Title:
On the Twelfth Day

Author:
Rae

Fandom:
Gundam Wing

Summary:
Gifts are meant to be shared. A year too late, Duo finds a present he never gave and laments his own folly. Now someone is sending him gifts in line with an ancient carol.

Warning:
shounen-ai. Some silly OOC-ness, which I refuse to explain. Take it as the spirit of the season, when you get there.

_____*****_____

December 18th

Quatre stilled as he heard the soft sound of someone humming. He instinctively tried to place the tune, but the sound was cut short suddenly, before he could fully recognize the familiar pattern of notes. Curious, he continued toward the office where the humming had emanated. He had been heading to that office anyway and it was a simple matter of crossing the last few meters which separated him from his destination and peer around the door. The plaque outside the door simply read, "Maxwell."

He hadn't been surprised to hear the humming coming from Duo's small office. However, he was mildly surprised to hear cursing fill the silence left behind when Duo abruptly stopped. "Damn it." Duo's deep baritone held a wealth of frustration, and Quatre coughed lightly and waited until violet eyes met his before offering to help in whatever matter was vexing his friend.

"May I offer my assistance, Duo?" The blond smiled, head tilting to the side as he waited patiently for a response. His answer came in a smallish box sailing towards his head. He caught it deftly in both hands but didn't spare the box more than a glance. It was a battered gift; the wrapping paper was shredded in places and there was a dent in one side. "I do believe it's a little too soon for Christmas gifts," he said good-naturedly.

Duo huffed and offered a tight smile in response, his face and eyes lacking the usual vibrancy that seemed to make him glow. "Actually, it's entirely too LATE to be giving it. But, sorry to say, Q, it's not for you."

"Ah." As brief as Duo's words had been, Quatre could see the meaning which lay behind them. "From last year?" he asked gently, knowingly. Duo's frustration melted away and he leaned back heavily in his chair.

"Yeah." The single word was infused with equal amounts disgust, aimed at himself, and defeat. "It's no wonder, you know?" Duo leaned his head back in his chair, closed his eyes, and let out a deep breath. "Guess where I found it?"

Quatre looked again at the box, turning it this way and that as he studied it. "I would hazard a guess and hope you are not offended when I say it looks to have been picked out of the trash."

One eye cracked open, revealing a hint of violet beneath the lid. "Very amusing, Q." Duo opened his other eye and held up his hand. Quatre obligingly tossed the box back to his friend. "It was in my bottom drawer, stuffed behind a box. And do you know how long it's been there?"

The disgust had given way to self-directed anger and Quatre's answer was formed thoughtfully to pull Duo from his bad mood. "Since you put it there?" He made sure to keep his voice set at a tone of light teasing. Duo had already said it was from last year. Quatre briefly considered reminding him, but Duo was offering him a small grin in recognition of Quatre's attempt to lighten the mood.

"You are so amusing today." He dropped the box on top of his desk, then kicked his legs up beside it. "It's been there for twelve months." Since Christmas, the box had waited in the back of Duo's drawer, just waiting to be given away. Quatre could sympathize with the emotions Duo was projecting.

"For whom was it meant?" Quatre asked, moving further into the room to perch on the corner of Duo's desk. Duo had the entire office to himself, and he had taken over the limited space. It was really little more than an enlarged closet. A desk sat along the back wall, and tucked tightly to the right side of it was a filing cabinet. There was barely enough room around the other side of the desk to walk between it and the wall. Where Quatre sat, he could touch the wall with his toe without straightening his knee completely.

Duo's mumbled reply was lost to Quatre's ears as the braided teen ducked his head and suddenly seemed to find a spot on his desk very fascinating. Quatre frowned, them bit back on the wide smile which threatened at Duo's attempt to avoid answering the question aloud.

"I'm sorry, Duo, but I didn't hear you. Would you please repeat yourself?" He waited for the name to fall from Duo's lips again, and this time his frown was in confusion.

"Wufei."

That Duo bought them gifts the year prior was a given. Quatre still had the present his friend had given to him. The painting rested among the few material things Quatre placed some measure of value on.

The violet eyes which met his gaze showed a good deal of frustration, and several of the events of the past year, since the previous December to be exact, began to make more sense. Quatre bit his lip and Duo said nothing, having let his friend reach his own conclusion. The braided teen leaned back further, until his chair would have been in danger of toppling over, had there been room for such an event. The top of it touched lightly against the wall behind the desk.

"Duo," Quatre started, tone serious. He waited until he had Duo's full attention before going on. "Is it safe to assume that it was important last Christmas for Chang Wufei to receive this?"

"Yeah, that would be 'safe to assume,'" Duo replied. Quatre nodded and opened his mouth to ask his next question, but Duo seemed to read his mind and said, "Go ahead and open it. It's a little late now to give it to him." Which either meant the damage was done and Duo felt giving Wufei the late gift would do little to reconcile the situation between them, or he had purchased something else for this year already. The latter was more likely, since the situation had seemed to resolve itself by the end of February.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable opening a gift for someone else, even under the circumstances, Quatre unwrapped the box and lifted the small lid off. Inside was what looked to be a marble statue. Quatre carefully started to lift it out, but only half of the statue emerged. The other half, broken from the first, still lay on the cotton bedding. He looked up at Duo in time to see his expression finally shutter completely, blocking out the frustration he must have been feeling.

