Seven Days of Spring Break by ELLE

Pairings/Warnings: 1x2, past 6x1, previously unrequited 1x4, 5xS, modern day AU, a little bit o' marijuana use, some m/m sex, light cursing, potentially triggering discussion of miscarriage, and a large bit of serious psychological, angsty stuff wrapped in a sappy sugar coating of good feels.

Notes: I am really pretty nervous about this little endeavor since it's such a departure from my typical fast-paced writing style. But this little piece of nonsense hijacked me and took me on a 50,000 word trip in the same way Tonight is the Night did. So I hope you can forgive me for posting this while on hiatus from Heero Yuy, L6, and the Second Suit Wars but I've been sitting on this for a few weeks now and am anxious to get it out there.

I will warn you though, this fic is surprisingly emotional – and not in the way most GW fan fiction is I don't think. My wonderful friend and beta Miss-Murdered suggested I warn you that even she cried. So yeah, it's a bit intense.

Also, this is a somewhat based on personal experience. I spent my young childhood years in an old steel mill town in northeast Amish-ville, my husband a small mining town in lower Appalachia. This is loosely situated in my husband's hometown and although I've taken a lot of liberties as to where things are located and tried to be vague, there are quite a few dead giveaways if you know the area – but I ain't tellin'. =P I tried to make this pretty realistic as far as the feelings Yankees have for Southerners based on my own personal feelings as a transplant. I also tried to incorporate activities and things I know my husband and his friend's did growing up. So I hope this rings true.

Additionally, this fic was VERY loosely inspired by the song Cruise by Florida Georgia Line (don't ask, I don't typically listen to country) but once Miss-Murdered pointed out how wonderful Starry Eyed by Ellie Goulding goes with this fic... I just couldn't get it out of my head! It is absolutely perfect. So it officially became the theme song of this fic, just in case you were curious. ;-P

Disclaimer: Nope, Gundam Wing still isn't mine – just love appropriating the characters for torture and feels!

Saturday | Day One | Heero Arrives at the Party

"Goddamn fucking backwoods piece of shit hick town...!" Heero let the curses fly under his breath as he kicked the wheel of his rental Civic, now impossibly stuck in the impenetrable mud off the median. Swerve for one fucking deer and look what happens. They should know better than to jump across the road where they didn't belong.

Heero grunted. He should know better than to have agreed to go home with Quatre for spring break. Wealthy, intelligent, Ivy League, pre-law, gay boys didn't belong in backwards, southern country towns any more than deer belonged on highways.

He stared in the direction he was going and wondered how far he would have to walk before he reached... anything. Then he glanced back dubiously. It had to have been at least five miles since he passed anything other than run down houses and an unpleasant chicken farm. Desperately, he stared at his cell phone and begged for a signal. Quatre warned him there'd be dead areas, but this was fucking ridiculous.

Just as he was about to suck it up and start walking he saw a beat up pick-up heading in his direction. The faded red and white machine growled slowly up the hill and Heero glared at it a bit petulantly, although he tried to appear friendly in light of his circumstances. He wondered bleakly if the old piece of shit would even make it to his destination, assuming the driver pulled over and offered assistance.

Heero walked out into the middle of the road to force the vehicle to a stop but it was already slowing so the action was unnecessary. He stood off to the driver's side as the vehicle stopped and when the driver leaned out the window, Heero thought he felt his heart stop.

"Hey stranger," the drop-dead gorgeous young man behind the wheel smiled brilliantly, all of his teeth seemingly intact.

He wore a worn, soft flannel shirt in green and blue and white and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing of his strong forearms and hands stained with dirt and oil. His bangs fell into his luminous indigo eyes and Heero had to force himself to keep breathing. Quatre never said anything about a man like this in his hometown. If he had, he might've taken the earlier flight.

"I'm guessing you ain't from 'round here."

He winked gratuitously as Heero looked down self-consciously at his pristine jeans and 'casual' open black vest over a plain white tee. He supposed it was pretty obvious.

"The rental tags gave it away."

