Is That Love by Agent Midnight
Standard disclaimers apply

Duo POV



What is love?

I never really understood how producers can write love like they do. I mean, whenever I watch those stupid movies with the kissing, the roses, the jewelry, the perfect disgust, I can't help but realize that that isn't what real love is. Real love isn't having your lover show up in the rain with a bundle of wet roses just because he wanted to see you, or to say he was sorry for being four minutes late to your anniversary dinner. It isn't meaningless objects of adoration that make you feel special for no more then a couple of seconds before that feeling of bliss is gone. True love, in real life, isn't always happiness.

Ever since I fell in love with Heero, sure happiness made an appearance, but fear was a close second. With someone else in your life, you have to acknowledge that one second you or he may be gone from accidents of every day life. I had to prepare myself for his death whenever he would step on a plane to go on a business trip, him turning on the steps and offering me a small smile and a wave, silently telling me that he'll see me when it's over and done with.

Well, what if it's over and done with when he's still in the air? What if he never had a chance to touch down on the cold earth again, dying in the sky where his dreams used to be? What if he died centuries away from where I would be standing on that very earth with his picture in my hand, wondering if he was dead yet?

Is that love?

Do the movies show you that love?

What is love?

What about the kind of desperation when it comes to the even more meaningless fights about god-knows-what? Do the movies show the two lovebirds in the kitchen, one getting so angry, the other gets hit because of it. Do they show the two standing silently in the kitchen, tense and waiting for the next blow to be delivered even through the guilt of the act? Do they show people like me shoving their love against the counter so hard, they stop and start to cry when they see the wince of pain?

Do movie-goers get to see bloodied lips and bruised eyes, the image practically screaming "love"?

In movies, the two have a wonderful sex life, so that must be the same as love, right? Of course, because when two people are having sex, they know everything about each other. With one quick fuck, they know their partner's past history, and theories of future life. They know their likes and dislikes without actually having to sit down and talk like responsible human beings should do. Well, we have sex... what more is there?

When Heero and I made love for the first time, we had already been in a "relationship" for about two years, neither of us realizing that we hadn't loved each other until the second we knew everything about each other. All we had been doing those two years, was the equivalent of casual sex amongst two friends. There wasn't any magic there when we first began, but we grew to love each other when we accepted the other's quirks without running.

It wasn't a silly love-at-first-sight experience between the two of us. We were, as people harshly put it, fuck-buddies, and there was no way getting around that.

Heero likes the house at one temperature, but that's always too cold for me, so what do we do? We bring out our friendship and compromise. Well, if it's too cold, Duo... you can turn the heat on.

Or.

Let's watch movies in the living room and keep each other warm.

Love is that.

Sitting in the living room, freezing my ass off, but his skin so warm when I lean against him. You know, with some bad action flick playing on the movie channels, his breath puffing out against my hair as he laughs quietly. The fabric of his shirt rubbing against mine as he shifts to wrap his arms around me.

Has Heero ever bought me flowers? No.

He hasn't ever come home with a surprise just for me because he loves me. Sometimes he doesn't say anything at all when he walks through the door, but my love for him is telling me that that's just who he is. He came back to the house because he returns the love, right? If Heero suddenly stopped showing back up after work, taking stuff with him in the mornings, then I would think he no longer loved me.

Would I be sad?

I wouldn't make a big production out of it, but I would be upset, maybe even depressed.

I had got it all planned out, though. If he ever chooses to leave me, I'll just pack his things up and set them on the porch step, leaving a message on his work answering machine telling him what I had done and to come pick his things up between here and here. If you come passed that time, I'll probably see you, and I might cry.

Would you see that in a movie? Probably not.

You would see the girl run after the guy, crying her eyes out until the guy says he was wrong. I was wrong! I didn't mean what I said! I love you! I love you! I love...

I wonder when my mind told me that plan wouldn't happen. I can't remember when I realized that I would cry and hold him until he agreed to stay with me. I would beg and cry, hugging him and hitting him with every cheap shot I could think of.

Once Trowa asked me if I was happy with the way life was going, and I said no. I told him that I wasn't happy with life at all and I should probably just kill myself, but I couldn't do that because I was in love with Heero. Love is not wanting your partner to be sad, and I didn't want him to be sad just because I wasn't happy. If I was still alone, I would probably be dead right now, but I took on the responsibility of love, and now I have to take into consideration the thoughts of two.

It seemed like the only time I was happy was when I was with Heero, but he was gone most of the time, and it was during those times that I started imagining what I could do with the knife in the kitchen or the gun in Heero's desk drawer. Then he would walk through the door, and all those dirty thoughts would be gone because I remembered that I'm in love. And being in love makes me happy.

Trowa told Heero what I had said to him, and Heero had approached me and asked me the same question. Are you happy?

And I told him that most of the time I wasn't. Only with you, Heero. I'm happy with you.

That is love.

Two days later, he took a temporary leave from office work and his boss agreed to let him work from our house if it meant that his best worker could take care of his family problems. Family problems, eh? I'm Heero's problem, now, I guess.

That is love.

I woke up in his arms and I was happy.

I walked into the kicthen, those nasty thoughts springing in the direction of the knife drawer, and he was standing there, trying to concentrate on the words on the box of the pancake mix. I was happy.

He had stayed home for about a month, obviously assuming I was in much better condition because he went back to work one morning and I was sad, again. As the front door closed, I sat on the carpet in the hallway and waited there for hours until he came back and saw me. I clearly remember the look of shock on his face as his briefcase slipped from his fingers to join his keys on the floor. He nearly tripped down the hallway and fell on his knees beside me, bringing me into his arms and whispering out a mixture of obscenities and apologies.

I was happy.

With much argument from his boss, he quit his job.

I was happy.

He stayed home with me permanently.

I was happy.

He was always there when the bad thoughts came to mind.

I was happy.

He watched me until his eyes lost their sparkle.

He watched me, always offering a fake smile.

He watches me because he's sad.

I'm not happy.

This is our love.

I wish it wasn't.

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The End

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