Disclaimer: Bandai aint got shit on me...except the ownership of the G-boy universe.

Chapter eight


"He always calls me Angel, like I was a saint, like I never did any wrong...For Allah's sake! He is such a... a fool."

"No he is not. And you were rather …angel-like... before you took over your dad's business."

"Well, I can't exactly run a global enterprise by ...offering a cup of tea to every industrial sharks out there!" He said, waving his own empty cup. Duo laughed. They were sitting in the middle of a heavenly garden, having tea under a gazebo. Quatre had staggered in a couple of days before, announcing his breakup with Trowa.

Duo had not been surprised. Quatre still wanted him. It was oh so obvious.

Now there they were, on a balmy morning, having tea like a couple of middle aged ladies...a fucking scene out of a little girl's book or something. Too fucking aristocratic for his taste...but he did love green tea, especially when mixed with a lot of sugar.

"I hope he's not gonna come after me for ruining your relationship, is he?"

"He wants...he said something about me having to choose between you and him, or some other bullock like that. We're just on a break. We've been together for so long, this really isn't as serious as he's making it."

Duo, reaching for some more sugar, stopped and stared at Quatre for a bit.

He then smiled.

"Well, that's new. Heh… You… mind telling me why he would think of me as being a threat to your relationship, apart from the fact that you have been devoting an incredible amount of time to my lit-tle cause?"

Quatre avoided his gaze while he was talking but then looked as his face. "Since when do you talk like that?"

"What-" Quatre smiled.

"I just noticed it...yo-your vocabulary. It's rather sophisticated now."

"WHAT!" Duo said, a little indignant. Quatre's grin got wider.

"AH! You talk all British now...you're so articulate." Duo gaped like a fish, gasped and pointed his finger at Quatre, who was now laughing lightly.

"Well we are having tea, aren't we-NO I AM FUCKING Joking! And don't think I didn't notice tha fact that your trying to avoid the fucking subject too, so... spit it!"

Quatre looked away.

"He thinks I am...still in love with you."

Duo was very still, his thoughts flying at a million light years per seconds.

"And you told him you weren't. Right?"

"...no..."

"Quatre. I still love yah. I always would. Ain't nothing wrong with that. But you're looking a little frazzled. What's wrong with you?"

"I am sick of people repeatedly asking me that question!" Quatre snapped, and Duo retorted.

"Well, there is something going on. And I am very aware of it. These fucker who are after me, I know you well enough to know that you have looked into it, and probably others did too, and you know something that you're not telling me. And they want something from me. I may be a sorry bum, but I am still a political figure, no matter how minor my position is."

"Being the L2 Prime minister is not a light job, Duo."

"My presence is never really needed during those stupid intergalactic meeting-thingies, now is it?"

Quatre laughed as Duo gulped his tea down.

"This is why I will always love you, Duo Maxwell. You make light of every thing."

A spray of warm tea showered every thing within five feet of Duo, including Quatre. He gasped, his eyes watered and was about to reply when someone came from behind the bushes behind Quatre.

"Wow, love, you may wanna learn how to sip your tea, not water the plants with it."

"Hello, Richard." Quatre said, giving Duo a furtive look, which he caught, but dismissed as he went forward and took his fiancé in his arms.

He however, did not catch the poisonous look Richard threw his way, as Duo embraced him.


After that incident, Quatre's days on the estate were spent checking over every last details of the affair, and trying (and failing) to have another private conversation with Duo, who spent most of his time by Richard side. This seemed to greatly delight the later one, who 'had had a nagging feeling about the newcomer' as Quatre had once overheard him say, something that had nearly pushed him in a great rage, considering this was his manor they were living in.

The relationship between him and the dying man had quickly deteriorated (just like his stupid, stupid brain) since he overheard that last bit of the conversation he had had with Duo that morning.

This jealousy was totally unfounded, Quatre thought. He had no reasons to hate the man. He knew Duo did not love him, that Duo probably loved him more than he loved Richard because of... many things, one being the fact that they had been through more than Richard could ever imagine, and that, despite the numbers of times they hurt each other, he had still longed for him, and had forgiven him.

But could Duo forgive the fact that he had forced him to be hospitalized, put in a cage for almost two years if he knew...Could he ever tell Duo the truth? Would he still find it in his heart to love him, then?

He strongly doubted it.

He also could not see what he saw in that Richard, a hare-brained male bimbo, who could not even hold an intelligent conversation, spent his days worrying about himself and talked for hours about absolutely nothing.


Duo had thought he was no longer on Quatre's property because having not known how big it was, and knowing that it was probably unimaginably large, he had ridden for about three straight hours, hoping to come upon something that was not rich, and grandiose, like what he had had to deal with for about a month now...Then he found out that the only way he could actually leave his friend's property was by taking a goddamned plane, since the whole damn country he was in practically belonged to the guy! Neo Marrakech was a Winner estate.

