Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Overboard ❯ Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Duo stepped away from Heero in surprise and stared in astonishment as a strange girl materialised fromhis house, stormed down the steps as if she owned them, and fell to her knees beside the fallen Walker, in a whirlwind of honey-blonde hair and tempestuous blue eyes.

“Edward!”

She glared at Duo accusingly. “It was you wasn’t it?!!! Get away from him this instant!” She dragged her cell phone from her pocket and thrust it at Heero. “Heero! Call the Police!”

“Woah!! Back off sister!” Duo backed towards Heero, hands outstretched. “It wasn’t me!”

“Mumble mumble mmph…” Walker tried to say something from behind his hands, shaking his head desperately, and the strange girl quickly stripped off her fuzzy, pink cardigan and plastered its knitted tentacles over his face in one easy move, tipping his head back efficiently and holding him firmly in place, speaking to him soothingly. “Oh you poor thing!” She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly with her free hand, unintentionally jabbing him with the phone. “There now…don’t try to speak. Just wait for it to stop bleeding.” First Aid administered, she glared again at Duo.

“It must have been you! Heero wouldn’t do something like this! He’s a gentleman!” She jerked her chin at Heero insistently. “Ring the Police Heero!”

“MMPH MMPHLL MMPH!” Walker choked on a mouthful of cardigan and gave up, peering down his nose sympathetically at Duo from his tilted-back position. Tried unsuccessfully to scrape pink fluff off his tongue with his teeth.

Duo stared at the girl in amused irritation, entertained despite himself. He had to admit that poor old Ed did look kinda like a train wreck, his shirt soaked in blood and spiky tufts of blood-darkened brown hair poking out over the cardigan. They should’ve got him a rag or something. But it wasn’t his fault!

“Sorry to disappoint you Babe but it wasn’t me! Heero’ll have to hand himself in if you want him to ring the cops!” He twinkled sidelong at Heero.

“What on earth are you talking about? You…you…thug!!”

“Leave Duo alone!” Heero wrapped his arm protectively around Duo’s shoulders. “It wasn’t him! It was me!” He frowned at her, failing to see any humour when Duo was theatened. She always meant well but she could be such a pain sometimes.

“Heero! I don’t believe you! You’re just saying that to…to…protect him because you’re such a nice person!” She brandished the phone at Duo and he flinched back reflexively.

Heero squeezed him tighter, his scowl intensifying. “I’m not. I mean I am but… It was me! Leave him alone Relena!”

Relena? Duo jerked as if he’d been shot, all amusement vanishing, wriggling out from under Heero’s arm and stepping away, eyes moving from Heero to Relena in confusion. This was Relena? Relena was here? In his house with his Heero? And what was she doing in his house with Heero?

Suddenly Duo was exhausted. He had wanted to trust Heero so badly, but he was making it hard. It looked like it had all been one big lie about Relena after all. His head was pounding again, as if it was about to explode. He wrapped his arms around himself tiredly, staring at the ground and squeezing his eyes closed, trying to focus his whirling thoughts. Relena…Heero…Heero punching Ed…Clark punching Mueller… Cody…the monster dog… That was it. He was done. It had been one hell of a day and he’d had it.

Heero stared at him in concern.

“Duo? Are you okay?” He glared accusingly at Relena. “Just leave him alone! It was me all right?!!”

“Heero!! How could you?!” Relena’s enormous blue eyes filled with disappointment and she shook her head sadly, pointedly turning her back to him and adjusting the cardigan.

Duo drew a shuddering breath past the tightness in his chest, and pasted a smile onto his face, turning to grasp Ed’s shoulder, fingers squeezing ruefully. “Sorry about all this buddy. You were a real lifesaver today. I owe ya one.” He straightened, glancing at a flushed Relena, who ignored him, then looked across Ed to Heero, his mouth twisting in a wry smile. “Looks like your girlfriend’s pissed at you Yuy. Shouldn’t you say you’re sorry or something?”

Heero stiffened visibly and stared at him in open-mouthed surprise. “She’s not my…”

But it was too late. Duo had already turned and was walking quickly inside.



+++



Relena Peacecraft-Darlien stared in confusion at Heero Yuy’s back, as he rushed into the house after that Duo person. She shook her head sadly. She would never have believed that Heero could behave so badly as to strike someone in anger. She supposed that she should apologise to his friend. It would be the polite thing to do, but it would have to wait until Edward was recovered. If there was one thing that Animal Rescue taught you, it was priorities.

She turned back to Walker, lifting a corner of the blood-soaked cardigan carefully.

“Ooh… Oh dear…” She screwed up her face in sympathy. “It’s stopped bleeding but it’s very swollen…” She removed the cardigan and helped him to his feet.

“Phew!” Walker gasped with relief, sucking in air. “Don’t worry. I’ll be all right when I get home.”

Relena was still inspecting his nose anxiously. “It might be broken you know. Are you sure you should drive?”

He nodded, trying to smile reassuringly at her around his swollen nose, but fearing that he wasn’t doing a very good job of it, judging by her expression. Mil’s little sister really was a very kind person. He’d always thought so. And very pretty. He’d always thought that too. It wasn’t her fault that she’d misunderstood what had happened. Heero Yuy should have been nicer to her. Especially after the way she’d always stuck by him. Even through all that stuff that had happened at school. Although…

From what Duo had said, Heero was his boyfriend. Not Relena’s. Maybe Mueller had been right about Heero Yuy after all. Not that it was any of Walker’s business. Duo Maxwell was a great guy, as was Heero really, once you got to know him, and Mueller had been a jerk in school, was a jerk now, and would probably die a jerk. A jealous jerk. Not that Alex didn’t give him good reason to be jealous. Still, it was lucky that he was Alex’s boyfriend, or no one would ever put up with the idiot. Funny how that worked out. You’d never’ve guessed that he was gay in school, with the way that he’d carried on about Heero. And Mil. Got the whole place in an uproar. However...

Walker stared at Relena thoughtfully. The upside of having an almost-certainly broken nose, was that Relena Peaceraft-Darlien apparently didn’t have a boyfriend after all. He smiled at her again, hopefully this time. “I’ll be okay.”

Relena stared at him in admiration. Edward was so brave.

“I know!” She smiled at him happily. She had the perfect solution. “You leave the truck at the depot and I’ll drive you back to town. It’s the least I can do. And I really think that you need an X-ray.” She nodded firmly.

