Duo Maxwell - AC204 April
In the end, the afternoon wasn't spent walking around. As they finished lunch, Duo got a call from Joaquim who got hands on an interesting cargo, if Duo was interested in having premium access? It was an offer Duo couldn't pass. Premium material at family price, it was too good to miss.
So they went to Jo's scrapyard fishing for pieces Duo could bring to Erika for smelting and casting into the Doll's main frame or for him to cut out. At first he had been a bit cautious about bringing Trio to the junkyard, what if it freaked out again? It went surprisingly smoothly, the waist size Doll following him like a duckling and even accepting to help hold on some parts.
Heero scavenged a few items for himself too. Duo had no idea what for. Maybe he wasn't just painting but also doing some weird-ass sculptures?
Now they were back home, Trio was sorting through the items Heero had collected and said brunet was (again) in the kitchen, slicing, dicing, chopping, the stuff they had bought in the morning. Apart from a few exception, Heero didn't seem to content with pre-made food.
Duo was watching, feet swinging from the stool. Heero never verbally banned him from the kitchen side of the counter but the way he took over the place made it difficult to enter the territory. Especially given their respective skills in cooking.
_ Heero" Out of boredom, Duo stretched the name as much as it humanly could be stretched. "Give me something to do.
_ Na. T's ok. I manage.
Duo huffed and banged his head.
_ I mean it 'ro. Give me something to do. It's boring to just watch, and I'm not going to improve that way.
Heero halted halfway into his stirring some tomato sauce, doused the fire and turned to watch him. Duo fought not to squirm. And felt like he had won something when his ex-pilot turned housewife friend pushed the chopping board toward him alongside with a bunch of large, white-ish mushroom. He peeled and sliced one for example and let Duo deal with the others.
_ Keep the six biggest whole, just peeled.
_ What will you do with those?
_ You, will make farcis.
After the mushrooms, went the garlic, basil and onion. Duo fried the finely minced onion, made a sautée with the garlic, basil and minced mushrooms to stuff the ones left on the side. Decorated with onions, the farcis went to the oven, freshly discharged from a gratin with potatoes and eggplants.
The afternoon was well spent in cooking. It was surprisingly easy, once you remember that if the thermostat has 9 intensity settings, it's for a reason. Heero had been more patient with Duo's obliviousness than expected.
_ First few times I tried to cook, I managed to burn can soup. It was a disaster, the saucepan was beyond salvation. Besides, Oyaji got me used to high standard hotels, so unless I wanted to hire a cook, I had to get into it quick.
Duo laughed at the self derision.
_ Oyaji?
_ The man who raised me before I met J. He was a retired hitman but still had a mission to finish. We had the same objective, so we went together.
Duo was curious as Hell, it was the first time ever he heard about Heero's pre-pilot time, or pre-J time. But he wasn't sure he should ask for more. Then he shrugged, with Trowa, he wouldn't have dared. It was Heero. If he didn't like the question, he would either tell Duo off or simply ignore it.
_ What objective?
_ Dekim Barton.
Ouch, that one made the warm and cheerfulness of an afternoon spent cooking together drop below zero. Heero bend under the sink and fished out a bottle of wine Duo was pretty certain he had never seen before.
_ Where does that come from?" From all the edible imports, wine was by far the most expensive.
_ I got a supplier." Heero brushed while getting the cork-screw from a drawer and two glasses. Duo silently let him generously pour the red liquid, apparently, he had stumbled on a heavy subject. And quite surprisingly, Heero seemed in the mood to keep talking.
He took the offered glass and sloshed gently the wine over the sides of the glass (he had seen specialists do that in a documentary once) before sniffing. Even his Boeotian tastes knew it wasn't some cheap stuff.
Heero shrugged again, he knew a guy...
_ So Dekim Barton." Duo trailed, not sure how to phrase it. "Is he why you didn't leave just after the end of the war? You were still after him.
