The Inferno
By Link Worshiper

Pairing: 1=2
Content: fluff; sap; language; third-person Heero POV; post-EW
Notes: Written for Calic0cat and the GW Wedding Fic-a-thon, and based on a story one of my high school teachers told us about him and his wife. Maybe spoilers if you've never seen all of GW… though I kind of wonder why you'd be reading if you haven't.

Thanks to Natea for the once-over. You are amazing at life!

~~

“A great flame follows a little spark.”
--Dante Alighieri

~~

Thinking back on it, he wondered if there was any other way it could have happened. It had all begun with one slip of the tongue, ironically enough, in the heat of an argument, a sound reminder of the things that can come tumbling out in a bout of passion.

He remembered the disagreement clearly. He and Duo had been out shooting hoops, just as they always did on Sunday afternoons, and somehow, the topic of conversation steered towards the Eve Wars -- specifically, their last encounter before he'd gone running off to save the day. Again.

“What a way to say 'thanks and goodbye',” Duo had said, aiming the basketball at the red square over the hoop. “You know, Heero,” he went on as he took his shot, “most people shake hands or hug for that kind of thing. They don't punch!” The ball rebounded off the backboard, bouncing and rolling towards his feet.

“It was a point-in-time thing, Warning you of what I was going to do would have wasted precious seconds. You know that,” Heero had responded with a shrug. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Duo stoop to pick up the orange ball again.

Duo lined himself up at the foul line for another shot, bouncing the ball a few times between his bent knees. “Yeah, well, it would have taken just as much time to tell me to play dead as it would have to completely sucker punch me,” Duo said, shaking his head, which made his long hair writhe like a snake down his curved back. He tossed the ball at the hoop again, and this time, it bounced twice on the rim before tumbling back to the asphalt. “Aw, crap. Missed again,” Duo grumbled as he went to fetch it.

Heero still hadn't moved, patently waiting his turn with the ball as he calmly said, “There was always the risk that you wouldn't have been convincing enough just pretending.” His dark blue eyes tracked the movements of the basketball as Duo dribbled it back to the foul line.

“Are you trying to say I'm a bad actor, Yuy?” Duo asked, a challenging glint in his bluish-violet eyes. He stopped dribbling the ball and held it beneath one arm, squaring his slim, muscled shoulders. “Because I'm pretty sure it's you who always says I'm the best pretender you know.”

“Not at all!” Heero was quick to say, shaking his head negatively. “But even a good actor has his limitations. I didn't want them to try and beat any answers out of you if they realized you were only faking it.” His eyes met Duo's evenly, tinged with hints of that serious glare of his. “You know they would have, too.”

“Oh yeah? Well, newsflash: randomly punching a guy in the gut fucking hurts, too!” Duo said, passing the ball to Heero with a bit more force than necessary, though Heero's hands speedily flew into a ready position, easily catching the ball.

Heero bounced the ball a few times, getting a feel for it before he started dribbling towards the line. “Yes, well, so does hitting a guy on the jaw,” he said softly, lining up his shot. The ball sailed in a perfect arc, rolled neatly around the rim and fell through the hoop.

“You asked me to do that, if you'll recall,” Duo hissed, clearly getting a bit defensive. This particular incident had always been a sore spot with him; he not only resented being left behind as dead weight, but also that Heero would pull such a move to do so; it always made him feel like Heero didn't quite trust him, even then. Even now, perhaps.

Heero didn't even bother to go retrieve the ball before whirling around on Duo, his sneaker screeching on the black court as he did. His voice was grim and just as defensive. “I didn't want to hit you without having a good reason to first. I would have felt incredibly guilty, otherwise,” he growled. “One for one, right?”

One corner of Duo's upper lip was curled upwards in an incredulous expression as he stared dumbly at Heero, hardly absorbing a word that was being said to him. “That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, even from you. You've got to be kidding,” was all he could reply.

Heero let Duo hang there in silence for a few moments as he went to get the ball. He stood beneath the hoop and twirled the orange ball on the tip of his index finger, watching it as it gained speed. “I'm not,” he finally said, looking up at Duo when the ball lost its momentum and fell back to the ground.

He paused for a moment, watching the ball roll against his sneakers, nudging it back and forth with his toe a bit before speaking up again. “Besides, it's not my fault if you read too much into my request. I knew what I had to do.” His voice was still edgy, but he had toned it down quite a bit from before.

