Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Friendship: comfort for the hurt ❯ The break up ( Chapter 1 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Sapphire Angel 
Heero meets up with Duo.
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.16.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 217 | Status: Completed
Heero meets up with Duo.
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.16.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 217 | Status: Completed
Pairings: None
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.
***
"Hello Mr...?" The secretary looked up from her stack of papers at the handsome young man who stood there, wearing some 'very' tight jeans and a green tanktop that showed his muscular arms. She herself was not bad looking with long red hair and nice green eyes but she knew that this boy was way past her league. Still, she had to stop herself from drooling and give him her most professional smile while at the same time, she tried to make it seem as casual as possible. She was never one to dream about younger boys, but for this one, she would certainly make an exception.
"Heero. Heero Yuy." Prussian blue eyes stared at her as he gave her his most polite stare (which was more of a blank look but no one was complaining).
"Do you have an appointment with Mr. Winner?"
"No, I'm an old friend of his."
The secretary's smile faltered a little. "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to let you see him, without an appointment." she sighed, a bit regretfully.
"Call him up and tell him my name, I'm sure he would make an exception." Heero gave her his most charming smile (which was a small curve of his lips) and the woman nearly swooned and reached over to the phone, dialing with lightning speed. Heero smirked, satisfied, it looked like watching Duo during the war did have it's merits.
"Hello Mr. Winner, I'm very sorry to disturb you, but a man called Heero Yuy wants to speak with you."
Quatre's voice sounded over the phone. "Send him up Maria, and please try to make sure that no one disturbs us." He sounded calm over the phone, like it was usual for one of his old 'war buddies' as Duo put it, to just come out of nowhere to see him. But then again, Heero knew that Quatre had to keep his reputation intact as the most cunning businessman of the Winner company. Maria handed him a key card. "Take the elevator up to the 36th floor and go into room A-116. It won't be hard to spot, in fact, it's the only room there that is actually an office."
"Thank you," said Heero politely, and he headed towards the elevator, pushing a button and stepping in as the elevator doors opened with a soft, 'ding'. In a few minutes, the elevator brought him up to the 36th floor and he looked down the hallways of the various doors. Most of them were labeled as conference rooms with no numbers on them so it wasn't hard to find room A-116. He walked up to the room and inserted the key card into it. As soon as he walked in, he saw Quatre, sitting at his desk and greeting him with a warm smile.
Quatre walked up to Heero and gave him a hug. "Heero, it's so nice to see you," he said happily. "I was hoping I could get in touch with you more often. How are you?" Quatre suddenly frowned as a horrible thought struck him. "This isn't about another war, is it?"
Heero shook his head. "No, it's..." he trailed off, unwilling to continue.
Quatre looked at him kindly. "It's what, Heero?"
"Relena. She broke up with me."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Before I left, I appointed Wufei as her bodyguard." Even to Heero's ears, his voice sounded dull as he said this.
"I understand," said Quatre softly.
Heero nodded. "The only thing is...where do I go?"
"You're welcome to stay with me Heero, but I'm afraid I won't be able to see you that often." Quatre glanced at his watch. "In fact, I'll have to go to a meeting in a few minutes."
"Sorry for the trouble," said Heero.
"It's ok, I should have contacted you myself," said Quatre, brushing off the comment. "But, Heero...I think there might be someplace you could go to."
***
"Ok, that's it buddy, if I have to fix you one more time..." Heero looked towards the direction of the voice. His old friend, Duo, was standing on the porch and waving a threatening finger at his radio, which had seemed to be broken again. Duo gave an exasperated sigh. "Damnit you stupid piece of - " He broke off and gave the radio a sharp kick and to his surprise, the radio started working again. "Hey, don't think I'll forgive ya." He glared at the radio, as if expecting it to do something disastrous, even though it seemed to be working again. "The last time this happened, you ended up exploding in Hilde's face."
Heero gave a soft chuckle and Duo looked around, startled, and spotted him. "Heero?!"
"Yes, it's me Duo."
"Talkative as ever, I see," joked Duo then he looked around self-consciously. "Uh, how long were ya standin' there?"
"Long enough," said Heero and he raised an eyebrow. "Do you make it a habit to talk to inanimate objects?"
Duo ignored the comment and gave Heero a bright grin. "Well come on in! I wasn't expecting anyone, but then again, not many people come to visit me these days."
"Hn," grunted Heero to show that he was listening.
