27-May-2001
Category: Sap-a-zilla, mild angst, shounen-ai
Rating: PG
Pairings: 1+3, 2+5 kind of
Warnings: Sap, sap and more sap
Feedback: C&C
Notes: Think of this as an epilogue to the whole Deuce /// Hunter /// Too Late? trilogy of stories.
'--denotes thoughts--'
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters belongs to Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and are only being used for non profit entertainment purposes.
There was a knock on the door. Heero glared over at Trowa who was walking to the kitchen.
"It's your turn," he called out.
"Why?" Heero grumbled.
"Because baka, this is a party and you are one of the hosts. You have to answer the door, besides you're the closest to the door at the moment."
'It had come to this,' Heero thought gloomly as he walked to the door of their new house. 'We're now party people.' He wasn't really unhappy because he knew it had to be done. This was a party of dual meaning. Outwardly it was a housewarming party to celebrate the new house he and Trowa bought together because the apartment had almost as many bad memories as good. Inwardly this party was to celebrate surviving what he and Trowa have both dubbed 'the year and a half from hell.' The year they had separated followed by the six months it took to repair the damage to their relationship. Still Trowa and Heero had never thrown a party in their lives so it made for an interesting mission.
Heero swung the door open with probably more force than he intended startling the partygoers on the other side of the door.
"Am I too early?" Quatre asked hesitantly, before fixing Heero with a glare that matched his. His date for the evening was Catherine, who was also glaring at Heero.
Heero stared at his watch. "You're right on time Winner, come in," Heero said. 'Figures Quatre and Catherine would be the first ones here. Nothing like having the two least happy folks about our union being here together first.'
"Trowa?" Catherine called out heading for where she hoped was the kitchen. "Is the kitchen that way, Heero?" she asked as she pointed vaguely in front of her.
"Yes."
"Good!" She said not looking back.
Quatre glared at him. Heero knew on some level, Quatre was still angry that Heero got together with Trowa again. Quatre just hoped Heero wouldn't hurt Trowa again.
"It won't happen again, Quatre. I love him," Heero sighed, watching Quatre's gaze soften some.
"It had better not, or I'll ..."
"Kick my ass? You'd have to get in line and trust me the line is rather long."
The doorbell rang this time around. Heero headed for the door.
Duo and Wufei stood waiting to be let in. Heero smiled at them and let them inside.
"Heero, this is a nice place you've got here," Duo said, looking at everything in his line of view as he walked in. Noticing the neat order everything was in, he looked over at Wufei. "See, Wu, told you! It's a Holiday Inn even now!"
Heero glared affectionately at his former lover. "Keep Quatre company will you? I'll go see if Catherine has Trowa bound to a chair taking a lie detector test."
As Heero approached the kitchen, he overheard some of the conversation.
"Are you really sure about this Trowa? I mean in the past ..." Catherine asked worried.
"The past is the past. We both made mistakes. It's taken what feels like forever, but we've managed to work things out. Trust me," Trowa said gently.
The doorbell rang again and Heero could hear Duo yelling that he would answer it.
Heero pushed on the kitchen door. "How is everything in here?" he asked.
Catherine sighed. "It's fine, Heero. I guess more people have arrived?"
"Yes, come out and say hi, both of you."
Catherine walked past him, as Trowa moved past him, Heero pulled the taller man to him.
"Is everything okay?" Heero asked.
Trowa smiled. "Fine. You know Catherine. She's a worry wort."
"Quatre was giving me the evil eye earlier," Heero sighed before kissing Trowa. "Why is it the only ones who think we're alright is us? Oh, and Duo."
Trowa laughed. "Duo is forever the optimist about lots of things. But for the rest it's just a matter of adjusting. Things were pretty bad there for a while."
Heero hugged Trowa tightly. "I know and I'm..."
"Don't say it. Just remember the No Baka rule and all will be fine," Trowa whispered in Heero's ear.
