Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A Child's Love ❯ Cat and Mouse and Cat All Over ( Chapter 19 )

Title: A Child's Love Part 19/20
Author: Makoto Sagara
Archive: Makoto Sagara's Fanfiction Archives, Fanfiction-dot-net, Forever fandom-dot-net, Le Ciel Place; anywhere else, please ask first.
Category: Romance, Angst
Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4, 5xS, 6x9, OCxH, AudaxC, 5 plus 2
Rating: 13+
Warnings: Shonen ai, language, Post-EW, OOC, angst
Disclaimers: Yeah, like I own Gundam Wing. (Goes off to cry, but not before turning out pockets) I am poor as well. Flames will be used to amuse my muses. They are easily entertained, but highly obnoxious.

A/N: It's almost over, everyone. As much as I have enjoyed and agonized over this fic for the last two years, I really am glad to see that I will be done. It'll be like having a child graduate, or something close to that. Thank you for everyone who's read this and commented, either in a review or email or even if they've tracked me down through AIM to tell me what they thought. ^^

Dedication:  To Alliekat, for making me realize that I've been gone from fanfiction writing too long and that there are things that I need to finish before I move on. Thank you so much for making me see that fanfiction is just as addictive as video games. Love you, darlin'.

Summary of the last chapter: Heero and Duo nearly make up, but it's ruined by Duo's self-pity and Heero's anger. Hilde and Mike are waiting for Duo when he returns to his hotel room, and the American tells them everything. Quatre calls while Duo is packing the next day and invites Hilde, Mike and Duo over for one last dinner while they're on Earth. Dinner goes fairly well, and before Duo goes to sleep, he does one last thing. Heero comes home after a long day of work to get a message from Duo telling him it's his turn to play cat.

Symbols: /blah/ - thoughts
-Blah- - emphasized words
=-= - Major scene change or POV change
-=- - Minor scene change

Cat and Mouse and Cat All Over

“Running, running as fast as you can, you'll never catch me. I'm the Gingerbread man,” Duo muttered under his breath as he pulled himself out from under something that vaguely resembled a vehicle, or would when he was done with it.

“What was that, Duo?” Hilde asked, peeking out from her own project. The both of them were currently in their scrap yard's garage, the only other building on the lot and the one that they would never allow any customers to come into. It was cluttered with unfinished projects from the mechanics and owners alike, and there was barely enough room for the two of them to move around comfortably, let alone room enough for potential customers and investors to see what they were up to.

“Nothing, Hill. Just talking to myself.”

“You know that they say that's the first sign of madness,” his best friend teased.

“Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt,” Duo quipped, wiping his filthy hands on a white towel that he found lying next to him.

“Yeah, I guess you would….” She paused, set down the monkey wrench in her hand and walked over to the only phone in the aircraft hanger sized building. “What do you want for lunch? I'll call up to the office and Mike can get it.”

“Not really hungry. I'm just gonna work on this car for Mac and then go home to sleep.”

“You know, Duo, you've been almost responsible since we got back from Earth. No drinking and driving. No late nights at the bars. No calls from the police station to bail you out once again. If I didn't know better, I'd swear you went straight,” Hilde teased, winking at her best friend.

“Never that. Women are fun and all, but I don't think that I could really spend my whole life attached to one,” Duo replied cheekily. “Besides, you're more than enough woman for me, Hill.”

“Are you trying to hit on my woman, Duo Maxwell?” Mike said as he walked up to the pair and wrapped his arms around his grease covered girlfriend.

“God no! Not only would you try to kill me, but _she'd_ successfully remove my balls with a dull paring knife!!!” Duo's remark was met by laughter from Hilde, Duo, Mike, and the other four workers that were within earshot.

“Lunch is from Louie's, but if you're passing up the best subs in the whole Earth Sphere, I'll be glad to eat your Triple Bypass Sub from Hell myself,” the brown haired man said, ducking the hand that swatted at his face.

