Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Overboard ❯ Chapter 7

Chapter 7

For a long time, Heero Yuy stared out of the living room window towards the place where Duo had disappeared with the boys, but after a while it became obvious that Duo wasn’t coming back anytime soon and he moved from the window.

Glanced sourly at the paperwork on his desk beside the window and turned restlessly away.

He had to talk to Duo.

Duo’s clothes spilled across the floor in untidy profusion, from his tumbled black plastic wardrobe. Heero up-righted the bag and started jamming them back in, efficiently at first, his movements gradually slowing. The clothes smelled distractingly of Duo.

As he stared at the chaotic rainbow, an idea slowly took shape, sanded, planed and polished itself into a gleaming chest of drawers. There was some lovely Australian cedar in the useful pile of timber behind the shed. Heero’s glory box, Duo called it. About time he used it. If he didn’t have enough cedar, he could use different-colored pieces of timber for the drawer fronts, alternating dark and light. That would appeal to Duo’s quirky sense of style anyway.

He dropped the bulging bag and hurried outside to look. He didn’t have to be at Nilsson’s to measure up until ten, so he had a bit of time, although he had planned to do filing. The paperwork would just have to wait.



+++



When Duo finally strolled into the house as the sun dipped below the horizon, laughing and joking and bearing fish and chips for tea, burgers for the twins, Heero was hard at work on the new chest of drawers in the shed, and didn’t immediately realise that the real Duo, his Duo, had been left behind somewhere in the lengthening shadows on the deserted beach, with the ghostly crabs and the spume-covered wrack.

This Duo was not the same.

After twenty-four hours of Duo not bringing him tea and hanging over him while he worked at his laptop, not draping his legs over his lap when they were sitting on the couch, and not barging in on him in the bathroom demanding his hairbrush, Heero was missing it desperately. After two days he was craving it like a drug.

This Duo smiled and nodded and passed the juice, but he was like a clock-work doll wound up too tight, movements jerky and strained, playing a role, and playing it badly, the real Duo buried deep. The real Duo only peeked out when the boys were around, heaping them with hugs and games and laughter, in almost desperate profusion.

It was quite impossible to hold Duo still long enough to talk about anything. He suddenly seemed to have a million things to do smilingly at break-neck speed, none of them involving Heero. And when the boys went to bed, Duo did too, back firmly to the door, and Heero.

To distract himself from the uncharacteristic but frighteningly familiar quiet, Heero threw himself into making the chest of drawers, spending every spare minute in the shed. He had to make things better. Maybe this gift would tell Duo all the things that Heero couldn’t. The words that Heero couldn’t say, in case Duo became angry and left before Welfare were off their backs. He had to worry about the boys first of all.

Heero felt oddly desperate. Couldn’t shake a terrible feeling that he was racing against time. Any minute now whatsherface might appear to reclaim Duo. Or Duo might remember and leave.

Maybe had already remembered.

Was making ready to go.

Heero didn’t want to think about Duo leaving.

He didn’t want to be alone again.

Heero Yuy had been alone for a very long time. Had learned to cope on his own, without anyone or anything, because he had to. Because if Welfare heard that he couldn’t cope they’d be back. Heero Yuy didn’t trust anyone.

Until suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, he trusted Duo.

Duo had forced him to. And now, he relied on Duo to take care of things. He didn’t have to always be perfectly in control, always on-duty. Could relax. It was a wonderfully liberating feeling.

It’s all right Heero. I’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry. You go back to sleep.

Don’t worry.

Duo.

He needed Duo.



+++



Duo stared sadly out of the kitchen window towards the back shed. Heero was out there again. He obviously couldn’t bear to spend a minute longer in Duo’s company than he absolutely had to.

This couldn’t go on. It was hurting Heero just as much as it was him. Heero had been miserable ever since that Relena had rung. The sooner Duo went the better, and then Heero could get on with his life.

Tyler tugged impatiently at his jeans leg.

He glanced down at him, twisting his face into a smile.

“Yeah buddy?”

