Warnings: Shounen-ai, language, fluff… bucket loads of it, implied lemon, did I mention fluff…?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the GW characters, but I do own Shiakara and Nihrana. (Wow… no other original characters this chapter! O_o) I don't make any money off of this fic, I only write it because I'm deranged. *smiles sweetly*

Author's notes: Please, please, please forgive any typos – I have my best creative moments at one in the morning and this time is no exception. I predict it will be 2 am by the time I actually get this up. I don't think there are any, but I'm not reading it through a third time. Forgive the fluff, too. I'm the fluffy sort, when I'm not angsting everything up. And go read "A Long, Hard Road" but Twig. It's good. I mean very. Maybe if we all pester her, she'll get the next chapter out. :D And read Rogue11's stuff, because hers is excellent too. Okay. I think that's it. On with the fic!

~ ~ ~

"I can't just hang around here! You said we'd see him in the morning. Well it's the morning, Shiakara, and we're still in our room and Duo's nowhere to be seen!"

It was Quatre again, very, very close to hysterics and Shiakara couldn't fish any words that were appropriate out of her vocabulary, extensive as it was. Her brain just wouldn't work the way she wanted it to, and Quatre's worry was starting to grate on her nerves. What, did he think they really did have Duo chained up the dungeons?! What dungeons, for a start. All they had were a couple of locked rooms to keep those who went far wrong of the ideals of the University, and even then it was only for a short time, never very long. They were sent to a more secure… dungeon as soon as it was possible.

"Duo's not… he's… well he just not here at the moment!" she said exasperatedly after a while of just staring at the distraught faery.

"We can see that," Wu Fei said dryly.

"You're seriously starting to piss me off horse-boy! I can't stand condescension!" Shiakara snarled, whirling on Wu Fei. He simply raised a brow, which only served to annoy her further and she curled her lips back from her teeth, growling in the back of her throat. She laid her ears flat along her head and lowered herself into an aggressive crouch.

"You don't frighten me," Wu Fei said, raising one foreleg and bringing the hoof down on the stone floor with a chiming ring.

"And you don't frighten me, so we're even."

"Should I bother mentioning that this really doesn't help anyone?" Trowa wondered to the room in general.

"No!" Shiakara and Wu Fei both growled, then went back to glaring at each other.

"This is utterly ridiculous…" Tia'ara muttered. She'd been switching back and forth between forms for the last hour to pass the time and see if she could speed up the process any more. By her and Trowa's reckoning, she'd managed to quicken it by a few seconds.

"You're telling me," Noin said with a roll of her eyes. She was as sick of waiting and watching tempers rise as anyone in this room and besides, humans were worse than elves… Duo shouldn't be left here.

"Guys! Shiakara, where is Duo anyway? It seems as though no one even knows!" Quatre again and Shiakara bit. She was sick of him. She was sick of Wu Fei. She was sick of everything!

"No one does know where he is! There? Are you happy? Now you know!"

The others all stared and Shiakara began to get uncomfortable. She really shouldn't have said that… Really. They didn't need to know. It could only make things worse and besides, she should be able to better control herself than that. Damn it…

"No one…?" Quatre whispered.

"No one. Heero's looking for him now," Shiakara replied with a resigned sigh. Now that they knew Heero was looking, she might as well tell them everything. Everything.

"Heero?!" Quatre squealed. "His captor? His captor is the only one looking for him?!"

"No. His master is looking for him. Duo's Heero's mage apprentice. It's Heero's job to take care of him but… there's more than that too…" Shiakara swallowed and would have been chewing her lip to bits with nervousness were she a human.

"More…?" wondered someone, Shiakara wasn't exactly sure who.

Blunt. That might work. It's better than beating around the bush and then all I have to deal with is the aftermath but… maybe it would be better to ease them into it more slowly? But how? That means thinking of more words and I'm thinking about as well as a brick at the moment… So then, blunt… but then it'll be even more of a shock and the aftermath will be even worse… So… ease them into it? But – oh fuck it!

"They're lovers."

All she got for that was a lot of confused blinking, so she tried again.

"Heero and Duo are lovers."

