Head back home...
It all started with a letter someone placed on Duo's desk. The snow-white envelope, standard size, rested against his reference books. The dark blood cover of Ancient and Modern Ways to Piss People Off that it laid on only made its whiteness painfully innocent.
The white, neat creases and white, smooth surfaces of that envelope looked out of place among the dark, hard edges of inter-personnel mail and well-used legal pads with the rough, tattered edges of paper long thrown away stuck at the top.
Anyone could have put it there, of course. The faculty offices were really no more than glorified desks, cubicles with books for bordermarkers, taking up almost the entire room. Shelves lined the walls, each earmarked for a specific teacher's needs. Windows on the far side of the room let in all the sunshine and none of the chill.
Duo eyed this pristine intruder as he pulled his chair back and settled himself in front of his desk. On the front, in painstakingly neat print letters, was his name. The brown inked letters carved his name out perfectly.
The postmark was from a town some 30 minutes away from the place he worked and lived. It was mailed two days before.
He slipped his index finger underneath the glued-down flap and opened it in one swift, rough motion.
The letter inside was one of the same lamb-white shade, a blinding white too innocent to be real. From it came the faintest whiff of some normally strong fragrance.
In brown ink, terrifyingly neat letters formed this:
I like you lots. Let's get together real soon.
Two sentences.
Nine words and three puntuation marks.
He read the words twice: one skim and one actual reading, before he folded the 8x11 perfumed sheet and tucked it back into its envelope.
Duo was absentmindedly sipping from a glass of iced kiwifruit tea when Heero pulled up a chair and joined him for a late Wednesday lunch.
"Sorry I kept you waiting," Heero said, adjusting his tie. "My last class ran a little late."
"It's no problem," Duo said, the thin white straw still within his lips' grasp as he looked up at his friend. His eyes lit up almost in warning. "I ordered your food already."
Heero's body tensed. "You didn't get me a cheeseburger, did you?" he panicked softly as the waitress came by to place a glass of water in front of him.
"Of course not," Duo said, flashing his famous smile. "I could never do that to my favorite math teacher."
"But what about me?" Heero asked innocently, making Duo's smile grow wider.
"Oh, you and that terrible sense of humor."
A waiter came around and placed a fresh garden salad in front of Heero, just a few finger widths' away from a collection of white, clean, postmarked letters.
"What are those?" Heero asked, pointing at the brown-inked letters sprawled out in front of Duo.
"Secret Admirer letters." Duo stirred his drink and handed a couple of them to Heero. "I think they're from Lucrezia."
"Lucrezia?"
The entire collection of five letters. On the right-hand corner in Duo's odd scrawl, was a date, the earliest being last Friday. The main body of each letter was in brown ink.
The earliest was only nine letters long. The second, nine words. The 3rd and 4th and 5th were nine sentences each, with the 5th one having two dashed lines on the bottom.
Both lines had nine dashes.
They all came with a distinct, unfamiliar scent.
Heero folded the letters together and placed them next to his napkin and knife. "I can find out for you."
"You could?" Duo flashed him another smile. "You are definitely a good friend, Heero."
"Hn."
The nice woman at the perfume counter at the local department store said the fragrance on the letter was a lovely unisex fragrance available for $50 per tiny ass bottle.
"Five minutes, ladies!" Une bellowed into the locker room before closing the office door again.
Noin leaned back in her chair and propped her cross-trainers on the desk. "You were joking earlier, right Une?"
"About Heero Yuy?" Une grabbed a few bobby pins and rolled one of her braids in a bun. "Don't tell me you had no idea. I mean, everyone knows. Except for, well, Maxwell."
Noin shook her head, almost laughing. "When did you know?"
"When I started dating Maxwell." Each time she stabbed a bobby pin into her hair, her face made a grimace. "Yuy came up to me one day after school and told me not to get too serious with him."
"You're kidding."
"Noin, I never kid." In went another pin. "He said that I could go along and 'fool around' with Maxwell, but, sooner or later, he'll get bored with me and that'll be that." She rolled up her other braid. "I just laughed at him, but..."
"But...?"
"But he was right." She shrugged. "Maxwell just wasn't interested in me. And would you just look at how long he and Yuy have been dating?"
Noin smirked. "I don't think Maxwell thinks of it that way."
"Well, he should." With that, she stabbed in one more bobby pin and opened the office door. "You babies better be out there in 3 seconds or today shall become your personal gym hell!"
Une was always more ruthless when she had 40 or so bobby pins stabbing into her skull. The students appreciated it.
Heero was slowly developing a severe migraine grading section 3-B's calculus midterms when he saw a gleam of white metal.
"You wanted to see me, Heero?"
Lucrezia had just come from her co-ed swim class. Her dark hair still looked a bit damp. He silver whistle flashed light into his eyes.
"What a lovely scent you have on today, Lucrezia," Heero deadpanned, placing his red grading pen aside. "What perfume is that?"
"Eau of chlorine," Lucrezia replied. "What did you want to see me about."
Heero lit one of his menthols as he and Lucrezia stood on the loading dock and took a drag.
"You know, smoking is bad for you," Lucrezia said as she crossed her arms and leaned against the warm brick wall.
"Cancer nazi," Heero mumbled against the butt of his cigarette.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" She smiled to herself slightly. "Duo?"
Lucrezia watched for some sort of hesitant motion from Heero. She was left disappointed as he took another drag.
"But, of course, what else do you talk about when you're with other people," she prodded further. "The only thing you ever talk about to anyone is 'Duo'."
He let the smoke out with a bit of a hiss. "Are you interested in Duo, Lucrezia?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure every single female in this school is interested in Duo, but I don't see you harrassing them," she answered.
"Am I harrassing you, Lucrezia?"
"Should I bother answering that?" She ran a hand through her short hair, already dry. "And while we're on your favorite topic, may I ask why haven't you gone after him? Everyone knows you want to."
"No, you may not ask why." He took another drag to calm his nerves.
"I already did, Heero."
He dropped the cigarette on the cement and grounded it out.
"Let me guess, this conversation is over, Heero? No wonder Duo has no interest in you. No social skills at all."
"What makes you think that I want Duo?" he asked turning to face Lucrezia for the first time in the whole conversation. "Why do you keep prodding me about it?"
"Une told me everything... well, that and the fact that your little smoking bit is really irritating?"
Heero's eyebrow twitched upwards. " 'Smoking bit'?" He shook his head. "Wait, Une told you what?"
"She said you have the hots for Duo and that you tried to intimidate her out of her relationship with him a while back."
"First of all, Une is a loon. You should see those poor girls crawl into my class after hers. They can barely keep their moans of pain to themselves. And second, I'm Duo's friend, and that's that. Anything else is just a figment of you're imagination."
Lucrezia shrugged. "Whatever you say."
"And one more thing." He pointed a finger at her. "If you do go out with him, don't break his heart. I'm the one who has to deal with his drunk, whiny ass later. Believe me."
With that, he stalked back into the building.
Duo was grinning ear to ear when he settled into his chair. He placed his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands and sighed happily.
Heero raised an eyebrow in question as he watched his friend quickly zone out in front of him and the books that formed a border between their desks. "Duo?"
Duo smiled dreamily at his friend and leaned forward slightly. "Yeah?"
"What happened?"
"Oh nothing. Just that I have a date on Friday with Lucrezia."
Heero lowered his head, his eyes focusing on some trinket or another on his desk. "She asked you out?"
"Yeah." He lost some of his silly-schoolgirl-crush gaze and focused on Heero's face. "What do you think, Heero?"
He raised his eyes. "About what?"
"About Lucrezia."
Heero shrugged. "She looks like some pretty boy in drag."
Duo laughed. "You really do have a terrible sense of humor."
With that, Duo began to work on something or another for one of his history classes. He did not notice the brief look of longing in Heero's eyes before he, too, tried to focus on other things.