Heero finished clearing up the last dished before taking his own glass and settle on the couch. Same couch Duo had cam-sex countless time with Trowa, and real sex a few times too, his unhelpful brain oddly supplied.
Duo followed.
_ Dekim Barton is the man who ordered my mother's murder.
Duo gluped half his pricey wine. Heero bend forward for a refill. He looked less... distraught than Duo would have expected from such a heavy subject.
_ Why? Who was she?" Duo asked when he felt like his guts were back where they belonged.
_ No one, just some Japanese woman from a middle class family. But she was intimate friend with a man Dekim Barton was looking for. A man who did much damage to the Colonies before disappearing.
_ He went into hiding." Duo summarized. "And Dekim Barton did not forgive.
Heero nodded, they didn't need to say more about how the man retaliated. It was all in the title.
_ Then, what happened? to make your mother's friend hang the riffle.
Duo should have been more cautious. Not take a sip just after he prompted Heero for more information. And definitely not miss the sly smirk he half hid behind his own glass.
His already stained sofa was definitely going to hate him. Lucky it was a dark color.
"He was ordered to kill Heero Yui."
Duo had a coughing fit and his nose burned. Fucking shit!
_ You. Have been raised by Odin Freakin Lowe?!
Did Trowa knew? Had J known when he chose Heero's code name?
Because, it was obvious 'Oyaji', the hitman who was after Barton was Heero's mom's friend.
_ He arrived a few days after Barton's goons. When I told him I wanted to kill the guy who had my mother murdered, we made a bargain, he would take me with him and teach me how to get revenge. I would help him with his job in the mean time.
_ A man would be less conspicuous if traveling with his child." Duo agreed. Still.. "How old were you?
_ Four. I barely remember anything from... before.
It was the first time Heero showed pain about the whole story.
_ And I though I had a shitty start..." Duo breathed softly.
_ You, me, Trowa, we all had it rough. There is no point comparing.
_ That's not what I meant.
_ I know." Heero answered as softly.
It was only after desert, while they were storing away the freshly washed dishes, Duo voiced the though that had been nagging at him.
_ When you said your mom was 'intimate friend' with Odin Lowe, how... intimate exactly?
And if that wasn't an awkward question to ask.
_ Yes Duo, he is.
Odin Lowe, assassin of one Space Leader Heero Yui, and father of one Gundam Pilot Heero Yui. Talk about destiny.
_ Is? I thought he was dead?
_ Dekim Barton thought so. I didn't the point in proving him wrong. After our disastrous confrontation with him when I was eight, I hid him in a small clinic on one of the island of the sea of Seto. He has a wife and two daughters now.
_ And how long have you known, that this 'Oyaji' was really your father?
_ When I went back to tell him our mission was finally complete.
So Heero had two younger sisters. Trowa a niece, adopted or not didn't matter. Duo wasn't sure what it was making him feel. Not really comfortable.
_ And you... met them? His new family?
Your family.
_ Twice a year, usually for the New Year and their birthdays, they are three years apart but were born two following days. Two chatter box, always smiling. They remind me of you.
The warmth in those blue eyes eased a bit the uncomfortable thing that had settled in Duo's stomach.
pickaboo
_ He let you what?
Much later at night, like, really, early morning (very early for Duo), Trowa had called. His face still full of make up, he must have just finished the late evening representation, and was removing it all while Duo was blabbing about his last few days.
Duo was pretty sure Trowa was only half listening, letting Duo's voice lull him to half-sleep. He did pick-up the last bit, with a grain of astonishment.
_ How did you do that?
_ I... asked?" Duo answered hesitantly. What was the problem there?
Trowa flopped into his chair in front of his laptop, clearly put out. Duo fancied, in the trailer's dim light, that Trowa was almost pouting.
_ Do you have any idea how many times I asked him? 'No need, I'm ok'. Always the same answer.
Yup, pouting. It was childish, and it was cute as hell on a tall man like Trowa.