Still nothing. Silence and blinking and perhaps a little squeak from Quatre… maybe…

"Heero and Duo slept together and, once Heero gets his act together, will likely do the same again. They're lovers. They're both gay. Well, no that's not true. Duo's bi. Heero's gay. But anyway, they're together and they slept together. They bathed together too, but that's not the point. They've kissed and they've slept together and – I'm rambling. Oh boy am I rambling… I have a tendency to ramble when I'm nervous and, right now, I'm really nervous because I knew this news would be hard for you to take and plus, I really, really didn't want to be the one to tell you. Duo should have told you himself, but I just thought… well it kinda just came out and so there it is. What – I'm rambling!" At that, Shiakara brought her teeth firmly together with a sharp click and looked hard at the others.

They were all staring at her in shock.

"Shit…"

* * *

"I think we really need to talk…" Heero spoke softly, an unmistakable edge of pleading to his voice as he quietly shut the door behind him – once he'd saved Duo's life of course.

"I think you said everything you needed to say when you walked away from me," Duo replied, looking at some point far off outside the window instead of looking at the mage.

Heero didn't know what to say. He was so bad with words and the feelings inside of him were only complicating matters. He was confused and Milliardo… How long, how many nights had he spent imagining himself with Milliardo Peacecraft and knowing, knowing he would never get to touch? But now Milliardo was making moves on him and smiling at him and noticing him!

And yet… as he studied Duo's profile, the unmistakable mark of tears recently shed adorning his cheeks, tears Heero knew he had caused, something powerful moved inside of him and reached longingly for the elf. That something reminded him of how perfect it had felt to possess Duo and know that the elf possessed him in return. It whispered of the feel of Duo's hair sliding between his fingers, of the sound of Duo whispering his name. Finally it reminded him of how it had felt to fall asleep wrapped around the elf and wake up the same way, albeit with a pissy sorcerer muttering into his mind. It didn't matter, the feeling was still there. The knowledge of perfection. The knowledge that, had he the chance, he would relive that moment over and over for the rest of his life – for the rest of eternity, even.

But of course, as was typical of him, he couldn't put that into words.

"I… Duo… I…"

"Spit it out," Duo snarled unfeelingly and Heero visibly flinched, though Duo, still staring at that far off point, didn't see it.

"I'm sorry…" It was pitiful. It was far less than what he wanted to say. It was so pale in comparison to what he was feeling.

"Yeah, right."

Duo closed his eyes and didn't let the threatening tears taste freedom. He wanted so badly to slip of the windowsill, walk over to Heero, throw his arms around the mage's neck and beg him to forget Milliardo. His pride wouldn't allow it, was incensed at the very thought of it, but the want was there nonetheless.

Heero swallowed and took two steps towards Duo, stumbling over a small stack of books he hadn't seen, eyes fixed on the elf as they were. He caught himself and found his feet again, then didn't know what to do with his hands. He opted for folding them behind his back. He felt like a child.

"Duo… Duo, you know… I… I'm not good with words or… or talking about… how I feel. You know that. Please just… bear with me and give me a chance."

"I'm listening…" Duo said softly, and Heero wondered if he was imagining the tremor in his apprentice's voice.

"I've wanted Milliardo for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was old enough to understand… those things… I knew what I was like and what I wanted and I… I wanted Milliardo. But I… I knew I could never have him… Then… then he kissed me and… and things were different… Then he was taken away and… there was you…"

Duo thought for certain he heard his heart snap in two at those words. He had only been a substitute all along. A replacement for something Heero thought he would never get back. He'd thought Milliardo was gone forever, so he'd used Duo to drown his sorrows and now… now that Milliardo was back, there was no need for the elf. Heero had his human love back…

"I see…" Duo whispered and Heero's head snapped up from where he'd been staring at Duo's soft boot, trying to gather himself to continue.

"You… you do…?" Hope bloomed in Heero's heart and he didn't care that he sounded like a pathetic little schoolboy begging for the attentions of the teacher.

"Yeah." Duo turned to face him and, with the newly risen sun behind his head, the elf looked nothing short of an angel, until he spoke. His voice was a broken, hurt thing and Heero's heart shuddered in his chest to hear it. "It's Milliardo you want. It's always been Milliardo you wanted. I was just a convenient fuck. Thanks for clearing that up. You can go now."

