Duo's Rat: Concert
By Nix Winter
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. Alas.
Note: This story is still part of the Duo's Rat series. I have the next couple days off and intend to write lots of therapeutic fan fic! A friend of mine entered The Trap into a fan fic contest at the con I just got back from and I'm told it won 'best drama'.
One
The bruising had disappeared from Duos face. The division in Heero was anything other than faded. Relena had taken them both in hand, giving them adjoining apartments in her palace. She kept the reporters away from them, even as she painted them as the greatest heroes since Nelson Mandela.
Heero still hadn't forgiven her for planning Duo's funeral, but Kyo liked her. Once she'd caught Heero giving Duo secret 'kitten eyes' and she'd asked him if she should tell the world that Duo was a girl. Heero was still angry over that too, though Kyo didn't understand why. To Kyo it didn't make any difference, but Duo did kind of look like a girl. He didn't smell like a girl though. He smelled a little like hydraulic fluid, a little like strawberries, and something else sweet that Heero assured Kyo was only found near Duo.
Relena smelled more like a girl, flowers and lilac lingering to her fine linen suits. But she'd given them tickets to see Squall. Heero argued that this was not a good time for them to attend a rock concert. Squall was a Japanese group playing for the Peace Celebration. The world celebrated, and that in itself had come so quickly that Heero didn't trust it nor truly understand it. The world just wasn't going to make sense again until Duo spoke out loud that it made sense.
The tickets had been left with them, anyway. When Heero had seen Duo fingering the tickets, that's when their fate was sealed. They were going to a concert. Duo's smiles had slipped away like his voice. Oh there were those smiles that he gave when someone was looking, many smiles for other people's comfort, but Heero watched him, covertly, overtly, all the time. When the corner of Duo's mouth had lifted, lip between his teeth, when he thought no one watched him, Heero would have become a rock star to bring that smile into full bloom.
They were going to be mobbed, Heero was sure. Scenes of raving fan girls screaming Duo's name danced around in Heero's mind. Duo was the most beautiful human in the Earth Sphere and his face had been everywhere as a hero of the peace. Videogame artists would be throwing themselves at Duo's feet. Duo would be taken up on stage and he'd smile and dance with the beautiful singer girl of Squall. Heero chewed the inside of his cheek. Kyo threw the image of Duo in a green velvet princess dress up into their shared mental space and Heero threw the mental brakes on. The images were nothing more than a daymare, no more value than dreams brought on by food poisoning.
Duo's fingers touching Heero's knee lightly sent the daymares back where all dark thoughts should stay, brought Heero's mind back to the car. Trowa's eyes wandered from the road, checking on them both, for just a second. He was the most comfortable with Duo's silence, Heero thought. It was as if they could communicate still, as if they were still connected. Sitting right next to Duo in the car, he could still feel the hole in his life, a hole filled with a gnawing loneliness.
Emotions had never been a problem for Heero before. For Kyo, sure, but that was Kyo's job, to guard the soul. For Heero, the mission programming had always given him authority to disassociate from his emotions. That programming was deeply auditory. Nothing written, when it could not be backed up with Duo's voice, could trigger a mission in Heero. This left him stranded, running on Duo's last mission directive… to do what he thought was right. It was hard to know what was right, what wasn't, and nothing could hold back the growing little fears.
His fears were in full force when they arrived at the theater. So many people, so many cars, no visible security or order to the way the people moved, no objective to achieve, and the situation made alarms scream for Heero. There could be assassins who didn't want peace, who could try to hurt Duo, or competing sides who might try to take him from Relena's control.
Inside, Heero and Kyo made rapid swaps to deal with the overwhelming emotion and conflicting desires. Kyo now wanted to go to the concert. Quatre had told him that it was alright to scream and dance and jump and yell as loud as he could while at the concert and Kyo wanted that very much. Heero wasn't sure that he wouldn't be better off if he didn't just strangle his internal self.
Duo took hold of his hand, and suddenly both of Heero and Kyo were aligned, both together, both looking at Duo from a mixed mind, an older emotional Heero-Kyo. Duo turned his hand over and wrote, "Do you want to go home?"
Heero-Kyo shook his head. Duo's face was so pale, but so perfect without the dark bruising that had been around his face. Strands of dark brown hair were pulled free from his braid and framed his face. They glittered with some kind of gel. Glitter also painted light around Duo's amethyst eyes. Heero's heart beat quicker, but not with fear.
Duo's shirt was tight, shiny black with a matte skull pressed on it. The shirt was tight enough to show the tight curves of Duo's chest and Heero's breath caught in his throat. Duo was definitely not a girl. Kyo's confusion about why that mattered got pushed down even as Heero's cheeks turned pink. As Duo sat there blinking, Heero jumped out of the now parked car and held the door, eyes moving from Duo, to the ground, back to Duo.
Trowa smirked. Duo rolled his eyes and that communication thing between those two flashed back and forth so that Heero felt another new feeling, like something aggressive that made him want to punch Trowa. Kyo swore that wasn't his feeling. He didn't want to hit the penguin man.
A rush of scent, a little spicy, a little exotic flowed with Duo and all of a sudden Heero realized that Duo's hair was down, not braided. Duo had been waiting in the car when Heero had gotten there, and lush brown flowed around him as he stood, tarnished moonlight around the black leather painted to Duo's body, and then it was Heero holding his lip between his teeth.
He wished he knew what he was supposed to do! In his mind he had programmed behaviors for sexuality and seduction, for friendship, for most situations, but he couldn't call any of those. Those required a mission objective, so he stood there, cheeks burning, and didn't even see Duo's hand coming. Slender, caloused fingers caressed his cheek and he didn't know what he should do, only that he was doing what he was. "Are you happy to be here? You look very nice, Mr. Maxwell."
The smirk was pure Duo, suggesting wicked pranks, suggested a playfulness that had always grated on Heero's nerves, but now he knew why. Duo took risks he didn't need to, put himself at risk, and then, the hand against his cheek was a risk in a way. Heero smiled, let the past go for the moment, and found himself looking down at the ground. A dark voice whispered in his mind that the distance between Duo and him was just too far. Without Duo's voice, there could be no connection, and nothing but growing solitude and loss.
The car's locks clicked shut, and Heero put on a good face for Duo, smiling even. Maybe Duo would meet someone here who could make him smile.
Duo leaned forward, hair falling around him, nearly touching the ground. He grinned and it was almost like old times. Heero couldn't read the emotion in Duo's eyes though, couldn't read the expression on his face.
'Heero's too slow. I know what's going on. Duo likes Trowa,' Kyo thought, confused about why that should make Heero's feet heavier to pick up.
