"Multi Universes Trifecta"

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, angst, sap

Pairings: 1x2, 3x2, 1x2x3 (or combination thereof)

A/N: In horse racing terminology, a trifecta is a bet in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third in exact order. This is something like that. Without the horses or the racing or the betting. I'm keeping the" three" part. In that order, more or less.

Thank you, Waterlily, for the fabulous editing job while you moved across the world.

This story is for Snowdragon's birthday. Best wishes, sweetie!

Summary: Duo wakes up to discover he has two boyfriends living two different lives in two universes at the same time. When the third one comes around, it's over.

"Multi Universes Trifecta "

Chapter Five - When the pain returned I knew I was back

From the pain like a line of fire up and down my leg I knew I was in my own universe again. The insight came just like that. In no other world had I felt this much pain. I'd always been cushioned by an overall feeling of well-being, my injuries minor and forgettable. I felt stings and aches and I couldn't put all my weight on my left knee.

I scrambled to my feet by the side of a road, a highway by the size of it, getting my bearings. There was the damp fog, real fog blowing in wisps over the treetops and settling down, smelling of salt and something tangy like dead fish. So, I was at the coast. My coast or near to it. I took a step onto the pavement as a car swept past, then backed up.

That would be funny. Headlines: Gundam pilot turned Preventers agent killed by family on holiday while crossing the highway in the dead of night. It wasn't the dead of night, though. The sun had set only a short time ago. I'd been climbing out of the forest using the afterglow to see by. Now it was dark. Nothing magical about it. No stars blinking. No Trowa or Heero. Just nasty, clammy fog.

Which way to turn? I stood there wishing I had a coin to toss, when I noticed lights from a van slowing down and pulling off the road. It was a late model, check that, ancient thing with a rainbow painted on the side and untold numbers of figures and patterns inked over every square inch of what I could make out. The passenger window rolled down part way, and then a hand pushed it the rest of the way into the lower frame.

"Hey, man, wanna lift?" The man's voice sounded breathy and not much older than me.

"Um..." I wasn't sure.

Next thing I knew a wiry dude with a rope of hair like mine but parted in the middle, was supporting one arm and helping me into the van. "You sure been traveling the rough road," he said.

I had. I looked over my clothes as he started the recalcitrant engine. I was wearing very dirty, heavy-duty cargos, ripped at one knee, a fitted leather flight jacket over a heavy shirt of some kind. Durable, black boots. Very paramilitary. It was a wonder he stopped. I wouldn't have.

I didn't even recognize my braid at first. Part mud part tangle of fuzz.

"Yeah, got separated from my buds and got lost." It was a reasonable story I'd thought up quickly. Go me.

"Oh," the nice guy grinned knowingly. "One of those survivalist clubs, eh? We get a mess of them coming through. One dude always finds trouble."

"You're Trouble?" I asked, joking.

He took it that way and smiled. "I'm Mitch."

"Duo. Thanks for stopping."

We talked about where we were. Amazingly, we were only a few dozen miles north of the beach house! He said he liked company for his coastal drives and I confessed I hadn't any way to repay him. "No keys, cards, money... not even my phone," I noted.

"Don't worry. Glad to be helping a fellow traveler in the universe."

"The universe? Yeah. Meet the multiverse traveler, Duo Maxwell."

"Cool."

That was it. That was all the man said, chill as a frozen margarita. I wondered if I should worry that he accepted what I'd said as fact? Or maybe he thought I was drugged out? Or joking?

The road wound, hugging the ins and outs of the rocky coastline, and the fog came and went, generally making it a slow ride. Conversation lulled as Mitch concentrated wholly on keeping to his side of the road and avoiding a dive off the cliff edge. Chugging along at 25 mph was probably all the old van could manage anyway. Then I spotted the familiar landmarks.

"Looks like my stop's coming up."

"That gate?"

"Yep. You can keep the motor running and I'll just hop out."

I landed face down on the gravel. "Fucking knee!"

Mitch was out in a snap, helping me to a stand. "Maybe I should getcher to the door. Your buddies might not be in."

I couldn't talk him out of it.

