Christmas Gem Part 4
Duo didn't log into his email for two days, and only then, it was to email his newest submission for the ring.
He was surprised to see an urgent message from Quatre. Twenty minutes later, he had showered and was on his way to his office.
By then, Wufei had already drafted the legal papers and J had already agreed to print an apology for the mistake in the designer's name. It didn't take Duo all that long to locate the number of his late friend's parents; the professor he knew from university had kept in touch with them after they had created a scholarship in the name of their daughter.
Duo felt himself tear up when Eliza Jane Roumanis' mother sobbed into the phone, thanking him for what was about to happen.
It may not have been Eliza's and his original design, but the main concepts and many of the details were still there, only slightly altered; Duo no longer cared that his name was not the one being printed there.
He insisted that his altered design for the then-impossible ring would still look like a copy, and because his latest design was more simplistic, Quatre agreed to call off the manufacturing of that ring. Duo offered to pay Quatre back in installments for the costs incurred, but Quatre had simply waved him off, thanking him instead for agreeing to the conclusion when the designer's name was rightfully his.
It wasn't until a few hours had passed that Duo finally asked Quatre the question that had been bothering him.
"Where's Heero?"
"He took the day off."
"Oh."
"Heero was the one who found out the details, Duo," Quatre said. "He also asked of you, and was extremely cooperative when we identified him as a person of interest and asked to search his office. Although I have to say, I would have appreciated it more if you told me his connection to Christoph J."
"Well..." Duo said sheepishly. "I did say 'son of a bitch', that should have told you something was up."
"Only I didn't understand what was up until Heero himself came to talk to me."
"Quatre...may I..."
"Take a few days off. Go ahead, Duo, you've been working hard to come up with design after design."
"Just a day or two," Duo said. "Thanks." He left the office, and Trowa wandered in shortly after.
Quatre sighed, leaning back in his chair. "When do I get a day off?"
"After the Christmas line is out," Trowa replied. "Remember? Last year you took a week off at that time and it only took me a day to distract you from thinking about the company."
"A day?" Quatre chuckled. "I remember that."
"Well, this time," Trowa said smoothly. "I intend to get you distracted before we go on vacation." He set his hands on Quatre's shoulders and began to massage. Quatre hummed appreciatively.
"I think you're off to a very good start, Trowa."
~*~
Heero's cell phone went through, but Heero didn't pick up. Duo had gone home and cleaned himself up before calling Heero, and he'd been calling once every half an hour for the last four hours.
When this call wasn't answered, Duo finally decided to leave a message. "Hey, Heero? I...was wondering if we could talk. Please, call me back?"
Then, he settled down to wait; not that he didn't keep his phone in his hands.
What startled him was that he had fallen asleep and someone was ringing his doorbell. Getting up quickly, Duo hurried to open the door.
Heero was standing with a hand against the doorjamb, his head down.
"Heero," Duo greeted him softly. "You..."
Then he smelled it and reached forward to pull Heero in.
"Heero?" Duo found himself suddenly struggling to help Heero stay on his feet. He stumbled to the couch with Heero, noticing that Heero managed to toe off his own shoes. "What in the world? Why the hell are you drunk? And how the hell did you get here?"
"Drove," Heero muttered.
Duo stared down at the man sprawled on his couch. "You what?" he asked in disbelief.
"Drove here. You said you wanted to talk to me."
Duo's mouth opened and closed as he tried to formulate his response. "Are you okay?" he finally asked.
"Tired," Heero said.
"Can you walk?"
"Yea."
Duo pulled Heero up again and led him to the stairs. He gripped the rail tightly, but luckily, Heero was able to get up the stairs. Soon, Heero was sprawled on Duo's bed and Duo pulled the blanket up, shoving at Heero until he moved up to lie his head on the pillow.
"Stay," Heero said, trying to grab Duo's hand.
"Sleep," Duo countered.
"Duo...I didn't do it."
"I know."
"You do?"
"Sleep, Heero," Duo said softly.
When Heero awoke with the mother of all hangovers, it took him a moment to recognize his surroundings. Duo wasn't on the second floor, but instead of searching for him, Heero stumbled to the bathroom to relieve his bladder.
He was surprised to find a spare toothbrush, a large towel, a t-shirt and sweat pants, as well as aspirin and a bottle of water waiting for him. He took the aspirin first and then showered as quickly as he could.
Once he was finished with his morning routine, Heero felt much more human and his next priority was to find Duo.
He didn't expect to find the braided man hugging his knees on the couch, and he hurriedly approached, worried. "Duo?"
Duo stirred and lifted his head. Heero took in the circles under Duo's red-rimmed eyes and opened his mouth to speak.
The next thing he knew, Duo had grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shoved him down onto the couch. Straddling Heero, Duo glared down angrily.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Duo snapped. "You could have killed someone driving as drunk as you were last night!"
