Angels and Drummers

BadMomma

Note to : Sorry guys, this fic was written 3 years ago and I only just realized I never posted it at . So as a Christmas present to my readers, I'm posting this and a few others that are missing from my FF archive. Merry Christmas.

Summary: Heero is the little angel on top of the tree and drummer boy Duo tries every Xmas to be noticed by him, but angel Heero is too busy staring out the window.

I remember the first time I saw him.

My little human had grown considerably since the first time she'd hung me up, but I'd only just reached past the middle of the tree. They always buy such big trees, my family, and the hanging is always chaotic. Too many people, too many hands, and then there was that big ugly fur-ball who loved to try to knock me down when the humans weren't home or weren't looking.

I was excited that year, I figured I was finally out of ole' fur-ball's reach and would be able to enjoy my hang-time in peace. The family had finished putting us all up and had settled in for some hot cocoa while I was taking in my surroundings, checking out who my branch-mates were. I greeted the skiing penguins, the crawfish with mitts and the muffled reindeer who were all easily within view – the reindeer and I had hung together before, he was pretty cool. And that's when I saw him.

He was a vision. A god. Truly an angel. Beautiful, like none other I'd seen before. I'd thought it was annoying when they'd made such a fuss about who they put at the top, carefully removing him from his box and placing him at the peak with the utmost reverence. But after staring at him for a while I could understand why.

His white wings looked as soft as the paper my little human carefully wrapped me in at the end of each season. His gown was a flowing white that dazzled me – no lace or frilly stuff like the poser who'd been there before. My angel's dark brown hair was lovely – falling in his face and sticking up everywhere else – but it looked great on him, shading the most amazing blue eyes I'd ever seen. Despite my drumming a million different songs, I don't think he ever noticed me. Not that first night nor at any time after. And no matter how many times I made myself fall off the tree that year, I never got put back any closer to him.

With every passing season I managed to get a little closer, but he still seemed oblivious to my presence. After hanging together for a few years, you kind of get to know everyone, but he seemed mostly to keep to himself, never joining in when anyone tried to pop a light bulb or make the tinsel fall to the ground. I had tried on many occasions to catch his attention but all he ever did was stare out the window until he couldn't seem to bear it any more. Then he would close his eyes for a rest. Rumor was that he wanted to escape, to fly away and never come back. Some of the others said he was cold and emotionless, aloof and stuck up, but I didn't believe them. He was an angel, after all, how bad could he be?

Sure, I was slowly making my way up the tree as my little human grew taller and taller, but I feared it would take too many seasons to get close enough. The skinny Santa in the Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses hanging close to me thought I was too big and too heavy to ever make it to the top. He believed he'd gotten as close to the top as he was ever gonna get and he'd been at the same height for 'many moons'. It saddened me to think I might never get closer to my angel so I tried to send him messages with the others. Sadly, I never got a reply.

This one season, though, I finally had a plan. I'd met a frog with an elf-hat previous year and he'd offered to hop me up to the top, but it had been too late by the time we'd figured out all the details and we'd been put away again before we'd had a chance to do anything about it.

Waiting to be hung this year was both exciting and stressful. I was hoping the frog hadn't forgotten his promise from the year before but if he was hung too far away it might not matter either way. I had also decided that I would improve my chances of being hung higher and while the family was busy pulling us all out of the boxes, I kicked away my spare drum – the one that always sits by my feet. After I'd done it, I feared it had cost me everything, though, because when my little human noticed the fallen drum she set me aside and the big ugly fur-ball had had a field day trying to rip me to shreds. When my human realized what the fur-ball was doing, she'd snatched me away, cooing and apologizing and promising to take good care of me. Unfortunately, as soon as she'd set me aside again the mangy beast attacked once more. Again, my human noticed and rescued me just in the nick of time, only to take and carefully place me back in the big box we had all come out of.

