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"Fetes and Foggy Business"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: R Warnings: Romance, humor Pairings: 1x2 Summary: Duo sees this night as
his best chance at steering Heero in his direction. "Fetes and Foggy Business"
I saw a face of remarkable beauty, sensitive, fine-boned and with wide, luminous eyes. My friend, Quatre, had grown more attractive with maturity. People noticed him, a one-sided affair that, because his eyes were on—and only on- his long-time lover as he stretched out his hand to grasp Trowa's and then joined him, his face suddenly irradiated with trust and joy. Trowa and Quatre. Together forever. Sigh... It was even funny because they were costumed as vampires. FOREVER... They had purposely invited me to the Sanc Halloween fete we were all currently attending, otherwise, I never would have wasted my time attending. I loved handing out candy to kids at my door, so it took something powerful to divert me from tradition, and powerful it was. I was there to see Heero and offer him an alternative. Honestly, I was not there for the shrimp toast at the buffet. I loved shrimp, I admit, but I was really not that mercenary. That I left to the professional in our midst. "Duo, I'm so glad you made it," Quatre greeted, turning his expressive eyes onto me. "Nice costume." "This old thing?" I twirled to show off my pirate outfit, which looked a little worse for wear beside Trowa and Quatre dressed as aristocratic vampires. "I considered doing the vampire thing but..." "They'll suck you dry if they get their teeth in you," Trowa said straight-faced. "Trowa!" Quatre cried out, gasping at the sexual innuendo and elbowing his boyfriend, who was leaning in for an attack that would leave a mark on his neck. Quat wasn't really trying hard to fight off the attack, and it didn't look like Trowa would be drawing blood anyway, so I tried to ignore their antics. "Yeah, wouldn't miss this for anything. You told me Dorothy and Heero would be here, but I haven't seen them. This place is a zoo." "You insult zoos everywhere." Trowa's eyes narrowed dangerously, piercing my soul, sneered to show off a sharp fang and then looked to his right, toward the Grand Entrance of the Great Hall, silently signaling me the right direction to restart my search. "Oh, they're just arriving. Gotcha." That fang looked real. I secretly swore I would never mention zoos again—he scared me that much. And yet, the temptation was there. As my eyes remained glued to fleeting snapshots of Heero entering the palace, I really wanted to point out how the Catalonia woman paraded him out like an exotic pet from the zoo. Quatre saved me, though. He screwed up his face, showing his tiny fangs, and making a pained little grunt. "Ugh! I can't help it, but simply detest that woman. And I shouldn't, I know. It is easy but dangerous to stereotype the very rich, myself included, but a quality they have in common is the self-confident exercise of power." "Yeah? Well, you're excused from my point of view. You head a company that produces something. All she manufactures are situations that emphasize her social importance," I said. Trowa surprised me with his support, actually supplementing what I said. "Catalonia- breaking ground in the world of power lunches by booking two tables on the same day, double-booking appointments, deliberate unpunctuality. A real work of art, that one." "What I see when I look at her," Quatre said in a soft lisp most likely caused by the fake fangs, "is the very worst application of that power." "I see her sword in your gut," Trowa said succinctly establishing his unchanging point of view. I thought Trowa seemed overly inclined toward making references to dramatic moments in their life, ones I myself tried to forget and guessed he did it because it got a watery-eyed response from Quatre—like it did this time. "And you being there to save me is what I remember," Quatre said, love glowing in his eyes and then sadness. "Poor Heero." Dewy eyes turned onto me next. "I hope you can drag him away." I wasn't strong enough to drag Heero anywhere he didn't want to go in the first place, but I hoped my powers of persuasion were up to the test tonight. I needed to separate the improbable pair. I sized up the action, following the couples' progress as the crowds parted to let them pass. Was she as noxious as all that? Personally, I thought so, but for some mysterious reason, Heero didn't think so. Apparently. Alternatively, he was made of anti-venom. An imponderable. Pick your poison, I guess. As Heero was led across the room, faces turned to focus on him like pale camera lenses—brief, searching glances to see if he was sufficiently well known to merit a prolonged stare. There no attempt to disguise their interest or lack of it. The costumes would be evaluated and discussed. I'd bet on it. I watched them swan about the Grand Hall while taking stock of the situation, knowing