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"Checkmate"Written By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: R Warnings: Yaoi, AU Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4x3 Summary: Duo tries an on-line dating service , my 2015 Valentine's Day story A/N: Thanks goes to Waterlily for her fine editing,
wry humor, and excellent suggestions.
"Checkmate"
Yeah, right. I'm here trying it out, so stop with the gloss, already. "Enter your name, please." D-U-O "Use your real name, which matches the credit card ID you will be using today." That is my fucking real name. I was just talking to a stupid computer program after all. I typed my whole name, such as it was. D-U-O_M-A-X-W-E-L-L "Enter your pseudo name." M-A-X - Trowa had suggested that one and he'd landed the Quat of his dreams. I couldn't see how the ex-merc-clown credentials made him a special prize; he had to have some ace tricks up his sleeves, so I took his advice. As somebody who did not come on board the romance train from youth, the dating rigmarole can be problematic, as I do not give a crap about playing games, exchanging candy, flowers, showy jewelry... anything like that that apparently demonstrates proof of attraction. At all. This time of year is especially rough for me as Valentine's Day is upon us and I lack the vocabulary to describe the vastness of the crap I do not give. On my desk by my computer lay a card from my best friend. Quat and I never talked much about love lives, or my glaring lack thereof, but I figured he knew I was attracted to males more than females. Quatre once told me I should make cards for any prospects- I'm sure he was thinking girl ones 'cause what guy would give a shit?- and impress them with my creativity and thoughtfulness. Technically, I told him, it would be more realistic if I snapped a picture of myself nestled in a frenzied pile of assignment forms and protein bar wrappers, with a pile of self-help books for a pillow. BE MINE! Not that I would wish that card cover on anybody, but, you know, that's the problem with expectations. Where was I? Oh, yeah, Valentine's Day. Quat's card to me featured front and center a BIG pink heart stretched over a drum. My heart beats for you, it said inside. Fucking fuck, Q? Trowa must have been thrilled to have his boyfriend handing out a card like that to me. I would have to be on the lookout for Trowa. He'd want to get back at me eventually, even though I knew he knew there was nothing between Q and me. All part of the fun of close friendships. Besides, I saw the valentine he gave to Trowa. Dear god! Happy hearts beating as one FOREVER and EVER! I could understand getting hammered... In my irritation of that card I thought about the bigger picture. Where do people get these ideas? I mean, very, very few of the people I know are in happy marriages. Some are divorced, some live in apathy, but not a lot of examples of "happy" endings. (I use quotation marks generously). Quat and Trowa are the exceptions, so far. I give them another year of bliss before I pass further judgment. Where is everyone getting this romantic concept of, well, romance? Must be Hollywood. As someone who watches entirely far too much vid and movies, I have seen my share of romantic crappola. It just does not relate to me, my past, my current, and- I think I'm justified in forecasting- my future life. I have not given up on people. I would like someone in my life to share the little things. To listen to my whining, cook food with, sort socks, take long walks with... and mess around in bed with of course. I kinda knew what I liked and was looking for and disliked doing it at work, refused to do it in bars, and pretty much I didn't do anything or go anywhere to meet anyone. And no one outside my tiny circle of confidants, Quat and Trowa, no I'm, ah, partial to men, so no one asks me out except the one girl in the cubicle two down from mine and that was for coffee and then she quit Preventers. My powers of rejection are massive. My resources are, alas, restricted. "If you have not listed on Checkmate," Trowa had told me, "you need to get on that." So. Yeah. Checkmate it was. "MAX. Name accepted. Welcome to your mate search solution." After that, the rest was easy. Straightforward questions as to my address, method of payment, appearance. Then came the preferences. "Sexual preference in the partner you seek." M There. I did it. I made my choice. I was a male seeking another male for a mate. Pretty glaringly clear. Won't be hit on by scads of women. "Check off the most important qualities you want in a mate." I stared over the top of my computer screen, across my desk, past other cubicles. I had an undisturbed view of the office coffee machine and of everyone who visited it. This morning there was Ted, Judy, Ari, Lebonis, Trowa, and... Heero with a bunch of newbies and, God, Merquise. What did I look for in a mate? LOYALTY - yes HONESTY - yes. I mean, really... who doesn't want that? You even expect it in a dog. COMPASSION - Not so much. I could have been describing a dog. I could buy a dog and I didn't want the care and feeding, the dependency. So on a scale of 1 to 10, I give this