'Dreams of yesterday are rarely the dreams of tomorrow' for mob_boss_tess
Title: Dreams of yesterday are rarely the dreams of tomorrow
Recipient: mob_boss_tess
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: romance, some angst, maybe some OOC
Summary: Falling in love with each other had never been in the plan, but in Duo’s opinion it was the best thing that could have ever happened.
Author's Notes: My first try at them, even though I like them XD I hope this will be along the lines of what was whished for ^__^ As for the timeline, the beginning is placed right after EW
Author: bloody_winged
Even before she opened the door to the hospital room she could hear the cursing. Sighing slightly to herself, she pushed it open anyway, already prepared to find the room’s occupant missing.
And she wasn’t disappointed. The only other person beside her in the room was Duo, who stopped his cursing the second he saw who had come into the room with him.
“I take it he has left again,” she asked, even though the answer was more than obvious. It wasn’t like she hadn’t expected it. But it hurt anyway.
The braided teen just nodded, his expression a mixture of hurt, anger and sadness.
It was kind of funny, that while she never had found a way to bond with him before, in this situation she could understand him better than anyone else ever had. Funny, but also depressing at the same time.
Sitting down in the empty chair beside the bed she sighed again, rubbing her temple. While she had been prepared that this was a very likely outcome of today, she had hoped that for once Heero wouldn’t be such an idiot. That for once everything would work out.
“I take it you wanted to talk with him as well?” she asked the pilot in the room with her, again receiving a nod. This also didn’t surprise her. She wasn’t as blind as everyone always thought she was.
“We really are the fools here; chasing after someone who doesn’t like to be hunted.”
She didn’t know why she felt like she had to fill the silence, but somehow she did. Maybe it was because she wasn’t used to so much silence coming from the braided teen; or maybe she just needed to let out her own frustration.
And maybe it simply felt good to finally talk about all this with the one person she knew would understand.
His reaction amused her somewhat. Apparently he hadn’t guessed yet that she had known where his affections laid for quite some time. Or he didn’t expect her to be so civil about it.
“Vice foreign Minister Darlian?” he asked carefully, formally, obviously trying to not give anything more away than he already had.
Relena shook her head, a sad but welcoming smile on her lips.
“Please, drop the title and just call me Relena. And yes, I know. I’ve seen the clues all along, and ever since before the first war ended I was pretty sure about it. The way you acted was too similar, too familiar for me to miss it. Your reaction just now only showed me that I was right.”
She could see how his shoulders slumped down somewhat in defeat; his head falling forward and making him avoid eye contact with her. But then he looked up at her again and gave her a wry smile.
“Pretty pathetic, huh? I’ve known what I wanted all along, but in all this time I never managed to make him see it.”
The blonde just shook her head at him again, her smile growing somewhat, gentling a bit more while still holding the same sad lines his own held.
“Don’t think like this. I’ve been the same. And while maybe I didn’t have as many opportunities as you had, we lived in a world at war. Romance - while a wonderful concept in itself - couldn’t be the first thing on our minds. As much as it hurts to think like this, we had more important things to do at the time.”
That got her an honest, if short, laugh.
“Isn’t that the truth.”
Apparently he became more at ease with her being here in Heero’s hospital room then, talking about a topic that still hurt them both deeply, because he sat down on the empty cot in the room, showing her that he was ok with this. The fact that he was the one who spoke next only showed her that he needed to talk about this just as badly as she did. Needed to talk to someone who understood.
“All the time while we fought I thought: ‘There will be time later. If we both manage to survive the war, there will be time for this afterwards’. For the last few weeks it actually was the mantra that kept me going. The hope that maybe everything would be over soon and I finally could allow myself to think about all these feelings. Thinking about what I should do about them helped me to pick myself up and fight again, even when my body ached and my arms hurt from the constant strain I put on them.”
There was a wistful expression on his face as he spoke, but now it was replaced by a grimace of pain.
“And then, after everything was over, he just… vanished. I couldn’t believe it at first, couldn’t allow myself to believe it. I was still too raw from the fighting; I needed something to believe in. But after I’ve had some sleep the truth couldn’t very well be denied. He had gone as soon as he had had the opportunity and no-one knew where he had vanished to. Everyone else seemed to have other important things on their minds; no-one even really cared that the one who saved us all wasn’t even there anymore,” a slight clenching of his fists in the mattress, “no-one - but me.”
The last was said so quietly that she had to strain her ears to hear it, but she managed. And her heart went out for the young man across from her, because her own hurt was so similar that she really knew what he was talking about.
Neither of them knew why they were so comfortable with each other now, talking about this. Neither of them opened up easily towards other people. But maybe getting hurt one time too many did this to you. Made you search out peers who shared said pain.
And while she hadn’t planned to sit here today and listen to Duo while he told her his own, sad little story, it was strangely cathartic. She always had been told that she was a good listener, and she could feel that the longhaired teen needed someone to listen to him right now.
“After I couldn’t deny it anymore, I decided to go too. There was no reason for me to stay. The other pilots were my friends, sure, but they all had their own ways of dealing with the situation. I just… needed to get away.”
He looked up at her again and she could clearly see the desperation in his eyes, the loneliness that she could feel in his words. And, all of a sudden, she felt the need to go over to him and hug him. Only her instinctive knowledge that he probably wouldn’t welcome it from her right now held her back. Talking about the hurt they shared was one thing, breaking down in the arms of a near stranger a complete other.
But that didn’t mean that she didn’t want to help; that she didn’t feel the need to somehow make this better. And she already had an idea of how she could accomplish it. It wouldn’t be perfect - nothing she could do would be, not for either of them - but hopefully it would help them both.
Feeling some of her strength return with her new resolve, she sat up in her chair, giving the longhaired pilot a sympathetic but honest smile. He seemed to realize that she had come to some kind of decision of what to do next, because he also straightened his posture, looking at her expectantly.
“Duo, I know that we never really had anything to do with each other before, but I really would like to propose something to you. I want to be honest - I came here today in the intention to offer the same thing to Heero. But talking to you made me realize that maybe this would be a good idea.”
His expression had turned curious now, though there was a slight frown between his eyebrows that told her that he was slightly wary of what she might say next. She had to repress a chuckle - she could guess what he was thinking. But it had never been her intention to come here today to ask Heero to be her boyfriend. Even though that might be what she wanted, she wasn’t as naïve anymore as she had been only two years ago. There was no way he would have accepted. But she had hoped that maybe with a proposition like this she would lure him close enough to her that they both could see where their feelings would lead them. And hopefully find out that she wasn’t wrong, that he actually did feel the same. Though after seeing him gone again, leaving the hospital long before the doctors would release him, showed her very clearly that he wasn’t prepared to deal with things like that just yet, maybe never.
“I want to offer you the position of my bodyguard. I don’t know if you have any kind of life to go back to, and I will of course understand if you do, but I really would like for you to accept. The thought of having someone so close that I don’t even really know, or know if I can even trust, is not one I cherish. I know that I’ll need one though, that has become painfully clear lately. With you I would know that I would be safe. And after just now I really don’t feel like we’re strangers anymore,” she told him, watching carefully for his expression again.
At first he was surprised - obviously he really had thought she might ask him to become involved with her instead of Heero. That thought was almost amusing - and then there was a hesitant smile.
“I think… I would like that. For the last year I’ve stayed with Hilde on L2, but while she is great, working on a junkyard really isn’t the kind of life I wanted to live. We both knew it wasn’t where I belong. I can’t promise you that being your bodyguard will be that position, but I really would like to try.”
She really was starting to get charmed by this almost-shyness he displayed. During the wars she had always known him as someone obnoxious and sure of himself, someone who was unshakable. To see him now, see this side of him that he obviously had always tried to hide away, invoked something in her that made her think it was almost worth the pain of finding Heero gone again. Neither of them could predict of how today would have played out if he had still been here; neither could say if he would have chosen either of them. But since he wasn’t she was happy with how everything turned out. Maybe she hadn’t gotten to talk to the man she loved, but she was pretty sure that she had made a new friend.
And something told her that this friendship would be worth just as much.
~*~>H<~*~
~Four years later~
Flopping down on her best friend’s bed, Relena groaned dramatically, a wide grin on her lips.
“God, I thought this day would never end! I still can’t believe there have been so many!”
From the other end of the room she could hear the warm sound of Duo’s laughter as he put his gear away. His duty was, after all, over for the day. Well, at least as far as it ever was.
“You’ve become pretty famous, little princess. If I don’t watch out you’ll get stolen before I can count to three,” he joked, giving her a wide grin and making her laugh.
“As if! Have you read the tabloids lately? It seems like they have been planning our wedding for months now!”
THAT got a reaction out of him. Eyes and mouth wide open he turned towards her, the perfect example of a deer caught in the headlights.
“You’re joking, right? I know that they have read more into us since the beginning, but I had no idea it had gotten this bad!” he exclaimed, obviously not knowing if he should laugh at the absurdity of it all or rant about their stupidity. The combined effect only made her giggle, even though there was a faint tugging in her heart that told her that she was slightly hurt by the strength of his objection. But she ignored it, like she had become used to doing ever since it had first started a few months ago.
