Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Warning: language, violence, shounen ai

There's a Stranger in your Eyes

Having had spent the night at Trowa's, Quatre found himself walking down the driveway of his home, enjoying the cool air that had graced him. He took in the sight of the multicolored leaves in the trees, signifying that autumn had arrived and was here to stay. He had a mental note to track down his winter clothes so he wouldn't be caught off guard by a sudden cold front, the foot soldier of winter.

It was quite a beautiful day today. The sky was blue, barely a cloud in sight to cover the sun at all. Hence that was why he was out walking instead of being driven up to the front door.

Just as he entered the inner sanctum of the Winner family, he found himself accosted by an unusual sight. Solo had jumped him from out of nowhere but what was most peculiar was that his cousin looked quite distressed.

"Have you seen Duo?" the larger blond demanded, hands gripping the smaller blond's shoulders tightly.

Quatre frowned. "Isn't he here?"

"I can't find him anywhere!" Solo exclaimed as he released him and began to pace. "One minute he was here, the next he's gone and no one has seen him around. I was hoping you had run into him or saw him or something."

Wow. This was really getting to him. Solo really looked like he was about to hyperventilate and breakdown.

"Did something happen between you two?" Quatre asked, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

"No, nothing happened between us!" Solo stated, a hand tangling itself in his long, blond hair.

"Did something else happen that might've set him off?" Quatre asked.

"No, I don't think…so…" Solo grew quiet, as if something had struck him. "Wait, there was somebody here. I think Duo said it was his father."

"What?!" Quatre sputtered. "His father?! Are you sure you heard him correctly?"

"Positive," Solo answered. "He got all cold like he does whenever somebody talks about his dad."

Frowning, Quatre inquired, "If you're that sure, then what was Duo's father doing here in the first place?"

"Maybe it has something to do with my dad?" Solo said aloud.

"Your dad?"

"Yeah, he showed up yesterday and then your dad said I had to be on my best behavior for some reason."

Slowly, the pieces of this puzzle were beginning to click together in Quatre's mind. First, Solo's father shows up without warning, then his own father tells Solo to behave himself, and then Duo's father shows up for some unknown reason. Coincidence? Quatre thought not.

There was only one person who could shed any light on this mystery and Quatre was sure that his father was that person.

"I think we need to have a talk with my father," Quatre told Solo. "I think he might know something about this."

--

The two teens held their ground as they stood before the imposing figure of Raberba Winner, said man observing them impassively from his desk. Solo noted distractingly that his own father, Ezekiel, was off to a side, an uncharacteristic stone expression on his face.

After having gained permission to enter the study, Quatre had demanded, without fanfare, if his uncle had any idea of what was going on. Solo just stood by his cousin's side, arms crossed, trying to emit a foreboding presence. Whether it was working or not, the blond didn't know nor did he care.

His uncle hadn't said a word yet, preferring to draw out the silence, as if trying to intimidate them. Whether that was working or not, Solo could positively say that it wasn't.

"What makes you think I know anything about this?" his uncle finally said, breaking the tense silence.

"You know everything that goes on in this house," Quatre stated, not willing to back down.

"Honestly, I don't know why Duo is absent," his uncle replied.

"Do either of you have an idea why your friend vanished?" his father asked.

"It happened sometime after he met up with his dad," Solo answered. The blond paused upon seeing the startled reaction from his uncle.

"Could you repeat that?" the man demanded.

"I met Duo's father outside. Duo just suddenly when all ice on me," Solo told him.

"Damn it," the man swore.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" Quatre stated.

'

"I knew Duo's father was on the premise," Raberba answered. "He was here for some business negotiations. Where exactly were you when Duo went 'all ice' on you?"

"We were in front yard; the guy was leaving," Solo said.

"And what were you doing in the front yard?" Raberba asked.

"Does that really matter?" Solo snapped. "We were keeping out of the way; we weren't causing any trouble. The thing just happened, alright? It wasn't like we were trying to make a mess."

"I understand that," Raberba cut in. "Even though it wasn't intended, the meeting still happened. I think it would be safe to say that Duo isn't on the premise, wouldn't you?"

"But we live on a lot of land," Quatre argued.

"Most of which he is unfamiliar with," Raberba countered. "Chances are he's in the city, somewhere. He probably went somewhere he's familiar with to clear his mind."

