Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Three Small Words ❯ Chapter 5

Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait folks. My muses went on strike or something until I finished school. I'm gonna work my ass off this month and try and finish this series, m'kay? I can't choose between two different endings and it's driving me crazy ^_^ But I promise, come hell or high water I will finish this fic! Well, enjoy, and don't forget to review.

Lawyers? Disclaimer is still on the first chapter. Have a nice day.

Dedications: To Della who won't have to tap her toe impatiently anymore.

Three Small Words - Chapter Five

If we all leap before we crawl, we might fall,

and it's not always candy spun from head to heart,

and it's not always meant to be,

and it's not always up to me.

But if it doesn't brush my shoulder, and it doesn't beat my heart,

that's not what I want, that's not where I will start.

I never kissed somebody so that they would break my heart…

(Lisa Loeb - Wishing Heart)

Duo lifted the glass to his lips and swallowed the amber liquid inside with a gulp and a wince as the acrid taste hit the back of his throat. He thunked the empty glass down onto the countertop and called for one more to take its place. The bartender looked at him a bit suspiciously but eventually he moved over with a fresh glass in his hand.

"Isn't it a bit early in the morning to be drinking kid?" he asked, not even bothering to comment on the fact that both he and Duo knew that he was too young to be drinking anyway, regardless of the time. But since the braided boy seemed to have enough money to spend on the shots the barkeep wasn't about to argue. Prying, of course, is a different matter altogether.

Duo took the offered glass and swirled the contents around for a few seconds, staring at the liquid as it would offer an answer. Finally he shrugged and flung the contents into his mouth, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and giving the barkeep a wry grin.

"Nah, I keep odd hours," Duo said. "Besides, it's never too early to get smashed when your life blows goats."

The barkeep nodded and went back to cleaning the countertop. He'd heard millions of sob stories in his profession; it kind of came with the job description. Troubled lips were often loosened with the aid of alcohol and who better to gripe to then the ever-sympathetic barkeeper? Or maybe he was just a nosy bastard. Either way it worked out for both parties. Kind of like therapy.

"That bad, eh?"

Duo's laughter was dark and bitter as he ordered another drink. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you how much my life sucks."

Duo would have gone into more detail but at that moment the bell over the front door jangled insistently and another figure slid into the bar. The barkeep looked up and acknowledged the new arrival with a wave. Duo didn't bother turning around since moving might upset his already precarious equilibrium. Instead he slouched down over his drink and calculated in his mind how many more he would need until he would pass out.

The newcomer took a seat beside Duo but the braided boy was too involved in his drink and his own musings to spare him a glance. The barkeep shuffled over to the man, cleaning a dirty glass with an equally dirty dishcloth.

"What's your pleasure," he inquired pleasantly.

"Water," said a familiar voice. "And some coffee for my friend here. He's going to need it."

Startled, Duo swung around in his seat to gape at the person next to him. This turned out to be a bad idea since swinging made his vision fuzz around the edges and his head spin dizzily. After a few seconds of convincing his stomach that he was not about to throw up, Duo could turn his attention to the fellow gundam pilot sitting beside him.

"Close your mouth Maxwell. Unless you are trying to catch flies…"

Duo's shock turned to amusement and his lips curved into a mocking grin.

"Well, well. Chang Wufei, I never imagined you would set foot in a bar at nine o'clock in the morning. Never pegged you as the type. Oh well, you learn new things every day, I guess."

"Don't be stupid Maxwell," Wufei scowled. "I came here looking for you."

"Well you found me," Duo quipped, tossing back one more shot as the barkeep placed a glass of water and a mug of coffee before the black haired Chinese boy. Duo sneered at the water and sniffed disapprovingly at the coffee. "Is that all you're getting?"

Wufei looked down at the empty shot glasses that surrounded the braided boy and shook his head, a stern look on his face.

"I don't like to pollute my body unnecessarily. Unlike some people I know," Wufei replied.

