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" It Must Have Been the Mistletoe "Written By: CalicOcat
Genre: Romance, Angst Pairing: Eventual 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5+6+5, DxR, surprise
pairing at end (het) Rated: R Warnings: AU(?), OOC, Swearing Archives: At Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone
with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves; anyone
else, please ask. Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said. Notes: Set in December A.C. 202. Written for Sita Seraph's xmas fic challenge to write a fic inspired by the song "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe". 'Thinking' "Speaking" ************ Time passing or scene change Author's Notes: (Author stomps in, glares at muses,
and drops fic with a hefty *thud*. Darned angst muse, turns a perfectly
good 5-page humour fic into a 30+ page monster... Even had to waste
a perfectly good title...) I had no intention of writing a *third*
holiday fic this year, but Sita Seraph's challenge wouldn't leave
me alone. This was supposed to be romance/humour again, but my so-far-nameless
angst muse decided to make a contribution along with my romance/humour
muse Quin (who may have got a little carried away in the sheer number
of It Must Have Been the Mistletoe Part 3 Hanging up his call, Trowa turned to face Quatre. "Well, I may not have to worry about deserting the circus. That was Cathy. The by-law passed council last night and the animals will no longer be allowed within city limits as of the first of the year. So the circus no longer has a home base. They can't last long travelling *all* the time. There has to be somewhere safe and stable to raise children, allow injured performers to heal, raise and train young animals, perfect new acts, and so on. Even during the worst of the war, they always had a 'home' to go back to. Now they won't." "Not necessarily," Quatre said slowly, his thoughts quickly darting through myriad possibilities. "It will take a little research to find out which estates would be possibilities, but surely there's at least *one* Winner property that could host them and *also* be in a suitable location to act as *my* home base for WEI business... That way, you wouldn't *have* to completely give up working with the circus and being near Cathy in order to stay with me..." Grabbing the blond by the shoulders, Trowa looked him straight in the eyes and demanded, "Quatre, are you *serious*? I never... I mean... God, Quat, that would be *perfect*!" "Of course I'm serious," Quatre responded, tilting his head slightly to one side and giving Trowa an angelic smile. "As long as you promise not to make me eat Cathy's cooking..." Snickering, Trowa promised solemnly, "Never."
"I didn't want to bother you," Duo answered. "You're busy, I can come back later." Turning away from his laptop screen, Heero gave Duo an exasperated look. "Duo, get *in* here. You are *not* bothering me and there's nothing new here anyway." "Still no luck, huh..." "No. I'm beginning to think there never *will* be. I don't have any memories before Odin, and if I can't track him back any farther than what I have so far, I won't get much further." "Maybe the lead that J mentioned will pan out," Duo offered, moving to stand beside Heero's chair. "I'm not holding my breath." "Why does it matter so much to you anyway?" Shaking his head slightly, Heero admitted, "I don't
know. Maybe I just want to know that there isn't someone else out
there looking for *me* because Odin took off with me. I'm not even
sure whether I'd Duo made a noncommittal noise in response, leading Heero to ask, "Haven't you ever wondered? Ever wanted to trace your own past?" "No," Duo answered, shaking his head quite
definitely. "Considering that the options basically boil down
to orphaned and no extended family to look for me, lost and no one
looked for me, or abandoned, I'd rather live *without* knowing for
sure which of those oh-so-lovely options it is. Small children do
not end up on the street 'by accident', Heero. My own private little
fantasy of being the only child of a runaway marriage between two
deeply in love - and disowned for it by their families - people who
were tragically killed while "And just where do *I* fall in your little adopted family?" Heero asked curiously. Duo dropped his gaze, retreating into that subdued version of himself that Heero was learning to dread. He mumbled something too quietly for Heero to understand what he said. "I didn't quite hear that, Duo," Heero said,
"but I'm sincerely hoping it *wasn't* 'brother' because then
I'd feel awfully odd about doing *this*." With that, he surged
to his feet and pulled Duo into his arms. Wrapping one arm behind
his back, Heero slid his hand up under Duo's sweatshirt while using
his other hand to lift Duo's face to his for a kiss. With one hand
firmly pressed against the bare skin of Duo's back, Heero had no difficulty
feeling the exact moment at which the tension went out of his partner.
