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"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 Five And I Can Dream of Friendly Skies Once again, I was to be subjected to a defeat at the hands of Zechs Merquise, but, at least, he had no idea he was winning this time. He was well into a thirty-minute, war-story soliloquy, and Duo was nodding on my shoulder, when Rashid entered the patio area and took a seat on Winner's other side. The Maguanac leader poured himself a glass of lemonade, gestured an offering to pour for anyone else, and then sat back to sip and listen. He and I started a staring contest. I was so going to win. "So, Lieutenant Noin—" Merquise started to say. "Don't get me started with her!" Chang charged in, stomping all over the prince's anecdote. "Please, Zechs, don't go there," Winner advised in what he considered to be a whisper in his lover's direction. Chang and Noin had had a bad history, starting with his having killed all her young recruits. I so wanted Merquise to go there and make Chang squirm. He had once hurt Duo's feelings with his anti-gay attitude and didn't deserve to get off so easily. Besides, we were there, after all, weren't we? Rashid blinked and I smiled. Ah, ha! Score, sucker. I knew I'd win that contest. "There's bad blood between them," Rashid explained to the prince. "So, Wufei, it was you bombing one Alliance base after the other--" Merquise muttered. One blade-thin wisp of pallid eyebrow lifted, an edge of titty-pink lip pealed back to reveal a sharpened canine—White Fang—the name finally came together for me! "--killing all the new recruits in their sleep." Chang did look a bit more pallid than usual. The fang grew more prominent, glittering in the sunlight. "You do know that the dead all turned out to be Noin's trainees in that attack?" Chang wasn't sure what to say. "Well I hadn't meant...that wasn't the plan—" "Of course not. That's war. Besides, Lieutenant Noin left to side with you all eventually anyway, as did I." Merquise smiled, retracted the fangs, and reached for the icy pitcher. "Alliances shifted." "I had a shifty lieutenant like that," Rashid said. "Oh, really?" Merquise appeared interested, but with a countenance like that, so blasé, who knew? "Whatever became of him?" "Friendly fire." I exploded into laughter; rather, I sputtered into chuckles, woke up Duo momentarily, and pleased the hell out of Rashid. A new conversation began centering on a Winner company picnic incident that promised to be "so funny" I'd die. Preferring not to die, I fake-listened, draping a fringe of hair over that side of my face and covertly studying the place from behind the screen. Rashid caught my eye, his sliding back and forth from Duo to me making the connection, and tipped me off to "come this way." I extricated myself from Duo, gently settling his once-again sleeping head on the table, and sidled over to where Rashid was folding napkins. "So, you and the little one from the streets, eh?" "Duo, yeah. I'm the lucky one." I knew I was. "He's a good boy. He visited Master Winner here during the war and was very funny." His eyebrows bounced around like belly dancers which I thought was very funny. We both laughed. "They liked to watch the dancing boys more than the girls and I thought they were lovers, but," he shook his head in consternation, while I wondered if he could read my mind or something, "it was not so. Master Winner was naïve and oblivious, and the little street boy was too proud to be provocative in that manner." "You were very observant in any case," I had to give him that. He grinned. "Rashid didn't live this long a healthy life being blind, deaf and dumb, no? Ho, ho... So, you and him, you are happy together now?" Oh, yeah, his corps flew Duo to my satellite, the interfering bastard. "I am." "He looks happy too." "I plan to keep him that way. All I have to do is get him to leave now and things will be cool." "Now? So soon? The other pilot, he's not yet arrived. Don't you--? Ah..." Yeah, well, he could "ah" all he wanted, I would not flinch. "It is him you are worried about? Mr. Sourpuss?" Ha! I smiled at that. "Yes. Duo had a thing for Yuy once." "They shouldn't meet alone." "No, shit, but Chang seems eager to see the guy." "Him? The other bad-tempered one? Fitting. Tell you what; I like you and your little street boy. I can help sort things out in your favor. You see. Excuse me." Rashid turned to adjust his earpiece and attend to another conversation, probably with staff over the roasting of dinner or the cutting of flowers. I didn't want the Maguanac