Title: Moonlight
Author: Lanjelin
It was late. As the full moon made its way across the night sky, its pale light cast deep shadows over a large mansion situated at the foot of a small hill. Surrounded by what may once have been a beautiful garden, but now was on the verge of merging with the rest of the forest, it gave a distinctly uninhabited impression. Which was why it was currently occupied by four battle-weary gundam pilots, who were sleeping soundly as the moon tenderly caressed their hideout.
It did not, however, touch the fifth pilot, who was stealthily moving towards the house. His body screamed for the rest it had been denied for so long, but he ignored it, knowing that he had to make sure the safe house hadn't been discovered by the enemy before he entered it. As he moved around the building, he saw that the signs left by the other pilots were still there. Good. That meant he could enter without risk. And he really needed to sleep now; even the "perfect soldier" couldn't go on forever without it.
Heero entered the house quietly, since he didn't want the others to wake up. He was not in the mood for answering questions right now. One thing he had to do, though. Walking down the corridor, he stopped at the door of the room next to his, and carefully opened it.
The room's occupant was deeply asleep, sprawled all over the bed. As the door opened he shifted slightly, making his long silky rope of hair fall down the side of the bed. Then he turned towards the door, let out a content sigh, and smiled sweetly in his sleep. Heero couldn't stop his own lips from quirking slightly in response. Then he closed the door and quickly got into his own room and into bed. He fell asleep instantly.
The next morning, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei had just sat down for breakfast when Duo barged through the door, causing Wufei to choke on his coffee and Quatre to spill his tea.
"Maxwell...!" Wufei started, but was instantly interrupted.
"Heero's back!" Duo exclaimed, smiling broadly. "He must have gotten back late last night, when we were sleeping!"
"That's great, I was starting to worry", Quatre said. "How was he? Was the mission successful?"
"Well, he seemed to be all right, but he was still sleeping, and I didn't want to wake him up to ask about the mission", Duo answered and started to rummage through the fridge in search for something to eat.
"Oh", Quatre said a bit surprised, "We will just ask him when he wakes up then."
As Duo sat down with his breakfast, he was relieved that they hadn't asked him how he knew that Heero had returned. He didn't really want to tell them that he looked in the Japanese boy's room every morning, hoping that he had returned. This morning he had felt a strange calm, and when he saw Heero deeply asleep in his bed, he had let the tension the worrying always brought slowly fade away. After carefully checking that he hadn't any serious injuries, Duo had gone down for breakfast, deciding that if the well-trained Wing pilot let anyone that close without waking up, he really needed the sleep.
Duo spent the rest of the day working on his Gundam, and when he finally finished, it was late in the afternoon. Checking his watch, he found that he had some time to spare before dinner and decided to take a shower. What he really wanted to do was check on Heero though, and when he got to the bedroom door he hesitated. For a few seconds Duo just stood there, staring at the door. Then, with a sigh and a rueful smile he continued towards his own.
"I won't wake him up just to settle my own mind", he thought.
After his shower Duo sat on his bed drying his hair. He was still thinking about Heero; he hadn't been able to get him off his mind.
"I wonder if he is still asleep?" he thought. "If he sleeps much longer he'll miss dinner." Then Duo gave himself an ironic smile. He was just trying to make excuses to see the sullen Japanese pilot, and he knew it.
"Heh. No need to hide it to myself. I just have to make sure no one else finds out..."
He swiftly braided his hair, making a mental note to brush it more carefully later when it had dried a bit more.
Standing outside Heero's room, Duo first put his ear to try to determine if the room's occupant was awake or not. When he heard the faint noise of someone typing on a computer, he grinned to himself. Of course. Then he straightened and knocked. No answer. He frowned and glared at the door. What the hell...? He had to be in there, right? Shrugging, he just went ahead and stepped in.
As Duo had expected, Heero was there, typing on his computer.
"Hey, Heero, why didn't you open? The mission affected your hearing?" Duo said while closing the door.
Without turning around Heero answered: "Why should I? If it's important you'd come in anyway, and if it's not, you'd go away without bothering me with things that don't concern me."
In the face of such stoicism Duo momentarily lost his tongue.
"Uh, well, anyway... I came to see if you were awake yet," he finally got out. "The mission turned out all right?"
"It was completed according to the instructions."
Duo rolled his eyes in exasperation, and then continued to talk to Heero, despite the lack of interest the Wing pilot showed. Just the fact that he was back made Duo happy, since he no longer had to worry about him being captured or self-destructing. So the braided maniacally talking boy drank in the sight of his partner as he let the words tumble out from his lips.
When Heero heard the knock on the door, his thoughts immediately went to Duo. Could it be him? As he pondered if he should answer or not, the door opened behind him. It was Duo! The presence of the American boy made Heero nervous in a way it never had before. But he had just realized how he felt, and that made the entire situation different. As the braided boy began to pour questions over him, he answered automatically as he wondered how he should bring up the subject of his feelings... or if he should bring it up at all. The sound of Duo's voice was oddly soothing. He had always liked listening to it, and when the Shinigami pilot occasionally began to hum, or even better, sing, Heero would drop whatever he was doing to listen.
Provided no one was looking of course.
Suddenly, without thinking, Heero turned and the steady stream of words was interrupted by one softly spoken word.
"Duo..."
"Eh? What?" Duo asked surprised.
"Duo, why..." No... How was he going to say it? He couldn't just blurt it out, could he? And Duo might not feel the same No.... He'd have to wait. Maybe if he talked to Duo some more. But what would he say? No words came to him as he continued to stare at his partner.
Duo looked questioningly at Heero, wondering what he wanted to say. When no more words were spoken, he decided to take a chance. After all, Heero had left him an opening, hadn't he?
