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"Greeting Cards"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: NC 17 Warnings: Yaoi, funeral practices, AU, fluff Pairings: 1+4, 1x2x1, 3+H, 5xH, 3x4, 6x9 Summary: Each chapter is based on Heero’s
greeting cards and Duo's mortuary. "Greeting Cards " Chapter 13 -- September Leaves, Part 2 It was a gorgeous day to fly, and I had never been in a plane before. "I can't believe that," my intensely hot, blue-eyed boyfriend said. "You seem so worldly." "It's true. This is my first time in a plane." As I shifted my icepack, he reached over and unclasped my seatbelt. "Come here." He pulled me onto his lap. It felt good to lean into his back, feel his warmth, and listen to his soothing monotone voice. "A small jet like this Raytheon Hawker 400XP is an ideal beginning. It is small and fast, up to 511 MPH, and good for short hops." "Hawker hops." I was just being silly. "Look," he said excitement causing his voice to rise. He pointed out the window and I turned my head to look. "A pod of whales! See!" "Yeah." My face was throbbing and my head ached. I was holding off giving myself a thorough examination until I had swallowed a Demerol or Percodan. No, I decided, it was maybe going to be a Darvocet and when I was in bed. The acetometaphine I swallowed dry in the taxi was barely shaving the sharp spots off the pain in my jaw, which wasn't broken, I was pretty sure, and the ice pack was keeping my face from blowing up. If I smiled, the lip would crack back open and the bleeding renew, so I kept my mouth shut, mostly, and limited my conversation. I think I even dozed off for a few minutes because when I opened my eyes, Heero was earnestly looking over at me. "Are you doing all right?" he asked. "Uh, huh. Just not the most romantic of situations, ya know?" "There's something you might want to look at. The island. Do you see it?" "Uh huh." The plane was banking as it circled over Zodiac Island. "I asked Shari to fly low and give us the scenic tour. The compound is on that side." I nodded. Gray featureless structures were dotted across a barren landscape, which was completely cut off from the forested portion of the island by a high wall. The land ended in ragged cliffs with no less than a two hundred foot drop off into the ocean. It was lifeless and still and very, very bleak. It looked as if a great wind had swept the land clean, cleared it of every rock and plant and animal, and then a solemn people had come and erected the great stone walls and buildings. Imagine living out your life sentence in a desolate place like that. I shuddered. "What a godsforsaken place. Geez...No wonder no one escapes," I said. "No one leaves at all." "Well, you did." "I meant the inmates, baka." His hollow voice had been giving me the creeps, but now he seemed to be trying to make me feel better. "Baka" was just his pet nickname for me, right? Heero was looking far out to sea, his eyes hidden, so I couldn't tell what he was really thinking, and that was probably just as well. Some thoughts were best not shared. As the plane swept low over the forest side of the island, told me, "Wild wolves in there." "There are? You ever see them?" "I've heard them. At night they would howl. My guardians would warn me that if I did not obey them, they would throw me to the wolves." "'Ro, that's just an old saying, you know." "Unfortunately, not," he said flatly. "I knew it was possible because a few of the inmates had, well, been punished." "And you're not kidding, right? Damned brutal. Damned nasty place to choose for a romantic getaway, don'tcha think?" I was very curious why he'd picked this place if it seemed to bring up bad memories to him, but then I wanted to prove I trusted him and his judgment and was with him all the way. I hated being second-guessed all the time myself, and my guy's self-confidence was a bit shredded. "I'm sorry, Duo. This is going to be a good vacation. I did not mean to bring up the past." "'Sokay," I told him. He seemed so emotionally impoverished it frightened me, but he hadn't meant to make me feel bad. I guessed that the pain descending on my mind dampened my spirits and made me susceptible to emotional surges. Still, there was so much he and I didn't know about one another. As connected as we seemed, that gulf of unknowns was there. Seas of secrecy. Oceans of obscurity. "What were you saying?" he asked. I had no idea so instead I asked, "Um, did Odin Lowe live here? Or was being here before that or just an off and on kinda thing?" "On and off." His eyes drifted out to sea. To change the sensitive subject, he looked for more sights to interest me. "The only approachable beaches are on the side opposite the compound." I would have liked to ask more questions, but Heero obviously didn't want to talk about it. So why bring me here? It had been