The man must've seen him looking at himself awkwardly. Heero fought a furious blush at the handsome stranger's teasing and tried to think of anything he could say. "There was a deer," he started optimistically and the other man smiled as he shifted the truck into park right there in the middle of the road.

He stepped out of his truck then, hopping down and exposing his lithe body in full. Heero really wished he hadn't. That faded, tight denim hugged his hips in a way that made Heero swallow – hard. And the three-foot braid didn't hurt either. It added to his eccentric appeal instantaneously. Plus, Heero had a thing for long hair.

He walked over to examine the damage and waved his hand like it was nothing.

"I don't have the proper equipment on me, but Hil' and I will tow it out for ya and bring it on back. I'll give ya a ride into town, how 'bout?" He wiped a hand hastily on his jeans and held it out. Heero accepted tentatively, the warm grip immediately sending a shiver down his spine. "I'm Duo Maxwell, resident mechanic."

"Heero Yuy," Heero returned stiffly, regretfully letting his hand fall to his side.

Duo smiled wide and jerked a thumb to his truck. Heero locked the doors of the Civic before climbing in after him.

He was sure he'd never been in a vehicle in such a state of disrepair and it idled so rough Heero was surprised nothing jarred loose. He was skeptical about Duo's aptitude as a mechanic considering the state of his vehicle but then maybe it was a testament to his skill that the worn out clunker was running at all.

"Good thing I found ya!" Duo exclaimed loudly over the engine as he shifted it into drive. "Since it was me and all, I'll tow you in for free."

"No," Heero countered quickly, feeling uncomfortable accepting that kind of hospitality from a man whose truck could fall apart any minute. "Money's no object."

Duo laughed but it was an uncomfortable, terse sound. Heero immediately regretted saying anything. "Yeah, you're definitely one 'a Cutie-Q's friends."

Heero blinked. "Wait – what?"

"Quatre," Duo clarified. "You're his buddy, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Heero felt somewhat disadvantaged. "He... mentioned me?"

Duo shrugged. "Yeah, ya know, whatever. Said he was bringing someone down for the week."

"Oh."

Heero turned his eyes away and to the road as they lumbered along the winding trail. He wished he could go back in time and stop himself from offending his gracious host but it was too late now. He'd have to ask Quatre what to do to get on the man's good side since he was here for an entire week. He didn't suppose he could avoid him for a few days in such a small place, not if Quatre wanted to show him around.

"You were following a GPS, right?" Duo asked after a moment.

Heero tilted his head back around, shocked at the smile resting lazily on Duo's face as he stared back at him. Clearly this guy wasn't as easily offended as Heero thought.

"Uh, yeah, until my phone lost signal." Heero wanted to kick himself for his smooth eloquence with every stupid phrase he uttered. He wondered if his lack of all intelligible thought was a result of being in the South or just because he was sitting next to that man.

"This is a pretty notorious dead zone," Duo explained. "But GPS is always screwing up you out-of-towners. I'll hafta show ya a better way to Q's. Through town. Less deer, less mud."

"Yeah... thanks."

Duo took a series of turns as they approached more... stuff. Heero didn't really know how to classify it. It certainly wasn't a town, just a house in a valley, sometimes. Or they would happen upon a church that had been advertised on blue corrugate signs with arrows at the turn two miles back. Or an out of place, expensively carved sign positioned on logs at the end of a private drive advertising a community called Deer Valley or Twin Peaks or some title equally evocative of the mountainous area they were in.

"Cabins," Duo explained when he inquired. "Pretty much the biggest industry we've got now after the mine shut down and manufacturing left for Mexico."

Heero wondered vaguely what it was people did for work around here, then. He'd never really been in an area with no manufacturing, no apparent commercial sector.

"Welcome, good sir, to your destination," he announced as they pulled up to a gated drive. Duo typed in some numbers on the keypad and the gate slowly rolled open. "Not everyone gets the code, ya know?" He flashed a big grin at Heero. "Pretty sure this is the biggest piece of shit to ever touch this driveway."

