--------------------- Security Concerns ~ A Moment of Haven ~ --------------------- He'd been planning on bringing Duo in on this one. Just getting him in the room would be an improvement. Of course, that had been before they'd run into their little pothole, so he rescheduled that idea for the next occasion. Now was not the time to be pressuring Duo for a change. Heero waited patiently for his signal to be received and accepted. He was pleased to note that the call was audio-only long enough for the recipient to verify the number before enabling the video feed. There was that briefest of pauses for the video buffer to fill, and then Relena's face appeared in the window on his laptop monitor. "You're late, Heero," she greeted with a teasing smile. "I expected you would call last week. Maybe even twice." He quirked a lopsided expression at her, knowing full well that his protective tendencies got away from him sometimes. He took exception at the accusation of falling into a routine schedule, however. Predictability could get a person killed. "Just for that, maybe I'll call again later tonight. I have to keep you on your toes." "You'd just be making up for the calls that I expected." He shrugged, halting the banter to provide some real information. "Sorry. These last couple of weeks have been... different." Her face lost that humored glow. "I heard," she said simply in sympathy. Heero would accept nothing more. "How's he doing?" "Much better. Not quite as energetic as we're used to, but we expect it'll all come back. He's determined not to let it slow him down." Duo was a survivor, and more than that, sometimes a stubborn, pain in the ass survivor. Heero played a delicate game of making sure his partner didn't overdo it without hovering. At least there wasn't the added stress of their relationship woes anymore, but this was definitely related. They both found the balance comforting, knowing they hadn't gone completely soft on each other because of their enhanced state of affairs. "I'm glad to hear it. And you?" He made a sound that was for him a chuckle. "I'm keeping up with him." She studied him with perceptive eyes. "And you and Duo?" Together as a unit, she meant. "We're... keeping up with each other," he answered neutrally. It could have meant anything. "Quatre mentioned a dispute of some sort." Her words diplomatically left room for denial. As much as she loved to hear the details of their relationship, she respected them too much to truly pry. "It's been worked out." "Nothing too serious, then?" One could never tell when Heero put on that tone of voice. She didn't even know why she bothered to ask. Regardless of what had happened between the two men, it would be labeled 'nothing serious' if they had worked things out and were still together. To her surprise, Heero shared with her more than she strictly needed to know. "It could have been." His expression was comfortable, but there was a weight underlying it. "The source of the problem was something else, really. Once we finally got to the bottom of things, we dealt with it. It... was reassuring in a way." "Oh?" If Duo could talk to Father MacKenzie, then he could talk to Relena. On second thought, perhaps Duo knew better than he to leave the two of them alone during their calls. "Things were awkward for a while... until we just stopped and started talking about it like friends. Two friends just helping each other out. I liked that we could still do that." She could not fail to smile when he smiled like that. "Then you're lucky. It's not everyone that can have a relationship so solidly based..." Though caught up in his own thoughts, he did not miss the tiny sigh at the end of her sentence. "Relena?" She shook her head a little and refocused her eyes on her friend. "Hm?" Heero blinked expectantly at her, and she fell victim to its silent coersion. "Well..." "Something on your mind?" he prodded. Relena cast her gaze on something offscreen for a while before finally coming up with the words to express herself. "I don't know if you're the right person to be asking, Heero. I know you'll have helpful things to say, but you might be a little biased." He lifted an eyebrow. "About?" She sighed again, reflecting that that had given her away the first time. While Heero wouldn't squeeze it out of her if she stayed her course, he would continue to circle and fire off shots, testing for weakness."I was wondering what you thought... about relationships." "Specifically?" "There's... this guy." She nearly flinched back at the way his eyes seemed to suddenly zoom in and target something, and hastened to call him off the attack. "He's nobody! He's just a guy from some of my classes and he hasn't done anything yet. If he ever does decide to ask me out, I'll definitely turn him down." Heero's entire body remained on red alert for another five critical breath-holding seconds before he stood down a notch. "So he's... 