Title: Hot Weather Treats
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Dee, Ryo, OCs.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Patrolling undercover during the Fourth of July celebrations, Dee and Ryo need something to help them keep cool.
Word Count: 734
Written For: My own prompt Any, any, ‘Tasting each other's ice cream,’ at fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
What was better on a hot day than ice cream? Cold beer was good, but not while on duty, sodas were permissible but a guy could only drink so much fizzy stuff. Ice cream though…
Dee and Ryo were in plain clothes, plainer than usual, meaning jeans and tees with loose shirts over the top to hide their guns, rather than the suits or smart casuals they normally wore for work. The idea was to blend in with the public at the various Fourth of July events going on across the city. Dozens of other detectives were doing the same thing, helping the uniformed officers keep the peace and prevent crimes of opportunity. Crowds always brought the pickpockets and purse-snatchers out in droves. But it was hot, and as Dee pointed out to Ryo, eating ice creams would make them look even more like everyone else.
Not that Ryo really needed to hear that in order to convince him. Everyone around them seemed to have some sort of ice and his mouth was already watering just from the sight of so many people enjoying the cold treats. They wended their way though the crowd to one of the many street vendors and joined the queue, eyes glued to the board listing what was available, trying to choose from all the flavours, far more these days than when they’d been kids.
By the time they reached the head of the queue, they’d made their choices, Rocky Road for Dee and Mint Chocolate Chip for Ryo. Purchases made, with Dee insisting on paying for both, they wandered away from the vendor, licking their ices, and continued down the street, keeping their eyes open for suspicious activity.
“How’s yours,” Dee asked idly, just managing to catch a drip from his own ice cream with his tongue before it could reach his hand.
“Good, refreshing; how about yours?”
“Perfect, just the right balance of nuts to marshmallows.”
Ryo laughed. “A Rocky Road connoisseur, are you?”
“You bet! Some brands put in too many marshmallows. Don’t get me wrong, I like the marshmallows, but it needs plenty of nuts to crunch too. Wanna taste?” Dee thrust his ice cream in front of Ryo, who looked at him with a mix of confusion and amusement before shrugging and darting out his tongue for a lick.
He savored it for a moment, then nodded. “That is good. Want to try mine?” It seemed only fair.
“Never tried mint ice cream,” Dee admitted. “I mean, mint’s supposed to be sorta hot, and ice cream is cold, so I always thought it sounded like a bit of a contradiction.”
“I think that’s the point, hot and cold at the same time. I always liked that.”
Dee made up his mind. “Okay, gimme.” Leaning in, he took a cautious lick, and then a bigger one, rolling the flavor around his mouth before breaking out into a broad grin. “It’s weird, but good. I can see why you like it so much.”
“Because I’m weird too?” Ryo teased.
“No! It’s just…” Dee fumbled for words but quickly gave up. “Oh, forget I said anything.” he turned his attention back to his own ice cream as Ryo laughed, and they went on in silence except for the occasional slurp or crunch of two people enjoying a cold treat on a hot day.
All too soon the last bite was gone and Dee sighed forlornly. “The only problem with ice creams is they never last long enough. I’m already gettin’ hot again.”
“Me too,” Ryo agreed with a wry smile, “but it’s just as well we finished them when we did because that kid over there just lifted someone’s purse.”
“Ah, shit!” Dee groaned. “Guess that means we gotta chase him; that’s so not fair in this heat!” He took off after the kid, with Ryo at his side, matching him stride for stride.
“Just think about cold things,” Ryo advised as they ran. “It helps. Snow, and frost, icicles, cold baths…”
“When this is over, I wanna bathe in ice cream,” Dee muttered under his breath.
Ryo stumbled, nearly tripping over his own feet, suddenly having trouble keeping up with his partner he was laughing so hard. The image that came to his mind of Dee languishing in a bath filled with Rocky Road, picking out the nuts and marshmallows to eat, was just too funny!
The End