“I kid you not! Since we both turned eighteen they have dropped the first hints that maybe now that we’re both legal we’ll come out and admit that we’re more than just friends. And for the last two years it has only gotten worse. Some of them even swear they have seen you propose to me!”
She didn’t tell him that Dorothy had already put a stop to that particular rumor. It was way more amusing watching him come to terms with these new bits of information. As her secretary for public relations, the other girl usually took care of it when things got too bad.
Letting himself fall down on the bed beside her he still wore that expression of someone who just got told that… well, others apparently knew more about your private life than yourself. After a minute or two, however, he shook his head, his expression turning wistful.
“I wonder what they would make out of it if they knew that the reason why I’m even here on your side today is a shared love interest.”
His voice had fallen into that warm timbre, the one he always used whenever they spoke about Heero. The one that made her shiver slightly and realize only all the more that whatever might have been, she didn’t regret what she had today. Maybe she and Duo weren’t lovers, but they were the best of friends. And she couldn’t help but think that without him she never would have made it through the last few years. Without his coaxing and joking she never would have found the strength to get up on some days. Some of the most important laws that she had seen to only got pushed through because he had stood behind her, holding her up and catching her whenever she needed to let herself fall. She really wasn’t sure if Heero, had he been on her side instead of Duo, could have done the same thing.
And that, above all else, really gave her something to think about.
She had felt attracted to Heero because of his intensity. To his dedication, his strength - mentally as well as physically - and his kindness, as deeply buried it had seemed at times. She knew that what she had felt for him had been strong, and it still hurt slightly whenever she thought of him. But she also knew that he never could have been what Duo had been to her these past four years. It just wasn’t in his nature. Even without his training, she was pretty sure that he would still be reserved. It was just the way he was. And it didn’t mean that she loved him for it any less, but it also had made it clear to her that, maybe, he wasn’t what she needed.
“Hey ‘Lena, you done spacing out on me?” Duo’s voice penetrated through the fog of thoughts that had built around her head. Coming out again she saw his understanding smile and instinctively reached out to squeeze his hand.
“Thanks Duo, yes, I think I’m done for now,” she told him, having caught his apology for bringing up a painful topic and telling him that she was alright. Never mind that what she had been thinking about hadn’t been what he was apologizing for.
He caught her hand in his and squeezed it back for a second before sitting up again and letting go.
“Great. How about we catch some movies and popcorn? You don’t have to be in the office before eleven tomorrow and there’s nothing else that would demand your presence. So I say we actually get some relaxation time in for a change,” he suggested, his grin firmly back in place.
Grinning back she didn’t have to think about the proposal twice.
“Sounds perfect.”
~*~>H<~*~
Leaning back into the seat behind her, Relena closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get herself back together. They had been ‘on the road’, so to speak, for over two weeks now. And while she knew that there were at least two more to come, she couldn’t help wishing they could go home today. Not that she would ever allow herself to slack off like that, but the wish was still there. Duo had to be just as tired as her and they both could do with some time for themselves. Only the knowledge that she was needed to do the work she did kept her from giving up. Well, that and the man beside her.
The idea for this tour had originally come from Duo, and Dorothy hadn’t wasted any time in telling her that she thought it was a brilliant idea. Touring orphanages all over the world and colonies to speak with the children there, showing them that there was still hope for the future, was something that, compared to some of the stuffy meetings that she usually had to sit in, actually was worth something.
But that didn’t make it less taxing. In each and every orphanage she had to start over, had to build a cautious trust first before the children would even listen to her. Every time again she had to open her own old wounds; had to tell them that she, herself, was an orphan. Duo helped her a lot in admitting that he was an orphan too, and after their combined tales of life, the complete opposite of what could happen to you once you lost your parents, the children usually ate out of her open palm. But it still wore on them.
She swore that the only thing that kept them going was the glimmer of hope that they could see in each and every face whenever they left again. And that really was all they had hoped to accomplish. While it had been over four years since the second war, the world was still trying to pick itself up again. There was still way too much pain, too many people who had lost too much. Too many broken souls that had lost all hope of a normal life long ago.
Maybe they couldn’t help everyone. But giving hope to the next generation at least would ensure that the future wouldn’t be the same.
“You doing ok?” she could hear her best friend’s soft voice ask. Smiling slightly for him she nodded before finally forcing herself to open her eyes again.
“Just tired. I don’t know about you, but having to talk about my past every day again doesn’t let me sleep at night. It’s been weeks since I managed to catch more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep,” she told him. The understanding, pained grimace that flittered over the longhaired man’s face told her more than anything else that he knew what she was talking about.
Maybe it was knowing that she wasn’t alone in her pain, that he had to go through the same once again, that made her say what she said next. She probably would never know. But she definitely didn’t regret it.
“Maybe… If you’re ok with it, could I sleep in your room tonight? I just… don’t want to be alone at night right now,” she admitted, her voice hesitant. They both knew that sleeping in his room would mean sleeping in the same bed. While their hotel rooms were pretty comfy, there just wasn’t anywhere else she could sleep. She wasn’t worried about any rumors it would cause - their rooms always had an adjoining door for security reasons, so no-one would even know about it. And even if someone found out… it wasn’t like there hadn’t been rumors about them ever since Duo had become her bodyguard.
He hesitated only for a second, then he nodded while giving her a small smile back.
“I think that would be a good idea. I’m not all that happy about being alone at night right now either. I know that it’s all for a good cause, but…” he shrugged, clearly somewhat uncomfortable, but she knew what he meant. Putting her hand above his on the seat between them, she squeezed it, returning the sad smile. “I know.”
Before she could withdraw her hand again, however, he turned his around and intertwined their fingers, returning the squeeze with a slight blush on his cheeks.
Her breath catching slightly in her throat, she felt her own cheeks heat slightly; making her avoid eye-contact.
Neither of them said anything more during their drive back to their hotel, but neither let go of the other’s hand either.
~*~>H<~*~
Later, as she stood in the open doorway that connected their rooms, she didn’t know why she felt so nervous. This was far from the first time they had shared a bed or even a couch. True, usually it was simply because they fell asleep talking or watching a movie, but it shouldn’t matter. This may be the first time she had actually asked him to share his bed, but that still didn’t mean anything, right?
Just as much as it didn’t make a difference that they had held hands for a twenty minute drive, something they had never done before.
Taking a deep breath, she told herself that she could do this. She was clad in her sky blue silk pajamas, her arms wrapped around herself. For the first time in years she had let the teddy-bear that Heero had given her for her sixteenth birthday behind. While she didn’t know exactly why, she didn’t think that it would be right to bring the gift Heero gave her to bed tonight.
“Everything ok with you?” Duo asked her as she came into the room, obviously concerned by her posture. Forcing herself to relax she smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah. Just thinking how weird this is.”
She got a wry smile in return and for the first time she dared to look at him. Obviously he had managed to drag some grey sweatpants and a dark blue muscle-shirt from somewhere because she knew for a fact that he usually only wore his boxers for sleeping.
Not knowing if she should be grateful or disappointed, she was a bit shocked by how her mind supplied her nearly instantly with the acknowledgement that, while these were only casual clothes, he really looked good in them. The muscle-shirt showed off his perfectly fit and toned body, and even though the sweatpants were a bit baggy, the overall look he presented was very pleasing.
Now she only had to try to get rid of these thoughts again before she made a fool out of herself. Really, she had never been so glad in her life to be a girl before. At least she didn’t need to worry about giving anything away.
“Well, jump in. Tomorrow will be a long day again and I think we both could use all the sleep we can get,” Duo told her as she just kept standing in front of the bed, carefully having focused her eyes on some point on the other side of the room. Nodding, she slowly pulled the covers back and settled on the soft mattress, making sure there was lots of space for her longhaired friend before lying down.
With a slight blush on her face she watched as Duo got in on the other side, both lying there staring at each other with pink-tinted cheeks before she finally started to chuckle. It didn’t take long for her friend to join her and a few moments later they were both laughing.
Shaking her head at herself as she finally managed to get herself back under control, she grinned at her bedmate and took his hand back into hers before closing her eyes.
“Goodnight Duo,” she told him and smiled when she heard him softly answering “Goodnight, little princess.” Hearing him use the nickname that he had given her from almost the start helped her relax more than anything else, and only moments later she felt herself drift off into sleep, feeling secure and loved for the first time in weeks.
~*~>H<~*~
The next morning, things were more or less back to normal. The awkwardness from the night before had vanished and they acted with each other as they usually would, even though they both felt that something had changed. That change though, was something that would make each of them smile whenever they thought of it. Or that made them lock eyes when they felt particularly tired by yet more questions about their past and would cause a wave of peacefulness to wash through them. It was a change that had been coming for a long time now, but they were finally ready to admit to it. Their feelings for Heero had overshadowed everything, making them lose the sight of when their hearts changed. But they didn’t care any longer. They knew that they were now with whom they were meant to be from the start.
