15
Kadaj leaned over the cart and gave another push with his leg, riding it down the aisle behind Yazoo, who was pouring over his goiter-defaced grocery list. They always let Kadaj push the cart, because it kept him entertained and kept him out of greater mischief. It also allowed his older brother to keep an eye on him without rousing his ire.
“Now what?” Kadaj asked, humming a little as he scooted up behind Yazoo and stood up on the bottom rung of the cart, bouncing with restless energy despite their wild, sleepless night.
“Let’s see,” Yazoo sighed, peering at his list. He absently pushed his long hair out of his face and then huffed in exasperation when his long bangs just trickled back over his eyes. “We have everything but coffee.”
“Coffee!” Kadaj echoed, grinning, and shot off ahead to the coffee and tea aisle. “Where did Reno go?”
“Across the street to get cigarettes,” Yazoo murmured, moving gracefully up behind him and scanning the shelves for the brand Reno liked best.
Kadaj frowned, asking, “Can’t he buy them here?”
Yazoo arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow at him and commented, “You’re starting to sound just like him, always wanting to know what someone is up to—mind your business, Kadaj, and let Reno be the bossy one.”
“Can we get ice cream?” Kadaj asked, spying the frozen foods section where he was no longer allowed to venture alone. It wasn’t like he’d meant to make a mess last time! The ice cream had been just sitting there in the freezer, all alone and needy, practically begging to be eaten. Boy, had Yazoo been mad when he’d found Kadaj sitting on the floor, surrounded by empty little fist-sized containers, fingers and face sticky with melted delicious ice cream. Reno had looked at the damage receipt and had turned Kadaj over his knee—which served to make him sorry he’d been caught, but not particularly repentant. The spanking, however, had made him a little more wary of Reno’s ire, and a little less inclined to do things that might require payment in the shape of a sore bottom.
“You know how ice cream ruins your appetite,” Yazoo remarked, adding the coffee to the cart despite Kadaj’s outmaneuvering techniques that only won him an aggravated frown.
“Chocolate ruins yours,” Kadaj pointed out, and held up the candy bars that Yazoo had put in when he thought Kadaj wasn’t looking. “How come you get to have the things you want and I never do?”
“Well,” Yazoo said, offended. “That’s an exaggeration if I’ve ever heard one!”
Kadaj stuck his tongue out at Yazoo, who stuck his nose in the air and ignored him.
“Please?” he asked, relenting and deciding not to tease his brother. It was funny to see Yazoo all quiet and shy and dressed—Kadaj kept remembering him all naked and hungry, and wondered how Yazoo could be so passionate during worship and so passive in public.
“Ask Reno when he gets back,” Yazoo snapped, and made his way to the checkout with his hand pulling the front end of the cart.
“Yazoo?”
“Stop pestering, Kadaj,” Yazoo scolded.
“Yazoo!” he whined, and kept up the fretful noise until his brother glared at him, clearly out of patience. Once he had Yazoo’s attention, he gave him an impish smile and whispered, “You should kiss me.”
“I’ll do nothing of the sort!” Yazoo gasped, appalled and blushing furiously. He hauled the cart into the queue and did his best to ignore the teenager leaning over the cart to reach him. When Kadaj got a handful of tee-shirt, he yanked to draw his brother closer. Irritated, Yazoo batted at him and hissed, “Stop that! You’re going to be in big trouble, Kadaj! You stop that this instant!”
Kadaj didn’t stop until he had pulled Yazoo halfway into the cart and could manage to plant a wet kiss on his feverish, bright pink cheek and another on his lush mouth.
“No incest in public, please.”
“Reno! Oh, I was just praying you’d come along!” Yazoo said, breathless and embarrassed and finally managing to shove his determined little brother off of him.
“I know,” Reno said, looking rather satisfied with himself. Kadaj thought he shouldn’t—after all, answering such a little prayer of that caliber was hardly an accomplishment. Those big blue eyes flicked over him and Reno said, “Don’t tease your brother.”
The woman in line behind them gasped a little, looking scandalized, but Reno only leaned in to whisper to her, “We’re a close family,” before adding a conspiratal wink.
