|
"Heero's Good Fortune"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: Yaoi, AU Pairings: 1x2, 3x4 Summary: Heero introduces his new best friend
to his other friends with a composure perhaps unmerited and gets them
back for their past boyfriend introductions. "Heero's Good Fortune "
Part 2 "-And then I thought I had everything thought out. Duo had lost his job on L2 for a reason that was unimportant, but in order to avoid having to face the facts, he blamed his misfortunes on a mythical cat. He was in sorry need of a hand up, and I was there." I looked at Quatre and then Trowa. "And here we are." "Where does he work now?" Trowa asked me. "Sweepers." "Just a minute." Quatre kissed Trowa on the top on his head. "I should check on Wufei. Don't tell anything while I get a drink, please?" Trowa, unable to deny his boyfriend much, mimed a cross-your-heart, closed his eyes and stretched out on some boxes. I didn't mind having a few minutes to myself, to think about Duo. I had learned about Duo in bits and spurts in the first weeks of our friendship. He had been driven from his job at a scrapyard on L2 by an angry woman, named Hilde. Further discussion was apparently unnecessary, leaving me to speculate. His interests and hers took different paths? He wasn't ready for marriage? He "done her wrong", as they said in the old westerns? Whatever had happened, he departed, leaving his cat and most everything he owned behind. So, there were some unanswerables, holes in his story you could float a cruise ship through. Curious as I was, I looked forward to a time in the near future when he would feel he could trust me with his secrets. Currently, he was employed by a space sweeper named Howard. That much he had had to tell me one morning when he woke up in my arms and his cell phone started ringing. It was a company phone, he'd said. By his tone and polite restraint while conversing, I reckoned that it was a work-related call. "That was Howard, my boss," he announced when the call had ended. "The Sweepers need me in to move some cargo. Later on. We still got time to fool around." His assurances lured me back into bed for another round of lovemaking. That was jumping ahead a bit. Before that, but after the accident, came the nice discovery part, where we learned we both were gay and attracted to one another. For me, it happened when we passed each other going into the kitchen for beers. I felt him skim past close enough to touch. I tracked his eyes checking me out. "I don't want to analyze this," I told him as I moved into his space. I could feel the heat radiating from him as I pinned his back to the wall with a hand to his chest. "I want to enjoy it." I could feel his heartbeat. It was racing. I jerked his shirttails out of his pants and he gasped, "'Ro?" "You've been in this long enough for one day," I told him and, since he made no motion to stop me, I unbuttoned the shirt, beginning at the hemline. "Hmm...nice skin." "Yesss," he hissed in a quick intake of air, his teeth bared. I watched his eyes close; my fingers slid over his smooth, hairless chest, down a lean side, around to his muscled back, back around his side, and over his firm belly. He was as beautiful as I'd imagined. He grinned and flinched, "Tickles..." That gave me an idea. Pausing in my tactile stimulation of his belly, my hands were free to massage his shoulders a moment before I shoved the shirt off. Down his back, along his arms it slid, catching at the wrists where the cuffs remained clasped. His arms were behind his back. "You forgot the buttons here," he smiled. But his smile faded as mine grew, and I whispered slyly, "Did I?" Then I started tickling him in earnest. I only had him trapped momentarily. He twisted away amid giggles and tore the shirt off. "Now, it is my turn," he growled. I saw a flash of a toothy grin. "OH!" I couldn't believe how quickly he had moved out of my grasp. I'd reeled him in, but I couldn't hold on to a slippery eel like him. Make that an octopus. Arms everywhere! Now it was I who was wrapped in his strong grasp. Again, we studied one another's eyes. "Duo. I know you know what you are doing, but..." I paused to watch his eyes opened wider, dark blue and mysterious in the low bedroom light. "Do you know what you are doing...to me?" "I gotta fucking good idea," he answered gamely. His breathing was ragged, his eyes luminous, and his smile tense. He wanted me bad, and I knew it. He had to know I wanted him, too. He swallowed. "What will you have me do?" He was asking, but his fingers were slowly lowering the zipper of my jeans. I was falling in love for the first time and there was no stopping it or the zipper's progress. "Kiss me?" I asked, demanded, even. "Kiss me again," I begged the moment he pulled away. We stood by the window and kissed gently, nose-to-nose. It was odd kissing a man taller than me, not much taller, but I had to turn my face up to his. Duo was well-built, and at the same time slender, his face youthful, pale, unmarked by freckles or sun, perfect...eyes closed with long, dark lashes. His silky, soft hair brushed my arms wrapped around his neck. I wanted to free it from its weave