Blue Bottled Belly Dancers and other fine myths
Part 10
I sighed, snuggling within the arms that wrapped around me, the warm chest pressed against my back, the body curved around my own. Three months and two days I'd been here with him. I had changed, I knew I had. I was no longer whom I'd been when I had arrived. "Mmm Heero... " I rolled over, burying my face into the crook of his neck and breathing deeply.
Something was different, I couldn't explain what. Just some odd thing that kept trying to pull at my mind. I ignored it and began nibbling on his neck, sliding my tongue out to taste his golden skin. His arms tightened in their circle around me, hands rubbing down my back. Again, something tried to tug at my mind, call attention to whatever was out of place.
I leaned my head back, opening my eyes and immediately sinking into his cobalt gaze. "Morning." I yawned, stifling it against his neck. I blinked a few times, wondering why the sheets looked so odd. Absently I brushed my fingers over the cool cotton. Strange, we'd never had cotton sheets before... "Holy shit!"
I leapt off the bed, whirling around and staring wildly about the room. I was back in the hotel. Home, no... not home, not home at all.
My gaze went like a magnet to Heero's figure. I glared at him, and stalked towards the bed. He looked different, not my Djinn and yet he was. "Why am I here!? You bastard! You knew me! You knew me all along!" I froze, shaking with pent up emotion, the strain of having been so changed in such a short amount of time. Everything had changed.
"Damn you." I whispered, and then collapsed into a heap on the floor and started to cry. I couldn't seem to bring my thoughts into focus, couldn't concentrate on anything. My mind kept whirling, I was angry, confused, and frustrated. "You knew... " It was a cold accusation, I felt blinded, betrayed somehow.
His hand rested on my shoulder, an unsure touch, tentative. "I knew."
"How could you do that to me? Why?" I felt miserable, used, cheated, more confused then ever.
His fingers tightened on my shoulder, and he sank down onto the floor beside me, hand lifting my chin, eyes meeting mine. "What was I going to do? Tell you? Would you have understood? Would you have believed me? I had to wait for you to make that wish, wait for you to find out for yourself."
I shook my head, staring at the floor, at my bare feet, the jeans encasing my legs. I was wearing the same outfit I had been when I left, right down to the tank top. "What day is it? How long have I been gone?" My voice had taken on a leaden tone, a tone to match how I felt, dead inside.
"You have been gone for only a few hours."
"Jesus... " I still couldn't focus, it was like a dream. I didn't know what was real and what was all in my imagination anymore. I looked up, meeting that electric stare. "Why am I back?"
"The sultan made his final wish, breaking the spell." He sat down, crossing his legs, resting his hand on my thigh. I realized he was my size, and it was weird to be on the same level with him after so much time, eye to eye. "You have to understand, that when the sultan made his final wish, I was back in the bottle, trapped for another lifetime until the next master found me."
I nodded, relaxing a bit. "Yes, and so I was sent back here. But why Heero? Why did you do all this to me?"
He was silent for a long time, his hand absently rubbing my leg. "You are the first person who ever wanted me for being myself." He said finally. "I realized as soon as I saw you again, lying on the floor. After nearly two hundred years of oblivion, something was different. I have never met someone twice in my life." He shook his head, smiling at me. "It was so strange to see this face once more," He trailed his hand over my cheek, his eyes on mine. "Such a beautiful face," He said softly, "and there it was again."
I leaned into his palm, closing my eyes. "So you played with me."
"No. I did not know about the future, only the past. I did not know what your wishes would be." I opened my eyes, watching as a small smile spread his lips briefly before disappearing. "I thought it was ironic that your very first wish was to know more about me."
"When you knew all about me already. I don't know what to think Heero. I don't know what to say. You've been lying to me from the start." I pushed his hands away, standing up unsteadily. "Wishing for you to tell me about yourself didn't work, I don't even think you can tell the truth." I hissed, turning and heading for the bathroom. I didn't bother to glance behind me, just slammed the door and leaned against it.
I had to be alone for a while, get my head together. I had just spent three months being nothing but his and his alone. It was a hard habit to break.
***
I took the precaution of locking the bathroom door before stripping off my clothes and climbing into the tub to have a good, long thinking session. The water slowly wrapped itself around my body, cocooning me in warmth. And my mind drifted with it.
Wishes, wishes and wishes. How many times in my life, had I dreamed of such things being real? How many times had I wondered if stories could be true, if love could be real? In a way, love had always seemed like just another story to me. But if one was a reality, why not the other?
Heero had changed my entire life, turning all I'd ever known upside down. I still wanted him, craved him. In a way I couldn't understand, I needed him. I heard my own voice echo off the tiled walls of the bathroom. "Bastard."
So, what was I going to do about it all? I still had one last wish to make. And this time I wasn't going to mess it up. He wouldn't trick me again. It had to be something I truly wanted, something just for me.
"Heero?" I called, opening my eyes and sitting up in the cooling water. "Heero!"
The doorknob rattled for a moment, reminding me I had locked it. I blinked and watched in surprise as he walked through it, just walked through the door like it wasn't even there.
"Jesus you're amazing." I said half in admiration, half in annoyance.
"What do you need?" He asked, kneeling down next to the bathtub, eyes intense.
"My final wish. I know what I want now. You can interpret it however you will." I took a deep breath, and then lifted my chin, meeting his eyes and leaning forward. "I wish that we would be equal. Completely equal, always."
He stared at me for a long, silent moment, and then his eyes went wide, a strange look on his face. He looked... afraid. To my shock, those cobalt eyes took on a wet sheen.
"Heero... you're crying... " I reached out a finger to trace the single tear that shimmered a path down his cheek.
"Your wish... " He paused, looking so forlorn, so unsure. "Your wish is my command."
And then the world stopped.
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