"Duo, I..."
"You nothing, Heero! That's the last thing you do! You find someone to drive you! You call a cab! You do not drive when you are drunk! You're damn lucky that no one got hurt, that no one died!"
Then, Duo was off of him, stepping away and striding towards the stairs. Heero sat up and watched as Duo took the steps by twos, disappearing from view. He heard a door slam shut and the shower was switched on.
With nothing left to do but to wait, Heero decided to search Duo's kitchen for coffee. Making himself a mug, he set another cup ready for Duo without adding the hot water; he'd wait until Duo was out.
A half an hour past and the water from the shower had shut off more than fifteen minutes ago. Heero walked up the stairs and stood in front of the door to listen. When he heard nothing, he knocked.
"Duo?"
There was no answer, and he knocked again. When he waited and heard only silence, Heero tried the knob. It twisted; the door hadn't been locked, so Heero eased it open slowly, giving Duo the chance to protest.
He was surprised for a second time that morning when he found Duo sitting on the lid of the toilet dressed only in boxers. His face was buried in his hands.
Heero walked into the bathroom and knelt down in front of Duo although he didn't touch the man. "Duo?" he called softly.
"I could have killed someone," Duo murmured. "I told you I wanted to talk to you and when you got the message you came. You were fucking drunk and you came over here. If I hadn't left you that message you wouldn't have taken that risk!"
"Duo, I had eight missed calls under your name," Heero said.
"I shouldn't have called you after the first time then!"
"I would still have come over."
"Then you're a damn idiot!" Duo screamed, looking up. Gripping Heero by the shoulders, Duo looked him in the eye. "You could have killed someone, or yourself, Heero! Did you think of that?"
"I'm sorry," Heero whispered. "It was stupid, very stupid of me and I swear I will never, ever do it again. But last night, I...was lost, Duo, I felt that way the last two days. Please, can we talk?"
The anger bled out of Duo and he nodded, allowing Heero to draw him out of the bathroom and down the stairs. A minute of almost-silence later, a mug of coffee was pressed into his hands, and then Heero was guiding him towards the dining table. Duo shook his head and went towards the couch where he sat between it and the coffee table.
"I'm so sorry, Heero," Duo said. "I...I jumped into conclusions. I didn't listen to you. I said...things that I'm damn ashamed of. I don't know what to do. When I saw...your uncle in my search on who was the CEO of Christoph J., the first think I thought of was that you grew up with him and...that you both must be damn close for you to keep a picture on your desk."
Heero sat down next to Duo and set a hand on Duo's thigh. "Duo...I understand," he began. "I understand why you did jump to that conclusion; you were blinded by your anger to see that your design had been replicated. Given my relationship to the CEO and the fact that I was the one who banned your design, your conclusion would have been anyone's first suspicion. Added to the fact that you told me about your late partner's and your work, I can imagine that...if you really thought that I had sold you out, you'd have thought that I was playing some game."
Duo ducked his head, ashamed. "And to think I sat here that first day, wallowing in what-ifs and I-deserved-it and fool-I-am..."
"I understand," Heero repeated softly. "I...never explained to you that I put a picture of my uncle and I on my desk not only to remind myself that he was the man who brought me up, but to remind myself that I was not meant to become like him."
Duo looked up at that, so Heero forged on.
"He...is not exactly an evil man, but he is very ambitious. He will do things...wrong things, in order to achieve his goals and his wants. This is a perfect example. He doesn't care who gets hurt in the process. When I realized that I could very much become exactly like him working at Christoph J, I left. That's when I realized that I will forever be indebted to him for giving me a life and a future, but the last thing I wanted was to have his drive, where nothing else mattered."
Heero squeezed Duo's thigh. "I was well on my way, Duo. You mattered. I would never have done it. And...I don't deny that it hurt me that you thought I had done what I did. No matter how logically your thought process could be explained...I really thought that in the short time we were together, you would know me better than that."
Duo looked down again. "I screwed up, didn't I?" he said softly.
"No," Heero said, turning his body and reaching up to tilt Duo's head towards him. Looking Duo in the eye, he spoke, "I just have to make sure you really get to know who I am. And that I get to know who you are."
With that, he leaned forward and kissed Duo gently.
Duo was only still for a moment, and then he blindly set his mug down and wrapped his arms around Heero. Breaking the kiss, he buried his face into Heero's neck with a small sound. "Just promise, no more drinking and driving."
"Never," Heero swore. "I was just...so desperate to get to you, to...see you, Duo."
Duo nodded. "But never again. You get drunk, you damn well call me or catch a cab."
"How about no more getting drunk outside of our apartments?"
"I've never been to your apartment."
"Then you come over next time."
Duo's grasp tightened around Heero. "Show me, Heero," he whispered. "Show me you're really here. Show me that...I'm not destined to lose everyone to alcohol and cars. Show me that...I worried for nothing last night."