“Can I have hot chocolate milk please Duo? I haven’t had one yet. Really”

“Mm hm.”

If only everything didn’t hurt so freaking much.

Even freaking chocolate milk.

Duo took milk from the refrigerator, found the puppy dog mug in the corner cupboard, started milk warming in the microwave. Took down chocolate powder and set it on the bench. Ghosted his fingers absently along the scarred wooden benchtop and leaned against it while he waited, glancing around the kitchen. Everything so cosy and familiar. Tyler and Cody’s drawings on the fridge. Joe’s CDs scattered near the CD player in the alcove between the fridge and the pantry. The wooden noticeboard that Joe had made in Design and Technology hanging beside the shelves with all the cereal and rice. The black scuff mark where Cody’s roller blades had missed the sharp left-hander around the table and crashed into the cupboard under the sink. His fingers found the scar on the benchtop left behind after the twins chopped carrots, and played with it absently. All his memories were here.

If only he had somewhere else to go maybe leaving would be easier. Somebody else to turn to. He couldn’t stay with Trowa. It wasn’t fair to ask Trowa to support him against Heero. There was always Howard but… He thought for a moment then shook his head slightly. He really needed to get right away from Darke’s Cove. To make some new memories.

The microwave beeped and he turned back to Tyler’s milk. If only he had somewhere else to go…



+++



When Hilde Schbeiker rang Darke’s Cove Police Station, she was kept on hold for nine and a half minutes, then put through to a woman in the Incident Room. A Detective Sergeant Noin. DS Noin was preparing to go off-duty, and was not happy to be asked to re-check the Missing Persons Files.

She yanked out the files, but there was no Duo Maxwell under ‘M’. Speedily checked Coastguard reports, for that same time period, but again, nothing. Let out her breath in a huff of frustration, raking her fingers through her spiky, blue-black hair, and checked her watch.

At the end of her shift she was meeting the Superintendent. For dinner, and, whatever came after. She tuned out the anxious, telephone voice for a moment, lost in dreamy contemplation of the whatever. Of piercing, ice-blue eyes and long, long, ice-blonde hair. Gorgeous hair. Connections in high places for sure. He was secretive about his background, always had been, even with her, but the girls all whispered it, and there could be no doubt about it or he would have had to cut that hair. They’d been dating for a while now, since they’d met at the Academy in fact, and she’d followed him to Darke’s Cove station. But now, she was considering a transfer to Forensics. She’d always been interested, and it would remove any hint of fraternisation, or nepotism. The Force was her career and she didn’t intend to jeopardise that. And besides. Forensics worked out of Good Forest, which, coincidentally, was where Zechs lived. Much more convenient.

She frowned. The annoying Miss Schbeiker, who was currently buzzing in her ear, had filed a Missing Person report. It had to be here somewhere. Stupid Police Intranet. Down again. She’d have to check them all manually.

Jamming the phone against her ear with her hunched shoulder, she pulled all the files out and dumped them onto her desk, then measured the stack of paper with a narrowed, blue eye. Checked her watch again. Seven minutes. Damn.

Okaaay. She smiled winningly into the phone.

“I’m sorry Miss Schbeiker. There seems to have been a bit of a mix-up. We don’t appear to have a record for a Duo Maxwell. Leave it with me and I’ll get back to you, as soon as I’ve sorted it out.”

And hung up.



+++



Duo had taken to helping Howard out; either in the shop, or restoring furniture out the back. Duo was pleased to have the work, because they needed the money, and he enjoyed Howard’s company. Howard was pleased too. Said that Duo had a great eye, and wanted him with him on his next buying trip. Duo didn’t have the heart to say that he would be long gone by then, just hmmed noncommittally and polished harder, trying to distract himself from the sharp pang that those words gave him.

Quite often he caught the school bus home with the boys, if he hadn’t borrowed the pickup. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t have a car, or a bike, or something. It was odd really. He liked cars, and fiddling around with them. He really thought that he would have had one. But he hadn’t had the heart to ask Heero, when there quite obviously wasn’t the money for one right now, and it wouldn’t matter soon anyway. Another pang. And maybe… Oh God. Maybe he’d had a car and Heero had sold it when he’d got rid of his other stuff. Heero could do with the money after all. This time the pain felt as if he was dying.

