Lost and Found
1x2, 3x4, 5x Sally
Warning:Angst, violence, graphic... the usual.
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"No comment," Duo growled, and kept walking down the sidewalk, hands shoved into the pockets of his filthy pants.
"But, Mr. Maxwell...," the reporter called after him and high heels clicked rapidly as she, and a man with a vid recorder, chased after Duo. "Everyone would like to know...," she began again, but then stopped dead as she was suddenly confronted by Heero. The man stood like a road block, scowling.
"We've both recounted events, many, many times," Heero told her. "There is absolutely nothing else, news worthy, to be gained here. If you persist in your harassment, we will be forced to call law enforcement. I hope that you are aware of the heavy fines for this kind of stalking?"
"Hardly stalking, Mr. Yuy," the woman sniffed, but then turned her microphone on him. "This is a public place, not your private home."
Duo had stopped walking, and had turned to watch Heero with a sigh of frustration. "What the hell do you guys want?" he called back and Heero's shoulder twitched, as if he hadn't expected Duo to still be there.
The woman became eager and her assistant turned the vid recorder on Duo."There are allegations that you are both on the Winner payroll."
Duo frowned and looked confused. "I work for a mill. Yuy works for an IT firm. They don't have anything to do with Winner... and even if they did, what's wrong with that?"
"Winner purchased both the mill and the IT business," the woman informed him, "It's suspected that he intends a take over of the other businesses here. This town doesn't want to become part of the Winner holdings."
Duo dug out his credit chip, and squinted at the small writing on the readout on the back. He had never paid attention to it. The large readout of his credit balance had been much more important. In small print, it told him that the credit chip had been issued by Winner enterprises.
"Fuck me!" Duo exclaimed explosively.
Heero had done the same with his credit chip. He looked up at Duo and nodded, confirming that his said Winner enterprises as well.
"No wonder the damn mill stayed open," Duo muttered, and felt his face heating up. He didn't want to think that he was keeping his job, because Winner had commanded it, from up on high. That felt too much like being a child, that needed a nanny. The new boss hadn't looked at all interested in running a business, and had, in fact, turned it all over to foremen's shortly after his take over. Now Duo knew why. He hadn't been visiting his business, he had been checking over a business that he had promptly sold to Quatre Winner.
"Any comment?" the newswoman prompted. "Are you two part of a larger take over of the town?"
Heero glared at her, "We didn't know," he replied sharply. "We're just trying to live a life, like anyone else. We aren't interested in any of this."
Duo dragged off his white bandana and wiped his dirty face, feeling angry and embarrassed. He had gone straight from work to pick up a few things at the grocery, before going home. Now the world was going to see him at his worst.
Duo paused mid-wipe and then swore under his breath again. What did he care what anyone thought? Stuffing his bandana into a back pocket, he snarled, "Interview over, Come on, Yuy!"
Duo took a few steps back, grabbed Heero's elbow, and pulled him hard, to make him follow. Heero came out of his stunned daze, then, and followed on his own. Something in Duo's voice had sounded dangerous enough, to keep the reporter from following, but she called after them, "We will find out!"
"You do that, and then let us in on it, too!" Duo shouted back.
After several yards, Duo snarled, "So what's up with this, shit?"
Heero sighed. In a three piece, dark suit, he looked very handsome. Duo shoved back the loose strands of his dirty hair with equally dirty fingers, and felt even more embarrassed. "It's like him, to help us," Heero said and then looked down at Duo and smiled nervously. "You look good."
Duo frowned. "Then you've gone blind, Heero, buddy," he snorted.
"No," Heero replied seriously. "I haven't. I've been wanting to see you, so badly."
"Is that why you were following me, along with the goon squad?" Duo accused.
Heero shook his head and then nodded to the right. "I live across from the grocery, remember? We were going the same way."
"Oh, yeah," Duo replied and then added, "You look good, too. Office work agrees with you. You don't look so damned... focused... and intense, anymore."
"I'm not after killers, any longer," Heero replied with a tight smile. "I'm only after a killer program."
Duo snickered, but then asked, "Happy?"
Heero countered, "You?"
Duo frowned and jabbed Heero in the ribs hard. That small contact felt good. His body wanted more and it was hard to deny it. "I want an answer, Yuy."
"I can't be happy," Heero replied truthfully.
Duo felt a pang. "Why not?"
Heero suddenly slipped an arm around Duo's waist and pulled him in hard. He whispered into Duo's ear, with heated breath, "Because, I don't have you in my life."
Duo hung in his embrace, eyes wide, and then he was pulling away and taking a step forward to separate them. He replied, as he looked back, "You know what I want from you, before that can happen. Sweet talk isn't going to change my mind."
Heero looked hurt and then smoothed out his expression and nodded. "All right. I'll go now, but, Duo, when will you know?"
"Know?" Duo was confused.
"When I've achieved my mission?" Heero clarified.
"You'll know, not me," Duo told him.
"How?" Heero wondered, confused. "What am I looking for?"
"Yourself, of course," Duo replied in exasperation. "Look, dumb shit? Have you forgotten, already? You're supposed to be finding out who Heero Yuy is."
"Maybe I have, already?" Heero replied, looking down at himself as if he could see something written there. "Maybe, this is me, with you? Maybe that's how I want my life to be?"
"You're so sure of that?" Duo wanted to know, wary.
"I know what I want," Heero told Duo. "I'm only waiting for you to agree with me."
Duo bit his bottom lip and worried at it. He wanted so much to say, 'Yes!' and forget all about the mission that he had given Heero. It hadn't been long enough, though. They couldn't cheat. Maybe Winner was giving them their paychecks, but the rest of it was real. They still had to pay their bills, keep a home, and maintain their friendships. They could still learn how to make a life.
