Disclaimer: I don't own gundam wing

Silent motions: chapter 1

My night, as expected, had been pretty rough. Nightmares had come and gone, this time with actual faces dying, actual voices screaming and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop the hurt. And all that in the bare 2 hours I had actually been asleep. For the rest I'd been trying to fall asleep, only to have my thoughts do their own will and drift off to places I really didn't want them to explore. Needless to say that in the morning I was a wreck.

I had been quite surprised to find Heero was indeed asleep on the couch when I left for work, even more so when I returned and he was in the kitchen making food. He offered me the food and started cooking again, this time for himself. We ate in silence while I pondered on how to get all the information I wanted. My mind was still quite misty, but I could recall certain images, certain events from that damnable war we'd fought now. I just didn't understand everything I saw.

When he'd finished his plate and set it down on the table, I figured now would be as good a time as any, so I just randomly picked a question and asked.

"First the ears." I said, as I forced myself to look at him. "How bad is it?"

"I can hear a trucker's horn at approximately 10 feet away." I blinked. Okay, so basically that was as good as being deaf. I didn't tell him that of course.

"What happened?" If my memory was not messing things up I recalled Heero being the one despising weaknesses most. But then again, that could've been someone else entirely for all I knew. As I said, my memory of that part in my life was having a hard time surfacing. I still somewhere tried to deny it all, push it away as I had been doing all day so far.

"Mission." He made it quite clear that was all he was going to say about it.

"You're with preventers?"

"Yes."

That was something I didn't understand. I'd tried so hard to get away from that life, why would anyone want a job that just forces you to relive it over and over again? That could never be good, right? "Why?"

He seemed startled that I asked and looked as if he'd really rather not talked about it right now. So I muttered 'never mind' and instead asked him why he'd come here.

"Une sent me on vacation."

I nodded, then shook my head. "That's not what I mean, Heero. Why here?"

It took him a moment to answer, but it was not something I had expected him to say. "In the hospital, after Mariemaia, you were there, remember?"

Mariemaia, the... eve wars, little girl trying to take over the earth... something like that? Hmm, Heero in a hospital? No, I couldn't remember. I gently shook my head, feeling sorry for him as it seemed it had been an important event to him.

He sighed and looked away. "You promised then that I'd always be welcome to visit you..."

I frowned. I promised him that? Well, it did sound like something I could've said to someone who was in the hospital.

I glanced up at the guy on my couch. He looked... I didn't really know how to describe it, but something in my gut told me that there was more going on than he was letting on. It made me want to help him, damn that helpful side of mine. But he was as good as a stranger to me now, I knew who he'd been in the war, at least parts of it, but that didn't mean he was that man now or that I were whom he expected me to be. I didn't know if I really wanted to keep him here. He would just be a reminder of all those things I'd tried so hard to forget. But if I'd promised...

"Look," I said, and then realised he couldn't hear me and wasn't looking my way. So I placed my hand on his shoulder, only to be met by a stifled reaction. He relaxed soon enough, though and looked back at me, his face completely void of any emotion. It was almost scary to see him like that and a sentence just flew in my head. 'could you keep it down over there?' I frowned as all that I could fit to that sentence was the face I was looking at now. I pushed that thought aside and said what needed be said.

"Heero, I won't go back on my promise, you can stay here if you want." His face cleared up, but I wasn't finished yet. "However, I don't earn enough money to support both of us so you're gonna have to bring in money for yourself, even if you're planning on leaving in a week or two." It was true, Hilde's salvage business didn't make a fortune but now that things were going better I had planned on saving all the extra money. No doubt I'd need it later on.

He looked at me questioningly, but I just couldn't give in on this one if I expected to survive. "Look, I don't care how you get the money, whether you have savings or get a job or even rob a bank, but you will have to find a way to support yourself while you're here. Otherwise I'm sorry, but I just can't take you in." He seemed to understand that as he nodded.

"I'll find a job tomorrow." He said, giving me the weirdest look. Oh, I realised that with him being deaf it would be hard to get a decent job.

Heero did as promised, the next day when I came home he informed me that he'd found a job as a waiter. He could start this Monday and he'd get paid cash each Saturday and tips, unusual as those were, could be brought home at the end of each day. When I asked him if his boss was okay with him being deaf, he answered as long as he did his job the boss didn't care.

