Warnings-1+2 sap

Disclaimer-I don't own Gundam Wing. It's funny how quick you get tired of writing that sentence.

1 In God's House

A boy dressed in all black entered through the massive wooden doors of the holy place. Clad in black pants and a black shirt with a white priest's collar, the boy was not a priest, despite his appearance. His violet eyes were shadowed by long chestnut bangs, while a waist-long braid hung at his back.

Raking a hand through his spiky bangs, the young man sighed and looked up at the beautiful golden crucifix that hung behind the altar and tabernacle.

"What am I doing here?" he mumbled.

"Some come here to worship, some come to pray, and some come to simply think."

The braided teenager whirled around at the sound of the voice to see an elderly priest making his way up the aisle.

"Well you can forget the first two, its kind of hard to worship and pray to a God that you don't believe in." The teen said.

"May I ask your name?"

"Duo."

"Well Duo, my name is Father Clark. You say you don't believe in God? Why is that?"

"I just don't see how a 'kind and loving" God can make so many people suffer." Duo said, emphasizing his words.

"I see. Well, as Christ said, we all have to bear our own cross. Some have larger burdens than others do, but if you have faith in God, everything will turn out. Life is a journey to heaven."

Duo grunted. "Well if that's true my cross was one big ass tree. But you can save your sermon for someone whose mind you can change."

"Stubborn one. Anyway, I'm not here to change your views of life, I'm just here to help and guide you."

"What can you possibly help me with? I ain't your average 17-year-old."

The old man chuckled. "I know. You were a Gundam Pilot."

Duo's eyebrows shot up.

Father Clark chuckled once again. "I remember seeing you on the news when you got captured by OZ. Not many boys your age have a yard long braid and wear priest garments. May I ask why you choose to wear such clothes when you don't believe in God?"

"Sentimental value." Duo stated, his hand unconsciously going up to grasp the ever-present cross around his neck. He really didn't want to talk to some guy he hardly knew about his past, but for some reason, he felt he could trust the old man.

"Oh? You knew a priest?"

"…Yea." Duo said after a moment's hesitation. Before he knew it he added, "I knew a priest. His name was Father Maxwell."

This time it was the old priest's eyebrows that went up. "Father Maxwell? Is that how you got your last name?"

"Yea. D-did you know him?" Duo said a little more hopefully than he wanted to.

Fr. Clark smiled. "Yes I did know him. We were in the same church when we were younger before he built the Maxwell church in hopes to build a Christian Community on L2. How did you know him?"

"I was an orphan. He and Sister Helen took me in and were the closest thing to parents I ever had." Duo said, refusing to let the tears he knew were coming show. 'Why am I telling him this? You don't even know this guy. You're really losing it, Maxwell. Not to mention you're talking to yourself.' Duo frowned.

"He was a kind old man wasn't he? Always loved children." Fr. Clark smiled. "Anyway, back to the original problem. Why do you find yourself here my young boy?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't have asked myself before. I was just walking and thinking and I just…found myself in front of this place. This is the first time I have stepped foot in a church since I was 8 years old."

"That's quite a long time, Duo. What were you thinking about?"

Duo leaned up against one of the pews and sighed. "A lot of stuff. Life, death, love, friends, the war."

"Care to say more?"

"Man, you're pretty nosey. You already know more about me than most of my friends." Duo said with a slight smirk. "But I guess it can't hurt. Well, I was just thinking about how I didn't think I would survive the war, and now that I did, what am I gonna do with myself? I mean, I have a job at a scrap yard with my friend Hilde and I have a decent apartment. But…I want more. I can feel my closest friends drifting away. I try to keep in touch with them but when one is a huge business owner, another is a clown in a travelling circus, one is always on top secret missions, and one is harder to find than a needle in a mountain of hay, it's kind of difficult."

The priest briefly looked the other way and looked deep in thought for a moment than said, "What were you thinking about love?"

Duo sighed again. "I'm just another one of those people who are madly in love with someone but to much of a pussy to tell them for fear of rejection and loss of friendship. But I'm afraid without this person, I'm just gonna break apart slowly and eventually just…die."

"Is this girl that Hilde you work with or one of the friends you were saying you were drifting apart from?"

Duo snorted. "Who said it was a girl? And don't even start about how Christianity is against homosexuality 'cause I don't want to hear it."

"I wasn't going to say anything of the sort, and I apologize for my assumption. I myself have no problem with that. Love is love."

"Yea well anyway he's one of the friends I'm 'drifting apart' from." Duo said. "Actually he's staying in my apartment this weekend. He called me up out of nowhere the other day but he probably just wants a place to stay while he does whatever the hell he does."

"How do you know that? Maybe he visited you just for the sake of seeing you again. Maybe he also feels that you are becoming more distant."

"Yeah, well even so it wouldn't solve my major problem. What if I tell him and I lose his friendship? He'll probably be disgusted with me and will never want to speak to me again."

"I'm not going to say that that's not a possibility."

Duo grunted again. "Real comforting, Father."

"But, there's an equal chance that he feels the same, and an equal chance that he may not, but you will still have his friendship. You will never know until you tell this young man how you feel."

"I highly doubt he feels the same. When we talk, his end of the conversation usually consists of 'Hn,' 'Baka,' or 'Shut up Duo.'" Duo chuckled. "He can be very cold to me sometimes, but nevertheless I love the bastard. But also I can tell that underneath his cold exterior, he's a very gentle and kind person."

"Doubt if you may, you will still never know whether he loves you or not until you tell him your feelings. You must tell Heero how you feel."

Duo almost fell over. "H-how in the hell!?"

Fr. Clark smiled gently. "You're not the only one I recognize from TV."

"What?"

The priest laughed softly and stepped aside, pointing in the direction of the door. Duo's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"HEERO!?"

"Aa." The Japanese ex-pilot strode forward. Silently, the old priest made his way to the back of the church, disappearing behind a door.

"How…how long have you been there?" Duo said, trying to push the fear back.

"Long enough."

Duo gulped. "Listen Heero-" He was cut off by a finger to his lips.

"I've listened a lot in the past few minutes. Now it's my turn to talk." Heero said in a surprisingly gentle voice.

Duo silently nodded. Heero let his hand drop and took hold of Duo's hand. The braided boy's violet eyes widened again.

"First of all, even if I didn't love you, I would never be disgusted with you. Your friendship is so precious to me."

Duo's heart was beating a mile a minute. A thousand thoughts were swirling around his head, but the main one was, 'Wait a minute…if!?'

"You're caring, unselfish, you always bring joy in people's lives, and not to mention you're beautiful."

Faster heartbeat, more thoughts, 'He thinks I'm…beautiful?'

"But the fact is that I do love you, and I always will."

"W-what?" Duo said, feeling his knees go weak and his limbs turning to jelly.

"Aishiteru, Duo." Heero said, tracing a finger down Duo's jawline, hooking it under his chin and pulling the American in for a slow and passionate kiss.

When the kiss ended, Duo threw his arms around Heero's neck, tears of joy sliding down his cheeks. "Oh Heero, I love you so much…"

"And I you." Heero said, returning the embrace.

From the shadow of a large pillar, an elderly priest smiled. "May the Lord be with them."

~owari

Shini's notes:

^-^ yay for sappy endings!

Well I have no idea where this little fic came from. It just kinda…popped out. I guess I've gone too long without writing a short and sappy 1x2 piece.

Oh yea, thanks to Little Lady for betaing!

Until next time,

Shini