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"Breathless"Written By: Waterliliylf Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. All rights
remain with Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. No profit being
made here. Rating: R Warnings: sap, angst, fluff Pairings: 3x4, 13x2 Summary: Quatre finds himself introduced to an
annoying young man, one he can't seem to get out of his head. "Breathless" Chapter 5: [In which Duo, Treize and Quatre all set out on separate early morning missions…..] 'Darling. Can you wake up a little?' 'Mmmph.' Duo wriggled a little further under the bedclothes, trying to escape from that annoyingly persistent voice. Why couldn't he just be left to sleep in peace? He'd already had one rude awakening at an ungodly early hour; twice in one morning was just too much. 'Duo.' A warm hand found its way under the sheets and squeezed. 'If you don't wake up for me, I'm going to call Laragh and see if you can still sleep with her in the room.' 'Sadist.' Duo rolled onto his back and glared. They'd been dog owners for all of five days, which was more than long enough for him to realise that a playful Irish Wolfhound did not belong in a bedroom. Not in which people were trying to sleep, or otherwise occupy themselves at any rate. 'What d'you want, anyway?' 'Just a small favour.' 'Oh?' Duo's eyes narrowed as he propped himself on to one elbow, hair falling all over his face and wincing slightly as his back protested. 'I think you've had more than enough favours for one morning.' 'Not that sort of favour. Unfortunately.' Treize bent down and swept aside the tangle of gleaming chestnut hair. 'God, you're so beautiful in the morning, love.' 'Only in the morning?' 'Beautiful always. Always. Now, hands behind your head, seraph,' Treize instructed in that raw silk, edged tone which sometimes made Duo want to flip him over and see how he liked being talked to like that - he did, on occasion - and sometimes made him melt into an obedient puddle. There were certain advantages to the puddle; not that Duo was into submission or anything, but every now and then it was kind of nice just to give up control and get pounded into the mattress. Or the desk, or the wall, or the car seat. Duo gasped as he was pressed back down against the pillow, Treize eating at him with hard, biting kisses. 'This might be a good time to discuss a small favour I need, dearest, while you're being so very malleable.' 'Favour?' He blinked confusedly. Treize could always do this to him; could drive every thought out of his head with the slightest touch. Hell, he really just needed to look at Duo, or use a certain tone of voice, and every little Maxwell brain cell was happily migrating south for the Winter. If the phenomenon hadn't been entirely mutual, he might possibly even have resented it. Or possibly not. 'Yeah. Whatever.' Once Treize didn't stop kissing him, he'd do anything. Treize's eyes sparkled as he bit at Duo's lower lip, then pulled away. 'In that case, you'd better get out of bed. I need you to be at the gallery this morning for half past seven.' 'But…' Duo floundered, trying to reconcile what Treize's hands were doing with what he was saying. 'We never open that early.' 'I know, but a friend of Quatre's is interested in one of our paintings. He's only in Sanque for a few days, and has a very full schedule. That's the only time that suits him to view it.' 'What? And you knew about this when exactly? You never told me anything about it.' 'Ah. Yes.' Treize looked a little sheepish; never an expression that suited him. 'I am sorry about that. Quatre asked me on Sunday night, just before he left, while you were saying goodbye to Trowa and I did mean to tell you and then we somehow got distracted. I just remembered this morning, and I've already arranged to visit my aunt so….' 'Treize.' Duo sighed, a sound of pure exasperation. 'I've showed you a dozen times how to use your BlackBerry to set up appointments. It takes two seconds, tops, and you get auto reminders. So we don't have to go through this sort of thing.' Treize picked up Duo's left hand and kissed it, tongue bathing his ring finger. 'I know, darling. But I already have enough people trying to organise my life. I don't need some electronic contraption dictating to me as well.' Violet eyes narrowed. 'We're going to talk about this later tonight. OK? Who is this buddy of Quat's and what painting's he interested in? 