Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Winning Duo ❯ Chapter 32
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Calic0cat 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.14.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.14.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Completed
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Title: Winning Duo
Chapter: 32/?
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Started: Jan. 2003
Genre: Yaoi, Romance, Humour, Angst
Pairings: Working towards 1x2x5; 3x4; 6x9; others may be implied
Rated: R
Warnings: OOC, Swearing, Shifting POV, Threesome
Archives: At Lev's Lair http://www.gwaddiction.com/levlair/ and at http://calic0cat.freeservers.com (my site) and at Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.
Notes: Starts one year after Endless Waltz. POV changes frequently.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change
Author's Notes: I usually write 1x2x1, so a 1x2x5 is a first for me (well, writing one is - I've been reading them for quite a while now, that's the *only* threesome I actually *like*). Feedback is appreciated.
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Standing in the doorway of what *used* to be Heero's livingroom, Duo looked across to where Heero stood at the other end of the mattress they'd just carried down from Wufei's apartment. He grinned happily at him, still stunned that Heero and Wufei had been willing to go to all this trouble for the week or so that he would be staying in Sanc while they house-hunted. 'I figured that I'd just have to sleep at their places on alternate nights or something. I never thought they'd be willing to go to all this effort and disrupt their lives so much just for that little bit of time...'
The two mattresses took up pretty much the entire floor of the room. Heero's coffee table now resided upside down on top of the box spring in his bedroom down the hall. In here, the loveseat had been shoved tightly into the corner of the room and the nearest mattress just barely missed touching it. There had been enough space beside the loveseat for the small entertainment centre to be pushed out of the way and it didn't *quite* stick out in front of the doorway. And there was just enough room to walk down one side of the room without having to step on the mattress. Just.
It was damn inconvenient and Duo hoped that Heero didn't have any company drop by or they were going to have some very awkward explanations to make - but they could keep sleeping together like they had at the hotel. And it was one more little bit of proof that Heero and Wufei really did intend to make this work. The three of them together.
Duo still had trouble believing it sometimes. Still half expected to wake up and find out that the whole thing had been one really cruel dream. Cruel because it was what he'd wanted for so damn long... 'But if it was just a dream, I don't think anybody would have gotten sick or hurt. So it really is real...'
Heero couldn't help smiling a bit at the ear-to-ear grin on Duo's face. 'Seeing that happy grin and knowing that I - that *we*,' he corrected himself, 'put it there makes all this mess and fuss worthwhile.' He threaded his way down the side of the room and gave Duo a hug. He didn't know whether he would ever be able to manage that kind of thing as easily as Wufei but Duo always responded so enthusiastically to even the smallest bit of contact initiated by him that Heero was consciously looking for opportunities now. He hid his own grin against Duo's hair as Duo hugged him back happily.
"Want to come with me to help Fei bring down some clothes and the pillows and stuff?" Duo asked.
Heero tightened the hug for an instant before stepping back and agreeing, "Okay." He held out one hand a bit hesitantly as they left the apartment. Duo caught hold of it immediately, giving Heero another delighted grin. Heero could feel a grin of his own tugging at the corners of his mouth. Duo's happiness and excitement were absolutely contagious.
***
Wufei added a couple of movies to the pile of miscellaneous "stuff" to be taken down to Heero's apartment. His pain medication was already down there; they had simply left it there when they arrived. He had already collected every pillow he owned and piled them near the door. And he had packed a few clean outfits to take with him as well. By the time Duo came back up to help carry things, he should be all set to go.
Wufei wasn't entirely happy that Duo had helped carry the mattress to Heero's apartment - the other youth was still favouring the wrist he'd injured rollerblading after all - but he wasn't exactly able to help and they hadn't really wanted to involve anyone else in this yet. It was still too new for them to be prepared to explain why they wanted enough room for the three of them to sleep together, something that would certainly have been necessary in order to request Trowa and Quatre's assistance in rearranging things.
Returning to his bedroom in search of a forgotten book, Wufei shook his head slightly, a wryly amused smile on his face. It was strange to see the bed frame with only a box spring on it. The entire room was decidedly disordered from all the packing and rearranging. Though nowhere near as much as Heero's entire apartment was. 'All of this for the sake of the week or so that Duo will be here while we look for a house...'
