Food for Thought by InSilva
Summary: Danny, Rusty, ice-cream. Go and wash your minds out immediately.
Disclaimer: Oh, I'm not sure I even own the ice-cream.
It was tall and creamy and layered with fruit, rich vanilla ice-cream and flowing strawberry and chocolate sauce. With a cherry on top. Danny thought it was the most sickly thing he'd seen in a long time but that was a view that didn't seem to be shared by his partner.
Partner. A new word. He rolled it around in his head as he had been doing for the past couple of weeks. He thought he liked the sound of it. Certainly he liked the way his partner operated: smooth confidence and slick competence. The job that had brought them together, for instance: all cool professionalism and not just for show.
Already, he felt comfortable around him, comfortable working with him, comfortable with him. That level of comfort and the immediacy of it was something he'd not been prepared for and would never have predicted. Something else that had taken him by surprise had been the few occasions when his partner had finished his sentence for him. Even more surprising had been the couple of times when he himself had done the reverse. And he hadn't been able to work out satisfactorily how that had happened on either side.
No, he certainly hadn't got to the bottom of what made his partner tick. Not yet. The food thing, for instance… He watched as Rusty delved into the depths of the ice-cream sundae and hooked up a spoonful of a little bit of everything. No time like the present, Danny thought.
"So, this need to eat…"
"Yeah."
"This need to have your mouth full of something savoury…"
"Yeah."
"…or sweet and sickly…"
"Yeah."
"…or soft…"
Or otherwise.
Danny blinked. He'd heard that. And Rusty hadn't moved his lips. He looked across the table at a face that was trying to look innocent but failing miserably. He chose to ignore it.
"So, what's the deal?"
Rusty shrugged and scooped up the cherry with some cream and Danny watched it disappear into his mouth. He waited.
"It's just…" Rusty licked the spoon. "Look. I think better and I work better when I eat. End of."
"Yeah, but…" Danny was remembering the nachos earlier. And the burger and fries. And the peanut M & Ms. Both packets. "You eat garbage."
Rusty shrugged again and continued with the sundae.
"A lot of garbage," Danny said with emphasis. "I mean yesterday, I don't think any protein passed your lips."
"Hot dog," Rusty pointed out, busy with ice-cream.
"My point exactly."
Rusty grinned.
"So," Danny went on, "all this junk food and yet…" he waved a hand in Rusty's direction.
The grin widened. "Annoying, isn't it?"
Danny looked him over. "When you die they're going to want your body for medical science."
More ice-cream and fruit and syrup and cream were swallowed. Rusty looked unrepentant.
"Out of curiosity, what happens if you don't eat?"
"Not at all?" Rusty managed with a mouthful.
"Let's say you have a day where you're not able to consume your body weight in sugar."
Rusty tapped the spoon against his bottom teeth, considering.
"Well, it wouldn't be pretty," he said eventually, before turning his attention back to the dessert.
"How ugly would it get?" he asked, amusement playing on his lips.
Rusty looked him in the eyes. You don't want to find out.
OK...
Danny gave himself a mental shake. Had they just…? He looked again at Rusty who was staring hard at the bottom of the sundae glass to see if there was in fact anything he'd overlooked.
"What else do I need to know?"
Rusty exhaled slowly. Like what?
Stuff. With a shrug.
Rusty pursed his lips and looked thoughtful. "Well, I have an innate sense of style, I'm a Gemini, I have European and Oriental languages in varying degrees of fluency, I don't mind who goes on top, I'm a sucker for old black and whites, I'm a dog person and I tend to lie a lot. One lie in there at least," he added, with a grin.
Danny looked at Rusty's suit and refrained from comment.
The waitress appeared to clear the table.
"Thank you, Rachael," Rusty smiled, allowing a hint of dazzle.
"You're welcome," Rachael giggled, collecting the empty glass and disappearing.
"You forgot to mention that you're also a terrible flirt," Danny said mildly.
"No," Rusty shook his head. A mock-serious expression appeared on his face. "I am, in fact, an exceptional flirt."
Danny looked at the gleam in his eyes. "I stand corrected."
Rusty rested his elbow on the table and his chin on his fist. "You need anything else?"
"No," Danny smiled. "You?"
There was a pause as Rusty ran an appraising glance over Danny. "Only one thing," he said meaningfully.
Danny looked at him and sighed, then turned round to the waitress at the counter.
"Rachael?" he called. "Another ice-cream sundae, please."
He felt the look.
"With extra syrup. Extra chocolate syrup," he clarified.
The look was unquestionably still there.
"And an extra cherry," he sighed.
He turned back to Rusty. Satisfied?
Rusty nodded and a slow smile started to form.