I was going to have to make my move soon, and then they separated and she was in a crowd of quasi-nobility. Ah, ha! She reappeared with one dilettante walking her to the dance floor, leaving Heero alone. "Whoa, that didn't take long. Sweet mother of Hades, what kind of getup is that woman wearing?" "Don't get me started on women's fashion," Trowa said. "Um..." I wouldn't dare. I didn't even want to know why women's clothes held any interest for the man. Still, Dorothy's awful orange party dress seemed worth commenting on. "Do not!" he emphasized the "not" with a meaningful look. My comment was extinguished on command. "Er... Never mind." I never was sure if Trowa was joking around and I should laugh or if he was crazy as shit and I should run. It could have been the wild glint in his eyes or the pointy fangs, but on this night I chose to slink away. "Wish me luck!" I said in Quatre's ear and booked it to the ballroom, targeting the waltzing Dorothy first, then Heero. I timed my steps to meet up with the dancing pair of illuminati just as the song came to an end. And I wasn't being free and easy with the term for many of the people at this event. "Illuminati" included various organizations linked to secret societies conspiring to control world affairs by masterminding events and planting agents in government and corporations all in order to gain political power and influence, all leading to establishing a New World Order—according to Wikipedia. Yes, that old tune. You'd think we hadn't fought a war to get rid of all that! The Illuminati have been lurking in the shadows and pulling the strings and levers of power for ages—and sometimes acting in overtly threatening ways. This was true before the war, during the war, and it continues to this day. Preventers didn't want a symbol of the New Age of Peace, like Heero Yuy, to be drawn in any more than I did, which accounted for the scowling presence of Chang Wufei by one marble column and my old friend Hilde over by another—watching. My motives were far more personal. I'd fallen for Heero as a kid fighting a rebellion. We'd even been friends, close friends for a time after the war. Then things got confusing and we lost touch and somehow he ended up on the arm of Dorothy Catalonia and I was left pining for him. Well, not for long. This night would make or break us. With a not so subtle attempt to insinuate myself onto the dance floor right beside Dorothy Catalonia, I pushed out of my way a harlequin in black and white satin, sweat tracking down his face; a jester wearing a hat with dangly bells that I would have pitched after hearing them for thirty seconds or less; a goth princess who looked as if she wore the outfit normally by the tattoos running up her arms and across her back; few finely, fussy-dressed and over-heated individuals looking as if they stepped out of Shakespeare's time; someone dressed to look like a carrot—enough said- and when I had reached Dorothy's vegetable dance partner, I cut in. My clumsy tap on his shoulder may have included a "I don't take no for an answer" squeeze and shove. "That was rude!" Dorothy scolded me. "I needed to talk to you and I did give the smarmy dude warning," I maintained. "That was the Marquess du Font!" "He could be the comic sans or king of the fonts - don't matter to me. What I have to say won't take long then you can whistle him back (like a well-trained pet). It's this," I cut her off as her lips parted to argue, "You don't treat Heero right. I don't like that. So. I'm warning you. You're gonna lose him." Parading Heero around like a trained monkey when it suited her, and then dating other men to prove that she could and how little he meant to her, as if he had no feelings to hurt! I hated her infidelity and treachery and her eyebrows, especially those. "Ha! What can you do about it?" she asked with a side of evil laughter made ridiculous by the fact that she looked like an orange and black wedding cake. "No women will approach him. They are all afraid of what I'll do to them if they try. More reputations are destroyed than made every day." She waved her arm in a flourish of orange ruffles and black lace froth in a gesture as contrived as a royal wave. "He's mine now." I shook my head in wonder. "I don't get it...why you even... keep him like you do? You obviously don't care a whit about him, not the way you flirt with every idiot with a title." "Oh, you of so little imagination; of course you don't 'get it'. How could you expect to comprehend the higher classes while you grovel with the unwashed masses? Ha!" The temptation to throttle her passed only because I willed it to. The pleasure I'd take in her final downfall would out-do any fleeting victory now. "Enlighten me then please, oh lady of grace." "He and his kind defeated me once, but now I shall keep him like a whipped dog as proof of my superiority. If I can make The Hero bow to my will, no one else shall stand a chance. That includes peons