Author: Merula
Pairings: 1x2
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Heero's POV, Christmas
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.
Getting into the Spirit of Things
Duo was looking mournfully out the window when I got home. He barely responded to my greeting, and when I went to place a kiss on his cheek, he didn't smile like he usually did.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Heero- it's what? Two days til Christmas? And it's like 70 degrees out there."
"What were you expecting? Snow?"
He sighed. "Not exactly. I mean, when I moved out here I knew it was warm all year... but it's Christmas time! It should at least be cold! I... It's just not Christmassy..."
He put his head against the glass and sighed again. I frowned. When Duo and I had finally decided to get serious about our relationship and he'd moved out here, I had promised myself that he wasn't going to regret it.
How could I fix this?
I reached out and pulled him to his feet. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"Out." I tugged him across the room, made him put his shoes on. "I'm going to put you in the Christmas spirit."
"I can't go drinking, Heero," he frowned at me. "I have to work tomorrow."
I rolled my eyes at him. "I know that. Trust me."
I managed to get him outside and into my car. I started the engine and put the top down. "What are we going to do?"
"You'll see." I grinned at him as I revved the engine. "You don't need snow to get into the Christmas spirit."
Duo put his head on his arms and leaned on the door, his braid blowing out behind him as I drove to our local coffeehouse.
"Drive through coffee is not really a replacement for snow." He said, a faint smile curving his lips.
"Work with me Duo," I grinned at him and then leaned over my door to order.
He was smiling wider by the time I handed him the warm cup of cocoa. "Okay, this works, but what the hell did you get?"
"A Chai Eggnog Latte. Don't make a face, you don't have to try it."
"I think I almost have to, if only to say I did." He took a cautious sip of my drink.
Five minutes later, he had managed to switch our cups. I pretended not to notice.
"Where are we headed?"
"You'll see." I replied. "We're going to cruise."
He lifted an eyebrow at me, and I reached for the radio. I managed to find a station playing Christmas songs. I turned it up as we turned onto a residential street. From the corner of my eye, I saw Duo's eyes widen, his lips turning up in a delighted smile.
"Everyone decorates?"
"Every single one." I nodded. "They do this every year."
We cruised up and down the streets taking in the light shows. Courts had strung lights from house to house. There were lit up snowmen and fake gingerbread houses, but there were also palm trees wrapped in lights, and a few Santas in Hawaiian shirts on the lawns.
"Now to do this right," I told Duo, "we have to rate every house."
"How?"
"On the Christmas Light scale. From one-totally overdone to ten-tastefully tacky."
Duo started laughing. "Is there such a thing as tastefully tacky?"
"Out here there is." I pointed out a house that was practically dripping with lights, Santa and all of his reindeer on the roof, and a yard full of elves. "Now that one rates a two- light bill heart-attack."
"Now see, I would go all the way to a one for that house..."
"Just wait-" I laughed. "You haven't seen the one with the dancing reindeer yet."
~*~
When we finally headed home, Duo was humming along to the radio.
"I know it wasn't snow," I ventured as we pulled into the garage. "But did it help? Maybe a kind of new tradition?"
Duo leaned over the seats and kissed me. "It did. It reminded me about something that I had forgotten."
"What's that?"
"That what's important is not where you spend Christmas, but who you spend it with." He smiled. "Now let's go inside, turn on the fireplace, find a Christmas special on the tv and make out on the couch."
"Sounds like the beginning of a good tradition to me..."
OWARI
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