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2021-09-13
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2021-09-13
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Gundam Seiyuu 2: The OAV

Summary:

Import from fanfiction.net, this fic was originally posted in 2001 and has not been edited since.

Our favorite voice actors have returned about a year after the last story. Gundam Wing is now being aired in the U.S. and they have been asked to go to a con in America and meet their dubbed voices. Once again, Duo's P.O.V.

Chapter Text

Teaser:
The door opened and I entered with Heero close behind. Amazingly we found the entire cast sitting in the room. I didn't what to expect when Relena called us in but I certainly didn't expect to see the rest of the cast. Wufei nodded at us after taking a sip of his tea and Quatre immediately jumped out of her seat rushing toward us.

"Glad you guys could make it!" She said happily, smiling like the sweet little angel she was.

From behind me Heero scanned the group and his eyes finally set on Relena, he cocked his head. "What's this all about?"

Relena smiled happily. "Are you ready to play the parts of Solo Reaper and Odin Lowe again? We've been invited to America for a convention."

My eyes widened and I swear I've never smiled so much. "America? Why? What for?!"

Quatre smiled happily. "They just started airing Gundam Wing in the U.S. and it's a huge hit. We get to meet our dubbed voices and they want Heero to do a concert."

Heero flashed a friendly glare at Quatre for mentioning that small little 'secret' identity he had. Quatre just giggled.

"So what do you guys say?" Wufei asked quietly. Even he was giving a very small smile.

I glanced at Heero who gave a short nod. I turned back to the others and flashed another grin.

"You honestly have to ask?"

Chapter 1

A month later found us at the airport all sitting it the lobby waiting for our plane to arrive. To tell the truth it was the shortest month of my life, I just couldn't believe the news. Heck, I still couldn't believe it even though I was sitting in the airport with my ticket in hand.

I sat silently in the seat, watching out the window while Heero leaned sideways against said window, peering out onto the runways. His eyes had a slightly glazed look, I could easily tell he was off in his own world, but he looked happy. I glanced back to my other side as Wufei took a seat next to me. I grinned.

"So, how're you doing Fei-chan?"

Immediately his eyes narrowed and he gave a sad shake of his head. "I see you haven't grown up any."

I shrugged and leaned back, grinning from ear to ear. "And why would I want to do that? Besides, the name fits you."

He scowled at me.

"You know, Fei-chan, he does have a point." Came Milliardo's voice from behind Wufei, while he poked the Chinese voice actor in the shoulder.

"Oh don't you dare start too!" Wufei snapped, he then turned his glare back to me. "Now see what you've started all over again?!"

Milliardo chuckled softly. I shifted in my seat so I could see both of them, since Milliardo was perched on the row of chairs that had their backs attached to ours. Milliardo smiled quietly at me and gave a greeting nod. I grinned back.

"So, what have you and Fei been up to for the last year?"

Wufei crossed his arms. "And just what makes you think we've been doing anything *together* for the last year, Maxwell?"

I snickered.

"Sadly enough my dear Wufei is correct, we have not been paired together since Gundam Wing. I am currently working on one Legend of Basara, though it doesn't look like we'll be able to finish. Meanwhile I believe Wufei is in between voice jobs."

Wufei nodded his agreement.

I opened my mouth to continue the conversation but my train of thoughts was derailed by the playful cry. All four of us, that includes Heero at the window, turned to see Quatre and Trowa walking toward us. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped as I saw what was in Quatre's arms, or rather who! I stood up and walked over to meet the petite blond girl.

"Quatre! You… what in the…?"

Quatre giggled and bounced the small child, causing it to squeal gleefully and smile. "It's a baby silly." Trowa nodded his agreement and gave a small smile as the baby girl grasped his hand, or rather his finger since her chubby little hand wasn't large enough to hold much more.

"How old is she?" Heero asked, walking to my side.

"Almost a year."

I lifted an eyebrow and smirked. "But you were only married a year ago Quatre." I reminded her. Quatre responded by glancing away with an embarrassed smile as her cheeks grew red. She recovered quickly and switched the happy little baby to rest against her other hip.

"Heero, Duo, meet Marimeia Iria Winner-Barton."

"I feel sorry for the child." Wufei said with a good-natured smile as he stood up to join us. "You expect her to remember how to spell her whole name?"

Milliardo clapped a hand on Wufei's shoulder, earning him another scowl. "Don't be so uptight, Wufei, it's a beautiful and sophisticated name." He leaned forward to make a face at the child and Marimeia's aquamarine eyes widened in glee. But instead of the child smiling Marimeia's hand flew out and grasped tightly onto a lock of Milliardo's lose blond hair, she tugged hard. Milliardo only laughed and gently pulled his hair from her tight grip, much to her disappointment. "Yes, a beautiful child."

"Can I hold her?" I asked and Quatre nodded. I took the baby and grinned as she looked up at me and tried her best to copy my grin. It looked so cute on her cherub-like face, I just couldn't resist. I turned to Heero and smiled. "Isn't she cute, He-chan? Can we have one?"

The reaction was priceless. One minute Heero was standing there watching the child with interest and the next minute he was coughing and looking away, his cheeks turning red. Wufei starred at us in shock while Milliardo let out an amused laugh. Quatre giggled and even Trowa emitted what sounded like the ghost of a chuckle. Heero recovered quickly and clearing his throat he glared at me.

Well, I had my fun. I handed the child to Trowa since she was squirming in my arms and I had this sudden fear of dropping her. Trowa took her with a nod after setting down the small carry-on bag he had with him. Selecting a seat he sat down and held Marimeia so she could halfway stand on his lap and peer around the room, her eyes wide with childish curiosity at the new scene around her.

Wufei and Milliardo broke off from our small group to speak with Trowa while Heero returned to his spot by the window to watch our plane land and pull into its parking spot.

"So you and Heero are living together now?" Quatre asked, turning to me.

I nodded. "Yep. After we finished the OAV voicing with you guys I moved out of the apartment with Hilde and Heero and I got a nice two-bedroom place across town."

Quatre frowned slightly at that. "Two… bedroom? But I thought…"

"Yeah, it's no big deal. We figured it'd be a good idea just in case, I mean we just met a little over a year ago. And… well… two guys in a one bedroom apartment." I paused and tried to figure out the right words. Finally I gave up and just shrugged again. "We're still a couple, no problems there. The second bedroom is being used as a kind of office and library room. You should see him; I've never known anyone to read so much. Besides, he needs the extra room for when he's typing away at his laptop." I ended it there with a grin, hoping Quatre would drop the subject and just believe me.

Truthfully though it wasn't nearly as happy as I had tried to portray it. I'd lied to Quatre flat and straight. Heero and I did sleep in the same room but we had two separate beds. It really bugged me most times but it was still better then only seeing him during or after work. I don't know, I pretty much got by telling myself that Heero wasn't completely ready yet and jumping head first into a relationship of living together and everything but marriage wasn't the smartest of ideas since we hadn't known each other too long. No matter how much I wanted to jump that far ahead.

The look on Quatre's face told me right away that she didn't believe me, mission failed. Oh well, perhaps her not believing me was a good thing. Because all those excuses I just mentioned, well, they weren't fooling me anymore either. I sighed softly and glanced over my shoulder to make sure Heero wasn't listening.

"Yeah, you're right, it does sound like a pretty lame excuse."

Quatre nodded with a knowing expression and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, maybe all you two need is a change of scenery." She leaned closer and smirked as she spoke in a very soft voice. "I hear the hotel we're staying at has a wonderful hot tub."

My eyes widened and I took a very small step back. "Quatre!" I choked out quietly. The last thing I expected was to hear such a blunt suggestion from her! "You… you're not supposed to know about stuff like that!"

The petite blond just gave me an innocent look while batting her eyelids. "Who me? No, I'm completely innocent."

For a moment all I could do was stare, finally I copied Heero's reaction from earlier and gave a small cough to hide my embarrassment. It wasn't just the fact that I hadn't expected to hear that comment from her, it was also that somehow she'd managed to read my mind. Secretly, ever since I'd heard about this trip, I'd been hoping there was going to be some opportunity like this. I was hoping there would be something like this that would possibly give me a chance to get something more back into the relationship between Heero and I. A hot tub would do nicely!

"Duo! Heero! Ah, good everyone's here!" Relena walked into the lobby and set down her two huge carry-on bags. She scanned the crowd and her eyes set on the clock. "It looks like they are starting to board, shall we get to our seats?"

"Yep!" Quatre agreed happily. She turned back to me and gave a quick wink. "Everything will work out," she promised, then she hurried over to help Trowa with Marimeia and their bags. I grabbed my coat from where'd I'd left it on the benches and turned.

"Hey, Heero! They're boarding!"

Heero turned and nodded. We handed the flight attendant our tickets and headed down the boarding tunnel toward the plane, side by side. A year after Gundam Wing was finished and once again we were returning to our former rolls as the voices of the Gundam pilots. Heero and I had met and fallen in love while being the voices of Solo and Odin. Who knows, there was still a very good chance that this very trip would rekindle what fire we'd lost… and maybe start an even larger fire which couldn't be put out.

As we stepped onto the plane I grinned and grasped Heero's hand for just a second, squeezing it tightly. He glanced sideways in surprise and flashed a small smile.

Chapter Text

As we entered the plane I moved in front of Heero thanks to the thin isles and searched for our seats. A1… B1… C1… D1! I stood there for a moment grinning, much to the annoyance of the passengers behind me, quickly took the window seat, jumping on to it like a child would with a new bed. To my surprise the dark blue chair was quite comfy and it was large, two very good sides to being in first class, especially on an overseas flight. As I flipped around looking at the bag of goodies and the small gadgets attached to each of our seats Heero placed our carry-on bags in the overhead compartment and sat down next to me. Wufei sat beside him since there were three seats to a row.

"Look at this He-chan! It's like they expect us to be living in first class for a few days at least!" I pushed one of the 'goodie' bags into his hands. I couldn't help but laugh as I rummaged through the contents. A mini toothbrush, and a very small tube of tooth-paste, well at least that was useful, and so were the headphones within. But a shoe horn? What in the world were they thinking? They must have just needed to waste small pieces of plastic to make the first class passengers feel more 'elite'. There was also a small handkerchief (hopefully not recycled), a comb, a hand mirror, a small sewing kit with ten different colors of thread and lastly, a pair of dark blue slipper socks. I pulled out the socks and inspected them with confusion for a moment then tossed them back in the bag. Sighing I sat back in my seat, ok so sue me, I have a short attention span even if I am easily amused.

I glanced out the window at the planes for a while but nothing spectacular was happening there, so instead I focused my attention on Quatre and Trowa as they took the seats ahead of us. Quatre sat down in the window seat, holding Marimeia, as Trowa put their bags away. Marimeia was in the middle of attempting to push her head through the small crack between the seats so she could make funny baby faces at me. I grinned and placed my fingers through the crack so she could play with them instead of getting her head stuck.

Trowa glanced at me with a soft smile and then sat down, taking Marimeia from Quatre, who sat back in her seat and sighed heavily. Standing up I leaned on the back of their seats.

"Something wrong Quatre?" I asked I was watched her fidget in her seat with the plastic wrapped headphones.

