A.N.: moar love for these two XD! *Sugar high!* mode is ON!

Note to self: snickering behind you laptop for too long can make people think you're crazy and/or potentially dangerous… So, no making fics while surrounded by people, even if they don't understand a word of English (it might be even worse)! I personally think that, to my friends and family, understanding/writing/reading English on a regular basis is the proof of a troubled mind (Maybe there was a time when I was like that too…)!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my own poor imagination!

There were those times when Duke wondered if his road companion was aware of his oddness (to his eyes at least: it IS Duke we're talking about). His obvious liking to food containing extraordinary high amounts of sugar was one of those oddities.

Like now, they had made their way to the nearest city to buy necessities. Among those apparently indispensable things that the youth absolutely had to buy, in this heated day of summer, had been one vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

The white haired man was mesmerized at the black haired swordsman's way of eating the simple ice cream cone. For the occasion, the other had even put his hair back in a loose ponytail.

The younger man complained suddenly as he realized that the chocolate was leaking from the bottom of the cone. Duke unconsciously leaned over, as the other rolled his tongue around the narrow base of the cone. After sucking out as much of the addictive substance as needed, the vanilla on top started to melt and roll down. He quickly caught the substance by liking the pearls of sweetness along the cone.

The white haired male's eyebrow started to twitch uncontrollably as Yuri switched from one end of the cone to another, as he tried to have his dessert last as long as he could. Duke observed the play and noted that the youth avoided touching the cone yet. The food seemed to disappear way too slowly to his own liking too.

As the youth made his way to the top of the cone once again, Duke decided that he would not take anymore of this.

Moving from his spot he approached the unsuspecting black haired male. Yuri had almost managed it to the top of his ice cream as his companion suddenly and rudely took his left arm, the one holding the cone, and bit off the top of the ice cream in one chop before the black haired warrior's shocked eyes.

He was paralyzed has he saw the white haired man try to cover his mouth with his hand as he swallowed the sugar filled substance. After a long silence had passed, Yuri watched as the inevitable happened: Duke dropped to his knee and held his stomach in a pure show of pain.

"You know… if you wanted some you could have just bought yourself your own…" he said has he dejectedly observed his drastically shortened cone.

"This pain…" the other gasped as his whole body complained as he tried to speak and/or stand up.

"Well, what did you expect? Don't you know you get stomach ache and brain freeze when you eat your ice cream too fast?" he pointed out.

"…" the white haired warrior kept silent as he mentally took note that 'ice cream' was to be forever banned from his very sight, vocabulary and alimentation.

At another time, Yuri came back from his bath in the nearby water spot. Only to fall in front of a scene he most definitely did not want to face.

Here was Duke, waiting for him, and holding something that, he remembered finding in his luggage not so long ago, well hidden in an inside pocket. Probably something either Estelle or Judith, or both, had thought to give him just to make his life miserable in the future. Future which happened to be right this moment. He slightly wondered why he had not thrown the offending 'joke' very far away the second he had discovered it… He realized that escape was impossible as the other decided to look in his direction right as he was trying to curse the two girls into the next year.

"You better not be telling me that you actually planned to fold my laundry and that by pure coincidence found this?" he tried to joke even if he still did not get how the older man had managed to get a hold of the offending artifact.

The other male raised a delicate eyebrow at the assumption, before understanding the need to explain what he was doing with something that seemed to be of his companion's private business.

"My apologizes. This was sticking out of your personal possessions so I took the liberty to sample it…" he explained.

"Ooookay… Errr- Anyway… I-I'm just going to get to sleep now… And drop that!" he said horrified as the other man held the thing in plain sight above his head (think Zelda!).

"I am sorry. I did not plan on damaging your… secret belongings? I was just wondering if that was usual of people of these days to use such things? Is this supposed to-" he asked almost innocently.

"STOP! And no no no no no no! It's NOT my "secret belonging"!" he cried as the white haired man was pilling misunderstandings over misunderstandings.

"…" Duke watched him with an unreadable expression as he kept silent.

"I-it's… It's- Argh! It's just that stupid thing that was given to me for that stupid reason by that stupid guy and put into my bag by a couple of- of stupids!" he said desperate to have the other just drop it.

The white haired male looked at him questioningly before coming to an apparent decision. He took a few steps forward, once in Yuri's personal space, he lifted the artifact. Finally, with a determined look, he planted the black bunny ears hair band on the raven haired man's head.

The said man gaped at the action, unable to process what was actually going in the white haired man's head. The Great War hero gave a satisfied nod and took a few steps back to admire the gapping youth.

"So that's why…" he trailed off.

"…" the other couldn't even protest as his brain seemed to have short-circuited with the ears on his head.

"Very interesting." The white haired one went on.

"W-What?" he finally managed to force out as his companion didn't seem to stop his own musings.

"I wondered why this peculiar element seemed to be so unsettling. In situ it actually makes more sense." He truthfully answered.