Zechs' idea, so how did he come to have so much influence over my guy? But when Heero turned his intense blues on me, I knew I could just drop the questioning for good. He'd tell me in his own time. Plus, we were alone, for the most part. And I was on his lap! Best make good use of the opportunity. "Oh, I wanna go see those." I added an enthusiastic wiggle of the hips and evoked a smile and some hard evidence of his interest. "I'll make sure to set aside time for that then. There! Look at the white sand." "Man, it's so bright! Must be a rare sunny day, huh?" "Yes. That's our good luck working." "So, this is the side you lived on? Tell me you lived in a house and not in the asylum." I smiled, opened my lip's wound, and the blood gushed. "Aw, fuck!" Heero mixed up the contents of the sack from the drugstore and pulled out more gauze. "Let me." He pressed a fresh compress of gauze to my lip, and he held it in place firmly. "Thanks." "To answer your question, no, I didn't live in the asylum, and, before you ask, I didn't live in the jail either." The corners of his mouth turned up. I had the sudden urge to kiss his lips. Too bad about that. "You can see my old place now." What I saw was a castle on a hill cleared of timber at the forest's edge. "That place! That's not a home!" "You don't need to tell me that," he laughed aloud. "It was converted into a resort with the nice beaches and natural outdoor hot springs and our room." "Just our room? Nobody else here?" "I wish. No, there are accommodations for others, too. You'll be the only one I'll be seeing, though." "Oh." I liked that. Now, that was romantic. And sweet. "Time to fasten your seatbelts, gentlemen," Shari called out from the cockpit. "the landing strip is straight ahead." After landing, Shari sent our bags ahead to the resort. "I have to locate the keys to the island car. I won't be long. It's right over there, the Ferrari two-seater." "The resort goes in for smokin' hot cars," I said, running my hand over the mirror-like, black hood appreciatively. "This is too high maintenance for my tastes." I winced and closed my eyes, leaning back against the wall. Heero may have said that and meant that, but he was drooling over the little black number just the same. "You sure you're up to this?" he asked me, for the umpteenth time. God, buck it up, Duo! I really needed to get over myself, push back the minor pain and enjoy this break from routine. "No fog and no clouds? We may never get another day like this all summer. I'll be okay, but thanks for asking." "Here you are, Mr. Yuy." Heero turned at the sound of Shari's approach. "Thanks for running these down for me," he said as he took the keys. He gave Shari further instructions for preparing the plane for their return flight home, but I wasn't listening. I was impatiently messing with the door handle. The lock disengaged and I slipped into the passenger seat. First thing, I checked my face in the visor mirror. "Is it broken?" he asked as he poked a finger at my jaw, and threw the car into a rubber-laying reverse. "No, it's not dislocated either. Bone bruise. The joint's sore and swollen, too, so I can't open my mouth far." I flipped up the visor and turned to face him. "It'll be black and blue shortly. With luck, the discoloration will stick around long enough for the performance and I'll be able to get out of the whole play thing. Ah... that was a joke. I can't smile or my lip starts to bleed again." "I had forgotten about ... the play. Are those pain killers helping any?" He shook the paper bag from the druggist while pealing away from the landing strip and rip-snorting down the narrow drive. "Fine." Okay, he didn't believe that shit from me. He opened the bag, fumbled around inside with the bottles, and checked the labels. "Narcotics." "Either keep your eyes on the road and drive or I will." His eyes shifted forward and I grabbed the sack. "These are mostly codeine derivatives, which is why I not taking them until I go to sleep. I need my concentration unimpaired." "Hn." He grunted. He had accepted what I said and respected my wishes and moved on. I guess it did work both ways with us. "Look over there! Nesting herons in the trees. If you would like to, we can park and stroll the stream down to the shoreline and look for shells." "Absolutely. What a superb day!" And when we were out of the car, he took my hand in his, locking fingers, and guided me along the stream to the beach. I hadn't the heart to stop him; I wanted to walk forever into the sunset and kiss him in the crashing waves in the sun's dying light. But I couldn't; I hadn't the energy. I leaned on him and stopped, feet buried in the clean, pure sand. And he read me like a book. "The beach is not going anyplace. It will be here tomorrow. Why don't we go back, have some dinner..." "Sold!" He smiled and would have carried me all the