Author: Sorceress Fantasia

Warnings: Heero POV, fluff, some sap, AU (Our world and time)

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: 1+2

Disclaimer: I called up a lawyer and asked him if I owned GW and the characters, and he loaned me a book on copyright laws. So no, I don't own GW or the GW gang. Sad, I know, but it's true. In fact, I have to repay the overdue loan on the book and that practically empties my wallet. So there.

Thanx to Lily Kalanoa for beta-ing! ^^

Seventh Heaven Series Part 24a
A Quiet Date at Heero's Part 1

"Heero!"

I turn, and see Duo running towards me. If I were a little more delusional, I'd imagine him running towards me with tears in his eyes and his arms wide open, waiting to jump into my arms like in all those mushy romance movies. But hey, this isn't Hollywood, so I'd settle for him trying to catch his breath beside me now.

"Duo? What's the rush?" I ask, gently patting him on his back.

"I thought I was late! You've been waiting very long?"

"No. I just arrived too," I reply, although according to my watch, I've been standing here for a full fifteen minutes. Oh well. My watch can be a pretty unreliable thing sometimes.

"That's good."

"Right. Erm, you wanna go now?"

"Sure! Lead the way!"

I nod, and take his hand in mine. It's a ritual now; whenever Duo and I are walking together, we'd hold hands. To this very day, I still thank my lucky stars for Duo getting that summer job. I think Duo may just be humouring me, but I'd rather think positive.

So I clasp his hand tighter, and try my best to be a good tour guide. I think Duo's never been to this part of the city before, since we're both living on the other side. But since my sister is a big anime fan who hates traveling, I get stuck with the job of coming over here where Dorothy works to get her anime DVDs. My sister is just too domineering, and I am just too compliant. Anyway, I relate the tale to Duo, and he breaks out in chuckles at my bossy sis.

"Really? Hmm, you don't look like the type of guy who'd be bullied. Then again," he pauses, "you're probably like my brother; always giving in to your younger sibling."

I nod vigorously, relieved that Duo had covered up for my faux pas. What is wrong with me anyway? Why do I keep saying all these embarrassing things in front of the person I like? I should really think over what I say at least three times before letting it slip out. It'd save me a lot of embarrassment.

"Heero? Are we getting there yet? The sky looks dark. I think it's going to rain."

"Right... Erm, it's just around the corner. I've called my friend, so we can just ask her for it when we get there."

"Thanks, Heero. You know, I was pretty resigned to combing the city for the DVD until you called me. You're such a big help."

A smile breaks out on my face, and I hold his hand tighter. "You're welcome, Duo. And well, if you need help again, just tell me. I'd always help you."

He cocks his head at me with a grin. "Really? Even if I say that I'm going to rob the bank?"

I pause in my steps, and turn towards him. Our eyes meet and lock, each flashing the other with a smug smirk. "Well, tell me which bank, and I'd do the planning for you," I say, flicking his forehead with a finger lightly. He looks at me, his expression part amused and part surprised. That's good, because I plan on surprising him for quite a while to come. After all, that's part and parcel of being in a relationship. Yeah, I know; it's not official yet, but just indulge me. "But honestly, if I can afford it, I'll buy whatever you want instead. Robbing a bank can be tedious work; I'd rather let you lay back and relax."

Now he's really surprised. But I just act nonchalant, grab his hand again, and continue to amble down the street. It's really nice, to be out with Duo. Especially when I'm not all that nervous anymore, and I'm not saying all those weird things. That Hilde thing is an accident; it just slipped out of its own accord, regardless of the fact that my mind didn't give it the green lights. Well, I guess reading up does help. I just hope Hilde won't ever find those books, or she'd yammer all day about her pathetic brother who's desperate enough to consult books about relationships.

It's not like I sourced them out on purpose. I was just strolling about town, minding my own business, when I saw this quaint bookstore having a little sale. So I walked in, thinking that maybe, I'd find something interesting. That's when I saw these nifty books on display. And my wallet was just a tad full that day, since I'd just visited the bank. So I thought I'd let my wallet go on a little diet and bought a couple of the books home. I'm starting to think they're well worth the investment.

*****

Soon, we reach the rental shop, just in time to avoid the light drizzle, and Duo bursts in excitedly. The door gives a tiny ring of a bell when we go in, and alerts Dorothy to our presence. She looks up from the counter she's sitting behind and upon seeing me, offers a lopsided grin. Setting her cool azure eyes at us that seem somewhat bleak, Dorothy looks pretty intimidating for a girl her size. But that's just the way she is: always looking tough. Her family values of never backing down from a fight must have made her like this. Sweeping her platinum locks behind her shoulders, she stands up.

