The Wedding Date Part 6
They arrived at the Peacecraft estate long before they were able to agree on a plan, and Heero resigned himself to "winging it," and hoping no one asked any personal questions. He was quite sure he'd have no idea what Duo's favorite food or color was, though the braided man had pried both out of him.
When they pulled up to the stone walkway, Heero climbed out of the limo first, and extended a hand for Duo, who played it up perfectly, grasping the proffered hand and stepping out beside him.
"Heero!" came a squeal of delight, and a petite blond woman came running down the walkway to throw herself into his arms. "You came!"
He grimaced, trying to disentangle himself, and finally succeeded in pushing Relena back to arm's length. "Obviously," he drawled rather snidely. "You wouldn't have sent the limo to the airport otherwise."
"Was your flight okay? And the limo ride -- was it satisfactory?"
"Yes and yes," Heero told her impatiently.
But Duo chose that moment to interrupt, politely tapping Relena on the shoulder, and giving a gracious bow. "Princess Relena? I don't believe we've met." He held out a hand. "Duo Maxwell. I'm Heero's date."
Relena's eyes went wide. "D-date?"
Duo nodded.
"B-but, you -- you're m-male!"
A patient smile settled on the full lips. "Yes, I am. Did you not know Heero's gay? I'd think you'd have figured it out when he didn't date a knockout like you back in high school."
She darted a glance back and forth between them. "He -- told you about me?"
"Well, of course. You're the 'lovely blonde princess' who had a bit of a crush on him back then, and if he'd been into girls, he'd have snapped you up in a heartbeat."
Heero dared a vicious glare at Duo, who he felt was laying it on far too thick. "Duo, let's not bore Relena with statements of the obvious. 'Lena? Could you have someone show us to our room?"
"Why -- of course --" She still had a befuddled look on her face as she gestured the butler to escort her guests to their room.
When they arrived at their designated room and the butler showed them in, Duo whistled softly between his teeth. "Whoa -- nice digs! And look -- we even have our own balcony!"
He walked over and plopped down on the edge of the big, canopied bed, bouncing experimentally. "Plush," he concluded, winking slyly at Heero as he showed the butler where to put down their bags.
It wasn't until the attendant was gone that Heero turned a glare towards his companion. "You don't need to play it up quite so much, Duo," he said curtly. "Simply accompanying me to the wedding is more than sufficient."
Duo flopped back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Just goes to show you know nothing about an escort service," he pointed out. "I'm supposed to make you look good -- be charming and sociable and well-mannered enough to impress whoever you're trying to impress by hiring a professional escort."
"I didn't hire you," Heero reminded him, putting his suitcase on the other side of the bed and taking out his suit so he could hang it up and give the wrinkles time to straighten.
"Yes, but someone did," Duo reminded him. "And when she called our service, she was trying to provide the best possible date for you to take to this shindig."
"The best possible date wouldn't make suggestive comments in front of the hired help," came the curt retort. "He'd show some restraint and decorum."
"People are gonna assume we're sleeping together no matter how I act," Duo noted, wriggling into a more comfortable position on the thick comforter. "May as well give 'em a bit of a show."
"No." Heero walked over so that he was standing towering over the braided man. "From now on, you just stand beside me and look nice. Got it?"
Duo blinked up at him. "I can't even talk?" he demanded.
"You have to talk," Heero admitted. "Obviously, if someone addresses you, you'll need to answer. But keep it short and sweet and refrain from making references to our sleeping arrangements. Is that clear?"
"Crystal." Duo scowled up at him. "Speaking of which -- who gets the couch and who gets the bed? We gonna flip for it?"
Heero frowned back. "No. Since you aren't really here of your own free will, I'll take the couch. It's the least I can do -- as long as you refrain from embarrassing me any further."
"Embarrassing you?" Duo demanded. "How in Hell have I embarrassed you?"
"Commenting on the bed in front of the butler," Heero replied. "Telling Relena I'd have dated her back in high school if I weren't gay --"
"Well, you probably would have."
"No, I wouldn't. She's pushy, annoying, clingy, and superficial. I didn't want anything to do with her then, nor do I now, regardless of my sexual orientation."
Duo eyed him quizzically. "You seriously think you're gay?"
"I told you -- I'm -- not sure any more," Heero said grudgingly. "I mean -- I am straight. I just --"
"-- have doubts?"
Heero scowled, not liking the turn of the conversation. "I don't have doubts about my sexuality," he asserted. "But -- as I said, I didn't hate that kiss as much as I should have."
"Wanna try it again?" Duo teased, his lips curving in a sensuous smirk.
"No!" Heero turned sharply away, throwing his hands up in surrender. "Just drop it, Maxwell. Be satisfied that we can pull off the 'couples' act for a weekend, thereby giving you a place to sleep besides the airport lounge -- and understand that once this is over, we'll have no further reason to debate my sexuality at all!"
"Gotcha," Duo sighed, nestling deeper into the blankets. "Have I got time for a little nap? I hardly slept on the flight over here --"
"Hardly slept --?" Heero scoffed. "You snored in my ear for hours!"
