Title: Everyone's Dream
Author: Mair
Pairings: 1+2+1, 1x1, 2+13+2(mentioned), 3+4+3
Warnings: AU, shounen- ai, little bit of lime action. Minor angst. Bad grammar.
Feedback: I crave it all...
Disclaimer: I own nothing this is all for fan fiction purposes!!!

Everyone's Dream + Part 9

Duo picked at his food. The conversation that morning with Quatre and Trowa enlightened him to some difficulties. Heero'd had an assistant before. He fired said assistant after a disagreement. He was Heero's new assistant. Heero trusted him. Heero was attracted to him. Heero took off his shirt and put him in the same bed. Duo couldn't make heads or tails out of it.

Heero was gay and he wasn't seeing Relena. Relena set him up with a complex. Duo frowned, pushing the eggs into the potatoes on his plate. He bit the inside of his lip. He didn't know what kind of relationship Heero and Relena had but chances were that after about 5 years of abstinence Heero was a tad frustrated.

Duo set down his fork, thinking. The albums mentioned Heero's name on the song author list. However, the past two albums hadn't had as many mentions of him for songs. 'MechTech' only had him with two songs on it. He frowned. Heero tended to drink after the concerts. He usually had a drink when working on songs. Sexual frustration plus the beginnings of alcoholism could lead to stagnation in the song department.

He pushed his plate away, searching for the connection. He blinked. It was so simple. Duo sipped his coffee and stood up. He set the cup down and walked out of the dining room. Heero knew he was slipping. Heero must think that if he couldn't write songs that the band would fail and it would be his fault. Solely. And the drinking wouldn't do anything for his state of mind.

Duo grinned as he punched the elevator button. Mission: Help Heero stop drinking, write songs, and discover that a relationship can be discreet.

* * *

Heero poured himself another glass as he obsessed over Duo's note. Maybe Duo hadn't been oblivious as he seemed to be at the club? Maybe he had a problem with him? Heero replaced the cap on the bottle. He shouldn't be drinking this early in the day. They had a shuttle out at four.

He knocked the glass back and swallowed. He set the glass down and decided a shower would be a good idea. Maybe it would help. He walked to the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower.

Heero walked over to his suitcase, stripped off his boxers and shoved them into the dirty laundry section. He walked back to the bathroom and stepped into the shower.

Hot water ran over his skin, hitting like an impossibly hot rain. He sighed, turning to let the water hit his back. Duo. He knew Duo was star struck at the beginning of the tour but that wore off quickly. Yes, Duo was still a fan but he knew that they were human. Duo knew he was human. Duo actually argued with him. No one argued with him. Duo treated him as though he had something to give.

Heero glared tiled wall. He couldn't even write a damn song. He didn't even see how they were similar until Duo told him. He started to wash, feeling the embarrassment and shame that came with the memories. This wasn't helping his current situation any; thinking about one of the most drop dead handsome men to come his way embarrassing him by telling him about his own songs.

Heero turned in the shower, rinsing off the soap. Duo'd want to know what happened at the club. What should he tell him? He couldn't get involved, no matter how much he wanted to. Heero slowly exhaled, trying to ignore the rush of blood directed at his nether regions as he remembered the lithe body pressed up against him. He reached down, thinking of the feel of Duo's lips against his. Heero closed his eyes, breathing harder as he remembered the taste those lips left on his. He worked himself, fondling, pulling, squeezing and caressing as he remembered removing Duo's shirt and easing the lightly muscled figure into his bed. He gasped as he released suddenly.

He made an effort to calm his breathing. He turned off the water and stepped out. Duo was too much of a risk. It took all of his control not to do anything to Duo last night. He placed him between the sheet just to make sure only to find out that Duo was a born cuddler. Heero toweled off remembering how he froze when Duo rolled over into him. Duo draped an arm over him and Heero became hard almost immediately. That had to have been what spurned his dream this morning.

Heero wrapped the towel around him and opened the bathroom door and stopped. What was Duo doing here?

Duo shifted from his perch on his bed and smiled. "I let myself in." He held up the extra room key in response to the unasked question.

"Look, I know a lot about what you've told the press. I figured I'd try and find out about the real you behind the press, behind the music, behind the mask of the band... So I'm gonna tell you about me. It's only fair. It's not like there aren't two more months on this tour."

"I just got out of the shower."

"So? You can get dressed and eat while I talk."

"I already ate."

"So get dressed and pack then."

"Leave."

Duo smirked. "This sounds suspiciously like the start of last night. Just get dressed Heero, I'm not going to jump you or something."

Heero fought the urge to respond back to that. He walked to the suitcase and grabbed the first pair of boxers he found.

"I grew up on L2. It wasn't particularly fun. My father died of alcohol poisoning in conjunction with a fever that swept through L2 when I was 4. My mother ended up trading favors on a corner to make sure I had a roof over my head. I was about seven when some john decided to play rough and killed her. The government sent over a social worker about a week later, but by then I was long gone." Duo paused to admire the ass he saw as Heero dropped the towel. Mentally he shook himself.

"I ran into a kid named Solo who hooked me up with this church he knew of. He'd been taken in a while before that and he was about... fourteen at the time. Ironic that his name was Solo and mine was Duo." He shrugged and grinned as Heero pulled on his pants. "She was a hippie who loved my father. They thought it would be cute to name me Duo after the duo she and my father made. Anyway, another irony of the situation was the priest. His last name was Maxwell. Same as mine. Solo always did get a kick out of that. Father Maxwell taught school at the church so all our lessons were there."

