DISCLAIMERS, etc. : (a) Gundam Wing, the series, mecha, characters, universe, etc. are property of whoever owns them, not me (WAAAH!!) so I'm not getting any $$ out of this. (b) I am trying to stay reasonably close to the official timeline for most of the story. Yeah, I've bent it in a few places to make room for the developing relationship. I think the only major twists are Heero and Duo are roommates at school for a while, Duo joined the Preventers after EW and the Preventers are more than just an "intelligence agency". (c) Japanese? Hahahahaha! Everything you see is lifted from others or from books. If I have it wrong, tell me (and tell me the right way to say it).
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Soldiers and Fools
Part 00 -- Preface
by LoneWolf
This is the first GW story I started -- what I call the "mythos" piece that defines a lot of the ideas and devices that work their way into other stories. If you've read some of my other work, you'll probably see a few familiar things. They were here first.
This is also one of /those/ stories. You know. They start off as cute, fluffy little things and !!WHOMP!! next thing you know you're being dragged around the countryside by an Irish Wolfhound. It started out as a small exploration (fit on the front and back of a piece of steno paper) of the Heero/Duo relationship that wasn't even going to aspire to shonen ai-ness. They were just gonna be friends, I swear. (That ended up as parts 09-11.)
I don't know why I like Spandex Boy and the Loud-Mouthed Fool and don't really give a rodent's posterior about any of the other characters. Maybe it's because they're similar to some (unrelated) characters I've written before, or maybe I identify with them. Dunno. How bad is this fixation, you ask? Count how many other characters get more than a couple of lines in this story. (Even Duo wouldn't need fingers. Of course, my Duo is pretty bright.) And please, please, please don't ask me how Yeats made it into this. That's when I realized I'd created a monster.
WARNINGS: Don't let the beginning fool you. Things get more serious as the relationship develops. No death because I'm a hopeless romantic. Duo is attracted to Heero throughout the story, but nothing comes of it until the endings.
Which brings me to, two endings. The first ending is spring water (barely shonen ai at its strongest, IMO). The second is a club soda (borrows heavily from the first ending with yaoi fizz added) followed by a Corona with a thin slice of lime and finally a big glass of lemon Schnapps (with a few drops of "plot" to connect it to the rest of the story). The second ending is in three parts so you can choose, uh, how far you want to go, but if you can't take the mild lime, I suggest you stick with the first ending. It has better closure than the club soda alone.
Finally, don't let my little comments in front of each section lead you into assumptions about who is a soldier and who is a fool. The terms apply equally well to either player.
I hope you enjoy this puppy turned, hmm, I hope it isn't a dog. And hopefully, everything stays close to character -- but (as I had to remind myself) characters develop and mature, and by the end we're way past Eternal Waltz.
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