Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing... I'm kinda getting bored of writing that.
A/N: Okay, I thought that if I deleted the poll note before this chapter then the ten reviews that came with that note would be deleted as well. That didn't happen. So I now have ten extra reviews that I feel like I cheated to get. So I request of you, don't review this chapter. Only if I have done something horribly wrong should you write a review, and better yet, if it really is that pressing, PM me. I don't want to cheat.
Edit: You can review if you want to I noticed myself checking my email every fifteen minutes before I even realized what I was doing so yeah... I don't think I'll survive without reviews actually... [sheepish grin.
This chapter was hell to start writing and really really fun to finish writing. Not been proofread, you have been warned.
Now, enjoy!
Posted on Nov 25 2007
“Maxwell, please report to the lobby. Maxwell, please report to the lobby.”
Duo glanced up from his pile of paperwork and stared at the intercom in surprise. What would they need him at the lobby for?
Sighing he put his papers in some semblance of order and headed downstairs… all twenty-five floors. There had better be a good reason for making him come all the way down. It didn’t matter that he took the elevator; it was a matter of principle.
As soon as he exited the elevator he was confronted with a seething Quatre. “Uh… hey Quat?”
“What is going on?” He hissed. Duo looked around and saw that a lot of the people were loitering about sensing a potential fight. They’re rats! Honestly!
“What are you talking about?” He asked lightly. The question posed by Quatre suggested that he didn’t know the entire story which meant he was in no danger of having his healing nose rebroken… yet.
“Your nose is bruised. You got into a fight didn’t you? Trowa won’t tell me what happened. He just sulks all day. He and Heero aren’t talking. Heero’s ignoring me. What happened?” He said calmly but Duo could see him grinding his teeth. God knew how long he had obsessed over this before he decided to drop in at work.
The logical part of his brain told him to take this somewhere else where there weren’t so many prying eyes but a more primitive part of his brain concerned with survival and self preservation suggested that witnesses were good… witnesses meant no bloodshed or quick 911 calls in case of bloodshed. “Not here Quat. How about I meet you for lunch?” The logical part won while the primitive part cried tears of disbelief.
“No! I…” Quatre started protesting but was interrupted by Derouche’s smooth voice.
“Trouble in paradise Maxwell?” He asked smoothly leaning on a nearby wall. “My… I didn’t know you went for the innocent looking Lolita type.”
“Who are you?” Quatre asked suspiciously.
“Oh no one important. I’m just Maxwell’s boyfriend on the side. A nasty little workplace affair. We do each other in the washrooms where everyone can hear us.” He said with a sneer and Duo growled at him.
“Hell will freeze over before we start seeing eye-to-eye Derouche, forget about doing each other. Not to mention, I’m out of your league.” He said snidely.
“What’s going on here?” Quatre cut in before Derouche could retort.
“He is a workplace hazard.” Duo explained and then turned his back to him to give Quatre his entire attention. “He’s like an annoying fly, he goes away if you ignore him.”
“Maxwell you…”
“Let’s go for lunch Quatre. I’m sure boss won’t mind.” He said as he put a hand on Quatre’s back to steer him out of the building leaving behind a very pissed off Derouche.
“Okay. Now spill.” Quatre said the moment they sat down in a nearby café and Duo felt himself sweat. He whipped out his cell phone and dialed Heero’s number.
“Hey Heero. I’m here having lunch with Quatre who’s complaining that you ignoring him and wants me to give him details. Just how likely is it that I’ll have my nose broken again?” He asked in one shot and then listened carefully. “Uh huh… uh huh… okay… you mean not tell him that?... oh okay… all right bye love.” He switched the phone off. He looked at Quatre who stared back curiously. “He told me you’d either break my nose or break Trowa’s. He wants neither to happen so I’m supposed to keep my mouth shut.”
In a moment he saw Quatre’s sweet innocent face transform into an angry, fire breathing one as his eyes sparkled with anger. “If you don’t tell me right this instant what happened I’ll break both your and Trowa’s nose.” He threatened and he looked like he would follow through with it.
Duo swallowed and then dialed Heero’s number again. “Hey, it’s me again. He says he’ll break both our noses if I don’t tell him. And my nose is just starting to heal!... Uh huh… okay… are you sure?... ummm… that’ll really piss him off… Okay fine I’ll do that. Bye.” He looked at Quatre and leaned a bit away from him in case of an explosion. “He says that it’s between me and him and that if you need to find out anything you have to talk to Heero, not me. And that he doesn’t appreciate you going behind his back and asking around questions. He said that it’s best that you two meet.” Duo explained before ducking reflexively when Quatre raised a hand.