Months passed. The tour ended and other important tasks were already waiting for them. Well, waiting for Relena, but Duo was never far from her side. Even if he weren’t her bodyguard, now more than ever before he wouldn’t trust anyone other than him to protect his princess.
This evening, they were attending a political dinner that promised to be as exciting as watching paint dry for Duo, but he didn’t mind. While watching for threats of any kind was his main objective, his eyes wandered back to Relena every few minutes, softening as he took in her features. He still couldn’t believe his place at her side. Ever since that tour when they first admitted to their feelings, the new feeling of belonging, of peacefulness that fulfilled him now was something he cherished.
‘And to believe that I didn’t think I could ever be happy again after Heero vanished,’ he thought. The irony of finding new love in his former greatest rival didn’t escape him, even though they never looked at it like that. They both had accepted the others feelings and tried to soothe them, knowing exactly what pain they felt. Falling in love with each other had never been in the plan, but in Duo’s opinion it was the best thing that could have ever happened.
Letting his eyes sweep over the room again, his nerves suddenly started to tingle. He couldn’t see anything out of place, but his instinct was screaming at him that something was wrong. And his instincts had never let him down before.
Never letting his guard down and his letting his eyes continue to roam the room for any potential threats, he walked across the room to the table where the politicians and Relena sat. Looking surprised at the interruption, some of them looked ready to protest his presence while they were discussing whatever they deemed as highly important. But he didn’t care. One hand ready on his gun, he placed himself beside Relena who looked at him with an expression of apprehension. She knew that he wouldn’t leave his post at the wall if there wasn’t something important.
“We need to get you somewhere safe,” he told her quietly, not wanting to talk loudly in case the threat he was searching for sat at this very table. While they were all supposed to be peaceful politicians, he had experienced bloodthirst with them before. He wouldn’t, couldn’t trust them.
Before Relena could reply anything, a small explosion rocked the building, alerting everyone in the room who wasn’t already alarmed. The other bodyguards came running over, trying to shield whatever politician they were hired to protect while Duo cursed and took hold of Relena.
“We need to get out of here. Stay behind me and whatever happens, stay out of the line of fire,” he told her, his heart racing. This wasn’t the first time he had to protect her, but he had a bad feeling about this. Something just felt wrong.
The panic of the explosion hadn’t even really set in yet, when the windows suddenly burst into thousands of shards, quickly followed by some screams and people falling down with holes in their heads.
“Snipers! Everyone get down!” Duo bellowed, making it his priority to shield Relena with his body while pushing her to the floor and under the table. Out of the corner of his eyes he took notice of some others following his example while the rest tried to run for the door. It was foolish, but he couldn’t concentrate on them. He had to protect Relena.
“Help me to turn the table around,” he told Relena and the men closest to him. The table was a heavy, old wooden thing that would give them a certain wall of protection. At the every least the snipers wouldn’t be able to see them anymore.
The dishes made a deafening noise as the fell to the floor in the process of them knocking the table over, mixing the shards with those of the windows. Once that task was complete, Duo turned to the door. It seemed like some had managed to reach it, though not many. There were bodies lying around everywhere and he had to swallow. This wasn’t good. They couldn’t move from their current position because of the snipers, but he had every reason to believe that there would be more people moving in through the building soon.
“Weapons?” he asked the few other bodyguards that were still in the room with them. He was heavily armed - as he usually was whenever he was on duty - but his weapons wouldn’t be enough to help them for long if their attackers had weapons with stray-fire - like rifles. They would be dead before they could get more than one or two shots in.
It didn’t look much better with the others. Everyone had at least one or two handguns, maybe a knife or two, but that about was it. Usually that was more than enough. Clenching his teeth, he met the dark looks of the others with one of his own. They all knew that their position was less than ideal. They were all prepared to die protecting someone, but they weren’t ready to give up yet. With as high-profile this meeting had been, it would only be a matter of time until the cavalry would show up. All they had to do was survive until then.
Looking around the room, Duo spotted the cheap metal tables that had been used to put the buffet on. It wasn’t much, but they would be able to build at least a slight barrier with them. The only problem was that he would have to leave the cover of the table in order to reach them.
“We need to get these tables,” he whispered, “Has anyone something we can throw so we can pull them towards us?”
The others seemed to follow his thoughts, but didn’t manage to turn up anything useful.
“The tablecloth! If we can just pull it from under the table, maybe…?” Duo grimaced. While the idea of the only other female politician in the room was the best he had heard so far, he knew the cloth wasn’t what he would prefer. Still, it would have to do.
They managed to lift the table only a little over an inch, while Relena and the other woman pulled the cloth through. It wasn’t an easy task. They couldn’t risk standing up to high and the table was heavy. Once they had the cloth, Duo took out one of his knifes and sliced it into two, making it lighter and better suited for throwing. Then he looked around for something small and heavy. He needed a weight on the other side of the make-shift ‘rope’ to make this work. After not finding anything suitable, his eyes turned to Relena’s bag. He knew that she loved to cart around just about anything she could ever need and that the thing was a lot heavier than it looked.
“Would you mind?” he asked her, pointing at the bag she was still hanging onto. Apparently only now realizing what she was holding, Relena blinked for a second before giving it to him.
“Sure.”
It was easy to fasten the bag to the cloth, but he knew that the real challenge would be to get it thrown right. He changed his position with the man closest to the tables and crouched down again. Trying to get a feel for his ‘rope’, he shifted it back and forth a few times before throwing it.
The throw was perfect, but didn’t have enough strength. While he hit exactly where he had wanted to, there wasn’t enough power behind it to make the purse curl around the leg of the table. Pulling the whole thing back, he growled to himself. He didn’t have time to fail. They didn’t know when the rest would show up. With some luck they were still chasing down those who had escaped from the room, but who knew how much time they had left.
Getting ready to try again, he suddenly noticed something else.
“Shit, they’re firing again,” he cursed, making sure that his whole body was still shielded by the table and taking a look behind him to make sure the same applied to Relena. He needn’t have worried. She was still in the same position he had left her in, talking calmly to the nervous-looking man beside her. Despite the situation, his lips turned into a small, bitter smile as he shook his head. She definitely had been in situations like this too many times already. Only the last time it had looked this bad, he had still had his Gundam and the other pilots as back-up.
“Sure as hell could use their help now,” he murmured just for himself as he positioned himself for the next throw. This whole thing wouldn’t be half as bad if he knew that Heero or one of the other three would be out there taking care of their enemy. That still would leave them with the snipers, but without the implied threat of others coming in from the door they would just need to get out of here. Now they were cornered without knowledge if running would be better or worse.
It took him two more tries, but he finally got a good hold on the table closest to him. Pulling carefully, he watched the bag move before tightening the ‘rope’. Only then he used more strength to pull the table in. Once he had managed that, he knocked it over like they had done with the table they were cowering behind and put it with the front down towards the door. Like this they were at least somewhat shielded.
His timing couldn’t have been better. Not even five seconds after he finally placed the table and had started to check his weapons and ammo, foodsteps that were running down the hall towards them could be heard.
Their capturers didn’t waste any time talking, coming in with blazing guns. Apparently their little sniper-friends had already informed them about what they would find so they stayed out of the line of sight while holding their weapons in and firing blindly. It wasn’t the worst thing for them to do in such a situation, Duo mused. It was already apparent that they didn’t mean to take hostages. And if you only wanted to kill as many as possible, just firing into the black hole was sometimes the best thing to do, especially if you couldn’t be sure about your opponents’ weapons.
However, that also made it harder for them to actually get a shot in. While the shots fired at them were less than accurate, luck was always a big factor in shootings like that. For now they were relatively safe behind the two tables, but who knew for how long? While Duo was sure that Preventers were already closing in, it could still take a while until they came to their rescue. And there was no knowing how much ammo the men firing from the door had. For all he knew they could keep this blind stray-fire up the whole night. And their cheap metal table was already starting to show dents in some places where a bullet had hit it two times or even more often.
Risking yet another look, Duo could see that nothing had changed in the last half minute since his last check.
“We need help to get out of here, and fast,” the bodyguard beside him hissed, risking a blind-shot from behind the table. Duo nearly told him to ration his ammo, but he really didn’t think it would make a difference. “We won’t be able to keep this up for more than a few more minutes.”
As if Duo didn’t know that already…
Suddenly, there was a crash from above and someone broke through the ceiling, landing only a few feet away from them and making Duo and some of the other bodyguards curse while there was some screaming from the frightened politicians. Turning around as fast as he could, Duo leveled his gun at the intruder - only to freeze at once as he realized who it was.
“Heero?”
Relena was the one who had spoken. Duo himself was still much too shocked to see his old friend again. They had waited for years for him to show up again. And now, here he was…
‘I should have known that he would show up again whenever Relena is in danger,’ he mused, a nearly amused looking smirk tugging at his lips. Maybe a few years ago he would have felt bitter about it. Now he was just glad to see him and to know that with Heero’s help, he would get Relena out of here somehow.
“You chose just the right moment for your entrance, buddy. I don’t suppose you were nice enough to bring some help with you?” he teased, even though he still felt slightly shaky inside. His wit had always been his mask. As long as he could joke he would be able to function.
