The Secret







Heero Yuy lay in his bed staring into the darkness wishing for sleep to find him. Usually he

never had this problem. No, he didn't remember not being able to sleep since he was younger,

laying in that huge bed, alone. It used to scare him, but then that had been trained out of him, along

with every other weak emotion. He knew the reason he couldn't sleep tonight. His thoughts were

occupied by one Duo Maxwell whom he was now calling friend.

Heero couldn't remember ever having friends. His life had been filled with training and

fighting. No room for anything else.

A year ago, though, stranded for days in a safe house with only Duo, Heero had made a

mistake. Well, by his standards at least. Duo had been trying for the longest time to get Heero to

break out of his shell so they could be friends. Every time he even began to make progress however,

Heero would either leave or turn the conversation toward the current mission. When one lives with

no friends he tends to believe he needs no friends. So Heero wouldn't talk to Duo other than as a

fellow pilot...period.

Until Hero made his mistake. He had messed up. Duo had been having a nightmare in that

one-roomed safe house. A bad one. Normally Heero would of just ignored it but Duo was crying

loudly. He stumbled over in the dark and put his hand on his shoulder ready to jerk him up and

maybe out of the only bed when Duo jerked him down with surprising force and squeezed him

around the middle. Heero pulled back and began to shake the boy, determined to wake him. Finally

Duo stopped crying and opened an eye. Heero had seen how that eye seemed afraid, alone, and lost.

It really didn't faze him, he had killed hundreds of people, why should this one boy trouble him? He

pulled away but Duo would not let him go.

"Heero,"Duo inquired, "Have you ever been scared... alone?" He finished, closing his eye.



"Yes," he had answered without thinking. That was his first mistake. He answered a

question that did not in any way relate to a current mission.

"Me too," Duo whispered in a small voice and after a few minutes of silence in which Heero

was trying to convince himself to move, Duo started again, "When I was little..." And so started

Duo's tale in which he told of his childhood.

Now ordinarily, Duo wouldn't of just opened up like that, even to Heero. But being half

asleep and still just woken up from a nightmare, it seemed OK to confide in the stoic pilot. At the

end Duo sent another question Heero's way. "So, when did you feel scared?"

Heero had caught his mistake the last time however, and wasn't going to mess up again. He

kept silent. The silence continued for at least thirty minutes. Heero had almost fell asleep, realizing

after a few fruitless struggles that Duo wasn't letting go anytime soon without a fight. Heero really

didn't want to fight at 3:30 AM. That's when Duo shot the next question,"Was it when you were

with J?"

Without thinking, his mind trained to answer questions immediatly and truthfully he

answered, "Yes."

Duo asked more questions. Heero was stuck. Duo had succeeded and both boys knew it.

He could stay quiet but now he saw no point Duo could easily figure it out. He gave up and

explained to Duo of his training, and the huge dark rooms with the large cold beds. In the end Duo

let him go and he went back to his bed.

Looking back he could have ignored it the next morning, said it never happened, but for

some reason unknown to Heero or anyone else... He didn't. That's when Duo Maxwell had become

his one friend. Duo had hung out with Heero often now that he had 'cracked' him. He got him to

talk more and more. Heero even began to enjoy it, a little. He didn't mind being friends with Duo...

in fact he liked it.

Duo kept him up this night however. Duo was hiding something from him and he knew it.

He couldn't understand why but he wanted Duo to be able to confide in him. He wanted to

be able to hold and comfort duo again, maybe run his fingers through the American boy's hair.

Finally Heero gave into his own thoughts and went to find Duo. It wasn't that hard, there

weren't too many rooms in the building the were currently residing in. He found the young boy

curled tightly in a ball in a small bed sleeping. This didn't stop Heero. He simply stooped down

and shook the boy awake.

"Wha...hmm...Heero? It's," Duo looked towards his glowing clock, "two forty-five in the

morning. You need to... be sleeping." Duo finished sleepily.

"No. I need to talk." Heero replied. He was going to stick to what his training taught him:

Stick to the point, persevere all the way to completion, and in the end meet the goal.

