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"Wish Upon a Star "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, AU Pairings: 3x4 Summary: When you wish upon a star, it makes no
difference who you are, unless you're the heir to the Winner business
empire. So when you do find a means of escape, how long can you hold
on to the fantasy, and the man of your dreams, before reality takes
over? "Wish Upon a Star " Love, Actually. Something had changed between them; Duo realised it as soon as he saw them come back into the shop. Cat looked like Trowa had dragged him around – and into – Lake Nova by the hair, his lovely clothes covered in mud but he obviously didn't give a damn. He was glowing like a Christmas candle and clinging to Trowa's hand, taking the occasional skip to keep up with Trowa's longer stride. That was it then, by the looks of it. Love, actually. Trowa, to anyone who didn't know him really, really well, would have looked his usual guarded self. But he had that achingly tender expression in his eyes that usually got let out of the box only for kids and kittens, coupled with an odd gleam that suggested he'd love to lick up his companion like so much blond candyfloss. Cat had somehow taken the leap from waif-and-straydom into boyfriend-land in a frighteningly short time. Lover-land, actually, from the way they were looking at each other. That hurt, just a little bit. Two years ago, in the course of an excrutiating episode when Duo had drunk more than usual, and come on to Trowa, his friend had told him that he kept friends and lovers separate and that he valued friendship far more highly. Hilde always said there was no point remembering the names of his boyfriends. On the rare occasions when Trowa introduced them, you never got to meet them a second time. Duo looked up from the counter with a resolute, just slightly rigid smile, and greeted them both. It looked like this 'boyfriend' was going to be sticking around. Trowa, seeing the stranger seated beside his niece, immediately did the whole alpha-male, territorial thing, the hair on his arms practically standing up, and Duo introduced him quickly. 'Heero. Good to meet you.' Tro's expression relaxed slightly, as he moved forward to shake Heero's hand. Of course, Ellie had to chip in at that point, mentioning the flowers and Duo's 'new boyfriend'. Duo loved the kid like she was his niece, but he still wanted to murder her sometimes. The minute Trowa heard that Zechs was back in the picture, Cat and Heero were despatched upstairs. Here it came…Trowa tended to be on the protective side where his friends were concerned. The fact that he'd saved Duo once from the sort of situation Cat had been in hadn't helped. Any prospective boyfriends got interrogated and cross-questioned as to their intentions. It was kind of sweet when it wasn't annoying as hell. They'd had a stand-up row about it once; Duo yelling that Trowa mightn't want Duo for himself but he didn't want anyone else to have him either, and Tro had just hugged him, and said everyone needed to someone to look out for them. 'Ellie,' Trowa said, not taking his eyes off the flowers and using the voice people tended to obey. 'Stock room. Now. I need to talk to Duo.' Those green eyes swivelled around to pin Duo in place. 'You're going out with him again. Are you sure?' Duo shrugged. 'Why not? He's gorgeous and rich and he seems pretty keen on me. Why would I not want to go out with someone like that?' 'This morning, you didn't seem to like him very much. And I don't really see him as being your type.' 'It's just a date, Tro. Come on. It's not like I'm asking him to move in with me or something.' 'Point taken. OK.' Trowa reached out and tweaked the end of Duo's braid. 'I just don't want you getting hurt. And he's got something of a reputation.' 'And he's out of my league, right?' 'Positively not,' Trowa said firmly. 'But I think you may be a little out of your depth. Just be careful, all right? After all, he is one of the most gifted photographers in Sanque. I admire his work and I'd hate to have to kill him.' Duo blushed slightly. 'What's the story with you and Cat, then? I wouldn't like to have to kill him either. He seems nice enough.' 'He is.' Trowa's high cheekbones stained, very slightly, with colour. 'And it's hardly the same, is it? Cat's a sweet guy on holiday. Zechs is practically a celebrity. Duo; if you go out with him, you'll probably end up with your photograph is some gossip magazine, and sleazy journalists speculating all about your relationship and trying to ask you questions.' His gaze dropped back to the flowers. 