A/N: For the Gundam Wing RarePair Big Bang hosted on Tumblr.
A/N #2: Thank you, as always, and seriously never enough, to Ro for beta reading and always supporting me!
A/N #3: I've tried to simplify the world of technical theatre so that this doesn't become a technical production manual and I hope it flows accordingly.
A/N#4: This is the LAST pre-written chapter for this. I WILL continue it, and Chapter 8 is about a third of the way written, but just as a heads up - it's not ready to go up yet.
Pairings: 6x2, ?
Warnings: Angst, language, sex (the usual)
Offstage
Chapter Seven
"Oh my goodness, sweetheart, what happened to you?"
Duo sighed and resisted his natural urge to jerk his face away from Nan's hands as she reached for his chin.
"I fell," he said. In the last week, he had had to say that a lot, and the looks he got in return had varied from disbelieving to disgusted.
He had been lucky - at least, that was what the ER doctor had said when she sat down to start suturing the three inch long laceration that ran from just above Duo's left eyebrow and into his hairline. Lucky, because she had just finished a plastics rotation and the twenty-five stitches she put into his skin would, she assured Duo, leave him with a very thin scar once it was completely healed in a few months. Lucky, because aside from the laceration, a mild concussion and a sprained wrist, Duo was okay despite falling thirteen feet and landing on the back of a seat in the theatre. Lucky, because he had such an attentive boyfriend who sat there holding Duo's hand the whole time she put the stitches in. Lucky, she corrected herself when Duo and Zechs both rushed to say they weren't dating, that he had such an attentive boss.
Lucky wasn't exactly how Duo felt - not after six hours in the hospital, or twenty-four more of having everyone constantly checking on him and Cathy or Quatre waking him up every two hours to make sure he hadn't died or something. Not after a week of seeing Micah's eyes fill with tears every single time he looked at Duo and having to fend off his attempts to apologize and hug Duo. Not after having the sutures removed on Friday and adhesive strips plastered onto his skin instead. Not after he had looked in the mirror and seen just how awful the wound looked, how deep and dark the circles around his eyes were. Not after Zechs had told him to go work in the box office all week, while his wrist healed and his face was still so tender. Not after having to work as an usher for every performance of Chicago and having to explain just why he looked like Frankenstein's monster to all of the patrons who stared at him.
Nan was only the latest of many old women who had grabbed his face and looked at him with horror.
"Fell off what, a cliff?" she demanded.
"A ladder. I'm fine," he assured her.
"You don't look fine," she muttered, but she finally accepted the program from him. "You need to take better care of yourself."
"I'll try," he assured her.
She walked past him, shaking her head.
"It's too bad you're gay."
Duo looked over to see Trowa, leaning against the door that led to the booth, smirking at him.
Duo looked at him blankly, and Trowa jerked his head towards Nan's retreating back.
"The old ladies are loving your whole pathetic, injured look."
Duo rolled his eyes at Trowa.
"Of course, Zechs keeps-"
"Welcome to the show, hope you enjoy your evening," Duo said loudly as the next patron approached.
Trowa smirked and walked off, his work done.
Duo wasn't sure what Trowa had been about to say Zechs kept doing - because Zechs kept doing a lot.
He kept finding reasons to walk past the box office multiple times a day, kept looking at Duo during meal times or at night on the back deck. Somehow, he managed to convince Cathy that he should be the one to take Duo back to the hospital to get the sutures removed on Friday, and every time Zechs saw Micah, the technical director glared at him with so much obvious fury that Micah had started to avoid even being in the same room with him.
It was all… very overwhelming for Duo. He wasn't used to people caring about him - not even just enough to ask why he had a massive wound on his face covered in bandages - and the fact that everyone at Bethel Playhouse seemed concerned about him left Duo feeling uncomfortable. The fact that Zechs seemed to be going out of his way to check up on Duo was even more difficult to deal with. He clearly cared about Duo - and maybe he was just being an attentive boss, but when Duo had had strep throat last semester, no one - not his professors or his roommate, who understandably decided to sleep in his girlfriend's room for a week - had thought to check on him outside of two emails.
