[without falling down]

Title: Without Falling Down
Author: WickedGame
Genre: AU, romance
Pairing: 1+2+1 or 1=2
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: foul language, not beta read
Notes: Sequel to "Start Me Up". This takes place 7 years later, when they're 24 years old. For Link Worshiper, as an addendum birthday present.

++++

Punk music blared in the background as Heero and Duo opened the door to their dorm. They stumbled in, drunk as skunks, both of them tripping over the long and undone laces of Duo's combat boots. Heero kicked off his flat-soled skate shoes and fell on the floor briefly before jumping back up and grabbing a forty of beer from the personal fridge hidden in the corner.

Duo looked at his roommate curiously. "Didn't you have enough beer at the gig?"

Heero scoffed. "No way! Never can be such a thing."

Duo snickered and threw his boots into the corner.

Heero pointed at the huge, black boots with their paints splashes on the surface. "You need to get real shoes and stop wearing those boats on your feet."

Duo pointed at Heero and laughed. "And you need to realize that skateboarding is dead, man!"

"Skateboarding is never going to die. Not as long as I'm alive," Heero said triumphantly. Duo laughed when Heero swayed on his feet, and then he helped his best friend to sit down on the bed.

They both fell onto the bed together, Heero holding his brown bottle of booze, and Duo lighting up a cigarette. Heero snatched the offending stick before Duo could light it and tossed it out the open window. "Fucking things will kill you."

Duo took the brown bottle from Heero without much opposition and sat it on the nightstand. "So will too much fucking alcohol."

"Why officer, there's no blood in my alcohol system!" Heero faked a falsetto voice that left Duo in stitches.

They were quiet for a moment and then Heero spoke up. "I'm too fucking drunk."

Duo nodded. "Been as drunk or drunker before."

"That time, before the Sabbath concert," Heero mentioned.

Duo's thoughts went far away. It wasn't often that they talked about that night, when they had drank far too much beer, smoked far too many cigarettes, and Duo had nearly confessed to Heero how much he liked him.

But you didn't just do that back then. You didn't have feelings for other men. Hell, it was uncommon to have a whole lot of feelings, period. He had tried many a time since then to say something, anything, but he had always come up short.

They had always been best friends, even after Duo had discovered the punk counterculture and Heero had convinced his mom and dad to buy him a skateboard. They argued over music and clothing, but they always stuck by each other. Duo couldn't let Heero go anyway. No matter how many broken bones he got from trying to complete an ollie or how many stupid bands Heero dragged him to go see, Duo Maxwell couldn't see spending time with anyone else. They both had friends outside of each other, but even those friends could see how close they were.

They had both lost girls over it, too. Heero's first girlfriend in college, a nice girl named Relena, had dumped Heero after she gave him an ultimatum. She had told Heero that he had to decide who was more important, Duo or her. Heero didn't like being backed into a corner. He told her Duo without any hesitation.

Duo had a girl that had been interested in him, but he had been blind to it until Heero pointed it out. One day Duo was forced to take her aside and let her know he really wasn't interested in seeing anyone right then. Hilde had been disappointed, but she had said she understood.

Now, this didn't mean Duo was a virgin. Neither was Heero. It was just the manner in which they lost their virginities. Heero's was in Relena's bed, when her roommate had been out of town. But Duo's had been in the back of a seedy disco club on a night in which he had been drinking too much and had been missing Heero too much. He had always regretted it, but knew it wasn't worth crying over or anything.

Duo was so lost in his thoughts he missed what Heero said completely. "What was that?"

Heero blew his breath out quickly, irritated. "I said that I was very confused that night."

"About what?" Duo asked absently.

"About you. About the looks you sometimes gave me. I didn't know what you were thinking when you'd look at me like you did that night."

Duo remembered getting caught staring as Heero stripped off his wet Bowie shirt and tossed it into the car. "I didn't mean to stare."

"It wasn't the first time I caught you looking, and it wasn't the last. But this is the first time I've ever had the guts to say anything about it."

Duo's breath hitched. "I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry I looked. It won't happen again."

"But what if I didn't mind? What if I wanted it to happen again?"

Duo stood up and walked a couple of short steps away from Heero's bed. "You didn't just say that, did you?"

He heard Heero get up behind him, standing up without falling down. "What if I did?"

Duo felt a little dizzy. He leaned back against the door and faced his best friend. "You don't feel that way about me. Fuck, Heero, you lost your virginity between the thighs of a pretty girl. You've kissed girls and dated girls and you've never said word one of ever being attracted to guys!"

Heero walked closer, until he and Duo were inches apart. "Neither did you, and I still figured it out."

Duo felt panicked, closed in, and as he reached for the doorknob to his right, he felt Heero's hand clamp down onto his.

"You're not running away from me, Duo."

Duo's eyes widened as Heero drew closer, and gasped as soft lips brushed his lightly before returning, firmer and hotter than before.

His arms moved of their own accord, circling around Heero's back and digging into the white shirt Heero wore. He held on for dear life and wondered when he was going to wake up.

When Heero drew back, Duo's mouth followed, reluctant to let go. They were both breathless, their faces red and hands shaking.

"I've been wanting to do that for years," Heero confessed softly.

"You've got to be shitting me," Duo said wondrously.

"About music, maybe. About clothing, sure. About this, never."

Duo smiled.

-The End-

[start me up]