A new letter hasn't been mailed to Duo for over a week. After five rapid fire white envelopes, their absence in Duo's mailbox, on his desk, the absence of a new one makes everything around its place seem out of place, frozen and in waiting.
Heero, too, felt out of place, now that Lucrezia and Duo are a temporary item. Of course he won't tell himself that, one day, Duo could fall in love with someone and could leave Heero out in the cold.
Until Lucrezia and Duo eventually break up, all of Duo's belongings will be counting the days until they feel warm and in place once more.
Duo was never one to agree with Heero's point of view completely and without argument. He has know the other man long enough to know that if he had ever tried to agree without a fight, Heero would not be his friend now. He knew what had caused Heero's marriage to Relena Dorlain to end.
That aside, he found himself agreeing with Heero about Lucrezia. They met for their first date at a pretty upscale Mexican restaurant.
To be truthful, it was actually a 'French-Mexican-Caribbean fusion' restuarant, but that was neither here or there.
She came to the restaurant about 45 minutes late, her hair light and rather flat as it framed her face. She smelled like clove and cinammon and was dressed in a feminine suit so sharp it was slicing through the thick air.
She spotted Duo at the bar, eyeing her outfit up and down as she approached. "I'm not exactly a dress person," she answered Duo's silent question with a smile.
Her mode of dress that night only help to reaffirm Heero's assessment. She did look like a pretty boy, but she's not as pretty as him.
Duo stirred his iced papaya tea with his straw when Heero plopped unceremoniously into the chair in front of him. "Had a rough class?"
Heero shook his head as he laid it down on his arms. "Those kids can be so dense, asking the same thing over and over."
"They were probably fucking with you Heero." He took a little sip. He licked the tip of the straw lightly. "They can smell fear."
"And frustration, I'm certain." He watched Duo absentmindedly play with the straw and sighed into his chest. His frustration was definitely not because of classes.
After a few minutes of Duo playing with his straw, Heero straightened up. "So, how was it?"
A waiter came by with two lunches, a salmon roe set for Duo and a bowl of tofu, vegatables, and noodles for Heero. Duo grinned as he looked at the fish. "What, my date with Lucrezia?"
Heero nodded as he shook some spice on the soup.
"You should really get a girlfriend or something, Heero." Duo said with a teasing smile. "I mean, if you get all your jollies out of knowing everything about my love life, then maybe there's something seriously wrong."
"You know I'm not interested in most people," Heero said to his defense.
"Of course not. After Relena, that is sort of expected." He covered Heero's left hand and squeezed warmheartedly, as Heero's right hand was raised to move some noodles to his mouth.
Heero's right hand paused and he raised his eyes to look at his friend. Duo's eyes seemed like some dark, warm ocean he could drown in. "Duo..." he whispered, the faintest blush rising on his cheeks.
"But I'm sure you have to start getting yourself out there."
Heero lowered his eyes as Duo's hand moved away. "I don't think I want to just yet."
Lucrezia twirled her fork in the cold tomato and ham pasta, slightly bored out of her mind as Duo began to talk about Heero for the seventh time that evening. It was innocent talk, she was certain, but after so many dates of nothing but 'Heero Yuy', she was ready to destroy some public property.
"I seriously don't think Heero knew what was happening, though," he was telling her with a grin, his own hands busy trying to cut a bite-size bit of lasanga. "I mean, that cherry bomb took everyone by surp-"
"Duo," she interrupted, her voice quietly serious, "can we talk about something other than Heero Yuy? Please?"
Duo's wide eyes blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? I don't talk about Heero all the time... Do I?"
Heero stared at the television screen, but his mind was not focusing on the questions Alex Trebek was asking the contestants.
Tonight, Duo was on another date with Lucrezia. His third date, to be precise. He knew because Duo told him, but what was the point of knowing that?
What was the point in knowing that, somewhere, Duo was having a great time with someone other than Heero? They were probably having such wonderful conversation that Duo had forgotten all about him.
On the first date, as Duo ate his ceviche and 'Yucatan' risotto (1) with a dainty air, he told Lucrezia about how Heero once took him to a PR parade. As Heero explained it, Duo had thought that it was going to be full of sweaty, uptight business people in suits standing on floats and pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of 'spin'. What it turned out to be, however, was a parade full of sweaty, extremely cute young girls dancing around to salsa and merenge.
It never occured to him that 'PR' could mean 'Puerto Rican', as opposed to 'Public Relations'.
Although the story was interesting, Lucrezia wondered what that had to do with where they were.
"Well, they were selling the best food there," he explained when she asked. "I noticed one of the foods from the parade on the menu. And because it was Heero who suggested we come here."
"Is that right," she drawled, not all that happy with that bit of information.
The bedroom felt a little cool, but that didn't bother Heero as he slowly opened his dresser drawer in search of lubricant. He always kept it off to one side, underneath his boxers, despite the fact that he lived alone.
There's no telling when a guest, like, say, Duo, would come by and rummage through his things, on purpose or otherwise. That's why he doesn't leave everything out in the open.
Once finding the elusive tube, he placed it on top of his bed, still neat and well-made. He closed the top dresser drawer with the boxers, and crouched down to open the bottom drawer, where all his old, useless shirts were stored. Underneath the 'Sanstory Bozu' parody shirt (2) was where he hid his dildo.
On the second date, which they spent going to a local production of 'Rent', and then later at a Japanese restaurant, Duo's tales about Heero Yuy became harder to bear. Everything at the restaurant reminded Duo of his friend, and at points he would just sit and stare at some decoration for quite a while before smiling at Lucrezia and explaining to her why, say, a drapery with the Chinese character for 'blue' reminded him of that one summer Heero tried windsurfing with him.
Lucrezia could only sit there and politely listen to the story, even as her hand began to spasm with pleas. She was very close to stabbing her date's eyes out with her chopsticks.
Heero lazily played with one of his nipples as he stared up at the ceiling. Underneath his naked body, his comforters felt soft and very relaxing. He was going to take it slow tonight, nice and easy, for, if Duo was enjoying himself tonight, so should he.
He could still feel Duo's hand resting against his own, how, in that one brief span of eternity, they had stared into each other's eyes.
Duo didn't feel the same way for him, of course. Duo has never flirted with him the way he had seen him flirt with Une and Lucrezia, and countless other women. He would only see Heero as a friend.
All the more reason for Heero to treasure each small touch Duo has given him.
His hand smoothed down his chest and gently cupped his balls. He rolled them slowly in his hand as the other hand tickled the underside of his hard cock.
His breath came in little, impatient hisses with each gentle, teasing motion. He wanted it to be Duo's hand that played with his balls. It should be Duo's thumb that rubbed the slit of his cock and became slick with pre-cum.
He whimpered to the ceiling as he gripped the base of his dick and gave it a bit of a squeeze.
"Duo, you always talk about Heero." Lucrezia set aside her fork and crossed her arms across her chest. "It's like he was your ex or something."
"My... ex?" Duo's face couldn't have looked as comical, or as flabbergasted, as it did at that moment. "Are you telling me that you think I'm... obsessed with my friend?"
"Honey, I don't think it. I know it." She got up from the table and grabbed her small purse. "And you're not just 'obsessed' with him, Duo. Think about it."
With that said, Lucrezia walked out and yet another one of Duo's relationships ended with the woman walking out on him on a date.
Duo sighed and signalled to the waiter for the check.
Heero cried out softly as he pushed the dildo inside him, past his somewhat relaxed asshole. The slick length threatened to slip out of his grip, but he wasn't thinking about that as he spead his legs more and threw his head to the side.
All he wanted was Duo's cock slipping into him and his burning, sweaty body to wrap his legs around. All he needed-
He gasped unexpectly, his body jolting almost out of bed as the dildo teasingly stroked his prostate. In a counter-reaction, his hand almost immediately began to thrust the dildo in and out of him, each time tapping his prostate with zealous frenzy.
