Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Lonely Hearts ❯ Confrontations ( Chapter 2 )

Lonely Hearts

Chapter 2

The safe house wasn't a big one. There were three bedrooms, two upstairs and one downstairs, all relatively small. A functional kitchenette slash dining room that adjoined a small living room with a large fire place on the western wall. The bathrooms were also small except for the one upstairs. The tub, no the three people Jacuzzi took up most of the space. The single shower stall downstairs looked very sad all by its self. Duo dropped his gear off in the room downstairs, wanting to be closer to the kitchen, and the way out. He then headed into the garage. Two cars were there along with a snowmobile and a motorcycle for summer use. The keys for each vehicle were labeled and hung on the wall near the door. The entire house was nicely furnished and very cozy.

Duo started stacking some wood by the huge fireplace when WuFei walked in on him.

"Cold?"

"Nope just thought some light would be nice. The generator is outside. Probably a little on the chilly side itself." Duo joked, lighting the fire and stepping back a bit. The light bounced off his large, orchid colored eyes and shown more of the honey gold highlights in the rope of hair that hung on his back. WuFei just stood there, entranced for a moment with the American. The soft glow of the flames made Duo look more and more beautiful, almost like one of the creatures from a fairy tail.

WuFei's own features seemed to turn a warm caramel color, silken hair now tainted with small, amber patches from the light it reflected. Duo turned and looked at him. /THERE! That's what I saw! That's the look he had before in my dream!/

"Something wrong Maxwell?" Duo shook his head, mostly to clear it.

"Na.. Nothing Wu-man. I'm gong to check to see if we have any food." It was a common excuse for Duo, but an excuse nonetheless. Duo walked briskly past the Asian and into the kitchen.

****

WuFei watched him go, staying put to enjoy the heat of the fire. /Damnit Maxwell open up… You can't keep lying to yourself and us forever./ WuFei contemplated going in there and beating the truth out of Duo but a pair of strong and chilled arms kept him in place.

WuFei turned to face Heero, a soft and warm expression on the usually stoic pilot's face. WuFei rested his head on Heero's shoulder, arms snaking around to hold onto the slim waist with in his grasp. Heero just stood there, holding onto his love, trying to calm his thoughts and fears through physical contact. It worked better then words most of the time. He watched the fire flicker and dance behind the mesh fencing that kept sparks inside where they could do little damage.

He heard Duo standing in the doorway, watching them and the fire. Heero didn't look over, just listened to the other boy and his movements. Duo shifted a few times before truing away, a small sigh resonating through Heero's fine tuned hearing.

****

/They look so happy together. So... Right… They don't need me around to mess them up. No. They have their love. I… I guess I'm always gunna be alone. / Duo let his mind think it had resolved the problem as he walked in to his room and tired to unpack in the dark.

****

/That was a… sad sigh? Why would…/ Then it hit Heero. He realized what was wrong. Well most of it anyway he was sure of it. He would have to save his revelation for later though. They had a mission to complete. /Yes… After the mission I'll talk to him. / He turned his attention back to the lovely in his arms.

"Better?"

"Some… I hate the cold… your very warm." Heero chuckled.

"Bound to get hotter… knowing you." He whispered. Duo this time came in making himself known.

"Don't you two ever stop? Anyway there isn't anything really good to eat other then raisins and three week old OJ so I'm going to head into town and get some groceries."

"Sounds good. Want me to come with you?" WuFei asked.

"Nope I can handle something as mundane as shopping. You two probably have something planned and were gunna wait for me to fall asleep only to wake me back up."

Saying that, they both blushed.

"See... well I'll be back in a few. JA!" with that, Duo turned and left.

****

Duo left the blushing couple with a sad grin on his face. It was getting harder to hide it he knew that it was only a matter of time before they found out. He shoved those thoughts out of his mind and took one of the cars.

He turned on the heat, if only to keep his fingers from melding with the steering wheel and pulled out into the small snowstorm that had begun the moment they arrived at the house. He had begun to wish that there was a truck instead of a car, they were easier to drive in bad weather, but he figured it was his luck.

****

It wasn't long after Duo left that WuFei found himself on the soft furry rug in front of the fireplace, pined beneath a very hungry Heero.