“Damn, man, that's cruel,” Duo whined playfully, making a show of thinking things over. “But, if you're gonna put it like that, I guess I gotta at least stay for lunch.”

“You're too predictable, Duo.”

“You know it, Hill babe. Now, let me know when lunch is actually here. I'm gonna go wash up.” The only thing that they saw was a long, scruffy chestnut braid and a streak of black leaving the garage.

“How long do you think it's been since he's slept?” Hilde asked quietly.

“What makes you think he's slept? He's here almost twenty-four seven. He gave George an excuse the other day that Mac ordered four custom built vehicles, when it's common knowledge that Mac told him that there was no rush except for the one that Duo built last week.”

“It's bad again, isn't it?”

“No,” Mike said, turning Hilde around to kiss her. “He's at least smiling this time, and not fake smiles. He's just trying to ignore how he feels. If that retard Yuy doesn't show up in the next few days, then I say we go kidnap him _and_ his godson.”

“Michael, have I told you how much I love you?”

“Not today, but you can say it again.”

=-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-= 

“Yuy, when are you and Maxwell going to stop acting like idiots and just admit that the two of you are happier with one another?” Heero looked up, ready to yell at Wufei, who he thought it was. He was surprised to find Zechs standing there, giving him a look of sympathy.

“Whenever I stop acting like a jealous jerk,” Heero said, pushing his chair away from his desk for a small break.

“Wow, I never thought that I'd live to see the day that the Perfect Soldier admitted that he actually messed up.”

“Would you not call me that?”

“And who knew that Yuy would be so sensitive,” Trowa added to the conversation, walking up to stand next to Zechs. “Don't tell me that you're still jealous about the friendship that Wufei and Duo developed after the Eve War. That's a bit much, even from you.”

“I. Am. Not. Jealous. Would you leave me alone so I can finish up this report for Lady Une?”

“Ever the good little soldier,” Quatre stated, coming in to stand next to both Zechs and Trowa. “But, I happen to know that you are full of shit. It's been two weeks since Duo, Hilde, and Mike left. You've done nothing but work, pick up Allilon, and go home to eat and sleep. Have you even had time to actually _talk_ to your godson?”

Heero answered with a low growl and tried to return to his super speed typing on the same sentence he'd been working on for the last hour. Somehow, every time he came to the words “high-speed chase”, images of Duo, a cat and a mouse popped into his mind. He was pretty sure that he was either going insane or that the American man had finally driven him to the brink of his sanity and he'd fallen over. Yes, going slowly insane sounded about right for how he felt.

Nothing had been right since Duo went back to L2. Allilon had gotten extremely introverted, only speaking when Heero attempted to talk to him and only in one or two word sentences. Work hadn't gone very well either. The hackers that he and Trowa had been tracking down had been found, but both had died in said high-speed chase with the police force of the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, North America. All the evidence that Heero had been hoping to find at the suspects' residence had been destroyed in the fire that they'd set. Even showing up at the office had become painful, as Zechs and Une had taken turns asking him if he'd spoken to Duo lately and if he knew how to reach him.

“Go away,” he groused, giving up on typing and turning around to realize that he was alone. His only company was a letter that someone, Zechs probably, had stuck to the wall of his cubicle. Taking it down, he saw an address and phone number that was definitely from the L2 colony.

“How far are you willing to chase me, Heero? It's your turn to play cat.”

-=- -=- -=- -=- -=-

That night, he put Allilon in his chair at the dinner table and began to throw things together. As casually as he could manage with the smart boy, he brought his plan into play. “Allilon, how would you like to visit Duo?”

“Uncle Duo? Really, Uncle Heero? You're not being mean again, are you?” the little boy asked, his blue eyes big in the excitement of seeing Duo again, but showing enough skepticism that Heero knew he couldn't afford to back down now.

“No, I'm being serious. How would you like to go to L2 and see Duo and his friends again?”