Duo's hands came up to bury Ducking his head against Heero's shoulder, Duo admitted
softly, "No, I didn't want to wait. But you obviously weren't
prepared to handle juggling a beginning relationship and all the other
things that were Heero sighed, dropping his own forehead to rest on Duo's
shoulder. "I'm sorry. At the time, I thought I was making things
easier on both of us. It was so damn hard spending all our free time
together, then Duo went completely still at that word. Answering the unspoken question, Heero told him, "That's what you are, you know. My love. Spending all this time together over the past few weeks has only confirmed that for me. I was pretty sure of it back before I suggested putting things on hold and I became more certain of it over the time we were apart. I missed the other guys, sure, but nothing like the way I missed you. I thought I was making things easier by calling a time out on our relationship, but all I really did was leave us both with the loneliness and emptiness *all* the time instead of just when circumstances forced us apart." Drawing a deep breath, Heero admitted, "I fucked up and we both spent five long, productive, but generally pretty damn miserable, years alone as a result." As Duo's arms tightened around him convulsively and a choked noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob reached his ears, Heero moved them over to the bed he hadn't used since that first night there. Propping himself up against the headboard, he pulled Duo against him, rubbing his back soothingly. "I'm sorry, love, so sorry," he murmured softly. "I love you and I promise neither of us will have to be alone again. We'll talk to Une, get her to take us off the undercover work the way I should have done earlier. Five years ago she might have had a hard time covering those assignments without us, but there's been more than enough other qualified agents to handle them for some time now. I think we've earned our chance to enjoy peace by now; we don't always have to be the ones in the front lines." "Support staff sounds good to me," Duo responded
in a choked voice. Lifting a still-dry face from Heero's chest, he
kissed Heero fervently before pulling back to tell him, "I love
you too. Have since long before you ever made that request. Agreein'
to it just about tore me apart, but I knew pushin' you into something
you weren't ready for would just lead to even more pain in the long
run. That's why I kept waitin' for you to make the first move towards
resuming our relationship - I didn't want my own impulsiveness and
impatience Gently cupping one hand along the curve of Duo's jaw,
Heero regretfully repeated, "I'm sorry. You seemed to be suggesting
'best friend' activities and I could only handle a couple of those
before I started wanting more... And since you seemed to be doing
okay with the way things were and I expected you to give me some sort
of obvious sign if you wanted more, I'd refuse the next few invitations
to give myself time to wrestle my emotions back under control again.
Face it, love, I'm a completely clueless baka where social situations
are concerned. If there was some way I could just magically make myself
better at picking up hints, I'd do it in a heartbeat. All those little
subtleties of social interaction just slip right by me and most "Promise," Duo swore fervently.
Reluctantly, Zechs replied, "I know. If there was one thing I would never have believed would happen during this enforced vacation, *this*," he pressed a quick kiss to Wufei's lips, "would be it. We've always struck sparks off each other, I guess we were just never in a situation that let us discover the real nature of those sparks. And I've done nothing but fight against my sexual preferences over the years since I first discovered them. As the last male Peacecraft, it was my duty to continue the Peacecraft line, or so tradition said." "You think *you* have pressure that way - I'm the
last of the Dragon *clan*, something Master O mentions virtually every
time he sees me," Wufei reminded him. "It's only been recently
that I finally decided no amount of rationalization that I was 'carrying
on tradition' could make up for a loveless, passionless marriage.
So up until a year or so ago, I wouldn't have even been willing to
admit to the *possibility* of, as you so succinctly put it, *this*,"
he concluded as he pulled the other man's face down to his for a deeper
kiss than "So - get Une to transfer you to Relena's security staff for a while and see where all this leads us?" the tall blond asked when they finally parted. "I think that would be the wisest move, yes."
Heading off to pass the plan on to Quatre while Duo went off to relay it to Wufei, Trowa allowed a very, very tiny smirk to creep across his face. This was going to be fun. How very convenient that it had finally started snowing two days ago and hadn't stopped since. And that it was absolutely *perfect* packing snow...
"I think we're about to be ambushed," Sally answered, flicking a quick glance back at the car and debating which direction to run. "What?" Une asked. The snowball that splatted against her shoulder just as she spoke answered that question quite neatly. Shrieking with laughter, Relena and Dorothy popped up
from behind some bushes and flung a barrage of snowballs at the three
older women before turning and running under the covering fire provided
by Zechs "I hope you all realize that this means *war*,"
Sally mock-threatened, shaking her fist dramatically. The effect of
her speech was somewhat ruined by the slushy snowball that struck
her waving hand with perfect Ducking and running for cover from the fresh barrage
of snowballs pelting down from the roof , the three women exchanged
happy smiles. Obviously, this vacation had done wonders for the eight
young adults
'But what if I don't *want* to know the answer,' Duo
thought silently. 'What if I'm afraid that I already *know* the answer
and I just don't want you to confirm it and end any hope of us ever
being more than "Duo..." Heero insisted. "Tell me." Turning his head away from Heero, Duo started hesitantly,
"I... I need..." Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes
in a silent plea that he was wrong, Duo said in one long rush of words,
"I need to know why you've never made love to me. Is it that
you don't desire me in particular, or have you realized that you aren't
really attracted to guys after all? Is that why you never offer to
go beyond kissing and cuddling, or is there some other reason?"