a 4. INDEPENDENT - yes ATTRACTIVE - hmmm. That one gave me reason to pause. If he had those other qualities, wouldn't that automatically make him attractive to me? I guess he could have a mean face and that would put me off. So... yes. The "yes" answer brought up a whol'nuther bunch of specifications indicating hair color (any), size (same as me, not much bigger especially. Don't want to invite brutes). A least I thought I was answering that way. When I looked over my check-marks, I had dark hair, blue eyes, solemn expression rather than jokey. I had that one covered pretty well all by my lonesome. I had described Heero down to his tense fisted hands. I was also staring at him, watching him fix a cup of tea and eat a doughnut while listening to Zechs Merquise, Agent "Blowhard" Wind, address a small herd around the watering hole. Heero must be in charge of the new recruit tour, and, taking my advice, was killing time. Oops! Maybe he felt my eyes on him. Maybe gaping at his drool-worthy body for ten minutes wasn't a smart idea on my part. Whatever. His eyes were on me now. When caught in the act, smile for the camera. Better yet, grin mischievously like you wanted to be caught. There. He's rolling his eyes. We are sharing a conversation across the room. Over the cubicles and through the aisles to Director Une's he goes... Yeah, treat the kiddies to her presence and see how many quit by the end of the day. Back to the matchmaker. Press enter and wait for the wonder of modern dating come true. Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match...find me a catch... the best in the batch...with great dispatch... Say, that was fast. What have I got here? ACE? What kind of a name is ACE? Well, what kind of a name is MAX? Okay, so. Now what? I am to review his profile and if he passes, and I pass his scrutiny, can't forget that, then I can suggest a meeting. If he agrees, we make a date. Cool. ACE and MAX. Sweet. Sounds like competing deodorant brands. Use ACE, it's for the top of its class, for your first-class pilot. Then there's MAX, there's no other that gives so much, sail through like and all out racer. Dear God I felt sick. Okay. Take it one shimmy-step in the conga line of progress at a time, Max, old boy. One stepping stone for mankind; One Mount Everest for me. Whoa! There goes Heero with his entourage of trainees. That was quick. Une must have eaten one. I watched until they dispersed for a break and Heero returned to his cubicle. Shows over; back to work. Okay then, let's get a look at you, ACE. You are looking for someone dependable and diverting. What the hell does diverting mean? Witty? Shit. He wants a standup guy who is also a standup comedian? Huh. Well, I wasn't bad at winging it in the improv department and I was a loyal friend. What else? But before I could review the rest of his profile, I had a blinking light on my screen. ACE had accepted my application. He was waiting for me. Someone wanted to date me. ACE. I was so composed my fingers trembled while I tried to scan down the profile. Nothing horrible jumped out at me, but then nothing short of an actual man-eating tiger would have gotten my attention at that point. All I could focus on was than damnable blinking signal of anticipation from ACE. I was good enough for him in his book so what was I waiting for? I studied the profile before me, liking what I saw, but still feeling weird-ed out about it. What thing, what key word was I looking for that would turn my wariness to certainty? And then it popped out at me. PATIENCE. Bingo! Checkmate might be giving me a warning sign that my potential date was waiting for me to reply back, but ACE was a patient man. He would wait. Let me decide for myself what I wanted, if he suited me. He was keen to meet me, but he wouldn't pressure me. Well, I could read a lot into a single word. ACCEPT Now that I entered that, would he make the next move, or should I? That decision was taken away from me when Checkmate switched to a new screen of choices. Would I like to exchange FACEBOOK, TWITTER, EMAIL... blah blah blah... phone numbers... ? Being an agent of Preventers offered me few luxuries, but multiple phones for messaging under various identities was one of the most useful and served my current need. PHONE MESSAGING - and I entered the number on the disposable cell in my drawer. And waited. CONTACT NUMBER- ACE must have agreed and here he was giving me his number. This was it. My first attempt at dating. My coming out as well. Here goes... Diving in with both feet and trusting I would survive the plunge, I entered the numerals on my phone. And stood back. What should I say to him? Those first words were important, first impressions and everything. "Hi?" or "Hey?" Or maybe "Yo?" OK, maybe not the last one. That was too street-talk for my persona. "Hi." Of course, the instant I sent that wickedly short message, I began to doubt my choice of communication. Was messaging rushing things? Did I seem overeager? Maybe it was better to email first? "Hi. You sound nice. I'd like to meet you." Oh, man! I guess I wasn't the only eager-beaver quick off the block. Now what was I to do? What had I been expecting? Idle