Author's note:
This one shot fic follows on from 'SKoW' but I guess it could be read as a stand alone. Any warnings? Yeah, it contains a little limey goodness and some sap…
I thought I'd also take this opportunity to address some reviews (and vent my spleen):
Frenchwine – Thanks for the curb/kerb comment. You really want to think twice before pressing the review button in future (if that's all you've got to say), because if you were trying to look clever then you've failed. 'Kerb' is the British English spelling, and since I'm BRITISH then I'm going to spell that way. It really riles me that some people assume that everyone here is American. Do I have to start adding my nationality as a warning so I don't get people trying to make me look stupid? I'd have written to you personally butyou left your 'review' (in the loosest possible sense of the word) anonymously…
Zombie Hamster – I agree with you entirely about the 'rushed' ending and I'm not at all insulted by your comments. It is the way it is because I wanted to stay completely true to the film (which also rushes it). I just hope the epilogue and this little sequel appeases you a little!
And to everyone else – Thankyou and Merry Christmas!
Some Kind of DevotionFor a brief moment, Duo could have sworn that the minute hand was moving backwards as his eyes flicked continuously back and forth between his computer screen and the wall-mounted clock. He was on his twentieth game of Minesweeper at his computer terminal in the stiflingly hot offices of Miller Incorporated; a packaging company located only a mile or so from his old high school that he had graduated from (just barely) last summer. His boss, a rude and repulsive man by the name of Mr Jackson, entered the room suddenly and Duo quickly minimised the game board and pretended to look busy. Mr Jackson was a large, unhealthy looking man, whose face often glowed with the exertion of heaving his large frame around. In the un-air conditioned office, the man was perspiring heavily and looked none to pleased to see Duo.
"Maxwell!" he barked, "Where the hell are those figures I asked you for yesterday?"
Duly, Duo waved the necessary piece of paper in his face.
"I brought them to you yesterday but you said you were too busy to look at them and I should piss off sharpish if I wanted to keep my job," he replied, smiling sweetly.
The older man scowled and snatched the piece of paper from the braided teen before turning around and stomping to his office. As the door banged shut behind him, Duo let out an audible sigh. At least now the corpulent misery had gone he could get back to thinking about his favourite distraction…
Heero Yuy was currently three hour's drive away from Duo's place of work, at the prestigious Jefferson's art college. He returned home to see his longhaired boyfriend and his wonderful group of friends almost every weekend but Duo was still missing him badly, despite them following this routine for almost a full academic year. He hated Heero being away from him, but Duo was well aware that a place at Jefferson's was a once in a lifetime opportunity for his talented significant other.
Duo was out of the door before the minute hand had reached the hour. He jogged down the many flights of stairs and out to his car, elated that another working day was over. Relieved to find that the clapped out Mini started first time, he threw it into gear and sped out of the car park towards town. Knowing he was going to meet his beloved after an entire week apart, Duo couldn't help but burst into song, his rough yet tuneful voice accompanying the singer on the radio.
You can't hurry love,
No you just have to wait,
'Cause love don't come easy,
No it's a game of give and take.
When he stopped at some traffic lights, he glanced left to see two girls in the car next to him, giggling at his enthusiastic performance. Never one to be embarrassed, Duo flashed them a wide grin before flooring the pedal and shooting forward as soon as the lights began to change.
He reached the mall in record time, throwing the car into a parking space and jumping out, not bothering to lock the vehicle. As an afterthought he crouched down, peering into the almost decapitated wing mirror to check his reflection. 'Nice, Maxwell, nice' he thought to himself as he headed for the pre-arranged meeting point. He reached Oz's diner several minutes later and quickly spotted his friends seated at their usual table, consuming a variety of milkshakes and ice cream desserts. As he headed through the café, he did a quick head count and frowned at the result of his mental arithmetic. Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, Sally and Relena… but no Heero.