Turns out he had raised it just to tuck away a stray strand of hair. “Fine. If I can talk to him then I don’t care who I get the whole story from.” He said as he got up and left. Duo let out a breath of relief at that. He felt distinctly as though he’d just survived a proverbial hanging.
“So the guy sends me pictures of Heero and me, right? And now I’m pretty sure we’re being followed.” Duo explained the whole story to Wufei as they left the building and headed towards the subway station.
Wufei stared at him as though he had grown another head. “So it didn’t bother you when Butt got pictures of you hanging out with Heero, you kissing Heero, all those things but now you’re suspicious?”
“Hey, I’m a naturally trusting guy.”
“More like naturally slow when it comes to matters of common sense and simple deductions. I’d be suspicious the moment my pictures with Meiran appeared on the office network.” Wufei explained and Duo nodded seeing his point.
“But what can I do about it? How do I find the guy sending the pictures? I traced the IP but the guy has covered his tracks well. That’s useless.”
“Shouldn’t you be more worried about the fact that Heero is blind and there’s a stalker who knows where he lives taking pictures? If this guy is perverted enough, he could take pictures of Heero undressed and he’d never know.” Duo froze at that staring at Wufei’s retreating back with horror. “You already told me he took a couple of pictures in front of Heero’s doorstep as well as pictures looking in through the windows. The guy could be plastered against the window and Heero would never see him.” He turned to look at Duo when he realized that he wasn’t following.
“He has Aiko.” Duo said trying to force down the fear that was blooming in his chest.
“That dog? I doubt she will attack a guy holding a camera outside the house clicking pictures because he’s not causing any physical harm to Heero. He’s really easy to take advantage of. For all you know there’re naked pictures of him on the net already and he’d never know.” Wufei explained and Duo remembered with horror the picture of them in the park. Aiko had been staring straight at the camera and she had done nothing.
“Fuck Wufei!” Duo swore before taking off running in the direction of Heero’s house. “I gotta go see Heero.”
Wufei slapped his head in annoyance. If he hadn’t mentioned that, the idiot would probably never have made the connection.
Duo got to Heero’s house just as Quatre was leaving it. He was smiling as he said goodbye to Heero but his mood dampened the moment he saw Duo.
“Hello Duo. Try not to molest him too much.” He chuckled lightly but Duo could see it was forced.
“Duo’s here?” Heero said his face brightening. Quatre seemed to notice that and he turned and smiled at Duo.
“You make Heero happy, which is the only reason why your nose is still intact… half intact…” He smirked.
“Yeah, Cyclops didn’t seem to think so. I’m just glad he didn’t have a gun.” He said but his eyes were taking in the open curtains on the windows, both the living room and the bedroom. Anybody could look in. What was Heero thinking?
Quatre laughed at that. “You have to be the only one who gets away with calling him Cyclops.”
Duo smiled at him but he was watching Aiko run around in circles in Heero’s bedroom through the window. And did he have to have such large windows? Didn’t he worry about burglaries?! And his bedroom wasn’t even on the second story! It was on ground level, the basement was probably the only place that felt safe.
“All right I’ll be leaving now. I have to handle a sulking Trowa. Bye.” He said as he waved to Duo. “Bye Heero, take care of yourself.”
As soon as Quatre left Duo rushed to Heero and hugged him tightly. “Nice to see you too Duo.” He chuckled but when Duo continued hugging him he sobered up. “What’s wrong?”
“I was just worried about you Heero.” He said as he kissed Heero’s neck. “There’s something I have to tell you.” Heero led them into the bedroom where Heero sat down on the bed and Duo sat down on the nearby chair. “Someone’s been taking our pictures and sending them to my homophobic boss. I’ve been able to avoid every problem but it scared me that he was taking pictures through the windows. Someone’s watching you… and you have all the curtains wide open… why?”
“I’m being followed?” Heero looked skeptical. “Why?”
“I don’t know. He is following us. He takes pictures of when we’re together… although he may just be following you. Why do you keep all the curtains open Heero?”
“I don’t particularly care about light or the view, but it’s for Aiko’s sake. I don’t want to have her boxed in with her blind master without light. And I tend to forget to switch on the light at night so the street lights probably make her feel better.”
“Well in that case I doubt anyone can look inside at night.” Heero nodded and they were both silent for a moment. Then suddenly from under the bed came a massive furry object hurtling itself towards Duo. “Gyah!”
Aiko jumped into Duo’s chest and the chair toppled over due to the extra weight leaving him on the ground and a massive dog on his chest. “Ow! Aiko get off!” Instead of biting his face off as he’d expected, Aiko gave him a big, sloppy, wet kiss with her exceptionally large tongue. “Eeww!” Duo said disgusted at the slimy stuff on his face.
Heero laughed. “Guess Aiko’s forgiven you.”