and feel it tickle my bare skin sometime soon. It could be now- I remember thinking- if I do something! So, I bent into him and slid an arm beneath his knees. "Hey!" he cried out as I scooped him up and carried him across the kitchen, down the hall, to my bedroom. "You are damned stronger than you look, you know?" "I know." We stretched out on his wide bed and found our way to each other's mouth and kissed deeply. "I could do this all night," he said in a low voice. "Good." We tugged and wriggled out of our clothes. They only got I the way of our perfect enjoyment. I remember being amazed at the softness of his skin and the reactions that the barest caress could bring from him. Duo really liked sex. So did I. I found him irresistible and worshiped his body. We rushed right in. No long courtship period. Perfect match. I was enjoying the pleasure I could give him with such simple strokes, when he suddenly gasped, pulled my hand off him, and rolled to the side. "Oh...my..." he sighed. "That was fast, heh, heh." He looked into my eyes and said simply, "It's you..." "Me? Not Shinigami's fault?" It was a silly joke. And it made him laugh, a belly laugh that started out low and ended up with him wheezing. "No cat involved," he said with a snicker, once he found his voice, and disclosing, "It's mostly just been quite a while." He then balled up some sheet to clean off. "For me, too," I confessed. That must have happened the second Sunday he arrived. The first we really just got comfortable talking. On the second we became lovers and the next day was Monday and I had to go to work. The call from Howard woke us up that Monday morning. I couldn't forget that I arrived late to my desk for the first time. It was a late-start Monday in a long line of them. "Join the club," my officemates had cheered. I understood, at last, why everyone hated Mondays and often arrived late to work. "I'm back!" Quatre announced, awakening me out of my pleasant daydream. "I hope Duo arrives soon. I'm getting hungry. Pizza ordered already?" "Yes." I had taken care of everything earlier. "He works for Sweepers? Yeah," Trowa acknowledged and processed the information I'd given him. "That figures. Working junk pickup in space is one way broke kids use to get off a distant colony; sign onto a sweeper ship and work out the passage." While Howard was on Earth, selling the scrap they had collected, Duo was free to do whatever he wanted or could afford. "But Duo is currently living on Earth, right?" Quatre asked. "He's moving in with you, you just said." "That's correct." "Will he continue going back and forth into space?" Quatre asked. "I don't know," I admitted. Aside from seeing him on Sunday and for a brief interval Monday mornings, I had little idea how he spent the rest of his time. I assumed at Howard's scrapyard or the Sweeper's dock. He never talked about other friends or bars or his co-workers. "Isn't it important? Won't he pay rent when he's not here?" Quatre asked. "Aren't you curious?" "No." I knew someday he would tell me when he was ready. I wasn't charging him rent to live with me. He was my lover. Wufei stood tottering in the doorway, up from the couch he'd been carried to for recovery. He had a sensitive nervous system and learning that Duo was officially moving into my house had been too much. I didn't tease him about his weakness, but I could have. I could have told him that Duo and I slept together after knowing each other one week. He and Zechs had waited months, and that after a carefully formulated program worked out beforehand and culminating in a series of dates. Very formal and correct. Wufei was my friend so I didn't tell him about our compressed wooing period. I'd upset him enough for one day. "Better?" I acknowledged his grumpy iguana presence and he blinked. "But I wanted to know-!" Quatre began. Before Quatre or Trowa could question me further, I heard the sound of a Volkswagen engine. "Duo's here. You can meet him now." (o) I stepped out to the parking to meet Duo first and remind him, or warn him, depending on whether or not I'd told him my friends would be there this Sunday for the purpose of meeting him. "Your buds? Yeah, you said they'd stop by. 'Sokay. These are friends not the enemy, right?" "That's right." I needed to warn him. "Just so you know, Wufei's a little ruffled—he fell for the drinking and driving thing and the combination of the car re-build sticker price and the fact that you are moving in put him in shock." "Maybe you went overboard on the story, 'Ro." "No, I didn't. You weren't around for their 'how I met the most amazing man in the universe' stories. This was my way of getting even. Besides, Quatre figured out I was joking about the drunk driving part." "You could have told them I was a hunchback or something. Drinking? Really? That's a hard rap to beat." "Just be yourself. They'll love you... well, Quatre will. He loves everyone." "Everyone? He loves that cannibal serial killer?" "No, and you know that wasn't what I meant." I looked him up and down. Duo was dressed very nicely, conservatively. "Ready? I'll introduce you." "No, don't tell me which is which. Let me guess." I hoped