"Sorry what was that?" Johann asked, stretching his legs out beneath the tall table, purposely crossing his legs at the ankles with Balfour's. "I can't see you behind this enormous ice cream." He gestured to the ice cream Addie was brandishing a spoon at.

This was all quite overdue after Christmas, but typical of Adelia and Johann, forever catching up after a month or so of being out of touch. Ice cream in February wasn't exactly seasonal, but it gave three livers a bit of a rest.

"Can you hear something my love?" He asked Balfour, stretching his fingers across the table top to extend a spoon to the wizard, winking. If anyone was going to be able to help Delacroix eat that sweet monstrosity it was Spectre.

Balfour's fingers, extended to reach eagerly for the proffered spoon, brushed against those of his lover's as he smiled to himself - sharp and sweet teeth sheepishly bared. He knocked ankles with Johann and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. There was no wrong season or time (or person) for ice-cream. Especially Fortescue's.

"Come again dear? I wasn't paying attention-" he glanced from the other man towards Adelia and then the mountain of dessert. "- you know how I get around ice-cream. I see nothing else." Balfour poked at a mint green scoop of questionable flavour, wondering distractedly if it was going to be something unexpected... moss or seaweed. "Besides you, of course."

He glanced at the younger witch again, winking once before risking a taste of the ice-cream. His lips turned down dubiously. Spinach.

"Oh, you very well can hear me, git. Just get the spoon out of those ears, hm?"

Addie had enjoyed watching them, scooping a brief bite of earl grey lavender into her mouth, munching thoughtfully about the situation while trying to not choke on their syrupy, puppy love stricken expressions. However, it provided excellent distractions whilst they acted out their ways, giving Addie the most excellent opportunity to aim her wand to tamper with the mint ice cream (of which the witch took a bite). Food modification spells were extremely difficult, but Rufus had taught her once during her sixth year how to make the most delicious green coloured foods end up being the dreaded green, potherb vegetable known as spinach.

She had to be quick, efficient and well, managing Le Masque really had given her the opportunity to become more nimble, agile. Truly, Éloi would be proud.

"Besides you, of course."

Addie made a soft, faux retching sound, laughing a second later when Balfour's face screwed up in distaste. ...and fifty points to Delacroix for cool intellect and being a badger who don't give no sh--! "Something the matter, Balfour? You look like you've found a bogey flavoured Botts." She could play it well, but knew very much the same that Johann, her most faithful companion, would see right through that.

Unless of course, he was so consumed with those googly eyes.

"We should combine it more often." Johann suggested to Balfour over the noise of Addie's mock protest. He grinned from one to the other, though it was upturned as Balfour made a less than positive expression over the taste of the ice cream.

"Something the matter, Balfour? You look like you've found a bogey flavoured Botts.” Adelia's attempt to sound innocent was a little too try hard.

"I don't believe this," Johann exclaimed, sitting up straighter on his stool and looking down his nose at Addie, "tampering with the ice cream to keep it to yourself." He glanced to Balfour, mischief rather than malevolence in his expression, "It's as if she thinks she's immune to a tickle retaliation because you're here."

Johann loomed sideways over the witch, long fingers raised in readiness.

"What does it taste like, my love?" He asked Balfour, and on hearing the answer gave a nod, eyes not leaving the former intern, "Addie loves a great spoonful of spinach ice cream. It might be her only escape…" He flexed his fingers and closed in, chuckling.

Scooping up a pile of the spinach ice cream alongside the mocha, Addie plopped the icy confectionery combo into her mouth, doing well to not make any facial indications. She was surprised how well it did taste, considering all. "There, did it, and I survived to tell the tale. It's a bit different, I imagine for Balfour and definitely was for me. That said, I should now be exempted from this tickling retaliation. Here, I'll get three more bites to prove it." Grabbing the spoon anew, Addie took the first two bites in stride before grimacing at the texture, taste of the leafy green on the third. Damn. This was horrid.

"So....ah...." Grabbing water, Addie gulped it down before eyeing Balfour closely. "What is it that you do again? Something in the Ministry like Johann? Is the job hands on or more paperwork than anything else? I had thought about joining the Ministry and who knows, maybe I'll join up in due time." Fingers clasped the metallic utensil, scooping up the earl grey and depositing it into her mouth to get rid of the awful spinach taste, her eyes gazing over the couple.

Merlin, how she missed those days with a significant other.

Having someone to hold, cuddle, smile and laugh at the most simplistic things. To be able to talk to when times were hard, to be reassured. She sighed, the sound almost able to be taken as if Addie was growing full of the ice cream. Alas, twas not. "I'm really happy for you both."

