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"House of Cards"Written By: t-shirt Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters are
copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
I make no money with this fic. Rating: R Warnings: Fluff, mention of lemon, Cannon, Get
together fic. Pairings: 1x2 Summary: Duo is building a house of cards and explains to Heero how they are similar to to real life situations. "House of Cards" It was the absurdity of the notion that caught my eye. I have seen Duo do many strange things in order to pass the time but I’d never known him to fall back on the mind numbingly inane. I know for a fact that his laptop contains any number of sports, adventure and brain teaser games because I have personally installed quite a few of them for him myself. However, this only made the fact that he’d forsaken the excitement of slashing blades and supped up monster machines for a simple deck of cards that much more difficult to comprehend. “Duo?” “Hn?” I watched in puzzlement and inwardly gaped at the bewildering occurrence as he had not only chosen a stack of paper cards as entertainment but he wasn’t even playing a suitable game with them. “What… are you doing?” It is not my habit to inquire after the intentions of others, at least not unless I have some feasible reason to be interested in their business but he had once again intrigued me with something I just couldn’t figure out without questions. “You’ve never built a house of cards before?” he grinned and I felt my face flush uncomfortably. “No,” was my short reply but it did little to dissuade the grin. “It’s easy…” he began and I knew he was baiting me but couldn’t stop myself from responding. “I know how it’s done,” I cut him off ignoring the spreading of the smile. “But I can’t figure out why you would want to do it.” “Just passing time,” he replied as if that were enough explanation but I wasn’t buying it. “Have you finished level nine on Crankshaft II yet?” “……..nnnnope,” he finally replied having taken a moment to place the next card on the foundation of his house. I will admit it was annoying but I was intrigued and set my work aside. “How many tiers can you get out of one deck?” He scooted over with an enthusiastic grin when I slipped off the couch to join him in sitting on the floor by the coffee table. “I don’t know,” he chuckled splitting the deck to hand me a stack. “But I suppose it depends on how wide you make the base.” “A wider base would be more stable,” I nodded applying the next cards in the sequence he’d been using. “Wait,” he said indicating I’d done something out of order. “Take them off the top of the stack.” “Why?” “They’re in order.” What order he thought there should be to build a house of cards was beyond me but I obliged trading the ones I had set for the top two on my stack. This pleased him which always makes me feel as if I need to take a breath so I settled in beside him and we began to build. Oddly, I discovered after a very short time that the activity was not only relaxing but quite interesting. We are, for the most part, better equipped to deal with such a task having faced some of the toughest training known to man so the tiers rose quickly. Too quickly for my liking and before I realized it we were nearing the top of the tower. He’d calculated perfectly how many cards it would take on the bottom layer to assure that the house rose in a steady pyramid ending with exactly two cards in a point at the top. It wasn’t until he held out the Queen of hearts that I understood why I was left with the King of hearts in hand. However… “Why hearts?” I had to ask. “Isn’t spades the highest suit?” His smile was soft as we raised the cards to meet one on either side of the tower and I couldn’t really explain why but my heart fluttered when he simply replied, “That all depends on what you’re trying to build.” The smile faltered when his eyes met mine though I wasn’t sure if it was because of something he was thinking or the expression on my face because my mind was suddenly swimming with so many questions I couldn’t make sense of them all. I felt badly because I think my anxiety frightened him in some way and he was suddenly moving off toward the bedroom he’d chosen in our little hide-a-way. “Duo?” “I’m going to catch a quick shower,” he replied not looking back so it startled him when my hand grasped his arm. His eyes sparkled with such confusion when I caught his gaze and for an instant I wasn’t at all sure why I’d gone after him then it hit me like a tidal wave. “Cards,” I gasped softly hoping the rest would come clear as he gazed wondrously into my eyes. “They fall so easily.” Visions of war and duty flashed in my mind, long days and nights following a road none of us were willing to abandon, loneliness, despair...longing… For a moment I was confronted with something I had never truly felt before. Indecision is a debilitating emotion that I hope to avoid in the future but I couldn’t bring my heart to decide what was the next course of action then he smiled and it all just sort of melted away. “Yes,” he sighed granting my unspoken wish by stepping into my arms and wrapping me up tight. There was no thought in my mind at that point other than holding him to me. The relief simply holding him brought to my weary soul was so remarkable I felt our bodies rocking to and fro as I buried my nose in his shoulder and soaked in the tender care only he could provide. We stood that way for a time and he just let me hold him until I suddenly realized he wasn’t breathing properly and released my grasp. “But you know?” he smiled holding his place within the circle of my arms which were more than happy to welcome him. “Even if they fall,” he said turning dark violet eyes to meet mine and I was utterly enchanted the moment our gazed met, “All the pieces will still be there.” “We could build it again,” I whispered pulling him closer. “Yes,” he agreed and I knew by the slow closing of his eyes that our world would never be the same as I gave into the rising need and laid my mouth against his. He welcomed me without question accepting my passion and returning it tenfold. I had never known such an overwhelming emotion, it encompassed me, surrounding and penetrating the two of us until we were lost in that heady purple haze I’d heard tell of. He proved its existence several times that night but it wasn’t until we lay exhausted in dampened sheets that my mind cleared enough of the heat that I realized something. “The core,” I smiled brushing a stray strand of moist bangs from his lazy eyes. “It was all hearts.” “As sturdy a center as anyone could hope for,” he sighed burying his head in my chest. I grinned and pulled him close knowing full well he was smiling as he listened to the steadily increasing beat of my heart. Our lives don’t leave much room for certainty but of one thing I am sure, no matter how many times they knock us down, we’ll pick up the pieces and rebuild it together. owari :)
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