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X'mas AC198 Part VIII
~ A Moment of Haven ~
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	"What do you think is better for me, coffee or soda?"

	Heero had never considered it wise to limit himself to only a 
few options when he didn't have to.  "Tea."

	Quatre's nose wrinkled as he handed Heero the milk.  "Oh, I 
drink plenty of tea already.  But sometimes you need something with just 
a little more kick."

	"You're having hot cocoa right now, though, right?" Heero asked 
in confirmation before pouring the milk into the saucepan already on the 
stovetop.  Once he received Quatre's nod, he went ahead and poured 
enough for two.  "...I think you've been working too hard, Quatre."

	"What?"  The water from the sink shut off with a thump of pipes 
as Quatre pushed the lever home.  "I was just asking, Heero."

	According to Duo, it wasn't the first time he had 'just asked' 
something.  "I suppose it's better than stim pills."

	"If I worked too hard, I wouldn't be here on vacation," Quatre 
continued explaining, setting the water to boil on the other side of the 
range before going back to the other side of the island and perching on 
what had become his favorite stool.  "This is like my present to 
myself."

	"Vacation shouldn't have to be a present."

	Quatre let out a wry sound.  "Uh, yeah, I'm not going to take 
advice about not working too hard when it comes from you, Heero."

	His lips cracked in a small smile.  "Hn.  Point taken."  But 
times had changed.  Or else he wouldn't be standing in front of a cook 
top in a vacation home making hot cocoa for his whatever-Duo-was and his 
friend.

	"So what did you give Duo for Christmas?"

	"I beg your pardon?"  Knowing that watched milk never simmered, 
Heero had taken up the canister of cocoa and was reading the facts off 
the back.

	"Or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate," Quatre expanded, 
waving his hand in the air vaguely.  "I've been fond of 'End-of-War 
Day', myself."

	"I've noticed.  It's a good day."

	"Yeah.  Little cumbersome, though.  Ee-ow Day?"

	He snorted.  "That makes it International 
I've-Just-Stubbed-My-Toe Day."

	"Hm."  Life with Duo had improved Yuy's humor, it seemed.  "See, 
that's why, regardless of the Christmasness, calling it Christmas is 
just convenient.  So did you get him anything?"

	"It's a good day.  Not a gift day."  He would give presents if 
and when he pleased.  He would most certainly not be bound by tradition 
or commercialism, or even a curious friend.

	Quatre smirked.  "Or did you just get him something you can't 
talk about?"

	He didn't know if telling the others about his and Duo's 
relationship was a good thing or a bad thing, but it at least made life 
more interesting.  "As you've observed, Quatre, the war has ended.  
There aren't many more of the 'if I tell you, I'll have to kill you' 
situations."

	"You're being uncooperative, Heero."

	He was just getting the obvious out of the way.  Now that he had 
run out of ways to divert the topic of conversation, he shrugged.  "I 
didn't get him anything."

	"How irresponsible of you."

	"He didn't get me anything, either."

	Two wrongs did not make a right.  "What kind of a couple are 
you?"  The tone was part chiding, part amused, and part... something.

	"Don't worry," Heero assured him.  "We didn't get you anything, 
either."

	No one had gotten anyone anything, really, except maybe a 
souvenir or two, so it was hardly a thing of note.  "But you two are 
together."

	Heero kept a soft sigh to himself.  Maybe there was a reason 
they hadn't yet applied a label to their relationship.  "You shouldn't 
assume too much, just because we're together."

	"But people do that sort of thing."

	"Do we look like people to you?"  He had his eyebrow tilted in 
inquiry already and everything before he realized the slight weakness in 
the question.  "...In the sense that you intended, that is."

	He had to go and amend his statement, cutting off the easy 
kills.  No fun at all.  Quatre slipped off his bar stool to find the tea 
leaves, measuring them into the tea pot as he pondered the matter in his 
head.  He finally came up with the direction that just maybe he wanted 
to go by the time he was sitting down again.  "Is that okay with you?"

	"What?"  Heero reviewed the content of their previous 
conversation before puzzling it out.  "That we aren't like other people?  
Maybe it was a... passing regret to begin with.  But I think we've come 
to terms with the facts.  We are who we are.  I, for one, wouldn't have 
it any other way."  He'd had a lot of time to think about it, and he 
always came to the same conclusion.  He was about to reciprocate the 
question when Duo came sauntering into the kitchen.

