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It wasn't sick, so much as he permanently had the sniffles right now and he tried everything. Ah, well.

Kazuo was busy preparing the apartment for guests. Though he lived with his boyfriend, Kraven, their apartment wasn't exactly the cleanest because of Sho and Ko, his finch and kitten respectfully. He tried to keep their mess small, so he didn't aggravate the nearly seven-foot tall man, but things happen.

He was just sweeping up the last of the birdseed off the floor when he heard a knock at the door. A curse left his lips in Japanese and he looked around, emptying the dustpan into the trash. "Coming!"

With a pitter patter of socked feet on the fake wood floor, the shorter man opened the door and greeted him with a slow bow and a smile. "Ah, Evan! Come in, come in." Once Evan was ushered inside, Kazuo went about and took him to the living room, letting him sit on the couch. Because it was winter, the heater was on so it was nice and warm on the inside compared to outdoors.

Ko made himself known by jumping up on the coffee table and giving a long, loud meow until an embarrassed Kazuo chased him off the table with a few whispered words and flaps of his sleeve from his too big long sleeved shirt.

"I take it you found it okay?"

Honestly, the apartment wasn't the best, but it was better than the one Kazuo got kicked out of. As for the shoes, it had taken Kazuo years to get used to that, and now he didn't even really notice. Sure, he took them off, but he didn't mind anyone else.

Then Evan started talking and he turned those brown eyes to the other with a smile on his face and a soft laugh. "Ah! It's my boyfriend's? He's not here right now, but.. I got kicked out of my place when I adopted Ko, my kitten, and ...well, here I am?" Kaz's cheeks flushed and he bit down on his bottom lip before sighing. "Oh, the finch who's old over there.." He pointed at the cage where the finch was perched and looking half asleep. "That's Sho. Ah, make yourself comfortable. I have a list of things to make and it's going to take a little bit? Not too long. I hope you like Japanese food. I know you cook, so I thought I could show you how much I appreciate everything you've done for me by cooking you a meal. You've cooked me so many.."

And kept a really big secret. "Do you need a drink?"

Oops, he hit a sore spot. Kazuo rubbed his neck a little before heading to the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and brought it back to him. "Oh? So this will be a treat for you. I'm not too bad, honestly? At least, I think so." He laughed a little and just shrugged.

"I was going to start it before you came, but I had to clean, and then I got side tracked, and it was just." He waved his hand as his voice trailed off before he shrugged. Apparently he was an animated person when he was nervous. His brows knit again before he hummed and looked to the kitchen again before moving that way and toyed with his fingers.

"Is there anything you're allergic to?"

Oh God, he wasn't allergic to anything he knew of? So Kazuo could accidentally kill him. He opened his mouth to say something, and just snapped it shut before sighing and going to start the rice to cook.

"Oh, uhm. I don't think I need help? I mean.. If you want to just talk to me while I do this, I think that will be okay. The kitchen's rather small..." He bit down on his lip a little as he started chopping up vegetables on the counter, foregoing the cutting board. "I think, for you, I'm just going to make tonkatsu..." Then he realized Evan wouldn't know what that was and he tried to think about how to phrase it for him.

"Mm.. pork chop with panko? And some steamed rice.. Also cabbage, some miso soup? Is that too much?" The portions weren't big, but he knew Americans weren't used to so many different foods at one meal unless it was a holiday.

"Most of Japanese seasoning is soy sauce and salt. That's how I cook most things. Or a fish stock. It's not overpowering so we can keep the flavors tasting very fresh and natural." He laughed as he said it, starting to bread the pork cutlet now in panko in a bowl.

Then he mentioned not wanting to disappoint someone from Japan by cooking Japanese food and Kazuo's head whipped around and he stared at him, blinking. "You can watch, yes. ...But Japanese people want everyone to try to learn their culture. So you can keep practicing and cooking it. We're very open about these things!" He laughed a little more and scooted over to make room so Evan could watch him.

He had a little apron on that looked almost like a dress, it had some ruffles around the edges, but was in this powder blue with white stripes going vertically. "I just used a beating egg and put the cutlet in there for five minutes... then you bread it and fry it."

The compliment made Kazuo blink and he laughed and nodded a bit, looking down at it. "Mm. Yeah. My mother gave it to me when I moved over here permanently." He looked down at it again and shrugged. "It gets the job done, when I remember to wear it." He had a bit of pink to his cheeks and he just shrugged again before shifting to put the pork cutlet into the pan to fry it up. From there he moved to make the side dishes.

He took the cabbage head and cut it in half before just pulling it apart with his hands, starting to shred it slowly. "This'll go on the side."

"She lives at home in Japan," he said, his voice wavering just a little. He cleared his throat and moved back to the stove to check the pork cutlet, looking under it before putting it back down and going back to the cabbage. "She's a wonderful mother. Always put me first. It's hard to be without her, but at the same time, all children grow up and move out, don't they?" Maybe not to different countries most of the time.

He clicked his tongue and cleared his throat rather awkwardly before looking over at him with a little smile. "How've you been? I haven't seen you since I got sick.."