[Sweet Sweet Sugar]
Mikado tied his apron on, before stepping up behind the counter. His thoughts buzzed around his history paper, wrapping up his thesis and his resources before the bell over the door chimed.
Shinra waltzed in, nodding at the set up of the front. He plopped a laptop down on top of the counter. "We might not see any customers you'll serve until the afternoon, so here's something to keep you busy."
The underground doctor continued on into the back, and Mikado sighed, before lugging the laptop onto the only surface that wouldn't be in the way- the spare stool to sit on behind the counter.
Booting up the laptop, Mikado finished the paper and emailed it to himself.
The door chimed. "Welcome!" Mikado called out, standing up.
A man in a fur jacket blinked at him, before grinning widely.
Oh, crap.
"Orihara-san, yes? Shinra is in the back." Mikado cut him off. Orihara Izaya pouted, clearly off put by the new human knowing him on sight.
Then his face twisted out. "What's your name?"
Mikado pointed to the name sewn into the apron. Orihara blinked at him.
"Are you promoting an air conditioner?"
Mikado felt the muscles in his face slacken, his blank expression settling in. Perhaps Kishitani-sensei had taught him too well…
"No."
Orihara-san looked absolutely delighted. Then he pointed to a tub of ice cream. "Three scoops, please!"
Mikado nodded, an orchestrated expression flitting across his face before the vague look settled in again.
He was pretty sure that Izaya was drooling over him more than the vanilla ice cream. Grabbing a tub, Mikado deftly warmed up the scooper before twisting three perfect scoops into the rounded paper. Placing the container on the top, he rattled off the sum and ended with "and toppings are just an additional thirty yen each. Anything capture your fancy?"
Izaya sent him a look that implied he would love to have Mikado be the topping.
Mikado gave him a cheery smile and a steely glare.
Izaya vaulted the counter.
Anyone else, Mikado would have screamed and ran. Anyone else. Instead, he barked, "Hey, get out! You'll contaminate the workplace! You have to wash your hands and put an apron on first! Also, a hair net!"
His hand moved without thinking and he pointed to the customer side of the counter, as though scolding a misbehaving puppy.
Izaya jumped back over the counter, grabbed his ice cream and scurried into the back. Mikado grumbled under his breath about informants with crazy parkour skills, before realizing he was about to wipe exact change onto the floor. With a grumble, he opened the tiller and entered the purchase.
He cleaned down the counter and stretched, looking out at the few people that walked by. Sure, the place had an underground entrance, and the location wasn't ideal, but at least some people out for a stroll would find the place tucked away for a small treat.
The shop looked like most cafés, themed towards younger children. The white tiles had swirls of green and cotton candy pink through them, while the chairs were a nice green and blue mix around circular tables. Booths lined the wall to Mikado's left, the rest of the ice cream store full of wide glass windows.
Several ceiling fans quietly whispered away above his head.
With a sigh, Mikado turned back towards the laptop to see about a few plans for the weekend.
The laptop was gone.
Damn that Izaya.
Mikado picked up his cell phone and opened it before realizing that it was a black model, different from his pink one. With a frustrated sigh, Mikado hacked into the cell phone.
"Shizuo-san,
I love you so much. Meet me at the ice cream parlor near the park in Ikebukuro.
Love,
Flea."
With an evil smirk, Mikado pocketed the cell phone.
Shizuo-san showed up, and Mikado sang out a greeting. The blond ex-bartender looked around, noticing the place was empty.
"Ah, are you his friend?" Mikado asked him.
Shizuo-san appeared to look at him. "There was a man in here, he looked nervous. In fact, he jumped the counter and then headed back there."
Well, Mikado reasoned, a white lie was just as manipulative.
Shizuo nodded, and headed through.
Mikado felt the smile fall off his face, and the cold, blank one came back over.
Whoops, maybe he should have warned Kishitani-san, but then again, he was friends with Izaya, and he couldn't exactly afford to kick Mikado out. But perhaps he would be scolded while eating Celty's food.
Indeed, Izaya came running out a few minutes later, vaulting the counter again.
"Why you sneaky little sneak! That was so impressive!" He beamed. His arm curled around Mikado's neck, and Mikado felt his pocket shift as the cell phone was retrieved.
"You phone was annoyingly encrypted, and Shinra wouldn't let me download from it either."
"So you pulled the SIM card?" Mikado dead panned, holding out his hand to get his pink cell phone back.
Izaya paused.
Mikado shot his hand out to grab his wrist, succeeding in sending his cell phone to the floor as Izaya snatched his hand back.
"My, my, I do wonder where my head is at. Later!" he called, vaulting back over the counter. Shizuo emerged from the back doorway as Izaya ran off down the street.
