By Ashkara
Why did it always seem like nature conspired against humanity to spoil all the most important of occasions?
Zechs Marquise stared despondently out the window- rain was pouring from a slate-coloured sky in torrents. It wasn’t supposed to be rainy and dark to welcome Duo home after a mission. It was supposed to be bright and sunny, and then gorgeously clear at night with a huge, full moon lighting up the sky, the sort of night that begged stargazers to venture outdoors…
Blinking sharply, he barked out a short laugh. Treize, you turned me into a bloody romantic. You fool!
Of all the things for him to have inherited from his old lover, he supposed he could have done worse. It had hurt to know that Treize was dead, and he had mourned him seriously, even disappeared to wallow in it for a while. But then peace had been threatened again, and he’d returned from the dead to help protect the fragile peace. Returned… and met the one person who could make him stay in the world of the living once more.
He remembered the end of the Mariemaia incident with remarkable clarity. He remembered the frantic call that came in from Lady Une, his sister’s voice in the background, frantically calling Heero’s name…
The black suit had beaten him to the crash site, and a lithe figure had leapt out, braid flying out behind him as he sprinted to the distressed Princess’ side. “It’s okay, Relena! He’ll be fine, but you’re gonna have to let him go so I can treat him…”
He had spoken without thinking about it. “He’s right, Relena. You have to give him space to work.” Violet eyes had swung up to meet his, and for the first time, Duo Maxwell had smiled for him as he gently led his sister back from the fallen Wing pilot. The rush of the eye contact had sped from his toes to the roots of his hair, and he tingled with it for long moments after the other pilot had turned back to care for his friend.
He didn’t catch another glimpse of the younger pilot until he made it to the hospital later that evening. By the time he reached Heero Yuy’s room, the pilot had woken from his drug-induced slumber, and Relena had chased Duo Maxwell from the his self-appointed vigil with good-natured insistence. Zechs turned to corner and came face-to-face with the Deathscythe pilot, leaning tiredly against the wall with his eyes closed.
He approached the slender young man quietly, but was still not surprised that the boy spoke to him without opening his eyes. “He’s gonna be okay. Relena’s in there with him right now.”
Zechs sank into a seat. Just looking at the other pilot was making him remember how tired he was, himself. “I’m glad to hear it. We owe him a lot, for what he has done.”
Duo’s eyes swung up and focused on Zechs’ face. “You, too, Zechs Marquise. Relena was getting hysterical, after Heero collapsed. Huh- she’s never really listened to me, so I wasn’t surprised that she was ignoring me…” He sat down and pulled his braid over his shoulder to stroke gently as he spoke. “I actually thought we’d lose him there for a while.”
Zechs felt that odd tingling sensation again under that violet stare, and he did his best to pay attention to the words falling from those full lips. “Only he could have survived that. Damn it all- I wanted to believe that I could disappear and never have to fight like that again!”
Duo’s eyes narrowed in recognition of the other man’s feelings. “It seems none of us can get away from it, Zechs. Not Heero, not you, not me.”
Zechs smiled and looked across the hallway to the closed door. “Lady Une has hired me, you know. I’m a Preventer now.”
Duo smiled as well. “Good idea! They’ll need people like you to hold this peace thing together.”
“What about people like you, then?”
The smile had slipped a little on Duo’s mobile features. “No one really needs people like me, man. They never have.”
Zechs stopped Duo with a hand on his shoulder as the boy made to stand and leave. “I think we do need people like you, in truth. What would you do if you were asked?”
Their eyes met again, this time in much closer proximity, and Zechs forgot to breathe as he stared down into never-ending violet. All the air was driven from his body in a whoosh as the braided pilot smiled yet again. “I’ll keep it in mind, Lightning Count. Talk to ya later.”
Before Zechs could regain his composure to speak, Duo had vanished around the corner, in search of his fellow Gundam pilots.
Even after Duo joined the Preventers, only a month later, Zechs could not work up to courage to speak to him in private again. It took a particularly hairy mission to bring him out, and then only in the locker room, after having been in to see Sally Po and get his arm stitched back together.
He looked up as a door swung open- it was Duo Maxwell, returned from the shower room in nothing more than a pair of sweat pants and his golden cross. Zechs was once again rendered speechless, but this time by the spill of satiny chestnut brown hair that cascaded wet and loose down the other pilot’s back, hanging well past his trim waist. He barely managed to smile back to Duo’s greeting.