he'd begin with Quatre, who'd be helpful with introductions if things got rocky. He didn't. He nosed out Wufei first. I should have guessed from experience that Duo wasn't one to avoid an accidental conflict. "Meet it straight on," I heard him mumble as he loped by me and past the other two. "Chang Wufei." Duo humbled himself with a bow in the presence of the dragon. "Charmed," Wufei said with a grunt. "Char-ming!" Duo smiled and winked as a sign that he was pleased with his own clever comeback. The last clan leader of L5 had been a Ming and had taken the Western first name of Charles. The joke had been folks nicknamed him Prince Charming. "Char" was also close to "Chao", meaning "great one", probably why the clan leader had chosen "Charles"; and close in sound to "Cong-Min" a man's name meaning "intelligent". This was not wasted on Wufei, who was stunned to silence. "Heero told me you were a lawyer-," Duo began, but Wufei was fast on the draw. "—and you aren't going to hold that against me, you were going to say?" Duo chuckled. "Yeah, got me there. Even?" "For now," Wufei said with a ghost of a smile. Duo skipped over to shake hands with Trowa. It was clear they recognized each other on sight. Trowa ran a hand through his bangs to clear his face. I'd seen him do this twice before in order to kiss Quatre. This time he did it to get a better look at Duo, who laughed at him. "Man, I wondered if I'd ever see you again." "Sorry," Trowa said it like he didn't mean it and shrugged. "No problemo. The cargo was clean. You were just doing your job." "It shouldn't have been." Trowa stood firm on that. "Like I told you, you get your info from the Tankers and they got it out for Sweepers. They always try and tag Howie for parentheticals." Duo was talking in code Trowa would understand. By "parentheticals" he meant (il)legal merchandise—illicit items masquerading as legit. {A/N: credit China Miéville's strange book, Kraken, for that concept}. I understood now that Duo had met Trowa when Trowa had been working Preventers undercover, and neither man had left the other with a great impression. That wasn't good for starters. Trowa nodded slowly. "Tankers have it out for the Sweepers, you say?" "Oh, yeah, and visa versa. No love lost there." Duo's eyes scanned the horizon, possibly for answers to the problem, or to count crows clustering in the tall pines for the evening. "Until the day they die." He turned back to Trowa looking grim. "Or your people stop listening to their lies and taking them seriously." "Right." Trowa kept his expression blank. Duo plastered on a smile, turned away, and shot out his hand. "That leaves Mr. Quatre Raberba Winner of the company by that name." Quatre shook his hand. "How do you do, Mr....? I don't know your last name." "Maxwell. Duo Maxwell, at your service." "Mr. Maxwell. Well, please, call me Quatre." His smile glowed sincerity and authenticity. "Duo." "I can tell we're going to be great friends." "You can? You a fortune-teller?" Duo seemed amused. Quatre rested his hand over his heart. "You've a good heart. I can feel it." Duo laughed. "You and 'Ro...hearts big as the universe. No, bigger! The universe is too small for you, heh, heh... Wanna do 'Ro a favor?" "Does he need one?" Quatre asked cautiously. "Not really, but if you can convince your buds that I'm not out to swindle anyone, especially not the greatest dude in the universe, that would be nice." "That is your job," Quatre told him. "You can do it." "Actions speak louder than words you mean?" "Yes, and so far the actions you've taken put your motives in question." "Ah, they do?" Quatre nodded. "I can look into your heart and know that you honestly adore Heero, but they can't. So, you see, it's up to you to do the convincing." The two locked eyes, blue on blue. I could feel the tension in Trowa flare, and even I wondered for a moment if the two men were going to kiss. "I know you can do it," Quatre whispered. I ushered everyone into the kitchen. "Drinks in the refrigerator. Pizza should be here anytime." Duo turned around and went back out. "Getting chairs!" Quatre mouthed to me, "He's hot!" and fanned his neck as he followed Duo into the garage. "I can carry a few." I hesitated and, when I saw Trowa make a move, I shot ahead, blocking his path to the garage. I was going to trust Duo; if I overheard any of their conversation it would be purely by chance. "Thanks." Duo unfolded two chairs from a box and carried them over before pulling out another pair. These were the ones that matched my table. "I shoulda done this earlier." "You knew we were coming?" "Well, sorta. He told me he'd invited you." "But you didn't think we'd come?" "I wasn't sure." "Move or I'll move you." Trowa stood and stared at me. "I promise to just help." "And I'll hold you to that," I said, giving him space to go by me. Trowa entered the garage and took a chair from Quatre. "Checking up on us?" Duo said, joking. "Lending a hand." Trowa turned away, chairs in hands. I could see the slight blush across his cheeks as he passed me coming back inside. "Is he afraid you'll run away with me or that I'll hide your body inna crate?" Duo said just loud