19-Sep-2005
Title: Sanctuary
Author: Natea
Rating: PG
Pairing: Heero/Duo 2+1
Category: Fluff
They walked down the street every day on their way to the local University, past the older style brick shop fronts and the more radical steel and concrete buildings that had sprung up seemingly overnight.
That part of the city was under major renovation and the seedling of a foundation could be planted and nurtured to completion within a few months time.
Which didn't really explain, Duo thought, why it was that one specific building, or rather building ruin, was never touched. It wasn't roped off from the public in any way and a lot of the structure seemed very dicey.
It was a blight on the landscape and he voiced his opinion in no unsure terms.
Heero's response was usually to shrug before finishing off his drink and throwing the plastic bottle into a nearby litter bin.
"It's not owned by anyone influential," Duo argued, "No one famous lived or died there as far as I know." He glanced back at the building in question, now a block away. "Hell, the thing doesn't even have a roof anymore. Why keep it?"
"People don't always do things for an obvious reason, Duo."
Duo bit his lip and shouldered his bookbag a little more securely. It was a minor, inconsequential irritation really. He was never really sure why the sight of it got to him so much. It was a piece of the past, a worthless ruin destroyed by the war and holding the renovation of the city back.
He hesitated to say that he saw a bit of himself in that wreck, a bit of all of them, but there was definitely some kinship there.
They crossed the road and turned the corner and the matter was forgotten.
They passed from first year to second at the end of September and suddenly the work load increased dramatically. No more half-assed essays were accepted and Duo found himself having to buckle down and actually learn something.
He sold his old books and bought new ones for the courses he was taking, invested in a new coat as the weather was usually rainy, and generally lost himself in the flow of student life. The student accomodation was only for first years so he had plumbed his resources with Heero and found a small apartment to rent close by.
They still walked to the university and still passed by the old ruin of a building. And occasionally Duo still voiced his opinion of the wreckage in no uncertain terms.
It was a cold, rainy day in the middle of November that Heero decided he had had enough and had dragged Duo around to the rear of the shop with a firm grip of his coat sleeve.
And there, in plain sight, was the reason for the structure's existence.
The entire back of the building was rubble, the rear wall at its highest only came up to their knees and the bricks were worn and crumbling.
Duo stood for a while, just looking. He barely registered the touch of Heero's hand as it turned from a grip to something more comforting.
"You don't have to tear away everything, Duo." Heero's words were quiet and soothing. "Progress is good but sometimes if you let things happen naturally you can end up with something far superior to anything you try and force."
Duo turned to face Heero but remained silent. Now was Heero's turn to talk not his.
Reaching up Heero brushed a wet piece of hair from Duo's forehead and smiled a little. "It's all there, buried, waiting. It just needs a chance to grow by itself."
"No paving over it."
"Just let it happen." Heero agreed.
Their first kiss was in the middle of a forest in the middle of a ruin in the middle of a city. There were many more to follow.
The End
(:./natea/sanctuary)
