Disclaimer: Bandai, Sunrise and the Sotsu Agency own Gundam Wing and its characters not me, and no profit has been made. This fic was purely written for pleasure ^_~!

Title: Y Thie

Author: Tai (yami_tai@iom.com)

Archive: KatiKat’s site at http://www.oocities.org/mystera_k/index.html in the Friends Section

Pairings: 1x2x1

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Shounen ai, romance, sap and my sense of humour ^_~!

Spoilers: The end of EW

Notes: This is a just a light hearted, romantic fic about important moments in Heero and Duo’s life together, written for Sharon’s Moments of Rapture (http://zerotwofan.com/rapture) Fall 2003 contest.

Additional notes: The title means ‘The House’ and the basis for this fic comes from my experience of buying a house in the UK so please bear with me if buying a house is different in your part of the world…

Summary: Three years after the end of EW, Duo and Heero buy their first house together.

// … // thoughts

“ … “ speaking

*********

“Mr Maxwell, I am pleased to tell you that the vendor has accepted your offer on their house,” the tinny voice down the handset to the vidphone told Duo. “YES!” he shouted, jumping up and punching the air with the hand not currently occupied with the phone. Suddenly he realised that all eyes in the open plan Preventer office were on him; he beamed at them and waved before sitting back down in his seat. As he did so he caught Heero’s eye, who mouthed, “We got the house?” Duo nodded, still smiling whilst asking the estate agent more questions.

Heero watched his lover; he was slightly flushed with the excitement and his cobalt blue eyes, which bordered on violet in the right light, positively glowed. He was in Preventer uniform although his jacket had disappeared hours ago, his tie was in a pile on his desk and he was currently unbuttoning his light grey shirt. His long chestnut brown braid was hanging over his right shoulder and swaying gently as Duo nodded emphatically at the person at the other end of the vidphone. Heero was once again thankful that he had found someone as beautiful as Duo, inside and out, to share his life with.

Duo ended the conversation with the estate agent and then came over to Heero’s desk to let him know the situation. Heero watched as Duo walked over to his desk, captivated by the gentle sway of those narrow hips encased in a pair of tight black trousers, which seemed to mould to him like a second skin. Duo knew the look Heero was giving him and couldn’t resist wiggling his hips a little more than was necessary to propel him to his destination and then smirked as he licked his lips. //God, what I would give to get him somewhere private, right now!// Heero thought. Heero quashed that thought straight away as Duo reached his desk; they had got a team meeting with Lady Une and the other ex-Gundam pilots in five minutes and he really did not need his body reacting in a potentially embarrassing manner due to being teased by one Duo Maxwell. He was brought back to the present by Duo saying, “So they have accepted our offer *and* they have agreed to take the house off the market which means that we won’t get gazumped [1] this time.”

“That’s good news,” Heero replied. “When can we expect to complete?” Duo smiled, “As there is no chain, about three, maybe four, weeks.” Heero nodded, and then giving Duo a meaningful look regarding his dishevelled appearance, he added, “So you ready for the meeting?” Duo grinned, “You betcha!” Heero rolled his eyes and Duo asked, “What? I still look smarter than you in that green tank top and ‘sides, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the looks Une gives us when we show a bitta flesh in her meetings. You ask me, it’s been way too long since that woman got any…

Heero glanced over Duo’s shoulder as if someone was behind him and said, “Hello, Lady Une, we’ll be right with you.” Duo’s face looked panicked as he spun round… to find no-one was there. “Ha, ha, very funny, Yuy! I’ll get you back for that!” Heero smirked and said, “You can try, Maxwell,” as he grabbed Duo’s braid and proceeded to drag his partner to the conference room.

*********

~*~four weeks later~*~

Heero and Duo arrived at the solicitor’s office in good time. They were shown into a private room which was very austere in appearance. There were bookshelves covering most of the walls, holding leather bound tomes relating to law. Heero and Duo took a seat at the table in the middle of the room and awaited the arrival of the conveyancing clerk.

