Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 1 Blood on the Window ❯ Worlds Away ( Chapter 31 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

After Duo had slowly recovered from being sick…well, he'd been over his flu by the Monday following. After he recovered his temperament, and reassured us he was not in fact, nuts, things went very quiet.

Well, things with everyone else had been quiet.

Miguel wanted to move away. He was nearly insisting that I moved out of the house with him if I wanted to continue our relationship. I did, I really did-I loved Miguel, but he was asking me to choose between him and my family.

On top of that, I still had to deal with Jun's bullshit. He hadn't made any more attempts on me, but I knew that this was simply because I was staying in Jaded's territory. Whether or not Miguel took this seriously was beyond me. Most people didn't have dealings with the syndicates. I doubted Miguel realized that Jun really wanted me dead. Of course, I still questioned whether or not he knew Heero was an assassin.

I sighed, moving out of the bedroom and heading toward Duo's room. Heero and Duo had just gotten back from another job, so Heero was preoccupied with Relena in their bedroom. Trowa had taken Alexia to Hilde's, and Miguel himself was in the living room.

"What's up?" Duo asked, turning to give me a curious look. He was standing at the window.

"I wanted to talk to you." I replied quietly, shutting the door behind myself just as quietly and moving across the room to the stereo, turning it on low.

"I'm not interested in a threesome." Duo joked, flashing me a grin.

I frowned at him, shaking my head as I sat, "I'm serious, Duo."

He let his grin drop, then turned to sit at the end of the bed across from me, "Shoot."

I thought about the issue a long moment. No one knew that Miguel had been pressing me to move out since Duo'd pulled his stunt. No one knew that for the last month or so my nights were filled with muttered pleadings that were steadily growing into demands. I knew it wouldn't take Miguel much longer to deliver that final ultimatum that would end our relationship the second it past his lips.

I knew that our relationship was over.

I wasn't going to not try, though. If I could get Duo behind me, I could do anything.

"Well," I muttered, not able to meet his eyes and leaning forward, "Miguel wants me to move out with him."

Duo didn't say anything.

I blinked up at him, confused that he was smiling at me.

"You're not scared of commitment, are you?" he asked, still teasing, "You're not gonna try and pull the three year thing Heero did?"

I swallowed, blinking at him, "Don't you want to know why?"

The moment I said it I knew that I could have done it all without letting everyone know the darker side of the relationship, and in that one fatal question, I'd told Duo the entire story.

His eyes were shocked and amused for a brief moment before comprehension lit them. Within moments his expression had darkened and his bearing was changing. When I'd come in he'd been happy and wanting to make me laugh, now I could feel that same thing as before-that line between his sanity and where it ended.

He smiled at me, "Not really." his tone was normal enough, "I'd imagine it has to do with love."

I looked away from him, sliding off the bed.

"Where are you going?" he muttered, bouncing off the end of the bed to grab my wrist, "You wanted to talk to me about this, that's obvious enough."

I'd almost call him fake-cheery, except that he really did seem pleased.

"Not now," I muttered, moving out the door-I didn't need him to start anything.

He didn't let me go for a long moment, his eyes sparkling as he studied my face. I could tell by the tense in his muscles that he was considering if he should yank me back into his room or not, so I detached his hand from me, "What do you want for supper?" I asked as I reached the stairs, starting down.

Duo moved to the wrought-iron railing, leaning against it as he watched me, not speaking. His stance said to me that he was thinking about something to do with me, but I had no idea what it might be.

"I've made you uncomfortable." he noted, which caused me to pause. I couldn't meet his eyes, "You're running from me…to him."

That caught my complete attention. I stared up at him, wishing his eyes weren't so unreadable when he chose to hide what he was feeling.

He studied me a moment longer, then disappeared from sight as Relena's voice broke the silence-and Heero's. Duo's bedroom door shut and a steady pounding started from Heero's room.

I frowned, moving down the stairs and stepping out onto the front porch. Talking to Duo was supposed to reassure me of something, not give me more doubts.

This was not my week-shit, not my month…

Fuck, not my year.

.

"Miguel," I muttered, pounding the butt of my palm against the wall next to the key-rack as I grabbed Heero's car keys, "You wanna run with me to the knife store?"

