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"Regained "Written By: Artemis Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters are
copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
I make no money with this fic. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: yaoi lemon, masturbation, angst, violence,
language Pairings: 6x2, 3x4, mention of 13+11, R+1 Summary: Sequel to Interfacing: Lost. GAIA, the
new alliance, fights its first battle in Antarctica; Duo and Zechs
begin to rebuild their relationship "Regained"
Nimbly Zechs climbed the stairs to the catwalk and crossed over to where the Gundam pilot was. As he neared, he saw that the boy was indeed in pain, sagging against the side of the open cockpit, breathing a little fast, eyes closed. "Heero!" Zechs exclaimed in concern. He saw the source of the noise, a tool that Heero had dropped. "I didn't see you at supper, Heero, did you eat?" Heero opened one eye to peer up at the tall, aristocratic, blond pilot. "I'm fine," he muttered. "Could you please hand me that?" The older man picked up the tool and handed it back. "You should rest," he murmured. "Thanks for the tool," Heero replied. He took a deep breath and resumed his work. "I'll rest when I'm done." Zechs frowned, straightening. //He's pushing himself mercilessly.// Indeed, though the air in the hangar was chilly, the boy was sweating from his exertions, even though he'd stripped down to a tank top. And there was a red stain on the bandage on his left arm, Zechs now noticed. "You should get that replaced, get a fresh bandage," he murmured. Heero appeared to ignore him for a few seconds, then put the tool down and looked up at the ex-OZ pilot. "I'll be fine." But he did not resume his work this time and did not look away again, but held the older man's gaze. After several uncomfortable seconds, Zechs inquired, "Do you still want to fight me, Heero?" The dark blue-gray eyes - Prussian blue they would be called - never wavered or blinked. The young pilot appeared to be studying his counterpart, summing him up, weighing, perhaps, the sincerity of the man's obvious concern. //He's a good leader, looks out for his men,// Heero was thinking of the tall pilot. //What's with the hair, I wonder? And did I hear that he used to wear a mask? Because he's really a prince, it seems. Though now he's not wearing it. Because he's left OZ? And has he? Hmmm, I'll have to take a look at his computer network sometime...// "Nah," Heero replied finally. "It'd probably just piss everyone off. Especially Duo." He broke the gaze though he was still looking up. "True, Duo would have quite a... reaction to that," Zechs admitted, smiling. The smile brought Heero's attention back. "It's none of my business, but how the hell did you two meet? And was this alliance thing your idea?" Zechs sat down on the lip of the cockpit door across from Heero, drawing one knee up. "We met in a cafe in Cairo... and the alliance was Quatre's idea. And it certainly is your business, Heero. The alliance in particular. You know you're welcome to join our efforts against Romefeller." "I'm not ready to decide about that," Heero muttered. He frowned, looking across at the man with the unusual long, pale blond hair. "How did you happen to run across a Gundam pilot in Cairo? Had you been following him?" //Here we go,// Zechs thought, and considered that he might as well tell Heero, especially if it would make a difference in Heero's own acceptance of the alliance. "No, I was not following him. I did not know what he was, and he did not know who I was. After Duo and I were together for three days, Quatre happened to find him when Duo was away from me, and he told him who I was." Heero blinked as the truth about Duo and Zechs's relationship started to sink in. "Together..." "Yes," Zechs affirmed, sighing. "The rest gets pretty sordid. You want the whole nasty story? He tried to kill me." //Oh, shit, they were *lovers*... but Duo's so young... fuck, and we're in the middle of a war...// Heero didn't know whether to be shocked, pissed, or just blow it off in light of the ex-OZ pilot's casual manner. Obviously Zechs was making no attempt to cover this up. "I can do without the details," he said finally. "He was right to try to kill you." //Oh, shit...// "I did not at any time take advantage of him," Zechs said hastily in defense. "Ask him." Heero narrowed his eyes. "I will. So... obviously you were already thinking of leaving OZ... or did he convince you?" "No, I was three-fourths of the way gone, Heero," Zechs replied, sighing. "This story I do want you to hear. Got a few minutes? It'll let you rest your arm..." Heero glanced down at the blood-soaked bandage. His arm throbbed though he was able to ignore the pain as he'd been trained. Still, if he needed the arm to fight... "Sure, go ahead." He laid down his tool and leaned back against the side of the cockpit entrance, settling in to listen. Duo entered the hangar near the construction bay where Wing Gundam was being repaired. He looked up expecting to see Heero working tirelessly on his Gundam only to find he wasn't working or alone. //Zechs!// Seeing his lover seated comfortably in the cockpit doorway sent Duo's heart hammering in his chest. //What the hell is going on?!