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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 " Freudian Slips: Zechs. Zechs. Zechs. Zechs. It had become something of a mantra for Duo, repeated over and over in his mind. He had a boyfriend and his boyfriend was called Zechs. Not Heero. Zechs. Heero. Shit. Zechs. Shit, shit, shit. He couldn't believe he'd made that little slip in front of Cat earlier. Luckily, the poor guy had been far too wound up about Trowa to pay any attention. Actually, he'd been so worried that Duo could have probably had sex with Heero on the shop counter and he wouldn't have noticed. Gah! He could have had sex with Zechs, Zechs, ZECHS on the shop counter and Cat wouldn't have noticed. Poor guy. Duo sincerely hoped that Trowa was taking the news well. After all, it wasn't like Cat was a serial killer, or married, or something. Some guys would be thrilled to bits to find their boyfriend came from one of the wealthiest families in the universe. Tro would probably blow his top. Still, the cute blond seemed pretty good at getting 'round him, and Trowa wasn't a stupid guy. He'd rant and rave for a bit about being lied to, and how honesty was the most important part of a relationship, and then Cat would give him one of those anguished looks from his big blue eyes, and Tro would melt. At least, he'd better, or Duo would kick his ass for him, because Cat was a sweetheart, and it was good to see Tro emotionally involved with someone. Even if it had hurt like hell at the start. But it was better now. After all, Duo had a boyfriend of his own, called ZECHS. It was time to move on. He still didn't know where that Heero had come from. He'd met the guy twice, and while he was very nice and everything, it was obvious that nothing would ever happen between them. He didn't know for sure if Heero was gay. And he didn't even live on the same planet, and would presumably be going to back to space soon. He might never even get to see him again. Well, no that probably wasn't true. He was Cat's friend and it looked like Cat would be sticking around. Fingers crossed. Anyway. It was a quiet morning; weekdays usually were. There were a couple of older ladies browsing through the shelves, looking for gifts for grandchildren, and a mother with two cute little twin girls who came in all the time. No one needed any assistance, which left far too much time to think about stuff. Zechs was pretty damn perfect, when you got down to it. Duo bent quickly under the counter to hide a sudden, wicked grin that had no place in a kids' bookshop. He'd got down to it last night, no question. Zechs was attractive and sexy and attentive and generous and really seemed to be into him. Sure, there'd been a couple of teething problems the previous night, but they'd settled them and ended up having a great time. Zechs had been a total gentleman, not pressuring Duo in the least to do anything, and because of that, he'd ended up hopping into bed with the blond. Well, that and the fact that Zechs was gorgeous and Duo was a healthy young gay man with all his faculties intact who hadn't been with anyone for a while, and who the hell was going to turn down a handsome prince, for God's sake? They hadn't done IT actually, but they'd done a whole lot of other stuff, some of which Duo had thought was only ever done in porn flicks, but apparently could be done in real life too. Shazam! So he had the perfect partner, and they'd had the most perfect night of sex, which was why he was alternatively yawning, and finding himself with a huge shit-eating smile on his face, and then circling back to the Heero comment. Gah. It was logical enough. Heero was Cat's friend; he'd been talking to Cat. Except Zechs was also Cat's friend, but he'd really seen them together once for about two seconds, so he associated Cat with Heero and not Zechs and… Ooh. Customer. Duo commented politely on the elderly lady's choice, and let her talk about her seven year old grandson, who was into dinosaurs and football, and suggested a couple of other titles a kid like that might enjoy. He loved this part of his job. Zechs might have said that he was just a shop assistant, but it wasn't true. He loved getting to talk books, especially to kids, imagining them going home and reading the book he'd recommended in bed, or maybe having a parent or older sibling read to them. He'd always imagined having a childhood like that, growing up. It was nice that in some small way he was helping other kids to have it. The next customer wasn't a customer at all, but a giant flower arrangement on legs. Well, that was what it looked like at first. Duo got the delivery guy to put it on the floor beside the counter and then had to listen to his female customers gushing about how imaginative and exotic and unusual it was, and tease him gently about how it was about time he had 'someone special' in his life. That was one of the cool things about living in a very liberal country. Everyone knew he and Trowa were gay and no one cared. Sometimes, regular customers got a bit too nosy, actually. The flowers were certainly…exotic. They weren't even flowers, most of them. There were twigs bent into all kinds of weird shapes, and spray painted, and leaves and a couple of flowers that looked like they came from an alien world and a few …seed pod things that looked like they might actually have aliens living inside them. Duo couldn't imagine them in his apartment. He wasn't really sure at which point you could tell your boyfriend you didn't really like those sorts of showy arrangements. Zechs obviously did; he'd had a similar display on his hall table. Zechs called as Duo was hefting the thing –which weighed a ton – over to the coffee table by the window, the counter being occupied by the first arrangement Zechs had sent him. He was really going to have to find somewhere to keep them. 