Author: Zazu
Rating: R
Pairing: implied 2x1
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, nor do I own the characters. I have borrowed them here for some fun and creativity, and this is not for profit. I do, however, own the plot mentioned here, and any instances that you may find similar to real life events are purely a coincidence. All of the characters depicted in this story are adults.
Author's Note: For Link, about a noisy neighbour across the hall, and June, who wanted to see 'getting hit on while waiting in line'. ^___^
Anatomical Cucumbers Part 1
Why didn't he go shopping earlier, or later, instead of the middle of the day?
Right, he'd gone the gym earlier, and then Quatre had caught him for lunch. Then, he'd made plans to go to the library for the evening. The guy who'd just moved in across the hall was loud, especially on Friday nights, and Heero knew he wouldn't get work done in his own dorm.
But shopping at the busiest hours meant no buggies and no hand-held baskets. Well, there had been one, but he'd been too polite to fight over it with the young woman who'd glared up at him. Even though he'd picked it up first.
Juggling several of his groceries, he lined up and shifted about, trying to prevent the one item from falling because if it did, everything else would inevitably tumble down.
Oh God, the cucumber, it was slipping from his grasp but he had a carton of milk and...
Who the hell was touching his cucumber?
"Need a hand with that?
Heero looked up after schooling his features; the hand was helping, not taking.
"If you could just drop it on top..." he said, trailing off as he looked into blue eyes and a handsome face.
"I could hold on to it," the other man said, twirling the cucumber in his free hand before holding it.
Heero noticed his college name on the man's sweatshirt.
"Thanks," he said.
"I don't mind," the man replied. "I have a basket, actually. I don't mind holding more than your cucumber."
"It's all right," he started, but the other man was taking the carrots from him. "Really," he said, feeling the bottle of shampoo slip from underneath his arm.
"Whoops!" the man bent and caught it before it hit the ground, and Heero noticed a long braid trailing down his back. "Sorry, I didn't see that. Let me tuck that back in for you." He slipped the shampoo container back under Heero's arm, and Heero automatically tightened his arm towards his body to hold it.
"Thanks," he said.
"My name is Duo, by the way," the braided man said as he gestured for Heero to move forward in the line.
"Heero," Heero introduced himself automatically.
"Nice to meet you." Duo nudged his basket along the floor and tucked the bag of carrots under his arm. His hands played absently along the length of the cucumber and Heero looked away.
Damn man was molesting his cucumber when he actually wanted him to...
No. Stop that train of thought.
"Are you a college student?" Duo asked.
Heero nodded. "Same college as you," he said, nodding towards Duo's sweatshirt.
"Nice," Duo said. "What do you study?"
"Chemistry."
"Oh yea? I study physical chemistry. You?"
"Biochem," Heero answered.
"Ah, biology and chemistry," Duo nodded. "Unfortunately, biology is not my strong suit although I think I'm okay with anatomy." He peered at Heero. "Wait. You look familiar. Are you in my anatomy class?"
"Thursday morning class..."
"With Professor Barrows?"
Heero nodded.
"Great, man! Okay, do you want to do a study group together or something? I mean, I've been trying to study a lot of it. Anatomy I mean, and I seem to just...get confused between various things. If it weren't for my elective course I wouldn't have chosen this!"
"I think I can group study a little," Heero said. He was surprised at himself; he usually preferred to study alone in a quiet corner.
"Great! I mean, I can make things go bang and all in chem. But this anatomy stuff...I'm not slacking off, I mean. I'm studying, really hard at it. I just get distracted easily."
"Distracted?"
"Yea." Duo quirked a grin. "I think I just need someone to help me keep focused, and also to clarify some of it."
"Right," Heero said, setting his armful down on the conveyer belt. "Thanks," he said, holding his hand out for the items Duo held.
Duo handed him the carrots and then the cucumber, but he didn't let go of the latter.
"So we're on? You can come to my dorm, or we can book a study room or something."
"Sure." Heero nodded, tugging at the cucumber as the cashier began to scan his items.
"Great." Duo's hand slid along the cucumber, and he grinned before bending down to pick up his basket of items.
It didn't take long for either of them to be cashed out, and then they began the ten minute walk back to their campus. Duo managed to make some idle chatter, exchanging their phone numbers so that they could set up a time to study together, but all Heero could do was offer short replies.
His mind was occupied with watching the way Duo walked, listening to the way he spoke and trying not to look at his ass when Duo stepped in front of him so they weren't hogging the sidewalk.
Okay, the last bit was a lie. He had totally stared at Duo's ass when they came to a cross walk and had to wait, and he'd found himself standing just a step behind Duo. When he looked up, he found Duo watching him with a raised eyebrow and an amused grin, so he hurriedly looked away, stepping ahead so he couldn't be staring at Duo-sex-on-two-legs.
He wondered if he should ask Duo out to dinner, then remembered that they already had plans to study together. That would have to do for now. He nodded goodbye to Duo.
To his surprise, though, Duo headed in the same direction as he did.
"You live..."
"In that dorm," Duo said, nodding towards the building they were approaching.
"That's where I live," Heero said, surprised.
"I just moved in," Duo explained. "I didn't live on campus last year and this year I decided it was better than renting an off-campus flat."
It was certainly much more convenient, especially the single dorms they had there.
"I live on the third floor," Duo said. "I usually take the stairs."
Heero nodded slowly. "Third floor?"
"Room eleven."
Eleven? That would mean...
"I live in room twelve."
"Oh!" Duo paused. "You're the guy across the hall! I've never seen you before! Definitely nice to meet you! Being study buddies will definitely be convenient in terms of location. We can even use the study room downstairs."
Heero nodded faintly but didn't answer. How was he supposed to tell this guy that he hated his noise; had hated it for the past two weeks the guy had been on campus? He'd just been gathering his nerve to tell him to keep it down!
Duo opened his door and turned. "I hope I've been a good neighbour?" he asked, almost hopefully.
Heero opened his mouth. This was his chance to tell Duo that maybe he could keep it down?
"Of course." He heard himself say. What the hell?
Duo looked relieved. "So, see you in, say, two hours? You can just knock on my door."
"See you then."
Heero entered his own dorm and closed the door. He wondered why he'd agreed to study with a stranger, and wondered why he hadn't bluntly told Duo that he'd prefer it if noise levels were kept down.
"Duo!" There were pounding on the door across the hall and Heero winced.
"Joe! What's up man?"
"What level are you at?" Joe asked. The door closed, but Heero heard a reply and a cuss.
Okay. He could deal with this. Heero put his groceries away and sat down with his biochemistry book.
Loud laughter filtered in and he put his headphones on, turning the volume up louder than usual. He was going to have to learn to cope. After all, he hadn't taken the chance to tell Duo to keep it down.
He could only hope that there would be relative quiet when he went over to study with the braided man.
TBC...
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