How would he know, though, when Heero was ready? Duo thought about that one and then concluded that Heero would know, just as he had, when it happened. Some time, during the birthday party with Dan's family, Duo had felt a release, a settling in, a moment when he had been just like everyone else; knocking back a beer, eating barbecue and birthday cake, and playing party games. Duo the Preventer, the ex Gundam pilot, had suffered a long over due death, that day.
"You can't depend on me to make your life whole," Duo told Heero. "You can't let me decide, for you, who you are. I don't want half a man, or a shadow of the past. I want Heero Yuy, here, now, and confident about who he is. Believe me, that you'll know when it happens. You'll realize that you belong, that you just aren't playing the part, that this is real."
Heero bowed his head, running a hand over his face. "All right... I'll try. It's hard, doing without you, though. Can't we... date?"
Duo snorted. "Date?" He thought about it and then shook his head, no, "No dating, but, maybe we could hang out, together, a little?"
Heero looked up, hopeful.
Duo held up hands in warning. "Nothing serious. It'll be just to help you with the friends, thing."
Heero nodded, "Thank you. I'll respect any boundaries you set."
"Good," Duo chuckled. He jerked a thumb down the street, "We'll start by shopping together. Nothing else, just shopping. Later, I might get my neighbors to have us both over for something social." Duo made a face. "You'll have to put up with kids, though."
"I can handle kids," Heero replied quickly.
Duo grimaced, "Not these devil spawn." He grabbed Heero's elbow, and pulled him forward. "Forget about that for now, though. Shopping is all we're going to do."
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"Live a little," Duo grumbled as he put a pack of cookies into Heero's hand basket. "You can't live on tree bark and jerky."
Heero grunted. "It's a high fiber cereal, with essential vitamins, and a meat processed to-"
"Volumize the protein potential?" Duo snickered.
Heero eyed him sideways and then smiled. "No, to volumize the pure salty, pork potential. It is junk food, after all."
"Our definition of junk food is a hell of a lot different," Duo replied as he put some cereal bars into his basket, and a jar of peanut spread. "My junk food can't last two months on a deep mission."
Heero gave a snack cake in Duo's basket a poke with his finger. "With those many chemicals and preservatives, it just might be able to."
Duo put beer into his basket and Heero dropped bottled water into his. They had been uneasy at first, not sure of each other's mood, but, after several minutes of shopping down the long aisles, they had found their ground. Duo was almost bothered by how comfortable he felt with Heero. Where was his anger? His sense of betrayal? He was in danger of falling head over heels over the boundaries that he had set.
"Cat food?" Heero asked and put a hand on the cans.
"Five," Duo said. He watched as Heero dropped them into his basket, and then said, "Okay, so, this is good for me. If you're still looking, then I'll see you later."
"You feel it too, don't you?" Heero asked cautiously.
He could have decided to be clueless, but Duo nodded, truthfully, instead. "Yeah, and it can't get any further than this. That's why I'm going."
"I spoiled your cat," Heero admitted.
Duo blinked at the change of subject. "Is that why I have damned expensive cat food in my basket?"
Heero nodded guiltily, but explained, "He was angry at me. He didn't trust me very well, but he seemed to know that we were searching for you. The food was a bribe, for good behavior."
"That sounds kind of nuts," Duo pointed out. "Diss doesn't havea reasonable bone in his skinny body. He's a cat."
"He brought me here," Heero argued and then sighed. "I'm trying to say, that I spent a lot of time looking for you. I was patient enough to follow the lead of a cat. I'm finding it hard to keep on waiting... and being patient... but I will, because you're the one asking me to. If you feel that you have to go, I can only let you, and hope that we can do this again?"
Duo fiddled with his basket and then felt uncomfortable as he growled, "Shit, Heero! I'm not any good at this. I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm just feeling my way in the dark. It seems right, though."
'Then that's good enough for me, that you feel that way," Heero replied, but there was an edge of depression in his voice.
"I'll see you later, Heero," Duo told him, not wanting to cave, and left him to go to the checkout.
Duo walked back to his home, to give himself time to think, but his mind wasn't settled any better by the time that he went through his front door. Diss was there to greet him, nosing in his bags as soon as Duo put them on the small table. When Duo put the cans of cat food on the counter, Diss's excitement grew.
"Damn, he did spoil you," Duo noticed as he saw that the cat had left his morning meal in his dish. Dumping it out, Duo replaced it with the new can of food and Diss ate in a rush. Duo scowled. "Remember when you were eating garbage from the dumpster? You weren't so finicky, then."
Diss ignored him and Duo grunted and popped open a beer. He put away his groceries, one handed, as he sipped, thinking about Heero, and trying to figure out how he was going to stay strong.
"He screwed me over," Duo muttered. "He stabbed me in the back. He needs to make up a hell of a lot to me."
Diss finished and began cleaning fastidiously, eyes watching Duo.
"I'm not going to be easy," Duo told the cat firmly. "He's not going to give me those sad, blue eyes, and do the sorry thing."
Diss murred as if in question.
Duo sighed as he smashed the empty sacks into the garbage. "Yeah, I know I'm full of shit, " he admitted and let himself fall into a chair. "I'm going to cave, because I've forgiven him already."
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"So?" Jenny asked with arched eyebrows as Duo watched her kids play in the back yard. Settled in his lawn chair, he also had a nice view of York, as the man weeded what was now his lawn, since he had moved in with Jenny. Duo felt guilty for ogling the guy, but he was only human, after all.
"So?" Duo echoed.
Jenny snorted and said, impatiently, as she poked Duo's shoulder hard with a finger, "Remember, Heero? How's it going with him?"
Duo rolled eyes at her. "I haven't forgotten about him."