Not that he regretted it. Duo's delight at the entire arrangement was obvious and as for Heero and himself... 'Neither of us is precisely complaining about it either. And it is not merely the sleeping together that makes this worthwhile. It is the simple fact that we will be continuing to spend time together and to learn about each other throughout the week.' And that was good for all of them and for the development of every aspect of their relationship.
'And the close contact we will be in will be good for Heero. He is getting a bit better about contact already, I think. Contact with Duo in particular but he doesn't freeze up as badly in response to simple casual touches from me either. Just a tiny hesitation.' Which was a start. Heero hadn't been finding excuses to touch him yet, only Duo, but then he and Heero were much more tentative with each other anyway. Wufei was sure that would change with time but, after all, the two of them had only just admitted to mutual attraction and caring and the willingness to explore that. And while their relationship with Duo was only a few days further along they had at least been mentally preparing for that for quite some time.
As his apartment door opened and Duo entered with Heero close behind him, Wufei was again assured that, awkward and unconventional as their new relationship might be, it *was* right for the three of them. The happy smiles on their faces and the warm feeling that those smiles created in him were proof of that.
***
Duo tossed another house listing in the "not a chance" pile and eyed the rapidly dwindling stack of listings that they had yet to go through. Heero had printed out a very large pile of them off the net and they were each going through a portion of them sorting them into simple "yes" or "no" piles. Once they were through, they would swap "yes" piles and narrow things down some more. Hopefully by the time they'd all gone through every listing, they would have a manageable group left to go over together.
Wufei picked up another listing and noticed that there weren't very many left to be sorted. A quick glance confirmed that Heero's "yes" and "no" piles, like his own, were roughly equal in height. Duo's piles on the other hand were rather drastically different. 'Either he is being much less picky than we are or he has happened to get a better set of listings to start with,' Wufei thought. He turned his attention back to his own task, stifling the desire to sigh. He really hoped that the three of them could find a decent set of houses that appealed to them all.
Heero watched as Duo tossed the very last listing onto his taller stack. He moaned internally at the thought that he was going to have to read that many more listings as he silently handed his own "yes" pile over to Wufei. Then he was left stunned as Duo handed him the *short* stack. "Umm, this is all?" he asked hesitantly. He peered across and realized that the listing on the top of the tall stack was one that he'd thought that Duo would really like when he'd printed it out. 'I wonder what was wrong with that one...'
"Mmm-hmm," Duo nodded, already engrossed in the next listing. He frowned slightly and started a new "no" pile.
Glancing up at Heero's question, Wufei was startled by the discovery that Duo's tall pile of listings was his "no" pile, not the "yes" one. 'Maybe he got all the really *bad* listings instead of the good ones...' But as the top paper from his own "yes" stack became the first in Duo's new "no" stack alongside of the tall one, he became even more surprised. 'That was a really nice house... A big yard, indoor pool, lots of square footage and both an attached garage and a workshed... Maybe a bit pricy but...' Wufei froze in the midst of his own sorting. He snuck another quick glance at Duo's stacks and noticed that the "no" one was growing rapidly. 'Oh shit.' Looking over at Heero, Wufei saw the tiny hint of a crease between his eyebrows that indicated a frown.
Heero re-read the listing in his hands, trying to figure out what had made Duo put it in his "yes" pile. The house really had very little to recommend it. It barely even met the minimum requirements that he'd specified when he searched for listings. About the only thing that it had to recommend it was its price... 'Oh fuck...' Heero raised his eyes and met Wufei's. Silently, he held out the listing. Wufei gave him a quizzical look before reading through it. The faint frown on Wufei's face as he looked up and over at Duo matched his own. Heero sighed and took the listing back again. They'd better deal with this now, before things went any further. 'We should have discussed price,' he admitted silently. But it hadn't even occurred to him that price would be an issue. He'd specified a maximum as one of his search criteria; none of the listings he'd printed out were beyond what he'd figured the three of them could handle mortgage payments on. But then he'd never lacked for *material* things; had never had to scrounge and scrape and steal just to survive.
Bracing himself for what could well be the first argument of their relationship, Wufei cleared his throat and asked tentatively, "Duo, would you mind telling me what's wrong with all those listings?" He *knew* what the problem was, the "yes" listing that Heero had handed him confirmed that. But he wanted to hear Duo's explanation of it, hoping that it would give him an idea how to approach this without upsetting or insulting Duo. Knowing Duo's own background plus knowing that he'd been helping to get a cash-strapped business back in the black ever since the war ended, he could understand why Duo would be cautious in spending money. But a house was a lifelong investment and they weren't exactly a penniless young couple looking for a "starter" home. They all had some savings and the Preventers paid well; Wufei doubted that they would have any real difficulty getting a mortgage. He was looking for a house that they would call home for the foreseeable future, maybe even for the rest of their lives; he had no intention of pinching pennies in making such an important decision and he doubted that Heero did either.
