So \'Sim\'ple.

Natea <natea2x1@hotmail.com>
Title: So \'Sim\'ple.
Warnings: Shounen ai, sap
Pairings: 1+2+1 leading to hints of 2x1, 3x4, 5x?
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: At the end of the story.
So \'Sim\'ple.

Civilian life was pretty damn easy in his opinion.

Duo sat back in his comfy chair and switched on the television. No news flashes about terrorist activities greeted him, no remembrance specials, no dark, morbid funerals...only action movies and cartoons. Just the way he liked it.

When he felt hungry, he got up and prepared a quick, frozen meal for one. No rummaging around for stale leftovers in dingy safehouses now. He had a fully stocked fridge and a top of the range microwave to satisfy his every culinary wish. When he felt like having a bath, he had a bath...taking time to wash and condition his thigh length hair properly with no regard for water wastage. When he was tired, he went to bed. There were no missions to be planned or written up, no repairs to be made to his Gundam. Outside nothing disturbed the quiet of the night; the small, peaceful neighbourhood as far removed from his war time experiences as chalk from cheese.

As soon as the war had ended Duo had made good his escape from the life of a soldier. He had enough funds squirreled away from various Oz accounts to secure himself a small plot of land in an up and coming neighbourhood and, with obvious glee, had set about designing and building his very own home. It wasn\'t a big place; the front door led straight into an open plan kitchen-living area. Leading off that were three doors, two of which opened into his cosy bedroom and the other into the bathroom. A further door connected the bedroom to the bathroom so that he could stumble straight there in the morning without having to take the long route.

It was decorated tastefully in blues and purples and, to his joy, he had been able to afford wooden flooring throughout the entire place, with the exception of the bathroom, which had silvery grey granite tile. Furniture wise he had stuck to cheap and cheerful for the moment. There was plenty of time to think about getting the deluxe, 28inch wide screen plasma TV when he could pay off his electricity bill and still have enough left over for food. The Oz funds wouldn\'t last forever.

Life followed a clear-cut pattern here. His alarm clock rang at six am, giving him enough time to perform his morning nuptials in the bathroom and have a quick breakfast before Steve arrived to pick him up for work at eight. He worked in the military now, special forces. Good money and short hours, nothing too taxing. Of an evening he amused himself playing on his computer or watching television, occasionally calling one of the neighbours over for a chat. Yep, life was good. Except for one thing; his love life. Namely, the fact that he had none.

He didn\'t get out much, the problems of living in the suburbs and not owning a car meant that apart from work he was pretty much tied to the house 24-7. Still, it was a growing neighbourhood, new people were moving in at a startling r..al..all he had to do was keep his eyes open and wait.

**
He didn\'t have to wait long. Just a matter of a few days later he spotted him, walking out of the new house opposite, checking his newspaper. Of average height and on the skinny side of thin, the boy looked no older than him, which lead Duo to believe that either he had been a soldier like himself or else there were parents hidden away somewhere inside that tiny house. The thought caused him a lot of amusement for a while as he pictured the mom and dad, locked in the bedroom, forbidden to leave lest they be seen. No, this kid had to be a soldier. Messy brown hair fell forward over his face, masking deep blue eyes and a stern expression that screamed \'leave me alone\'. He didn\'t look as though he\'d mor more than two words in his entire life and they had probably been \'Go away.\'

Duo never did requests.

**

He spoke to him later on that day after getting back from work. He\'d just finished eating when he\'d spotted the guy walking past his front door andthouthout even sing ing to think about it, he\'d darted outside to meet and greet.

They talked for a while before eventually going inside to call for a pizza. To Duo\'s delight it turned out that Heero, that was the guy\'s name, had been a pilot in the wars, fighting for the colonies...just like him. He was quiet, pretty antisocial but not entirely against making friends. They spent the evening talking, watching television and eating pizza, and when Heero eventually left in the early hours of the morning Duo knew that this was the guy for him.

And life suddenly took a left off Simple Street and headed down Complication Alley in the direction of Frustration Row.

**

\"GodDAMNit Heero, just kiss me already.\" Duo muttered, under his breath. \"You know you want to, stop denying it.\" Sitting besides him, reading a book, Heero was completely oblivious to the litany of his friend.

