Pairing: 1+2
Rating: PG
Warnings: shonen ai
Summary: Duo is receiving notes from a secret admirer, and Heero doesn't like it.

Choose Me
by Ultramarine

"Not as much as you."

The glare intensified. "How so?"

"You sit and brood and glare at anyone who dares look at you. People fear you. Teachers gossip about you, not to mention the students. Yeah, that look you're giving me right now?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips. "That's the one I'm talking about. I, on the other hand, blend in."

Duo and Heero had been laying low at this boarding school for three weeks after a successful mission that left towns miles away trembling with the aftershock of explosions. While researching the mission, Heero and Duo decided that the safest place to hide after the bombs went off would be Charles Academy, an all-boys boarding school in the mountains nearby. The attack was planned in August, so two entering students would blend in with the rush of students returning from summer vacation. Right now they were having a standoff in their dorm room.

Heero shifted his glare to Duo's hair. "My hair may be unique, but listen up. Here are the street rat's rules to blending in with rich kids. Number one, speak when spoken to. By not doing this, you only fuel their imaginations. Number two, don't volunteer information; as if I even had to mention that. Number three, ask them questions about their parents' jobs, their homes, or anything that they can brag about. These kids are spoiled brats, and they try to one-up one another all the time. Ask one of them about what kind of car his father drives and all the others will chime in that their parents have nicer cars, with more features, or how they have twelve cars, or their private shuttles. They care nothing about you. They will never ask you anything personal. Get them on a topic they can crow about and you will never be asked to contribute. Number four, be average. By being perfect, the teachers take notice and single you out. The other students pick up on this and resent you for it, again drawing attention to you." Duo snorted. "I think the only rule you follow is number two."

Heero stopped Duo's lecture by taking a piece of paper off Duo's desk and thrusting it toward Duo. "If I am the one attracting all the attention, what is this? You failed to blend in. Someone noticed you and gained access to your supposedly secure space."

"I like your hair," the paper read.

It was written neatly on a piece of paper ripped from the corner of a sheet of college-ruled notebook paper. This was the fourth note he had found hidden in his books, this one in Homer's Odyssey. Though he was no stranger to comments on his hair, Duo had been surprised to receive the compliment in such a secretive manner. Duo was flattered, but these notes bothered Heero greatly. The notes kept appearing in books Duo left in his locker overnight, and it concerned the gruff boy that someone was going out of his way to break into Duo's personal space.

"Heero, it's just a combination lock -- a no-brainer. It's fine." Duo sighed, exasperated, and plopped down on his bed.

"He could see something incriminating."

"That's bull. I would never leave anything in there that could give me away. You should know better than to accuse me of not taking every precaution." Duo cocked his head to the side, puzzled. "You're actually more upset about this than I thought you'd be. I didn't know you were so insecure about your false identity."

Heero crossed his arms. "Consider, then, that if this person is willing to break into your locker, who's to say he will not break into our room? A locker may not require much effort, but stalking is an escalating behavior."

"Stalking? Heero, a few notes in my books hardly constitutes stalking. Quit overreacting and let this guy stroke my ego a little, geez." Duo lay back and locked his fingers behind his head. "I will concede that I have been not only noticed, but singled out. However, I don't think there's any reason to freak out just yet. Everyone has noticed you, but I guess nobody has actually approached you or anything."

"Changing what I have been doing will only attract more attention."

"True enough. Well, we will just have to wait and see what happens next. When's our estimated date of departure from this place?"

"No searches have been conducted in over five days. Next weekend there will be a national holiday, giving us the long weekend to disappear without our absences being noted for several days."

"Well, hopefully you can agree that my admirer will not attempt to break into our room before then."

Heero paused before softly capitulating. "Agreed."

The day they were to make their escape, Duo doodled his way through a lecture on dead languages. Thinking to himself that if all alphabets other than Roman, Arabic, and Kana had become obsolete centuries ago it was no use studying them in high school, he noticed a new note poking out of his textbook. It was the first one since the debate six days earlier, "And the last," thought Duo bemusedly.