Duo looked up, startled by Wufei's question. "They're way too much money," he said simply. "We don't need three full bathrooms or an indoor pool or any of that kind of thing. So long as I've got a roof over my head, there's a kitchen and a bathroom, and the bedroom's big enough to handle a king-size bed or at least a queen, I'll be satisfied."
"With three of us to get ready for work every day, I think more than one bathroom is a good idea," Wufei suggested diplomatically.
Shrugging, Duo said, "Well, I suppose two might be handy but we could get by okay with one; we'd just have to make up a schedule, that's all."
Wufei gave Heero a pleading glance. He could really use some support right now...
Heero swallowed uncomfortably and gave Wufei a tiny nod. He knew that Wufei was very nervous about discussing money-related issues with Duo; knew that Wufei feared making the contrast between his own relatively wealthy upbringing and Duo's poverty-stricken one too evident. "We could 'get by', yes," he said slowly, "but Duo, we're talking about the place we're all going to call home from now on, not some sort of temporary accommodation. Why settle for 'getting by'? I took our incomes from Preventers into consideration when I entered the search criteria for the listings; none of these houses are really out of our budget range; meeting the mortgage payments won't be a problem. Why not pick a house that you really like? One that has all the extras that you think you'd enjoy?"
Duo bit his lip and looked back at his first tall "no" pile. There were some awfully nice houses in that bunch but they were so expensive... "But they're so much money..." he protested weakly. "It doesn't seem right to spend so much money just to have a few luxuries..."
Biting his tongue at the thought of considering an extra bathroom a "luxury" when there were *three* of them who would need to use it every morning before work, Heero drew a deep breath and said carefully, "We've all worked hard to earn that money and we'll continue to do so. I know that we don't *have* to have all those extras but wouldn't it be nice to have a hot tub to soak in after a long day at work? A shower that's big enough for at least two of us to use it together, maybe even one that's roomy enough for all three of us? Enough spare bedrooms to have some of our friends over to stay once in a while?"
Torn, Duo wavered between the selfish wish to have some of those things and the knowledge that those really were *luxuries* and he didn't actually *need* any of them. "I... But they're so *expensive*..."
Wufei winced. Duo kept throwing longing glances at that tall stack of "no" listings but they were very *guilty* longing glances. Maybe... "Would it make you feel better if we all put a bit of money aside from each paycheck to donate to a charity?" he suggested. "Maybe the difference between the payment on the most expensive house in your 'yes' pile, the one that Heero has right now, and the least expensive in ours?"
"Could we?" Duo asked hesitantly, turning his gaze towards Heero.
Heero nodded in agreement, glad that Wufei had managed to find a practical solution to the problem. "Of course." He immediately started flipping through the pile to find the most "expensive" listing that Duo had picked. Not that "expensive" really applied to *anything* in this pile...
"Alright then," Wufei said firmly. "You stop worrying about the price on those houses and just pick based on which you like best and *I* will resort your 'no' pile." He leaned over and pulled the tall stack towards himself. 'Hopefully I can figure out which listings were drawing those longing looks...' He would have let Duo resort the pile himself but he suspected that those particular listings would have still landed back in the "no" pile simply because Duo felt so guilty over wanting them in the first place.
Duo recombined his "yes" and "no" piles from this second set of listings and started over again. He set aside the least expensive house from Wufei's choices before starting to sort. He still felt a bit guilty about considering some of these houses but... 'But you're not the only one who's going to be living in it. Remember that, Maxwell. Heero and Wufei have to live there too and they want something a little nicer than what you're willing to settle for. So forget about "settling" and try to think about "wanting" instead...'
Heero finally gave up on the pile that he'd received from Duo and simply dumped them all in his "no" pile. Price was really the only thing that any of those houses had going for them and that wasn't enough. He watched as Duo resorted Wufei's listings, relieved to see that a few more of them were making their way into the "yes" pile. A glance over at Wufei showed that most of Duo's old "no" stack was getting a "yes" vote from Wufei. 'I wonder if money is going to always be an issue,' he thought. 'It may be, Duo seems to feel pretty strongly about not "wasting" it on "unnecessary" things...' It was definitely going to be something that he and Wufei would have to keep in mind in future. Right now though, Heero was just glad that they'd managed to settle this particular situation amicably.
