Notes for this chapter: Exreme SAP
Artist
Chapter Four
Duo sighed as the hot water hissed as he stepped under it, enjoying the way it massaged his shoulders and back, reliving the stress that had been building up over the past few days. At that moment he wished he could stand under that water forever, and feel that comfortable for eternity. It was the most comfort he had experienced all week, anyway.
The past few days had a been a nightmare. After that night, when Duo had found Heero's secret stash of paintings, Heero had not spoken a single word to him. Once in a while he would point Duo in the general direction of the shower, other bathrooms in the house, the garage, and hand him the keys to his car so Duo could look for job. That was another part in his misery of the week. He hadn't been able to find a single job, and the ones he was actually willing to do, would completely cut into his time with Heero. Although that time wasn't very pleasant.
They would eat dinner in complete silence, although Duo was tempted to comment him on his cooking, but Heero didn't really seem to like comments. Heero was usually done with his food faster, then he would dump his plate off in the sink when it was Duo's night for dishes, or wash it, go in the other room and wait for Duo to finish his dinner. In which case he would go *back* to the kitchen and wash Duo's plate, then retire to his room for the rest of the night.
Duo was often very curious about what he did in that room for so many hours. Sometimes he would walk up and press is ear against the door, listening for any movement or speech, but none ever came. More than once, he had knocked on Heero's bedroom door, but it would never open. There wouldn't even be a response. Once he had tried talking to Heero just before he left to deliver some paintings, but Heero had just given him an icy glare, brushing him off and walking out the door without a word. The strangest thing was, every night he would fall asleep without blankets or a pillow, and every morning he would have a blanket on top of him and a pillow under his head. If Heero was so mad at him, why was it so important that Duo was comfortable. He had even given Duo complete access to his bathroom supplies; shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, razor, shaving cream, all that stuff. Heck, he even let Duo drive his car around. Someone who didn't know what was going on, couldn't even tell Heero was mad at Duo until he tried to talk to Him.
This was all utterly confusing and stressful for Duo. He even had himself wondering if Heero was ever going to speak to him again. He had lost count on how many times he had apologized, how many times he had tried to make up for it by doing Heero's laundry and doing dishes when he didn't have to. However, a couple times when Duo had said he was sorry (The first couple times when the sentence was exasperated or pleading), he could see no anger in Heero's expression; just sadness, regret. He regretted Duo seeing those paintings. That was when Do finally came to the conclusion that this was all about the paintings. It wasn't about Heero changing his name, or even becoming a famous artist and buying a huge house in Europe. Those things were nothing to be embarrassed about. However, Heero had some sort of modesty for those paintings. He kept them stuffed In a dark room, never hung any up on the walls or put any out for display. Even when he was making deliveries, he would carry them a large black bag that zipped up at the top. Duo couldn't even get a glance.
The violet eyed boy sighed at the thought about Heero being ashamed of those paintings. They were the most beautiful pieces of art he had ever seen. It was just that, they had so much sadness in them, and when Heero painted his own eyes in those paintings, Duo could almost sense he was trying to say something through his paintings. He wondered if anyone else had caught that but him.
Duo stepped out of the spray to wash his hair, his mind never leaving Heero. While running his hands through the thick, tangled strands, he began to try and think up some subject that Heero was willing to talk about, and maybe give him some answers. Running his fingers through his hair, then untangling it with the conditioner and feeling it's softness as he ran it under the water, he finally thought of something. A smile graced his lips. 'And I know exactly ow I'm going to do it.'
It was around nine, and Duo was sitting on the couch watching his favorite prime time show, munching on a bowl of popcorn he had fizzed himself. It was all a matter of causality. At exactly 9:05, Duo heard the shower faucet turn on. Every night at around nine, Heero would get into the shower. He was in there for almost as long as Duo was, since he too had a great mass of hair to wash every day. Duo remembered this when he had been washing his hair this morning. There was something about seeing Heero with long hair for the first time, after he got past the shock, that struck him in way that maybe, there was a reason Heero had grown his hair out. He hadn't gotten a chance to ask about it before, and since they weren't speaking for the past couple of days, couldn't ask him then, but Duo found a way.