enough that Trowa and I could hear him. Quatre chuckled and took one of Duo's chairs. "More the former than the latter." "Ha! I do like you Quat." "Me, too, Duo. Oh, there's the delivery van." Quatre leaned the chair against the door post. "I want to catch him before Heero does. I wanted this to be my treat!" "Better run!" The rest of the afternoon flew by as we put away a lot of pizza and soda. Duo proved to Wufei that people from L2 ate and drank just like everyone else, and not off the floor like dogs. "Heero told us you liked home brews," Trowa said, popping the top off one for himself. Duo set down his bottle of lemon-lime soda. "Nope. Don't drink at all." Wufei spurted a mouthful of water and sat up. "Yuy!" I shrugged indifference, which could be taken as an apology, and took a bite of my pepperoni pizza. "I get regular testing for any and all substance abuse to keep my pilot's license; the one for space craft is highly regulated. It's just easier not to take anything or get started drinking. 'Ro musta been thinking of a friend of mine, Hilde. She got into home brewing back on L2." "I see." Trowa shook his head at me. He earned a moment of respect from Trowa with a story about risking his life to save another ship damaged in space. "They found out that pilot had been flying under the influence and, well, he ain't flyin' no more. It instilled in me the desire to play it straight." Duo gave me a sideways glance. "Mostly," he added. Trowa barked a laugh, making Duo blush. "We didn't think you were just moving into the spare room as a paying guest." "Not paying, certainly," Wufei slipped in. "Oh, I plan to pay him back for eveeerything," Duo said. "Just have to wait a bit for—" "—For your ship to come in?" Trowa suggested. "How'd you know about that?" Duo asked. He seemed anxious all of a sudden. Trowa tipped his head to the side. "Lucky guess? It's just a saying." "Oh, well, I kinda am. Then I can make everything right." "It's your intention to repay Heero for the entire restoration of your car?" Wufei asked. He may have been taken in by the drunk driving part of the story, but when it came to the car repairs he had papers, proof of damage done, plenty of evidence to back him up. "Crazy thing to do, huh?" Duo said. "I told him so. It wasn't even my car." "What?" Wufei looked as if he'd bite my head off. I sat back a bit more, just in case. "I was borrowing an old clunker of Howie's, until, well, while I was temporarily planet side. He was gonna scrap it for the metal, but it still ran, and I begged, so he let me have it. And I'd still be driving it in all its rusty glory if 'Ro hadn't slammed on his brakes in the middle of the roadway." It had to come out sometime. I concentrated on drinking and swallowing, while Wufei led the others in a round of snapping at me. Snap, snap, grrrr snap. When the brouhaha settled down, they were all waiting for my explanation. Duo was grinning and shaking his head, looking at his plate. "You can dig your way outta this one on your own, buddy." I see. The truth, then. "It was a dog, running after a squirrel, and dark." "Oh, Heero, of course you couldn't run over the little animals, but you might have caused a serious accident," Quatre said. He'd been careful not quite to absolve me for my error in judgment. Wufei grumbled in his native language, but I understood the gist of what he meant by the one word directed at me, "...bastard..." "I contacted Howard and bought the car and had it restored and gave it to Duo so he'd have a vehicle." There. All cleared up. There were a few more words said on the subject, more mopping up, but really they all knew the score. When it came to new boyfriend introductions, Yuy was one up on them all! Which didn't help my case when it came to getting my old friends to like my new one. Although, Wufei possibly liked Duo more than me now. Quatre, I didn't worry about. He clearly had liked Duo from the start. The conversation ebbed and flowed, taking a new direction, thanks to Quatre. He asked about the infamous Shinigami, and Duo and he got to comparing snooty cats like they'd known each other for years. Quatre's Angora would win the contest for Biggest Pest, I suspected. It was a dreadful animal I'd looked after once, after Wufei had "washed his hands of that terror". I guess it was Trowa who took care of it now, when Quatre had to be out of town. He sat arms folded watching Duo more closely than I would have liked. Quatre was saying, "I hadn't packed her food, thinking it would be available everywhere." "Cat food is in every market, isn't it?" Duo asked. "You would think so, wouldn't you? Apparently not this one brand. Princess is so devoted to her canned mackerel, that she avoided everything else for three days! I thought she'd die of starvation before I could locate more of the product. I had to have it shipped, five cases in fact, to L4, where we were visiting family—" "We?" Trowa put in, suspiciously. "Yes, just Princess and I went. It was my family on L4." "Lemme get this straight," Duo said. "You shipped case loads of cat food from Earth to L4 to appease your cat's tastebuds?" "I did." "You win!" Duo declared. Told you. The