Day Off Part 2
The shuttle was fueled and ready to go. My guys complained that I had dragged them out of bed, but they had gotten everything done, and I told them to ask Howard for a raise.
That should teach him to tease me.
Heero sat down in the co-pilot's chair and started running the final checks even as I did the same from the pilot's seat.
For just a moment, it was like we were both 15 again...
I shook my head- that was ages ago- and though this was a mission to keep things peaceful in the Sphere- it wasn't like those days...
Strange how I missed them sometimes.
"All set?" I asked Heero and he nodded.
Once we were launched and Heero had fed the coordinates into the autopilot, I leaned back into my seat and closed my eyes. Heero had shown up awfully early...
"Tired?"
"I'm not usually up this early on my day off," I told him and he looked contrite.
"Sorry- I didn't mean to ruin your day off."
I shrugged. "No problem. This was more exciting than washing my socks, that's for sure. What are we going to do once we get up there, by the way? I don't think we can blow the entire thing up."
There was silence for a moment and so I cracked my eyelids open to find Heero looking at me with an expression I couldn't read.
"We are going to blow the whole thing up?" Had he brought that much firepower?
He shook his head. "No. I just realized that you hadn't asked me what we were going to do- you just came along..."
"Of course," I closed my eyes again. "Even if you were hiding out on my colony, I do trust you, you know."
The thank you was so soft I wasn't sure I heard it.
"We can't blow the whole thing up- not without a lot more power than I have. But we can take out essentials- cripple it so badly that it would be useless without a lot of work being done on it..."
"And working on something that big couldn't keep it under wraps."
"Exactly."
I laughed. "Sure you don't want to come and work with me? You're just as devious as Howard is."
"Howard is devious?" Heero sounded surprised.
"You have no idea. Man can manage to find a job for any of his old buddies that show up- some of them that I didn't think we even needed... and then he was hiring all the eye-candy for the office..."
"Eye-candy?"
I snorted. "Howard thinks I need to settle down- so he decided to turn the office into a dating service... for me."
Heero chuckled. "That's bad?"
"Let's just say Howard is not a matchmaker." I opened my eyes and met Heero's amused gaze. "Seriously, the last guy couldn't even fill out a form without making at least six mistakes. The one before him was even worse. I told Howard he wasn't allowed to hire for the office anymore."
Heero's brow furrowed and it took me a minute to realize why. Damn, hadn't meant to let that slip.
"Don't-" I started involuntarily, and then stopped.
Much to my surprise, Heero shook his head. "I'm not. You just surprised me. I thought... well, the wrong thing obviously." He smiled. "So- you don't have anyone? Or are you letting Howard throw people at you just for cover?"
"Nah, haven't found anyone yet." I shrugged, relieved that he was all right with it. "Not many people feel comfortable around an ex-gundam pilot."
"I know it." Heero shook his bangs out of his eyes. "So- who did you hire for the office?"
I grinned. "The spunkiest lady I could find."
"I'd bet she's Howard's age?" He chuckled.
"Of course... and I might add- has already had him over to her house several times for dinner."
"And you say I'm devious? Sounds like you are too."
"Of course. It's a quality I look for in my friends."
He laughed again and looked at the instruments. "We have several hours still- if you want to sleep you can. I'd prefer to have an alert backup."
"Okay," I agreed and snuggled down the best I could in the chair. Heero unhooked himself and floated gently upwards.
"I'm going to check the supplies I brought."
"Okay," I said again and closed my eyes.
~*~
A gentle touch on my shoulder woke me. Blinking, I looked up at Heero. "We're nearly there," he said and moved back a little.
I yawned and sat up, stretching to work out the kinks in my muscles. Sleeping in a chair is okay when you're 15, but now... not so good. I looked out the window and nearly fell out of my chair.
"It's huge!" I had only seen one from the view screen of my gundam once before... and then I hadn't been worried about the size.
"I know." Heero frowned. "It had to be made big enough to take out a colony."
"How could everyone miss this?"
"If it was officially erased? Easy enough." Heero gave me a faint smile. "At least no one's here. I scanned it several times for signs of life- nothing."
I stared at the giant weapons platform, one of the ones Une had used to threaten the colonies with all those years ago. "Well, they weren't built for people to live on... Are you sure we want to be setting bombs on that thing?"
"I'm only targeting the control systems. Everything else is going to be left alone." Heero met my eyes. "Trust me- I don't want it to explode. That would definitely get you in trouble."
"I'm not worried about that," I waved a hand at him. "Where are we headed?"
"The controls are on the top," Heero pointed. "We're going to go up there and link on. Hopefully you'll be able to crack the lock to let us in- and then the rest should be fairly easy."
"Fairly easy?"
"I just have to go in, take out the control systems and we can go again."
I started to nod, and then a thought struck me. "Wait- you go in? What about me?"
"You need to stay on the ship."
What? I think not.
"Trying to protect me Yuy?"
He shook his head. "Of course not- but the controls are protected by a few things... I'll have to blast in. Hopefully I can keep the blasts contained, but..." He shrugged a little.
"But..." I prompted.
"Well, there is a possibility of something going wrong. If it does- you need to make a fast getaway."
"And leave you behind?"
"If necessary."
"Heero-"
"Duo," he cut me off. "Look- the risk is there. It's not a huge possibility, but it is there. If something goes wrong you can not afford to wait for me."
"I'm not leaving you behind." He opened his mouth and I snapped: "No. No way, not going to happen, forget it. I will wait in the ship in case we need to make a fast getaway, but that's it. If you get in trouble, I'll get you out of it. End of story."
"Duo- you have to think about your business...." Why was he pushing this? "You have obligations..."
I remembered what Heero had said earlier... not having any obligations- not having much of a life... and I hurt for him.
I reached up and grabbed the front of his jumpsuit, pulling him close to me. "So do you- to me. Vanishing like you did- moving onto my colony- not contacting me at all until you needed a ship." I turned my head so we were nose to nose. Heero's eyes were wide with surprise. "You owe me, Yuy- and I intend to see that you're around for me to collect."
Then- and I have no idea why I did it, just seemed like the thing to do- I pulled him closer still and kissed him.
I let him go a moment later and turned my attention to the controls. "Strap down- we're getting close."
I think he blinked at me for a moment, but then he went and strapped himself down.
At least he didn't punch me...
TBC...
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