Just as confusing to Duo, though in a different way, was the fact that Trowa, Heero, Hilde, Quatre and Relena - who had all seemed to like Duo well enough before he fell off a ladder - seemed to have worked out a rotation of some kind to make sure that Duo was never alone. Hilde kept insisting on getting his food for him, even after Duo pointed out that his wrist was sprained and not broken. Heero had been the one to clean out Duo's wound all week, because, he assured Duo, it was a pain in the ass to do it himself, and if he fucked up his head he was going to have an ugly scar. Trowa, who seemed to simultaneously do nothing all day and work his ass off, used the proximity of the lighting booth to the box office as an excuse to drop by and tease Duo - either by hinting at Zechs preparing ways to murder Micah and make it look like an accident, or finding helpful workplace safety videos on the internet and forcing Duo to watch them while explaining how Duo should commit them to memory to avoid almost dying in the future. Quatre and Relena had decided that sitting with Duo on the back deck every night, one on either side of him, and trying their best to make him laugh and enjoy himself was important enough to take precedence over sneaking off and having sex.
It was weird, and too much to deal with, and Duo was so, so glad it was finally Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow was their day off, and after the show ended today, everyone at the theatre planned to escape for the next thirty-six hours.
Quatre and Relena were going to the city as soon as the show went down - which meant Duo would finally have some time alone. He wasn't sure what everyone else was doing - most of the actors were also going into the city, and a few of the technicians had mentioned going camping or driving to the next town to see a movie on Monday afternoon.
All Duo wanted to do was curl up in his bed and finally sleep.
Which he promptly did as soon as the last patron car pulled out of the parking lot at 5:30.
-o-
It was dark when Duo woke up, and his head was aching, which meant he had probably rolled over on it while sleeping, which meant Heero would probably give him shit about it and-
Yep. There was a swipe of reddish-brown blood on his pillow.
Fuck.
Duo groaned and sat up, reaching for his phone to check the time.
9:30.
As if to remind him how much of an idiot he was for falling asleep and not setting an alarm, Duo's stomach rumbled.
With a sigh, he grabbed a baby wipe from the package on his nightstand and headed down to the bathroom to see the damage he had done to his face.
It wasn't bad, actually, just a small bit of crusted blood in his hair where the skin wasn't healing quite as fast as the rest on his forehead.
Duo cleaned it off and thought about what he was going to do for dinner.
He had missed the tavern meal - served immediately after the show - and he was pretty sure that almost everyone else had gone out for the night, which meant he was on his own.
And the nearest place to grab food would be Mike's.
Duo headed back up to his room, grabbed his wallet and pulled on his boots and, as an afterthought, grabbed the blue sweater he had stolen from Zechs and pulled it on.
Even though it was the first week of June, the temperature still dropped into the fifties or forties at night up here, and Duo simply hadn't thought summer was going to get this cold. And even so, living in Georgia hadn't really prepared him for dressing for the cold.
The walk to Mike's felt good, the cool air on his face waking him up and relaxing him, and if he maybe jogged the last half-mile after hearing a rustling in the woods beside the road, well, that was good exercise.
When he arrived at the bar, Duo was surprised to see it was packed - both pool tables in use, all of the tables filled, and most of the bar.
He was even more surprised - though he probably shouldn't have been - to see Zechs, Treize, Une, Noin and Wufei sitting at a table in the corner, drinking and eating together.
Wufei saw him come in and frowned slightly, but made no move to acknowledge Duo or alert the others, so Duo walked up to the bar and sat down on a stool.
"What happened to you, kid?"
It was Mike, and Duo wondered if the bartender remembered him or simply felt the same curiosity about Duo's wound as everyone else.
"I fell off a ladder," he muttered.
"That was you?" Mike chuckled and shook his head.
"What do you mean that was me?"
"Zechs told me his intern almost bought the farm. I didn't realize you were his intern." Mike arched an eyebrow at Duo. "From the way you two were acting your first time here, I didn't think you worked for him."
"Yeah, well, I didn't know who he was," Duo sighed, not at all thrilled about the fact that it seemed like he now had a reputation.
Mike arched an eyebrow and his lips twitched, but he didn't comment on that.
"What can I get for you, burger and coke again?"
Duo nodded gratefully.
"I- it's okay for me to be here, right? Even though I'm not twenty-one?" he asked, remembering how pissed Zechs had been about that.
Mike shrugged.
"Like I said last time, don't try to con my waitresses into offering you anything and I don't have a problem with it." He turned to go, then paused and looked over his shoulder at Duo with a smirk. "But I should probably warn you - if you try that punk-ass pool shark game on the guys here tonight, they won't be as nice to you as Zechs was."
