Disclaimer: Of course, still don't own GW…
Pairing: 1x2
Warnings: yaoi, implied m/m sexual relationship, language, cuteness, clichés and sap!
A/N: Written for my buddy and beta ELLE as a lil gift when she needed cheering up (thus the cuteness and the happy!) – partially inspired by the song Reckless by You Me at Six.
Mr. Reckless
The confrontation was one Duo had expected – he just thought he had more time to steel himself before one pissed Heero Yuy stood in his apartment.
He'd thrown the coffee cup forgetting he'd not finished the black coffee inside it when he'd gone to to bed and that meant a line of black liquid now stained the cream carpet and the cream wall where it had impacted. His eyes drifted to that rather than to Heero as he thought that it was a stupid as fuck thing to do to decorate a rental place in cream. Oh yeah, it was meant to be neutral so that anyone could see themselves living in said place but when Duo had viewed it his main reason for taking the apartment was that it was cheap. And near enough to Preventer HQ. And only a six month contract so that he could make the damn decision whether he wanted to stay on earth or go back to space. He was so fucking losing his deposit for this place. The coffee stain was only the last in a long list – the blood stain in the doorway, the grease near the dining table when he thought it was a good idea to repair an engine in his apartment, the burn marks in the kitchen… Duo really shouldn't live somewhere so pale. It was not in his DNA to keep it clean.
His whole "giving earth a try" thing was the reason Heero was there. And pissed. As part of it meant taking up the Preventer job offer he'd declined at first when he'd run back to space after the wars and tinkered around in Hilde's scrap yard until it became apparent that it was not where he wanted to be. He reasoned that he missed the action. Missed feeling useful. So he accepted the job offer on a six month trial period, joining Heero, Trowa and Wufei in a team that tended to scare the fuck out of the rest of the Preventer agents. True, one or more of them may have tried to kill the other agents at some point being that so many Preventers were ex-OZ or ex-Alliance or something but still, it was quite fun to be thought of as fearsome and have people avoid making eye contact. Duo was pretty sure Heero and Wufei were to blame for the ducking of heads as they passed colleagues in corridors. They still didn't really play nice. Or work well with others.
"You read the mission files," Duo said, finally, to the glaring Heero in front of him.
He'd come in all guns blazing – demanding why he'd not called to inform him that he'd returned, why he had to find out from Trowa he'd been injured and that's when Duo had thrown the mug in response to shut him the fuck up. It had been unnecessarily dramatic and messy but it now got them to where they were. Stalemate.
"Yeah."
"Trowa's mission report in?"
A nod was his answer. Now it made sense. They'd arrived back from a mission in Burma yesterday. Nothing special. Standard hostage related terrorist shit. After the whole debrief, report, med check, psych eval and lecture about roles and responsibilities of a Preventer agent, Duo had been given a week's medical leave due to some minor lacerations and maybe a small bullet wound. It really was small. Nothing to worry about.
The problem was, he was partnered with Trowa. And in many ways working with Trowa was cool as there was a level of implicit trust there – that he didn't have to explain his actions either prior to doing them or in retrospect. That Trowa would do anything for the mission and if Duo got a tiny bit reckless then Trowa wouldn't question that. But then, Trowa was the observer, the analyst and his mission reports were vastly detailed and accurate. Duo had seen them. And Duo hadn't read the one from the Burma mission yet as he still could not understand how Trowa could complete such a detailed piece of work in the limited timespan since they'd arrived back. It backed up his theory that Trowa was not quite human, maybe part robotic, as he only could've done it without sleep and normal people needed sleep.
The report would probably reveal a little too much about his actions. It might have made reference to a vague moment of recklessness. He may have put himself in the line of fire when he shouldn't – when it went against common sense, protocol and just about every survival instinct that human beings were born with. And that would explain Heero's mood.
