Jess’ Rant: Hey guys, sorry I’ve taken so long to write this measly little chapter, but I’m getting bored here and I need to jump ahead. I’m beginning the new chapter so it’ll be done soon and hopefully be more interesting to read/write. Does anyone mind?
I woke up later than Duo. I wasn’t exactly sure what time it was but the sun was up. I looked around and found no sign of Duo anywhere. This was a habit I didn’t like too much at all.
Getting up and stretching my sleep-laden muscles, I moved around the apartment getting a clean change of clothes and went into the bathroom. The bathroom wasn’t very big, but it was big enough. The bathtub and shower area were stained with different paints and dyes, obviously from constant clean ups after messy art projects.
I sighed and went about my ‘morning’ routine, showered, dressed, brushed my teeth, etc. Where could Duo possibly be? I came out of the bathroom, towel drying my hair and walking to the kitchen area to make myself some jasmine tea for breakfast when I noticed a note stuck on to the tea kettle in Duo’s handwriting:
/ Heero,
I’m in the downstairs studio (level 2 on the elevator) getting things ready for my show. Come down when you’re awake.
--Duo/
Well, that’s one mystery solved.
I went about and made my tea then slipped on some shoes and made my way downstairs as instructed. Since when was I so obedient? I felt like a trained lap dog.
No, I shook my head, that wasn’t right. I must have too much time to think because crazy ideas like that don’t often come to my head…at least not that I can think of.
I made my way to the elevator with my baby blue mug of jasmine tea and pushed the button that’d take me to the second floor. I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I descended, nearly jumping when the doors chimed and opened before me.
Stepping out of the elevator, I could feel my eyes widen in awe. It was as if this one room took up the entire building, the ceiling was so high. In fact, I think it did take up at least four stories if the different levels of walkways and railings around the perimeter of the room were any indication. Off to the side of the room, there was what appeared to be a ramp that went down to street level and a small moving truck parked on it.
I looked around a bit and saw that there was everything from sculptures to pottery to photographs and negatives on clothing lines, to paintings and drawings in many different medium. So this is where Duo kept his stuff…
I recognized a lot of the works that were lining the wall closest to the moving truck. In fact, I wondered why I never noticed them disappearing from the apartment before. Although, it does make sense that he’d stow his work down here. He’d run out of space in days had he kept everything upstairs.
“Who the hell are you?” A cold voice asked, making me jump. “The show isn’t for another few days and if you think you can just sneak in here to steal a Maxwell original, you are sadly mistaken.”
I turned around and found angry ebony eyes glaring at me from a very handsome, very crisp looking figure.
“Excuse me?” I said, staring blankly at him. “Were you speaking to me, sir?” I asked, despite the fact that he didn’t look all that much older than me.
“Of course I was speaking to you,” he spat, giving me the once over. Suddenly, I felt very inappropriate dressed in faded denim jeans and an old ratty t-shirt. He, on the contrary was dressed in a tailored Italian suit with smart shoes, a silk tie, and his hair slicked back into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck. “Well?” he prompted.
“My name is-” I began before being cut off by Duo’s loud voice.
“HEERO!” he called, rushing over to me and giving me a hug, almost spilling my tea in the process.
“I assume you know this man?” the stranger asked, raising a delicate eyebrow.
“OH! I’m sorry,” Duo hastened, stepping away from me to introduce us, “Wufei, this is Heero Yuy, my muse. Heero, this is Wufei Chang, my agent and benefactor’s better half.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Chang,” I said, holding my hand out.
He shook it briefly, before pulling away, “I assume you’re the one responsible for Duo’s sudden surge of inspiration?”
I blushed, but didn’t get a chance to respond.
“Of course he is!” Duo chirped. “I think this is going to be our best show yet!” I couldn’t help but smile at Duo’s energy. He was practically bouncing in place.
“I assume you want a ticket for Mr. Yuy, here then,” Wufei said to Duo, one eyebrow raised.
Duo rolled his eyes, “Obviously. Oh, and I want an extra pair too.”
“May I inquire as to why?” The obviously Chinese man asked his hands in his pockets.
“I’m inviting two close friends of mine, besides Heero.”
“Very well then,” the serious young man said, making a note of it on his PDA before stuffing the thing back in his jacket pocket. “You can go ahead and go, Duo. I’ll take care of things from here. You’ve already picked out the pieces, so all that’s left is to see that these brutes don’t ruin any of your work. I’ll keep an eye on them.”
