Backrubs and Kisses
AN: Hello, hello! Okay, to make up for the last Allen-centric chapter, this one's all about VxH, with some mushy-ness thrown in for good measure! Okay, once again, tiny bit of German translation: Frohliche Weihnachten: Merry Christmas Ihr boese kinder: You naughty kids Mach schnell: hurry up/ quickly. Once again, special thanks goes to Arienhod for the help with my poor German! Thanks!!
I love you, all my reviewers!! I do, I do! And thank you so much for your continued interest and comments!! It really makes my day to see a new review! Lovelovelove!!
Sorry this chapter's so short. I'm hoping the next will be longer and have more interesting stuff happen. Don't give up on me yet! Okay, on with the mush!
Van drifted languidly between dreams and waking as whispered giggles tugged at his consciousness. Something little poked at his face and arms and tugged at his hair.
"Mmrph," he groaned, trying to roll away from the unwanted pokes so he could slide back into dreamland. The giggles intensified, and something heavy settled on his abdomen. He cracked one eye slowly open.
"WAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUP!!" chorused a pack of kids, wailing like banshees. The two little ones sitting on Van's stomach added a few bounces for good measure, knocking the wind out of him. Hitomi sat bolt upright with a gasp on the couch above him, wide eyed and startled. Several kids latched onto her and pulled her off the couch. She landed awkwardly on top of Van and his two tormentors with an undignified squeak. Instantly, the kids jumped on the pile to pin her down and tickle her unmercifully. It was a confusing mass of hands and legs and blankets as Hitomi wriggled and laughingly tried to untangle herself. Van was pinned down at the bottom of the pile, unable to do anything but get his breath squished out of him and enjoy the moment.
"Enough, enough! Ihr boese kinder!" shouted Aunt Vera from the doorway, managing to sound fierce even though she was smiling. "Into the kitchen with you! Mach schnell!"
Obediently, the kids untangled themselves and sped out of the room. Hitomi rolled off of Van to lay next to his side, gasping for breath, while Van inhaled deeply to expand his squashed ribs. He glanced around to see Annie and Allen's empty sleeping bags. Apparently, you had to get up early in this family to avoid being attacked.
"Frohliche Weihnachten. Now, go and see your stockings, then come for breakfast," Aunt Vera commanded them as she sailed out of the room after the children.
"Stockings?" Van asked, turning his head to look questioningly at Hitomi. She rolled onto her side, propping her head on her hand to gaze down at him. He was so beautiful; she longed to brush the hair out of his eyes.
"Yeah, our Christmas Stockings. Didn't you notice them yesterday hanging on the wall?"
Van swallowed, mesmerized by the way she looked at him. Had he noticed socks hanging on a wall? He couldn't remember. He gave a noncommittal shrug, noticing the way the early morning sunlight turned her eyes a goldish green like new spring leaves.
"Oh. Well, traditionally, you hang up your stocking on Christmas Eve, and Christmas morning, it's filled with candy and little presents," she said softly. Her words barely registered in Van's consciousness. His mind was absorbed with thoughts of her lips, her skin, the way it had felt to kiss her. He shifted slightly, his hands itching to reach up and pull her down to him.
Hitomi's tongued darted out to moisten her suddenly dry lips. Lord, she wanted to kiss him so badly. With a jerk, she realized she'd been unconsciously leaning closer to him, and she sat abruptly upright. Her cheeks burned as she ran nervous fingers through her hair. Good grief, he was going to think she was some crazy, hormone-driven groupie.
Van blinked at her suddenly stiff back as she sat up and faced away from him. What had happened? What had he done wrong? Sighing, Van pushed himself into a sitting position next to her, annoyed with himself. He should have reacted faster, made his move, as Annie would say. He was never going to get anywhere with Hitomi if he didn't stop acting like a nervous, insecure teenager.
The muscles in his neck and shoulders protested as he experimentally twisted his head. Hitomi turned around just in time to catch him wincing slightly as he attempted to stretch the knots out of his neck.
"Are you okay?" she asked, watching him with concern.
"Yeah. Just a little stiff from sleeping on the floor," Van replied, attempting to massage his sore muscles. He dropped his hands in surprise as Hitomi turned him and began rubbing his shoulders.
"I told you to take the couch," she said cheerfully, her hands skillfully working out all the tight knots. Van could feel himself relaxing, enjoying the feel of her fingers on his muscles. Hitomi worked in silence for several minutes, grateful that Van was wearing a shirt. She was having a tough time keeping the drool in check and her hands on task as it was. If she'd been touching bare skin...
"Does that feel better?" she asked, still massaging his shoulder muscles. God, they felt so nice!
Van nodded, wishing he'd taken off his shirt for sleeping. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
"I used to give Annie's grandma shoulder rubs all the time. She said no one did it better, except maybe Annie," Hitomi said softly, a gentle, sad, smile on her face as she remembered the old woman.
"You miss her as much as Annie, don't you?"
Hitomi massaged a particularly tight knot and contemplated Van's quiet question. "I miss her a lot. She was like family, like my own grandma. But I don't think anyone misses her like Annie does. She was the only mother Annie ever knew, you know? It broke her heart to lose her."
