Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS.

A.N. So from now on, each chapter will be a day that Duo will stay in Japan with Heero. I'll start the chapter off with the two waking up, and end it with them going to bed. (It may get saucy.) I'm sorry about the long wait!

Chapter 4

Heero felt terrible as he looked down at his sleeping guest. He tied his tie slowly, trying to give him as much time as possible to sleep before he needed to be woken.

After introducing Duo to his friends, Heero decided going back to bed would be pointless. After all, he'd just have to wake up in a half hour anyway. Duo, on the other hand, decided that any amount of sleep would be worth it.

Heero lightly sat down next to the sleeping Duo, and began to put his shoes on. He was actually amazed Duo had stayed after being woken up in such an abrupt manner. Obviously the young man was very tolerant, or very trusting.

Sighing, Heero finished tying his shoes and shifted his torso to the side to look at the man who could almost be confused for a dead man. Well, he could have if there wasn't a steady stream of drool coming out the left side of his mouth.

Lightly putting his hand on Duo's shoulder, Heero gave him a little shake in an attempt to wake him.

"Duo, I have to go to work."

Duo responded with a mix between a grunt and a groan.

Heero smiled and gave Duo's back two firm pats. "I'll come back to get you for lunch."

Duo sat up slightly and stared at Heero with half open eyes. "Lunch?"

"Yeah, I'll come home for lunch."

"You're leaving?" Came the confused response.

Heero couldn't help but laugh a little at the disoriented young man. "I have to go to work now," he said, getting up from the bed and reaching for his brief case.

"Oh, can I go? I still need to get another flight," Duo asked, sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes.

Looking at the clock, Heero found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. "I have to go now or I'll be late..." He trailed off, trying to think of a resolution.

"Tell you what," Heero grabbed his brief case with one hand and put the other into his pants pocket. "When you get ready, lock up the house and take a cab to the airport."

Heero tossed the keys to Duo, who awkwardly caught them, and gave him a small smile before he opened the door and walked out.

Looking down at the set of keys, Duo was amazed that a man could be so tolerant of another person. 'He's so trusting,' he thought to himself, looking at the door.

"God, why can't you find a guy like that in America?' He asked himself as he pushed the covers off himself. 'Oh yeah, because you live in L.A,' he reminded himself and rolled off the bed.

Duo looked over at the clock and let out a long groan. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been up this early, but he guessed that he hadn't been in the age double digits yet.

Duo grabbed his bag from under the bed and threw it on the disheveled pull out bed and began looking through it to find some clothes that didn't smell too horrible.

"And this is why you pack one more set of clothes than you expect to need," he said to himself as he threw each piece of clothing onto the bed, deeming them all to be far too smelly to be worn in public.

"Great," he sat down and put his head in his hands. "Now what?"

Leaning back onto the bed, Duo wondered if airports still had the no shirt, no shoes, no service policy.

"I've gotten myself into such a predicament," he moaned out.

Duo fell back onto the mattress with a plop and put his arms behind his head. Just then, a thought came to him. He slowly sat up and turned his head towards the T hallway.

Straightening out his leg and pointing his toe, Duo leaned forward and gave two skips towards the hall. He leaned against the wall and cocked his head far to the left, trying to see into Heero's room.

Needlessly looking around, Duo took small steps towards Heero's room, trying to convince himself he was only going to get something to wear and not to snoop around.

Moving as graceful as a jungle cat, and being just as deadly, Duo set a toe inside Heero's room. Next came a foot, a leg, and then finally half a body. He looked around the corner of the door, craning his neck as far as it could go. It seemed clear.

Duo nearly tip toed around, always looking behind his back, checking for the person or camera that may incriminate him.

Grabbing a hold of the closet door, the thought occurred to Duo that he might not fit in any of Heero's clothes. He paused as he thought about this, but opened the closet after deeming it better to walk around in baggy clothes than smelly ones.

-------------

'Are you honestly trying to tell me that you don't feel anything for him? Come on, I wasn't even there for an hour and you couldn't stop making gushy faces at him.'

Heero glared at the security screens in his office, trying hard to block out the annoying accusations of his co- worker.

'Though I must say, he is rather young for you. But that's not to say that I'm not happy you're branching out into new things. I just never figured this kind of thing would become a hobby for you.'

