"I know."

There was the sound of a match being struck, and the small flame was held over the end of the tweezers to sterilize them. He leaned forward and lightly scraped the injured finger.

"Fuck."

Heero knew exactly what brought that on. The splinter had gone in deep and there wasn't even the barest trace of it above the skin. It was why they had the needle nosed tweezers to begin with, but that didn't mean this was going to be any less unpleasant. Faster, perhaps, but it was going to hurt.

"Just do it."

Duo nodded and rotated Heero's finger this way and that, all to get a better look at it. All he could see was a faint blue-black line, and he hated the idea of having to burrow under Heero's skin to get it out. He could still remember the last time he'd gotten one, in the bottom of his foot, and how hard he'd gripped the pillow as Heero had dug out the sliver of wood.

One end looked a little fatter than the other and Duo decided to start there.

Heero was an excellent patient. He didn't jerk his hand away or flinch, and although he closed his eyes when Duo had pierced his skin with the sharp end of the tweezers and wiggled it around, Duo was too intent on retrieving the splinter to notice. He could only hope that Duo wouldn't ask him what project he was working on this time, because he'd hoped to delay sharing that information until it was finished -- sanding, staining, and all.

"Got it," Duo said, but that was followed by a second "fuck."

"It broke."

"Yeah." Duo looked up at him, half the splinter held between the tip of the tweezers and his lips twisted into a grimace. "I'm sorry, Heero."

"Not your fault."

Duo wiped the tweezers on a tissue and massaged Heero's fingers briskly. "Just a little longer," he promised, and bent over to the task once again.

It hurt a little more because Duo had to probe deeper, but it took much less time with the skin already open, and then Duo was setting the tweezers down and wiping the blood off with a cotton ball dipped in alcohol.

"Thanks."

Duo shook his head. "Don't mention it." He lifted the cotton and pursed his lips to blow on the little gouge he'd made in Heero's finger. When he was done he looked up at Heero and winced. "I guess that kinda defeats the purpose of disinfecting it if I'm only going to blow germs back on it, huh."

Heero shrugged. "It felt good." It had. The small rush of air felt far more soothing than the mild sting of alcohol, and he was going to wash his hands in a minute anyway. He might even sit on the toilet and let Duo do the honors with the bacitracin and bandage. Tomorrow it would be fine, but right now the discomfort was a small price to pay for distracting Duo from poring over their bills and wondering if they'd made a mistake in getting a larger apartment.

He rather liked the extra space, and there was an empty corner near the window, where the sun streamed into the room at just the right angle, perfectly suited for reading. He may have suffered a minor setback, but he still expected he'd finish the rocking chair before the weekend.

"OK then," Duo said, getting to his feet. "So what are you in the mood for tonight? Pork ramen, chicken ramen, Rice A Roni, or mac and cheese?"

Heero's hand was still in Duo's and rather than pulling it free, he reached into the opposite pocket to pull out a slightly wrinkled slip of paper. "E. None of the above." He waved the gift certificate at Duo.

Duo, still holding Heero's hand, took the coupon and blinked at it. "Where did you get this?"

Heero hated to admit it, so he mumbled, "A raffle at work." He'd known it had been a long shot, and at times like these, when Duo was between jobs and the latest word from the union was that they might not have anything for another month, even the five dollars Heero had spent on the raffle tickets could have meant a couple gallons of gas. He knew Duo wouldn't mind his spending the money, not when the proceeds were to go to a reputable charity, but he'd fully expected not to win and had felt guilty for lying about his reasons for taking the bus.

While Duo might have been willing to believe Heero's story about waiting for gas prices to drop again, he wasn't stupid, and he slapped Heero on the side of the head. "Jerk. You could have told me that's why you didn't want to take the car."

"Sorry," Heero mumbled. He leaned forward to rub his nose behind Duo's ear. "Forgive me?"

Duo grabbed Heero's shoulder and tipped his head to the side to enjoy the quivery feeling he got whenever Heero did that. "Depends. How far are you willing to go if I say no?"

Heero's hand slid under Duo's shirt and his breath was hot in Duo's ear. "As far as I need to."

Duo peeked at the gift certificate again. The restaurant was open late on Fridays, and if they went now, they'd probably have to wait at least an hour to be seated. Heero's tongue flicked against his ear and Duo's eyes slid shut.

He could think of a much better way to use that time -- and besides, he was eager to see just how far Heero was going to need to go. He opened one eye just long enough to check the certificate in his hand one more time. The expiration date wasn't until next year, and the restaurant would be open tomorrow, too. The sun would soon be setting and making way for moonlight to come through the paned glass instead.

When Heero's teeth bit down gently, Duo let the paper flutter to the table. Forget finding out how far -- he already knew the answer to that. Tonight he was going to find out how many times Heero had in him.

If that meant pork ramen for dinner, he could live with that.