Annoyed at the lack of response Duo stood up and grabbed a snack from the fridge before turning to ponder the situation. It wasn\'t going as well as he\'d hoped. It had been over a year now since he and Heero had met, he called Heero over every night, first thing he did once he got back from work in fact. They ate dinner together, watched TV together, talked and laughed together, and yet nothing. Duo was trying, seriously trying, to make things more than friends between them but sometimes it seemed that even friendship was too much to call their relationship. He longed to flirt with the serious boy, to compliment him on his eye colour or hair...not his clothes sense though, the green tank top and spandex really left a lot to be desired. He wanted to shower Heero with gifts, to dance and joke and, one day, ask the other boy to move in with him.

But he didn\'t dare.

That\'s not to say he hadn\'t tried in the past. Ohh he\'d tried all right, crashed and burned in the process. A few nights ago now he\'d finally plucked up the courage to open his heart and tell Heero just what he was feeling. The results had been less than desirable. Heero had pushed him away when he had tried to touch him and the resulting rift in their friendship had taken a while to repair. Now Duo was left almost back at square one, although this time he was wearing his heart on his sleeve and Heero knew all about it.

In an attempt at getting the other boy\'s attention he flicked on the radio to on the the rock stations and grinned when one of his favourite songs began to play. A short while later he was jiving to the beat while Heero read on.

\'Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me, kiss me, kiss me...\'

\"Duo?\"

\"Huhat?\at?\" Duo jumped up, slamming the lid of his laptop down quickly. \"Oh hey Quatre.\" he grinned. Folding his arms over the closed computer he tried to look innocent, ignoring the tinny music that was still coming from the machine. \"What\'s up man? Haven\'t seen you in a while.\"

Quatre leaned against the office door and watched Duo\'s actions with both amusement and curiosity. \"I\'ve been on a mission.\" he said.

Duo nodded, \"Anything interesting?\"

\"Not really.\" Quatre shrugged before stepping into the room. The sounds coming from the laptop were bizarre and he quirked an eyebrow at the long haired boy. \"What are you doing?\" he asked.

Duo sighed, \"Promise you won\'t tell anyone?\" he said. Quatre nodded, \"It\'s a game.\"

\"You\'re playing computer games during work hours?\" Quatre looked both shocked and impressed.

\"Only the one.\" Duo said defensively. \"I don\'t think I\'ll be playing it for much longer though...it kinda sucks.\"

\"How long have you been playing it?\"

Duo thought for a while before answering. \"I think I first started just after the Noventa incident.\" he said eventually, missing the way Quatre\'s eyes widened.

\"You\'ve been playing a game for over two years and you\'ve only just decided now that it sucks?\"

\"Yeah. Not all the time, just whenever I get a chan"
"

\"Let me see.\" Quatre reached for the laptop eagerly but Duo only hugged it closer to himself.

\"Trust me Quat, you don\'t wanna see this.\"

Quatre laughed, the glint of the Zero system in his eyes. \"Oh but I do. Come on Duo, just one look...or I\'ll tell Une what you\'re doing while she thinks you\'re working...\"

Duo growled at the threat but pushed the computer over reluctantly. Quatre grinned in triumph and opened the lid. He stared for a while, confusion colouring his expression. Duo\'s face began a slow burn.

\"What is this?\"

\"It\'s called \'The Sims\'\" Duo muttered. \"It\'s kinda like a simulated world, you control the people in it.\"

\"And that\'s interesting...how?\" Quatre asked, pulling up a seat and sitting down to watch the little braided Duo on the screen read the newspaper. \"This is you, right?\"

\"Yeah.\" Duo nodded, \"I designed my own character and moved him into the neighbourhood a while ago now. I got bored with using the characters that come with the game.\" he bit his lip before replying to Quatre\'s other question. \"It doesn\'t look like much but it\'s surprisingly addictive.\"

\"I gathered that.\" Quatre murmured in amusement. \"So what\'re you doing now?\"

Duo looked over his shoulder to see his character spinning into a uniform. \"Looks like I\'m off to work.\" he said.

\"Oh? What do you do?\"

\"I\'m a commander in the local military force.\" Duo answered as the game, detecting no players at the moment, fast forwarded through the day until it was time for Duo Maxwell to comee fre from work. Quatre looked impressed.

