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"Just Ducky"Written By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: AU, male/male pairings, language Pairings: 1x2, 3x4 Summary: When Trowa Barton and Wufei Chang adjust to college life, Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy learn to balance work with their changing relationships. A/N: My deepest thanks go to the kindness of Snowdragon
and WaterLily for editing and encouraging me. "Just Ducky "
Chapter 10 -Shut the Duck Up "Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg."-- Hans Christian Andersen I heard a lot of shouting and a gun go off, which had the sound of a Yuy entrance coming from the locker room direction. The guards with us took off back down the hallway, leaving Barr alone with us looking wild-eyed. "Get out of my way!" Yep, that was my intractable bud, 'Ro, taking charge. I had only an instant to wonder who he was yelling at. "You always did shoot first and think later. I don't understand how Une put up with you." Quat recognized the second voice first. "Zechs!" he cried out. "I'm in here!" Aw, shit! Damn. If Zechsy was here that meant 'Tro and 'Fei weren't far behind. Why, exactly? An explosion and then the roar of what sounded like a dozen guns blazing a path from the front entrance. Signature Trowa "Heavyarms" Barton. Oh, dear God help me. I was in so much shit with Trowa. How was I going to explain this rationally? I mean, in a way he wouldn't take badly, if there was such a thing? Worrying about him distracted me so much I didn't even think to subdue Barr. Didn't matter. Heero had him in a submissive pose and handcuffed before I got around to taking matters into my own hands. I was really out of shape, mentally, I guess. From far away, I could hear Wufei shouting, ordering, Trowa to hold his fire while he cuffed a few guys. Great Scot! I was so fucked. Trowa was gonna be so super annoyed. At least Heero was going to get his glorious arrest and probably his job back. I hoped I wasn't gonna be going to jail. I always ended up jailed or in trouble and about to be executed, and I NEVER deserved it. Not ever. Quatre was in his glory, too. Heero even let his professional concentration slide to examine him. Quat man could buy his way outta trouble... heh, heh... I noticed Zechs in awe of this sexy blue-haired version of the Winner heir. I considered warning him to hide those jelly sex toys, or not. Maybe he'd loan me bail money? "You two all right?" 'Ro asked. "Yeah," I said without elaboration. Quatre was showing off a few red marks on his otherwise perfect ivory chest. "--but I'm okay other than that!" Some part of my brain engaged enough for me to run down the keys from one of the guards. Running down the keys meant running into Wufei and Trowa. Wufei's glare and shout to "Answer some questions" was harsh. I didn't dare meet my boyfriend's eyes piercing his bangs. I just felt them ripping a hole in my heart. "We're okay. Heero's got Barr," I shouted over my shoulder. I removed the manacles from Jay. He seemed grateful when he said, "Thanks, dude." I decided to go deal with Trowa without further delay. Get this part over with. "Put away the artillery. Step aside, private citizen Chang, I have agents to take over now." Crapola. Une. Just to heap on the problems, sure enough, after most the heavy work was done, the Preventers traipsed in. Heero shoved Barr ahead of him, and headed toward his past commander. There was a showdown of sorts. Rather comical. "Yuy, you ignored orders not to take action. I had Preventers agents on the case. I didn't need your interference." "It seems you did." Rock it, 'Ro! "You can thank Duo and Quatre for the data downloads." Aw, shucks, thanks, 'Ro. He was sharing the limelight with us. Une stared at me. "I'm sure Maxwell's responsible for Winner's involvement." HEY! "Not true! Barr's an evil man," Quatre put in, "and I didn't want him hurting any more people." Or want the competition of his legitimate businesses, but now wasn't the time to get into his deeper motivations. Mobs covered their illicit work with legit stuff and had all kinds of advantages, like no taxes on the undisclosed, illegal income used to buy, staff, and fuel the lawful concerns. "Chang, I thought you had better sense that this." "This was a just venture." Good. Then she leaned on him. I always figured 'Fei for being a bit of a Une slave and with a bit of pressure, he relented to tell a bit of the night's story. All the while, I could see agents milling about, like ants collecting bits of this and that, leading the captured boys out. "When Heero was late returning I mentioned to Trowa that we might join them, but I couldn't seem to get a call