... Why are the last three so difficult? And this one... this one just didn't want to get typed up and posted, did it?
Title: Domestic
Author: Ileana A. (babygray)
Main Pairing: Duo/Heero
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. This is pure jest.
Notes: This is a 26-part story, made up of noisefics/drabbles/whatever.
It's not chronological, but don't worry too much about that. Reworked, but
rough and un-beta'ed. Enjoy!
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--Xenial--
The building must have been abandoned for longer than Duo had first thought. The glassless windows were bordered up and a metal grated door was installed sometime in the past decade to ward against squatters and crack fiends. However, judging from the smell of unwashed and decaying bodies and the debris gathered at the corners, that measure may have been too little, too late.
The living room floor was less than functional; parts of the floorboards had collapsed into the cement basement below, exposing their hollow, termite-infested insides. Fire damage smoked the edges of the room and uneven rings of color on the ceiling marked past instances of leaks and flooding upstairs. Plaster has been smashed from the walls in several places, exposing wood and brick and wire, covering the floor with flecks and chunks of off-white. There were dark splashes of what used to be liquid, and what could have been blood, splattered here and there, including one eerie shape on the ceiling. Duo could not imagine how the room would have looked before its owners abandoned it completely, and he certainly can't see himself moving in.
Heero was moving through the wreckage in his all-purpose yellow high-tops with the agility of a cat. One toe here, half a heel there, and he was half-way across the living room before Duo realized Heero was actually serious about showing him the finer points of the house and was expecting him to follow.
He tried to mimic Heero, praying with each step that he wouldn't fall on one of the clusters of broken glass and that the shuddering wood underneath him did not completely break under his weight.
"Keeping moving," Heero advised without looking back, his sneakered toes searching for a spot strong enough for both of them.
"You're serious about this place?" Duo asked as he moved as quickly and as cautiously as possible. He must have looked ridiculous, half-running, half-hopping on the balls of his feet, the way amateur firewalkers do. He nearly did fell on Heero when he finally reached him, collapsing instead on the half-wall that separated the expansive living room from the dinning room.
"I like the outside," Heero answered as Duo straightened himself up.
Duo couldn't argue that point. According to the agent handling the property, the house was built nearly a century before upon the little mound of earth it was still sitting on in spite of the chaos inside. Its stately stone and brick walls, almost untouched by time, were covered with wild vines, and the grounds were unmanageable, covered as they were with shrubs and weeds that haven't seen spade or shears in decades. The untamed greenery surrounding the building only heightened the sense of otherworldliness the plaster and wood homes surrounding it just did not have.
"Yeah, but this place is going to take ages to fix up, never mind bringing it up to code," Duo stated as he peeked at the dining room area, not surprised that it hadn't escaped the ruin that had laid the living room to waste. "How much are they asking for this place, again?"
Heero's expression was a sour, crestfallen one. "Too much," he admitted.
"What about the place across the street from us?" Duo questioned. "It's not as nice-looking from the outside, sure, but at least that one wasn't abandoned fifty years ago." It was also a much easier fix than this place could ever be, he added silently to himself, staring at what he was certain was, judging from the accumulation of droppings, the remains of a prosperous bird nest on the far eastern corner of the living room.
"I don't like the old man selling it," Heero said firmly. "I know that preacher's going to cheat us somehow if we buy from him."
"Of course, he's gonna try to cheat us, that was people do, whether they're preachers or not." Duo shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "There's no escaping that."
Heero sighed a bit at the sentiment and edged away from the half-wall, cautiously moving back towards the door.
Duo blinked, watching him pick his way back. "What about the rest of the house?"
"I'm really not that interested in buying this place either," Heero replied without looking back to see if Duo was following.
"Then why the hell did we even come in here?" Duo asked as he carefully followed after him.
Heero shrugged. "Half-thought of showing you where they kept the bodies."
That made Duo stop immediately. "Bodies?" Duo repeated. "You're kidding right?" His stomach began to roll in a dangerously painful fashion.
Duo swore Heero's reply was nothing more than a grunt of amusement at his expense.