She nodded knowingly at York, "Wouldn't know that by the way you're drooling over my fiance."
"I'm not drooling," Duo countered. "I'm just appreciating the view."
"He's taken," Jenny retorted.
"So am I... I think...," Duo replied.
"You think?" Jenny pounced on that, leaning close. "What's going on? I thought he was Mr. Perfect?"
"He is," Duo replied, scowling. "It's just... complicated."
"Things are only complicated, if you want them to be," Jenny told him, seriously.
"B.S., "Duo muttered into his beer, took a drink, and then said, louder, "We have a lot of issues, Jenny. We can't start anything until we clean house."
"And you'll fool around on him until, then?" Jenny asked sarcastically.
"Don't be stupid," Duo retorted. "I don't even remember what sex is like... even with myself. I'd like to find out, what it's all about, again, with Heero. I'm not wandering off the reservation, count on it."
She looked wistful. "You aren't like other guys. It's too bad you're gay."
Duo snorted beer, coughed, and then sat up to look at her squarely. "I thought we were over this?" he spluttered.
She grinned at him. "We are, but some other woman is going without, that's for sure. Most guys jump, in and out, of the sack without using any brain but the one below their belt."
"I've seen some ugly things," Duo told her, eyes going distant, "It makes you try to avoid that seedy side of sex, at all costs."
She looked sorry and patted his arm, "Heero had better treat you right," she told him, "when you do, finally, get together, or I'll sick York on him."
"Did you say my name?" York asked as he came up to them with a smile, all gleaming teeth and rippling muscle. Duo looked down into his beer, rethinking how innocent 'only looking' really was, and shrugged.
Jenny laughed as she stood up and hugged him. "Just admiring how well you take care of a bush, love."
The innuendo made York blush, as he glanced in embarrassment at Duo. Duo determinedly, kept his eyes on his beer, as York managed, "Well, one, anyway..."
Jenny pinched him, waved goodbye at Duo, and said to York, "Duo's watching the kids. Why don't you show me your skill?"
Duo scowled as they went back into their home. He hadn't volunteered any such duty. The two kids in question were even now tormenting some poor turtle that had unwisely crawled into their yard. Sticks were out and the children's faces promised mayhem for the turtle.
Beer in hand, Duo struggled out of his chair, yelling, "Hey! Cut that out! How would you like to be the turtle and getting whacked with sticks?"
As the children complained that the turtle had a hard shell, and wasn't in any danger from their trying to make him into their drum, Duo was already making plans to see Heero again. He wasn't going to let his libido stray, but it didn't hurt to remind it, often, who it was waiting for.
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"Everybody does it," Duo told Heero as they walked around the small, open mall.
"Why?" He looked around them at the people tossing pennies into a cement water fountain, sitting and talking at an outside cafe, and walking about in small groups.
"It's social," Duo explained. "See, all the regulars in town are here, but the tourists mainly aren't. It's out of the way and they don't know it's here. That's why everyone likes it. It's all about relaxing and connecting."
"Connecting," Heero echoed. "Exchanging information?"
"Yeah, you could say that, but I call it 'catching up'," Duo chuckled. He hefted a small bag of shirts. "It also gives you a chance to pick up on some deals. Three shirts for 9 credits is an awesome deal."
"Some of the people are staring at us," Heero complained. "I suspect that the news vid reporters will be showing up soon."
Duo looked around reflexively and then forced himself to stop.He grabbed Heero's hand, squeezed, and said, "Don't think about it until it happens, okay? Besides, you know how people are. Anything twenty minutes ago is old news."
"Even Gundam pilots committing murder?" Heero wondered with a sigh, as he looked down at their hands.
"Suspected murder," Duo corrected and managed to get a laugh out of his nervous companion. "Come on. Let's have ice cream and get your mind on something else."
"I'm sorry," Heero apologized as Duo ordered them two cones from a small ice cream shop. "I'm trying."
Duo handed him a cone and replied, "I know that, dumb ass. If you don't relax, though, I'm going to feed that cone to your shirt and go home, okay?"
Heero grimaced at the thought as they sat on a bench outside, in the sun. He examined his cone curiously. "What flavor is this?"
"Raspberry and pina colada," Duo replied, "It's weird, but good."
Heero tried his tentatively and then nodded as he continued eating. "Good," he mumbled around a mouthful.
His eyes began watching Duo eat, though, as Duo licked the dripping sides of his cone. Duo noticed and blushed. "Cut it the hell out, Yuy," he warned.
Heero frowned, held his cone a little above his lips, and then licked up it with a broad tongue swipe. Duo felt an instant hard on and he gasped.
Heero refused to meet his eyes as he looked away and lowered his cone, saying, "It's not so easy to keep your mind off of certain things, is it?"
Duo deposited his shirt bag into his lap. "No," he replied ruefully, "Which is why we're here. I needed... to see you."
Heero did meet his eyes then, and slid a hand along the bench to grab onto Duo's hand. "This is torture," he said softly.
Duo had his ammunition ready, his reasons for abstaining, but they seemed pointless now, with Heero's warm hand in his. He was ready to say, 'What the hell! Let's go back to my place.' but a sneering voice stopped him.
"Shit, are they gonna kiss? I bet I know who's the-." The word almost had Duo off the bench, anger sizzling along every fiber of his being, but Heero's hand, still locked in his, stopped him.
The group of young punks, snickered. "Yeah, keep your girl on her leash, gay boy!" their tall leader advised. "You wouldn't want to have her pretty face messed up."
Heero's hand tightened on Duo's so hard, that Duo felt bones grind together, but Heero said, aside to him. "No trouble. We can't afford it. They're just words, Duo."