'He's just got engaged and wants to buy a painting for his fiancée as an engagement gift. Very wealthy, apparently. According to Quatre, the young lady likes watercolours of a sentimental nature; children playing with flowers and kittens. You should be able to sell him that rather mawkish portrait of the young girl with the basket of puppies.' Duo pulled a face. 'That'd be almost worth having to get up so early for. I hate that thing. I still can't imagine why you bought it.' 'The lady who sold it is an old friend of one of my aunt's, and needed the money. Besides,' Treize added a little self-consciously, 'it is by one of the best known artists of Sanque in the eighteenth century.' 'You know, you're so cute when you try to pretend you're not a total softie. I saw how much you paid for the damn thing; God knows how you ever managed to keep the gallery going without me.' 'All the more reason why you should get a good price for it then.' Treize bent and slid a hand through Duo's hair. 'I'm sure you can charm this person into paying a quite exorbitant amount. From what Quatre says, he can afford it.' 'You want me to schmooze a straight guy who's just got himself engaged? Not sure if I can do that.' 'Oh, I have every faith in you, love. ' Treize bent down and kissed him gently. 'Just don't be too charming, hmm? Remember you have a fiancé of your own at home.' 'Yeah.' Duo brushed a heavy lock of hair out of his eyes and sat up. So much for the idea of a lie in. 'What's this guy's name?' 'I have it written down in my office somewhere. I'm sure you'll be able to find it.' Great. Just great; now he'd have to leave extra-early and rummage around on the mess on Trieze's desk. Duo smiled sweetly. 'Such a shame, really, that you're meeting dear Auntie Sophonisba for breakfast. Or you could remind me of exactly why I want to be with a technophobe who thinks he's living in the sixteenth century or something.' 'Brat. Just wait until I get home. You won't be able to sit down for a week.' 'Dream on,' Duo grumbled. 'I'm going to bed early tonight. To sleep, for once! Besides, if I know you, you'll come home so traumatised you won't be good for anything.' 'The woman terrorised me for years when I was a child!' Treize protested. 'She was always catching me when I was up to mischief, and she had no compunction about using that cane of hers for spankings.' 'Poor baby.' One hand slid out of the sheets, and caressed Treize's rear gently. 'It's an idea, though. Maybe I should start spanking you when I catch you being … naughty.' Treize's breath hitched suddenly, a little more pink in his cheeks than usual. 'I never knew that was one of your kinks. Well, not receiving anyway.' 'Talking of spankings,' Treize delved under the bed and produced a shoe in a sad state of slobbery decay. 'What, precisely, would you call this?' Duo looked at the sad little object, trying desperately hard not to laugh. 'Um, I believe the common name is a shoe.' 'Hand-stitched Moroccan leather,' Treize grated. 'Made especially for me, two years ago, by the finest leather worker in Casablanca. A man who has, regrettably, since died. Your dog has decided to treat it as a plaything and now my favourite pair of footwear is totally ruined.' Duo bit down on his lip. Hard. It would not be good to laugh right now. He'd already realised that Laragh was 'their' dog when she did something cute or clever, and 'his' when she misbehaved.' 'Well, technically, only one shoe is ruined. Not the pair as such. And Trowa says she'll grow out of it soon, once she settles down with us.' 'Oh, you think that I should start hopping around with one shoe on until that happens? I'll be going barefoot soon. I'm sure you'll think that's funny as well.' Duo grinned; he just couldn't help it. 'You do have pretty cute feet. You know, it's sort of a compliment that she only chews your stuff. She must really like your smell. Or maybe she only likes the best quality leather.' 'Perhaps I should buy a pair of plastic sandals then.' Treize made an exasperated little sound, flinging the ruined shoe against the wall. 'We talked about this, my love, remember? You did offer to make reparation for any damage your dog did.' 'Oh, I'll be happy to.' Since neither of them could bring themselves to discipline Laragh, Treize had decided that Duo would be the one to be punished. Not that his idea of 'reparation' remotely resembled a punishment. Duo was seriously hoping his pet would never grow out of her destructive phase, despite what Trowa claimed. Still, he could always put things in her mouth and hope for the best. Or chew the damn things himself. Duo leaned one finger up and traced the flying curve of his partner's eyebrows. Treize always got narky when he was stressed. 