True to his earlier reply to WuFei's request, Heero was making him quite hot indeed. Though for the first time he found his mind wandering to his oddly behaving comrade, not noticing the now missing buttons on his shirt and jeans. His wanderings on what to do about Duo were cut short as Heero demanded his full and complete attention by swallowing his already sore member whole.

"Heero?" WuFei whispered into his lover's chest. It was some time later, nearly two hours since Duo had departed. The weather was growing worse outside, yet another thing to add to WuFei's long list of worries.

"Humm?"

"What are we going to do about Maxwell?"

Heero shifted under the quilt he had managed to pull off the couch and onto the two of them. It was still chilly out and two completely nude forms in front of a dieing fire weren't going to stay warm for long. He stared at the dieing embers for a while, thinking.

"I think he's lost."

"Lost?"

"Hai. He feels lost in something he can't fathom. Whither it's the fact we treat him like a brother... or… He's dealing with something he fears more then anything this war could ever throw at him."

"What would that be?"

"Simple… an unknown emotion." WuFei nodded. He remembered how hard it had been to get Heero out of his icy shell and to accept emotions completely. Not just basic instincts but real emotions that could consume you if you weren't careful. Heero still had problems with some of those but he was at least mature enough to realize someone else dealing with those problems.

"If you are right, and he's trying to deal with some unknown emotion of his, which one is it? I don't mean to sound dense, but I want to know what you think."

"Well I…" Heero was cut short by the sound of the front door flying open and a gust of frigid air blowing into the entire house.

"I'm baaaack!" Duo sang out though his jacket collar.

He was bundled head to toe to keep the harsh wind out and away from his skin.

WuFei immediately began to shiver and Heero grabbed his clothing before he got any colder. The door was shut again by the time Heero got there, a few bags worth of groceries piled in front of the coat rack. He picked them up in time for the door to open again to Duo and an armload of bags.

"Hope I didn't catch you guys with your pants down." He snickered.

Heero gave him his `That's not funny' glare.

"One last trip and I'll park the car; weather's getting worse out there." Duo tossed at him before closing the door again to brave the howling winter winds.

Heero brought the bags into the kitchen and put them on the counter. WuFei entered with the quilt around his waist and shirt hanging off his shoulders.

"You owe me a new pair of pants." He muttered. Heero smirked and pointed to the stairs.

"Go get dressed."

"Yes sir." Heero rolled his eyes whilst WuFei climbed the stairs.

****

Duo parked the car in the garage and grabbed the last three bags worth of stuff. One bag of munchies for their flight, a bag with some of the finest vodka he could find in town and the last one, art supplies. /Since I kind of broke my last set of really good pencils, why not replace the and have OZ foot the bill?/ He closed the door, took his shoes off and headed inside. Dropping off the vodka and art stuff in his room he entered the kitchen.

"Hope I didn't miss anything terribly important?" Heero shook his head.

"Nope."

"You let the fire die out." Duo took off his hat, brushing the snow off of the brim. Heero looked over and noticed the inch or so of melting snow on the braided pilot.

"Duo, get out of those clothes. You're soaked to the bone."

"Naa I'm fine, just a bit chilly. That storm's gunna get kind of bad. I'm hoping that our little mission doesn't take too long tomorrow. It's holding up a convoy of OZ transports there in town."

"You get spotted?" Heero immediately became concerned as his training over rid his usual emotions.

"Nope. Just pulled over for leaving one of my bags in the snow that's all." He hung his coat on the rack and tossed his wet socks near the heater. His clothing under the snow gear was just as wet but it was hard to tell since Duo's usual apparel was already black as the abyss.

Heero shook his head at Duo's casual conversation and finished putting the groceries away. Duo grinned and started stoking the fire again, getting it back to the way it was before he left. He peeled his over shirt off and let it hang there in front of the fire.

****

Heero stood there in the open refrigerator, watching Duo from a distance. He could almost feel the mental battle inside the Shinigami pilot's mind even from two rooms away. He didn't want his friend to be in so much pain.

/ Need to know if I am right. I need to know. But how will he react?/ For once in a great while the Perfect Soldier was unsure about a situation. He needed to know what was wrong but Duo's most recent behavior was erratic, unpredictable and often hostile.