Quickly, placed his bowl of popcorn on a desk next to the couch, hopped off of it from the back and headed towards the bathroom. Taking a deep, breath, he approached the door. He reached out and tested it to see if Heero had locked it. He hadn't. Good sign. That was strange though, since Duo *always* locked the door when he was in the shower. He didn't know *why* he didn't, since he wasn't the modest type, but he always felt unsafe, even a bit scared in the shower. After all, there *were* a lot of scary movies with murders that happened in the shower. Passing that thought away, Duo slammed open the door and prepared for Heero to hit him. He had predicted that would be Heero's first reaction. First he had barged in on his paintings, now his bathroom while he was in it. To Duo's surprise, no blow came. Some of the tenseness in his muscled relaxed and he slowly opened his eyes, which widened at the sight of the beauty before him.
Fortunately for Duo's sake, Heero hadn't finished undressing. If he had, then he would defiantly get hit, and probably thrown out of his home and sued. Instead, Heero stood, shirtless, in all his upper body glory, shocked expression on his face, and most importantly, hair loose. That was the one thing Duo was shooting for in this little bathroom bust-in. Duo's jaw hung loose as he feasted his eyes on those marvelous, chocolate colored strands of silk, spilling over his shoulders, outlining his small, but muscular frame.
Duo searched his eyes for any sign of anger or discomfort. Finding none, he steps forward, taking a couple strands of that dark brown silk in his hand. He ran his fingers over its soft texture, then lifted it up closer to his face to breath in the sweet scent of Heero's shampoo. He looked back at Heero's eyes, not releasing the hair.
"Why'd you do this?" He whispered. The sadness in Heero's eyes returned, and he looked away. Duo let the couple of strands fall back into place, rested on Heero's shoulder, and took another step forward. He reached out and with two fingers, lifted Heero's chin up to meet his gaze.
"Tell me why you're so sad. Tell me why you started painting. Tell me why you grew your hair out." He said as firmly as he could without sounding harsh, never losing eye contact with Heero. He sighed and backed away from Duo's touch. Duo's muscled tensed s Heero walked towards the shower, hoping that Heero wasn't just going to ignore him again, but relaxed as he reached up and turned the water off. Then he walked back to the sink, grabbed the rubber band he had placed there and tied his hair back in a low ponytail. Pausing to put on his shirt, he lead me out the bathroom, shutting the door behind them. Duo looked at him, still waiting for an answer. Heero seemed to hesitated, shifting his gaze from Duo to further down the hallway, where the doors were to his bedroom and painting storage room. After another moments hesitation, and lightly wrapped his hand around Duo'd wrist and pulled him down the hall. Duo didn't object, letting himself be tugged along until they reached the doors to the storage room.
Taking a deep breath, Heero clutched the door handle with his free hand and pushed it open, hearing the door brush up against some boxes as he pushed it back as far as it could go. Duo's eyes widened as Heero then pulled him inside. He felt Heero let go of his wrist, so he was standing in the darkness of the room, trying to make out of the beauty of some other paintings he hadn't seen before. Suddenly, a light clicked on, and Do covered his eyes from the brightest, then waited for his eyes to adjust. When they did, he saw all of Heero's paintings, lighted up and shining with glorious beauty. Heero stepped up to stand by his side.
"This is a side of me I didn't see until I met you." Duo spun around to face him, gawking at him, in shock from what he just said.
"Me? You-You're saying these paintings are because of me?" Duo stuttered, not believing it could be true that Heero's way of life had come to be because of him. Heero's expression did not change, and Duo didn't need an answer. Does this mean Heero actually had feelings for him? That these paintings were some way of showing emotion towards him?
Duo looked away from Heero momentarily, to take another look at the paintings that were before him. Shock rose in him as he studied them harder. The self portraits of Heero, each one showing him extremely sad and alone. One of Heero running his fingers through his hair, crying at his knees and bleeding. Duo didn't even know where the blood was coming from until he spotted a darker patch of blood on his white shirt, on the place where if his heart was. He saw another, a self portrait of Heero staring into another mirror, no expression on his face as he looked at his reflection. The strange thing about it was that, he eyes were painted Prussian blue, the color they truly are, while the eyes in the reflection were violet, the exact color of Duo's eyes.
