The Wedding Date Part 8
Heero was struggling with his tie when Duo stepped out of the bathroom with his still-damp hair combed and braided and a towel around his waist.
"What're you wearing, Yuy?" asked the braided man without preamble. Duo paused and took a long look. "Oh, nice. You look good in dark grey." He went over to his suitcase and pulled out a dark pair of slacks and a matching shirt. "Oh, this won't do."
"Do for what?" Heero asked blankly.
Duo shot him a glance and rolled his eyes. "Couples are supposed to match," he said as if it should be common knowledge. "If you wear grey, I should try to contrast and complement your attire."
Heero gave a bemused smirk. "You already complimented it."
"Har, har." Duo rummaged through his carry-on bag again, and withdrew a pair of pants that nearly matched Heero's, and a shirt that matched his dark blue eyes. "Hm. Better." He shook them out and ran a hand over the permanent press fabric to smooth a few wrinkles. "Do I have time to iron them?"
"Not really. But when you put them on, the wrinkles should relax on their own, don't you think?"
Duo eyed him warily. "For a not-gay guy, you sure know a lot about fabric," he teased.
"I'm a business executive," Heero snipped back. "I have to dress immaculately for the power meetings I attend."
Duo held up his hands in surrender. "Okay! Point taken. I retract my comment. You are totally manly and un-gay in all respects."
Heero shook his head. "Do you ever take things seriously?"
Duo paused in the act of pulling on a clean pair of briefs under his towel. "Of course I do -- when it's called for."
"Well, I'm calling for it," Heero said with a bit of exasperation creeping into his voice. "Please don't be teasing and irreverent around Relena tonight. It's bad enough I'm deceiving her into thinking I'm taken. I don't want you insulting her, or being patronizing."
Duo turned to face him, hands on his hips. "I may be a bit of a joker," he admitted. "But I'm never cruel, Yuy. Ever." His eyes flashed with emotion. "I'll be nothing but gracious to Relena, and her family. And I sure as hell wouldn't rub her face in the fact that she can't have you."
"Oh." Heero couldn't quite maintain eye contact, and felt yet another blush of shame on his cheeks. "Well, thank you."
He heard a snort of amusement, and looked up in time to see Duo pulling a pair of tailor-fitted slacks over his boxer-clad rear end, and fastening them. "You've gotta get over yourself, Heero. Maybe it was just the angle I was standing at, but Relena didn't seem to be totally broken up that you had someone with you."
"Well of course she wouldn't show it in public," Heero pointed out. "She's a princess, for heaven's sake. She's got her pride."
"Not enough pride not to follow you to college --"
"This isn't college," came the scowling response. "It's her home, and Mill's. And she's got probably fifty or more guests staying here for the weekend. She's certainly not going to fall apart in front of them."
"-- or maybe at all --"
"She's tried to get me alone twice already," Heero told the other man. "I barely managed to avoid it."
"What, exactly, are you avoiding?" Duo asked, throwing on his shirt and buttoning up the front.
Her advances. Tears. A temper tantrum. I don't know!" Heero snapped in frustration.
"Maybe she just wants to talk about old times -- catch up on the news -- ask when and how you found out you were gay --"
Heero had a momentary urge to walk over and wipe the teasing little grin off Duo's face.
"That's what I mean about being irreverent!" he accused. "Don't make comments like that in front of Relena!"
"I won't," Duo insisted. "You're the one I'm baiting here. I know better than to do it to the little princess."
Heero gave him a rather wounded look. "Baiting me? Is that really necessary?"
Duo sobered at once, walking over and reaching for the front of Heero's shirt. But instead of grabbing it, he took hold of the tie, carefully adjusting the knot that the other man hadn't quite finished, and then smoothing it down the front of the shirt. "Like I said before -- sometimes I'm an ass, Yuy." Duo looked him squarely in the eyes. "I'll try to lay off teasing you. But sometimes you seem so uptight, you just scream for a bit of teasing -- to get you to loosen up."
"I know how to loosen up," Heero said defensively, reaching to straighten his tie, and accidentally brushing his hand over Duo's.
"If only --" Duo sighed, giving a small, mysterious smile, and then turning back to his suitcase to fish for a tie and finish dressing. "We'll need to hang our stuff for the next couple of days," he said conversationally, as he set aside a noticeably-rumpled suit coat. "Maybe I could snag an iron from the laundry room." He glanced over his shoulder. "They have a laundry room here, right? They must --"
Heero smiled patiently. "Of course. But more likely a maid will see the clothes hanging up while we're out and about, and take care of it for us."
Duo grinned at him. "Ya gotta love living like royalty, huh? Even for a couple of days."
"I guess you do," Heero admitted, walking to the door and holding it open. "Ready to go meet the Prince and his consort?" he said with a teasing grin of his own.
"I suppose I am," Duo replied, preceding him out.
As they walked down the long, carpeted hallway, Heero held out an arm for Duo, just as he would if his date were a woman, and Duo took it without hesitation, playing his part with ease.
"I should probably warn you before we get down there -- Milliardo's fiancé is male," Heero said quietly.
"No shi--? Uh. No kidding?"
Heero pursed his lips to keep from smiling. "No kidding. His name is Chang Wufei, a Chinese gentleman Mill met while touring the Orient." Now that he was more relaxed, he could recall some of those details Milliardo had mentioned back when they spoke on the phone, though why the word "gentleman" had slipped his mind, was still a mystery. Or had Mill left it out on purpose? He tended to have a perverse sense of humor; maybe he'd been hoping for the shocked reaction he gotĄ
"Wow. What's he look like?" Duo asked, pulling Heero out of his rambling thoughts.
"Dark hair and eyes -- a bit exotic. He's a scholar, from what I heard earlier."
"He sounds lovely."
"I'm not sure I'm much of a judge of male beauty," Heero said thoughtfully. "But he was definitely eye-catching."
Almost as eye-catching as the indigo-eyed man with the stunning chestnut braid.
Heero blinked, realizing that in addition to the rush of lust he'd felt when kissing Duo, there was a definite lingering attraction.
Apparently he was gay, after all -- or at least headed that way.
By this time they'd reached the dining room, and Heero held the door for Duo, who stepped inside and looked around wide-eyed at the glittering chandeliers and gleaming fixtures. "Wow -- this is some place."
"Indeed," came an amused, cultured voice.
Milliardo wore a small smile as he approached them, but it faded the instant he and Duo made eye contact.
"Zechs?" Duo blurted in obvious shock.
Milliardo flinched, and stepped quickly in, taking a firm grip on Duo's upper arm. "It's Milliardo Peacecraft here," he said in a tense undertone. "Come with me."
He glanced at Heero, who was watching in complete confusion, and then looked the other way, towards Relena. "Be right back, sister dear," he called, turning Duo around and forcefully ushering him out the door.
Wufei and Heero exchanged puzzled looks.
"What do you suppose that's all about?"
"I have no idea," Heero said with a frown. "What did Duo call him -- Zechs?"
Wufei's expression changed to a more knowing one. "I'll be right back." And he darted out on the heels of his fiancé and the braided man.
Heero almost went after them, but Silvia intercepted him before he reached the door. "Heero! How good to see you again," she gushed, holding out a hand for him to drop a polite near-kiss on.
"Likewise," he said through gritted teeth, wondering what the hell Milliardo and Duo were up to.
TBC...
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