Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing/AC, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

A/N: I can hardly believe I wrote this--it was a gift to my wifey.

Duo and Heero settle comfortably into the twin-size bed with the blue, sagging mattress and the elegantly carved mahogany bed frame. The yellow fleece blanket with the image of a unicorn delicately woven into the center covers them from cold foot to chin. Heero leans out of the bed slightly and blows out the fat purple candle that serves to light their room and lower their electricity bill every month. In the sudden but gentle darkness of the room, Duo's voice rasps softly.

"How was school?"

"The same," Heero breathes. Duo snuggles up to him, content to be warm and close. "Damn it, Duo!" Heero jumps, grumpily startled. "Stop putting your cold feet on me!" Duo laughs heartily. "But your feet are so warm! And you're my boyfriend! We're supposed to cuddle!" Heero, irritated that he cannot, in fact, argue either point, exhales slowly and yanks the covers from Duo. "You—" A scuffle begins for ownership of the covers, concluding with Heero on top of Duo, both teens entangled in the coverlet. "Go to sleep already," Duo mumbles. Heero's grumbled response is unintelligible. Both drift into a dreamless sleep.
Duo pours ketchup onto his purposefully overcooked rice and munches on a wonton. Heero zips his backpack. "Will you be home later?" The stoic, dark-haired teen nods. The door slams as he departs for another day of sitting at a desk and hoping for Relena's death. Duo finishes eating breakfast and rolls his eyes when he sees that Heero has forgotten to wash his dishes…again. Duo loads the dishes into the dishwasher and starts it. For the next hour he putters around the house, cleaning and straightening things. It's a mundane, comforting routine he undertakes before he goes to work in his Gundam, his giant Death-scythe robot every day.

Nightfall ends another pleasantly dull, mundane day. Duo has gotten so used to everything, even sex with Heero. The fat purple candle burns strongly, endlessly. The sex is slow and satisfying, the after-orgasm cuddling a constant comfort. Duo feels safe in his life, in his world. He feels calm as he sleeps, easily and without fail each night. Mass every Sunday brings fond memories of Father Maxwell and Duo's being forgiven. Each night, Duo reads a dozen or two verses from the Bible and thinks proudly of the tattoo on his left breast, over his heart—a rosary, and Heero's name above it. The two loves of his life are his religion and his boyfriend. Heero is an atheist and Duo does not care. They are opposite in personality and looks, but love each other more than anything. That is what matters to Duo. "Duo." "Hm?"
"Let's go for a walk tomorrow." Even though they have sex on a regular basis and are each home every night, it has been awhile since they had honestly spent any time together. "Okay." In the darkness, in the sagging bed with the soft blanket, next to the one he loves, Duo smiles.

Sunlight pours through the bedroom window, lighting up the sky-blue walls. The white curtains gleam a buttery yellow and flutter gently as Heero dislodges them with his feet in an attempt to get out of bed. "Where are you going?" Duo mumbles, his face buried in the pillow. He knows he'll be waddling today, thanks to last night, even if it was slow. "The shower."

"I'll join you," Duo leaps up eagerly to follow Heero. He tosses his pajama pants onto the bed as he grabs his towel from the wall hook. Heero turns the shower water on and hangs his towel on the wall's towel rod. The barely warm water leaves the frosted-glass door clear, so that if anyone accidentally (or purposefully, for that matter) walk in on the two youths, they would see everything. Sex without a condom makes Duo nervous, and sex without lube makes him cringe, but both excite Heero. He always makes Duo forget because he's so good. Half of Duo's confessions every Sunday are, "I had sex with my boyfriend even though the Bible forbids it," and occasionally, maybe once every four months, the confession becomes, "My boyfriend fucked me so hard in the shower I completely forgot my surroundings. He didn't use a condom or lubricant and now I worry that I might get AIDS even though we're monogamous." Duo does not think about that now, nor does he think about anything but Heero and what Heero is doing to him. It's exciting different than usual and intensely satisfying. The hickey Heero gives Duo, along the with the accompanying bites on the neck, hurt deliciously and have Duo begging for more. Heero happily obliges, and turns the shower water off. Half an hour later, they dress and walk outside, holding hands like old times. Duo is happy his life is going so well. The pleasant dullness has lifted into simple happiness and satisfaction. Days blend into weeks, then months. Duo is comfortable in his Gundam every day and occasionally thinks about the times that people accuse him of being a terrorist. The rains come. Duo and Heero collect some rainwater daily and nightly, boiling, cooling and drinking it. It lowers the water bill. One rainy day, Duo and Heero walk in the dark, slick streets. They live in a dangerous neighborhood but nothing has ever happened to them, something they are both very thankful for. Heero walks slightly ahead of him, accustomed to the sounds of the night. Duo, however, jumps at every shadow. He is nervous and cannot help thinking that something bad is going to happen. He says none of this out loud. Gunshots blare and the street lights up briefly. A corpse thuds as it lands in the street. Heero grabs Duo and they run together, away. A car's tires screech and glass breaks as the vehicle collides with a telephone pole—a drunk driver. Duo's pulse mimics a machine gun. The sky is dark purple. The sun has set, the streetlights flicker awake and it is so dark outside.

(The story continues in a manner that is too violent to post on . Please refer to my profile to go to my LiveJournal so that you may finish reading the story. Some of the story has been censored on this site: the LJ version is uncensored.)