The Calling (Audiobook) (A Gundam Wing Fanfic Novel)

The Calling - Chapter 4

As Heero entered the room, the others glanced toward him, acknowledging his return. He walked over and crouched himself down between Quatre and Sally's chairs.

"Everything okay Heero?" whispered Quatre, knowing exactly where he had just been.

"Yeah, all set."

Quatre gave a nod.

Heero turned to Sally. "Hey Sal," he said cheerfully, yet seriously, "I appreciate this is your birthday party, but would you mind if I addressed everyone about an unrelated matter?"

"Of course, you don't need to ask me, just go ahead," she replied.

Heero smiled and patted her on the arm as he stood up.

He grabbed a fork and an empty glass and began tapping on it loudly until the room fell silent. All eyes were looking his way.

He cleared his throat.

"Um... Guys. I've got a bit of an announcement to make, so I thought it would be appropriate to make it while everyone was together."

The others watched and listened quietly.

"It's difficult to know where to begin, so I guess I'd better just come out with it," he spoke hesitantly, "the fact is, I've been keeping something from all of you."

"You've been living a double-life as a drag-queen called Steve?" bleated Duo without warning.

"Duo!" snapped Sally, "behave yourself!" she grinned.

Laughter echoed around the room again. Noin had just taken a mouthful of coffee and almost spat it out across the table while Relena nearly choked on the cookie she had just bitten into.

Heero tried to glare at Duo in protest but found himself grinning too. "Come on, this is important, I'm trying to be serious here!" he protested. Duo smiled at him, putting his palms out in apologetic submission. "Sorry, it just kind of slipped out. Couldn't resist."

Heero began tapping the glass again until everyone settled down and the room fell silent once more. As he tried to start speaking again, a small involuntary grin forced its way onto his face as he reminisced on Duo's comment.

He cleared his throat again. "Firstly, for the record, no, I'm not living a secret life as a drag-queen called Steve, but thank you Duo for the image now burned into my mind"

Everyone chortled quietly.

"Actually, this is an important thing I want to tell you, so I need to get serious for a moment."

The room quietened and settled down again.

"As I said, there's something I've been keeping from you. Not just you guys, but it's something I've had to keep from everyone. For the record, I haven't enjoyed keeping you in the dark, but the risk until now has just been too great to do otherwise."

As he spoke to the seated group, he slowly moved around the room, periodically gripping the backs of people's chairs. Everyone in the room was listening carefully to his words with a degree of fascination. They were intrigued to know about his hidden secret that was obviously such a big deal to him.

"Now we're in peacetime, the recent months have convinced me another war is most unlikely, at least, not in our lifetimes and it's only now, in these conditions I'm willing to reveal this truth to you, the people who have earned my respect, and more importantly, my trust."

He came to a halt at the back of Sally's chair and gently gripped the backrest.

"There is a big element from my past that I was forced to keep secret for many years."