Author: Zazu
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Heero POV
Pairings: implied 3+4+3, 5+R
Summary: Heero runs his own security system business and when he gets a new employee, he starts to see life a little differently.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, nor do I own the characters. I have borrowed them here for some fun and creativity, and this is not for profit. I do, however, own the plot mentioned here, and any instances that you may find similar to real life events are purely a coincidence. All of the characters depicted in this story are adults.
Home is Where the Heart is Part 1
I design security systems for a living, mainly for the rich who can afford it. All of my systems were done and patented by yours truly, and each house had a different system even if they have the same basis. When I get a project, I simply go to the home, ask the home owners what they wanted, and do a full walk-through of the place. It takes a couple of days to figure out the level of security they want, along with a proposal that I can present to them, and from there, they order what they want and I install it for them.
Between projects, I tweaked designs, did smaller jobs for shops and such and would periodically check or update my existing clients' home security. I had plans to turn my job into a real company, to train people to do what I did, to patent the security systems I had created, but I was still lacking certain motivation.
I didn't want to be idle; nor did I want to face having to hire people just yet. Or maybe it was because I didn't want to share my trade secrets. But I also knew that I had to get to it soon. While I was contracted with an actual security company that would respond appropriately to any and all threats, the office in which I personally worked was actually my own basement and my study room upstairs where I designed and modified my equipment.
I had heard that Quatre Winner, the CEO of one of the biggest corporations in the country, was about to move into his new home. I'd designed security systems for several of his large business contacts and therefore, I wasn't too surprised to receive a call from him to go check out the estate and offer a proposal. Perhaps the money I earned from a successful set up here would allow me to set up my company.
The place was large and would take a while for me to finish the proposal and eventual set up. I sat with Quatre Winner to discuss what he wanted, what I had, and politely declined letting him know too much detail on what had done for his business associates. It wasn't that I was afraid he would break into their homes; it'd be difficult to do so, but it was a part of the client confidentiality contract I signed. If the homeowners chose to tell others of their security, that was fine. But other people would not hear it from me.
With the chance to wander the home, I began from the top level to work my way down, taking notes on my small hand-held computer as I went. What was outside the Master bedroom windows? What kind of access pathways were there among the rooms?
Some of the rooms were still undergoing renovations and touch ups, but the last thing I expected was to see someone with a braid bent over a box in the basement's entertainment room.
I cleared my throat and the person straightened, turning.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
I shook my head. "I didn't want to startle you when I came in," I said.
"You are...?"
"Heero Yuy. Home security consultant."
He whistled. "I've heard about you." He offered his hand. "Duo Maxwell. I design and wire entertainment systems." He gestured around at the state-of-the-art equipment he had about himself. "Acoustics and all," he added. "I've seen your work in other high-end homes. In fact, I went to an appointment early and tripped a sensor, setting off a central signal that had the butler threatening me as I approached."
I nodded. "Yes, that's my line of work."
"It's cool, what you do," Duo said. "I wish I had the chance to learn and play with those gadgets. Unfortunately, a lack of money forced me to drop out of the nanotechnology program I was enrolled in, and once I got into this job, it was hard to find time to go back to school."
"Nanotechnology program?" I asked. "How far did you get?"
"Third year," Duo sighed. "Maybe one day I'll be able to go back to it. It's been almost four years," he said thoughtfully.
"You studied locally?"
"Yeah."
That had me thinking. I'd graduated from the nanotechnology program of the local college six years ago. Duo could very well have been fresh in the program as I was finishing up. That was interesting; even if he hadn't finished his degree, Duo could potentially be someone I could hire. Or maybe, he would know people who had completed the program or maybe had some experience under their belt. It had been my intention to start hiring graduates from the program, after all.
But first, I should finish this project.
"Duo? Would you still be interested in this line of work? Nanotechnology and home security?"
Duo stared wide-eyed at me. "What? You...you want to hire me?"
"I'm looking to start a company, actually," I confessed to him. "And I need staff, people to train, to learn what I do and what I work with. I'd have to see how good you are, of course..."
"But I didn't even graduate."
Sometimes, education isn't quite everything; this was something I had learned. I had been able to apply my skills from school, but a lot of the work I did was from experience I had gained through experimentation.
"If you are interested in trying...?" I trailed off.
"I am," he quickly said. "But what sorts of tests would I have to pass?"
I had yet to write anything up at all. "I'll leave you my card," I finally said, digging into my pocket. "Send me your resume and contact information and I'll let you know within two weeks when we can meet up again."
"Great," he said, accepting my business card. He studied it as I looked around the room, taking mental notes. "Well, I'm just about done here. I'm short on some wires and I need to ask Quatre before I do any drilling, so I'll head out now. But thank you for giving me an opportunity. I look forward to hearing from you."
I nodded. "I'll be in touch soon."
"Guess I should study up on some of my old books, huh?"
I shrugged. "It may be useful, but it could be outdated."
