A/N: My initiation into the world of FanFiction. :) Just a short little one-shot, inspired by everyone's favorite fruit. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: As much as it pains me to say it, I own neither of the following characters. :( Ah, if only I did...
Jango Fett had never liked strawberries.
He didn't know why.
He just had never liked them.
Strawberries were just too strawberry-ish. They were too sweet, too soft, too fleshy. And all those little seeds on the outside were just downright ridiculous.
Jango just didn't like strawberries.
So it came as a complete shock when he discovered Boba had a veritable addiction to the things.
Every time the bounty hunter asked what his son wanted from the store, Boba asked for strawberries—strawberry jam, strawberry tart, strawberry cake, strawberry candy, fresh strawberries…
So as a result there were always strawberries in the house. Jango hated it. Every time he opened the fridge and saw a carton of those infernal red fruits smirking at him, it was all he could do not to chuck the whole thing out the window.
Zam wasn't helping any.
A strawberry fanatic herself, the changeling was positively overjoyed upon discovering Boba's affection for the things. She never showed up at the Fetts' door without a carton or two, both of which would be completely devoured by the end of the day.
It was enough to test the patience of a saint, let alone the patience of Jango.
But since the strawberries made Boba happy, he let it go.
That is, until that one night…
Jango couldn't get to sleep—odd for him. He usually dozed off quite quickly, but tonight for some reason…
Growling lightly, he slid out from under the warm covers. The thunder and lightning outside helped disguise his tiptoed footsteps as he crept silently past Boba's bedroom and the guest room where Zam was spending the night.
Unnoticed, he slipped into the kitchen.
He usually didn't treat himself to midnight snacks. But, he reasoned, some warm milk might help him sleep—or maybe some cold milk—or maybe a scoop of ice cream—eh, why not the whole tub of ice cream?
Grinning like a sly child, Jango popped open the freezer and peered inside. Let's see, veggies, fruit, yogurt, ice, ah, there we go! Vanilla ice cream!
He reached in, grabbed the container, and popped open the lid—empty!
Frowning slightly, he placed the empty tub aside, meaning to throw it away later. Maybe there was some more…
He rummaged around in the freezer for a while before finally emerging triumphant with another tub—chocolate this time.
And again, he was extremely disappointed to find the entire thing licked clean.
Shaking his head, Jango placed that tub next to the other one. Taun We was probably the culprit—he knew she didn't spend all her time in the apartment babysitting Boba for nothing.
There had to be more ice cream in here somewhere.
Staring past the frozen peas and a long forgotten box of fish sticks (Boba hated the things), Jango saw it.
The half-hidden top of the last surviving tub of ice cream.
He couldn't see the flavor, but at this point, he didn't care. With a wide and slightly insane smirk, Jango yanked the container out of the fridge…
Only to stare at the smirking pair of strawberries decorating the label.
A lesser man might have screamed.
Jango just stared at that laughing tub of strawberry ice cream in his hand with a wry little sneer. So…
Calmly, he set the ice cream down on the counter next to the two empty ones.
Calmly, he turned back to the offending ice chest and opened both the refrigerator and freezer doors.
And, calmly, he began to root through every single object in said refrigerator and freezer like a man on a mission. Anything that was a strawberry, anything that was strawberry flavored, artificially strawberry flavored, had strawberries in it, or was even packed in the same plant as strawberries was going on the left side of the counter, closest to the trash bin.
This was ending tonight.
After most of the freezer and quite a bit of the fridge had been interrogated, a good many strawberry-affiliated food stuffs were lined up for execution on the counter. Glass jars of jam, a few cups of yogurt, some ridiculous fruit snacks, five packages of the actual fruit itself…
Jango was so absorbed in examining a bag of pecans for anything strawberry suspicious, he didn't hear the soft padded footsteps venturing quietly down the hallway.
"Jango?"
"AUGH!" The bounty hunter jumped five feet in the air, sending the bag of nuts flying. He whirled, hands raised for mortal combat.