Duo followed Mike's gaze over to the leather-clad crew at the pool tables.
They looked like they would have no problem beating the shit out of Duo if he took their money.
He turned back to Mike and held up his wrist, still wrapped in the brace.
"Yeah, I think I'll just stick to food tonight."
Mike chuckled.
"Good plan."
He walked back to the kitchen and Duo rested his elbows on the bar, propping his chin up, and couldn't resist looking over at the table with Zechs and the others again.
They looked like they were having a good time, Treize and Zechs arguing about something but smirking while they spoke, Une rolling her eyes, and Noin shaking her head while Wufei just kept his gaze on Zechs.
Duo realized that it wasn't the first time Wufei had sat around staring at Zechs.
Even at night, when they all sat around on the back deck and Wufei looked like he would rather be sawing off his arm than listen to Hilde and Quatre argue about Star Wars again, Wufei would either grab the seat closest to Zechs or spent the entire hour that Zechs stayed staring at the blond haired man, his dark gaze longing.
Shit.
It made sense - Zechs was incredibly sexy, and Wufei clearly had good taste if he was attracted to the older man. Wufei was even closer in age to Zechs - he was a second year grad student at SUNY-Purchase - and he was also attractive. And experienced, if Trowa's muttered comments about safety first, even when having sex with bossy wardrobe techs, were anything to go by.
Wufei even had long hair - not as long as Duo's, but probably long enough if Zechs was really into that.
And Zechs wasn't Wufei's boss. If they hooked up, no one would give Zechs long lectures in the shop or by the rock. And Wufei probably wasn't enough of an idiot to sneak out on Zechs while he slept after a night of amazing sex.
Duo sighed.
It didn't matter.
If Zechs and Wufei hooked up - great for them. If they didn't, well, that wasn't any of Duo's business either.
Duo's one night with Zechs had been amazing, but that was all it was ever going to be - one night. And while it had definitely given Duo plenty of fodder for both fantasies and regrets, it was pretty clear that Zechs had no interest in trying to do anything else with Duo. And even if he did, Cathy would probably castrate him if she ever found out.
Predictably, Zechs looked over and caught Duo staring at him.
He held Duo's gaze for a moment, his expression totally unreadable, and then stood up from the table.
Duo sighed when he saw Zechs make his way towards the bar, fully prepared for Zechs to chew him out for being here and being underage.
Zechs walked over and leaned on the bar beside Duo, his body blocking Duo's view of the table.
He didn't say anything, though, and Duo wondered why he had bothered to come over.
"Looks like you're having a good time," Duo said, wincing at how lame that was.
Zechs' lips twitched as he glanced back at his table.
"I'd invite you to join us, but then I'd have to put up with Treize undressing you with his eyes and Une complaining about you bleeding all over the place instead of focusing lights."
Duo snorted and shook his head. He wasn't surprised that Une would be upset about that. But the thing with Treize-
"I don't think Treize cares about me one way or another," Duo said.
Zechs scowled.
"You're wrong there. You-" Zechs sighed and cast a glance over Duo's face, "-you are just his type. Minus the head injury, but I think he'd get over that for the chance to add another notch to his belt."
Duo raised an eyebrow at Zechs' bitter tone.
"He sleeps his way through the actors every year - and I'm pretty sure he slept with Trowa and Wufei last year. This year, he's already bored with the actors and he keeps making comments about you and Heero."
"And you don't approve?" Duo guessed.
Zechs' scowl became more pronounced.
"I'm sure that's hard to believe, considering how we met, but no, I don't approve. Heero - that's fine. He's a grad student, and he's fully capable of telling Treize to go fuck himself. But you…"
Zechs trailed off as Mike walked over and delivered Duo's burger and his coke.
"You need another round?" Mike asked Zechs, who nodded.
"But me what?" Duo asked, pretty sure he was about to be insulted.
"You're still a kid and he's nearly thirty. He's experienced and you're not. I've seen him intimidate people into fucking him before, and-"
"Okay, I'm not a kid, and no, I'm not that experienced but I have had sex, you know. And I'm totally fine telling him to go fuck himself if he tries to intimidate me or anything. Just because I didn't say no to you doesn't mean I'd say yes to everyone."
