Disclaimer: I own nothin'

Pairings/Warnings: 1x2, humour, kissing, oblivious!Heero and grouchy!Duo

A/N: A small little gift fic for ELLE.

Mr. October

Duo trusted Heero. It was an innate trust that came from nearly dying together too many times to count and from learning to live and love together in a confusing post-war world. It was safe to say that Duo trusted Heero more than he trusted anyone in the world and that he would do anything for him. He just didn't expect it to be this.

Duo knew that Heero loved Relena. It wasn't in the way that many people thought (especially those in the tabloid rags who wanted the perfect story of the "Queen of the World" and her "Perfect Knight") but it was a way that Duo had come to recognize. It wasn't exactly sisterly – it was different. It was reverence and maybe a type of love that Duo didn't quite understand but one that he knew was important to Heero. And Duo never judged that. And had never really worried about their unusual relationship up until now. Now when it was causing him the biggest damn headache ever.

The headache was both literal and figurative. Literally as he was wearing some kind of headband with devil horns on top that was pressing into his skull like some kind of military torture device. Figuratively as he was trying to figure out how he was going to get out of this situation without losing either his dignity or the love and affection of Heero. Both were at risk.

He scowled at the mirror and tried not to think about how ridiculous he seemed. The Preventer bathroom lights were not helping matters, the strips of neon glaring down on the white, but that really didn't matter. Not when Duo was wearing this stupid ass costume.

As currently Duo was wearing leather pants. Tight leather pants with a flame pattern down the side and a corseted top to hold them together that was, ugh, quite revealing. He certainly couldn't wear underwear under the pants and the trail of dark hair was leading dangerously downwards to reveal more of himself than Duo usually would expose to anyone but Heero. But that wasn't the worst part.

Or maybe it was. Because the boots were pretty bad too – covered in far too many buckles and studded with spikes. Duo had wondered if they could be classed as a weapon as he'd laced them up and guessed a well aimed kick could perhaps pierce skin if he needed to. Not that he needed to when he was walking around shirtless in the Sanc Kingdom Preventer HQ.

As while the outfit had very attractive pants and boots, a shirt was not required and Duo's skin, pasty and tattooed and scarred, was very visible. He felt cold in the air-conditioned bathroom and he folded his arms across his chest and tried not to show his anger and irritation at mirror!Duo who looked like a total jackass.

It was the horns that was the problem, the red devil horns nestled in his hair and that had already become tangled in his braid at least once. He hated them with a passion already and he hoped there were no more indignities befalling him.

"Okay, man up Maxwell… this ain't as bad as an OZ prison cell or taking down a squadron of mobile dolls, right?"

The pep talk worked as without another look at the mirror, Duo strolled out of the bathroom and walked along the corridor to the conference room that had been made into a makeshift photo studio. He heard a few jeers and wolf whistles as he walked and Duo only flipped the bird in the general vicinity of the noise. He wasn't going to dignify it with a response. As to be fair, he had no dignity.

As he walked into the conference room, he saw the two people who had got him into his current predicament and a photographer. The photographer barely glanced in Duo's direction and didn't seem at all shocked by his attire. He supposed the guy had initiated this "vision" and so Duo's appearance was as expected. Yet the other two occupants of the room looked towards Duo and then shared a sideways glance at one another. At the sight of that glance, Duo had to resist the urge to storm across the room at their expressions as there was the slightest of smirks on Heero Yuy's face and Duo was more than a little annoyed by the slight quirk of lips. Relena was more openly amused but Duo would let that slide. As after all, this was Relena's charity project and he really was helping her out by being Mr. October for her "end of the war anniversary" calendar. And the money was going to war orphans and rebuilding projects and he couldn't really be annoyed at her for her generous spirit and belief she could make the world a better place. As despite Duo's cynicism for the post-war world, he couldn't help respecting Relena's single-mindedness even though he thought she was naive to believe in an violence free Earth Sphere.

