Title: Life in the Fast Lane
Author/pseudonym: NemKess
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Pairing: 1+R, 2+H
Rating: PG
Archive: wherever.. just let me know
E-mail address for feedback:: nemsmuses@msn.com
Disclaimers: GW belong to me? I could only wish. Nope, not mine.
Notes: automotive info came from various sites on the web including
www.howstuffworks.com and www.racinghelp.com


Summary: Heero is the best racer the colonies has to offer, but does he stand a chance against Relena, on the track or in the heart?
Warnings: Despite certain name changes, this is not a shonen ai fic. Keep reading ~past~ that. Though I keep some details that were revealed in the Episode Zero Manga, this is very much AU and changes those facts around to suit the purposes of the fic.

Wind rushed through his hair and the squeal of tires screeched in his ears. There was a clear strip ahead of him and a thrill rushed through his body.

He was going to win.

Adrenaline was high as he expertly made the curve. Less than a lap to go, one more full stretch, a curve, and then the final half a stretch to the finish line.

He was going to win.

Easing down a bit more on the gas, he felt the powerful engine jump forward, faster and faster. He headed into the final turn.

It was then that he noticed the glimpse of hot pink and electric purple edging into his peripheral vision on the far right. The other car's driver was giving it everything they had and had taken a risk in going for the outside in the curve. It was a dangerous thing to do in this field of racers. Most would edge over just enough to force the other car to slow down, to get back into second place.

Most would.

He couldn't though. He'd have done it to anyone else and not thought twice about it. But he couldn't, not with that driver. Just the slightest miscalculation could send the brightly painted car into the wall, causing it to burst into flames and killing the driver.

He was good enough, he could do it without hurting anyone.

But it was too late.

His hesitation cost him as they came out of the turn and the other driver let loose a final burst of speed that sent the pink and purple car rocketing over the finish line- two whole car lengths in front of him.

He hit the steering wheel and winced.

He'd lost. Again.

Well, fuck it all.

~*~*~

"Damn it, Heero! I swear! Sometimes I think you lose on purpose! You could have had the win. Why the hell did you hesitate?!"

Heero Yuy-Maxwell winced as his companion's normally cheerful voice reached an octave that couldn't be completely natural.

"Duo-"

"Every time, Heero! Every fucking time you race her, you lose! What is your malfunction, man?!"

Sighing, Heero stood up and clamped one hand over his brother's mouth before the tirade could continue. "I'm sorry, Duo. I don't know what happened."

The braided haired man seemed to deflate before removing his hand. "If you like her, just ask her out. Bro, we're gonna lose our sponsors if this keeps up." With that, Duo stood up and headed for the door of their small apartment. "I'm going out, don't wait up for me."

With a sigh, Heero stared out the small window to the park below.

Though he was only a few minutes older than his twin, some days he felt ancient in comparison. Duo was a live-by-the-moment sort of guy and he just didn't understand.

Born to a pair of soldiers who'd never married, the twins had been separated at birth, Heero going with their father while Duo went with their mother. For years he'd wandered around with his father before the man had been killed during a rebel uprising on the L1 colony where they'd lived briefly. Having only the vaguest information about his mother and brother, he'd managed to secure passage to the L2 colony with the most military activity in search of them.

He was too late to meet his mother, but pure chance had led him to the Maxwell Church Orphanage where Duo was being kept for adoption.

Heero had been both glad and wary. Barely nine at the time, he'd still seen enough in his life to know how dangerous it could be to let someone close to you, how painful it could be. But finding his twin had calmed something inside him, filled an empty space he hadn't even realized was there.

The pair had never been adopted. Duo wouldn't leave without Heero and Heero's intensity and seeming coldness made prospective parents nervous around him. Instead, they stayed at the orphanage. Father Maxwell and Sister Helen had seen to it that both were educated, but Duo had a love of all things mechanical that kept him away from the more businessy things they thought he should study and Heero... well, once, while still with his father, Heero had seen one of the big circuit races. After that, all he ever wanted to be was a racer.