day came to an end. One by one, they took their leave, Wufei first. "I am glad to have met you, and very sorry you have chosen this bastard to live with." He gave me his very special Glare of Chang on his way by me, so I knew we were still on good terms. Quatre and Duo exchanged a close hug, promising to "get together sometime next week to go shopping". Trowa shook Duo's hand with a curt promise of his own, "Later." He stalked after Quatre with a warning glance to my boyfriend that didn't get past me so I glowered my own warning in exchange. "Think I passed inspection?" Duo asked when he closed the door. "I think you did," I told him, all the while wrapping him in my arms. "Sharing the chairs made a big impression. My rickety pair were never well received." "Yeah, sure." He laughed. "It was the chairs that turned the tide. Geez, 'Ro. You had to make me out to be a real loser? A drunk and an unlicensed driver and totally dependent on you... a sponger, really, 'Ro?" "They know better now." "Somewhat, but the needy bit hits close to home, you know." "Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure Quatre wants to be your best friend." "Second best," Duo said. "I got you for first best." He didn't seem to care much more about what my friends thought about him, turning all his attention on me, forgiving me. His mouth was warm and wet and inviting. We left a trail of clothing on our way to the bedroom. Our bedroom. He was living with me. Our home. He was hot. He liked it fast and hard. He liked it slow and gentle. He gave; he received. He was spectacular. That's why I didn't press him for details about his past. He asked nothing of me, of mine. He just gave and gave and gave of his body. I could have been happy living that way, I think, forever. (o) Then one day shortly after that meeting, he came charging up in his car, the restored VW. I heard him dashing to the door, so I opened it first. And there he was with a gigantic cat in his arms. A damned gorgeous thing with a beastly amount of black fur and white patches on her nose and paws. "I got it!" he exclaimed. "I can see. It's a cat." "Not just a cat, this is Shinigami! My cat!" I opened the door and offered him tea and water for the cat. "Yeah, thanks. Air travel is rotten for cats. I gotta run out for some food for her, but I wanted to stop by with the news." "Well, she's... big... and very furry... pretty." "That she is, but that's not all!" Now that he'd set her on the floor, I noticed he had a slip of paper in his hand. "What that?" "What? Oh, yeah, the big news. The junkyard sold and Hilde says my portion of the proceeds are being sent to my account as we speak—minus the cost of shuttling Shini across the universe, heh, heh." I felt like Wufei asking, "How much?" "Two hundred million creds," he said, grinning ear from ear. "I can pay you back completely now." "And then some!" That was a more than I made in a year, and my engineering job paid well. "Congratulations, Duo." "And my ship did actually come in. What with the parts I got stored in the crate, I can fix'er up and sell it." "You loved that ship. You said." "Yeah, but after selling my little skipper craft and the storage facility," he continued his shockwave of information, "that'll add up to another four hundred million creds." I was speechless. "And since you've put me up for so long, I'd like to do something special for you." "Not necessary." "Yeah, it is. I call Howie and told him I won't be shipping out with him again. And he offered me a job here at the Port of Sanc in charge of his fleet of ships; you know, repairs and shit when they dock. I'd have plenty of free time when he's not here to work on my own projects. That would get me outta your hair." He was fumbling with the end of his braid with that confidence-drained look he had the day we met on the road in the car wreck—that I had caused. He didn't want to leave, but he was giving me an out to take if I was tired of him. I didn't want out. "Who said I wanted you out of my hair? I'm not complaining about having you around." "Wow." His smile seemed tentative and he still gripped the tie-end of that braid. "Just wow, 'Ro. You are one in a million." "And don't sell the ship." "But-?" "You can fly us around. Teach me," I suggested. "I could-." "You're not thinking of moving out?!" "You want me to stay?" "Absolutely, I do. As long... as long as possible." His smile spread like sunshine. "Ah, geez, 'Ro, that's sounds a little like marriage." "If it does, than will you?" "Will I... marry you?" The braid swung when he dropped it. I caught it on the third swing. "That's what I asked." I tugged a little and reeled him closer. "Seriously?" "Very." His grin showed his teeth and his eyed sparkled. "Yeah?" "Yeah." "Well, yeah, you bet I will!" Threw himself in my arms and we kissed for a very long time. "So, is that all?" I asked, joking. "There's one more thing... oh, yeah, Shini's expecting, so prepare yourself for a shitload of kittens any time." "You've supplied us with plenty of boxes and I have extra towels," I told him. "Yeah, I guess we got everything." "You can't have too many kittens," I agreed. Stupidly. The End. |