// The black-clothed boy quickly slipped behind some large refueling cylinders to get a better look without being observed. It appeared as though Zechs and Heero were conversing very easily. Duo couldn't fathom what they might be talking about... the new alliance perhaps? Maybe Zechs was trying to coax the pilot of Gundam 01 into joining GAIA before the battle in the morning. With a frustrated shake of his head, Duo clenched his fists and strode away from the scene. It was making him too angry to watch Zechs and Heero getting along this well. After all, he didn't seem capable of getting along with either one of them... not as a friend or otherwise. He maneuvered away from Wing Gundam, careful not to be seen by any of the ground crew still making last minute repairs and modifications to the many suits in the hangar. Finally, he was next to the Tallgeese, looking up and up and up at the monstrous form. //Shit. Am I really planning to fly this thing?// he wondered and then made his way up the stairs rather than operate the noisy lift. The cockpit door opened smoothly and Duo stepped inside, his eyes wide in wonderment and his senses on high alert. He really didn't want to be caught in here... despite being given permission... though reluctantly. "Oh, I can smell him," Duo said with a grin as he breathed in the unique Zechs-scent around him. He sat down in the pilot's chair, easing in, letting his body meld to the seat much like it melded to his lover. His large blue eyes looked around, intensely curious about all the controls and special features of this suit. It was very similar to his Gundam, as he guessed a prototype would be, but there were differences. The location of a control here, the size of a data readout panel there, and even the design of the pilot's chair. But the biggest difference of all were those rockets on the back. Duo knew they had to be powerful, maybe even capable of sending this suit into outer space, and he was itching to feel that kind of power. Let it race through him, let it take him places he'd only dreamed about in his own Gundam. Flicking a switch, the controls lit up... the cockpit burning bright with reds, greens, yellows and blues. His fingers glided over the controls, but he was cautious not to change any settings with Zechs needing this suit in top form for the battle. //The battle...// It would be GAIA's first mission, first real threat to overcome. He knew they'd be victorious... he never went into a battle thinking otherwise... but still he wondered what it would hold. Would this battle propel the war to a speedy end? Or would it alert Romefeller to a new threat, prompting them to further atrocities? And would it bring him and Zechs closer together? Finally allow the Lightning Count to appreciate his rebel pilot lover? Or would Zechs reject Duo completely? Seeing the fierce God of Death materialize again and take the field with fearless rage. Duo's hands gripped and released the control levers. //I can't hold back... I have to fight.// Then, as he reached to power-up the Tallgeese's engines, he remembered what Zechs had said about this machine nearly killing him. //What if I get hurt flying it?// The possibility was there. If he injured himself by going for a joyride and couldn't fight the next morning he'd never forgive himself. "I can't let them down. I have to trust that Zechs will admire me for who I am. Tallgeese is his machine, just as Deathscythe is mine." He leaned back in the chair, releasing his hands from the controls and folding them in his lap. "Maybe another time... when there's not so much at stake," he said. The boy was tempted, very tempted to see where this suit would take him, but he kept his hands to himself. Letting his eyes drift from blinking light to solid light to no light. Speculating about the machine's response time, handling, and fire power. But soon his eyes grew heavy with sleep... a sleep he should've been sharing. "Zechs..." he murmured as he nodded off, trying to imagine he was in his lover's arms. Finished with the explanation, Zechs sighed and closed his eyes. "That's why I didn't want my sister to see me. If I were to use my real identity again, it would draw Romefeller's ire against the Sank Kingdom because I must now oppose that body. I cannot risk that. Relena's better off not knowing about me." Heero wasn't ready to admit it, but he was very impressed with the man, Zechs Merquise. He already admired and respected him as a premier mobile suit pilot and soldier, but the man himself was honorable, fair, honest, and truly committed to peace. //Like Marshall Noventa... I was unable to support him because of Khushrenada's deception, but maybe I can support Zechs now...// And apparently Zechs wasn't letting his affair with Duo get in the way of his intention to fight Romefeller. Heero couldn't help but wonder if Duo himself was able to keep his love life separate from his duty to the colonies. Something nagged at Heero's mind... "So why are you up here instead of being with Duo tonight?" he asked, tool in hand, returning to his task. Zechs was still mulling over what he'd told Heero. "Umm? Oh, I guess we had a little spat. I'm still having trouble imagining Duo as a Gundam pilot, in fact I'm actually looking very much forward to the battle tomorrow so that I'll see him fight with his Gundam at last. I need to see that. Ah... he wants to fly Tallgeese. I disagreed and bruised his pride, I guess. Tallgeese nearly killed me the first time I flew it." "Tallgeese," Heero murmured, thinking about Zechs's monster mobile suit which he'd faced in Siberia. "The Vernier output is impressive, but there's something more, isn't it?" //He's actually listening to me. I think that was the hardest thing, that while Duo was screaming to me that I didn't appreciate him as a pilot, he was doing the same to me...