Gundam Wing and it's characters are copyright Sotsu, Sunrise, and some other people, don't own them and have never claimed to. Please don't sue me, you won't get much....
"Trusting You,"
Part 6
by Shi-chan
Nothing Is Forever
Life with Duo improved considerably when the other pilots stopped thinking of him as the Duo they once knew.
Heero stayed far away from Duo--he wasn't interested in getting to know this doppelganger, and it was definitely worse that everytime Heero caught a sparkle in those familiar, caring violet eyes, he was reminded of the friend he had lost.
/You don't need friends./
For once Heero agreed with his perfect-soldier conscience. The other pilots, though still trying to interact with Duo, were forced to avoid Heero in hopes of salvaging their own sanity.
Duo, on the other hand, was having different thoughts.
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Duo was glad that life at the Winner's was finally settling down. He seemed to have re-learned everything that he needed and was feeling before than ever since the accident, but there was something he was missing. An important part of him that he had to remember, but couldn't.
He thought perhaps it was Heero, the silent pilot who always left when Duo entered the room. Whenever Duo laid eyes on Heero the emptiness he felt inside widened, and suddenly he yearned that he had at least recovered some of his old memories.
Duo tried to approach Heero in any way possible, once this loss became apparant to him. Unfortunately the colbalt-eyed boy apparantly had better things to do or just couldn't stand Duo's company, and Duo had a hard time understanding that. Quatre had told him that before the accident he and Duo had been friends, good friends, even if Heero didn't express his emotions a lot. Quatre hinted at the idea that maybe they had been more than just 'friends,' but Duo didn't want to think about or accept that idea, despite the odd feelings he felt whenever he was around the perfect soldier.
On one of the numerous times Duo had cornered Heero and followed him to the hangar, Duo tried appealing to Heero's former common interest--his Gundam.
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Heero, fastening the restraints on Wing, looked incredulously at Duo. "You want me to teach you how to pilot?"
"Hai desu!" Duo affirmed, putting on a big grin.
Heero doubtfully let go of the straps and extended a hand to Duo to help him into the cockpit. "What brought this on?"
Duo tried to decide whether to tell him the truth or a quick white lie, and finally settled on a half-truth. "This is something I'm going to need to know, and I don't spend much time with you." You avoid me like the plague.
The dubious Heero shifted over and let Duo sit in the pilot's seat before closing the cockpit. "You're sure?"
"Of course!" Almost mechanically Duo did up his restraints and flipped several switches to start the mobile suit up. "What first?"
Heero, cramped into the side of the pilot's chair, stared for a moment before shaking his head as if to clear it. "You've already got it started. Use the joystick to control it."
"I do?" Duo looked confused for a moment before letting out a laugh and grabbing the joystick. "Instinct, I guess."
Duo stared stoically at the moniter before him and used the awkward-feeling joystick to maneuver Wing out of the hangar. //It's too big.//
/What?/
//The joystick. it doesn't feel right.//
/Wing./ Duo snapped himself out of his silent reverie before flying shakily towards a forest.
"Make it go to bird-mode," Heero suggested.
"How?" Duo asked.
Heero pointed at another lever and Duo pulled it gently, causing the Gundam to shake slightly. The controls and the feeling were new to him, but he felt as though piloting this suit helped fill up a little of the emptiness within him.
//Head back to base. Mission accomplished.//
/Mission?/
//...yes, I have started the inklings of a friendship with Heero Yuy.//
/Are you sure you weren't doing something else altogether?/
Duo sighed aloud and turned the Gundam around with the ease and skill of a longtime pilot.
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Heero wasn't sure if he was enjoying being in the confined cockpit with Duo or not. Before the accident he would have been more than happy to sit in Deathscythe or Wing with Duo, just the two of them, and fly all over the colonies. But that had never happened, and never would. Even if Duo had known how Heero felt about him, would Duo have felt the same? Deep in his heart Heero suspected so, but now was far too late for that.
Still...being in close quarters with Duo never ceased to make him happy. He could smell the sweet shampoo in Duo's chestnut braid, feel the tingle every time their arms touched, know that his ai was so close that in a moment of insanity the perfect soldier could lean right over and give Duo Maxwell a peck on the cheek.
So he did.