Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Going For Gold ❯ Chapter 22 ( Chapter 22 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the G boys, I just borrow them from time to time and return them a whole lot happier. I do own the plot and any other characters, especially the equines, that you will find in this fic. Please do not take them without permission. Written for pleasure not profit.

 

Pairing: 2x1x2, 3x4, 13x6, H+C

 

Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, sap, angst, vet themes, AU

 

Rating: NC 17

 

Archive: www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com Anyone else please ask.

 

Betaed by Yami_tai & ginny *snugs*

 

Summary: Eighteen months have passed since Heero was advised he was short listed for the Olympic games team. With Zero going well and young Shinigami almost ready to make his showjumping debut, Heero looks set to reach his goal. Life though doesn't always play by the rules.

 

Dedication: To Leslie who gave me the original idea for Equinity.

 

Fic 3 in the Equine Intervention Arc.

 

"Going for Gold"

 

January. 2007 ShenLong

 

 

Chapter 22

 

“Okay, okay, I'm coming," Duo grumbled as the 'phone continued to ring. He skirted the couch in the living room, still drying his hands on the dishtowel and snatched the receiver from the cradle. "Maxwell," he grunted. If it had been a call for the practice it would have been taken by Catherine as this was his private number. If it had to do with the practice, Catherine would have contacted him through the intercom system, so Duo could only wonder who was calling him.

 

“Duo? It's Zechs."

 

“Hey, Zechs. I wasn't expecting a call from you. What's up?" Duo plonked himself down on the couch.

 

“Nothing," Zechs chuckled. "I just thought I'd give you a call and relay the message that Treize and the horses have arrived okay in Hong Kong."

 

“Great!"

 

“They have just finished clearing customs and immigration and were unloading the horses from the plane to take them out to the equestrian venue and stables."

 

“Heero will be relieved to know they got there safely."

 

“Yeah," Zechs breathed.

 

“It won't be too long before he's back, Zechs," Duo said softly. He knew first hand how hard it was to be separated from your lover, only Treize wasn't just down the road or interstate; he was in a completely different country!

 

“I know, I can't help but miss him and worry that he's okay."

 

“You're more than welcome to spend time over here with us, Zechs. I know it's not the same, but it might help a little with the loneliness," Duo offered.

 

“Thanks."

 

“Heero and I plan on watching as much of the equestrian part of the games as we can, so feel free to join us whenever you want."

 

“I just might do that, Duo." Zechs felt warmed by the offer.

 

“Well, the telecasts start in a week, I'll check the viewing guide and let you know when they're showing the jumping."

 

“Duo, that would be lovely. Thank you, I appreciate it."

 

“Hey, no problem. We're your friends, Zechs. Can't have you moping around all by yourself," Duo chuckled.

 

“I'd better get going, I've a couple more cases to see before I can knock off. Thanks for the offer and for letting Heero know too."

 

“My pleasure, Zechs. I'll call you tomorrow and see if we can set up a dinner date and watch the opening ceremony."

 

Zechs chuckled. "A dinner date?"

 

Duo blushed and knew Zechs must be able to hear the blush even if he couldn't see it. "You know what I mean," he muttered.

 

“That I do, Duo. I'll hear from you tomorrow then?"

 

“Will do. Take it easy, Zechs."

 

“You too, Duo. Bye."

 

“Bye."

 

Duo replaced the receiver in its cradle and stared out the window for a moment. Then he remembered the dinner he was preparing and got up from the couch. Returning to the kitchen, Duo continued to chop the vegetables. Glancing out the window, he could see Heero in the schooling paddock working Shinigami. He paused in his dicing to watch his lover for a moment.

 

* * *

 

Shinigami was going well, clearing the course of jumps Heero had set up with ease. Heero patted the gray neck as he drew rein and settled the young stallion into a walk. "Good boy," Heero said as he ran his hand along the sweaty neck. "That was a big improvement on last time."

 

Shini snorted and danced a couple of steps. He was feeling fit and excited. He loved to jump, having inherited that from his sire along with his natural ability. Didn't matter what his master put in front of him, Shinigami was game to give it a go. He'd even gotten used to jumping hay bales.

 

Heero was pleased with the progress the stallion was making. He was careful not to over jump Shini, doing flat work and going for bush rides as well. Usually he would work the stallion over a grid once a week for striding purposes and to build necessary muscle in Shini's hind quarters. Another day he would put the youngster over a course, deliberately changing it both in direction and height on a regular basis so as to keep the stallion alert and ready for anything.