'I've had all that before. Seriously, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.' 'Like I said, it's just a date, Tro,' Duo said quietly, and then took advantage of a hugely rare Barton-off-balance moment. Not really fair, but he wanted to know just what was going on, and Wufei always said you should exploit every opportunity. 'What is it with you guys? Love at first sight? The soulmate thing?' He'd been only half-serious, trying to get Tro to open up, and his friend nodded. 'God, Duo, I don't know what it is. Sometimes, it feels like I've known him for ever, and then he says or does something, and surprises the hell out of me. And I can't stop thinking about him.' Wow. Trowa cleared his throat; Duo doubted he'd meant to say all that. Trowa Barton, on a normal day, could give correspondence classes to clams. 'I though we'd go out for dinner to Sweeper's, once Cathy collects Ellie. I can't be bothered cooking. Want to come along?' 'Tro, you don't want me tagging along on your dinner date.' Trowa grinned. 'Cat's already asked Heero.' 'Oh, I get it. I entertain him and you get to devote yourself to Blondie? Smoooth.' 'You could ring Zechs and ask him along if you wanted.' 'Uh, no. That's OK. He probably already has plans.' Duo shook his head, looking at the flowers, and trying to imagine Zechs seated at one of the little booths in Howard's restaurant. He had a good imagination but it boggled at that particular prospect. The man would be so out of place it wasn't funny. He'd probably have a coronary if presented with paper napkins or a laminated menu. 'But I can tag along.' It was actually a little bit hard to imagine Cat, with his designer outfits, in a place like that either, but he obviously loved it, gazing around like he'd never been in a diner-style place before, and exclaiming happily over the candles in wine bottles, and the murals Duo had painted. Duo caught him and Heero exchanging delighted, conspiratorial little glances, which was cute but kind of weird. It wasn't like they were anywhere all that special. He'd forgotten it would be Hilde's shift. Big mistake. She took one look at the two strangers, whisked the party into Duo and Trowa's usual booth, rattled off the specials, took the orders, and dragged Duo off to interrogate him. 'Who are those guys? Have you and Tro found some mail order hot guy site on the net or what?' Duo laughed, leaning against the counter and waving at Howard behind the counter. 'The blond guy's one of Trowa's strays. Cat.' Hilde's eyes widened. 'Wow. They're making strays in Armani these days? He's adorable. And the dark guy; is he a stray too? 'Cause I'd be happy to take him home with me. Not, I guess, that he'd be interested in me. Given that he can't take his eyes off you for one second.' 'Hilde!' Duo forced - forced, damnit - himself not to look over at the others. At Heero, to be exact. 'Don't be stupid.' 'Uh huh, Maxwell. That would be you.' She leaned over and whispered in his ear. 'Get your head out of your ass for two seconds. He's practically drooling.' 'He is not!' Duo whipped his head around and met Heero's blue, blue gaze. OK, he wasn't drooling, per se, but he was looking. 'Told ya!' Hilde crowed happily. 'He seems nice. A better fit for you than Zechs.' 'I don't know why I ever tell you anything,' Duo muttered. He'd sort of meant to keep quiet about that, and then he'd met Hilde getting a coffee on their way to work, and hadn't been able to resist. 'Why is everyone so down on me with Zechs?' Hilde grinned, picking up a menu and fanning Duo's cheeks with it. 'Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're a soppy romantic looking for your one true love, and he's a stud who's been through more men than Trowa. He's always in those gossip columns and he's always with a different guy; models and actors and such. He's so not your type, sweetie.' 'Well, I happen to like him,' Duo said tartly. 'And, oddly enough, he seems to like me too. Even if he is way out of my league. Very strange. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sit with my friends.' 'Duo, hold up.' She grabbed his arm, pulling him back. 'Sorry. I'm sorry, OK? Look, I didn't mean to imply anything like that. But I'm just not sure if he's right for you, and you said you got pissed off the other night when he came on to you. Please don't be mad.' 