He goes running

Warning: fantasy citrus ahead, deal with it or go elsewhere.

Duo POV

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One trip to the beach and back to his room to put away his chair and beach bag, then we were on our way.

We walked in relative silence to a place about three blocks from his hotel. It was comfortable, which was weird. I’m usually a jabbermouth. Unless there’s a TV or movie in the background, silence usually picks me apart, makes me jittery and irritable.

But it wasn’t with Heero. Maybe its just because there was a lot of scenery; we were in the heart of the tourist area, and it was lunchtime. Even in the offseason, there were people everywhere. But somehow, that didn’t sound right.

The place was small but crowded. I didn’t really expect Heero to go into a place with that many people, but he did. We sat out outside under an awning, so there were a few less people. He looked a little uncomfortable with the numbers surrounding us, so I tried to distract him with small talk.

I didn’t really expect it to work with as much effort as it took in the hotel (remember he was as close to relaxed as I’ve ever seen him there, and now we’re in a situation he wasn’t even close to breezy in), but, you know, I think he wanted to be distracted and he helped out a bit more. Our conversation was as light as can be considering we were two people who didn’t really know each other spending time together.

I felt like I was laughing a lot. Does that sound weird? I’m always throwing jokes around at others, making them laugh, but I don’t remember me, myself, ever laughing as much with him as with anyone besides my closest friends.

I still never got a full laugh from him, but there were several times when I think he had to really fight the urge. And there was one genuine smile which made my heart stop.

That sounds really cliché, I know, but it’s true. I felt like all the oxygen had disappeared from the room, there was a pain, an ache, in my chest, but nothing hurt. Like I could die right then, and I’d skip right alongside of Death, smiling and holding his bony hand.

Sap.

That’s never really happened before, I’m beginning to wonder what I’m getting myself into with Mr. Yuy.

Anyways, the food was good; the company was great. As the bill came, I swiped it out of his reach before he could do anything about it.

He did that little eyebrow raise-y thing he does when he’s curious. “Buying my lunch, Maxwell?”

I was ‘Duo,’ in the hotel room, ‘Duo’ a few times throughout lunch. Why did that change now?

But I didn’t let my anxiety show. “Yep, it’s the only way I can really think of to even come close to apologizing for my embarrassing display on the beach.”

He seemed to relax a bit at that. Did he think we were on a date or something? I don’t even know if he’s gay, and I’m sure as hell not going to have the first date with a god of a man in a place like this. He deserves high class.

I got that sexy little smirk from him again. “You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. I’ve seen many people faint before. Women do it all the time.”

My jaw dropped, and I’ll admit it: I spluttered. We’d been joking around a bit, but he’d never started any of it. I’d be doing a little mental happy dance if I wasn’t too worried about my reputation.

“I did not faint!” Great defense, Maxwell. Sheesh!

His face became absolutely devilish and he leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. “Really, what floor is my room on?”

Research comes in handy! Besides, I’m pretty observant, and I saw the passing room numbers on the way out for lunch. “Third.” I smirked back! Ha, take that!

He nodded, but that face still hadn’t changed. “Did we take the elevator or the stairs?”

“Elevator.” Who in their right mind would carry someone up three flights? Stupid question.

Wicked, it was the only way to describe his face at that moment. Like he knew he had won. Shit!

“Wrong. Stairs.”

I shook my head. “Then you just proved my point, you wouldn’t carry an unresponsive party up the stairs. I was at least pseudo-coherent.”

“That’s not a real word.” I scowled at him, but he continued unaffected. “I curl weights heavier than you, and you looked like I had drugged you. I was not about to take you through the main lobby in that condition. There is a side door to the stairwell.”

Crap.

“You’d better not be lying to me. I hate it when people lie to me.”

His face went down a notch on the wicked scale. “You fainted.”

Still scowling, but blushing a bit that I’d been caught out. “I don’t faint; I pass out. That’s a much more manly term for it.”

What I wouldn’t give to wipe that arrogant expression off his face…with my lips. I wonder what expression I’d see then.

“Now who’s lying? You fainted; admit it.” He was enjoying this entirely too much, and I like that I can amuse him, but he just took it a bit too far.

“Duo Maxwell does not lie.” That came out too serious for the conversation, and his eyes narrowed a bit.