Heero roughly pushed the scan button on one of the monitors, almost praying for any unruly behavior that might get him away from the nagging blonde.

'He isn't a hobby, Quatre,' he said with much annoyance laced onto his words. 'He's just someone who needed some help.'

'Some help, eh?" The smaller man sat on the small ledge below the wall of security monitors, obstructing Heero's view. 'Some help with what exactly?'

'Cut it out,' Heero said, pushing on the blondes shoulder in an attempt to make him move. 'He explained this all to you this morning.'

'Do you really expect me to believe that you of all people are letting a complete stranger live in your apartment with you?'

Heero couldn't help but clench his fists as his friend kept trying to pry information out of him.

'Stop it, Quatre,' he said through grit teeth. 'It's my business.'

Quatre looked down to the floor and slid over on the ledge so Heero could view the monitors completely. Obviously the matter was of great importance to Heero if he became cross so quickly.

'Sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you,' Quatre apologized. 'I know you're already stressed. But maybe she wont come today.' He suggested with the slight tilt of his head.

Heero felt like bashing his head into one of the monitors. 'It's saturday?" He moaned out the question.

'Don't tell me you forgot,' Quatre said with a raised eyebrow.

'I told Duo we'd have lunch together.' Heero put his elbows down on the ledge and started rubbing his temples.

'Maybe you told him subconsciously.' Looking up towards the ceiling, Quatre folded his arms across his chest.

'Told who, what subconsciously?'

The two turned their attention to the door of the security offices. A slender man about 4 inches taller than Heero entered.

'Heero forgot about his lunch date with Relena,' Quatre said, leaning forward a bit to accept a light kiss from the man.

'It's never been a date. She just comes every week and makes a scene until I agree to go out with her,' Heero muttered.

'So what does it matter?' Trowa asked as he took a seat at his desk. 'Or to who does it matter?'

'He told Duo they'd go out to lunch.'

Heero wanted to run out of the room, or maybe go home and put his head in the oven. The one thing he didn't need today was Duo encountering another awkward situation. After this morning Heero was surprised that Duo was even willing to go out to lunch.

'Well, you should give Duo your mace, Heero,' Trowa said, grabbing his coffee cup off his desk before coming over to gaze at the monitors. 'She'll try to scratch his eyes out if she finds out you're going out with him instead of her.'

Heero didn't respond but seriously considered his proposal.

'Speak of the devil. Look who's coming.' Trowa tilted his head towards one of the middle monitors that showed the desk near the security offices.

Heero snapped his head towards the monitor, hoping that Duo decided to come a little bit early. His eyes fell upon a slender, blonde woman yelling at the receptionist at the desk.

'Damn it,' he said to himself. The actual devil.

'She seems really feisty today,' Trowa said, taking a sip of his coffee.

Letting out a sigh, Heero couldn't help but agree and decided not to prolong the inevitable. The more she waited the more she abused the poor receptionist.

'Good luck, Heero.' Heero turned to glare at his two co- workers, both who were giving him a a slight wave followed by a thumbs up.

Rolling his eyes, Heero gripped the door and flung it open, walking out into the certain doom that awaited him.

'What do you think he'll do,' Trowa asked Quatre as he wrapped his arm around the smaller man's waist.

'I don't know,' he replied, letting out a small, but happy, sigh. 'He seems to have to bad.'

A small smirk appeared on Trowa's face as he gave Quatre's waist a small squeeze. 'Then this will certainly be a sight to see.'

Heero stood quietly watching Relena scream at the receptionist.

"Relena," he said, nearly mortified that his voice cracked. She could smell fear, and didn't need his voice to confirm it. Thus, he cleared his throat before continuing. "You're early, it's only 11."

"Oh Heero!" Relena turned away from the receptionist to throw her arms around Heero's neck. A huge look of distaste appeared on Heero's face.

"I know I'm early, but I have a meeting with the L2 board today." She let go of Heero, but stood very close. "Honestly, I don't know why they want me to authorize more money for that hell- bound colony," she said, reaching into her purse and taking out a white pair of gloves. "No amount of money could help that God awful place."

"Well, shall we go?" Heero watched as she put her gloves on.