"Man, you look really tense!" he said. "You should be resting, not working! Now, lay down on the bed and let me do something about that."
Surprised by his own actions, Heero did what Duo had asked. But he wanted Duo to stay, and this seemed to be a good way of getting closer to him.
Obviously not expecting Heero to really do it, Duo just stood there, with a stunned expression on his face. However, in a few seconds he found himself, and walked over to the bed.
As Duo started the massage, Heero felt tensions that even 12 hours of sleep hadn't been able to loosen melt away. Skilled hands moved over the Japanese boy's body, relaxing every muscle and loosening every knot they could find.
He found himself relaxing more and more, until he felt like he was floating. Duo thoroughly enjoyed every minute of touching the body he had been dreaming about for so long. He concentrated on the way his hands moved over the silky skin of the other boy. Who would have thought it would feel so good? He didn't utter a single word, his mind totally focused on the task at hand. When he felt that Heero was completely relaxed, he just continued to move his hands in a comforting pattern on his back and shoulders.
The wandering hands made Heero feel a bit tingly, but that feeling almost disappeared in the warm feeling that was spreading through his body.
"Human beings need to be touched, Heero. It reminds us that we are human, and that we are not alone. It shows us that someone cares about us..."
The combination of Duo's low voice breathing words into his ear and the hands on his body, turned the warmth in him into something stronger, making him wish for Duo to move his hands in different patterns... And then he registered what Duo had said. Could he mean...?
Suddenly the hands were gone, and he felt the bed shift as Duo stood up. He wondered what to do now, what he should say, and finally decided on the obvious.
"Thank you."
At the sound of Heero's voice, Duo turned and smiled broadly at him. When he had felt Heero stiffen as he whispered those words to him, he thought that he had gone too far. But it had just seemed like the right moment... Maybe he hadn't been wrong after all.
"Anytime!" he answered. "Well, I'll have to do something about my hair before dinner, so I'll see you later."
Heero didn't want this moment to end. Somehow he felt like he had gotten so close to the American boy, and was afraid to lose it if he let him go too soon now. He had to find some reason to make him stay...
"Your arms must be really tired."
"What?" Duo stopped on his way to the door when he heard the unexpected sentence.
"After what you did for me, your arms must be really tired. If you want to, I could help you with your hair."
Duo looked at him incredulously.
"Look Heero, you don't have to feel like you have to."
Swallowing before looking up to meet Duo's gaze, Heero said: "No, I... I want to do it."
Duo could hardly believe his ears, but decided to capture the moment before he lost the chance.
"I'll just go and get the brush", he called and rushed out of the room. As he went, he thought: "He wants to touch my hair! He said he did! Well, sort of anyway..."
Back in his room, Heero sat on the bed staring in wonderment at the door.
"He's actually going to let me do it? I know that his hair has a special meaning to him. And he never wears it down around other people..."
When Duo returned, he silently handed Heero the brush, and seated himself at the edge of the bed with his back turned to Heero. He closed his eyes as Heero slowly started to unravel the braid and started on the tangles. The Japanese pilot smiled at the sight of them; it seemed he would have an excuse to have his hands in Duo's hair for a long time... Carefully he ran his fingers as well as the brush through the sweetly scented fall of chestnut, and couldn't keep his lips from quirking a bit when he heard Duo sigh. It was obvious that the longhaired boy liked it; he had his eyes closed and a faint smile on his lips.
Who would have believed that the cold, emotionless pilot of Wing Gundam could be so gentle? Duo had always thought that he considered long hair as a hindrance in missions, but now he seemed to actually enjoy it! He just wished that this moment could go on forever. Or maybe develop into something even better...
Heero was enjoying himself. He had decided to make it last for as long as he could, for who knew when he'd get the chance to do it again? So he did as he had been told so long ago, and followed his feelings. He ran long silken strands through his fingers as he took care of the tangles, and, when he was sure Duo wasn't looking, he held some of the shining chestnut up to his face to feel the softness against his cheek. When all the tangles had been taken care of, he began moving the brush in long even strokes. After a while he heard Duo starting to make a low purring sound in his throat. He sounded just like a content cat, Heero thought amused. And humans aren't even supposed to be able to do that...
After quite some time Heero realised with a sigh of regret that he couldn't keep doing this for much longer, and started dividing Duo's hair into three parts. He had just begun to braid it when someone knocked on the door. He froze in mid movement, unsure on how to respond. He wasn't bothered about being seen like this; he couldn't care less what anyone thought about him. But what did Duo think?
At the silence and lack of movement behind him, Duo turned to see what was wrong. When he saw the question in Hero's eyes, he chuckled and called to the person outside the door:
"Come in!"
A cheerful Quatre opened the door and had already started to speak when he caught sight of the pair on the bed.
"Well, I just came to tell you..."
And there he stopped, as he registered the scene in front of him. Heero hadn't bothered to put on his tank top after the massage, and was only dressed in a pair of spandex shorts. He was braiding Duo's hair, which was pooling behind him on the bed. The most shocking thing however, was the look on Heero's face. He had an almost gentle expression, and he was... smiling?
IwillnotaskIwillnotaskIwillnotask... Quatre silently repeated to himself as he continued. "Uhm, that dinner is ready."
"We'll be down in a few minutes", Duo promised.
Quatre just nodded, and went back to the kitchen where Trowa and Wufei waited. As he replayed the scene he had just witnessed, he smiled to himself.
"Well we'd better finish this up", Duo said, smiling.
Heero said nothing, just stared into those beautiful violet eyes, knowing that his feelings were, for once, very visible. And he didn't really care, since he saw those feelings mirrored in the gaze meeting his own.
The End
(:./lanjelin/sunrise3)
