"So, Hitomi, who's the new boyfriend?"

It was a Monday morning, Van had been staying with her for five days, and she had finally gotten up enough courage to let him stay home alone with Bozo. She turned to see Dryden, a tall man with thick-framed glasses, dark wavy hair, and intentions of dating her, standing and looking down into her face.

"Helloooo? Earth to Hitoooomi! I said, 'Who's the new boyfriend?'" He waved a hand in front of her face.

"Knock it off, Dryden," she replied, brushing his hand away and turning back to the photocopier. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Rick and I broke up last week, there's no one else. I haven't even thought of there being someone else." Hitomi stressed this, hoping he would take a hint.

"Well, I'm glad you're finally rid of Rick," Dryden said. "That guy was a creep. But that's not what I'm talking about. When I called you on Friday to see if you would be coming into work, some man answered the phone. He said you were sick. C'mon Hitomi, you're never sick. You can tell me what you were really doing." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

Hitomi wrinkled her nose and roughly shoved some papers into the machine. "That wasn't my boyfriend! That was, uh, my brother. Yup. And I was sick."

After surveying Hitomi's face for a while, Dryden switched to other tactics. "So if you don't have a boyfriend... There's a staff banquet this Friday. You know Mr MacDanel has made it mandatory to attend. I was wondering if you would want to come with -"

"Actually," Hitomi cut him off, "I lied. That was my boyfriend. Uh, his name is, er, Vick. Turns out that's why Rick and I broke it off." She cringed. Vick? Couldn't she think of anything more original?

"Oh. I'm sure I'll be seeing him at the banquet then, hey?"

"Actually, no. Vick isn't one for going out to eat. He'll just stay in and have some toast, I expect." She laughed nervously. "Likes his toast, that one."

"But Mr MacDanel said -"

Hitomi laughed forcedly again as the copying machine started to make loud protesting noises. "I know what he said, Dryden. But he did not say we had to bring guests now, did he?"

"What a wonderful idea, Miss Kanzaki!" a loud voice boomed behind her.

Hitomi spun around quickly. "O-oh. Mr. MacDanel. Imagine seeing you here. Heh... At the photocopier and all." She could've sworn she saw devil horns curling up from Dryden's bronzed hair.

"I was just telling Hitomi how thrilled you would be if she brought a guest to the banquet, Mr MacDanel."

Hitomi opened her mouth to protest. "Of course!" yelled their boss. "I would love to meet the man in our best secretary's life. Now, Dryden, I came to talk to you about this new project you're working on. Walk with me."

As the two men left the copying cubicle, Dryden winked in Hitomi's direction. She smiled dryly back at him and turned to the now insanely freaking out machine. Kicking it several times, she then grabbed her toe in its black, Italian, brand name shoe, and started hopping around.

"Son of a bi- Hi!" she called as someone looked around the corner at her. Grabbing her sheets, she hurried off to her office, trying to think of a way to pull off the banquet she was now forced to attend with her own guardian angel.

"Okay, so let me get this straight: I have to meet your boss and this Dryden creepo man, convince them I'm your new boyfriend, and I get what out of this?" Van was sitting on Hitomi's couch as she cut up beets for their supper.

Hitomi paused from her incessant cutting for a moment and looked out the window at Bozo, who was chasing a butterfly and barking madly. Sighing, the turned to the topless, winged man in front of her. "Basically, yes. And I don't suppose there's any way to hide your wings, is there? You're an angel; don't you heal on the spot? So can't I just, like, cut them off?" She brandished her red-stained knife.

"Uh, no," Van said. "That's the one thing you shouldn't ever do. Then I'd go -" he stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes "- dead. But actually, I can be rid of them for a while. Not the most pleasant feeling in the world, I assure you, but it is doable."

"Okay, so, with that out of the way, we just need to make up a plausible story for Vick, find him something to wear, and we're set."

"Um, Hitomi?"

"Yes?"

"Vick?"

"Yeah, I know. Bad choice of name on my part."

Van scoffed. "No kidding. Can't I just go by my actual name? I'm sure Drydel-er-whatever his name is, won't remember you didn't say Van."

"Dryden," she told him. "And he probably will. This guy is a major creep. Not even the kind of creep that just won't quit asking you out. He knows stuff about my personal life that I've never told anyone at the office."

"Oh. Big creep, eh?"

"Yes, huge creep."

"Can I give him a show?" Van asked, starting to smile.

Hitomi looked at her guest. "Um, no. I think it's best if we both kept a low profile at this thing."

Van was about to protest, when there was a thud from her window. They both turned to see Bozo staggering away, swaying on his feet. The butterfly he had been chasing fluttered innocently away.

"I honestly don't think I've ever seen a dog that stupid before," Van said.

