Disclaimers: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing nor it's characters. Merely borrowing them for a little torture.
Warnings: Shounen-ai, OOCs, angst (I think)
Life Altering Decisions
Part 3
Duo smiled indulgently at Devon who ran up to him babbling excitedly about how the whole summer vacation and how he was going enjoy it. The American stifled a sigh, glad that there were no more exams. They made it to their rooms and started the ordeal of packing their stuff up. Duo had made arrangements for most of it to be stored during the break before moving back in the fall. So what was left were his clothes.
"So, what are you going to do?" Devon asked.
Duo looked up from the duffle bag he was stuffing with his clothes. Normally he would move into a room he rented near the security company and continued to work. But this year… this year things would be different. He was going to be kidnapped by a certain blond billionaire and his boyfriend to celebrate a certain stoic Japanese ex-pilot's impending slavery… uhm, engagement. He cleared it with a not so happy Mr. Cussler, but after throwing the Winner name around a little, the awed manager had been more than happy to let Duo go with a promise to casually 'mention' him to the Winner heir.
"I'm going off to L4," Duo ducked his head and returned to the task at hand. "And you?"
Devon sobered. "Back to my home, stuck in the house for the whole of summer."
Duo bit back a question. He wanted very much to ask exactly where his roommate's home was and why did he make as if going home was akin to going to a prison. To hell with it. "Hey, where do you live anyway?"
The other man flinched at the question. He looked away, tracing vague patterns into the back of a book.
"You never told me."
"My family is really strict about certain things. They want to control everything about what I do. So," Devon looked up at Duo. "If I told you…" He looked away again
"Nevermind." Duo continued to stare at the crestfallen young man in front of him. He felt something within him. Pity, sympathy? But something was making him ask; even though it may just be the worst idea he could come up with. "Hey, if…" Then he stressed. "If your parents allow this and in no way will you get into trouble for this…" He took a deep breath, wondering again if he was doing the right thing. He would be destroying Wufei's cover, but then again, if the Chinese Preventor was supposed to protect this man, bringing Devon along would ensure he won't be missing out of the celebration as well.
Wufei, the name brought fresh pain to Duo. For the past few weeks, the Chinese Preventor has been a permanent fixture the two young men's lives. He still stuck with the laughable story of checking out the place and all that jazz. The odd thing was; Devon swallowed that story hook, line and sinker. Duo didn't understand how someone as intelligent as Devon would be able to accept an excuse that lame. This only reinforced the notion that Devon was somehow used to strangers being his bodyguards and acknowledge them as such without batting an eye. So, who was Devon for him to accept all of this so easily?
Duo didn't even want to consider the implications. He felt he was getting a raw deal from all of this. More often than not he was left annoyingly in the dark about the whole situation. And Wufei didn't make it anymore easier to stomach this whole thing. Each time Duo said something or did something to protect Devon, Wufei would have this vague look of unhappiness on him, like he was uneasy about the way Duo was treating Devon, whom he still thought was Duo's lover. Hell, the American never thought Wufei to be a homophobic. He wondered idly how he reacted amongst Quatre and Trowa. Something like that would have caused Trowa to kick Wufei's ass. Because of this, it had been getting tenser and tenser between them and sometimes, having a civil conversation became a chore. Most of the time Duo would just clam up when Wufei was around and since the Preventor was around a lot recently, the American talked a lot less.
"Really?" Devon was almost yelling in excitement. Apparently, the poor boy hadn't been invited for anything before. Duo suppressed a grimace, thinking about the deprived childhood his roommate must have had. This only reinforced what Duo was doing for Devon was correct. Now, he would just have to convince Wufei.
Duo pointed silently to the vidphone with a small smile. "Then we'll talk."
Devon bit his lip nervously as he dragged himself the three feet it took to get the communicator panel. "Do you mind?" He asked Duo over his shoulder.
"Sure, man, take your time." Duo exited the room, shutting the door softly behind him. Now, to convince Wufei not to murder him for suggesting this.
As usual the Chinese man wasn't all that hard to find. In the weeks that past, Duo knew wherever Devon Clay was, Chang Wufei would be lurking nearby, not that the Preventor's agent wouldn't cut off Duo's precious braid for suggesting that he would actually lurk.
