Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Life With Heero ❯ Bringing Heero Home ( Chapter 2 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Calic0cat 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.01.2003 | Updated On: 05.21.2005 | Pages: 1 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 1.9K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.01.2003 | Updated On: 05.21.2005 | Pages: 1 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 1.9K | Status: Completed
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Title: #2 Bringing Heero Home
Arc: Life With Heero
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Completed: Jan. 1, 2003
Revised: April 15, 2005
Genre: Shonen Ai/Yaoi, Angst, Friendship Fic, Domestic, Drama
Pairing: None yet
Rated: FRT (Fan Rated suitable for Teenagers)
Warnings: Language (Coarse Language, Profanity), Angst
Archives: At my site http://www.calic0cat.net and at Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves; anyone else, please ask.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.
Author's Notes: This is an open-ended arc focussing on Duo and Heero's lives together, starting about two years after Endless Waltz. The length of each story in the arc will vary, anywhere from ficlet to multi-part. Warnings, rating, genre, and POV will vary from story to story as well. The arc as a whole will probably never truly "end", but the smaller plot arcs within it will.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change
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Duo had almost decided that Heero had sent him off on a wild goose chase when one last passenger straggled out of the shuttle and approached the customs checkpoint. He waited patiently while Heero cleared customs. Weary blue eyes swept the area without spotting him, and Duo saw Heero's shoulders slump.
Mentally castigating himself for following his impulse to stay out of sight, Duo strode quickly across the waiting area, calling cheerfully, "Hey there, buddy, 'bout time you got here!" When he threw his arms around Heero in a friendly hug, he was shocked to have Heero hug him back, holding him tightly in a grip that made his ribs ache. Rubbing Heero's back gently, he murmured softly, "It's okay, Heero. Everything's going to be okay. C'mon, let's go home and get you unpacked." Duo bit his lip in an effort to not cry out as Heero's grip tightened convulsively. "We'll have something to eat, then you can tell me what happened, okay?"
No sound reached his ears, but Heero's grip loosened, releasing him. Draping one arm across his friend's shoulders, Duo urged him out of the shuttleport and into his car.
"Nice, isn't she," Duo observed as Heero climbed into the restored classic car. "Did all the work on her myself. I've been thinking about selling out of the scrapyard, branching off into something else and maybe doing some of this classic restoration stuff as a sideline. The scrapyard business is gettin' pretty dull lately." Sneaking glances out of the corner of his eye as he manoeuvred through traffic, he saw Heero gradually relax a bit as he kept up the casual chatter. As they neared his house, Duo said, "Oh yeah, guess you haven't been here since I moved out of Hilde's place, have you? It's nothin' fancy, but I think you'll like it. Just a rental, but it's got a nice big garage for workin' on cars and an itty bitty yard with an itty bitty garden."
'Okay, Heero's always quiet, but he hasn't said a single damn word since I met him at the shuttleport. But damn, am I glad he ran straight to me rather than takin' off on his own. Oh, I'd have found him sooner or later, but the fact that he headed straight for his best friend 'stead of runnin' off to nurse his wounds in private says a lot about how far he's come since the war. Even if most people think he hasn't changed at all.'
Leading Heero into the house, Duo pointed out the kitchen, living room, laundry room, and half-bath that comprised the tiny first floor. "The basement is fixed up as a workout room slash dojo since I decided health club memberships were a serious waste of money," he explained, gesturing towards the basement door. "Besides, people in those places tended to look at me funny; scrawny guys like me aren't 'supposed' to lift the kind of weight I do - or wreck the punching bag, for that matter," he added with a conspiratorial grin, hoping to draw a flicker of amusement from Heero.
It was a vain hope; Heero remained silent, his face still and serious, his gaze evaluating his surroundings dispassionately as he listened. Duo didn't let the non-reaction faze him. It might take a while, but he'd draw Heero out eventually. He'd done it before; he could do it again.
