Gokudera wasn't kidding when he said that he couldn't carry them all. There was a stack of books, and the significantly-sized

--cage, a hell of a lot of toys and accessories, and enough food to last the rabbit an entire lifetime. .___.

had stood at the foyer for a while, looking at the delivery boxes with a lost expression on his face, and wondering what he should do first.

..... for some reason, got the idea to ask someone for help, and he automatically thought of Mukuro... but--

discovered that the other boy wasn't in his room. Or the house. He never even noticed that Mukuro had left during the day.

..... felt a bit disappointed by that, but he shook it off. He hadn't tried to talk to Mukuro even once, of course he shouldn't expect that

--things would have gone back to normal by now.

had then picked out one of the basic rabbit care books, sat down on the couch with Hayato curled up securely on his lap, and then quickly

--read through the most important parts. Housing, feeding, guidelines, what and what not to do, so after about an hour--

felt confident that he wouldn't accidentally kill the tiny rabbit because of ignorance. First, setting up the cage at a good spot...

then spent the rest of the evening making sure everything was in order.

couldn't believe that he was able to do all the setting-up by himself successfully, but then again he felt pretty motivated.

wondered if naming the rabbit after Gokudera might have had something to do with it. It made him really emotionally invested in making sure

--that he did everything properly. It wouldn't be like that poor hamster back in second grade, he swore.

finally finished preparing everything after a couple of hours and sat back on his heels, tired but satisfied.

watched Hayato hop around inside his new home, nose twitching nonstop and sniffing around the food bowl and nosing at the water bottle.

felt his lips curl up in a tiny smile. He could spend the entire day just watching the rabbit, but...

needed to rest. He's going to deliver his gifts tomorrow.

..........

decided to stay and watch for thirty more minutes.