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"Halfway to Sublimity"Written By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: AU, male/male pairings, language Pairings: 1x2x1 Summary: When Duo moves to a new town on the river,
he meets a young man running the river and a rich boy who seems nice.
Maybe he'll settle down for awhile, or maybe not. "Halfway to Sublimity" Chapter Three Heero left Duo in the pantry to unload his voluminous bags while he tied the goats in the orchard, where there was plenty to eat, shaded grass to forage in, and a basin for water, courtesy of some past animal lover. After a periphery check, he found no signs of large animals which had staked out the garden for their territory. "The goats should be safe for day, but we will have to quarter them indoors to be safe tonight," he told Duo. "I ain't sleeping with a goat." "I was thinking of the lean-to." "I ain't bathing with goats either." "Don't be an idiot. I'll tie them up to the door until we are done then move them inside." Heero scanned the "to do" list Duo had prepared on the hike back from the market. He checked off "stock some food" and annotated as he saw fit. "Duo?" Heero's flat-toned voice sounded soft to Duo's ear when he said his name. "Yeah?" "Have you tested the boiler?" Boiler? Oh. "Yeah, I cleaned out the tub and filled it from the pump. The fire's been burning awhile now. Last I checked the water was getting warm. It'll be great by this evening." "Fine. I'll begin with the porch repair, but first I will get my tools from the broad-horn." He left before Duo could say a word. "Good, 'cause I don't have many tools. What's this? Oh!" Duo skimmed through the "to do" list, frowning then laughed. "Oh, God, Hilde would have a fit!" Heero had bracketed: beat out rugs, wax floor, curtains and window cleaned and written "woman's work" beside the words. "Wood delivered - chop into firewood," had been added in bold lettering. "Well, that goes without saying, dude," Duo grumbled. He went outside and dug through the box of supplies delivered with the wood and paint. When he found the scraper, he pushed it into a pocket and then laid out the rest of the materials. He could always start painting the trim. He trotted around to the front and examined the porch. He was still standing there, hands on his hips, when Heero returned, "The stairs and railing should be replaced first," Heero said. "Then the gutters before painting." "Right," Duo agreed. Heero knelt by the stairs and pried loose the rotting treads and uprights. Duo braced the opposite sides supported the uprights. "Joists look okay." "Good. If those go, so goes your house." After that they busied themselves with hammering and sawing. Duo commented on Heero's wood-working skills. He really did admire his strength, but also figured that since all guys liked that kind of compliment it wouldn't seem too forward-- which proved to be more trouble than it was worth. Heero shrugged off the praise and concentrated on the task at hand. Okay. Duo could mind his business and immerse himself in his job, too. This proved to be constructive.Together, they had the porch ready for priming and painting before dinner break. "We can prep the house before dinner," Duo said. "I'd like to get a coat of primer on, too. It could dry while we eat." "Man, you are driven, but, hey, I'm game if you are." Heero told Duo to start priming the new wood while he made short work of scraping the old. "You can do the front. I'll replace the gutter in back." "Oh no ya don't. Not without a hand." Duo hopped to his side and took the other and of the ladder. "I'm not gonna let you do all the hard work alone. C'mon, it'll go quick with us both on it." He would impress Heero with his determination and work ethic, if he didn't collapse from lack of nourishment first. Heero relented and led the way. Duo knew he was right when an overhead support, weak with wood rot, split as Heero tore it from the roof support, and gave way. Had Duo not been there to catch the separating piece, his river partnership might have been ended with a tragic accident. "Hn," Heero grunted after shaking his hair free of wood debris. "Close." "Uh, huh. See what I mean? We make a good pair." Duo winced and wished he could have taken back what he'd just said knowing how it might have sounded. As much as Duo would like to link them romantically, the other guy had not shown any similar inclination. His guilty conscience, thankfully, was