He watched, though, as the boy took a seat, his back facing the taller pilot, and began trying to comb through his hair. Now that he was looking closely, he could see darkening bruises on the boy’s body, signs of the mission the two had just completed.
Signs of the mad rescue the American had pulled off, after Zechs got himself caught.
He looked down at the floor, noticing how stiff Duo seemed. “I’m sorry.”
Duo stopped and turned. “What?”
Zechs looked up again. “I got caught and got both of us hurt. Sorry.”
Duo smiled, though. “Nah- don’t mention it. It happens to all of us. Happened to me three times during the War, you know.”
Zechs couldn’t make himself see it that way, though. Duo hadn’t even been on his team! He’d been on Trowa’s team, as the green-eyed boy’s second in command, and had broke orders to go back in after the platinum blond… While everyone knew that a Gundam pilot would never betray another Gundam pilot, even if it just meant writing him up in a report to Lady Une, Zechs was painfully aware of the way Trowa had been glaring at his American friend the entire way back to headquarters. “It’s not the same, Maxwell. You broke orders to come after me.”
“Heero broke orders when he saved me hide, too. Deal with it,” Duo quipped back, returning to his task.
Zechs watched in silence for a few minutes before he became aware that the American had turned back around and caught him staring. He thought quickly, trying to find something to say… “I’m amazed- I would have thought it would take far longer to comb out all that hair.”
Duo looked down at the comb in his hands- he was already halfway done with his entire head of hair. “Double action conditioners, Zechs. I’d be sunk without it. You must use something good on yours, too.”
“What, this?” Zechs held up a handful of his own silky-soft hair. “Part of OZ officer training school. Treize Kushrenada’s grooming class.”
Duo continued to laugh as he tied off his braid. “I have to hand it to ya- those Ozzie uniforms were much nicer than what we’ve got now. About the only thing I really liked about it, actually.”
“We certainly didn’t give you a reason to like anything else about us,” Zechs replied, looking away.
Duo closed and locked his locker after slipping into a t-shirt and sweatshirt to leave, and sat down next to the blond to put on his shoes. “Well, that was then, Zechs. And I think… you’re not half bad, since I got to know you.” He smiled goofily as Zechs looked up, puzzled by the enigmatic statement, and waved as he grabbed his car keys and left.
Zechs stared after the boy for long moments after that.
And when he next looked in his locker, he had a brand new bottle of extra-strength conditioner sitting on his shelf.
Less than a week later, the two ran into each other again. Or to be more precise, Zechs wandered into the small arms practice range and found the object of his affections already there, gleefully ignoring the world around him as he took out his targets, music pounding into his earphones.
He watched for a few moments- the boy was a terrific shot, better than he was, himself, he admitted. He was pretty sure that Trowa and Heero would be able to match or surpass the American, but he couldn’t much think of anyone else, not even Treize in his prime, who had been quite so effortlessly accurate. Still, what was to be expected from an ex-Gundam pilot?
He forced himself to move away and quickly took the lane next to Duo’s, putting on his ear protectors half as a way of blocking out the person one lane over. He even liked the music the boy listened to- vintage rock by a band that had been known as the Beatles and had been incredibly popular, or so he had heard.
It wasn’t long, though, before Zechs realised that something strange was going on around them. It seemed that all other activity in the shooting range had ended but his and Duo’s, and he removed the glorified earmuffs to turn around-
There were at least twenty other Preventer agents standing behind them, simply watching, and Zechs couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable. “Is there something the matter, gentlemen?”
“Just enjoying measuring my shots against yours, Marquise. Nothing worse than that.” Duo’s voice brought his head around.
He stared at the braided boy in confusion. “I beg your pardon?”
Duo laughed. “It felt like you were trying to compete for a while, there, so I decided to match you shot for shot. You’re pretty good, for an Ozzie, I mean.”
Zechs couldn’t help a small laugh at that. “You’re not bad, either. For a Colonial, that is.” Several people clapped as they shook hands.
Duo’s eyes were wide with awe as he stared at Zechs’ extensive music collection. They had got to talking about the Beatles after that shooting match, and the blond had mentioned that he had quite a collection. It had taken two weeks, but he finally worked up the nerve to invite the braided American to his apartment to browse through it.
Duo ran his hands over the spines of the CDs, painstakingly ordered according to release date, and was unable to conceal a small squeal of delight. “This is incredible, Zechs! The Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, The Mommas and the Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, CSNY, wow- even some Elvis! This collection is worth a veritable fortune!”