That was one thing I was glad to have taken care of. My nights were only getting worse and I caught myself a couple of times thinking it wasn't so bad this Heero in my house was deaf. At least he wouldn't hear me tossing and screaming at night.

So starting that Monday we got into some sort of routine, living together, for however long this vacation of Heero would take. My work hours were much worse than Heero's so I'd be the first one up and the last one out each day, but Heero always made sure there was at least something to eat when I got home.

With a lifestyle simple as ours, it only took a week to get used to it and by the time Heero got his first payment, I felt quite at ease, coming home to find him there, waiting with some food for me.

Heero was a quiet man, I learned that soon enough. He answered questions, but never asked them, He did as I told him and he kept himself away from me, most likely feeling I was not exactly waiting for his presence. It had to be hard on him to see those little hints, I realised that, but since he showed up, I had been having a hard time concentrating on anything, including work. He must've noticed how tired I was each day from lack of sleep for he had dinner ready when I came home. Used to his presence or not, my subconscious was working overtime trying to let me relive all those things I'd tried to forget and my consciousness was trying at least just as hard to keep that all locked.

I stopped counting the days since Heero showed up as they turned into weeks and after about a month after his arrival I decided to ask him about his plans.

"Lady Une has no use for me without my hearing." Was the brief explanation. He still hadn't told me what exactly had happened for him to get in his condition and I'd left it at that, not sure I even really wanted to know. All he told me was that in time it should start healing on its own.

"But you keep in touch with her, I presume?" He nodded, answering he e-mailed her at the internet café each Sunday.

"Aren't you supposed to see a doctor about those ears or something? Or at least take medicines for them?"

He shook his head. "There's no need to contact them until I notice improvement. They cannot do anything until then."

Right. It sounded believable enough. I was no expert on hearing problems, but if Heero said this was the case, it could very well be so. And even if it weren't so, why should I care? The fact that I was beginning to look forward to coming home didn't mean we were friends or anything. I just enjoyed the thought of having a meal prepared for me, or so I told myself. The fact that it was served by a gorgeous man I'd once had a crush on as a kid had absolutely nothing to do with it.

It took me another month or so to find out something was wrong with the whole picture. It was when I proposed to do the laundry one night, as Heero hadn't been feeling so good. I checked the pockets before I threw the clothes in the water and what did I find? Cash. More than he made at the restaurant, I was certain.

I could have just gone and asked him about it, but I wasn't sure that was such a good idea. What kept him from lying to me? He'd been lying about his job, or at least to a certain extension, I guessed. I barely knew this man. He liked cooking, or at least he didn't mind doing so and he was certainly a hell of a lot better at it than I was, but besides that, he was just a stranger living in my house. A stranger I was starting to feel comfortable with. And I did like to know what kind of guy I was allowing in my dump of a house.

I had this guy. It would cost me to have him cover for me, but it would cost me more to just take a day off. My business was supposed to be open at all times, who knew what important customer could come by and move on to a neighbour when he found I wasn't open.

I went to find the restaurant Heero worked and asked directly for the boss, all the time making sure Heero wouldn't see me would he decide to suddenly show up. The boss was nothing like I'd expected, instead of the regular tall fat guy with too much facial hair that hasn't been washed in days, I was met by a scrawny little man. He looked as if he'd at least shaved himself somewhere this past week and there were no signs of cigars or cigarettes anywhere. He was dressed as a normal waiter, obviously helping out here himself.

"What kin I do for ye?" I stood up and met his eyes.

"I wanted to ask ye some things about one of yer employees." I started.

He sighed. "You a cop or anything? What did Simmons do this time? I swear I'll have his head!"

I was caught aback by that, but quickly recovered. "No, not a Simmons, Yuy. Heero Yuy."

"Hmmm." He seemed to think for a moment. "Yuy? As in Heero Yuy the peacelovin' guy Yuy? Nope, Dunno any of those."

I frowned. So Heero didn't work here at all? Things were getting weirder by the minute. I thanked the man and was about to walk away when he called me back.

"We did have a Heero here at one time, though. Wouldn't gimme his last name but he was a deaf guy so yer prolly not lookin' fer 'im."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Heero a deaf guy who refused to give out his last name? What was going on here?

"What can ye tell me about him? You sound as if he doesn't work here anymore."

