Chi: Hello all, guess what! I'm not dead!
Bo: Haha, although we are a little late, feel free to blame the volcano in Iceland.
Chi: So, I wrote the chapter extra long, for your reading pleasure :) … granted we still have readers.
Bo: Oh well, enjoy the chapter and drop a review! 3
DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN GUNDAM WING OR SLIDING DOORS (darn…)
Warning: This contains Yaoi, probable lemons, AU and blowing up of objects out the wazoo. You have been warned.
THE DOMINO EFFECT
Chapter 7: Time for a game of 20 questions
"Heero, do you believe in forever?"
Heero looked away from the fireworks and turned to his companion. The other man's gaze remained fixed on the sky, completely entranced by the colorful flowers erupting in the night.
"Why do you ask?" Heero questioned, perplexed. The man shook his head, closing mesmerizing indigo eyes.
"No reason in particular. Just a thought," He scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously."Sorry. That was a weird question."
Heero's normally cold blue eyes softened. "No, not at all. I was just wondering what brought this on."
"Well I was thinking, you know. About the future. About us. And if something happened to one of us. Because eventually one of us is going to die, whether it is alone or together…" The man moved his orange bangs out of his face and sighed. "So in that case 'forever' is an unattainable concept."
Heero stared at his partner, confused. He was usually never this depressing. Maybe something was bothering him?
"But I don't need 'forever' in mortality because I know that'll always love you. Because isn't that what we promised each other? 'Till death do us part? It may not be on record or on paper, but that's what you told me one year ago when you said you loved me. 'Even if death do us part, I will love you'," The man looked up at Heero and smiled. Heero couldn't help but respond with one of his own, as he wrapped an arm around his companion's waist.
"You're a hopeless romantic, Hikaru," Hikaru laughed and placed his head on Heero's shoulder.
"That may be so but you wouldn't love me any other way."
Heero tightened his arm around Hikaru and kissed his forehead, before laying his own head on top of Hikaru's.
"I will love 'till death do us apart and beyond." Hikaru's and Heero's eyes met and they both moved in to kiss, though just as their lips were about to meet, fire burst around them and Hikaru vanished.
Heero woke with a start. That was probably the most vivid dream he'd had in a while. He'd almost thought it was real. That is… until he woke up.
Heero moved his hand to rub his face, but it was trapped beneath something warm and heavy. He tried to wrench his arm free, but it wouldn't budge. Heero decided to actually look and see what the problem was.
Apparently Heero moved in his sleep because he was pretty sure that he and Duo had fallen asleep on opposite sides of the bed. Now, Duo was snuggled up to his side, Heero's arm wrapped around his waist (the same way it'd been wrapped around Hikaru's). Heero would've pushed Duo off his arm, but there was something about Duo's sleeping face that made him want to stay and watch for a couple more minutes.
"Heero, do you believe in forever?"
Hikaru's words rang clear in Heero's mind. It was almost as if they were meant to be a reminder of his past love. Of the pleasant times they'd spent together and of the promise he'd made. Though it wasn't as if Heero forgot about Hikaru. He'd been grieving everyday for the past two years.
Since Hikaru, Heero had never felt attracted to anyone else. There was a time when even the suggestion of finding someone else would send him into a fit of rage. He would begin to throw things and scream. He did drink himself into oblivion a couple of times, but that was only when it simply got too hard to think about his dead lover. He eventually got better, but Heero vehemently swore that he would never love another just as he did with Hikaru.
But lo and behold, two years after Hikaru's death Duo Maxwell waltzed into Heero's life and changed everything. The routines he'd developed, his relationships with his co-workers, everything changed to accommodate one Duo Maxwell. With these changes, Heero had been forced to create a sort of tolerance for the sunshine that was Duo.
This tolerance manifested itself in many ways. Firstly by sitting with the other three members of his platoon in order to avoid conversing directly with the braided medic. Heero made sure to hold small conversations with Duo to avoid having more than what was needed later. And with the destruction of his previous routines came the creation of these new ones. However Heero didn't realize what Duo was doing to him from the inside out.
Only now were these changes being made more apparent and only now was Heero beginning to realize them. The memories of Hikaru that had resurfaced surprised Heero with their appearance because before Heero had deftly blocked out all past recollections of his dead lover. Before they'd been too painful to think about, but now those feelings had changed. There was still the same nostalgia and sadness, but there was no overwhelming depression or gaping sense of loss as he'd felt two years ago with Hikaru's death.
