Notes: Based off this picture by ASIA: http://www.endlessorbit999.com/Wing/GW21_3.jpg
“Ah fuck.”
Those were the first words he had uttered the moment the low hissing sound was heard and the subsequent ‘thud’ of the ECM suite on the backpack of his Gundam misfired. He groaned at the console, watching the zigzag of red lines dance across the screen, which was quickly followed by snow and then absolutely nothing. The lights flickered on and off, as if toying with his patience, before leaving him in complete darkness….save for the emergency lights. If you could call the dull glow above him that.
“Fucking fantastic,” he muttered again, sure fingers dancing across familiar buttons and switches in the hopes of getting something started. After five minutes of nothing cooperating for him, he sank back in his chair and waited for the inevitable.
In five…four…three…two…
“Maxwell?” Static and then again…a bit incessant this time. “Maxwell? Do you read me?”
Duo Maxwell fought back another groan and leaned forward, punching the button that would enable the intercom with his comrade. At least that one worked, thank goodness for little mercies. “Yo.”
He could almost hear the other bristling at the carefree greeting. “What happened? I lost you on the radar for a moment. Is there…?”
“Active cloak is jammed, Heero,” Duo interrupted. “Think my ECM suit suffered a tiny bit of an accident; sent the sensors haywire before going kaput.”
“I see debris.”
“Say what now?”
“A passing meteorite must have knocked it or something,” Heero Yuy muttered to himself. Duo could already hear the unclasping of seatbelts and locks. Geez. Was he coming here?
“Hey, I got this under control,” Duo began quickly, his mind racing with ways to stop Heero from showing up. He wasn’t sure he could deal with seeing his partner after the ‘accident’ last night…well, if you could call the exchange of harsh words, the punches and then Heero thrusting him hard against the wall and kissing the living daylights out of him an accident…
“Fuck me to hell and back,” Duo moaned and covered his eyes with an arm. He had left first thing this morning to get away from it all, to seek reprieve in the inky darkness of space…maybe blow up a goddamn OZ suit or something to ease the tumultuous range of emotions within him.
“Did you say something, Maxwell?” came the words that had Duo lifting his gaze to the dark screen beside him.
“Nah-“
“Good. Stay put, I’m on my way.”
Yes, sir, captain Heero Yuy, you son-of-a-bitch, sir, Duo mock saluted to himself. It’s amazing how the guy can act like nothing had happened after –
“You might want to wear your helmet – “
“What the hell for?” Jesus! Why did he sound so panicked?
“I’m taking you back with me,” Heero replied matter-of-factly. “If I’m right, Deathscythe is out of commission until we take it back to the hangar. It wasn’t completely functional anyway before you ran off this morning.”
Duo had the grace to blush, grateful that Heero couldn’t see him at this moment. So he had been discovered, eh? “Dunno what you’re talking about, man,” he muttered, jamming the head gear over his head with more force than necessary. He unbuckled himself and maneuvered his lithe frame towards the exit overhead, pushing the hatch open, with a light grunt, to let in the gravitational pull of space.
Floating, as carefully as he could, he sat on its top, watching as Heero climbed out of the atmospheric shuttle. Duo was quite grateful he hadn’t come with Wing; sitting in the cockpit with Heero in that tiny cramped space would have been next to impossible…among other things.
For one heart-stopping moment, their eyes met and held through the relative protection of the thick pane of glass, and Duo could feel his cheeks burn at the flicker of something dark and knowing within Heero’s blue eyes. He struggled not to stare too hard at the outline of Heero’s slender but well-toned figure beneath the black and blue Astro-suit. Damn. Had the other guy looked this good before? The suit seemed to be molded to Heero’s body, showing every firm muscle that seemed and begged to be touched –
Goddamn it!
“I’ll help you load it up,” Duo managed to croak out, even though his voice sounded muffled and miles away within his head gear. He tore his gaze away with an effort and jumped off his Gundam, allowing Heero free reign to move around him to do his job. Together, they worked in silence, neither willing to break the growing tension as memories of last night seemed to rise like a solid brick wall between them.
“All set,” Duo finally said with a thumbs up sign. Heero nodded, slipping back into the shuttle to make sure Deathscythe was safely loaded aboard. He was somewhat glad that Howard had trusted him enough to make the trip to pick up Duo. It was something that would have required two other crewmates, but Heero had insisted he do this alone. He needed to speak to Duo anyway…in private, for he figured that his comrade would do all he could not to be anywhere near him for as long as he could help it.
Duo watched the shuttle doors close slowly, effectively trapping his Deathscythe within the warm confines and he swallowed tightly, knowing that the moment of truth was finally here.
“Unless you plan to keep floating in space, Duo,” Heero began with a faint tone of amusement in his voice. “I suggest you get into the damn shuttle.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Come again?”
Now why would that make him blush? And yet he did. Damn the double innuendo. “Nothing,” he muttered as he slid into the seat beside Heero in the cockpit.
He burned as he felt Heero’s stare on him, squirming a little in his seat while hoping the other boy would get moving already. Shit. He had to do something. Anything.
“We should contact Howard,” he blurted out quickly, taking off the helmet to shake his head a little. If he heard Heero give a low intake of breath, he ignored it and stared stubbornly at the screen before him as if wishing Howard’s familiar features would show up in a second or two.
“He knows we’re on the way,” came the counter attack.
“Yeah, well just in case.”
“I did that already.”
“But just so you know…”
“I’m not going to apologize for last night.”