Zechs stared at Duo for a long, tense moment, and then he smirked.
"Why did you say yes to me? It wasn't because you lost."
Duo shrugged one shoulder.
"A little - like I said, I've never lost before. And… I mean, are you really going to make me say it?"
Zechs' smirk grew broader, and Duo rolled his eyes.
"You were hot and arrogant, and I… was stupid and horny or whatever."
"You were fairly hot and arrogant yourself," Zechs murmured, his eyes warm as he glanced past Duo's shoulder towards the pool table. "Thinking you could beat me."
"I'm going to - before the summer is over, I'm going to kick your ass in pool."
Mike came back with four bottles of beer and one glass of white wine.
"Thanks," Zechs said, and slid a twenty across the counter.
He picked up the bottles and the glass and stood up straight.
"Keep dreaming, Duo," he said as he walked away. "And I like the sweater."
Duo blushed. He had completely forgotten what he was wearing.
He turned his attention to his food and told himself not to look over at the table again.
He made it through half of his meal before he broke, and glanced over to see Treize staring at him over the rim of the wine glass, humor in his eyes and a confident, arrogant tilt to his lips that was way more annoying than Zechs' smirk.
Duo turned away.
He still wasn't too sure he believed Zechs when he said Treize was interested in Duo - and the expression on his face just now had seemed as if he was more amused by Duo's existence than anything else - but either way, Duo sure as hell wasn't interested in him.
In fact, Duo wasn't interested in anyone except for Zechs. Especially after the Micah disaster.
Just more bad luck, Duo told himself. And after eighteen years of some truly shitty things happening to him, Duo was at least used to that.
He finished his meal, paid and, as he left the bar, glanced over at the table once last time to see Zechs staring after him, a slight smile on his face, his cheeks flushed and his eyes a little glazed, and it was clear he was drunk - or at least well on his way - and Duo couldn't help but think he looked cute, like that. Duo also hoped Zechs wasn't stupid enough to try to drive home on these narrow, winding roads.
But, Duo reminded himself as he turned away, it wasn't his concern.
-o-
Duo managed to sleep until the afternoon on Monday, and when he finally did wake up, it was because Hilde threw herself onto his bed.
"What the hell?" Duo almost fell off the bed, he was so alarmed at the sudden movement.
"Get up, loser, we're taking you to the mall."
Duo blinked open his eyes and glared at her.
"Why?"
"Because if I have to spend all day with Heero and Trowa as the awkward, female third wheel, I'm going to lose my shit with all of their unresolved sexual tension - and because you need to get out and enjoy today."
Duo sighed.
"I am enjoying today."
"You can sleep when you're dead. Come on. Get up. We're going to see X-Men, and I seem to recall a certain someone whining about Quicksilver getting killed off in Age of Ultron and-"
"Okay, okay, I'm getting up," Duo grumbled. "Just- can I shower at least?"
Hilde got off his bed, smirking triumphantly.
"Yep. Movie doesn't start for an hour, and it takes twenty minutes to get there - so don't take all day. We'll be on the back porch waiting for you."
She left, and Duo debated just going back to sleep.
But he did want to see the new X-Men movie, and he did want to eat, at some point - and there was no food service at the theatre on days off.
So he forced himself to get up, take a quick shower, and put on one of his two pairs of shorts that were paint free and one of his three clean black t-shirts. He stepped into his flip-flops, grateful to be able to go without his boots for once, and made his way to the back deck.
Sure enough, Heero and Trowa were sitting beside each other in two of the camp chairs that lived on the deck when it wasn't being used for rehearsal, and they were doing that silent smirking thing that they seemed to be doing more and more of all of the time, and Hilde was standing off to one side checking her phone.
She looked up at his entrance and gave an exaggerated, relieved sigh.
"Awesome. I'm driving - don't even think about arguing with me about it, Trowa. You tried to play chicken with a bear last year, and I'm not about that life."
Duo looked over to see Trowa looking smug as he stood up and shrugged.
"He blinked first, didn't he?"
"Before you, maybe, but the rest of us were screaming our heads off and begging you to turn the fuck around," Hilde grumbled.
They piled into her Volvo, Duo snagging the front seat before Trowa or Heero could claim it.
