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Finally, a cool, sweet bite.
Meryl melted with the vanilla bean ice cream and hummed, Milly next to her equally content with her little treat as the Ceylon tea wafted over both of them. Another spoonful of the cold cream but instead of a hum, a soft whimper she swallowed with a whole banana slice that had her coughing.
“Ah! Meryl! You okay?” Milly patted her upper back.
Meryl raised a shaky hand, nodding quickly. “Yeah–just need to chew all my food before swallowing.”
“It’s so good, yeah? It’s hard not to get excited for a sweet treat like this.” Milly smiled, eyes crinkled closed.
The banana sundae waited for Meryl on the table. Two years… Was that the last time she had a banana sundae? The little sting in her eyes and tightness in her chest that caused her whimper was not how she usually reacted to the ice cream.
“Vash.”
“Huh?” Milly looked up from her mille-feuille.
“The last time I had this… was with Vash.” Meryl grabbed a cherry and nibbled it from the stem.
“Oh? Vash likes sweets?” Milly asked, tilting her head and tapping her lower lip with her forefinger as she tried to picture the legendary outlaw with sugared confectionaries.
A chuckle from Meryl, “That’s an understatement. He was all over that stuff any chance he got.”
Milly smiled at the information. “So that means you had lots of sweets during your time with him?”
“Yeah… yeah I did.”
A glass bowl clattered onto the table, making Meryl jump in her seat. Before she could even process what was in the bowl, a bright tenor rang out.
“For the reporter girl!” Vash brandished with a beam.
She blinked. A banana sundae. A behemoth of a sundae.
“Vash! I can’t eat all of that!”
It didn’t stop her from picking up the spoon and taking a bite of strawberry ice cream and banana. Meryl wasn’t going to say no to her favorite treat.
A double beam from Vash at her acceptance. Long legs walked over and swung to sit beside her on the picnic table… and his two hundred pounds had them both teetering backwards.
“Vash!”
“Ah! Whoopsie!” Vash leaned over the top and pushed it back down while Meryl rescued the sundae.
“You’re too heavy for this rickety thing! Sit over there.”
Vash was already dismounting the picnic table with a chuckle, “Yeah, alright.”
Meryl braced herself and her sundae as he slowly added his weight to the other side, testing the balance. Both of his hands were planted on the top, letting gravity take his lower half. As soon as his shoulders and elbows reached their ease, Vash and Meryl sighed.
“It needs another truss.” Vash was already looking under the table, assessing the design.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you have anything to fix it with anyway,” Meryl mumbled through a mouthful of hot fudge and chocolate ice cream.
With his chin rested in his hands, Vash watched her with a smirk. “I thought you said that was too big. Looks like you can handle it on your own just fine.”
A quick glare from Meryl before she took another bite. “It’s hot and will melt. I’ll do the best I can.”
“I can help,” Vash offered.
“Ah, there it is.”
He scrunched his nose and closed his eyes. “‘There it is,’ what?”
”The reason why you got such a monstrous sundae for me. You were planning to have some,” more mumbling from Meryl through said sundae.
”Hey! I was just being smart with money! Fruit sundaes aren’t cheap, you know!”
While Meryl was working on a bite, Vash took the spoon from her and shoveled a large helping.
“Vash! I didn’t say you could just take it!” Meryl snatched the spoon from his mouth, clanking the metal against his teeth.
“Aw… I did buy it for you. I figured you’d thank me by sharing,” he pouted.
“What would give you that idea?” Meryl asked as she dug back into the sundae.
Vash smiled when her mouth took in the spoon, eyes a little too pleased. “My old girlfriend would always share with me.”
Meryl paused. “Girlfriend? You had a girlfriend?”
She tried to picture it. What kind of girl followed Vash around and his life?
He watched her confusion and laughed, “I wasn’t always an outlaw, you know. There was a time when I was just a plant engineer.”
Long fingers stole a cherry and he popped it in his mouth. “I was nineteen and her name was Cassie. She was small like you, a few inches taller, but I always ended up eating the rest of her plate.”
Meryl was still too stunned. Stunned at the information, but also the ease at which he just offered it to her. The journalist in her was thrilled at the intimate side of the Typhoon for her scoop, but the friend in her felt like this was something precious he was trusting her with.
“It sounds like your dates revolved a lot around food.”
Vash tilted his head with a grin, drumming his fingers on the table. “Don’t dates usually? Besides, it’s more fun to share.”
Meryl watched his fingers as she ate, thinking that despite the amount of sugar he ate every day, a small portion could have him launching to a moon.
“I wouldn’t know, didn’t have time for dates in college and now I’m working.”
Teal eyes softened. “Really? That’s too bad. You’re at a fun age for that.”
Meryl did catalogue that statement for her articles. He said weird things like that sometimes. Like he was someone’s busybody, old grandpa.
“No… no dating for this honor student.” Meryl focused on the sundae, not ready to admit aloud that she enjoyed when Vash gave her little moments like these. He was always doing nice things for her. The ice cream, helping charge the truck, being a buffer between her, Roberto, and Wolfwood. He was chaos and calm at the same time. A strange comfort.
Vash took her spoon again, and she didn’t put up a fuss, letting the calm of Vash give her a moment to soothe some brain freeze. “I think I’ll get you pizza next time. My favorite. Pineapple and black olives.”
That calm disappeared. “Oh, eww gross, Vash! That’s what you like on pizza? The two most polarizing toppings?!”
He laughed and worked on finishing the ice cream before it was completely liquid.
“They’re good together—sweet and savory,” he explained with a wink.
“Sweet and savory…” Stinging heat made Meryl’s eyes close.
“What was that, Meryl?” Milly asked, her mille-feuille finished and teacup in her large hands.
Meryl wiped her eyes with one hand and smiled at Milly. Tall, beautiful sunshine. She pushed her half-eaten sundae to her partner.
“Nothing… Here, I’m full.”
A bright smile graced Milly’s face, teal eyes—not as opaque and vibrant—but shining with a familiar sparkle that made Meryl’s chest both squeeze and warm.
Milly picked up the spoon, “You sure, Meryl?”
Meryl’s eyes followed the stainless steel spoon, a two-year-old realization hitting her. A small exasperation and fondness for a “strange comfort.”
“Yeah… I’m sure. It’s more fun to share.”