Duo felt pole-axed at the sudden change in subject. He had been ready to continue his inane argument about contacting Howard, but trust Heero to throw in a curve ball when he least expected it. The soft jolt of the shuttle finally beginning its journey to the base was little comfort to the flustered teen.
“…what?”
Heero shrugged a little, set the controls to auto-pilot and took off his helmet to run gloved fingers through his already messed up tresses. “Last night. What happened after we had that argument…”
“Dunno what you’re talking about,” Duo mumbled, suddenly finding the inky blackness of space more fascinating. God, how he burned.
“Need a refresher course?” Heero teased, almost grinning at the way Duo jumped and eyed him with something close to terror in his eyes…or was that longing?
“I swear if you come closer to me, man, I’m going to so fucking punch your goddamn lights out,” Duo breathed, kicking himself inwardly for not sounding more assertive and determined. What the hell was wrong with Heero anyway? He should have known that Howard enticing the pilots to have their first taste of tequila would end up like this.
“I didn’t hear you complaining…”
“That’s because you took me by fucking surprise!” Duo all but screamed. “And you can’t tell me it was the tequila talking either.”
“No, it wasn’t. I didn’t have any to drink, remember?”
“You…you didn’t?” Duo was flummoxed. He sat back in his seat, tense as a bowstring, ready to spring at the first inclination of any hanky panky. “So…what was the argument about anyway?”
“You said I was incompetent and a danger to everyone around me…some other shit like that got lost in translation.”
Duo bristled. “Are you saying I was the one sloshed?”
Heero raised a brow, a small smile on his visage. “Drunk and threw the first punch too.”
“…ah…”
“And then you said the most interesting thing of all.”
Duo wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He was sure it must have been –
“You called me a prude....hmm…had a stick up my ass…didn’t know how to have any fun and then you dared me to do something completely spontaneous….so I did.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Duo replied with a slap of his hand against his forehead. “Dude…when I said spontaneous…why the hell did it have to be a kiss of all things?!”
Heero fell silent and turned away, causing Duo to lean forward in growing bemusement and yet…amazement. He couldn’t be sure, but Heero looked like he was blushing. Well, wonders never cease. Inwardly, he thought Heero looked cute actually.
“It’s not natural, man,” Duo finally said to break the heavy silence, clasping and unclasping his hands as he spoke. “Two guys…I mean, you and I…I’m not saying I have anything against gays or anything, in fact, I know people who are gays but you know…it’s just…” His voice trailed off. What was he talking about anyway? He felt he was rambling, as if embarrassed that he had actually -
(liked it!)
…enjoyed the meeting of lips in that torrid and yet sloppy display of a kiss in front of their amused crew members and friends. Damn it all to hell and back. It had been his first kiss anyway. Stolen and done in a fit of drunken rage.
“Anyway,” Heero spoke up again in a decisive tone. “I’m not apologizing. That’s all I wanted to say.” He rose to his feet quickly, leaving Duo gawking in surprise at the sudden turn of events.
“Hey!” He asked, mind racing a mile-a-minute. “Where are you going?”
Heero needed to breathe. Sitting beside Duo wasn’t helping the confused state of his emotions right now. He had liked the kiss, but knowing that Duo thought it was ‘unnatural’, he had no idea why it would hurt…a little.
“To the back…rest room,” he added quickly.
“Ah, okay…but first…” Duo caught his lower lip between his teeth. Hesitant.
“What is it now?” Heero asked with growing impatience, only to raise a brow in surprise as Duo grasped his wrist tightly to pull him closer. “Duo…” he whispered, but whatever else he would have said was lost in the sudden pressure and sensation of Duo’s lips against his. Tentative, almost shy, seeking, pleading, perhaps questioning and needing to know if it was really okay.
Heero didn’t need to be asked twice. His heart leapt in his throat and with a low moan of acceptance, his breath mingled within Duo’s as mouths blossomed to welcome questing tongues in. A trembling hand slid to the nape of Duo’s neck, holding him steady, deepening this communion he had dreamt of all night and long into the day. He tasted the mint of Duo’s kiss, the soft abrasion of his partner’s tongue; searching, hungry, needing, wanting. He felt the spine-tingling heat creeping up slowly, working its way from the roots of his hair to his butterfly-filled stomach, to the fire…the fire…oh sweet Jesus, there was a fire burning in his groin and he was going to explode soon…be shattered into a million pieces if Duo didn’t stop – if they both didn’t stop…he wasn’t sure he could take it anymore…
“Ah!”
“Oh, God!”
They pulled apart quickly, sucking in huge gulps of air as if long deprived of it. Heero stumbled backwards and had to hold on to his seat for fear he’d land on his ass, while Duo – as bright red as a Christmas bow, licked swollen lips and tried to think coherently.
“I’ll…see to the…eh…piloting of this thing,” Duo finally muttered in a shaky voice.
“Yeah…good idea…” came the mumbled reply.
A heartbeat of silence and then,
“This isn’t happening again you know,” Duo began.
“I understand.”
“I mean it’s not like we’re going to keep doing this all the time.”
“Of course.”
“We don’t want people talking and thinking we’re…you know.”
“Definitely.”
“Right. Just wanted to clear that up.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
Duo listened to the hatch opening and then close behind Heero, only to sag against the seat in relief with a small smile on his face.
“Yeah, right,” he whispered, licking his lips slowly, still tasting Heero. “Like this would be the last time. You just wait till we get back to Earth…”
“…a repeat performance awaits,” Heero finished at the other side of the door where his small smile became a much bigger and quite smug one.
=The End=
Gundam Wing Fiction
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