This was originally written to fulfill a CLAMPkink request, even though it's not really kinky...just suggestive. Tokyo Babylon and characters belong to CLAMP. This story has been edited since its original posting for grammar, spelling, and wording. I liked how this one turned out, and it's a rating that is acceptable on , though the rating I gave it may be a bit overly cautious. If you don't like sweets, can't stand the thought of a same-sex couple, or dislike public embarrassment, don't read any further.
It was one of those late summer Saturdays where the sun seems to insist on smothering Her children with Her brilliant face and life-giving warmth. Hokuto had gone to Sea Paradise early that morning, and the clinic had been packed with pets suffering from dehydration and heat-stroke, so Subaru had stayed late after morning classes to finish his school work and some of the extra projects he'd been assigned. At this rate, he knew that passing with good standing was next to impossible, but he could finish the year with the rest of his classmates and move on to the next. A high school diploma was a dream he did not want to forego.
Thus, when he managed to hand in the report on the periodic table of elements for his chemistry teacher and looked at the clock, he knew that Hokuto-chan would give him a scolding. Instead of facing his older sister's wrath for the lunch money still in his pocket for the bento he never purchased, the Thirteenth Head of the Sumeragi clan went to visit the clinic's puppies, kitties, birdies and reptiles and, perhaps, their doctor as well.
"Sakurazuka-sensei! Subaru-san is here." Kawamura-san, Seishirou's receptionist, trilled into the back rooms. After a number of encounters with the siblings had proven ineffective in dispensing with 'Sumeragi-san' from the woman, Hokuto had for once made them identical outfits, and the resulting situation had put an end to that. She had also never questioned his masculinity after that incident either, so he had to say it was all for the best.
"Ah, Subaru-kun! Let me wash up, and then we can visit the lovely little ice cream parlour down the street." The vet called from exam room four, and emerged moments later only to disappear into the small break room. An elderly couple carried a small dog out, looking relieved. Kawamura-san flipped the sign in the window just as Seishirou came back, lab coat and clipboard left behind.
"Thank you for your work today." Seishirou nodded to the woman, who smiled as she set the phone to record messages overnight.
"Good evening, Sakurazuka-sensei." She bowed, and Subaru felt his cheeks color as Seishirou's hand brushed against the small of his back, urging him out into the street. He went willingly, always willing if it was Seishirou, and found himself being lead in a southern direction towards the small parlour serving both soft and hard ice creams and frozen treats. Even the half-block of walking was enough for both males to break a sweat, and the air-conditioning was a welcome relief.
"Welcome!" Chorused both the cashier and the server before the former went back to counting coins and the later lead the two customers to a table against the wall furthest from the door and the wave of heat that had followed them inside. There were a number of tables full already, despite the hour, couples, families with young children, the occasional high school sweethearts, even a set of businessmen still suited who had succumbed to the chill of the treats in the face of the heat. Seishirou pulled the chair out for Subaru, who blushed faintly at the treatment, but did not protest. The veterinarian was always doing little things like that, as though he were courting the Sumeragi Head, even though they were both men. It didn't make any sense, but then again, neither did Subaru's response to such treatment. He...enjoyed it. It made him feel special in a way that neither hurt nor differentiated him. Welcoming, rather than excluding.
"Do you know what you would like to have?" The server questioned as Seishirou took his own chair, and the man smiled at Subaru.
"Yes." His gaze never wavered from Subaru's own, even in the silence following that statement. Nervously, the server shifted pen and paper in hand, a faint blush of her own appearing at the intimate gaze between the tall man and the young beauty, also clearly male. Surely she had to be mistaken.
"Um...Seishirou-san?" The boy asked, breaking the tableau.
"Something sweet, refreshing, and utterly bad for me. I want it to linger on the tongue, just sweet enough to offset how cool it is. A hint of a fruit, perhaps. The fruit should be just ripened, in season, and firm enough to have something to sink my teeth into, but not hard or bland. Do you know anything like that, Subaru-kun?" The veterinarian asked, handing untouched and unlooked at menus to the now crimson faced girl.