 

When they went out in the bush there were lots of fallen logs to jump over too, and that also helped with the gray's training. So far, Shinigami was shaping up to be every bit as good as his sire.

 

The season was coming to a close though and would wind down over the course of the next couple of months. Heero planned on giving the youngster a few of weeks off before starting again, mainly bush work to begin with, then bring the jumping back in so that when the new season started, Shini should be fit and ready to go. It would also free him up to attend to Zero and the stallion's stud career.

 

As Heero walked Shini around to cool him off, his mind switched over to Zero. The gray had been improving in leaps and bounds. He no longer limped much when he walked, the latest x-rays had shown the fracture almost completely healed and Duo was talking about taking the plaster cast off in a few days.

 

Once the cast was off, they would have a much better idea of how Zero was coping. Duo expected to leave the pins and plate in for some time yet, they may even stay there permanently, Duo wasn't sure, it would all depend on the leg and how it held up with the full weight of the stallion on it.

 

Heero knew all about pins, having had them in his own arm from his fall a couple of years ago. The bone had knitted back perfectly and the surgeon had opted to remove the pins. It had been a simple operation and only required Heero to stay in hospital overnight. He still had twinges from time to time, but they were mostly aches and usually when the weather turned colder.

 

Hopping off Shini, Heero ran the stirrups up and loosened the girth. He patted the youngster again and then led him to the stable block to unsaddle and brush him down before rugging up for the evening. With Zero's imminent cast removal, Heero's mind switched to the stallion's stud career.

 

He decided he should start to try and work out some form of advertisement for Zero to go into the local horse magazine. Tossing that thought around, he quickly finished up with Shinigami and went to fetch the other horses in and feed them.

 

* * *

 

"Something smells good," Heero commented as he entered the house.

 

"Just a hot pot," came Duo's reply from the stove where he was stirring their dinner.

 

"Is it nearly ready?" Heero moved across the kitchen.

 

"You hungry or something?" Duo teased.

 

"Starving." Heero wrapped his arms around Duo's waist and placed a kiss to the nape of Duo's neck.

 

"Zechs called a little while ago."

 

"Oh?"

 

"Said to let you know that Treize and the horses had arrived safely." Duo went on to give Heero the run down on the conversation whilst he dished up their dinner.

 

"That's a relief, I must say," Heero replied as Duo finished telling him about Zechs' call.

 

"I agree. It must be pretty nerve wracking to travel all that way with horses as your cargo. They aren't exactly calm all the time."

 

"Too true. Although, I'm sure they would have procedures in place to cope with an animal that happened to get distressed," Heero said as he ate his food.

 

"I don't know a lot about plane travel and livestock, but I assume they would have to have a vet in attendance,” Duo mused.

 

"Yes, they do. The teams always have an allocated vet to travel with them when flying out of the country. Not just for the safety of the animals in transit, but also to attend to anything that may happen whilst overseas. Much better to have a vet from your own country to treat your horse."

 

"That would make a lot of sense. Nothing against vets in the other countries, but there's a lot to consider when competing in a different country."

 

"I could imagine the language barrier could be an issue in some cases," Heero thought aloud.

 

"Well, yes, that is one factor to consider," Duo snickered. "There's also the area of treatment and drugs. Some of the drugs we use here for example, are also used in places such as England and the States. Those same drugs though, may not yet have been accepted for use by the drug board or even available in some of the other, less affluent countries."

 

Heero hadn't thought about that angle. "Good point."

 

"Who is the vet traveling with the team?" Duo asked.

 

"I don't know for sure. I remember something on Treize's paperwork about a vet from one of the better known Sydney equine practices. I'm sure whoever they have is more than capable of looking after the team."

 

"I guess I could always find out."

 

"It doesn't matter, just as long as it's someone who knows what they're doing. I think the name was something like, Hardy? Tardy?" Heero replied as he scooped up a piece of potato.

 

"It wasn't Verday?" Duo asked, his voice almost a whisper.

 

"Hai! That's it! A Doctor Verday. Why?" Heero put down his fork to study his lover.

 

"Shit, Heero! Verday is only the equine expert!"

 

"Aa."

 

"Well, fuck me six ways to Sunday. If Verday is the team vet, then the team has nothing to worry about vet wise. He's brilliant." Duo paused in his eating, eyes slightly glassy.

 

"You're better."

 

"Huh?"

 

Heero reached across the table to touch Duo's hand. "I said, you're better."

 

"Nah," Duo began, shaking his head. "Compared to Verday, I'm just a country bumpkin vet, still learning how to diagnose lameness. That man is simply great. He's done some amazing things in surgery with large animals, a sort of pioneer of the veterinary world of equine medicine if you like."