"Choose me."

Duo discreetly stared at the note in his hand, hardly able to process this development. This note was penned by a new author. The handwriting was flawless; were it not for being in pencil, Duo would have mistaken it for printed type. Duo knew of only one person who could write in twelve point Times New Roman by hand.

After classes Duo flew to their room. Heero's side of the room was completely packed, but the boy himself was nowhere to be found. Full of nervous energy, Duo couldn't sit still, so he packed up his half of the sparse living space. Once finished, Duo sat on the stripped bed staring at the note in his hands.

Heero finally arrived two hours later, just before dark. Duo had fallen asleep on the bed, and his eyes snapped open when he heard someone unlock the door. He sat up slowly and threw his legs over the side of the bed once he saw his roommate. Heero walked into the room and sat on the edge of his bed, mirroring Duo's slouched posture. Minutes crawled by as they sat in silence across from one another.

"Why?" Duo finally asked. Fifteen minutes passed as he waited for an answer, determined not to speak again until Heero gave him something to go on.

"I set up surveillance to find out who was leaving the notes. It was no one remarkable or overtly suspicious. He left a note at six thirty on Tuesday morning, and I went in and removed it before you arrived at your locker that morning. It was no more remarkable than the others. You were correct in dismissing him as nonthreatening."

When it became obvious that Heero was not going volunteer any more information, Duo spoke again, softly. "You didn't answer my question."

"I know that you are attracted to me."

Duo didn't react, sitting in silence, waiting for Heero to continue. The other boy was somewhat unnerved by the look on Duo's face. It seemed his every muscle was relaxed, and the only way to describe his expression, or lack thereof, was "neutral."

Heero looked away from his roommate before continuing. "I noticed the hungry looks you gave me. I saw longing. I saw that you never looked at anyone else that way." Heero's tone became colder, more authoritative. "I am also attracted to you. Logic dictates that mutual attraction, when acknowledged, leads to mutual satisfaction."

"But you didn't write, 'Mutual attraction begets mutual satisfaction.'" Duo's voice was very soft. "You wrote, 'Choose me.'"

Heero stared at his hands in his lap. "True."

During their conversation, Duo's eyes never left Heero's face. No matter the other boy's evasion, the steady gaze did not waver. Heero looked up into intense blue eyes. They were the only part of his face that belied any emotion, and now they were giving him that hungry look again. Heero returned the gaze with as much hunger as he dared show, though he was certain it only came across as unsure.

Finally, Duo stood. He crossed the distance between them in one step and sat on Heero's bed to the left of the Wing pilot, the two boys touching shoulder to shoulder and from thigh to feet. Neither moved for several minutes, until Heero turned his head toward Duo, leaned over, and kissed the corner of his mouth chastely. The corner twitched up in a half-smile, and Heero felt himself responding in kind. Turning his head to face Heero, Duo touched their foreheads together. He slid his hand up Heero's arm, then neck, then face, finishing by threading his fingers through the thick, soft hair at the back of the other boy's head. Heero tilted his head ever so slightly and sighed across Duo's lips. The braided boy brought their mouths together in a lazy kiss. Within a minute they broke apart, knowing the time to escape was upon them, they gazed into each other's eyes one last, lingering time.

They broke apart to make their flight through the window, to the gundams, and hopefully to a secluded safehouse together. Knowing the chances of them being sent to lay low for more time than they already had, let alone with one another, Heero made one last effort to let Duo know just why he wrote the note. Deathscythe's pilot was beginning the climb down from the second story, and only his head remained in the window. Heero brought Duo close for a last peck. "I like you," he finally managed to spit out. Duo smiled warmly and winked before climbing down. Heero followed, but as soon as they reached their gundams, he knew they had to separate as get away as efficiently as possible.

Though nothing is certain in war, he had a feeling they'd eventually be able to continue what he'd started.