"I, um, perhaps..." Thinking quickly, remembering the sweet tooth that the older man possessed, Subaru clutched the brim of his hat in gloved hands and turned verdant green eyes up to their server. "...a banana split?" He asked, and was relieved when the girl nodded and moved off to fill the order without another word and without checking to see if anything else was required. Subaru sighed, and vowed to ask for a glass of water upon her return. Leaving his hat in his lap for the time being, the young onmyouji faced his companion once more and promptly coloured. Seishirou was staring at him again.
"How was school?" The older man asked, and, grateful for the casually introduced small talk, Subaru gave a brief synopsis of his day, leaving out the part about forgetting to get lunch. Seishirou caught on anyway.
"Did you take a break to eat at any point?" He asked, and then sighed at the teenagers silence. "I suppose I need to take you out for some real food after this, then, or Hokuto-chan will worry."
"She worries anyway." Subaru murmured, and then the waitress was back with an ice cream monstrosity that radiated chill delight. The glass dish was nearly obscured by three gargantuan scoops of ice cream balanced precariously between an exceptionally long banana divided down the middle. On the end of the dessert closest to the onmyouji was a scoop of vanilla ice cream roughly the size of Seishirou's fist covered with crushed pineapple chunks and caramel chips, followed by a similarly measured scoop of chocolate drenched in chocolate sauce with small pieces of crushed nuts, and finally in front of Seishirou himself a strawberry slice covered portion of strawberry ice cream. The entire confection had been then topped with fluffy mounds of whipped cream and joyously festooned with enough candy sprinkles to choke a goat and a single, perfectly placed and marvellously gleaming candied cherry, stem intact, in the very middle at the peak of it all.
"Perfect!" Seishirou exclaimed, and picked up a spoon to slide it against the banana, parting the flesh of the fruit and gathering the already melting strawberry ice cream against the bowl of his spoon before lifting it to skim the edge of both sauce and cream. A second spoon lay in the desert on Subaru's side, and emerged covered in vanilla and pineapple with just a touch of the dark chocolate sauce. Luckily, he'd managed to get most of the spoonful in his mouth when Seishirou moaned. Shameless his mind whispered even as his face responded with a blush that spread from his nose to each ear. Seishirou-san really does like sweets.
"Mmm, Subaru-kun." The man mumbled around his mouthful of sugary sweet, letting it sit on his tongue a moment, allowing it to melt. After a blissful pause to savour the delight, he swallowed. Subaru did too, though he hadn't tasted anything of his own mouthful.
"Soooo, good." He drawled, going back in for another spoonful. Copying the motion, Subaru let his spoon select only some of the vanilla ice cream this time, following the lines of the previous scoop. Lifting the quarter bowl of the spoon to his mouth, he caught Seishirou's frown only after the simple savour had touched his tongue. Swallowing quickly and holding the spoon level with the table, he cocked his head.
"What's wrong?" He asked the veterinarian. Seishirou looked mournfully at his empty spoon.
"That's not how you appreciate a good ice cream treat, Subaru-kun." He scolded, and reached across the table to take the clan head's hand in his own. Even through the gloves, the older man's hands were warm. Subaru felt his face heat again, and saw a couple of middle school girls openly staring at him. Whatever he'd done wrong, they knew it too, apparently. Well, maybe Seishirou could teach him how to eat ice cream the right way.
"Show me?" He asked, and was rewarded with one of the few joyously happy smiles that Seishirou produced, teeth showing, wide enough for the world to see. Instead of teasing as he was wont to do, the older man lifted his hand and leaned forward, guiding it to hover over the treat between them
"First, you have to decide what you want to support the experience." Seishirou leaned forward earnestly. "Vanilla is all well and good, if a tad plain. Strawberry, obviously, is for lovers of fruits. Chocolate is best if you decide to be decadent. Make certain to get a small piece of the banana, for that defines what type of experience you are going to have." Subaru's spoon bit into the tip of the banana, and then tugged a portion of vanilla free. "The topping is there to make the taste more complex, enliven your journey along the tongue. Whipped cream is a must, as it always comes out on top." A woman dropped her spoon with a clatter, but Subaru somehow couldn't look away as his spoon was brought through each layer as described. Seishirou let go of his hand so he could put the much larger portion inside his mouth. Some of the whipped cream just wouldn't fit, but before he could do anything Seishirou caught his jaw.