Tears formed in those eyes as Duo looked over each and every painting, sometimes walking over to them and brushing his fingers against the course surface. He began to feel Heero's loneliness and despair in those paintings. Feel the sadness and regret, but he also felt love. There was true love painted into those portraits, that he guessed only Heero himself could describe. He turned back to Heero, a couple stray tears escaping from his eyes, waiting if Heero would do so.
"The past five years, Duo, I've been living here thinking all my efforts put into these works were in vain. That you would never return to me from that last battle ground you fought at. And I've lived, wondering if there was ever going to be another meaning to my life besides you. I've wondered if I'd ever paint something with true happiness in it. I've wondered if all my dreaming, and my countless efforts, sleepless nights and nightmares would ever bring you back to me."
Duo was speechless, not having the slightest clue what to do or say that would make Heero feel any better. He regretted ever living if he was cause of all of Heero's despair. Although, he did feel a strong urge to walk to up and wrap his arms around the boy, kiss him passionately and tell him he didn't have to wonder anymore. To tell him that he would stay with him forever, making up for all the grief he had caused. How was he supposed to know? How was he supposed to know that Heero shared the same feelings he had for him? If he had known, he would have gotten to Heero so much quicker, not caring about the matter of money. He wished Heero hadn't of made himself so damn hard to find.
"Duo, I need to ask you something." Heero's words snapped Duo out of his thoughts, and looked up, back into those sad eyes of his secret love. Duo nodded, prepared for anything Heero might want to ask him, "I need to know if you share my feelings. If you don't, I completely understand. You don't need to worry about me. Just answer this question and I promise I'll feel better, no matter what the answer may be. I just need to know."
Duo smiled, half glad Heero was asking him this so he wouldn't have to explain it himself. He didn't know if he could find the right words like Heero had, but another half of him was wishing he could express how much he loved him in words. Then at least Heero would know for sure. However, Duo had another way of expressing his confession of love for Heero.
Nervously, he stepped up to him, and wrapped his thin, but strong arms around he boy he had been dreaming to wrap his arms around for so long. He stood on his toes so he could reach Heero's lips, but didn't need to when Heero met him half way, bending his neck just enough to meet Duo's lips, waiting for him. It was just as passionate has Duo had imagined, and dreamed about so long. All of his hidden emotions for Heero flooded out in that one kiss, showing him how much he loved and cared for him, telling him that he didn't want him to be sad any longer.
After for what it seemed to be an eternity, they pulled away, gasping for breath, flushed faces, and slight smiles on their lips. As Duo looked back into Heero's eyes, he no longer saw sadness, but extreme love and passion. Heero looked at the ground, face flushing a bit redder, and mumbled.
"I sure hope that means yes."
-------------------
That night they ate dinner together. Heero had made the same meal he had made the first night Duo got to the house. That seemed to be his favorite by the way he gobbled it all down so fast. Every so often they would just look at each other and smile. They talked as much as they could through dinner, telling each other how much they missed one another and how many times they had tried to contact the other. Duo confessed his love for Heero in words, not as great of words as Heero had confessed him, but he got a very heartwarming smile and long kiss as a reward. Although he was never really good with words, Heero was being very generous.
After dinner they sat on the couch together, mainly discussing how Duo was going to pay Heero back for loaning him the money to Wufei. Heero came up with a rather odd solution. He had suggested that Duo let him paint him, and whatever money came out of that painting was Duo's to keep, and he could just pay back Heero what he owed him. Duo for more than willing to do this. All he had to do was sit back for a couple hours and watch Heero paint him. Unfortunately, that was not what Heero had in mind.
At about 6:30 the next day, just as the sun was setting, Heero led Duo out onto the patio, carrying his bag of painting supplies. Duo had a huge grin plastered on his face the whole time, and Heero snickered and led him to the swinging bench that Heero usually sat on the paint something. Duo bounced over to bench happily and sat down, waiting for Heero to situate with his paints and supplies. Heero had to make a small trip the garage to get a patio chair and a small fold out table to place his supplies on while he painted, then grabbed them back out and placed it directly in front of the bench. He sat down, canvas in his lap and paints and paint thinner at his side. He observed Duo, who's grin had faded, and was now blushing slightly. Heero chuckled.