Wufei was looking at me warily now, as if he expected the worse from me.

I wasn't going to do anything to Miguel, shit.

"Sure," Miguel sounded startled as he came out of the bathroom, frowning at me, "You getting another knife?"

"I'm thinking actual throwing knives," I replied, starting for the front door, "But I'm not so sure about that."

He nodded, then looked to Wufei.

Wufei was staring at me in evident dismay.

"I shouldn't take more than an hour. If it's two, call me. If I answer and don't speak, then there's trouble."

"Duo, no." Wufei ordered as I started for the front door, moving around to stop in front of me, "You don't need any more god-damn knives."

"But I want them," I purred, tilting my head as I looked at him.

"You don't need to go." he snapped.

"What's the issue?" Miguel demanded, moving up beside me, "We'll go and come back."

"Do you know where he's trying to take you?" Wufei snapped at him.

"The knife store…on Third and Oak." I informed Miguel when he looked questioningly to me.

"That's Swathe's land," Wufei snapped at his boyfriend.

I winked at Miguel as I hit the door, "Chicken out if you want to. I'll be back."

"It'll be fine, Fei." Miguel reassured his boyfriend, "All right? We'll go get the knives and come back."

"No. Miguel…" Wufei gave me a pointed look as I stepped onto the porch and pulled the door shut after me. I took a deep and refreshed breath as I paused on the porch, glancing back at Miguel when he came out the door.

"Heero!" Wufei shouted.

I laughed evilly, knowing that Wufei couldn't hear me and probably wasn't thinking about what he was doing completely anyway.

"Heero!" Wufei shouted again.

"What's up?" Heero's voice came from upstairs, confused.

"They're going to Swathe's land!" Wufei snapped at him, "Duo wants a new…knife."

The way he trailed off on the word "knife" made me wink at Miguel and wonder how chagrined Wufei was that he'd told Heero that.

"Dude," Heero called loudly, probably seeing the door was still open-maybe even seeing me, "Wait up." I could almost make out what he was saying in a quieter tone, but not for certain.

"Don't fuckin' go!" Wufei snapped at Miguel, coming onto the porch. He was pissed, "He's got Heero going with him now."

"You're coming, too?" Heero asked Miguel as he came out the front door, bending over to slide his shoes on as he glanced up at us, then blinked at Wufei, "What's your tweak?"

Wufei looked from me to him, then to Miguel, gesturing at me.

He was caught between a rock and a hard place now, because he couldn't very well tell Heero in front of his boyfriend that he'd told me Miguel wanted to move out…because of me.

"Yeah, Fei," I added, grinning slightly at him, "Why the hell are you flipping out about this?"

"Why the hell aren't you saving your money for a car?" he snapped back, "You don't even use the knives you've got, you don't need to go waist money on more."

"He has more than enough money to buy a car." Heero said in a vaguely amused tone, "He's just waiting to find a good one or something."

"Actually," I replied, "I just haven't gone to look again since Quatre and I did that one time."

Heero snorted at me, shrugging at Wufei, "Plus the season's on the upswing."

Wufei was furious with me.

I smiled at him, "We'll be fine."

"It's not you two I'm worried about." he snapped in Chinese, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"What's the matter with you?" Heero demanded, looking vaguely shocked and glancing at me, "What happened?"

"Nothing happened." I replied before Wufei could say anything, punching Miguel in the arm, "Haven't you been putting out?"

Miguel's laughter was naughty and somewhat helpless as he turned to give me a shocked look.

"Don't fuck with me." Wufei snapped.

Miguel also frowned at Wufei, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter." I informed Wufei levelly, pushing at Miguel's shoulder. Heero glanced between us, his eyes narrowing a moment before he also started for the car.

Wufei was staring at me now.

I stepped back so I was in his face, studying his eyes and shaking my head, "You're making too much of this."

"No." he replied, frowning at me, "You're just fuckin' nuts."

And with that, he moved back into the house, slamming the door nearly in my face.

I smiled.

.