Duo, however, wasn't going to let it settle at just that. He had been too riled up, and now that he was on such a roll, there was little he probably could have done to calm himself, even if he'd wanted to. “Oh, like hell, Yuy!” he snapped, apparently not having any qualms about being loud and vehement. “You don't know a fucking thing about what the hell I may or may not have been thinking that day! Or any day, for that matter!” He stalked over to the other pilot and bent down to angrily snatch the ball away from Heero's feet, and then moodily dribbled it back to the foul line. This time, when his long braid shook, it seemed more like it was snidely taunting Heero.

Heero pursed his lips, glaring darkly at Duo's back. He was about to open his mouth to give a stiff rejoinder, but Duo beat him to it. Heero knit his eyebrows in annoyance.

“And another thing, while we're on the subject,” Duo went on, spinning back around, clearly on a tirade. “For your fucking information, Heero Yuy, best fucking friends don't do that kind of shit to each other, no matter what the hell reasons there may be! Don't you ever stop for five goddamned seconds to maybe think to yourself how your actions might be affecting other people?” His shoulders and the chest of his white tank top were slightly damp with sweat, and it had nothing to do with the energy he'd exerted shooting hoops. He started dribbling again, and this time, he came down the court towards Heero like he meant to make a lay-up. “Did you ever think about how I might have felt that day, when I woke up to find myself in a fucking prison cell? To find you'd gone on without me?” Duo growled as he charged, soon finding himself engaged in a fierce one-on-one with Heero, who was very effectively blocking him from getting a decent shot at the basket. “You know how I feel about fucking prison cells, Yuy.”

“You're not the only one who had feelings on the line,” Heero argued back, shielding Duo from getting at the basket with his body and arms. “Did you ever think that maybe I was trying to make sure you got out of there alive?”

“I can take care of my own goddamned self, thanks,” said Duo as he pivoted to the left with a squeaky sneaker, holding an arm up to keep Heero from getting at the ball. Heero lunged, but Duo quickly placed his body between his opponent and the ball, his arms still raised protectively.

His self-control wavered a bit as he snapped, “I'm aware of that! Why do you think I trusted you to improvise your way out their custody? Do you think that's something I'd leave to a complete, fucking moron?” He gave up trying to legally reach around Duo for the ball and stepped into the longhaired man with a sharp elbow to the ribs. He was getting a bit impatient with Duo, just as he was sure Duo was feeling the same about him.

Suddenly, Duo stopped dribbling the ball, pushing Heero away from him. He faced Heero and held the ball in front of him, glowering at it as if he wanted to chuck it him, but couldn't. He ended up throwing the ball away carelessly, leaving it to bounce aimlessly to the other side of the court as he continued to frown at his comrade. Crossing his arms, he eyed Heero up and down, his wide lips still fixed in that displeased arch. “Alright then,” he said in a cold tone. “If that's the way it is, why don't you do me the big fucking favour of telling me?”

“Telling you what?” Heero hissed, standing his ground. It almost seemed like a showdown between two rowdy cowboys. Duo's braid flapped ominously behind his back.

Duo shook his head as if he couldn't believe that he had to explain further to Heero. “What your fucking reasons were. For whatever the fuck you were thinking.”

Heero stared at him long and hard before saying anything. During those moments of silence, a series of various emotions flickered across Heero's face, each slowly softening the angered expression tacked there. At last, he took a deep breath, feeling much calmer, and said, “I wanted to make sure at least one of us would definitely survive.”

“Bullshit!”

Duo's outburst caused Heero's features to harden again. The corners of his lips dropped downwards again, and his eyes flashed, steely, like iced, blue midnight. “Does it really offend you so much that I care enough about you to want that for you? Your life means so much to me, Duo!” The last bit came out almost desperate, pleading.

Duo's stare was still a bit hard, though it was clear his anger towards Heero was wavering. “I see how it is, then,” he said, still a little guarded. “It's okay to make decisions for other people, and then run off to happily play martyr like your life doesn't mean jack shit to anybody? You're not the only one who's lived his life in Hell, buster!” Duo clenched his hands into fists and then took a few long strides towards Heero, his shoulders trembling a little from all the emotion he was trying to keep bottled up. “Is that your game, Heero Yuy?”