'Stop worrying. It'll be fine. Whatever happens, I love you to bits, and we're getting married. OK?' He smoothed the furrow on Treize's forehead. 'I could always come with you, you know. To protect you from little old ladies who don't even come up to your waist.' 'So chivalrous,' the older man groaned. 'Darling, I'd better go. I'll see you later.' 'Call me.' Duo blew him a kiss and propped himself up on the pillows. Shit. To be at the gallery for seven, and give himself enough time to find this guy's name, he would have to leave in fifteen minutes. Not a lot of time to make himself presentable, especially given that Treize had managed to loosen his hair while he was asleep. As usual. Time to move. Laragh was curled in her favourite chair in the hall when he went downstairs, chin resting on the cushioned arm and eyes regarding him mournfully. 'Oh, sweetie. I'm only going to be a couple of hours, max. You'll be fine here by yourself.' She keened softly, a sad little sound that caught Duo's heart. They'd never left her alone in the house before. But, shit, if she damaged anything in the gallery Treize would be furious. He was the most indulgent lover imaginable; which was a fancy way of saying that Duo could get away with almost anything, but there was a line. The gallery was a large part of their livelihood and if Duo's dog did anything remotely to harm that, Duo might as well book two airline tickets to Brazil or somewhere. It wasn't as if Treize was very pro-Laragh at the moment. He hadn't wanted a dog in the first place. Not that he disliked animals, but he didn't think they had enough time to give a pet the proper attention. Laragh whined again, very quietly. 'Shit. OK, come on. But you'd better behave yourself. Got that?' Opening the door to Treize's office twenty minutes later, Duo shivered, just a little, as he always did when his lover wasn't there. The room hadn't changed much since that first night. There was a framed picture of Duo on the desk, and one on the wall of the two of them together. The Persian rug on which they'd first made love now graced their bedroom floor; Treize had been adamant that he didn't want anyone else walking on that. Otherwise, it was pretty much the same. Just one detail; no Treize sitting behind the desk. Duo tried, very hard, not to think about some details of that night. Wrapped around all the shining glory of finding Treize, finding love, finding so much more joy than he'd ever thought was possible, was the thought that none of it would ever have happened if he'd been a few minutes later. He didn't think about that, ever. Just, sometimes, if he was alone in the house at night when Treize was away, or out late, he couldn't help it. It was stupid. Treize was fine, and safe, and the love of Duo's life. Even if he could be as aggravating as hell sometimes. With his refusal to acknowledge any aspects of the 21st century which he disliked, which was most of them; and that bloody aristocratic disdain for the mundanities of life, such as remembering appointments and people's names, and the unshakable certainty that some other less exalted person would take care of such little prosaic details for him. 'I don't know why I let him get away with all this shit, sometimes.' He muttered to Laragh who wagged her tail in agreement. Dogs were great for that; they just listened to whatever you said, however stupid. Five minutes later, he was wondering the same thing even more strongly. Treize did have an appointment book, but interpreting all his abbreviations and hieroglyphics was impossible. Instead, Duo rang Quatre. Unlike his friend, Quat was a morning person. He liked to watch the sun come up, and then make a nice, healthy smoothie and go and do something wholesome before work, like Tai Chi in the park. Maybe he and Trowa weren't all that well suited after all. Trowa had Duo's opinion of sunrises; they were OK to look at just before going to bed after a late night, but that was enough. 'Duo! Good morning!' Quatre was as perky as ever. 'What in the world are you doing up so early?' 'It's not by choice. Bloody Treize was supposed to be showing a painting to some guy you know, and he forgot about it and made other plans, so I got stuck with it. He couldn't even remember the guy's name.' 