'Yeah, OK. I know you mean well. It's just that I already got The Talk from Tro, and I am actually capable of running my own life.' Hilde stuck out her tongue. 'It's just because we looooooove you.' 'Whatever,' Duo deadpanned, blowing her a kiss, and sauntering back to the others, while Hilde ran into the back to collect their food. Tro and Heero had apparently hit it off big-time while he'd been away. Great. Trowa had finally found someone who shared his interest in the most esoteric of subjects; they were currently discussing the process for making Damascene steel. Instead of being pissed off that his boyfriend wasn't paying him any attention, Cat just looked happy to see them getting on so well. Another point in his favour; Tro wouldn't want someone who got jealous. Of course, Duo thought a little bit sourly, Cat had nothing but points in his favour. After two days, he obviously had Tro intricately twisted around his pinky. He was cute, classy, smart; everyone thought he was adorable. Problem was, he was pretty damned adorable, Duo decided, watching the blond attempt to eat his burger. The burgers Howard dished up were gargantuan affairs, and Cat was trying to tackle his with a knife and fork. It wasn't going well. 'You know, the easiest thing is just to use your hands.' Duo demonstrated and Cat carefully copied him. 'This is really good.' Cat said gratefully, his tongue flickering out to lick up a smear of ketchup. 'Thank you.' 'Not used to fast food?' Duo asked quizzically. 'Not really,' the blond admitted. 'I don't think we have any places like this on L4. I like it a lot.' 'Yeah, it's cool.' Duo took a slurp of his milkshake and glanced over at Tro; he and Heero were apparently talking about Damascene steel. 'So how long are you planning to keep up this double act?' 'What?' Cat's burger suddenly plummeted from his fingers. 'I – I don't know what you're talking about.' 'I'm from L2, in case you didn't get the accent,' Duo said quietly. 'I know what it's like to be gay on some of the colonies. I just wondered what all this means to you. Is it just a quick fling while you're on in a nice liberal country, and you're allowed to be with a guy, and then you'll head back home and forget all about him?' 'It's more than that,' Cat whispered, abruptly looking very lost. 'I really like him, Duo. But I – I'm not sure what's going to happen. My family, well, they'd be furious and I …I just don't know what's going to happen. I'm sorry.' 'Hey,' Duo reached out and ruffled that carefully tousled blond hair. Damn. One look into those massive blue eyes, and he was as lost as everyone else seemed to be. 'I didn't mean to upset you, honestly. It's just that he's my friend, you know? I don't want him falling for someone, and he's seriously fallen for you, who's just going to break his heart.' 'I've fallen for him too.' Cat's fingers were pleating the tablecloth nervously, but he kept his eyes on Duo's face. 'I'd hate to hurt him, more than anything.' 'Then I'm sure you'll sort something out.' Duo tried to sound more positive than he felt. Oh, well, he'd seen the way those two looked at each other; maybe they would. 'Now, eat your burger before it gets cold.' The blond obediently took a massive bite and got ketchup all over his face. 'You're so messy,' Trowa scolded affectionately, picking up a napkin to wipe it off and then leaning in to give him a quick kiss on the lips. Cat stiffened for a moment, and then just melted into Trowa's arms. Very cute. Very hot actually. And very out of character for Trowa; he never did stuff like that in public. Judging by the look of surprise on Heero's face, it was something out of the ordinary for Cat too. What the hell? Trowa was nuts about the guy, Cat seemed to return the feeling in spades so he might as well start making friends with the blond. He was obviously going to be in the picture for a while. Not that he had much of a chance to talk to the blond for the rest of the meal; Trowa devoted himself to his pretty kitty cat, which left Duo to entertain Heero. For someone who didn't actually say very much, Heero was pretty easy to talk to. He got Duo's jokes, and asked sensible questions and had a rather enjoyable, quirky outlook on things. 'OK,' Trowa said when they'd finished and called for the bill. 'What next? Do you guys want to go and get a drink somewhere, or come back and watch this Narnia film?' 'I'd love to watch the film.' Quatre raised meltingly adoring eyes to Trowa's face. 'I mean, if nobody else wants to do anything different.' 