So much for taking it nice and slow.
His breath came out in quick, constant gasps, each in tune with each thrust of the dildo in his hand. His other hand, if it wasn't also slick with lubrication, would have threatened to yank his cock off, considering how fast he was growing and how tight his grip was.
He came with a loud scream, his semem spurting out and splattering on his body and bed.
The dildo slipped out of his body and his slack arms just dropped to his sides. His entire body felt heavier, more relaxed. He sighed as he stared at the ceiling, not bothering for a moment to even consider thinking.
Then the phone rang.
Heero sighed again and closed his eyes. Not even one bit of rest, huh? He couldn't even enjoy post-orgasm bliss because some moron decided that that exact moment was the perfect moment to talk to Heero Yuy.
He shifted his body towards the bedside table and groaned when the result of pushing a dildo into his asshole came to haunt him. He picked up the phone and muttered a 'hello'.
"Heero, I need a drink. You busy?"
Heero glanced at the tube of lubricant, deflated a bit more after what he had just finished doing. "Not really. Lucrezia?"
"You know how it is," Duo joked on the other end, causing Heero to frown. "So how 'bout it, pal? Up for getting drunk tonight?"
"Give me thirty minutes, and I'll see you at Harrelson's, alright? (3)" He hanged up after that. He needed to clean up before he left.
Duo tended to stay the night after deciding on getting drunk.
I don't like notes either...
Duo dipped his fingers into his drink and had a little taste as Heero sipped from his bottle of Zima. It was almost a tradition now, these weekend meetings at Harrelson's. Duo, recently ditched, slumps over an ungodly number of drinks while Heero silently consoles him while drinking a lot less.
Tonight didn't seem like much of an exception as Duo knocked back a Double Wild Turkey, slightly watered down, and coughed. Heero raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"I think I'm doomed forever, Heero," Duo muttered as he stared at his empty glass. "I mean, how can a guy like me have such a long ass dry spell? I mean, what the hell? I look good tonight..."
Heero only shrugged in reply as Duo continued.
"And would you believe what Lucrezia told me?" He raised his hand and signaled to the bartender for another drink.
Heero shook his head. "What?"
He glanced at his friend. "She thinks I'm in love with you." He chuckled to himself almost bitterly. "Can you believe that? Me, wanting to get into my best friend's pants?" He dropped his head and laughed into his chest.
Heero's half-lidded eyes looked away guiltily. Duo did not notice how Heero's cheeks slowly developed a blush in the dark, smoky bar.
"Don't come around here no more," Duo slurred at the top of his lungs as he bonelessly leaned on Heero's body. Halfway down the block, a dog began barking out a rackety harmony to Duo's offkey tune.
Heero, not as drunk as Duo, but enough to join in, smiled as he got his key in and unlocked the door.
"HEY! Don't come around here no more," Duo yelled out, arms wide open, towards where the dog should be, as Heero wrapped his arms around Duo's waist for the third time that night and guided him into the house.
The first time was when Duo became very unbalanced on the bar stool he was sitting on.
The second time was when Duo almost tripped on a speck of dust a block away from the bar.
Heero leaned Duo against the wall and closed the door behind them. Duo, very diligently, toed off his dress shoes, but quickly lost his balance and started to tip over.
Heero, his shoes already off, wrapped his arms around Duo's waist for the fourth time and held him close. Together, they made it all the way to Heero's couch, and only then did Heero let go.
Duo plopped onto the couch, his head rolling backwards and to the side. "You know Heero," he whispered, looking up as Heero leaned over him, "you've always been a good friend."
His hand reached up and pulled Heero down by his shirt. He wrapped his other arm around his friend and hugged him. "You've always been there, and I've never deserved it..."
"It's okay, Duo," Heero replied, patting Duo's head softly before placing his hands on Duo's shoulders and slightly pulling away. "Just get some sleep now." He gave his friend a smile.
Duo's hand, however, wouldn't let go of Heero's shirt. "Heero?" he whispered, his dark, intoxicated eyes capturing Heero's in a unusually strong gaze. He pulled Heero down by his shirt and kissed his friend.
Duo's lips were a bit chapped, wet, and his mouth tasted very much like rum and bourbon and tequila. Yet, Duo's lips were rough and needy, and Heero registered none of this as he opened his mouth and let Duo's tongue in.
Their heads tilted for more access, their tongues mutually probed and pushed, and Duo moaned happily into his friend's mouth just before he finally passed out.
A fast-disappearing string of saliva connected their mouths for a brief moment as Heero pulled away. Not bothering to immediately worry about his burning cheeks or his tightening pants, he adjusted his friend so that Duo would get some sort of comfort as he slept on the couch.
Only when he was done did he consider the benefits of a cold shower.
Duo stopped his pitiful moans long enough to take from Heero the small bottle of aspirins and give his friend a smile. Heero could only smile in return.
Heero was frying a small omelette on the stove, but it was obviously not for Duo. That was what he was complaining about in the first place: that the smell of peppers and ham and egg reminded him of his quesy stomach.
As Duo fumbled with the child-proof top, Heero poured the contents of a can of ginger ale into a glass and set it in front of him. "For your stomach," he explained succinctly when he realized Duo was staring at him.
"I know that," he muttered to himself as he finally got the damn bottle open. He pulled out the cushiony cotton ball out and spilled four or five of the small white pills into his open palm. "Bet you bought a whole pack of Canada Dry just for me, huh?"
"That's right." Heero flipped his omelette over. "But's it was a sound investment," he added with a bit of a smirk that Duo didn't appreciate all that much.
Heero noticed that cold glare and his smirk grew a bit wider. "At least that isn't a Prairie Oyster, Duo."
At the mentioning of the drink, Duo made a face and took his medicine, both of them, yet, even as he complained about his hangover and how Heero was treating him terribly, something in the back of his mind was bothering him. Something felt off-kilter, out of place, and he wasn't certain what exactly had caused the feeling.
And, as he had done every time he began to feel confused, uncomfortable, and unnerved while sitting in Heero's kitchen after a long night of drinking with his friend, he made a promise to himself. He swore up and down that there would be no more late nights spent drinking with Heero because the next person he'd date would be the one.
On Tuesday afternoon, among all the inter-personnel mail and business letters from companies and whatnots, was a small white letter. Inside the innocent white creases and the brown-inked letters on the front, was yet another perfumed letter.
It was only nine sentences long, like the one before it. On the right-handed margin, in the same brown ink, were nine perfect little crosses, all in a row.
Life, through its very nature, can become a routine.
"This is an average week for Duo Maxwell.
"Everyday, through some miracle wrought by the principal, and his boss, Treize Kushrenada, Mr. Maxwell's free periods coincide almost perfectly with that of his friend, Heero Yuy, a fellow teacher at this same high school. What's more, on Wednesday afternoons, they're able to go catch a lazy, late lunch together and not worry about returning to the school."
Needless to say, Wednesday was the school's half-day...
"Mr. Maxwell teaches five classes through the course of each day. From Monday to Saturday, he teaches two 3rd year World History classes and three 2nd year Western History classes. He wasn't the faculty advisor for any clubs, however, because of an incident involving the 'Ping Pong' club he helped create a few years back.
"It's rather amazing to see how long anyone can truly hold a grudge. Mr. Maxwell has been waiting for Mr. Kushrenada's forgiveness for 2 years, 7 months, and counting."
It's best not to ask.
"Although Mr. Maxwell has been known to go out on Friday nights every once in a while, Saturdays are the only nights he could 'party'. And party he would, getting so shamefully drunk that it is no wonder that Mr. Kushrenada hasn't forgiven him yet.