Solo's eyes brightened. Why hadn't he thought of that? He had to get out there and start looking! But where could he start? Despite spending so much time with Duo, he still didn't know a lot about him. Just when he thought they were getting somewhere too…

Despite this fact, Solo had nonetheless turned tail and left the study, heading straight to his bedroom. It wasn't that he though Duo might be hiding out there; it was because he left his car keys there. He'd be able to cover more ground in his car than he would be able to on foot.

He heard footsteps following after him, alerting the blond that he wasn't alone but he proceeded to ignore his companion in favor of the task ahead of him.

"Do you know where Duo is?" he heard the soft voice of his concerned cousin from behind, revealing who it was that was following his footsteps.

"No," he answered bluntly, "but that doesn't mean I'm not going out there to find him."

"Oh." It was obvious from the sound of Quatre's voice that the smaller blond was disappointed in Solo's response.

"Call Trowa," Solo advised. "Try and call Duo's other friends, see if there's any places they know of that Duo might be."

Quatre frowned at that. "But Duo doesn't have any other friends."

"What about Howard?" Solo asked.

"I don't know how to contact him," Quatre answered.

"Fuck!" Solo cursed. Looks like they wouldn't have any help from that quarter. Even though the odds were against them, he was still going out. "Stay here and call me if he shows up," he told the smaller blond, arriving at his bedroom and dashing in to find his keys.

Solo shoved past the blond as soon as he had grab the jangling pieces of metal the moment it looked like Quatre was going to argue with him. He didn't have time for this; the longer they sat here, the further away Duo got, the smaller the chance they would have of finding him. Using his longer legs to his advantage, he physically distanced himself from Quatre, ignoring anything the blond might say or try to do.

By the time Quatre had caught up with him, he was already in his car and pulling out of the garage, heading straight for the front gates and the city beyond.

--

It was evening and the sunset was quite spectacular to anybody who happened to be paying attention to it.

Duo Maxwell was one of the many people who wasn't paying any attention to it, preferring instead to wallow in his own miserable thoughts as he trudged down the sidewalk, not paying any attention to his surroundings. He didn't really care to tell the truth, his thoughts dark and filled with morose contemplations.

It would just be like his father to rain on his parade, to come blundering into his life and wreck it all just with his very presence alone. How was it that that bastard had that ability to ruin his day, no his life, just by showing up uninvited? What did that say about him, Duo?

He could care less about anything else. At the moment, he just wanted to beat the crap out of something or someone, whichever came first.

"Well lookie here. What's a cutie like you doing in a place like this?"

Well hello. Looks like he ran into a small group of unlucky someones first. Not like it really mattered. He was in the poorer side of the city, the five or so thugs that had snuck up on him from behind being the prime representatives of this place. They weren't the cleanest individuals, their clothes used to the point there were holes in them, their hygiene being something to be desired.

All in all, if he was to severely beat the crap out of these suckers, no one would care. He blinked his violet eyes impassively as he turned around completely to face his soon-to-be punching bags. He was in no mood to be hassled right now.

"You're quite the looker, ain't ya?" one of the goons said.

"Why don't ya come with us?" another suggested. "It ain't safe around here. We's can protect ya and maybe you could give us something in return, huh?"

Duo couldn't help but warn these guys off. Hey, better to give these guys the chance to leave before something they would regret happened.

"No thanks," he stated. "As much as your offer is tempting, I'm not in the mood. How about you guys just scurry off now."

"Holy shit, it's a fairy!" one of them cried aloud. "This ain't no chick! It's a guy!"

"Took you long enough," Duo snorted under his breath.

"How 'bout we teach this queer a lesson?" one said, cracking his knuckles. "Show him that his kind ain't welcomed here."

"Right on!"

Smirking, Duo said not a word. He would no longer be responsible for his actions from this point on.

At least, that's what he told himself.

In a typical display of animalistic predatorism, they surrounded Duo, pulling out switchblades or picking up a random two-by-four that happened to be nearby. Duo didn't pay any of that any mind. His mind was solely focused on what was to come.

Typically, it was the one that had moved behind him that struck first, wielding the two-by-four mention from before, swinging it downwards, aiming for the braided one's head. Hearing the pounding footsteps, Duo twisted himself and dodged the piece of wood, darting behind the attacker. Duo impacted both of his fists into the punk's ribs, stunning him. Thrusting his knee between the punk's legs, he threw it upwards into the groin. As the others were running at him, he shoved his first victim into the first knife-wielding thug coming at him.

