[Ficlet [Cutlery]

[diamondlife]

OK, so maybe not quite midnight, and maybe not quite edited, but I finished it, and that's what counts!

After extensive tinkering and revision (though probably nowhere near extensive enough...) I present a Sanzo/Goku drabble for guiltyschu's prompt of cutlery. No warnings - aside from the fact that it's written by me so probably sucks, it's perfectly harmless and innoffensive. Kind of a shame, innit.



"Now, for once, just behave. No yelling. No mess. No havoc. Just try and control yourself for half an hour, understood?"

There was a slightly unnerving silence before Goku, giving no indication he'd heard Sanzo at all, said hesitatingly, "Umm… Sanzo?"

"What?" he snapped.

Goku didn't reply, but when Sanzo looked at him he was holding up a knife in his left hand and a fork in his right, and wearing what Sanzo recognised sourly as Goku's "adorably confused" expression. It worked without fail on old ladies who ran dango stalls and the like, but it just made Sanzo want to hit him even more than usual.

"What..?" he started to ask, but then it dawned on him. He put a hand over his face in despair – of course, they'd only ever eaten in places that set out chopsticks before, and those were dangerous enough – Sanzo usually took the precaution of sitting at the next table over, so as to be sure he was out of sauce-range. A knife and fork… Sanzo shuddered at the thought of Goku wielding implements with blades and prongs; the outcome was sure to not be good, and what was worse, Goku would undoubtedly remain blissfully untouched by it all while Sanzo had to deal with the consequences.

Sanzo risked another glance across the table: Goku had seemingly got the hang of the fork, but the knife was blunt and the meat at this cheap restaurant was tough, and Goku, despite his increasingly vigorous efforts, wasn't getting very far.

There was a growing puddle of gravy on the table, and Goku was getting more and more careless as the meat continued to defeat him. Sanzo could see where this was going, and, he realised with a sinking feeling that was getting depressingly familiar, it was too late for him to disassociate himself with it. Idly, he supposed it was still within his power to actually avert disaster… and then, before he realised he'd decided to do anything, he was reaching across the table and snatching the knife and fork out of Goku's hands.

He was almost finished cutting the meat up by the time he realised Goku was staring at him as if he'd dropped from the sky. He stubbornly hacked at the last bit, fixing Goku with a glare that dared him to make any comment, and shoved the fork back at him without a word.

Goku gawked, obviously just as baffled as Sanzo felt, and Sanzo could feel heat creeping up his neck. One word… if he says one word… Sanzo knew it would be inviting the chaos he had done so much to avoid, but if Goku made even one ill-advised comment, Sanzo would show no mercy.

But Goku clearly had no available attention to devote to coming up with sneaky remarks, now he had easily accessible food. He smiled broadly, taking an enthusiastic bite.

Sanzo grunted non-committally, cautiously relieved at being let off the hook. He lit a cigarette and tried not to think about how unsettling it was, to do something so impulsively, seemingly without consulting his brain first… especially something like that. He must have been staring into space, because he suddenly realised Goku was waving a hand in front of him with a vaguely concerned look.

"Sanzo?" Goku looked even younger now, wide-eyed and with crumbs and gravy round his mouth; Sanzo felt an unexpected flash of that same unsettling feeling again, a faint, unidentifiable itch at the back of his mind, and he had to shake his head to clear it.

He tossed a paper napkin across the table. "Wipe your face, monkey. And hurry up, we need to get going." The strange feeling was gone now – he could feel the tiny empty space inside where it had been, but, like a dream, he knew that would slip away as well. It was inexplicable, but he knew he should probably say at least something, just to clarify. "Don't expect that ever again, because it's not going to happen. Understood?"

Goku nodded, and smiled. "I got it. An' that's OK, it was weird, anyway. Next time I'll do it myself."

END

While I've been writing this I've been completely plagued by the return of my first proper 39 plotbunny. I'm actually really enamoured of the idea, and I reckon I can have a decent bash at it if I try, so it's just finding the time and brainpower, now... That and getting Sanzo-muse reconciled to the idea of being a girl. *cough* I'm really selling this well, aren't I...