Duo glared, nostrils flaring, but his obscene reply to that was cut short when another patron of the mall, an older man, glared at the group of toughs, and said, "Shut your dirty mouths and leave honest citizens alone."
"Someone should call security," a woman with two children suggested to her friends. "Kids like that shouldn't be allowed at the mall, harassing people like that."
"Get the hell out of here, the lot of you!" another man growled.
The young men looked annoyed, their leader flipping the man off, but they moved along, steps cocky as they tried to keep looking tough.
"Assholes!" Duo snarled as he settled back into the bench, ice cream tumbled to the ground and forgotten.
Heero let out a long breath of relief and then held out his own ice cream. "Here, forget about them, we can share."
Duo looked at him in disbelief. "How can you be so cool about this?"
Heero nodded to the people around them. "They defended us. Doesn't that tell you how far we've both come in making ourselves part of this community? There's nothing to be upset about."
Duo looked around them, amazed, and then bent forward to take a lick of Heero's ice cream. "I guess you're right," he said, "but I still want to make grease spots out of those guys."
"Against the law," Heero told him firmly. "We're supposed to call security to do that for us, now."
"That's not nearly as satisfying as using my fists," Duo complained.
"No," Heero agreed, "but it's the ways things are now."
Duo nodded as Heero took a bite of his ice cream. "Can you do that lick thing again?" he begged. Heero obliged and Duo swallowed hard. "You make it hard, in more ways than one, Heero, to remember the goal."
Heero smiled, licking his lips of ice cream, "If it will make the wait, shorter, I'll lick a dozen ice creams."
Duo snickered and pushed at him as he stood up. "Come on! You're not tempting me with your evil licking tongue, Yuy. We have mall walking to do."
Heero looked disappointed as he stood up as well. "All right, but I'm not going anywhere near that lingerie shop."
Duo grimaced. "Me either. Who the hell wears all of that? Naked in bed is the best way to sleep."
He took a step, but Heero didn't follow. He looked back and saw Heero's slightly glazed expression. He snickered, grabbed at Heero's shirt, and pulled him along. "Come on, flyboy, get your mind out of the gutter."
-----------------------------------
"So?"
"God, not you, too?" Duo groaned and glared at Dan over his toolbox.
Dan looked embarrassed as he cleared a space before an old panel and turned an empty box over for Duo to sit on. "Well, inquiring minds, want to know," he quipped, and then grimaced. "Actually, it's my wife who wants to know. She made me ask."
"Then, you don't really care?" Duo snorted as he sat down and began picking through rusted and corroded contacts. "Tell her anything you want, then."
Dan was quiet and then he grumbled, "All right. I want to know too. You've been damned quiet about everything, Duo."
Duo tested a contact for power as he replied, "It's hovering."
"What is?" Dan asked in surprise and bent to look.
Duo gave him a look and snorted. "Not the panel, me and Heero!" He put a hand level. "Just... hovering. It could crash and burn, or keep on course. Don't know yet."
Dan scratched his head.
"What?" Duo demanded.
Dan shrugged. "Gay guys are worse than women, I guess, about having everything right and proper, before they do the deed."
"The deed?" Duo rolled his eyes. "Well, the deed lasts a good ten minutes. This is something that needs to last a lot longer."
"You want wedding rings, then?" Dan asked. "Who gets to wear the tux?"
Duo hefted a wrench with a scowl."You are digging yourself into some ass whooping, Dan."
Dan chuckled. "Hey, that's my saying. You're stealing."
Duo nodded. "Because it's appropriate."
"Well, sometimes, like me and my wife, you just know it's going to work," Dan told him with a blush. "She says, if you have to think hard about it, then it's wrong."
"Well, did she ever accuse you of having murdered a team of agents on a mission?" Duo wondered sharply. When Dan looked shocked, Duo went on, "So, you see, it's a trust issue. What caused the man I care about to do what he did, needs a lot of soul searching on his part. He needs to be sure that it won't happen again, that he won't be that screwed up, ever again."
Dan rubbed the back of his neck, "Okay, I get it, but, Duo, who can tell a thing like that? I mean, nobody knows their own mind that good. You think you do, and you do the best you can, but nobody's absolutely sure about things. I hope you aren't dumb ass enough to expect that?"
Duo was quiet, feeling his insides tighten. "Maybe I do," he admitted. "You might be right."
"Good." Dan shook himself and hunkered down by the panel as well. "Now, can we stop talking about this and just work? I feel breasts growing, already."
"You mean, you aren't a woman?" Duo snickered.
"Maxwell!" Dan growled, "You're digging yourself into an ass whoopin'."
Duo laughed as he repaired the contacts, but then gestured to Dan with his tool, "Why don't I bring him over and you and the wife can tell me whether I'm being an ass, about all of this, or not?"
Dan frowned, thinking it over. "If I thought that you would listen to anything that we had to say, I'd say, hell,yeah. Besides, what about my kids? Will they be safe?"
Duo felt instant anger. "Heero would never hurt a kid... ever!"
Dan nodded. "SO, you do know that much. What about my dog?"
Duo forced himself to relax. "Heero took care of my cat for me."
"Good with pets. Good with kids." Dan rubbed his chin. "How about in-laws?"
"Your grandma Tilde?" Duo asked with a wince.
"Not my grandma Tilde, the wife's," Dan reminded him. "You know how she is. He might think she's a terrorist, or something."
"Her tongue is a terror, that's for sure," Duo grunted. "You're asking a lot, Dan."
"I'm asking about how much you trust Heero," Dan insisted. "I'm asking you why we should trust him, if you don't."
"Not about things like that!" Duo retorted.
"Not about important things, then? Just your pride?" Dan wondered.
