Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The D.C. Saga ❯ 1+2, Part Five ( Chapter 5 )

Title: 1+2, Part Five

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"And even if everything goes wrong and we start to fall apart, I will understand where you are, I will understand this by myself. And I don't need to hear your answer--I just need you to feel like there are no boundaries at all. Am I still breathing? Have I lost that feeling? Am I made of glass, 'cause you see right through me. I don't know who I am and you're the only one who sees that. I can't ask these questions that cannot be answered today...today...I don't mind today..." Duo sang along in tune and pitch as he worked dutifully on his Gundam, D.C. sitting in a sunpatch at Deathscythe's foot, occassionally getting up long enough to chase a mouse or two before lazily laying back down. Duo smiled as he realized that the kitten was getting too used to being around them all. He felt a pang in his heart at the thought of leaving her, but he'd told Heero that he wouldn't get attached, and he wouldn't go back on his word.

After three hours of working in the heat, Duo decided to take a break; shimmying down the zipline, he picked up his kitten and trotted, sweating and dirty, back into the house. Quatre was there, fixing up a quick lunch of sandwiches that he couldn't possibly burn, maul, and/or destroy, so Duo went ahead and poured each of them some iced tea, making sure to put a little bit of sugar in his and Quatre's glasses, but not in Heero's. Heero didn't like sweetened tea, something that baffled the American.

They set the table and Heero wandered in just in time, and Duo and Quatre both stared at him.

They'd never seen Heero in a pair of cut-off jeans and no shirt before.

Heero was about to take a bite out of his sandwich when he happened to look up and catch his two fellow pilots gaping in amazement. He paused. "What's wrong with you two?"

"Heero, can I ask you a question?" Quatre said, trying to hide his grin.

"Uh, yeah. What is it?"

"Why exactly are you walking around half-naked?"

Duo burst out laughing and Heero had the grace to flush ever so slightly. "Because it's hot. Don't you feel it?"

"Apparently not as much as you do," Duo sniggered. Heero just shrugged.

"I was working out and I got hot."

"So you decided to shred a pair of jeans all the way up to your butt?"

Heero glared. "Quatre, shut up and eat."

All through lunch, the Japanese boy felt distinctly uncomfortable. The entire reason for cutting a pair of his jeans was for comfort, so why was he feeling so uneasy now? Quatre's occassional glimmering smiles were easily dealt with, but Duo...Duo looked at him then looked away, and kept peeking at him when he thought Heero wasn't aware of it. Heero thought back to the time he asked Duo if he was attractive. Duo had said yes when he smiled, *really* smiled. But what about his body? A smile didn't have anything to do with a person's body, really...Was his body attractive?

Resisting the urge to look down at his bare torso, Heero finished up his lunch and placed the empty plate in the sink, walking back into the living room with his sweating glass in hand.

He decided against working on his laptop (after all, he could only do so much in one day without any missions coming up), so he sat down in his favorite chair and pulled out a battered copy of A Tale of Two Cities. Immediately, D.C. was in his lap, purring and trying to get him to pet her.

He grudgingly obliged, a little annoyed at her persistence, but after she was scratched enough, she became satisfied and made herself comfortable on his bare legs. He tried his damnedest to read his favorite book, but he was suddenly aware of Duo in the room without even looking up. He caught a wiff of his scent first--cherries and musk--but then he realized that he could detect Duo's unique movements, such as the way he trodded lightly but loudly, the swish of his braid against his back, even his breathing.

Heero was quite unnerved by this realization and tried not to show his discomfort by shifting around. Finally, Duo came into his line of sight and Heero looked up to see him smiling.

"Hey. Mind if I take her from you? I want to go take a nap."

Heero moved his arms. "Go ahead. Mangy beast."

The braided boy laughed and scooped the sleeping kitten up, noticing that Heero looked even better up close. He glowed red when he concluded that the Japanese boy was watching him carefully. He stumbled over his own feet as he raced towards the bedroom.

Heero smirked in amusement, not quite sure what to make of the situation. Once again. He filed the questions and thoughts away in his mind to analyze over later, finally settling down enough to read his book.

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Nighttime was a bit awkward. Heero and Duo usually ended up in the same bed together, a habit that'd formed a few weeks earlier, but now Duo was nervous and shy, and Heero was still a little embarrassed over the shorts incident.

So at midnight, they were still lying awake in their respective beds. D.C. was walking from bed to bed, mewing pitifully because she didn't want to choose one over the other. Heero kept shooing her away, but she'd go right back to him and meow for Duo to get his ass over.

With a noisy huff, Duo flung the covers off and stomped across the five feet to Heero's bed. "Move over, you ass," he growled, and Heero obliged, smiling a little. D.C. perched herself on Heero's chest and waited until Duo was laying down before sliding in between the two.

Lying on his side, the American wondered why his heart was beating so fast as his partner slid closer to drape an arm over his pale, slender waist.

"Heero?" Duo winced, his voice sounding far too loud in the eerie, dark stillness of the small room.

"Yeah?"

He basked in the warmth and the contentment before shaking his head slightly. Why ruin such a tender, perfect moment with words and wonderings? "Never mind. Good night."

"Oyasumi, Duo-kun."

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A/N: For the lyrics to the song that Duo sang in the very beginning, here they are: http://trapt.com/lyrics.htm. Let's hope that stupid ff.net will let me put that link there. It wouldn't let my link to my lj (the name's panicqueen, if you ever wanna go check it out). The song is by Trapt and it's called "Made of Glass".