This one is pretty self-explanatory, I think. Rated R for a naughty word and some questionable subject matter. 'Tis yaoi, by the way (1x2 and 3x4), so if you're not into that whole deal, don't even bother. And if you're offended by alcohol, well, then you probably didn't read the summary, did you.
I don't own the characters, nor do I own Absolut vodka. Big surprise there, huh?
Please review, if you're so inclined it's always nice
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The small house was impossibly silent as Trowa slipped his body through the gap between his open bedroom door and its frame. He hadn't been sleeping, but his eyes still labored under the weight of their lids as they adjusted to the low light of the hallway. He had been staring up at the depthless expanse of his dark ceiling for the better part an hour now, and the sudden realization of shape and color seemed to overload his fogged senses. For a moment he considered just giving it another shot, and crawling back into bed, but ultimately admitted to himself that it would be a pretty worthless venture. There were simply too many little things on his mind right now to even make an attempt at sleeping.
Padding down the hall in his bare feet to the kitchen, he thought about the things that tended to calm his more brutal cases of insomnia. Tea? Sleeping pills? Leftover pizza and a glass of chocolate milk? None of his usual remedies seemed particularly appealing. Figuring something would eventually strike his fancy, he turned the corner and stepped onto the cold linoleum. If nothing else, he could at least start with a glass of water.
As he wandered in he scarcely had the chance to notice Duo, sitting on one of the high bar stools and slumped over the high countertop, before the pilot greeted him with a voice that was far too loud and exaggerated for the late hour. "Hey, Trowa. How's it goin'?" His upper lip twisted in a sardonic little smirk, and he flipped lazily at the strands of dark hair that drooped over his eyes. Trowa paused momentarily before resuming his slow steps through the kitchen, all the while keeping a careful eye on his friend. There was something not quite right about the inflection of Duo's voice, or the way his head lolled a bit at the end of his neck. And the smell an overpowering odor of rubbing alcohol and lemon juice permeated the air of the small room. It was a new experience, that scent, but not one that he couldn't place after about a half-second of consideration.
"Duo, are you drunk?" He had reached the counter where the braided boy sat now, and he stood patiently behind the empty bar stool as he waited for an answer.
Duo snorted, and brought a hand up to cover his giggling mouth. "Well, probably" He trailed off into a fit of stifled laughter, losing himself in it for a few seconds until his eyes managed, with no small effort, to gaze back up at Trowa's blank face. "Geez, tough crowd," he muttered, reaching for the short glass in front of him and draining it without so much as a flinch. Trowa caught another whiff of that stinging smell, and took a step away to escape the radius of its expanding cloud.
"What are you drinking?" His voice held more of an inflection than usual, one almost of a faint disgust.
At first he only received a lazy grin in response, but finally Duo searched the countertop around him and found what he was looking for in a heavy, frosted glass bottle. "Absolut Citron," he offered matter-of-factly, displaying the yellow words across the front before unscrewing the cap and pouring a generous amount in his empty glass. "Want some?"
"Um, no thanks." Trowa tried to sound casual in his answer, but it was decidedly a stretch. So he'd been right; Duo really was sitting here getting plastered. But why? It was no secret that of the pilots, the God of Death was certainly the most liberal about drinking, but it was unlike him to just sit around by himself and throw them back. He seemed to prefer drinking in a group, even if he was the only one partaking in the alcohol. "Duo?"
"Yeah, T?"
"Why are you getting drunk?"
Duo emptied the contents of his glass for the second time in three minutes, plopping it down on the counter with a satisfying clunk. "Scuze me?"
"Why are you drinking."
The question sunk in this time, and once again Trowa was given a smile as the response, but the emotion behind it was different. In spite of the alcoholic haze drifting across them, Duo's eyes twinkled with something very pointed and mischievous, and his lips rippled along his face in the cool wave of some private amusement. Trowa suspected that if the boy had been sober, he would have been trying to hide the expression altogether. "You know T, I don't think you really want to know." His voice was slow and sly, an effect that didn't seem to be entirely due to the vodka.
"Sure I do."
Duo looked him over thoughtfully, appearing to consider something. "Sit down, man." He gestured to the vacant seat beside him, and Trowa obediently sat. "But if I'm gonna tell you, you've got to have a drink with me."
"Duo, you really shouldn't be--" He stopped abruptly, as Duo set his jaw firmly and arched a chestnut brown eyebrow at him. "Alright, alright. Pour me one."
