Title: Chef Heero's Selection #10: Contributing to the Christmas Spirit.
Author: Keiran
Pairing: implied 1x2x1
Rating: PG.
Warning: shounen-ai
Word Count: 895
Thank you Deb for betaing! glomps Deb
Heero glared his way through a crowd. He cursed internally at the braided idiot, who seemed to think that Christmas shopping was fun. He cursed at the braided idiot who seemed to think that getting sick a week before Christmas was fun.
Very carefully, Heero paused and inspected one of the bags. Oranges, check. Lemons, check. Grapefruit, check. Tea, check. Honey, check. The braided idiot will be up and about for Christmas, if it killed him.
Finally reaching his car, Heero sat down with a soft whoosh. Mentally he went through his shopping list. Yes, he did have everything. Upon receiving confirmation, his mind automatically switched to other matters. Would a French onion soup be acceptable for Duo's cold? Or would a simple broth be better? Pondering the question, Heero pulled out of the mall's car park and carefully drove home.
Parking his car before his apartment block, Heero came to a decision: French onion soup. Not only did it contain onions, which were rather healthy, but also it would be accompanied with toast with garlic and melted cheese. Garlic was healthy as well.
Plus of course there were having guests. Heero shook his head. Their collective morons of friends apparently decided that a sick Duo needed both attention and cheering up. The dark-haired man snorted to himself, carrying the bags inside. As if he wouldn't provide both on his own!
As he opened the doors, all of Heero's senses were assaulted by Christmas. The living room was mostly dark, save for a few small lights in the corners and a magnificent Christmas tree, whose smell, mixed with freshly baked set of Christmas cookies, filled the air. There was laughter in the atmosphere, combined with overwhelming warmth, not necessarily of the sweltering category. Heero stopped in the doorway, leaning his head against the wall.
Predictably, Duo was in the middle of it all, safely tucked in a blanket and warm socks, sitting in the middle of the couch with a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. His eyes brightened when he saw his boyfriend.
"Heero! C'mere!" he exclaimed patting the couch next to himself. Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, Sally and, by some Christmas miracle, Relena were all seated around him on the carpet and rolled-up blankets. The dark-haired man obeyed, hugging Duo and pressing a kiss to his cheek.
"Since you seem to be feeling so much better, I understand you will be doing the seasonal cleaning tomorrow?" Duo scrunched his nose adorably.
"Nope. I'm still very, very ill," he answered, beaming. The group laughed. Heero gave his partner one final squeeze and got up.
"I'll start cooking then," he announced. He noted, with some pleasure, that Trowa, Quatre and Wufei squirmed slightly in place and opened their mouths in unison. "But since Duo is sick, I'm afraid I can't risk experimenting," he sighed dramatically. He grinned wryly when he saw the three visibly relax. Duo, however, pouted.
"Hey! You just got back and you're goin' back to the kitchen already?" Heero smirked and bent down to nuzzle Duo's neck.
"I won't be long. The shopping needs to be put away," he said taking a deep breath and pausing. Something didn't smell… usual. It was a nice smell, albeit unusual. "What is that smell?" Heero asked puzzled, inhaling deeply. Slightly spicy with a note of fresh citrus…
The group's curiosity was piqued. As one, the five young people got up and Duo suddenly found himself being sniffed by six curious individuals. "Hey!" he batted at them with one hand, having left the empty cup in Wufei's care some minutes ago. "Down boys! And girls! I ain't a smelling post!"
A bit unwillingly, everyone, save Heero, backed down. "What is it?" Relena asked curiously. "It smells nice." Duo's cheeks coloured slightly as he looked down. He mumbled something into the folds of the blanket. After a few seconds he reluctantly withdrew the other arm from under the blanket.
"It's bit silly I know," he murmured, face flaming. In his hand was a round, mostly brown… thing, for a lack of better word. Six curious heads neared the unknown object cautiously.
"What is it?" someone asked finally after confirming that indeed that was the source of the spicy smell. Duo's cheeks went a little more red.
"It's just an orange," he mumbled. "Spiked with cloves." His eyes raised to meet Heero's uncertainly. "Sister Helen bought oranges at Christmas for us, but there was never enough for us all to have one, so we had to share, but she would always take one and spike it with cloves. She said it was important that Christmas was not only food but smell and light too." Ducking his head slightly he continued. "I… always tried to have one for Christmas."
A brief silence descended on the room. Duo could distinctively here the roaring of his own blood echoing off the walls. 'Right now I could probably save Christmas on my own,' he though dryly to himself, 'what with my ears flaming like that.'
He was, therefore, surprised, when his small frame was crushed under a weight-equivalent of a wheelbarrow of bricks in a very enthusiastic, teary-eyed group hug.
The spiked orange rolled under the Christmas tree, its scent mixing with that of green needles, contributing to the Christmas Spirit, even though there was still, technically speaking, a week to go.
Note: We do that to an orange, every Christmas! It really smells nice, less intensive than cloves alone, more spicy than an orange. The really nice thing is, that the whole thing somehow holds really well and smells good the whole time! It just dries. Last Christmas I think we kept ours until February!