\"You\'re on a good wage.\" he said.

\"Yeah. Only took me five days to get promoted that far.\"

\"So what else happens?\" Quatre began moving the cursor across the screen using the touch pad, hovering over the different items in the house.

\"Well,\" Duo paused, \"Here, give it back and I\'ll show you, it\'ll take too long to explain.\" Quatre handed the laptop back and Duo set about showing the blond boy the various tools in the game. \"Look, see here?\" he said, pointing to a row of green and red bars along the bottom of the screen. \"These are your needs.\" He indicated one that was bright red, labelled Hunger. \"This means I need food.\" he said, statthe the obvious. There were others underneath thne. ne. Comfort, Hygiene, Bladder, Energy, Fun, Social, and Room. Quatre noticed that, apart from the hunger, the only other bar in the red was social, all the others appeared to be comfortably in the green.

\"What\'s this?\" He asked, pointing to another set of bars to the left, this one containing happy, sad masks usually seen in theatres.

\"That\'s my current mood.\" Duo explained. He looked closer at the bars and grimaced. \"Damn...I\'m pretty depressed.\"

\"How do you fix that?\"

Duo didn\'t answer at first, being too busy in getting the little character on the screen to serve dinner. \"He needs social interaction.\" he said eventually.

\"And how do you go about getting that?\" Quatre leaned forward in the seat, intrigued.

\"You call your friends over.\" Duo clicked on the phone, bringing up a list of names. Quatre blinked suddenly when his own surname appeared, hyphenated with Trowa\'s. Duo snickered at the look on his face. \"Sorry man. I should have told ya, you\'re in this too. I moved you and Trowa into a house together cos you\'re...well, you know.\" Quatre nodded, watching as Duo clicked on the name Yuy at the botto the the screen. Another box came up asking if he wanted to call Heero, he clicked yes. \'Do you want to talk or invite him over?\' came the next question. Without hesitation Duo clicked invite and sat back to watch.

The little Duo on the screen began dialling.

\"So you\'re calling Heero over?\" Quatre said softly.

Duo nodded. \"Yeah, this is why the game sucks.\" he said. The screen announced that Heero would be delighted to come over and the animated Duo sat down to watch TV until the doorbell rang.

\"How so?\"

\"You\'ll see.\" Duo said. He sighed as the familiar green and black dressed figure walked up the path outside and clicked on him, choosing the \'greet\' option when it came up on screen. Duo hopped up from his seat on the couch in response to the command and went outside to shake Heero\'s hand. They began talking.

Duo clicked on the Heero figure and Quatre blinked as a whole range of options sprang up on the screen. Talk, Hug, Tell Joke, Give Gift... his mouth opened in a small \'oh\' of understanding as the options continued, Kiss, Flirt, Move in.

\"Is this what you want?\" he asked, resting a hand on Duo\'s forearm gently. Duo sighed.

\"It\'s dumb really.\" He said softly, \"I found the game in one of the safe houses we stayed at during the war but I didn\'t actually open it until Heero self detonated. I guess I needed something to fill in the time at nights back then yunno?\" He kept his eyes firmly on the screen and the two interacting characters, missing Quatre\'s nod of understanding. \"I made my own little character and moved him into an empty lot...you like my house?\" Duo turned suddenly to look into Quatre\'s eyes. \"I designed it myself, it was...still is...my dream. I figured one of us should be able to live there. I moved Heero into the opposite plot a couple of days later and built him a small house...let him live the life he deserved. Jesus...\" He rubbed his eyes roughly, \"I spent so much time on my computer those first few days after he did that I think I started speaking like the damn things.\"

Quatre smiled, \"I wondered where you picked up the word \'Corall\' from.\" he said.

Duo grinned, \"Yeah.\" He took a deep breath. \"I have a thing for him.\"

\"I can see that.\"

\"I\'m serious Quat.\" Duo said, \"It\'s more than just a crush. Has been for a long time now.\"

\"Does Heero know about this?\" Quatre asked.