"Mr. Maxwell's reputation with the ladies is well-known, for he has dated quite a few of his female coworkers, and there were always rumors about all the women he has dated that weren't involved with the school at all. There is no doubt in anyone's minds, however, as to who he has clung to the most... and who is most likely the true recipient of Mr. Maxwell's affection."
The new underground was out, of course. Duo noticed that seconds into his first class of the day, when his students started giggling hysterically as he walked into the room. When he read the one-page, anonymous article on his so-called love life around noon, he knew he was supposed to laugh it off and prod Heero with questions as to who that 'true recipient' was supposed to be.
He couldn't.
Wednesdays were the worst for Heero, work-wise. His students always try to take advantage of the half-day, and of their teachers' extra time, to get them to clarfy some point or another from class.
Not only that, Heero taught classes near the end of the day and, since he always rushed out to meet Duo for lunch, he won't be in the faculty offices until tomorrow.
Which was where Duo sat, mulling over all sorts of things. There were Lucrezia's words the Saturday before, implying that he was actually in love with Heero. There was this article that only seemed to amplified Lucrezia's words, and then there's Heero himself...
On his copy of What Would Machiavelli Do? rested his growing collection of brown-inked letters. On a post-it note stuck on top, in Heero's clean handwriting, was a little note: 'Talk to Howard about a special pen.'
He couldn't be in love with Heero, could he? He was only his friend. Just his friend...
"Ara, Duo... Strange to see you here."
The school's doctor, Sally Po, leaned against the side of Duo's desk. The stethoscope around her neck flashed a bit of light into his eyes. A lovely, almost motherly smile was on her lips.
"Where's your other half?"
Once a week, Heero always swore to himself to start exercising again. Not that he wasn't fit, but it was always unnerving to hear himself gasp for air as he ran to meet Duo for lunch each Wednesday.
Today, Duo was to meet him at the cheap Indian restaurant they passed last week. Although Duo doubted at the time that the place had any interesting drinks, he proclaimed to Heero that they should at least have a decent vegetarian selection.
Despite how much he teased Heero about hamburgers and other things, he did understand Heero's needs.
Heero was panting when he finally made it to the restaurant and immediately began scanning the dimly lit room for his friend.
The host walked up to him and gave him a friendly grin. "May I help you, sir?"
"Yes, I'm looking for my friend. A man with long hair?" he was able to gasp out in reply
The host's face grew a little dark as he frowned in concentration. "Actually, no sir, but I can seat you now." He smiled again and raised his arm to lead Heero to a table. "I'm sure he'll be arriving soon."
Heero nodded his head distractly as he followed the host inside, all the while thinking, how in the world could Duo be late?
"My other half?" Duo repeated, a hint of confusion in his voice to hide the irritation concerning Heero.
"Oh goodness," Sally cooed with maternal concern. "Did you two break up? And you guys looked so good together. That's just terrible..." She shook her head sadly, her dirty blonde braids shaking slightly.
"We didn't break up, Sally," Duo retorted, "We-"
"Oh, that's wonderful!" she interrupted immediately as she clapped her hands together with relief. "For a second there I was kind of worried." Her smile returned. "I really would hate to see what would happen to Heero if that happen..."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, just the usual things," Sally said distractly. "Do you remember how Heero was when he first came here?"
Duo nodded in respond. Heero was a real pain in the ass, what, three years ago. "Oh yeah. I never knew that anyone could be such an asshole."
"And look at him now?" She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her white lab coat. "Just being with you did wonders, you know."
With that she turned around and headed out the door, but not without giving Duo one more piece of advice. "Take good care of him, Duo. Love like that doesn't come around everyday."
Duo stared at her back, the only sound left in the room being his own breathing. It was already 2.30 and he was the only teacher that wasn't long gone.
Duo couldn't believe it. How long had he been brooding, anyway? How could he have completely forgotten the time like that? God, he was so late, it was ridiculous. As he rushed down the street to the Indian restaurant, he hoped against hope that Heero was still there, waiting for him.
Yet, no matter how patient Heero has been with him about anything and everything, from that little prank with the hair dye, to... whatever those women were refering to, he wouldn't wait for two hours for Duo to show up.
Or would he?
He had no excuse, of course. He just.. spaced out, thinking about something. Heero wouldn't ask for details, would he? No, of course not. He was a privacy type of guy...
Duo must have looked somewhat ridiculous when he ran into the restaurant and went up on his tippy-toes to look for his friend. It was a cool day, but he was sweating like a dog from the run and the stress.
The host rushed up to meet him at the door, the poor man's brown eyes widening when he noticed the long braid of hair that swung side to side as Duo moved. "Sir, are you looking for someone with short brown hair and blue eyes?"
"Yeah," Duo breathed out, a bit of panic in his voice.
"Well, um, you just missed him." the host apologized. "Your friend left almost ten minutes ago."
Duo felt bad getting to the restaurant late. He was supposed to have been there much earlier than 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and it was only his own damn fault that he had forgotten what time it was.
He felt worse when he noticed Heero hadn't come to work the next morning. That was, in and of itself, not like his friend; Heero would never miss a day of work, perhaps not for the world.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, the idea that he was responsible for Heero's absence had taken root by the first bell, and for the rest of the day, he was in a daze, floating from class to class. He accidentally lectured about the British India to his second years and the American Revolution to his third years. He passed out the wrong test results, and once even reassigned the first homework assignment of the year to one class.
Without Heero, Duo felt very much out of place.
He snapped out of his daze only after he found himself staring at the seventh brown-inked letter around 2pm. As he absentmindedly gazed at the two lines of crosses scratched on the right-hand margin did he remember the note Heero left him the day before.
'Talk to Howard about a special pen.'
He stuffed the collection of letters and headed out of the room and towards the only place he knew he could find that old man.
Howard's broad grin looked very much in place with his messy graying hair and blash sunglasses. "You know I'm not a ganster Duo, so stop asking."
Duo's grin was just as wide as he sat on Howard's table, his legs crossed at his ankles. "Whatever you say, man. So what do you think?"
"The pen, right?" The old man scratched his chin a little as his other hand rested on the cool exterior of a foreign-made car. "Well, I've definitely seen ink like that. Hell, I use it everyday."
"You do?"
"A tool of the trade, man." Howard walked around the car he was resting on and reached into his pocket for a slim, average-looking pen. "Every mechanic carries one of these, well, all the ones I've met anyway."
Duo took the pen from Howard and popped the top. The felt tip was dark with a rich brown ink. "What is it used for?"
"Not much, just writing and stuff." With that, Howard shrugged.
Duo didn't know how to react when Heero opened his front door, but that was not necessary. Only empathy appeared on his face when he looked at Heero's miserable little expression.
Heero's face was rather pale as he laid his head on the tabletop and huddled deeper into the blanket to feel more warmth from the electric heater underneath. His face scrunched up and blanched further with discomfort as he tried to adjust himself.
Duo sat down on the opposite end and watched, his concern very much evident on his face as he covered his legs with the blanket. "Food poisoning, huh?"
Heero just nodded his head, frowning. "The cramps should be gone by tonight."
Duo nodded in understanding. "The culprit?"
Heero made a face, making Duo wish that he hadn't asked, before answering, "I don't want to think about what I ate, Duo."
"Oh, sorry..." Duo lowered his head and stared at the smooth tabletop for a moment. "I'm really sorry for not getting there in time, Heero." His hands absentmindedly smoothed away the bit of blanket on top of his legs.
"It's alright. It was probably important, whatever it was that kept you."
"Yeah..." Duo's head nodded only once, his eyes still down.
Heero watched him, quietly waiting for Duo to do something else other than look as if he was concentrating on understanding the reasons behind the explosion that was Milli Vanilli.
Duo's head jerked up with a smile. "I'm gonna make it up to you. How about a 'guys' night in' on Saturday? You, me, some porn, and a whole lot of booze?"