like you." Proof of your insanity, more accurately. "Yeah, well, I'm heavily skilled and ain't no one's slave, so cram the peon crap. I am just letting you know he's got friends ( well, me, in particular, but there was a LOT of me and Quatre and Trowa cared enough to help me, so that makes it true) who care and I personally guarantee you are gonna lose that guy and he's gonna be happy." "He won't be happy ever. I'll see to that! Hey, you! Come back here!" I was done with Dorothy and marched away in search of Heero before she could begin a new diatribe. I'd had my say. Now it was time for action, and action I was ready for when I spied him. He wasn't hard to find, standing next to Relena and her brother arm in arm with his wife Lucrezia. Relena had embraced the name Peacecraft, which sounded so much smarter and was better connected than the one she was adopted into, Darlian—and that just about summed up my opinion of her superficial royal highness-ness. And Milliardo... don't get me started on him! Chronic shortage of money, drinking problems, and frequent romantic complications kept him in and out of the tabloids. Sum him up in two words: Train wreck. Heero Yuy, on the other hand... Oh, my... did Heero fill out a tuxedo nicely, but that was not what he was wearing now, and his defeated expression troubled me. As I drew closer, I decided he looked more sullen than depressed, and my heart fluttered for joy when his eyes met mine and a fractional smile curved the corners of his mouth. I always felt this way when I saw him. I always had. And I'd known when to back off, let him discover his own feelings and follow his heart, even when it led him away from me. Until now. "Hey, 'Ro! Man, that's some costume." Dorothy would pay for this. I would make her pay big time for putting him in this getup and letting him out in public. "Heero's a mouse!" Relena cried out, possibly at me, but then she hung on Heero's arm and gazed up into his face. "I think you're just darling!" I thought the velvety gray turtleneck and loose pants he was wearing looked comfortable, but the long pink string tail and strange hat with round ears on top looked silly. I bet he felt foolish... comfortable but silly. I tried awfully hard not to stare. "And Dorothy is a slice of cheese. She's so creative," Relena gushed, this time aiming her banter toward her brother. Since she didn't seem to be addressing me at all, I saw no need to respond to her comments, so I spoke to Heero. "Whatcha say we blow off this shindig and go get some fresh air? Even a walk into town... there's still shops open. Marvelous looking... olives... jams in this one..." I was open and breezy and not giving away just how scared to death I was that Dorothy might run up from behind and stab me in the back with some fucking sword she might have hidden under that horrible dress she was wearing or have some goons club me over the head or that Heero might say "no". I had not yet weighed the influence the Peace-crap vultures might have over him. I'd actually ignored them all up to now. They ignored me, too, so it wasn't just me being provocative and impolite. They had no interest in olives or jam, unable to see any social consequence in olives or jam. "Oh, Heero, you can't go without at least one dance with Dorothy!" Relena insisted. "And I'd like a turn on the dance floor—" Oh no, you don't! I wouldn't let her manipulate him that way. "Hey, wouldn't we all. No cutting ahead in line!" I smiled to make her think I was joking. It works sometimes. "Besides," I said, "If he wants to take a walk he can without your or Doro's approval first." I smiled at Heero, who was still staring at me as if, I hoped, I might be a lifeline outta this fire-hole. "Whatcha think? Fresh air?" "Yes, it's warm in here," Heero said as he gently removed Relena's restraining hand from his arm. "Thank you for the invitation." I think he said that to Relena, but it could have been aimed at me. Didn't matter. It was me he was following out the French doors that led to the garden. I felt good. I'd won! It felt like a windfall, not at all what I'd walked in with, which was nobody, only the desire to have Heero walking out the door on my arm. I'd won enough times now against Dorothy and Relena to keep up my spirits and just play on and see if I could win Heero over completely. Oh, yeah. I was playing with the house money now. "That was a close one," I whispered once we on the pebbled walkway. "I was afraid they'd keep you there all night." He simply shrugged, not committing to any worries. I stopped at a turn in the path. "I know a quick exit outta here, if you like?" adding, "What would you like to do? Your choice!" "My choice..." he seemed content to mull that over for a minute before saying, "Somewhere open." Well, that was...open ended. But I thought of a place I liked and thought met the criteria. "I gotta car parked around back, if you're game?" "Okay," he agreed. I was thrilled that he was willing to