A/N: This came to me as my grandmother and I experienced problem after problem while cooking for Thanksgiving. Luckily, we started early so it didn't end in catastrophe. I apologize now for any spelling errors. It's 2am and I've been driving/shopping/cooking all day.
Warnings: Possbile OOC, very light sap. (blink and you'll miss it!)
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. Please don't sue. All you'll get is some dirty dishes.
Mission: Turkey Day
By CaramelAriana
It was one of those ideas that should have been abandoned from the beginning. The mission was doomed to failure. But Duo had wanted to celebrate the holiday and had easily convinced Quatre to take his side. Once that feat had been accomplished, there really was no saying no. Once Quatre wanted something, it wasn't a safe bet that Trowa would agree. And Heero, though he would never admit it, really couldn't say no to something his braided partner obviously wanted so much. Once Heero agreed to something, Wufei usually followed suit. Despite this rather inevitable chain of events, the mission should have been scrapped. The state of the safe-house was testimony to that.
It all started on a Wednesday evening when Quatre and Duo arrived from the grocery store carrying much more food than was necessary. When pressed, Duo had announced that the following day the pilots would be celebrating Thanksgiving. Heero had originally resisted, claiming that holidays were distractions. Quatre had then turned his big eyes to Trowa who immediately agreed that celebrating the old American holiday would be a good idea. It was difficult to pinpoint when exactly Heero had been convinced. Not five seconds later Wufei grudgingly gave in.
The next morning the five pilots began cooking immediately after waking. That was when the problems began. First off, the turkey was the first thing they placed in the oven. The stupidity of that decision was discovered when they realized they could not put anything in the oven for the four hours the turkey would take to bake. That of course had sparked its own problems. Duo had insisted that the turkey only needed to be cooked for an hour while Quatre insisted that it would need at least four. Quatre's guess proved to be right after Heero consulted his handy laptop.
The next problem came with the discovery that the turkey had been placed in the oven before it was stuffed. Deciding that no ingredients should go to waste, the pilots agreed to cook the stuffing stove-top. Unfortunately the safe-house did not have a grater, but it did have a food processor. All went well until the garlic had to be sliced. They dumped the pieces into the food processor, which spit them back out almost completely whole. Trowa was set with the task of slicing the garlic into tiny pieces. In retrospect, it probably would have been a better job for Heero with his obsession with detail. In any case it would have prevented the fight that later ensued between he and Duo.
Though the oven had been monopolized by the turkey, Duo decided they needed to get to work on the pies. After following the directions, they ended up with more filling than the recipe called for. They only had two pie crusts and enough filling for four. Heero had gotten upset and blamed Duo for messing up the recipe. Duo had surprisingly remained calm and tried to explain the art of baking. It was only after Heero refused to understand the idea that the best chef didn't follow exact directions that Duo grew frustrated. After a heated argument Duo finally decided that he would just eat the extra filling. Wufei, fearing the combination of Duo with a large amount of sugar, suggested Heero also eat some of the filling seeing as he was partly responsible for the excess.
No one had considered that Heero might have never experienced a sugar rush. After eating the equivalent of a whole pie's worth of filling, everyone discovered what a hyped up Heero would like. Duo, having more experience in the sugar rush department, led Heero around the safe-house in manic glee. This had left the three remaining pilots to take care of the cooking themselves. Eventually Wufei had to take up sentry at the kitchen door and leave the cooking and baking to Trowa and Quatre. With only two people preparing the Thanksgiving meal, it took much longer than anticipated for dinner to be ready.
Finally all five pilots sat around the dinner table. Duo and Heero had crashed from their sugar rush and were slumped in their seats. Wufei was cranky from having to deal with the two manic pilots all afternoon. Quatre and Trowa were exhausted from cooking all day. The turkey was cold, the mashed potatoes were chunky, the gravy was thin, and the rolls were burnt. Suddenly Duo gave everyone a genuine smile and thanked them all for having Thanksgiving with him. He then went on to describe Thanksgiving dinner at the Maxwell Church. He talked about how meaningful the holiday was because it reminded him that he always had something to be thankful.
With the sudden meaning attached to the dinner, everyone ate forgetting about how imperfect the food was. Tomorrow they might experience indigestion. Tomorrow Heero would discover that sugar is actually highly addictive. Tomorrow the pilots would realize just how much damage Heero and Duo had caused during their sugar high. Tomorrow they would have to clean the entire kitchen. Tomorrow they would find that the apple cider was indeed champagne and didn't just "taste funny".
Yes, this was indeed a mission that should have been scrapped from the very beginning. Or maybe "mission accomplished" didn't always mean "mission perfect".
A/N: Sorry if that was absolutely horrendous. My brain is no longer functioning. Reviews welcome and desired. Happy Thanksgiving!