Only his keen intelligence had allowed him to pass unimpeded through school because in all honesty, while his body had attended classes, his mind had never been there. Always he daydreamed of the day he'd take his place among the best of the best.

Giving in to the boys' wishes and very real enthusiasm gracefully, Father Maxwell had called in a couple of favors with old friends and gotten them jobs at the local garage. Duo was thrilled to get paid doing what he loved and Heero was happy because the garage serviced all the racers on their colony. He'd had no qualms about pushing his way to the connections he'd needed to race.

One day a car had come in, it's racer tired of it all and it's sponsor in the tedious position of having a car with no driver.

Heero had walked right up to the young blonde, shook his hand, and introduced himself as his new racer. Quatre Winner had been amused and intrigued. Few people dared to speak to the millionaire without so much as a by-your-leave. He'd agreed to give the orphan a chance.

It had been the beginning of a beautiful partnership. With Duo taking loving care of their car, Heero had quickly moved from the smaller circuits to the bigger ones and up the ranks there until he'd become the best racer in space. No colony racer could beat him.

And so Quatre had offered something that even Heero hadn't dreamed of and they'd moved to Earth. The Professional Earth Racer Circuit was the biggest thing in Racing. Truly the best of the best.

In less than six months, Heero had become the number two racer on Earth.

And then he'd come up against the number one racer.

Relena Darlian.

Half sister to the infamous Zechs Merquise, Relena had stepped in to race in her brother's place when an accident on the track had left him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to continue racing. She'd been accepted at first only on her brother's coattails, but she'd quickly proven her own value as a racer.

For the last two years, she'd been the number one racer on Earth and Heero had set his sights for beating her and taking that title from her.

The first time she'd only beaten him by a half a car length. Relena was a gutsy driver that had no qualms about placing herself in danger if it meant winning.

He'd admired her technique and iron will, but had been determined not to lose a second time.

Maybe he could have done it, maybe he couldn't have. It was starting to look like they'd never know.

After that first race, Quatre- who turned out to be a family friend-, had introduced them.

Heero Yuy-Maxwell had done something he'd never done before. Something he'd sworn he never would.

He'd fallen head over heels in love.

Spirited and sassy with a devil-may-care smile that rivaled his brothers, Relena was everything he'd ever thought a woman should be. A diplomat's daughter, a famous racer's sister, she was well off but without the pretensions he'd noticed in most rich women. And though she made no bones about the fact that she'd never give him any quarter on the track, she was always friendly with him. When they raced against each other, she was always careful about warning him about the racers he didn't know. Like that Alexi Nichol who liked to clip the back end of his opponents vehicles and crash them. Or Dorothy Catalonia who drove like a complete maniac and gave little thought to her fellow racers' safety.

His brother had teased him at first, finding the idea greatly amusing. But later, as Heero grew more hesitant when racing the woman, the braided man had become concerned and now was just downright pissed.

But Duo just didn't understand.

Heero wasn't built emotionally to accept loss or deal with it well. Only the search for his remaining family had prevented a nine year old boy from following his father into death.

Screwed up? Probably.

But it wasn't something Heero could help and every time he saw Relena with her brother, he was reminded of just how dangerous their sport could be. It was what caused him to hesitate when they were out there on the field.

No matter how badly he wanted to win, to be number one, he shuddered at the thought of causing an accident that could put her in a wheelchair like Zechs, or worse, one that would leave her dead.

He'd lose a thousand races before he'd hurt her.

Of course, Duo was wrong about one thing. Quatre was far too amused by the situation to pull his sponsorship.

Well, he was glad his emotional instability was good for something.

~*~*~
Duo wasn't sure if he was more angry at Heero or himself as he weaved his motorcycle in and out of the rush hour traffic.

On the one hand, this wasn't really a game- this was their job, their livelihood. He kept the car running like the fine machine that it was, and Heero won the races. That's the way it had always worked before and they'd come a long ways from the garage that Father Maxwell had sent them to. And as much as Duo loved the kindly old priest who'd been the closest thing to a father figure he'd ever had, he didn't want to go back to that life. He liked where they were. He liked Earth.