Hilde cranked the radio volume way up and rolled the car windows down, and Duo, who had never really had much experience with driving around with groups of people his age, had to smirk when Hilde started to sing along to a song on the radio and Trowa, in the backseat, grumbled about it.
Duo just relaxed in his seat, closing his eyes and enjoying the feel of the sun on his arm and the cool breeze as Hilde drove a little too fast and sung a little off-key at the top of her lungs.
Hilde drove them in the opposite direction from Monticello, where Duo had arrived at the bus stop a few weeks ago, and to Matamoras, in Pennsylvania.
They had just enough time before the movie to stop by a gas station and load up on snacks and sodas, which Hilde grudgingly agreed to stuff into her over-sized purse.
The movie theatre was nearly empty - it was a Monday afternoon and the movie had already been out for two weeks.
In fact, the only other person in the theatre was a guy sitting in the middle of the back row.
"Zechs?" Hilde sounded delighted when she recognized him, and Duo had to look again - noticing the by now all-too familiar Red Sox hat and Emerson hoodie.
The blond haired man looked up from his bag of popcorn and gave a theatrical groan.
"I came here to escape you," he muttered, but obligingly shifted his feet to let Hilde, Heero and Trowa walk past him.
Duo, however, got stuck standing awkwardly between his legs when Trowa sat down in the empty seat just beside Zechs and smirked up at Duo.
Rolling his eyes, and forcing himself not to think about the last time he had stood between Zechs' thighs, Duo moved back and sat on Zechs' other side and sighed.
"Want me to move?" Zechs asked, his voice amused.
Duo gave him a look, and Zechs smirked and held out his bag of popcorn enticingly.
Duo sighed and snagged a few kernels while he waited for Hilde to pass down his soda and bag of M&Ms.
It wasn't until halfway through the trailers that Duo let himself relax back in his chair, which led to a brief battle with Zechs' elbow over the armrest between them, before Zechs, smirking, just folded it up.
Duo glared at him and folded his legs, crossing them and smirking himself when his knee rested on Zechs' thigh and the other man rolled his eyes but didn't move away.
He wasn't sure what this was - wasn't sure what Zechs was thinking or trying to do, between this and flirting with him last night, and spending all week hovering - but Duo really, really just wanted to not overthink any of it. He wanted to just enjoy the afternoon, the movie he had been looking forward to ever since he had seen the teaser, and yeah, he wanted to enjoy the warm, solid press of Zechs' body against his side and under his leg, too.
The movie was good - not amazing, and Duo wished that Storm and Psylocke had had more character development, but it was a pleasant way to spend two and a half hours.
When the movie ended, and after Duo made everyone wait for the post-credits teaser for the next Wolverine movie that they all agreed was completely unnecessary, Hilde suggested Zechs join them for dinner at the sketchy Mexican restaurant down the road.
Zechs hesitated, but then agreed to join them.
The restaurant turned out to be sketchy in part because they didn't bother to card anyone when Hilde ordered a pitcher of margaritas and five glasses.
Duo had never had a margarita, and while he decided there was way too much tequila in it, he liked the mix of sweet and sour, the bite of the salt on the glass, and, even more, the way Zechs smirked at him as he drank it.
Duo felt the pleasant buzz of alcohol and lust work its way through his body, and he wondered if there was any chance Zechs might actually be interested in him after all. If Zechs might possibly see Duo as more than just the mistaken one-night stand to start off the season.
After dinner, Hilde suggested they go back to the theatre, grab some beer, and have a bonfire.
Zechs sighed - the crew had been asking him for weeks to have a bonfire, which, apparently, was a big deal at the theatre - but agreed if Hilde promised to stay awake long enough to put it out and didn't fall asleep like last time.
By the time they got back to the theatre, the sun was setting and the temperature had already started to drop.
Duo helped Hilde haul scrap lumber and dead branches into the fire-pit, while Heero and Trowa grabbed a case of beer and several camp chairs from the deck and Zechs grabbed the can of gasoline from the shop and a blanket from his Jeep.
There were only three chairs, which Duo had to think was intentional on Trowa's part, so he sat down on one corner of Zechs' blanket while the other man started the fire.
Duo accepted a beer from Zechs, relieved that it was just a normal Budweiser instead of some complex craft brew, and decided that, all things considered, today had been a damn good day.
"How's the Rocky set coming along?" Trowa asked Zechs after they had all been sitting in silence for several minutes.