The natural optimist in him reasoned that the Japanese boy must be in the bathroom but his overriding feeling was that Heero wasn't there at all.
"Hey, guys," he grinned as he dropped into the seat next to Relena. "Where's Heero?"
In the midst of the various greetings, Quatre replied: "Didn't you get his message?"
Duo shook his head, his heart sinking. "What message?"
"He called you at work to say he was having to stay at Jefferson's this weekend to work on a display for the autumn festival. Your boss answered but wouldn't put him through to you so Heero rang me just in case he didn't pass the message on."
"He didn't," Duo muttered glumly.
Seeing the braided boy's unhappy face, Relena passed him the double chocolate milkshake they had ordered for him prior to his arrival.
"Don't worry, Duo," she said reassuringly, "I'm sure he'll make an extra effort to be home next weekend."
Offering her a brief yet grateful smile, he started on his favourite drink with uncharacteristic slowness.
"It's not fair," he complained suddenly, before the conversation could change tack. "Heero doesn't pay me any attention any more. He's so busy with his la-di-dah art friends. He doesn't need me now."
His assembled companions exchanged concerned glances as they watched him suck on the straw, more aggressively this time.
"Why don't you do something to surprise him?" Quatre said suddenly after a moment's pause.
Violet eyes looked up, his interest piqued. "Like what?"
"I don't know," Quatre replied, looking at the others for inspiration.
"Why don't you write him a love letter?" Sally said, pushing her finished dessert away from her. "That should remind him just how you feel."
Duo nodded thoughtfully, liking the idea. "I think I'll send it anonymously too," he said, smiling happily.
Locating a pen and paper from a passing waitress, Duo became unusually silent as he poured his heart out onto the page. He left out their names, although he knew that Heero would instantly know whom it was from.
"Okay done," he said finally as he folded the letter in two, smiling broadly until his face suddenly fell. "Oh no!" he cried, frustrated, "I don't have his address or an envelope."
"Here, give it to me," Relena said kindly "I've got his address written down somewhere and I have a reading list to send to someone so I'll post it for you later."
"Okay", he said, pausing before he handed the note over, "but you're not to read it."
"Guide's honour," she said smiling as she jokingly saluted at him. Satisfied that she would keep her word, Duo handed over the love letter, blushing slightly.
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Two days later, Duo was waiting patiently for the phone to ring. Mr Jackson was out of the office for the day so he knew he would be able to speak to his handsome boyfriend should he ring; and he should, Duo reasoned, because he would definitely have received the letter by now. When lunchtime had been and gone and still no phone call, Duo was starting to get frustrated. Worried that Mr Jackson could return at any time, Duo eventually decided to pick up the phone and call Heero for himself. It answered on the fourth ring.
"Yuy speaking."
"Heero, it's me!"
"Oh hey, Duo," Heero replied, sounding genuinely pleased. "How are you?"
"I'm good, and you?"
"Also good."
Silence. Heero hadn't mentioned the letter as Duo had expected.
"Er, Duo? Not that it's not great to hear from you but did you ring for any reason?"
"Um… er… no, not really," the braided boy stammered, unusually lost for words.
"Okay, well can I ring you back later? I was just on my way to class."
"Er, Heero?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you um… get any post this morning?"
"Uh yeah…" came the confused reply.
"And?"
"And, I'm not sure why I'd need a reading list for Psychological Perspectives class."
Duo frowned, before realisation dawned and he slapped his hand to his head. Relena must have sent the wrong letter!
"Yeah… that is weird," he agreed, trying to sound casual. "Okay well, I gotta go too. See you later."
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At Oz's later that day, Duo sat almost obscured by the large ice cream sundae that Relena had bought for him by way of an apology. He was unable to be annoyed with her, as the mistake had been genuine.
"Look on the bright side," Wufei said, grinning manically. "At least it got Relena a date."
The blonde girl blushed as she recalled how the boy she had accidentally sent the love letter to had believed it to be from her and admitted that he liked her too. As she had in fact been attracted to him before the letter fiasco, she'd been more than happy to accept his invitation to dinner.