She looked up at me and quickly shook her head as she glanced toward Trowa. Finally she leaned toward me and whispered. "I kind of have this fear… of flying." She flashed an embarrassed smile and bit her bottom lip.

"Oh." I frowned and mentally went through the objects in my carry-on bag, trying to think of something to occupy her, however I couldn't come up with anything. Luckily, or rather lucky for Quatre and unlucky for me, someone interrupted my mental rummaging.

"Here, this should help."

My eyes widened as a pile of graphic novels was handed to Quatre. Her face lit up as she looked at them and I stared in surprise at the person who had spoken.

"Hilde?! Wh-what are you doing here?!"

Hilde grinned at me, as did Catherine, Dorothy and their new friend Sally from behind her. "Relena invited us."

I looked in panic across the plane to where Relena sat then back at Hilde. "Now why would she do an insane thing like that?" I wondered out loud.

"She owed it to us," Dorothy pointed out matter-of-factly. "After all, we were the ones who helped her get all those signatures for the Gundam Wing OAV."

"Besides!" Hilde inserted with a sly grin. "We have to keep tabs on the continuing live of Odin and Solo Lowe."

I groaned loudly, meanwhile Heero attached the headphones to the radio plug in and pulled out a large novel, intent on ignoring our bickering. Though, in truth, I knew he was also avoiding hearing what exactly Hilde and her group of doujinshi artist friends were writing about us. Lets just say when they called them graphic novels they certainly not kidding.

Quatre, who seemed to completely forget she was on a plane, took the pile of grpahic novels with a large grin. "Are these what I think they are?!"

Sally nodded with a soft smile. "The complete collection of the adventures of Odin Lowe and Solo Reaper after the Eve Wars, written and drawn by VICE."

"Thanks!" Quatre dropped back into her seat and began flipping through the covers. Each one held very well done fanart drawings of Solo and Odin holding each other, kissing or cuddling in a wide variety of costumes. Despite the fact that those doujinshin volumes held some very personal information about my own life I had to admit that what I had seen was very well done and deserved all the credit they got. Currently, in the last year, the comics done by VICE had become very popular. And, as usual, that popularity had gone straight to my cousin's head. But then again, some things about Hilde would never change.

"Let me guess, you're coming to the con too, aren't you?" I asked Hilde as the three other girls searched for their seats and put away their carry-on luggage.

"Of course! Considering how the last con turned out I just have to see this one! You two will kiss again right? I need a picture for the cover of our next volume."

"Excuse me, miss, please take your seat." A stewardess beckoned to Hilde. "We'll be taking off soon."

Hilde nodded and went to take her seat, without waiting for my answer. Dropping back into my large seat I glanced over at Heero, only to find him thoroughly engrossed in some science fiction novel the size of a college textbook. I poked him in the side until he glared at me and removed the headphones from one of his ears.

"So, He-chan, you doing another concert this time?"

"Hn." He grunted an affirmative.

"What song? You singing with Milliardo again?"

Heero shook his head 'no' and placed his headphones back on. Frowning at his ignoring me I poked him again, but he didn't respond.

On the other side of Heero Wufei cleared his throat. "The song's 'No One Sleep in Tokyo'."

I leaned forward so I could look at him. "And just how do you know that Wufei?"

Wufei adverted his eyes but his cheeks went slightly red, he cleared his throat again and spoke in a whisper. "Because I'm performing with him."

My eyebrows shot up. "You're kidding." Wufei? A Jpop singer? Somehow I just couldn't see it. Then again a large amount of the voice work out there involved doing the voice of a character and singing their image song. I hadn't been lucky enough to grab one of those jobs but Heero almost always got them and, it seems, so did Wufei.

"Yes, well, we're performing at the second day of the con."

I grinned. "I'll be there, you know I'm not going to miss this."

Wufei sighed and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. "That's what I was afraid of."

Sitting back in my seat I watched Marimeia squirm in her seat and Quatre grasp the armrests as the plane's engines roared to life. I grabbed a movie magazine out of the seat pocket and fastened my seat belt. Idly flipping through the pages my mind began to wander. As the plane lifted off the runway, and Marimeia squealed with delight, I drifted off to sleep with visions of Heero dancing across a stage of bright lights dressed in skin tight black leather, sweat beading down his forehead and neck as his voice rang out of the speakers.

Chapter Text

"Duo… baka, wake up."

I moaned and rolled over in the seat, my side meeting with a very uncomfortable thing poking in my side, not to mention something was holding me strapped down in bed. Strapped down in bed? No, that couldn't be right. Rubbing my nose and twisting around so I wasn't so uncomfortable I opened an eye to bright lights. Heero poked me in the side and I opened both eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake. Give a guy a second, jeez."

Heero crossed his arms and just looked at me. Behind him other people were gathering their bags from the overhead compartments and heading off the plane in a sleep stupor. Yawning I glanced at my watch, but my vision was too blurry to read it from sleep, I gave up quickly.

"What time is it?" I asked as I undid my seatbelt and was finally able to sit up comfortably.

"Late. The plane's landed." Heero stated flatly.

I sighed melodramatically and stood up, and snatched up my bag as he stepped aside.

"The others are waiting for us in the lobby. Relena and your cousin's group went to get the luggage."

I nodded and followed him out of the plane, my good mood completely gone. You'd think that when a person slips off to sleep with beautiful visions of Heero in skintight leather that he'd wake up in a good mood. But no, of course not! I'm never that lucky. Instead I fall asleep with a wonderfully delicious vision of Heero in my head and I wake up to the real person, who I swear gets colder every day. He almost never smiles anymore since the series ended and I honestly don't think he's just depressed that that particular job is over.

Maybe I was wrong, maybe moving in with him was a bad idea.

I sighed again and stepped into the lobby, painting my face with my trademark grin. Cheer up, I scolded myself, you're on a trip. A vacation. I've still got a chance, and if… if the unthinkable happens… My thoughts stopped and I glanced sideways at Heero who nodded as Relena beckoned us toward the doors where the car and luggage was waiting. I made sure no one was watching me and took a deep breath to steady myself, then I finished my horrible thought with determination.

I've still got a chance, and if I can't fix it here. When we get home, I'll move out and leave him alone.

**

We arrived at the hotel after a long and tiring taxi ride. I opted to take the same taxi as Quatre and Trowa and Marimeia. This got me a strange look from Hilde's entire group and I could swear I saw a bit of disappointment in Heero's eyes but I probably imagined that. Relena took a spot in the second taxi with Milliardo and Wufei and Heero while Hilde and her three friends got an entire taxi to themselves. Man, I pity that poor taxi driver, he would most likely have to listen to their constant chatter about fanfiction, doujinshi and yaoi the entire trip there. Poor guy.

I climbed into my taxi and sat down next to Trowa who held Marimeia. The little girl yawned innocently then immediately her hand flew out and snatched the end of my long braid, tugging it playfully. Quatre attempted to laugh while yawning and failed. Sitting down in her seat she directed the taxi to follow Relena's, then curled up in the seat to catch the sleep she missed on the plane ride.

As the taxi driver started the car and pulled out of the airport, Trowa managed to get my braid untangled from Marimeia's hands, much to the little kid's disappointment. I settled back in my seat and concentrated on the lit up buildings as they flew by. The moon was bright, and all around us the stores were alight with bright neon lights advertising restaurants and movies and stores.

"Duo."

"Yeah?" I answered without looking back to face Trowa.

"What's going on between you and Heero, if I can ask." Short and right to the point, damn. And I thought I was hiding it so well, yeah right. With my luck the entire group knew by now and Milliardo or Wufei was probably having this same conversation with Heero at this very second. Shrugging I still refused to face him.

"Difficulties," was all I said. Duo Maxwell, master of the bloody obvious.

"Any thing Quatre or I can help with?"

That got a genuine smile out of me and I turned to face Trowa, who had a concerned look on his normally blank face. "Thanks for the offer, Tro."

He nodded. "Just let us know."

"I will."

The rest of the taxi drive passed by in silence, well almost. To tell the truth it would be hard to call it silence since it was interrupted quite often by little baby like sounds from Marimeia, who took every chance she could to try and snatch at my braid again, and the soft sounds of Quatre's cute little snoring. But we arrived at the hotel in a short amount of time and before I knew it we were all piling out of our respective taxies to step into yet another lobby.

The hotel was actually fairly nice. Who am I kidding? It was a lot nicer then I'd expected and I certainly didn't expect OZ Studios or whoever was paying for our trip to this con to be able to afford something this nice. The lobby was decorated in thick red carpet, that probably would have felt like fluffy clouds to a set of bare feet. Tasteful dark oak chairs and couches, with cushions that matched the pattern on the carpet, dotted the lobby along with black vases of multicolored flowers. The large front desk was the same dark oak color, while the employees wore uniforms of black and white. All in all the hotel had a strangely dark atmosphere, though there was enough white and color scattered around to dispel the gloom. I couldn't help but smirk, the entire place looked like something Solo Reaper would have designed, the self-named Shinigami, God of Death. It would fit him perfectly to have a house, or at least a room, decorated in this style.

I leaned against the wall near the door and continued to survey the hotel surroundings as the others set down their bags and Relena approached the front desk, asking about our rooms. The clerk handed her the set of keys with a smile, but I could see Relena's reflection frown in the large mirror behind the check-in counter.

"Is something wrong?" The clerk asked.

"Yes, I had six double rooms reserved. You only gave me five keys."

The clerk's brows furrowed in worry as she flipped through her binder. "No…" she murmured. "I only have you marked down for five, there must have been a misunderstanding…" She bit her bottom lip and flipped through the pages again.

Relena shrugged. "That's all right, could you give us another room? And just add it to the bill."

"No, I'm sorry. We're completely booked because of the convention here this weekend, all the other rooms are taken. I can call the hotels around town." She offered with a very weak smile. "After all it is our mistake, I'll find a room for you-" She picked up the phone at the desk but Milliardo walked over and lightly placed his hand over hers, stopping her from picking up the phone.

"You don't have to do that." He spoke coolly, by now we were all watching. What was he planning?

"But-" Relena started to protest.

"Trust me," he said winking at her. He turned back to the clerk behind the desk and leaned on it, speaking in a low voice so we could barely make out what he was saying, or at least I couldn't. Whatever he was saying it had an astounding effect on the lady. Her nervousness of having messed up the reservations went away and she was quickly smiling and nodding, almost happily. I glanced to Wufei to try and get some clue of what was going on but Wufei only had the small beginnings of a smirk on his face. My eyes quickly went back to Milliardo and the lady as she handed him a key. I knew that smirk on Wufei's face and this smelled like a set up.

Milliardo thanked the lady and took the key, smiling at her brightly. Turning around he walked past Relena and tossed the key to me, which I caught with fumbling hands.

"Your room's all set, take the elevator on the other side of the lobby."

I looked at him in confusion as I heard Quatre stifle a soft giggle, Trowa nudged her in the side with his elbow. Wufei merely smirked and Relena looked completely lost. Meanwhile Heero scowled from where he stood near the bags.

"Don't look so down, Yuy," Milliardo said with a flirtatious smile. Heero returned a glare full of enough venom to drop a cobra dead in its slithering tracks.