'interested' in you?" "But I'm not interested in him." "Do you think that'll be a problem?" It might have been funny if she couldn't tell that he was being completely serious. "No, not at all. I'm not bringing him up because he's been acting suspiciously or anything. It just got me thinking." He tilted his head attentively, prompting her to elaborate. "This isn't a problem at all because I'm not interested in him... but what if I was?" His eyes narrowed again, though not nearly as dangerously as before. "You know my position, Heero. Part-time student, part-time politician... Never had a boyfriend." "Do you want one?" "Don't we always joke about finding me someone?" "I don't know about you, but I'm not talking about a boyfriend. That's a significant other. There's a difference." She weighed the two in her mind. "Duo's not just your boyfriend, is he?" There was a fast answer he could have given, and a long answer, but in the end, he settled on the simple one. "No. He's not." She sighed again, happily this time. Then the unrest returned. "See, that's exactly it. Now you've never dated around, so maybe you aren't the best person to be asking, but I've been wondering. I could accept this guy's proposition, but if I did, it would just be to have a boyfriend. People do that, you know. People date other people that they know aren't going to be their significant others. But is it appropriate for me to be one of those people?" "Or is it appropriate for you to wait until someone 'special' comes along?" Heero finished thoughtfully. "And if you never date, how will you find that person?" He smiled wryly. "You're right. I probably don't have the most useful advice for you in this case." "I'm sorry--" "But I do have some things you might consider." He tipped his head inquisitively, and waited for a nod before continuing. "If you did have a boyfriend that was just a person to date... You're a busy person, Relena. How much time would you have to spend with this person? Would he ultimately become a burden? How difficult would it be to fit him into your schedule? How many times would you have to cancel your dates?" She frowned. "I'm not *that* busy. I can't be. Things will be like this for a long time. I can't never have time for a man. That... that just won't do." Heero gifted her with a understanding look. "Then either you find someone that will fit into your lifestyle, or you have to adjust your lifestyle. I understand that maybe you'd like someone to just go out with sometimes. Does this person have to be a 'boyfriend'? Or could he be simply a friend?" As he had learned, apparently boyfriends had certain obligations attached to them that mere friends did not. She pouted playfully. "Not all of us are blessed with friends such as the two of you." "I do not wish to sound unsympathetic, Relena, but it is a matter of priorities. I understand that we're at peace now, but you're still on the frontlines. I thought about friends a few times during the war. Similar questions came up." Only adjusted upwards on the scale of importance to the level of life and death. "And yet you still managed to stumble upon some friends," she said hopefully. "They fit into my lifestyle. They understood because they were the same. I do not suggest that you stop looking, or that you give up hope. I merely suggest that, before you commit yourself to anything, you make sure the person in question understands. If he cannot understand and accept how and why you've arranged your life the way you have, he will fail to understand everything there is about you." She considered his words carefully and eventually nodded before breaking out a tentative smile. "And you said you had no useful advice." He shrugged. He was just being practical. "And of course, I don't think I need to lecture you about the security concerns." She laughed. She'd been lectured before. "I know all about those. They were the first things I thought about, I swear. I promise, if I'm ever about to get serious with someone, I'll let you perform a full background check on him first." His answering nod was somehow ironic, implying that he would certainly have done so even without her permission, and how dare she think otherwise. She shook her head in amusement. "Bet you didn't run a check on Duo." "I fought side by side with him," he answered seriously. "We watched each other's backs. That is a far better test of loyalty and true intent than any of our former affiliations. I doubt you will have similar opportunities with any of your potential candidates." A smile was smothered at hearing the term. Oh, how she loved him. In a strictly platonic sense, of course. If she thought she'd get any sort of useful or even amusing reaction out of him, she might even have told him so. "Yes, I suppose that would inspire a powerful sense of camraderie between all of you." "You as well, Relena. We fought with you. We protected each other. Perhaps on different battlefields, but all the same." "The frontlines, hm?" It saddened her to think of war and peace as the same sort of thing, but both were a struggle. There was no denying that. They'd had their turn at protecting people, and now it was hers. She drew a bright and optimistic expression from her reserves. "Well, I'm young, and things are still settling down, so I suppose I'm just worrying over things that will work themselves out in the end. Until then, I'll just have to survive on the fumes