chitchat for a few months? No no no no... but then did I want a face-to-face so soon? "You're trying to take away all my mystery. Doesn't leave me with much to show off," I typed. He sent me a smiley face. One of those little icons. At least he had a sense of humor. Then came a message: "Take your time," ACE assured me. "No matter how long, I'll wait for you." Wha-at! Okay, that probably didn't sound particularly meaningful to anyone but me, but it was very much packed with, albeit, hidden significance. There were a few code phrases we Gundam pilots came up with and used in the war. We had hand signals and were loaded with as much body language as weaponry. The code words were triggers to set off all kinds of actions. This was especially significant to Heero and me; it meant I trust you and you trust me. No matter what. So, either someone had wrung the words out of Heero's dead body, which seemed highly unlikely even though last I'd seen him he'd been returning to his desk, or ACE and Heero were one and the same. Also important to note was that it being Heero, using the code words was his way of telling me he wasn't going to give away my secret. Naturally I didn't think he wanted to date me. He obviously had picked up on what I was doing-kill the Trowa for telling him!-and just wanted to steer me away from a bad decision. Heavens forbid I embarrass Preventers or him or the other pilots in their employ by my indiscreet choice of lovers or something along those lines. I sent him a message back. "K. Addictive Behavior at 19 hours?" I'd never been there, but it wasn't the worst bar from what I'd heard and it was far from this Preventers office and it was walking distance to both our apartments. If by some slim-as-a-cat's-whisker chance ACE wasn't Heero, then I could slip out when I didn't see him and be just another Checkmate no-show. I'm sure there were many. This had killed my adventurous mood completely. And a message returned seconds later. "Acceptable." Well, didn't that just sound like him? Yes, it certainly did. It got me to wondering if Heero was deliberately dropping unmistakable hints so I'd know it was him? He wasn't all that clueless, was he? So he was warning me he would be there to straighten me out? Or something. I balled up my pent-up disappointment and crammed it into my pocket with the temp phone. If it wasn't Heero, I'd ditch the phone, too. I was in no mood to deal with strangers now and maybe a fight with Heero was what I needed. Or something. Right. I arrived early, thinking to grab a bite to eat and a good seat from which to watch folks enter and leave. Not that I was starving, but I had this big undercover mission coming up and it was no time to tempt fate and get sick. Bar food might not be particularly healthful, I knew, however, the alcohol I'd drink would probably kill most germs-that was my L2 street-smart logic. I was starting on my second order of chili fries, when the bartender delivered me a beer. "I didn't order this," I complained. I wasn't paying for more than I wanted and I wanted to remain clear-headed at least until Heero came in, or he didn't show. "For you, courtesy of that guy over there." "Oh." I looked in the direction he indicated with a head tilt and didn't see anyone remotely Heero-like or ACE-like. It was early yet. In ten minutes, I should see him. Who I did see, or thought I saw, made my heart stop. Thud. For a second or so. Platinum hair on a tall man gliding between crowds of people just coming through the door. Zechs! My potential date was not to be him. No. I got as far as imagining him torturing the code words out of Heero and then the man turned just enough... it wasn't Zechs. Just as I thought, heh, heh, even if for a second there I had a little scare. I pushed away the beer like an untrustworthy companion and settled back in my chair. The chili fries were good. The place was filling up with couples. Happy couples out to celebrate their togetherness. I wished I could be one of them. Suddenly, a cupcake with a candy heart and candle landed in front of me. "What the-?" The candle sputtered. "For you, courtesy of the man over there," the bartender said, word for word the same as before. "Which-?" I was talking to no one. The tender had moved on. There were so many people. How could I even be seen? I couldn't pick out anyone looking my way. Only after making eye contact, would anyone actually notice me. I blew out the candle and licked at the frosting. It tasted like marshmallow, all fluffy white. I popped the candy topper in my mouth and tasted cherry. I was partial to both flavors, not being a big chocolate lover, and appreciated that whomever it was that sent it my way knew that about me and cared to abide by my likes. I pushed the cake away in disgust. I wasn't going to be impressed by handouts from strangers. What if it was poisoned? Bad enough I had to deal with that at work. I purposely intended not to be impressed in any case. But the lick of frosting on my finger tasted so good. One bite wouldn't harm me. A commotion at the door dragged my attention away from the bewitching treat. ACE? Right. On. Time. Heero, his head encircled with red