They'd been casually fucking for some time. Duo hadn't expected it to happen, yeah, there had been a lot of longing glances on his part during the wars and a lot of ignoring said looks by Heero during that period but it had happened once the stars aligned or something. He wasn't romantic about it all – the first time it had been all about two overly hormonal teenagers and it was hot and all – ripping each other out of Preventer uniforms and getting pants down enough to facilitate the fucking but then it had been damn quick. Not the greatest sexual experience he'd ever had. The second time was better, same day, recovered, fully naked in Duo's bed and maybe the whole quick impatient fuck had ensured that the second time with Heero behind him, with hands digging into his hips and his own hands balled in sheets, that they both lasted longer and it was a much better experience. They'd only improved since then.
"Trowa was thorough."
Duo nodded, tried not to roll his eyes – of course, Trowa was always thorough. He'd have explained every damn detail. It would indicate that Duo had done something he shouldn't have. That he'd been reckless. That he maybe should've come back more injured than he was. A lot more injured than he was. He wanted to say something about how he could've come back in a coffin but then figured that Heero wouldn't appreciate that comment. And the way he was glaring, his arms folded across his chest as though trying to stop himself from resorting to physical violence while Duo was somewhat injured made him realise sarcasm wasn't his best response. No, not right now.
"Look, I just thought, ya know, that if I went in –"
"Without adequate back up."
"I had Trowa –"
"Who had an entirely different position and was unable to provide effective support."
"Jesus. 'Ro. You're not my partner anymore – you can't boss me around."
They'd been Preventer partners initially, seemed that due to their wartime camaraderie Une thought they would work well together. Then they'd started whatever their relationship was. And as they spent two months in a blissful state of undressing each other at every available opportunity it had become apparent to even the most unobservant person that there was some personal relationship between the two of them developing. They really shouldn't have screwed in the stationery closet. Or in the fourth floor Conference Room C after a briefing. Yet it had seemed like a good idea at the time. One that had resulted in them being suspended without pay for a week. Which perhaps wasn't the greatest punishment as it meant that they could spend the week in various states of undress in Duo's apartment, Heero only leaving when it became necessary for him to secure his own clothing, check his own apartment hadn't burnt down in his absence and to ensure that people, namely Relena, hadn't panicked in his week of dropping off the grid to fuck around with Duo.
It had been very endearing to see Heero leave his apartment in Duo's clothes. The t-shirt ever so slightly tighter over his shoulders and back, wearing his own Preventer uniform pants with it rather than borrowing any of Duo's tighter jeans and then returning only a few hours later to continue as they had been. Yeah, that had been effective punishment on Une's part.
"You could've died."
Duo looked up to see that Heero's hands had now balled at his sides rather than across his chest and he tried not to raise his voice too much. He failed.
"I didn't, damn it! I'm not totally stupid contrary to popular belief. I calculated the risks. I calculated that it was better to end the situation before they started getting antsy and taking out the hostages. Stop fuckin' doubting me!"
They'd done this before. It may have only been three months since the whole little fuck buddies arrangement had begun but ever since that point, Duo felt Heero had been scrutinising him even more closely. That he was doubting his ability as an agent. Belittling his achievements. Making him feel like nothing he did was quite good enough. It hadn't been like that before the sex. He seriously didn't get it.
"I don't doubt you, Duo."
He made a harrumph noise in response. "If ya don't doubt me, then what the fuck is this? You barge into my apartment with a key I so did not give you, make me get outta bed when I should be resting after a difficult mission and then you come to tell me I'm stupid and reckless and whatever. Just get outta here, Yuy. I don't need your superior shit right now."
It seemed that whatever cool composure Heero had was lost – Duo noted a flicker of something akin to – hurt, maybe? – not something he'd seen before as he felt a hand around his own wrist.
"Don't you ever think?" Heero ground out the words harshly.
"Oh hell, you did not just make a dumb joke," Duo spat back. "You damn well know my IQ is only a few points down on yours, dickwad."
Heero made a noise at the back of his throat and Duo knew he was close to winning whatever the hell this argument was. There was always a point that Heero couldn't damn win with him and would just storm out of the apartment. Hours later, Duo would usually capitulate – feeling like an asshole and they'd have hot make up sex at Heero's place until whatever disagreement had been forgotten and would forever remain unresolved. It wasn't the perfect way to be resolve issues in a relationship but hey – it was only fuck buddies, right? No real feelings involved.