"And you know, it's not like I don't like you dropping by and all, but I'd appreciate it if you would give me a few weeks notice. I woulda at least hired a maid to clean up the place more." Duo opened the door and stepped in. The house looked like any other ordinary house, only a lot messier. There were clothes lying around here and the floor was a little dusty, but you could hardly tell with all the clothes covering it.
"Have a seat and tell me what the heck is going on with ya...How's your life so far, met any good chicks? Or better yet, scored with the vice minister?" Duo winked at Heero.
"I dated Relena and then she broke up with me, is that enough?"
Duo let out a low whistle. "Sorry man, I didn't know it was that bad but if it helps, I'm sure she cried a lot afterwards."
Heero sighed. "I should have figured it out the moment she mentioned that I needed kissing lessons."
Duo choked on the coke he was drinking. "Tell me you're joking," Duo managed to say between his coughs. He was torn between coughing some more and laughing but he didn't think laughing would lighten Heero's mood so he settled for coughing.
"I wasn't." Heero said seriously, after Duo's wheezing subsided.
"Ah, that explains it, but the girl's still head over heels in love with you, right?"
"She could be, but she's moving on."
Duo raised an eyebrow. "And yer just letting her go like that?"
"There's nothing else I can do."
"Like hell there's not, you could write her a love note, send her flowers or somethin'. Listen Heero, I know what a girl's thinking when she gives you that whole speech about letting you go. I'm betting that she wants you to win her back and convince her that you do care for her. It's probably one of those insecurity things that a girl feels sometimes. I say, just do what she wants you to, and you'll both be happier, end up getting married and then have babies in a few years." Heero did not know if he had imagined this, but he thought he heard a hint of bitterness in Duo's voice. Heero fought to remember the girl Duo was with the last time he saw him. What was her name? Hilde, yes that had to be it.
"How's Hilde?" He questioned, scanning Duo for any hints of stress. If there was any, Duo hid it well and gave a soft chuckle.
"Funny you should ask, Hilde got married to this older guy and they moved away and had a son named Eric."
"You're not living with her anymore?"
"Nope, she moved out ages ago. Why do ya ask?"
"I have no other place to go, after Relena left me..."
"So...you wanna stay here?"
Heero nodded again. "What's your answer?"
"Well, you're crazy to wanna live in this dump, but it'd be nice to actually talk to someone who talks back occasionally for once." Duo grinned cheekily at Heero.
"Hn. I know what you mean."
"About the talking?"
"No, about this dump." Heero ducked as Duo tossed an empty soda can at him, playfully.
***
"And here's the guest room," said Duo, as he lead Heero into a room that was nearly empty of all furniture except for a bed. "Enjoy your stay at the Maxwell resident, specialty of the house." Duo said it so seriously that Heero almost believed that he was actually serious. That was, until he saw the small glint of humor in Duo's expression.
There wasn't much to say about this room, except that it was the cleanest part of the house. Heero suspected that none of the possessions had been touched. "Ya know..." said Duo, absentmindedly, his face staring off into space, looking out of a window, as if he was seeing something else out there. "This used to be Hilde's room before she moved out..." He trailed off and there was an awkward silence (on Heero's part) before Duo blinked and shook his head to clear off his thoughts.
"So anyway, if ya need anything, I'll be in the room across so don't hesitate to call, alright?"
Heero nodded his head, indicating that he understood, even though he knew he would have no reason to want to call for him.
"Good, 'night Heero." Duo grinned and took one last look at him for the night. He then left the room, his bare feet barely making a sound on the surprisingly clean carpet.
***
The morning rays reached the head of one Duo Maxwell and he rolled over, but his eyes snapped open as he fell off the bed and cursed at his own clumsiness. He sat up from the floor, rubbing his bruised head and then looked around at the room. Too tired to think, he made his way over to the bathroom, eyes half closed, and poured a bucket of water over his head to wake himself up. He winced as his senses were shocked into attention. "Man, who the heck wakes up at six in the morning anyway?" He groaned to himself and he walked into the kitchen, awake, but still feeling numb as the affects of the icy water subsided. He let out a yawn and then spotted Heero sitting at the table.
"Morning buddy, I shoulda known you'd be up at this ungodly hour," said Duo. The water's effect was beginning to fade again.
Heero grunted a reply and then handed Duo a cup of coffee, which Duo gratefully excepted. He watched Duo practically inhale the coffee and shook his head, drinking slowly from his own cup.