working harder than Heero's imagination, because Heero made no sign that he took it in anyway than surface value. "Hand me that board. I'll have to mark where to cut it." Duo did and offered him a chalk nub to mark the cutting edge, which was accepted in silence. Duo caught the board as Heero lowered it back to him and laid it across the sawhorse. Heero, apparently, wouldn't share his saw with Duo; he leaped from the ladder to his side before Duo's hand grazed the handle. "I'll do that." Duo stepped aside and watched. "I wouldn'tve lobbed off a finger, 'Ro." "Hn," said it all, and more. For the next half hour, the two young men replaced weak boards along the rafters. "I can finish this," Heero told him. "Nothing major left." "Okey-dokey, boss!" Duo added a wink and a smile, but Heero's back was turned and both flew over his head. "I'll be in front, if ya need me." Which you won't... Duo returned to priming the raw porch wood, while Heero took over the surface preparation. He found more bad spots and ripped, sawed, and hammered in replacements as he went along. He checked for decaying caulk around seams and nail holes that needed filling. Duo could follow his progress by listening to the banging. Then it stopped. "I'm starting dinner," Heero announced, causing Duo to paint a streak of primer over his hand. "I'll be back outside to help when I'm done." "Great," Duo replied and he meant it. He was starving. When Heero didn't move immediately, Duo asked, "Want something?" "No." Heero shook his head and stared at him with that uncanny intensity he had. "You smoke?" "Have you seen me smoke?" Where had that come from, Duo wondered, not that it's his business really? "No, but I've found a few stubs around." "Whoever used this for fishing probably did." Heero seemed to relax a little. "You're probably right," he said, turned, and stepped into the house. Duo geared up his painting speed, ratcheting his attack up a few notches, so that by the time dinner was done priming was complete and the entire porch had a coat of fresh paint. Heero smiled, so he must have been pleased with Duo's work ethic. They were dirty, sore and tired, and happy to rest and eat. "Wow." Duo was "wowed" truly by the rice and stir fry meal Heero had created for them. "This is terrific. Where'dya learn to cook like this?" "Odin taught me. I was the youngest of his...men, so I ended up doing most of the cooking." "I'm impressed." Heero smiled again. "I brought these." Across the tabletop he laid out an array of colorful packets with pictures of flowers and vegetables. "What are--? Seeds?" "You have a garden. You still have time to plant." "Okay." Duo looked over each packet, reading the directions and shaking his head. What would he do with the stuff, he wondered? The pumpkins, he did the math, wouldn't be ripe until he was gone anyway. When he looked up, Heero was watching him expectantly, and Serendipity and the Sweepers lost their allure for him. What if Heero wanted to stay on and harvest the food? "Tell ya what. Since you know more about this stuff than I do, how about we share the garden? You stay here Saturday and Sundays and we'll fix up the garden and work on the house. I'll buy food at the market and pay for everything. Whaddaya say?" "I'd like that." Heero accepted just like that. He nearly smiled then straightened his back with his attention outside. "Hear that?" Both Duo and Heero were on their feet and out the back door. The goats were bleating and a wiry, gray-brown animal was barking and running circles around them. Since the animal was a dog and looked to be herding the goats closer to the house rather than attempting to eat them, Duo saw no reason to dive into the fray. Heero grabbed at a figure dashing past. "Hey!" "Lemme go!" Duo recognized the boy's voice and turned around. "Todd! Whaddaya doing here? Shouldn't you be home washing dishes or raisin' hell some place else?" Duo shouted over the din. Heero leashed in the goats while keeping an iron grip on the boy's arm. "Can't you control your rat?" "It's a DOG, not a rat, and it's HIS, not mine!" Duo put the facts together in another exercise of mind-stretching math, and said, "That mouthy little thing's the dog you promised me? What did Quatre call him-- Ruggles? You weren't kidding when you said he was a runt. Man, that's one pug ugly flea breeder. What's it doing over here now?" "Didn't Master Winner tell you?" Todd cried out. Heero must have released the