“YAY!”

“We'll leave in a week.”

“YAY!”

I'll chase you as far as it takes, Duo, Heero thought with a small smile, as he started to get together a list of things to do in the interim and finish dinner for the bouncy boy across the room from him.

=-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-=

“Are you sure that Heero told you that he and Allilon where taking a trip, Quatre?” Hilde whispered into the vidphone, hoping that for once Duo had really gone home and wasn't joking so he could sleep at the office again. “What makes you think that they're coming to L2, even if they're going on a little vacation?”

The blond gave her a look that made her feel stupid. “This is Heero. He's predictable. Last week, Zechs, Trowa and I cornered him at the office. He was extremely annoyed, but I think what we said got to him. Besides, where else would he go?”

The German woman sighed, shoving a shaky hand through her loose hair. “You have no idea what can of worms you just opened, do you?”

“Yes, I do, but don't tell Duo. If I'm right about this, Heero should arrive in about four hours and he'll look for a hotel in a decent part of the colony for his godson, and then he'll try to contact Duo after a night of sleep.”

“Great. So you're telling me that Duo's going to be really pissed off tomorrow, right?”

“That's only if Heero contacts him before he comes in. Do yourself a favor and tell him to stay home. If I know Duo even half of what I think I do, he's spent the last three weeks working on some project so he doesn't have to think about his personal life.”

“He'd have to have a personal life to want to forget about it, but yes, you're right.” Hilde gave Quatre a sad smile. “It's really sad to see him like this, but I think I'll force him to stay home for the next few days. He fell asleep under the engine block of a jeep he's reconstructing last week.”

Quatre just shook his head with a sigh. “Just be ready for Duo to get upset and willing to run again.”

“To be honest, I'm surprised he's hung around this long. I would have thought he'd been long gone by now. Especially when Wufei disappeared.”

“If you need anything…”

“I'll let you know,” Hilde said, turning off the vidphone and sighing. “Well, this game of cat and mouse has officially started up again.”

=-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-= =-=

“Who is it,” Duo snarled, looking at the video surveillance system he had set up around his house. He knew the outside looked like crap because of the neighborhood, but the inside of his house was spacious and decorated nicely, thanks to Hilde's hard work. He was shocked stupid to see Heero standing on his doorstep with Allilon in hand. “Heero?”

“I know you're there, Baka. Open the door and let us in. It's not exactly the best place for Allilon to be standing around in,” Heero said, his voice carrying in through the door.

Duo opened the door forcefully, angered by the fact that Heero had gone right back to calling him stupid when he was the one at fault. His bad mood faded however when he found his legs assaulted by the adorable Heero clone he'd missed since returning home. “Alli!” 

“Uncle Duo,” Allilon muttered from Duo's pants leg before looking up with shining blue eyes. “Uncle Heero let me get on a shuttle and I got to see the stars and the moon. Did you know the moon was so big?”

“I've been there a few times, kiddo,” Duo replied, prying the boy from his legs and picking him up to hug him. “Come in and shut the door, Heero.”

“Really? You went to the moon? What was it like? Is it really made out of cheese? That's what Auntie Lu says, but I don't believe her. It didn't look like cheese to me. Is there an old man or a rabbit?”

Duo chuckled at the child's exuberance and carried him to the living room. “Well, kiddo, this is my house. What do you think?”

Allilon looked around at the big comfortable couches and tables and things that he couldn't break easily and fell in love. “Can I jump on your couch?” Allilon leaned closer to whisper loudly into Duo's ear. “Uncle Trowa lets me do that when Uncle Quatre's at work.”

The braided man set the boy down. “Sure thing. Go for it.” He could feel Heero's eyes on him as he interacted with the child and part of him screamed for the Japanese man to touch him, but he held together well. Especially when the other part of him remembered the standoff between Wufei and Heero and what happened afterwards. “Follow me,” he said to the other man, not bothering to look back as he headed for the kitchen.

