Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ some reunion ❯ chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"Honey, I'm hommmmmmmmmeeeeeee!" Duo screeched his entrance into the Winner estate, making a meditating Wufei jump.

"Damnit, Maxwell! Still as loud as ever." He said as he made his way over to Duo, grinning even as he chided him.

"Wu-man! Didja miss me?" Duo grabbed the chinese pilot into a bear hug.

"Maxwell-I-can't-breathe--" Wufei managed to choke out.

Duo let go. "Well, I guess that means yes, ne? Now, where is that crazy clown man?" He said, scratching his head and glancing around the room.

At that moment Quatre came in the front door with Rashid following, tripping over all of Duo's luggage.

"Seriously Duo, did you really need to bring all of this stuff?" Quatre asked, eyeing the four suitcases full of--something or other.

"Hey, Rashid! You didn't need to pack all of my junk in, man," Duo said, grabbing half of the luggage. "I could have gotten it myself, ya know."

"Yes, Master Duo."

"And how many friggin times do I have to tell you? Don't call me Master!!"

"Yes, M-er Duo."

Duo smiled and dumped his luggage in the hallway. "Now that's more like it."

"Hello, Duo. It's nice to see you." Trowa said as he entered the kitchen, giving Duo a friendly hug.

"You mean nice to hear him," Wufei snorted.

"Ah, yes. Back to normal," Duo sighed. "But someone is missing..."

"Heero replied to the RSVP, so he should be here," Quatre noted.

"Oh." Duo said quietly.

"Don't tell me you still haven't talked, Maxwell." Wufei said.

"No, for your information, we haven't," Duo said. "And as I remember, the only person in this room I've had regular contact with is Quatre. So don't give me any of your lip, Wu-man. And that goes for you too, Banged Boy!"

"Hey, I don't exactly remember you calling me if you were missing my face," Trowa remarked casually.

Oh. That was very true. But that still didn't stop Duo from trying to win. "Yeah, but like I knew how to contact you, always being at the circus, and never answering any of your emails. And you--" he turned to Wufei. "You promised me you'd visit me as soon as the Preventers would allow it, I even gave you Hilde's number where I was staying at that time. Did you call? Noooo!"

"You're right, Duo. I'm sorry." Wufei apologized.

Duo looked expectantly at Trowa.

"What? Don't expect me to apologize. You were once a gundam pilot. I'm sure if you had wanted to reach me, you could have found a way."

Duo pouted. "So does that mean that since *you* never got a hold of me, you never wanted to talk to me?"

"Duo-" Quatre started.

"No. It's okey, Quatre. Really it is. I just wanted to get my point across. Now I'm done." Duo said, sitting down in the living room while the other three followed suit.

"Wow. Maxwell grew up," Wufei commented. "You've finally learned how to let things go. And you got a little taller, too."

"But he's still just as skinny," Quatre replied, elbowing Duo in the stomach as he sat down next to him.

"Hey! Quit picking on the skinny boy!" Duo shreiked. "Speaking of skinny, I'm starved! What's for dinner?"

"DUO!!" the chorus of three chimed.

"What'd I say?"

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The next day found Duo and Hilde, who had just arrived along with the other guests, in Duo's room, trying to figure out what he should wear for that night's ball.

"I'm telling you, Hilde--I just want to wear my clericals. What's so wrong with that?" Duo said as he sat on the bed with clothes strewn all over it.

"Duo! You haven't seen these people in how long, and you want to go to the ball in your regular old preist's garb?" Hilde asked, hands on her hips.

"For your information, that "garb" has sentimental value, thank you very much!" Duo retorted huffily.

With a resigned sigh, Hilde plopped down next to him. "I know it does, Duo, but you said you wanted my help, and you don't like anything that I've picked out!"

Hilde was right. He did ask her to help him. He was just so nervous, and he couldn't even begin to explain why. He was also estatic to see Heero. Yes, he was still a little angry, but he couldn't wait to see how the past five years had changed his stoic friend. And he was equally as interested to see what exactly was happening for him and the Queen of the World.

But what was eating him away was whether or not his former partner even wanted to maintain friendship status. He was so incredibly afraid that the reason Heero hadn't spoken with him was because Heero realized what an idiot he was and wanted nothing to do with him.

//Back to the present// "Look Hilde, I'm real sorry. I just-- I'm just kinda jumpy. Sorry. What if I wear those black pants with this violet top? Bring out the colour of my eyes?" Duo fluttered his eyelashes.

"Okey, Duo. Whatever you want." She replied. "But we have two hours, and you still have to help me get ready too. So... meet me in my room, showered and deoderized in an hour?"

"Sounds great! Thanks, Hilde."

"No problem." She said as she made her way to the door.

*AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER*

Duo stood in Hilde's room, trying with all of his might to zip her damned dress up.

"Damn it, Hilde, the sucker won't work!" He said as he almost ripped the zipper off of the dress.

"Duo! Be careful! This dress cost a fortune!" She cried while perfecting her make-up in the mirror.

"I know!" Duo suddenly jumped up and ran out of the room. A minute later he returned with a very confused looking Wufei.

"What is it?" Wufei asked, looking around the room frantically.

"Can you hold the top of her dress while I pull the zipper up?"

"You call *that* an emergency?!" Wufei snorted as he held the fabric taut.

"Yes, I do," Duo responded. "Got it! Thanks, Wu-man. See ya at the ball!" Wufei just shook his head and left the room.