_ Mmm... Maybe we didn't ask the same thing?" Duo mused, remembering Heero's initial response. "I asked him to teach me.
Trowa's head bonked softly on the false wood desk.
_ Why did it never occur to me?...
He was pretty much whining in a 'fuck my life' kind of way. Duo refrained to answer that maybe it was because he has never seen Heero in a schooling environment. Only whenever a fellow student was asking him to explain some fine point of their lesson, did he respond with something else than glares, grunts or death-threats (the later being mostly reserved for a certain blonde girl).
Not wanting to add salt on a wound, Duo simply commiserated with his lover and promised to pass over whatever he managed to learn.
He skipped the evening, Trowa probably knew Heero's story too but he didn't feel like talking about it without the first concerned there. So he goaded the handsome and mostly undressed man on the cam for some sexy time.
Trowa was always happy to comply.
...
_ I was so sure there was something between you and Quatre, back then. I think we all were. I was really floored when you said it was Heero you've been with.
Duo was spent, delightfully so, despite the lack of his lover's physical presence. He was merely chatting whatever came to mind to keep him a bit longer. Just a bit... feel like he was here. He didn't really expect a proper answer. Not that kind of answer...
_ When I met Quatre, I found someone I thought I didn't mind dying to protect. When I got to know Heero... I knew the worst thing I could do to him was die on him. Die for him. I had to want to live for him. It was quite a foreign thought at the time.
"He was the first to give me a name just for me. Trowa Barton I stole. Before that, I was... no one.
And Duo understood. How deep those two love was coming from, how precious they were to each other. How much it must have hurt to realize they didn't know how to live with each other when they were actually living for each other; it was too wast to fully grasp, but he understood.
There would never be something more precious for them.
Duo could only wish he would be enough to help close the wounds and hurt a bit less.
_ I failed at that..." Trowa's voice came through again, so soft a whisper Duo wondered if it was meant to be heard. "I died on him, right under his eyes. I imagine that's why I didn't think of disputing Heero to you when...
Duo hummed, he got that : the PeaceMillion. When Trowa thought Duo and Heero were a thing. Maybe they could have, if he hadn't been such a damn coward and took what was offered.
_ You seemed... more reliable, when it comes to stay alive. You're not one to sacrifice your queen to get an advantage.
_ I did try to self-detonate. When they caught me first. The damn thing was broken. When Heero came, I was ready." No that wasn't true. "I was waiting for him to finish it, since I wasn't able to do it myself.
_ He did not come to kill you." Commented Trowa evenly. Duo huffed.
_ That's what he has been telling himself, that he went to end me. But we both know he couldn't have pressed the trigger, no more than he could kill Relena, despite the numerous times he threatened her to.
_ You didn't know that then." Duo wasn't sure if Trowa meant to let the slightly disapproving tone through or not.
_ I learnt that then." He retorted, sadly. Now, he wondered how Heero must have felt, to have a fellow pilot ask him to end their life. Knowing about the 'little girl tragedy', adding the 'Noventa mishap', definitely not good.
_ What he saw as duty and his own emotions have always been clashing horribly.
Duo had not option than to agree with that and wonder, how about Trowa?
_ I did not have emotions before meeting him.
_ I'm glad you did, meet him." And he meant it with all his heart. They shared, soft, tired smiles and tucked in for the night after a few more sweet words "I wish you were here". Well... for what little was left of the night on Duo's side.
pickaboo
It was only a couple day later, after Duo almost dropped a beautiful plate when drying the breakfast's dishes he finally drew enough courage to call Wufei. Thinking back on his last words to the Chinese man, he couldn't imagine way to make this conversation any less than utterly awkward.
Heero was out, probably running, and Trio playing Go against himself.
As he had already done several times since Heero unearthed the china, he dialed the number but never got to press the call button. Once, twice, three times. Connect.
The tone rang four times and Duo was a second away from hanging-up when the call went through. The vid' screen showed nothing much besides moving darkness.
"You'd better be dying." Came as a low growl in a Wufei's voice.