The blond shook his head, smiling slightly at the younger boy’s enthusiasm. “Not too many people ever listen to it anymore, so it’s not in demand. Personally, I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t enjoy it, though.
Duo laughed as he pulled ‘Abbey Road’ from the collection and loaded it up into the stereo system almost reverently. “This brings back a good memory- I used to play this song for Heero and laugh as he blushed.” The music came on, and Zechs smiled instantly:
They shared a chuckle at the very thought as the song cut abruptly to its close. That Heero and Relena had liked each other was something that they all knew and appreciated during the war. However his training had been lacking in certain key areas, such as social graces and, more pertinently to the situation, dealing with females of any sort and treating them as well-bred young ladies of Relena’s stature were to be treated.
The two Preventers sat on the floor near the stereo as the CD repeated and the familiar strains of ‘Come Together’ started up. Zechs gave the other a long look. “Why didn’t you and my sister get along, Duo? She refused to tell me about it.”
Duo grinned unrepentantly. “Oh, because she thought that Heero and I were gettin’ it on, back when we’d always show up at schools together. The funniest part of it…” he broke off in a fit of laughter. “One time, she walked in and found me and Heero dancing together. I swear to God- she looked ready to kill me, but she just turned and walked out. You see- Heero didn’t know how to dance, and he wanted to ask her to some school function that was coming up. I was just helping him out, but she didn’t see it like that. Even after he asked her to go with him and religiously avoided me the entire evening.”
Zechs chuckled at that. “You know, OZ Intelligence had you two pinned as something of a couple as well, given how you tended to work so well together.”
Duo nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me, and it shows just how much of an oxymoron ‘OZ Intelligence’ was, no insult intended. We were fifteen, for Chrissake! Besides, he’s too good at getting himself killed, or at least trying to, without adding me into the equation.”
Zechs gave Duo a sharp look. “What does that mean?”
The braided boy shrugged, looking anywhere but at his companion. “Oh, just that people who make the mistake of trying to get close to me have the unhealthy habit of dying in nasty, painful ways. There’s a reason behind the name choice of ‘Shinigami,’ you know.”
Zechs asked quietly, “Is that why you’re still alone, Duo?”
The braided boy’s head came around, eyes flashing distressingly. “I could ask you a similar question, Lightning Count.”
Zechs winced as he looked away, taking a deep breath to steady himself. Duo quickly spoke up, “God, Zechs- I’m sorry, that was rude of me! I have the manners of a milk cow sometimes…”
“No,” Zechs interrupted him, turning his eyes back to meet the violet ones of the other pilot. “It was presumptuous of me to ask such a question. I should be the one apologising.”
Duo looked away this time, his face surprisingly devoid of its normal spark. After a moment of heavy silence, he began speaking again. “A lot of my past never made it onto my official file, Zechs. It was too personal and painful. The orphan part is true, but I refused to let the rest of it out. I… I don’t remember my parents, or even what my birth name was. I grew up on the streets with a whole bunch of kids- our leader was this guy named Solo. He was… like an older brother to me. He died of the L2 plague- I held him as he died.”
He broke off his blank stare to meet Zechs’ eyes again. “That’s where the name ‘Duo’ came from. The ‘Maxwell’ part came after that, when I was at the orphanage. The priest who ran it was a guy named Father Maxwell. Sister Helen- she was his helper. They were great to us, and I lived there for a few years- I even went to school for a while. But then…” He hiccuped and swallowed hard to regain his composure. “A bunch of rebels against the Alliance broke in one day and held everyone hostage. They even pulled a gun on Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. They agreed that they would leave, though, if I could steal them a mobile suit to get away in. I did, but by the time I got back,” his voice sunk to a hollow whisper, “the place was gone, bombed out by the Alliance. I was the only one left alive.”
They were both silent as Duo’s words tapered off on the air, the CD still playing, forgotten in the background. Zechs finally caught the other boy’s eye, though, and he gave him a soft smile. “You have quite a lot to be bitter over, Duo. I’m not surprised that you decided to be a Gundam pilot after that.”
“How about you?” Duo asked curiously, pointedly changing the subject from his personal story.