On the other side of things, his twin- Mr. Untouchable, the Ice Prince, Mr. I Don't Need Anyone, was head over hells, butt-crazy in love. And as Heero's brother, it was his responsibility to be supportive. God knew that Heero had listened to him enough through the years as he'd fallen in and out of love with nearly every girl he'd ever met. The older (though not by much, as Duo often felt compelled to point out) had given advice when it was asked for, covered for Duo when a date kept him out past curfew, and had provided a shoulder to cry on when things inevitably fell through.

And how was he repaying that unconditional love and support?

By yelling at him about hesitating, about losing.

The braided young man wasn't as shallow as most people took him to be and he knew how hard it was for Heero to open up and actually let someone in. He knew that the icy demeanor his brother showed the world was a mask designed to keep everyone at bay, to make them uneasy enough to leave him alone.

Relena Darlian hadn't played by the rules that his brother had set up for his life. She refused to be ignored and she was one of the few women they'd met that didn't rush off either in fear or anger. Instead, she pushed. She went out of her way to be friendly.

She was exactly what Heero needed.

And it was Duo's job to see to it that Heero got what he needed.

Happy again, Duo grinned as he pulled up to his destination and saw the hot pink viper parked behind the electric purple stingray. He laughed softly at the cars. Color coded and decked out to suit their owners. He'd only teased them once about it. Hilde, Relena's friend and mechanic, had a mean right hook and she didn't take kindly to anyone dissin her 'babies'.

That particular incident had happened the very first time they'd been introduced.

Duo laughed again. He and Hilde had a love-hate relationship of epic proportions. In the pits when Heero and Relena raced one another, they were the bitterest of rivals. Off the track, they were uneasy friends. And under all that? Well, Duo couldn't speak for Hilde, but he knew he was suffering the same love sickness as his brother- he just didn't let it effect his job. Verbally sparring with his rival mechanic was always the high point of his day.

Only his track record with women held his tongue and kept him from propositioning her. As much as he wanted the petite pixie, he didn't want the relationship to end up like all the others he'd been in.

Ringing the doorbell for a few minutes garnered no response, so he wandered around to the back where he knew the garage to be. He'd followed Hilde back here one day when they were arguing about something that had happened on the track. It hadn't been till much later that he'd realized the gift he'd been given when she hadn't chased him away. The garage was her inner sanctum, her safe place in the world and only Relena was allowed back there.

Well, and Duo these days.

About half way around, his ears caught the sounds of electric tools whizzing. Yup. There they were.

He stood in the doorway for a minute, amused as he saw the two pairs of slim coverall clad legs that stuck out- the shorter set hovering several inches above the ground as their owner leaned over the engine, the longer set poking out from under the frame itself. Relena, laying on a red creeper, had one leg bent at an angle with the ankle of the other propped up on her knee swinging to the beat of the music coming from a nearby stereo.

"Problems?"

There was a yelp under the hood as Hilde jerked upwards and smacked her head. "Dammit Duo, don't you know how to knock?"

"Sorry," He knew his grin kind of made his apology insincere, but damn she was just too cute standing there all indignant like and brandishing a torque wrench at him. One cheek was smeared with oil and grease and the dark hair was covered by a hat she'd turned backwards.

"How are you, Duo?" Relena had rolled out from under the car and was propped up on her elbows watching their byplay with a good deal of her own amusement. Like Hilde, she too bore the evidence of a long session of working on their racer. Her own tawny colored hair was pulled back into a tucked up French braid that just barely peeked out from underneath a black bandana.

"Oh, me? I'm pretty good. Something wrong with the car?"

Relena grimaced as Hilde's glare turned to her and that torque wrench got dangerously close to her skull.

"Someone's idiot stunts on the race track, no names or anything, partially broke the timing belt."

Duo winced. That was bad. When a timing belt broke, then the camshaft stopped spinning and the piston would often hit the open valves causing major damage. It was not a pretty sight.

"The whole team will work on it tomorrow, but I wanted to see just how bad the damage was tonight. So, how's your car?"

"Fine, just the usual wear and tear. I'm more worried about Heero than I am the car."

"What's wrong with him?"

