By: Amanda Marque
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The School Museum
Duo dragged Wufei into the museum behind him. " Come on were gonna be late for Velvet's show!"
Wufei sighed, not bothering to point out to Duo that it was his fault they were running behind.
" There you two are!" Quatre said strolling up to Duo and Wufei…dragging Trowa passively behind him. " Velvet hasn't opened his gallery yet!" Quatre smiled, pointed toward the section of the museum that was roped off with a red ribbon.
" That's great." Wufei said blandly.
" Wu! You could try to be a bit more excited for him!" Duo smiled, wrapping his arms around Wufei's waist.
" You're right," he said just as blandly as before.
Duo opened his mouth to argue again.
" Ahh my Venus!" Velvet said picking up one of Duo's hands and kissing it. He considered doing the same to Wufei.
" Try it and die."
" You wound me…"
" Not as badly as I'd lik-"
" Wufei!"
Velvet hadn't heard he'd turned his attention to Quatre. " The blond angel that shines so brightly even beside the radiance that is Venus…it is a pleasure to bask in your glow."
" …"
" Um thank you …I guess…"
" When are you going to be opening the gallery?" Trowa asked, taking Quatre's hand from Velvet's grasp.
Velvet blinked. " Ah it's my Adonis!"
Trowa blushed. "…"
" Velvet the gallery?" Wufei asked with a sigh.
" Ah yes! I was just waiting for my Venus to arrive…," he said with a wink.
Duo rolled his eyes, and squeezed Wufei tighter. " Were here let's get it going already!"
Velvet bowed, " As you wish my beautiful siren…" he said and strode away from them.
" Weird, weird guy." Duo and Quatre said , shaking their heads.
Trowa and Wufei agreed, falling silent as Velvet took his place beside the ribboned off area.
" Attention! Attention everyone…" he said, and waited a moment for all eyes to focus on him. " Yes very good…tonight is a special night for me…I will be revealing to the world my latest works…I sincerely hope I have done such beauty justice…" He said ripping the ribbon away.
People began filing in immediately, exchanging glances the former pilots began inside as well. They couldn't really see anything as of yet, just groups of people clustered together talking about how lovely the detail was and how lifelike it looked…
Finally, a group of people standing in front of a picture against the far wall moved enough for them to get through…and then away completely.
Four pairs of eyes landed on the painting…and then four pairs of eyes…well three and a half widened.
Duo quickly looked at Wufei…who he noted looked like he was having heart failure…
Quatre was blushing to his roots, but still looking at the picture curiously
Trowa just looked…like Trowa only with a widened eye.
Duo could feel his face burning red hot, but he looked back to the picture anyway.
After the shock wore off a bit, it was actually a kinda nice picture, it was of him with his hair down wrapped in Wufei's arms, a crystal clear tear running down his cheek…it wasn't that bad…nothing.
" Let's go look at another one!" Duo said, grabbing a shocked Wufei and leading him away. Trowa and Quatre followed.
" Hey this one right here says it's called, 'Claiming Ven-'" Duo let out an ear piercing shriek, at the very imitate picture of him and Wufei inside a giant pink seashell doing…um…
" Duo what's-Oh…oh my…that's um…very well drawn…"
"…Nice detail." Trowa offered.
" Velvet I'll kill you!" Wufei screamed…drawing the attention of everyone else in the room…many of them shocked by the very creative words coming out of the usually timid Professor's mouth…
Duo would have been embarrassed if he wasn't so busy trying to keep Wufei from hunting Velvet down and gutting him. " Excuse us!" He said carting a still cursing Wufei out of the room.
Quatre and Trowa watched them go, then turned back to the picture, identical expressions of awe on their faces.
" Trowa?" Quatre asked, tilting his head to the side to look at the picture from a different angle. Trowa mimicked his move at the same time.
" …"
" I think we should buy this one…"
Trowa nodded, and started off to the next one, Quatre followed then blinked.
" Trowa…I think we should just buy the series…"
Wide-eyed Trowa nodded, wondering how Duo got his leg to do that…and how Wufei managed to get-
"I think we'll buy the whole series…maybe we should pose for Velvet…"
" Or not."
" You're no fun." Quatre pouted.
"…"
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Wufei/Maxwell apartment
Duo brought Wufei a glass of orange juice…at least his killing rage had died down…and he was currently in the fuming injustice stage of anger.
" How can you be so calm?!" Wufei glowered taking the juice.
Duo shrugged. " I posed nude for him remember?"
Wufei grunted.
" Ah Wu it ain't that bad…besides I'm sure not all the pictures in his gallery were of us…"
"Yeah you're right…" Wufei sighed taking a sip of the juice.
Duo smirked, " Besides, I'm sure some of them are just me!" With a mischievous chuckle Duo ducked the pillow that sailed towards his head. With a mischievous chuckle Duo ducked the pillow that sailed towards his head.
