Title: Fulcrum: Yesterday's Whispers
Author: Razorqueen
Pairing in this part: 6x2
Pairing for Fulcrum Arc: leading to 6x1x2
Rating: R
Category: yaoi, drama, angst, romance
Feedback: razorqueen@aol.com
Archive: All future parts of Fulcrum arc will be found at:
RazorQueen's Archive: http://razorqueen.tripod.com
Gundam Wing Addiction: http://gwaddiction.com
Disclaimer: Bandai and Sunrise own all.
Summary: Four years after Heero's death, Duo finds he can't escape the memories, even with Zechs' help.
Notes: This is the first part of continuing arc dealing with the romance of Zechs and Duo, Heero and Duo, and how their lives have and could mix. The next coming stories will establish our timeline, but then pay attention to dates because we'd like to explore other points along their lives together too.
This began because both RQ and Dev were interested in building a threesome fic where neither of the /couples/ lacked for having expanded to add a third. We discovered it would take more than just one or two fics to develop such a thing, as well as specially built set of circumstances. So, this arc has come into being. We look forward to seeing it build. Hope you enjoy it too.
A.C. 206
Duo yelped as icy water splashed over him. Damn it—he wanted a hot shower, a nice, long steamy soak to wash away the sweat and tension of the day. But no. He soaped up and rinsed in a hurry, gritting his teeth against the cold spray. Shift had already changed by the time he and his partner got back, and everyone else had long gone—and used up the hot water. Fuckers.
He grabbed his towel and dried off, then wrapped it around his waist. Now that he'd turned the shower off, the place was too quiet. Almost creepy. Why didn't they pipe in music or something? Duo laughed at himself. Sure, and while they were at it, they could put in a wet bar, too. He unpinned his hair and shook out his braid as he padded across the concrete floor of the Preventers' locker room.
What a day. What a month. He was definitely piling up comp time hours—but it was never quiet enough to actually be able to take them, so a fat lot of good it did. And he had a desk full of paperwork he was never going to finish at this rate. Une would give him hell if he didn't get to it soon. Grumbling, he opened his locker and reached in for his jeans. As he pulled them on, he heard something crinkle, and he dug his hand into his pocket. Puzzled, he pulled out a note, but his confusion faded to pleasure as he recognized the elegant handwriting.
Hoped I'd catch you alone in the shower, but no luck. I'll be waiting.
Love you,
Z
Duo grinned and shoved the note back in his pocket. That definitely made up for the cold shower. Like Zechs would ever really get in the shower with him in the HQ locker room, but it was fun to think about. In a hurry now, Duo dragged on his jeans, although rushing proved counterproductive when he had to re-button his shirt twice. But finally, he dressed, grabbed his bag, and headed for the parking lot.
A mellow October sun warmed away any chill, and Duo paused briefly to sniff the odor of fallen leaves. God, he loved that smell. It was the smell of change, of life. Even after ten years, he hadn't learned to take the shifts of seasons for granted. It was all a miracle to him, every single time, and the air seemed full of possibilities and magic. A breeze nudged at him, and he hurried. Zechs was waiting for him.
Duo followed the broad walk without really seeing the bronze and yellow chrysanthemums, lost in a pleasant glow of anticipation. Zechs would be standing next to his car, the sun on his hair, smiling—confident, powerful. Seductive, definitely, especially dressed in civilian clothes. He thought about Zechs' long legs in a pair of tight jeans, and his own pants suddenly felt constricting.
Duo vaulted over the railing of Headquarters' front steps in his sudden need. He hit the ground lightly, then sprinted for the parking lot and Zechs' assigned space.
Duo pulled up short at the curb in front of Zechs' spot and blinked.
Empty?
Okay. He took a deep breath. Zechs must have parked somewhere else. Sure. That was it. Duo tried to ignore his pounding heart as he methodically scanned the officer's parking. It was stupid to worry, just because he didn't see Zechs right away. He said he'd be waiting. He said.
