Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Perfect ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

AN: This fic was written for my friend, Hostilecrayon when she was quitting smoking. She managed it, too!

As I couldn't come up with an idea, I begged her to help me, and she gave me prompt words which were: shoe, half-naked Heero, candlelight and Duo's bedroom.

My dear friend ZaKai was forced to to a lightning-proof-read for this fic, because i , per usual, had left the fic writing to the very last minute. So, I thank her for her patience!

It's very silly and very sappy as well, but I'm uploading it to upload something. Heh?

Oh and- Merry Christmass to anyone reading this! :)

* * *

Wind was blowing through his hair as he stood at the balcony yard of the hotel room. The early evening sun warmed his toes as he took a step forward, to keep them in the light. Over the railing, he could see a quiet view of a few sand colored houses and empty streets. A peacefully glimmering ocean showed behind them, and a sky that was an even deeper shade of blue.

Suddenly a piece of paper rustled by him, carried by the warm wind. From a moment's inspiration, he stopped the paper with his foot and bent to pick it up. It was a yellowed half of an envelope. He looked at it as if it were something alien instead of normal trash. Turning it around in his fingers, he ran his fingertip over the frazzled edge where it had been torn.

For a moment, he was somewhere else. For a moment, he was standing in another balcony, eyes trained on those of a lonely, naive girl, everything so quiet, the teardrops in her eyes reflecting the light... He lifted his gaze to the ocean, still glinting gold and silver. In another time, he was numb, he didn't care. The only focus he had was on what he was supposed to do... He was so empty.

He let the piece of paper go, and watched it dance across the tiles until it slipped off from the edge and disappeared.

There was no point in being here. Not even for the salty sea air and the heavy scent of flowers. He could smell summer in other places... He didn't need to stay here.

As he drew the French doors close behind him to make the silence complete, he felt deep peace settle in to his chest. He looked at the wide bed, the expensive beige colored cover on it, the gleaming palisander nightstands on the both sides of it, and the cream colored hand knotted oriental hazel-patterned carpet underneath his feet.

Beautiful.

The doors of the huge wardrobe were slightly ajar, some suit sleeves showing from the gap. He padded across the room to the cabinet, and curled his fingers around the handle, feeling the cold metal slide under them as he pulled it, just a little, until he could see an old, black boot peeking at him from the floor. Smiling, he crouched down, still holding the handle with his other hand, and reached out to stroke the side of the shoe, as one would a pet. The motion of his hand slowed, until he just let it rest on the shoe. His eyes had gone very soft though his lips were pressed together in a determined way.

As he got up, he was pressing the shoe to his chest.

***

Relena knocked on the door. Nothing happened. She knocked again. "Heero..?" her voice rang in the hallway, bouncing from the walls, but no-one came to answer to the door. She pressed her ear to the heavy wood, looking ashamed, but she could hear nothing. It was then, that the door began to creak open.

Striding in to the room, she knew he was gone. The suits still hung in the closet, there was a cup of tea on the balcony table, and she could see a hairbrush on the nightstand, but the room had an empty air to it. Heero just wasn't there.

She walked slowly to the French doors pushing them open with a tired sigh. She then sat on one of the chairs, crossing her legs. Lifting the teacup to her lips, Relena drank from where she imagined his lips had touched it.

No, she thought, putting the delicate cup down, hearing it make the softest clinking sound as it landed on the saucer. You cannot hold Heero Yuy. You cannot restrain him, not even with restraints made of love...

He was a bird, meant to fly. You cannot cage a wild animal, and have its love. It will yearn forever to be free...

He appreciated her hotels and carpets and china, but he was an alien among all of it. He was home within wind, water, sand... Like she wished she could be.

Relena heaved another sigh and leaned back in her chair, reaching again for the cup.

***

The dark corridor was filled with noise; loud thumps of feet, sudden spurts of laughter and some random shouting and joking; young male voices, boisterous and obviously a little drunk.

They stopped in front of a dark brown wooden door, just a silhouette of a boy-monster with many heads in the dim light coming behind the corner. One of them was going through his jeans pockets, hiccupping and causing yet another fit of laughter to come from his friends, loud and abrupt.

