Work Text:
Beneath: Bones and Fluff
by Duointherain
Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing
“Heero,” Duo called from their shared bathroom, “How do I tie a tie?”
“Unlock your phone,” Heero replied, not looking up from his computer. “I have a mission.”
Duo stuck his head out of the bathroom. Hair still loose, nice white shirt buttoned one button crooked. “But it’s the big dance thing!”
Heero stared at Duo’s reflection on his screen. Duo couldn’t see the small smile on his face. For a moment, Heero imagined going to this stupid, irrelevant party with Duo. He imagined what it would feel like to hold Duo’s hand, the strength in his fingers. His heart sped up a little and he didn’t know why. It was probably something bad. “I have a mission tonight. I told you that.”
“Yeah,” Duo said, stepping into the doorway, shirt untucked, black tuxedo pants smooth and elegant. “But why tonight? It ain’t like we’re going to get another chance at this bullshit?”
Heero spun his chair around. “We have a goal that goes beyond personal desires. If you’ve forgotten that, perhaps it’s best if you just stay a student.”
Rage flashed over Duo’s face, darkening violet eyes, twisting his lips. “Take that fucking back!”
Eyes locked, they glared at each other. “I didn’t mean to doubt your commitment,” Heero said carefully because he knew Duo would never forgive a lie, “But you have a girlfriend now.”
“I do not!” Duo snapped. “Relena wants to kiss you, not me.”
“That’s not logical,” Heero said. “You’re the one she’s friends with.”
“Well, I don’t want to kiss her,” Duo said, trying to put the emphasis on her, because there was someone he was pretty sure he wanted to kiss. “I like someone else.”
“Good,” Heero said, spinning his chair back around and quickly resuming his typing.
Anger all used up, Duo opened his mouth, but couldn’t find any words to say. “You know,” Duo snarled, “It might not be so fucking bad to imagine a world after we win! Ever think about that? About what if we win and what will we do?”
Heero’s fingers stilled on the keyboard. Duo could see Heero’s slight smile reflected in the screen. “I think it would be good if you survived the war,” Heero said softly.
His fingers had already started typing again though, making sure that the window he was typing in was blocked from Duo’s view. “See? He likes Relena! You’re wrong!”
Trowa replied in the same window. “I’m not wrong. They’re both chasing you. You should make an appearance at the dance. There will be plenty of time to take care of our mission afterward.”
“No,” Heero typed. “I’m not doing it. It’s stupid. I don’t care what Duo thinks. He’s only going to be madder when I tell him I’m going with Dorothy.”
“That’s not true and you know it.” Trowa replied.
That’s when a knock at the door got everyone quiet. Heero watched the door with a hand on his pistol. Duo peered out of the bathroom. Heero trusted him to be armed. It probably wouldn’t be a gun, but Duo was never not armed in some way. Trowa’s feed switched to video so he could watch and assist if needed. He was only a couple doors down. Their time at the school was nearly over and they did have a big mission. There was no telling who could be on the other side of the door.
The knock became a pounding.
Just as they were both considering going out the window, Relena yelled, “Duo! Help me!”
Heero shook his head, a finger over his lips, blue eyes wide.
Duo already had the doorknob in his hand. The explosion of pink tulle, satin, and pearls seemed to hold in the air for a moment, then collapsed down over him like a romcom had suddenly barged into their very cool action movie lives. Duo staggered backward. Heero stared at the whole trainwreck, moving just a little to the side so Trowa could see on the video.
With Duo pinned to the bathroom doorframe, Relena who was wearing fluffy white bottoms that went to her knees and a pale pink camisole, tried to hold the fluffy mass of pink in both arms as she used Duo’s chest to contain the rest of it. “You have to help me!”
Duo, whose shirt still wasn’t buttoned right, his face now framed in bubblegum pink tulle, got half a word out that sounded somewhere between uhhhhh and eeeeek.
Heero scooted back towards his desk. Quatre squirmed into the video frame, promptly shut off the volume on their side, and fell over laughing.
Relena pulled her fluff of a dress back and slammed it against Duo’s chest again. “Are you going to help me?”
“Yeah, okay,” Duo said, hands pushing at the tulle. “Get it off me!”
Relena backed up, holding the bodice to her chest, the huge heliosphere of pink fluff between her and Duo. “My mother... my MOTHER bought me an off the rack gown and it’s got a... plastic thing I can’t get off! Carmen says it will explode DYE! DYE! Duo! Dye on my dress if I try to hard!”
“Okay,” Duo said as he inched away towards his work bag. “I can help. Let me see it.”
“Why do you think he can help with an anti-theft device,” Heero asked, wondering if just a bit of cutting might not bet better.
“Oh! Duo and I have been walking on the weekends.”
A green flame burst into existence around Heero’s heart. It made him want to murder.
“Here,” Duo said, having come up out of his bag with a black rectangle. “Le’me see.”
That black rectangle was the wrong one, so Duo fished for another one, which did release the tag. “There! All better.”
It was at that point that Relena realized that Duo wasn’t dressed yet and she pounced on him like a mama kitty with a wayward baby.
