--

The red was overpowering, and this time Heero felt slightly nauseated. The hand had latched on, the fingers this time delicately tugging at him. Why now so gentle? He looked at the hand, staring at it as it tugged to no avail. Then, suddenly, he noticed it. The ring on it's finger. It was his engagement ring. Trowa? The tugging continued. It can't be! He looked down.

His body would have jetted up, if not for the taller boy lying on top of him. His breathing was heavy, flustered, and he was sweating. The headache wasn't helping much.

Trowa picked up his head slowly, awakened by Heero's rustling. "What's going-" he groaned, cutting himself off. The headache was probably worse for him.

"Good morning," Heero said rather sarcastically.

"Hn." Trowa rubbed his head lightly with his hand, then stopped short, looking at his finger. He blinked for a moment, as if confused.

"The ring..." Heero cursed himself internally. He was supposed to take it off while Trowa was sleeping, just in case he hadn't really agreed last night.

"Heero, what is it?"

He doesn't remember at all. All last night was just a lie. "You... were drunk. You don't remember. Just give it back, Trowa." Heero reached out his hand, tugging at the ring gently.

Trowa snatched his hand away, looking at Heero seriously. "Tell me, Heero."

"I said you were drunk. Just give it to me!"

"Heero, what is it?" Trowa was more demanding.

"I can't, please, Trowa, just-"

"Stop being so afraid!" Trowa grabbed his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye. "Now give me an answer, Heero. Give me the right answer, too."

Heero's eyes widened completely, making his pools look as if they were tiny pebbles in a white ocean. He wasn't used to the forcefulness of Trowa, he'd never seen him get so worked up over something so simple... Yet, it's not simple in the least. It's about his life, my life, our life. "An engagement ring."

Trowa looked as if he'd stumbled, an odd confusion across his face. "How did I... get this?"

"I gave it to you, last night, while you were drunk," Heero sighed deeply. I was a coward.

"Why?"

"Why?" Heero mimicked, astonished at the need for him to ask. "Why, Trowa? Why do you think I'd do such a thing?"

"I don't know anymore, Heero," Trowa said slightly biting.

Heero pushed him off, an easy feat now that both of them were fairly angry, or confused in Trowa's case. He sat up, wiping away the sweat that had accumulated from his dream. "I stopped being afraid, that's why I gave it to you."

"Afraid? Of what?"

"Of us. Of feeling. Of you rejecting me because this wasn't as serious as I was taking it." He sighed and slammed one of his fists into the ground. "You just always seemed to goddamn lucid about this relationship! You let me do as I pleased, walked in and out. You were so goddamn lenient! I just thought that it meant nothing if you could give so much freedom. Especially after how hard you could be on Quatre. I felt... so goddamn afraid I'd loose all that I had."

"Lenient?"

"Yes! You always just let me hurt you whenever I felt like it. I could leave and not come back for a week, and when I came home you were completely overjoyed that I at least came back!"

"That was because I-"

"And you've never spoken up about any discord other than just this week, when you show up out of no where and yell at me for cheating on you while we were together, when I have no idea what cheating really is! How could I cheat on you when you're the only one I ever feel with?"

"Heero, I-"

"And then finally you come back to sleeping in the same bed with me, being okay with me coming back into your life, and what do we do, get drunk! And what does that do? Give me the idiocy to be able to propose to you, knowing that, hey, if you don't accept, you'll be too drunk to remember about it to-"

"Heero!" Trowa shouted at him, catching the last of his sentence deep in Heero's throat.

"Gomen." He shrunk a little under Trowa's glare. I suppose he doesn't appreciate me going on and on about how inadequate I felt in that relationship.

"We have to get a few things straight," Trowa murmured after a few moments of silence between them. "I gave you room. Why? Because I knew this was your first, and only relationship. You didn't know how to act, how to react, and I let you get away with things because I knew you didn't know better. I was slowly going to adapt you to the relationship, but then... well, then my 'discord' came in." The way he said discord make Heero regret ever learning the word.

"I'm sorry for doubting you reliance as an honorable lover," he sounded almost sarcastic. "But, your lack of affection, skittish behavior, and practically never being around, ever, leads one to think in such a way. You can't admit to me that you didn't act that way." He stared right through Heero for a while longer, making him feel almost completely naked.

"As for... what's been happening lately... I don't know what to say. I've missed you, Heero, isn't that obvious? And seeing you that day, matted hair, half dressed, same piercing blue eyes, didn't help much either. And no, I don't remember last night," he took the ring off his finger, putting it in Heero's palm, "But I will give you the decision whether or not it should really have happened."

He clenched the ring tightly in his palm, giving him a feel of deja vu. Heero ran the ring over and over in his fingers, looking at the plain silver thing he had picked up so many months before. It had been then that he'd given into the paranoia, allowing himself to drift further from Trowa. Everyday it was in his pocket seemed like another day that he became more and more distant. He twisted it again, seeing the inscription he had gotten on it. 01 & 03. It seemed almost impersonal, but Heero knew it wasn't, since that's what they had considered themselves for the longest time.

"We're just numbers to them."

"You're a number to me, too."

"Nani?"

"A number engraved in my heart. Always first. Always 01."

He could hear the conversation in his head as if they'd had it a moment ago.