The man sighed. "'Course he don't, I fired his butt the moment I found out about his ears! Things're hard enough 'ere as they are without havin' a deaf guy lying ter me."

"When did you fire him then?"

"Coupl'o weeks after he started here. Look, I'm sorry if he's yer lover or anythin' like that, but I ain't got no need fer not fuly functional people aroun'ere."

I understood what the man was telling me, for I was currently thinking about the same thing. I had no more need for a liar in my life than that man had.

I left the restaurant in a hurry, wanting to get home as soon as possible. I only hoped Heero wouldn't be there. I needed some time alone to convince myself that he probably had a good explanation for not telling me. The Heero Yuy my memory told me about never did anything without a very good reason. But what could be a good enough explanation, I wondered.

He wasn't home when I arrived and I decided to see if I could straighten things out. What did I have so far? Perfect soldier –that was a reference I could fit him for some reason. What else, pilot zero-one –Gundam called wing. Yes, I knew all this, I knew about Heero the soldier, it'd become only too clear those first nights. But what did I have on Heero Yuy the person? Was he really the kind of guy who would never lie to me without a very good reason or did I just want him to be that man?

The fact that I had once had a crush on him only seemed to complicate matters. What if all I'd thought of him back then was just some idealisation? He didn't seem like a bad man to me, but who knows how much looks can deceive. You tell anyone who sees me now that I am responsible for so many of the deaths in the war and they'd laugh right in your face. Nothing is impossible.

Heero came home early. He was quite surprised to see me there.

"You're home early." He said, as he hung his coat.

"I didn't go to my work." He raised an eyebrow at me as he walked further into the chamber. "I went to yours."

It took him a moment before he reacted. He turned his face away from me so there was no point in speaking. He couldn't hear it anyway. He walked to the kitchen to return with some soda for both of us. That was one good thing about having him here, he had time to shop for groceries. Not that we could afford much, but at least it was better than coming home to find I should've gone shopping three days ago.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said as he handed me the soda and sat down in the chair opposite of me.

But it wasn't that easy. "What have you been doing all this time if you don't have a job to go to?"

"Looking for a new one."

"Did you find one?"

He shook his head. "Like anyone would want to hire a deaf guy." The way he said it showed that he cared more than he'd let on at first, but I'd already gathered that from previous little remarks I'd ignored on purpose.

"If you don't have a job," I continued, "then how did you get the money?"

"Savings." He explained. "Preventers make good money."

That made sense. Still, there was one more question bothering me. "Why didn't you just tell me you got fired?"

He looked away from me at that and it took him a moment to confess, but what he said was something I had not expected in the least. "I was afraid you'd kick me out and I... I kinda like you."

Surely I had heard it wrong? He was muttering so my mind probably just made up the wrong words, right?

"Uh... you what?"

"I like you."

That took a moment to process.

He looked at me with a face I had never seen before, as if begging me to believe it.

"Uh, s-since when...?"

"The war." What? That was more than like... fucking five years ago. "For the sake of the colonies I could not tell you back then." He said it as if that was supposed to make sense but really, nothing made sense at the moment.

"I'm not the Duo from the war, Heero." Geez, could I really not do any better than that? It was the truth, though, the only truth that came to my mind with my heart aching so bad it took up most of the brain functions.

"I know." He answered quietly. "But I think I still like you."

"You, uh... you think?"

"Damn it, Duo, I don't know!" He stood up fast enough to cause the chair toppling backwards and I could hear the distinctive sound of wood breaking. I didn't care, though. I was focussed on Heero as he strode trough the small space and paced back again. "I don't know what to call it, but please, Duo, don't kick me out. I'll get a job soon."

Don't kick me out, I'll get a job soon? Not exactly the most romantic words a guy can say, but my head didn't seem to care. I didn't really want to kick him out and he did have the money to support himself, right? And besides, maybe if he stayed I could get the chance to figure out this strange feeling in my gut.

"Tell ya what, I've been considering hiring some help as the scrap yard is currently doin' quite good, but it'll probably only last a couple of weeks. Why don't you be the one to help me out for now and when it gets too expensive, you can go out job huntin' again. Maybe your hearing will be healed in a few weeks."

