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"Permanent Press"Written By: t-shirt Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters are
copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
I make no money with this fic. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Fluff *nods*, sap *yeppers!*, WAFF *you
bet’cha!*, slight angst, moderate lemon Pairings: 1x2, 3x4 Summary: A young man with big dreams finds more than he bargained for when a handsome stranger walks into his local laundry mat. "Permanent Press"
Ch 3 The rest of the day was spent engrossed in the network and organizing his now ridiculously long favorites list. He emailed the new sites to himself so he could browse them at home and dashed for the elevator the moment the clock struck five. He couldn’t wait to see Hiiro, there was just so much to tell him he raced home, jerked the sheets off his bed and rushed toward the laundry mat slowing only when he stood before the door and realized Hiiro probably wouldn’t show up until well past eight. Deflated he looked left and right wondering where he might pass some time with a basket of sheets along for the ride then startled when the door suddenly burst open. “Duo?” Hiiro grinned looked as flustered as Duo felt. “You’re here!” Duo laughed delightedly. “I had a project to work on so I just brought it along,” Hiiro explained. “But I didn’t think you’d come till later.” “I couldn’t wait,” Duo chuckled moving inside when Hiiro stepped back. “You won’t believe what’s happened!” So he related the tale of his impulsive dinner and impromptu meeting with Quatre while he stuffed his sheets in a washer. There was a short, little Hispanic lady down at the other end slowly folding what looked to be at least six loads of clothes but they soon forgot her as Duo told Hiiro all the things that were brimming over in his mind. Time passed quickly and soon the lady was tucking her stacks of clothing into a rolling cart to take outside and Duo pinked when he caught the little smirk and knowing light in her eyes. He hadn’t thought he’d been being so obvious but backed away from his close proximity to Hiiro suddenly realizing his clothes had been done for awhile. “You kicked him in the nuts?” Hiiro chuckled helping extract the sheets from the machine. “He called me a girly boy,” Duo defended. “And he’s a total asshole. The guy had some serious issues.” “So,” Hiiro smiled guiding the rolling basket to the machine he’d put his sheets in earlier. “What’s it like moving up?” Duo smiled softly helping roll the wet knot of cotton in with Hiiro’s bedding. “It’s really nice. There’s a receptionist, Silvia. Very professional,” he nodded sagely. “And the office they gave me is nicer than my apartment,” he laughed liking the way Hiiro chuckled along. “Oh,” he added tucking the basket under a folding table. “And they have the most amazing paintings down the other hall.” Hiiro smile widened upon hearing this comment as he absently handed Duo into a seat. “Really?” “Yeah,” Duo replied. “I haven’t gotten to see them all but there’s this one of the Horse Head Nebula that’s just incredible.” “You could tell?” “Sure,” Duo shrugged. “Have you ever seen it?” he asked drawing a book from his bag. “I’ve never understood why they call it that since I can’t find a horses head anywhere in the thing but anyone that’s ever actually looked at it could tell.” Hiiro watched with quiet interest while Duo found the proper page and presented it to him. “See?” “I know it,” Hiiro smiled turning the book in a certain way. “There it is,” he pointed drawing a line with his finger on the picture. “Here’s the eye… that’s the nose…” Duo squinted his eyes and cocked his head but came up with a jovial, “Nope… don’t see it.” “Got a pencil?” Duo dug a pencil and notebook out of his bag handing it to Hiiro who placed a sheet over the picture in the book and proceeded to draw the nebula embellishing the characteristic’s he had pointed out until a wispy, cloud like vision of an equestrian head began to appear. “Wooow,” Duo breathed delightedly. “That’s really good. Do you draw?” “I dabble,” Hiiro smiled returning his pencil and pad. “I’d love to see your drawings sometime,” Duo sighed returning the objects to his bag. “You will,” Hiiro promised reaching for his backpack. “But tonight I brought you something else.” Duo sat up with eager anticipation going wide eyed when Hiiro pulled a stack of research material from his bag. “Is that what I think it is?” he gasped already riffling through it. “Everything I’ve worked on for the past five years,” Hiiro smiled. “My ideas are founded on finding a way to solve distance by increased velocity but you see here? If you consider the ion signature of these readouts with your theory on solar anomalies…” “Holy shit!” Duo gasped snatching the pages into his lap. Neither noticed when the Hispanic lady left nor when the dryer chimed as they dove in and swam in the delectable stream of new information. It was well past ten when Hiiro finally noticed the time and drew Duo back to the present when the attendant showed up to lock up the mat. “Damn,” Duo sighed trying to organize the