Duo ignored the insult and ordered another drink, smiling widely at the boy beside him.

"Pollution? No way. This stuff's golden 'Fei. You ought to try some before that stick up your ass fossilizes."

"Oh? And what exactly is it?"

"Bourbon. Tastes like shit and burns like acid but after a few glasses you don't even care," Duo said as he downed another shot.

Wufei sighed grimly and pushed the glass of water towards his inebriated friend. "Well drink this next and then drink the coffee. And then I'm taking you back."

"Really," Duo sneered. "You and what army 'Fei? I like where I am just fine. Give me one good reason to come back with you."

"I'll give you two. One, Winner is worried sick about you and it's making Barton upset. And I, for one, do not like to live with an upset Barton. His sister taught him how to throw knives as people, you know," Wufei replied.

Duo winced and then chuckled softly, picturing an irate Trowa chasing Wufei around the safe house with the entire kitchen set in hand.

"Q-man's too much of a mother hen already and Trowa doesn't scare me. What's the other reason?" Duo asked.

"Yuy."

Duo's face darkened and Wufei shivered a bit under the intensity of his frown.

"That bastard. Why should I do anything for him when he's not willing to do one simple thing for me?" Duo snapped, his fists tightening around the empty bourbon glass in a white-knuckled grip.

"Because you need to talk things out with him," Wufei said calmly, his eyes catching Duo's angry gaze.

"We have nothing to say to each other," Duo growled out between clenched teeth. "He won't talk to me, and I'm sick and tired of making excuses for his silences. It's over between us Wufei. I'm not even sure if it was ever really there in the first place."

"Bullshit."

Duo's eye widened in shock and his mouth dropped open. "Chang Wufei," he breathed, "did you just swear?"

Wufei managed to look mildly offended. "I have used vulgar epithets before," he said stiffly.

Duo laughed and his face lost some of the bitterness it had held moments before. "Yeah but usually you yell them in Chinese so the rest of us won't know what you're saying. Like we couldn't tell anyway," the boy snorted into his coffee.

"Stop changing the subject," Wufei snapped. "You need to work things out with Yuy before he drives us all crazy with his moping."

Duo took another sip of coffee and swirled the contents in the mug in an idle manner.

"It's funny," he mused. "You'd think he'd be over me by now since he was only using me as a sex toy. I must have been real good. It's almost flattering in a way."

Stung, Wufei drew back at the venom in the boy's voice. He hadn't realized the extent of the hurt Heero had caused by refusing to say those three small words that Duo had longed to hear. But still…

'There has to be more to this then meets the eye,' he thought, watching Duo drain the last of the coffee and slump down onto the counter with his head cradled in his arms.

"Duo," he said, using his friend's first name to ensure that he had all of his attention. It worked. The braided boy's head shot up from his arms and he turned to stare wide-eyed at Wufei. "I know it's hard for you to trust, especially since Yuy hasn't been the most affectionate person in the past-"

Duo snorted in laughter and grinned darkly at the Chinese boy. "You have a keen affinity for stating the obvious. Anymore pearls of wisdom you'd like to share with me before I commence in getting shit-faced, Confucius?"

"Would you shut up and let me finish for once, Maxwell?" Wufei yelled, slamming a fist down onto the bar top in his frustration.

The sound made Duo jump and the barkeep glare at the two boys suspiciously. Wufei returned the glare with one of his own and the barkeep decided he'd rather not get involved at this particular moment. He was rather fond of living.

"Look," Wufei hissed, lowering his voice, "Don't you think that if I wasn't absolutely fucking certain that Yuy really cares about you, and if I wasn't damn sure that you really care about him, then I would bloody well make a play for you myself by now?"

There is nothing Wufei could have said that would have shocked Duo more. As it was the braided boy's jaw was dropped open and his slightly red tinged eyes bugged almost comically. Wufei would have smiled if it weren't such a serious moment.