Less than twenty minutes later, they had signed the contract and been given the key to their new house. The conveyancing clerk, an amiable middle aged man, told them to wait where they were as he had asked one of the solicitors to go through their mortgage papers with them before they signed and then he left the room.

Fortunately they did not have to wait long. A smartly dressed woman, about middle thirties in age, let herself into the room a couple of minutes later. She was holding a large file in her arms which she placed on the table in front of her before sitting down.

She took a few documents out of the file and then began, “Mr Maxwell and Mr Yuy, I am Ms Kneale and I have your mortgage papers here for you to sign now that you have exchanged contracts.” She paused for a moment, before adding, “I should warn you that the mortgage you are taking out is a joint one which means that should either of you abscond, the remaining party will be liable for the full mortgage value. It’s not too late to change your mind, you know!” She grinned at the two young men in front of her. Duo shrugged nonchalantly, “Well, if he leaves, I will just have to track him down again, won’t I?!” Heero wasn’t fooled by his act though as he could see Duo’s right hand on his knee and it was curled so tightly into a fist that it looked as if his knuckles were going to pop out.

Heero sighed inwardly with frustration that this woman, in her attempt to be humorous, had brought old wounds to the surface for them. Heero glared at Ms Kneale, hoping that she would get the message and let the subject drop. Then he leaned forward, taking Duo’s fist in his hand and gently started to unfurl his fingers so that Heero could hold his hand tightly. Duo looked up at Heero at the contact and gave him a small smile. Ms Kneale looked uncomfortable, sensing that she had missed something here and that her intended joke had gone down like a lead balloon. “We will sign the papers now,” Heero told her firmly and she meekly handed the document over.

*********

Heero paused and blinked as they stepped out of the solicitor’s office into brilliant sunshine. Duo was already on the pavement at the bottom of the steps, watching him. Heero looked at the sky to see a bank of dark cloud rolling in but that only confirmed what he already knew, he could smell it on the air; rain was coming.

Duo waited patiently while Heero assessed their surroundings. He smiled to himself; old habits from the wars came in handy working for the Preventers. Even though they were technically off duty, he had also glanced up and down the street to see if there were any strange vehicles or suspicious persons in the area. He looked up at Heero, a gentle breeze tugged at his partner’s short chocolate brown hair, which seemed to be permanently in a state of disarray and Duo secretly hoped that his lover never learned how to tame it. But it was Heero’s eyes that Duo loved the most, deep Prussian blue.

Happy that there were no immediate threats in the area, Heero trotted down the steps and enveloped Duo in a warm embrace. Gently, Heero pulled Duo’s head towards his and whispered in his ear, “You okay?” Heero felt Duo nod against him before he pulled away. “Yeah, sorry ‘bout that, Heero, but she kinda took me by surprise there. I know that we’ve already been though this but it still hurts that you left without saying goodbye at the end of the last war.”

Heero traced the curve of Duo’s cheek with his hand, his gaze softening. “Well, I’m glad you tracked me down.” Duo stuck his tongue out before quipping, “Of course you’re glad. I mean who wouldn’t wanna be with me… I’m adorable!” Heero pulled his lover back into a tight hug, it was impossible to talk seriously with Duo when he was in this mood but he still whispered, “I would never willingly leave you now, Duo. You are *mine*, never forget that!”

“Ditto, buddy,” Duo replied as he pulled away from Heero again, his mask of cheerfulness firmly back in place.

Heero decided that the best course of action was to change the subject. “Do you realise we are now officially homeowners?!” Heero dangled their new front door key which was tied onto a green ribbon, in front of Duo’s face. Duo smiled, “It doesn’t seem real somehow, does it?” Heero thought about it, “No, but it will once we move in.” Then he grabbed Duo’s hand. “C’mon, we’d better get back to work. Our lunch hour is long over.” Duo nodded and they ran off down the street.

