Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Warning: slight language, violence

Solo's Masculinity Confirmed

Whoever invented ice deserved a fucking medal.

Nothing felt better than having a cold ice bag on a large ass bruise. Duo definitely knew he would still be sore tomorrow but at the moment he couldn't have cared less.

Now, if only Mr. Winner wasn't in this particular living room, watching him like a hawk. Perhaps then he could relax a bit…

"You know," the elder man began, "when I decided to let you board here, I didn't think that you were the type of person to get into fights or get into such trouble."

Duo remained silent, knowing that any verbal response he could make would be the wrong one.

"So, Duo, how did you get into this mess?" Mr. Winner asked dryly.

"To tell the truth, I don't really know," Duo answered sheepishly.

"Oh, but you must know something," Mr. Winner pressed. "It's not every day somebody gets into a fist fight with the only son of the Chang Family."

"It was just a bunch of…" Duo trailed off, trying to think of a more eloquent word than "shit" or "crap." "It was just a lot of stuff that kept piling on and on until it reached the boiling point," he finally answered.

"Do you know what started it all then?"

"To be honest, I don't really know. The guy just suddenly started to hate me one day and I've never figured out why though he'll tell you different. Everybody seems to know the reason except for me."

"Did anything happen today that may have culminated in today's incident?"

"I don't know. He just popped up in front of me and Solo as we were leaving school and he challenged me to a fight, saying that we would settle things right here and now."

"How come I wasn't informed of a fight at the school then?"

"I took it somewhere else; didn't really want to cause a scene at school, even if it was over with."

Mr. Winner grunted but said nothing else as he continued to watch Duo, his eyes boring into him. Duo shifted uncomfortably under that gaze, wondering if it had been a good idea to come right out with what had happened the moment he and the others had gotten back to the mansion. What was the guy thinking about, anyway? Was he thinking about kicking him back out onto the streets?

"It was very courageous of you to tell me what happened the moment you returned here," Mr. Winner finally began after some time had passed. "You didn't try and hide it and I am impressed by your initiative. However, I do not approve of you agreeing to participate in such reckless bouts of violence. Violence never solved anything and your deal with the young Chang is far from over."

Sighing, Duo nodded in understanding. If anything, he probably made Wufei hate him even more today. God only knew what he was up to now…

"However, I would like to know just one thing," Mr. Winner continued. "What possessed you to tell me about this? You could have not said anything about it and I wouldn't have been any the wiser about it."

"Better informed is better prepared," he answered readily. "If Wufei finds out that I'm staying here, he'll tell his parents and they'll get on your case about it. Since I'm staying under your roof, I figure that you have a right to know what I get into."

Nodding, Mr. Winner replied, "That's very responsible of you, Duo."

"Hey, if you think I'm anything like the guy who is suppose to be my father, you better guess again," Duo quipped. "I take responsibility for my actions."

Cracking a small smile, Mr. Winner said, "I kind of figured that out for myself. While on the subject, do you see those papers over there?"

Glancing over at said papers that rested on the coffee table in front of him, Duo nodded warily.

"I just received those a few hours ago," Mr. Winner explained. "They are a proposal from WEI's main competitor, Romafellor."

Duo's eyes narrowed. "What is it about?"

"They want to form a trust with us," Mr. Winner stated bluntly.

"But isn't that illegal?" Duo blurted out, questioning the older male.

"In some countries, yes it is. However, according to the proposal, it would just be put under a different wrapping and presented to the rest of the world as the greatest thing since sliced bread."

"So, why are you telling me this?"

"Because you have a more…intimate knowledge of how Romafellor does business, no matter its field. I want to know what your opinion on this matter is. I've already sent copies to the other executives of WEI so I'll be learning what they think about it soon enough. What I want to know is what do you think about it and if there might be something in-between the lines that we would normally miss?"

Looking down at the papers thoughtfully, Duo debated what to do about them before looking back up at Mr. Winner and saying, "Let's take a look at them."

--

If one was to say that Solo was anxious as he eyed the door to his uncle's study for the one hundredth and thirty-first time, that would be the understatement of the century. He had been right near appalled at Duo going straight to his uncle as soon as they got back to the mansion and admitted to getting into a fight with the China guy.

He himself had probably been in over a hundred fights and his own father probably only knew about three of them. What was possessing the guy to tell Uncle Raberba about the fight when he would most likely never hear about it? It was absolutely mind-boggling.