Heero didn't realize he was swallowing nervously until it fell strangely in his throat, causing him to gag a little. He discreetly chewed on a tiny nibble of skin as he raised his fist to cover his mouth, and tried to calculate Duo's volatile state. Though he often tried to avoid this topic of conversation for just this very reason, in retrospect, he supposed it was better to just get it all out, to talk it through, no matter how many hurtful things they were sure to let fly at each other. Relena had told Heero on a few occasions that Duo had come to her many times and spent hours lamenting about just that one incident like it was the most awful thing Heero had ever done to him. If he had known, at the time, what the after-effects of the action would have been, he surely would have rethought the situation.

“No, Duo, you misunderstand me,” he said after a few moments of weighted silence. It was clear to Heero, now, that Duo wasn't furious with him at all, but merely just getting out a frustration that had been festering for quite some time in the best way he knew how to. Duo often let his passions get the better of him, and if one didn't know him well, he might have been merely described as short-fused and explosive. But Heero knew that Duo was not an angry or hurtful person by nature, and that often, when he was yelling in what seemed to be rage, he was really just trying to get everything out, to purge himself. The attitude was more frustration towards himself, than at anyone else. This knowledge made Heero feel more at ease, and he regained the confidence to speak frankly with his friend.

It was another step in the right direction, but Duo was far from satisfied. “Oh, so just because you have some wild justification for all that, my feelings about it just don't exist, huh?” He took another step closer, now standing near enough to Heero to jab him in the chest with his index finger; “You may have been thinking something else, pal, but I can't help that it came off the way it did. And now I'm asking you, what the fuck made you think that it was okay to yank my ass out of the action and put yours right in the middle of it all? Did you ever think that maybe your heroic escapades do numbers to my abilities to sleep well at night? Just maybe, I give a shit or two about you, Yuy!”

He knew that; he knew Duo cared an inexplicable amount for him. Perhaps more than anyone else he knew. But did Duo know how much he reciprocated those feelings? Did he know that there were layers to this conversation that Duo hadn't even grazed upon?

Heero looked up from his feet in time to see Duo take in a deep lungful of air, his shoulders slumping as he regulated his breathing. He seemed to be winding down from his rant, perhaps feeling better that he finally had the chance to let that all out and be perfectly honest with Heero on the matter. “What could possibly make you think that I deserved to live that much more than you?”

“Because I was in love with you!” Heero blurted out without even realizing what he was saying until it was too late. He quickly dropped his eyes back down to their shoes, afraid to see what Duo's facial expression was like. He wondered if Duo could hear how loudly his heart was thrumming in his chest. “I still am in love with you,” he whispered, closing his eyes and allowing his body to become completely relaxed, knowing there was no way to undo the damage. “I've… always been in love with you. That's why, Duo….”

Tentatively, Duo raised one hand and placed it on Heero's jaw, raising his chin back up to eye level. The light breeze tossed his soft, mahogany brown hair about his face and rustled his long bangs across his eyes, which seemed to be quivering with some raw, unnamed emotion. Duo's face was neutral, but there was a softness there that had only just dared to surface. “Tell me that… again, Heero,” he said quietly, watching the Japanese pilot carefully, as if he was searching for something in his eyes.

It was Heero's turn to breathe deeply; there was no running from the truth now, and he refused to regret anything he'd ever said or done. So, feeling the bravest he ever had, he said, “I wanted you to live because I'm in love with you.” As a quiet afterthought, he added, “Maybe knowing you were going to live gave me a reason to survive. Something worth protecting my own life for… so I could… I could have a reason to go back home.”

His voice was almost inaudible now, but Duo understood every word. Heero's confession had dispelled the resentment Duo had about the whole ordeal almost immediately. He knew there really was no need to try and unearth the truth in Heero's eyes, to have him repeat those words like he hadn't heard them the first time, because Duo knew Heero better than anyone else, and he knew that Heero never lied.

Heero said that he loved him.

Thinking on it, Duo was surprised to find that he had probably known this all the time. Maybe all the little pieces had never fully made sense to him before now, but it had certainly always been there. Things like their traditional outings, such as basketball Sundays, or pool hall Thursdays; the fold-out sofa and a PS2 Heero kept in his apartment just for Duo; the way they carpooled to work, even though they didn't have the same job; how Heero always liked to sit as close to Duo as he could, whether they were at dinner, the movies, or just on a bench by the harbor. There was so much that Heero did for him, and for him only, but Duo had always just taken it as the nature of their friendship… just things that best friends did. It was no wonder, then, why he had been wounded so deeply by that sucker punch; though it had appeared to be mockery of that dear friendship, Duo came to realize that in fact, it was the very essence of it.