// Zechs took a deep breath. "Yes. The suit actually ignores the commands of the pilot. It takes incredible focus and strength of will to make it submit. It almost has an intelligence and was fighting me the whole way until finally it yielded to me. It's truly designed to take on great odds and defeat multiple attacks at one time." Heero was nodding. "Does Duo know all that? Or, let me guess... he didn't let you get that far." "I've told him once before, though I still don't think he believes all of it," Zechs murmured wryly. "Figures," Heero muttered. "By the way, I saw Duo pass by a little while ago down below." "What?" Zechs shot him a glance. Alarms went off all over the place inside his head, but he calmed himself immediately. //I trust Duo. He wouldn't... not against my order...// "Well, we haven't heard the Verniers, so he's probably just checking out the cockpit. Which is fine with me. I told him I didn't want any suits out tonight in case the search party is closer than we think." "Understood," Heero agreed. He studied the older pilot for a moment as Zechs appeared to fall into a reverie, staring off into the darkness of the hangar. //It's clear why Duo got involved with him in the first place,// he mused. //Zechs is attractive. And he's also a decent, good man from what I can tell, for all that he was an OZ soldier. I had no idea Duo was even interested in sex or relationships... at least when we were at that school together he seemed pretty above it all. And during a war...// Heero began to understand that it was most likely that neither Zechs nor Duo had been looking for a relationship. It had just happened. Of course Duo, having been cut off from his mission orders as they all were, had likely been very lonely and feeling isolated, even if he was staying with Quatre who apparently already had it bad for Trowa - a little fact that Trowa had never deigned to share with Heero, not that it mattered.... //And Zechs seeing the lustre of OZ become tarnished must have started to feel something similar -isolated, cut off, lonely...// The question was, could the relationship be a good thing in light of this new alliance they were forming? Or would it get in the way? //Normally,// Heero thought, //I would think a relationship would be harmful to any one of us, distracting and interfering with our ability to judge what we must do. But if that relationship gives a soldier something to fight for... then it is a positive thing.// He'd been around Trowa Barton enough to know that Trowa had some deep inner troubles that hadn't been attended to. //Trowa told me about growing up as a mercernary... the betrayals they'd endured... and there's much he wouldn't tell me. I have to wonder... Anyway, the little I've seen of Quatre tells me that he's good for Trowa. That's a good thing, then. So if Zechs is good for Duo... and Duo is good for Zechs, and the relationship gives them new purpose in fighting for peace... then I'll support it... like I think I'll be supporting this new alliance. Not that I'm ready to make that decision...// "Zechs," Heero murmured quietly so as to avoid startling the man. Zechs glanced over. "I should get back to work now. It was good talking with you." Surprised by the pleasantry, Zechs straightened and smiled. "Thanks, Heero, it was good talking with you, too." //And Duo thinks this boy's so cold and heartless...// Once Zechs had reached ground level again, he started walked toward Tallgeese. The sound of boot heels alerted him, and he turned to see who was approaching. "Sir," Bronn Sangers greeted him, a little breathless, "I think one of the Gundam pilots is in Tallgeese! Should I radio him?" Zechs smiled and shook his head. "No, it's okay, Bronn. It's Duo. I said he could check it out. I guess we're all too keyed up to sleep much tonight." The man nodded, relief pouring through him. Zechs was actually talking pleasantly to him! But there was still a concern. "I think he's got it powered up, though, sir." Zechs's eyes widened, then he looked toward the great white mobile suit. His keen eyes perceived that the cockpit lights were indeed on, though it didn't seem like the propulsion system had been activated. He began to walk closer to the suit to be sure. Bronn trailed after, wondering. Standing at the base, Zechs could see that indeed Tallgeese had been powered up, but the telltale hum of the Verniers in warm-up mode was absent. "He's not going anywhere," he murmured to Bronn, then turned around and started walking away. //I trust Duo...// "Sir..." Bronn followed hastily. "Yes, sir... ah, should I stay to watch just in case?" Zechs glanced back. "Stand down, Bronn, it's all right. You should go get some sleep, too. I'll need the Aries to backup the Gundams and myself here at the base in case any enemy suits get past us." "Yes, sir!" Bronn stopped and saluted, but Zechs was already walking away. Watching the long, pale hair recede across the hangar, Bronn felt himself harden. //Shit, he's too beautiful for words... and a man I'd follow to the end of the earth...//
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