Trying is all I ask of You Part 2
The week seemed to drag on, and on. It was their job to go out on missions, and Heero tried not to worry about Duo. His lover was good at what he did, and he had to believe that.
He was happy to learn that Duo was on his way home on Saturday, and would be free after his debriefing. Since he had taken Duo's car on Monday, he decided to go and pick Duo up. Leaving a message with the secretary who would pass it on to Duo, Heero went to his own office to wait, doing some research while he was there.
An hour and a half later, Duo knocked on the door and peeked in. He looked a little tired, and Heero smiled.
"Let me shut down and then I'll give you a drive home," he said.
"Sure." Duo sat down at Wufei's desk with a sigh.
"Mission successful?"
"Yea. Not without trouble, but it's done."
"Any injuries?"
"Mm," Duo hummed, his eyes closed. Heero frowned; that meant Duo had hurt himself. Hurriedly shutting down his computer, he walked over to Duo, kneeling down beside him.
"Are you okay?" he asked, setting a hand on Duo's. He was surprised with Duo hissed, pulling his hand away.
"I sprained my wrist," Duo explained. "Don't laugh, but I fell. After the mission too."
"Come on," Heero said. "Let's get you home."
"Great." Duo followed, stretching as he stood.
The ride home was quiet; Heero left Duo dozing in the car as he went to pick up some take out, knowing that any food Duo had could be spoiled and also knowing that he himself, didn't want to bother cooking.
"I hate leaving on a mission with hardly any notice," Duo muttered when they arrived at his apartment. "I think I left coffee in the machine, and my milk expired on Wednesday."
"Go take a shower," Heero said. "I'll clean up for you."
"Don't worry about it, Heero, I can get it later."
"Don't worry, just go and shower."
Duo stepped closer to Heero then, hugging his lover for a long moment. Heero rubbed Duo's back until Duo stepped away. "Okay, shower," Duo said before wandering towards his bedroom.
They spent dinner glossing over what had happened during the week that they had been away from one another, and knowing that Duo was ready for a good night's rest, Heero considered calling a cab home.
"Stay?" Duo asked softly. "I'm not much company because I'm about to pass out but..."
"I'll stay," Heero said. "I'm just going to watch the news. Then I'll join you, okay?"
"Okay," Duo agreed. Pulling Heero close, he pressed a long kiss to Heero's lips before pulling away with a sigh. "Raincheck on the rest of that, for tomorrow, please?"
Heero chuckled. "Go to bed."
"Yes sir."
An hour later, Heero crawled into bed and spooned up next to Duo. Duo stirred, settling closer to Heero before falling asleep again.
Heero's thoughts turned back to Duo's question from a week ago.
Did he want to have Duo in his arms every night? Yes, he did.
Did he want to wake up to Duo every morning? Yes, he did.
Did he mind having to change his habits a little in order to live together? No, he didn't.
But was he afraid to take this step?
Yes, he was.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm just...I'm scared, okay?" he mumbled to the sleeping Duo. "I don't want you to...live with me because I'm scared that you'll see things that you might dislike about me. And I don't want that to come between us."
He sighed, kissing Duo's shoulder and splaying his hand against Duo's chest. "I want to see you every day, every night, but...what if it doesn't work out? Then what?"
Knowing that it was pretty much useless to be talking to a sleeping Duo about the issue, Heero decided that maybe he should confess his true insecurities to Duo the next day.
Feeling relieved that Duo was back with little injury, Heero let himself unwind and followed Duo into slumber.
When he awoke the next morning, Duo was still asleep, lying on his back with his hand on his pillow above his head. A glance at the clock told Heero that he'd been asleep for almost seven hours, meaning Duo had only slept for eight hours. Leaving Duo to rest, Heero slid out of bed and went through his morning routine. Seeing that Duo's hamper was mostly full, he decided to start a load of laundry for Duo. He'd also gone through the fridge the night before, making a list of things that Duo would need. Scribbling a note for his lover, Heero picked up Duo's keys and slipped out to do the grocery shopping.
When he returned, he found that Duo was still asleep. Putting the clothes into the dryer and then putting away the groceries, he found himself drawn to the bedside again. Taking his jeans off, he set them on Duo's chair for now and crawled into bed again.
Duo stirred; Heero immediately regret his actions. Still, he settled down, and watched as Duo slowly awoke. Then, Duo turned to face him, groggy eyes barely open, but a smile in place as soon as he saw Heero.
