Notes: Based off this picture by
Accident Prone
“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=