Duo pushed the dog off himself and watched as she happily trotted away from him and sat down next to Heero who started finger brushing her fur. “That quickly?” He sat up and wiped his face off with his sleeve.
“She forgets. Then she doesn’t care.” He said as he scratched between her ears.
“So will she kill me if I kiss you?” He asked as he moved towards Heero while keeping an eye on the dog.
“No…” He couldn’t finish what he was saying as Duo pecked him on the lips. Aiko stared at them, then her tongue rolled out and she grinned at them. “She doesn’t interfere unless there’s a struggle.”
Duo nudged Heero’s nose with his own. “Guess that means no bondage, hmm?” He watched with satisfaction as Heero’s face slowly turned pink and then progressed to a full blown blush that reached his ears and down his neck.
“Umm…”
Duo felt his face split into a huge grin at Heero’s expression. He put a hand on Heero’s chest and pushed him back gently so that he was lying on his back. He lay down next to him and looked at him. It surprised him how much he cared for him sometimes.
“What are you doing?” He asked smiling a little.
“Looking.”
“At what?”
“You.” Duo said softly and let his eyes linger on Heero’s profile. He had beautiful features, suntanned gold skin, chocolate brown hair, perfectly straight nose… icy blue eyes… delicate long neck… “You’re beautiful.”
Heero blushed in response and then rolled over so that he was lying on his side, facing Duo. He held out his hand and touched Duo’s face methodically, his hands going over his eyes, his nose, his chin, then his fingers went to his hair, traced his bangs and then went through the entire length of his braid.
“Tell me… what do you look like?” He asked softly, then he laughed self deprecatingly. “Funny huh? I don’t even know what you look like.”
Duo ran his fingers through Heero’s hair soothingly. “I’m five feet nine, I have brown hair, lighter than yours, about three feet long, I have violet eyes and people tell me I have a mischievous face. I guess I’m sort of lanky, sometimes I think my legs are too long for my body… I hate my knees, they’re knobbly. And… hmm…”
“I want to see you some day.” He said wistfully then suddenly his face scrunched up as his eyes sparkled with tears. He quickly turned away from Duo facing the other side as he covered his eyes with his hands.
“Heero…”
“I’m sorry I’m having a…” He let out a shuddering breath. “Sometimes it just hurts. I’m sorry.” Duo hugged him tightly from behind trying to comfort him. “I’ll never see you… I’ll never know what you look like…” He continued crying and Duo had could tell he was trying to stop but he kept crying nonetheless. So he continued to hug him, whisper nonsense words in his ear and just tried his best.
After a little bit Heero stopped and he seemed to slip into sleep. Duo stayed there a little while longer thinking about what Heero had said, eyes on the dark street outside.
Then he got up. He had to find Adam. And kill him.
Duo clutched the box to his chest. He had to hunt a lot to find this particular game. It was called the ‘ungame’ and if his plan worked he’d get Heero to talk to him about Adam.
He really, really hoped Heero would talk to him through this game. He’d even gone to a Braille typist and asked to have the cards all be rewritten in Braille under the normal print.
It was starting to get late but he was hoping Heero would let him stay over so they could play the game into the night. He was so excited! He knocked on Heero’s door and he heard Aiko start barking at the sound.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me! I got a game! I wanna play with you!” He announced happily. The door opened slowly and Heero was in his sweats and a loose shirt, horribly mismatched but absolutely adorable anyway.
“A game?” He sounded confused but Duo brushed past him and entered the living room Aiko chasing her own tail in the living room before she darted down the stairs into the basement.
“Yup! It’ll be fun! I realized we don’t talk much about ourselves so I got a game to help us do it.” He said excitedly. He grabbed Heero’s hand with his free one and tugged him towards the bedroom. “We have to be comfortable for this. Coz I plan on playing till late.”
“Duo…” Heero resisted and Duo looked back at him. “About last time… I don’t usually break down like that… I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable… I haven’t cried like that in years…”
Duo tugged on Heero’s hand and hugged him lightly. “Don’t try to hide what you feel okay? If you feel like crying, then cry in front of me so that I can help you. Don’t cry when your alone because that just feels horrible.” He said softly and he felt Heero nod. “Now let’s play.”
This time Heero allowed himself to be dragged to the bedroom where he was placed on the bed. Duo climbed on and sat across from him as he pulled out the board game. “This game is called the ungame. As you play you’re supposed to answer the questions on the cards. I had them retype the cards in Braille so you can ask me questions too.” He said as he handed Heero the cards.
Heero felt the letters on the cards and smiled. “Name an embarrassing moment.” He read out loud.
“Hey! The game hasn’t started yet.” Duo said as he pulled the card out of Heero’s hand and placed it purposefully on the board. “Now, what colour game piece do you want? We have red, blue, yellow, orange, pink and purple.”
