Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Bai Tou Xie Lao - A Chinese Wedding Story ❯ Chapter 1

Title: Bai Tou Xie Lao: A Chinese Wedding Story

Author: Alexis - mezzomonkey@earthlink.net

Pairings: eventual 1+2+1/1x2x1; 5xOFC; 3x4x3; past 2xH; past 1xR

Rating: let's say R for now, and perhaps NC-17 later on

Warnings: shounen ai/yaoi; het; sap; fluff; angst of the romantic variety; language; fangirly Japanese

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and you people already know that! I do own this story, but the original idea is one of Sharon's delightful plot bunnies! Thanks for letting me adopt the lil bugger!

Notes: "Bai Tou Xie Lao" is a Chinese phrase that is said to congratulate newly married couples. It translates roughly to "may you two grow old together, and be each other's companion when your hair is white". I thought it was a beautiful sentiment, and really summed up not only Wufei's relationship, but also the one developing between Heero and Duo.

~*~*~*~*~

February, A.C. 202

Duo rushed into Preventers Headquarters, eschewing his usual fifteen minute morning meander, which consisted of idle chit chat with various personnel and a cup of coffee. He made a direct beeline for Wufei's office, and then sat down on his desk when he discovered the other agent hadn't arrived yet. After five minutes of finger drumming and foot tapping, Wufei walked in with his usual efficient stride, and a slightly goofy smile which was rather out-of-place on the stoic ex-pilot. Duo remembered the first time he had seen that look on his friend's face, shortly after he had arrived dirtside from L2.

~*Flashback*~

January, A.C. 199

He had been staying on Wufei's tiny pullout couch for a little over a week now, while getting his life back in order, going through the motions of joining the Preventers full-time, and looking for an apartment. Thus when his temporary roommate came home from HQ with a small smile playing at the corner of his lips, he knew something had happened.

"Well," Duo prompted. "Are you going to tell me, or do I have to drag it out of you? This is part of my best friend prerogative. You will be telling me what's going on one way or another."

Wufei's smile just got infinitesimally bigger, bordering on a grin. "I met someone."

Duo's eyes widened at that admission. "What? That's great! Who's the lucky lady that managed to capture the attention of the workaholic known as Chang Wufei?"

"Her name is Lin Jun Li, and she's a sketch artist working with me on my current kidnapping case. She's quite intelligent, and very good at what she does. The witness said her work was a startlingly good rendition of the suspect."

"'Truth and strength', eh? No wonder you're interested in her. See, I told you those Chinese lessons didn't go in one ear and out the other. Well, what's the plan my man? When is Wu-bear the Chinese Sex God going to go in for the kill?"

Wufei just rolled his eyes; he was much accustomed to his best friend's antics and odd sense of humor. "I've only just met her; I'd rather develop a friendship before trying to put any `moves' on her as you put it."

Suddenly serious, a genuine smile on his face, Duo put his arm around his best friend's shoulders. "I'm happy for you, man. Remember, I'm always here to talk to and for some patently poor romantic advice, should you ever need it."

~*End Flashback*~

Grinning broadly, he hopped off the desk and bounced over in Wufei's direction. "I take it that the evening went well?"

Wufei grinned, a habit he picked up over the past couple of years in constant contact with Maxwell. "She said yes!" Suddenly his face turned serious, taking in Duo's sparkling violet eyes and huge smile with solemn onyx orbs. "I'd like to ask something of you, Duo."

Knowing that he was being serious, since those were the only times Wufei called him by his first name. "Anything you need, it's yours. You're not my best friend for nothing, you know."

Wufei looked back on the close friendship they cultivated after Hilde had dumped Duo. He returned to Earth, which he loved, leaving L2 behind once and for all. "We would like to have a traditional Chinese ceremony, as well as a Western one. I would like your help in planning this next step in my and Jun Li's life together. I would also be honored if you would consent to be my best man."

Duo just blinked for a minute, stunned, then threw his arms around his friend in a tight bear hug. "Oh shit! I'd love to help you in any way! I can't believe you trust me with something this important! This is going to be the best wedding ever, I promise! And you know that it will be, because Duo Maxwell does not lie!"

Wufei tugged gently on his braid to get his best friend's effusive grip to lessen. "I trust you with my life, Duo, you know that. My marriage is part and parcel with that, so of course I would trust you with this. I know you're not the baka you show the general public, so don't act like it."

Duo let go, nodding, then looked at the clock. "Shit! I'm late! Heero's gonna have my ass on a platter if I don't get in our office, like, five minutes ago! I'll catch you at lunch Wu-stud!" And with that said, a braided tornado made its way to the other side of the field agents' offices, ducking in a doorway just in time to receive a slightly less potent Yuy death glare.

"I know, Heero, I know. I'm sorry I'm late, but guess what? Wu-snookums is getting married! Isn't that great? I'm so happy for him!"

