Assistants

Author's Note: Alright, I figure this is abominably late. I'm sorry... heheh. Schoolexams, computer failure... life isjust bad sometimes." I don't really dare make promises for the thirdinstallment, considering how LATE this is... but I'll try for a week?
Chapter Two: Tempestuous
At least he delivers on his promises, even if he makes them in an entirely stupid way, Heero reflected, flipping through the stacks of papers Duo had pressed into his hand at the end of the day before throwing him a flying kiss and leaving Heero.

Not a single mistake.

Duo flung an arm around Hilde's shoulders as they left the building. "What was with all those horror stories you was telling lil' ol' me about Yuy, Lady-O?" he asked. "It's a grouch, but it ain't all that bad."

Hilde swatted at Duo. "Quit the peasant brogue, Duo!" he laughed. "But really. Yuy isn't someone you want to cross. He could get a lot of us fired- we're just the grunts. He's the indispensable one, and the Institute would do a lot to keep him here. And so far, he has fired plenty."

"Maybe he was just entirely stunned by my astonishing good looks, then," Duo wisecracked, grinning down at the shorter girl. "Except for the fact that he had a problem with my dress code yesterday..."

Hilde's eyes widened. "I'm surprised you came back today."

"Wasn't too bad! I yelled at him, he yelled back, and I won. Simple."

"I should throw you a party. It'll be all over the newspapers tomorrow: Shinigami Battles Holy Terror Heero Yuy and Lives," Hilde joked. "But don't be too cocky," she warned. "Darlian was around for all of five hours."

"Yuy said that Darlian looked at him like he was a side of beef."

Hilde choked; laughing uncontrollably while Duo looked on in bemused amusement. "What? What's so funny?"

"The thought of anyone finding Yuy desirable! I'd rather go and sodomize a rock, Duo!" and she dissolved into fresh tears of laughter.

Well then, Hilde baby, I think I better not tell you I think the man's got a nice ass.

Everybody in the lab was breathing huge sighs of relief. This Duo Maxwell had lasted three days in Heero Yuy's lab so far- had even come out smiling and in one piece. Gossip about just why this untrained college student was the 'chosen first' was rife- the most common one being that he was pretty.

But others were quick to point out that the first assistant had been a pretty brunette male- and Yuy had promptly referred him to Menial Labor.

Actually, Duo was almost certain it was the fact that he wasn't afraid of Yuy. That he had barked and yelled and shouted at Yuy just as if the brunette scientist was another campus student. From what he had gathered from Hilde about the other five or so assistants, they had either been scared to death of Yuy, or looked at him 'like he was a side of beef'.

But of course, the others in the Institute didn't know this, and the gossip had gone so far as to suggest a sexual relationship between Duo and Yuy, though Hilde insisted that screwing Yuy would be like screwing a statue, or worse, a corpse. Upon which someone had promptly accused her of necrophilia.

The whole staff lounge suddenly went deadly silent as the object of their speculations waltzed into the room, an outrageous sashay in his step. "Hey!" he greeted exuberantly. "Where the coffee machine? I so need a pick-me-up..." he trailed off, stretching his arms over his head, shirt riding up to show skin stretched taut over a lean, perfect stomach.

Hilde grinned, reaching out and slapping his ass. Duo yelped and treated her to a kicked-puppy-dog look. "Hildeeeee. You're so abusive..." he mock-pouted. "Take pity on poor, innocent lil' me..."

"You? Innocent, Duo?" Hilde giggled. "Don't make me laugh," she told him. "You, Duo Maxwell, are so not part of the equation for innocence."

He paused at the door, each hand cradling one coffee cup. "There's a first time for everything, Hilde darling." He winked, and then he was out the door.

"Here. Hope I got your tastes in coffee right?" Duo asked, setting the Styrofoam cup down in front of Heero.

Heero looked up, eyeing Duo in surprise as Duo breezed his way back to his own desk. The smell that drifted over to Heero was strong, but it smelt of copious amounts of milk (and likely as not sugar) mixed in with the coffee. For himself, Heero preferred his coffee black without sugar- and it seemed like Maxwell had guessed correctly. After all, it kept him awake, and it helped him work.

"Seriously, Mr Yuy, I can't imagine how you live on that stuff," Duo threw over. However, Heero noticed the sound of rapid typing- those long, graceful fingers playing across the keyboard- never stopped.

"I've tried your type of coffee- the first- and last- time that happened I was attempting to revise for my exams... woke up with the hangover from hell. You should try something a little sweeter- I'll share a little of mine with you if you want?"

