Ah right, so I've been pretty much dead to the world courtesy of school, but I'm back now!

I know there are people waiting for me to get my ass in gear and post updates on Swimming Upstream (Kakashi/Iruka) AND Kakurenbo (Heero/Duo), and YES I have everything intention of updating BOTH at some point over break, but THIS is not either of those, (Sorry!)

It's just something that was supposed to be a one-shot but then got away from me. Still, I think it'll only drag out for another chapter or so, I never had any intention of it being more than a quick lime, but I'm no good at PWP, so yeah... Now you don't even get lime (in this chapter at least) I swear it'll get smuttier!

Just wanted everyone to know I'm still alive.

Love you all!

-Chi

The first petaled hues of dawn filtered through the window, soft rosy tendrils caressing gold kissed cheeks. Violet eyes blinked open beneath chestnut bangs. With a soft grunt Duo stretched and started swinging his legs over to get up, only to run into an immovable lump at the foot of his bed.

"Oi! 'Mari! Move your furry butt." He laughed, reaching down to scratch fuzzy golden ears of the shepherd/chow mix. The dog's tail thumped happily as she rolled over and presented the pale fluff of her belly to be scratched. Duo chuckled again as he obliged his 'canine mistress'.

"You're so spoiled Mari, so spoiled." He cooed. "Now c'mon! Get up! Get up! Get off my legs!" The dog hopped down and clicked across the hardwood flooring of Duo's bungalow to the kitchen. Duo smiled and stretched and followed. His faded blue pajama pants riding low on slender hips. Mari barked once at the kitchen door, Duo pushed open the screen to let her into the yard, where she ran her usual rounds around the fence-line as she made her way to "her corner" to do her business.

Duo set the coffee on and was rummaging in the fridge for eggs when a cheerful bark announced Mari's return to the door. Duo let her in and dog scampered to her food bowl, looking at him expectantly with big brown eyes. He laughed and poured a scoop of kibbles in for her before returning to the fridge again. Duo froze, hand on the egg carton at the same time Mari stopped, her head jerking out of her bowl and swiveling in the direction of the front door. She sat down then, and looked over at him with a whine.

Why the hell isn't she at the door barking? He thought to himself. He slipped down the hallway, the dog at his heels, pulling open the door just as his visitor raised his hand to knock.

Duo froze,

"Heero…" he breathed

"Duo." Came the reply

Violet eyes raked over the taller man, the darkly mussed locks had gotten longer since he'd last seen him over 8 months ago, but the militaristic stance remained, the chiseled jawline and olive skin. The flashing cobalt eyes were as deep and blue as he remembered.

"You're… you're back." Duo said finally.

Heero studied the man in front of him. Despite his "softer" lifestyle, the former gundam pilot had kept up on his training. He'd sensed Heero's approach from the walk, and the tanned chest was still more meticulously sculpted then a Greek god. The Chestnut plait, though loose from a night's sleep, hung an inch or so lower than the last time he'd run his fingers through it, but the boyish charm of Duo's face was familiar, and his violet eyes were still blatantly open windows to his soul. Heero smiled to himself. Those eyes never could tell a lie.

"I uh… I was just about to make breakfast." Duo said moving to the side, "bacon, eggs and coffee. Work for you?"

"Yes," Heero said, stepping through the door, letting his shoulder brush lightly against the bare chest, "thank you."

Mari sat a few feet in front of the kitchen.

"Wow, she's really grown." Heero smiled fondly, "Do you think she remembers me?"

"A little, I think." Duo shrugged, "She didn't bark when we heard you coming. Just sort of looked at me and whined."

Heero nodded and knelt in front of the dog,

"Hey Mari, remember me." He extended a hand, the dog sniffed tentatively, then her tail began to beat against the floor. "How's my girl been?" Heero grinned, moving his hand to ruffle her ears. Mari barked once and flopped against him, begging for a belly rub, her tail drumming a mile a minute.

Duo smiled fondly at the pair, his mind drifting back to the day they'd found her.

~D~

They'd taken a walk along the beach to watch a storm rolling in; a little over a year ago, back when he and Heero had still been together. The surf was already pounding as the darkening clouds raced towards shore. He had spotted her first, a tiny yellow ball, helplessly caught in the roughening seas.

~H~

"There's something out there!" Duo had shouted, "It's a dog!" he'd already kicked off his shoes and been sprinting into the waves before Heero had found what he'd been pointing to.

"Baka!" Heero had cursed, dashing after his partner into the waves. Duo had reached the floundering animal first, his arm wrapping around the puppy and keeping her head above water.

~D~

It had been Heero who had saved them both. Duo smiled wryly at the memory. It had been Heero's superhuman stamina that had gotten the three of them back to shore. Without his help, Duo was certain both he and Mari would have been swept out by that unforgiving sea.

~H~

They'd stumbled back to shore, coughing and sputtering, Duo clutching the puppy to his chest, Heero just desperately clutching Duo as they collapsed in a heap together in the sand.

"Dammit Duo!" Heero panted, spitting out seawater

"We got her!" Duo grinned, violet eyes blazing triumphantly as he sat stroking the waterlogged hairball in his arms.

The urge to smack him for being such a suicidal moron fled and Heero couldn't help but get swept up in the other's smile.

"Baka." He said softly planting a kiss on Duo's forehead. The rain began to fall. "We need to get back to the bungalow before this storm hits."

Duo nodded and let Heero pull him to his feet, they hurried along the deserted beach back to the low, one-story they shared. Heero fetched them towels and after drying and warming the puppy, Duo had managed to coax some warm milk into her.

