Chapter ten

Heero

I clung tighter to Duo even after he told me that he wasn't going anywhere. I didn't know why, it was not like I didn't believe him, or that there was some advantage in having him closer to me. It was just something that helped to ease the emotions running through me, almost as if I was taking some of his strength and using it to deal with my raging feelings, feelings that I was having some difficulty in sorting out.

Silently I contemplated my new revelation, why did I feel so different, so comfortable with Duo's arms about me? How could his touch be this different from that of Relena who I was supposedly attracted to? I sighed, raising my face from where I had pressed it into his chest in order to glance up at his face.

Duo

It was not long before Heero stopped crying, but as he made no attempt to move neither did I.

I smiled; this is what I had always wanted to do, to hold him close as he lay resting in my arms. I sighed, as I lay back against the pillow breathing in his unique sent of something wild & untameable mixed with gunpowder. An odd smell some may say, but those are the only words I could ever use to describe it, and honestly it fit him perfectly.

I relaxed my hold when I felt him shift, loosening my arms so that he would be able to pull away if he wanted to, but instead I felt his head move from where it had been laying against my chest. Curious, I tilted my head downwards only to find his fathomless cobalt pools studying me as intently as he used to study mission details.

I gulped as I wondered to myself, what is he thinking?

Heero

I looked up at my best friend, not just glancing over Duo as I usually did when I spoke to him, instead taking my time to pay attention to details.

I started at the base of his creamy white throat following the delicate curve of his slender neck upwards over his chin to look at his nearly heart-shaped face. My eyes traced the lines of his strong fine-boned nose and cheekbones, & followed the arches of copper eye-brows down to gaze into deep violet pools ringed with chestnut lashes as they peeped out from behind copper bangs. I dared not look at his lips, but I soon found out it did not matter, I could picture their sensual curves and light rose color. I gulped at the sudden longing to do more than just look at him, I wanted to reach up and bury one hand within the copper waterfall of his hair and taste the sweetness of his mouth.

Slowly I lowered my head once more, trembling as I admitted to myself for the first time ever that I thought my friend, that Duo, was beautiful.

Yet, what did this mean? Did I like Duo more? Better? Than I liked Relena, or was I just appreciating his beauty like one appreciates the beauty of a flower. I didn't know. I just couldn't figure out what these emotions were that had swelled within my breast as his arms once again tightened about me in a reassuring squeeze.

Was I interested in him? Was I bi-sexual?

I shook my head; this was not the time to be worrying about it as there were other far more important matters at hand. I could not let my family discover my connection to the Gundam pilots, not yet. I wasn't ready to deal with the emotional fall-out that that truth would bring.

Duo

"HEERO, DUO DINNER IS READY!!!" his mother called from downstairs. I sighed, reluctantly slipping my arms free from where they had been resting lightly against the base of Heero's spine.

"Come on Heero, we better go" I remarked. Seeing the evidence of his emotional outburst I ordered him to wait on the bed as I entered his on-suite bathroom to obtain a face cloth to wipe his tear-stained face.  I spared no time examining the finer details of his bathroom, simply took in the fact that it was white, with a wooden floor, and large tub before grabbing a navy face cloth, wetting it, and returning to where the object of my affections had manuvered himself into an upright position.

"There we go" I commented, daringly wiping at his face before his eyes narrowed in warning,

"Come on Duo, I can hear your stomach from here"

"Can NOT" I protested my outburst loosing all meaning as my stomach rumbled loudly.

 "Stupid thing" I muttered as I watched that knowing smirk appear on Heero's face as he stepped out of the room, not even waiting as he set off down the hall.

Jesh, not my fault I have a big appetite…

Heero

I entered the dining room with Duo following a few steps behind, a little surprised by the seating arrangement as I looked at the two empty chairs positioned directly across from each other.

"Heero!" Relena squealed smiling happily up at me. I felt a knot of guilt well up inside of me as I looked at her, my thoughts trailing back to the inner peace I'd felt in Duo's strong arms.

"Hey" I replied thinking that I should at least try to be civil, seeing as she was supposedly my girlfriend, and I had kicked her out of my room.

"So did you guys finish your work talk?" she asked innocently as I sat down beside her.

"Work?" I heard my father echo,

"Oh yes! Heero and Duo both work at…"

"Relena" I growled out a low warning, but unfortunately she continued,

"Preventors."

The room fell silent at the word, my gaze instantly shifting to my lap.  Everyone in the entire Earth-Sphere knew that only the retired soldiers worked in Preventors, as it was no place for someone who just wanted a paper-shuffling desk job.

A light touch of a foot against my leg caused me to look up, and straight into Duo's fathomless violet eyes radiating comfort. I took a deep shuddering breath as I turned my head to look at the shocked gazes of my parents.

"Really? You work at Preventors??" I heard my brother ask. I did not reply, just sat there watching the events as they unfolded around me. Relena's delighted smile, and shining eyes as she praised,

"But of course he works at Preventors. You must be so proud of him, I mean, since he saved the world twice and all"

I felt my breathing quicken, heard my blood pounding in my temples, and could do nothing more than gaze into Duo's deep violet eyes as he tried desperately to hide the worry that was clearly written in every line of his mobile face, as he gave me a comforting smile. Telling me in that single gesture that he like always, he had my back, and that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to me.

In that moment, I realised two things.

That my parents hadn't said anything,

and

That I most likely felt something more than friendship for my best friend.

A.N.

Putting this up, and typing more right after! Hee he.. IDEA FLOW!

~Galene