Chapter 8

(three weeks later)

"Oi! Heero!" Duo called while scrambling up the stairs. "Oi!" Almost dashing by the reading room, screeching to a halt and using the doorjamb as handhold, the braided teenager swung himself into the room. "Oi! Heero! Wanna go for a walk?"

Heero was curled up on the window seat, wings draped graciously around his body. His face was almost smooshed against the glass, but being Heero, this would be too undignified and so he was close enough only to have his breath leave white imprints.

"It's raining." Heero said never once taking his eyes from the pattering droplets landing on the window. His eyes traced the paths they made as one raindrop slid into another and another, resulting in a tiny stream that trickled to the bottom of the glass and disappeared.

"No shit Sherlock." Duo said dryly.

For the first time since Duo entered the room Heero turned and looked at him.

"You've read Sherlock Holmes?" He asked barely concealing his surprise.

"Of course! I may act like a baka, but that doesn't mean I am!" Duo replied indignantly.

"Really?" Heero inquired blandly, but his eyes were almost sparkling.

"O-Oi!" Duo sputtered. Was that another joke? "Anyway, ya wanna go for a walk or what?"

"It's raining."

"So?"

"….alright."

"Yatta! Let's go!" Duo grabbed the startled Japanese boy by the wrist and hauled him off the seat and down the hall.

~*~

"See! It's not so bad!" Duo yelled cheerfully from ahead of him.

"I might have reconsidered if I had known you were planning to go without raincoats." Heero muttered as he sloshed through the water, holding his wings up carefully so they wouldn't get muddy. The rain was warm and steady and the overcast sky caused colors to be more vivid, almost blinding. This isn't that bad. Heero admitted to himself.

Suddenly a violet-eyed persona filled his view. "Watch out Heero!" Duo said grinning, and suddenly pushed Heero into a puddle. Heero yelped and landed with a splash in a puddle that was at least six inches deep. Bewildardly he looked up at the laughing former Deathscythe pilot.

Duo's laughter slowed to chuckles when he was interrupted by a drop-kick from the downed pilot that caused the braided man to land on his butt smack- dab in the middle of yet another puddle.

"H-hey!" he sputtered, wiping damp bangs out of his face. He looked up at the now standing Heero. All of his sputtering stopped. Heero was smiling. And his wings…his wings…

"Heero. Look at your wings." Duo said amusedly. Puzzled Heero twisted around to look, and the smile on his face changed to one of surprise. He looked at his wings, damp and slightly muddy at the bottom, but upright. Slowly as he glared at them they lowered themselves back into their original wilted position.

Heero looked back at Duo, his eyes were wide with astonishment, though the rest of his face was in his usual calm facade. His damp windblown hair fell in a short dissaray around his handsome face. He was…breathtaking.

And it was then that Duo remembered to breathe. Gasping for air he coughed lightly. Someone grasped his shoulders when he opened his eyes he saw that it was Heero, his face oh so close to his own.

"Are you ok?" Heero asked. Duo watched his lips move mesmerized. "Hm? Oh yeah. I'm fine."

"Hn." Heero rose from his crouching position and offered Duo his hand. "Up." He commanded.

"Mm hm." Duo murmured as he grasped the proffered hand and rose lightly to his feet…and found himself nose to nose with one Heero Yuy. For the first time, Duo got a close up look at the beautiful face that belonged to the Perfect Soldier, and was it ever beautiful. Deep blue Asian eyes, framed with dark lashes, that at the moment were focused on him, above high cheekbones. Duo's eyes fell onto his lips, those delectable lips. He wanted to… He quickly shook his head to clear it of those thoughts and stepped away.

*I can't!* Duo forced himself to calm down, forced himself to breathe evenly, forced his body to relax. Finally he looked again at the other boy. He forced a grin.

"Oi Heero! Ya ready to go?" Heero was still frozen in the same spot, but at his comment he shook himself and with a couple of long strides caught up to the braided boy. "Let's walk to the cliffs!" Heero nodded silently, busy contemplating.

The cliffs were about four miles from their house. They rose tall and rugged before the wide ocean. The two former pilots often walked there in the evenings to watch the sunset. It was a hobby of Duo's, watching the sunset. He used to watch it from the balcony of his apartment, from the palm of his gundam. He never got to see it on L2.

~*~

Duo breathed the earthy scent through his nose. It was always this way when it rained. They were both soaked now, the steady warm rain wetting them thoroughly, but neither minded.

The American left Heero's side to stand near the edge of the cliff. He looked down some 1500 feet at the crashing waves below. He could see the salty foam spray as it collided with the base of the precipice. Unbeknownst to the braided man, he was being carefully observed.

Heero watched the former Deathscythe pilot, warily. What exactly had happened back there? Emotions were new to him, and he hadn't been able to decipher what had been in the former Deathscythe pilot's eyes. Narrowing blue eyes Heero glared at the American, trying to analyze what had happened. Unfortunately, as soon as he looked at Duo Heero's thought processes stopped. *God.* His throat went dry. Loose tendrils of honey highlighted hair whipped around the beautiful face that looked down at the ocean below. He could see a drop of rain that had trickled slowly down Duo's nose, and gently rolled off.

He watched carefully as a mesmerized Duo took a step closer to the edge. A warning in his throat Heero watched in horror as the muddy ledge crumbled beneath Duo's feet. Heero darted desperately forward, but despite his unearthly speed, thirty feet was too much for him to cover in split seconds. He did manage to catch the braided boy's fingertips, but the speed that he had needed to accomplish this proved to be his undoing as it carried both him and his partner over the edge.