July 1, 2000
Gack!...::grabs back:: Ouchie...too much typing...
ja ne ~ana~
Dedicated to Mini, who always makes me laugh. ^_^
Warnings: OOCness. Severe severe OOCness. But hell, I had fun writing it and I hope you have fun reading it.
I've taken the...coughcough...liberty of using songs from the 1990's and the...er...00's. Pretend they're from AC 195.
For the best effects, listen to the song posted at the beginning of each part while reading. ^_^
This part's song is "Superhero" by Ani DiFranco from her album "Dilate". (It's really good, pick it up some time when you're in a recordtown or strawberries.) Here's the lyrics:
~superhero~
sleepwalking through the all night drug store
baptized in fluorescent light
i found religion in the greeting card aisle
and now i know hallmark was right
and every pop song on the radio
is suddenly speaking to me
art may imitate life
but live imitates t.v.
cause you've been gone exactly two weeks
two weeks and three days
and let's just say that
things look different now
different in so many ways
~chorus~
i used to be a superhero
no one could touch me
not even myself
you are like a phone booth that
i somehow stumbled into
now look at me
i am just like everybody else
if i was dressed in my best defenses
would you agree to meet me for coffee
if i did my tricks with smoke and mirrors
would you still know which one was me
if i was naked and screaming on your front lawn
would you turn on the light and come down
screaming, there's the asshole that did this to me
stripped me of my power
stripped me down
~chorus~
yeah you've been gone exactly two weeks
two weeks and three days
and now i'm a different person
different in so many ways
tell me what did you like about me
and don't say my strength and daring
cause now i'm at your mercy
and it's my first time for this kind of thing
i used to be a superhero
i would swoop down and save me from myself
you are like a phone booth
that i somehow stumbled into
now look at me
i am just like everybody else
Their impromptu friendship picked up where it had left off; right before Duo had kissed him. That part of that night was never spoken about; hinted about, perhaps, but they skirted the edges of it, growing bolder, then flitting away.
And life continued as normal for another four, blue-skied, sunny, happy days. Even Lt. Wufei was losing that jumpy edge, growing used to peace.
Duo thought that he'd either gone crazy or gone to Heaven.
At first, it was little things. Heero's hand accidentally brushing against his leg. Or those blue eyes, watching him with a coy, lidded stare. If he hadn't thoroughly declared himself straight, Duo would have thought he was flirting with him. And that didn't bother him in the slightest; in a way, it was easier for him to pretend. Only six more days and then Heero Yuy would be out of his life and his grasp forever. He silently thanked God for the little indulgence.
Duo noted with some satisfaction that Quatre had dark undereye circles at breakfast, although he wore a slight smile on his lips at all times. Trowa, Heero had noticed also, seemed a little more tired that usual.
"You think--?" Duo whispered, bowing his head close to Heero's. The Japanese boy, while not entirely comfortable with his proximity, made no move to slide away. Heero watched as the blonde boy and Trowa flirted with each other around pieces of burnt toast.
"Yup. They're good for each other." He felt Duo's eyes boring into his back and shifted. I could be good for you, Duo thought, and he knew Heero heard his unspoken words. I really could, Heero... If you'll let me. He raised a hand to touch his cheek, then stopped as Heero grabbed his hand, placing it palm down in between Duo's legs.
Duo gulped as Heero gave him a sweet smirk, then marched from the mess tent. He was torn between following him, thus interpreting a possibly innocent action as a 'come hither' gesture, or he could just sit there and wonder.
Duo Maxwell was a man of action. "Hey, Q, save me a piece of toast okay?" The blonde boy nodded absently, then went back to playing footsie under the table with Trowa. He rushed by, snapping Lt. Wufei in the face with his braid.
The Chinese man sputtered and grabbed for the long cord of hair but missed. Duo was already long gone.
"What was that about?" Duo demanded as Heero led him down into that treacherous field. "Heero! Dammit!" He reached out to touch him, then thought better of it.