'Please, please, let there be some other reason... I don't know what
the hell it could possibly "*WHAT?!*" Horrified, Heero dropped the brush and scrambled around to kneel facing Duo. "Duo! Why the hell would you think something like that?! Duo, I... Open your eyes and *look* at me, love!" As Duo reluctantly lifted his lashes to meet Heero's eyes, he fought to hold back the tears welling up behind them. 'I will *not* cry, no matter what he says, I will *not* cry,' he swore silently. 'Oh *shit*, too late...' Gently wiping away the damp trail trickling down Duo's
cheek with a shaking hand, Heero swore, "Dammit, I've fucked
up *again*. Duo, love, I'm sorry you thought that. I..." Pausing,
Heero shook his head. "Duo, I didn't intend to mention this till
early on the day of Christmas Eve. I wanted to surprise you. I talked
to Relena and Dorothy and they said it would be okay with them if
it was a *double* wedding. I'd assumed, based on your background at
the church and the fact that you still wore *this*..." Reaching
under Duo's chin, he snagged the chain around his neck and pulled
the cross out in view before continuing, "...that you would probably
prefer to wait till our wedding night to make love for the first time.
I thought I was being Flinging himself into Heero's arms, Duo let the tears of relief pour down his cheeks. "It was just... after all the delays... I thought..." he tried to explain. Holding him close, Heero reassured him, "It's okay, I can see why you were worried." Trying to lighten the mood, he continued in a half-playful tone, "I never realized it before, but while I've told you how much I love your sense of humour and your intelligence, how much I value your friendship and your loyalty, I've never told you how heartbreakingly gorgeous you are, how breathtakingly beautiful you look with your hair down, how devastatingly sexy..." Heero's list was abruptly cut off as Duo captured his mouth in a passionate kiss. While Duo wasn't about to spoil Heero's romantic gesture now that he knew what was going on, there were plenty of other things that they could do between now and Christmas Eve... Later, lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, Heero
stroked his hand gently through the still-damp chestnut tresses spilling
over his unbuttoned shirt. He dropped a tender kiss on the top of
Duo's head, provoking a tiny, sleepy murmur and a wriggle to snuggle
closer. 'God, Duo, I'm so, so sorry,' he thought. 'What have I done
to my confident, irrepressible Shinigami? If I'd just set a time limit
when I made that idiotic request five years ago, we wouldn't be in
this mess now. You'd have been waiting for me on the day the time
limit
"You never know, it could be for the *other* pair," Sally responded semi-seriously. "Don't even joke about that," Une said, shaking her head. "Those two are almost definitely going to have a very bumpy relationship for the foreseeable future. They're both extremely headstrong and opinionated; just learning to get through the day without squabbling continually is going to take a major effort. I can't imagine *either* of them being foolish enough to make such a serious commitment just yet." "And that would be a very correct assumption," Zechs said, greeting the guests as they entered the mansion. "Merry Christmas, Une, Sally." Pointing to the ever-present mistletoe in explanation, he gave each of the women a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "G and J arrived earlier along with Howard. I think Duo was a little bit nervous about having invited J without telling Heero until they were getting out of the car, but other than a raised eyebrow Heero didn't say a thing. He just accompanied Duo to the door and greeted them all quite politely. The two of you were the last to arrive, so since everyone is here now, the ceremony will be beginning very shortly."
