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Author: Bane's Desire
see chao. 1 for warnings, disclaimer
A
Grudging Seduction: Chapter Two
Getting To Know You
The move to the private high school took a total of three days. The gundams
were hidden in a large, commercial warehouse, located and paid in full ahead
of time by Dr. J, while G had registered the two highly sought after freedom
fighters, labeled on Earth as terrorists, as cousins. The many registration
papers for the highly esteemed and prestigious Milmont Academy reported
the two boys were related, linked by blood through their mothers and requested
the two room together. An attached letter from Mr. Hitto Yung, a purportedly
very successful businessman from Colony L-1, requested that his son, Hiiro
Yung, described to be introverted and shy, share a room with his more gregarious
cousin, Duncan Maxcell, as it would benefit the reticent boy to have the
close association with a familiar relative in a new environment. It was
a request happily and readily granted by the school when a generous donation
came from the boys' families towards the construction of a new library on
campus in addition to the already steep tuition fee.
It was late afternoon by the time the two teens found their dorm room and
began to unpack their new uniforms from the large shopping bags they'd carried
in with them and street clothes from their duffle bags.
"It cost as much to buy these fancy duds as it would be to feed half
of L-2's population," Duo groused unhappily under his breath as he
tossed the bags onto his bed. "There ought to be a law against clothing,
just plain old cotton, being that expensive. Cotton is cotton and school
shirts and pants are just that. Paying that many credits for them is nothing
shot of being criminal. Don't you think necessities like these should be
regulated by the government?"
"This is an upper class school, Duo," Heero answered in a bored
tone of voice. "If anything here was inexpensive the students would
probably complain about the lack of quality." He sniffed in a dismissive
manner. "There's not much we can do about that." He turned with
a shrug and pulled his toiletries out of his duffel. "So don't waste
any energy worrying about something you can't change."
Duo tossed his empty duffle bag across the room in the direction of the
closet. "Hell, Heero, if I thought that way, I'd still be living out
of trash cans on L-2," he shot back.
Wing's pilot didn't turn around to look at him as he put his socks in a
drawer and continued on with what he was saying, ignoring Duo's brief outburst.
"Besides, changing an economic system in any government is a massive
undertaking. If, in a democratic society, it came down to a public vote
to change the way consumer goods are valued, we probably wouldn't be old
enough to vote, our opinions wouldn't be validated."
"That's right," the braided teen sounded sarcastic as he canted
his head to the side and put his hands on his hips. "We can pilot gundams
from the colonies to Earth and fight for their freedom, destroy military
sites worth millions, sometimes billions of credits and risk our lives in
dog fights with other mobile suits, but we can't vote or legally drink.
What kind of a crazy place is this earth sphere anyway?"
Heero looked over his shoulder in time to see other boy fall backwards onto
his bed, flopping down bonelessly to lay sprawled there, a crooked grin
plastered on his face. Duo was being facetious, but his comments were not
too far off the mark. He noted the L-2 pilot's usual style of humor tended
to be filled with sarcasm and truthfully, he was still having a hard time
trying to understand and fully appreciate it. He ignored the question asked
by the other boy, understanding that Duo wasn't really looking for an answer.
"Wanna try the cafeteria for dinner or order out for some pizza?"
Heero was silently grateful for the change of subject and zipped up his
empty duffle. "I don't have a preference. But if we eat in the cafeteria
we can check out the school and get a feel for the students."
Duo sighed, clearly disappointed with Heero's suggestion. "You're right,"
he agreed with a sigh. "But maybe later we can take a walk into town
and get some ice cream or catch a movie. I'd like to enjoy being back in
civilization after a couple of weeks playing Daniel Boone."
"Who?"
"History, Heero? Remember Daniel Boone? An American frontiersman that
lived in the wilds of Kentucky? In a cabin?" Duo smiled as a light
of understanding finally lit Heero's face.
"I get it."
Duo's smile got bigger. "I knew you were smarter than the average terrorist."
