A Reason for the Season

Part Two

When the day-by-day calendar he had received for Thanksgiving proclaimed the day to be December twenty-fourth, Heero allowed a bit of a jump to wiggle its way into his step. He knew it was uncharacteristic, and possibly aneurysm inducing, but the Christmas season was his one true weakness.

He had always held Christmas on something of a pedestal: no matter what, nothing could ruin Christmas. Christmas Eve could suck all it wanted, so long as Christmas Day was reserved for peace, tranquility, and happiness. He could continue along that vein, becoming sappier as he went, but he figured there were only so many aneurysms a person could have before they turned into a puddle of red goo.

Being the anal-retentive person that he was, Heero had finished all of his Christmas shopping in November, with exactly the same rankings to everyone's gifts, categorized by want, need, and propriety. The gifts were are neatly stacked along his living room wall, shining in their happy silver, red, and green wrappings and standing hideously out of place in the sparsely-decorated space that was Heero's apartment.

But today was Christmas Eve. Today was the day he delivered all the presents, so that their owners could open them Christmas Morning -- or very late Christmas Eve, if their curiosity got the better of them, as he didn't really mind -- in all the glory that the event carried with it. His past deliveries had been hindered by a few large explosions, but not this year's! This year he would deliver the gifts, come Hell or high water (though, considering his location, high snow would probably be more appropriate).

He delivered Relena's gifts with very little to-do, as she was out for the evening and a manservant was the only one around to place them under the tree. Wu Fei's were delivered to a slightly stunned hand, and Heero received a two-for-one as Sally appeared to be spending Christmas with the Chinese man as well. Trowa and Quatre ushered him in for a bit of hot cocoa, which he accepted politely. Une had made it clear she was spending Christmas with the only people of any importance to her whatsoever: Mariemeia, Zechs, and Noin. While carrying the bulky presents up four flights of stairs had been a big of a drag, Heero was glad to get so many delivered at once. You could never say too much for multi-tasking! (And the look on Zechs' face, accompanied by sniggering on Noin's, didn't hurt matters much, either.)

It wasn't until he reached Duo's apartment that he hit a snag. When Duo opened the door to see Heero holding his little shopping bag of gifts, he promptly shut it again, giving no explanation whatsoever. When continuing to knock didn't seem to be rendering any positive response, Heero took the hint. So Duo didn't like gifts. That was fine.

But he was really going to have to learn to.