	"Where's my hot chocolate?"  Duo poked him in the back and 
peered over his shoulder.

	"Right where you'd expect it to be," Heero answered blandly, 
stirring the mixture.

	Duo stuck his finger into the confines of the pot, stopping 
short of actually touching the liquid.  "It's not hot."

	"It's not chocolate, either."

	"Do people really make real hot chocolate?  Like, I don't know 
what that'd be, melted chocolate?  Gourmet hot chocolate?"  He looked 
over to Quatre, expecting him to know the answer.

	Quatre answered amiably enough.  "Yeah, people make it with real 
chocolate in some places.  There's this famous place in Brussels.  You 
should drop by some time."

	"Brussels?  Geez, what have I been doing in that city all this 
time?"

	"Hanging out at Headquarters," Heero reminded him.

	"Oh, yeah."  He made a face.  "We've got to get out a little 
more next time.  Find this magic hot chocolate."

	"I don't remember Quatre saying anything about magic."

	Duo took advantage of the fact that they were on the other side 
of the counter from Quatre and rubbed his foot along Heero's calf.  
"Hey, the whole season's magical, ain't it?"

	Well, since he brought it up, Quatre used the opening, leaning 
intently over the counter to study the two of them.  "Duo, did you get 
Heero anything for the holiday gift-giving season?"

	"Huh?"  He glanced sidelong at Heero to see if there was 
anything loaded about the question, but when Heero did no more than 
simply acknowledge the look, Duo took that to mean he was free to answer 
as he pleased.  He made some stalling sounds while he racked his mind 
for a good answer.  "Um.  Ooh, I got him fire."

	"Fire?"  Not exactly what Quatre had expected to hear, but then, 
they had all pretty much admitted that the lot of them were far from 
normal.

	"Yeah, fire," Duo continued enthusiastically, now that he had 
warmed up to his topic.  His glee led him to sneaking a hand onto 
Heero's hip.  He gestured with his other hand.  "Like, um, whatshisname.  
Prometheus?  Stealing fire from the heavens to give to man?  Good 
stuff."

	"Prometheus was bound for doing that," Quatre pointed out.  
"Chained naked to a rock."

	"Ooh, kinky."  He grinned, letting his hidden hand glide south.

	Trowa wandered in, hearing the tail end of their conversation.  
"And had his liver gnawed on every day by a giant eagle."

	Duo's hand paused as he reconsidered.  Fortunately, the entrance 
to the kitchen was also on the other side of the island.  "Oh.  Not so 
kinky, then."

	"Yeah."  Quatre rested his chin on his fist as he thought back 
to his old tutored classes.  The more sophisticated education he had 
received had long taken a back seat to the technical knowledge he had 
acquired, and even that became subordinate to the knowledge and 
experience he used every day.  "I think he got saved by Hercules or 
someone, though."

	"Oh?"  Duo bumped his hip against Heero's.  "Wanna be my 
Hercules?" he asked teasingly, squeezing Heero's bicep.

	Heero bumped back.  "No.  Hercules was not a very smart man."

	"Really?"  He'd been about to wonder, then, how it was the 
legendary hero had become so legendary, with so many feats tucked 
beneath his belt, but then he remembered that history had shown a lot of 
stupid men making legends, for better or for worse.  Usually worse.

	"Brawn over brains."  Heero's tone of voice expressed blatant 
disapproval.  "I'd rather not, thank you."

	"But who'll save me from the big scary eagle?"  He blinked once 
or twice at Heero, but then decided this batting of the eyelashes thing 
was really far too much work, so he stopped before anyone noticed.

	"How about you don't get yourself chained to a rock to begin 
with?"  That was, after all, one of those things he admired about Duo.  
Or perhaps it was his ability to get himself free after being chained.

	"What, you don't want fire, babe?"  Dammit, he used that 
wretched moniker again, and in the company of others.  But he was just 
joking around, right?

	Heero tapped their ankles together, and the whistling of the 
kettle masked his murmured words.  "Already got it."

	Duo smiled with a bit of little smug contentment.  "Mm, that you 
do."

	Trowa dislodged himself from his former position of leaning 
against the counter to turn off the kettle, contemplating the words he 
had just read upon their lips.  "You'd make a better Epimetheus, 
anyway," he declared in the end, bringing the kettle to join the teapot.

