Disclaimers: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing nor it's characters. Merely borrowing them for a little torture.

Warnings: Shounen-ai (because I suck at yaoi) , major A.U, some OOC I think, deathfic

Finding Heaven

Part Five: Second date, the Aftermath

Duo was packing up his equipment waving goodbye to some of the models. He felt eyes on him as he bent over, picking up his tripod. He turned and noticed two leggy brunettes apparently staring at his ass. He smiled, shaking his head ruefully and straightened.

"Hey, Max," one of them sauntered over.

Duo guessed her to be about his height without heels, but wearing five inches platforms, she made Duo feel like a midget. "Hi," he tried valiantly to remember her name. "…Alfrena." He nearly choked. Alfrena, what kind of name was that? Did her parents get a lobotomy before naming her?

"Hey, there's this new club…" She trailed off, her eyes shining with hope.

"Really? Tell us where, we'd love to meet you there," a lazy drawl made Duo smile, as did the strong arms that snaked around his waist. "Hey, honey," Heero pressed a soft kiss on his temple.

Duo was too busy fighting the urge to burst into laughter as he watched the model walk away with a faint air of disappointment. "That was truly evil, Heero." He laughed lightly, picking up another bag from the floor. "And, don't call me honey."

"Whatever you want, sweetheart." Heero took a bag from Duo and they walked out into the afternoon sun. "Want some lunch?"

"No, just want to go home," Duo smiled. "And not sweetheart either. What the hell is it with you and all these endearments anyway?" He dumped his gear into the back of Heero's car, having been driven by the Japanese to the site early that morning.

Heero shrugged. "Don't you like them?" He got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Not after food," Duo quipped, getting into the passenger's seat. "How did you manage to get out of Miss Ice Queen's grasp today? It is Sunday. Isn't that like family bonding crap day or something like that?"

The other man lost the ready smile he usually wore around the small braided man. "Actually," he started to say, staring resolutely ahead of him.

"Is she at the Studio?" Duo guessed, brows drawn into a frown.

"No," Heero said, shortly, turning into midway, weekend traffic. "She asked me to come and see you. She wants to see the pictures."

"Stop the car," Duo said, softly.

Heero turned his head slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of Duo yet not take his eyes completely off the road. "What?"

"I said, stop the car!" Duo yelled, making a grab for the steering wheel.

The vehicle screeched to a stop as Heero slammed on the brakes. "What the hell is your problem?" He yelled as Duo pushed the door open and stalked off. "Fine, be that way!" He leaned over, slammed the passenger door that was left ajar by Duo shut and sped off.

Duo knew Heero wouldn't come after him but it still hurt to hear the car pull away from the sidewalk and disappeared into the afternoon rush of traffic. It had been almost a month and a half since the dinner at Quatre's that changed both of their lives. For good or for worse, Duo was still trying to decide. But he did know that his life had changed. After dinner that night, Heero had taken Duo home, to his home. He still didn't trust Heero enough to let him know where he lived. Heero still didn't and that was a sore point with them. As was Relena Peacecraft and Heero father.

They had talked for most of the night. Heero explained his position, his responsibility to his family and his father. To honour the decisions his father makes, ie to marry one Miss Ice Queen. Duo didn't understand anything about family honour or responsibility but he had accepted. He wanted something with Heero, something that Heero was clearly offering as well. It had begun with a tentative kiss, the one Heero had promised he would claim at the end of the second date and the one Duo had inadvertently promised the other man at the end of the first one.

That had sparked off the weirdest relationship between two men. Duo went to Heero's home after work, who cooked for them both. They shared a meal, snuggled a little before Heero went off to his fiancee's home. They kissed, held hands, groped a little but went no further than that. It was Duo's decision and Heero's frustration, but the taller man had respected Duo's wishes and not pressed too hard.

Duo sighed, trying really hard not to think about the sweet times of the past six weeks. It wasn't just all domestic bliss. How could it be when both parties carried along a huge load of excess emotional baggage and a tonne of past secrets? Heero wanted to know about Duo's past, Duo's family, Duo's everything. Duo wanted Heero to stand up to his father, end the engagement with Relena, to live happily ever after. They pushed each other, sometimes a little too hard and it usually ended with one of them storming off, very much like today.

The braided man didn't know where he was going, or how far he went that afternoon. He walked and walked and found himself in his old neighbourhood. He sighed. He knew he was going to find himself here. He found the clinic easy enough; he had been here enough times. He took the side stair up to the second floor and rapped on the door.

A dark haired Chinese man a few inches taller than Duo opened the door, looking slightly harassed.

"Maxwell," he greeted and returned into the depth of the apartment, leaving the door open.