of your relationship." Heero kept his eyerolling to a polite minimum. She'd said so often enough. He'd pledged to support her... but this was an unexpected method of doing so. "Not the best of vibes, lately." "You've sorted things out," she said, both in reminder and in question. He tilted his head just barely, and added a small shrug of his shoulders in counterpoint. "Yes, but... things are still settling down." "Then what are you doing talking to me? Go find him and settle some more things down!" That eyebrow of his rose again. "Things will settle down on their own." "That doesn't mean you can't do something to help speed the process along." "You're worrying over things that will work themselves out in the end." Sometimes it was annoying how he reflected a person's statements back at her. She thought he ought to exercise a bit of creativity and come up with his own words now and then. "You shouldn't be in different rooms making phone calls to other people. You should be doing something together." Heero declined to point out that he had already considered putting them in the same room and dismissed the idea for next time, and that they did things together all the time. Although perhaps cooking, eating, and washing dishes didn't really count. Nor, in all likelihood, did finishing up some work for the Preventers. So something else. Something like a date? No, now was not the time to put that sort of pressure on their relationship. "As friends." "As anything. Sit at home and do the crossword together, or go out and scuba dive with the sharks. Just spend time with him. You both enjoy it. It demonstrates a commitment to progress, and to each other. Things will be back to normal in no time." He hardly needed any encouragement, but as it turned out, her words sparked an idea. "Sharks...." He muttered a brief excuse to her before opening a small window on his computer and looking up some information. When he was done, he nodded to her. "Good idea. Thank you." "Uh... I didn't mean that literally..." ************ "Duo! Honestly..." Duo started guiltily from his game of solitaire at the sound of his housemate's voice. Turning to look over his shoulder, he found Heero standing just inside the doorway to the sitting room, arms folded relaxedly over his chest. Heero shook his head in good-natured reprimand. "If you were that bored, you could have--" He stopped there, not wanting to press the issue. If things went according to plan, the problem would soon be solved. Instead, he paced across the distance separating them and seated himself snugly close to Duo on the sofa. "Have any plans for tomorrow?" Duo pulled away from the laptop on the coffee table and leaned his back against the cushions, putting the lines of their arms comfortably close to each other. Thusly settled, he granted Heero a bemused, wry look. What plans would he have without Heero, and what plans had he been pursuing this last week? Other than the trip to the city with Father Mac, which had only served to reinforce their togetherness, the answer to both was 'none'. After an appropriate pause, Heero donned what was for him a bright-eyed and pleased expression. "Good. We need to make a trip out to the sands." "Oh?" "The shark exhibit ends this weekend." "Shark...?" There was a moment of confusion before it all became clear. "Oh! That's right! The sharks. I totally forgot about that. This weekend, huh? Wow, I'm glad you remembered, then. That'll be cool. I've never seen a shark for real before." "And neither have I." And they better turn out to live up to Duo's expectations, or else Heero would have to have some words with them. "It's a weekday. There shouldn't be that many people." "And we can hit the beach afterwards, maybe? Just, I dunno, hang out?" Heero smiled agreeably. "And we can hit the beach afterwards. And then after that..." Not feeling very ambitious at the moment, Duo ran out of ideas. "...We come home and get a good night's sleep?" "We can do that," he answered, turning sideways in his seat and laying an arm across the back of the sofa. "But then afterwards..." "...We wake up?" He threw Duo a reproachful look. He'd thought it was obvious that he was building up to something, and in truth, Duo was well aware of that. He just didn't know what it was, and that made him a little uneasy. Now that Heero had called him on it, though, quieted down and waited patiently for the punchline. Once the requisite contrition appeared, Heero continued. "I was wondering if now maybe was a good time to..." He paused again in appreciation of the big thing he was about to propose. "When we moved in here, it was just a roof over our heads. A few days later, it started to sink in that it was *our* roof. And after a few more days, we realized we could do whatever we wanted with it. Then we made up a list of things we thought could be improved, and while we did fix the things that needed fixing... I can still remember a few things that we just wanted to do." Duo blinked with slow comprehension. "...Like putting in a nicer carpet upstairs?" "Changing the bathtub fixtures." "Changing those lights in the bathroom." "Changing the windows in your room." "A new