Fic: Egg or Carrot (Timeranger/Kamen Rider Hibiki, Ayase, Adachi Asumu, 1/1)
Summary: Set a few years after each show, Ayase's on a lunch run. For the A Ficathon Walks Into A Bar challenge.
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue.
* * *
Ayase wrinkled his nose as he looked at the sandwich choices. This was hopeless. The 'cafeteria' consisted of two rows of tables and three vending machines. Sion wanted something sweet, Tatsuya wanted pancakes, Yuuri wanted dumplings, and what they had was egg or carrot sandwiches.
Stupid Domon, anyway. He was too old to fight any more.
"Nothing good?"
Ayase jumped at the voice behind him, and turned reflexively, about to drop into a defensive pose... oh. Just the trainee doctor from the emergency room. Maybe Domon wasn't the only one too old to fight. "Not really," he admitted with a guarded smile. "I'm meant to buy lunch for my friends, and I don't think this is exactly what they want."
The doctor nodded. "I usually only come to these machines when I haven't had time to cook," he said easily. "The food's fresh enough, but there's not exactly a lot of variety. However!" He gave Ayase an enormous grin, nearly as open and friendly as one of Tatsuya's.
"Yes?"
"Please walk this way, and tell me how Domon-san's doing? I have additional dumplings." He put a hand on Ayase's back and pushed lightly, nodding his head at the table in the sun in the corner of the 'cafeteria', then dropped his hand immediately. Good, because Ayase wasn't big on casual touching.
Ah, the table had a small bag on it, with a plate in front of it holding a half-eaten meal. This doctor -- Adachi-sensei, or something? -- must've hopped up when he'd seen Ayase. "All right, thank you," Ayase said, surprising himself.
"You'd be doing me a favour," Adachi said, threading his way through the chairs. "My friends run a sweets shop and keep giving me excess stock, except I don't think it's really excess. If I don't use it all up, I get into trouble."
He arrived at the table, broke open a pair of chopsticks, and began deftly transferring dumplings from a box into a large flawlessly white napkin.
"Let me pay you for them," Ayase said, taking out his wallet. "They look expensive."
Adachi was still transferring. Ayase nearly told him to stop, except he hadn't even put a third into the napkin -- there were seriously a *lot*. "No, no, please don't, I'd take it personally if you did," Adachi said, smiling up at him. He finished, tied the napkin up, and handed it to Ayase.
Ayase felt the corner of his mouth quirk up. "Do you often feed stray visitors?"
"Anyone I can give this to," Adachi said fervently. "I hate seeing good food wasted. Now, how's your friend?"
"Domon's an idiot, but he only sprained his wrist and hit his head, so he'll be fine." Ayase decided to try that empathy thing that Tatsuya was always telling him about, to make people feel appreciated. "You're, uh, very good at taking care of people."
Adachi laughed. "I could say the same to you. They obviously trust you to look after them if you're being sent on a lunch run."
...hey, who did this kid think was doing the 'making you feel appreciated' thing? That was just rude, sneaking in a compliment like that.
"I'd best get back," Ayase said, amused, but not about to answer that. Yes, he was close to his friends, and no, he wouldn't admit it to anyone. Not to a pleasant doctor in training, and definitely not to his friends. "Thanks again."
He went back to the vending machine, and decided on the egg sandwiches for everyone. Except Domon. Domon would have a hospital meal, which would probably be better than this, anyway. At least he had something else, now to make them not complain quite so much.
Ah, no. He had to ride in the car home with all of them. Carrots were safer.
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue.
* * *
Ayase wrinkled his nose as he looked at the sandwich choices. This was hopeless. The 'cafeteria' consisted of two rows of tables and three vending machines. Sion wanted something sweet, Tatsuya wanted pancakes, Yuuri wanted dumplings, and what they had was egg or carrot sandwiches.
Stupid Domon, anyway. He was too old to fight any more.
"Nothing good?"
Ayase jumped at the voice behind him, and turned reflexively, about to drop into a defensive pose... oh. Just the trainee doctor from the emergency room. Maybe Domon wasn't the only one too old to fight. "Not really," he admitted with a guarded smile. "I'm meant to buy lunch for my friends, and I don't think this is exactly what they want."
The doctor nodded. "I usually only come to these machines when I haven't had time to cook," he said easily. "The food's fresh enough, but there's not exactly a lot of variety. However!" He gave Ayase an enormous grin, nearly as open and friendly as one of Tatsuya's.
"Yes?"
"Please walk this way, and tell me how Domon-san's doing? I have additional dumplings." He put a hand on Ayase's back and pushed lightly, nodding his head at the table in the sun in the corner of the 'cafeteria', then dropped his hand immediately. Good, because Ayase wasn't big on casual touching.
Ah, the table had a small bag on it, with a plate in front of it holding a half-eaten meal. This doctor -- Adachi-sensei, or something? -- must've hopped up when he'd seen Ayase. "All right, thank you," Ayase said, surprising himself.
"You'd be doing me a favour," Adachi said, threading his way through the chairs. "My friends run a sweets shop and keep giving me excess stock, except I don't think it's really excess. If I don't use it all up, I get into trouble."
He arrived at the table, broke open a pair of chopsticks, and began deftly transferring dumplings from a box into a large flawlessly white napkin.
"Let me pay you for them," Ayase said, taking out his wallet. "They look expensive."
Adachi was still transferring. Ayase nearly told him to stop, except he hadn't even put a third into the napkin -- there were seriously a *lot*. "No, no, please don't, I'd take it personally if you did," Adachi said, smiling up at him. He finished, tied the napkin up, and handed it to Ayase.
Ayase felt the corner of his mouth quirk up. "Do you often feed stray visitors?"
"Anyone I can give this to," Adachi said fervently. "I hate seeing good food wasted. Now, how's your friend?"
"Domon's an idiot, but he only sprained his wrist and hit his head, so he'll be fine." Ayase decided to try that empathy thing that Tatsuya was always telling him about, to make people feel appreciated. "You're, uh, very good at taking care of people."
Adachi laughed. "I could say the same to you. They obviously trust you to look after them if you're being sent on a lunch run."
...hey, who did this kid think was doing the 'making you feel appreciated' thing? That was just rude, sneaking in a compliment like that.
"I'd best get back," Ayase said, amused, but not about to answer that. Yes, he was close to his friends, and no, he wouldn't admit it to anyone. Not to a pleasant doctor in training, and definitely not to his friends. "Thanks again."
He went back to the vending machine, and decided on the egg sandwiches for everyone. Except Domon. Domon would have a hospital meal, which would probably be better than this, anyway. At least he had something else, now to make them not complain quite so much.
Ah, no. He had to ride in the car home with all of them. Carrots were safer.