So Duo's annoyance for the whole ordeal was landing on Heero. Heero had meant to be posing for the calendar and had agreed to be photographed when the project was first mooted. Heero, being Heero, hadn't seen the problem in the slightly ridiculous images that Relena had proposed and while Duo had snickered about it, Heero hadn't been dissuaded. Or at least he hadn't been until his recent broken arm. It was so damn poetic. Heero, the super solider, had ended up breaking his arm on a recent Preventer mission. The guy who Duo had shot, who had fallen out of a however many story building and who had blown himself the hell up, had done something so mundane on a mission. He had broken his damn arm. So unable to pose as Relena had agreed, Heero had needed a substitute. And that substitute had been Duo.

Amused as he was at first that Heero had been injured in such a small and dull way, Duo had mocked him. Which Heero had taken with good grace (or just by ignoring Duo), until he grumpily reminded Duo that his war-time exploits were achieved by a copious amount of experimental drugs that had been injected into Heero's body since childhood and it was something painful that he no longer had to endure. Duo had stopped his teasing then.

And that's when Heero had sprung it on him. He'd been feeling a bit like an insensitive asshole, which in all fairness, he had been, and so when Heero had asked for a favour Duo had said yes before discovering what it was.

"Anything, babe," he'd said.

But really, Duo should've said "anything… but a cheesy photoshoot for a charity calendar."

"Oh Duo," Relena said, approaching with a slight spring in her step, "you look perfect for Mr. October."

Trying not to say something snarky or mean, Duo bit his tongue. As really, he was a far better Mr. October than Heero would've been. He had the tattoos. And the penchant for black. As despite the ridiculous of the whole situation, at least he didn't have to pose with flowers or an Easter bunny or dress as Santa. Those ideas seemed a lot more horrific despite how unflattering his current outfit was.

So instead of saying anything to Relena, Duo directed his attention to the photographer who was preparing for the shoot.

"Where do you want me then?"

The photographer gestured towards the dark backdrop that had been hung at one end of the conference room and Duo tried not to roll his eyes at the cheesy graveyard scene. He just had to remember… at least it wasn't bunnies.

The actual shoot wasn't quite as bad as Duo had imagined. As really all the photographer did was get him to pose in various ways while Duo either looked moody (which he could do easily) or angry (which, again, was easy due to the fact he really didn't want to be taking part.)

As Duo stood, posing in his ridiculous outfit, he kept trying to meet Heero's eyes but it seemed that every time he attempted to, Heero looked away. Unsure why Heero was avoiding his eye, Duo just tried to get through the process as quickly as he could and he was very glad when the photographer confirmed he was done.

"Do you want to see what your photographs look like?" Relena asked.

Duo shook his head. "Naw… I just want to get out of these dumbass clothes and forget about the whole experience."

Relena laughed in response until she realised that Duo wasn't exactly joking. "Well, they look good. Thank you, Duo."

With a small salute and grin, Duo made his way across the room. "No problem, Princess. But please… never make me do this again."

Duo put the calendar and the painful photoshoot out of his mind. Or that was not entirely true. He was busy. Life returned to normal once Heero's arm healed and they went back into the cycle of missions and brief downtime and a life dominated by the fragile peace that was constantly being tested by new threats. In their days off, Duo and Heero tried to figure out how to live as "normally" as they could for two war-scarred orphans who struggled with a multitude of emotional baggage. Whether it was nightmares, go bags and the inability to maintain a full fridge in the kitchen, their lives were complicated and constantly in a state of heightened awareness.

And that was why Duo forgot about the calendar. Or at least he had until the morning it was delivered. The moment the doorbell rang, both Heero and Duo were awake and reaching for weapons and it took a heartbeat for both of them to realise that they were safe in bed and the world wasn't ending.

"I'll go," Duo mumbled, slouching out of the bed and finding a shirt to put on so he wasn't answering the door in just his boxer shorts.

