Twist
of Fate
Elf
As Heero’s eyes gazed over Duo, he saw that his lover was still extremely skinny and pale. "Ready to go, Duo?"
"Yeah, I’m all psyched!" Duo said excitedly. It would be his first time out of the house in weeks since his bad case of the stomach flu. He had been shot, beaten up, and nearly killed more than several times in his life and never let any one of those things keep him down…but get a little stomach flu…and he was down for the count. "Er, where exactly are we going?"
"I thought we’d spend the day at the port since you’re better," Heero replied as he began to walk back to the car. On a second thought, he went back and took Duo’s arm, walking him to the car.
"Wow, Heero. You’re giving me the royal treatment," Duo joked as Heero held the door open for him.
"You’re still not entirely better…." Heero muttered, getting into the driver’s seat.
The entire trip to the port, Duo admired and commented on the beauty of every single thing he missed out on while at home for those weeks. When they arrived at the port, Duo leaped out of the car and began smelling the salty sea air.
Chuckling, Heero took Duo’s arm in his and said, "It’s just like watching a kid."
"Well excuse me if I haven’t been out of the house in weeks," Duo smirked as he kissed Heero’s cheek softly.
Turning slightly red, Heero muttered, "…Come on. There’s a lot to see…."
Looking at his left hand, Duo commented, "You know, I can’t believe how much weight I’ve lost over those last couple of weeks…look, I’m all skin and bones…." Twirling the gold band around his ring finger, he muttered, "If I’m not careful, I could lose this…." As if to demonstrate, he slipped the ring off with ease. "See?"
"Then take extra care to see to it that you don’t," Heero said as he slid the ring back on Duo’s finger.
"I don’t know what I’d do if I lost it," Duo said, putting a hand on Heero’s chin, guiding his face to his own. With incredible softness, he leaned over and kissed his lover’s lips slowly.
Aware that they were in a public place, Heero’s face flushed as he slowly broke the kiss and put his finger against Duo’s lips. "Next time, koi. We’re at the port right now."
Taking Heero’s left hand in his, Duo kissed the matching gold band on his finger and said, "…So we are." Giving Heero a quick peck on the cheek, Duo winked and smiled, "Let’s go have some fun."
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
The port was very busy and after a few minutes of walking around and looking at everything, Heero concluded that it was best if you left your attention span at home in that little shoe box with your algebra skills. "It’s certainly is busy, isn’t it?" Heero muttered in distaste as they finally stopped between a hot dog shop and a candy store.
"Oh yeah," Duo said enthusiastically as he watched all the people go by. "It’s wonderful!"
"…Right," Heero muttered, not wanting to bring Duo’s mood down. "So…what do you want to do now?"
"Let’s get a hot dog!" Duo said as he jumped to the shop next to them and began studying the menu.
Heero only responded, "Hn," as he stood beside Duo and looked at the menu. "…Fish dog???" he muttered with distaste.
"Ew…" Duo muttered. "I think I’ll just have a plain hot dog."
"…Plain? No mustard, ketchup, relish, chili, or cheese?" Heero asked, surprised at Duo’s decision.
"Yeah, I don’t think I should really eat all that so soon after being sick," Duo shrugged honestly.
Tugging lightly on his lover’s braid, Heero muttered, "And I wonder why I worry so much about you…."
Smiling, Duo turned to Heero and put his arms around his neck. "I’m perfectly capable by myself, darling, but it’s nice that you worry." As he kissed Heero’s nose, he saw the color rising in his lover’s cheeks and chuckled, "You’d better not be getting the fish dog."
Smirking, Heero went up to the counter and ordered two plain hot dogs.
"All right!" Duo said happily as he eagerly took his hot dog. "What next, Heero?"
Taking a bite of his hot dog, Heero shrugged.
"I know! Did you see those flyers around for that little circus parade today? That’s in less than twenty minutes. We could watch that!" Duo said, another flyer catching his eye.
Nodding as he swallowed, Heero agreed.
"Come on," Duo said taking Heero’s hand. "People are already waiting to see it. If we don’t hurry, we’ll be too far behind!" They stopped at a crowd of people waiting for the circus parade. "Ah good, we can still see," Duo said, looking at the path the crowd had already cleared.
Continuing to eat his hot dog, Heero nodded. Between taking bites, he noticed that Duo’s hot dog was untouched. "You’re not eating your hot dog," he said.
Glancing at his hot dog and then back to Heero, Duo said solemnly, "You know, sometimes it’s just more fun to hold a hot dog than eat it."
Heero stared at him and blinked.
