Maybe He's Born With It
Author's Notes: Inspired by a conversation with Yesacia on tumblr about Heero wearing guyliner. This is the result.
Duo pushes the front door of their apartment open, not caring as it hits the wall adjacent before closing on its own. He drops his wallet and keys on the nearby end table left there for that sole purpose and goes through the pile of mail left on it.
Bill, bill, bill... He places them back on the table - Heero's the one who handles the bills in the house ever since Duo forgot to pay the electric bill once back when they'd first moved in, and Heero never let him live that fact down.
"I'm home!" Duo says with glee as he makes a bee line for the kitchen, where he sets up the coffee maker.
"'Ro? You home?"
Duo pokes his head out into the hall as the coffee maker does its thing. The door to the computer room is open, so Heero's not working on anything.
It's weird for the apartment to be this quiet. He enters the hallway and notices the bathroom light is on, where under the noise of the coffee maker percolating, there is the sound of - Is that Japanese? - Heero most likely cursing since Duo doesn't know enough Japanese to be able to tell.
Maybe he's cut himself shaving again.
"You okay in there?" He walks down the hallway, his boots heavy on the laminate wood flooring. Do I need to call emergency services?
He arrives to a fully lit bathroom where one Heero Yuy is standing in front of the sink shirtless and with a look of concentration.
"'Ro... What're you doin'?" Duo stares at his roommate from the doorway before leaning his shoulder against the rough edge of the door frame.
"You need help shavin'? Everythin' okay?" He doesn't see a razor anywhere, so he doubts Heero needs help with that.
There's no blood, so I don't think he's dyin'.
Heero's eyes don't stray from the mirror. Duo crosses his arms over his chest and waits for Heero to either realise that he's there or finish what he's doing. Heero's not a huge talker when he's in the middle of doing things. While he waits, his eyes trace over the tattoos on Heero's left arm, over the lines of muscle.
He's never this preoccupied with his face. Hell, most of the time he don't even bother with a mirror and that's how he fucks up shaving.
So why the hell is Heero concentrating on his face so much? Duo will never admit it out loud, but he doesn't see a reason for the scrutiny since it's not like Heero is bad looking - in fact, Heero's really, really good looking. The only imperfections are day old stubble and a scar on his forehead from him self-destructing Wing a few years back; the scar's hidden under his fringe, however, not under his eye, and hell, some people found stubble and scars sexy.
Okay dude, talk to me, you're creepin' me the fuck out.
Heero pauses and leans in closer to the mirror before rubbing under his eye with his finger. He still hasn't answered Duo, and Duo can see Heero's hand holding something that looked like...a pencil?
"Uhh, Heero?"
Still nothing. Duo can probably hear a pin drop. A few more moments go by, with Duo standing there staring at his roommate and wondering when the hell Heero turned into Narcissus, and still nothing. Duo hates long silences.
"You know that mission we have coming up?" Heero asks, and Duo jumps. He puts the pencil - that is definitely a pencil - down before scrolling through his smartphone. Duo cocks an eyebrow and comes closer.
"Yeah," Duo says, his eyes falling onto the pencil, though now that he sees it closeup, it looks more like a thick crayon than anything else. The box nearby by the faucet proclaims it to be 'eye pencil' in the shade 'Detective Noir'.
"Is this eyeliner?" Duo picks it up, rolls it between his fingers. It feels smoother and thicker than a normal pencil, the lettering on it raised a little to give some tactile feeling. He touches the tip and it has the consistency of a wax crayon.
Heero makes a noise that could be confirmation. "We have to go undercover as two young women, so I told Relena and she sent me all of this."
Duo looks at the label, which glitters in the light from the overhead bathroom light, holding it a couple of inches away from his face.
"'Maybelline Guyliner Xtrém Suprém'?" Duo looks from the pencil to the box of 'goodies' on the vanity of the sink. "Is there just a plain ol' guyliner?"
"I don't know," Heero says, "I didn't pick any of it." He puts his phone down before taking the eye pencil from Duo. "It was all bought by Relena. She recommends that I test this stuff out before the 'big day'."
Duo moves to Heero's other side so he can get a closer look at what he's doing. Duo looks down and on the phone screen is a WikiHow page on "How to Apply Eyeliner (For Guys!)".
"What I wanna know is how the hell you don't stab yourself in the eye with that." Duo gestures to the pencil before sitting down on the lid of the toilet. He crosses one leg over the other, and watches Heero work on the other eye. "Or how the hell you have the patience to do that in the first place." He crosses his arms.
"Or did you spend the entire time I was gone practisin'?"
"I pay attention to what I'm doing," Heero answers. "It's not that difficult."
Duo notices the wadded up tissues on the sink top streaked with black. "'Not that difficult' huh? What's with the tissues then if it's just a line?" Duo mutters. The look Heero casts in his direction lets Duo know he heard him.
"Would you like to try it then?" Heero offers him the eye pencil, eyes narrowed just a little more than they were before, and Duo can't help but notice his eyes are more intense than usual. Duo hesitates a little as he stares at the pencil.
"Well?"
Duo raises his hands a little and stands up, taking the pencil and Heero's place in front of the mirror. Heero stands behind him, and Duo can feel his body heat in the cramped space that is their bathroom.
"How does this work?" Duo hovers the pencil over his eye.
"I thought this wasn't that difficult since it's just drawing a line?"
Duo winces a little at that. "Sorry, okay? Tell me how this works."
"Just draw a line that follows your lash line," Heero instructs. "Start with the lower one first." He traces a line right where the liner would go, causing Duo's skin to tingle a little. "Then you do the same with the top."
