"Vanilla"
Inspired by ice cream. Yes, ice cream.
Warnings: AU, Modern Day, FE: Sacred Stones. Seth/Eirika. FLUFF. You have been warned.
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It was hot and humid on the day that I cajoled Seth into taking me for a walk. I knew there were probably tons of things that he had to finish (all of which would have allowed him to stay within his nicely air conditioned apartment), but he just gave me that gentle smile and acquiesced to my request.
It's a five minute drive to the park that we usually visit. Seth drives with the windows up and the air conditioning laboring to keep the interior of the vehicle cool. It only starts blowing truly cold air by the time we arrive; Seth frowns and murmurs to himself about getting the coolant recharged. He parks the car and we exit to the glorious world of sunshine and humidity.
Sadly, it only takes about a half a minute before I'm sweating all over. When I glance over at Seth, I can see the dampness begin to form on his t-shirt and the tiny beads of perspiration threatening to fall into his eyes. He doesn't say anything, just reaches out and takes my hand; we walk like this until I'm too tired to go on. Luckily for me, we've been to this park more than a dozen times already and even though he could walk forever, Seth knows my limits. He guides our path over to a park bench that's shaded more or less by a towering maple tree.
I sit down on the weathered wood, thankful that it isn't radiating additional heat. Seth is about to sit down beside me when we hear the familiar bell; the ice cream vendor is making his rounds. I look at Seth with my best 'puh-wease' expression showing. Shrugging his shoulders and laughing, he gives into my begging and asks me what flavor I want. I tell him and he walks over to order. While I wait for him to come back, I pray for the hint of a breeze that doesn't materialize.
Seth returns a few moments later, ice cream in hand. When he hands me my cone, I notice that he has the same flavor as always. Vanilla. I wrinkle my nose as I bite into my double scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough and watch him out of the corner of my eye. He starts off with neat little bites (almost a nibble, but except for special occasions, Seth doesn't 'nibble'), turning the cone to ensure that the ice cream doesn't become lopsided. I savor the taste of frozen flavor on my tongue, watching him all the while. Seth catches me watching and pauses mid-bite to look over at me.
"What is it, Eirika?" He looks down at his cone for a moment before offering it to me. "Did you want some of mine?"
I don't really want his ice cream, but it would be a shame to waste such a generous offer, so I lean forward and take a small bite off the top. It's good, but still just plain vanilla. I offer my cone to him, figuring that I should at least return the favor. When I tilt my cone towards him, Seth takes hold of my hand and leans in to kiss me. It's gentle at first, almost a teasing brush of the lips. But then he nibbles on my lower lip and I throw my free hand around his neck and draw him into a more passionate lip lock.
The kiss ends when we run out of air, and we pull apart from each other. Somehow Seth has retained enough presence of mind to hold onto our ice cream cones, though both are now dripping from the heat. He hands mine back with an apologetic smile. We take a few moments to catch up with our not-so-frozen treats, trying to be polite as we rush to pare them down to a more manageable size.
When that emergency is taken care of, I look back over at my boyfriend and ask the question that has been tumbling about in my mind. "Seth, why do you always get vanilla? It's so...plain."
I can see him pondering the question, his eyes focused beyond the wafer cone that he's holding. "Hm. I suppose I never really thought about it; I just liked vanilla, so that's what I always ordered. But..." He turns his crimson orbs towards me with a gentle smile on his lips, "I never really considered vanilla to be plain."
"What do you mean?" My cone has become rather soft from absorbing the melted cream, and I take a bite of it while I wait for his reply. Cookie dough flavored wafer.
He discreetly finishes the rest of his treat before answering. "It's more of a beginning, a starting point. It's the same kind of feeling that I get when I look at a blank sheet of paper and wonder what pen, or what brush will turn that blank sheet into a work of art. You can take vanilla ice cream and add all sorts of flavors to it; chocolate or strawberry, peanuts or pistachios. All of them add to the flavor and create something new and wonderful to taste."
"But you can't take one of those flavors and turn them back into plain old vanilla. It just doesn't work." He turns towards me on the bench and smiles the smile that generally turned my knees into jelly. "I prefer to think of it as the ice cream with countless possibilities."
I shiver once and let the remnants of my cone fall to the grass. "So what flavor am I, Seth?"
He kisses me again and whispers in my ear. "Right now? Chocolate chip cookie dough." I laugh and slap his shoulder. "Be serious!"
Seth places his hands on my shoulders and looks straight into my eyes. I can feel the weight of his stare even more than the humidity. "Seriously? When I look at you, Eirika, I see a woman with all kinds of wonderful possibilities."
It doesn't matter that it's still hot as hell and humid to boot. Or that my fingers are sticky and I'm seated on an ageing wooden bench. I lunge forward and hug him, tears in my eyes. I feel his arms surround me and pull me closer. Seth says the sweetest things...
I know I'll never look at ice cream the same way again.
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AN: The ice cream made me do it. Seriously. I was eating ice cream when this hit me. It wouldn't leave me alone, and then Eirika used her 'puh-wease' expression... How could I say no to that? So here you have the philosophy of ice cream. And sugary sweet interplay between Seth and Eirika too. What more could you ask for, hey?
Rhetorical question. No answer required! Seriously!
Of course, if you have any helpful suggestions, comments on the weather, or just plain 'I read it and liked it' stickers to post, feel free to leave a review.
(Slightly Deranged Disclaimer: No ice cream cones were damaged as a result of this work. All characters within are aged eighteen and up. Bwahahahaha!)