Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Why Duo Will Eat Anything ❯ Chapter 1

Why Duo Will Eat Anything

Warnings: shonen ai; 1+2,

Disclaimers: Gundam Wing characters belong to Mixx Entertainment, Koichi Tokita, the SOTSU Agency, Sunrise, Kodansha and anyone I may have forgotten, not to me. I make no money off of this.

"Dinner's here!" Quatre yelled, slamming the front door shut. His arms were full of pizza boxes and Chinese take-out, the little handles dangling on his fingers. The pile was nearly taller than he was. "Come on!"

From the upstairs rooms came the footsteps of three sedate pilots with quiet looks on their faces, all eager to eat but not so starved that they would lose any of their self-restraint. From the living room, however, came a loud thump as Duo, who had been watching television upside down on the couch, fell to the floor and scrambled to his feet, knocking the foot stool over in the process. He leaped over the coffee table and raced towards Quatre, sliding across the hard wood floors in his socks as he struggled to come to a stop.

Quatre cringed as Duo rushed closer, certain he'd be bowled over. Instead, Duo halted just inches from the blonde and looked over the collection of food in his arms.

"Cool, we got pizza! What kind?" he asked, whisking the first box out of Quatre's overloaded arms. "Looks good! Hmm, pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese, ham...I'll take this one!" He quickly checked the second one. "And...ooh, pineapple! I love pineapple! Cool! Thanks, Quatre! I guess the Chinese is for Wufei, what a shame, he should really try pizza, he might like it. Oh, well, thanks! Tell Heero he can share mine if he wants, I'll be in the living room! Later!"

For all the time Quatre had spent with Duo, he was still stunned by the swiftness of the assault that he remained in mild shock when the others finally arrived a moment later.

"Little one, are you all right?"

Quatre blinked and looked up with a smile. "Yes, Trowa, sorry to worry you. I just got hit by a Duo hurricane, that's all."

"At least this time he left us something," Wufei sighed, relieving Quatre of the several white boxes. "Last time he hardly left us scraps and crumbs."

"Well, he has to fuel all of that energy he uses," Quatre chuckled. "And he only took two pizzas this time."

Heero crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "That's only because he ransacked your kitchen an hour ago."

The Arabian took his seat next to Trowa and shared the remaining pizza with him. "That reminds me, he said you could share with him if you wanted."

Heero raised his eyebrows in surprise, as if to ask "you're serious? My koi's willing to share?"

Wufei smirked as he took out his first egg roll. "You'd better go now, or else it will all be gone by the time you get there."
Heero nodded once and quietly walked to the living room, where Duo lay flung out on the couch with the two pizza boxes open before him. Already three slices had disappeared, and he was working into the liter of Coca-cola beside him.

"Hey, Heero! Want some?" Duo grinned, easing his legs back to make room for Heero.

The Japanese pilot smirked and sat down next to his "human vacuum," casually taking a slice. "Why is there always so much grease on these things?" he asked, eyeing the pizza as if he was afraid it would bite.

"I dunno," Duo shrugged, devouring the slice in his hand and reaching for another. "I think it has to do with all the fat from the toppings dripping down with the fat cooked out of the cheese. Tastes good, though."

As he bit down into the bread and cheese, the pizza audibly crunched. Although he didn't seem bothered by it, Heero looked over and saw that the pineapple pizza had partially burned, with black spots along the edges and on the bottom half of Duo's slice. Thinking that Duo just ate too fast to taste anything, Heero ate his own slices after making sure they were okay.

"What is that?" he asked, motioning to the screen.

"Hmm?" Duo wondered. "You mean you've never seen the looney toons? Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck...?"

Heero shook his head and winced when he saw an anvil crash on the black duck's head. "Are they always so...painful?"

"It's okay, Heero, they're just drawings. They don't feel any pain. Besides, it's funny. Daffy gets shot and squished so often you start feeling sorry for the guy, but Bugs Bunny's the guy everyone loves the most."

His pizza crunched again. "I first saw them when I was...um, ten or eleven, I think. They had a television at the church, and sometimes, if everyone finished their chores on time, we'd be able to watch. This was the only stuff I could actually sit through, though. The other shows were so boring and they always had some stupid moral at the end, but these cartoons were great!"

"They seem...frustrating," Heero mused as the duck was shot by the bald hunter again. His orange bill spun around his head a few times and settled at a crooked angle, which brought a reluctant chuckle out of him.

Duo shook his head. "Naw, these aren't frustrating. Those stupid cartoons with the mouse, those were frustrating."

