Little Tin Flower, Red Stitches and a Rain Soaked Angel

Epilogue ~ Name

By Shannon the Twisted Link Worshiper

—O—

"Heero?" Duo practically fell into the front door with his arms loaded with three stuffed grocery bags. Heero had suckered him into doing the week's shopping, insisting that he had some important business to take care of. "Heero, are you home?"

There was nothing to answer Duo's calls save the sound of music playing softly in the background. Duo shrugged it off and stumbled to the kitchenette to put his groceries away, singing along to the song wafting on the still air.

"There's a lady who's sure all the glitters is gold,

And she's buying the Stairway to Heaven…."

Things had become so different between he and Heero since the very first time they had met. Duo found himself paused with a tin of hot cocoa halfway into the cupboard as he reflected on his messy haired lover. With a smirk, he pushed the tin onto the shelf and closed the cupboard door as he remembered the dodgy arguments he and Heero had once had, each trying hard to act like neither wanted to put up with the other. Aw that's a joke, he thought to himself. I liked being with him all the time. I never could resist him. He was always in my thoughts, practically my oxygen, like he was in the air. A few giggles erupted from his mouth as his musing went on. So I took a chance! That's what Shinigami's about! Thank God I did! He went on like this for quite a bit more as he finished unpacking. Stepping from the kitchen, still singing aloud, he decided to wander off to his room to sleep away the afternoon until Heero came back home.

"And it makes me wonder… Ooh….

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know.

The piper's calling you to join him.

Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow?

And did you know, your Stairway lies on the whispering wind?"

Pushing the door open, noting how the music had grown in volume the closer he stepped to his room, he deftly swept to the black painted chest of drawers, ripping out a loose tee-shirt of a dark red colour, the words "3, 2, 1, let's jam!" printed across the back. He never slept in this room anymore, just used it as a place to keep his things, and (to quote Heero) a place to trash. Just then, he heard the front door opening, signaling Heero's return. As he looked up, his eyes fell upon a new and yet strangely familiar sight. It was the stereo system that he had been ogling for almost a year now, sitting on the table beneath the window, quietly playing one of his old Led Zeppelin CDs.

"I figured you'd like that," came Heero's distinct low voice. Swiveling around on his heel, practically twisting the carpet around as he did so, Duo turned to find Heero leaning in the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest and a knowing smile faintly carved upon his face.

"Hee-chan? You did this for me?" Duo's mouth was agape as he stared at the shining deep blue eyes of his mysterious lover.  A silent nod from Heero was all Duo needed before he launched himself headlong at Heero, sending the pair of them flying out into the hall as he tackled him to the floor. A series of sloppy kisses fell upon Heero's face. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Whoa, Duo," Heero was trying to speak but having quite a difficult time between kisses and cuddles.

Duo sat up on Heero's stomach, looking at him questioningly with those giant adorable eyes of his. He blink a few times, confused at Heero's sudden terseness. "What's wrong, Heero?"

Heero shook his head, offering a warm smile up at Duo. Such an expression on Heero's face was all Duo ever needed for an apology and he soon found himself swooping down upon his Oriental lover with all the grace of an affectionate pussycat.

"Oi, Heero, I do hope this isn't a bad time!" a sweet recognizable voice floated through the still open front door. Duo, his lips still latched to Heero's, twisted just a bit and let one big purple eye slid open as so he could see who was standing in their foyer.

"Of course not!" Heero gasped as Duo pulled himself up into a sitting position, both eyes now wide with disbelief and who was standing there, a pair of suitcases at his feet and a brown paper bag loaded with what seemed to be a lot of gift wrapped boxes and cakes.

"Goddamn! Quatre Winner!" Duo bounced from Heero over to Quatre and enfolded the little blonde Arabian in a fierce hug that held all the affection reserved for one who had not been seen in an eternity and sorely missed. "What're ya doing here? How's Trowa? Have you been well? It's been, what, near two years?"

