Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Starting Over ❯ Crashing Down ( Chapter 3 )

Title: Starting Over

Author: Makoto Sagara
Series: Gundam Wing
Archive: fanfiction.net, afallenangel.net/makotosagara/, mediaminer.org, Foreverfandom.net, makochanupdates.livejournal.com; anywhere else, please ask
Category: Angst, Action

Pairings: 1+2+1, others unknown
Rating: T
Warnings: Shonen ai, language, angst, sap, Post-EW
Disclaimers: I make no money, so suing is pointless. If you think I own GW, then you need to see someone. I have the number to a nice doctor... Oh, SALLY!

Author's Notes: Hm, this story is actually trying to write itself and is taking over. My poor, poor other fics are starting to cry from neglect. I mean two chapters in less than twenty-four hours? I *did* manage to finish chapters of the other fics as well, but that's not the point! Oh well, so long as Neko, who is a big brat, isn't trying to kill me with her muse-y type powers, I'm okay. Right?????

Starting Over, Chapter 3 - Crashing Down

Heero looked around the room that Duo left him in and sighed. The only furniture was a bed, nightstand, a small chest of drawers, and a chair in one of the corners. He set his duffle bag in the chair and opened it, retrieving his longtime friend - his laptop - and sat down on the bed. While he waited for the computer to start up, he carefully untied and removed his boots. `I'll have to buy more clothes if I plan on being anywhere for a long period of time. Maybe I can borrow a vehicle and go buy some…'

A beep let him know that his laptop was ready. He typed in his password and waited patiently for his desktop to load. When that was done, he opened his email program, downloading all the emails he'd missed from over the last year. Many of them were from the other pilots, and a few were from Relena. He quickly read through them all, wincing as the tone in the messages became more frantic or, in Duo's case, angry. `I should have thought of that in the beginning. He kept saying that we were best friends, and I just up and disappeared without a word for a year.'

Instead of deleting the emails from Duo, he saved them, making sure to rid his inbox of the other messages. He debated whether or not to actually answer one of the messages from Relena and sighed, knowing he probably should. With an eye roll, he hit `new message' and began typing up a quick message. “Relena, I am back. I needed to take a break. I'm currently on L2 with Duo and Trowa. ~ Heero”

He looked over the short letter and grimaced. It was curt and felt forced. Of course, he really wasn't used to `friendly correspondence', but in this case, it was probably necessary. With that done, he closed his computer and sat back on the bed. `At some point, I will have to tell Duo and the others where I have been. I suppose that I can do that while Wufei is here and save myself from having to explain it more than once. I can do this, can't I?'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Duo was in bed, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. `How in the hell am I supposed to get any rest when he is in the room next door? He isn't even the same? I wonder what happened… Hell, I want to know where the hell he has been this last year! I thought I was going to go bald from the stress. Tro always told me that he might just show up, but I think he was as surprised as I was that Heero was standing there tonight.' He sighed heavily, sitting up. `I'm not going to sleep. Might as well take a shower.'

He stood, stripped, and put on his robe. He opened the door and looked in the hallway, listening. He could hear Hilde and Cathy down the hall, talking in Hilde's room. Trowa and Quatre's rooms were black, but he could also see a light on in the kitchen area across the hall. There was no sound coming from the room next to his. `Heero must be asleep… I guess now's the best time for me to go.'

No sooner had he stepped out into the hall when Quatre's blond head poked out of the kitchen. “Oh, Duo, I was just going to ask you a question.” Light blue eyes took in his attire. “But, you, um, seem about to take a shower.”

“I can still answer a question, Quat. Sup?”

“Has he told you anything yet?” Duo shook his head and the other man sighed. “Alright, I guess we'll just have to wait until he does. Good night.”

