Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Welcome Home ❯ Chapter 2

Trowa met Wufei at the door early the next morning, taking in the disheveled look of the usually fastidious Chinese. It was obvious that he had not slept, in a hurry to get to L4. That more than anything caused Trowa to worry. If the dark haired man was in that much of a rush, they needed to find Duo,

Needed to figure out what was going on.

 

The taller man led the way to the sitting room, where Quatre, Heero, and Relena sat waiting on the plush couches. Wufei sneered at the woman, making his feelings for her very clear. “She needs to leave.”

 

Heero stood, angry, and ready to stand up for the woman that meant so much to him now, “She's concerned, too.”

 

“She needs to leave,” Wufei asserted once again, holding up his hand to forestall any arguments. “I am going to be telling you information that is classified to everyone except the highest ranks of the Preventers organization. You three have been cleared to hear this information, she-” he made a dismissive motion with his hand toward Relena, “has not. Make a choice, Yuy. Either she leaves, or you both do.”

 

Relena stood without waiting for Heero's response. When she reached the door, she looked down her nose at Wufei. “I don't see what is so important. That man is nothing more than street trash, anyway. Never has been, never will be,” she sneered and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

 

Trowa looked at Heero with contempt written on his features , while the Japanese was staring at the door in shock at the callousness of the woman he had thought he knew. “That is what you left Duo for. You are a bigger idiot than I would have ever believed.”

 

The Chinese snorted in agreement. “I never thought you could be so foolish and selfish, Yuy. Duo truly made a lousy choice when he went with you. Perhaps if he had known he had another option, he wouldn't have,” he gave Trowa a pointed look, saying without words that he knew the other mans feelings for their missing friend.

 

It was obvious that Heero had never seen that side of Relena before. He chose not to defend his actions of leaving Duo for the woman. From the look on his face, he was not sure whey he had ever done such a thing to begin with.

 

Quatre managed to redirect the focus back on what it should be by clearing his throat. “Okay, Wufei, we are all here. What did you need to tell us about Duo?”

 

Trowa remained standing, once again staring out the window. Normally he was calm in any situation, but now he felt as if he was going to lose control and lash out at everyone close to him. In order to keep this from happening, he separated himself from the rest of the group. Quatre and Wufei had both taken seats on the couch, while Heero was sitting on a chair, out of arms reach from the rest of them.

 

“I don't know how long it has been since any of you have been in touch with Maxwell,” Wufei began, looking around the room, asking the silent question.

 

The Arabian shook his head at the question. “A few months after the last war. After that, everyone was so busy and spread out. When I was able, I tried a few times, but never received an answer.”

 

Trowa shook his head, also. “No contact at all. I couldn't - didn't want to interfere with Duo's life.” He got a small smile from Quatre when he said the last part, and nodded in return. Wufei gave him a small look, as if saying he knew how much not having any communication with the braided man had hurt him.

 

Everyone turned to Heero, waiting. He sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair, showing his level of stress. “As I told Quatre and Trowa yesterday, I haven't seen or spoke to him in over four years. I also tried to call, to keep in touch, but he didn't answer, or he would say he was busy and couldn't talk then. I never thought much about it because he always seemed to be happy.” He sighed again, heavily, and then glanced at the Chinese. “So that means you were the last to speak to him.”

 

Wufei nodded, reaching into his briefcase and pulling out a large file. “Yuy, you are aware that Duo has been a Preventer agent for some time,” he began, then stopped when he saw the shock and blatant confusion coming from Heero. “You didn't know.”

 

“Since when?” Heero was up, pacing the room, agitated.

 

“Since right after the war. We approached him to do some covert work for us on a contract basis. He is not on the payroll, but he has worked for us many times over the years, and has saved hundreds of lives with his efforts. You were never aware of this?” Again, Heero shook his head. The Chinese man stood, suddenly angry. “How could you not know? Didn't you question where he would go for days or weeks at a time? Didn't you get concerned when he would come back wounded?”

 

Trowa turned, wanting to know the answers to those questions himself. From the way that Quatre was holding himself on the couch, his body shaking and eyes wide, he also wanted an answer.

 

Heero sat suddenly, looking at nothing. Staring at the wall across the room, he spoke slowly. “I asked him. It was always a different answer. He was going to visit Hilde, or Howard and the Sweepers, or he just needed to get away for a time. Once he told me it was none of my business and I should stop asking because I didn`t really care. That was after I had started seeing Relena… I think he knew something was going on. He started staying gone more and more after that. I never thought…”

 

The blonde suddenly shot out of his seat, slapping the Japanese man across the face hard enough to make his head jerk to the side. “You never thought. You never thought? You never thought about anything about yourself!! You thought that he didn't know what you were doing? You never thought about anything but how you felt! Did you ever consider actually talking to him about how you felt? Did you ever ask him how he felt?! Did you ever think that you were hurting him even worse than going behind his back? Not only did you cheat on him, you underestimated his intelligence. For that, I don't know if I can ever forgive you.”

 

The three other ex-pilots stared at the normally gentle Arabian as he left the room after his outburst. It was such a shock to see Quatre lose his temper, it took a few minutes before anyone said anything else.

 

Heero sat down heavily, putting his head in both hands. “I'm so sorry. What have I done?”

No one answered him, not having an answer. Trowa dismissed the guilty man and directed his attention back to Wufei.

