Drabble Dump
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHISHIDO RYOU YOU AWESOME AMAZING MANLY MAN YOU!!!
Ice Cream: 911 WORDS - PG
Even in the early evening it is still too hot. They'd been hoping for a breeze or a drop in the temperature, but it remains swelteringly warm. Heat beats down from the skies, rises up from the courts, even radiates from his racket frame.
His sweat stings where slides down his face and his shirt sticks flush against his skin. Even the slightest movement drags at him, as though the stifling air grabs at his body with slimy fingers, his arms, his legs, making him sluggish and slow, hindering him so that-
And right then the ball slams into his court.
Ohtori groans.
"Let's take a break," Shishido says, ruffling a hand through his hair aggressively. Sweat drops fly in all directions like a dog shaking itself. Dropping his racket on his bag he walks over to where Ohtori still stands, unwilling to give up.
"No, I'm good, I can still-" he begins to protest, but Shishido shakes his head, stops right in front of him and pokes him.
On his nose.
Ohtori flinches away. It feels as though the tip of Shishido's finger was a red hot brand that just scorched him.
"Sunburn," Shishido says, doing that wry lop-sided smile at him. "Any longer and you'll be blistering where you stand." With a nod of his chin he indicates Ohtori's arm. It's a painful shade of red.
He'd been so caught up in the game he's not even noticed. "But I applied sunscreen…" Not only that, but Shishido-san has not only refused to do so for himself, but he's been running around without a shirt the whole time, too.
And he looks fine.
"C'mon," Shishido says, leading him off the court. "Training more is no use if you're gonna get a heatstroke."
As always, his senpai is right. Ohtori sighs and follows him. They change shirts and Shishido forces his cap on him. It's soaked with Shishido-san's sweat, but he doesn't mind. The shade across his eyes is a welcome change from the glare of the sun.
The park where the street courts are is still busy, even at this time in the evening. Now that they've stopped playing tennis, it is almost pleasant. Almost. Even so his clean shirt already slicks itself to his back between his shoulder blades.
In companionable silence the two of them turn for home -exactly the reason Ohtori did not want to stop yet. He likes spending time with Shishido-san and doesn't really want to say goodbye yet, but he doesn't know what to say to prevent this.
Instead, Shishido-san does it for him. Grabbing Ohtori's bicep, he stops him. "Hey. Wanna get some ice cream?"
Ohtori blinks, and then follows Shishido's gaze. There's a stand near the fountain on the plaza.
"Oh," he goes, drooping. "I… I have no money, Shishido-san."
His partner winks at him. "That's what senpais are for. Lemme treat you."
And before he can protest, he's already striding confidently over. Ohtori trips over his feet hurrying after him. Despite his vehement protests, Shishido insists to get him one. In the end, as they stand before the vendor, he caves. "Vanilla, please."
Shishido blinks up at him. "… Just… vanilla?"
"Hai!"
"No sprinkles?"
"Ah, no."
"Chocolate?"
"No, thank you."
"Whipped cream?!"
"Just plain, please."
Shishido makes a face and shrugs. "Ooookay, your call," and orders for them.
After, they plunk down the grass with the ice creams, stretching out their legs and humming happily. Shishido is a messy eater, he constantly needs to lick his fingers and slurp at the sides of his cone to keep up. Ohtori makes quick work with evenly distributed licks to keep it from dripping.
Shishido stops slurping long enough to wipe his arm across his mouth so he can ask: "Just vanilla?"
Pausing, Ohtori blinks at his cone. "Yes?"
"Isn't that… kinda boring?"
Ohtori looks at his cone, feeling his cheeks glow -on top of his sunburn. "I… I never…"
Boring?
Out of the corner of his eye, he glances at Shishido's choice. It's chocolate and strawberry -traditional choices on themselves, but smothered under sprinkles and chocolate sauce and something that may be crunched nuts.
His own is just plain vanilla.
Ohtori likes the taste of it: clean and fresh and sweet. He never thought that it might be boring. That Shishido-san would think so. Suddenly his appetite fades. Shishido-san is right, it is… boring.
"Lemme taste," Shishido says and before Ohtori can think about how he licked it into a neat round scoop, he holds it out. Shishido takes a small nip from the side and leans back to carefully contemplate it, jaw working.
After a moment, he holds out his own. It's a mess, streaks of pink and brown slathering the sides of the cone and the curl of Shishido's grasping fingers. Ohtori takes a munch out of a place that more or less has all the toppings and both tastes.
It's… a burst of different things. All tasty. Sort of overwhelming. But alright. Delicious. The longer he thinks about it the more he wished he'd put chocolate or sprinkles on his own.
"…" Shishido licks his lips. "Actually, this is nice. I like it. Just vanilla?"
Ohtori nods.
"It's good."
A slow smile curves his mouth. "Maybe I'll try sprinkles on mine, next time," he admits.
Shishido nods, "I might try vanilla."
After a moment they both smile. They don't go home for a while.