"You can pay me back by letting me see you get in safe. Ease my mind knowing I didn't leave a dude in a ditch by the side of the road."

I punched in the keycode by rote, opening the gate, and we hobbled along the drive. Mitch was either stunned by the nice look of the place or conscious of the fact that I wasn't talking, and so he just supported me in silence. This was good, because I had just dipped into a dark mood, killing my friendly banter. All the uncertainty I hadn't had in the other two universes I felt now in spades. A regular piling-on of doubt weighted me down like a load of lead pipes across my shoulders (something I had shouldered about while working the scrapyard on L2 just after the war, so I knew what I was talking about). It didn't help that my leg throbbed and my entire body was starting to make its various complaints known.

But the doubt was definitely the worst, as was the suspicion that no one would be at the house when I knocked. When I opened the gate, it set off a signal inside. I wasn't sneaking up on anyone. Any of my friends would be curious who was approaching and be on the lookout.

And yet, no one was dashing out the door to survey the situation.

I had no reason to actually believe Heero or Trowa, much less both men, would be there. Why should they? We'd never all partied together here, so it couldn't be an important place for either of them. What had I been thinking all this time? What a hair-brained scheme! Crazy-ass fantasyland. It hadn't the remotest chance of coming true.

I had set myself up for complete and utter disappointment.

The porch light flashed on and the screen door slammed open. I was spotted, and I heard voices. "-There's someone...no, two people!"

Silhouetted at the door were Heero and Trowa! Both had actually, really and truly made it to the beach house!

"Duo!"

Mitch chuckled softly. "Looks like you were right."

I felt light as a feather as I rushed through cursory introductions. Heero stared at me, his rigid arms looking ready to grab my unsteady body if I fell over, and Trowa stared at Mitch, ready to grab him, was my guess, to throttle his neck if he meant harm. "So, I owe Mitch here for scraping my ass off the road and bringing me here..."

I caught a bit of what Trowa muttered "-take care of it... owe you a lot... really appreciate...-" as he and Mitch trundled off.

"Bye! Thanks again!" I shouted after them.

"Sail on sailor!" Mitch said, laughingly back at me. "No, I don't need no money... well...okay... On my way from Orangehurst, heading into Minterville..."

I figured Trowa was rewarding him generously, plus covering for some gas and mileage, but then I had Heero and all his attention riveted to my person distracting me from my calculations.

"Your leg is injured."

"Yeah."

He was at my side pulling my right arm over his shoulders and wrapping his left around my waist, easing the weight onto him. "Can you walk?" he asked, and I knew he meant if I could get up the steps.

"Yeah."

"Hn." He doubted me!

The house looked so good. Made me feel protected, I thought, patting the porch railing as Heero mostly hauled me up the five steps to the door.

He stared at me gravely for a moment, as if he were reappraising something. Then he turned away, looking puzzled. Not as confused as me, probably. Trowa was back.

I started making excuses, as much as to cover up for all the expectant silence as to fill the gaping hole of time that had passed since I'd last seen them in my universe. "I don't ordinarily take rides from strangers, but I was a little disoriented. I mean as testament to my condition-"

Trowa and Heero were on me in a split second, the trigger word being 'condition', and half carried me into the bathroom.

"I'll draw water," Trowa said.

Heero sat me on the toilet seat and removed my boots and socks. "Broken bones?" he asked me.

"No. Scratches. Knee hurt, obviously. Ribs!" I screeched when I felt investigating fingers encounter some badly bruised ones. Gauze wound around my midsection-so I'd been treated at one time. My hands were covered with cuts and scrapes which looked fresh.

Trowa had my jacket and shirt off before I finished my list and started inspecting my back. "Shrapnel wounds. Nothing major."

"Hn." Heero had his hands up and down my sides, removing the bandaging. "Similar assessment."

I chuckled. "Ticklish. God, I'm being team-stripped here." I felt the heat rise past my neck seconds later. I hadn't meant to say that aloud. I never would have said that to them in jest, but it must have come from being around their alternative personas that I'd let down my reserves.