balloons, heart-shaped ones filled the entranceway. He was ACE, as I had figured. Oh yeah, I felt a rush of relief that ACE hadn't turned out to be Merquise or some weird dude or some agent from work that I would have to see day in and day out-not like I saw Heero. I chose to see him. Whether he and I ever...um... even if he was here just to tell me to stop being an idiot, I was glad to see him. But if he was going to do that, why the balloons? What were they about? That was all clogging up my brain. I didn't think; I just called out to him. "Heero?" I caught his attention immediately, but he probably was looking for me. Some big dude was keeping him and his balloons from entering. I could see that. "Duo! They won't let me in with these and I didn't want to let them sail off without you seeing them." Heero? Duo? Oh, man! So much for ACE and MAX. I felt the impact of that hit me right between the eyes. Some undercover agent I was! "Since I can't enter, would you come outside?" So stunned was I by the vision before me that I didn't for a second question the situation. I mean, really, why would a little thing like a no-balloon policy stop him storming in? Had I been using my brain, I would have been through the ruse as his way of getting me out of the bar. Or maybe my subconscious didn't give a shit. Without taking my eyes off Heero's face surrounded by all those red heart balloons for an instant, I nodded, and pushed around the remaining mass of humanity at the door. And there I stood absolutely transfixed. Floating hearts! Some were metallic and reflected the flickering lights over the entrance. Against all expectations, he leaned close and brushed our lips together. It was lightening quick; caught me completely off guard. I glanced around not knowing where to look. "Let them see," Heero said. Them? "I-I wasn't caring about anyone," I stammered. I never had difficulty expressing myself, but I did now. "I mean these other people... what they think." And mercifully I stopped babbling. I'd said enough to make Heero smile. "It's difficult to tell about you." He nearly had to shout this for me to hear him. He leaned into my ear to say what he did next. "It's almost enough to have everyone know you choose to be with me." His eyes glowed with happy feelings. Had I chosen him exactly? Well, I would have given the opportunity. Then, in a way I did. ACE and MAX got paired up for a date, and that was him and me. "Well, if you don't mind, why should I?" I laughed away the sudden bashfulness, or attempted to; the heat on my face didn't fade. We were still blocking the door. The loud music drowned out a lot of what he said next, but the gist of it was that we could go to his place, and have dinner there, if I'd like. He suggested we leave and walk the short distance. I was having a hard time visualizing where the food part fit in, but he also offered to do the cooking, so I was enthusiastically all in. "Are those for me?" I asked, making a grab for the bunch of strings in his grip. "They are. Do you like them? I wasn't sure what you'd like." "Oh, yeah. These are cool. I think I feel lighter. How many more would I need to float, do you think?" "I don't think it's possible. Do you want more?" And you know, if I'd told him I did, he would have walked straight to the flower shop or whatever and bought me all he could. I knew that instinctively. "No, no, dozen's plenty." "That's good to know." Heero used an elastic band to keep them attached to me even if I let go. "You aren't a cake fancier." "You got me that cupcake?" "Yes. I would have taken it to you directly, but I didn't trust the taxi driver not to take off with all my balloons once he saw me go inside." "Good call. I liked the candy. You didn't have anything to do with getting me a beer, did you?" "No. I'd only ply you with alcohol within the confines of my apartment, or yours." He blushed and cleared his throat. "Not that I was thinking of doing that." "It's okay. I know you were only thinking of safety issues." I think that's what he intended. Good thing I wore my leather coat; the wind had picked up and it looked like rain. Not the greatest night for a walk. It smelled like spring as we passed a row of early blooming sweet almond trees. "Violets are blooming outside my apartment complex," Heero said, reading my mind. "Yeah? Well, next time I see you, it will be spring for real." The sad truth of my life. Missions could take weeks or months to complete, leaving me with time gaps to fill in once I got back home. I heard his sigh over the street sounds. "I wish you hadn't agreed to the undercover assignments, but the need is real and you are the best, Director Une says so." "And it must have killed her to admit that!" I laughed. There was some mutual respect but no love between her and me. I transferred the balloons back to him at some point so I could gesture better. "Hard to talk without my hands free," I justified, partly to cover for how the touch of his skin made my hands tremble. "Did you expect to see me tonight?" he asked point blank. "Um, for the most part. You dropped enough hints, ACE." "Quatre didn't tell you anything?" he asked me. "No, why should he?" I'd taken