A/N: For Crown of Winterthorne, who requested 6x2 for #18: "It's my younger sibling's wedding and my mother won't shut up about how I'm going to die alone."
Warnings: language
Pairings: 1xR, 6x2, 3x5, 13x4
18
I was beginning to wonder if my younger sister held a grudge against me.
She had, as a teenager, occasionally been thoughtless and as irritating as any younger sister was capable of being, but she had never struck me as cruel.
Still, I was beginning to wonder.
I was sure that, with a wedding this large, planning out the seating chart had been complicated, but did Relena absolutely have to put between our mother and Duo Maxwell, her groom's best man?
My problem wasn't so much with Duo - I had only met him at Relena and Heero's engagement party four months ago where, aside from delivering a congratulatory toast that had made both Relena and Heero blush and everyone else laugh, he had demonstrated that his remarkably witty tongue was equally gifted at… other pursuits. I had thought it was a one-off, a blissful, if furtive, fifteen minutes of dirty deeds at the country club my mother had insisted on throwing the party at despite everyone's objections. But then, at the rehearsal dinner last night, Duo had slipped me an extra key to his room, winked at me, and teasingly asked if I would help him rehearse his best man speech.
I wasn't the least bit disappointed that the only 'rehearsal' Duo had managed had involved whispering all kinds of dirty things in my ear that I sincerely hoped didn't make it into the best man speech.
And even now, as I suffered through the fish course of an impossibly long reception dinner, Duo's thigh was pressed against mine and his right hand was tracing idle circles around my knee.
He was a distraction, to be sure, but not enough of a distraction to compete with my mother, on my other side.
My mother, whom I loved dearly and knew only wanted the best for me, but who, it seemed, was incapable of just appreciating the fact that her daughter was having a dream wedding.
Instead, my mother seemed to think it was the perfect time to point out just how very empty my life was - how very few prospects I had for a marriage of my own, and just how many of my exs were now facing their own happily ever afters.
"And Treize, you know - I saw him last week when I was playing tennis with Janice - he's involved with some doctor now. A pediatric surgeon. Or was it an orthopedic surgeon What was his name? Chin? Chen? Chan?"
"Chang and he's a pediatric surgeon," I supplied through gritted teeth, having already been subjected to the list of Wufei Chang's merits when I met Treize last week for our once a month racquetball game.
"Hm. Yes. Well, as much as I always thought Treize was entirely too egocentric, I do wish you had given things another try with him."
I had to turn at that and only barely refrained from glaring at my mother.
"Mother, he stood me up on the night I was going to propose to him - because I was going to propose to him. What kind of another try is there, after that?"
Duo, on my other side, seemed to be keeping half an ear on my conversation while the rest of his attention was focused on the rest of the wedding party. His hand tightened on my knee and I didn't know if it was a warning or a gesture of comfort.
"I'm only saying he's clearly not as afraid of commitment as you made it sound - after all, he and Chen -"
"Chang."
"-are moving in together and Maria, Treize's mother, told me they're planning on buying a house in the Hamptons together."
My mother looked a little superior as she took in my surprise. It was almost as if she delighted in being able to tell me that Treize, the man I had thought I would spend the rest of my life with, seemed to be well on his way to domestic bliss with someone who was nearly my antithesis.
"How wonderful for them," I managed to force out before picking up my champagne glass and emptying it.
Duo watched me, eyes critical, expressive mouth curved downwards.
I wondered what my chances were of convincing him to escape to the coat closet and indulge in a repeat performance of last night.
"I'm just concerned about you, my darling," my mother said and reached out to pat my knee.
I froze, all too aware of the fact that Duo's hand was on my other knee and that my mother's fingers were just inches away from his.
I swallowed hard and took both of their hands, one in each of my own, and removed them.
My mother let go, but Duo tangled our fingers together, apparently content to rub circles against my palm instead of my knee. And I, it seemed, was content to let him.
"I appreciate that," I said to my mother. "But I -"
"I know it must be hard, seeing your younger sister married when you thought it would be you, well, you and Treize, walking down that aisle together first."
I closed my eyes and forced myself to take a deep breath before responding. I forced myself to remember that my mother loved me and really, only wanted the best for me. She simply didn't realize how incredibly not helpful her comments were.
"I'm very happy for Relena," I assured her.
"Oh, I know you are dear. I know. I just worry about ever having grandchildren and -"
Beside me, Duo choked on his champagne and I shot him a quelling look.
"I'm quite sure that Relena and Heero plan to provide you with dozens," I assured her, though I knew, from having to listen to Relena complain about our mother viewing a woman's role as purely procreative, that Relena intended on having exactly two children and no more.
"Hm." My mother pursed her lips. "And I'm sure they will be gorgeous babies, but you, my darling, are the -"
"How about a dance?" Duo asked, suddenly and loudly.
My mother stared at him but Duo gave her his most friendly smile before turning to me and lifting his eyebrows in question.
