Told you it would be soon.

Tainted for life

Chapter 11

A housewarming party. Usually you'd have both old friends and new friends coming over to celebrate the new house. Now, there were only new 'friends' as the old ones were out of reach. His mother had prepared a barbecue, since it was beautiful weather. The pople had eaten their fill and were now dancing and having an overall good times. She had prepared the poolhouse for the party, with two large table with with snacks and drinks. Duo sat in said poolhouse, on the white couch that stood in the centre of the small livingroom, looking at the table and people stopping by to grab a bite. He was just mindlessly staring at them. He hadn't eaten himself, but he wasn't hungry. A?t least, he didn't feel like he was hungry, now growling of the stomach. And the empty feeling was located in his heart, not his stomach. He ran a hand through his hair as casual as you please, rolling his eyes at himself for being so over dramatic. He was pathetic, really. What did he leave behind anyway? A friend that couldn't find time for him. A lover that wasn't even a lover, what DID he have with Heero? The last kiss they shared was a mere peck on the cheek as he left New York a week before Duo had left.

He looked to the side when he felt the couch yield as someone else plopped down beside him. It was zechs, with his long platinum blonde hair. He used to wear it loose, but now he had it in a ponytail, to keep it from annoying him. He took a sip of his drink and then turned towards the sad American next to him.

'What's wrong kid?' He asked, genuinely concerned.

'Nothing you would know of.'

Zechs smiled 'I know more then I let on, kid. C'mon, you know you can tell me anything.'

'I just miss my friends, that's all.'

'Ah see, I told you I knew more then you thought. Noin and i had to leave many friends behind as well when we moved here. But we made new friends. These are good, kind people Duo. Have some fun!'

'It's ah... It's not only that... I fell in love back home...'

'Oh... Had to leave her behind? That's tough, sorry Duo.' He patted his thigh in a friendly gesture. Duo was no longer ashamed of his homosexuality, but he didn't feel like informing Zechs, he didn't want to make a scene at his mothers house warming party.

Noticing that he could do nothing to lighten Duo's mood Zechs left to mingle with the rest.

After a while of sulking he was being pulled onto the dancefloor by Ai, which was her nick name (artifical intelligence) her real name was Aileen, she was Amanda's third child, twenty years old. A real party animal. Fun to be with but Duo feared she had an eye on him. Feelings he could never return.

'Come on Duo! Show us your moves!' She called out, dancing herself, arms in the air, hips swaying in the rythm of the music.

'I'm sorry Ai, I'm not in the mood.' He shook his head and left the dance floor. Ai was surprised, but not bothered as she found a new dance partner quite fast. Maybe she didn't had an eye on him? Not really caring he walked into the house, nobody even noticed his departure as he was, moments ago, just sitting on the couch like a zombie. He climbed up the stairs, to his room and sat down on the edge of his bed, looking at the pictures again on the far wall. After a while he fixed his eyes on Heero. Who looked too good. He wore his low riding jeans again, with a white button-up. White just looked so good on his flawless golden skin...

With a tortured groan he fell back onto the bed. He hadn't even noticed he had fallen asleep till he woke up, he didn't know how long after, by the sound of the phone ringing. It took a while to get his body to move and once out of bed he hurried to his mothers room, where the closest phone was located. He jumped onto the bed, crawling over it to the other side to grab the black phone that lay on her white nightstand.

'Duo Ma-Duo Rose.' He corrected himself.

'Duo? Duo Maxwell? Is that you?'

'Quatre?' his eyes widened at the sound of his friends voice. He couldn't believe it! Oh my god! He smiled from ear to ear with happiness. This means Heero can get his number as well. That got him thinking, why didn't they call sooner?

'Duo! Oh I'm so glad I finally found you! It was a pain in the ass trying to get your number!'

'Why is your number blocked!'

'We... My dad was being threatened by some lonatic, we had to change it, oh I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you! I miss you so much! What the hell are you doing in California!'

Duo sighed. 'To make a long story short: Mom wanted to just get away from our old life.'

'Oh... I understand, but couldn't you have called us, or told Heero when he was in New York?'

'I didn't knew myself untill I noticed the flight was taking longer then it should...' Duo chuckled at the memory of his passing out. The bump had annoyed for a long week. 'How uh... how are you guys?'

'Well, I visited the shop a lot, we all teamed up together to find you. It uh... Don't think of me as a bad friend but it was Heero's idea.'