Flushed and his self-consciousness suddenly skyrocketing, Duo hung-up and stared at the communicator.
_ Remind me how he made me believe that could be a good idea?" He idly asked the Doll, not expecting any answer he could understand. A large, unblinking pair of eyes looked up to him and a pair of hands flew in a flourish of movements.
Duo shook sadly his head.
_ You know I can't understand you. I'll have to ask Heero to teach me. And I don't learn as fast as you do.
Trio shrugged in a Very Heero-ish mannerism and stood up to reach Duo. A few seconds later, Wufei's number was ringing again and Trio was shamelessly seated on his lap.
_ You want me to die don'tcha?" He asked the Doll.
_ I want to know why the Hell you are calling me at 03:40 if Yui is not in immediate danger of suffering an horrible death.
Duo gaped unsightly.
_ I didn't realize it was so early. Here is late morning.
_ You still haven't answered.
Duo blushed and dropped his eyes, shame coming back in full.
_ I... never imagined it could have come from you. The china I mean. Until Heero came and told me he got a similar set from you. Thank-you, they are beautiful and I love them.
He only managed to look back up after hearing a flurry of movements from the com and the distinctive 'clic' of a lamp being lit, all at the end of a long, nerve-wracking silence.
Duo only got a glimpse of disheveled black hair, green fabric and walls of a light color before Trio's head overtook his line of sigh, obviously curious about that new figure.
_ Hello there. Might you be Trio?" Wufei gently asked prompting the Doll to look back at Duo with what would probably be a bewildered expression had he facial mobility.
_ Guess Heero must have talked about you around.
The Doll blinked. Wufei ahemed.
_ Actually, Freya told me about Heero's new project.
_ Who's Freya?" Duo blurted before he could think. Then he thought about the red-lipped woman at Relena's. Weird name, but...
_ One of Trio's elder.
_ Oh... How many of my Dolls did he mess with?
_ Freya's not a Doll, just another IA." Wufei yawned tiredly. "Not supposed to talk about that... Sleep.
_ Ok, I'll let you go back to sleep. And... thanks again, for the china.
On Duo's lap, Trio started to squirm to get back down and scurried away to whatever he was doing before the call.
_ Hmhmm." He set the com back on the bedside table, giving Duo a glimpse of the room. It did not look like the idea Duo would have of a Chang Wufei interior, too... lush. "Oh... by the way, tell Heero he's out of Chateau Merlot.
_ You're his supplier?
_ Hum... his cave, his money, I just send them up.
_ Abusing Preventers resources? My,... I didn't know Master Chang had that in him.
_ You know squat about me.
_ I agree.
_ And you don't know much about Heero and Trowa either. They suck at living together, but they are insanely good at working together. Be careful Maxwell.
If that wasn't foreboding.
Trowa Barton - AC195
He had not really expected for Wufei to get caught, but that hadn't come as a huge surprise either. The conflicted and lonely pilot was somehow bound to try and chew more than he could swallow without backup.
Still, it was an annoying setback. The plan had been to wait for the new pair of MS to be completed before destroying the base, take the professors and go back to Earth, maybe with the new DeathtScythe if one of the professors were in good shape. Now, they would have to wait for the Shenlong to be repaired too.
That was when the second set back got thrown into the pilots cell: namely Duo Maxwell. Caught for the second time.
Couldn't that little idiot be grateful enough that Heero spared his live to actually be more careful and, ... maybe stay with Quatre or something less stupid than... Getting caught again?
It would only take the cake if Quatre decided a rescue mission was needed and come straight into the lion's den.
He managed to, somehow, connect with Heero and coordinate their actions. Or at least, know him enough to anticipate his foolish recklessness. Apparently, the Gundam pilots as a whole had a long way to go before they ever got a flying chance to bring OZ down.
They couldn't have been more disorganized.
Despite not being prone to swearing, he was sorely tempted to string the Boss' full vocabulary right now.