Heero stared at his friend, somewhat perplexed. "Porn and booze?"
Duo flashed Heero a delicious lop-sided smile. "Only the best for my best friend."
MarieMaia smiled to herself as Mr. Maxwell lectured about who-knew-what at who-knew-where. History was, by far, her best subject, so, sometimes, she didn't even bother to listen.
It was always the same thing. Peace, war and revolution. Three constant steps in the waltz of human history...
She slowly tapped her pencil absentmindedly against her notebook as her thoughts were on something other than the developments of the Western Enlightenment. At least, she was certain that he was lecturing about the Enlightenment. He couldn't be speaking about British India again.
Pandy had informed her this morning that Mr. Yuy had some sort of food poisoning that did not allow him to teach yesterday. Wasn't just a little amusing that Mr. Maxwell's abnormal lapse yesterday coincided with Mr. Yuy's absence?
She had to remember to talk Pandy into coming with her to talk to Mr. Maxwell later. MarieMaia may be more logical when it came to some things, but her counterpart was very good in catching things she did not see.
For the life of him, Duo couldn't remember how long he has been staring at Heero as his best friend nibbled at the end of his pencil. He was used to seeing Heero with something resting on his lips, be it a lit cigarette or his marking pen, but, as of late...
Even as Duo shook the distraction out of his mind and tried to focus on his own work, something was still echoing in him. Somehow, Sally and Lucrezia and that little student-run underground have been able to shake out some dark fact that was plainly obvious to everyone but himself, and he wasn't ready to admit it yet.
Maybe he was attracted to his friend in some weird way, but it was just as likely that those ladies could just be caught up in some sort of faddish 'homoerotic' craze. Sure, he talked about Heero all the time, but it didn't mean he was in love with him.
Just because he gets a strange urge to kiss his best friend every once in a while didn't mean he was in love with him.
Duo frowned to himself even as his mind went off into bad excuses and leaky reasoning. The only thing worse than being ignorant of one's own desires is being in denial of them when one realized what they were. But why did it take so long for the doubts to start to appear?
As Duo tried to focus on other things besides his sudden obsession with Heero's oral fixation, a pair of juniors walked into the faculty offices and made their way to Duo and Heero's desks.
Although he had asked MarieMaia to come by the faculty offices at the end of the day, he did not expect to see the basketball player currently escorting her in.
As soon as MarieMaia noticed Duo's full attention was focused on her and her companion, a million-watt smile appeared on her lips. Beside her, the basketball player frowned slightly, her eyes darting back and forth.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Maxwell," MarieMaia greeted cheerfully as she approached. "You do know my friend Pandora Barton, right?"
At this, her friend's frown darkened, unhappy with being introduced, before bowing her head slightly. Her brown hair bounced slightly from the high ponytail. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Maxwell." Not waiting for any sort of acknowledgement, she ducked somewhere behind the much shorter student and glared at the top of Heero's desk.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked, her voice respectfully sweet as they stood side by side next to Duo and Heero's desks.
"Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with something." His hands began shuffling through some papers on his desks. "You are the young ladies that run the underground this year after all, aren't you?"
MarieMaia had the decency to blush and duck her head even as Pandy's head jerked up and her eyes narrowed. "Why do you think that?" Pandy said, her voice as cool and dark as her eyes.
"No reason... but I would like to know if you two can help me with finding out if anyone in this school owns a brown-inked pen."
"A brown-inked pen?" MarieMaia's eyebrow raised delicately.
"Maybe you'll like to take a look as to why." He grabbed his ever-growing collection of brown-inked white letters from underneath his copy of Military History's Most Wanted and offered it to the two juniors. "To... give you some more material on me and whatnot."
MarieMaia's lips were a rather sly smile as she read the letters her teacher had given her. Oh, this would definitely fuel quite a few articles on the school's favorite male teacher, and she must not forget to photocopy herself some permanemt copies.
Everyone loved a good story.
"He said that he thought Ms. Noin was sending the letters at first," Mariemaia thought out loud as she flipped through the letters in her hands and the rough cement steps she was sitting on bit into her skin. "But, except for all the nines, I really doubt it."
Pandy leaned against the fence across from her friend as she searched into her school bag for her cigarettes. "Noin is a wee bit hysterical when it came to romance, though. Remember when she found out her fiancé left her for his proctologist?"
"Of course not! That was one of our best-selling issues to date." She began to reread the sixth letter, the one that came after Mr. Maxwell's breakup with the gym teacher. She uncrossed and recrossed her legs, her glossy dress shoes bouncing. "Just the gross-out factor alone..."
Pandy's lips formed a dark, extremely amused smile. "If it wasn't for the fact that he was her fiancé, she would have been as excited as us. She does subscribe to all those Be-Boy magazines." [1]
"So she has motivation," MarieMaia concluded as she read another letter, one of the later ones that hinted at Mr. Maxwell's 'true love'.
"That she does." She pulled out a filtered menthol and lit it. "And she's also close to the action. That last one was talking about our latest issue, and there's no way the writer could know what he knew about Mr. Maxwell unless he was, at the very least, part of the faculty."
"Wait, 'he'?" MarieMaia looked up from the letters and gave her friend an open expression. "You don't think..."
"Yes, I do."
"But it could be just anyone," MarieMaia countered, the wind picking up slightly and pushing her shoulder-length hair into her face. "There aren't that many secrets in this school. It takes us forever to get all the real juicy stuff."
"Yes, but I still think..."
"That it's him."
At that, the basketball player nodded her head once. "No one else but."
In the end, they chose against the porn. Heero wasn't all too interested in watching some generic butt-slapping cum film and Duo couldn't find something as funny as, say, XXX Trek, so no porn.
There was obviously plenty of liquor, though. Duo made sure of it. The plan for Saturday night was a simple one. The trick was to get Heero's defenses down; with Duo's help, Heero was to get so drunk, he'd start spilling all his dark secrets left and right. Hopefully he'd say what Duo needed to hear: whether Heero in love with Duo or not.
It was a little underhanded, sure, but this was a matter of life and death. If the bar whores/spies can do during war, than Duo can do it too.
Heero was cooperating in the beginning; he was never one to drink much to begin with. Duo was prepared, however. All one needed was a drinking game, in this case the 'Jon Steward Game (2)', and some prodding at Heero Yuy's pride.
Heero's head slowly rolled to the side, his latest drink spilling slightly on his lap as Duo tried to pry the glass out of his friend's hands. Maybe he had overdone the drinking. In a few more minutes, Heero was going to pass out and wouldn't be able to answer his questions.
Heero's lips stretched out dreamily as he rolled his head forward. "I think... we need some music, Duo," he whispered in a rough little slur as he stumbled onto his feet.
Duo placed Heero's half-empty drink on the table and stood up, his eyes following Heero's stagger. "Be careful, Heero..."
Heero tilted his head back and smiled at Duo. "I'm fine," he said in that rough slur even as his body began to tip back, following the tilt of his head.
With a gasp, Duo rushed, crossed the few feet separating them with his arms outstretched. Duo caught Heero's warm, alcohol-sodden weight in his arms and stared at his friend's flushed expression as they steadied themselves, chest to chest.
At this, Heero chuckled. "You know..." he whispered, his voice becoming almost bitter, "all you had to do was ask." His breath's warmth snaked past Duo's cheek. "You know how much I hate being drunk."
Duo, with his arms around Heero's waist, his body pressed against that of his friend, didn't dare to reply. He was too afraid that his voice would crack, or that blurt out something completely improper, to say anything. He was nervous he was afraid of dropping Heero, much less answering him.
"I would just love it if you kiss me right now..." Heero drawled on, his eyes drooping, tired. "Like you always do after we drink..."
"Like we..." Duo repeated, his astonished little voice proof that some of his control was starting to return.