"And upstairs here," Duo bounded up a short flight of steps, "is another bathroom - a full one this time, with both a shower and tub - my bedroom, and the guestroom. Which is currently kind of crowded since I've been using it as a study slash library. Sorry. We can either clear it out for you, or you can share my room, whichever you..." Suddenly, Duo was having trouble breathing let alone speaking as he was again enclosed in arms of steel. Unwilling to say anything to upset Heero, Duo bore the discomfort in silence as he managed to free his own arms enough to wrap them around Heero and rub soothing circles on his back.
"Arigatou, Duo," a hoarse voice whispered softly.
"Nan demo nai," Duo answered just as softly, relying on his use of Japanese to let Heero know just how strongly he felt about this. His accent was terrible and he knew it, but he also knew that it was the effort that counted. "That's what best friends are for," he added, switching back to English. Having finally gotten a few words out of Heero, he was determined to continue to do so. "Now, what do you wanna do? Shower, food, sleep? Talk?"
Releasing his grip with every sign of reluctance, Heero said quietly, "Shower, then sleep?"
"Okay," Duo agreed. "Now, I gotta call off the search parties, so - shall I tell them you're here, or just that you're okay and to stop looking?" He immediately regretted the question as Heero dropped his gaze and hunched his shoulders slightly.
"Just stop looking," Heero answered reluctantly. "For now."
"Okay." With a brisk nod, Duo abandoned the obviously unwelcome subject and moved on, ushering Heero into the bathroom and pointing as he explained, "Towels are in the far cupboard, shampoo and soap in the shower, there's even a spare toothbrush in the drawer if you need it. Anything I'm forgetting?"
Receiving a silent headshake in response, Duo stepped forward and gave Heero a quick, firm hug, murmuring, "I'm glad you came," before leaving, pulling the bathroom door closed on his way out.
***
The shower had stopped running quite a while ago but Heero had not come down, so Duo guessed that he must have meant it when he said sleep after shower. 'Damn, I'd hoped I'd have a chance to coax him into eating something first. Well, I'll take a snack up and leave it by the bed so he can have it when he wakes up.'
Carrying a tray with a glass of juice and some fruit and cookies on it, Duo checked the guestroom first. No Heero. Raising one eyebrow slightly, he checked his own room. Heero was curled up on one side of the bed - the side nearest the door, same as during the war. 'He looks so young and lost,' Duo thought sorrowfully as he quietly set the tray down on the nightstand. 'J never equipped him to deal with living in peacetime. The rest of us had at least *some* exposure to so-called "normal" life to prepare us for a post-war existence. Heero didn't have *any*.'
Studying Heero's sleeping face, he was stunned to realize he could see the faint mark of a handprint. '*Damn,* she must've really belted him one. Wouldn't have thought she *could* hit that hard. 'Lena probably bruised the heck out of her hand... Lucky she didn't break it...
'I should've seen this coming. 'Specially after the same damn thing happened with me and Hilde.
'I don't even know if Heero is *capable* of the sort of love that Relena needs. Not right now, that's for sure. And I'm bettin' that the whole reason she tried to force the issue is that she's run into someone else that she's attracted to, whether she consciously knows it or not. That's what happened with Hilde, anyway. Subconsciously, Relena probably needed to know whether it was time to let go or not. I don't blame her for that, but I wish she'd picked some other time to start losin' her temper. Heero didn't need all that to deal with. She's one of the few people he considers a friend, and all those hurtful words plus the slap must've really hurt.
'Heero's only learned what friendship's all about over the last couple of years. Hell, till I got that email confirming a flight booking in *my* name this morning, I wouldn't have even guaranteed that he really understood it. Now, I'd say he definitely does. He understood it well enough to come to me for help when he seemed to have been thrown out, anyway.'
As Heero stirred slightly, brow wrinkling and muscles tightening in the obvious prelude to a nightmare, Duo decided that he could use some sleep himself. 'I think I only got two or three hours last night before the phone rang.'
Crawling in bed with Heero, he slid up behind him, spoon-fashion, stopping just short of touching. A moment later, Heero, without even waking, wriggled backwards to press tightly against Duo, and relaxed, the simple presence of another living being enough to keep the night terrors at bay for now.