"Hello, Heero," she greets curtly. Looking at Duo, she cocks her head at him. "And this is?"

"Hello, Dorothy," I return. "This is Duo. He's the one looking for the DVD. You got it now?"

"Of course." Turning to the shelves behind her, she slides a box out and hands it to me.

"Thanks."

Duo takes the opportunity and introduces himself. "Hi, I'm Duo. Thanks for your help, Miss... erm..."

"Dorothy," she offers, smiling coolly. Even though it does not look like it, I can tell that she's interested in Duo already, from the way she's looking at him. I'm not worried though; Duo's not her type that way.

"Right. Thanks, Dorothy. I'm so glad to find this now. I've wanted to watch it for ages!" He grins widely much like the Cheshire cat, and I hand him the thing. He takes a look at it, and confirms that it's the one he wants. The three of us chat for a while, until Duo wanders off to the shelves of anime movies. I swear he nearly leapt up and cheered when Dorothy told him that the store had quite a fair bit of popular anime stuff lying around.

My eyes follow him until he disappears behind the shelves; I wanted to go with him, but Dorothy pulled my sleeve and asked me explicitly to stay. So logically, I turn to her with a questioning look, which she answers with another knowing smirk.

"What?" I demand, feeling my face burn under her stare. I have not only admitted to her that I like Duo and I'm currently trying to win him over, I think I'm being rather blatant about that now. I bet she can just tell from the way I behave around him. She's perceptive like that.

"He's pretty cute."

I smirk, feeling somewhat smug and pleased. "Yeah."

"Told him yet?"

"About what?"

"That you like him," she replies austerely, apparently taking delight in teasing me. It seems to be a trend now, what with at least half of the people I know doing that to me every now and then. "A lot," she adds, quirking an eyebrow at me, "judging from the dreamy look you have now."

If I were a girl, I would not hesitate to say that I pouted. But I'm a guy, and guys don't pout, no matter the circumstances. Well, unless you're a blonde and your name starts with Q. "I don't do dreamy looks. I'm just... intoxicated."

"On him? Wow, the breweries would be losing mega bucks if everyone were like you," Dorothy pokes a slender finger at my shoulder. As always, her nails are short and polished; from what I heard, she plays the piano and myriad of other musical instruments. Yet another sign of her family wealth. Why she would choose to work at a place like this befuddles me to this day.

I shoot her an arrogant look. "If that was the case, the breweries don't need to worry. I will be the only one drunk on him."

She laughs. "Is that so? Well then, I wish you luck. I think you two will look good together. Well, good enough to give poor o' Lena a cardiac arrest at least."

The words that I wanted to say in reply are cut short by Duo's reappearance. He bounds over to the counter, holding a few other DVD boxes, and asks Dorothy if he can borrow all of those. She agrees, and quickly records them down. As she's busy typing the titles down into the computer (I swear everything is computerized nowadays), a rumble of the skies signal the weather condition for the next few hours. I glance outside, and frown when I notice the drizzle minutes ago has become a light shower. I didn't bring an umbrella, and I don't think Duo could fit one into his small pouch either. My inner self growls; now I'm going to get stuck here with Duo with no chance of any snuggling because Dorothy is here and she has a business to run.

I'm already humming the tune of 'Rain, rain go away' in my mind when Dorothy grins at me. Again, the psychic girl knows what I'm thinking.

She fishes around under the counter, and hands a small umbrella to me. "Here, take it. The rain doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon, and I have to stay here for the entire afternoon anyway."

Duo frowns. "Are you sure? We're not rushing to go off."

I give Dorothy a look, a pleading one I might add, from behind Duo. That smug smirk which has been on her face for the past few minutes becomes wider. I'm starting to think that she's going to pull a muscle if she doesn't give her cheeks a rest soon.

"Of course I'm sure. Don't waste your time here with me. I'm sure you two could be off having a good time," she winks, and I feel my face burn... again. Gosh! Is everything I'm thinking of stamped on my forehead in neon colours? Stealing a sideward glance at Duo, I notice his flushed cheeks and I smile goofily to myself. At least I know Duo is thinking of the same things that constitute 'a good time'.

"Why don't you two go over to Heero's place and watch the DVDs? It's pretty close, and it's troublesome to be traveling around with the rain anyway," Dorothy suggests, casting me a secretive leer. I am /so/ going to find a way to thank her properly.

Duo thinks about it for a moment; man, he looks positively adorable tilting his head like that. "Yeah, I guess that'd be good. I mean... your place is closer than mine. So, what do you say?" He turns to me.

