Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Luck of the Draw ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Luck of the Draw

Part 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, don't sue.

Warning: Yaoi, swearing, violence, Lemon, sorta AU.

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Duo heaved a sigh of relief as the door slammed behind his partner. The blonde's presence was making him overly tense and there didn't seem to be much of a reason for his unease. Zechs hadn't done anything in retaliation for punching him in the nose as he had expected. The blonde had just glared at him. Of course Duo suspected the blonde of cooking up some scheme to get back at him. Zechs just didn't seem like the kind of person to sit and take certain things. Besides, they say revenge is a dish best served cold.

As thoughts of a gruesome death ran through his mind, Duo started to panic. He may have been infamous Gundam pilot 02, but Zechs was no weakling. No one would even think strangely of his absence for a few weeks if the other Preventer did decide to shorten his life by a few decades.

He stood back as the equipment was set up and tried to tear his mind from that train of thought. There was no doubt in his mind that Zechs was going to dosomething, but the thing that worried him was what??

Well, he grinned manically. He could always be the one to make the first move.

With that thought in mind he took of out of the apartment, intending to buy a few supplies he'd need if he was going to pull this off.

Duo's mood was a great deal more optimistic as he skipped back towards the seedy building. A few hours, two cartons of eggs, a jar of honey and a whole lot of ants -yes the little insect- latter and Duo was all but on cloud nine. Yes, he'd had to drive halfway across town to reach the closest pet store that sold ants, but he was still very happy with everything he'd purchased.

Zechs was about to have the most eventful sleep he'd ever had. Just wait until these babies made it inside the mans sleeping bag.

With this thought in mind he pulled the door open and stopped dead in his tracks.

There, laying on the couch with his head hanging off the front and legs slung over the back, was Zechs, half naked and presumably drunk if the half empty bottle of Everclear and orange juice had anything to say about it.

The blonde looked up at him from alcohol glazed eyes and grinned. "Heya Duo!"

The brunettes mouth just about hit his chest. "What the hell are you doing, Marquis?! This is a mission, not some excuse to get rip-roaring drunk!"

Crystalline eyes blinked at him as Zechs continued to stare at him from his upside down perch. His blonde hair lay in a silken mass of the floor and his jeans were bunched around his knees. Definitely not a position one usually saw the ever-composed blonde in. His face was a mask of childish innocence and Duo was completely hard put to stay angry with him.

Instead of letting the ex-OZ's appearance get to him, Duo slammed the door and took off toward their room. There would be no pranks tonight. After setting the bag of things aside, he turned back into the living room to find the blonde now sitting on the back of the couch, a distinctive pout hanging about his lips.

"Okay, out with it," Duo muttered as he stood in the center of the room, hands planted on his hips. "What possessed you to do this."

Zech's pout disappeared and his expression became pained as he pointed to the laptop. "The email."

"Huh? What email?"

"The one from Trieze."

"WHAT?!!!" Duo sputtered as he turned wide violet eyes towards the portable computer. "Trieze is dead! A dead man can't send emails!"

"He did," came the whispered response. "Trieze always used to address me as 'My Prince'. No one else knew."

The American stalked over to the computer and opened the message. Zechs was right. It was address to 'My Prince' and had some pretty private things in it. Things one wouldn't usually know about someone else unless the two were lovers. He'd always suspected the two of having a relationship.

"This can't be possible. Trieze died. We all saw Wufei kill him. There is no way in hell he could have survived that blow. It just not possible…"

Duo turned to Zechs, his expression completely shocked and even a little confused. The other man gazed back at him as he hugged his knees close to his body. "He hasn't contacted me until now, Duo. Why? If he was alive why didn't he ever call, email or even write? Why…?" The last was said in a weak voice as a single tear slid down his cheek. "I know things were getting ready to end, but, dammit, we were friends!"

"Calm down, Zechs," Duo said, completely uncomfortable with the situation. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation."

"There better be," Zechs growled. Jeez, did his emotions ever change quickly when he was drunk. "We've known each other since we were boys. I wouldn't have done thing to him!"

Most of the alcohol seemed to have left the blondes system, though his face was still flushed and eyes just slightly glazed. Duo walked over and sat next to the man as Zechs continued to growl at Trieze's lack of contact. Finally, fed up with the all but unintelligible mumbling, he clamped his hand over the other mans mouth.

Zechs turned to glare at him, before prying the hand away. "Was that really necessary?"

Duo shrugged "You wouldn't have shut up if I told you to."

"Whatever…."

The blonde flopped onto his side, knees still against his chest as he tried to push Duo off the couch with his feet. He wasn't succeeding. The violet eyed Preventer merely stood then sat back down onto Zechs' legs.

"Do you mind?" Zechs looked up at him from behind his messy blonde hair, eyes narrowed as he tried not to smile.

"Not at all," Duo grinned back. "Though your feet make a horrible cushion."

"Then get off of them."

"No. If you didn't want me to sit on your feet, you shouldn't have tried to push me off the couch."

The blonde growled and launched himself at his braided partner, his legs free. Without a lot of difficulty he picked up the American and tossed him to land on the armchair a few feet away.

"Hey!" Duo protested. "Not fair. That's cheating! You're just bigger than me."

Suddenly Zechs sat down and stared at him. "Why do you hate me Duo?"

The ex-'Scythe pilot was startled by the question. He hadn't expected the question and didn't know how to answer it, or even if he could. "I don't really hate you Zechs. I don't even dislike you all that much."

"Than why do you act like you do?"

The other man still had some of that alcohol in his system. There was no way that he would have been asking these questions. Zechs Marquis was too proud, too much of a tough guy to let people know how much they bothered him. What Duo didn't understand was why his opinion of Zechs should matter to the other man.

"I don't know…" For some odd reason he felt like he owed the blonde an answer. It was probably because he seemed so… fragile at the moment. Like he'd break if he didn't get the truth. He moved to sit next to Zechs on the couch. "At first I always thought it had something to with how you were one of the bad guys in the war, but you've proved yourself time and again. I don't understand it and I don't pretend to."

"Do you even know who I am, Duo? You never took the chance to get to know me… You judged me actions, not me as a person."

He was right. Duo had never once tried to get to know the other Preventer a little better. He'd had plenty of opportunities to do so and had never one taken them. Why was it he could accept Une or anyone else who had been Oz soldiers, but not Zechs?

It just didn't make a lot of sense. He'd never held grudges before. Life was too short for something so silly, yet… Yet he'd never let Zechs get close, become a friend. It went against everything he'd come to believe in.

Why, why couldn't he let Zechs in?

TBC…

Shade: Well… Had meant this to be the lemon scene, but looks like we'll have to wait. I'll just continue this scene in the next chapter. Oh, and if you find Zechs' change from ranting about Trieze to goofing off with Duo strange… well, keep in mind he's a little wasted.