"Then it is a good thing that she has you," Van said quietly. Hitomi's hands became gentler as she gave a low laugh.
"I haven't done much. Goettenbergs don't cry. Especially not around other people," she replied. All the knots were gone from Van's muscles, but she couldn't bring herself to stop touching him. Not yet.
"Hey, guys, what the hell's taking you so long?" Annie demanded as she leaned around the doorway.
"We're coming, we're coming," Hitomi sighed, her hands still on Van's shoulders.
"Okay, then!" Annie said, withdrawing her head behind the doorway. A moment later, she reappeared with a humongous smirk.
"You know, ninety-five percent of all backrubs end up in sex," she chirped. Hitomi flamed red and whipped her hands away from Van's shoulders. Judging by the brilliant scarlet of his ears, Van was blushing as furiously as she was. Annie winked at them both and disappeared around the door again. The silence in the room was deafening. Van shifted uncomfortably, and Hitomi fidgeted, clearing her throat.
"So, stockings?" she asked, unable to look at him.
"Stockings," he agreed. The both clambered quickly to their feet, Hitomi leading the way out of the room. Good lord, she was going to hurt that girl!
They were greeted by a chorus of Merry Christmas's as they joined the family by the Christmas tree. Hitomi pulled their stockings off the wall, handed Van his, and dug in to hers with childish glee. Annie and Allen made their way over to them through the throng of people. Van gave a low chuckle as he imagined what the knight's face would have looked like if he'd heard Annie's comment about backrubs.
"So, you guys like my wake up call?" Annie asked cheerfully as she thumped Hitomi on the arm. Hitomi rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, it was great. You got up early on purpose just to do that, didn't you?"
Annie nodded gleefully. "You bet! Only I didn't get up early enough to catch Princess Alice. I found him schmoozing the Aunts in the kitchen at the crack of dawn."
"I asked you to stop calling me that," Allen gritted out. "And I wasn't schmoozing."
Van glanced between Annie and Allen, his brow furrowed. "Schmoozing? What's that?"
Annie made a face. "You know, sucking up, flattery, being sugar-sweet to make people like you. What Allen keeps doing to my family."
"I'm not doing anything," Allen said, exasperated. Annie grabbed his stocking out of his hand with a dark glare.
"Whatever. Just go get some breakfast while I put these away," she snorted, walking off. Van, seeing Hitomi was preparing to be nice to Allen yet again, followed the brown-haired girl back to the room they'd slept in. Annie harrumphed a little to herself as she stowed their goodies away, but was all smiles when she caught up with Van in the doorway.
"So, having a nice morning so far?" she asked, her voice heavy with innuendo. Van willed his face to stay blush-free. He was a grown man, not a self-conscious teenager.
"Not too bad," he replied cautiously. "And you?"
"Hm. Besides Princess Alice making my family love him, I'd have to say pretty good. Oh, and Van..." she suddenly snaked an arm around his neck, effectively putting him into a tight headlock. Van blinked, shocked, as she planted a kiss on his cheek. She released him with a grin and he stared at her, surprised and confused.
"Mistletoe," Annie smirked, pointing a finger above them.
"Oh," Van said, looking up at the innocent piece of plant.
"And your morning's about to go from 'not too bad' to 'awesome' in about thirty seconds," Annie continued, looking down the hallway. Hitomi was coming towards them, her stocking in her hand. Van swallowed, about to say something, but Annie had already moved out of the doorway into the hallway.
"Hey, guys. Breakfast is starting, so we're all supposed to get to the kitchen," Hitomi said as she reached them. She paused in the doorway to smile at Van, oblivious to the plant above her.
"Oooh, look, Hitomi. More mistletoe!" Annie crooned. She grinned at Hitomi's dumbfounded face and disappeared down the hall, leaving the two standing awkwardly under the mistletoe. Alone. Hitomi licked her lips nervously.
"Ah. Well. No one's here to see, so..." she paused. "I mean, no one will know if we don't, you know..."
Van gathered his courage and moved forward, closing the distance between them to look down at her. "It is tradition," he said huskily.
"Yeah. Tradition," Hitomi echoed breathlessly as Van's hands slid around the small of her back. Her own hands came up to rest on his chest and he tightened his grip to press her gently against him. Her green eyes fluttered closed as he bent his head to find her lips.
She was melting. It was the only way she could describe how she was feeling. Her bones dissolved into liquid, leaving her no choice but to wrap her arms around Van's shoulders for support. Rational thought flew away in every direction as her insides turned into some form of quivering jelly. Did he have any clue what he was doing to her? And where the hell did he learn to kiss like that?
Van didn't even bother trying to think. Too much blood had been diverted from his brain to other important areas of his anatomy for logical thought. By the gods, why hadn't he done this days ago?
A reverberating shout of "Hey! Lovebirds!" echoing from the kitchen jerked them unpleasantly back to reality. Hitomi giggled, burying her face in Van's shoulder. She could feel him chuckling softly under her hands, his own arms still wound tightly around her. She pulled away enough to look at his face.
"So, breakfast?" she asked with an ear to ear grin.
"Breakfast," he agreed.