through. Trowa was unable to reach Duo, but he recalled his mentioning Quatre as part of the evening's entertainment. We put one and one and one together, called Quatre's place to see if he knew anything. He didn't answer his cell, instead, Zechs answered it. He told us Q was out at some bar, but was worried since he'd left his phone at home." "Didn't fit in these pants." Quat didn't fit in those pants. "I searched my place for clues and discovered Heero's guns were gone. I rejoined Trowa with that news, and he'd found a timetable for setting up Jett Bar scribbled on the back of a napkin." "Good thing you're a slob," Trowa muttered under his breath. Oh, that comment was certainly directed at me. No doubt about it. "We called Zechs again and explained what we thought was going on." Wufei did not look happy. Trowa's face was hidden. Zechs' eyes were smouldering. "We took off to the bar. Of course, they weren't there." He looked over at Une and addressed her directly, saying, "That's when I called you, and you told me about the incoming data stream from the surveillance devices. I obtained the location of the source," his eyes gleamed at that so it must have been tricky, "and I left, accompanied by Zechs and Trowa." I was standing close enough to Quat to overhear Zechs murmur, "Why are you involved in this? You told me you were going out drinking." "I told you, Barr's an evil man." Quat even glared at Barr who seemed to be putting names to all these faces at last. "You're... Winner?" the man whispered. "You've been so carried away with meeting faculty and I've been terribly bored with Winner Corp and Heero and Duo were in desperate need of a foolproof plan-" Heh, heh... I barely listened as Quatre gave a thumbnail sketch of our leaving the party and coming here instead of going to the bar he'd told Zechs about. I watched Zechs' face color. The man was mad at Quat for getting involved and possibly a little embarrassed when Quat explained how much we all needed action, to be engaged with our work. Yeah. I think even 'Fei and 'Tro were listening. Surely, they'd understand how Heero and I couldn't just be slugs about the house? Yeah, I was seeing a way out of this mess, Trowa knew this about me. "--And after all Duo'd been through," Quat was saying, "I wanted him to get justice in the end. We all did, right Heero?" "Yes. That was a consideration." Oh, man, guys, don't make me blush. That was sweet, er, swell. It didn't take long before I was shot down from my high over getting even with the ex-boss that "done me wrong." Barr, who'd been silent all this time came out with, "You think you're all pure and clean, Gundam boys? Your comeback has been funded by OZ." No way! "Impossible!" "In what way?" "How?" "Fuck you!" "Explain!" I couldn't sort out who yelled what. Barr looked pretty pleased with himself, which made me want to beat in his mug. I bet 'Ro was wishing for his gun back. "Your veterans' benefits. The new united Federation meted out money to their fighters and the colonies scrambled to get in on it saying their fighters were owed it. Of course, at the time of the wars military on the colonies was militia under their sovereign control and so the new Federation had the right to refuse to pay them benefits. Hearing this, the OZ vets protested saying they were part of the Federation and should get veteran benefits, too. The Federation was paying the bills for terrorists, after all. The Federation agreed when OZ offered to pay for the Gundam pilots out of their own accounts. OZ liked the idea of owning you G-boys." The man had the audacity to laugh. He finished with an unnecessary flourish and, "Voila!" "I'm giving mine up as of this minute," I shouted. Wufei declared, "We all will." While Heero and Wufei talked over Une and Barr's voices, I turned to my lover. He had closed in on me and I could feel his presence at my back. Yeah, I turned and he was there. "Sorry. I just shot off my mouth without thinking. I don't know how we'll make it without that income, but—" Trowa's arms started to encircle me but then they dropped to his sides before contact was made. "Shh... I'll quit school and go back to the satellite and do the low G physical theory, if nothing else." He looked at Heero then me as if he expected us to deliver some momentous news, then added, "You don't have to come if you have a better offer." Say what???!!! "Of course I'll come with you," I told him, "if it gets to that, but you should stay in school. Find a way—" Then Zechs stepped in. "I have another offer—" "Enough!" Commander Une's voice carried over all the uproar. "Take this out of here." We spent the next few hours with agents at the local Preventers office explaining over and over