He chuckled himself, voice extremely pleasant, deep and warm. "Dammit! They could at least fix the hall lights; I can't even see what the hell I'm doing here..."

Then the jingle and clinking of metal told the others that he had found his keys, and next he was poking them to the keyhole, having some obvious difficulties with it.

"Damn keyholes make `em too small for the keys, disappearing when you see 'em.."

He was muttering something senseless and the door slowly creaked open, its hinges protesting, like every time. This time was a bit different though, because as the door opened, a soft glow of a few candles illuminated the dark hallway a bit, making all the boys' faces golden as they were gaping inside the room.

On the table were two, thick candles. They were white; their wax pealed like a flower opening as they burned. Some gray and cream, marble like swirls patterned their surfaces. They just weren't the most masculine thing you could think of.

On the gray bed spread lay a young man, with dark hair, smooth skin and red lips. He was wearing old, light blue jeans that were a little too loose for him, and nothing else.

His naked, hairless chest gleamed golden in the candle light, his neck slightly arched, long and graceful, eyes closed, black lashes casting shadows on the perfect cheeks.

The young man at the door was gaping for a moment. The door swinging open a bit more yanked him from his stupor and he yelled “HEERO??"

***

Heero shot up from the bed, his dark blue eyes snapping open. He had fallen asleep without meaning to... He looked at the mob of stupefied young men at the door, the absolutely flabbergasted look on the one, handsome face which he knew, and his eyes registered the step backwards, which this young man took.

His heart became heavy, seeming to drop to his feet, but he ignored it, and said smoothly. "Hello Duo. I came to visit you, but this lovely young lady from the ladies dorm told me that you were out for the night... So I invited her to have an evening with me... Here." He made his voice purposefully flat, as if he was not caring one bit.

Duo was staring at him mouth open, a million emotions seemed to flit in his eyes. "The only thing he managed to say was: "Of all of the arrogant, stuck-up self-important bastard-jerks..."

Heero sat quietly. The expression on his face could be taken as one of indifference, though he was actually trying not to show any emotion. He had not planned this... As a matter of fact, he had taken this moment to be impulsive for once in his life, and here he was sitting, rewarded with heartbreak... He cursed himself in his thoughts. He could smell the candles and it troubled him... the scent not letting him forget about his embarrassing misjudgment.

Duo stood for a moment longer, staring at Heero and then he swung around, placing a hand on his hip, letting out a huge, annoyed sigh. To his friends he said:

"Okay guys. I think our evening is pretty much spoiled now. I have to handle this idiot... He's an old buddy. Just go away... Here-" and here he swung around again, crouched and lift one of the floorboards, fishing a bottle of something amber-colored underneath it- "just take this with you. Not like we're gonna be needing it here."

The one of his friends who was standing the closest to him took a look at Heero and lifted his eyebrow questioningly, parting his lips and tilting his head. Both Heero and Duo could read the gesture before he had a chance to speak. Duo answered to him.

"No, you don't need to beat him up. I know him, honestly, and it's okay. Just... Just go on already. have fun for me too, okay?" and showing a smile that was about as real as the Miss Universe's face, he shoved the bottle to the hands of his weakly protesting friend and pushed him out the door, slamming it close behind him.

For a moment, Duo stood facing the door, the shadows of fire dancing on him, and Heero sat behind him, looking at his back, and the way his hair caught the light... Duo turned around, and Heero couldn't read his expression. The anger he had thought he'd see was gone, his face washed blank, a hint of something in his eyes, but not clear enough for Heero to understand.

Duo's hand rose in the silence and swept over the room, over Heero in a questioning gesture. "Heero?" he said, and there was a faint tremor in his voice. "What the hell?"

Heero looked up and drowned in to the blue of Duo's eyes. If his own eyes resembled the ocean, then Duo's were like the sky in the evening... He swallowed. Duo's lashes had golden ends.

"I came to see you"

"You came to see me?"

"Yes, I came to see you."

The silence between them stretched, the lively light making the small, dark room feel almost like a cottage. How nice it would have been, if-

"You came to see me, and decided to invite a girl to my room without asking me? You decided to break in? You decided to make a fool of me?"

"No..."

"Then what? What is this?" Duo's voice didn't hold so much anger as astonishment and a hint of hurt, perhaps. It was the hurt that gave Heero strength. Maybe he hadn't been wrong.

