13-Dec-2004
Title: This Time Next Year
Author: Mookie
Pairing: Heero/Duo
Rating: PG
Warnings: shonen ai, minor sap, very mild angst, another of the endless Christmas themed ficlets
Word count: 1,857
Notes: Dedicated to Natea, my partner-in-crime with whom I share a temporal lobe.
Duo heard the keys in the door and flung his arms over the project he was working on just before the door opened and Heero walked in. Duo adopted his most innocent looking expression, despite the fact that half his body was sprawled over the table. He leaned his elbow on an uncomfortable lump and propped his head in his hand.
"You're early."
Heero looked at Duo curiously, hanging up his jacket without breaking his gaze. "It's five o'clock, just like I said it would be."
Duo lifted his left hand and looked at his watch. "Shit. Once the sun goes down I lose all track of time."
"Winter must be the bane of your existence," Heero said. He started to walk toward the living room, but Duo jumped up and intercepted him, throwing an arm over Heero's shoulder and steering him toward the kitchen instead.
"Don't you want to get something to drink first? Or maybe use the bathroom?"
"Duo, I am capable of using public restrooms rather than waiting until I get home. I've even washed my hands." He held up his hands, palms facing Duo, then turned them so Duo could see the backs. His eyes narrowed, and his face started to turn toward the dining room table when Duo gripped him by the chin and held it firm.
"Duo," Heero said, his temper started to rise. "What the he-"
In a panic, Duo did the only thing he could think of to distract Heero from the table and the items strewn across it.
He kissed him.
It worked. Heero's body went completely still and Duo pulled his lips away as if burned.
Before he could say a word, Heero very quietly said, "if you didn't want me to see what you had on the table, you could have just told me."
He walked into the bathroom and shut the door.
Duo touched his fingers to his lips as he watched the door close behind Heero.
"Damn it."
He mixed the milk, water, and hominy together the way he'd seen Heero do it, and then filled the bottom of the double boiler with some water. Once the heating element fired up, he left it there and turned his attention to one of the magazines he'd found in the attic. The cover and several pages were torn from it, but he'd already read those, and they'd come in handy for last night's project.
It was too bad the Reader's Favorite Recipes hadn't anything to add to the breakfast he was making. He'd have liked a bit more than the ground cornmeal he was preparing, but he supposed it was good enough that Heero liked it.
He perused a story about a crotchety old man and his dog. The man referred to his father as "pappy" and Duo tried to imagine hearing someone like Heero referring to a mentor like J in that manner. He chuckled and glanced over at the stove before turning the page.
The magazine had been in circulation since long before the colonies had been established, but the issue in his hand was only forty-two years old. Hard to believe someone had wanted to save them. The stories all followed a similar theme, and they reminded him of the ones they used to tell him at the church. Positive, uplifting stories, ones full of encouragement.
He couldn't help but be reminded of the speech that had been broadcast over the entire solar system. Funny how a story about a fictional man and his mutt gave him more reason to smile this holiday season than the promises of the latest governing body.
Normally after getting home from work, he preferred reading in bed or watching television to unwind, but he thought that today he wanted to be awake when Heero left for school. With the difference in their schedules, seeing each other in the morning was unusual.
He closed the magazine and set it on the table, then lifted the lid and peeked inside.
"A watched pot never boils," Heero's sleepy voice greeted him, and Duo gave him a tentative smile. "What are you still doing up?" Heero asked, rubbing his eye with one knuckle. "Everything okay?"
"Just thought we'd have breakfast together for a change."
Heero nodded and went to the refrigerator to pull out the milk. He shook it a few times, frowned, and then opened it and drank it straight from the carton in two swallows. He crushed the carton and tossed it in the garbage.
"I'll pick some up on the way home," he said. He sat across in the seat adjacent to Duo and yawned.
"Thanks. Listen, if you want to take a shower, it'll be about another fifteen minutes."
Heero nodded, then stood up and stretched, his T-shirt rising and exposing a small strip of skin above his pajama pants. Duo watched him walk to the bathroom, scratching at the back of his head.
"Coward," he muttered under his breath.
Between Heero's erratic exam schedule and Duo's last minute gift shopping, it wasn't until Christmas Eve that they were home together for more than an hour or two. Heero was sitting on the floor wrapping a gift he'd gotten for Sally while Duo hung up the Christmas cards they'd received in that day's mail. He taped the last one on the cardboard fireplace and turned to look at Heero. The tip of his tongue peeked from his lips as he carefully centered the box on the paper before bringing the sides up and taping them.