Heero fought down a chuckle, feeling guilty that he had such a similar thought about his presence in said piece of shit, even despite Duo's good humor about it.

The long, winding driveway eventually dumped them onto a beautiful three-story mansion nestled in a picturesque mountain valley. Quatre never really talked about his childhood home so Heero had no idea what to expect. He knew Quatre was fabulously wealthy – but unlike Heero's father's self-made money, Quatre's wealth went back generations. Just the façade of this veritable palace was incomparable to any of his father's properties. Heero felt suddenly stuck, like he didn't belong with either Duo or Quatre. The idea of being here for a week hit him then with rare pang of homesickness. He wanted to be home – and not here or his apartment in Ithaca. Home in Martha's Vineyard, with his grandfather. Where he would be right now if –

"No time like the present," Duo interrupted Heero's thoughts as he shut off the engine and jumped out of the truck.

Quatre must've been watching for them because as soon as Duo's boots hit the pavement his friend was a blond streak rushing out the front door, launching himself at Duo like a long lost brother.

Heero found it strange Quatre never mentioned a man he'd hugged with such gusto.

"Hey, I found your buddy down on five there try'na follow the GPS." Duo chucked as Heero walked around the front of the truck to greet Quatre. "Got stuck in the ditch. I'll tow 'em back in an' help ya set up for the party."

Heero was blindsided by the term party but Quatre was already apologizing so he didn't have a chance to ask.

"I'm so sorry, Heero, I should have given you better directions."

He waved it off. "It worked out."

Quatre immediately turned back to Duo. "So you will be able to make?"

"Hell yeah, of course!" Duo clapped him on the shoulder, almost as if he was trying to believe Quatre was actually standing before him. "I took the whole week off. I got an activity planned for every day of the week!"

Quatre blushed slightly and seemed sheepish. If he was less than thrilled about Duo's idea of their week, it was difficult to argue with the braided man's enthusiasm.

"But I'm gonna head out so I can get back, huh?" He smacked Quatre's shoulder and then threw a two-fingered wave at Heero. "Nice to meet ya, 'Ro!"

And with that, Heero had a nickname too.

He followed Quatre inside and let him lead him through a tour of the place – an overwhelming litany of rooms including a whole floor of guest rooms and a basement with a full bar, pool tables, arcade games, and card tables. Heero had seen some mighty impressive houses in his time – hell, he'd lived in some, at least while he wasn't at boarding school – but this certainly had to have been the most grandiose, over the top, expensive place he had ever set foot in.

Quatre then led him up to the patio out back that boasted a half bar and grilling station surrounding a lovely pool and hot tub. Some sort of employee who's intentions Heero couldn't guess came up to confer with Quatre for a moment and Heero went off to inspect the pool absently, wondering at the fact that he really had no idea Quatre would be inheriting this kind of wealth. And Heero knew it wasn't the only house his father owned – just the one he loved the best.

"I'm sorry," Quatre apologized as he offered Heero a place to sit as they waited for Duo's return. "I should've told Duo there would be nothing to help with. Do you want a drink?" He moved to the bar and pulled out two glasses. Heero requested water so Quatre complied, but he poured tea for himself.

"You probably don't know this," Quatre murmured as he came back and handed off the drink, sitting down in the chair next to Heero. "But iced tea in the South is just so far superior to that in the North."

Heero threw a speculative glance at Quatre, who smiled a little.

"Duo would make you try it, but I'll let him force that on you. Just trust me. It's better."

He didn't see fit to argue since he wasn't much a fan of iced tea in general but it did give him an opening to ask about the braided man in the busted pick-up.

"You never told me about him," Heero said, the accusation clear.

Quatre was what Heero would call his best friend, and he felt a similar level of camaraderie from the blonde man, so he was somewhat put off that his friend never mentioned a man so close to him he knew the gate code to his mansion.

Quatre seemed embarrassed. "I don't know, I guess... You haven't really seen much of this place yet, but look at him. I spent most of my life downplaying my family name here, trying to be accepted by people who have nothing. You know how cut throat it is at school, how judgmental everyone is. I guess I hid this part of my life there just like I was accustomed to hiding my wealth here."