again what had come down. They had it all on recordings, so why the report? It would keep us out of jail, that's why. So we stayed and talked and explained. Paperwork. Cross reporting. Blah, blah, blah. Trowa wouldn't meet my eyes for more than a few seconds at a time. I understood. He had a legitimate cause to be mad at me. Wufei's face was dark as a hurricane, fury roiling behind those black eyes. Zechs was grim, his face masklike, which struck me funny. Really inappropriately funny. I had to walk out of the room to get control of myself. What a night! I got back at Barr for what he'd done to me. I'd had a lark, a great time, for a while, and Heero and I were getting job interviews. There were openings in campus security, the computer admin offices, and several engineering tech jobs where there were folks excited to have my expertise. All thanks to Zechs Merquise for bringing us to their attention. What a world, eh? But now Trowa didn't trust me. I'd hurt him deeply. What did all the rest matter if I'd lost him in the process? The big thing was to work out our personal problems. That wouldn't be as quick and easy a fix as getting even with Barr had been. Unfortunately. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. "Hey." The voice matched the hand's warmth. It was Trowa. "I-I was just so damned excited to be useful for once." I just blurted out the raw truth. "That's what Quatre said. He was in there explaining to Zechs, but to Wufei and me as well, how left out you've both felt. Wufei and I were so wrapped up in classes and clubs and making new friends and we excluded you guys from most of that." "That I got used to, but when 'Ro came—" and there was a repeat of that wince when I mentioned Heero's name; something to bring up next. "And then seeing Barr at the Halloween party and 'Ro telling me about him being an unfinished assignment left dangling—" Another wince. Okay, enough was enough. Time to get to the bottom of this. "Aw, shucks." Heero and Wufei joined us. I didn't know if I wanted to get them involved. It got decided without me. "We need to talk," Heero said. Damn, I HATED that phrase. I swear Wufei and Trowa looked sick. "Who died?" That sick. It was Heero who was talkative. "They," he looked to his right to stare directly at Wufei and then to the left to glare at Trowa, "think you and I are... ah... having an affair." "No way! Tro'!" I was flabbergasted. "What made you think that?" Before my boyfriend opened his mouth, Quat and Zechs burst on the scene, suddenly part of the mix. Une's meeting must have ended. Now I had an audience for this mess. "You were spending a lot of time together." That was Wufei. "Well, sure, but as friends only. I mean, so were you and Trowa but 'Ro and I didn't assume you were cheating!" I said that looking directly at Trowa to get his reaction. He was turning inward and allowing that fall of hair to block his face. How were we going to get past all this? Wufei's tongue wasn't damaged, though. "I watched you...brighten and come alive once ... Heero arrived. Your past attraction to him..." His voice trailed off, evaporating under my heated glare. "I'll be specific." Okay, so Wufei was just changing tactics. "Think back to the Halloween party. Maybe you can explain why Heero slammed you into a wall and grabbed your hair?" Heero moaned and I groaned until I noticed Trowa's haunted expression. I had to set him straight about that awkward scene! "You completely misinterpreted---" 'Ro began to tell them, and I couldn't have agreed more. "No shit you did! He was shoving me out of Barr's line of sight and hiding my braid. Geez, you saw that?" Trowa nodded, scarcely. He should be embarrassed. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" "He was jealous, can't you see that?" Zechs said. "This has nothing to do with you," I told him. I hadn't cared for the exasperated tone he was taking with me, either. "You were spending all your free time with Heero, planning this...crazy mission." Zechs said that to Quat as much as to me, though. "We were all happy to be doing something productive." It was the truth! "Thank you, Heero," I said. "That's all that was going on." "I can see how Wufei and Trowa could get it all wrong," Quatre said. He could skirt the emotional by going all analytical. Show off. "Trowa could assume Duo was happy to be in Heero's company, because it was the first time he'd seen Duo so excited and upbeat for ages." "Not ages," I assured everyone. I didn't think I was that obvious about it either. Sigh. "So you thought I was all happy because of Heero?" Wufei stood by Trowa on this. "I have to say I may have contributed to that interpretation." "OH?" Kill Chang. "I shared my concerns