***
Curled against Heero's warmth, Duo closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day. Most of the listings that had ended up on the "short list" for all three of them were having Open House on Sunday and since it was the last day that Heero and Wufei had off they were going to have to get moving in order to go to as many of them as possible. Any places that they didn't get to then would have to be visited during the week either by him alone or by all three of them after work. And he really didn't want to go house-hunting on his own. Prices that Wufei and Heero didn't even bat an eye at left him gasping in disbelief. You could buy an entire L2 neighbourhood for the price of some of the houses in Sanc and those were just the ones that hadn't exceeded Heero's price limit. If he'd had any idea how much money this was going to cost, he would never have agreed that a house sounded like a good idea; he would have insisted that they just get a bigger apartment instead.
Heero lifted his hand and stroked Duo's back soothingly. He could feel the tension in him and he had a pretty good idea *why* Duo was so tense. He'd managed to pull up some L2 housing prices while Duo was getting ready for bed and one quick look at them had been enough to make Wufei and him realize that this was going to continue to be a problem despite their earlier deal with Duo. Sanc housing prices were over triple the cost of a comparable house on an L2 colony - assuming you could even find something that nice *listed* for L2.
Listening to Duo's breathing, Wufei was relieved to realize that despite a couple of coughing spells earlier on, Duo sounded no more congested than he had the previous night. 'But he also does not sound as if he is slipping off to sleep...' Duo's breathing was too shallow and rapid for that. Shifting a bit, Wufei moved even more tightly against Heero so that the hand of his injured arm could reach where Duo's also rested on Heero's chest. He stroked Duo's hand gently without speaking. There was no point repeating the earlier discussion regarding housing prices. Duo had already agreed to trust that they would speak up if they thought a price was too high and to let them be the final judge of just how high *was* "too high". But that didn't mean that Duo could let go of his reservations on the subject quite that easily. They were just going to have to be patient with him regarding this and hope that he could eventually get by it.
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Title: Winning Duo
Chapter: 32/?
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Started: Jan. 2003
Genre: Yaoi, Romance, Humour, Angst
Pairings: Working towards 1x2x5; 3x4; 6x9; others may be implied
Rated: R
Warnings: OOC, Swearing, Shifting POV, Threesome
Archives: At Lev's Lair http://www.gwaddiction.com/levlair/ and at http://calic0cat.freeservers.com (my site) and at Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.
Notes: Starts one year after Endless Waltz. POV changes frequently.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change
Author's Notes: I usually write 1x2x1, so a 1x2x5 is a first for me (well, writing one is - I've been reading them for quite a while now, that's the *only* threesome I actually *like*). Feedback is appreciated.
#################################################
Standing in the doorway of what *used* to be Heero's livingroom, Duo looked across to where Heero stood at the other end of the mattress they'd just carried down from Wufei's apartment. He grinned happily at him, still stunned that Heero and Wufei had been willing to go to all this trouble for the week or so that he would be staying in Sanc while they house-hunted. 'I figured that I'd just have to sleep at their places on alternate nights or something. I never thought they'd be willing to go to all this effort and disrupt their lives so much just for that little bit of time...'
The two mattresses took up pretty much the entire floor of the room. Heero's coffee table now resided upside down on top of the box spring in his bedroom down the hall. In here, the loveseat had been shoved tightly into the corner of the room and the nearest mattress just barely missed touching it. There had been enough space beside the loveseat for the small entertainment centre to be pushed out of the way and it didn't *quite* stick out in front of the doorway. And there was just enough room to walk down one side of the room without having to step on the mattress. Just.
It was damn inconvenient and Duo hoped that Heero didn't have any company drop by or they were going to have some very awkward explanations to make - but they could keep sleeping together like they had at the hotel. And it was one more little bit of proof that Heero and Wufei really did intend to make this work. The three of them together.
Duo still had trouble believing it sometimes. Still half expected to wake up and find out that the whole thing had been one really cruel dream. Cruel because it was what he'd wanted for so damn long... 'But if it was just a dream, I don't think anybody would have gotten sick or hurt. So it really is real...'
