Disclaimer: This story was written by a fan only for the enjoyment of other fans, without any monetary compensation. Gundam Wing and its characters are registered trademarks of Bandai Entertainment Inc.™ and Sotsu Agency. All rights reserved.

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The Portrait

Part 1

"Maxwell, hey Maxwell wait up."

The young man with the long braided hair and the cobalt blue eyes turned his head and nearly rolled his eyes. "What do they want?"

'They' were Relena Peacecraft and Dorothy Catalonia, two freshmen at Marymount University just like him. But that was pretty much were the similarities between them ended. Both girls came from old money and their families had been associated with this school since its founding. Duo on the other hand was only able to attend the expensive school on a full scholarship and his family…what family? He had been brought up in group houses and foster homes for as long as he could remember.

"Hello Maxwell, Wufei." Relena greeted him and his friend as they finally caught up to them.

"What's up?"

"I was wondering, do you still work for that moving company? You get to borrow their truck on the weekend, don't you?"

"Yeah, they'll let me use it if it isn't needed," he confirmed.

"Do you want to make a quick 50 bucks this Saturday?"

"Where's the catch."

"No catch. You see my parents are selling the house my grandmother used to live in until she died three years ago, and they are looking for someone to clean out the attic; take out all that old stuff and haul it to the junk."

"Hmm…" The last thing Duo wanted was hauling junk on the one weekend he wasn't working this month. But fifty dollar was a pretty good incentive.

"It's not far from the dorms either. Down on Kensington plaza."

"Wow, I had no idea you had a grandma that lived so close to the school."

"She doesn't, Maxwell. Are you even listening?" Dorothy jumped in snappily. "She just told you, her grandmother died."

"Well, alright. I think I can somehow fit it in. Get me the address before classes are over today. I need to make sure that I can get the truck."

"Great Maxwell, you are a lifesaver, catch you guys later."

Duo watched as the two girls strolled away, tilting his head with a grin as his eyes focused on their behinds. "Say what you want, they are hot."

"Maxwell, are you bulling the girls again?" another voice, deep and as smooth as velvet, came from behind him.

Duo turned his head with a snort. "Why would I do that? This isn't grade school you know."

The young man standing a few feet away, near the fountain, was slightly older than him, a senior at the school and coincidentally also Relena's older brother, Milliardo. He was tall and slender, his platinum-blond hair even longer than Duo's. He kept it pulled together in a loose pony tail, just because it was against school regulations to wear long hair open. Dressed in a pair of tight jeans, that most definitely weren't school regulation either, and a white dress shirt, standing there holding his sunglasses in his hand, he looked like someone who had just stepped out of a fashion magazine. No wonder he had been voted 'sexiest male student' three years in the row.

"Besides," the younger man added. "I seriously doubt those two would let themselves be bullied by anyone."

"Still, Relena will always be my little sister. I have to watch out for her. So, leave her alone, Maxwell. She is miles out of your league."

"Hey, I didn't do anything. Tell him, Wufei."

"He didn't," his friend confirmed.

Milliardo's ice blue eyed moved to the other youth, as thought he only now noticed him. A ghost of a smile on his face he crossed his arms and tapped his sunglasses against his lips. "Hello there, Wufei."

"Hello, Milliardo."

"If you really need to know, your sister hired me to clean out your Grandmother's attic this weekend, alright."

"Hired you? For how much?"

"Fifty bucks."

"Fifty dollar…?" Milliardo gave a short laugh. "I stand corrected. Relena doesn't need me to watch out for her anymore. She can take care of herself."

Duo Maxwell frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Our parents paid her $200 to clean out that attic three weeks ago."

"Why she and not you?" Wufei asked.

The other man shrugged. "Because they didn't ask me, besides I wouldn't have done it for 200."

"Well, how much work can it be? It's just an attic." Duo pointed out, earning himself another chortle from Milliardo.

