[closed; team gai picnic on family day]

[awokentospring]

Who: Team Gai
Where: Tenten's apartment; a training field
When: February 15, Starting in the morning then through til noon
Notes: A picnic, in three parts; may get a little PG-13 for silliness

1. Pre-picnic shenanigans. Lee and Tenten work on the bento for the picnic.

2. Team picnic! All Team Gai gets together to enjoy delicious bento and share each others' company.

3. After picnic stuff. If any teammates wanna hang out or talk more privately with one another or somesuch.

Comments

[tenten_san]

If there was one thing Tenten was particularly good at, it was time management and organization. Because she had goals and ambitions in mind, as well as a stubborn streak just as wide and long as either one of her boys. Team Gai had been a squad built on dreamers and overachievers, after all. And not a single one of its members were ever left wanting for anything better than their very best.

So it was only natural and expected for things to come together as they did for this one, precious day. Even if she would have to threaten maiming and injury to get it. Because it had been too long, and she had grown to miss them far too much to accept any more excuses.

"Hopefully. Even if it's only for a few hours in the dead of snow." She chuckled at that. Because only they would have a picnic during one of the worse winters Konoha had seen in years.

Only Team Gai.

[awokentospring]

The riceballs completed and set aside in their bento, Lee moved to the stove and started on getting the chocolate melting. They had white, dark and milk chocolate, and for dippers they had strawberries, bananas, vanilla cookies, and a few other goodies. They were going to make the best dessert as well as be the perfect gift for their sensei's special people.

[tenten_san]

Three pots simmered and settled on the stove, lined up side by side for ease of comfort and convenience. Each contained a different variance of chocolate to speed up the process, adding a little spontaneity to the dipping choices. it would take far too long to heat up and dip the chocolates separately. And this also allowed them to experiment with different mixtures and layers.

Humming softly, she snatched up a piece of banana, slowly snacking on the various fruits while waiting for the chocolates to melt.

[awokentospring]

Lee glanced over at Tenten as he stirred the chocolates to help with the melting process. A smile quirked on the corner of his lips.

"If you eat too much there won't be anything for the picnic. And you won't be able to eat anything when we get there."

[tenten_san]

He was right, of course. And after all the time and effort they had put into making the bentos and loading them with a variety of delicious foods, filling herself up on sweets would be a complete shame.

Still, regardless of knowing his words to be true, there was no helping the more mischievous side of her from having the last word on the matter. And so, with a bite of strawberry still wedged into one side of her cheek, the kunoichi feigned a pathetic pout and played the part of disappointed child.

"But the chocolate is the best part..."

[awokentospring]

Lee laughed at that, unable to help himself. He took his attention away from the boiling pots enough to reach back and give her cheek a tender poke with his forefinger.

"There will be chocolate aplenty left over, but let us prepare the desserts before we clean up, hmm?" He supposed he could let her lick the stirring spoon once they were finished, after all.

For now, the chocolate had reached a good consistency and it seemed like a good time to get started. Lee moved to spread a sheet of parchment paper and started on dipping bits of strawberry into the dark chocolate.

[tenten_san]

The prod of his finger was met with a grimace as she pulled away from the touch. But all in good, playful fun as the smile returned in full force, if only softer and more subtle than before.

"Fine..." She gave an exasperated sigh and a quick roll of her eyes as if resigning herself to such a cruel fate. "If I absolutely have to."

Lining up her arsenal of treats as well, the kunoichi began dipping the various fruits, experimenting with designs and mixes every now and then when the first layer had cooled enough to turn fairly solid.

[awokentospring]

"Patience, Tenten," Lee chided once again before setting down to work.

Lee tended to favor dark chocolate over the sweeter options but he made an effort to equally dip his offerings in all the batches. It was a tedious process but fun in its own way. By the time they had coated all their dessert selections their hands were a gooey mess but there was still some chocolate left, as Lee had predicted.

"Excellent work, Tenten!" He grinned at her, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his forearm. "Now we need to clean up and place the desserts in the refrigerator to cool."

[tenten_san]

"You didn't do too bad, yourself." With plenty of chocolate left after dipping all of the fruits, Tenten had no qualms about swiping a bit of melted dark chocolate from a nearby spoon, enjoying the sweet taste as a sort of treat for all their hard work.

It had been a steady and somewhat lengthy process. But in the end, she found, it was still quite entertaining. And it was always nice to have either Lee or Neji over. There were days where she missed spending any time with either boys. And it was with that thought in mind, Tenten reached over for another streak of chocolate... and proceeded to deposit a dot of it onto his nose.

"Keep it up and I might have to start asking you to cook for me, instead."