boy, because he jumped closer to Duo. "He told me you were bringing Ruggles over tomorrow, and not here, to the big house." "Oh? Well, now you can see him sooner. See how he likes your goats? He's protecting them." "Not my goats--" "Protecting them from what?" Heero asked, cutting Duo off. He marched across the yard to where the goats had been grazing under the trees. A shadow. A flicker of movement. The barest crackle of the undergrowth. Heero considered making chase, catching up with whatever animal had been attracted to the cabin from the forest by the scent of goat. He patted down his sides fruitlessly seeking a weapon. He wasn't prepared to face down a bear or mountain lion, and anything smaller would have offered no threat, so he let it go and turned back. "Gone," he told Duo. Todd was no where to be seen. "Duo, it will be too dark to paint soon. We're wasting time." "And I just enlisted Todd's help. He's around front painting." Heero nodded. "Good." As he picked out a bucket of paint and brush, he told Duo about the unseen threat. "I sensed something out there, but was unprepared for pursuit." Duo shrugged. "Guess that gun of yours could be useful." He slapped on an "M" shaped swash of mustard-colored paint over the previous faded grey. "I used to be a good shot." "Used to? Lose your eye sight?" "Lost my guns in a card game," Duo said with a grin. "It was either that or my pants." Heero choked and coughed suddenly. Duo jumped, lost his grip, and dropped his paintbrush, "Damn!" Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Heero suddenly look over and down, as if Duo had gotten his story wrong and lost his pants right then. Duo bent to retrieve the brush, while his thigh-long braid slid across his back. He smiled and wondered what it would be like if Heero could actually become interested in him. Would he look again? Duo looked askance and caught Heero watching him still as he straightened to return to his task at hand. He wondered if Heero liked what he'd seen, and his smile grew smug. "Your hair's in the paint," Heero said. "Huh? Oh." Ah, fuck! How disappointing! While leaning over, the tip of his braid had slipped into the bucket. Now it was painting a golden arc over his ass. "Aw shit!" Heero dipped his chin and turned his face away to hide his smile. "That braid is like an arrow pointing 'look here.' " "Say... what?" Duo nearly choked on his own spit. Was Heero hitting on him? A mistake would kick off an ugly scene if he guessed wrong. Duo watched Heero's free fist clench and unclench. No, he's tense, mad probably. "You ever wear that hair loose?" "Uh, yeah, sometimes. It's hell to untangle." "Why not cut it off?" It wouldn't do to tell Heero that he thought it attracted hot guys or that it was a fun sex toy, so he recited his favorite excuse. "To remind me of where I came from." Heero seemed to accept that reason with a runic, "Hn," and continued his painting without missing a brush stroke. Duo was more confused than ever. If Heero was sending out signals, Duo was only intercepting a few and the rest were getting lost in the translation. "No," he reminded himself under his breath, "I'm that one in a hundred and Heero's one of the other 99. Those are the odds that guide my life." The more he thought about it, the angrier he got until he flung his paintbrush to the ground, and stormed off to wash the end of his braid in a torrent of foul language. It was far better to let Heero think the paint in his hair was driving him crazy than to accidentally reveal how he really felt. He had to pull himself together before he blew everything with a careless remark. The cold water cooled his temper and ardor and put him in a better state of mind to return to work. Duo continued painting around the house, skipping the lean-to structure, which he planned to tear down and re-build next. Heero worked around in the opposite direction. They met the much slower Todd in the middle. Heero took over the higher parts the boy couldn't reach, while Duo showed Todd how to paint the trim in the muddy eggplant shade he had let Quatre choose. "Do I do the doors?" the little boy asked. "Not with this paint," Duo explained, uncovering another bucket. "Dark blue for the doors." The boy wrinkled his nose. "Weird colors." "No shit, but it's Quatre's choice and his place." "Can I do the doors? They look easier than these windows." "Sure, don't drip; use these rags and keep your brush mostly dry. One direction, like