“Vegetables,” the dragon tamer had responded when asked of the taste. “Creamed vegetables.”

Balfour laughed at the witch’s good-natured response to his partner’s threats of tickling - a most serious warning no doubt, considering their proclivities for it around the holidays. Many a Spectre bairn had declared war against them before. Would hopefully continue to do so in the future.

He poked at a different scoop of ice-cream in the goblet, pastel pink, assuming it was safe. His gaze flicked from dessert to Johann’s face as Addie asked her questions and he smiled at the idea of the Delacroix walking gaily down Ministry corridors.

“I head the Beasts Division.” Balfour tried a spoonful and was relieved to find it was harmless raspberry; pleasantly sour. “So lots of signing paperwork and almost as much fieldwork. Dragons and Thestrals and Pixies, you know. And thank you.”

A warm smile at her, bumping shoulders affectionately the way he would with one of the Spectre cousins. He and Johann were rather lucky as it was but even luckier for all the people who meant well to them. Give or take the odd landlord.

“Raspberry, by the way-“ he gestured at their shared task and then glanced at Johann. “- very sweet. Are you sure you won’t have any?" a look aside, to their company. "Should we convince him to try some spinach, Miss Delacroix?"

The fingers relented after the second hasty spoonful Adelia took of the tampered ice cream and returned his hands to the table before him, content to talk while the other two excavated frozen pudding. At Addie’s question to Balfour, Johann observed one and then the other without interruption while he stirred a mug of fruity disgrace - fruit tea to the rest of the world. He was attempting to be well behaved and avoid coffee. Part of him wanted Adelia to come back and work with him, but having ruthlessly edited her CV the previous year, he knew she could do so much more than suffer his grumpy professional persona eight hours a day.

Johann and Addie would often banter like siblings when they caught up after a month or two outside of letters. It was important to let his ‘little sister’ as she referred to herself, discuss life with big brother’s favourite thing in all the world. She would be enamoured, of course. Everyone was.

“Terrible paperwork,” Johann uttered quietly, shaking his head, “I’m going to set his team spelling homework.” Who couldn’t spell Senegal for goodness sake? The shoulder bump between the other two brought a happy smile to his face and sloppy quillwork was forgotten in an instant.

”Are you sure you won’t have any?”
“No, I-"
”… try some spinach, Miss Delacroix?” Johann narrowed his eyes at Addie in a mildly threatening manner of you dare.

Because, quite frankly - she would.

She wouldn't admit it so quickly, but deep down, Addie did miss going with Johann on their excursions. True, the brain teasers were particularly difficult initially, but they became something that Addie looked forward to as well as doing them now in the flat when finding herself at odds of boredom. "Spelling homework? What's this now?" she responded, grinning in amusement after munching into another bite of earl grey. "Surely the Ministry doesn't need primers, do they? Sounds like it if they're causing you that much grief when it comes to spelling, Joh." A wink to Balfour. "But Mr. Spectre surely is the culprit, big brother, if it's his department causing you the grief of indistinguishable penmanship, don't you think?"

"… try some spinach, Miss Delacroix?”

"Addie, please. You're practically an addition to Joh, so an iso-facto friend as well, and why yes, I'd be completely all right taking another bite of spinach."

She scooped a rather large bite, masking a little bit of it with the decadent fresh whipped cream, Addie swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Her cerulean eyes looked back over towards Johann, utterly pleased with herself by the mission she'd completed. Your move, Sherlock was her glance back to the wizard. As if a bit of spinach could really take a she daredevil down that easily.  "Not too bad once you get past that leafy taste. Add the whipped cream with it and it's not so bad after all!"

She chuckled.

"Your turn now, Joh. Scoop up, eat up."

”... Not too bad once you get past that leafy taste. Add the whipped cream with it and it's not so bad after all! Your turn now, Joh. Scoop up, eat up.”

“No, no,” Johann replied softly, lifting a hand from the tabletop, palm outermost to his younger companion, “all the more for you both. Just try not to transfigure the rest, have it as Fortescue wanted you to.”

He dropped his hand back to the table, but could see a shiny silver spoon heading towards his head, accompanied by a cheeky chuckle. Addie was approaching him with an ice cream laden spoon.
“You see what I have to put up with?” He asked Balfour in mock offence, shrugging, “Won’t take no for an answ-“ the spoon verged closer to his lips and interrupted his sentence. He gave a look of resignation to the inevitability he’d have to eat the suspiciously green ice cream, and cringed as he accepted it. He wan’t overly keen of sweet things at the best of times, and this tasted worse!

