"Seeya later Trowa!"
"Bye."
"Hey, where's Heero?" Duo asked Quatre as they left the room where Trowa was reading. "I haven't had a single death threat all day!"
"He hasn't threatened you for ten whole hours? That guy must really like you!"
Duo laughed.
"He only hasn't threatened me 'cause he hasn't seen me. I can assure you, the first thing he'll say when he sees me is…"
"Hi guys!"
The subject of their conversation, the perfect soldier himself was walking towards them, waving cheerfully and…smiling?
Duo's jaw dropped and he stared at Heero as Quatre fainted to the floor beside him.
"Anyone seen Trowa?" Heero asked a bewildered Duo and, without waiting for an answer, walked past them, humming softly to himself.
Duo watched in disbelief, then thought he should probably wake up Quatre.
"Quatre?" He knelt down beside his blond friend and shook him gently. "Quatre? Wake up. WAKE UP!"
Quatre opened his eyes and blinked slowly. He looked so sweet and Duo tried to ignore how cute he was.
"I had the weirdest dream!" Quatre said and Duo stopped daydreaming about kissing Quatre's soft lips, running his hands though his blond hair… "It was actually fairly scary. Heero smiled!"
"Uh, Quatre? Not a dream."
Damn
Duo thought as Quatre fell unconscious again. Shouldn't have said that.* * *
Having woken Quatre up once more and convinced him that he was neither crazy or hallucinating, Duo grabbed his hand and dragged him off in search of Heero. They found him in the room where they'd left Trowa. Heero seemed to be ballet dancing. They stood in the doorway. Quatre wondered if he should let go of Duo's hand as they watched Heero pirouetting and Trowa looking more scared than they'd ever seen him.
Heero stopped pirouetting. He climbed onto the table and sat cross-legged right in front of Trowa.
"TROOOWWAA!" he whined, sounding enough like Relena to make Trowa stand up and back away in terror. "Trroooowwaaa, have you got my tuuu-tuuuu???"
Duo caught Quatre's eye and both turned away in an effort to refrain from laughing. Quatre was fairly disappointed that Duo had finally let his hand go.
"Er…no?" Trowa replied, hoping he'd got the right answer – Heero was dangerous at the best of times.
"What?" Heero covered his face with his hands and sobbed desolately for the loss of his tu-tu.
Duo gave up trying not to laugh. Quatre looked at him and couldn't help but laugh too. He couldn't help noticing how attractive Duo was when he was laughing, either.
Trowa turned to look at them and shrugged. He had no idea what to do with Heero, who was now muttering about how Trowa didn't like him anymore between sobs. Trowa's helpless glances at Quatre and Duo served only to set them off into more fits of hysterical laughter and Heero wailed forsakenly in the background.
"What's going on?" Trowa asked. "What…what happened?"
"No idea!" Quatre said, having calmed down ever-so-slightly.
Duo stopped laughing. He stared vacantly at Quatre for a moment.
"I think I know!" he said suddenly. His braid flicked as he turned and sprinted away. Quatre absent-mindedly watched Duo's braid swinging as he ran, imagining undoing the braid and…
"Quatre!"
"Huh?"
"What are we going to do?"
But Quatre was once more lost in *Quatre's Fantasies – Starring Duo * and didn't answer Trowa, who decided he'd better try and comfort Heero.
"Heero? Er, um, it's…alright," he said, altogether unconvincingly.
"Whaaaaa!" Heero wailed.
"Don't cry!" Trowa said, sounding slightly more sympathetic this time.
"But, but I'm lonelyy!!"
"You're…lonely. Riiighht…"
"Nobody likes meee!"
Hesitantly, Trowa walked over to Heero and put an arm around his shaking shoulders.
"That's not true!" he said.
"It is!" Heero sobbed, pulling Trowa to him and burying his face in Trowa's chest.
"Really! I…I like you."
You can have no idea how much I like you
Trowa thought."Honestly?"
"Really."
Heero took a deep breath.
Please, no, don't cry any more, I'll go insane… And I'll pity you, I'll want to hold you, I'll want to….
