Gravity Zero

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Part Zero-One: Good Luck, Good-Bye - Chapter 3

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"Thanks for saving my ass again, man. I really owe ya."

Wufei nodded as Duo revved Gravity's engine. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Duo."

Hilde stared out, her gaze directed nowhere in particular as old friends caught up on good times. The sky had faded into an evening pastel pink and the wind was picking up - another day with little heat and humidity. With all the time she spent working outdoors, she'd become used to the summer's usual blanket of boiling heat. Something wasn't right.

Along the horizon, Spain seemed as if it were a million miles away. The idea of being that far from Duo was unsettling, she had to admit. He always told her there was no one closer to him than she was; even so, she had quite a way to go before reaching the core of his soul. She didn't have nearly enough juice to make it that far. No one did.

She wanted him to come to the wedding so badly. Had Solo not been so ill, he would've tagged along without question. It was a miracle she could even get the younger Maxwell brother this far from home.

She checked her watchit was almost time for supper. Cathy was off chatting with one of the workers. It gave Hilde a moment to contemplate the day's events. At first, she had no idea who'd toed Gravity just that it was, well, toed. Duo apparently had no idea that he was buddy-buddy with the man she despised above all else, but she found herself unable to say anything. Wufei was exactly the same way.

"Whoa!" The shrill of Gravity's engine ignited a pleasant warmth Duo's face. "This is amazing! Anything you'd like me to do in return, buddy?"

Wufei looked right at Hilde, and she stared back, choosing not to grace his holier-than-thou countenance with the fearful expression he probably expected. He was always like that, thinking all women were the same; thinking he knew exactly which of her buttons to push. That really ticked her off. He was the one who declared them rivals in high school, though she wanted nothing to do with him. He always tried to outmatch her in everything, from shop, to academics, to social status, to just about anything else one can think of. Where his work-o-holic tendencies and academic studies exceeded hers, and her quirky, up-beat attitude was far more appealing than his rotten temper and "moral" beliefs, they were still perfectly matched in auto-repair. Neither one was better than the other it has always been that way.

Even after what she sacrificed to prove herself, Wufei still couldn't be beaten. She could only see to it that she wasn't either.

Wufei turned to Duo.

"Come work for me while you're here. That's how you can pay me back in full." Wufei's eyes thrust a knife right in between Hilde's. How dare he...

"We could really use a half-assed worker like you here." His contemptuous eyes then skirted toward Sally, the girl Cathy was talking to, and Hilde clenched her fists. How DARE he...

Duo didn't give it a second thought. "Count on it, buddy."

Hilde did everything in her power to avoid charging forward and hurling a fist right into Wufei's jaw, and then Duo's for good measure. She still could not believe those two were friends. Well, more than just that. Now they were co-workers. She considered calling this whole thing offand telling Duo to go back home. Forget it it's throughit's done. I'll not have you working with such a disgusting person, she'd say. She wanted to. More than anything, she wanted to break that pair off once and for all.

And then, she overheard Cathy in the distance, telling Sally all about her brother.

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"Wonderful news, Hilde! My little brother's getting married, can you believe it?"

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She wouldn't deprive Cathy this opportunity to see her only brother get married. It didn't matter what Wufei did; he could ruin her reputation, her business, and he could try to corrupt Duo, but he wouldn't hurt Cathy. She'd see him to Hell's gate before she allowed that.

Duo called the girls over after a final pat on the shoulder from Wufei. Cathy waved goodbye to her new friend and took Hilde's hand on the way to the car. No, nothing was going to ruin their time away. They were going to have a safe trip there, strange weather or not, and Duo would not be possessed by Wufei's disgusting air while they were away. No asshat in the world had the ability to overtake such a stubborn enigma.

Wufei's hard black eyes followed that wild braid of Duo'swhich was flopping about in the breeze until his friend was out of sight. Damn was Maxwell lucky that one of Wufei's regular trucks doubled as a tow truck, or else his ass was screwed. Lord only knew where Gravity came from; Duo preferred to keep it out of the hands of strangers. He couldn't blame him. That machine was a work of art - as was the expression on Hilde's face when he accepted his offer.

So predictable she really was no different than any other women.