way back to the sizzling hot sports car, if I'd let him. I think I slept the whole fifteen minute drive to the resort. Heero checked in at the desk, while a clerk loaded our bags onto a dolly and rolled them away. I looked at my face in the lobby mirror, examining it closely. I'm not usually a narcissistic man, but I'd never had my face messed with. I had always been able to hide the damage done to me. "The lip looks painful," Heero said in a low voice, like a velvet caress in my ear. "I gotta give that guy credit. He knows his stuff. He was good. One hit, just right, nothing broken, nothing serious, but enough to ruin my weekend. He could have easily killed me, if he'd wanted to, but he wasn't stupid enough to do anything extreme. Too bad for you, Ty Keel, wherever you are. Yuy's mine." I heard Heero's sudden intake of air. I must have surprised him. When I heard his voice, husky and sexy sounding in my ear, I got goose bumps. I guess he liked my possessiveness. "I like being yours," he said. If I'd hadn't been starving, I would have taken him to our room and let my imagination rip. "That's good. So, ah, are you about ready for dinner?" "Coming, dear," he purred in my ear, and then he stepped to my side and took my arm, wrapping it over his. "I was hoping to avoid this, but the resort hostess noticed our arrival and she wants us to join her." "Are we that important? Do you know this person?" "Not that I know of. Don't be afraid." "Afraid? I'm not afraid of anything. I don't intimidate easily either." "I know. I admire that about you." I held the ice pack to my face. "Am I dressed okay?" "Yes. Your suit from your court appearance looks better than what I have on." His eyes scanned me from head to toe and he smiled. His eyes- how can I explain that look? Desire wrapped up in something warmer and absolutely genuine. No cross purposes to figure out. I could only hope I could transmit something akin to that to him. I told him he was mine, but really he was his own man to give. "Okay. Lead on." He escorted me through the cold stone hallways and I think he liked the feeling of being in charge. I don't think he'd had many chances in the past and I, well, I had my job to supply that for me. What I needed was for him to completely dominate my body and possess me like he did before. Remembering the exciting feeling of his mouth on my cock stirred it to life. My erections always had great timing as a kid, and I was being sarcastic. Naturally, this was a fine time to choose to get demanding, now that we were already on our way to eat. We made our way from the lower level entranceway, past the occasional faded tapestry or dark landscape painting which acted to break up the monotonous gray blocks between dimly lit wall sconces, to the second story dining room. He hesitated at the door. "So? Go in," I urged. "I just want to say," his eyes roved over my face appreciatively, and then lowered to encompass my whole person in that way he could and not make me feel anything but treasured, "how terrific you look tonight, Duo." He held out a hand and touched my hair, his eyes open and luminous. "You are the most beautiful man I have ever set eyes on." "Oh..." I looked askance and blushed under his hot gaze. "Thanks. Listen, I'm not good at accepting compliments, okay?" "Get better." He opened the door and stepped aside, "You first." (o) Duo strode confidently into the dining room in spite of his injured jaw and swollen lip, and having to adjust his pants. If he had wanted to go to our room and skip the meal, I would have jumped at the opportunity, but now that we were at the dining room I could not avoid comparing what I remembered with what I was seeing. I wondered how much the old castle, the containment of my past, had changed. I took in the rich rococo decor in a glance. That had not altered at all. Florid wallpaper with gold leaf embellishments ringed the room; a huge crystal chandelier with asymmetrical scroll work hung over the centrally located and equally ornamented table, which was surrounded by no fewer than twenty elaborately ornate carved chairs. Faces I thought I had wiped from my mind turned to look at me from ghostly bodies seated around the table. I never was good at running away from my past. Duo brought me back to the here and now. "The light makes me think of a floating castle in the sky for some reason." It was a fleeting whimsical thought, because immediately after saying it, I watched his eyes swivel to the single occupant gracing the table. "Oh!" Oh, indeed. I did not expect to see her here. Nor her, me, from her surprised expression. It had been awhile. "Hiro Yuy? Gracious! Is that you? A little birdy told me to contact room 21 and invite them to dinner, but I didn't expect you." That "little birdy" had to be the vulturine vampire, Zechs Merquise. Duo's eyes had widened in disbelief