Teatime!

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Tribute/Sequel to Shizuka-onnichan's Coffee Shop Blues. As Vlad and Danny continue their peculiar relationship, our favorite fruit loop decides to enjoy one of life's greater luxuries: high tea. But Danny's never really been one for tea….and thinks he'd make a few choice tastes known…..

*Blushes.* Um…Shizuka-senpai? ^-^ I know I'm acting like a spazzy cheerleader or something along that rubbish, but I wanted to create a small tribute to Coffee Shop Blues for fun. Obviously, I can't publish it….and I know it's certainly not as good as one of your fictions (I'm new to the whole "writing yaoi" thing, but I'll give it a shot.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. If I did, well….I would have tried to keep the show running on for longer than three seasons. *Sighs sadly.* But it was a good run, and I enjoyed it.

Quote:

"Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea." ~Henry Fielding

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Taking a casual bite from a small, macadamia nut cookie and chewing thoughtfully at the slight, pleasant sweetness as he did so, the man lowered the small, porcelain teacup delicately and daintily resting on his opposite fingertips-as if it were not priceless bone china-quietly to the nearby saucer waiting obediently on the nearby coffee table a few feet away from the majestic armchair perched in front of the roaring flames in the nearby fireplace.

As Vlad swallowed the last remnants of his Darjeeling tea and macadamia pastry, his head automatically-if not expectantly-shifted to the nearby clock perched on the fireplace.

Blue eyes flickered. He sighed.

Normally, this hour was a favored-if not the MOST favored-time of week. While Vladimir was intense in the long retinue of business that had, for quite some time-established his existence as nothing short of a living hell-he was insistent on his taking weekends off-and Friday evenings merely established that selfsame satisfaction the billionaire would receive from a complex and intricate series of dealings that had only bolstered the man's already immense sea of resources and wealth.
And then, he'd simply sit in front of the fire (or in front of one of five pools his home possessed, were it of a warmer season then it was currently in the February chill), and, after enjoying a delicious bout of foreign teas he'd been interested to try, would simply do nothing for awhile as he sat quietly alone in good comfort with perhaps a pastry or two, were he in the mood to splurge a little.
His blue eyes flickered, and the man's jaw set in the newfound silence, broken only by the cheerful snaps and pops reverberating from the chorusing flames devouring a readily darkening pile of logs Vlad had asked the maid to lay out some time ago.
As he took another sip of the dark, still hot liquid, and quietly contemplated the sharp, but nonetheless clean aroma of the tea leaves-and the unusual, bittersweet confection that varied as you sipped; in the beginning, almost painfully saccharine-but, as you swallowed….
He cringed slightly as he did just that, the awful bitterness of the strange, German concoction that he had so recently ordered flooding his throat as the dark green contents of his mouth were swallowed.
The resulting flare of dull astringent was really overwhelmingly atrocious. Blecch. After awhile, the tea became mundane, monotonous, and dreary. If not overly sweet or sour, it did not maintain a healthy combination of the two into a quiet, reasonable taste that was both warming and refreshing till one was actually finishing the drink itself.
Huh, as Daniel might say. It was peculiar how something so obstinate as a tea could actually give semblance to his life.
In the years it had taken to build his multibillion dollar empire, Vlad had really not looked ahead to ponder what he was actually going to do once he GOT there. Along the way, he'd kept his gaze upon his own feet, and had treaded carefully to bring himself to the top. Ultimately-and-obviously-the man had been exceptionally good at what he did-and had landed himself among one of the most wealthy and powerful men to walk across the face of the planet. It had been immensely satisfying-and he'd drank the sweet nectar of success in excessive amounts.
But, as the years went by-and the fact that something so meaningful and as treasured meant to be shared among a couple had ceased to mean little to absolutely nothing in his now wretched life-when the brief pleasure would only make him feel all the more disillusioned, once it had ended….

There was no one who merely appreciated the fact that Vlad Masters was a human. Merely, he was interesting-for he had wealth. None of his (all very brief) concubines had anything to admire about him but his ocean of currency.

Even that could not be fully appreciated. Without the same…closeness, the same intimacy he could hope to know with someone else-just that sacred somebody, and nobody else-and the fact that his life was little more then a well dug rut with little escape-seeing as how he'd already traveled the continent several times over, bought so many things, DONE so many things….
Vlad shuddered at the resonating sourness traveling down his throat that was not at all a result from the tea, and hurriedly reached for another small cookie on the nearby tray.

Oh, how sick he had been of it all….till Daniel came into his life but three months ago.
Vlad had read enough novels to understand that most odd, romantic escapades entered your life when you weren't particularly looking for it…..or even in the oddest of circumstances.
Feh. Months ago-and in that November afternoon he had been brooding over a small cup of coffee in that pleasant little shop he was prone to visiting, he would have vehemently discussed the idea as a mere, sentimental, tabloid fantasy.

But after that small bell had resonated with a gentle ding! over the door, and the dark inrush of a thin, reasonably well built, petite figure in black had so casually made his way to the nearby counter to make his order….
His face was pale-as was the rest of his cream disposition, complete with an effulgent glow that well complimented his features-as well as a casual flush that implemented from the outside gusts in the rapidly deteriorating temperature.
His hair was shaggy around his face-and stopped around his chin. His eyes had been a overwhelming sea of sappharine, and, the black leather he'd worn that emphasized his thin figure….and backside….
Vlad had indeed, wanted to drool. The man would have watched Daniel like a stalker for any of the remaining precious time he would've had to observe the little, prince like figure before the small phantasm hurried on his way again….
The abrupt stirring in his chest cavity as he watched the boy-his boy-was overwhelmingly odd…as well as mortifying. The boy-for he still looked very much like a boy-could still be in high school, for all Vladimir knew! Obliterating gorgeous he was-how could a teenager invoke such a stirring in the man's groin-or a burning desire to hold and dominate that selfsame body then and there…..?
But, as the man took in the boy's fair visage-and overwhelmingly stunning….everything, it had been well enough to forget that as he continued to stare at young man absentmindedly filling his Styrofoam cup with sweeteners from a packet.
At this point, the billionaire's trembling, alabaster fingertips were longing to leaf through with firstly gentle caressing through the soft, inky black spikes that so softly cradled his features…then, tear through them with reckless abandonment as the billionaire dominated the boy's mouth senselessly, feeling what he imagined to be bare silk and satiny flesh wavering under the man's restlessly and desperately caressing hands, going lower, and lower, and-!

Daniel had noticed him staring-and, when the man had looked down to silently control the overwhelming desire beginning to burn in his veins-fire in his bloodstream as there hadn't been for years…….
…the boy had come over to the table with a slight, incredulous smirk to inquire what exactly the man had been doing.