Title: The Spice of Life
Warnings: Yaoi, Lemon, one or two cases of profane language, and the
almighty 1x2! That's not a warning.it's.preeetty @_@
Disclaimer: Do I *HAVE* to? *Puppy dog eyes* Oh alright.I don't..o.oo..own.
*Nervous breakdown*
SI: I'm starting to have second thoughts about the lemon bit.hm.it seems out of place. I'll see how it goes, it's not really necessary. I COULD just add a bit of almighty sap/fluff and leave it at that, which I'd be happy to do. I liiiiike fluff...heeee...^.~ It's in the middle of the night in a Swedish port in a little motorboat, in which I'm sleeping on a bed created from a table. oO; Oh the joys of a summer holiday. Except.no internet. I'm -deprived- of it. Horrible, eh? Heh.but anywho, enough about that. Here's the fic for you ^^
Heero woke at exactly six AM on the following day, which he within one second of gaining consciousness registered as being Wednesday. Casting a quick glance at the digital alarm clock situated on his left on a small wooden bed-side-table,as he habitually did upon waking, he noted the time for himself, and gave a curt not in acknowledgement of the readings displayed there. It gave him until seven to be at work, which was all the time Heero needed to prepare himself for the daily activities and travel the distance to his office.
Heero's room was nothing for show, a mere 'box' with the things that he needed, and one door leading outwards and another into a small bathroom. A wiry old army camping bed -in the daytime, always immaculately made- and it's companion table stood in the farthest corner, opposite of which was a dresser so plain and simple it looked to have been made by a very unimaginative person. A rickety chair, it's light blue paint fading and on the verge of peeling in several places, held his uniform and acted as roof for his always-shining boots. The walls were a very light creamy white, with an angular roof dappled with water intrusions here and there an old mixed blue rug spread straight on the floor. But however small his room might have been, and boring to a person who enjoys variety in their furniture, it was one to beat many. A plainly massive window looked out upon the various roofs of shorter houses, an array of multicolored tiles sometimes glazed thickly with varnish. It was large enough to encompass the stretch of open horizon beyond this human settlement, and facing towards what to many was known as "The Land of the Rising Sun", every morning was a mind-blowing spectacle of black fading slowly and with much dramatic shifting of color to include the most amazing of golds, to the pale blue it took on during the day. It put truth into the phrase 'A sight for sore eyes'.
But Heero, exiting the room before six fifteen, never stayed long enough to experience this theatrical moment of natures wonder, stuck in his ongoing routine as he was. He was simply comfortable with his regular activities, and saw nothing wrong with following it as planned each morning, every day as it came. What use was there in changing a good schedule if you lived well by it? It seemed beyond reason to him, to obscure an entire day in such a way. Spontaneous wasn't a word often linked with Heero's behavior, nor was social. People often experienced him as withdrawn and unusually quiet, which lead to the assumption that he was always unpleasantly cyborg- like. Which wasn't in itself true to a 100% accuracy, Heero was as human as anyone, simply not the outgoing type. Maybe he was cold, but that was simply because he didn't overuse language, waste time with expression or emphasis, nor did he particularly like conversations or people particularly much. Then again, people do tend to think members of the army are harsh people, which Heero himself cared little for. They could make their assumptions, it didn't affect his world. Life's finery never interested this soldier much either, and he was much content in his ways. If you can get on without something and not miss it, then so be it. Accustomed and worked into following a schedule gave him comfort, the rules and regulations imposed on him through work and regulated life made sure he never suffered any unnecessary loops and swings in his living. Secure. He was secure, and liked it. If 'liked' wasn't the right word, at least he'd never really had any life-changing cravings for anything else.
Completing his early morning activities consisting of brushing his teeth and donning his uniform - His hair, even if he'd wanted to do anything with it, was left untouched with the typical just-out-of-bed style to it - and as the rim of gold began intensifying to start it's performance, he was closing the door and shuffling towards the kitchen for breakfast. And so once again without realizing it, he'd left his free ticket to natures demonstration behind. His now spotless and tidy room, made so in the space between brushing his teeth and getting dressed, was the only ungrateful audience.