I watched his eyes travel over my face, weighing my words. Finally, he nodded. “Duo Maxwell, trustworthy but distrustful. I will remember that.”

I huffed with his comment, and my bangs ruffled with the expelled air. I couldn’t really dispute it, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. He was a little too good at reading me.

The comfortable atmosphere was ruined by my idiosyncrasies. Damn, but in my defense, his comment felt like a punch. I know he didn’t mean it, but I’m a little too sensitive about that topic. Everyone has their buttons; I don’t have as many as most people. I’m usually very hard to upset, but my few buttons have a big sign that says ‘Do not push unless you can handle the retribution’ hanging over them.

I tried to perk up the attitude a bit, and, let’s face it, I’m an amazing actor when I need to be. Put on your happy face, Duo! “Hey, got any plans for tonight?”

His face did that barely noticeable, shut down move he did when I grabbed the check. I think he’s a bit homophobic with uncertainties about my orientation.

Double damn! Oh well, the girls will have a blast fighting over him.

“I’ve got to work.” His tone was flat and his face unreadable.

And after all that progress, too. “Work? For what? Got a big meeting on Sunday? Come on, Heero. You’ve got all day tomorrow to work on whatever needs to be done. Come out with us tonight.”

“Us?” His eyebrow lifted, and a tentative smirk worried at the corner of his lips. “Referring to yourself in third person plural? I didn’t know you were royal.” I think his newest hobby is picking on me. That’s fine by me if that meant more time in his company.

I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m not in town on business, and I didn’t come here alone. I meant come with me and my two best friends, Hilde and Noin. They are two fabulously hot girls that would love to work you over.”

But his face shut down again. What is his deal? “I’m not interested.”

Not interested in girls, not interested in boys (more specifically me). Main conclusion: someone has been hurt in the past. Could be wrong, but probably not. I closed my eyes to gather my strength. “Heero, why does everything have to seem like life or death with you?” I shot him a serious look, demanding eye contact. “You’re not interested in anything. No relationships, no one night stands, though, to warn you, Hilde and Noin are my closest friends, and if you’re looking for a ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’ relationship with them, I’ll castrate you.” Deep breath. “It doesn’t have to be classified like that. Just come out with us. I promise you, if you’re not having fun, I’ll take you home myself, apologize and beg for your forgiveness the entire trip back, and won’t bother you again the entire day tomorrow.”

He leaned back in his chair, studying me. “The rest of my stay here.”

I winced. “Ouch.” I didn’t think we were best of friends yet, but I thought he at least enjoyed my company. I sighed; I couldn’t quite blow off that jab. “But fine. You don’t have a good time, I’ll leave you alone to your own personal island time.”

He nodded his acceptance. I’m pretty sure he saw that his comment hurt me, and I think he agreed solely in attempt to make amends. But he agreed nonetheless.

Awkward silence, until: “So where are these friends of yours. I’ve been with you for several hours and I have seen no one.”

Glory be! He was the one to break the silence first. That was unexpected to say the least.

“I was the pre-set responsible one last night, so they got plastered.” I grabbed his wrist and turned it so I could read the time. “I suspect they are, if not still asleep, stirring and miserable.” I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face and the ‘I told you so’ tone out of my voice. “I tried to warn them to slow down, but they didn’t listen.”

“Does that mean its your turn to be the drunk tonight?” His voice and face contradicted each other. He was trying to play this question off, but I think it was very important to him.

I smiled at him. “Nah, I had plenty of that in college. I may get tipsy, but probably not. My responsibility tonight is making sure you have fun. I think I’ll need my wits about me to make that happen.”

He seemed relieved with my answer. Heero is not an easy one to read, but there wasn’t as much tension in his shoulders now.

“But.” I looked him over. “You are a very attractive man, and if you don’t want Hilde and Noin fawning all over you tonight…” I let the question hang to see his reaction. He confirmed my sentiment, no girls to be draped across his shoulders. “Then you’ll have to come up with a damn good reason.”

He just sat there while I tried to think out loud. “You could be fresh out of a really painful relationship, and don’t want to have anything close to intimacy…” I put my hands behind my head and looked up at the ceiling as I thought. “No, that wouldn’t work…they’d just try to console you.”