“Night.” Duo poked his head into the kitchen. “Night, Tro. Try to get some sleep. Looooooooooong day tomorrow.” He heard the taller man wish him a good night and scampered into the bathroom without any more interruptions.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Duo's alarm went off the next morning and he groaned. `Another day with the kids… Oh, shit, Heero's here.' That thought had him jumping from bed and scrambling for clothes. `Gotta hurry up and get started before I can't leave this room…'

He flew into the kitchen area, amazed to see the other adults already up and wrapped around coffee cups in comfortable silence. Cathy and Hilde raised eyebrows at him in amusement, while Quatre and Trowa both seemed on the verge of outright laughing. Heero gave a faint smile before he went back to staring at the coffee mug in his hands. “What?” Duo asked as he glided between Trowa and Cathy's tall, lanky frames to get to the pot of lifeblood.

“Oh, nothing,” Quatre said smugly. “It's just not like you to be so… energetic… this early in the morning.”

Duo felt his cheeks flush and refused to turn around. Carefully, he poured the coffee into the cup and made a production of putting sugar and cream in it. “So, when is `Fei showing up?” He was proud that his voice hadn't cracked.

“He's going to call before his shuttle lands and I'll go get him,” Quatre answered. “Sadly, I can't stay, but Anita, Meena, and Sanima are supposed to be coming in today to help.”

“Actually, that's good news,” Trowa said casually. “With Wufei showing up, we'll need extra hands to watch the kids so we can clean up properly. And since it is Saturday, maybe they can take them to the museum or something like that.”

“Yeah, it's not like we can't fund a field trip with the proceeds from Duo's Swear Jar,” Hilde added carefully.

“Yeah, yeah,” Duo replied snarkily. “Did you put your cred in as well, Q-man?”

Five sets of eyes turned to the blond, who flushed and nodded. “Of course. Oh! That reminds me. Relena said she'd like to talk to you, Duo, when you got a chance, but not to rush.”

“Wonderful,” he drawled, taking a large drink from his mug and coughing on the hot liquid when Heero's dark eyes looked at him questioningly. “Don't ask.” He felt the blood rush to his cheeks as the other four smiled knowingly at him before walking out of the kitchen.

“Don't rush, Duo,” Cathy said happily. “We'll take care of the kids for now. You just… talk with Heero.”

“Are they normally like that?” Heero asked with his voice laced with what Duo could only place as amazement.

“Not all the time, but when they do, it gets old quick,” Duo answered as he sat at the table, opposite from the Japanese man. He snuck glances at his friend over his coffee cup, which he was using as a sort of shield for his face. The other man was still slim, as they all were, but it looked as if he'd gotten taller and his jaw seemed squarer that Duo remembered. However, after several painful minutes of silence, dark blue eyes snapped to his face and held his gaze.

“Duo…”

“Hm.” The American swore as his voice cracked on that one syllable. `I sound like an idiot. Where is that hole that is supposed to open up and swallow me whole?'

“I…” Heero shook his head, and his brown hair swept back and forth across his forehead. “Thanks for letting me stay here last night.”

“Yeah, no problem, Heero,” Duo answered absently while his eyes watched the other man's hair move. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Duo cleared his throat and closed his eyes to gather his thoughts and courage to ask what needed to be asked. “How… how long do you think you're gonna stay, `Ro?”

The Japanese man was silent for a while, causing Duo to open his eyes and look at his friend. He was surprised to see that Heero's cheeks were sporting small pink spots. `He's BLUSHING? What the hell?'

“I was hoping… that I could stay… for a while,” was the answer he finally gave. Duo nodded, a warm feeling gathering in his chest.

“Yeah, no problem; I only asked because the `officials' get antsy when Quatre and Wufei stay for very long.” The American paused in thought. “I guess we could have you fill out some paperwork as a temporary worker, just in case, so they don't get their knickers in a twist.”

“Knickers?” Heero's mouth twisted into a tiny smile, and Duo just shrugged.

“Yeah, when things are slow, I watch movies with Cathy and Hilde. They've got this thing for pre-colony British films. They're good.” Duo's smile faded as he braced himself to ask the next question. “I have to ask, Heero. Where have you been this past year?”

“I'd rather not talk about it.” Heero's voice was stern and his eyes hard.