this... then the other direction to smooth the lines. I'll bring out a lantern so you can see." The light was failing. They knew they'd have to stop soon and touch up any misses the next day, but Heero seemed driven to complete the job. They'd have to accompany Todd home, too, and that bath awaited them. Another hour and Duo knew he was doing more damage than good. "That's it!" Duo announced. "I'll wash up the brushes and you can put away the paint. Todd, we'll walk you home." "What about Ruggles?" What about Ruggles? Whether or not he wanted the dog-- and Duo hadn't asked Heero what thought about the animal-- he didn't wish it carried off as an appetizer by some wild animals. Duo raced around the house and located the mangy mutt snuggled between the two goats, asleep. "Leave him. He's fine here, tonight." "Does that mean you're gonna keep him?" "For tonight. Let me think on it." Duo really wanted to sound out Heero on the dog first. He lit a lantern and they started out for Todd's home. (o) As soon as they were in sight of Todd's house,the games keepers cottage on the edge of the Watergardens property, the boy dashed off with a "g'nite!" so Heero and Duo just turned around. On the way back to the cabin, the two quiet young men listened to the crickets "creaking and reeking" in a syncopated rhythm with the "peeping and garumphing" frogs. The heat of the day was slow to cool, and Duo felt sticky and dirty, not that he couldn't go without bathing for weeks if he had to, but sharing a bed, even with a vast expanse of space separating them, required a greater state of cleanliness. But no amount of scrubbing would cleanse the pictures his imagination created of Heero and him naked and soaking in that tub. He hoped a cold dunk in the river first would help with the embarrassing erection, though. "So, next weekend we paint inside." "I thought you wanted to enlarge the outhouse, build a covered walk from the back door to the washroom, and link it all up." "I do. I guess if we can figure out how to do that, I could get the lumber and nails we'd need during the week. It doesn't have to be all enclosed, just a covered walkway like with a boardwalk." "Plans. The library has architectural guides and manuals. I want to review those." "Is the library open on Sunday?" "No. Nothing is open. We'll go Monday morning, no, Tuesday, if we have time," Heero said. "We should wash off in the river first." "I was thinking along the same lines," Duo said. "I really need to wash my hair, though." "Wouldn't the washtub for the laundry work?" "Yeah, forgot about that." Along with everything else in my self-interest, Duo thought. "I'll check the tub temperature," Heero announced outside the house. "There's a sack I'll need in pantry." "Go ahead. I'll get your stuff and bring out the soap and towels." Duo gathered what they'd need to bathe and met Heero exiting the lean-to. Heero was smiling. "Hot." Duo agreed wholeheartedly, thinking "yes, you are,"and dumped everything into a bucket, including two tightly rolled up towels. "Ready to freeze your ass first?" "Sure." They both stripped in the dim glow from the lantern at the end of the dock and jumped into the water together. They passed the floating soap back and forth and scrubbed furiously to keep the chill away. Duo refused to unbraid his hair in the river water, claiming, "It might catch a fish!" "In that case, I'm going back," Heero said. Duo clamored out of the water and raced him back in the dark. They chased around the back to the lean-to, where the heated room beckoned the goats and Ruggles as well. Duo hung the lantern on a hook, while Heero secured the goats at the door; Ruggles seemed to understand that they were his to guard and remained dutifully in place without a whimper. The young men were both wearing towels at their waists and nothing else. Duo watched every move Heero's toned body made, entranced. He was shaken out of his ensorcelled state literally when Heero shoved him toward the laundry tub. "Undo the braid and bend over." "Ah...huh?" Duo's face burned with embarrassment. "I'll help you wash the hair first. I don't want to soak with pond hair." Heero's firm tone held a touch of amusement toward the end, especially when Duo clutched at the braid protectively. As Duo realized Heero meant to wash his hair, he considered the finer ramifications and did as he was told. Those strong fingers running through his hair. That hard chest pressed against his back. His deft