Almost jealously, Heero crept behind Duo, one arm snaking between he and Quatre, pulling his American love close as he muttered quietly in his ear, low enough for only Duo to hear, "Mine."

Duo leaned back out of Quatre's arms into Heero's, a jovial grin plastered on his face. "Aw, why're you here, Q-chan?"

"We were invited," said a deep voice as the front door opened a bit further revealing a much taller Trowa, clad in a black turtleneck and tight light blue jeans. "Heard it's someone's twentieth birthday," he smiled the widest Duo had ever seen in all the time he had known the Latin clown. There was another suitcase in his hand and a few more bags loaded with goodies and presents, obviously the product of Quatre's lavish spending tendencies.

"Ah, good work with the groceries, Maxwell," Wufei said, appearing suddenly from the kitchen, a large cookbook in his hands. "What would you like for dinner? I'll make you anything you want."

The light of realization crept over Duo's face when he saw his old friends standing before him, each with a genuinely pleased look upon his face. He spun around in Heero's arms, looking into his eyes with a knowing look on his face as Heero tried his damndest to look as if he knew nothing. "You! This was all you!" He threw his arms around Heero's neck and burying his face into the crook of his neck as he practically sobbed. "Oh God, Hee-chan, you're the best, best, best ever!"

Heero could feel his shirt starting to get damp as he brought his arms around Duo's waist to pull him closer. "Happy birthday, koi," he said softly into Duo's ear as he placed a kiss on the side of Duo's head as the others crowded close to embrace each other in a large group hug, finally together again.

The day had been so exciting for Duo, easily the best birthday he had ever had in his entire life. It was actually the first time anyone had really gone out of his or her way to celebrate it before, and he was shocked that anyone aside from himself actually knew what the exact date was. Now Duo stood in the middle of the apartment, smiling at Wufei who was snoring contentedly on the couch. Quatre and Trowa had holed up in Duo's room. Duo was more than happy that Heero had arranged for their friends to stay the rest of the week with them. It had been so long since they had all five of them been under one roof together, like the family they once had been.

Heero had retreated to sleep only five minutes ago. He had been about to join his lover when he suddenly exclaimed that he had forgotten something. He quietly returned to their bedroom, cradling the item he had gone to retrieve. With a quiet click, he closed the door behind him and padded over to the bed, setting the little flower encrusted radio he had kept since he was a small boy beside the old baseball he had given Heero on his side of the bed where he would surely find it in the morning. A yellow post-it note was stuck upon the tiny little speaker of the transistor, scrawled with Duo's somewhat messy hand. He had gone digging through his stacks of books for a Japanese-English dictionary earlier that day to look up that phrase Heero had mumbled in the car the night before. Hee-chan, it said, I know that this is nowhere near as generous as the stereo you bought me but… I want you to have my little tin flower, okay? Suteki da ne? You know, it really is wonderful… Heero…. Love, your D-chan.

And Duo kissed Heero's brow, feeling it twitch beneath his lips, a sure sign that someone had only been pretending to be asleep as he slid between the sheets and curled up next to his rain-soaked angel.

"And she's buying the Stairway to Heaven…."

—O—

And even though the moment passed me by,

 I still can't turn away.

'Cause all the dreams you never thought you'd lose,

You tossed them all away.

Letters that you never meant to send,

Tossed or thrown away.

And now we're grown up orphans,

That never knew their names,

And don't belong to no one,

That's a shame.

You could hide beside me, maybe for a while.

And I won't tell no one your name.

And I won't tell 'em your name.

Scars are souvenirs you never lose.

The past is never far.

Did you lose yourself somewhere out there?

Did you get to be a star?

Don't it make you sad to know that life,

Is more than who we are?

You grew up way to fast,

And now there's nothing to believe.

And reruns all become our history.

A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio.

And I won't tell no one your name.

And I won't tell 'em your name.

And I won't tell 'em your name.

I think about you all the time,

But I don't need to sing.

It's lonely where you are.

Come back down.

And I won't tell 'em your name.

—O—

Owari