Heero couldn't help smiling a bit at the ear-to-ear grin on Duo's face. 'Seeing that happy grin and knowing that I - that *we*,' he corrected himself, 'put it there makes all this mess and fuss worthwhile.' He threaded his way down the side of the room and gave Duo a hug. He didn't know whether he would ever be able to manage that kind of thing as easily as Wufei but Duo always responded so enthusiastically to even the smallest bit of contact initiated by him that Heero was consciously looking for opportunities now. He hid his own grin against Duo's hair as Duo hugged him back happily.
"Want to come with me to help Fei bring down some clothes and the pillows and stuff?" Duo asked.
Heero tightened the hug for an instant before stepping back and agreeing, "Okay." He held out one hand a bit hesitantly as they left the apartment. Duo caught hold of it immediately, giving Heero another delighted grin. Heero could feel a grin of his own tugging at the corners of his mouth. Duo's happiness and excitement were absolutely contagious.
***
Wufei added a couple of movies to the pile of miscellaneous "stuff" to be taken down to Heero's apartment. His pain medication was already down there; they had simply left it there when they arrived. He had already collected every pillow he owned and piled them near the door. And he had packed a few clean outfits to take with him as well. By the time Duo came back up to help carry things, he should be all set to go.
Wufei wasn't entirely happy that Duo had helped carry the mattress to Heero's apartment - the other youth was still favouring the wrist he'd injured rollerblading after all - but he wasn't exactly able to help and they hadn't really wanted to involve anyone else in this yet. It was still too new for them to be prepared to explain why they wanted enough room for the three of them to sleep together, something that would certainly have been necessary in order to request Trowa and Quatre's assistance in rearranging things.
Returning to his bedroom in search of a forgotten book, Wufei shook his head slightly, a wryly amused smile on his face. It was strange to see the bed frame with only a box spring on it. The entire room was decidedly disordered from all the packing and rearranging. Though nowhere near as much as Heero's entire apartment was. 'All of this for the sake of the week or so that Duo will be here while we look for a house...'
Not that he regretted it. Duo's delight at the entire arrangement was obvious and as for Heero and himself... 'Neither of us is precisely complaining about it either. And it is not merely the sleeping together that makes this worthwhile. It is the simple fact that we will be continuing to spend time together and to learn about each other throughout the week.' And that was good for all of them and for the development of every aspect of their relationship.
'And the close contact we will be in will be good for Heero. He is getting a bit better about contact already, I think. Contact with Duo in particular but he doesn't freeze up as badly in response to simple casual touches from me either. Just a tiny hesitation.' Which was a start. Heero hadn't been finding excuses to touch him yet, only Duo, but then he and Heero were much more tentative with each other anyway. Wufei was sure that would change with time but, after all, the two of them had only just admitted to mutual attraction and caring and the willingness to explore that. And while their relationship with Duo was only a few days further along they had at least been mentally preparing for that for quite some time.
As his apartment door opened and Duo entered with Heero close behind him, Wufei was again assured that, awkward and unconventional as their new relationship might be, it *was* right for the three of them. The happy smiles on their faces and the warm feeling that those smiles created in him were proof of that.
***
Duo tossed another house listing in the "not a chance" pile and eyed the rapidly dwindling stack of listings that they had yet to go through. Heero had printed out a very large pile of them off the net and they were each going through a portion of them sorting them into simple "yes" or "no" piles. Once they were through, they would swap "yes" piles and narrow things down some more. Hopefully by the time they'd all gone through every listing, they would have a manageable group left to go over together.
Wufei picked up another listing and noticed that there weren't very many left to be sorted. A quick glance confirmed that Heero's "yes" and "no" piles, like his own, were roughly equal in height. Duo's piles on the other hand were rather drastically different. 'Either he is being much less picky than we are or he has happened to get a better set of listings to start with,' Wufei thought. He turned his attention back to his own task, stifling the desire to sigh. He really hoped that the three of them could find a decent set of houses that appealed to them all.
Heero watched as Duo tossed the very last listing onto his taller stack. He moaned internally at the thought that he was going to have to read that many more listings as he silently handed his own "yes" pile over to Wufei. Then he was left stunned as Duo handed him the *short* stack. "Umm, this is all?" he asked hesitantly. He peered across and realized that the listing on the top of the tall stack was one that he'd thought that Duo would really like when he'd printed it out. 'I wonder what was wrong with that one...'