Zechs took a deep breath. “Treize. I know you all hated him, and I can see how you would think… no, he truly was a bastard. I loved him, though. Even when we were younger- he was so suave and accomplished, so sure of himself, and he was the first person to accept me as Zechs, not as lost, little Milliardo Peacecraft. But he hid so much from me, Duo! He had to have known who ordered the destruction of my home! He knew I wanted revenge for it, but he never told me. I was *working* for them, bleeding for them, and he never told me…” He shook his head. “It hurt to turn my back on him, and when I found out that Chang had killed him in battle,” he sighed, “all I wanted to do was find the Chinese bastard and beat him senseless. Everything between us was over and dead, but he still held that power over me. He still does, in a way.”
The two stared at each other for long moments after that, until Duo couldn’t take the silence any longer. “You know what? Let’s get out of here! Too many sad stories and all that. I think we need to go clubbing, or something. Don’t you agree?”
Zechs hadn’t been to a club since the end of the first war, but he nodded anyway, feeling a lightness on his soul that could not be ignored. He returned the American’s smile willingly. “I think that’s a capitol idea.”
His mind drifting back out of his memories, Zechs frowned as he looked down at the bandages that still swathed his wrist. Yet another injury. It was the reason that Duo had gone on his current mission without him, and thus the source of his current loneliness and depressed state.
The other half of him grieved for another reason, altogether. The pilot side of him was stuck rotting in an apartment while there was a mission going on somewhere that was important enough that Une had sent two ex-Gundam pilots to handle it. He had no doubts that Duo and Wufei were enjoying the rush of being on a mission while he sat back on medical leave and wished he were in their place. Yet another thing Duo had done for him- he had brought back out his joy in flying…
It was quite possibly one of the most boring missions the two had ever been sent on, and they were getting to the point of seriously doubting Commander Une’s judgement at sending two experienced officers like themselves to deal with it.
They were on their way back to headquarters, and Zechs was lazily steering their plane along, barely even paying attention as they came into the final stretch, fifty miles out from Headquarters Airfield. Duo’s eyes lit up with an unholy gleam as he shot a look over at the blond in the pilot’s chair. “You mind if I take over, Zechs?”
“Co-pilot has the con,” the other intoned dully, clearly annoyed at the waste of his time in this mission. He completely missed the flashing mischief of his comrade’s face-
He didn’t miss the acceleration of the plane, however, and his face came around quickly as he felt a sharp turn away from the landing pattern. “Duo…”
The boy laughed. “Payback time, Zechsy! Don’t tell me you’ve never buzzed the tower?!” He whooped as he skimmed in low over the trees and still kept accelerating.
Zechs surreptitiously reached out to check that his safety harness was properly attached. “Don’t make me take control of the plane back, Maxwell…”
“Rule number one of crazy-ass flying is that you have to be in control, Zechs,” Duo intoned as seriously as he could. “I know what I’m doing, man!”
It was strangely exhilarating to just let it go, and Zechs did his best at it, unaware of the smile that was slowly forming on his face as Duo brought the plane even lower, until it was barely skimming over the tree tops. Duo missed nothing, though, and grinned even wider. “Here we go- hold on tight!”
The tightly-executed hairpin turn pressed Zechs back hard into his seat as Duo whooped for joy and flashed past Headquarters at well over supersonic with the sort of pinpoint accuracy that left him speechless.
Three barrel rolls and one escort fighter later, the braided pilot brought their shuttle in for a sedate landing, as though nothing had ever happened. The two smiled at each other, though, as they shut down the main engines and cut the power. Zechs turned to the younger pilot with an evil, but repentant gleam in his eyes. “As fun as that was, you know Une will have our asses for it, Duo!”
The braided pilot shrugged, too high on adrenaline to care. “Look at it this way- it’s her fault for sending us on such a boring mission! Had we had something to do, I wouldn’t have had so much excess energy stored up that I’d pull a crazy stunt like that.”
Zechs smiled in open admiration. “You’re incredible, do you know that?”
He was thoroughly surprised, though, as Duo stopped on his way out and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. “Ditto.” He vanished with a cheeky wink.
Zechs’ hand flew to his cheek, and he couldn’t hide the trembling of his fingers as he struggled with the harness buckles holding him in his seat. He no longer cared that they were in for the tongue-lashing of their lives- nothing could ruin that day for him!
Zechs grimaced as he remembered how angry Une had been with them- even in her heyday in OZ, Lady Une had never been so angry, nor had she ever yelled as much as she did then, coffee spilled down the front of her uniform. It hadn’t helped that neither operative was able to wipe the unapologetic smirk from his face. In the end, Noin had intervened for them, thankfully, before the enraged Commander could reach them to beat them both senseless.