"You….you…huhn?" Duo stuttered quite eloquently as he tried to get a handle on the information he had just been fed.

'I'm not that shit-faced already, am I? Maybe I should have stuck to beer. He couldn't have just said what I think he said, right? Oh man, I'm really really drunk…'

"Yes you are. But that doesn't change what I just said to you," Wufei commented.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"No, I'm a mind-reader. What do you think?"

"I think I've just gone stark-raving bonkers. Or maybe you have."

"I am not crazy, nor am I intoxicated. I can't say the same for you but nevertheless, I meant every word I said."

"Oh yeah right," Duo sneered. "The great Chang Wufei has the hots for street-rat Duo Maxwell. Pull the other one."

Wufei sighed and covered one of Duo's hands with his own as the braided boy watched, suspiciously.

"You are a very attractive person, Maxwell. And I admit to a certain fondness of your person even though you can be a royal pain in the ass some times."

"Aww…thanks Wu-chan!"

"I'm not finished," Wufei interjected. "I admire your skill as a pilot and regard you as a treasured friend. Possibly with the potential to become more then that. But…"

Wufei's head drooped a bit and he glanced down at the floor as if he was a bit embarrassed by his own admissions.

"You and Yuy," he said quietly, "when you two are together there's this…I don't know…glow or something that happens to both your faces, yes even Yuy's although he doesn't show it as much. Haven't you ever noticed that when you walk into a room his shoulders relax, just a bit, and his eyes soften? I know he loves you. I know you love him. And it would be wrong of me to try and come between you. That's why I have this stick-up-my-ass, as you say, most of the time. Unrequited feelings don't suit me."

Duo's eyes watered a bit and he placed a hand awkwardly on Wufei's shoulder.

"Oh Wu…I'm sorry, I didn't know," he said mournfully.

"Of course you didn't," Wufei scoffed. "I didn't want you to. You were happy with Yuy and there was no reason to butt in and mess that up. Besides, I didn't want Yuy to shoot me. I'm fond of living."

Duo giggled a bit at that but his eyes son turned puzzled again. "But Wufei, if you…liked me so much, wouldn't you be glad if me and Heero decided to um…break up?"

Wufei smiled wryly. "At first maybe I did. But…it's difficult to explain…..How would you feel if you broke up Winner and Barton?"

Duo grimaced and shook his head. "Terrible. Those kids should be together. Even someone as thick-headed as me can see that."

"It's the same thing here. I know that what you'd have with Yuy would be a millions times more special then what you'd have with me. And I want you to be happy."

Duo's lower lip quivered and he flung himself into Wufei's arms with drunken abandon, sobbing against his chest all the frustration and fear that he felt. Wufei held on awkwardly and patted the weeping boy's back, murmuring whatever he could think of to comfort his friend. Duo didn't cry easily and Wufei never knew what to do about emotional moments after being alone for so much of his life. He settled for just holding Duo and waiting until the fit passed.

He didn't have to wait too long before Duo, embarrassed by his outburst, shoved himself away from the Chinese boy and wiped a hasty hand across his face. Without a word, Wufei held a tissue out to the boy, his expression carefully neutral. Duo mumbled a 'thanks' and mopped his face and blew his nose, feeling much better then he had a minute ago. At least, he would feel much better once the room stopped spinning.

"I think I drank too much," Duo moaned, putting his head in his hands.

"In your words Maxwell, no duh," Wufei quoted with a snort. "Come on, let's get you home."

Duo nodded and allowed Wufei to pull him to his feet, remembering to leave a tip for the barkeep before lumbering out the door, leaning heavily on Wufei's arm.

"You know what 'Fei?" Duo slurred as he was piled into the taxi Wufei hailed. "You're a great guy. I wish I could love you the way you want."

"Me too," Wufei whispered, a bit of regret showing in his strained smile. "Me too."

To Be Continued….