"Off and on," Duo conceded. "But I kept waking up when someone was drooling all over my shoulder --"
Heero felt a guilty blush creep up his cheeks, recalling waking up mostly on Duo's side of the seat.
"Fine. Go ahead. I'm going to take a shower and maybe head downstairs and deal with the fallout from our arrival," Heero told him. "Perhaps without you there, I can come up with a plausible enough story of our meeting to fool Relena -- and Milliardo if I'm really, really lucky."
"I still say we tell 'em we met on the internet. It's reasonable."
"Except that anyone who knows me knows I'd never stoop to dating via the internet --"
"Well la de da for you," muttered the brunette. "Aren't you just too good for the rest of the world?"
"I have standards."
"Mm-hm," came a drowsy response, as Duo settled down for his nap. "G'd fer you." He was snoring before Heero had finished laying out clean clothes and was headed for the bathroom.
The dark-haired man couldn't help a rueful smirk as he saw that there was, indeed, a Jacuzzi in one corner of the lavish bathroom. And while he limited himself to a quick, invigorating shower, he couldn't restrain a wistful glance at the tub, thinking how nice a hot soak would feel to his travel-weary muscles.
Duo would probably use it when he woke up. At least, everything Heero knew of him suggested he would. And Heero prided himself on being a quick judge of character. In his business of financial negotiations, he had to have an innate ability to size up his opponents and seek out their weaknesses.
Why, then, was it so difficult to unravel the mystery of Duo Maxwell?
The man was charming; there was no doubt of that. And he was a bit irreverent, as Heero had pointed out earlier.
But he was also perceptive enough to have noticed Heero's discomfort at flying and help him calm himself for the landing. And he'd seemed impressed by Heero's refusal to let their elderly chauffeur lift the suitcases.
And why, Heero wondered, did he even care?
Was it because of one kiss? One simple, Earth-shattering kiss. A kiss that had shaken to its very foundation, Heero's belief in his own heterosexuality.
Before his mind could wander any further into that maze of thoughts, Heero finished his shower and dried off and dressed, keeping his attention firmly focused on the simple, familiar actions.
He slipped out of the bathroom in a small cloud of steam, and walked quickly past his slumbering companion and out the door.
A butler stood at the head of the stairs, ready to offer assistance, and Heero asked for directions to the parlor, where he expected that Relena would be waiting to greet him.
Instead, he walked in to find not only Relena, but several other people he recognized from back in prep school, as well as Milliardo and a dark-haired stranger.
"Heero!" Milliardo crossed the room in a couple of quick strides and held out a hand, which Heero took, only to find himself pulled into a brief hug. "Glad you could make it!"
"I'm happy to be here," Heero lied, stepping back and studying the regal features of his childhood friend. He managed a sincere smile then, pleased by what he saw. "You look great. Happy."
"I am," Milliardo said with a broad grin. "And I owe it all to Wufei here."
Heero turned his gaze to the oriental-looking man beside Mill, suddenly realizing that his old friend had an arm looped around the slender waist. He darted a questioning look at Mill.
"My fiancé," Milliardo added with a nod of affirmation. "Whom I told you about when we discussed your becoming my groomsman?"
Heero's jaw dropped, as he momentarily lost the power of speech.
Milliardo was gay? Since when?
Heero thought back desperately to their brief phone conversation, trying to recall whether the word "male" had been bandied about at all.
"I -- I'm --" He found himself floundering, lost for words, and then instinct kicked in and he was able to add. "Pleased to meet you." He held out a hand, and Mill's companion took it with a smirk that suggested he was used to the stunned reaction.
"Likewise," he said politely. "Mill's told me you're a good friend. It's nice to finally meet in person."
"Speaking of meetings --" Milliardo spoke up, blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "When are we going to meet your significant other, Heero? Relena said he was quite striking."
Again Heero found himself at a loss. Despite the coaching back in the limo, he really hadn't prepared himself to answer questions about Duo and himself. Here he was suddenly "coming out" to the world, and it was all a bald-faced lie. He didn't know what to say.
"Heero?"
He fell back on auto-pilot again, letting his natural reticence take over and keep his answers short and simple. "Hn?"
"Care to fill us in?" Mill urged. "Last I knew, you weren't gay."
"Neither were you," Heero pointed out.
"Touche," Mill chuckled. "Apparently we both were late bloomers, eh?"
"I -- guess so."
Milliardo gave Heero a long once-over sort of look. "Pity we didn't know about this back in prep school, eh? We could have been great together."
Heero blushed crimson at the innuendo, relieved that Duo wasn't there to witness his cluelessness about his "old friend." And when Relena cut in, catching his arm and tugging him away from Milliardo, he wanted to hug her with gratitudeˇfor a split-second anyway.
"Don't monopolize the latest guest, Mill," she scolded lightly. "I want to show Heero around the grounds."
Crap! The last thing Heero wanted was to be alone with Relena; to have to fend off her advances without blatantly insulting her.
TBC...
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