Heero shuddered, his body now led and he followed blindly behind, racing along until he, too, came, with an explosive shout. He twitched, jerked a few times before he fell still, braced over Duo with his breath trying to catch up.

Smiling up at him, Duo's fingers pushed through his damp mop of messy brown hair. "You okay?"

"Better than okay," Heero said. He returned Duo's smile and let out a long, slow breath. "How's your hip?"

"Doing good although I can't stay in this position much longer before it cramps up."

He was reluctant to pull out but did so he could shift behind Duo, scooping him in his arms to spoon with him. Their racing hearts began to slow and the air cooled their skin. Hooking his foot under the comforter which had managed to slip down during sex, Heero pulled on it until they were lightly covered.

His fingers combed through the brown hair which stuck to every part of their bodies. Duo's back, his face and chest, getting in his mouth. It was now shot through with silver strands of age but just as beautiful as the day when Duo first trusted him to brush and braid it.

"What's on your mind?" Duo's voice broke the silence.

The combing stopped. "Nothing."

"Liar," he chided and wiggled around to face Heero. "When you are thinking about something, you always run your hands through my hair like that."

"I do?"

Duo answered him with a smug grin. "You do."

Heero laughed. "Your hair. I like that you kept it long enough to braid."

"I'm glad for the weight being gone. The headaches were a bitch."

"Not to mention a good way for the enemy to gain the advantage in a fight," Heero said pragmatically.

He punched Heero playfully in the chest. "It's been how long since the Marimeia Insurrection and you still think in terms of the enemy."

"Just being practical," Heero said. There was just a bit of defensiveness in his voice. "And it was a war, no matter how the historians try to spin it."

"I was there, Heero." No hint of chastisement in Duo's voice, just quiet acceptance of Heero's very firm opinion. "But it's been over for more than fifteen years now."

"It's never over." Okay. Now Heero couldn't pull out of his descent into angry memories.

"I'll never really get rid of it." Duo's eyes grew wide. "Unless I get dentures. Then I should probably cut it into a sensible old man's hairstyle." His hand brushed at his bangs and pushed them straight up off his forehead. "Crew cut with a spiff right in the front to make it stand on end."

A fast change of the subject. Duo always knew when he would become bitter about fighting and he always deftly side stepped the issue to divert his attention. Grateful, Heero let it pass and gave Duo a narrow gazed look.

"You do that, I'm divorcing you."

"Think about it. Sex with no tee--"

Heero tossed the comforter aside and rolled out of the bed. He pulled on his jeans, leaving them unzipped. "You're grossing me out now, so I'm going to fix breakfast."

"Lunch," came the cheerful correction. "Some old man wanted to stay in bed all day on his day off."

"And then he diverted his partner with sex. I'm innocent in all this, Mr. Maxwell. If you'd left your hair in a braid --"

Duo flopped onto his back, limbs sprawled to take up the whole bed. "Oh sure. Blame the guy with the hair."

"It's always about the guy with the hair."