plethora of papers, books and readouts that were lying all over the folding tables, machines and chairs. “I had no idea…” “Times goes fast when you’re having fun,” Hiiro chuckled stuffing a handful of pages into his bag. Duo grinned doing the same and headed for the dryer with Hiiro in tow. “You’re work is really fascinating,” Duo commented while they tugged their twisted sheets apart. “Thanks,” Hiiro blushed. “But it was going nowhere until you came along. I can’t believe I never thought of the solar equation.” “It never occurred to me that an ion burst would help isolate them either,” Duo chuckled pausing awkwardly when he reached for a pillow case that Hiiro was also after. Hiiro smiled softly offering it to him as the brightly stripped pillow case was obviously not his and Duo shied as he took it averting his eyes when a tingle ran up his arm when their fingers touched. “You’re not girly,” Hiiro gently intoned calling Duo’s mildly shocked gaze back to him. “But you are quite beautiful when you blush.” Duo demonstrated the fact in fiery brilliance as his skin crisped dangerously but the moment was interrupted by the impatient attendant who jingled his keys loudly as he placed them in the door. Duo grinned all the way home flopping down in his newly washed sheets and cuddling up as if they were Hiiro’s arms as he wrapped them tightly around him. It couldn’t be real, nothing that had happened in the past few days seemed remotely possible but he had the emailed favorites and the global password to prove it. He also had a pair of briefs with Hiiro’s phone number inscribed on the waistband sitting on his dresser that made him laugh when he realized he had forgotten to return them. He wondered about his wayward sock then cuddled down deeper in his pillow hoping it was as happy as he was snuggled in with Hiiro’s clothes somewhere. The thought of snuggling with Hiiro brought a smile to his lips he felt deep in his heart as the Japanese boy’s words resounded in his head. ”But you are quite beautiful when you blush.” He giggled when his happiness over the comment bubbled in his chest and almost dove on the phone when it rang. “Hiiro!?” he gasped grinning from ear to ear. “You got home all right?” Hiiro replied sounding somewhat taken aback. “Of course!” Duo sang grinning at his ceiling. “I’m a big boy ya know?” “It was late,” Hiiro reasoned. “And I forgot to bring you your underwear,” Duo chuckled. “Oh…right,” Hiiro replied but there was an odd tenor in his voice. “Hiiro?” “You wanted to see some of my sketches?” “Yes,” Duo smiled anxiously awaiting the next line. “If you want to turn on the vid…” “Give me a sec!” Duo grinned bounding out of bed to open his laptop. Thirty second’s later he had the video feed jacked into the phone and was sitting in the lotus position on his bed, pillow in his lap and expectant light shining in his eyes. “Ok… I’m ready.” “K,” Hiiro replied and a moment later his face blinked into view on Duo’s monitor and the longhaired boy swallowed very hard. He hadn’t been expecting him to be shirtless and perched on the side of his bed but he wasn’t about to complain. He looked so damn good it made his toes curl though so he tucked them under the sheet and smiled. Hiiro seemed to be having some trouble deciding which picture to show him first as he shuffled through several sketch books strewn about his sheets then finally came up with one and flipped it open. “This is some of the older stuff,” he explained showing Duo a loose pencil sketch of the night sky. “It’s a star map right?” “Yes,” Hiiro smiled. “I used it with an essay I had to do in college.” “Do you ever do figurative work?” Duo asked curiously. “Sometimes,” Hiiro nodded selecting another book. “Wow,” Duo smiled getting a little more comfortable. “That’s so cool,” he complimented admiring the image of a young man pouring stars and planets from a vessel into the vastness of space. “Is it God?” “No,” Hiiro chuckled. “Just a man.” “He’s very creative,” Duo smiled sliding down onto his side. Hiiro shrugged turning the picture to look it over more carefully. “Here,” he said choosing yet another book. “You should like this one.” Duo snorted a sudden laugh hiding behind his pillow as he chuckled and blushed while Hiiro held up a sketch of his sock but it now had eyes and a mouth where the toes should be and was sniffling and looking entirely lost. “Guess I should have remembered to bring it home,” Hiiro chortled. “There’s something a bit scary about personifying a sock,” Duo sniggered. “Then I won’t show you what I did to the underwear,” Hiiro replied sending Duo into fits of laugher again. There were many more, images of star fields and celestial bodies as well as detailed illustrations drawn to aid in explaining papers he’d done in college but Duo’s favorites where the ones with figures in them. They were usually young men draw with such loving care it took his breath away to look at them. It wasn’t until the night had drifted into early morning that he realized all the figures bore some resemblance to Hiiro and each was in some way recreating their world. “You really want to help make things better,” Duo