The blond smiled happily as he thought about it. But the best part had come after that when, still high on the adrenaline surge from that plane ride, the two went out to their favourite club…
The music was pumping like mad around them- the two pilots were dead centre in the dance club, both completely lost to the music and the adoration of the crowd of people surrounding them.
Leather, sweat and cologne- Zechs had never been so electrified on the dance floor, and he was certain that the surge of energy he was feeling was coming directly from the boy grinding to the music behind him. The feeling of euphoria singing through his mind was like nothing he’d ever experienced before, and as he spun and caught Duo in his arms, he was suddenly more confident that he’d been in a very long time. Maybe even more than ever. Pulling the responsive body in his arms closer, he lowered his lips to Duo’s.
Cat calls went up around them as they kissed, but neither could hear them. Duo had stiffened in his arms at first, but relaxed less than a second later, melting into the kiss with the same intensity with which he’d flown the plane earlier. Breaking apart for air, Zechs took the other pilot’s hand in his and led him from the dance floor.
They definitely needed to talk.
In the end, the club was just too noisy, and they slipped out the door together, both taking a massive breath of fresh air as the coolness of the evening enveloped them. Duo eyed the taller Preventer seriously, though he was still flushed and bright-eyed from their kiss earlier. “God, Zechs- have you wanted to do that for as long as I have?”
“Probably.” They both smiled- Zechs looked down into the younger man’s eyes as he drew closer to the heat radiating from Duo’s skin. The American had finally gotten the growth spurt he had been waiting for, and was only two inches shorter than the Lightning Count. He was the perfect height, really, for what Zechs wanted.
Duo seemed to be breathing a little harder as Zechs stopped, only inches away from him. “So… what happens now?”
The blond reached out and took hold of the other young man’s braid of hair, stroking it gently. “That depends. Do you want me to kiss you again?”
Duo stared at the blond, but could only nod in reply as he felt arms snaking around his waist and pulling their bodies flush together.
Feeling as though his heart was going to explode from his chest, Zechs leaned in again and kissed the smaller boy deeply, plundering the sweet depths of his mouth for what felt like aeons of scintillating pleasure. Duo was kissing him back, arms twirling around Zechs’ neck, and the blond grinned as he felt the boy’s knees buckle.
Lips swollen and eyes sparkling the two drew back from each other and simply looked. Zechs broke the silence with a quiet, low whisper that stole straight into Duo’s soul, “You brought me back to life, Duo. You. But I never thought that you’d…”
Duo laughed. “Me? And here I’ve been tearing my hair out, thinking that an Aristocratic, sophisticated guy like you could never go for the likes of me. You know, the salt of the Earth and all that.”
Zechs pressed his lips to the boy’s forehead. “Did anyone ever tell you that you have a severe inferiority complex? I’d ask you not to tear your hair out, though- I like it much better where it is right now.”
Duo laughed happily, burying his face against the taller blond’s neck. Zechs felt his insides melting into a gooey mess as the boy pulled back, though and said, “Somehow, somewhere along the line, Zechs… I’ve fallen for my former enemy.”
Zechs sucked in a deep breath. “That makes two of us, Duo.” He whimpered ad Duo closed the distance between their lips again, but parted his lips to admit the American’s questing tongue and gripped the slender form in his arms tightly. As they pulled apart again, he forced himself to say it.
“I love you…”
“Sure hope you’re thinking about me, love,” a voice said at his ear, and Zechs spun to find his lover standing right behind him, smiling at him gently, lovingly.
“Duo…” He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, pulling him into a tight hug as his good hand found the long chestnut braid and gripped it tightly. “I missed you, love.”
Duo’s arms tightened and squeezed him back, lips dancing gently over his pulse. “Me, too. God, it feels good to just hold you!”
Zechs drew back with a mock glare. “You’ve been gone for an entire week, and that’s all you want to do?!”
The evil gleam in violet eyes made his heart leap again in his chest. “I never said that, Zechsy.” Zechs moaned as Duo’s lips came down over his and an agile tongue traced the roof of his mouth, flicking teasingly against his own. “Life just isn’t the same without you there, that’s all,” Duo whispered as they drew apart.
Zechs’ heart soared again, and he kissed Duo’s lips gently. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
As they wrapped their arms around each other again, Zechs felt a sense of completeness and peace filling his soul. This was what life was all about.
As they tripped down the hallway to their bedroom, arm in arm, Zechs knew that he was one of the luckiest people in the world. He smiled into Duo’s eyes again, reading the love and happiness there, and he knew that life could get no better than this.