"I'm still wet," I griped, ringing the water out of my shirt.

"You still owe me twenty bucks," Hilde muttered, glaring up at me.

I decided that now was a good time to shut my mouth. I grinned down at Hilde. She maintained the glare for another five seconds and then shoved me with a smile. I put my arm around her and kissed her forehead. She shoved me away.

"Oh, you are still wet," she remarked, shaking her hand dry.

I smiled. "Sorry."

"Yeah, well," she murmured as she walked out of the elevator and towards the front door.

I paused as the elevator doors slid shut behind me, hands in pockets, and watched her as she unlocked the door. I smiled to myself. She turned to look at me as the door swung open. She gave a confused, self-conscious smile.

"What?" she asked.

"You're really gorgeous, you know that?"

She stopped. "What?"

"You're really gorgeous." I walked over to her and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She was staring up at me and she took in a quivering breath, her eyes closing for a moment as I stroked her cheek before looking back up at me. "Perfect. Why are you with an idiot like me?"

She leaned up slowly, until she was mere millimeters away, so close I didn't know whose breath was whose. And then softly, her lips met mine, and my eyes fluttered closed. Her mouth parted under mine and she gently lapped inside my mouth. I gave a small shiver. The kiss was tantalizingly slow, making every nerve-ending stand at attention. It felt like I'd just been struck by lightning. But then an eagerness rose from use mutually and the kiss became more and more intense. My arms were wrapped around her and her own were clutching at my neck tightly as if she was afraid I would pull away.

The bedroom was too far and Heero wouldn't be home for another hour or so. I moved a leg slightly and she walked backwards until the couch was under us. I felt her hands lift off my shirt and, as I wiggled to get out of it, we lost our balance and rolled to the floor. I landed on my back with a thud and a sharp, "Oof!" and Hilde looked concerned, but we both started laughing. She finally pulled the damp shirt over my head and smiled. She bent to leave a fiery trail of kisses down my abdomen and then met my mouth again. She lifted her head up, straddling my waist and grinned sweetly as she pulled her sweater over her head. After she'd finished undressing herself, she rid me of the remainder of my clothes. I shifted, ready to roll atop her, but she placed two small hands on my chest and pushed me back down. She gave a small shake of her head, the smile of a temptress, and slowly slid down onto me. She tossed her head back, gave a breathy groan, and took my hands in hers, placing them on the smooth flesh of her hips. I held her in place as she rode me.

The rhythm, like the kiss, began painstakingly slow. But it grew to a frenzying intensity. When she was ready, she let me know and I whispered her name, her back arching, her hands gripping my arms tightly.

I wrapped her up tightly, pulling the throw off the couch and over us. She nestled her head comfortably into the groove of my neck and shoulder. After a long while, her breathing became heavy and regular. I stroked her hair gently and buried my face in it. She adjusted slightly in her sleep and I held her tighter.

"Don't ever leave me, Hilde. You don't know how much I need you."

I woke to the sound of a knock on the door.

"You guys decent?" Heero asked from the other side of Hilde's closed door.

I looked down at Hilde who was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She sat up, not at all decent, which was the way I liked it.

"Give me a minute, Heero," she called out just before I kissed her roughly. She smiled at me and walked to the closet where she pulled out a robe. I grabbed some boxers from a drawer in the dresser and shoved them on.

"Yeah," I called out.

Heero tentatively opened the door, as if he didn't believe we were dressed yet. He walked in once he saw it was true. He looked at Hilde.

"Sally called for you. I told her you were asleep and she asked me to tell you, quote unquote, 'Tell her to get her lazy ass out of bed and that I'll be there in five minutes. If she's not ready, I'm dragging her out as is, I don't care if all she has on her is Duo.'"

I grinned and looked at my girlfriend with a raised brow. Her lips twitched into a smile. "That's Sally for you. Thanks Heero, I'll be ready."

"No problem."

He walked out, closing the door after him. Hilde took off the robe and headed to get dressed. I grabbed her from behind and kissed just below her ear. Her eyes closed.

