TITLE - Gutter Ball
PAIRING - 1+2
RATING - K+ or PG
WARNINGS - Mentions of sex, innuendos, birds.
DISCLAIMER - I wish I owned but I don't. Any similarities are coincidence.
SUMMARY - Duo tries to 'strike out' with Heero at the bowling alley.
GUTTER BALL
Duo set the pizza box on the Formica table. This was it. Today was the day and Duo had promised himself that he would make a move. Heero sat down on the opposite side of the table and started to open the box.
"How'd I do?"
Duo looked up from choosing the perfect slice for the big moment. "Uhh, 300? That's a perfect score Heero."
"How did you end up with only 200?"
"Because I'm not as good at everything as you are." He blushed. In the face of everything that was about to happen, those words could be taken a long way.
"You're better than me at fending off propositions."
"Huh?"
"Since coming out, you're the only guy who hasn't propositioned me."
The paling of Duo's face should have been comical but instead it left him feeling sick. No, no, no!!! This was supposed to be his chance!
He tried for a lighter mood. "Wufei hasn't propositioned you."
"Wufei isn't gay."
"Still…" There wasn't any fighting that.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?"
Wasn't that the million dollar question!
"Nothing much really, just wanted a reason to hang out." Duo told the table. He was cursing his luck, and Heero's poor sense of timing. Had Heero said something earlier, the two of them wouldn't be on a mock date, eating pizza in the middle of the bowling alley.
"Are you going to tell me the truth or just keep lying all night?" The Formica wasn't as interesting anymore. Duo looked up at Heero who's face had 'well?' written all over it.
Steadying himself, Duo placed both hands on the table top on either side of his forgotten slice of perfect pizza. "Well… I actually was…wondering…" He could do this! He was special to Heero, not like the other guys who had asked because Heero was drop dead gorgeous and anyone with a brain would want him in bed.
"Yes?"
Not that Duo only wanted him in bed. In fact he was pretty sure he was in love with the other man.
"Duo, are you going to finish?"
Eyeballing his pizza, Duo picked up the slice and shoved it in his face. "Omf courths. I'm noth givinth up thith slithe for anuthinth."
"I meant what you were saying. Are you going to finish what you were saying?"
Heero had a one track mind, that was for sure. Swallowing the huge bite down, Duo steeled himself for another go.
He sucked in a deep breath and caught some left over pizza in his throat. He coughed one, twice, three times to clear his throat. Putting his focus back on Heero, he shrank. Heero wore a glare of impatience and was glancing at the lanes with longing.
"Well, I was wondering if…" Duo fingered the Formica, "maybe…"
"Spit it out Duo."
"If maybe you'd like to…" Duo scratched fervently at a crack, "You know, date for a while before realizing that you're madly in love with me and asking me to marry you. It'd be nice if some wild monkey jungle sex was thrown in there but if you want to wait, I can wait. We could do the horny newlywed thing for a couple of years before adopting or there's always the genetic stuff they've got going on nowadays. Our kids would be the coolest kids in school and you know it! We could grow old and retire to the mountains before getting too old to shovel all the snow. Or we could just retire to the ocean and save some time. Maybe we could retire to both and have a vacation home or five. But if all that is too much to think about right now, then I can settle for just the first part with the dating and possible monkey jungle sex." He looked at the crack and found that it was significantly larger than when he began. He didn't dare look at Heero's reaction.
"I have to be honest Duo." Heero started. Duo winced. "That's the most promising proposition I've heard yet."
The crack be damned, Duo looked up to Heero who nodded once as if solidifying his answer before adding, "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Sounds good to me."
"So… we're dating now?"
"I assume that's what you were getting at, yes."
"…Cool!" Duo just stared at Heero who kept his gaze on the games. "Does this mean that this is our first date?"
"Sure." Heero cast his eyes back on Duo before opening the box and taking another piece of pizza.
"So what do you want to do next?"
"I thought that was obvious."
Duo furrowed his brow. What usually happened on dates? They had already gone bowling, were now eating dinner, and so…. What came next? "A movie? There's that Furiously Fast movie. Heard that's doing pretty well. Or the romantic comedy… Journeyland."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
"Oh." What could Heero be talking about? "We could go to the arcade and try to beat our old high scores." Heero shook his head. "The cherry blossom festival is in town." Another shake. "A walk on the riverfront?" No that wasn't it.
"I was thinking more along the lines of wild animals."
Wild animals? "It's a bit late to go to the…" Realization dawned on Duo. "Zoo. Ohhhhh…"
"Your place or mine?" Heero used every ounce of willpower to not laugh at the rising blush on Duo's face. And even more not to laugh when the blush faded and Duo placed his elbow on the tabletop with a flourish of his hand. He placed his chin in the hand and eyed the bowling lanes defensively.
"We live right next to each other Heero."
"Exactly. Your place," Heero closed the lid on the pizza, "or mine?"
Duo's eyes flitted to Heero. "Are we gonna make out in the elevator?"
With a shrug, Heero answered. "Probably."
"Then mine is closer."
"Mine is cleaner." Heero stood and grabbed the pizza box. Walking past Duo, who's eyes followed him, he added, "And my bed is bigger."
Duo faced the chair Heero had been sitting in quickly, before turning around so fast that he nearly toppled the chair in his haste to follow. He had to jog a little to catch up to Heero, who rewarded him with an arm wrapped around his hip.
"Hole in one."
Duo wondered on that for a second before catching Heero's glance at the lanes. "Heero, 'hole in one' is a golf term." He suppressed a snicker. Heero shrugged. "I think you mean 'strike.'" They opened up the double wooden doors to the outside. "Of course, by the end of the night, we might have a turkey."
"Poultry? Why?" They started down the ramp to the parking lot.
"No! Three strikes in a row makes a Turkey."
"Having sex three times makes a bird?"
"No! In bowling! It's a bowling term! Didn't you see the damn gobbler on the screen at all today?" Duo waved his arms in explanation on the way to the car.
"I wasn't looking at the screen. I was watching the pins."
"And how can you get sex from 'strike' but you get confused at 'turkey?'"
"How can you tell the difference between 'hole in one' and 'strike?' Throw slash hit a ball into a hole. Just in bowling you have to hit things with the ball?"
"I'll take you golfing next time." Duo unlocked the passenger side door for Heero before walking over to his side.
"Oh Duo?" Duo looked over the roof of the car. Heero mirrored him standing with the car door open. "Nice spare back there."
Duo smacked his forehead with his palm before climbing in the car after Heero. The doors shut them off from the world.
"I'm never gonna hear the end of the bowling puns."
"Duo?"
"Yes?"
"Can we make out now?"