The Deathscythe pilot nodded resolutely. "Now that's more like it." A rack of small glasses sat near them on the counter, and he grabbed one and set it along with his own on the place mat at Trowa's seat. "Want to get us some ice?" Once again he obeyed, filling them with the peculiar, half-spheres of frozen water from the freezer and returning them to the counter in front of Duo. Although severely impaired already, Duo managed to pour the liquid without spilling a drop. "Drink." It was a command, not a request.
Trowa took a deep breath, and tipped the glass back against his lips without missing a beat. The burn of the alcohol raged from the back of his throat to his stomach as he swallowed, but a trace of the sweet lemon flavor remained on his lips as he lowered the empty cup and set it in front of Duo. He stared evenly into the violet-blue eyes watching him, as if to say see? That was nothing. "Are you going to tell me now?"
Duo, who was still nursing his own drink, filled Trowa's glass again and shoved it back across the counter to him. "Yeah. But don't think you're gonna slow down on the sauce there, buddy."
Trowa shrugged and took another sip, to find it went down easier this time. "Alright, out with it."
The braided pilot chuckled softly, shaking his head as he stared at the counter in front of him. "Yeah, yeah. Well see, it's like this. Heero and I had a fight."
"You did?"
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry"
Duo snorted.
"About what?"
His friend looked up at him this time, the same eyebrow from before arching impossibly high on his forehead. He seemed amused, but almost in pain at the same time. "Sex."
Trowa nearly choked on the sip of vodka he'd been swallowing. "Oh" Needless to say he hadn't been expecting that answer, so he was at a complete loss for appropriate responses.
"Yeah. The /Perfect Soldier/ thinks I'm putting too much importance on the 'sexual aspect' of our relationship. Can you believe that?" Duo voice had taken on a defensive tone, undoubtedly the very same one he'd used when having this conversation with Heero.
"Um" Trowa concentrated on finishing off his drink, giving himself an extra second or two to consider what he should say next. It was common knowledge that Heero and Duo had been an item for awhile now, and he guessed that somewhere deep down he'd figured them to be sleeping together, but he had just never imagined having a discussion about it with either one of them.
"I mean, you'd think he would be flattered I can barely stand to be in a room with him without just ripping his clothes off much less lay in bed next to him"
Trowa felt his eyes go wide and round at this, and he reached for the Absolut bottle to refill his own glass. The notion of getting drunk suddenly seemed like a very, very good one.
"Hey man, you alright? Don't even tell me you're embarrassed, because you're the one who wanted to talk about it" Duo gave his drinking partner an exasperated look as he finished his drink and poured another.
"No, I'm" The alcohol was starting to affect him, quickly crippling his vocabulary. Truth be told, however, his inebriation wasn't the only problem; he probably could have been stone-cold sober, and wouldn't have the first idea of what to say.
"You're embarrassed, aren't you!" Duo slugged him hard on his shoulder, mouth gaping open in surprise. "Come on, Tro! You and Q are doing it, right?" He smirked expectantly, looking away for only a moment as he jerked his head back behind his glass and filled his mouth with the stinging liquid.
Trowa mimicked the gesture, really beginning to feel the deep smolder of the drink inside him, as it crept up through his neck to his face in the form of a healthy flush. "Doing what?"
"Fucking, of course."
He felt his stomach lurch at the question, but not nearly as much as he thought it probably should have. And even though he was shocked, the beginnings of a wicked grin were tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Well"
"No way, man! No "well's" here, not tonight." Duo filled both the glasses once again, nodding toward them with his unsteady head. "Either you spill it now, or we keep drinking until you do."
Unable to contain himself any longer, a genuine, full-bodied laugh escaped Trowa's lips. He so rarely allowed this part of himself to break free, and although he was sure it was due in large part to the alcohol, the release of it really felt good. "Okay, okay. Sowe are. Alright?" He blushed even harder now, not entirely believing that he just admitted what he did. As with Duo and Heero, he and Quatre were an established couple, but they were intensely private about the details of their relationship.
"I knew it." Duo licked his lips in smug satisfaction.
"You did?"
"Sure. You guys have that comfort, I guess you could call it, around each other that really only comes from sex." He leaned heavily into the counter, propping his head up against his hand. "But, it's recent, isn't it?"
Trowa nodded. "Yes."
