"Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple;
Sometimes goodbye's the only way."
It started with the mistletoe.
He's pretty much sure of it.
He'd wound up under the mistletoe for some reason, and then ter Borcht bumped into him, the visiting German snickering in a way that was just plain unholy.
And of course Val had insisted that they had to kiss, that was just what you did under the mistletoe -- despite the fact that she and that devil-woman Anne Walker had stood under a clump of the foul stuff for a solid ten minutes earlier in the party, without any kissing.
He suspected it was revenge for forgetting her birthday, but what the hell, right -- so he kissed ter Borcht anyway.
On the lips. Just to spite Val.
Or at least that was the justification he gave himself for it.
And the tongue was entirely ter Borcht's idea (if that were something you could call an idea).
At any rate, they did kiss. (That was for sure -- mainly because there were pictures. Who had had a camera and why, he wasn't too concerned about.)
And Jeb wound up dragging ter Borcht back to his room in the barracks. Possibly there was a justification for this, but if so, it was one neither of them remembered.
After that, he doesn't remember terribly much.
Except for a terrible, terrible hangover, and the fact that for whatever reason, he wasn't very surprised to wake up next to ter Borcht the morning after.
Or surprised when ter Borcht told him that they made a great pair, and should really work together more often.
Despite the fact that they were pretty much as different as day and night.
Which isn't very different, come to think of it.
But Jeb didn't mention that.
Well, here it is.
Again, exactly 300 words, and yes, this seriously took five months to write. I kept making false starts and then never finishing them.
Song lyrics are still Linkin Park's.
Apologies for mildly spastic style, taking five months to update.