But he wasn't. Duo walked every row, checked every car. Alarm leeched the mellow warmth from the late afternoon, left him shivering. By the time he admitted that Zechs' car was gone, his breath came in short, harsh gasps, and his hands trembled no matter how tightly he clenched them. He stood in the center of the parking lot, fighting down the urge to scream. Where was he?
Duo wandered toward the street, not really knowing where he was going to look for Zechs, but damn sure he couldn't stand there and do nothing until it was too late. Not this time. He walked faster, his chest tight and aching. He'd reached the corner when the hum of a familiar engine made him turn.
Zechs' car, low and sleek, swept up to the curb next to Duo. The driver's door opened, and Zechs got out. He stood, called to Duo across the car.
"Need a ride?" Zechs smiled and leaned his arms on the roof. The breeze rifled through his hair, and any other time, Duo would have gone weak in the knees looking at him.
"You weren't there," Duo said, his voice accusing as relief transmuted into sudden, unreasonable anger. "You said you'd wait."
"I ran to the market to pick up something for dinner, that's all." Zechs looked more closely at Duo. Whatever he saw made him come around the car to join Duo on the sidewalk. He laid his hand on Duo's arm. "Are you all right?"
Duo jerked his arm away from Zechs. "Let go!" He winced as the tone of his own voice penetrated his turbulent emotions. Christ. All Zechs did was go to the damn market. But he said it again, and this time, his voice trembled, and he whispered, "You weren't there."
A shadow moved in the blue eyes that watched him. Duo half expected an angry reply, but Zechs pulled him into his arms and held him fiercely. "I'm here now."
Duo clung to him, feeling like a fool. He murmured into Zechs' shirt, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm being dumb."
"No, you're not." Zechs rested his cheek on Duo's head. It didn't seem to matter to him that they stood on a busy street corner. They might as well have been the only two in the world for all the notice he gave the people milling past them. "I understand. I should have waited for you."
"You're not responsible for nursing my neuroses. You didn't do anything."
Zechs kissed him lightly. "I got steak. And a bottle of that blackberry merlot you liked."
Duo looked up at him and smiled. "The really cheap stuff?"
"That's it." Zechs made a face. "And it's... chilled."
"You do love me, don't you?"
"More than anything." Zechs let him go and opened the passenger door. "We'd better go before the wine gets warm."
Duo laughed a little and slid into the car. "I know, I know. Anything you have to chill to drink is barbaric. So I'm a barbarian. Sue me." He reached over and laid his hand on Zechs' knee. "I love you, too, you know."
Zechs squeezed Duo's fingers and then put both hands back on the wheel. "I know."
He pulled out onto the street, but Duo saw his tiny smile, and he knew everything was all right. Duo leaned his head against Zechs' shoulder and closed his eyes. He could smell Zechs' soap and shampoo, and the scent was warm and comforting and secure.
"Let's go home."
Duo lay pillowed on Zechs' lap, staring at the television without really seeing it. He still felt a little shaken by the afternoon, and he needed to feel Zechs close to him. Damn it. How long was it going to hurt? Heero had been gone for four years. Four years since Duo had kissed him goodbye and watched the plane carrying him and Relena take off without a hitch. Four years since he'd gone home, fixed himself one of the dinners Heero had left in their fridge for him, and settled in to watch TV, just in time to see his world blown apart on the evening news.
Duo closed his eyes. For those few minutes in the parking lot, he'd felt the same empty terror he'd known during all the months he'd searched in vain for Heero. But, Christ, all Zechs had done was leave him waiting in the parking lot for a few minutes. Yes, he was going out of town tomorrow, and that always made Duo jumpy. But that was no excuse for losing his goddamn head that way.
They sat that way through a couple of shows, Zechs playing with Duo's braid, or petting his head, or rubbing his back. Zechs' touch didn't have its usual calming effect on him, though, and when Duo felt him shift as though to get up, he tensed and clung to Zechs' knees.
"Where're you going?"
"Just to clean up the kitchen. You can stay here."