trust my judgment. I led him through a hedge and over an iron fence, probably setting off alarms but I didn't care. My car was a short dash away. Heero was grinning as he fastened his seat belt and I started the engine. "Don't worry, it'll give the security agents something to do and ponder over later," I said. "I'm not worried." To begin, I took us on a spin around the palace neighborhood as a kind of homage to its grandeur. Wooded with the rare Red Sanc Oak trees, impeccably maintained, furiously expensive, this location had long been the most fashionable addresses in the city-state. The residences of the high and mighty were nestled among villas of the famous and notorious screened by high walls and thick hedges, guarded by iron gates, insulated from the common herd by a buffer of money. Even cars, mostly chauffeured, drove slowly, sedately, with muted engines, except mine, heh, heh... I could tell he longed for something more open, so I turned at the next bend and headed for the coast. While driving along, I thought Heero could use a little cheering up. "So, I heard this joke about a cabbie who picks up a nun. She gets into the cab, and the cab driver won't stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring. He replies, 'I have a question to ask you, but I don't want to offend you.' She answers, 'My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.' 'Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.' She responds, 'Well, let's see what we can do about that. But first, you have to be single and you must be Catholic.' The cab driver is very excited and says, 'Yes, I'm single and Catholic!' 'OK', the nun says. 'Pull into the next alley, maybe we will see what we can do.' The nun fulfills his fantasy with a kiss that would make a hooker blush. But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying. 'My dear soul,' said the nun, 'why are you crying?' 'Forgive me, but I've sinned. I lied. I must confess, I'm married and I'm Jewish.' The nun says, 'That's OK, my name is Kevin and I'm going to a Halloween party.'" Heero barked out a laugh. "That's terrible, but it's better than the only one I know." "Well, now you gotta tell it," I urged him. "All right. It goes... what do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?" I'd heard the joke before but played along for fun. "Half a pumpkin?" Heero smiled. "No. Pumpkin pi." I laughed and it wasn't a fake laugh either. Just seeing him smiling with pleasure from the telling of it made my heart light and my head bubbly. A few minutes later I parked in a turn-out overlooking the Sanc yacht harbor. Lights strung on the masts glittered over the water. "We take this trail down there to the wharf." I was grateful when he removed the silly mouse hat, tossing it into the backseat. The rest of his clothes were fine, gray and bland, making him disappear in the wafting fog. I joked about that, "Arrgh! Where did you go, matey?" until he grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I felt dizzy with joy. His firm grip made a connection, a real one, from him to me. The sound of his voice broke me out of my momentary, private happy land. "I've never been here," Heero admitted. I heard him breathe deeply of the marine air and smiled at me, approving. "What? I know you've been to the wharf. There was some Preventer action you were involved with last year." "I didn't mean there," he said, "I meant here on this bluff—this part of the coast. It's pretty with the lights." Yellow glowing balls from hanging lamps marked the pier walkway and here and there ship cabin lights bobbled on the water. The rest was fog. It was both spooky and mystical at the same time. Best yet was the peaceful look on Heero's face. His sighs of contentment. I'd done that for him. The curio shops were all closed; the sea shell necklaces and postcards draped in fake spider webs and sporting "Happy Halloween" pennants, brightening the window displays. Only a bar over a restaurant was open. Heero was looking up at the sign so I asked, "Do you want a drink or something?" He shook his head, "No," then offered an explanation for his interest. "That's where the backpack of pipe bombs was found." He pointed out the exact place then moved on. "This is what I needed. Thanks, Duo." "My pleasure, for sure. Hey, I'm getting damp out here, nice as it is. What do you want to do?" "I don't know. My room at the Preventer's building is..." "Small? Inhospitable?" I supplied my feelings, having lived in one of those dormitories myself. "My place isn't far." I had moved recently. "I got movies, music, groov'n food..." He chuckled at that. "You lost me with the food." "Don't let that stop you from coming over," I said and I know I sounded needy, but I didn't care. This was my chance! "Okay. After we go to the end." I could walk to the end of earth knowing he'd be coming back home with me. "Fine. Just don't go off without me. This fog is thick; I might lose you!" His expression was