"Yeah well," Duo said glumly as he toyed with the long-necked spoon, "it still doesn't help me with the Heero situation."
"Why don't…" Wufei said slowly as he formulated the plan in his mind, "you try and get a place at Jefferson's yourself?"
The others looked at the Chinese boy like he'd grown a second head.
"Well, you like drawing and you're always going on about how much you hate your job…"
"I draw mecha characters, Wufei," Duo said, raising an eyebrow quizzically.
"It's still art!" Wufei argued, looking a little put out that the others didn't like his plan.
As the conversation moved onto other things, Duo remained thoughtful. He did hate his job and he would be closer to Heero…
And so, after a particularly harsh and undeserved telling off from Mr Jackson the following day, Duo found himself ringing Jefferson's admissions department, determined to win himself a place.
"Okay, Mr Maxwell," the crisp voice at the other end of the phone said pleasantly. "We'll look forward to seeing you and your portfolio tomorrow."
It was only as the phone had gone dead that Duo snapped out of his daze and muttered: "Portfolio?"
The next day, after feigning sickness to a livid Mr Jackson, Duo found himself sat in front of the large mahogany desk of the dean of admissions. A tall, austere looking lady with large owlish eyes, she looked none too impressed by Duo's collection of drawings, one of which was sketched on the back of a paper fast food restaurant place mat.
"Well, Mr Maxwell…"
"It's Duo please."
The solemn looking lady removed her glasses and looked at him squarely.
"Well… Duo," she said, testing his unusual name out loud as if she wasn't entirely sure it was his real name. "I'm not sure your um… work is what we're looking for right now."
Duo raised an eyebrow, acutely aware that he was being patronised.
"It's manga," he said flatly. "It's huge in Japan."
The woman continued to look unimpressed, big in Japan or not.
"Gundam X? Cowboy Bebop? Akira?"
"I don't know any of those… things," she said flatly giving him a disdainful stare.
"No offence, Ms Patrick," Duo said, folding his arms across his chest, "but what you don't know could probably fill a warehouse."
It was fair to say that he left her office with a less than zero chance of being offered a place at the prestigious art school.
As he recounted what had happened at his interview later on that evening, the others were unable to look at him for several long moments as they fought for breath from laughing so hard.
"That's priceless, Maxwell!" Wufei gasped as he wiped away a tear. "Did you really say that to her?"
Duo nodded glumly as he stood up to bowl. One rather half-hearted strike later, the braided boy returned to his seat to find Quatre and Trowa grinning at him broadly.
"Where are the others?" Duo asked, looking around.
"Gone to get some drinks," Trowa replied, still grinning.
Duo frowned at them both suspiciously. "What?"
"We've thought of a plan for you to surprise Heero but it's a bit risky."
"Will it get him to notice me?"
"I'll say," Quatre replied, trying to stifle a giggle.
"Then I'll do it."
The two boys then proceeded to explain their plan in the fullest detail, which involved some sodium tetrasulphate, a large expanse of grass and an evening of hard graft. Trowa explained how he had helped his sister Catherine do the same thing to attract the attention of a rather lively young man who was part of a travelling circus troupe. It had worked, Trowa said smiling confidently; the young man was now his brother-in-law. Knowing that he was following a tried and tested plan, Duo's eyes twinkled with renewed hope. This couldn't fail.
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Several hours later after gathering the necessary tools, the black clad figure climbed over the perimeter wall of Jefferson's art college and dropped silently into the grounds. With his braid wound tightly and tucked inside his black baseball cap, he moved stealthily along the outer boundary until he reached Heero's dormitory block. With only a cursory glance up to Heero's unlit window, the braided boy set about completing his mission. An hour later and perspiring heavily, Duo had successfully emptied all three bags of sodium tetrasulphate onto the lawns, which had killed the grass below the Japanese boy's window in the shape of three foot high letters spelling the words: 'I LOVE YOU HEERO YUY!'