Beside Duo, Zechs shrugged.
"It's mostly just platforms - it's not going to be a pain in the ass until we have to strike Chicago and take down all of the masking and expose the theatre walls and then load in the platforms. How many moving lights is Une using?"
Trowa rolled his eyes and groaned.
"Twelve. It's like she wants to watch me haul those fat things around all day."
"Can't really blame her there," Hilde muttered, and Trowa gave her a look. "Oh, come on. You know she has a thing for you."
"She's got good taste," Trowa smirked, "but that doesn't mean I want her checking me out all day long."
"Speaking of checking people out all day long, I noticed Micah isn't hanging all over you so much these days," Hilde said.
Duo shrugged, not really sure what to say.
"I think the way Zechs glares at him every time he even looks in Duo's direction has been kind of off-putting," Heero pointed out.
Duo couldn't help but blush at the fact that other people had noticed that, and he looked over at Zechs, who, while scowling, offered absolutely no apology.
"Maybe if he spent more time focused on work and less time on Duo's ass, Duo wouldn't have almost died," he muttered angrily, glaring into the fire.
Duo looked away from Trowa's amused smirk.
"It was an accident," he mumbled, but part of him appreciated Zechs' anger on his behalf.
"It never should have happened," Zechs insisted. "That asshole is getting assigned tavern clean-up for the rest of the summer. At least he won't get anyone killed while he mops."
"You hope," Heero said.
Zechs sighed and leaned back on his elbows, stretching his legs out in front of him and clearly trying to force himself to relax.
"I hope," he agreed.
Duo sighed, and then shivered at the chill of the night air, even near the fire.
"Cold?" Zechs asked.
"I'm fine," Duo insisted, hugging his knees to his chest.
"I've been meaning to ask," Heero spoke up after another few minutes of comfortable silence and another round of beer, "why does Cathy hate Zechs so much?"
Zechs snorted and shook his head, and Trowa smirked.
Duo, however, looked between them with trepidation. He really didn't want the story of him sleeping with Zechs to spread, especially not today, when things had been going so well.
"Yeah, why is that?" Hilde asked as well. "She's had it out for you ever since I started working here three years ago."
"Really?" Duo had to ask.
Zechs offered him a sardonic smirk.
"Really," he confirmed.
"Why?" Duo had to ask, curious and relieved that this wasn't going to be about him.
"Because Zechs is a lecherous old man who couldn't keep his hands off me," Trowa said, sounding amused and proud, "and my sister caught me blowing him in the light booth one night."
"What?" Hilde sounded shocked. "When was this?"
"His first year here - four years ago. I was an intern, and he was just a carpenter."
"And since you're two years younger than me, I think we should hold off on calling me a lecherous old man," Zechs grumbled.
"Wow. I had no idea." Hilde looked between them and shook her head. She seemed amused.
Heero, on the other hand, was frowning and looking at the fire.
Duo couldn't help but think that Trowa was a lot more attractive, and a lot more confident than he was.
"She treats me like I forced him," Zechs complained, "when I was the victim."
"Victim? I didn't hear you complaining," Trowa argued.
"That's true," Zechs had to agree. He chuckled and shook his head, and it was clear he had fond memories of whatever had gone on between them.
Which made Duo wonder why nothing was going on between them now.
"So Cathy's pissed that you let Trowa have his wicked way with you?" Hilde surmised.
"Pretty much."
"She's always going to see me as her innocent little brother, despite-"
"Despite the fact that you sleep with everyone?" Hilde finished for him.
Trowa lazily kicked the side of her chair, almost pushing her over before she managed to ground herself and glare at him.
"I do not sleep with everyone," Trowa protested.
Hilde just raised her eyebrows.
"I haven't slept with Dorothy, or Une, or Sylvia, or Quatre - or Duo," he added, and gestured in his direction.
"Or Howard - or Cathy," Hilde helpfully added.
"See? I don't sleep with everyone."
They were too busy smirking at each other and shoving against their camp chairs, and Duo was the only one who noticed Heero, still frowning, get up from his chair and start to walk away.
It wasn't until Trowa finally succeeded in pushing Hilde over that he looked around and noticed that Heero was missing.
He sighed, finished off his beer and chucked the empty bottle into the fire, and stood up.
"I guess I'm calling it a night," he said, and started to walk away, towards the theatre.