"The old lady was 96 when she died, do you have the slightest idea how much junk one can collect over a lifetime that long? Besides, that house has been in my family for generations. Well anyway, I wish you luck."

With that the young man turned and started to walk away.

"By the way, Wufei here will be helping me."

Milliardo didn't even hold his step or turn his head. "That's nice!"

"What the… You must be out of your mind Maxwell, if you think I have nothing better to do on a Saturday…" his friend protested.

"Oh come on, Wu. We are friends after all. I'd help you if you were in a bind. Besides I have all intention of having Relena cough up at least another 50 bucks if she wants me to do the job. We can split it. So, what do you say?"

"I don't know yet," the other youth grumbled. "And don't call me Wu."

As they finally continued their walk to the dorms Wufei threw a look back at the tall blonde before he disappeared somewhere in the crowd.

"Even rich families have their problems, I guess."

"Huh?" Duo gave his friend a puzzled look.

"Milliardo has been living in a small apartment on his own since soon after he started college, right. Even thought the Peacecrafts have that huge estate, with guesthouse and everything up, in Quails Hill and not to mention his grandmother's house that seems to be standing empty. He works after school at the internet café on 3rd street, while Relena acts like spending her parent's money at the local mall is her job."

"I've heard that Milliardo 'moved out' of his parents home soon after coming out of the closet."

"…out of the closet?" Wufei echoed. "You mean Milliardo is…?"

"Gay!" Duo confirmed with a nod. "Man Wufei, aren't you ever listening when I try to teach you anything? The really hot ones are always gay. Besides, didn't you see the look he was giving you? He was basically undressing you with his eyes."

"Shut up, Maxwell." His friend flushed bright red. "You are an idiot."

The other youth laughed, then gave Wufei a serious look. "Come to think of…. How exactly do you know how big the Peacecraft's estate is? Could it be that Relena and her brother have the same taste in guys…?"

"Get your head out of the gutter, will you," Wufei growled. "Not that it is any of your business, but if you must know, I happen to tutor her in math last semester. That's all."

"If you say so," Duo grinned. Oh how he enjoyed teasing his friend.

###

"Oh come, on, Wu, what's with the long face?" A wide grin on his face Duo glanced at his friend in the seat next to him. "It's Saturday, the sun is shining, it's a beautiful morning …"

"Morning being the operative word," the other use growled. "I would be still sleeping peacefully, if you hadn't dragged me out of bed so rudely. And I told you a hundred times, do not call me Wu."

"But we both agreed to clean out that attic today."

"Correction," Wufei pointed out. "You agreed for both of us."

Duo shrugged but didn't say anything until he pulled up in front of a large Victorian style house. Like most of the buildings in this neighborhood, which now housed mostly students from the nearby college, it had seen better times. But in its prime, back in the mid to late 19th century, Kensington Plaza used to be the richest and most beautiful neighborhood in town. The people who lived here were probably the Bill Gates' and Warren Buffets of their time.

"126 Kensington…That's it isn't it?"

"How should I know? You got the address from Relena."

"You really are not a morning person, are you?" Duo threw another gaze at his friend before he maneuvered the small truck he had brought into the parking space in front of the house.

"Why do you think I'm taking only afternoon classes?"

"Well, you can sleep in tomorrow." The braided youth jumped out of the truck and slammed the door close behind himself. As he rummaged in his pockets for the key Relena had given him he could hear his friend exit as well. The moment he opened the front door the two young men were hit by a wave of stale and dusty air. Apparently no one had set foot into this house for quite a while.

Duo sneezed and rubbed his nose as his other hand searched for a light switch. He found it right next to the door but when he pushed it nothing happened. "No light, great. I'll get some flashlights from the car."

He ran back outside and by the time he returned Wufei had already pulled open a few heavy curtains and opened some windows. It was still murky and dim but at least they could find their way around without needed lights. Most of the furniture had been removed from the ground and first floors of the house, and the few pieces that had been left behind were covered in clear plastic and a thick layer of dust.

