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X'mas AC198 Part XVIII
 ~ A Moment of Haven ~
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	Heero eyed the small bonfire in the middle of the clearing with 
a critical glance.  After it passed muster, he continued his journey, 
setting his burden down upon the picnic table near the firepit.  "I 
think you'll need these."

	Duo tore his eyes away from the dancing flames long enough to 
take in the offering.  Pleased, he sidled up to his boyfriend's side.  
"Ooh, yay, you always know what I want, baby."

	"I think it was rather obvious in this case."  Heero's dry tone 
shifted to a frown.  "You're not wearing your jacket."

	"There's fire, Heero," he pointed out with a small roll of his 
eyes.  "I'll be fine."

	"Hm."  The neutral sound implied acknowledgment, but not 
agreement.

	He caught sight of Relena smirking at him.  "Stop that."

	"I'm not the only one," she responded in a smug, sing-song tone.

	Heero ignored their byplay to straighten things out on the 
tabletop.  "I assumed you would need these skewers since they were next 
to the rest of the items.  Should I have left them soaking?"

	"No, that's fine," Relena answered, moving from the fire to 
inspect the ingredients.  It looked like Heero brought everything they 
needed.  "I'm afraid I couldn't see any longer ones at the store, and I 
didn't feel like trying too hard to find anything better to use, but I'm 
guessing that none of you are scared of a little fire."

	Duo snorted.  "Bring it on!"

	Heero nudged him with an elbow.  "Who's the pyro, again?"

	"I don't know what you're talking about.  Quatre started the 
fire."

	From the other side of the fire, Quatre beamed.  "And isn't it a 
lovely little thing?"

	Heero went with another bland response.   "Hm."

	"I don't know why you're calling me the pyro," Duo pouted, 
flapping his hand in the direction of the two that had accompanied Heero 
outside.  "Wufei here was the guy torching stuff all the time, wasn't 
he?"

	The pilot in question raised an eyebrow at him.  "Excuse me?  
When was this?"

	"Uh, napalm ring a bell?"

	"I'm sure you did your own fair share of ignition."

	Heero pulled the stack of ingredients farther from the heat.

	"No, that's fine, Heero," Relena said.  "We'll be melting them 
anyway."

	The promise of things to come brought Duo back to the 
discussion.  "So how does this work again?"

	"Melted chocolate and a melted marshmallow between two graham 
crackers.  However you want to melt those two is up to you.  Typically, 
you toast your marshmallow on a skewer with the fire, and then hope it 
melts the chocolate when you put it all together."

	"Doesn't the marshmallow start dripping or something?"

	"No, it holds its shape pretty well.  Oh, just try it.  We've a 
whole bagful of them."  The market had been well-stocked with 
s'more-making in mind.

	Duo opened the bag and pulled one out.  "People eat these things 
plain, don't they?"

	"Sure.  They have mini-marshmallows, too.  You can put them in 
your hot chocolate, for instance."

	"It's sticky," he announced with a grin, playing with his 
marshmallow.  He squished it lightly between his fingers and watched it 
reinflate.

	Heero watched the proceedings from a different point of view.  
"What is that made out of?"

	Across the table, Wufei also watched the torture of the white 
puffball skeptically.  "Do you really want to know?"

	"If I'm about to consume it?  Yes."

	"Brave man," Trowa murmured.

	Clearly, there was only one way to find out.  Heero picked up 
the bag of marshmallows and started to read the nutritional facts off 
the back.

	"Stop that," Relena scolded him.

	He didn't.  "Why?"

	"You're taking all the fun out of it."

	"Do you know how many calories--"

	"No, and I don't want to know."  How often did she get to make 
s'mores, anyway?  Her figure could handle a one-time indulgence.  All in 
the name of nostalgia, of course.  That was a powerful force.

	"The amount of sugar in--"

	"Stop it.  Duo, make him stop."

	Duo paused in the act of poking and prodding his marshmallow 
with a skewer.  "Why me?"

	"He's yours, isn't he?"

	"He's..."  The idea startled him, for some reason.  "Heero, are 
you mine?"

	That succeeded in making Heero put the bag down slowly as he 
mulled it over.  'Yes' would mean ceding to Relena.  'No' was 
unacceptable.  "...I reserve the right not to answer that question at 
this time."

	"Smart man," Trowa murmured.

	Quatre had decided to take the lead, sneaking in while the 
others were occupied to skewer a marshmallow without difficulty.  Having 
installed himself back in his place at the fire, he felt the need to 
inquire into the next step.  "Is this thing supposed to be warmed, or 
toasted?"

	Relena kept her glare on Heero for two more seconds before she 
took up her s'more leader duties once again.  "It's up to you, really.  
Some people like burnt marshmallows."

	"That can't be good for you," Heero noted.

	"Duo!"

