Author: Ravengirl
see part 1 for warnings, notes, disclaimers

[ ] = Duo's direct thought
// = lyrics

The Last Beautiful Girl + Part 7

Something was tickling my nose, which made it impossible for me to remain unconscious. Slowly cracking an eye, I was abruptly treated to a close-up of my hair as it swished back and forth across my face.

I let my lids slide the rest of the way open and found Heero leaning over me, propped up on one elbow and still butt-naked. He had the end of my half-wrecked braid in one hand and a hint of a smile on his face. What a way to wake up.

"This seemed like a good way to get your attention." He waved the braid at me. "I didn't want to startle you."

Smart boy, Heero. Startling the God of Death is NOT a good idea. He'll rip a guy from stem to sternum and I'll be left with a bloody mess on my hands. I'll be very apologetic on Shini's behalf, but it won't do me or his victim any good.

I'll bet you're starting to think I'm a schizoid freak. Well, you're not half wrong. It's how I got through both wars: compartmentalization. Duo's emotions and reactions went into one box, Shinigami's blood-lust in another. And never the twain shall meet... or so I hope. If they do, I sure don't want to be around for it.

'S why I got into the business I'm in. See, most people don't want to hire a former Gundam pilot. Doesn't matter that I got my damn engineering degree (and at UCSD, no less), nobody wants what comes with it. Body-guarding isn't my first choice of careers, but out on the West coast it's pretty cut and dried: observe the creepy fan/stalker... follow said fan/stalker to his/her car... let Shini out for a few minutes and there ya go! Problem solved.

At least most of the time. There've been a couple of glaring exceptions to the rule, but I handled those, too. Shini just stayed out longer than normal. And I had to get a serious hold of myself afterward.

"Duo, did you go back to sleep?"

"Uh?"

Jeeze, I'm a freakin' moron before 08:00. Heero knows this, and yet he got me up at ­ I checked the clock ­ 10:16. Well, damn it all... the big lunk actually let me sleep in. Reaching up, I grabbed him by the neck and dragged him down for a wet, messy kiss. Mmm...

"Not that I'm complaining," he panted when I finally let him go, "but what was that for?"

"Not waking me up at the crack of dawn," I said around a mouthful of his collar-bone.

I gave him a sharp nip for emphasis and he jumped. Oooooh, did I hit a sensitive spot? Man, was this going to be fun. Or at least it was before he detached me from my prize and turned my face up to his. Unfortunately, he didn't kiss me, but the serious look in his eyes made me reevaluate my position.

I had a bone to pick with Yuy-the-rabidly-straight.

"So, I know you don't have a thing for Relena, babe, but how does that translate into having a hard-on for me? Ain't seen you with anything male the whole time you've been here."

[Shit. Really, really gotta work on the mouth thing.]

Heero blinked. It made him look like a very sexy owl.

"I've never been sure whether I'm attracted to men or women specifically... I only know I'm attracted to Duo Maxwell. And besides... I came here to be with you, not find a lover."

Well... that shut me up. My jaw dropped so hard it damn near dislocated itself.

"Most of the women who came out with me were just friends. Alice wanted more, but she understood when I explained, and Jess was just trying to make her boyfriend jealous."

"Alice?" I asked faintly.

"Yes. Brunette... small stature, hair almost as long as yours, kind- of purple eyes..."

He flushed, but didn't look away and I realized he'd just described Pretty Pansy... and that she bore at least a surface resemblance to me. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up and the faint red along his perfect cheekbones deepened to crimson.

"Well, well, Mr. Yuy. I don't know whether to kick your ass for being so tight-mouthed, or my own for being blind as a coke-bottle- wearin' geek."

The blush was still spreading, and I had every intention of milking this for all it was worth. But Heero is no dummy. I recognized the look of cold-blooded calculation that filled his indigo eyes, and a thrill of apprehension made my skin crawl.

I'd seen that expression plenty of times when we were in some military facility, twenty Ozzies ten feet away from the ventilation shaft we were hiding in, and no other way out. That huge piece of specially-modified testosterone he calls a gun would appear from nowhere, and we'd barely reach the Gundams by the skin of our teeth, leaving death and destruction in our wake.

I felt retreat just might be the better part of valor at this juncture.

"Uh, Hee-man-,"

Gundanium-strong fingers whipped out, curling around my braid and pulling me inexorably towards the object of my misgivings.

"I don't think so, Shinigami."

His mouth sealed itself to mine, and I quickly decided that if this was Heero's new version of mayhem, I was all for it.

+

"Duo?"

"Mmn?"

I was feeling too lazily satisfied to move, so I stayed where I'd been for the last half-hour: draped partially over Heero and the rest of the way over one of the enormous pillows which graced the floor of my gamerz-den.

