Title: A Place to Call Home
Theme + Number: 16. House
Genre: Romance/General
Warnings: None
Character/Pairing: Duo/Heero
Word Count: 778
Rating: PG
Summary: Everyone needs a place to come home to.

---------------------------------------------------

Heero stifled a yawn as he opened the door to their apartment. It had been a long night, making sure Relena safely made it home after her peace negotiations on L4 had taken a bit longer than expected when their intended re-entry to the atmosphere point had to be changed. It turned out that their original point also happened to be the same place in which a group of torrential thunderstorms had taken up residency.

Inwardly, Heero decided to equip his laptop with an up-to-the-minute weather service for certain areas of the world for just such occasions as this one.

Once Relena was safely back at home, her personal bodyguard then had to travel a little more before his night was over. Luckily, Heero thought to himself, Duo was already staying at their earth-apartment so he wouldn't have to fly all the way to the colonies before finding a warm bed waiting for him.

The two both loved their jobs and didn't want to give them up. But with Duo's business being out in the colonies and Heero's often taking him to earth or to other colonies for Relena's visits to various heads of state it didn't give them a middle point to call home.

At first they tried just staying together on vacation times, but they quickly realized that it wasn't going to work out. Heero found he just couldn't sleep right without Duo there with him, and Duo kept arranging various vacations on Earth just to keep himself closer to Heero.

In the end, they made their compromise: an apartment on both Earth and the colonies. Hilde shared the two-bedroom apartment on L2 with them and the one on Earth wasn't that far from the Peacecraft home. It made things much easier and left them with the mere task of figuring out which one would be the most convenient to stay at each night.

If Heero had a trip with Relena that would take them to the colonies overnight, he'd go home to L2 at the end of the day. But if the trip would end back on Earth, Duo would take a shuttle down after his day of work and wait for Heero there.

As such, this very night- Heero knew Duo would be waiting at their apartment on Earth for him to come home.

Pushing the front door open, he noticed that the lights had already been turned off and glanced at a nearby clock.

"0100 hours. He's probably already gone to bed," The young man murmured to himself as he shrugged off his coat by the door.

"That you, Heero?" A groggy voice called from the bedroom.

Heero shook his head as he unloaded some of his weapons into a drawer.

"Some soldier you are. What if it wasn't me?"

"Then I'd pick up the gun under the mattress with my toes and hold you at gunpoint."

Walking down the hallway, Heero leaned against the doorframe to the bedroom. A brown-haired figure sprawled out on the bed.

"You didn't have to wait up."

Rolling onto his side with a yawn, Duo sleepily replied, "Couldn't fall asleep without knowing you were home safe. It was storming like hell here a few hours ago."

"That's why we were delayed coming back," Heero said, laying down on the bed next to Duo.

"Long day at work?"

Duo scooted over on the bed and Heero gently wrapped his arms around his waist as he laid down behind him.

"Something like that. You?"

Yawning again, the long-haired man shrugged, "We got a huge truckload we had to go through. I'm completely exhausted."

"All the more reason you shouldn't have waited up."

"Oh be quiet. You're just as bad when I'm away."

Heero sighed when he knew he realized he couldn't argue with that. Propping himself up on his elbow, he leaned over and gave Duo a quick kiss.

"Goodnight, Duo."

Yawn swallowing up the first of his words, Duo replied, "… 'Night Heero."

The two lay there for a few moments, their breaths evening out and the room falling quiet. Once he was sure Duo was already asleep, Heero slowly pulled away and went to change out of his work clothes into a baggy shirt and boxers.

Sliding back under the covers, he wasn't surprised at all when Duo rolled over and rested his head on his chest.

"…'love ya, Heero," He mumbled.

Heero smiled, gently pushing the hair out of Duo's face and leaving a chaste kiss on his forehead.

"Love you too, Duo."

And now, with things seemingly right inside their little world; the two fell into a peaceful slumber content to be home at last.

---------------------------------------------------