I sighed and put down my napkin. I was grateful for the rescue, but dancing…
I had too many memories of awkward dancing classes as a child to feel anything but resigned as I looked at the half-empty dance floor.
Duo squeezed my hand and then let go.
I stood up and followed him to the dance floor.
He took in my lack of enthusiasm and offered an apologetic smirk as he slid one arm around my waist and pressed his other hand into mine.
"Sorry - this was the best rescue I could engineer," he said as I pulled him close. "I didn't think asking you if you wanted to go fuck me in the bathroom would go over so well with your mom."
I snorted a laugh and rested my cheek on the top of his head. I wasn't used to being with someone this much shorter than I was - Treize had actually been an inch taller than me, which he had delighted in pointing out frequently - but I liked tucking Duo against me, feeling the solid press of his body against my own.
I had slept in his room last night, though neither of us had been very interested in sleep, and waking up this morning with his body spooned against my back had been surprisingly nice. Not just because of the press of his early morning erection against me, or because he ruthlessly took advantage of the sensitive spot behind my ear, but because his body felt familiar and comforting and he fit me.
"You, Duo Maxwell, have a dirty mouth," I said into his hair.
"Mm," he hummed. "It goes with my dirty mind."
Having been on the receiving end of both, I had to chuckle appreciatively.
We danced for two songs, my unease at both my mother's helpful comments and dancing melting away under the heat of Duo's presence.
"So, uh…"
I pulled away from Duo enough to look down at him and I saw that he was chewing on his lower lip. He had done that last night, had seemed to be stalling as he worked up the courage to ask me to try fucking him against the wall after we had thoroughly tested out the king sized bed.
I waited patiently - after all, waiting last night had resulted in a very pleasant reward.
"I have to head out and work tonight," Duo said, not meeting my gaze. He fiddled with the lapels of my tuxedo. I found myself absurdly touched by how intimate and yet unsure the gesture was.
"You mean you can't ignore adult responsibilities and let me take you back to one of our hotel rooms for a repeat of last night?"
Duo smirked up at me.
"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to, but those planes aren't going to land themselves at JFK."
"What else is autopilot for?"
He rolled his eyes at me but smirked. I found myself envying the pilots who would get to hear Duo's voice directing their landings tonight. And then I found myself questioning that.
I had, after all, spent less than thirty six hours with Duo - over only three occasions.
"So, I was wondering, any chance you'd like to… I dunno, go out sometime?" Duo asked in a rush. "If not, that's okay," he continued in the same hurried tone. "If this is just a… you know, weddings suck and they suck less when I'm fucking someone kind of thing, that's cool. It's not like we have to see each other in the future or anything - I can just tell Ro and Rey that you aren't interested and they'll stop whatever devious matchmaking plans they've been hatching ever since I told them -" Duo abruptly stopped talking. He snapped his mouth shut and his cheeks flushed.
"Since you told them what?" I asked, unable to keep the smile off my face when he glared up at me.
He heaved a sigh. "Since I told them I thought you were hot and funny as hell and… and asked if there was any chance you'd be interested in a guy like me. I know I'm not - I know I'm not like Treize or anything but -"
"Duo," I interrupted him. I curved my finger under his chin and tilted his head up so that he looked me in the eyes. "I like that you are nothing like Treize."
"Really?" He seemed doubtful.
"Really," I confirmed. "And not just because sex with you is a lot more imaginative, but -" I hesitated, not sure I wanted to tell Duo that I had never been with another man and so quickly felt so at ease in his company, so quickly found myself wanting to learn everything about him, every way to please him and make him smile.
"But?" Duo prompted, still with a little disbelief.
"It's more than the sex, it's the fact that you tried to rescue me from my mother. And the way you mercilessly tease Heero and Relena. And the way you flirted with my grandmother."
"I was not flirting with -"
"She told me she hasn't felt so alive since my grandfather died and you make her wish she was twenty years younger."
"Just twenty?" He asked with a smirk.
"Are you telling me sixty is past your age cap?"
He chuckled and, finally, relaxed back against me.
"I mean, if you were sixty, I might reconsider. And don't get me wrong, as far as grandmother's go, your's is pretty hot but… she's kind of missing a few vital parts."
"Oh really?"
"Mm. I could go into more detail, if you want?"
I didn't need to look down to know he was smirking, that wicked look that made me shiver and think all sorts of things that weren't appropriate for the dance floor at my little sister's wedding.
"I'd like that," I said after a few minutes of dancing in silence.
"Well, there's your co -"
"I meant," I interrupted him with a smile, "that I'd like to go out on a date with you sometime."
"Yeah?"
I nodded, confident he could feel the motion even if he couldn't see it.
"And maybe then you could tell me all about those vital parts in detail."
He chuckled and leaned closer and stood on his toes to put his mouth near by ear.
"Or we could slip away and do that now?"
-o-