This had Heero wondering what else was changing inside him, but also what it was about Duo that evoked all these changes.
Unfortunately for Heero, staring makes people uncomfortable and that's just what he'd been doing for the past ten minutes. So Duo naturally began to wake up as soon as he felt Heero's intense eyes on him for the last five minutes. His brown eyebrows furrowed and hypnotizing indigo eyes began to open. The peaceful expression that had been on Duo's face was slowly being replaced with sleepy confusion. He blinked a couple of times, looking around the room before settling on the Prussian blue eyes that were watching him. Duo stared back at Heero for approximately two minutes before he took in the arm around his waist and the way he was snuggled up to Heero and actually realized what was going on.
"Heero Yuy…. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!?" Duo positively screeched, as he sat up. Heero was quick to cover Duo's mouth before he began screaming louder.
"The mission Maxwell. We don't need any morning visitors asking what's going on," Heero whispered menacingly. Duo's eyebrow twitched and the medic nodded in compliance. Heero removed his hand watching Duo warily.
"Well then, honey, may I ask what happened to no sex before the wedding?" Duo asked testily. Heero rolled his eyes.
"It's not like I tried to rape you or anything."
"Well I wasn't awake for that part now was I?" Duo frowned.
"I'm sure you would've woken up if I tried to deflower you in your sleep," Heero rolled his eyes.
"Right, because your skills are really that good."
"Damn straight."
Duo stared in wonder at Heero.
"Are we actually engaging witty banter?" Duo asked. Heero got up out of bed and stretched.
"I don't know, are we?" was Heero's cryptic reply before he entered the bathroom.
Duo sighed and shook his head. Honestly, with all the shocks Heero was giving him he might just be sent to an early grave. Well, while Heero the Enigma was preening, Duo might as well get dressed.
Duo unzipped his bag, blanching at what he found. There was literally enough lace to begin a small factory and be well off. Obviously someone in Platoon 3 had a thing for lace and had seen it fit to fill his bag full of it.
Duo hadn't made his own bag, only his personal one that held his mission equipment and pajamas. He'd only prepared his toiletries, with some underwear and socks, before he'd handed it off to Platoon 3 to prepare whatever necessities he would need for his disguise. Apparently the "necessities" he would need included various lacy lingerie and clothes.
Duo began rifling through the bag, throwing various artides of clothing over his shoulders, only stopping when he found a grey envelope. It smelled of Itami's vanilla perfume which already made Duo weary of its contents. Against common sense he opened it. Surprisingly, there were no explosions or releases of poisonous gases. There was only a solitary, innocent note.
Hi Duo! We put all your makeup in with your toothbrush and stuff. Remember that foundation goes first; that's why it's called "foundation" . Don't forget that you put eyeliner first, then eye shadow, then mascara. And there's an order to the eye shadow colors. It should be obvious but I taped it to the case anyway. Has anyone ever told you that you have really pretty eyes? Well let me tell you that I—I have now hijacked the pen: Fear me …Itami, Mei and I prepared your clothes. We banked on you having a sense of color coordination, though we weren't sure on how much to put in, so we packed you a little bit of everything. I'm sorry there's so much lace; Itami has so much of it in her wardrobe, so she figured she'd put it all to a good cause. Better you than Wufei (Mei had her way with him!) Have fun, rookie!
Platoon 3
The note switched handwriting twice with Itami's archaic block handwriting starting out, before Mei probably got too impatient and stole the pen. Her bubbly writing continued until Aaoki took it, sensing that she was about to begin ranting. Her elegant cursive finished the letter as she signed it for all three of them.
Duo earnestly hoped that their missions were more coordinated then their spastic letter writing. Duo shrugged his shoulders and continued going through his bag. He was lucky that they didn't get into his personal bag with his pajamas or they would've packed him only a skimpy nightgown to sleep in. Duo winced when he actually found a navy blue silk (and covered in lace) nightgown.
Much to Duo's chagrin, Heero chose this moment to leave the bathroom. He curiously picked up a bright red pair of panties and raised an eyebrow.