Anyway the bus was quite fun, with the boys. He could happily keep the entire bus entertained all the way home, although after about twenty minutes, Old Duke Dermail normally threatened to put Mr. Maxwell off and make him walk home, at which point Duo would wander up the front and hang over the yellow line that said ‘No Passengers Beyond This Point” and chat to him about his Triumph. The panels were on, and Old Duke was haunting Swap Meets looking for fittings. Thought that Duo might like to help him rig the door handles. Except that Duo knew that he wouldn’t be around. Pain.

Everything in Duo’s life was pain. Death by a thousand tiny needles, stabbing him one by one.

But today he’d missed the school bus and taken a later one, trudging pensively home at dusk from the bus stop through the mist-heavy air, feeling the cold of the ground through his boots, hearing the grass already crunching frostily underfoot, watching his breath cloud in front of him, and arriving home to the smell of wood smoke and the golden glow of the kitchen window, warming the verandah with a patchwork quilt of light and dark, the bare branches of the creeper twisted in dark and fantastic filigree against the gold. He halted at the back gate watching that warm, welcoming square of window, and the figure silhouetted in it, until Rex ghosted out of the twilight to gambol around his legs, chewing something nameless.

Rex.

On the wrong side of the fence again.

“Damned dog. Where’ve you been boy? Old Clark’ll get you!” Duo fondled Rex’s ears dispiritedly, the fur cold under his fingers, then sighed and ushered him in, dragging the gate shut behind them.

“Duo! Duo!”

Silas was coming back from shutting in the chickens, and flung the feed bucket away to clatter against the fence, rushing to join him.

“Duo come on!”

Silas bounded up the verandah steps, hurrying him along. Duo followed bemusedly, with Rex barking and frolicking under his feet.

As soon as Duo stepped into the hallway, Tyler and Cody charged at him and grabbed his hands, tugging him towards the living room; Cody sometimes dragging and sometimes being dragged, depending on the state of his roller blades. Joe and Zac were peering around the doorway down the hall, grinning broadly, even Joe. Duo blinked.

“Come and see! Come and see!”

“Eh?” Duo let himself be dragged, staring at Joe for enlightenment. Joe just grinned wider, and shook his head.

They reached the living room doorway and stopped.

“Now shut your eyes.”

“What?? Why?”
“Shut your eyes! Go on! Hurry up!” Tyler was bouncing with impatience.

The excitement was contagious. Duo’s lips twitched in a smile and he made a show of squeezing his eyes tightly shut, holding out his hands and allowing himself to be led into the living room. Blinked nervously as his hip nudged the edge of the futon, and quickly closed his eyes again.

“Okay. Now you can look!” There was excited tugging on his hands. “Look! Quick! It’s for you! Look now!”

Duo opened his eyes and looked.

A chest of drawers was ranged against the back of the futon, gleaming richly in the flickering firelight, the drawers a checkerboard of dark and pale satin. He blinked in confusion. A chest? For him? Surely not.

Slowly he reached out a hand to the lustrous timber, fingertip sliding gently.

“Look! It’s for you!”

“All your stuff!”

Drawers were yanked out, displaying all of Duo’s clothes, neatly folded.

“Heero made it!”

“I put your clothes away!”

“Not just you! I helped!!!”

Duo looked up from the beautiful chest of drawers, across the back of the couch, all the way across the room, to the doorway where Heero stood, apparently scrutinising the living room carpet but in reality anxiously watching Duo, peering up shyly through protective layers of brown silk hair, his shaking hands shoved deep into the pockets of his faded jeans.

“Heero?” Duo’s voice was very soft and wondering, reaching across the space between them. “You got this? For me?”

“Made it.” Heero scuffed the carpet with a socked toe, then peeked back up at Duo again. “You need something. Can’t use that garbage bag forever.”