“Well, I never!” the woman huffed, and left their queue to find another.
“Never, huh? Well, that’s too bad,” Reno remarked, watching her waddle away, though he didn’t look unhappy with what he saw. He shook his shaggy red head and pulled Kadaj off of the cart, keeping him close at hand while Yazoo unloaded the groceries and paid for their purchases.
“Reno, can we stop for ice cream?” Kadaj asked, fluttering the Big Eyes at him, though Reno had always been strangely immune.
“Tell you what, brat,” Reno said, his hand at the small of Yazoo’s back while the man pushed their cart out to the parking lot. “If you can keep quiet for five whole minutes, we’ll go and get ice cream.”
“Yay!” Kadaj shouted, skipping ahead to the car. Five minutes was nothing! He was quiet for way longer than that all the time! He didn’t really talk that much anyway, not as much as they always pretended. Five minutes was hardly anything at all! It was probably already over with by now!
He wriggled into the backseat while Yazoo and Reno loaded the groceries, thinking that it was super hot in the car and wondering why ShinRa didn’t come up with a way to make summer less gross. They came up with just about everything else, including mako and materia. Materia wasn’t so easy to get any more, though he knew where Reno had some in his closet. He’d found other stuff in there, too, but Reno had gotten onto him for snooping and he’d never had another chance once Yazoo banned him from going into their room. He should check again. He seemed to remember a big box with lots of weird things in it—maybe they were a secret, though, and that was why Reno had made him leave them alone. Then again, he hadn’t been mad at Kadaj for getting into his stuff, just impatient. He hardly ever got mad, just that time Yazoo left. He wondered where Yazoo had gone for so long. And why was he sitting in the hot car?
“Hurry up! It’s hot!” he complained, but wailed with anger when Reno laughed at him and crowed, “You lose!”
Even though he lost the Quiet Game, Reno decided that ice cream was a good idea and drove them to the nearest shop. Yazoo seemed pleased by his decision, and kissed him until Kadaj impatiently smacked the back of the seat and reminded them that the car was hot and cool, yummy ice cream awaited them.
“Me first! Me first!”
“As if there was some sort of choice involved,” Reno dryly said, he and Yazoo following Kadaj up to the counter and smiling over the way Kadaj flitted from one end to the other, wide eyes taking in his many choices of flavors. “A small one, Princess.”
“Okay,” Kadaj readily agreed, not even hearing him. Bubble gum! Cookie dough! Chocolate! He was nearly faint with delight, overwhelmed by choices and trembling with anticipation. Finally, he settled on what he wanted and gave the pimply, icky boy behind the counter a broad, full-force smile. “Mint chocolate, please!”
Shivering with joy, Kadaj watched him scoop out a generous amount of green ice cream and plop it into a cup.
“And for toppings?” the boy asked.
Kadaj was taken aback, sure he hadn’t heard him correctly. He recalled Yazoo saying last night, ‘He could top from another planet,’ and briefly wondered if it was more accepted than he knew of, and what on earth it had to do with ice cream…and, actually, what it really was. Shrugging his shoulders at the weird question, Kadaj decided to answer so he could have his ice cream.
“Oh, no thank you,” he said, giving the boy a polite smile. “I have Reno and Yazoo; they give me all the toppings I need.”
Looking slightly creeped out and very bewildered but still waiting for an answer to the policy-enforced question, the boy stared at Kadaj, blinking.
Kadaj blinked back, unsure of why he just stood there holding the ice-cream that Kadaj really wanted to eat.
From behind him Reno’s low, wry voice said with obvious amusement, “He’ll have sprinkles.”
Looking relieved that someone passably normal had finally answered, the boy generously peppered Kadaj’s ice-cream with sprinkles and handed it to him.
“Oh,” Kadaj breathed, wide-eyed with a new discovery. “Toppings…”
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Date: 2008-12-07 02:18 am (UTC)I'm never going to ask for toppings again without giggling :P
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Date: 2008-12-07 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-08 12:18 am (UTC)And Kadaj's discovery of the other meaning of toppings is still priceless. =)
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Date: 2008-12-08 12:42 am (UTC)