Satisfied that tomorrow Heero would look out of his window to see his super-sized message burned into the grass, Duo set off home to get a few hours sleep. He intended to be back early with his binoculars so that he could witness his lover's reaction first hand. As he arrived at the appointed hour, he was surprised to find the grounds swarming with workmen. As Heero's dorm came into view, Duo realised that most of the contract workers were labouring nearby.
Digging.
Digging up his entire night's work.
"What the…?" he gasped, pulling on his hair in frustration.
"New car park," a nearby worker in a bright yellow hardhat replied cheerily, assuming that the braided boy was addressing him. "And not a moment too soon. The grass was in a right bloody state."
If the jolly workman hadn't chosen that precise moment to start up the cement mixer next to him, he would have no doubt heard the long list of expletives that poured from the longhaired boy's mouth as he stomped back to his car.
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"Any more bright ideas?" Duo said grumpily as they devoured the extra large Quattro Stagioni.
The others shook their heads, trying desperately to hold in their laughter at his latest predicament. Sensing a kind word was what the braided boy needed to hear, Quatre slung his arm around Duo's shoulders and smiled.
"Why don't you just tell him how you feel?" he said before turning to Trowa, a frown on his face. "Is it me or am I getting a strong sense of déjà vu here?"
Trowa grinned first at Quatre and then at Duo. "He's right, Duo, you just need to speak to him."
"And if that fails you could always run through Jefferson's naked," Wufei said helpfully, a suggestion that earned him a smack around the head from Sally.
"Don't be ridiculous, Wufei," she chided.
"No, no," Duo said slowly, his expression indicating that he was contemplating something, "Wufei might be onto something…"
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As usual, Heero was awake long before his alarm clock was set to go off, so he climbed out of bed, shut the timer off and headed for the shower. Life at Jefferson's was better than he had dared hoped apart for one thing: he missed Duo badly. True, he saw him every weekend and sometimes during the week, but he still wishes he could see more of his gorgeous boyfriend. After showering, he grabbed his equipment and headed to the first of his day's classes, pausing only at the vending machine to purchase a muesli bar and a bottle of water. Today's first class was figure sketching, something Heero was particularly good at. The easels were arranged in a semi-circle with a chair in the centre for the subject to sit on. Several of his fellow students were there as Heero arrived and, after exchanging brief pleasantries, he set down his equipment at the side of his easel.
"Okay," Ms Pomfret said clapping her hands together as she spoke. "We're painting a nude subject today so please get your things ready as they'll be here in a few moments."
Seating himself behind his easel, Heero started to remove his pencils from the large rigid case he used for transporting his tools around. He guessed that the subject must have arrived judging by the gasps of appreciation from his female classmates, but he didn't bother to look as he hastily tried to eat the muesli bar before Ms Pomfret saw and confiscated it.
"Okay," he heard her say as she addressed the subject, "If you could remove your robe and get into a comfortable position."
He crammed the last of his breakfast into his mouth, chewing the dry food rapidly as he reached for his bottle of water, glad that he had remembered to buy some. As he took a swig of the refreshing liquid, he happened to glance up, over the top of his easel.
The subject was a young man.
With long hair.
Long, long hair.
Looking relaxed in the position he had decided to adopt, Duo Maxwell sat in all his naked glory, his lengthy braid snaking over his shoulder and across his groin, providing him with some modesty from the hungry, mostly female audience. His smooth alabaster skin shone under the overhead light as his violet eyes twinkled mischievously, knowing full well that Heero was somewhere out there and waiting for his reaction.
In a state of shock, the water took advantage of his frozen muscles and slipped under his epiglottis and into his windpipe. The coughing fit that ensued only increased the bulging of his eyes as he started to turn purple before he slipped from his stool and crashed onto the floor. In a bizarre kind of way, Heero was actually glad when the world finally turned black and he slipped into unconsciousness.