"I had no idea you were so into your disguise, Maxwell," Heero looked at the panties and then at Duo. The doctor's face flushed as he stalked over to Heero and snatched the panties from him.
"Our fellow platoon thought it would be funny to fill my bag up to the brim with lacy lingerie and the like," Duo walked back over to his suitcase and picked up a dress that a gothic Lolita would probably wear. "I'm a florist from a small mountain village, not a strip club whore!" Duo dropped the dress and continued to look through the bag. Heero smirked and went to his own suitcase to look for something to wear.
Once Duo had pretty much torn his bag apart looking for something to wear, he managed to find a white shirt with a navy blue ribbon and a matching skirt with the opposite design. The half-sleeves were lacy and flared out, but it was better than some of the other attires he'd seen. He grabbed the outfit, all of his makeup and his toiletries and went into the bathroom.
After fifteen minutes of trying to figure out how to put together his disguise such that no one would look at him and wonder why there was a man in a skirt, Duo came out as Mademoiselle Chateau once more. Duo stared enviously at Heero's simple long sleeved shirt and pants while Heero smirked.
"Anything the matter, sweetheart?" Heero asked mockingly, in the part of his fiancé.
"Just contemplating the unfairness of the world, dear" Duo responded with a smile. "Anyway, what's the game plan for today, Captain?"
Heero took out his laptop. "Mission reports are due Wednesday morning. I expect to execute the mission Thursday," Heero began loading various schematics of the factory that was supposed to be infiltrated. Duo frowned.
"So what? You're going to lock yourself inside with your laptop? What about breakfast?"
"I'll grab something later. It's best to get these plans done as soon as possible," Heero didn't look up from his laptop.
"God Yuy, you have two friggin' days to get them done. It takes maybe a couple of hours to finish the plans. You don't need to bury yourself in work the first day you get here," Duo grumbled.
"The only reason we're here is to destroy the factory. That's it. We go in, steal the information, blow the place to smithereens and leave. The time before it is all prep. I will not have you mess up on the mission because you were too lazy to look up the layout of the damn factory," Heero looked up to glare at Duo before returning to his work. Duo was becoming aggravated really fast. He walked in front of Heero and placed his hands on his hips.
"No wonder you don't have any friends! You clearly don't know how to enjoy life and relax. I swear your entire world revolves around work!" Duo slammed Heero's laptop shut and looked at him straight in the eyes. "I'm taking you out and we are not going to think about work. I don't care if I have to drag you kicking and screaming; we are not going to stay in this room for five days straight."
Heero's eyes turned piercing, "I'm not interested in frolicking around when there is work to be done. As Captain, it is my duty to ensure the safety of everyone involved in the operation. What will you say when a comrade is wounded because we weren't sufficiently prepared?"
"I'm not asking you to completely stop working! Just, for once, I'd like us to enjoy ourselves since I've been working straight through the week and you probably have for however long you've been in the Guard," Duo didn't back down. "Or was what you said yesterday nothing but meaningless trash to placate me?"
It was then that Heero realized that Duo had effectively trapped him. Saying yes would mean that he was turning his back on what he'd said to Duo last night. It was practically a promise to change that he'd made to Duo and breaking that would probably further damage their already fragile relationship. But there was more.
"Prove to me that you can be someone I can trust."
Duo had just presented Heero with a challenge, something that Heero rarely experienced, and Heero was not about to back down; though that didn't mean he had to like it.
"Fine. When do you want to… go out," Heero sighed. Duo beamed.
"We can start right now with breakfast!" Duo shoved Heero's laptop aside and grabbed Heero's wrist, dragging his icy Captain out of the room, a smile on his face.
After forcing Heero to actually eat breakfast ("You're not going to eat until lunch, so eat now!"), Duo dragged Heero out for some "fun time". Since neither of them knew the village, they took to walking around the village square and admiring the extensive marketplace. Once they'd stopped for lunch, Duo decided to let Heero do what he wanted (which did not include going back to the hotel and drowning himself in work). However, Heero was unable to make up his mind ("Duo Maxwell, I don't bloody care what we do!") so Duo decided they would go see the circus that was in town. And since Duo had absolutely insisted on seeing the ocean before they returned to their lair, they'd gotten ice cream and gone to the beach afterwards.
