A little fic I've had a vague idea for during the summer. Kiane with some Banlaine topping.

Dedicated to Yaushie :3

Jeez, these two were acting like idiots again.

King sighed, watching Ban and Elaine sprint past the wooden benches, the latter screeching something about height before she got scooped up and thrown into the air. As the two of them started laughing and then initiated a tickle war, he stretched further out on one such bench, closed his eyes, and tried to focus on taking a much-needed rest.

Aside from her sister and her fiancée's constant lunacy, the promenade was a lovely place at this hour, and perfect to nap comfortably. Families and couples were strolling about and chatting with each other, vendors were bargaining, there was a radio playing somewhere nearby and seagulls were calling out overhead - all these noises mixing in with the waves lapping against the shore into a summer symphony of sorts.

Interrupted only by the screeching... But this one was already fading away.

King sighed pleasantly, sprawling out a little more on one such bench. They lined up along the promenade's border, just under a line of carefully maintained trees. Just close enough to see the arch of the sea behind the fence, while offering the tired pedestrians a shaded spot to rest.

And boy, did he need a rest. The two soon-to-be-married lovebirds were practically inseparable, from him, largely due to him designing their wedding. The wedding that they wanted to reflect their personalities and day-to-day life together.

The upside was, however, the awesome vacation they then dragged him into to stimulate his creativity. Whenever he was actually free to enjoy himself, the place and atmosphere quickly proved to be just his kind of lazy. And pretty.

Sky meshing with sea and sand and mountain cliffs while birds fly about and old red trolleys pass you by beautiful.

Snorting to himself, King watched the townsfolk and tourists running about on the beach through half-lidded eyes. The song in the radio changed, the popular summer hit turning into a classic, thrumming Mediterranean piece that made him turn his head slightly. The cliffside entered his vision, looming in the distance, misty and mysterious. In the eyes of his imagination, there were swarms of crimson birds and gulls nesting on these overgrown walls, though it was probably a stretch.

The woman that sat next to his head, obscuring half of his view, definitely wasn't.

The thought that he needed an ornithology book blurred in his mind as he zoomed in on her face. Her purple eyes were crinkled with mirth, and his smile came to mirror her own.

"Diane." King blushed, twisting around on the bench and sitting up to face her.

"Where did they go?" His girlfriend asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked around. As he quickly noticed, her hands were full of melting ice-cream. "It took me forever to get these. I can practically feel the tan I got waiting in the queue."

"Ban and Elaine?" The artist blinked around, trying to find the couple in question, but the one time he was particularly interested in their whereabouts, they seemed to have disappeared without a trace. "I... Can't see them."

"Well, this means I've only got you to help me prevent the cream from splattering all over my dress." Diane sighed, looking slightly awkward as she eyed the dessert. She had a cone between each pair of fingers, and held like four more between the flats of her palms. That was fourteen cones between her awkwardly bent hands. He did not know how she managed to navigate the promenade like that. "I've got, uh, carried away with the flavors. Good luck."

Taking half the cones away with a sigh, King eyed the fidgeting girl again. She blushed, the corners of her mouth turning down. "Sorry."

"I'm not mad." He smiled, biting into the first icy treat. Pistachio. Not bad. "But I think you do look really pretty like that."

And with a background like that, in a white sundress to her knees and a wide hat, she did. Along with her brilliant eyes and strengthening blush, the colorful balls of icy sweets accented the view perfectly.

He momentarily burned the image into his mind, saving it for his next meeting with Impressionism. Then he took another bite of the ice-cream.

"Aww, you..." Diane couldn't keep down her smile after that, and they chatted a little bit as they ate their treats, trailing off to listen to the music whenever it changed. Since King was sitting fully upright - though not without a slouch of chronic laziness - Diane could scoot closer to him until she bumped their arms and legs together. The man felt his ears redden, and coughed a little into his ice cream.

After pistachio came apple, and then watermelon. Meanwhile, the wind slowly changed direction, and Diane's hair did a 180 degree from flying gently away from her face to brushing against his ear.

When he was in the middle of chocolate cream, he gave his surroundings another good look and noticed that a certain pair was back in view, next to the promenade fence. Diane noticed too, but she didn't appear to be eager to join them in the least, finally finishing her last piece of ice-cream. It was a runny lemon that she had to lick off her fingers. His own three pieces were running along his fingers like really sticky rainbows, and he sighed. That sure was taking him too long.

"From this distance, they almost look calm." Diane smiled, watching the two figures that were his sister and the love of her life.

"So harmless." King sighed, giving up and drinking the remains of the ice cream.

"They're nervous, but really happy and excited at the same time." Diane observed. "Especially your brother."

"Please, for the love of God, don't call him that." The artist blanched. "It sounds... Weird. It also sounds like an opportunity to make cheap pranks of me after the wedding, with no consequences."

"Well, I think he'd make a good brother in law." Diane smiled, her eyes crinkling with mirth again.

King crunched at the ice-cream remains in annoyance before gulping them down and clapping his hands. "I already said-"

"Please, Harlequin. He wouldn't make pranks on me. I'd prank him back into the ground."

"Wait, what?" King blinked up at her, his eyebrows scrunching up in confusion. Then he caught on, and they shot up into his hairline, his eyes wide as he stammered. "You... You don't mean..."

Diane giggled, and although the words were still forming on his lips, the sound has ceased coming out. Then, as the wind started turning again, showing off the full brilliance of her smile, she reached out and tugged his flaming face towards hers for a kiss.

It tasted of at least fifteen flavors, and sounded like the seagulls and a passing trolley.

It lasted until Ban and Elaine returned to their side, which was close to forever.

I hope you enjoyed it!

C-D