"I can't believe that in less than an hour, we will be dancing with people that we haven't seen in five years!" Hilde said as she turned around for Duo's approval.

"Beautiful, darling," he quipped with a horrible accent. "Now come on dear, we musn't be late."

"Duo, we'll be on time, and besides, didn't you know it's fashionable to be late?"

"Yeah, but ..." Duo trailed off nervously, pulling Hilde out of her room. //I just wanna get there, and get it over with.// "And besides, the ballroom isn't in the main estate, it's about a ten minute walk, if you walk through the garden and around the perimeter of the manor."

"Okey, okey! Just let me finish putting on my right shoe, okey?" she asked, leaning on the wall for support.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he said absentmindedly.

"Are you okey?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Heero."

"Hilde. My name's Hilde."

"Oi!" Duo smacked his forehead. "Sorry, Hilde. I guess I'm a little distracted."

"A little?"

"Okey, Okey! Let's just get this show on the road, ne?"

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When they arrived, most of the guests were already inside. Duo stopped and took a deep breath. *I can handle this, I can handle this* he kept repeating. Hilde stopped walking and looked back at him questioningly.

"You go in, Hilde, I'm gonna stand out here for a little while." He said as he leaned up against a neaby column.

"Duo! I can't just leave you here!" she responded.

"Don't worry about it! I'll be there in a minute. I promise."

"Okey," she resigned. "But if you're not in here soon, I'm gonna make Relena come get you."

"I will! I will! Just go enjoy." He said. So she left him there, waiting.

What if he didn't come? Quatre *had* invited him to come early with the other four boys, and he never came. Suddenly he realized that it didn't scare him if he showed up. What scared him was if he didn't. //I need... closure.// He thought. //I can't live through the rest of my life never seeing him again. I need to be able to see him at least this once, so prove to myself that he still exists.//

"Duo."

Duo's head snapped around to reveal an older Heero Yuy walking towards him from the ballroom. He looked different; he had forgone the green tank top for an olive green dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top, and a pair of bootleg shaped khakis. His hair, however, was still as unruly as ever, and his cobalt eyes were even more piercing.

At the sight of Heero, Duo immediately lost his breath. Had his friend always been so beautiful? //Yes. But I had forgotten how breathtaking he was.// If anything, the sight of Heero now brought it all back. Before Duo knew what he was doing, he broke out in a wide grin and jogged over to him, enveloping him in a huge hug.

Heero smiled and warmed into the embrace, matching Duo's enthusiasm.

"Heero Yuy! Long time, no see, ne?" Duo said as they broke apart. "Where've ya been?"

"Ah... here and there," Heero said easily, not looking Duo in the eye.

"So how've you been? What's up?! How have you spent the last five years of your life? I wanna catch up!" Duo said as he pulled Heero to a nearby bench.

Heero let himself be pulled and sat down next to the braided ex-pilot. "Shouldn't we go in?" He asked, looking towards the entrance.

Duo just looked at him. Heero definately had changed, but his demeanor towards the braided ex-pilot was the same. //Well, I guess now I understand why he never called or stopped by. I really didn't mean that much to him.//

"Uh, sure!" Duo forced a lopsided grin on his face and stood up. "Sorry about glompin' ya, Heero. I guess I just lost it for a minute there. See ya later." And with that, Duo walked into the ballroom, leaving Heero on the bench.

As Duo walked inside, the room took his breath away. Quatre had really gone all-out on this one. The winner heir had decorated the room in a pale violet color, with an occasional flash of mauve to keep things lively. And directly in the center of the room was an enormous ice sculpture of a dove. It stood glowing from the lights placed around it, but as Duo looked harder, it appeared to be sparkling.

Just as Duo began to make his way to the dove, Quatre approached him.

"Hey, Duo! Are you having a good time?" he asked as they embraced.

"Yeah!" Duo lied. "I'm having a great time!"

Quatre wasn't fooled. Duo may be able to hide behind his grin around others, but not Quatre. He had known Duo for far too long.

"Duo..." he gently pried.

Duo saw the look in Quatre's eyes, and his face fell. "Oh Quatre, why did I even come?" he said as he played with the end of his braid. "He didn't even want to talk to me."

Quatre immediately understood. "Oh. So you saw them?" he suddenly found the area underneath his fingernails much more fascinating than Duo's eyes.

Duo froze. "Them?"

"Oh!" Quatre flushed. "I-um, should probably go and see how the other guests are doing--oof!" he cried as Duo clamped a hand on his retreating shoulder.

"Them?" he asked again.

Quatre couldn't lie. "Heero and Relena..." he trailed off, uncomfortably.

Oh. As if in slow motion, Quatre saw Duo's mask crumble and fall to the floor. And what he saw underneath made the blonde man gasp in pain.

Suddenly the mask was back in place. "Oh! Well, I'm happy for them! I just don't understand why the bastard never told me!" He turned to leave, the room suddenly feeling too small.

"Duo-" Quatre gently laid a hand on his back.

Duo turned around. "Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're okey? This doesn't bother you?"

Duo looked bewildered. "No...should it?"

"But aren't you--" Quatre stopped.

"Aren't I what?"

"Oh, nevermind. Have a good time, okey, Duo?" he finally said.

"Of course!" Duo said. Then he dissapeared.

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so... what do you think? you like? you want more?