Hey! My best friend and I thought of this thing one day when we were driving home from Elephant Rock State Park in Missouri. It was thought of on a whim, and I promised I'd write it as a Christmas present for Jedi Bubbles. So here it is! Merry Christmas, mellon-nin!!
Disclaimer: This is the only disclaimer I will do for this whole fic. I do not own any characters in this fic except for Abriel, and my best friend, Jedi Bubbles, owns Zenshin, Toan, Keynu, Shino, Neo, Amina, and The Chaos Brothers.
The Christmas Gathering
Chapter 1: The Gundam Boys Play Ding-Dong Ditch
Heero rolled his eyes, wondering what the hell possessed him to go along with Duo's insane pranking plots. The pilot in question was fidgeting impatiently as they waited for the other three pilots to arrive. Finally, the doorbell rang. Duo jumped up and rushed to the front door, a flying ball of braided energy, and pulled the door open to find Chang Wufei, Quatre Raberba Winner, and Trowa Barton standing on the stoop. Heero rolled his eyes at Duo's antics as Relena sat down on the sofa next to him.
"Duo's quite energetic when he's excited, isn't he?" she asked quietly as Heero comfortably placed an arm around his lover's slim waist. She placed her hands gently in her lap, holding the glass of water she had gotten up to get as the three newcomers sat down nearby.
"Spill it, Duo." came Wufei's annoyed voice. "Why the hell did you call us out here on the only day a week we get off from Preventer work?" Duo, who had been thoughtfully facing the wall, now turned towards them with a characteristic smirk on his face.
"Three words. Ding. Dong. Ditch." came the reply, and Heero inwardly groaned, dropping his face into his hand.
Maxwell, I am going to murder you one of these days… he thought, though he didn't say it out loud. Duo was receiving blank looks from the rest of the Gundam pilots as he grinned like an idiot in front of them.
"You want us to play… Ding-Dong Ditch…?" came Quatre's voice after a moment. Duo nodded vigorously, the expression on his face turning evil. One could practically see the horns holding up the halo, and the tail and pitchfork were pretty darn hard to miss, too.
"Yep. And since you guys owe me for that time last week when you all were too damn tired to do any work, I thought that this could be your payback to me." he said smugly. Heero and Relena exchanged glances with the other Gundam pilots. Last week there had been a holiday party at Preventer HQ, and all the Gundam pilots had been there with their dates. What happened, though, was that they all ended up staying awake way too late that night due to all of the caffeine in their systems, and in Heero and Relena's case, a little too much alcohol. The two of them had woken up the next morning to find themselves passed out (for the first time), sprawled on the sofa at Heero's apartment. Duo had had way too much caffeine, and had driven everyone to their wits end. This caused several of the attending employees to go home early, even though it was pouring rain outside, explaining how Heero and Relena ended up where they were. The next day, none of them (except Duo, who didn't remember a thing) were awake enough to do any work, and Duo did it for them. This is why the other four Gundam pilots and Relena were in debt to the overly hyper Deathscythe pilot.
Grumbling, Heero and the rest of them acknowledged defeat, and Duo grinned even more evilly than before.
"Mu hu ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!" Duo cried, his maniacal laughter echoing throughout the small apartment. A few moments later, they were all walking out of the house through the falling snow, walking towards the house of the first unexpecting victim on this cold, white Christmas Eve.
Heero watched as Duo silently ran up to the first quiet house's door from a safe spot behind the trees.
How in the hell did I let myself get blackmailed into this…? he kept asking himself, even though his outer appearance was as stone-like as ever. He made a mental note to bind and gag Duo if he ever got too hyper again as the hyperactive pilot came dashing back to his hiding spot, giggling like the idiot he was. The poor owner of the house, an old lady who looked to be in her 70's, answered the door and looked around confusedly when she didn't see anyone. Bewildered, she shook her head and walked back inside.
"Ok, Heero! Your turn!" came Duo's giggling whisper, and Heero rolled his eyes before stealthily creeping up to the door. He quickly took note of his surroundings, and then rang the doorbell. He immediately heard a couple of footsteps and heard the door open, and, knowing that this was not good, quickly jumped up and grabbed hold of the gutter, swinging himself up onto the roof as he did so. A second later, the door opened, revealing the very flustered-looking old lady and Heero almost felt pity as she warily looked around. A few seconds later, the old lady went back inside, and Heero silently crept over to where he was sure he wouldn't be seen and jumped down off of the roof of the one-story building. He jogged back to his friends, only to find Duo rolling with laughter and Relena chuckling quietly under her scarf with Quatre and Trowa doing the same.
"Hn." was all Heero said, and it basically meant 'I don't see what's so funny.'
"O… Okay…" said Duo, once he had gotten control of his laughter. "I-It's my turn again… BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!" He burst into laughter again, and a few minutes later, he was going up to the door once again. He reached the door, but just as he was about to press the doorbell, the door flew open and there stood a livid old lady clutching a broom in her hands.
"Think it's funny, playing Ding-Dong Ditch with an old lady, do you?!" she cried. "Well, think again, buddy, 'cause there's gonna be murder tonight!!!" Duo paled visibly as she said this, and when she raised her broom, he ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, the lady following closely. For someone as old as she, she could sure run pretty damn fast, and Duo ran all over the area before the lady finally stopped chasing him and went back into her house, satisfied. Duo came back to his friends, nursing his bruised head, and said:
"Okay, that's the last time I play Ding-Dong Ditch. Let's go back to the apartment for some egg-nog and hot cocoa." And with that they all went back to Duo's apartment, laughing their heads off. Even Heero was in stitches from Duo's predicament. Upon hearing the unfamiliar peals of laughter echoing from their normally stoic friend, the rest of them turned to Heero, looking horrified and amazed.
"What?" he managed to gasp out. Relena and the other four pilots grimly turned to each other.
"It's the first sign of the Apocalypse. Heero has started laughing aloud." Wufei said. Everyone stared at each other for a moment before looking to Heero.
"Nah." they all said at the same time, and they all cracked up, heading back to their car at the base of the mountain.
In the home of the lady they were playing Ding-Dong Ditch with, Son Goku looked over at his wife, Chi-Chi, who was putting her broom away, chuckling good-naturedly even as she smugly brushed her hands off.
"Chi-Chi, did you…?" he began as Chi-Chi took off the grey wig and mask she had been wearing.
"Yes, Goku?" asked the now young-looking Chi-Chi as their 8-year-old son Gohan came down to see what all of the racket was about.
"Um… Did you really whack Duo with your broom?" Goku ventured. Chi-Chi smirked innocently.
"Don't worry. I didn't injure him too badly." she said reassuringly. Gohan chuckled a little, relieved.
"At least you didn't throw him out of a window!" he exclaimed, causing the entire family to laugh. Suddenly, Chi-Chi turned on Gohan, her eyes blazing.
"GOHAN!!" she shouted, and the boy in question flinched, turning to his mother.
"Y-Yes, mom?" he asked timidly. Chi-Chi pointed a finger up the stairs. Gohan looked crestfallen as he started walking up the stairs to his room.
"Clear up your textbooks and get back down here immediately." Chi-Chi said to her son's retreating back. "Then get on your snow equipment. We're going outside!!"
Gohan whirled around to look at his mother as Goku openly stared at her. Then the boys looked at each other and cheered, and then Gohan rushed up the stairs. A second later, he was back down in the living room, and the small family started to pull on their snow equipment, readying for a good, fun Christmas Eve.