and a gasp escaped his swollen lips. "Wha--?" "And who's the pretty creature you have brought tonight?" "Hello, Lady Une. This is my good friend, Duo Maxwell. Duo, I introduce to you Lady Une." Duo, not to be wowed by anyone for long, said, "Nice ta meetcha—again. You don't remember me? From the Valentine's Day dance? You got my card and we danced. You sure look terrific tonight." "Oh, why...thank you. Yes! Of course, how could I forget a face like yours, although...What happened to your face? It looks terrible. Does it hurt?" "I ran into a door just before leaving, heh, heh... I plan to take some pain killers and go to bed after dinner, but thanks for asking." "Really? It looks painful. Have the nurse look at you after dinner; there is one on call from the desk. We have medical help onsite because we are so, well, isolated." "Ah, thanks, but it's not as bad as it looks. I'll be fine." "Very well. Yes, I recall that gala all now. You were such a good dancer and so handsome and I introduced you to another young man, a graduate management student, Mr. Winner." "Yeah, Quat turned out to be a, ah, nice guy. He's a good friend, now. So, I thought you were the Sanc hospital administrator not a resort operator? Hey, this is some place ya got here. Heero didn't tell me you lived in a castle. Kinda dark and gloomy, but I like that aspect of it. Good looking spread on the table. This all for us?" "If you like." If Lady Une was nonplused by Duo's quick change of topics, she didn't show it. She revealed nothing with her polite smile. The fine-boned woman with the light brown hair pulled back into a tight bun didn't look a day over twenty. She had had her eighteenth birthday party the day I left. It was not an exaggeration to say she had hardly aged since I saw her last. "Had I been given advanced notice, I would have had some entertainment planned." Lady Une poked at her salad and warily watched us, like a mother goose with young nearby. I didn't feel like her quarry, but more like we were being evaluated. Would we supplement or compromise her ongoing project? Her sideways glances my way reinforced the notion that I in particular posed a dilemma for her-- include me or eliminate me, but then I recognized her as my guardian's oldest daughter. "So are you employed in Sanc and here both?" I asked as I pulled out a chair for Duo and then took my place at his side. "Both. I'm filling in for a friend here. It is like a vacation actually. Will you be staying long?" "No." I was curt. I had investigations to conduct, which would be hard enough to do without Duo being aware, but Lady Une would have to be avoided as well. I knew that the best way to do this was to say little so that I could conceal my motivations and not upset anyone. "That's too bad. I'm sure you will want to return again, then. Here, dear, try the eggplant in garlic. You are so slender, Mr. Maxwell; you can have all the sausage you wish. It's too spicy for me tonight." Duo, I was relieved to find, let nothing interfere with his meal. He ate with his usual gusto, favoring the one side of his mouth only slightly. "It has been a long time since I've seen you, Hiro. You have grown." Duo looked at me, questioning me silently, so I explained. "Lady Une was the oldest daughter of my guardians when I lived here. We only met on rare occasions." "And then you stole a plane and flew away when you were only a child! You came back and left, I heard, several times since then." She tapped her wine glass with a long polished fingernail. Nails like hers reminded me of death-dealing talons—with bloody tips. There were vampire birds; in fact, the other night I watched "Islands of the Vampire Birds" a documentary on blood-loving finches. The most important source of food for these birds, during the extended droughts, is blood. The finches would begin by landing on the tail of a seabird. They would peck at the base of its wing feathers, break the skin and cause it to bleed. As the blood would ooze out, the finches would sip it every few seconds. Other finches would line up like a queue at a blood bank and as soon as one would leave its blood-sucking perch another would take its place. It looked gruesome. But Duo looked devastatingly desirable. So much so, that when I looked again, Une's nails were actually rather attractive and when I thought about it rationally, talons were not beaks. Beaks made me think of mouths and hers was moving. "...or did you? Oh, he's not listening. But it's the truth. Hiro rarely visits so you must be someone special." Lady Une was scrutinizing Duo again. I could tell she was extremely curious about him, and he remained a very cool customer under the strained circumstances. Also, Duo's mouth was too full to say much. I think the soreness was slowing his chewing and he had not yet adjusted the fill rate to match. "Duo and I are to be in