Title: Aim and Ignite

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: T

Pairings: 2x5, past 5xM

Warnings: Fluff?

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. I also don't own the song "Light a Roman Candle with Me" by Fun. The song just screamed 2x5 to me. This is not a songfic, it just borrows some ideas from the song.

"Light a roman candle with me, Fei," Duo said bounding into my apartment in the Preventers barracks. Sometimes, I don't even know why I bother locking my door. It never seems to be a deterrent to him since he would just pick the lock and waltz right in anyways. His apartment was down the hall from mine but he might as well just live in mine since he was never in his.

"No."

"C'mon! It's just a roman candle!" He argued flopping down on the couch. I was in my chair reading after a long day at the office. "They're even the good kind! Lots of 'boom' in 'em."

"Do I even want to know where you came across those? Aren't they illegal in the city?" I said putting my book down on my lap. It was futile to try to read with him in the room. I looked at him over the rim of my reading glasses.

He scratched the back of his head and attempted to look innocent. He failed miserably. "Would you believe me if I told you that they fell off of a truck?"

I just raised an eyebrow at him. He huffed and laid back on the couch staring at the ceiling. I figured he would doze off like he normally did there so I picked up my book again. I always figured that Duo hated being alone and that's why he was always over here with me. After a few minutes, he got up and walked into my kitchen.

"I'm making some tea," he announced.

I got up and followed him in to my kitchen, "Don't you have tea at your apartment?"

He was pulling the cups out of the cabinet. There were two of them - one for each of us, I assumed. "It's just one cup of tea and then I'll go home and leave you alone with your books."

"Technically it's two," I pointed out as I set the kettle on to boil. There was no use in arguing with him though. He just grinned at me. That bright and mischevious grin that he has. I felt my lips curl up slightly in response. I felt a bit defenseless against that grin.

With the tea made, we retired back to the living room. He somehow took up the enitre couch with his long legs. Even his hair was snaked out over the arm of the chair. He had taken to lazing around my apartment at night. I could throw him out, either verbally or physically, but I could not convince myself that it really needed done.

"So you hear that they're now mining on the moon for that new fuel source stuff that the government is trying to push," he started. Last night, when he was over, we were just discussing the new fuel source. Duo was surprisingly interested in science and technology. I had always assumed, when we first met, that he was a dim and silly as he led on. I was wrong. He is a sly fox with a brain that works as fast or faster than his mouth.

We sat around discussing the politics behind who was doing the mining on the moon and many other topics until I realized that it was probably a good thing that we were both off of work tomorrow because it was now three o'clock in the morning. Again. I'm pretty sure there is some magical time warp that occurs when the two of us start talking.

"Thanks for letting me spend the evening here," he told me picking up his tea cup from the coffee table. "I really like talking to you."

"I enjoyed it, too," I replied following him into the kitchen. We tidied up and he left for his apartment down the hall. It was in the dark, silent apartment that I always noticed how much I missed his voice when he had gone home.

The next day I got out of the shower and just about had a heart attack when I walked into my kitchen to fix some lunch. There Duo was, already in my kitchen putting the finishing touches on a giant sandwhich. He had used up the last of the variety of lunch meat I had in my fridge. It was piled high and cut in half in front of him. I had intended on having some of that for my lunch.

"Don't you have food in your own apartment, Maxwell?"

"Not really, its grocery day," he replied hoisting himself up to sit on my counter. I frowned at him but he ignored it. "Here, we can eat it together. You only had two slices of bread but a ton of ham and stuff left. So, one big sandwich fit for two!"

"We'll have to go to the store later," I said taking a bite of the giant half sandwich.

He picked up the book that I had left on the counter last night. I had forgotten to put it back on the shelf when he left in the wee hours of the morning. He turned it over in his hands before openning it up.

"Heh," he said between bites of sandwich. "I figured if you were going to read poetry that you'd at least read it in Chinese."

"It's a book of sonnets," I explained to him. "They were originally written in English. It would ruin their flow to translate them."

"I guess so," he replied. He flipped through the book for a moment before affecting a very fake Brittish accent. "In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes, For they in thee a thousand errors note; But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise."

