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"That Which Mends"Written By: SkyLark Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or its characters. I just love playing with them. Pairings: 2x1x2, past 2xOC, 5xOC, 3x4 Warnings: Angst, Violence, Sap, Lemons/Limes, AU Archives: http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw/SkyLark/gwSkyLark.htm
and http://www.mizunoamy.bravepages.com/skylark/skylarkfics.html Summary: Heero is a straight A student studying Psychology and finds his world turned upside down when he attends a Frat party.
"That Which Mends" [Guess it's true, I'm not good as a one-night stand Chapter 23
Heero removed his duffle bag electronics case from the back of his car. Closing the door with a push of his hip, he took in the three-story complex ahead of him.
It was one of twenty other structures like it in the sprawling space of open, pristine land. The location, unique open concept design with massive windows and balconies so that the residents could appreciate the view of Lake Michigan only a few blocks were nothing at all like what Heero had expected.
This was easily on the higher end of apartments to rent, which was a surprise since the scholar had originally pinned Maxwell to be a young man of basic needs and meager living. Not that either way of existing was right or wrong, of course. The Preventer was more than entitled to live however he chose.
"Welcome to my humble abode," Duo smirked as he approached the psych major. He held out a hand and took on the electronics case as he informed, "We're on the top floor." That said, he turned and led the way to the first of the complexes with his guest following closely behind him.
An access card was used to grant them entry into the lobby and together, the one-time lovers rode the elevator to the third tier.
When they walked out of the lift, Heero continued to hold in his wonder as he took in their surroundings. The hallways were lined with deep red carpets, and the walls were decorated with paintings and artwork that could have come from the finest of galleries.
Only two doors awaited on the floor, one on the left and one on the right. Maxwell took them to the one on the right.
Fishing out his room key, the Preventer set it inside the doorknob reader and announced, "Home sweet home." Once the door opened up he stepped aside and bent forward at the waist, holding an arm out for the counselor to enter first.
Yuy stepped inside and was unable to hide his awe as he scanned the apartment. Jaw hanging open and eyes widening, he murmured, "Wow..."
Much like the outside design of the complex, the inside of the apartment was very open and modern in its layout... not to mention spacious.
Down the corridor, several private rooms were blocked off but they were the only closed off parts of the residence. The living room side wall was nothing but one massive window that overlooked the great lake and the breathtaking sunset that had begun. That sight alone gave the scholar pause to take it all in for a moment.
As for the decor or the room, the furniture was compiled of a long couch, a cozy recliner and a loveseat of warm browns, creams and lively greens to make it all very welcoming. There was even a fireplace over which the flat, wide-screen television set and entertainment system sat. It appeared that Duo only the best of the best in equipment.
Off to the right were the decked out dining room complete with a long table fitted with eight chairs and adjacent master kitchen that any professional chef would have envied.
"This is amazing," Heero heard himself all but whisper.
"Thanks," he beamed. With a shrug, he commented, "It might be a bit much for one person, but thanks to working for the government, affording this place is pretty easy for me. And I figured if I was going to splurge on anything, it was going to be on where I stay so I can enjoy it."
So, he hadn't had a place to call home before joining the Preventers, Yuy realized based off of that sentiment. That piece of the puzzle to the mysterious agent's past linked onto the few others that had been revealed over the last couple of weeks.
Nodding, the scholar eyed the apartment once more as his host said, "Come on. I'll give you the rest of the tour."
On his way down the corridor of closed off rooms, he informed, "Master bathroom's the first door on the right. My room's the first door to the left and across from that's the guest room that'll be all yours while you're here." In reaching said room, he opened it and backed away so his guest could walk inside.
Heero lowered the strap of his duffel bag from his shoulder as he good a good look at his quarters.
A queen-sized bed with deep blue linens, five large pillows and a stunning headboard shaped like an opened seashell was the first thing that he noticed. Next was the ornate desk of what appeared to be white oak that matched the walk-in closed shutters and night stand.
The whole layout put the psych major's dorm room to shame. Hell, it put a lot more than that to shame.