Heero wasn't looking at Duo, his eyes instead trained on the basketball, which had since rolled to the other side of the court. The long period of silence must have worried him, and Duo couldn't even begin to imagine what kinds of things Heero might have been thinking it meant. He thought he heard Heero mumble something under his breath, but he wasn't quite sure what he had said. Pushing Heero's chin so they were looking at each other again, Duo asked him to repeat what he'd whispered to himself.

“I'm sorry; I shouldn't have let that slip,” Heero said louder and more clearly, though his tone was still a bit melancholy. He was still unable to meet Duo's eyes, and kept trying to avoid his longhaired friend's intense stare. “It's okay if you don't feel the same. I will understand completely. That was… something you were never meant to hear.”

“Heero… Heero!” Duo pinched his thumb and his forefinger together, pressing them into Heero's cheeks and startling him into returning his gaze to him. When he had recaptured Heero's full attention, Duo said intently, “What makes you think that I don't feel the same way?”

Heero had never seen that particular expression in Duo's eyes before. Certainly, he had seen Duo be serious, even morbidly so, but there had been something about his tone that day that wasn't quite like the other times. His eyebrows were fixed sternly, and his mouth had a very determined shape to it; but his eyes had taken on a certain ephemeral quality, and they seemed softer in the long shadows of the late afternoon. And though Heero wasn't sure he had ever seen Duo's eyes quite like that ever before, he still felt like Duo had been looking at him that way all his life.

“I… I don't know,” Heero stammered with a small shrug, feeling the severity of the situation in the way Duo held his face. “I just assumed….”

At last, Duo let go of Heero's chin, rolling his eyes a little and tossing his head. “You know better than to assume about me, Heero Yuy,” he said with slight admonishment. He sighed, his hands falling to his sides and flexing there nervously for a few seconds before rising to slip over Heero's shoulders and down his back, pulling him into a fierce embrace. “I'm glad…” he started, pausing for a moment as he groped for the right words. “I'm glad that you said the words, so I wouldn't have to,” he tried again. “Because I wouldn't -- couldn't -- know how to say exactly what I feel….” “Duo….” With the way Duo clasped him so tightly against his chest, Heero's lips grazed his neck as he whispered his name.

Duo closed his eyes, and holding Heero as he was, felt like he would absorb his friend, to have him inside, like a part of his very being. “Will you still let me spend the night?” murmured Duo into Heero's delicate ear. “I want you nearby.”

Heero felt the corners of his lips rise. “I know.”

~~

After that day, Heero and Duo took to spending even more time with each other. It was almost like they were trying to get a new feel for one another after realizing the intensity of their love. After a few weeks, Duo stopped sleeping on the foldout sofa in Heero's apartment, and instead spent the nights in Heero's arms. That was a month and a half before Duo started renting out his own apartment to someone else and moved in with Heero. No one said anything about it; their friends laughed like they'd expected it to happen all the time.

Heero had never dreamed that he would get so near Duo; it had always been his secret wish, a feeling he'd meant to keep inside, knowing the dangers of actually trying to give such a desire life. He had never dreamed that Duo had always been closer to him than he'd thought, just waiting to be noticed, waiting to be loved. It always surprised him that a gregarious person such as Duo would be so nervous in admitting his honest feelings, and would instead be content to quietly stand in the corner until he was lured from the shadows.

For both of them, being together was so natural, and they had adapted to sharing each other's lives easily. It was only a matter of time before they started discussing tying the knot. But despite their intimacy, Heero was fairly certain that Duo was playing his waiting game again, and the Japanese man had no idea how to even begin approaching such a topic; the idea seemed very surreal whenever he thought of it. No amount of planning and careful wording seemed right to Heero, and it eventually got to a point where he decided that there was just no use trying to be fancy about it: he would simply have to speak frankly to Duo about the issue of settling down for good.

The night he came home from a business trip on L4, he was resolved to have just that very discussion. He had spent the long shuttle flight home mulling it over in his head and gearing himself up, desperately trying to ignore the flutter of butterflies that danced in his stomach the entire time.

However, when he pushed the door of the apartment open, he was surprised to find the place darkened and empty. Slightly worried, he quickly locked the door behind him and hung up his jacket on the nearby hook. He toed off his shoes and called out tentatively, “Duo? Are you here?”

There was no reply. Furrowing his brow, Heero started checking around the apartment, but Duo was nowhere to be found. His question was answered soon after he gave up his search and went to check the answering machine. One of the messages was from Duo.

