school adversary

Part 9


I juggled the grocery bags from side to side as I rang the bell and waited for the imposing white door to open. It swung inward to reveal a very sexy vision of one Heero Yuy wearing pants and a shirt, standing to the side, allowing me to pass. His eyes were fixed on the loaded bags of food I was carrying in.
"What's this?" He asked, his eyebrow raised questioningly.
"Supplies" I answered, grinning widely. I just love his face when he's perplexed. It's so cute. I can't be too cruel though, and so decided to tell him what they were for. "As you have no food here, and we can't keep ordering pizza, I thought I'd make us a couple of snacks now and then. It'd save money, and I could get in some practice for when I have to leave my sporting career due to a horrific injury, and must become a chef to survive." I told him, watching his expression.
Heero's face remained impassive, but I could see that he was disgusted with me for wanting to become a jock. "Well, put them in the kitchen and I'll help you find places for everything"
"You don't mind do you?" I asked him anxiously.
"No, I'm interested in sampling your culinary skills". Heero shut the door and followed me into the kitchen where I was already starting to plan out the way I was going to organize the pantry.
Half an hour later, a place had been found for everything, and everything was in its place. I turned to Heero with a triumphant smile on my face. I loved the feeling of a neat kitchen. It just felt so right. I didn't care particularly about the rest of a house, the kitchen had to be perfect. Well, not perfect, but as neat and tidy as possible. Heero was looking at me with a bemused smile on his face.
"How do you know your way around a kitchen so well?" He asked me.
"Well, I've always had a really large appetite, so Sister Helen decided that if I was going to eat so much I could learn how to cook for myself. As I was basically the only child who never got adopted, I had lots of time." A shadow crossed across my face when I thought of the many adoption days that had ended up with me still left in the orphanage.
That day I made snacks for us both. Whatever came to mind at the time was what I cooked. I left that day with some home made ice-cream freezing in the freezer, and a shelf of cookies in the pantry. I would win him over with my cooking if nothing else I decided, saying goodbye to him.

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The next few months past in a blur for me. I learned all about Duo in bits and pieces. He didn't like closed in spaces because his father used to beat him then put him in the closet. He was never adopted for the reason that he had a bad background, and his father wasn't actually dead, just in jail. He was always hungry because "I never got enough to eat when I was little ya know? So I reckon my subconscious is just telling my body to catch up a little". Duo's mother had died when he was five, and after taking abuse from his father for another year after that, decided it wasn't worth it and started to live on the streets where he had become a pretty good thief. That was why he always carried a lock pick around. When he was eight, father Maxwell had found him and his life at the orphanage had begun. Facts about him just seemed to pop out at the slightest notice.
All in all, he'd had a pretty messed up child hood, and I was fascinated with the way Duo could be so open, kind and caring with something like that in his past. After all this time my infatuation with him had only gotten worse. I couldn't stop thinking about him. It was like I lived solely for his next visit, or the times when he would make a subtle gesture 'hello' to me when passing in the halls. I used to think that he was an idiot, but I was so wrong. He was one of the most observant people I knew. Like that picture in my living room? It was a copy of a Monet. I almost choked when I found out. I had been looking through an art book in the library for something or other when I stumbled across it. I must have stared at it with my jaw hanging open for a long time as Trowa had subtly leaned over and asked me how many flies I had caught so far. Trowa's become a real smart ass ever since he started going out with Quatre. I think it's good for him, but at that time, my glare was set for 'kill'. Trowa had told me that Quatre had just finished teaching Duo Arabic, and now Duo could speak it fluently. As Duo was also in Trowa's Spanish class, this raised my opinion of him higher, but I still maintained that most jocks had more brawn that brain.
I sat nervously on my couch in a pair of jeans and a sweater. Duo had one day decided that my outfits were all 'too stuffy to laze around in', and grabbed my credit card, intent on adding 'casual' to my wardrobe. I had informed him that I would only wear casual clothes if he did. He had looked at me with a patently false look of confusion and said 'But man, these ARE casual!' I had then told him that if that was casual, you could count me out. He had just grinned at me, told me that I'd won, and come back later with a trove of bags from various different stores. I looked at them all, disconcerted that he'd gotten all this for me. "What is all this?" I asked him in my usual monotone, a wary expression on my face.
"Don't look at me like that!" He'd replied. "These aren't all for you. We can share them as I paid half. I'm not doing casual outside this house, so we'll keep them all here." This made sense. If Duo changed his image drastically, people would wonder why, and questions would be asked. Likewise with me. Sharing was a good option as we were mostly the same size, and had similar tastes. My house was where we both relaxed, so my house was where the clothes would be. I shoved them into a wardrobe in the spare bedroom next to mine. If he ever needed to sleep over (I can hope!) then this is where I'd put him.
In turn, I told him all about myself. About how my parents never gave me any attention, often forgetting my very existence. About the way I never felt like I could fit and how I used my intelligence as a shield so that I would always be good at SOMETHING. Duo understood how I could feel like that and told me that he craved friends because he never had any as a child.
Those few months brought me so much closer to Duo, yet still left me wondering if he could ever feel the same way about me. I knew that I wanted him, but he never gave me any sign that he wanted me as more than just a friend.
The doorbell rang and I got up to answer it.