Heero still seemed to understand that about him, because he just gave him a slight smirk in return and looked at the gun Duo still had trained at him. Looking slightly sheepish, Duo took it down. Only then did Heero move again, and the longhaired man could see that he had strapped some rifles over his shoulder. That was a big relief.
“Barton is on the roof and taking out the snipers with one group of preventers. Once he gives the all-clear we will be able to make our move if necessary. Chang has another group closing in on this room, but they have to be careful since there are a lot of strays walking around and taking out everyone they see,” Heero clued them in and Duo could feel the air lighten as there were some audible sighs of relief. Knowing that help was near seemed to give the other bodyguards new energy and they took up their positions with newfound vigor. Duo let them, still not ready to leave Heero’s side again. As long as Relena was safe behind him everything else wasn’t important. And he trusted the others at least enough to let them hold their position.
Not knowing what to say, Duo took a look up at the ceiling, raising his eyebrow at Heero once he had seen the hole in the mortar. Even knowing that there was only a slight layer of it covering a crossing of bars, it was impressive.
“Care to explain that stunt?” he asked. Not that he wasn’t grateful for the help, but from what he could see, Heero had no way of knowing where they would be. That he had hit his target perfectly was nearly a miracle. The other just gave him a grim smile.
“I had to take my chances. There was no chance I would make it if I would approach the group by the way they were organized. They are more than it seems right now and have placed watchers all around. And I knew that there was a good chance that you would need my help before Chang arrives. The ceiling seemed like the best bet. In the worst case, the snipers would have gotten me, but you still would have had the rifles.”
Duo felt like belting his friend one for saying such a thing. How could he talk like that? Even though he knew that he didn’t love Heero anymore in the romantic sense, he still loved him as a friend. And to hear him risking his life so carelessly…
However, he didn’t get a chance to say anything. A hand grasped Heero’s shoulder from behind, making him startle and turn around, looking directly at a pretty pissed Relena. Duo had seen that expression on her only a couple of times, but he knew enough to know that Heero would be safer to agree to whatever she had to say next.
“You,” she hissed, “are with us. As soon as we’re out of here, you’re coming home with Duo and me. I think we need to have a talk.”
Duo nearly grinned at Heero’s shocked face. Relena had never spoken to him like that. Heero probably was shocked enough that the princess was capable of such a side, but to have her talking to him that way must have thrown him badly.
Feeling cheerful in finally having the upper hand in something - even if it was only about knowing Relena’s moods better - Duo finally let the grin slip through.
“Sounds like a plan to me. And no sneaking out again, Mister!”
Heero focused that slightly amused, slightly horrified look at him and finally shook his head, lifting his hands in the universal ‘surrender’ gesture.
“Fine. But let’s get out of here first.”
With that, neither of them had a problem. Duo had just taken up one of the rifles and checked it over for his use, as the radio at Heero’s hip beeped. Pulling it out, Heero pressed a key and encouraged the other to speak.
“The snipers are taken care of and Wufei should be close to your position. You can now either chase them out or wait it out,” Trowa’s voice said unmistakably from the speaker. Duo could see that Heero wanted to say they would chase them out, but with a quick look around at the few real ‘fighters’ that they had, he rethought that.
“We’ll give cover fire from inside the room until we hear the signal but we’ll stay in position,” he replied. Duo nodded. That probably was for the best. Like this the terrorists - or whatever they were - couldn’t move into the room trying to dodge Wufei’s group but wouldn’t put them in any unnecessary danger. He wasn’t happy about the fact that he needed to be saved either, but he had learned enough to know that a bruised pride sometimes was the lesser evil. And it wasn’t just them against the world anymore. They had people to protect here.
“Roger. We’ll see you on the other side.”
The radio became quiet and Heero took up his own rifle, giving Duo a smirk, which he returned.
“Let’s give them something to run,” he grinned, and they both took up position between some of the other bodyguards and started blind-fire towards the door. Not even two minutes later they could hear shouts in the hallway and the sound of more guns - Wufei had arrived.
~*~>H<~*~
Many hours later, they finally returned to the palace. After Wufei had arrived, things had settled fast, but there still were other things that needed taking care of - like giving a report to Une about what had happened, inquiring what information Preventers had about the attack, figuring out how many politicians had died… that sort of stuff. So when Duo and Relena finally managed to take Heero home with them, it was already passed midnight.
However, neither of them felt like going to bed anyway, so quizzing Heero sounded just about right for the two of them. And Heero… well, Heero didn’t really get a chance out of it.
Settled on the couch with a mug of tea in his hands, he looked at them - settled comfortably beside each other, Duo’s arm around Relena’s waist - with a faint smile, though he didn’t look sad. More like… content.
“You two are worse than harpies,” he started, sounding amused. “Though I shouldn’t be surprised. Neither of you ever knew when to stop back down. Not even thinking long enough to realize your mistakes.”
It didn’t sound reproachful… just as if he was stating a fact. Still, Duo frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Heero smiled for real then. It was weird, to see such an open expression on his friends face. A few years ago it would have sent his heart into a mad flutter, but now he was just happy that Heero could express himself like that.
“I’ve always known about how you two felt. I knew that you both thought that you loved me. But I also knew that it wouldn’t last. I know you all thought I wasn’t able to see those things, but I have always known that I was the wrong one for either of you. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t make you see it. So I had to remove myself from the picture to finally get you to understand.”
It was… like a bucket of ice thrown over both their heads.
“Why didn’t you just try telling us?” Relena asked, her expression sad. Her right hand had grasped Duo’s left where it was pressed to her waist. Heero’s smile also vanished and he looked apologetic but no less intense.
“Would you have believed me? Also, while I was sure that I wasn’t the right one for either of you, that didn’t mean that I didn’t feel anything. I just knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to stay and to let the situation work itself out. And as you can both see it was for the best. Can you honestly say that you would have turned to each other if I had stayed? Had become friends? Not to say even more? What I felt for you both had been strong, but it was never a love meant for such a relationship. But I didn’t want you hurt, so I tried to stay close in case you would ever need me. I’m glad I did.”
Duo had to admit that Heero was right. Looking back now he could see that it would have never worked out. At one time he had thought he loved the other, but would that love have had a chance to survive in peacetime? He couldn’t say. And Heero was definitely right that Relena and he would never have become so close if he had stayed.
Realizing how hard that must have been for their friend, he untangled himself from Relena and stood up, walked over to Heero - who looked up at him in surprise - and knelt down in front of him before enveloping him into a hug.
“Thank you. Thank you for making this sacrifice,” he whispered, feeling Heero lift his arms to return the hug.
How hard must it have been for Heero to leave them all behind? To remove himself from them in the knowledge that they wouldn’t become happy as long as he stayed but also knowing that it would mean losing the only friends he had? Everyone who had ever said that Heero was an unfeeling bastard was definitely wrong. In Duo’s opinion, he couldn’t wish for a better friend.
“I would do it again in a heartbeat. You two have given me back my life, made me realize that I still had feelings left in me when I thought I was nothing more than a war-machine, trained to kill. I was glad to return some of this gift to you.”
Relena had now also come over to them, wrapping her arms around them both.
“But now that you’ve come back… you’ll stay, right? You don’t have to go again?”
Pulling back from the two of them, Heero shook his head and smiled again.
“No, I don’t think it is needed for me to stay away any longer. I would like to stay in contact. I’d also like to introduce you to my love.”
That had them both blinking.
“Your love? Does that mean you have found someone for yourself?” Relena asked, sounding ecstatic. Heero grinned in answer.
“In a way, yes. I’m the owner of a lovely border collie lady named Moonprincess, Cissy for short. She has been with me for the past two years and I truly think she is the love of my life.” He was quiet for a moment before he looked at them a bit nervously. “She reminded me a lot of you two; her energy but also her calm peacefulness, so I wanted to give her a name that would fit.”
Duo smiled at him and squeezed Heero’s shoulder once more before leaning back for good.
“I’m honored. And I would be happy to meet Cissy.”
Relena was wiping away one stray tear, but the smile on her face showed that this wasn’t a tear out of sadness. Seeing that his girlfriend was just as overwhelmed about these news as he was, Duo leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, expressing his happiness to her as well. He would love to take her in his arms right now and to give her a real kiss, but he didn’t think that would be fair to Heero. He might have known that they would fit better together, but Duo doubted he would like for them to put on a show in front of him.
“Great. Since tomorrow all appointments have been cancelled due to today, how does it sound that we go visit your home and you can introduce us?” Relena asked and Heero nodded his answer.
“As long as you intend on letting me get some sleep tonight, I’ll be happy to.”
Laughing, Duo and Relena both stood up. Duo then reached out to give Heero a hand up, which he took. Once pulled to his feet he took Relena’s hand in his other and smiled at the two of them.
There were no words needed any longer. They were all three glad to be back together. It was unlikely that Duo or Relena would ever forget the sacrifice that Heero made for their happiness, but they were both determined to make it up to him. He was still one of their best friends. Now that they finally had him close again, some part of them had come back; felt finally whole.