'Film it is,' Trowa said promptly, looking at Heero and Duo, but not giving them the ghost of a chance to express any opposing opinions. 'You want to come and see it?' Duo burst out laughing. 'You'd probably kill us if we said yes, so I'm going to bail and head home. Heero?' 'I'd rather not be killed either,' Heero smiled at him. 'Do you have a car? Or can I drive you home? ' Duo shook his head. 'You don't have to do that. You must be exhausted after all flying all the way from L4.' 'I've got my second wind. It's no problem.' 'No, really. I can get a tram. It only takes twenty minutes or so.' 'I'd like to. I love driving at night.' 'Oh. OK then. If you really don't mind. But it's probably taking you out of your way and all and I…' 'Ahem.' Trowa cleared his throat loudly. Both he and Cat had their jackets on, and the blond was grinning all over his face. 'Cat and I are heading off now. I'm sure we'll see you at some point tomorrow. Don't forget, Howard closes at ten thirty, so you might want to have reached some sort of decision by then. Although I suppose you could just stand outside all night.' 'Asshole,' Duo muttered, watching the two of them leave, Cat laughing softly. Shit, even Hilde and Howard were in on the act, the girl mouthing 'go for it' and Howard pretending to shoo them both outside. 'Absolutely.' Heero shoved all that sexily messy hair off his forehead with one hand and grinned. 'Let me take you home, Duo. Please.' And Duo caved; he didn't know why he'd been so reluctant, really. Heero was a nice guy. That was the problem, wasn't it? He liked Heero but he had a boyfriend. Still, one car ride wouldn't hurt. Duo whistled at the shiny, black Lexus. 'Sweet car.' 'Isn't she?' Heero ran one hand along the paintwork. 'I got an upgrade from the car-hire company. Would you like to drive?' 'For real?' 'If you like.' Heero handed him the keys. 'It'll save you having to give me directions to where you live. Oh, do you want to go and collect your flowers before we head off?' 'Uh, that's OK. It'd take ages to open up the shop and turn off the alarm, and anyway, I spend more time here than at home, really.' Duo slid on his seatbelt and pulled out. Sweet, sweet car. He sometimes borrowed Trowa's but you couldn't compare Tro's third-hand, ten-year-old model with this baby. 'So how long have you known Trowa?' Oh, right. That was what this was all about; Heero wanted more info on the guy his friend was dating. Duo jerked his heart – which had unaccountably plummeted south – back to its usual place. Stupid of him to think otherwise. After all, he'd even told Heero he had a boyfriend. 'Four years. More or less.' 'Since you got to Sanque then?' Duo nodded, rather impressed that Heero had remembered. 'I met him after I'd been here a few months. I was drawing a picture on the pavement outside Wish, and he came out and started talking. A few weeks later, I kind of got into some trouble one night, the sort of thing that happened to Cat, you know, and Tro bailed me out. I mean, not that I needed help or anything, I can look after myself, but it was nice of him to help.' He stopped at a traffic light and turned to look at his passenger. 'He's a good guy. He won't do anything to hurt Cat. So how long have you two been friends?' 'Six years. I had a summer job in his father's company the year I left school. Quatre – Cat, had a problem with his computer and I fixed it. In the process, we got talking and realised he had a rather a lot in common. We've been close friends since then. He's a wonderful person.' 'Yeah. I did wonder if he was on the level at first. You know, if he'd made up this whole stolen wallet story so he could sponge off Trowa for a bit.' Heero gave a snort of laughter. 'You don't need to worry about that. I can promise you, he's not interested in Trowa for money.' 'I believe you. He's loaded, right? All those designer clothes he wears.' 'His family is wealthy,' Heero said neutrally. 'So, tell me, is Trowa likely to try, ah, sponging off him?' 'Trowa?' It was Duo's turn to laugh. 'Hell, no. I've never met anyone less interested in that stuff. Seriously, he wouldn't know Armani if it bit him in the butt.' He gave Heero a sly little grin. 'I swear, he's not interested in Cat's clothes, just what's under them.' Heero, endearingly, blushed. Very sweet. 'Duo, do we have to talk about them all the way to your home?' 'You started it,' Duo retorted. 'I thought that was why you'd offered me a lift in the first place; to grill me about Trowa.' 'I wanted to talk to you.'
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