Once they reached the first floor the two young men had split up to look for the stairs leading to the attic. The room Duo found himself in looked like it used to be a library or study of sorts. Large build-in bookshelves lined two of the four walls, and an impressive fireplace with a decorated mantle was set against a third wall right between them. The shelves were empty now of course, but it was easy to imagine them filled with books, crackling flames in the fireplace, a comfortable chair with an ottoman beside it; or maybe a desk in the center of the room.

Duo suddenly held his step and looked at the ceiling when he heard what sounded like a creaking of floorboards from above. Did his friend already go ahead upstairs? "Wufei?!" he called out.

"Did you find them?" Wufei's voice came right from the next room.

"Not yet. I take it neither did you?"

"No…or actually I just did."

When the young man walked out of the study he saw it too, a narrow wooden staircase at the very end of the hall. "Great, let's get to work then."

#

Duo's yaw almost dropped as he looked around the huge open attic space. When Relena had asked about cleaning out the attic he had imagined a few old, damaged pieces of furniture, maybe some boxes of old clothes and junk like that. But this… it looked more like the showroom of an antique dealer. There was old furniture everywhere, and by old he meant in no way broken or worn out, but rather old-fashioned and yet very elegant. Most of them were covered with clear plastic or large white linen sheets. There were bookcases and a large ornate desk, tables and chairs, a couple of couches and a piano….

"A piano!? What the hell is she thinking?" Duo frowned. "Do I look like I can just throw a piano on my back and carry it down these stairs?"

"No," his friend confirmed dryly. "You just look like a sucker."

"But this is really something isn't it?" The young man sounded almost awestruck as he started to look closer at the things that were piled up. He had to turn on his flashlight, because the attic only had a few small round windows, which were covered with thin lace curtains that probably used to be white or ivory colored once upon a time. "It's like taking a step back into the past."

"Yeah," Wufei confirmed. He sounded a little less grumpy and a little more awake now. Maybe the coffee he had made his friend buy was finally starting to take effect. "Someone else's past. Do you think they even know what's up here? I mean, look at all those boxes and trunks; they are probably filled with someone's personal things."

"One way to find out," Duo shrugged as he crouched down in front of one of the smaller wooden trunks beneath one of the windows.

"Are you sure?"

His friend gave another shrug. "We are supposed to throw it away, after all. The people this stuff belonged to are all dead anyway, so I don't think they'll mind. Besides, aren't you the least bit curious? I never had a family, and no family history to go along with it either. Digging around in someone else's might be the next best thing."

"I suppose so," Wufei finally agreed.

Duo blew the layer of dust from the top of the trunk, but before he could even crack the top open Wufei suddenly raided his hand and stopped him.

"Wait! Did you just hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Footsteps; it sounded like someone is walking around downstairs," his friend insisted.

Duo swallowed as he remembered the sounds he thought he had heard earlier. Could it be that there was someone else in the house?

Silently the two young men listened for a few moments, but there was nothing.

"I don't hear anything."

"Neither do I now." Wufei shrugged. "I guess I must have been mistaken. Or maybe it was just the wind."

"Yeah, these old buildings always squeak and creak, right." Duo added. "Something about the wood constricting and expensing."

But just as he turned his attention back toward the old trunk he could hear it too; footsteps clear and loud. As they listened the footsteps seemed to come closer, and then there was the creaking of wood, as though someone was slowly coming up the stairs to the attic. Duo swallowed again as he exchanged a quick gaze with Wufei. Frantically he looked around for anything that he could use as a weapon. A wooden walking stick topped with a metal lions' head looked just about right. He grabbed it with both hands like a baseball bat, raised it over his head and waited…

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T.B.C.

Author's Note: Okay, so Halloween is already over, but this story just popped into my head and I couldn't wait till next year to write it. Hope you enjoy.