“Sorry, bud, that's not going to work this time.” Duo said, putting his coffee cup in the sink before standing in front of Heero and glaring down at him. “This time, you're going to have to come clean and let me know. Otherwise, you'll have to leave.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Heero blinked at the harshness of Duo's tone and words. `I've never heard him or expected him to sound like that. Why can't he just… Oh. I see. Yes, I guess I should have seen that then.' He leaned back in his chair to look directly into the other man's violet eyes. “Duo, I'll tell you, but not right now. Can it wait until Wufei is here and I can tell you all at the same time?”

His friend backed up and nodded curtly. “I won't accept anything other than the truth, Heero,” Duo said coldly as he left the room. Heero waited until he could hear footsteps stomping down to the lower floors of the orphanage before he placed his head on top of folded arms. `What have I done to him?'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Quatre's sisters arrived with much fanfare from the children, especially when Duo and Trowa let them all know that they were going out on a field trip, with the money from Duo's Swear Jar, and that Wufei would be at the orphanage when they returned. Hilde left with them to drive the bus so that the men and Cathy could stay to clean. With all the children gone, the old hotel was eerily quiet and every sound was magnified ten times until a single step seemed like an army stomping throughout the halls.

Duo was careful to assign Heero in rooms away from himself, if only so that he wouldn't be distracted and could think without the other man's brooding presence. Trowa and Cathy cleaned in the kitchen and dining room, getting the most of the week's buildup of grime and dust out of the corners that didn't get cleaned during the nightly wipe downs. Heero was put in charge of the living room and the front sitting room (which used to be the lobby area). Duo took the bathrooms and hallways. It was honest work and left him plenty of time to think without any distractions.

After about an hour of the deafening silence, Cathy bellowed that she was putting on music to get rid of the creepy feeling, and soon the building's sound system was quietly playing Chopin and Beethoven. Duo smiled a little and began to hum along as he wiped down baseboards and pushed the vacuum over the carpets. However, the calm and friendly atmosphere disappeared when a rock came sailing through a window next to Duo, a shard of the glass leaving a large gash on his right cheek. As a hand flew up to his face, he could hear a voice yelling at the building “Go away, homos, and stop trying to get my people in there!”

He turned to hear the other three running in his direction, Cathy coming to a halt many yards before reaching him and gasping. Heero and Trowa continued up to him, the former wrenching his hand away to assess the damage, Duo numbly guessed. Trowa watched their friend with one eye and looked at the damage with his other. “Who was it?”

“It was probably the new leader of Las Cucarachas, Tro. You know that Officer Meyers warned Hilde last week about the change,” the American answered, hissing as Heero's probing fingers hit an extremely painful part of his new cut. “It's gonna scar, isn't it?”

The Japanese man's head snapped up, eyes burning with a cold fury that both scared and excited Duo. “Not if we take care of it now. I'm only worried about infection. Do you have supplies here to take care of this?”

Trowa snickered. “Of course we do, Heero. Did you honestly just ask that question?” Before the other man could react, Trowa turned to the shocked Cathy and shook her by the shoulders gently. “Cathy, go get the medical kit and call the local police station. Ask for Officer Meyers.” He waited until she nodded before letting her go.

“God, this was the last way I thought we'd be spending this day,” Duo muttered, shaking Heero's trembling hands away from his wounded face. “Dammit! I just vacuumed this hallway and now there's glass fucking everywhere!”

“That's two credits in your swear jar, Duo,” Trowa said, all humor at the situation gone as he took in the damage. “It would have to have been the picture window, right?”

“I always wondered who the hell puts a picture window anywhere on L2, and now I see that it's only an idiot.” Duo sighed and moved a few feet down the hall to sit down on the floor. “I don't feel so great now.”

“I'll get you a towel,” the green-eyed man said, sparing a concerned look for his friend. “Heero, stay here with Duo. I'll be right back.”

“Who are the cockroaches?” Heero asked, his voice tight with anger.

`Oh shit, I knew I forgot something!'

TBC