She started to usher him towards the truck, hovering behind him with the cardigan held at the ready in case he needed it again, but then stopped, eyes riveted to a palm-sized patch of shadow under the wheel arch.

“Oh the poor thing!”

A large, black spider was splayed in the tread of one of the tyres, collapsed after its gargantuan climb up the wheel rim. “It can’t stay there! It will get squashed! It needs to be relocated. I just need something to put it in…”

Relena looked about purposefully, back on the familiar ground of Animal Rescue.

Walker remembered his cardboard, take-away coffee cup, now empty in his jacket pocket, and produced it helpfully, handing it to Relena, who scooped up the spider with practiced efficiency, and then upended it carefully at the base of the fence post, while Walker watched in surprised admiration. She really was quite a girl.

Relena beamed at him. Fancy Edward having the perfect container. He really was a very handy sort of person.

“Perfect!”



+++



Heero leapt the back stairs in a single bound, the verandah in two giant steps, and hurried into the house, the door slamming behind him. He had to find Duo and explain to him, before he lost him yet again, that Relena was nothing, just a friend, just an old school friend who had been there for him once, and who needed him; rather annoyingly often, and often at very inconvenient times, but she couldn’t help that, really, and that was all there was to it. Simple.

He blinked in the bright light. The hallway was empty, a Duo-less waste of pale paint and polished floorboards, but awash with the echo of excited voices, a peculiar smell, and the flickering shadow of a ferret vanishing into the living room. He ignored the smell, tracking the ebb and flow of noise up the hallway, past the gallery of photographs, not even stopping to look at the newest one, his favourite, of Duo doing a one-handed cartwheel off the verandah rail, and on into the living room, to find Duo gone to ground on the futon, the boys ranged excitedly around him, all eyes on Cody who wheeled backwards and forwards in front of the couch on his roller blades, gesticulating wildly, and full of some story about a dog. Rex, probably.

Damn. Boys everywhere. How was he supposed to talk to Duo here?

Heero sighed in frustration. Contemplated dragging Duo upstairs by that convenient rope of hair, but then decided that that would attract way too much attention. He took a deep breath. Dodged Cody and scooted Tyler sideways on the couch, inserting himself firmly onto the futon next to Duo, who inched pointedly away, squashing up against the oblivious twins. Their attention, and the other boys’, was firmly on Cody, who’s arms were windmilling frantically, demonstrating…something. More dogs, probably.

Heero was not interested in dogs. He glanced quickly left and right, then took advantage of the boys’ distraction to grab Duo’s chin and turn his face firmly towards him, trying to make contact with a spare of skittish violet eyes that fluttered like the butterfly on the mug. Up, down, right, left, looking at Cody, Tyler, the twins, the ceiling, the carpet, anywhere, but most determinedly not at Heero.

“She’s not!”

Heero hissed it into the general mayhem, but his agitated voice came out much louder than expected so that he flinched and glanced around in consternation. Luckily, no one had noticed. No one except Duo.

Duo stilled, blinking at Heero over the top of his hand like an adorably confused kitten, then rediscovered his inner tiger, and frowned. Jerked out of Heero’s sweaty-palmed grip and turned his back to him, hissing back. “Yeah right. Like I’d really believe you Yuy when as soon as my back’s turned you’ve got her cavorting all round the house! Sure!!” If only Heero wasn’t so damn gorgeous this wouldn’t be so damn painful.

“She’s not. Really.” Heero hauled him back around and glared at him. Duo was not adorable. He was impossibly stubborn. And why could he never find the words when he needed them. “She’s just…”

“Yeah. Right.” Duo glared back. Heero was not gorgeous. He was an idiot, if he thought that Duo would buy that load of old rubbish

“She’s not. She just brought… Oh. Ohhell and damnation!!!” Heero sprang from the futon and dived into the kitchen, to lift the lid and stare dolefully into a pot of burned and blackened chickpea sludge, poking at it dubiously with the wooden spoon. So that was what that smell was. Damn. He scrubbed a tired hand over his face then turned off the gas with a sigh, and lifted the pot to take outside, where it could stink up the garden in peace.

“Damn damn damn damn...”

“Holy shit! What the freakin hell is that??” Duo leaned around Heero’s arm for the wooden spoon, stirring and lifting the crusty mess with vague horror.

“Chick peas. Curry. She’s not my girlfriend. Really. She’s not!”

Heero turned to stare desperately at Duo, not knowing what else to say to convince him, or how to say it, but willing him to believe anyway, clasping the blackened pot tightly in both hands between pink, flowery pot mitts, wilful strands of chocolate silk hair flopping down over his pleading blue eyes. He blew upwards, trying to blast hair out of the way. Looked beseechingly at Duo, helplessly mute, a grey smudge of chickpeas on his cheek. Why, oh why, could he never find the right words to say to Duo?

Duo’s lips twitched, his heart melting. Chocolate in warm sunlight. How could he not trust Heero?

“Hmm.” He smoothed Heero’s hair out of his eyes, his hand lingering to cup Heero’s cheek. Rubbed away chickpeas with the ball of his thumb, then thoughtlessly sucked it clean. Ugh…big mistake. Total grossness. Heard Heero’s breath hitch unexpectedly, to his surprised delight. Well damn. Maybe not a mistake… He sucked his other fingers for good measure, enchantedly watching Heero squirm. His grin peeped out, eyebrows lifting mischievously. “S’pose if she was really your girlfriend she’d give you something better than chickpea curry. Know I would.” He nodded thoughtfully, eyes twinkling at Heero. “Reckon you could ask for chocolate cake next time buddy?”

Heero nodded as well, several times, hopefully. For Duo, anything. A chocolate cake as big as a house, if he wanted. Duo’s hand was back. Curled promisingly around his neck, making the baby-fine hairs there stand on end and...

“Duo! They don’t believe me!!” Cody appeared in the doorway, Tyler at his elbow, Fez peeping out of his sweat shirt, whiskers twitching. “Come’n tell ’em how big it was!”

Duo sighed softly, and took his warm hand away from Heero’s neck, glancing over his shoulder. “Sure thing buddy! ” He turned back to a scowling Heero, eyeing the enormous pot between them. “Hmm. Better get rid of that stuff before it multiplies! Just hope it doesn’t kill the hens…” Grinned, shaking his head slightly, and followed the boys back into the living room, where Heero could hear Cody explaining seriously that the hens liked that kind of stuff Duo, didn’t they Joe?