Heero idly noted that the green-tea scent recently hovering in his lab was definitely a Maxwell's-hair thing. For one, the scent intensified as Duo came nearer and held the cup to his lips. Heero held up one hand, ready to reject it, but Duo pushed the arm down with one fluid motion. Heero tilted his head back, ready to treat the brunette to another Death Glare ™, but Duo merely smiled blithely down at him. "Just try... one little sip for the first time... Heero."

The name was breathed low into his ear, a soft, languorous sound. The two syllables of his name, dragged out and pronounced in a way that was both sensual and provoking. On impulse, Heero let his hand close around the paler one already handling the cup; hard enough to mark the pale skin a pink tinge before it wriggled away, lithe and agile like its owner.

Heero hid an involuntary smirk by lifting the coffee cup to his lips.

A week. Half-serious plans were being made to celebrate- which largely involved ordering several large pizzas to the staff lounge- and congratulate Duo on lasting the longest as Heero Yuy's assistant. If they noticed that once or twice he slipped up and used 'Heero' in reference to Yuy, they made no overt mention of it. Nor did they talk much about the fact that Duo now carried two cups of milk coffee out of the room. Granted, one was unsweetened... but still...

Balancing a cup and Heero's slice of the pizza, Duo walked down the hallway to the corner laboratory that was Heero's. He'd never been in the adjacent suite of living quarters provided for Heero Yuy, who slept in the lab five nights out of four, but then again... nobody had.

Nudging the door open with his foot, Duo held back for the moment, just watching the picture that Heero made when he was hacking at the endless mountain of work. The brown bangs that would obscure vision would be shoved back every fifteen minutes or so by an impatient left hand, and the long legs were just placed there, unlike the way Duo sat- with his legs stretched out as far as the desk would permit.

Everything about Heero emphasized clean straight lines and his ruthless drive to do everything perfect, and then some. Everything about Heero emphasized his forceful personality- including the fingers that had closed round his hand. Duo involuntarily shuddered, then remembered that to back down in front of Yuy was the equivalent of suicide.

"Take a break, Heero, The work'll still be there tomorrow, you know."

"The point, Maxwell, is that the work'll still be there."

"The point, Heero, is that you don't have to work twenty-five-eight," Duo retorted, rolling his eyes. Ever since the coffee incident, Heero had suddenly relaxed- or at least relaxed sufficiently for Duo to call Heero by first name without getting killed.

Having no retort to that, Heero fell back on the customary "Hn."

One hand stretched out to take the slice of pizza- the other one stayed firmly on the keyboard, typing as fast as Duo typed double-handed. Duo shook his head in silent admiration. This guy is like a machine. Perfect.

"As your unofficial personal secretary, Mr Yuy, it is my sworn, solemn duty to inform you that you actually have to entertain a bunch of visiting scientists in regard to the development of the mobile suits. Sally Po specifically wants to talk to you about what kind of pilot will be necessary," Duo added. "In a-bout three hours. Sadly, before that you have to entertain a bunch of giggly college students who'll' all look at you like you're' a side of beef."

Heero grunted. "Hn."

"Can't we have more than a monosyllable from you for once?" Duo asked exasperatedly.

"No, actually."

Duo burst out laughing, and the tension dissolved. "You, Heero Yuy, are just impossible."

Duo mentally filed that particular look under 'Heero-about-to-go-on-homicidal-rampage'.

He also took careful note of the fact that Heero would probably snap the neck of the next dumb blonde who called him "Hee-chan... whoops, I mean Professor Yuy". Lips curling in a grimace, he carefully insinuated himself into their midst, slinging one arm around the shoulders of Dumb Blonde I and the other around Dumb Blonde II. "Ladies, Mr Yuy has a lot on his mind right now- there's an upcoming official visit in a short while." Winking at Dumb Blonde III, he said, "Come on. I'll give you ladies a tour of the labs."

'People' is seriously being far too kind for the likes of the Barbie clones, Heero thought to himself, sinking onto the chair and pillowing his head on his arms in a moment of weakness. Thank God for Duo Maxwell.

As Heero reopened his soon-to-be-made presentation and continued working, his thoughts somehow strayed to Duo Maxwell. The man never seemed to shut up- sometimes Heero thought that he had some kind of weird disease or something, though that was impossible. But at least Duo talked sense... and Duo had always been punctual and careful with work.

Of course, there was the other factor: that within a matter of days Duo had managed to insinuate himself into Heero's life- hell, everyone's life. His sheer force of personality was immensely likable.

And then Heero realized something that made him freeze in his tracks for a moment.

It was the first time he'd ever called anyone by first name, even in thought.