Of course the only let down was that they had to stay in disguise for their entire trip. This entailed lots of handholding and pet names, which made Duo cringe every time he heard them. Besides that, Heero was just about as fun to converse with as watching plants grow was interesting, and even then the plants would've probably won, hands down. It was like pulling teeth, just as when Duo had first met the stern captain. So Duo had no choice but to force him into it.
"So, honey, in order for you to become a friend of Duo Maxwell, I will now interrogate you into oblivion," Duo said, partially in his role as Mademoiselle Chateau. He handed Heero a chocolate ice cream cone, happily devouring his own strawberry one.
"Is that really necessary?" Heero asked. Duo gave Heero a look.
"Of course it is! I know practically everything about my close friends. Ask me anything about Quatre, I know it!"
"Favorite color?"
"It's this weird sunburned orange, and that was out of the blue," Duo responded.
"Just checking. Though I hope this interrogation works both ways?" Heero questioned. Duo looked out at the ocean.
"If you want. Anything's fair game."
"Alright then, you can start."
"Fine then. Full name?"
"Heero Yuy. And you?"
"Duo Maxwell. No secrets there. Birthplace?"
"L1 colony clusters. Birthplace?"
"Stop piggybacking off my questions!" Duo whined.
"You never said I couldn't" Heero smirked. Duo pouted.
"Spoilsport…"
"Just answer the question."
"L2 colony clusters. How long have you been in the Elite Guard?"
"Two years, since it was originally formed. There were only two platoons at first and I was the recon officer with Aaoki in Platoon two," Heero explained.
"Huh, so you and Aaoki have been there since it was formed?" Duo asked.
"Wufei was there too. He was the original strategist of Platoon one."
"You position stealer you," Duo nudged Heero with his elbow. Heero rolled his eyes.
"It's my turn to ask a question. Why did you decide to become a doctor?" Heero looked at Duo. The medic was staring thoughtfully at his ice-cream cone as if it would provide him with the answer to whatever he was pondering.
"My… my best friend died. There was an outbreak of the plague on L2 and my best friend, Solo, died. I…I couldn't do anything as he suffered alone. I wanted so badly to win against death but I was powerless," Duo blinked back the tears. "So I wanted to arm myself for the fight against death, and I became a doctor."
"Death isn't always something you can win against. Sometimes it comes in, destroys everything then leaves a disaster in its wake," Heero said, remembering Hikaru's death. There was a period of time when he'd just stopped living. It took a while for him to snap out of it, and even then he still wasn't back to normal. It just… hurt so much to think that the person he'd been closest to, the person that he'd loved, was dead.
Duo nodded. "I know that. In my childhood I'd seen so much death it was impossible to escape. Sometimes I will be powerless and won't be able to do anything, but I'll start by doing what I can, even if it may not be good enough… Is that too idealistic of me?" Duo gazed at Heero.
"No. It is by doing what we can that we gain experience and grow. And with that experience we can discover new things that will better life. Essentially what you want is to protect life, no? Then you're on the right track," Heero replied. Duo smiled; not his usual cheeky grin, but an honestly happy one.
"And, Maxwell?"
"Yeah?"
"You have ice-cream on your lip."
Duo swiped at his upper lip, annoyed when he saw the strawberry ice-cream on his hand.
"I've been divulging the secrets of my life while you've been laughing at me because I have an ice-cream mustache. You asshole," Duo grumbled in faux anger. Heero shrugged his shoulders.
"I didn't want to interrupt you."
"How considerate…"
"Ask your question already."
"Alright, alright. What are you afraid of?" Duo asked, a wicked smirk on his face.
"Afraid of? Nothing I should think," Heero answered crossing his arms. Duo snorted.
"Everyone has something they're afraid of. C'mon what is it? Heights? Spiders?" Duo pried. Heero rolled his eyes and thought hard.
"Losing those that are close to me," Heero said. Duo nodded.
"I can sympathize with that. You're turn."
"How bad was it on L2?" Heero became curious about Duo's life since he mentioned Solo. L2 didn't carry a good name as a poverty and crime stricken colony. As such, it didn't really stick that Duo came from L2 and managed to become a doctor, a profession that required much money and a good education.
"L2? It's not the best place to grow up as a child. The economy was in severe condition. High crime, lax police system, not enough food to go around. The whole colony was in chaos and couldn't be fixed because the government was corrupt. And coupled with the sanitation problems, it made for a disaster of a colony.