about my holding Heero's interest in light of Duo's presence." My presence? Was I some kind of siren or something, luring men in? How did I get that rep? "What?" Heero said while practically choking on his spit. Ha! See? I had no such mesmerizing effect on Yuy! I guessed it was Heero's turn to defend himself. Wufei shrank a bit. "I noticed how caught up you were in this mission of yours and wondered aloud to Trowa if you actually weren't better off with Duo. Someone more passionate and with plenty of free time." "You said that Duo was breaking you guys up," Trowa muttered. "Breaking us up?" Heero searched Wufei's face for conformation and made me uncomfortable. "Do you think that's happened?" "Well, possibly I got a bit carried away. I tried to undo what I said." Wufei looked tortured. "I was wrong entirely. I just—" I nearly said out loud, "You know 'Fei rhymes with gay?" but Quat surprised me by wrapping 'Fei in a loose embrace. "Everything is just so new, isn't it?" Where did he come off being all sympathetic? "I bet you know Heero well enough to realize how important the actual mission was to him, now that you understand what's been going on." Especially since Barr had escaped his capture before. "And that's what had all his interest, not Duo," Quatre pressed, "Am I right?" "Yes. It's all clear, now," Wufei said. Quatre released 'Fei, much to the uptight guy's relief, and turned to Trowa. "And you suspected Duo was falling for Heero again. And even though this bothered you, you weren't willing to face Duo about it." Trowa just shook his head. I don't know what that meant. "Well," Quat said, "If it were me I'd be too scared to ask and have him tell me yes! It's really easier not to know for sure." This time Trowa nodded. And I thought we had communication down pretty good. I could just kill him. And Chang! Might as well take out Zechs and Une, too, while I was at it. A bit of the God of Death must have still flowed through my veins. Quat the amateur shrink looked very pleased with himself. "Just take two very insecure guys, especially Wufei since he and Heero are still so new together, immerse them in studying and submerge them in an new universe of experiences, while their boyfriends think up a project, have a bit of fun, filling in time as they know best, and you have imaginations going wild, putting their cute boyfriends together and creating all kinds of misunderstandings." Zechs smiled. God, I hated his smug face right then. "Yes, it's a vicious circle; they're all trying just to occupy themselves and not be too needy." "Thank you doctors," I said, bowing. "Now that you've clarified all that, and Wufei and Trowa understand now that there's no affair going on, we can all go back to our respective homes and either white-wash over the mess or thrash it out in private." "I vote for thrashing it out," Heero said, straight-faced, and then he smiled, "in private." There was hope for him yet in the world of improvisational comedy. (0) We ambled home, talking and pretty much getting down to examining our relationship, which wasn't as bad or as drawn out as I supposed it could be. We had one major breakthrough. "Mercenaries learn to hide to keep a low profile," he said. "I got pushed into revealing our relationship before I was comfortable with it, I guess." Wow, I hadn't thought of that. "I didn't want you to think I wasn't proud of you as my boyfriend, though, so I psyched myself up to introduce you to my associates to show them how we were a couple." "Ah, Tro'..." "Well, I'd thought you expected, wanted, deserved it, or whatever, maybe even as an apology for how I'd been pulling away." "But you weren't really comfortable with it?" "Not much and then you'd suddenly kissed me, in public, out of the blue—" "But I thought we were both cool with it!" I had believed he was okay with a little contact. "I didn't deal with rejection very well." "I didn't want to hurt you, you know that." "I know. I tried to just let it pass." "And I tried to chill. Not wanting to draw any attention was always a part of me, and kissing a guy in public would do that." "Me, too, to some extent, but I guess I got over it more or less." "I try, Duo, but even now, I could still be shocked and not react too well." He seemed so earnest. I know he meant what he was saying so I tried harder to understand. "Yeah, you really had that whole 'blending in' thing to a fine art. I can see how that would be pretty ingrained and hard to get past." "What if it's a part of me I can't change?" Can I live this that, I bet was what he was wondering? "Yeah, that's not so bad. I mean if that's the worse secret you were keeping... Oh, there was the 'Yuy affair thing'. Fuck, Tro'! You think I'd