Duo, who was more awake now, glanced at Heero again. "Wha - ?" He mumbled groggily, forgetting that Heero had arrived last night. He blinked once and rubbed his eyes. His memories started to kick in and he remembered last night. "Oh, hey Heero, I almost thought I was still dreaming, heh." He gave a soft chuckle and continued to drink the scalding hot liquid. Vaguely, he noticed Heero stand up from the table and place a bowl of cereal onto it, then he sat down again, and started pouring milk into the bowl. Duo blinked. He did not remember buying cereal, at least, not a cereal box that was dark green. He leaned forward and took a closer look at the box. "Vita-crunch?" He looked at the cereal and crinkled his nose in distaste. He noted to himself that he should remember to show Heero how to eat 'real' food later.
Heero looked at Duo questioningly. "What's wrong with this cereal?"
"Nothing, if you're not really eating it and using it as a stage prop," said Duo.
Heero's brow furrowed. Back at the mansion, Relena had never criticized him on what to eat, so he had done as he liked. Which usually meant that he ate plenty of fruit and healthy stuff. He shrugged it off and continued to eat while Duo, having moved on from the subject, chatted on about the last few months.
"You missed the first reunion party we had. Wu Fei was there. The guy was ok, you know, regular old Wu Fei. Kinda like you and Trowa." Here Duo let out a painstakingly aggravated sigh. "I don't remember why I hung out with you guys during the war. It was totally awkward with me and them just standing there. But you know good ol' Q had to step in there and tell everyone about the time I got drunk and belted the christmas lyrics out at the top of my lungs. But I gotta hand it to him, it was kinda funny." Duo admitted with a short laugh. "Although I'd say Wu Fei went a few notches too far when he mentioned that my voice was probably the scariest thing since Dorothy's eyebrows."
"Hn," said Heero distantly and just looked out into the window, suddenly noticing how dull those words sounded.
Duo noticed and frowned, reaching over and placing a hand on Heero's shoulder. "You all right, Heero?"
Heero's eyes focused again. "Hai, I'm fine," he lied, not wanting to admit what he was feeling.
Duo nodded. "I gotta go check up on people at work in a few minutes so see you in a few." He placed down his cup of coffee and then left the house, getting into his car and driving away.
***
As he drove, he turned on the music, and the inside of the car was then filled with loud rock music. He almost lost himself in the music as he continued driving and he watched the streets. His head nodding to the beat, he looked at the signs with little interest, having almost memorized the streets in his head. Then the thoughts started to come. Even after he had talked to Heero, he still had a hard time believing that the other was there. It wasn't new to Duo that Heero was living with him. They had spent some time together in the war.
But then again, that was different. Now Heero would be there a little more often, and who knows, maybe he wouldn't leave. Duo sighed as he pushed away that thought. He knew that sooner or later, Heero would return to Relena and when he did, Duo would be there grinning. He would laugh and joke as usual once the happy couple confessed their love and got married. And he would have been genuinely happy too, if their relationship hadn't reminded him of his own failing love life.
The car stopped and Duo got off, remembering to lock the doors behind him. When he said that he was going to check on his junk salvaging business, he meant that he would go over there and work for a little while. He knew that he didn't have to work long hours and would still get paid, so that's what he did, even though he had insisted to Hilde that he wanted to do his full share of work. She in turn, had insisted just as enthusiastically that he didn't have to do all the salvaging and finally, he had given in. He knew that stress was not something that he needed right now, but that didn't mean he would like the idea of working less than the other workers and getting paid anyway. Ever since Hilde had married a rich guy named Paris, he had taken over the business and had hired a larger crew until there were a little over a hundred men working there to salvage all the junk they collected.
It had became a pretty successful business and Duo had been happy for a while before he suddenly realized that he felt like a third wheel. Hilde and Paris had seemed so happy together, that he soon realized what he had been missing out in his life. Eventually, it got to the point where he couldn't stand seeing them together and he left (when he came back, they had moved away). Hilde had attempted to keep in contact with him and she even sent him checks in the mail. Checks that he did not do his full work for. Any other guy would have thought that this was too good to be true and would have stopped working entirely. However, Duo couldn't do it. He returned to his work, and they accepted him, but Hilde had kept on insisting that he did as little work as possible so that's why he only went to work a few days a week. He had tried searching for other easy jobs to help past the time, but they didn't help much so he ended up staying home. He had just nearly driven himself crazy before Heero had finally appeared again.