Duo broke off a contact and swore as he rounded on Dan. "Only my heart, okay? Isn't that important?"
Dan nodded and then sighed. "Yeah, it is. Be honest about what this is all about, is all I'm asking, Duo, okay? See you Saturday, at 3? I'll have the wife make her macaroni salad and I'll barbecue some chicken."
Duo sighed, as he changed tools. "Okay, but I hope you can get your apron over those breasts. You sounded like a damn soap opera!"
Dan shoved Duo off of his seat. "Dumb ass." But they both laughed and Duo felt better about a lot of things.
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"I had to see for myself," Wu Fei said as he looked over the outside of Duo's home.
He had driven there in an expensive car, that looked black, sleek, and as deadly as the man who owned it. If Wu Fei had wanted to be inconspicuous, he had failed, utterly. Even his button down shirt looked too starched, too white, tucked into his perfectly creased, dark pants. His black shoes were even shinned to a blinding degree.
"Nice to see you again," Duo growled as he juggled two dishes of food, for Dan's barbecue and edged past him, "but we're busy, today. Go report back to Une, like a good little lap dog, that we're staying on the right side of the law, and that we haven't left a trail of corpses anywhere."
Wu Fei arched an irritable eyebrow. "I'm not allowed to have curiosity?"
Heero appeared with a case of cold beer balanced on one bicep."I've been told that this has to reach the cooler, at the barbecue, before it gets warm. We don't have time to talk."
"Then I will come with you," Wu Fei replied easily. "We can talk there."
"You were not invited," Duo growled.
Wu Fei glanced about them and didn't see a car. "I could give you a ride?"
"There is a perfectly good bus system not far away," Duo told him. "It goes right by where we're going."
Wu Fei made an exasperated sound. "Stop being an ass, Duo! You know that this is my job!"
"Yeah, because it used to be mine!" Duo snarled back, but then took a deep breath and looked at Heero. "You know him, he won't stop until he has enough to make a report. Should he come along?"
"He might frighten the children," Heero warned.
"And ruin the barbecue," Duo agreed. He glared at Wu Fei. "I know that you don't really want to go with us, so give us a ride, ask your questions, and then take a hike, okay?"
Wu Fei looked relieved. "Acceptable."
"It'd better be," Heero warned.
They slid onto the leather seats of the backseat and felt nervous, especially when Wu Fei warned, "Keep the beer and the food off my car."
"No problem," Duo replied as he put his two bowls on his lap.
"First question?" Heero promptly, wanting it over with.
"Work status?" Wu Fei asked.
"Heero's working for an I.T. and I'm still working at the Mill, fixing equipment," Duo replied.
"Any retaliation from the murder of the mill owner?" Wu Fei continued.
"Accident," Duo corrected with a grin. "It was a terrible accident. No, no bad feelings from anyone."
Wu Fei snorted and then asked," Monetary difficulties?"
"Well, neither of us make that much, but then, we don't need much either," Duo replied with a shrug. It almost upset his bowl of baked beans. He caught it, just, but some escaped the foil cover and spotted the dark carpet.
Duo exchanged a panicked look with Heero and brushed the spots with his shoe. They smeared. Wide eyed in trepidation Duo looked to Heero for ideas. Heero looked at a loss.
"Relocation plans?" Wu Fei was asking.
"Uh, wh-? Oh, none," Duo stammered. "We both like it here."
"It does seem like a peaceful place," Wu Fei surprisingly agreed."The cabins near the lake, especially."
"We've never been there," Heero replied as he bent over and wiped at the spotted carpet. Bean smeared the carpet and his hand."It's too expensive."
Duo grimaced, took off his shoe, and then slipped off his sock. Heero shook his head, no,but Duo pressed the sock ito his hand. Heero scowled and rubbed at the beans with more success. Duo looked relieved.
"I've purchased one of the homes," Wu Fei said.
Both Heero and Duo froze, wondering which part of the conversation that they had missed.
"You what?" Duo managed as Heero wadded up the sock in his hand and sat up.
"I intend to retire and I required a peaceful environment," Wu Fei explained. "You could say that you inspired my decision."
"I think I'm dreaming, Heero," Duo growled. "I thought Wu Fei said, that he wanted to be neighbors?"
"He did," Heero assured him.
Duo rolled his eyes. "There goes the neighborhood."
----------------------------------------------------
"Quaint," Wu Fei said, in a tone that meant anything but, as they pulled into the dirt driveway of the old stilt house.
Two cars, on blocks, were in the driveway, already, one so rusted and over grown, that it was plain that Dan hadn't found the time to work on it in the last few years. The other looked like a newer acquisition and Duo could imagine the arguments that Dan's wife must have voiced over that purchase. A spotted dog came out to greet them wagging her tail and giving a half hearted bark. She seemed to know that it was Duo already, though, and was sidling up to him, to be petted, as soon as he climbed from the car, juggling his two dishes. The smell of barbecue was thick in the air.
"Hey, old girl," Duo crooned to the dog, as he handed a dish to Heero and petted her. "We'll play later."
The dog trailed behind them as they made their way to the back of the home. An above ground pool, that had seen better days, was surrounded by discarded bikes and toys. The barbecue was made out of unfinished brick and was handily cooking enough food to feed an army. Dan was presiding over it, spatula in one hand and apron already christened with barbecue sauce. His family was gathered close, grandmother Tilde looking sour in a flowery dress, Dan's wife looking worried and placating as she assured the old woman of something, and children screaming and running all around them. There were far more than Dan's brood and Duo suspected that they had invited their friends.
"Remember," Duo whispered under his breath. "These are friendlies, even grandma, so no pulling out weapons, taking prisoners, or allowing hair trigger tendencies turn this barbecue into a blood bath. Got it?"