"Mmm-hmm," Duo nodded, already engrossed in the next listing. He frowned slightly and started a new "no" pile.
Glancing up at Heero's question, Wufei was startled by the discovery that Duo's tall pile of listings was his "no" pile, not the "yes" one. 'Maybe he got all the really *bad* listings instead of the good ones...' But as the top paper from his own "yes" stack became the first in Duo's new "no" stack alongside of the tall one, he became even more surprised. 'That was a really nice house... A big yard, indoor pool, lots of square footage and both an attached garage and a workshed... Maybe a bit pricy but...' Wufei froze in the midst of his own sorting. He snuck another quick glance at Duo's stacks and noticed that the "no" one was growing rapidly. 'Oh shit.' Looking over at Heero, Wufei saw the tiny hint of a crease between his eyebrows that indicated a frown.
Heero re-read the listing in his hands, trying to figure out what had made Duo put it in his "yes" pile. The house really had very little to recommend it. It barely even met the minimum requirements that he'd specified when he searched for listings. About the only thing that it had to recommend it was its price... 'Oh fuck...' Heero raised his eyes and met Wufei's. Silently, he held out the listing. Wufei gave him a quizzical look before reading through it. The faint frown on Wufei's face as he looked up and over at Duo matched his own. Heero sighed and took the listing back again. They'd better deal with this now, before things went any further. 'We should have discussed price,' he admitted silently. But it hadn't even occurred to him that price would be an issue. He'd specified a maximum as one of his search criteria; none of the listings he'd printed out were beyond what he'd figured the three of them could handle mortgage payments on. But then he'd never lacked for *material* things; had never had to scrounge and scrape and steal just to survive.
Bracing himself for what could well be the first argument of their relationship, Wufei cleared his throat and asked tentatively, "Duo, would you mind telling me what's wrong with all those listings?" He *knew* what the problem was, the "yes" listing that Heero had handed him confirmed that. But he wanted to hear Duo's explanation of it, hoping that it would give him an idea how to approach this without upsetting or insulting Duo. Knowing Duo's own background plus knowing that he'd been helping to get a cash-strapped business back in the black ever since the war ended, he could understand why Duo would be cautious in spending money. But a house was a lifelong investment and they weren't exactly a penniless young couple looking for a "starter" home. They all had some savings and the Preventers paid well; Wufei doubted that they would have any real difficulty getting a mortgage. He was looking for a house that they would call home for the foreseeable future, maybe even for the rest of their lives; he had no intention of pinching pennies in making such an important decision and he doubted that Heero did either.
Duo looked up, startled by Wufei's question. "They're way too much money," he said simply. "We don't need three full bathrooms or an indoor pool or any of that kind of thing. So long as I've got a roof over my head, there's a kitchen and a bathroom, and the bedroom's big enough to handle a king-size bed or at least a queen, I'll be satisfied."
"With three of us to get ready for work every day, I think more than one bathroom is a good idea," Wufei suggested diplomatically.
Shrugging, Duo said, "Well, I suppose two might be handy but we could get by okay with one; we'd just have to make up a schedule, that's all."
Wufei gave Heero a pleading glance. He could really use some support right now...
Heero swallowed uncomfortably and gave Wufei a tiny nod. He knew that Wufei was very nervous about discussing money-related issues with Duo; knew that Wufei feared making the contrast between his own relatively wealthy upbringing and Duo's poverty-stricken one too evident. "We could 'get by', yes," he said slowly, "but Duo, we're talking about the place we're all going to call home from now on, not some sort of temporary accommodation. Why settle for 'getting by'? I took our incomes from Preventers into consideration when I entered the search criteria for the listings; none of these houses are really out of our budget range; meeting the mortgage payments won't be a problem. Why not pick a house that you really like? One that has all the extras that you think you'd enjoy?"
Duo bit his lip and looked back at his first tall "no" pile. There were some awfully nice houses in that bunch but they were so expensive... "But they're so much money..." he protested weakly. "It doesn't seem right to spend so much money just to have a few luxuries..."
Biting his tongue at the thought of considering an extra bathroom a "luxury" when there were *three* of them who would need to use it every morning before work, Heero drew a deep breath and said carefully, "We've all worked hard to earn that money and we'll continue to do so. I know that we don't *have* to have all those extras but wouldn't it be nice to have a hot tub to soak in after a long day at work? A shower that's big enough for at least two of us to use it together, maybe even one that's roomy enough for all three of us? Enough spare bedrooms to have some of our friends over to stay once in a while?"
