Title: Arcanum
Author: Retep
Pairings: 3x2
Rating: R...but not now...later. I'll warn ya
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and I probably wouldn't know what to do with it if I did. No money is made on my part...wow that is depressing...yet true.
Feedback: If you have the time to write it, I have the time to read it.
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After what seemed like a never ending continuation of staircases, Duo finally reached the 19th floor. Trowa and Wufei were waiting at the door of the apartment, and Duo trudged over to them as he tried to regain his breath. 'I need to start working out, I must be out of shape,' Duo thought, noticing that he was significantly worse for wear than Wufei or Trowa.
"What's the matter Maxwell, out of shape or something?" Wufei was apparently a mind reader.
Duo decided not to bother answering Wufei, and instead opted for making a dramatic show of collapsing onto the floor and gasping for air. Wufei rolled his eyes and stretched out a hand to help Duo up while saying, "You'll get used to it, everyone does."
Duo smacked away Wufei's hand, "I don't *wheez* need any *wheez* of your damn *wheez* pity."
Trowa grabbed Duo and hauled him up, "You should have been in the theater rather than on the battlefield. You can deliver your death scene inside the apartment, ok?"
Duo couldn't help but notice Trowa's strength; he had lifted him up like he didn't weigh anything at all. The guy didn't look that strong, of course he couldn't really tell seeing as Trowa was fully clothed. He felt his face start to heat up as his mind once again went into the gutter and he wondered exactly what Trowa looked like underneath the uniform he was wearing.
"Duo you look flushed, are you going to be all right?" Trowa asked, not letting go of Duo's shoulders.
"Um…yeah, no problem, like Wufei said I'm a little out of shape." Duo really hated that he had to agree with Wufei's stupid comment just to get Trowa to stop looking concerned. 'How am I going to survive living with this guy?' he thought.
Wufei knocked on the door, a sound which was promptly followed by loud crashing noises coming from the inside of the apartment. "The hell…?" Duo said as they backed away from the door. Before they got more than a couple of steps away the door was flung open. "Aaaaagh!!" Duo cried as an unknown force knocked him down.
"Damn't Winner! You're going to give him a concussion!" he heard Wufei shout.
Duo looked up at the person hovering over him, and true enough it was Quatre who had knocked him down. Quatre grinned sheepishly, "Sorry about that Duo, I'm just so glad to see that you're all right. You were all running late and I got worried, so I guess I got a little too excited when I heard the knock."
Trowa stuck his head inside the apartment, "I'll say, it looks like you took down half our apartment in your rush to the door."
"I'm happy to see you too Quat…" Duo gasped out, "But your kind of *cough* crushing my chest."
"Oops…sorry," Quatre got off of Duo and dusted himself off. "Well come on inside Duo…where is your luggage?"
"Still at the damn airport, we had to ditch it when a few of my former squad buddies showed up."
"Well, we look about the same size. You can use some of my stuff until we can get yours back." Quatre said as he led Duo into the apartment.
Duo looked around the apartment, 'Hell and I thought that I was a slob. I can't believe these guys life like this,' he thought. There were dirty pots and pans all over the counter of the small kitchen, and there were paper scattered all over the adjoining living room. The only furniture in the two rooms was a small television, a couch, a couple of chairs. "So I see that you guys are minimalist….sloppy minimalist." Duo observed aloud.
"Winner!" Wufei shouted, causing all three of them to jump, "This place is a mess! What the hell have you been doing?"
"Umm….cooking?" Quatre's response was given in the form of a question.
"That explains the pots and the peculiar smell, but it doesn't explain why it looks like the eight circle of hell!"
"Calm down Wufei…I was rushing to the door and I guess I knocked over some papers."
"I'm not cleaning this up Winner."
"No one asked you too," Quatre stated and stuck his tongue out at Wufei.
Trowa turned to Duo who was watching Quatre and Wufei in awe. They were worse than him and Trowa and the chances of all of them surviving living together were getting more and more slim. The Organization probably wouldn't have to bother sending goons after him; this was shaping up to be "death by headache."
"Don't worry, they're only like this sixty percent of the time," Trowa murmured to Duo as the argument between Wufei and Quatre continued on. "It's actually kind of cute when you get past…" Trowa raised his voice and glared at Wufei and Quatre, "how damn obnoxious it is!" Trowa's exclamation seemed to do the trick, Quatre and Wufei sat down in opposite chairs, obviously still ticked off, but quiet for the time being. "That's better," Trowa continued, "Maybe now we can get down to business. Have a seat Duo, something tells me that this is going to be a long night." Duo sat down on the couch, and Trowa leaned up against the wall before he spoke again, "So here is how it goes, we are going to tell you what we know and I hope that you can fill in the blanks for us."
"There are a lot of blanks," Quatre chimed in.
"I figured, since you went through all of the trouble of bringing me here," Duo said as he stretched out on the couch. "All right then boys, lets see how good your detective work is….what do you know?"
"Enough to be worried, I don't think any of us have been thinking about anything else lately, I guess that the apartment kind of reflects that," Wufei stated as he looked around and shrugged. "We know that the main headquarters for the Organization is on L-1, but that they also have stations on L-2 and L-3."
"You left out Earth, Wufei," Duo interrupted.
"They're already on Earth!?" Quatre exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock.