The restaurant had cleared out a little bit, but there were still a good number of people around.

“You’re in a committed relationship, but you still needed to get away and have some fun…nope, they’ll think you’re a sleezeball. Besides, I don’t think they’d believe it; I tend to avoid people like that.”

Heero interrupted my thoughts. “I thought you didn’t lie.”

I looked at him. “I don’t; this is your story.”

“And if I have a problem lying?”

I couldn’t help but smile back at him. “Then it’ll be more difficult, but not impossible… I like you, Heero Yuy.”

Those piercing blue eyes widened at my statement, and I just smiled that much wider and continued. “You play the hard ass, but you’re fun to be around. I didn’t expect to like you this much, but I’m having fun with you.”

I watched him swallow hard. “Brutally honest. I find I don’t mind your company nearly as much as I thought I would.”

I laughed at his phrasing. “We have something in common then.” The smile drained off my face at a thought. Shit. “I just thought of the best way to let you keep your distance, but I don’t think you’ll like it.”

He looked suspicious, well, more so than usual.

“We can tell them you’re gay.” His eyes narrowed, and his mouth opened to respond, but I cut him off too quickly. “Don’t say anything, if I don’t know whether its true or not, its not technically a lie if I report suspicions.” This did not sit right in my stomach. Deviousness was not my favorite characteristic, but I have loads of it when needed. This felt like I was trapping him, manipulating him to get closer to me.

And if it was still just a lust thing, I doubt I would have any problems. But it was more than that now; I was starting to think of him as a potential friendship.

I make acquaintances nearly everywhere I go. I’m easy going, easy to talk to, good at talking to others…so I meet a lot of people, but very few of them make it past my fences. There are definite barriers between me and the outside world. Most people don’t notice because I’m considerate and outgoing, but there are a select few that I trust explicitly. So few, I could count the number on one hand. I only knew Heero for a few hours, but I felt like he had the potential to jump that fence.

Which ended my sexual pursuit of him, dammit! Friends were too few and far between to let sex interfere. I could pick up anybody from any club to sate my lust and lose their numbers. It doesn’t happen often, but everyone has needs, you know?

I swallowed hard with the realization, but continued. “I’m sorry, Heero, but I don’t know of any other explanation that would work. This way they’ll be polite and friendly, try to incorporate you into the group, but not flirt shamelessly with you.”

He continued just glaring at me.

“You would have to pair it with the recent heartbreak story to explain why I’m not hitting on you.”

I watched his face closely for any signs of discomfort, but he was excruciatingly unreadable right now. “Does that bother you, Heero? That I’m interested in men?”

I watched his eyes close; he took a deep breath before answering on the exhalation. “No. I know several men of the same orientation as you.”

Trying to reassure him, I responded quickly. “They might try to get us together, but I know the backstory and wouldn’t be doing anything except maintaining your cover. One or two dances and we’ll just chill the rest of the night.”

“I don’t dance.” Knew that one was coming.

And had a response ready, complete with cheeky grin (which didn’t really matter because his eyes were still closed). “Then don’t dance, we’ll position you in the middle of the dance floor so no one can tell you’re not dancing. You can just stand by me and watch everyone else slither around the dance floor.”

“Just maintaining a cover story?”

I let my voice go soft, trying to offer support. “Yeah. I’ll follow your lead on everything. I’ll flirt with you just so the girls don’t know something’s up, but otherwise, I’ll try not to cross any lines. Any advice?” I was trying to lighten the mood again.

It didn’t work. His eyes opened and cut me like a knife. “Don’t knock unless you’re sure of the welcome.”

Did the temperature just drop? A little voice inside me was screaming ‘Abort! Abort!’ and I tend to follow my instincts. This will just be too weird for him, and he won’t enjoy it. Then our potential friendship is slaughtered.

I put my elbows on the table and let my head drop beneath my clasped hands. “Nevermind. This is a bad idea, you’re uncomfortable as hell, I’ll be dancing on glass all night, and the girls will hate the tension. Why don’t we just go out to dinner some night, the four of us? We can have a nice picnic on the beach at sunset, or something.” I pulled my head back up, but I didn’t really feel like meeting his eyes. “You about ready to get outta here? My ass is going to sleep from sitting on it too long.”