"I remember when Heero and I had just started sleeping together. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, to be able to touch him whenever I wanted, or sit in his arms without having to feel nervous about where things were going to lead." Duo stared off past Trowa into the distance as he spoke, his mind clearly miles away from the small kitchen in which he sat.
Nodding again, Trowa sighed softly. "That's it exactly."
"It's nice, huh." Duo smiled the slightest of smiles, running a hand through the wisps of his bangs.
"Yes." He watched the braided pilot intently, as a heartbreaking sadness drifted into his expression and lingered for a brief moment. He wished there was something he could do or say for Duo, but he had never seen before such an expression on anyone's face. "Duo, I--"
"No, no, don't sweat it, T." He cut Trowa off abruptly, flashing a crooked smile and waving his hand in dismissal. "We're a little dysfunctional, but it's nothing that won't fix, if you know what I mean." He took a small sip of his drink, and winked good-naturedly. "He can never resist me for long."
Trowa smiled in response, secretly relieved. Duo's sudden confidence seemed sincere, and he found himself blessedly spared from having to find a way to comfort the boy.
"So anyway. We've been wondering. Who's the top?"
"Huh?" He wasn't being evasive; Duo's question caught him completely off guard.
"You know, during sex. Geez man, stay with me here."
"II'm not sure what you mean" /Now/ he was being evasive. Of course he knew to what the inquiry referred. He just didn't want to answer.
Duo leaned in close to him, cocking his head to the side and grinning sadistically. "Come off it, Barton. You know exactly what I mean."
Trowa shook his head, laughing in defeat. "Yeah. Well, we--wait a minute. What do you mean, /we've/ been wondering?"
"Heero and I. /We've/ been wondering."
"You've talked about us?" He was incredulous in the face of this news.
Duo shrugged. "Sure. Haven't you guys talked about us?"
"Yes, but--"
"You're avoiding the question, man. This isn't that big of a deal."
Trowa looked away from Duo's pointed gaze, but smiled. "Wewe take turns, I suppose."
"Yeah?" Duo ran his tongue along the edges of his teeth, clearly getting into the idea of juicy details. "So which way do you prefer?"
The sound of a throat clearing broke into the conversation, and both boys turned to locate its source. "Cut him some slack, Duo." Heero leaned gracefully in the doorframe, arms folded across his chest. His face and voice were completely neutral, yet Trowa was sure he was regarding Duo with the most tender expression he'd ever seen on the Wing pilot's face.
Duo's eyes darted briefly to Trowa's, and Trowa remembered what he had said earlier in the conversation. He can never resist me for long.
"Hey, Heero." Duo turned indifferently away from his lover, looking overly dramatic and pouty as he stared down into his drink. Trowa fought the urge to giggle at them, hiding his smile behind his own glass of liquor. It was obvious the fight was already long forgotten, but that this ritual of unspoken apology and forgiveness was a necessity between them.
"Duo." Heero spoke the one word in his low, gravely voice, and stepped softly across the kitchen to stand behind Duo's chair. He glanced at Trowa for a long, considering moment, before brushing the braid away from Duo's neck and pressing a gentle kiss on him just below his hairline.
Duo jumped in surprise, spinning around on his stool to cast the glow of his eyes on the face gazing down at him. Trowa noticed with little difficulty the unmasked lust in his expression, and the edge of pink encircling his face. Heero's visage held a similar appearance, and the two shared this very private stare for the space of a second or two, before Duo got to his feet and allowed himself to be taken under the blue-eyed boy's arm. As they walked in silence toward the doorway, Duo tossed a look over his shoulder to Trowa, and winked. For all his complaining, he really did seem to enjoy being a little submissive to Heero. Furthermore, Trowa suspected that the griping was probably part of the balance: it was Duo's way of exerting his strength in the relationship. Seeing the whole play from beginning to end, it really did seem to work out nicely for them, so he would simply leave it at that. They were happy.
Glancing around him, Trowa realized they had left a bit of a mess with the evening's adventure. He put the considerably emptied bottle back in the cabinet where Duo kept his stash of alcohol, and deposited the rest of their drinking paraphernalia in the sink. He would wash everything in the morning--for now, he was pleased to find himself droopy-eyed and exhausted. He knew he would have no trouble getting to sleep, and even if he did, he was sure Quatre would be up to a little late-night entertainment. He was guaranteed to be woken by the enthusiastic noise from Heero and Duo's room next door, anyhow.
~*~