Trowa's advice to go online. I'd never consulted Quat if I should, knowing he'd say it was a bad idea and offer to introduce me to more women or men, since he was one of the limited few who knew I was attracted to men. And even if I joked to Trowa about catching Quat via an online dating site, that's not how it happened. "I thought because you told each other everything that..." Heero's sentence trailed off and he moved on to his next thought. "Trowa recommended I use the name 'ACE'." He said this with an obvious wince. "He did? Well, crap. Trowa suggested the 'MAX' name." "I know. Trowa told me to check out 'MAX'," Heero said. "Oh fuck," I groaned. "A setup all along." Meddling friends. Now I was thoroughly confused. Was Heero flirting with me? Playing a pre-arranged role? Did he actually want to date me or was he luring me into his apartment, away from the public, before giving me a dressing down for using a public dating site? Was that so wrong? Maybe for an undercover agent it wasn't smart, but not against regulations. But then there were the gestures! Balloons! And the offer to get me more? That had to count for something, right? Heero had nothing more to add, but we'd reached his building. He pointed out the violets, which in the dark were less evocative of spring than the drizzle of rain starting to fall. His key unlocked the door to his apartment from halfway down the hall. "Let yourself in," he said to me, which made sense since he was carrying the armload of balloons. "Oh wow!" I couldn't help it. When he released them, the balloons floated to the ceilings- ten foot high ceilings with this low lighting that came from out of nowhere. He wasn't done with the show, though. His phone controlled everything. Music came on, a soft- okay I admit it was nice- romantic instrumental. I could smell something delicious, the ambrosia wafted in from the hidden recesses of the kitchen. "I'll take your coat. Bathroom's to the left. I need to check the oven." "You expected me?" "I hoped. I really hoped, Duo, that you'd... want to come over." He looked so adorably unsure of himself that I wanted to reassure him. I patted his arm. "Well, I'm here." And he smiled. It nearly broke me right there. He was staring into my eyes as if I'd gifted him with my weight in gold. I don't know where the blood in my body hung out usually, but right then it left my brain. I might have toppled over had it not been for his quick actions and firm grip. "I have you. Sit here. You look a bit pale. Are you okay?" he shot off in a row. In my head it came off kinda stream-of-consciousness ending with "okay?", but I sat on his couch when his hand pressed my shoulder. "Yeah. Last night I was up until 2AM, strung out on canned frosting and social media," I joked, but he had lost the smile and replaced it with his serious out-with-it glare. "I've got this mission coming up and had a checkup. Doc gave me some shots." "And you haven't eaten since-?" "Breakfast?" I thought about that for a bit. What had I had to start my day? "There was caffeine and sugar. Lots. Eventually that phased out and I moved on to non-sweetened seltzer, then mostly water, which is where I am now. Aren't you fascinated by this? I know I am." I'd left out the chili fries but they hardly counted. He broke up over that routine, laughing loudly. God, there's nothing better than Heero Yuy laughing. He was so cool, so good for me. He knew about the drug, the one Preventers gave me to help condition my brain for a deep under cover, and he could tell I was succumbing to its magic to be mission-ready by tomorrow afternoon. I hadn't expected it to kick in this fast- it had taken days the last time- or I wouldn't have started the whole dating route. "You picked me up tonight because you didn't want me out there," I waved at the window and the world at large, "before a mission. I get it. You, Trowa...he put me up to the MAX name and fixed it so ACE would find MAX and visa versa." I tried to stand up, but felt so tired I just remained where I was on his couch. "Okay, I'm here and don't need no lecture. No more MAX. I get it. I get it! But... shit..." I was lonely. And then things started to change around me. I was wrapped in Heero's arms. He whispered gentle assurances in my ear. He was so warm. "It's all right, Duo. That's not how it is. Listen. Listen and believe me. I wanted to date you, but was too afraid to ask. I wasn't entirely sure...I didn't want to lose you as a friend. I tried to drop hints, but you seemed to miss them all." Hints? They must have been microscopic in size. "I never got that you dated men or wanted to see me as anything but an old comrade." "I learned that it takes work to get you to notice what's been there all the time." His voice sounded all crumbly and his eyes were dark as the midnight sky. I could sense he wanted me-clear as a bell now. Then he was carrying in a tray of dishes. "Dinner's ready." He fed me morsels of chicken and I don't remember what. Good stuff. I talked a lot and ate. I started out cracking a few jokes, but then got serious and then mixed it up. "I'm concerned about flower slaughter." "You are?" Heero looked confused. "Did you know that more