Breakfast passed as it usually did with the slightly dog-eared newspaper and a cup of steaming coffee, and the locking up of the ancient door and it's splash of modern technology was earlier than expected. This wasn't something extreme, coming early never was a problem, and happened quite often in the case of Heero. Something that annoyed the doorman to no end, when he was disturbed mid-way to his breakfast to open the door to the office for the 'Earlybird Yuy' as he was harshly crowned one morning. It gave Heero time to stretch his legs with a slight short-cut (Short cuts never work, and always end up being longer than the usual road, hence he took a supposed 'short cut' to get the most out of his walk to work.)
Strolling with his hands resting in his pockets, he made his way through the busy market place in his preferred silence. Everyone around him was making noise enough for two German armies, and so there was no need to utter as much as a word. Stands were being set up and people were cheerfully discussing today's business forecast and praised the weather with jovial laughter interjected into their conversations. Despite the early hour, women and their children were outside buying the eggs for the breakfast omelet, and a few cups of coffee sent a heavy scent into the air from where they were held in the hands of latecomers to the square as they hurriedly set up their businesses for the day.
His shoulder collided softly with one almost level with his in a particularly busy area, and he muttered a quick apology. His eyes shifted in time to see the end of a long braid sweeping past his leg. Heero opened his mouth to say something, recognizing the braid as belonging to the man he'd met yesterday on buying his black pepper for that week. Something prompted him to say hello at least, or nod his head in greeting. It was rare that he met anyone who actually knew him in town, despite having lived there for what seemed ages. People recognized him, and he got his fair share of smiles and respectful nods as he passed down the roads, which he returned. But not being the extremely social person, it wasn't as if people launched on him and chattered away madly every time they saw him. But he didn't as much as have to finish the 90 degree turn he was in the middle of before his friend had whipped around and flashed him a wide smile that crinkled his large eyes slightly, on identification.
"Morning! Didn't expect to see you here, how's your head?" he asked, imitating Heero's pose of propping his hands into his pockets, except his head was cocked to the side and he was smiling widely as he waited for the reply. A light wind was kind enough to blow his bangs out of his eyes, toying with his braid that swung freely along his back. His dark blue jacket puffed up slightly as another gust caught the cloth. Heero smiled back and nodded a 'Good Morning' in return, explaining with a word limit of ten that he had escaped home early today and was taking a 'short cut' through the marketplace, and that his head was fine. Of course, he used detour to describe the route he'd taken, being as proper with his speaking as he could. After all, English classes were meant for something, weren't they?
"Aa.so.you work over at the army base, right?" At Heeros short nod, Duo was a bit lost on what to say to continue and draw out the conversation a bit. He liked the company of Heero, even though he'd only experienced a precious bit of it, and didn't want him to leave so soon. But being a man of many words, he picked a random topic floating about in the air and continued on.
"I don't usually work here," Duo indicated with his head to the busy assemblage of people and stalls they were in the middle of, unable to help himself from grinning in a pleased manner at being surrounded by it, "But I know the lady whose spice stall that is, so when she fell ill I offered to take care of it for her. Poor thing, she's really nice and all, but a bit old to be doing very much," He finished off, unsure what the expression on Heero's face meant. But he lightened up at the acknowledging nod, indicating Heero was indeed listening with interest at his little chattering session. He was all set on continuing, but when he glanced quickly at his watch and then looked to the people that were obviously approaching the stall he was meant to be tending with some resentment. Smiling apologetically at Heero he withdrew his hands from his pockets and heaved a sigh, coupled with a sarcastic rolling of his eyes.
"Day's work begins I suppose, better get going or the old lady won't be too happy with my services," he swiped an strand of hair causing annoyance to his eye away from the area," even though I am doing it for free."
Heero nodded, deciding that he too should probably be on his way. Once again he felt it would be too rude to just snap around and continue on his way, and so unsurely he waited for Duo to do it instead. Though that felt slightly rude as well, he wasn't the most experienced with bumping into people on his way to work, and so had an excuse for not being very advanced in the social rituals of everyday life.
