Disclaimer: I don't own GW, Savage Garden, or anything else I may have alluded to, much to my sorrow, so please don't sue, all you'll get is pocket lint anyhow, and I'm sure you already have as much of your own as you could possibly want
Warning: fluffy cotton candy and citrusy goodness. Some Relena bashing, if you don't like it, don't read it. Shounen-ai, yaoi (if you don't know what it is, you shouldn't be here). AU.
In the Savage Garden
...
"Don't ever scare me like that again." Heero bent down, picked up his bags, and stepped into the now empty crosswalk, glaring straight ahead at the "walk" signal.
I've got a dream to take you over
Exploding like a supernova
I'm gonna crash into your world
And that's no lie...
Ch. 1 – Violet
Duo hurried to catch up. He was a little stunned, both by his close call, and by Heero's reaction.
The two boys sparred sometimes at the gym, or wherever, it was good exercise, and more fun than lifting weights or running laps (which Heero tended to do as well). It also seemed like half the time they argued they came to blows, or close, often with Heero threatening to kill Duo, though he'd never caused any serious damage. But, in all the time they had known each other, Duo had never actually been slapped by Heero. They'd almost been "how-dare-you" slaps, more a warning than a serious threat. Duo knew from experience that Heero could knock him flat if he felt like it – not that he didn't pack a good punch himself, but he just wasn't in the same league as Heero when it came to fisticuffs (he'd always enjoyed watching Heero and Fei, the martial artist, kick the crap out of each other).
Come to think of it, not counting his work on stage, Duo didn't think he'd ever been slapped by another guy; by girls, definitely, Hilde had certainly smacked him a time or two when he'd irritated or scared her, but by guys? His grad total of being slapped across the face for real by a guy was currently at two, and he didn't think Heero was in a mood to discuss it. come to think of it, Heero'd been in a bad mood since Relena had broken up with him...
Or had Heero broken up with Relena? Duo suddenly wasn't sure, he'd just assumed that Relena had ended it. After all, Heero'd put up with the girl for nearly four years, what was the point in getting fed up at such a late –
Thump.
Duo'd walked straight into Heero's back. The Japanese boy had stopped at another intersection.
Heero whirled. "Watch where you're going, baka!" he was glaring.
"Sorry," Duo muttered. He was really spacing today. What was with him? For a split second, he'd caught the scent of cinnamon again, and hopped that Heero would grab him as he had earlier. Then maybe he could get some answers.
Heero'd been incredibly drunk the night of the Prom, and Duo had noticed the other boy had drunk a considerably smaller amount on all future occasions. But, once, Duo'd managed to make Heero remarkably furious (he couldn't remember how), and somehow in the course of the fight that had followed, Heero had pinned Duo in a corner and had been very close – he'd smelled cinnamon then, too, Duo suddenly remembered – and Duo could have sworn the other boy had been only a heartbeat away from kissing him again. Quatre and Trowa had come in, and pried Heero off, joking about anger management for Heero and gags for Duo... Maybe if Duo could get Heero mad again? The short-haired boy was tense already, it probably wouldn't take much.
May as well dive right in.
"Heero?"
"Hn?" Heero was fumbling for his key to the apartment building.
"Why'd you slap me?"
"What?" Heero opened the door and held it for Duo.
"When I almost crossed the street," Duo prompted. "You slapped me."
"You deserved it," Heero answered shortly, hitting the elevator button.
"But you slapped me," Duo persisted. "Guys don't slap other guys. That's, like, cat fighting, or something."
"What's your point, Maxwell?" Heero hit the button again.
"Just that it's kinda girly for a guy to slap another guy across the face."
"I'll slap you again if you don't shut up," Heero growled. "Damn thing!" he punched the button a third time, and the elevator door slid open.
"Maybe we should get Q to get this thing checked," Duo remarked cheerfully as they piled in with all their bags.
"It's older than I am," the blue-eyed boy grunted, and hit the buttons for seven and eight.
The door creaked shut, and the elevator began its slow, fitful ascent.