"Wufei," Duo called out, seeing Wufei hanging around the hallway unobtrusively. He smiled at a few people he passed on the way but didn't stop for a chat like he normally did. Talk about Devon and him had died down but most of them still looked at Devon with undisguised jealousy. Once more Duo was left to wonder exactly what he had that made others so interested in him? He had no past and was nothing but an L2 street rat, not to mention murderer of thousands. Though not innocents, thank God.
"Maxwell," Wufei inclined his head formally, his intense eyes sweeping the slightly crowded hallway for any sign on threat. It was looks like these that snapped Duo back to his soldier mode.
"Don't kill me before you hear me out," Duo told Wufei before beginning anything. It was probably unwise to tip Wufei off like this, but knowing the Chinese man, getting him prepared worked in Duo favour more often than not.
Wufei instantly frowned. He stared into Duo's eyes, as if trying to read the next hair brained scheme the American was known to cook up. Then the look faded behind a wall of slight disappointment. That left Duo a little confused. What the hell was it with that look? "That doesn't sound very encouraging." But he had a 'let's humour Duo' tone on.
"I am assuming you won't be able to go to L4 to celebrate Heero's imprisonment," Duo winced at his poor choice of words but was relieved when Wufei laughed. Apparently, three years had gone a long way in improving the Chinese agent's sense of humour.
"Relena's not going to be pleased to hear you say that," Wufei shook his head in mock admonishment.
Duo grinned, feeling at ease with Wufei for once in weeks. "Queenie can kiss my ass. She is going to be the 'ol ball and chain. Sure as hell hope Heero knows what he's doing." He couldn't stop himself from sounding slightly wistful. He just couldn't stop himself from thinking about 'what could have been'.
Something odd flash in Wufei's face, but it disappeared quickly, along with the smile he had on earlier. That left Duo's mind doing his famous 'what the hell' flip. "Anyway, you were saying?" Wufei directed the conversation back to the original topic.
"I kind of, sort of, maybe it wasn't a good idea, but I…" Shit, this was harder than Duo thought it could be. He really didn't want to see the look of disapproval on Wufei's face. He grappled with words that usually come easily to him, clasping and unclasping his hands nervously.
Wufei remained silent, staring at Duo, waiting for him to finish.
"I invited Devon to L4," it came out in a rush. "To Quatre's, to see them, for the summer." Duo took a peek at Wufei, trying to gauge his reaction.
"He must be really important to you for you to want to introduce him to your friends," Wufei said tonelessly, his expression stony.
Duo frowned in confusion. Where had this come from? This look of almost hostility. So, Wufei thought Duo wanted to introduce his lover to his friends. Well, if he wanted to be so prissy about it, that's just too damned bad. "Besides," he forged on. "His family was going to shut him in the house the entire summer. I'm thinking it can't be healthy. If his parents let him, then we'll go together."
Wufei looked about to explode and he jammed his hands into his pockets. "Do you even know why that is?"
"No," Duo blurted. "Because that's classified and apparently everything else about this whole damn situation. I've been putting my ass on the line for him and I don't even freaking know why."
"Duo…" Wufei started, looking slightly guilty.
"Enough. I was also doing this for you, knowing you would probably be babysitting his ass for the whole summer. This would have been a perfect situation so you could enjoy the reunion as well. But if you want to be so uptight about it," Duo was close to exploding into a vicious temper. "Too damn bad, Chang Wufei." He turned abruptly and stalked up the hallway to his room, yanking the door open and slamming it shut.
Devon looked up from his packing to look Duo with some surprised. "Are you all right?" He asked, concerned to see his friend in a temper. Duo has never thrown a temper fit ever since Devon had known him, so what had happened for this unprecedented loss of control?
"Peachy," Duo returned to stuffing his clothes violently into the duffle bag. Then he took a calming breath and forced a smile. "So, what's the verdict?"
A smile of pure glee that was vaguely reminiscent of Duo flashed across Devon's face.
He's been sticking around me too much, Duo thought with some chagrin. He's beginning to smile like me for God's sake.
"From your delight, I'm assuming the suggestion was taken well?" Duo predicted, his smile turning genuine.