flowers were cut last week than in the rest of the year combined? It's true. Valentine's prep. They all get chopped down and shipped out to flower shops." "Blatant butchery," Heero agreed. "Next year, I shouldn't get you flowers then?" I looked over the huge bouquet of roses, three dozen at least, weighing down the center of the coffee table, and then craned my neck a bit more so I could see him with both eyes. "What's one murder out of billions?" He fed me simple, delicious food that he'd made with his own two hands and gave me a card. "I made it," he confessed. "You did? It's so beautiful. I love it. It's amazing! How did you do this?" I'd never seen such an eye-popper. "It's a masterpiece." "I used a process called decoupage." Day-coo-what? "You operate under the assumption that everyone knows how to decoupage just as everyone knows how to wipe their own ass." "It's just glued on paper bits," he said. "It's a basic benchmark of childhood development, Quatre told me." Heero said this with a funny smile. "Not mine or anyone else's that we know, excepting Relena, but I looked it up, and learned how." "It is so cool." I kept turning around my multicolored, glittery heart-shaped card in awe-AWE of this man. Was there nothing Heero couldn't do? "I'm not saying they should include it in Preventers training, but I'm also not saying they shouldn't." "I discovered that I could make it look special by adding little pieces of gold tissue paper. It covers the mistakes, adds contrast, looks great with everything." "Plus, it's gold. Gold reads THIS IS SPECIAL." "You like that." He said it, and I knew then that even if I'd never put it in words before, it was true. "Yeah, but I never thought about it before. I never had anything gold." The cross I'd worn and the chain were silver or more likely silver-plated nickel. He reached for my hand and rubbed over my fingers. "Gold would look good on you." What could I say to that? It would, but was he talking about getting me jewelry now? Not that I'd object. But. "I haven't gotten you anything." His lips smoothed over my knuckles, sending tingles up my hand, down my arm, straight to my heart. It was pounding hard. Could it escape? Go flying up to join the balloons? "If you say you are mine, then you've given me everything I've ever wanted," he said. "You don't have to, of course," he added quickly. Here I thought I didn't like romantic falderal, and Heero was the ultimate romantic. "Well, me you won't be able to get rid of now. Dangle sparkly things to distract me, feed me, promise me more? Oh, I'm yours like that stray dog Trowa took in or that mangy cat of Wufei's. Always yours." I meant all that I said, but that didn't mean I wasn't shocked to have said it aloud to Heero right then. "I see. Then you want it all?" He looked pleased, almost smug. "Oh yeah. Pink and red paper hearts, a greeting card featuring Fabio on horseback, you know. The usual." "Fabio?" he asked with a look combining confusion with a touch of jealousy. "The Italian model on the cover of hundreds of romance novels?" I laughed as Heero's concern, but didn't want to tease him, and so tagged on, "He's an old dude now, almost 60!" "I see," he smiled. "A joke." I knew I could be myself. I could tell him anything and he'd listen. I'd never had anyone like that before. I wanted to stay over. I wanted him to rock my world. He wanted me to, but it wouldn't be tonight. "Come back from your mission and we'll start right where we leave off," he said. "I'll be gone weeks at least. What if things change?" "Between us?" He shook his head. "Never. You don't think that, not really, do you? After all the years we've known each other, my feelings have only grown stronger. A few weeks or months won't change that." I nodded, speechless. Like Quatre's vows of constancy to Trowa in his card, but with meaning because this was Heero saying it to me! "No matter how long it takes," Heero assured me. "I'll wait for you to come back to me." A flicker of red reflected in his eyes. I looked up to see a few balloons floating on the airwaves from the heater, bobbing overhead. He must have noticed them too. "I promise to bring balloons." "In that case," I answered, "it's a date, Valentine!" After that I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. "Some date I am." "It's the drug. Not your fault. I'll take you home and see you get in," he promised. He did exactly that, fitting all the balloons and the flowers into his car with me, delivering me, nearly carrying me to my room, removing my shoes and coat. "You can take care of the rest, I'm sure," he said. "And if I said I needed help?" He kissed me, backing me up against the bedroom door, crushing his chest into mine, but keeping his lips oh-so soft and gentle. I'd forgotten my question, but he hadn't. "Don't tempt me. Not tonight. I'll remind you when you get back." "I won't need the reminder, just you." And then he left. As I lay on my bed, I felt that kiss burning my lips, the weight of his body leaning into mine, but when I looked up, he wasn't there. Balloons danced against the ceiling to the beating of my heart. The End.
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