I don't remember my parents, only the gang of street orphans I ran with. Once the plague wiped them all out when I was thirteen, I wandered around until I met my mentor at the age of fourteen… I think," Duo scratched his head in thought. "Of course this was all a while back so I don't remember everything exactly. But my mentor placed me on an advanced learning curriculum which earned me a scholarship to an advanced program at Harvard Med through an exam I took to skip a few years of study. I met Quatre Winner there who became a close friend of mine and the rest is history…"
"That's quite the miracle story…" Heero stared at the sun setting over the horizon. Duo nodded.
"I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I got out of that hellhole unlike the thousand that are trapped there on the poverty line," Duo shook his head and smiled. "But enough about me! I'm the one who's supposed to be interrogating you!"
Heero continued to stare thoughtfully towards the horizon. Duo pouted.
"C'mon Captain, don't ignore me. What, you thinking about canceling our marriage?" Duo poked Heero jokingly. Heero shook his head and looked at Duo, who was smiling brilliantly. With the sunset going on in the background and the sun shining on Duo's hair, turning it auburn, made Duo quite the image. Seeing Duo like this, in a new light, almost made him understand what had possessed him in the gym that day.
"Heero, do you believe in forever?"
Hikaru's words came back with haunting clarity. There seemed to be a double meaning to his words, though Heero couldn't figure out for the life of him what it could be. Even so, the likelihood of Hikaru's words having a double meaning was low considering the words were just a recollection, a memory of what was… and what will no longer be. Duo's voice brought Heero back to reality.
"I haven't even asked you some of the most basic questions yet! What's your favorite color?" Duo blinked at Heero curiously.
"Indigo." Heero replied almost breathlessly. Duo raised an eyebrow.
"Any reason for that?
Heero thought back to Hikaru's indigo eyes that he would often drown himself in. He looked back at Duo, straight into his eyes and realized that they were the same.
"It… is connected to someone I was close to."
Duo looked like he was about to question further before he caught eye of the colorful sunset. He seemed almost entranced by the display of color.
"Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?" Heero almost said "yes", looking at Duo's face illuminated by the sun. Instead Heero shook his head and looked at the sandy beach.
"It's not often that one gets to experience a wonder like this."
"Aren't you glad I dragged you out?" Duo nudged Heero cheekily. Even so, Heero smiled softly and answered;
"Yes"
Wufei didn't bother looking up from his laptop when someone crawled in through the balcony door, "I hope that you checked before you started climbing up the wall. It's enough that you're coming in off-hours; you wouldn't want to be called on false charges of breaking and entering."
"I just spent the entire day 'breaking and entering' as you put it. And you know I'm careful," Trowa brushed the dust off his shoulders. "Besides this hotel is hardly protected at all. I wouldn't be surprised if Madam Ambassador got killed."
"Well that's what my loyal bodyguard is for. How's the factory look?"
"Easy pickings. I honestly don't know why they're bothering with sending us here. The factory's not going to suddenly start manufacturing mobile suites."
"Still, we have such little information to go on that we'll go at what we can find. Anyway, it'll be a good beginner mission for our rookie, judging that he's still in one piece after staying with Heero for five days," Wufei saved his mission plans and sent them to his untraceable cell phone. He looked at the time, deciding to send them tomorrow because 11:42 PM was not a human hour to be receiving text messages.
"You almost sound worried," Trowa smirked. Wufei frowned.
"Certainly not. I'd just rather have our medic capable of rational thought and not in a vegetable state."
"I still think you're going soft on him."
"After the closet incident? Not so much."
"Are you still sore over that?"
"Not really sore. I just believe he wasted a lot of valuable time with that stunt."
"Time for what? Paperwork? It's not like he doesn't do enough of that already." Trowa rolled his eyes.
"Honestly though, he should take his work more seriously," Wufei snapped his laptop shut.
"Whatever you say… Waffles."
Wufei sent his best glare in Trowa's direction before locking himself in the bathroom to get ready for bed. Trowa laughed, Wufei was always fun to wind up.
Bo: A quick note, chapter eight is all written and not typed. I might feel inclined to type it faster if I get lots of awesome reviews :) Think about that. Think hard.
