A/N: Downwarddnaspiral asked for prompt 11 "I thought you didn't want me" with Duo and Zechs.
A/N2: Always, always thanks to Ro. The best of betas.
Warnings: language, angst, sex, AU
Pairings: 6x2
Need
"You look like shit."
Duo had to snort as he looked away from the table strewn with discarded sheets of paper, some crumpled and some ripped, all littered among the open books, pencils, markers and rulers haphazardly shoved just out of the way enough to allow Duo to fold his arms on the table and hide his head.
He looked up, though, at the voice and the oh-so-touching compliment.
Zechs Merquise stood in the doorway of the studio, leaning against the frame, his arms crossed over his chest and looking for all the world like the model for some kind of promotional literature.
Go to Grad School for Scenic Design and you too could grow up to become a gorgeous asshole!
Go to Grad School for Scenic Design and maybe, if you're lucky enough, this gorgeous asshole will notice you!
"You need sleep," Zechs added as he pushed away from the door and came into the room.
This late at night, or rather this early in the morning, they were the only ones in there. Probably the only ones in the building.
Zechs looked down at the mess Duo had made.
Duo resisted the urge to take back the drawing that Zechs picked up. Instead, he forced himself to look at Zechs's face as the other man looked over it.
"Hm."
Zechs set it back down on the table, among all of the other rejects.
And even though Duo wasn't particularly happy with the sketch, Zechs's noncommittal 'hm' felt like a personal insult.
"What the fuck does 'hm' mean?" he demanded.
Zechs shrugged one shoulder.
"It means you need to get some sleep."
"This is due tomorrow afternoon! If I don't have preliminary sketches ready I'm-"
"You're what? Going to be told to get them in the day after?" Zechs arched an eyebrow, doing that thing where he looked superior and all-knowing. The thing that Duo hated.
"Or I'm going to be told to fuck off and the project's going to be handed over to a second year because no first year gets to design a main stage show and this is just going to prove why that's a rule in the first place."
Duo scrubbed his eyes with his hands.
The Scenic Design program was good - was, in fact, great. One of the best in the country, and it was competitive as hell - both to get in and to stay in. There were three students in each year- first through third - and first years were usually assigned two shows to assist on, one each semester. In the fall, Duo had been assigned as Zechs's assistant, working with the third year student on his thesis project, the set design for Trojan Women. The third year was a bit of a legend, his mother a Tony award winning lighting designer and his father a Hollywood film producer. Everyone wanted to work with Zechs - except Duo, who didn't care if the sun actually did shine out of his ass. Working together had resulted in Duo's very intimate understanding of just how confident and self-centered the other man could be. It had also resulted in intimacy of other kinds, which Duo had been pretty sure was a one-off. Well, five-off. He had fully expected that, after the show opened and the design studio did their post-mortem discussion, Zechs would go back to not giving Duo the time of day, treating him as indifferently as the rest of the peons. But, mind-bogglingly, Zechs had asked Duo out to dinner, had taken him on dates that ended with a lot of heated kisses but no sex for weeks until Duo demanded Zechs fuck him or get lost. That had been three months ago, and while their… relationship of sorts had taken a bit of a breather during the winter break while Duo went back east for three weeks and Zechs did… whatever he did, as soon as Duo had returned it had picked up right where they had left off. Literally. With Zechs's tongue down Duo's throat and Duo's hands down the back of Zechs's pants.
Neither of them, Duo was sure, were on the good list for airport security.
Everything had been great, great enough that Duo was pretty suspicious of it, and then two weeks ago the second year who had been assigned to design scenery for Antigone had been taken off the project. No one knew why - which meant that the entire department, not just the scenic designers, were gossiping about it.
The first years, who wouldn't be given their own show to design until their second year - if they were lucky - had watched the drama unfold with mild interest. None of them were assigned to assist on the show, since second years never got assistants, so it didn't matter that much.
Until Duo had been called into his mentor's office and told he would be designing the show.
Then the other first years had cared. Had spent the last week shooting Duo looks and whispering things that suggested they sincerely hoped he found his way off of a bridge pronto.
And Duo… Duo hadn't known what the fuck to do or think except I am fucked.
He had, in addition to this new assignment, all of his regular studio work, as well as his class work and his part-time, not really at all allowed job, to do.
It meant he was frantic, meant he was sleepless, meant he really didn't have time to deal with Zechs. Who, yeah, was damn good in bed and turned out to be a really good conversationalist when he tried but, when he didn't try, was a gorgeous asshole that was nothing but a distraction.
"Maybe," Zechs allowed with another shrug.
"Your support is overwhelming. Really. Thank you."
Duo yanked another sketch away as Zechs reached for it. The other man's lips tilted into a smirk.
"Sleep on it. Wake up early and give it another pass."
"I don't want to sleep, Zechs. I want- I want to figure this out and not make an ass of myself!"