This is my play-room... my lair. Chock-full of the electronic gadgets and toys I love, plus the biggest vid-screen on the market, it is my way of fulfilling the dreams of carefree self-indulgence every child has. The ones I never had the ability to dream when I actually was a child.

That changed with the end of the war. First time I set foot in an RPG shop, I must've looked like a kid let loose in a candy store.

Heero liked my little den of iniquity as much as I did. Every Sunday we didn't have to work, we quickly regressed to the mental version of the fifteen-year-olds we'd never been, yelling and laughing and trying to beat each other's asses off at whatever game had our fancy at that particular moment.

Last week he'd brought home the newest incarnation of FF VII. God was it great! All new, well-developed plot; multiple-player enabled; fantastic animation... and best of all, a wide range of character choice. Heero picked Sephiroth right off. The jerk.

I pouted, debated... then grabbed Cloud. Buster sword, here I come!

Heero's hand interrupted my cerebral wanderings, stroking down the bumps of my spine before molding long fingers around the protrusion of my hipbone.

"You're not paying attention, Maxwell."

I rolled off him, sprawling expansively across one of the gorgeous carpets Quatre had given me when I first moved in, and smiling up at Heero in satisfied complacence.

"Okay, Yuy, here I am... attention and all. Whatcha gonna do about it, now that you've got us?"

He studied me for a moment before uncoiling from his spot on the carpet and slinking over to me on hands and knees. Watching those impressive muscles move under smooth, golden skin was taking up most of my mental capacity, but I still managed to notice the way he was looking at me: like the proverbial predator stalking his prey.

"Eeep!"

He pounced without warning and I was suddenly missing my shorts and Heero's mouth was kissing its way down my abs.

[Uh-uh... not this time, buddy.]

He'd already pushed my legs up and back. It was a small matter for a guy with years' worth of quick 'n dirty behind him to brace his arms, position his knees just so, and flip one off-guard Heero Yuy over his head. I curled myself backwards, following his trajectory and pinning him to the ground where he landed.

I grinned down at him, a feral baring of teeth.

"You're not the only male in this house, Yuy," I said. Then proved it.

+

The song changed. I had over four-thousand programmed into my music database, but only a string of about a hundred was playing right now.

/It won't be the first heart that you break You won't be the last beautiful girl The one that you wrecked won't take you back If you were the last beautiful girl in the world/

A very old group - BC, actually - but damn good. I hummed along, feeling that everything was right in my world. The hard surface beneath me shifted slightly.

"Pleased with yourself, hn?"

I smiled against Heero's skin.

"Very."

/It's over now ­ and I've gone without... 'Cause you're everyone else's girl, and It seems to me that you'll always be... Everyone else's girl/

"That's what she is."

"Hmm?"

"Relena."

His fingertips drifted along the planes of my back before digging in and making me groan.

"Oh fuck, that's good. Nnngh. Don't stop!"

For a while, my moans of ecstasy filled the room. Heero may have hands that can make mincemeat of cell-bars, but he also gives a damn good back-rub. By the time I came out of my pleasured daze, the song was long over, but his words resurfaced in my head.

"What did you mean... about Relena?"

His silence was contemplative, not stiff with anger. Always a good thing.

"She belongs to the world. I was never able to see her as anything but a symbol and a friend. The man ­ or woman ­ who shares her life will have to be very sure that he or she truly wants her. No one else could put up with all that crap."

I stared at him incredulously for a moment; the dispassionate, yet accurate, assessment of Relena's future mate was so very Heero Yuy. Laying my head back down on steely pectorals I laughed and laughed and laughed until he smacked my ass.

"Baka."

++

Duo: What the hell was *that*, huh?
Ravengirl: (innocent as all get-out) Um?
Duo: You know what I'm talking about, you devious wench... Heero had a whole chapter devoted to screwing me into the mattress and I get a measly, 'Then proved it'. WTF?!
Ravengirl: Well, since you want to get technical... it *was* you on top the first time, if I recall correctly. (smiles smugly)
Heero: (arches an eyebrow at Duo and smirks)
Duo: (crosses arms and glares at them both) Omae o korosu.
Heero: (sneers) Bring it on, Braid-boy.
*expurgated violence*
Ravengirl: So, um, while the boys are having their little contretemps, I want to thank everyone for putting up with me... one more part ­ plus the ep ­ to go!
Duo: (panting, pants half torn off) Better be. I'm sick of this goddamn fic. When you gonna do Part 2 of 'Whiteout'?
Heero: (tank ripped, spandex missing: death-glares) I. Don't. Share.
Ravengirl: (sweatdrops)

[part 6] [part 8] [back to Ravengirl's fic]