'Oh dear,' the blond sympathised. 'I'm so sorry. I don't even know him. My sister Amelie knows his fiancée slightly; that's all. I think they just got engaged a week or so ago.' 'Yeah. Quite the coincidence. Quat, I just wanted to get his name.' 'Oh,' Quatre said thoughtfully. 'That's a good question. Let me think; Mel had dinner with them last week, and they were talking about buying a painting. She mentioned that her brother's friend owned an art gallery. I have the names written down at home somewhere. I'll be home in a couple of minutes. Can you wait that long?' 'Sure I can. Where are you? It's only just seven o'clock.' 'I went for a jog down by the river. It was fabulous. I saw three herons and a fox. I love this time of the day!' Duo grimaced. That sort of cheerfulness should be prohibited by law. 'Oh, and I got the morning papers. I saw the announcement!' 'What announcement?' 'The engagement, silly!' That. Treize had mentioned he'd drawn up something, but Duo hadn't really paid much attention. He'd told all his friends, he didn't get the point of wasting money to put it in the papers. But Treize claimed it was traditional so that was that. 'You'll have to have a party now. That's going to be such fun!' Quatre enthused. 'And you'll get lots of presents.' Duo rolled his eyes. 'If we do end up having a party, I'll make sure we have ice-cream and balloons for you. And clowns.' 'Don' t be so mean. You know I'm terrified of clowns! Duo, is everything all right? You don't sound in a very good mood.' Quatre was way too perceptive. 'I'm OK. I'm not crazy about all this fuss, you know, and Treize loves it. I don't get why he's into all this stuff. And I hate that my photo's going to be in all those stupid celebrity pages at the weekend. You know I wasn't exactly respectable before I met Treize. I was damn good at what I did, but the whole point was that no one knew what I looked like. It just makes my skin crawl to see my picture plastered all over the weekend supplements.' 'Pish tosh!' Quatre said it briskly. 'You've been with Treize for over two years now. No one's ever been remotely suspicious about you. You're using that as a convenient excuse because you're nervous about this whole thing.' Way too fucking perceptive, when he dropped that dizzy blond act. 'Yeah. I guess,' Duo said tiredly. Quatre was one of the few people he'd never been able to pretend with. 'Quat, I love the guy to bits. I mean, even when I want to scream at him for being him, I love him. So what's wrong with me? I should be happy, right? I have the most amazing boyfriend in the universe, and he's nuts about me, and wants to spend the rest of his life with me, and I want to be with him too, but I'm still all panicky about this.' 'Nothing's wrong with you. I've had five sisters get married and every one of them almost had a meltdown during the first week of the engagement being announced. It's just how people feel.' 'Shit. What do I do about it? Suppose I was one of your clients, what would I say?' 'I would tell one of my clients to make an appointment. I would tell one of my closest friends that a little nervousness is a good sign. It means you're taking the commitment seriously enough that you realise your life, both your lives, are going to change in some ways. Just accept that it's nothing to be ashamed of, and that you love him, and that it's perfectly normal to have a few little jitters.' His voice warmed; Duo could hear the smile in it; could just imagine him bouncing along the pavement in his trendy sportswear, soaking up the joy of a new day. 'I would also tell my very good, dear friend that he is the sun, moon and stars to his partner. That there is nothing in the universe that his partner wouldn't do to make him happy. That they are the most perfect couple I have ever met, and if I didn't love them both, I would resent them horribly.' 'You're good at this shit, aren't you?' 'Very good.' Duo had to grin; no one could ever accuse Quatre of an excess of modesty. Amazing what growing up in a charmed circle of adoring family and friends did for you. 'And that's another thing; I'm supposed to get Treize an engagement present. What the hell do I get the guy who has everything?' 'You'll think of something.' Quatre's laughter bubbled over again. 'You could just wrap a ribbon around yourself.' 'That's a bit kinky for you, Winner! Anyway, been there, done that. He did like it though.' 