Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Coming Home ❯ Chapter 9

I guess there wasn't any sense in playing dumb about it - Wufei never bought the 'dumb' act anyway. He always seemed to see right through me to understand what I was really thinking. What's going on with me and Heero? I wish I knew. "We're fighting," I said. I felt a rush of irrational anger. Why did Heero get under my skin like that? When did it start happening? Heero wasn't like he was during the war. "We've all changed," Wufei murmured, making me realize I'd been thinking out loud. Another bad habit I needed to break.

"Why are you fighting?" Wufei prodded.

"Because he ... he overheard what you said in the kitchen." Wufei's eyebrow quirked up for a moment and I found myself blushing under his scrutiny. If he hadn't known there was something between Heero and I, he realized it now.

"Duo," he said seriously, "tell me everything." So I told him about enlisting Heero's help, and how Heero had surprised me by telling Wufei we were going to a club. I told him about Heero's nervousness, and how it melted away after a few drinks at the bar. I told him about Heero's smile - that gorgeous smile - and about dancing with Heero in the hot, crowded club. And the kiss ... my body got warm just thinking about it. I kind of trailed off when I got to the part about the bath and what happened then, and Wufei seemed to understand why.

"You don't need to give me all the details, but I need to know this. How far did you go?" I felt crushed by the weight of the question.

"Not ... not all the way," I answered.

Wufei let out an explosive breath. "Good." He cocked his head as if he couldn't quite decide how to say something. "I have known all of you for years, and I have come to think of you as my family. As such, it is my duty to care for and watch after all of you. I spent a lot of time getting to know all of you, to understand you and be better able to help you." He paused. "Heero is special. He is - innocent - in many ways, and he would not take such action lightly. He does not believe in sex without the commitment of love."

My mind was racing at high speed. So Heero had never ... but he let me touch him .... "Because he trusts you, he cares for you, and he thinks you feel the same way."

Heero cared for me, enough to think it might be something more? I had known Heero through several stages of our lives, in war and in peacetime. I'd nursed him when he was sick; I'd bandaged his wounds; I'd joked and laughed with him; I'd argued and fought with him. He was my friend, and last night was the first time we had tried for something more.

"You're saying Heero loves - thinks he loves - me?"

Wufei nodded. "But he won't accept being just a casual fling," he warned. "Don't toy with his emotions unless you're serious about your own." He watched me fidget with my braid for a minute, and asked gently "Duo, do you love him?"

Did I love him?

"I …" I felt sick. I closed my eyes. "I don't want to lose him, Wu."

"You have always feared that if you opened your heart to someone they would leave you. But you can't let that fear rule your life forever." He stroked my cheek. "Think about it." He left me in the kitchen.

I didn't have to think about it long. Deep down I knew he was right.

I loved Heero.