Shizuo sighed and looked at Mikado.
"You need a different code for 'Izaya is bothering me'." He informed Mikado.
"Ah, yes. But thank you, Shizuo-san. He stole Kishitani-san's laptop, and my cell phone. I'm not worried about the laptop, though."
Shizuo nodded.
Shinra came in after him. "Ah, I wondered what he passed off to be carried out. Did you at least finish your essay?"
"Yes. It's in cyber space now, so I'll be able to retrieve it later. Which reminds me. Excuse me a moment."
Mikado entered his address and changed the password, snapping his cell phone shut.
"Masaomi-san said he would be here to pick me up around five. Will that be okay?"
Shinra nodded.
Shizuo reached into his vest for his glasses.
"I'll be going then."
"Ah, would you like some to take back?" Mikado asked him.
Shizuo looked at the sweets. "I…"
"I'm sure Tom-san would like to have some. After all, I did pull you away from your job." Mikado chirped at him.
Shinra sighed and ducked back in, knowing how this would end. Watching Mikado shape up into a legendary manipulator was strange, but if watching over him would earn him more of Celty's affection, then he would do it.
But that boy needed to learn to curb his abilities. He would find himself without friends soon.
Shizuo-san showed up at the agreed meeting place thirty minutes early and with two ice cream cones- one strawberry and the other banana.
"Wow. Did Izaya run that fast?" Tom asked.
"Something like that. And these are 'thank you's from Mikado." Tom accepted his with a nod, and they began walking to the next debtor.
They had finished for the night, long after Masaomi would have walked Mikado back to Celty's apartment, before Shizuo spoke to him again.
"I'm starting to worry about the kid. He sic'd me on Izaya without a second thought over his cell phone. Do you think….Mikado will ever come back to us?"
Tom considered his answer carefully.
"I don't know. He wakes up each day thinking that it is then, doesn't he? That he'll go work for Shinra, and then go eat Celty's cooking, and ask them for Sonohara-san's hand. But after walking into that fight three years ago…it wasn't your fault, Shizuo. Nor was it Izaya's."
There was silence as they headed back to their boss's office.
"I've heard he's taken up running and parkour." Tom stated neutrally.
Shizuo snorted. "Well, eating three scoops of ice cream a day doesn't help his scrawny ass. But I've stopped chasing him out of the ice cream parlor."
And out of Ikebukuro. I don't ever want to see that damn flea cry again. Even if it isn't over someone else. Even if it's for such a selfish reason as losing his 'entertaining' Mikado. Funny though, I would think the damn flea would want to cause trouble around this situation.
Tom turned in the money, marking who had coughed up and who had more time, planning the next day's route before heading off and giving Shizuo a place to meet up, usual time.
…..
Mikado hummed happily to himself. Tomorrow, he would tell Anri-chan that her parents said 'yes' and they could get married.
…..
Across town in Shinjuku, a woman ate the rest of the melting vanilla ice cream that an informant had bought her. Her sword rested against the table, listening to how Mikado was doing. The informant fell quiet.
"I've….talked with all the doctors. They say even with surgery, he might not come back. He might lose even more than a day. We could try video-tapes." He suggested. She shook her head.
"I think it's safer for him this way. He was slipping away from us, in a sense that I still don't understand. We were so happy, how could he….how could such a shadow creep into him? Why was he turning into you?" She demanded.
Izaya sighed and leaned back.
"I might know Kida-kun inside and out, but he always surprised me. I don't know how he works."
She stood up. Setting the paper container down, she picked up her clothed sword and headed out. Izaya waved at her retreating back.
"Come back anytime….Saika." he whispered.
…
Several towns away, a man wearing a yellow scarf carved a man to pieces, peeling skin back piece by piece as his wife filmed, a set and stony expression on her face.
This wouldn't bring Mikado back. But it would avenge the memory of the happy boy, bludgeoned by a jealous stalker of Anri, during the chaos of a fight between two of his friends.
Still, ironic that the day Mikado was trapped in, was one of the happiest days he had, Masaomi mused to himself. But he might notice that time wasn't standing still with him. What to do then?
The man begged as Kida trailed the skinning knife down his arm again. With a sigh, he grabbed the glue and stopped the bleeding. Saki stepped back and watched her husband open up the kiln and place the man inside, shutting the door.
He bleached the blood stains and paused the recorder, pulling out a deck of cards. They would have to wait to ensure nothing remained.
END
So, this started all happy, and then took a nose-dive. ^.^ Please tell what you think, I've got a third of a mind to scrap it and redo it, or at least to add another two ideas where Mikado works in an ice cream parlor, which won't be connected in anything but theme to this first one. So it would go 'Angsty, weird, happy'.