'I'll try to think of something. But you know the only thing he really wants is you. Have you talked about engagement rings yet?' 'Sort of,' Duo said glumly. He was so stupid sometimes. He'd told Treize he didn't want to wear a ring, and Treize had accepted that. Then Trowa had made that crack about rocks and ownership, and he'd gone straight off and told Treize that he'd reconsidered and wanted a ring after all. Fucking Trowa. Couldn't keep his nose out of things that were no goddamned business of his. Now he'd probably end up with some gigantic diamond that had been in the Khushrenada family for centuries and he'd be stuck with it for the rest of his stupid life. 'That's sort of why he's not here this morning. He's gone to see his great aunt in Nova to get her blessing on the two of us.' 'Isn't that a little archaic?' Duo sighed. 'You know what Treize is like with all his ancient family traditions. She's the oldest member of his family still alive, and it's customary that he tells her in person. Strictly he should have seen her before putting the announcement in the paper. Anyway, she's got a load of old family jewellery and I think he'll probably end up picking something out of that. I wanted to go with him, but he's secretly terrified she won't take it too well, and God forbid little Duo might have to hear anyone criticising him. The guy is just way too protective for his own good.' 'I think it's sweet,' his friend admitted quietly. 'I know guys aren't supposed to say this, but I'd love someone to take care of me like that. Just for a change.' 'It is kind of nice, sometimes.' It wasn't an admission Duo would have made to anyone else in the universe, not even under torture. 'You know, if you really want that sort of thing, you're going to have to show your vulnerable side a little bit.' Assuming Quatre possessed such a thing. 'You know, you're always the one who sorts out everybody else's lives.' 'I know. It's just that I'd like sometimes, not to have to be…the one who has to make all the decisions.' 'In your dreams,' Duo scoffed. 'You know perfectly well you'd never put up with anyone running your life for you.' Quatre said nothing, which Duo took as agreement. 'Oh, I totally forgot. How did you get on with Trowa last night?' 'All right, I think.' That was weird. Reticence was not one of Quatre R. Winner's outstanding characteristics. He could make losing a glove or missing a train into a Shakespearian tragedy, or spend hours effervescing over a new tea shop he'd discovered. 'Don't worry about it. He's a great guy but he's not always that easy to get on with.' Yeah, wasn't that the truth? 'No, I really liked him. A lot. It was just a bit strange. He's not like anyone I've ever met. And he hasn't called me.' 'Quat. It's only just past seven am.' Duo shook his head at Laragh, reminding himself that Quatre-World wasn't quite like the rest of the universe. 'He's probably still asleep. No everyone gets up at the crack of dawn like you.' 'I suppose. Duo, may I ask you something? Were you two ever involved?' 'Did he say anything?' 'No. I just saw the two of you together on Sunday and I wondered….I'd rather not get involved if he still has some sort of feelings for you.' 'Not an issue,' Duo said crisply. 'He doesn't. Not like you mean. You don't need to worry about that.' 'Oh. All right. Hold on a moment,' Quatre asked him. 'I'm home; I just need to get my key out.' Duo heard the snick of a lock being opened, then a door, then the inevitable sound of Quartre falling over his cat. Shit. Shitshitsthit. No way was Quatre going to leave it at that, and he really wasn't in the mood, right now, to have an in-depth discussion on Trowa. Quatre said something indistinct to the cat, then was back loud and clear. 'Heavens, it's later than I thought. I'm going to have to rush. I have to get ready for a meeting. Now, let's see. I think I put it in my filofax. Here we are! Do you need a 'phone number as well?' 'No. Just the name.' That was it? No interrogation? Weird. Well, knowing Quatre, he wouldn't leave it at that, but still Duo was getting off way lighter than he'd expected. It was all very odd. Quatre would normally postpone saving the world, let alone a mere meeting, for a chance to gossip. And he pretty obviously didn't want to talk about his date with Trowa. Good sign; bad sign? 'Here we go. Heero Yuy. And the girl is Relena Peacecraft.'
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