"Hey, I've never been painted before." Duo whined. Heero just smiled and continued observing him, trying to think of a nice pose to paint Duo in. He wanted this painting to be special. This would be his first work that wasn't a pronouncement of his despair. He wanted to world to see just happy he was now, now that he was with his love.
"Duo, let down your hair please." Duo's jaw dropped. No one had ever seen him with his hair down before, besides himself and the people of his childhood. Ever the church massacre, he had always worn it in a braid, except when he taking showers. Something fluttered inside of him as he looked back at Heero though, knowing that he was going to be with his love forever and always. Yes, it was definitely worth it. Sighing, Duo reached behind him and grabbed the end of his braid, pulling on the rubber band that held it all together. Finally, it came loose, unraveling quickly at the end, then it took some effort from Duo to unravel it all the way. Heero just watched in awe as the gorgeous locks of chestnut hair cascaded around Duo's body in the same way that rays of sun shown down unto the Earth. It was the most beautiful thing he'd seen since he had seen his first sunset.
To Heero's surprise, instead of sitting down, Duo walked over to him, slight frown on his face, reached behind Heero and tugged on the rubber band that held *his* hair back. He threw the rubber band behind him carelessly, smiling in satisfaction. Heero couldn't help but smile as well. Then Duo spun around and walked back to bench, sitting down again.
"No, stand up." Heero said, his voice in an observing tone once again. Duo looked confused. He didn't want to stand up for hours while Heero painted him. He could get a cramp. Heero rolled his eyes.
"If you sit down I can't see your hair very well, your sitting on it. Please, Duo?" Duo sighed at his love's voice and stood up. 'Only for you, Heero.' He thought. Heero waited until the time was perfect, so that sun was peeking out behind some mountains, casting an array of warm colors over the sky behind Duo, tiny rays of red sunlight shining down on him. 'God, he looks like an angel.' Heero thought. He quickly drew out the sketch with fast hands, pausing once in a while to move a strand of hair behind his ear, which made Duo smile every time he did it. In no time, he moved on the painting part of the process, mixing his colors to create those stunning hues he used in all of his paintings. It was just that this time, they would a lot brighter.
As the hours past, the two got lost in each other's eyes. Heero had just begun to move on to paintings Duo as the sun set, but he had already painted the background sky and rays of red sunshine over Duo. Now it was time for best part. Duo did find himself getting tired of standing there like that, but every time he caught that look in Heero's eyes, he reminded himself this would all be worth it. To see the finished paintings, to see the happiness that Heero had finally expressed, and he'd also be glad to be out of his love's debt.
It was pretty late when Heero was done, and they both looked extremely tired. Duo smiled at the way paint and charcoal was smudged all over Heero's cheeks. When Heero announced the painting to be done, Duo jumped away from his pot by the bench and went to stand by Heero, where they both looked down at the painting. Duo blushed as he saw himself portrayed as an angel, but Heero simply said that was what he saw. The most beautiful thing about the painting were Duo's eyes, sparkling with violet.
"That's an amazing color, Heero." Duo commented, observing his eyes in the picture. Heero smiled and looked up into Duo's eyes.
"I know."
-------------------
~Epilogue~
"I wanted to take you here so much, but children weren't aloud inside for the longest time." A mother said to her daughter, hurrying her along with a hand on her shoulder. The young girl smiled and looked around the store with a curious glint her eyes.
"These paintings are a lot better than the ones I paint." She said, looking up at her mother in concern for her artwork. Her mother just laughed softly.
"These are professional artist, you have to remember that." She reminded her daughter. Walking down the halls of paintings, the girl looked around, eyes widening as something caught her attention. She saw brilliant colors she had never seen in even the most colorful paintings before. She rushed away from her mother, who followed her, frowning in confusion. The girl finally found the painting that caught her eye. She gasped when she saw it in all its true beauty, running her tiny fingers over the surface of the painting.
"Mommy, look! It's an angel!" She cried. Her mother walked up next to daughter and kneeled down to observe the painting her daughter was pointing at. Not only was it an angel, it was Duo Maxwell, with his wonderfully violet eyes and long, chestnut brown hair, surrounding him as sunlight did, causing a beautiful effect. The mother spotted a gold plate beside it, with a couple words inscribed into it.
- The angel will not appear until all sorrow is ceased -
- Heero Yuy
~Owari