"I've always wanted a dog!" Duo had grinned from where he sat beside her on the floor. "What'll we call her?"

Heero eyed him skeptically

"Duo, we can't even keep fish alive…"

"But she needs us 'Ro! Just look at her." Heero had looked, and he had melted as the little yellow ball of fluff trundled tail-wagging into his partners lap and flopped down and promptly fallen asleep. "She's just a baby." Duo smiled, stroking the sleeping puppy.

"Mari." Heero sighed, flopping down next to the chestnut haired fool. His arm slid around Duo's shoulders, pulling the other man against his chest, as he reached over to scratch a fuzzy ear.

"Mari." Duo smiled.

"Duo." Heero said softly, the other didn't respond, "Duo."

"Huh! What?" Duo started out of his reverie, "Sorry, I was just remembering-"

"The day Mari washed ashore." Heero finished

"Yeah." Duo smiled sadly,

"Me too." Heero gave Mari's belly one last scratch before he stood,

"Well, I uh… breakfast! Right!" Duo hurried past him into the kitchen. Heero almost reached out to catch the chestnut braid as he slipped past, but hesitated at the last second. Setting his duffel down in the hallway he moved into the bathroom. Duo had finally repainted it, like he'd kept promising he would, but only one towel hung on the rack, where there used to be two. Why should that hurt? It wasn't like Duo had been expecting him. After all, he'd been gone for almost 9 months, with no word, no reasons, just gone. Flying out the door because Relena had called…

On a whim, he pulled open the closet, there on the shelf, stacked neatly beside Duo's, his towels. Laundered, folded, just waiting to be used.

"Duo." He breathed softly.

He could hear the other rustling about in the kitchen, so slipped quietly across the hall to the bedroom. The queen sized bed was unmade, rumpled, he could still see the indent from Duo's head on the pillow, and the nest curled in the comforter where Mari had obviously been.

"He's still letting her sleep on the bed." He chuckled.

He glanced towards his nightstand. Duo had obviously dusted, but nothing had really been moved. Everything was the same as he'd left it. Again he moved to the closet, it was the same, his half of the closet was full of his neatly laundered and hung clothes. Right beside Duo's, just waiting to be worn.

He shook his head and moved back down the hallway, but instead of going into the kitchen, he turned into the living room. The pictures he'd placed on the fireplace still remained, his books were still on the shelves, his "Kurt Vonnegut" and "D.H. Lawrence" carelessly mixed together with Duo's "Terry Pratchett" and "Michael Moore"*.

Heero moved to the mantel, picking up a picture he didn't recognize, but in a frame he'd bought for Duo one year for his birthday.

Heero's heart skipped, it was him, playing in the surf with Mari as evening fell. His dark hair hung heavy in his eyes with the salty spray, his tanned arms reached out for the leaping puppy, as they chased each other through the shallows…

He remembered…

The sunset that night had been breathtaking, they'd watched it together, the three of them, from the front porch. It had been perfect.

It had been the night everything had started to fall apart.

Duo made an intentionally heavy footstep, causing Heero to turn. He strode across the room, handing Heero his favorite mug.

"Black, nothing added." He said quietly

"Duo…" Heero started, replacing the picture,

"It's a good picture of Mari, isn't it. She was such a little hairball back then."

"Duo… How… How are you?"

"Right now? Well… I'm a little surprised to have company so early in the morning" Duo joked, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Speaking of which, the eggs're done."

"Right." He followed Duo into the kitchen.

Duo stood over the stove, picking up the spatula to spoon eggs onto a pair of plates. How many times had he watched him like that?

"I finally got the hang of cooking eggs without burning them."* Duo laughed quietly.

Heero didn't think, he just strode across the room, an arm encircling Duo's waist, pulling the tanned frame back against him, while the other hand twirled the chestnut braid around itself. Duo stiffened as Heero's breath ghosted over the back of his neck.

Heero breathed deeply, Duo still used floral scented shampoo, his hair was a mixture of the salty scent of the ocean and lavender. Heero's lips brushed butterfly soft across the sensitive spot at the crook of Duo's neck.

"'Ro…" the other all but whimpered, as he sagged back slightly against the bigger man.

"Koi…" Heero breathed, soaking in Duo's scent again, before he remembered himself and took a stumbling step backwards, leaving Duo to catch himself on the counter.

"Sorry!" Heero mumbled, stumbling into a chair.

"yeah…"

"I uh… I won't be here long." Heero started, stabbing at his eggs, "I'll be out of your hair again in a couple days." God, how I've missed that hair…

"Is that so? You could… stay… a little longer… if… if you wanted." Duo's cheeks flushed, he stared at the table. "I think Mari would like it. It seems she remembers you."

Heero smiled and looked down at the dog whose chin was resting on his knee, "Ah, she's always been our baby." He smiled, scratching her ears.

Duo's fork stopped halfway to his mouth, his violet eyes were wide,

"What is it?" Heero half stood, His brow creased in an almost panic-like concern "Are you choking?"

"No?" Duo smiled sadly, "It was just… what you said."

"What did I say?"

"About Mari."

"I said that she's always been…" realization dawned, Duo arched an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, I didn't think, I just…"

Duo looked annoyed

"Why should you be sorry? You loved her didn't you? She WAS our baby."

"But I left."

"Really," Duo sneered, "I hadn't noticed."

"Duo, I…"

"We both knew it wouldn't last Heero. That it... that -we- were just a fairy tale. You always were restless staying in one place too long. I knew that. I've always known that."