Toi Et Moi

“Mind if I join you?”

Trowa opened his eyes and looked up to see Heero standing over him, smiling down at him slightly. “Go ahead,” he said, stretching languidly.

Heero quickly stripped out of his clothing and slowly eased his body into the bathtub, moving so that his back was resting against Trowa’s chest. He smiled when Trowa’s arms moved to wrap around him and he sighed, letting his eyes slip shut.

Heero had known for some time now that reading was one of the few things Trowa liked to indulge in, but he had been quite surprised when he’d found out that his lover also enjoyed taking rather long baths. Not that he minded of course. He liked seeing Trowa relaxing like this.

The water was still fairly hot, indicating that Trowa couldn’t have been in here all that long. “Did you call Duo back?” Heero asked suddenly.

“Mm-hmm,” Trowa replied, reaching for the soap. “He yelled himself hoarse at me for not letting him know right away where we were, but once he’d calmed down some, he seemed to be okay.”

“Hnn,” Heero said in response, small sounds of contentment escaping his throat as Trowa began cleaning his body, running his soap-slick hands over his chest. He gasped when Trowa teased his fingers over his nipples, coaxing them into hardened little points.

“Move over a little,” Trowa said softly. “I need to wet your hair.”

Heero nodded, shifting so that Trowa could do his job. He sighed when Trowa rubbed the shampoo into his hair, relishing the feel of his lover’s gentle hands. It was times like this when he understood why Duo enjoyed people messing about with his hair so much.

He could hear the muted rumble of laughter in Trowa’s chest and he looked up questioningly at the taller boy.

“It’s those little noises you always make,” Trowa told him, his lips curving up into a smile. “Makes me feel as though I’m bathing one of the lions at the circus.”

“It feels nice,” Heero said. “Everything you do to me makes me feel good.”

“That’s how it’s supposed to be,” Trowa said simply, rinsing the suds out of Heero’s hair.

Heero shifted in his embrace so that he was staring at Trowa and he wet his hands, reaching up to smooth the hair back from Trowa’s face. Ever since they had arrived at L1, Trowa had been more open with him, had allowed himself to be vulnerable before him and Heero always tried to communicate how much he appreciated it.

He stared at his lover’s facial features, tracing his fingers carefully over the arch of one eyebrow before moving on to the other. Trowa kept his eyes open, something for which Heero was grateful. He gazed into those perfect almond shaped eyes, feeling as though he was looking into the ocean and trying to see the bottom of it.

Trowa’s eyes were one of his best features in Heero’s opinion. Before, they had always seemed so sad, so empty, but then Heero had seen them come alive and it had been the most stunning thing he’d ever seen.

The strange thing about Trowa’s eyes though was that they never quite seemed to stay the same shade of green.

In the light of the sun, they were a striking shade of emerald, but at other times, like when they were making love, they would darken to the colour of a muted forest green. It was subtle changes like those that never ceased to fascinate Heero.

His fingers moved lower, lightly tracing the bridge of Trowa’s nose before coming to rest on his mouth. Heero gently ran his thumb over Trowa’s plush lower lip, his eyes narrowed slightly in concentration as though he was committing every inch of Trowa’s face to memory.

Trowa just sat there patiently, letting Heero touch him. His own hands rested lightly at the small of Heero’s back, slowly stroking the pads of his thumbs over the smooth skin there.

“Trowa?”

“Hmm?”

Heero was staring at him intently and Trowa gave him a nod of encouragement to show that he was listening.

“Will you marry me?”

For all outward appearances, Heero might well have been asking for the time of day rather than a lifetime’s commitment. His face was as serious as Trowa had ever seen it, but there was vulnerability in his dark blue eyes that he rarely allowed anyone to see.

Trowa smiled as things finally fell into place. The reason why Heero had brought him here, the reason why he kept buying little gifts for him, why he kept doing everything in his power to make sure that he stayed happy and content…

“You’ve been courting me, haven’t you?” Trowa asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.

“I didn’t really know what I was doing until the old lady down the hall dragged me into her apartment and gave me The Talk,” Heero informed him truthfully. “The roses were her idea by the way. I was going to get you a Venus Fly Trap.”

Trowa snickered. “I think between the two of them, I prefer the roses,” he told the smaller boy. “I should thank her someday for talking you out of that.”

“Hnn. You still haven’t answered my question though,” Heero prompted.

“Yes, Heero,” Trowa told him gently.

“Yes?” Heero echoed, frowning in confusion as though he couldn’t quite believe what Trowa had just said.

“Yes,” Trowa repeated, leaning up and kissing Heero’s forehead.

“Oh.” Heero blinked once, twice and then his face broke out into the biggest grin Trowa had ever seen on him. “You really want to marry me?”

“Yes, Heero, I do want to marry you,” Trowa told him patiently.

Heero’s grin faded. “I haven’t got you a ring though,” he said quietly.

“I wasn’t expecting one,” said Trowa with a shrug. “It’s not important.”

Heero was frowning by this time though. “Yes, it is,” he insisted. Trowa could practically hear the thoughts running through his head: ‘Dammit! Why didn’t I come prepared for this? Soldiers are always supposed to be prepared! Mission failure!’

Heero fixed the taller boy with a piercing stare. “Wait right here,” he ordered, climbing out of the bathtub and heading off down the hallway without bothering to dry himself off. Trowa shook his head in bemusement, but didn’t move a muscle until Heero came back.

“Hold out your hand,” Heero told him and Trowa did so, wondering where Heero was going with this. The smaller boy crouched down by the side of the tub and took Trowa’s left hand in his, carefully sliding something onto his ring finger. Trowa had to bite his lip to contain his mirth when he saw what it was; the ring pull from the can of soda he’d left in the refrigerator earlier that day.

Trowa lifted his hand and examined it. “It’s beautiful, Heero,” he said solemnly.

“Don’t mock me,” Heero scowled, getting back into the tub and adjusting his body so that he was snuggled up close to Trowa. “It’s the best I can do on such short notice.”

“Well, I suppose it’s better than you running off to some jeweller’s store in the state you’re in now, waving a gun at the assistant’s head and demanding a ring for me,” Trowa said, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter as he pictured the scene in his mind’s eye.

Heero nipped sharply at the side of his neck in retaliation and Trowa snickered again. “It’s not enough that you have to mark me with your ring pulls, you have to cover me in hickeys as well?”

“No, that was just my way of letting you know that you’re being a smart ass,” Heero told him with a glare. “I do like the sound of those hickeys though…”