 

"I don't care," Heero replied stubbornly, "in my book, you're the best, you saved Zero."

 

Duo went silent. It didn't matter how much he argued the point, he wouldn't win this match. He sighed and blushed a little. "Thank you for the compliment," he whispered.

 

Heero smiled and seeing his boyfriend becoming a touch uncomfortable, skillfully changed the topic. "If you're going to be taking Zero's cast off soon, I really need to be thinking about drafting up an advertisement for him standing at stud. Care to help me?"

 

"Heero, I wouldn't have a clue what the heck to put in one of those!"

 

"Me either," Heero sighed. "I'm not about to ask Relena's advice either."

 

Duo shuddered. "No, you're not."

 

"I thought if I dug out some of my older copies of Hoofbeats and had a look through their stallion directories it might give me some sort of idea what to put in an ad for Zero."

 

"That sounds like a much better idea. Okay, I'll help."

 

"Thanks. I'll do the dishes whilst you take your shower. Then I'll see what I can find and take it from there."

 

"Fine with me."

 

* * *

 

Treize was more than happy with the stabling arrangements for his horses. The Olympic committee had done an excellent job with the facilities and everything they could have wanted or needed was provided. The stables were set alongside the main, equestrian venue, not quite like the 'equine car park' that the race horses were stabled in, but very similar. There were three stories of stabling and each stable was large and airy with an automatic water dispenser in one corner and built in feed bin in another.

 

Large lockers were also provided for each competitor to store their gear, feed stuffs and any other items they had brought with them for their animals. Next door to the stables the 'Olympic Village' was situated. It was well within walking distance of the stables, another plus in Treize's book. Alongside the main arena were several smaller areas set aside for the competitors to work their horses and keep them fit. There were several other, smaller items added to the overall area such as vending machines, a couple of cafes, mail center and drug store to name a few.

 

Once the horses had been settled in and all the gear checked and put away into the lockers, Noin met with her team members to accompany them all to the village and the rooms that would be their home for the next three to four weeks. Treize took the opportunity to catch up with Zoe and exchange news. Carol, Zoe's groom was with her again and Joe quickly reacquainted himself with the woman. None of the four had had anything to do with the other two team members and their grooms other than to share a polite greeting. Treize wasn't bothered though, he knew they would all get together soon enough.

 

Noin took them across to the Olympic village and administration office. The riders waited outside whilst Noin went in to find the person she needed to speak with. Once she had located the man in question, the rest of the team were brought inside to be 'processed'. One by one they handed over their passports and paperwork, Noin following it up with the paperwork from the government and the Australian Olympic committee. Everything was cross checked and verified correct. Each person was then issued with a security pass card that had all their necessary details recorded on it and allowed to proceed into the village.

 

"I don't need to remind you that you will need to keep your pass card on you at all times," Noin said as she took the team towards another building, this one being the main, security check point before being allowed into the village itself. "You will need it to get in and out of the village, produce it at various check points and also to gain access to the stables and working areas for the horses. No pass, no admittance."

 

"Good," Treize muttered. "Nice to see we have a security system in place."

 

Noin chuckled. "You should remember from your previous Olympics, Treize, that security is always tight."

 

"It pays to be careful," Treize replied.

 

"That it does," said Noin before her attention was taken by the security gates they needed to pass through.

 

The security guards were quick and efficient. They spoke in broken English, but it wasn't hard to understand the procedure. The pass cards had to be produced, the photo id on the card was checked against the person carrying it and then the card scanned into the computer where a sophisticated data program matched it. Once that was done and the person's identity confirmed, they were allowed into the village. The entire process took all of one minute per person and within ten minutes they were all inside the village.

 

"Wow!" Zoe commented as she got her first look at the place.

 

"Nice," Treize stated as he blew his bangs out of his face.

 

The village was set up as one would expect to find a small 'town'. Little cottage type buildings ran both sides of the street with other streets running off them. Having let her team stare around for a moment, Noin led them over to what seemed to serve as a 'taxi' rank. Several golf cart type vehicles were lined up, each with their own driver. Noin spoke to one man, showed him her pass card and then a couple of sheaves of paper. The man looked them over and handed them back. Speaking in Chinese to four of the other drivers, he then turned back to Noin and explained something to her. Noin nodded and turned to face the group.

 

"These carts will transport us and our luggage to our allocated accommodation. Two people to a cart and the luggage in the back. Hop on board, everyone."