"You better believe it Quat. However, the station is small, and there aren't a lot of troops down there. Last time I checked they were still busy with the recruiting process, so I don't think that they are going to be smuggling weapons in there anytime soon. That is usually how it goes: stage one is setting up a base, stage two is recruiting troops, stage three is smuggling in weapons, and then the final part of the plan is to take out key structures in the government which causes a state of anarchy among the people. It is in this anarchy that the Organization steps up and volunteers itself as a 'temporary' government, while blaming the previous government for not being able to protect the colony from 'terrorists.' The people will be in such a state distress that they will view the Organization as a sort of knight in shining armor. By the time the citizens come to their senses, it will be too late, and the Organization will have complete control." Duo stated all of this very casually like he was talking about the weather.
"How can you be so calm about this Duo? They are trying to wreck everything that we fought for!" Quatre exclaimed
"Everything we fought for?" Duo said venomously as he stood up off the couch and began pacing the room. "Seriously Quat don't make me laugh! You work for the government of L-1 right now and I am sure that you have some clue how things are being run. I wasn't out there risking me life so that the rich could become richer and the poor could be left out on the streets, and that is exactly what is going on right now! I'll admit that the Organization is ruthless, but as least they are trying to change the way things are!"
Wufei shot up out of his seat and moved swiftly towards Duo, pushing him up against the nearest wall. "Are you defending them? They killed my men! And yes, the government has its problems, but where the hell do you get off playing God and causing complete chaos just because of a few defects!"
Duo got right back in Wufei's face, "A few defects? What the hell would you know; you have never been out on the street wondering where your next meal is coming from, while the government was trying to sweep you under a rug because street rats are bad for the tourism business."
Trowa's soft voice managed to startle both Duo and Wufei, "Duo…were you on the streets again after the war? Is that why you joined the Organization?"
Wufei let go of Duo, "Why didn't you come to one of us? Why did you go to them?"
Duo's voice had a tone of defeat to it, "After the scavenging business went south, I guess I was a little 'disenchanted' with life. I spent a couple nights on the streets while I was trying to figure things out. I made some friends, and life actually wasn't so bad for a while. But then winter was coming along and it was time to find a new deal. It was about that time that I heard about the Organization, and I figured I'd give it a shot. It made sense at the time I guess I have always been a bit of an anarchist at heart, but the measures that they were willing to take…" Duo paused to shrug, "I didn't mind smuggling weapons, or even killing people who were members of rival groups, but I wasn't keen on taking innocent lives so I screwed up a mission. That's when I got out and that's when you guys showed up," Duo finished.
"I'm sorry Maxwell, "I didn't know." Wufei said softly.
"That's all right, I shouldn't have gone off like that…it's just been a real long fucking day y'know."
"I think we should call it a night then," Quatre said quietly, "You've already been through a lot. We can finish talking tomorrow during business hours." He stood up and moved towards the small hallway in the back, and pointed to the left. "That's your bedroom in there, it's not the most comfortable of beds, but it's pretty big."
"You're giving him my room? Where the hell am I going to sleep?" Wufei snapped and Duo was relieved that the mood had shifted from solemn to annoyed. Annoyed he could deal with.
"Take the other bed in Quatre's room that I sleep on," Trowa said, "I'll take the couch."
"So I'm Winners roommate now?" Wufei turned to Duo, "I hope that you appreciate the supreme sacrifice that I am making for your comfort Maxwell."
"Noted!" Duo said cheerfully.
"All right then, hang out here for a minute while we move Wufei's stuff ok?" Quatre grinned at Wufei's agitated look.
"Sounds good," Duo said as he watched Wufei and Quatre move towards the backrooms. All of a sudden he became very aware of Trowa watching him. "Trowa, are you just going to stand there all night staring at me?"
"I was considering it."
"Something on your mind?"
"There is a lot on my mind Duo," he kept his gaze fixed on Duo as he approached him, stopping less then an arm length away, "like why your scavenging business went down hill, and why you were so 'disenchanted with life' as you say."
"Do we really have to do this Trowa?" Duo asked with a sigh.
"Yes we do, if you want me to trust you then I need to understand completely why you joined up with the Organization. But I think that I already have a clue as to what the source of all your problems was."
Duo's stomach jumped, "You do?"
Trowa lowered his voice to a whisper, "It was Heero wasn't it?"
"How the hell do you know about that?" Duo whispered back harshly.
"I'm a pretty good detective it seems. Duo, you shouldn't have let it get to you so bad, you almost lost your life over a stupid crush."
Quatre's voice traveled out of the backroom, "Duo, your room is ready!"
"Be there in a second Quat!" Duo called back before whispering to Trowa, "I felt very strongly for him, I couldn't help it. He turned me down; I guess I just didn't care about anything. But I'm sure you have no clue what I am talking about do you?"
Trowa's look grew even more intense making Duo so uncomfortable that he broke eye contact by looking down at the floor. Trowa lightly grabbed Duo's chin, tilting his head up so that they once again met eyes. "I know exactly what you're talking about."
"Maxwell, get some sleep! We've got a long day tomorrow."
Trowa dropped his hand from Duo's chin and stepped back, "Good night Duo."
"Good night," Duo made for his bedroom, praying that his legs didn't give out from underneath him. He could feel Trowa's eyes on him the whole way to his room. 'Shit, he thought, something tells me I'm not going to be getting a lot of sleep tonight."
All right that's one more Chapter down. The action will be picking up from here. Let me know what you think.
-Retep