The back of Heero’s neck felt cold, and lonely. He hurried the pot out into the garden, returning to his place on the futon just in time to hear about his Duo being attacked by Trant Clark.

“What?!!” Heero sat up straight and stared at Duo, eyes narrowing.

Cody was almost dancing with glee. “Uh huh! He tried to punch Duo but snapped that other guy instead. Flattened him. You shoulda seen it Heero! He was mad at Duo after the first time and…”

“What other guy?!!? What first time?!!” Heero’s steely gaze darted from Duo to Cody and back to Duo. Stayed fixed on Duo in a blue glare the colour of storms at sea. Fists curled ominously.

Damn. Duo had forgotten that Heero hadn’t heard about their first run-in with Clark. He surrendered to the inevitable and let Cody tell the story, seeing as he was going to anyway.

“When you were sick! He tried to take Rex. To the Pound but Duo chucked him out.” He looked severely at Duo, continuing an old argument. “Told you. You shoulda hit him with that big spanner. Then he’d a been too scared to try anything.”

“No you shouldn’t! You should have got me! I would have helped!” Heero had heard enough to know that he wasn’t happy. It was his job to protect his family, and that now included Duo. He glared at Duo.

“Duo didn’t need you!” Cody was pugnacious, protecting Rex’s protector.

“No way I was getting you!” Duo glared back at Heero, ignoring Cody. “You were sick!”

“You should have got me anyway!”

“What’re you fighting for?” Tyler looked worriedly back and forth between them, blue eyes wide. “It wasn’t Duo’s…” He doubled over in a burst of coughing.

“Yeah!! Why’re you picking on Duo?! Clark deserved it the dirty, rotten…!” The twins, missing the point completely, remembering Clark and a soccer ball, run over in the prime of life.

“Butt out you two!” Joe shoved them both, hard, from the arm of the couch.

“Ow!!! Shove off Joe!” They shoved back.

“Tyler. Ventolin. Now.” Heero lifted Tyler up off the couch and scooted him away, still frowning at Duo.

Duo drew a deep breath and gritted his teeth, reminding himself that he was the grown-up here and not to just yell the first thing that came into his head. Which was ‘Shut the hell up the lot of you!’ He winced at Tyler’s red, flushed face, but refused to back down. Drew a deep breath.

“Dammit Yuy I can fight my own freaking battles. And if I want to look after my family then I damn well will!!!”

“Ow!!!” Joe and the twins hit the floor, knocking Cody sideways into the arm of the futon.

His family. Duo’s family.

Time stood still as Heero stared, transfixed, across the hand span of space that separated him from Duo’s belligerent nose, feeling Duo’s stubborn protectiveness like a blanket on a frosty morning, a blanket that he’d misplaced long ago and given up all hope of finding. Duo would look after them, when Heero couldn’t. Would look after Heero too. Heero didn’t have to always be the strong one. Woven in with the feeling was a warm little glow of pride, tinged with a healthy respect. Duo could indeed fight his own battles. Clark was a pretty nasty piece of work, and Duo had, apparently, outfaced him twice. Heero could trust Duo.

Heero sighed and sat back. “Yes. You can. Just let me help next time okay?”

The boys stared, wide-eyed, abruptly silent. Joe shoved the twins off his chest and sat up on the floor, rubbing his head.

Duo blinked at Heero suspiciously, then his face softened. “Sure thing buddy. Partners right?” He held out his hand, palm up.

“Right.” The warm little glow filled Heero from the inside all the way out to his fingertips, suggesting that he grab Duo and kiss him now, but Zac and Silas had picked themselves up and were watching with silent, hawk-like fascination, whilst Joe was inspecting his shoe closely, obviously expecting the worst. Not a good time to kiss Duo. He took the offered hand and squeezed tight, bringing it to rest on his thigh. “Partners.”

Duo sighed with relief and wilted back against the couch, silent for once, his eyes closing. Heero took advantage of his inattention to peer more closely, cataloguing blue-shadowed eyes and chalk-white skin. An excellent chance to count each pale freckle on Duo’s tip-tilted nose, if he’d ever had the urge. Duo looked exhausted. Heero squeezed his hand again, enjoying its warmth in his. “Bedtime?”

Duo nodded mutely, limp against the back of the couch.

Heero reluctantly released Duo’s hand and stood to shoo the boys away from the futon, his voice firm. “Bed!” Fixed the twins with a flinty eye, daring them to say one word about Simpsons, missed baths, or incomplete homework. And nachos would have to do for dinner. Judging by the empty, ice-cream-smeared bowls on the floor and kicked under the futon, nobody was hungry anyway. He shooed them again. “Now! It’s bedtime. And Duo’s tired.”

He glanced across at Duo as he caught Tyler coming back from the bathroom and ushered him firmly towards the door, intercepting a sweet smile. Thanks man. Duo mouthed the words at him, sinking down further onto the futon and fumbling for the television remote control.

Heero hurried the boys into bed and slipped back down the dark stairs, bursting with the words that might lead to that kiss, only to find Duo fast asleep on the futon. Sleeping a sleep of complete exhaustion, slumped over sideways on the couch, mouth slightly open, snoring gently and, most likely, drooling on the pillow, his braid pooled on the floor beneath him.

Heero sighed in frustration, then his lips firmed resolutely, as he reached for the control to turn the television off. Somewhere along the way he d made up his mind. Again. He’d been given a second chance with Duo and he wasn’t going to waste it. He didn’t want to feel like he’d felt in the garden ever again. He was going to tell Duo everything, before some other Tom, Alex or Walker stole him away. Or before Duo freaked out about Relena again.

He loved Duo. He knew it, now, and from now on he was going to do everything in his power to let him know.

Starting tomorrow. He would talk to Duo tomorrow.

In the sudden quiet, Heero heard a brief patter of rain on the tin roof. The fire hissed, and crackled quietly, giving off a warm glow, and enclosing the futon in a small bubble of light, filled with warmth and the fragrance of burning pinecones.

Decision made, Heero gazed longingly at the bits of Duo’s face that he could see beneath the spikes of his overlong fringe. The point of chin. A gentle curve of cheek. He knelt to slide Duo’s boots…Heero’s own boots…and socks off and then lifted Duo’s legs onto the mattress. Reluctantly released him and Duo murmured softly and rolled onto his side, facing Heero, cheek pillowed on his hand.