I stared at my fiancé in shock as I moved silently into the kitchen. Trowa and Alexia had come home and gone to bed-rather, Trowa was putting Alex to bed, and Miguel had persuaded Wufei to their bed. I'd been trying to figure out why Heero hadn't come up…or Duo, if he'd bought a new knife. He liked to show me his shiny new toys. The three of them had been home for twenty minutes, and I hadn't seen hide or hair of my man.

At any rate, Heero had Duo backed against the counters in the corner of the kitchen. Duo was right in his face, however, and I had a feeling that the dominance there was about to severely flip.

"Because I can." Duo purred at Heero, shifting his weight, "Because I want to."

Heero gave him the ground, taking a breath to comment…

And they were both looking at me.

"What are you doing?" I demanded of them both, raising an eyebrow.

"Duo's pulling some kind of shit." Heero replied, "Wufei was all up in arms about something when we were leaving."

"What?" I asked Duo.

He studied my eyes.

"Something is up." I agreed with Heero, "You're acting weird again."

He smiled at me, moving away from Heero and offering his arms to me.

I giggled, bouncing up to hug him, draping my arms around his neck to study his eyes, "What are you doing?"

"Acting out, I suppose." he muttered as Heero tsked behind him, "My feelings have been slightly hurt and I'm not sure what to do about it."

"What happened?" I asked, being sure my concern was mirrored in my voice.

Duo shook his head, "I have to decide how I feel before I start bitching." he nuzzled my nose with his, "I'll tell you either way, all right?"

"Fine." Heero said in a very cold tone.

I giggled up at Duo, studying his eyes a moment, then nodded, "I'll let you off this time, but you have to promise me something."

"I won't agree to promise anything," he returned, "But I will listen."

I studied him a long moment, then nodded, "You need to curb this shit, all right? This…acting out."

He looked away from me.

"He's fucking with Miguel." Heero informed me, "Being all buddy-buddy."

I looked over Duo's shoulder at my fiancé and blinked.

"It's not normal, Relena. He's being too good."

I looked back to Duo studying his eyes-he stared directly back at me.

I brushed my hair out of my face, stepping back from him and meeting his eyes again, "Okay?"

"I'll try." he replied, not looking at me again.

"Duo."

He met my eyes again with an almost exasperated sigh, nodding.

"Thank you." I muttered, leaning up and kissing his cheek before moving around him to Heero.

"How the hell did you do that?" he asked me curiously, kissing me as Duo left the kitchen wordlessly.

"I haven't a clue."

.

There was a method to my madness this time, and that method was simple and straightforward. My issue with Miguel was my issue. He didn't start it, and while he had continued it, he'd also made overtures at friendship. The fact that he wanted Wufei to move out with him, alone, was nothing. When Wufei had pinned on that question, however, asking me if I wanted to know why-in that tone, I'd realized that I was why. My irritation with the guy while I was sick was because I'd been feeling off and wanted Wufei with me more often than he'd been. It had been a very selfish reason, and while I still thought everything about it was fairly hilarious, it hadn't been fair. If I could win Miguel's friendship again, then I could take that pressure, at least, off Wufei.

I owed him that, at the very least.

I grinned slightly as I studied one blade of my throwing knives, these just looked wicked. They weren't flashy, nor too dark-they were just wicked.

"I'll be out back." I informed everyone, moving through the kitchen door. There was a pile of boards that Heero had told me weren't being used, so I was going to set up a target and practice more with the knives. I had nothing better to do, and the early March weather was nice enough to allow for out-door activity, if only a bit chill.

I blinked behind myself at Relena, who was pulling her jacket on as she followed me, "What's up?"

"I want to talk to you." she replied easily, zipping her jacket halfway and tucking her hands into her pockets as she watched me dig through the boards.

"About?"

"About what's going on with you and Miguel."

I turned and gave her a long studying look, "We're friends." I replied, "We got along wonderfully when I visited them in Mexico. Yeah, shit's happened since he moved here, but I'm trying to get it back to the way it was."

"Why?" she asked bluntly, "I know you. I know that when you really got to know him, he irritated you. Why bother making friends with someone you don't like?"

"I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend." I returned easily, carrying two of the boards across the yard and starting for the shed.

"Enemy?" she asked.