"Taste each component. Let the ice cream melt a bit, carrying all the flavours along your tongue. The whipped cream evaporates first, leaving a white stain..." The spoon fell again. "...that blends into the chill of the vanilla itself. The pineapple is a tart-sweet that is balanced by the rich and buttery caramel. Feel the weight of the banana on your tongue, the shape of it, how firm it is." A man coughed, choking slightly, and waved his friends off. It wasn't serious. Seishirou used a paper serviette to wipe away the bit of whipped cream that had escaped onto Subaru's lips, and he found his tongue darting out to follow the indirect caress.
"You really like ice cream, don't you Seishirou-san?" Subaru asked, taking another spoonful. "You appreciate it so much, like some men can appreciate music, or paintings."
"I do have an eye, or rather a tongue, for certain things." The man agreed cheerfully, taking up another spoonful of his own. Using Seishirou's method, the ice cream disappeared rapidly, and Subaru found a hitherto unknown appreciation for both chocolate and strawberry flavours. He usually had vanilla, sometimes green tea, sometimes sweet potato, but the natural sweetness of the strawberries with the occasional toothsome just-ripe fruit and the rich complexity of what he'd thought to be unbearable thick and tacky chocolate were well complimented by their respective toppings, the whipped cream, and by the nearly erotic sounds Seishirou was making as he enjoyed the desert.
By the time his spoon clinked against Seishirou's, Subaru was verging on uncomfortably full, but thoroughly enjoying the experience. Bringing the empty utensil to his mouth instinctively, the young onmyouji had been so focussed on studying flavour that he could still taste something on the empty spoon, and sucked on the cold metal to try and understand the new sensation. Seishirou inhaled, and then smiled at his companion's quizzical expression. Grinning widely, the veterinarian used his fingers to pick up the last bit in the bowl and bring it to rest against his lips.
"The best part of the experience by far, and the part I most enjoy..." He teased, running the fruit along his lips, licking the faint trail of sauce and melted ice cream away. "...is at the very end of the pursuit, when I get to pop the cherry." He said, and bit down, and Subaru GOT IT. His own spoon fell to the table as his brain froze from realization instead of ice cream overload, and the blush that suffused his face started deep in his chest and rose to his hairline, making him resemble the fruit in question. Seishirou have been flirting with him! The entire time! The server, the school girls, the woman, the business man...they'd KNOWN.
Burying his face in his hands from sheer mortification, Subaru wished he could wish to die, sink through the floor and disappear RIGHT then. Unfortunately, he knew full well what happened to suicides, and as tempting as the idea of escape might be, he had no desire to end up a restless spirit. That left living, which meant that he'd better breathe soon. Right, breathing. He remembered how to do that. Gods and ancestors, though.
"Sei-Seishirou-san!" He gurgled, unable to yell from restricted blood flow to every part of his body except his face and...oh dear. Remembering the man's face as he'd eaten, the commentary, the SOUNDS, and suddenly understanding ALL the implications, the blood fell from one head to the other as rapidly as it had gathered in the first place. The server cleared the dishes and brought the bill; Seishirou paid and left a generous tip. Subaru found that if the older man led the way he could follow. Hokuto-chan would be getting home soon, after all.
By the time he'd been safely ensconced in his own apartment with Seishirou heading home and another activity planned for tomorrow, his heart rate had slowed to an acceptable level. Toeing off his shoes, hanging his hat, and heading to the bathroom to wash some of the latest sweat from his face, Subaru couldn't help but wonder what else Seishirou's hands would guide him through.