The Great Yuy (2/?)

[J Alberghini]

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing does not belong to me. Nor does The Great Gatsby, which belongs to F.Scott Fitzgerald, a far better author than I could ever be, which is why I'm incorporating some of his symbols and ideas into my story, as a tribute to him. See if you can find them.

Created for a challenge issued by Caliborn an awfully long time ago. Hopefully the next chapter shall be faster in coming.

The Great Yuy- Chapter Two

"I certainly am awfully glad to see you again."
-Daisy, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

4 June AC 202
1400 hours

"Yo, Heero! Heads up!" Heero looked up just in time as a braided youth hurled a blue duffle bag at his head. He caught it easily.

"Let's go." He beckoned for his companion to follow him as he lead the way out of the maze that was the L4 colony cluster's national spaceport.

Duo tagged along panting. "That's all?" he asked, a puzzled look on his face. "No suitcases or anything?"

"Nope, that's all," Heero replied. He slipped it over one shoulder as if it were filled with Styrofoam. "I pack light," he explained.

Duo chuckled, even though Heero didn?t think what he had said was very funny. "Now that's an understatement. Well, you're a man, there's no doubt about that," he laughed. "But even I need at least one suitcase. You sure you have enough clothes for a week?"

Heero looked over his shoulder, assessing its size. "No, not really, but I can wash them there," he decided. And that was the end of that.
If Heero had had his way, Duo, nor anyone else for that matter, wouldn't be picking him up. He could find his way to Quatre's house easily enough; it was only the biggest mansion on the colony, and judging from the last time he'd been there, had so many lights that it stuck out like a neon sign the size of a Goodyear blimp. By now it was probably a national landmark, what with all the attention Quatre and his family had been getting for the past five years. But he had insisted, probably to make sure his guest wouldn't bolt the moment he got off the plane.

But he could have at least picked Trowa to do it, Heero thought. If he didn't know better, he'd think this was some sort of punishment. He would've preferred the clown's company so much more. He at least knew when to keep quite. Duo, on the other hand, didn't stop gabbing throughout the entire twenty-minute drive to the Winner Estate. For a brief moment, Heero considered shutting his mouth permanently; but, despite his suicidal behavior in the past, he felt it wouldn't be a good idea since Duo was operating the vehicle. As he'd learned only five minutes before, Hilde was expecting their first child (at the ripe old age of 21). For her, and the poor soul that was Duo's spawn, he would leave the man in peace.

Instead of killing him, Heero decided that the safest course of action was to drown him out by examining the car's interior. Already, he felt out of place, and he wasn't even there yet. The car was a bright yellow Rolls Royce, which gave new meaning to the word "lemon". The seats were made of leather, vinyl, and Heero wouldn't be surprised if the thing were made of gold, instead of steel. It looked too expense for him to even look at, let alone drive in. Duo didn't look like he fit in it anymore than he did.

"Is this car yours?" he asked, interrupting Duo's rambling. The braided idiot (according to Heero, anyway) burst out laughing, making the car swerve and nearly hitting an old lady crossing the street. She shook her cane at them in anger when they passed. Duo waved to her cheerfully.

"Are you kidding me?" he gasped. "I couldn't afford this thing. I can barely afford the payments for all the doctor's bills Hilde's been racking up, let alone the new mini-van we want to get. We have insurance, but still, it's a killer." He was still laughing, but Heero saw something more behind it this time. Duo would always be a goofball, no question about that, but still, he was a grown man with a family and responsibilities. For all Heero thought himself less flighty and immature than Duo, he wasn't the one that had two other lives depending on him, two other lives that he wanted depending on him and was willing to take care of. Heero felt like a baby, compared to that.

"I'm sorry," he said gruffly, startling Duo out of his laughter.

"What the hell?" he slammed his foot on the break as the light turn red, making the car lurch forward. He cursed under his breath. "Did you just say what I thought you said?"

"I said, I'm sorry," Heero repeated seriously.

Is that emotion I detect? Duo thought to himself. He looked awfully choked up, for him anyway. The situation was bizarre, and Duo almost started laughing again, but he had a feeling Heero wouldn't appreciate that. "For what?" he squeaked.

"For all the bad things I've ever said about you during the past few years," he replied. "To your face and behind your back," he added awkwardly, but the other man didn't seem to hear, or at least didn't respond, stunned as he was in almost a complete silence (and for Duo Maxwell, that was a rarity indeed).