"Then at least take a break," Zechs suggested, grabbing the scale ruler that Duo had been stretching for and holding it out of his reach.
Duo glared at him, but Zechs continued to smirk.
"Zechs."
The other man continued to hold it over Duo's head, and Duo was forced to stand up.
But, Zechs being the asshole that he was, he held it even higher.
"You know how I used to think you were cute?" Duo growled.
Zechs arched an eyebrow.
"Used to?"
"Yeah. It's becoming an increasingly distant memory with each second."
Duo lunged for the ruler, but Zechs with his stupid height and stupid arms continued to hold it aloft.
He wrapped one arm around Duo, pulling him close and keeping him from making another attempt.
"Give me half an hour and I promise," Zechs leaned down and nipped at Duo's neck, "you'll be over your 'I hate everyone and everything' mood."
Normally, Duo would be arching into Zechs, would probably moan or something when Zechs bit him because Duo had a thing for biting, but now was not normally.
Now was his third day in a row with less than four hours of sleep, and now was less that twelve hours before he had to turn in a preliminary set design. Now was not at all the time.
"You're thinking about this too much," Zechs continued, dragging his mouth down Duo's neck, laving at his clavicle before biting down again.
Despite his resolve and his accurately-labeled 'hate everything' mood, Duo shivered at that touch and found himself angling his head.
He felt Zechs smirk against his skin.
"See? You want it. Take a break and let's go-"
Duo finally managed to grab the ruler.
Zechs rolled his eyes.
"Duo."
"Zechs."
"Half an hour isn't going to set you behind. And it might just give you a fresh perspective."
"Look, I get that you're horny, but letting you fuck me isn't going to magically unlock this show for me. It's just going to leave me with cum dripping out of my ass while I sit here for another six hours and try to figure out what the fuck I'm doing. Not all of us get to waltz around here acting like we're God's gift to theatre. Some of us actually have to earn respect."
Zechs straightened up and regarded Duo with narrowed eyes. He stepped away, and Duo knew that his words had hit uncomfortably close to home.
Knew, also, that he was in an 'I hate everything' mood and was taking it out on Zechs. Who was, though, trying to distract him. When all Duo wanted, when all he needed to do, was work.
Zechs looked past him, back to the table of rejected ideas.
He picked up one of the sketches that Duo had ripped in half and laid it beside the one he had previously looked at.
"You've already unlocked the show," he said, and then walked out of the room.
Leaving Duo to stare at his own work.
Fuck.
He sat down, reaching for his lead holder and his forty-five degree triangle, and started to sketch again.
Zechs was right. Here it was - this was what the show needed to look like.
-o-
An hour later, Duo had cleaned up his mess, refined his sketches and cobbled together a presentation of his research images. He left the studio, locking it up behind him, and found himself dreading going back to his own apartment.
It wasn't just that his three roommates probably still hadn't bothered to clean up after the party they had thrown two days ago.
So, sucking up his courage and mentally preparing an apology, he walked the half-mile from campus to Zechs's studio apartment.
It was almost three in the morning, and there was every chance that Zechs was already asleep or out with someone or- or had someone there with him.
Dreading that delightful thought, Duo knocked on the door.
It took awhile, so long that Duo started to walk away, but eventually Zechs opened the door.
He was dressed only in boxers. Which, well, didn't alleviate many of Duo's fears.
"I'm sorry," Duo muttered.
Zechs arched an eyebrow, but made no move to invite Duo inside.
"You were… helping or whatever. In your own fucked-up way. And I… Yeah, I'm in my 'I hate everyone and everything' mood. And…" Duo groaned and rolled his eyes. "And you were right, okay? You're fucking brilliant, and you were right. You're… really fucking good at this."
"So are you," Zechs murmured.
Duo shoved his hands into his pockets.
"No, I'm not. But I'm- Look, I'm not good with shit like this, okay?"
"Shit like what?"
"This," Duo groaned. "You - me - relationships or whatever the fuck this is. I'm not- I'm not good with people."
Zechs's lips twitched, but instead of saying anything, he opened the door.
"You staying the night?"
Duo bit his lower lip.
"You want me to?"
Zechs rolled his eyes.
"I thought I made it very clear how I felt about having you over."
He had, on several occasions. He had even given Duo a spare key just before winter break, had smirked as he pressed it into Duo's hand and told him it was his Christmas present. Duo still hadn't used it - it just felt weird, to open the door to someone else's apartment, to just assume he was welcome.
With a sigh, Duo walked into the apartment. He dropped his bag beside Zechs's and toed off his shoes.
After closing and locking the door, Zechs leaned back against it and watched him.
Duo sighed.
"So what, are we just gonna… stare at each other all night, or can we just fuck and go to bed?"
"I thought you didn't want me," Zechs said.
"Yeah, well, obviously I do. Okay?"
Zechs smirked.
"Yeah. Okay."
He held out his hand and, rolling his eyes, Duo took it.
-o-