fingers worked at his length of hair, untwisting and separating the interwoven strands as he watched Heero empty the carrying bucket into the laundry basin and plunge it back into the hot tub of bath water. "Hurry up." "Okay," Duo muttered and shook his mane loose. "Over the laundry tub and I'll soak it," Heero ordered. "'Kay." Duo's hair filled the large tub. "Hey!" he shouted at the wall of water drenched his head. "Too hot?" "No! I nearly drowned!" "Hold your breath, then. Here comes another," Heero warned him. "AH!" Duo gasped. "You are so delicate," Heero chuckled as he set the bucket down and unwrapped another package. "Now what? Just gimme the soap," Duo grumbled. "The merchant at the market said these products would be better for your long hair." "Y-you bought me hair soap?" Duo sniffed. "Girly hair soap? That smells like perfume!" "Yeah, girly soap for a whining girl. Now, keep your head down and eyes shut, or not, and get an eyeful." Duo huffed. "You're not very nice." "I could be soaking in that tub and leave you to do this alone," Heero reminded him sternly. "Yeah, sorry. I really do appreciate your helping me here, 'Ro. Go ahead with the smelly soap." Heero did and while Duo worked the soap through the lower half of his hair, Heero scrubbed the upper half, concentrating on his itchy scalp. As good as it felt, it wasn't romantic, and Heero avoided bodily contact as much as possible. Duo sighed knowing that this was a good thing. Not sporting a woody on entry to the tub would be a good thing. "Press out as much suds as you can, and then I'll dump the water. After Heero emptied the sudsy water into the open drain, he repeated dousing Duo's head. He repeated emptied the tub once more. Duo looked up through the dripping strands when he heard glass bottles clinking together. "Beer? Hey, I hadn't thought of beer in the tub!" Duo was impressed that Heero had, but when he stood to shake out his hair he found that Heero was pouring the bottles into another bucket of water. "What the hell are you doing?!" "Oh, shut up and bend over again." Heero's solid hands urged him back to the tub and gathered up all the loose hair. "This'll remove all the soap and make it shiny," he said moment before he slowly poured the bucket of beer-water over Duo's head. "Man, this is so weird," was all Duo could think to say until he once again righted himself and looked over at Heero. He couldn't read the other man's expression, but Heero was staring at him. "That is a lot of hair," Heero said. "I'm going to wash mine now. I need no assistance." "Is that so? Well, tit for tat, I always say." Heero dunked his head in the beer water, wet it thoroughly, and then straightened holding out his hand expectantly. "Soap." Duo's mouth hung open in awe as he surveyed the enticing man, rivulets of gold trickling over his chest, dripping off his dark nipples, and tracing wet lines down his abs to soak into his towel. "Uh, yeah, sure." I'm in lust... Heero quickly shampooed his shorter hair and, when Duo woke up from his daze, rinsed it clean. Together they ditched the spent water, stored the washing supplies back in the bucket, and turned to gaze at the large soaking tub. "Ready?" Heero asked. "You first," Duo said with a grand wave of his arm. He wanted one good look at Heero's hidden assets, and as the towel swept away, he got it-- all the right parts in the right places and one spectacular hard on. Oh my! Before Heero could catch him gawking, Duo dropped his towel and climbed in, unafraid to reveal his own excited state. For whatever reason Heero could conjure up for the cause of his erection, the same could be applied to his. Of that, Duo was certain. He sank deeply into the steaming hot water and sighed. Heero moaned his own satisfaction. And so, they remained, carefully not touching, but oh so tantalizingly close, and stewed. "This is divine," Heero stated. "Sublimity. Devine is a hundred miles or so to the north." Heero just grunted, but Duo caught a flicker of a smile dance at the corners of his mouth. Heero's eyes darted to catch Duo's then they both looked away. There was nothing to look at; at least, nothing Duo wanted to look at other than what he shouldn't, so he lowered himself into the water so that his hair soaked to the roots and floated like dead reeds in the water. The strands appeared black and ribbon-like with tendrils sagging on fingers and toes. He felt a tug and opened his eyes, ready to free the errant hair. To