Life... Really Part 12
After finishing the last of his studies before the summer, Duo gazed out the front window of the house, his long tail swaying in anticipation. It was the last day of school for Heero and their friends and he should have been returning home soon.
The Japanese teenager had promised Duo that he would spend the day outside with him, since he was now fully recovered from the incident involving Muller, nearly three weeks prior. It was supposed to be the best way to start the summer, as well as celebrating the fact that the braided teenager was able to enjoy normal activity again.
Outside, the weather was perfect. The early-May sky was clear and the temperature rose to a pleasant warmth. The fact that Heero had promised to put away his assignments for one whole day so that they could enjoy some time together had Duo practically bouncing off the walls since he woke up that morning.
Walking into the living room, Noin chuckled deeply with a warm smile at the sight of her 'son'. "You do realize that staring out the window won't make time go any faster, right?" she asked with a warm smile.
Duo's head turned over his shoulder to meet her gaze and he grinned, "I know, I'm just excited. It's seems like it's been ages since I've been strong enough to go outside." With another chuckle, Noin nodded her understanding as she sat on the other end of the couch.
There was a companionable silence for a short while before Duo turned to face the young woman with a slight frown on his face as he began, "Mom, can I ask you something?"
Noin gave him a reassuring smile and nodded, "Of course. You don't ever have to ask that of me." Her smile faded at the saddened look on the young man's face. His cat ears had drooped down the slightest bit and his tail laid lifelessly on the couch. With a frown of concern on her face, she questioned quietly, "What is it, Duo?"
Biting his lip, Duo looked up to meet her eyes and replied, "Remember a few months back, I was asking you about what kinds of love there were and how you could tell the difference?"
The young woman sat up, nodding, and answered, "I remember that conversation." Tilting her head, Noin inquired, "Is it all still confusing to you?"
Duo nodded vigorously, causing the maid to laugh in relief in now understanding what had her 'son' so troubled. The sound of her laugh seemed to put the boy at ease as his ears perked back up and his shoulders relaxed. Noin's warm smile returned as she stated, "All right, let's just start with you're explaining what has you so confused."
Taking a deep breath, Duo nodded and sighed, "Well, I know that you said the love between friends and people who are more than friends are different." H took his tail into his hands and fidgeted with it as he continued, "Heero was the first person to take care of me, look after me after that accident years ago."
As she tilted her head, Noin commented, "And all of the things that he did for you since you transformed just added on to your feelings, then. Of course you would feel a strong connection towards Heero after all he did for you then. It's only natural for a person to have some kind of emotional attachment to someone who looked after them for so long. The two of you have a very strong friendship."
Duo shook his head, "It's more than that, though. I mean, of course Heero's my best friend, but there's something else."
Seeing his the confusion on his 'mother's' face, the braided teenager moved his hands in vague gestures as he explained, "When he's not around, I... hurt, I guess is the best word for it." He pointed at his chest as he said, "Right here."
Both fear and realization filled Noin's eyes as she straightened in her seat. She kept her concern masked as she spoke reassuringly, "Go on. Is there anything else?"
Not taking a moment to hesitate, Duo nodded as he replied, "I feel safest around him." Flinching slightly, he added quickly, "Not that I don't feel safe when you and Dad are around, it's just a different kind of safe that I can't explain."
With a reassuring smile, Noin nodded, "I understand." She wrapped her arms around her waist and asked, "Do you feel any... attraction towards Heero?" The cat-eared boy bit his lip and he seemed to recoil, his ears dropping again as a small whimper escaped his throat. Her eyes widening, Noin gasped and whispered, "Oh, Duo."
Quickly, the young woman closed the distance between them as she wrapped the trembling braided youth in her arms. Another whimper was muffled against her shoulder as she rocked her 'son.' It was tearing her apart to think of how terribly lonely the cat-tailed boy must have felt all this time. As many people cared for him, he knew of the others things that he was missing out on in a deeper relationship with another person.
Finally, Duo sniffed as he pulled back enough to lift his tear-streaked face up to face her. "Do you think I'm horrible for being like this? It's bad enough that I'm enough of a freak considering how I look."
In a firm voice, the young woman told him, "First off, I don't ever want to hear you call yourself that. You are nothing of the sort."
When Duo nodded timidly, it took a lot for Noin to swallow the lump that filled in her throat before she smiled sadly, "Of course I don't think that you're horrible, Duo. These sorts of things you just cannot help." She placed a gentle kiss on the youth's head and said quietly, "You're still my son as far as I'm concerned."
A small smile slowly spread across Duo's face as he wipes at the wet trails on his cheeks. "Thanks, mom," he whispered.