corps meddling in my affairs again, but if Rashid could lend a hand or two, I'd be open to take it. When I returned to the table, Duo was awake and pestering Chang to the demonstrative stage again. Go for it! "I forgot where I met him!" Chang waved his arms around to indicate just how large the universe actually was with so many places in it where a person might meet a person. "That's unimportant!" "Yeah, it is," Duo agreed, dismissing the point with a teasing sort of smile and leaving Chang huffing mad. "So you've been sitting in a funk for a couple months and decided to kick the tires a little?" "I came here for—" He went all limp, resigning himself to the chair and table support system again, "God only knows what anymore. It's hopeless." "Not hopeless. You've got hope. Heartless, maybe. It hasn't been proven 'Ro's gotta heart yet. Now Quat and Zechs, on the other hand. That odd ... searching, searching for the word... " "Combo," I supplied. Duo's handsome face lit up. "That's the word! That combo is just plain weird, starting with you, Quat." "Me? I'm about as normal as ex-Gundam pilots go. I don't understand what you mean." "My point's that you've done a 360 on me here." "Not really, Duo." I noticed Winner shift his feet around and bet Duo was right and they both knew it. "Oh yeah, you don't remember, conveniently, it but I recall you being very clearly homophobic towards me and very clearly engaged to Relena, clearly a female if there ever was one." "What does that prove?" Chang blurted out. "You were living with Hilde, and she was a woman." "She still is," Duo countered. "I'm not offering proof that Quat's not a poof, I'm just saying he did an about-face, that's all. I don't care, really. Just saying." "I did do some soul searching," Winner said, sounding a tad defensive. Find it, I wondered? "So, you made the first move?" Duo was persistent in his search for answers. I guess I didn't blame him for wanting to know why he and he alone suffered for being THE ONLY gay one for years, while it turns out they all, well I knew it was all, were gay. "That's pretty daring considering you didn't really know Zechs," Duo spun about to look Merquise in the eye, slapping me in the face with his braid. A love slap. I found it provocative, the one time. Duo found Merquise's soft spot, himself; Zechs Merquise, talking about Zechs Merquise held his attention, and went on with his analysis, "especially if he didn't know you were gay!" Another turnabout, but this time I held onto the rope of hair. I'm not into flagellation, apparently. So much for the me-being-into-S&M theory. "C'mon, Quat, you know you'd been repressing your own sexuality for years. All those beautiful dancing boys in the see-thru harem pants, and not once did you need to jerk-off?" My eyes shifted to Rashid, questioning, just in case new dancers might be offstage, somewhere in the offing, ready to put on a show should the master clap his hands. A man could dream. The man, Rashid, was bigger than life; just standing there he took up about as much space as a Gundam, met my eyes and shook his head. Alas, no pretty boys in see-thru harem pants would bring welcome relief. And by now Merquise had Winner distracted, whispering in his ear. "No!" Winner said to his lover. Wrong, wrong word. The prince didn't look used to taking "no' for an answer. "The dancers were for entertainment only! My father's idea! There aren't any here anymore. Hmmm? Well, I'm sure that could be arranged." Duo kicked Winner's chair to get his attention back. "What, Duo?" "Can we get back to my questions?" Duo demanded, rightly so. "I mean, the big thing I was wondering about was how you got from being repressed and homophobic—" "What?!" "Yes, I called you that. You were aghast and appalled at my coming out. And then you magically transition from that kid to suddenly becoming confident enough to make a move on Zechs, especially as you didn't necessarily know Zexy was gay, as I said before." "Should we tell him how we met?" Merquise asked in a voice like velvet cushions. "This time you can give your side." AGAIN?! I spun on a heel and aimed for the door inside, muttering, "bathroom" in passing. I'd invent a reoccuring bladder ailment, if I had to. I would avoid torture. Duo had withstood OZ interrogations before, in fact, both he and Chang had. They could take it. I wasn't sure I could endure another round. I had to protect myself from the sap-attack. Note to self: find out later how Winner discovered himself, if Duo survives the telling.
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