Duo's heart fluttered. 'How are they all doing?'

'The shop is doing great, the boss left Cat in charge, he is going to travel around the world. And... h my god you are never going to believe it, Frankie won the lotery! It isn't much, but still, six hundred dollars is always nice!'

Duo chuckled, but it annoyed him that Quatre had skipped Heero, he thought Quatre knew by now that Heero and he were more then... friends, or at least he thought they were more then friends... 'What about Heero?'

'He was very angry very you didn't return and couldn't reach you. I'll tell you that you didn't know about the moving, because.. he kinda thinks you abandoned him...'

Duo groaned, oh no... this was not going good. 'Maybe... can uh, can you give me his number? I really want to talk to him...'

'Sure... but uh, don't you want to know how things are with me?' He asked, though he didn't sound angry or hurt.

Duo laughed 'I'm sorry Quatre! I didn't mean to sound so uninterested. How are things?'

'Well, Trowa and I got a tattoo.'

Duo's eyes bulged out, he could hardly imagine Quatre getting a tattoo!

'Heero tatood us, a sentence on our arms. "to share eternity with the one I love most". Isn't it romantic?'

Duo swallowed, feeling a bit jealous. 'Wow, so, are you getting married or something?'

'No... but what we have... it's serious ya know? I really think Trowa could be the right one.' Quatre said, sounding serious but at the same time a little dreamy.

He was really happy for his half-arabian friend. Really happy. Though he hated to admit it before, Trowa and Quatre made a cute couple.

'How are you doing?'

'Seventeen years, that's what my dad got. And therapy.'

'That's great Duo. But I was aslking how YOU were doing.' Quatre kindly said.

Duo sighed 'I guess I'm okay. We live in a nice house, in a nice neighbourhood... I just really miss you guys...'

'We miss you too Duo, more then you'll ever know... I promise I'll come visit soon, okay?'

'Thanks Quatre. I'm... I'm really sorry for yelling at you... when we had a fight.'

'Duo, stop it, it was my own goddamned fault. If anyone should feel guilty it's me. And I do. What you and Heero have is special, I'm sure of it.'

'Thanks, i love you Quat.'

'I love you too Duo. Bye.'

'Bye...' only after he hung up did he realise Quatre hadn't given him Heero's number. He slapped his forehead, nice move Maxwell, er, Rose...

He shook his head. Duo Rose, that sounded like shit... He walked back to his own room, he could try to find Heero's number. How many Yuy's could there be afterall? He had, thus far, forced himself not to call him, afraid of rejection afraid that if he contacted him it would be even harder to let go. Or maybe he just thought the idea of heero searching his number and calling him himself was so romantic that he wanted to give him more time. He didn't know exactly. But he did know he had to tell Heero how he felt, even though there was a good chance they will never see each other again, Heero had to know that he didn't leave him!

He searched on internet and came up with an adress of H. Yuy that could be his, it was close to where he used to live. He dialed, his heart beating in his throat as he waited for someone to pick up. He found it hard to swallow and his throat went dry. He just hoped Heero wasn't too angry and allowed him to explain everything.

'Hello, This is Heero Yuy-'

'Heero, It's... it's me Duo.' He sighed as he noticed it was the voicemail.

'I'm not home right now, but if you are really desperate for my attention you can leave a message after the beep. Bye.' BEEP

'Hey... Heero, It's me, Duo, remember me?' He chuckled nervously. 'I heard from Quat that we have a lot to talk about. Please call me as soon as you can. I... I love you. Bye.' He swallowed the lum, his heart, in his throat as he hung up. Well, at least he now had his telephone number and he could keep trying till his object of affection picked up. He just hoped he wouldn't come to regret saying that he loved him. Because Heero might hate him for 'abandoning' him.

Okay, i do admit that the reason why he didn't call Heero sooner is pretty weak, but I had to come up with somehting since i realised that it couldn't be that hard to find a Heero Yuy in South Carolina. So I admit that I didn't thought things through enough. But come on! This is fanfiction! Gimme a break...

C.W.

Short chapter i know, I thought I could fix this but... I rather write for another story (which I have yet to post but is going to be one long story so I might not post it at all)

I'm sorry if I disppointed you guys but this story just lost my interest... like many others, but I will finish it, hoping you all like it.

Bye!