Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Coming Home ❯ Chapter 1

Title: Coming Home
Author: Sylvia Spivey (SS.)
Warnings: Light angst, shonen ai 2+1
Summary: Duo comes home with a secret.
Note: This was written for the February 2003 Marriage Proposal fic contest hosted by SDDI. I started this fic in December, and then just stopped writing. I just couldn't get back into it until this month, so please forgive the fact that it is set during Christmas. Feedback is very welcome, especially gut reactions and constructive criticism.

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The dappled shade of the trees was a perfect camoflage, as well as a slight shield from the rain that had been pouring down all afternoon. I'd been standing in a copse of cedar outside the `family home' for over half an hour, trying to make myself go inside. Strands of small, multicolored lights blinked on and off along the eaves of the house; someone had already hung the Christmas lights. Otherwise the house hadn't changed much since I'd been gone. It had only been a year, but spending all that time at a big city "U" made this seem like another world....

It wasn't that I didn't want to see the guys - we're like family, which is why we bought this place together after the war. I loved them, but can you blame a guy for wanting a little quiet before the storm? Not even a real family gets along all of the time, and I knew that what I was about to face made Oz interrogations look like a fun time. I didn't have anyone but myself to blame, really, but I never was one follow the rules. I mean, hey, if you can't enjoy your college years then what's the point of going? Explosions in the chemistry lab, midnight excursions to toilet paper professors' cars, threats of expulsion several times? It was fun, and that's what matters. At least, that's what mattered at the time. Given the chance to do it all over though, there was one thing I wouldn't do again. And I really didn't want the guys to find out about it.

Which was really why I was standing outside in the rain.

I was flat out scared. I was scared that if the guys found out, they would shut me out of their lives for good.

With any luck it would never come up. I felt hope and a kind of sick dread at the same time. Not to mention a bit of a chill. The red silk shirt was festive but it did nothing to protect me from the weather. Right now it was soaked with water and clinging to my body.

Hell, this wasn't accomplishing anything! I had to go in sometime. I plucked at my shirt, which was clinging to me like a second skin, and pushed my bangs out of my face. Take it like a man, I told myself. I threw back my shoulders and strutted to the front door, grasping the handle and throwing it open wide. "Hide your daughters and your whiskey," I bellowed, and flung my braid back over my shoulder, "the bad boy's come home!"

I heard laughter and running footsteps ... and suddenly Trowa skidded around a corner in sock feet, laughing wildly, with Quatre in hot pursuit. His socks slid on the floor and he almost fell. His auburn hair flew back from his face wildly; his green eyes sparkled. The flush on Quatre's face as he tried to grab Trowa offset his pale blue eyes, which held a sly twinkle that I didn't remember. He reached out, grabbing Trowa's shirt, and Trowa fell, still laughing after a muffled curse. Quatre scrambled over his body and threw himself at me, practically knocking me down. "I won," he crowed as he glomped me.

Heero walked into the hallway and stopped when he saw the commotion. He took one look at me, standing sopping wet in the doorway with Quatre trying to climb me like a tree, and let a small smile slip before stepping over Trowa and going into the kitchen. Quatre squirmed away to dance victoriously around Trowa, who was still laying on the ground laughing.

What in the HELL was going on? "Who are you people and what have you done with my room mates?" I demanded. They ignored me, of course.

"It's always like this," a dry voice said. Wufei walked into the room, carefully stepping over Trowa. "Duo," he greeted me with a nod as he tucked a strand of his shoulder-length black hair behind an ear. "I trust you had a pleasant trip."

Now I was on more familiar territory. I started to reply, but he quickly said "I don't want to hear about it. Based on your other exploits this year, I'm sure that it was indecent." He raised an eyebrow at me. "However, I do look forward to speaking to you later about your appalling lack of respect for propriety and education." I watched as he turned on his heel and walked out the door, leaving me completely speechless.

A tan hand reached round and cupped my chin, pushing my mouth closed. "You'll catch flies," Trowa said, and I heard Quatre giggle.