Author: Merula
Pairings: past 1x2
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Yaoi, AU
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.
Circles Part 1
Duo hissed under his breath as the doorbell sounded. "Can you get that?" He asked the pair of sunglasses sitting on the shelf above his head.
"I don't recall butler being part of my job description, kid," the gruff voice sounded amused.
"I think the job description is 'I'll do anything you want as long as you don't blast my spirit into the ether?'"
"Someone's grumpy today," the glasses lifted up, unfolded and floated towards the door. "If it's the girl scouts, I'm buying a dozen boxes- on your card!"
"Yeah, yeah," Duo muttered, his attention on the small cauldron in front of him. "Like the girl scouts will even come back after what you did last time." Sure, it was helpful to have a ghost around the apartment, but sometimes Howard's sense of humor got Duo into more trouble...
His potion suddenly bubbled up and Duo focused on getting it off the burner without spilling any- he needed every drop- and carefully placed in front of a tiny fan.
"Ghosts aren't supposed to be used for mundane tasks," drawled a familiar voice and Duo repressed the urge to throw the cauldron towards the door.
Turning, he frowned at the dark-haired man in the doorway. "Are you going to arrest me for it, Preventer?"
Heero rolled his eyes and leaned against the door frame. "No, of course not. When you get arrested, it's going to be for something a lot worse than misuse of spirits."
"Duo doesn't drink." A faintly outlined old man in glasses and a horrible Hawaiian shirt cackled as he drifted through Heero and into the lab. "Sorry boy," Howard said. "He just sort of pushed his way in. I did tell him you were busy."
"It's okay, Howard. Heero's not known for his good manners." Duo folded his arms and leaned against his worktable. "Why are you here then? I doubt this is a social call."
"Council summons," Heero produced an envelope from thin air and held it out towards Duo.
"I'm busy."
"You didn't even read it."
"I'm not going to one of their stupid meetings, not after-"
"Duo." Heero stepped into the room and reached out, slapping the envelope down onto the worktable. "It's not a meeting- it's a summons. A summons for you. Delivered by a Preventer. Get a clue."
Duo's eyes widened and he picked up the envelope. "What am I being accused of?"
"You know I can't-"
"Damn it, Heero! It's always the rules with you! And you wonder why I ended things?"
"I never wondered," Heero snapped back. "You made it very clear. I told you that you couldn't avoid the council, that you should stay on their good side, that you had made enemies- but you didn't listen to me."
"So one of my enemies has made accusations-"
"Serious accusations."
"So I'm on trial?"
"No. Not yet. You are being summoned to answer the charges- if you can provide evidence that you are innocent of them, then there will be no trial. If you can't-" Heero shrugged. "Well... you know better than anyone what can happen then."
Grimacing, Duo opened the envelope and read the paper inside. "They want me to go immediately- and they don't say why- can't you tell me-?"
"Duo, you know I can't. If I do- and they find out- then things will be worse. Then they can say that I gave you what you needed to hide your activities. It was hard enough getting them to send me-"
"You asked for this?"
"I figured I had the best chance of getting you to listen to reason. Would you have preferred Chang?"
Duo sighed. "He would've just slapped restraints on me and hauled me in-"
"And you would have been angry and uncooperative- and things would go badly if you were. So, please, come with me now? Peacefully?"
Dropping the paper back onto the table, Duo rubbed a hand across his thigh. "Can I change out of my jeans?"
Heero made a quick gesture and for a moment, Duo felt as if he was caught in a friendly breeze. "There. Now can we go? The longer we take-"
Glancing down, Duo whistled softly. Heero had replaced Duo's jeans with slacks, his t-shirt with a button down. Even the rubber band around the end of his braid looked newer. "How did you do that?"
"If you'd paid better attention in transmogrifications, you'd know how to do it too."
"You're just upset because I did better in summonings."
"That's what got you into this trouble in the first place." Heero sighed as Duo opened his mouth to retort. "Can we stop the bickering and go now? Before they get impatient?"
"Sure, sure," Duo tossed his braid over his shoulder, realizing that Heero had given him a hint. "Keep an eye on things, Howard?"
"Course. Good luck, kid. Knock 'em dead!"
"Better if you don't," Heero muttered and grabbed Duo's elbow. "Let's go."
~*~
Despite his flippant tone, Howard was a little worried. Duo was- unconventional- to say the least- and he tended to annoy people without trying. So when the circle in the lab flared, for half a moment, Howard wondered if the Council had just sent the ashes home for burial.
"I can't believe you dragged me out of there!" Duo stepped out of the circle and glared over his shoulder.
"I can't believe you argued with them. You're damned lucky they didn't just have you executed."
"For what? The charges were completely false! Like I would do something so damn obvious?"
Heero stepped out of the circle and sighed. "And that's the sort of comment that kept getting you into trouble!"
Duo opened his mouth and then closed it again. A minute later, he sighed and said: "Okay, fine, yes. You're right. I might have made things a little worse, but they knew it wasn't me! There was no need to punish me!"
Taking a deep breath, Heero closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "They aren't punishing you, Duo. They are merely making sure that you have a neutral witness around to back you up."
"I don't need someone- especially you!- around here every moment! I'm happy by myself!"
"I know that. However, when you ended your speech with- 'and then you sent this asshole to come and get me'- you played right into Zechs' hands."
"So you admit that they assigned you to me in order to drive me crazy."
"Of course they did."
"There's no way that you are a neutral witness-"
"Duo," Heero opened his eyes and met Duo's gaze. "Think about that sentence again."
With a faint huff, Duo sat down on the stool in front of his worktable. "All right," he said after a moment. "That wasn't fair of me. I know damn well you'll be honest in your reports- and I shouldn't have called you names- but you just showed up and dragged me off-"
"I was doing my job."
"It's always about the job with you."
Heero lifted one of his shoulders in a faint apologetic shrug. "I've told you before- I can't change how I am- even if I wanted to."
"I know. That wasn't fair of me- and this isn't fair to you either. How are we going to do this? We'll be arguing all the time- I won't get anything done-"
"Just pretend I'm not here."
"Right. Like I can miss you standing around all the time."
Heero's lips curved into a smirk. "Easy enough," he said- and vanished.
Duo blinked for a moment. "You can't have left-"
"I'm here. Just- out of sight out of mind, right?"
"Sure," Duo turned to his now cooled potion. "Out of sight, out of mind... just invisibly watching... HEY!" He whirled around and eyed the empty space. "No perverted stuff-"
"Says the man who got in trouble for-"
"Heero!"
"Quit talking to me, Duo. Remember? Forget I'm here. Out of sight, out of mind."
Duo turned back to his potion, biting back the response that even when Heero had been out of his sight, he'd never been far from Duo's thoughts. That would just make things worse.
It would only be for a little while, just enough time to convince the council that he was a good little wizard, and then Heero would really be gone... and he could get back to his real work...
TBC...
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