He went as he could see Heero was shaken despite the fact the noise was innocuous. Heero was hardly going to be the most friendly to the poor person at the other side of the door having been abruptly woken and having his old war time instincts set on danger.

Duo reached the door and opened it slowly, suspiciously. As though he was pretty sure there was not going to be someone trying to kill them at the other side of the door, Duo had still picked up a flick knife out of habit, the blade poised in his hand. Yet as soon as he saw a non-threatening face, he flicked the knife back in and gave a cheery smile despite the early hour.

"Delivery," the guy said, "needs signing for."

Scowling, Duo took the parcel and signed with his fingertip on the electronic device the delivery guy had in his hand.

"Have a nice day."

"You too…" Duo said as he closed the door and stared at the parcel as though it was an explosive device.

His usual former soldier paranoia would've surfaced on seeing the parcel if he had not noticed the hand-writing and seen it was familiar. It was Relena's script in looping cursive and it said to "Mr. Heero Yuy and Mr. Duo Maxwell." The parcel itself was thin and long and Duo suddenly figured out what it was.

The goddamn calendar.

By the time Duo had dealt with the intrusion to their morning, Heero was in the kitchen making coffee and Duo thanked whichever deity existed that he got to witness Heero in his mostly naked glory (the grey boxer briefs did not hide much) and that he was making coffee. As he moseyed to the kitchen, Duo started to open the parcel with a mix of trepidation and horror.

As shit… he'd forgotten people were going to see it. That lots of people were going to see it. Why the hell had he agreed?

Yet then he remembered as he reached the kitchen. Heero's arm… Heero's injury… war orphans… charity.

"Look what's here," Duo said as he pulled the calendar out of the large envelope.

"Don't- " Heero began, his arm reaching for the parcel but it was too late.

As Duo had pulled the calendar out of its packaging. And he didn't see the front of the calendar. No, he saw the back with the "preview" of the image of each month. And while Duo saw himself looking ridiculous as Mr. October, he saw something else. Heero. As. Mr July.

Mr. July featured Heero as a lifeguard wearing nothing. Nothing at all but a strategically placed float.

Duo looked up and saw Heero looking like he'd never seen him before. It was almost… sheepish, Duo guessed and despite the initial shock and anger, Duo could only laugh at the whole damn ridiculousness of the calendar and Heero's little betrayal.

"Relena wanted you as Mr. October and you said no way," Heero said bluntly.

It was difficult for Duo not to roll his eyes at Heero's literal-ness and bluntness. It was so damn Heero. That he didn't decide to have a conversation like a normal person and try and persuade Duo. Instead he found another way of getting Duo to agree...

"Please tell me you didn't fake the broken arm," Duo asked, his voice incredulous, as surely he had not done that.

"I did the shoot before the mission."

Duo nodded and flicked through the calendar to see Mr. July in full. And as he was looking, he sensed Heero move and wrap his arm around Duo's waist and balance his chin on Duo's shoulder.

"I'm guessing Relena came up with this scheme?"

"It was to help war orphans," Heero replied.

Chuckling softly, Duo dropped the calendar to the floor and turned in Heero's grip so they were face to face. "You could've just told me you wanted me to be a part of it… like a normal person would." Heero frowned in a way that Duo found particularly adorable. "Come on… you know I'm a sucker for helping war orphans and shit. I have guilt too, remember?"

Nodding, Heero was going to respond but Duo stopped that by pressing their lips together in a soft kiss that rapidly turned less innocent with gropes, bumps of noses and clashes of teeth. When they separated, Duo smirked and pushed his hips forward to meet Heero's, the inconvenience of boxers and briefs making itself known as their groins touched through thin fabric.

"Come on… Mr. July. Show me what's hidden behind that float."

And without another glance at the offending images on the floor, Mr. July and Mr. October revealed more to each other than they had shown to the world in that stupid calendar.