\"No, and don\'t you dare tell him either.\" Duo answered hotly. \"Besides,\" he continued, \"It wouldn\'t work out.\"

Quatre frowned, puzzled. \"Why not?\"

\"We\'re just too different is all.\" The braided boy shrugged, \"He\'s an antisocial bastard and I\'m an extroverted baka. We have nothing in common. Even these two...\" he indicated the screen where the small Duo and Heero were still talking, \"...don\'t really get along.\" He grinned at Quatre\'s look of confusion and went on tplaiplain. \"The love is one sided in this little relationship. Heero barely even tolerates me...watch.\" He clicked on Heero again and chose the option Kiss.

The results weren\'t good. Duo suddenly surged forward, opening his arms wide to embrace the other boy who had leaned back as far as he could to avoid the kiss. He then pushed Duo away and what appeared to be a small argument ensued, small red minus symbols appearing over both the characters\' heads. \"That means our relationship is reducing.\" Duo said. \"I\'ve asked him to move in with me every day since the first time the option appeared and he just doesn\'t want to know...watch.\"

He clicked on the Move in option and sat back. On the screen Duo was talking, his hands opening out into an entreaty. Heero had crossed his arms and was tapping his foot. At one time Quatre saw him check his watch. Then he shook his head. \"I\'ve been on my feet since I got here.\" he said.

Duo snorted, \"He can\'t even think up decent excuses anymore.\"

Quatre sat there in stunned silence for a while. \"Do you mean to tell me,\" he said incredulously, \"that the only reason you\'re not attempting to make something more of your relationship with Heero is because of this game?\"

Duo blinked, \"What? No, no...there are other reasons.\" he insisted. Quatre folded his arms in a disbelieving gesture.

\"Tell me one.\" He demanded.

\"We\'re too different.\" Duo repeated. \"We ARE.\" He growled as Quatre began shaking his head emphatically.

\"You\'re more alike than you think.\" The blond boy said. \"Besides, if that was a valid reason for people not getting along then where would Trowa and I be? Haven\'t you ever heard of the saying, \'opposites attract\'?\"

\"Well...yeah...but.\"

\"Okay then.\" Quatre said. \"Why else?\"

Duo shrugged, \"Heero doesn\'t feel that way about me.\"

\"How do you know that?\"

\"Oh come off it Quatre. The guy barely says two words to me all day. We have offices next to each other and I never see him. I\'ve never been to his apartment, he\'s never been to mine. I doubt he even knows where it is, he\'s cold, mean, indifferent and...to top it all off, straight.\"

Quatre sat back in his chair and focused on the computer screen intently for a while. The animated Duo was in the bathroom at the moment and Heero was...true to form...on the computer. He smiled softly at that. Some things never changed.

\"Have you ever made the effort to visit him at home?\" he asked.

\"What?\"

\"As far as I can see it, in this game you call Heero over every day to come over and hang out. And he comes because, well let\'s face it, he\'s not the perfect soldier. He knows how to interact with other people.\" Quatre turned away from the screen and looked over at Duo once again, \"The real Heero has no idea how to act around friends.\" He said seriously, \"he\'s grown up incredibly isolated and there are things that have happened to him that I wouldn\'t wish on my worst enemy. He\'s not just going to show up one night after work with a sixpack and a good video, saying \'Hey Homey let\'s hang out.\'. You need to make the first move here.“ He thought for a while, “Do these ‘sims’ have personalities?“ he asked eventually. When Duo nodded he smiled. “Let me see yours.\" Duo obliged, entering his house again in the neighbourhood. Quatre snorted. \"Are you serious?\"

Duo was a Libra; Romantic and charming, an incredibly social person apparently and most compatible with virgos, according to the blurb that accompanied the personality screen. To the left there were personality bars with the terms Neat, Outgoing, Active, Playful, and Nice. Duo had missed out neat and active, giving himself a score of 8/10 for outgoing and playful and 10/10 for nice.

Quatre shook his head. \"That isn\'t you.\"

\"Of course it is.\"

\"No, it\'s not. Do you crave attention from others? Really?\" He asked, \"Do you put yourself out to meet new people?\" He watched Duo\'s face carefully, seeing the understanding begin to creep over the features. \"You are outgoing yes, but not overly so.\" Quatre continued, \"You stay within your own little group of friends...this Duo doesn\'t\" He waved a hand at the screen dismissively. \"Let me see Heero.\"

Duo clicked on the screen again and exited his little house. Clicking on the house that held Heero he brought up the Japanese pilot\'s personality chart...to Quatre\'s disgust.