*********

~*~later that day~*~

They stood in front of the large blue door; Heero took the front door key out and placed it in the lock. Before he could turn it though, Duo covered his hand with his own and they opened the door together. Duo walked in first with Heero right behind him, the air had a pleasant fresh odour to it which surprised them as the house had been unoccupied for at least a month. Together they dumped their Preventer jackets on the post at the bottom of the stairs then Heero grabbed his rucksack again before they set off to explore their new home.

Eventually they ended up in the lounge area which had bare floorboards; fortunately in the rest of the house the previous owners had left the carpets. They sat down together on the cushions on the wide ledge of the huge window which took up most of the room. Duo patted the window seat, saying, “You know it was this that sold this house to me.” He swivelled around so that he could look out at the rolling countryside and the late evening sun glinting off of the ocean in the far distance. It had stopped raining about an hour before but everywhere was still wet, which helped bring the colours of their surroundings out in sharp relief. “Beautiful,” he murmured. Heero nodded in agreement before taking off his rucksack and starting to rummage around in it. Duo’s curiosity was piqued and he turned back to ask, “Whatch’ya looking for, Heero?”

“These…” Heero replied as he held up what looked like champagne flutes wrapped in bubble wrap. “You brought champagne?” Duo asked. Heero smiled gently as he produced a bottle of champagne out of the bag. “Cool!” Duo exclaimed. “To toast our new home,” Heero told his lover. Duo nodded, pulling the bubble wrap off of the glasses while Heero set about opening the champagne.

The bottle opened with a loud pop and the cork flew across the empty room, landing with a thud on the floorboards. Duo quickly held the glasses under the mouth of the bottle as the champagne began to fizz up and overflow then Heero started pouring. Once their glasses were full, Heero put the bottle on the floor and said, “To us and a happy home!” Duo raised his glass and clinked it against Heero’s, echoing, “To us and a happy home!” They sealed their wish with a kiss before drinking the bubbly liquid.

Duo then snuggled up to Heero as they slowly drank the rest of the champagne and watched the sun go down over the ocean together. The sky was set a flame with a myriad of colours ranging from deep maroon to pale violet. “So when shall we move in,” Duo asked. “As soon as we have bought a bed,” Heero replied. Duo turned round in Heero’s arms to tell him, “You know we are gonna have to make love in every room,” a wicked smile playing across his lips. “And that is different from anywhere else we have lived or stayed, how?” Heero asked. Duo paused as if pondering the question, before replying, “Good point!”

*********

~*~that weekend~*~

Heero awoke to find Duo’s side of the bed empty and already cold. It was early as he could see it was still dark outside. He got up quickly wondering where his lover could possibly be. He grabbed a white t-shirt with black edging and some sweatpants to put on and went to search for Duo.

Heero found Duo in the lounge which was still completely devoid of furniture and carpet. He was sitting on the window seat, staring out into the rainy darkness, cradling a steaming mug of tea. He was wearing a loose white shirt only buttoned half way up and a pair of black sweatpants. Heero stood and watched Duo, savouring the moment, knowing that he was seeing the essence of Duo with no barriers, no defences; not realising he was being observed.

“Duo?” Heero asked, announcing his presence and breaking the spell. Duo turned, “Morning, Heero. Sorry, couldn’t sleep and I didn’t wanna to disturb you so I thought I’d come out here and just enjoy being in our own place.”

Duo only just managed to finish his sentence before Heero was moving across the room, suddenly he needed to be close to Duo and tell him without words just how much he loved him. He reached out to caress the side of Duo’s face and then he pulled Duo towards him for a passionate kiss. Duo’s hand snaked up to hold the back of Heero’s neck, encouraging him not to stop by moaning softly whilst managing not to spill his hot drink. Heero pulled back for a moment and grabbed the mug, placing it on the floor. “Come back to bed.” Duo looked down at his mug. “But my tea!” Heero smiled, “I’ll make you another one later…”

~owari~

[1] In England and Wales (but not Scotland), someone selling a house can accept a higher offer for their house even if they have already accepted a previous offer. This is known as gazumping.