"And if I fuck this up?"
"Then we wipe it off and start over," Heero answers. "But since your aim with a gun is spot on, I'm sure you can handle drawing a line under your eye."
"So then what's with the-"
"I'm a perfectionist."
Fair enough.
Duo squints at his reflection in the mirror before taking a deep breath and, leaning in towards the mirror, starts drawing a line on his lower lash line, oh so carefully moving it across, constantly aware of Heero being behind him. Unlike Heero's slow and steady hand, Duo's hand is shaking a little too much for his liking, causing the line to look just a tad too wobbly. Heero laughs a little, which bothers Duo enough to cause him to send the eye pencil careening into the corner of his eye.
"Ow!" He puts the pencil down and rubs under his eye, smudging everything, which just makes it look like he has a fading black eye. "The hell is so funny?"
"You're one of Preventers' best marksmen, but you can't even draw a straight line?"
Duo glares at him. "There is a difference, 'Ro, between shooting someone between the eyes in an open field and tryin' to draw a straight line with someone breathin' down your neck." He examines his eye in the mirror and finds a tiny black dot right where he poked himself.
"Ah, blame me for your mistake."
If you weren't practically up my ass watchin' my every move, my hand wouldn't've shook, you bastard.
Heero shakes his head and picks up the pencil. "Here, let me do it then."
Duo gives Heero's reflection a look.
"What?"
"I better not lose an eye 'cause of you."
"Trust me?" Heero asks as he wipes the smudge off Duo's face.
Duo turns his head and looks into Heero's eyes, one eyebrow raised but his expression is much softer now than it was before
Duo nods.
"Then you don't have to worry about losing an eye."
Duo focuses on the mirror in front of them as Heero, still behind him, starts to very carefully line Duo's eyes.
"You've never done this before today?" Duo asks as his eyes water just a little from the makeup right on his water line.
"No."
"You're pretty good at this for it bein', y'know, your first day doin' this."
"Remember how I used to bodyguard for Relena for a while after the Uprising? Do you know how many times I've watched Relena apply and reapply things like eyeliner and lipstick?"
Duo hums in thought. "So you learned by watchin'."
"Pretty much."
Duo taps the screen of Heero's phone. "So what's with the WikiHow page?"
"Just in case." He pulls away and turns Duo around to look at him closer, nodding in approval at his handiwork. "You look quite handsome right now."
Duo looks in the mirror and tries to not look so flushed in the mirror.
"You didn't have to be so nervous."
"Sorry I don't like the thought of someone stickin' somethin' pointy near my eye." He turns his head this way and that, looking at his 'new look' from different angles. "I look like one of those pop-punk band frontmen."
"From the research I've done, that look is considered 'trendy'." Heero grabs the eyeliner box and slips the pencil back inside. "People might even say you're sexy."
Duo grins. "I'm already pretty sexy, but thanks." Duo sits on the sink vanity and points to the box. "What else did 'Lena send us?"
Heero rummages through the box and pulls out some brushes, an eyeshadow palette, assorted blushes, and lip stains and liners, all the while Duo's eyes widen with each new thing handed off to him.
"The fuck is all this shit?"
"More cosmetics," Heero says. "Haven't you ever seen them before?"
Of course I have. "I don't live under a rock, Heero." Duo picks up the eyeshadow palette. "...You owe me so fucking big, Heero. I wouldn't do this for just anyone."
"Actually it's Zechs who owes you huge," Heero says, as he pulls out a sheet of paper from the bottom of the box. "If it wasn't for 'unforeseen circumstances', you wouldn't be my partner for this mission."
Duo frowns. "Great. So." He holds up the palette. "What is this and where's this shit go on my face?"
Heero consults the list Relena was kind enough to include. "It's called a 'Naked2 palette'."
"Okay," Duo says. He taps the lid of the case. "That tells me absolutely nothin'."
"Eye shadow." Heero flips the palette over in Duo's hands and points to the word on top of the lid. "'Twenty classic daytime to evening wear shades to die for.' I think it goes on your eyelids if the pictures are any indication."
Duo groans. "At this rate we're gonna need to apply something to hide all the marks from me gettin' stabbed in the face tryin' to apply all this shit."
"Relena also gave us a list of other things she's sending for us to help us with this mission."
Duo stares at him.
"She's going to take us shopping."
"I think I'd rather stab myself in the eye with that pencil." Duo opens the palette to find a tiny brush inside. "This is like a paint palette."
"For your face, yeah."
Duo's frown deepens as he watches Heero go over the list. "I really don't wanna do this," Duo whined. "Kat would make a better lookin' girl than I would, why couldn't Une get him?"
"Because he's on a mission with Trowa on L3."
"How fuckin' convenient," Duo mutters. "All this trouble for one fuckin' mission."
"Well, we don't have to do this," Heero says as he takes the palette from Duo. "But if we want to be convincing, then we have to look the part."
Duo swings his legs as he groans. "Can't one of us not dress up like a girl?"
"No." Heero removes the packaging from the blushes. "The report Une sent me says that it's one of those 'no boys allowed' things."
Duo gives him a look of disbelief. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, and since we're the Top Agents of the Month for our fieldwork, plus the fact that Sally is on vacation, Wufei and Mariemaia are on their honeymoon, Zechs and Noin are...absent due to 'unforeseen circumstances', who the hell else is there?"
Well, I guess I can't argue with that.
"So we're goin' down together," Duo says.
Heero nods.
"Okay."
"Look at it this way: at least we'll look pretty together."
Duo and Heero look at each other for a little bit until Duo can't keep a straight face anymore.