 

“What else?”

 

The black haired man looked at him, then shook his head and cleared his throat before looking at the file in his hand. “Yuy, when did you start seeing the woman?”

 

“Six or seven months after the Eve War.”

 

“That is the same time when Maxwell contacted me, telling me he would be able to go on more missions if he was needed. He said that he had more free time on his hands. I guess that explains why,” the last was said with a sneer at Heero.

 

“What kind of missions, Wufei?” Trowa had an idea, but wanted it verified.

 

“Infiltration, assassinations, solo missions, almost anything that had to be done by one person. No team. If it had to be done by a single person, Duo got the call. He refused to work with a partner, or we would have tried to get him as a full time agent.” Wufei sighed, “There had been some talk about calling Yuy and trying to recruit him as well, but Duo was against it. Said that Yuy was finally getting a normal life and he didn't want it to be ruined.”

 

“He never said anything about them breaking up? He never made any comments about being alone? He didn't act any differently at all?”

 

“Actually, after the last mission, I asked him how Yuy was doing. He smiled and said that he was happy. I never questioned it, but it wasn't a normal smile. It seemed… sad, but I dismissed it, thinking it was either my imagination or leftover stress from the mission. Duo has always been the best actor out of all of us. As for his missions, he was also the best when it came to getting in and out of somewhere without being seen.”

 

Upon hearing this, Heero let out a small sound of distress and left the room quickly. They watched him flee the room, and then turned to each other. “Do you believe he will tell the woman about this?”

 

Trowa shrugged at the question. “I don't care one way or the other. I think Heero finally sees her for what she really is. She has finally shown what she is really like. He never knew that she was jealous of Duo. He couldn't see it. What happens to the two of them now, I don't really know, but I do know that there is something more important to discuss than their relationship,” Trowa took a deep breath to calm him down. “Heero was always blind when it came to Duo's feelings.”

 

“He only saw what he wanted to,” a tired voice said from the doorway. Quatre had come back, appearing tired and worn out, his emotional outburst draining him. “He chose to believe that she was the better choice, and now he will have to choose to stay or leave. If he leaves, he will believe that he can get Duo back.”

 

The tall man turned to him fully, green eyes flashing. “Do you think Duo will take him back?”

 

“Honestly, I don't know. Duo doesn't trust easily, and Heero has destroyed his trust by betraying him in one of the worst ways possible, then prolonging that betrayal. If he did take him back, it would take a long time for Heero to earn that trust once again.” The blonde's eyes took on a decidedly wicked gleam. “But if someone else was to find Duo first…” he trailed off, looking pointedly at Trowa.

 

Wufei looked back and forth between the two, smiling in approval of the idea. After a moment, he shook his head and held a smaller file out to the taller man. “I am assuming you would like to find Duo first?” He waited for the nod, and then gestured to the file. “Then you might need to take a look at the information and things in the file. Maxwell has changed in a number of ways over the last few years. You can still easily recognize him, but there has been a number of… enhancements… to his body.”

 

Trowa opened the file, slipping the picture out first. His breath caught in something between a moan and a gasp. There was the face of the boy he had fell in love with all those years ago. The heart shaped face was no longer one of a boy, but one of a man. A man who was even more beautiful than he had been at the age of fifteen. He took a deep breath, then looked closer. The only changes he could see were the facial and ear piercings and what looked like part of a tattoo emerging from the collar of his shirt. “He doesn't look that different.”

 

“Well, he wouldn't let us take a picture of him naked,” muttered the Chinese, face bright red. At the raised eyebrows, he shook his head. “I won't tell, so don't ask.”

 

Quatre took the photo from Trowa, a long, low whistle emitting from his lips. “Allah, he's so…”

 

“Beautiful,” the green-eyed man finished for him. The Arabian nodded slowly and even Wufei made a sound of agreement. Trowa took another deep breath, still not over the first picture of Duo he had seen since the beginning of peace. “Duo always had something that attracted everyone to him. It appears he still has that something.”

 

“As far as I know, he is single,” Wufei suddenly blurted out, his face even redder than before. “I always assumed he was with Heero, because he never talked about anyone at all. No one at all. We often spent time together after one of his missions, just talking. I believe that he would be happy to see you.” At Trowa's questioning look, Wufei smiled, “He asked about you both often, but Trowa seemed to come up in conversation a lot more.”

 

“Then we will just have to wait and see. Do you know where I can find him?”

 

Wufei sighed slowly the smile fading replaced by a look of concern, then took the file from Trowa's lax fingers. “I don't know his address, but Howard would know. You can contact him at this number.” He shook his head sadly, “I cannot tell you how he will receive company, Barton. Last time I spoke to him, he asked that he not be sent on any missions for a while. He told me that he had some things he needed to work out and he needed time and space to do so.”

 

“How did you contact him with mission assignments?” Quatre was curious. If Wufei didn't know where Duo was, then how was this possible?

 

“I called Howard and he would get word to Duo. I didn't want to intrude and I always believed that he was with Heero, so I freely gave them space. I wish I had known what had happened a long time ago. I wish he hadn't been alone. Some of the missions he went on were very difficult and he would have benefited from having someone to talk to. Perhaps you could be that person in the future, Trowa.”

 

Trowa nodded and took Howard's number to the phone on the small table. “I guess we will soon find out.”