He awoke a short time later to find himself lying on his own bed and he instantly presumed that the day was yet to start and his memory of seeing Duo as the nude model was nothing more than a crazy dream. His relief quickly evaporated when he realised that Duo was sat at the end of his bed, dressed only in a white robe. Seeing his beloved had awoken, Duo stood and moved further up the bed, his eyes filled with concern as he offered Heero a tentative smile.
"Duo, you're here," the Japanese boy said sitting up quickly, his flat voice giving no indication as to whether Duo's presence was a good thing or not.
"Um, yeah," Duo replied as he held the robe closed against his slender frame. "What can I say other than… surprise?"
"That's one way of putting it," Heero replied weakly as he pushed his thick dark hair away from his eyes. Suddenly, his features were filled with panic. "The class," he cried, recalling his busy timetable.
"Cancelled," Duo said sheepishly. "When I explained who I was, they told me not to worry about the class so I could come and look after you. Since they had no model then, they had to cancel the class."
Heero nodded but didn't speak, his silence increasing the awkwardness between the two lovers.
"Look, I'll go," Duo said nervously, "this was a really stupid idea. I just wanted to let you know that I miss you and, since you started here, I've kinda felt like you don't need me around any more."
"That's crazy," Heero replied, standing quickly and following Duo to the door. "Of course I miss you but I have to work really hard while I'm here. It's such a great opportunity…"
"I know," Duo said nodding glumly as his hand reached for the door handle. "I was just being selfish. I'll see you whenever."
Facing the exit, he didn't realise Heero had come up behind him until he found the door closed again before he could leave. Surprised, he spun around; violet eyes meeting blue as a hand reached past him to lock the door.
"You don't have to leave just yet," Heero said with a mischievous smile gracing his features as he fingered the front of the robe Duo wore. "You said yourself, my class has been cancelled so I was hoping maybe you would do a private sitting, just for me of course."
Duo grinned as he allowed Heero to open the robe, revealing his pale nakedness.
"How'd you want me then?" he asked innocently despite the lustful twinkle in his eyes.
Heero's response was a grin, which dissolved into a hungry gaze before first his eyes and then his mouth met with Duo's firm chest. He pushed the braided boy gently backwards until his back touched the wall and then, with his love sandwiched between the room boundary and himself, he proceeded to assault the longhaired boy with eager kisses and touches. Duo moaned softly as the pleasurable experience continued before he allowed himself to be eased down onto his lover's bed. The Japanese boy's tenderness ceased momentarily as he climbed on top of the other boy, his eyes drinking in the beauty below him.
"I love you, Duo Maxwell," he said softly as they lay, their faces inches apart from each other.
"So you're not mad at me for ruining your art class?"
Heero smiled at the thought and shook his head.
"How could I be mad? I was a little shocked but not mad," he said, caressing the other's cheek tenderly. "I'm just sorry that you felt you had to do something like this to get noticed."
"Well I did try some more subtle approaches first," Duo replied until he pictured himself destroying Jefferson's gardens with an industrial size bag of sodium tetrasulphate. "Well, slightly more subtle," he added with a laugh.
He proceeded to tell Heero, still sat astride his lover, about the plans the others had come up with and how each one had been spectacularly scuppered. Thoroughly amused by the sorry saga, Heero clutched his stomach as he roared with laughter. Duo glared at him for a moment with mock indignation until he too saw the funny side of it and joined Heero in expressing his amusement. When their laughter eventually ceased, the two young men silently resumed expressing their love for each other on the small single bed. Satisfied that Heero loved him every bit as much as he said he did, Duo allowed his mind to focus on receiving the pleasure the Japanese boy was giving him, firmly pushing aside the thoughts of his failed attempts to attract his attention. Although he did make a mental note to thank the car park constructing workmen as their heavy machinery conveniently drowned out the sounds of their unhurried yet passionate lovemaking.
END