have sex with someone else behind your back? I'm loyal like man's best friend!" He stopped and grabbed me, holding me, pressing me to his chest. "I know. I know it. I shouldn't have doubted. I shouldn't have." I sighed. "You just shrink and fade into the woodwork when there's a problem, and I run and hide." "We have to work on our avoidance tactics in the future," he said. "Yeah. Trust first, put the problem out in the open, and deal with it." "Good plan." We rode the elevator to our floor, sharing a nice private kiss all the way. I felt exhaustion take over and a few sore muscles from all the workout and stress. I couldn't wait to close the door on the world and climb into our own bed. "I'm pretty excited about interviewing next week. I mean, going from nada to several possibilities is cool." Thanks to Zechs Merquise's connections, Heero and I would get a whole bunch of on-campus job interviews. Not a bad thing 'cause he was just helping us get a foot in the door; we had to have the skills and ace the interviews. I might be testing prototypes, part of the tech team building them, or entering campus security. I was sure Heero would go for the networking security job. Trowa flicked on the TV with the bedroom light, dimmed it, and stood by the bed. He definitely expected me to say something else. "Um," I said. Trowa had a bit more to get off his chest before letting this all go. "God, Duo... I-I ... I don't know if I should strangle you for not telling me about that mission or kiss you for getting out okay." "I choose the kiss. Yes, kiss, definitely, but I guess I deserve the other for not telling you what we were planning." Trowa crushed me into his chest, like a limpet on a rock. Not even airspace between us. I could barely breathe, but I didn't fight it. This was something like a cross between a kiss and strangulation and I didn't want to push Trowa to take it the bad way. We just hung there in that tight embrace. He was trembling. Was he crying, too? I'd made him lose it? If anyone didn't deserve grief, it was my lover, my quiet, sensitive lover. I felt like one of the baby seal killers I'd watched on TV the other night. "I'm sorry." I repeated that enough times to sound like a Quat imitator before his grip on me tightened and squeezed out the last of my air. He let up just before I blacked out. I stumbled when he released me. "Now it's my turn. I deserve an apology from you, too, and you shouldn't have to think too hard to come up with why." "I didn't trust you." "Good start! And you know what's worse, don'tcha? You assumed I'd sleep with Heero behind your back. Geez, and we'd even talked about stuff like that and I told you I was the loyal type of guy. That really pisses me off." "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." "Damned straight." Our eyes traveled to the TV while we both did some thinking. I was first to talk. "Once I get working, we'll both be busy. We gotta set aside some day just for us." "Yeah, I need that. I need you." "Let's make it Sunday." "That's tomorrow." "Good. We'll go for a hike together." "A short hike. I have a paper to finish." "Deal." The show was over, the wild animals moving on until next week, and I could hear the weather report. Cold. Fall was ending with an arctic chill. Apparently, I'd missed the prediction for snowfall that the night before from Atlas City to the north of us. The news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed hadn't missed it, turned to the weatherman and asked, "So Bob, where's that eight inches you promised me last night?" Trowa's eyes flew open. "He didn't just say that, did he?" "Yes!" We both laughed ourselves silly. God, I loved Trowa. I wanted everything to work out for us, and he loved me, too, so it would work out. We'd work it out. We were winners. (o) A few weeks later, we were told Barr, AKA Fred "The Noodle" Lebarr, was incarcerated on L1 awaiting trial. I did not make up "The Noodle" name. I woulda gone with something far more "X" rated, you can bet. I guess he got that nickname because his first front organization was a pasta shop. He was up against a lifetime of charges. I was hoping for a death sentence to save the money it would cost to keep him imprisoned for life, but I'd have to wait on that. The trial would take some time, Une said. The captured boys from our caper were freed, two to a home for teenage boys, one back to his home with his mom, and the others to halfway houses until they got jobs and places to live on their own. I put in a good word for Jay a week later. He was going for a waiter job and needed a recommendation. I just knew everything would turn out just ducky. The End.
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