I turned and looked at her, "You see everything." I informed her, "You read everything, you study everything. You shouldn't have to ask me that."

She smiled at me, "But you have Kayla, so you're not in love with him-are you?"

"I'm not." I agreed, knowing she meant Wufei, moving into the building and digging around for what we had to make the target-board.

Relena came up to lean against the door, studying me a long moment, "Are you sure?"

I turned and met her amused eyes, then nodded once, "I am sure. Things are different with us."

"We've all noticed." she agreed wryly.

I rolled my eyes at her, picking a few things up, "He came to me yesterday and told me Miguel wants them to move out together."

"Ooh! He hasn't told me!" she pouted at me, though she looked pleased.

"That was my original thought. But Fei was acting…different. Depressed-like." I shrugged, digging out some nails, "He told me that, I grinned at him…and he was all, 'don't you want to know why?'" I mimicked Fei's tone as best as I could.

Relena blinked at me, "I do."

I sighed-I'd been hoping I wouldn't have to explain that part.

"Because of me." I muttered, starting out the door without looking at her, "I was fucking with him when I was sick. I was doing it intentionally and playing innocent about it."

"Oh." she muttered in a tone of sudden understanding, "I see."

"Yes. I knew you would." I moved to the boards, looking over what I'd collected.

"So…you're trying to make friends with him?" she asked quietly, still following me.

"Yeah." I replied, focusing on my task, "Because if Miguel is my friend…"

"Even if you don't like him." she muttered.

"Then he's going to stop making Wufei choose." I continued without acknowledging that she'd said that. It wasn't that I really didn't like Miguel…I just…didn't like him.

"I don't think he'd make Wufei choose between us and him."

"Not us," I agreed, "But maybe me."

She fell silent before moving around to the other side of the wood, holding it in place without meeting my eyes, "I don't think he's fool enough." she muttered.

I sighed, shaking my head.

"Wufei would choose you." she muttered confidently.

"Is that really a good thing?" I asked, stopping in my work to meet her eyes.

She studied me, "If Miguel would ask him to make the choice, then it would be."

I looked toward the fence that separated our backyard from a neighbor's, then nodded slowly, starting to work again.

Relena giggled too light-heartedly-an attempt to lighten the mood, "You are going to show me how to throw knives, aren't you?" she demanded.

I smiled up at her, more than willing to change topics, "Don't ask me to do it. I can't teach for shit. I just show. Trowa's the one who can teach you."

She smiled at me, studying the boards a moment before nodding, "I'll do that, then."

.

"Holy shit."

I blinked at Jesse, who'd come to see Duo. He'd accepted that Duo was out back without hesitation, and when I'd went to lead him, that also hadn't phased him.

He was staring at Duo, however, who was throwing knives across the yard at a target he'd made.

"What?" I asked as Duo turned and saw us, grinning and throwing again with a bit of flair, landing the knife next to two others that were already embedded in the soft wood.

"He scares me sometimes, really." Jesse muttered, studying Duo.

"What's so scary about me throwing knives?" Duo demanded petulantly of him, turning to look at us as he moved to the board to retrieve the things.

Jesse laughed, "Because you do it so confidently."

Duo snorted.

"I mean, really!" Jesse protested, "You're good at everything!"

"I was trained for everything," Duo muttered, giving him a look, "From when I was about thirteen to when I was fifteen I was constantly trained. Two years does a lot to a boy…and shit, I was a street rat. I already knew some of this shit."

That took Jesse off balance a moment before he blinked at both of us and nodded slightly.

"So what's up?" Duo asked happily, studying the knives as he moved to join us.

"In about…" Jesse glanced at his watch, "Two hours, I'm heading to the Burn. Tonight's the Radiant concert."

We both focused on him.

He smiled at us both, "I love that look," he muttered-he wasn't precisely talking to us.

"I'd love to go," Duo muttered.

Jesse smirked, "How about terms?"

I felt a pit growing in my stomach at that. The last time he'd given us terms…

"Depends on what they are." Duo said smoothly and easily, still looking amused.

"I don't think Jun will be there." he reassured me, probably seeing the dread in my face, "So that's fine…but," his expression turned evil as he met my eyes, "I need a date…a…male…date."