The chair scraped across the floor as I stood. I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket, pulled out enough to cover the meal and added a generous tip. But Heero hadn’t moved from the seat. He still sat there, his eyes focused on the table in front of him.

Man, I was tired. I meant what I said about him. I enjoy his company tremendously, but he drained me. A nap sounded glorious right now, but I’m not sure the girls will let me.

Suck it up, Maxwell. You got to move this along before the awkward conversations puts paid to the budding friendship. “Hey, Heero, are you listening? Lets get going.”

I couldn’t see his face because of the angle between us, but I heard him. “I’ll try.”

“What? What’s to try, just stand up and walk out with me.” I knew what he was talking about, but it wasn’t a good idea; let him bow out, and talk to him later.

He continued despite the out he was given. “I’ve never really been a club person…but I’ll try. I apologize for being sharp with you.”

Oh, boy, now you done it, Maxwell. “I shouldn’t have put that pressure on you. Its my fault, alright? Lets just forget the whole thing ever happened.”

Heero turned to look at me then. “No. I…” He hesitated a bit, but I watched the steel settle in his eyes. It was amazing to see. “I want to try, but I’m not really sure what to do.”

I made a gesture with my head towards the door, and he finally stood. When we maneuvered past the restaurant staff and patrons, I put a teasing tone in my voice, but made sure he saw the steel in my eyes as well. “You want to go? We’ll go. Don’t worry about a thing, Heero. I got ya covered, buddy.”

“Speaking of covered…” Heero spoke just loud enough for me to hear, but that didn’t mean I understood him.

“Hmm?” I was preoccupied with crossing the streets back towards the hotel.

“What should I wear?”

Wow, he meant what he said; he really was trying. “That depends on what you want to be.” I smiled at him as we walked.

He just scowled at me; it didn’t phase me, though. “No, seriously, Heero. That’s part of the attraction of the clubs; at least, it is for me. Think about it, there’s me, Hilde, and Noin. You’ve won me over, and if I vouch for you, the girls will like you. Otherwise, who are you trying to impress? You’ve already said you weren’t interested in a relationship. Hell, you’re not even trying to hook up with someone. So who else in that club matters? You’ll never see those people again, so tonight you can be anything you want to be: the richest man in the states, the most popular man in New York, a celebrated actor, a mob boss on vacation, anything. We dress you to match what you want to be. You’ll be surprised how clothes can make you feel if you let them.”

“I don’t want to play a part.” Something about this whole situation made him uncomfortable, but he was determined to force his way through it. I wanted to know why.

“Alright, we’ll just make you look jaw-droppingly hot. How about that? I’ll come back to your hotel for a bit and help you pick out the best choice for your debut.”

“Then what?”

“Huh? What do you mean ‘then what?’?” He confuses me, keeps me on my toes, and I’m usually pretty good at keeping up with people. Not with him, though.

I think he rolled his eyes at me, but I couldn’t tell for sure in profile. “Its early afternoon. What do you do before you need to get ready? Are there any other preparations for tonight that need to be addressed?”

“Oh. Well, no. There are no other preparations.” I let my voice mimic his as I repeated his words. “As for the extra time, well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to head back to my bed for a nap. I was tucking too hot drunks into bed at 2:30 then I was up at dawn to watch the sunrise. If I’m going to stay awake for the party tonight, I’ll need compensatory zzz’s.”

“I thought you said now was about the time the girls would wake up regretting last night.” He was working very hard at keeping his head turned away from me.

“Yeah, so?” I was trying to catch his eye without being too obvious about it.

“Will they let you sleep?”

I sighed, I’d been wondering about that myself. “I hope so; I really don’t want to have to knock them out…but I’ve been known to get cranky without enough sleep.”

“You can take a nap in my room if you need to; I’ll be working, so it’ll be quiet.” He turned towards me with that statement, and I watched him dissect me with his eyes. I’m not sure what he was looking for, but I got a very weird feeling from him them, like he was challenging me.

“Oh, thanks, Heero. That’s swell of you, but I need to take a shower before I tuck in cuz I still have sand and sweat in my hair and just about everywhere else. I can’t really sleep if I’m dirty, it’s a gross feeling. It’d just be too much trouble.” Dear Lord, I am rambling! What the hell?