the same play, as is Zechs Merquise. When I expressed an interest a special vacation spot, he suggested Zodiac Island, so here we are. I plan to give Duo a tour, but then I'm expected back, so we won't be here long. It wasn't my plan to put you out, Lady Une." "A play?" Unfortunately, that became the topic for the remainder of our conversation, I think because we knew nothing about it to satisfy her interest. Duo managed to lay on the charm and throw her off with a few dark jokes that only someone in his line of work would accumulate. I loved them. I made mental notes to remember them. I imagined a new line of dark-humored cards as he talked. No one would care if I was quiet. There were thank-you cards, get-well cards, bon voyage cards, lover's cards. What about cards for odd people? "The last play I attended left the audience hanging. The plot never ended! It was terrible," Une said, as she made a face and stabbed at a curl of romaine. "Heh, heh," he chuckled. "Speaking of hanging, did you know that in Erwin, Tennessee an elephant was once hanged for murder?" She did not know that. What if the card sported a picture of a dead elephant, hanging from a tree, his trainer broken in two and inside the caption would read "This is not what I meant when I asked to hang out" or something like that, and then Duo's joke line? Une's muttering pulled my attention back to the table conversation. "Not fair, it's just not fair. I am so tired of eating salad and dieting to keep my weight stable," she complained under her breath. Her eyes soaked up Duo as he put away bite after bite of rich food. That remark led right into his next joke. "You know, Alice Chase, who wrote 'Nutrition for Health', died of malnutrition. Heh, heh... You gotta get more activity into your life. Me? I haul corpses around. Er, sorry...not for dinner talk that, heh, heh..." Une looked a little pale after that admission. So I supplied some back story. "He owns and runs Maxwell's mortuary." "Oh, that's right," she said. "I did know that. Someone has to see to the dead, don't they? Such rituals we inflict on ourselves." She chewed thoughtfully on her lettuce leaf. "You have no idea," he said, leaning over the table. "In the Spanish Pyrenees, when a beekeeper dies, each of his bees is splashed with a drop of black ink." Using his fork, he demonstrated painting little dots. He smiled at me and mouthed "pointillism." Well, he was close. I started to drift into my head, imagining him dotting me with his tongue, which looked long and flexible, well exercised from so much talking. I did tune in when he laughed at something said, which was fortunate because I was alert enough to hear him followed up with another good card greeting I could use. "Did you know that the tiny poison arrow frog has enough poison to kill over 2200 people?" And, no, Une did not know that either. "Well, I shall look forward seeing you in a play, whatever it is about." Lady Une flicked off her beeping alarm watch. "Oh, the time! I'm afraid my time as hostess is over for the evening. The lab requires constant supervision, and now I must relieve my chief scientist. Hiro, you can show your... friend... to the pink room across the hall from yours. It hasn't been used in a long time, but I'm sure it will do for one night. The room you were assigned has only the one bed. I'll have it keyed to open with the single pass before you finish here." Once again, she focused her attention onto Duo. "I am glad you visited the beach earlier. I think our shores are quite lovely, but frequently inaccessible, sadly, because of the constant bad weather. We sit out here in the ocean with no protection from nature's whims." "How did you know we were at the beach?" I must have sounded paranoid, but I wanted to know if we were being monitored. "Duo has fine white sand under his fingernails. It is unique to our beaches." She smiled at him. "Oh, yes, and tonight another storm is blowing in, I understand, so it may delay your departure tomorrow until late." Lady Une concluded her speech with the placement of her napkin on her plate, and then stood. "I must go now." "Oh? Well, nice to see you again, Lady Une," Duo said. Duo, I could tell, was not frightened by her. The good food was the cause, in part, and possibly he had medicated himself before dinner. I refused to nag him about his pain. He was far better informed than I when it came to how to drug himself. I wondered, though, if he sensed something creepy about her. Creepy and inherently evil. Vampire bird suited her. "Yes. Perhaps we'll meet in the morning, then. Goodnight." Lady Une stepped briskly to the door and closed it after her. The woman's polite demeanor did not disguise her underlying annoyance with our presence on her island—not from me. I felt it like the bass line in rock music- ever-present, but not expressed in the melody. Lady