It had been months since the last time that Heero had visited, since the last time that they'd shared a bed. Yet, as Duo draped one arm over his best friend's slumbering form, he marvelled at how natural, how familiar, this felt.
It was good to be together again.
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Title: #2 Bringing Heero Home
Arc: Life With Heero
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Completed: Jan. 1, 2003
Revised: April 15, 2005
Genre: Shonen Ai/Yaoi, Angst, Friendship Fic, Domestic, Drama
Pairing: None yet
Rated: FRT (Fan Rated suitable for Teenagers)
Warnings: Language (Coarse Language, Profanity), Angst
Archives: At my site http://www.calic0cat.net and at Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves; anyone else, please ask.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.
Author's Notes: This is an open-ended arc focussing on Duo and Heero's lives together, starting about two years after Endless Waltz. The length of each story in the arc will vary, anywhere from ficlet to multi-part. Warnings, rating, genre, and POV will vary from story to story as well. The arc as a whole will probably never truly "end", but the smaller plot arcs within it will.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change
#################################################
Duo had almost decided that Heero had sent him off on a wild goose chase when one last passenger straggled out of the shuttle and approached the customs checkpoint. He waited patiently while Heero cleared customs. Weary blue eyes swept the area without spotting him, and Duo saw Heero's shoulders slump.
Mentally castigating himself for following his impulse to stay out of sight, Duo strode quickly across the waiting area, calling cheerfully, "Hey there, buddy, 'bout time you got here!" When he threw his arms around Heero in a friendly hug, he was shocked to have Heero hug him back, holding him tightly in a grip that made his ribs ache. Rubbing Heero's back gently, he murmured softly, "It's okay, Heero. Everything's going to be okay. C'mon, let's go home and get you unpacked." Duo bit his lip in an effort to not cry out as Heero's grip tightened convulsively. "We'll have something to eat, then you can tell me what happened, okay?"
No sound reached his ears, but Heero's grip loosened, releasing him. Draping one arm across his friend's shoulders, Duo urged him out of the shuttleport and into his car.
"Nice, isn't she," Duo observed as Heero climbed into the restored classic car. "Did all the work on her myself. I've been thinking about selling out of the scrapyard, branching off into something else and maybe doing some of this classic restoration stuff as a sideline. The scrapyard business is gettin' pretty dull lately." Sneaking glances out of the corner of his eye as he manoeuvred through traffic, he saw Heero gradually relax a bit as he kept up the casual chatter. As they neared his house, Duo said, "Oh yeah, guess you haven't been here since I moved out of Hilde's place, have you? It's nothin' fancy, but I think you'll like it. Just a rental, but it's got a nice big garage for workin' on cars and an itty bitty yard with an itty bitty garden."
'Okay, Heero's always quiet, but he hasn't said a single damn word since I met him at the shuttleport. But damn, am I glad he ran straight to me rather than takin' off on his own. Oh, I'd have found him sooner or later, but the fact that he headed straight for his best friend 'stead of runnin' off to nurse his wounds in private says a lot about how far he's come since the war. Even if most people think he hasn't changed at all.'
Leading Heero into the house, Duo pointed out the kitchen, living room, laundry room, and half-bath that comprised the tiny first floor. "The basement is fixed up as a workout room slash dojo since I decided health club memberships were a serious waste of money," he explained, gesturing towards the basement door. "Besides, people in those places tended to look at me funny; scrawny guys like me aren't 'supposed' to lift the kind of weight I do - or wreck the punching bag, for that matter," he added with a conspiratorial grin, hoping to draw a flicker of amusement from Heero.
It was a vain hope; Heero remained silent, his face still and serious, his gaze evaluating his surroundings dispassionately as he listened. Duo didn't let the non-reaction faze him. It might take a while, but he'd draw Heero out eventually. He'd done it before; he could do it again.
"And upstairs here," Duo bounded up a short flight of steps, "is another bathroom - a full one this time, with both a shower and tub - my bedroom, and the guestroom. Which is currently kind of crowded since I've been using it as a study slash library. Sorry. We can either clear it out for you, or you can share my room, whichever you..." Suddenly, Duo was having trouble breathing let alone speaking as he was again enclosed in arms of steel. Unwilling to say anything to upset Heero, Duo bore the discomfort in silence as he managed to free his own arms enough to wrap them around Heero and rub soothing circles on his back.