his amazement, he found it was Heero holding a wet rope of hair out of the water, studying it closely. "Um, is it in your way? I can twist it into a knot or somethin'," Duo offered. "No. It tickled my leg. I'm glad it wasn't a bug or frog that hopped into the tub by mistake." "Oh, okay." Duo smiled and sat back, leaning his head on the tub's edge and closed his eyes. "I haven't felt this good in... a long time." "Definitely," Heero agreed. "You didn't have to invite me, but I'm grateful you did." "Yeah? Well, I'm glad I did, too. Never would have pulled off the marketing and house repair without you." Or this sensational time alone with you naked in my house. "Or gotten this mess," Heero tugged gently on the hair he still held one more time before relinquishing it to the water again, "clean." Duo chuckled, deep and rolling. "Yeah, probably true." "You have a nice place here." "Thanks. First place I've had to myself." Heero nodded. "I, uh, live on my broad-horn." "I figured something like that. Todd told me you were from Tumbletown." "I keep it docked there, where Odin had a place." "Had? It's not there anymore." "Odin Lowe...after he was killed by Dekim Barton, the house and business were both burned to the ground." "Man, what happened to the rest of the guys? How did you escape?" "I was working. Me and another guy were unloading freight at a wharf up north in Tumult. It was too late to return, so we bunked there." "Lucky for you." Heero nodded solemnly. "When we returned... the others were dead or gone. Word was the survivors joined up with Barton and those that didn't had their necks slit." Duo winced and rubbed his own creamy neck skin, touching the gold chain running around his neck and the cross. "And the guy with you?" Heero shook his head, eyes glued to the glittering cross. "He took off like a doe in hunting season, and I've never seen him since. I was fifteen. Been on my own ever since." Take the chance, Duo decided on the fly, and make him the offer! "Not anymore." Heero jolted his head up. "What do you mean?" "I mean, you got me. There's a dock and boat house for the flatboat, if we enlarge it a tad, it'll fit. And we gotta house that needs some TLC. 'Sides, we ...ah... the company's nice, ya know?" Duo's eyes met the intense blue gaze a moment then swept away to focus intently on untangling a knot in his hair. "Yes, it is. I feel-" his voice lowered a few notches as if he was uncomfortable with his admission, "like I can trust you." Heero paused until Duo looked up again. "It's been awhile since I trusted anyone." "Yeah, heh, heh... I know whatcha mean. I hadda few trust issues in the past myself." But I'm not gonna tell you about Solo or the others. Heero waited and Duo knew he wanted him to elaborate. "I told someone a secret and it got out. It got us both into trouble and I had to skip town." "Was it dangerous? The secret?" "Only to me. I kinda fell for the wrong...person. I was fourteen, so I took off to the big city. Heh, heh..." "You ran off to Sanc Royal? Alone at fourteen?" "Yeah, pretty dumbass of me. I got as far as Perdition when my money ran out." "What did you do?" Heero's voice sounded hoarse. "Things I had to. I mean, I was little more than a thief before, but there, there were sharper folks about in Perdition and I got caught a few times. I had to do some shit I didn't like for less money than it was worth. Lucky for me, I hustled a Sweeper who thought I had potential and took me in, gave me a job, a home, and a chance at a better life." "So how old are you?" "Eighteen." "So am I," Heero said. "I don't remember much of my life before Odin took me in. I never had to steal, but he taught me to shoot and I killed...people. We moved here and I learned the river, while protecting freight from thieves." "Good thing I didn't run into you sooner!" Duo said, laughing. "Yeah, if I had caught you stealing our stuff, I would have shot you." Heero's words were chilling, even in the warmth of the water. "Not if I shot you first," Duo said, daringly. "Like I said, I had guns. All the Sweepers carry'em. Yeah, with a gun I'm totally whacked." "Me, too. Uh, that's good, right?" Heero asked with a guarded peek between hanks of wet bangs. "Yeah, like excited." Duo decided to go for it and nail Heero's moving in with finality. He turned his charm to "stun", smiled fetchingly, and said, "So, you're gonna stay here, with me, permanent like, at least until winter, right? And keep your flatboat