Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wishful Thinking Book Three: Replaying the Unsaid ❯ Chapter 2

Disclaimers: Gundam Wing is not mine. No copyright infringement intended. I am not making money out of this. Original part of the fiction is the property and is copyrighted to the author.
Category: AU, shounen ai
Rating: PG
Pairing/s: 1+2/2+1, eventual 1x2/2x1
WARNINGS: sap, some OOCness, some angst
Dedication: This is for Emmy-chan.

Title: Wishful Thinking, Book Three: Replaying the Unsaid (Chapter Two)
Author: AJ Maxwell ( webmaster@weluvduo.zzn.com )

Seven years, and Heero Yuy was finally going back home.

He thought at first that leaving and making money on his own was the right thing to do. There was nothing wrong with making himself rich, but as the years went by, his decision proved not to be so good for him. Yes, it was true that he could afford having his own house and brand new car. He was consistently climbing up the ladder of the corporate world; every one of his colleagues and associates respected him, and some even admired or envied him. Though he could be honestly declared successful, he could also honestly declare himself lonely, and very much more alone than before.

He thought that it was nothing, being apart from his handful of friends, and his family. He was able to stand it when he went away for college, but then, he mused, seven years could really change a person's perspective.

That was why he was aboard a plane, going back home. He was finally going home, and to hell with his empty house and meaningless car. He was going back to where he came from, where he belonged. Most probably, the change will make his life less empty, and yes, less sad.

He couldn't wait to be back.

===

"Yes, yes, I know. But there was an announcement that his flight will be late," Zechs paused to listen to the speaker at the other end of the line. "Of course I'll bring him there safely. Do you realize whom you're talking to? Une, I want to talk to Trowa." He rolled his pale blue eyes as he half-listened, half-ignored his friend's protests. Flipping his long platinum blond hair as the strands were toyed with by the wind, he waited as the phone was passed to the green-eyed man. "Yes. Is everything ready? Good.... everything's perfect then. Okay. Now all we have to do is wait--"

"Whom are you waiting for?" came a slightly nasal voice behind him. "Must be somebody quite special, seeing as you are as frazzled as you are."

"Heero! Trowa, he's here!" the taller man said delightedly to the phone and Heero.

The two longtime friends--almost brothers--hugged, spurred by their joy at seeing each other after such a long time. The dark-haired man's movements were a bit awkward; he still wasn't used to expressing his feelings through touch, but Zechs just ignored it. He tightened his embrace around Heero. "I'm so glad you decided to come back. We all are," he said as he hugged Heero closer. "Une missed you a lot. She said she didn't have a little brother to torment anymore."

The two men drew back, and Zechs led his friend to the car. "And Trowa's never been the same since Quatre..." Heero's voice caught in his throat.

Zechs remained silent, and opted to speak when he finally got the car on the road. "But he's been better, you know," he said gently. "I think that your business venture with him is helping a lot."

"You think so?" Heero looked out the window, not really looking at anything in particular. "I should've done this ages ago. I should've been there, and not--"

"Don't think about it anymore, Heero. What's important is that you're home. Right?"

Yes, that's right. I'm home. "Yes."

Instead of going straight home (so that Une could finally torment Heero again), Zechs parked by a newly opened restaurant, and looked at Heero expectantly.

Heero looked at him expressionlessly. Then, with some disbelief in his voice, "This is the restaurant?"

Zechs beamed at him. "Trowa's waiting inside. He couldn't wait for you to see everything."

"B-but I thought..."

"Well, surprise!"

Trowa welcomed Heero with tight hugs as he and Zechs came into the restaurant. As he was in the company of true friends, he felt delicious stirrings of warmth and overflowing happiness that he found to be addictive. He once again berated himself for staying away for so long.

Zechs left as quickly as he came with Heero, saying that Une expected him to bring Heero's luggage and to help her with last minute preparations around the house. Heero and Trowa agreed, with Trowa inviting his longhaired friend for lunch the next day.

As the two men were halfway through their dessert, the emerald-eyed man opened up another topic. "Have you heard?"

"What?"

"He's back in town. Meiran's interviewing him as we speak."

"Who's back in town," Heero asked absently, spearing a slice of his almond jelly with is fork, and looking expectantly at Trowa.

"Look to your left."