The boy's smile faded again and he commented, "At first, I thought that Heero was right in saying that the love that I thought I had for him was just friendship, but over time things changed. The times that I would see you and Dad hugging or kissing, I kept thinking how much I want the same thing with him. I just don't know what to do about this, if I can do anything about it."
With a small laugh, the braided teenager shrugged, "It took me so long to know what I was feeling. I don't know how to try to make out how he feels."
Noin's smile returned as she began, "Well, one thing at a time." Glancing at the clock, she looked back to the youth beside her.
As she gently ran a hand over his braided head, the young maid suggested, "Why don't you go clean yourself up? Heero should be back home before long. He'll be worried if he sees that you've been crying."
Sniffing one last time, Duo nodded, "Okay." Before rising to his feet, he gently pecked his 'mother's' cheek and whispered, "Thanks, Mom."
As Duo stepped from the room to go upstairs to one of the bathrooms, Zechs entered the living room in time to catch the red-eyed boy as he stepped out. Turning his concerned face to his lover, the tall man asked quietly, "What's wrong?"
Noin gestured for him to sit beside her. When Zechs sat close to her, she frowned and sighed deeply, "We have a bit of a problem."
* * * * * *
At the ringing of the bell announcing the end of the school year's final session, Heero was one of the first students to rise from their seat and leave the classroom. Throughout the building, loud shouts and cheers of excitement for the start of the summer break filled the air, as students ran through the halls to announce their freedom for the next three months.
While most students would take up part time jobs and spend their time going on vacations, Heero and his friends knew that their summer would be spent in continued preparation for their careers. It was the same every year, so how could he- or the others- complain? Besides, this was what their parents wanted for them.
It had taken a few blocks for his friends to finally catch up to him as they called his name to catch his ever-wandering attention. As they walked back home together, Heero only partly listened to some of the conversations between the others, most regarding the fact that they were high school seniors now and what they would be doing over the next few weeks.
Only when his name came up did Heero pay full attention to his friends. Both Quatre and Relena had mentioned how different the Japanese boy had been acting the last few weeks. Trowa and Wufei had been quick to voice their agreement.
When the blonde Arab had asked Heero who the special someone was, Heero turned to him with wide, shocked eyes, wondering where that comment had come from. At the surprise on his friend's face, Quatre was quick to take the statement back, saying that he guessed he picked up on the 'signs' wrong.
Most of the comments about Heero's behavior rolled off his back. However, he did not admit to his friends the reason why he was so anxious to get home.
Over the last couple of weeks, the unruly-haired youth had been bogged down between his mother's assignments and preparing for his final exams. Through all of it, Duo had been extremely patient and understanding when it came to how little time they had to spend together.
Now that Duo was well again, Heero was looking forward to making good on his promise to spend the remainder of the day with him. The last day of school just seemed to drag on for an eternity as he waited for that last bell.
Throughout the last sessions regarding what they should expect as seniors the following year, the Japanese teenager did what he always did when he was bored in class, he drew in his notebook. Looking back on that now, he was slightly startled to recall that most of those drawings involved his braided friend.
* * * * * *
As he stepped into the Yuy household, Heero smiled at the braided boy sitting on the couch, his tail waving in the air happily. Quickly, the grinning youth all but leapt from the couch to hug him tightly in his usual greeting. With a deep chuckle, the Japanese boy returned the embrace as he greeted, "Hey, Duo."
When he pulled back, Duo continued to smile brightly as he asked, "How was your last day of school?"
Leading the way upstairs, Heero answered with a shrug, "Pretty dull. It wasn't anything more than members of the school board telling us what to expect next year, so we got to hear them all say the same thing over several times."
Duo chuckled, "Sounds great." At that statement, Heero laughed. He forgot that for his best friend, so many things that he would consider menial, would have been a joy to experience.
As they stepped into the room, Heero began unbuttoning his white school blouse. Both he and Duo froze at the sound of the fax machine coming to life. "Oh, not today," the Japanese boy sighed quietly as several pages began to print out. Duo's cat ears drooped as more and more pages began to pile atop each other. This was supposed to be their first whole day together in weeks.
When the fax finally stopped, there was a considerable stack of reports waiting. Heero took up the pile, turning up the first page to read his mother's memo...
'Heero, these files are to be scanned, recreated for our records and filed before tomorrow night. I will be sending more reports then to have you cross reference what is here for any inconsistency.'
His mother never did have the habit of writing down anything further than her requests, so he wasn't disappointed by the lack of 'I miss you' or 'I love you' in the memo.
Quickly glancing through the stack of papers, Heero thought aloud, "This is pretty detailed, so it's going to take me a while to get through all of this." He looked up to meet the saddened face of his best friend. A smile slowly crept on the Japanese student's face and he shrugged, "But it can wait until tomorrow."