“Baugh! That’s not ice cream. That’s - no more transfiguration on the dairy products,” his hand nearest Addie poked her in the side in retaliation, “eugh,” he stuck out his tongue and looked across to Balfour, nudging him gently beneath the table. “My love, quick, feed me something that tastes palatable to take the taste away. Addie’s trying to poison us both."

Balfour sat back in his chair, grinning smugly as his partner gave in to the threat of spinach ice-cream.

The look on his face was entirely adorable and there was a bit of satisfaction in knowing that they were all three now victim to the awful flavour Addie had dreamt up. Misery does so love company. The division head allowed his grin to soften to a gentle smile at the nudge beneath the table, and he leaned forward to reclaim the spoon he'd set down a moment ago.

"I daresay worse attempts have been made to poison us..." Balfour remarked, both in jest and as a bit of a morbid inside joke for the other man to appreciate. "But let's try this. Corn, I believe?" he dug into a pale yellow scoop of ice-cream and turned over a huge lump before taking the entire spoonful into his mouth.

Johann did not like sweet things, he knew, and so could only really think of one certain method of ensuring this was palatable to him. He stood slightly and leaned over the table to offer his lover a quick kiss, slipping his tongue into Johann's to share the flavour before pulling away. He could still taste a bit of the spinach in the corresponding mouth.

Balfour sat back down and licked his upper lip  before glancing at Addie as if this hadn't just happened. "I can hardly be help responsible for the spelling of an entire division, Miss Delacroix-" his eyes creased at the accompanying laugh, "- but I admit they've never tried as hard as they have since Johann has started scribbling annotations on the reports."

The ones open to public eyes anyway, as Joh was quite prudent about not looking through any of the floor's confidential work. It didn't have that many and Balfour was sometimes the one deciding whether a project was for special eyes only.

Addie squeaked loud enough to have heads turn their way, her cheeks, face erupting into a brilliant rose blush when eyes fixated upon the trio. A mumble, sounding oddly enough like 'arsecake' came from her mouth, but nodded in agreement that there would be no further attempts to modify the dessert sat before them. The blush never left as the two exchanged their kisses; it wasn't the impropriety of it, no no. It was once again that feeling of missing someone to have romance, equally caring for one another. There was an unmistakable sigh, but Addie put on her brave face, scooping into the earl grey, munching on it, focusing on its texture instead.

"Annotations, you say? He was brilliant at attacking my CV a while back, but I feel better knowing that you have people like Joh keeping an eye on such business affairs, hm?" she replied, smiling as she resumed staring at the couple. "Good job, then, Joh."

Following the suit of Balfour, Addie grabbed ahold of the pale yellow confectionery, shoveling it momentarily in her mouth. Mm. Lemon sherbet. Not corn at all. "Ooh, you should like that one, Joh. Lemon sherbet. One of your favourites, ehhhh?" she teased, hoping that the teasing would deflect the looks and feelings she showed, felt inside. It could work, right?

"I daresay worse attempts have been made to poison us…”
“Grmph.” Johann replied with a pout.

He realised Balfour’s ploy a beat later, backside leaving his own seat to lean across the table to let his lips meet his lover’s. They were cold and wet from the ice cream, but no less pleasurable than any other time, and his eyes dropped closed instinctively as he enjoyed it. Adelia let out a strange squeak from beside them. Corn ice cream, well… that was a bit weird too. He sat back with a hmm and wiped his lips with thumb and forefinger thoughtfully, unaware that their younger companion’s outburst had brought attention from other patrons. (Then again, had it been her outburst?)

"I can hardly be help responsible for the spelling of an entire division, Miss Delacroix but I admit they've never tried as hard as they have since Johann has started scribbling annotations on the reports.” The comment brought a smug smile to Johann’s face.
"Annotations, you say? He was brilliant at attacking my CV a while back, but I feel better knowing that you have people like Joh keeping an eye on such business affairs, hm? Good job, then, Joh.”

It was his turn to blush a little at the compliments.
“Thank you, I just have standards. You both meet them,” he glanced to Balfour, “exceed them. I just want the best for you both. If that means dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s….” He upturned both hands in a little shrug.

"Ooh, you should like that one, Joh. Lemon sherbet. One of your favourites, ehhhh?” Addie pointed out with her spoon.
“Lemon sherbet is what I associate with you, yes.” Johann agreed, leaning a little towards her to examine where she meant in the pile of ice cream before glancing to Balfour. “When Addie and I went on our excursions, she would often bring sherbet lemons along and insist I had one. Every so often I’d find they had found it’s way into my coat pocket.[1] It’s one of our… things….” He shrugged at Balfour. Sweet he did not, but sour he might be persuaded by Adelia Delacroix.

