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Title: Sweet
Fandom: Tales of Destiny
Pairing: Stahn/Leon
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1046 words
Notes: Written for Yaoi Challenge '07.
"You want to what?" Leon asked incredulously. He raised his head to stare at Stahn from his position at the desk of one of Ilene's spare rooms.
Stahn shrugged and scratched the back of his head. "I want to take you to go get ice candy," he said, seemingly unaffected by the scorn in the younger boy's voice. "I mean, I did promise to get you some earlier, but the whole monster attack thing kind of ruined that..."
Leon snorted and went back to cleaning Chaltier's blade, running the polishing cloth up and over the Swordian's lens core with a sort of care he didn't show in anything else. Stahn's eyes followed the careful movements of his slender hands as they continued on to the guard. "I thought it was you idling at the coliseum that did away with the candy."
"Huh? Uh, well..." Stahn trailed off, shifting nervously on the chair. He crossed his arms over the top. "I guess you're right. But, um, I still promised to get you some. So I want to."
"I told you that I don't care about it," Leon snapped. One hand tightened around Chaltier's hilt. "I don't even like sweet things."
Stahn shook his head, his long blond hair flying everywhere. "No way! You've gotta come. It's really good," he insisted, rocking forward on the chair. When Leon didn't respond, his cheerful grin faded into a pout. "Leeeeooooon," he whined. "Leon, come ooooon. It's going to take a while for Miss Ilene to get the ship ready and the girls are in the other room gossiping or something and I want to buy you ice candy!"
"...fine," Leon snarled at long last. "As long as it shuts you up."
"Really?" Stahn brightened immediately, jumping up from the chair and dashing to the door. "Okay! Wait here! I'll go tell Rutee and the others where we're going!" Before Leon could protest, the door had already closed behind him. There was a momentary silence.
"Young Master," Chaltier began hesitantly, "did Stahn just ask you on a date?"
A flush crept over Leon's pale features. "S-shut up, Chal!" he said, hurriedly sheathing the Swordian.
---
Despite the damage done by the earlier monster attack, the streets of Noischat were already regaining their usual hustle and bustle. Merchants were setting up tents in front of their ruined shops, advertising sale prices for damaged items. Children ran through the streets and laughingly poked through the debris for anything that caught their eyes. Volunteers from the coliseum had already finished dragging most of the monsters' corpses somewhere outside city limits. It looked as though quick thinking on the part of Ilene Rembrandt had not only saved the lives of the city's inhabitants but their spirits as well.
The ice candy stand was no exception. It had already been righted from its fallen position, and though the striped awning was a little tattered, it didn't look like any permanent damage had been sustained. The vendor certainly looked as cheerful as ever, if a little frazzled.
"Two, please!" Stahn called. "One vanilla and... uh, what do you want, Leon?"
"I don't care."
Stahn looked over his shoulder just in time to see Leon roll his eyes. "You've got to have some opinion," he insisted.
"No, Stahn, I don't," Leon informed him with a scowl.
"But--" Stahn stopped when Leon narrowed his eyes. "Fine," he sighed, and turned back to the vendor. "Make that two vanilla."
---
The candy was good, Leon had to admit to himself. It was sweet and cold as it melted over his tongue, even if the humidty of the late afternoon made it run down the stick and onto his fingers. He leaned in to lick the candy from his fingers, remembering belatedly that Stahn was sitting next to him. Surupticiously glancing over to the other side of the small park bench, he noted to his relief that Stahn seemed to be too intent on his own candy to have noticed Leon's momentary lapse in dignity.
"This is nice," Stahn said after a moment, letting his head fall back onto the back of the bench.
"...mm. I guess." Leon took another lick from his candy.
"I don't mean the--" Stahn paused to flick a fallen cherry blossom from one of the nearby trees from his hair and smoothed a hand through it. "I don't mean the candy," he continued.
Leon looked up sharply.
One of Stahn's hands stayed in his hair, nervously twisting a strand around his fingers as a hesitant smile played over his face. "I meant just sitting here. With you. We haven't gotten many chances to just talk since Kalviola. And I like talking to you, so--"
"Shut up," Leon muttered. He hunched his shoulders and stared down at the quickly-melting remnants of his candy. Stahn didn't have any right to be so happy about just being around him, not when Stahn's very presence grated on Leon's nerves like nothing else. He was too cheerful, too open, too easy to hurt and at the same time stronger than anyone else he'd ever met. Something about him and the way he talked about Leon made Leon's chest tighten up and hurt. "I don't want to hear it."
The sweet smile didn't fade from Stahn's face. "I just wanted you to know," he said.
There was a soft edge to Stahn's words that made Leon swallow hard, feeling suddenly lightheaded. "I said I don't want to--" he stopped, distracted. The seriousness he'd felt a moment ago seemed to evaporate as he stared at Stahn. "You have ice candy on your face."
"What?" Stahn blinked and wiped at his face ineffectually. "Where?"
"It's right there." Leon tried not to let any amusement show on his face. "No, over-- let me." He blamed the lightheadedness for the way he leaned in, the tips of his fingers ghosting over the edge of Stahn's lips, brushing the melted candy from them. And if they lingered a moment longer than necessary, Stahn didn't comment--his eyes were too wide, his expression too stunned.
Leon closed his eyes and brought the fingers to his own mouth, flicking his tongue out over them to taste. "Sweet," he murmured.
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