Then Duo broke out into a smile and said, "I don’t feel like eating now."
Smirking, Heero said, "Understandable."
Letting his attention fall on the upcoming circus parade, Duo joked, "So, you think we’ll see Trowa and Catherine?"
"…No…Trowa and Catherine are on L3 performing in their circus. This is a different circus company than theirs…." Heero said seriously, staring at Duo.
Duo blinked and then drew close to Heero, putting a hand on his shoulder. "That was a joke, darling, a joke."
"…Oh," Heero muttered. "…Ha…ha…?"
Snickering, Duo flung his arms around Heero and kissed his cheek lovingly. As he felt Heero’s cheek grow warmer as he kissed, Duo faced Heero and said, "Little things like this remind me why I love you so much."
"…You were doubting your love for me?" Heero asked softly, silently panicking.
Chuckling at his lover’s worries, Duo kissed his lips slowly, muttering, "Of course not. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t be here kissing you right now."
"…Oh, right…that’s…that’s true," Heero said quietly, kissing Duo back, growing redder by the second. That didn’t stop him, however, from showing Duo his love for him. Though, the interruption of the circus parade did.
Quickly breaking their kiss, Duo turned excitedly to the path and said, "Heero! It’s starting!"
Little corny circus music played as a band of monkeys dressed in band uniforms with toy instruments paraded down the walk. As the first of the monkeys boarded the ship at the dock waiting for them, clowns on tricycles and unicycles paraded down the walk, giving out candy to kids and adults.
"Oo! Oo! Look for Trowa! Look for Trowa!" Duo joked as he held Heero’s hand tightly.
"…I’m telling you, Duo, that’s a different –"
"A joke, darling," Duo reminded his stoic lover as he gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"…Right," Heero muttered, turning red.
After the clowns, the elephants came – dressed up in costumes with scantily clad women riding them. There were about a dozen or so in the elephant herd but eventually, they boarded the ship. And then….
"Heero!!!!!!" Duo cried in excitement. "Look!"
The pinnacle of the show, the little dogs riding unicycles came onto the walk and spun around on their wheels for the audience. There were clown dogs, animal dogs, dog dogs, and even a ringmaster dog! As the last of the dogs boarded the ship, the ringmaster came out and thanked the onlookers, boarding the ship himself. Most of the crowd stayed to watch the ship sail off the horizon.
"Maybe they’ll sink it…." Heero mused as he finished his hot dog.
"That’s mean," Duo laughed as he shoved his hot dog in Heero’s face. "Here, eat this so you can’t say any more mean things."
Respectfully, Heero declined and Duo ended up throwing the perfectly good hot dog away. A couple of rebel monkeys who had ditched the performance, however, ran onto the scene to steal the poor hot dog away.
"Hey…you know what I’m in the mood for?" Duo asked as he held onto Heero’s arm, kissing his cheek lightly.
Turning red, Heero asked, "…What, koibito?"
"A little cotton candy!" Duo said, pointing to a vendor. "We can share one!"
"All right," Heero said as Duo kissed him off.
Not following his lover, Duo sighed and wandered off to the side of the dock. He didn’t feel too well…but he just wanted to make the day so right for Heero. Quickly, someone jabbed his arm with their elbow, but quickly apologized.
"No, s’okay!" Duo said, then something flying high in the air caught his eye…it was golden, almost…. Wait…his finger felt…naked, almost…. His ring!!!
"Shit!" he muttered as he flew with the ring over to the edge of the dock. In front of his eyes, the ring fell into the water with a PLOP. "Wait, I can still get it!" He frantically leaned over the railing to snatch the ring out of the water. It was just barely out of his reach.
"Dammit!" he swore angrily as he leaned further. …So close…. He almost had it within his fingertips when a fish swam along and swallowed the ring. "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Duo screamed out as he punched the side of the railing angrily, only feeling himself hurt even worse. "DAMN FISH!"
"Anything wrong, koi?" Heero asked from behind him.
"NOTHING!" Duo said frantically as he spun around. "A, uh, big fish…uh, ate a buddy of mine." He felt bad about saying that, but…it wasn’t entirely a lie. The ring was kind of like a buddy…it was given to him by a buddy, at least.
Heero smiled at his lover’s supposed love for animals and said, "Come on, let’s see what else we can do." He handed Duo some cotton candy and as they walked the dock, Duo was very careful to keep his left hand out of Heero’s sight.
"H-hey, Heero?" Duo began in a shaky voice.
"Yes?"
"Suppose a tragedy were to befall upon someone. Do you think a twist of fate could happen?" he asked, trying not to hint at anything.
