By Wolf Girl
Disclaimer: I do not have any sort of ownership over the characters or the premise of Gundam Wing. I do not make any sort of profit off of this story.
Warnings: AU, Yaoi, minor Relena bastardization, OOC Heero (not stoic enough, please forgive me).
AN Warning: Unfortunately, my grammar and punctuation usage is a weird mix of American and British styles... Enough said.
Pairings: R+1, 13+2, 1x2x1, others...
Italics thought (unless obviously otherwise.)
Author's Notes: This got up a lot faster. It's not a record, but it works! School is back in, so the next one might be a while. I have finished writing the outline though, so not too long. Oh yeah, and I posted this last night with a couple errors, so here's the new version now, on the 10th, at 8:45AM.
Fourteen: Lachrymose
"And that's why I've decided to go to an art college in New York. I can use the scholarship money and the money I got from selling the painting-- "
"You sold the painting?" His parents asked, shocked. "We didn't even get to see it!"
Relena stared at him as if he had grown another head. "You sold the painting? You said it wasn't for sale."
"Yes. He sold it." Heero affirmed, glaring at Duo to keep him from saying anything else. Relena fell silent. Duo looked at Heero for a moment, then continued.
"Anyway, I can use the money I got from selling the painting to help pay for college. And I got offers on some other paintings, so I can use that money too."
Duo's parents chattered happily about Duo's decision. Relena looked at him in a sneakily pleased manner, but still offered her congratulations. On the other side of the long dining table, Heero just stared at him in shock.
Duo refused to make eye contact.
Relena sat down on the edge of his bed, making it dip significantly. "You sold Heero the painting," she announced. "I saw it in his room."
"Yes." Why were you in his room?
"And you're leaving to go to college." Relena continued.
"Yes. Get out of my room." Duo groaned, too sad to bother much. I'm leaving my life.
"You made a good decision. Because, you know, after college, Heero won't want to have a painter living with him, a hippy artist to introduce to his friends and bosses. He'll want some nice girl who'll make things nice for him."
Duo looked up at Relena through tear-clouded eyes.
"You weren't meant to be. I mean, you couldn't keep Hilde, or any of your other girlfriends, so you decided to be gay instead. That's how you are. Heero's too good for you. Even for me, though I am the best he'll find here in this town. That's why he picked me. But he has goals and I know he'll achieve them. Maybe he'll come back to me."
Duo started. "I have dreams too." Grand dreams.
"None of them involve living with anyone else, do they? A painter like you has to be alone to succeed. There's no room for anyone else in your future. You'll just make him unhappy." Relena stood up. "I'm going to my room. When you quit crying, you know what you need to do."
Duo sat up.
"Duo, I need to tell you something." Heero said.
"There isn't anything to say." Duo turned away. He opened the closet door and took a jacket off of a hanger.
"When we were younger, we were very close. We were best friends, and starting to be something else. I know we never talk about this."
"We don't," Duo acknowledged stiffly. He continued pulling on his jacket.
"Then something happened—You need to know. That time you were sick and Relena had her birthday party. We—we played truth or dare. And I had to kiss Wufei. Relena took a Polaroid of us kissing. Then she blackmailed me with the photo. She said she'd show you if I didn't hang out with her." Heero realized how lame it was all starting to sound. "I didn't want to hurt you. I knew you had feelings for me, and we were so young. I hung out with her, and you grew so distant, then you moved away. When you left, you didn't return my letters or calls, and I just—I started to depend on Relena for friendship. I—I don't talk much."
Heero took a deep breath. "And when you came home for breaks, you avoided me, and Relena—she got you to hate me. I couldn't stand to see the hurt in your eyes, so I stopped trying. So much had changed in two years." Heero looked at the floor.
"You pushed me away, then when I came back from school, you always hung out with her, and never me. What was I supposed to think? And then when I was expelled I come back to find you going out with my sister. You were hitting on me while dating my sister. I didn't know what to think." Duo stopped talking, unable to continue.
"That night—when we—I stopped because I felt so guilty because of what had happened. Then I saw your painting. Duo, I'll always wait for you."
"I don't want you to wait for me. I'll ruin your plans. We aren't meant for each other. If we let what happened before come between us, how will we fare when our paths part? You won't have room for me in your goals. I'll just get in your way."
"Have you been talking to Relena?" Heero's hands were shaking in clenched fists.
"Yes, but for once she's helped me understand something." Duo looked back at him steadfastly. Heero started to say something. "You should leave." He turned away.
Heero stormed out. Duo ran up to his room and threw himself on his bed, not trying to hold back the tears anymore. Somehow, nothing had gotten any better.
There was yelling downstairs, or rather, Relena yelling and someone else talking in a loud, deep voice. A resounding crack drifted up the stairwell and into his room.
Duo sat up as a wailing Relena ran past his open door. He sat up. Then there was the slam of a door, judging by the loud sound of it, the front door.
Duo moped. He moped in his coffee, and he moped over waffles, which he didn't want to eat anyway. Relena won't come out of her room, maybe she'll eat them.
"What's wrong, honey?" his mother asked, concerned, but pre-occupied enough to be filling out some sort of forms at the breakfast-table.
"Nothing. I just didn't sleep well." Duo mumbled. It was true, he hadn't slept well.
"Well, don't be late for school." His mother turned back to her paperwork.
Duo opened the door. Heero stood behind it, and Duo let him in, just like every other time Duo had opened the door to him.
There was no Relena home this time.
Heero looked at the ground. Duo looked at the painting of the horses or people or whatever in the entryway, wondering if it was there solely to distract people from uncomfortable situations.
"I can work things out. It'll be better now. Relena—She doesn't have to be around. I'm done with her tricks and games."
"No, it won't... Heero, I'm sorry! It's me. I was leading you on to think... To think that something might have become of this... But nothing will happen! You and I, we'll both go on to college and forget about each other!"
Heero just stared at him with a look like a kicked puppy. There were tears glistening in the corners of his eyes.
"I'll go on to Art College... You'll go on to Harvard or Princeton or Pepperdine or whatever other school you please... There's a nice girl out there for you someplace."
"I've only wanted you all my life." Heero made it sound like the simplest thing in the world.
Duo shook his head, trying to clear his own tears away. "Stop! You're making this harder than it is!"
"Why? Why?" Heero set down what he was carrying. He knelt down and cradled Duo's hand with his own and pressed his lips to it gently.
Duo flinched and removed his hand from Heero's grasp. "I can't do this! We're too different. Heero, you have a chance!"
"Duo, I love you."
"I know... " Duo finally got his resolve together. "And that is why we can't see each other anymore. We'll only end up getting hurt!"
Heero looked at him in disbelief. Duo stared at him evenly. Heero turned and ran outside into the heavy rain. Panicked, Duo followed.
Heero stood in the driveway looking up at the heavy clouds. His navy suit was soaked and his hair was water-slicked from its normal unruliness into a wet mass that fell straight downwards.
Duo looked at him, his mind already made up. "Please, don't look that way," he pleaded, his hair clinging to his face in wet strands that dripped water onto his neck and shoulders. Duo shivered as a breeze hit him. "Don't be so cold."
Heero remained silent, staring still at the dark shadows of the clouds swirling overhead.
"I guess this is good-bye then," Duo whispered.
Heero turned to look at him with an empty stare that pierced through all his pride and stripped him of his considerations. The emotions hit Duo like something solid, washing up around his walls of defense. Duo shook his head vigorously, breaking away from Heero's gaze, then turned and walked into the house, dead bolting the door behind him.
End notes: Lachrymose means showing sorrow.
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