Title: #19 Not a Particularly Pleasant Experience
Arc: Life With Heero
Author: Calic0cat
Story Completed: Jan. 11, 2003
Genre: Shonen Ai/Yaoi, Domestic, Friendship
Pairing: None yet
Rated: PG-13
Warnings: AU, OOC, Swearing
Archives: At Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves; anyone else, please ask.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.

Notes: The arc begins between one and two years after Endless Waltz. Duo POV in this story.

'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change

Author's Notes: This is part of an arc of stories. I don't know for sure how many stories there will be or how often I'll be posting them. The length of each story in the arc will vary, anywhere from ficlet to multi-part. Warnings will vary from story to story as well, as will the genre. The arc *will* eventually be Shonen ai/Yaoi - but there's only one faintly implied pairing prior to Fic #23. Feedback is appreciated.

#################################################

Feeling distinctly uneasy, Duo looked from the open door of Heero's *empty* office to the closed one of Hilde's. 'Shit, she better not have decided to make any of her snide remarks,' he thought unhappily. 'I thought I got through to her about that, but I can't think of a single good reason for Heero to be in her office with the door closed. And considering how abrupt she is with him, I can't imagine him deliberately seeking *her* out...'

Before Duo could decide whether or not to go knock on the door, it opened. Heero exited the room first, looking somewhat tense, followed by Hilde. Who wouldn't look him in the eye. 'Fuck. What did she say to Heero that's bad enough she won't even look me in the face?'

"Heero?" Duo said questioningly.

Heero shook his head in a clear signal to let it go for now. "We need to get going, Duo. We have to drop these papers off at the courier service on the way home."

"O-o-k-a-ay..." Duo answered, gaze darting back and forth between his two friends. Hilde simply continued out of the building and into the house next door without even speaking to him.

Following Heero into his office where he was putting the paperwork into an envelope, Duo asked, "What's going on, Heero? Did Hilde..."

"Don't blame Hilde," Heero interrupted him, "I deliberately sought her out. I needed to know what her problem with me was. She told me. We have - I hope - reached an understanding. I won't say it was a particularly pleasant experience, because it wasn't. For either of us. But I think it was necessary."

Heero set the envelope down on the desk very precisely, then turned towards Duo and said hesitantly, "But I could really use a hug from my best friend right now."

Duo didn't know quite what to think of Heero's explanation, but he knew just what to do in answer to that final statement. As his arms closed around Heero and he felt the iron tension of Heero's muscles, he realized that the statement that it was not "a particularly pleasant experience" was obviously somewhat of an understatement. But it didn't take very long for the tension to drain away under the influence of the hug, so things couldn't have gotten *too* ugly. He hoped.