Frankly, I was too damned exhausted to analyze the ins and outs of this complicated game. They could accept me or refuse me, but I was so thrilled to see them and relieved know that they both met me at the beach house that I was willing to let that be enough to carry me away. I was just plain ready to give up fighting my own thoughts.

Trowa held my braid, a strange thing, I thought. He'd never deliberately touched it before. When I saw a stick and leaves fall into the trash can, I realized he was clearing away trash it had trapped.

"Thanks," I said.

There wasn't anything to fight going on. Heero was as tender as I knew he could be and Trowa as caring.

"Stand," Heero ordered, gradually adding his power to my feebleness and lifting me up for Trowa to remove my pants and shorts.

"I can do this part."

Trowa laughed quietly.

I wondered what was so fucking funny, but when his hazel eyes softened and he gave me a tiny, secret smile, the defensive fire just fizzled out of me.

"Water's ready," Trowa said, "I added shampoo to the water."

That explained the mounds of bubbles. "Kinda girly, don'tcha think?" Not that I let some perfumey foam stop me from stepping into the water.

"I'm adding more hot water," Trowa told me.

"It's pretty hot already." I gave him a quick smile and he returned it. No hesitation at all. No checking over his shoulder to see Heero's reaction. And I was positive that he got what I meant.

"Idiot," Heero muttered, but he wore a tantalizing smile, so he must have understood what had been alluded to, and didn't mind.

Either that or they were both humoring the poor, battered agent.

We let the water soak off most of the dirt. I think they were afraid to touch me for as simple a reason as they didn't know which ribs were bruised or cuts stung the most and didn't want to add to my misery. Oh, yeah, and they'd never before touched my naked body, my mature naked body-in this universe. Hard to remember that.

I lost track of time for a while. With my eyes closed I couldn't see who unbraided my hair-I guessed Trowa because he had the signs of one with a closet hair fetish-and I think I was ready to sign over my soul to the one who washed it-I guess they both took turns. It was a mass of burrs and dust, turning the water muddy. I didn't let that limit my soaking stint, but Heero tried to, retreating to a work-around, draining and refilling the tub twice before declaring "shower-off time."

Heero's body went still as he checked a message on his phone. I hadn't heard it buzz. "Dry off, but don't dress," he told me, adding quickly before I could put up any fuss, "Your official medical examination team has arrived."

Damn! "I was hoping you were suggesting something else," I muttered before remembering which universe I was currently living in. My inhibitions had gone for shit. In this universe, remember, I was the only one of us who desired the others. Only I felt anything more than friendship for my friends.

But no one demanded that I explain what I'd meant. No pressure. Just kindness and efficient attention. I wasn't going to question this turn of fate. If they wanted to kill me with kindness, I'd let them.

"I'll get the door," Heero said, delivering me unto Trowa's sole care. Could his parting look have been touched by a little regret to part with me- possibly? Or was it a "sorry to leave you with the head-case" kind of look?

Trowa handed me a towel. "Use this and I'll get your hair out of the way."

While I wiped down-a ginger pat down over most my sore torso- he tended to my hair, raking some of the tangles out and then wrapping it in a bath sheet big enough for Deathscythe to have used it for a dishcloth.

Lastly, he pulled a worn robe from the door hook. "Your attire."

"Thanks." I was grateful to be covered again. "I was feeling under dressed."

He just smiled ambiguously and pushed open the door. "You first."

I met the medic team on the couch. I answered questions, getting my name correct but failing the date ones for sure, although I think I had the year right and from the weather figured I couldn't be too far off on the season. Blood was drawn, lacerations treated and bound, contusions salved, ribs tape y, knee wrapped in elastic tape, and advice dispensed: "You should come in and get that x-rayed", "take these for pain every four hours", "this course of antibiotics is only precautionary until we get back the test results." They could only tell me what I already knew or deduced on my own.

"No serious injuries, but it's suggested that you have been drugged, so take it easy until we know more."

"Suggested by whom?" Heero asked.

"In the course of reviewing the evidence collected, the director put forward that idea to Dr. Po. We were told to look for any obvious signs of drugging. Agent Maxwell is unable to account for... a lengthy period of time."