Duo wondered if he was going after Heero.
"I'm hungry," Hilde announced as she righted her chair. "I'm going to break into the kitchen-"
"I did not just hear that," Zechs said loudly.
"-and grab some leftovers. Don't let the theatre catch fire while I'm gone."
She walked away into the darkness as well, and Duo and Zechs were left alone.
"So that's what she meant, when she told you to stop sleeping with the interns."
Zechs sighed and sat up.
"Yes. But you and Trowa - like I said, he's two years younger than me."
"So, you're what? Twenty-five?"
"Twenty-six. And you're only eighteen. And you're clearly freezing," Zechs added, and pulled off his hoodie.
Duo stared at it.
"Just take it. I'm tired of watching you pretend not to be cold."
"It's summer," Duo grumbled, but he took the sweater and pulled it on, breathing deeply and unable to keep from smiling. It smelled like Zechs, or at least, like clean Zechs - the Zechs from the bar that night. Duo didn't mind sweaty, sawdust-covered, smelling Zechs either, but that Zechs wasn't the one who had taken Duo home. That Zechs was the one that seemed to vacillate between being irritated with Duo and attracted to him.
"It's not Georgia," Zechs pointed out. "You're in the mountains. One year, it snowed in July."
"It did not."
Zechs snorted.
"Look it up. It did." He passed Duo another beer. "Did you pack any warm clothes?"
"No," Duo sighed. "Just my sweatpants and that shirt I left at your place, and the one that Nan never brought back."
"No loss there," Zechs shuddered, and Duo nodded in agreement. As much as he wanted to be warm, he really didn't want to be reminded of the smell and the taste of that foul black stuff in Nan's sink.
"At this rate, I'm not going to have any warm clothes," Zechs smirked.
"Here." Duo started to take off the hoodie, but Zechs reached out and stopped him, pulling the fabric out of Duo's hands and smoothing it down his chest.
"Hang on to it. The nights are going to stay cold until mid-July, at least, and you're probably freezing at night."
"I sleep in your sweater," Duo admitted.
Zechs smiled, and maybe it was a trick of the firelight flickering across his face in the darkness, but it looked like that news made him happy.
Duo forced himself to look away, and he took another sip of his beer.
"I am eighteen," he repeated.
"I know."
"So, I'm just saying - I…" Duo trailed off. He knew the beer - and the earlier margaritas - had gone to his head. They had to have, because otherwise he would not be sitting beside Zechs in front of a fire, wearing his Emerson hoodie, and thinking about kissing him.
"It's not a good idea, Duo," Zechs said, guessing at Duo's intentions. "As much as I want you - it's not a good idea," he repeated, shaking his head.
"You want me?"
Zechs gave him a heated look.
"Of course I want you, Duo. Do you have any idea how - Jesus, you're my intern, and all I can think about every time I see you is what it felt like to fall asleep with you in my arms that night."
Duo swallowed hard. He suddenly didn't feel at all cold anymore. His skin was practically tingling with awareness.
"I think about you, too," he admitted. "About-"
"About what?" Zechs prompted when Duo trailed off.
Duo sighed and rolled his eyes. Of course Zechs would make him say it.
"About your cock, about how good it felt, and… and I wish we'd done more. I wish I hadn't run off. I wish…" Duo shrugged. "I wish I wasn't such a bad idea. I wish the one person who cared about me and wanted me wasn't my boss and-"
He sighed and got to his feet, knowing that this was just going to take a turn for more shitty Maxwell luck if he sat around spilling his guts to Zechs.
"I should call it a night," he said.
"Duo."
He waved Zechs away when the other man started to stand.
"It's fine. You're right. It's not a good idea. Besides, you've got Trowa and Wufei and - and whoever you want."
Duo knew he sounded bitter, but he couldn't help it.
He was both grateful and discouraged when Zechs didn't speak up or try to follow him as he walked away from the bonfire and back to the theatre.
On his way, he passed Hilde.
"Done for the night?" she asked around a mouthful of marshmallows, the bag clutched in one hand and an oversized bar of chocolate in the other.
"Yeah," Duo said. As tempting as s'mores were, he didn't want to face Zechs again.
"Alright. Hey - thanks for hanging out today. It was fun."
Duo grinned at her.
"Yeah, thanks for making me."
"Anytime, Duo. Anytime."
-o-