The only light in the room was the orange glow from their fake fire, a low-wattage bulb hiding behind a frosted plastic "flame." It gave the room a romantic feel, Duo realized, and he averted his gaze from Heero's activity, heading to the kitchen to retrieve the mugs they'd set out earlier.
He placed Heero's gently on the floor next to him but far enough from the paper that it wouldn't interfere with his roommate's movements and then sat down on the recliner with his own, nursing the steaming cup of chicken broth with both hands.
The smell always made him smile, ever since the time he'd brought some in to Heero who'd been suffering from mild cold symptoms, the worst of which, to Heero, was the fact that with his stuffed up nose, he couldn't taste anything enough to appreciate what he was eating.
Duo had never figured out if Heero really had been able to taste the broth that day, if the aroma had penetrated Heero's nostrils along with the curls of smoke wafting from the stoneware mug that day, but the smile Heero had given him had been enough to convince him it hadn't mattered.
He could see a faint glint in Heero's hair, and leaned forward just enough to wonder if it was a trick of the dim lighting, or if that was really a bit of blond. Gray hair? Impossible.
Duo touched the back of his neck, seeking the familiar braid. His fingers raked through the short hair at his nape, and he pulled his hand free. Hell, he'd cut it off five years ago. It had been the night he and Heero had gone out to celebrate their approximate twenty-first birthdays. Neither of them had had anything to drink, in the end. That had come a few months later, when Duo had been offered a promotion. It was funny how much more seriously they'd taken him with a new haircut. He'd been angry at first that they'd overlooked him for so long, for something that had nothing to do with his qualifications.
He'd gone to Heero to complain, expecting empathy. He'd gotten it, but not quite the way he'd anticipated. Heero had never been the type to do exactly what Duo expected. In fact, he'd said the same thing about Duo more than once.
They'd moved into the apartment together after Heero decided to try pursuing a higher education for the second time. He'd failed miserably on his first attempt, and hadn't mentioned the reasons for it. It wasn't until he'd been accepted to a different school, one closer to where Duo lived, that he'd seemed to find his niche a bit better.
That was Heero, though. He wasn't one to meekly accept failure of any kind.
Duo slid from the chair to his knees and reached out to touch it. As his fingers made contact with the mismatched strand of hair, Heero turned to look at him. In that moment Duo swore the past eleven years had just melted away. In Heero's eyes he recognized the boy who had come to kill him, only to toss him a gun and help him escape instead.
Duo's hand fell to his thigh and he smiled weakly, then stood up and retreated back to his chair. He could feel Heero's gaze on him for a full minute before the sound of cellophane tape being pulled from the roll replaced the thudding of Duo's heart.
Heero turned the wrapped gift around and around in his hands, and Duo watched nervously. He'd been a little short on wrapping paper that night, and had filled in the gaps with scraps of mismatched paper and magazine pages. Sprigs of holly met striped candy canes. A snowman's carrot nose pointed toward a mountain skyline, and the words Merry Christmas ended with an oversized G.
It was long and heavy and Heero finally placed it on the floor and tore the paper from it, balling it up and tossing it into the wastebasket. He opened the box and removed the hand-forged poker. Heero glanced at their cardboard mantle and Duo said, "I kinda hoped that next year we'd have a real one."
Duo held his breath as Heero set it carefully back in the box without a word. Heero crawled toward the tree and removed a box from where it had been hidden among the lower branches.
He reached out for Duo's hand and set it gently in his palm before closing Duo's fingers over it, then sat back and waited.
It was with trembling fingers that Duo carefully removed the paper, silver snowflakes against a white background. He took a deep breath before removing the lid.
A lone skeleton key gleamed up at him from a cushion of soft cotton.
Duo replaced the lid and set the red foil box next to him on the stained beige carpet. He felt the lump in his throat grow as he raised his eyes to meet Heero's. Leaning forward slowly, he reached out a hand and captured one of Heero's, bringing them both to his chest.
"Yes," he said.
He might have taken a moment to savor the light in Heero's eyes, but they began to slide shut the moment Duo pressed his lips against Heero's.
They had big plans, the two of them, in the upcoming year, but Duo planned on taking things a step at a time. Right now, however, he had just one goal in mind.
Duo deepened their kiss. This time, he would show Heero that he meant it.
The End
(:./mookie/nextyear)
