Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Coming Closer ❯ Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Coming Closer - Part 1/3

 

Author: Freya

 

Rating: NC-17

 

Pairing: Duo/Heero, slight background Wufei/Relena.

 

Warning: Yaoi, Angst, Romance, and Lemon.

 

Sum: Once Heero finds out he has no idea what to get Duo for X-mas, Relena takes drastic measures to make sure he and his boyfriend come closer for the holidays.

 

~*~*~*~

 

 

"So, what exactly do you want to get for Duo?" asked Relena as she and Heero entered a small antique shop. Her large blue eyes stared dully around the small store they'd just entered, seeing as this was all the kind of cheap stuff one would buy for someone just to say they bought someone something. The look on Heero's face looked pretty clueless just to add to this odd moment. "This doesn't seem like the kind of stuff he would want," Relena stated as her eyebrow quirked at a dusty vase her leg just slid across. The people in this place didn't even bother to keep their merchandise clean.

 

 

"You're probably right," Heero said apathetically while he fingered the old wooden shelves. This was the fifth or sixth store he dragged Relena into that day, to buy a Christmas present for a boyfriend he slowly began to realize he hardly knew anything about. Thinking about this upset Heero. Nothing like the holidays to bring his worst problems out into the open. "I don't know what to get for him. Why do you think I asked you to come with me?"

 

 

"I suppose spending quality time with me isn't an answer?" Relena said in a playful, joking manner. Her intension was the cheer him up. He'd been completely uptight and unsure about this entire holiday shopping situation since the moment he walked out of his house. She was surprised he didn't forget to put his pants on that morning, since he wanted to get this 'nightmare', as he put it, over with so quickly. It was only Christmas, after all. Duo wasn't the type to dump a bucket of hot coals down someone's shirt if they didn't do something perfectly. But, Heero was Mr. Perfectionist, and he felt like poking through every crappy little store in the entire mall before going home.

 

 

"I didn't mean it like that." His response was so clear and cut-throat that Relena's entire body gave a startled jerk. She hadn't meant to make him think she was offended. Sometimes, she really wished she could take her spoiled little brat image and shove it.

 

 

A few seconds after getting over the slight shock, Relena smiled and gently rested one of her hands on his left shoulder. Her manicured nails sparkled with the colors of Christmas lights that blinked in the background. "I know. I'm only teasing you."

 

 

"Holiday humor?" His tone was very curt, causing a small scowl to form on Relena's face.

 

 

"Something like that." Her tone of voice had just dropped quite a few notches on the happy scale. Even her favorite Christmas song began to play in the store, but the thick tension between herself and Heero at the moment completely drowned out its giddy tunes. She had to refrain from becoming totally pissed and lashing out at him, though. The press could be anywhere, and the front page of tomorrow's paper really didn't need to read: "Vice Foreign Minister Darlian and Her Body Guard Have it Out in the Sanc Kingdom Shopping Department!" She wasn't in the mood for reporters during the holidays; especially since this was the time of year the incident with Mariemaia happened. It may have been three years ago, but she could clearly remember being brutally hounded by the press, as if incident had happened just yesterday. She didn't like Christmas much since then.

 

 

After about twenty minutes of eying and re-eying just about every item on every shelf, Relena took Heero's arm in hers and forcefully dragged him out of the antique shop. Even she knew that little glass swans and musical snow globes weren't ideal gifts for the type of person Duo was. If anything, the only pleasure Relena could see Duo getting out of anything in the antique shop was a chance to break something. She knew that would hurt Heero's feelings, though. He never spends hours in pursuit of nothing, after all.

 

 

"What kind of things does Duo like?" Relena asked, not being entirely sure of what Duo liked herself. Just because she knew one thing he most likely didn't want didn't automatically make her an expert. After all, she and Duo weren't exactly close; but, he never did get enough of telling her how pretty she is.

 

 

"I don't know," Heero answered honestly, albeit he didn't really want to talk about it. He'd just admitted to Relena that he knew little about a guy he'd been dating for such a long time. How long, he didn't even know anymore. However, Heero did remember the day he and Duo told Relena about them. She had such a cheery smile on her face, yet such a broken look in her eyes. He didn't want to imagine what was going on in her head at that time, and especially not in the present.

 

 

After awhile of awkward silence between the two of them, Relena and Heero decided that it was probably best to start heading home. Wandering aimlessly around a crowded mall wasn't their idea of fun; it wasn't their idea of getting anything accomplished, either. Neither of them had a bloody clue what the hell Duo wanted. This was the day before Christmas Eve, too, and Heero still didn't have anything good. He felt like he was really letting Duo down. Even more, he was letting himself down, since he had little confidence in his own intuition.