"Fuck!" the thug cried out, causing the others to stop their charge.

"What is it?" one snapped.

"I fuckin' stabbed Billy!" the thug cried, pushing Duo's first victim away, blood gleaming from the knife.

"You guys aren't pussing out on me, are ya?" Duo taunted.

"Let's show this fucker who he's messing with!" was his response.

Duo smirked wickedly as the charge resumed. He danced back as a knife-wielder slashed at him. Balancing on a foot, Duo spun and performed a roundhouse kick on his would-be assailant's head. As the guy stumbled to a side, Duo leapt back, performing a backflip and landing on both feet before shoving his feet into the solid concrete beneath him and ramming his shoulder into the nearest attacker.

What happened next was a panorama of confusion that could only have belonged in a Jackie Chan movie as Duo dove into the middle of his attackers, his fists punching out and feet kicking out, the braided one using the thugs as weapons of his own and objects to use as launching pads for his own attacks. One punch in the jaw here caused some teeth to be spewed out; a kick there broke the blade of a switchblade off. He forced a thug to bend forward in a ninety-degree angle and rolled over his back to land a kick in a thug's gut then swung his foot back to slam into the bent teen's face.

His vision took a reddish tint as he put all his concentration in beating the shit out of these idiots. His anger blinded him from seeing the blood that now was speckled on him and clouded his awareness of the fact that he had picked up the abandoned two-by-four and was wielding it with a malevolent efficiency.

Years of repression and anger were just being released with every blow he landed on his thoroughly defeated enemies but Duo was far from finished with them. Not even the telltale sound of wood snapping and breaking stopped him as he resorted back to using his hands and feet again.

Suddenly, the loud shriek of a car horn invaded his anger-clouded mind and his violet eyes snapped over to a car that had stopped nearby, headlights glaring straight at him, the driver standing out of the car with the door forming a shield between him and the human being, an arm still residing in the car's cab. Duo glared at the intruder; if this guy made one false move, he would join in on his massacre whether he wanted to or not…

--

Tentatively, Solo stepped away from the safety that his car provided him and slowly approached the creature that inhabited the body of his Duo. He hadn't believed it when he saw it but now that he was within twenty feet of it, he had to acknowledge it.

He would have never thought he would have ever seen his boyfriend beating the shit out of a group of bystanders like this. It was almost as if he had never seen Duo before. Those wild eyes were also pretty unnerving to the blond Winner. It truly wouldn't be far from the truth to say that this person in front of him was a stranger.

Duo needed help and he needed it badly and only Solo could probably give him the brand that he needed. Now if only he could get to Duo without receiving too much physical harm…

"Duo," he called out, slowly closing the distance between the hostile teen and himself, approaching him like he was a wild animal. "What is this?"

Duo's eyes only narrowed as they continued to watch him. The closer Solo came, the more details he was able to make out, the more shocked he became. Despite all the blood and horror around, he steeled his resolve and found himself within five feet of Duo whose body was so visibly tense that if the braided teen was an instrument, he would be able to string out a rock ballad.

"Duo? What's wrong?" he asked quietly, sure that Duo heard him. As Duo frowned, Solo took the opportunity to rush up to him and capturing him in a tight embrace. Duo thrashed in his arms like a wild animal but Solo didn't relinquish him, just merely tightening his embrace with all the strength he had. "Duo! Calm down!" he ordered, his command being ignored.

At the enormity of what he was about to do next, Solo closed his eyes and murmured, "Forgive me…"

Pushing Duo away from him, he quickly pulled a hand back gave the wild teen a slap to the face. It surprised Solo when he felt a well of pain in his gut at his action. Perhaps there was something to that adage "this is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you…"

Duo blinked in shock and slowly raised a hand to gingerly touch the redness that had swelled onto his cheek. Solo could see with relief that the civility that had left Duo through his violet eyes. Truly eyes were the windows to the soul.

"Solo?" Duo whispered uncertainly as he came back to himself, sounding lost and afraid.

This time when Solo embraced him, Duo did not fight it but instead melted into it, as if trying to melt into Solo himself.

Rubbing the braided one's back soothingly, Solo held on to him tightly, extending whatever comfort he could to the teen who was slowly loosing it. Taking one look at the damage, he determined that his first priority was to get Duo out and as far as away from this site as he possibly could.

It took little urging as he led the braided one back to his car like a child.