Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Dating Services ❯ Chapter 9

Disclaimers and warnings in first part


The ride back home was an odd mixture of relaxing and stressful. Duo had a great weekend, able to simply enjoy being with Trowa, putting his worries and concerns out of his mind for most of the three days.

It might have been a mistake to go on the camping trip after he had admitted to himself how he felt about Trowa, but he couldn’t regret it. Knowing that he was going to have to limit his time with the tall man had made him relish ever moment, hoping to remember those times once he was alone.

With one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his seat, he drove back toward the city, jumping when a warm hand covered his, “Duo, are you okay? You’ve been very quiet since we left camp.”

“Just…wishing the weekend hadn’t ended so soon,” he answered honestly, turning his hand over so his fingers could tangle with Trowa’s briefly. “I know that we can’t do stuff like that a lot and that made it even more special.”

“It is possible to make shorter trips on the weekend, maybe stay overnight instead of the whole weekend.”

Aware there would be no more trips, Duo sighed quietly, giving a wan smile when his hand was squeezed lightly. “I doubt I’ll have time to do much of anything for the next few weeks. Now that reconstruction has finally begun at Cinq, Zechs will likely have to travel there pretty often and I can’t let him go alone.”

“He would have his entire security team, Duo. It’s not like they’re going to let him wander into a dangerous area.”

“I know, but if I let him go without me, I wouldn’t be doing my job. Would you leave Quatre in the same situation?”

“I suppose not,” Trowa said quietly. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“What do you mean? There are probably a lot of things I’m not telling you, but I will when -”

“Stop it, damn it,” the tall man ordered softly, hand tightening on Duo’s for an instant before disappearing. “You’ve been keeping something from me all weekend, starting when you picked me up on Friday. If you don’t want to tell me what’s going on that’s fine, but stop acting like you have no idea what I’m talking about. I thought we were closer than that.”

Hearing the actual pain in Trowa’s voice, Duo winced as he slowed to match the speed limit, marginally slower now that they were within city limits. “Zechs is going to be making a lot of trips, Trowa; that’s the truth. Since I don’t trust anyone else with his safety, I’ll be going with him. That, plus trying to keep up with his normal schedule is going to lead to a lot of late evenings and few weekends off.” Risking a glance at his passenger, he saw Trowa’s jaw was clenched. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think another trip will be possible for a while.”

“I understand your need to protect Zechs; I’d do the same if it was Quatre, but are you sure that’s the real reason you don’t want to make plans? Are you sure this doesn’t have anything to do with what happened Friday night?”

Duo didn’t have to ask what Trowa meant; the sensation of firm lips moving against his was still fresh on his mind. “Why would that make me want to spend less time with you? You said you weren’t mad about it.”

“I wasn’t mad about it. I’m not mad about it now. I assumed you’d try to avoid me so it wouldn’t happen again; you did say it was a mistake.”

It had been a mistake, a huge one that had shown Duo how good things could be between them. “I wouldn’t hold that against you. It was my fault.”

“Duo, I didn’t -”

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” he requested with a grimace. “It’s not going to happen again, so there’s no reason to talk about it. We’ll still get together when we can; I’m just saying I won’t have as much time as I did before. There’s got to be a lot of things you’ve been putting off because we’ve been together.”

“Nothing I’ve missed.”

“But there is something,” Duo nodded as he turned onto Trowa’s street.

“I’ve enjoyed being with you.”

“I enjoy being with you, too, but we both have a life.”

“What you’re saying is that you don’t want to spend time with me anymore,” Trowa stated suddenly.

“I do, but I don’t think it’s a good idea,” the braided man shook his head as he pulled to a stop in front of Trowa’s building. “It’s been a long time since either of us went on a date and Zechs said -”

“I don’t give a damn what Zechs said,” Trowa growled, shocking Duo. “I haven’t wanted to go on dates. I’ve been having a better time with you than I could with anyone else.”

Trowa jerked the door open and got out, already able to get his things out of the back by the time Duo got over his surprise. He had never seen Trowa so upset about anything and didn’t understand the source of his anger. “What’s the deal, Trowa? Why are you mad at me? You were the one that suggested the dating service.”