Heero figured that was fair enough. With names like Peacecraft, Khushrenada, and Catalonia thrown around, new money vs old money became a childish pissing match that frankly disgusted Heero. His name meant nothing until he created his own legacy. He refused to take advantage of his father's like that. It was why he changed his name when he turned eighteen.

Well, it was one reason.

"He seems nice enough," Heero offered when he realized his friend was looking for some of external confirmation that he wasn't weirded out by any of this.

"Oh, you will never meet anyone nicer," Quatre returned with a smile. "He was my best friend in high school, you know. I was always a little sad to see he got stuck here." Heero nodded as Quatre slipped into some sort of reverie. "He is brilliant, in his own way, he just lacks drive and focus." Then Quatre was laughing aloud and his eyes turned to Heero.

"Despite the heat here it gets pretty cold in the mountains in the winter," he explained. "Well, I think it was sophomore year, we missed out on a snow day one Friday and Duo was rather upset about that, so that weekend he hunted up some skunks, cut out the glands, and put them in the radiators of the school Sunday night. It smelt so bad the next day they let us all go home on Monday and we got our unofficial snow day. Who else would've thought up something like that?"

Quatre smiled pleasantly despite the vague sense of horror Heero felt that someone would go out of their way to kill and mutilate helpless creatures just to get a day off school. But Quatre's lack of disgust made him bite his tongue and wonder if that sort of thing was the norm here.

"I suppose that's not the most flattering story," Quatre admitted and he thought for a minute before coming up with another one. "Oh, I know. He was a fabulous quarterback. His skill stood out even in this nothing town. He never let it go to his head, though, and he always treated everyone as equals. Even after he broke his leg senior year and all the national recruiters stopped looking at him, he wasn't bitter. He spent every minute with the team, tutoring them, encouraging them, helping at practice." Quatre chewed his cheek thoughtfully for a minute. "Sometimes I wonder if that injury didn't liberate him. He seemed so much happier once colleges stopped looking at him."

"Maybe he knew he wasn't cut out for it," Heero speculated and a worried frown creased Quatre's face.

"No, he was cut out for it. But he might not have believed he was."

Heero didn't bother to question his friend further on Duo Maxwell's past. Quatre was very conscious of not divulging anything that wasn't really his to tell. It was a fact that Heero appreciated immensely about his friend. Especially after humiliating himself at the start of junior year when he finally asked Quatre on a date only to be told he was unabashedly straight. Had Quatre wanted to be cruel, he easily could've destroyed every ounce of Heero's painstakingly fought for social standing. But he didn't. In fact, in a strange way it only brought them closer.

Once he stopped trying to play matchmaker.

Then a member of staff came out with a plate of canapés and offered them as a taste test to Quatre and Heero. Quatre tasted each one and made some recommendation or another and Heero just picked the ones he thought he'd like, namely crab cakes and cold shrimp spring rolls.

"What's this about?" Heero asked after she left.

"My father likes to have these extravagant parties for my sisters and I when we come home." Quatre grimaced. "Apparently he invited basically everyone from high school."

Heero sympathized. He couldn't imagine Quatre, who just admitted to trying to hide his wealth from everyone he knew here, would want the whole town at his mansion.

"I'm surprised you went to high school here."

Quatre shrugged. "I was tutored pretty heavily outside of school. My father wasn't thrilled with the idea, you know, but I was tired of being home schooled and tired of being alone. Only my sister Elsa attended public school with me. The others did not." He turned big blue mischievous eyes to Heero. "Lucky for me, my father could never deny his only son anything he wanted."

Unfortunately, Heero didn't know that same luxury and merely nodded his head politely.

It wasn't much longer before Quatre was notified that the gate code had been entered and they walked out to the front to greet Duo. He was pulled up in a well-kept tow truck with a slight girl with short dark hair riding in the passenger side. He threw a friendly wave and a greeting before the pair unloaded Heero's rental. He gave her a hug before she was off and he was beating it up the stairs.