"No, I'll help." Duo let him go, and when he stood, followed Zechs to the kitchen. He turned on the faucet and began rinsing the dishes that Zechs handed him, then loaded them in the dishwasher in silence.
Zechs slipped his arm around Duo's waist, and Duo leaned against him. "You're not okay."
"Yeah, I am."
"Liar."
Duo made what he hoped was a comically wounded face. "I never lie."
"Certainly. Pretending, then." Zechs sat on a bar stool and pulled Duo to stand between his legs, looped his arms around Duo's waist. "Is it because I'm going to be gone?"
Duo played with Zechs' buttons, unwilling to look into his eyes. "Maybe. I don't know."
"It's only for a few days. I'll be home before you have time to miss me."
"Don't." Duo's hand stilled so suddenly that Zechs reached up and covered it with his own, holding it close against his chest.
"Don't what?"
"Say that. That's almost what—" Duo cut the sentence off and turned his head, but Zechs caught his chin and forced him to look into his eyes. Any hope he had of hiding what he'd been thinking about went out the window. Zechs could always read his mind. "What? Why're you looking at me like that?"
"That's almost what Heero said. That's what you meant, wasn't it?"
Duo swallowed and nodded. "Ok, so maybe I'm superstitious. But after this afternoon, it just all feels too familiar." His eyes burned, partly from memory, and partly from frustration. "Damn it. I thought I was over all of that."
Zechs sighed and wrapped his arms around Duo, held him until Duo gave in and laid his head against Zechs' shoulder. "Baby, you'll never be over it. You loved him, and there will always be reminders. But history isn't going to repeat itself. Times are different, and no one is going to try to assassinate me. I'll come home."
Duo nuzzled his cheek against Zechs'neck, suddenly weary. "I know. I just keep thinking about it all. How I was sure he couldn't be gone, and I looked, and—"
"Duo." The way Zechs spoke his name was gentle and full of memories of everything they'd shared. It reminded Duo of how Heero said it, the way everything seemed to be reminding him today.
"He didn't want to take the job, you know. He didn't want to be gone so much." Now that he'd started, Duo couldn't make himself stop talking about it, any more than he could make himself stop thinking about it. He went on, staring bleakly at the past. "I talked him into it. He only did it to make me happy, or to make me shut up, which is probably more like it."
"Heero never did anything he didn't want to do. It's not your fault."
"I told him it would be good for him. And he believed me. He wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me."
"Duo, stop. Things happened the way they happened, that's all." Zechs' mouth twitched as though with pain. "We can't change anything. It doesn't help to look back."
Zechs hid the grief in his voice so well that even Duo barely heard it. But enough pain echoed through his words to remind him that he wasn't the only one who'd lost someone that day. He hugged Zechs tightly. "No. It doesn't. Going to bed would, though."
"All right. Go on." Zechs smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes. He gave Duo a little push. "I'll be there in a minute."
Duo kissed Zechs' jaw, wanting to kick himself for dredging up all this shit yet again. It was hard enough to keep Zechs anchored to the present under the best of circumstances, and poking at old wounds sure as hell didn't help. And if Duo let him, Zechs would sit alone in the dark all night thinking about Relena, and his parents, and the war—and Treize.
"If you think I'm going to let you stay out here and brood all by yourself, you've got another thing coming, mister."
"I don't brood."
"Yeah. Right." Duo took Zechs' hand and stepped back, pulling him. "Come on. I want to snuggle with my man."
"I'll go see if he's available."
Duo grabbed a handful of Zechs' hair and tugged. "Look, you. Bed."
Zechs shook his head and got to his feet, but this time, his smile lessened the shadow of old pains in his eyes. "You're hopeless."
Duo looked up at Zechs, and the playfulness disappeared. "Not any more."
He wrapped his arms around Zechs' waist and held him tightly, pressed himself against the rigid muscles of his abdomen. Zechs still held himself like a soldier even now. Maybe he still saw himself that way, maybe the battles had never quite ended for him. Duo squeezed until Zechs' arms enclosed him and hugged him back.
