Ah well, turns out I lied again, no smut in this chapter either, but I really liked where it ended. (sorry!)
Also the whole *eggs joke- I suck at cooking eggs, it's a sad thing really. Both my boyfriend and my dad are constantly giving me crap about the fact that I CANNOT, TO SAVE MY LIFE, cook eggs properly. I burn them. I don't know why. I'm just BAD at cooking eggs, omelets, scrambled, sunny-side-up, you name it, I can't cook eggs. And I once blew up a hard-boiled egg in the microwave, which was kinda funny actually, plus then I didn't have to eat it (did I mention that I HATE eggs? Love omelets though.) but I digress!
Back to the story!
"Duo, I…"
"How're those eggs?"
"Duo, I came here to talk to you."
"This is talking isn't it?" Duo said, rising as the timer went off to collect the bacon. He threw half on Heero's plate and scraped the rest onto his own, tossing a piece into his mouth.
"Ah! Hot!" he yelped.
"baka." Heero muttered, rising to follow Duo to the sink.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Sorry. That was dumb."
"Duo."
Duo dropped the pan in the sink.
"Dammit Duo, look at me!" Heero growled, spinning the other man to face him, "You haven't even asked why I left. Or why I didn't say anything. You just keep wearing that mask and pretending like I'm just another friend who popped in for a visit, when we Both know that isn't true!"
"What do you want Heero? Me to sneak that precious laptop of yours out of the bottom of your duffel and spend the next two hours hacking into it? Maybe I should have gone through all your stuff the night you left, looking for an answer as to why you would leave me? Maybe I should have taken a page out of Relena's handbook and hunted you down, followed you -stalked you, on whatever mission you'd sent yourself on? It's not like it's the first time you've vanished in the night and I've been left to wonder where you've gone, whether or not you'll come back. And really what would any of that have done? Except piss you off and drive you deeper underground. If you wanted to disappear then you'd disappear, there's nothing I- or anyone else can do about that. You're too good. The perfect soldier."
Heero stood in silence,
"At least this time I didn't have to sit and wonder whether or not you were dead." Duo stalked back to the table, and chomped down again on the now, somewhat cooled bacon.
Heero slid in across from him, still at a loss for words.
Mari whimpered from under the table.
Duo suddenly looked guilty, he knelt down, coaxing the dog out with a piece of bacon. "I'm sorry Mari, I didn't mean to raise my voice. It's alright girl, c'mere baby."
The half-shepherd/half-chow adoptee slowly inched her way out from under the table, coaxed by Duo's cooing and the promise of tasty bacon.
"There she is. That's my girl, that's my Mari. Yes, she's a good girl isn't she. Yes she is. Yes she is." He ruffled her ears as she munched on the bacon, her tail began to wag again.
Heero snorted
"That dog always did have you better than trained than any man ever could."
"Listen to that baka, baby. Listen to him getting jealous over my princess."
"What was it you always used to call her, when I'd come home and find her in the bed?"
Duo chuckled "My canine mistress."
"Right." Heero smiled softly,
"She noticed when you left too, you know." Duo said quietly
"What do you mean?"
"She kept going to the door, kept checking your side of the bed, kept sniffing around on the beach, or the front porch, like she was looking for you or something, it was almost three months before she finally gave up."
Heero felt a pang of guilt as he reached down to scratch her ears
"And what about you?" he asked quietly
"What about me Heero?" Duo snorted, chomping on another piece of bacon, not meeting his eyes "You left. I kept going. End of story."
"But it's not the end of the story, is it."
Duo's hand froze halfway to his mouth, his violet eyes narrowed
"Where are you going with this Heero?"
"I just wondered, I didn't see any pictures of anyone else or anything, so I thought maybe…"
"You thought what exactly?"
Violet eyes burned, the anger was evident, but Duo's eyes never lied, and Heero had learned to read them well, too well.
"I thought maybe there might still be a place for me in your life." Heero said softly. "You feed me all this war-training crap, and you're probably right. But don't think you're the only one who's spent years learning to know the other better than they know themselves, because you're not. I survived that war with you the same way you survived beside me, and I've seen your tough-guy mask before. The same way I've seen the joker, the same way I've seen the Shinigami. Those eyes of yours never lie, Duo Maxwell, so you can just stop pretending that I didn't hurt you and let me try to make this right."