He acted like I hadn’t said anything, still impaling me with his eyes. “We could swing by your place, grab what you’re going to wear, you could take a nap until it was time to get ready, and you could help me decide what looked best.” His words were setting up an ideal ‘seduce me’ situation, but his body language was completely defensive. And I couldn’t tell you what the hell he was looking for with those near-black eyes.

It was such a contradiction, so I just sat back to let it resolve itself. “It wouldn’t work, Heero. I’ve got so much hair stuff that I’d have to bring, and I don’t know what I’m going to wear yet. Plus, I’d be prancing about your room in a towel until my skin dried enough to pull my jeans on…”

He flushed at my implication, but he was still in ‘weird’ mode, so no telling what was going through his head.

“It just wouldn’t work, but I’ll swing by early to inspect your appearance before we go. It takes the girls forever, and I’d just be sitting there waiting if I didn’t come get you first. Then we could swing back by to get the girls and head to the club.”

“That will work.” His gaze toned down with my comment, his body seemed to release the tension it held a few moments ago, and overall, I felt like I got the answer ‘right.’ I’m not sure what that means, but who knows.

He’s sure not telling me anything.

Whatever, anyways, by this point we were back at his hotel. We headed back up to his room, and I picked out a good outfit for him. Hey, I’m good, and I had quite a bit of body talent to work with, but Heero packed for a business trip, not clubbing.

Plus, he didn’t let me take liberties with his wardrobe. I mean, I’m pretty good at seeing how things would look if only…if only I could rip this shirt here, and leave this unbuttoned there. It would have helped, but he stamped ‘NO’ across most of my suggestions. Sad.

Oh well, after we got all that sorted out, my body was letting me know exactly how many hours sleep I didn’t get last night. I made my way back down the beach to my humble abode.

As I walked into the main room, I stripped off the shirt I was wearing and realized exactly what I should have made Heero try on for tonight. I had completely forgotten that I was wearing a shirt of his. He said it was a little tight on him, and considering the color of the shirt, and the color of his eyes…he’d be too hot for words.

I laid his shirt out across my bed, and made my way to the bathroom, stripping as I went. I wondered what he would look like in jeans as I turned the water on to warm. I slipped the band off my braid, started finger-combing the strands out, and then grabbed a brush to ease the upcoming ordeal of working shampoo and conditioner through thigh length hair. I threw a towel over the rod and stepped into the spray. Heero had packed beach wear, exercise clothing, and business professional. Jeans don’t fit in any of those categories for him.

I grabbed my shampoo and started working it into my scalp. Gathering the length of it over my shoulder, I worked the soap down its length as I thought.

There was a pair of jeans I had that might fit him. Ok, so they weren’t really mine. I had a roommate in college that was bigger than me.

No, I didn’t steal his pants. Our laundry got mixed up. Then he went off to get married, and I found his jeans at the bottom of one of my drawers. It would be beyond weird to send him his pants back, so I just kept them.

I’m a pack rat, so sue me. I wear them for movie nights, when the girls and I are just planning on scrunching up on couches and gluing our eyes to a screen for hours. The jeans are pretty loose on me, and Heero and I are about the same height. I packed them for the days when I’m still recovering from a hangover, but I want to leave the hotel room to snag something to eat, and want to look somewhat presentable. Good thing, too.

I’ll bring those with me when I go back over there. If those don’t work, then we’ll deal with it. But I’m hoping they will, I’d love to see him squeeze that tight ass into a denim sheath. Like they were painted on…

God! I was getting so hard thinking about what he would look like. Shit, he was gorgeous. I sighed as I turned to let the water rinse the soap away. I’m torn. I want him with a lust that I haven’t experienced in a long, long time. Even at the height of my wild, less inhibited days, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who I’ve hungered for in such a way. Yeah, I’ve met and had some very hot guys, but Heero blows them all away.

But I also want to explore what kind of friendship we could have. It’d be immeasurably cool to have a guy to be friends with. I love the girls to death, and I don’t mind being their shopping buddy or drooling over guys walking by in the park, but I would like someone that I could talk sports with, maybe play some basketball with on the weekends.

Hell, Heero might not even like sports, but to me, its worth a try. Which means: I gotta keep it in my pants. Period, end of discussion.

