Title: Three of a kind
Author: Kidishcaresh
Pairing(s): 3x4, 2x5, 1xR
Word count:
Timeline: post wars.
Author notes: This story is credited in a big way to StandingOnTheRoofTops who brainstormed with me until I had the whole layout of the story on paper and could start writing it! I hope she enjoys this first chapter and of course the rest of you do also! Reviews are appreciated and craved very much. Flames will be used as fuel for my family's barbeque. That will be done after I point at you and laugh real maniacally like. Just to warn you hehe.
Summary: They never knew adopting a child would bring them so much trouble.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.
Chapter 1, Ups and downs.
"Duo, it's only been a month you act like you haven't seen them since we went our ways ten years ago." Wufei sighed shaking his head as Duo all but ran to the door.
"Aren't you excited Wufei? I can't wait to tell them about Mei-mei!" Duo said happily. The door opened as Quatre made to let them come in and pulled Duo into a hug.
Wufei smiled and allowed Quatre to do the same to him. He'd long since accepted that this kind of physical contact was as normal to Quatre as his bowing to someone. It'd been one of those things he still found himself surprised over even ten years after the war.
Five years earlier they'd discovered that contrary to popular belief Quatre was the most physical contact orientated of the five of them. If he had to be honest he would've guessed Duo was what with his need to be among people. It'd surprised him when during one of Relena's parties in their honor after the war Duo had merely bowed when greeting people. Relena had asked him why and he'd saved himself an answer by spotting someone else to talk to. Wufei by then knew Duo well enough to know that this meant that the habit had stemmed from his street life past and had quickly made the excuse that he was tired and chose to rest up before the party a bit before dragging Duo off to the library upstairs and confronting him. He'd been revolted to find out that he bowed rather than shaking hands or hugging because the richer side of L2 always claimed that they carried all kinds of diseases from living on the streets and would get other people sick if they made physical contact.
Wufei had been furious by what those rich bastards had done and he immediately decided to show Duo just how much of a lie that was.
"Hey Wufei!" Duo called again Wufei blinked and smiled.
"Sorry lost in thought." he mumbled joining the other two former pilots inside. Heero and Trowa were already seated and waiting for them to join in. Duo sat down on the couch across from Trowa and smiled at the two. Wufei chuckled. Duo was so nervous he'd nearly gotten sick that morning from worrying. That had been another one of those things Wufei had learned over time for all his confidence and brashness Duo was still insecure about the most unusual things.
"So it's been a while. How have you been doing? I heard you two got together at last." Heero said quietly. Duo smiled brightly and nodded.
"Yeah, he finally got me I guess." the braided boy said laughing.
"It wasn't easy I'll tell you." Wufei said shaking his head.
Not easy in deed; he'd eventually hunted Duo down and shook him while screaming at the braided boy that he loved him. The staff at Preventors had a field day with that one. He barely remembered half of what he had screamed at Duo between the continuous mantra of I-love-you's that he repetitively shouted between each sentence until he lost his voice from it. Duo had grasped the side of a nearby desk and stared at the Chinese man breathing heavily from shouting so loud. After what seemed like forever to the Chinese man he finally spoke up.
"Y-you really…you're serious aren't you?" his eyes were wide with shock as he whispered this. Wufei had said yes, but found no sound coming and then nodded vigorously instead and brought out the box with the ring he'd bought as a means of proof of just how serious he was.
"Ah yes, I remember hearing gossip while visiting HQ about Wufei having lost it and practically manhandling Duo until said individual got the point." Heero said shaking his head.
"How have you been doing these last five years?" Quatre asked smoothly switching subjects.
"Good, real good." Duo said excitedly. Wufei shook his head.
"Just tell them." he said smiling as Duo's eyes lit up.
"We're going to adopt! Julie our adoption agent is currently negotiating with the caretakers. If she can get them to agree we'll be the fathers of a sweet little three year old girl. She sent us these pictures of her. Cute isn't she? Her name is Mei-mei." Duo then said happily showing off the pictures of a cute little three year old Asian girl. The other four smiled at this and each congratulated in their own way the happy couple.
The day wore on in a happy comfortable mood. Dinner was in progress and the five were reminiscing about the past and sharing stories when Wufei's phone rang. He left the room a moment to take the call and the mood dampened already as all knew there was only one person who'd call the Chinese man at this hour.
"I have a mission coming up. I'll be gone for most of the evening and probably well into the night if this goes where I dread to think it might." Wufei said when he returned to the room quickly slipping some Chinese food into a small lunchbox and kissing his lover.
"Be careful Wufei. You come back to me alive and in one piece got it?" Duo murmured before kissing back.
"I'll come back you know that. I can't promise I won't have any injuries, but I'll be careful as always." Wufei told the braided man before heading out.
"I don't know how you always manage this Duo. I'm sure I'd go insane if Trowa still went on mission." Quatre sighed as he was doing the dishes and Duo helped him.
"I try not to think about it…if I do I would go insane…it's hard sometimes but…I just keep telling myself he's a big boy…he won't let anyone get the better of him…he promised me that he'd always come back no matter what. Even if he had to stoop as low as to have Sally carry him all the way home, but he'd be coming back to me for sure. At least that's what he told me…and continues to tell me every time I wake from horrible nightmares. There's little I can do. He's doing it for his own reasons…I gotta respect that…He promised though…once the adoption gets through he'll quit. No more dangerous missions. Une's going to give him a position as instructor. In the mean time I try to keep busy so I won't think about it all." Duo said diligently drying the dishes and putting them away.