The green fire turned to a more terrified miasma as Duo let out the occasional howl from the bathroom, only to emerge after what Heero thought was a very short time, with his hair braided... weird. His shirt buttoned right, his tie done, and his vest on. The vest fit him very well, showing off a tapered waist and when he turned to face Relena as she fiddled with his tie, Heero decided the dark pants looked very, very nice. That green flame turned decidedly pink and violet.
In the video frame behind him, Quatre was screaming about how Heero was in love with Duo! Does Heero know that? The sound was off though and Heero didn’t know.
“There! You look okay,” Relena concluded. “Heero? Get ready! The dance starts in an hour.”
“I’m not going,” Heero said, stern and reproving, which he regretted almost immediately when Relena’s face fell. “This shouldn’t be a surprise. I never said I was going.”
“But then you’re leaving!”
Heero pointed right at Duo. “You talk to much.”
Duo shrugged. “I didn’t want her to worry.”
“You take her to the stupid prom then,” Heero growled. “I’m a soldier.”
“I don’t want to go to prom with Duo,” Relena said, neary stamping her foot. “If you won’t take me! You should take him!”
“Get out of our room,” Heero hissed, following it up with a ‘nice’ smile that Duo had taught him was helpful.
Relena ran. Duo sighed. Heero wouldn’t look him in the eyes.
It was war. They were all going to die anyway.
<><>
Relena stood at the top of the balcony, curving stairs to either side, her hands on the railing like a lost Cinderella. Kids and teachers flowed in through the wide-open doors, through the warm flickering candlelight that filled the foyer below and then through into the dance with its live orchestra. Her hair was done up, diamond earrings glittering. There were even diamonds on her shoes, but she couldn’t stand to be at a party if Heero were out there trying to save the world and maybe dying.
She very much did not see the handsome English professor as he walked up behind her. He was young for a professor, from a good family that that helped him reach higher in the world. Golden blond hair and forest green eyes made him handsome and encouraged his charm. He flirted with nearly everyone.
Until he rested his hand on the back of Relena’s neck, she and everyone else, thought he was pretty harmless. “Is the Princess to sad to go to the dance? Waiting for your prince?”
Relena wrinkled her nose and tried to step away, only to find his hand had closed on the back of her neck. “Let go of me,” she hissed.
“What a naughty girl you are,” he purred. “Out all by yourself and dressed like a pretty piece of candy. I might have to eat you up.”
Then his hand left her neck, there was a solid popping sound and before he could yell, Duo’s fist hit him square in the mouth. The professor staggered back and Duo stepped between him and Relena. “Touch her again, you shit, and I’ll break all your fingers,” Duo made a twisty motion with his middle finger, “All eleven of them.”
“You little hooligan,” the professor hissed, holding his jaw. “I’ll have both of you expelled.”
“Yeah?” Duo spat at him, missing only barely. “You bring her name into this, or I ever hear about you touching a kid again, I’ll fucking break you so it don’t heal.”
Relena gently laid a hand on Duo’s shoulder, face stern. “I would take him at his word, ‘Sir’.”
“You best go put some ice on yer hand,” Duo suggested. “It gonna swell. Go on then. You’re dismissed.” Duo threw up his middle finger as the man hurried away.
For a couple more minutes, they both stood there, watching the flow of normal people go into the dance. Finally, Duo looked at her, smiled this shit’s-about-to-happpen smile. “Wanna some fun?”
“How so,” she asked all covered in pink and pearls, but already 100% into whatever he was proposing.
“Go to the kitchen. Bring me back yeast. It’s some shit they put in bread to make it taste good.”
Relena almost gave into the urge to explain what yeast was, but in the end, she just went and did as he asked.
When she got back, he was stripped down to just his shirt, tie long gone. He had two large trash cans set up, one on each staircase. He had a medium sized garbage can full of water. She sank down on the floor next to him and handed him the two jars of yeast she found. “What are we going to do?”
“Make bubbles,” Duo said, smiling and batting his eyes for a moment. “You got shoes on that you can run in, yeah?”
“I am wearing flats,” Relena confirmed. “Are they going to be pretty bubbles?”
Duo’s lips tightened up and he rolled his eyes upwards as if in thought. “Probably not, but ain’t no one ever gonna forget’em. Heero wanted a distraction.”
“So he did come to the prom?”
“Yeah,” Duo said, violet eyes going quite dark very quickly. “He brought some girl because she said she’d give him information if he did. Dorothy Catohor or something.”
“Dorothy,” Relena said, lines forming between her eyes. “is at prom with Heero?!”
Duo’s smile was just as vengeful as hers. “Not for long....”
“Good! How do we do this thing?”
So there they were, the yeast mixed in with bathroom soap that Duo had scavanged and huge piles of peroxide stolen from the chemistry labs. One of them on either side and they dumped their mixes into the bigger cans. For just a moment, nothing happened, then it rose.. pink on her side and purple on his, like some horrible factory malfunction Great froths of foam splashed upwards, over the railing, roaring down the stairs like the embodiment of teenage vengeance.
Then it hit the candles and the screaming started.
Duo and Relena stood there in the center, watching the foam continue to roar and splash, hands held. Then they ran like hell.
The Gayest Hug follows this story.