Une had been surprised by our arrival, mine in particular, and I felt unwelcome. At least I knew Zechs hadn't warned her; at least, I didn't think they could be in league together. And then there was the woman's unearthly youth. I repeatedly sneaked peeks at her while she was talking to Duo. When the leashed-in aggression, controlled reserve. and unnatural lack of aging were all put together, it set me on edge. My spider sense was banging a big bass drum, though that could also have been my heart beat. It suggested a hidden agenda and evil intentions. "So, Heero, what now? You really off to bed so early?" With Lady Une gone, Duo's spirits, and mine, returned to near normal. "That's right. It's later than you think. We didn't leave the beach until nearly eight, and now it's after ten." "Don't I get at least a quick tour of this place?" I took in the fatigue-etched lines around his eyes and the dark bruising climbing up from his jaw. "Our reservations are for two nights, but considering the storm," Then I saw disappointment unmasked in his eyes, "How about an indoor tour later this evening?" "Okay." He paused to yawn and wince when he over-stretched his mouth. "Yeah. I guess I can use a chance to digest awhile. But if the storm's not a big deal, I want the outside tomorrow. I can wait till then. " "You will wait." "Only to save you from facing you childhood fears and roaming the wolf-ridden grounds in the dark." He tilted his head to the side and smirked at me. "I almost believe you care about me, with that rare show of sensitivity." Duo punched my his arm. "How's that for sensitivity?" "I stand corrected." I kicked him in the pants and he kicked back as we started out of the dining room. We traded friendly punches along the hallway to the stairs where he bounded up ahead to get a better attack stance. And elderly couple coming down the stairs squashed his plans and stifled our behavior. Too bad. I liked his playful side. At times I worried that his job had aged him beyond his years. I escorted Duo up to the third floor. "Most of the private living quarters are on this level. This is your room." The pass key was in the lock, as promised. That was fast. I opened the door wide and flicked on a light switch. "How come I get the pink one?" "Take a look. I don't see your bag, but of course they must have left them all in the other room." "Oh, wow, Heero! This is great. There's a balcony and everything. I gotta tell you, when Une said 'pink room' I was thinking something pretty perverse, but this is great." The walls were covered in burgundy striped wallpaper with dark cherry wood wainscoting below. A small bed with a creamy bedspread and tissue-thin matching canopy occupied the center of the room. There was space at the side for a small dresser, which acted as a bedside table, and an alcove with built-in rod and hangers. The only pink item in the room was a beautiful floral carpet adorned with full-blown roses in various rich shades of pink and red. Light issued from an out-of-place modern fixture overhead. "Where will you be?" he asked with what I have to say was the craftiest look I had ever seen. "I'll show you, so you don't get lost." I pointed out the bathroom a door down from his and my room directly across from that. "I'll leave my door ajar in case you need anything, like your bag." "Maybe that," he replied. "Okay, well then, I guess I'll see you in the morning. What do I do?" Now he was being coy, and doing a bang up job of it, but I could pretend to be oblivious. It was only a game and we both knew it. "Get some sleep. I'll come get you early in the morning. I want to beat out that storm she predicted, if possible. Good night, Duo. Sorry I can't be any more entertaining for you tonight." "'Sokay." Duo waved and returned to his room, the pink room. He was chuckling so I knew he wouldn't hold out alone for long. He would come running for me in a minute. I was sure. (o) The first thing I did when I entered the pink room was to give my face a thorough examination in the bathroom mirror. One side had become a tight splotchy mask. I muttered under my breath how I'd love to take that thug apart with my bread knife someday, which appeased my ego slightly. Certain that there were no broken bones, I brushed my teeth and swallowed two more Tylenols. I had some fantasies to work out with Heero before I'd be getting any sleep. I needed to be alert and would be better off fighting down some pain then trying to battle the fogginess of the more effective pain killers I had bought. Those I would reserve for later. The question was, how long before Heero showed up? And if he could outlast me, how long to wait before crawling into his bed? I flung myself upon the bed, not bothering to remove my clothes or turn down the bedclothes. I had no intention of sleeping; resting a little would do fine. But