	"What?" he demanded, irritable now that his marshmallow had been 
impaled crookedly.  People couldn't just go around shouting his name 
like that.  "Hey, you can't make me take responsibility for him."

	Heero perked up.  "Ooh, me, too, then, right?"

	Relena looked blankly at him.  "What?"

	"People always seem to want me to take responsibility for him, 
too.  If he gets out of it, I can get out of it, too, right?"

	That didn't seem quite as fun to Duo, but he could be 
magnanimous once in a while.  Seemed only fair and balanced, he 
supposed.  "Yeah, 'cuz I really don't remember signing up for that."

	Wufei made a wry sound.  "He's been your responsibility since we 
were put in that high school together."

	"I definitely didn't sign up for that," Heero remarked.

	"Maybe you should stop taking responsibility for him, then."

	Quatre yelped.  "Graham cracker!  Graham cracker!"

	Trowa calmly opened the box and pulled one out while Quatre was 
busily engaged with rotating his marshmallow around and around in an 
effort to prevent it from dropping off his stick.  Judging the 
situation, Trowa decided to be kind and crack it in half for him as well 
before handing it over.

	He took it gratefully and plopped the gooey mess down, saving it 
from a fiery death.  "I thought you said these things hold their shape," 
he chided Relena sternly.

	"They usually do," she answered, looking puzzled.  "In my 
experience, anyway.  How did you do that?"

	"Uh... with expert skill!"

	Duo took that as a challenge.  "Hm.  Well, let's see what kind 
of mad skills I've got.  What's taking you all so long to get started?"

	Heero nudged an elbow into his ribs as he took his place to 
Duo's right.  "You can't say that to us when you started just two 
seconds ago."

	"Why not?"

	"How well do you think chocolate holds its shape?" Quatre mused, 
studying his s'more construction.  "Because I don't think the 
marshmallow is going to melt it on its own."

	Trowa twirled his marshmallow masterfully.  "How well do you 
think you could stick a skewer through a block of chocolate?"

	"It seems like a lot of chocolate, compared to the amount of 
marshmallow and graham cracker, don't you think?"

	"How well do you think you could slice a block of chocolate in 
half?"

	"You're knife-boy.  You tell me."

	"Whoa," Duo said, almost touching his marshmallow to the flames 
in surprise as he looked down at Heero's hand on his hip.  "Someone's 
cuddly tonight."

	Heero tightened the arm he had around Duo's waist briefly.  
"Just treasuring what I have," he murmured into his ear, just loud 
enough for Duo to hear over the whisper of the fire.

	"But, uh..."  Duo glanced over at Wufei.

	Wufei returned his glance casually before sliding his focus over 
to Heero and tilted his head slightly.

	Duo looked back and forth between the two of them before 
shrugging.  "Whatever.  Sorry, babe, gotta break for a cracker."  He 
smiled apologetically at Heero, handing Heero his skewer.  "Hold that 
for a sec?"

	He let Duo slip out of his light hold and took the skewer.  "One 
for me, too."

	"You got it."

	Quatre hummed loudly in contemplation before licking off his 
finger.  "Gooey.  But good."

	Relena crunched into hers daintily, which didn't work too well.  
She ended up no cleaner than Quatre did.  "Mmmmm.  Would I lead you 
astray?"

	"In or out of the Senate?"

	Trowa polished his s'more off.  "Did I do something wrong?  I'm 
not licking my fingers."

	Quatre jabbed his skewer in his direction before going in search 
of another marshmallow.  "Show off."

	"Sweet," was Heero's pronouncement after a single bite.

	Duo snorted.

	"I feel the need for milk.  Anyone?"  With his mouth still full 
of s'more, Wufei raised his hand.  Duo seconded the motion.  "Six it 
is."

	"You can't count, Yuy."

	"Milk does a body good."  He moved toward the kitchen, and Wufei 
followed to assist.  Heero stopped before getting very far, though, and 
returned for a few seconds to slide his jacket off and set it down over 
Duo's shoulders before going back to his self-appointed task.

	Duo stared at his retreating back before looking back at the 
others.  They each looked at him with varying degrees of amusement.  
"What?" he said defensively, reflexively tugging at the corner of the 
jacket that was in danger of falling off his shoulder.

	Each scrap of amusement increased by another degree, but no one 
was brave enough to comment aloud.

	In a few minutes, Heero and Wufei returned bearing six cups of 
milk.  Duo had a prepared chastisement for his other half, but Heero 
handed him his cup of milk and efficiently moved away to offer Trowa his 
cup.

	By the time Heero returned, Duo had lost the thread of his 
speech.  He settled for shrugging the jacket off and putting it back 
over Heero's shoulders, then sashaying away to arm himself with another 
marshmallow, and this time a graham cracker and chunk of chocolate as 
well.  When he got back to the fire, Heero put the jacket back on his 
shoulders.