'Good morning.' 'Hey. I just got the flowers. Thank you! They're really…um, unusual.' 'But not quite to your taste?' 'Not really. I'm sure they're really fashionable and the cutting edge of floral design and all, but they're not really me. I'm sorry.' Zechs just laughed. 'Don't be. I love the fact that you're so unsophisticated. Tell me, darling, what sort of flowers do you like?' Darling. Wow. No one had ever said that before. And was it a good or bad thing to be unsophisticated? Duo supposed he was, compared to Zechs anyway, but it was just who he was. And he'd said love. Actually used the L word. 'I like wild sorts of flowers, like you see in the countryside. Bluebells and cherry blossoms and things. And roses are nice. Tro hates them, though, so you maybe shouldn't send any to the shop.' 'Roses.' Zechs groaned. 'They're such a cliché.' 'I like the smell. Zechs, you don't have to keep sending me flowers, you know.' 'But I happen to like giving you things. There are some things I like giving you very much indeed. As you may possibly have noticed.' Duo blushed. He'd been given the blow job to end all blow jobs that morning, before he'd even been fully awake. 'You didn't get into trouble for being late this morning, did you? If so, I hope you told Trowa that it was all my fault.' 'No, it was fine. It was only a few minutes and Tro's not that kind of boss anyway.' 'I'm glad to hear it. Duo, I'm going to have to go; I'm in the middle of a shoot. Will you have dinner with me tonight?' 'Sure. That'd be great.' 'Good. I know a lovely little seafood restaurant by the harbour. Ah, you do eat fish, don't you? Once it's cooked?' 'Fish is fine,' Duo said, laughing. 'Once it's not flapping about on my plate.' 'Excellent. When do you finish work? I can pick up at the shop or at home.' 'Here's fine. And we close at six tonight.' 'Perfect. I'll make the reservations now. I can drop you home first if you want to collect anything.' 'Now, why would I need to do that?' Duo teased, smiling into the phone. 'Well, now.' He could hear the answering smile in Zechs' voice. 'I thought we might go to a club after dinner. And then you might decide you'd like to come home with me? So it might save time if you brought some clothes with you, rather than me having to take you to your apartment before work again. Does any of that sound like a possibility?' 'I suppose it's just about possible. Although it's my day off tomorrow, so I won't have to rush off.' Duo could feel his smile getting broader and broader; it would be fun to wake up in bed with Zechs without having to worry about being in time for work. 'Excellent. In that case, I'll see if I can take the day off as well, and we can spend it together. Would you like that?' 'I'd love it. Totally.' 'All right then. I'll see you at six. Let's see, I'll make a reservation for seven and I'll have time to drop you home to collect your toothbrush. You'll want to get changed for dinner anyway, won't you? I loved what you were wearing last night. Red is absolutely perfect on you.' He laughed. 'Of course, I loved taking it off even more. I've been thinking about that all morning. That and making plans for this evening.' Duo hung up laughing, and then started worrying about clothes. Zechs' idea of a nice little restaurant was probably one with a strict dress code. Damn. If he and Zechs stayed together, he was going to have to invest in a whole new wardrobe. And he couldn't exactly call Cat in the middle of his romantic break and ask to borrow something. He called Hilde instead. 'Hey, Hils! Any chance that you can come over for a few minutes? And bring coffee?' 'Yeah, I was planning to,' Hilde said perkily. 'I can only stay a few minutes though but I've got something to show you. Just give me a sec to tell Howie.' She swung through the door a few minutes later, juggling two coffee cups, a plate of doughnuts and a newspaper. 'Hi! Just wait 'til you see what I've got! You know that paper; Talk of the Town? Duo nodded; it was a gossipy tabloid that Hilde adored. 'Well, you'll never guess who's in it?' 'Shit! Not Cat?' Duo blurted it out without thinking and then wanted to bite his tongue off. 'Cat?' She gaped at him. 'Trowa's Cat? Don't be daft; why'd he be in something like that. He's just a tourist. Now, look!' She flung the paper open and Duo was abruptly looking at himself, with Zechs, in full colour. It was a soppy sort of picture; they were holding hands, Zechs leading Duo down the grand staircase at that party. The text was pretty abysmal too; all about the Prince's new mystery man, and coy comments on them having left the party early. Yuk. 