"Well, it's late, we should all get to our rooms." Relena quickly passed out the keys and everyone began picking up their bags. I walked over to Heero and raised an eyebrow.

"What was that all about?" I asked, referring to Milliardo's comment.

Heero didn't answer, instead he just shot another glare in Milliardo and Wufei's direction and picked up his bags. "Come on," he said flatly.

I glanced back at the rest of the group in confusion, what in the world did they all know that I didn't? Quatre was smiling and nodding at me, in an encouraging fashion while Hilde was giving me a 'thumbs-up'. Milliardo and Wufei had twin smirks on their faces, and Trowa had a glint of curiosity in his eyes. Well, at least Relena looked almost as lost as I felt so I didn't feel that bad. With a shrug I dismissed it and grabbed my bags, hurrying to catch up with Heero. As we stepped into the elevator I had this ironically sinking feeling that all would be explained when we got to the top.

Heero pressed the button for the top floor and continued to scowl at the metal doors as they closed and the elevator began to move. I opened my mouth to ask him again what was going on, but thought better of it. Whatever it was had him in a bad mood and I knew him well enough that right now wasn't a good time to bug him about it. I'd pester it out of him later when I was reasonably more sure he wouldn't kill me.

We reached the top floor and as the doors opened I felt like running out and taking a deep breath of fresh air. Whatever was going on Heero was pissed, and I do mean pissed. By the time we hit the top floor his anger was almost like a solid thing filling up the elevator car like water. I needed to get out and breathe! As the doors opened I grabbed my bag and quickly stepped out… and dropped my bags with a thud.

My jaw dropped as I looked around. The elevator doors opened up into a large gathering area with a complete bar, and I do mean complete. Black barstools were polished and gleaming in the bright yet soothing electrical light. The entire place was wide open, as if waiting for a whole slew of people and some great party. Off to the side was a single door with one number on it. Heero pushed past me and headed for the room, still scowling all the way. I followed numbly, leaving my bags forgotten by the elevator doors, and handed him the keys.

"Wow, this place is nice! OZ can't afford this, can they?"

Heero grunted a neutral answer, which I think pointed responsibility to Milliardo and Wufei, then opened the door to the room. My mouth went dry and we both seemed to freeze as the door swung open.

If I thought the party room outside was expensive I should have expected what was inside the room, but then I guess lack of sleep and a long plane ride slows down brain functions pretty well. The room was huge, easily as large as the bar and party room outside. Except this one was much more spacious. Two of the four walls were windows over looking the bright lights of the city but tinted, mostly for privacy I guess. The bed… well I'll come back to that.

The room was significantly bare save for the bed, two closet doors and a few scattered bedside tables. Next to the hot tub in the corner was a reclining chair and a nicely polished table. Wait, a hot tub? My eyes widened.

"Holy shit," I muttered before I even realized what I said and that I'd said it out loud. There was a hot tub! There was a hot tub in our room. My eyes moved
slowly back over to the bed and my fears, or perhaps hopes were confirmed. The bed was a large king sized bed with thick soft looking quilts. That would have been all fine and dandy if it weren't for the designs on the quilts. Oddly enough the array of red and white hearts didn't make the quilt look cheesy in any way. In fact I didn't mind it, except for the fact that they were hearts. I coughed and felt my cheeks grow red.

We were in the honeymoon suite.

I swallowed and managed to walk forward far enough to drop down to sit on the edge of the bed before my legs gave out from shock. I blinked and continued to look around the room. Finally my eyes moved to Heero. I opened my mouth to talk, I had millions of questions, but instead nothing came out. I mean what does one say when your friends purposely place you in the honeymoon sweet? They must have pestered him in the car about how we were acting around each other and somehow they managed this. Was it actually planned? No, it had to be a fluke, Milliardo and Wufei wouldn't pull anything like this on us… would they?

"They planned this," I heard Heero hiss dangerously. I watched with wide eyes as he turned and stalked back toward the elevator. I panicked and felt fear wash over me, oh dear god he really was going to kill someone. But, more important then that panic, I felt anger rise. I watched after him and spoke in a low voice without thinking.

"Does it bother you that much to be in this room with me?" I was shocked by the amount of coldness in my voice but didn't regret it. Immediately I was filled with anger at the current situation between me and Heero. Right after the show we'd confessed our love for each other and even moved in together, but after that we only acted like roommates, maybe not even that. I knew I was mad about it before but now that anger rocketed into me, and just the fact that he seemed so repulsed by the room hurt, and it made me angry.

Heero froze at the sound of my harsh words but didn't turn back to look at me. He took a deep breath and turned to look at me, the shock clear on his face when he saw my angry and cold expression.

"That's not what I meant," he muttered guiltily.

I stood up and walked over to the window, looking down at the city, even though I was actually watching his dark reflection in the tinted glass. "Then what did you mean?"

He faltered and looked away. "I… what's going on between us is none of their business."

I frowned. "Well maybe they are making it their business, since we don't seem to be doing anything about it."

Heero flinched as if he'd been slapped and completely looked away from me. I took a deep breath and walked past him, retrieving my luggage from where I'd left it near the elevator. Ignoring him I walked back into the room and dropped the bags near the closet doors. Rummaging in them I pulled out my black robe and headed for the bathroom.

"Duo…"

I glanced up to find Heero standing at the door to the bathroom, his eyes pleading with me like a lost child. I felt my anger melt away… well, most of it.
"I-"

I shook my head. "Not right now. I'm tired Heero, we both are. Let's worry about it in the morning."

Heero nodded slowly and walked away from the door, leaving me to shut it and take my shower in peace. I stood in front of the full-length mirror and undid my braid slowly with numb hands, trying to get his look of anger out of my mind. As soon as I stepped under the warm water with the fan buzzing over head I let the tears flow, knowing he wouldn't be able to hear them. Leaning forward I pressed my forehead up against the cold tile and let the water drip down my face and body, mingling with my silent tears.

How had it gotten this bad? This was all wrong, I shouldn't have yelled at him. But he shouldn't have been so upset about the room. That had hurt the most, why was he so upset about the room? Did it bother him that much? It was just a room right? Did it really bother him that it was actually meant to be a honeymoon suite?

I loved Heero and he loved me, right? But if he loved me then why did the prospect of sharing this room with me tick him off so much?

Wiping my eyes I turned off the water and just stood there for a moment, letting the water drip away. I toweled out my wet hair and tied it into a loose ponytail then tossed on my robe and slowly opened the door.

I found the room dark, only the light from the city outside seeping in through the windows. Heero was lying quietly on the far side of the bed, his back to me and the blankets pulled up to his chin. Sighing softly I pulled on a pair of boxers and a tank top then crawled into the other side of the bed. He didn't stir. Closing my eyes I blinked away the last of my tears and tried to fall asleep.

I felt miserable. But yet, I couldn't think of anything to say that would make the situation any better, so I just dropped it and tried my best to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

I was sitting in the large hotel room, my eyes set on the hot tub where Heero lay, stretched out lazily in the bubbling water. He was completely naked, and looking so delicious… I walked toward the hot tub but stopped as his eyes opened and he smirked at me, basically daring me to jump into that hot tub with him. I grinned and quickly began to strip; I couldn't get my clothes off fast enough.

Then the phone rang, and the dream world around me popped like a soap bubble. I floated for a moment in hazy wakefulness then groaned and forced myself to finally open my eyes as the phone rang again.

"What is this?" I muttered, blindly fumbling around for the telephone on the bedside table. "Is it some unspoken rule that every time I have a good dream I get disturbed and… mosimosi?"

"Hello, sleepy head!" Laughed Quatre's voice on the other end of the phone. I dropped my head back onto the pillow, taking the receiver with me.

"Quatre, you sound far too happy for this early in the morning. How about giving a guy some time to sleep?"

Quatre giggled and I swear I could actually hear the bright smile in her voice. "Morning? Duo, it's past noon."

"Huh?" Rubbing my eyes I glanced around the hotel room and squinted until I could see the clock. The bright red numbers made my eyes hurt and I squinted even more until I could make out the numbers, they proved Quatre was right. "So what's your point?" I muttered back. I've never been a morning person, and I was about to become one now.

"Well… I was hoping you would join us for a late lunch here in a little bit. Relena wants to discuss some stuff with us about the con and other things."

"Hmmm… Relena jabbering or sleep? That's a real hard one, Quatre."

"Duo! Be nice."

I yawned and forced myself to sit up in bed. "I was just kidding. Do I get a chance to get dressed or should I meet you in the lobby in my birthday suit?"

Quatre coughed in surprise, and I couldn't help but grin. "No, no we'll give you time to wake up. You need an hour or so?"

"Naw, half an hour will do. See you in a little bit." I hung up the phone and rolled over in the bed, laying on my stomach. As an after thought my mind wondered why I hadn't rolled into Heero. Yeah, it's a huge bed but still, there was no way anyone could sleep hugging one side of a bed for the entire night. Sitting up I glanced to the side of the bed where Heero had been, and found it empty.

"Figures, he left a while ago I bet." I sighed and forced myself to sit up and get out of bed. "Probably planning for the concert or something." Running my fingers through my tangled hair, and getting them stuck quite quickly; I made my way to the bathroom and flipped on the shower. Stripping off my boxers I stepped under the water, not even bothering to shut the bathroom door. I honestly didn't care if Heero walked into the room, besides the mischievous side of my mind was kind of hoping he would.

The hot water did wonders for my morning mood and by the time I got the tangles out of my hair and was completely soaked I was feeling much more awake and ready to face the world. Whistling a light and happy tune I strolled out of the bathroom and braided my hair together as I debated what to wear. With a shrug I threw on a pair of black jeans and a blank purple tee-shirt. No need to dress up, I was on vacation and just going out to lunch with my friends, so I could get by with a tee-shirt and jeans. Tying off the braid I grabbed my room key, wallet and jacket and headed down to the lobby.

"Well, well, look who finally pulled himself out of bed." Taunted Milliardo's soft voice as I stepped off the elevator. He smiled at me from where he'd draped his lithe body over the back of a large red padded chair, which held Wufei. Trowa and Quatre stood a few feet away speaking with Relena; Quatre looked up as Milliardo spoke.

"Welcome to the world of the living," she said with a smile.

I made a face. "I prefer the dead, at least they let me sleep undisturbed."

Milliardo smirked. "I take it you and Heero made full use of the… room."

My jaw dropped in surprise and I coughed, feeling my face grow red with embarrassment. "Well, no, as a matter of fact we didn't. Oh, and if I were you I'd stay away from Heero for the next few days, he's got a death glare with your name on it."

Milliardo straightened up and merely shrugged off my warning. Walking over to me he stopped and softly smiled. "I'm counting on you Duo," he spoke in a very low voice that the other couldn't hear. "Don't let that beautiful room go to waste."

I sighed. "Believe me, if I had a choice in the matter…" I responded in an equally voice, but I let the sentence drop off. There wasn't much else to say. I shrugged, to hint to him to drop the subject and my grin appeared back on my face. "By the way, where is Heero?"

"He took off for practice," replied Wufei. "Said he'd be back later tonight."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe it is well time to eat, shall we go?" Milliardo made a bowing gesture toward the door and Quatre giggled. Relena nodded and took the lead, while I dropped back to speak with Quatre and Trowa.