Glancing back at the study doors for the one hundredth and thirty-second time, he released a long-suffering sigh. How long was Uncle Raberba going to take anyway? He hoped that he hadn't changed his mind on letting Duo stay here. That would really be a fun killer—er, disappointment…

Still, he would rather be out here than be in the company of his cousin who was taking his damn sweet time saying goodbye to his boyfriend while playing a game of tonsil hockey. Honestly, they were going to have to come up for air sometime. Plus, it was just too mushy for his tastes the way those two fawned over each other.

Shooting his one hundredth and thirty-third glance at the study doors, Solo began to pace before the doors, willing time to speed up or for the two guys in there to finish up.

Was he obsessed or something? Probably. However, he could explain that away, at least to himself, as just wanting to keep an eye out for his smaller friend. And also because he couldn't resist physically touching the little guy, his hands being kept somewhere on Duo's person at any reasonable time.

"They're still not out yet?"

Looking behind him, he spotted Quatre behind him and just grunted in answer, casting a look at the doors for the one hundredth and thirty-fourth time.

Hiding a knowing smile from his larger cousin, Quatre suggested, "Why don't we get a snack or something? It beats just waiting out here for them."

Solo gave him a "like Hell I'm leaving" look and glanced at the study doors for the one hundredth and thirty-fifth time.

"It's not helping anybody with you out here," Quatre argued. "You might as well relax and wait just like everybody else."

Solo grounded his fist into the palm of his hand in answer. It was obvious that he wasn't going to agree with Quatre and would be stubborn about it until he got his way. What that was, Quatre had no clue but Solo seemed very determined to have it anyway.

Perhaps he could think of something to take Solo's mind off of whatever it was he was so focused on. His chances for success were slim but he had to try nonetheless.

Latching onto the first thing to come to mind, Quatre said, "Since I guess that trying to get you to leave the hallway is moot, how about we talk about something else, like what are your plans for this Friday?"

Solo gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean by that?" he demanded.

"Well, this Friday is Homecoming and the school usually has a dance of some sort," Quatre explained. "I'm going with Trowa this year. Would you like to come as well?"

Now Solo's first instinct was to say "screw that" when a thought occurred to him. "You guys going to make it a date or something?" he asked.

"We usually do," Quatre answered, uncertain, curious as to what his cousin was thinking of.

"I think I might join ya," Solo said, a small grin forming. "But first, I got to get me a date."

Now Quatre caught on to Solo's train of thought. "Well, good luck with that," he told him. "Duo's never gone to one and has refused to go each and every time."

"Q, don't you know me by now?" Solo asked. "I can get Short Stuff to come with me. I want to see the rest of the school's looks when they see me and him together."

"But you guys aren't even in a relationship," Quatre stated.

Sparing Quatre a look, Solo simply replied, "You think too much Q."

At this point, the two blond Winners heard the study doors open and Quatre was amused to no end to see Solo move towards them like a little puppy.

His father was the one to come out first and he didn't so much as quirk an eyebrow at seeing Solo on the other side of the doors. Quatre mused that his father probably had other things to take care of since he was already leaving them. Glancing back where his cousin had been, he was not surprised to see him physically not there, the most obvious explanation being that he had gone into the study to retrieve Duo.

Telling from the sounds of protest he could hear, he wasn't wrong by a long shot.

The next thing he knew, Solo had emerged with a flustered Duo, the blond holding the smaller teen bridal style and nuzzling his cheek against Duo's. Duo was obviously not happy with the arrangement but he wasn't squirming as much as he usually did.

Eh, it was probably because he was still sore from the fight. Yeah, he could see it now. Duo was being real tender with his legs and not using them as much as he usually did.

Meanwhile, Solo was like the proverbial cat who got the canary. Quatre was soon suspicious since the taller Winner had a grin on, one that was far from innocent he might add. However, before Quatre could make any attempt to possibly rescue his friend, Solo had taken off down the hallway at a leisurely pace, audibly teasing the braided one as he did so.

Not for the first time, Quatre really wondered about his cousin. His attitude was always changing at the drop of a hat and without warning. Perhaps Duo was right in asking if Solo was a girl.

Those estrogen flares were very suspect…

--

It had been decided.

Short Stuff was especially adorable when he was grumpy.

Perhaps that was the reason why he hadn't left his side yet and kept on asking if he needed anything else. Much to his disappointment, Duo didn't need anything else, thank you very much, thus the blond found himself camped out right beside the braided one, waiting for the next need that Duo needed satisfied.

Duo, on the other hand, while appreciating the gestures, was growing quite annoyed by this but did nothing to let it be known. It wasn't as if he could make the blond beside him do something else. Past experience with the guy only proved that Solo only did what Solo wanted and if your name wasn't Solo, then too bad, so sad. Still, the guy was a comfy pillow, Duo would admit that much, though never to Solo's face since he had a feeling the guy wouldn't let him live it down.