"You win. As usual. Bed." Zechs leaned down and kissed him, then put his arm over Duo's shoulders and walked beside him to their bedroom.
Duo shucked off his clothes, crawled into bed, and watched Zechs undress. The power of seeing that magnificent body revealed made him tingle all the way to his toes. "You're a work of art, you know that?"
Zechs rolled his eyes, then gathered up his clothes and Duo's and tossed them in the hamper. "Are you trying to butter me up for something?"
"Butter... hmm... " Duo tilted his head and looked at Zechs speculatively. "Nah. The chocolate syrup would be better."
Zechs pulled his hair into a ponytail and got into bed. "Too messy."
"I thought you liked making me messy."
"I do." Duo scooted close, and Zechs caught him in his arms. His hands roamed over Duo's body. "I'm not feeling especially neat right now. What about you?"
Duo sighed. "Would you believe I'm still pretty shaky?"
"I would." Zechs didn't stop touching him, but his touch became more soothing than seductive. "I've never seen you get upset quite like that. What happened?"
"I don't know... when you weren't there, I panicked. All I could think of was that you were gone and I couldn't find you. Like when I couldn't find Heero. I guess I kind of flipped out a little."
"You've been working a lot of hours lately." Zechs stroked Duo's head. "You're tired."
"And you're leaving."
"I could take you with me."
Zechs made it sound like it would be easy, but even with his rank, Duo knew what he'd have to go through to make it happen. It wouldn't be fair to screw up everyone's schedules like that. As much as he wanted to say yes, he refused to act any more like a selfish brat than he already had.
"No. I'm not going to do that to your secretaries, and Une would throw a hissy. I wish she hadn't pulled you out of the field again." Duo nuzzled against Zechs' smooth skin. "I'm okay. I just... slipped backwards a little today, that's all. I guess you're right, and that's bound to happen. It's not like there's a statute of limitations on grief. I'm going to miss you like crazy, but like you said, you're only going to be gone for a couple of days. What can happen in a couple of days?"
"Nothing." Zechs kissed him. "Now go to sleep."
"Yessir, Colonel, sir. I live to obey, sir. Ow—hey!" Duo squirmed as Zechs pinched his nipple. "Okay, okay. Sleep. But only if you kiss it and make it better."
Zechs obliged, then turned out the light and let Duo snuggle close to him. Duo felt his warmth and strength like a talisman, and his hands were comforting, pushing back memories that still made him ache until the past seemed bearable again. He felt Zechs' lips brush the shell of his ear, and he smiled at the silly, tender things his lover whispered.
Duo had thought he couldn't possibly love anyone after losing Heero. But he and Zechs had found each other, both of them like lost souls after Relena's assassination. They fit together so improbably well that sometimes he wondered if maybe Heero and Relena had somehow managed to shove them together from the Other Side. If they had, he owed them big time. Clinging to Zechs' fingers, Duo drifted to sleep.
Crowd. He doesn't like crowds. Means trouble, so many people. Pushing, shoving. Grabbing. He looks around. He thinks he is trying to find someone, but he's not sure who.
The scene melts, reforms, but that seems normal. Same crowd, different place. He keeps walking. No faces. There are no faces in the crowd. They turn and look at him, the people, but they have no faces. The wrongness scares him, and he wants to get away. He pushes, he shoves. He's one of them. Does he have a face? He lifts his hand, feels his nose, his mouth, and he sighs in relief. Not like them, not yet.
He keeps pushing. And then he sees another face. Someone like him. Happy, he shoves the faceless ones aside until he gets closer. A man. It's a man, with brown hair and a face he knows and blue eyes. And a name.
Heero.
He tries to call out, but there's no sound. He lifts his fingers to his face, but his mouth is gone, closed over, covered by a half-mask of flesh. His heart pounds. He has to get to him, has to get to Heero. He pushes at the faceless bodies milling around him, but they won't move out of his way. Heero doesn't see him. He's leaving. No. No.