This is how he had figured it out. He had taken the motorcycle Quatre had offered him as a wedding gift for a ride, and had found himself on a deserted beach. Puzzled by its calm and purity, it had not taken him long to find the posted sign that branded it off from the public.

He had also discovered that it belongs to the Winner Corporation.

He told the guards he knew the owner...they believed him and recognized him since he had restored his hair color.

HE was 02 after all, the most gorgeous, playboy musician, politician, humanitarian, business-sharking Prime Minister in the whole damn universe...how could they not recognize him?

Very humble too...

The beach was near a little village, its habitants descendents of the middle East, and they was something very ...Egyptian to the whole town, with its street vendors, and horse-drawn carriages...and the occasional camel...The people were bronze skinned, mostly dark haired and very amicable. It was also-slightly-sandy. A girl had sold him a coconut she had taken from one of the place's many coconut trees, and had recognized him. So had her brother, and soon, many children surrounded him, asking him to sing them something, or talk about the war...something he didn't really want to do...

He dragged the bike on the sand, plopped it down on a mound of sand, leaned against it and stared at the waves. They were birds flying overhead, making loud caws and fighting over something… it was also very windy, and would have been cold if not for the stifling sun, still beating on his forehead. His bangs, sweaty when he had arrived at the beach were now flying around his face, getting in his eyes… but those things didn't really affect him.

His mind was miles away.

He was wearing an old, thin, faded green T-shirt that hugged his torso, and jeans that had been black at a time. Now they were grayish, and torn at the knees. His knee-high boots had been discarded as soon as he saw all that sand and they were now lying behind his bike.

He turned to check if they still were there and saw a crab crawl into one of them. It made him smile.

"I guess your looking for some shade too, eh? Old timer…" He grabbed his boot, turned it upside down and poked it with a finger…

"It's stinky in there, you shouldn't go in — no — don't be stubborn. I don't want you in there – Ow! Owow! Ok, leggo now!

As the stubborn crustacean crawled back in the boot, Duo nursed his red finger and went back in his thoughts.

What am I supposed to do? Before, yes I had considered re-establishing a romantic relationship with Quatre...not that our relationship is not already romantic but it has been …bumpy over the past few years...but Trowa has always been in the picture.

Even when we were a threesome he was still very possessive of Quatre. Now that he's gone...I don't think I can just resume things with Quatre...Might be fun though...

"Mmnh…Penny for your thoughts?"

Speak of the devil…

"Quatre" He didn't turn around.

"You should have told me you wanted to get away…I would have arranged something."

Always so sweet.

"Listen, you're already doing a lot for me —" He then turned. Quatre was standing barefoot in the sand, wearing a simple white T-shirt and thin white pants made of a veil-like material. The wind made his soft hair fly clean from his forehead and look almost as young has he used to be…he had also shaved.

"I want to do it. Because I care… and I love you."

"Why?" Duo then stood, and climbed towards Quatre, who was standing on a dune.

"Because…every night since you left me, I see you face in my dreams, and I long to kiss your lips, smell your hair…" Duo now stood so close to him that they were stepping on each other's toes. "Why…" He asked again, looking down on Quatre's lips.

Quatre's tongue licked his suddenly dry lips. "Because…I want you…" Duo started sliding his hands down Quatre's hands, which hung limp against his sides.

"I need you…" Duo drew him close, and placed his chin on top of Quatre's head, smelling his hair.

"Shh…don't say that." He smelled like dates, honey, sweet, edible.

God…

"Quatre, I don't think you should be tempting me like this…I'm gonna be a married man soon." Duo said, stepping away from Quatre, who had closed his eyes, but soon opened them, distraught.

"Damn it, Maxwell! Just one kiss!" Duo laughed and placed a finger under Quatre's chin.

"You have grown into a very spoiled man, Quatre. What happened to your maturity."

"It went away the first time I saw you again. Brought me back to those days…Oh, fuck it."

He grabbed Duo's face and kissed him like there was no tomorrow, and maybe there wasn't, who knew? When you lived a life as dangerous as that of a G-pilot, you could never be certain about anything…even the love of a fellow team member…

"Wanna ride back?" Duo asked him as they were leaving the beach.

"I brought a car but what the heck. Yes. I would love a ride."

"I don't ride with a helmet, so you're going to have to hold me extra hard," He said half-jokingly but Quatre responded by hugging Duo from the back and settled hid forehead between his shoulder blades. "I have no problems with that."

Beside, we have lived through worse than a nasty spill from a bike.