But, damn, he was hot!

As the hot water sprayed across my skin, alerting me to how sensitive my flesh was becoming with my rising arousal, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to control my reactions around him unless I let nature take its course, at least in private.

Quickly, I slathered conditioner throughout the length of my hair, threading my fingers down the strands to make sure all was covered equally. I draped my hair over one shoulder, reached up, grabbed the showerhead, and directed the water towards my feet while I leaned up against the wall.

One hand was still slick with conditioner, so I rubbed them together, slicking both. The hair draped over my shoulder was plastered, wet and velvety, across mid thigh. I imagined it was Heero’s hand resting and smoothing across, up, the sensitive skin of my inner thigh. Shuddering with the image, I reached down and wrapped a hand around the erection demanding my attention. Through closed eyes, I saw wet, dark, chocolate-colored hair slicked back across his scalp and neck, blue eyes, smoldering with heat looking up at me as that wicked smirk moved closer and closer to my cock. My breath stilled as I imagined his mouth opening, agonizingly slowly, and running his tongue across the head, then taking it into his mouth. The strength of my fingers around my flesh was the suction of his mouth against me.

My other hand became his hand, sliding over my balls, cupping them, feeling the globes skating around in such delicate skin. Every muscle was drawn tight, so tight I felt I couldn’t breathe.

But it was good, so so good.

I very easily could have been content with this scenario, spraying my release across the shower floor, picturing his mouth catching and swallowing it all, but if this was the only way I would have Heero, I wanted all of him. The image in my eyes stood up as I released my aching cock, he stood so close to me, very nearly pressing flesh to flesh, but not quite. Those last few centimeters were pure torture as the heat from the shower supplied the heat of his skin pressing against mine.

His face moved next to mine, the steam of the shower was his heated breath against my ear. My free hand moved behind me, skirting my entrance, flirting with the idea of penetration. When did my fantasy become a teasing dance? But, shit, it was good.

I heard a piteous whimper leave my lips as the pressure of those fingers increased between my cheeks. Heero’s other hand slipped off my balls and started sliding over and around my cock, mimicking the dance around my entrance. Then it changed…

There was a firm grip around my flesh as a single finger pressed inside me. Acutely, I felt every millimeter that filled me, and I couldn’t stop the moan that ripped through my body.

But he wasn’t teasing now, almost as soon as the first finger was encased within me, it slipped out, and two replaced it. Two thrusts into my body this time, then a third entered.

How long had it been since I’ve felt anything like this. Everything was hazy, lust obscuring every image, but then I heard his voice. My mind supplied what it would sound like, what he would sound like. His voice whispered how hot I was, how tight I was, how much he wanted me.

How hard he was going to fuck me…

I had wanted to picture and imagine the feel of him forcing himself into me, taking me completely, that had been the aim of this entire fantasy…But Heero was too potent. His fantasy overwhelmed me before I could hold back.

The pressure within my groin would not be resisted any longer. With a gasp that felt like my first breath of air in ages, I felt the world collapse into the feeling of his fingers in and around me, and then there was fire coursing through my veins, and I think I shouted something, but I couldn’t remember it as soon as the words left me…

Then my erection was jumping in my hand and spilling my cum across the shower.

I felt my knees give, and I slid down the wall to puddle with the water surrounding my feet. My body collapsed around itself and time passed uncounted. I concentrated on breathing; it was loud in my ears.

As I started to come back to myself, I started shifting to get more comfortable. My legs were bunched up, and my chest was folded over my legs. I looked like a rag doll. And the water that had been spraying at my feet and knees when I was standing was now very close to spraying me in the face. And it was no longer hot.

I struggled to my feet, somewhat grateful that the water was cool enough to calm the fires of my flesh. Yes, I was thoroughly spent, but it was still hot as hell in that shower.

I ran soap across my burning muscles, stepped under the spray to wash it all away, turned the water off, and grabbed a towel. A quick task of wringing the water from my hair and cleaning out my ears, grabbing my comb, I made quick work of the few tangles; there weren’t many since I had let the conditioner sit so long. I twisted my hair and let it fall over one shoulder to be dealt with shortly…

All of a sudden the day’s events and the lack of sleep fell upon me like carrion birds, and I had to go to bed. It was no longer a choice; it was now an ultimatum: sleep or collapse (again).