The old lift wasn't very large and, despite the several double-fist-sized regulation air vents, it was hot and a little stuffy. Both boys dumped their bags of the floor, causing the whole compartment to shudder and slow to a crawl, so they could divest themselves of the autumn jackets they'd worn outside.
"You've been awfully tense, lately, Hee-chan," Duo commented as they passed the third floor apartment.
"Don't call me that," Heero growled.
Fourth floor.
"Do I really remind you that much of Relena, Hee-chan?"
Jackpot.
Heero grabbed Duo savagely by the front of his shirt. "Stop calling me that," he hissed.
Fifth floor.
The shorter boy tried ineffectually to brush off the hand fisted in his shirt front. Maybe the plan to tick Heero off wasn't so good after all, but maybe just a little... "Come on, Hee-chan, lighten up."
"I said stop calling me that!" Heero roared, lifting Duo bodily into the air and slamming him forcefully into the wall.
The rickety elevator shuddered again, screeched, and stopped. The lights snapped off. The tiny emergency light cast a dim glow over the small compartment.
"Violet," Heero whispered, all the anger gone from his face; he didn't seem to notice the stopped elevator or the lights. "They're violet." He was staring into Duo's face, which was even with his, for once, due to the fact that Duo was being pinned to the wall several inches above the ground.
"Heero? You okay?" Definitely a bad plan... though they were so close... close enough to kiss. Duo abruptly realized he wanted Heero to kiss him very badly. But due to Heero's grip he was finding it hard to breathe – not that he wanted to breathe in Heero's face, what if his breath was bad? – and the elevator had definitely just broken down halfway between the sixth and seventh floors. Plus Heero was zoned out. Overall, BAD PLAN!
"Heero?" Duo tried again, carefully not breathing on the boy holding him against the wall.
"Huh?" Heero blinked and looked around.
"The elevat – umf!"
Heero dropped the smaller boy to the ground.
"Ow!"
"Gomen," Heero took a few hasty steps backwards, and ran into the opposite wall. He looked strangely unsettled. "The elevator?" he asked.
Duo glared up at the Japanese boy from his position on the floor. "You broke it," he said. "And no one's home to hear us yell for help."
"No one's..."
"Wufei's at Meiran's, and Quatre and Tro are at a concert. We're stuck 'til someone gets home and sees the emergency light on in the lobby."
Heero swore under his breath and sank to the floor.
Silence reigned.
"Lord and butter it's hot in here," Duo muttered after a while. "Mind if I take my shoes off?"
Heero scowled, but shook his head, so Duo yanked off his shoes and socks. A moment later, Heero followed suit. Thankfully, there was no accompanying unpleasant odor.
"You really have been awfully tense lately, Heero," Duo said a little later, figuring it was as good a time as any to broach the subject, after all, Heero couldn't storm off, and if he killed Duo, he'd be stuck in a hot elevator with a corpse for an unknown period of time.
"What business is it of yours?"
"You used to talk to me," Duo pointed out, feeling a little hurt, even though he hadn't really expected much of an answer.
"We were friends."
We were friends? Duo had a sick feeling in his stomach. "Aren't we friends anymore?"
Heero didn't answer.
The silence felt like a fist.
"So that's why you hate being around me so much lately." It all made sense, now. And here he'd been thinking they might have had something, that maybe Heero didn't known how to loosen up, and that's why he'd only kissed Duo when he'd been trashed. What a fool he'd been. "Do you hate me, too?" he didn't really want to know. "Was it something I did?"
"What do you think?"
Shit. "But I didn't do anything!" Duo was practically wailing.
"Shut up." Heero looked exasperated. "Of course you didn't do anything. You never do anything."
What?
"Well, guess what, Maxwell, maybe it's your turn to do something."
Your turn. It's your turn. The words echoed. Stupid, Duo, that's stupid. He doesn't even want to be friends anymore.
The heat in the lift was really bad. Heero had unbuttoned his shirt, and now he shrugged out of it.