"Keys?" he asked, hand outstretched. Heero blinked in surprise and pulled them out of his pocket.

"Here. But I don't – ?"

But Duo had already snatched them from his hand and was running back to the car. When Heero realized he fully intended to get his bags out and carry them in he rushed down to circumvent the overly hospitable man and insist he was perfectly capable of carrying his own luggage. Duo finally gave up and relinquished the bags to Heero and he followed him back to the mansion and they let Quatre lead the way to his guest room.

"Well, let me see your phone, then," Duo demanded as they walked. Heero grabbed it rather awkwardly and managed to pass it over to Duo with a confused look as he pulled up the number pad and began typing.

"Just entering my number." He said it so casually Heero almost didn't think there was anything strange about it until he did a double take and stared back at Duo with obvious suspicion. Was he... what? Shit but it'd been so long since he'd gotten anyone's number he didn't even know if he was being reasonable or just stupidly hopeful.

Duo's lips quirked up when he caught Heero's stare. "Ya know, in case you get stuck again, you can call me to come rescue you."

Relief and disappointment flooded Heero as he turned his eyes back to Quatre. It seemed like a reasonable enough explanation, although he resented a tiny bit the implication that he needed to be rescued. But he let that feeling go as they entered an absolutely lovely room done up in various shades of blue and white and Heero unloaded his stuff on the bed.

"Okay, now what?" Duo was basically bouncing with excitement and it was so... different from the serious types Heero was used to being around that he found it strangely intoxicating. "We could go get some beers and you tell me about all the cool shit there is to do in New York because I gotta tell ya, I'm basically goin' outta my mind down here."

Quatre and Duo shared a smile that Heero thought seemed forced but then Quatre's eyes darted to him and back to Duo and it became genuine.

"You know, Heero has never had real sweet tea before. He's never been this far South."

The look of abject devastation and horror that passed over Duo's face was absolutely comical for the insignificance of the accusation.

"No, no, no. I'll have to get some Firefly and we'll hafta do this thing right." Duo bounded out of the room then. Heero shot Quatre a questioning glare and Quatre smirked unapologetically.

They found him digging around in the bar outside and he had three glasses of tea set up for them. Quatre picked his up and returned to his chair. Heero followed suit a bit hesitantly, giving Duo a skeptical glance as he returned to his seat next to Quatre. Duo pulled up a chair and sat backwards in it across from them, gulping down about half his glass quickly before leaning over and giving Heero a rather expectant look.

Heero stared down angrily at the drink and took a tentative sip. It was sweeter than anything he'd usually drink but it was certainly better than the few times he was forced into drinking iced tea back home.

"Not too bad, eh? Eh?" Duo prodded and Heero took a bigger sip as if to answer that he approved.

"Yeah, it's okay," he finally stated and the warm smile Duo beamed at him seemed worth it.

"Ya'd hardly believe there was alcohol in there, huh?" Duo teased and Heero's eyes hardened.

"There's alcohol in this?"

"So are you going to tell us the grand plan of the week?" Quatre interrupted quickly and Duo broke eye contact to meet his childhood friend.

"Hell no! It's a surprise!" Duo seemed infinitely pleased that he had information to wield over Quatre. "But if 'Ro here's never had sweet tea, then I'm sure it'll all be a bit of a culture shock."

This worried Heero faintly. Duo himself was a bit of a culture shock.

"Duo," Quatre warned and Heero shot him a grateful glance. Duo blew the whole exchange off, though, with a wave of his hand.

"Don't worry! I'm not going to take him to any meth labs or chicken houses or snake handlers or anything. Promise!" Duo crossed his heart with a finger and Quatre seemed to relax slightly. "But now you tell me something interesting, and I'll reciprocate."

