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Author: jkkitty
Prompt words: Hitch and Snarl
Prompt Colour: power blue
Word Count: 791
Napoleon looked around the decked out stage with Christmas trees and lights for the upcoming holiday. He had organized a group of Section two agents to help design and build the Nativity play. Looking over the scene before him, took him back to his childhood and the Catholic school he had attended.
Each year they would have the Nativity play and he always hoped to be picked for the part of Caspar the younger who brought frankincense. It wasn’t until he was in eighth grade that he was chosen as Melchior who was an old, white-haired, bearded king who brought gold much to his disappointment. He still remembered the teasing of his classmates.
Excited about being in charge of the program, he asked Illya to help. At first, Illya had been hesitance to lend a hand but after being reminded that it was for the children of UNCLE employees, he agreed.
Of course one thing after another had happened to the Russian as he worked on the hall. First he had hitched his pants on the cradle he had been painting, tearing them up the back seam which made the women working with him enjoy the view. After snarling at Napoleon who happened to witness the accident, Illya had threatened to quit but a promise of a good bottle of vodka had him deciding to continue working.
Then when hammering on the Star above the stable, Illya had hit his trigger finger. A deafening snarl followed by a string of Russian expletives could be heard throughout the hall. Napoleon had heard the cursing and managed to head Illya off as he headed out the door. An invitation to go out for a meal after they were finished smoothed his partner’s temper and Illya went back to work.
Looking for his accident prone partner who had been painting the powder blue sky, he couldn’t see him around. The sky looked beautiful so Illya was finished. It was then that he noticed a little slash of the paint had dropped on the stage. Grabbing a rag and some turpentine, he started to clean the area of the spill.
“April have you seen Illya?” Napoleon asked as she was walking by with a hand full of straw for the manger.
“Last I saw he was up on the ladder painting.” She called back as she began to spread the straw on the stable’s floor.
Looking at the ladder against the wall, Napoleon noticed it was scattered with areas of sky blue. Something told him he had better locate his partner.
In the hall there was a trail of blue dots heading toward the bathroom.
The expletives coming from one of the stalls as he opened the door made it clear that Illya was inside.
“Illya?” Napoleon called out when he didn’t see him.
“If you value your life, I would suggest you leave right now!” Illya growled in answer.
“Hey partner, what’s a matter? Can I help?”
“Do not partner me!” Illya threatened as he walked out of the stall. “You with your capitalist ideas of holidays have helped enough for one day. My pants are destroyed, my finger is swollen, an

One look at him had Napoleon roaring with laughter. He did try to control it but he couldn’t help it. . Looking as if he was ready to murder someone stood a furious blue- haired Russian
“You find this funny?” Illya demanded pointing to his hair.
Instead of staying quiet as his instinct told him to, Napoleon said. “Well now you’ll have to get that haircut that Waverly was on your back about.”
The next thing Napoleon knew he was on the ground, his eye aching as his partner stormed out the door.
……..
Waverly was looking over the room his people had turned into a holiday spectacle before the children were let in His men and women had done an excellent job and he was proud of them. Speaking of which, he wondered when Solo and Kuryakin would arrive. He wanted to congratulate personally on the job they had done. As if they heard his thought, the two men entered.
When they reached him, he noticed Illya’s extremely short hair and Napoleon’s black eye.
“Gentlemen?” He asked.


“Stage accidents,” they said together leaving it at that as they joined their boss who was chuckling and shaking his head. He wouldn’t ask as he doubted they would fess-up to what actually happened, but then that what made them so good. No mattered what happened between them, they would always stick up for once another.
“Gentlemen, I believe our guests have arrived. Shell we greet them.”
Napoleon and Illya passed a grin between them and joined Waverly in receiving the children.