Maxwell continued to be a young man with many surprises up his sleeve. Where he lived and the effort of care that he put into its upkeep was such a stark difference from how he carried himself while storming through life without a bother.
"I should be paying you for board," the student snickered while lowering his bag at his feet. "But I don't think I'd be able to afford a week here." Easing all the more, Duo smiled, "Nah. You don't owe me anything. It's really no hair off my back to have you crash here for a while."
'Funny,' he thought to himself, 'I'm actually not worried about this at all now.' He could survive a little over a week of slowing down and enjoying some company for a change.
Carefully setting down his friend's electronic case by the door, Maxwell said, "Well, make yourself at home. Normally I cook, but I'm bushed tonight. Mind if we call in for dinner? There are some great delivery chains around here."
'And he's a gracious host,' Yuy kept to himself. That was more of a notch in favor of the person that Agent Scythe was in his eyes rather than a clinical observation. Shaking his head, he replied, "Sounds good to me."
Nodding, the braided agent grinned, "Great. I'll give you some time to unpack and we'll pick the menus." With a wave, he left his roommate to give him the space he needed to make himself comfortable.
Out in the hallway, the agent let out a long sigh and unconsciously rested a hand over his chest. "Okay," he told himself softly, "I can do this."
* * * *
Picking out which place appealed to the pair was an easy process and within an hour, they were sitting together at the dining room table across from each other with their containers of Chinese food.
"So how did you get involved with the Preventers?" Yuy asked as he fished out a few noodles from his carton with chopsticks. Meeting the violet eyes that shifted up to watch him, he reassured, "I'm asking as a friend, not as a counselor. After everything we've already been through together, I think it's fair for me to get to know something about you."
Maxwell finished adding a packet of soy sauce to his meal as he snickered, "Yea, I guess I can't argue with you there." Righting himself in his chair, he played with the rice on his plate and shrugged, "I worked for a mechanic named Howard in Milwaukee for a few years when Lady Une happened to get a flat while she was traveling through. You could say it was fate, I guess."
Clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth in consideration before he proceeded, Heero inquired cautiously, "I take it that was Howard you were meeting with yesterday? I could tell that you must have been tight with the old man you were ushering out by the way the two of you were talking amongst yourselves. He was your source?"
His head snapping up again, Duo blinked widely. "Holy shit," he chuckled, "Anna wasn't kidding when she told me you were good at picking up on things."
Frowning deeply, the scholar took in the sadness that had settled over his one transgression. That light behind those violet eyes was diminished and there was a heavy weight that sagged the agent's shoulders.
"I'm sorry you had to be the one to bring him forward," Heero offered sincerely. "I can tell you care a lot about him and it must have been a difficult position to be in between protecting him and getting the information you needed for the case."
Duo gulped before he looked back to his roommate. "Yea," he nodded shallowly, but there was a genuine appreciation in his tone and stare. "But, it had to be done," he added. Feeling his appetite return, he went on to eat with a little more fervor.
Between mouthfuls, he asked, "So what about you? Where do you hail from?"
"The Twin Cities in Minnesota," Yuy answered after cleaning his mouth. "I live in the same house I grew up in and a regular cleaning staff cares for it while I'm gone. I really should just put it up for sale, but I admit that I have a hard time letting it go since it's the only home I've ever known."
Only all the more endeared to the scholar for his opening up, the braided Preventer hummed. "I can understand that," he replied. "Do you have any idea where you might wind up when you graduate and set up shop?" Snorting, Heero shook his head, "You know, for all of the planning I've done when it comes to my life, that's the one thing I haven't really decided on. There are too many options out there and I'm not tied down to any one of them yet. I'll just have to figure it out when the time comes, I suppose." The corner of his lip curling up, Maxwell laughed, "Oh, I can already tell you're not looking forward to that. You seem the type who likes to have everything mapped out after you've analyzed very possibility."
"Is it that obvious?" the intern questioned sarcastically, an eyebrow raised and an amused grin on his lips.