“I keep trying to persuade her to come back and work with us,” Johann explained, “but she’s content organising all manner of weird and wonderful things in Knockturn while we run the country.” He shook his head and clicked his fingers, remembering something for Addie. “Oh, the waitress at the cafe round the corner from work was asking why I’d not brought my girlfriend in for lunch lately[2]. Had to take Balfour for lunch and kiss him as she came over with our drinks, put the record straight… and she dropped mine. We’ll have to go back and mess with her head again soon.” He gestured with a hand between himself and Adelia before setting his arms back down on the table, mind suddenly reconsidering. “Not to kiss each other - I mean. Just… lunch..!”

1.	The reoccurring sherbet lemons March 2009, April 2009, February 2011.
2.	9th July 2010 Run Away From All Your Boredom

Nobody blushed so well as Johann, or looked so good doing it. Balfour leaned back in his chair and away from the ice-cream as if though to get a better view from some distance.

He smiled at the explanation of lemon sherbets - an old man's sweet - but his mind wondered elsewhere for a moment. To sugary kisses and tender, anticipating looks. It was soothing to watch the other wizard in action, so to speak, spinning anecdotes and running the country. A different version than the one he saw in private; Balfour enjoyed all versions of course.

Their companion this afternoon however, seemed to be coming down with a condition of the throat. All that sighing. Maybe she was in need of a lozenge? He would offer one later or suggest a warm drink instead of ice-cream.

"… and she dropped mine. We’ll have to go back and mess with her head again soon.” Johann finished, meaning himself and Adelia, but Balfour let out a single wolfish laugh as he saw the light change in his love's eye. So that's why they went to that muggle place! "Not to kiss each other - I mean. Just… lunch..!"

"Johann Storm!" he exclaimed in mock reproach, sitting forward and crossing his arms on the table - the look he gave Johann was decidedly ardent. Tickled. "Your mouth! Where has my articulate man of letters gone?" Balfour raised a critical eyebrow before glancing at Adelia as if though apologising on the linguist's behalf.

Usually it was Balfour for whom an apology would need to be made! "Has he always been like this -" he asked almost in earnest, "- or do I bring out a certain colour in him, you think?"

Eyebrows did shoot up at the confessional of the diner nearby and the incidentals that went with it.

Addie couldn't help but grin at the banter betwixt the tree, but especially with Balfour's remarks that came with talking about bringing colours out in Johann.
Oh, Johann.....

"He brings some of the best colours in himself, I concur. Then again, you do bring a few shades out in him that I haven't ever seen before."

She grabbed another spoonful of the chocolate marshmallow ripple, swallowing it in considerable thought. "You know, this is nice, and I don't mean the ice cream. To get away from work, business and shop talk, and enjoy spending it with you two. Joh, I'm glad he has you happy and Balfour, I believe you're something - - what that something is, I haven't quite put the index finger on it just yet. But. It's nice to know I have you two as friends." The grin was now a genuine smile, true and honest. "I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me, especially given the past few years. So, thanks."

”Johann Storm! Your mouth!” Balfour exclaimed. Johann made a hum of embarrassment as he blushed, lifting his fingertips to his temples, shoulders hunching with a momentary loss of confidence over making a hash of that. A recent angry loss off a long-term private client had caused his confidence to take a knock, and the comment of your mouth from Balfour would have received a wink and a low you love it really retort a fortnight before.

“Where has my articulate man of letters gone?” He glanced up at his lover, rubbing the sides of his face, and realised Balfour was just teasing, amused that he did not know the deeper history between Johann, Adelia and the Muggle waitress at The Corner.

”Has he always been like this or do I bring out a certain colour in him, you think?”
”He brings out some of the best colours in himself, I concur. Then again, you do bring a few shades out in him that I haven’t ever seen before.”

The other two conferred on his manner before them, and Johann gave a quiet heh in return, glad he had two people so forgiving of his shortcomings to love him as family. It appeared that his internal sentiment was shared by their young friend.

"You know, this is nice…” Addie began, ”... It's nice to know I have you two as friends. I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me, especially given the past few years. So, thanks.” Johann sat up a bit straighter, a little humbled by the phrasing, and then slipped from his stool to wrap both arms around Adelia. It was as much for her as it was for him at that very moment, if he had been honest with either of them aloud.

“I was just thinking much the same,” he told them both, frowning thoughtfully, and released Adelia to sit back down again, clearing his throat, “No, really, I know Balfour has, and will be there for me,” he reached across the table, palm uppermost for his partner’s hand, “but you’ve been there without question, however sporadic we have been at keeping in touch. I appreciate you both far more than I show.” He squeezed Balfour’s hand.

“Gah,” he sighed, a self-conscious feeling creeping up on him, "someone shut me up. Let’s talk about happier things - adventures!”