"I'm just here for the beer... and you," Heero chuckled, "No prisoners, promise."
Wu Fei was eyeing the screaming children. "No weapons? Are you certain?"
Duo scowled at him. "Look! You have what you want. You don't have to stay."
"I still need payment," Wu Fei told him, with an arch of one black brow.
"For what?" Duo demanded.
"For the cleaning bill," Wu Fei explained. "I'm not a fool. I did realize that you had spilled something, especially when you tried to hand off your soiled sock to the dog."
"It was an accident," Duo retorted as the dog passed him, chewing on the bean covered sock.
"One that you will pay for," Wu Fei insisted.
"Drop it," Heero growled. "Let's do this after the fun we're supposed to be having."
"He's not staying," Duo insisted. "Why would he want to?"
Heero met Wu Fei's disdainful look and then smiled, "Maybe for the same reasons that we're here?"
"Not likely," Duo groused.
"Not likely," Wu Fei said at the same time and they glared at one another.
"I said, drop it," Heero insisted. "This is a party."
"Barbecue," Duo corrected without ceasing to glare at Wu Fei.
"Barbecue," Heero repeated. "And we are guests. Let's not shame ourselves, or our hosts, with bad behavior."
That spoke to Wu Fei, more clearly than any other argument. He gave a very small bow of acknowledgement, but then growled aside to Duo, "Fifty dollars should suffice."
"My ass!" Duo barked back.
"Those are special carpets and leather seats," Wu Fei insisted.
"It didn't get on the leather seats," Duo snarled back.
Heero moved between them and gave a shove in both directions, separating them. "Why don't you introduce us, Duo?"
Duo recovered his balance and then made an effort to control his temper. "All right. Come on. I'm not paying any fifty bucks, though."
"Hey, Duo!" Dan called, a small expression of worry on his face for what they might be arguing about. "Bring another friend?"
"I hope you don't mind?" Duo apologized as he put his dishes down on the picnic table with the other food.
"Like I mind after the kids bring home ten other mouths to feed?" Dan chuckled. "The more the merrier."
"Wu Fei," Duo introduced. "You know Heero."
"Wu Fei Chang," Wu Fei said more formally and shook Dan's hand after Dan wiped it on his apron. "I'm a Preventer agent."
Dan looked both nervous and impressed. He motioned to his wife with his spatula, "That's my wife, Susan, my kids, Alf, Tom, Wilifrid, don't ask, Rachel, and Willy. "The spatula moved to point out the children running with the others.
"Not going to introduce me to your murdering friends?" the old woman asked acidly.
Dan winced. "Her tea club gave her an earful about you two. Sorry," he apologized. "Well, you know the drill..."
"Smile, nod, and don't listen," Duo remembered.
"Elders should be respected," Wu Fei began in disapproval, but was interrupted by the old woman shouting.
"Hey, slant eyes! Are you a murderer, too?"
Wu Fei scowled, Duo snickered, and Dan gave a long suffering sigh. "Coolers over there, Heero," he said as aside and then, louder, for the old woman, "They aren't murderers, Granny Tilde! It was self defense!"
"Says you, and you aren't the brightest bulb in the pack," she retorted.
The kids came running up to Duo, mobbing him and shouting, "Come on, Duo! Let's play some tag football!"
Duo smirked and grabbed Heero by the arm. As he pulled Heero along with him, following the kids out to a cleared field, he said to Wu Fei, "Why don't you get better aquatinted with venerable grandma Tilde, over there?"
___________________________________
"If you'd been nicer, to Chang, he would have given us a ride home," Heero lamented, carrying the dirty dishes, as they walked in the cool evening towards Duo's home.
"Tilde needed to be called a loudmouthed, ignorant, racist, though," Duo snickered. "I thought Dan was going to laugh himself into a coronary."
"His wife wasn't pleased," Heero pointed out.
"Yes, she was," Duo insisted with a wide grin. "She just couldn't show it. She loved seeing that old biddy speechless."
"And Fei left before the food was served, so, more for us," Duo laughed.
"Dan is a good cook," Heero agreed.
They were quiet, a few cars passing them on the road, but everything mostly settling into quiet, evening noises. A light wind rustled the leaves of the trees around them, as the setting sun made their autumn leaves glow.
"Duo?" Heero began.
Duo hurried to cut him off as he took the dirty dishes from him. "This is where your turn for home, Heero. I had a good time with you today."
"Duo," Heero tried again, not relinquishing the dishes. "I think I know who I am now."
"Yeah?" Duo cocked his head to one side, not really believing him.
Heero nodded and smiled softly. "I think Heero Yuy is a man who likes playing tag football with children, relaxing at barbecues, who wants an old hound dog of his own, and who thinks about nice, evening walks with the man he loves. I think Heero Yuy enjoys being an IT man, and living a quiet life. I was never that man, who slept with a gun and who asked for missions to give himself purpose. I... I like myself, now. I didn't before. I get up in the morning and... I'm happy, not depressed and wondering how I'll fill the day to keep me from realizing how empty I am. I've filled up that emptiness with what should have been there all along."
"What's that?" Duo asked, almost breathless.
"You... friends...peace," Heero replied.
Duo's hand slid from the dishes to Heero's elbow. "Now that you know all of that, I think it's time that you came home with me."
Heero looked hopeful, "I would like that."
Duo's hand slid around his waist, and they walked together down the road.
They were both quiet until they reached Duo's home and went inside. Heero placed the dishes in the worn sink, and ran water into them to loosen up the dried on food, while Duo petted Diss and slipped off his coat.
"Coffee, tea, beer?" Duo wondered as they faced each other with the small kitchen table between them.
"No more beer," Heero chuckled. "Coffee would be good, though."