Working with Heero during the day, seeing him in certain positions brought back flashes I could not quite place at that time, but when the night fell, my brain was working overtime. No sooner had I fallen asleep or I would get those same flashes again, now accompanied by images I didn't really want to see, faces I didn't know, battles I suddenly remembered fighting, blood I knew I'd spilled. I'd toss and turn and probably scream as well and then I would wake up, panting, clutching Heero, who'd come over just to me to hold me. I'd do my best not to cry, but every now and then a silent tear fell anyway. He never commented on it, just let me hold him while he held me back. I'd fall asleep in his arms and when morning came, he'd wake me with a drink in time to get to work.

It was one of those nights again, shortly after Heero started helping me out at the scrap yard. That particular night I dreamt of space. I saw a battle, a colony, and my brain going crazy. I saw my gundam on a screen, being blown up, another suit –one I felt was on our side– blasted away, bullets flew so close to my ears I could hear them pass. The words 'zero system' came to my mind but I could not by the life of me tell you what that was. I just knew it was evil and then a colony blew up, or maybe it was a base, it didn't make sense to me anymore. And then there were pieces of human beings floating everywhere, a bloodied hand here, a crushed leg there, an eye... Then all of a sudden I was in a dark room with the airways cut off and breathing became hard. I tried to reach for my throat, but my shackled hands wouldn't move and I felt life draining out of me. My mind was screaming at me to do something, that it couldn't end this way, that we had to win first but my mind wouldn't listen. And just when I felt I was falling into unconsciousness...

That was when I woke up. In his arms, as usual. He never asked, he didn't need to ask. He must have had a good idea of what was going on inside my head. He'd lived it as well. In his eyes I saw an expression that told me he was unsure of what to do. He held me, he stroked my hair until I had regained my breath and then he offered me a glass of water. I sipped it and put it on the ground before I moved my eyes back up to meet his gaze. He softly touched my face, bringing me upright. From then on everything went hazy, but I could feel his breath on my nose, slowly being lowered. I closed my eyes, not wanting his touch to end and finally...

We kissed.

And it felt good.

Oh yeah, it felt good.

But not half as good as the second kiss, after we'd caught our breath.

Then my eye fell on my watch, telling me it was morning already and I was way late today. I cursed loudly and pushed him away as I stumbled to find my shirt, which he casually handed to me. Then we left for work.

The day passed as normal, we worked hard, made a little money and avoided the subject. Then we went home, we ate, we fell asleep, but when I woke up, I was in his arms once again. As usual, I didn't remember getting there, but I stopped caring about the how when he kissed me again and told me to go back to sleep.

After that I invited him to my bed when I went in. It was the most logical step to take considering he'd be there in the mornings anyway and it felt good to know I had someone close by to comfort me.

He never asked about the nightmares, he gave me the space to deal with it myself. I was quite content about that. How do you tell your lover –or boyfriend or whatever we were– that you have nightmares sometimes even about him killing other people or you killing him or him killing you? I doubt he would take that very well.

He did tell me that if I had any questions regarding details I could always ask him, but I was quite hesitant to do that. Maybe it was for the best if I tried figuring things out by myself first. Or maybe I was just prolonging things. I really didn't want to remember.

We developed a sexual relationship as well. It felt really good just being with him, it was as if we were meant to be a team. At first I was surprised at how well we could avoid any kind of awkwardness when we worked together at the scrap yard, while at night we were lovers to each other, but it worked out. We didn't exactly live in a great house and we couldn't even afford to adopt kids anywhere in this future, but I felt like I was living my dream. Heero even got the impression his hearing was improving.

Of course, a dream is but a dream and in reality, dreams always come to an end.

It happened well in the fifth month after Heero had showed up. A couple of official-looking men came to the scrap yard, men with guns. Now I was no fan of guns and I wasn't really hot for officials either. Whatever they were here for, they couldn't do my business any good. Cops gave companies bad reputations and though some of my neighbouring scrap yard owners seemed to live off that bad reputation, I was certainly not one of them.

Heero was currently out, he was still the one taking care of the groceries, when they showed up. They approached me, three men looking like they owned the world. And what was worse, they introduced themselves as preventors.

"Are you Mr. Duo Maxwell?"

"Yes, I am" No point denying it. "Why?"

"Sir," The tallest of the three, a blond guy, somewhere mid-thirties I guessed spoke up, flashing some sort of badge before my eyes. "I'm Bob Jeffers and these are my colleagues Chang and Smith. We're preventers and we're looking for a certain man. We're currently just checking every acquaintance and former-acquaintance of him to be sure."