When their laughter died down, his smile slipped as an unsettled feeling of the unknown future took hold. "To be perfectly honest, I'm not really looking forward it. I'm not exactly used to playing anything by ear."
A warm smile lit Duo's face at that and he reassured, "Well, as a guy who's lived by playing life by ear, I can personally tell you it's nothing to be afraid of. There's a difference between being alive and living. And we only get to do this once, so going with the flow tends to make this existence a hell of a lot more exciting. Otherwise, you're just existing."
He waved a hand in gesture to the both of them as he smirked, "Take us, for example. I doubt that hooking up with me wasn't part of your plan." Without hesitating, Yuy responded, "That would be the understatement of the century."
Arms folding behind his braided head, Maxwell informed, "Well, something in you was looking to break out that night. You wouldn't have come on to me otherwise."
Taken aback by that bit of information, Heero froze in shock. That evening had been very hazy in parts that he still couldn't bring to focus. One of those clouded details was as to which of the pair of them moved things along between them. "I was the one who made the first move?" he asked quietly.
Nodding firmly, Duo replied, "Yep. Granted, I sure as hell wasn't about to turn you down when you did. But I remember vividly that you were the one who kissed first."
The more he dwelt on it, the more he believed that remark to be the whole truth of what had happened. "Huh," he murmured as he stared ahead at nothing. Finally meeting the violet eyes on him, he said, "All this time, I had assumed it was you."
Pushing aside his empty plate, the agent sniggered, "Oh, I can understand why you would have thought that. I'm not one who looks to take advantage of anyone when they've had a couple too many, but you insisted that I wasn't taking advantage of anything... that you wanted it."
The second that much was disclosed, Yuy remembered an excerpt from that night when he had pulled the then handsome stranger towards his dorm room.
'Are you sure?' the sultry voice asked, a real concern dripping from those words.
'I'm sure,' Heero promised. 'Please... just... stay with me tonight. I need this-'
Prussian eyes grew as the psych major felt the lips on his own that cut off any further discussion between them when they all but fell into his room.
Oh, he did recall that moment very well now. He had been insistent, indeed. And that need had been more raw and intense than any other sensation he had known up to that point.
Face flushing at the unexpected rush of that desire he had never had within him, Yuy ducked his head and studied the bottom of his empty container.
"I never even thought that I had that in me," he thought aloud, a blush to his cheeks coming on fast and he dipped his head further to hide it. "I did want one night to indulge in something, but I wasn't looking for... that... It was never my intention..."
To the confused face across from him, he explained, "You're getting a paycheck from the government to intern with us to hone in your craft in a position that most people in your shoes would love to have. Hell, you've even have a few nights out that would have otherwise been spent in your dorm room studying or whatever else you do in your free time."
He continued, "But more than that, You have a handful of friends you never had before. Annie already loves the hell out of you. Fei respects you, something most people have to earn from him after a long time. And Tro's confiding more in you than any of the rest of us besides Quat, who's looking for any way to get you to sign on permanently. Any one of them would drop everything to help you out if you ever needed it."
Shrugging, the officer concluded, "And you got all of that thanks to your deviating from what you had plotted out for yourself for just one night."
"True," Heero concurred, his eyebrows lifting at the enlightening argument. Somehow, it was becoming more and more difficult for him to think of how his life would have been had he not gone to that fraternity party.
Not sure why he needed to hear it, he was nonetheless interested in the answer enough to inquire, "What about you?" It was Maxwell's turn to frown in confusion. "You mentioned how the others feel about me," the student elaborated. "...What about you?"
Biting his lip, Duo squirmed in his chair ever so slightly. "Well, you're the only other person besides Anna that I've had any intimacy with and gone on to know more than a few hours," he confessed.
"You can look into that however you want from a psychological standpoint, but the bottom line is that if I didn't think you were a good guy that I cared to know, you wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be having this conversation." He held up a finger, clarifying, "Mind you that's a conversation between friends, not a shrink and his patient."
The significance was picked up on by Yuy right away. He knew that outside of the Preventer's tight-knit friends, Maxwell was not one to share anything about himself. So being trusted enough to learn a bit of how he functioned was a very big deal.
