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"Cause and Effect"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: I own Gundam Wing. I also own Australia,
the San Francisco Zoo and the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Pairings: 2x4 Rating: NC-15…probably Spoilers: Nada Warnings: Probably TWT, romance, yaoi, language,
some violence, some angst, lime Betas: Velvet and Caitilin Author’s Insane Ramblings: This is Velvet’s fault. And Caitilin’s
too, come to think of it. Caitilin got me in the mood for 2x4 with
a comment she made, and Velvet sent me a fic that got the wheels turning.
Besides, Caitilin keeps feeding the stupid plot bunny! With carrots,
no less! *beams proudly* Now that the blame is sufficiently cast,
I can go about my business. " Cause and Effect" "Most people would sooner die than think; in
fact, they do so. " Chapter 6 There is only one thing worse than a loud Duo, and that’s a quiet Duo. ‘Concerned’ didn’t cover my feelings whenever I caught one of his still moments, and I kept a watchful eye on him. It was obvious that he was thinking about something, I just wasn’t sure if his conclusion would be to my benefit or not. In fact, I wasn’t entirely sure whether he was thinking up pranks, or something far more serious. Still, I let him have the time he needed to think whatever it was through. It was one of those times when I was giving him his space when a distraction pulled up. In a pink limo, actually. I was in the study, sitting next to the window so I saw her first. “Uh-oh.” Duo looked up from his prone position on the couch. “Uh-oh?” “Relena.” “Shit. Doesn’t Miss Relentless ever give up?” Duo rolled off the couch, leaned into the hallway and bellowed, “HEERO! RELENA IS HERE!” “SHIMATTA!” “I think he heard you,” I observed dryly. “It’s your turn, by the way.” Duo whimpered. “It can’t be my turn!” “Yup. Wufei did it last, so it’s your turn.” Pouting (an absolutely adorable expression that made me want to kiss him), he went to the front door and yanked it open. I chose to move so that I was well out of sight, but in perfect range to hear everything. “Good morning, Duo.” Relena was as frostily polite as always. “I’m here to see Heero.” “I know who you’re here to see,” Duo grounded out. “You’re never near us for any other reason. Perhaps you should get it into your thick head that he doesn’t want you, and stop throwing yourself at him.” “I am not throwing myself at him!” “Yes, you are.” “No I’m not! That is low, and beneath my standards.” Duo snorted. “You don’t have standards.” “DUO! How dare you!” “Relena, anyone stupid enough to follow a trained terrorist around asking him to kill her doesn’t have the morality or common sense of an alley cat. It took no daring. Now, for the last time, cause I’m really sick of talking to you, *leave* *him* *alone*!” “I will not! Do you think I’m going to leave him to someone like *you*?!” I stiffened angrily. That was my lover she was insulting, and I didn’t like it one bit. If she said one more degrading thing about Duo, *I’d* handle her. “Someone like me? Why me in particular, huh? I’ll ignore the fact that you think I’m some kind of whore.” “You are a whore! I know exactly what you’ve done. You did everything in your power to tempt him, using every trick, and finally you brought him down to your level!” “Relena,” Duo asked tiredly, “what the hell are you talking about?” I was wondering the same thing myself. “The last time I talked to Heero, he said that you were the person he cared about most!” There was stunned silence at that. I felt a little speechless as well. Heero had never admitted to anyone that Duo was his best friend, no matter that we all knew it. It was obvious by watching them. In this case, however, his confession was back firing on him. Relena had misinterpreted it…not that I’m surprised. “He would be with me if you hadn’t tricked him into thinking that you were in love with him!” Duo abruptly started laughing. I peeked around the doorway to see him hunched over, hands around his stomach, gales of laughter pouring out of his throat. Relena was staring at him in shock. I was fighting back laughter of my own. Of all the accusations to make…shaking my head, I made a mental note to talk to Heero about how he made confessions of friendships, and more importantly, *who* he should make such confessions to. “Re-Relena…” Duo slowly started straightening, trying to fight down his laughter. “I-I’m not in love with Heero.” “I know,” she snapped. “And it’s not funny that you’re leading him on!” “I’m not in love with Heero,” Duo repeated, eyes dancing with laughter. “I’m in love with Quatre, and Heero knows it.” Relena froze, staring at him with wide eyes. “What?” Once again, Duo just went…still. He appeared just as stunned as Relena. “I’m in love with Quatre,” he repeated softly. “It’s about time you admitted it,” I said gently, stepping into view. He slowly turned to face me, almost in a