Devon's expression turned sheepish for a while. "Uh… I'm not supposed to go back to my parent's home with anything tattooed, pierced, my system clear of any control substances and with my virtue intact. Other than that, with a little fast talking, yeah, I can go." He was fairly bouncing. "When do we leave?"
Duo stared at the hyper Devon and for the first time thought a little horrified, what in God's name has he done? He was never this bad on a sugar rush, although Heero might argue differently but this man wasn't even on sugar.
"No tattoos, no piercing, no drugs, no sex," Duo listed contemplatively. "Anything about alcohol?" He cocked an eyebrow suggestively.
If it was even possible, Devon brightened even more. "I'm gonna get so plastered!" He chorused.
Duo chuckled softly, slinging his duffle over his shoulder. "Hey, I kind of invited Wufei with us."
Devon stopped his excited fidgeting to look at Duo. It was more like a stare and one that was oddly out of place from the puppyish glee that the man was exhibiting. "You did?"
"Is that okay?"
As soon as it appeared, the look vanished and was replaced by Devon's normal grin. "Great, the more the merrier. Wufei's really cool. So, when are we leaving?"
"Soon I hope," Wufei's voice came from the door.
Duo swung around to find the Chinese Preventor leaning against the door jam, a duffle very similar to his own slung across one shoulder. Wufei had almost an apologetic look on him. "Yeah, after you pack," he spoke to Devon, but not taking his eyes off the new arrival.
"I'm almost done," Devon told him, renewing his efforts to stuff his clothes into his bag.
'I'm sorry' Wufei mouthed.
Duo gave him a lopsided smile and shrugged.
"Let's goooooo….." Devon sped out of the door, snagging Duo by one hand and pushing Wufei out at the same time.
The two shared a look as they were dragged out that said 'this is going to be a very long summer'.
~*~
"Hey, Duo, I didn't know you knew Quatre Winner!" Devon was talking a blue streak and Duo's mind spun dizzily from trying to keep up with him.
The three were currently ensconced in Quatre's personal shuttle and on their way to the L4 colony. A familiar Manguanac by the name of Shariff had greeted Duo with an exuberant hug and a rather fatherly scolding about not visiting for so long. Then he had turned to Wufei and they had exchanged a long look before Duo stepped in to introduce the two. Once again, they exchanged that long look before shaking hands. When Duo turned to Devon, he noticed the other man had retreated into his characteristic silence once again when faced with a stranger. The American sighed, realising they still had a long way to go yet.
"Shariff, this is Devon Clay," Wufei interjected. "He's Duo's boyfriend."
That caused Duo to change to an odd shade of red as he exchanged a look with Devon, who was rolling his eyes in glee.
Shariff extended his hand towards the thin man. "Nice to meet you, Duo's boyfriend," he chortled softly, winking at Devon, who instantly relaxed.
The three were ushered into the plush interior of the shuttle and they made themselves comfortable while Shariff made arrangements with the control tower for lift off.
"I think this whole boyfriend situation needs to be remedied fast," Duo whispered to Devon who seemed to have a rather satisfied look. One that said, 'you got yourself into this. Deal with it'.
"You want to break up with me?" Devon whined, completely insincere before cracking up with laughter.
Wufei gave them a look before pointedly ignoring them.
"Hey, Duo," Devon got Duo back to the here and now. "How did you know Quatre Winner?"
"He's an old friend," Duo hedged, not wanting to speak about his war days.
Devon scratched his chin idly and observed, "You speak like you're fifty years old."
"The wars, I knew him from then," Duo said, his tone clipped. Wufei threw him a look of understanding and smiled in commiseration.
Devon's eyes grew to be as huge as saucers as he gasped. "You fought in the war?" Though there was something strained in that statement.
Amethyst eyes hardened. "Can you just drop it?" Duo stalked to the back of the shuttle and pulled out his laptop, switching it on. The rest of the trip was spent in silence.
Soon L4 came into sight and Duo felt excitement at meeting his friends once again. By the time the shuttle was docked, Duo had been reduced to doing a Devon imitation. It was then he realised how harsh he was to Devon and just exactly how silent the entire trip had been. He looked over to where a very dejected Devon was sitting at the moment. It has always been this way. It was as if Devon craved Duo's approval for everything and in the event Duo was unhappy with him, the younger man made it seemed like his world had ended. Once again, the braided American could only wonder what he had done to garner such devotion. He unbuckled the seat belt and floated towards Devon.