Heero shook his head, the slight smile on his face showed that he was amused
by the other boy's banter. He noticed the small action was caught by the
American who looked more than pleased with himself for some reason.
+
The braided teenager watched as his mission assignment walked to the closet
and put both of the black leather bags neatly inside. All in all, he was
pleased with the progress he was making in gaining Heero's friendship. The
Japanese boy was definitely more relaxed than he'd ever seen him before
and seemed less irritated with his presence. He felt the stirring of true
feelings of friendship forming, taking the place of their previous status
of being merely dependable comrades. He'd set one of his goals for the coming
week to getting Heero to laugh out loud. He'd seen more than one glimpse
of a smile on the face his Japanese friend, and he decided it looked pretty
damn nice. It took the harshness out of the otherwise handsome face and
made the Japanese boy look more like a regular teenager, though neither
he nor Heero could ever make that claim. Once he'd seen that reluctant smile
tugging at Heero's lips, Duo had his mind set on seeing it grow and blossom
into a full blown laugh. Laughter, after all, was good for building friendships.
The two boys worked closely
together for the next five days, scouting out the location of the base
that was their designated target, going to classes during the day and
dealing with the social interactions that was part of a private school
while planning for the base's destruction when the lights went out in
the dorms each night. The longer Duo spent in Heero's presence, the more
comfortable he became with the stoic and serious teen. He studied Wing's
pilot carefully, looking for things the other boy liked and what he disliked;
the latter of which happened to be the cafeteria's poor attempt at macaroni
and cheese. In their rare moments of down time, Duo worked at coaxing
that elusive smile or bits of personal information from his partner, succeeding
much more than he previously had thought possible.
After several days of taking mental notes, Duo came to the conclusion
that even though he and Heero seemed as different as day and night, they
both shared the common goal and the same determination to destroy the
military regime that had cruelly oppressed the colonies for decades. With
that unified goal, shared with the other gundam pilots, he was certain
that eventually their victory would come to fruition by successfully taking
OZ out by completing one mission at a time, taking down one base at a
time, and even killing one man in one mobile suit at a time. The more
he studied Heero and his methods, he could see why Dr. J put such importance
on Heero's life. He did fit the mold of the perfect soldier.
Since their first inauspicious meeting, Duo made careful observations
of Heero's performance and tactics on and off the battlefield. In doing
so, he determined early on that their approach and style for carrying
out their assigned missions were definitely dissimilar from each others.
He noticed over time that Heero was methodical to the point of being obsessive
as far as planning and executing his missions were concerned. It was almost
as if he choreographed his movements for the task he was undertaking.
He was always prepared, mentally alert and physically able, and took into
consideration every possible scenario that might occur while engaged in
battle or in an infiltration.
In comparison, Duo knew he was anything but the perfect soldier. He tended
to react more emotionally with regards to his own day to day living as
well as reactions during a battle. He jumped head first into both life
and his mission assignments without much forethought. And when it came
to battling his enemy, he exercised an almost desperate need to wipe out
everything that represented the Alliance and now Oz. He somehow felt that
by destroying them, he could eradicate the pain of his past and give peace
to the restless souls of those he cared about, who had died at the hands
of a brutal government and who often haunted his dreams.
It came as a surprise to him when he realized that since he'd begun working
with Heero, he'd unwittingly altered his usual style of approaching an
altercation in school and in mission planning by toning down some of his
normal recklessness to balance with Heero's more restrained personality
and anal planning. He was pleasantly surprised that Heero, too, allowed
some slack in doing thing his own way and had actually begun to listen
to him as he gave some of his own sometimes unconventional ideas for the
mission. So far, their new system of planning and compromising seemed
to be working for the both of them and balanced their differing styles
into what he hoped would be an effective working team.
During those days spent at the upper-class school, Duo continued thinking
and acting on his mission regarding Heero and, with a lingering reluctance,
he attempted to draw Heero closer to a more physical relationship by using
every opportunity available to have some sort of physical contact with
his friend. He'd been told by Heero once before that in his culture, physical
touch, especially by strangers, was not comfortable nor acceptable. Personal
space was to be respected. Duo knew he would have to breech that particular
barrier if he was to have any type of a physical relationship with Heero.