It took a moment for Heero’s words to sink in, a moment during which Duo just stared at him blankly and Heero stopped breathing. He clenched his fists in his pockets, fingernails digging into his palms.

Duo’s breath caught.

Forever.

Heero wanted him to stay forever.

A tight little knot of pain unravelled, soothing Duo’s aching heart, and freeing the smile that swept across his face, to sparkle brilliantly in his eyes, almost as if there were tears there.

He blinked rapidly and bounced from behind the couch to grasp Heero’s wrists, gazing earnestly at him.

“I love it! Really love it! Thank you! It’s fan-dan-tastic!!” He gave his hands a little shake to emphasize his point. “Really I do. I can’t believe you made it for me.”

Suddenly Heero could breathe again, and he smiled shakily back at Duo, dragging his hands out of his pockets to hold on tightly to Duo’s, letting the tension of the past week melt away in the sunshine of Duo’s smile. For long moments they stood just like that, smiling tentatively, and holding warmly to each other, neither wanting to let go. Duo’s thumbs caressed the backs of Heero’s fingers gently and his fingers tightened, as if to pull him closer.

There was an outraged bellow from the futon.

“Heero! Tell Duo that I helped!! I did! I got Fez out of the sock drawer! He was making a major mess!!”

Duo chuckled shakily, and turned.

“You’re a legend Tyler!!”

He dragged Heero back to admire the chest with him, running his fingers possessively over the polished wood, opening and closing drawers, still holding tight to Heero’s hand. He grinned at Heero sidelong, shaking his head slightly. “Freaking amazing. I never knew that you could do stuff like this!!”

“Mm.” Heero nodded, giddily talkative with relief. “I like this kind of thing. Don’t get to do much joinery though. It’s all pre-fab cabinetry usually.”

“Shame. You’re really good at it. Howard’d freak if he saw this!” Duo stared down at the polished wood, and, as he did so, the small seed of an idea took root.

“Hmm.”



+++


Dect ective Sergeant Noin was going to Forensics.

Which was nice for her, a promotion of sorts. She’d have to move to Good Forest, but Forensics was in a handy spot, just down from The Plaza, and there was a nice little kebab shop on the corner. Detective Constable Chang had just come from her farewell morning tea. She had seemed delighted with her transfer, and ridiculously pleased with the heavy-duty hair-dryer that the girls had bought as a going-away gift. An odd sort of present if you asked him. Especially for someone with such very short hair. A new briefcase would have been much more sensible. But they’d all giggled and said that she might need it.

Even the Superintendent had seemed oddly pleased that she was going, for a man who was losing one of his best officers. Went so far as to kiss her chastely on the cheek, and whispered something, that made her giggle, and blush, although Wufei had been too far away to hear.

Which was all very well, but it left Wufei with all of her filing.

He stared sourly at the pile of folders on her desk. He could leave it for her replacement, but that would not be a particularly honourable thing to do. He huffed with annoyance. Noin should have done it when she cleaned out her desk. He had a fleeting, uncharitable hope that Noin’s new desk at Forensics would be buried under partially-severed fingers, bottled in formaldehyde, and sticky, centuries-old coffee rings. Or dead mice. Noin hated mice. It would only be justice.

He flipped unenthusiastically through the stack. They were all Missing Persons.

Oh well. Might as well get it over with. Sighing heavily he hefted the top-heavy pile, which immediately overbalanced, the top ten files, or so, sliding on to the floor. Damn! Honour be blowed! He caught the pile before the disaster spread too far, then crawled around on the floor collecting slips of paper, muttering to himself.

He sorted them back into the drawer. It was probably lucky that he’d had to go through them because the files were all out of order anyway. Here was an ‘M’ mixed in with the ‘D’s. Oops. The Duo Maxwell file. Oh dear. That must have been him. H remembered that one. And here was another out of order. A ‘P’ with nothing in it at all. Peacecraft. Hmm. There was something about that name… And that file had to have been deliberately removed.

Curious.

He placed them back in the correct order.

Oh well. He closed the drawer with finality.

At least next time somebody looked for the Maxwell file they’d be able to find it.