Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Definition of Love ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 3 )

The Definition of Love

Chapter 2

 

“Heero, can I sleep with you?”

“Duo… what? What are you doing out of bed? You're shaking! What's wrong?”

“There's a scary man in my room.”

“Duo, how many times do I have to tell you? There are no such things as monsters.”

“But I saw him!”

“You just had a nightmare.”

“*sniff* Please! I'm scared…”

“Alright, come here.”

“… You'll always protect me, right, Heero?”

“Of course I will, go to sleep.”

“Pinky swear, even if I'm bad?”

“Alright, I pinky swear, and you're never bad. I promise, I'm your big brother, it's my job to protect you. Now, go to sleep.”

“I love you, Heero.”

“I love you, too, silly.”

 

 

Duo blinked senselessly at the clock, his mind unable to connect the annoying buzzing in his ear to the blinking display. It took a few minutes, but his brain finally caught up with the rest of him and he grumbled. He hated early mornings. All he wanted was to curl up in the warm sheets. He had been having a pleasant dream, though he couldn't remember what it was about. Then, it finally clicked. Him. Heero. School. He rolled out of bed with a grin. As his muscles stretched, he groaned. He was sore again. He had this tendency to curl up into a little ball while he was asleep which would hurt his back and legs if he kept the position for too long. He did some stretches that Heero had taught him and grabbed a pair of new jeans and a violet colored t-shirt that brought out his eyes. He was excited. He knew that it was childish, but he couldn't help it. He was sad about leaving everything behind, but he knew that this place could be home, too. He was also a little bit glad that they had moved. Maybe a change of scenery would be good for all of them. Maybe mom would be happier here, away from the memories and constant reminders… Duo shook his head. Really, there was only one thing that annoyed him about the move. They had moved across state and the high school they were attending would be much different from Heero's high school. Since Duo had never been to high school, this didn't make much of a difference. But for Heero, it was going to be difficult. Everything he had accomplished in the last two years and a half was useless and all the things that he needed to join his fellow juniors he had not learnt in his last high school. So, the seventeen year old boy was stuck in Duo's freshman class. It wasn't fair! Heero was so smart, he didn't even belong in this school, he should be at college or have private tutors! Mom didn't understand what Heero needed, but Duo did. His brother was rotting away amongst the normal throng of students who didn't understand just how important education was. But, since it was inevitable, Duo would just have to make sure that Heero didn't get too depressed. After all, Heero was the best big brother there was. According to the kids that he had hung out with at their old home, big brothers were supposed to be bullies, only good for teasing and punching, but Heero wasn't like that at all. They were more like best friends and Duo always felt like he could tell him anything. It was different with their mother. With her, it was like they had a hundred secrets. His big brother never told her that they studied together in his room at night, but whenever they went out together, he would tell her every single detail of their day, which seemed to placate her somehow. He hadn't understood his mother as a child and he understood her even less now that he was a teenager and he had quickly lost his child adoration of his parent. He just didn't understand why she distanced herself from them, especially Heero and he didn't understand why she was so angry all the time.

After brushing out his ever growing hair and tying it up into a braid, Duo ran downstairs. His mother hated his hair. When he was little, she had snuck into his room to cut it, but his father had stopped her and become adamant about allowing Duo to keep some sort of independence. Even now, when it was just the three of them, she showed her hatred for the cinnamon locks, but didn't try to get rid of it beyond scolding and attempts to convince him. She was already up and moving around in the kitchen as he ran down the stairs, book bag slung over one shoulder and braid trailing behind him like a banner. He couldn't see what she was doing, but there was no smell of food in the kitchen. Of course, she had never been much of a cook and Duo preferred cooking for all of them anyway. His mother's head shot up and glared at him.

“Duo Maxwell! You are a boy, not a monkey and you will act like one and not bounce around on the steps! Are you trying to destroy this house before we've started living here?!” Her voice was sharp, but Duo ignored her as he always did, or at least he tried to. Her voice cut through his heart like a knife, but he refused to let her make him bleed. Never again.

“What the hell are you wearing?!” Eliza Yuy-Maxwell snarled as she took in his jeans and t-shirt which framed his growing body nicely. Too nicely. Duo grabbed a loaf of bread from the cupboard and put four slices into the toaster.

“It's no big deal, ma, it's just school and everyone dresses like this!” Duo tried to reassure her. He knew that working her up into a frenzy this early in the morning was never a good idea.

“We must make a good impression. We are new here and I won't having you look like a slut!”

Duo looked at her in shock at the harsh words and pure hatred in her voice. He hated her when she was like this and hated himself for hating her. Why couldn't he be a good son? He had to be a good boy, he would go back upstairs and change, he would-

“He does not look like a slut, mother,” Heero said coldly from the stairs. Eliza's blue eyes narrowed at her older son.

“All teenagers wear clothes like that, if he went to school wearing a suit and tie, people might get ideas,” Heero said, his voice not warming a single bit, but his eyes were soft as he looked at Duo. Duo smiled gratefully at him. He was always there to rescue him, be it from a rabid dog or a bully or even their own mother. Eliza backed down from that stony blue gaze, so much like her own, yet so much sharper in youth and something else that she hated. She looked back down at the paper, ignoring the two boys in the kitchen. Heero went to the toaster, bumping shoulders with Duo in a comforting gesture. Duo grinned at him, threading his fingers through Heero's. He didn't notice the heavy blush on his brother's face.

 

“I love you, Heero.”

 

End Chapter 2