Title: Sweet Treat
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: G
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Dee arrives at Ryo’s apartment to find his lover busy cooking something that smells delicious.
Written Using: The dw100 prompt ‘Treacle’.
Word Count: 938
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
When Dee arrived at Ryo’s place on their joint day off he didn’t bother to knock, simply let himself in. He was totally uninvited but what the hell, Ryo had given him a key so why shouldn’t he use it? If his lover hadn’t expected him to drop by whenever he felt like it then he wouldn’t have given him the key in the first place, right? At least it meant his baby had taken to actually locking the door, as anyone with an ounce of common sense did. This was New York; there were a lot of unsavoury characters out there, and as a cop, Ryo was supposed to know that and take appropriate precautions. Apparently it was finally starting to sink in.
Hanging up his jacket and leaving his boots by the door, Dee wandered into the kitchen, sniffing the air appreciatively, his mouth starting to water from the tantalising sweet aroma.
Standing at the stove, Ryo turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. “Dee! What’re you doing here? I thought you said you had plans for today.”
“I did, but they didn’t take as long as I was expectin’ so instead of just headin’ straight home I figured I might as well see what you were up to.” He sauntered across the tiled floor to join his lover. “I don’t know what ya got cookin’ there, babe, but it smells amazing!”
Ryo laughed. “When it comes to food you think everything smells amazing.”
“If you’re cookin’ it then yeah, ‘course I do, and it’s not just your cookin’ either.” Wrapping his arms around Ryo from behind, Dee nuzzled the side of his lover’s neck, breathing in the familiar scents of warm skin, shower gel, shampoo, and just a hint of aftershave. “You smell just as good.” He nipped lightly at Ryo’s earlobe. “You never said what you’re makin’.”
“Oh, I was going through all those recipe books we brought back from our vacation, thought I might try making something from one of them for dinner, but then I found a recipe for treacle toffee and I got a little sidetracked.” Ryo grinned sheepishly. “It’s been so long since I had any I couldn’t resist trying my hand at making some. Our next-door neighbour when I was a kid used to make it every year for Halloween; all the local kids loved it, but that must have been nearly twenty years ago.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever had it myself, but I’ll be happy to help ya eat it.” Dee peered over his lover’s shoulder into the bubbling pan his partner was watching.
“I’m sure you will, but we’re not keeping all of it. I plan on sending most of it to the orphanage as a Halloween treat for the kids.” Ryo checked the temperature of the seething liquid. “Okay, this should be about ready now. You’ll have to let go of me so I can pour it into the trays to set. And no sticking your fingers in it,” he warned, knowing what Dee was like. “You’ll get burnt.”
With some reluctance Dee released his lover and backed off, watching as Ryo poured the contents of the large pan into three lined baking trays, scraping it out thoroughly with a plastic spatula, then filling it with water and setting it aside to soak.
Dee eyed the cooling toffee impatiently. “So how long before it’s ready to eat?” he wanted to know.
“Quite a while yet; it has to go completely cold first. The last thing you want is to have boiling hot toffee stuck to your tongue.”
“Yeah, think I’ll give that a miss,” Dee agreed, wincing at the thought.
“Since you’re here, you may as well give me a hand with dinner. I was going to call you later and ask if you wanted to come over. Bikky’s gone to a friend’s birthday party, I think he said they were all going go-karting, then to MacDonalds afterwards, so he won’t be home until late.”
“You know me, I never pass up a chance to enjoy your home cookin’. What’re we makin’?”
“How about we just whip up a quick stir-fry? We can maybe try something from the recipe books another time.”
“Sounds good to me.” Rolling his sleeves up, Dee washed his hands while Ryo started getting out the ingredients they’d need.
Later, after they’d cooked and eaten dinner, Dee wandered over to stare longingly at the trays of toffee again. Despite the big meal he’d just eaten he was eager to sample it. “D’ya think it’s cold yet?”
Ryo gave an amused chuckle. “Honestly, you’re worse than Bikky! I’ll take a look.” Joining his partner, Ryo tapped lightly on the first tray with a toffee hammer, finding the contents set solid as rock. He tapped harder, spiderweb cracks spreading across the toffee’s surface as it shattered into chunks. “Okay, here you go. Open wide.” Easing a chunk out with a knife, he popped it in Dee’s mouth, grinning. “That should keep you quiet for a bit.” He helped himself to a smaller piece, sucking on it, his mouth filling with the rich, familiar flavour.
Breaking up the rest of the toffee, Ryo sealed the pieces in airtight containers, putting one in the cupboard for his own indulgence, if Dee and Bikky didn’t polish it off first, and the other two in a bag ready to take to the orphanage the following day.
“Give me a hand with the dishes? I’ll wash, you can dry.”
Dee just nodded. For once, his mouth crammed full of delicious toffee, he had absolutely nothing to say for himself.
The End