The black haired swordsman became successively very pale then beet red with shame as he ripped the things from his head. Angrily, he stuck them on his traveling companion's head before making his way to his tent.

"Get unsettled by yourself if you please!" he shot back before escaping whatever questions the other might have.

"hmm…" the other silently mused as he absentmindedly stroked the velvety material of one of the fake ears now stuck on his head.

"Not quite as efficient…"

Comeonyouknowthatwouldbecute!

If there one thing that the black haired swordsman would never understand about his traveling companion: it was his strange morning ritual. He himself liked to lie down in bed for a while, pretending to sleep for a few more hours at best, it was during that period that Duke would begin his own activities.

First, since the white haired weirdo had learned of the raven haired one's habit of lying away his life on mornings, he'd wake his companion using the technique Yuri had so called the "pokes of death". It was basically the only way to wake him without throwing the younger male in an angry fit of destruction (Flynn and Estellise had also learned the technique during their respective times with the warrior).

Well, except for the one time when Duke had tried to poke his cheek and had almost lost a digit, when the raven male had bitten the offending finger while still lost in the world of dreams. So, learning from his past failures, the Dein Nomos' wielder now altered from poking his stomach to finger punching his arm, while remaining at a safe distance: where he could actually withdraw quickly enough should his life (or whatever appendage) be at stake…

After making sure that the other had been thoughtfully annoyed to death and sure to wake up, he would enigmatically shuffle through his own bag. For what? He would never know…

Another fact about Duke was that, he was awfully curious! And so Yuri would always sleepily growl as he saw the taller man try to sneak around the place and examine random stuff located in Yuri's personal belongings. There had been a time when he had laughed at the other's antics and merely observed, as the great hero of the war would pull stuff out of his bag to expressionlessly look it over for a few minutes.

He had stopped however, as the man started to get bolder and searched for more interesting items. Such as his kindly given costume from the theatrical guild or the knight's outfit left to him by Flynn who, to Yuri's point of view, had more than hopeless dreams going on in his little blonde head… His white haired companion even had the nerve to ask him to put the clothes on (which of course resulted in a battle where he had claimed a few stands of white hair)!

However, his growls seemed to stop the older man less and less every time, and the black haired swordsman was still too lazy to get up and physically stop him. So he watched warily as Duke ignored him and searched his bag without a care in the world…

Sometimes the man was just so… natural? Maybe oblivious and rude would fit better, but the raven warrior thought that it would put him too close to the kritya kind.

'Damn! Not that! Tch! Even Estelle never managed to find it! If you tell a single word to Flynn, I'm going to bite off something that certainly won't grow back!' he thought angrily as he powerlessly watched as Duke pulled out his little dirty secret: his hidden stack of sweets.

He determinedly got out of bed as the other made a move to take one for himself.

"Hey! Don't touch that!" he roared as he ripped the small transparent bag from the other's grasp.

"…" the white haired male said nothing as his companion's reaction largely out matched the one when his underwear had been scattered around, it really was an unfortunate slip of his hand though.

"No one touches my personal emergency kit!" he explained.

"How does such, items of poor healing capabilities, enter the category reserved for ones used over grave wounds that would need fast treatment?" the Great War hero asked while pulling a hand under his chin as a sign to indicate focus.

"It's still 'emergency kit', and no one but me touches it!" he yelled this time.

"…"

Before the still interrogative face of his companion, he decided to take his baggage and leave camp before the man went too deep into his musings. Duke merely observed the other warrior as he took his personal belongings and left to his next destination.

The white haired swordsman waited still, rooted on his spot, until he was sure the other was out of sight. Only then did he allow himself a silent compliment.

'Mission "Let's move before noon",… done.'

A.N.: Yes, I believe even Duke can have his little piece of fun every once in a while XD. I also changed the border line with words because editing everything on is too much trouble (I didn't need to do this before…)! Edit: that actually made it worse...

Maybe I should think of Yuri's reunion with his friends for another chapter lol.

Yuri: Or think about your upcoming exam instead of having me suffer!

Duke: Hmmm… Maybe I did make a few mistakes in this part though: Lowell seems to especially dislike my attitude…

Yuri: Hell yeah! First you take my ice cream, then you-you! Do THAT! With THIS! And last of all you plan on kidnapping my sweets and force me outta bed at EIGHT in the &#ç°%*$£ morning!

Duke: Such foul and trivial language.

Yuri: I could make your ears bleed if you want!

Duke: Though I hardly think that such a feat would be possible by the mere way of foul words… I would be glad if you did not to try to do so…

Yuri: Heh. Not possible hm? *Evil plotting*

A.N.: -_-; Well, whatever. I almost wondered if I should have changed the rating because of the innuendoes in the first part… For now I think I should seriously consider going on a sugar diet… Though, that's probably as hopeless as to try to have Yuri do one.