The hand on his wrist didn't loosen and Heero had surprised him. Maybe they weren't going to play the usual game.
"Do you think about what you're doing? What happens if you don't come back?"
Duo blinked and jerked his hand back, dislodging Heero's grip. "Then it happens when I'm doing my job – saving people and shit. Better me than someone else."
"What happens to me if you don't come back?"
"You find someone else to screw around with…. It's not like you're my damn boyfriend, 'Ro. If you hadn't noticed, we're just fucking."
The words had been a little mean, Duo realised, and he figured he might have actually hurt Heero this time. It was just the attitude – he was damn sick of it from someone who he was just supposed to be having sex with. It wasn't like it meant anything. Yeah, it was nice and they were compatible in bed but there was nothing more to it, or so he figured. He did like the other things that went with it – the little twinge of excitement he got from knowing he was going to see Heero when they arranged something even if it was just a booty call thing. And he like the after bits – those bits when they were just in either one's apartment – walking around in borrowed t-shirts, ordering take out, lying on couches and just generally being together. But really, they weren't doing anything here. It really didn't mean anything. Or did it?
"Maybe I want to be," Heero said, his eyes now firmly rooted on a spot on the carpet, so much so that Duo assumed there must be a stain.
"Huh?"
He managed to say that before he found Heero's lips on his own, the move quick and decisive, though the gentleness unusual and just the slick slide of lips on lips, no attempt to deepen the kiss. Duo didn't press, didn't do like they usually did when a small kiss descended into indecent groping and then the inevitable attempt to climb into each other's bodies that always seemed to happen. He felt Heero's hand on his jaw, the pad of his thumb drawing a line down it and the hand remained there as they separated – not breathless. Not aroused and hard and ready to fuck. Something entirely different.
"Maybe I want to be your boyfriend."
"'Ro… I'm on pain meds… repeat that."
"I want to be your boyfriend."
"Seriously?"
"Do I joke?"
Duo's hand went to the back of his braid awkwardly. "Guess not. Though you did try to tell that one about the whole horse and bar and shit and well, it really wasn't funny."
Heero shook his head. "You're deflecting."
"I've never been anyone's boyfriend."
"And I have?"
He chuckled low. "We both really haven't done any of this shit before, have we?"
Heero moved closer, sliding his hands to Duo's sides, running them to rest at his hips gently through the material of black sleep shorts. "I'm seventeen and I fought two wars. I really didn't have time to do any of this shit before. But I'd like to."
"So you're whole shit about me being reckless and checking up on my mission reports is because…"
"I don't want you to get injured," he stated as he gently ran his fingers over the fabric of Duo's tank top. "Or die."
"And you want to be my boyfriend."
Heero shrugged. "I thought I already said that. Twice."
"Maybe I'm a little slow on the uptake. Pain meds an' all."
And not knowing how to answer or what to say, he let his hands drift to Heero's waist, replicating the movements Heero's hands were making and met his lips in another tender kiss, deepening slightly to let tongues slide but not turning into anything more. It was something that hadn't seemed possible mere hours ago.
"You didn't answer me," Heero said after the kiss broke off.
"Yeah. I'll be your boyfriend… and your first boyfriendly duty is to take me to bed." He saw Heero's eyebrows rise imperceptibly and Duo laughed. "Not for sex. I'm totally beat… but you can stay, yanno, if you want."
It was the first time they'd been in Duo's apartment without sex happening instantly and he found he liked it. It felt awkward but he liked the way Heero's hands ran gently down his sides rather than the impatient roughness of a quick fuck and he smiled as Heero nodded in answer and made a motion to remove his jacket.
"And I may be damn tired now but yanno… you might get lucky when I wake up."
Duo gave a suggestive wink, leaned forward for another kiss and then took Heero's hand leading him to a bedroom he already knew but this time it was different. Now Heero was his boyfriend, not his fuck buddy and he decided he liked that idea.
Maybe it was a good thing to be a little bit reckless.
