Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

A/N: Okay, the idea for this story struck me during psych class… so let's see how it goes.

Heero is OOC in this story for a reason… he's suffering from a personality disorder. Any guesses as to which one it is?

Hint: It's a little bit rarer, especially in men, than let's say depressive personality disorder or even dysthymia.

Hope u like!

The Gift

Chapter 1: Prologue

Posted on 7th Nov. 2007

I have never believed in fate or destiny or karma or anything of that sort. It doesn't comfort me to think that whoever has wronged me will be dealt with by a higher power. If I want revenge I do it myself… not that I've had to extract revenge on many people. I also am a firm believer of forgive and forget and never cross paths with them again lest I lose my reasoning capabilities and smack them one right in the sucker…

Ahem.

Moving on. So I don't like the idea of divine punishment just as much as I don't like the idea of not having control of my own fate. I like to think that if I am going to be doing something ten years from now it was because of my choices now rather than me being a puppet in some grand master plan.

Essentially what I'm saying is… I'm a control freak. That's that.

So imagine my frustration when the reins of my love life were snatched from me… rather rudely as well.

Not to mention that it all happened in a way that even now when I tell my story people believe it was destiny. Or fate. Or whatever that brought me to that beach at that exact hour on that exact date to meet the one man who would become ruin my life before becoming the centre of my universe.

Let's start at the beginning.

My name is Duo Maxwell and I have a braid. I am a man if case you were wondering because I get tired of explaining my braid to everyone. I have a braid because I want to. And because I like my hair. Moving on…

I work for a software company writing security programs. The work is good as is the pay. My boss is my best friend from high school all the way through college. How is he my boss then? He worked harder than I did, still does, and he had the ambition to climb the corporate ladder more than I did. The day he got promoted to the head of our department I congratulated him from the bottom of my heart because I felt no envy. Okay… I lied… I envied his passion to be something more but I also enjoyed the tranquility my simple, non-ambitious life gave me.

If I make enough to support myself… then why worry? It's not like I'll have it written on my grave or anything.

So getting sidetracked… his name is Wufei Chang. He loves martial arts, meditating and drinking chamomile tea. He loves his wife Meiran more than all of the above combined. I love none of the above. I suck at martial arts although I know enough dirty fighting to make sure no one messes with me, I hate tea and there's no way in hell I'm sitting still long enough for it to be considered 'meditating'. I like movement, loud noises, and oddly enough… chaos. I prefer the simple life but I am drawn like a moth to disruptions. One of the many reasons I have my mug-shot sitting in the local police office. I just happen to get in the middle of things that have nothing to do with me.

And that's how I methim. Let go back to the fall of last year. Winter was late in coming and the trees were just barely starting to lose their leaves after turning red and yellow and orange. The beach was starting to get deserted because the water was too cold and the nights were starting to get longer and chillier.

I normally, never come to the beach at night. There have been several attacks on people in the darkness of the night as well as reports of mugging and one murder a couple of years back. The beach is the centre of all things illegal at night because it's secluded enough from the eyes of the night public. It's off the highway to the side where people only show either during the day or on New Year's Eve when the city hosts a party there.

It's the closest beach from my house and my love of water draws me to it several times a week. But never during the night.

So on this particular day, in the middle of the week I suddenly find myself without anything to do. My program's written and tested. I have done the laundry, cleaned the house, had a decent home-cooked meal right out of the microwave AND I have washed the dishes. I have ALSO washed the windows, dusted the bookshelf and done everything I can possibly think of to pass time until it was late enough to sleep. It was seven pm, and I was completely and utterly bored.

Calling Wufei had gotten nothing done. The bastard was probably out somewhere having fun with his wife. Ten calls and no response. I quickly got tired of leaving annoying messages on his voicemail and my attention drifted elsewhere.

Did you know that my ceiling had tiles on them? I didn't. I also didn't know that there were sixty-nine and a half tiles there. Why the half? Someone sawed half a tile off to make it fit the corner.

I sighed. A long suffering sigh.

In a moment of frustration I grabbed my jacket, my keys and my wallet and headed out the door. I didn't know where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there but I left anyway.

My feet took me to the beach before I knew where I was. Looking up I saw that the moon was full and bright that night and the tide was high. It was crashing loudly against the jetty spraying half the beach in a fine, chilling mist. I shivered in the cold and turned to go back home when I suddenly saw the lone figure standing on the jetty staring down on the violent water. From the distance I couldn't make out any features or even the gender but all I saw was a lean shadow against the brightness of the moon reflected on the foaming water.

Then I saw the body bend downwards.

I found myself taking off at a run towards the wooden structure. My insides felt like they had been encased in ice as I realized what the person was going to do. My feet moved faster when I saw the body lean forwards and then gently, almost gracefully fall forwards into the freezing water.

"NO!" I yelled and shed my jacket and shoes without stopping my run and dashed across the jetty to the very end jumping off the edge straight into the icy water. I felt my breath knocked out of me as I forced myself to think and look through the dark freezing water for the body. The moonlight illuminated a figure a few feet away from me, deathly still and I forced my cramping limbs to move towards it. Distractedly I noticed that it was a boy, a young man who floated in front of me. Wrapping my fingers around one limp wrist I tugged the body towards me surprised when I felt no resistance from the boy. Finally managing to get a strong hold on him I broke through the surface of the water with a deep, staggering breath, my lungs on fire while the rest of my body was freezing. Forcing the boy's head above water I started swimming towards the jetty. With one strong push I had him half on the jetty half off, as I pulled myself on the damp wood. Dragging him a good way away from the crashing water I slapped his face lightly trying to get him to wake up. He was not responding.

