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" Everywhere I Look "Written By: Presser
Disclaimer : I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters. This work of fiction is written and shared freely without any attempt to profit financially from it. Rating : R Pairings : 1x2 Warnings : Wistful romance, AU, after Endless Waltz, and departing quite a bit from canon direction Summary: Duo Maxwell is a young, upcoming artist with a hole in his heart. He hates himself for never confessing his love to Heero Yuy, a war-weary mecha pilot running from his past all the way to the Phobos Project—the first manned mission to Mars. Duo longs for the man he loves, but doesn’t know where he is. Can they find love in each other’s arms? And what of Heero’s mysterious collapse when he arrives on Earth to search for the one he loves?
"Everywhere I Look " 26 “Will there be anything else, Mr. Winner?” Quatre stood and put his linen napkin beside his dessert
plate, which held a pastry tart full of raspberries and blueberries
topped with creme fraiche. He put his hand on the maitre d’s
arm and walked him toward the Terrace doors. In a low voice he said,
“The media’s gone?” “Yes, sir. Our security guard will fend off anyone
else who tries to approach. And we have the remaining wait staff on
notice.” “I think we’re set, then, Bernard. Just have
someone within sight, but on the other side of the doors.” “Of course, sir.” Quatre watched as Bernard motioned to a waiter tidying
up the service table and bar to one side of the party. The woman nodded
and quickly surveyed her work. She walked briskly to Bernard and said,
“There is a fresh urn of coffee and cups, sir. If they want other
drinks —” Roberta nodded curtly and exited. Quatre waited until Bernard walked through the French
doors and shut them, then turned. He crossed his arms and paused to
study the group at table before rejoining them. At the head sat Heero and Duo, both chatting with guests
to either side: Heero with Lady Une, Duo with Quatre’s husband,
Trowa. Hilde Schbeiker was giggling over a story with Relena Peacecraft,
and her brother, Zechs Merquise, was deep in conversation with Chang
Wufei, their foreheads almost touching. At the end of the table opposite
the happy couple were Sally Po and Lucrezia Noin on either side of
Howard, happily munching his tart and talking through it. He was regaling
the two with what Quatre knew from experience was most likely a tall
tale from his war days. Quatre smiled at Howard’s loud Hawaiian
shirt. If he can’t flaunt his disregard for dress codes, he
just doesn’t want to show up. But there’s no one better
when you want a job done right. A head moved, and Quatre turned his eyes to see Trowa
giving him a look. He uncrossed his arms and returned to the table.
As he sat, Trowa leaned toward him and whispered, “What?” “Nothing, nothing. I was just —” At the soft chime of silver on crystal, conversation
died away. All turned to see Heero standing at the head of the table. “Duo and I are so happy you’re here,”
he said with a broad smile. “We can’t thank you enough for
helping us celebrate our joining.” He drew breath to continue,
and in the moment of silence everyone heard Howard say not too quietly,
“Doesn’t that part come later?” They all watched as
his companions, Sally and Noin, shoved his shoulders from opposite
sides. Howard protested loudly, and everyone smiled. “I also want to thank you,” Heero continued,
“for your willingness to gather for our second purpose tonight.
Most of you know a part of what’s going on but not the whole,
so I’ll turn things over to the head of Preventers to explain.” Heero sat. All watched as Lady Une stood and smoothed
the front of her evening gown. When she looked up, her eyes shone
with the fierce determination of a commander, and something more:
there was a passion that conveyed firm belief in her mission that
went beyond Howard leaned toward Sally and whispered, “Just
in case some NewsCheck idiot rented a copter or has telephoto shit
in a nearby building.” Sally’s lips formed a silent oh.
Lady Une spoke. “I’ll be brief in my remarks because an overview
of the situation is all that’s appropriate in this setting. All
of you have expressed your willingness to take part in what we’re
going to do, and I want you to know Preventers is grateful.”
She looked around the table, stopping to hold each person’s eyes
for a moment, then continued. “There’s not a one of you
I wouldn’t trust with my life. There’s not a one of you
I can’t count on to give your utmost. Nevertheless, I’m
bound to ask you if you’re willing to sign an NDA.” Sally Po leaned toward her husband, but before she could
say anything, Wufei whispered, “Nondisclosure agreement. Standard
operating procedure.” She nodded as Lady Une went on. “We won’t do that tonight, of course. If I
have your word, then we’ll take care of that formality at your
first briefing.” She looked around the table again to make sure
everyone nodded in agreement before giving a brief description of
the facts and the chain of events Preventers was reasonably certain
of: The Gundam scientists were active again; they had used longtime
connections and friendships with upper-echelon government and military
figures to gain influence over the Phobos mission; and their goals
were unclear to Preventers. Lady Une stressed that whether the scientists
were motivated by simple curiosity or something more, they could not
be allowed to have their way with projects the size of the Earth Sphere’s
exploration of Mars. “More importantly,” Lady Une said as she finished,
“we cannot let them play with the lives of people, even if they
think they can benefit humankind by doing so.” She paused and
studied the eleven people around her. All eyes were fixed on her,
all attention completely focused on what she said. “I’ve
asked Chang Wufei to serve as our lead agent for this mission. He’s
decided on a working name for the group.” Une nodded slightly
to Wufei, who rose halfway from his seat and quietly said, “We’re
calling it the Phobos Task Force.” Howard muttered into his mustache, “Always the creative one.” He grinned as Noin shot him a dirty look. Wufei sat as Lady Une said,“Mr. Chang will contact
you regarding the role he wants you to take and the level of your
involvement at the “There’s not much more to tell you,”
Heero said. “We wanted to keep this brief, so what I’ll
say now will end the evening.” He smiled as he took his glass.