“Thanks, Wu-bear!” Duo chirped again and hugged the man, leaving him looking very disgruntled.
“Go away, already and don’t call me that,” he said as he straightened his suit.
“I’m leaving, I’m leaving!” Duo grinned, grabbing me by the hand and dragging me back to the elevator. “OH!” Duo called out as the doors were closing, “Give Zechs my love!” He cackled at the look the man gave him at the saucy wink Duo threw his way.
“Umm… What was that?” I asked as we rode the elevator.
Duo grinned, “Wufei is extremely uptight, and I just get a kick out of teasing him about him and his lover.”
“You’re evil, you know that?” I said, teasing.
“Of course!”
Every day, Wufei had come by to see if Duo was working and that I wasn’t making him lose focus. Pretty soon, he realized that there wasn’t a thing I could do to derail Duo’s artistic pursuits and we came to a silent understanding between us. We respected each other and we both cared about Duo. That much went unsaid.
During one of his visits, I asked him why he was visiting so frequently now and he told me that Duo had changed the theme of his show to feature only me with just a few of his older pieces scattered amongst the ones supposedly inspired by me. He needed to make sure he’d have enough of a selection of pieces so that they could pick which ones would be displayed.
I had merely nodded in understanding and let the man continue his work.
I was so busy fussing over my tie the night of the opening that I nearly jumped a foot in the air when Duo put his arms around me too tell me to calm down. He should have been the nervous wreck, not me. But then again, it was my visage that was lining the walls of the gallery for all to see.
Lately, Duo had become even more liberal with his touches, but it never went beyond small caresses and tender hugs and our kisses were short, sweet, and chaste. I had to admit I was really warming up to the man and he was slowly winning my heart.
“We’d better go already. We’re already fashionably late,” Duo said as he pulled me away from the mirror. We were both dressed in matching black suits with white shirts, and we were both wearing ties; Duo’s was indigo silk and mine a cobalt blue. The sales lady had somehow conned us into getting those ‘to match our eyes,’ she’d said.
Duo pulled me towards the apartment door and soon we were speeding off to the gallery.
Once inside, I felt completely overwhelmed at the multitude of images of me. There were all sorts of media on display here. I hadn’t even noticed that Duo had taken black and white pictures of me and had them mounted in simple black frames on one section of the wall. I felt a blush creep into my cheeks and tried not to look anyone in the eye. Maybe it was a bad idea to come here….
I arrived at the gallery with my sister Cathy on my arm feeling as nervous as I’d ever felt. Hopefully, I’d meet mon petit Ange tonight… I just hoped I didn’t chicken out. Upon entering, I was given a flute of Champaign and led into the main room by an usher. Apparently, we weren’t the first ones there, and for that I was grateful. I began to wander around, letting Cathy do the same, all the while looking for the little blonde one that was so often the center of my dreams while trying not to look obvious.
Suddenly, I felt myself bump into someone much too short for my natural line of vision to have spotted at such a close range. Looking down, my breath caught in my throat as I spotted a shining gold head of short fluffy hair… but there was something wrong with this picture.
“Forgive, me, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” I said as I helped the petite figure up. Standing before me though, was not a man, but a young lady in a lovely teal dress and little pearl drop earrings dangling and glistening in the lights.
“Oh, no, It was my fault entirely,” she said, holding out a gloved hand to me, “Quatrina,” she said.
“I’m Trowa,” I said, trying not to let my voice crack. Was the boy I’d been waiting to meet really a girl? A look behind her seemed to indicate that she was as two burly men in ill-fitting suits looked about ready to shoot me.
“Darling? Are you okay?” A voice asked, and I turned to look. I released her hand quickly when I noticed a young man come up close to her and place an arm around her.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she told him, responding favorably to the embrace, crushing my heart. “You know me; I’m always running into things for being distracted elsewhere. This time around, Mr. - ” She paused and looked at me waiting to fill in the gap.
“Barton,” I said, giving the man a little nod.
“Yes, Mr. Barton here was being kind enough to help me up after I so ungracefully ran into him and fell over.”
“In that case, thank you, sir for being so kind to my lovely wife.”
I nodded and excused myself, feeling as if my world were shattering. Mon petit ange was already married? How could that be?