“Hey, Heero!” Duo greeted cheerfully over the phone's speaker as Heero leaned against the wall and listened. “I wasn't sure when you were getting back, and Hilde invited me and Relena and some other people over for a late lunch-type thing. If you get back before I do, there's Chinese in the fridge and a war documentary I set the vid player to record while I was out. Go ahead and start watching it without me if you get home before I do.” There was a pause and a muffled voice on Duo's end of the line. He finished his message up quickly after that. “Yeah, okay, gotta run; food's ready. Ciao, 'Ro! I'll see you later.”

Heero hummed to no one in particular as he reset the answering machine. He made a quick detour to the kitchen and microwaved himself some of Duo's leftovers before heading to the apartment's common area to fire up that film. He hoped it would keep him engaged long enough to forget that Duo wasn't home, and, further still, that he seemed to be late in returning. He was positive he would have to wait to have that talk with Duo now; all his resolve was gone, and he knew he would just mess things up if he attempted to broach the topic in that state of mind. Maybe, if he nodded off while watching the movie, he would wake up with his determination again.

About twenty minutes into the film, Heero had abandoned what little remained of his dinner and leaned back against the cushioned sofa. The documentary turned out to be very engaging, and though Heero was a little beat from his long trip home, he found himself wanting to keep his eyes open for it.

Or perhaps that was just his excuse to stay up waiting for Duo to come home.

Just as he was thinking that very thing, a crackling noise from the television screen caught his attention. He frowned at the image on the screen as it fizzled out and suddenly cut to a newscaster from the Preventers' official network. Heero watched with rapt attention, curious as to what had happened that day that was so important, regular broadcasting had to be interrupted. A digital clock in the corner of the screen indicated that the special announcement had cut into the movie at exactly 2:12 in the afternoon.

“Breaking news,” the female agent on the screen began, her face severe. “We have just received word that a large fire has spread out across a residential bloc of townhouses at Military Road and 42nd Street. City residents are advised to move as far away from the area as possible as rescue teams move in to calm the flames.” The anchorwoman paused for a moment, and the image switched from her face to the intersection of the two streets, where a fire engine was just pulling up to the curb. As the firefighters began to leap from the large, red truck and uncoil their long hoses, the anchor's voice continued to speak overtop. “Vice Minister Relena Peacecraft was allegedly visiting friends at home where the fire stemmed from. We have yet to confirm if she was still at the residence when the fire broke out.” The screen cut back to the anchorwoman at her desk, her calm, prim looks a sharp contrast to the frantic rush of the firemen. “More on this breaking story as it develops.”

With that, the image flicked back to the movie, which continued to roll on as if nothing happened, while Heero stared at the television, his eye wide with disbelief. Military and 42nd…. He knew that was where Hilde lived, where Duo had gone out that day for lunch! The fact that both Duo and the newscaster had mentioned Relena's name proved it, too!

His first instinct was to leap up, put his shoes and coat on, and rush out the door as fast as he could. But a quick glance down at his wristwatch was all it took to remind him that the fire had broken out hours ago, and that there was little that he could do now but wait; the whole incident was sure to have quieted down by now. Why hadn't Duo called? Was he okay? Maybe he had left before the fire started as well. Yes, he decided; Relena had to leave early, and Duo was a gentleman and escorted her home before it happened. But even as he retold himself that story, he knew that there was little chance it was true. A heavy drop of fear fell into his stomach, making him feel rather ill. But he refused to get up and find relief for his queasiness, finding himself, instead, glued to the TV screen for any more of those breaking news blurbs.

He could only put up with about five minutes of just watching the film normally. Impatient to find out what else had happened while he was en route from L4, he picked up the remote and started to fast-forward through the recording in search of the next report.

He came across it soon enough and hit the play button, watching in horror as the anchorwoman reappeared on screen with that somber look on her face again. “It has been confirmed that the Vice Minister was, indeed, present at the house when it caught fire. Most of the other residents of the bloc were able to escape before the fire grew out of control, but those at the house where the Vice Minister was visiting, and where the fire began, are still unaccounted for. It has yet to be determined who else was inside the house when the fire first appeared.”

As soon as the anchor had begun to talk, the image immediately flashed to video footage of Relena stretched out on a metal cot, a breathing mask fixed over her nose and mouth and surrounded by medics as they rushed her towards the ambulance. Her clothes were charred and black, her face dirty and her eyes closed. Heero was just relieved to see that she was still breathing.