Heero shrugged, turning his head just so in order to peer at the braided soldier following him with one wide, Prussian blue eye. "Did you want something, Duo?" That *voice* again, his video voice, his stage voice. It got him so hot, it had to be illegal in at least 40 states.
"What--you're--" Duo sputtered for several moments before realizing he sounded exactly like Lt. Wufei, bumbling and foolish. "WAARG!" Throwing long arms up into the air with abandon, he stalked off to sulk or get drunk ...or preferably both. Oh yes, the kegs would be pouring tonight--
Heero waited until the braided boy was at the top of the slope. "Duo!"
He was tempted to just walk away. He really was. Instead, he found himself trotting back down the hill, stopping a few meters from the Japanese boy, arms crossed in obvious annoyance. "What?" asked Duo, rather suspiciously.
"Don't you want to know?"
"Know what?" Duo sighed, mildly angry with himself for letting Heero play with him this way. The boy had a sadistic streak the size of California if he really thought he was being cute.
"Why." It wasn't a question, and Duo blinked twice, then comprehension dawned.
"Yeah, I want to know why." He studied the dirt intently, crushing little ants as they moved to and fro, across the savannas of grass, carrying bits of leaf on their backs. "Doesn't mean you'll tell me. It's okay, though. I'm used to it."
"Duo..." He looked at him with that little pout that told him he was trying not to laugh. Duo wanted to grab his nose and pull. Either that or just skip the nose and grab *him*.
"Don't."
His heart gave a miserable little jump, until he realized that Heero was staring at the bodies of the dead ants.
Duo paused mid-step. "'Don't?'" He sounded almost hysterical now. He felt like Heero was deliberately toying with him. "Don't what, kill the ants? Don't act self-deprecating? Don't stand so close? Don't look at you? Don't touch you?" He poked Heero in the chest, delighting in the way he wobbled and nearly fell over.
"Don't treat you like you're a normal person? Isn't that what you wanted, Heero? To be like everyone else? Well," he spat out, close to screaming now, "this is what it's like! It's not knowing! It's not being able to touch--"
"What? I thought we understood, I'm not like that, Duo!" Heero exploded. "I'm not like that," he said, more to himself than to anyone else who might have coincidentally been standing in the same field.
"Then why do you do these things, Heero?" the American begged. "What was that back at the tent? What, is it fun to play with little gay Duo? I bet you like it when people fawn over you. You're a self-centered, spoiled BRAT!"
The Japanese boy gaped at Duo, opening his mouth to say something, but he'd forgotten what it was. 'You're a self-centered, spoiled BRAT!' His words rang hollow in his ears and Heero turned and brushed past Duo, not saying a word. Where his hand had touched Duo's tan arm a strange warmth was slowly working its way up his arm and into his heart.
The night came slowly, creeping along at a snail's pace. Heero sat on the grass watching the sunset for what seemed for hours, not understanding why he saw Duo's face superimposed on the red and orange streaks.
He felt very cold.
When dusk fell, he got up and went to find his friend, hoping that maybe he would have the answers he sought.
He found him sitting in the mess tent, drinking himself into a stupor. His nose wrinkled as the scent of beer, gone bad from sitting in the hot sun, wafted through the air. Duo poured himself another mug, and raised it in acknowledgement of Heero's presence.
"What brings you here, Mr. Yuy?" asked Duo.
"I need to talk to you," said Heero urgently. The American laughed drunkenly, brokenly. It was so close to a sob of despair it hurt him.
"You said enough, Yuy. You meant it, too. That hurt--" The braided boy gave a shuddering sigh, head slumping down against his chest. Duo's little black cap fell off unceremoniously so Heero could see--
"Your hair!" he cried, horrified. "Oh Duo..." Heero ran his hands through the silky threads, now no longer than his own hair. It felt so soft; Heero looked around. There was no one else in the tent except for Quatre and Trowa, playing footsie again. What was the point of playing footsie, Heero wondered absently, if there was no one around to catch you? Wasn't that the appeal, the threat of discovery? They should get a tent...