"Then again, your English doesn't flow very well either," I teased snatching the book from his hands. We finished the giant sandwich-built-for-two and I grabbed my keys from their hook. "Let's go to the store before it gets any later."

"Oooo, grocery shopping together, what will people say?" He teased as we headed out the door.

"Nothing they aren't already saying since you seem to think that you live in my apartment," I countered. We walked down to the parking garage and got in my jeep. "Yuy already asked if we were a couple, when was that? Last Christmas, I think."

"Well, then why aren't we a couple?" was Duo's response. He continued looking out the window of the jeep as I drove. I glanced at him and saw him wringing his hands slightly and he appeared nervous. He was seriously asking. "We have great chemistry together."

"We don't have chemistry," I argued trying to keep my eyes on the road. "You spend all of your free time with me and I tolerate you."

"Aw, come on, Fei! Don't be like that," he whined finally turning to look at me. "You do more than tolerate me. Most people who try to invade your space, even just your office at HQ would get stabbed for the effort. You never talk to people unless you feel that they are intelligent enough to be worth a good conversation. You like me being around you and you know it!"

"Alright, I do... enjoy your company," I admitted begrudgingly. "That doesn't mean we should be a couple. What if we're not attracted to each other? It's not just about liking to spend time together. I've already been married to someone that I wasn't attracted to and that worked out so well for us."

"Well, you are right but two things," he replied with a grin. "One, I'm already attracted to you and two, how do you know that you're not attracted to me?"

"I, uh," I started and realized that I didn't know how to answer that. I settled for, "I don't know."

"See, Fei, I don't think you actively think about what attracts you to begin with. What I see is that you haven't really explored your sexuality so you don't know what you want."

I just kind of nodded to that. As an adolescent, I was told that I was to marry a girl that was the elders' choice and that there would be no questions asked. I did not give it much thought because it was my duty. I know that I was not sexually attracted to her but we were only fourteen. After she died, I was too focused on the war. Since the wars, I had just been focusing on my job. I think that a lot of the time, if it was not for Duo always interrupting me, I would not have any sort of life outside of the Preventers.

"You like spending time with me," he went on. "You've said it before so don't try to deny it. That means that there is some sort of spark there. We owe it to ourselves to see if that spark can start a fire or if it won't even glow at all."

I pulled into the parking lot of the local grocery store but found myself unable to get out of the car. My voice was a bit more angry than I wanted it to sound when I said, "Maxwell, you don't know what you are talking about."

"Hey, I'm the first to admit that I don't understand a lot of things but I know that there is something between us. Just, please, give me a chance."

I wanted to tell him that there was nothing between us but the look on his face stopped me. He was hiding nothing from me. His emotions were naked and exposed for me to see. My usual defense against dealing with someone's emotions was to shut them down, deny what was going on. I just couldn't with him. I didn't want to hurt him. For once, I recognized how my harsh words could really hurt him. I did not want to hurt Duo for openning himself up to me like that. I did not know what to say though so I borrowed a tactic from him and ran from it - at least verbally. "We should probably have this conversation somewhere other than a public parking lot. Let's just go get what we need from the store now."

He gave me a curious look. I think he was expecting me to lash out at him. Honestly, I was still expecting it myself. I refrained though and we completed the shopping trip without having any deeper of a conversation beyond what type of fruit we should buy. We settled on apples since they were his favorite.

We separated back at the barracks and I put my groceries away alone. He had taken his to his apartment to deal with. I don't know why he bothered since most of the time, we ate dinner together in my apartment. I guess that he did eat breakfast and sometimes snack in his place though.

I sat down and read some more of the sonnets. I spent the afternoon rather quietly. It got to be around dinner time so I started to make something to eat. I did what I always did though and cooked enough to feed myself and Maxwell. He never showed up though. I ate my portion and thought that it barely had any taste at all. As much as I aruged otherwise, I did not like to eat alone. I put his portion in the refridgerator where I knew that he would find it when he broke in later.

I tried to sit down to read again but found myself staring at the empty couch. He had become such a major part of my life since the war. It was in all of the little things. I could not admit that it was a romance but it was hard to not having him in my daily routine. I missed him sitting on my couch interrupting me while I was trying to get lost in a book.

