[start me up]



Title: Start Me Up

Author: WickedGame

Genre: a little fluff, a little gen, AU

Pairing: 2+1

Rating: PG-13 (for foul language)

Warnings: aforementioned foul language, not beta read

Notes: Written for Link Worshiper's birthday. :-)

++++

He hated the sweltering sun, hated the way his Led Zeppelin shirt stuck to his chest and back as he held out his hand for a wrench. Hated the fact that his damned Camaro had broken down while on the interstate, and hated that there was no way to call a tow truck.

Fuck that. He was Duo Maxwell. He could fix his own damned Camaro on the interstate, no matter that it was eight in the evening on a hot summer night, and they were missing the damned Black Sabbath concert they had saved for.

"Duo, why don't we just walk to the next town? We can use a pay phone and call a tow truck."

Duo looked sideways at his best friend and scowled. "Fuck you, Heero. I can fix this and you know it."

Heero shrugged. "I know that, but the sun doesn't. It's only going to be light for about another hour, and I don't think this can be fixed with what we have here in that time frame."

Duo slapped the inside of his hood and cursed. He hated being wrong. More than that, he hated when Heero was right. There was nothing more aggravating than a smart ass mother fucker making you look like a fool. And while Duo was used to being a fool in front of Heero, it still rankled and made him even more angry.

"Well, what the hell do you suggest we do?" Duo snarled.

Heero shrugged again, his David Bowie shirt stretching and wrinkling as sculpted shoulders rose and fell. Duo loved those shoulders. He loved to imagine biting them, sucking on them, licking sweat off of them...

Not that Heero knew that. No way. Duo had a hard enough time keeping his mouth shut about his sexual preferences without broadcasting it to his best friend. He didn't need said best friend to know that he was the object of his masturbatory fantasies.

Duo cursed one more time and slammed the hood of the black car down. He shoved his hands in his jeans and started walking north. He heard Heero's slightly shorter stride behind him and he felt relieved, knowing Heero was there with him.

"Don't you say shit, man," Duo muttered.

"I won't say anything because there really isn't anything to say." Heero kicked the gravel as he walked.

Duo held out a thumb, and Heero batted his arm down. "Don't do that. Bunch of psychos around these days."

Duo snickered. "Can't stop here. This is bat country."

Heero laughed and punched Duo lightly on the arm.

And they kept walking.

*~*~*~*

They trudged back to the car, the moon hanging over their heads and a six-pack of beer for each of them in hand. Duo sipped gratefully at the room-temperature bottle and wiped his brow. "This is the most walking I've done in months."

"Told you to join the baseball team," Heero pointed out. Duo hissed and Heero took a swat at his head.

They reached the car and sat on its trunk, staring out into a vast amount of nothing, with the stars providing most of the light they could see. Heero pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed one to Duo. They lit up and leaned back, staring at the sky.

"Fucking shame about those tickets," Duo said softly. He couldn't say anything else that might be on his mind because Heero's shirt sticking to his skin was igniting visions in Duo's head that he knew he wasn't supposed to have. It didn't stop him from seeing it in his mind's eye though, and that kind of sucked ass.

Heero downed his beer and opened another. He held it up and tilted it slightly toward Duo. "Here's to another great concert we have to miss."

Duo clinked bottles with Heero and snorted. "May it suck as bad as Nugent did the last time he came through town."

*~*~*~*

"How long is the fucking tow truck going to take?" Duo slurred grumpily, waving his seventh bottle of warm beer in one hand while smoking the last dying puffs of his cigarette with the other.

Heero sat up and swayed a little. "We've been out here for two hours now. It's got to be coming soon."

Duo looked at a blurred Heero and snickered. "You're such a lightweight! You're already drucking funk, man!"

Heero laughed loudly and fell off the trunk of the car. His ass hit the gravel with a thud, and he cursed as beer spilled on his shirt.

Duo watched with a dry mouth as Heero stripped off his shirt and then walked around to toss it into the back seat. Heero caught him looking and stopped.

"What?"

Duo shook his head, his cheeks burning as he looked down. "Nothing, man."

Heero slowly walked back over to the trunk and hopped drunkenly up onto it.

"Do you need to, talk about something?" Heero asked tentatively.

Duo shook his head and took a long drink of beer, tossing the emptied bottle onto the shoulder of the road. "Nah, man. Nothing to talk about."

Heero nodded and lit up another cigarette. He grimaced when he realized it was his last one.

*~*~*~*

Duo lazily let his head slip down the back window of his car. It landed on Heero's shoulder with a plop. Duo started and lifted it back up.

"Sorry, man. I'm just tired," Duo said sheepishly while he rubbed his eyes.

Heero grunted. "I know how you feel. Remind me to never call that tow truck company ever again."

Duo looked at the beer bottles littering the ground, and at the cigarette butts lying next to them. He smiled and laughed a little. "You know what, Heero? This has been the shittiest damned night ever."

Heero smiled. "It would've been. But it wasn't."

Duo looked at Heero curiously.

Heero shrugged. "With anyone else it would've been torture. With you, it's fun."

Duo smiled.

*~*~*~*

The tow truck arrived with lights blinking. A big man with a long beard named Stu stepped out of the truck and walked over to the Camaro.

He chuckled at the two men lying back against the windshield. One had a long braid and his head was resting comfortably on the shoulder of his companion.

"Hey, wake up!"

The men shot up, alert.

"Do you still want me to tow your car?"

Duo looked at Heero and then back at Stu. "Sure."

The funny thing is, for a moment Duo actually wanted to say no. And he kind of thought that maybe, just maybe, Heero wanted him to say no too. And that was something new.

-The End-

[without falling down]