	"Who's Epimetheus?" Duo asked, his hands now safely stowed away 
from Heero's person after Trowa had approached their side of the 
counter.  He added an aside to his partner.  "And why do I get the 
feeling that he just insulted me?"

	"Don't worry about it," Heero responded, handing him the spoon 
and stepping away.

	Duo obediently took over stirring the cocoa-ed milk before he 
bristled at the implications.  "He *did* just insult me!  Heero!"

	"Don't worry about it."  Heero's expression wavered between 
amused and soothing before he turned away to fetch some mugs from the 
cupboards.  "...Hey, does that make me Pandora?  I don't want to be 
Pandora."

	"She was a beautiful woman, Heero," Trowa answered with a 
straight face.  "Irresistable."

	"Who brought suffering and sin to mankind.  Let's not forget 
that part."

	"She brought hope, too."  They started toting their gathered 
loot into the den.

	"Hey," Duo called after Heero, still stirring.  "Weren't you 
making me my hot chocolate?"

	Heero answered without breaking stride.  "You two are the ones 
drinking the hot chocolate.  You can finish it yourselves."  He 
forestalled further complaint by bringing up the issue of Pandora again 
with Trowa as they disappeared from sight with their tea.

	Duo pouted on general principle.  Their drinks would be done 
soon, but it just wasn't the same, not having it magically materialize 
in his hand, all melty and hot and done.  Oh well, he could probably get 
Heero to make it up to him later.  "Get me some cups, yeah?"

	Quatre shuffled off to do his bidding.  "Why do these guys know 
so much about mythology, anyway?"

	"I dunno.  Heero fed me some line about crazy scientists and 
top-secret projects, once.  You brought it up with the chaining to a 
rock thing.  Why do you know that?"

	He returned, cups in hand, sliding them over to Duo's side.  
"There's at least one famous painting on the matter.  And you brought it 
up with the Prometheus thing."

	Duo considered Prometheus to be common knowledge, and thus not 
snooty or over-educated at all.  "Any paintings on this Epimetheus guy?"

	"Not that I know of.  I think he was Prometheus' brother, maybe?  
Don't know why you'd make a better one, though."

	"Okay, I'm so kicking his ass at whatever game Wufei chooses."  
Wufei wasn't particularly knowledgeable about video games, but he was no 
worse off than the rest of them.  After a few rounds of rock, paper, 
scissors, it had been decided that he be the one to select the first 
game from the modest gaming library.

	"No matter what game it is?"

	He turned off the flame with self-righteous resolve.  "No 
matter."

	"You still don't like Trowa that much, do you?"

	The question had been mild, with a bit of wryness, keeping Duo 
from outright defensiveness, although it did leave him with a 
contemplative aftertaste as he poured the hot chocolate out into the two 
mugs.  "Hm.  Yeah, it's kind of weird, isn't it?  I mean, all things 
considered, he's not that different from Heero, casual-interaction-wise.  
Maybe it's just exposure.  I didn't much like Heero at first, either, or 
even get what his whole vibe was for quite a while, so maybe it's not so 
weird that I still don't get Trowa."

	"So if you spent more time with Trowa, would you want to sleep 
with him, too?"

	He returned the pot quite audibly to its burner on the range.  
"Shit, I don't know if that's a joke, or just insulting, or scary, or 
what."

	Quatre lifted a hand and waved it in his defense, warding off 
misunderstanding.  "I didn't mean it negatively."

	Duo frowned anyway.  "So how did you mean it?"

	"I don't know.  It just came to mind, so I said it."  It had 
been intended as an offhand remark, an amused observation, a clever 
parallel, and not at all as a serious rhetorical or non-rhetorical 
question.

	"I don't dig Heero just because he's there, you know."  Because 
the spoon happened to be in his hand, he gestured firmly at Quatre with 
it.  "That'd be kind of icky."

	"Well, yeah, I don't think you guys are that, I don't know.  
What do you call it these days?  Loose?  Desperate?"

	"Gee.  Thanks."  With a huff of annoyance, Duo took the emptied 
pot over to the sink.

	Quatre turned in his seat to watch his progress.  "What, didn't 
need saying?"

	"Uh, no.  Didn't need saying, thanks."  Duo used the spray 
attachment to wash out the pot, using the sound of the splashing water 
as cover for a mutter.  "Sheesh, a guy scores, and suddenly he's a 
sleazeball or something."

	"Hey, I said you weren't," Quatre was quick to remind him.