"'bout what?" asked Duo groggily.

"I need you to answer my question, truthfully." Heero answered manner-of-factly.

"Oh, can't this wait till morning Heero?" requested Duo, eyes still closed.

"No." Heero replied sternly. "I need to know now."

Finally Duo relented, opened his eyes fully, and sat up in his bed, leaving room for Heero to

sit. Heero continued to stand.

"OK Heero, what was so important that you had to wake me up at three AM?" Duo

inquired.

"You are hiding something and I want you to tell me what it is." Heero stated.

"Nani?" Duo shook his head, "Please, Heero, can I please talk about whatever this is

tommorrow?" Duo asked, still feeling very sleepy.

Regularly Heero would of went to bed at this point, actually normally he would not even be

out of bed at this point. The heck with it though tonight wasn't normal anyways. So Heero

persisted, ignoring the voice inside telling him he did not need to know, to just go to bed. That voice

was the same one that told him it would ruin the mission to befriend Duo and nothing had happened.

No missions had went bad, nobody died. So far the mission hadn't been endangered at all!

"No," Heero argued, "I don't know why but I can't sleep until I know, so I have to know."

Duo gave in, "Ok. Tell me what you mean by hiding something.?

Heero really hadn't been ready for that... he figured Duo would know what he was hiding. O

well, he would try and explain, "For the past week whenever I get around you, you tense up. When

I'm around you never make eye contact, you talk faster and always about irrelevant or totally stupid

things when you finish you leave the room. You haven't acted like yourself at all, sometimes too

happy, sometimes very nervous, I can't figure anything out. I don't get it so I want to know what

you are hiding?"

Duo sat thoughtfully for a moment. He knew he'd been acting odd but he did not know

Heero had noticed, he really thought Heero wouldn't care enough to. Now he had to think of

something to say. He couldn't very well just come out with the truth. Heck, It had shocked Duo

himself when he first started realizing he had a crush on Heero, that is why he'd been acting

strangely. Who knew what effect that would have on Heero. He decided to answer a question with

a question.

"Why would me concealing something bother you to the point where you can't sleep?" Duo

asked, looking up at the perfect soldier.

Heero pondered that question.

Duo was almost asleep sitting straight up when Heero answered slowly as if still thinking

everything through. "You are the one who said friends don't keep secrets. Really any reason I have

should be irrelevant to this conversation since you shouldn't hide something from me. I will ask you

to tell me because of friendship." Heero completed with a nod to himself.

Duo was getting fed up now. That was the second time he had been woke up and he was

really, really tired. He had had a very taxing mission the previous day. "If I tell you.. Will you

leave for tonight?" Duo more stated than asked. Heero nodded positively. "You won't bother me

about it later?" Another nod. "You won't let it ruin our friendship that I -we've worked so hard

for?" Heero shook his head no. "You promise to all that. You won't mention it again to me... or

others." Heero nodded a yes. "Good. Well, I want you to leave when I'm finished. That means no

more questions or comments, I am tired."

Duo laid down again crossing his ankles and closing his eyes with his hands behind his head.

He pulled the covers over himself. He took a deep breath. I will not see Heero's reaction. He will

not mention it and I will forget it ever happened... I'll say this was all an odd dream.

Duo began, "Understand this came as a shock for me. I will not beat around the bush. The

reason I have been nervous around you lately is because I haven't known how to act with you. I

recently discovered that I like you, more than friendship. A crush, I suppose. I didn't know what to

do with those emotions around you. I am sorry if I have bothered you I didn't mean to be so

obvious. I will take more measures to push this aside and focus on the mission." Duo finished way

more serious than normal. Heero's eyes had went wide, masked by the dark of the room. When he

continued to stand there Duo spoke once more, "I'm finished. Leave."

Heero left.

Duo turned over, squeezed his eyes shut, clenched his fist, and swallowed hard. He hadn't

expected more... He had told the boy he wasn't aloud to speak that he had to leave. Still, he felt...

empty.

