Notes: I've kept the ages of the characters relative to each other. Duo is 25, which makes Zechs 29, etc.
[Duo's thoughts]
"Happy Birthday dear Sally, Happy Birthday to you," the entire section sings, slightly off key but with great gusto, gathered around the switchboard operator's workstation. The song is followed by cheers and hoots as she makes a big display of blowing out the candles on her cake.
A tall man in a business suit strides past the crowd towards Mr Khushrenada's office. The pale color of his hair catches Duo's attention and he turns around to get a better look. His jaw drops at the sight of the platinum blond curtain almost reaching to a trim waist. Une, the boss's administrative assistant, closes the door behind the unexpected vision. [It can't be...]
Slices of cake are distributed and Duo takes his back to his desk. After shuffling some files around, he glances up at the closed door. [How many men could there be with hair like that?] he wonders as another birthday party replays in his mind's eye. A slight smile plays across his lips at the memory.
((fuzzy flashback))
The cake was huge. He was perched on the top of a stepladder while his friends shook his small apartment with their rendition of the Birthday Song. Everyone was smiling; even his silent housemate wore a smirk that should have warned him of their plans. He blew out the cluster of twenty-one candles wishing for a hunk of his very own to the hoots and cheers of those gathered around the cake.
Opening his eyes after making his wish, he found himself staring into incredible ice blue eyes. A metallic half-mask hid the top half of the man's face, but as he rose above the level of the candles sensuous lips were revealed along with a strong chin. Duo was so enraptured by those lips that at first he failed to notice the period soldier's uniform that the man was wearing. The British were called "Redcoats" during the War of Independence for a reason.
Long, white-gloved fingers trail down his cheek to get his attention before shooing him down the stepladder. A luxurious catlike stretch later, the music started and slender hips in white tights began swaying to the rhythm pounding out of the apartment's stereo system. Duo soon found himself backed into a chair as first one and then another glove landed on his lap. Bare fingers undid the top buttons on the red jacket in time to the primal beat swirling around them.
It was at this point that he first noticed the hair. The golden color was so light as to be almost silver and the length... The length, while not as long as his own, was longer than he had ever seen on another man.
((end flashback))
The ringing phone jolts Duo back to the present. "Oz Graphics," he says into the phone. He is soon immersed in conversation with a client.
"Thank you for calling." Duo hangs up the phone and tidies his notes, filling in the spaces while the order is still fresh in his mind. As he crosses the last 't', he realizes that there are two men standing at the entrance to his cubicle. [Shit, the boss...] "Mr K," he says with a smile.
A ginger eyebrow lifts slightly but the twinkle in his eyes denies any form of censure. "I have a special assignment for you, Duo," the boss says in all seriousness. "This is our new trainee, Milliard Peacecraft." He motions to the man beside him. "I'd like to leave him with you for the next six months. I want you to show him the ropes and teach him what you can."
Ice blue eyes wear a slightly shell-shocked look which convinces Duo to cling to his grin. "Sure," he says, "but shouldn't human resources be handling training?" [It might be...]
"I want Millia..." A swift elbow in the ribs forces Mr K to pause, "Milliard..." he repeats, "to have a more hands on approach to training and decided that you would be the best person for the task."
"Best..." Duo chokes on the word. "Don't get me wrong, boss. I'm flattered but I'm not exactly your best anything, if you get my meaning. Should I be training your... umm..." [boyfriend...] "new trainee?"
"While you might not be best anything in particular, you are my best all-rounder," Mr K explains with a long-suffering sigh. "He can specialize later when he's had a chance to acquaint himself with what we do." A quick glance to the side and he nods, looking pleased with himself. "Well, I will leave you to it." Turning to the blond, he squeezes a broad shoulder, saying, "Six months Milliard, not a single day less."
"There's more to this than meets the eye, isn't there?" Duo asks, trying not to stare at the other man's pale tresses as he turns to retrieve a chair. "Have we met before?"
"Isn't that a pick up line?" Mill mumbles, positioning the chair beside the desk. "There's no real need, you know. You're stuck with me for six months."
"Then you're gone? It's usually the boss who decides who goes or stays." Duo smiles and winks cheekily before continuing. "Let's start again," he says. "Hi, I'm Duo, Duo Maxwell. Nice to meet you." He grabs a long fingered hand and shakes it enthusiastically. "Welcome to our little corner of the company. [Hand feels the same... too bad he's the boss's bf...]
The blond's smile is decidedly strained. "Pleasure," he says in a flat, toneless voice. "Please call me Mill."
Duo's grin remains plastered to his face. "Come along, Mill, I'll introduce you to everyone and get you some cake." [Is that a blush...] "Sally had a birthday today." [Does he remember me? Now, what was his name, again... started with Z...]
"Heero!" Duo shouts, slamming the door behind him. "Guess who I'm training at work!"
"Who?" a slightly nasal voice asks from another room.
"Remember that blond god you guys hired to strip at my twenty-first?" Dropping his work satchel by the couch, Duo walks into the kitchen. "What was his name? It started with a Z."
"Zechs Merquise," Heero says, entering the kitchen behind him. "Why?"