But what about the others? What about Duo? He started fast-forwarding again.

The next broadcast was at 2:47 in the afternoon, and this time, it was Lady Une who graced the screen. She was dressed in her best Preventers uniform, and was standing at the scene in front of the fire engine. There were dozens of anonymous hands sticking into the frame, each thrusting a microphone into her face as she spoke. “The source of the fire has yet to be confirmed,” she was saying to the reporters, “but we are pretty sure it was a case of arson. We have just received reports that sixteen other fires of a similar nature have sprung up across the country, which helps confirm this suspicion. We have not yet determined who could be responsible for such acts, but it seems that whoever it was is trying to send a message. All the confirmed targets so far have been government buildings or places related to important politicians in the ESUN.”

Une was then replaced with a large map of the country, which sprung out from the corner of the screen. Little tongues of flame were dotted across the map, seventeen in all, each representing a different fire. There seemed to be no real pattern to the location of the targets, and the only link was the political one Une had mentioned. It worried Heero a great deal, even beyond just his fear for Duo and his other friends. The immense amount of orchestration and planning that would have to go into such a well-planned attack made him wonder what kinds of underground powers were slowly crawling out of the woodwork now that the ESUN had settled down from the chaos it had been in its earlier years.

He fast-forwarded again.

When he stopped, the screen was displaying Lady Une again, her arm around Hilde's shoulders. She also looked ragged and dirty, and she stammered a little when she answered Une's questions. “N-No, there wasn't a-anybody else in the house besides me and 'Lena and h-her brother, and they're all gonna be o-okay, now.” She paused to sniffle a little. “Just… just Duo, s'all.”

Heero's hand curled tightly around the remote as he stared at the television. He had been such a fool! A complete moron! He knew he should have talked to Duo about his intentions for their future sooner, and now he was beginning to fear that he would never get the chance to. He had worked so hard to build himself this world he lived in, and how he could feel it crumbling around him. He wondered if Duo ever really understood just how much he loved him.

Half of him wanted to fly to the phone and dial up Lady Une for some fast answers, but there was still another part of him that wanted to remain on the couch, to find out everything he could from the recorded news reels and then logically come to a course of action. The irony of the situation weighed heavily on his mind.

The next broadcast brought news of more mysterious arson cases springing up across the country. The map was back on the screen, even more fire icons scattered across it. There seemed to be a slight pattern to the locations of the targets; they were clustered in the northern and southern regions of the map, as well as across the middle, like three broad stripes. Heero wondered what it meant.

Heero spent the next forty-five minutes in this manner, fast-forwarding through the film and stopping to watch the constant updates that continued to interrupt it at fairly regular intervals. Lady Une made some more comments about the investigation, and Sally Po also made an appearance to report on the status of Relena, Hilde, and the others who had been rescued from the burning building. Wufei made a statement about the MIA Duo, who was apparently still trapped inside, and Heero felt the sickening feeling in his stomach intensify with each passing moment. Every time he forwarded to the next clip, he prayed that it would discredit his fears for the worst, that it wouldn't be too late to tell Duo the things he should have said a long time ago.

It was a little frightening that all this had happened sometime between his departure from L4 and his arrival back home; the idea that something that could alter his life so much had happened in such a relatively short period of time was something he wasn't sure he was ready to accept, and it caused him to hesitate between clips, once in a while. A reward for all his fretting finally came two clips later, when the footage showed his Duo sitting with Sally Po on the back of the ambulance. And though Heero had seen Duo in far worse condition, his charred appearance and the blood caked on his clothes and skin and drying in his sooty hair did not bode well with him. After a quick bio stating who Duo was and his role in the war, the voiceover reported that Duo had been trapped nearest the fire when it broke out, and had it not been for his extremely adept survival skills, he probably would have perished in the flames. However, Heero was hardly listening to the details, and was more focused on the fact that Duo was okay. He would be coming home.

There was a gaggle of reporters flocking around Duo and Sally, desperate to hear another story about the heroism of a Gundam pilot. Duo coughed a little, and Sally patted him on the back, but he still managed to grin wide and speak. “The fire came out of nowhere, you know? A total shock,” he said, his voice a little ragged. “Fire is one of those things where, once it starts consuming, it's almost unstoppable, and if it manages to ensnare you, you're lost.” He paused for a moment, rubbing his lip, like he was thinking to himself. Then he lifted his chin and stared right into the camera, saying firmly, “Frightening as the fire was, and scared as I was that it might kill me, I have to say that the experience has changed my life in ways I never thought possible. I will never be the same person I used to be since the flames touched me, and honestly, I can't say I'd want to change that.”