He can't breathe, now. His nose is covered. Not much time. He'll be like them. Blind, mouthless, walking dead. Heero—
He reaches. He can almost touch. Heero stops and turns, but he looks different. Taller. Blond. Not Heero. Zechs. Sobbing silently in relief, he stretches out his arms. Zechs looks down and says nothing. No recognition in his eyes. It's me, he wants to scream. But he has no mouth, and his sight is growing dim.
Too late. Zechs turns away from him and pushes through the crowd. A few seconds more before the mask closes over him and he wanders, a desolate, abandoned wraith. Silvery hair shimmers beyond his reach, and a last tear wets his cheek before his face disappears forever and the darkness of walking death walls him in.
Duo woke, his throat aching with unspent sobs. Automatically, he turned to Zechs, only to find that he already held him. He pressed his forehead against Zechs' arm.
"God."
"Bad one?"
"Yeah." He touched his face, reassuring himself. Mouth, nose, eyes. Check. He let go a sigh of relief.
Zechs stroked his head. "Want to tell me?"
"No, I... just... be with me. Okay?"
Zechs settled Duo close, his body curved protectively around Duo's smaller, slighter form. One hand rested on Duo's belly, his other arm beneath Duo's head. He kissed Duo's bare shoulder. "I'm here."
Duo lay still, his fingers twined in Zechs'. "Do you think they'll ever stop?"
"The dreams?"
Duo nodded. "It's like... like yesterday is always hanging around, whispering over my shoulder." He shivered. "I wonder if I'll ever get away from it, you know?"
"They come less often now."
"That's because of you. Knowing someone is here makes a lot of difference."
"For me, too." Duo was not the only one still tormented in his sleep. Just as often, it was Zechs who woke in a cold sweat. "I owe you my sanity."
Duo squirmed, rolled over to face him. "Do you ever think about what a coincidence it was, us getting assigned together when we did?"
"It wasn't a coincidence. You and I were the only ones with solid MS experience. There wasn't anyone else to put on the assignment."
Duo butted his head against Zechs' chest. "Stop being so literal. I mean the timing. That a rogue cell with some stolen mobile suits popped up just when we both needed someone."
"I'd needed someone for a long time."
"You're just not going to let me believe it was karma, or fate, or angels or anything like that, are you?"
"I really think it was just a rare moment of good taste for you. But if there was some higher power involved, it has my eternal gratitude."
Duo tilted his head and looked up at the ceiling. "Hear that? He's grateful." At Zechs' disbelieving snort, Duo stuck out his tongue. "Just trying to put in a good word. Can't hurt, might help."
"In that case, thank you." Zechs nipped Duo's chin. Apparently inspired, he caught Duo's mouth with his own and kissed him, a slow, exploratory kiss that had Duo rubbing himself against Zechs' thigh before he had finished.
"Mmm. Bad man. You're making me have all kinds of impure thoughts."
"Good. Impure thoughts are good." Zechs pressed his thigh between Duo's legs, and Duo moaned.
"Impure thoughts good," Duo agreed. He rubbed his hardness against Zechs'. "Naughty acts better."
Zechs circled his hand around both their cocks, stroked. "Naughty acts with bad men, best of all."
Duo made a moue of feigned surprise, and licked at Zechs' nipple. "Better than this?"
"Oh, yes." Zechs ran his other hand down Duo's spine, slid his fingers between Duo's cheeks. Duo felt a teasing pressure, wriggled and pushed to try to get more of it. "Much better."
Duo happily wrapped his legs around Zechs' waist and circled his arms around his lover's neck. He rolled them both until he lay on his back under Zechs. "Now this is better."
Zechs caught Duo's wrists and held them above his head with one hand. Duo grinned. "Going to have your way with me, bad man?"
"Foolish boy, if you need to ask." He let go of Duo's hands, but Duo kept his arms raised, wrists crossed, above his head. Zechs straddled him, stroked his hands down Duo's sides, finally teasing a soft whimper from him. "You're mine."