"All you had to do was ask... you didn't have to get me drunk..."
"We kiss...?"
"And all you do is use me..." Heero whimpered, his hands pressing against Duo's shoulders, his vain attempt to distance himself. "All this time we've been together... and you've always used me..." He hiccupped softly. "Like now..."
"Heero..."
"Let me go."
"What?"
"Let me go!" With a drunken scream of frustration, Heero pushed Duo off and fell to the floor. "Get out, Maxwell!"
"Heero... let me explain..." Duo extended his hand to help him up, but Heero would have none of that, slapping the offered hand away.
Heero staggered back to his feet, and eyes flashing with more anger than Duo has ever seen Heero have before. "Spare me. Get out." He clenched his fists and took a swing at Duo.
The swing was wide, and Heero ended up spinning and falling to the floor again without hitting Duo in his face.
Duo didn't bother to offer his hand this time. He was already slamming Heero's door behind him, fuming from the alcohol and Heero's stupid behavior.
Heero was having trouble focusing his eyes. He forgot how much he had drank last night, but it was obviously too much, if his headache was any indication.
The Prairie Oyster helped some, and the aspirin and ginger ale helped some more, but he still felt a little shitty. The fact that his telephone kept ringing did not help the situation.
Duo has been calling since 9 am. The caller ID told him so, and it has been nonstop for almost three hours. He obviously had nothing else to do if he was able to call Heero all morning.
Truth be told, he only called three times in those three hours, but that was still a lot.
He did leave one message on the answering machine, when he called the first time.
"I'm... I'm really sorry, Heero. I mean, you know..."
Heero hasn't bothered calling back.
Notes...
Heero's been avoiding him.
It was only Tuesday, but if he didn't get the chance to even see Heero, how in the hell was Duo supposed to state his peace and apologize.
Of course he meant to get Heero drunk. That was the plan, remember? Guess he was really hoping that Heero would be drunk enough to forget what they were talking about.
Guess he bit off more than he could chew.
The third letter.
I heard that you were Catholic, Duo. I'm not. Actually, the only thing that I hear about the Catholic Church was that they don't like homosexuals. They don't like women either. It's a shame, really. Maybe you could take me to a mass on Sunday. I don't mind if you say no. I hope you don't say no. Maybe, twice as nice as 'no' and just as sweet as 'yes'.
"Chain smoking is no good for you."
Heero glared at Lucrezia from the corner of his eye for a split second as his third cigarette of the afternoon dangled from his lips. "Only when you're around, Lucrezia."
Lucrezia shrugged as she sat next to Heero on the loading dock. "Just letting you know." Her hands pressed against the rough, pebbled cement at her sides as her legs began swinging back and forth. "So... you and Duo had a little spat?"
Heero frowned around the filter of his cigarette. "Lucrezia..."
"Well, I'm sorry, but everyone can tell you too aren't talking. There has to be a pretty good reason for you to be ignoring to your 'best friend'." Her hands did that ridiculous quotation gesture.
Heero glared at her. "Were you like this when Milliardo started dating his proctologist?" he snapped.
Lucrezia's face blanched, then turned red with quite a bit of fury. "Ok, that was uncalled for."
"So is your 'love interrogation'." He grounded his cigarette into the pebbled cement. "I don't need your slash fixation getting into my problems with Duo." He huffed and pulled out another cigarette. His actions roughened with quite a bit of anger, he flipped the lid of his lighter and, after lighting his cigarette, snapped it shut again.
"I'm sorry," Lucrezia finally said softly.
"Me too," Heero reciprocated in a similar voice, taking a drag.
"There you are."
Lucrezia and Heero both turned their heads and spotted Duo standing on the loading dock, the door he just walked through wide open. His smile was bright, but in the sunlight, it seemed tattered at the ends.
The fourth letter:
'God, you cannot believe how hungry I am right now. I'll be able to go out soon, so what do you suggest? I heard you love strange drinks, but I don't know anything about your tastes. Will Thai be good? Or maybe Italian? Perhaps we should go together? You're always going out somewhere to eat. You're bound to know where two singles can hide and whisper sweet nothings at each other all night. Perhaps we'll play footsies underneath the table instead.'
Lucrezia stood up from her spot and smiled at Duo. "I guess I should leave you too alone. I'm sure you have plenty to talk about," she cooed in a schoolgirl tone as she silently made her way past him and into the building.
Heero's frowned tightened as the door slammed shut behind her but said nothing.
"So... Heero..." Duo hesitated somewhat as he inched his way closer to his friend. Just because Heero was sober did not mean that he wouldn't try to hit Duo again. "How're you doing?"
Heero grunted softly at Duo's translucent attempt to try to create some feelings of goodwill. After Saturday night, he would have to try a bit harder.
Duo sat down next to Heero, effectively taking Noin's spot. He gave him a light, if worried, smile. "Um... any plans for tomorrow?"
Heero's eyebrow went up, but his eyes stayed forward. "Why."
"Why?" Duo shook his head. "Because tomorrow's Wednesday, that's why." Perhaps if he was happy, and appear as if he had completely forgotten about Saturday, maybe everything will be back to normal. Just he and Heero, inseparable friends. "I was thinking about this Greek fusion place and---"
"I have plans after classes, Duo," he interrupted curtly.
At this, Duo's upper body pulled back slightly in surprise. "Plans? But we always go out for lunch together."
"My life doesn't consist of just you, Duo." He tapped a bit of ash off his cigarette. "I know other people. I have other friends."
"But it's kind of like a tradition."
"You broke that tradition last week, Duo."
"But I didn't mean to leave you planted like that!"
"Of course not." Heero grounded his cigarette into the same spot he grounded out the last one. "And I made these plans on Thursday, so I'm not going to change them." He got up and dusted the back of his pants as he made his way to the door.
Duo stared out in front of him. "Heero, if this is about Saturday..."
"You should know better than anyone that we forget everything when we're drunk." He opened the door leading into the building. "Remembering when we're sober always makes things worse."
With that, Heero closed the door behind him and left Duo on the loading dock, alone.
The sixth letter.
'Frankly I don't know what you saw in that woman. Yes, Ms. Noin, the slash fanatic. Isn't it true that her fiancé left her for his proctologist? Seriously, I think you spent too much money on her. How many times did you go out to all those expensive restaurants? Tell me, how many of those restaurants did you visit before with Mr. Yuy? Something is amiss, Duo. Why are you out trying to find true love? Don't you realize that it has already found you?'
There was an almost chilly coolness that Wednesday, but MarieMaia looked a lot happier than her teacher. All Mr. Maxwell did was tap his pencil on his desk and, with his head resting on the palm of his hand, stare out into space... and towards the door where the faculty room opened to the hallway.
"Well, like I was saying, sir, all the evidence points to two people... that we know of," she concluded as she leaned close to her teacher, her hands folded on her lap in a lady-like fashion.
"Two, huh?" Mr. Maxwell repeated into his palm, the tapping of his pencil slower than the beat of a dirge.
"There's still a possibility that it's Noin. We haven't ruled her out because of the visual clues, and because of her, um, 'fascination' with certain types of relationships... but..."
"Um?"
"She doesn't like name brands. She doesn't bother with expensive perfumes and prefers 'natural' products." Her eyes roll back slightly as she tries to remember something. "I think she's using some sort of cinnamon and clove mixture nowadays."
Duo nodded absentmindedly in response.
"Then there's Mr. Yuy."
That snapped Mr. Maxwell out of his funk quite quickly. "Mr.... Yuy?"
MarieMaia gave a rather Cheshire smile. "Pandy believed that he's been the one that's been writing to you."
His head rose out from off his palm and stared rather blankly at his student. "Your friend? Why does she think that?"
"He was the one that knew about the perfume."
"He went the department store. Any clerk there could have helped him figure it out by just sniffing the paper."