Encouraging as that was, what meant even more to the
intern was the clear definition of their relationship. Duo cared about
him. He cared more than he was comfortable letting on, an act of someone
who came from a terribly painful past of being let down by people
he loved.... but he did care.
Because no matter how he might have wanted to ignore his own sentiments, he was coming around to accepting the fact that he felt something for Maxwell. what that exactly entailed, he couldn't say for sure, but its presence was definitely there. "Understood," Heero promised, a soothing grin on his face. Clearing his throat, he concluded in little more than a whisper, "Thank you." Duo answered with a wider smile and a small nod and
in a companionable silence, pair finished their meal.
[Flashback]
It was a drizzly morning throughout Meiran's memorial service. Her parish's small church was packed with black-clad mourners saying their final farewells to the agent. There was not a dry eye throughout her tearful mother's eulogy.
Standing at the back of the congregation and by the double-doors of stained glass, Wufei kept his head lowered for the whole of the ceremony. Torn between joining his fellow agents in one of the front aisles and slipping away at the first opportunity, he opted to stay but by a nearby exit just in case as a compromise to his urges.
Then came the time for the last walk past the open casket before the altar. Hearing the pained wails and cries from the immediate family who made their way past the fallen agent first nearly undid Chang.
But it was seeing his teammates following those relatives to the front of the church that kept him where he was.
Duo pushed Anna in the wheelchair that she would be bound to for at least two weeks.
Only released from the hospital the day before, the redhead looked more gaunt than athletically lean. Her already pale skin was neatly translucent against the black dress she wore. But she had insisted on being there for Long's funeral.
If she could be there even in her state, Wufei decided that he had no excuse to not be there... no matter how badly the guilt was tearing him apart.
Walking up close behind Scythe and Fire, Quatre and Trowa leaned against each other as they paused by the head of the casket when it was their turn to whisper their good byes and whatever else they had to say to their comrade. Wiping their faces, they took firm holds of each others' hands and congregated to the back of the chapel with the others.
At the sight of Wolf when they neared the doors in the entry way, Anna gasped, "Wufei."
She automatically opened her arms to him and he all but crumpled into them when he bent at the waist and clung onto her fiercely. The team leader trembled and sobbed against her shoulder. A hand lightly ran over the top of his head.
Lying inside the coffin, eyes closed and face peaceful
as though she were sleeping, was Anna.
The cloud of panic and slumber wracking Wolf's senses broke at that.
Clenched eyes slowly blinking open, they widened when they took in the weapons expert's face that was outlined in the dim natural light coming from the windows. The pitter patter of droplets on the glass windows perfectly mimicked the light drumming off drizzle bouncing off the church in his dream... same as that morning of the funeral... same as the actual service had played out until the end of that nightmare.
Shoulders drooping, Wufei breathed, "Anna...?" Raising a hand to run it over his head, he noted that his hair was loose, which was soon followed by the realization that aside from the tangled sheets around his waist, he was wearing the same boxers he had fallen asleep in.
With a trembling hand, the team leader reached up to cup the right side of Downs's face. Feeling her skin against his to confirm that he was no longer dreaming, his guard fell apart and he latched onto her. As he cried against her shoulder, the weapons expert's own eyes misted over in her heartbreak over how distraught he was.
"I blank you, too," Chang managed once he was able to catch his breath. Easing at last, he sighed against her collarbone. Closing his eyes, he murmured, "Promise you won't ever leave me."
A stray tear ran down Anna's cheek as she smiled sadly. For a long time, she had always felt that sentiment from Wufei. But actually hearing his desperate plea, the redhead fell all the deeper for him even after she had thought she couldn't possible love him more than she already did.
Squeezing him, she vowed fervently, "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
The last of his worries dissipating, Wolf let out another sigh and gladly welcomed the kiss that fell on his lips when he began to lean back.
Reassured at having the weight of the head resting on his chest, Wufei released the demons that he continued to harbor for the remainder of the night and was lulled back into a dreamless sleep.
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