'You're famous!' Hilde grinned. 'I can't believe I actually know someone who's got his picture in the paper! I'm going to buy an extra copy for myself, so you can keep this one. Now, tell me all about your date. Did you meet loads of famous people? Was it amazing?' 'It was pretty cool, yeah. And I went home with him after.' 'Duo, you dog!' Hilde spluttered coffee all over the counter. 'We didn't, you know. But it was really good, what we did. And I'm seeing him tonight.' 'You're really into him then?' 'I think so. I thought you weren't crazy about him.' 'I just didn't think he was your type, that's all. But if he makes you happy, that's all that's important, right? You'll have to ask Cat if he's got any straight friends. That Heero was gorgeous.' She sighed. 'It's not fair; all the cute guys I meet are only interested in each other.' 'He might be straight.' Hilde snorted. More coffee splashed out of her nose on to the counter. 'Duh! He's so gay! I thought gay guys could tell about other guys. He was staring at you all night in Sweepers. He loooves you! He seemed nice. And I thought you liked him too.' 'Yeah, I did. But for all I know he might have gone home by now. He lives on L4 and he has a job; he might have had to go back.' 'Oh, well, you don't need two hot guys in your life! And talking of getting back, I'd better go. I swore I'd only be gone for two minutes. Call me tomorrow, OK?' 'OK.' Duo went to the door and waved her next door. Hilde might think it was super-cool to be in a newspaper; Duo wasn't so sure as all that. Still, with any luck no one else he knew read the thing. Maybe no one would find out. And in the meantime, he had to figure out an acceptable outfit for his dinner date. The phone rang again just as he was mentally going through his wardrobe. 'Hi, Duo. I just wanted to call and let you know everything is fine.' Cat's voice bubbled over the line. 'Trowa and I had a long talk on the way here and we've sorted everything out.' 'That's brilliant!' 'It certainly is. I wanted to thank you for being so nice to me this morning. I took all your advice and it worked! I really owe you.' 'Don't be daft. You just have a great time with Tro. Where is he?' 'Getting something from the car. We just got to the guesthouse a few minutes ago. It's the most perfect place ever!' 'Yeah, I knew you'd really like it. Um, Cat, do you think I could ask you a massive favour? I'm going out with Zechs tonight, to this really fancy restaurant, and I was sort of wondering…' 'Duo, you don't have to ask! Take anything you like! I'll probably never wear half of them anyway. Oh, I'd better go. Trowa's back. Have a wonderful time.' Things got busy after that; lunchtimes were always a bit hectic, with people from the local shops or offices calling in on their break. When things had calmed down a bit, Duo put the 'Back in 10 minutes; ring the bell if you're in a hurry' sign on the door, and headed upstairs to forage in Cat's wardrobe. Zechs had mentioned red, so Duo choose a dark maroon shirt, trousers in heavy charcoal silk and a light, stone-coloured linen jacket. He looked like someone who had a gorgeous, aristocratic boyfriend and got snapped by the paparazzi all the time. Sorted. Sartorial mission successful, Duo had a quick rummage in Trowa's fridge for lunch and ran back downstairs, hoping he'd look OK in this fancy restaurant. Zechs certainly thought he looked OK, at the very least, when he collected him several hours later. 'You look good enough to eat,' he declared, leaning in to kiss Duo on the cheek. 'And I may be very tempted to do that later,' he added, dropping his voice. 'Are you ready?' 'Just give me two minutes. I need to check on Trowa's cats, and close the windows upstairs.' 'Don't be too long. I'm starving.' His tongue traced a delicate outline of Duo's ear. 'Before you go, may I ask you an enormous favour?' 'Sure.' How could refuse favours, of any size whatsoever, when their ear was being so sensuously licked? Besides, Duo had a pretty good idea that this favour would be one he'd enjoy participating in. 'How would you feel if I asked Heero to come to dinner with us? I know it's a date, but he doesn't know anyone in Sanque and it seems rather mean to leave him alone. I promise, I'll make it up to you after dinner.' OK, not the favour he'd imagined. Not at all. It hadn't occurred to him that, although Heero and Zechs were friends of Cat's, they might be friendly with each other too. 'I don't mind a bit! I think it's really nice of you, actually.' 'My perfect Duo,' Zechs murmured. 'I am sorry, but we were talking on the 'phone this afternoon, and he sounded rather lonely.' Zechs' 'little restaurant' turned out to be a converted boathouse and absolutely lovely. There were cut stone walls, and polished wooden floors and a terrace overlooking the sea. 'Like it?' Zechs asked, smiling across the table. 