Warnings: The story is pretty tame right now (though I use a lot of stereotypes, and the character's thoughts might not be the cleanest in theworld). It will eventually contain some very graphic scenes of sex between Duo and Heero. And not very happy, cheery scenes either.
Disclaimer: None of the Gundam Wing characters are mine. They belong to whomever they belong to. I am making no money off of this. I'm unemployed. That should clue you into my financial status. So don't bother trying to sue me.
The package had arrived yesterday. Wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with string, the package had had no return address. It was a large awkward bundle. Kind of soft. After some poking and prodding, Duo had given the package a good shake. No rattling or ticking.
If anyone ever sent Duo a bomb as a Christmas present, he'd kill himself with curiosity. Literally.
Normally Duo would have fallen upon the package like a starving South Park rat. He'd recognized the handwriting on the label, however. Only one person wrote that perfectly neat in print. Heero.
Which meant that it had to deal with the mission. Upon realizing this Duo had held the package as far as he could from his body. He knew it was childish. He didn't care. The package had been deposited on a box in the corner of the room, and then Duo had gone to wash his hands.
For the rest of yesterday and all of today, Duo had felt the weight of the package. It was there. Sitting. Waiting to spring disaster upon him. If the thing had eyes, Duo would swear it was looking at him.
This is ridiculous. I'm a trained Gundam pilot. I should be able to handle one little package. Despite the bravo in his words, Duo approached the package like it was a rabid animal. He picked it up gently and sat down on the couch.
And then he stared at it.
Come on, Duo. You can do this. Just think of it as you would any package. I mean, it could be worse. Wufei could be here to share in this moment of joy. Duo snickered at the thought. Okay, I'm going to open it now. But if there's any kinky stuff in here, me and Heero are going to have a serious throwdown.
Duo tried to carefully untie the string. He only seemed to make the knots tighter. Finally, Duo dug in his pocket and withdrew his pocketknife. He used the sharp blade to cut the string. Soon only brown paper covered the package.
It should have been much easier to open after that. It wasn't. Heero had gone absolutely nuts with the packing tape. Duo pulled and strained and even tried to use his teeth on the tape. Eventually he broke down and resorted to using his pocketknife again. Even with a razor sharp blade, the packing tape didn't give up until the very end. (1)
Duo wiped sweat off his forehead. The package was still reasonably whole, thought the brown paper was torn in several places. White tissue paper and lavender cloth poked through the tears. Curious now, the braided pilot pulled the brown paper back. Then there was only room for one thought in his head.
My God, Heero went shopping.
Heero had gone shopping and was, in fact, wearing the clothes he had gotten right now. He felt conspicuous. No one had given him a second look since he'd been at the airport. There was reason for him to want to fidget. To make sure his shirt was still tucked in. To check to see if their was anything on his shoe. To make sure his new earring was still there.
A woman walked by talking on her cell phone. She was so absorbed in her conversation that she tripped over Heero's carry-on luggage. The woman shot him an evil look. Heero returned with one of his won. In the silent battle of wills, Heero won sending the woman scurrying off to her destination.
Calm down. You can not afford to draw attention to yourself. Not if the mission is going to get done. Duo will be here before the plane leaves. He will be in costume. He is a trained Gundam pilot.
Heero was not reassured.
"I hope you're not going to be like this the entire mission." Only years of training kept Heero from jumping and pulling his gun. Somehow, in only a moderately crowded airport terminal with Heero looking for him, Duo had managed to come up behind the pilot of Wing without being noticed. It was a startling reminder of why Duo was a Gundam pilot.
"You're late" Heero said without bothering to turn around.
"No, I'm not. The plane doesn't leave till..." Duo paused as he checked the tickets. "...2:35. I have twenty minutes."
"Have you checked your luggage?"
"Only have a carry-on. Assumed you took care of the rest since I got the package."
"Correct. I'll brief you in a few minutes." A pause."Are you clean?"
Loud, exaggerated sniffing sounds came from behind Heero. "I took a shower this morning."
"Duo, can you and your carry-on go through airport security without setting off the metal detectors?"
"Yeah, sure. I sent everything dangerous through the mail." The problem was Heero wasn't sure whether or not to believe the statement. Even though he had made all the arrangement, it was entirely possible that Duo had tracked down where they were staying and shipped something to the address. Or he could just be joking.