Heero nodded, his glare softening at the thought of his long-time friend's happiness. "Yes, it is. I'll pass on my congratulations later. Right now, we have a report to finish on those drug smugglers from L1."

~*~*~*~*~

Lunchtime found Wufei knocking on Heero and Duo's office door, like always. After receiving a curt "enter" from Heero, he walked in to Duo ruffling through a lot of printouts and Heero looking at him skeptically. Heero then rose and walked over to his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I hear congratulations are in order, Chang. I wish you good luck and good fortune in your upcoming marriage."

"Thank you, Yuy." He then looked back over to Duo, taking in his slightly disheveled braid and the engrossed look on his face as he read through the papers in his hands. "What is he doing?"

Heero smirked and released Wufei's shoulder. "You should know; it's your fault. He's researching traditional Chinese wedding customs, since he has to make sure you have the best wedding ever, as he puts it."

Wufei groaned at this, which effectively brought Duo out of his focused reading. "Hey, Wu-man! I found this great site called ChinaBridal.com, it's got lots of info I need so I know what to do and what not to do in this thing. I never realized how much I didn't know about your culture. It's really cool!"

Shaking his head, Wufei just smiled at his best friend. "Well, even with your fascination of Asian cultures, I didn't exactly think that wedding customs were something that you had previously looked into."

This statement was certainly true. Duo's entire apartment was a fusion of East meets West, introspective haiku's and artwork hanging alongside decorative swords, a jade Buddha and lucky cat statues alongside photos of the pilots and an old bible on the mantle below a Renaissance-styled crucifix that hung on the wall. Western furniture was everywhere, but all the accents were Asian, like the hand-painted rice paper changing screen in his bedroom. He also became fascinated with Japanese, Chinese, and Thai food, even enrolling in a cooking course to enhance his skills.

Duo grinned, blushing slightly. "Yeah, but I have to make sure this is perfect. It's not everyday that your best friend gets married!"

"Well, why don't you leave that stuff behind for now, and let's grab some lunch? That new sushi place on Boulevard de la Paix finally opened. We could see if it lives up to either of your standards." Wufei added that last sentence with a small smirk, knowing how picky both Heero and Duo were about sushi.

"Aa. Sounds fine to me, lets go." Heero then ushered the other two agents out of the office, closing the door behind them.

~*~*~*~*~

The three ex-Gundam pilots were led to a low table in the corner of the restaurant, removing their shoes before stepping up on the dais and kneeling on the provided cushions. They quickly perused the menu, and just ended up ordering a variety of different things as always. There were California rolls, Inari, spicy tekka maki, fugu for Heero (because only he was willing to risk death by sushi), dragon rolls, gyoza, a rainbow roll, and a caterpillar roll for Duo (who thought it looked cute).

"Man, Wu, I can't believe you almost committed the ultimate sacrilege by ordering teppanyaki! It would have been an injustice for you to ignore our sushi tradition!" Duo's smile was huge, still caught up in the happiness he had for his friend's future, and even Heero's eyes glinted with mirth and contentment.

"This is precisely why I was considering it, hoping that maybe Yuy would stop taking his life in his own hands by eating fugu. It would be truly ironic for you to have survived the wars and then keel over in a sushi restaurant due to poisoning."

Heero merely snorted at this, as if the idea of a little blowfish killing him was absurd. "It tastes good. Besides, what's life without a little risk?"

At this, Duo laughed out loud. "Not enough risk in your life, partner? I'm sure we could talk to Une about that, see about getting the more…interesting missions. At least it'll save you the money spent on fugu. It's damn expensive!"

"Maxwell, you're the one who insisted on spending almost 200 credits on a fugu dinner for his birthday last year, why complain now?"

Duo waved the comment away with a careless gesture. "That's different. If I can't splurge on my long-time friend and partner in celebration of his birthday, who else am I gonna spend my hard-earned money on? Certainly not the hordes of people attempting to climb into bed with me!"

This statement was of course not entirely accurate, and did much to disguise Duo's deep-seated hurt at not being able to maintain a lasting relationship. After he came to Earth, realizing he preferred men to women, this kicked off a lot of soul-searching and exploration. There was plenty of interest, but he would only agree to date civilians, so his relationships were few and far between. They also tended to fall apart fairly early on, since he didn't open up to others easily despite his easy-going nature, and they could never understand his need to continue fighting, nor the violent night terrors that would rip him awake, shivering and sweating. He swore his reason for dating civilians lay in the fact that it would be awkward to date someone from Preventers, but Wufei knew the real reason was his deep-seated belief that it would be easier to hold onto someone and keep them alive if they weren't in high-risk surroundings. This of course led to a vicious cycle of failed relationships.

Eager to change the flow of the conversation, Duo looked over to Wufei. "Oi, Wuffadelic, I read that the groom's family is who traditionally pays for the wedding. Guess I should get on the horn to Q-ball and Mr. T to see if they'd be able to help out monetarily or with a location, ne? We are your family after all." Heero nodded at this statement, the pair having already discussed it in their office before lunch.