An acquaintance of mine?

"Do you know," the man continued, "anyone who goes by the name of Heero Yuy?"

My eyes grew wide just by hearing that name. They wanted Heero? But why? What'd he done? He kept in contact with Lady Une trough e-mail each Sunday, he left the scrap yard each Sunday for that. Anything she wanted with him could be dealt with trough the mail, right?

Or wait, maybe this was because he was getting his hearing back? Was that it? Did they want him to go back with them so the doctors could treat him now? That had to be it, right? But then why all this formality? Surely they could've looked less official for that. They were wrecking my business!

"Please, Duo," a second man, a not too tall Asian guy spoke up. "It's a standard procedure. Just co-operate and you'll never have to see us again."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked the man over. "And you are...?"

He seemed surprised by that. "Wufei." He said. "Chang Wufei. Don't you recognise me?"

"Should I?"

He snorted. "We only fought a war together."

Ah, more people from the war. Great. Someone up there must really hate me. He didn't seem to care about what I thought, though, judging by the serious look on his face.

"Duo, this is a serious matter. Have you lost your memory or something?"

"Or something." I muttered under my breath, cursing this situation silently. "Look, I just wanted to forget the war and all that's happened so no, I'm sorry but don't know who you are."

He seemed ready to respond to that when a voice called out. "Duo! I'm back!"

Heero.

He didn't know we had visitors until he saw them. If I had considered screaming to him to leave I would have wasted my breath, for he wouldn't have been able to hear it anyway. Grocery bag in his arms, the moment he looked this Chang guy in the eyes, his face turned stone cold and I just knew something was really, really wrong.

The other two preventers had their guns out already and were aiming for Heero now. Chang reached for his gun as he started speaking. "Heero!" The surprise in his voice was obvious, but he showed no hesitation as he, too, pointed his gun in the direction of my lover. "Heero, there's no need for violence, just come with us quietly and we'll sort things out at the station."

I watched how my lover remained frozen, staring back harsh with a look that could do me naught but bring back memories. I saw his face in front of me and unconsciously I stepped back as I saw him raise a gun at me.

'You're really going to shoot me, aren't ya?'

I was drawn back out of the memory by Chang's voice, which sounded once more. "Just put the bag down slowly and raise your hands."

I watched Heero slowly going trough his knees as he set down the groceries, his eyes never leaving the Asian man. I watched as he got back up again, slowly, his hands held semi-relaxed in front of his chest. I watched how he stood up straight, glaring at the preventers and I watched how they started approaching him.

And then I watched him bolt.

In no time the three preventers were giving chase. I just stood there, still not quite understanding or believing what was going on. Heero, my boyfriend Heero, my war buddy Heero was wanted by the preventers? But why? He worked for them. And what was this Chang guy saying about us fighting together. Had we fought together? His face seemed vaguely familiar and I knew I was a long way from retrieving all my locked away memories but he did have this, this air about him that just made me wonder.

I didn't notice they'd returned until I felt a hand on my shoulder. As if acting on instinct I jerked away.

"Duo, are you listening to me?"

I frowned as I directed my gaze to the Asian man next to me. "Huh?"

"I said, Heero got away."

My brain neglected to process that bit of information immediately, but the Chang guy gave me a moment to get it trough. Heero got away, okay. Got away from what?

The hand appeared on my shoulder again, this time the hold was a bit stronger than before. "I'm going to have to request you come with us."

This was a mess, a huge mess. My boyfriend obviously had neglected to tell me something, like the reason he was being chased by authorities. He was a wanted man now and I was not looking at the best of nights ahead of me either.

And all I could think of was that my business was screwed.

End of part II

Yes, I'm aware I go fast with the story, in this chapter they get together AND Duo finds out Heero is the bad guy. I have this problem more often. The story has prologue, chap1, chap2, epilogue for ppl who were wondering.)

To Indentured: If you're reading this, I'm very interested in your opinion, construtive criticism etc. Even if this is fanfiction, I do write original fiction as well and comments will only improve my writing. So, let me kow what you think is bad as well as what you believe is good. Where was it amateurely-blended and how could I improve? That's what writing is all about, ne? Thanks for the review anyway!

princess