Author: Keiran
Title: Falling Snow 1/1
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, humorous
Pairings: 1+2+1, R+1, 3+4
Warnings: Shounen-ai. RFO, blanket fic
Archive: My site! If anyone wants to have it, all they have to do is ask.


This fic is a Veste Notus winterfic contest entry. No sleeping bags were harmed in making of this fic.

This fic has been betaed by Sundaire. bows Japanese-style (i.e. all of the hair lands on the ground before her)

***

It snowed. Heavily.

"We are going to die out here!" Relena wailed to no one in particular, putting heavy emphasis on 'out here.' Everyone else was silent. The princess had been whining for the past hour and a half, it was no wonder they all gave up on trying to console her. As if to make matters worse, she had left her sleeping bag in one of the cars by mistake, and of course she remembered it only once they were almost halfway up the mountain. Fortunately, Heero had offered to get it for her. Probably if Duo hadn't made some smart-ass comment, Heero would have ended up going alone, but since he had, he was forced to follow. Coincidentally, the time of the boys' departure collided with the beginning of the whining.

"Look, there it is!" Noin said, suddenly pointing out. Indeed, in between falling snowflakes a dark, looming shape could be seen at the side of the mountain. "It looks cozy," she added, more to convince herself rather than anybody else.

"For a werewolf, probably," Dorothy put in, snorting. However it turned out that their fears were unreasonable – the cabin was a small one-room-and-a-bathroom place, scarcely furnished (a stone fireplace in the middle, a kitchenette and a furnace in the bathroom) but it was well kept. There were hay-filled mattresses around the fire place, and a considerable amount of wood stored inside.

"Well, we should get the fire going, then we should all go to sleep," Milliardo said. He threw the backpack off his shoulders and stretched. "Those two will probably be freezing when they come back, the temperature is going down," he remarked, looking out the small window thoughtfully. Trowa silently gathered wood from the pile and started a fire.

"It certainly looks more becoming from the inside than it does from the outside, the hut I mean," Quatre said, inching to the fireplace. Dorothy and Relena scooted closer as well.

"Get your sleeping bags out and let them warm up a little," Wufei advised gruffly. He, of course, believed that warming a sleeping bag was reserved for sissies and women. He himself, being both a man and a proud warrior, was above such things. Soon he realized, however, that even the proud warriors didn't enjoy thoughts of slipping into a cold sleeping bag.

Trowa, still silent as ever, went to the kitchenette and proceeded to prepare hot chocolate for everyone, with Quatre haunting his every step.

"Where is Heero?" Relena asked suddenly. She firmly opposed him going to fetch her sleeping bag, since she was deprived of precious time spend in her knight's presence. She would have followed him to the car… if the following hadn't included hiking up the hill again. "He should be back by now! He is probably lost and all alone, in the dark woods…"

"Miss Relena, right now he probably is by the car. It takes about one hour and a half to get down," Noin said, rolling her eyes. "Heero doesn't get lost, even in the most dense of woods, that's for one. Two, he's got Duo with him, who's equally adept at finding his way anywhere. Three, from here down there and back again the road is wide and obvious, even if the snow is falling. Four, there are signs every fifty meters, pointing the way. So, unless you're suggesting that Heero suddenly went blind, disabled and scared out of his wits, managing to lose Duo in the process, they should both be quite safe."

"But…"

"No 'buts' miss Relena. They will be here in two hours. No big deal." Noin bent and started to explore her backpack. "Until they are back you can go to sleep in my sleeping bag."

"No, use mine. I can wait," Milliardo offered gallantly, striking a macho pose.

"Stop pretending you aren't as gay as you look," Lucrezia shot back. Quatre and Dorothy unsuccessfully tried to stifle their giggles. The man glowered.

"Are you saying I look gay?" He advanced at his friend.

"Well, your hair looks kind of bleached. And that pink sweater isn't helping any," the woman smirked.

"I happen to like this sweater! It's warm and it's fluffy!" Milliardo said indignantly.

"It's pink."

"I think it's very pretty," Relena defended her brother's taste. "I packed it for him myself." The rest of the people looked at each other.

"I apologize, Milliardo. You still look gay, but now at least I know it's purely accidental," Noin offered seriously. Wufei snickered loudly. The man glowered for few more minutes before settling down with a steaming mug, kindly provided by the silent pilot. The group settled into their chosen sleeping places, leaving a gap for the missing participants. Relena settled herself as close to Dorothy as possible, making sure that the gap was right behind her. Her brother sat leaning against one of the stone posts of the fireplace. Even though he was playing the hero now, he was deadly afraid. It was Relena's sleeping bag he was waiting for… There was no telling what shade of pink it would be. Or which climate it should be used in. The silent conversation (both between Milliardo and his inner self and between the others) continued for a while, until finally it strayed on the topic of Heero and Duo.

"They will probably really be freezing when they get back," Milliardo said again. "Is there any of that chocolate left?"

Trowa unhappily left his snugly spot.

"They should be back in about ten minutes," he said, placing the pot with the rest of the brew on a burner. True to his prediction, the doors of the hut blew open roughly ten minutes later, admitting inside some snow, a lot of wind and two heavily loaded figures, who put their backpacks on the ground as soon as they locked the door.

"The weather sure did pick a great time for a snowstorm!" one of the whitish figures said angrily. "As if it has nothing better to do." Duo threw his downy coat to the ground, shaking snow from his braid. "Oi, hero [1], take that heavy stuff off, unless it's already frozen in place."

"Hn," his companion remarked stonily, but he took his jacket off just the same. Relena sighed dreamily. Her Heero braved the storm for her… She yawned widely. She would thank him tomorrow. For now she was too busy keeping her teeth together to speak. All of them were cold beyond belief, even though they packed the warmest sleeping bags they could find.