“That was before…forget it, Duo. Let me know when you can get together. I would still like to see you when you have time, unless you don’t want to see me at all.”

“I want to see you, more than I should,” the smaller man admitted softly, bracing for the backlash.

All of Trowa’s anger vanished in an instant, his face softening as he moved a step closer toward Duo and stopping, searching the smaller man’s face for a moment. Leaning forward, he tucked a wayward strand of Duo’s hair behind his ear and smiled. “You can be a real idiot sometimes, Duo. Call me when you’re ready to talk.”



“We missed you at dinner last night,” Zechs commented as he and Duo entered the office, the braided man giving his usual look-over before nodding in satisfaction that nothing had been disturbed. “Did you have a date?”

Sitting at his desk, Duo shook his head, “No date, I just didn’t feel up to going out. Did I miss anything?”

The blonde was watching him closely; even without looking up, Duo could feel the blue eyes on him. “We discussed what to do for Heero’s birthday, but didn’t want to make definite plans without talking to you first.”

“Whatever you guys decide to do is fine with me,” he responded quietly, two weary to work up any enthusiasm. “You have a meeting with a senator from Cinq in less than thirty minutes, Zechs. Make sure you have your shit together; this guy is a prick.”

“It’s true that he has the personality of a wet cat, but he knows his business; he fights for what he wants. In this case, we both want the same things so I doubt there will be any real issues,” the blonde made a dismissive gesture with an elegant flick of his wrist, as if he was dismissing a servant instead of words. “I’m not that easily sidetracked, Duo.”

“Yes, you are,” Duo lifted on eyebrow, meeting the other man’s gaze. “How did Wufei like your anniversary gift?”

It was intriguing to watch Zechs’ expression alter from determination to dreamy and distant, obviously recalling Wufei's gratitude of the new katana, an exact replica of one the Chang clan had in the early days of the colony, lost to war. “He loved it. I hope you don’t mind that I took all the credit, though I should have told him that you were the one that came up with the idea and that did most of the work for it.”

“You paid for it,” Duo reminded, not minding that Zechs had taken credit for the hours of research he had put into Wufei’s gift. “Besides, if you had told him it was my idea, he’d probably think there was an ulterior motive.”

“You did have an ulterior motive, didn’t you?” Zechs focused on the surface of his desk, finding what he needed for his meeting. “If I’m not mistaken, you used that as an excuse not to go to dinner with the rest of us one evening. It wasn’t the first dinner, or the last, that you missed. You haven’t gone to dinner for almost a month, ever since you came back from your camping trip. What happened between you and Trowa while you were gone?”

“Nothing happened,” he managed to control the heating of his face, but only because he had thought of that single kiss many times during the past weeks. Even after all the time that had passed, the memory was still fresh and made him ache.

“When was the last time you saw Trowa?”

“When I dropped him off at his apartment that Monday.”

“I thought you liked spending time with him?”

“You know I do. You know how much I like being with him,” Duo answered as he checked his gun. It was unlikely he would need to use it for a meeting with a senator, but it was best to be prepared. It also offered a way to avoid Zechs’ probing gaze.

“If you enjoy spending time with him, why are you avoiding him?”

“You said I should limit our time together.”

“I didn’t mean for you to cut off all contact, Duo. I said limit your time to one or two days a week instead of four or five. Why did you do something so drastic?”

“Because I can’t be with him without…” Duo winced and stood, holstering his gun. “We should go.”

“You want him.”

Pretending not to understand, Duo held the door open for the other man as he snorted, “The senator is too old for me and very married.”

Walking past, Zechs leveled a look that told he didn’t find the comment amusing. “You want him,” he repeated in a low voice, clearly aware of other people in the building.

“What sane, single, bisexual man wouldn’t?” Duo retorted in a tone that was also quiet. “I’d be stupid not to want him, but I’m also not stupid enough to think he could feel the same.” Reaching the conference room, he shook his head forcefully, “We aren’t talking about this now. There are more important things to deal with,” he added, jerking his chin in the direction of where the Senator sat with an aide by his side.

“Nothing is more important than my friends and their happiness,” Zechs corrected softly. “We’ll talk about this more later.”