“Do you know how the fire occurred?” a voice called out from off-camera.

“I don't know,” Duo replied with a shrug. Then he let out a humoured laugh. “Ha, but then again, who ever knows? It doesn't really matter to me; what's done is done.”

Though Heero was disappointed when the clip shifted its focus to Lady Une again, he already felt lighter, like he was hovering over the cushions of his sofa. He didn't know what he might have done with himself if Duo had been seriously hurt or killed; the regret that might have filled Heero's heart in such a case would have been unbearable -- he had so much he was finally ready to tell Duo. Now reassured that Duo was safe, he could watch the rest of the clips -- and maybe even the rest of the film -- with a much clearer frame of mind. He would find out who did this to Hilde's house and destroy him for almost stealing Duo away from him; he would make him pay for toying with a dangerous, delicate thing like fire.

The Preventers director was very severe as she announced an uncontrollable surge in the number of fires breaking out across the country. Her face was replaced by the map again, across which dozens of flames were popping up, almost too fast for Heero to count. His mouth was hanging open slightly, the flashing images on his TV screen flickering in the deep blue rims of his eyes.

Then, he noticed something queer in the various locations of arson. On the map, as more fires appeared, the seemingly random placements began to resemble a sort of pattern, like they were forming the letters of a message. “There's an 'A', and a 'Y', maybe an 'M', there?” Heero murmured to himself as he stared fixedly at the television screen, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Another 'M', and are those 'E's?”

Soon, there was no mistaking the formation of letters on the map, and despite his resignation to lead a nonviolent life, Heero couldn't help but appreciate the ingenious method the arsonists had chosen to convey whatever message they wanted to get across. Then, he narrowed his eyes, recognizing one of the words as his own name. His fingers dug into his thigh as he glared dangerously at the screen, as if willing it to explode with just the intensity of his outrage. Had all these crimes been committed just to send him a message? Had the reason Duo and his other friends nearly died been simply to make some kind of point? To Heero, no amount of words was worth that.

He barely had time to register those spiteful thoughts, though. The fires were still popping up like mad across the map, forming other letters. The top row spelled out his name; the middle, so far, had a 'W', 'L', 'O' and 'U', while the bottom had an 'A', two 'R's and an 'E'. As the missing gaps were filled in, Heero slowly read the entire message out loud. It took him a few moments to digest the words, even after going over it a few times. Heero freeze-framed the finished message on the map and collapsed backwards against the sofa, the remote slipping from his fingers.

'Heero, will you marry me?'

Duo, that sneaky, little devil! Heero stared blankly at the ceiling fan spinning lazily overhead. Duo had beaten him to the question! And he'd done it in such a typically Maxwell fashion, Heero couldn't believe it had taken him so long to catch onto the scheme. Maybe if he hadn't been so frantic and worked up, he might have been able to think a bit more logically. Heero didn't know if he felt like laughing or slapping Duo for throwing him up and down such a rollercoaster of emotions without the slightest bit of warning.

His rambling thoughts were abruptly cut off by the sound of someone rapping loudly on the door. Two heavy thumps, two quick taps, then two more heavy ones, a pause, and another pair of hard knocks. It was Duo; he was the only one who ever knocked on the door that way.

Heero was up in a flash, unlocking the apartment door and yanking it open in one swooping motion. He stood panting in the doorway, just absorbing the sight of Duo in the hallway, his hands in his two back pockets. Even though Heero now knew that the whole taped arson fiasco had been a hoax, he was still far from coming down off that emotional high, and part of his brain still somewhat believed the staged newscast had been real. Duo, realizing that Heero had since opened the door, turned around to face his lover and smiled, shrugging a little.

“Duo Maxwell….” Heero started, his voice stern. He still wasn't sure how he felt about being played in such a way. But when he saw the genuinely hopeful expression lighting Duo's features, he quickly forgot whatever he had been about to say. He said Duo's name again, his voice more tender this time.

“Yeah?” Duo looked up, that optimistic smile his widening even more.

In that moment, Heero knew what it was that he needed. He quickly closed the distance between them and wrapped Duo into his arms, pinning the longhaired man's arms against his sides. He rested his chin on Duo's shoulder, letting his eyes become unfocused as he breathed in everything that was Duo; there was a whiff of cologne on Duo's skin today. Heero slowly exhaled, the air making the little wisps of hair that fell around Duo's ears and beneath his long braid shiver a bit. “I should be… so mad at you, Duo,” he said quietly. He couldn't see the reaction on Duo's face.