Not true, but an account of my last few days, weeks, transporting about in my multi-universe trifecta, would probably be the kind of confirmation they'd be on the lookout for, if they were searching for delusional. I couldn't bring myself to care about much, but I didn't want my sanity held up to ridicule with the two men I most... admired... having to hear it and be put on the defensive. I didn't want to share my very personal feelings for the pair with strangers, either. I wasn't even sure I was ready to tell 'Ro and 'Tro about my feelings and dreams for us.

Someone showed the medics out and then we draped ourselves over the couch. With a tug here, a grab and lift there, I was rearranged partly in Trowa's lap and partly strewed over Heero. My head rested against Trowa's chest; I could hear the steady beat of his heart. One of my noodle-limp arms lay over his thigh and I could see the rest of his leg continue along the back cushions, before disappearing behind Heero's back. Trowa's other leg rested half on the coffee table. His hands rubbed at my shoulders, neck and, weirdly, my braid. He'd never seemed interested it my hair before and now Trowa wasn't letting it out of his possession. Yep, fetish.

My legs bent over Heero's lap and he was massaging my feet. That was delicious. It made me moan with pleasure-the whole thing. I may have been too exhausted to lift a finger, but there was Little Maxie rising to attention. I felt a blush wash over me, but there wasn't a thing I could do about it. No one could see anyway. There was nothing but cast shadows in the evening light of candles one of them had thought to light and set around the room.

Seeing their darker outlines, I relaxed from a watch I had not realized I was keeping. Safe at last! Heero and Trowa both. Together they had the power to keep me safe. Most of my weariness dropped away. It had been a smoke screen my mind had put up to disguise how terrified I'd been that I'd never get free and get my chance to see them again.

Free? But free from what? The universe hopping? Yeah, but things the medics had said made it sound as if I'd been captured and something else was at play here. Concentrating was difficult.

It was hard to imagine a time when I'd been so afraid of them discovering how I felt about them, and now that seemed like nothing in light of all I'd gone through to reach them.

And I had gone through a lot. I felt I had. In real life. I wanted to thank them for not asking me questions, but couldn't bring myself to disturb the calm.

For a blessedly long time, no sounds could be heard but the crash of the waves and the low hoo-ooo of a distant foghorn.

"I hear a car," Trowa said.

Indeed, a rude engine roared up the drive. Brakes squealed.

"Chang's," Heero said. "Quatre's purrs like his pet."

"It does, doesn't it?" I hadn't drawn that parallel before. Quat had a cat- a big, fat, pampered lozenge of white fur.

"The dragon roars, the cat purrs," Trowa said, drolly, making us all smile.

Doors opened and slammed shut and then footfalls, running across the gravel, thumping on the wooden porch. I heard familiar voices, muted by the thick door.

"Wait! Maybe we shouldn't just interrupt." Quatre, how kind of him to sense my growing lust-and I knew he could. The Quatre in the other universes, one at least, had let me in on how much he could sense. Underhanded little empath.

"Nonsense!" -and for Wufei not to care at all. Insensitive little prick.

And I considered them both to be my friends.

The two of them talked in low voices. I continued to sit and half-listen in a daze. After what seemed an age, came the timid knock.

"Come in!" Heero shouted. No one moved to get the door. "It's not locked."

Apparently, one of my housemates had called Wufei and Quatre, because they came in carrying provisions. Awww.

I rubbed my damp eyes saying I didn't know what had come over me. I was greeted with smiles and laughter from everyone.

"Hey, I'm okay. Got checked out and there didn't seem to be much wrong with me."

"Oh, Duo!" Quatre nearly crushed me to him, but Heero's hand blocked his path.

"Ribs," Trowa said, succinctly.

"Freshly wrapped," I told them. "The bandage is impressive, too. I'm not saying there is zebra duct tape involved, but I'm not saying there isn't."

"Ha! Duo, you are one in a million," Quatre declared.

"Rarer than that," Wufei put in, I think, to further embarrass me.

Still, the mood lifted significantly and the refreshing effect of the two new additions added to the safe feeling I'd been savoring, having both Heero and Trowa near me, and revived us all. Everyone, but me, bustled about, seeing to tea, blankets to wrap me in, cushions to prop me up, dishware, and containers of steaming food.