And hopefully, now that they were united, they would discover how great they could be together.
END
Recipient: mob_boss_tess
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: romance, some angst, maybe some OOC
Summary: Falling in love with each other had never been in the plan, but in Duo’s opinion it was the best thing that could have ever happened.
Author's Notes: My first try at them, even though I like them XD I hope this will be along the lines of what was whished for ^__^ As for the timeline, the beginning is placed right after EW
Author: bloody_winged
Even before she opened the door to the hospital room she could hear the cursing. Sighing slightly to herself, she pushed it open anyway, already prepared to find the room’s occupant missing.
And she wasn’t disappointed. The only other person beside her in the room was Duo, who stopped his cursing the second he saw who had come into the room with him.
“I take it he has left again,” she asked, even though the answer was more than obvious. It wasn’t like she hadn’t expected it. But it hurt anyway.
The braided teen just nodded, his expression a mixture of hurt, anger and sadness.
It was kind of funny, that while she never had found a way to bond with him before, in this situation she could understand him better than anyone else ever had. Funny, but also depressing at the same time.
Sitting down in the empty chair beside the bed she sighed again, rubbing her temple. While she had been prepared that this was a very likely outcome of today, she had hoped that for once Heero wouldn’t be such an idiot. That for once everything would work out.
“I take it you wanted to talk with him as well?” she asked the pilot in the room with her, again receiving a nod. This also didn’t surprise her. She wasn’t as blind as everyone always thought she was.
“We really are the fools here; chasing after someone who doesn’t like to be hunted.”
She didn’t know why she felt like she had to fill the silence, but somehow she did. Maybe it was because she wasn’t used to so much silence coming from the braided teen; or maybe she just needed to let out her own frustration.
And maybe it simply felt good to finally talk about all this with the one person she knew would understand.
His reaction amused her somewhat. Apparently he hadn’t guessed yet that she had known where his affections laid for quite some time. Or he didn’t expect her to be so civil about it.
“Vice foreign Minister Darlian?” he asked carefully, formally, obviously trying to not give anything more away than he already had.
Relena shook her head, a sad but welcoming smile on her lips.
“Please, drop the title and just call me Relena. And yes, I know. I’ve seen the clues all along, and ever since before the first war ended I was pretty sure about it. The way you acted was too similar, too familiar for me to miss it. Your reaction just now only showed me that I was right.”
She could see how his shoulders slumped down somewhat in defeat; his head falling forward and making him avoid eye contact with her. But then he looked up at her again and gave her a wry smile.
“Pretty pathetic, huh? I’ve known what I wanted all along, but in all this time I never managed to make him see it.”
The blonde just shook her head at him again, her smile growing somewhat, gentling a bit more while still holding the same sad lines his own held.
“Don’t think like this. I’ve been the same. And while maybe I didn’t have as many opportunities as you had, we lived in a world at war. Romance - while a wonderful concept in itself - couldn’t be the first thing on our minds. As much as it hurts to think like this, we had more important things to do at the time.”
That got her an honest, if short, laugh.
“Isn’t that the truth.”
Apparently he became more at ease with her being here in Heero’s hospital room then, talking about a topic that still hurt them both deeply, because he sat down on the empty cot in the room, showing her that he was ok with this. The fact that he was the one who spoke next only showed her that he needed to talk about this just as badly as she did. Needed to talk to someone who understood.
“All the time while we fought I thought: ‘There will be time later. If we both manage to survive the war, there will be time for this afterwards’. For the last few weeks it actually was the mantra that kept me going. The hope that maybe everything would be over soon and I finally could allow myself to think about all these feelings. Thinking about what I should do about them helped me to pick myself up and fight again, even when my body ached and my arms hurt from the constant strain I put on them.”
There was a wistful expression on his face as he spoke, but now it was replaced by a grimace of pain.
“And then, after everything was over, he just… vanished. I couldn’t believe it at first, couldn’t allow myself to believe it. I was still too raw from the fighting; I needed something to believe in. But after I’ve had some sleep the truth couldn’t very well be denied. He had gone as soon as he had had the opportunity and no-one knew where he had vanished to. Everyone else seemed to have other important things on their minds; no-one even really cared that the one who saved us all wasn’t even there anymore,” a slight clenching of his fists in the mattress, “no-one - but me.”
The last was said so quietly that she had to strain her ears to hear it, but she managed. And her heart went out for the young man across from her, because her own hurt was so similar that she really knew what he was talking about.
Neither of them knew why they were so comfortable with each other now, talking about this. Neither of them opened up easily towards other people. But maybe getting hurt one time too many did this to you. Made you search out peers who shared said pain.
And while she hadn’t planned to sit here today and listen to Duo while he told her his own, sad little story, it was strangely cathartic. She always had been told that she was a good listener, and she could feel that the longhaired teen needed someone to listen to him right now.
“After I couldn’t deny it anymore, I decided to go too. There was no reason for me to stay. The other pilots were my friends, sure, but they all had their own ways of dealing with the situation. I just… needed to get away.”
He looked up at her again and she could clearly see the desperation in his eyes, the loneliness that she could feel in his words. And, all of a sudden, she felt the need to go over to him and hug him. Only her instinctive knowledge that he probably wouldn’t welcome it from her right now held her back. Talking about the hurt they shared was one thing, breaking down in the arms of a near stranger a complete other.
But that didn’t mean that she didn’t want to help; that she didn’t feel the need to somehow make this better. And she already had an idea of how she could accomplish it. It wouldn’t be perfect - nothing she could do would be, not for either of them - but hopefully it would help them both.
Feeling some of her strength return with her new resolve, she sat up in her chair, giving the longhaired pilot a sympathetic but honest smile. He seemed to realize that she had come to some kind of decision of what to do next, because he also straightened his posture, looking at her expectantly.
“Duo, I know that we never really had anything to do with each other before, but I really would like to propose something to you. I want to be honest - I came here today in the intention to offer the same thing to Heero. But talking to you made me realize that maybe this would be a good idea.”
His expression had turned curious now, though there was a slight frown between his eyebrows that told her that he was slightly wary of what she might say next. She had to repress a chuckle - she could guess what he was thinking. But it had never been her intention to come here today to ask Heero to be her boyfriend. Even though that might be what she wanted, she wasn’t as naïve anymore as she had been only two years ago. There was no way he would have accepted. But she had hoped that maybe with a proposition like this she would lure him close enough to her that they both could see where their feelings would lead them. And hopefully find out that she wasn’t wrong, that he actually did feel the same. Though after seeing him gone again, leaving the hospital long before the doctors would release him, showed her very clearly that he wasn’t prepared to deal with things like that just yet, maybe never.
“I want to offer you the position of my bodyguard. I don’t know if you have any kind of life to go back to, and I will of course understand if you do, but I really would like for you to accept. The thought of having someone so close that I don’t even really know, or know if I can even trust, is not one I cherish. I know that I’ll need one though, that has become painfully clear lately. With you I would know that I would be safe. And after just now I really don’t feel like we’re strangers anymore,” she told him, watching carefully for his expression again.
At first he was surprised - obviously he really had thought she might ask him to become involved with her instead of Heero. That thought was almost amusing - and then there was a hesitant smile.
“I think… I would like that. For the last year I’ve stayed with Hilde on L2, but while she is great, working on a junkyard really isn’t the kind of life I wanted to live. We both knew it wasn’t where I belong. I can’t promise you that being your bodyguard will be that position, but I really would like to try.”
She really was starting to get charmed by this almost-shyness he displayed. During the wars she had always known him as someone obnoxious and sure of himself, someone who was unshakable. To see him now, see this side of him that he obviously had always tried to hide away, invoked something in her that made her think it was almost worth the pain of finding Heero gone again. Neither of them could predict of how today would have played out if he had still been here; neither could say if he would have chosen either of them. But since he wasn’t she was happy with how everything turned out. Maybe she hadn’t gotten to talk to the man she loved, but she was pretty sure that she had made a new friend.
And something told her that this friendship would be worth just as much.
~*~>H<~*~
~Four years later~
Flopping down on her best friend’s bed, Relena groaned dramatically, a wide grin on her lips.
“God, I thought this day would never end! I still can’t believe there have been so many!”
From the other end of the room she could hear the warm sound of Duo’s laughter as he put his gear away. His duty was, after all, over for the day. Well, at least as far as it ever was.
“You’ve become pretty famous, little princess. If I don’t watch out you’ll get stolen before I can count to three,” he joked, giving her a wide grin and making her laugh.
“As if! Have you read the tabloids lately? It seems like they have been planning our wedding for months now!”
THAT got a reaction out of him. Eyes and mouth wide open he turned towards her, the perfect example of a deer caught in the headlights.
“You’re joking, right? I know that they have read more into us since the beginning, but I had no idea it had gotten this bad!” he exclaimed, obviously not knowing if he should laugh at the absurdity of it all or rant about their stupidity. The combined effect only made her giggle, even though there was a faint tugging in her heart that told her that she was slightly hurt by the strength of his objection. But she ignored it, like she had become used to doing ever since it had first started a few months ago.