"It's Quatre's," he said finally, remembering his earlier question. His mouth felt dry and it seemed weird to talk all of a sudden.

"Ah" was all that Heero said and they drove the rest of the way without another word from either of them.



* * * * * *
4 June, AC 202
1430 hours
Counter: 00:00


"Heero!" The stoic pilot was glomped the moment he got in the door by a petite brunette with a swollen stomach, the mark of six months of pregnancy. Unlike her husband, she was not at all subdued. Though they only met a couple of times (and years ago at that) he was observant enough to notice changes her. She'd let her short dark hair grow to her chin and seemed older, more feminine. But Heero immediately recognized her as Hilde, Duo's wife and more importantly, a good friend of Relena's since Libra.

"Um, hi?" he said, quite taken aback by the warm affection he'd received from her. But, as Duo had said during the ride, pregnancy did weird things to women, so he let it go as a hormonal imbalance that heightened the impulsiveness she'd sported in her youth. She'd as easily hug a Tom Buchanan as a Heero Yuy, and neither type was quite snugly. It was no reflection on him, he was sure. In fact, he'd always had a feeling that Hilde should resent him, considering the company she kept.

"He's here!" she called over her shoulder. One by one, "friends" that he didn't even realize he had drifted into the hall, led by Quatre, who was flanked by the four more well known Maguanacs (the only ones whose names he could remember anyway): Rashid, Abdul, Auda and Ahmed. Following them were a group of blond girls whom he assumed were Quatre's sisters. Then came Trowa Barton (naturally) Catherine Bloom (who, to his surprise, smiled at him kindly), Dorothy Catalonia (He was just surprised to see her, period.) Wufei Chang was also there, still dressed in his Preventer uniform along with his partner (and fianc?e, Duo had told him), Sally Po, Zechs Merquise (another surprise) and Lucrezia Noin, who would've been less surprising if she hadn't been carrying a little baby, and?

"Relena," he breathed. He glanced quickly at Quatre, who looked away from him to start an abrupt conversation with the bewildered Wufei about, for some reason, drugstores. So this was the big secret, huh, Quatre? He thought to himself.

"Heero!" Her clear blue eyes were wide and her mouth agape with confusion. Clearly, Heero was not the only one who hadn't been informed of the guest list. She uttered his name one more time before falling into a stunned silence. He, too, was quiet, but from disappointment, more than surprise, now that the initial shock was over. He'd wished she'd say his name again. It made it seem real, and worth keeping, who he was instead of someone he pretended to be.

Her voice had changed, though not as drastically as his own had had, of course. It wasn't so high as before, not girlish, but lower, huskier even, as if she had a cold. Of course, he'd noticed the change when he first heard it on TV. But hearing it in person, seeing her in person, was quite different. There were a lot of changes he couldn't see on a screen.

She was thinner than he'd remembered, but not sickly so. The baby fat had simply moved to another area. Like Hilde, her curves had developed (Though of course, not as the pregnant woman's head). She looked even more attractive in person, more so than his memories. She'd grown up, in looks of course, but there were other things too. Her expression was more solemn, even though she was smiling; it didn't meet her eyes. It was her political smile, Heero confirmed, and it unnerved him that he was its object. Not that he'd expected her to be ecstatic to see him, of course not. But still.

Over his shoulder, he could see an oval mirror, situated under a larger rectangular portrait of the late Mr. Winner. Heero would assume later that it was far easier than having a portrait painted of each of the 30 Winner children, but still made them feel important. At the moment though, what intrigued him most was his own reflection. It wasn't a full-length mirror; it only showed his neck and above. But he could imagine the rest of what Relena was probably seeing.

He'd grown three inches over the last few years of his adolescence, at 5'6" he wasn't overly tall, but tall enough for one of his Asian heritage. Hardened by a lifetime of training, his muscles were more apparent, but not disgustingly so. His shoulders were broader, his legs longer and his hair was still messier than that of Harry Potter. He looked better than he did the other day, dressed in a clean white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and jeans (although his recently ironed tank and spandex were in his bag). But he still looked, well, like Heero, the wondering soldier living from day to day. There was nothing overtly special about him, in his eyes. So what if he'd been valedictorian in his graduating class? So what if his professors all thought he had a bright future ahead of him? Heero Yuy was Heero Yuy; that was that. I'm still nobody, no matter what my GPA says, he thought. Even if I made a million dollars, I still wouldn't be worthy of her.

