Heero's POV
The Wedding Planner Part 17
Conversations with Duo
It was probably a good thing I had all night to decide what I thought about Duo's being gay. And I think I spent most of the night staring at the ceiling doing just that. I went over in my head every word...every gesture he'd made...wondering why I hadn't seen it from the start.
Of course, there was the day I noticed how nicely coordinated his clothing was, and fleetingly thought that he either had help dressing or was gay. So why didn't I explore that theory more at the time?
I guess it mostly came down to blind jealousy. He was so smooth and charming to Relena that I just couldn't imagine he wasn't genuinely hitting on her. And his defiant attitude with me was typical macho posturing...the last thing I'd expect from a homosexual guy. I guess that went to show I didn't know as much as I thought I did.
Mostly I was relieved that I didn't have to worry about him making a serious move on Relena. If he liked guys, I was more likely to attract his interest than she was. And I wasn't especially concerned that he'd make a move on me, as I was reasonably sure he could barely stand me.
Having decided that, I didn't intend to give it much more thought. I knew several people who were homosexual, and it didn't change the way I dealt with them. Duo and I had achieved an uneasy peace before I knew his sexual orientation, so it shouldn't affect our interaction from that point on. Right?
Partly for that reason, I didn't see a need to confront Duo about his sexuality. I really didn't plan to. But the next morning when Walter told me Mister Maxwell was waiting on the veranda, I hurried downstairs ahead of Relena anyway, wanting to see him alone for a moment.
He was sitting on the railing of the terrace, tapping one foot restlessly when I arrived. He wore a typically classy outfit, with his slightly wind-blown chestnut braid across one shoulder, and dark sunglasses pushed back atop his head. And when he glanced up at me with that patented Maxwell shit-eating grin, the words just tumbled out.
"Why didn't you tell me you're gay?" So much for not making a big deal about it.
Duo stiffened, looking away. "You didn't ask," he said simply, shrugging one shoulder.
I wanted to roll my eyes at the flippant comment. "Still--" I began.
"An' it's none of your business," he added quickly--sharply. At this point he glanced back at me defiantly. "'S not like I made a pass at you or anything."
"No, you just let me think you were making a pass at Relena," I pointed out, walking over to sit beside him, and resisting the urge to throttle him for having tormented me and enjoyed it.
"You drew your own conclusions, Yuy," he said with merciless logic. "So did she."
"Would it have killed you to just tell me you were gay so I could stop being a jealous idiot?"
"I s'pose not...but it was so much fun to watch you make a fool out of yourself," he smirked. I could see the tension slowly easing from his shoulders. But at the same time, a certain resignation settled into his posture. "How'd you find out?"
"I had my friend Wufei run a background check."
"Not that you couldn't have figured it out easily enough," he muttered. "I mean, shit, Yuy. I'm a wedding planner for fuck's sake. You were the one who said it took a lack of masculinity for that kind of job, weren't you? Not that I agree, but I'd have thought your next conclusion would be that I was gay."
"It crossed my mind once," I admitted. "But not because of the job...it was because of how well you dressed."
He looked up, disbelief written across his face. "Just 'cause I know how to dress, you figured I was gay? Talk about profiling."
"I think it was the designer labels," I quipped, trying for humor.
His brief grin was tinged with irony. "Well, excuse me for having taste, Yuy." The indigo eyes finally met mine again. "So what else did your friend find out?" he asked quietly.
I shrugged. "Everything. At least, everything that's a matter of public record."
Duo looked down at the ground, and laughed quietly, almost as if mocking himself. "I should've known you'd stoop to digging up dirt, if that's what it took to get Relena against me."
"What's Quatre to you?" I asked, not even sure why it mattered.
"My best friend," he sighed without looking up. "I--saved his life once, and he's repaid me a dozen times."
He was referring to the incident in the ambulance. Wufei's discovery had jogged my memory of the news story detailing how a newly-hired EMT saved the heir to the Winner fortune by realizing he was having an allergic reaction and getting epinephrine into him quickly enough. It wasn't brain surgery, and certainly all EMT's are trained to recognize the signs of anaphylactic shock. But Duo had been fresh out of training, momentarily left alone with a patient they assumed was a choking victim. His quick thinking had clearly saved the day, and Quatre's life.