"Mouse?" Heero asked, lost in the conversation now.

"Yeah, this dumb mouse with big black ears. I think his name was Mackie or something. He had this yellow dog, and another mouse girlfriend, and a Don Duck, I think. Those were boring. Only the smaller kids could watch them." He took another slice and crunched into it.

"Were they really bad?" Heero asked, wondering what how childish this had to be to get Duo's disapproval.

"Uh-huh. They were always about the main character trying to do something, but something else always got in the way, and nothing ever really happened. Man, that drove me nuts!"

Heero nodded vaguely, not paying much attention to the conversation anymore. Instead he snuck a glance back at Duo's pizza. Yes, that slice was blackened, too. "Duo, how can you eat that?"

"What, the pizza?" Duo asked. "What's wrong with it? I know pineapple seems funny, but--"

"Not that," Heero interrupted. "It's burned, and pretty badly at that."

Confused, Duo shrugged. "So? What's wrong with that?"

Heero seemed bewildered that Duo was so nonchalant about it. Burned food was tolerable under combat conditions, but without any real reason to suffer through it...did he actually think nothing of it? Strange, with the amount of food he eats, you'd think he'd prefer only the better portions available. Unless he'll eat everything he can, regardless of condition. But why...Something clicked in Heero's mind. Duo didn't talk too much about his past, but Heero did know he'd grown up on L2. "You starved when you were young, didn't you?"

Duo stiffened, but the smile stayed put on his face. "Hey, when you're a war orphan, you don't get to eat all that much. Besides, it's not like I wasted away or nothing."

"But you're afraid you will."

That made the smile disappear. "Look, Heero, I don't need you psychoanalyzing me--"

"It's not a problem," Heero said, "don't get defensive. I just...I don't like seeing my koi suffer, that's all. You're so accustomed to taking whatever you can get that it doesn't bother you anymore."

Duo, surprised that the description fit, lowered his eyes. "Have you ever been so hungry that you start seeing things that you know aren't there? That you root through dumpsters trying to find something edible? That you can barely get enough energy up to steal something, anything from the vendors on the street?"

"No," Heero answered honestly. "If I did go without, it was only for a day or so before Odin could get us someplace we wouldn't be recognized."

"I always used to get sent back to the orphanage, no matter how many times people tried to take me in. I was too hyper for just about anyone except Father Maxwell, but then he had infinite patience. I'd break something by accident, or I'd 'talk back' to whoever had me then, and they'd send me to bed without dinner. And I'd feel those hunger pains start up again...so I'd jump out the window and steal something to eat. Only I was never too cautious about sneaking, then, so they'd find out, and they'd send me back. Little Maxwell's demon never could stay in a home more than a month."

Since Duo was already laying down, Heero went to the floor and knelt by Duo's head, gently stroking his hair. It had taken a long time for him to show even his lover his emotions, but fortunately Duo had worked on him. Now demonstrating how he felt had become something of a habit.

"Are you worried that will happen again? That you'll be sent out of this home?"

Duo shrugged noncommittally.

A small smile appeared on Heero's lips, which was more than enough to make Duo grin again. It happened so rarely...

"You look so cute when you smile," Duo whispered, putting his hand out on Heero's cheek. "You're doing this just to make me feel better, aren't you?"

Heero shook his head. "No, not entirely. I'm just surprised that you think we'd ever throw you out. Really, when you think about how often Wufei gets angry, how Quatre blows up the kitchen, how Trowa refuses to speak sometimes--"

"How you take potshots at the neighbors," Duo giggled.

Heero smirked. "I don't hit them. Anyways, when you think about that, raiding the kitchen doesn't seem that bad. You'd never be thrown out."

"At least I've never played tag with the cops on the highway," Duo nodded.

"Trowa and I were having some fun," Heero defended himself. "You keep telling me I need to let go once in awhile." His smile broadened a bit when Duo laughed some more. "Feel better now?"

A mischievous gleam twinkled in Duo's eyes. "Yeah. But you know, you're right. This pizza's all burnt on the edges. Mind if I eat the pineapples and cheese off of you?"

Heero chuckled. "Go close the door."

The End

Quatre: *sigh* How come I didn't get to eat off of Trowa?

Trowa:...

Quatre: *perks up* Okay, then, later on!

Wufei: Why does everyone make me out to be so angry?

Duo: Awww, come on, that was so sweet!

Heero: I am not that sappy.

Everyone sweatdrops.

Heero: What?

Duo turns, grabs Heero, and kisses him. Heero simply melts in his arms.

Duo: Melts in your mouth *and* in your hands!