resting was difficult. I could hear all manner of things- the wind gathering force caused the windows to rattle and the gusts sounded eerily like howling. The room was stuffy, so I slid off the bed and unlatched the windows. A burst of wind swept my hair away from my face. I removed the tie at the end of my braid and untwisted the rope. The wind caught the strands and tossed long coils into the air. I wrapped my arms around over my chest and shivered as the cold dampness chilled me through. It was as if the weather had capriciously skipped from summer into winter while we had dinner. Then I heard the howling. It was coming from someplace else, not from the wind over the ocean. "Wolves!" Those had to be the wolves Heero had told me about. It was a terrible sound to hear alone like that in my room, and to make a bad thing worse there were more noises growing in intensity with the wind. All around me were the sound of voices moaning, wailing cries on the wind, and the groans of the wooden stanchions supporting the overhanging portions of the castle bending under pressure. It took considerable strength to step back, push the windows shut, and latch them tightly closed, leaving my heart to pound against my ribs, fighting to get out. "This will not make it any easier to get to sleep. So, I might as well go pay my boyfriend a visit and give up the act." In fact, the dark room was pressing in on me, the floral rug oppressive. "I'm not staying in here another minute." I ran out the door and down the hall to Heero' room. "All right you win. Damn it, 'Ro, I did not come here to sleep alone." And he just laughed, having won our 'hard to get' game by simply waiting me out. (o) "'Ro? Heero? Where are you? Where's the light?" Duo whispered as he entered the room. It was absolutely dark, but my eyes were adjusted so that I could make out the general furniture arrangement. His were not. "I am in bed, like I said. And my overhead light is not working; the bulb must be burned out. Watch the legs on the bed to avoid stubbing a toe," I recommended as he crept to my bedside. "If I'd known I'd be having company, I would have lit a candle." "Bastard. Light it, if you actually have one." I laughed at his cute irritability while snapping on the lighter. I liked the smell of melting wax and the golden glow of candlelight. Duo scrambled into bed alongside me, soaking up my warmth with a grateful moan. His unharmed jaw side was to me, giving me the opportunity to stare at his profile, pale against the darkness beyond. The candle light flickered in escaping eddies from the cracks around the old windows and made the highlights in his hair sparkle. "You let it down." I couldn't resist reaching out to smooth his hair, to roll my hand up in the lustrous length of it and to push back the bangs to reveal his dark eyebrows. I was struck by his usually animated features now immobile. Handsome-- perfection in still life. "Your hair is amazing." "It's a bitch loose, I can tell ya." "Who is a loose bitch?" I asked. "Yuy, you are in some mood tonight." "Umm." I had covered my face and head and chest and as much of the rest of my naked body with his hair, draping it in hunks, fanning, and spreading it all over. "Man, am I glad no one can see this," Duo said. "What are you talking about?" Did he not want me to play in his hair? "I just got in bed with you and I'm entirely dressed. And you know why? Okay, because I was so fucking scared of the wolves howling in wind out there. And s-stop laughing!" Which would have meant more if he hadn't been laughing too. "God, it hurts, it hurts," he cried out with a hand over his mouth. I moved closer, my breath drawn, movements slow and even, cautious not to jar him or pull his hair, and then I kissed him lightly on his cheek. "Night." "Oh, no you don't. You're not gonna make me go to bed, not... at 10 o'clock at night, fully dressed, with you...fuck, you are totally naked. Is that my hair or yours? Damn, that looks hot. I am not missing out here after waiting so long for this." "Well, I cannot kiss you suitably. You can't kiss me..." He had me by the collar, dragging my face to his. "So we don't kiss." I licked his nose, but I also unhooked the top button of his shirt. "Is this all right?" "I-it's a start." I really liked the waver in his voice, so I unbuttoned three more, revealing a deep "V" of chest skin which I had to taste. His skin felt like satin. He smelled like a man, musky. The skin warmed as my tongue painted our initials on his chest. "W-who needs a kiss?" I undid the remaining buttons and pulled off his shirt. I couldn't keep my hands from caressing the muscles across his chest, his shoulders, arms. So slim but cut like a weight lifter and pale, so pale. I squeezed and rubbed, unknotting the rigid line of muscles along his neck and back. He melted in my hands and moaned for