[Gundam Wing] Puzzles
Title: Puzzles Author: Trio Maxwell-Chang Fandom: Gundam Wing Pairing or POV: Trowa/Duo Special Note: Fluff helps everyone...
The ritual began during the war, tucked away in odd little safehouses with nothing to do but watch the paint peel and grass grow. There, in those dusty half-rotten rooms, Duo would watch graceful, long-boned fingers scrawl answers across a gridded paper. He was familiar with the practice, could remember Father Maxwell occasionally picking up a newspaper and gathering one of the kids up on his lap to help. Duo had never been invited, but he'd linger in the doorway, watching the two quietly confer over answers. The new ritual began when Trowa turned impassive eyes to him and asked quietly, "Who was Jacob's twin?"
Duo's response had been a blank look until Trowa waved toward his priest's collar. "It's a four-letter word. Jacob's twin," he explained softly, waiting as Duo dredged through his memory for a few of the lessons he'd attended daily for a short time. It took longer than it should have to answer, but that didn't seem to bother Trowa at all.
"Esau. His twin was Esau," he finally muttered, dropping heavily onto the chair beside Trowa and flinching when it creaked loudly. But it didn't buckle under him, and that was all good. Leaning over, he peered at the grid, then glanced back up at Trowa, too lost in his own thoughts to notice the way the other boy stilled at his nearness. And that had started it. Trowa always brought the puzzles with him, and every morning that they shared together, Duo helped him find all the answers. They made a good team.
Duo liked the way the ritual went now, best. He enjoyed tossing the paper onto the bed a moment before divebombing the lump beneath the sheets. He liked the way Trowa grumbled and yawned before reaching for a pencil. And more than anything, he liked being tucked beside Trowa as their heads bent close, lips occasionally stealing a kiss as they pondered clues together. To him, it was empirical proof that a five-letter word for happiness was bliss.