With a sharp gasp, Duo's violet eyes widened. "Y-you mean it?" he asked quietly. "But your mother-"
"Said to have this finished by tomorrow night," Heero finished for him. "This will take a few hours in the morning, so but I'll have it finished in time. I made you a promise for being so patient these last few weeks, and I intend to keep it."
The brilliant smile that he was rewarded with was enough for Heero to not have the slightest regret in his decision. Duo wrapped his arms tightly around his friend tightly as he exclaimed, "Thank you, Heero!"
Returning the embrace, the other boy grinned, "No thinks needed." When they pulled back, he asked, "So what do you want to do today?"
Only taking a moment to consider, Duo grinned and replied, "We have those bikes that Noin and Zechs got us while I was recovering. Why don't we use those and ride around for a while?"
Since he only had a chance to ride a bike on a couple of occasions in his life, the idea was more than appealing to Heero, so he nodded his approval, "All right. Maybe we can go out to dinner and see a movie or come up with something later, too. I'm sure it'd be a nice change for Noin and Zechs to have the house to themselves for a while."
More than happy with the plan, Duo agreed, "Sounds good to me. As long as we're still out after dark, whatever we do is fine. I did already have something else in mind that I wanted to do tonight."
Raising an eyebrow, Heero finished undoing the buttons on his blouse and asked, "And what would that be?"
With a mischievous grin, Duo stated, "That's going to be a surprise." At the look of uncertainty on his friend's face, he laughed, "You trust me, don't you."
Heero let his little act of worry go and he chuckled deeply, "Of course I do."
"Good," the braided teenager cheered. "Then finish getting ready and I'll meet you downstairs." As he dashed out of the room, he picked up one of his baseball caps and closed the door behind him. Shaking his head in amusement, Heero removed his shirt and moved to his closet to finish changing.
* * * * * *
Danielle was working at her laptop in effort to keep up with her ongoing cases when she looked over some of the reports that she had been searching through. Humming to herself in thought, she searched for the one document that could be the deciding factor in her present armed robbery and homicide trial.
After looking through the file that she knew had the missing paper and not recovering it, Danielle's cobalt eyes widened. One of the most vital pieces was missing. Before allowing herself to panic, she mentally thought places where the lab results of the blood tests could have gone.
Recalling that she had her assistant send out several reports to Heero earlier that day, the successful head of the Yuy legal firm hoped that perhaps she had accidentally passed on the wrong file. Since her assistant was off on another assignment the next few days, and was the only person in possession of those original documents, there was only one other person to call in hopes that they had the test results copy.
Quickly, the red-haired woman pulled out her portable vid phone and dialed her house. After the second ring, Noin's image appeared. The young main smiled, "Hello, Mrs. Yuy. I hope that your business trip is going well."
"Thank you, Noin," Danielle replied in a rush. "Could you please put Heero on the 'phone? I need to speak to him right away."
A flash of fear passed the other woman's face while she forced a smile. "Oh, I am sorry, Madam,' Noin began. "Heero is not available at the moment. Something had come up and he left a while ago. He should be back later this evening."
With a pinched look, Danielle stated, "I send him a large project to take care of for me. He should be working on it now." Her blue eyes widened as she asked, "He's not facing an emergency, is he? He's never been one to put off a project that I send him."
"No, there is no emergency, just something that he needed to take care of. And Heero did mention that assignment," Noin commented quickly in her attempt to cover for the teenager. "He promised that it will take care first thing tomorrow and it will be finished by the time you need it."
Finding relief in that, Danielle nodded, "Very well. I don't think he ever has missed a deadline, so whatever came up must have been important. I just hope these sudden disturbances do not become a regular occurrence. That child of mine has a great deal of responsibility falling on his shoulders and cannot afford to be distracted."
Noin smiled and replied, "Of course, Madam. I do not believe that you have a thing to worry about when it comes to Heero and how he'll handle his responsibility. He never was one to let you down." She purposely stated the last comment slowly, wishing at that moment that she had the courage to knock some sense into the redheaded woman for even thinking otherwise.
"You're right," Danielle said at last. "When Heero gets home tonight, could you please tell him to contact me as soon as possible? It's very important."
With a firm nod, Noin reassured her, "Of course, Madam. I will give him the message as soon as he returns."
Giving her a small smile of relief, the head of the household replied sincerely, "Thank you for your help, Noin. I will see you in a few days."
Once the line was disconnected and the screen of the vid phone went blank, Noin shouted in frustration, "God, that woman! She has absolutely no right-!" A gentle hand fell on her shoulder, causing her to gasp sharply in mid-sentence. Spinning, she looked up to her lover.
Zechs grinned in understanding, speaking softly, "Breathe." When the shoulders of the young maid fell as she sighed deeply, the tall man squeezed her tightly. "I know it hurts that we know her own son better than she ever will, but as you told Duo earlier today, these sorts of things cannot be helped."