Truth be told, Solo didn't mind that he was being used as a pillow since it gave him a reasonable excuse to wrap his arm around Duo's shoulders. Since neither of them had any better ideas, currently they were in Duo's room watching some show (or was it a movie?) on the T.V. Telling by the explosions and constant swearing, the blond assumed they were watching some action fic but he couldn't be too sure about that.

However, there was something else more important on his mind than the explosions on the T.V. at this point in time and he wanted to put it out in the open. Jolting his shoulder gently to get Duo's attention, violet eyes unglued themselves from the T.V. and looked up at him questioning.

Since it had been him to make the first move, he started out by asking, "I was wondering; do you have any plans this Friday?"

"Why?" Duo asked back, eyes suspicious.

"Just curious," Solo replied easily. "I heard there was a school dance and I thought that perhaps we could go to it."

"The Homecoming Dance? No thanks," Duo said.

"And why not?" Solo inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Haven't gone to one yet and don't plan on doing so anytime soon," Duo stated. "Besides, why the hell would I go?"

"Well, there is me," Solo answered proudly, as if that was all the incentive that was needed.

"Yeah, and what about you?" Duo quipped.

"What do you mean what about me?"

"What's so special about you that is going to make me want to go to that stupid dance?"

Solo chuckled. "You are so naïve," he teased as he ruffled Duo's hair.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" Duo growled.

"What I've trying to say is I'll go to that dance with you," Solo explained patiently, as if talking to a small child.

"Huh? What?" Duo was baffled. "Go with me? You mean as friends?"

"What do you think I mean?" Solo purred.

He hadn't spent so much time in the blond's presence to not know what the guy was hinting at. "You can't be serious," he spoke. "What reason would you want to go with me? It's not as if we're together or something."

"Would you like to change that?" Solo asked.

Not expecting such a thing, Duo's jaw dropped and he stared incredulously up at the blond. "W-w-why?" he stuttered.

"Do I really need a reason?" Solo shot back. "I like you and I definitely know you feel something about me so why do that tip-toeing around the subject crap and just take it head on? It saves a lot of time and energy that way. So, what do you say? Want to make this an official thing or what?"

"So this is just something you're doing on a whim?" Duo demanded.

"Hell no!" Solo exclaimed. "You think I'd do this just for anybody?!"

"Well, you did do it with an entire ballet team," Duo pointed out.

"It was an orgy!" Solo defended. "You can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing!"

"Well, I wouldn't know," Duo sniffed, turning his face away. "Nobody has ever given me the opportunity anyway."

Solo stared at him and then a perverted grin took hold. "Oh, so you're a virgin, huh?"

Duo could admit no denial and flushed in embarrassment instead.

"Not like that's a bad thing," Solo commented. Nuzzling his check into the chestnut hair, he continued, "I can show you so much and I don't just mean the physical either."

"Okay, you're going to have to explain that last one," Duo stated. "I've always gotten the impression that sex is a big part of everything concerning relationships with you."

"It's not as big as you think," Solo replied. "Besides, you're someone that I actually like. So how about it? Would you like to go steady with me or not?"

Duo sighed. "Am I sure you are who you say you are?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Solo asked back, perplexed.

"The last time I was in a relationship like the one you are proposing, the other person was actually a girl," Duo explained.

"What was the problem with that?"

"I thought she was a guy."

"Let me guess. Quatre set you up?"

"You guess right."

Chuckling, Solo took a hold of Duo's chin gently and turned the braided one's head so that he could look into the violet eyes. "You need not worry about that. I'm going to be upfront right here and now and say that I'm a guy, one hundred percent."

"And how do I know you're telling the truth?" Duo countered.

Smirking, Solo took one of Duo's hands and shoved it down his pants. Duo's violet eyes widened and his face turned a red so red that Solo hadn't thought it was possible.

"O-okay…you're telling the truth," Duo gasped out loud, his blush miraculously reddening even further.

"So what's your answer?" Solo asked cheekily, his grin growing larger with every second that passed.

Duo remained silent, not answering at all. For a moment, Solo thought the poor guy had passed out or something until he received the shaky reply. "I g-guess I c-could-d give-e-e it another-er g-g-go," Duo stammered.

"Just what I wanted to hear," Solo purred deeply and gently placed his lips onto Duo's. Pulling back, he said, "You better get your rest, Short Stuff. Tomorrow, we are going to get you some things that you are going to need for Friday."

"Um, Solo?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I take my hand out of your pants now?"