daze. “You knew…you knew I loved you.” “I could feel it,” I admitted with a slight smile. “I just gave you the time you needed to figure it out for yourself. It didn’t matter how much you loved me—if you couldn’t admit it, then it wouldn’t have done either of us any good.” I pulled him into my arms and tilted my head to press a warm kiss on his mouth. He caught me just as I was about to retreat, and kissed me back. “QUATRE!” Dammit, how is it that whenever Duo kisses me, and someone else is witness to it, that it’s MY name that is called? I pulled back to glare at her. “Relena, would you please just leave? This has gotten very old.” “No, I will not leave! Not until I see and talk to Heero!” Growling, I pulled away and gave Duo a pointed look. It was still his turn to deal with her. She had completely spoiled the moment, in my opinion. Duo glared back, but nodded in resignation and resumed his task of evicting Relentless from the house. I retreated back into the study, briefly allowing myself to indulge in a selfish moment of pure elation. Finally, Duo had admitted that he loved me. “She’s awfully persistent this time,” a deep voice muttered. Great. Now it’s *Heero* that’s spoiling my moments. “She’s always persistent.” They were shouting at each other now. I winced at the volume. That was the one downfall with Duo talking to Relena. They always wound up shouting. She didn’t dare shout with the rest of us. Maybe we should just— Heero and I shared surprised glances. All sound had just cut off in the foyer. What the devil? We snuck closer and peeked around the door, taking in quite the sight. Relena was once again gaping like a landed fish. And Duo…Trowa was standing right behind him, both arms around his waist. I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and looked again. No, they were definitely standing like two lovers would. What on earth was Trowa doing? “B-but you said you were in love with Quatre…” “Oh he is,” Trowa assured her calmly. “Just as Quatre is very much in love with him. But we all love each other, Relena. And we’re all lovers.” Oh no he didn’t. He did *not* just say that! I bit my lip to contain laughter. Heero had a pole-axed look on his face. Then slowly…he started to grin. Leaning in close I whispered, “Shall we join the fun?” “Oh by all means,” he whispered back. I slid an arm around his waist as he put an arm around my shoulders. Calmly we walked back into the foyer. Relena, I was gratified to see, was staring at us in absolute horror. Then Heero just had to up the ante. “Relena, I think you’d better leave. You really don’t want to witness what’s going to happen next.” “What?” she protested weakly. I could not *believe* that she was actually buying this. “Well, you see, Wufei promised that if I beat him at poker that he would let me handcuff his wrists to the bed and use whip cream on him.” She went about five shades whiter, then green, then red, and back to green. Finally she bolted out of the house, slammed into her pink limousine, and started having a hysterical hissy fit in the back seat. Pargan had the good sense to get his mistress out of the area. We just started laughing. “Trowa, that was brilliant!” I congratulated him. “I never would have thought of that.” Trowa shrugged. “You and Heero certainly joined in readily enough.” “Too much to resist,” Heero confessed without a whit of guilt. “I think it’s only fair I get to anger her for once.” “And of course,” Wufei drawled from the kitchen doorway, expression sardonic, “the wise crack of handcuffing me to the headboard and using whip cream on me was just to anger her.” Heero shrugged. “Maybe you should make it chocolate syrup instead,” Trowa muttered to Heero in a loud aside. “Wufei doesn’t seem to like whip cream.” “Just for that comment, Barton, you *are* going to die.” Duo held up a placating hand. “Wufei, before you get started, I need to ask a serious question.” Wufei rolled his eyes. “Oh, this ought to be good. What’s the serious question?” “Do any of you actually have a pair of handcuffs?” They all looked at me. “Hey, *I* wasn’t the one who gave him the idea. Besides, Duo, we’re out of whip cream. We used it all up last night, remember?” “Darn, you’re right.” “That’s it, I don’t want any more details!” Wufei gave us both a dark glare and stalked back into the kitchen. Trowa also retreated with a last smirk at us. Heero just shrugged. “I let you borrow my handcuffs a week ago, remember?” Duo pouted. “Darnit.” Snuggling up next to him, I nuzzled against his jaw. “I do have a few ties that you can use instead…” Duo’s pout transformed into a leer. “Now there’s a good idea. Whoever gets up to the bedroom last is bottom!” I gaped for a moment as he sprinted up the stairs, then took off after him. “Duo, that’s cheating! *DUO*!!” ~*~*~*~ OWARI Wufei: Does anyone have any idea why Honor is laying
steel traps and landmines out around the house?
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