Zam, dressed in a tank top and pajama pants, leaned against the doorway, eyebrow cocked with silent amusement.
Great. First thing he does he makes a fool out of himself. A slight pink tingeing his cheeks, Jango dropped his hands and straightened, clearing his throat. "Did I wake you?"
The changeling shrugged, moved towards a cabinet, and helped herself to a glass. "No. I was just looking for a midnight snack."
Here, she paused and gave the mountain of food on the table a cursory glance. "Looks like I wasn't the only one. What, did you skip dinner or something?"
He said nothing. He had acknowledged Zam's presence; he wanted nothing more to do with her at the moment. Besides, he had work to do. Turning back towards the fridge, Jango yanked open the fruits and veggies drawer, and peered into every corner. One of the offending strawberries might be hiding...
Zam sipped lightly from her glass of water and took a closer look at the food on the counter. "Strawberry jam, strawberry-banana yogurt, strawberry strawberries, strawberry ice cream…I thought you hated strawberries, Fett."
He tossed a bag of frozen strawberries on the counter triumphantly. "I do."
"Then why are you…"
"Because this strawberry madness ends tonight."
Zam only fully grasped his meaning when Jango, judging that there wasn't a single strawberry seed left in the fridge, gave a final nod and seized a voluminous trash bag.
The changeling's eyes widened. "Jango, what are you doing?"
Uncharacteristically humming, the Mandalorian positioned the bag at the very edge of the counter.
"Fett, stop."
Looking straight at her with a slightly insane grin on his face, he whipped out an arm with flourish.
"Jango, c'mon."
He leaned over, placed the arm behind the mountain of quivering strawberry criminals, and began to pull them towards their doom.
Zam quickly jumped in front of him, blocking the food from becoming trash. She fixed him with a steely gaze. "Fett, be reasonable about this. Have you ever even tasted a strawberry?"
Ignoring the sudden close proximity that made his heart beat a little bit faster, Jango straightened and frowned back at her. "Of course I have, Zam, what other reason would I have for disliking them?"
She crossed her arms. "When was the last time you had a strawberry?"
"Why does it matter?"
"Jango."
She met his eyes with that stupid gaze of hers that simply could not be ignored. He frowned. In all honesty, he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten a strawberry. When he was young? A kid?
"When I was twelve," he lied. "I hated it, and I haven't had one since, now, move out of the way."
He made to go around her, but she thwarted him, scooting in front and planting both hands on his t-shirt-clad chest.
"Tastes change," she reasoned, pushing him slightly away from the counter. "If you haven't had a single strawberry since you were twelve—that has to be, what, thirty years ago?"
"Twenty."
She smiled mischievously. "Twenty, forgive me."
He secretly liked her teasing, but tonight he was on his last nerve. A five minute midnight snack had turned into a half-hour ordeal. All he wanted to do was toss those infernal strawberries into the trash, go back to bed, and sleep.
"Zam…"
"I'll make you a deal." Whirling towards the counter, Zam seized the first thing she saw, which happened to be the tub of strawberry ice cream. "You try one spoonful of strawberry ice cream. If you don't like it, you can go back to bed, and I'll throw the strawberry stuff out. Okay?"
Jango eyed the container with a disgusted countenance. "Zam, I don't like strawberries."
"There aren't even any real strawberries in this stuff, Fett," the changeling muttered, yanking the lid from the tub and revealing the pink abomination inside. "It's artificial. This is like strawberry-lite."
"Zam, I still don't…"
She looked up at him, lips pouted and eyes impossibly big.
Oh, great, not that look.
He growled in disapproval, but he had already given in. Besides, it was a win-win situation; he might discover he did in fact enjoy strawberries, or he might get out of cleaning the kitchen.
Reading his surrender in his face, Zam smiled a heart-stopping grin. Snatching a spoon from the silverware drawer, she dug a large glob of dessert from the container. "You'll like it, Jango, I know you will. Everybody likes strawberry ice cream."