They say sleep cures, well, so do tub soaks and plentiful food and good friends.

Not that I didn't want to know what had been going on in my universe, and a lot had, since I'd been "gone", but no one addressed it directly, like an ogre amongst us, occupying space no one wanted to contest. Like the hypothetical elephant in the room, but much, much less predictable. Certainly less conventional. If we didn't mention it directly, it didn't hurt us. One aspect of the ogre I deemed needed remarking upon - for argument's sake let's say his two best friends making moony eyes at one another when they didn't think I was looking.

"Quat."

"Yes, Duo?"

"What's with you and 'Fei-man here?" See? That was me being direct. I could be in spite of my condition and even if they wanted to dance around the ogre.

"Oh, um..."

This would have continued for some time if Trowa hadn't kicked him, I'm pretty sure.

"We are dating," Quatre coughed up.

"Great!" I knew it would happen, of course. "I had hoped you'd take the hints." Hints made in other universes, but still...

"I don't know what hints you are referring to," Wufei said, "With our combined ancient lineage and family obligations to negotiate-"

"You've been obsessing over one another for ages," I interrupted a lengthy opining session from one of its masters, "and I can't imagine your combined inheritances can't buy off anyone's goodwill who aims to voice an objection."

"But-!"

"I'm happy for you both. I really am. And being happy and feeling like you have it all-you do don't you?- does that mean you'll sell me this house, whomever it is that owns it, 'cause I've become very attached to it?"

"Um, you need to talk to Heero and Trowa about that," Quatre said. "They own it."

"Oh." Cool, I thought. Different. A twist in the continuum? I could go with that.

"We bought it while you were... gone." Heero said with hesitation.

Gone. Yeah, so to speak. The ogre stretched out his legs, securing a little more space. Heero must have come close to a territorial dispute, treading where nobody was supposed to go.

"Good choice." I beamed my approval. Because I was back to giving the ogre wide berth, I think everyone breathed easier. Besides, we were talking about my dream house, what could be a better? Everyone was looking at me, and, I swear, I didn't know what to say that wouldn't sound a bit nuts. And that would disturb the Big Ugly Secret ogre. "Is it my turn to tell a story?"

"You don't have to explain anything," Trowa said, I suspected that he was trying to protect me, because he was sitting closest to the Big Ugly Secret and was feeling hemmed in.

"But you can, if you want," Wufei urged in his impatient way. Okay, so he and he alone seemed ready to fight the ogre. Maybe it was a dragon's instinctual reflex?

"He just got back," Heero said. "He needs..."

To adapt? To rest? To what? I didn't like seeing Heero and Trowa cowed by the Big Ugly. That meant kicking ass.

"I think I need to talk," I said. "But first, tell me, what do you think I'm back from?"

Apparently, and this is the joke, I had been the missing one and they had all been looking for me for some time. I, at least, thought it was funny.

A mission gone kablooey, a trap with me the bait, even Quatre got pressed into service to hunt for me. On the plus side, he'd been teamed with Wufei, which led to bringing the couple together.

It didn't explain shit.

"Okay, well, that's your point of view, I get that, but I have an entirely different take on everything." That got me everyone's undivided attention.

"I feel I've explained this umpteen times already." In different universes I had. I felt what I felt.

"Practice makes perfect," Heero intoned.

"Maybe." I'd give one of the loves of my life some credit, if only for having a sense of humor. "You see, I told you at different times and places... and like... parallel universes, or something."

"Alternative realities?" Quatre asked like it was a new color for my shirt, a shade of blue I'd never considered.

"I guess. They were a lot like this one but with differences. In each one, I was trying to get, um..." This is where things broke down. I didn't know where Heero, Trowa, and I stood anymore. I'd become confused, merging their different personas in their varying realities with my own in this one. I wanted to blame the ogre for causing that, but he was shrinking into the crack in the couch cushions.

"Trying to get back here," Heero said like it all made sense. "I got your note."

Note?

He held up a scrap of paper, a napkin, with my scribbled handwriting. "I found this in my pocket a week ago telling me to come to the...beach house and wait for you. I didn't understand the stipulation that I remain 'pot', though."