Still, it surprised him that Heero had asked to stay with him, of all people. He would have thought that he was the last person he would have wanted to be near. It didn't surprise him much when he heard a letter from Quatre saying that Heero and Relena had secretly gotten together. In fact, Duo remembered, after reading the letter, telling Hilde (back when they were still living together) that it was about time that those two 'lovebirds' got together. That was why their breakup came as a shock to him, but he hid it well.
As he walked into the building, he looked at all the people, working on the junk and realized that Hilde's dream of owning a junk business had finally come true. He spotted Hilde near some workers, overseeing the operations. She smiled as she caught sight of Duo and waved. Duo grinned and waved back as Hilde walked over to him and gave him a hug. "Duo, it's so good to see you. You're alright, aren't you? Are you taking it easy?" Duo stopped himself from wincing at those words. He hated it when people treated him like a fragile toy, that could be broken any minute. It made him feel weak. "Yeah, I'm okay Hilde, so don't worry. I just came to help out a little."
"Oh um, alright, but call if you need any help."
This time, Duo did make a face. "Hey, I'm a full grown man Hilde, I think I could handle stacking some boxes."
Hilde laughed at Duo's expression. "Sorry Duo, I forget sometimes." She smiled at him and then her smile facevaulted when she heard a loud crash coming from the cargo loading bay. "Hold on," she quickly excused herself and then started shouting at one of the workers. The poor guy looked on the verge of dieing from embarrassment as she reprimanded him. Duo shook his head and started to get to work. He didn't know why he bothered to show his face around here. He guessed it was just a feeling of guilt from his past. As he worked, he continued to think of Heero and Relena and decided that he needed to do something to get them back together.
***
Heero himself, had stayed home and had decided to explore the house, in loss of any other idea of what to do. He supposed that he could have went outside, but everything he saw would have reminded him of one blue-eyed, honey blonde haired girl, named Relena. So in the end, he decided to stay at home and explore the place that was Duo's. The house was not very big, in fact, it was more like an apartment and only had one large floor. It looked like a house from the outside, since someone had probably managed to build a porch for it, but still, it was not a very big house. Also, the place, unlike Duo's personality, did not have much color to it. He peeked inside Duo's room and saw a startling contrast. Inside, the walls were practically covered with posters of gundams. But unlike the rest of the house, it was more neat than Heero had expected. Maybe Duo had a lot of spare time...
He took a step in and then felt uncomfortable, like he was intruding in on someone's personal space, but that was ridiculous since no one was there. In Relena's room, he would have treated it like any other room, since it did not have many personal possessions. But Duo's room was far different from any other room he had seen. It was strange and somehow seemed to resemble the presence that was uniquely, Duo.
He ran a hand over a particularly nice looking gundam, which he recognized as Wing Zero from the war. The poster felt smooth under his touch, like it had been laminated, which it probably had. He would have to ask Duo later, where he had managed to get a picture of Wing. Heero withdrew his hand and then looked at the other gundams on the walls. Some of them, he didn't even recognize. He walked further in, looking at the various mangas on Duo's desk and then he spotted something on the desk that was different from the comic books on it. Silver sprawling words were written on a black leather bound book: Diary. It was Duo's diary.
It took a while for him to realize this but when he did, he was curious. What would Duo write on there and why did he leave something like this on his desk? He was almost tempted to reach out and read it. His hands half extended into the air, near the diary, but he withdrew it quickly. As much as he would have liked to know about Duo, he knew that reading the book would betray Duo's trust in him and right now, he couldn't do that. He looked at the alarm clock on the desk and wondered when Duo would come home. He walked out of the room, careful to leave everything untouched and nearly breathed a sigh of relief as he left the room.
As he stood in the hallway, he started to realize that there was one room he hadn't looked at, and that was the attic. Heero opened the door and stepped in, looking at the stack of boxes in there. He reached out and opened one of the boxes, and then pulled something out. It was a painting, skillfully drawn. It was a painting, of Quatre, Duo and Trowa standing together. On the painting near the bottom, there was words, written in messy handwriting:
To Duo, love, Hilde.
The painting was surprisingly good and captured the trio's features accurately. It was almost as if Quatre was standing right there, smiling at the painter with one arm around his stoic-faced friend and the other around Duo. Heero wondered where Wu Fei was and then came to the conclusion that the ex-pilot of Shenlong had refused to have his picture drawn. Heero felt a small pang in his heart at what he had missed out on. He had seen enough and placed the picture back in it's box, leaving the attic. He headed towards the living room where he then flipped on the t.v. and surprisingly, the first channel that showed up happened to be the news. Immediately, he turned it off again, just as the front door was unlocked.