"Wufei," Duo said in the same serious tone before chuckling, letting himself in and locking the door behind him.

It was a nice apartment, and it had an extremely 'lived in' and personalised look. It was decorated in a totally Oriental style in bamboo and rosewood. There was a door that led out to an opened area where Wufei did his exercises. Following the sounds of heavy breathing, Duo guessed that's where he could find his friend.

"Duo, what're you doing here?" Wufei's wife, Sally greeted him with a soft kiss on the cheek. She was the doctor that ran the clinic downstairs and her father was the one that saved Duo's lives a few times in his dark past.

"Can't a guy visit his two favourite people in the whole wide world?" Duo batted his eyelashes at Sally, winning a laugh from her.

She quickly sobered, her trained eye roving over Duo's tired face with concern. "You are not taking care of yourself."

"I'm fine," Duo flashed her with a huge smile.

The doctor shook her head, resigned. She knew from experience that nothing got past Duo's defences. If the young man needed to talk, she was sure her husband would be a good listener, despite his seemingly cold aloofness to this hyperactive photographer. "Have you had your lunch?"

"I…" Duo started, only to be interrupted by the embarrassing growl of his protesting stomach. He flushed. "I guess I could eat."

Sally nodded and headed to the kitchen to get something for Duo.

Left to his own devises, Duo plunked himself gracelessly onto one of the plush couches. The hard rosewood chairs that Wufei insisted were 'good for your posture' were a huge pain in the ass, literally and were avoided at all costs. He picked up a book and paged through it idly. It was something about battle tactics, completely written in Chinese.

Wufei's, Duo thought, leafing through it, reading as he went along. Despite growing up on the streets, Duo had learned a variety of languages, all from his street buddies. Wufei had been one of them. Duo had met the Chinese when he made a mistake of stealing from his gang when Duo was about seven or so. Wufei had knifed the long haired man with an angry hiss of "Injustice. Where is honour in stealing?"

When a bleeding Duo showed him angrily exactly why he was stealing before passing out in the Chinese's arms, Wufei had been eaten by remorse and carried Duo almost two miles on his back to see old Doc Po to patch the boy up. Duo had been stealing food for kids, most of them younger than him. Wufei had been a few years older than Duo at the time. By the time the wound had healed, they had been fast friends, with Duo charming the good doctor's little daughter and Wufei grousing at her, calling her a 'weak woman'.

Duo smiled at the memory, apparently opposites attract and Wufei popped the question a year ago. They had lived in domestic bliss since then, or Chang Wufei's and Sally Po's own version of it. The long haired man felt his eyes droop from exhaustion. He did wake pretty early for the shoot and that argument with Heero had really sapped his spirit. It had become a vicious cycle. Fight and make up, only to fight again.

He didn't know when he fell asleep but the next thing he knew, Wufei was sitting opposite him, a towel draped over his sweaty body and staring at him with concern.

"What's wrong with you, Maxwell?" Wufei asked, watching his sleepy friend trying to claw his way out of drowsiness.

Duo yawned, stretching. "Must something be wrong?" He asked innocently.

"Lies won't…" Wufei got cut off by an irate friend.

"I don't lie, Chang!" Duo interjected, sitting up abruptly.

"Fine. Evasion won't work around me, Maxwell. I know you too well." Wufei's expression turned gentle. "This has always been your sanctuary. You only come here when something bothers you."

"I haven't seen you at Quatre's dinners in along time," Duo stalled, not really wanting to talk about Heero, but knowing his big brother would dig it out of him in his usual way, via a spar on the balcony.

Wufei snorted. "They aren't dinners anymore. It was more like something out of the dating game."

Duo smiled, understanding that his friend couldn't bear the awkwardness of watching him try to let guy after guy down without hurting Quatre's feelings. Early on, he had breached both of his worlds together and introduced the Changs to the Winner-Bartons, or Barton-Winners, depending on who he was speaking to. They had gotten along famously and had actually become good friends. But after the Big Break Up, and Quatre's campaign of 'Let's Get Duo with Someone, Anyone', Wufei had been thoroughly disgusted at the blond's attempts. He was someone that firmly believed in letting nature run its course and Quatre had meddling in nature. The Chinese had slowly backed off from the dinners, showing up ever so often at Duo's behest, knowing it hurt him that his friends were drifting apart because of him.

"'Fei, they just want me to have someone," Duo muttered softly. "Like you have Sally and Quat has Trowa."

"And?" Wufei asked, sensing Duo's melancholy and didn't take issue with the nickname. It had stuck when Duo was younger and he had been delirious with fever from the knife wound Wufei had given him. Duo couldn't pronounce the Chinese's name properly and it had stuck, much to Wufei's chagrin. He had tried to impress on the younger boy the honour of a name for the Chinese, but since the long haired man had named himself, didn't understand what all the fuss was.