"So, ah, I'll see you," Duo said and upon being shouted to from the stall from several potential customers that time was running short and the sun was setting he was forced to turn his back and began running towards his work place. Heero, a bit disappointed at the hasty good bye but of course thinking nothing of it, also turned and began a slow pace towards his office. It was still quite a walk, and he'd better hurry if he wanted to be painfully early as usual. Duo turned around and skipped backwards several times, on the verge of saying something but changing his mind at the last second again as he watched Heero make melt into the crowds. The little spinning and turning dance-like run continued until he was halfway to his destination when he finally got a grip on himself and paused to shout out.
"Hey, Heero!"
Heero stopped mid-step and turned around, an eyebrow raised curiously. Had Duo not been so far off he'd have glimpsed the unmistakable look of anticipation on Heero's face. Duo hesitated, unsure of what he should say. It was only when he realized Heero might be out of hearing range soon that he'd decided to blurt out something equivalent to a 'PS' message at the end of a letter that changed the whole content of the text. He had no clue what he was going to say, until he was hit by a sudden brainwave the consisted of nothing more than the smell of black pepper.
"Come by after work?" he heard himself say with all the normal confidence his voice usually contained, despite the short notice at which a reason for alerting Heero had to be conjured. As a matter of fact, he had no idea why he'd asked him to stop by at the end of the day. Duo groaned internally, knowing that he'd make a fool of himself when the time arrived, no doubt.
Heero was a bit stricken, this being almost the same thing as being asked to 'come and visit some day', a phrase he often heard around the town when people conversed to each other. And frankly, he'd never have considered himself a target for the question. Nevertheless, he nodded, and Duo's dolphin-wide smile of obvious happiness rubbed off considerably on him.
"Great! Be seein' you!"
And he was off and gone in the throng of people bustling around in the daily process of events, to see to the gathering of customers who gave him soft glares at his tardiness, that were wiped as soon as the smiling entity that was the spice stall vendor arrived and flashed them an apologetic grin. Heero was left with an odd sense of contentment about the way in which the start of his day unfolded, and the effect lasted through its entirety. From when he turned once more to with a bemused expression head through the market square towards the direction of work, to when he closed the last file on his computer, exiting the now dark office building. He was the last to leave, as usual, and did his duty of flicking off the main light switch on his way out. The doorman muttered quiet curses as he locked the door after Heero had left. Over the years, had grown to deeply loathe him.
A/N: Haven't written for ages I know, I'm VERY sorry about that. ^^ Anywho's, here we are, new chapter. XD
SI: I'm starting to have second thoughts about the lemon bit.hm.it seems out of place. I'll see how it goes, it's not really necessary. I COULD just add a bit of almighty sap/fluff and leave it at that, which I'd be happy to do. I liiiiike fluff...heeee...^.~ It's in the middle of the night in a Swedish port in a little motorboat, in which I'm sleeping on a bed created from a table. oO; Oh the joys of a summer holiday. Except.no internet. I'm -deprived- of it. Horrible, eh? Heh.but anywho, enough about that. Here's the fic for you ^^
Heero woke at exactly six AM on the following day, which he within one second of gaining consciousness registered as being Wednesday. Casting a quick glance at the digital alarm clock situated on his left on a small wooden bed-side-table,as he habitually did upon waking, he noted the time for himself, and gave a curt not in acknowledgement of the readings displayed there. It gave him until seven to be at work, which was all the time Heero needed to prepare himself for the daily activities and travel the distance to his office.
Heero's room was nothing for show, a mere 'box' with the things that he needed, and one door leading outwards and another into a small bathroom. A wiry old army camping bed -in the daytime, always immaculately made- and it's companion table stood in the farthest corner, opposite of which was a dresser so plain and simple it looked to have been made by a very unimaginative person. A rickety chair, it's light blue paint fading and on the verge of peeling in several places, held his uniform and acted as roof for his always-shining boots. The walls were a very light creamy white, with an angular roof dappled with water intrusions here and there an old mixed blue rug spread straight on the floor. But however small his room might have been, and boring to a person who enjoys variety in their furniture, it was one to beat many. A plainly massive window looked out upon the various roofs of shorter houses, an array of multicolored tiles sometimes glazed thickly with varnish. It was large enough to encompass the stretch of open horizon beyond this human settlement, and facing towards what to many was known as "The Land of the Rising Sun", every morning was a mind-blowing spectacle of black fading slowly and with much dramatic shifting of color to include the most amazing of golds, to the pale blue it took on during the day. It put truth into the phrase 'A sight for sore eyes'.