A/N: Review please. ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.
***
"Hello Mr...?" The secretary looked up from her stack of papers at the handsome young man who stood there, wearing some 'very' tight jeans and a green tanktop that showed his muscular arms. She herself was not bad looking with long red hair and nice green eyes but she knew that this boy was way past her league. Still, she had to stop herself from drooling and give him her most professional smile while at the same time, she tried to make it seem as casual as possible. She was never one to dream about younger boys, but for this one, she would certainly make an exception.
"Heero. Heero Yuy." Prussian blue eyes stared at her as he gave her his most polite stare (which was more of a blank look but no one was complaining).
"Do you have an appointment with Mr. Winner?"
"No, I'm an old friend of his."
The secretary's smile faltered a little. "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to let you see him, without an appointment." she sighed, a bit regretfully.
"Call him up and tell him my name, I'm sure he would make an exception." Heero gave her his most charming smile (which was a small curve of his lips) and the woman nearly swooned and reached over to the phone, dialing with lightning speed. Heero smirked, satisfied, it looked like watching Duo during the war did have it's merits.
"Hello Mr. Winner, I'm very sorry to disturb you, but a man called Heero Yuy wants to speak with you."
Quatre's voice sounded over the phone. "Send him up Maria, and please try to make sure that no one disturbs us." He sounded calm over the phone, like it was usual for one of his old 'war buddies' as Duo put it, to just come out of nowhere to see him. But then again, Heero knew that Quatre had to keep his reputation intact as the most cunning businessman of the Winner company. Maria handed him a key card. "Take the elevator up to the 36th floor and go into room A-116. It won't be hard to spot, in fact, it's the only room there that is actually an office."
"Thank you," said Heero politely, and he headed towards the elevator, pushing a button and stepping in as the elevator doors opened with a soft, 'ding'. In a few minutes, the elevator brought him up to the 36th floor and he looked down the hallways of the various doors. Most of them were labeled as conference rooms with no numbers on them so it wasn't hard to find room A-116. He walked up to the room and inserted the key card into it. As soon as he walked in, he saw Quatre, sitting at his desk and greeting him with a warm smile.
Quatre walked up to Heero and gave him a hug. "Heero, it's so nice to see you," he said happily. "I was hoping I could get in touch with you more often. How are you?" Quatre suddenly frowned as a horrible thought struck him. "This isn't about another war, is it?"
Heero shook his head. "No, it's..." he trailed off, unwilling to continue.
Quatre looked at him kindly. "It's what, Heero?"
"Relena. She broke up with me."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Before I left, I appointed Wufei as her bodyguard." Even to Heero's ears, his voice sounded dull as he said this.
"I understand," said Quatre softly.
Heero nodded. "The only thing is...where do I go?"
"You're welcome to stay with me Heero, but I'm afraid I won't be able to see you that often." Quatre glanced at his watch. "In fact, I'll have to go to a meeting in a few minutes."
"Sorry for the trouble," said Heero.
"It's ok, I should have contacted you myself," said Quatre, brushing off the comment. "But, Heero...I think there might be someplace you could go to."
***
"Ok, that's it buddy, if I have to fix you one more time..." Heero looked towards the direction of the voice. His old friend, Duo, was standing on the porch and waving a threatening finger at his radio, which had seemed to be broken again. Duo gave an exasperated sigh. "Damnit you stupid piece of - " He broke off and gave the radio a sharp kick and to his surprise, the radio started working again. "Hey, don't think I'll forgive ya." He glared at the radio, as if expecting it to do something disastrous, even though it seemed to be working again. "The last time this happened, you ended up exploding in Hilde's face."
Heero gave a soft chuckle and Duo looked around, startled, and spotted him. "Heero?!"
"Yes, it's me Duo."
"Talkative as ever, I see," joked Duo then he looked around self-consciously. "Uh, how long were ya standin' there?"
"Long enough," said Heero and he raised an eyebrow. "Do you make it a habit to talk to inanimate objects?"
Duo ignored the comment and gave Heero a bright grin. "Well come on in! I wasn't expecting anyone, but then again, not many people come to visit me these days."
"Hn," grunted Heero to show that he was listening.
"And you know, it's not like I don't like you dropping by and all, but I'd appreciate it if you would give me a few weeks notice. I woulda at least hired a maid to clean up the place more." Duo opened the door and stepped in. The house looked like any other ordinary house, only a lot messier. There were clothes lying around here and the floor was a little dusty, but you could hardly tell with all the clothes covering it.
