Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Moments in Time ❯ Of Love, Lust, and Loofahs ( Chapter 12 )

Title: Of Love, Lust, and Loofahs
Author: Mookie
Rating: R/NC-17
Pairing: Heero/Duo
Warnings: semi-graphic m/m sex
Notes: This fic is all the fault of Natea and Porcelain, who know my weakness.

Heero ran the back of his forearm across his sweaty brow, then frowned at the recalcitrant piece of equipment.

The shear pin had done its job, but when the machine was restarted, the mechanic who had attempted to fix it earlier had forgotten to extract the broken bit of metal, creating a larger problem than had existed in the first place.

It didn't help that ventilation wasn't practical in this area of the building, lest the fires be affected.

Duo would certainly find it amusing. Ever since Heero had gotten the maintenance job, Duo had found joy in making rather suggestive comments about the plastics industry.

Heero's favorite so far was "injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown."

At the moment, however, he was thinking that blow molding was a pox upon humanity.

It showed how far he'd come, he supposed, to be unreasonably annoyed with such a trivial thing. Mankind had faced far greater threats, had come close to an ice age on earth, had been at war throughout most of history, and yet here he was, cursing a bit of ancient machinery, for not running in tip-top condition.

He couldn't help smiling. That was the real sign that they were living in peaceful times.

With renewed vigor, he started his efforts anew, enjoying the satisfaction derived from getting the machine back in running order.

He supposed he missed working on his mobile suit. It had been several years since Wing Zero made its final stand, and Heero hated to think of how often he'd actually felt slight pangs of loss.

The rush of adrenaline wasn't just an expression, it was what had driven him at times when nothing else would do. It was very much like the feeling he got as he strove to achieve orgasm.

Except that at least, when it came to sex, he still enjoyed it even if he didn't finish the job he'd started, and it didn't seem like such a waste of time.

That wasn't to say he didn't enjoy the ends as much as the means.

He pulled up the stocking sleeves on his arms and scratched at his head underneath the bandana.

The choices had been to either cut his hair, or cover it, when he'd gotten the job.

Duo would have killed him if he'd chosen the former.

By the time his replacement arrived at the end of the shift, he was grateful for the chance to straighten and stretch his cramped muscles.

He'd had little time to think of sex or life on the colonies, before he'd descended to earth, for the past two hours, and he was more than ready to go home.

Heero peeled off the beige arm coverings and deposited them in the nearest waste receptacle, then washed his hands. He splashed his face several times, dabbed it with a paper towel, and pulled the bandana from his head before heading for the time clock.

The nice thing about working the evening shift was that the sun had set long ago and often the air outside was cool; however, this particular evening was humid and the air felt thick and cloying.

He was glad he'd taken the car today. He didn't think he was up for a bicycle ride home. The drop in temperature was moderate, and only refreshing in that he was no longer in the presence of machine flames and the scent of melting plastic.

Heero didn't bother turning the air conditioning on, knowing that, with traffic light as it was at this hour, he'd likely be home before the circulated air became cool enough to make it worthwhile.

When he pulled into their assigned parking spot, he noticed that the ten-speed was missing from the bicycle rack. He hoped it was because Duo had taken it to the twenty-four hour convenience store. Living in a time of peace didn't guarantee freedom from theft.

A bead of perspiration dripped from his bangs to his nose, hanging there for a couple of seconds before giving in to the pull of gravity. He pulled the bandana out of his pocket and wiped his face, then stuffed it back into his pants.

The apartment was dark save for the light over the stove. Duo always left it on for him before he went to bed. Heero found the gesture heartwarming, and he smiled for the second time that evening. He nudged the door shut firmly with his hip and pulled his T-shirt over his head, rubbing his hair with it quickly to absorb the moisture that had gathered there. He unbuttoned his shorts on his to the bathroom, peeling them off with some effort as their dampness made the denim cling to his thighs.

He tossed the shirt and shorts on the floor and turned on the water, then braced one hand against the tiled wall as he removed his socks. He ran his hand under the faucet to check the temperature. Satisfied that it was on the cool side of tepid, he pulled the knob to route the water through the showerhead, yanked off his briefs, and climbed into the bathtub, pulling the shower curtain behind him.

He faced the spray, rinsing his face again until his bangs clung to his forehead and his lashes dripped with smaller beads of water. He pushed his hair off his brow and turned around, leaning back and letting the grime from the machines loosen slightly.

He ran a hand through his hair again, then reached for the bottle of shampoo on the edge of the tub. He squeezed until a generous amount spurted into his palm, then he lathered the wet locks thoroughly, massaging his scalp with his fingertips.

The removal of filth from his hair made him feel much cleaner, even though he had yet to wash the rest of his body. He was leaning back to rinse the suds out when he heard Duo call his name.

