Little Talks

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Nothing Much to Do/Much Ado About Nothing.

A/N: This story is set in a universe where everything happens except Balthazar and Pedro getting together. The chapters will not take place in chronological order, so don't think you've missed anything if chapters don't match up with the ones before. Also, there'll be mention of a major character death, so yeah, there's that warning. Hope everyone enjoys this - I'll try to update as often as possible!

He's looking at her through the window he's cleaning, and she half expects him to press his face against the glass at some weird angle. But he just keeps looking, a small smile on his lips.

Today is cleaning day at the Donaldson/Duke residence, which means Hero is trying to reorganize the kitchen and finding, once again, that there are either too few cabinets or too much stuff. Or a combination of the two. Either way, the Tupperware lids are not appreciating their new home, if their frantic escapes from the drawer are anything to go by.

Hero looks up from her task of stuffing the lids back in and catches the eye of her husband through the glass of the kitchen window.

There he was, sitting outside on the big wrap-around porch. The cup in his hand was tipping dangerously, but he rescued it at the last minute.

Hero had been dragged to this party by a friend from her lithography class who claimed she "needed to find a hot piece of man candy." So Hero found herself in a huge press of sweaty, dancing bodies, looking for the nearest exit. She had yet to find a "hot piece," but she had spotted her acquaintance/tentative friend outside.

Pushing through the people around her, Hero fought her way through the back door to the safety of the cold night air. She breathed in. And immediately started coughing. A guy holding a cigarette sheepishly smiled and moved a bit farther from her.

Hero looked around and saw her friend (was he a friend?), his drink tipping again.

"Hey, mind if I sit with you?" Her question startled him, and his beer sloshed over the side of the cup.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, didn't know you were there." He looked at Hero through alcohol-hazed eyes and smiled. She couldn't remember seeing him smile since the picnic in high school. "So, who dragged you to this party?"

Hero chuckled. "I love how you assume someone had to force me to go to a social gathering." He gave her a 'I'm calling bullshit' look. "Ok, ok, my friend Gerald from litho wanted me to find a guy here. He says art can't be my significant other, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Now that I've shared, who dragged you here?"

He took a gulp of beer and winced at the taste. "This is actually my house. I'm renting it with Trent, the guy who's throwing this thing. He's an ok guy; we just have very different ideas of fun." He gestured at the people dancing inside. "I'm more of a 'stay at home and watch a movie on the couch' kinda guy. I don't do well with – well - people." He shrugged and chugged the rest of his beer. Hero felt a connection with him. She, too, did not do well with too many people.

"Same, I'm just really good at faking it. Secretly, I can only handle being around a few people at a time." She felt funny telling him this about herself; she had never really told anyone – some friends picked up on it, others didn't. Either way, she had been able to keep her bubbly, friendly persona safe. Not that she wasn't actually friendly or bubbly, but she definitely didn't feel that way nearly as often as she pretended to.

He looked at her for a moment, recognizing that what she had told him was important to her. "You know, you could get away with being sad or upset, or even angry, without losing friends. You're genuinely nice, and it doesn't hurt that you're really pretty." The last part was mumbled, but Hero caught it. She definitely wasn't expecting that.

"You think I'm pretty?"

"Yeah."

"Ok."

Silence fell as Hero stared at the fireflies that had come out and her friend stared at his empty cup.

"Thanks for helping me with my art project the other night. I got an A on it, so, thanks." She had been surprised when he showed up the evening after he walked her home in the rain. In keeping with his personality, which had not changed much from high school, he had said very little, but his presence had made the whole project a bit less terrible.

He shrugged again and ducked his head. "I'm still a bit surprised you're talking to me. I know, I know, you've forgiven and forgotten, or whatever, but how are you even sitting here with me?"

"I haven't forgotten." The words slipped out of Hero's mouth without her thinking. But she meant it. Yes, she had forgiven him, but the forgetting part would never happen. "I mean, forgetting isn't important. I just want to move forward, no matter what's in our past. I know you never meant to hurt me."

He said nothing.

"Do you want to go to the zoo with me tomorrow? A mother red panda just had babies, and I really want to see them! I could always use some company."

This time, he turned to look at her instead of his cup. "Red pandas are my favorite animal," he said quietly, as though he didn't want anyone else to know he liked such cute animals. "I suppose I'd be up to it. What time?"

Hero finishes cramming the Tupperware lids in the drawer next to the stove just as her husband comes back inside the house. He takes off his cleaning gloves and throws them and the Windex on the table.

"The window look so clean, babe. Thanks for doing that – you know I'm too short to reach the top." Hero smiled up at him.

He leaned down to kiss her forehead and mumbled against her hair, "If a bird flies into it and dies, so help me…"

"Don't worry, it's not like you're Ben."