Duo nodded and moved to fill and turn on the coffee maker. As he watched the coffee drip into the glass carafe, he asked nervously, "So, what's the plan?"
Heero didn't answer right away, trying to make certain that he was understanding the question fully, and then he replied, "Wild sex, followed by a lifetime together?"
Duo blushed and jammed hands into his pockets. "You're assuming a hell of a lot. What if I'm not gay? I mean, have we really established that yet?"
"Hm," Heero said thoughtfully, and then Duo heard clothing rustling. When he turned, curious, he saw that Heero had dropped his coat and his shirt. His bare, upper body was lean and powerful looking. Duo swallowed hard. "So?" Heero wondered.
Duo adjusted his jeans and then turned back to the coffee maker. "I... uh... guess that I am gay."
"I'm glad to hear it," Heero replied, sounding very amused and self satisfied. After a moment, he tried, "I'll respect you in the morning and for the rest of our lives."
"I don't hear anything about love," Duo groused as he took down two mugs from a cabinet. When strong arms wrapped around him, and a warm body pressed against his back, he closed his eyes from the powerful emotion that it caused within him; relief, mixed with as sense that his days of being alone were over.
Heero whispered in Duo's ear, with warm breath, "I love you with all my heart and soul, with every fiber in me. I've never felt anything so strongly in my entire life."
"Good," Duo choked out as he turned in Heero's arms and held him just as tightly, "because I feel the same way."
They forgot the coffee, and the curious cat, watching from the table top, and made their way to the bed.
After, with Heero's heavy weight sprawled on top of him, and the man breathing softly in sleep, after a job well done, Duo felt contentment. He was sore, and things had been awkward before they had found their bliss, but it had been lovers, coming together at last, with nothing of the soldier, stealing a moment between battles, entering in to it. He had been right to wait, he felt strongly, until they had both accepted that this was their life now; a life wanted, needed, and filled with their peace.
"Your elbow is in my ribs, asshole," Duo murmured into the top of Heero's head.
"M...sorry, love," Heero replied, only half awake, and moved a bit. "You okay?"
"Yes, love of mine. I'm more than okay, now," Duo told him and held the man close to his heart, "but you bottom next time, got it?"
Heero nuzzled his chest. "Fine with me. Sleep now. Tired..."
Heero drifted off to sleep again, and Duo settled to do the same, but Diss jumped onto the bed, thinking that it was safe now, and curled up by Duo's head on the pillow.
"I hope that you like your new daddy, because he's going to be around a long time," Duo told the cat. The cat purred and flipped down it's tail to curl around Heero's nose. The man slept on, oblivious.
"The cat seal of approval," Duo yawned and went to sleep with his
family.
______________________________
"They're always this noisy?" Heero wanted to know.
Stretched out in lawn chairs, cold drinks on a small, rickety fold up table between them, the kids were screaming over a toy, and their mother was screaming at them.
"It's not the sound, it's the sun and the scenery, that make this nice," Duo replied as he adjusted his sunglasses and grinned.
"Scenery?" Heero looked around them at the weed eaten lawn, the holes the children had dug, and the litter of rusted lawn furniture.
Duo nodded to who was weeding. York was bent over, in too tight shorts. His long, strong legs were bronze with sun.
Heero raised eyebrows appreciatively and then grumbled, "Should I be jealous?"
"I'm yours, I'm not dead," Duo snickered. "I can still appreciate... beauty, even though you're the one I want in my life, handsome."
"Beauty," Quatre said from behind them. "I like your choice of word, Duo."
They turned, startled, and the blonde man was smiling down at them in casual clothes and a hat pulled down to shade his face. The hat, that looked as if it would have been more natural on the head of a cowboy, and the blue jeans, seemed out of place on the usually well dressed Winner.
"What the hell?" Duo sputtered as he sat up and turned, along with Heero.
"Why are you here?" Heero wanted to know. It was a question voiced almost in anger. Their new lives were just starting. It seemed a tenuous thing, not something to be interrupted by people from their old lives, just yet.
"I spoke with Chang," Quatre admitted, as he tipped his hat up and looked around them. "His description of this place was so colorful, that I had to see for myself."
"Colorful? I bet," Duo groused and then, in trepidation,"You're not intending to buy a place here, too, are you?"
Quatre smirked and shook his head, eyes still looking past the weed lawn to the rolling countryside beyond. "I already own many places in town, but I haven't felt any urge to live here."
"About that!" Duo said, jumping at the opportunity, "Why the hell did you feel the need to run our lives?"
Quatre did look down, then, and his eyes turned sad. "It wasn't necessary, or it wasn't wanted?"
Duo couldn't lie about either of those questions. They had needed the help, and he couldn't say that he had been in any position to turn it down. "I want my job, fair and square, not because it's handed to me."
"I think I want that as well," Heero agreed.
Quatre chuckled. "You have, both of you. I never instructed anyone to hire you, or to keep you in their employ. I may sign your checks, but I don't run those businesses."
It sounded like the truth, but Duo felt the need to insist, "Don't start either. If I lose a job, it's because I'm a dumbass. Nobody should have to keep me."
Quatre nodded. "I understand." He looked them over, smiling. "I was very worried about the two of you. You both seemed poised to self destruct. Now, you're both 'glowing'. It wasn't right, when you were at odds. You're good friends, and you should stay that way."
Duo blushed and Heero choked a little and looked away.
"What did I say wrong?" Quatre wondered in confusion.
"Oh, look, they've actually decided to have company over," Jenny drawled in good humor, as she shaded her eyes and looked at Quatre. "It's about time that you two decided to do more than make the bed springs squeak and lay around in the sun."
"Jenny! Children!" York warned as he straightened with gloved hands full of weeds.