“…mmm…Heero…”

Heero&# 8217;s breath caught at his name on Duo’s sleeping lips. Almost without his volition, his own lips eased closer and closer to Duo until he pressed a kiss against his pale cheekbone, eyelids sealed against Duo’s silky hair. He rested there for long moments, nuzzled against the smooth warmth of Duo’s cheek, breathing in deeply, his heart pounding fast, half-hoping that Duo might wake up, half-terrified that he would, but Duo slept on. One last breath and Heero pulled away. Snuggled the quilt up over Duo’s shoulders, then stayed kneeling beside him, all his weight balanced on the elbow that rested on the futon beside Duo’s head, staring greedily, in a way that he wouldn’t dare when Duo was awake. For a time, he fussed with the tendrils of hair that fell forward over Duo’s face. Smoothed them back. Parted them neatly in the middle and admired the effect, lips twitching, then ruffled them together, feathering strands of chestnut hair away from the pale, heart shaped face, to reveal dark eyelashes against a delicate curve of cheek. Traced the curve of his ear. Duo’s face wrinkled and Heero’s breath caught, but he didn’t wake

A log crackled and broke in a fiery spray of sparks.

Heero eased back from the futon onto his heels, and rescued Duo’s braid from the floor, arranging it carefully beside him, safe from interested claws or fingers, but then couldn’t bear to part with it. Brushed the wispy end across his palm then lifted it to his face stroking it over his cheek. Nose. Lips. Closed eyelids, again and again, lost in the feeling. Then did the same to Duo, his own skin still tingling from the sensation. Stroked it down the freckle-dusted bridge of Duo’s nose, which wrinkled delightfully and twitched, but still he did not wake.

Duo was so cute. And obviously completely exhausted.

Heero sighed, rising to his feet and turning to tend to the fire. In the morning. He absolutely had to talk to Duo in the morning.



+++



In the morning, the brief spatter of rain had blown away as if it had never been, leaving a sprinkling of droplets to bead the arching blackberry canes that glowed resinously against the clear, eggshell sky, and a single mirror-silver puddle that churned to brown beneath the wheels of a very early bicycle.

One of the worst things about being a paper boy was that you had to get up so darned early in the morning. But it did have compensations.

Joe Lowe’s friend, Pete Williams, liked delivering papers along Aldershot Road, even though it was dirt, and harder pedalling, because that was where that cute Mari lived. And some mornings, if he was lucky, he’d catch sight of her, letting her little yellow cat out. Or in, or whatever it was that it did in the mornings.

Her house was the red brick one with the turret, just after Joe’s, the lucky... He landed Joe’s paper forcefully in his garden, and cycled on, already looking forwards towards Mari’s place. And on this particular morning he was lucky.

Mari was on the front porch as he rode past, in these cute flannelette pyjamas with some sort of lime-green animal on them.

“Hey Mari!! MARI!!!”

No paper for Mari, that witchy, old grandma of hers didn’t believe in ’em or something, but he slowed anyway, grabbing that scary Clark guy’s paper from his carry basket and waving it at her as he rode past, no hands. He turned to look back at her over his shoulder, still waving, and hurled the paper, just as his bicycle wheel caught in an enormous pothole and got the death wobbles. He had to grab on to the handlebars with both hands and hang on for grim death, but it was worth it to see the worried look on Mari’s face. She even ran to the fence to see if he was okay.

“Pete you idiot! Thought you’d lost it for sure!”

He grinned back at her.

“No way! See ya in DT!”

And then it was on to the next paper, and dead boring after that.



+++



Trant Clark narrowly avoided the idiot kid on the bike and gunned his big, red car up over the gutter outside his house, following the muddy wheel ruts across his bare lawn to skid to a halt in a worn hollow an arm’s length from his front verandah, bonnet pointed to head out the driveway next time he left. Nice and handy.

Shit he needed coffee. And food. He wondered if he had any milk left for breakfast.

He clambered out and trudged around the car towards the steps, then turned and blinked tiredly in search of his paper, and the Racing Guide, scratching absently at the crotch of his stained, dark-ish, sweat pants. He yawned widely. It had been a long night.

But standing around in the dark, quietly waiting, he’d had plenty of time to think. He’d calculated that all that he needed was a few big wins to get him out of trouble. Or even some small ones would be enough to get him out of town.

A bit of ready cash would solve all of his problems. Funny really. It had been the beginning of all of his problems as well. He scratched absently at five day’s worth of bristle on his chin. Pity he couldn’t just rob a bank.



+++



Trant Clark was still looking for his paper. Where the bloody hell was it? He needed the frigging Racing Guide right now if he wanted to get all his bets on. And he needed a win. A big, big win, otherwise he was in big, big trouble.

If that frigging dog had stolen it again he’d wring the frigging mongrel’s neck, and stuff the frigging pound.

No paper.

“Shit!!!”

That Kostiki witch never got the paper. Yuy did. Hmm. If he was quick maybe he could pinch the Form Guide out of Yuy’s paper before they got up.

Yuy’d never need the Racing Guide. All that kid ever did was work and sleep.

He dived back off the verandah, angrily brushing away a groping tendril of thorny rose that was threatening to take over the house. Old Kostiki was always rambling on about it when it was in flower. Said that it was Madame Alfred something or another. Stupid name for a women, let alone a frigging rose. He brushed it aside irritably, catching a finger on a thorn and sucking furiously, completely failing to notice the plastic-rolled paper, caught high under the eaves within its spiky tentacles, to be discovered by Trowa’s boyfriend the next time the rose was pruned, in late Winter or early Spring.

And by that time the paper, and any full-page advertisements about missing persons contained therein, would be old news, and only suitable for the bin, with the rose clippings.



+++



Joe Lowe liked to get up early to collect the newspaper, because on some mornings, if he were lucky, he’d catch sight of Mari, letting Rasputin out, maybe even talk to her over the fence. He had to ask her about their science project, now that they were working together and all.

And, if he were doubly lucky, he’d beat Rex to the paper. But not this morning. This morning he’d slept in, Mari had long gone, and Rex wore a goofy smile, which invited Joe to either kick him, or give him a big hug.

Joe wiped dog slobber off his cheek and grimaced, holding the sheaf of soggy, chewed newspaper at arms length with fastidious fingertips. Rex had Retrieved the paper. Again. It looked like he’d had some sort of tug-of-war with it. The plastic wrap was completely gone. Probably eaten it. And the Racing Guide. But that was okay. They never looked at that anyway.

