Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ All At Once ❯ One-Shot

A/N: Bear with me, I know the song says “her” and “she” but when I was listening to the song I kept thinking of Heero and Duo. Haha. Just think of the feelings and not so much the pronouns ok? x) Hope you like it.

 

I don't own Gundam Wing, although I badly want to own Duo and his beautiful Deathscythe Hell (it is by far the best Gundam ever).

I don't own this song. It is “All at Once” by the Fray.

 

--

 

“Duo.”

 

/There are certain people

You just keep coming back to/

 

Duo hesitated at the sound of his voice. He should have known that Heero would know - he sure as hell hadn't told him - that he was leaving.

 

He had lived for awhile with Heero after the war. It was as if he gravitated toward the other pilots, particularly Heero, without meaning to after everything was said and done. But now Duo was leaving. It was for the best.

 

They were standing in the middle of a crowded spaceport on Earth where Duo was planning on going to L2 to possibly start a life without the Wing pilot. It was obvious Heero didn't have any feelings for him, it was better to cut his losses and leave now while his heart was still intact. Preferably before Heero professed his love for Relena so that he could cry over it by himself.

 

/She is right in front of you

You begin to wonder

Could you find a better one

Compared to her now she's in question/

 

Slowly turning while preparing himself for the confrontation, Duo faced him with his bright smile.

 

“Hey buddy. I'm headed to L2. Hilde offered me a job at her scrapyard a while back, remember that? Well the girl really needs some help now so I'm going.”

 

Duo hoped his smile didn't falter, but it was threatening to as Heero's piercing blue gaze bored through him trying to see the truth that Duo didn't want to offer. Looking at Heero standing right in front of him, Duo couldn't imagine that he would ever find anyone to fill the hole that leaving Heero was inevitably going to cause.

 

/And all at once the crowd begins to sing

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same/

 

Heero couldn't help but feel his heart cracking. Duo was leaving him, and he hadn't even wanted to say goodbye. If Heero hadn't caught up with him, Duo would have been swept out of his life forever. But maybe that was better. It was obvious Duo didn't want to be around him anymore. It just hurt, knowing that his best friend and the man he privately fell in love with didn't want him.

 

Heero had been satisfied with life as Duo's-best-friend and nothing more. He wasn't sure he was capable of the emotions required for a healthy relationship. But each day in his presence caused an inexplicable pain in his chest, wanting so much more.

 

So now that Duo was leaving for Hilde in L2. It would be hard to end things like this, but maybe it was the right thing to do. Heero just wished it wouldn't hurt so damn much.

 

/Maybe you want her, maybe you need her

Maybe you started to compare

To someone not there/

 

Maybe he was just a backup. Heero felt his heart constrict. Maybe Duo had wanted Hilde all along and it had taken him this long to figure it out. Maybe Duo had finally realized that Heero had nothing on her and finally decided to marry the girl. God knows, Hilde was completely in love with Duo. It was obvious to everyone with eyes.

 

With his heart heavy, he grunted his acknowledgment and lowered his eyes.

 

/Looking for the right one

You line up the world to find

Where no questions cross your mind

But she won't keep on waiting

For you without a doubt

Much longer for you to sort it out/

 

Duo felt like crying. Heero was perfect, the only one in the world that could make Duo feel all silly inside with just the barest curving of a smile. And yet he had not tried to stop him.

 

Internally, Duo knew that he shouldn't feel so hurt -Heero was just agreeing with what he said. But the knowledge that Heero could even let him go hurt.

 

“Well I don't want to keep her waiting!” Duo said, with false cheerfulness. He was about to turn when Heero's hand snaked out and grasped his. Duo gasped as Heero locked eyes with his again, this time with an intensity that made him shiver.

 

“Duo…” It was more of a breath than an actual word.

 

Duo licked his lips, suddenly dry at the proximity. “Yeah, `Ro?”

 

/And all at once the crowd begins to sing

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same/

 

It seemed as if a lifetime had passed in the time it took for Heero to blink. Then the spell was shattered and Heero's eyes, so full of intensity only a minute before, shuttered and he let go of Duo's hand. Duo almost cried out at the loss, but he couldn't have said if it was the loss of contact or the loss of the emotion he had tried to identify in his eyes.

 

“H-have a safe trip,” Heero muttered, as if it wasn't what he was going to say. It took almost all his willpower not to lean forward a few inches to kiss him. But kissing him would be wrong and Duo would never do anything to hurt Heero. Duo steeled himself against it, even though it was one of the hardest things he had ever done, and gave him a smile and another “Bye” before he moved away toward the terminal.

 

/Maybe you want her, maybe you need her

Maybe you started to compare

To someone not there

Maybe you want it, maybe you need it

Maybe it's all you're running from

Perfection will not come/

 

Heero's eyes followed the braid as it made its way seamlessly through the crowd and to the desk. He wanted Duo with all his heart, and he needed him with every fiber of his being. Why didn't he tell Duo now in this very instant? He would have no other chance.

 

Heero's mind gave his heart the answer that he couldn't voice: Duo and Heero were perfect as soldiers and perfect as friends. He didn't want to shatter the perfection by doing anything out of their normal routine.

 

/And all at once the crowd begins to sing

Sometimes

We'd never know what's wrong without the pain

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same/

 

And then it hit him with surprising force. He couldn't leave it like this. What if Duo never knew? Heero would regret it for the rest of his life. The Perfect Soldier would have no regrets.

 

/Maybe you want her, maybe you need her

Maybe you've started to compare

To someone not there

Maybe you want it, maybe you need it

Maybe it's all you're running from

Perfection will not come/

 

Without realizing it, Heero's feet started to move, propelling him toward the gate, and toward Duo. Perfection didn't matter, Heero reasoned. He would live with a thousand imperfections if he could have one perfect love in his life. Duo was all he ever wanted, all he ever needed.

 

And then it happened in the space of a heartbeat. Duo turned around and smiled at him. Heero stopped. He could see the pain in Duo's eyes despite the happy expression pasted onto his face when he looked at Heero, and Heero's conscience wouldn't allow him to go further. Duo was hurting because of him. He probably knew about Heero's love and just wanted to end it cleanly but Heero was mucking everything up.

 

In the end, he just had to let Duo go, no matter how much he wanted to keep him.

 

/Maybe you want her, maybe you need her

Maybe you had her, maybe you lost her to another

To another/

 

Duo's heart was about to shatter, but he kept his smile, just for Heero. And then he finally turned away and headed toward his new life with a whispered, “Goodbye Heero.”

 

He couldn't have known Heero whispered after him the four words that he had been longing his whole life to hear from those lips: “I love you, Duo.”

 

--

 

A/N: Haha should I just leave it here? I feel like I should make a sequel, perhaps putting them together again, but I don't know if anyone will read it anyway.

 

Read and review please!