He rolled his eyes.
"Alright, here we go." She held out the spoon. He reached for it, but she moved it back. "Ah-ah-ah! No tricks, Jango. Open up."
Tricks?! Like pretending to eat it, only letting it drop over his shoulder to the floor or something? Or flicking it into the trash discreetly? Or maybe flicking it at Zam?
"I am perfectly capable of eating it myself."
"Nope. I don't trust you. Open. And close your eyes."
"You are enjoying this a little too much."
"Do as you're told, Fett."
With a martyr sigh, he did, vaguely noting how very ridiculous this was. And, as much as he tried to deny it, no one else but Zam could get him to do something like this. Well, Zam and Boba.
Jango closed his eyes and parted his lips an infinitesimal amount.
Zam audibly rolled her eyes. "You act like I'm trying to poison you or something."
"Exactly."
She ignored him, merely snorting a little. "Here it comes. You ready?"
He opened his mouth wider in response.
And then, gently, she pressed the spoon of strawberry-flavored frozen milk onto his tongue.
Expecting the worst, he winced a little bit. This was going to be bad. Why had he ever agreed to this stupid, immature, childish…
Wait a minute.
Actually, it wasn't half bad. In fact, it was pretty good. He had never noticed the hint of sourness before. Were all strawberries like this? Or was it only the artificial flavoring?
"Tasty, right?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "It's alright, I suppose." Of course his pride would rather throw his body into a Sarlaac pit than admit that this strawberry flavor was one of the best things he had tasted in a very long time.
"Ha, I knew you'd like it. You seem like you'd be a strawberry kind of man."
"Don't be ridiculous."
He could hear her smiling. The spoon made a scraping noise against the side of the tub as she, assumingly, helped herself to her own scoop of ice cream. "I'm just saying what I see. No matter how much you try to hide it, Fett, you enjoy a sweet, simple thing like a strawberry as much as the next guy."
"I enjoy shooting, flying, hunting, and playing with my son. I do not enjoy strawberries."
"Of course not, I must have been mistaken. Would you care for another taste?"
His mouth answered before his brain had a chance to override it. "Yes."
He couldn't help himself. He had just discovered that strawberries weren't that bad after all, and suddenly, he found he craved the taste.
But, just as suddenly, there was a very silent pause. Jango frowned, still not opening his eyes. "Zam, where are y—"
With a strange mix of hesitant insistency, something touched his lips, stopping his words in their tracks.
But it wasn't ice cream.
It was warm, alive, and very soft.
It was obviously connected to two other appendages that now wrapped around his neck tenderly, lovingly.
Zam was kissing him.
Zam was kissing him!
Jango froze. The fearless, quick-witted, galaxy-renowned, Mandalorian mercenary froze, paralyzed, caught completely off-guard by the young woman before him. He couldn't breath. He couldn't think.
Well, some distant part of his brain smirked, this is a pleasant surprise.
And with that, his head shut down, and his heart came to life.
All the blood in his body plummeted to his knees. Starved for oxygen, his brain compensated by paralyzing him, every inch except his mouth, which took on a mind of its own and eagerly returned Zam's precious kiss.
She tasted like strawberries.
That was the only thing his stunned mind could register before Zam broke from him with the most perfect little smack and a quivering smile.
"Goodnight, Jango."
Eyes still closed, he felt the ice cream pushed into his hands, and she left the room.
He stood there for a minute, running a systems check. No, he had not died, he was not in Heaven. Nor was he drunk. Nor was she drunk. Nor were either of them paid to do it.
Oh, gods!
Smiling so wide his face might split in half, Jango's eyes finally opened.
Zam had disappeared. In his hands, he held the delicious strawberry ice cream only.
He grinned down at it, the grin of a fool.
"I like strawberries."
FIN.
A/N: Acceptable? I hope so. Reviews are loved, adored, cherished, etc...