Notes: Written for a drabble meme on Livejournal.

P – peaches, Shouryuu/Enki (Twelve Kingdoms)

Initially, the bowls of fruit had been set out for decorative purposes. Enki really didn't see why the palace needed more decoration in the first place (there was no better ornament than a king if you asked him, and it wasn't like Shouryuu did anything besides lounge around and look good anyway), and it was all fresh and sweet-smelling, so why wouldn't he partake now and then? What an unforgivable waste it would be otherwise. He got a few Official Disapproving Frowns, but the ministers either held their rebukes or veiled them, and Enki feigned ignorance.

Today he'd planned ahead – far ahead – and made himself conveniently absent for the morning conference. When servants went to rouse him from sleep, he simply wasn't there. Instead of suffering through a monotone of province reports and political jockeying, Enki napped in one of the gardens, easily hidden from casual view by lush greenery while the sun climbed the sky. By the time he bothered to get up, the conference was over and the coast was clear. He pushed open the doors to the king's office (one of several, they changed whenever new scenery was needed i.e. whenever Shouryuu felt like it) and found it devoid of pesky ministers of the displeased and sensitive sort, so he strolled on in. At his desk, Shouryuu gave him the most betrayed look that Enki decided was the highlight of his day.

"How was the meeting, Your Majesty?" Enki asked with wide-eyed sincerity, swiping a ripe peach from the ever-present bowl and settling into his usual perch on the uncluttered desk corner. It was a huge enough table, and constantly piled with assorted documents and maps.

"Oh, the usual grumblings and recitations that haunt me in my sleep. You have grass stains, by the way." With that, the king abandoned both his grudge and his work, face adopting a faintly amused expression while he discreetly pushed a scroll to the side. Supposedly there was a 'read and signed' pile and a 'not read and signed' pile, but sticking out of one stack there also seemed to be a torn piece of parchment bearing a lazy sketch of a familiar minister.

Enki only hummed and nibbled delicately at his fruit, but when the smell and taste flooded his senses he realized he was actually ravenous and the peach vanished in record time. He reached for another and was stopped by Shouryuu's hand catching his wrist.

"No grace at all," he commented idly. "What will you do if these papers get messy?"

Enki snagged the loose leaf of amateur artwork in reply, dangling it in front of the king's nose with a cheeky grin. "Because the entire kingdom depends on the likes of this, heh."

Shouryuu plucked the incriminating sketch from him, crumpled it in one tight fist, and let it fall. Then he drew the boy's hand to his mouth and licked the juice from his fingers. Enki had rough hands for a kirin, used to adventurous climbing and passing among the common people as the king's eyes and ears. Everything about him lacked polish, from his crude manner of speech to his unruly golden mane, he had a wild sort of beauty that matched well with Shouryuu's rogue sort of charm.

He wasn't grinning anymore, fingers brushing against Shouryuu's face as a tongue lapped at his palm and followed the sticky-sweet trail down the vulnerable inside of his wrist. If Enki shivered a little and put up no resistance, he could hardly be blamed.