Ribulose

Sometimes Misaki regrets ever leaving the house. This is very much one of those times, even though he's fairly sure this is also one of the times trouble would have come to his doorstep and rung the bell until he was forced to let it in.

And now he was having coffee with one of the richest men in the country, sitting in a Starbucks, of all places, and trying to resist the urge to run out of the door screaming. Across the little table, Usami Fuyuhiko is considering his cup of coffee with a slightly baffled face, while the rest of the café watch him with slightly terrified expressions. Misaki hates them all, mostly because none of them actually have to talk to the man.

"How are your studies going?" asks Usagi-chichi all of a sudden, startling Misaki.

"Um… Fine?" Something about that very reptilian gaze always makes him wonder if he's actually saying the right thing, like someone was reading past his thoughts and scanning the very depths of his subconscious. It was very hard to be sure of yourself when Usami Fuyuhiko was about, even when he was still utterly captivated by the Starbucks coffee cup. "I'm really just focusing on the economics now though. I had been doing literature for a bit, but I wasn't… brilliant."

"I would have thought Akihiko would have helped you," the man rumbles, smiling sharply.

Misaki scowls to himself; Usagi-san's idea of help normally involved some amount of molestation, but mentioning this to the man's father might not be the best of ideas. "He tried…"

"Hmm?" Usami Fuyuhiko's gaze is suddenly very soft and very paternal. Misaki's not sure what exactly the man wants from him now, what he's meant to say next, and turns to sipping his hot chocolate as a get-out clause until he's given a clue. "Akihiko always had his nose in a book, it was his favourite pastime. I should have thought he would have wanted to share that with you. What with your 'relationship' and all."

And there it is. A spike of venom amid the sweetness. If Misaki hadn't been prewarned by his natural fear of Usagi-chichi and Akihiko's deep resentment of the man, he has no doubt that the kind look would have suckered him in and then the attempt to disarm him would have struck home. As it is, he just stutters something about them having slightly differing tastes in literature and nearly jams his entire face into his cardboard cup as he takes a massive, tongue-scalding gulp.

He remains taciturn for the rest of the conversation, and, by the time Usami Fuyuhiko has emptied his coffee cup, and neatly crumpled the remains in one great paw of a hand, he's feeling quite mentally battered. He's yelled at the man before, yes, but then he'd had the rush of adrenaline to support him and Usagi-san to use as a shield should things go wrong. Without either of those crutches it's easy to get tired out very quickly. Finally, when the man stands up and slings his coat over his forearm, Misaki nearly cries with relief.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Takahashi-kun." He's gifted with a smile, incredibly charming and unpleasantly like Usagi-san's 'talking to crowds of people' beam - amazingly, hugely fake. "I should be getting back to work now. Give my regards to Akihiko."

And with that, he's off, picking up a shadow in the form of two suited men who were loitering outside the Starbucks, watching everyone suspiciously. Misaki creeps up to the counter and orders another hot chocolate, asking for all the sweetest, sugar-filled toppings to be piled onto it in huge amounts. Usami Fuyuhiko always leaves him with such a terrible taste in his mouth.

A synthesised form of ribulose is used in many artificial sweeteners. Such things are used in tea and coffee and hot chocolates.

(And this was longer than the last one, yes? The next might be a bit late - I'm normally ahead on these drabble things, but sadly I fell behind. Mostly because I might have spun my car out on a slippy roundabout and had to beg the police to help me. So, yeah...)