Giving him a mock-glare, Noin huffed, "I hate it when you throw my own brilliant words back at me to make a point." Zechs laughed when she half-heartedly hit him in the arm.
* * * * * *
The sun had set a little more than a half-hour before Heero and Duo left the ice cream parlor. It had been a whole day of activities and by this time, both teenagers were beginning to wind down. Taking to their bikes, the pair began to head back though the large suburb. "So what is this surprise you had in store?" Heero asked as he pulled up to ride beside his friend.
Smiling over to him, Duo answered, "We have to go to the park, first. That's the best place for it."
Heero tilted his head a bit as he inquired, "What is there to do in the park after dark? You're not planning on trying to sled down the hills on grass, are you?"
The braided boy laughed and shook his head, "No. It's nothing like that. I only got a chance to do this once before you saved me and I've been anxious to do it again." Now completely confused, Heero silently thought to himself what his friend could possible have been looking forward to so much.
When they arrived to the large park a short later while, Duo led the way to the center of the grounds. While the edges and walkways of the park- which was a nearly two-mile circumference in the center of the city- were well lit with street lights, the middle of the park had the least amount of light.
Following Duo's lead when the braided boy stopped his bike, Heero dismounted when his friend did. Turning to face the boy beside him, Duo placed a finger over his mouth to signal that they needed to stay quiet. Carefully leaning their bikes against one of the large trees, the two boys continued to walk towards center of the park.
Just when he was about to ask his friend what they were doing, Heero paused in his footsteps, his eyes wide. Where the artificial light from the lamps ended around them, the wide circle of park that remained seemed to be glowing.
All around them, hundreds of twinkling lights lit the air from every inch of trees, leaves, grass, flowers to give off enough of a glow to see all around the otherwise pitch black surroundings. It was a breathtaking sight, giving off the sense that even at night, the very earth and everything around them came to life by this sparkling light.
As many times as he had seen fireflies on their own, Heero had never imagined the effect that they could have when hundreds of them were together. For such tiny creatures, they gave off such a brilliance it was simply amazing to him. The way that they twinkled, the hundreds of fireflies made the same effect that looking up to a star-filled sky would.
For the longest time, Heero just stood frozen in awe. He turned to gaze on the boy beside him. Duo had the most peaceful smile on his face. He continued to gaze on their glowing surroundings as he whispered, "Isn't it beautiful?"
Heero felt a smile tug at his own lips as he continued to watch the braided teenager. When he remembered to breathe, he whispered back, "Yea." Slowly, he turned back to gaze on their own secluded circle in the world.
As they stood there, time seemed to stand still as Heero considered how many wonderful things like this he would never have had the chance to experience, had it not been for Duo. For years, he had only heard of so many of the things he now had the chance to experience, never really knowing what he had been missing out on. Over the last five months, he had seen and done more than his sixteen years combined.
Suddenly, Heero realized that at some point, he had taken hold of Duo's hand. It seemed as though his friend had just noticed the situation as well as he turned his head to gaze at him with a surprised look. When their gazes met, Heero lost himself in the violet eyes watching him as they reflected the twinkling light around them.
Biting his lip, the Japanese teenager slowly raised his free hand to gently caress the startled boy's cheek. Closing his eyes, Duo leaned into the touch, purring deeply. Suddenly, Heero couldn't help but think that perhaps his friends were right in thinking that there was a 'special someone' in his life after all.
Carefully leaning in, Heero closed his own eyes as he whispered, "Duo..." When their lips touched, the braided boy's violet eyes snapped open widely. It only took a moment for him to return the kiss as the two boys wrapped their arms tightly around each other. It was just a simple, gentle meeting of lips for a moment.
When the kiss ended, Duo's eyes blinked open, still wide in amazement as he reached a hand up to touch his lips. "Wow," was all he could manage to whisper breathlessly.
Nervously, Heero smiled, "That's just what I was thinking." In the light of the twinkling fireflies, he squinted and asked, "Are you blushing?"
A brighter red colored Duo's cheeks and he answered with a shy grin, "Yea, but you are, too." At that, Heero's face turned a matching shade of embarrassment. Biting his lip, Duo hesitated before whispering, "Heero, I... I was hoping...."
Heero took a deep breath and nodded, "I have, too. I just didn't realize it until tonight." A hint of concern flashed across his face and he commented, "We just have to be careful about this."
Nodding in understanding, Duo smiled, "No problem. As long as we get to kiss like this whenever we get the chance, I'll be more than happy." Heero laughed quietly before pulling his friend tighter into his arms again.
As their kiss deepened, Duo's tail crept out from under his long T-shirt to wrap around the other teenager's waist. All around, hundreds of fireflies took to the air to hover around the pair like bright, twinkling stars.
TBC...
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