*
New
Year's
Surprises
*
Artemis grinned. This was good.
His parents were off on some conveniently planned Honeymoon. It had been good at first, after he'd returned. He'd never known that kind of parental love before, never known that attention. He liked it. But they forgot. Forgave and forgot. And then decided that he'd probably run off, or something. For the first time in his life, he'd actually wanted to tell them—wanted to make them believe, but he couldn't.
So it went back to normal. Or as normal as his version of normal was.
His baby brothers were no longer babies, and had their own interests. Myles was a painter. Beckett was a musician. They left him alone, most of the time.
So he stuck around with his special friends. You know, Holly and Foaly and Mulch?
It was weird, at first, but it got better. Soon it was regular practice. Generally, he went down there, but today was special. Today was the 31st of December. He'd invited everyone up, and had some sort of New Year get-together.
It was late, and everyone had gone home, except Holly.
She was sitting across him, cross legged, holding a shot of whiskey in her beautifully (euch) small hand, looking more like an angel than any painting ever did. She looked enchanting. She was laughing at something he said, and more than anything, at that moment, he wanted to kiss her.
And he paused. What?
She paused with him. "What happened?"
He looked at her and shook his head. "Nothing." Because it was nothing. He couldn't kiss her! That was rubbish! Nothing.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing… Just thinking…" he replied, absently, still chastising himself.
"About?" she was genuinely curious now. Oh dear.
"Nothing."
"Fine! If you don't want to tell me, fine! Be that way!" Oh, now she was ticked off. Oh dear.
"It's just—It's just nothing, Hol'."
"Oh, yeah, like Artemis Fowl the Great ever thinks about nothing!" Now, he was getting annoyed. He didn't want to tell her. It would be so easy to tell her, and then kiss her, said an annoying voice in his head.
"Hey, Artemis, you okay, right?" now she sounded concerned. He was still preoccupied with thoughts of kissing her. Sounded like a damn good idea. Maybe he should… "Arty? Arty? Hellooooo?"
He got up and before she could say anything, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her, shot glass abandoned. She was silent for a solid 12 seconds (he counted) before she kissed back (for 25 seconds) and then she pulled away.
The look on her face was something along the lines of wow what just happ—hey, you jackass, what the heck? She looked adorable.
"Sorry," He said, meekly. She still looked stunned and ticked off. "It's what I was thinking about," he explained, "and I couldn't help myself."
She looked like she was going to kick him. He winced. He probably deserved it.
"Did ya mean it?" she asked. He doubled back. He must have looked exactly how he felt. "Did you mean it?" she asked again.
"Er, yeah. I did. Sorry?" he asked, more than answered.
"So you're sorry you meant it?" she asked.
"No, I'm sorry if you didn't like it." he answered, getting bolder. If he screwed up, he might as well as do it well.
She smiled. (Brilliant, he thought) "So, what if I did like it?" she asked.
He was surprised for a second, then not so surprised. Holly had always been bold. "I do this," he replied. Well, so had he. He kissed her again.
He pulled away, and they just looked at each other, not knowing exactly what to do, or say, but in no hurry to do anything either.
The clock chimed. They looked up simultaneously.
"Happy New Year, Hol'." Artemis said it first.
"Thanks, Arty. Same to you. Hope I can spend piles of this year with you." She grinned at his slightly stunned look.
"Hope so too," he replied and kissed her again.
Well? How was it? Hope ya'll don't mind plotless NY fluff!
Love,
Lady Merlin