Heero shifted his gaze to his left, and saw Duo laughing and having a great time with Meiran over lunch.

Time stood still. It felt like everything stopped, but various kinds of feeling assaulted him from all sides. He was overwhelmed speechless, and he couldn't think straight.

He couldn't think, period.

The unspoken question of why Duo was there hung in the air, and as always, Trowa knew his friend enough to answer. "He's a famous best-selling author, in case you've been too holed up in making money for the past seven years to know. He's in town to promote his latest novel, and there had been a book signing yesterday--a press conference, too. I also heard that he's moving on to London two days from now."

Heero just nodded, and took everything wordlessly, his feelings unreadable in his eyes.

Trowa looked at his friend with calculating eyes, choosing his words carefully. "Do you...want to get reacquainted with them?"

Heero shook his head slightly.

"Why don't you want to say hi?" Trowa persistently asked at his friend's negative reply. "It's been a long time, and Meiran is a friend at least. She'd been looking forward to your arrival when I told her. She even offered to give our new restaurant free publicity."

The stoic dark-haired man remained quiet; he could not voice his distress to his best friend.

"It's him, isn't it?" the green-eyed man prodded him. When Heero kept silent, he was overwhelmed with the discovery. Of course, he had been with his best friend during those days when Heero obsessed about Duo. He was there every step of the way, but he thought it was just that: an obsession. He thought that Heero would get over Duo in time, but seven years obviously wasn't enough. "So, after seven years, Heero? It's still him. He truly is the love of your life. I can't believe you didn't even tell me."

This time, Heero broke his silence with a smile, "You never asked."

Trowa drove him back home, and had dinner with him, Une, and Zechs. After the long talks, laughter, and hugs, his friends left for their homes, and Heero found himself dead tired, but content as well. He realized he never felt such peace and contentment.

He went up to his room, and he couldn't help thinking about who he'd seen at the restaurant. Duo looked so fine. He lost the cheekiness of his face, but the slender yet masculine form suited him, and made him even sexier in Heero's eyes. He was also taller, as tall as himself, if not a bit taller. And those broad shoulders and smooth, graceful neck...

Heero shook his head to clear it, but thoughts of the violet-eyed beauty wouldn't leave him.

So he writes professionally now. I'm glad he ended up doing what he always loved. I'm not even surprised of his success. I wonder how he is right now...how he's been for the last seven years? Is he married? Does he have kids already? Why is he leaving so soon?

He made it to his old room and turned the knob. Inside, he felt the wall for the switch, and soon after the room was flooded with warm, soothing light.

He made his way to his bed, and as he was doing so, his right foot connected with something that slid on the floor with the impact. He looked down, his brown hair falling over his eyes.

It was the box.

He was surprised that the box was still there. Then, as he picked it up, absently noting that it was dust-free , he realized that he was glad that the box was still around.

I thought Une had done away with this years ago.

He sat on the bed, cradling the box that accompanied him for nearly half of his life, on his denim-clad lap. He opened it, and the contents poured out--his life. The past, the present, and his possible future collided against him with a force that was stunning.

Briefly he remembered that time during graduation day. He remembered the nervousness that he felt when he prepared himself to give the box--his heart--that could have changed his life forever. And when Duo didn't show up, he remembered the pain, and how empty he was.

Heero lifted the cover out of habit, and picked a random piece of paper that preserved one of Duo's writings.

~Wasting away in young life,
Fading into nothingness,
Diluting into space, not time nor gravity can destroy,
Pulverized to minuscule invisibility,
I try to embrace you, but you're too small, too insubstantial;
Naked eyes cannot fathom, but my heart can feel yours;
Isn't it a mystery then? I try to grasp you with my hands,
But you slip away;
I finally tie my heartstrings around you, though blindly;
I feel your pull, and your life slowly merging with mine;
You are still alive, you are alive;
Welcome to the world.~

It suddenly occurred to him, with shocking clarity, that there was still a gaping emptiness in his soul that he knew only Duo could fill.

He had nothing to lose. He reached his age, and he did what he thought would fill the void that he felt. Back then, he failed. With his failure, he was afraid to try again. Maybe, if he took another chance...who knows? Only Duo would know the answer, and it was high time that he told him.

With firmed resolution, he said to himself, "You're not going anywhere until I've had my say, Duo."

. t o b e c o n t i n u e d .