have made!

"Holy shit..." he was hit with alow humidity once you opened the garden door, the sound of running water and bumble bees hit him all at once as you both crossed over the small bridge,"this is cool as hell" he could see so many flowers! He never cared much for them but he was very sure that some of these weren't native to Japan. It was like walking to a fantasy world or a movie set!

"Im glade you like it,I plan on expanding it this summer," you sat down on a stood with an easel and a half way drawn on canvas,"want to help me add ideas?"

"Hell yes!" And you both brainstormed the evening away.