“I kid you not! Since we both turned eighteen they have dropped the first hints that maybe now that we’re both legal we’ll come out and admit that we’re more than just friends. And for the last two years it has only gotten worse. Some of them even swear they have seen you propose to me!”
She didn’t tell him that Dorothy had already put a stop to that particular rumor. It was way more amusing watching him come to terms with these new bits of information. As her secretary for public relations, the other girl usually took care of it when things got too bad.
Letting himself fall down on the bed beside her he still wore that expression of someone who just got told that… well, others apparently knew more about your private life than yourself. After a minute or two, however, he shook his head, his expression turning wistful.
“I wonder what they would make out of it if they knew that the reason why I’m even here on your side today is a shared love interest.”
His voice had fallen into that warm timbre, the one he always used whenever they spoke about Heero. The one that made her shiver slightly and realize only all the more that whatever might have been, she didn’t regret what she had today. Maybe she and Duo weren’t lovers, but they were the best of friends. And she couldn’t help but think that without him she never would have made it through the last few years. Without his coaxing and joking she never would have found the strength to get up on some days. Some of the most important laws that she had seen to only got pushed through because he had stood behind her, holding her up and catching her whenever she needed to let herself fall. She really wasn’t sure if Heero, had he been on her side instead of Duo, could have done the same thing.
And that, above all else, really gave her something to think about.
She had felt attracted to Heero because of his intensity. To his dedication, his strength - mentally as well as physically - and his kindness, as deeply buried it had seemed at times. She knew that what she had felt for him had been strong, and it still hurt slightly whenever she thought of him. But she also knew that he never could have been what Duo had been to her these past four years. It just wasn’t in his nature. Even without his training, she was pretty sure that he would still be reserved. It was just the way he was. And it didn’t mean that she loved him for it any less, but it also had made it clear to her that, maybe, he wasn’t what she needed.
“Hey ‘Lena, you done spacing out on me?” Duo’s voice penetrated through the fog of thoughts that had built around her head. Coming out again she saw his understanding smile and instinctively reached out to squeeze his hand.
“Thanks Duo, yes, I think I’m done for now,” she told him, having caught his apology for bringing up a painful topic and telling him that she was alright. Never mind that what she had been thinking about hadn’t been what he was apologizing for.
He caught her hand in his and squeezed it back for a second before sitting up again and letting go.
“Great. How about we catch some movies and popcorn? You don’t have to be in the office before eleven tomorrow and there’s nothing else that would demand your presence. So I say we actually get some relaxation time in for a change,” he suggested, his grin firmly back in place.
Grinning back she didn’t have to think about the proposal twice.
“Sounds perfect.”
~*~>H<~*~
Leaning back into the seat behind her, Relena closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get herself back together. They had been ‘on the road’, so to speak, for over two weeks now. And while she knew that there were at least two more to come, she couldn’t help wishing they could go home today. Not that she would ever allow herself to slack off like that, but the wish was still there. Duo had to be just as tired as her and they both could do with some time for themselves. Only the knowledge that she was needed to do the work she did kept her from giving up. Well, that and the man beside her.
The idea for this tour had originally come from Duo, and Dorothy hadn’t wasted any time in telling her that she thought it was a brilliant idea. Touring orphanages all over the world and colonies to speak with the children there, showing them that there was still hope for the future, was something that, compared to some of the stuffy meetings that she usually had to sit in, actually was worth something.
But that didn’t make it less taxing. In each and every orphanage she had to start over, had to build a cautious trust first before the children would even listen to her. Every time again she had to open her own old wounds; had to tell them that she, herself, was an orphan. Duo helped her a lot in admitting that he was an orphan too, and after their combined tales of life, the complete opposite of what could happen to you once you lost your parents, the children usually ate out of her open palm. But it still wore on them.
She swore that the only thing that kept them going was the glimmer of hope that they could see in each and every face whenever they left again. And that really was all they had hoped to accomplish. While it had been over four years since the second war, the world was still trying to pick itself up again. There was still way too much pain, too many people who had lost too much. Too many broken souls that had lost all hope of a normal life long ago.
Maybe they couldn’t help everyone. But giving hope to the next generation at least would ensure that the future wouldn’t be the same.
“You doing ok?” she could hear her best friend’s soft voice ask. Smiling slightly for him she nodded before finally forcing herself to open her eyes again.
“Just tired. I don’t know about you, but having to talk about my past every day again doesn’t let me sleep at night. It’s been weeks since I managed to catch more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep,” she told him. The understanding, pained grimace that flittered over the longhaired man’s face told her more than anything else that he knew what she was talking about.
Maybe it was knowing that she wasn’t alone in her pain, that he had to go through the same once again, that made her say what she said next. She probably would never know. But she definitely didn’t regret it.
“Maybe… If you’re ok with it, could I sleep in your room tonight? I just… don’t want to be alone at night right now,” she admitted, her voice hesitant. They both knew that sleeping in his room would mean sleeping in the same bed. While their hotel rooms were pretty comfy, there just wasn’t anywhere else she could sleep. She wasn’t worried about any rumors it would cause - their rooms always had an adjoining door for security reasons, so no-one would even know about it. And even if someone found out… it wasn’t like there hadn’t been rumors about them ever since Duo had become her bodyguard.
He hesitated only for a second, then he nodded while giving her a small smile back.
“I think that would be a good idea. I’m not all that happy about being alone at night right now either. I know that it’s all for a good cause, but…” he shrugged, clearly somewhat uncomfortable, but she knew what he meant. Putting her hand above his on the seat between them, she squeezed it, returning the sad smile. “I know.”
Before she could withdraw her hand again, however, he turned his around and intertwined their fingers, returning the squeeze with a slight blush on his cheeks.
Her breath catching slightly in her throat, she felt her own cheeks heat slightly; making her avoid eye-contact.
Neither of them said anything more during their drive back to their hotel, but neither let go of the other’s hand either.
~*~>H<~*~
Later, as she stood in the open doorway that connected their rooms, she didn’t know why she felt so nervous. This was far from the first time they had shared a bed or even a couch. True, usually it was simply because they fell asleep talking or watching a movie, but it shouldn’t matter. This may be the first time she had actually asked him to share his bed, but that still didn’t mean anything, right?
Just as much as it didn’t make a difference that they had held hands for a twenty minute drive, something they had never done before.
Taking a deep breath, she told herself that she could do this. She was clad in her sky blue silk pajamas, her arms wrapped around herself. For the first time in years she had let the teddy-bear that Heero had given her for her sixteenth birthday behind. While she didn’t know exactly why, she didn’t think that it would be right to bring the gift Heero gave her to bed tonight.
“Everything ok with you?” Duo asked her as she came into the room, obviously concerned by her posture. Forcing herself to relax she smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah. Just thinking how weird this is.”
She got a wry smile in return and for the first time she dared to look at him. Obviously he had managed to drag some grey sweatpants and a dark blue muscle-shirt from somewhere because she knew for a fact that he usually only wore his boxers for sleeping.
Not knowing if she should be grateful or disappointed, she was a bit shocked by how her mind supplied her nearly instantly with the acknowledgement that, while these were only casual clothes, he really looked good in them. The muscle-shirt showed off his perfectly fit and toned body, and even though the sweatpants were a bit baggy, the overall look he presented was very pleasing.
Now she only had to try to get rid of these thoughts again before she made a fool out of herself. Really, she had never been so glad in her life to be a girl before. At least she didn’t need to worry about giving anything away.
“Well, jump in. Tomorrow will be a long day again and I think we both could use all the sleep we can get,” Duo told her as she just kept standing in front of the bed, carefully having focused her eyes on some point on the other side of the room. Nodding, she slowly pulled the covers back and settled on the soft mattress, making sure there was lots of space for her longhaired friend before lying down.
With a slight blush on her face she watched as Duo got in on the other side, both lying there staring at each other with pink-tinted cheeks before she finally started to chuckle. It didn’t take long for her friend to join her and a few moments later they were both laughing.
Shaking her head at herself as she finally managed to get herself back under control, she grinned at her bedmate and took his hand back into hers before closing her eyes.
“Goodnight Duo,” she told him and smiled when she heard him softly answering “Goodnight, little princess.” Hearing him use the nickname that he had given her from almost the start helped her relax more than anything else, and only moments later she felt herself drift off into sleep, feeling secure and loved for the first time in weeks.
~*~>H<~*~
The next morning, things were more or less back to normal. The awkwardness from the night before had vanished and they acted with each other as they usually would, even though they both felt that something had changed. That change though, was something that would make each of them smile whenever they thought of it. Or that made them lock eyes when they felt particularly tired by yet more questions about their past and would cause a wave of peacefulness to wash through them. It was a change that had been coming for a long time now, but they were finally ready to admit to it. Their feelings for Heero had overshadowed everything, making them lose the sight of when their hearts changed. But they didn’t care any longer. They knew that they were now with whom they were meant to be from the start.
Months passed. The tour ended and other important tasks were already waiting for them. Well, waiting for Relena, but Duo was never far from her side. Even if he weren’t her bodyguard, now more than ever before he wouldn’t trust anyone other than him to protect his princess.