"Where's the little tike?"

"Asleep, with your cousin and her friends." Trowa replied as we stepped out onto the sidewalk and headed for the restaurant down the street.

As we neared the restaurant Quatre grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. "Nope, come on, we're going this way."

I raised an eyebrow and watched the other four enter the restaurant without glancing back at us. "Ummm… why?"

Quatre frowned slightly. "Duo… I know I may be intruding here and stuff but you really really seem to be hurting lately. And well… do you want to talk about it?" She bit her bottom lip. "I mean I won't say anything if you don't want me to and I'll just listen if that what you want but…" she sighed. "Something's wrong and I want to help."

I smiled softly, I couldn't help it. You never heard me say this but Quatre's offer was so sweet. I wanted to hug her, but instead I just smiled. "Thanks Quatre. Yeah, it would be nice to talk to someone."

She smiled brightly and nodded. "There's a little café just around the corner, we can go talk there. The others already know I wanted to talk to you, so they aren't really expecting us."

"The café works great."

We walked farther down the street and found the café, which was quite cute. Taking a seat toward the back outside, near a large tree which shaded us I allowed myself a long sigh of relief. I couldn't wait to just let out everything that had been bugging me.

"So?" Quatre asked after she ordered us some fruit drinks and the waitress left. I took a sip of mine and nodded, my grin disappearing to complete seriousness.

"Well, you saw what happened at the wedding. That was actually the high point, and after that things started going down hill. After we finished the OAV for Gundam I moved out of the apartment with my cuz and moved in with Heero. We both kind of agreed on it and Hilde wanted to start living with Catherine, Dorothy and Sally anyway, so we thought it would work."

I leaned back in my chair and held the juice drink, staring off at the people passing by at the street. "Well I moved in with him and my bed went in his room. What I told you about the two bedrooms was true, one is an office and he's in there so often its maddening. What I didn't tell you was that we still sleep in separate beds. After we moved in together all we really did was kiss, that's all we've ever done."

I set the drink down and sighed heavily. "I didn't bring it up at first because I figured it was unrealistic to expect us to both jump into each other's arms after only knowing each other for less then a year. And I guess that's the excuse I just kept using. The kissing died down after a few months and he got other voice jobs, spending lots more time out of the house.

"I never said anything, and neither did he. Quatre, we've been living like roommates in college for the last year and I don't understand what went wrong! Did I do something? I mean I was so happy at first and now I just feel like he's just tolerating me."

Under the table my hands were clenched into fists and shaking with anger. I closed my eyes to try and get a hold of myself. I still didn't glance back at Quatre though. "When he saw the room, the hotel room he got so angry. You knew it was a honeymoon sweet when they said the door was the elevator didn't you."
I glanced over and Quatre nodded silently, keeping her face neutral. True to her word she was just listening, nothing more.

"Well when he saw the room he got so angry he was shaking. He looked ready to kill someone and… and that really got to me. It hurt. I mean why should he be angry? It was just like at home, where he was living with me. The only difference is there's only one bed but… He got angry and I got angry. And…" I frowned. "I kind of blew up at him."

"Duo…" Quatre's voice was soft and full of concern. She reached across the table slowly and grasped one of my fists, holding it tightly. I must have set them on the table without thinking.

"I don't know what to do, Quatre. I… he… Maybe I should just drop it for this week and move out when I get back. I'm sure Hilde and her friends wouldn't mind me staying with them until I find a new place to live…" I broke off my words, not willing to completely voice what it would take for me to leave. I didn't want to, but I didn't know what else to do.

"Duo… you can't."

I sighed softly. "I don't know what else to do, Quatre. I don't understand any of this."

Quatre pulled her hands back and fidgeted with them for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip in thought. After a few moments she looked back at me. "Do you want my advice?"

I shrugged. "Sure, there's a pretty good chance it's better then anything I've come up with."

"Talk to him."

I swallowed and frowned. With a forced laugh I shook my head. "How did I know you were going to say that?"

"Have you talked to him?"

I shook my head. "No. I haven't been able to. I'm too afraid of what he'll say. Quatre, I'd rather leave of my own will without really telling him and entertain the futile thought of him coming back someday and asking me to return. I'm deathly afraid of him… of him asking me to leave. If he did that I think-" My voice dropped away and I looked away from her quickly so I could blink away the tears that were begging to be let out of my eyes. No, I refused to cry, I wasn't going to. Not now, not ever. But I did finish the thought in my head.

If he asked me to leave I would die.

It was as simple as that.

"Duo, please listen to me. You have to talk to him. None of this is going to be solved if both of you keep hiding. Maybe you blowing up at him about the room was a good thing. Hopefully it'll motivate one of you to do something. And despite what you may believe we didn't plan that room, it just happened."

I forced out a laugh. "Yeah, it's Fate giving me a swift kick in the ass and telling me to get my own ass in gear."

Quatre smiled quietly. "Maybe."

I glanced up at her and couldn't help but return the smile. She had a very good point. It was just like she mentioned at the beginning of the trip, in the plane lobby. Maybe this small trip was exactly what Heero and I needed. And the chances were in my favor that everything would be fixed, especially since he looked so lost when I blew up at him the night before. Unless I was imagining it he did still feel something, or at least he felt guilty and was trying to hide it. We were both hiding.

And this trip was the perfect chance to come out of hiding and get everything sorted out. The problem was just how to do that.
With those thoughts in mind I smiled broadly at Quatre and she returned an even larger smile. "Thanks, Quatre, thanks a lot. Now, can we order some food? I'm starving!"

She responded with a giggle. "Now that sounds like the Duo Maxwell I know. And it sounds like a good idea. Yes," she said picking up the menu. "Let's eat."

Chapter Text

I woke up the next morning to a loud pounding on the hotel room door and groaned loudly. I rolled over in the bed to find that once again Heero had left without waking me up. I sighed loudly and sat up in bed rubbing my eyes. I remembered Quatre's advice from the other night and I had planned to speak to Heero as soon as he got back… but when he showed up he looked so tired that I'd decided to just let him be. If I was going to have a long drawn out talk about our relationship with him chances are it would turn out much better if he wasn't tired and irritable at the time. So I'd waited.

The pounding on the door started up again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Cut it out before you wake up the whole hotel!" I growled back angrily as I search the room for my robe. Wrapping it around my body I yawned and walked to the door. Sliding the chain away I opened the door to see who was making the racket.

"About time! You planning on sleeping until we fly back cuz?"

I frowned and began to shut the door again, but no luck. Hilde stuck her foot in the door. She prevented it from closing but the also slightly crushed her foot. She gave a small yelp and pushed to door back open, walking into the room before I could stop her. Dropping down on the bed she inspected her foot.

"Serves you right," I muttered. "You shouldn't have stuck it in the door."

"Jeez, look who's definitely not a morning person!"

I rolled my eyes at her and walked over to the dresser to find some clothes. "You've lived with me for how many years and you still don't know that?" I pulled a pair of jeans out of my suitcase and a fresh shirt. Hilde stood up and jumped in front of me, blocking my path to the bathroom.

"Not so fast, you. Did you forget today is the first day of the con? You're not actually thinking of just wearing normal clothes are you? After all the work Relena put into getting you guys new cosplay outfits-"

"I get it, I get it. So where's my outfit?" I asked.

She nodded toward a pile of clothing on the bed. "There you go. Special delivery courtesy of your loving cousin."

I froze and just looked at her. I knew that tone of voice, she didn't just bring the outfit up here to be nice, she wanted something in return. Oh man I hate it when she pulls stuff like this.

I sighed. "All right, what do you want Hilde? You're never nice without a reason."

"Hey! I am too! Well, usually. Anyway, I want the scoop on you and Heero! It would make for some really good angst in the next dojinshi we're putting out. You have to give me the whole story! You just have to!"

I walked over and picked up the black and red pile of folded clothes. "Not a chance. What's between me and Heero is between me and Heero, it is not between the pages of a comic book. Besides, like you haven't come up with some explanation by now anyway."

"Yeah, I know, but I want to hear it from you. Real life makes such a more believable story then what comes out of our heads. Besides that's what keeps people reading…"

I shook my head and headed for the bathroom. "No Hilde, and that's final."

She sighed in defeat and dropped back onto the bed. "All right, fine. But will you at least sign some of the dojinshi for us? Please? Just a few?"

"I'll think about it, now go down stairs so I can get dressed."

Hilde nodded and left the room.

I emerged soon afterwards dressed in my new outfit and grinning from ear to ear. As I rode the elevator down stairs I looked over my reflection in the mirrored walls. This time the outfit was slightly different. This time I wore tight black jeans and a red zip-up turtleneck, with a black leather jacket over the top. I couldn't help but grin at my own reflection, man these gundam pilots sure knew how to dress. I'd completely forgotten that Solo Reaper had worn such a cool outfit in the OAV.

Stepping out from the elevator I found the others waiting in the lobby, all dressed up in new outfits.

Wufei and Trowa both wore matching military uniforms that looked attractive yet slightly silly with shorts and in khaki color. I have to admit they looked more like they were ready for a month at camp then a war, but then again those were the outfits from the show and we didn't get to be choosy. At least Wufei got to keep Li Honour's signature curved sword on his belt.

Milliardo wore a dark brown trench coat closed over his body, yet fitted to show off his willowy figure. Around his neck was a white scarf, which was tucked in neatly into the coat while he wore tight black pants and knee high black boots. He looked every bit the distinguished and rich super villain that his character was. He flashed a mischievous smirk my way and it almost sent shivers down my back, he actually looked like he had a good amount of wealth under his arm and was ready to use it to finish his goals.

Meanwhile Quatre was dressed in a very loose outfit, once again succeeding in hiding the fact that she was actually female. Loose gray pants and an aquamarine sleeveless shirt accompanied by a light pink scarf, which hung around her neck loosely and down her back. She smiled sweetly at me and raised her eyebrows.

"Looking good, Solo." She said with a chuckle. Trowa playful nudged her in the side with his elbow, reminding her silently they were married. I grinned back.

"So, we ready to go? Where's Heero?"

Wufei nodded toward the door. "He's at the con, setting up last minute things for the concert."

I frowned slightly. I'd wanted to see his outfit. "But you two aren't performing until tomorrow, I thought."

At that Milliardo smirked. "Heero is very picky about his equipment, especially before performance. He'd sleep in the same room with it just to protect it if the hotel would let him."

I nodded and laughed. "Yep, sounds like Heero. Ok, lets get going then."

**

We arrived at the hotel hosting the con and the scene was much like last time. With tables full of merchandise and venders all setting up to sell and advertise their wares from various anime series. But this time we were all led into a separate room for the guests. This time the convention was larger so there were several rooms and we, the guests, were given a separate room where we had our own tables and could sit down as we signed the books. We arrived to find the room already occupied by six seven people about our age. Relena stepped forward, embraced the single female in the group, then turned around to introduce all of us.

"This is Lady Une, the director for the english version of Gundam Wing. And these are the American seiyuu (1). Jay Zimmerman does the voice of Odin. Alex Mueller is Solo. Van Flowne is Triton. Miki's voice is done by Benny Rabera. Jesse Dekim is Li and, finally, Asher Thomsen is Zechs Marquise. Now, Lady and I have some things to speak about, so we'll be back later." Relena waved to us and left the room with the American director.