He was busy on one of the ornate plates used for the Tarragon Chicken when called for them. Quatre and Duo looked at one another and rushed into the living room. Heero had just pried the phone from an unresponsive Trowa's fingers.
"The Lady." he clarified listening closely. Duo's heart fell and his fingers turned ice cold. He knew before Heero even said it and hadn't missed the tremble in Heero's hands.
"An accident happened…the place Wufei and Sally were investigating exploded…" Heero told Duo and Quatre. The ornate plate shattered in a million pieces as Duo turned white as a sheet. 'Don't say it' ran like an endless chant through his mind.
"DUO!" Heero shouted desperately. Shortly after he'd hung up and turn to clarify what had happened he'd seen Quatre trying to get Duo to respond now Trowa had come around from the call.
"Wha?" Duo croaked hoarsely.
"He's not dead Duo! Not dead! Do you hear me? Wufei's alive he'll be alright!" the Japanese man repeated over and over until Duo's eyes showed that the message had finally gotten through.
"H-how, what?" Duo asked as he let Quatre help him into his coat and guide him to the car.
"Some nutjob with a bomb self detonated and blew the entire place to high hell. Wufei and sally were about to leave when this happened, but a large piece of debris almost crushed Sally if Wufei hadn't shoved her….anyway Une isn't entirely sure how or what, but deduced that Wufei must have pushed Sally out the door while trying to go the other way himself so the debris wouldn't crush them. He saved Sally, but...well Une says he's in the medical wing now getting treated by the best doctors they have. He went in fully conscious and aware of what had just happened." Heero explained trying his best to relay the strange message Une had given him based on what little details she herself had.
By the time they reached the hospital Duo was completely calm and chatted with the nurses trying to find out as much as he could. Quatre hovered close to Duo and chatted right along. Finally Sally came over to them. She sported an assortment of cuts and bruises and was very pale.
"Duo! He's going to be alright given his condition. They just told me. I'm so sorry Duo if he hadn't pushed me at the time then…" she said quietly. Duo shook his head and clumsily comforted her.
"It's not your fault Sally. I'm sure that Wufei would say the same thing. He's going to be okay now. He's in the hospital and the doctors will do all they can to fix him right up." Duo said calmly.
"He's taking it better than expected." Quatre said quietly as he stared at his friend.
"He's taking it well yes, but then he's always taken these kinds of things well as soon as he knew the injured person would be alive." Trowa commented quietly. He himself was still recovering from the shock of the call.
"Injured is better than dead; Injuries can be fixed, but dead is permanent. That's what Duo once told me." Heero said as he joined the other two.
"Mister Maxwell and friends?" the doctor asked as he came out of the surgery room.
"That's me, err us." Duo said getting up and nodding when the doctor held out a hand. The doctor dropped it when he realized the boy would not shake it.
"Good, now I'm sure miss Po already informed you about mister Chang's condition so I'll keep it brief." the doctor began.
"She said he'd be okay after surgery not much more about the injury itself. I gathered it must have been pretty nasty for her to not be able to tell us." Duo said calmly. His face was unnervingly pale, but he didn't appear to have any shock symptoms the doctor observed.
"I see. Well then, when mister Chang was found on the scene of the explosion his arm was in bad condition. We did all we could, but the x-ray showed what I had already feared. His hand and the bigger part of his lower arm were crushed to the point where we had no choice but to amputate the parts we couldn't reconstruct. There is still hope, I know of a doctor who specializes in nerve connected bionic limbs. If mister Chang is tested as positively reacting such a limb would be an excellent option for him. It'd take about nine months to recover, but after that he wouldn't even know the limb was fake. " the doctor said handing Duo a card with a name and number.
"I know this guy. He's good, but busy. I heard that his schedule is booked until the end of the year and reservations for years to come are piling up on his desk." Quatre said peering over Duo's shoulder.
"He'll make time." Duo said pulling out his cell-phone and making a call.
"Hey it's me. Remember that favor you owe me from when we first met? I'm cashing it. You know what it's about and we both know how you know. Make that call." with that Duo hung up and turned back to the doctor.
"Can we see him now?" Duo asked flatly. The doctor nodded and showed Duo the way.
The other three lag behind a bit to give Duo some time with his husband.
"He's taking this well…a bit too well if you ask me." Quatre said frowning.
"Drop it Winner. Just accept that it's how Duo is. He just thought his husband died and found that he's alive. He's simply living in the moment like he always has. He can't waste time on what if. Wufei is alive and going to be as good as can be expected given his injury; why dwell on what could have happened any longer? I have to go. Une wants me to investigate how this lunatic even got the chance to cause this." Heero said before walking off.
"It's not just his way of living…there's something more. We just heard Wufei lost half his arm…how can he not be upset about it? I know I am…" Quatre said. Trowa shook his head and wrapped his arms around his lover.
"Don't pry love, if there is more than Duo will tell us when he's ready to do so. Duo grew up on the streets. I'll bet that a missing arm or leg was normal there and Duo saw it enough that it just doesn't bother him now. It's like Heero said. Wufei is still with us even if he's lost his arm. We just have to forget about that bit of information and be thankful he's still with us. Let Duo do his thing. He's good at that.
That's a wrap! Let's hope I can finish this story within this year unlike my only other finished work which took nearly three years to complete. R&R