"What?" Jenny wondered innocently. "They don't know what that means!"
"I do, though," York complained. "It's rude."
"Oh, all right!" Jenny replied in exasperation and then started shouting at the children when she saw her garden hose being tied to two bicycles in preparation for a dangerous stunt on a tilted board.
Quatre was blushing as he tried to find words. "You two... you're...?"
"Yeah," Duo managed to reply as he grabbed his drink and sipped at it to cover his embarrassment.
"I never thought..." Quatre trailed off, not sure what to say.
"It's not like you're not... you know... with Trowa," Heero pointed out, "So spare us any condemnation."
Quatre's eyes widened. "I would never say anything of the kind, Heero. I'm not an idiot, you know. I'm just... surprised."
"Well, it's been there, for awhile," Duo finally interjected."We were just too tied up in our work to do anything about it."
"Is this a long term... commitment?" Quatre tried.
"I hope so," Heero replied.
"I want it to be," Duo agreed.
"Then, congratulations," Quatre said, getting onto firmer ground. "I hope it does last long, and that your relationship is a joyful one."
"Stop being so damned formal," Duo grumbled. "Want a drink of something? A chair?"
"I would like both," Quatre replied.
"Enjoy the last of the sunshine," Duo warned, as he levered himself up to get Quatre a drink. "It's starting to get cool now. Winter's on it's way."
"I'm not staying," Quatre assured them, "but I wouldn't mind visiting again." It was a question.
Duo looked at Heero and Heero nodded.
"Okay, visit. Just give us a few months to settle first," Duo asked.
"Of course," Quatre agreed. "I'll speak to Chang, as well."
Duo snickered. "I don't see Chang doing a lot of visiting any time soon."
"Trouble?" Quatre wondered, concerned.
"Let's just say, that he doesn't appreciate the locals, like we do," Duo replied.
"Ah, I can imagine," Quatre chuckled.
After Quatre's departure, they had to answer Jenny's questions about the blonde stranger, and calm her panic as she realized that she had looked less than stellar in front of THE Quatre Winner. When they were safely back in the quiet of their home, Duo grimaced and asked, as he petted the cat, "Sure you don't want to make a run for it again?"
Heero wrapped arms around Duo from behind and put a chin on his shoulder. "We're sticking it out, here, remember? No more running. People will have to get used to us."
"I know, I know," Duo groused, "but, until then, it's going to be damned uncomfortable around here."
Heero's excitement pressed against him. "I do feel a little uncomfortable," he admitted in a suggestive voice.
"Is that from watching York's backside all afternoon?" Duo wondered with a snicker.
Heero nuzzled his neck. "No, from seeing your legs, in those cut off shorts, all afternoon. They should be illegal."
Heero's hand slid around and popped the top button of Duo's shorts. They were very short, having unraveled a great deal after a long time of wear and tear.
"Then I'll stop wearing them," Duo replied as he elbowed Heero in the gut and moved away.
Heero rubbed his mid-section with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure you'd get a special permit," he tried.
Duo sat down on the bed and sprawled, one arm behind his head. He rubbed at the front of his jeans. "If I'm that sexy in them, wouldn't everyone be after me, then? Would that be okay with you?"
Heero crawled onto the bed like a stalking panther, hot gaze running up the length of Duo's body. He poured himself over his lover and replied, "No, that wouldn't be okay."
Duo grinned. "I didn't think so." He pushed his hips upward and pressed his interest against Heero. That earned him a sexy smile, and a deep kiss on the lips, and then Heero was tugging his shorts down.
Panting with pleasure, Heero's head moving between his legs, Duo twisted his hands into Heero's disordered hair and felt something beside the heat and the feel of Heero's wonderful mouth. It was a rightness with the world, a certain knowledge that this is where they belonged, together, there, in that place, and making a life. Heero was right. No more running. They had to make their stand. If their one time war comrades, decided to join them there, then that was not such a bad thing. They could have some of the peace that they had found.
The sound of the children, arguing, drifted through the wall, and Jenny's voice, shouting at them. Duo felt a blush and Heero's motions slowed a little, as he felt his own embarrassment.
"We're not doing anything wrong," Duo whispered.
"Then why are you whispering?" Heero wanted to know, looking up, but stroking Duo with one broad hand.
"Trying not to break the moment," Duo growled.
Heero smiled. Duo pushed his head back down and Heero resumed making Duo feel pleasure. They both tuned out the noises.
"Mrwwrrr?" Diss jumped on the bed and padded softly up Heero's back.
Duo sighed in exasperation as he pushed the cat off.
"Oww!" Heero exclaimed and reached back to feel tiny scratches.
"Are you okay?" Duo asked anxiously. "He's just a little jealous, I think."
Heero sighed, glared at the cat, and stroked Duo again. "We need a game plan," he said.
Duo snorted. "For sex?"
"Cat goes in the bathroom. Neighbors need to be quiet." Heero replied.
"I've heard that this happens," Duo said with mock depression.
"What?" Heero wondered.
"First it's wild sex, but, after marriage, too many things get in the way," Duo lamented.
"Marriage?" Heero blushed. "I... All right... so, we have to not let that happen."
"We have to be strong, and not let outside forces inhibit us," Duo agreed.
Heero hooked Duo's knees and pushed them up and wide. "We have to engage in wild, passionate, sex every day."
"Every day," Duo agreed.
"I'm ready for the mission," Heero intoned and then couldn't help laughing.
"I'm sure you'll carry it out, perfectly, just like you always do," Duo replied in a low, sexy voice.
"Perfectly," Heero agreed.
They made passionate love, ignoring everything but each other, and, after, tangled together and resting, they kissed softly and made vows that this peace and this love, would be for the rest of their lives.
END