Disclaimers: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing nor it's characters. Merely borrowing them for a little fun.

Warnings: Shounen-ai and nothing much besides that, I think. Heero's POV. Post anime.

Coming Home

Part 4

The next few reactions were very satisfying to Heero, if the lack of explanation was frustrating. Quatre blushed deeply, looking down to study his hands. Wufei started muttering something about forgetting to do his reports and how Commander Une would have his ass. Trowa, well, he was Trowa and all he did was smile a little amusedly and watched his 'little one' flounder.

"Well, am I?" He looked first at his partner, who he was most comfortable with. But that couldn't be said about Wufei, who seemed to want the ground to swallow him. With no answer forthcoming, he turned to the blushing blond and his stoic lover. "Am I?"

Trowa coughed delicately while his lover decided to study the fascinating print of the white table cloth. "Heero, this isn't a question to just ask anyone. You don't know?"

Heero shook his head mutely. He suddenly felt a little silly. Should he know? It would be different if he had someone he was attracted to at the moment and 02 couldn't qualify as someone. He liked the attention he was getting but that was all. It was equivalent as getting a dog and realising you were the centre of that little being's world.

"What brought this on?"

Alright, that was a huge question. To lie or not to lie? Oh, to heck with it, he wasn't Duo Maxwell, lying wasn't a sin to him. "I met someone."

As if they choreographed it, all three freaking leaned forward at the same time, their embarrassment dropping and replaced by undisguised elation.

"Really? Who?" Quatre asked, his eyes twinkling with an odd light. It freaked the hell out of Heero.

"Someone I met at a bar," Heero lied easily. He wasn't going to admit it was a stranger he hasn't even met that lived above him that he can't seem to stake out with long chestnut hair and viole… NOT DUO! No no no no no no.

The tape recording came on again. Liar liar liar.

Why did every thought he had come back to Duo? Why did every thought of 02 eventually morphed into Duo? Was he really in love with Duo? But that isn't right, if he was, he should have known a long time ago and not realise it only recently. He wasn't going to ask the silent 'right?' again, since no one answered him. Perhaps he was getting confused by the attention he was receiving from 02. Damn, why did this have to happen to him now?

The air around the table took on a sombre turn. Snapping back to reality, Heero noted his friends staring at each other rather uncomfortably. The previous mischievous glee had been wiped off their faces completely. They seemed to be at a loss of what to say and something was truly disturbing them about Heero's news.

There was some silent communication going on between them and suddenly, Wufei turned toward him. "Can you tell us about him?"

"How do you know it's a him?" Heero asked, slightly shocked.

"You did ask if you were gay," Wufei snickered softly.

"I meant to ask if I was really happy." Heero resisted the urge to slap himself on the head. How lame was that excuse? Relena really sucked at making excuses.

Quatre snorted disbelievingly. "You can tell us…"

And that started the longest 'interview' Heero Yuy had to ever endure. It was like being interrogated by the most threatening beings in all of earth and Heero didn't scare easily. They wanted to know all about this mysterious new love of Heero's, how he looked like, what he wore, how many children did they intend to have, what was his social security number. He couldn't leave the restaurant quick enough, staggering away rather dizzily.

That brought him back to staring at the empty note paper again tonight. He stared at it rather blankly, not really sure how to write his request. Somewhere along the lines of thinking about Duo and 02 he had begun to wonder if he found the male sex attractive. He had, later, looked at Wufei. A normal person would have called that 'checking him out' but Heero was not a normal person but all he did after staring at Wufei was to shudder. Nope, he definitely didn't like checking out anything male. So how did he explain his preoccupation with Duo? Wait, he meant 02, of course, 02, he didn't like Duo that way.

02,

How can you tell when a person is gay?

01

There, he finally decided. Nice and simple. 02 would help him. He always did. Heart lighter, Heero made a quick trip downstairs and dropped the note inside the slot before deciding to turn in for the night. He wondered at his lack of curiosity regarding 02. Normally, he would have set up surveillance systems within the building, trying to get a glimpse of the person who lived above him. With his training it shouldn't be hard, but why wasn't he doing anything? Instead, he was just sitting in his apartment, checking his letter slot everyday instead of finding out who the mysterious person was. Was it disinterest or fear of disappointment when he found out 02 wasn't violet eyed, with long luscious chestnut hair bound in a tight braid almost three fee… hey, no more of that remember?

So, current status, enjoy the attention and deal with the disappointment later.

He strained to hear the sounds from the apartment directly above him. Sometimes he could imagine the sound of feet walking to and fro. He could picture someone, who he resolutely refused to put features to, going about his daily life, doing approximately the same things he did in his apartment. Whoever 02 was, he was extremely silent. Heero had never heard anything from the apartment above him, other than a soft filtering of music through the ceiling. If listened really hard, however, he can almost hear the sound of the door closing, which he did now. Hmm… 02 making another mail call? He grinned drowsily, wondering how 02 would react to this rather peculiar question. He didn't really feel all that embarrassed posing this question, there was something about 02 that made asking things like that easy.

He jerked to semi wakefulness as a loud thump came from above him. It sounded like someone falling of a chair or bed or some type of furniture. He was unable to stop the small smile that came to his lips. He had just found out how 02 reacted. Sounded like something Duo would do.