Heero listened quietly as Quatre and Duo swapped stories of their time apart, which seemed to span back until last summer. Their easy conversation was pleasant to listen to and Heero found himself on his third tea, the pleasurable effects of what Duo later confessed was a spike of sweet tea vodka hummed through him by the time the staff was setting up lights and food. Quatre's father came out at one point and introduced himself, demanding Heero make himself at home while he was there for the week. He seemed pleased to see Duo and inquired politely about his work, which for some reason gave Heero a more favorable opinion of the other man.

It wasn't long before the whole place was packed with people and Quatre was shoved between this conversation or that, repeating the same stories of his time away. But much to Heero's surprise, Duo stayed with him as Quatre was forced away, sharing amusing anecdotes about this person or that, reminding him of people's names as they walked by. When Heero tried to relieve him of his self ascribed duty, Duo merely shrugged and observed that Betty-Jo was looking quite a bit more pregnant today.

"Oh, you have to come meet 'Fei and Tro'!" Duo exclaimed suddenly, grabbing Heero's upper arm and dragging him away from the buffet when he caught sight of a fairly odd looking pair engaged in conversation with Quatre.

"Duo! Ah, thanks!" Quatre greeted. "Hey, guys, this is Heero, my friend from college. Heero, this is Wufei and Trowa."

Heero shook hands politely, noting that Wufei seemed to stand out quite a bit from the rest of the fairly white, lower-class crowd as a finely dressed Chinese man but Trowa fit in rather well in his green flannel, matching Duo's in a way. Duo immediately engaged Wufei in a rapid conversation and Heero was left fighting between listening to that and the slow, mostly unstated so-called conversation between Quatre and Trowa. Thankfully, with Duo distracted it became easy to sneak away and find a little solitude in the overwhelming social situation surrounding him.

The light faded fast in the early spring and Heero found himself a few beers into almost too drunk when Duo rejoined him, twisting off a beer cap with his bare hands and standing silently with him for a few minutes as they leaned back against the house together in the shadows of the deck overhang above them.

"Hey," Duo's eyes were alight with amusement. "Follow me."

Although Heero didn't really think that was the best idea, drunk as he was, he nonetheless found himself following that swinging braid to the side of the house where Duo opened a gate and they ascended an innumerable amount of stairs until they were on the third story deck. It wasn't covered and Duo pointed upward once they reached the center of it. Heero tilted his head back and his breath caught immediately.

The stars were astronomical. The absence of light pollution made them so clear. It reminded him immediately of The Vineyard. He could almost hear the ocean waves crashing around him, his grandfather's gentle voice explaining the constellations in the spring sky.

"There's Leo, the lion. You can find him easily if you look for his heart. See? That bright one there? That's Regulus, the heart of the lion."

His own heart felt too big in his chest as it pounded against his ribcage.

"You like 'em too," Duo observed breathily and Heero brought his head back downward, meeting Duo's eyes in the dim light shining up from the party.

He nodded slightly. Duo walked forward and leaned over the railing, ignoring the party below in favor of the skyline. Heero joined him, their shoulders almost brushing, the level of intoxication he was feeling and his desire to be close to someone making him a bit less mindful than usual of his proximity.

"Thanks for coming up here with me."

Heero turned to face the other man, surprised. "You should be down there visiting your friends."

Duo just shook his head. "For the most part, I see those people entirely too often," he admitted. "Well, you know, not Quat. Or 'Fei, he's at State and only comes home on the weekends sometimes. And Tro' will probably leave when he finishes his HVAC cert, if he knows what's good for him, but..." He shrugged uncomfortably. "Her, there," he pointed down then at one of several pregnant women. "That's her third in just about as many years. Husband's been out of work for fuck if I even know how long – maybe he hasn't had a job since the first one was born. Sometimes I just wonder, what the fuck are you thinking? Oh and that guy," he pointed to what Heero imagined must be the textbook definition of 'skin head.' "Fuck only knows how many times he's been in jail for stealing copper wiring, surveillance equipment, tools, all kinds of shit. Oh and he's been banging that chick forever," he pointed to a girl with a bad dye job and tight shirt. "She aborted two of his babies but he doesn't even know it. She's too damn scared what the meth would do to 'em but she can't give it up."