smiled from where he now rested his head on his pillow. “It’s all I ever wanted,” Hiiro chuckled adding on a whispered thread, “Until recently.” “Is there something else you want now?” Duo braved smiling sleepily in the dim light of his monitor. Hiiro curled a little closer to his and softly asked, “Do you really want to know?” “Mm,” Duo nodded. “I’d give just about anything to be able to touch you right now,” Hiiro confessed. Duo giggled softly hiding his pinking cheeks behind his pillow which brought a huge smile to Hiiro’s face and gave him the confidence to add, “Gods, you are so gorgeous I’m almost afraid to blink.” “I’m not so hot I’m going to melt away,” Duo chuckled. “You make me happy,” Hiiro smiled liking the way Duo shied and averted his eyes. “Go out with me tomorrow night.” “How about I make you dinner?” Duo suggested. “You cook too?” Hiiro grinned with much delight. “I dabble,” Duo chuckled. “But my place is really small…” “We could eat here,” Hiiro suggested. “I have a huge kitchen that I rarely use since I can’t seem to make toast without setting off the fire alarm.” Duo laughed heartily and agreed already working on the menu while Hiiro gave him his address and they said goodnight. It was a bit intimidating to learn that he lived uptown in one of the ritziest buildings in the city but it stood to reason considering his dress and manor. Hiiro had obviously done all right for himself but Duo fully intended to do the same especially in light of his recent promotion and newfound liberties. He slept deeply that night snuggled into dreams of bright sunny days spent basking in the glow of Hiiro’s affectionate gaze and woke feeling lighter than ever before. When he arrived at work Silvia greeted him with a bright smile and showed him where the break room was where he acquired a fresh cup of coffee and thought momentarily about the swill Yantz was no doubt suffering one floor below as he made his way to his plush new office. However, as he passed by the right hand hallway the paintings once again caught his eye. “Is it all right if I have a look at the art?” he asked as Silvia took her seat. “Of course,” she smiled. He returned the expression before wandering down the hall pausing to look more closely at the Horse Head Nebula and smiling when he managed to mentally draw in the vague image Hiiro had shown him. The next was definitely a star map but the next puzzled him greatly. It so closely resembled some of the sketches Hiiro had shown him he wondered if he had been influenced by the artist and went in search of a signature. The effort was fruitless however, as the artist had signed it in kanji and he had no clue what the pictogram meant. Still, it was a lovely image of a man’s chest in which was seated the heart of the universe where the human heart should have been. The skin was translucent so one could see the planets and stars contained within his breast bone and Duo felt a warm flush creep over his skin as he thought of the bare expanse of Hiiro’s chest in the monitor light. “Duo?” “Morning,” he smiled turning his attention from the painting to his Chinese partner. “Are you a patron of the arts?” Wufei asked sipping his cup of coffee. “I can appreciate this sort of expression,” Duo chuckled. “Did you get a chance to look at the information I sent you yesterday?” “About half of it,” Wufei snickered walking back toward their hall with him. “Do you always work this hard?” “Sorry,” Duo replied. “Guess I got a little carried away but that global access thing is totally righteous, man.” “I sent you a summary of my work,” Wufei informed him. “Let me know when you’ve had time to look it over.” “Great,” Duo smiled waving as he veered off toward his office and Wufei went on to his. He could hardly wait to get back into the system and start rooting around but Wufei’s comment about the email was foremost on his mind. He hadn’t had a chance to speak with him about the work that was already being done and was quite anxious to see just what he’d gotten himself into. If Hiiro’s residence was a bit intimidating then what he found in his inbox boarded on terrifying. He couldn’t believe the implications of some of the work. Wufei seemed to specialize in thermal mechanic’s and had already succeeded in creating a substance that could not only cut through the toughest barriers but maintained it’s strength and versatility in any atmosphere from air to water and even outer space. The applications were mind boggling but it was only the beginning. Quatre was definitely much more than merely the boss and had made contributions in both stasis streams in organic matter as well as solar energies that intrigued Duo endlessly. There was also a bit that surprised and delighted him when he discovered Trowa was more than a bed warmer and, in fact, on the payroll as a bioengineer. His research closely flowed along side of Quatre’s which made perfect sense when Duo thought about it. All in all he was overjoyed to find himself in such company and looked forward to the future with eager anticipation, the most exciting point at that moment being his date with Hiiro that evening.
~ * ~ tbc... |