How he missed working in low G.
He settled in the space next to Devon and draped a companionable arm around him. "Hey man, you touched a nerve back there. I didn't mean to be that harsh about it."
Devon stared up at the man he practically worshiped from the first day he met, his entire heart in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just curious about the war. My father practically locked me up so I couldn't see anything about the war." He sighed. "I think he was afraid I might go fight in it if I knew anything about it."
"Would you have?"
"Maybe," Devon shrugged. "But my father seems almost fanatical about me leaving him. He almost didn't let me come to MIT."
"Some parents are just over protective," Duo said wistfully.
"Strap down guys, we're docking," Shariff instructed from over the interior speakers and Duo floated back to his seat. He an indiscernible look from Wufei before the Preventor's agent looked away.
Tough if he has problems with me being tactile, Duo thought scornfully. Besides, he is supposed to be my boyfriend. He had to resist the urge to cackle with glee.
The actual docking took no more than a few moments as Shariff expertly manoeuvred them into the docking bay. They collected their bags and trooped into the arrival lounge. Duo didn't expect His Blondness to come pick them up, knowing how busy Quatre probably was and therefore was completely surprised when he was thrown back from a flying tackle. Wufei had his gun out and pointed at Duo's attacker in a flash.
"You deserved to be castrated!" Quatre practically screamed in Duo's ear, his pale arms tightly clasped around his errant friend. Then he threw Wufei a glance. "Oh, put that away Chang."
Duo just lay there gasping, having the breath knocked out of him.
Wufei re-holstered his gun and helped Quatre to his feet and the two of them hauled Duo to his feet. "Wow, Quat, that was some welcome," Duo complained, rubbing his back painfully, aware of the attention their small group was getting and found himself poked in the chest.
"Would you prefer a knife through the chest?" Quatre said sweetly, punching Duo in the shoulder.
"Who's throwing? You or Catherine?" Duo smiled. Realising he was missing something, he turned to find Devon hanging shyly a ways behind. Shit, in his exuberance, he nearly forgotten how reserved Devon could be. He motioned towards the lanky young man, beckoning him forward. "Quatre Winner," he announced when Devon edged close enough. "This is my friend Devon Clay."
Devon was about to try a small nod, when Quatre grabbed his thin hand and began pumping enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you. Wufei told me Duo's bringing his new boyfriend."
Duo covered his face with a pained groan, then stiffened. Shit, Quatre just let in on the fact that Duo knew Wufei in the first place. He and the Chinese Preventor exchanged horrified looks before turning towards Devon to gauge his reaction.
"What?" Devon smiled at them. "I didn't get into MIT just by connections you know. I do have some form of grey matter. I knew the two of you knew each other since that first night Wufei walked into our room."
"Then… how… why…" Duo sputtered sharing his confusion with Wufei, who was just speechless.
Devon managed to look faintly insulted. "Please, Duo, the two of you were clashing looks so loud it would have woken the dead." He walked up to Wufei. "Thanks for looking out for me, Preventor Chang."
~*~
"So you knew I am a Preventor's agent?" Wufei was giving Devon the third degree. He couldn't believe his cover had been blown so easily. He was trotting to keep up with Devon's longer legs as they walked towards Quatre's car.
Apparently, the blond ditched his Manguanacs, ie mother hens, and drove out to meet Duo himself. The American smiled at the tongue lashing the blond Arabian was going to receive later. Right now, he was enjoying the scene of a flabbergasted Wufei.
"Come on, Wufei, I'm shy, but I'm not stupid. Come on, that gun you pulled just now was a real give away," Devon told him and Duo had to stifle a laugh before he got in trouble with Wufei.
"You have renewed my faith in you," Duo announced, needing to add just this extra jibe in. He reached out to pat Devon on the back.
"Hey, watch it on the skinny man," Devon complained as Duo dislodged his hold on his bag. He bent over to pick it up, just as Duo stepped forward to help him.
Shots rang out in the parking lot.
tbc…
Guys, review time. What happens next??
Well, review and you will find out.
