"Duo," he says, turning away again, standing and pushing his chair in with one fluid motion. "Just shut up." And then he's gone, walking with the confident stride that lets you know he doesn't want to be followed.
I sigh, leaning back in my own chair, puffing my hair out of my face with my breath. I'd talk forever if he'd just stay, just for a while, and look at me with those eyes. //Wow, Maxwell, you've got it bad.// Promptly deciding that it's too quiet in the cafeteria, I trace the path that he had taken just moments ago.
//He's probably in the computer lab, hacking or whatever it is he does in there.// I shove my hands in my pockets, and continue to walk the halls, heading my--our--dorm room.
//It's too quiet in here too,// I think as I dump my jacket on the bed and flop down in the chair by the window. //Whoever would've thought that I'd miss the never ending mission statements and stuff.// I smile wryly at the memory of the war, the war that ended surprisingly soon.
//Heero....// Somehow, my thoughts return to him, as they always seem to. I often lay awake at night, wondering why he's with me, here at school, instead of off protecting Relena Peacecraft and her ideals about peace. Why he decided to be normal, with me, instead of himself, with her. It's all mind boggling.
And then my mind begins to think things like, "maybe he has feelings for you, too," or "maybe he does enjoy your company and he just leaves because... Because...." And then I realize that no matter what I feel for him, no matter how much I love him, he could never, ever return any of those feelings for me. There is just no way.
Ha, Heero Yuy, having actual feelings, now there's a laugh. I try to smile, but I can't. Imagine, me, Duo Maxwell, unable to smile. I never would have thought it possible. But, hey, I never expected Shinigami to fall in love either.
But he did.
There's a noise behind me, like someone's there. I turn, and find myself gazing into those Prussian pools again. "He-Heero? You're here already?"
"Aa. It was a little too quiet in the library. I think you're rubbing off on me." He lay down on his bed, pulling a book out from under his pillow.
A smirk finds itself on my face, my smile still held back by my doubt. "Hey, Heero, why'd you decide to come back to school with me?"
He peeked over the top of his book, eyebrows cocked. "I don't know. I guess because... Well, there's a lot that I have left to learn." He went back to his reading. "And it was fun."
My eyebrows shot up to my brow bone. "Fun? You had fun? With me? At school?" Slowly, my smile was released from it's bondage, and it settled into it's place on my lips. "Never pinned you for the type to admit stuff like that." I leaned back in the chair, and put my feet up on the sill. "Hey, Heero, would you consider us... Friends?" My heart banged against the constraints of my ribs, awaiting his reply with a soupy anxiety.
"Hm. Something like that. Now shut up so I can read."