tiredFandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Drake, JJ, OC.
Rating: G
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: A beautiful spring day tempts Drake and JJ into having lunch in a nearby park.
Word Count: 737
Written For: My own prompt ‘FAKE, Drake/JJ, Squirrel,’ at
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Picnic in the park; these days those four simple words never failed to put a smile on Drake’s face. A few months ago, they would have made him envious, knowing it was somebody else who’d be enjoying an alfresco meal, stretched out on a blanket spread beneath leafy green trees. Now he was a source of envy to all the poor schmucks who’d be spending their lunch hour at their desks.
The park in question wasn’t Central Park, that was a bit too far to go on a work day, but the much smaller and more easily accessible Chelsea Park was just as nice, and less than ten minutes’ walk from the precinct. Perfect for making the most of the fine spring weather.
Drake carried the picnic basket that JJ had packed that morning and left tucked away in the coolness of the file room, while JJ carried the blanket, slung over one arm. Entering the park, they found themselves a nice spot not far from the memorial where they could relax while they ate, and watch passers-by.
Blanket spread, the two men flopped down on it and JJ spread out the sumptuous lunch of salad, crusty rolls, several kinds of cheese, and smoked ham, with fresh fruit for afters. They washed it all down with cold sodas, bought a few minutes earlier at a shop just outside the park.
Relaxing with his back against the trunk of the tree they were sitting beneath, Drake’s eyes were half closed as he took another bite of the crisp, sweet apple in his hand, chewing his mouthful slowly. There was no rush to finish eating; they still had a good twenty minutes before they had to start back to work. He was miles away, barely thinking, just enjoying the sunshine, and half watching the blossom on nearby trees dancing in the warm breeze when he felt a sudden light pressure on his shoulder and something tugged at the apple in his hand. Twisting his head, he came face-to-face with a squirrel, clinging head downwards on the truck of the tree, its forepaws on his shoulder and its teeth sunk deep into the flesh of the apple it was trying to steal.
“Hey! Get off! That’s mine!” Drake exclaimed, but far from being scared off, the squirrel just pulled harder, determined not to let go of its prize.
Across from Drake, JJ was creased up with laughter at the expression on Drake’s face and the fierce tug of war taking place between his lover and the squirrel. Abruptly Drake jerked his hand back, but instead of freeing the apple from the squirrel’s clutches, he instead only succeeded in detaching the squirrel from the tree, leaving it dangling by its teeth, still sunk deep in the apple. He stared at it in consternation, not knowing quite what to do with it now.
“Let the squirrel have it, Drakey,” JJ giggled. “Would you really want to eat that apple now? Besides, there are more where that one came from.”
Drake wrinkled his nose. Squirrel-chewed apple wasn’t very appetising now he thought about it; it was just the principle of the thing. He hated having food taken away from him, it reminded him of all the times school bullies had made off with his lunch, leaving him hungry for the rest of the day. Now he was being bullied out of part of his lunch by a pesky squirrel.
Then again, as JJ said, there were more apples, and he’d already eaten a good lunch. The squirrel, on the other hand, looked thin and scrawny; it had been a long, hard winter, and the small creature must have been desperate if it was willing to try to snatch food right out of his hand. Slowly, Drake lowered his arm until the squirrel’s paws were on the ground, then let go of the apple. For a minute, the squirrel just sat there, frozen in place, before it sank in that it was free, and with the half an apple still gripped in its mouth it bounded away across the grass and scampered up the first tree it came to.
JJ offered Drake a fresh apple from their basket, but before accepting it, Drake moved away from the tree trunk. Where there was one hungry, thieving squirrel there could be others; this time he wouldn’t make it so easy for them to steal from him.
The End