The Way the World Ends.
It was a Saturday night and Heero Yuy was alone. This was not a normal occurrence as one might presume. No, most of Heero's Saturday nights were spent in the arms of a man called Duo Maxwell. His husband. They fought and loved and lived with passion; Duo doing what came naturally, Heero making up for lost time. They had married on the second anniversary of the wars end and bought a small house in the nicer end of L2. Duo ran his scrap yard with Hilde. Heero helped to manage the Preventers, though he did occasionally participate in field work when he became too restless. They had jobs which they enjoyed, a place of their own and everything in the world felt right and good.
It was a Saturday night and Heero Yuy was alone. A rare occurrence. In fact it was the first time in three months. The last occasion had been work-related. Heero had been called to Earth for a summit with other Preventer top-dogs. He had wanted his husband to come along but the meeting ran Thursday to Sunday and Duo needed to work. So Heero went and Duo stayed and worked and spent some quality time with his business partner. They had made up for it every weekend since. Nights out and nights in but always in each others arms every Saturday night.
It was a Saturday night and Heero Yuy was alone. This was not a normal occurrence. This was not work related. The day before Duo's business partner had turned up to talk to him. The two of them disappeared for a while. When Duo returned he had been pale and quiet. Heero didn't ask, Duo didn't tell. For hours they made love in the bed they had shared for three years. And then, on a normal Saturday afternoon, Duo Maxwell asked his husband for a divorce.
They calmly sat and sipped on tea as Duo explained that three months ago he and his business partner went out for drinks and dancing. He had woken up naked and next to her in the bed he usually shared with his husband. Neither could remember much and they agreed to forget what they could. Only she had dropped by the afternoon before to tell Duo something. She came to tell him that she was pregnant and that the baby was definitly his. She came to tell him that she was alone and frightened and to ask what she should do. Should she keep it? Did she want it? Could she raise a child alone? That she was about to have a nervous breakdown.
Duo Maxwell decided to do the honourable thing, if honour it can be called in this situation, he proposed marriage. After much spluttering and protestation, she said "yes".
Duo explained that he had always wanted a child. That had always been a worry in the back of his mind ever since he first married Heero. He couldn't let Hilde struggle to raise a child alone, that he didn't want her to raise their child alone. That he wanted to be "Daddy" and be there at breakfast and bedtime and to have a family. Because that was the difference: Heero was partner, lover, husband; Hilde and child would be Family. And that was something Heero could never provide. So Duo was sorry because Heero was his husband and he loved him and he was so sorry that it had to end like this. But Heero could see that Duo's "sorry" was followed by "not really" because he would love the baby and learn to love Hilde, so it might hurt for now, but not for long. Oh and by the way, Duo would need the house to be sold so that he and wife and child can buy a nice new house with a big green lawn.
It was not long before Duo was moving towards the door and Heero was feeling desperate impulses to just stop him from leaving, even through his shock. Duo was standing in front of him, though Heero didn't remember standing, with tears in his eyes and voice catching as he said:
"I'm sorry Hee-chan, it was a mistake. I never meant to hurt you but I have to do this . . . I want to do this," though Heero thought that the tears which had just breached the damn suggested otherwise. "I want you to be happy; I want you to move on. You're amazing and I love you and I'm so, so sorry," Heero fought to force words past the blockage in his throat and failed. He couldn't even feel the tears which were steadily streaking down his own cheeks. "Oh God, don't cry Baby, please . . . This is too hard, I-I have to go. I have to go,"
Duo turned and walked away, hand reaching out to open the front door. His foot hit the concrete of the pavement before Heero managed to finally speak.
"Don't leave me,"
Duo paused for a moment and Heero's heart made an illogically elated jump, but he had celebrated too soon. The moment had passed and Duo was gone, the front door closing with a quiet click. Heero stood there for a few minutes just staring at the closed door, a quiet sarcastic part of him noticing that none of his windows seemed to be open either. It was too sudden to be real, he decided. He could not possibly have been happily married an hour ago and all but divorced now. Marriages decayed slowly, people grew apart, they grew distant. He and Duo had been as close as ever and would still be, but for one Saturday night three months ago. Heero walked over to the bookcase which stood proudly in the living room and picked up the photo of his wedding day. Duo would need to buy a new tuxedo, he had filled out, muscle wise, in the last three years and Heero doubted the old one would fit anymore. He wondered if Hilde would wear white at the wedding. That was a funny thought. What came out of Heero's mouth was not laughter, but the noise of an animal which has been mortally wounded.
He broke down then. Collapsed to the floor. Arms wrapped around his chest as he fought to breathe.
Before he knew it Saturday afternoon had turned into Saturday night and Heero Yuy was alone.
"This is the way the world ends/ Not with a bang, but a whimper." – T. S. Elliot
Fin?