"Mm," she moaned with a happy smile. "That is sinfully delicious."

She turned in my arms to face me, skin on skin, nearly driving me wild. I bent to kiss her for a long moment. She pulled away. Or at least, she tried to. I held her tightly. She laughed.

"Come on, Duo. I don't want to see if Sally is serious about her threats. If I know Sally, she is," Hilde warned.

I tried a pout, which she firmly ignored with a scowl, and then sighed, letting her go. She put on a bra and some panties, then she pulled out a long-sleeved t-shirt and some jeans. I handed her the coat she always used, but held it away from her so that she had to lean in to grab it. She met my mouth, kissing me slowly, and took the coat.

"Thanks, babe," she said.

"Babe?" I gave a wide smile. "That's the first time you've ever called me babe."

"I'm sorry. I'll stop if you want." She looked worried and it made me laugh.

"No, no, I like it. Don't stop. Please. It's… sweet." I kissed her nose as she headed towards the bathroom to brush her teeth.

Over the sound of the faucet, I heard her call out as I was getting dressed. "So what are you boys going to do alone? Don't burn down the apartment, please."

"We'll try and control the raging bonfires that will be started in your absence. Don't worry, Hil, we'll be okay. If I remember clearly, we survived on our own before you. Not well, admittedly, but we did."

"So what are you doing?"

I shrugged, not that she could see me, and bounced into the second leg of my worn, dark jeans. "I don't know. Whatever I guess."

I heard her spit, rinse, and shut the water off. After another minute, she came out fresh faced and awake. She opened the door and I followed her into the kitchen. Heero had bagels, toast, butter, jelly, cream cheese and coffee waiting in the kitchen. I smiled a quick thanks, grabbed my plate and sat to eat. Hilde ate quickly.

There was one knock on the front door and then Sally poked her head in, her body following. Wufei was after her.

"Hey," she said, grabbing some toast and smearing butter on it.

Heero offered Wufei a mug of coffee, which he accepted after a wave hello.

"Where are you girls going?" I asked. Hilde shoved my feet off the extra chair so that Sally could sit. Wufei stood behind her, sipping his coffee.

"To get dresses," Sally replied before biting into her toast.

"Dresses? Why?"

Hilde sighed. "Quatre's thing… remember?"

I thought for a second. "Oh, that whole fancy shmancy party thing. Some public relations blah, blah, blah. What do you need dresses for? Don't you have some?"

"No," Hilde drawled.

"Yeah you do, you have the yellow one with the little, strappy thingies," I said, running a thin line over my shoulder to demonstrate the straps.

"Duo, that's a sundress," Hilde said, talking down to me as if I was an idiot.

"Key word: Dress. Wear that. You look good in that."

"Are you nuts? This is a friggin gala," Sally said with a contemptuous laugh. "You can't wear sundresses to gala events."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Because – You know what. We're going. See you boys later," Sally said, standing with Hilde. She kissed Wufei and Hilde kissed me and then they were out the door talking about how Cathy was going to meet them there and Sally shook her head, murmuring something about sundresses and the idiocy of men.

Heero and Wufei turned to look at me. They knew, as well as I did, exactly what a sundress was and why you couldn't wear it to a gala. I grinned widely.

"Why do you do that?" Wufei asked.

"Purely to piss them off."

We called Trowa and Quatre over and watched a soccer game that was on, downing beers and doing what ordinary guys do when they're left to do what they please. Nothing. The game ended, the beers were gone, but we sat still, not really needing to speak. I looked at my watch. It was almost six and the girls still hadn't come back. My stomach growled and the other four glanced at me.

"Anyone else hungry?"

"Yeah," Trowa remarked, leaning back on the loveseat, swirling the last of his final beer in its bottle.

Heero glanced back towards the sliding glass door leading to the wide balcony/patio. "There still any gas for the grill?"

"Barbeque. Yes. Perfect," Quatre said.

"I think so," I said and Wufei rose to go check with me. He bent at the grill after I'd unlocked the door. He pulled open the valve and shook his head. "Or, you know, not."

