Notes: The arc begins between one and two years after Endless Waltz. Heero POV in this story.
Life With Heero Arc Part 59
Awkward
"So, what're we watching, Heero? Action movies, comedy, classic musicals, animation?" Duo called from the kitchen. The sound of the popcorn popper warming up could be clearly heard in the background.
"None of the above," Heero answered, smirking as he moved the Japanese screen into the corner and turned on the TV.
Duo ducked his head into the living room and said, "If you tell me we're watching chick flicks, I'm outta here. I'll admit there's a few that are almost bearable, but I do not want to spend an entire rainy afternoon watching that kind of stuff."
Heero snickered and said, "Damn, and here I had a whole afternoon lineup all picked out... Guess it's a good thing there's an all-day 'Classic Monster Movie Marathon' running..."
"You mean we get to watch a whole afternoon of guys in rubber suits knocking over cardboard buildings while people run around screaming in Japanese?" Duo asked before vanishing back into the kitchen.
Heero followed him, saying, "Yes. Well, for some of them at least. Part of them are the English dubbed versions."
"Which are even funnier," Duo grinned. "Since half the time the English lines don't even come close to matching the actor's mouth movements and you get a good couple of seconds of silence while the actor's mouth just keeps on moving... Hell, it's a tossup which is funnier - those, or the dubbed martial arts movies..."
"Definitely the monster movies," Heero groaned. "Some of those martial arts ones are absolutely painful to watch..." He grabbed a couple of cold bottles of pop from the fridge while Duo finished melting butter to pour over the now-popped popcorn then went back out to the other room.
Heero set his drink on the end table by the couch and placed Duo's beside it. Usually he had the couch to himself and Duo took the beanbag chair. But Duo had pulled a few back muscles while working in the salvage yard earlier that week and Heero didn't think he'd find that chair very comfortable today. As Duo joined him, placing one bowl of popcorn on the end table before moving to plop down in his usual spot, Heero suggested, "Duo, that's going to be hard on your back. Why don't you join me on the couch? There's plenty of room for us both to sit and if we want to stretch out - well, we've shared it before..."
Duo took long enough to respond that Heero was starting to wonder what was wrong. Sure, they both liked to sprawl when they did one of these movie marathon sessions and yes the couch was a little tight quarters for that sort of thing if they shared it... 'We fit on it together fine when Duo was having those nightmares though,' Heero thought. 'But - it was a rather snug fit...' A very snug fit in fact, now that he stopped to think about it. Suddenly, he wasn't sure he should have made that suggestion. Maybe he should have just volunteered to trade places instead, though he wasn't overly fond of the beanbag chair.
"Uh, okay..." Duo finally said, moving to join Heero on the couch.
They both sat through the whole first movie, but by halfway through the second, Heero decided enough was enough. He wasn't particularly comfortable and judging by the amount of wiggling Duo had been doing, he wasn't either. About to suggest that they both lay down, he reconsidered, suddenly acutely aware of just how much of their bodies would touch if they did that.
'We share a bed at night, for god's sake, why the hell should the thought of sharing a couch be so damn awkward?" Heero thought in frustration. These awkward moments just kept popping up lately. He didn't like them but he wasn't sure what to do about them. Whether it was a friendly hug that suddenly seemed to be lasting just a little longer than it should, or the sudden realization that he was watching Duo on the dance floor or while working out just a little more closely than was appropriate, or even the urge to keep running his fingers through Duo's hair after he'd finished brushing it out, there were things that suddenly didn't seem to quite fit under being appropriate for a "best friend".
And that didn't even take into consideration the other even less ambiguous urges that he was stifling on an increasingly regular basis. The urge to stroke his fingers along Duo's cheek in response to a sleepy morning smile. To unfasten Duo's braid and run his fingers through his hair without the excuse of helping him brush it dry.
The urge he'd almost given into earlier this week when they'd been sparring and he'd taken Duo down and pinned him. Leaning over Duo, looking down at his gorg... Heero stopped that train of thought with an effort and started over again. ...looking down at Duo's face while Duo grinned in wry amusement at getting caught by that particular move, he had almost, almost...
Heero ruthlessly crushed the thought. He couldn't let himself even consider the possibility. The friendship he had with Duo was the most important thing in his life. He would not, could not, risk messing it up. No matter how tempting the opportunity might be.
TBC...
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