Heero heard the soft tapping on the bathroom door, which he'd left open. The last thing he'd wanted was to step out of the shower into a room thick with moisture.

"Heero?"

Duo's voice held that same tone it always did when he wanted to do something but was afraid that Heero might not be amenable.

"Yeah," Heero said. Both hands ran through his hair, insuring a thorough rinsing.

It was more than acknowledgement of Duo's presence; it was his answer to Duo's unasked question.

He kept his head tilted backwards, knowing the last vestiges of shampoo had long since been removed. He closed his eyes and waited.

They'd not entirely figured out their relationship. They were friends for a while, then one day Heero found himself leaning forward to kiss Duo while he was in the middle of a sentence.

The act had made them both freeze, then they'd acted as if nothing had happened.

Two weeks later, Duo had given him a one-armed squeeze, a simple gesture of friendship. He'd turned his head toward Heero and breathed slowly and deliberately into Heero's ear. Shivers had ran down Heero's spine in response, and his stomach had clenched when Duo's thumb stroked a spot on his neck, just where the ends of Heero's hair brushed his skin.

It had been a full month of awkward glances, stray touches, and half-finished sentences before Duo initiated their second kiss.

The shower curtain was pushed to one side as Duo climbed into the tub with him. The resulting breeze felt good, a kiss of cooler air against Heero's skin.

Noin was the first one to notice that their relationship had changed, but it was Sally, who Heero had thought was above such things, who had dumped the small wicker basket wrapped in cellophane on Heero's desk.

Not Duo's desk, Heero's.

Heero had eyed the contents and then looked up at her, half-intrigued and half-horrified. She'd let him sweat it out, too, before she'd told him that she'd not actually purchased it for him. She did, however, look like she wished she had.

Apparently Heero had won a raffle that he'd bought tickets for. Some fundraiser or another - it hadn't mattered. A month's supply of bath products.

He had considered giving it away to one of their female coworkers, but just then Duo had walked in, noticed both the basket and Heero's half-frown, and started laughing at him.

Heero never backed down from a challenge, and the basket had gone home with them that day. It had remained sitting unminded on Heero's dresser for a while, then it had eventually made its way into the linen closet.

One day the cellophane wrapper had disappeared, then slowly the bottles and jars started appearing on the back of the toilet tank, in the medicine cabinet, on the edge of the tub, and perched in the over the shower catch-all. It had become almost a game, to see how long the other would notice and retaliate. A chess game with the bathroom serving as the playing field.

Duo reached over Heero's shoulder to the wire rack and removed the loofah sponge.

"They say this thing is good for exfoliating," he said, wrapping his hands around it firmly and pressing it against Heero's lower back. The coarse texture, not exactly pleasant, wasn't something that Heero would ever have thought as arousing, but Duo slowly grazed Heero's spine with the edge of the sponge. As the water trickled down Heero's back, it saturated the loofah as well, changing the sensation along his skin.

Heero had to admit it felt good. There was something about having his back scratched that relieved the tension in his shoulders after a long day, and Duo knew it.

One of the soap gels with the "fresh scent of the great outdoors" was within Heero's reach, if he snaked his arm around Duo's back to pull it off the small shelf that was inset in the tile wall. He fumbled for it, and then Duo started snickering.

Heero leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Duo's shoulder, looking down and noting the source of Duo's mirth. Their feet were at least eighteen inches apart, and Heero's posture was keeping their points of contact at a minimum.

"I guess this wasn't such a good idea," Duo said, regret tingeing his amused tone.

Heero shook his head slightly, his bangs remaining stuck to Duo's skin as his head moved from side to side against Duo's shoulder.

Duo's hand dropped from behind Heero, still clutching the loofah, which was still partly dry and now looking rather misshapen. He stepped back and reached for the shower curtain.

"No," said Heero, shaking his head again. "That's not what I meant."

Duo's eyes were on the water swirling about their toes. His body was only wet where Heero had touched him, save for a few droplets clinging to the tips of his chest hair like dew drops on blades of grass.

"Like the great outdoors," Heero murmured.

"Well, anything that is pine scented reminds me of a car air freshener," Duo said, lifting his head and fixing his gaze on the tiles behind Heero's right shoulder.

Heero fought the urge to sigh. They were new at physical intimacy, and despite the fact that they managed to get caught up in the act once it was started, they still struggled to read each other; to know when making a move was a good idea.

He could have reminded Duo that he'd given his consent earlier, although not in so many words, but perhaps that would only be one more delay in what they both wanted.

"A couple of virginal teenagers," Duo said, finally meeting Heero's eyes with his own. "If it weren't for your 'dangly bits' there, I might think-"

"Maybe that's our problem," Heero said, cutting off Duo's words. "We're overthinking it, instead of just doing it."