Duo reached up, ran his fingertips over the planes of Zechs' chest. He felt his lover's heart leap under his touch, saw the playfulness in his eyes replaced by desire so fierce it could be brutal. Duo's body responded with a spike of desire that made him groan. "Then take me."
Zechs held Duo down again, kissed him hard. He touched, rough and demanding, and that suited Duo just fine. Zechs' harsh need called up something primitive in him. Duo grabbed at his arms, felt the muscle quiver beneath his hands. His blunt nails dug into Zechs' skin.
"Now—"
He heard Zechs reach over to the nightstand for the oil, and he squirmed on the sheets, eager and hungry. Then the touch of warm, slick fingers drove away the last remnants of his patience, and when he felt Zechs inside him, he bucked and strained and clawed his way to orgasm.
When the white blindness receded, he blinked as his eyes focused again, and he realized Zechs had stopped moving inside him. He let go of those muscled shoulders, where his nails had left crescent scores in flesh, and trailed one hand down Zechs' powerful arm.
"Something wrong?"
Zechs smiled, slow and possessive. His hands still braced on either side of Duo, and he leaned close enough to brush their lips together. "No. I wanted to watch you when you came—"
Duo pulled his head down again and kissed him, harder than that teasing graze the moment before. Without letting go, he moved his hips until Zechs groaned.
"Your turn," he whispered against Zechs' skin. Then he pulled away a little and reached up, pushed his lover's hair back from his face. "And mine. I want to watch you, too."
In the dark, Duo couldn't see the color of Zechs' eyes, but he knew they'd lost their blue-ice sharpness, just as he knew from the gathering tension of muscles and the feral moans that Zechs was on the edge. Duo moved again, and Zechs tilted back his head, gasping and spilling warmth into Duo's body.
"God," Duo murmured, his hands still cupping Zechs' face. "You're so damn beautiful it hurts." He mewled in disappointment when Zechs pulled out of him, but when his tired kiss nearly missed Duo's mouth, Duo relented and let him go.
Zechs' eyes remained closed as he dropped down beside Duo, his breathing still heavy. Duo reached over and brushed away strands of hair that clung to his damp skin. Moonlight squeezed through the slats of the window blinds, turning cornsilk blond to liquid silver, and Duo felt as though he had a glimpse of how Zechs would look in his later years. The idea of growing old with someone had never really occurred to him before, and he lay looking at Zechs, seeing the future in the shadowed planes of his face instead of the past.
Zechs smiled as Duo's fingers stroked his face, and he turned his head into the touch, opening his eyes at last. "Feeling better?"
"How'd you know that's just what I needed?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Zechs fished for the sheet and pulled it up over them. "It's always what you need."
"Come on. I'm not a complicated guy, I know, but I'm a little more complex than that." Duo relaxed into the pillows, letting the after-sex heaviness pull him toward sleep. "Fucking doesn't fix everything."
"It fixes most things. The things worth fixing, anyway."
"Well, then, I hope we never have a problem that can't be solved by you screwing me to the mattress."
"I'll second that." Zechs rolled to his side and wrapped his arm around Duo's waist. "And now, my uncomplicated love, we'd better get some sleep."
"Mmm. Sounds good." Sated and happy, his nightmare only a faint memory, Duo curled up next to Zechs and slept again.
This time when he woke, a pink ribbon of dawn trailed across the horizon. Duo heard the shower and groped blindly across Zechs' side of the bed, but it was empty. He glanced at the clock and nearly burrowed back under the covers for a few more minutes of sleep, but then he remembered that Zechs had a plane to catch. He swung out of bed and stretched, then padded to the bathroom.
Steam misted the door, but he could see Zechs' long, lean body through the fogged glass. He opened the door and slipped into the hot spray. "Good morning." He looked up at Zechs, trying very hard to seem happy about being up so early.
Zechs kissed him, their mouths wet from the shower. "You didn't have to get up."
Duo slid his arms around Zechs' waist, sheltered from the water by his broad chest. "Silly. Yes, I did."
"You hate mornings."
"Ah, but I love you. So it all balances out."