He spread the bedraggled paper out on the kitchen table, piecing the pages back together. Not so bad really. The front page was a bit chewed, but it was just a story about some dog anyway. A big dog, looking at the picture. Much bigger than Rex. Joe squinted at the bit that wasn’t ripped. So that was what a Bull Mastiff looked like. It had dragged some little old lady out of a house fire, yesterday afternoon. Just in time to make the morning edition.

Where were the comics? He shuffled through the loose pages. Darn. Looked like there was a complete section missing. He flipped hopefully to the back page and abruptly stopped, staring down in disbelief.

At Duo.

Or maybe…a slightly younger Duo? A half-page advertisement, with a photograph of Duo, and a reward for $50 000. It looked like there should have been a phone number, or an address or something, but that corner of the paper was torn away.

Joe sat down at the table, staring disbelievingly at the numbers printed clearly in bold, black type beneath the picture. Fifty thousand dollars! Far out!! Probably enough to buy a whole house!

He had to show it to Heero. Now. Lots of people knew Duo. Anybody that saw that ad was going to ring the number for sure.

He bundled the paper roughly together, and tiptoed guiltily past the living room, where he could hear Duo snoring softly, then scampered quickly up the stairs to Heero’s room. Pushed open the door abruptly, forgetting to knock.

“Heero?”

Joe stepped into the room.

“Heero?”

But Heero must have left early, for work. His bed was empty, as was his room.

Joe wrestled with his conscience, trying to decide what to do. He could just give the paper to Duo. He knew that Duo was still desperate to find out more about himself, even though he didn’t talk about it much any more. But Heero wanted them to keep it a secret from Duo. Bugger Heero anyway. In the end, stomach rumbling, Joe decided to decide after breakfast. Half an hour wouldn’t make much difference.

He spun the paper onto Heero’s bed, and hurried downstairs in search of toasted cheese sandwiches, and his maths homework, which he eventually found under the futon, but then discovered to his horror that it was only half done, thanks to Heero shoving them off early to bed last night. And, in the trauma of negative indices and algebraic fractions, he completely forgot about the newspaper.



+++



By the time the sun peeped into the upstairs windows through the almost-bare branches of the oak, the house was very quiet. And empty.

In the kitchen, Fez polished off a dropped piece of crunchy, savoury, cheesey something, then prowled through the house in search of more bounty. Almost caught a small furry squeaker, then lost it under the dresser in the littlest one’s room, but was distracted by a sweet morsel under its sleeping place, which he chewed happily.

Tasty treat demolished, he slithered into the tallest’s room and leapt disobediently onto the bed, with a ferrety smirk of satisfaction. It was always nice and warm in this room. If only the nice one with the long tail would move their nest up here. Strange, that he didn’t want to lair with his mate. A human thing, maybe.

Fez yawned, jaws stretching wide. Turned around and around in a patch of sunlight, before settling down to sleep, whiskers twitching. Stood up again, tail switching angrily. There was a horrible, cold, damp newspaper, right in his sunbeam where he wanted to lie down. He scrabbled at it with his hind claws until it slid off the bed and slipped down beside the bedside table, then smugly lay down again, and went contentedly to sleep.



+++



Heero fumed silently to himself as he screwed the hinges onto Mrs. Noventa’s new kitchen cupboard doors. How the heck was he supposed to explain everything to Duo when he never had a minute alone with him? He couldn’t even have a simple conversation with Duo without Tyler having an asthma attack, and the twins ending up on the floor fighting with Joe, dammit! He gave the screw a vicious twist, only to feel it spin in place. Hell and damnation! Stripped the thread. He rattled through his toolbox, searching for a slightly larger screw, dumping tools out onto the kitchen floor.

It was hopeless. He was never going to get to talk to Duo. He’d forgotten that he had an early job today. And now Duo was home alone, because the boys were at school, but Heero was stuck at work. And by the time Heero made it home the boys would too.

Unless…

Heero tumbled tools haphazardly back into his toolbox, spilling screws all over the bottom of it. He could go home now! Catch Duo alone. Then they could talk.

“Heero?”

He jumped guiltily and looked towards the door, pasting an impassive expression onto his face.

“Umm…Yes Mrs Noventa?”

“Are you finished already dear? What about…” The little, white-haired lady was holding a willow-pattern plate full of brownies, and looking doubtfully at the doors still stacked against the cupboards awaiting hinges. “It doesn’t look quite…” She trailed off ineffectually.

“Uhhmm. Run out of screws.” He gazed at her limpidly, holding up the empty packet by way of proof, squirming inside. Lying to an old lady was just wrong. But this was an emergency. He had to talk to Duo. Today.

“Oh. Well. Well would you like…” Her voice trailed off again and she tilted the plate towards him. “Just one? Before you…um…”

“Uhh. No thanks Mrs Noventa.” He’d already had tea, coffee, scones with cream and two sorts of jam, date loaf, and cheese and tomato crackers. Duo would love Mrs Noventa. Sometimes Heero wondered if she only renovated for the company. In the last six months he’d changed the doors on the laundry cupboards, put in an extra light fitting in the shed, fitted a new bookshelf in the empty guest room, and fixed a sticking sliding door, all accompanied by plates of delicious snacks and conversation about her many grandchildren, most of whom lived far away now. Today, it was a complete new kitchen, accompanied by photos of her great grandson, who was somewhere in the tropics, building a new hospital.

At least he didn’t have to feel guilty about sneaking off, because he knew that she would be delighted to see him back tomorrow.

“Oh. Well. Did I give you the …um… You know dear…” She gazed at him hopefully, eyes like pale mist behind her glasses, her free hand fluttering helplessly.

“Yes Mrs Noventa,” he said gently. Her memory wasn’t the best. Although, from what he remembered about old Noventa, from school, it was probably a good thing. Or, maybe it was self-defence. He took the blue-patterned plate from her and slid it onto the bench before the brownies ended up on the floor. “You showed me the plans this morning.”

“I did?” She beamed at him. “And the… oh…the…”

“Mm Hmm. I have the colour chart right here. In my toolbox. Don’t worry.” He packed up his tools quickly and hefted his toolbox. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“That will be just lovely dear.” She smiled at him happily.



+++



Zechs Merquise, once known as Milliardo Peacecraft, wandered into Howard’s Fine Furniture and Gift Emporium looking for a gift for an old lover. Howard always had beautiful things; his shop was just one tip of a many-fingered empire that reached the width and breadth of the country. Nobody really knew the entirety of Howard’s doings, not even the Peacecrafts, who had doings of their own. Relena had been pestering him to try Howard’s, something about Heero Yuy. It was always something about Heero Yuy. Always had been, even in school.