"Actually, Relena..." Heero was cut off when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his neck. Gasping, he quickly looked over his shoulder and let out a sigh of relief when he saw who it was. "Hey, Duo."

"Hey, pooh bear," Duo said, planting a quick kiss on Heero's cheek. "When can you get away?"

Heero blushed but when he felt Duo's lips on his cheek, but quickly recognized the opportunity to get out of lunch with the Queen of the world.

"Who is this?" Relena asked, seemingly ready to rip the new comers head off.

"Duo Maxwell." Duo reached around Heero to offer his hand to the woman in front of him. Relena lifted her nose as though she smelt something rotten before offering her hand.

"Charmed, I'm sure. And exactly how do you know Heero?"

"Oh." Duo let out a small laugh, putting his hand to his chest. "We're dating!"

All the color drained from Relena's face as her mouth slowly opened. "You're what?" She hissed out.

"Yeah, we just kind of met on a whim!" Heero looked back and forth between his smiling guest and Relena, who was now seemingly barring her fangs.

"So, you've met someone new." Relena was scathing. Heero nearly backed away as the anger in her eyes continued to grow.

"Met someone new?" Duo laughed out, patting Heero on the back. "Oh you naughty boy! I didn't know you were involved with her too. My isn't this awkward!"

Relena's mouth began twitching. "We'll have to speak about this later, Heero. I have a shuttle to catch." Turning on her heels, Relena stomped off.

"It was nice to meet you!" Duo called after her before turning to look at Heero with a knowing smirk.

Heero smiled at Duo with disbelief. "You are amazing."

Duo raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "What can I say? I saw her and then the look on your face. I knew something had to be up."

Heero couldn't help the laugh that came out of his mouth. "I'll be hearing about this forever."

"Oh well," Duo said, locking his arm around Heero's. "Who was that chick anyway? An ex?"

"That was Relena Peacecraft." Duo's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

"As in, the Queen of the world Peacecraft?" Heero nodded.

"Oh my god. I'll go to jail this time for sure." Looking down at the shocked younger man, Heero decided to do something bold and irrational. Wrapping his arm around Duo's back, Heero began leading him back to the security offices.

"I will forever be indebted to you for this."

Duo raised his eyebrow and awkwardly flung his arm over the taller man's shoulder. "As in a favor?"

Heero tilted his head in thought. "Yeah, sure."

"Any favor?"

"I suppose," Heero said skeptically. "Why what did you have in mind?"

Shaken from his thoughts, Duo tilted his head up to look at Heero. "Nothing right now. I'll let you know when I come up with something."

"Should I be afraid?" Heero wasn't even sure if he wanted to know.

Putting his finger to his chin, Duo looked as though he was in deep thought while Heero scanned his finger print. "I don't think so..." He trailed off as he was led through the door.

Heero peered around the corner, thankful that his two co- workers appeared to be somewhere else. After being hassled by Quatre ever since he entered the office, he decided he sure as hell wasn't going to bring Duo in just to be interrogated by them again.

"Do you mind sticking around here for a while?" Heero asked as he sat down in his chair in front of the monitor wall. He leaned forward a bit, continuing to look around the room.

"Do you mean now? Or after lunch?" Duo plopped down on the ledge where Quatre had sat and put his foot on the arm rest of Heero's chair.

Heero lifted his arm and dropped it on Duo's leg, giving his foot a squeeze. "Both, if you're interested. Did you get your flight, by the way?"

Duo scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. "No. I waited for like 3 hours in line too. Thankfully today I didn't have an empty stomach," he said with a firm nod. "So what's with you and the Queen of the World? Were you an item or something?"

Duo carefully examined Heero's face as he asked his question. Though he wasn't exactly sure how, sometime in the past two days Duo had made up his mind that Heero was his type of guy. There was simply something about Heero that felt inviting, warm, and made Duo feel like he belonged. Like he was safe. And it was that feeling that made him Duo's mission.

There was no mistaking the distinct shiver that ran up Heero's spine at the mention of the Queen. "Oh God, no," he managed as he adjusted himself in his chair. "I was shot near the end of the war and they took me to a Sanc hospital. She's been bothering me ever since."