"Have a seat and tell me what the heck is going on with ya...How's your life so far, met any good chicks? Or better yet, scored with the vice minister?" Duo winked at Heero.
"I dated Relena and then she broke up with me, is that enough?"
Duo let out a low whistle. "Sorry man, I didn't know it was that bad but if it helps, I'm sure she cried a lot afterwards."
Heero sighed. "I should have figured it out the moment she mentioned that I needed kissing lessons."
Duo choked on the coke he was drinking. "Tell me you're joking," Duo managed to say between his coughs. He was torn between coughing some more and laughing but he didn't think laughing would lighten Heero's mood so he settled for coughing.
"I wasn't." Heero said seriously, after Duo's wheezing subsided.
"Ah, that explains it, but the girl's still head over heels in love with you, right?"
"She could be, but she's moving on."
Duo raised an eyebrow. "And yer just letting her go like that?"
"There's nothing else I can do."
"Like hell there's not, you could write her a love note, send her flowers or somethin'. Listen Heero, I know what a girl's thinking when she gives you that whole speech about letting you go. I'm betting that she wants you to win her back and convince her that you do care for her. It's probably one of those insecurity things that a girl feels sometimes. I say, just do what she wants you to, and you'll both be happier, end up getting married and then have babies in a few years." Heero did not know if he had imagined this, but he thought he heard a hint of bitterness in Duo's voice. Heero fought to remember the girl Duo was with the last time he saw him. What was her name? Hilde, yes that had to be it.
"How's Hilde?" He questioned, scanning Duo for any hints of stress. If there was any, Duo hid it well and gave a soft chuckle.
"Funny you should ask, Hilde got married to this older guy and they moved away and had a son named Eric."
"You're not living with her anymore?"
"Nope, she moved out ages ago. Why do ya ask?"
"I have no other place to go, after Relena left me..."
"So...you wanna stay here?"
Heero nodded again. "What's your answer?"
"Well, you're crazy to wanna live in this dump, but it'd be nice to actually talk to someone who talks back occasionally for once." Duo grinned cheekily at Heero.
"Hn. I know what you mean."
"About the talking?"
"No, about this dump." Heero ducked as Duo tossed an empty soda can at him, playfully.
***
"And here's the guest room," said Duo, as he lead Heero into a room that was nearly empty of all furniture except for a bed. "Enjoy your stay at the Maxwell resident, specialty of the house." Duo said it so seriously that Heero almost believed that he was actually serious. That was, until he saw the small glint of humor in Duo's expression.
There wasn't much to say about this room, except that it was the cleanest part of the house. Heero suspected that none of the possessions had been touched. "Ya know..." said Duo, absentmindedly, his face staring off into space, looking out of a window, as if he was seeing something else out there. "This used to be Hilde's room before she moved out..." He trailed off and there was an awkward silence (on Heero's part) before Duo blinked and shook his head to clear off his thoughts.
"So anyway, if ya need anything, I'll be in the room across so don't hesitate to call, alright?"
Heero nodded his head, indicating that he understood, even though he knew he would have no reason to want to call for him.
"Good, 'night Heero." Duo grinned and took one last look at him for the night. He then left the room, his bare feet barely making a sound on the surprisingly clean carpet.
***
The morning rays reached the head of one Duo Maxwell and he rolled over, but his eyes snapped open as he fell off the bed and cursed at his own clumsiness. He sat up from the floor, rubbing his bruised head and then looked around at the room. Too tired to think, he made his way over to the bathroom, eyes half closed, and poured a bucket of water over his head to wake himself up. He winced as his senses were shocked into attention. "Man, who the heck wakes up at six in the morning anyway?" He groaned to himself and he walked into the kitchen, awake, but still feeling numb as the affects of the icy water subsided. He let out a yawn and then spotted Heero sitting at the table.
"Morning buddy, I shoulda known you'd be up at this ungodly hour," said Duo. The water's effect was beginning to fade again.
Heero grunted a reply and then handed Duo a cup of coffee, which Duo gratefully excepted. He watched Duo practically inhale the coffee and shook his head, drinking slowly from his own cup.