Whether he's aware that he has this puppy look in his eyes, and that he's turning them on me at full force, doesn't really matter. It's such a small favour. How can I deny him? Besides, this little favour works totally in my favour. Hilde is not going to be home anytime soon, so it'd be just Duo and me alone together. Oh, the possibilities...

So we leave Dorothy's rental store with the little umbrella and Duo's DVDs, intent on getting to my place to catch some movies. Standing under the little shelter just outside, I open the umbrella, and promptly roll my eyes. I think Dorothy either planned this, or is playing a belated April Fools' joke on us; the umbrella is really rather little. We're going to get wet, fall sick, and stay home for the next couple of days. Or maybe I'll get lucky, and get to dry Duo up at my place later.

Still, at least this thing is blue. I'd rather get drenched than borrow Relena's.

"Um, ready to go?" I ask lightly.

He takes a look at the only thing we have that can get us out of here and he frowns. "The umbrella is really... small."

"Yeah... but I don't think Dorothy has another one. Unless you want to stay here?" Oh no, please don't say yes! Please! Please! Please!

"Not really..." he answers, and I do a mental victory dance. "Maybe we could just... I don't know, stand closer?"

It's cliché, but his reply sorta lights up a light bulb in me. "We can just... sort of, wrap our arms around each other to, you know, stand close together?" I suggest meekly, hoping that he won't think I'm trying to take advantage of him or anything. But well, I must admit; it /is/ my ulterior motive.

He blushes, and I panic. Crap! Did I say that last part aloud? I thought I didn't! But he nods after a while, and I know he didn't hear what I said, if I had said it out loud in the first place that is.

"Yeah, I guess that's the best idea," he says, and moves towards me. Standing beside me, he leans closer and slowly, wraps his arm around my waist.

Go ahead and laugh, but I nearly jumped out of my skin to feel that contact. I can feel my inner self, cheering wildly and throwing streamers and coloured rice around. Gently, I gather him close.

"Ready?" I whisper.

He nods, and we start ambling down the streets. Before, on our previous dates, we had only held hands and I was already pretty elated by that. Now I actually have my arm around him! And I didn't actually initiate it or anything! I think that guy at the cinema is right; things will progress by themselves. And it's progressing fairly nice, I tell myself. Let's see if I can get a bit more at my place.

It's getting pretty chilly now, and I can feel Duo shivering slightly under my arm. Pursing my lips, I tighten my arms. "We'll be there soon."

"Okay," he nods slightly, and chuckles. "Maybe we should move faster. If my brother happens to be around here and he sees us, he is /so/ going to freak out."

"He comes around here?" Oh, this is not good. It's going to be harder to get Duo over here frequently then.

"Sometimes. Well, he likes walking about the neighbourhood," he replies, turning to me. However, at that exact moment, I slip slightly before regaining my foothold, effectively getting so close to his warmth that I can feel his breath. Honestly, I'm beginning to love clichés. You know, when a soon-to-be couple is standing really close, and one of them turns, it ends up as a kiss? Yeah, this is the type I like a lot. It's probably because right now, Duo's lips are pressed against my cheek, and I can feel the soft pressure and the heatedness of my skin there.

Time stills for a moment, and the kiss continues, or it could be my ego speaking. Anyway, Duo jumps away, out of the umbrella's shelter, and I quickly grab him back. I don't want him getting wet; he could fall sick and it'd all be my fault. "Careful! You could fall." I admonish lightly.

He avoids my eyes, and mutters a soft 'Sorry'. I just smile, and tell him that it's okay. Well, I kept the 'perfectly' out to keep his suspicions at bay, but I think it's pretty obvious already. If he doesn't at least suspect my feelings for him by now, he'd have to be really dense. Dense as in light will bend around him. Yeah, it's that bad. At least, that's what Quatre and Catherine have been telling me.

But still, I don't intend on confessing to him anytime soon. I mean, I want to make sure about my own feelings first. I thought I had them all straightened out; Duo's beautiful, he's smart, he's got a great personality, a gorgeous smile and pretty much what I want in my significant other. But Treize just threw me in a loop with his oh, so wise aphorism. I know he means well, but it gets pretty exasperating when I start to get confused if I'm in love with Duo, or if I love him. There's a difference between them, something that I didn't know about until he told me, and it's driving me absolutely crazy.

Anyway, we reach the bus stop in record time, probably because I'm enjoying his arm around me so much. Well, when I said 'record time', I meant that we took at least twenty minutes to get here rather than the ten minutes it usually takes. The bus arrives on time, and we reach my apartment fairly quickly.

TBC...

 

To The Next Chapter

To The Previous Chapter

Back to Sorceress Fantasia's Fanfictions Page

Back to Guests Fanfictions Page

Back to Main Page