Faced with the joking yet sincere offer from his two friends, Wufei was momentarily speechless. "You never cease to amaze me, either of you, ever since our stay at the lovely Chateau OZ at the Lunar Base. Who knew back then that we'd end up here?"

"I didn't, especially not back then; considering that Tsubarov cutting off the air supply nearly killed us. But we did go out in a blaze of glory with our new Gundams." Duo's eyes looked far away, remembering the prison stay that started him and Wufei's friendship, and cemented the one he and Heero had been tentatively building up. Popping the last dragon roll in his mouth, Duo sat back and patted his stomach, a contented smile on his face. "Mmm, that was good. It looks like we found ourselves another lunchtime hangout, boys."

Heero nodded, "Aa. And it's close enough to HQ that we can walk."

"That's our Heero, ever the sensible one."

"Well it's either that or let my partner run around like a chicken with its head cut off." Wufei was forced to hold back a chuckle at this bland statement from Heero, which earned him a glare from Duo, who then proceeded to blow a raspberry in Heero's direction.

After indicating to the waitress that they wanted the check, Wufei cut in before the verbal battle could progress any further. "Children! Don't make me give you a time out, or better yet, I can tell Big Bad Mama Une and let her deal with it."

Duo pouted, with a smile trying to tug the ends of his mouth upwards. "No Daddy Wu-kins, we'll be good, wight Heewo?"

Heero just rolled his eyes and uttered a soft "baka" under his breath, which had become more affectionate than condescending over the years.

The trio bickered over whose turn it was to pay for lunch, each trying to grab the bill from the other. Duo finally was the triumphant one to hand his credit card over to the waitress, sticking his tongue out at the other two while he was at it. After signing the receipt, the ex-pilots returned to the repetitiveness that is paperwork.

~*~*~*~*~

For the next week, Duo spent all his free time engrossed in printouts and books on Chinese culture and wedding practices, or surfing the internet for more sources of information. He filled page after page with notes on the different customs and how to integrate the Western ceremony into the traditional practices that would be upheld.

Sitting down on his couch, surrounded by research materials and notes, a glass of red wine in his hand, Duo looked back on the end of his and Hilde's relationship. She had started talking about them taking the next step in their commitment to one another, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it.

~*Flashback*~

December, A.C. 198

They had had another fight, it seemed to be the only thing they did nowadays. Duo found it harder and harder to cling to the reasons why he had gotten involved with Hilde after the war ended. It had seemed like the right thing at the time, they were good friends and he liked her, and she certainly seemed to love him. He also wanted to finally be able to stay in one place, and lead a normal life for the first time.

But now all that was going to hell in a hand basket. Hilde wanted them to get married, or at least get engaged, to prove that their relationship was going somewhere. Yet for some reason, Duo just could not take that next step. He had been growing restless for the past year, feeling useless and unchallenged here at the scrap yard.

When he had first come to Earth after stealing Deathscythe, he had never seen anything quite so beautiful. Growing up on an impoverished colony with too little water, too little plants, just too little anything, he had been in awe of the abundance of everything on Earth. He loved the unpredictability of the weather that you never got on a colony because of the pre-set weather controls. Now he wondered why he ever went back to space, and back to L2, which had all his darkest memories tied to it.

He also missed his fellow pilots. Hilde had gotten the notion into her head that if he didn't see them very often, then he would be able to put his fighting behind him. This of course had the opposite effect, making him lonely for the only four people on the Earth and colonies who could truly understand him, and all they had been through. Even Hilde couldn't come close, and she had been involved in the war as well, risking her life to get them the information on Libra.

Duo looked back over at Hilde, whose cheeks were flushed with anger, her blue eyes sparkling. He observed rather detachedly that she looked very pretty like that, yet there was not a hint of attraction there. He just didn't understand it, he had tried so hard for the past couple of years to feel more for her, but it just didn't work. Now it seemed that the rift between them was irreparable.

"Fine, Duo! I just can't take this anymore! It's not working out between us, and if we keep trying it'll just ruin any chance we'll have at retaining our friendship. I think it would be best if we just parted ways here. We both need to figure out what it is we really want with our lives."

Duo just nodded in reply, a sad look in his amethyst eyes. "I'm sorry, Hilde. I did try, you know I did. And I do care for you, but not nearly as much as you deserve. You'll always be a friend, no matter what." With that said, he walked out of the living room to pack his things.

~*End Flashback*~

Draining his wineglass, Duo set it aside and stretched. Glancing at the clock hanging on the wall of the living room, Duo realized it had gotten very late while he was lost in memories. `Time to get some sleep, or I'll be useless to Heero on our mission tomorrow.'

Wandering into his bedroom, Duo stripped off his uniform until he was clad only in boxers. Sliding under the covers of his lonely bed, he was soon claimed by the realm of dreams.