Duo's breath hitched at the sight. He'd seen Heero without a shirt before, but had always automatically made himself ignore it; Heero was his friend, and straight, so there was no point ogling the perfect tan skin, or the beautifully sculpted chest and arms... but now... Still no point, Duo reminded himself. He's still straight, and now you're not even friends, remember? To distract himself, he pulled off his own shirt, which was sticking to him unpleasantly. Then he risked another glance at Heero.
The slender boy was glaring fixedly at the wall.
"Does this have to do with Relena?" Duo wondered, then bit his traitorous tongue when he realized he'd said it out loud.
"What?"
"Is it somehow my fault she dumped your sorry ass?" Way to stop pissing him off, Maxwell. Guess it doesn't matter anymore, though...
"First of all," Heero was on his feet, skin glistening with sweat in the dim light, "Relena did not 'dump my sorry ass.' We got in a fight, as we've done before, and will again, I'm sure. I decided I'd had enough, and I told her so. She was less than thrilled, and decided she wanted to make up. I told her to go to hell."
Duo hadn't realized he'd stood up. A tiny piece of his mind cheered that Heero had finally told the blonde off. "Betcha never slammed her against elevator walls," the words slipped from his mouth before he realized he'd even thought them. He could have swallowed his tongue. What is wrong with me?
"She doesn't try to hit me, either," Heero snapped. "Nor does she irritate me to the point where I want to strangle her to death as often as you do."
"I don't hit you!" Duo exclaimed indignantly.
"I said try." The glint in Heero's eyes was almost feral.
Duo grunted, I'll show him try, and lunged, swinging his fist.
Heero avoided the swing easily, and, catching Duo off-balance, flipped the smaller boy onto his back, shaking the elevator in the process.
Duo's head spun, and throbbed where it had hit the floor. He briefly closed his eyes against the dizziness, blinking several times to clear his vision. When he could see, he almost wished he couldn't.
Heero was pinning him to the ground, holding his wrists firmly to the floor above his head, and glaring viciously down at him.
"Are you going to kill me, then?" Duo asked helplessly, almost expecting and affirmative, half hoping for one. Heero obviously hated him now, had threatened death often enough even when they were friends, and now there was nothing to hold him back, was there? So was there really any point in trying anymore?
But then, miraculously, Heero's expression changed. He looked almost... confused?
That can't be right.
"No," Heero shook his head. "I'm not going to kill you. I'd never kill you." His voice was soft, as if he were talking to himself. "Violet," he said for the second time that afternoon, staring intently at Duo. "They're violet."
"What's violet?" Duo breathed, amazed at both the strange huskiness to Heero's whisper, and the look of confused wonderment on his face.
"Your eyes," came the soft, heart-stopping reply.
Duo just stared, forgetting his aching head and the slight pain in his tightly gripped wrists, forgetting the heat and the sweat dripping down his body, forgetting he was pinned to the floor, forgetting that Heero's weight on top of him was starting to get heavy. All he saw were Heero's blue eyes looking into his own. His gaze shifted to Heero's mouth, mere inches above his own.
They'd been in a similar position last time... It's your turn.
Please, God, this could be my only chance... let it work.
Duo stretched his neck as far as he could, and pressed his lips firmly against Heero's, eyes fluttering shut just as Heero's went wide.
He pulled back a moment later, opening his eyes and looking up at the stronger boy who was still pinning him to the ground.
Heero dragged his own eyes open. "What was that?"
"It was my turn," Duo explained in a whisper, hoping his gamble hadn't failed miserably, hoping he wasn't about to be knocked into the middle of the following week, which was what any self-respecting straight man would do to a guy who'd kissed him full on the mouth. "You told me that I had to kiss you next time. So I did." No more wondering. No more hiding. I guess Hilde was right about me, at least, for better or worse.
Heero was staring at him strangely.
Duo gave him a weak grin. "Tag, you're it?"
Heero stared at him a moment longer, then started to chuckle, then to laugh. He still hadn't moved or loosened his grip on Duo's wrists.