Duo, who was more awake now, glanced at Heero again. "Wha - ?" He mumbled groggily, forgetting that Heero had arrived last night. He blinked once and rubbed his eyes. His memories started to kick in and he remembered last night. "Oh, hey Heero, I almost thought I was still dreaming, heh." He gave a soft chuckle and continued to drink the scalding hot liquid. Vaguely, he noticed Heero stand up from the table and place a bowl of cereal onto it, then he sat down again, and started pouring milk into the bowl. Duo blinked. He did not remember buying cereal, at least, not a cereal box that was dark green. He leaned forward and took a closer look at the box. "Vita-crunch?" He looked at the cereal and crinkled his nose in distaste. He noted to himself that he should remember to show Heero how to eat 'real' food later.
Heero looked at Duo questioningly. "What's wrong with this cereal?"
"Nothing, if you're not really eating it and using it as a stage prop," said Duo.
Heero's brow furrowed. Back at the mansion, Relena had never criticized him on what to eat, so he had done as he liked. Which usually meant that he ate plenty of fruit and healthy stuff. He shrugged it off and continued to eat while Duo, having moved on from the subject, chatted on about the last few months.
"You missed the first reunion party we had. Wu Fei was there. The guy was ok, you know, regular old Wu Fei. Kinda like you and Trowa." Here Duo let out a painstakingly aggravated sigh. "I don't remember why I hung out with you guys during the war. It was totally awkward with me and them just standing there. But you know good ol' Q had to step in there and tell everyone about the time I got drunk and belted the christmas lyrics out at the top of my lungs. But I gotta hand it to him, it was kinda funny." Duo admitted with a short laugh. "Although I'd say Wu Fei went a few notches too far when he mentioned that my voice was probably the scariest thing since Dorothy's eyebrows."
"Hn," said Heero distantly and just looked out into the window, suddenly noticing how dull those words sounded.
Duo noticed and frowned, reaching over and placing a hand on Heero's shoulder. "You all right, Heero?"
Heero's eyes focused again. "Hai, I'm fine," he lied, not wanting to admit what he was feeling.
Duo nodded. "I gotta go check up on people at work in a few minutes so see you in a few." He placed down his cup of coffee and then left the house, getting into his car and driving away.
***
As he drove, he turned on the music, and the inside of the car was then filled with loud rock music. He almost lost himself in the music as he continued driving and he watched the streets. His head nodding to the beat, he looked at the signs with little interest, having almost memorized the streets in his head. Then the thoughts started to come. Even after he had talked to Heero, he still had a hard time believing that the other was there. It wasn't new to Duo that Heero was living with him. They had spent some time together in the war.
But then again, that was different. Now Heero would be there a little more often, and who knows, maybe he wouldn't leave. Duo sighed as he pushed away that thought. He knew that sooner or later, Heero would return to Relena and when he did, Duo would be there grinning. He would laugh and joke as usual once the happy couple confessed their love and got married. And he would have been genuinely happy too, if their relationship hadn't reminded him of his own failing love life.
The car stopped and Duo got off, remembering to lock the doors behind him. When he said that he was going to check on his junk salvaging business, he meant that he would go over there and work for a little while. He knew that he didn't have to work long hours and would still get paid, so that's what he did, even though he had insisted to Hilde that he wanted to do his full share of work. She in turn, had insisted just as enthusiastically that he didn't have to do all the salvaging and finally, he had given in. He knew that stress was not something that he needed right now, but that didn't mean he would like the idea of working less than the other workers and getting paid anyway. Ever since Hilde had married a rich guy named Paris, he had taken over the business and had hired a larger crew until there were a little over a hundred men working there to salvage all the junk they collected.
It had became a pretty successful business and Duo had been happy for a while before he suddenly realized that he felt like a third wheel. Hilde and Paris had seemed so happy together, that he soon realized what he had been missing out in his life. Eventually, it got to the point where he couldn't stand seeing them together and he left (when he came back, they had moved away). Hilde had attempted to keep in contact with him and she even sent him checks in the mail. Checks that he did not do his full work for. Any other guy would have thought that this was too good to be true and would have stopped working entirely. However, Duo couldn't do it. He returned to his work, and they accepted him, but Hilde had kept on insisting that he did as little work as possible so that's why he only went to work a few days a week. He had tried searching for other easy jobs to help past the time, but they didn't help much so he ended up staying home. He had just nearly driven himself crazy before Heero had finally appeared again.
Still, it surprised him that Heero had asked to stay with him, of all people. He would have thought that he was the last person he would have wanted to be near. It didn't surprise him much when he heard a letter from Quatre saying that Heero and Relena had secretly gotten together. In fact, Duo remembered, after reading the letter, telling Hilde (back when they were still living together) that it was about time that those two 'lovebirds' got together. That was why their breakup came as a shock to him, but he hid it well.