Damn Heero Yuy anyway. If he hadn’t pissed off Alex and Mueller so badly they wouldn’t have had a point to prove. They’d got the entire student body paranoid about Heero Yuy, and all gays by association. And once those homophobic cretins started stirring things up it was the beginning of the end. For him. For Treize. And not so great for Heero either, in actual fact. Lucky for him he’d had Relena in his corner, damn him.

But Zechs completely forgot all about Heero Yuy when he saw the beautiful, longhaired boy perched on a table, legs kicking, joking with Howard. Zechs paused, half hidden in the doorway, intrigued. Irresistible laughter bubbled through the room, until Howard’s companion noticed him and abruptly fell silent, mobile lips slightly open in a quirky smile, mischievous, violet eyes wide in enquiry.

At second glance, not precisely beautiful. Nose, slightly crooked, maybe broken at some time, chin too pointy, enormous eyes too big for the small face, but, when seen peeking out from beneath those ragged, cinnamon layers of hair, the whole was completely charming.

So rare that he saw hair longer than his own.

And if you were to loosen it, and run your fingers through the undoubtedly heavy weight of it…

The other leaned sideways and murmured something to Howard in an amused undertone, so that Howard unclamped his cigar from his teeth and peered down his pointy nose at Zechs over the top of his sunglasses, and he abruptly realised that he was staring. He blinked and moved towards them

It was only some time later that he noticed the elegant, beech console that the boy was perched on.



+++



Of course, when Heero Yuy finally arrived home, with a brown paper bag full of brownies, Duo was not there.

He knew it as soon as he opened the back door, to be met by an anxious ferret, which streaked out of the door and down the back steps in a yellow blur, disappearing into the bushes. Duo had forgotten to let Fez out. He must have been in a hurry to go somewhere. And, was obviously still not home.

Well, Heero would wait. He was not giving up. He was going to get Duo on his own if it killed him. Or a family member. He squared his jaw firmly and looked around the garden, suddenly at a loose end. Even though it was well after lunchtime, the last thing that he felt like was more food. He spied Rex wandering out of the bushes with Fez in tow, and decided to see if he could find the place where the idiot dog was getting out of the garden.

It was bad news. Two fence posts, at the hidden side of the house, had rotted off at the base and leaned drunkenly, dragging the wire mesh down with them to a height that even a ferret could jump. Which it did. Damn. Heero sighed heavily, caught the ferret amongst the prickly, almost bare bones of Mrs Kostiki’s raspberries, but then was himself caught by Mrs Kostiki. Apologising, he discovered, to his great relief, that he was no longer Mrs Kostiki’s Poorrrrr Lamb, but that nothing was too much trouble for the friend of the young man who had made Mrs Kostiki’s Dearrrr Marrrri so happy with his bee-ooo-tiful painting. Heero had been eclipsed by Duo. Paradoxically, he then felt compelled to win back Mrs Kostiki’s favour. Admired the miraculous, late-fruiting raspberries, which still had fruit even after the leaves had almost gone, learned of the beneficial effects of sheep manure, as conveniently supplied by nature already pelleted, refused an offer of manure on the grounds that he already had chickens, but was given a jar of raspberry jam instead, escaped back across the fence, tied the dog up, locked the ferret in the house, rolled up his sleeves, pushed his hair back out of his eyes and fetched a shovel.

He set to work digging out the posts.

“Bloody ferret. Idiotic dog…”

He was just starting to re-fasten the mesh when, at last, he heard Duo calling from the back garden.

“Oi! Heero! You there buddy?”

“Around the side!” Heero bellowed back, glancing at his watch. Two o’clock. Plenty of time to talk to Duo before the boys came home. It looked as if his luck was changing. He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly rehearsed what he was about to say to Duo.

Duo…sorry but you’re not really my boyfriend and I don’t even know you. I lied to you to get Welfare of my back. Ouch. …terribly sorry?…Maybe not. He probably needed to build up to it a bit.

Duo…we need to talk…no! Hell no. That sounded like they were breaking up or something and they hadn’t even got together yet. Duo there’s something important that I have to tell you. Better. I found out something about your past… No-o …that was almost lying. If there was one thing he knew, it was, that he couldn’t lie to Duo. He had to tell the truth.

Duo I have to…

Duo charged around the side of the house, pink with excitement, braid whipping around the corner behind him. His eyes sparkled. Any other day, and Heero’s heart would have turned cartwheels just from the sight of him. Today, the cartwheels were in his stomach. He felt sick. Too many brownies probably. Oh hell. This was it.

“Duo I have to…”

“Heero!! Guess what guess what guess what…!” Duo skidded to a halt in a tangle of wire mesh and timber off-cuts.

“…TELL YOU SOMETHING IMPORTANT!” Heero soldiered on determinedly. He had to tell Duo now before some new catastrophe interrupted them.

Duo stared at him impatiently, jiggling from foot to foot.

“What then?! Spit it out! Quick! I’ve got some great news buddy! You’d never believe what happened! It was awesome What did you want to tell me? Quick!!!” He took a breath and eyed Heero curiously. “You feeling okay Heero?”
No. Heero wasn’t feeling okay. “Uhhh…I…” His voice trailed off as he lined up the next horseshoe nail, giving himself time to think of what came after I. Why the hell hadn’t he sat down and written out a speech instead of stuffing around with the stupid fence??! Practiced in front of the mirror maybe. Asked Mrs Kostiki even. Hell no. “Umm…” He fumbled the nail.

“Oh bloody hell!” Duo twitched with impatience, wrestling the hammer from Heero. “Here let me do that. You talk. I’ll smash things. Hurry up and tell me what’s so important so I can tell you my news.”

He balanced the short, u-shaped nail carefully between thumb and forefinger, trapping a loop of mesh between the prongs. Lifted the hammer. “Quick Yuy! Spit it out!”

Heero took a deep breath.

“Duo it’s about us…” Oh hell. That sounded terrible.
Duo glanced up at him, eyes wide and shocked. The hammer fell.

“Oww. Shit. Freaking shit!!! Freaking nail!!! Ow ow ow!!!”

Duo flung the hammer, which hit the downpipe with a clang, and jammed his thumb into his mouth, sucking furiously.

