--- 10 minutes before---
Duo Maxwell flipped off the screaming man before he turned to scan the neighborhood
quickly, looking for any suspicious activity that would lead him to his love... to
Heero...
".....YOU FUCKIN' CRAZY BASTARD!!!" The man continued to scream behind
him. "How could you do that to my car!!! MY FERRARI!!!"
God damn it.. Where is he? Duo cursed inwardly. This neighborhood was the last
place Wufei could trace the cellular phone to. But the neighbor was nothing but
normal. Duo could see a group of young children running wild in the streets, unheeding to
the cars racing by them. A woman wearing tight sporty tank-top and biking short was
jagging with walkman at her belt. A middle-aged lady, led by her giant Siberian
Husky, was strolling on the sidewalk......
Seeing that the long-haired man was not responding to his filthy words, the screaming man
became only angrier. Although his companion was pulling him back, he bravely took a
step forward, right behind Duo.
He could be hurt. He could be tortured. He could be dead by now.... Duo
clenched his fists. Words chanted in his mind.
Where is he.... Where is he.... Where....
The screaming man roughly pushed Duo on the shoulder.
At that split second of losing his balance, Duo suddenly saw a familiar man of long-golden
hair walked into a house.
A red-brick house. Colonial style. Number 156.
"You fuckin' hear me? You...."
Duo regained his stand and turned around swiftly. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." A
nasty grin plastered on his face. "You shouldn't have done that."
Before the screaming man could even open his mouth to counter the words, he suddenly found
himself sprawling on the ground, with his mouth full of iron taste and a buzzing sound in
his head.
Not wasting any time to abuse the man before him, Duo Maxwell ran into the house. He
knew fully well who the golden-haired man was. No mistake about it. Fuck.
He could spot that face among million of people. He had spent months in front
of computer trying to track him down. He even begged Trowa to take the trips to
confirm his findings. But there was no result. All of them were only false
alarms.
But now?
He had appeared. Right in the neighborhood of Heero's possible location. How
much of it was coincidence?
Riggghht.... Like it was coincidence that he himself met Heero the first time....
Duo laughed bitterly as he kicked the door open. His burning violet eyes immediately
leveled with a set of calm blue eyes staring up at him from the golden-haired man that was
kneeling on the floor, next to a fallen Relena.
An awkward moment of silence passed before the man took his unconscious sister in his arm
and stood up.
Duo immediately flashed the gun. "Why hello! Zechs." He
clicked the safety off. "How was heaven treating you? Don't like the food
there?"
"I don't fit in heaven. Shinigami."
"Why of course. So silly of me. People like us don't go to heaven."
The same nasty grin surfaced.
Zechs' body, however, remained relax. His precious sister carried in his arms.
"Heero is all right. Lina did not have enough time to do much
damage."
Duo quickly glanced at his tightly bounded lover. He grimaced as he saw blood
streaming down his beauty face. "Heero!" He quickly ran to
Heero's side. Hands already worked to untied the wires that were cutting into the
pale flesh.
Zechs only paused his eyes at the unconscious man. Unsaid words passed his mind
before he began to walk toward the door, intending to retreat.
"WAIT." Duo suddenly yelled. He looked at Zechs with seriousness
that he had never shown before. "Are you just going to leave him like that?
You were..." Duo bit his lower lips. "You were lovers."
"A dead man leaves everyone behind." Turning to face the question, Zechs calmly
replied with a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"I said you are as alive as anyone in this room."
Not commenting any further, Zechs turned back toward the door.
"What if..." Duo was desperate. His breathing raced with uneven
rhythm. "What if he still loves you. Knowing that you are alive... what
if he...."
"Like I said. A dead man leaves everyone behind." Zechs whispered.
His face was not facing Duo. "I want to be dead to him."
"I am not gonna lie to him. Not after I confirmed....." Duo stood
up, leaving the untied Heero on the ground.
"He loves you. You don't need any ......"
"God damn it! I want to win his love the fair way. I want to marry him
knowing that I earn it. I want to make sure that he will make the right decision.. I
want....."
"I don't love him anymore."
"What a fuckin' liar." Duo laughed. "I traced you for years and
I found nothing. I should have known you have been monitoring Heero's safety all
along. I should have known you were just right under my nose all these years."
".........."