The 'no baka' rule was both simple and complex. The rule was Heero could no longer claim lack of knowledge of the human condition for anything he might do that would stupidly hurt people unintentionally. If he wasn't sure about something, he need only to ask Trowa or anyone else. Initally when Trowa proposed the rule, Heero was furious. He didn't think he had ever been foolish about 'the human condition' as Trowa phrased it. However, as Trowa went down the list of times he had hurt others by his actions, he began to realize one had to follow their emotions within reason. However to make it seem less one-sided, Trowa added the proviso that he promised to tell Heero when he was bothered by something rather than keep it internalized. This agreement started out shakily but over time, it helped them to grow stronger as a couple.
Heero shivered at the feel of Trowa's breath against his ear. He pulled Trowa closer for a longer, deeper kiss. The world seemed to melt away for both men, all sounds and distractions were gone. All that mattered was the touch of each other's lips, the tangled battle of tongues and the press of flesh against flesh.
Wufei turned a corner and called out loudly with mild disgust,"They're at it again! Someone get a hose!"
Both men pulled from the kiss reluctantly to glare over at Wufei. Wufei was not to be cowed however.
"This is suppose to be a party! Not an orgy!" The Chinese man huffed before leaving them.
"Orgy?" Heero said.
Trowa laughed, "Maybe next year's party, ne?"
As they both headed back to the living room, the place had filled up significantly. Duo had decided to play disc jockey with cds he had brought from home, much to the collective groans of everyone in the room.
"Okay, okay! I'll play something that shouldn't offend most of you," Duo called back as he put a cd on that wasn't a screeching metal band. Trowa went off to mingle as Duo made his way over to Heero.
"So you're not going to screw this up for anyone this time, right?" Duo smiled.
"No, I won't screw it up," Heero said as he looked over to see Trowa talking to Ralph. Ralph had stayed a part of their lives even though Heero wasn't very happy about that fact. However he had to accept that the other man was a part of Trowa's life before they had met and try as he might, he had a tough time hating the guy. He hadn't stolen Trowa from him because they were apart at the time, but the two men shared a long history that often would have Heero wondering if coming back into Trowa's life was a good thing at all. That was when the 'no baka' rule first came into existence in fact. They had many long talks on the subject of Ralph, especially when Ralph started to come by to check on Trowa regularly. It took many long talks between them to prevent his jealousy from rearing up and hurting Trowa or himself again.
Jealousy was a strange thing for Heero. He never thought of himself as a jealous person, yet it was that monster that hurt everyone. It hurt Duo because he had wanted to recapture what was the past without thinking at all about Trowa who was his present and now future. As he looked over to where Duo and Wufei were playfully flirting with each other (they still hadn't acknowledged they cared more for each other than they were letting on), he only felt happy for them. Watching Trowa and Ralph talking made him feel he had to be vigilant not to mess things up because he knew all too well that Ralph still waited in the wings hoping Trowa would come back to him.
Relena pulled Heero to the center of the living room to dance. He let himself be lead as he always was when it came to Relena. He saw Trowa smirking. Trowa knew how much Heero enjoyed having to play 'push me, pull me' with Relena. The woman didn't understand the concept of 'no'.
Trowa finally cut in to dance with Heero. Heero smiled gratefully to his lover. "Arigato, koi."
Trowa chuckled, "You had your 'omae o korosu' face on, I couldn't resist."
In Trowa's arms, everything felt calm and safe. Heero stared up into those emerald eyes that bewitched him long ago. "Trowa, ai shiteru," Heero said. He didn't know why he was feeling a sudden sting behind his eyes. It was not like he hadn't said he loved Trowa before. Well sort of. He would say it without looking at him, because he wasn't sure that he wanted to see Trowa's true reaction.
Trowa stopped dancing. Staring back into dark Prussian blue eyes that were searching his for an answer, he smiled, ignoring the lone tear that escaped from his own eyes to say, "Ai shiteru, Heero. Zutto."
The magic of the moment was broken as an over-exuberant Duo tried to dip Wufei too close to a lamp that crashed to the floor. Trowa and Heero glanced over at the two men.
Duo flashed a smile as he said, "Well, now it's officially a party ne? A party is not a party unless something gets broken or the cops show up. If both things occur then your party is a raging success!"
Heero looked over at Trowa. "I guess that means we won't be throwing any more parties anytime soon."
Trowa smiled and nodded in agreement. "I guess not."
OWARI
(:./babaca/housewarm)