"Let's go." Heero picked up his carry-on. It was done in the same floral pattern as the luggage he'd bought for the mission. Duo sighed. When he started walking, the pilot of Shinagami hurried to catch up. He would walk behind the pilot of Wing, but it tended to make Heero nervous.
Heero studied Duo as they walked through the airport. He was wearing the outfit. A lavender silk shirt tucked into gray slacks with dark suspenders. Black loafers took the place of his normal tennis shoes. A neatly tied royal purple tie hung around his neck. The cross was only thing that remained of Duo's normally black wardrobe.
Heero was wearing his disguise as well. A tight ribbed tank top covered by a blue flannel over shirt with the top four buttons undone. Both it and the tank top were neatly tucked into tight black jeans. Dark, non-descript hiking boots and a new earring in one lobe finished the look.
"Nice earring," Duo commented.
"Hn." They walked in silence for a few more feet.
"So how come I have to look like a reject from a Gay Pride meeting and you get to look like a neat-freak lumberjack (2)?" Duo asked under his breath.
Because I'm the seme. For a brief, horrible moment Heero thought he'd spoken his thoughts out loud. Relief came when he realized he hadn't. Still the question deserved a response. "If I thought you would cut your hair, I would have sent you this outfit."
"Are you trying to say I'm not manly enough to pull that look off?" Heero stopped and turned to look openly at Duo. His eyes raked up and down the braided pilot's form. Duo tried not to shift nervously under such an intense gaze.
"Not in that outfit."
Heero continued calmly walking towards the metal detectors. Du stared after him in shock. People started to stop and stare. Finally , Duo managed to shake himself out of it and hurried after Heero.
It was after they had gotten through the metal detectors that the two pilots found out that their plane would be delayed ten minutes. Just long enough for me to debrief Duo. Heero's hormones cheered happily. Not in any sexual way. I am on a mission.
"So exactly who am I supposed to be on this mission? And what do I call you?" Duo's questions brought Heero's attention back to the world around him before a full-blown argument could start in his head. In response, Heero reached into a side pocket on his carry- on. He pulled out a handful of id and papers, and handed them to the braided pilot.
"Your name is Ashley Randolph Jacobs III. You're 17, a rich kid that likes to party. There should be several hundred dollars in tens, twenties, and hundreds in the wallet in the envelope. I left your family history up to you. There's a school id for Southwark Academy. It's a prep school in the state of Maryland in the United States. A driver's license for D.C., a video rental card, two credit cards with a $10,000 limit each. No charges yet. Some random phone numbers, and a couple of pictures of us together."
Duo listened as he went through the wallet, silently counting the money. Eight hundred and seventy dollars. He briefly looked over the id's, wincing at the pictures on them. They were horrible which made them that much more believable. Heero waited for Duo's comments.
"Ashley? That has got to be the gayest sounding name known to man," Duo stated. There was a pause. "What's your name?"
"Julian."
"I stand corrected. I assume there's a passport in here somewhere?"
"In the envelope. My name is Julian Hayashibara, no middle name. I'm a Japanese American. We've been going since you came out at fourteen. I didn't develop a past for me, we'll say I don't like to talk about it. We're less likely to slip up that way. About two weeks ago we eloped and became partners legally. This is our honeymoon, your parents way of giving their approval on the match."
"Wait a minute. Elope? Honeymoon? We're married!?" Duo didn't wait for an answer. He leaned his head back against the wall until it gave a satisfying thunk. "I'm going to Hell." Heero ignored Duo's melodramtics.
"We'll use the plane ride to get use to our roles. Any questions?"
"Just one. Do we have to do this?" Duo asked trying to keep a note of whining out of his voice. He failed. Heero didn't care.
"Yes." A woman's voice came over the loud speakers announcing that first class passengers should begin boarding Flight 1275 to Raleigh. "That's our flight, Ashley. Remember what I said and what we need to do on the plane."
"Yes, Julian. Whatever you say Julian."
Privately, in the back of his thoughts where no one could here him, Duo prayed that the entire world would go to Hell for what it was doing to him.
(1)- Get the feeling the author has encountered this package before? Stupid relatives and their abuse of the packing tape.
(2)- Everybody now. "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay..."
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The (A)typical Gundam Wing Fanfic
By Tsaiko
� 2001, Tsaiko