Suggestions had been made to the increasingly-frustrated young man, everything from the time-honored method of locking them together in a closet (from Sharon in Accounting), to just telling him openly (Wufei's suggestion), to hitting him over the head, tying him to the back of a motorcycle, and taking off to ravish him for days. The last idea had been put forth by a young writing student who was coming to visit her brother, an agent who was currently laid up in the Preventers hospital. At the time it had just sounded amusing, but the prospect was becoming increasingly attractive as time went on.

That's not to say that there weren't any sparks between the pair, because there were. There were plenty of sparks. Unfortunately not a single one of them seemed to be able to start a fire, no matter how much Heero fanned the flame.

He had asked Duo out to dinner hundreds of times and no matter where they went or what he said, the braided man treated it like just another outing with his best friend. Trips to the movies had gone similarly. When -- in what was either a freak accident or the scheming of a certain accountant -- the two of them actually had gotten locked in a closet accidentally, Duo had simply picked the lock with a reassurance that they'd "be out in no time!"

Heero had wanted to tell Duo to put down the lock picks so that they could just talk, but they'd been on a mission at the time, and he didn't think the excuse would fly with Commander Une.

"I wanted to seduce him! The terrorists could wait."

No, it wouldn't work.

When Christmas once again rolled around, the Preventers annual Christmas party also came flying. Plans were made, gifts were bought, and Heero was once again approached to help coordinate the preparations. In the past he had always managed to avoid this duty by flatly turning down those in charge, and he was about to do so once again...when he had an idea.

It probably wasn't the most ingenious idea in the world, and it had probably been used several times before, but it would hopefully let him tell Duo how he felt. So for once he accepted the request, but with a single condition the other coordinators were happy to fulfill.

Heero threaded through the large crowd of people in the large conference room -- that had been converted to the main room for the Christmas party -- while doing his best not to be pulled into conversation. A few people wished him a Merry Christmas, and he responded with a single nod in return (something most people realized to be his version of an effusive greeting). However, he wasn't looking for well-wishers, he was looking for Duo.

After searching for a few minutes, he finally spotted the object of his years-old affection, chatting with a slightly inebriated Une who had apparently drunk too much of the pre-spiked punch. That wasn't counting whatever other alcohol had later been added.

Hovering almost nonchalantly nearby, Sally was keeping an eye on their Commander to make sure that she didn't do anything that would permanently damage her reputation. While it was funny to see people doing that, Une couldn't afford even a minor loss of prestige, not while she had to keep control of a madhouse full of people like the Preventers.

He carefully pushed past a few more party-goers as he approached the trio, a small smile on his face as Duo laughed at whatever strange joke Une had come up with. Heero didn't know what exactly she'd said, being more focused on the sound of Duo's laughter, and the way his expression lit up. That was all that mattered to him at the moment.

"Duo?" he called out as he got closer. The braided man turned to face him, and then grinned.

"Hey Heero! I wasn't expecting to see you here, usually you're holed up in your office or something!"

"I have to be here, I helped plan everything."

That got him a moment of silence as Duo stared in surprise at him, and then grinned again. "What'd they bribe you with, some really expensive computer toys?"

"And the chance to play with the Preventers' super computer," Heero responded, though Duo's surprise was less this time. Everyone had slowly been growing used to his sense of humor (and the fact that he had one) now that it had started showing itself.

"You're gonna have fun with that," Duo quipped, and then slung an arm around Heero's shoulders companionably. "I can just see it, you'll enter the room and a holy light will start shining out, bathing you in the glory. You'll see the light and be redeemed! Hallelujah!"

Heero resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but didn't do anything about Duo's arm. That part felt good. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sally leading Une away with a conspiratorial wink at him, and a thumbs up for good luck. Hopefully he wouldn't need too much luck to carry this off...

"Do you have a minute? I need to tell you something," he asked Duo, who just nodded companionably.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Over here," Heero replied, leading Duo toward a corner of the party that had been left almost conspicuously absent, as if everyone was avoiding it.

"Doesn't look like there's much over here," Duo commented, and then turned to face Heero, his usual grin in place. "Well?"

Heero reached into a pocket and touched a button. Over Duo's head, a small box popped open, and a sprig of mistletoe dangled down over the braided man's head from where it had been hiding. Duo caught sight of the motion above him and looked up, staring at the piece of greenery with surprise and a bit of confusion.

"Er...Heero?" he asked, but Heero didn't give him a chance to say anything else.

"I've been trying to tell you this for a long time, but you don't seem to be able to figure it out. So it looks like I'm going to have to just tell you straight out," he said as he stepped forward, until he and Duo were nose-to-nose. Hoping that the situation would work out in the best way possible, he took a deep breath and said, "I love you."

There was a long moment of silence as Duo stared, and then blinked, and then stared some more before he shook his head just slightly. Heero felt himself start to tense up at the motion, and he hoped that that hadn't been the first sign of rejection. He hadn't let himself think about rejection, about failure.

"But you already love someone!" Duo protested softly, unconsciously keeping his voice low so as not to be heard by anyone else. Heero relaxed at that; he wasn't being rejected.

"I love you," he stated firmly.

"...you do?"

"Yes."

"...how long?" Duo's voice was weak with disbelief.

Heero shook his head with a touch of exasperation. Duo really had been blind, or at least had been ignoring the topic as much as he could. "I've always loved you," he said, and then kissed him underneath the mistletoe.

When they came up for air, the braided man blinked a few times as he processed the information, and then smiled suddenly as the concept registered. "Okay," he finally replied, and then reached up and hauled Heero's lips to his once more.