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Night had come, and Heero was off to Lowe's about two hours earlier than normal. On occasion, he'd drop into work early when he had too much on his mind to sleepand didn't complain if he wasn't paid extra. Since it was a particularly slow day, Lowe summoned his co-owner Otto to man the fort while he and Heero got a quick bite over at the food palace across the street. Lowe struck up a conversation once Heero started shoving clumps of cooked rice and vegetables into his mouth.

"You know, if my wife didn't die ten years ago, I swear you'd be our first son," said Lowe with an airy tone. Heero wiped some grease from his lips and took a sip of ice water.

"Sorry, I'm not interested in pouring out my soul tonight," responded Heero. It took no more than five minutes of Lowe's "first gun I ever held" story until the irate teen caved.

"Think those mobsters keying profanity onto your car was bad? I've got some strange idiot coming over in two days to check mine out."

"Oh? The Forbidden One's getting its first check up." Lowe downed his mug of coffee and asked the waitress for another. "I thought she was totaled."

Heero's brows furrowed. "Don't underestimate my car."

"Point taken, runt." The elder shook his head. Leave it to some eighteen-year-oldbrat to salvage a trashed "first" car. He was still amazed that Heero managed to get it past the authorities five years back; not a day went by where Heero didn't either amaze him or remind him of himself.

"Relena's too trusting."

Lowe's eyes widened a bit. Things just got interesting. "What's your little girlfriend got to do with this?"

Heero simply answered, "She's the one who hired the ass."

"Hmm, you know," Lowe started, before taking a bite of his breadstick. He washed it down with a sip of coffee and looked Heero dead in the eye. His voice was low. "You were the first child I've ever hired. I could've rejected you just for your age."

"My skills are top notch. You asked for no less so I gave you no less."

"And what if this 'ass' your girlfriend hired happens to be top notch? You wouldn't sign him off, would ya?"

Heero sighed. He knew he was probably being unreasonable, but it was his car. No one else should have to worry about it. Then again, the only reason why Relena hired him was to learn how to fix Zero. For all he knew, the unknown mechanic might actually be able to pull off fixing it by words alone. After all, Relena was a smart girl. She could follow directions, granted they were given to her in a way she could understand.

Yes, Relena would have been the one to fix his car, and not some stranger. Still, the uneasy feeling he was harboring just wouldn't leave his stomach. No matter which way he looked at it, a total stranger would be tampering with Zero. Thinking about it made him lose his appetite, and Lowe started picking off his plate.

Taking a look at the clock aftera while, they asked for the bill and Heero left a hefty tip for the waitress as Lowe paid for their dinner. What Lowe had said made Heero feel a bit better about the situation, but he doubted he'd become buddy-buddy with the guy Relena had hired.

While he had her on his mind, on their way back across the street, Heero nudged the light-haired man.

"Yah, kid?"

"Relena isn't my girlfriend."

With a smirk, Lowe gave the boy a pat on the shoulder. "Just teasin', kid, though I still say infiltrating her home and finding out just how corrupt things are in this dump is would be a blast."

Heero snorted. "What's the point? Government and corruption are one in the same."

Odin roared with laughter on the way up to his office. Heero's blunt truths were always a pleasure.

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It seemed like only minutes had gone by since Duo had arrived through the door, and he was already bidding his girls good-bye the morning of their flight. Just for a last minute check up, Catherine went down the list of things that had to be done.

"You know, Cathy, you've already told me everything in that e-mail you sent me," said Duo with an amused grin. The auburn-haired girl had quite a protective nature about her.

Catherine nodded and handed the list back to Duo. "I know, I know I'm just trying to make sure they're in good hands. Especially after poor Luna and the door incident." She shot Hilde and accusing look.

"How many times do have to say I'm sorry?" she said, flailing her arms. "Those blackberry dwarfs move so fast, and they're hard to see."

"Well maybe you need to wear your glasses." Cathy tossed Hilde the case that was on the phone stand, which her wife intentionally let hit the ground.

Duo threaded tense fingers through his hair. Things got ugly when his two favorite ladies ended up in a quarrel.

"Gee, look at the time. If you girls don't hustle, your plane's gonna leave without ya."

Hilde crossed her arms and forced an affronted look. "Don't tell me you're kicking us out of our own house."

"Um, yeah. Shoo!"