He nodded as he walked by, but paused as he passed me. "Somehow, I think that even if the books weren't outdated, you'd be testing non-textbook knowledge anyway." With a chuckle, he walked away.
~*~
A week and a half later, Duo came to my office for a more formal interview. Beyond that, I brought out one of my older and outdated gadgets to work with. I explained that when in use, the small case would be mounted on a wall and had both a working camera to record video images into a microchip or display on a monitor, as well as the ability to emit a small voltage electric field so that whoever was touching it, or the area, would get a shock. Once touched, central security would be alerted.
Right off the bat, Duo gave me a list of things that could be changed with the basic design; how to make it safer, how to remotely control it, to give it a moving eye, to make it less conspicuous.
Needless to say, I was impressed by the way his mind worked, and the way in which he thought outside of the box with regards to new attributes to add to the small box. He had obviously been thinking about home security and the sort of things the equipment was meant to do, or could do, especially for high profile customers. While rusty with technical knowledge, I decided that perhaps some training and crash courses could bring him up to date with the sort of work I was doing. What was important was that he was innovative, and that was necessary in my line of work.
Duo proved to be a very eager learner and he often challenged me with the problems I gave him. Beyond the first two weeks, once I had decided that I would be interested in employing him, I had gone right to showing him my older designs and their improvements.
And I had to admit that the way Duo asked me why I did certain things and didn't consider other options left me thinking about more improvements and even more designs.
I only worked with a certain amount of technology such as cameras, sensors and the like, and it wasn't long before Duo was taking those and considering what sorts of things could be made or improved upon, given those materials. He wasn't quite able to design the nano-equipment yet, but I had no doubt he would eventually get there.
Walking Duo through the Winner estate and explaining why I did things in certain ways had interested him. It had taken a while for us to coordinate our schedules between his job and my appointments, but once he knew that there would be job security with me, Duo took his vacation from the audio company, choosing to use that time to learn his own capabilities and to discuss a work contract.
With the set up of Quatre Winner's place under his belt, I took Duo back to a couple of my older client's homes to update their systems while letting Duo do a walk through and apply his knowledge of where the security equipment would be the most useful and effective. It took a little while for him to really catch on, and once again, he began to challenge me in my choices once he fully understood my way of thinking.
I was mostly able to address his concerns or fault his choices, although a couple of times I found myself taking his comments into consideration.
A month after hiring Duo, I set up my company and registered it, then proceeded to hire a computer engineer to deal with the programs linking to the equipment. Duo developed an interest for the software I supplied to home owners allowing them to observe their own security, although their systems were still linked to an actual security company that would be able to call the police or other emergency services whenever the need arose. It was difficult for Duo to learn this aspect, but he purchased books on writing software and actively began to teach himself, occasionally asking me, and his new co-worker, Wufei, for help.
It annoyed Wufei, sometimes, but I could also see that he didn't mind teaching Duo in his spare time. Perhaps the interest in teaching came from the work he did as a teaching assistant at college.
Four months into Duo's employment, however, I began to realize that it was potentially dangerous to let someone understand my thinking the way he did. Duo had convinced Wufei and I to go to a bar and lounge for a drink in celebration of our first completed project since the official opening of my company, and he'd managed to get us a little more relaxed than we usually were.
Talking became a little easier; I had become fast friends with my two co-workers, boss status be damned. I knew right from the start that hiring and teaching my colleagues of my work required that I trust them with my designs and my thinking.
I remember mentioning something about not wanting a girlfriend. This had been in reply to Duo, who had recently received a letter from an old co-worker expressing her interest in dating him. Wufei was dating his high-school sweetheart, and when he asked why I didn't want to settle down now that I had established my business, I told him that the right guy had yet to come along.
I remember staring at the two of them, a bit shocked at my own revelation and wondering what in seven hells had allowed me to admit that. They'd stared back for a long moment before Duo informed me that he was actually bisexual. It was in my nature to be blunt, so I asked Wufei outright if my preferences were an issue.
He shrugged and said that he'd only be shocked by my sudden statement and not so much the fact I was gay. Then he pointed out that Quatre Winner was gay and had a boyfriend, and that both of them were friends of his girlfriend, and therefore a friend of his.
That startled me even though Duo claimed he knew it, despite not having seen the boyfriend around when we had done our project. It made me wonder if I had really spent the last six years of my life blind from anything and everything else outside of my work.
The reason I noted to myself that it was dangerous to let someone understand my thinking the way Duo did was that, following the night at the bar, Duo casually asked me on a date. He'd expected me to balk at the idea of dating a colleague, especially as the boss, and he'd simply said that there was no boss-to-worker relation beyond the fact that I owned the company and paid his salary.
Wasn't that enough?
So I declined. He shrugged and turned from my office, pausing to say one more thing before he left for the day.
"I'm not going to stop trying."
I knew he wasn't. And I knew that I had to dissuade him, fast, or risk losing him as a valuable asset to my new company.
TBC...
To The Next Chapter
Back to Zazu's Fanfictions Page