"Hey," he croaked. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Heero answered, leaning close to press a kiss to Duo's forehead. Duo frowned.
"Is that my dryer?"
"Yea. I was up earlier and figured I'd start your laundry for you. I picked up some groceries too and I just got back."
"You didn't have to, Heero."
"It's okay. It gives you time to rest and gives me the chance to take you up on that raincheck from last night."
Duo grinned. "Let me wash up and eat, and then we can use that raincheck."
Heero watched as Duo rolled out of bed, stretching his body as he made his way to the bathroom. Then, he slid over into the warm spot left my Duo, pressing his face against Duo's pillow and breathing in the scent of his lover. Despite the sun shining in and the sounds from the dryer and the washroom, Heero knew that he could easily doze right off where he was.
In fact, he didn't realize that he'd almost done that until Duo's weight caused the mattress to dip.
"I thought eating came first before anything else?" Duo asked.
"Yes," Heero said. "Eating first."
Duo laughed, pulling him up. "Come on, then."
Heero realized then, that things seemed back to normal. Perhaps he shouldn't bring up the whole moving in together issue again?
But once they had sat down for a lunch of sandwiches, Duo brought it up. "Thanks for staying last night," he started. "I missed you this week. It felt nice to go to bed with you and wake up to see you."
Heero nudged Duo's foot with his own. "Duo..."
"I'm not trying to persuade you or anything," Duo said quickly, immediately grinning. "I mean, it'd be nice though, to have someone take care of my groceries and laundry. I should just enslave you and lock you up here...except when groceries are needed of course."
He was trying to joke about the issue, to put it behind, but Heero knew it would be unfair not to give Duo the real reason behind his hesitation.
"Duo...I want this too, but..."
"But what?" Duo asked when Heero didn't continue.
"But I'm afraid," Heero said softly, setting his sandwich down. It took a lot to admit that something scared him; he had been a Gundam Pilot, he'd been a prisoner of war, he'd been many things in his short life. But it surprised him that what scared him the most were things that were so completely unrelated.
"You're afraid of living with me?" Duo asked. "Is my mess that bad?"
"No," Heero said. "Your mess...I can deal with. I would try to cure you of it. But...what if it doesn't work out?"
"Doesn't work out?" Duo asked.
"I know you have two bedrooms and everything, but what if...you found habits about me that you hated? Or what if we just couldn't stand with living together all the time? I don't want something like that to come between what we already have, Duo, that's why I don't want to change."
Duo chewed his mouthful thoroughly before answering. "Honestly, Heero, if I found habits about you that I hated, I'd tell you. You should trust me to tell you about them. If my reactions to those habits are unreasonable, then you would let me know why you won't change that habit."
"But...take my cleaning up as an example! Isn't it unreasonable for me to ask you to organize things my way?"
"That would be a compromise," Duo said. "And I said that my organized mess is fine; it's just where it is that makes you twitch. I said that I would move them. It's not like I'd hate you for asking that of me. I know it's a bad habit and with you around I'd actually work on changing it."
"You mean my being around on Fridays and Saturdays and telling you to put things away isn't enough?"
"Not really?" Duo answered with a chuckle. Then, he became serious and looked Heero in the eye. "Heero, if you aren't comfortable with it, I will not push you to do it. If you felt that I did push you by asking you to stay last night, I apologize. But I just want you to know that...I'm confident that our relationship can survive a few trials as we learn to live together. It's not going to be a total honeymoon to start with, but I don't think we'll hate each other's guts."
"No?" Heero asked.
"Heero," Duo said, exasperated. "If you get down to it, I've lived with you for short periods of time with hardly any problems! And we've been together for so long that I'm not sure what sorts of crazy habits you've managed to hide from me!"
"I drink milk directly from the carton!" Heero blurted out. "I don't use cups so I don't have to wash them."
Duo stared at Heero. "You mean, you drink milk right out from my carton here as well?"
"Sometimes," Heero muttered, his cheeks warm as he confessed.
Duo laughed. "So what?" he asked. "It'd...be like an indirect kiss. Because I do the same damn thing."
Heero stared at Duo in return. "You...do? Even at my place?"
"When you aren't looking," Duo confessed. "So we either get a bigger carton, or two cartons and write our names on it, although I don't guarantee that I won't drink from yours anyway. Problem solved! See, it isn't all that hard."