"He knew about the pen."
"He and his ex-brother-in-law still get together every once in a while to fix cars. He's an amateur mechanic." Even Mr. Maxwell felt like he was just making excuses.
"But Mr. Maxwell..."
He shook his head, stopping her pleas indefinitely. "Thank you, MarieMaia, but I think you have helped me as much as you could." He took his small collection of letters and tucked it between 'The Art of War' and his Merriam-Webster.
From the corner of his eye, Mr. Maxwell noticed the door he was watching opening.
A blonde-haired woman walked into the faculty room. She didn't seem all that out of place, with her low-key suit and her hair pulled back with a piece of fabric. She weaved around the desks towards Mr. Maxwell with a bit of an apprehensive smile on her perfectly painted lips.
"Relena," Mr. Maxwell said almost coolly as he rose from his desk to greet the woman.
She was probably in business, MarieMaia thought to herself as she examined the woman up close, with her manicured French tips and pale indoor skin. Or perhaps in politics, but she did not have the feel of a teacher.
"Duo," she said in a relaxed voice that had more than a hint of fear. "Have you seen Heero around here?" She slowly tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear.
"I'm right here," Mr. Yuy called out as he made his way to the woman. MarieMaia noticed immediately that the rumors were right: Mr. Yuy didn't ever want to look at Mr. Maxwell, never mind talk to him.
Mr. Yuy looked less pleasant than usual, but it wasn't he that was seething as he placed a light kiss on Ms. Relena.
It was Mr. Maxwell.
"Did you wait long?" Mr. Yuy asked the woman, some sort of concern evident in his voice as he steered her towards the door.
"Not really," she said as the pair made their way out the door once more, decisively ignoring Mr. Maxwell, still at his feet.
He continued to stand at his desk long after the couple left the building before letting some of his fury to the surface by slamming his fist hard on his desk.
The eight letter arrived some time Wednesday afternoon. It was two paragraphs long, with nine sentences in each. The handwriting was a tad sloppier than what was the norm.
It was postmarked on Tuesday.
Heero stared at his salad as his companions began to laugh at another joke.
He was in excellent company, he quickly reminded himself as he tried to enjoy his lunch at an outdoor café. He was with the woman he had once loved, one of his best friends, and a very funny woman. Love, friendship, and loads of humor, but he still found himself wishing that Duo was with him.
"So, you two are actually going to get married?" Relena cooed happily, her spoon clicking against the porcelain of her plate.
Catherine's smile was wide as the diamond ring on her finger caught some of the sunlight.
"I figured that, after three years, we were ready for that step," Milliardo explained as he tried to suppress his own giddy smile. "It's not like I can love anyone as much as my baby girl."
"Congratulations." Heero raised his water glass to them. He was glad for his friend, but even as he drank to Milliardo and Catherine's happiness, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy.
"And it's about time, too," Relena mocked scowled, giving her older brother a weak, friendly glare. "It was mean of you to let Catherine wait so long in the first place."
"It's not like he can escape me. He has an appointment with me tomorrow." Her smile turned slightly mischievous. "If he's not nice, my hands will be quite cold."
"Ooh, I'm shaking," Milliardo said as he leaned close and placed a quick peck on Catherine's lips.
"Maybe I'll just examine your prostate tonight," Catherine teased with a look in her eyes that spoke volumes more than 'maybe'.
Relena and Heero just shrugged, shook their heads and picked at their food. After three years of the same, they had become quite used to the couple's... unusual displays of affection.
"And speaking of prostates," Catherine began as she turned her attention away from her loving fiancé to Heero. Her smirk was painted with dark sugar. "As Duo been hitting yours yet?"
Catherine's bluntness, on the other hand, always had a way of catching the poor teacher off-guard. Heero's face almost immediately turned scarlet. Catherine giggled as Relena too turned beet red.
"Catherine..." Milliardo's smile almost seeped out again as he watched Heero try, and fail, to stop blushing. "Where is Duo? He was invited as well, you know," he inquired, giving Heero a chance to save his manhood.
He frowned slightly at the question. "He was busy. He couldn't make it," Heero replied softly, lowering his head. He began to pick at his salad as his blush subsided.
Relena crossed her arms around her purse and stared up at Heero as the subway train began to move again. "Why did you lie, Heero?"
Heero looked down from the little crook he made with his arms: one hand holding tight to the ring dangling from the rail, the other holding onto an elbow. His face had a strange, innocently confused expression. "Lie?"
Relena almost sighed to herself, thinking about how he would look just like that when they laid together in the same bed. "About Duo not being able to make it," she clarified.
Heero's lip formed a frown. His eyes lowered and his head sank back into the crook of his arms.
"You didn't invite him, did you." Her voice was flat. "What happened being you and Duo, and don't tell me 'nothing', because I saw how you were treating him earlier."
She watched as he unconsciously shifted his weight from one foot to the other and allowed herself to sigh. It was almost depressing, realizing that she was able to read Heero a lot better when they were divorced than when they were married.
But perhaps it was all for the best, everything that happened between the two of them. At least, that was what Relena hoped.
"It doesn't matter, Relena," he finally replied into the junction of his elbow and his hand.
"He still doesn't know that you love him. After all that hard work," Relena mused mournfully as the train stopped again. People moved in and out of the crowded train for a few moments before the doors closed again and the train began to move.
She drew her legs in tighter still as Heero tried to maintain a decent standing position. "Didn't you tell him how you felt after he didn't show up last week? Didn't I tell you should come clean?" When did *he* become the soft, pliant one in the relationship?
"That's not it," he mumbled into his arm. They rocked from side to side.
"Oh, goodness," Relena whispered sadly, lowering her head. "I thought for sure he loved you back... What did he say?"
"I don't know," he whispered back.
"You don't know?" She stared at Heero's tussled hair. "What do you mean, 'you don't know'. You never gave him a chance to respond, did you."
He raised his head to stare at the route map above the doors to the left, past the crook of his arms. "I'm afraid," Heero admitted softly. "I just don't want to hear him say 'let's just be friends'... or worse."
The eighth letter.
'How can you be so cruel, using him that way? He's your friend, right? You care for him right? How can you go and do that to him in the first place. It was a low thing you did. No sympathy. No compassion. You don't deserve him as a friend. Coward.
'He'll never forgive you, you know. Not like this. You've used him too much for him to ever forgive you. You *should* apologize. But I bet you're too much of a coward, aren't you. He was your crutch so that you could never get close to any woman. You lead him on so that you wouldn't feel like you were always alone. You don't deserve him, or anything he offers to you. You are nothing more than the scum of the earth.'
MarieMaia was actually paying attention today. Yes, she knew all about all the aftermaths of the Enlightenment, and she could slack off a little today, but she wouldn't dare.
She knew that today she had to pay attention. Mr. Maxwell hadn't been able to calm down since yesterday afternoon, when he stormed out of the faculty offices and who-knew-where.
She saw what happened to Mr. Maxwell's desk. The metal top had a dent now.
More of her classmates are paying attention today, also. If the other option was to have a heavy textbook thrown at them for daydreaming, most people would rather stay alert, awake, and alive.
Despite the serious threat of injury, it was rather amusing watching her teacher when he was like this. She has never seen Mr. Maxwell angry before. It was almost like seeing Ms. Une teach Western History, but without all the extra laps around the school.
Sally's thin lips disappeared into a tight frown at the sight of Duo standing by her desk. She closed the ledger book she was writing in with a slam. "I've been talking to Heero," she said point-blankly.
"That's nice," Duo replied, his voice flat, without inflection. He turned his head and stared into one of the side rooms where one of his students was recovering from a vicious eraser blow to the head.
Her light eyes narrowed with some boiling emotion. "I thought you were a better man than that, Duo. I never knew you could be so cold."