 

Treize and Joe stepped over to a cart and smiled at the oriental driver. He quickly hopped out and gave them a hand to put the cases in the back and then jumped back into the driver's seat. Once everyone was settled, the lead cart with Noin aboard began to drive off, the others following behind.

 

"Aussie, hey?" the driver said to Treize.

 

"Yes. Australian," Treize replied politely.

 

"Good horses?"

 

"We like to think so."

 

"China hard to beat," the driver grinned.

 

"Then it will be a good competition," Treize replied with a smile.

 

The driver went silent for a moment, navigating the small streets before pulling to a stop. "Here you stay," he said as he climbed out to get the luggage.

 

"Thank you." Treize took his suitcase and offered the driver a tip.

 

"Thank you! You ever need transport, you ask for Huang. I look after you, Mr Aussie," the driver grinned.

 

Treize just chuckled. "I will do that, Huang. Thank you."

 

"My pleasure." The driver got back into his cart and headed back to the main entrance.

 

Noin took up the conversation once the carts had all gone. “These four cottages are ours, the Dressage team is in the next three and the Eventing team are in the four down there.” Noin indicated the other cottages with a wave of her hand. “I have your key cards here.” Noin fished around in her paperwork for a moment then produced four pass cards. She handed them out. “Treize, you and Joe will be sharing G6; Zoe, you and Carol will be in G7; I'm in G9; Philip, you, Michael and your grooms will be sharing G8. That one has facilities for four people, the others are two person cottages. I hope that's okay with you all.”

 

“Too bad if it isn't,” Zoe snickered under her breath. “I rather like the look of that Michael guy.”

 

“Why, Zoe, I'm appalled you would even be thinking such things,” Treize teased.

 

Zoe shrugged her shoulders. “I don't care what you think, he's hot.” She licked her lips as she let her eyes roam over the guy in question.

 

“You don't even know him properly yet.”

 

“I'll look forward to getting to know him better then.”

 

Treize rolled his eyes. “Just as long as you remember why we're here and don't let it affect your performance.”

 

“Trust me, Treize. My performance is never lacking.” With a saucy wink, Zoe grabbed her suitcase and followed Carol who was unlocking the door to their cottage.

 

“That was way too much information for me,” Treize muttered to himself. He realized then that everyone else was disappearing into their cottages and quickly picked up his own luggage to follow suit.

 

* * *

 

Heero sat on the couch with several magazines strewn around him, notepad in hand and pencil tucked behind his ear. He gave an exasperated grunt and tossed the magazine he was currently looking through to the floor. A pair of hands descended on his shoulders and began a massage.

 

“Not having any luck?”

 

Heero let his head fall back and closed his eyes for a moment. “No.”

 

Duo chuckled and continued to massage. “Surely it can't be that hard?”

 

“Duo, it's worse than writing a resume.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“I just don't know what to put in an advert for Zero.”

 

“Maybe you should stop thinking so hard. Look, let's take this a step at a time.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Trust me?”

 

“Hai.”

 

“Right. Get that pencil out from behind your ear and start.” Duo moved to sit on the couch beside his lover. “Firstly we need to know what information you should be listing.” Duo picked up one of the discarded Hoofbeats magazines and flipped through it until he found the stallion directory. He glanced over the many advertisements there before speaking again. “Okay. You need to list a stud fee.”

 

“Right.” Heero wrote down 'stud fee' on his blank piece of paper.

 

“A short, concise description of Zero, things such as age, color, height, breeding.”

 

“Hn.” The words 'Zero description' joined stud fee on the page.

 

“A short summary of Zero's career would be good.”

 

The words 'career' joined the list.

 

“Live foal guarantee.”

 

Heero scribbled down 'LFG'.

 

“Phone, fax and mobile numbers.”

 

Contact details appeared on the page.

 

“I'd also see if you can't put in a photo of Zero too.”

 

“That's going to be expensive.”

 

“It will probably cost you a bit, but look at it this way. The magazine won't send out the invoice until the end of the month, then you have another month in which to pay for it. By that stage you should have some money coming in from Zero to pay for the ad.”

 

Heero went quiet for a moment, thinking hard. Once he'd sorted out his mind, he let Duo know what he was thinking. “You know what?”

 

“No. What?” Duo was curious to know what had Heero thinking so hard.

 

“I could probably save a few dollars if I do the ad up myself.”

 

“Eh? Heero, enlighten me, I'm the dumb vet here, remember?”

 

Heero gave a soft laugh. “Not dumb at all.” He gave Duo a sweet kiss. “What I meant was, to put the ad in the magazine I will need to supply them with all of this.” Heero indicated to the note pad. “Then they would have to do the layout for the ad. If I do the layout myself and then send them through the finished advert, all they have to do is slot it onto the proper page and print it. They don't have to do a thing.”