"Asshole." Hilde brought her hands around his neck and pretended to strangle him for a few seconds before pulling him into a tight embrace. "Thanks for doing this, Duo."

"No problem at all." He returned her embrace and saw them out the door. They barely got two days together. He was already feeling lonely without 'em.

"Good luck with my 'zoo,' Captain Smarty-pants," Cathy yelled from the passenger seat just as Hilde started revving the engine.

"Don't forget to write!" Duo yelled out as he waved the speeding car good-bye. They were going to have a blast in Madrid.

A few minutes passed. The first thing that came to Duo's mind was a certain predicament, followed by a certain wad of dough that would pay for his aid in the predicament. He didn't need to waste anymore time adjusting to the environment; his main concern was cash, cash, and cash. No time like the present to start making some

He dialed up Miss Peacecraft's number on Hilde's home phone right away, and got an answer after two rings.

"Hey, Miss Relena Peacecraft? You've got a job for me? Duo Maxwell. Uh-huh. Tomorrow's just fine with me. Noon? Gotcha. Later."

He hung up the phone and flopped down on the couch, being careful not to hit the orange cat, Fluff, in the process.

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"That guy's coming tomorrow?" asked Heero, as Relena placed her phone back in her pocket. She couldn't quite tell if he'd come around or not, though he managed to refrain from calling Duo and "ass" or an "idiot". Today, he was promoted into being "that guy."

"C'mon, Heero, cheer up. By the time your arm's better, Zero'll be ready for you. I can guarantee it." She smiled, gentle and sunny as the colour of her hairHe enjoyed running his fingers through her hair; it was his way of speaking to her physically. Between a broken arm and her determination to prove herself to Wufei, they haven't been able to spend one normal day together. Things haven't been the same since the accident, and they were about to get a whole lot weirder.

"How can you be so easy going?" Heero asked. The question wouldn't go answered, he knew, though she took a minute to think. Relena had an answer for everything; she was invincible. Wufei was lucky to have a woman like that, and he didn't deserve her one bit. It was one of the biggest reasons why Heero had even agreed to let Relena do this. He wanted to see Wufei shatter beneath her feet; he wanted Wufei to become just as much hers as she was his. She wanted the exact same thing, and more.

Relena took a deep breath.

"Well" her eyes faded a bit into a calm, almost dreamy. "There's something about him. Duo, I mean. I just have the feeling that everything's going to be all right."

That wasn't the answer he'd been expecting. Heero shut his eyes and 'hmphed'.

"You've never even met him."

"Neither have you, and you've already gone on a wild tangent about how awful you think he's gonna be."

Heero didn't respond.

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

Still, Heero didn't respond.

Relena gave him a curious look, but once her eyes met the back of his head, she decided not to pry. She knew it was best not to question him. She was proud to know more about Heero than anyone else on the planet, even if it didn't feel like much. She was still in the dark as to how Heero injured himself and how Zero came to look as if it'd lost a fight with a building-sized cheese grater.

"Who knows maybe you'll actually like him." It was the last bit of optimism she could offer for the day. There was no telling what Heero would do or feel once noon came and their eyes met for the first time. She could only hope that he didn't pull out any sharp objects on her new teacher.

"Maybe" Heero responded. "But I doubt it."

TBC

Author's Note: I just want to thank the lovely Link Worshiper for beta-reading this chapter (finally, B.J.B. gets a beta! What's the world coming to!) Haha, sorry if the first chapters were painful grammar-wise. I guess I'll have to get them revised ASAP. I'm just so used to posting little one-shot fic thingies in my LJ that I forget betas even exist. My bad? o.O;

Anyways, we're getting close to Heero and Duo's meeting. Exciting, right? They'll totally lock eyes, and Ayame Sohma-esque flowery pink sparkles will appear all over the place. It'll be love at first sight. Heero will ask for Duo's hand in marriage, and they'll have tons of glittery butt secks together and that'll be the end. Mwa ha ha ha ha!

J/K, hope I didn't scare ya! (Geez, my social skills with the fanbase suck, huh?) Umm, pretty please review this chapter? -suddenly goes sheepish-

Random Fact of the Day: Suave shampoo contains Methychloroisothiazolinone! If you take chemistry right now, I recommend naming all the elements in it for extra credit. Just a thought.