babygray

An Alphabetized Noisefic: Gundam Wing entry.

Title: Light on the Dream
Author: babygray
Pairing: 1+2
Warnings: Typos. No beta.
Disclaimer: This is just fanfiction, non-profit and just for fun.
Notes: Part Two of the Dream miniseries, the first part being Joker at Rest, followed by November Rain and Wishing for a Dream.
Word Count: 710
Summary: Relena finds Heero's dream.

There was an odd silence as Relena washed the dishes. It rested on the cold television set. It made its nest on the table counter. It played with the green leafs and bright petals of the plants Heero had grown a liking for as Heero turned the pages of a glossy magazine.

She watched him from the corner of her eye as he paused now and then to look at the underwear models, but she did not say anything about it.

Sullen indifference had been such a part of Heero that it was awe-inspiring to Relena when he developed a taste for flowers... for growing and nursing life instead of denying his own. During that first year after the wars, he would always give off such warmth. Yet now...

“You don’t have anything to sleep in, do you?” Heero said softly from his spot on the sofa.

Relena turned off the faucet and dried her hands. “No, I don’t.”

Heero turned another page before closing the magazine and setting it aside. “I think I have something you can use.” He stood up and headed to the apartment’s sole bedroom. Relena set aside the rag she was using and followed him.

She entered the room a few seconds behind him and watched as he withdrew his hand from the first drawer and closed it. He opened the third drawer, rummaged a bit and pulled out an oversized t-shirt. He tossed it in her direction. “This will be alright?” he asked softly.

She nodded once and moved out of the way as Heero retreated to the living room. “You’ll be sleeping here tonight.”

~~~~

The clock in the hallway began chime. She looked up at the dark ceiling and silently counted the chimes. One... Two... Three...

In the living room slept Heero, decisively leaving her with his queen-sized bed at her disposal. As she snuggled deeper into the sheets… sheets that smelled not of Heero but of musty disuse and fabric softener, the apartment grew quiet once more.

It was their last conversation that brought her to his place, not some delusional fantasy from her youth. His face looked drawn, tight... lonely... She made the three-hour trip to see Heero in person, and what she thought was a blur in the vid-screen was factual in real life.

What question did she ask during dinner that made him anxious? It was the one about the others, no doubt. Have you talked to the others, she had asked innocently enough, though, from the expression Heero wore, one would have thought she asked a eunuch his penis size.

He frowned and answered no.

But, what about Duo, she pressed on. Surely he has kept in touch, hasn’t he?

No he had not, he said, and Relena left the matter at that, but she was a curious person by nature.

She turned on the lamp by the bed and stared at the illuminated ceiling. She didn’t sleep well in unfamiliar beds, apparently.

She turned her head and looked at the drawers and immediately thought of Heero’s actions when he was looking for a t-shirt for her. He moved from the first drawer to the third... Why?

She slid out of the bed and stood on her bare feet in front of the drawers. It wouldn’t hurt to look, would it, she thought as she pulled the drawer opened and peered inside.

She lifted up a picture frame from among the clean rows of underwear and held the frame to the light.

It was obvious that the focus of the picture was Duo, sleeping... wrapped in the spooner position... but why would Heero have such a picture, framed at that? Perhaps there was something to those rumors Dorothy and Hilde had filtered down to her all these years. Although Heero didn’t want to talk about when was the last time he spoke to Duo... and guessing from his disposition it has been a long time since their last chat... he kept a picture of him by his bed.

How sad, was all Relena could think as she placed the picture frame once more in the drawer. She closed the drawer and turned off the light.

~~~~end