"No… Duo, no! That's not-"

"Yeah, it is. I understand Heero, really I do. I'm an elf. He's a human. It's all that simple."

"You know," Heero said, calming his voice and managing, somehow, to sound nonchalant. "I don't think it's me who has race issues."

"What?! How dare you! You're the one flipping me off and now you attack me? That's below the belt, Heero! Master! Mage! Human! I don't know what to call you anymore!"

"Love."

Duo flinched at the single word and he made a soft sound of utter pain, his hands balling into fists at his sides. He shook his head.

"I don't want to…"

"Don't want to what?" Heero wondered, taking another couple of steps towards Duo.

"It hurts."

"Hurts?"

Duo nodded and Heero crossed the last two steps to touch his shoulder, only to have him flinch away.

"Please… don't…" Duo whispered.

"Why?"

"Because… Because I love you and… I-I can't handle that… y-you l-love Milliardo… very well. And… a-and having you touch me again… it'll only make me want what I can't have even more… And loving you hurts and I don't want to love you!"

"Duo…" Heero reached out and carefully turned Duo's face to meet his eyes. "I was trying to tell you that having Milliardo come back confused what I felt, but it never changed it. I just couldn't… find it. Duo… I love you, too."

Duo stared at him for a long time, then blinked.

"I… you… I… Heero… you…?"

Heero nodded.

"Yes."

Duo burst into tears, throwing his arms around the mage's neck and fairly sobbing into his shoulder. It was really the last thing Heero expected, but he recovered rather well, gently wrapping one arm around Duo's shoulders and the other around his waist and holding him close.

Duo had done a lot of crying over the course of the night and he didn't have many tears left, so it didn't last long. However, when it was done, he couldn't summon the courage to lift his head, for fear Heero would vanish and he'd be alone again, Milliardo winning the prize. As though sensing his thoughts, Heero tightened his hold on the elf's waist, using the other hand to tug on Duo's braid until the apprentice was forced to lift his head, laughing a little at Heero's method of getting him to look up despite himself.

"I… I…"

It was all Duo could manage and he thought it was better that Heero talked to him without words, carefully capturing his trembling lips for a gentle, infinitely tender kiss.

~I'm sorry…~ he whispered through Duo's mind as his tongue sought and found willing entrance to the elf's mouth.

~It's forgotten already,~ Duo replied, his eyes slipping shut as he clung to Heero.

~I love you.~

~I love you.~

I love you.

* * *

Milliardo paced agitatedly in his room, not understanding why it was no one would listen to him. Well, no one was probably an exaggeration. Just almost no one! Everyone was so happy and proud of themselves that they'd rescued him that they wouldn't even listen to him!

Nihrana had left with the rise of the sun, his appointment still standing, with a promise to return along with his Iana'alee as soon as it could be arranged. Heero, he couldn't find, nor Duo, nor Shiakara or any of that group that was here to 'rescue' their elf friend. Rescue… pah! From what?

Milliardo had tried talking to the Head Mage, but he had been too busy organising his welcome back feast to listen to him. He'd tried then the new Overseer of University Defences, who was too busy Overseeing Defence to bother preparing for attack. So then he'd tried the head of the Battle Magery department, only to be given the cold shoulder because he "was about as good with battle magery as a bird was at giving milk".

So now, here he was, back in his room, chafing at the bit because he knew an attack would happen in the next couple of days and there was nothing he could do about it. If he could just find Heero or… or… someone who would get behind him and make people see sense, then maybe they could get things happening. For the hundredth time, he tried Telepathy.

~Heero…? Heero? Heero!~

~There's an unwritten rule, Milliardo. It says "thou shalt interrupt Heero at the worst possible time". Or at least, that's my theory… That's twice in… six hours. What do you want?~ came Heero's reply and Milliardo was surprised to find it was rather waspish.

~I… uh…~ Milliardo halted and pulled himself back together, then tried again. ~Are you very busy?~ he wondered sweetly.

~Yes, actually I-~ The thought cut off and Milliardo felt something move behind Heero's shielding.