 

 

---

 

 

Pagan put the sound-proof window up between the front and back seats of the limo. Relena wanted complete privacy with Heero. What was probably her best, and only, true friend in this world was struggling with love problems, and she wanted to help him out badly. She saw the way Heero and Duo looked at one another, as if they were the only two people on the planet. It was so bloody romantic, it made her blush.

 

 

'They are each other's lives; I'll be damned if anything happens to that,' Relena thought to herself while Heero shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Pretty soon, she shifted pretty awkwardly in her own discomfort. 'It's about time I got new seats for this car. These springs are killing me.'

 

 

"So," Relena started, with a very calm and somber tone of voice. She had to take awhile for her anger to die down, so not to lash out at Heero for his stupidity. She still felt really sorry for Duo, though. "You don't know what to get him, at all?"

 

 

Heero sighed sadly and shook his head. "No."

 

 

"You've been living with him for... four? six months now?" Heero nodded again. He had to bite his lip to keep his true emotions in check. The last thing he wanted was to be coddled by the very princess he swore to protect.

 

 

Relena was biting back her own emotions, as well, seeing as she really could not believe what she was hearing. She always believed that the reason Heero didn't want to be with her was because he and Duo were truly meant for each other. The way their personalities balanced out well, and how much trust and faith they had in each other. She'd be positively crushed if Heero and Duo were to lose that.

 

 

"Heero, please tell me. What's wrong?"

 

 

Relena knew he didn't want to talk about it. In his eyes, she could always see a void filled with so many deep thoughts and secrets. He was never really the type to open up; he was also someone she wouldn't be able to fully understand for the life of her. She thought Duo might've been able to change that in Heero. Turns out, the braided boy only got about as far as she ever could. Three years after the war, and Heero still couldn't look someone directly in the eye and talk to them. Relena thought that was incredibly sad, for both Heero and Duo.

 

 

"We don't really... talk," Heero finally admitted, though that wasn't even the half of it. There was much more he and Duo didn't do beside talk. The fact that they slept in separate beds and worked during two entirely different shifts kept them pretty far apart. Heero always thought that was the way Duo wanted it. Duo never did like being treated like a weakling who needed help with his work or help getting to sleep at night. But, he did have trouble sleeping at night, thus he took night shifts at guarding one of ESUN's many palaces, while Heero took the day ones. Right now, according to everyone else, Heero was doing his job, by playing body guard while Relena went shopping. Only, this shopping trip wasn't for or about Relena; she was just there for moral support. She was still paying him, too.

 

 

"Oh Heero... " Relena slid closer to him and gave him a small hug. Though he didn't return it, he was still grateful that Relena seemed to care so much. "It's because of the work shifts, isn't it?" His face turned away from hers completely when she said that. Now she was going to think this was her fault, even though it was one of her staff members that hired Duo, not her. There wasn't much she could do in Duo's case. "Why don't I put you on night shift? That way the two of you can at least see each other."

 

 

"That'll just interfere with my job," he answered stubbornly. He didn't want things to change, because he didn't want to be wrong.

 

 

"Oh, for heaven sakes! The money you get comes right out of my wallet, Heero. Whether or not you're doing your job is my decision alone." Heero slipped into such an abrupt silence, Relena couldn't even hear him breathing. He knew she was right, because Heero was her personal body guard. Whether she paid him one or one-million dollars for his work was entirely her decision. For a moment she began to consider paying him to stay at home with his lover. It was tempting, but it would become way too questionable to the rest of her workers.

 

 

"I'm so sorry you can't spend more time with him," Relena said finally.

 

 

"Don't be."

 

 

Someone actually showing concern for his current romantic situation felt nice to him. Heero knew he'd never love anyone nearly as much as he loved Duo deep inside. He was even willing to bet that he'd love nobody else but Duo for the rest of his life. The fact that the two of them were still quite young didn't really matter to him. As long as Duo wanted him, too, Heero would always be his lover, even when the distance between them grew as large as it was now. Someway, somehow, Heero would fix the stone wall that formed between him and Duo.

 

 

"Tell me," Relena whispered to him, her warm hand smoothing over his shoulder and hair gently. "when's the last time you kissed him?"

 

 

Heero had to think about that.

 

 

"That long, huh?" Heero shot Relena really a cold look that would've froze Hell over. Relena wasn't in the least bit intimidated by his temper. No matter how stubborn or closed off he may be, she had to be strong for Heero, because he was always there for her when she had problems.

 

 

"About a week ago. Maybe two." Heero lied. He didn't know exactly when the last time he really kissed Duo was. Sure, they'd give each other occasional pecks on the cheek every morning, but those didn't really count. 'How and when did we grow so far apart?' Heero thought while staring out the car door window and watching trees just zip by.

