Title: Lions in Disguise
Characters/Pairing: Jeremy and Juliet, mention of the rest of the family
Word Count: 369
Rating: G
Summary: They could have Christmas at home, but origami is much more fun.
Notes: Written as a Christmas drabble for
kawaiispinel, and inspired by
this particular event, which I really wish I could go see.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dirty Sexy Money, Jeremy and Juliet, or the American Museum of Natural History. Too bad, because they are all really cool.
It isn't as if they don't have every possible Christmas decoration at home, or as if there's not enough holiday spirit there. The Darlings know how to do Christmas.
Despite that, on Christmas Eve, Jeremy and Juliet aren't at home, but rather sitting cross-legged next to each other on a bench in the American Museum of National History, looking at a Christmas tree decorated not with lights or ornaments, but thousands of origami creatures, dragons and unicorns, peacocks, narwhals, phoenixes, dangling from the branches and spiraling around it in colorful patterns and bright paper.
Jeremy's got a few pieces of paper in his hands and on the bench beside him. The museum's got volunteers teaching children how to make origami figures, handing out origami paper, and Jeremy, of course, couldn't resist.
Juliet grins as she watches him fumbling with the paper, trying to tuck one flap into another in a way she can't imagine is going to form anything at all. He hadn't been satisfied with the typical swan - no, Jeremy was intent on making Juliet an origami lion, her favorite animal.
"Do you want any help there?" she asks, a tiny smile playing at the corners of her lips.
"Nope." Jeremy's frowning at the paper in his hands like he's just waiting for it to tell him how he's supposed to do this. "I'm just fine."
"That doesn't look like a cat."
"Duh, not yet."
"It doesn't look like anything."
He sighed and crumpled it up, tossed it aside and grabbed another paper. Juliet decided to be nice and not say anything as he started over. A couple minutes later, he handed her a tiny origami figure.
"It's a lion," he says with a teasing grin.
"It looks a lot like a swan."
"It's in disguise."
Her phone vibrates in her pocket, and she knows it's her mother calling to ask where they are, it's Christmas Eve and the family ought to be together... And she and Jeremy will go home, just not yet. Juliet ignores it.
"Do you want to try again?" she asks, grinning at him brightly, and he laughs and plucks the swan out of her fingers.
"Yeah, I really do."