one of curiosity. "You won't lose me." "Good. That's good. Great! I mean, I just... found you again." He took a step closer and reached out, touching my shoulder, skimming down my arm. "Yes, you did. Thank you for... all this... tonight. I didn't expect..." "What, Heero? That I cared about you? I never stopped caring. You've always been ... special to me." I didn't know how to read his expression. Doubt? He doubted me or what I'd said or what I might have meant? Did I dare to push this past simple friendship? Oh, yeah. "Really special... as in I can't get you out of my mind special." He nodded in agreement. "We did work well together." His quirky smile surprised me, and so did his joke. We were always trying to outdo each other to show off when we weren't trying to kill each other. Working together was fantasy stuff. So, I smiled back. "Yeah, but I was talking about more than that. Don't you feel it?" "Are you talking about attraction?" he asked. "This isn't a joke or Halloween prank?" "A prank? No, no. God, ne! I was... am... attracted to you, yeah." We stopped probably about midway along the wharf. Tattered-paper fog passed over the water. I could hear waves slosh under us. Every detail clarified with an unreal intensity as my senses became acute. I could smell the dampness, count my heartbeats. Waiting for him to say something. I couldn't wait any longer so I said, "I don't want this to end. I want to see more of you. A lot more." Well, he heard and assimilated that. "You mean you want to date me?" he asked. "Ah, um, yeah?" "You?" Who else, buddy? "Me." Arms wide, I did a little twirl so he could fully admire the whole package I was selling. He looked uncertain, confused even. "Hey, I know you don't maybe think you dig guys—" I tried to clarify for him how I understood the situation. "I haven't thought about it before. I wasn't happy with Dorothy, but she found me after the war and offered me..." Heero's voice trailed off, smothered in the fog. Leaving me to fill the blanks? With what? What did that awful woman offer him? Protection? A life of withering lack of fulfillment with her? What could have attracted him? "...Penance." Oh. Well. "I'd say you've done more than your share, bro'." "Yes," Heero agreed. "I am done atoning for my war crimes." "And Dorothy?" I wondered aloud, hoping he didn't feel he owed her some kind of loyalty. He nodded. "Done with." "That's good to know. Time for you to explore other choices." "With you?" I couldn't have kept the grin off my face. "Sure!" "I never went out with another male. Or female except for-" "Dorothy. Right. That has a lot to so with the fact that you think eye contact is an act of aggression." "Not with you." "That's a start," I said with an encouraging smile. "We don't have to do anything, you know, that is uncomfortable for you." "Go slow." "I promise." I meant it too. "It's not about me controlling you," I told him. "I care for you and want you to feel the same. So, no pressure. You call the shots." "I might require a few suggestions." I smiled. "At your service. I got ideas galore!" "Does that mean you have a wide range of suggestions, proposals, plans?" "All the above. Whenever you need one. Whaataya say?" "I'm not sure," he said calmly and reached out to mess with my bangs. "You were ready to go home with me a minute ago," I said, justified in my disappointment. He continued stoking my head with a hand, moving down my braid, watching as the loose brown strands wound around his fingers. "I see," he replied softly, cryptically, before looking up at me. What did he see? I looked into his deep blue eyes and forgot to draw my next breath, so engrossed was I. His hand stopped in mid-motion, hovering less than an inch from my head as my entire world came to a halt. He stared at me and him at me, losing myself in his gaze, for what seemed to be an eternity. "Are you all right?" I asked tentatively, reaching up and gripping the wrist of the hand that had been stroking my hair. He blushed deeply, and I must have too 'cause suddenly I was feeling the color run all the way up my neck to my cheeks. I couldn't believe he just totally lost it like that, or that I had, wondering what it was that had passed over him—and me. Was that a test? Had he searched our souls and found something he'd been looking for? Or was it simply that he decided he could be attracted to me, enough to pursue a deeper friendship? Simple was best, in my estimation. Shaking it off the best he could, I suppose, he turned and smiled benignly at me. "Oh yes," he replied brightly. "I'm doing just fine. We're getting wet out here. Maybe we should go to your place now." "Okay. Good. Good idea. It isn't far. I have movies to watch?" "I'd enjoy a movie." It was as simple as that. Direct approach. Suddenly, I was dating Heero Yuy, who was a little weird, but I liked a challenge. My mission, accomplished. Happy Halloween to you all! The End.
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