//Maybe it's not just a crush// Duo mused while falling asleep.

_____________________________

Heero walked slowly back to his room. Well that hadn't worked now his mind was filled

even more with Duo. Heero wasn't as naive as some people thought. He knew what Duo was

talking about. Granted he had never experienced having a girlfriend, or boyfriend first hand but he

had seen people together, heard conversations, read things about couples. He knew. //That's what

Duo wants though? For me to be his boyfriend? I would get to hold him again, comfort him, kiss

him, hold his hand, and feel his warmth. I could keep his nasty nightmares from scaring him at

night. If friendship doesn't endanger the mission, a boyfriend wouldn't, right? Duo wouldn't

keep secrets anymore and I'll never have to stay up like this again.// Heero could think of no

cons. //Do I want that?// Heero imagined kissing Duo, holding duo, comforting Duo. He did like

all his thoughts and he did like Duo a whole lot. The more he thought about it the more he liked it

and the more he liked it the more he wanted it... now. He wanted to have Duo right now.

No, that wouldn't work, it was some ungodly hour in the morning and Duo had said not to

bother him about it or mention it again. Damnit, and he had promised. After he had got all worked

up too. There had to be a way!

Suddenly, a thought hit Heero and a mischievious, almost evil smirk planted itself on

Heero's face. "That will work." Heero whispered to himself and promptly turned over and went to

sleep.

_____________________________

A few hours later, Heero woke up showing no signs of staying up most of the night. He

would go through with his plan today. He pulled on his usual attire, brushed his teeth, and quickly

got finished getting ready. As soon as he stepped out his door Duo ran past him flashing a grin and

yelling over his shoulder, "Quatre got in last night. We get breakfast!"

Unknown to Duo, Heero did another smirk to himself as he watched the braided boy make

his way down the hallway. He walked slowly to the kitchen noting that he could smell the food all

the way down the hall. Heero quickly made himself a plate, grabbed a plastic fork, stood up against

a nearby wall, and ate his food. There was no table for eating in this building. Heero finished first

and quickly cleaned his plate and drank a small glass of water. He left the room silently making his

way towards his next destination.

He reached Duo's room and sat on his bed, Duo still had to change. He had been in his PJ's.

As planned Duo soon walked through his door stifling a huge yawn. At that Heero stood up. Now

he had to be confident, no hesitating, he needed this to work. He began to walk towards Duo

silently.

Duo jumped but closed the door behind him, "He-Heero, what are you do-mmph." Duo was

cut off as Heero pressed his lips into the braided boy's. Duo's eyes widened largely at Heero's

closed ones. Heero pulled back briefly for air, then pushed his lips against Duo's again. He wrapped

his arms around the other boy and held him still as Duo tried to pull back. Quickly, he flicked hit

tongue out and lick Duo's lower lip. Duo gave up and opened his mouth while wrapping his arms

around Heero also and closing his eyes. He tried to stand still as Heero explored Duo's mouth with

his tongue before pulling out, dropping his arms, and stepping back to view Duo's reaction.

"What was that for?" Duo questioned although he really didn't sound angry... more pleased

actually.

"You said not to mention or bug you about your crush. You obviously didn't want to talk

about it, I had to take care of that. I showed you instead. I... like you ... a lot Duo." Heero finished

smiling a little.

Duo didn't know what to think. Heero liked him, too. He didn't think that this whole thing

was odd. He did know he was very happy. He also knew he wanted to kiss Heero again. So he did.





-Owari

Author Notes: I wrote this story a while ago and now that I have finished typing it and

rereading it I find that I really dislike how short it is... it moves too fast. But since I already typed it

I guess I'll go ahead and update it for you guys... hopefully you guys liked it more than I did.

Anyways for those of you who are wondering when I will update Starting Over Again it should be

soon I've already got most of the next chapter done and I am sorry it is taking so long. I will have a

computer in my room soon and I wont have to do this txt saving and I will be able to type more often

and not just in the middle of the night. Anyways please review for my short little one-shot here even

if you hated it, k? Thanks guys! Bye!