But Heero, exiting the room before six fifteen, never stayed long enough to experience this theatrical moment of natures wonder, stuck in his ongoing routine as he was. He was simply comfortable with his regular activities, and saw nothing wrong with following it as planned each morning, every day as it came. What use was there in changing a good schedule if you lived well by it? It seemed beyond reason to him, to obscure an entire day in such a way. Spontaneous wasn't a word often linked with Heero's behavior, nor was social. People often experienced him as withdrawn and unusually quiet, which lead to the assumption that he was always unpleasantly cyborg- like. Which wasn't in itself true to a 100% accuracy, Heero was as human as anyone, simply not the outgoing type. Maybe he was cold, but that was simply because he didn't overuse language, waste time with expression or emphasis, nor did he particularly like conversations or people particularly much. Then again, people do tend to think members of the army are harsh people, which Heero himself cared little for. They could make their assumptions, it didn't affect his world. Life's finery never interested this soldier much either, and he was much content in his ways. If you can get on without something and not miss it, then so be it. Accustomed and worked into following a schedule gave him comfort, the rules and regulations imposed on him through work and regulated life made sure he never suffered any unnecessary loops and swings in his living. Secure. He was secure, and liked it. If 'liked' wasn't the right word, at least he'd never really had any life-changing cravings for anything else.
Completing his early morning activities consisting of brushing his teeth and donning his uniform - His hair, even if he'd wanted to do anything with it, was left untouched with the typical just-out-of-bed style to it - and as the rim of gold began intensifying to start it's performance, he was closing the door and shuffling towards the kitchen for breakfast. And so once again without realizing it, he'd left his free ticket to natures demonstration behind. His now spotless and tidy room, made so in the space between brushing his teeth and getting dressed, was the only ungrateful audience.
Breakfast passed as it usually did with the slightly dog-eared newspaper and a cup of steaming coffee, and the locking up of the ancient door and it's splash of modern technology was earlier than expected. This wasn't something extreme, coming early never was a problem, and happened quite often in the case of Heero. Something that annoyed the doorman to no end, when he was disturbed mid-way to his breakfast to open the door to the office for the 'Earlybird Yuy' as he was harshly crowned one morning. It gave Heero time to stretch his legs with a slight short-cut (Short cuts never work, and always end up being longer than the usual road, hence he took a supposed 'short cut' to get the most out of his walk to work.)
Strolling with his hands resting in his pockets, he made his way through the busy market place in his preferred silence. Everyone around him was making noise enough for two German armies, and so there was no need to utter as much as a word. Stands were being set up and people were cheerfully discussing today's business forecast and praised the weather with jovial laughter interjected into their conversations. Despite the early hour, women and their children were outside buying the eggs for the breakfast omelet, and a few cups of coffee sent a heavy scent into the air from where they were held in the hands of latecomers to the square as they hurriedly set up their businesses for the day.
His shoulder collided softly with one almost level with his in a particularly busy area, and he muttered a quick apology. His eyes shifted in time to see the end of a long braid sweeping past his leg. Heero opened his mouth to say something, recognizing the braid as belonging to the man he'd met yesterday on buying his black pepper for that week. Something prompted him to say hello at least, or nod his head in greeting. It was rare that he met anyone who actually knew him in town, despite having lived there for what seemed ages. People recognized him, and he got his fair share of smiles and respectful nods as he passed down the roads, which he returned. But not being the extremely social person, it wasn't as if people launched on him and chattered away madly every time they saw him. But he didn't as much as have to finish the 90 degree turn he was in the middle of before his friend had whipped around and flashed him a wide smile that crinkled his large eyes slightly, on identification.
"Morning! Didn't expect to see you here, how's your head?" he asked, imitating Heero's pose of propping his hands into his pockets, except his head was cocked to the side and he was smiling widely as he waited for the reply. A light wind was kind enough to blow his bangs out of his eyes, toying with his braid that swung freely along his back. His dark blue jacket puffed up slightly as another gust caught the cloth. Heero smiled back and nodded a 'Good Morning' in return, explaining with a word limit of ten that he had escaped home early today and was taking a 'short cut' through the marketplace, and that his head was fine. Of course, he used detour to describe the route he'd taken, being as proper with his speaking as he could. After all, English classes were meant for something, weren't they?
