Kissing Quatre Winner

A/N: Yes, the Kissing Jessica Stein allusion is intentional.

You legit have no idea how nervous I am about writing this. Writing into a void is one thing, even writing for one person is one thing, but writing for multiple people?! Terrifying! But, just think – without Celeste, Natasha, and Cara, this never would’ve blighted the earth.

This is the non-porny version, by the way; porny version is currently pending.

Kissing Quatre Winner

               “You’ve never been kissed?!” He spat out, staring stunned at Quatre, who was flushing and trying to avoid his look.

“Who would I have? I just had my older sisters, and then I was with the Maganacs.” He fidgeted, “I didn’t really know any other children growing up.”

Duo let out a low whistle, “Really? Not even a maid’s kid or something?”

“No!”

“Hmm, really… I guess I just sort of figured, well, the rest of these guys, they’re kind of cold fish, don’t do the communication thing, and you just seem really at ease with being around others.”

“For kissing?!”

Duo waved his hands “No, no! I mean, I just figured you were used to being around people!”

“Oh.” Quatre smiled slightly, “Oh, but that’s just from being used to my father always having visitors, and my younger sisters bringing visitors of their own. But I never really spent time with people my age.”

“Hmm. So no kissing.”

His ears were still a bit red, “No…”

“We could fix that.”

Quatre looked up, obviously hearing the grin in the my voice even before he saw it, “Wait, that really isn’t necessary… but, wait, how? Duo, I’m not really interested in some scheme to have me kiss a stranger!”

He stood up, letting his chair slide back, “Oh, Quatre, don’t you have any faith in me? I would never have you just kiss a stranger!”

“Then who?”

Quatre looked up, hearing the grin in the other boy’s voice even before he saw it, “Wait, that really isn’t necessary… but, wait, how? Duo, I’m not really interested in some scheme to have me kiss a stranger!”

Stepping away from the table, he struck a pose as if he were lapsing into deep thought, although a smirk was struggling to escape, “Hmm, wonder if Relena would be willing to help us out…”

“We couldn’t ask her! It wouldn’t be right, what about Heero?”

“Oh, really? You think Heero would be good to ask?”

“Duo!”

He laughed, finally, letting the pose collapse, “I was kidding, Quatre, Relena would turn us down anyway, and the only reason I would ever want to ask Heero something like that would be to see what sort of face he made afterward. I’ve got a much better idea – I’ll kiss you.”

“You?!”

It was hard for Duo to not just break out in laughter at this point; it wasn’t the first time he’d seen him like that, as he wasn’t quite above teasing the other pilot so he could enjoy his reaction. But it was the first time he’d seen him this far off his stride; he was more used to the blonde being fairly cool-headed both in battle and out of it.

“No, it’s not that it’s just… I mean…” Quatre was looking away again, the flush having risen in his cheeks.

“Oh, Quatre…” He reached back and pulled the end of my braid over his shoulder so he could loosen the tie on it, then started pulling the plait apart, “It’ll work perfectly, see?” He shook the last of his hair loose, “You can just pretend I’m a girl, and I’m used to kissing, and I’m someone you already know, anyway.” And if he had any of his own ulterior motives, they remained unsaid.

“Come here.” He continued, taking one of Quatre’s hands in his own and gently pulling, “It’s awkward to kiss when sitting in chairs like this and I know you’d just end up falling off of it.”

But Quatre blanched slightly as he saw where he was being head, “Duo, isn’t it just as awkward kissing on a bed?”

He dropped his hand, sounding exasperated, “Well where else are we going to do it? In the bathroom?”

Glancing around the room, Quatre realized that their options were limited – there was no other seating in the narrow rooming house room, the only other furniture being a heavily scratched but clean bureau and a small stand on which a brittle-looking television was perched.

Duo sighed, and stepped past him, headed toward the table, “It’s alright, Quatre, forget about it, I don’t want to make you feel weird and we should be figuring out what to do about the gun-running this colony’s doing for OZ sympathizers, anyway. As you said before, it seems they may’ve caught on to our surveilling efforts, so…”

His voice trailed off as Quatre caught his sleeve, “No, Duo, I…” His voice took on a more resolute note, “I want to.” And then it became more sheepish, “It’s be embarrassing if I didn’t know how to, wouldn’t it?”

He was fixed with a slightly appraising eye by the other boy, “Oh? Why, are you planning on kissing someone else sometime soon and don’t want them to think you’re the apple-cheeked innocent we all think you are?” He was playing it easily, but Duo’s mind had drifted back to a memory of Quatre desperately asking more information from him about Trowa’s whereabouts, and Heero’s own statement that the only thing that’d pulled Quatre out of violent madness had been Trowa’s sacrifice… but he pressed the matter from his mind.

“N-no, but it isn’t really something I could ask Rashid about, and with you it’s not so embarrassing…” He took Duo’s hand now, fully facing him, “Please.”

“Ah, I’m going to get whiplash at the rate this is going! Alright. Come on.”