I turned and looked at each of the American actors. The first thing I noticed was they were all dressed in normal street clothes, none of them were in cosplay. Now you'd think this would make me feel self-conscious but it had to opposite effect, instead I felt like the real voice actor of Solo Reaper. After all, I was not only his original voice but I was also wearing his outfit.

Speaking of the other voice actor for Solo, Alex was what Relena had called him, he was leaning coolly against the back wall of the room. Watching all of us with slightly narrowed eyes, or maybe that part about his eyes being narrowed was just my imagination. Anyway he had dark brown hair that curled slightly, cut just above his ears and just at the top of his eyes. He wore glasses over his blue eyes as well. Turning from him I glanced to the others, who seemed to blend in with our group nicely.

Quatre was speaking with Van and Benny, giggling sweetly at their varied comments. Heck, it looked like she was flirting with them and I would have placed money on it if I didn't know she was married. And even then…

Anyway Van was quite attractive. He had short, very short, yellow hair and he was tall. He had bright green eyes and an attractive smile that most likely made the fangirls swoon (2). Meanwhile Benny had bushy black hair that he had attempted to pull back into a ponytail, and had pretty much failed because it kept sliding out.

Jay had shoulder length brown hair and a neatly cut bead, he also wore glasses. Asher, looked like a perfect mirror to Milliardo, with long strawberry blond hair and an equally willowy figure, and bright blue eyes. Jesse, the voice of Li, had shoulder length brown hair which was pulled back into a ponytail to show off his attractive young looking face.

My thoughts and observations were interrupted as Benny glanced back toward Alex with a laugh. "Look at this Alex, the voice of Miki is actually a girl!" I could tell by his voice that the comment was in good humor, not an insult, Quatre blushed slightly.

Alex frowned. "Lucky you," he spoke icily. Pushing himself away from the wall he focused his eyes on me, my braid in particular. "Nice braid," he spoke in a hard sarcastic voice as he took a seat near one of the tables. I stood froze, just looking at him.

Ok, I admit, that comment hurt. I'd never even met the guy but with that one single comment he'd managed to basically slap me across the face. I like my long hair! But I was also kind of protective of it, since it was rare and it had earned me some strange looks in the past. Apparently long hair was not 'in style' here and he'd made that abundantly clear. I noticed Milliardo was watching both of us quietly, waiting for something to happen. Knowing him he'd jump to my defense and there would be a nice little fight started, so instead I decided not to give Alex the pleasure. Instead I shrugged away the comment and walked over to Quatre, Van and Benny.

"Quatre," I mock scolded. "It looks to me like you're flirting with these two."

Quatre flashed me a pretend offended look and took a step back. "Duo, how dare you suggest such a thing. I'm married after all!"

I snickered. "Yeah, but do they know that?"

Van and Benny laughed.

"You have nothing to worry about," Van said with a bright grin. "I would never dream of breaking up a marriage for such a happy young lady."

Quatre blushed at the compliment. She glanced behind me to the door and smiled happily, waving her hand. "Hey Heero! You're finally here."

I turned to see Heero standing in the doorway, he gave Quatre and the others a silent nod of welcome then walked toward the table to sit down. I couldn't help but stare at him in his outfit, of all the things for him to wear…

I hadn't been disappointed in anyway whatsoever when he wore the flight suit last time but this time the new outfit was even better. Instead of a skintight black flight suit he wore a loose green tank top and a tight pair of black spandex shorts. I had to force myself not to stare at his ass as he walked to the table, and my, what an ass. The spandex only helped to show off his body while the loose tank top offered one teasing glimpses of the firm chest beneath. If we had been alone and he'd been wearing that… well lets just say that no matter how many problems we were having currently in our relationship he definitely wouldn't have been wearing that outfit long. I would have pulled it off in a second.

I forced myself not to stare at him and looked away, unfortunately my eyes left Heero and went to Alex, who was glaring at both of us. Apparently I hadn't hidden my reaction to Heero's outfit very well, because he rolled his eyes at us and glared angrily.

"Oh please," he muttered softly in disgust.

I can't quite explain it but that added to the comment about my hair hit home and I felt my self-confidence shrink into nothing. The rest of the con should have been a blast, especially since the other American seiyuu were really nice and had great senses of humor. But it was the one rotten apple, by the name of Alex Mueller, who ruined everything for me. Throughout the entire day he glared at me and made off comments to everything I said, even though they were mostly so silent no one else heard them. But I heard them and they all seemed to pound themselves into my mind.

By the end of the day I was feeling miserable again, even though I managed to hide it pretty well under my grinning mask. As soon as we got back to the hotel I retreated to my room for some long peace, quiet and self pity. Heero didn't come with, he'd stayed at the hotel to double check on his equipment and stuff, something like that.

It figures. The one time I really felt like I needed a hug he wasn't there. So instead I contented myself to stripping naked and slipping into the deliciously scalding hot waters of the room's personal hot tub.

Oh man, it was heaven! After an entire day of having to deal with Alex and squealing fan girls and seeing Heero in that sexy outfit the hot tub was complete and total heaven. Leaning back in the softly bubbling water I closed my eyes and slowly began to undo my long braid. As I ran my fingers through the long strands I couldn't help but sigh.

"Nice hair." Alex's voice echoed loudly in my mind and I stopped unbraiding my hair. Instead I opened my eyes and looked down at the long locks floating before me in the water. I swallowed and sat up, my eyes moving toward the small cabinet next to the hot tub. Moving through the water I rummaged through the drawers until I found what I was looking for.

A pair of scissors.

Sitting back down in the water I looked back down at my hair, holding the scissors tightly in one hand and a few locks in the other.

They say in times of trouble it uses improves one's mood to cut their hair or do something like that. I had an incredible urge to cut mine, especially with everything happening around me and things getting worse and worse. With a sigh of defeat I took a small amount of hair and brought the scissors to it.

Snip.

I watched the small amount of hair fall into the water. I raised my hand to cut more off when I heard the door behind me open. I turned to see Heero standing in the doorway, his eyes locked immediately on the scissors and then focused on me.

"What are you doing?" He asked quietly.

I looked away quickly and felt a sudden stab of guilt. Sighing I dropped the scissors with a loud splash into the water.

I am such an idiot.

 

1. Here is my warning, I know next to nothing about the American Seiyuu for Gundam Wing, so please don't take any offense to how I have them act. I've only seen the seiyuu for Duo and Trowa and the part above was already planned before I met them. To be honest they were really nice guys, so please don't hurt me!

2. Yes, that is actually what the American voice actor for Trowa looks like. I agree with my friend who got his pic, damn he is good looking!

Chapter Text

"What are you doing?" Heero whispered softly as he let the door shut behind him. I was so startled that I dropped the scissors and they splashed into the water. That's when I broke. Everything hit me at once and I felt the guilt well-up inside me. I felt just like a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar, after he'd promised to never take them again. I felt like I'd betrayed Heero by cutting off that small amount of my hair, and it hurt. Turning away from him I just sat in the hot water and hugged my knees, wishing I could just sink into the ground and disappear.

Behind me I heard Heero lightly set his stuff down on the bed and walk toward me, stopping to kneel on the wooden ledge around the hot tub. I buried my face between my arms so I didn't have to look at him, so he didn't have to look at me. But I could still see his hand as it reached forward into the water and took hold of the hair I'd cut. He picked it up as if it were one of the most precious and breakable things in the world and I didn't have to look to know what expression was on his face.

"Duo…" he whispered softly. "Why did you…?"

I snorted softly without lifting my head "Why?" I muttered. I shrugged. "Why do you care?" As soon as the words came out I immediately regretted them. I looked up quickly and caught a haunted look appearing on Heero's face from my words. He flinched slightly and looked away, holding the locks of wet hair tightly in his hand.

"I…" He swallowed and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry."

I blinked at him but didn't move. What was Heero sorry for? Sorry for caring? Sorry for not caring? Sorry for living together for almost a year and only acting like brothers or room mates? Sorry for what?

Heero opened his eyes but didn't look back at me. Instead he gazed at his reflection in the large tinted mirrors which showed us the bright city lights below. "I'm sorry for… everything."

My jaw dropped and I moved to speak, but quickly shut up. It didn't take a genius to see this was hard for Heero, to have to confess his feelings like this. So I stayed quiet and let him place together the words on his own time. Somewhere deep inside I actually dreaded what was coming next. I dreaded him apologizing and breaking up with me. But… but I had to give him a chance, and jumping to conclusions would not solve our problem.

Heero remained silent, just sitting there for what seemed like an eternity. He was still dressed in the outfit from the con. The tight spandex shorts and the dark green tank top. It was strange, but in the very dim light of the room the outfit, combined with his unruly hair, made him look younger, more fragile and almost lost. He looked like a small child, completely unsure of himself and what to do. The sight was so adorable and he looked so sad it made me want to hug him. Yet the horrible thought of him pushing away from that hug or shutting off from me again was too much to bear, so I didn't move.

"I'm sorry… for… pushing you away." Heero gave a sigh of frustration and stood up quickly, pacing around the room and running a hand through his hair. It was like he was actually nervous. I'd never seen him nervous before in the whole year I've known him. Now one might think that isn't very long but when you live with a guy for a whole year you get to know a lot of things about him. Still, I'd never seen him nervous before.

Turning in the water I leaned against the side of the hot tub and watched him pace back and forth, glancing around the room as if he was trying to find and gather words to say. Setting my chin on my hands I watched him and spoke softly.

"Why did you?"

He stopped pacing and looked at me. For a moment it almost seemed like he had just been reminded I was there. Our eyes locked and we stood and sat in silence, neither wanting to break eye contact. Finally Heero dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed and placed his chin in his hands.

"I was afraid I guess." He admitted with a guilty look.

"Afraid of what?" I promoted.

"I'd known you for a year. And then my character died and the way you responded… it occurred to me after you moved in that I might have made a terrible mistake. That you… that you had fallen in love with my character and…" Heero looked away from me. "And not me."

I swallowed, a lump building in my throat. I could practically read his mind and I went over in my head the first few months we'd lived together. It was like some veil had been lifted and I could see all the things I'd done wrong. All the things we'd done wrong.

"We moved in together," I said slowly. "And I was afraid. I loved you and I loved living with you but… I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to jump forward and go to fast… so I thought I'd let you give me a sign. And then you never did…" I sighed softly and a small smirk grew on my face. "I guess we both kind of messed up, huh?"

Heero's beautiful eyes slid back to me and settled on my face. He nodded once and the edge of his lips inched into the beginnings of a smile. "Yeah, we did."
"I'm willing to try again. It's not too late, I mean I still love you. Do you still-?" I cut off my own sentence as I felt a lump rising in my throat. I didn't want to finish that question, I didn't want to hear his answer. I was still so afraid of it being no, I was still so afraid of him saying it was over.

But he didn't. He didn't say yes or no. Instead Heero stood up and walked over to me. Leaning down he wrapped his arms around my wet body and held me tightly, snuggling his head between my neck and shoulder. "Always," he whispered in my ear.