"I never said it didn't hurt. I just said I got one with my life."
"I kept waiting you know," Heero said quietly, "for you to call."
"How could I?" Duo scoffed, "One call from Relena, that was all it took and you were gone. How could I possibly call, knowing I'd never be able to do the same?"
"You don't know that. I was waiting for that call!"
"Yes I do Heero, Yes I DO. I know it, because I will never need protecting the way that she does, and I will never be as important to the future of the earth sphere. Relena Dorlian is the face of peace… and me? I'm the God of Death, Heero, I can't compete with her. I can't even begin to compete with her."
"There is no competition." Heero growled, "There never was. Relena's call was a well-timed coincidence, and nothing more. I kept waiting for you to tell me it was okay for me to come back That it was alright for me to be beside you again. But you never called. I couldn't take it anymore. I thought about you every day, dreamed about you. I even bullied Quatre into giving me status reports on you after he came to visit you. To let me know how you were doing. I told myself it was enough, that you were here, that you were happier on your own, with your own space. But it wasn't enough… it wasn't enough for me anymore. I had to know, Duo… Do you still…"
"Yes." Duo turned to stare out the kitchen window, "I could never… anyone else… not after you... You were the first… you'll be the last. But you could have called too. And… It doesn't make this right. Doesn't make this better. It doesn't even mean I want you to stay."
Heero studied those violet eyes, and called his bluff,
"Except that you do." He whispered to the table top, Duo pretended not to hear.
"Mari hasn't been for her walk yet." Duo said quietly rising,
"May I… come with you? I've missed her too."
"I can't really tell you 'no', can I? Like you said, she's our baby."
Heero smiled, "yeah…" as Duo went to change into shorts and a T-shirt.
They walked barefoot out the door, Mari bouncing happily in front of them as they made their way down to the beach.
"The eggs were good." Heero said as they stepped onto the course white sand. Mari took off towards the waves, barking happily.
"What?"
"The eggs," Heero smiled, "They were good."
Duo laughed, "I finally learned to put the stove on medium."
Heero chuckled with him "You always were too impatient."
"I was hungry. And I like eggs."
"You like food Duo, that's not the same thing."
"Eggs are food."
"Not the way you used to make them."
Duo laughed, Mari barked from the tide-line, as if to urge them to hurry up.
"Race ya'" Duo grinned, and took off, kicking up sand as he pounded towards the surf. Heero dashed after him. They both knew who would win.
Heero's stride was longer, his legs more powerful.
Duo ran like the death itself was chasing him, his chestnut braid streamed out behind him like a kite-tail.
Mari barked her encouragement as the two former pilots rocketed across the sand. Heero's eyes narrowed as he closed the distance between them, his hand catching Duo's shoulder as he tackled him to the sand. Heero's arms closed around Duo, breaking his fall as they rolled together. Mari barked and jumped playfully, as they came to a stop, Duo on top, still cradled against Heero's chest. The dog jumped back, and Duo yelped as a wave crashed over them.
"So who won." Duo grinned, pushing himself to his knees, and climbing off.
Heero sat up as the next wave splashed to shore,
"Me."
Duo laughed "Bastard."
Mari joined them. Her tail wagging as she collected sand and salt in it.
"Baby, you're going to need a shampoo when we get home." Duo smiled.
"So are you," Heero grinned, picking up Duo's braid from where it rested in the shallows, gathering more salt and sand than the dog.
"The price you pay for living on the beach." Duo smiled, "One of Earth's greatest treasures, beaches, and the sun, the ocean…" Duo looked out wistfully across the sun-dappled waves. "peace…"
******
"Miss Relena, we've located Duo Maxwell."
"Where?"
"It's a small, privately owned island, in the south Pacific."
"Owned by who?"
"Quatre Reberba Winner Ma'am."
Relena shook her head, "I might have known he'd be hiding them."
" 'Them', Ma'am?"
"If Duo's there, then Heero is too. Get me Quatre on the phone."
"Right away Ma'am"