"…If it were meant to be, then yes," Heero answered solemnly, as he put an arm around his love.
Duo nodded rested his head on Heero’s shoulder.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
They had spent hours at the port, looking at things, admiring everything. Looking at his watch, Heero said, "Want to eat dinner? It’s almost time for us to leave."
Duo had spent the day in misery. "Uh…sure…love…um, how about that place over there?" He pointed to a rundown placed called the Fish Shack.
"You sure you’re in the mood for fish?" Heero asked as they walked in. It wasn’t crowded at all.
"Yeah," Duo muttered as he thought to himself that he would like to eat every fish that the fish that ate his ring had ever cared about.
A waiter quickly seated them and asked for orders.
"I’ll have…shrimp scampi," Heero said, giving the waiter the menu.
Looking at the menu, Duo muttered, "I guess I’ll have Today’s Special."
"Very nice choice, sir," the waiter said as he took Duo’s menu. "The Special today is a fresh fish just caught not more than thirty minutes ago. With the Special, we guarantee the freshest."
As the waiter trotted off as waiters normally do, Heero voiced his concern, "You sure you’re in the mood for fish? I mean, you could barely keep down that cotton candy…."
"Yeah, I’m fine," Duo said tersely, keeping his left hand under the table.
"…Anything wrong, Duo?"
"No…I…I’m just hungry. I need to eat," Duo muttered. He would like to have destroyed every last fish alive for revenge that moment. His ring finger felt so alone and vulnerable.
A few moments later, the waiter returned with Heero’s shrimp scampi and Duo’s Special. "Fresh carp just caught a couple of minutes ago," he said as he handed Duo his plate.
The fresh carp looked like a regular dead fish except without the head, fins, and various guts…. "This…looks…so…soooo appetizing…." Duo said as he stared at the fish in disgust. "…Just…die, okay?" He quickly thrust his fork in the fish’s side and cut angrily.
Heero enjoyed his shrimp, but was concerned for Duo. "Are you sure –"
"Yes I am sure I’m okay!" Duo snapped tersely as he stuck a forkful of dead fish in his mouth. It tasted terrible, but he was determined to eat every last one of this fish’s remains.
"…Okay," Heero said skeptically as he tended to his own meal.
Duo had finished with nearly half of the fish by the time Heero was done with his meal and he felt…sick. "Ugh," Duo grumbled as he cut another piece of the fish. Sticking it in his mouth, he began to chew.
Heero watched Duo, fearing it might come back up….
"SHIT!" Duo howled as he clutched his jaw, spitting the fish back out.
Other people from other tables began to stare.
"What? What?" Heero asked, concerned for his lover.
Angrily, Duo dug through the fish remains until he found what he had bitten. It was…a golden ring. "No…" he muttered in amazement. To double-check his suspicions, he looked for an engraving inside. Yes…yes there was one. Duo’s heart jumped for joy as he read the inscription aloud, "For my love, Duo. May we forever be joined. Love Heero."
"YES! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Duo screamed out in joy as he jumped up out of his seat. He hugged an old lady nearby and jumped around, screaming in joy.
"DUO!" Heero yelled to calm his lover down. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU????" Maybe it wasn’t an effective way, but hey, he tried.
Duo jumped to Heero and shoved the ring merrily in his face, "Yes! I lost it, but now it’s here! I found it in my fish! YES!"
The restaurant’s patrons muttered around the room anxiously, growing suspicious of their food.
Heero quickly took the ring from Duo’s hand and stared at it. It was the same golden band from the set that he and Duo had exchanged a couple years ago. He checked the inside for the engraving he had put in for Duo’s ring. It matched his own, except the names were switched. "…Y-you lost this?" he held it back up for Duo to see.
"Oh…oh shit," Duo muttered, his happiness fading. "…Er…yes. Someone bumped my hand and it fell off into the water. I tried to get it, but a fish ate it…and…I didn’t want to tell you because it meant so much to us…and…I…I just…."
Putting a finger to Duo’s lips, Heero said softly, "You lost our ring…but then you found it again…and under unusual circumstances, too…a twist of fate. I…I think that’s a sign that we’re meant to be."
Staring into Heero’s eyes with sudden joy, Duo began to blush at his words.
Slowly, Heero slid the ring back onto Duo’s finger and held his hand close to his heart. Tears began to shed from his lover’s eyes as he leaned over and kissed Duo’s lips softly, not turning red once.
Watching the whole scene, the patrons began to clap and some women cried.
Both Duo and Heero blushed, but neither let go of each other or stopped their kiss. It was obviously meant to be.
~Owari~