As he walked into the building, he looked at all the people, working on the junk and realized that Hilde's dream of owning a junk business had finally come true. He spotted Hilde near some workers, overseeing the operations. She smiled as she caught sight of Duo and waved. Duo grinned and waved back as Hilde walked over to him and gave him a hug. "Duo, it's so good to see you. You're alright, aren't you? Are you taking it easy?" Duo stopped himself from wincing at those words. He hated it when people treated him like a fragile toy, that could be broken any minute. It made him feel weak. "Yeah, I'm okay Hilde, so don't worry. I just came to help out a little."
"Oh um, alright, but call if you need any help."
This time, Duo did make a face. "Hey, I'm a full grown man Hilde, I think I could handle stacking some boxes."
Hilde laughed at Duo's expression. "Sorry Duo, I forget sometimes." She smiled at him and then her smile facevaulted when she heard a loud crash coming from the cargo loading bay. "Hold on," she quickly excused herself and then started shouting at one of the workers. The poor guy looked on the verge of dieing from embarrassment as she reprimanded him. Duo shook his head and started to get to work. He didn't know why he bothered to show his face around here. He guessed it was just a feeling of guilt from his past. As he worked, he continued to think of Heero and Relena and decided that he needed to do something to get them back together.
***
Heero himself, had stayed home and had decided to explore the house, in loss of any other idea of what to do. He supposed that he could have went outside, but everything he saw would have reminded him of one blue-eyed, honey blonde haired girl, named Relena. So in the end, he decided to stay at home and explore the place that was Duo's. The house was not very big, in fact, it was more like an apartment and only had one large floor. It looked like a house from the outside, since someone had probably managed to build a porch for it, but still, it was not a very big house. Also, the place, unlike Duo's personality, did not have much color to it. He peeked inside Duo's room and saw a startling contrast. Inside, the walls were practically covered with posters of gundams. But unlike the rest of the house, it was more neat than Heero had expected. Maybe Duo had a lot of spare time...
He took a step in and then felt uncomfortable, like he was intruding in on someone's personal space, but that was ridiculous since no one was there. In Relena's room, he would have treated it like any other room, since it did not have many personal possessions. But Duo's room was far different from any other room he had seen. It was strange and somehow seemed to resemble the presence that was uniquely, Duo.
He ran a hand over a particularly nice looking gundam, which he recognized as Wing Zero from the war. The poster felt smooth under his touch, like it had been laminated, which it probably had. He would have to ask Duo later, where he had managed to get a picture of Wing. Heero withdrew his hand and then looked at the other gundams on the walls. Some of them, he didn't even recognize. He walked further in, looking at the various mangas on Duo's desk and then he spotted something on the desk that was different from the comic books on it. Silver sprawling words were written on a black leather bound book: Diary. It was Duo's diary.
It took a while for him to realize this but when he did, he was curious. What would Duo write on there and why did he leave something like this on his desk? He was almost tempted to reach out and read it. His hands half extended into the air, near the diary, but he withdrew it quickly. As much as he would have liked to know about Duo, he knew that reading the book would betray Duo's trust in him and right now, he couldn't do that. He looked at the alarm clock on the desk and wondered when Duo would come home. He walked out of the room, careful to leave everything untouched and nearly breathed a sigh of relief as he left the room.
As he stood in the hallway, he started to realize that there was one room he hadn't looked at, and that was the attic. Heero opened the door and stepped in, looking at the stack of boxes in there. He reached out and opened one of the boxes, and then pulled something out. It was a painting, skillfully drawn. It was a painting, of Quatre, Duo and Trowa standing together. On the painting near the bottom, there was words, written in messy handwriting:
To Duo, love, Hilde.
The painting was surprisingly good and captured the trio's features accurately. It was almost as if Quatre was standing right there, smiling at the painter with one arm around his stoic-faced friend and the other around Duo. Heero wondered where Wu Fei was and then came to the conclusion that the ex-pilot of Shenlong had refused to have his picture drawn. Heero felt a small pang in his heart at what he had missed out on. He had seen enough and placed the picture back in it's box, leaving the attic. He headed towards the living room where he then flipped on the t.v. and surprisingly, the first channel that showed up happened to be the news. Immediately, he turned it off again, just as the front door was unlocked.
A/N: Review please. ^_^