And so he set out with a plan, drawn up in his mind with an goal to accustom
Heero to accepting his touch. So he began with a casual arm slung around
the strong, usually stiff shoulders, a friendly jab in the ribs as he
joked with him, an attempt at finding a ticklish spot on the lean, muscled
body, and his leaning against the sturdy boy as they studied assignments
or data. The methodical touching was just some of the ways he hoped to
establish some physical closeness with Heero.
At first, the friendly touching was done warily. Duo wasn't sure of Heero's
response to the increasing breach of the very private boy's personal space.
Heero's reaction was somewhat predictable. His body often became rigid
at his initial attempts at being touched and was followed by a glare of
warning that was shot his way. Duo simply ignored it and proved to be
relentless in his tactics.
To the braided boy's relief, no knock-down punches were thrown, though
he was pushed off and away several times. After several days, it appeared
that Heero had finally given up and accepted his overly friendly touch.
He voiced his belief that such constant physical contact seemed to be
due to some quirk in Duo's strange emotional makeup. Remembering Heero
saying that, Duo couldn't help the smirk that grew on his face. His mission
plans were moving along, though slowly, but with some measured success
as Heero appeared to accept him, first as a friend and now his touch.
He was inordinately pleased that his friendship with Heero was growing
along with the more frequent smiles and personal contact. 'Yep', he said
to himself, 'the mission is coming along nicely.'
On the night scheduled for their mission, the two boys returned to their
dorm room after the evening meal. Their homework was completed for their
morning classes, which they would attend no matter how tired they might
be in order to give them an alibi for the night's absence should they
need one. Their equipment was packed for the mission and they dressed
silently in their black surveillance clothing. They retired early to their
beds, intent on resting for several hours until the time they were scheduled
to leave. Heero seemed to settle quickly, but as usual, the ability to
relax or sleep right before a mission eluded the braided teenager. He'd
always experienced an upset stomach before his missions, a result of nervous
tension, a term Howard had come up with as a label for his condition.
His stomach was tight and as tense as the taunt muscles in his neck and
shoulders, and try as he would, he couldn't force himself to relax. After
shifting several times, trying to find a more comfortable position, Heero's
slightly irritated voice barked out from the other side of the room.
"What's the matter?"
"I'm too tense to sleep. I need to pace or just... do something."
Duo's tight voice revealed his state of frustration.
A slight rustling sound came from Heero's direction and Duo turned his
head to see the other boy's shadowed form coming towards him. "If
you can't rest, you'll be too tired to perform with optimum efficiency
tonight."
"I can't force myself to sleep," Duo snapped back, irritated.
His eyes widened as Heero perched himself on the side of his bed.
"Turn over."
The braided boy stiffened. "What do you mean?"
"Roll over onto your stomach and I'll help you relax."
Swallowing hard while worrying over what Heero was going to do, Duo complied,
placing his face against the pillow with his hands tucked under it. He
couldn't help the involuntary flinch of his skin when Heero's hands touched
his clothed back.
"Relax your shoulders," Heero said, his voice low.
Using all his powers of concentration, Duo tried to comply to the best
of his ability. Then the strong and calloused hands began to massage the
tightly bunched muscled back in small, circular movements. Heero's palms
pressed down firmly into the tense muscles, painfully loosening them up.
Duo found the experience to be both uncomfortable and pleasurable and
a slight moan escaped his lips as taut muscles gave way under the talented
hands. He didn't know how long the massage lasted with Heero working up
and down his back, then on his neck and shoulders, but during the process
he mentally gave way to completely trusting Heero and as a result, became
extremely relaxed and sleepy. By the time Heero pulled those wonderful,
talented hands away, Duo felt almost boneless, and speaking slightly incoherently,
he mumbled his thanks to his friend and promptly fell asleep.
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