I almost cried when she did it, thinking it was the end for me; that I'd be stuck there forever and never see my angel again. But luck was with me, because no sooner had she set me down and turned away, than I noticed who she'd put me next to. It was him, still in his box and looking forlorn. He always was the last one to be placed on the tree and I realized that it probably made him sad. It must be really hard for him to always be kept away from the rest of us. Maybe that was why he never made any friends.

Deciding to make the best of the opportunity, I took off my big hat and tapped on his box with a drumstick. He just stared at me and the long braid that had fallen forward at my actions. He seemed surprised and confused at my attempt to make contact but at least a little of his sadness had gone away. I tried to ask him what his name was, to tell him I was drummer-boy Duo, but I don't think he could hear me. His sad blue eyes stared back at me as he touched a hand to the hard plastic shell encasing him and just shook his head. His beautiful wings fluttered slightly – either in anticipation or anxiety – and he pushed at the lid of his container, trying to escape. I tried to help him but, even together, we couldn't pry it open. Seeing the sadness return to his face, I put my hand on the plastic wall between us mouthing the words 'I'm sorry' carefully so he would understand. I was hoping he realized that I shared in the desire to free him. To my surprise, he put his hand over mine, on the other side of that clear divider, and I saw him say 'Thank you'. I told myself that as soon as he was free, as soon as the humans were finished with us and went to drink their cocoa, I would do whatever it took to be with him.

After what seemed like hours with the plastic between our hands warming comfortably, my human pulled me gently from the box to examine the extent of the damage I'd done to myself. She murmured to herself that even as old and beat up as I was, it just wouldn't be Christmas without me. As I hovered above the big box in her gentle hands, I caught a fleeting glimpse of my angel. He was watching us closely. I couldn't help but hope that he wanted to see what she would do with me, where she would hang me on the tree this year, so he could seek me out later.

Then it finally came to pass. The big human with the hairy face pulled my angel from his prison and reverently placed him atop the tree. I don't know if it was a trick of the lights or if it was just wishful thinking, but he looked more peaceful to me than he ever had before. I waited, not so patiently, until the humans had gone off to enjoy their warm drinks before trying to catch his gaze. Usually, the first thing he sought when he opened those amazing eyes was a view of the outside. But this year his eyes searched frantically below him until finally settling on me. This time there was no mistaking the joy on his face and the smile he gave me nearly made me drop my drumsticks.

It wasn't until much later, when the humans had all turned in for the night and Cat the mangy beast had been secured in another part of the house, that I was able to do anything more than stare at him. It turns out that Elffrog had been working on our plan while tucked away all year to get me to where I most wanted to be. Next to him. My angel.

Elffrog took me to the highest branch he could. After that it was all up to me. I slung my drum onto my back and made the rest of the journey myself. It was a treacherous road, fraught with the dangers of knocking over a glass ball or causing an electrical short. It wouldn't do to have the humans return to investigate any strange noises. Eventually I made it, I reached the top only to be more dazzled than I'd been before. Up close, with nothing between us but the scent of pine boughs, he was breathtaking. I'd struggled so hard, for so long, to reach him, it almost didn't seem real. For a while all I could do was stare at him. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but they all seemed to get stuck in my throat. Then suddenly, it was all pouring out.

"Hi there! I'm Drummer Duo! Man, you don't know how long I've been wanting to meet you! And my god! How lucky was that, that we were put in the same box earlier. I really tried to help set you free but I couldn't manage it. I hope you were OK? You looked kind of sad that you couldn't get out. But I guess it must get kind of boring being up here all by yourself all the time. I hope you don't mind, I'm not, like, cramping your space or anything am I? Cause if I'm bothering you, you've just got to say the word and I'll back off. You just looked kind of lonely, and you're always staring out the window, so I figured it couldn't hurt to come up and visit for a bit, right?"

With every word I uttered his smile grew larger and larger; eyes sparkling in the pale light from the street outside. And then he spoke, in a voice low and lovely: "Hi Duo. I'm Heero. It's a pleasure to meet you. So you'll. . . stay and talk for a while?"

When leaned over and reached out for my hand, I knew all the struggle had been worth it.

And you know what? I get the feeling that nothing will ever be the same again.

The End.