Either way, no one would notice if he did it again. Or again. Duo suddenly grabbed his wrist; the strength of his hand surprised Heero. He looked deceptively thin, not as slender as himself, but lean and soft, even.
"You're dancing on thin ice," he said huskily.
When Heero didn't pull away, Duo did, releasing his hand gently, but not without one last squeeze. "See you around, Yuy." He barely managed to extricate himself from the bench without falling over.
"I don't like that," said Heero quietly before he could quiet himself. "You're supposed to call me 'Heero'." It sounded ridiculous, but he couldn't stop the words from spilling over and out.
Duo paused, then kept walking, one hand smoothing over where Heero had touched his hair.
The Japanese boy sat there for a long time, watching Quatre and Trowa, drinking the rest of Duo's beer, and thinking. It was nearly midnight when he came to his decision.
Somehow, he had always known this was the end destiny was pushing him towards. His life had been too charmed for the perfect love affair. Heero stood outside Duo's tent, wiping moist hands on his jeans, pacing back and forth slowly, kicking up dust clouds.
Gathering the small bits left of his nerves and courage, he pushed through the tent flaps and froze.
"...OH MY GOD!"
"I swear, I didn't know what I was doin' until you came in," Duo pleaded, eyes sober now. The shock of having Heero walk in on him with three other men in his bed did very frightening things to his heartbeat. Heero looked angry enough to kill, an extreme reaction for a rather passive boy. One of the soldiers, a tall, broad-shouldered man with cornflower blue eyes and ginger colored hair nodded.
His voice was smooth, like water flowing over stones. "He's right. My dragon and Zechs and I took advantage of him." Lt. Wufei looked like he was about to combust with shame. The blonde DJ smiled genially and wiggled his fingers at Heero.
"Then why are you in *Duo's* tent?" Heero demanded.
"His tent is the biggest," Zechs supplied helpfully. "And there's a lot of us here," he added, as if it weren't obvious. He looked invitingly at Heero. "Wanna join us--mmph!" Wufei wrapped an arm around his mouth, looking somewhat delirious. The poor man probably didn't know whether to be angry at being interrupted or embarrassed at being outed.
"Heero," Duo said, making puppy eyes at the Japanese popstar. "You believe me, don't you?" Heero looked at him in mock skepticism, then nodded, schooling his face into seriousness.
"I need to talk to you. Alone," he added, as the ginger- haired man, who was busy applying rose stickers to Zechs'...naughty bits, perked up visibly. "ALONE!"
Quatre and Trowa both exchanged glances as three very naked young men raced out of Duo's tent and across the camp, clutching jeans and uniforms in front of important parts.
"Should I ask?" the green-eyed boy asked, slinging an arm over Quatre's shoulders.
"Maybe later," purred Quatre. Trowa smiled slightly, and allowed himself to be pulled inside the blonde boy's tent and out of view of the three naked bishounen. [5]
"I tried to hate you."
Heero stood at the tent flap, the thin rays of moonlight filtering down, casting a blue shadow over his face.
"And when that didn't work, I tried to just be your friend. Dammit Duo," laughed the Japanese boy, "do you know how hard it is to just be friends with you? You can't hide anything.
"Especially not from me.
"You think you've got the right, Duo, to just waltz into my life and turn everything upside down? I had it all planned out. Tomorrow's my eighteenth birthday; I was going to take my money and run as far away from all *this*.
"I won't ask for what I want, Duo. Just what I need."
Heero turned away from the light, prowling in the darkness, creeping closer and closer. Duo counted his breaths, one, two three, and then he was there, sitting on the bed beside him. The American could feel his breath whispering over his lips.
"I'm asking."
End Part Seven
Ariana
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