“Duo,” Heero started, but the American threw up a hand.

“Let's not start this right now. How was your flight?”

“Boring and too slow.”

“Sounds like every other shuttle flight I've ever had. How is everyone else?”

“Haven't they called you?”

“Yeah, but you've gotten to see them. It's totally different.”

“I suppose so. They're fine. “

“Fine enough to give you grief?” Duo laughed as Heero gave him a look of disbelief. “Don't tell me that you thought you were the only one they were ganging up on. I've had about twenty-five messages from each of them, all telling me how stupid I was for leaving or asking me to come back.” Duo scrounged around to find things to start making coffee. “That's why I've been at the garage the whole time. That and the fact I'm so far behind in my orders for a few clients because of my trip I have to practically live there to get anything finished.”

Heero grunted in answer as he sat down at the tiny table in the kitchen, watching Duo move around as he made coffee and got together other things that he could only assume for a snack. He hadn't noticed how hard he was staring at the way Duo seemed to glide around the room, braid sweeping across the back of well-muscled thighs and a very nice ass, until said object of his view was waving a hand in front of his face and calling his name. “Na- What?”

“You okay, `Ro? You kinda spaced out. It couldn't have been that bad though because you were smiling.”

“I'm… fine,” Heero managed, trying to move his chair away from the American and the clean smell of soap and lavender that seemed to emanate from him. For the first time since Duo had reappeared in his life, Heero was grateful for his godson interrupting them. Therefore, he was more than happy when Allilon wrapped himself around Duo's legs yet again.

“Do you want some cocoa, kiddo?”

“YES!” Duo chuckled warmly as he passed the boy a child-sized mug and a cup of coffee to Heero. Then, he took a seat across from the Japanese man and helped Allilon into a chair. `How to little kids learn to be so darn cute,' he thought, his attention wavering between the two guests as they all sat and sipped on their respective drinks. He wasn't prepared for the next thing that happened. “Uncle Duo, what does… ko-commitment-phobe mean?”

The question left both men sputtered and Duo's mind reeling as he tried to find a way to answer. Then, he realized where the question came from and, yet again, he wanted to strangle his Arab friend. “Did Quatre tell you to ask that?”

“No, I heard Uncle Quatre talking to Hilde and she called Uncle Heero that,” the child said, drinking the rest of his cocoa. Duo was shaking silently as he tried desperately not to begin laughing out loud. The look on Heero's face was enough to know that that would be dangerous, even in his own house. Allilon shrugged and ran out of the kitchen, not caring that his question wasn't answered. He'd discovered that Duo had a huge movie collection and was determined to paw through it.

After a few moments, Duo had collected himself to actually speak once more. “Are you alright, Heero?”

“Hn.” 

“That bad, eh?”

“Hn.”

“Heero, why did you come here?”

That earned him a few blinks and a glare. “I- We- I missed you,” the Japanese man said quietly. “I never had a chance to say goodbye to you, properly, and Allilon was unhappy that you left.”

Duo nodded, willing to leave things like that. “How long are you going to be here?”

“A week. I was hoping to let Allilon see Hilde, you, Mike, and your garage. He seems to think that a scrap yard is perfect for a child.”

“Kid after my own heart.”

“Duo…” Heero paused as big amethyst eyes locked on his and he nearly lost his nerve to say what needed as he started to lose himself in them. “I-I…”

“Yes,” Duo breathed, feeling the temperature in the room gradually rising between the two of them. He didn't protest when the other man jumped from the table, picked him up, and passionately kissed him. In fact, he was more than willing to return the kiss, losing himself in the feeling of Heero's strong arms holding him up, even as they shook. He knew that Heero's trip to L2 was a way of apologizing about the jealousy, but Duo was also aware that there was going to have to be a talk about it later. However, he just wanted to kiss the man he'd missed for two weeks.