He recalled the black eye Trowa was still sporting from asking Duo the wrong question. He didn't want that to be him.

Despite his looks, he was a trained Gundam Pilot, one of the strongest warriors out there. /But he... and I are still teenagers. I need to know before it effects the mission./ It worked as a reason, satisfying the inner soldier and the inner child that screamed for a resolution to Duo's pain. /I'll ask him now… all bet carefully./

****

"Duo… is there something bothering you?" Heero approached the pilot of Shinigami like he would a cornered animal, slowly and making no sudden movements that might cause him to want to bolt. He really didn't want to end up physically harming Duo out of self-defense. His inner soldier laughed at his weakness.

"Nothing is bothering me Heero." Heero could have sworn he heard him mutter " Nothing of importance anyway."

"Duo, you can't keep hiding from what is hurting you. You have to tell someone. You are going to get yourself killed if you keep acting like a child…"

"Heero shut the fuck up already will you?? Why do you care * now * anyway? Think I'm going to jeopardize your precious little mission?" Duo turned, glaring orchid daggers at the now stunned Wing Zero pilot. His tone dropped like a heavy stone in a pond, the week's worth of pent up frustration radiating off him like the steam from his drying shirt.

Heero just met the other teen's glare and waited for him to speak further. Duo's braid snapped like a whip as he returned his gaze to the fire, throwing a few pieces of ice around the room. Heero made note of all the tensed muscles in his back, the clenched fist and the still sad eyes. Heero hated it when those eyes managed to show how his friend felt while the rest of him continued to fight whatever it was that was the problem.

"My point exactly." Duo spat out. Heero had forgotten to respond to his earlier challenge. He was about to say something when WuFei walked in and put one of the big fluffy towels from the upstairs bathroom on Duo's shaking shoulders. Duo didn't budge, just kept looking at the flames with dead eyes.

"You have been acting weird lately, Maxwell. Its worrying all of us, especially Quatre."/And myself./ he added mentally.

"Well we all have our weird days WuFei… I'm going to go lay down for a bit…" Duo turned and didn't look at either of the pilots, just walked with a tired pace back to his dark room at the end of the downstairs hallway. He shut the door silently and Heero noted the soft click of the lock. He wasn't going to get a chance to talk to his friend until morning now.

"Something is completely off now." WuFei muttered, pulling Duo's shirt away from the fire before it began to get singed.

"What makes you think that?"

"He called me WuFei. Not Wu, or Wu-man or even Wu-bear… Just WuFei. He never does that."

Heero looked at the shut door of Duo's room and sighed. "We are going to have to force it out of him if he doesn't bring it up himself soon."

****

Duo finished getting out of his soaking wet clothing and sat on the edge of the bed. He stared at the floor and the rumpled clothing that was starting to leave a wet spot in the rug.

He knew exactly what they had done when he left, evidence of that was still in Heero's voice and the tiny little smirk he seemed to have when ever he managed to pin WuFei down for an extended amount of time. He could feel the heat of the rug in front of the fireplace while he had gotten the flames roaring again. He could smell their scents all over the room. The musty aroma of his two friends mixed with gunpowder and jasmine, WuFei's favorite scent.

Duo would have to be a complete fool not to know what those two had done, evidence of his jealousy and desire lay in the gun case, inside his journal and in the now forming bulge in his wet boxers. He sighed and flopped back onto the bed, hands behind his head attempting to will his erection away.

He reached over for the bottle of vodka and took a swig; though he wished it were something with more of a burn to it he still wanted to drown his pains away before giving into the usual urge to get off right then and there. The house was too small and with the others now probably watching him like a pair of hawks, he had to settle for the alternatives.

He lay there, staring at the stucco ceiling and counting how many times his heart beat, his eyes blinked and other things that made no sense to anyone but himself. The mission was in the morning, the lack of sunlight this far north made it still seem to be nighttime but they all knew better. He would attack first, hard and fast and with no warning. He would slip in, take out what he was assigned and disappear again into the snowdrifts.

He hoped he could pull out fast enough to get back to the house and make tracks before the others returned. "Unfortunately Maxwell you won't be that lucky. You never are." He mused aloud. It was only a few minutes later he was asleep in a drunken daze, staring at the ceiling and hoping that his heart would freeze over so the pain would go away.