 

“You can do that?” Duo asked, his eyes wide.

 

“Yeah. I'm pretty sure that the software I have on my laptop will be able to cope well enough with scanning a photo and then putting all the details there too.”

 

“Well, I never knew you could do that.”

 

“Duo, not all computers are simply for data storage. You can get many programs out there to do many things from creating your own music to making video clips to playing games.”

 

“Now who's been watching Electric Dreams?” Duo teased.

 

Heero rolled his eyes.

 

“Seriously, I can't see Nrobbuts doing anything remotely like that at all,” Duo mused.

 

“Nrobbuts doesn't have the software, or the hardware to do something like this. You'd need to install some programs onto the hard drive if you want to do stuff like this.”

 

“The only thing I ever intend to install on that damn thing's hard drive is a hammer,” Duo growled.

 

Heero thought it was probably best to get back to the task at hand. “You're the one with all the fancy words, Duo. How about you help me sort out something to say about Zero?”

 

"I don't know about fancy words, but let's see what we can come up with between us."

 

The pair worked closely together for some time, figuring out what to write then condensing it all down. Heero dug out several pictures of Zero and they narrowed the selection down to two. One was Zero in mid jump, the stallion clearing the obstacle easily. The other was Zero standing proudly with his red, second place rosette from the Nations Cup adorning his bridle.

 

"I don't know, Heero. They're both good photos."

 

"I agree." Heero stared at the pictures again and sighed.

 

"Why don't you put both of them in?"

 

"Duo?"

 

"If you say you can do this on your computer then surely you could use both pictures? Have one on one side of the ad and the second on the other side."

 

"Duo, you're brilliant!" Heero grabbed his boyfriend in a bear hug.

 

"So now you're telling me you just want me for my mind and not this sexy body?" Duo teased.

 

"I want you for all of you, Duo," Heero growled and then pressed a possessive kiss to Duo's lips.

 

Duo was left panting and dazzled from the kiss. "Well, I can't argue with that when you put it that way."

 

Heero snickered and left to fetch his laptop.

 

Duo tidied up the lounge room while Heero worked on his laptop, peeking over the man's shoulder from time to time to see how things were going. He didn't interfere or try to get too close. Knowing his history with anything that contained chips and circuits, Duo wasn't about to tempt fate and have Heero's laptop crash on him just because Duo got too close to the thing.

 

Finally, after another hour, Heero was done. He stretched his arms, feeling his spine pop and the ache in his shoulders register.

 

"Done?" Duo asked as he placed a mug of hot chocolate on the coffee table for Heero.

 

"Hai. Take a look and see what you think." Heero turned the laptop around so Duo could see the finished image on the screen.

 

"Wow! That looks great, Heero. Really professional. I wouldn't have guessed you could do something like that with a computer."

 

Heero blushed a little. "Thanks."

 

The advert did look professional. The background consisted of the two pictures of Zero they'd decided to use. Layered over the top but not obscuring the pictures, was the information needed. It was short and to the point. Duo read it over.

 

'Standing at stud - Zero. Gray, 16.2hh, Warmblood cross, 11 years old.

Zero has successfully competed in A grade championship show jumping for several years. Zero has also competed in the Nations Cup team and was short listed for the Olympic Games. His current progeny are making their mark in the show jumping world and look set to achieve International standard. Standing at stud to a limited number of mares this season.

Stud fee: $2000 with a live foal guarantee.

Further information - Phone 02 93909750 Fax: 02 93909751, Mobile: 1451212343'

 

"Can't fault that. You have all the basic information needed and those mare owners that are interested can contact you for further information," Duo stated as he read the advert once more.

 

Heero saved the project and shut down the laptop. "I'll contact Hoofbeats tomorrow and send it through to them via e-mail. Hopefully, they will accept it."

 

"I'm sure they will, Heero." Duo yawned. "I'm going to bed, it's late."

 

Heero glanced at the clock. "Shit! I didn't realize the time, you should have said something. Sorry for keeping you up, Duo."

 

The clock read eleven-thirty.

 

"It's no biggie, Heero. You're the one that has to get up early tomorrow, I'm on evening consults so I can sleep in," Duo snickered.

 

"That's right, rub it in," Heero groused.

 

"I'd rather put it in," Duo quipped with a cheeky grin.

 

Heero was left gaping like a stranded fish. It took him a moment to register his lover's teasing words, then with a shake of his head, he followed his tormenting lover to the bedroom.

 

~ * ~

 

tbc...