I grabbed a pair of boxers from my suitcase on the way to the bed. I half stepped half fell onto the mattress as I was pulling on the shorts. As I crawled up the length of the bed, my eyes landed on Heero’s shirt, draped across my pillow.

Sappy as it sounds, I thought that was an excellent place for it. I lay my head on his shirt and just drew in his scent. True, I had been wearing it for the last two hours or so, but I could still smell his spicy aftershave on top of the light scent of the sun on my skin.

I could feel the press of damp hair between my head and the pillow; I hoped I didn’t get his shirt too wet, but I was too tired, too comfortable, and too enthralled by his scent to move. I released a sigh of perfect contentment, and hours passed as I slept…

Until there was a loud, obnoxious, repetitive knock on the joining door to my room.

“Duo! Where the fuck did you put my Excedrin!...DUO!!” Hilde registered in my thoughts as her voice pierced my dreams rather brutally.(1) Then the pounding started again.

“Oh! Ow! Do you have to shout?” I heard Lu’s muffled voice through the door.

“Duo! My Excedrin!” Man, that girl’s got an arm of steel if she can hit the door that hard, that many times without feeling it…or she’s still hung-over, which would be my guess since the “xc” in Excedrin was pronounced more slurred than it should be.

“How the hell should I know? I haven’t touched your things!” I was too comfortable to move, let alone get up. There was no way she was getting me out of this bed short of using a detonator.

I couldn’t quite tell what she said then; I just heard grumbling and had the distinct impression that she was throwing things around the room, looking for the elusive headache medicine.

Hilde always had this quirk the day after; she refused to take any pain meds except Excedrin. Don’t understand it, myself. When I’m suffering from a hangover, I’ll take just about anything to make the pain go away.

But hey, who am I to say anything…as long as she shuts up and lets me sleep.

I turned to bury my head in my pillow, to drowse until I fell back into my glorious nap, but then I caught his scent again. I woke up a bit as I remembered his shirt and couldn’t resist breathing in deep, drawing just that little bit of him into me.

Of course, now, it was mostly my scent, with a hint of his. Sad. And it was wet in places from my hair.

Hey, I just got an idea. I turned over to check the time. 5:15pm. I wonder if Heero’s got any dinner plans.

“Hey, hotbottom! You’re planning on eating something with that painkiller, right?”

The knob turned, but the door stayed shut, and I couldn’t help but snicker as I heard Hilde hit the door, wrongly thinking I had unlocked it.

“Bitch!” Her insult only made me laugh harder behind the safety of the door. “I ordered room service. Figured you were gone or out cold.”

“Right on both counts. So, you wouldn’t be interested in dinner in about two hours?” I was at my computer looking up the Hotel Marquis’ phone number.

“We goin’ out tonight?” She still sounded kinda slow, I hope she ordered water with her dinner.

“You betcha, hotstuff.” I crawled back into my bed and reached for the phone as I awaited her answer.

“Then nah. Us girls will be making ourselves unattainably hot. Right, Lu?”

There was a muffled grumble in the background which I took as an agreement.

“You got something for Noin, right? Or do I need to find her something?” I dialed the number, and all of a sudden I was nervous. What the hell is happening to me? I’m never nervous.

“I got her covered. She’s still a bit pukey, but she won’t feel better until I get some food in her. The sooner the better.”

“Ok, then I’m going to dinner with a new friend. He’s coming out with us tonight.” The receptionist answered on the second ring. “Yes, hello. Can you connect me to room 1353, a Mr. Heero Yuy? Thank you very much.”

“Mmmm, is he yummy?” Hilde was apparently still at the door.

“Yes, now go away.” I heard the ringing begin, and my heart rate increased substantially.

“Heero, huh? Sounds hot.” Uh-oh, I know that tone in her voice… “OH HEERO!” Yup, here it comes… “OH, Ah…YES!! Harder!” Hilde decided to fake an orgasm on her side of the door. Fun Fun.

Shit! I hate it when she does this.

“Yuy.” God Damn! His voice never gets less sexy, does it?

“Hey, Heero. How are you?”