“Purple.” Heero said and Duo smiled at the choice.
“I choose blue.” He placed the pieces on the board and rolled the dice. “I got five. You get to pick a card and ask me a question. Oh and remember, you have to be truthful. If you don’t want to answer a question then tell me that but don’t lie okay?”
Heero nodded and grabbed a card from the pile, his fingers moving over the dots. “Complete the sentence: Something I have daydreamed about is…”
“You.” Duo said easily and Heero blushed slightly. “Your turn.” Heero rolled the dice and Duo noted the number, “Three.” He moved the piece for Heero. “I get to ask you a question now.” Heero nodded and Duo picked up a card. “What is your favourite day of the week and why do you like it?”
“Thursday.” Heero answered without thinking. “That’s the day that Mom and Dad both had off and we’d go to the beach. But it was a long time ago but I still seem to have a preference for it.”
“My turn.” Duo said and rolled the dice. “One. The board says that ‘if I feel challenged by something I should climb the Mighty Mountain.” Duo laughed slightly. “I’ll climb because I’ve been dealing with several challenges recently. Damn this is such a chick game.” He couldn’t help but comment and Heero laughed.
“We can stop if you want.” He said.
“Nah, let’s go on. There’s only the two of us and Aiko to witness our embarrassment anyway.” Duo said. “Now your turn.” Heero rolled the dice and got a four. “Four, ungame. Share a fantasy that you have.”
Heero blushed very red and Duo wondered what was going on in his head. “It’s um… does it mean any fantasy?”
Duo nodded and then remembered that Heero couldn’t see so he said ‘yes’ as well.
“Oh, in that case it’s to ride in a boat. I always wanted to do that but never got a chance to.” He explained, his normal skin colour returning. “Your move.”
“Three. Ungame.” He said and Heero picked up a card.
“What is something you feel too old to do and why?” He asked.
“Trick or treating. Always my favourite time of the year and I haven’t done it since I was fifteen. I miss it. You roll.” Heero did. “Four. Comment.”
“What do I do here?”
“You just comment on something that happened during the game. Anything catch your interest?”
“I’m curious, what challenges are you facing?” He asked, his head tilted slightly to the side in curiosity.
“Just problems at work. Annoying people. Same old.” He skirted the issue. He didn’t lie, there were problems at work, but telling the whole thing would let Heero know he had been digging around about Adam.
“Oh okay. Your turn?” Duo nodded and rolled.
“Four. Ungame. Ask me a question.” Duo said moving his piece.
“What do you do when you can’t fall asleep? What do you think about?”
“I usually think about whatever’s bothering me right that moment. I normally fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow but if I’m not asleep means something very specific is bothering me and I think about that. So the answer is – it depends.” He said. “Your turn.” Heero rolled. “Five. Ungame. Talk about a time you felt guilty. How do you feel about it now?”
Heero swallowed thickly. “Umm… Adam said some things and I felt guilty… uh… I still do… Your turn.” He said his mood dampening a little.
“One. If you have felt alone lately go to Dejected Desert.” Duo glanced at Heero. “I’m going.” He said watching Heero’s expression but he saw nothing out of the ordinary… but then again his eyes were downcast so he couldn’t read anything in them. “Because… I don’t feel it when I’m with this one person, but I have to leave every night… and it gets lonely. Your turn.” Heero rolled. “Four. Ungame. Whom would you call if you had an emergency at 4 o’clock in the morning?”
“You.” He said easily and then, “Your turn.”
Duo grinned at Heero's answer. “Two. Ungame.” Heero picked up a card.
“What is something you will never do?”
“Cheat on my significant other.” He answered. “Roll.” Heero held the dice in his hand for a little while contemplating before letting it roll. “Six. Ungame. Talk about a time when your feelings were hurt.”
Heero dipped his head, his lips thinning. “I don’t want to play this game anymore.” He said as he got off the bed.
“I’m sorry Heero. Don’t be mad.” Duo said quickly as he rushed after Heero.
“I’m not mad. I don’t like that game. Let’s stop here.” Duo sighed and hugged Heero anyway. The whole point of the game was to get the sensitive stuff out of the way. Not to evade it even more.
But he’ll find out what happened. And he’ll find Adam too. He already had made plans about hacking into the police mainframe to see if there was any information about Adam there.
Duo managed to stay over that night. He also got to sleep in Heero’s bed. So the plan hadn’t been a total disaster. He now knew that Heero wanted to go sailing, his favourite day of the week was Thursday and that he still felt guilty about something Adam had said.
It was only a matter of time before Duo got to the heart of the whole situation.
A/N: Today was an updating day! It was fun! Now I'll go back to studying... or try to... maybe...
Oohh 8 o'clock... maybe there's a movie on...