"I was right, wasn't I." Duo growled. "Quit being a coward and
face him. Say you love him!"
"It doesn't matter anymore. He has already found his eternal love."
"Are you afraid?" Duo smirked. His eyes sharply looked for any clues
emitted from Zechs'body language.
"It is you who are afraid."
"FUCK YOU!" Duo angrily picked up a vase on the table and threw it at
Zechs.
It missed, smashing against the wall. The flowers spread all over the floor.
Silence.
Zechs stood in his place, not moving.
Duo ran his fingers through his hair. Calm down. Duo whispered. This is
not the time. Not the place. Duo dug his fingers into his palm. Calm
down. To win Heero's love, I need to make sure... that I am the one he wants... that
I am not a replacement.... That I .....Duo glanced at Heero on the floor. Suddenly
his blood boiled and his breathing raced again.
"Shinigami, please. I want to be dead to him. Allow me this one last
selfish wish."
Keeping his nervousness under control, Duo shrugged in a way he thought he usually
shrugged. "I won't tell him anything."
Zechs bowled slightly before he stepped out of the door with Relena in his arms.
Duo stood in the middle of the room, listening to his own heart beating. Not
looking at Heero, Duo took another deep breath. "How long have you been
awake?"
"Since Relena dragged me to the kitchen." Came the reply from the
supposedly unconscious Heero.
"You were planning to take her by surprise weren't you?"
"Ah."
"Well.... Now that you know Zechs' alive, why don't you go after him?" Duo
paced to the window, opening the shades. "He won't get too far. I
deflated every tire of the cars parking around this neighborhood." Duo bitterly
smiled and looked out the window.
Except the sound of the children playing outside of the house, the room was in complete
silence. He could not even hear his own heart beating.
But then shortly, the uncertain silence was broken when the front door was gently closed.
Duo covered his eyes and collapsed. He buried his head between his knees and cried.
Tears streaming down his cheeks freely as he mourned the lost of his love.. his
world.. his...
"Zechs was right about one thing."
"Wha.." Duo sprang to his feet and met a pair of the gentlest blue eyes he had
ever seen. "You... you didn't leave?"
"Baka." Heero smiled. "You didn't think I know he was
alive?" Heero shakily walked toward Duo. "Uncle Odin could not have
figured out that it was Quinze without help." He put his arms around his still
shocked lover.
"What..... what was Zechs right about?"
Heero ignored Duo's question. "Was that why you refused my proposal?
Because you think I would choose Zechs if I knew he was alive? I have already
said goodbye to him. At his grave. Remember?"
"What was Zechs right about???"
Heero laughed. "You are picking up my bad habits of repeating sentences."
"Heero! I need to know!"
Heero closed in against Duo's desperate face. "Zechs was right. It
doesn't matter anymore. I have found my eternal love."
* * *
---1 week later---
"HEERO!!!" Quatre gasped as soon as he walked out of the terminal gate of
Boston Logan Airport. "What happened to you? Why is there a bandage
around your head? Are you okay??"
"Long story." Heero smiled, picking up Quatre's luggage. "You
are late. Trowa, Duo, Wufei and Meiran are already in the restaurant waiting for
us."
"I will make up to them." Quatre blushed. "Dinner is on
me."
"It's the airline's fault. Besides, knowing how much Duo eat... I don't think
that's a good idea. You are our guest, let us have the fun of being the host this
time."
Quatre smiled. "Don't go too much trouble."
"Too late."
Quatre spared a glance at his friend and was shocked to see how much the Japanese man had
changed since he had last seen him. He looked more at peace. More content.
More radiant. He was transformed. In a way that pleased Quatre.
"Heero...."
"Hum?"
"Are you and Duo all right now?"
"HUH??"
"I mean..." Quatre blushed and fidgeted nervously. "Remember you
called me up and told me that he refu...."
"Ah.. yes. THAT." Heero interrupted and waved at the taxi parking at
the curb. "Mission accomplished."
"Eh?" Luggage forgotten, Quatre stared at his friend.
Heero took the luggage and handed to the taxi driver. "He said yes."
Heero then opened the taxi door and held it for Quatre. "We are getting
married next month."
Quatre smiled as he saw the joy radiated on Heero's face.
//May happiness finds its way into Duo and your life.// Quatre silently whispered as
he took the seat in the taxi besides his friend.
* * *