Summary: Tsuzuki volunteers to cover Tatsumi's job when Tatsumi is out ill.  This is for Majinkarp, who really did say in person what Tatsumi said about sharing.  Originally posted on the Tatsuki community on livejournal.

Afternoon Treat
 
It hadn't been the best of ideas.

Tsuzuki stared at the growing pile of paperwork. Was it that you needed an itemized receipt plus a receipt that showed zero balance as well as a picture of what you ate, or did you also need a signed form of exception from the Chief requesting that the bill be paid on time, and was it submitted to accounting level one in district two or should it be accounting level two in district one and…

Tsuzuki groaned. Gallantly, he had volunteered to cover for Tatsumi after Tatsumi had come down with a mysterious (re: Watari potion-enabled) ailment that left Tatsumi sneezing at turns and giggling hysterically at others. Tatsumi had taken a few days off while the potion worked its way out of his system. To Tsuzuki's disappointment, he had refused Tsuzuki's offer and requested that his work be left alone, but Tsuzuki had endeavored to sneak into Tatsumi's office anyway, to see what he could help get done.

"Why did I do this?!" He stared at the pile that stared right back, defiantly challenging him to process the least of them. "I don't know the difference between a purchase order and a limited value order!"

He continued: "But I have to! For the sake of Shokan division, and for the sake of Tatsumi…I have to try!" Tsuzuki grabbed the first item that came within reach, promptly nicking himself a papercut that stung and left a welling line of blood across his knuckles.

"Ow!" Tsuzuki shook his hand as wound healed and the pain went from a sharp sting to a dull throb to a tiny itch to nothing at all. "I wonder whose stupid paperwork cut me..."

Scribbles, packing tape, and smudged receipts all glommed onto a piece of paper that looked like it had been alternately dipped in coffee, stepped on, or crumpled. And it was part of a stack half an inch high of similarly mangled sheets.

"What kind of a moron would…oh. This is mine," Tsuzuki stared at it, realizing his paperwork's incoherency now that he was looking at it from another's perspective.

"That Tatsumi! How could he let me get away with turning in such sloppy work for so long?"

"Perhaps." A new voice entered the scene, growing more audible as the speaker came closer. "Perhaps it's because that Tatsumi knows you've got talents in areas other than paperwork," Tatsumi said as he entered his office, its usual meticulous landscape marred by the shifting, seething forest of papers on his desk, the result of Tsuzuki's well-intentioned help. In one hand he carried a small paper bag.

"Tatsumi!" Tsuzuki sat up, nearly knocking over a particularly formidable stack of papers before Tatsumi's shadows curled up to catch them and straighten them before they fell. "I…I'm sorry!" He stood up, and bowed to Tatsumi in apology. "I messed up your office trying to help out."

Tatsumi arched an elegant eyebrow as he looked at the desk. Immediately, his eyes grew dark at the sight of the disaster, the cerulean blue marred by the hint of anger. "Help? Didn't I say it was unnecessary?"

"Yes!" Tsuzuki sniffled. "But I didn't want you to be stuck doing so much work by yourself because you were out sick."

"You disobeyed my request. This means you must be punished," Tatsumi said. "Fortunately, I have here with me the appropriate means of disciplining you." He raised the small paper bag, and gave it a bit of a jiggle. Something heavy and lumpen shifted and rustled in the sack.

Tsuzuki's eyes glimmered with tears. A dozen mad scenarios danced through his mind, imagining the various punishments that Tatsumi could mete out. But bravely, he replied, "I…I will do whatever you want me to do, Tatsumi."

"Then," Tatsumi said, as he opened the paper bag. "Your punishment is that you shall have ice cream with me." Tatsumi pulled out a small pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream and two spoons. "I have too much ice cream, and no one to share it with. Will you help me with this, Tsuzuki?"

"Yes!" Tsuzuki bounded over eagerly. But then he paused, uncertain. "Are you sure? Even though I messed up your office and…"

Tatsumi smiled, quite genuinely. "Of course. You deserve a break. Thank you for trying to help me," Tatsumi said softly, as he passed Tsuzuki the ice cream and took a spoon himself. "I appreciate it."

But by then, Tsuzuki had already drowned himself in the pleasures of an afternoon treat.