It was with that thought in mind he fell in a deep sleep filled with no dreams he could remember. Or didn't want to remember? He woke with rather sticky sheets and realised he, at nineteen had a wet dream. To make things more embarrassing, he couldn't even remember who he dreamt about. Or so he told himself.

His cheeks flushing deeply, although there was no one around to witness his 'lack of self control' he quickly gathered up the soil sheets and promised himself to do the laundry later. Besides, he was extremely excited about what lay in the letter box today. He was that distracted that he was halfway in his uniform before realising it was his off day. Growling at his own inattention he walked down to retrieve his mail. He nodded courteously, or what would be termed as courteous Perfect Soldier style, at two women standing a little off to the letterboxes.

"…yes, finally," one of them was saying. "He's been like a ghost or something."

Her friend, from 05B if Heero recalled almost bounced in excitement. "You mean he is real? I always thought it was an empty apartment."

05B's friend shook her head. "I've finally seen the phantom of 02C!"

Heero stumbled and his shoulder went crashing into the letterboxes. They had seen 02! He quickly straightened himself, noting the odd look the girls were giving him. With aching slowness, he took out his key to unlock his letter slot but trained an ear on the conversation behind him.

"How did he look like?"

"Hot!" One of them gushed. "He had the tightest ass and wow, that smile. I would do evil things just for that smile."

"I meant how did he look like?" Her friend pressed.

A shrug. "Don't really know, it was really dark, and he wore this odd hood over his head. Some sort of designer jacket. But his voice was like warm honey…" And the gushing continued.

But Heero stopped listening. Damn, elusive asshole. He pulled the little flap open and saw the familiar white envelope and a thin book. Curious, he pulled it out and nearly combusted.

Gay Sex for Dummies was the title. He was unable to keep the snort of laughter in and was rewarded by very odd suspicious looks from the two gushing young ladies. Biting his lip to prevent another embarrassing outburst, he walked quickly up the stairs and into his own apartment, where he gave up on the pretence of being in control and laughed. Trust 02 to have something like this lying around in his home. It just seemed so… typical of Du… 02.

He sank into the sofa and idly paged through the book before flaming. He shut it and casually tossed it aside, for the moment. Taking a deep breath, he skilfully ripped the envelope apart and pulled out the heavy stationery.

01,

You mean you don't know!

Once again, Heero exploded into gales of mirth. That seemed to be the reaction he was getting from everyone these days. Did a person really know? He assumed that for some, they would, but he had been trained to not mind his feelings for the first fifteen years of his life. How was he to know about things pertaining to the matters of the heart? And to him, anything remotely sexual had to do with matters of the heart. Most people would laugh, especially coming from a man, but he had been somewhat love deprived as a child and he promised himself that first someone would be that special someone. Or was he just holding out of a particular someone?

Oh well. This isn't a question that can be answered easily. I can't really tell you if you are or not, since I am not.

For some reason, a feeling of dread started to build in the pit of Heero's stomach. Why did that bother him so much?

Therefore, I have enclosed a book for you ogling pleasure. Well, I can't really say I'm not gay…

Okay, dread starting to dissipate.

…since I have only one love of my life. I hope to have the courage to tell him that one day. Till then, hope you enjoy the literature. And yes, I read it for the articles.

02

Heero felt his heart dropping into a deep dark pit. He couldn't understand it but it felt like someone just punched him in the gut, hard. 02 already had someone else in mind. So why all this attention to him? He felt so damn foolish. He had thought he was someone special to 02, instead he was just something to take his mind off that special unrequited someone 02 had.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

In a fit of frustration, he crushed the note and threw it with all his strength across the room. He felt no satisfaction watching it bounce off the wall. What was wrong with him? Why did he feel like this? 02 was no one, yet… he was someone what made Heero feel good, special about himself. And now, that feeling was crushed in an instant. He felt hurt, cheated and a dozen other emotions he couldn't put names to.

Heero sat there in his couch, staring at nothing, his mind a huge mass of confusion. What should he do now? Can he still enjoy 02's attention knowing that he was merely a substitute. 02 lied to him. He took a deep shuddering breath, trying to decide what to do.

A soft beep from his laptop indicated mail received. Desperate to take his mind off 02, he made his way to his computer and clicked his inbox. His heart thudded painfully once more as he stared at the name of the sender.

Duo Maxwell.

Shit, after all this time, why now?

He ran his finger over the touch pad and clicked the message. To his disappointment, it was another 'to everybody' type of mails. It was once again simple. Simple salutation, brief run through of what he has been doing, brief invitation to dinner in four days so they could meet up again, brief goodbye… wait, backup. Duo was coming back? And inviting them all to dinner? Even him? Heero? What had Duo left to talk to him about? Didn't he hate Heero?

He pondered not going, but knowing Quatre and the rest, he would definitely be pressured to go. He should instead decide how he should approach meeting Duo again after such a long time. Leaning back against the sofa, he covered his eyes with a deep sigh.

First 02, then Duo. Could this day get any worse?

02, that thought left a rancid aftertaste in his mouth. Heero Yuy was no one's reserve. He will never be second best.

Tbc…