Author: Merula
GW, Heero/Duo, suggestive

(christmas fluff)

It was going to be a hellish Christmas. How did I know already, three days before the actual day itself? You might think that I was scheduled to work Christmas- but no, I had it off- and the week afterwards as well. No one to celebrate with? Well, it was true that Quatre and Trowa were not going to be around- some kind of belated honeymoon trip to someplace warm. Wufei and Relena were gone too- a skiing trip. But I wasn't alone. I had Heero- my partner and roommate of four months. We had decorated the apartment- planned a dinner, rented some movies. Sounds like fun, right?

Wrong.

You see, Heero had shown up out of the blue four months ago. He'd pulled a vanishing trick on us all after Mariamaia's famous Christmas stunt, and no one had seen hide nor hair of him for a few years. Oh, I got an email from time to time, asking to be updated on things, but it was always a different address, always impossible to track down.

I figured it would always be that way- that we'd never see him again unless there was some kind of crisis... But then he'd shown up on my doorstep. Somehow he knew that I'd scared off another partner, knew that I needed someone I could trust to watch my back. So he joined the Preventers and I let him move in with me.

Big mistake.

Back during the war I had spent a little bit of time- well, okay, a lot of time, lusting over Heero. Who wouldn't? Boy filled out his spandex nicely, you know?

Course now he was older. All grown up so to speak. Filled in and out and all of that.

And he still liked to wear spandex. Or loose pajama pants. Or nothing at all. It was bad enough at night and on our mutual day off, but now I was looking at a week of time at home with Heero... see where the hellish part comes in? Heero was temptation incarnate where I was concerned...

It was a strain at times not to say the hell with it and just jump him. Granted, I'd have to change my name, cut my hair and run for the rest of my life if I so much as touched him, but after having to go lock myself into the bathroom after just watching Heero load the dishwasher I was wondering if it might not be worth it.

I wouldn't ever do it, don't get me wrong. I'm not the type that's into forcing someone into something, and besides- I wanted him to be willing... Not that he would be. Heero had never so much as hinted that he'd be interested in that sort of thing. Not with me or anyone else- and he got asked out a lot.

I found myself examining the evidence of that when I went back to our office after the last meeting of the day. There was a heap of gifts on his desk from some hopeful people- boxes of candy, small stuffed toys and one huge candy cane. I had to laugh though- Heero rarely ate candy and what would he do with the stuffed animals? I had already picked up and wrapped his present from me- a little tech gizmo I had seen him eye when we went out shopping for the guys. Heero was a tech junkie; these hopefuls would've done better to get him a gift cert to a tech store than all of that stuff. Not that I was going to pass that on and lose my edge...

Heero walked back into our office and I quickly took my gaze away from his desk. I heard him sigh.

"Something wrong?"

"Why do people keep giving me stuff? I don't even know half of them..." Heero shifted the stack a little. "Even odder, most of these talk about getting together or toasting the holiday..." I looked up to find him eyeing the candy cane. "And this one says something about putting the gift to good use..."

I choked. "Who is that from?"

"Jan in accounting," Ah, I should've guessed. Heero made a face. "I wouldn't go near her with a ten foot pole, let alone this thing..."

"Well, what about some of the others?"

"What about them?"

"Do any of them interest you? Looks like they're asking for dates..." I don't know why I was pushing this...

"I wouldn't date someone I didn't know well, and I don't know any of these people well."

"That's the purpose of dating Heero, to get to know someone well."

"You don't date." Well, no I didn't. I liked being at home with Heero better, but...

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Why are you trying to give me dating advice when you don't date?"

"I'm not trying to give advice, you asked why they gave you those things. That's why- so they could get to know you better." In the biblical sense in some cases...

Heero sat down at his desk. "It's just a waste though. I'll never use half of this stuff- though the toys can go in the donation bin downstairs- they aren't taking those down to the shelters until tomorrow, right?"

"Right. And you can put the candy boxes in the break room." It was silly to be happy that he wasn't planning on taking up any of those offers, but still...

"Perfect." Heero scooped everything up and off his desk and headed towards the door. "We can go home after I drop all this stuff off."

"Sounds good," I told him and turned to get back to work. I saw that he had left the giant candy cane on his desk and turned to tell him, but he'd already gone. Only Jan would be that blatant- she'd given me fur-lined handcuffs when she'd asked me out- and then told me to keep them and have fun when I told her that I appreciated the gift, but she was the wrong sex for me.

Heero reappeared twenty minutes later, looking much happier.

"You forgot the candy cane," I told him as I shut off my computer and grabbed my coat.

He pulled on his coat, then picked up the candy cane and twirled it between his fingers. "I like candy canes, but it seems too big to eat," he said and put the end up to his mouth, dropping his jaw to demonstrate. My brain wandered off happily for a moment at the thought of replacing the candy cane in that image with something else...

It took me a moment to realize that Heero was waiting for an answer. "Uh yeah..." Was all I could manage.

"Well, maybe if I break it into pieces." He dropped the candy cane into his coat pocket and turned towards the door. "Coming?"

I bit down on the response that rose to my lips, and followed him out the door.

Once we got home, I built a fire in the fireplace; Heero turned on the Christmas lights and found a radio station playing Christmas songs. It was quite cozy.

"Change and then we can start wrapping gifts?" He asked.

"Okay." Our four nearest and dearest might have been out of town, but we still had some other presents to wrap and deliver in the next few days. I went and grabbed the bags and wrapping paper, placing them by the coffee table before I went to go change out of my uniform.

I was very glad that I had chosen my baggiest sweats to wear, because when I came back into the room, Heero was kneeling beside the coffee table, bent over it in fact, spreading out a sheet of wrapping paper, a large chunk of candy cane dangling from his mouth.

It wouldn't have been so bad, except that he was wearing his most baggy and comfortable pajama bottoms that had a tendency to slide down his hips, and were in fact showing quite a generous amount of smooth golden skin.

The resulting picture was nearly too much for me to handle. I must've made some noise because Heero turned his head to look at me, one eyebrow raised in a question.

Without thinking, I joined him at the table and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back into a somewhat upright position.

Now he was kneeling at my feet... this wasn't any better...

He slid the chunk of candy cane out of his mouth, and I had to swallow hard. "Duo? What's wrong?"

I couldn't think of any excuse... so I went with the truth. "Heero, I'm only human. Seeing you like that makes me want to take that candy cane and do unspeakable things to you with it. Don't tempt me, please, I'm begging you."

Heero's eyes widened. Damn, he was going to kill me.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so blunt... but what else could I have said? My brain promptly began to come up with lots of excuses- where had it been a minute ago when I had needed it?

"Uh... sorry, don't worry, I'm not going to- really I just..."

Heero reached up and grabbed my waist. I tensed, expecting him to throw me into our Christmas tree.

I was very surprised when he pulled me down onto his lap and kissed me.

"What if I said I wanted you to take the candy cane and do unspeakable things to me with it?" He murmured in my ear. "What if I told you I'd been trying to tempt you for months? Would you still beg me to stop?"

Was he serious?

He shifted a little and I gasped as a part of his body made contact with mine. He was serious... well then. Only one thing to do.

"Give me the candy cane."

This was going to be the best Christmas...

(end)

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