"I'm very sorry, Duo," Quatre said as he replaced the half he'd picked up. The words felt hollow, though, and he felt his own emotions take a serious dip in relation to Duo's mood.

"It's okay, Q. Not like it makes much of a difference, right?" Disappointment, Quatre finally realized. Duo was disappointed over finding the gift. What he said next cleared away the confusion lingering in Quatre's mind. "I was so sure I gave it to him. It kind of sucks to find it this late. I gave Wufei hell last year for being ungrateful, and it was really my fault." Guilt, then, too. Duo's emotions were spread wide along the scale and Quatre was having a hard time distinguishing one from the other until one spiked higher than the rest.

Quatre knew another offer of sympathy from him was not what Duo wanted or needed. What was required in the situation was a remedy to the problem which had revealed itself. Duo and Wufei had been fighting because Duo had gotten upset over Wufei's lack of acknowledgement. For twelve months, he had blamed the Chinese teen and now he found it had truly been through his own fault that their relationship had gone through a rough spot at the beginning of the year. Quatre could well remember the stilted conversations which had followed the holiday season and the complete lack of any form of communication which had taken them into the New Year.

However, for the past several months things had been smooth between them and they were on what Quatre considered 'friendly' terms. Wufei wasn't an easy man to befriend, but those people he did consider friends were treated to more respect and patience than others. Now that Christmas was close again, Quatre could see how Duo's mood would crumble upon finding he was to blame for whatever altercation had occurred the year before. An apology would be difficult enough, given his rather stubborn nature, but then to produce only a broken statue as evidence the mistake was honest... it was a difficulty Quatre did not envy.

"I was hoping we could start fresh this year, but-" Duo broke off, kicked his feet off the desk, and stood up. He took the box from Quatre's hand and let it drop heavily into the waste basket, the marble statue breaking further upon impact. Quatre winced, both at the gesture and at the hum of displeasure wafting from Duo in waves.

"Why can you not?" Quatre asked, refusing to allow his own mood to be dampened by Duo's for anything but a few short moments. They would find a way over the present situation; they always did. "Have you already purchased your gift for Wufei?"

"Not... really," Duo answered hesitantly. He sat back down in the chair, this time leaning forward in it so his elbows rested on the desk and his chin rested on his steepled fingers. "I bought him a book." He looked kind of embarrassed by that, but Quatre thought it was a good gift idea and said as much. Duo shook his head. "I want to give him something more. Something that says-" There, again, he hesitated. However, there was no continuation. He closed his mouth and shifted his gaze away from Quatre, his mood becoming introspective and private.

Feeling it would be rude to pry, Quatre didn't ask Duo to continue, despite the curiosity stirring within him. All of the pieces before him made a complicated puzzle, but he was sure he could put them all into place if he simply found where the first one went.

*Wufei.* It all began and ended with their Chinese friend and coworker. Or more importantly, Quatre thought, the piece shifting on the table of his mind into its designated slot, the feelings Duo held for Chang Wufei. No one worried so much over a gift for a friend, not someone who was just a friend. Quatre knew Duo wouldn't have had as much grief if the gift had been Trowa's, or even his own. It's intended recipient was more important than a friend or a comrade. Duo's concern was that which a man would express if he'd misplaced a gift meant for a would-be lover.

Quatre knelt down by the trashcan and picked up a piece of the statue. It was the head of the statue, and even broken Quatre could see the detail taken to create it, the great care infused in each sculpted line. The marble had held a story, one as carefully chosen as it had been woven into the surface. Even Quatre's gift, as lovely as it had been, failed to rival the item Duo had chosen for Wufei. The perfect gift to show care and affection towards the person Duo was interested in romantically. It was a gesture Wufei would have appreciated, had he received it. That, of course, was the crux.

There was little Quatre could do to ease the tumult of emotions inside of Duo. He could encourage Duo to explain what had happened to Wufei. Quatre knew Wufei would believe Duo, since he knew the Chinese man was aware of Duo's honorable nature when it came to lying. However, that course of action must have already presented itself to Duo's mind and been rejected.

When he rose, Quatre met Duo's gaze and he offered his friend a small, understanding smile. "You haven't told him you love him yet." Surprise flashed through Duo's violet orbs before being replaced with embarrassed affection. "Why?"

"Because I haven't?" The evasion only made Quatre raise his eyebrow, and Duo's lips curled upwards with amusement. "I don't really know how. Wufei's got his cultural issues and everything I've looked up only confuses me further. It's not really as easy as walking up to him and saying, "Wufei, you and I should get it on." You know?"

Quatre raised a hand to his lips and stifled the grin that threatened. It was that simple. Wufei had 'issues,' yes, but Wufei wasn't foolish enough to let the clash of culture interfere with something important. With a sudden curiosity about Wufei's feelings on the matter, at least as far as the present relationship with Duo, Quatre started towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Duo asked, sounding worried.

The blond turned and smiled. "I was working, you know. There is a matter I need to look into." The suspicion faded from Duo's expression and Quatre congratulated himself on the misdirection. Both statements were true, if unrelated, but Duo was not the only one capable of being dishonest without lying. At the door, Quatre paused and turned, his smile controlled through practiced force. "The song you were singing earlier... it was "The Twelve Days of Christmas," wasn't it?"

Duo shrugged. "Yeah. Why?"

Quatre turned before a grin could force its way past his will. His voice was casual as he answered over his shoulder, "Just curious."