He was right though. I completely avoided any thoughts that had to do with attraction and my sexuality. I was really not sure if I were attracted to him. I did know that I was closer to him than any other living human being. That had to be something, right? I'm not sure if it could be considered a spark. We would have to see.

Decision made, I put on my shoes, grabbed my keys and on impulse one of the apples that I had bought Maxwell at the store today. I walked down the hall to his apartment. I rarely spent time there because he was just always at my place. I stood in front of his door before knocking looking at the apple in my hand. It was just an apple but knowing that it was his favorite thing to eat, made it not just an apple. It was a gift or peace offering of sorts.

I knocked and the door opened almost immediately. He was standing there with his shoes on and keys in his hand. It looked like he was about to leave his apartment. I wondered briefly if he was on his way over to my place. I handed him the apple which he just looked at for a moment. "I made dinner but you missed it. Thought you might want an apple instead since you didn't take any over to your apartment."

"I, uh," he started but didn't know where to go with what he was saying. We just stood there in silence for a minute. I was looking at his fingers curled around the red apple. They were long, slender fingers. I had noticed them before but had not really let myself think about them. He had grown a couple inches taller than me as we matured after the war. His hands still seemed larger than they should be with their long fingers. I had caught myself before watching him as he typed reports at work or as he twirled a pen during meetings. It was a strange thing to find facinating.

I pulled us out of the silence with a question, "Do you still have that roman candle?"

"Uh, yeah," he said ducking back into his apartment to grab it off of the kitchen table. "Do you want to light it with me tonight?"

"Yeah, but let's go up on the hill outside of the city so we don't get arrested," I suggested with a slight smile.

"Yeah, I think it would be frowned upon if two Preventers were arrested for illegal fireworks."

"You say that now, but last night, it was a different story."

We walked to his car bantering back and forth about the legality of lighting the firework. We kept the banter light while we drove. He parked off road up the hill just outside of the city. We walked up the grassy hill that had only one tree at the top. He set up roman candle and we sat looking at it for a minute.

"It's actually a pretty old firework, I don't know if it will go off," Duo explained. He was toying with the lighter in his hand. It was dark now since night had fallen while we drove. I could still his his pale fingers in the moonlight though.

"Well, we'll just have to stay a safe distance away from us and make sure it will shoot up the hill and not go down towards the car."

"Yeah, we'll give it a spark and aim it for the sky. Hopefully it will ignite," he explained hopefully. I was starting to think that he was not talking about the roman candle any more. This conversation seemed to mirror our earlier one about our relationship.

"Okay, let's aim and ignite and see what happens," I agreed with him. I double checked his set up to make sure of the firework's trajectory before he lit the fuse. We both ran back towards the tree to get out of the way in case it decided to just explode on the ground. We had just made it back to the tree when the firework lit up the night. It streaked through the air and crackled. When it was done, we sat on the grass smiling at each other. He had been right, it was fun to set off the firework.

"So," I said looking him in the eye. I could see starlight reflected in them. "Aim and ignite to see what happens?"

"Nothing could happen. It could be a dud. We were lucky with that roman candle because it was old. It shouldn't have worked," he replied. It was a weak argument.

"Well, we're not old so I think there's more potential there," I countered. I leaned closer ll to him them. I could smell the residual powder from the firework on him but under that, I could smell him. I liked what I smelled. "And it's safe because we're alone up here."

"So you're willing to give me a chance?" My face was inches from his. He was hesitating. I don't blame him with the way I had spoken to him earlier. It looked like his heart had stopped when I nodded at him.

"Let's just say that I'm still not sure if I'm attracted to you because I'm not really sure what that means for me," I said honestly. "I'm willing to meet you on some common ground though."

He did not need any more encouragement. Duo closed the distance between us and kissed me. He tasted of apple, which he had eaten in the car. I found myself reminded of the firework that we had just set off. Time stood still as we kissed on that grassy hill under the starlight. I felt his long fingered hands reach out to me. I leaned into his touch. The feel of those fingers on my skin was better than I had thought they would be.

We spent the evening making out in the grass on the hill. I think we could both agree that there were more than just sparks there. When we went back home, there was not even a question when he followed me into my apartment. I don't know how it was going to change things tomorrow but I was not going to think about that tonight.

Tonight, I was just happy that we chose to aim and ignite that roman candle.

The End.