He'd been at his office all of fifteen minutes when the phone rang and an angry customer started barking at him over a problem that his department had nothing to do with. Naturally, Duo was polite and as courteous as he could manage. He just kept repeating to himself that if he could get through this phone call without calling the person on the other end an empty-headed little twat, his day could only improve.

At 9:00am (forty-five minutes after the phone call started and ten minutes after it ended) Duo received notice that one of his staff was resigning immediately because of a personal dispute with another staff member. Before he could figure out who or what this was fight about, the resigining staff person was out the door, never to return.

9:30am -- After going through his remaining staff one by one for volunteers, Duo had found no one willing to stay overtime to pick up the work of the resigned staff person. So, he gathered all the paperwork and moved it to his office, making a phone call home to say he'd be working late.

Lunch break was a joyous time of any day, and today in particular, Duo couldn't will 11:30am to come any faster. He pulled his lunch box out if the fridge and popped it open on his desk, planning to work through his lunch hour. Without looking, he reached in to grab the orange he'd packed himself, suprised to find it hard and leathery under his fingers. The next several seconds were spent wondering how his son's baseball had found its way into the fruit bowl.

The vending machine stole his last three quarters during a quick snack run at 3:00pm. And Duo found with dismay that no one on the floor could break a twenty dollar bill.

It was almost eight o'clock when Duo finished. He'd left the office only once, to grab a cheeseburger that only made him wish he was at home having dinner with his family. With a soft grunt, he popped his neck, trying to rub out the knot that had formed in his shoulder from being bent over a desk for so long. Everything was in order: files stacked and labeled, reports finished and faxed, computer system backed up. In a last minute decision, Duo slid his pencil (which had become quite dull from all the scribbling he'd done today) into the electric sharpner. The little black cube whirred to life, then locked up. There was a loud pop and a little flash of light. White whisps of smoke stared to curl up out of the sharpener, the immediate area filling with the smell of burnt rubber. Duo cursed and made a note that he'd need to buy a new one as he went to unplug the shorted pencil sharpener. As his fingers touched the plug, a high piched beeping filled his heart with dread. An instant later he was doused with freezing water from the fire sprinklers.

After two hours of making reports to the fire department, police department, insurance company and his boss, a soggy Duo Maxwell opened the front door of his house. It'd been over fourteen hours since he left. He felt like taking a long, relaxing shower, but the thought of getting wet again made him shudder. Instead he made his way to his bedroom, changing into a dry set of sweat pants and a t-shirt, throwing his work clothes over the shower curtain rod to dry. He stopped into his son's room a moment, carefully brushing the sleeping boy's dark brown hair out of his eyes and kissing his forehead. Then he crept to the study, where the desk lamp had the room flooded with a warm yellow glow, much more comforting than the harsh flourescent lights at work. He crouched behind Heero's chair, sliding his arms around the other man's waist and kissing the tender skin of his neck.

Heero hummed and tilted his head back to rub their cheeks together, eyes staying on the screen of his laptop for now. "Did you shower already?"

Duo rolled his eyes and sighed. "No. Some idiot set the fire sprinklers off at work."

A little grin curled on Heero's mouth, and Duo could feel his face shaping to match it. "I bet it was a handsome idiot."

Duo chuckled, the first time he'd laughed all day. "Jerk," he teased.

"Baka." Heero's lips spread into a smile, pressing his forehead to Duo's just a moment before they shared a kiss.

Duo hummed, rubbing their noses together playfully. "Baka go beddy-bye."

"Jerk will be there in a minute."

Another quick kiss and Duo got up, heading back to the bedroom and searching through his drawers for a clean (and dry) pair of boxers to wear to bed. Heero joined him soon after, turning all the lights off and making sure the doors were locked before coming to bed.

Duo was already asleep at 10:47pm when Heero slid onto the mattress and put his arm around the other man's waist. Lips pressed to the warm flesh of Duo's cheek, a moment spent regarding the closed violet eyes before Heero's eyes shut as well, the two of them finding comfort and rest with one another in the few hours of night they were allowed to keep for themselves.