Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The D.C. Saga ❯ Stay With Me (The D.C. Saga, Part Twenty-Eight) ( Chapter 28 )

Title: Stay With Me (The D.C. Saga, Part Twenty-Eight)

Warnings: Maybe some angst? I'm listening to Finch. And guess what! This part actually has a title! ::gasps:: It's a miracle! It's also the title of the Finch song I'm playing over and over because I love it so darn much. I'm also thinking about doing a ::gasps again:: 1xR to Finch's "What it is to Burn", because that's a beautiful song as well. And it totally fits. ^__^ So maybe if I make Relena into someone I'd actually enjoy being around with, I could make it work. Eh. It's always worth a shot. And maybe this time my mom can actually READ what I write. XD.

Rating: PG-13. They're still on their date. ^^

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"It's getting loud over there," Duo pointed out, squinting across the darkness of the city block to see what was going on. "A party, maybe?"

"Or a club," Heero said, placing his hand on the small of Duo's back protectively. "Let's pass around the Quarter to get to the ice-cream shop."

Duo nodded, grateful. "Good idea. I don't like crowds all that much."

Silently, the two boys made their way down Rue St. Anne's, passing the newly erected St. Anne's Cathedral, which stood where the St. Louis Cathedral had (once upon a time), and cut across the back of the church to get to the right street. Right in front of them was the Ben & Jerry's III they were looking for, and Duo happily skipped in, already picking out what he wanted by the time Heero arrived next to him.

"What can I get you today?" the teenage guy said from behind the counter.

"I'll have...Karamel Sutra with sprinkles, please," Duo said pleasantly, and the guy nodded, turning to Heero.

"And you, sir?"

Heero shook his head. "I don't want any."

Duo gave him a glare. "You're getting ice-cream."

"I changed my mind."

"Well, I'm changing it again for you, stubborn-ass." To the teenager, he said, "He'll have...Phish Food."

The guy made no comment and turned to get their ice-cream. Heero scowled.

"I said I didn't want any."

"And?" He began fishing out his money, but Heero stopped him with a curious glimmer in his eyes.

"I'll get it."

Duo blinked. "But I have my own money."

Heero lowered his voice so that it was nearly inaudible. "But I asked you out, so I get to pay."

Duo flushed a magnificent shade of red and stepped aside so Heero could pay. Taking the ice-cream, the Japanese boy led them to a small table hidden by the trashcan near the back, but making sure to leave them a beeline towards one of the three exits he'd already mapped out in his mind. It didn't hurt to be prepared.

They began to eat their ice-cream in silence, though Heero was watching Duo very carefully, looking for any sign that he was uncomfortable, but the braided boy seemed very relaxed, if a little bit pink in the cheeks. And he would meet Heero's eyes before looking quickly away, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Heero felt himself start to smile in response. The music on the radio changed from something catchy to something mellow, and still, they sat in silence. But it was a good, comfortable silence, the kind that the two of them achieved as often as they could. When Duo was in the mood to talk, Heero would talk. But when it was obvious that Heero didn't feel like it...Duo was just there. Quiet, but there.

Perhaps a bit like our relationship. Always there, but slowly getting louder, maybe? Is something forming out of this? Will it last? He couldn't answer himself, something that made him frustrated, but he instead pushed it to the back of his mind to analyze more fully later.

Duo's foot moved and brushed against his ankle, but he didn't move it away. Heero's eyes narrowed and he looked across at the violet-eyed young man, trying to see if it was an accident or not. Duo was bright red. So that's not an accident...

He shifted in his seat slightly, trapping one of Duo's feet between his own, and his friend shot him a small smile and a blush. Heero nudged the foot between his own and raised his eyebrow. Duo could only shrug in embarrassment and return to his ice-cream.

Mellow music was nice. Calming. The violins and piano nearly put him to sleep. Then another song played and one of the girls in the shop turned up the radio. Heero winced a little as his sensitive ears were assailed, but Duo didn't seem to notice, and in moments his foot began tapping in rhythm to the beat of the drums and the guitars.

The lyrics started and with the attentiveness of a soldier, Heero listened.

"Once again your eyes make it hard to say good-bye,
So I'll just keep driving.
Where do you wanna go? It doesn't really matter,
As long as you are here with me,
With me,
With me....
Whoa, there's something in the air tonight,
Something that makes me feel alive, and I say whoa..."

Duo was examining him fixedly, eyes a strange mix of violet and blue, wide and beautiful, almost luminous in the harsh light of the little ice-cream shop. Heero felt something then, just a little something in his gaze, though he knew that he shouldn't be able to feel anything just from someone's eyes on him. It was a physical impossibility to feel such a heat, but there was no other explanation for it. The shop was cold and he was warming up.

He shifted his eyes away. The heat dispersed. He met Duo's eyes once more and he began to burn. Confused, Heero held his gaze until suddenly the lyrics hit him again, as though his brain had been muted and turned up loudly very quickly.

"...head against the glass, and you mean so much to me.
To me,
To me...
Whoa, there's something in the air tonight,
Something that makes me feel alive, and I say whoa...
What were the words that you said to me
That made me feel so special?"

Heero gulped. The song...it was...He couldn't even describe it. The chords struck something deep inside him, something buried beneath years of repression education, years of emotional abuse, arduous physical training. It hit the human side of him, the humane, kind, peace-loving side that he hadn't seen in over ten years. It burned him, peeled away his shell of protection that he'd erected around himself out of fear of being hurt again. It broke past the lock and chain on his heart and laid it open. He couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, and he wondered why he was gasping for breath.

Duo blinked. "Heero, are you all right?"

The song was still playing. Still playing...

"Stay with me...
Cigarettes and open air, hand in hand.
And I said stay with me...
`Cause every star that I see is brighter than the last,
So stay....with...me...."

It faded and something else played, some sort of hip hop, but Heero was still struck dumb. When he was able to focus again and get past the sudden surge of emotions trying to make themselves known, Duo was sitting next to him, patting his cheek lightly with his warm, slightly calloused palm.

"Heero? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Heero snatched his hand and held it gently to his face. His eyes slowly closed. "I'm perfectly fine. Stay with me?"

"Um...sure." He was extremely perplexed and turning red. The people in the shop were beginning to give them funny looks. "Hey...maybe we should take a walk around? You want to do that?"

"Yes...yes, I would like that very much."

They were outside in the muggy New Orleans II heat. But Heero couldn't get that damn song out of his head, try as he might. The lyrics he'd been aware of listening to had already been downloaded into his memory. He couldn't stop playing them over and over in his head.

Duo led him around the block, chattering about everything he saw, what he was thinking, feeling, experiencing, but Heero didn't process much. The song! Damn that song!

"Duo," he interrupted, and the American halted in his tracks, turning around with a bright smile.

"Hmm?"

"Duo, I need to tell you something very important."

His face fell. "What is it?"

Heero stepped closer, so close that he could detect a faint hint of sandalwood from Duo's soap, close enough to see a very light sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of his nose, so light that he'd never noticed them before. He could see the deep cobalt surrounded by a ring of indigo in his wide eyes. "I just..." He took a deep breath, heart thundering wildly. He didn't want to control it, though. He liked the excitement, the way he nearly gulped in breaths of air, the slight sweat on his palms. It was exciting and he dreaded it, wanted it and hated it. He took another deep breath. Then he leaned in close to Duo, a breath away from his lips. "Duo?"

The American could barely speak, and his body had gone rigid. But he didn't move away. "...Y-yes?"

"Duo...."

And Heero kissed him.

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