Of all the mornings he had had with Duo and Usagi so far, even though there hadn't been that many of them yet, by far this one was the most awkward to date. Somehow Duo had managed to wake up before him, though the other man had just lain awake. When Heero woke up, the television was on, though the sound was off and closed captioning was turned on; the local news was on.
Only a few moments later, Usagi stirred, waking up surprisingly early for her so far. Almost immediately, she had popped up, grabbed her bag from beside the bed, and darted into the bathroom, closing the door tightly behind her. If she said anything, it was little more than a mumbled apology of some sort that he wasn't too sure he could almost anything of.
Duo winced slightly, sitting up stiffly. "I guess that answers the question about how much Usagi remembers about last night."
In that case, Usagi was doing better than he was. He must have been more tired than he realized for his memory to not be too clear on last night. He remembered them talking and he remembered something about a fairy tale, something he was going to research once he got up in the morning. Anything more definitely than that, though, and he was a bit in the dark. He didn't think they had gotten up to anything more than some really disturbing discussion and confessions last night, and...
And...
And yeah, that seemed like about it, except for something Usagi had said in her sleep right before he drifted off as well, something that made absolutely no sense, even for talking in her sleep.
To be sure, though, he sat up as well and turned to Duo to ask for confirmation. "Did you hear Usagi say something last night? After we went to bed?" Vaguely, in some corner of his consciousness, he heard and noted the shower cutting on.
Duo shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, well, I dropped off pretty quick. Maybe? I thought I heard her say something, but it didn't make any kind of sense to me." He leaned back, fixing Heero with a sharp look. "But I guess it wasn't nonsense then, not if you asking about it."
"It was in Japanese." He didn't mention that it was an older form of Japanese, definitely not what was spoken in the country or its space colonies now. Duo could probably guess that. "But you're right about it not making any kind of sense."
"So what was it then?"
He shrugged, a little reluctant to repeat it for some reason he couldn't quite put words to. "I think it was something like 'ai to seigi no, sera fuku bishoujo senshi,' but like I said, it doesn't make a lot of sense."
"And it makes even less sense when you don't speak the language, Heero." Duo sounded a little annoyed, but there wasn't a lot he could do about it right now.
"Just... let me go look into some stuff and see what I can find out. If there's anything to it, I swear I'll tell you."
"I'll hold you to that, Heero." But at least he was grinning again. That was a small victory, if nothing else.
He glanced towards the bathroom and shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Maybe I shouldn't be doing that here when she gets out."
Duo followed his gaze and slowly nodded. "Maybe not." He didn't sound as though he was too certain he believed it, though. Or maybe he just didn't know for sure either. Maybe that was the closer explanation, though.
Or maybe he just wasn't used to looking too closely into people's motives any more. He had never been any good at trying to figure out Duo's to begin with, from way back when they first met--and Duo shot him and then subsequently broke him out of the Alliance Hospital where he was being held. He hadn't gotten any better at it in the years since that day.
Maybe it was that Duo was just that unpredictable. Maybe it was just that he was too used to Duo fall in line with whatever it was Heero wanted. And maybe he shouldn't always expect that of Duo. And...
Damn it. This was all getting to be a bit too confusing for him for this early in the morning... or whatever time it was. No, he was just going to find a library to hole up in or something and do this bit of research and come back, and then they could all deal with this.
"I won't be gone too long: maybe a few hours," he offered, trying not to sound as nervous and confused as he felt inside.
Duo nodded once decisively. "While you're out, bring us back some lunch. We can figure out where we're going next when you get back. All right?"
He nodded in response, perhaps a little too enthusiastically... or maybe it was that he nodded at all. "I can do that."
"Are you all right, Heero?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his bag in one quick movement, before he paused and sighed. By no means did he want to lie to Duo, and that was entirely too close to one right there. "I'm okay. I'm just not... used to all of this. It's going to take some getting used to."
"Me and Usagi? Or all the rest of this?" Duo's voice was quiet as he asked. It was a little bit surprising, but he had give up on being too surprised by anything Duo said or did long ago.
"All the rest of this. I... I guess I... like this with the three of us. The rest of this is just... overwhelming," he finally managed to get out. God, that sounded so pitiful to his own ears. It had to sound even worse to Duo.
But if Duo thought that, he didn't say anything. Instead, he smiled tightly. "It is all pretty overwhelming, isn't it? Between the powers and this doom you mentioned and Usagi's memories trying to come back, it is all a bit much. There's not much to do for it, though, I guess."
"How--How are you..?" He trailed off, unsure about exactly what it was he was about to ask the other man.
Thankfully, though, Duo seemed to know what he was asking even before he finished asking it. "How am I dealing all of it?" He nodded, intensely grateful that at least Duo had known what he meant. The other man shrugged easily and offered a bit of a grin. "I'm not dealing with it too great, you know. I just got my freaking out done a while back, before I found you, and I'm trying to take the rest of it as it comes. That said, though, I'm not sure how much higher I can set my threshold for weird shit. If Bigfoot comes through that door any time soon, you guys are on your own because my brain is going to check the hell out then."
