by Kracken
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"The problem is your machine, Maxwell," Heero insisted as he climbed into the cockpit of the monstrous ore mining machine.
"Look I.T.!" Duo shouted at him. "I know my work. Your G2380B ore miner program has a glitch!"
Heero gave Duo, in his gray coveralls, and yellow hard hat, a once over, before he said, "Bet on it, Grease Monkey?"
Duo frowned at the insult, nostrils flaring, and then he gave a curt nod. "Bet's on," he affirmed. "What's the stakes?"
Heero thought for a moment and then smiled in a way that made Duo nervous. "You agree on a date."
"With who?" Duo demanded, confused.
Heero hooked a thumb at his own chest as he opened his laptop. "Me."
"We've been over this already!" Duo exploded in irritation. "You're gay. I'm not. End of interest."
Heero shook his head as he sat at the controls of the machine and hooked his laptop into the machine's brain. "You told me, 'I don't know what I want, and some things, I don't want to find out.' It seems to me, that there is an interest. You're just too frightened to find out just how much of an interest you have."
Duo thumped both fists onto the back of the padded chair, making Heero frown up at him."People aren't both, Heero. I really believe that. I was just drunk at the party. I didn't mean any of that shit that I said. I didn't mean..."
"To let me kiss you?" Heero wondered, but then smirked, "or did you kiss me? I don't remember."
"Why can't you forget about it?" Duo exploded.
"Because I don't want to," Heero said with soft seriousness. He turned his attention back to his computer and asked, "What happens if I'm wrong?"
Duo was floundering and confused. It took him a moment to understand what Heero was asking. "Uh, yeah, well, you have to stand in front of the entire I.T. development team and tell them, loudly, how you were wrong."
"That doesn't seem too bad," Heero began.
"Naked," Duo interjected viciously.
"Naked?" Heero repeated tensely as he started his computer on it's diagnostic.
"Are you allowing for my enriched fuel variable?" Duo asked.
"Yes, soon to be date," Heero replied.
"In your dreams, soon to be naked confessor I.T.," Duo shot back.
Heero grinned and showed Duo his computer screen before he unhooked and stood up. "Pick you up tomorrow night at eight. Dress formal."
"Shit!" Duo exclaimed as he saw the line of green bars broken up by a red one, before Heero snapped his laptop closed, tucked it into the sling bag at his side, and then began climbing out of the monster mining machine. "I didn't change the fuel intake filter after I modified it," Duo realized.
Three stories up, the blowing sand of the mine pit whirling around him, Heero smirked up at Duo's look of consternation. "You're not going to be a sore loser, are you? I don't want a sour date."
Duo sighed then and rubbed at the back of his neck. "This won't change anything," he warned.
"We'll see," Heero replied, and continued downward.
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Duo stood at the front of his apartment building, hands stuffed into his pockets, and expression both sour and nervous. In black slacks and shoes, white dress shirt choking him with a high collar, and cream colored jacket fitting him tight across the shoulders, he felt ridiculous; a street brat putting on stolen clothes. That he had borrowed the suit from a neighbor was only a technicality.
Heero pulled up in a sleek, bronze sports car, rolled down the automatic window, and smiled at him. "Get in."
"Fuck this," Duo growled under his breath, but he wasn't a coward. He paid up his debts. He jerked the car door open and slid into the leather seat of the passenger side. He stared out of the window, expecting Heero to pull away from the curb at once. When he didn't, he was forced to look at the man.
"What?" Duo demanded with a glare.
Heero was dressed in clothing that not only looked as if they belonged to him, but that he looked comfortable in as well. Slim black jacket that fit him perfectly. A bronze shirt that unintentionally matched his car. Black slacks that hugged strong legs. A slim tie that matched the shirt one tone darker.
"You don't usually dress up, do you?" Heero asked.
"Not my style, Yuy," Duo shot back, ready for an argument.
"You look... good," Heero said instead and gave Duo that damned smile again, that one that was all over him, as if Heero had grabbed him and ...
Duo scowled even more and gave the window his full attention. "Let's get this over with."
"Attitude adjustment first," Heero demanded.
"You'll get a ticket," Duo warned. "Waiting, I mean...'cuz it's not happening."
Heero sighed and pulled away from the curb."Maybe once we get to the restaurant..."
"Might as well expect magic unicorns to sprout out of my ass," Duo growled.
Heero stopped the car, leaned over Duo, and flung open the passenger side door. "Out."
Duo glared at him. "No. I pay my debts."
"You're paying in rocks, not credits," Heero complained.
"Who's fault is that?" Duo barked back. "You want something that I can't give you. I like chicks, Heero. I have sex with chicks. I like chick boobs, chick assess, and chick-"
"You can like both," Heero barked back, cutting him off.
"I don't think that!" Duo replied hotly.
Heero's jaw worked as if he were chewing something that was fighting back, and then he said in a low intense tone, "I know what you were feeling when we kissed."
"Yeah? Well, I was so drunk that I don't even know what really happened," Duo countered. "How can you know what I was feeling?"
"Because I do. Because it was... ," Heero struggled for words and then abandoned it to say, "I don't know why you won't face it, but I can't not try to make you see what I do, Duo."
Duo made an exasperated sound and sunk into his seat. "Let's get this over with, okay?"
Heero looked ready to argue some more, but then he shook his head in frustration, closed the door, and pulled away from the curb again. "This is going to be a long evening," he grumbled.
Duo was quiet, watching the city pass by, and then he grinned and said, "I must be some kisser."
"Asshole," Heero retorted.
"Never pretended otherwise," Duo shot back, "So you've got nothing to complain about."
"Wasn't complaining," Heero chuckled. "It's part of your charm."
"My girlfriends didn't think that was charming," Duo replied despondently. "Probably why I'm still single."
Heero glanced at him and then said, "Or maybe they didn't have what you really wanted?"
"A dick, you mean?" Duo shot back.
"I was thinking more along the lines of love," Heero replied.
Duo stared and then scoffed, "Fuck you, Yuy! You are not going to hand me that bullshit 'love' line to get my ass. If you think I'm that stupid, you might as well stop the car again and let me the hell out."
"It's not a line," Heero replied seriously, "and maybe it's my ass I want you to have?"
Duo choked and blushed. He rubbed a hand over his face to try to stop it and then demanded, "Don't even go there! Let's stick with payback dinner, Yuy. I don't want to hear anymore of this."
"No promises," Heero replied.
"Didn't think I was going to get one," Duo sighed.
TBC