My arms came up and wrapped around him tightly. I swear that one word was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard and I just wanted to hold him, to never let go again. The entire world could blow all to hell and I would be happy as long as I still had Heero in my arms. That was all I cared about. Words could never express how happy I was to have him in my arms again and to be in his.

We stayed there, sitting like that for a long time, just listening to each other's soft breathing and the soft bubbling of the water. It was like heaven, complete perfection. I was wrapped in the arms of my lover, sitting in warm water and my back was freezing. That realization snapped me back to reality as I shivered.
Heero slowly unwrapped his arms from me and stood up, grabbing a few towels from the bathroom. As he returned, towels in hand, I attempted to stifle a large yawn, and failed miserably. He smirked and set to towels down.

"Tired?" He asked softly.

I nodded sleepily. It must have been the hot water and the time of night getting to my head. I suddenly had trouble keeping my eyes open and if I didn't get out of the hot tub soon I was going to fall asleep snoring soft little bubbles. Although, I was willing to bet that the whole reason I was so tired was that the huge weight of fear of Heero breaking up with me had finally been lifted off my shoulders. I'd finally been freed of a year long burden of worry and fear, and that was probably what had zapped all my energy.

Leaning forward Heero slipped his arms into the warm water and wrapped them around my legs and back. Without even a hint of strain on his face he gently lifted me from the water and I curled up against his body like a young child. I just wanted to curl into his arms, basking in the warmth from his body as he held me in his arms and kissed me softly. Kneeling down he set me on his lap and pulled over one of the towel. Then he did one of the sweetest things I could ever imagine. Ever so carefully and gently he began to dry me off.

It seems like a silly gesture I know, but it wasn't. It was something so sweet and calming and full of love that I felt like I was just going to melt in his arms. It was as if our small conversation and make up had unlocked a door to a side of Heero I'd never really had a chance to see. It was a soft side of him, one that smiled and was full of love and tenderness. Sitting there in his arms as he dried off my body it wasn't sexual in any way at all, even though you'd think it would be. Instead it was comforting beyond words and just a total act of love and caring. At the moment I couldn't have asked for more.

After he was done drying me off he wrapped his arms under me again and carried me over to the bed. He moved the covers down and laid me down on the warm sheets. I watched with heavy lidded eyes as he stripped of his now damp cosplay outfit and laid it across the back of the large easy chair next to the TV. He then slid into bed next to me and pulled the quilt up around us, covering us both in deep and soft warmth.

I yawned once more and felt sleep riding up through my body. Turning on my side I snuggled up against his warm naked body and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest. "Can I sleep in your arms tonight?" I whispered sleepily as I closed my eyes.

"Of course," he murmured back. Pulling me closer he slowly began to run his fingers through my wet hair, burying them within the thick wet locks. I snuggled as close as I could, not wanting to sleep or the moment to end.

"And can I sleep like *yawn* this tomorrow night too?" I whispered.

Heero chuckled softly and hugged me tightly then went back to stroking my hair. "We can sleep like this every night for the rest of our lives."

I smiled lazily. "I'd like that."

And as I drifted off to sleep in his arms I remember him kissing me softly on the top of my head and whispering.

"Good night, love."

I know I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Chapter Text

I woke the next morning to bright sunlight shining in through the large floor to ceiling windows that surrounded our room. Blinking open my eyes and yawning I moved to stretch, and immediately stopped as I realized there were arms wrapped tightly around my body. Craning my head, and careful not to move the rest of my body, I turned and looked to find Heero beside me in bed.

It would take a wealth of words to explain how that sight made me feel. I had never slept in the same bed as him before tonight and I'd never fallen asleep in his arms, much less woken up in them. But the sight of him sleeping with his arms tightly wrapped around my waist and his face as sweet as a sleeping angel made me want to melt. I didn't want to move, never again. He looked so peaceful and happy I didn't want to disturb him, I just wanted to lay in his arms until eternity ended and the next eternity began.

Smiling softly to myself I slowly turned over in his arms so I was facing him and snuggled up against his chest, burying my face against his bare chest. I breathed in the sweet scent of his body mingled with the chlorine from mine (from the hot tub). It was a strong, sweet smell, and I loved every second of it. Closing my eyes I lay there happily for a few moments, just reveling in his scent and the soft rising and falling of his chest as he breathed in and out.

It seemed like only a few seconds later that he began to stir, not long enough for me to lay there in complete and utter bliss. But I didn't complain, instead I tilted my head upward and watched with a soft smile on my face as he blinked his eyes open sleepily.

"Good morning," I murmured softly.

Heero opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a yawn.

I chuckled.

"What time is it?" he murmured rubbing his eyes.

"Morning…" I snuggled my face against his neck, kissing him softly. "Can we just forget about the con and stay here? Please? I want to lay in your arms all day."

I could hear the smirk in his voice as he reached up slowly and stroked my hair. "It is tempting."

I sighed. "But?" I promoted. The tone of his voice implied that there was something that had to be done today, period. It was morning, I should have known the schedule for the con but I didn't, my mind doesn't work that fast in the morning.

"But…" He said stretching his legs. "But the concert is tonight and Relena will be mad if we're not there."

I moaned loudly and sat up, mock frowning at him. "Spoilsport."

Heero smirked. Without warning he reached up and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me to lie across his chest as he seized my lips in a kiss. I didn't give a single bit of complaint as his tongue teased across my lips seeking entrance into my mouth. I responded with the same amount of hunger he showed and eagerly explored his mouth as he explored mine. It had been far too long since we'd kissed like that.

After several long minutes of heated kissing we finally broke apart for lack of air and I smirked. "Well, I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing you in that outfit again for one more day."

Heero flashed me a knowing smile and sat up in bed. Stretching he stood up and walked toward the bathroom to take a morning shower.

"On one condition."

Heero paused and glanced back at me. "And that is?"

I flashed a devilish grin. "You let me take that outfit off of you when the day is through."

Heero returned a mischievous smirk of his own and nodded.

**

We arrived down in the lobby about half an hour later and I discovered that we were quite early. In fact it wasn't even eight in the morning yet. I guess that's what a good night's sleep will do to you when you lay in the arms you love. I was completely rested and I knew I'd only slept for a few hours. Yet I still groaned as I noticed the clock down stairs, I couldn't have Heero thinking he was turning me into a morning person now could I?

"Aww man, it's still really early! We could have laid in bed for longer."

Heero chuckled softly as he pulled the jean jacket on over his small amount of clothing. "Well, we have enough time to get breakfast and check on the equipment before the con starts."

I grinned, happy he'd changed the subject, and even happier to see him chuckling. I know a huge load of guilt had been lifted off my shoulders last night and apparently the same went for him. Heero was actually chuckling, albeit softly, and possibly would even flash a smile at me a few times before the day was done. Things were certainly looking up compared to the last year.

"So, He-chan, where do I get to sit for the concert?" I grinned innocently.

He flashed a mock glare toward me. "No where if you keep calling me that again."

"Ok, He-ko."

To that he attempted to glare but it didn't work too well, mostly because I caught him in a short kiss before he could finish and he just finally gave up with a silent sigh. "You'll have to wait and see."

"Tease." I murmured.

And he actually smirked at that but left it unexplained. Could it be? Could my Heero actually have a mischievous streak that he was going to put to use tonight? Naw. Well, I hoped I was right because Heero wasn't the type to be mischievous, usually, so this was definitely a side of him I'd never seen before.
The taxi took us to the hotel which was hosting the con and I split up from Heero, promising to meet him in the signing room after he was done looking over his equipment for the umpteenth time. As he headed down the hall I went straight toward the signing room and seated myself on the American signing table munching on the free doughnuts the hotel provided while I waited. As I waited, and after I finished the doughnut, I pushed the short amount of hair behind my ear. The area I'd chopped away was barely noticeable thanks to how thick my hair was but I'd managed to cut it up high enough that those few hairs just refused to stay in the braid, even though I'd French braided it.

As a result I had to constantly push those few strands behind my left ear, but that wasn't that big of a deal. In fact it served to remind me of what a huge mistake I'd almost made and how Heero had stopped me. The fact that the rest of my long hair was still intact was proof that he loved me, no matter what I or anyone else thought. Yeah, I know it sounds cheesy and romantic but it's the truth. And sometimes cheesy truths are the sweetest moments of one's life. Anyway I definitely had something to discuss with a particular American seiyuu who will remained unnamed (ALEX MUELLER). It was time for me to learn why he had such a thing against me and my hair and my relationship with Heero.

Thanks to us waking up so early in the morning it was actually a good hour before anyone else arrived in the room. By the time the other voice actors started arriving I'd managed to collect all my rage and store it deep inside. I wasn't about to let that jerk have the pleasure of watching me explode. This was going to be my fight to understand on my side, and there was no way I was going to let him win, not after what his words had almost made me do.

Quatre and Trowa arrived first, this time with Marimeia and a fold up baby-pen for her to play in behind the tables as the day went on. I helped Quatre set it up and she must have noticed me smiling since she said something.

"You seem happier."

I grinned and nodded. "Yep, much better now."

"I take it you and Heero…" Trowa dropped off the sentence, leaving it for me to finish.

"We made up, everything's been solved."

"Great!" Quatre gave me a quick hug and smiled brightly. But she quickly looked away and blushed. "I mean… everything came out good right? You're not moving out?"

I couldn't help but snicker. Instead I leaned forward and pretended to whisper in her ear, though I knew Trowa could hear. "Even better then I expected, in fact we'll probably have to go bed shopping when we get back."

Quatre's eyes widened and then she dropped into pearls of sweet little giggles. Turning to Trowa she grinned. "I told you the Wedding Suite was a good idea for them."

Trowa flashed a small smile of agreement.

The American seiyuu arrived next as a group followed shortly after by Wufei and Milliardo. Alex Mueller immediately glanced at me. I flashed him my best devil-may-care grin and earned a scowl from him. Raising an eyebrow in amusement I walked over.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked in my most innocent voice.

Alex frowned deeply. "I have nothing to say to you, and we should just leave it at that."

The room around me went silent and I knew in an instant that the rest of the people in the room were listening, even though most of them were pretending not to. I didn't care, if they wanted to listen then fine, they could. I didn't care who listened, I just wanted to find out what this guy had against me.

"And why exactly is that?"

Alex shrugged and turned away, trying to walk away from me.

I moved forward and slammed my hand against the wall next to him, blocking his route of escape. His eyes flickered back to me in surprise but he continued to glare and said nothing. "Look," I said in a low voice. "I saw and heard the comments and looks you gave me yesterday and I don't understand why you have such a huge thing against me. All I want to do is understand and get an answer from you." I locked eyes with him and gave a small calm smile. "Is that too much to ask?"

"Leave me alone," he said, grasping my arm and trying to pull it away. I caught his wrist and jerked it off my own.

"I'm looking for a simple answer, that's all I want then I'll leave you alone. Now I asked you nicely, if you want to make more of this then that's fine with me."
"Duo…"

I didn't have to glance behind me to know that Heero had entered the room and was watching us with a confused expression. I didn't care, I need to hear this answer. I kept my eyes locked with Alex's, ignoring everyone else in the room. I was going to get my answer, damnnit!