'Good. I've finally got something right. Even if I did invite an extra person along. Now, what wines do you like?' They were discussing the menu – Duo trying not to drool at some of the choices – when Heero walked in, and that was fine. Zechs got a quick hug, Duo got a careful handshake. He hadn't really imagined the two of them getting on, both being so very different, but it was obvious that they were very close friends; teasing each other about being obsessed with cameras and computers respectively. It was fun, and very nice indeed watching Zechs relax and just be himself, instead of going all out to impress and flirt. It would be interesting to see how Cat fit into the mix. That gave Duo a sudden, slightly evil idea. 'Hey, guys, d'you think I could ask you something?' He suddenly found himself the focus of two pairs of very blue eyes. 'It's about Cat, actually.' He stared down at his plate for a second, trying to keep a straight face. 'The thing is, you guys know him well, right? I'm kind of worried about something. Tro's my best friend and he's spent years building up the shop. Cat seems like a really nice guy, and don't be offended 'cause I know he's your friend, but I'm just scared that he's a freeloader who might take advantage or something.' He bit his lip, hard, trying not to laugh at the two faces opposite him. Oh, God, this was way too much fun. 'I don't think you need to worry about that,' Zechs said smoothly, but he'd apparently developed a slight twitch in his right eye. 'Really? Trowa's a sucker for anyone with a hard luck story, and a couple of days ago, he mentioned that he might be lending Cat some money and…' 'He knows,' Heero said flatly. 'Don't you?' Duo nodded. 'That was the most fun ever! My God, your faces!' 'You brat!' Zechs gave his braid a tug. 'When did you find out?' 'A couple of things. I guess the real thing was meeting Wufei at the party and him talking about this missing Winner heir, and thought about this guy from L4 who'd just turned up and didn't like talking about himself. When I got home I googled Quatre Winner and found Cat.' 'Wufei?' Heero's eyes were suddenly on Zechs. 'Your Wufei? You never told me.' 'Chang, yes.' Zechs stood up abruptly. 'Excuse me. I have a couple of calls to make.' 'Ouch.' Duo winced, walking Zechs walk away. 'That's kind of a sore topic with him, right?' 'It is, yes.' Heero's tone was totally bland, but his eyes were fixed on the tall man heading for the door. Oh, shit. Maybe he had a thing for Zechs too. 'Don't worry; it's ancient history,' Heero told him kindly, obviously mistaking the reason for Duo's frown. 'And now he's got you. It's very nice to see you again, by the way.' 'Yeah, me too. I wasn't sure if you were heading back home now that you'd seen Cat or hanging around for a bit. I suppose it makes sense to stay for a while. Since it's your first time in Sanque and you've come so far, you might as well have a bit of a holiday and do touristy stuff, right?' 'I've been here before,' Heero told him. 'I actually know the city fairly well. I've visited Zechs a few times, and I have some very good clients here.' He gave Duo one of those gorgeous smiles. 'I had a short message from Quatre this afternoon; I gather I may be visiting even more in the future, the way things are going for him and Trowa.' 'It's great, isn't it? He sounded on top of the world, when he called me, and he'd been really stressed this morning about telling Tro who he really was.' Heero laughed. 'He's such a drama queen sometimes. I saw the way Trowa looked at him, that night we all went out for dinner. There was no way he was going to turn him down.' 'I know. Looks like it's happy ever after for those two, right? And it's nice that you'll be coming to Sanque. We could maybe hang out sometimes. All of us, I mean, not just us two. And obviously we will since you're a friend of Zechs' and I'm dating him and everything.' Shit. Talk about having diarrhoea of the mouth. A terminal case, obviously. Heero just gave him the most glowing smile. 'I'd really like that. What sort of things do you enjoy doing?' 'I paint, I watch movies and I love music. I'm learning to play the guitar but I'm not very good. And I go cycling a lot. There are some great trails in the hills behind the Botanic Gardens; I go up there on most of my days off.' 'I know that place,' Heero leant forward enthusiastically. 'It's beautiful. If you're interested, we could maybe take a ride together sometime. When is your next day off?' Take a ride. Duo took a deep breath. Duh Maxwell. He didn't mean it anything like that. He's not even gay, probably, despite what Hilde says. And I'm sure he's way too honourable to make a move on his friend's boyfriend. 'Yeah, that'd be cool sometime. Actually, I'm off tomorrow, but I'm spending the day with Zechs.' 'I'm afraid you're not.' Zechs dropped back into his seat, glancing apologetically at Duo. 'I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to work tomorrow. The magazine couldn't find a replacement at such short notice. But I should be finished in time to take you out for dinner.' He took a sip of his wine. 'I have an idea. If you don't have any other plans, maybe you could do something with Heero?' Do something… The images that passed through
his mind made Duo blush and he didn't know how he managed to sound
natural saying, "Uh, sure, we were talking about bike trails."
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