“Shit Duo! You dented the pipe! Here...” Heero dragged Duo’s thumb out of his mouth and examined it with an expert eye. “Show me.” The nail was already blackening. “Ugh. That looks bad. You’re going to lose that nail for sure.”

Duo glared at him over the thumb, which was firmly back in his mouth. “N’ sh’t Sh’rlock!!”

“Come on.” Heero snagged his sleeve. “Let’s get some ice on it.” He tugged him towards the back door, glancing worriedly back at him over his shoulder. And almost crashed into someone walking around the side of the house.

“Heya Heero. Duo. Aren’t you a bit old to be sucking your thumb Duo?”

It was Trowa, with a grin, a paper bag and Mrs Kostiki’s cat. Heero cringed, and glared at Trowa. It wasn’t fair. He really shouldn’t have to talk to Mrs Kostiki twice in one day.

The thumb exited with a popping noise. “Piss off Trowa.” The thumb went back in Duo’s mouth.

“Y-e-e-owch.” Trowa grimaced and eyed what he could see of the thumb. “Want some ice on that muchacho?”

“H’ll yeah c’mp’dre!”

Heero glared at Trowa and pulled Duo closer to himself, and away from Trowa, heading for the back steps and the kitchen. “I was just doing it all right?!”

Duo was his boyfriend and he was looking after him. Not Trowa, and especially not in Spanish.

“Here. Sit.” Heero ignored Trowa, and pushed Duo into a kitchen chair, then turned to fish around in the freezer for a bag of frozen peas. He spun a chair to face Duo and sat knee to knee with him, efficiently wrapping the peas in a tea towel. Looked up at Duo, who was making small, comforting, suckling noises around his thumb and was transfixed by the movement of Duo’s lips, forgetting to breathe. Duo’s lips …cheeks hollowing as he drew the digit into the wet heat of his mouth…his soft, warm lips… and Heero was suddenly way too hot. He shifted uncomfortably on the chair.

Trowa grinned, leaning back comfortably against the sink to enjoy the show, carelessly juggling a pear, an apple, an orange, and his flute in a complicated rectangular pattern. Heero had obviously still not talked to Duo. He swapped the apple and the pear, practicing one-handed circles. “Heero? Ice?”

“Ohh. Uhh… Yeah… Ice.” Heero’s cheeks flamed. Oops. The peas were melting into green mush in his lap. He glared at Trowa, who was enjoying himself just a little bit too much. Absently wondered how Trowa could juggle so well with one eye hidden behind his long fringe. Didn’t that affect his parallax or something?

“Here!” He reached for Duo’s hand, pulling it briskly into his lap as if the delay was all Duo’s fault. Which it was. Gently, he cradled Duo’s hand on his thigh, draping the cold packet over it, and then sat, nursing the hand protectively in both of his. “There.” He decided that he really needed to keep hold of Duo’s hand, so that the peas didn’t fall off. Just in case.

“Thanks Heero.” Duo’s fingers curled in Heero’s grasp to squeeze Heero’s hand and Heero smiled back shyly. Thought that he would like to keep holding Duo’s hand forever, then jumped as Trowa’s phone rang. The fruit arced back into the fruit bowl, and Trowa stepped away to answer his phone.

““Umm…Heero?” Heero looked up from the peas, to see Duo watching him seriously, frowning slightly, his free hand fidgeting with the end of his braid. “About what you were saying back there…”

Oh. Oh hell. His confession.

Heero cringed over the peas, glancing sideways at Trowa. He just couldn’t do it. There was no way he could confess to Duo with Trowa standing right there. Soon, he promised himself. Really. As soon as Trowa left. There was still time before the boys got home. Just. But for now…

“Ohh…it was nothing really.” His cheeks turned slightly pink. “Tell you later.” Quickly, he changed the subject. “ What did you want to tell me?””

Duo looked at him doubtfully for a moment longer, unconvinced, then followed his gaze to Trowa, and nodded slightly in understanding.

“Okay. Promise?”

“Uh huh. Promise. So what did you want to tell me?”

“Well…” Duo beamed, his worry over Heero forgotten in the excitement of the moment. “Guess what!” He dragged his wallet from his back pocket and extracted a rectangle of greenish paper, one-handed. Flapped it impatiently to unfold it and handed it to Heero with a flourish. “We sold the console!! Check it out!”

Heero looked. It was a cheque, made out to Messrs Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy, in a boldly looping, purple hand. Blinking, he looked again.

“But…Duo…” Heero stared at the cheque in bewilderment. “There must be a mistake. This is way too much money!”

“Nope! No mistake.” Duo grinned at him. “Howard knows ex-actly what this stuff’s worth.” He spun his chair around beside Heero’s, peas flying everywhere, and flung his free arm around Heero’s shoulders, so that he could lean against him and admire the cheque in his hand. Rested his chin comfortably on Heero’s shoulder, and nuzzled his head against Heero’s ear emphatically. “Told you! Should’ve seen Howard man! He was ecstatic! Reckons he’ll take as much stuff as we can churn out.”

Amazed, Heero gawked sideways at Duo out of the corner of his eye, reluctant to move his head in case Duo moved away. “But Duo…this is a lot of money! Even if we only did one piece a week…”

“Uh huh!!!” Duo hugged him exuberantly. “Better face it buddy boy! We’re rich!!”

Irresistibly, Heero’s eyes were drawn back to the magic spelled out in purple script. Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy. Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy. Duo and Heero…

“Pretty cool huh.” Duo murmured beside his ear. “Partners.” The single quiet word, a breath of warmth against Heero’s cheek. As so often happened lately, Duo seeming to understand what was going through Heero’s head without him needing to say a word.

“Hey!” Duo sat up straighter and took his chin away, much to Heero’s disappointment, turning to face him, all cheekbones and enormous grin. “Pardner! We’ll need a joint bank account! Uhh…do we have a joint bank account?” Not waiting for Heero’s mumbled negative, he swept on, full of schemes. “And a company name!”

“Uhh…” Heero stared bemusedly at the cheque, while Duo decided that the peas were a lost cause and dumped them onto the table, so that he could fumble one-handed with Trowa’s paper bag, without letting go of Heero.

“Ooo. Donuts! Thanks Trow!”

He manoeuvred half a chocolate one into his mouth, slipping the other half under the table to Rex, who was Retrieving peas, while Fez and Mrs Kostiki’s cat glared at each other from opposite ends of the kitchen. “Hey Rexy! Here boy. We’re celebrating!”

