"So fucking unbelievable!" Duo said for the thousandth time as he succumbed to strong emotions.
"Duo, shut up!" Meiran muttered, massaging her arms as they sat outside of an abandoned thrift store while everyone was scattered.
"How could he have kept a secret like this?!" Duo frustratedly ran a hand through his hair, "And for how long?"
"Like I said Duo, shut up!" Meiran muttered for the tenth time. "You also weren't helping, the way you slobbered after him. Give the kid a break."
"Well, Trowa didn't know." Duo muttered, finally sitting next to Meiran. "His own flesh and blood did not know about this."
"Heero is mysterious, but I think he did it because he had to."
"Why would he want to?"
"Ask him." Meiran replied, sighing contently as she watched the slow sunset.
"Fine, I think I will." Duo said roughly, seeing that Meiran wasn't going to be very helpful.
Heero stared passively at the same sunset Meiran was watching, his leg drawn up, one hand resting on his knee while the other supported his body.
Duo slowly crawled his way up the ladder in the old barn, unsure if it would support his weight. As soon as he made it to the roof, he stopped unsure of what to do next.
Heero was morbidly staring into the horizon, obviously lost in thought.
Duo shook his head and pulled himself up to sit next to Heero.
"Normally I would ask what you're thinking, but I won't. What you're always thinking is different than any normal person's thoughts." Duo said as he sat down, pulling his leg forward, half afraid to wrap his arm around Heero, and the other half was because of a strange emotion.
"No one is normal, Duo." Heero quietly replied, still not taking his eyes off the setting sun. "If we were all alike then the world would be a pretty boring place."
"Was that a joke?" Duo jokingly grinned but his smile faltered as Heero turned to him.
"Was that rhetorical?"
"Not unless you want to answer it." Duo said, turning his face away from Heero, gulping as Heero adjusted position to just lean back on his hand and stretched his legs.
"I'm sorry that I got you all into this mess." Heero impassively said, turning back to the colorful sunset.
"Apology accepted." Duo said, afraid of how to approach the subject that was eating at him.
They sat there for what seemed like an hour, watching the sun go down and when the dark blanket of stars began to appear on the opposite horizon, Duo decided to go for it.
"About your condition Heero-"
"It's not a condition,"
"Well whatever it is, why didn't you tell anyone?" Duo finally turned his amethyst eyes to the boy he'd spent months chasing. When Heero didn't reply, Duo decided to dig deeper. "Why not Trowa? You guys are close. You're almost brothers. You have the same D.N.A. Why so reluctant? It's not as bad as it sounds, or is it?"
"No." Heero whispered, sitting back to his previous position of being nonchalant. "There was no reason to tell anyone."
"There was no reason to hide it, either."
"Like you said Duo, it isn't as bad as you make it sound."
"Yeah right." Duo muttered darkly, "You have qualities that belong to a superhuman because of that drug!"
"Ever heard of the term training?" Heero replied, he was grinning despite himself as Duo stared at him in shock. "The drug only amplifies your best quality 2x normal and nothing else."
"Then why- You hate J, everyone knows you hate him." Duo mumbled, "Explain that!"
"He murdered my parents." Heero angrily rebuffed, "Or have you forgotten?"
"No-I just, yeah." Duo replied sheepishly, "But the hints of child abuse."
Heero stupidly stared at him then he burst out laughing, startling Duo more than necessary.
"The only time J laid a hand on me was when he tried his experiments."
"That's still child abuse Heero, you could have reported him."
"Which only happened a year ago." Heero mumbled, "Before that, I always "broke" his lab into millions of pieces with Trowa's hidden clay bombs."
"According to Trowa, you were more hyper at five, then no more."
"People change." Heero quietly said, lost in thought. "When I first found out that he was the one that killed my parents, I begun planning to bring him down and now I've found the perfect plan. This planning took almost a decade."
"He was still cruel to you Heero." Duo input, wanting to be the last to have a say.
"He was never mean, indifferent yes, but mean no." Heero said, grinning suddenly, " The only person who has been cruel to me was you."
"Yeah go and blame it on the guy who loves you." Duo's eyes opened wide. Did he just say that, he did not!
A quick look at Heero confirmed that and Duo blushed deeply. Thankfully god pitied him and shrouded his humiliation with the night.
Heero sat cross-legged, his heart thumping right out of his chest. Acute as he was, he was sure Duo was joking around, "Do you love me Duo?"
Always to the point, Duo gloomily thought. He plastered a fake grin on his face and turned toward Heero, "Well, I love you like a friend. We really haven't gotten deeper into our relationship to develop any sense of security."
Heero absently nodded, taking in this new fact. So he was just a friend with benefits. This made Heero feel oddly sad, but he didn't show it, masking his true feelings with his impassive look. But deep inside, he was hurt.
"I understand," Heero said, turning back to his observation, already forgetting Duo was there.
Duo began to feel uneasy, knowing that he had somehow hurt Heero, instead of consoling him. Duo got up and quietly left, not bothering to comfort Heero.
Heero looked down at the little bench Meiran sat on, wrapped in Wufei's arms as they watched fireflies, and Trowa was quietly talking to Quatre by the fire. Trowa always believed in love at first sight, telling Heero that whoever he or she is, he would never let them go. Apparently, Quatre was the love of his life. Meiran and Wufei had each other, and Duo briefly had Relena and Tommy, maybe countless others. What number was Heero on Duo's roster of lovers? Would he be the last, or would there be more?
For a while Heero, entertained the idea of being with Duo forever, but that fairy tale story would never happen. Duo never believed in commitment. Heero had never had anyone to love or share his feelings with; feelings, he thought, were a nuisance.
"Strange." Heero slowly murmured to himself, feeling a wetness on his face he'd never felt before, "This never happened before..."
He brought his hand to his face where a fresh set of tears silently slid down his cheeks.
I don't love him, I don't. Duo chanted over and over in his head. He'd only known Heero for a short amount of time, and yet Heero always brought the best and worst out of him.
Crazy as it seemed, that was the first time he'd ever said that word, and to Heero nonetheless. He didn't love him, he couldn't.
Duo was a bad influence and he would just ruin Heero's life if they kept this up. He shifted to a more comfortable position on the haystack outside the barn, waiting for Heero to come down so he could tell him.
After his face was dried of the tears and Heero figured it was time to get back to the others, he slowly crawled down the ladder and jumped the last few feet.
He stopped, witnessing a shadow leaning against the side of the barn in a non-factitious manner.
"Duo." Heero confirmed as the boy suddenly jumped up, startled by Heero's sudden appearance. "What are you doing?"
"Hmm. I was just thinking." Duo said in a tone unlike his usual jubilant voice. Heero instantly knew something was wrong.
"I've been thinking that to survive this thing, we need to have no strings attached." Duo said, almost croaking over his own voice as he stepped closer to Heero.
Heero didn't answer, only watching Duo's body language. Something was troubling the longhaired teen.
Duo slowly let his finger trail over Heero's face as he brought his closer. "I shouldn't be doing this..." Duo whispered, closing his eyes and leaning forward.
For a moment Heero was startled, then he too closed his eyes and leaned into the soft, chaste kiss.
There was no need to speak after they broke apart.
Duo's crisp eyes and gentle lips said it all. Heero didn't believe it, not until he spoke those words.
"Goodbye Heero."
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AU: Um... I am doing an experiment with this and the next ...bleah three chapters. Sooooooo, yeah. I was going to rewrite them, but you know how long I take. But I hope you enjoyed it.
Becky and Suzi did a wonderful job editing like they always do. Tons of huggles to you both!