"And?" Duo echoed, still hedging. He faked a yawn and saw out of the corner of his eye, Wufei staring at him. He noticed the other man settling down on the 'pain in the ass' rosewood chair and waited.

Oh Gods, not another silence therapy, Duo thought, and wanting very much to pull his braid out. Quatre's silence was more guilt inducing, but Wufei's had an undertone of parental admonishment that made it more unbearable.

Violet met onyx in what seemed to be an eternity of silence.

"Duo, I got you some lunch," Sally walked in bearing a tray filled with egg sandwiches. It served to break the tension between the two men and Duo felt like kissing her.

"Woman," Wufei grouched. "We were having a conversation here."

Sally's eyes hardened. "Man," she began, but that word clearly meant 'idiot' in her vocabulary, especially when she directed it at her husband. "The both of you were definitely not having a conversation. What I just saw was two idiots knocking testosterone." She settled the tray next to Duo. "Here, eat before you faint in hunger."

Duo gifted her with his prized smile and dug into the plate, happy at the change of subject. But knowing Wufei, he wouldn't let him off the hook for too long. The Chinese had pretty much the same type of childhood Duo had, running on the streets. When Duo had turned sixteen the two of them, along with Duo's childhood protector Solo had made a pact to leave the life on the streets and tried to make something decent for themselves. Wufei had started studying all sorts of weird new age nonsense in Duo's opinion such as Yoga but he had also trained in various martial arts very young in life. He was the one that thought Duo how to protect himself on the streets stating that no one should be able to knife Duo like he did. Wufei was now a troubled teen mentor.

"Don't eat too much," Wufei warned. "Unless you want to clean it up if you miss a block."

Duo winced at the promised pain his friend was going to inflict on him.

Two hours later, two sweaty males came panting into the living room while a very amused Sally Po looked up from her magazine with a wrinkled nose. She silently pointed to their bathrooms and the two men trooped in there. Shortly after, Duo came out of the shower with his long hair unbound and wrapped in a towel. He wore one of Wufei's old sweat pants and a loose shirt, his own clothes currently running through the dryer.

"Okay," Wufei said from behind his shoulder. "You got your frustrations out on me." He winced, rubbing his hip where Duo got a pretty nasty kick in. "Talk."

Duo sat huddled on Wufei's couch, not wanting to talk, and looking like a lost waif more than a world famous fashion photographer. "Why do you always push?" He growled.

Wufei rested a hand on Duo's shoulder. "You wanted to talk, or you wouldn't have some here."

"I have a boyfriend now, you know," Duo spoke after a long silence and Wufei settled down next to him, letting the other man cuddle up to him like he did when they were younger and Duo needed to be comforted.

"Really?" Wufei was surprised. He never thought Duo would get over the break up so soon.

"His fiancée came to my studio to order me to take wedding pictures for her. Met the future groom, went out on a date with him, got set up in a blind date by Quatre and Co and here I am," Duo finished, unable to look Wufei in the eye. He knew the condemnation would be there.

Wufei sighed heavily. "Duo." He sounded almost disappointed. "You went through the same thing, so why are you doing it to someone else now?"

"It's not like I meant to fall in love with him, 'Fei. He's even more screwed up than me. He's totally gay but engaged to a woman." Duo laughed ruefully. "I'm no better than he is, 'Fei," his voiced echoed his pain and Wufei didn't have to interpret who 'he' was. "What the hell am I doing?"

"How long have the two of you been involved?" Wufei posed the question delicately.

Duo sounded a little subdued. "If by 'involved' you mean have I had sex with him yet, the answer is we are not involved."

Not for want of Heero trying, Brian jeered.

Where have you been?  Duo asked but Brian seemed to have disappeared once again.

Wufei inhaled in surprise. Duo has always craved affection and more than willing to submit to sex just to get that affection, so it was a big surprise to find out the long haired man was still celibate.

"If by 'involved' you mean how long have you been cheating on the poor fiancée, then for about six weeks."

Wufei was taken aback. Six weeks? That's a long time in Duo's calendar and for him to hold off sex meant either he was extremely serious about this man, or 'he' had really hurt Duo that badly the man couldn't trust anymore. "What are you waiting for?"

"For him to end his engagement."

"He's still engaged?" Wufei managed.

Duo laughed humourlessly. "Yeah, isn't that a bitch?"

"What are you going to do about it?" Wufei wanted to know.

The other man sat up, squaring his shoulders resolutely. "Give him an ultimatum."

tbc….

A little out of the slump, but still struggling.