|
"On the Wings of an Eagle"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: several Summary: When Trowa Barton and Duo Maxwell pay Quatre Winner a visit, he coerces them into archeological site destruction and matchmaking A/N: My deepest thanks go to the kindness of Snowdragon and WaterLily for editing and encouraging me to complete this. Sequel to For a Lark "On the Wings of an Eagle " Chapter One- Been a Long Time on the Run "Who was that?" Duo asked me as he tottered out of the bathroom, naked as a jaybird. "God, Duo," I said, "put on some clothes." "Do Gods need clothes, I ask myself? Heh, heh. I thought you liked me starkers." More than anything. "Not when we are already late for our appointment." He waggled his butt and grinned at me. "We got time. It's not the low-grav gym, remember? We got plenty of time." "Not for my last meeting with my doctor." "Is that today?" His eyes were wide with surprise, so wide I could see a bit of white at the edges. They looked huge and that strange blue-violet set off by his pale skin, which disappeared under a t-shirt. "Sorry! How could I forget that?" "You've been helping me fill out college applications," I said, enveloping his lithe body in a hug, "and keeping me occupied in bed." "That would explain why you woulda forgot!" Yeah, it would. He could make me forget my own name, which wasn't mine in the first place. This appointment was important enough to remember, though; I'd get my final "walking papers," so to speak, giving me clearance for a return to work. I wasn't going back to the circus, though. I was starting fresh, thanks to Duo Maxwell. I couldn't believe it either. Duo had become the lover to Trowa Barton—me, the lucky bastard. Half the time I was living someone else's life, but the other half I was living my fucking dream. He laughed and jammed on a baseball cap pulled low to disguise his features. "I'm ready!" I leaped over a pair of shoes left right in the path to the door. I felt good to be able to do that again. I wasn't even annoyed with him for leaving his crap in the way, because the place looked well lived in now and he cooked for me and I was a total idiot in love with him. We split the apartment and headed for the cross-tram. He was completely tactile. I'd never seen him that way or been with anyone like that, but it was damned cool. He held my hand on the ride to the hospital building then traded up to an arm over my shoulders, settling finally with it around my waist by the time we were walking up to the hospital building. He liked to have me in contact with him; that's what he said. At no time was it a possessive move. I didn't feel like he was signaling to others "hands off," and I certainly never thought of him as "mine." Could Duo ever be "mine" solely? I was "his" for as long as he wanted, but Duo was like this free spirit in the stratosphere high above me. I think he wore me like a firearm—Heavyarms at his beck and call. I loved that feeling, being a part of his armament against the rest of the world. Better than being the circus monkey to the clown. Yeah, my life had had its bad spots-- all part of life's rich pageant and all. "Floor?" "Nine." "Yeah, that's it." He smiled at me and punched the elevator button. "Nine, like Noin, which reminds me of Zechs, whose last email was months ago. He was coming back-- permanently this time-- from the Mars satellite project, which was my point." What point, I almost asked, but traded that question for one in greater need of answering. "You exchange email with Zechs Merquise?" After the news I'd received via vid-phone this morning, nothing should be left to surprise me, just shock me. I reminded myself to keep quiet on that subject as Duo had apparently forgotten about the call. "No, but Quat does and that's what he told me." "You talked to Quatre?" I had but I hadn't known that he had. "When did you talk to him?" "Right after I got that call from Wufei and the one from Heero. Not so strange, really, when you think about it. They're all just checking up on us to keep tabs on their experiment." I laughed at his choice of words. Getting Duo and me together had taken more than just basic biology and chemistry. Our mutual friends had masterminded a series of events starting with broken business affairs, shuttles redirected to remote satellites, and basically utilizing lies and luck. And it all worked out. Once I had my health clearance, I would qualify for work study programs at whatever college accepted me. That plus my veteran's benefits made me practically independent. Duo insisted on picking up the rest. We'd live together where ever we ended up, he'd get a job, we'd have each other, and be happy. That's what he said. In my mind I'd sometimes tag on a "forever and ever," like some romantic idiot. "Trowa Barton?" "You don't have to come," I told him as he stood right along with me as he always did. I think he was afraid I'd run out, now that I could run. "I'm okay with the doc, you know." "Yeah, I know." And he just grinned. I loved his face when it exploded with happiness like that. My heart just swelled, soaking up all that sunshine. "I'm here for my lollipop." Yes, the doctor always gave us each a sucker for "being good." "So, what are your plans?" the doctor asked after signing my work clearance papers. "I don't mean to pry, but I'd hate to feed some of my best handiwork to the lions again." I didn't even flinch this time at the joke. "No chance of that. I'm going to college. My circus days are over." "From the circus to the zoo!" She thought that was funny. So did Duo. "I recommend that wherever you go that you continue with the exercises. Keeping those new muscles limber and well stretched will be the key to your continued progress." "No problem there," Duo snickered. "You'll keep an eye on my patient?" the good doctor asked him. "Absolutely! Someone's got to see that he eats and ex-er-sizes." His expression was downright lascivious as he drew out the last word. My doctor chose it ignore him like I couldn't. "And you returned the walker... All right then you're all set to go. Good luck, Mr. Barton. If you are ever this way again, stop by and visit. What's that?" Duo was practically tugging at her sleeve. "He wants a sucker," I told her. I thought she'd scoff at his foolishness, but she didn't. She laughed and pulled from her lab coat pockets two curious-looking sweets on sticks. "When I spotted these, I knew I had to buy them. Do you know what they are?" "No." I thought there was something familiar about the placement of the colors, but it was Duo who connected the dots first. "Deathscythe! Tro', look, yours is Heavyarms! Get a load of that; they made candy Gundams." "There's an entire set," she said, "if you want—" "Yeah! These are so cool." Duo was elated. She bought an entire box full. Duo picked out each different one, naming them as he went along, and putting them back. I thanked her so she could get to her next patient and gathered my papers. Duo carried the box of candy. "These will be perfect to take with us," he said. From the sly-eyed looked he was giving me I had an uneasy feeling he didn't mean out the door and back to the apartment either. I just received Quatre's invitation this morning and we hadn't talked about going, so why was I feeling sick all of the sudden? "Uh--," I grunted. "To Quatre's. You got an invite, right? Sounds interesting and it takes us Earthside like we planned. We can have our crates-o-crap stored and take a little vacation while we wait for an answer back from the schools. It's perfect, really. You want to thank our "network" buddies in person, don't you?" No. "Um--," I grunted. The first thing that entered my mind when I read the invitation was seeing Duo greet Heero. I knew a few details more than he did, coming from Catherine, an impeccable source, and guaranteed "top secret". This party was likely to be Heero's big coming out to all of us. Once Duo saw Heero as gay-Heero and gay-Heero saw hot-confident-gay-Duo, I knew that would be the last of me. And then I felt an arm snake over my shoulders. "Come on, Tro'," Duo said. "Let me show you off." What could I say to that? I couldn't deny him anything, even the opportunity to meet the love of his life and leave me. "Okay." "You weren't trying to keep that all a secret from me, were you?" He bumped hips. "Aw shucks, you were, weren't you? Gonna surprise me, huh? Think I didn't get invited, too?" He leaned in and kissed the corner of my mouth. "Trying to save my feelings, huh? You are the best, Tro'. You really are. C'mon! Let's get some lunch and start packing. I've got a good feeling about all this." It wasn't the first or last time he and I weren't on the same page.
|