"Arigatou, Duo," a hoarse voice whispered softly.
"Nan demo nai," Duo answered just as softly, relying on his use of Japanese to let Heero know just how strongly he felt about this. His accent was terrible and he knew it, but he also knew that it was the effort that counted. "That's what best friends are for," he added, switching back to English. Having finally gotten a few words out of Heero, he was determined to continue to do so. "Now, what do you wanna do? Shower, food, sleep? Talk?"
Releasing his grip with every sign of reluctance, Heero said quietly, "Shower, then sleep?"
"Okay," Duo agreed. "Now, I gotta call off the search parties, so - shall I tell them you're here, or just that you're okay and to stop looking?" He immediately regretted the question as Heero dropped his gaze and hunched his shoulders slightly.
"Just stop looking," Heero answered reluctantly. "For now."
"Okay." With a brisk nod, Duo abandoned the obviously unwelcome subject and moved on, ushering Heero into the bathroom and pointing as he explained, "Towels are in the far cupboard, shampoo and soap in the shower, there's even a spare toothbrush in the drawer if you need it. Anything I'm forgetting?"
Receiving a silent headshake in response, Duo stepped forward and gave Heero a quick, firm hug, murmuring, "I'm glad you came," before leaving, pulling the bathroom door closed on his way out.
***
The shower had stopped running quite a while ago but Heero had not come down, so Duo guessed that he must have meant it when he said sleep after shower. 'Damn, I'd hoped I'd have a chance to coax him into eating something first. Well, I'll take a snack up and leave it by the bed so he can have it when he wakes up.'
Carrying a tray with a glass of juice and some fruit and cookies on it, Duo checked the guestroom first. No Heero. Raising one eyebrow slightly, he checked his own room. Heero was curled up on one side of the bed - the side nearest the door, same as during the war. 'He looks so young and lost,' Duo thought sorrowfully as he quietly set the tray down on the nightstand. 'J never equipped him to deal with living in peacetime. The rest of us had at least *some* exposure to so-called "normal" life to prepare us for a post-war existence. Heero didn't have *any*.'
Studying Heero's sleeping face, he was stunned to realize he could see the faint mark of a handprint. '*Damn,* she must've really belted him one. Wouldn't have thought she *could* hit that hard. 'Lena probably bruised the heck out of her hand... Lucky she didn't break it...
'I should've seen this coming. 'Specially after the same damn thing happened with me and Hilde.
'I don't even know if Heero is *capable* of the sort of love that Relena needs. Not right now, that's for sure. And I'm bettin' that the whole reason she tried to force the issue is that she's run into someone else that she's attracted to, whether she consciously knows it or not. That's what happened with Hilde, anyway. Subconsciously, Relena probably needed to know whether it was time to let go or not. I don't blame her for that, but I wish she'd picked some other time to start losin' her temper. Heero didn't need all that to deal with. She's one of the few people he considers a friend, and all those hurtful words plus the slap must've really hurt.
'Heero's only learned what friendship's all about over the last couple of years. Hell, till I got that email confirming a flight booking in *my* name this morning, I wouldn't have even guaranteed that he really understood it. Now, I'd say he definitely does. He understood it well enough to come to me for help when he seemed to have been thrown out, anyway.'
As Heero stirred slightly, brow wrinkling and muscles tightening in the obvious prelude to a nightmare, Duo decided that he could use some sleep himself. 'I think I only got two or three hours last night before the phone rang.'
Crawling in bed with Heero, he slid up behind him, spoon-fashion, stopping just short of touching. A moment later, Heero, without even waking, wriggled backwards to press tightly against Duo, and relaxed, the simple presence of another living being enough to keep the night terrors at bay for now.
It had been months since the last time that Heero had visited, since the last time that they'd shared a bed. Yet, as Duo draped one arm over his best friend's slumbering form, he marvelled at how natural, how familiar, this felt.
It was good to be together again.
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