~Heero…?~

~J-Just hang on for… for one minute, okay?~

This time it was unmistakable. A definite sense of utter pleasure leaked through tight shielding and Milliardo blinked, then reached out for any other minds in Heero's vicinity.

~I never would have pegged you for a voyeur, Milliardo,~ came a sprightly voice with a mental giggle.

~Duo?!~

~Come on Milliardo, give us a little privacy. We're nearly-~ And Duo lost his grasp of coherent thought, leaving Milliardo without any doubt as to what was going on or, more precisely, what had just happened.

~Now, what was it you wanted…?~ Heero wondered languidly.

~I reckon he's just a pervert, you know…~ Duo put in with equal languidness.

~I… I…~

~I got the prize, Peacecraft,~ Duo sent privately so Heero couldn't hear. ~And you'll know it if you put your hands on him ever again. We elves are quiet – we can sneak up even behind a Seer and drop him on his ass before he even knows we're there…~ Threat laid and turf claimed, Duo backed off, leaving Milliardo to tell Heero whatever it was he wanted to tell him whilst he hunted about for one of his robes.

"Man, Heero! You're room is a damn pigsty, I swear. How do you find anything in here? Geez! And don't go blaming it on me because this isn't even my part of the rooms, remember? This is all your junk. Look at that. Why is there a single dirty sock in with all these clean ones? Oh yuck! Heero! Don't you know what dirty washing looks like? And… Under here, this… What is this anyway? Eye of newt…? Wow… I always thought that was just a – oh, no wait… It's a grape. Ew… Do you have somewhere I can chuck this? I mean, that's just gross. What's with – Heero…?" Duo cut himself off as he lifted his head and saw the look on Heero's face.

The mage was chewing his lip, one hand tangled tight in the bed sheets, which were of a colour with his face at the moment – white. His eyes were wide and he looked like he'd seen a ghost as he stared at nothing at all.

"Heero…?" Duo murmured.

"This… My gods…" was all Heero could manage.

~Milliardo? What-~ Duo started, hoping to get the story off Milliardo and the Seer didn't disappoint. He cut Duo off.

~Treize Khushrenada is going to trigger a spell-sphere within the next couple of days. He's going to kill every mage on this planet and it won't be swift and it won't be painless. It's going to take a very, very long time and it's going to hurt. He told me it was all for money – he has the antidote and he's going to charge like a wounded bull for it – but I think there's more to it than that that he wasn't telling me. At any rate, things aren't good.~

~Can't we shield from it or… or… go deep underground or something?~ Duo replied, sure the colour had drained out of his face too.

~There's no way to escape it. Why else do you think Heero's so frightened? If there were a way around it, we'd know it, but there isn't. We will all die.~

~I call a meeting. The dining hall. Now. This is urgent and it cannot wait. Every mage is to drop what they're doing and get there now, no matter what. This is more important even than the loss of Milliardo was.~

It was Heero's mindvoice, strong and calm, no matter that they were staring death in the face. He seemed to have recovered and he wasn't white anymore. He found and donned a set of clean robes and threw one at Duo, who scrambled into them and, with a wave of his hand, braided his hair, the gold chain once more taking its place there. Heero smiled at that, though barely, then the two of them set off for the dining hall, in the middle of a mass of mages and apprentices all heading the same way.

They ran into Shiakara and her charges somewhere along the way and it took a moment for Duo to realise what it was that had just jumped on him and was hugging him fiercely.

"Q-Quatre?!" he cried before delighted grin spread across his face. "Trowa! 'Fei! You came for me?"

"She's lying, right? She has to be lying! It can't be true! You can't be… with… and… She's lying right?" Quatre babbled and Duo stared at him then, with a mental note to Heero, who nodded, pulled the mismatched band into a side room, Tia'ara and Noin too.

"Now… what are you talking about?" Duo asked with a laugh in his voice, ecstatic to see them here.

"Shiakara… the OtherKin… she said… She told us… that…" Quatre swallowed.

"That winged dog told us you and your kidnapper are lovers," Wu Fei supplied bluntly, tossing his head.

"Winged…?" Duo trailed off and laughed. "I'm guessing you didn't get on with Shiakara, huh, 'Fei?"

"Wu Fei!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"But… the winged d – I mean Shiakara, she's lying, right?" Quatre whispered, clutching his wand.