"Alex," Van spoke softly. "They will be letting people in soon."

Alex nodded once, short and distinct, then locked eyes with me, a determined look on his face. "You're not going to let this go are you?"

"Nope." I answered.

"Even if they come in before you get your answer?"

I nodded once. "Even if they come in. I want an answer."

At that Alex let out a cold laugh. Grabbing my arm again he shoved me backward and glared. "Fine you want an answer? Then here it is. I'm sick of them calling me a faggot because of you."

I blinked in surprise but didn't move. I wasn't going to give him that pleasure, not now and not ever again. I simply remained silent, letting him vent his anger.

"It's because of you and him," pointing at Heero. "It's because of the way you two act that they accuse me of it. Have you seen them? All the time they're asking me about Solo's relationship with Odin, and it's sickening! Very very sickening! I am not a faggot! I never will be!"

I heard Heero give a small grunt of anger and start to walk towards us but I raised a calm hand, telling him not too. He must have listened because he stopped moving toward us. I kept my eyes locked with Alex's angry ones, keeping my face calm and blank. Finally I clapped a hand on his shoulder and gave a nod.

"Thank you."

His eyes widened and he grabbed my hand, shoving it off his shoulder. "Don't mock me," he hissed angrily.

"I'm not mocking you, but I do have one thing to say, and you better listen. You took this job of your own free will, you agreed to get paid to do the voice of a character who already had a fandom in Japan. Now, if you have such a big problem with yaoi and slash and things like that then I suggest you reconsider your career choice, because it isn't something that is confined to just Japan. Yaoi is out there for almost every series and most likely every anime character you've ever voiced has been slashed before. If it bothers you that much then look for another job, but don't you ever take it out on me or any other Japanese voice actor ever again. I knew about this after I got my job and I can live with it. You do what you want, react how you want-"

I stepped forward and got right in his face, almost kiss-able distance to make my point. "But don't you ever blame me or anyone else for the job that you walked into, got it? I have no control over the fans and neither do you. We live with the publicity, good or bad, it comes with the territory. Got that?"

Alex swallowed and nodded slowly, apparently too shocked to speak. We had come to an understanding, and that was all I wanted, and most likely all I could hope for in his case. Backing away, out of his personal bubble, I shrugged and released what was left of my anger with that movement, dropping it all away. Well, that problem was solved. Turning away from Alex I flashed Heero a smile and he answered with a nod of approval.

Without any more words we took our places at the tables, just as the doors opened to the raiding fangirls. The next few hours were spent in a frenzy of signing and posing for pictures and they were the most enjoyable hours of my life. I was grinning the entire time and teasing Heero just like old times. I loved it.

We took a break later, to get a few sandwiches from the staff and guest catering room and I walked over to Alex, standing next to him in line as he got his sandwich. I followed him in silence for a moment and he didn't seem to notice me, opting to ignore me and just sit down at a table to munch silently on his tuna sandwich. Grabbing my sandwich and a bag of chips I walked over to the table and looked down at him.

"Mind if I sit?" I asked in a normal tone. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Quatre glance toward me quickly, raising one of her eyebrows. Alex didn't respond.

I shrugged and sat down, still getting no response.

Shrugging again I bit into my sandwich and we munched in silence for a long time. Finally, as he was halfway through his sandwich, Alex glanced up at me with question in his eyes. "Is there something you want?" He muttered quietly.

"No, not really."

His eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Then why did you sit down, come here to rub it in my face more?"

With a soft sigh I set down my sandwich and laid my hands out on the tale, palms up, in a gesture of peace. "Look, if you're still sore about that let me offer you some advice. Just because the fans thinks that the character Solo is gay doesn't mean they think you are. Granted they might ask for strange things, like asking you to kiss Jay over there for a picture, but that doesn't mean anything. The thing is they perceive the characters how they want to, no matter what we do. We're just the actors who do the voices and that's as far as we go. What they decide to do with those characters beyond the show is their deal and not ours. There is nothing we can do save enjoy the attention. And really it's not as bad as you think." I grinned. "Believe me, I've read some of it."

Alex raised his eyebrows in actual surprise. "You've read the fanfiction out there?"

I laughed and nodded. "Oh yeah, and it really isn't as bad as you think. There's a lot of it that is really good. Try reading some, I mean try reading some honest to god good fanfic, it'll give you a better view of the whole fandom behind it."

Alex nodded slowly and seemed to mull over it for a moment, seemingly not sure what else to say. "Perhaps," he murmured finally and I decided to leave it at that. I'd gotten my answer before but I couldn't just leave him hating me, not if I could help it. Maybe I could get him to halfway understand this whole yaoi thing that surrounded the Gundam fan universe and maybe that would help him understand.

As a result, when we got back to the signing room, I immediately left the room and flagged down Hilde at a small table where she and the rest of her group were selling their doujinshi.

"Hey cuz!" I called out through the crowd. Immediately Hilde jumped up and a line seemed to form in front of the table of people buying the doujinshi for me to sign. All I could do was laugh and sign a few as I made my way toward the table. "I need a favor."

Hilde grinned and looked at me. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, I need a copy of your first doujinshi, the one that takes place right after the OAV and explains how Duo and Heero get together."

Hilde's eyes lit up. "Really? What for? And what do I get for it?"

I laughed and dropped down next to her, leaning forward to whisper into her ear. My idea worked because she immediately moved toward the boxes and started digging through the issues for the first one. She pulled out two copies.

"I've got one in translated English, that work?"

"Perfect."

She handed me the doujinshi and I dropped a few bills in her hand then turned away. Immediately she grabbed her camera and followed me, tossing a hurried "I'll be right back" to Catherine, Dorothy and Sally who just sat at the table in confusion.

Heading back to the signing room I walked behind the tables, free of the lines of fans and cosplayers, and walked over to Alex. Tapping him on the shoulder I handed the doujinshi to him.

"Here, it's on me. I'm not trying to play favorites but I have to say it is one of the best ones out there and it may help to explain a few things. Do what you want with it."

And I left it at that, not even waiting for his answer. Alex would do what he wanted with it and that was all I was going to ask of him. As far as I was concerned that argument was over and was not going to be brought up again, never again. I was much happier now and it didn't really matter to me what he did with the doujinshi or the rest of the fandom, that was his business.

Turning my attention I walked over to Heero and tapped him on the shoulder. He glanced up at me with a blank face.

"Don't get mad, Heero but I promised Hilde a picture."

Heero's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion but he nodded and stood up. We walked over to a clear corner behind the tables and stood next to each other. Heero placed his hand over my shoulders and I did the same to him, interlocking our arms and looking toward the camera. As Hilde raised her camera I winked at her, the signal I'd told her. Then, before she took the picture, I jerked Heero around and wrapped my arms around him, and seized his lips in a kiss. This time it was his turn to be surprised and his eyes went wide as my lips locked with his.

All around us I swear hundreds of cameras suddenly snapped pictures and there was hooting and cheers. I held Heero in the kiss for a good long time, until he finally stopped being surprised and kissed back as the flashes from various cameras continued. Then we finally pulled back and I laughed, glancing back at the others.

Quatre was clapping while Trowa smiled softly, holding a cooing Marimeia. Wufei was coughing nervously to hide his smile behind his hand while Milliardo was grinning ear to ear and giving us a thumbs up. The American seiyuu were watching with amazement and Alex had an eyebrow raised. I watched him for a moment and he nodded, a small smile moving across his face. We'd made peace, and that was all I wanted.

I took a seat next to Heero at the signing table and grinned innocently.

"You…" he muttered with a smile.

"Who me?" I asked innocently.

"Yes, you. You know exactly what I'm talking about so don't you dare try to get out of it."

I grinned. "I wouldn't dare. So, where do I get to sit at the concert tonight?"

Heero shook his head and laughed. "Up near the front, I supposed. You need a good seat for the surprise."

I raised an eyebrow. "Surprise?"

Heero nodded.

"What surprise?"

Heero laughed. "Nice try, you'll just have to wait and see."

I grinned widely and went back to signing photos and posters.

A surprise eh? I couldn't wait!

Chapter 8

Notes:

Originally this part had an Initial D song and was set up like a songfic. Because of AO3 rules I have removed most of they lyrics, but you can always listen to the song on youtube.

Chapter Text

That night I was giddy with excitement, and strange as it is to say I kinda felt like a school girl. It was over an hour before Heero's concert and I was already pacing outside of the door to the main performance room at the hotel. The people who headed the American convention were the one's who requested Heero do a concert at the con, so the stage wasn't the best. I knew it wasn't going to be the same as seeing him in a dark auditorium surrounded by fans all dancing to the music but I wasn't about to complain. I just wanted to see him sing again, and I wanted to know what the surprise was.

Well, the hotel security guards were keeping back the entire crowd from entering the room while the concert was setting up so I snuck around the back, heading for the back door which entered near the stage. Luckily the person standing guard there recognized me as one of the guest voice actors and I was able to come up with some half-assed excuse so he let me in.

The room was all set up with rows of chairs and a stage that looked like it sat in the closet for most of the year. Still with the impressive set of lighting that the hotel had provided, or rented out, and the electronic equipment I wasn't worried about the sound. Apparently though Heero wasn't as optimistic, he was over near the electronic equipment talking heatedly with one of the techies.

"They let you in?"

I glanced up at stage to see Wufei standing there, checking over the instruments. I grinned. "They said I could because I was with you guys."

He smirked. "We're almost ready, the doors'll open soon. The seats for you guys are over there, in the first row." He gestured toward the front row of seats right next to the stage and I felt my grin spread from ear to ear.

"Front row seats? Yes!" I dropped into my seat and grinned, watching Wufei up on the stage. A minute later the rest of our group entered in the back door. Quatre and Trowa sat down next to me while Milliardo walked over to the edge of the stage.

"So do we get a solo?" Milliardo asked in a teasing voice.

Wufei glanced at him and glared. "No, you do not."

Milliardo snickered and took the seat on the other side of me, that annoying smirk crossing his face.

"What's he so down about?" I asked.

"Well, there's this game in the other room, called Dance Dance Revolution (1), and one of his songs is on it."

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Wufei, who was scowling at all of us as we listened to Milliardo.

"Didn't you give them permission to use the song?" Quatre asked him.

Wufei ignored us and stepped back behind the stage.

"Oh he did," Milliardo answered for him. "He just didn't anticipate to find out that yours truly is the master of the eight-step level with the song."

I snickered at the mental image of Milliardo standing at an arcade game and dancing to music as Wufei's voice emitted from the machine, with Wufei scowling behind him. I grinned. Now that was a mental image, a very nice mental image. Heh, about the only thing that would make it better is if it were Heero dancing in that outfit he'd preformed the first concert in.

Speaking of outfits, I glanced around the room to see what Heero and Wufei were wearing this time but they had conveniently disappeared from sight. Dang, oh well, guess I'd have to wait for the concert.

It wasn't much later after that that they began letting the other people at the con in. The chairs filled up quickly and eventually the hotel staff was forced to make people sit and stand in the isles in order to fit everyone in, and still they had a huge crowd in the back complaining how they couldn't see. I, for one, was glad to have a front row seat. I was definitely going to enjoy this concert.