"Hey?! Wake up! Can you hear me?" I slapped him again but no response. I thought back to my CPR classes I had taken ages ago and I checked his pulse, then his breathing. He was alive but not breathing. I then checked his mouth to see if his tongue was blocking his airway and then pushed against his sternum with both hands. Tilting his head back I placed my mouth on his and breathed into him. No response. I went for a second cycle and when I breathed into him a second time he coughed loudly, his breath coming in gasps as he spat out water from his lungs. I turned him to the side and watched as he curled up into a fetal position. "Hey buddy… are you okay?"

My answer was a cough from him and a wheezing breath. "You'll be okay, I'll get you to a hospital okay? You'll be fine."

"No…" He wheezed. "No hospitals…" He shivered violently and I ran towards my discarded clothes, covering his small frame with my much larger jacket.

"You need care… I'm not a doctor I can't take care of you and I'm not going to leave you behind." I said to him watching him open his eyes slowly to look at me. They were the most beautiful shade of blue I had ever seen but at the moment they were glazed over with exhaustion and possibly hypothermia.

"You won't leave me?" He asked in a tiny voice and I shook my head.

"Not until you get some proper care." I was shivering too and my soaked clothes were sucking the heat right out of me and my water logged braid felt like it weight fifty pounds. I decided I didn't have time to argue with him. "How about I take you to my place, get us both dried up and then we'll see if you need medical attention?"

At his weak nod I helped him up, taking most of his weight as he felt incredibly weak and we began our trek back home.

oOOo

I made him wear my dry clothes and put him in front of the fireplace to warm up while I went to make him some soup. He was really quiet and I worried about him. He hadn't been talking much. And to prefer going to a strange man's house rather than to the hospital? Was he paranoid?

Standing on the doorway to the living room I took the time to study him. He was gorgeous to say the least… and he had really thick dark brown hair that were stiff with sea salt at the moment. He looked slightly oriental as though he was half Asian or something… and he had the most beautiful bronze gold skin colour I had seen… I thought about my skin colour self consciously. I could never get myself to tan. I always burn and go pink. So I'm naturally pale. Too pale sometimes…

"Hey buddy." He looked at me lazily as I went into the living room with a steaming bowl of soup in my hands. "I warmed up some chicken noodle soup for you. Sorry it's not home made or anything but it should warm you up." I chattered to try to make him feel more comfortable as I handed him the bowl. "Careful, it's really hot."

I watched him take the bowl and return to staring at the fireplace. "You have a nice place."

Hmm… and you have a nice voice if you use it more often. "Yeah… but it's because I just cleaned it today. It's a disaster zone otherwise."

"You live alone?" He took a tentative sip and seemed to decide he liked the soup before sipping it some more.

"Yeah…" I took a seat beside him leaning backwards until I my back was resting against the couch. "Parents live really far away… only friend got married and moved out… so yes, I live alone."

"Hn." He grunted and continued staring at the fire.

"Why'd you try to kill yourself?" I asked before I had a chance to think it through and then I felt like an ass when he stiffened. "If you don't mind me asking… you don't have to answer."

I saw him grinding his teeth slightly as he thought hard. When I was sure he had decided not to answer he said in a soft, unsure voice, "I had nowhere left to go."

"What?"

"No one wanted me around. I didn't have anywhere to go. I didn't have anyone to go to. So I just…" He took another sip and I stared at him slack jawed. That's why he tried to kill himself?

"That's not a reason! That's an excuse!" I said horrified. "You can't go trying to kill yourself every time something goes wrong or you hit a dead end! I know nothing about you but I still can't fathom how lightly you take your life!"

"It's not worth much, so why bother?" His words froze me up. Was this guy depressed? Or had he been smacked around by life enough to not care anymore?

But he looked so young…

"How old are you?" I asked him and he looked at me with jaded eyes, looking more mature than his young face should be.

"Nineteen… as of today."

It's his birthday today? He tried to kill himself on his birthday?! "You tried to kill yourself on your birthday?"

He seemed to think about that, his forehead furrowing. "Yeah… I guess I did."

Don't tell me he hadn't made the connection! Oh my god, this guy was seriously fucked.

"You're seriously screwed man." I said to him and he darted a quick look at me.

"That's… that's what he said too." He said in a quivering voice as he put the soup down on the ground. "Before he told me to go kill myself." He dropped the blanket that was resting around his shoulders and got up.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"Nowhere." He answered as he started taking his clothes off.

I blushed at the sight of his exposed chest. He was lean and muscular but also had a slight feminine quality about him that I couldn't put my finger on. "Hey buddy! Keep your clothes on! Why're you taking them off?"

"They're yours… I wouldn't want to run off with them." As his hands reached for the waistband of my sweats I grabbed his wrists.

"I don't care, keep them with you. And where exactly are you planning on going tonight?" I was worried he'd try to kill himself again.

"Nowhere. I have nowhere to go." He mumbled his eyes darting to look outside the window. The night was starting to get foggy and the weather outside looked like it would be even colder than before now.

"Then stay." I said holding his wrist and I saw his eyes sparkle.

"Really?" He asked unsure but his wide eyes were bright with hope. "I can stay?"

"Yeah… sure…" I said to him handing his discarded shirt back to him. "And put this back on, my apartment is not the warmest of places.

"It's warm enough." He said with a shy smile but took the shirt anyway.

Stay. That's what I had said to him. And that one word had caused me to pretty much kiss my normal life goodbye.

A/N: So if you're interested I'll continue this. For anyone who's waiting for the next chapter of Lonely Day it'll be up before Monday.

Until next time,

Persephone