"How about I show you that I can wear you out enough for some good rest?" Heero countered on a teasing note. He nudged at Duo until Duo released him, and he moved to sit on the couch. Before he could pull Duo up, Duo had straddled him and was kissing him again.
He accepted the kiss, his hands wandering as he touched Duo and caressed the bare skin, feeling the muscles twitch and each of Duo's shivers.
Before long, Duo was rocking against Heero, pressing their clothed arousals together as he quickly pulled Heero's shirt off before bending and suckling on Heero's neck and shoulder. Heero's hands rest on Duo's waist, one holding his braid and the other guiding Duo's movements.
Duo raised himself on his knees and reached for Heero's sweats, tugging insistently. Heero lifted his hips, allowing Duo to pull the garments down to his thigh while he pulled Duo's boxers down. Duo shifted off of him, kicking his boxers off, but quickly resumed his place. Lifting his hand from Duo's waist, Heero caressed Duo's skin and moaned when their naked arousals met. Duo stroked them both and moaned; Heero took the opportunity to slip his fingers into Duo's mouth, letting him lick and wet them thoroughly.
Heero watched Duo and pulled his fingers out, reaching around Duo. Parting his own legs, he found that he could reach Duo's entrance and he wasted no time pushing his finger in to stretch Duo, although he took care to be gentle.
Duo moaned at the feeling, still stroking both his and Heero's cocks, making sure to spread their precum over Heero's in particular.
And he didn't want to wait any longer. Raising himself again, he reached to guide Heero into himself and slowly sank down until he had taken Heero in to the hilt.
Heero leaned forward, pressing his eyes against Duo's shoulder as he held Duo's waist to prevent him from moving just yet. He could feel Duo's cock twitch against his abdomen and he spoke.
"Not just screwing," he whispered. "More than that."
"More than that," Duo echoed, kissing his hair and wiggling a little. So Heero let him move and reached to stroke Duo in time, watching his hand move over the wet and swollen organ; watching as Duo rose and sank down on him again. He moaned at the erotic sight.
"I don't know what is hotter," Duo said. "Watching you touch me, or watching you watch yourself touching me."
"Or watching you ride me," Heero added hoarsely. "I can see that from here, too."
Duo moaned at that and began to move faster; Heero leaned back, sliding a little lower so he could get the leverage with his feet on the floor to thrust up.
"Watching your face when you ride me is hottest," Heero said as he gazed up at Duo.
Duo set a hand on Heero's shoulder and the other at his own waist where Heero's hand was. "As hot as watching you fuck me," he replied breathlessly. He rode Heero harder when Heero met him thrust for thrust, moaning loudly, the twitch of his cock or the squeezing of his passage letting Heero know that he had touched Duo there, that Duo was feeling as good as he was.
"No," he gasped. "Watching you fuck me would be the hottest."
"Next time, then," Duo said.
"Promise?" Heero asked with a moan.
"Yes," Duo breathed. And then he was clutching Heero's shoulders with both hands. "I'm there," he gasped.
"Little more," Heero said, but Duo was shaking his head as he spread his own knees wider so that he couldn't lift himself anymore. Heero's toes curled in the carpet as he took over from underneath, and he released Duo's cock so he could press his own hand down on the couch.
And then Duo was moaning, the head of his cock brushing Heero's firm abdomen twice before he came hard between them.
Heero watched Duo, releasing Duo's braid to reach between them and stroke Duo, encouraging his orgasm. Feeling another stream of Duo's cum splatter his stomach, Heero came, surging upward once more and filling Duo with his heat as he cried his lover's name.
The next thing he knew, he was slouched bonelessly on the couch with Duo still impaled on him, both of them breathing hard, Duo's forehead resting against his.
"What's going to happen to the rings that were already made?" Duo asked quietly when their hearts had calmed and he'd cleaned them with the shirt he'd lent Heero so that he could lie down, cuddled to Heero's chest. "The altered design?"
"They'll destroy them," Heero said. "Salvage the diamonds, melt the rest to use again."
"Save a pair," Duo begged. "Please? I'll pay. It's expensive, the diamonds, but I want a pair. Please?"
"You'll have to talk to Mr. Winner."
"I will," Duo promised. "Because that's the ring that I designed with you, Heero, and I don't want to let it disappear too."
Heero's grasp tightened around Duo. "I won't let it disappear," he promised in return. "I'll buy our own diamonds, Duo, and then I want you to come down to manufacturing. I want you to make them with me."
"I'd like that," Duo whispered. "It'd be ours, only."
"And it will be the first in many things that will be ours, only."
The sunlight streamed in through the large windows, bathing the lovers where they lay stretched out on the couch.
And it warmed them both as they slept peacefully, dreaming of the future that was theirs, and only theirs.
OWARI
Back to Zazu's Fanfictions Page