Trowa was still on the phone. He grinned at Duo, and waggled his fingers in acknowledgement, still speaking quietly into the mouthpiece. Paused, and blushed, to Duo’s delight, looking intently at the floor, twirling a skein of cinnamon hair around his fingers. “Uh huh… Mmm hm… Me too… Mmm…Oh. Damn. Yeah I’ll wait.”

Heero was not listening to Trowa, and had not even remembered to tell Duo not to feed the dog at the table. He had had a good idea. At last, a chance to get Duo on his own, so that he could talk to him. He sat up straight, turning to Duo. “That’s a good idea!”

Duo stared at him blankly over his mouthful of donut, still mulling over Trowa’s interesting conversation.

Heero tried again. “Celebrating. We’re rich! We should celebrate!”

“A great idea!” Trowa had his hand over the mouthpiece, waiting for his call. “I’m in!”

“Hell yeah! Beer! And pizza! I’m ordering!” Duo grinned enthusiastically.

“Hell no!” Trowa’s eyes widened in mock horror. Duo’s pizza choices were legendary. “We wanna be able to eat it hombre.”

Duo grinned at him amiably, over his middle finger. “Yeah? Well eat this muchacho.”

“No-o. I was thinking…” Heero took a deep breath and looked at Duo hopefully. “Let’s go out for dinner.”

“Yes!!! ’Bout time you got out Yuy!” Trowa nodded enthusiastically. “How about O’Grady’s? Seafood and karaoke night. All the guys’ll be there. I’ll ring Wufei.”

“NO!!! No. I mean…I was thinking…just the two of us….” Heero looked at Duo desperately, his cheeks reddening again, feeling his good idea slipping between his fingers like peas from a broken plastic bag. “…just you and me Duo.”

“Ohh. Just us…you mean…” Duo’s cheeks were suddenly pink as well and his eyes slid away, then back to Heero. “…like a date?”

“Uh huh.” Heero took a deep breath. “Somewhere special.” He looked at Duo hopefully. “Just you and me.”

“Oh.”

“But Heero…” Duo looked at him doubtfully. Heero had never wanted to go out before. “Can we afford it? And what about the boys?”

“Yes we can.” Heero said firmly, full of determination, now that he had a plan. “And Trowa can look after the boys. It’s just for one night. It’s about time that we got to spend some time on our own. And I want to do something special for you. Let me please?”

“Okay.” Duo smiled shyly at him. “It’s a date.”

Open-mouthed, Trowa stared in surprise. Heero Yuy was going out? On a date?! He blinked. And he was babysitting. Damn. That meant he wouldn’t get to watch. Oh well. He grinned at them and lifted his phone again, wrenching himself away from the fascinating sight of Heero Yuy asking someone out. Heero was having enough trouble, without his help.

Heero glanced up at him, to see what he thought of his idea, and Trowa shrugged and nodded agreement, back talking into the phone. “No I haven’t asked him yet. I know!! All right. I’ll ask him now. All right!!” His voice dropped and he turned away even more. “Yeah. Love you too. Tomorrow. Mm hmm. Bye”

He closed his phone and grinned self-consciously at them, turning faintly pink beneath his concealing hair. “You guys going to be in tomorrow? I want to bring someone around. Someone special.”

“Oh ho-o-o…” Duo grinned at Trowa knowingly. “Mr Right huh?! ’Bout time you brought him around! Yeah. We’ll be in.” He glanced up at Heero. “Right Heero?”

Heero nodded agreement, and Trowa smiled, pleased, and hooked his flute from the fruit bowl, to add to the apple, orange and mobile phone that were back, circling in the air, in front of him. He had a duet to practice.



+++



When Relena Peacecraft-Darlien spotted an early Winter lamb lying down beside a hole in the fence by the roadside, her first thought was to take it to Ed Walker. She felt vaguely disloyal to Heero, but he hadn’t reacted well to the goat, had behaved quite badly in fact, not to mention the quite appalling way in which he’d punched poor Edward in the nose, and, after all, the lamb was a stray, and strays were Edward’s area of expertise. And besides. It might be hurt and Edward was virtually a technical person, what with working in the animal field and all.

She bundled the lamb into her new Winter coat, which she hadn’t even worn yet, due to the unseasonably fine, Autumn weather, but which she had ready in her car anyway, for an emergency, which could happen at an time when you were involved in Animal Rescue, and carefully placed it on the back seat of her car. There was a sheep blaring frantically near the fence, but she ignored it. Probably hungry. Farmers could be so neglectful. Honestly. Some knew virtually nothing about animals. Some probably wouldn’t even know that that sheep was a ewe. The ewe was safely on the other side of the fence, protected from cars or predators, and didn’t need her help, so she gave it a handful of grass, then drove slowly and carefully into town.

Edward rose to the occasion nobly, feeling the lambs legs and prodding its ribs. Relena watched carefully. So nice to see a professional at work. Edward had very nice hands. Such long, gentle fingers…

“Hmm.” He glanced up at her. “It seems okay but I think that we should take it to the vet. Just to be on the safe side. You said that you found it lying down in the road? It might have been hit by a car.”
Relena beamed at him. That was exactly what she thought that they should do.

Relena held the lamb while Edward found a snug, cardboard box. “Better get some newspaper.” His large, dark eyes twinkled at her. “Don’t want it making a mess of your car!”

Relena sighed happily. Edward was soo thoughtful.

He rummaged around under the sink and pulled out a handful of old newspapers. Plastic bottles tumbled out onto the floor, and he grimaced apologetically, shoving them back in. “Recycling. It’s important but it’s jolly messy.”

Goodness. He recycled too. She gazed at him admiringly, politely averting her eyes from his, rather attractive, jeans-clad bottom as he bent over.

He folded the newspapers and layered them carefully in the bottom of the box, making a nice, thick pad.

“There. All cozy.” He smiled at Relena.

She smiled back, completely forgetting the lamb for a minute, until it blared and kicked out with its small hooves.

Relena leaned over the box to lower the lamb inside, being careful to hold her small, wriggling burden close to her chest and bend her knees. She’d be no use to Animal Activism with a bad back. She started to lower the lamb and her blue eyes widened. Was that Hilde’s phone number on the newspaper in the bottom of the box? She was sure that that was Hilde’s number. In enormous, bold lettering. How odd. Then she took in the picture over the number and her brow wrinkled in thought.

“Edward… Does that person look familiar to you?”

It was Duo Maxwell.