more. "Aah, oh yeah... Hired." "Pardon?" "You're hired. My personal assistant. Full time. Starting immediately." "What about the pay?" His eyes were luminous. He was offering me anything I wanted. I could take it all, but I wouldn't. "Too much," I whispered. I was not sure he understood my meaning. I was wearing my boxers to bed and I still had a bit to go before Duo was equally undressed, so I rubbed his crotch to see his reaction. "Take them off before I start screaming." "All right." I wanted to go slowly and exaggerate the excitement, but he was not into drawing out the foreplay. As I unzipped, he shimmed out of his slacks, taking the shimmery, satin shorts along with them. I recognized them as the ones I had given to him. Then he was tugging on mine. "Off." I obliged him and his hands were encircling my erection like kudzo vine. Kudzu is a vine native to Japan and China that when left uncontrolled will eventually grow over almost any fixed object in its proximity including other vegetation. That was Duo on me. His fingers investigated; his palms stroked my most private parts. When he smoothed his prickly cheek against my groin, I jumped. Then, apparently satisfied that I possessed all the important parts he was expecting, his arms wrapped around me. His legs intertwined with mine. I just lay flat out on my back and let him roam. When he came up for air he said, "I just can't get enough of you. Good thing dinner was big or I'd have to eat you." "Good thing. Oh..." It felt so incredible to be groped and caressed and touched and adored by him. Too incredible. I hadn't been intimate in a long time. All it took was one look when he was lining up our erections to compare length and breadth, and that did it. "I'm longer but not by much and thicker around here. See? But you are straighter with more flare at the tip and redder..." "God, Duo!" I came in thick, ropey spurts over his hands, his erection, and my chest. "Oh, that is hotter than Hell!" he told me, as if I hadn't been noticing. He used my seed to stroke us together. That. Just to watch him do that made me rock hard in seconds. Flaccid to rigid and ready to go again in under 30 seconds. That had to be some sort of record. It was for me. "This okay?" he asked. I opened my eyes in time to see him coat his middle finger with cum. I did not care what he had in mind. I just nodded. As long as he did something. What he did was start prodding my anus with said finger. "Pretty tight, 'Ro." It had been a while. The digit popped in and he pushed. "This'll be good in a second." Did he need reassurance that I was loving everything he was doing to me? "It's good now. Oh!" He massaged my prostrate and stroked our erections. I was better this time. I lasted at least fifteen seconds. "I-I...ah" I forced my eyes open so I could watch him come. He exploded and shouted and I had to contain him with my arms or he might have rolled off the bed, hair flying. We lay together for a long time cementing ourselves together. "Duo? I've got to move. I'll bring us some towels. Just stay where you are." "Not...moving. Promise." I grabbed my pants and zipped up in order to leave the room. I washed up in the bathroom and returned with a damp towel and a dry one. "Wake up. I have something for you." "Not...asleep," he muttered groggily. "Good. You can open this while I clean you off." "Thanks. You brought me a September greeting card!" He watched me wipe off the sticky cum and dry him off, then he opened the envelope. "It says to Duo, so I got the right one." "The one and only one like that." "Oh... pretty." It was a drawing of him outlined in violet with fall leaf prints. "You are so good. I mean, you know that, but it always surprises me how you can capture my expression with so few lines. Cool. Okay, what did you write...?" "May love bind us through sickness and in health until death do us part." "Ah, that's -" His troubled tone sent my hope into the closet and freed up my fears to come out. "Was it too soon to sound like we are so permanent?" I asked. He studied my face and then smiled. "No, 'Ro. I think of us like that already, too. I really want us to be that way. It's really love, isn't it?" "Yes. I really love you. I've never been in love, but I've written many cards about it, many poems. And this is greater than all that. You are..." "Yours. I am yours and you are mine. And, well, I thought I had the great love of my life, but I was wrong. I am so free with you, we are so balanced, I feel so..." "Complete." "Yeah." "Me, too." He set the card aside and slid under the sheets with me. We knotted up together, unknotted, twisted, adjusted arms and legs. At last I turned over with my back to him, he spooned up around me, whispered "I love you", which I whispered back, and I fell asleep instantly and unexpectedly.
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