"I'm training him at work for six months." Duo blows on and buffs his nails on his chest. "He calls himself Milliard Peacecraft now."
"Zechs was probably just a work name," Heero states, moving to the coffeemaker. "Are you sure? He never took off the mask."
"The hair!" Duo pulls his own braid over his shoulder. "I'd recognize that hair anywhere," he states with a wink.
Heero raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Did he admit it?"
"Well not exactly..." Presenting his mug for filling, Duo bounces up onto the counter. "But..." he pauses dramatically, "I've got six months to get it out of him before he leaves my tender loving care."
"Good luck." Heero turns with a smirk and returns to his room with his mug.
Slowly sipping his coffee, Duo thinks back to another conversation, four years ago, in this very kitchen.
((another fuzzy flashback))
"Would you like some cake?" he asked the blond he very much wanted to eat.
"No, thank you," was the polite refusal.
"You're welcome the join the party," he said, his eyes looking large and hopeful.
A smile graced those oh-so-sexy lips. "I don't socialize with clients."
"Never?" He slowly stepped closer, encouraged when the taller man didn't back away. "Not even just for some cake?"
The ice blue gaze locked onto Duo's own. "First it's some cake," Zechs said, "then it's some wine and before anyone realizes it, it's a tango in the bedroom. I'm a stripper, not a whore."
"If we hadn't met while you were working," he said, keeping his eyes on the mask-hidden face, "would you have accepted cake from me?"
Zechs looked away and shifted uneasily. "Depends on the cake," he said after an uneasy silence. "I might... if you could find something I actually like."
"Is that a challenge?" The gleam in dark violet eyes is unmistakable.
"If..." Zechs engulfed Duo's hand in his own and gave it a hearty shake. "It was a pleasure stripping for you. I have to leave now."
"Before I convince you to stay?" the birthday boy called after the hastily retreating man.
"Before I'm late for my next appointment," the blond vision replied as he reached the front door. "Goodnight and happy birthday."
((end flashback))
Duo slides off the counter and pours his cold coffee down the sink. [Never did manage to meet him casually.] He chuckles out loud in the empty kitchen. [Heero thought I was a fool to try.] Sauntering over to his satchel, he picks it up and moves toward his room. [Hmmm... wonder what kind of cake he likes. He never did eat Sally's.]
A few days later, Duo returns to the office from his lunch break carrying a small confectionery box. Placing it in front of the doodling blond, he says, "Don't ask. It's got a name I'm not even going to try to pronounce."
Mill peeks into the box and wrinkles his nose at its contents, his cheeks turning only sightly pink.
[Does it every time. He so... yummy when he blushes like that.] Sighing, Duo plops into his chair and holds out his hand. "Let's have a look at that book cover." He glances at the doodle given to him. [He's quite good at this.]
"Very nice. I always suspected that you might be talented, Milliard." The boss moves to stand behind him, studying the sketch in his hands. "Thank you for the cake, Duo," Mr K says as Mill passes him the small box. "Keep up the good work."
"You're welcome," Duo mumbles. Shooting a glare at the man beside him, he asks, "He's eating your cake?" [Damn, they are lovers.]
"Someone has to," Mill confesses with a smile. "You wouldn't want it to go to waste."
"There's no hope for me, is there?" Duo asks, dejectedly playing with his braid.
"Hope for what?" Light blue eyes gaze at him in confusion.
"Finding a cake you like," he explains, not looking up. [What am I, compared to someone like the boss.]
"Is that what you've been trying to do?" Mill asks, a slow understanding beginning to show on his face. "I danced my way out of your cake about... a few years ago, didn't I? I thought you looked familiar."
[It is him!] "Zechs, you said that if I could find a cake you liked, you might think about going out with me," Duo blurts out. [There. Said it.]
"I did?"
[He doesn't really remember me, he's just guessing.] "You did, but it's ok if you don't remember me," Duo says in a subdued voice. "Are you really dating the boss?"
Mill gapes at his trainer, opening his mouth a few times and closing it again without saying anything.
"Don't look so shocked," Duo grumbles. [It's not half-obvious that you two are close.] He begins rearranging the files on his desk.
"Very good impression of a goldfish, Milliard," the boss comments, leaning over the cubicle partition. "Please do find out where today's cake originated. I want to order some for mother's birthday next week."
[Shit!] Busy hands cease their movement for only a split second. [I wish he'd stop doing that.]
"Aren't you on your way to a meeting?" Mill asks, not taking his eyes off Duo.
Mr K quirks an eyebrow. "Yes, you may use my office," he says with a sigh, turning to leave.
Looking up, violet eyes are caught in an ice blue stare. [What's going on? I'm missing something here...]
"We'll continue our talk in Treize's office," Mill says, pushing his chair back.
Duo gulps as the blond stands, bringing him almost eye level with a slight bulge in tailored pants.
Three hours later, Treize returns from his meeting to find most of his immediate staff crouched outside the door of his office with their ears to the wall. "Don't tell me," he says to Une when he finds her in the crowd, "they're both screamers."
Une pushes her spectacles further up her nose and shoos everyone back to work as their employer squares his shoulders and opens the door to his office.
The End