This evening, they were attending a political dinner that promised to be as exciting as watching paint dry for Duo, but he didn’t mind. While watching for threats of any kind was his main objective, his eyes wandered back to Relena every few minutes, softening as he took in her features. He still couldn’t believe his place at her side. Ever since that tour when they first admitted to their feelings, the new feeling of belonging, of peacefulness that fulfilled him now was something he cherished.
‘And to believe that I didn’t think I could ever be happy again after Heero vanished,’ he thought. The irony of finding new love in his former greatest rival didn’t escape him, even though they never looked at it like that. They both had accepted the others feelings and tried to soothe them, knowing exactly what pain they felt. Falling in love with each other had never been in the plan, but in Duo’s opinion it was the best thing that could have ever happened.
Letting his eyes sweep over the room again, his nerves suddenly started to tingle. He couldn’t see anything out of place, but his instinct was screaming at him that something was wrong. And his instincts had never let him down before.
Never letting his guard down and his letting his eyes continue to roam the room for any potential threats, he walked across the room to the table where the politicians and Relena sat. Looking surprised at the interruption, some of them looked ready to protest his presence while they were discussing whatever they deemed as highly important. But he didn’t care. One hand ready on his gun, he placed himself beside Relena who looked at him with an expression of apprehension. She knew that he wouldn’t leave his post at the wall if there wasn’t something important.
“We need to get you somewhere safe,” he told her quietly, not wanting to talk loudly in case the threat he was searching for sat at this very table. While they were all supposed to be peaceful politicians, he had experienced bloodthirst with them before. He wouldn’t, couldn’t trust them.
Before Relena could reply anything, a small explosion rocked the building, alerting everyone in the room who wasn’t already alarmed. The other bodyguards came running over, trying to shield whatever politician they were hired to protect while Duo cursed and took hold of Relena.
“We need to get out of here. Stay behind me and whatever happens, stay out of the line of fire,” he told her, his heart racing. This wasn’t the first time he had to protect her, but he had a bad feeling about this. Something just felt wrong.
The panic of the explosion hadn’t even really set in yet, when the windows suddenly burst into thousands of shards, quickly followed by some screams and people falling down with holes in their heads.
“Snipers! Everyone get down!” Duo bellowed, making it his priority to shield Relena with his body while pushing her to the floor and under the table. Out of the corner of his eyes he took notice of some others following his example while the rest tried to run for the door. It was foolish, but he couldn’t concentrate on them. He had to protect Relena.
“Help me to turn the table around,” he told Relena and the men closest to him. The table was a heavy, old wooden thing that would give them a certain wall of protection. At the every least the snipers wouldn’t be able to see them anymore.
The dishes made a deafening noise as the fell to the floor in the process of them knocking the table over, mixing the shards with those of the windows. Once that task was complete, Duo turned to the door. It seemed like some had managed to reach it, though not many. There were bodies lying around everywhere and he had to swallow. This wasn’t good. They couldn’t move from their current position because of the snipers, but he had every reason to believe that there would be more people moving in through the building soon.
“Weapons?” he asked the few other bodyguards that were still in the room with them. He was heavily armed - as he usually was whenever he was on duty - but his weapons wouldn’t be enough to help them for long if their attackers had weapons with stray-fire - like rifles. They would be dead before they could get more than one or two shots in.
It didn’t look much better with the others. Everyone had at least one or two handguns, maybe a knife or two, but that about was it. Usually that was more than enough. Clenching his teeth, he met the dark looks of the others with one of his own. They all knew that their position was less than ideal. They were all prepared to die protecting someone, but they weren’t ready to give up yet. With as high-profile this meeting had been, it would only be a matter of time until the cavalry would show up. All they had to do was survive until then.
Looking around the room, Duo spotted the cheap metal tables that had been used to put the buffet on. It wasn’t much, but they would be able to build at least a slight barrier with them. The only problem was that he would have to leave the cover of the table in order to reach them.
“We need to get these tables,” he whispered, “Has anyone something we can throw so we can pull them towards us?”
The others seemed to follow his thoughts, but didn’t manage to turn up anything useful.
“The tablecloth! If we can just pull it from under the table, maybe…?” Duo grimaced. While the idea of the only other female politician in the room was the best he had heard so far, he knew the cloth wasn’t what he would prefer. Still, it would have to do.
They managed to lift the table only a little over an inch, while Relena and the other woman pulled the cloth through. It wasn’t an easy task. They couldn’t risk standing up to high and the table was heavy. Once they had the cloth, Duo took out one of his knifes and sliced it into two, making it lighter and better suited for throwing. Then he looked around for something small and heavy. He needed a weight on the other side of the make-shift ‘rope’ to make this work. After not finding anything suitable, his eyes turned to Relena’s bag. He knew that she loved to cart around just about anything she could ever need and that the thing was a lot heavier than it looked.
“Would you mind?” he asked her, pointing at the bag she was still hanging onto. Apparently only now realizing what she was holding, Relena blinked for a second before giving it to him.
“Sure.”
It was easy to fasten the bag to the cloth, but he knew that the real challenge would be to get it thrown right. He changed his position with the man closest to the tables and crouched down again. Trying to get a feel for his ‘rope’, he shifted it back and forth a few times before throwing it.
The throw was perfect, but didn’t have enough strength. While he hit exactly where he had wanted to, there wasn’t enough power behind it to make the purse curl around the leg of the table. Pulling the whole thing back, he growled to himself. He didn’t have time to fail. They didn’t know when the rest would show up. With some luck they were still chasing down those who had escaped from the room, but who knew how much time they had left.
Getting ready to try again, he suddenly noticed something else.
“Shit, they’re firing again,” he cursed, making sure that his whole body was still shielded by the table and taking a look behind him to make sure the same applied to Relena. He needn’t have worried. She was still in the same position he had left her in, talking calmly to the nervous-looking man beside her. Despite the situation, his lips turned into a small, bitter smile as he shook his head. She definitely had been in situations like this too many times already. Only the last time it had looked this bad, he had still had his Gundam and the other pilots as back-up.
“Sure as hell could use their help now,” he murmured just for himself as he positioned himself for the next throw. This whole thing wouldn’t be half as bad if he knew that Heero or one of the other three would be out there taking care of their enemy. That still would leave them with the snipers, but without the implied threat of others coming in from the door they would just need to get out of here. Now they were cornered without knowledge if running would be better or worse.
It took him two more tries, but he finally got a good hold on the table closest to him. Pulling carefully, he watched the bag move before tightening the ‘rope’. Only then he used more strength to pull the table in. Once he had managed that, he knocked it over like they had done with the table they were cowering behind and put it with the front down towards the door. Like this they were at least somewhat shielded.
His timing couldn’t have been better. Not even five seconds after he finally placed the table and had started to check his weapons and ammo, foodsteps that were running down the hall towards them could be heard.
Their capturers didn’t waste any time talking, coming in with blazing guns. Apparently their little sniper-friends had already informed them about what they would find so they stayed out of the line of sight while holding their weapons in and firing blindly. It wasn’t the worst thing for them to do in such a situation, Duo mused. It was already apparent that they didn’t mean to take hostages. And if you only wanted to kill as many as possible, just firing into the black hole was sometimes the best thing to do, especially if you couldn’t be sure about your opponents’ weapons.
However, that also made it harder for them to actually get a shot in. While the shots fired at them were less than accurate, luck was always a big factor in shootings like that. For now they were relatively safe behind the two tables, but who knew for how long? While Duo was sure that Preventers were already closing in, it could still take a while until they came to their rescue. And there was no knowing how much ammo the men firing from the door had. For all he knew they could keep this blind stray-fire up the whole night. And their cheap metal table was already starting to show dents in some places where a bullet had hit it two times or even more often.
Risking yet another look, Duo could see that nothing had changed in the last half minute since his last check.
“We need help to get out of here, and fast,” the bodyguard beside him hissed, risking a blind-shot from behind the table. Duo nearly told him to ration his ammo, but he really didn’t think it would make a difference. “We won’t be able to keep this up for more than a few more minutes.”
As if Duo didn’t know that already…
Suddenly, there was a crash from above and someone broke through the ceiling, landing only a few feet away from them and making Duo and some of the other bodyguards curse while there was some screaming from the frightened politicians. Turning around as fast as he could, Duo leveled his gun at the intruder - only to freeze at once as he realized who it was.
“Heero?”
Relena was the one who had spoken. Duo himself was still much too shocked to see his old friend again. They had waited for years for him to show up again. And now, here he was…
‘I should have known that he would show up again whenever Relena is in danger,’ he mused, a nearly amused looking smirk tugging at his lips. Maybe a few years ago he would have felt bitter about it. Now he was just glad to see him and to know that with Heero’s help, he would get Relena out of here somehow.
“You chose just the right moment for your entrance, buddy. I don’t suppose you were nice enough to bring some help with you?” he teased, even though he still felt slightly shaky inside. His wit had always been his mask. As long as he could joke he would be able to function.