Heero turned his head, looking at Trowa who was still lying on the ground. He turned himself quickly, straddling the taller boy to the ground, his face just a few inches apart from Trowa's. A look of surprise was washed over Trowa's face, shocked at Heero's sudden movements. He reached his hands out, caressing the sides of Trowa's face gently, never breaking eye contact. Trowa could feel the metallic ring gliding along his cheek, it now being on Heero's ring finger.

Trowa ignored the feeling of the ring, as he felt Heero's warm lips pressing onto his, his tongue so nicely parting them and taking it's leisure inside. Before Trowa could react and get comfortable with the kiss, Heero broke away, his lips a mere inch from Trowa's. "Gomen. I let my fears run away with me. I forgot how slow you were with me, just to save me from getting myself hurt. I guess I didn't do much to help you," he chuckled softly, sending more appealing warm air across Trowa's lips, "Gomen. Can you forgive, and come back, and stay? And for the love of God, Trowa, say you'll marry me."

Heero slowly took the ring off his finger, still balancing himself terribly close to Trowa, never missing a moment of his gaze. He searched for Trowa's hand blindly, finding it easy, though, with Trowa's help. He slipped the ring on his finger, placing a soft, slow kiss as he did so. "Please, tell me you will."

"I can, and will forgive, come back, and stay," Trowa brushed his lips ever so lightly across his. "And you don't have to beg, Heero, I'm completely your's. I'll marry you a million times over."

Heero collapsed in Trowa's ready arms. I knew you'd be upset, weak, after that, Heero. I still do know you, I still love you. He kissed Heero's forehead gently, cradling the emotionally exhausted young man. It felt good to hold him once again, run his fingers through Heero's hair.

"Arigato. Arigato, Trowa." Heero let out a deep breath onto Trowa's neck, feeling as if he were about to cry. "Ai shiteru. I love you so much."

Trowa smiled contently, kissing his forehead again. "Don't thank me, Heero." He held the boy a little tighter. "I just... love you, too."

--

Heero stumbled with the key in the door. "God, I have a headache," he grumbled under his breath. "God damnit!" He struggled with the key again, finding that it just wouldn't open the door. He wrenched the knob with his hand, out of anger, suddenly realizing that the door was actually unlocked. I'm an idiot. He rolled his eyes and sighed, opening the door slowly.

He put his laptop case down, slowly and carefully, still considering that old stupid machine one of his most prized possessions. Undoing his tie, he walked slowly into the kitchen, wondering where his koi had gone. Boxes were still littered here and there, mostly because every time Trowa tried to finish packing Heero would interrupt, wanting to do something more "constructive" than putting away junk from the random boxes.

He moved slowly into the doorway of the kitchen, stopping short just as he reached the door. What's going on?

"You're home." He could see the grin creeping over Trowa's features, showing the extent which he was trying to hold back a beaming smile.

"What is this?" Heero glanced around the room, a look of confusion on his face.

The room was dark, as Heero preferred it, but it glowed with the light of candles. Dinner was set on the table, something that smelled fairly much like Trowa had spent a long time cooking it. Trowa sat casually at one of the chairs of the table, but he quickly stood, wrapping his arms around the still slightly shocked man. "It's a surprise. I'll tell you after dinner."

He motioned for Heero to sit down, and he sat at his seat. It wasn't a quiet dinner, as usual, and they talked as they did about their differences in days. Heero needed to talk about things more now, finding a job was more stress that he believed that he was cut out for. Trowa did his best to reassure his koi that he was quite adequate at the job, and that everything would be fine for him there.

Trowa finally stood up, placing the napkin that had rested in his lap on the table. "Come here," he said happily, walking over to one of the better lit areas of the room.

Heero obeyed, slowly making his way over to the taller boy. "I suppose I find out what this is about now, don't I?"

"Well, I can't keep it from you forever."

"At least I know this isn't about you being pregnant or anything," Heero chuckled, making a joke quite out of his nature.

"How'd you guess?" he retorted sarcastically, shooting Heero a look. "Now, come here." Trowa grabbed him gently, taking the smaller man up in his arms. "This is important."

"Really?" Heero borrowed Trowa's sarcasm.

"Stop it," he smiled.

"Well?"

"I wanted to do something special, since we've finally gotten over what we've done wrong before," Trowa nuzzled his nose to Heero's, smiling. "And I wanted to ask, since you've already had the pleasure, will you marry me, Heero?"

"Don't you think that's a little redundant?" Heero smirked.

"Heero..."

"Yes, Trowa, I will."

Trowa reached into his pocket. "Then, you get this." He slipped the small metallic object onto Heero's finger. Heero stared for a moment.

"It's lovely."

"Read the inscription."

Heero slipped off the ring, staring at it for a while, trying to read it by candle light.

"I finally saw the one you made on my ring, 01 and 03. I thought this ring deserved one, too."

"Heero and Trowa," he read quietly.

"Is that alright?"

"Better than mine," he gave a sad attempt at a smile. "It's much more loving than 01 and 03."

"No. I simply did that because... I know how you hate those numbers. You hate having been a machine, and only being known at the perfect soldier. And I thought that way about you for a long time, but I know now you are not 01, you are Heero. Heero Yuy. You are my comrade, husband, and as always, my love."