Duo carefully draped himself over the seat, turning to Heero with a half-dead look on his face. "They killed half my brain cells- not to mention my braid!" Duo whined, inspecting his braid mournfully, poking the bits where it was coming undone, clearly having suffered the mauling of Dumb Blondes I through to XII. "Ne, Heero, rebraid it for me?"

Heero paused. "What?" he said incredulously.

"Please please please?" Duo begged, hopping over to Heero and bestowing the puppy-eyed look on him. "I did save you from homicide charges... and braiding's really simple! Just separate the hair into three sections and weave under the middle one! Please please please..."

"Hn," Heero muttered, cutting into Duo's babble. "If only to shut you up, Maxwell."

Duo grinned at him and promptly flopped down into the chair, nudging Heero's legs apart and sitting between them. Digging into a pocket, he pulled out a brush and handed it to Heero. "Here. Comb it before the Blondie germs ruin me and my lovely hair."

Heero's rolled eyes were lost on Duo as Heero pulled the elastic band off the tail end of the braid, slowly unraveling it. The spice scent began to intensify as the chestnut came free to fall down a lean back in waves, caused both naturally and by the days spent conforming to a braid.

Soft was the first adjective that popped into Heero's mind as he ran brush and fingers through the brown waterfall, resisting the strange urge to bury his nose in the other man's hair and breathe in the sheer sense of Duo. Tentatively, he began to braid, stopping for a moment to ask, "You'll tell me if I do anything wrong- if I hurt you?"

Duo's amazed blink was similarly lost on Heero too, but the note of pleased surprise was not. "I didn't know you cared."

Heero shrugged. "Now you do."

As he threaded his fingers through the hair, Heero brushed the back of Duo's neck. Something similar to electric shock blazed through his arm, and from the sudden shudder that pulsed through Duo, the longhaired man had felt it too. The same sensation that had passed between them the first time they had made contact, in what Heero had come to think of as the coffee incident.

Heero soon found the correct method and slipped into the easy rhythm of over under over under, enjoying how the strands of hair felt, pooled in his lap and all over his fingers, Duo bent slightly forward to give him space to tie the braid.

For once, Duo was silent, sitting against Heero as he was. In a flash of insight, Heero spoke into Duo's ear. "You prefer to be looking at someone when you speak to them. Am I right?"

"You, Heero Yuy, are impossible," Duo drawled, dragging out the last word. "How'd hell did you figure that out?"

The motion of Heero shrugging moved as a relaxing of tense muscles in the Japanese man's body, movement that Duo could feel as the firm muscles relented their wound-up tautness. The thighs were the last to go lax, and flesh brushed flesh. Even through the layers of cloth, Duo could feel Heero pressed against him, and he wondered what those thighs, not to mention the rest of that gorgeous body would feel like, bare and pressed down on Duo…

Chill, Duo, he reprimanded himself sharply. Fantasizing about your employer is the best way to get you fired...

Still, he couldn't help but bite back a groan as Heero's fingers caressed the small of his back, brushing the top of his pants lightly. He breathed deeply, willing his body to listen to his brain. I will not be aroused by the gorgeous scientist right behind me, playing with- well, technically braiding, but who cares- with my hair...

Heero's voice broke into his failed attempt at self-control. "Done."

Duo whirled off his lap, picking up the braid and pulling it forward to inspect it. "Hey, not bad for a first time!" he exclaimed, beaming at Heero. "Thanks a lot!"

Duo found the sound Heero made as he received Duo's peck on the cheek highly satisfying.

The silence in the air was audibly pregnant. The other co-workers in the laboratory scurried about their work, not daring to say anything whatsoever, instead giving each other looks that screamed I told you so.

The aftermath of the quarrel that had driven Duo through the front door hollering behind him, "I FUCKING QUIT, YUY, I FUCKING QUIT!" had left everyone quivering and shooting apprehensive glances at the door that hid the form of Heero Yuy behind it.

No one knew just what had happened... just a while ago everything had been fine and dandy, peachy-keen. And then the visitors had showed up, left, and the next thing they knew even the soundproof walls of the lab wasn't enough to hold back the sound of the two men having one hell of a screaming match.

What was frightening was that Yuy had been yelling too. No one else in the lab had seen that cool, collected, cold demeanor shatter yet. When Yuy was mad, Yuy glared at you, made a cutting remark or two, mostly drove you to the point of tears. As a rule of thumb he did not have screaming matches with you.

And that was just plain scary.

Author's Notes: Do I say anything else? Review! Just so you know, this story was dissected into three chapters, so this is the second-last installment, technically speaking. Therefore... review? Please?