The Christmas Party
A/N: Alright, this was original a fic for Exodia-girl, but I decided I'd post it to see what all the rabid K/C fans out there think. So here it is, Chaotic Good's Kai/Charly vignette for all to read.
Setting: At an FBI Christmas part after the boys have already found out about the girls being operatives. It may or may not overlay Exodia's story but I appreciate every and all reviews and if you plan to flame me I will only use the fire to burn yaoi pairings ^^. Happy reading and… oh yeah… REVIEW!!!
Rating: A very strong PG-13 for suggestive material and lecherous thoughts.
Exodia-girl says: Coolness Factor: 10/10
Sugar Factor: 20/10
Enjoyment Factor: 100/10
Overall: 1,000,000/10 (Then again she's biased because I'm her best friend, go figure lol)
* * *
Charly smiled as she watched Vega and Tala sit in the corner on two large armchairs, at their feet the children of the FBI workers eagerly listening as between the two of them they read Christmas stories.
"They look natural together… that's scary."
The brunette grinned and glanced over her shoulder to Kai, who was looming there, eyes trained on his friend, dressed in a red muscle tee, blue jeans, and a Santa's hat, and the ebony-haired mechanic, wearing a white fur-lined red dress with ankle-high boots and a Santa hat.
"Yeah, you'd never guess just by looking at them now that they're continually bickering back at the base, I suppose someone needs to keep Tala in line though," Charly whispered back.
"And the angel said unto them," Vega began, "'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger…"
Kai smiled as the children did so. He'd never tell anyone but he had a soft spoken for kids when they weren't whining brats. They were sweet and innocent, pure and untainted by the world. He grinned a little as a little girl tugged on Tala's arm and as the boy, in effort to humor her, leaned closer she whispered something into his ear. Smiling just noticeable he lifted her effortlessly into his lap and the girl snuggled into him, safe within the cove of the young man's arms. If only her parent's knew what the Russian was capable of. Beside him Vega broke into a brilliant smile and turned back to the book in her hands, turning the page to yet another Christmas tale.
Charly looked down at the floor for a second and then back to Kai. She was dressed nearly identical to Vega, but, having won the coin toss, she got out with the better deal, wearing a pair of red, silk pants and a shirt with fur-lining around the collar and cuffs. She felt like an idiot, not that she thought her friend was comfortable in her unfortunate fate, but if it was to humor the children whilst passing out Christmas presents so be it. Kai got out of it all together wearing just a Santa hat and blue jeans with a black sweater and a leather jacket, which was hung up somewhere. They had all attempted to ditch the 'thug' look for the night.
"Hey, Kai," she began, wringing her hands anxiously, "I… uh… got you something… but I left it back in Patterson's office."
The thug looked around as if pondering something and then back to her. "I'll just walk with you there, I need to get out of this crowd, and I think I might be getting claustrophobic." He grinned a little bit. "Besides, I got you something too."
She nodded and lead the way out of the room, which didn't go unnoticed by Vega or Tala, who glanced at each other and then grinned a little knowingly.
Kai shook his head a little as he watched Charly pick the lock on Patterson's office door and then push it open as easy as if it were child's play: once a thug always a thug, no matter how supposedly 'straight' they were.
"I left it in his desk," she muttered absently as she threw herself into the large, leather armchair on wheels behind the workstation and began sifting through the drawers.
"Take your time," he replied patiently, moving to sit in the leather sofa against the wall, pulling a box neatly wrapped in metallic red paper from his pocket.
Charly glanced up and smiled. "So you're crafty enough to wrap a present," sh said nonchalantly as she unloaded a stack of files onto the desktop.
"Actually, no, but I am better than Tyson, who can get his fingers stuck together with tape… only God knows how. Vega wrapped it for me."
The girl laughed. "She wraps, she sows, she changes oil, she replaces spark plugs and brakes, she cooks, and most importantly she keeps smartass thugs in line. Oh, how handy she is."
Kai grinned and passed a thumb over the top of the small package in his hands. He hoped she'd like it.
"Ah!" the brunette proclaimed a moment later, holding up a small box, smaller than even his, wrapped in silver paper with a blue bow on top. She smiled, shutting the desk drawer with her foot before starting off across the room to him. "Catch!"
The thug caught it effortlessly and then tossed her the box in his own hands, which she also caught.
The two were silent as they carefully peeled away the folds, both not wanting to appear eager.
Charly stopped herself from pulling the lid off the small box in her hands in favor of watching Kai. He paused momentarily to look at her and then continue, removing the top and then the tissue paper she had packed in for the sake of it not rattling.
Lying amongst within cardboard walls was a ring that appeared much like a senior ring from high school with a gem of deep tanzanite set into it, the name 'Kai' engraved on one side of the stone in the gold of the actual ring and the name 'Ghost' in the other side.
"I had I special ordered for you," she supplied, desperately wanting to know if he liked it. She wasn't sure why it was so important but it was. "I figure that you and Tala have about the same sized fingers so I used him as my guinea pig."
"How'd you manage that?" He was pretty unaware of what words were coming from his lips, too dumbstruck to speak. That was real gold. This was a very expensive piece. She'd gotten it for him. And that one, singular last factor was what made it so hard to breathe. This was Charly, the Red Fox, the supposed 'untouchable'.
Kai felt suddenly very high and above all other males on that planet, even Ace, at that moment.
"Vega coaxed him along," Charly replied, hands folded around the box in them in front of her. "Do you like it?"
He looked up and smiled, an actual smile, and nodded eagerly. "Yes," he said simply, nodding. "I… love it." He slid it onto the middle finger of his left hand and admired it for a second before making a fist. "It'll be perfect for slugging someone, just get me seven more like it for all my other fingers."