Wufei stood and wiped his hands together. "Quick trip to the store will solve it. Get some more beer too."

"And steaks and seasoning and everything else. I don't mind cooking." We looked around helplessly at each other.

Heero sighed and stood. "Fine."

Trowa headed after him. "I'll go with you."

They were back faster than you'd ever have imagined, but it didn't surprise us. Heero and Trowa were notorious for being very focused on the task at hand. They'd loaded up all the groceries into the elevator and locked it open. Quatre and Wufei helped bring in the rest as I started sorting out what I needed to grill. Heero put everything else away in the cupboards. Wufei helped me at the grill. We were halfway through the steaks, Quatre just finishing mashing potatoes, when Sally, Cathy and Hilde walked in. They sniffed the air with smiles.

"What is this?" Hilde asked, arms laden with way too many bags. She walked to her room before anyone answered to put down her load.

"Duo can cook?" Cathy asked skeptically as she was kissing Heero hello, then Quatre, before moving over to me.

"Very well, thank you," I retorted.

"Why do I smell something burnt?" Sally asked, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

"Duo got overexcited with the cooking and started on a dish towel," Wufei explained, exposing the charred remains of what was once a small kitchen hand towel.

Sally almost choked on her beer as she laughed and Hilde grabbed the towel, furious for a moment, and then she shook her head.

"I actually liked this one," she mumbled. I kissed her and she suppressed a smile. "You're lucky I like you more."

Cathy was setting the table and Hilde turned to help her.

"So, to what do we owe this honor?" Cathy asked.

"Happy birthday," I responded, flipping the last of the steaks onto the plate Wufei held out.

"You remembered," she said, playing along. "How sweet. Where's my cake?"

"How about birthday pie?" Quatre asked, setting the bowl of mashed potatoes on the table.

"Depends on the pie," Cathy replied.

"Key lime?"

"I'll accept it."

We turned at the sound of a knock on the door. Sally was the closest to it and she opened it.

"Hello Dorothy," she said, hiding the surprise in her voice well.

I looked up and saw the blond girl standing at the door. Sally stepped aside, allowing her in. I gave a smile.

"Hey," I said. "Take a seat. I didn't know Trowa had told you to come."

"He didn't," Dorothy said a little uncomfortably.

"He didn't?" I repeated, looking at Hilde who shrugged slightly.

"I did," Heero said suddenly, appearing from the kitchen with two beers. He handed one to Dorothy who smiled up at him. "Nice to see you."

Dorothy nodded, standing awkwardly. Trowa came to say hello, standing beside her.

"Don't tell me you've never had beer before either," he said, looking at the way she held the bottle somewhat unfamiliarly.

She made a face at him and took a dainty sip. "In fact, I have had beer before."

"What is this 'before' stuff?" I asked, intrigued.

Trowa grinned down at Dorothy who glared at him briefly. "I'll tell you at dinner."

"You've got five minutes. And no. I won't forget."

She glanced up at Trowa for confirmation.

He shook his head. "He won't forget. Or let it go."

I smirked evilly. "Let's eat."

"Duo, hurry up. We're going to be late!"

"Late?" I scoffed. "It's ten-thirty in the morning."

"So?"

"This thing is at like nine at night! How can we possibly be late."

"Just hurry up and let's get going already."

"Why don't you ever yell at Heero?" I muttered as I emerged into the hallway.

Hilde looked up at me. "Because I know that Heero is ready."

"He's not out here, yet I'm the one getting screamed at."

"Just come on," Hilde demanded.

I muttered under my breath, shoved past her and threw open the door and promptly felt my heart stop cold and fall into my stomach. I tried to remember to breathe and couldn't. Hilde beside me gulped and I met her gaze before looking up at the person standing at the doorway again.

"Okay, I'm ready to g-" Heero began, walking out of the hallway and into front room. He stopped short, staring amazed at the occupied doorway. There was a long awkward silence.

"Hello Heero," Relena said.