He laughed then, but it was a mirthless sound, and swallowed back most of his beer. "One or two of 'em on an individual basis, okay, but to be surrounded by that... eh. No thanks. I'll pass."

Silence descended on them for a minute before Heero was forced to ask the question he'd been curious about since Quatre mentioned it hours ago.

"Then why didn't you leave?"

He regretted it instantly when Duo bit his lip and began picking at the label on his bottle. "Guess Q didn't tell ya much about me, huh? I've had a few different foster parents growing up, but none of them had the money to send me to college. Grades weren't good enough for a scholarship." He shrugged again. "But it doesn't matter."

Heero was surprised he could say something like that, but Duo just gestured to the skyline with the neck of his beer. It was all blue and purple and the distinct shape of the sloping ridges could be made out easily, a deep blue-black against the star speckled sky.

"Those mountains there?" His voice was gentle, reverent. "I know every inch of 'em. When I lie in those mountains and stare up an' see all those stars... Not sure I can bear to lose that feeling." A long sigh escaped his lips. "They all can get educations, they can leave me," he gestured down to his friends, "but this is where my soul is. This is my home."

Then he turned and smiled and for a ludicrous moment when Heero looked at him he thought of Sirius.

And then Duo leaned in and his lips brushed gently against Heero's, the light warm touch sending an electric shock through his body, sobering him instantly as he fought to remain still and allow himself to believe it was really happening. It had been nearly two years since anyone had kissed him.

"Sorry," Duo apologized immediately as he pulled away, but Heero had a feeling he wasn't apologizing for the kiss. "Didn't mean to be a downer or anything. I really do 'preciate you comin' up here with me an' all so... yeah. Sorry."

But his words meant nothing in the startling realization that although Quatre may not have told him about Duo, he certainly told Duo about him.

"Quatre told you –"

"Oh no, don't blame Quat! He didn't tell me anything." Duo said seriously before his voice took on the light, teasing tone again. "Shit, man, I'm a young gay dude in a town full of red necks – you really think I don't notice a well-dressed hot guy whose my age checkin' me out? That's a once in a lifetime 'round here."

Heero was glad for the darkness to cover his embarrassment and he stared down at his beer awkwardly. Duo clinked the neck of his bottle against Heero's. His mouth suddenly felt dry and his throat uncomfortably tight as their eyes met once again and he hoped for a moment Duo wouldn't but he thought he might kiss him again and despite how fast it was happening he couldn't have told Duo not to if he was going to but he couldn't force himself to act so brashly either.

"There you are!" a girl's voice called across the deck and Heero spun around as if they had been caught making out but Duo just turned casually, leaning back against the railing.

"You met Hilde, right?" Duo asked by way of introduction. Hilde nodded in Heero's direction but ignored him completely in favor of Duo.

"Quatre needs your help," she told him bluntly, a little bit of worry creasing her face. "Joe and Tony are getting trashed and he wants ta get everyone outta here before they go too far but you know Quat..."

Duo smiled politely and finished his beer in one gulp. "Yeah, I'll help 'em out." Duo turned and gave Heero a look he found himself hoping was disappointment. Or longing. "Q is too nice for his own good, huh? But I'll wrangle up these bunch'a drunks. It was nice talking ta ya, 'Ro." He pressed a finger to the side of his chin and drug it across his lower lip, a strangely seductive reminder of their chaste kiss that made Heero's knees just a bit weak. "I'll see ya tomorrow."

And then he was moving across the deck and Heero heard the distinct, heavy thuds as he jumped quickly down the stairs until the sounds merged with the party below. And he sat down on the deck, tucking his knees into his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He leaned back against the railing and tilted his head back up to look at the stars. A chill ran through him as the surprisingly cool wind moved across the deck and it did seem so much like the ocean for a moment. His homesickness swelled.

Easily he found the big dipper, traced out Ursa Major, and located Mizor and Alcor in his tail.

"In Indian astronomy they're called Vashishtha and Arundhati – joined together in marriage, forever together in the sky."

In a juvenile way he wondered just what it was that drew them together.