"I can't stop thinking about it," Duo confessed, his eyes flicking back over to the tiles. "I think about it all the time."

"Men allegedly think about it every three seconds," Heero said calmly.

"Do you?"

"Does it matter?"

"Hell, yes, it matters! I mean, we're both guys, right? So we should be on equal footing. We should have the same urges, the same desire to shoot our load as often as possible. It would be different if you were a gi-" Duo clamped his lips shut.

"Does it bother, you, Duo?"

"You know it doesn't."

"No, Duo, I don't." This time Heero allowed the sigh to escape. "Not when you keep making it an issue."

"Are you sure, Heero? I mean, you don't seem the type to be gay."

Heero stood there, water dripping down his face and off his nose, and stared in disbelief. "And you do, Duo?"

Duo's fingers tightened around the loofah, creating an even more bizarre asymmetry. Soft on one side, hard on the other, too firm to break, but pliant enough to be molded with the right touch.

Coarse on the surface, but still able to invoke feelings of comfort and relaxation.

Heero reached a hand out to cup Duo's cheek, moving away from the shower spray enough that the water hit his shoulder blades, small rivulets streaming down his arms.

Droplets fell from his bent elbow, creating tiny ripples in the water at their feet.

Duo took a deep breath and turned his face toward Heero's hand, letting his lips brush over Heero's palm lightly, then tentatively lapping at the moist skin.

Heero's fingers had started to prune, and the ribbed texture against Duo's cheekbone made his mouth dry.

He allowed Heero to gently tug him closer. Heero reached behind him and adjusted the faucet to reduce the amount of cold water running through the pipes.

Heero's arms moved behind Duo's back, holding the damp braid out of the way with one hand as the other one occupied itself with squeezing the bottle of bath gel. Most of it slid right off Duo's back, but Heero managed to catch some of it. He dropped the soap and worked up a small lather on Duo's skin, his hand moving in an ellipse pattern as he did so.

Duo reached up and removed his braid from Heero's hand, letting it drape over his arm, half in and half out of the water spray.

Heero caught on immediately dropped his hand to Duo's hip. With Heero's arms now out of the way, Duo had unrestricted access to his groin.

Something he took immediate advantage of by palming Heero's balls and massaging gently.

That, combined with the slick feeling of Heero's soapy hands on his back made Duo's cock twitch slightly. Heero's fingers applied more pressure, kneading Duo's back on either side of his spine and working their way up to his shoulders.

Duo dropped the loofah into the shower spray.

"Thought we needed that," Heero said, his voice sounding a bit deeper than usual.

"I didn't think you were quite that masochistic," Duo said, grabbing the closest bottle he could find and flipping it open. He dispensed a good portion of the creamy white liquid soap over Heero's shoulders, letting some of it trickle down his chest until its path was hindered by the inside of Duo's wrist. As he continued to squeeze, he moved closer, much of the soap slipping between their bodies.

Duo continued to fondle Heero, but he couldn't resist the urge to rotate his hips. The motion caused his upper body to undulate against Heero as well, his chest gliding along Heero's with a faint slapping, sucking sound.

A low moan came from Heero as Duo's fingers abandoned the wrinkled sac to wrap around the erection nudging against his own.

The second soap bottle fell with a soft thud, and Heero nudged it out of the way with his foot. His hands slid to the back of Duo's neck, the braid now a complete mess of water and soap suds, then drew Duo's face down to his own and kissed him.

Duo groaned into Heero's mouth as he stroked both of them awkwardly. His hand was unable to close around both fully, but the soap enabled his hand to slip easily back and forth. He could feel his fingers slide along the side of Heero's arousal as the heel of his hand grazed his own.

Heero mumbled something around Duo's tongue in his mouth. It might have been Duo's name, but it didn't matter. The feeling of Heero's mouth moving under his, the way their bodies slid together, the weight of their desire for each other heavy in his hand, had Duo wanting more.

He dropped his hand, leaving their straining erections still touching, and quickly grazed his fingers along Heero's hip and around to his backside before slipping the still slick digits between the cleft of Heero's ass.

Heero broke the kiss and arched his back, his abdomen sliding against Duo's and his hips jutting forward. The tip of his cock poked at Duo's balls, and the combination of firm and slippery flesh had Duo pressing further between Heero's buttocks, their lower bodies again slicking against each other.

"Heero," Duo said, his fingers probing gently.

He decided to interpret Heero's throaty moan as permission to continue. His knees buckled when Heero lifted one leg and placed his foot on the edge of the tub to provide him with more access.

They had little room to maneuver, and to go much further was likely to result in injury, but Duo couldn't resist removing his hand and lifting Heero's leg up so that he could slide his throbbing arousal underneath Heero's sac and nudge at Heero's entrance.