Duo brightened considerably when Trowa offered him a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

"Ah," he sighed. "Nothing better than a cup of something sinfully hot on a day like this." Heero, meanwhile, fished his and Duo's sleeping bags from their respective backpacks, handing Milliardo a pink fluffy one first. The man eyed it distrustfully.

"It better be warm," he grumbled, looking at his sister. She paid him no heed, watching as Heero unfolded two sleeping bags and crammed one into the other. Then he gulped down the chocolate, undressed to his boxer-shorts (making Relena blush heavily while Dorothy and Noin whistled) and slipped into the two sleeping bags.

In the meantime, Duo trembled – he was always very sensitive to cold. He clutched the steaming mug as if it was a lifeline.

Soon, however, he started to undress. Just like Heero did, he threw aside everything, save for boxer-shorts and socks. He stretched in a blatant display for the gay and female part of the party, bowed with a flourish, and before anyone could draw a connection between Heero stuffing one sleeping bag in another, Duo slipped into them, right beside the dark-haired boy.

A few pairs of eyes bugged when they both wiggled, finding the perfect spot for themselves. Dorothy fought the expression away and waited for Relena's reaction. Unfortunately it turned out that the princess had already fallen asleep, somehow.

'Oh, well,' passed through everybody's mind. 'There's always tomorrow.' Along with 'Damn, they're going to be warm at least.'

***

The next morning started at 6 o'clock, when a beam of light streamed through a tiny window, hitting Heero in the eye. The boy decided it was high time to get up, however, even he felt that leaving his current position would equal a mortal sin against humanity. Even the Perfect Soldier couldn't resist the temptation of a warm, tender body wrapped around his person in a hearty cuddle.

On the other hand, he can only ignore an itching on one's leg for so long. Heero sighed and started to make his way down the sleeping bag. Having another person inside made maneuvering nearly impossible, but he wasn't nicknamed 'perfect' for nothing.

Meanwhile, Wufei, Milliardo and Noin were having similar thoughts. If they woke up, they might as well get up, but the sleeping bags were so comfy! After a half-sleepless night their sleeping place finally radiated warmth. Suddenly a giggle caught their attention and they raised a little, pulling the warm fabric tighter around themselves.

They were treated to a sight of a moving sleeping bag, with Duo's auburn braid sticking out from one end and a huge, squirming bundle in the middle. The giggles were obviously originating from the auburn-haired youth. Finally, Duo let out a last set of muffled laughter and spoke:

"Heero!" he said breathlessly. "will you please cut it out! I'm getting out of breath here!"

Dorothy, Quatre and Trowa woke up somewhere along the line. They quickly joined the club of bug-eyed, jaw-dropped spectators. There was only one thing running through all of their minds: 'They are not doing what I think they're doing.'

"Will you stop squirming, finally!" came Heero's furious whisper.

"I would, if only you stopped blowing at me!" Duo responded in kind just as a dark head appeared right next to his own. Heero rose a brow.

"Now tell me you didn't enjoy that," he said. Duo blushed slightly.

A loud shriek broke the piece of the morning.

"Heero! What are you doing! Why are you in one sleeping bag with him? What is going on here?" The princess obviously didn't like being left in the dark. The two heads turned in her direction.

"Morning Relena," Duo said cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?"

"No, I didn't! What were you two doing in that sleeping bag?!" she yelled shrilly. Duo winced.

"We didn't do anything, no need to yell," he said calmly.

"You made Heero seem indecent! You rascal!"

"Such language, Relena, your brother is about to die of shame."

Truth to be told, Milliardo was about to die. From containing laughter. Duo winked playfully. Heero rolled his eyes.

"Relena, you are getting worked up over nothing. We were sleeping together cause it's warmer this way. And I was only trying to scratch my leg," he said reasonably. Relena calmed down a little.

"Well. I believe you, Heero," she sniffled. "However, you shouldn't put yourself in a position which…" Duo groaned and fell backwards.

"Look what you've done Yuy. Now she'll never shut up," he said. Heero smirked evilly.

"Care to help me to stop her?" he asked.

"Sure, whatever, man. I mean…" the rest of the rant never made it out as Heero claimed Duo's lips in a firm kiss.

There was Holy Silence. And then it was broken, by an outstanding performance of a mono-opera commonly referred to as 'HEEE-ROO,' starring Relena Peacecraft. It was soon stopped by a I-don't-look-gay brother of the star, politically correct Asian national and a traditional gay couple. Plus a special force of Two Mighty Smirking Ones.

Heero brought his head up for air and smirked, seeing Relena being restrained by all of the remaining people. He attempted to sit up, forgetting for a while the troubles he had with space, so he ended up sprawled all over a dazed Duo.

"Yuy?" the boy asked. "You are one hell of a son of a bitch, you know that?"

"Yes."

"What where you doing all those times I kicked you out to go visit her and tell her we're a couple?" Heero had the decency to look mildly ashamed. Duo groaned. "You're incorrigible."

Fortunately, Relena's sanity, being a female, gave her an enthusiastic appreciation of the romance and cuteness. Also, contrary to popular opinion, she wasn't a dumb blonde.

Also, fortunately, Dorothy had managed to introduce her to the concept of yaoi beforehand. Therefore it didn't take long to draw a connection between two cute guys who are making out and a pair of cute guys who were making out.

"Oooh. Do that again!" the princess suggested, noticing her ex-crush and his boyfriend had stopped kissing. Everybody present facevaulted.

And the snow continued to fall…

[1] I know it sounds like a bad pun, but hey, that's something Duo would say, regardless of the language. In exchange for 'superhuman', ya know?