	Duo sighed dramatically.  "How many more times are we going to 
do this?"

	Heero just suppressed a smile unsuccessfully and glided back to 
the table, out of reach.

	"I'm not the only one," Relena sang again softly.

	Duo glared at her and bided his time, toasting his marshmallow 
patiently as he waited for Heero to come back within range.  It was 
nicely browned and ready for some serious smooshing when he finally 
looked expectantly over his shoulder to find his errant partner sitting 
calmly on the edge of the tabletop, munching on a plain graham cracker.  
He frowned, put his s'more together quickly, and went over to confront.  
"You cheated."

	Heero shrugged.  "I'm done."

	"Just one?"

	He just waved his graham cracker.

	Well, he'd tried one, which was more than Duo might have 
expected, so he didn't push.  There were plenty of other battles to 
fight.  He held his s'more carefully between his teeth as he slipped the 
jacket off and tossed it into Heero's lap.

	Heero made no move to put it on.

	"Oh, great, now neither of us is going to put it on, is that it?  
If you're not going to stand next to the fire, then you have to put it 
on."

	There was some merit to the point.  He conceded and pulled it 
back on again.

	"Ha."  Duo turned away in triumph to go back to the fire, but 
Heero snagged him by the shoulder first and pulled him into a 
behind-the-back embrace.  "Whoa.  Really cuddly, tonight.  You still 
denying your pyro-hood?"

	"It's the company, not the fire," Heero said to him softly, 
running his eye over the others.  They had of course noticed their 
mini-drama, but no one seemed to mind.  They seemed to be enjoying 
themselves, actually.  "Now we're both wearing the jacket."

	"Um.  Sort of."  Heero warmed his back, and the fire was still 
close enough to warm his front, so he couldn't really play the warmth 
angle anymore.  He inspected the others as well, and saw nothing that 
looked uncomfortable in their expressions.  And Heero was making him far 
too comfortable to feel uncomfortable, so... he gave up to the 
inevitable and nibbled on his s'more before it got cold.

                              ************

	An untracked number of s'mores later, and it was time to turn in 
for the night.  They stared at each other across the flames and tried to 
will someone else into taking responsibility for putting the fire out.

	"Well, I can't do it," Relena announced.  "I couldn't possibly 
get my hands dirty."

	Quatre made a doubtful sound.  "You get your hands dirty every 
day you're at work."

	Wufei took pre-emptive action and volunteered to clean up the 
table.

	Duo tugged at Heero's arm, which still rested complacently 
around his waist.  "How can I sneak away if you won't let go?"

	Heero settled his chin more comfortably upon Duo's shoulder.

	"Come on, cooperate with me."

	Heero's hands moved up a little higher and reaffirmed their 
utter lack of desire to release him.

	"Hmm."  A moment's thought yielded the obvious answer.  He 
hooked his arms under Heero's knees and hefted.

	That sparked Heero's attention.  He shifted his grip 
automatically to compensate for the change in balance.  "Hey!"

	"Ha!" Duo crowed in triumph as he carried Heero away on his 
back.

	"No fair!" Quatre shouted after them.

	Heero had something else to protest.  "Put me down."

	"Nope!"  He hitched Heero a little bit higher.  "You're heavier 
than you look, babe."

	He'd thought Duo had already learned that lesson.  "No one told 
you to pick me up.  Put me down."

	"Not until we've made our getaway."

	Heero looked over his shoulder at the others, then faced forward 
again, leaning over Duo's head to attempt face-to-face contact.  "No 
one's chasing us."

	Duo turned them around to see for himself, just as Relena 
detached herself from the group and headed toward them.  "No one, huh?"  
He got them facing the right direction and headed back for the door.

	"The others are taking care of it," Heero responded, tapping his 
fingers against Duo's chest.  "Put me down."

	"Nope.  Open the door for me, would you?"

	Heero obediently opened the door, and took advantage of the 
movement to loosen Duo's hold on him a bit.  As Duo attempted to 
maneuver them carefully over the threshold, Heero reached up to the 
strong lintel over the door and held on.

	"Whoa, what?" Duo exclaimed as Heero slid his legs out from his 
arms.  "Hey!"

	Heero set himself back on the ground with a smirk.  "I said, put 
me down."

	Duo studied him for a moment before striking quickly, attempting 
to get a grip on his partner again.  Relena hustled out of the way 
quickly as they tussled, gasping in surprise.

	"Don't mind them," Quatre called out to her.  "They do this all 
the time."

	She looked over to the fire, and then back again, and suddenly, 
Duo was being carried over Heero's shoulder.

	"Hey!" he protested.  But then he found an advantage to the 
situation, winked at Relena, and slapped Heero's butt.

	Heero swatted at Duo's butt in return and kept on moving.



_________________________________________
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last modified : 1/6/2007 17:53:00 PST