As they finished seating the room became silent and the lights went out. There was movement on the stage and the lights flicked on, dimly, showing Wufei standing on stage and nothing else. The band members were off to the side and pretty much hidden from view, the singers were the main part of this show.
That much was clear just from the way Wufei was dressed.

He wore his hair down, hanging loosely across his shoulders. A fishnet shirt hung open and didn't even attempt to cover his chest; instead it just served to completely show it off. Tight black leather pants hugged his legs and ass, leading down into almost knee-high boots which had a modern style of buckles on them. Beside me I swear I could just hear Milliardo drooling at the sight of Wufei as the music started.

4…
Red lights flickered one.
3…
Blue lights.
2…
Pink lights.
1…

All the lights flashed and suddenly Heero was on the stage behind Wufei. He'd abandoned his skin tight leather outfit from the last concert for a pair of pitch-black jeans that hugged his body like a second skin. The front button was left undone to tease the entire audience and knee high black boots covered his feet. A black leather midriff top hugged his chest and his hair was messy as ever. He looked like a sex god. And suddenly I didn't want to just sit there and listen to the concert.

The music picked up beat and the two moved across the stage, moving their hips and dancing together to show each other off and almost try to compete against each other in dancing style.

The crowd erupted into cheers.

The pair split up and moved to separate sides of the stage, but still they danced as if they were battling each other, and that just made the show even better.

As the music moved off on its own Heero jumped down from the stage and began to dance in front of us, moving around seductively in front of the groups of screaming and cheering convention attendees.

As he moved I noticed something tied around his wrist. It was brown and braided… it was the small chuck of hair I'd cut from my hair!

He'd braided it together and made it into a bracelet to wear!

Stopping in front of the stage both sang together as Wufei stood up right behind Heero, moving their bodies in perfect rhythm as if they were one being.

The music became lower and Heero met my eyes, dancing and moving his fingers toward me. Slowly, as he worked his way backward up the stairs to the stage, he beckoned me with his fingers to join him. He wanted me to come up on stage?

I grinned widely and stood up from my seat, dancing up to the stage with him. The crowd around us gave a roar of cheers as Heero reached out his hand and helped me up onto the stage.

The music picked back up and now all three of us were dancing up on the stage as Heero and Wufei sang.

As Heero finished the last line he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me toward him, seizing my mouth in a deep kiss. The music ended and the entire place erupted into cheers and hollers. If there was anyone who had been attempting to sleep in the hotel they certainly had given up by now. I completely forgot about the entire crowd and wrapped my arms around Heero's waist, kissing him back with full force. The lights around us died for a moment then snapped back on, but we still remained kissing.

I heard Quatre giggling from the front row and we finally pulled apart, my cheeks growing slightly red as I released that I'd just kissed Heero like that on stage! The band came up behind us and we all bowed to the crowd. I glanced around at the cheering group and found the American Gundam Wing seiyuu standing in the back. Alex was back there, and he was actually grinning and cheering along with the rest of the crowd.

Then a cheer began to circle around the room, growing louder with each yell.

KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!

I laughed and glanced to Heero, who quickly shoved his microphone into Wufei's hands. Wrapping his arms around me once more we obeyed the crowd and kissed as we'd never kissed before. Standing up on stage our lips meshed together and our tongues battled until we were both out of breath. Around us the lights died but the crowd kept cheering. Heero finally pulled away and we both gasped for air. The room was dark but I could see the smile on his face as he led me off the stage and warned me of each of the steps. We exited out the back door into a small room that had been warped into a sort of dressing room. He shut the door.

I dropped down onto the couch and heaved a sigh of exhaustion as Heero headed over toward the small fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. He turned and tossed me one.

"Great concert, He-chan," I said with a grin.

Heero kept his face straight as he shut the fridge and sat down on the couch next to me. Placing his water bottle down on the floor he moved so he was leaning over me where I lay on the couch. I paused and set my water bottle down. Reaching forward I touched the bracelet on his wrist, discovering that it was indeed the hair I'd chopped off, just as I'd thought.

"You kept it?" I asked quietly.

Heero nodded. His hand came down and caressed the side of my face softly and he leaned forward, kissing me for the third time that night. Though this kiss was completely different from all the others. The other two were heated kisses of passion that made me want to rip his clothes off and take him right there on the stage, while this kiss was soft and sweet. It was like he was tasting a rare fruit that was to be cherished, a kiss full of love and everything words failed to communicate in a relationship.

Pulling away his eyes locked with mine. "Duo, will you stay with me? Forever?"

My breath caught in my throat and for a moment I couldn't respond. He was asking me to stay with him! He was basically asking me to marry him, to stay with him forever. I was so happy I felt like I was going to explode. I immediately wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close to me, causing him to lose his balance slightly and just lay on top of me on the couch. I hugged him tightly and kissed him lightly on the neck.

"Of course!"

Heero smiled into my neck and we kissed once more.

In fact we kissed until the others came and knocked on the door telling us they were heading back for the hotel. Before they left -and we never opened the door for them- Milliardo knocked on the door and reminded us we had a bed back at the hotel that still hadn't been used.

Had the door been open he would have been bombed with flying pillows.

But since the door was closed we decided he had a good point. Still it took us a good hour to stop touching and kissing each other long enough to compose ourselves and get a taxi back to the hotel. And I was beaming all the way.

Marriages between same sex partners weren't acknowledged by law and wouldn't be for a long time but I didn't care. Heero had basically asked me to marry him and I'd said yes. And we'd decided to stay together for the rest of our lives.

Who wouldn't be happy?

Chapter Text

The phone rang loudly next to the bed and I groaned loudly to match. Man I was really really beginning to hate that phone! Rolling over in bed I tried to reach for the phone to shut it up, but another hand caught it first. Blinking I rubbed my eyes and realized who the hand belonged to, it was Heero. He glanced at me for a moment then picked up the phone and dropped it back down, effectively hanging up on whoever was disturbing us.

I smirked at him. "That wasn't nice," I mock chided him.

"Who ever said I was nice?" He purred softly and in a challenging voice. Rolling over in the covers he pushed me against the feather-soft mattress, giving me the best morning kiss I'd ever tasted. I couldn't help but smile as his lips moved against mine and his tongue slipped into my mouth, exploring until we both ran out of breath.

The events of the night came back to me in full blast and I laid there, happily kissing him back with equal passion as I remembered. We'd taken a taxi home from the hotel and went straight up to our room. As for the rest of the night? Lets just say the hot tub and bed got more use from us then they ever had from the entire list of clients down stairs in the check-in book, I'm sure of it. We spent the entire night boinking each other silly until we both collapsed and fell fast asleep. And here I am now, being kissed by the handsomest man in the entire world and I couldn't be happier.

All our problems were solved and I was happy.

"Ne, Hee-chan," I ventured as he pulled away and we lay quietly curled in each other's arms.

"Hn?"

"You realize this means we'll have to go bed shopping when we get home."

Heero smirked. "Very true." He leaned forward to kiss me once more when the phone rang, springing to life. Heero let out an angered growl and tried to hit it off the table, but he failed and tumbled onto the floor, his legs becoming tangled in the blankets and pulling me down with him. I caught the phone on the way down and answered it just after I landed on top of him with a not so graceful thud.

"He-hello?"

Quatre's voice giggled on the other side of the line. "I take it you guys made up?"

"Ha ha ha, very funny Quatre. Don't you know better then to call newlyweds this early in the morning?"
Her gasp echoed over the line and I heard some crackling, did she drop the phone? Her voice came back on the line. "Newlyweds?" she breathed happily.

"Yep, me an' Heero." I grinned as Heero wiggled out from under where we'd landed and headed for the bathroom to take a morning shower. The sound of water turning on soon followed.

"Is that a shower I hear?"

"Quatre!"

Quatre giggled. "Rule number one of being a newlywed Duo, never let him shower alone."

I raised an eyebrow even though I knew he couldn't see it. "Seriously?"

"Yep. And you guys better hurry up, the plane leaves in a few hours."

I didn't even bother to answer. Instead I hung up the phone and raced to the bathroom, knowing Quatre would forgive me for hanging up on her later. After all, she'd just gotten married a little under a year ago, so she knew exactly how I felt. Or at least pretty close.

**

The time between the phone call and boarding the plane didn't seem long enough. The entire thing was a blur of actions as the American voice cast met us at the airport to see us off. After a good twenty minutes of hugs, friendly talk, pats on the back and hand shakes they announced the plane was now boarding. Saying our good-byes we headed for the plane and took our seats.

Once again I found myself next to Heero and Wufei, though this time Heero snagged the window seat before me. Quatre, Trowa and Marimeia sat in the row in front of us while Hilde and her friends sat behind us with Milliardo and Relena. We settled into our seats and Quatre walked back to Hilde, handing her the large pile of doujinshi.

"Thanks so much, but I think I'll be ok this time."

Hilde smiled. "Keep 'em. We've go so many, besides you can get those ones signed right now." She glanced over at me and I stuck my tongue out at her for good measure, even though we both knew it was a joke. Quatre smiled happily in response and took her seat as the plane began moving for the runway.
"Flashback! Don't stop!" Blared Wufei's voice from behind me. Immediately we all twisted in our seats to face Milliardo who was fiddling with his headphones. He immediately pressed stop on the player and flashed an embarrassed smile.

"Oops, guess I forgot to plug in the headphones."

Wufei whirled back around to sit angrily in his seat, his arms crossed and his face set. I could hear him mutter something that included 'idiot' but other than that it was too quiet to hear. From behind him Milliardo merely chuckled and placed the headphones in his ears, blaring whatever music he had on there. My bet was it was all Wufei singing.

I glanced over at Heero who was looking out the window. His bright cobalt blue eyes matched the deep blue of the sky as the plane began to take off and I couldn't help but smile. Leaning over I placed my head on his shoulder. He turned and looked at me in surprise, but it quickly wore off, because he reached over and clasped my hands in his.

"You happy?" he asked quietly.

"Yep, never been happier."

"Good."

"So… what do you think Heero, you think Wufei and Milliardo make a good couple?"

Wufei shot me a glare. "Maxwell…"

At that Heero turned a broad grin at both of us. "Most definitely."

"You hear that, Wu-chan?" Milliardo leaned forward in his seat and reached between our seats to clasp Wufei on the shoulder. Immediately Wufei shrugged off his hand and grumbled a few insults. Milliardo merely dropped back into his shelf with a chuckle.

"Yep," I agreed. "Next time we get them the honeymoon suite."

Wufei sighed melodramatically. "That's it, I give up." Unsnapping his seatbelt he stood up and walked over toward Milliardo's seat. Before anyone could say anything he leaned down and gave Milliardo a kiss that rivaled the one Heero and I had shared on the stage the other night. But this time no one cheered, we just all sat there watching in amazement.

Wufei pulled away and raised an eyebrow at Milliardo, a smirk growing on his face.

"Woah," was all Milliardo could say, his face one of complete surprise.

"Way to go Wufei!" I cried out happily.

And Wufei returned to his seat, picking up his book and going back to reading. Still, that smirk is on his face. I lean my head back on Heero's shoulder and smile. Yep, I am definitely happy and it seems everyone else is too. I close my eyes and just lay there, happy to fall asleep so close to the one I love.

The end.