"Ohhhh thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou…" Heero began as Shinigami returned from hell. Er, the bedroom.
"Thought so!" Duo said to Quatre who struggled to snap out of his fantasies and blushed furiously. Duo held up a bottle of vodka, most of which was gone.
"This was full earlier," he said, grinning. "It was mine, too… Stupid Heero – the perfect soldier's been drinking! Ha haa!"
Duo put down the bottle and looked into the room to where Heero was wrapped around an uncertainly smiling Trowa, still thanking him.
"Well look at those two!" Duo said, turning back to Quatre. "Trowa seems to be enjoying himself…"
Quatre watched Heero kissing Trowa's face and Trowa half-heartedly attempting to get rid of him. Quatre then turned to Duo and frowned slightly at him. Duo flashed him the disarming grin – not that Quatre didn't feel pretty disarmed around Duo anyway.
"Aren't you jealous?" he asked heavily.
"You what?" said Duo.
"You, I mean, well, you know, Heero…and, I mean, er, you and Heero…" Quatre felt himself blush again.
"Me and Heero?" Duo said. Quatre was so adorably cute, so sweet when he blushed – which he seemed to do a lot. "There's a me and Heero?"
"Aren't you…I thought you…were…in love with…"
"In love with Heero?" Duo laughed.
It's POSSIBLE to be in love with Heero?
"Don't be stupid, Quatre, I'm not in love with him, I'm in love with…" Duo stopped. "…someone else…" he said slowly.
"Uh, Quatre? Aren't YOU jealous? I mean, you're in love with Trowa, but you don't…"
Quatre smiled nervously. Duo wasn't in love with Heero! And he had the slightly confused frown he never knew he wore – it was SOOO cute – not that everything about Duo wasn't cute…
"No, I…I thought I was in love with him, once… No, I don't love him, Duo, I love…"
"OMAE O KOROSU!"
They heard Heero's death threat from inside the room, and Quatre jumped about a foot in the air. Duo gave him a strange smile and to Quatre's delight put a hand on his shoulder before they both turned to enter the room in which it seemed Trowa Barton was about to meet his end.
Trowa evidently had no intention of meeting his end any time soon – he was laughing hysterically. A foot away, Heero was aiming a piece of cake at Trowa's head.
Quatre bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.
"With that? No chance! What did you do, Trowa?"
He didn't notice Duo watching him, his face hopeful, his eyes full of longing.
"He's go everything in those spandex shorts of his!" Trowa shouted, "Even CAKE!" With that, he collapsed laughing again.
Heero smiling AND Trowa laughing? What a day!
Duo though wryly.Heero moved closer to Trowa and waved the piece of cake in his face.
"Yum, chocolate!" said Trowa, taking a bite of the cake.
"You ate my gun!" Heero exclaimed, scandalised. "You ate it! And I do NOT wear SPANDEX!"
"Sorry, Heero, I was hungry. And of COURSE you don't wear spandex."
" 'Course I do! What do you think these are made of?" Heero shouted, taking a bite of cake and pulling at his shorts.
On sudden inspiration, Quatre walked over to Heero and put a hand down his shorts, earning a "mmm, Quatre-baby!" from Heero and hurt and jealous looks from Duo and Trowa.
Quatre frowned at Duo, then removed his hand, holding the gun that Heero had kept surprisingly well hidden in his tight shorts.
"Hey! That's my birthday cake! I got that on my….uh….birthday! Well, I suppose you can borrow it if you want but…" Heero's eyes narrowed and he glared evilly at Quatre. "DON'T eat it. Pleease?" he whined.
Quatre headed out of the room. He paused by Duo, who smiled, but he didn't smile back.
"He's safe now," he said flatly. "We can leave him to sober up." He walked out, leaving the gun in Duo's hands.
Duo's eyes widened. Why was Quatre being so…. Only a moment ago Quatre'd been so… Duo had though he'd seen something he'd been hoping to see for so long… And now….
Duo looked back at Heero and Trowa. Heero was sitting by Trowa – very close.
Who'd have thought it?
he thought. Silent and silent-er.The look of longing in Trowa's eyes was evident, but Duo knew he would never take advantage over a drunken Heero.