Duo shifted on the bed watching Heero try and pick out a shirt. "Try the green one. The long sleeved one." Duo smiled as Heero picked up the shirt. "When I graduated from the local highschool I petitioned for scholarships. L2 wasn't about ready to give me any more schooling, it's too poor a colony and there are too many people who want scholarships. I knew I had no chance there so I tried for outside scholarships and got one with Quatre's family. I've been at college for the past three years workin' my ass off and now I'm here."

Heero gave him an odd look. "You haven't told me everything."

Duo blinked. "Yeah I did."

"You told me the surface."

He actually got it. This might be easier than he thought. Duo smirked. "If you want to know personal details, you have to ask."

Heero stared at him. "You want to know my personal life. Tell yours."

Duo blinked. Heero hadn't asked, but he had. Mentally he shrugged. Good enough. "Ok, when I was twelve I got a major crush on Solo. He was nineteen at the time and damn fine looking. Unfortunately for me, he's straight. He hooked me up with a girl and I went out with her for a couple of times, but we're better friends than anything else. There's been maybe one other girl I've been remotely attracted to and that was one of Q's sisters. However, most of the people I've been attracted to have been guys. I've had one boyfriend. Trieze went to a different college that Q and I go to. We dated for about...four months then called it quits. He wanted to do things I wasn't ready for and he had a bit of a roving eye."

"Coming from someone who flirts with everyone?" Heero asked.

Duo grinned. "I flirt, but I don't promise anything nor am I actually serious. People know that and accept that. If I'm serious, I'll still flirt but I'll actually talk to you as well."

"Hn."

"So what about you?"

Heero stared at Duo. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"I've told everything."

"Let's go back to last night then. You knew what Torch was and you were worried someone might recognize you there. Why?"

"All kinds of people listen to our music. The band has an image. I cannot tarnish the image of the band by being recognized in a place such as that."

Duo snorted. "Give people some credit. This isn't the 20th century. People don't just stop buying peoples albums if they find out or think they're gay."

A startled look crossed Heero's face. "What do you mean by that?"

"Look... Back then homophobic people ran the world. In today's day and age the colonies and the world have relaxed. People aren't so uptight. I bet that if half the band turned out to be gay it wouldn't matter." Duo's smile turned a little self mocking. "The average person knows they don't have a chance in hell to actually meet you folks much less actually fit into your lives as a partner. It's just the 1% of the psycho's that never get the clue and even then it's hard for one of them to actually get close enough to you."

"Not that hard."

"So Trowa mentioned. But hey, that was a bit of bad luck that's over and done with. Psyco bitch is gone now and you're packing enough fire power to take anyone out who tries to pull that one again." Duo replied. He hoped revealing this card helped. "At any rate, I still don't know how you managed to fix a bullet wound on your own leg. It must have stung something awful."

"Trowa told you about Une?"

"Well he didn't mention any names but... yeah."

"Just what else did Trowa tell you?"

"Not much." Duo could feel the tension start from Heero. "He told me that you don't trust anyone really and he was amazed that you let me sleep in your room last night. Quatre figured it was just cause you couldn't find the key to mine."

"Just when did you talk to the two of them this morning?" Heero asked, eyeing the braided figure sitting in front of him. "I woke up when you left, it's barely been an hour."

Duo squirmed. "Well I kinda walked in on the two of them while they were waking up."

Heero gave him a hard look and Duo held up his hands. "Look if you want further details you'll have to ask them about it. They certainly didn't give me any. But I do know that they're trying to figure out what to do. Assess how an open relationship would affect the band and all."

Heero shook his head and walked over to the table with the bottle of JD. He picked it up and unscrewed the cap. He almost managed to pour before Duo took the bottle away.

"Something else for you, Heero. It's too early in the day to start drinking and this one, by the look of the glass, wouldn't be your first." Duo walked to the bathroom and poured the JD down the sink. "Heero, alcohol doesn't help you deal with things. It's a crutch that's eventually gonna snap."

Duo dropped the now empty bottle in the trash can and turned to face a livid Heero. "You drink when you need to write, need to create, need to deal with life, need to relieve stress... Let me tell you something. A drink to unwind is good. A drink socially with friends is good. Getting plastered at noon is not one of those I just mentioned. Unless I buy you the drink, you are no longer allowed to partake of anything. If you need help writing songs, ask. Quatre is a musician and I'm a sympathetic ear. If I find you with another bottle, I'll pour it out. Got it?"

Heero advanced on him. "You don't understand. Everything could-"

Duo cut him off. "Nothing is going to happen! Listen to me. The press only knows what you tell them! Quatre and Trowa know that! Shit! Quatre is the heir to a quarter of the money in the colonies! Trowa is a celebrity! I also know from a fan standpoint that at least a quarter of your fans are bi! The band isn't gonna go anywhere if you put out a kick ass album and what I've heard you people coming up with just by jam sessions on the flights is good enough to convince me about the next album!"

"Get out and leave me alone." Heero hissed.

"Heero-"

"Shut up and get out Duo!"

Duo's face darkened. He left the doorway and slammed the door as he left the room. Unknowingly, both echoed the other's thoughts.

Stubborn idiot.

[part 8] [part 10] [back to Mair's fic]