Maybe...

"Nothing else. I just came to see you. Just you..."

Duo scratched his head and the corners of his mouth twitched, but it wasn't an amused twitch. His eyes glimmered in the light. "So, you just came to see me? What about the girl? What about the... the.. the candles? And you..."

Heero looked at himself and blushed. He hadn't meant to fall asleep in the middle of everything...With lighted candles around him... He was just going to change his shirt before Duo could come back but he was so tired...

"No girl, Duo. Just you. I just said that for your friend's benefit...I didn't want them to think... "

Duo plopped down next to him, the fabric of his jeans swishing against the bedspread. Heero could feel the warmth radiating from him and wanted to lean in closer. Instead he watched Duo's profile, traced it with his eyes as he would with a finger, down from his hairline, softly trough his bangs, sliding down his nose, lingering on the softness of his lips. Before he knew it, he had reached his hand out, and brushed his fingertips to Duo's cheek. Duo's head turned to him in a sudden motion, and he saw a heavy teardrop run down Duo' s cheek until it met with his finger, and continued its downward slide to Heero's palm.

"Heero... I don't understand. I don't care what my friends think. They can think what they want. I want these candles to be for me. "

Heero was surprised. For a moment, he couldn't think. He was just looking at the handsome face before him, alternating his focus between the eyes and the lips, his mind blank, his voice gone. He had wanted Duo to want him... He had hoped... He had known... And yet... When he'd arrived... He hadn't lowered his hand and now he let his palm press softly to Duo's cheek, stroking it. He felt a weird combination of desire and protectiveness wash over him.

Duo let out a sob.

"You KNEW how I felt about you, how I've bloody ALWAYS, ALWAYS felt about you, and yet you have the BALLS to come strutting in here and setting up the perfect scene and saying to my face that it isn't for me..." Heero let his hand slide softly down Duo's cheek, fingers caressing his throat and gently moving down, over his shirt collar to his shoulder, over his shoulder to his back. He was drawing Duo closer with his caress, until Duo was near enough to drop his head on Heero's shoulder and his arms snaked around him. Then they were embracing, not too tightly, but tight enough for crying.

Heero felt stupid. He had only wanted to protect Duo, save his face... But Duo didn't care about that, did he..? He had called, he had written... He had professed love with his eyes every time he'd looked at Heero, and Heero wasn't too blind to see that.

No.

It had been him, him, not Duo, who was afraid. After all, he loved Duo just as much as Duo loved him, didn't he? And still, hadn't he been the one who let Relena drag him along, dress him and change him... She hadn't meant any harm, she only wanted to protect him after everything he had gone trough, and he could understand that, but still he hadn't been able to help himself. He had gotten angry at her, and yelled at her sometimes... He had tried to amend by sort of dating her, while sleeping with Duo's shoe. Yes, he took it with him everywhere, and held it to his chest at night. And when he would wake up, there would be a voice mail or an email waiting for him, filled with Duo's joyful talk, giving him the latest news, the latest little happenings in his life.

Relena's kisses were always very chaste and dry, although they did have a certain softness to them. Even then, He hadn't been able to even kiss her much.

His hand was stroking Duo's back, absently, and he could feel Duo hiccup a little. He let his fingers run gently down the bumps of Duo's spine and he sighed.

"Why did you come, really..? After all these years..? Is Relena in town?" Duo's voice was muffled, struggling to sound brave.

Heero felt so bad.

"No. No, Relena isn't here or there or anywhere... I came to see you... Came to be with you.“ He knew he had a lot of apologizing to do for abandoning Duo because of his own fears; his own need for all that false security that came from not pursuing your dreams and just settling with what you had. But he'd had Duo, too. All this time. The whole boy, not just his shoe...

He would do anything, anything for Duo.

"I came to be with you. To stay with you. Or go with you, whatever. If you'll have me, that is."

He pulled back a little, and lifted Duo's chin. God, he had beautiful lips. And his eyes were ever changing, so expressive, always telling the truth, unable to mask it... Sometimes, just radiating their emotion to the watcher, their blue blurred into the deepest of violet as it did right now, going straight trough Heero. He bent down and kissed Duo.

Perfect.