At the concerned tone of her question, Duo turned back to search the blonde racers' face. Oh yeah, Relena was as hooked as Heero.

He shrugged. "I'm just starting to wonder if he's really cut out for the PERC, that's all. Maybe we should have stayed in the colonies."

"No! He's one of the best racers I've ever competed against." Her vehemence startled and bemused him. Only a woman in love would defend a guy that staunchly. Especially when he was her rival.

Hilde just rolled her eyes and sat down her wrench. Lifting the hat off her head, she ran a hand through her hair, grimacing in distasted as she realized the hand she'd used was covered with oil and gas. "I need a shower. Was there something you needed, Duo?"

"Nah, just came to visit. I can go, though."

"No, don't do that. If you don't mind waiting until I get out, we can go grab something to eat."

Giving her his most disarming smile, he nodded. "I'd like that."

Relena gave them a jaunty wave before letting herself out the door. "Think I'll pass. I'll catch you tomorrow Hide. Have fun. Oh, and Duo don't forget about my birthday party on Friday! Bring Heero with you!" The last was barely heard as the woman disappeared into the deepening shadows of evening. A moment later, the roar of the viper taking off tore through the air.

"Come on in then. you might as well wait in the house."

Inside, Duo wandered around the living room while he waited. One wall was dedicated to the Darlian/Scheibeiker racing team and all it's wins. Two pictures of Relena accepting Racer of the Year, more pictures of Hilde with Mechanic of the Year awards -hell, Duo hadn't even known they gave that one. Looked like she'd been the older brother's mechanic for a few years as well. There were pictures that had the blonde man in them, standing and holding trophies. A small display case showed off all of Hilde's awards and trophies and the one's she'd received jointly with Relena.

On the mantle, there were the pictures he was more interested in- the private at home ones. Relena was in a lot of those too.

"We've been friends since pre-school."

He started as her voice appeared right behind him, but recovered quickly. "Really? Must have been a trip."

Her tinkling laugh sent a shiver up his spine. "Well, it was mostly fun. Relena's always had a thing for speed. And an even bigger thing for winning. You'd think it'd make her a jerk."

"You'd think." He'd seen that it hadn't though. While she wasn't really his type, he could see the qualities that made his brother fall for the racer. Heero didn't fall for jerks.

Turning, his breath caught at the vision in front of him. Even though he'd known Hilde for the better part of six months, this was the first time they'd spent time together that didn't involve cars in some form or fashion and therefore, was the first time she'd hadn't been in coveralls. The black leggings clung to her legs in a way that made his mouth water. They were topped with a soft looking violet colored sweater that made his fingers itch to touch.

All in all, Duo thought she cleaned up quite nicely.

"You look... really nice."

Her look was wary, the dark blue eyes searching his for any sign of teasing before she smiled and gestured at his own black jeans and the red turtle neck that peeked out from under his black leather jacket. "So do you. So, where ya wanna go?"

"How 'bout Howard's?" Howard's was a bar and Grill Duo had been to on several occasions. It had a nice atmosphere and best of all, no racers. He wanted to spend quality time with Hilde the woman and not Hilde the mechanic. It seemed like the best choice to him.

She shrugged and agreed. "Yours or mine?"

Duo knew what she was asking and gestured towards his bike. "Be easier to navigate through the traffic." It'd be cozier too.

With a grin, Hilde moved over to the black motorcycle and ran her hands over the seat. "A crotch rocket? Somehow I figured you for a Hog."

"Harley's are nice enough, but I like this." Hopping on, he handed her the extra helmet before pulling his own on.

Her arms came up to wrap around his waist and his body was set to tingling again as he felt her plastered against his back. He grinned as he decided that he quite liked the sensation.

For a day that had started out pretty crappy, it was shaping up into a great night.

~*~*~

The wind whipped through Relena's hair as she shifted gears, inching her car's speed even higher now that she was out of city traffic and moving along one of her favorite stretches of country road. It seldom saw heavy usage and was perfect when she needed to think.

Zechs had never understood her.