Raising his eyebrow, Duo straightened his leg out, slowly spinning Heero's chair. There were a lot of things Duo had learned living on the streets of L2 and New York, but the one thing he prided himself most on was his ability to read people. And right now he was definitely reading bullshit.

Heero tried to avoid eye contact with Duo but he was unfortunately very aware of the look of complete skepticism and disbelief that graced his face.

"I took a bullet for her," he mumbled out.

A bright smile appeared on Duo's face and he firmly pushed the chair, spinning Heero 360 degrees. "Wow, so you're a war hero, Heero."

"I'm hardly a war hero, Duo." Heero spun his himself to turn away from Duo and leaned back in the chair.

"Oh come on," Duo responded, leaning forward and wrapping his arms around Heero's neck. "You saved the Queen of the World."

"Unfortunately," Heero muttered, only to be smacked on the back of the head.

Duo couldn't contain his snicker and pulled on Heero's shoulders, rolling him closer to him.

'I wonder why there's something so attractive about a modest guy,' Duo thought to himself with a smile.

Heero looked down at the arm around his neck and a questioning look appeared on his face. Breaking the hold Duo had one his neck, Heero spinned himself around to look at the younger man sitting behind him.

"Are you wearing my clothes?" Heero put his arms around Duo's waist and held him an arms length away to give him the up and the down.

Duo let out a little laugh, putting his arm behind his head. "Yeah, I didn't really have anything clean to wear," he said with a chuckle. "I hope it's okay."

Heero shook his head. "No, of course it's okay," he said softly, subconsciously pulling Duo a little closer to himself. "Duo," he started, feeling a bit nauseous all of the sudden. "I feel like I should tell you something..."

Both men jumped when the security office door was slammed open, interrupting Heero. Quickly pushing Duo away, Heero spun himself towards the door, crossing his legs, trying to look professional.

"I swear to God, Trowa! I saw them come in here now let me go!" Quatre came stumbling into the room, with Trowa hot on his heels. It was obvious that the two had been involved in some sort of struggle.

"Duo!" Quatre said brightly with a smile, nearly pushing Trowa out of the way to get to the American. "I knew I saw you!" He shot a glare towards Trowa after that comment, making the other man turn away with a snort. "Are you joining us for lunch?"

Heero's ears perked up. "Who is us?"

"Surely you didn't think Quatre would leave the two of you alone?" Trowa mumbled out as he leaned against the edge of his desk, crossing his arms over his chest. "He's just realized this is the artist Duo Maxwell."

Both Heero and Duo turned to Quatre, who was now glaring daggers at his boyfriend from across the room. Duo couldn't help but smile to himself as the blonde continued to turn one shade of pink darker with each passing second.

Quatre let out a nervous laugh and slowly made him way over to Trowa's desk. Standing next to him, he laid his hand on his lover's shoulder and squeezed hard enough for a distinct cracking sound to be heard.

"Don't mind him," he laughed out, beginning to clench and unclench his grip on Trowa's shoulder.

Duo laughed and sat down on the arm of Heero's desk chair. "You don't have to be embarrassed."

"I'm sorry," Quatre chuckled. "I just felt like such an idiot that I didn't realize you were the artist this morning. Trowa and I actually have one of your paintings in our apartment."

"You do?" Heero questioned.

Quatre nodded and waved him off. "Yeah that one across from the kitchen. Of the birds."

"Oh," he responded quietly. He had seen that picture probably a thousand times. It showed three white birds flying over the skyline of a war torn city. There was something obscenely beautiful about that painting yet it had pained Heero to look at it.

Heero tuned out of the conversation between Duo and Quatre, losing himself to his own thoughts. That painting. He wondered briefly if Duo's signature was legible on the painting. If it was, Heero thought to himself, I could have found him years ago.

"Is that okay with you Heero?" Heero snapped his head up towards Quatre.

"Is what okay?"

"Staying at the airport for lunch." Quatre let out a sigh at the confused look on his co- worker's face. "More choices? Quicker? I mean Duo's waiting for you until you get off work anyway."

Heero blinked a few times, and shook his head, trying to get rid of the other thoughts he had in his head. "Yeah, that's fine."