Hitomi sighed. "Yeah, I'll give you that."

It was Friday at 6:30 and Hitomi was leaning against her closed bathroom door. She was dressed in a black dress, tapping her matching heels impatiently on the ground.

"Van! Hurry it up, we'll be late!"

Twenty minutes earlier, the angel had locked himself in the bathroom, insisting he didn't want Hitomi to watch him dispose of his wings for the night. Suddenly her door opened and she stumbled a bit. Two hands on her shoulders steadied her. Turning, she saw a wingless Van exiting the room wearing black dress pants and a white button-up shirt.

"Here," she said, handing him his jacket. He put it on, grimacing a bit. Hitomi hurried up to him and started to put a bright blue tie around his neck.

She had just finished knotting it for him and pulling it tight when a grunt of discomfort was emitted from his mouth. Looking up, she noticed how close she was to his face she was. He was wrinkling his nose and he squinted down at her.

"Does it hurt?" Hitomi asked him, still fiddling slowly with his tie.

"Not when I don't think about it," he said quietly, looking down at her. Then he smiled. "Get used to being this close to me all night, I'm giving creepo man a show he won't forget."

Hitomi sighed. "I told you, Van, no groping."

He laughed. "I swear, I don't grope. It'll be more like a gentle... rubbing."

"Don't be a perv."

"Fine. I'll keep Dryden off of you and you'll make me breakfast for the next week."

"I make breakfast for you anyways."

"True, but -"

"No buts," Hitomi interrupted. "We have to go or we'll be late."

Fifteen minutes later, Van and Hitomi walked into a huge room with mirrors on one wall, a hardwood floor, people everywhere, and a bandstand in the corner. Hitomi spotted Dryden midway through the room. He smiled at her and she grinned back, while whispering, "That's creepo man, there, Van," to her date.

He smiled, looking quite dashing with his dark suit and hair, took her hand softly, and muttered, "I'll only grope subtly, I promise."

Hitomi started to laugh quietly as Dryden made his way over to the two of them. When he got closer, she introduced Van. "Dryden! This is -"

"Van," the angel quickly interjected. "I'm Van Fanel. Nice to meet you." He reached out with his free hand to shake the other man's hand. Dryden replied appropriately and behind his glasses, his eyes quickly made their way down to the intertwined fingers of the couple in front of him. Hitomi smiled at him broadly then dragged Van off in another direction to a table.

"I thought we decided on Vick," she said through gritted teeth.

"Change of plans," Van mumbled. "Hi," he said to a young blonde woman who was eying him up. "Lovely night for a banquet, isn't it?"

Hitomi continued to drag her angel along until they got to a corner table. They seated themselves there. Five minutes later, when Mr MacDanel insisted everyone was seated, they were joined by Dryden, the blonde woman, Millerna, and a couple of Hitomi's friends, Allen and Merle. The seven of them smiled somewhat awkwardly at each other across the table.

Throughout the meal, Van would lean over to supposedly whisper something intimate in Hitomi's ear. Each time he would say something completely unromantic, and she had a hard time trying to act as if the things he was saying excited her. After a long meal, Mr MacDanel stood at his table, made a few toasts, and insisted everyone danced.

Hitomi saw Dryden start to move out of his seat to her and Van's side of the table, so she lightly grasped Van's face and turned him to look at her. "Dance, sweetheart?" she asked. He smiled, leaned in and kissed her temple, grabbed her hand and led her to the dance floor.

As he entwined his arms around her waist he said, "I deserve an award for my performance tonight, my dear."

Hitomi agreed with him. As she was looking over his shoulder, she saw Dryden watching her and Van dance. She looked up at Van's face. He was concentrated somewhere off in the distance. Turning them so Dryden could see, Hitomi whispered, "Van, kiss me."

His attention snapped back to the woman in his arms. He looked quizzically down at her before she stretched herself lightly up on her toes to kiss him lightly for a second. When she pulled herself away from his mouth, he took a breath and opened his eyes. After looking at her for a couple of moments, he kissed her, slightly longer and more passionately.

Hitomi swore that when she opened her eyes, they were sparkling. She had kissed plenty of men before and it had often left her breathless with the pleasant feeling it gave her. But no man compared to kissing an angel. It was like he worked some kind of magic with her mouth when he kissed her.

"It's been hundreds of years since I last did that," Van whispered as Hitomi propped her chin on his shoulder and they continued to dance. "I forgot it felt like that."

"Like what?" Hitomi asked.

"Like... being home."

"You mean heaven?"

Van said nothing, he just rested his lips on Hitomi's forehead and continued to sway to the music.

"Welcome home, Van," she said quietly to him.

(A/N: Yup. I love V/H fluff. Mostly cuz Van is just too sexy for words. Therefore, I won't write a long author's note.)