Duo's face scrunched up for a moment as he turned to face Sally. "What did you two talk about?"
"What does it matter to you?" Sally replied as she took off her glasses and tucked them into a pocket of her lab coat. "You obviously don't care about Heero in the first place."
"Of course I do," Duo retorted, his voice tinted with anger. "Heero's my best friend, Sally."
She slammed her hands on her desk and stood up. "And would a *man* get his best friend drunk and abuse that friendship because of a lack of trust? Of courage?" she practically screamed into Duo's face. "Would a *best friend* forget a simple lunch date and wait an entire day to apologize? Do you know the real reason why he missed work last week."
"He said it was food poisoning." His face blanched slightly in disbelief.
"It was you, Duo. You did that to him."
"That wasn't my fault, Sally," he cried out in his defense.
"No, nothing is ever your fault." She sat back down, her fists still tight as they rested on her desk. Her eyes glared at the navy blue cover of her ledger book. "You're too pigheaded to see the truth."
"Then, tell me, Sally. What's the truth?"
Sally turned her head slightly and glared at the floor. Her lips were tight still.
The small charm dangling from his phone caught some of the sunlight and flashed it against the dark, shadowed corners. "Please stop, Relena."
"But you have to talk to him sooner or later," Relena insisted, her voice clear. She must be somewhere nearby. "He knows where you live."
"All the more reason to avoid him at work. If he was going to reject me, I don't want it to happen at work." He fished out his lighter and began to open it and close it in rapid succession.
"I guess you have a point," Relena seconded reluctantly. "I'm amazed you were able to avoid him so far."
"It's not that hard." He shrugged to himself as his weight shifted from foot to foot.
"Heero... don't lie. It's not nice." She sighed into her phone and Heero imagined her brushing her hair back and over her shoulder. "I'm thinking about using that perfume we're talking about."
"Is that right. I didn't think you would like something that strong."
It was because he wasn't used to it. That was the only reason he could give as to why the more he frowned, the more his face hurt.
Howard looked up from his paperwork for perhaps the second time since Duo appeared at his door and stared at his friend's miserable expression. "And?"
"And I don't know what to do, Howard." Duo sighed, blowing at his bangs. The cushiony chair he was sitting in felt as if it was trying to drown him in unusual comfort. "I was so pissed yesterday because of him, but I don't want to talk to him about it."
"You're acting like a coward," Howard stated matter-of-factly as his eyes fell back on his work. His brown pen made no noise as it floated on the paper.
"You feel that way about me too, huh."
"What started this mess was not those letters, but your thick-headedness. First, it never dawns on you could feel that way about Heero. Second, when it does, you try to find out it's true in one of the worse ways imaginable." He fumed and mumbled into his paperwork.
"What was that?" Duo asked, slightly leaning out of his chair.
"You're being a chickenshit, Duo!" Howard roared, knocking Duo back into his seat.
Howard took a deep breath and continued in a much calmer voice. "Talk to Heero. That's the only thing I can tell you."
Saturdays were odd days. The students, and the teachers with them, felt like they were going to cry in anticipation for the weekend, for their only relief, for Sunday.
Duo felt like that. Something was buzzing cold underneath his skin even as he made his way through the day. Sally was right. Howard was right. The letters were right. Everyone was right in thinking he was a coward and that he didn't even have a clue.
Today was the day he was going to deal with it.
Now, if only he could find Heero.
Lucrezia wasn't really looking for Heero. Truth be told, she was actually looking for a place to hide so that she could smoke in peace, but it looked as if her favorite spot has been discovered.
Her secret place was an alleyway to the west of the main school building. It was wide enough for one person, long enough for three, and the entrance was hidden by some bushes Noin was always able to walk around. No one could have found her there.
She quickly pocketed her clove cigarettes before Heero saw them, but she quickly noticed that Heero wouldn't have noticed a dog if it bit him.
He was squatting on the ground, with one arm on his almost vertical lap, and his other hand holding his lit cigarette out in front of him. The only problem was that his cigarette burned itself out a long time ago. All that was left was a long cylinder of ash barely dangling from a burned filter.
He was staring out into space, paying little attention to neither his cigarette nor Lucrezia as she crouched down next to him and leaned against the damp cement wall.
"Rough week, huh?" she said quietly, finally deciding to give up the ghost and pulling out a clove cigarette.
Heero nodded his head once. His eyes had a dull, glassy look to them. "You smoke too, huh."
Lucrezia played it cool and lit her cigarette with a match. "At least mine are healthier than that death stick you just wasted."
Heero stared at what remained of his cigarette and tapped the long cylinder of ash off. The gray mass floated down to the cool ground.
"Hiding again, Heero?" She did not expect a response. "Well, I don't think that matters all that much. Duo's been trying to avoid you too."
"I doubt that."
"Whatever you say." Lucrezia took a drag as Heero pocketed the burnt filter stub so that he could properly throw it away later.
"Heero, whatever happened to those letters?"
At this, Heero's ears perked up and that glassy look in his eyes disappeared. "Letters?"
"Yeah, Duo told me once you were helping him with some 'secret admirer' letters. Did you ever figure out who wrote them?"
Heero shook his head slowly. His hands started searching for his pack of cigarettes and his lighter. "I don't think it matters anymore, those letters and who wrote them." He found his squashed pack and continued. "If *I* was writing those things, I would have given up long ago."
Lucrezia just shrugged once more and gave no more comments.
Heero searched in his pocket for his keys as he made his way to his apartment building. It stood a couple of blocks away, the two-story gray building that he had called home for quite some time now. The rent was a bit more than he would have liked, because of the neighborhood it was built in, but he was single, with no children and no wife to take care of. It was his and his alone. With his love life down the drain once more, that thought was a great comfort.
He climbed the metal and cement stairs up the second floor, but he didn't make it to his door. There, leaning rather casually on his door, was Duo, not grinning like a happy fool, nor frowning like an angry man.
It was only seven o'clock in the evening, and it took at least two hours to commute from the school to where Heero lived. "Duo... what are you doing here?"
"I left work as soon as the last of my classes finished," he said softly, pushing himself off Heero's door. "I wanted to get here first, so you can't ignore me again."
"I haven't been ignoring you."
"But you have been avoiding me," Duo said, his voice still as soft and as resolute as before. "Right?"
Heero's head bowed forward with shame. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't right."
Duo nodded his head and stared at Heero's dark hair. "But it's not all you're fault. I was the one that started this mess."
Heero nodded in understanding. "So, does this mean we're friends again?" he asked, his voice void of all the anxiety he was feeling inside.
"I don't think that's possible anymore."
Heero's head jerked up and stared at Duo, his eyes filled with disbelief and worry. "You don't?" he was able to whisper. Something crack inside of him, like fine china
Duo shook his head, lowering his eyes. "I don't think we can be friends anymore. Not like this."
Heero felt as if he was ready to collapse into himself and become some sort of black hole. He felt so cold and empty that he was sure it wasn't all that impossible. "Hn." He grunted in the tiniest voice.
"I think I love you, Heero."
On Monday, after spending an odd, lovely weekend with Heero, Duo almost did not notice the clean, crisp white letter that sat, waiting for him, on his desk.
Perhaps it was the leftover warmth of Heero's skin that had stayed with him after they parted ways the night before. Maybe it was that quiet, patient smile that Heero gave him only seconds before when he sat at his desk.
Maybe it was the way Relena smiled and greeted him as he entered the faculty room. Maybe it was how he didn't feel one iota of jealousy as she hugged Heero before dashing off to her job, but Duo didn't care about the white, clean envelope, or the painfully perfect brown-inked letters, or the noticeable lack of a postmark.
On the immaculate paper, still perfumed and still perfectly creased, was a simple message.
'You don't deserve him, but love him, Duo Maxwell.'
It was nine words long, twelve syllables in all.
~~~end
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