'Is he wearing your clothes?' Trowa asked, after giving Duo the up and the down. Quatre's head automatically snapped from his lover to Duo. A large grin appeared on his face and he aimed his smirk towards Heero.

"Huh?" Duo slouched down a bit and stared down at Heero, who was glaring at Trowa. Raising his gaze upward to the other two smug men across the room, Duo couldn't help but feel a little left out by the language barrier. But from what he could figure out, Heero's glare said "I'll kill you," and the other two's smirks said, "check mate."

------

"God my key has never done that before!" Heero declared, stumbling into his apartment with Duo hot on his heels. "It must have expanded in my pocket or something."

"Heero be careful!" Duo exclaimed, reaching forward and grabbing Heero around the waist, trying to keep him steady. "You've definitely had too much to drink."

"I have not!" Heero tried to defend his sobriety by pushing Duo's arms away from him, attempting to stand on his own wobbly two feet. He reached out towards the wall as soon as he was free, but miscalculated the true distance and nearly tumbled to floor before Duo ran forward and grabbed him.

"Heero, I think it's time to lay down now," Duo laughed out, struggling to support the larger man and direct him to the bathroom.

Heero started struggling. "No! Duo I told you I have to tell you something!" He began flailing his arms, trying to get free again.

"Heero come on, you've got to lay down," Duo managed to get out, as he kept moving the pair closer to Heero's bedroom.

When the pair got to the beginning of the hallway Heero stopped and went completely stiff.

"Heero?" Duo asked, looking down at the man in his arms. "Are you okay?"

Heero started turning a distinct green color and Duo started to get nervous. "Heero?" He whimpered out before Heero pushed away from him and made a beeline for the bathroom.

Flinging the door open Heero made it to the bath tub before emptying the contents of his stomach.

Duo leaned his head into the bathroom, wearing a worried expression. "You okay?"

Duo walked over to the tub where Heero was vomiting and sat on the edge of it, placing his hand on his host's back.

After Heero and his friends got off work Quatre had suggested they go to some night club near the airport. The night had seemed to be going well but both Quatre and Trowa kept saying things in Japanese to Heero, which seemed to make Heero keep ordering drinks.

By the end of the evening Duo could tell Heero was wasted, and thus decided to leave Heero's car in the parking garage and take a cab back to his apartment.

"You all done?" Duo asked, continuing to rub Heero's back.

Heero turned himself around, leaning against the wall of the tub. "I think so," he responded, accepting the small cup of water Duo gave him.

"You should really get some sleep, Heero," Duo said quietly, running his hand across Heero's forehead. "Come on." Duo reached down, grabbing Heero's hands and began pulling him to his feet.

Duo led him to his bedroom and threw him down on the bed. "There, now doesn't that feel better?" Duo laughed as Heero let out a long moan and reached for his pillow, holding it close to his body.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Duo reached down and began pulling off Heero's shoes. "There," he said, moving the older mans legs onto the bed. "Goodnight, Heero."

Alarm bells started going off when Heero heard goodnight. "Wait!" He called, grabbing Duo's wrist and pulling him down onto the bed next to him. "I have to tell you something."

Duo blinked with a little smile. "What?"

Heero took a large breath of air and prepared to tell Duo what he had wanted to tell him every since he realized who he was. "Duo, I know you."

Letting out a little chuckle, Duo patted Heero on the head and began sitting up. "I know you too, Heero. Now get some sleep."

Heero tightened his grip on Duo's wrist, yanking him close and wrapping his arms around the younger man's waist. "No, Duo. I know you. I've always known you," he mumbled and put his head in the crook between Duo's neck and shoulder.

"Is that so?" Duo asked, trying to dislocate himself from the human vice. "God you're really strong, Heero."

"Why don't you get it?" Heero mumbled to himself, throwing his leg over Duo's. He was becoming increasingly frustrated. Why didn't Duo understand what he was trying to tell him?

"Come on, Heero. Just go to sleep." Duo started to pry Heero's hands off him only to be pulled closer.

"No. You stay with Heero." Came the mumble from his chest. "Heero wont leave you again."

Duo smiled looking down at the man whose face had turned a nice pink color. "Okay, Heero," he said, snuggling down next to Heero. "Duo wont leave you either."