"Uh… Well… um… not… not really."

Duo swore he could hear the blinking, since no one said anything and no one did anything but blink. He looked from one to the other to the next to the next until he'd eyeballed everyone at least twice, and still all there was, was blinking.

"Uh-" he started, and it was as if that one tiny sound had broken some sort of trance that they'd all fallen under. Everyone spoke at once.

"But you're not!"

"You never!"

"Since when?!"

"You can't be!"

"He's a!"

No one made it through their sentences because they realised everyone else was talking and silenced themselves again. It was Quatre who finally, tentatively, quietly broke the silence.

"You're not gay…" he whispered.

"No… No, I'm not," Duo affirmed, fiddling nervously with his braid.

"Then how…?"

"Why…?

"When…?"

Duo closed his eyes.

"Am I going to have to make you all raise your hands when you want to talk?" he wondered wryly.

They shook their heads and looked at one another until Quatre again broke the silence.

"If you're not… then how…?"

Duo knew what he meant and the elf sighed as he perched on the edge of a dusty old desk, absently wondering how long it had been since anyone had entered this room. He looked at a spot on the floor as he spoke.

"I'm… I-I'm bi… Or, that's what Shiakara calls it anyway. I… like… both… b-both men and women. Only… I've… I've actually fallen in love with… a-a-a man…" Duo could say no more. His stomach was getting too acrobatic for him to be able to think straight enough to form words and the silence was stretching yet again into something very uncomfortable.

"Heero?"

Duo looked up, meeting the eyes of the pantherin, his friend, who had spoken, and nodded. Trowa only smiled gently, understanding in his slitted eyes, and nodded in return.

"Be thankful he loves you back," the pantherin murmured.

"How do you know…?" Duo wondered softly, his eyes never leaving Trowa's.

"It was there in his eyes when he looked at you. Even for just a second. I'm happy for you."

Duo smiled, relieved that at least one of his friends wasn't going to never speak to him again.

"You… he… I… you…"

"Quatre has an astounding grasp of single-syllable words," Wu Fei said wryly as the faery stammered away. "At least this will get you out of my hair."

"Gee, I'm glad I have your approval, 'Fei," Duo said sarcastically, but out of habit, he'd learned to read Wu Fei's eyes and his body language, the tone of his voice and not the actual words, and he knew the centaur was happy for him, in his own strange way.

"D-D-Duo…"

"And he knows my name too! Wow!" Duo said playfully, poking Quatre in the side.

Quatre merely stared.

"Quatre, don't look so shocked. You saw it just as well as I so many times. I know you know what I'm talking about. We knew. We knew," Trowa murmured, lightly touching the faery's shoulder.

Quatre blinked and looked up at the taller boy, meeting his eyes for a long time before he finally nodded.

"I'm sorry, Duo, I just never… Well, it's a shock and… and… and he's a… human!"

"Yeah… but he's a mage too, and a person, and my lover and the man I love. It doesn't matter to me anymore that his ears aren't pointed and he can't see as far as I can. I… I love him."

Quatre nodded again and smiled a little, obviously still shocked. He was unwilling, however, to lose a friend, no matter that it made no sense to him what had happened or how it had happened. If Duo was happy – and he was, Quatre could feel it oozing out of him – then the faery was happy and that was all that mattered.

"Um… I do not mean to be rude but… I was wondering why it is every person was heading in the one direction? Is there an emergency? Should we get out of the building? I do not know about anyone else, but I do not want to get stuck in a burning building… or… or something and Trowa is too valuable. If I were to lose him they would-"

"I can take care of myself you know, Tia'ara," Trowa murmured wryly.

"Oh shit! We have to go!" Duo cried. "I'll explain on the way."

That said, he darted out the door, evidently just expecting everyone else to follow him. Luckily enough, they did, though they had no idea what for or why they were doing it at a run.

They didn't know their friend, his lover and every other mage on the planet was doomed to a painful death…

~ ~ ~

Author's notes: Well I did warn you about the fluff, did I not? Yay! Heero and Duo are happy with one another again and Duo's friends don't hate him like he thought they would. :D But Treize is still At Large. Is every mage going to die?! Dun dun duuuuuun!