"Put! That's a 'u'! Some things about you don't change no matter which universe you're in," I grumbled.

Quatre cleared his throat. Wufei sniffed.

"I got one, too." Trowa pulled a folded paper crane from his back pocket. "It said 'vacation house', but I didn't have one."

"We searched the mountain resort," Wufei said. "I remembered one of the safe houses we'd used that was on the property and Quatre still owned."

"But Heero was positive it had to be one of the beach houses we'd visited," Quatre said.

"It was," Heero stated. "This one. Duo came here, which proves it." And damn, if he didn't look pleased with himself for making the correct deduction.

"It was a favorite," Trowa admitted.

"And I wanted to sell it," Quatre chimed in, "and Trowa called and he and Heero said they'd match any offer, which they couldn't possibly, but..."

"I pitched in," Wufei said, matter-of-factly. "Nice place. You can buy me out, if you want. They made me agree."

"I might," I said.

"Listen, I'd have given it to you if I'd believed it would ensure Duo's appearance!" Quatre said.

"You heard him! It's a gift! Thanks, Quat!" I cheered, knowing Quatre hadn't meant it, not really, not completely. "Just give us a deal, okay?"

He nodded, but looked about to cry. "Of course!" He composed himself with a brush of a sleeve across his eyes. "Anyone can see that this house represents a very special place in your heart, a safe retreat... maybe... somewhere you have felt free to be yourself rather than a terrorist or agent."

Like how I felt being with Heero and Trowa. Safe, loved, and belonging.

Wufei began a lecture series. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, let's just say he was attempting to bridge the awkward moment. "You know, an alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with our own."

"I traversed two other ones a lot like this one," I said, taking perverse pleasure in watching the ogre's legs disappear into the couch.

"Multiverses, then," Wufei went on, completely unflappable. "And, alternative realities can simply be variants of our own."

"That's what I'm talking about," I said. Nice to be understood. The others might have been exchanging glances amounting to "be nice to the crazy guy", but for the time being everyone pretended to take me seriously.

"I gave you the instructions to come here, when I was in your universe," I explained to Heero. "After surviving a flood and hiking to Carver," that was the seaside town closest to this house, "I wrote that note on napkin...at Mama's Kitchen... in case I changed universes again, which I did. And I did the same for you," I told Trowa, next. "We'd been snowed-in at the mountain cabin-"

"Ah ha! I told you he'd been there!" Wufei crowed in the background.

"- and you showed me how to fold those Japanese cranes."

"I taught him," Heero cut in.

"He learned well," I said, just to stroke his ego a little and gain a tiny smile. "I wrote that note on a crane, the best one, just as we were about to leave."

"In alternative universes," Wufei said.

"Yeah. That was Trowa's universe, where... um... I was with him." That was vague enough to make the ogre's arms and legs pop back out again.

"That does explain how those notes came to be on you," Quatre said, pleased as punch. "We'd been trying to sort that out."

"Glad I could help." I rested my head on a pillow and closed my eyes. I wanted to put the Big Ugly Secret to bed for good. "I was with you, Heero or Trowa, a different one in the different universes, but things weren't right... things never felt really complete. And you both came up missing in action, a different one in each universe, and Une kept trying to send me and the one not missing on wild goose chases. And I knew I'd find you both here, that was the cool thing. And I was right."

"Yes, you were." Quatre patted my hand.

"Confusing at times, I suppose," Wufei acknowledged.

"Yeah, and yet I felt good and generally happy." It was totally true.

"I can only imagine," Quatre said.

I opened my eyes and looked him straight in the eye. "I think you can tell how I feel exactly down to the fucking who." I dared him to deny his 'space heart' thing, which I'd had first-hand experience with in the other universes.

He didn't. He blinked and looked surprised and took a flying leap over his denial and the dwindling ogre. "I hope you feel at home here. It's yours now."

When I only smiled in response, Quatre got the hint. "I can tell you're tired. We should go, Wufei. Call us later?" He posed the last as a question to Heero or Trowa, not me.

TBC

Chapter 6

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