at the boathouse and everything?" Heero nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, and we hardly know each other." Man, that was easy... "That's where the fun comes in. Hanging together. Just chillin', ya know?" Heero chuckled. "Yeah, I'm totally, ah, whacked about it." Duo laughed loudly as Heero's attempt to use his street slang. "This summer's gonna be the best ever!" After that, Heero changed discussion topics and proposed a few ideas of his own to improve the lean-to and privy, which led to further rebuilding projects. They talked until their skin shriveled and the water lost its appeal. One at a time, they climbed out of the tub and dried off, although Duo's hair was a lost cause without a dry towel to contain it. Heero sent him inside to stir the fire to life while he tended to the animals. The goats were happy to enter the warm, safe lean-to and Ruggles would have gone if pressed, but Heero locked the outer door with him outside. "Wouldn't you rather be with your owners awhile tonight?" he asked. "Yip!" Ruggles barked once and spun around, which seemed an affirmative response, and joined the boys by the fire. "Huh?" Duo grunted when the little animal skittered across the wood floor and dove at his feet. "If we're going to keep the dog, he should get to know us. I'll put him out with the goats when we go to bed." Heero entered the bedroom and opened the packages of clothes they had bought at the market that morning. We... Duo liked the sound of that. We keep the dog. We go to bed. Duo heard the rustling, but he hesitated to unload his armful of doggy, so he shouted, "Bring me something to wear, too!" "Oh, I was going to. I've seen enough of your skin for one night," Heero said. As he stepped from the room he tossed a bundle Duo's way. Duo caught it in the face and sighed, thinking how much he wished he could see a lot more of Heero's skin that night. Heero was dressed and staring at him. "I'll take the dog. What do you do about your hair?" Ruggles was passed like a platter of biscuits, but didn't seem to mind. Duo stood to dress, not bothering to hide anything. If Heero didn't like the view, he could turn his back, Duo thought. "Let it dry by the fire then I'll brush it out and re-braid it, I guess." "You have incredibly long hair." You've said that before. Duo's eyes flitted over Heero's face. Whether he approved of Duo's hair or not was unclear, but the serious, young man was certainly making a feast out of running his eyes over Duo. Duo looked away and fastened his pants. Heero had placed Ruggles by his towel, stretched out on the hearth to dry, and turned away by the time Duo looked over at him. Now he was taking the kettle to the kitchen. From the sounds of water and cups, Duo figured he was making tea or coffee. When Heero returned the kettle, now heavy with fresh water, to its hanger over the fire, he asked, "Tea or coffee?" "I'll have what you're having-if it's good," Duo answered. "Coffee in the morning, tea at night." Duo smiled in amusement over Heero's well-planned schedule. "Okay." Embers broke off, tumbled, and jettisoned sprays of sparks, interrupting the quiet of the night. The two friends sipped tea while Duo's hair slowly dried enough to brush out the tangles. Heero studied his movements with serious concentration. "What?" Duo asked at one point. "I cut mine with my knife," Heero said. Duo pretended to look over the cut of the messy dark hair. "No, shit. A dull one?" He regretted saying what was meant to be teasing, when Heero seemed overly concerned. "It's hard to...manage. Is it that bad?" No, but I am! It took all Duo's limited restrain to contain himself. He wanted to run his fingers through that shiny mop and stare into those deep, blue eyes and kiss those pliable lips. But... Do not mess this up, he reminded himself. Suck it up! He leashed in his drives, again, and smiled sweetly as he answered, "No, it's fine. Hair's great. You look great. Really. Really great. I mean-ah-" He stopped when Heero started chuckling at his antics. Saved again! He exhaled out the corner of his mouth, ruffling his bangs. Until we go to bed! "Ugh-" he groaned, louder than he intended. Heero must make the first move! Is this it? Heero leaned in close, one arm reaching across his back and grabbing the brush from his hand. "We'll be here all night at your pace. I'll do you." "Argh!" Duo cried out, meaning: Yes! God, would you!
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