Torn, Duo wavered between the selfish wish to have some of those things and the knowledge that those really were *luxuries* and he didn't actually *need* any of them. "I... But they're so *expensive*..."
Wufei winced. Duo kept throwing longing glances at that tall stack of "no" listings but they were very *guilty* longing glances. Maybe... "Would it make you feel better if we all put a bit of money aside from each paycheck to donate to a charity?" he suggested. "Maybe the difference between the payment on the most expensive house in your 'yes' pile, the one that Heero has right now, and the least expensive in ours?"
"Could we?" Duo asked hesitantly, turning his gaze towards Heero.
Heero nodded in agreement, glad that Wufei had managed to find a practical solution to the problem. "Of course." He immediately started flipping through the pile to find the most "expensive" listing that Duo had picked. Not that "expensive" really applied to *anything* in this pile...
"Alright then," Wufei said firmly. "You stop worrying about the price on those houses and just pick based on which you like best and *I* will resort your 'no' pile." He leaned over and pulled the tall stack towards himself. 'Hopefully I can figure out which listings were drawing those longing looks...' He would have let Duo resort the pile himself but he suspected that those particular listings would have still landed back in the "no" pile simply because Duo felt so guilty over wanting them in the first place.
Duo recombined his "yes" and "no" piles from this second set of listings and started over again. He set aside the least expensive house from Wufei's choices before starting to sort. He still felt a bit guilty about considering some of these houses but... 'But you're not the only one who's going to be living in it. Remember that, Maxwell. Heero and Wufei have to live there too and they want something a little nicer than what you're willing to settle for. So forget about "settling" and try to think about "wanting" instead...'
Heero finally gave up on the pile that he'd received from Duo and simply dumped them all in his "no" pile. Price was really the only thing that any of those houses had going for them and that wasn't enough. He watched as Duo resorted Wufei's listings, relieved to see that a few more of them were making their way into the "yes" pile. A glance over at Wufei showed that most of Duo's old "no" stack was getting a "yes" vote from Wufei. 'I wonder if money is going to always be an issue,' he thought. 'It may be, Duo seems to feel pretty strongly about not "wasting" it on "unnecessary" things...' It was definitely going to be something that he and Wufei would have to keep in mind in future. Right now though, Heero was just glad that they'd managed to settle this particular situation amicably.
***
Curled against Heero's warmth, Duo closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day. Most of the listings that had ended up on the "short list" for all three of them were having Open House on Sunday and since it was the last day that Heero and Wufei had off they were going to have to get moving in order to go to as many of them as possible. Any places that they didn't get to then would have to be visited during the week either by him alone or by all three of them after work. And he really didn't want to go house-hunting on his own. Prices that Wufei and Heero didn't even bat an eye at left him gasping in disbelief. You could buy an entire L2 neighbourhood for the price of some of the houses in Sanc and those were just the ones that hadn't exceeded Heero's price limit. If he'd had any idea how much money this was going to cost, he would never have agreed that a house sounded like a good idea; he would have insisted that they just get a bigger apartment instead.
Heero lifted his hand and stroked Duo's back soothingly. He could feel the tension in him and he had a pretty good idea *why* Duo was so tense. He'd managed to pull up some L2 housing prices while Duo was getting ready for bed and one quick look at them had been enough to make Wufei and him realize that this was going to continue to be a problem despite their earlier deal with Duo. Sanc housing prices were over triple the cost of a comparable house on an L2 colony - assuming you could even find something that nice *listed* for L2.
Listening to Duo's breathing, Wufei was relieved to realize that despite a couple of coughing spells earlier on, Duo sounded no more congested than he had the previous night. 'But he also does not sound as if he is slipping off to sleep...' Duo's breathing was too shallow and rapid for that. Shifting a bit, Wufei moved even more tightly against Heero so that the hand of his injured arm could reach where Duo's also rested on Heero's chest. He stroked Duo's hand gently without speaking. There was no point repeating the earlier discussion regarding housing prices. Duo had already agreed to trust that they would speak up if they thought a price was too high and to let them be the final judge of just how high *was* "too high". But that didn't mean that Duo could let go of his reservations on the subject quite that easily. They were just going to have to be patient with him regarding this and hope that he could eventually get by it.
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