Heero studied his sandwich for a long moment. "Can we...aim just to try?" he asked. "I don't have to sign to continue my lease for another three weeks. Can I...live here for three weeks and see how it is first?"
"We won't get through everything in three weeks," Duo warned. "But if you want to try for three weeks...I don't mind," he said with a somewhat forced smile. Deep down, Duo knew that if, at the end of the three weeks, Heero decided not to move in, he'd find it even harder to accept the rejection. But still, it was only fair to try.
Heero smiled. "I'd like that. So...help me pack what I need?"
Duo stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. "Let's go!"
Since Heero already had a set of toiletries at Duo's, packing was a matter of gathering clothes, perishable foods and random knick knacks such as music and books for the time being. Heero tried to stop Duo from helping due to his sprained wrist, but Duo insisted that he was right-handed and could do things with one hand, so Heero was forced to leave him be.
By early evening, Heero had pretty much settled into Duo's apartment, and the both of them curled up on the couch to watch some television. It didn't look like Heero lived in the apartment because of a lack of his décor, but they decided to hold off on that for now. They would pretend that it was a new place and that they hadn't gotten around to decorating just yet. Heero's car was parked in the visitor's area and would be for the time being; a brief word with the apartment manager allowed for it.
They decided that Heero would cook as he had prepared foods for most of the day already and Duo would take care of food for the next day, since he had the day off of work. So Heero made a simple stir fry for dinner; he'd brought his rice-cooker over to use, and they settled down to watch a movie that they had rented from the video store downstairs.
It was about halfway through the movie that Duo pointedly turned his attention from the screen to Heero.
"Can I use that raincheck now?" he asked.
"Now?" Heero asked, immediately distracted from the movie.
"It's your first day of moving in," Duo said. "And we haven't had any mind-blowing sex in a week. I say we get to it now."
Heero gave Duo his answer with his actions, immediately leaning over to kiss Duo and pushing him down onto the couch.
Shortly after, Duo led Heero into the bedroom, stripping Heero of his clothes and letting Heero do the same to him.
"Watch your wrist," Heero mumbled against Duo's lips as he leaned over his lover.
"I will," Duo assured him, setting his wrist aside so he wouldn't use it. He trailed his right hand down Heero's arm, tracing muscles as he enjoyed Heero's kiss.
Heero began to trail his kisses a little lower, but he slipped his fingers into Duo's mouth, letting Duo wet them thoroughly. Just as he reached Duo's arousal, he removed his fingers. Taking the end of Duo's cock into his mouth, he licked the slit as he positioned his finger. Easing it in, he followed the pace by lowering his mouth over Duo's erection until his finger was full seated and his nose was buried in chestnut curls.
Duo moaned as Heero began to stretch him while distracting him with his mouth. His hands formed fists, his sprained wrist immediately protesting, forcing him to relax the hand.
Before long, Heero was looming over him, hooking his legs onto his arms and spreading him wide.
"Okay?" Heero asked, his cock bumping against Duo's flexing entrance.
Duo nodded. "Now," he groaned, watching Heero through half-lidded eyes.
Heero eased himself into Duo, biting back a moan as he sank in to the hilt. Releasing Duo's legs so that they could wrap around his waist, he leaned down to kiss Duo briefly. When Duo's legs tightened around him, Heero began to move.
Erotic sounds echoed in the room as they moved together; Heero sat back on his heels and set one hand on Duo's waist, the other toying with erect nipples. Duo was using his legs around Heero's waist as leverage and he met Heero thrust for thrust.
"Harder," he grunted, and Heero complied, moving his other hand from Duo's chest down to grip his hip.
"Touch yourself," Heero said. When Duo began to toy with his own nipples, Heero watched him for a moment before reaching and guiding Duo's hand to the erection bobbing between them. Duo smeared the precum over the head of his own cock and began to stroke himself slowly, quickly picking up rhythm to meet the pace of Heero's thrust.
Suddenly, Heero leaned down and rolled to his side and back, bringing Duo up above him. Familiar with this motion, Duo didn't hesitate to begin riding Heero, his right hand still stroking himself.
When Heero's finger began to tease just the head of his cock, Duo could feel the intense want coiling within his belly.
"Heero, I..."
"Duo...!"