"What's so funny?" Duo demanded, more confident now that he wasn't about to meet his Maker.
"You are," Heero replied, and stopped laughing. Suddenly, he looked almost shy. "You never... I didn't want to push... and Hilde... but then she left... I waited... didn't have the courage to just... with anyone else, but not..."
"Heero?" Duo was totally confused.
"...Why I never drank much anymore..." Heero tried to explain. "Didn't want... if you didn't want... but I hoped..."
"You're not mad?" was all Duo could manage to ask, cutting Heero off.
"No!" it was almost choked out.
"I thought you hated me..."
"Never..."
"You always get so angry..."
"Easier to get angry than..."
"You said we weren't friends anymore..."
"I didn't, you did..."
"Kiss me?"
Heero bent down and very gently did as he was bidden, carefully coaxing Duo's lips apart.
Duo responded, eagerly welcoming Heero's exploration of his mouth, and the kiss quickly deepened, becoming passionate.
Duo was suddenly very aware that neither of them was wearing a shirt, and that Heero, who was still pinning him down, was straddling his hips. Experimentally, almost hesitantly, he shifted against the other boy. Heero moaned into his mouth and pressed closer still, bringing their bodies even more fully into contact as he ravaged the younger boy's mouth.
This was nothing like the first time Heero'd kissed him. This was amazing, incredible – Duo couldn't find an appropriate word, didn't even care that he couldn't – it was like this wonderful force that was Heero had crashed into his mind and exploded, taking him over completely. And it no longer mattered that they were stuck in a tiny, hot elevator. All that mattered was that they were there with each other, and Heero was kissing him fiercely and...
Suddenly, Heero pulled back. His face was flushed and he was breathing hard, almost panting.
Duo stared up at him for several long moments, panic starting to rise when Heero said nothing. "Is something wrong?" 'Is something wrong?' How stupid is that? Of course something's wrong, you idiot!
"Duo," Heero paused, chewing softly on one already bee-stung lip.
Duo's heart clenched, preparing for what, he didn't know.
"Duo, are you sure you want this?" it came out in an uncharacteristic rush. "I wanted to kiss you the moment I first saw you, all those years ago, but I told myself 'no, that's not right, you're both guys,' so we were friends. Then you were with Hilde, and I was with Lena, and then so much happened so fast, and I was so confused, but..." Heero paused and took a breath, almost as if trying to slow down, but then he was off again. "And then we had Junior Prom, and I never would have dared, but I'd been drinking, and I wasn't really thinking about what might happen, so I took a chance, but then you pushed me away, so I didn't wanna push you again, and I swore to myself that I never would, unless you wanted..." he took another breath, "And a few times I almost cracked, when I got so close to you, but I just couldn't, and now..." he trailed off, looking very unsure of himself.
"I was scared," Duo admitted after what seemed like a very long silence, suddenly understanding that all this time that he'd been obsessing over Heero, and trying not to, Heero'd been doing the exact same thing over him. And now Heero was worried that he'd made a mistake that he wouldn't be able to fix. "Prom night, all this time... I'm scared now, but I do want this." He wanted to reach up and smooth Heero's messy hair away from his eyes, but still couldn't move his arms. "I want this," he said again.
Heero's entire face lit up, his eyes sparkling like sapphires in the half-light of the emergency lamps. He pressed another light, gentle kiss to Duo's lips. "I want this, Duo. I want it more than... more than..."
"Ice cream?" Duo volunteered, then mentally kicked himself for such a stupid comment ruining the moment.
Heero, however, chuckled, and the vibrations in his chest sent a thrill through Duo, they were pressed so close together. "Way more than ice cream." He leaned in for another kiss, but Duo pulled back slightly.
A flicker of worry passed over Heero's face.
"Uh, Heero?"
"Yes?"
"Uh," Duo hesitated, not really wanting to say it, but it had to be said...
A/N: heeheeheehee! ::laughs wickedly:: don't you wanna know what he's gonna say? ::laughs again then runs for cover::