That was what Heero was thinking. Relena was looking at him too, but far less critically. She'd rarely thought about him recently, or rather, she just didn't give herself time to. At first, when he left, she'd buried herself in her work, content to let him be for a time. He needed his space. But then things started to slow down and she started to grow up. It was no longer Relena the politician or Relena the peacemaker, but Relena the woman that caught men's eyes, and made them stare at her when she passed. It was frightening, but flattering, and she started paying them more attention too. Heero had been her first crush, yes, and at that time, she thought she'd loved him. But where absence usually makes the heart grow founder, "out of sight, out of mind" worked more for them. And all the other young men pushed him further and further into the back of her mind; and her once beloved teddy bear was pushed further and further into the back of her closet. And yet?

When Quatre called, she jumped at the chance to see her friends, whom she'd kept in contact with since the war. Of course that meant leaving her boyfriend behind for a week, since he had to work. Still, it was all for the best. They liked Jon well enough; he just didn't quite mesh with the group. Her friends were different from the people he was accustomed to. Of course, he was a bit miffed that she was going somewhere with out him, but he agreed, reminding her, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" (She didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise.). So that was how she ended up, not knowing what on earth possessed her, digging "Heero-chan" out of her closet and putting him in her suitcase. And now here he was.

"Heero," she repeated, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

He nearly jumped. It was the closest Heero Yuy ever was to being surprised. Only she could have that effect on him. "Yes?"

Relena giggled, relieving some of the tension that had built up within her. "It's? nice to see you again. How-how are you?" It was a common greeting, but it sounded dumb to her ears. To him, it was? well, something anyway. She cared about his welfare; that was good, wasn't it? It wasn't an "I missed you" or throwing her arms around his neck is crying, but again, he didn't expect that. He never expected much at all, from her, nor from anyone for that matter. It was one of his characteristics that he couldn't seem to shake, even in peacetime.

"I?m- well, I suppose. Physically, anyway," he added. He didn't know why he said that, but it was the truth.

"Only physically?" she said with a little laugh, hoping he was joking. "That's too bad," she corrected herself, in case she had hurt his feelings. She sounded sincere and more than a bit concerned. But then, she was a politician after all, so she could have been pretending.

Heero shrugged and they lapsed back into silence. This time, Quatre came to their rescue.

"Why don't I show you to your room?" he suggested, picking up Heero's bag. "I'll be right back," he told his guests. They looked at him understandingly, though the ones Heero knew fairly well seemed worried.

Heero followed Sandrock's pilot up the stairs, glancing behind him periodically. He was afraid perhaps that if he turned his back, she would disappear. Strange how she used to do the same five years before.

Quatre led him to a room on the third floor in the middle of what seemed an endless hallway. It was excessively large, and he felt a bit like a very tiny needle in a really big haystack. He set Heero's duffle bag at the foot of a large dresser.

"You can put your stuff in there," he offered. Heero shook his head; he was used to living out of a suitcase. He sat on the bed and bounced slightly, testing the mattress for firmness.

"Too soft," he muttered, not used to the luxury of a real bed, instead of a cheap futon on the floor, which may as well have been stuffed with lead.

"Hm," Quatre frowned, not paying any attention to what he was doing. "I'll leave you to get settled then. Someone will call you for dinner." He started out, but paused at the door. "Oh, do yourself a favor," he said, his blue eyes troubled, "and try to be a little? friendlier to Relena while you guys are here."

"Huh?" Heero looked at him bewildered. "Why?" Inside he was saying, Was I not being friendly? You should know that's not how I am. I haven't changed that much. Quatre sighed. "Just try, okay?"
"What for?" He wanted to know, folding his arms across his chest, waiting for a response.

"I? can't tell you. Maybe some other time, but I really should get back downstairs. Before Duo starts telling dirty jokes or something, you know?" He smiled weakly. "You can go anywhere you like. If you need anything?" His voice trailed off as he shut the door, leaving Heero to ponder on what he meant.

[Morrighan]

Ooh... The plot is thickening! I love how Quatre has pulled them all together like this! It should prove to be interesting!

Can't wait to see more!

[Eienvine]

Wow, it's been a long time since BI saw this fic. I really enjoy it; it's very well written, and the plot promises to be interesting. Please update soon!