For as long as she could remember, her brother had raced to run away from his nightmares- to outrun his demons. And when the accident that claimed his legs proved he'd never be able to go fast enough that they couldn't catch up with him, Zechs had done his damnedest to try and dissuade her from following in his footsteps.

He'd never understood the fundamental difference between their ways of thinking.

Relena Darlian raced to catch her dreams. She'd always craved the speed of a race car the way some people craved drugs. It was only when she was in a fast car, pedal all the way down, speedometer laid over, that she came alive. The very idea of the social life her parents had set out for her made her cringe.

A proper husband who would attempt to curtail her every freedom, planning political dinners and making nice with foreign dignitaries. Going into politics herself if her husband agreed. Paperwork. Overseeing housework.

Ugh.

Boring with a capital B.

She wanted more than that out of her life.

Relena wanted to be the best, the fastest racer alive. Zechs had always sworn it was a phase but after nothing he said could changer her mind, he'd finally understood that she was determined. If his own accident and injuries couldn't quench the fire in her blood, then there was little he could do other than make sure she was as protected as he knew how to make her. Instead of being the over-protective, often overbearing brother he'd always been 'No Relena, racing is too dangerous, no Relena, you'll grow out of it' he'd accepted it.

He'd offered her a chance to finally catch her dreams. He'd sponsored her, turned over his second car to her- the first had been beyond repair after his accident.

No one had wanted her on the track at first. She'd been a rookie living in her brother's shadow. It had taken years to shut up all her critics. To prove to everyone that she belonged out there, behind the wheel, as much, and in many cases more than any of them.

It had been a hard bitter climb upward, but worth every bit of it.

The thrill, the rush that came when she passed over the finish line in first place. She loved being a racer more than anything else in the entire world.

And until she'd met Heero Yuy-Maxwell, she'd never imagined that anything could make her feel anything like racing did.

Though he was friendly enough, the racer from the colonies was also usually distant with her. In fact, most women would probably be intimidated by the man.

Luckily for her, she wasn't most women and Heero's reticence only made her want to try harder just as her Nay-Sayers had once driven her to almost insane lengths to ensure her place in racing. And like being a racer, she was willing to bet that being with Heero would be worth every obstacle that got flung in her way.

Relena wasn't an idiot and while she could admit that she was a little pushy- she could almost hear her brother's amused snort at that understatement- she would never have even considered perusing Heero if she wasn't reasonably certain she had a chance at success.

Quatre Winner was one of the few rich men that she actually liked and trusted. He'd come to her, after a party that had been thrown for her when she'd been named Racer of the Year again a few months ago, and told her everything he knew about her quiet rival. Cat was sure that Heero was in love with her.

Of course, Cat was equally sure that Heero was the one racer in the circuit that could beat her and that it was only fear of hurting her that kept him from doing so.

Some days that made her grumpy, but on the whole, she had to wonder if he wasn't right. Duo wasn't the only one who'd noticed the hesitation from the 01 car earlier that day.

She frowned and coaxed the viper into going faster as an unbidden thought crept up. Was she aware of Heero's inability to take a chance with her life, subconsciously, and taking advantage of it?

Playing back what she remembered of their race, the blonde had to concede that she'd never have tried going on the outside if it had been Alexi Nichols or Dorothy Catalonia in front of her. The fact that she'd never have been behind them in the first place wasn't the point.

Heero should have won.

Relena wasn't sure how she felt about that.

It felt like cheating to her. Using his feelings against him. Briefly, she thought about her brother and what he'd say to that. Undoubtedly, he'd simply say that it was smart racing to use every advantage you had.

She wanted to be the best, but she wanted it honestly. Part of the thrill was in knowing that even when the other racers- like Nichols'- cheated, they still couldn't beat her.

A four way stop brought a halt to her mental wandering and she sat at the intersection for over a full minute as she tried to decide which way to go. Straight ahead was open road; she could drive until morning or until she ran out of gas. To the left, the road trailed along the ocean until it came to the house she was sharing with Zechs and his wife Noin. The right turn would lead up the mountain, to a cliff that overlooked both the ocean in one direction and the city in the other.

With a grin, she made a quick U-Turn and headed back to town.