He lead him to the bed and they both sat down on the edge. Pressing his forehead against Quatre’s lightly, he let out a sigh, “Are you sure you’re sure about this?” He could feel Quatre’s nod more than he could see it from this vantage, and he pulled back, noting how stiff the other pilot’s posture was. He smiled easily, reaching up to cup his face with his hands, “Hey, relax, it doesn’t hurt at all, I promise. Just… pretend I’m a girl.”

Quatre closed his eyes as Duo leaned in, and their lips met. Duo felt him tense up even more initially, but then could feel him relaxing into the kiss. His lips had been dry, and it felt a bit weird at first when combined with the tension, like kissing a wall instead of another person. He realized Quatre’s lips were chapped, probably from all the time in the desert on earth. Letting one of his hands slip down to rest on Quatre’s neck, the pulse there beat rapidly beneath his hand. It wasn’t surprising to find, but he could feel his own starting to rise slightly, almost as if in response.

Quatre drew back, though, when he tried to press his lips apart, and he looked startled. Duo swallowed uneasily, “I’m sorry, I should’ve taken that a bit more slowly…” He felt warm and the priest’s collar seemed overly tight around his throat.

“I just wasn’t expecting it.” He glanced toward Duo, “Could we try again?”

He answered by kissing him again, gently, trying to focus more this time so he wouldn’t move too quickly. But Quatre was more ready this time, his lips parting, and the kiss deepened. Quatre was holding tightly to the front of Duo’s shirt, letting more and more of his bodyweight rest on the long-haired boy, and Duo pulled him almost into his lap. When they toppled, though, over-balanced, they broke the kiss, surprised at the seemingly sudden drop. Quatre pushed himself up on his hands, staring down at the panting young man beneath him, the lengthy chestnut hair spread out on the quilt.

Duo had to get rid of him. He was wary of Quatre’s shocked-looking facial expression and wanted to put an end to the entire thing before it fully tilted into weird territory. He forced a laugh, “Quatre! You got a bit into that! You know, I’m not Trowa, you probably don’t want to get too carried away.”

Quatre’s eyes widened, “How did you know?” He eased into a sitting position, leaving Duo to sit up himself, and he did so carefully. Duo was all smiles again, the only sign of what had just transpired his slightly mussed hair, “It’s not exactly something you’ve been secretive about – I think even Heero’s figured it out by now, he was the one who told me about what snapped you out of it when the Wing Zero, well, you know…” He cleared his throat, not wanting to witness the recurrent guilt trip, “I don’t think Wufei’s noticed, though.”

“…what about Trowa?”

His smile was beginning to wear a bit thin, but he persevered with it regardless, “I don’t know him much, and I don’t know if he’s realized that you’ve got a crush, but if he was willing to risk himself like he did for you…”

They’d become a bit uneasy in each other’s presence, for different reasons. Quatre looked a bit downcast despite what should’ve been reassurance, “But he doesn’t remember me, and Catherine doesn’t want us anywhere near him – and she’s probably right, why would we want to pull him back into all of our messes? He’d be happier where he is.”

“Maybe, but he’ll probably remember eventually.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“Quatre!” He stood up, striding to the window to look past the glass as if he were searching for something, “Who knows? But you just wanted to know if he figured out you’re interested in him. Maybe he did know, although he wouldn’t remember that right now if he did, but I think you have a chance. He’ll remember you somehow!” He looked back at him, grinning, “And now you know how to kiss, you’re all set.”

He looked doubtful, “Maybe…”

“What do you mean, ‘maybe’? Of course you know how, I was the one who taught you, you’ll be fine!”

Quatre frowned, “Duo, how did you learn how to kiss, anyway?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, “I grew up in an orphanage, kids get curious, you know?” He cut off the response before Quatre got a word out, “Now get out, we’re obviously not getting anything done about that gun-running tonight, and you’ve got your own place to get back to – they’ll start to wonder if you’re out late, won’t they?”

“I guess you’re right… we’ll probably be sharper in the morning about planning what we do next, too.” Despite his agreement he sounded mildly skeptical. “At least let me help clean up.”

Duo waved a hand, “Oh, forget it, I just have to put it outside the door for the landlady’s boy, there’s nowhere to clean it up in here.”

“Alright… I’ll be back at ten o’clock, then; I’ve got a meeting earlier in the day on behalf of the Winner Corporation.”

He left, shutting the door firmly, and Duo turned to the window to watch for his departure. From the street, Quatre looked up at him and nodded.

Duo sighed, pulling the shade down on the window, refusing to watch Quatre fade into the distance. He hoped the whole thing wouldn’t prove too disastrous, it was much easier to work with Quatre than with any of the other pilots when something called for tag-teaming, and there was the gun-running to still consider. He’d done decently rescuing the entire thing, but it’d been foolish to even chance it in the first place. It wasn’t as if there’d been much to gain in the first place, he’d already known that Quatre’s interests had lain with the Heavyarms pilot, and it wasn’t as if a case of amnesia was going to alter that.

He leaned back against the wall, and letting his head tilt back, his eyes shut, “Ah, you’re an idiot, Duo Maxwell.”