Duo laughed, sounding a bit nervous. “Yeah, well, if you're gonna be mad at me, you might as well be mad at Hilde and Relena and Lady Une and everyone else who helped me, too.”

Heero released Duo and stepped back enough to look into Duo's eyes. “You got all those people in on this? Just to ask me a silly question?”

“Now, Heero, there's no such thing as a silly question -- especially that one,” Duo said firmly, removing one hand from his back pocket to raise a finger now that his arms were free again. “And if you have to know, yes, they did help me out, and I barely even had to ask. Really, it was Hilde and Relena who were mostly behind it. They got Lady Une to get the Preventers in on it, and Tro got the fire department on board; Q managed to rustle up more than a few reporters, and Catherine had tons of theatre makeup she was willing to do us up with….” He trailed off, noticing the strange way Heero was looking at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” Heero said, shaking his head. “Just you.” To Heero, Duo had always been the most attractive person he'd ever seen, but for some reason, in that moment, he felt like he had never seen Duo seem as appealing as he did right then.

“What about me?” Duo asked, furrowing his eyebrow. “I'm just, well, me!” The reddish sunset glowing in the window behind him made his hair look like it was aflame, and his cheeks seemed to be painted a pale orange light.

“I know,” murmured Heero, a private smile alighting his features. “That's why the answer to your question is….” He paused for a moment, examining the doorjamb as he tried to word his thoughts just right. With a sigh, he started over. “It's for life, Duo,” he said. “How is it that you know that it's me you want? How am I to know if my answer is the right one?”

Heero may have been expecting any number of reactions from Duo, but the last one he anticipated was his hearty laughter. Grinning, Duo moved beside Heero, placing one hand on his hip and sliding the other around Heero's waist. Together, hey looked out the window at the purplish red sky outside and their dim reflection in the glass. At length, Duo spoke.

“You wanna know how I know? It's quite easy, really,” he said, glancing at Heero and admiring his profile, and the way the light illuminated its edges. “Over the years, I've kinda figured out that if you don't know what you want, you end up with a lot of shit that you don't. Years and years ago, I knew what I wanted, but I never had the guts to go out and get it, and I almost let you get away.” He reached around with his outside hand and turned Heero's face towards his, looking at him intently. “I know I want you, and I'm not gonna settle for all that other shit, because frankly, none of that will do. It's gotta be you, Heero; I'm not gonna have it any other way.” Duo punctuated his little speech with a nod of affirmation, hoping that Heero would understand.

Heero thought his breathing was so loud, it was echoing up and down the hallway. He stepped closer to Duo, tentatively grabbing his shirtsleeves. “Duo… I… I know what I want too.” He stopped examining the buttons on Duo's shirt and met his eyes again, deciding he liked the way the reddish sunset glinted in the dark purplish-blues of his irises. “I won't have it any other way either,” he whispered.

Duo smiled. “I know.”

~~

Heero and Duo were married a few months later. The ceremony was small, with only their close friends in attendance, but neither had ever been big on extravagance, and they didn't need to go out and proclaim their joining to people who could have cared less. Instead of a wild reception, the wedding party and their few guests gathered for a large banquet at Quatre's that progressed long into the night and was filled with many good memories.

Later that night, when Heero and Duo finally returned to their apartment, the newlyweds collapsed on their bed together, lying on their backs as they stared up at the long shadows stretching across their ceiling. Their ceiling…. Theirs….

“Duo,” Heero said, rolling his head towards his husband, his cheek pillowed in the soft cushion beneath it. “If passion is like a flame, then will it ever die out? Will it ever grow cold?”

Hands folded beneath his thick braid, Duo flicked his eyes over towards Heero. “It may quell and burn smaller, but there is no changing what the fire has done -- it will still have left its mark, and the embers will still be hot.”

Heero rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow. “But what if the ash cools those embers? What if the fire goes out?”

Duo smiled ambiguously at Heero. “Then I'll just rekindle it. Fire is too beautiful to ever snuff out.”

“Is there ever a time when fire isn't beautiful?” Heero asked.

Duo turned his eyes towards Heero, reaching over with one hand to cradle his cheek. “Never, Heero,” he said, thinking how perfect the moment felt. “Never.”

~~ Owari ~~