“Oh Heero! Yes! Yes! Just like that…Right there! Oooh! YES! YES!” I’m going to kill her, violently.

“Excuse me?” SHIT!! I’m pretty sure he can hear everything she’s saying.

“I’m so sorry, Heero! Hang on, Hilde’s being a bitch.” I hit the mute button on the phone, set the receiver on the nightstand, and turned my attention to the bitch behind door number one. “HILDE! Shut the hell up. Its not like that with him! If you embarrass me, I’ll make you pay!”

“Oh, oh no! Not that!” I could hear her laughing hysterically.

“Just remember one thing, hun…I can pick the lock to your door…”

“And you’ll do what? Organize my luggage? Nice threat Duo, but we both know you wouldn’t do a thing.” Ooooh, she gets on my nerves sometimes.

“I’m serious this time, babe. You don’t stop, I’ll bleach your hair while you sleep.” She knows I’m serious when I’m not yelling at her.

“Don’t make threats about hair, hun. You’ve got a lot more on that head of yours.” Her voice sounded farther away. Maybe she will leave me alone.

“I didn’t mean the hair on your head!!” I couldn’t help but laugh when I heard her squeak behind the door, but then she started laughing, too.

“You’re a gay man, Duo Maxwell. Do you even know what to do with one of those?” I’m surprised I could understand her as loud as she was laughing.

“You willing to find out, lady love? Now go away and let me talk.”

“Alright, peace. Truce for now, besides the food is here. Later, my love.” I heard a male voice speaking in their room and I’m assuming the room service was being delivered.

Finally! I reached for the phone…and realized I had not pushed the mute button but the speaker. Shit. I turned speaker phone off, and nervously picked up the receiver.

“Heero, you still there?”

“I don’t think I was meant to overhear that conversation.” Double damn.

“Uh, no. No, you weren’t. Sorry, I hit the wrong button.” Its hopeless. Every time I contact this man, I’m meant to embarrass the hell outta myself.

“Obviously. If it makes you feel better, it was an amusing conversation.” Wow.

“Yeah. Actually, it does.” I couldn’t help but grin at the relief I felt right then.

“Was there a reason you called, Duo?” Oh yeah, I knew I was forgetting something…

“I thought we could meet up for dinner, say in about an hour and a half?” That’s it. Be assertive, Duo! Don’t let him know you’re nervous as hell.

“I don’t have any plans, so I guess that’s fine.” Glory be! I didn’t even have to persuade him. Maybe there’s hope for him, yet.

“I could pick you up, and we could figure out where we want to eat. I asked the girls to join us, but they were too hungry to wait. They are eating now, and they plan on getting ready while we’re eating.” I’m rambling now, shit.

“When will we get dressed?”

“Well, you could bring what you’re planning to wear with you, then you could just get ready here after dinner, or I could bring you back to your hotel.” That would be quite a bit of trouble, but I don’t want him to be uncomfortable.

“That will be fine.”

“Great. I’ll see you then. Bye, Heero.”

“Goodbye.”

It felt like I could breathe again. I collapsed back on the bed and couldn’t fight the smile off my face. It was total bliss, until she spoke again.

“Hey, Duo, you do know that if you plan to pick him up, you’ll have to come in here and get the keys to the rental car from me…”

Fuck. Wait a minute…I drove last night…when the hell did she steal the keys from me?!?

Damn her. She’ll be the death of me, yet.

______________________________

TBC

(1) I do not own or profit from Excedrin, just needed to give her a lil hangover quirk.

AN: This was really meant to be a one-shot, but I'm beginning to think I'm incapable of not detailing out the storyline and character quirks. Kinda annoying sometimes. Whatev. Have fun, hope you liked.

As stated previously, this is a repost, but the original post stopped here. I never finished it, but I've got the next chapter written, I just need to proofread it a few times. I'm hoping to finish off this ficcy this weekend. The updates may be a bit spread out so I can get some feedback on the individual chapters as opposed to as a whole.

Drop me a 'yea or nea' when you can, or just hit the vote button, please. This fic is so outside my normal viewpoint that I'm way nervous about it, but I am so infatuated with Hilde in this fic. ;D.

As always, responses to reviews will be posted on my profile page...like, what else would I do with it? I don't like talking about myself!