	Duo let the pot drop the final centimeter into the bottom of the 
sink and turned back to his conversational partner.  "Well, say what you 
want about me, but you know Heero's not that kind of guy.  Unless you're 
trying to say I'm taking advantage of him or something."

	"Whoa, cool down, Duo."  Quatre waved both his hands this time 
in a warding gesture.  "I said you weren't, remember?"

	His jaw worked for a few seconds while he gathered up his ire 
and squished it into a tight, compact package for convenient 
portability.  He let it shine for one final moment before tucking it 
away into his pocket for later.  "No.  I wouldn't sleep with Trowa.  Or 
you, for that matter."  That said, he took up his mug and made his way 
back to the others without waiting for Quatre.

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

	"So... who's Epimetheus?"

	Somehow, Heero had been waiting for that question.  He took his 
time settling into a comfortable position under the covers before 
answering.  "Prometheus' brother."

	"Yeah, I figured that part out," Duo said impatiently, wriggling 
close enough to Heero's side to harass him as necessary.  "That ain't 
why Trowa brought him up, though."  Well, it was more preemptive now 
than necessary, but he poked Heero's belly several times to prod an 
answer out of him.

	Heero caught the attacking hand and held it down against his 
body.  "'Prometheus' is derived from 'foresight', 'Epimetheus' from 
'hindsight'."

	Duo blinked in the darkness as he processed the definitions.  
"So he *was* insulting me!"

	"Not very much."

	"Oh, I am so not sleeping with him."

	"Excuse me?"  There hadn't even been a stunned silence before 
the question.  Heero's response had been immediate.

	Denied more poking, Duo used his trapped hand to rub circles 
instead.  "Never mind."

	"Never mind?"  Certain that he could find another comfortable 
position later, Heero rolled them over and assumed a demanding position 
above Duo.  "I'm not just 'never mind'ing something like that."

	Duo grinned, enjoying the way he could sense Heero's proximity 
through the heat in the air.  "Ooh, possessive all of a sudden, aren't 
we?"

	"There's no 'all of a sudden' about it."  His words were firm, 
but his kiss was loving and playful.

	"You're certainly one of a kind, aren't you, Yuy?" Duo chuckled, 
sliding a hand along the toned body above his until he found Heero's 
cheek.

	Heero nuzzled his hand.  "That's one way to put it."

	Duo sighed softly.  "And me?  I'm unique, too?"

	"Very."  It was only as an afterthought that he considered that 
maybe there had been some sort of undertone to that question.

	"I'm the only one that could be me, right?"

	"Absolutely."  The hesitation following the word drove him to 
find an example that would add substance to his answer.  "I don't think 
anyone else would pull me behind a potted plant like you did, just for 
the pure amusement of it."

	Duo stifled a small laugh, recalling their interaction just 
minutes before, on their way to the bathroom to brush their teeth before 
bed.  He'd noticed the fake palm in the corner of the hallway before, 
but he'd never seen the wondrously humorous potential for hiding behind 
it; that its sparse foliage provided practically non-existent cover made 
the cliché just that much more amusing.  And the kisses, of course, made 
it just that much more delicious.  "And you like that?"

	"Potted plants?  Not so much.  One of those leaves kept poking 
me and molesting my hair."

	"Hey."  He pouted, running his fingers through the locks in 
question.  "My hair.  My your-hair.  Mine to molest."

	"The completely random molestation, though -- by you, not the 
plant?  I wouldn't have it any other way."

	"Mine," he repeated happily, still playing with that which he 
claimed.  "Though you may need a trim, soon.  Otherwise it's going to 
start getting in your eyes and before you know it, it'll be all 
funny-looking and unbalanced and weird and that wouldn't be any good at 
all."

	It took a moment, but the description finally registered.  
"So... why are you not sleeping with Trowa?"

	Duo used his conveniently placed hand to pull Heero in close 
enough to whisper into his ear.  "Because I love *you*."

	The words caught Heero off guard for a moment.  It was unlike 
Duo to make such a declaration out of the blue, but he wasn't about to 
complain.  "Oh.  Well, in that case, I'm not going to sleep with Trowa, 
either."

	"Good."  Duo used his hand to guide Heero's head once more, this 
time bringing their lips together in a repeat of the slow kisses shared 
behind one cheerfully voyeuristic potted palm.



_________________________________________
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last modified : 5/14/2006 02:24:40 PST