[fic] love in action; gilmore girls; luke/lorelai

[delacourtings]

love in action. gilmore girls. luke/lorelai. pg. 992.
it's an ugly christmas sweater party. you can't not wear an ugly christmas sweater to an ugly christmas sweater party.
for card_writing's holiday prompt meme.

luke stares at the offending item flatly. "i'm not wearing that."

"uh, yes you are," lorelai counters, waving the sweater around in her hands.

luke glares over at her from where's he pouring someone a new cup of coffee. "no. i'm not."

"luke!" lorelai yells, scoffing at him flat out refusing to wear the sweater.

"lorelai!" he mimicks, earning a tongue stuck out at him behind his back.

"it's an ugly christmas sweater party. you can't not wear an ugly christmas sweater to an ugly christmas sweater party." lorelai says, shifting on her feet where she stands at the counter, burning a hole into the back of luke's head. luke turns around, slides a customer their order and hands another their receipt before turning his attention back to lorelai.

"i can. and i will."

"come on," lorelai whines, her eyes suddenly beginning to sparkle and a smile that can only mean trouble forming on her face. "i'll make it worth your while," she sing-songs, voice as sweet as honey.

luke leans over and puts his arms down on the counter in front of her, positions himself to where their faces are only a few inches apart. "no."

he leans back again, going back to attending the patrons in the diner. "if you don't promise to wear it in the next two seconds i'm going to have to resort to begging," lorelai calls after him.

"no, you won't," he calls back, imitating her sickly-sweet voice from earlier.

"oh, i will," she recounts, grinning evilly. "loudly. and all of these innocent customers will witness it. and they'll wonder. what did that mean, old, scary diner owner man do to this poor woman to make her beg like this? and slowly but surely they will start to fade away. one by one they'll stop coming here and go to al's instead. until one day you look up and realize you don't have any customers anymore. and you'll slowly wither away because your life no longer has meaning. all because you wouldn't wear this ugly christmas sweater."

luke sighs, putting the coffee pot back in it's place. "i'm not wearing the sweater, lorelai."

"please," lorelai begs, her voice gaining volume and the attention of the customers. "please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. please ---"

luke ignores it the best of his ability before the combination of her voice and the glances the customers are throwing him make him snap. "it's from that freezing movie you forced us to go see, which by the way is for children, and not to mention it has a moose on it!"

"okay, first of all it's frozen and it's a film for all ages. i think we can all agree on that," lorelai says, gesturing to the diner goers who no longer seem to care. "and second of all, he's a reindeer, luke! how could you?"

"i'm not wearing it. end of discussion."

------

"i can't believe i'm doing this." luke says as they stand in front of the door of the gilmore residence.

lorelai leans closer to him, grins. "you love me."

"yeah, yeah, yeah," luke replies, fiddling with the collar of his sweater. "let's just get this over with."

lorelai blows a kiss at him before ringing the door, jumping slightly when a petite maid opens it almost immediately. "um, hi. you're not svetlana. i was expecting, uh, nevermind. sorry, i'm lorelai, emily's daughter. who are you?"

"the new maid, ma'am. may i take your coat now, please?"

"oh, sure!" lorelai says, sliding off her coat. "yeah, here you go. okay, alright, just take that then." she says, watching the maid disappear down the hallway. "where is she going?" lorelai whispers to luke. "unless my mother has renovated in the last five days since i've been here, which i would not put past her, by the way, she is not going to the coat room. and you know where coats go? in the coat room. that is the entire purpose of coat rooms!"

"wasn't your first kiss in a coat room?" luke asks, taking a mint from the glass bowl of them sitting on the entryway table.

"focus, luke, focus!"

luke sighs. "it's just a coat, lorelai. i'm sure it will be fine."

lorelai gasps. "it is not just a coat. it is a coat with a candy bar in the pocket. a good candy bar. a chocolate candy bar. that i was planning on eating before my mother's new minion took it hostage."

"well, if we stopped standing in the hallway and actually went inside we might actually get to eat something more than a tiny candy bar."

"eh," lorelai said, glancing to where the maid had disappeared and to the dining room. "i guess you're right."

"good." luke grabbed her hand. "let's go."

lorelai turned to look behind her as they began to walk out of the room. "goodbye, my love." she called to the coat. "we had a good run."

"jesus christ."

---

"lorelai." luke says, stopping in the doorway of the room and almost making lorelai walk straight into him.

"what? what's wrong?" she asks as she notices him still frozen in place. "did you look into my mother's eyes? i warned you to never do that! i told you she'd turn you to stone!"

luke turns around to face her. "you said," he points a finger at her accusingly and lorelai frowns, leaning away from it. "this was an and i quote 'ugly christmas sweater party.'"

"yeah," lorelai glances around the room. "so?"

"so, why are we the only ones wearing any?"

"oh, yeah," lorelai smiles. "forgot to mention. it's only an ugly christmas sweater party for us."

"what?" luke narrows his eyes.

"for everyone else it's a black tie affair." she giggles, delightig in luke's disbelieving expression.

"i'm getting a drink." he mutters, walking off towards the bar.

"loreali!" a shriek voice calls and lorelai quickly spins around.

"mom, hi!"