CIRCLE OF ORBIT

~Jessenia~



Chapter Five

*

Duo walked up to the store and looked in the window. There was Heero, leaning over a book, brown hair falling in a rakish manner over his cobalt eyes which had softened dramatically since Duo had last seen him. He wore a white loose tank-top untucked, and khaki army pants. Duo smiled, Heero had liked the extra pockets, he remembered.

He watched as the boy began to speak about something, memories of that bedroom voice hitting him like a wave, and he closed his eyes. He had been missing that voice, those eyes, that person. He knew that he had always loved Heero, but he had forgotten the impact which the quiet boy had on him. He couldn't do it. He would drown in those eyes, or tackle the boy before he even got-out the important part. He sighed and looked again at the one person who had been occupying his dreams since, he couldn't remember.

It had to be now. If not now, then he would run away again and it would become a habit. He looked back at the image, framed by the window.

Across from Heero sat a girl, strong looking, with black hair. She was leaning over the book and looking confused. Duo's smile grew, that must be the girl Heero had been taking care of. He seemed to be explaining something to her, suddenly he was struck with a gaze of dark-green eyes, and he moved out of view in a jolt.

"Shit. I can't even spy on people properly anymore." he chuckled to himself. There was a moment in which Duo wondered what he should do. Bells shook and the door to the shop began to open. Duo ducked into an alleyway.

"Niisan!! Can we get ice-cream again?"

"Iie. No more sugar for you and if you keep forgetting to buy your lunch then you know the consequences. If I can't teach you I'm sending you back to the crow-woman..."

"AACK!! Wait a minute... You can't do that, she closed the school."

"And don't you forget it."

"Forget what?"

"Justice...I ought to introduce you to a friend of mine."

"Who? WHO? Was he a rebel soldier, too?"

"Who taught you that phrase?

"Sakura-san. She says that you were a rebel-fighter and it was because of people like you that our government isn't bad now. So who is he?" She tugged at the hem of the tank-top.

"Uhm, yes, he was a soldier....why were you talking to Sakura about me?" Heero asked. Duo edged forward a bit because the two people were moving down the street.

"She talks about you all the time! She says ....oops...."

"Nanda?"

"I'm not supposed to say....It's a secret."

"Aa."

*

Duo walked hesitantly and looked at the sign on the door

Back in 5

ja.

Lunch break, then. As Duo found his way to a nearby café he began to review how he had been acting since he decided to leave and see Heero. He had spent more time avoiding the boy than he had actually speaking to him. He corrected himself, he had been so successful avoiding Heero, that he hadn't even said a word. At least now he knew what he wanted, well...he had always known, now he knew that whatever he had been doing to keep away from this boy had been a waste of time. Completely 100%, waste of time.

He finished his lunch, and with a final sip of water, he resolved himself. He would simply walk into the store and insist on talking to the boy.

*************

They had been studying for half an hour, interrupted only a few times with customers, and just when they had become grossly absorbed with the concepts held in the text, the bells rang. Neither looked up.

Duo stood by the door, Heero was explaining something. /Now is the perfect time to go. They are obviously busy, so you should come back another time./ But somehow he couldn't move. Even if he had really wanted to. And then all of a sudden he was pinned with cobalt eyes, and he saw Heero's face freeze.

Duo noted that he had forgotten to take his sunglasses off, and, congratulating himself, he adjusted them slightly, then walked to an isle of books and after losing himself behind the tall shelves, keeping the glasses on for protection, he began to skim the titles in an attempt to calm his racing heart. He found that he could hear very acutely, which was surprising because his heart was beating so loudly.

"Questions one to twenty, in the science text book."

"But, niisan! We were just getting to the good part!"

"Miyu."

"Hai, hai!" Duo could hear a chair grate against the floor, and then soft footfalls. Someone was coming. Heero was coming. He walked quickly to the end of the isle, and just as Heero entered it, he went to the next one. It did no good. He felt himself standing and staring at a title and unable to spell it out. Then he heard the soft voice. He'd missed that voice. "May I help you?"

/Oh yeah...But I doubt you would want to help me here.../

"Hai. I'm looking for someone." And he took the glasses off, and was staring straight into those eyes. And then they were all that existed, those deep pools of cobalt, and he was being sucked in and he knew that if he didn't act fast he was going to drown, and he wasn't ready for that...not yet. Not until he knew how Heero would react to this unexpected visit.

".....Duo...." It was a softly surprised whisper, and Duo wanted to throw his arms around Heero and never let go. "Duo..." He smiled and was about to go into his oh-so-familiar jester act, when the chimes went on the door and a woman's voice called Heero's name-out. Duo was about to sink into the ground. Was he too late? Who was that woman? What was happening? Why wasn't Heero speaking? Then Heero blinked and turned in the direction of the door, still looking slightly stunned. Duo could hear the woman talking to the little girl, Miyu. Heero looked at Duo sternly and said "Don't go anywhere." And the way he said it, Duo wouldn't have moved even if the building was about to explode. He was excited and confused and happy and hopelessly in love and it was wreaking havoc on his hormones.

"Sakura." He heard Heero talking and tried to listen.

"HI! Did you forget? I was going to take Miyu to the movies!!"

"I remember." Ahh, the familiar clipped responses. He hadn't changed too much.

"Heero?" The woman questioned. "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Sakura, could I ask a favor of you?" /I take it back.../ Duo thought, /He has changed./

"Anything." Duo didn't like the way she said that.

"Can Miyu stay at your place tonight? She has her key so she can pick-up her stuff. I have some work to do so..." Duo felt his spirits lift, a little.

"Wakatta. Miyu can stay as long as she likes."

"Do you mind?" This, Duo felt, was directed to the girl.

"No. Just don't have too much fun without me."

"I'm doing work, baka." Their banter seemed to be like a brother and sister. He liked to think that Heero had changed enough to treat someone like a sister, because, it would be a smaller step to treat someone else, as something else....

"Hn. See you." There was a rustling, and Duo figured that they were hugging.

"See you tomorrow." The doors shut, and Heero appeared around the corner of the book shelf, a look of uncertainty on his face as if he still didn't believe in anything that was happening. "What are you doing here?" It was only slightly accusatory, and Duo took it as a good sign, considering he was the only one who had betrayed the other by running off with and wasting a good portion of time on a fling, which wasn't even that much.

"I came to see you." He heard a soft growl and he found himself remembering every time he had heard his friend make that impatient noise.

"I can see that. Why are you here, now?" Duo, didn't know the answer to that one. He shrugged and turned back to the book shelf, pretending to scan the shelves.

"Uhm. Well, I was over at Relena's and she said that you hadn't been there for a while, and I got curious and so I tracked you down and..." He kept his head bent.

"Baka. Shut up." It was all so familiar and he was so happy and relieved that he lost all feeling in the lower half of his body....except in one place, which he really wished had no feeling because he was going to be very embarrassed in a moment, if it didn't calm down.

"I missed you." He whispered.

*

TBC

standard disclaimers apply.