"Of course." Zechs reached for the washcloth and soap. "Well, as long as you're here, I might as well wash your back."
Duo grinned and turned his back to Zechs, flipping his braid forward. "There have to be some perks to getting up before the sun. You know, if god had meant us to see the sunrise, he'd have put it later in the day."
Zechs laughed and lathered Duo's back, then his arms, his chest, the rest of his body. His touch, slow and attentive, made Duo purr like a satisfied tomcat.
"You have such an interesting perspective on theology." Zechs took the handheld shower and rinsed him, then turned the dial to pulse to let the water massage Duo's shoulders. "You're still awfully tense. Did you go back to sleep all right?"
Duo sighed. "Yeah. Just something's still bugging me. Like an itch or something. Not a real one, something that's nagging at me."
"Forget something at the office, maybe?"
Duo said doubtfully, "Maybe." Zechs turned off the shower. "Aw. So soon?"
"I have an early flight." He opened the door and grabbed a towel.
"I didn't forget." Duo stepped out the shower, dripping water across the bathroom floor. "I can't find my robe."
"It's in the bedroom. Wait." Zechs stopped him before he trooped through their room, leaving a trail of soggy footprints. "Just wear mine."
"'kay." Duo shouldered into Zechs robe. It was far too big for him, but it smelled like Zechs. "Are you packed? Do you need anything?"
"Just you." Zechs gave him another kiss. "Do you want me to drop you off at work on my way to the airport?"
Duo snuggled his terry-clad body against Zechs' naked one. "No, that's okay. They'd all die from shock if I showed up this early. I'll go in later. After I've had about six cups of coffee."
Zechs dropped his towel over Duo's head and returned to the bedroom. Duo finished drying off and followed, watched Zechs dress. "I like that sweater."
Zechs came to him. He laid his hand on Duo's cheek. "I'll miss you."
Duo started to shiver, despite the warmth of Zechs' robe. Don't go, he wanted to say. Stay with me. Don't ever leave me. But all he said was, "I'll miss you, too. Like, every minute."
"Why don't you go back to bed? You're cold."
"No, it's okay. I want to see you off."
Zechs stroked Duo's cheek. "Just a couple of days."
"Be careful." His voice roughened. "Please be careful."
Zechs hugged him, cradled him close like a child. "I'll come back to you. I will always come back to you."
"Promise?"
"Silly. Don't you know a solemn vow when you hear one?" Another kiss, this one firm, tender. "And now I have to go."
Duo pulled away, reluctant. He hid his hands in the sleeves of the robe to hide their trembling. "I know."
Zechs picked up his bag and headed for the front door. Duo tagged along after him, not quite able to calm the queasiness in his stomach. Zechs opened the door, letting in the chill autumn morning, and started down the steps. Barefoot, Duo trailed him to the sidewalk. At the curb, Zechs set down his bag and turned.
Duo stood on his toes to kiss Zechs' mouth, threw his arms around his lover's neck, and held tight. "Love you."
Zechs returned the kiss, then unwrapped himself from Duo's embrace. He kissed both of Duo's hands, then bent to kiss the tip of his nose. "Love you, too." He pulled the robe tighter across Duo's chest and throat. "Now go back inside where it's warm."
"I will. As soon as you leave."
Zechs rolled his eyes, but he smiled and put his bag in the trunk of the car. One more kiss, and he was gone, but Duo stood on the sidewalk, oblivious to his cold feet, until Zechs' car turned the corner and vanished. He waited a little longer, still listening for the smooth hum of its engine, but that, too, was quickly lost to him.
Duo turned to go back into their apartment. He started up the steps when an old feeling assaulted him, like pins poking him between his shoulder blades. He spun, scanned the street, but saw no one but a couple of early morning joggers. Nothing remotely threatening. He twitched, rolled his shoulders, and told himself he was still on edge from his nightmare and from Zechs leaving.
By the time he'd checked all the locks in the apartment, he almost believed it.
End Part 1
(:./devaki/fulcrum1)