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Wufei/Maxwell living room
Relena smiled, quietly watching Wufei lose himself in the memory.
" Velvet is a trip…"
Relena smiled, " Oh yes, I went to his art opening on L3 it was quite interesting…He was displaying his Angel and Adonis series beautiful work."
Wufei smirked, he'd have to tell Quatre all about that…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Riverfront…
" So you and Wufei have gotten over the bumps…so it was clear sailing from then right?"
Duo smiled, " Hai, to the most part…. Wufei and I lived together much as we had before occasionally I'd see you or Relena or both of you with your children on television…but it never really effected me that much anymore…yet I still felt there was still something missing between Wufei and me."
" Like what?"
" You know Heero…even in your absence you were a constant part of my life…a reminder of how much of a failure I was."
Heero looked down, " I-"
"I know you are…" Duo sighed. " Anyway, I'd had a steady job at Pulse, and a steady loyal boyfriend, as well as becoming a promising cook!…But something was still nagging me…then one day it hit me…I hadn't taken that final step yet..."
" Final step?"
Duo nodded, " Leaving you behind me, and moving on with Wufei…I wasn't completely sure how to do it at first, hell it scared me, so I started to write a song…and then another one…and another one….and another one…and several more after that…and you know what Heero…by the time I was done…I'd completely let you go and hadn't even realized it."
Heero, looked off toward the water, hearing Duo say things like that hurt…but it was no less than he deserved.
" And you know what, I was happy to record them…and that was the birth of ' Duo Maxwell on how life is'. " He smirked.
" And your greatest achievement. Congratulations."
Duo laughed," That wasn't my greatest achievement, Heero, my greatest achievement was picking up the pieces of my life you tossed all over the place and then proceeding to get over you, despite having my failure of making you happy thrown in my face everytime I turned on the tv."
" You weren't the failure Duo…I was…"
" Yeah, I know that now." Duo sighed, looking up towards the sky.
" So when did you and Wufei get engaged?"
Duo looked back down at him and blinked. " Oh you mean officially?" he smirked…"Ah yes it was Wufei at his most romantic…"
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Wufei/Maxwell apartment
Duo frowned at the lumpy …something in the bowl…it was supposed to be biscuit dough, but for some reason it was a bit runny…and green…poking it he sighed passing the back of his hand across his cheek.
" Duo, I'm home." Wufei called, kicking the door shut behind him.
" Hiya Wu," he said blandly from the kitchen.
Wufei walked in and stood in the doorway then arching a brow. " Interesting…what were you making?"
Duo narrowed his eyes. " Biscuits. Can't you tell?"
Wufei looked at the green stuff in the bowl again, and walked up to Duo wrapping his arms around the flour covered boy and giving him a kiss. Running his finger over Duo's cheek he looked deep into his eyes and said, " You smell like burned meat."
" Gee thanks Wufei."
Wufei shrugged, " But will you marry me anyway?"
Duo blinked. " Okay."
" Great." With another chaste kiss Wufei picked up his hand and placed a black ring box in it. "Just pick a date and tell me when to be there." Waving over his shoulder Wufei left the kitchen.
Duo looked down at the little ring box and smiled shaking his head. " Baka."
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Wufei/Maxwell- Living room
" That was it?" Relena asked blinking.
Wufei nodded still petting the cat. " Yep, that was it…"
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The Riverfront
" That's all?"
Duo frowned," What did you expect we've been together close to 7 years all that was left was the ring."
Heero sighed. " And the rest…is history."
Duo nodded, looking out over the water, the sun would be coming up soon. " Yep, you know everything else there is to know…"
Heero watched Duo, he looked tired…but happy…like he'd finally been freed from some invisible but impossibly heavy burden…which indeed he had… " Duo…I have something I need to tell you…"
Duo blinked and looked at him, " What?"
" You see I…"
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Wufei/Maxwell Living room
Relena smiled down at the empty teapot, then glanced up at the clock. Her eyes widened. " Goodness! It's late…or early rather I've kept you up, I'm terribly sorry I'd better go now!" She said rising to her feet.
Wufei waved her down, " No it's alright, I can't sleep without Duo anyway…besides this is an indecent hour for you to be travelling alone, you can use the spare bedroom…besides I'm sure you need the rest."
Relena looked like she was about to argue, but Wufei rose dumping the cat in her lap. " I'll just put some sheets on the bed. "
Nodding Relena smiled after him. " Wufei…"
Wufei paused and turned to look at her, " Yes Relena?"
" Thank you…for everything," she said giving poor Uzi a squeeze that the cat did not seem to enjoy very much.
Wufei nodded, " I'll get the sheets…why don't you go wash up in the bathroom, I'm sure we have a shirt or something you can sleep in." he said heading down the hallway.
Relena looked down to the unhappy cat in her lap…tears began spilling from her eyes again…it was over.
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