"I'll have Quatre take over your account, if you'd like," Duo spoke up then. "He's gay, too. But at least he's a Winner...and not a screw-up like me. I don't suppose you need your wedding planned by someone who's buried two fiancés and fucked up everything he ever put his hand to." He stood up to leave, keeping his face slightly averted.
"I don't want Quatre to take over," I said hastily.
He looked back in disbelief. "Then what was the point in the background check?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but couldn't. How could I explain that I'd wanted to fire him out of jealousy? It made me sound horribly petty. But I deserved it, since I had been horribly petty.
His eyes narrowed shrewdly. "C'mon, Yuy. You did it for a reason."
"I did it so I could convince Relena to fire you," I admitted. "I was tired of feeling jealous every time I saw you two together. She's very hung up on social standing, and if there was anything disgraceful about your past, she could easily be talked into letting you go."
"So I'll make it easy for you," he shrugged. "I'll go."
"No!"
This time he frowned in confusion. "You just said you dug into my past so you could get rid of me. I'm offering to let you. What's the problem?"
"I-I feel like I haven't been fair to you," I blurted. "I hated you on sight, just because of the way Relena acted towards you." I could feel the scowl creasing my forehead, and rubbed at it as if that would help. "It wasn't even your fault. But I blamed you anyway."
Duo gave a wry smile, shaking his head. "Forget about it, Yuy. I didn't help matters by baiting you."
"It could have been worse," I joked weakly. "You could've been hitting on me instead of her."
His indigo eyes swept me with an appraising look, and the faintest of smiles tugged at his lips. "Well, you are pretty easy on the eyes."
I don't blush. Ever. And yet it seemed I was doing it an awful lot in Duo's presence.
Duo looked squarely at me. "What do you want, Yuy?"
"Huh?" I know I sounded like a moron, trying to figure out what he was asking.
"The wedding plans," he clarified, smirking again. "Do you want Quatre to take over? We share an office, so it would be a smooth transition. An'--well--no hard feelings, I guess."
"No. I want you."
This time when he looked at me, there was a hint of a question in his eyes.
"To plan the wedding," I added belatedly, blushing even harder as I realized how that had sounded.
Duo gave a short laugh, his indigo eyes sparkling with amusement. "You sure, Yuy? I'm a royal pain in the ass. Even Relena's becoming disenchanted with me. The more we argue about the color scheme, the more I can tell I'm not compliant enough to please her."
"You please me," I said flatly, unsure of where that had come from.
"I irritate the living shit out of you," he argued, turning and putting his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels slightly in a familiar, cocky stance.
"Maybe I need to be irritated more often," I suggested. "Wufei's my best friend, and he disagrees with me on a daily basis. Why should you be any different?"
"Because I'm not your best friend," Duo pointed out. "I'm not even your friend. Remember? I'm a hired hand. You sign my paychecks."
"That doesn't mean we can't be friends, does it?" I pleaded. Yes, I pleaded. For no reason I could clearly pinpoint, it was suddenly very important to me that Duo and I become friends.
He looked at me with a completely baffled expression on his face. "Well, no..." he said slowly, shaking his head slightly. "But why?"
"Because..." -you're fascinating, Duo Maxwell...frustrating, challenging, and defiant. And I need to know more about you. I can't let you disappear until I figure out why it is you got under my skin so easily...and why it is you've stayed there.
"Because--?" he prompted.
"Because I need someone who's not afraid to tell me things I don't want to hear."
"Doesn't your buddy Wufei take care of that?"
"Wufei is...tactful...artful," I said carefully. "You're brash and outspoken, and blunt as a rock. Sometimes I need 'blunt'. Sometimes I can be a complete ass. I need a friend who'll tell me when I'm being an ass."
Duo crossed his arms, a perplexed frown creasing his forehead. "I dunno, Yuy. I've never been--friends--with a client. Y'know business and friendship don't mix too well--"
"This from the man who works for his best friend?" I chided.
At that, Duo laughed. He actually threw his head back and laughed, and it was one of the most beautiful sounds I ever heard. I think that was the moment I began to see what Relena found so compelling about him. His amusement was as contagious as his laughter, and I found myself laughing along.
That made him stop, fixing me with a puzzled look and a wide grin. "Heero Yuy, I don't believe I've ever heard you laugh before. It's--wonderful."
He was right. It was.
TBC...
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