I glanced from him to Duo, then shrugged, meeting Duo's eyes, "What Kayla doesn't know won't hurt her, right?"

Jesse started laughing.

.

Rebecca White was a pretty woman of about thirty with a slender build. She had slightly fluffy blond hair and sparkling green eyes that spoke volumes. I knew this because she was eyeing me-and I had no qualms against eyeing her back.

Jesse leaned over and kissed me nonchalantly, it wasn't a lustful kiss-well, to get down to the heart of the matter, he'd been nervous as hell and this kiss was a slight brushing of lips without meeting my eyes. On our trip over to the club-he and I were riding together; he'd told me that he'd had a boyfriend once. It was one of those…confession things that people give when they're putting a lot of trust in someone else. When they tell you too much in a short period of time. He'd chattered at me from the moment we'd left the house to the moment we'd parked, and then he'd taken my hand in his.

He hadn't actually kissed me at all since we'd come in, before now. I smiled artfully at him, fiddling with his fingers.

To me, this was hilarious, this was fun. The woman, Rebecca, was the leader of Marionette. Marionette was the area of the city dedicated to nightlife, including the Burn. She'd had eyes on Jesse for an age. I doubted the woman could really love, but she knew helpful mergers when she found them. If she were taken into Jaded, not only would she taste real power, but she'd be part of something with more strength. In return, Jaded would get thrown back into a land war.

I doubted she realized that.

At any rate, when Jesse would look at me, it never lasted long. He'd always study my eyes a moment before quickly deciding he didn't want to do whatever he was thinking. I had, of course, decided to fuck with him. He'd begged and pleaded with me for an hour to get me to do this to begin with. I'd thought he'd wanted me to do with him what I'd done with Wufei, and there was no way in hell that would happen. When I'd told him that point-blank, he'd quickly reassured me that he didn't even need half of that. He just wanted someone to play his boyfriend for the night, maybe a kiss or two-maybe.

The concert was fun, it wasn't as fun as the Jacob Leigh concert had been-for several reasons, but I was with my friends. Wufei and Miguel were here as a couple, as well as Heero and Relena. Trowa had opted to take "his girls" to a movie instead. I was on a date with Jesse, and it was enough to make me snigger every time I thought about it. Poor Jesse, he was a conservative lad, not ready to take things up a level on his first date…

I ran my hand up his inner thigh.

Rebecca's green eyes narrowed as Jesse focused on me quickly.

I studied his eyes a long moment, then gestured with my head toward the bathrooms.

I could see in his eyes that he was about to shit bricks, but he nodded anyway, excusing himself-I didn't bother. Rebecca had seen what I'd done and thus I didn't need to explain what I was doing.

I started laughing as we moved into the bathroom and he turned on me, his bearing disbelieving, "What are you doing?" he demanded.

I recovered myself and moved across the room to him, standing directly in his face with a slightly coy expression, "What do you mean?" I asked sweetly.

He backed away a bit, looking more worried.

I laughed again, punching him lightly in the stomach, "What the fuck are you doing out there? We want her to think we're a couple and you can't even look at me. That kiss? That so will not cut it. She's watching us like a hawk. If you want to do this shit, then do it right."

"I thought you were straight," he accused.

"To an extent." I replied, rolling my eyes at him, "I can suspend certain emotions when I need to. If I need to."

He frowned at me, "So what do you want me to do? I can't make myself get all over you-no offense intended, you're a great guy, but I don't really swing that way."

I laughed at him, "I want you to relax. I won't hurt you…or actually do anything to you. We'll both go our separate ways when this is over and I won't even ask you to call me tomorrow." I smirked at him.

He grinned at that.

I draped my arms around his neck, "Do you know what we have to do now?"

"Walk out of the room quickly?" he asked hopefully, then frowned at me, "You are all sorts of evil."

I grinned wickedly at him, "You know…" I muttered, leaning up and kissing lightly at his jaw line, "I've been hearing that so much lately…I may just be starting to believe it."

"Only just, choir-boy?" he was steadfastly looking away from me.

I laughed another evil laugh, brushing my lips over his, "Just for that…I'm going to have fun."