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"Drabbles"Written By: Clara Barton Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following
is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said,
these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask
before reprinting. Rating: R A/N: For Chemical Crush, who wanted something
fluffy with 1x2 or 1x2x3 Warnings: language Pairings: 1x2, 1x2x3
This wasn't how things should have turned out. It wasn't how things were supposed to be. Child soldiers didn't get happily ever afters. They didn't get parades and medals and the chance to start over. They got sham trials and long prison sentences, and they got shipped off to Mars to rot while the new world they had paid for with their blood and innocence thrived and forgot about them. That's how things were supposed to be. How they should have turned out. But they didn't. Remarkably. Inexplicably, there were no trials. No sentences. No hard labor on Mars. Inexplicable, until you realized that Quatre Winner was the sole heir to the largest fortune in the Earthsphere, and that no one would forget Terran authorities shipping his perfect blond ass off to Mars. So, here we were, getting our medals. Getting our parade. Getting scholarships for college. Getting stipends. Walking free. It felt like cheating, and for Duo, he spent the next four years looking over his shoulder constantly, expecting to see ESUN officers headed his way any second to bring his ass in. But it never happened. He went to college. He grew up. He met a guy and fell in love, got his heart broken. Met another guy - and after him, a girl. And by the time Duo saw the others again, at Quatre and Relena's wedding seven years after the war, he had a PhD in mechanical engineering and a job lined up in the L5 sector and a haircut. It wasn't much - wasn't as dramatic as Wufei shaving his, but you'd never guess that by the way they looked at him - Quatre's eyes wide and Wufei's narrowed. They acted like he had hacked off a limb instead of trimming a foot off his braid. His hair was still long, still had to be tied back in a ponytail or a braid, but it didn't weigh him down. He'd learned to let go, to move on, and while he wanted the reminder of his past, he didn't need to hold it with both hands anymore. He was more interested in the future. It was Trowa who said it looked good, said it suited Duo. But it was Heero who went home with Duo. Heero who, after fumbling with Duo's vest until Duo was laughing and Heero joined in, stayed the night and told Duo what he had been doing for the last seven years. Heero who showed up, unannounced and completely unexpected a week later to help Duo pack up his small apartment in New York City because Duo mentioned something offhand that night. Heero who, six months later, told Duo that visiting him every two or three weeks wasn't enough, and that he wanted to move to L5, wanted to move in - if Duo wanted him. It was another two years before Duo finally gave in and they agreed to go to Quatre's birthday. Before they saw Trowa again. He'd grown a goatee, and Duo had had to do a double-take and then had felt silly, had felt like an idiot for thinking how handsome it made him. Wufei had married, last year, in a quiet, private ceremony, and his husband was an academic, their age, and so he hadn't fought in the war. After a while, Duo, Heero and Trowa realized that the other two couples had more in common - expecting their first children, politics - and had escaped to a terraced garden that said more about Quatre's wealth than the dozens of servants in his mansion. They sat on the grass, and Duo leaned against Heero's shoulder while his fingers just barely touched Trowa's. Trowa was lonely, had dated a few men, but - they didn't understand. Didn't wake up in the middle of the night fighting off demons. He looked over at Duo, at Heero. Duo nodded, whispered that some nights it was still bad, some nights he had to sleep in the tub with the lights on because the mattress was too soft. It was Duo who invited Trowa to come visit, sometime soon. But it was Heero who invited Trowa into their bed, who kissed away Trowa's objections and promised that he was wanted. Was needed. They weren't supposed to get a happily ever after, but they did.
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