Heero came first, pushing Duo down as he pushed upwards, releasing himself deep within Duo. Duo's hand continued to stroke himself, and he came, spilling his seed over Heero's chest, belly and his own groin.
They were both panting, and then Duo finally forced himself to move. Cleaning up in the bathroom, they curled up again on the bed, Duo's head pillowed on Heero's shoulder.
"Heero?"
"Hm?"
"Can we work the whole becoming sex maniacs thing into this moving in trial thing?" Duo asked with a yawn.
Heero chuckled, kissing Duo's head. "I don't think you have a choice, Duo," he admitted. "Because I'll be seeing you all the time, sharing a bed with you all the time, and keeping my hands to myself will be hard."
"I'm not going to encourage you to do that," Duo said. "Touch me all you want, so long as I can touch back."
"Go to sleep," Heero laughed. "We'll need energy if we're going to follow through with that."
Duo chuckled. "Goodnight, Heero."
"Goodnight."
~*~
As they both thought, moving in together was not a honeymoon. With only three weeks for their trial, Heero and Duo knew better than to mince their words and hide their reactions.
Duo teased Heero about being anal with the cleaning; Heero asked how often Duo needed to unclog his pipes with the amount of hair he left around instead of cleaning it up.
Heero joked about Duo leaving the music on when he was cooking, wondering about Duo's safety when the music filled the apartment. He decided to test the theory by coming home early in an attempt to sneak up on Duo; Duo proved himself capable of being aware of his surroundings by standing behind the door and surprising Heero with a hug and a kiss.
Of course, Heero didn't have to know that Duo received a call every time someone parked in the visitor's parking spot with a registration under his apartment.
They bickered about clothing being left around by Duo, about Heero putting some of Duo's things away without letting him know about it. They argued over where to put certain foods in certain areas of the fridge or the freezer; Heero liked shelves and boxes separating foods, Duo simply liked food accessible.
Even when they went grocery shopping they had to coordinate their purchases so that they would all fit into the fridge and subsequently meet both Heero's criteria for being healthy and Duo's need to appease his own sweet tooth.
Of course, Heero agreed to keeping ice cream in the fridge all the time, at least two flavours, when Duo straddled him on the couch and alternated kissing him and eating from his bowl of the sweet, cold treat, all the while slowly grinding their clothed arousals together until Heero couldn't take it any more.
They bought two containers of milk so they could both drink from the carton, and then decided to switch to the bagged milk to cure themselves of that bad habit and to lower costs by buying the biggest serving size.
It was two and a half weeks into their trial that Duo sat on the carpet, leaning his head against Heero's thigh as he played a video game while Heero read.
"Duo? About this trial..."
"Just a sec," Duo said, finding a save point for his game and gathering his emotions together for this talk. "Okay," he said, setting the controller down and moving so he could sit on the couch to face Heero.
"Are you...okay with this?" Heero asked.
Duo nodded. "So long as you tell me where you put my mess, I'll be fine with it. How about you?" he asked with slight hesitation.
Heero moved closer, leaning their foreheads together. "Living with you has been...frustrating and fun. Frustrating because I'm beginning to wonder if your organized mess were not a good thing. I...like seeing you strip your clothes off and dump them somewhere..."
"Whoa! You like me dumping things around?"
"You make home...seem like home."
"By being messy?"
Heero tugged on Duo's braid. "I...like picking up after you a little. It makes me feel like...like..."
"Like you belong?" Duo asked, thinking back to the emotions he felt every time he opened the fridge and saw the bagged milk, saw the organized foods. It was the same emotions he felt when washing the extra dishes or doing the laundry more frequently.
Most importantly, he could always see Heero, come home to Heero or have Heero come home to him.
"Yes," Heero breathed. "Exactly it."
"So...?" Duo asked. "What's the verdict?"
"Can I stay?" Heero asked.
Duo suddenly leaned back, whooping before he pulled Heero down for a deep kiss. "Yes," he said when they separated, looking up into Heero's amused expression. "Stay, pick up after me, bicker with me! Let me go to sleep with you, wake up to you, let me corrupt you!"
"Wait! Corrupt me?" Heero asked. "How so?"
Duo grinned. "Stay and find out." He tilted his head, raising an eyebrow. "Up for the challenge?"
Heero gave Duo his most predatory smile, tracing a finger down Duo's jaw.
"Bring it on."
OWARI
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