Having been thoroughly lectured by first Howard, then G, on his responsibility to make Duo - referred to by each as simply 'my boy' - happy, Heero had to wonder exactly what J was busy discussing with Duo, who was listening with a very serious look on his face. "Look after him, Duo," J said earnestly. "You're good for him - you broke through that detached shell created by the damn training and taught him to care, to make friends, to love. I made a lot of mistakes raising him, but he's the closest thing to family I've got. G and the others told me at the start that treating a child as a science experiment was a mistake, but I was so determined to create the 'Perfect Soldier', a weapon capable of finally winning justice for the colonies, that I wouldn't listen. By the time I realized that compact bundle of power and determination had worked his way into my cold, bitter heart, it was too late. I'd already permanently destroyed any chance of him seeing me as anything more than a mentor at best, and a cold, manipulative, calculating bastard at worst." Shaking his head slightly, Duo told the old scientist,
"It's not the training that he can't forgive and forget. If anything,
he's grateful that the abilities you taught him got him through the
war in one piece. The problem is what he sees as your total detachment
in ordering your 'weapon' to self-destruct. He can't reconcile that
with J sighed, slumping. "His previous capture - that time that you broke him out of the hospital - led me to believe that if he was caught again, he really *would* be treated as a science experiment once they finished trying to get information out of him. I knew there was very little chance of them getting anything out of him - not that any of you really had any information beyond your own immediate mission anyway - and suspected that, particularly since he was known to be the one that shot down that shuttle, death would be preferable to whatever they had in mind for him. It was far from an easy decision to make and I've questioned it many times over the years. I was overjoyed to find out that he had survived *and* remained free, though I suspect he would believe it was only because my 'weapon' had exceeded expectations..." "No, not now that I know what your reasoning was," Heero spoke up from behind J. He reached out to steady the startled old man as he tried to whirl around only to be betrayed by the inflexibility of his prosthetic leg. "Heero!" J exclaimed in surprise. Studying the scientist for a moment, Heero inclined his head slightly. "Perhaps you would like to join Duo and I for dinner from time to time," he offered. More than that, he wasn't prepared to give just yet, but he was willing to give J a chance to prove the truth of his words. Caught by surprise, J managed to reply, "Yes, I would enjoy that." An awkward silence fell for a few moments. "We'll give you a call in a few weeks, then," Duo contributed in response to the uncertain, questioning glance Heero directed his way. Heero gave him a small smile of gratitude before holding out his hand and saying, "I believe our ride is waiting, love."
"Cold?" Heero asked, concerned. "Y-y-yes," Duo responded, teeth chattering. Pulling Duo completely onto his lap in the tight confines of the sleigh without letting any cold air sneak in under the blankets was a bit tricky, but Heero managed. Wrapping his arms around his spouseand holding him tightly to his chest in an attempt to share his own body-heat, he called to the driver, "Are we almost there?" "Another five minutes or so," came the response. Wishing that he'd thought of Duo's sensitivity to extreme
cold when Dorothy suggested the romantic sounding sleigh ride, Heero
asked softly, "Would it be better if we got out and walked? There'd
be less "N-no, n-not d-dressed w-warm enough. N-not w-waterproof b-boots." 'Damn. And here we have fuck-up number what? I'm losing track, I'm screwing up so often. I hope the damn cabin has a jacuzzi so I can get him warmed back up again...' When they finally came to a stop in front of the cabin a few minutes later, Heero lifted Duo off his lap, jumped down from the sleigh, then turned and lifted his shivering companion into his arms and quickly carried him into the cabin. Ignoring everything else, he headed straight for the bathroom, spotting the filled and steaming jacuzzi with relief. "Better now?" Heero asked several minutes later, holding his no-longer-shivering spouse against his side as they sat in the warm tub. "Much," Duo sighed, leaning his head back against the edge of the tub. "Sorry. Again," Heero said, thoroughly disgusted with himself. "I never even thought..." Twisting around, Duo pressed his fingers to Heero's lips, "Stop it. It's not your fault. I didn't dress warmly enough. Relena warned me that riding in a sleigh was colder than just walking around outside. I underestimated just how *much* colder it would be. And if I'd admitted my error sooner, we could have turned around and went back before I got so chilled." Resting his hands on Heero's shoulders, Duo drew himself
around to half-float facing him. "Heero, everything that goes
wrong *isn't* your fault. I make my share of mistakes too. If I'd
been more honest Pushing himself away from Heero, Duo stood and climbed out of the jacuzzi. Unfastening his braid, he shook his hair loose to hang around him in waves before bending to offer Heero his hand. "Just in case I'm being too subtle now," he whispered huskily, "I do believe that you promised to show me just how much you wanted me on our wedding night. Well, this is our wedding night - so what are you waiting for? Make love to me, Heero." The water was still sloshing wildly in the jacuzzi, waves splattering over the edge of it, as Duo's startled laughter at being flung over Heero's shoulder, carried through to the bedroom, and tossed onto the bed was replaced by murmurs of growing passion.
"No, don't blame it on the water," Rashid
told her, materializing at her side with surprising quietness for
such a large man. "Blame it on the mistletoe." As the countdown
reached zero and couples kissed to start the New Year off right, Rashid
pointed above her head and reminded her, "Mistletoe," before
bending to press a kiss to her startled mouth. Relaxing into a warm
kiss from a man she had spoken with at length every day for the past
month, and not just about his eight young charges, Iria had to agree,
'It must have been the OWARI ################################################# Lyrics to "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe" It must have been the mistletoe
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