He raised it and said, “If you wouldn’t mind keeping up
the charade …” After the toast, he said, “I have to
repeat what Lady Une said: There’s not a one of you I wouldn’t
trust with my life. I count each of you as a true friend. You loved
me enough to let me find my own way to discover who I really am without
worried looks or lectures to my face, even if you gave them to others
on my behalf. That’s right, Quatre, you’re not the only
one with sources.” Gentle laughter circled the table. “I knew — or, rather, found out, eventually
— how each of you supported me, even though I didn’t know
it; how much you cared, and how you took care of —” Heero
turned toward his fiance and took his hand —”of this one.” Everyone smiled as Heero looked into his lover’s eyes. He released Duo’s hand and looked down the table.
“There’s one special person who’s not here who deserves
to be mentioned, and that’s Joy Parillo. She was my right hand
all through the Phobos mission, and a true friend as well. If it weren’t
for her willingness to kick me in the butt more than once, I might
not be standing here, and Preventers might still be searching for
answers that my little trip to the hospital unlocked.” He stopped
and smiled. He picked up his champagne. “Now it’s time for
a real toast instead of the staged ones.” Hands went to glasses, then withdrew as the mood stilled.
Everyone watched Heero stare into his drink. After a moment he looked
up with shining eyes. “I’m no good at this, you know. Never have
had much to say about much of anything. I spent more than a little
time trying to find something deep, or thoughtful, or at least witty,
but nothing seemed even close to right. So I decided to just follow
my emotions and tell you how I feel about each of you and what we’re
about to do together.” He smiled and said, “Everybody in
the world wants to make a difference; we all want to do something
that counts with our lives. It’s part of what it means to be
human, I think. And this group is fortunate to be in a position to
actually make something truly significant happen to make the world
a better, safer place.” He stopped to “You all mean the world to me; you’re my family
in the truest sense. When I think of the people I might want to do
this thing with, there’s no one better than you: all of you together
and each one of you separately.” Duo reached for his lover’s hand. Heero looked
down and smiled. He paused again, inhaled another big breath, and
huffed it out. “Like I said, I’m the least elegant one here
when it comes to public speaking. I guess I’ll just end by saying
thank you, and I love you all.” Heero sat down. For a moment there was silence. Then Quatre raised his
hands to clap, but stopped when Howard rose. “Well, I’ve got a couple of toasts I’d
like to share.” He was met with a handful of grins, smirks, and
eye rolls. “No worries, friends. Nothing vulgar, okay?” “That comes later,” Trowa whispered to Quatre,
whose grin widened. “Just two short ones, both which I heard somewhere,
so if I’m quoting someone famous, they’ll just have to forgive
me for not giving them credit.” He looked around the table, savoring
the fact that no one knew what the hell he was about to do, then suddenly
grabbed his glass and raised it high. No one moved, so he frowned
and said loudly, “Come on, get your glasses up.” Everyone
did. He took a big breath, puffed out his chest, and bellowed,
“May all your troubles during the coming year be as short as
your New Year’s resolutions.” As Howard drank, everyone around the table sighed with relief. Hilde whispered to Relena, “Well, a New Year’s toast doesn’t exactly fit, but he means well.” Relena smiled and nodded. Howard wiped his lips with the back of his hand and
said, “And here’s the last one.” He waited until all
eyes were on him. When everyone saw that his expression grew serious,
they stopped talking. Howard cleared his throat and said in a steely
tone of voice, “Wanna see who your real friends are? Screw up
and see who’s still there.” No one moved for a moment. Howard
broke the mood by saying, “And you know? You’re all real
friends.” He smiled broadly and turned up his glass. Noin stood
and hugged him, Sally stood and clapped, and the party broke up, everyone
turning and wishing each other well. Duo sat watching his friends. He noted a knowing look
between Lady Une and Wufei, and smiled to himself at Heero’s
curt nod to Trowa. Then Heero pulled him to his feet and said, “Let’s
go home.” Duo sighed and smiled. “I really like the sound of that, babe.” Heero took his lover’s hand and led him to the French doors of the Terrace. |
