Duo's Rat
By Nix Winter
Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing
Notes: It's been a while since I wrote Gundam Wing, but this story occurred to me and I wanted to.
Heero knocked on the door to Duo's room. Their apartment had two rooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a silence that felt like the chill of winter that nurtured the seeds of spring. Duo didn't answer the knock. Heero didn't expect him too.
The door opened slowly. Duo sat on the floor, a bowl of nori crackers next to him and a keyboard on his lap. He looked up, smiled so lightly, a Heero smile, not a Duo one.
The war was gone, but it can leave damage in the strongest of buildings, and strength in buildings thought gutted already. They'd shared the apartment for seven months and Heero had yet to hear Duo say one word.
Heero smiled his reply, blue eyes softened by affection, tolerance. Peace was like that.
Duo bit his lip, lightly. His toes wiggled in white socks and he looked at the monitor.
Heero squatted down, looked at what Duo was looking at. Rat. White and caramel, light colored rats with dark eyes and long tails. Duo's fingers touched the screen, tracing down the length of the one in the center, balancing on a limb.
"Do you want a rat," Heero asked softly.
Duo nodded.
At first Heero had been angry, when he'd first found Duo. Hate he hadn't felt towards other living beings raged. As Duo's body had healed, Heero had reached for something other than rage though. Rebuilding. It takes time and Heero thought, a person has to love what's now, not just wish for what was. Smiling, Heero nodded. "We will go out, together. And we will buy two rats. One for you. One for me."
Violet eyes narrowed. Duo didn't talk anymore. Duo didn't go out of the house during 'day' hours on the colony. Duo studied Heero's face.
Heero thought it was eerie sometimes, the way Duo looked at him, as if he didn't completely remember him, didn't totally know him. Heero did not really want to know what it had been that had cost Duo so much. It was enough for him that Duo was with him now, that there was a trust that went beyond knowing, that brought Duo to his room on bad nights. Sex had never been important to Heero, having been 'deleted' from his programming before he'd ever meet Duo. Duo sleeping in his arms was important to him.
When Duo nodded, then rose to his feet, Heero wasn't sure what to label the feeling. The programming still kicked in from time to time, making his mind more machine like than human. Proscribed emotion. Happy. And like the programmer he was, Heero rewrote the law. Happy with Duo, allowed. He held out his hand. Duo hesitated, then closed his hand around Heero's tightly.
Together, in the middle of the day, they went in search of rats.
By Nix Winter
Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing
Notes: It's been a while since I wrote Gundam Wing, but this story occurred to me and I wanted to.
Heero knocked on the door to Duo's room. Their apartment had two rooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a silence that felt like the chill of winter that nurtured the seeds of spring. Duo didn't answer the knock. Heero didn't expect him too.
The door opened slowly. Duo sat on the floor, a bowl of nori crackers next to him and a keyboard on his lap. He looked up, smiled so lightly, a Heero smile, not a Duo one.
The war was gone, but it can leave damage in the strongest of buildings, and strength in buildings thought gutted already. They'd shared the apartment for seven months and Heero had yet to hear Duo say one word.
Heero smiled his reply, blue eyes softened by affection, tolerance. Peace was like that.
Duo bit his lip, lightly. His toes wiggled in white socks and he looked at the monitor.
Heero squatted down, looked at what Duo was looking at. Rat. White and caramel, light colored rats with dark eyes and long tails. Duo's fingers touched the screen, tracing down the length of the one in the center, balancing on a limb.
"Do you want a rat," Heero asked softly.
Duo nodded.
At first Heero had been angry, when he'd first found Duo. Hate he hadn't felt towards other living beings raged. As Duo's body had healed, Heero had reached for something other than rage though. Rebuilding. It takes time and Heero thought, a person has to love what's now, not just wish for what was. Smiling, Heero nodded. "We will go out, together. And we will buy two rats. One for you. One for me."
Violet eyes narrowed. Duo didn't talk anymore. Duo didn't go out of the house during 'day' hours on the colony. Duo studied Heero's face.
Heero thought it was eerie sometimes, the way Duo looked at him, as if he didn't completely remember him, didn't totally know him. Heero did not really want to know what it had been that had cost Duo so much. It was enough for him that Duo was with him now, that there was a trust that went beyond knowing, that brought Duo to his room on bad nights. Sex had never been important to Heero, having been 'deleted' from his programming before he'd ever meet Duo. Duo sleeping in his arms was important to him.
When Duo nodded, then rose to his feet, Heero wasn't sure what to label the feeling. The programming still kicked in from time to time, making his mind more machine like than human. Proscribed emotion. Happy. And like the programmer he was, Heero rewrote the law. Happy with Duo, allowed. He held out his hand. Duo hesitated, then closed his hand around Heero's tightly.
Together, in the middle of the day, they went in search of rats.