He decided he'd leave them alone to…sort things out, and walked off, altogether miserable.
* * *
"Do you want to know what else I keep in my spandex shorts?" Heero whispered in Trowa's ear, and touched his lips to Trowa's cheek. Trowa turned his head toward Heero and lifted a hand to Heero's face…but stopped.
"Yuy, you're drunk. Stop right there."
"Spare spandex shorts!" Heero informed Trowa. "And a spare green vest," he added as an afterthought. "Just in case…"
"Heero, stop it, please," Trowa pleaded as Heero put his hands under Trowa's irritating green top and ran them over his chest. "You're drunk!"
"You like it…"
"You're drunk!!!"
"You want it…"
"Heero, this is not fair! It wouldn't be fair of me to… It's not fair on you…"
"I love you!"
"…and it's not fair on me. You don't love me, Heero. I wish you di…I mean, I wish you…would….would NOT DO THAT!" he finished, gasping, as Heero slipped a slender hand down the front of Trowa's trousers, kissing his neck.
"STOP. IT!" he said as firmly as he could make himself and pushed Heero away. "Oh, I just wish, I wish, I….
I love you," he muttered, almost silent as he stood up and ran out of the room.
Heero sighed and lay sadly on the floor.
"I know" he told the blue carpet. "I AM drunk. But still, I mean, he – that was Trowa by the way – he's, he's brilliant and I want him and I love him! Ooooooohh! I did yesterday – and I wasn't drunk then… Just like I'm not now! What a coincidence!
Don't you say I'm drunk!" he told the table leg sternly. How could I be drunk? Do I look drunk to you? Do I? Well?
Omae o korosu!" he told it when it refused to answer him.
* * *
Heero woke up on the floor. Standing up dizzily and with a badly aching head he looked at the clock. Four AM. What the hell was he doing on the floor at four in the morning?
Then he remembered.
"Trowa!"
He couldn't let Trowa think he hadn't meant he loved him. He had to tell him, something he'd been trying to get up the nerve to do for what seemed like ever. Only yesterday he had been meaning to tell him. Before going to find Trowa, he's looked under Duo's bed in hope of finding some alcohol. Sure enough, he'd found a bottle of vodka. He'd drunk some, just a little, for courage. When he'd had some, he hadn't felt much braver, so he'd had some more. And a bit more. And just a little more. And then… He'd gone and ruined it all. He'd made a complete fool of himself and still Trowa was none the wiser.
Well he was going to tell him now, once and for all. He didn't care that it was four o'clock on the morning, he was going to tell him.
And no ruining it, not this time, he warned himself.
But what if Trowa didn't feel the same?
Que sera sera.
The perfect soldier sprinted off to look for his perfect man.
* * *
"Trowa!" he called, finally spotting Trowa pacing around an empty room. "Trowa, I'm sober now, I have to tell you…"
Trowa looked up wearily.
"I know, you don't love me, you were just drunk – you don't need to tell me. And…I'm sorry, I…I almost took advantage of you."
Heero saw pain in his green eyes for one second before Trowa was gone.
Uh?
"Trowa!"
Heero hurried after him.
"No, Trowa, that's not what I came to tell you, I came because… Trowa, listen to me! OK, this is an EFFORT, I never talk this much, you know that. I'm making an effort for you, LISTEN!"
Trowa stopped but did not turn around.
"Please?"
Trowa hesitated, then turned slowly round. He looked at Heero, so familiar in the ridiculous shorts and vest that he perpetually wore, so attractive with his messy dark hair and unavoidable eyes.
Heero couldn't say it. He couldn't tell this gorgeous boy with his silly hair and beautiful eyes that he loved him.
Don't be an idiot!
he told himself. Think of Wufei…He thought of Wufei, and of his obsession with weakness and how he believed it to be the worst thing in whole universe.
Heero Yuy, you are being WEAK!
"Trowa, I… I…"
YOU ARE NOT WEAK! YOU ARE STRONG!
"…I…"
…don't be weak!
Heero closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"TrowaBartonILoveYou."
"What?"
"I love you."
Trowa stared.