Heero still seemed to understand that about him, because he just gave him a slight smirk in return and looked at the gun Duo still had trained at him. Looking slightly sheepish, Duo took it down. Only then did Heero move again, and the longhaired man could see that he had strapped some rifles over his shoulder. That was a big relief.
“Barton is on the roof and taking out the snipers with one group of preventers. Once he gives the all-clear we will be able to make our move if necessary. Chang has another group closing in on this room, but they have to be careful since there are a lot of strays walking around and taking out everyone they see,” Heero clued them in and Duo could feel the air lighten as there were some audible sighs of relief. Knowing that help was near seemed to give the other bodyguards new energy and they took up their positions with newfound vigor. Duo let them, still not ready to leave Heero’s side again. As long as Relena was safe behind him everything else wasn’t important. And he trusted the others at least enough to let them hold their position.
Not knowing what to say, Duo took a look up at the ceiling, raising his eyebrow at Heero once he had seen the hole in the mortar. Even knowing that there was only a slight layer of it covering a crossing of bars, it was impressive.
“Care to explain that stunt?” he asked. Not that he wasn’t grateful for the help, but from what he could see, Heero had no way of knowing where they would be. That he had hit his target perfectly was nearly a miracle. The other just gave him a grim smile.
“I had to take my chances. There was no chance I would make it if I would approach the group by the way they were organized. They are more than it seems right now and have placed watchers all around. And I knew that there was a good chance that you would need my help before Chang arrives. The ceiling seemed like the best bet. In the worst case, the snipers would have gotten me, but you still would have had the rifles.”
Duo felt like belting his friend one for saying such a thing. How could he talk like that? Even though he knew that he didn’t love Heero anymore in the romantic sense, he still loved him as a friend. And to hear him risking his life so carelessly…
However, he didn’t get a chance to say anything. A hand grasped Heero’s shoulder from behind, making him startle and turn around, looking directly at a pretty pissed Relena. Duo had seen that expression on her only a couple of times, but he knew enough to know that Heero would be safer to agree to whatever she had to say next.
“You,” she hissed, “are with us. As soon as we’re out of here, you’re coming home with Duo and me. I think we need to have a talk.”
Duo nearly grinned at Heero’s shocked face. Relena had never spoken to him like that. Heero probably was shocked enough that the princess was capable of such a side, but to have her talking to him that way must have thrown him badly.
Feeling cheerful in finally having the upper hand in something - even if it was only about knowing Relena’s moods better - Duo finally let the grin slip through.
“Sounds like a plan to me. And no sneaking out again, Mister!”
Heero focused that slightly amused, slightly horrified look at him and finally shook his head, lifting his hands in the universal ‘surrender’ gesture.
“Fine. But let’s get out of here first.”
With that, neither of them had a problem. Duo had just taken up one of the rifles and checked it over for his use, as the radio at Heero’s hip beeped. Pulling it out, Heero pressed a key and encouraged the other to speak.
“The snipers are taken care of and Wufei should be close to your position. You can now either chase them out or wait it out,” Trowa’s voice said unmistakably from the speaker. Duo could see that Heero wanted to say they would chase them out, but with a quick look around at the few real ‘fighters’ that they had, he rethought that.
“We’ll give cover fire from inside the room until we hear the signal but we’ll stay in position,” he replied. Duo nodded. That probably was for the best. Like this the terrorists - or whatever they were - couldn’t move into the room trying to dodge Wufei’s group but wouldn’t put them in any unnecessary danger. He wasn’t happy about the fact that he needed to be saved either, but he had learned enough to know that a bruised pride sometimes was the lesser evil. And it wasn’t just them against the world anymore. They had people to protect here.
“Roger. We’ll see you on the other side.”
The radio became quiet and Heero took up his own rifle, giving Duo a smirk, which he returned.
“Let’s give them something to run,” he grinned, and they both took up position between some of the other bodyguards and started blind-fire towards the door. Not even two minutes later they could hear shouts in the hallway and the sound of more guns - Wufei had arrived.
~*~>H<~*~
Many hours later, they finally returned to the palace. After Wufei had arrived, things had settled fast, but there still were other things that needed taking care of - like giving a report to Une about what had happened, inquiring what information Preventers had about the attack, figuring out how many politicians had died… that sort of stuff. So when Duo and Relena finally managed to take Heero home with them, it was already passed midnight.
However, neither of them felt like going to bed anyway, so quizzing Heero sounded just about right for the two of them. And Heero… well, Heero didn’t really get a chance out of it.
Settled on the couch with a mug of tea in his hands, he looked at them - settled comfortably beside each other, Duo’s arm around Relena’s waist - with a faint smile, though he didn’t look sad. More like… content.
“You two are worse than harpies,” he started, sounding amused. “Though I shouldn’t be surprised. Neither of you ever knew when to stop back down. Not even thinking long enough to realize your mistakes.”
It didn’t sound reproachful… just as if he was stating a fact. Still, Duo frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Heero smiled for real then. It was weird, to see such an open expression on his friends face. A few years ago it would have sent his heart into a mad flutter, but now he was just happy that Heero could express himself like that.
“I’ve always known about how you two felt. I knew that you both thought that you loved me. But I also knew that it wouldn’t last. I know you all thought I wasn’t able to see those things, but I have always known that I was the wrong one for either of you. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t make you see it. So I had to remove myself from the picture to finally get you to understand.”
It was… like a bucket of ice thrown over both their heads.
“Why didn’t you just try telling us?” Relena asked, her expression sad. Her right hand had grasped Duo’s left where it was pressed to her waist. Heero’s smile also vanished and he looked apologetic but no less intense.
“Would you have believed me? Also, while I was sure that I wasn’t the right one for either of you, that didn’t mean that I didn’t feel anything. I just knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to stay and to let the situation work itself out. And as you can both see it was for the best. Can you honestly say that you would have turned to each other if I had stayed? Had become friends? Not to say even more? What I felt for you both had been strong, but it was never a love meant for such a relationship. But I didn’t want you hurt, so I tried to stay close in case you would ever need me. I’m glad I did.”
Duo had to admit that Heero was right. Looking back now he could see that it would have never worked out. At one time he had thought he loved the other, but would that love have had a chance to survive in peacetime? He couldn’t say. And Heero was definitely right that Relena and he would never have become so close if he had stayed.
Realizing how hard that must have been for their friend, he untangled himself from Relena and stood up, walked over to Heero - who looked up at him in surprise - and knelt down in front of him before enveloping him into a hug.
“Thank you. Thank you for making this sacrifice,” he whispered, feeling Heero lift his arms to return the hug.
How hard must it have been for Heero to leave them all behind? To remove himself from them in the knowledge that they wouldn’t become happy as long as he stayed but also knowing that it would mean losing the only friends he had? Everyone who had ever said that Heero was an unfeeling bastard was definitely wrong. In Duo’s opinion, he couldn’t wish for a better friend.
“I would do it again in a heartbeat. You two have given me back my life, made me realize that I still had feelings left in me when I thought I was nothing more than a war-machine, trained to kill. I was glad to return some of this gift to you.”
Relena had now also come over to them, wrapping her arms around them both.
“But now that you’ve come back… you’ll stay, right? You don’t have to go again?”
Pulling back from the two of them, Heero shook his head and smiled again.
“No, I don’t think it is needed for me to stay away any longer. I would like to stay in contact. I’d also like to introduce you to my love.”
That had them both blinking.
“Your love? Does that mean you have found someone for yourself?” Relena asked, sounding ecstatic. Heero grinned in answer.
“In a way, yes. I’m the owner of a lovely border collie lady named Moonprincess, Cissy for short. She has been with me for the past two years and I truly think she is the love of my life.” He was quiet for a moment before he looked at them a bit nervously. “She reminded me a lot of you two; her energy but also her calm peacefulness, so I wanted to give her a name that would fit.”
Duo smiled at him and squeezed Heero’s shoulder once more before leaning back for good.
“I’m honored. And I would be happy to meet Cissy.”
Relena was wiping away one stray tear, but the smile on her face showed that this wasn’t a tear out of sadness. Seeing that his girlfriend was just as overwhelmed about these news as he was, Duo leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, expressing his happiness to her as well. He would love to take her in his arms right now and to give her a real kiss, but he didn’t think that would be fair to Heero. He might have known that they would fit better together, but Duo doubted he would like for them to put on a show in front of him.
“Great. Since tomorrow all appointments have been cancelled due to today, how does it sound that we go visit your home and you can introduce us?” Relena asked and Heero nodded his answer.
“As long as you intend on letting me get some sleep tonight, I’ll be happy to.”
Laughing, Duo and Relena both stood up. Duo then reached out to give Heero a hand up, which he took. Once pulled to his feet he took Relena’s hand in his other and smiled at the two of them.
There were no words needed any longer. They were all three glad to be back together. It was unlikely that Duo or Relena would ever forget the sacrifice that Heero made for their happiness, but they were both determined to make it up to him. He was still one of their best friends. Now that they finally had him close again, some part of them had come back; felt finally whole.
And hopefully, now that they were united, they would discover how great they could be together.
END