 

 

"Uh-huh." Relena didn't really buy the answer for a second, but she decided to just let that one go. Kissing was way too common. Hell, she'd been kissed on the cheek by each of the ex-Gundam pilots at least once; even Wufei, whom she'd been secretly seeing for quite a while now. If she was going to aid in mending Heero and Duo's torn relationship, she was going to have to carry out the big guns. She knew just the thing that would really grab Heero's attention. "All right, then, how about the last time you two made love?"

 

 

Heero's eyebrows shot up as soon as Relena finished that sentence. It was so out-of-character to see him so surprised, then again, Relena did ask his the last thing he'd ever expect from her. A small blush began to creep on his face once tiny images of Duo undressing him started coming to mind. Sure, there were times when he'd thought about doing that, with Duo. Hell, there were actually many times he thought about it. He always thought there was a specific time and place for love making to happen. 'Could that be the problem?' Heero wondered. He let out the breath he'd unintensionally held and turned his head to face Relena. She could almost literally see the question marks in his eyes.

 

 

"I'm sorry. Was too bold of me?" Relena asked, trying to cut back on the sarcasm. Drastic times call for drastic measures, after all, and asking a question that personal succeeded in grabbing Heero's attention. Relena had to play her cards just right if she hoped to get Heero and Duo closer together.

 

 

"It's fine," Heero said, once again slipping that apathetic tone of voice to guard his actual feelings. "The answer to that is never. Not that it's any of your business."

 

 

"Never?" Relena tried to sound surprised, but she knew that was going to be the answer. Call it a woman's intuition, or a faint understanding on how the mind of Heero Yuy functions. She didn't miss a moment of Heero's little blush either. It was the first time she ever saw him so embarrassed. She almost felt like pinching his cheeks for a second there. Big shot war soldier, as innocent and untouched as a fluffy little lamb. She giggled at the thought, and he frowned at her.

 

 

"No. Why do you find that funny?"

 

 

"Well, it's not so much funny as it is incredibly adorable." His frown grew deeper; her grin grew wider. "I think spending some quality time with Duo is the perfect gift you can give to him."

 

 

Heero blinked in surprise. "I need to stay at work and protect you."

 

 

Relena sighed and shook her head. "I'm not your responsibility, Heero. I already have PLENTY of protection from Milliardo, Miss Noin, Wufei... "

 

 

"Wufei?"

 

 

"Yeah... " Relena shifted in her seat a little bit. She wasn't in the mood for talking about her romantic life, since hers was buried pretty deep in the closet. Focusing on a closed-off relationship wasn't as important as saving one a full one, like the one Heero and Duo had. "I'll be just fine. Please take a week off."

 

 

"No." Heero knew Relena had and efficient amount of protection, especially if she had both Milliardo and Wufei. He was just trying to protect himself from his life, even though he wanted to improve it at the same time. He didn't want anything to be wrong with him and Duo, but it was. Reluctance was going to be the death of him one of these days.

 

 

"Heero," Relena said in a very stern voice. She began to reach into her coat pocket in pursuit of her cell phone. "If you don't agree to take the week off then I'm afraid I'm going to have to fire you."

 

 

"What!?" Relena found and pulled her cell phone out of one of her pockets. "What are you planning to do?" Heero demanded.

 

 

"Call up my lawyer, of course. I'm going to have a restraining order filed against you so I know you'll stay away from my place."

 

 

"You can't do that!" Heero was furious. He had no idea Relena would sink this low.

 

 

"I can and I will." Relena turned the call button on. "Last chance. Take the week off?"

 

 

"Why are you doing this to me?" Heero demanded once again. His face began to twitch with both fear and anger. He couldn't hold back some of his emotions anymore, nor could he let Relena get her way.

 

 

She put her cell phone down, grabbed both of his shoulders, and began to shake him in her own fury. She'd been dying to get this out since they were in the mall. "I'm doing this for you, idiot, not to you! Honestly, Heero, if you love Duo, and your job, take the damn week off, all right?" Relena plopped back down in her seat and took a few deep breaths. She had a lot more of that aggravation boiling inside of her than she'd let out, but she was already acting way too improper. Even if Heero was her best friend, she had no right to lash out at him like that. She shocked him pretty good, too. He'd sell his left nut on eBay if he ever heard her use the word "damn" before.

 

 

"Fine, I'll take the week off," Heero finally decided. He wasn't happy with his decision, since change wasn't exactly his forte. Neither was time off from his "mission."

 

 

Relena, thrilled with the decision, pulled Heero into a fierce hug that he'd not been expecting, due to her current temper. She was always quick to change her mood, though, which was a good thing in this case. He wouldn't be fired from his job (even though he'd stick around to protect Relena, whether she wanted him to or not) and he could spend time with his lover. The only problem was, he didn't know how he was going to do that just yet.

 

 

[TBC]