Heero was a Virgo; Modest, shy and introverted. Apparently he took pride in his meticulous and practical approach to life but it often lead to him being overly fussy. Duo had given him scores of 10/10 for neat and active and only 1/10 for outgoing, playful and nice.

Quatre frowned a little, \"Okay, I\'ll give you the horoscope.\" he said, \"That seems fairly Heeroish...but why only one bar for nice?\"

Duo shrugged, \"He wasn\'t very kind to me during the war.\"

\"Wasn\'t he? I seem to remember he saved you instead of killing you in that Oz prison. That seems a pretty nice to do.\"

\"It\'s not the same thing.\" But he didn\'t look all that convinced.

\"How you can say you have a \'thing\' for Heero and yet not even know him is beyond me.\" Quatre shook his head. \"The way he acts in public is no more the real him than this guy.\" He indicated the screen where Heero was laughing hysterically at something on the television. \"It\'s a mask, Duo, just like yours. You need to work out what\'s behind it before you say it\'s not going to work. Maybe these were right during the war but you‘ve both changed since then, even if you think you haven‘t.\" Quatre looked at his watch suddenly and frowned. \"I\'m late for my debriefing.\" he groaned. \"Okay, you\'re going to get this mess straightened out. Scrap these characters you\'ve got here. They\'re not right. Talk to Heero, learn who he is really. Then,” he grinned. “if you really have to have it work in this game first then try it again and see what happens. Alright?\" Duo nodded silently, looking for all the world like a chastised puppy. Quatre smiled as he stood up and stretched the k out out of his back. \"Good luck ne?\" he said, strolling to the door. \"Oh and Duo.\" He stopped and turned.

\"Yeah?\"

\"Any idea where I can get a copy of this game?\"

Duo grinned, \"Try Ebay man. They\'ve got everything there. I\'ll send you my character designs for the five of us tonight.\"

**

 
It was a week later that Duo received his first email from Quatre containing the title \'first kiss\'. He read through the brief message quickly before clicking on the attachment, only to find a grainy jpeg file of a Sims Duo and Heero who were well and truly liplocked. He grinned, shook his head a little and typed a quick email in return before maximising his mission report and getting back to work. Talk a you your unsubtle hints.

The jpeg remained open on his desk top for the remainder of the day and when Duo left that night he made a short detour to the store to pick up a sixpack and a good video. The picture he sent back to Quatre was going to be a real doozy.

**

\'Heero moves in\' was the title of the email that Quatre had received from Duo that morning. It had been two months now since he had sent the first photograph of Heero and Duo kissing over to the braided boy and so far there had been no jpegs in response. Duo sent a quick email in return every time but never anything else, which was why this time was so different. This time there was an attachment accompanying Duo\'s email. An attachment which, if the subject heading of the email could be takenfaceface value, sounded pretty promising.

Hey Q,

Thanks for all the photos. I haven\'t as far as the kiss unfortunately but I think it\'s on the cards pretty soon. Got to go now, Une\'s on the warpath but check it out. I took your advice and this picture is the result.

Thanks Man.

Duo.

Clicking on the attachment, named heeromovesin.jpg, Quatre prepared himself for a grainy computer game image.

It wasn\'t what he saw.

Instead he viewed a high quality digital photograph of the real life Heero. Heero, holding a large cardboard box filled with clothes. Heero, on the stairs leading up to Duo\'s apartment. Heero, with that same old scowl on his face tempered just a little with an underlying look of fondness.

Sitting back in his chair Quatre grinned. Mission completed.

Behind him Trowa walked up and wrapped his arms around the blond boy. \"You want to send them the pictures of their first adopted child?\" he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow showing how much he was amused by the situation.

Quatre grinned, \"Not just yet.\" he answered, \"let them get settled in first. I\'ve got a few other photos to send to a Chinese friend of ours concerning him and a certain female medical officer of the Preventers.\"

Owari.

Disclaimer: I don\'t own Gundam Wing or The Sims. I am making no money at all from this fiction either. :(