"Aa.so.you work over at the army base, right?" At Heeros short nod, Duo was a bit lost on what to say to continue and draw out the conversation a bit. He liked the company of Heero, even though he'd only experienced a precious bit of it, and didn't want him to leave so soon. But being a man of many words, he picked a random topic floating about in the air and continued on.
"I don't usually work here," Duo indicated with his head to the busy assemblage of people and stalls they were in the middle of, unable to help himself from grinning in a pleased manner at being surrounded by it, "But I know the lady whose spice stall that is, so when she fell ill I offered to take care of it for her. Poor thing, she's really nice and all, but a bit old to be doing very much," He finished off, unsure what the expression on Heero's face meant. But he lightened up at the acknowledging nod, indicating Heero was indeed listening with interest at his little chattering session. He was all set on continuing, but when he glanced quickly at his watch and then looked to the people that were obviously approaching the stall he was meant to be tending with some resentment. Smiling apologetically at Heero he withdrew his hands from his pockets and heaved a sigh, coupled with a sarcastic rolling of his eyes.
"Day's work begins I suppose, better get going or the old lady won't be too happy with my services," he swiped an strand of hair causing annoyance to his eye away from the area," even though I am doing it for free."
Heero nodded, deciding that he too should probably be on his way. Once again he felt it would be too rude to just snap around and continue on his way, and so unsurely he waited for Duo to do it instead. Though that felt slightly rude as well, he wasn't the most experienced with bumping into people on his way to work, and so had an excuse for not being very advanced in the social rituals of everyday life.
"So, ah, I'll see you," Duo said and upon being shouted to from the stall from several potential customers that time was running short and the sun was setting he was forced to turn his back and began running towards his work place. Heero, a bit disappointed at the hasty good bye but of course thinking nothing of it, also turned and began a slow pace towards his office. It was still quite a walk, and he'd better hurry if he wanted to be painfully early as usual. Duo turned around and skipped backwards several times, on the verge of saying something but changing his mind at the last second again as he watched Heero make melt into the crowds. The little spinning and turning dance-like run continued until he was halfway to his destination when he finally got a grip on himself and paused to shout out.
"Hey, Heero!"
Heero stopped mid-step and turned around, an eyebrow raised curiously. Had Duo not been so far off he'd have glimpsed the unmistakable look of anticipation on Heero's face. Duo hesitated, unsure of what he should say. It was only when he realized Heero might be out of hearing range soon that he'd decided to blurt out something equivalent to a 'PS' message at the end of a letter that changed the whole content of the text. He had no clue what he was going to say, until he was hit by a sudden brainwave the consisted of nothing more than the smell of black pepper.
"Come by after work?" he heard himself say with all the normal confidence his voice usually contained, despite the short notice at which a reason for alerting Heero had to be conjured. As a matter of fact, he had no idea why he'd asked him to stop by at the end of the day. Duo groaned internally, knowing that he'd make a fool of himself when the time arrived, no doubt.
Heero was a bit stricken, this being almost the same thing as being asked to 'come and visit some day', a phrase he often heard around the town when people conversed to each other. And frankly, he'd never have considered himself a target for the question. Nevertheless, he nodded, and Duo's dolphin-wide smile of obvious happiness rubbed off considerably on him.
"Great! Be seein' you!"
And he was off and gone in the throng of people bustling around in the daily process of events, to see to the gathering of customers who gave him soft glares at his tardiness, that were wiped as soon as the smiling entity that was the spice stall vendor arrived and flashed them an apologetic grin. Heero was left with an odd sense of contentment about the way in which the start of his day unfolded, and the effect lasted through its entirety. From when he turned once more to with a bemused expression head through the market square towards the direction of work, to when he closed the last file on his computer, exiting the now dark office building. He was the last to leave, as usual, and did his duty of flicking off the main light switch on his way out. The doorman muttered quiet curses as he locked the door after Heero had left. Over the years, had grown to deeply loathe him.
A/N: Haven't written for ages I know, I'm VERY sorry about that. ^^ Anywho's, here we are, new chapter. XD