He couldn't help it: the image sent an involuntary snicker through him. "I'll keep that in mind," he commented dryly. "We don't think that's a possibility, do we?"
"God, I hope not." Duo nudged Heero's bag with his toes. "Go ahead and get your stuff done. Usagi and I will hold down the fort. Just don't forget to bring back lunch. You've seen that woman eat. I don't want to be her next meal, at least not like that."
He could feel the beginnings of a flush starting to cover his face, and he resolutely turned away, hopefully before Duo could see it. He didn't think he was too successful, given the chuckle he heard from the other man. Once he was sure his voice was going to be steady, he commented, "She doesn't seem the cannibal type."
"No, but you're both welcome to eat me alive any time you want." And that was it: he could actually feel the red explode all over his face at the mental image that presented. He actually had to sink back down on the bed before his knees gave out. Duo laughed again and kissed him briefly. "I'm going to grab something from the soda machine real quick. Give you a chance to get dressed."
And recover his composure a bit as well, but thankfully that went unspoken. Duo, at least, didn't mind going outside in nothing but his boxers and a t-shirt, though he did toe on his tennis shoes as well before heading out.
It took him a moment to start moving, but once he did, he had his jeans and a new tank top on in quick time. He was tying off his tennis shoes by the time Duo came back, a soda can in hand. "Ready to head out?"
He nodded. "Yeah." He folded his laptop under his arm, pushing himself to his feet once again.
"I thought we weren't planning on leaving right away." Usagi's voice cut through him like ice-cold water and he stood frozen where he was. He hadn't heard the shower cut off, much less her getting dressed and coming out. He didn't think that Duo's teasing had shaken him up that much, but apparently all evidence was to the contrary. In all fairness, though, apparently she had only just gotten out of the shower: she was all but dripping wet and was wearing only a towel wrapped around her.
And he was completely willing to admit that his brain decided to short-circuit a bit at the sight. What could he say? Despite all attempts to prove the opposite, he was apparently human. Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell Duo was staring just as hard as he was and even more blatantly.
As usual, Duo recovered much more quickly, even if his voice was suspiciously deeper than it normally was. "We're not leaving the motel yet. Heero was just going to get some quiet research time in, right?" And like an idiot, all he could was nod his agreement. "Please, no need to rush on our behalf."
As if on cue, Usagi looked down and noticed what she was--or rather, was not--wearing. A flush to rival his own touched her cheeks, and for a moment, it looked like she was going to make a break for back into the bathroom, possibly slamming the door in their faces. He was almost prepared for that to happen. Instead, she took a deep breath, apparently to calm herself, and offered a grin that was at once both flirty and shy, along with a wink. "See something you like, Duo-kun?"
"A couple of things actually."
"Heero-kun?" He felt his eyes go slightly wide with the attention on him. "What about you? Do you see something you like?" He nodded slightly. Any words he may have had seemed to have been robbed from his mouth. "Good." She bit her lower lip lightly before coming to some decision, and stepping quietly across the floor to stand in front of him. "I like that, Heero."
It took a second for his brain to process that she had dropped the honorific from his name completely the last time she said it, long enough for him to be overwhelmed again by the feel of her pressing up against him and capturing his lips rather thoroughly. A moment later, he felt Duo against his back, his arms around Heero, lightly stroking his sides and past him to Usagi.
It was Duo that pulled back first, though. "Say stop whenever you need us to, Heero, okay?" Usagi pulled back as well to fix him with an unyielding look.
"Okay," he answered, even if it was more a breathy whisper than anything else.
"We mean it, Heero," Usagi returned sternly. "The minute you need us to stop, we will, but you have to say something." She met Duo's eyes over his shoulder, the two of them seeming to be deeply involved in some silent but heavy conversation, before she continued speaking. "Say you understand because otherwise this goes no further."
"I understand. I'll say something if I need either of you to stop," he stated. Some time now, he was going to have to tell them that he wasn't some delicate flower and they could both stop treating him like one. One of these days anyway...
"Good," Duo all but growled. He turned Heero's head to face him and pulled him into a passionate kiss. To his other side, he could still feel Usagi, her hands now occupied with his tank top.
After a moment or two, though, it got pretty hard to tell whose hands belonged to whom when they were all over his body.
He never did have to say stop or wait.
12 July 2012
My beta-reader, the always awesome Katsuko, summed up the end of this chapter as "and they done sex". Mostly, I cut it off there because I was feeling lazy and didn't want to change ratings. Pretty terrible, huh?
She and I have made a bet regarding Belladonna: for every 100 hits, you guys help me get to here on FFnet, I get to have either ice cream, a milkshake, or a smoothie. So help me out and let's see what we can do.
(There was even some discussion of something extra nice per every 10 reviews. This is relevant to my interests.) Thank you to ThoseRainyDays for the lovely review I just got. Have a new chapter!
Thanks,
Apollymi