Heero's cock was now upright and trapped between their bodies, and the water continued to trickle over them. By now there was little soap left on either of them, and the water temperature had cooled significantly, but neither of them made any attempt to correct the situation.

Ragged breathing was barely audible over the running water, but they were both close. Duo continued to hump the space between Heero's legs, closing his eyes tightly and biting Heero's shoulder when he approached climax.

The water quickly rinsed his seed down the drain as his body shuddered, and he released Heero's leg slowly, placing his foot back on the edge of the tub carefully. He dropped to a crouch, and Heero, anticipating Duo's next move, leaned back, his shoulders resting against the tiled wall and the back of his head pressing against the wire shelf.

Duo took Heero into his mouth quickly, exhaling as he did so in order to avoid gagging.

The water trickled over his bangs, down his face, and over his lips and Heero's cock as he sucked and licked.

Heero's entire body was cramping up, and the wire shelf was digging into his scalp, but he didn't want to pull away from Duo. He was close, so close...

Duo's tongue was swiping at the underside of his cock, and the contrast of warm mouth to cold water was pushing him over the edge as Duo fumbled for something on the tub floor.

Duo's mouth was replaced by a cold, soap filled hand, and Heero might have groaned in frustration if not for the tight grip Duo was using as he stroked him to completion, using not one, but both hands.

Despite the discomfort in other parts of his body from the awkward position, it had been worth it.

Duo got to his feet and they both took turns under the spray rinsing any remaining traces of soap and cum from their bodies.

Duo turned off the water as Heero pulled open the shower curtain, reaching for a couple of towels. They stood there, dripping and grinning at each other.

Heero chuckled softly.

"What?" Duo asked, too sated to much care what Heero found so funny.

"Ever wonder what's in that stuff?" Heero replied, prodding one of the bottles with his toe before stepping out of the tub and toweling off his hair.

Duo shook his head at Heero's turned back, then bent down to pick up the bottles of soap. He dried them off and placed them back where they belonged. Before he got out of the tub, he picked up the creamy moisturizing soap Heero had nudged. He scanned the list of ingredients and started laughing.

The soap had seen its share of showers and part of the label had long since worn away and gone down the drain.

Now the two-in-one soap and moisturizer, containing natural ingredients such as palm oil and goat's milk, suggested something entirely different.

He placed it back on the shelf and followed Heero to his bedroom, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind him.

He paused at Heero's doorway, towel across his shoulders, and waited.

Heero was sitting on the edge of the bed, drying his feet carefully. When he was done, he rubbed his skin vigorously a second time, then hung the towel over the back of a nearby chair and got up to turn the fan on.

"Your braid is wet," he said without looking at Duo.

Unsure how to interpret that, Duo said nothing. Heero climbed into bed and sprawled out on his back, arms and legs outstretched.

He lifted his head slightly.

"Coming?" he asked, his voice indicating he was well aware of the double entendre.

Duo removed the towel from his shoulders and wrapped it around the braid, squeezing tightly to absorb as much water as he could, then draped it over the first towel before climbing into bed next to Heero.

"Maybe sleeping together will be easier," Heero said tentatively, "if we started...sleeping together."

Duo moved his hair carefully so the sodden plait rested on a rather lumpy pillow, hoping to minimize the number of bed linens made equally damp.

"Maybe," he agreed, cautiously draping one arm across Heero's chest.

Heero's outstretched arm curled around Duo in response. It was too hot for them to get closer than that, but it was a start.

Heero closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, enjoying the comfort he got from being clean, lying in a soft bed, and enjoying the feel and smell of Duo next to him.

Duo's nose nuzzled his armpit briefly.

"Hey, Heero," he said.

"Mmm?"

"Once we use up that soap, I think we have the essential ingredients right here, at hand," he said, stressing the last word lightly as his hand slipped down Heero's abdomen to nestle in the dark curls at his groin.

His fingers teased at Heero's soft member lightly, the fan causing goose bumps to rise on his still damp skin.

"Although," he said thoughtfully, "I've never heard it called palm milk before."

"There's a first time for everything," Heero said, his voice slightly slurred.

"Yeah," Duo said, moving his hand to rest on Heero's stomach. His thumb stroked the smooth skin slowly.

There was something soothing about lying next to Heero.

'First time for everything,' his mind echoed.

Some day, he promised himself, they'd work on a few more firsts together.

Because he couldn't think of anyone else he'd rather do them with, than Heero.

His thumb came to a rest over Heero's navel as Duo smiled sleepily.

He was looking forward to every single one of them.

~~~~~

My thanks go out to one of my partners-in-crime regarding the title, and to Porcelain for the droolworthy eye candy.