She laughed and looked to the floor, her face tinting red. While she appeared collected outwardly a parade and fanfare were exploding inside of her. He liked her present! He loved it!
It was the best news she'd received her entire life.
Kai shifted a little. "Open yours."
Charly grinned and nodded sheepishly as she lifted the box a little and removed the cover. "Oh, Kai," she whispered softly, "it's… incredible."
It was a necklace, with delicate gold chain, more delicate than she'd ever wear otherwise, decorated with a heart-shaped locket hanging from it, encrusted with tiny diamonds and rubies. She restrained the urge to cry as she walked over to him quickly and hugged him, without even registering her actions.
"I take it you like it?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist and returning the embrace, taking in the sweet scent of her cinnamon body spray. The spice seemed to fit her immeasurably.
Charly laughed, lifting a hand to wipe away her tears. "I love it," the agent whispered, running her fingers gently through the hair at the base of his head. "I love it so much, thank you, Kai."
The thug pulled back a little and took the box gently from her, removing the chain from it and stuffing the white package away in his pocket. "Turn around; I'll put it on you."
At any other moment she'd mockingly wonder if he knew how to undo the clasp of a necklace but as she turned her back to him and gathered her hair up in one hand to expose her neck she didn't care. His fingertips just barely tickled the skin of her throat as he attempted being gentlemanly.
Charly straightened it a little before turning back around to face him, dropping her hair. "So?" she asked nervously.
Kai's gaze never wandered from her face as he took her in. "God's perfection," he uttered quietly, lifting a hand to her chin and tilting it up a bit. A small smile graced his features. "The necklace is pretty too."
Her eyes sparkled a little as she broke into a wide smile. "I think you're delusional," she whispered, "the necklace is far more beautiful than the wearer."
If she was digging for compliments he'd let her spring oil. He lifted the hand from her chin to her eyes and tenderly brushed away the tears, which were turning black from her light use of mascara. The make-up smoothed after a few even strokes on either side. "Maybe to some jewels and precious metals are the ultimate beauty," he uttered, his eyes never once abandoning hers and no one could be sure then who was hypnotizing who. "But not all treasure is silver and gold… at least… not to me."
"What is your treasure then?" Charly asked. Only if she could make this moment, melting beneath his words and drowning in the chocolate pools of his eyes, last forever.
Kai smiled. "A beautiful woman who doesn't know so, someone who is intelligent and sophisticated but can still laugh at the little things, who is brilliant but too modest to insist so, someone who is pure and strong, a little bossy and has the moxie to stand up for what she believes in." His fingers ran tenderly through her hair, pushing some loose strands behind her ears. "Someone… like you."
Charly giggled a little. "For one, you're going to make me cry being so sweet, and two, I feel like I'm in some sappy Hollywood flick."
Kai chuckled a little bit. "Would you rather I stop?"
The girl shook her head violently as she fell back into his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into his chest, taking in the scent of his cologne: the smell of security. "Never stop."
He grinned and nestled his face into her hair, wrapping his arms tightly around her shoulders. "Never make me."
* * *
"Vega, what are we doing?" Tala asked as he followed the girl down the hallway, frustrated at her for being so belligerently bull-headed: not that he minded the view of her body in that dress. Mentally he smacked himself. She was a cop for God's sake!
"Surely, Tala, your emotional perception is so horrible that you miss the connection between our friends," the black-haired girl said over her shoulder.
"Of course not but I don't think-"
"Well I do," she replied, cutting him off as she stopped at Patterson's door, thankful that he insisted on having no windows. She plucked a sprig of mistletoe from beneath the edge of her dress's sash and rose up on tip-toe, to tuck the small stem beneath the number plate at the top of the doorway.
Tala mentally groaned as the dress, already too short for the girl's taste already, rode a few more inches on her thighs in reaction to her movement. "Let me." He snatched the plant from her hand and easily reached up, accomplishing what she couldn't… or what she couldn't without ignorantly putting him through torture.
Vega looked very coy when his gaze fell back to her and she smirked in a Cheshire cat way at him. "You do realize what position that little piece of plant puts us in now," she said, "now that it is elevated above both yours and mine heights."
He scowled. "Don't even think about it." But a lecherous little bug in the back of his mind screamed silent curses at his words.
The smirk only deepened as she demolished the space between them, her body brushing toward his and her lips suddenly very close.
His breath hitched in his chest as he hands gently dragged down his torso.
"If I ever catch you checking my ass out again or looking at anything revealed to you that was at one point covered up, I will, without hesitation, turn you from a rooster to a hen."
Her lips had only been a breath away but now they were about and entire hallway length's away as she turned on her heel sharply and walked off.
Damn it, he cursed, following her, not wanting to be caught in case the happy couple within that office decided to venture out.
* * *
Charly had been fine hugging Kai and being sweet-talked into cavities by him but as she stepped out with him into the hallway she couldn't help but blush when she realized the sprig of the infamous 'Kissing Plant', as Hikaru had put it once before, above them. It hadn't been there before or she hadn't noticed.
"You don't have to," Kai said softly. He wanted it, yes, but not at the cost of making her uncomfortable. He wanted what they were building to be given time so that whatever foundation it formed had strong bricks and supports.
The agent thought for a second and then met his eyes before rising up on tip-toe and kissing him tenderly, a thrill racing up her spine as he kissed her back, pulling her into a tight embrace, uninhibited by anything. Her fingers ran gently back through his hair and as they separated she smiled, kissing the end of his nose. "But I wanted to."
Kai would never know a happier day than that. His first kiss and his first day of the future with the girl in his arms… no one got closer to heaven while still breathing.
A/N: OOOH!! You survived! Oh wow! That's so cool… you actually stuck out to read it all! Ahh, you're awesome, not be the coolest person on the planet and hit the little lavender box at the bottom left of your computer screen.