title: effortless, author: merith, fandom/pairing: gundam wing, heero/duo, warning: BL, slight angst, language

notes: written for lionflower's request – a song line that has been stuck in my head for a month now - I'm losing you and it's effortless. - this is a short fiction story to meet that request, for the lemonadvent community.

"Pass me the tape, would you?"

"Huh?" Duo looks up to see Heero's fingers holding down wrapping to a box end. "Oh, yeah. Sure." He reaches over and snags a new roll. "We still have two left to buy for," he says, threading the tape through the dispenser for Heero.

Heero grunts softly, pulls two short strips of clear tape and finishes the one side. "Only two?" though his eyes track down the two dozen or so gifts already scattered about, some wrapped, bowed and labeled and some as yet unadorned. He is already tiring of his chore, and knows the list will grow next year. "We should take the lot to one of those charity wrap places."

"What do you get a sixteen year old girl, these days?" Duo asks, ignoring Heero's comment and flipping through a catalog. "Think Relena would mind…"

"We are not buying Claire a car." Heero pauses to glare at Duo.

Duo sighs heavily, exaggeratedly, and tosses the catalog away. "I guess you're right. Relena has enough to worry about." He picks up the wrapped box, shakes it gently and looks to Heero. "Whose is this one?"

As though his eyes have x-ray vision, Heero stares at the snowmen frolicking over dark blue. "Toby's." He pulls a length of tape and pauses in applying it. "I think. A truck, wasn't it?"

His pen halts above the tag and Duo glances at Heero before shaking the box again, his fingers poking at it gingerly. "Yeah, feels like it." He grins and finishes up the tag. "And if it's Julia's doll, you can explain it to Wufei."

Heero laughs softly as he slides the finished present toward Duo's leg. "I could begin by telling him gender roles are not set in concrete, and Sally would be sure to assist." A finger taps on the newly wrapped present and Heero adds, "That one's Missy's, by the way."

"Missy's?" Duo's lips slide up into a smile and he slaps a sticky-back bow in the center of a snowman face. "Trowa's going to kill us."

Already reaching for the next in the pile, Heero snickers. "It was on her list." His humor quiets in a sudden rush. In his hands, he holds a wall calendar of dubious content. Without looking at Duo, he smoothes a hand over the front picture, not seeing the barely clothed, buxom woman but an image of the calendar's recipient.

Duo is still half smiling, and glances up from curling ribbon. His smile drops, and his knee bumps into Heero's. "Yeah, Ken's going to like that one." His voice is oddly soft and his eyes don't leave Heero's face.

Nodding slightly, Heero sighs and reaches for a swatch of paper, the perfect size for the gift. "He seems to be adapting well." A silence settles between them, the soft rasp of the scissors' blade rolls up the thin ribbon. Heero's fingers drum lightly over the plastic covering. "It was just so surprising."

"Yeah, it was." Duo is nodding, concentrating on his next curl.

"I thought they'd stay together." He applies a strip of tape carefully, folds the other end and tapes it down. "They seemed perfect for each other."

Duo snorts softly. "That's a myth, you know." He leans over, sliding the newly ribboned and labeled present to the side. Sitting upright, he turns to face Heero, his eyes moving from Heero's face to his hands. "They had issues." He shrugs. "It happens."

"Like us." Heero's smile is gentle in the quick look he flashes Duo.

Laughing a little too loud, Duo says, "But we were young and stupid then."

An eyebrow lifts pointedly. "And we're old and stupid now?"

Duo is shaking his head; his hands are moving tape and scissors and wrapping paper aside. "No. It was almost too easy back then to walk away." He slides closer to Heero; a hand runs up the outer side of Heero's thigh. "Lucky for us, we got smart."

Heero lets the present slip from his hands and he brings them up to hold onto Duo's shoulders. "Is that what we got?" He is smiling, lowering himself to the carpet, drawing Duo down with him. Their first kiss is soft, questioning. "I like to think that you couldn't live without me." Duo is chuckling lightly against his mouth.

"Good thing for you," Duo rubs his cheek to Heero's. "I can't."

His eyes close and he slides his hands down Duo's back. There is time still to finish their project, to review their list, and make arrangements to ship presents not to be given in person. But for now, there is this, and Duo making him feel like he is young and stupid again. Heero grins. He moves quickly, holding Duo tight and rolls the both of them over, crushing supplies and quite possibly someone's gift. Straddling Duo's hips, Heero leans low and kisses him. His head lifts just enough to catch Duo's eye.

"Me too."

enjoy! ♥