Author's Note: Because I can't have been the only one who thought Joshua's reaction to food he really likes was hilarious. And maybe because I was hungry.
Disclaimer: Hi, my name is Square Enix, and I own The World Ends With You.
...That's not my name, and I don't own The World Ends With You.

If there was one thing that was at least mildly normal about the Reaper's Game, Neku was fairly certain that it was the food. Sure, certain food items somehow made you and your partner more in sync, and others made your attacks more powerful. Some made you feel braver, while others seemed to make you harder to erase, but when you were running around Shibuya tripping over the high heels (or Santa outfits… or dresses…) your partner decided would look cute on you while beating up Noise with magic pins, it was fairly safe to say that having your lunch make you a better fighter wasn't too strange.

Or maybe the fact that this was his second week in the UG was getting to him.

Either way, Neku had rather optimistically assumed that he wouldn't have to worry about much other than price when it came to eating. It wasn't as if any of his partners were food aficionados or anything; that had been Higashizawa, and he and Shiki had taken care of him the previous week. No, if Neku was worried about anything, it was the fact that Joshua would rather wander around Shibuya running errands than spend time trying to do little things like, you know, survive. It was with Joshua dragging him along (quite literally; the silveret would grab Neku's hand and pull more times than not, and for a skinny kid with a girl's laugh, he was surprisingly strong) that Neku found himself in Spain Hill, the alluring smells of meat and chili floating towards him from Mexican Dog.

"Hey, Joshua."

"Yes, Neku?" Joshua turned, flipping his hair with one hand.

"…Let's grab something to eat."

To his surprise, Joshua nodded. "I'll take a Definitivo Chili Dog. It's a Quest item, but I think we have everything we need for two."

Not bothering to reply, though internally grumbling about how Joshua could get his own damn food, Neku entered the store (the clerk's cheerful greeting of "Bienvenido!" making him cringe slightly), Joshua looking at his phone now. Stepping back out a few minutes later, balancing two Definitivo Chili Dogs in his hands, Neku coughed loudly to get his partner's attention.

"Oops, sorry Neku!" Joshua giggled, not sounding sorry at all (as usual, Neku thought). Taking his food, the silveret gestured towards Neku's. "Try it."

Eyeing his partner warily, wondering slightly if Joshua hadn't somehow poisoned the chili dog, Neku raised it to his mouth and took a bite. "Not bad." Turning away from his partner slightly, Neku nearly dropped the admittedly rather good chili dog when Joshua took a bite.

"Mmm…" Choking, Neku scrambled to keep a hold on his food. Had Joshua just moaned?

Turning around turned out to be a bad idea; Joshua's mouth was closed around the hot dog, and he was sucking the chili off. "I'm in paradise," the silveret purred, breathless.

'Oh God.' Staring at his partner, Neku didn't notice as the chili dripped down onto his shorts, too focused on watching Joshua eat (could that legally be considered eating?).

Having finished his chili dog, Joshua smiled before looking over at his partner and shaking his head. "Neku, do you want me to take that?"

"No!" Quickly shoving the Definitivo Chili Dog into his mouth, Neku chewed pointedly, ignoring Joshua's giggles.

"Oh, you got some chili on your shorts. You have to be more careful, Neku. It looks like we'll have to pull out that Lolita dress from Lapin Angelique, since you're so dead set on not going shopping any more today."

Neku groaned around the mass of bread and meat in his mouth, unable to point out that he'd had to enforce that rule because of Joshua's spending habits, and even more unable to protest the dress his partner was now pulling out. Who knew being dead would mean this much stress?

--

A week later, as Beat insisted on buying a Definitivo Chili Dog, Neku wasn't particularly surprised to hear his new partner exclaim "It's a party in my mouth!", though he was a bit shocked when the other boy proceeded to eat three Special Dogs right afterwards.