"Ha. Ha. Ha ha, in fact. Nice joke, Yuy." Trowa turned and walked away from Heero once more.
Heero, bewildered, looked around as if for help. Then, without realising what he was doing, he found himself sprinting after Trowa. He overtook him and walked backwards ahead of him, facing him.
"Joke? Trowa, since when do I tell jokes?"
Since when do you talk?
Trowa thought, but stopped to hear Heero out."Trowa, I love you!"
"Heero, stop it. You KNOW I love you, and this HURTS, alright. You're not funny."
Trowa sighed.
"You…do? You love me?" Heero looked staggered.
Trowa said nothing.
"Yeah, I do, sorry, alright? Leave me, please, leave me alone."
He tried to push past Heero but the smaller pilot stopped him.
"Look, Heero, you're hurting me! What are you trying you do to me?"
"I'm sorry that I'm hurting you. Really, I'm NOT trying to. But I mean it… I DO…"
Trowa frowned at him.
"Really? Heero, are you saying, seriously saying, that you feel the same as I…"
He words were cut short as Heero kissed him.
* * *
Quatre where are you??
Duo had to find Quatre. He had to tell him. He'd decided to tell his Arabian friend how he really felt – he had to know if there was any chance that he could have seen what he though he had. And if Quatre didn't love him? Well, that was just too bad.
Too bad for who, baka?
he asked himself. Don't tell him! He'll hate you, it'll ruin EVERYTHING! Too bad for YOU. Ignoring himself, he continued to search for Quatre.* * *
Just when he was about to give up, Duo heard a weary sigh from behind a half open door. He pushed the door slightly, letting a small amount of light into the otherwise dark room.
"Quatre?"
Duo switched on the light and saw Quatre sitting on the floor, with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
"Quatre? You all right?"
Quatre opened one of his beautiful eyes, then the other.
"Hello Duo," he said, seemingly wary.
"Quatre-honey, what's wrong?" Duo asked, kneeling down in front of him and cursing his-stupid-self for calling Quatre honey.
Quatre shook his head, and as he closed his eyes again Duo saw a tear run down one of his pale cheeks.
"What…Quatre, come on…"
"Nothing…"
"Quatre, I have to tell you… I have to know, I need to tell you…" Duo trailed off.
"What?" Quatre said, more tears beginning to course down his cheeks. He knew what was coming. Duo knew how he felt about him, and wanted confirmation. He needed to tell him that he didn't feel the same, that it could never happen.
"I…I… I love… Er, I'm in love with, that is, I love…"
"…Heero," Quatre suggested, defeated.
"…you," Duo finished.
They both stared at each other.
"What? M..me…"
"What? Heero?"
"You love…. You can't! What of Heero? I saw you, your eyes, when I…er, um, Heero's shorts, I mean, you….you were jealous of me doing that to him, weren't you. You don't have to lie, Duo…"
I was jealous that…" Duo coughed, slightly embarrassed. "Er, that you, um, were, uh, doing that to, um, him, and, I, um, me, that, er, that is, not me…"
He smiled uncertainly and Quatre stared even more. He said nothing, however.
"Quatre? Did you hear me? I LOVE YOU! I'm sorry, and everything, and I know now you don't, I, um, mean, it was just like, making me insane, I had to tell….er…Quatre? You're meant to be…this is the part where you should be saying 'Duo how could you betray our friendship like this never talk to me again'. Or something."
"Do I have to?" Quatre said, smiling now.
"What?" asked Duo, startled.
"Couldn't I say, oh, I don't know, what do you think of 'I love you too'?"
Duo smiled, and leaned toward Quatre.
"I don't know," he whispered, touching Quatre's cheek with his tongue. "Say it again." He smiled evilly, and Quatre obligingly said it again.
"I love you, Duo Maxwell. I love you, I love you, I love you… How does that sound to you?"
Duo pulled Quatre to him and kissed him passionately. He felt Quatre's hands on his body, and tilted his head back. Quatre starting kissing his neck, and Duo moaned slightly.
"Sounds good to me…" he muttered as Quatre put his arms around Duo's waist and started undoing his long braid.
* * *