closet door." "Some plants in the back." Duo held his breath for a moment, then released it audibly. "You're saying... you wanna remodel the house?" "I'm saying... we stopped at 'good enough'. We never finished making this 'our house'." After a loaded silence, he shrugged uneasily. "It's just something to do right now. That's all." There was an out, if Duo wanted to take it. He thought about it. For whatever reason, the suggestion sounded scarily like some sort of commitment. It seemed far too parallel to buying a new place together and moving in with each other. Of course, they'd already done that... but the point behind something like that was to make a new place and call it theirs, and that they hadn't done yet. Sure, they'd replaced the toilet that didn't always stop flushing, and they'd spackled over a few holes in the wall, and they even had the rubber ducky shower curtain that was definitely indicative of the personality of at least one inhabitant of the house... but it was all just dressing on a house that wasn't quite theirs. Yes, that was a little frightening. But it wasn't a big step. It couldn't be. This was something they'd thought about years ago, before there was even anything for them to commit to. He didn't care how delicate their current relationship was. It had proven to be solid underneath it all. That left him with plenty of room to repaint the inside of the house something other than white, just as he'd always wanted to. He'd always thought the cabinet underneath the bathroom sink was a waste of space. It would definitely benefit from a couple of drawers. "Dammit, now that you've said something... I keep thinking of more things I've always thought about changing." "Would now be a good time?" "Now? As in..." A tiny thread of suspicion and doubt crept up on him. "Why now, Heero? I know we wanted to and stuff, but what inspired this for right now?" After a thoughtful silence, Heero smiled ruefully. "Alright, I'll admit it. It's just me thinking too much again." "In a, 'Dammit, Yuy, stop hovering!' sort of way? Or a, 'Dammit, Yuy, you need to stop thinking so much!' sort of way?" Duo knew him too well. "A little of both, perhaps. I was just thinking about change... and balance. Momentum, and security." "Come on, ya gotta know you're thinking too much when you think about four things at once." They shared a look wherein they agreed that that was no surprise to either of them. Heero shifted comfortably in his seat while Duo smirked at him. "I thought a bit about... well, us, and what we could do. I know things are still settling down and there's nothing to worry about..." Duo poked him in the ribs. "You're thinking about precautionary measures, aren't you?" The accusation held no rancor. Heero didn't have doubts; he was just obsessive-compulsively fond of plans and not leaving things up to something so fickle as chance. He shrugged unrepentantly. "Admit it. We were falling into a rut, us just... dancing around each other. It's getting better now, and it's not that I don't have faith. I just thought this would be a good thing to do." Duo wrapped his mind around that and chuckled. "So for you, you want to put the spark and spontaneity back into a relationship, so you say, 'Hey, let's remodel the house!'?" He bottled in another laugh, choosing to peck Heero on the cheek instead. He did it without thought, and he was pleased that it was so. "Nothing wrong with that, of course." Heero shrugged again, also pleased that he could amuse his (boy)friend. "There's security, too. I wasn't kidding about making this place ours. And I think we'll enjoy the physical work." He received an arch, wary look. "You just trying to prove that you're not hovering now?" "Not at all. I figure you'll be back in shape by the time we actually begin anything, and once we do start, it shouldn't be anything that will be heavily taxing." He had, of course, already accounted for that. "How much planning you figure we'll be doing?" "I think we should make a wish list first. Do a little research. We'll probably have to go over our financials and the rest. Do some scheduling, draw up a plan..." It was inevitable that some wary uncertainty creep in there. "What if we don't agree?" Heero did not share his concerns. "Given our recent... disagreement, and the fact that we're still here, do you really think it'll be a disaster if we can't decide on what sort of moulding we want?" Well, sure, if he wanted to be all reasonable about things... "Wish list, eh?" It was one of those fluttery things, but Duo interpreted that as his mind's way of telling him to say yes. He grinned suddenly, leaning forward to retrieve his laptop. "Why wait until the day after tomorrow when you can scheme today?" _________________________________________ This piece of fiction is the intellectual property of the little turnip that could. The basis for this fic, i.e. Gundam Wing, Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property of someone else. The author can be con- tacted at jchew@myrealbox.com. This has been an entirely automated message. http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html last modified : 10/11/2004 23:08:01 PST